Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1891 — THE CAMP BELL-M KINLEY DEBATE. [ARTICLE]

THE CAMP BELL-M KINLEY DEBATE.

Governor Campbell was under four separate and—distinct- disadvantages in his debate with Major McKinley. He did not approve, and therefore could not defend, the silver plank of the Democratic platform. This left the Major in undisputed mastery of that branch of the discussion. He had the defensive position on the tariff question. He was exposed to the attacks of a master of the science of political economy. He was himself unversed not only in the great principles of that science, but also in those petty minutiea that sometimes can be deployed by a skillful dialectician to the annoyance of his opponent. Under these circumstances the resistancO of the Governor necessarilywas feeble. ButtheGovernor made it needlessly ridiculous. Au attempt at demonstration by double entry of bookkeeping that “the tariff is a tax” is the very quintessence of ridiculousness.

It hardly is to de supposed that the Governor essayed it of his own vbEtioa; itis charitable and; perhaps, ease to suppose that some ingenious young man devised the silly plan, and perfected it during the Governor’s illness. The speech, plainly, was not of the Governor’s own preparation; it had been made for him, and he had learned it imperfectly; besides which he was shrewd enough to discern its worthlessness. Rehearsing his piece, the Governor turned to his double entry diagram, and said, Here is the price in England, here j is freight and ipsurance, here is I tariff duty, and here is what must be the selling price in America. The price in England being 3, freight, insurance, etc , being 1, tariff duty being 2, the price in America must be 6. Such without any effort on our part to burlesque its inherent absurdity, was the Governor’s mode of argument. He overlooked what everybody else saw, that the interest of protection is either or both of two things; to supplant foreign manufactures by cheaper and better American goods, or so to stimulate American in anus actures a s to force foreign makers to pay the tariff as toll, and then to sell at the same price as the Americans who do not pay toll. A fine illustration of the latter result was instanced by Major McKinley in the article of wheat, which when brought from Canada pays a duty of 25 cents per bushel, but yet sells inCleveland at the same price as Ohio wheat, which pays no duty. In cases like to this the tariff justly makes the foreigner contribute to the revenues of the country whose privilege of market he seeks to enjoy.' An equally fine illustration of the first result was taken from wire nails; the duty on them is 2| cents per pound, the selling price is 2| cents at the American mills. By Governor Campbell’s double entry folly the argument would run thus: price of nails in England 2J cents,freight J cent, tariff duty 2| cents, therefore the selling price in America must be cents. It would be so had not the tariff so stimulated the production of nails in America as to m&ke their price justaslowas English-made nails can be imported for. But the best answer to Governor Campbell’s rash assertion that the McKinley bill had “placed increased duties on almost every thing,” and his fatuous attempt to prove by double entry that therefore all most everything must be dearethan formerly, came from the absolute personal knowledge of every man and woman who heard him that almost everything worn by them, used by them as furniture of their houses or as implements of their trade, was not dearer, but cheaper, than formerly. You can not prove by double entry that a man who has just eaten a full meal is hungry, or that he who has money in his pocket is penniless, or that he who is well clothed is ragged. Neither could Governor Campbell prove by double entry to the farmers, merchants, and artisans who heard him that they wer6 suffering from woes that made them feel joyous, or from poverty that enabled them to pay their debts and i to have a surplus to spend on pleasures. You can prove almost anything, with or without double entry, to a dissatisfied or wretched i man, but when good times cause the existence of soupd minds in sound bodies you can not prove anything to be which is not. Governor Campbell forgot this.—lnterOcean.