St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-29
The Democracy and the Tariff.

ed excellently.
The Democracy and the Tariff.
To the Editor of the Globe:
| read the Pioneer Press this morning on
the Democratic caucus and their failure and
discontinue. turned to your paper to
see what the Democratic organs position on
the subject was and l was sorry to see you
had none.*
What are we going to do about it is the prac-
tical question: and l write this to elicit an
expression of opinion from the GLOBE and
from leading Democrats who assume to give
directions in such matters. The situation is
certainly perplexing one and requires the
best judgment of our wisest counsellors.
That best judgment for twenty-five years
past has often been not the best judgment,
and I greatly fear the weakness which has
proved our misfortune all these years will
again give the victory to the opposition in
the ensuing presidential election. That
weakness has been as the Pioneer Press cor
rectly states it "no element in the party
which dares to stand by principle re
gardless Of consequencesn-an ignoring of
''the unmistakable reality that nothing so
commands the respect and admiration and
by and by the support of the majority as
steadfast devotion to honest conviction, that
will look defeat in the face unshrinkingly
and never yield an inch"
We can learn much from our opponents
and their policies during the past thirty years
In 1854 they were about split into two fac
tions-Know Nothings and Free Sellers. The
anti-slavery element being the fittest, sur
vived, and the Know Nothing element
sloughed off and had to hide its head under
the stalwart blows of the Democracy, which
then, to its honor, stood firmly against this
heresy. Weak and in terrible minority, the
opposition, though demoralized, were fear
fully in earnest and boldly assumed the ag-
gressive by nominating John G. Fremont,
and charging on all the weak points, which
were not few then on our side, as they are
not few now on the side of the opposition.
Defeat they knew was certain, but they faced
it like men who sEwould rather be right than
president" In 1860, four years later, their
heroic fight in 1856 commanded respect,
and our mistakes aiding them, they came in
to power. Their course since has shown that
while the main principle of their party had
never been lost sight of nor abandoned, they
have not been wanting in policy, prudence
and a concilatory yielding and temporizing
course at times, which would never strike till
the. iron was hot, but yet would never
cease to ply the bellows and stir the fires to
secure the proper temperature. And then
with rare sagacity, and judgment, they have
always struck while the iron was hot with al
most reckless boldness which made victory
sure.
The most striking instances of these quail
tiles were the abandonment of their name in
1861 as the Republican party, and calling
them selves the Union party, although ''let
the Union slide'' was their motto in 1856
with n. p Banks as speaker of the house and
spokesman for the party. This with the
nomination of Democrats on their tickets
built them up and consolidated their power.
Again the postponement just in these crises,
of their ultimate and secret purpose to make
the war war to abolish slavery and not to
preserve the Union was the second great il
lustration of their policy and prudence and
apparent abandonment of principle They
were indeed as wise as serpents if not as
harmless as doves.
They showed excellent generalship in all
these perilous times in not attacking posi-
ton if it seemed to be impregnable. With
all their boldness and pluck which has given
them twenty-five years of power they have
never hazarded martyrdom by playing the
role of the boy that stood on the burning deck.
In the light of these precedents what are
the lessons for the Democracy
1st ''Be bold, but not too bold
Lest your life may be taken before YOU
blood is cold -
Give US an aggressive campaign, carry the
I - L.
all the line where the weak places will make
break easy. Nominate the old ticket and
thus fire the hearts of the majority who were
disfranchised by ''Ruttertraud Is. Hayes and
arouse the patriotism of all Independent
voters who prefer free ballot and self gov
eminent to party. These have been the
shiboleths of the Republicans for years past
Thousands of them are honestly in favor of
it and will vote to vindcate the principle.
Stand by the revenue tariff but concede and
postpone its sharpest corners
to conciliate all the elements
Unanimity in parties is impossible. The very
idea of party is to concede extreme views
for the sake of united action, and practical
results on the main principle. The United
States of America could never have become
union without the exercise of the concila-
tory principle, which is as much a principle
as it is policy. Men cannot all think alike,
and parties can only exist by mutual con-
cessions. If you regard these views as worth
publishing, you will please give them a place
in your columns, as they may elicit the views
of others more able to advise wise policies
in this emergency, where mistakes will be a
calamity to the whole country, by perpetuating
the power of the most corrupt party which has
ever ruled this land j. W. NJ
aft our valued correspondent had perused
Thursdays issue of the GLOBE as attentively as
he did Fridays, he would have found the com.
ments of this paper on the Democratic caucus.
They were made one day before the p. p had
heard of the caucus. The GLOBE always keeps
at least one day in advance.-ED. GLOBE.
The steamer Leerdam has arrived at Fall
mouth, Englcnd, after hazardous voyage,
from icebergs, wrecks and storms The
passengers speak in high terms of the cap
tain and officers.