Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VOL, III, MANNING, CLARENDON COUNTY, S. 0., WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1888. NO.17. CLEVELAND'S LETTER. THE PRESIDENT BOLDLY DECLARES FOR REDUCED TARIFF TAXES. "No Crusade of Free Trade"-"We Win Not Neglect the InterestS of Labor and Work ingmen"-Danger of the Surplus-Free Raw Material Will Promote Employment and Wider Markets-Trusts and Pauper Labor-A Straightforward Deliverance that is Oversowing with Patriotic Senti ment. WAsrINGTON, September 9.-The fol lowing is the President's letter of acept ance: WasmNoN, September 8, 1888. Hon. Patrick A. Collns and others, committee, etc.: GmqmruzN: In addressing to you my formal acceptance of the nomination to the Presidency of the United States, my thoughts persistently dwell upon the impressive relation of such action to the American le, whose confidence is thus invite ad to the political party to which I belong, just entering upon a contest for continued supremacy The world does not aord a sectacle more sublime than is furnishea when millions of free and intelligent American citizens select their Chief Magistrate and bid one of their number to find the highest earthly honor and the full meas ure of public duty in ready submission to their will It follows that a candidate for this high office can never forget that when the turmoil and the strife which attend the selection of its incumbent shall be heard no more,.there must be in the quiet calm which follows a complete and solemn self-consecration by the people's chosen President of every faculty and endeavor to the service of a confiding and generous nation of freemen. The thoughts are intensified by the light of my experience in the Presiden tial office which has soberly impressed me with the severe responsibilities which it imposes, while it has quickened my lovefor American institutions and taught me the priceless value of the trust of countrymen. THE BIGHTS OF AMEICAN CITIZENS. It is of the highest importance that -those who administer our government .should jealousy project and maintain -the rights of American citizens at home :ad abroad, and should strive to achieve for our country her proper place among the nations of the earth; but there is no .people whose home interestsaresogreat, -and whose numerous objects of domestic -concern deserve so much watchfulness .nd cae Among these are the regulation of a sound financial system suited to our meeds, thus securing an efficient agency of national wealth and general prosperity; the constraction and equip ment of means of defense, to insure our national safety and maintain the honor beneath which such national safety re poses; the protection of our national domain, still stretching beyond the needs of a century's on, and its preserv ation for the and the pioneer of our marvelous growth; a sensible and sincere recognition of the value of Amearian labor, leading to the scn pulous care and just appreciation of the interest of our workingmen; the limita tion and checking of such monopolistic tendencies and anhemes as interfere with the advantages and benefits which the people may rightfully claim; a generous ard and areforour surviving soldiers andesiinrsand for the widow and orphanls ofschasthave died, to the end that whil, the apprariation of their services and acrifices is quickened the appli cation of their pension fund to improper cases may be prevented-. protection against a servile immigratin, which in -ui ml. compeeswith our laboring men in thefllof toil and adds to our population an element ignorant of our mnsitutions and laws, impossible of assimilation with our people and danger .ousto our peace and welfare; a strict and steafast adherence to the principle -of civil service reform and thorough ex . ecntion of the laws passed for their en forcement, thus permitting to our people the advantages of business methods in the operations of their government; the gaat.t.Ouri .colored citizens of all their rights of citizenship and their just recognition and encouragement in all things pertaining to that relation;a firm, patientand humane Indian policy, so that in peaceful relations with the gov .ernment that civilization of the Indian ~may be promoted, with resulting quiet ;and safesy to the settlers on our frontiers; ~andl the curtailment of public expensel iby the introduction of economical -methods in every department of the government. InOSnG THE FLArFoBM. The pledges contained in the platform adopted by the late convention of the national Democracy lead to the advance ment of these objects and insure good government, the aspiration of every true American citizen and the motive for every patriotic action and effort. In the consciousneasthatmuchhas been dontin the direction of good government by the present naministration, and submitting its record to the fair inspection of my countrymen, I indorse the platform thus presented, with the determimation that if I am again called to the Chief Magis trcthere shall be a continuation of dotdendeavortoadvan3e theliterests of the entire country. Our scale ofrFederal taxation and its consequences largely engross at this time the attention of our citzens and the people are soberly considering the necessity of measures of relief. Our government is the creation of the people, established to carry out their de signs and accomplish their good. It was founded on justice, and was made for a free, intelligent and virtuous people. It is onyuseful when within their control, and onyserves them well when regu lated anguided by their constant touch. Itijafree government because it guaran tern to every American citizen the un restricted personal use and enjoyment of aD-the reward of his toil and of all his income, except what may be his fair contribution to ncsaypublic expense. Therefore