The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-10-18

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lieS S5f Sssf5f min M
SSIscor1fl III III t8eIs aeseE
Il Sfora ma ni az ma
III tafcea ssai formed man
55E5negds bass III d the 4 metal
4; should go broad IN large guam tiles
Esthes American people you'd Sencf5nnter
dnancfaI distress and Ind ustrial pros
tfation.
3Els31 If past experience has any lesson
sfor. this Nation, IL is that the one thing
THAT VIII send gold away ingreat sums
iss 1arge reductions Of the dntie:; upon
;impor in other words, the Kind Of
tarIr reformation to which the Demo
cratic party is solemnly pledged
What is the experience referred to-
In 1876 and in 1857 this same Dem
ocratIc party, in control Of National
Legislation, put into operation tariffs
which went as far as the party dared
to go in the direction of outright free
trade The first OF these tariffs was
enacted almost simultaneously with
the discovery OF gold in California
the gold that was needed more than
any one thing to promote and expand
LuE lolSe5 I'll O. 4NGlC4I=
had never possessed anything like a
sufficient quantity of real money
IL the protective system as the Ma
ton knows it now had been at that
time in existence, there can be no
doubt that all, or nearly all, the gold
unearthed in California would have
remained here to benefit our own PEG
pie But, with our ports wide open
to European manufactures, the cpun-
| try was flooded with European goods,
| which we might have made at home,
and practically the entire mass of
California gold was hurried across the
Atlantic to pay for them.
In the meantime, the American peo-
pie, instead of employing gold for
currency. as they might have done.
were compelled to use rag money of
such filrhiness and variableneSs Of
| of value as men of the present gener-
alton can hardly understand. In the
| meantime, also, the revenues OF Tie
FEDERAL Government. deprived of Gus
toms duties in sufficient measure. fell
so far below the necessary eXpendi-
lures that the Treasury was obliged
10 borrow money. for which $50 low
had the National credit fallen) it was
compelled TO pay u per cent
The Inevitable result of all this
laundering and folly was that in 1857.
with the Democrats still in power,
Tie Nation was involved in one OF the
worst panics recorded in its history
panic in which private business and
public credit were shaken to their
foundations
In a different degree, but in pre-
clsely the same manner. the same
thing happened during Grover Cleve-
lands second administration. In 1892
the year before he came into Office.
our total exports were 10l6 million
dollars In 1895, two years after
ward with the Wilson tariff in opera
ton, the exports fell to 1913 million
dollars Thus we sold less material
to foreigners, and for what we bought
we must pay more gold, insteai Of
paying in produce.
Gold began again to flow to Europe
in great stream. In. 1896, for tie
first time in many years, the expenses
of the government again exceeded
the income; the public debt was IL
creased from 5S5 millions in 1892 10
SAT millions in 1896, and before Mr..
Cleveland had been in office two years
there was a panic and prostration of
industry precisely like that which
brought misery and ruin to the Nation.
in 1857.
The number is small of the persons
who can remember the disasters of
1857. Millions of living men know
from observation what happened i'll
1893 The younger men, who have
come into adult years since 1898. will
do wen TO study the complete history
of that time of destruction and dis
tress. and the causes of the trouble
1t is hard to believe that inteIngent
americans who know the facts will
consent to make third experiment.
along the line of the Democratic the
cries and in the direction of another
exodus of gold, another panic an ! an
other period of business disaster.
The Dingley tariff went into opera
| ton in 1897, and in the six years fol
lowing its adoption we sold to for
eign countries of our products 2614
million dollars worth more than We
| bought from them. This enormous