Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-09-30
Election, Tuesday, October I2

for very lofty purpose if used to prick
| those armed men into a proper appreci-
tion of the fact that the national gnaran-
tee of the free ballot must be respected
and must be Obeyed.
So far as the industrial interests of
the country are concerned, the Demo-
cratic platform of 1880 voices the long
known and well-understOOd ideas of the
party. 1t hates protection, it has always
opposed it, and in its present platform it
speaks unqualiiedly for tariff for rer-
eiaue only. That Gen. Hancock is in
full accord with this doctrine of the par
ty is evident from his letter of accept
ance,for he says, THE principles enumer-
ated by the Convention are those l have
cherished in the past, and shall endeav-
or to maintain in the future" The DEM
ocratic Convention enumerated its prin-
pies, and under the fourth enumerition
is found the doctrine of a tariff for REV.
ENUE ONLY. Gen. Hancock declares
that this principle he has cherished i'll
the past" and further AYERS that he will
''endeavOr to maintain it in the future"
The proposition of Gen. Garfield upon
this question is outspOken, clear, and un-
mistakable. From 1866 down to the pres
ent time he has been steady and intel
llgent friend of protection to American
industries. He has exhibited this friend
ship to this great interest not merely by
his speeches, but by his votes. He join
ed with other Republican members of the
Committee of Ways and Means in mi
nOrity report opposing Mr.. Woods tariff
bill, and his votes during the last session
of Congress have always Leen found on
that committee in harmony with his pO-
Sition.
Gen. Hancock declares in his letter of
acceptance that the constitutional
amendments are inviolable. but he will
hardly undertake to declare that he
would veto any measure which Demo-
cratic majority might pass for the en-
largement of the Supreme Court, or that
he would veto any measure which the
same par ty might pass repeating the
laws now on the statute-bOOk for the ell
forcement of those amendments. With
the Supreme Court thus enlarged and
those statutes repealed, the constitutional
amendments would be las every ole
knOws) nullitieS. Declaring himself to
be in favor of free ballot, he must be
well aware that his party in Congress
has repeatedly sought the repeal of the
election laws, by which alone can any
thing apprOximating free ballot and Il
fair count he secured in our great cities
in the North, through which alone can the
perpetratiOn of gross frauds in the bal
lOt-bOX in the great Northern cities be
prevented The solid South does not
desire the repeal of those election laws
for its own purposes shotgun, the
midnight raid, and the fraudulent count
have sufficiently nullitied those laws
there. Their repeal is demanded, how
ever, by the Democratic party, in order
that the States of New York, New Jer-
sey, and Connecticut may be added to
the solid South. And surely Gen. Han
cock will not undertake to say that, in
the event of his election, should those
statutes be repealed, he will veto such
repeating measures. But without such
veto we should have neither free bal
lot nor fair count.
In view of the history of the Demo-
cratic party, which l have thus hurried
ly traced, drawing it from its platforms
and its votes in Congress, it is not at all
strange that it should be most anxious
to be rid of it, but a people who have
suffered SO much from that history will
not forget it. With this history behind
it, with no honest effort to reverse its
policy, which i'll the past has been so
dangerous, the Democratic party, failing
to furnish any additional reasons for an
increase of public confidence in it or in
its policy, demands that the public con-
fdence, SO long withheld, shall be restO-
red to it.
Standing in the midst of an unriYaled
prosperity, due in IA great measure to an
honest administration of public affairs,
which the Democratic party has steadi-
ly opposed, Occupyinga a position where
all business and industrial interests are
solidly thriving, the people of this coun-
try desire no change which would re-
verse the policy that has led US up to
these magnificent results.