New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-01-03
TLTPHA/ PTTN1N.

The Hon. William l.. Putnam, OF MAINE, was
introduced at the banquet of the Massachusetts
Tariff Reform Club, in Boston, by eX-Mayor
RUSSELL Of Cambridge, as the man who, though
not elected Governor Of Maine this year, made
what all regarded as the best possible fight.
I'm response to this compliment and to the APP
plause which it elected Mr. Putnam made d
brief speech. The meagre report sent hither
led MS TO believe that Mr.. Putnam lamented at
some length the paralysis which 4 protective
tariff had, with its whitening touch, caused to
creep over the industries Of Northern New
England. 1t was, therefore, with surprise that
we read in the Boston papers the true gist of
Mr.. Putnam's remarks. The late candidate
for Governor of Maine fred his gun, it seems,
at nobler game than mere industrial decadence.
He laments not the blight which has fallen
upon manufactures, but the lack of intelligence
displayed by the vast majority of voters in
Maine. Hear him:
There IS no brain which can tan tho tariff and
whether far It applies present condition Of
hlngs looking simply at to-day. It IS for The good or
evn of this great country There Is person living.
unless he IS expert, who understand that con-
glomeraton Of statutes and its influence upon our
own people and our industries
That's an honest confession for n tariff re-
former, and must have freed the soul Of the
man who made it, for ordinarily there is no
one thing which the theoretical economist states
with so much certainty as that protection is
damnation. But is not the avowal q little late
What foundation Of title did Mr. Putnam pos
sess for asserting that he was an expert when
he stumped his own State from York to East
port =? Or, is it that, in the harsh school Of
political adversely, he has come to the belief
that nobody knows anything about the tariff
1t is an ancient observation, ordinarily at
tributed to Mr.. Lincoln but in reality far older
than he, that the collective wisdom Of tho
people is greater than the wisdom of any one
man. This last criticism, notifying as it must
be to a gentleman who has given his ardent
support to policy emphaticaly repudiated by
both State and Nation, was apparently fore
seen by Mr.. Putnam, for he goes on 10 explain
it away, saying. " Here is a great system (the
tariff that stands directly in your way when
you undertake to govern this great Nation by
the people and by the votes of the people"
The explanation is not novel. Such rciiec-
tons were long ago cast at man OF great pa
ticnce and long suffering, when three OF his
friends friends, too, of the downtrodden and
ignorant people, gathered together. Eliphaz
the Temanitc, and Bildad the Shuttle, and
Z0phar the Naamathite,D so runs the record,
came every one from his own place for they
had made an appointment together, to come to
mourn with him and TO comfort him." And so
when the Honorable Ashbel p. Fitch. member
Of Congress from New orlz. and the Honorable
Charles s. Fainhld, Secretary OF the Treasury,
and the Honorable William H. Putnam of Port
land, who was not elected Governor Of Maine
but as Mr.. Russell says, fought 10 be as hard IL
he knew how gather together by appointment
to mourn over the people and to comfort them
let Us not repel the soothing ministraton rude
~. Let us rather answer with that gentle
prototype of patience:
No doubt yc are the people, and wisdom shall die
with you. But we have understanding as well as you:
not inferior TO you.
Possibly we might venture to remind Mr..
Putnam that his post-election talk seems to be
as inoppouune as his antc-cecton talk was
unayailing. The late candidate for Governor
is too good lawyer to waste his time and
breath in repeating the speech which ought to
have convinced the jury after the "twelvo
good men and true' have brought in verdict
against his cient. Why, even old Eliphaz tho
Temanite found that truth out, for in Lam