The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-07-01
DEMOCRACY or REpUBLIcAN1sM.

Each OF the two great polltlcal par
ties in our country now has its ticket
in the field and a platform of principles
by which it proposes that its candi-
dates shall be guided, if elected. The
choice of voters, therefore, lies not so
much between the candidates them
selves as between the principles which
they represent.
AS a general thing party platform
is purposely made so indefinite and
shadowy that its declarations during
the campaign can he interpreted to
suit all the varying shades of political
sentiment in the party promulgating
it, and after the election are entirely
lost sight of.
Fortunately for the intelligent voter
in this election neither party has utter
ed an uncertain sound on the main
issues dividing them. In both plat
forms these issues are clearly and
sharply drawn, and both parties have
chosen candidates whose professions
and whose public records are a guar
antee that if elected they will be true
to the platforms upon which they
stand. Therefore, a man who sup
ports the Republican ticket does SO
with distinct understanding of what
that party means to do if again en-
trusted with the control of the national
government. So, too, with the Demo
cratic platform. Every man who
votes for Cleveland and Stevenson
will do it with abiding confidence that
the platform which they have accept
ed as their guide is not composed of
meaningless platitudes-of words in
tended merely to catch votes, but is
an honest declaration of Democratic
policy.
The two most distinct and unequivo-
cal issues presented the two subjects
which overshadow all others, because
they relate to the material prosperity
of the people and the perpetuity of a
free government, are the tariff and
federal control of elections. On both
these points the Democratic and Re
publican parties are as far apart as
the poles, and voters have a clear OPP
portunity of choosing between them.
The Republican party is solemnly
pledged by its platform and by the
public utterances of its trusted leaders
to maintain the protection theory as
exemplified in the practical workings
for two years of the Mckinley tariff
law. 1t has also announced its deter
mination, if successful, to secure the
passage of a Force Bill, by which cleo
tions can be controlled by the Federal
power. The former, as Mr. William
l.. Wilson, chairman of the Chicago
convention declared, is intimately con-
nected with the latter. In order to
maintain the high protective tariff the
voice of the people must be silenced; ;
the wishes of the people must be set
aside, to enable the protectionists to
continue to rob the American people
by means of inordinate and unneces-
sary taxes upon articles of daily con-
sumption.
The Democratic platform is no less
explicit. 1t declares, first and as most
important, the unalterable opposition
of the Democratic party to the revolu-
tionary policy of federal control of
elections-a policy of legalized force
and fraud, which strikes at the North
as we'll as the South, q policy which
means "a horde of Deputy Marshals
at every polling place, armed with
federal power, returning boards ap-
pointed and controlled by federal
authority, the outrage of the electoral
rights of the people in the several
States, the subjugation of the colored
people to the control of the party in
power and the reviving of race anita
gonism, now happily abated of the
almost peril to the safety and happi-
ness of all a measure deliberately
and justly described by leading Re
publican Senator as the most infam-
GUS bill that ever crossed the threshold
oil the Senate.'n
Furthermore, the Democratic plat
form declares that the Federal govern
ment has no constitutional power to
impose and collect tariff duties except
for the purpose of revenue, and de-
mands that the collection of such taxes
shall be limited to the necessities of
the government when honestly and
economically administered. This is
essentially tariff for revenue" in
which there is no place for trusts or
combinations that paralyze individual
enterprise and levy a burdensome tax
upon the whole people for the enrich
ment of a favored few.
The Democratic platform denounces
the Mckinley tariff law in unmeasured
terms as oppressive to the people in
general ; as hampering and restricting
trade with foreign nation and as fail
ing to secure, as was promised, pro-
lection and consequently increased
wages to American labor. The Demo
cratic party promises, if it's candidates
are elected, to strive to the uttermost
for the repeal of this unjust law.
Besides these two vital differences
in the platforms of the Democratic
and Republican parties there are also
differences in side issues-notably on
the silver question. The Republican
party has not committed itself clearly
on this subject. That its silver plank
is acceptable to the advocates of free
coinage is a very good reason for be-
lieving that it is not in accordance
with sound financial principles.
The Democratic platform, on the
other hand, in its declarations on the
silver question, leaves no room for
doubt. 1t holds to the use of both
gold and silver, without discriminate
ing against either, but demands, what
every reasonable man will allow, that
the silver dollar shall be of equal intrin-
sic or exchangeable value with the gold
dollar In other words, that the silver
dollar which the laboring man receives
for his days work shall buy as much