The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-06-13
THE TARIFF.
h the Issue to Go Before the Country
L . With.

THE TARIFF.
h the Issue to Go Before the Country
with.
savayord's washington Letter in Nash
Vile Banner.
Mr.. Bryan has returned TO the Dem
ocratic position on the tariff and re-
that plank Of fis platform. In 1896
the party exchanged q declaration for
constitutional tariff for the support
q Henry M. Teller and his gang of
mighty poor trade. a tar f is for rev
enue only, or IL Is something else The
republicans say 1t 10 for protection
only. Here IL a difference as wide as
tional and what Is Unconstitutional
Mr. Bryan has got back to the Demo
cratic and constitutional idea Of the
tarin. but his financial plank is still
Tor Republican and unconstitutional
greenbacks. A term in the tinted
states Senate might cure him Of thar
neresy also. Greenbacks is just as
paternal As protection, Just as uncon-
ing more un- Democratic can be imag
ined than legal tender paper money.
Ana, according to the real Democratic
doctrine. 1t Is no more the business of
money than 1t is the once of the Gov
shoes.
ply the people with boots and shoes.
ana they do 1t very well, but would do
Il better IL hides were on the free list.
Banks ought to supply all the paper
should be legal tender. It is here that
MT. Bryan and Bryanites would say
that the banks would not supply enough,
but there are barefooted folks who
~ - u
shoes enough. Depend on two things
the banks would supply all the money
they could loan at a profit, and the
sshnoemakers do supply. all the shoes
eminent take its irnpertinent hands off
business. That is Democracy. Bryan
says, Let the Government furnish the
people with paper money" That is
II is time the Democrats were think
ing about a tariff plank, and the first
thing in order Is to make 1t Democratic
ana and constitutional. The Republicans
ccept to increase the protection. The
iowa idea" Is as dead as Blaine's reci-
procity, which Senator Lodge says is
words to that effect. Protected by the
tariff from foreign competition, and pre-
tected by the trusts from domestic COM
petition, the home market is at the
HSECy VI HlOHOpOlS 1ndI Is now AnQS
Carnegie made $500, 100000. He made
II by law, not by industry. 1t expresses
the thrift of the rebate and the pro-
lection of the tariff.
Is 1t good thing to persist in a tax
system, under the operation of which
a single individual accumulates hun
dreds of millions which he is willing to
give TO the rich OF any community that
fame Of his eSSrity TRet sss the the
tariff is to increase wages, but here 1t
has increased profits beyond the greed
or cupidtty. What Is Andrew Carne-
gle but tariff made multi millionaire:
II there had been a tariff for revenue
only on iron and steel the most of that
$500 100000 would have remained in
the hands of the people who worked
wealth would have been distributed and
not concentrated in the hands of a
single individual. One Carnegie is
more demoralizlng to the American peo-
would be.
l make no doubt that Mr.. Carnegie
tries to be a philanthropist and 1 make
no doubt that he believes he has sue
eeeded as we'll in philanthropy as he
has in business. But the fact remains
that 1t Is vicious and even immoral for
one man. sheltered by the taxing pow
err to reap Profts from American con-
Sumers to the amount of 100000 900.
When Proctor Knott was Governor of
Kentucky the whole people of that
commonwealth listed for taxation, as /
now recoIlect, $40, 000, 900. And here
Is one man taking advantage of the
protective tariff. who gathers as much
In not long life as a million and a
half KentucRians owned.
You can't defend such a system as
that. 1t Is wicked TO stand pat" on
IT, / make no doubt that Mr.. Carnegie
Is a good man, philanthropist and all
that but If he were ten times as good
n fstf oI fy~tA
ne Is. 1t would be demoralizing to heap
taxes on the people for him to collect,
even though he devoted all of it to
charity Mr. Carnegie has mortgage
given the Steel Trust, a mortgage on
the country. That is what tie Repub-
lican party stands pat on.
The Republican legislation of the
Fifty-first Congress brought the paniS
OF 1893. The country went into liqui.
dalton. settled up and paid up as nearly
as possible. Grover Cleveland preserv-
ed the public credit. and In 1895 the
people voted that the Amexioan dollar
should be worth 100 cents in gold.
Right then, after several years OF idle
ness, the country sprang to work.
be under the Dingley tariff There
would have been even more prosperity
under the Wilson tariff; but as it came
under the Dingley tariff, a heap of
people thought the tariff made the
There is question that will have to
be debated to a standstill again Shall
taxation be for public purposes or TO-
private advantage? Shall tariff taxes
be paid into the United States Treas
ury or into the private Golfers of An
drew Carnegie? Shall our tax laws
be made by the representatives of the
people or by the. protected manufac-
turers? Shall the blessings of the
Government be for the few, and its
burdens for the many? Shall the con-
sumers of America pay the trusts such
high prices that the trusts may be able
TO sell to foreigners at lower prices"
Shall the present tariff on steel rails
be maintained in order that the Steel
Trust may sell a railroad in Oregon
steel rails at $2S ton that 1t sells to
a railroad In Canada at S21 a ton?
There is this tariff issue, and it never
yet was debated to a standstill in the
United States that the intelligence, and
the honesty of the American people did
not bring in a verdict of guilty of ex-
tortion against that old fraud, Protec-
ton. Here is Democratic opportunity.
RECIPROCITY AND TRADE.
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