Show 1 l t ass i t T W gw democratic PA PARTY VOICE OF OUR PRESS IN DEFENSE OP OF OUR principles the candidacy 0 of MK manley nley on mch tariff kod and a wobbly money platform the hop of true jeff Jeffera erson onlan tan do D I 1 mo mouncy cracy chicago chronicle the indiana republicans i public ans bragged that from lincoln to harrison their party under a wise policy of protection and reciprocity steadily decreased the bonded debt resumed specie payments maintained maintained the public credit I 1 kept unimpaired the I 1 gold reserve and did some other great things commenting upon this preposterous I 1 I 1 claim that the republicans did all these things under a wise policy of protection and recipe reciprocity oc ity the chro chronicle n icle ventured to ask who created the bonded debt suspended specie payments brought low the public credit and made it necessary to accumulate a gold reserve for resumption purposes it also ventured to ask who sent the gold reserve flying in 1890 and brought it so low that the last republican secretary of the treasury charles foster had made preparation for replenishing it by an issue of bonds before the end of the harrison administration thereupon the tribune climbed up among the thunder caps that veil the summit of the high mount of patriotism and proclaimed that such questions could only have been asked by an ex rebel or copperhead or the son of one it declares that the war debt was wholly the work of southern secessionists and northern copperheads copper heads the former of whom plunged the country into wax war while the latter prolonged it and increased its cost the chronicle was not inquiring who struck billy patterson and it has no apology to make for either secession ests or copperheads copper heads it was inquiring who increased the debt and impaired the public credit by pursuing a bad financial policy and whether the republicans had wrought such wonders as they claimed by their policy of protection and reciprocity it was necessary to borrow much money to meet the cost of the war for the preservation of the union for that very reason it was necessary to pursue a course with respect to the currency wise enough and conservative enough to inspire confidence in the minds of people who had money to lend but this is exactly what the republican party did not do it pursued a course calculated to destroy confidence impair the public credit and vastly increase the final cost of the war contrary to the advice of the ablest financiers a republican congress authorized zed the issue of of government circulating notes and made them legal tender five months later it authorized another issue of the same amount the depreciation which would have resulted naturally from such enormous issues was checked by a provision of the law directing the secretary to I 1 I 1 give 6 per cent coin bonds in exchange I 1 for the note upon demand of holders hol ders of I 1 the latter but by an act passed less than thirteen months after the first I 1 issue of these notes was authorized this promise to give bonds for the notes was 1 flatly repudiated I 1 at the same time another 1 of notes was authorized As a consequence of this enormous expansion accompanying compa nying repudiation of the original contract the notes greatly depreciated As it was necessary to sell bonds at par I 1 in these notes in order to keep them from becoming entirely worthless the bonds were in reality sold far below par the average price probably not exceeding two thirds of their face thus the whole amount of the bonded debt came to be nearly or quite one half greater than it would have been but for the depreciation of the currency due to inflation and repudiation this degradation of the currency and increase in the interest bearing debt was not the work of secessionists or copperheads copper heads it was republican financial policy and the necessary consequences thereof neither secessionists nor copperheads copper heads prevented the renewal of the promise to give bonds for green backs and the fulfillment of the promise when renewed it was not necessary to prolong the suspension nearly fourteen years after the close of the war all this was republican policy the result was a disastrous panic in 1873 and a pretty complete demoralization of the public mind on the subject of the currency after that we had the republican silver legislation of 1878 and 1890 resulting in 1893 in another widespread and disastrous panic and ever since that event the republican firebugs fire debugs bugs though frightened at first into a halt half ILd admission mission of the truth have been accusing the democratic firemen of it is an old trick of theirs it is at once characteristic and indecent of the tribune which supported the vicious greenback policy of the war and which was conspicuous among the silver incendiaries cen diaries in 1878 to scream copperhead at anyone who ventures to crit icide the wretched financial policy of the republican party and to recall its unredeemed pledges of tariff reform the organ of the perfidious panic party can find no better argument 1 I I 1 they have formed a protected ro r t ted trust mr gates says t tah a corporation which he reprise get a freight rate at livera ol 01 I 1 0 a ton to san francisco while the rate from new york to san francisco Is 6 a ton from liverpool to galveston the rate is a ton and it is 3 80 a ton from new york to galveston it would cost but little more tor for the illinois steel company to ship its products from ne new w york to liverpool and thence back to american ports than it costs to ship direct from new york to other american ports the reason Is that the coastwise commerce is protected by the monopoly tariff mr gates demands that the tariff monopoly on american commerce shall be abolished that by taking advantage of low freight he can undersell english steel and iron in all the markets the illinois steel company is protected by enormous duties on all its products american purchasers of teel steel and iron manufacturers are compelled to pay the protected monopoly prices that are sustained by a tariff ot of from 30 to 50 per cent every pound of steel and iron sold old in the united states pays a profit proportionate to the amount of duty levied to protect the industry from foreign competition at the same time this corporation is selling steel railroad rails and other steel and iron products in foreign markets at prices which compete with those of english manufacturers they can outbid their foreign rivals in every market while making american purchasers pay an extortionate price 20 to 25 per cent higher than is paid for the same articles by foreign foreia n purchasers now mr gates while exacting the highest price for his own wares that the tariff will support wants to co deprive of protection the vessels carrying cargoes from one american port to another he wants to abolish the protection of vessels employed in the coastwise traffic while maintaining the protection which he receives for his own manufactures he wants to break down the vessel monopoly but to sustain his own he says that but fo for r the protected vessel interests which maintain high freight rates his own protected monopoly could compete with free trade nations but he claims from home purchasers the highest extortionate prices that his monopoly of the source 0 of f supply enables him to command mr gates and all other beneficiaries of the monopoly tariff should offer to throw off the rates by bv which they are protected before they demand that the protection enjoyed by bv other monopolies should be abolished |