Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1895 — REAL ISSUE REMAINS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

REAL ISSUE REMAINS.

tariff question the one to be DECIDED. None Other Cun Obliterate It Unless the Democrats Are Prepared to Make Unconditional Surrender — Business Failures Continue. Cannot Conceal It. There is a great deal of fermentation going on in regard to money everywhere. Europe and bur own land .are agitating the subject, and perhaps the whole matter will be virtually settled before another Presidential and Congressional election. But aside from that it Is well known where the two great parties stand. —The Issues all center about the vital question of a protective tariff. The Republicans of Kentucky could make no mistake in making a heroic proclamation on a question which is of the life of “the Republican party as protection is. But it may be considered presumptuous for the Republicans of any- one State, es-

pecially of a State that has never gone Republican, to assume to set the pace of the party on a question which is undergoing the process of development. The doctrine of the Republican party is bimetallic and will be until changed by a national convention, and we undertake to say that 1896 will make no such change. The two parties may or may not present a contrast next year on the silver question. No prophet can foretell how that will be. But unless the Ethiopian changes his skin the tariff will be as much the dividing line in 1896 as it was in 1892. No other issue can obliterate that line, unless the Democrats are prepared to make unconditional surrender, which is not likely. There is no reason to suppose that either the Cleveland and Palmer faction or the Altgeld and Bryan faction has any idea of abandoning free trade. They will not express themselves so foolishly as they did three years ago, “Larry” Neal and his plank have floated into the sea of oblivion and been lost, but the African is of the same complexion, whether playing the banjo or quietly dozing in the shade of the woodpile. If the par.ty which brought on the business paralysis of 1893 thinks it can make the people forgetful of that record by clamor over what was done twenty years before it is greatly mistaken.—lnter Ocean.

Business Failures Continue. The statistics of trade failures In the United States having been compiled for tlie first half of the current year, It is well to compare them with corresponding periods in former years, which we do, since 1890, as follows: Number of Year. failures. 1895 6,597 1894 6,528 1893 6,239 1892 5,351 1891 .. . 6,037 1890 5,466 From all that our free trade friends have been te!’sxg us we base-coma., to the conclusion that business had recently been so prosperous that trade failures w’ere almost unknown in the community. After the panic of 1893,we were assured that the business atmosphere had been cleared, that all the weak business houses had gone to the wall and that, as business improved, it would be on a solid and substantial basis, with credits unimpaired and securities excellent. What is the result? The number of trade failures throughout the country have been steadily increasing. During the first half of 1893 tl.erc wore SSB more failures than during the corresponding period In 1892. In 1891 there were 289 more than In 1893; In 1895 the record has been broken with GO more than in 1894, a total of 6,597 trade failures. This business barometer affords an Interesting study. If the weak had all gone to the wall long ago, then the continuation of this free trade administration must be dragging down some of the stronger houses.

A Study of Eggs and Hay. The free trade editors are not the only people who want to look further backward than 1894 to compare the workings of the Gorman and McKinley tariffs. Farmers have been looking backward and asking us to Investigate the tariff question as affecting their eggsand hay. We have done so. Taking the first eight months of each tariff period, tlie McKinley act from October. 1890, to the end of May, 1891, and the Gorman act from September, 1894, to the end of April, 1895, we have the quantities and values of our Imports of eggs for each eight months, as follows: Quantities of imports of eggs for eight months: Oct 1. 1890- Sept. 1, 1894May 31, 1891. April 30, 1895. McKinley tariff. Gorman tariff. Eggs, d0z1.098,366 2,159,047 Average McKinley price, 15% cents per dozen. Value* of imports of eggs for bight months:, Oct. 1, 1890- Sept. 1, 1894May 31,1891. April 30, 1895. McKinley tariff, Gorman tariff. Egg 55257,541 $278,301 Average Gorman price, 13 cents per dozen. This shows that, during the first eight mouths of the Gorman tariff. Rnr imports of foreign eggs Increased by nearly 500,000 dozen. The amount of money that was sent abroad for Gorman tariff eggs was only $20,000 more than in the McKinley period, because the larger Importations of Gorman eggs reduced the average price from 15% to 13 cents per dozen, a fact that our farmers will not forget. Turning next to the hay crop we find that, during the first eight mouths of the Gorman tariff, we imported 114,000 tons more hay than during the first

