The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-05-21
ALL AT SEA.

They know that sentiment of the peo-
pie in this state is almost unanimous
in favor of tariff reform. They see
what has happened in Iowa Here, as
there, the irresistible power of the
fairfield trusts of the East will be
exerted to jam through standpat
resolution in the state convention and
force the standpat policy upon the
party. They scent disaster, but do
not know how to avert it. The Min
neapolis Tribune, which is thorough
going in its Republicanism and sup
ports the party with dignity and abil-
ity, has the following to say of the
Iowa platform and the tariff question:
Business conditions are changing. Leg
lSlatlon that undertakes to interfere with
business operations must change with
tnem The tariff that suited the last
nVe years may be most unsuitable to the
next. Exports are shrinking and gold is
gong ABROAD because the worlds markets
VIII not pay our commodity prices Next
imports viii shrink because we cannot
pay high tariff prices for them This
could be ignored as long as an eager
But the home market is falling off and
oYerproduction threatens. Are we to de-
clare with the Iowa StandDatterS that we
VIII sacrifice the substance of the foreign
10 the vanishing shadow of the home mar
ket?
We have reached a point where bust
ness. at home and abroad. can be stimu-
lated only by lower prices. The origi-
nal theory of protection was that when
home industries were once built up do
mestlc competition would reduce prices
to the consumer. But these amazing
would provoke American industries to
making War upon each other" Are We
to have no more competition anywhere,
either at home or abroad?
This sounds very well today, but we
wish to know if the Tribune will reit-
crate it after the Republican state
convention has met, and later during
the campaign. 1t will make splendid
reading for Minnesota voters next fall,
and we promise to recall it to their at
tention frequently.
The most amusing feature of the sit
uation is the thoroughly ratified condi-
ton of the st. Paul Dispatch, which
is equally aware of the dangers of the
situation but has not yet discovered
where the party or itself us att by
an error in the press report a portion
of the Iowa platform as sent out, and
published as received by all the morn
ing papers, reads as follows:
We believe it wise to seek markets
ABROAD by sacrificing some part of the
markets at home, and equally unwise to
ieg1siate in a manner to provoke Ameri-
can industries to make war upon each
other.
This extract the Dispatch not only
makes a text for lengthy editorial
comment, but inserts in an embfoider-
ed box in its editorial columns. Now
the most cursory examination tells any
intelligent reader that there was an
error in transmitting this sentence
from the platform. Both the position
of the party and the grammatical
construction required that one should
read "unwise" for the word wise as
it appears. The Iowa Republicans say
that they believe it unwise to expand
our foreign market if it is to be at
the cost of admitting any degree of
competition with the trusts at home.
The Dispatch, however, takes the
blunder seriously and descants upon it
in this wise:
Stripped of its gloss that means sinplv
TINS: we believe it wise to sell our man
fractures abroad at less price than at
nome even If our home markets may be
injured by the diminished buying capacity
OF our people caused by the higher cost
OF those articles: 1t is wise to keep up, by
taxation the unfair competition that
is giving strength to Chamberlain's move
ment for protection in England whose re-
actions will strike a blow at American
farmers. 1t is wiser, for instance to
keep a tax on imports of steel products
that permits sales abroad at a third less
price than is exacted here; to keep a tax
on lumber mat prevents imports while
our lumber is sold abroad more cheaply
than at home. thereby sacrificing home
markets for other products by decreasing
the purchasing power of lumber users.
Was there ever a more demoralized
lot of party supporters and platform
commentators? They are so far afield
that an obvious blunder of the wires
can fool them into the belief that their
party has announced some new and
monstrous doctrine. They are ready
for anything, and we do not wonder
at it. They are stirred with anxiety
and moved to remonstrance as they
realize how difficult the fight is being
made for them by their relentless
Eastern bosses; but they will hold up
their feet to the bastinado after the
party convention has declared itself,
just the same. Never was the tariff
issue in better shape to be used to adj
vantage by the Democratic party; and
never We're the masses of the people SO
deeply stirred against the gross and
contemptuous tyranny of protection as
they are today.
That heroic he who, after observing