The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1868-08-26


der to shoulder bv them in that grand re-
evolutionary conflict, which in blood ane
suffering, and with precious treasure FIRST
bought US our liberties.
All, but /" these men are now rebels and
traitors, and you, the Democracy, received
them with open arms, and gushing hearts,
to your recent Presidential Convention.
Thank God. we did /; and by none were
they hailed with more cordial welcome,
than by, not the bloodless though blood
thirsty home loyalists of war, but by the
gallant and noble heroes. the Hancoeks.
the Franklins, the Ewings, the Blairs, the
Slocums, and the Steadmans, who had met
in deadly conflict amid the sulphurcrs can
opy and shock of battle. We mean to
have peace indeed. We intend to restore
the Union in fact; and to-day we know
these men only as our friends, fellow-eiti
zens and brothers the descendants. Of the
Washingtons, the Lees. the Hamptens, the
Sumters, the Marions, the lPrestons, the
Haynes, the Laurens and others who side
BY side, stood with the Hancocks, the
Adamses, the Starks, the Putnams, the
Gates, and the Waynes of the North in
the heroic Revolutionary struggle Of 1776,
or with their sons and grandsons in the la
ter conflict of 1872, or the Mexican war OF
1846-American all, whose fame is the
patrimony of the whole country. This is
peace, this is Union, this alons is the
blessed vision of the seers and prophets Of
an age gone by: One Constitution, one
country, one destiny! 49,. .
So much for reconstruction. And now,
gentlemen. q word upon humber yet more
practical and scarce less important sub
jects. or IA N ts
tosli'e TAXATION, TARIFF AND REVENUE.
And first as to taxation in its double
form Tariff and Internal Revenue. The
sole foundation of the right of government
to appropriate any part Of the property of
the citizen by taxation is the necessity Of
supporting the Government in its several
departments, working strictly within the
line Of their duty; and the only measure Of
the right is the extent of the necessity, q
reasonable economy being Che fixed rule by
which to determine that necessity. Every
dollar which the Government extracts from
the people beyond this is sheer downright
robbery. Now, protective tariff in it's
very nature. implies the levying Of tax,
not for the necessities of the Government,
but for the benefit of a class. Levied upon
articles ofmanufacture, it is money trans
ferred by act of Congress from the pockets
Of the consumer to the bank account of the
manufacturer And this is robbery. Pre-
vious to the war and in Democratic times,
an average duty ofsome fifteen per cent.
was laid upon imports; and without dol
lar of internal revenue collected by the Fed
eral Government, the amount received was
ample to pay the then seventy or eighty
millions of expenditures. Now as part OF
the blessings of Republican rule, contin-
uance Of which you are promised under
Gen. Grant, these duties run from q nomi-
nal sum or nothing on raw material, to
three hundred per cent. on manufactures,
averaging upon the whole list more than
forty-five per cent. And ofthis ,one-half at
least is nm absolute gift by The Government
to the manufacturing interest . gift taken
by robbery from>your pockets. Eleven
times has the tariff been raised by several
acts Of Congress since 1860, and we'have
now just barely, by the adjournment yester-
day, escaped another elevation. Oh, the
choice blessings of Republican rule which
are to be continued and multiplied andel
Grant p
But the iniquity, and the iniquity too, Of
the tariff. is greatly aggravated by the fact
that its chief burdens fall upon Us of the
West. One-half Of the proceeds of the ia.
riff 60 to swell the profits Of the Eastern
manufacturer, who buying our produce
cheap, sells us his wares dear, and then in
vesting his rapidly accumulated wealth in
bonds, purchased with geenbacks at
sixty cents on the dollar, escapes taxation,
receives his interest in coin, and after his
bonded claim against the Government has
lin the language Of the Chicago platform
been g extended over a fair period of re-
demption," like the English debt, he or his
heirs in the tenth generation, expect to be
paid in gold at the rate of one hundred
cents to the dollar2 Oh, the blessings o.
Republican rule to be continued under
Grant! But the West, blinded during ths
war by the veil of loyalty at last is be
ginning to open her eyes to this enormous
wrong piled upon her; and / warn thu
East, in no sectional spirit, but in all kind
ness, yet in all earnestness, that the strong
patient man oft West, staggering unde
4 this burden, is resolved in memorable pur
pose, to shake it from his shoulders at eve
ry hazard.
Il have said that the necessities of gov
eminent, economically administered, ar
the limit Of its right to tax. Wherefore
also, it is true that every dollar stolen fror
the Treasury, and every dollar misapplie