The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-01-31
The DAILY ARGUS.
Thursday January 81, 1884.
SIGNS OF THE TINES.
Speculation on the Standing of Dem.
ocratic Presidential Possibilities,
With Few Comments on the
Tariff question and Its Reia-
tion to PARTIES Historic
Parallel

CINCINNATI, Jan. 31-In his special to The
Enquirer, Gath" has the following: Among
the signs of the times is the decay of former
presidential candidates 1t was only four
years ago that we heard the names of Bay
ard, Hendricks, Thurman, Palmer and Tilden
as presidential favorites Tilden still has
popularity; but the universal report of bis
bodily feebleness, assisted by his own silence,
are making Roadway, and his name is only
seriously considered by those who refuse to
be persuaded.
The tariff acts played havoc with Mr. Bay
ard. No matter how much he denied or
failed to deny his connection with the match
monopoly, il has followed him surer than
evidence. That little monopoly, no great
thing in itself, was as effective in his case as
if it had been some Credit Mobilier, or the
National banking system.
Seymour is only known to live in the state
of New York by some person occasionally
penetrating to his dairy farm and asking him
a series of standard questions, such as What
is your view about the Democracy of the fu-
ture, and when did you begin to be ii Demo
Crat in the past" The excellent old man,
VINO was always beloved in the Democratic
councils, makes the standard answers, and
time he is interviewed
Hendricks has also had his day, which he
insists, has not quite ended. In his prime he
would have made an agreeable magistrate,
probably strong enough for any emergency,
but it does not look probable that he is to be
revived, although | occasionally meet with
some New York Democrat who has a tender
side for Hendricks, and thinks that he has
been too much the victim of his aspiring
pupils Hendricks has all his life been a
mild man in thought and speech, and prob
ably the only elements Of bitterness in his ma
ture have been developed on this presidential
question, which is not worth a man getting
mud about, though it has worried many a
man 10 his grave, and will worry many
more. FE
There is NJ country in the world of the size
Of ours which presents such glittering prize
once every four years among the dis
tinguisned men as the presidency That
renders our country unique among tirst-claSs
nations-that we submit, after every four
crops we gather, to resolving our
selves into a vast political camp, more
than three thousand miles wide and
one thousand miles long, every sin
two mems names, each matched for the
greatest Office in the state, and the only
Office which has no associate or rival The
wonder is not that men mildly sigh for the
presidency, but that they contend for it so
modestly, and surrender it without despair.
Small as the emoIuments of that Office seem
to be, they are about every thing of power
They give the highest social position, the
chief political position, make the president at
one time or another the magistrate over the
individual affairs of almost every man. and
when wal, comes along the little Office be-
comes pTodigious, like star that has bios
somed into a comet.
McDonald's name is not as much heard here
as it was, though he is conceded to have much
promised strength Mcdonald has never
filed any station but senator, and while in
the senate he never led the debate Conse-
quently i'll the east the idea of him is q kind.
genial, western lawyer, whose chief title to
the presidency is a kind of country popularity
he has got among his neighbors His nomi-
nation has of late drifted into the southern
states, particularly since Mr. Carlisle was
elected speaker.
Carlisle is much better understood here
than Mcdonald, though he has been but
tile while before the public. Something in
dependent and original, like moral courage,
in the way he made his campaign and chose
his committees produced plain impression
upon the peoples minds, and they began to
see patriot in him
The same can be said Of his competitor,
Randall, whose defeat was not expected, and
whose national position has undoubtedly
been advanced by that defeat, because it has
emphasized a division in the Democratic
party on the tariff question: question fatal
to political parties, because it is not, strictly
speaking question of Interpretation, but Of
condition
There is no reason why two Democrats
should not differ on a matter of the employ
ment Of labor, without regard to party and
Of the stability of capital. The raising of this
tariff question is regarded by many as carry
ing us directly back to the sectional question
again. If the southern states had an artisan
population-white mechanics, long lines OF
factory girls, school Of design, diversity Of
minds, etc.-they might legitimately divide
on the tariff matter. But since the manu-
features are hardly in their infancy there, the
choosing of this question for the line of party
division almost inevitably leads to sectional
division. Carlisle, however, has never as
sumed to be free trader MOI sectional man.
His expression is that we should turn lsgisls-
ton toward the tightening Of the burdens of
taxation and the equaiizing of them
By bringing the tariff into politics instead
of discussing it in congress, the real facts are
obscured to the people. Many of our people
think that the protective tariff is job re-
Gently introduced into this country. On the
contrary, the tariff question was discussed in
the first administration, when st began to be
considered how we should raise revenue
The moment you tax series of articles
to bring you revenue you to that ex-
tent exclude them. The British govern
ment pointed America the..way to protection
by discouraging our manufacturers Great
Britain, which means the larger island of the
United Kingdom, found Ireland sometime
before the American revolution thriving as
manufacturing kingdom. Ireland then had,
to some extent, its own parliamentary gov
eminent. The British manufacturers de-
iberately compelled the parliament of Ire
land to discourage her manufacturers, so as
to let English manufactures have the mar
kets
All these things were done nearly two hun
dred years ago. The English have in part
changed their policy, and, having secured all
the manufacturers they want, desire us
through the ignorance Of our people to sur
render the advantage we have been gaining
in mechanical craft and manufacturing
wealth, and it is proposed to put this question
into presidential campaign. What Irish
man can not be made to see before next No
vember the country he is playing into the
hands of
A New Grade of Corn.
NEW YORK, Jan. 31-The produce ex-
change has adnntpd a new prada of corn