it is not onythe right but the duty of a free polin the inforce ment of this guaranty, to insist that such expense should be strictly limited to the actual p *li needs. It seems perfectly elear thtwhen the government, this m ntv areased and maintained by the people to do their bidding, turns upon them, and through an utter per version of its powers, extorts from their labor and capital tribute largely in excess of public necessities, the creature has rebelled against the creator and the mas ters are robbed by their servants. EXPENSES TO BE MET BY DUTIES. The cost of the government must con tinue to be met by tariff duties collected at our custom houses upon imported goods and by internal revenue taxes assessed upon spirituous and malt liquors, tobacco and oleomargarine. I suppose it is needless to explain that all these duties and assessments are added to the price of the articles upon which they are levied, and thus become a tax upon all those who buy these articles for use and consumption. I suppose. too, it is well understood that the effect of this tariff taxation is not limited to the con sumers of Imported articles, but that the duties Imposed upon such articles permit a corresponding increase in price to be laid upon domestic productions of the same kind, which increase, paid by all our people as consumers of home productions and en tering every American home, constitutes a form of taxation as certain and as inevita ble as though the amount was annually paid into the hand of the tax-gatherer. These results are inseparable from the plan we have adopted for the collection of our revenue by tariff duties. They are not mentioned to discredit the system. but by way of preface to the statement that every million of dollars collected at our custom houses for duties upon imported articles and paid into the public treasury represent many millions more, which, though never reaching the national treasury, are paid by our citizens as the increased cost of domes tic productions resulting from our tariff laws. LIMIT THE RATE OF TARIFF CHARGES. In these circumstances, and in view of this necessary effect of the operation of our plan for raising revenue, the absolute duty of limiting the rate of tariff charges to the necessities of a frugal and economical ad ministration of the government seems to be perfectly plain. The continuance, upon a pretext of meeting public expenditures, of such a scale of tariff taxation as draws from the substance of the people a sum largely in excess. of public needs, is surely some thing which under a government based upon justice, and which finds its strength and usefulness in the faith and trust of the people, ought not to be tolerated. hile the heaviest burdens incident to the necessities of the government are un complainingly borne, light burdens become grievous and intolerable when not justified by such necessities. Unnecessary taxation is unjust taxation. And yet this is our con dition. We are annually collecting at our custom houses and by means of our inter nal revenue taxation many millions in ex css of all legitimate public needs. As a consequence there now remains in the na tional treasury a surplus of more than one hundred and thirty millions of dollars. No better evidence could be furnished that the people are exorbitantly taxed. The extent of the superfluous burden indi cated by this surplus will be better appre ciated when it is suggested that such sur plus alone represents taxation aggregation more than one hundred and eight thousand dollars in a county containing fifty thou sand inhabitants Taxation has always been the feature of organized government; the hardest to re concile with the people's ideas of freenom and happiness. When presented in a di rect form nothing will arouse popular dis content more quickly and profoundly than unjust and unneccessary taxation. Our farmers, mechanics, laborers and all our citizens closely scan the slightest increase in the taxes assessed upon their lands and other property, and demand good reasons for such increase. And yet they seem to be expected, in some quarters, to regard the une ry volume of insidious and indi et taxation -visited upon them by our resent rate of tariff duties with indiffer nce if not with favor. A MENACE TO PRosPERITY. The surplus revenue now remaining In he Treasury not only furnishes conclusive roof of unjust taxation, but its existence onstitutes a separate and independent enace to the prosperity of the people. his vast accumulation of Idle funds repre ents that much money drawn from the irculating medium of the country which Is needed in the channels of trade and bus ness. It is a great mistake to suppose that the onsequences which follow the continual withdrawa and oardin~gby the govern ent of the curny of the people are not, f immediate ihaportance to the mass of ouri itizens, and only concerns those engaged In large financial transactions. In the restless enterprise and activity which free and ready money among the people produces Is found that opportunity for labor and employment and that Impetus to business and production which bring in their train prosperity to our citizensin every station and vocation. New ventures, new investments In business and manufacture, the construction of new and Important works and the enlargement of enterprises aldready established, depend largely upon obtaining money upon easy terms with fair security; and all these things are stimulated by an abundant volume of circulating me dium. Even the harvested grain of the farmer remains without a market unless money is forthcoming for its movement and transportation to the seaboard. The first re suts of a scarcity of money among the peo plc is the exaction of severe terms for its use. Increasing distrust and timidity is followed by a refusal to loan or advance on