The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-04-01
FRIDAY MORNING, APRIL /, 1892.
: CAMPAIGN FOR 4 PRINCIPLE


One of the clearest and ablest politi-
cal articles lately published is found
in The Forum for April. 1t is from
the pen of Hon. William L. Wilson, of
West Virginia, and is entitled "A
Campaign for a Principle" He shows
how the Democratic party, after the
Civil War, being so long in the opposi-
ton, lost something of its aggressive
ness, but when President Cleveland
gave the word of command i'll Deem
Der, 1887, in his famous tariff message,
Democrats felt that Democracy meant
something more than opposition to
Republicanism, and they marched
forth with enthusiasm The first bat
tie, says Mr.. Wilson, was lost, and lost
as much through the lingering vitality
of the sectional issue as through the
perfect combination of the protected
industries The Democrats went out
of power undismayed and with a
stronger faith in the ultimate triumph
of their principles. Everywhere
they kept the tariff issue to the front, ~
debating it on the hastings, in the
press, at the school house, the post
Office and the village store, until all
other sounds were drowned
The State elections of 1889 showed
the first fruits of this policy. Iowa
swung over into the Democratic
column; Ohio chose Democratic
governor Massachusetts was lost by
a mere scratch and New York came
back into the Democratic fold. Says
Mr. Wilson:
1.-THE Fifty-frst Congress, by it's
partisanship, it's extravaganza, its
tariff and Force Bills, greatly quick
ened the revolution, and turned what
had been slow and orderly retreat of
the Republican column into a dis
astrous rout, where, in the words of
its leader, only those who started early
were able to save their baggage. In
the State campaigns of 1891 party lines
were again restored, but Democratic
victories in Iowa, New York and Mas
sachusetts indicated the unchecked
progress Of tariff reform. The Demo
cratic party, says Mr.. Wilson, won be-
cause it was true to itself He con-
tinues
"Tarif reform is therefore not only great
issue. 1t means not only the rescue of the
government from the service and control of
privileged classes and favored individuals, but
1t involves and carries with it all the other
great reforms which unselfish citizens are so
anxious to secure, and at times so hopeless of
securing, in our politics. The principle
of protection brings with it a brood of evils
more incompatible with pure government than
are all its unjust money eXactions. In the
very outset it teaches that some men have a
right to rely on government for success in
private business rather than upon their own
efforts and merits. Such doctrine wrests
government from the service of all and turns
it over to the service of a class"
Under protection, says Mr.. Wilson, political
campaigns are changed from contests for
sound principles into battles for private booty.
A reform of the tariff must therefore precede
any genuine and lasting ballot REFORM
Mr.. Wilson also asserts that tariff
reform is likewise the condition of any
great and permanent reform of the
civil service. "The principle at the
basis of the protective and the spoils
SYSTEM" he declares, sis Identical
the claim to use the power and patron
age of the government for private
favoritism''
Mr.. Wilson also regards tariff reform
as the essential safeguard of that
doctrine that lies so near the Demo
cratic heart, the doctrine of local self
government-the vital breath of our
continental, Federal republic. He
adds
Every one who was not blind discovered
the hand that was behind the Force Bill in the
last Congress The experience of Supervisor
Davenport might be invoked to draft its crafty
network of details, the literary reputation of
Mr.. Lodge to become sponsor for it in the
House, and the atiiuent learning and high
personal character of Mr. Hoar to give it
Roadway i'll the Senate but the strong and
driving force behind the whole scheme was
the great and vigilant combination of our tariff
supported industries. 1t was an attempt on
their part, under false mask, to get control
of the power of the government in perpetuity,
without the constantly-recurring expense Of
hfibing the voters and the constantly-recur-
ring hazard of submitting their bounties to
popular elections. For fear its friends in the
House would not clearly understand this fact
the New York Tribune had the frankness to
blurt it out, while the bill was pending there,
by saying The election bill carries within
itself the assurance of future tariff bills by the
hundred"
Mr.. Wilson rebukes those who would
suffer the great cause of tariff reform,
that is so great and Democratic in
itself and so big with other reforms,
to fall into the background, and lays
down as the requirements of the Presi-
Dental campaign of 1S92-first, the
adoption of a clear and unambiguous
tariff-reform platform and campaign
upon that platform alone, with the ex-
clusion of issues ON which the party is
split and the country undoubtedly
against it f; and secondly the nominal
ton of candidates whose names and
characters shall give the people I'M
mistakable guaranty that they repre-
sent in person all that the platform
sets forth in words.
Tariff reform, according to Mr.. Will
son, involves almost everything that
we understand by good government,
and added to this the ever-present
issue of frugality and honesty in gov
eminent expenditures.
Mr.. Wilson closes his article with a
review of the present administration,
showing how President Harrison has
broken his civil service reform pledges;
how the administration must accept
the responsibility of the Mckinley act,
which placed the heaviest taxes upon
the necessaries of life and the neces-
saries of labor that any self-gov-
erning people ever submitted to, and
in it's avowed effort to check commerce
aimed foul blow at the prosperity
of the farmer, "by demonetizing or de-
basing through prohibition and heavy
fines the only currency-foreign i'm
ports-for which he could exchange
his, surplus products The Force
Bill was also an administrative meas
ure, persistently and passionately adj
vocated by President Harrison. Mr..
Wilson thinks the shadow of the Force
Bill has not yet vanished from the
land.
The Ways and Means Committee
of the House of Representatives has
decided tn reDort fayorably the bill re-