The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1868-05-07
Our Neighbor on the " Tariff"

double column measure, TO an elucluatlon
,f his views, and the views of his party,
On the Tariff question. Hitherto, as IN
lsl4,. it has been customary with the
press and orators of the Democratic party,
to head off all questions, and all argu-
ments, touching the Tariff, by respect
fully reference "to my letter to John IL.
Kane" = a letter written, and we'll writ
ten too, to slut every wind of opinion,
whether it blew from the North, the
South, the East, or the West. The let
ter had this advantage too, that it pre-
tended to favor a Tariff for revenue,
with incidental provision, for the protec-
ton of those branches of manufacture,
which were yet in swadlings, and needed
the fostering care of Government. This
was the pretended policy of the party
then, and was, to a certainty, as near an
approach to free trade, as could with
safety be made. Now different policy
appears to have been adopted; and if
The Tariff Swindle," spoken of, by,
our neighbor, represents the views of his
party we must bid good-by to all "John
X. Kane (" frauds, for the future, and
look upon the Democracy as fairly COM
mitted to the policy of Free Traders; or,
in other words, to the support of the man.
ufacturing interests of the old world.
There is so much of the wonderful,
and of the {" bugga- boo" in our neigh
boris article, that we would like to lay it
before our readers = not because Of its
intrinsic merits as an argument on the
subject, for it has no such merits, but
because Of the confirmation which it fur
nishes as to the lunatic point to which
Democratic reasoning has at last driven
Democratic editors - but we have no
room for it at this time From its peru.
sal one would almost suppose that these
gentlemen, our neighbor among the rest,
had, by some slight of hand, been pres
toed to China, where hideous noises and
still more hideous distortions of counte-
nance, are potent means of quelling tu-
multi, and driving the masses into the
support of such measures, as the more
shrewd among them may wish to have
adopted. They must, most assuredly
have forgotten, that they are living in a
land of intelligence; where, outside OF
the immediate precincts of Democratic
majorities, the people read, and learn,
and understand every measure adopted by
the powers that be, and approve or con-
denim, through the ballot box, as may be
their we'll digcsted choice in the matter
In this nineteenth century, and in this
land of liberty, where the official servant
holds his position only at the will of his
voting master, to speak, as the Demo
crat speaks, of the masses being a pur-
chasable commodity, as are so many sheep
upon the. shambles, is an insult which
should not fail to meet proper rebuke.
And then, too, to speak of ballot box
corrupted, taxes wrung from the people,
wages reduced to the pauper standard of
Europe, and these backed by foul false
hood as to the increase in price of
commodities necessary for mans con-
sumption, in face of the fact that if these
things do exist they must exist by the
intelligent consent of those on whom
the scare is attempted to be inflicted, is
piece of folly which we did not look for
in one possessed Of an intellect so obtuse,
even as that which rules our neighbor' S
Uranium. We can account for it under no
other hypothesis, than that much waiting
for the crumbs of Official patronage has
made the party and its editors and lead
ers besides themselves.
a part of our neighbor's confession of
Tariff Faith, which would be laughable
if it were not broached in all seriousness.
is that in which he alludes to the wages of
Democratic times. The Democratic
times, with the business state of the
country, the wages and the prices of
commodities incident thereto, are not yet
passed from the memory of the youngest of
men now doing business for themselves.
Closed factories and workshops, mechanics
and iaborers out of employ, corruptious
in power, general staguation in business,
and, If a revival took place, hand to
mouth wages and mere nominal prices
for farm produce, where the peculiarities
Of those times, which eliminated in the
of the Republican party, and
n the overthrow of Democracy, and the
good times which have ever
inee prevailed A most notable result