Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1889 — FOR TARIFF REFORM. [ARTICLE]

FOR TARIFF REFORM.

The Illinois League Has Begun Its Work for the National Campaign of 1892. [From the Chicago Times.] The off year in politics is the on year for the Tariff Beform League. In Illinois there are now twenty counties organized by this association, and in almost every ward in the city of Chicago clubs have been formed which work in concert with the central enterprise. The purposes of the league are best described in the circular which is now being distributed from the central office at 116 and 118 Dearborn Btreet. The document runs as follows: “Illinois can be carried for tariff reform only by conducting an active campaign in off years, when an appeal to reason will be listened to by the voters. “The Illinois Tariff Beform League has been organized for the purpose of carrying on such a campaign before the next Presidential election. The league is uncompromisingly opposed to the so-called ‘protective system,’ and believes it is time for our Government to foster and protect the rights and interests of the consumers. We believe in free wool, iron, salt, lumber, and all raw materials that enter into manufactures, as being in the interest of the manufacturer and consumer alike. The league proposes: “1. To form tariff-reform clubs in every ward in Chicago, every city, town, and school district in the State. “2. To co-operate with these organizations in creating public sentiment in favor of this reform, by distributing tariff-reform documents; by the organization of a lecture bureau for the purpose of sending speakers throughout the the State; by getting up debates, and by holding meetings in the different counties. “Before the League can effectively carry on this work, however, it will be necessary to largely increase its membership. The Secretary will call upon all those interested in the cause whose names are suggested to him. We therefore ask you to assist the movement by sending to the Secretary, first, the names of your friends whom you know would wish to be enrolled ns members; second, the names and addressee of acquaintances who would be likely to join the League.” The officers of the Illinois League are Franklin MacVeagh, President: James H. Baymond, William T. Baker, A. C. McClurg, H. L. Boltwood, William H. Colvin, Cyrus H. McCormick, De Witt C. Cregier, Charles W. Deering, Wirt Dexter, John W. Doane, N. C. Frederickson, Lyman J. Ga:e, William Gleeson, S. S. Gregory, William M. Hoyt, Jonas Hutchinson, Herman Lieb, W. J. Onahan, M. M. Trumbull, George D. Bumsey, Vice Presidents; W. J. Mize, Secretary, and Francis B. Peabody, Treasurer. The Illinois League is entirely independent of any other body. It has no affiliations with the organizations in New York and other Eastern cities. As one of the officers declared: “We are working in Illinois and for Illinois alone. We believe that we can carry this State on this issue, and we will confine all our energies to the work directly at our hands to do. “We propose to put in the whole of the time between now and 1892 in organizing and solidifying the anti-protection sentiment in Illinois, and we will be quite content if at the next election we are able to put Illinois in the column of States which decide for tariff reform. ” “You are working with the Democrats?” the reporter suggested. “The Democratic party has our support. That follows upon the doctrine laid down in President Cleveland’s celebrated message; but it is certainly the fact that we have not the support, or even the cooperation, of the Democratic office-hold-ers in Chicago. As a rule many of us, if not most of us, are mugwumps, and we are without party affiliations, save in so far as the tariff is made a party issue. We lean toward the Democracy—if there were to be an election to-morrow we would to a man vote the Democratic ticket—but we can not be classed as a whole as Democrats.” “What is the league doing at the present time?” “Organizing clubs and teaching the people what tariff reform means. We propose before 1892 to have a tariff-re-form club in every ward of every citv and every township of every couilty in Illinois. We will get out leaflets and tracts which will get the truth about the tariff into every home in the State. Our function is an educational one, and that function, I think, we will perform to the satisfaction of every friend of good and wise government in Illinois. “We are to have a mass-meeting Oct. 18, in which the different clubs organized in Chicago will take part, and with that meeting we will begin the campaign of 1892. “People may think we are getting into the field pretty early, but we have a large contract on hand, and the time is none too long for the conversion of this people to the saving faith of tariff reform. “Do you believe that you will convert them?’' “Yes, we surely will. The anti-reform majority in the State is not a large one; as soon as the people understand the real importance of the issues involved it will disappear, and in its place will come a reform majority which will astonish the politicians.”