MONOPOLY OF TRADE THE TARIFF. 623 



bill will never pass this session of the Fiftieth Congress; 

 it was never intended that it should. If it should pass 

 there would be no issue between the parties. The Demo- 

 crats could not then charge the Republicans with favoring 

 a "high protective tariff," nor could the Republicans con- 

 tinue their charges of "free trade" against the Democratic 

 party. To pass this bill would be to destroy the only issue 

 between them. The Senate is Republican and the House 

 Democratic. If the bill passes, the Republicans are 

 entitled to as much credit as the Democrats. No, it will 

 not pass. Since the tariff is said to be about the only 

 issue between the two parties, it is well enough to see to 

 what extent they differ on the question. 



We will go back to their last national platforms. In 

 1884 the Republican party adopted the following plank: 

 u The Republican party pledges itself to correct the ine- 

 qualities of the tariff and to reduce the surplus, not by a 

 vicious process of horizontal reduction, but by such meth- 

 ods as will relieve the tax-payer without injuring the labor 

 or great productive interests of the country. We recognize 

 the importance of sheep husbandry in the United States, 

 and we therefore respect the demands of its representatives 

 for a readjustment of the duty on foreign wool, in order 

 that such industry may have full and adequate protection." 



The Democratic platform, for the same vear, contained 

 this plank: 



u The Democratic party is pledged to revise the tariff in 

 a spirit of fairness to all interests. But in making a 

 reduction of taxes it is not proposed to injure domestic 

 industries." 



President Arthur, in his last message, says: 



"The revenues that will remain to the government 

 will, in my opinion, not only suffice to meet its reasonable 

 expenditures, but will afford a surplus large enough to per- 

 mit such tariff reductions as may seem to be advisable." 



