Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1874-08-29

4
!, and which operate 10 the benefit {
9 the few to the prejudice of the man,
1 Abolish all your State and count
e taxes and three-fourths of the barthe
! OF which you complain will still n
main upon you. The relief must com
) from Congress. The tariff, or in othe
words, the tax on IRON and steel, whie
, we pay in the enhanced price of every
: thing we use. from the needle to th
steam engine is what is grinding us I
: powder. The curse Of the whole thin
! is the enormous sums we pay in thi
way do not enrich the Government
but go to fill to oyerhowing the stron
! boxes of bloated manufacturers an,
monopolies. / and many of US wer
} the advocates of protective taril
when our manufacturers were in thei
infancy, and needed protection agains
the pauper labor of Europe, but nov
that they have passed that period of In
fancy and have assumed the toga yer
viles of manhood, and are able to NEE
and to yanquish competition In tn,
markets of the world, we think th'
| time has come when the tariff pOlicl
should be reformed, that the doctrine
| of protection should be abandonedanc
revenue tariff adopted, by mean.
whereof no more money should bt
collected by import duties than what
is absolutely necessary to defray the
expenses of the general Government
economically administered. Indeed
the leading idea of the compromise oi
1893, advocated so warmly by Mr.
Clay, my great political teacher, was
that there should be a descending scale
of duties growing lighter every year to
June 80. 1912, after, which no more
money should be collected by import
duties than would be demanded by an
economical administration of the Gov
ernment This was the LEADING feature
OF that great bill of pacifcatioD which
restored harmony to distracted coun-
try, and extracted from the lowering
clouds the thunderbolt OF civil war.
Mr.. Calhoun voted for it upon that
principle. Mr. Clay, in his great
speech on the passage of that bill, and
which, if ne had done nothing else,
would have given him immortal fame
as patriot and orator, used this re-
markable language, after urging the
passage of the bill on the patriotic
grounds of restoration of peace and
tranquility to the country, which was
on the verge of civil war. He said
the theory of protection suppOses too,
that after certain time the protected
arts will have such strength and per-
fection, as will enable them subse-
quently unaided to stand up against
foreign competition"
The ideawas, when the manufactures
were in their infancy, they needed pro-
lection, By the 30th of June, 1872,
they would have acquired the strength
of manhood, which would enable them
to stand alone without protection
This is the true theory. Now they are
full grown, and require no protection.
Then We ought to demand from this
day forward, that the doctrine of pro-
lection has run its course, has fulfilled
its mission, and ought to be abandoned,
and that for the future we should have
a revenue tariff only-a tariff which
makes no discrimination in favor of
one class against another-giving pro-
lection to none, equal rights to all.
Then all the enormous weight of taxa
ton which is levied indirectly on you
for the benefit of manufacture and
monopolies of every kind, will be taken
off your shoulders, and when that is
done you will not feel the State and
county tax about which we now hear
so much clamor. After reducing our
expenses andeeonomizing ourresources
In every way that is practicable and
proper, we should then graduate the
tax to be collected at the lowest posi-
Bile rate that would meet the public ne
cessity, pay the interest upon the pub
lie debt, and uphold the public faith
and credit. Itwould have to be an
extraordinary demand upon us, an ex-
traordinary public necessity, that
would justify any party to be in favor
of high taxes which would grind the
face of the poor, and send their child
ren supperless to bed. There is no
such necessity upon us now, and there
fore such taxes only should be levied
as are absolutely necessary to pay the
public debt and maintain the credit
and plighted faith of the State. The
lowest possible rate of taxation that
will attain these ends ought to be
adopted by the Democratic and Con-
seryative party of the State Let them
pursue the even tenor of their way,
and if they will do as well In the future
as they have done in the past, the peo-
pie will have cause to rejoice. When
they came into power four years ago,
our debt amounted to the enormous
sum of $i3, 100000 In less than four
years it has been reduced to S2l 900, 900.
Backed as we are by an aggregate
wealth of $5O0,000, 900, and an annual
production of $40 100000, what party
in the State could so far forget itself
as to recommend reputation, or adopt
any line of policy that would tend or
lead to it? If any dare do it, it may
safely be predicted that they will be
repudiated by the people at the ballot
box.
Turning our attention from State af-
fairs, what is there in the Government
of the United States to inspire hope
that the labor of our ancestors has not
been wasted, and the blood they shed
in cementing the foundation of a gov
ernment of republican liberty, has not
been shed in vain? Instead Of gov
ernment of republican simplicity, ours
is rushing madly into a centralized des-
potism. The small man at the head
of our Government is trying to ape
the despots Of Europe, and is stretch
ing his short limbs to follow in the
steps of Julius Caesar. The public
faith is shaken TO the center in the
honor of Congress to such degree
that high toned, honorable men hesi-
tate before they will consent to 60 there
and run the risk of catching the prev
alent contamination of morals. The
tone of political morality has been so
lowered from the President down thro'
the whole rank and file of his subor-
dinates, that robbery and bribery have
become the order of the day. If there
are any who are not guilty of grave Of
fenses, they are exceptions TO the rule,
and we are told in logic, exceptions
prove the rule to be true. Nor has the
Government been faithful TO its prom
ises to the conquered Before the war
was over the Southern army was as
sured by Congressional resolves and
otherwise, that the Confederate States
had only to lay down their arms and all
their sovereign powers and privileges
as equal States would be restored to
them. How was that pledge kept?
No sooner were arms laid down and ar
mics disbanded, than a system of tyr
amy and persecution was organized
throneh their reconstruction laws. that