any terms. Investors refuse all risks and decline all securities, and in a general fright the money still In the hands of the people is persistently hoarded. It is quite apparent that when this perfectly natural, if not in evitable, stage Is reached, depression in all business and enterprise will, as a necessary consequence, lessen the opportunity for work and employment and reduce salaries and the wages of labor. Instead, then, of being exempt from the influence and effect of an immecse surplus lying idle in the National Treasury, our wage-earners and others who rely upon their labor for support are most of all di rectly concerned in the situatilon. Others, seeing the approach of danger, may pro vide against It, but it will tind those de pending upon their daily toil for bread un prepared, helpless and defenseless. Such a state of affairs does not p resent a case of' Idleness resulting from disputes between the laboring man and his employer, but it produces an absolute and enforced stop page of employment and wages. A TENDENCY TO ExTRAVAGANCE. In reviewing the bad effects of this accu mulated surplus and the scale of tariff rates by which it Is produced, we must not over look the tendency towards gross and scan dalous public extravagance which a con gested Treasury induces nor the fact that we are maintaining without excuse In a time of profound peace substantially the rates of tariff duties Imposed in time of war, when the necessities of the govern ment justified the imposition of the weight iet burdens unnn the people. Divers plans have been suggested for the return of this accumulated surplus to the people and the channels of trade. Some of these devices are at variance with all rule, of good finance; some are delusive; some are absurd, and some betray by their reck less extravagance the demoralizing influ ence of a great surplus of publie money upon the judgment of individuals. While such efforts should be made as are consistent with public duty and sanctioned by sound judgment to avoid danger by the useful disposition of the surplus now re maining in the Treasury, it is evident that if its distribution were accomplished an other accumulation would soon take its place if the constant flow of redundant in come was not choked at its source by a re form in our present tariff laws. We do not propose to deal with these con ditions by merely attempting to satisfy the people of the truth of abstract-theorie, nor by alone urging their assent to political doc trine. We,present to them the propositions that they are unjustly treated in the extent of present federal taxation, that as a result a condition of extreme danger exists, and that it is for them to demand a remedy and that defense and safety promised in the guarantees of their free government. BUSINESS AND LABOR PROTECTED. We believe that the same means which are adopted to relieve the Treasury of the present surplus and prevent its recurrence should cheapen to our people the cost of supplying their daily wants. Both of these objects we seek in part to gain by reducing the present tariff rates upon the necessaries of life. We fully appreciate the importance to the country of our domestic industrial enter prises. In the rectification of existing wrongs their maintenance and prosperity should be carefully, and in a friendly spirit, considered. Even such reliance upon pres ent revenue arrangements as have been in vited or encouraged should be fairly and justly regarded. Abrupt and radical changes which might endanger such enter prises, and injuriously affect the interests of labor dependent upon their success and continuance, are not contemplated or in tended. But we know the cost of domestic manufactured products is increased and the price to consumers enhanced by the duty imposed upon the raw material used in their manufacture. We know that this increased cost prevents the sale of our productions at foreign markets in competition with those countries which have the advantage of free raw materials. We know that confined to a home market our manufacturing opera tions are curtailed, their demand for labor irregular and the rate of wages paid un certain. We propose, therefore, to stimulate our omestic industrial enterprises by freeing from duty the imported raw materials, which by theemployment of labor are used in our home manufactures, thus extending the markets for their sale and permitting in increased and steady production with the allowance of abundant profits. STEADY EMPLOYMENT. True to the undeviating course of the Democratic party, we will not neglect the nterests of labor and our workingmen. [n all efforts to remedy existing evils we will furnish no excuse for the loss of em ployment or the reduction of the wage of honest toil. On the contrary, we propose, En any adjustment of our revenue laws, to :oncede such encouragement and advantage a the employers of domestic labor as will sily compensate for any difference that may exist between the standard of wages which should be paid to our laboring men md the rate allowed in other countries. We propose, too, by extending the markets for our manufacturers to promote the steady employment of labor, while by cheapening the cost of the necessaries of life we increase the purchasing power of the workingman's wages and add to the comforts of his home. And, before passing from this phase of the question, I am c nstrained to express the opinion that while the interests of labor hould be always sedulously regarded in any modification of our tariff laws, an ad litonal and more direct and efficient pro ~ection to these interests would be afforded y the restriction and prohibition of the mmigration or importation of laborers rom other countries, who swarm upon our iores, having no purpose or intent of be ~oming our fellow-citizens, or acquiring ny