New-York tribune., 1880-10-12
= u,yCOCK on TIE TARIFF:


made their supporters hide their faces for
shame. amid outbursts Of contempiuous
laughter from everybody ese. But no other
candidate for the Presidency, it is safe to say
has ever shown such amazing Ignorance as
appears in the language now attribuicn 10
General Hancock by his supporters lhdceu'
il seems almost incredible that any man who
was once at West Point, and has not hvad ever
since in solitary confinement, could nv any
pcs,ibiity use such language; and yet u Is
in many other respects marked by the zen
erals well known peculiarities. 1t Is pup
lshed, too, by newspaper devoted 10 bis cause
The Paterson Guardian, fer the ayowed pur-
pcse of recommending him TO the workers In
protected manufactures of that locality, anu IL
embodies precisely the argument when some OF
the shrewdest but most mend9ciOns friends Oi
the candidate have been assduOusly using.
Rut this argument is stated in such form as
to disclose n degIee of ignorance that is almost
beyond belief.
Here il man who evidently feels that the
declaration of his party in favor OF "a tar'h
for revenue only" is hurting him IN manu-
featuring towns. and lie is hungry to make some
assurance that he will not do anything to IN
lure manufacturing interests. lie has heard
some cunning supporters saying that, a1ter all,
the tariff question was one upon when thefe
must be differences OF opinion arising from
local interests, so that "a Democrat oil kepuD-
Ican from New-Jersey must be equally de-
voted to protection, and he tries to express
that idea. But how? He says: "1he tariif
"uuestion is a local QUESTION. The same ques-
" ton was brought up once in my native place
in PENNSYLVANIA. 1t is matter that the Cen
" eraI Government seldom cares to interfere
. with" Can we believe that General Hancock
does not know that the Constitution prohibits
any imposition of duties except by the General
Government 2 Is he ignorant that tarh bllis
have been discussed in every session OF Con
gress for twenty years, and that nearly twenty
such bills have been passed within thar time
Yet he says it is :" matter that the General
"GOyeinment seldom cares to interfere with =!
What on earth can he mean, If he is not MIR
aculously ignorant? In Pennsy ylvania, where
this question has been leading topic of discus
sion in every political contest and at every
political meeting. in every village and IN every
newspaper for many years, he says tins qlles-
tion /" was brought up once III my native town"
Apparently the few words which he caught on
the subject, at that evermrmolable time When
the tariff question was brought up oncc, led
General Hancock to suppose that the town WAS
about to impose some duty on products brought
in frprp other towns. Hence he looks upon it
as a local question:; if these towns and coun-
ties and States want duties, why, by all means
let them have what they want! with hand on
heart. and a superb bow, he assures Paterson
that he will never interfere If Paterson wants
protective tariff. That is Patersons local
affair: " mater with which tic General Gov
"ernment seldom cares to interfere"
Still General Hancock has heard somewhere
else that the General Government Is obliged TO
raise some revenue by tailtf. He really thinks
the amount runs up into the Millions Aud lie
has beard that these duties do protect in
dus;ries SO lie says: My election could make
@no difference either one way or the Other.
"There has to be a certain amount millions oil
@dollars-raised BY taii1 that can b. got IL no
~ofher way. and that must necessarily give
@protec.ion to the manufacturing interests OF
" the country" This may be very ignorant or
very mendacious talk, but the courtesy that is
due to candidate compels us to assume that
If is not mcndaciOus. Millions Of dollars can b.
raised by a tariff on sugar, coffee, tea, wool,
hides, and host Of other articles, but those
duties would not necessarily" nor by any
possibility " give protection to the manufacture
= ing interests That is the sort of tariff that
Great Britain has. 1t is the sort of tariff that
great majority of General Hancocks sup
porters want. Ii is the sort OF tariff which
British manufacturers want this country to
adopt and hence ii is not strange If they send
bither large sans, while their agents here and
other importers give large sums for the cam
paien fund to elect General Hancock. His party
wants "a tariff for revenue only" That means
tariff that is not for protection. But General
Hancock wishes it to be understood that he
does not know the difference.
And this is the candidate whose abroad and
ripe craftsmanship" has been SO loudly
yaunted II this is craftsmanship, there Is
hardly ten year old schoolboy in Pennsylvania
who has not more of it, or who could not talk
more intelligeDtly of the local question
which "was brought up once in his native
place." No enemy has said anything half az
severe about the ability or qualifications OF Cen
eral Hancock as he says of himself in this effu-
sion. The workingmen of this country do not
care to vote for a man because he puts on great
airs of wisdom, but they have a stIong preju-
dice against elevating over themselves, as their
ruler, charged with care of all their greet in
terests, a man who knows less than their own
children about those interests and the nature of
laws that affect them. Probably it will seem to
them absolutely impossible that General Han
cock is as ignorant as he appears to be. In that
case. they will conclude that he is trying to
| cheat them out of their votes to their own
harm. But they will do him injustice. The
| real trouble is that General Hancock, the
Superb and the Glorious" is q soldier-and
has not the slightest trace of fitness for any
| other position.
A BASE ATTACK UPON BELMONT
Poor Mr. Belmont will have to clench his fist OF