Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-08-26

not more than one half their value
Aud while under the old system the peo
DIe were annually robbed of millions o
dollars by the failure of local hanks
created by the several States, the hold
srs of the currency of the Nationa
Ranks have never lost dollar in thal
vay. and never will, unless the bonds
which are deposited as security for thu
currency shall depreciate and become
worthless by the accession of the Demo
cratic party to power, and the adoption
of policy of repudiation. a9n
'as ps-bfoH THE TARIFF.
. The fourth resolution denOunces ths
present high protective tariff enaetee
in the interest of the New Engiane
manufacturers, for its enormous imposi
ton of duties ON salt, sugar, tea, COLES
and o.htr necessaries, rs oppressive, es
peciaily upon the people OF the West
and that we demand its repeal and ths
substitution of another, based upon rev
enue principles approximating rs closely
upon free trade as possible.
The falsehood of this resolution i:
only exceeded by its absurdity. Tit
declaration that salt, sugar, tea and
coffee are taxed in the interest of New
England is simply ridiculous. New
England does not manufacture or pro
duce any one of those articles, and
therefore, she has no interest to be pro
Lected by Ievying tax upon them. l
New England produced tea, coffee, sugal
or salt, then, perhaps, there would bs
some sense in saying that taxes were
levied upon them for their benefit.
Butinasmuch as the Democratic party
has, in times past, created much preju
dice in the Northwest by the perpetua
slander of New England, and by ths
pretense that we were all heavily taxed
for her benefit, it was thought best by
this convention to hold New England
responsible for the tax levied upon salt
tea, coffee and sugar. You might al
well hold New England responsible fol
the recent eclipse, which was not more
total than will be that of the Democratic
party In Ohio in October next. There
is as much sense ia this resolution a.
there was in the declaration of the vol
when he com piained that the lamb who
went to the spring to drink at poin'
lower down mHddied the water 30 thai
he, the wolf, could not drink 1t. Salt
tsa, coffee and sugar are taxed in the
form of duties because the Government,
has to raise revenue, aud they are the
fair subjects of taxation in that form. ii
the revenue was not raised in this way
it would have TO be in some other, which
would perhaps be just as onerous upon
the great body of the people. just now
there is not very much room for discus.
sion upon the subject of the tariff. The
Government hasli large revenue to
raise, and part,o of it must be obtained
in that way, and if this tariff should be
so adjusted as to some extent to protect
American manufactures it could not be
the subject of just complaint to anybody
who did not prefer foreign to American
manufactures. Fhis resolution does not
demand that revenue shall not be raised
by tariff, but it only demands that
this tariff should be SO adjusted as 10
furnish no protection to American man
ufacturers. ..t..........i ..,...-.t.-,.
RIGHTS OF LABOR. sris'
The fifth resolution begins by ,resolv-
ing that 1.-THE Democratic party of the
United States has always been pre-emi-
nently friendly to the rights and inter-
ests of the iaboring man." Certainly
this. must be so. Has not the DeRGerauc
party for forty years been the adyoeate
and defender of human slavery. and
does it not now stand as the only mourn
er by its grave? And has not the insti-
tuition of slavery been the great enemy
of free labor, demoralizing, dishonoring
and almost destroying it in the States
where it existed, and in fact impairing
its character and credit throughout the
whole country? 1t is. therefore, emf
hently proper that the Democratic party
should now resolve that it bias always
been the champion of the labOriag man,
and is therefore entitled to his eternal
gratitude. go ffiSel lf''tii
This resolution then resolves, "Ttst
the Democratic party is in favor of y
limited number of hours of labor ia all
neutrality-suspicious. dictated
by. the physical and mental well-being
of the laborers." What number of hours
it is in favor of, whether ten, twelve or
fifteen, die resolution does not conde-
scend to inform us, but / will assume,
for the sake of argument, that ii refers
to the eight-hOur system. Aud it 80
happens that eight hours were fixed as
q days work in all Government work
shops, by Republican Congress, more
than year ago, and the only curious
thing about it is that the Democratic
politicians have been able to find it out
30 soon.
The resolution then resolves that it is
'in favor of liberal grants of land from
without cost" And it SO happens that q
Republican Congress, some years, ago,
passed laws donating the public lands
cratic party, throughout the long years
sal,s if In,
of Congress, never passed or
proposed to pass any such lay. But 1t
attempts to make amends tor this fail
ure. some years after the thing has tsRen
done by The Republican party, by COM
in its favor! The truth is,
this whole resolution is bold and fla
grant attempt to capture Republican
and is only relieved from the
charge Of larceny by the fact that the
parties could not carry aWsy the goods,
and the publicity of the attempt would
seem to take away the anintus .fsrdndi,
and reduce the ofense to q mere tres
pass. Melancholy must be the condi-
tion of party when it is reduced to
such traits for the manufacture of lit
lie capital before en- election. 5 tt
THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
The sixth resolution declares that it is
the right of each state to decide for itself
who shall possess the elective franchise,
and that the attempt to regulate suffrage
in Ohio by means of the so-called Fif-
teenth Constitutional Amendment is
to the principles Of the Fed
eral Constitution. The most noticeable
thing about this resolution is, that it
makes no issue against colored suffrage
in itself-gives no intimation that color
ed suffrage is wrong or improper--bu,
objects only to the means by which it is
to be brought about, insisting that sui
frage should be regulated by an amend
ment to the Constitution of the State,
and not by an ameniEent to the Con-
stitution of, the. United States, as is
in the Fifteenth Amendment.
81 In