Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-05-15
MIR. BEECHER'S FREE TRADE IDEAS.
He Dislikes Protection. hut thinks that an Insult
ficient Reason to Leave Great Party Of
Principles. and support One With
cut Honesty, Wisdom or
Consistency.
snac,a,,o The commerc,a, c.ve,,s

SptCidi 10 TIC NUinfucftldi Gdzeltc.
CHICAGO. April u. - Rev. Henry |
Ward Beecher, who is now in the city. |
writes to the Tribune the following let |
ter on the tariff, and the relation of par
ties thereto:
.'Only to-day have seen the follow
ing remarks: Referring to our reflection
on Henry Ward Beecher's Republican,
ism. the Brooklyn Eagle says: 1T is |
unquestionably true that if the tariff is |
to take back seat among the issues of |
the coming Presidential campaign. Mr..
Beecher will vote for the Republican |
candidate. He has said rs much for |
himself. That the more radical pro-
tectionists in the Republican party
would not support Mr.. Beecher for the
Presidency Is also pretty certain. But
we are not as sure as our Utica contem-
porary seems to be that if the tariff were
the main question in the canvass, Mr..
Beecher would stultify himself by voting
for Republican protection in preference
to a Democratic tariff reform"
Perhaps we do injustice to Mr..
Beecher's sincerity. but we can not be
blamed for judging his political future
by his past. In 1880. we respect, Mr..
Beecher, who is not in the habit of
jumping at conclusions on the impulse
of the moment, believed in tariff reform,
| yet he assisted in the defeat of the can
! didate nominated on that platform, and
the election of a radical protectionist,
| General Garfield.
| Is his disposition to desert his party
any stronger now than it was thenp We
| doubt it. Our advice, first and last, to
the Democratic party, Beware of the
counsel and encouragement of those
who talk free trade and vote the Repub-
lican ticket Utica Observer.
| My personal views and political con-
duct are of little value to the public,
except SO fai as they are supposed to
represent the views and purposes of
large and daily increasing number of
silent voters. l have been a Republic
can from the origin of that party, be-
cause it represented better than any
other the doctrines of liberty, and the
conduct becoming great nation in
mortal struggle with internal disease
that was poisoning its blood. That in
its long march from Egypt to the prom
| ised land, it never committed fault, /
do not say. 1t was a weary way, and
unexplored, and Republicans were but
men.
1t was the party of liberty as against
slavery; the party of free speech as
against intolerance. 1t boldly faced
the threat of secession and elected Lin
coin. 1t had the courage to accept the
risks of war, rather than back down in
the face of Southern threats. 1t was
baptized in blood, and proved worthy
of its high calling. 1t had wisdom and
courage to recompose the shattered col
umns of this Union, and give to it a
grandeur which has won the respect of
the world.
1t met the bloated currency which the
war had induced, and brought back the
current within the appropriate bounds.
1t never was charmed with the green
back system, but restored the dissoute
theories to virtue.
In short, the Republican party has
had the courage to meet every issue
which has arisen for twenty-five years
without shutfling or evasion 1t has
had clean policy, and it has had that
supreme virtue of parties-courage-
courage-courage
The Republican party inaugurated
| policy of high tariff. The necessities of
a period of gigantic war is the only pal
liation of such a policy. But when pro-
lection of American industry was
grated upon the tariff, no excuse could
be found for the blunder. 1t is an insult
to American enterprise to assume that
it needs protection. American industry
is no decrepit thing, needing crutches
and nurses. Protection puts the gov
| eminent into the ridiculous attitude of
undertaking to supervise all the various
| and intricate affairs of manufacture and
| commerce.
1t is the last vestige of that old system
of paternal government which seeks to
arrange mems religious beliefs, to de-
termine their social relations, to pre-
scribe their meat, drink and apparel, to
do for them what a free people are
thousand times better able to do for
themselves.
The aim and drift of protection is
foolish and impertinent, but the mach
inery by which it seeks to secure the
end is even worse than the cause which
it serves. Corrupt Custom-houses in
their nature are academies of injustice
and dishonesty, abhorred of God as they
ought to be of men.
But right in SO much, and wrong in
so little, shall one abandon the party or
remain in 1t to settle reformationp As
long as freedom of discussion is al
lowed, its members should abide within
and strive for its reformation. What
ridiculous and monstrous folly it would
be to leave the Republican party, be-
cause it is yet blinded with protection,
and 90 over to the Democratic party,
that has coquetted with almost every
evil which the war has swept away, and |
which has not yet shown that it has
learned single lesson from the grand |
struggle of the last twenty-five years. |
1t has no faith in itself, no unity in its |
measure, no wise leaders.
1t has learned to construct platforms, |
and then to run away from the only |
wise planks in them-courageous in
words and cowardy in deeds.
What am asked to do? To go over |
from the Republican party, that has the
courage of its opinions, to one that
avows free-trade principles, and then |
plays comedy in Congress, in carrying
out their pretentious reforms; that has |
no leaders that dare lose in good |
cause, or suffer for their principles. |
When some bold advocate of free trade /
arises among them, like Watterson, he
is knitted by his own compariots. When |
the Democratic party shall have mis-
sion of liberty, as it had in Jefferson's |
day, or even in Jackson -but to men,
ton these names is to throw ridicule |
upou the names of Democracy.
When Sampson had slept in the arms /
of Delilah he had the grace of suicide |
given him. But Democracy that lost its
virtue in the bosom of slavery, blind |
and feeble. yet prefers TO grind in the
prison house than seek an honorable /
death.
There is another contingency. If the /
engineers and managers of the Republi- |
can party shall select candidate for |
the Presidency stained by jobbery in al
lance with the policies of the great rail-
way princes, hand and-glove with cor
rupt Hobbies, and in full faith with cor
rupt and corrupting gangs who swarm
our Legislatures and live by sleek plum
der, it will be the duty of every patriotic |
Republican to secure his defeat, not by |
the folly of joining the party of historic |
imbecility, but by laying the foundation
of new movement that shall respect |
the moral instincts of our people-a |
party of common sense, based upon |
moral sense.