The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-07-19

Che heritage Of the American peopie-tha for.
reign nations are striving by every device to
kenter It is into this field that the opponents Of
-FOUR present revenue system would freely admit
tthe countries of Europe countries into whose
internal trade we could not reciprocally enter;
scountries to which we should be surrendering
every advantage of trade; from which we should
hbe gaining nothing in return.
sEFFEcT UPON THE MECHANIC AND THE LABoRER
"A policy of this kind would be disastrous to
the mechanics and workingmen of the United
Estates. Wages are unjustly reduced when an
industrious man is not able by his earnings to
dive in comfort, educate his children, and lay by
a sufficient amount for the necessities of age
! The reduction of wages inevitably consequent
upon throwing our home market open to the
world, would deprive them of the power to do
this. 1t would prove great calamity to our
country. 1t would produce conflict between
the poor and the rich, and in the sorrowful deg
radiation Of labor would plant the seeds Of public
danger.
The Republican party has steadily aimed to
maintain just relations between labor and CAPT
Safeguarding with care the rights Of each. A
conflict between the two has always led in the
past and win always lead in the future to the
injury Of both. Labor is indispensable to the
creation and profitable use of capital, and CAPT
tai increases the efficiency and value Of labor.
Whoever arrays the one against the other
is an enemy of both. That policy is
wisest and best which harmonizes the two
on the basis of absolute justice. The Republican
party has protected the free labor of America SC
that its compensation is larger than is realized
in any other country. 1t has guarded ourpeople
against the unfair competition of contract labor
from China and may be called upon to prohibit
the growth of similar evil from Europe It is
obviously unfair to permit capitalists to make
contracts for cheap labor in foreign countries to
1he hurt and disparagement of the labor of
American citizens. Such policy like that
which would leave the time and other conditions
iof home labor exclusively in the control Of the
employer) is injurious to all parties-not the.
least SO to the unhappy persons who are made
the subjects of the contract The institutions
of the United States rest upon the intelligence
and virtue Of all the people. Suffrage is made
universal as just weapon of self protection to
every citizen. 1t is not the interest Of the Re
public that any economic system should be
adopted which involves the reduction Of wages
to the hard standard prevailing elsewhere. The
Republican party aims to elevate and dignity
labor-not to degrade it.
AS a substitute for the industrial system
which, under Republican administration, has
developed such extraordinary prosperity, our OPP
ponents offer a policy which is but a series Of
experiments upon our system of revenue-a poA
icy whose end must be harm to our manufac-
lures and greater harm to our labor. Expert
ment in the Industrial and financial system is
the countrys greatest dread, as stability is its
greatest boon. Even the uncertainty result
ing from the recent tariff agitation in CONGRESS-
has hurtfully affected the business of the entire
country. Who can measure the harm to our
shops and our homes, to our farms and our com
merce, if the uncertainty of perpetual tariff
agitation is to be inflicted upon the countryY
We are in the midst Of an abundant harvest;
we are on the eve Of a revival of general pros
perity. Nothing stands in our way but the
dread of a change in the industrial system which
has wrought such wonders in the last twenty
years, and which, with the power Of increased
capital, will work still greater marYels Of pros
perity in the twenty years to come,
OUR FOREIGN POLICY.
Our foreign relations favor our domestic de-
velopment. We are at peace with the world--at
peace upon a sound basis, with no unsettled
questions Of sufficient magnitude to embarrass
or distract u.s. Happily removed by our geo.
graphical position from participation or interest
in those questions of dynasty or boundary which
SO frequently disturb the peace of Europe, we
are left to cultivate friendly relations with ALL
and are free from possible entanglements in the
quarrels Of any. The United States has no
cause and no desire to engage in conflict with
any power on earth, and we may rest in assured
confidence that no power desires to attack the
United States
With the nations Of the Western Hemisphere
we should cultivate closer relations, and for our
common prosperity and advancement we should
invite them all to join with us in an agreement
that for the future, all international troubles in
North or South America shall be ad
justice by impartial arbitration and not
by arms This project was part
Of the fixed policy of President Gar6eld's
administration, and it should, in my Judgment,
be renewed. Its accomplishment on this CONT
nent would favorably affect the nations beyond
the sea- and thus powerfully contribute at no
distant day to the universal acceptance Of the
philanthropic and Christian principle of arbitra-
ton. The effect even Of suggesting it for the
Spanish American states has been most happy,
and has increased the confidence of those people
in our friendly disposition. It fell to my lot as
Secretary of State, in june 1881, to quieta ppre-
hension in the republic Of Mexico, by giving the
assurance in an official dispatch that there is
not the faintest desire in the United States for
territorial extension south of the Rio Grande.
The boundaries Of the two republics have been
established in conformity with the best juris-
dictonal interests of both The line of demarka-
hon is not merely conventional It is more II
separates Spanish American people from