Huntsville gazette., 1884-09-06
Ito The Voters Of the Eighth Congressional
District.

! am candidate for Congress from this distli,
at the election to be held in the ensuing Novem
ber. / have neither grievance to redress nol
a complaint to be remedied, and | am quite a
liberty to criticise the views Of men and O.
parties, at the same time presenting my own
With the various complications between parties
here for twenty years | have had little, and now
have less to do on all sides much is found tC
condemn, and in some respects only the spirit OF
public hangman could contemplate past history
with complacency.
These matters, were incidents Of troublous
times; and are dead and burled the worthy acit
survive-the unworthy cannot; those who revOlve
them over, and muse and dwell on them are un
safe counsellors The future to which the new
South looks, claims all our time, and no prophe
cies will be found written on tomb stones of the
past nor are they told by ghosts. True, the land
over is full of sacred memories that all, mutually
revere, but they are not proper subjects Of po
litical merchandise, nor to be bartered for the
pottage Of place or gain.
In these twenty years, changes OF the gravest
character have been effected When it was pro
posed to make the suffrage universal giving
black men the vote and it was considered that
they were Just out of bondage with all the mfr
mites of their late condition about them |
thought, with others, that the strain put on the
State by thus enfranchising this large class with
out at least a limited possession of property or
education would render our political Foundation
unsafe. AS matters then looked the advocates
of qualified suffrage seemed prudent ana wise.
They were however enfranchised just as they
stood and seventeen years has disspated all
doubt. The constitution gave and yet gives un
versal suffrage thus fixing it in the organic law Of
the State from which nothing but revolution can
dislodge it; practically the only doubt cast on the
working Of unqualified suffrage has arisen in the
portions of the country known as the "black
belt" where as many observing persons think
the overwhelming democratic ma iority would
vanish if the voters could read their ballots or
solve the mysteries of 'tally sheets" quote as
an admonition, the saying of Governor Cleveland
in his letter of acceptance, GA Government Is
not by the people, when a result which should
represent the intelligent will of free and thinking
men is or can be determined by the shameless
corruption of their suffrage, !; :: 4 it is not
such when class is tolerated which arrogates to
itself the management of public affairs. :" The
colored voters have exhibited a conservative
patience and quietude which has disarmed the
opponents of their suffrage and will be notable
in political history. Universal suffrage will
never again be questioned in this government.
THE TARIFF.
The protection Of American industries is ira
ditionallv an American doctrine; free trade is
wholly an English doctrine, and finds its chief
strength in this country in Golden clubs backed
by British gold. For five hundred years Eng
land had protective tariff and in many respects
la prohibitive tariff; thus she built up her man
ufactories until she wanted the world for mar
ket she then became the champion of free trade;
her capital is unlimited but every sixteenth
1,l al. r.
public expense. l have no space for an argu-
ment, but will state, some copclusions derived
from the protective system, now in force
The census of 1860 shows the aggregate wealth
Of the United States at that time to have been
Fourteen thousand millions Of dollars Since that
time we have had uninterrupted protection
under uniform law, and in 1880 twenty wears
later the wealth of the United States had ncreas-
ed to the wonderful aggregate Of forty four thou
sands Of millions $4,000, 900, ,OOO), Of dollars.
1t is claimed by those who called free traders
that this is done at the expense Of the farmers
This is not true The purchasing power of
every article produced by the farmer is double
what it was when tariff duties were lowest For
example one bushel of weat in free trade
times would buy s yds of sheeting under pro-
lection it would buy eleven yards; it would buy
35lbs bar iron, under free trade; under protec-
tive tariff it will buy 57bs; ten pounds of Ken
lucky tobacco would then buy yds of sheeting,
yds of calico and Is lbs Of bar iron; now the
same will buy yds Of sheeting, 10 yds Of prints
and 81 pounds Of bar iron these figures illustrate
principle running through all like trade 1t
is quite the reverse Of free trade davs when
cotton was worth and cts per pound and calico
% cts per yard.
1t is also true as the statistics will show anv
one who will go to them, that the value Of agri-
cultural lands gets higher the nearer they ap-
proach the region Of manufactures. State tax
es on farms are largely diminished by the por-
ton laid on our immense manufacturing capital
The labor engaged in manufacturing is with
drawn from competition with farm labor they
are about 1000, 900 in number and remain home
consumers of the farmers crops to the extent of
about 80 per cent of his product. Under protec-
tion our home manufacturers have grown until
they manufacture goods equal to, and in some
respects exceling foreign products, at prices less
than the foreign product supposng the cost Of
home and foreign labor to be equal The pres