Los Angeles herald., 1892-10-23

free trade. He did not demand that ouI
tariff laws should be wiped cut of ex'
istence. Listen to what he then said:
"The question of free trade is abso.
lutely irrelevant, and the persistent
claim made in certain quarters that all
efforts to relieve the people from unjust
and unnecessary taxation are schemes
of so called free traders is mischievious
and far removed from any consideration
of the public good"
PECK AND THE M'KINLEY BILL.
The Mckinley bill has not ruined the
country, nor has it benefited it. It has
increased the burdens of the taxpayers
and aided many of the monopolies Of
the land. There is no satisfactory evil
dence that it has increased our prosperi-
ty in any degree or advanced the wages
of single workingman. Skillful stat.
isticians capable of juggling with fig
ures may assume to have more informa-
tion than we possess, and may figure out
different result, but can safely assert
that it is the general understanding of
the people that the Mckinley bill has
not increased wages either in New York
or elsewhere.
PUBLIC SENTIMENT CHANGING.
The people cannot longer be deceived
by the opposition. Public sentiment has
made rapid strides during the past few
years and greatly cleared the political
atmosphere, as well as brushed aside
many plausible but untenable cobwebs
which have heretofore obscured the dis
cussion. Five years ago the cry that
'sthe tariff is a tax" was received with
derision and laughter by our Republican
friends, but now they are trying to con-
vince us how much they have relieved
us from taxation by the abolition of the
sugar duty.
The plain truth is that this policy of
protection cannot much longer stand
against the tremendous pressure of pub
lie sentiment for its abandonment. The
cause Of industrial emancipation is
marching on.
THE FORCE BILL ISSUE.
There is another issue in this cam
paign of equal if not greater Importance
than the tariff, which affects the rights
and liberties of every citizen. The Re-
publican party seems to be irrevocably
committed to the passage of the federal
elections bill, generally known as the
''force bill," and although it must be
evident to the most patriotic and
thoughtful members of that organiza-
tion that it is piece of political foolish
ness, only equaled by its mondacity,
there has appeared for them no escape
from its advocacy. The bill has been
well described as ''menace to liberty
the liberty of the north as well as the
south; the liberty of the black as well
as the white; the liberty of every citi-
zen, no matter to what party he may
happen to belong.
THE PEOPLE KNOW DAvENPoRTISM
The people of the several states will
hesitate long before they consent to the
ldoption of Davenport election meth
IDS in their respective localities. The
,ill contemplates the appointment of an
lrmy of federal supervisors, who are to
assume the charge of our elections at
every polling place. These officials, un-
ler the terms of the bill, have the right
10 dictate what persons shall register.
They may "require" the local election
officers to register name and to strike
off one already on the register. There
is but one perfected registry list at state
elections, and if a voters name is stricken
off under the direction of federal Off
cial he cannot vote for state candidate
or any other candidate because of the
of his name.
The proposed bill usurps the rights
and prerogatives of the state, breaks
down all the safeguards which have ex-
sted for century, and places all our
elections at the mercy of federal Off
,ials who hold their offices for life. The
certificates of the federal election Off
GERS as to the election of a congressman
are to be conclusive upon the clerk of
lhe house, Notwithstanding they may
liffer from the certificate of the local
A house to house canvass is
20 be made by these federal super
visors, and they may be accompanied by
deputy United States marshals, and
thus it is apparent that, as these Off
,ials are all Republicans. the Repub-
ican campaign, national and state, is to
be really conducted at the expense of
the general government.
OUR PRINCIPLES WILL PREVAIL.
I believe that large majority of the
people of this cdhntry are convinced of
the rightfulness of Democratic princi-
pies and want them to prevail. But the
election will not win itself and there
must be complete organization. I re-
peat the injunction l uttered before tho
Democratic state convention at Albany
in February last, sit is our duty to
organize, organizer
With this motto inscribed upon our
banner, "Public Office is a public trust"
supplemented by the other sentiments
which I have endeavored to present to
to you tonight, mo public taxation for
private purposes" and mo force bill,"
let us close up our ranks and buckle on
our armor for the fight, with the de,
termination to do all in our power for
the triumph of our party and the cleo
tion Of our honored standard bearers
Cleveland and Stevenson.
Governor Mckinley has a right to feel
hurt. Neither the president nor Mr..
Blaine gives any countenance to his
fayOrite SoDhistry that "the foreigner