Huntsville gazette., 1891-10-03
DEMOCRATIC NECESSITIES.
Ill-Chosen Issues of the Party of Discord
and Corruption.

DEMOCRATIC NECESSITIES.
Ill-Chosen Issues Of the Party of Discord
and Corruption.
All things and circumstances being
considered duly. the democratic party
in every state is doing pretty much as
the republicans would have it do. This
is not its folly so much as its fate. In
Iowa the democrats would prefer to
say more about the tariff and less
about prohibition than they are doing,
and in Ohio they would prefer to say
more about tariff and less about silver.
But they cannot They are in the
grasp of the inevitable. That they are
SO is due to their dishonesty in time
past.
In 1890 they were successful by rea-
son of their long and loud utterance
of series of falsehoods, the most
atrocious that ever were uttered, and
because the time between the passage
of the Mckinley bill and the election
was too short to admit of protectionist
refutation OF the democratic falsehoods.
though ample for their dissemination.
Had the democratic party attacked the
the tariff on rational or pseudo-rational
grounds in 1890 they might have re-
newed their attack in 1891, for an argu-
ment always can be constructed, no
matter how unsound the premises may
be. But in 1890 the democrats and
mugwumps disdained argument and
made falsehood their sole reliance.
1.-The new tariff" said they, increases
the revenue of the country, and
the revenue already is so vast as to
have caused dangerously large treas
ury surplus" They represented the
surplus to be twice, often thrice, as
great as in truth it was. 1.-THE tariff, !"
said they. twill increase the price of
everything that men buy" Then they
went into details, and told the people
that this article would be 100 per cent.
dearer, that 50 per cent. higher, and
the other 204 per cent. more costly ION
account of the tariff" They employed
artists to depict hungry men, ragged
women and wretched children suffer
ing from lack of necessaries of life that
they were not able to purchase because
of higher prices on account of the
Ill.
so solemnly and so constantly as to
create an alarm that was evidenced by
the election of a democratic majority
for the next congress-
This plan ofscampaign could not be
worked again. The democratic man.
ayers knew that in every state the re-
publicans would use the tariff as
weapon against them. They knew
that in Iowa Boies would be asked:
"Where have you hidden that bottle of
dark brown sugar that you carried
round with you in 1890, and whose con-
tents you falsely said were sample of
the free sugar that republican policy
would offer to the people? Bring it
out and let them contrast your nasty
stuff with the dear white sugar that
they now are buying at the rate of
twenty pounds for one dollar. Let
them see what deceiver you were in
1890, and judge what your statements
are worth in 1912" Wherefore. to
divert the republicans from their ag-
gressive movement under the banner
of protection, the Iowa democrats
chose repeal of the whisky law
as the ground of battle. 1t was not
choice according to their taste, but ac-
cording to their necessity.
1t was similar in Ohio. To prevent
Mckinley from impaling whole lines of
Democratic falsehoods on the spear of
protection the democrats created the
silver issue. 1t was a ridiculous crea-
ton; but the democratic falsehoods of
1890 had made democratic evasion, of
the tariff a necessity for 1891.
In Ohio almost certainly, and IN
Iowa most probably, the democratic
defeat will be overwhelming. The
Ohio democrats are not universally de-
sirous of selling their corn, their meat,
their merchandise, or their labor for a
dollar that can be bought in Europe
for 80 cents. Nor are the Iowa demo
Gratis unanimous in desire for saloon
at every country crossroads and under
the shadow of every city church. The
democratic issues are ill chosen; but
they were chosen because the demo
cratic falsehoods of 1890 had made new
issues needful
As in the states, so it is likely to be
in the national congress. To avoid
tariff debates the democrats are devils
ing series of investigations" 1t may
be remembered that they ''investi-