The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1884-07-24
MR.. BLAINE'S LETTER.


thought, Mr.. Blaine has at last placed
his letter of acceptance before the pub
lie. 1t has reached enormous proper
lions in its long matching" process, but
it has no doubt been enervated by means
Of its long solitary confinement. 1t
should have seen daylight sooner. Mr..
Blaine can hardly have the good of the
Sc millions of American people, of whom
he talks, at heart; or he would spare
them such an inhiction. 1t is even i'm
posing too much on the generosity OF
Mr.. Blaine's friends to expect that they
will wade through this ponderous pro
duction. 1t is long enough to. make q
respectable sized supplement to his
Twenty Years in Congress-. 1t has
far outstripped all its predecessors in
length and it is safe to say that none of
its followers will equal it in this respect.
This is the distinguishing feature, and
the only distinguishing feature, of James
CT. Blaine's letter of acceptance. It says
little, very little. 1t is prolific in words
bat barren in ideas. 1t is not such
document as one would naturally expect
to emanate from the mind of its author.
Criticisms on the length of the demo-
cratic platform are no longer in order.
Compared with Mr.. Blaine's letter that
document is the embodiment of terse-
ness. Even as a literary production Mr..
Blalnes letter bears no comparison with
it. The letter would easily cover two
pages of The Pilot, if not more.
Over one-half of this extensive docu-
ment is devoted to discussion of the
tariff question and protectionists had
every reason to expect an ADLER cham
pion of their theories in the person of
their leader, than that leader appears to
be. 1t is difficult to believe that man
OF Mr.. Blaine's mental calibre seriously
believes in the specious and sophisticsl
arguments contained in that letter, in
favor of tariff. The sum and substance
OF the argument is, that the country has
had high tariff from 1860 to 1880; that
the country has marvelously increased
in wealth during that time, and that there
fore protective tariff must have been the
cause of this vast accumulation of wealth.
The premise is all right but the conclu-
sion drawn from it is absurd Mr..
Blaine fails to explain or show why this
prosperity is to be traced to high tariff
and not to other agencies. For aught
we know from his letter the country may
have hourished during this period in
spite of protective tariff and not BECAUSE
of it. We grant that tariff has enriched
the monopolist and suppose We grant an
untruth and say that it has bettered the
artisan, now then at whose expense are
those parties betteredl Is it not the
American producer or he American con-
sumner, as the case may be, who suffers
Money is taken from the hands of one
class of American citizens and placed in
the hands of another class. How can
this process enrich the nation Mr..
Blaine might have drawn one or two
other conclusions that would be just az
logical as the one reached in his letter.
For instance he might have said that he
entered congre s in 1868 and remained
there about twenty years, and that dur
ing that time the country increased in
wealth and prosperity, and we might add
IN population, beyond parallel in her
former history and that therefore these
things were the natural and logical re-
suits of Mr.. Blaine going to congress
and remaining there. There is lament
able lack of reason in Mr.. Blaine's man
ner of tracing the logic of events from
effect to cause. A hundred things have
TRANSFERRED within the last twenty five
years which for aught we know from this
letter have had much more to do with
the prosperity of the country than tariff.
In this letter a bid is made for the
support of the laboring classes which is
really an insult to all Intelligent work
ingmen. He says that they are unable to
compete with their co laborers in Europe
without the gratuitous intervention of
the government. In other words be tells
them that they are paupers dependent on
favorable legislation for their support.
The other matters touched On by MIR.
Blaine, are not of great deal of impor-
lance. This portion of the letter relates
mainly to abuses which the republican
party is perpetually pledging itself to
redress. The pledges are forgotten or
broken with provoking regularity as
soon as that party is successful at the
polls.
Or course protection protects the la