Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1893 — Seduce the Tariff in 1893. [ARTICLE]

Seduce the Tariff in 1893.

What, then, are' the teachings of history and of common sense with reference to the course of the new administration? It is absolutely certain that the new Congress will make some great change in the tariff; but, until that change is actually made, the greatest uncertainty will prevail as to its precise direction. That wool will be made free and the additional tax on tin plates be repealed everybody can foresee, but beyond this all is darkness. If nothing is to be attempted before the assembling of the new Congress in December, 1893, it is certain that the new tariff, whatever it may be, will not be enacted until June, 1894; and if the nonsense which is now gravely brought forward as to*necessary delay in its taking effect is to be respected, no change would really take place until Jan. 1, 1895. The result is obvious to any man who has eyes to see. The new industries which the McKinley bill was intended to create will not be created; the importations will be restricted by the enormous duties, the people will be heavily burdened by useless taxation, and will gain 'none of the relief which they might have gained if the McKinley bill had been left alone, by increased, although Unnatural, domestic production. The protected manufacturers generally will be kept for two years in a state of nervous apprehension; the cost of their 'materials will he increased rather than diminished; they will very properly be careful about extending their production, because, when the tariff once takes effect, their rivals will have cheaper materials and cheaper machinery, by the aid of whioh to undersell those who paid high prices; and there will be as much stagnation as it is possible to have in

a country so progressive as our own. Nobody seems to know anything about the history of the tariff of 1846 and its political-effect. The facts are that the Polk administration adopted the conservative course now recommended by wiseacres, doing nothing until the regular session of Congress, deliberating a long time, passing the new tariff in July, 1846, and postponing its operation until December. The result was, naturally enQugh, that the manufacturers of the country were kept in a state of agonizing suspense for nearly two years; that for eighteen months nobody knew whether a new tariff would be enacted or not; that nobody derived the smallest benefit ifcrom the new tariff until after the Congressional elections of 1846, while everybody felt the depressing effect of uncertainty as to the future. Tike next consequence was that the .Democratic party suffered an overwhelming defeat in the elections of October and November, 1846, the House of Representatives, which had a Democratic majority of about sixty dm 1844, being transferred to the Whigs hi 1846; and a reactionary movement was thus started which, notwithstanding the fact that when the mew tariff actually went into operation the prosperity of the country was vastly increased, resulted in the election of a Whig President in 1848. lit lis quite true that the folly of the Polk administration in provoking the Mexican war contributed very largely to the general result; but dt 4s mono the less true that the Demoanats would have retained their majority in 1846, if they had properly settled the tariff question dm 1845. I have <w fears for the ultimate issue of the tariff controversy. The Whig victories of 1846 and 1846 wene entirely barren; the tariff of 1846 triumphantly vindicated itself; and It would have been irrepealaUe but for the great civil war of 186 L So l am absolutely confident that the new tariff, whether adopted In 1893 or 1894, will stand. Hut why should we run any risk of reaction and imperil the prospects of the party of tariff reform, even for the year 1894? Let us have prompt action and thorough reform, so that the people may get and feel the full benefit of our ideas. This is one of the cases in which half measures, as Mills has wisely said, not only do not produce hats results, but produce no results atnill.—Extract from a letter of Thos. G. Shearman to the New York Evening Post.