The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-10-21
miscellaneous.
TWO GREAT ISSUES.
INVOLVING REPUBLICAN BETRAYAL
OF THE CONSTITUTION.

John Boyd Thacher's Speech Before the
Democratic Clubs - Sparing ut the
! spIgot to Spill at the Bung-The Con-
! stitutlon in Danger.
| The Hon. John Boyd Thacher, of AL
bany, president of the New York State
League Of Democratic Clubs, delivered
the following address before the con-
vention in New York city, Oct 8:
GENTLEMEN OF THE CoNvENTIoN-On
this, the fifth annual gathering of our
state league, we may well join in con-
graduation over the past, which is Sc
| cure, and the future, which is full of
promise. AS for the past, we have sue
| ceeded in enlisting an army of young
and enthusiastic Democrats who have
! formed one or more political societies in
every assembly district in the state, and
to whom five Years of toll have brought
| many substantial victories. AS for the
future, we have the assurance of the
people that they will stamp with APP
proval the work we have in charge and
| direct with the clear voice of popular
sovereignty that the executive affairs
Of this nation shall be administered once
again by Democratic hands and under
the honest, prudent, intelligent, jealous
stewardship Of Grover Cleveland.
THK DEMOCRATIC MISSION.
What its mission is to human soul
the preservation Of the constitution is to
the Democratic party. Not defeat. not
betrayals, not powers, can separate us
from this love. We guard it as sacred
thing from devotion 10 the instrument
itself, from reverence for the patriots
who formed and shaped it, from graft
tu0e for the blessings already secured
LIS by its influence, but more than all
because it is adapted today to our pres
ent needs, and because every departure
from its guiding spirit brings to us na-
tional misfortune. There were some
AtheniAns who could moi hear the name
Of Aristides without murmuring, and
there are ears among our own people 10
which the constant repetition of the con-
stituton has an irritating and raspiny
sound.
The two chief issues presented by our
political opponents involve betrayal of
the constitution. The one issue is that
the power Of taxation is without limit
and includes right to discriminate in
its imposition. Taxation is the road
over which nations sometimes pass to
their destruction. 1t is the suuken rock
on which many ship of state has been
broken asunder. The people have neve:'
deposited unlimited power with the gov
eminent for such q purpose. The actual
need Of the government in its efforts to
protect life and property bounds the first
circle Of the right of taxation. The pro
mo: ion Of the public welfare bounds the
second and wider circle within which
taxes may be laid. But the pressure CT
the beneticent atmosphere must be the
same everywhere within these two
zones. For public purposes alone shall:
taxes be levied-not for the single benefit
of any man, however great, or for any
class OF men, however powerful. Taxa
ton which bears grievously on some on
class of the community, while it q:
riches another, does not draw its breul
from the spirit of the constitution.
CRIME AND a BLUNDEH.
The system.o Of protection, the fosterin.
of unnatural industries by the impos;
ton of unnatural taxation, is nos only.
crime, but. according to tie climax q
Ta!leyrand, it is blunder. With til.
grlEdcst country the sun ever locke,
upon, with possibilities OF wealth sue
as tireamers only have touched. this sy>
tenn Of protection is forcing nature
play Il part for which she was not cas-,
Where corn wouid grow this systeL
builds Il factory that the cry of impossi
bic tin may be heard, and where mil
would flourish it browses the incapabl
sheep. 1t puts darkness for light ans.
heat for cold. No man has yet recorde.
the utter, wanton wastefulness of Il!
protective system. The chemist. the LII
cilanic, the inventor, are seeking to lessr
the expense of those dynamic energie.
man uses in his daily work. Nature con.
rerts her heat into power absolutel:
without waste. Mans best engine waste.
heat most prodigally.
But the scientist is spending his days
and nights IN an attempt 10 produc,
electricity directly from the burning OF
coal. so that both light and mechanical
energy may be turned loose from the
simple oxidiz.tion. of fuel. For what:
Shall the skill of the inventor and the
frlsality Of the masses spare ut the
spigot that few wasteful and private
interests shall spill at the br:nt Of our
national resources? Would it not be
wiser TO support these interests directly
ourselves, that we, and not they alone
that the many, and not the few-nay
control the national barrel? Tie CAPT
tai of America supplying the markets
of the world will bring in greater re-
turns than the trusts and lnonoOolics
can ever roll up for themselves, and n;
the same time make a general AMI gen
erous distribution to the lnan who daily
expends the capital of his family in the
sweat Of his labor.
THE FORCE BILL
The other issue which involves q be-
travail of the constitution is the Daven-
port fierce bill. This ubiquitous measure
is to make the federal government ceii-
tralized government and enable it to
reach its powerful hands for unlawful
purposes into four and forty states.
Federal bayonets are not only to guard,
but. what is far different, to control and
manage the sacred urn into which the
citizen deposits his secret ballot. The
hands which will hold the bayoncts will
be moved by human hearts, and while
the nature of man is made Of the SAME
material, moved by the same impulses.
responsive to the same motives, the foot
in,cs of the ballots in all the urns vii;