permanent interest in our country, but who crowd every field of employment with mintelligent labor at wages which ought ot to satisfy those who make claim to Lmercan citizenship. THE TRUSTS DEALT WITH. The platform adopted by the late Na ioal Convention of our party contains he following declaration: "Judged by Democratic principles, the iterests of the people are betrayed when unecessary taxation, trusts and combines are permitted and fostered, which, while uduly enriching the few that combine, rob he body of our citizens by depriving them s purchasers of the benefits of natural ompetition." Such combinations have always been con emned by the Democratic party. The eclaration of its National Convention is sincerely made, and no member of our party will be found excusiing the existence r belittling the pernicious results of these evices to wrong the people. Under va rious names they have been punished by the common law for hundreds of years, ad they have lost none of their hateful features because they have assumed the ame of trusts instead of conspiracies. We believe that these trusts are the natural ffspring of a market artificially restricted; that an inordinately high tariff, beside fur nishing the temptation for their existence, enlarges the limit within which they may operate against the people and thus in reses the extent of their power for wrong-doing. With an unalterable hatred of all such schemes, we count the check ing of their baleful operations among the good results promised by revenue reform. NO CRUsADE OF FREE TRADE. While we cannot avoid partisan misrep resntation, our position upon the question of revenue reform should be so plainly stated as to admit of no misunderstanding. We have entered upon the crusade of free trade. The reform we seek to inaugurate s predicted upon the utmost care for estab lished industries and enterprises, a jealous regard for the interests of American labor, and a sincere desire to relieve the country from the Injustice and danger of a condi tion which threatens evil to all the people of the land. We are dealing with no imaginary dan ger. Its existence has been repeatehly con fessed by all political parties, and pledges of a remedy have been made on all sides. Yet, when in the legislative body where under the Constitution all remedial meas ures applicable to this subject must origi nate, the Democratic majority were at tempting with extreme moderation to re deem the pledge common to both parties, they were met by determined opposition and obstruction, and the minority refusing to co-operate in the House of Representa tives, or propose another remedy, have re mitted the redemption of their party pledge to the doubtful power of the Senate. The people will hardly be deceived by their abandonment of the field of legislative action to meet in political convention and flippantly declare in their party platform that our conservative and careful effort to relieve the situation is destructive to the American system of protection. Nor will the people be misled by the appeal to preju dice contained in the absurd allegation that we serve the interests of Europe, while they will support the interests of America REPUBLIcAN INSINCERITY. They propose in their platform to thus support the interests of our country by re moving the internal revenue tax from to bacco and from spirits used in the arts and for medicinal purposes. They declare also that there should be such a revision of our tariff laws as shall tend to check the impor tation of such articles as are produced here. Thus in proposing to increase the duties -upon such articles totearly or quite a pro hibitory point they confess themselves will ing to travel backward in the road of civi lization and to deprive our people of the markets for their goods, which can only be gained and kept by the semblance, at least, of an interchange of business, while they abandon our consumers to the unrestrained oppression of the domestic trusts and com binations which are in the same platform perfunctorily condemned. They propose, further, to release entirely from import duties all articles of foreign production (except luxuries) the like of which cannot be produced in this country. The plain people of the land and the poor, who scarcely use articles of any description produced exclusively abroad and not al ready free, will find it difficult to discover where their interests are regarded in this proposition. They need in their homes cheaper domestic necessaries, and this seems to be entirely unprovided for in this proposed scheme to serve the country. FREE TOBACCO AND FREE WHISEY. Small compensation for this neglected need is found in the further purpose here announced and covered by the declaration that if after the changes already mentioned there still remains a larger revenue than is requisite for the wants of the government the entire internal taxation should be re pealed, "rather than surrender any part of our protective system." Our people ask relief from the undue and unnecessary burden of tariff taxation now resting upon them. They ore offered -free tobacco and free whisky. They ask for bread and they are given a stone. The implication contained in this party declaration, that desperate measures are justified or necessary to save from c'estruc tion or surrender what is termed our pro tective system, should confuse no one. The existence of such a system is entirely con sistent with the regulation of the extent to which it should be applied and the correc tion of its abuses. Of course, in a country as great as ours, with such a wonderful variety of interests, often leading in entirely different directions, it is difficult if not impossible to settle upon a perfect tariff plan. But in accomplishing the reform we have entered upon, the ne cessity of which is so obvious, I