Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1871-07-13
4 Question OF Principle.

At the last State Convention OF the
Republicans of Iowa, the following
was adopted as one plank in the plat
form Of principles OF the party:
Resolred, That while we cordially favor
just and reasonable degree of protection to
all branches Of our American industry
against injurious foreign competition, we are
unaiterably opposed to any system of iegis.
laticn which favors one section of The coun.
try, or one department Of industrial enter
prise at the expense of another and there
fore advocate such protection only as fair
ly adjusted Reyenue tariff will afford
The Nashua Post, ("Reyenue Re
form took exceptions to the faintest
kind ola squint, in its opening lines
towards Protection, and the REpuB.
LicAN criticized it as ssRevcnue Re
form plank, which does not express
the settled convictions OF the Repub
lican party of the State. Whcreupon
the Iowa City Republican reads a
lecture to the Post and REPUBLICAN,,
as ft flows:
| II is plain that Brother True is troubled
because the resolutions lean too much to-
wards Brother Felt, and Brother Felt be,
cause they lean too much towards Brother
True. These men are at the opposite ex
tremes on this question, and both are dis
satisfied. and for opposite reasons. We re.
gard this as evidence that the committee
struch happy medium. satisfac tory to the
| great mass of the convention a common
ground, on which We can all stand together.
The 'revenuc reformer' gets all the reform
consistent with the best interests of our
home industries-the protectionist gets a
clear recognition of The principle of protec.
ton, which is the vital point. All else is
matter Of detail. Had tie convention dis
| cussed that question for week, and bv a
majority vote adopted one view or the other
1t would have settled nothing-would have
| changed no mans mind, or would it have
teniad at all to harmony in the party. 1t
would have created bitterness and aliena>
ton without having produced The least ben>
eft 10 any one. We probably should agree
with Brother True on this question as an
abstract matter, but as practical quest
we believe the convention adopted the wis
est course possible. There is broad CON-
mon ground on which we can all stand for
God and humanity. 1t is not well to enter
upon embittering contests, over matters
upon which we cannot agree Better far
to push on in q solid column for the main
object.
Is the Republican party a party OF
principles, or is it not ? That is a per-
tinent inquiry at this juncture. II it
is party ofprinciples, what arc those
principles; This is another pernitent
inquiry. Is it for Protection, or is it
Tor Free trade !? Or, is it for chap
py medium that shall favor neither
and oppose both9 II it is in favor Of
Protection, should it not SO ex-
press its faith in unmistakablc sen.
fences? The idea that party, any
more than an individual, can "servo
God and Mammon,n is absurd. The
difficulty with the platform of the
Republicans of Iowa, on this subiec,
is, that 1t tries to seem TO favor botl
the Affirmative and negative of a fun
damental principle. In trying to ex
press tins it has adopted tie stcreo
typed language. used by d. A. Weeks
Chicago Tribune, and other Free
Trade-Iscvenue- Reform authorities
To suggest that Cows. Stone and
kirkwood could agree to report, am
report any platform on the tariff
question that did not accord will
their known views, is to accuse then
OF dishonesty. As both Of them ar,
known to be thoroughly Democratic
(Western Democratic) on this question
it is stretch of the Imagination tt
see any Protection in their report
Clearly, we are right in assuming tina
the platfJrm supports so-callcd Reyc
nue. Reform.
Orr Iowa City contemporary find
the very two-slded character of tn,
platform u matter OF congratulation
But, let us ask, why adopt any state
mcnt OF principle, if you cannot adop