The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1858-08-12
EesEer from II. Rush Pctrflken
ESD.


DR.. J. N. Heacock, DushoCe, and Augustus
Li,pineott Hills Grove, Sullivan County,
! Penna:
GENTLEMEN-Your favor of the 28th
inst, is received. Your enquiries are un-
questionably right aud it gives me pleas
ure to answer.
The political var which is now waging
between the peopIc on the one hand, and
the hungry parasites hanging upon the
National Treasury under the control of
/ the Slave Nobility, is, when divested Of
clap-trap names designating party organ
ization, simply contest between free and
slave labor.
| This contest has been going on since
I the NulliEcation or Revolt of South Car
olina against the Tariff law of 1923. Pre-
vious to that Revolt, and while our rulers
were actUated by the same spirit of JUS
tice which animated the patriot fathers Of
the revolution, freedom aud protection OF
/ domestic industry went hand in hand.
/ Up to that time the National Government
was conducted as the Constitution or
dams it shall be, " to promote the general
welfare and secure the blessings Of Ltder-
Iy" to the people. But when we come
to examine events since, We find III each
/ Congress where Slavery has had full sway
through the sham-democracy, the inter-
ests Of free labor have had to give way by
modification of the rates Of duty and the
abandonment Of discriminating protection.
This las been perseyercd into the extent
that pov We have I'D Oo|0reno duties un-
der the TariT Act Of 1857 Of the most
ruinous kind.
To Senator Bisler You must charge this
wrong. 1t was he WhQ betrayed Penn
sylvania-'ti It's he and his Lecompton fol-
lowers who serve the slaye power and be-
tray the people.
Lecompton apd the abrogation Of all
protective discrimination are events that
come together; oppression and wrong ;
popular rights disre8arded IN Kansas free
Industry destroyed in the States. H. this
district cur productions are varied. We
have varied agricultural products; we have
Iron Manufactures (ceIy Quelt no7c); we
have Eituminous Coal Mines and large
lumber interests. Even under the Tariff
of 1916 these interests were protected to
some extent, possibly in all, save Iron,
sufficiently.
In the British possessions Of North
America all the productions common in
this district, save iron, are abundant.
Lumber, bituminous coal and breadstutfs
are staples. Cotton, rice and tobacco are
cultivated by slave labor. During the
wear 1851 treaty was made with Queen
Victoria, by which the productions Of the
British Possessions, lumber, coal, and
bread stutfs, come in FREE Of duty, in
direct competition with our FREE LA
BOR, that the products of SLAVE La
ROR, cotton, rice, and toblcco, l1ay have
free market in her dyminions on this con-
tinent. The ohofproductions Of our own
people were thus s. Sscriiced, an1 the prop
ertg Of this portion Of our good old COM
monwcalth checked.
That same year the Missouri Compro-
mise was repealed, and that policy inau-
curated which has resulted in the Lecomp-
ton Constitution and the Dred Scott de-
cision. Encouraging slave labor, and dis
couraging and expressing free labor, are
events which come appropriately In con
neotion with the wrongs to the people OF
the territories in the Kansas legislation
of the General Government, and the de-
cision of the Supreme judiciary by which
slavery covers the land.
That policy which crushes free labor in
the old States keeps it out of the new
for if slavery may 60 there free labor can
not. Thus, whenever the sham Democ-
racy have the sway, slavery has the a8cen-
dant, and nothing like justice to free in
tercsts can be expected. For these, and
other reasons which if written would be
100 long for a letter, | am in favor of that
policy which favors free men and most es-
peoially that policy which will protect their
industry through their productions, against
ruinous competition from abroad by dis
eliminating duties, specific where the
quality of the article is not too varied to
allow that mode.
| am in favor of abrogating the Recip-
rocity Treaty admitting the productions
of the British providences free,
In whatever position may be placed
will assiduousl y work to effect these OBJ
iccts; in other words | shall endeavor to
promote the interests and dignity of la
bor The true dignity Of labor is in its
results and not in the conventional form
IN which 1t is employed.
In 1870, according to received author
ity, there were 2 100000 employed in ag-
riculture, of the white male population
over fifteen years of age, and ], $50, 600 in
commerce, trade, mining, manufactures
and mechanic arts; of these 338, 900 were
am rlnraG In minincc nnInmerna ncnan and