Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1890 — WEARY OF WAR TAXES. [ARTICLE]

WEARY OF WAR TAXES.

THE PROTECTION CAPITAL REBELS AGAINST TARIFF ROBBERY. Business Men ami Employes Denounce the McKinley Tariff Bill at bntnense Meetings in Philadelphia Ringing Letter from Ex-President Cleveland. [Philadelphia special.] An enormous business men’s meeting to protest against the McKinley tariff bill was held at the Walnut Street Theater Tuesday afternoon, at which Alexander K. McClure piesided. The tobacco, tin plate, and wooden industries were largely represented. Among the speakers were Congressmen McAdoo, Springer, Bynum, and Breckinridge (Kentucky). In the evening a mass meeting of workingmen in textile goods was held at Kensington and was addressed by the same gentlemen. There were 7,000 to 10,000 people at the Kensington meeting and three overflow meetings were necessary. A big parade of workingmen preceded the meetings. Resolutions were adopted declaring that both parties had promised to amend the tariff so a« to remove unnecessary burdens and enlarge our markets; that the party now in power had, on the contrary, proposed to add to the burden and restrict the market by tho McKinley bill; and the meeting would be satisfied with nothing short of free raw materials and such general reduction of tariffs as to cheapen the necessaries of life and open foreign markets, thus securing steadier work aud more comfortable living for the workingmen. The announcement of a letter from exPresident Cleveland was greeted with great applause. . The letter was as follows: F. A Herwig, Esq., Secretary: My Dear Sir —I desire through you to thank the Kensington Reform Club, formerly known as the Workingmen’s Tariff Reform Association, for the courteous invitation I have received to attend a mass meeting on the evening of the 3d of June. The terms in which the invitation is expressed convince me that the question of tariff reform is receiving the attention it deserves from those most vitally interested in its just and fair solution. I know that the feeling now abroad in our land, and with the intense existence and activity of such clubs as yours, tho claim presumptuously made that the people at the last election finally passed upon the subject of tariff adjustment will be emphatically denied, and that our workingmen and our farmers will continue to agitate this and all other questions involving their welfare with increased zeal, and in the light of increased knowledge and experience, until they are determined finally in accordance with the American sentiment of fair play. I use no idle form of words when I say that I regret my engagements and professional occupations will not permit me to meet the members of your club ou the occasion of their mass meeting. Hoping that those who are fortunate enoughto participate will find it to their profit and that the meeting will, in all respects, be a groat success, I atn, yours very tiuly, Grover Cleveland. Resolutions were adopted ns follows: We, workingmen in mass meeting assembled, do resolve that we cannot too strongly denounce the McKinley bill as a dangerous measure, or too earnestly protest against its passage by the United States Senate, and that we hereby give notice that we will not be satisfied with anything short of free raw materials and such a corresponding reduction of general tariff rates that will give us a chance to enter foreign markets with our products aud to keep und control our own, knowing full well that only by these means can the toilers secure steady work at good wages.