The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1892-07-08

The Demoorstic Free Trade Platform.
National Bulletin:
The tariff plank Of the Democratic
platform means free trade, and no.
thing less. The convention indig-
nantly repudiated the plank reported
by the committee, because it had a
few oily phrases in it. The delegates
were not disposed to butter the free
trade parsnip with soft language
this year. This action of the conven-
ton was most significant, and it
means war to the knife on protected
labor and industries.
The Democrats have made free
trade their chief and almost their only
issue, and on that doctrine they have
at last got back to first principles.
For over twenty-five years they
have been been qualifying their free
trade declarations with deceptive
tricks and frauds of speech, but they
are done with that now. They have
caught their true voice and talk plain
ly now as they did before the war,
when one of their leaders in Congress
Garnet, of Virginia-rann0unced
that Democratic policy aimed at duties
''imposed with single eye to revenue
alone, and not an iota for protection. !"
Since the days when ''tariff reform"
was advocated for the express purpose
of cheapening labor and reducing wa
ges, the Democrats have made wide
divergence, but it is now ended in a
complete return. They are tenting
on the old grounds of cheap labor.
Once more they even deny the Gov
ernment the right or power to protect
labor.
Like the tailors of Tooley street,
who called themselves "the people" 7"
the Southern Democrats, possessed Of
cheap, "half-slave" black labor, de-
clare themselves the "American peo-
ple," who are to be blessed by free
trade, while that protection which
sustains vast Northern and Western
industries is alleged to be for "the
benefit of the few"
They say:
1--WE denounce Republican protection
as fraud, robbery of great majority
of the people[ y for the benefit of the few.
T21 We declare it to be the fundamental
principle of the Democr attic party that the
Federal Governmenthas no constitutional
power to impose and collect tariff duties,
except for the purposes of revenue only,
and we demand that the collection of
such taxes shall be limited to the neces-
tiles of the Government when honestly
and economically administered"
Glorions old Democratic doctrine,
this
1t means not an iota of tariff duties
for the protection Of labor.
1t means that the American labor
unit and standard must be that of the
'half slave" black toilers of the South.
1t means that the natural labor lev
ell is that of the voteless Southern
blacks, and Congress has no right to
pnt any labor on a higher plane than
that.
1t means that the Southern Demo
cracy are determined to exploit labor
in the future as in the past, not only
black, but white as well. They de-
mand the right to exchange the cotton
product of cheap black labor for for
eign goods and backload the proceeds
home under low revenue duties, and
hence to sell at rates Northern white
labor cannot stand.
If there is no power in this country
to maintain duties for protection, and
to keep Northern labor above the
"natural level" millions who have
known comfort heretofore will know
only misery hereafter.
What is Government good for il
it cannot impose duties to protect la.
Dor as well as to get revenue?