Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 78, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1901 — REVISION NOT WANTED. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

REVISION NOT WANTED.

Business Interests Not Vavorable to Tariff Tinkering. Senator Hanna voices the septlments Of the members of the Republican party when he declares against any attempt at tariff revision. The manufacturing and commercial interests of the country were never In better shape than at the present time; there may be some danger to the speculative element, but little to the real interests. No one needs to be told that these conditions will be changed if the slightest meddling with tariff laws Is permitted. Uncertainty will take the place of confidence If there is to be any discussion of the matter, and with uncertainty capital will go back Into hiding. It Is well that this position of the Republican party against changing the dotting of an “1” or the crossing of a “t” in the Dlngley law be made clear before the convening of Congress. Democratic attacks on the tariff are to be expected, but If It Is known that the Republican majority stands united against any change, they will have but slight effect as a disturbing element In commercial and manufacturing centers. The favorite line of Democratic assault, of coififee, will be to place the products of “trusts” on the free lists. This plan has a sentimental value, for It appeals to the imagination of some, but it Is not apparent that It has any real value. Before It can be considered

practically there- are two questions to be considered thoroughly aud answered: First—ls trusts are an outgrowth, of the tariff, why do they exist In freetrade England? Second—Might not the abolition of the protective tariff on certain products only fix more firmly the controli of trusts by wiping out all possibility of competition? The first phase was thoroughly discussed during the past campaign, and. the consensus of opinion was that the trusts existed* irrespective of protection. The other point is one that has not been convincingly discussed or Investigated. Partial investigations seem, however, to indicate that the abolition, of the protective tariff in many industries would completely crush out thesmaller manufacturer and thus render more secure their control by the trusts. Mr. Carnegie, before his retirement took the position that he had reachedi the position where he himself no longer needed protection, but made no reference to the effect of the abolition of protection upon the other and smaller manufacturers of iron and steel. The American Woolen Company, a trust, openly advocates the abolishment of the protective tariff, for the reason that it would fix its control of the market. —Cincinnati Times-Star.

Bryanistic Blather. “The Supreme Court,” says Editor W. J. Bryan, “has declared President McKinley Emperor of Porto Rico. It declares Congress greater than the Constitution. It denies the necessity of a written Constitution. It assails the foundation of the republic. It has Joined with the President and Congress to change the form of our government. “But theTe yet remalns’’and here we may Imagine Mr. Bryan pointing to his trusty Jaw—“an appeal to the people.” Having waited a full week before delivering his manifesto, Mr. Bryan might at least have read the Supreme Court’s decision. Evidently he has been too busy to do so. For what has the Supreme Court done? In the first place, it has decided that our new possessions are American soil, and that our title to them Is perfect—a fact strenuously denied by Mr. Bryan In his recent attempt to win the Presidency. as the friend of Agulnaldo. In the next place, the Supreme Court has decided that Porto Rico must wait Cor full political privilege* until the American people, through Congress, see fit to grant them. Doubtless there Is much to regret In the attitude of the Supreme Court. But, even so, there has been no coronation of Mr. McKinley, nor any other of the Imperial things Imagined by Mr. Bryan. Nor is Congress In any way authorized to govern these new possessions feudally, as Mr. Bryan falsely asserts. Once before Mr. Bryan tried to appeal to the people against the Supreme

Court, and the result is well known. The June sun of Nebraska’s plains must have been too much for Mr. Bryan. He should at least read the Supreme Court’s decision and face the facts of It as a man, not as a boy wonder or a campaign agitator.—Chicago Intelligencer. It Means Business. Two thousand freight cars ordered during the space of two weeks is the record made by the railroads of the country. That means business, both now and In the future. It presents evidence of the fact that not only are the railroads crowded with business beyond their capacity to'handle, but also that the officials of the railroads are confident that the rush of business Is going to continue. They are looking to the future in their extension of the equipment of their roads, and are getting ready for Hie continual Increase in the demand for transportation facilities which the ever-growing business prosperity of the country will bring about The demand for freight cars is thr other end of the industrial chain, which has its beginning in the crowded order books of the commercial travelers, all' of whom report that business was never so active or orders so numerous and so heavy as now. A Monopoly Smashed by Protection. Now It Is announced from London that “the Welsh tin plate Industry, which has already been stricken by*

American competition, is menaced: by early extinction, owing to the failureof the employers to agree on a scale of wages.” When these Welsh makers monopolized tiie market, as they did before theMcKinley tariff, they had a hard and fast trust of their own which dictated prices to the helpless Yankees, and wages to the helpless workmen. But American rivalry has changed* all this, ©ur mills, with Unproved machinery and better paid Kabor, have not only gained the -dimer lean market, but are cutting into the markets of the Welsh “combine” abroad. The comic side of it all Is that the protective duty of the McKinley tariff was vociferously opposed by the professional foes of monopoly. As a practical result It has smashed monopoly, and In the long run it Is certain to give the mastery in one more branch of the great Iron and«steel trade to-the United States, where It legitimately belongs.— Boston Journal. Wroag Kind of Reciprocation. Let us have no tampering U* the way of reciprocating treaties that do reciprocating the wrong way. To be sure such treaties carefully constructed assist American industries, but they do so, as the patterns rejected show, at the expense of certain other American Industries. This, then, is not reciprocity, but simply nothing more or less than the English tariff Idea of fair trade.—Racine (Wls.) Journal. An Axiom. Protection seldom falls to make the farmer happy. Contrast his condition under the Dlngley and McKinley bills with that under the Wilson and Mills bills. It Is an axiom that when the farmer Is prosperous, the rest will be happy.—California (Mo.) Herald. Prosperity at the Banka.

Owing to the great Increase of deposits, extra help is required at tbe windows of the receiving tellers.

Uncle Sam: “I rather guess that will stay there now." —Chicago Enter Ocean.