Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-05-26
pOIlcy avaiIs neither, and fnally de.


y boring people Of the country have beel
d hoping for reduction of the high pro
j tective tariff taxation ON all the neces
o saries of life. The Democratic member
and Senators in Congress have beel
t earnestly struggling to obtain this re
, duction. Mr.. Greeley, on the othe
e hand, has labOred in season and out O
= season for more than a quarter of a cen
f tury to fasten all the rObberies of higl
/ protection on the industry of the land
e The public opinion which has culmin
ated in such legislation, is more the off
e spring Of his lifetime work than of am
f other man in America. The farmers
= the mechanics and the laboring CLASSES
generally are now paying over four hun
dred millions year to the manufactur
ing mOnopolies of the country, not On'
dollar of which goes into the public
treasury, all of which is the clear gail
of capital from the toll and sweat of la
Dor. This
APPALLING FACT
has been again and again demonstrated
year after year in Congress and out of it
and cannot be successfully disguised
We, as Democrats, have denounced this
vast system of plunder, from the brit
of our party to the present hour. We
arraigned the old Whig party on it, and
We have fought the Republican party
inch by inch upon it. We have shown
that every five years the oppressed and
outraged labor of this goodly land pays
enough, in the increased cost of living,
owing to a high protective tariff, tO
liquidate the national debt, not dollar
of which is ever applied to that or any
other public purpose. Yet we are now
asked to support for the Presidency the
man who has always said, and now
says, that this mOnstrous system OF
licensed pillage is right. He is known
as far as the keels of commerce extend,
and wherever the plow turns furrow,
as its bOldest and most avOwed cham
pion in the world. 1t is claimed, how
ever, in some quarters, that he has
CHANGED HIS POSITION
on this great question; that he has
agreed to leave it to the people. Ny
answer to this is brief. A man of ma
ture age, changing the deliberate and
intense convictions of his whole life for
the sake of an office, whether high or
low, is miserable spectacle. If Mr..
| Greely has done so, it proves him to be
dishonest and unworthy of confidence.
If he is capable of doing violence on his
conscience for the sake of the Presiden-
cy, he will betray the people if he
is elected, and he should be again
tempted as he is now. But, in fact,
| there is no change announced. He
does not say that he has been wrong,
and ask pardon of the laboring masses
for assisting to rob them. He graciously
! cOndescends TO say that, if elected, he
will allow the people to make their own
| laws on this subject. / was under the
impression that this had always been
their right. believe no administration
has ever tried to take it away from
them, but we all know the vast power
which the favorite views of President
has over every other department of the
government. His
MESSAGES TO CONGRESS
would TEEN with them. They would
make themselves felt in his pri-
vate utterances. Those who seek
his patrOnag9 would commend
themselves by echoing them. Mr..
Greeley will fill his cabinet with those
who think as he thinks. His Secretary
of the Treasury will believe religiously
in high protection and high tariff tax
on the wOolens, linens, salt, coal, iron,
steel, and all other prime necessities Of
the people. To suppose otherwise, is to
admit that Mr.. Greeley would sell his
dearest principles for place and power.
No, we would have high protection
tariff administrator, and the Demo-
cratic party would be in solid oppOsi-
ton TO it on that point, as well as all
Others of importance, in less than
ninety days after it commenced.
Mr. Greeley's ideas in regard to the
distribution of power between the Fed
eral Government and the States was
next discussed:
We have a law of Congress providing
that the local elections of all the States
in precincts, numbering popula-
ton of twenty thousand and over, shall
be subject to the control and inspection
of United States officers, and whenever
these officials deem it necessary, subject
also
TO THE CONTROL OF UNITED STATES
TROOPS.
No worse law than this ever menaced
the liberties of the people. 1t is the di-
rect offspring of the lawless and unhOly
spirit of despotism. 1t is the bOldest
ever yet taken in the destructien of local
self-government. 1t was Ostensibly
aimed at the people and the States of
the South, but it assails the very found !
alton of American liberty in every sec |
ton. l regarded its enactment with |
horror and dread, as did the entire Dem |
ocratic party and press Of the country. |
What more sinister legislation ever dis
graced the worst days of Rome or the |
most revolutionary times of France? |
l,n. aT af ha hoI1 1,NA h., |
non at the voting place-all this is now |
authorized by law, and Mr.. Greeley was |
one of its lOudest and sternest advocates. |
He urged its enactment upon Congress |
with all the power of his influential Jour |
nal. Has he recanted? Has he asked |
for its repeal? Nothing of the kind. Has
the Democratic party abated its hostility |
to it? l think not. But Mr.. Greeley |
went even farther than this in his no
tiOns that
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MAY To- |
TALLY DESTROY LOCAL SELF-GovERN-
MENT.
Two years ago, when the Republican
party suffered a defeat in the State of
New York, he clamored for a law of
Congress similar to the one / have lust
to be applied to the voting
of the Empire State, without |
to the number of the popula-
ton. These facts are so well known
that only allude to them here and now
for the purpose of asking whether man
with such ideas of the powers of the
Federal government can be consistent
" and hOnOrably made the candidate of
the Democrats? Would such monstrous
doctrines be in their proper place at the
head of the government? Is a man to
be trusted by the people who entertains
them? Should Horace Greeley, with
such views, be made commander-in-
chief of the army? Is such statesman
ship what the country needs and what
the people demand? 1t is the worst that
was ever proclaimed, the most danger
Dus ever promulgated in the
AMERICAN HISTORY,
and appeal to the honest heart and can
lor and judgment of the country to bear
witness to the truth ofwhat / say. What
would the great men of other days say
% such doctrines? Where would Jack
3on, and Benton, and Silas Wright, and
Clay, and Webster stand in regard to
making the man President who enter
aims the notion that the Federal Gov
can authorize the United States
rms to conduct and govern all the cleo
ions of the people? 1t is mockery to
lsk. May their immortal spirits come
o the hearts of the people and guide
hem in the ways of honor, truth and
,atriotism. But it is said that Mr..
ireeleys election will bring relief to
he South, On what is this claim based;
las it any rational foundation; can
rood come Out Of evil; can wise and
,eneficial administration spring from
dangerous and unconstitutional princi-
lies honestly entertained? II so, why
hould man ever be chosen to Office
With reference to his principles?
CAN THE SOUTH TRUST THE MAN
Who preached the right of secession and
hen desired the slaughter of those
yhom he had helped to mislead ints its
,ractice9 Aside from thequestioIfof of his