Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1880-08-04
From the New York Tribune
DOdging a Vital Question.

DOdging a Vital Question.
General Hancock talks as fuentiy about
the constitution As his friend the late Andrew
johnson used to when Swinging round the
'-circIe.'' He devotes large part Of his let
ter of acceptance to such profound wisdom
as this: 'sThe constitution forms the basis
of s'the Government of the United States
He says that neither the General nor the State
governments should trench upon the Jurisdic-
ton of the other truism We have heard
before He lays down old, well-worn max
iuIs as though they were newly-discOvered
truths. 1.-THE powers granted by the consti-
tuition to the Legislative, Executive and Ju-
.'dicial Departments define and limit the
authority of the general government" he
says, which nobody will deny. He has space
enough in his letter for such phrases as
these, but he has not word to say about
matter of the utmost Importance to large
portion of the American people. The Gin
cincinnati platform declares in favsr of free
s'ships" and "a tariff for revenue only"
Hundreds of thousands of workingmen whose
have been waiting to hear what General Han
cock thinks of these declarations. He does
not even mention them. Amid the lawns
and gardens of Governors Island, kept in
order by liberal government for the pleas
ure of himself and his brother officers, with
soldiers in handsome uniforms to do his bid
ding, and band to drive dull care away with
the latest opera airs, he doubtless forgot that
there are grimy hard-handed mechanics and OPP
eratives toiling in workshops. ship-yards and
factories to whom this tariff question is one
Of bread and clothes and shelter for them
selves and their families. Perhaps he does
not know what revenue tariff is. man
who has been soldier all his life cannot be
| expected to have very clear ideas on matters
of legislation and political economy, or per-
haps the democratic politicians told him he
had better dodge the question, because the
less said about it here in the East the better
for the party.
WE'LL the workingmen do not intend that
They will interpret General Hancock's silence
as an acquiescence in the Cincinnati platform.
Their logic will be simple and direct. ''If
che does not believe in tariff for revenue
"only," they will say, she would have said
$50 in his letter. They know very well
what that little phrase ''for revenue only" sig
nifies. 1t means that the protective system
established by the republican party, upon
which all our vast manufacturing interests
rest, is to be abolished, and heavy importa-
ton of foreign goods encouraged by low du-
ties. The more importations the more rev.
enue. The more goods imported the less
will there be for American workmen to make.
| With less work for them to do will come
lower wages, a scarcity of employment hard
times and poverty. All this is as plain as
| that two and two make four.
The mechanics in the shp-yards of Maine,
| Pennsylvania and Delaware know that free
''ships" mean ships bought in England, Scot
land and Norway to engage in our coastwise
and foreign trade under our flag in competi-
ton with our home-built craft. For every
such foreign ship given an American register
they know there will be one less for them to
build. The free ships policy of the demo-
cratic party would close every important
ship-yard in the country within a year. The
iron-workers Of Pennsylvania, Ohio, In
diana and Missouri know that for every ton
of foreign iron laid down in our docks there
is one ton less for them to make. They I'M
derstand perfectly well that tariff designed
to stimulate importations of iron would ruin
the iron industry in this country and reduce
them to poverty. So it is with the silk weav-
ers and leather manufacturers of New Jersey.
the spinners and weavers of Massachusetts.
the hardware and tool makers of Connecti-
cut, and with all the members of that great
army of artisans of whom General Garfield
speaks in lis letter of acceptance, '.whose
Intelligence and skilr' he says, ''power-
'fuily contribute to the safety and glory of
1.-THE Nation They all know that their
welfare depends upon the continuance of the
| present wise system of moderate protection
| to home industries.
Here is an army which General Hancock
cannot command. The former rebels of the
South will rally at his call, and With them
will come the rabble of the great cities. and
the ignorant, bigoted partisans, who vote the
democratic ticket without caring what the
principles and purposes of the party are; but
the intelligent workingmen will not vote for
| party that proposes to take the bread out of
their mouths. or for candidate who has not
word to say in their behalf. They will
support the party that has built up their in
dustries by fostering legislation, and the cam
didate who is himself workingman, and
whose record on the tariff, made by the votes
and speeches of seventeen years in Congress
and emphasized by his letter of acceptance,
is plain and consistent in its advocacy of the
claims of American labor.