The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-05-29
COL. A1KEs.s PARTING SHOT.

avoid the issue ne raised nlmseii auu
i Or 81 esent q new one. He began his cor
i reupondence upon the statement that we
we're making platform for him which
he did not occupy, and being driven
3 from that position he. has very little
ground upon which to continue con-
;troyersy. The evidence against him is
too complete to admit of question, and
& he naturally seeks to turn the issue
upon us in another direction. We re-
peat that his article Of last week did
seek to misrepresent US, by charging
) that ne had pinned our faith to MIR. Ran,
dali. when Col: Aiken knows, or ought
TO know, that ne have done nothing OF
the kind. We do not believe that Cai.
Aiken intended TO- misrepresent us in
this matter, but it was just apiece OF
inexcusable carelessness on his part, for
the INr1:EELL1eENcER is sent him regular
", and he either ought to read it or
refrain from charging itswith entertain
ing views which it has been combating.
We presume Col. Aiken has not read the
paper, or surely he would not have made
such q loose statement. .
Col. Aiken is likewise in error in say
ing that We have to resort to letter Of
his four ,,, years Old in order to attack his
position ofto.day. We dissented from
his recent utterances fasoring the forma-l!
ton, Of an independent party on national
politics, and made no reference to his
letters. We did say that his position OF
today was similar to his speech at
: Tognville, and when Col. Aiken asserted
that Ne; ,el were misrepresentipg him, we
published his letters to show that he not
onlysheId the views We attributed to him
today, but that he had held substantial: It'
" the same opinions, for the past four
years. i Arguments are by no means,
scarce with which to- attack the eproposi-.
tionto disrupt the National 7. Democratic
party, and form an independent party at:
the, South. It;issn not necessary to go four
years backsto get them. The common
sense Of our people will repudiate such q
position We are not ready to "wipe
outa the Democratic party.
Col Aiken still thinks his prophecy
. that if Garfield was elected we would
never have another Presidential election
syerged upon ful6llment We do not
think sos; Gar6eld's administration was:
eminently conservative and republican
I'm its tend dencies. There was no chance
of destroying the. free institutions OF
America, to; the extent Of taking away
from the people the election of their.
chief ruler. The tendency Of the Re-
publican party is to -centralize the gov
ernmentt to an extent detrimental to local
government, but it would take very
many years Of Republican rule to take
the right Of election away from the peo-
pie.
Col. Aiken is not more fortunate in
his attack upon our tariff position. We
favor tariff for revenue, reduced to the
lowest figure which will meet the neces-
sary expenses of the government. This,
ne understand, is also his position. We:
do not disagree as to what ought to be
done,i but as to the best way to do it.
Col. Aiken thinks everything ought to-
hemade subservient to the tariff issue,
and believes that the minority can reform
it. We do not think SO. There is no
instance on record, with which we are
acquainted, in which a political party
which instituted q measure has allowed
the opposing minority to make a great
reform in that measure. The Republic
can party passed the present tariff act.
President Arthur approved it. They
bsYe the Senate, and it would have been
useless for the House Of Representatives
to- have senta bill to the Senate which
was sure to be defeated. We had the
Republicans on the defensive as to the
tariff before the present agitation. They
now have us on the defensive. We have
lost some advantage in the fight. We
have divided the sentiment of our own
party, and have consolidated the Repub.
lican. We do not think the tariff the
first point of attack, as We regard admin
istrative reform of more immediate prom
ise. The tariff, in our opinion, will not
be reformed until the Democrats get into
power, and therefore anything which de-
lays Democratic ascendancy delays tariff
revision. For that reason we favor the
nomination of the most available candi-
dates, and when we get into power it will
be easier to make the necessary reforms
in our governmental expenses.
Col. Aiken likewise, if We mistake
not, is in error as to Mr.. Tilden's views.
The platform Of 1876, upon which Mr..
Iilden ran, declared in favor Of a tariff
for revenue only. That is not protec-
tive tariff. The fact that Mr.. Tilden is
afriend of Mr.. Randall's does not make
him high tariff Democrat. Col. Aiken
once said in speech that the Republi-
cans of the North were more congenial to
his tastes than the Democrats, but. he
would feel greatly aggrieyed if any per-
son we're therefore to claim that he is a
Republican; and get he attempts to
make Mr.. Tilden responsible for his
friend Mr.. Randall's opinions. We are
not attempting to paddle Mr.. Tilden's
canoe. That is being efficiently done by
ADLER and stronger hands than ours. We
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