believe-we should not be content with a reduction of revenue involving the prohibition of im portations and the removal of the internal tax upon whisky. It may be better and more safely done within the lines of grant ing actual relief to the people in their means of living and at the same time giv ing an impetus to our domestic enterprises and furthering our national welfare. If misrepresentations of our purposes and motives are to gain credence and defeat our present efforts in this direction, there seems to be no reason why every endeavor in the future to accomplish revenue reform should not be likewise attacked and with like result. And yet no thoughtful man can fail to see in the continuance of the present burdens of the people, and the ab straction by the government .of the cur rency of the country, inevitable distress and disaster. All danger will be averted by timely action. The dificulty of apply ing the remedy will never be less, and the blame should not be laid-at the door of the Democratic party if it Is applied too late. With firm faith in the intelligence and patriotism of our countrymen, and relying upon the conviction that misrepresentation will not Influence them, prejudice will not cloud their understanding, and that menace will not intimidate them, let us urge the people's interest and public duty for the vindication of our attempt to inaugurate a righteous and beneficent reform. GRovE CL~vELAND'. The Sharpshooters of McGowan's Brigade. The following letter has been written by Captain W. 8. Dunlop, State Auditor of Arkansas, to Mr. David Moore, of Columbia: I have been engaged for same time in writing up the campaigns of the Battal ion of 8harpshooters of McGowan's Brigade, and have about completed the first draft, which will have to be revised and re-written before publication. I re gret, at every step, that I cannot recall the names of the gallant corps, and have concluded to write to you and every Sharpshooter that I can hear of in order to supply this deficiency. I want you to put on your studying-cap and gather up every name you can, and send the list to me, with the rank and postoffice address of each, if living; and the date and circumstances of death, if dead, that I may be able to make a roll of the whole command. Every mant of the Battalion was a hero, and his name should be embalmed in the history of our struggle. Do this, and let me hear from you without delay. If you remem ber any incidents connected with our campaigns where any of our men be hayed with distinguished gallantry or performed any feat of daring in any of our numerous fights, I would like to have them. Sergeant B. K. Benson, of Brunson's company, calls to see me very often. He is a drummer, and lives in Dallas, Texas. Dr. L. K. Robertson, another member of the Battalion from Abbeville, is living in Scott county, this State. I spent two nights and a day with him last May. He is a successful physician and has accu mulated a good property in Scott coun ty. These are the only Sharpshooters I know of inArkansa; I would hks to have a re-union of the Battalion, what do you think of it? Any information responsive to the1 above may b'e sent to Mr. David Moore, Columbia, 8. C, or to Captain W. S. Dunlop, Little Rock, Arkansas. Clear the Track for the Comet. GENEVA, N. YT., September 12.-Pro fessor Brooks says that the new comet dis covered independently by Prof. Barnard and himself a week ago is apparently moving almost directly toward the earth. Observations by Professor Brooks this morning show the comet to be growing brighter and longer. It is in the morning IHARRISON'S ACCEPTANCE. HOW THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE VIEWS THE SITUATION. A Labored Consideration of the Tariff a, the Paramount Issue- Other Matters, Mostly Very Old, Considered from a Re publican Standpoint. IDIANAPOLLs, September 11.--The following is General Harrison's letter acopting. the Republican Presidential nomination: INDINuoLIs, Ind., September 11. Hon. M. M. Estee and others, Com mittee: GEmimEN: When your committee visited me, on the 4th of July last, and presented the official announcement of my nomination for the Presidency of the United States by the Republican Con vention, I promised as soon as practica ble to communicate to you a more formal acceptance of the nomination. Since that time the work of receiving and addressing, almost daily, large dele gations of my fellow-citizens has not only occupied all of my time, but has in some measure rendered it unnecessary for me to use this letter as a medium of communicating to the public my views upon the questions involved in the cam I appreciate very highly the confi dence and respect manifested by the Convention, and accept the nomination with a feeling of gratitude and a full sense of the responsibility which accom panies it. It is a matter of congratulation that the declaration of the Chicago Conven tion upon questions that now attract the interest of our people, are so clear and emphatic. There is a further cause of congratulation in the fact that the Con vention's utterances of the Democratic party, if in any degree uncertain or con tradictory, can now be judged and inter preted by executive acts and messages, and by definite propositions in legisla tion. This is especially true of what is popularly known as the tariff question. he issue cannot now be obscured. It is not a contest between schedules, but between wide-apart principles. Foreign cc.mpetitors of our market have, with quick instinct, seen how one issue of this contest may bring them ad vantage, and our own people are not so dull as to miss or neglect the grave in terests that are involved for them. The asault upon our protective system is open and defiant. Protection is assailed as unconstitutional in law or as vicious in principle, and