The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-06-28
HISTORICAL DuPLICITY.

has ever been adopted by the Nation as part
of its polity. In all the Nations constitu-
ton there is nothing distinctly Democratic.
That party has never sincerely advocated
any wholesome measure, and as a result it
has nothing to show for having lived in
which it can take pride. On the question of
tariff for the protection of American indus
tries, the attitude of Democracy is the same
to-day that it was when it adopt
ed its first national platform in
1900. But it must not be i'm
agined that it has been answering and con-
sistent all that time. If the Democratic
party is ~'tenting on the old camp ground"
it is only because that, after innumerable
confusing maneuverings, it has again retreat
ed to it's early position. The sixth paragraph
of the first platform of the Democratic party,
adopted at a congressional caucus in Phila-
delphia in 1900, makes the following de-
mands:
"Free with all nations, political
connection with none, and little or no diplo-
matte establishment"
On this platform Democracy's patron saint,
Thomas Jefferson, was elected to the presi-
dency. Then, as now, the party had in its
bounds men in advance OF its rank and file,
and Jefferson himself, elected as he was on a
free-trade platform, did not hesitate to defy
it in his public utterances. In his second
message to Congress he said:
ITO cultivate peace, and maintain COM
merce and navigation in all their lawful en-
terprises, to foster our fisheries as nurseries
of navigation and for the nurture of man,
and to protect the manufactures adapted to
our circumstances-these are the landmarks
by which we are to guide ourselves"
Organized Democracy was never slapped
in the face more fairly than
in the foregoing paragraph, deliberately
penned by the father of the concern. The
party was inconsistent; Jefferson alone was
true to the spirit of public polity. He speaks
of protection as a landmark because it was
a fundamental principle of the new republic.
The second act passed by the first Congress
ever assembled in the name of the United
States, and the first act made a law by the
signature of Washington, had the following
preamble;
Whereas, 1t is necessary for the support
of government, for the discharge of the debts
of the United States, and for the encourage
ment and protection of manufactures, that
duties be laid on goods, wares ard merchan-
disc imported; be il enacted" etc.
The parallelism between Democracy of
1900 and Democracy of 1888 is striking, and
it is all the more wonderful when the history
of that party is recalled. Following Jeffer-
son, as quoted above, came Madison in 1909,
in a special message to Congress, in which
may be found the following paragraph:
1T will be worthy, at the same time, of
their just and provident care to make such
alterations in the laws as will especially pro-
tect and foster the several branches of manu-
facture."
Twenty-one years later, in 1880, Jackson,
another canonized Democrat, again gives I'M
qualified Endorsement to a protective tariff,
and says:
"In this conclusion l am confirmed as we'll
by the opinions of Presidents Washington,
Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, who have
each repeatedly recommended the exercise
of this right under the constitution"
At about this time the landed lords of the
South awoke to the fact that protected free
labor was increasing in wealth at a ratio very
distasteful to them. Owning, as they did,
vast quantities OF slave labor in fee simple,
they had no desire for protection, and no
voice came from the South for protection
because the laborers of the South
had no voice in the matter. The
men most interested were gagged, the ballot
boz was closed to them, and their interests
were not consulted. Under stress of South
ern opinion. the Democratic party became
the advocate of free trade, and how we'll the
business of the country prospered under
Democratic administration can be realized
when it is remembered that the general gov
eminent was so near bankruptcy that its
bonds sold at a ruinous discount, even
though the amount offered was but a very
few millions.
The advent of the war and its attendant
extraordinary expenses rendered a heavy
tariff imperative, and under its stimula-
ton industries thrived as never before.
DeIlOcTdCS was SlleHCeu ny Overwhelming
adverse opinion, and no issue could be made
while the war continued. The national Dem
ocratic platform of 1S64-the infamous peace
convention held at Chicago-contained no
declaration Oh the t~arifquestion. The Dem
ocratic platform of 1868 declared in favor of
"a tariff affording incidental protection"
The Baltimore platform OF 1872 lodged the
issue as follows:
Recognizing that there are in our midst
! honest but irreconcilable differences Of opin-