The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1883-07-11

only in this State, but in all the
States Of the Union And the ques-
ton is to be put in a general way,
not simply who is to be Governor OF
4 Ohio, but also whether the next Ad-
ministratou of national affairs is to
/ be Republican or Democratic. That
being the character of the contro-
versy upon which we have embarked,
/ it behooves us to examine with care
what the questions are that are pre-
sented, bo.h national and local.
We are to meet therefore and de-
termine by cur suhrages not only
the financial questions but the ques-
tion5 also Of civil service reform,
internal revenue taxation and other
questions Of like character including
the tariff question, about which /
will trespass on your time with a
few suggestions tonight leaving the
other questions, meantime, for another
occasion when we have more time.
I make this preference because
this tariff question is one Of the
gravest importance. 1t is what may
be httingly termed one of the ever
present questions. 1t is part and
parcel of the everyday life of the
Government. You can not live
and go forward in the administration
of national affairs for a single hour
without giving application to it in
some form or other 1t is a question
Of the most vital importance to every
kind of business and to every kind
of employed labor in this country,
Every artisan, every mechanic, every
merchant, every business man, is in
terested in it. L affects the devel-
opment Of our resources, it affects all
the industries and enterprises of this
great country. It is a question of
such vital importance that both par
ties ought to have well defined posi-
tions with respect to it. The Repub-
lican party has. Nobody needs to
be told what that position is. 1t has
been defined by all the years of ex-
perience that the Republican party
has been in power Our policy has
been to so levy duties on imports as
to not only afford a revenue but also
at the same time protect our labor
and encourage our industries.
The Republican party has acted
upon the idea that the laborer ought
to have a fair days wages for a fair
days work-that he ought to be able
not only 10 procure for himself and
his family the necessaries of life, but
to procure meals to educate them
and to advance in the SOCIAL scale
and make better citizens out of them
selves. The Republican party has
had the idea, and it has acted upon
it, that the laboring men Of this
country ought not to be required to
work in competition with the work
men Of other countries who are
ground down by bad government until
they get only from twenty to
to othirty-seven-and-a-half cents a day
for their work. 1t is the idea of the
Republican party that this country
ought to be independent as to
all products, which it is capable
of producing. If we would be great
and powerful we must not be de-
pendent upon other nations. We
have pursued this policy with the
idea, too, Of bringing abou a diver
,ity Of occupation and employment
to the end thatwe mayhave division ot
labor and domestic commerce and
bind the various localities Of our
country together with the bonds Oh
union that rest on a community oi
interest and which are far stronger
than any that can be made by con-
stitutional or legislative enactment
What is the position Of our Demo
cratic friends ? viii any one be
kind enough to take the platform
and tell me from it whether they are
for free trade or for protection, ol
whether they are trying to stand ir
between ? In 1880 we know that il
their National platform they declared
for a tariff for revenue only. Tina
WIS interpreted rightly to mean free
trade; and the people of this country
after mature thought, decided tina
they did not want the change. Eve
since then the Democratic party
have been trying to take the acid OF
the edge Of that resolution; tha
is what they were trying to de
at Columbus the other day 1t j
manifest that it was intended that il
free trade districts it could be mad
TO favor free trade, and 10 protection
districts it could be made t
favor protection. Why this doubl
dealing? Either because the
I were unable to agree, o
e because they lacked courage t
, express their convictions and eithe
is a sufficient reason why their ap
/. plication for power should, and will
t be denied by the earnest and intell
f gent people Of this State.
e And yet in spite Of all this, it
{. said that this is a Democratic yea
Is in Ohio. We hear it said that the
e are to sweep this State from one en-
It to another, and they are to have
II majority to be numbered by tn
S. thousands, They have commence
is to make this claim early. AS Iob
r G. Thompson ONCE said, they hay
o NOT only commenced tO claim IL aa