The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-03-30
Watterson on the Tariff.

i"e o.hef hignt III ChlcagO at Tho
lroquois banquet Hon. Henry Watterson
editor of the Louisville Courier Journal
In answering the toast "The Democrat,
| Press" said in conclusion:
You will say that these are but glitter
ing generalities, and lacking in specifica
ton: Sir, will be specific. | mean "a
tariff for revenue only" mean the ob.
liberation OF navigation laws which have
driven our flag from the high seas.
mean The enforcement Of the civil service
from party service. mean n careful and
Just revision of our national banking
system we have ever had, and which
with certain needful notifications, essen
tial both to It's preservation and the equi
lies OF taxation, would relcgate 70 the
place in business where il belongs and
whittier II should have been sent long ago
mean the reduction Of the national deb,
to a thousand millions where il should be
funded aud made perpetual. The people
are being taxed too much. The debt is
oeir- paid too fast. All taxes should be
levied with an eye solely to revenue, and
no more revenue should be collected than
Is required TO support the government and
carry the debt
The key to all t cse propositions-the
pivot around which they arc grouped aol
about which they turn--is to be found IN
mat simple lesentence, "a tariff for revenue
only" 1t is not my sentence. neither
invented it nor discovered il thourh 7
would no more dream of compiling dem.
ocratic platform without it than I would
think OF issuing al edition of tho New
Testament without Chrst's sermon on
the mount. 1t is automatic, and taken
bodily out of that magnificent, enuncin.
ton of the democratic principles-on
which VIC S.na glorious national victory
the matchless platform adopted at ST.
Louis in 1876. would not surrender
word Of it, nor syllable. 1t expresses
with precision the exact position of tho
party upon the tariff, that when the gov.
ernmcnt gets its taxes, then and there
the tax shall stop. Whatever "incidental
protection that afiords-well, il Affords
and let the prctectionists make the most
of it. In truth; they had better: for
protection, se slavery, is doomed; only.
unlike slave ", it will not linger so long
upon the ST g. TO battle Grecmen I'd stay
the march / freedom. II cannot become
scclionalis7 rs slavery did. It cannot
get into religion, rs slavery did. Yet it
IL ms monstrous in every respect as slavery
was. Looking oack into that far off
time, 1t staggcrs the mind tn contemplate
how long the institution Of slavery did
stand against reason, common sense. hu.
manity and public policy. All men now
admit that there was not All argument to
support it. The present generation of
men can but lily comprehend how it sur
vlved tho agitations Of single general
election. 1t isgone, think God, and there
is an end of it, but its history is full of
instruction and warning It tells us i'm
thunder tones to beware Of the sophistries
the arrogance and the power of oligar.
chism and to behold in the jobbery and
robbery of protection new slavery. rear.
ing it's lofty head to threaten the people
and curse the land.
Fellow democrats, the road before us
is straight, broad and open! Do not al
low yourselves to be lured off the high.
way. DO not give up to demagogues
what was meant for the country. Ioo.,
forward not backward if you must 20
back, go rs far back as the lost traditions
of Jefferson and jackson, and return
clasping them to your heart. You have
your enemy at last not merely divided,
but occupying n false and untenable
position. The attempted fusion in the
south-the liaison between the machine
and the mob-is in every way agrarian
and corrupt. 1t will not be great while
before tho intelligence of the country
roalizes that it is serious menace to the
national credit. Place the old democrat.
ic flag. ship in line of battle; clear the
decks for action pitch the fools into the
sea, and send the soreheads below. and
with freedoms signals flying Mt the mast
head, give her prayerfuliy, confidently, to
the God of storms, the battle and The
breezel