The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-09-03

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tn me avoWea principle of the Democratic party.
" 2 DEMAND THAT FEDERAL TAXATION SHALL
BE hAcbusivELY FOR PUBLIC PURPosEsr No
one can fail to see that these state
ments are self-contradictory and utterly irreeon-
cilable- They were meant to be so The Dem
ocratIc party did not dare to make a clear and
truthful announcement of its tariff principles
1t knew that certain defeat awaited it IL it
openly reayowed its free-trade doctrines. It in
tended to put out a platform that can be read
either Tor revenue only or for a protective
tariff as locality may require. 1t is a platform
deliberately planned for the express purpose Of
quilting and deeeiving ignorant or unwary Dem
oerats, and keeping them from abandoning the
party A tariff law that is 'sat every step re-
gard1ui OF the labor and capital Thus involved
IN many industries that have come to rely
upon legislation for successful continuanees can
| not be exclusively for public purposes One
OF the purposes of such a law must of necessity
be protection. A tariff law that takes good care
10 make all Its adjustment of duties without
deprIying American labor of the ability to com
pete successfully with foreign labor aud with
out imposing lower rates of duty than will be
ample to cover any increased cost of production
which may exist in consequence of the higher
rate of wages prevailing in this country is
high protective tariff law political party
that pledges itself to the enactment of such a
tariff law, and imme diately afterwards solemnly
declares, as cardinal doctrine of its creed, I'VE
demand that federal taxation shall be exclusive
~ for public purposes is false either in its
. pledge to enact such law, or in its declaration
OF principle. Both can not be true Ask Ran
dali, or any protection Democrat, what this
platform means, and he will point with pride
to its pledges that all tariff laws shall be care
fully protective; and tell you it is Just what he
wanted Ask Morrison Hewitt, Hufd. Carlisle
or Watterson what it means, and with chuekle
they will say, 1T means just what it says: We
demand that federal taxation shall be exclusive
" for public purposes.
There are two ways to arrive at the true
meaning of this Delphic utterance J. The in
IL nv wi no mar "a
and by the chief leaders of the Democratic
party. Morrison, the leader of the free traders
and author of the horizontal reduction tariff
bib pressed by the Democratic party in the
lower house of Congress last winter, was chair
man of the committee on resolutions, and him
self reported the platform to the convention.
lie Is well known to be most bitterly hostile to
protection. Does any one think he intended to
report to that convention platform in favor of
protective tariff Mr. Moreton, of Nebraska
was a member of the committee that drafted
the democratic platform Before leaving Chi
cago he was asked to state poiutedly, Just what
the tariff plank of the platform means
In answer, he said: t'The tariff clause
in the platform means that we have
got to make fight for tariff
for revenue exclusively, which sounds much
better than a tariff for revenue only Speaker
Carlisle says: i do not see how the discussion
of the tariff issue can be avoided. The platform
is in every respect a sound and honest Demo
cratic platform, and as such | heartily indorSe
1T. The election of Carlisle as Speaker was
recognized as triumph of the tariff for reye-
nueonly Democrats He is the recognized
leader of the opponents to any kind of tariff pro-
lection. The Louisville Courier journal of July
y. 1854 says I'm national convention as
sembled the party has just confirmed the decs-
ion rendered by the election of Mr.. Carlisle
Mr.. Watterson, of Kentucky, another member
of the committee that drafted this platform
said IN Chicago, after the platform was adopted
'That plank means nothing more nor less than
a tariff for revenue only In his ratifea-
ton speech at Louisville, KY, on July 16. 1884,
Mr, Watterson, speaking of this tariff plank
said when the fight came in the gen
eral committee some feeling arose and
sharp contest was had upon
two propositions, the first one being to strike
out the word exclusively from the declaratory
clause, and the second relating to the selection
of permanent chairman to report the platform
to the convention. 1t contended by Mr.
Hay, Of Pennsylvania, and other politicians who
supported him, that the word exclusively was
synonomo,ls with the word only Nobody
disputed this; but the friends of revenue reform
defended the tariff planks of 1876 and 1880, ac
cepted the issue made by the other side, and,
when the vote was taken retaining the word
exclusively by 18 yeas to l6 nays its signif-
canoe was clearly understood The subsequent
election of Mr. Morrison to present the report to
the convention answers the charge that Mr.
Randall had the committee in the hollow of his
hand, and got all he ever wanted or asked for
These statements of the leaders of the Demo
cratic party leave no doubt as to the meaning Of
the party in this devious and evasive plank of
their platform. But il they did, there is another
and surer way to determine what the Demo
cratic party means. and that is:
2. The Interpretation Of the platform by the
acts of the party. We only need to go back to
last winter for proof of the meaning of this plat
form The Morrison tariff bill speaks much
clearer than this platform. Did it comply with
these false pledges of this platform2 Ord it
keep the promise to restore the tariff on wool >
upon which Ohio Democrats carried that State?
omar d an ia me
can labor and American industriesl 1t WAS an
attempt at wholesale destruction of all protect
ton by horizontal reduction of all tariff duties,
utterly regardless of the results to the iaborer
and manufacturer If that bill had passed it
would have bankrupted hundreds of manufac-
turing establishments, and thrown thousands Of
laborers out Of employment. The issue, then, is
clear and distinct The Republican party is in
favor of tariff protection. The Democratic
party is opposed to tariff protection.
RESULTS OF REPUBLICAN, PROTECTIVE TARIFF
The growth and prosperity of our country
under Republican administration have been so
marvellous as to excite the wonder and envy of
the nations notwithstanding the fact that a
devastating and expensive war occupied nearly
one-fourth Of the time the Republican party has
been in power, still our national growth,
development and increase in wealth have been
so great as to dwarf all former periods of our
history. Mr. Hendricks feels keenly the ir-
resistible force of the argument in favor Of the
Republican party drawn from the history of the
country under Republican rule. On July TO-
1884 in his speech to the NAutocrats7 he said
''Our resources and industry have made us the
great and prosperous people which we are, and
not the policy and work of the Republican party
The country is not prosperous
because it has been under the policy of the Re
resources Of the country developed Why did
the the Of the country WY has the sst po
icy Of the Democratic party, whenever in power,
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