those who hold such views sincerely cannot stop short of an asolute elimination from our tariff laws of the principles of protection. The Mills bill is only a step, but it is toward an object that the leaders of Democratic thought and legislation have clearly in mind. The important question is not so much the length of the step as the direction of it. Judged by the Ex ecutive message of December last, by the Mills bill, by the debates in Congress and by the St. Louis platform, the Dem ocratic party will, if supported by the country, place the tariff laws upon a purely revenue basis. This is practical free trade-free trade in the English sensg, The legend upon the banner may not be "Free Trade;" it may be the more obscure motto, "Tariff Reform;" but neither the banner nor the inscription is conclusive, or, indeed, very important. The assault itself is the important fact. Those who teach that import duties upon foreign goods sold in our market is paid by the consumer, and that the rice of the domestic competing article is enhanced to the amount of duty on he imported article-that every million f dollars collected for customs duties epresents many millions more which do nct reach the treasury, but are paid y oritizens as the increased cost of omestic productions resulting from the ariff laws-may not intend to discredit in the minds of others our system of eaving duties on competing foreign products, but it is clearly already dis redited in .their own. We cannot oubt, without impugning their integ rity, that if free to act upon their con ictions, they would so revise our laws as to lay the burden of customs revenue pon articles that are not produced in his country, and to pae upon the free list all competing foreign products. I do not stop to refute this theory as o the effect of our tariff duties. Those who advance it are students of a maxim ma not of the markets. They may be safely allowed to call their project "Tariff Reform,"' if the people under tand that in the end argument compels free trade in all compettng products. his end may not be reached abruptly, ma its approach may be accompanied with some expressions of sympathy for ur protected industries and our work ig people, but it will certainly come if hese early steps do not arouse the peo ple to effective resistance. The Republican party holds that a rotective tariff is constitutional, whole some and necessary. We do not offer a ixed scedule to modify rates, but al ways with an intelligent provision as to the effect upon domestic production and the wages of our working people. We believe it to be one of the worthy objects f tariff legislation to preserve the American maket for American produ ers, and to maintain an American scale f wages by adequate discriminating dties upon foreign competing products. The effect of lower rates and larger importations upon the revenue is con tingent and doubtful; but not so the effect upon American production and American wages. Less work and -lower wages must be accepted as the inevitable result of and increased offering of foreign goods in our market. By way of recom pense for this reduction in his wages nd the loss of the American market, it is suggested that the diminished wages of the workingman will have an undi minished purchasing power, and that he will be able to make up for the loss of a home market by an enlarged foreign market. Our workingmen have the set tlement of the question in their own hands. They now obtain higher wages and live more comfortably than those of any other country. They will make their choice between the substantial ad vantages they have in hand and the de ceptive promises and forecasts of those theorizing reformers. They will decide for themselves and for the country whther the protective system shall be Icontinued or destroyed. The fat of the Treasury surplus. ie amount of which is variously stated, has directed public attention to the conside ration of the method by which the na tional income may beat be reduced to the level of wise and necessary expedi tures. This condition has been seized upon by those who are hostile to pro tective custom duties as an advantageous base upon our tariff laws. They have magnified and nursed the surplus, which they affect to deprecate, seemingly for the purpose of exaggerating the evil, in order to reconcile the people to the ex treme remedy they propose. A proper reduction of the revenue does not neces sitate, and should not suggest, the abandonment or impairment of the pro tective system. The methods suggested by our Convention will not need to be exhausted in order to effect the necessary reduction. We are not likely to be called upon, I think, to make a present choice between the surrender of our protective system and the entire repeal of internal takes. Such a contingency, in veiw of the present relation of expenditures to revenue, is remote. The inspection and regulation of the manufacture and sale of olemargarine is important, and the revenue derived from it is not so great that a repeal of the law need enter into any plan of revenue reduction. The surplus now in the Treasury should be used in the purchase of bonds. The law authorizes this use of it, and if it is nqt needed for current or deficiency appropriations, the people, and not the banks in which it has been deposited, should have the advantage of its use by stopping the interest upon the public debt. At least those who needlessly hoard it should not be allowed t, use the fear of a monetary stringency thus produced to coerce public sentiment upon other questions. Closely connected with the subject of the tariff is that of the importation of foreign laborers under contracts of ser vice to be performed here. The law now in force prohibiting such contracts re ceived my cordial support in the Senate, and such amendments