The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-10-19
4 pEMooaArIc supRgME oouRr.

4uo eEticio ooPio" AZ AueSudy Journal
from the Charleston Is. c. News and Courier
adds confirmation to what we said ON Monday
from q Democratic Supreme Court. 1t ap-
pears from that article that General Hamilton,
of South Carolina, violated the revenue law
in force during Jackson's administration, and
the case against him was brought to the Su-
preme Court Of tho United States for the
purpose Of securing a decision declaring that
a protective tariff was constitutional.
McDuffe, Of South Carolina, the 'fre-eating
nullifer," as he was called, was employed to
argue the cause. land was received in Wash
ington and escorted down town by q body of
horsemen." But the court, because Of a mis-
take in the defendants plea, was not called
upon to decide the great question the nulli-
fers sought to present. 1t was a narrow
escape, for had the Southern view pre-
vailed, as it would probably have lone ss
the court was then constituted, our tariff
system would have been finally and complete
" overthrow. and tho Nation would have
been powerless at the feet of the nulli6ers.
As Germany's great Chancellor suggests, and
as every thinking man must see, without our
tariff system We could not possibly have car
ried on the war for the preservati IN of the
Union.
Our purpose Is not now to direct atten ton
to the danger to our constitutional amend
men.s. our reconstruction measures, and the
wholesome legislation which embodied the
principles for which our soldiers so nobly
fought, from q Democratic bench, but to
speak only of the danger to our tariff system.
Once we narrowly escaped ruin, and shall we
place 1t in the power of the Democratic Presi-
dent to appoint judges who will carry out the
Democratic doctrine by placing in our federal
Constitution, by construction, what the con-
federates wrote at full length in theirs, .
provision inhibiting the adoption Of a tariff
founded on the principle Of protection
We cannot conceive how any business man,
merchant or manufacturer can vote to place
in control of the government a party that for
more than fifty years has denied the constitu-
tional power of Congress to adopt q protective
tariff. If snch a party does come into power,
then the bench Of the national court will.
within the next four years, be Democratic,
thus putting in peril the system which has
given Us q national credit infinitely superior
to any nation in the world. If such q bench
does come into power, confidence will be de-
stroyed, values unsettled, credit destroyed
and financial ruin come upon US, saddening
every homo in the land, save those only of
the men who would rejoice at any misfortune
that weakened the power Of the federal gov
ernment. We hope every fair-minded man
will read the article copied from the News
and Courier, and for himself decide whether
he IL quite ready to intrust Mr.. Cleveland, or
any other man who represents the free-trade
party, with the power Of making . Supreme
Court.
But it may be said that there is no longer
the same motive that influenced the South
before the war, since there ia no probability
Of another strife. There is, however, a mo-
tive quite as strong as the old one, and that is,
TO so cripple our revenues that pensions to
Union soldiers cannot be paid. Nothing so
gals the Southern Democrat as the thought
that in being compelled to pay part of the
revenue "a very small part it is, in all con-
science he contributes to the payment of
pensions to the soldiers of the Union army.
That Is the new issue.