The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-09-01
UNTHINKING VOTERS.
THEY FAIL TO APPRECIATE THE
PURPOSE OF THE BALLOT.

more especially in every campaign
which, like those of 1888 and 1892, Is
fought out by argument rather than
carried through on great waves OF popu-
lar enthusiasm, there is a large number
of voters of loose partisan affiliations
who assert that practically there is no
real difference between the two great
parties. The war is over, they say;
specie payments have been resumed; the
"bloody chasm" has been filled up, and
really the only question at issue is that
between the ''ins" and the ''outs." In
other words, to them the only issue that
presents itself is, Who shall have the
offices for the next four years?
For the benefit of such persons and Of
those to whom their remarks to this ef-
feet may be addressed we beg leave to
submit few suggestions.
A perusal of the platforms Of the two
parties shows some points Of difference
between them ut first glance. The Re-
publican platform declares that the pro-
tective system has been q blessing to
the country and should be maintained;
the Democratic platform declares that
all protective tariff duties are unoonsti-
tutional, and pledges the party to the
immediate and unconditional repeal Of
such duties. Here indeed is q radical
difference between the two great parties
and one that affects every workshop
and every home in the country. Every
man who believes that the tariff Is
curse, that it enhances the price Of liv-
-. 81, haf ho
country would be more prosperous un-
der q tariff for revenue only should
vote the Democratic ticket. On the
other hand, every man who believes
that protection is a good thing for
American industries and American
workingmen, that it fosters home pro-
duction, keeps up wages and enables
Americans to live better and to develop
their own industries instead Of depend
ing upon foreign supplies should vote
the Republican ticket.
Every workingman who sees that an
abolition Of protective duties would
compel his employers to lower wages to
the British standard-about one-half Of
what they now are--or else close up his
works entirely; every farmer who finds
in the factories and workshops his best
home market, and whom the tariff on
wool or barley or eggs or potatoes
protects from the ruinous competition
Of his Canadian rival; every salaried
man who does not wish his standard Of
wages and of living to be brought down
to that of the British salaried man in q
similar position should vote the Repub-
lican ticket.
Again the Democratic platform calls
for the abolition Of the 10 per cent. tax
on state banks, which alone makes our
national banking system rest on a stable
foundation, while the Republican party
upholds our system of national banks.
Every one therefore who favors q re-
turn to the system Of banking that pre-
vailed in this country half &C .tury ago,
when money that was good in one state
was bad in another, when different
rate of discount had to be maintained
for tho bills of every bank, and no man
could tell whether the money he was Of
fered was worth its face value or not
every man, we say, who favors a return
to this state Of affairs should vote the
Democratic ticket. On the contrary.
every man who believes that that old
system Of state banks was wrong and
destructive Of confidence in business,
should vote the Republican ticket.
Still further, the Republican party. by
its action in the past and its declarations
in the present, insists that the provisions
of the constitution Of the United States,
including the fourteenth and fifteenth
amendments, shall be enforced, and that
every citizen shall have the privilege at
every election of casting one ballot and
of having that ballot counted as cast.
The Democratic party, on the other
hand, asserts that this Republican de-
mand is q monstrous wrong, which
would lead, in certain parts Of the coun-
try, to the domination of the ignorant
and depraved classes of the community.
and declares that, so far as The south is
concerned, the fourteenth and fifteenth
amendments to the constitution are and
shall remain imperative. The two po-
sitions are as far apart as the poles.
They are irreconcilable. Voters must
choose whether they will occupy the one
or the other, according to their views Of
right and justice.
No man who believes that ballot boxes
should not be stuffed, that votes should
not be counted falsely, and that citizens
should not be kept away from the polls
by violence and intimidation, in any
part of the republic, can consistently and
honestly vote the Democratic ticket.
Here are three questions, then, not to
mention any others, upon which the two
great parties stand in diametrical oppo-
sition-questions of moral and legal
right, Of expediency and policy. How
any one can say who examines the mat
ter with any thought or any care that
there Is no real difference in principle
and policy between the two parties we
are unable to see.
Still further, aside from these ques-
tions, il is TO be decided which party,
upon the whole, is the better admins
traitor Of the country's affairs. Which
congress, the Fifty-frst or the Fifty-sec-