Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-05-24

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One 10 at first inclined to believe that Mr..
Blaine had the gift of prophecy when these
words of his are recalled: 1.-THE day must
come when the great factories and manr-
factories of this land will shut down, and
where is now life AMI activity there will be
the silence of the tomb. And the reason
why this must be so is this: The great
Southern wing of the d, mocratic party are
determined to establish the doctrine of free
trade in this land. They will be assisted
by their Northern allies. There is great
body of visionary but educat men who are
employed day by day in writing free trade
| essays an arguments in favor of the doc
trines, which find their way into every news
paper in the land. The
business men of the country, fearing the
destruction of the principles of protection,
will decline to engage in business; conse-
quently mills will shut down and the work
ingmen will be thrown out of employment.
The people will then see as they have
never seen before, that they cannot
be prosperous and have work while that
principle is threatened" This was not
prophecy in the commonly understood sense
Of the word, it was practicable by common
sense. 1t has happenel,as Mr.. Blaine with
his remarkable foresight saw it would, with
perhaps one exception. True the Southern
wing of the Democracy has the reins, the
Northern wing are experiencing the bonds
of servility that CALLED the doughfaces be-
fore the war. But Mr.. Blaine may have
thought, and we are inclined to
think he did, that the old time
arrogance of the dominating Democracy
of the South would brook no Interference
with its programme, that it would fight to
substitute counterfeit of the enemy's and
seek to capture the latter by means Of such
treachery. Ifthat was Mr.. Blaine's thought,
in so far only were his words less than
prophetic. The operations of the forces up
to the time of the compromise are accurate
ly predicted by Mr.. Blaine. The ranters,
the demagogues, the theorists, with zeal
not born of fact. with duplicity that stopped
at nothing, with webs of guesswork fab
ricated and set as trap by those who know
nothing of practical affairs brought about
the exact conditions of distress, poverty,
hard times and general trouble Mr.. Blaine
| foretod.
But the contest between protection and
free trade being at its height the former
suddenly finds that there has been lightn-
ing change in its antagonist There is the
same cloak of duplicity but the wearer of it
is equipped with all the arts and weapons
Of legerdemain. The spirit of free trade
animates him but his shield nor colors pro-
claim the fact. The Southern wing of the
Democracy is imbued with the desire for
barter. Their hostility to the system is
none the less pronounced than in the day s
of Calhoun. But they have shirked the
duties which honor and maintenance of prin-
ciple incur. A feeling Of enmity tosards
the prosperous North is partly the cause
aud partly are the exigen, les of the situation.
Posing as the responsible wing of the
Dem cracy, they are determined to bring
about some sort of legislation rather than
none. They find themselves in position
peculiarly adapted to such a course. The
South has now industries in it's midst which
dem and protection. While hostile to pro-
lection, these Southern brgadiers are
willing to grant favoritism to their South
ern frie lds; they are willing to pay
political debts by concession to monopoly,
they are willing to conce1e certain privi-
leges to Northern supporters if by so doing
they may accomplish something that may
be hostile to the system of protection. They
have utterly lost sight of their solemn
pledges and are actuated now by what they
conceive to be e1pediency and opportunity
for favoritism and revenge.
Naturally the protectionists see in this q
brief respite for some of the industries.
They believe that the damage to them will
not be 90 severe under the compromise bill
as under the original measure. But the coun-
try should not lose sight of the fact that the
compromise bill is hostile to the principle
of protection. Fxvoritism is no less dead
| " to protection than is free trade. An
equitable adjustment of duties among the
different industries is what the real protec-
ZIONIST strives to attain, not favorit-
ism to any one industry because it
may be in the South or in the
West. not because it be a monopoly with
powerful political influence. These evils
are in some ways more to be feared by the