Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-11-05
DEMOCRATIC ACHIEVEMENTS.
The Party Is the Champion of the Plain
 People.

Tho Party Is the Champion of the Plain
 People.
 This is campaign of unusual aspects. Seldom before has political oratory ap- pealed to the thought and not to the passions of the multitude, From the low plane of fulsome eulogy or unmitigated abuse so common in our previous cam paigns the discussions of both parties have been elevated to the consideration of bona fide issue. The Democratic party lives not in the past. The memory of Jefferson, Monroe and Jackson acts as stimulant, not as a sedative. Such glorious ancestry demands an active, stirring posterity So today we enter upon this campaign not as dreamerS or praters of the past, but with the banner of new truth as workers for the future.
 Were we to indulge in little self con- graduation, well might we point with pride to the manner in which this admin istration has followed ill the footsteps Of the fathers of the Democracy. A navy recreated, millions of acres of the public lands rescued from grasping syndicates, fraudulent pension schemes rejected, even at the risk of public clamor; the national treasury guarded at all it's approaches; public office purged of it's foul humors and purified in all it's members, raised from q public scandal to a public trust; the dark places of government flooded with the daylight of honest administra- ton. All these in themselves, besides being sources of joy to us, are golden recommendations for renewed public con fidence. But it is not for these alone that today we demand con- tinued popular support. Our presi- dential Hercules rests not after his great task of turning the rivers of honesty through the Augean stables of public office, but, like new St. George, has buckled on his armor to slay the dragon of war taxation, grown so strong and lusty on the life blood of our people. The people of this country have today some thing more than memories of the great civil war. We know that new genera tions have been born and grown to man. hood since the restoration of peace. The veteran soldiers of that conflict are quickly leaving us to join the armies of the great eternal Captain. But were we to look upon the statute books of our national government we would be tempted to believe that peace was but dream, and that the crash of arms was still resound ing along the Potomac. For there will we find still in force and daily executed the laws born of a nation s urgency to feed and equip its armies in the field. We had been for years congratulating ourselves that the last vestige of the war had passed away only to wake to the fact that while no soldiers fight today for our safety, every citizen bears and has borne for score of years the burden of taxation expressly raised to provide for armies long since melted into nothing. Shce the end of the war our population has almost doubled, our industries have grown to gigantic proportions, our public debt is funded, our treasury overhows with an annual surplus of $130, ,000,000 taken every year from the channels of trade, and yet taxes are laid and collected as though we were in the throes of a great conflict with our treasury draining as if a sieve. It is true, however, that the war taxes are no longer collected on the rich mans stocks, bonds and checks, that the million aire no longer pays his quota on his in come, that the imposts on whisky and tobacco have been lessened, but it is as equally true that the drain upon the poor mans purse still continues. When, as Mir. Blaine has said, the government sought about everywhere, on earth, in heaven, and beneath the seas for some thing on which taxation could be laid" !" the duties about our imports rose from about 90 per cent. to 40 per cent. This meant and means that the clothes which covered the poor mans nakedness, the tools which contributed to his daily bread, Fsthe wood which formed the roof over his head and the floor he walked upon, the cradle in which his offspring slept, the knives and plates which graced his scanty table, the can in which he carried to his day of toll his meager dinner, the salt or sugar which seasoned his food, and almost everything he used save the air he breathed was laid under contribution. All this taxation was borne patiently as long as it had a cause, but tho plain people of this land are not Spar tan helots nor Russian moujiks, and they have decided aversion to pay tax to any one one day longer than the needs of the state require it. Here then lies the | issue C@ this campaign-shall this war tax stay or go? It seems very strange to Q thoughtfu man that there should be any controversy about such simple mat, | ter But to large number of people in this land this war tax has become, 1 by some peculiar process of magic, an idol or a religion, which must not be desecrated by examination or criticism, | and they say to it ill the words of holy writ, Though thou shouldst slay mo yet | will l cleave unto thee" Politicians recognizing this strange fatuity had feared to make this an issue for this | people, and in their so called wisdom had shut their eyes to the fact and their ears to the complaint of the overburdened. l But, thank God, statesmen are yet born | in this land, and some one was found with courage enough to make this an issue for the people. With charming lu cidity of statement, boldness of expres- sion and absolute accuracy of fact mes sage of our president rang throughout the land like Gabriels trumpet calling to life again the deadened intelligence of our people.-From speech by William J. Carr, of New York.