St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-08-26
MIR. BLAINE,S SPEECH.
The Tariff, the Labor Question. the South
and Third Party Considered.

| -
and Third Party Considered.
The event the past week in political
circles has been the delivery of Mr.
Blaine's speech at the opening of the
Maine campaign.
In opening Mr.. Blaine referred to the
political apathy which had existed, but
which was now being dispelled by the
advent of state election.
The tariff policy of the United States
was then treated at length, the defeat
of the Morrison bill referred to and it
was declared that the tariff had now
become a distinctly national issue, and
one on which there is now we'll
marked line of division between the
two great parties.
The speaker then discussed the labor
question, regarding which he said: |
have no new nOstrums to offer for the
cure of labor troubles. | have no
Quack remedies to propose. l am a
firm believer in the efficacy of the pro-
tective tariff, and | can look back with
serene satisfaction to my record in con-
gress as never blotted by single vote
that was not friendly to the interests
of American labor. | never promised
anything when | was candidate for a
public office, and now as a private cit
iZen | have no temptation to Halter any
man or state anything else than the
simple truth as | see the truth. 1t is
in this spirit that / offer some sugges-
tons which seem to be worthy of at
| tention under the existing situation of
the labor question.
He then noted that in all the creeds
put forth by the Knights of Labor there
was not the slightest mention of pro-
tective tariff. Whatever the cause of
this omission it would be we'll for the
labor organizations to diligently in
quire and ascertain how the wages of
labor in the United States can be kept
above the rate of wages in England,
| Germany and France on the same arti-
cles of manufacture without the inter
ventiOn of protective duties With the
present cheap modes of Interchange
and transportation of all commodities,
| inquire of these gentlemen how, I'M
der the rule of free trade, can wages in
the United States be kept above the
general standard of European wages ?
[ do not stop for the detail of argu-
ment, | only desire to lodge the ques-
ton in the minds of the millions of
American labOrers who have it in their
power to maintain protection or to in
augurate free trade; who have it i'll
their power to uphold the party of pro-
lection or the party of free trade.
Mr.. Blaine declared that if the dem
Ocratic party shall succeed, as they
have been annually attempting for IL
years past, in destroying the protective
tariff, the artisans of the United States
will be thrown into direct competition
with the highly skilled and miserably
paid labor of Europe; and that if the
democratic party shall be able to hold
control of the national government,
the cOlOred laborer in the southern
states will remain where the southern
democrats have placed him politically,
subject to the will of the white man,
and unable to fix the price or command
he value of his labor.
Continuing he said: At every turn,
therefore, whether it be in exposing
the white American labOrer to the
danger of European competition by
destroying the protective tariff, or
whether in reducing the wages of the
white man by unfairly making the col
Ored laborer his fatal competitor, in all
the fields of toll, the democratic party
north and south, appears as the enemy
of every interest of the American
workman. With that party placed in
full power and with all it's measures
achieved, the wages of the American
labOrer will fall as certainly as effect
| follows cause.
The speaker then passed to a dis
cussion of the fishery question, upon
which he took progressive ground. He
made an elaborate presentation of past
legislation in regard to the fisheries,
referred to Daniel Webster's Opposi-
ton to the treaty of 1852, to the pas
sage of the reciprocity treaty of 1854,
and to the treaty of 1871.
Our relations with Mexico were TAX
en- up and referred to in the following
language: There could not, fellow cit
liens, in my judgment, be a more de-
plOrable event than war between
the United States and any other re-
public of America.
Speaking of the third party, prOhi
bitiOnists, Mr.. Blaine said : Democrats,
of course, with scarcely an attempt at
concealment, regard the third party as
their especial ally, and the coalition
is SO evident that | am sure no man
can be deceived in regard to the result,
except him who desires to be deceived.
Every voter knows that he must choose
between the republican and democratic
parties-and every voter knows that
in joining the third party he indirectly
but effectually throws his political and
moral influence in favor of the demOc-
racy. The supporters of the third par
ty adopt as their shibboleth that "the
republican party must be killed." and
they have secured the cooperation of
the democrat, of the free trader, of the
saloon proprietor, of all men who wish
to keep 100000 of colored people in
the south DISTINGUISHED and oppressed.
1t is an insincere coalition, an unhal-