The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1872-10-02


the repeal OF these duties proves tha
the House of Representatives in the
Forty-second Congress Is completed,
committed to reform Of the tariff
Fer twenty years the protectionist.
have not found themselves in such Q
minority. The only obstacle to 4
great and beniiieent reformation is the
Senate. 1t remains to be seen how
long that body viii resist the emphat.
ic demand Of the people expressed
through their Representatives,.
Those Democrats from Pennsylva-
MIA who voted against the monopo-
lies in two prime necessaries of life,
coal and salt, are not merely in ac-
cord with the great Democratic par.
ty of the country, as the vote attests,
but they express the will of nineteen
out of twenty Democrats in the
State of Pennsylvania. The repeal
of the duty is demanded alike by the
consumer and the toiler in the mine
At this very hour the duty on Nova
Scotia coal is an important auxiliary
of the railroad monopolists in the
warfare which they are waging
against the people. They have loud
" protested, through their organs,
that the free admission of PictOn coal
would give them no concern. This
vote of the Pennsylvania delegation
in Congress proves bow lively are
their fears. But for the duty on coal
the present corner in anthracite
could never have been accomplished !"
In the Bedford Gazette of April 20,
1871, Mr.. Meyers resumes the argu-
ment and SAYS:
Mr.. W. VI. Grosvernor, of the St.
Louis Democrat, the organ Of the
Missouri Radicals) who was formerly
one Of the most Aat-footed of square
toed '-protectionists, . has turned from
the error Of his ways, and in book
called 4" Does projection protect"
shows the manufacturers and laborers
Of this country how they deceive them
selves and how they are deceived by
the philosophy and philosophers Of
the Greeley school. The editor of
the Inquirer should buy copy ofthis
book, read it, put lump of ice on
his head, and quit living, if be would
be relieved Of the terrible pressure on
his brain produced by the tariff hum
bug"
\ week later April %, 1871, in the
same paper in the Bedford Gazette in
replying to an artical of the Bedford
INQUIRER" in favor Of protection, Mr..
Meyers makes the following very en-
phatie aswell as polite declarations:
SAYS the INouIRER of last week,
"the Difference with a big d. be-
tween the free traders who try to
palm themselves OFF on the country as
Revenue Reformers and the Repub-
licans is very plain one. . Here is
richness for youl The difference be-
tween the free traders" and "Repub-
licans," forsooth! If no "Republi-
cans" are free traders then there
are but forty Republicans" in Con-
grcss, for that is just about the num-
Der that party could muster against
free coal and free salt. Out of l26
so-called Republicans in'Congress,
only about one third belong to the
INQUIRER's simon pures. Why is 1t
that our neighbor insists on making
himself ridiculous Does he mag
inc that his readers are not aware
that two-thirds of his party in Con-
gress spit upon the protection plank
which Greeley would insert in the
Radical platform Why, if the com
ing Radical National Convention
dare to hint at protection" IN their
platform, two thirds of the party will
refuse to stand upon it and viii delih-
erately vote against the nominees.
We ask no better opportunity for
Democratic success in 1872, than
would be afforded by such platform.
But the Radical leaders will not CON-
nit so suicidal an act They will put
Revenue Reform Cor as the INQUIRER
delights to style il. free tradei') in
their platform, aud our neighbor will
stand on it and halloo as loudly for
it as if he had not wasted gallons of
ink in vain attempts to write it down
The Radical party dares not ignore
the wishes Of the farming eommuni-
ties of the West, from which it has
heretofore drawn its chief support at
the polls, and. therefore, will favor
free trade, or dose the tariff ques-
ton altogether"
In order that there NAV be no pos
sible Misrepresentation or mistake |
about his exact position we append
the following remarkable letter penned
by himself. and published in his own
paper the Patriot of July 18th, lsIl-
FREE TEADE IN PENNSYL-
VANIA.
The following letter in regard to
the progress of free trade principles,
rom B. +. Meyers, member of Con-
yress from the sixteenth district of
his state is taken from the Free Trad
,r Cor July:
BEDFORD. PA, June Il, ISL
HdbIon Sands. Esq. DEAR SIR =
Yours of the 5th inst. inquiring as
% the progress Of free trade ideas in
his part of the country, is received.
Nv reply has been unavoidably de-
ayed, but now take pleasure in Civ
ng Won an answer
|. The press of the Republican
,arty in this state is, generally speak
ny. in the Projections" interest. /
,now but single republican newspa-
yer in the entire commonwealth which,
las favored a tariff for revenue, simp-
V and solely, in preference to '-protec-
i've" duties. That paper is printed
i Lancaster. and is called the Err
,ress. 1t is edited with considerable
bilitv. The democratic press of the
tate is, believe. unitedly in favor
f "a revision of the present tariff"
know of but one avowed 'protec-
ionist" Journal, which is otherwise
Iemocratic, the Columbia Herald.
There is. however, much timidty
mong democratic editors on the sub [
ret of the tariff. The vast bounties
erived from the government, through !
Ugh protective duties, by the capital :,