The Mineral argus., 1884-07-31
BLAINE'S ACCEPTANCE.
All the Issues of the Campaign Treated Elk.
haustively and with Strength and
Directness.
Civil Service Reform Commended and the Re-
publican Position on the Tariff
Clearly Interpreted.
Mr.. BIains's Acceptance.
The following is Mr.. BIaine's letter q

ING III 10 I'LL 1%N@ ~ NNNOPN-
inc the nomination for president
AUGUSTA, Me-, July 10, 1SS4-The Hon.
.John b. Henderson and Others of the Com
mittee. etc, c.-Gentlemen: In accepting
the nomination for the presidency rendered
me by the Republican national convention |
beo to express a deep sense of the honor
which is imposed. l venture to accompany
fine acceptance with some observations upon
fine questions involved in the contest-ques-
tions whose settlement may affect the future
of the nation favorably or ~unTaVorably for a
long series of years.
In enumerating the issues upon which the
Republican party appeals for popular sup
port. the convention has been singularly ex-
plicit and felicitous. 1t has properly given
the leading position to the industrial inter
ests Of the country as affected by the tariff
on imports. On that question the two polit-
ical parties are radically in conflict Almost
the first act of the Republicans, when they
came into power in 1861, was the establish
ment of the principle of protection to Amer
lean labor and to American capital. This
principle the Republican party has ever since
steadily maintained, while ON the other hand
the Democratic party in congress has for
fifty years persistently warred upon it
Twice within that period our opponents have
destroyed tariffs arranged for protection, and
since the close of the civil war, whenever
they have controlled the house of represen-
tatives, hostile legislation has been at
tempted-never more conspicuously than in
their principal measure at the late session of
congress.
THE TARIFF QUESTION.
Revenue laws are in their very nature sub
ject to frequent revision in order that they
may be adapted to changes and notifications
of trade. The Republican party is not con-
tending for the permanency OF any particular
statute. The issue between the two parties
does not have reference to a specific law. 1t
is far broader and far deeper. 1t involves n
principle of wide application and beneficent
influence, against a theory which we believe
to be unsound in conception and inevitably
hurtful in practice. In the many tariff re-
visions which have been necessary for the
past twenty-three years, or which may here
after become necessary, the Republican
party has maintained and will maintain the
policy of protection to American industry,
while our opponents insist upon a revision,
whichlpractically destroys that policy. TIL
issue is thus distinct, well defined and ma
voidable. The pending election may deter
mine the fate of protection for q generation.
The overthrow of the policy means a large
and prominent reduction in the wages of the
American laborer, besides involving the loss
of vast mounts of American capital in
vested in manufacturing enterprises. The
value of the present revenue system to the
people of the United States is not a matter of
theory, and 1 shall submit no argument to
sustain it. l only invite attention to GER
tain facts of official record which seem to
constitute a demonstration.
In the censu of 1850 an effort was made,
for the first time in our history, to obtain a
valuation of all the property in the United
states. The attempt was in q large degree
unsuccessful. Partly from lack of time,
partly from prejudice among many who
Thought the Inquiries foreshadowed a new
scheme of taxation, the returns were incom-
plete and unsatisfactory Little more was
done b to consolidate the local valuation
used in the states for purposes of assess
ment and that, as everyone knows, differs
widely from the complete exhibit of all the
property.
In the census of 1860, however, the work
was done with great thoroughness-the dis
tfnction between assessed" value and "true"
value being carefully observed The grand
result was that the "true value"ofa all the prop
erty in the States and Territories Excluding
slaves amounted to fourteen thousand mil
lions of dollars (S14, 600, 000, 000) This ag-
gregate was the net result of the labor and
the savings of all the people within the area
of the United States from the time the first
British colonist landed in 1907 down to the
year 8 g 1t represented the fruit of the
toll of $50 years.
After 1860 the business of the country was
encouraged and developed by a protective
tariff. At the end of twenty years the total
property of the United States, as returned by
the census of 1880, to the
aggregate of forty-four thou
sand millions of dollars, ($44, 000,-
OOO,O0O) This great result was attained,
notwithstanding the fact that countless mil
lions had in the interval been wasted in the
Va % 0ACO0N va ~ bAa9 0DICaIE !
that while our population between 1860 and
increased 60 per cent, the aggregate
property of the country increased pa per
cent-showing a vastly enhanced wealth per
capita among the people. Thirty thousand
millions of dollars $3.50, 000, 000, 000) had
been added during these twenty years to the
permanent wealth of the nation.
These results are regarded by the older
of the world as phenomenal. That
our country should surmount the peril and
the cost of a gigantic war and for an entire
period of twenty years make an average gain
TO its wealth of 1925, 0O0, 900 per month
surpasses the experience of all other nations,
ancient or modern. Even the opponents of
that in the whole histoty of civilization any
parallel can be found to the material progress
the United States since the accession of
the Republican party to power.
The period between 1860 and to-day has
been one of material prosperity only. At
time in the history of the United States
has there been such progress in the moral
and philanthropic field Religious and char
institutions, schools, seminaries and
colleges, have been founded and endowed
far more generously than at any previous
time in our history. Greater and more varied
has been extended to human suffering
and the entire progress of the country in
wealth has been accompanied and dignified
by a broadening and elevation of our ma
tional character as a people.
Our opponents find fault that our revenue
produces a surplus. But they should
not forget that the law has given a specific
purpose to which all of the surplus is profit
ably and honorably applied-the reduction
of the public debt and the consequent relief
of the burden of taxation. No dollar has
been wasted, and the only extravaganza
with which the party stands charged is the
generous pensiOning of soldiers, sailors and
their families-an extravaganza which en-
bodies the highest form of Justice in the rec
ognltlon and payment OF a sacred debt