New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-08-15
The Presidency.

| Mr.. Greeley earned his fair reputation anG
personal prominence before the American
people by advocating protection to American
industry. He has now agreed to lend this
reputation and prominence to the foes o
American industry; he has become theil
candidate under the pledge that he will never
| render it any aid or comfort that he will not
interpose to save it from ruin, and that he
will indifferently prefer to positions of inau
ence and power its friends and its enemies
| Should Mr.. Greeley be elected to the Presi'
| dency, his messages to Congress will be
| silent on every subject affecting the rights o.
| American labor. Should the foreign enemies
| of American workingmen succeed in passing
through Congress measures which will ruin
| their industry and deprive them Of wages,
Mr.. Greeley has promised that as President
he will not demonstrate, or protest. or refuse
his assent. In appointing custom-house otli-
GERS and foreign consuls to superintend the
execution of our tariff laws, he will be willing
| to take men who denounce these laws as
systematized robbery, and approve every
method of evading them which the ingenuity
| Of foreign traders can invent. Delmar and
| Wells, who were less officers of the United
States than agents Of Great Britain, were
happily extinguished under the administra-
| ton of President Grant. Under Mr.. Gree
| ey's pledges they would have the right to
expect him to reinstate them and keep them
in office.
Mr. Greeley we'll knows that the party of
| free traders in the United States was never
more aggressive and formidable than at pres
ent. He is aware that his candidacy is ex-
pected to aid the free traders in obtaining
control of Congress. He knows, for he has
often said so, that the Inauguration of their
policy would be the ruin of the country. Yet,
| knowing all this, he has bound himself not
| to interfere, because there are differences of
| opinion about the matter. He knows what
| is right, but he says that in the struggle
between right and wrong he will be neutral,
| if he may be President. If he can be elected
| he is willing that the country may be ruined,
| willing at least that it may take the chances
without any help from him.
Messrs. Brooks, of New York, and Kerr,
of Indiana, free trade members of tho Con-
gressional Committee of Ways and Means,
are supporting Mr.. Greeley. They are ma
levolent and unrelenting foes of every pro-
tective duty, and are in positions which enable
them to make their hostility effective. In
the debate which preceded the final passage
of the tax and tariff bill, Mr.. Brooks said:
"The reduction upon cotton, wool, and
iron have been comparatively small. And [
must, in all frankness, tell the honorable
gentleman from Massachusetts MIR. Dawes
and the honorable gentleman from Pennsyl-
vania Mr.. Kelley that in assentin. to this
reduction of ten per cent, we consider it but
a wedge driven in so that we can get ten per
cent. next year, and ten per cent. the year
after, and so on until we have produced
something of practical reduction of the
tariff"
The war is to go on, and majority Of the
House Committee of Ways and Means are
decidedly free trade, the threat of Mr. Brooks
may be taken as a serious warning. AT
present the country has an important guar
antee against improvident or destructive leg
slation, in the clearly expressed opinions of
the President of the United States. The
action of President Grant in refusing to re-
new the reciprocity treaty with the British
provinces and his reasons for this refusal,
and the clear and forcible recommendations
to Congress in his annual messages, leave no
doubt as to what his course would be, if
Congress, in disregard Of" self-preservation"
should disturb any industrial interest Of the
country" In recommending that reductions
of duty, "if advisable" should "be made
upon those articles which can best bear it
without disturbing home production or re-
ducing the wages of the American labOrer,"
the President has given a distinct pledge,
which, if need be, will be acted upon.
The old rhyme says,
"a man of words and not of deeds
Is like garden full of Weeds"
and this precisely describes Mr.. Greeley. In
contrast to this, President Grant is a man Of
deeds and not of words him words are
deeds, and the industries of the country may
be assured that he will stand in their defense
firmly as a rock against any dangerous as
sault their enemies may be preparing for
them. In his career as soldier and states
man no instance can be cited when he has
betrayed friend, violated pledge, or de-
serted principle, and his reelection will be
such guarantee of stability as is impera-
lively demanded by the industries of the
country.-Industrial Bulletin.