Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-08-15
HOUSTON LETTER.

HorsroS, TEX, Aug. Is.
To the Editor of the Gazette,
l am prompted to address few lines
10 FHE GAZETTE in the hope that
you will accept them, II not as a liqui-
dation, at least as recognition of the
debt owe you for the pleasure l de-
rive from the perusal of your col
umns. But let this suffice by way of
preface; to say more would be to sub.
ject myself to the imputation of being
too dull to seize the lesson which
your editorials convey to all who have
the sense to appreciate them.
Things generally are quite dull at
this point, and will pr obably remain
80 until cotton begins to move and for
eign steamers come In to convey it
away. Tne only question now agitat-
Ing the minds of our citizens is as to
how we shall appear to that body of
Industrious men under whose scrutiny
we shall have to pass in less than a
weeks time. 1t Is only Just to our
people to say that the high estimate
they form of the character of their Wis.,
itors is amply attested by the assidu-
Gus efforts being made for their enter
tainment and for showing Off all that
we have and all to the best.
AS to the political caldron, IL does
not even bubble, much less boil AS
the thing now presents itself to the
body of the people hereabout, don't
think they care the toss of a penny
whether Cleveland or Blaine be our
next president. This is owing i'm no
small degree to the fact that our lead
ing paper, the Houston Post, almost
entirely ignores the tariff question.
The Post claims to be running In the
interest of good morals, and is going
to run Cleveland and Hendricks on
that same ticket. In fact, it assures
us that that is really the only issue in
volved in the present political
contest. The Republicans by their
wicked ways and crooked tricks have
forfeited their right to continue any
longer to govern us. The eye of the
the nation, 1t assures us, as was natural
in such an eXigency, is turned toward
the virtuous Democrats, as its last and
only resource. Well, if they fight it
out on this line, they are bound to be
vanquished. The people are beginning
to understand that they have been
bamboozled and duped by set of
political sharpers and thimble-riggers,
who under the mask of protection"
have been annually fleeing them
to the tune of hundreds of
mi lions of dollars, all of which
goes as tribute, wrenched from
the masses, into the Golfers
of Pennsylvania iron makers and New
England manufacturers. This sort of
protection is bringing to the farmer a
trifle over eighty cents bushel for
his wheat, and forcing him to pay
from 80 to so per cent. extra for what
he has to buy beyond what 1t would cost
in the open market Of the world. Yet,
the Post has actually been instructing
its bucolic patrons, II 1t has any, thai
their enormous wealth is derived from
the millions of workers in the East
who get their supplies from their SUI.
perabOunding plenty, and that were
1t not for ''protection" they
would not have such prof.
table customers. But then the
Post omits to tell them that their
Eastern benefactors get their supplies
in the market where they can buy
them the cheapest, and does not ad.
monish them that If they had the
spirit of Americans they would insist
on their rights to do the same thing.
Our exports of wheat and flour to
Europe are falling of more and more
every year; not that the English and
| other nations have not to buy bread
stuffs AS largely as ever, but because
they are buying them from countries
that buy their manufactures, for reel
procity is the very soul of commerce.
From this onward, nothing but short
crop can keep the price of wheat from
going down even beneath its present
| low level.
The people, say, are getting to I'm.
derstand the true state of the case and
have no use for party that lacks the
valor and the virtue to assert and
maintain the most cherished of its ira
ditions.
We have one man among us, how
ever, who Is as true as steel to his dis
tipctive principle Of Democracy.
mean the Hon. Charles Stewart, the
member of congress for this district.
IF he does not make it lively for those
misnamed democrats" whose De-
mocracy would seem to consist In writ
ing up Ireland for governor and
writing down free trade as
not Democratic, then l confess /
have misread the auguries. He has
already sounded the tocsin, and we
know he means fight--tiercc and
deadly fight-against every form OF
unjust monopoly, and he will have
the people at his back. The only
thing now that can remove the gloom
that invests the prospects of the Demo
cratic party is an unequivocai out
spoken avowal by Cleveland himself
of his adherence to the time-honored
Jeff. rsoniau landmark of tariff for
revenue only. This will stir the pop
ular mind to its depths and victory
will then be certain. So mote IL be.