The freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1886-18??, 1888-07-18

hoA uoe0 Al tue dfbS ana manufactures; II
necessary, to do away with the national
tax on alcohol altogether; to retain the
present tax on imports substantially IN
changed; to retain it, not because it is
necessary for revenue, but because it will
foster and promote American manufac-
lures and keep. up wages; and it pro.
poses to accompany this policy of taxa
ton with one of liberal appropriations.
not only for immediate governmental ne.
cessities, but for the construction of a.
navy and of coast fortifoations, for river
and harb0r improvements, for national
aid to public education, and for pensions.
With this explanation we put the policies
of the two parties in parallel columns, to
make apprehension of the difference be.
tween the two easier and clearer:
Rep. Dem.
Tax on tobacco Abolish. Modify.
Tax on alcohol Reduce or abol Retain.
Tax on raw mate'ls. Retain. Abolish
Tax on necessaries. Retain. Reduce
Tax on luxuries. Retain. Retain.
Object of tax Protection. Revenue,
Expenditures Liberal EconomicA.
It would be an absurd and a dishonora-
BILE affectation if we were to pretend to
look upon the issue thus framed with in
difference We believe that it has vital
relations to the future of our country.
We believe that the coming election viii
be likely to settle the trend of national
life for some years to come Nor have
we any wish to conceal our personal pre-
objections and prejudices They are in
favor of economical expenditures and a
lowered tariff ~
The Northwestern Christian Advocate
cox &c f. - 4l,+
year will witness a struggle which will
remind men of the old slavery battles in
ante-war times. We regret that the
liquor issue is ignored. 1t would seem as
if the Republican party had lost nearly as
many votes as it well can lose because of
the action of the party in some of the
states. At the same time, it is true that
thousands who are now compelled to vote
with the third party would remain in the
Republican party if it would buttdeclare
war on the saloon as an element in poll
tics. 1t ought to be reproach that the
whisky interest has more power in our
large cities than have all the churches
and schools combined We have lit
tie doubt that thousands who are now
Indifferent to the thought would revolt
if they would but stop to realize the dis
graceful, not to say the dangerous, fact.
AS the debate progresses more and more,
men will come to realize that significant
state of the facts. Thousands of good
men have been waiting to see whether the
Republican party would or would not re-
volt against the power that is the enemy
of all the homes in the land. The event
will finally convince them that the ulti-
mate test has been made, and that they
must now make their protest in some eff
fective way We will inevitably be ac-
cused of partisanship in this suggestion
but we make it as an observer and as a
citizen who regrets that the party has so
non-acted that it is in opposition to the
express position of our church on an issue
which has its unavoidable relations to the
peace of every home in America.
The Advance says: No doubt the indig
nation will be deep and widespread in
view of the cowardly and wicked refusal
Of the committee on platform in the Re
publican convention to voice the senti-
ment of all good citizens respecting the
protection which the government ought
to afford the home against the saloon. 1t
was a grievous blunder It was kind of
blr1nder which amounts to a crime. 1t
was Just the kind of blunder which the
merely cunning politician without con
science or moral sense is prone to make
We do not care to predict what the result
will be- Of this we may be very sure,
that whatever the platform may have
said or refused TO say, or however hard
the manipulating politicians may haye
txied to wink it out of sight, before the
campaign is over they will find that the
question which they attempted to taboo
is question which represents tremen
dously insistent and aggressive force in
the politics of today, and still more so in
that of the failure. At the same time, in
this as in all other great moral and social
reforms, there is need of patriotism and
self possession as well as of courage.
And The Standard, after quoting The
Chicago Tribune's prophecy that the
"blunder" will cost the Republican party
tens and possibly hundreds of thousands
of votes, declares; Judging by what we
hear from temperance men who have
always voted with the Republican party
and from what we know of the general
sentiment of Christian people, heartily
tired of whisky rule, The Tribune's alter
native estimate Of the loss likely to follow
The retention of such a feature in the
9latform, is much more nearly the right
one"
These extracts show the drift of rehg-
ions sentiment. The break has com
rnenced. The people Of God are focking
to the party which stands for God, home
and country, whose candidates are Fisk
and Brooks, and whose symbol is the
white rose.
what Has the Colored Man Come To?
He has come to the conclusion that he