Lexington weekly intelligencer., 1883-04-28
THE DEMOCRATIC COURSE REGARD
ING THE TARIFF.

THE DEMOCRATIC COURSE kEGAkD
ING THE TARIFF.
No sensible democrat wants the mex
democratic house of congress to pas
an extreme free trade revision of th'
tariff. It would be nonsense to do so
as the senate would first interpose, ant
even If the senate could be won ovel
the president would veto such legisla
ton. What democrats do ask is, tina
there shall be, as far as practicable, 8
steady advance toward basing tn
tariff upon revenue instead Of protec
ton. There are some reforms that ca'
be passed by the next congress aud tina
would, if passed, be approved by thu
president. These should be passed
And, as an earnest that the democratic
party is sincere in its professions or
the tariff, our representatives should
make speaker man who in himself Il
a stariff for revenue only" platform
That man is John G. Carlisle.
Mr.. Randall is an able man. He is
the most ready debater in congress
He is, in all things but the tariff, q
warm and earnest democrat. We dc
not believe in assaulting him because he
aspires to the speakership, any more
than we approve such assaults as the
New York Sun recently made in his
interest upon the entire democratic
party. For one, we do not propose to
be bulldozed into supporting Mr.. RAN
dali. On the other hand we shall not
countenance any bulldozing on behalf
of Mr.. Carlisle.
The Intelligencer is for Carlisle for
many reasons. He is . man of ire
proachable and high character, public.
ly and privately; he is a profound stu
dent of political philosophy and ecsno-
my; he is polished scholar, an accom-
plished gentleman, and an experienced
legislator. More than, this, just now,
willy-nilly, whether politicians like IL
or not, the tariff is the most prominent
issue before the country, and John
Carlisle stands squarely on the demo-
cratic plank on that subject, and can
tell the country why he stands there
without fear of his constituents, and ss
clearly as can any man in America.
Meeting Mr., Jno. G.. Priest few
days ago he objected to the attitude
taken last Saturday by the Intelligencer
regarding his interview ON Mr.. Iilden
and tile tariff. We do not like to differ
from any party friend, but we cannot
always help it. Mr.. Priest is Ran
dali man, which is all right,
but to sustain his position in advoca-
ting Mr.. Randall he goes SO far as TO
strongly oppose any tariff legislation at
all, and to speak of Mr.. Carlisle as a
dangerous candidate because he is the
very embodiment of the democratic
position on that subject. The Intelli-
gencer does not coincide with the ideas
advanced, and disapproves of that kind
of war on Mr.. Carlisle. If that gentle
man was untrue to democratic teach
ing, weak upon any one Of its tenets,
we should not protest, but to object to
him for honors at the hands of the
democratic party because he is too true
a democrat can hardly be borne with
patience.
Aud the Carter Harrison idea that
the democratic party cannot afford in
1884 to re-afirm- its position on the
ariff is most absurd. Suppose it did
not. Would that prevent republican
newspapers and orators from quoting
the democratic platforms of 1876 and
1880? And would not the abstention
be properly characterized as cowardly
and evasive
The right thing to do is for the dem
ocratic house Of representatives to en-
deavor to impress upon the tariff the
democratic idea, so far as it can hope
to succeed, not to make Don Quixote
fight during the session, consuming
time for nothing and unnecessarily un-
settling values in the country. The
people are not half so ignorant as the
politicians think. If an honest effort
is made by the democrats to remove
the burdens of the tariff, even though
it may not go to the extent ofupsetting
the whole thing, they will be much bet
ter satisfied than they would be by a
frothy discussion to manufacture politi-
cal capital and to waste time. But
democrats will not be satisfied to abate
line OF a letter of what they have
heretofore said regarding their posi-
ton on the tariff, and gentlemen who
desire to maintain their position as
leaders will do well to remember it.
This norccau telegraphed from St.
Louis by the associated press, recently
may prove of interest to those gentle
men who voted in the legislature
against state supervision Of grain
elevators. 1t comes very early after the
session, and there will be worse and
more Of it until near another meeting
of the legislature, when fear Of conse-
quences will quell qusrrels for 4 quar-
ter or SO Of the year. The dispatch is
in these words the esta ablish-
,neut here OF the board for registration
by the merchants exchange of all grain
which goes into elevators or ware
houses, it has been discovered that the
elevator receipts, when sent to the
Office for registration, show from 60
to 140 pounds less grain to the car than
the registration supervisor reports
having been in those cars. This produc-
ed quite commotion to-day land it was
looked upon as gouge OH the part Of
the elevators. The matter was taken
up this afternoon by the board of
directors of the merchants exchange,
and after hearing both elevator men
and shippers and receivers, the board
established uniform tare of 60 pounds
on corn and 80 on wheat to the car, the
same to be deducted from the gross
weight of grain i'll the. cars, to cover
waste in handling, it being shown that
this is the universal practice, although,
nerhans not penorallv known ,,