as may be found necessary effectively to deliver our work ingmen and women from this most iniquitous form of competition will have my sincere advocacy. Legislation pro hibiting the importation of laborers un der contracts to serve here will, however, afiord very inadequate relief to our working people if the system of pro tective duties is broken down. If the products of American shops must com pete in the American market, without favoring duties, with the products of cheap foreign labor, the effect will be different, if at all, only a degree, whether cheap labor is across the street or over the sea. Such competition will soon re duce wages here to the level of those abroad, and when that condition is reached we will not need any laws for bidding the importation of laborers un der contract-they will have no induce ment to come, and the employer no in ducement to send for them. In the earlier years of our history, public agencies to promote immigration were common. The pioneer wanted a neighbor with more friendly instincts than the Indian. Labor was scarce and fully employed. But the day of the im migration bureau has gone by. While our doors will continue open to proper immigration, we did not need to issue special invitations to the inhabitants of other countries to come to our shores or to share our citizenship. Indeed, the necessity of some inspection and limita tion is obvious. We should resolutely refuse to permit foreign governments to send their paupers and criminals to our ports. We are also clearly under the duty to defend our civilization by ex luding alien races, whose ultimate as similation with our people is neither possible nor desirable. The family has been the nucleus of our best immigra tion and the home the moat potent as similating force in our civilization. The objections to Chinese immigration are distinctive arnd conclusive, and are now so generally accepted as such that the ques tion has passed entirely beyond the stage of argument. Laws relating to this sub ject would, if I should be charged with their enforcement, be faithfully executed. Such amendments or further legislation as may be necessary and proper to prevent evasions of the laws anid to stop further Chinese immigration would also meet my approval. The expression of the Conven tion upon this subject is in entire harmony with my views. Our civil compact is a government by majorities; and the law loses its sanction and the magistrate our respect when the compact is broken. The evil results of election frauds do not expend themselves upon voters who are robbed of their rightful Influence in public afairs. The individual or community or party that practices or connives at election frauds has suffered irreparable injury, and will sooner or later realize that t- exchange the American system of majority rule for minority control is not only unlawful and unpatriotic, but very unsafe for those who promote it. The disfranchisement of a single legal elector by fraud or intimidation is a crime too grave to be regarded lightly. The right of every qualified elector to cast one free ballot and to have it honestly counted must not be questioned. Every constitutional power should be used to make this right secure and punish frauds upon the ballot. Our colored people do not ask special legislation in their Interest, but only to be nmate secure in the c ommon rights of American citizenship. They will, however, naturally mistrust the sincerity of those party leaders who appeal to their race for support only in those localities where suffrage is free and election results doubtful, and compass their disfranchise ment where their votes would be controll ing, and their choice cannot be coerced. A nation, not less than a State, is de pendent for prosperity and security upon the Intelligence and morality of her people. This common interest very early suggested national aid in the establishment and en dowmnt of schools and colleges In the new States. There is, I believe, a present ex igency that calls for still more liberal and direct appropriations in aid of common school education in the States. A territorial form of government is a temporary expedient. not a permanent civil condition. It is adapted to the exigency that suggested it, but becomes inadequate and even oppressive when applied to fixed and populous communities. Several Terri to ies are well able to bear the burdens and discharge the duties of free commonwealths in the American Union. To exclude them is to deny the just rights of their people, and may well excite their indignant protest. No questioni of political preference of the people of a Territory should close against them the hospitable door which has opened to two-thirds of the existing States. But admission should be resolutely refused to any Territory, a majority of whose people cheish instientinna that are rennenant to our civilization or inconsistent with a Re publican form of government. The declaration of the Convention against "All combinations or capital organ ized in trusts or otherwise, to control arbi trarily the condition of trade among our citizens," is in harmony with the views en tertained and publicly expressed by me long before the assembling of the Conves tion. Ordinarily, capital shares the losses of idleness with labor, but under the oper ation of the trust, in some of its forms, the wage worker alone suffers loss, while idle capital receives its dividends from the trust fund. Producers who refuse to join -the combination are destroyed, and competition as an element of prices is eliminated. It cannot be doubted that legislative authority should and will find a method of dealing fairly and effectively with these and other abuses connected with this subject. It can hardly be necessary for4me tosay that I am heartily in sympathy with 'the declaration