The New York herald., 1870-12-01

Tho "Revenue Reforsers''-wAas they
AJAX and What They FAN to Ask-rGs
Rise Of = Great Party. trstA
There was something more than dinner In
fne meeting of the free traders ct Del
montco's on Monday evening. Mr.. Bryant
represented the old free trade democratic
party and was probably impatient at the
hmHauons imposed upon him by the younger
followers, who strain at free trade--pure and
simple-but yearn for what they call ssreve-
nue. reform" With Mr. Bryant free trade Ia
what the doctors would call specific or .
sure medicine. He has been debating its
virtues, Its restorative and health giving
qualities for fifty years, and now stands like
Moses when he looked upon the promised
land which he was to see while others wou,a
occupy. The young men from the West ara
the true leaders. As Scott and Wool and
Harvey were crowded to one side by sturdier
and more active generals like Grant and Sher-
man and Sheridan in our civil war, 80 younger
men, like White and Grosvenor, have taken the
place 9f Bryant and Marshall -s*s
The Arst point we see In this new and grave
discussion Is the absence of any recruits In the
army Of protection. Mr.. White quantity snd
truly expressed this weakness whom he pro-
fessed his ignorance Of any knowledge Of Mr..
Greeley trinity Of protective deities- Forward
and Mallory and Snyder. When cause must
needs find Its Representatives in men dead
and buried half century ago It is weak
indeed The trouble with Mr.. Greeley IA
that, as politician, he too frequently lives In
the era Of 1920. He became protectioniss
when boy up in one q TIE whig counties OF
Yankee State, and he has never changed his
mind, as, indeed, he has never changed
his mind on any question. Failing to win
new followers nothing is left to the protec-
tionists but to invoke dead memories and rake
up the objects Of alteration In the bones and
ashes Of the past. Who cares for Simon
Snyder now2 The old Pennsylvania Governor
has gone to peace, and is probably by this
time an oxydized iron formation in some iron
county Of the Keystone State. Who cares for
Henry Clay? We might as well seriously
quote his opinions on internal improvements,
the war with Greece Or the removal Of the bank
deposits, as to regard him with patience on a
question like revenue reform. These men are
the remnants Of q pal@ozoic age, and we may
say Of them as Colerfdge Of the good knight
Their swords are rust,
Their bodies are dust
And their souls are now with Christ we trust.
In the famous comedy Of Grip Van Winkle,"
the old man, with rheumatic joints and white
flowing hair, and trembling limbs and rheumy
eyes, stalks down among the villagers and
seeks some familiar face. ''Does anybody
here know Dick vedder or jacob Stein ?"
sWhy, they are dead twenty years" And he
goes on to ask, Kthey are dead who il he
and why is he alivea This is very much the
position Of Mr.. Greeley as he wanders through
the Tribune from day to day asking II any
body has heard Of Forward and Mallory and
Snyder. The men and the times have changed.
We have new North and new South. The
business interests of the Northern States food
new channels The South Is in the hands OF
| a new people. In other days the industrial
people Of the South had no interest In the de-
velopment Of the country. They were bought
and sold at so much head. They were simply
SO much property, like SO many oxen or horses
or sheep. With them life was only hog and
hominy and molasses Whether trade was
poor or thriving, whether crops were full
or barren, whether there were railroads
or canals or industries, was Of no
value. But now they live aud think The
negro has an interest In every ounce Of tea,
every pound Of sugar and tobacco. It repre-
sents his own industry, and he must guard
and hoard 1t II he would prosper. To the
South, therefore, questions Of taxation and
impost and revenue are vital and immediate.
In the West the people need cheap iron,
lumber and coal. Next to salt and air iron is
Of more necessity to modern civilization, to
the comfort and happiness Of mankind, than
any substance known in science. The price
of iron affects us as much as the price Of
wheat or corn. Cheap iron means oheapness
in transportation, in household furniture, in
agriculture. Every new country needs cheap
iron. One railway in Indiana and Kansas
is Of more value to the country-a larger con-
tribution to Its wealth and prosperity-than
twenty iron mills in Pennsylvania. So tax
upon pig iron, while aiding few ironmasters,
is virtually tax upon every bushel of wheat
upon the labor of every farmer in the West
The argument that the labor Of the men who
make the iron is protected-that without pro-
lection the mill would stop and they starve-is
absurd; for If they cannot puddle iron ore
! at small wages in unhealthy mills they have
only to 60 into the cheap western counties and
till the ground For this reason the revenue
reformers, in demanding cheap iron, strike
chord to which the Western Territories and
States will respond.
Another strong point In this new platform
is the removal of the tax upon wool and lum-
hpr and coal Why should wool ha taYad9