Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1892 — PROTECTION MUST GO. [ARTICLE]

PROTECTION MUST GO.

DEMOCRATS SHOULD NOT HESITATE IN THEIR DUTY. J| If the Party Shall Keep Faith with the People It Will Hold Its Allies In the Northwest—The Protected Coal Barons. Cleveland Will Uo the Work. No intelligent, unprejudiced observer of current political conditions and events has any doubt as to the cause which operated to produce the recent Democratic victory in the Northwest. Such an observer is able to account readily and confidently for the Democratic majorities in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin: for the Republican losses In Minrtesota and Nebraska, and for the political revolutions in Kansas and North Dakota. He knows that all these things are the result of popular opposition to the thieving protective tariff system. Moreover, the free traders and the tariff reformers in the Northwest supported the Democratic t icket at the last election because they believed the Democratic party to be sincere in its professions favoring tariff reform. They looked upon Grover Cleveland as being the greatest living representative of the principle that all tariffs should be levied only for revenue. Thus finding the Democratic candidates and the Democratic platform in harmony with their own views respecting the tariff, they voted for the Chicago nominees in most of the States, while in others they supported Weaver and Field as the best method of contributing to the election of Cleveland and Stevenson.

The effect of the political changes in the Northwest was to make certain the success of the Democratic Presidential ticket, no matter if the electoral vote of New York had been given to the Republican candidates. Had there been any doubt of the earnestness of the Democratic purpose this revolution would not have occurred. The voters accepted as honest the declaration of the Chicago convention. They heard with delight the ringing words of Mr. Cleveland in accepting his nomination at the Madison Square meeting in New York. The people of the Northwest not only believed in the sincerity of the Democratic promises of reform, hut they believed that with the triumph of Democratic principles at the election reform would not be delayed beyond the earliest possible moment at which it could be accomplished. They have commissioned the Democracy with power to correct certain evils and abuses from which they have suffered and still suffer. More than this they cannot do. They leave the destiny of the Democratic party In the hands of its own managers. One thing only is certain. If the Democracy shall keep faith with the people it will hold its allies in the Northwest; if it fails it will lose them. There must be neither hesitation nor delay on the part of the Democratic leaders. Protectionism must go.

Take the Duty Off of .Sugar! If there is onrduty in the McKinley bill that Is more of a curse than any other, it is the duly of * cent per pound on refined sugars. It produces almost no revenue at all, but puts about 820,000,000 a year into the pockets of the Sugar Trust. If there were any doubt that the industry of refining sugar would not remain in this country without such Government aid, there would be au excuse, from a protection point of view, for this duty. Hut there is none. Sugar is refined as cheaply here as anywhere on this earth. H. O. Havemeyer testified to this fact several years ago. The only excuse the Republicans had for leaving this duty, was that it would give them an opportunity to fry fat out of the Sugar Trust—an opportunity that was utilized during the last campaign to the extent of SIOO,OOO or $200,000. ■yhe Sugar Trust, the sole beneficiary of the sugar duty, has an unusually unsavory record. To gain complete control of the refining business in this country, it has purchased refineries at three or four times their cost, only to close them up to restrict production. A few months after it was formed, in November, 1887, hut ten of the twenty original refineries in the trust were in operation. It has reduced wages in refineries to $1 per day for common labor. .No Americans will work in the intensely heated rooms at these wages; hence their places have been filled by Hungarians, Poles and Italians. It makes use of the rebate system to kill its competitors. By this system, large wholesale grocers who bought only from the trust, obtained special prices. It has since it gained complete control of the refining business last winter, depressed the price of raw while it has advanced the price of refined sugars, as is shown by the following table.

96 deg. Ccntrif- Granu- Dlffcrugals. lated. ence. Cts. per lb. Cta. per lb. Ots. Deo. 31, 1891 :i% 4 % April 11, 181 n 316 4% I*4 May 25, 1892 3 1-16 4% 1 ft-10 NOV. 26, 1892 3 3-10 4 11-10 1)6 The cost of refining Is less than $ cent per pound. As the per capita consumption of sugar in the United States Is about seventy pounds, each difference of 1-16 of a cent between the price of raw and of refined sugar extorts about #2,600,000 from the pockets of the people and puts it into the pockets of the trust. Without any duty the trust would be making about $30,000,000 a year clear profit (nearly 100 per cent.). With the duty it can and does raise prices i cent higher and adds $20,000,000 to its already enormous profits. If the duty of J cent per pound were levied upon raw Instead of on refined sugar it would produce about $16,000,000 a year revenue and would encourage sugar growing In the South. The people ’vould pay the same for sugar as now, but only a small portion would go to the trust. This would be far preferable to the present duty. But the people want entirely free sugar, and they will not be content till they get it.