Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-05-07
TARIFF AGITATION
IN THE GENERATION

same time that they elected President
Harrison, the republicans, under the
leadership of Mckinley, formulated
and passed what is known as the Nc
kinley bill, said to be the most scien,
tlfically arranged tariff ever devised.
Before 1t had a chance to prove itself,
the party which enacted it, and the
man whose name it bore were driven
from power by the people, made angry
by the misrepresentation of that act
This anger did not subsde and in 1892
Grover Cleveland again made cam
paign as presidential candidate on a
reform platform and was reelected by
"a large popular and electoral majority.
Some OF the most stalwart republican
states in the union cast their electoral
i votes for the democratic candidates
AS result of this triumph there was
i formulated and passed a tariff reform
| measure known as the Wilson German
tariff bill. 1t was not nearly as radi-
cal measure as Mr.. Cleveland had
promised. 1t did not go very far in
the direction of free trade, but it went
/ far enough to paralyze our industries
completely. Our factories were clos.
led; our labor unemployed; the price
OF farm products fell to the lowest
point knowa since the last free trade
period before this one; and it seemed
that this generation had learned its
lesson SO lar as tariff reform was con-
cerned. In the congressional elections
| OF 1894 the republicans were every
where successful outside of the south;
and in 1896 Mckinley, who six years
before had been driven from his seat in
congress by tariff reform" was the
unanimous choice of his arty and the
Overwhelming choice of the country for
the presidency.
The first thing Mckinley did after
being inaugurated was to call congress
in extraordinary session to repeal the
tariff reform and re-enact protection.
The result of that extraordinary ses-
sion was the passage of the Dingley
tariff act. The success of the McKin-
ley administration was staked on the
success of that bill. The trade statis-
tics of the last few years are its most
complete vindication. The human
mind can scarcely comprehend their
magnitude or their significance We
have reclaimed tlle home market lost
by the Wilson, orman act, and we
have added to our trade abroad to
such an extent that the favorable
trad balances of the last five years
exceed the sum total of all the trade
balances during all the previous years
of our history. The wages of labor
have been increased. The opportuni
ties for labor have been multiplied
The prices of farm products and of
all classes of service have been in
creased. Prosperity Is general and
complete. And yet here comes the
! agitator again-agitating for what?
| $50
| Can any candid man read the history
of no'itical events since the sixth day
OF December, 1887, when Grover Cleye-
l land sent his free trade message to
congress, and find any new thing in
| the present agitation. 1t is the same
old story. The country is prosperous,
prices are high. The tariff is to blame
because every man cannot buy what
he uses cheaply, while at the same
time he sells whatever he has to dis
pose of-be it commodity or service
at extraordinary figures. Even the
| trust agitation is not new. 1t is moth
| ing but history repeating itself, and il
we keep on we shall have not part
Oh u repeated, out all OF IL.
/ tF 49, ~
| j. is always easy to find fault. 1t is
always easy to suggest changes. You
can employ the most skilful architect
| in the world to plan a residence and
| the most siilful artisans to construct
| it, and the family will scarce have
moved ii until somebody will want. to
have something about that house torn
up to improve it, and after each mem
| Der Of the family has had his partuc-
ular suggestion carried out, the house
will be monstrosity. If we feed this
lincipient discomfort, which comes from
the fact that we have to pay more for
| things we get because we are getting
more for the things we sell (these con-
| ditions are always co-eXistent) we
shall presently see the tariff reform
party again succeed; with the inevi-
| table results: business depression and
poverty and then as in 1896 the voice
of the repudiationist will be heard in
| the land and the remedy of a cheaper
dollar will be renewed and the only
way to get back to safety and sanity
again will be to call in some protec-
| tive architect to again construct an
American tariff bill designed to have
America do its own work.
! *#*
The most discouraging thing in hui
man life is the failure of men to learn
anything from experience. We ought
to profit by our disastrous experiences
! thus learning wisdom from the past,
and thus adding our own quota, the
world ought to grow wiser and wiser
year by year. But instead of that, it
seems that the masses OF men are con-
tinually travelling in a circle, ascend
4 ing to the heights, only to go down
again into the same old valley of hui
initiation and despair. The next two
or three years will determine whether
or not the present generation is cap
able of learning economic wisdom
from the follies of the past
parcel recalls that the traffic once