eight month* of the McKinley tariff period, nearly SBOO,OOO more money being sent out of the country to pay for foreign hay than under protection. These details are: Quantities of imports of hay for eight months: Oct. 1,1890- Sept. 1,1894May 31,1891. April 30, 1895. . McKinley tariff. Gorman tariff; Tons. Tons Hay .. . ........ .25,420 139,157 Average JdcKinley price, $7.30 per ton. Values of imports of hay for eight months: Oct. 1,1890- Sept. 1,1894May 31.1891. April 30,1895. McKinley tariff. Gorman tariff. Hay $182,333 $976,973 Average Gorman price, $7 per fen. Free Trade's Marked Feature.

Tobacco Growers Suffer. The tobacco growers are looking backward toward the early McKinley tariff times, and they do so with regret They are willing to compare the workings of the present tariff with any period of the McKinley law. Then they were getting good prices; now they are not Taking the quantities of foreign tobacco imported during the first eight months of each tariff they find them to have been as follows: Quantities of imports of tobacco and manufacturers for eight months: Oct. 1,1890- Sept. 1,1894MaySl, 1891. Apr. 30,1895. McKinley Gorman Tariff Tariff. Leaf tobacco, lbs. .12,100,300 18,240,688 An increase of more than 6,000,000 pounds In our imports of tobacco has had a depressing effect upon American grown tobacco, the price of American leaf now being much lower than it was in the early days of the McKinley tariff period. The values of our imports during the two periods were as follows: Values of imports of tobacco and manufacturers for eight months: Oct, 1, 1890- Sept. 1,1894May 31,1891. Apr. 30,1895. McKinley Gorman Articles. Tariff. Tariff. Leaf tobacco... .$5,034,810 $8,682,223 Cigar, cigarettes and cheroots... 1,748,601 1,506,716 All other manufacturers 0f.... 52,864 42,616

Total values. .$6,836,275 $10,231,555 The net Ibcreased imports during the eight months of the Gorman tariff period were worth $3,400,000. Of leaf tobacco we 'imported over $3,600,00Q worth more in Gorman tariff times, and if this extra $3,600,000 had been distributed among our own tobacco growers It would have been better for them, better for their farms, better for the labor they employ, better for the stores where the farmers trade, and better for manufacturers and their employes. The “St. Louie” and the British Free* If any attack has been made upon this American built ship, American readers may expect to see it copied in the New York Evening Post and other Journals that have for years attacked the laws under which it Is possible to build great ships in American yards. President Cleveland will also have a copy to gloat over and aid him In further attacks upon our shipping laws and American shipbuilding. The only unpleasant thing about the “St. Louis” is that the President condemned the laws under which she was built, at her launching. As an enemy of American enterprise and progress the President should be studiously Ignored at future launchings of American ships. He should go to the Clyde, and speak to his British supporters, whenever he feels like condemning American shipbuilding.—Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, N. Y. Yale’s All Right. Even the colleges have caught the ground swell. Yale this year will graduate 104 Republicans, 40 Democrats and 6 Prohibitionists. Formerly most college graduates were free-traders and therefore naturally Inclined toward the Democratic party, though they wero quite likely to drift Into the Republican camp after a little practical experience. But free-trade doesn’t “go” now, even with college boys.—Times, Troy, N. Y. The seventy-four w’lndows In the yacht Standard ordered by the late czar and Just finished cost SIB,OOO. The vessel is one of great beauty. Patronize the American Girl.