Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1888-08-08
HOW AND THEM"
TCommuaic

NOW AND THEM.''
 Communicated
 The author af the article under th
 above head, which appeared in the
 Courier O! the 2d inst. IS either ignoran
 of the history of the times of which h.
 writes, or willfuiIy misrepresents it
 The compromise measurefnf which h'
 speaks, and of which NIT. Clay IS cred
 ited with being the prime cause, did moi
 occur in IS42, but in 1892 and B. He
 further says: "This bill (of IS47) pro-
 vlded for general reduction in imports
 10 coverten years" The tariff act of I84 :
 did nothing of the kind; but the tariff o
 1S37, (passed March ad 1858 did grad
 ua,e the tariff from that date for ter years, thereby getting the name Of the
 "sliding sale" act.
 MT. Clay has been censured by some for the part he took inthe passage of that act, charging that he then abandoned the protection theory, of which he had always been the friend and champion
 But to the candid mind it should be remembered that the country then was menanced with danger. John c. Cal houn had raised the banner of nullifica- and South Carolina, and some other of the southern states were training under that banner and a crisis of a civil war seemed i'm minent, and be 1t rememmbered that this same oues- tion of tariff was the cause of the nulli- fcation theory To meet this crisis, Mir. Clay, as a measure of peace agreed to the sliding scale" act of 1853, hoping that the latter half of the ten years Of Its life would prove such dose that the American people would not like to re- peat 1t.
 It was during-t existence of this act that the financial crash of 1857 occurred and from the latter date to I342, when the tariff of that year was passed, the country passed through the same dis tresses, and inancIal thouble that have always followed the low tariff of free traders. from I7S9 to the present time
 Again-,he author of "Now and Then," says: 'In IS44 the question Of revenue reform came before the people for settlement"
 The writer is again mistaken, not however, as to date but. as to the idea intended to be conveyed that Polk was elected over Mir. Clay, on the issue of protection or free trade.
 It is true that Mr. Polk was elected over Mir. Clay in IS44, but not because the people repudiated the doctrine of protection, for it is we'll known that in those states where protection was popu- lar the followers of Mr. Polk were as siduous in declaring that MT. Polk was better protectionist than MT. Clay, and cited hls (Clay's) compromise measure of IS32-33 in proof But in the south where free trade was in the ascen- dency the same party declared that MT. Polk twas the ardent <riend of their pet scheme while Mir. Clay was the foe of free trade.
 And 1t is also a we'll known fact that when Mir. Polk appointed Robert J. Walker. of Mississippi, secretary of the treasury, an avowed free trader, who had used all hls tact and talent in IS42 while United States senator to defeat that measure. the people of the north were greatly surprised, and learned how badly they had been duped.
 The free traders, however, were not at all surprised. That whole campaign was cheat from the beginning to the end and it was done premeditatedly and with purpose to deceive. That party did not dare to go before the country with the avowal of their opposi- ton to the American system of protec- ton, therefore its platform was en- lirely silent on that subject, but resolved that our title to the whole of Oregon was unquestionable. thatis up to | 54 deg. and 10 mln.-and the slogan Of the party, especially Tn the south, was ''54 70 or fight" also the regeneration of Texas a, the earliest practicable | period are great American measures"
 But the administration of NIT. Polk did | neither get Oregonto 54 deg 40 min. nor did it fight, but tamely submitted to the ,rowlings of Johnny Bulls mastiff and came down to 49 deg. The party dId, however re-annex Texas These two trans lctions of the democratic party shows he coward in the former and the bully in the latter. It cowed before he mastiff of England bat strutted like ] turkey cock before the poodle of Mexico
 No sooner was Mir Walker warmly eated in his sec.etary's chair than he commenced his attack upon the tariff # rS4, and the.result was thst of IS46.
 From causes independent of the ariff of IS46, the country did not ex- 'erience a sudden revolution from pros ,erity to financial distress, such as had occurred. These causes were irst the famine m Ireland second the >rimean war; third the discovery of gold n California. The first gave an unpre- edented market for our surplus products; 1e second caused large diminution # the agricultural products of the three reat powers of Europe, England, rance and Russia, which had to bs lade good from other countries, and ( 1e United States was the greatest pro- t |ucer to supply that deficiency and the t