Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1889-03-14
Are Republic. Unsrass1ui !

Up can THIS NnSbrnmenshu0rdt 10 Aet tnosb
services pass without recognition. Even
those least familiar with the details OF
the late war know that ''the monitor"
was the outcome of Ercsson's brain. II
will be remembered that spies reported
that somsthing extraordinary was in
progress In the South, aud that
the North would DO startled when
II found cat what this something was. It
turned ont to be the " Metrinac," the
iron-sided ram which began to do such
terrible havoc amorg the wooden ships
Of the North aud had them completely OF
its mercy. There wes great oonsterna-
tion, not only among the officers Of these
wooden boats, but throughout the whole
North. II was at this juuoture that ths
inventive genius of Ericsson was not
only of tremendous value to this
country, but 1t worked revolution
in the naval warfare Of the world. The
monitor was built in one hundred days
and upon 1t the whole hope OF the North
rested. Every one remembers or has read
about this jeers with which the Merrimac
admirers received the appearance Of the
''cheese-box on raft" But the fight bo.
tween that ehsese.box and the MerrimAc
was the most dramatic event Of the civil
war. Had the progress of the Merrimnc
not been stopped, Ii Is impossible to
calculate what wouid have hap
pened TO this country. Here natu.
rally comes in the old question,
are republics ungrstetul. They would
often seem SO. Still this may ba to GER
tain extent accounted for. The differ
encs between monarchy aud republic
is like that between q business establish
ment controlled by one man and cor
poraiion. Kings and one.msn business
establishments have been more prone to
recognize individual merit than repub-
lies and corporations. The ungrateful.
ness Of republics is the parallel OF tho
proverbial sou!lessness Of corporations.
1t all largely rests upon the familiar psin-
ciple that what ia every body's business is
nobody's business. The United States
would have honored itself in honorinR
John Ericsson, and 1t should have done
40 during his lifetime, but Congress had
better do it even at this lnts day than
not at all.
In connection with Ericsson's great
work 1t may appropriately be mentioned
that at the unwilling of the monument to
Admiral daPont in Washington, Thomas
F. Bayard called attention to the fact that
Admiral dupont commanded the last feet
Of wooden vessels, and the first one OF
modern war vessels of the monitor type.
----------s,-a--s---
The grangers of Delaware argue that
while protection is going round, they
ought to have share OF 1t. There are
plenty Of men among them reasonable
enough to admit that cur protective
tariff system is swindls upon the oou-
sumner and fraud upon the laborar.
They are prompt TO admit the injustice
of taxing $4,000, 900 people two cents q
pound. or one cent pound, or anything
a pound, on tin plate, for the benefit Of
o few capitalists who think they may be
able to open an American tin mine, with
miners imported from Cornwall, IL the
American people will DO fools enough to
pay them q high enough pension for
doing SO. They recognize and admit the
injastcs of handicapping some American
'tbi.lz 4el .aAss on raw nla.
taripta = al,y,t chan, ,,,s co.. - al -.
markets, under the same system which
enables ether American manufacturers,
while composing with the world abroad,
to gougs the consumer at home. But
these Gsangers make the plea that since
the farmer 10 compelled to pay tribute to
| protected manufacturers on nearly every
thing he buys-his building materials,
tin.roof, reapars, plows, spades, shovsls,
saws OSes. aud . hundred other imple-
neats aad utensils, his clothing, his
kitchen tinwsre, hardware and crockery
it is not to DO wondered at that he
should he asking Tor protection on some
ihirg that he himself wants TO produce
and sell.
! In The foregoing paragraph we have
aimed 10 state the grange argument
: fairly. 1t Will be seen that it is but the
logloAl outcome OF our fake system OF
4 'axng money out Of one man's pocket tC
4 dtop it Into another mans nat. II Il
another etep Ia the development Of tina
baoyish plea which assumes that the IN
4 heoltAnts OF one Of the greatest Rnt
fretst countries the world ever saw, witt
wondsiiul natural RESOURCES, are not ye
strong enough, with al their skill, thti
llanllnese, thsir Independence, their i'm
proved machinery, their almost inex
haasti6ie natural wealth, to hold ihsi
own la fair race with the people o
other nations; bat nust go on payin,
tribute to zach other to protect them
selves against prcd1csrs across the SEQ
while conrad.ot0rily permitting fire.
trade ia tho labor which mbk5s tn
produoss they gro striving in this strAns
fashion TO shut out.
But, fortunsteiy for the great masses o
unprotected consumers Ia oities an,
towns, woTkingmsn who, while psyinI
tribute on even more things than th
former has 10 buy, are obliged to sc!
their labor In the same market with tn
imported "pauper labor" Of Europe, tn
trainers of the American Constitution
guaranteed in that instrument the inest;
mahle boon of interstate free trade. This
in country SO large and SO rich in nat
urbl wealth and productive possibilities
bias thus far avsrltd the consequences o
what would have been In smaller an
leas favored country suicidal nations
policy. We're il otherwise. were IL In III