of the Convention upon the subject of pensions to our soldiers and sailors. What they gave and what they suffered I had some opportunity to observe and, in small measure, to experience. They gave ungrudgingly. It was not a trade, but an offering. The measure was heaped up and running over. What they achieved only distant generations can adequately tell. Without attempting to discuss par ticular propositions, I may add that mes. urea in behalf of the surviving veterans of the war and of the families of their dead comrades should be conceived and executed in a spirit of justice and of most grateful liberality, and that in competition for civil appointment honorable military service should have appropriate recognition. The law regulating appointments to the classified civil service received mny support in the Senate, in the belief that it opened the way to much needed reform. I still think so, and therefore cordially approve the clear and forcible expression of the Convention upon this subject. The law should have the aid of friendly interpreta tion and be faithfully and vigorously en forced. All appointments under it should be absolutely free from partisan considera tions and influence.. Some extensions of the classified list are practicable and dura ble, and further legislation extending re form to other branches of the service, to which it is applicable, would receive my approval. In appointments to every grade and department, fitness, and not party ser vice, should be the a ssential and discrim inating test, and fidelity and efficiency the only sure tenure of office, Only the inter est of the public service should suggest re movals from office. I know the practical difficulties attending an attempt to apply the spirit of the civil service rules to all appointments and removals. It will, how ever, be my sincere purpose, if elected, to advance the reform. I notice with pleasure that the Conven tion (lid not omit to express its solicitude for the promotion of virtue and temperance among our people. The Republican party has always been friendly to everything that tended to make the home life of our people free, pure and prosperous, and will In future t,6 true to its history In this re- - spect. Our relations with foreign povers should be characterized by friendliness and respect. The right of our people and of our ships to hospitable treatment should be insisted upon with dignity and firmness. Our na tion is too great, both in material strength and in moral power, to indulge in bluster or to be suspected of timorousness. Vacil lation and inconsistency are as incompati ble with successful diplomacy as they are with national dignity. We should especial ly cultivate and extend our diplomatic and commercial relations with Central and South American States. Our fisheries should be fostered and protected. The hardships and risk that are necessary in cidents of the business should not be in creased by an inhospitable exclusion from near-lying ports. The resources of firm, dignified and consistent diplomacy are un doubtedly equal to a prompt and peaceful solution of the difficulties that now exist, Our neighbors will surely not expect in our ports the commercial hospitality they deny to us in theirs. I cannot extend this letter by special reference to other subjects upon which the Convention gave an expression. In respect to them, as well as to those I have noticed, I am In entire agreement with the declara tions of the Convention. The resolutions relating to coinage, to the rebuilding of the navy, to coast det'enses, and to public lands, express conclusions to all of which I gave iy support In the Senate. Inviting a calm and thoughtful consider tion of these public questions, we submiti them to the people. Their intelligent pa triotism and the good Providence that made and has kept us a nation will lead them to a wise and safe conclusion. Very respectfully, your ob't servant, Bammr HAnarsoK. A Millilonaire Sued for 650,000. In the Brooklyn Supreme Court yes terday, before Judge Pratt, Lawyer George J. Kilgen made the first move in a suit for breach of promise of marniage that will prove interesting when the ease omes to be tried. The defendant is George Morford, a millionaire wholesale grocer of Bridgeport, Conn., and an order of attachment was granted by Judge Pratt against property he holds Mis Ey . Murray is the fair plaintiff who asks 650,000) as the prica of her discarded affections. She also wants $1,000, the value of certain jewel ry which he holds. She met the mitl lionaire three years ago and he quickly fell in love with her. Among other things he presented her with a pair of diamond earrings and a diamond ring valued.- at $1,000. The engagement lasted until April last, when apparently bis love began to cool. He asked her for the diamonds in order, as heeclaimed, to have them reset, and she confidingly handed them over. Time passed, but the jewels were not returned. Several times she asked for them, but was always put off by an vasive answer. It was evident that he did not want to return them, so, on August 28, she made a formal demand for them, but he declined. Hence the suit. The order of attachment is the initial step. Payers in the breach of promise suit are drawn and will be served in a day or two. No reason is assigned for the coldness on the part of the millionaire save that he believed the lady may have wished to marry him~ for his money.--New York Star 13th. Fogg thinks there must have been tall ball playing in Noah's time, when the ark was pitched within and without. Father Noah was evidently an expert pitcher, both in his in and out curves. "Grandpa," said Teddy, as the old gen teman woke up from a loud-sounding after-dinner nap, "if you'd give your nose a spoonful of paregoric, don't you think you ound pnt it in slenp, to?"