Daily Republican., 1880-06-01
why shOuld LabsriRg Men Be
Dem Der ats.

why HnOutu huDSEsDo ANs- @
Dem 0cBats.
Even ifsthe tariff laws should come oil
unscathed By the present Congress-
that is no alteration fol the worse be
made the agitation upon that question
can do no harm as it will show that the
Democratic party as party is really in
favor of free trade. With reasonable
J think Jog msn-men who live by the
protection thrown around American in
dustry this fact should have great in
tiuenc,. Uf course we do not expect
the political bigot who can give no
reason for being either Democrat or q
Republican, other than simply because
he Is one or the other and always ex-
pe,ts t, 10 one as long as he lives to be
influenced by. anything which may
take place, and hence If he is employed
in q manufacturing firm that could not
exist except prote cted he will keep on
voting against the interests of his en-
ployers, and by his influence he would
break dos the mandatory that gives
him employment. Manufacturers were
never all Democrats nor were they all
Republicans, and persons dependent
upon them were Of both political par
ties. But it is a fact that cannot be
gainsayed, that while the free-trade
policy Of the Democratic party has fire.
quently disguised the laborers in the
party no great lasting effect in favor OF
protection has been produced. If DEM
ecrats who live and provide for their
families through protection as advo-
Gated by the Republicans it has been
only temporary wandering away from
allegiance to the party, during which
the leaders have invented phrases
which sound we'll and mean nothing,
and which have afforded the necessary
pretext for return to the Democratic
fold. The average Democrat as a gen
eral thing may be brayed in the mortar
of Democratic folly unlimitedly and
yet not be rid OF his folly.
II then there are good Democratic
manufacturers, and who are good pro-
tective tariff men, it does seem a little
strange that opposition to protective tar
Ii in some sections is made one of the
requisite tenets Of the party. Here in
Wilmington there are few Democratic
manufacturers, very few indeed, unless
those engaged in the manufacture of
spirituous liquors, are counted in that
number, but what are protected by Re.
publican protective tariff, without
which they could not carry on their
business. 1t has frequently happened
that these very Democratic manufac-
tulets lave been compelled to hurry of
to Washington dSi1ng the sitting OF a
Democratic Congress to use their infu-
ence to prevent bill from being pass
ed which would virtually shut up their
shops and throw thousands of laborers
out of employment. Yet these men are
the strongest kind of Democrats, and
under no circumstance would they vote
Republican ticket, though it would be
to their pecuniary and business inter-
ests to do 80. Thus it is also with
thousands Of laborers employed in the
machine shops and ship yards Of Will
mington who regularly vote in favor of
tree trade by blindly adhering to the
Democratic party, while if it was not
for the protection afforded by the Re
pubiicans the shops would be closed, land
they would not know where to get food
for their families. Republican protee
tion is what keeps such shops as those
of the Harlan & Hollingsworth Co. the
J. Morton Poole Co.; Pusey & jones Co.
the Jackson & Sharp company, the
Mccullough Iron Company, the Dia-
mond State Iron Company, the Lobdell
car wheel company and numbers of
others that we might name, in opera
tion, and yet more than one half of the
laborers in those establishments are
Democrats, and regularly vote for the
Democratic free trade principles which
if put in operation would throw them
all out of employment. 1t is strange
that a mans politics should be allowed
to drive him into opposition to his own
best interests.
What protection needs is not the tenn
porary afiliation of members Of one
party with the other, brought about by
disgust or caprice, but solidifcation
Of all men who held to the policy
through thick and thin, and who car-
not be Induced to enter into any afilia-
tion with the party which for fifty
i,,
has never obtained power in the ma ton
that it di not directly go about des-
troying the protective power of the
tariff. 60 long as men hold that tley
can be protectionists, yet give their
voices and their votes for the encourage
ment Of a party which is free trade or
nothiny, these little gusts of displeas-