The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-08-11

among us, III lne growing CONFLICT ne
tween the employer and the employed.
He is to become, think, the natural
arbitrator and balance wheel in the
new political 'rganizatlon about to
rise out Of the pres mt political chaos.
Old party lines are broken up. New
ones are being formed.
| should Ike, therefore, the farming
class to understand how Their interests
are in the present political status,
closely allied with the success Of the
Republican party, no matter how
widely they may diyerge from that
party in the future.
1t is but commOn-sense to under
stand, that it must be more beneficial
to our country and our people at large,
to keep our money and our labor at
home, than to foOishly send them
abroad Protection certainly heeps
both these at home, whereas free trade
or tariff reform" ," falsely so called
would send millions to foreign lands
that ought to be spent within our own
borders. Cons quently free trade
policy must be injurious to The country.
And the truth Of this state nent is TOO
evident to need any commentary.
PROTECTION HELPS THE FARMER.
Furthermore, | kuOw it is often
stated, that protection helps the manu-
fac,urer at the expense of the farmer.
But this is Radically false. Protection
aius the manufacturer simply to the
extent that it makes manufacturing
Ell erprises possible at fair wages to The
working man. But most Of al prutec
iiOu helps the farmer, by creating
general prosperity, as the history of our
cOuutry shows, and brings or ater
amount of wage-mOney into circula-
ton, thereby attordlng the farmer a
ready home market for his produce at
a remunerative price. Any ia mer
ought to understand this, especially at
the present hour, when the simple
threat of free trade has already paral-
wed our industries and withdrawn
money from the circulation. until but
ter is now selling at l3 instead of %
cents. a pound, and lamns at 2 instead
of cents per pound. All of which
proves, that we don't want theories
we don't want politicS-what we want
is business. And, surely, 50 far, free
trade cannot be called a business sue
cess, whatever else it may be. Now,
Democracy at the present hour, means
nothing but free trade-which, as we
all can see, is injurious to the farmer
and running the country Every farm
er, then, should allie himself with the
Republican party to defeat the free
traue policy. This is but common
sense, freed from all party bias.
On the other hand, do not the farm
ers wish to see a new party-a third or
Alliance party formed? Hence the
great Alliance mON ement in the United
States which needs simply wise di-
reclion on weIl-defined principles to
become leading power in our national
po itics. Consequently, farmers have
no interest in prOlonglng the existence
of the present great political organlza-
tions at the expense of retarding the
definite formation Of their own party.
| mean as follows:
At a glance any one can see that the
Republican party has too great vitality
too good an organization-and eSpe-
cially too many sound conservative
principles to be near its end. But the
same cannot be said of the Democratic
party. Indeed, SO far as its Old tradi-
tons are concerned and its fundament-
al principles, it can be said to be
already on the verge of dlsorganizatiOn.
Even the future great leader of the
Democratic party, Senator Hill, has
openly declared in the senate that "to
maintain itself Democracy Is actually
reduced to recruiting ali the rag,tag
and bob-tailed element of the commu-
nityp-which means the dissolution
and near overthrow Of any great poll
tical party in America. And simple
review of the Democratic movement
since 1882 will make this fact evident
to any impartial observer.
THE BIRTH OF FREE TRADE.
Previous to 1882, the policy of pro.
tection-which il now exclusively Re
publican-belonged as much to the De
mocratic as to any of the opp sing
parties. After that period, however
the interests or slave y forced the
majority of the Democrats into the
free trade lines. So that since then the
fundamental principles Of unityin thai
party have been slavery, free trade and
state rights-which latter from the ole
Democratic standpoint, meant also the
right to seceed. These three made
up the old Democratic trinity-thC
gods the party invoked-the idols be
fore which it bowed-and the battle
cry written on the banners arounC
which it rail- ed. But session--or stat,
rights as formerly understood-anC
slavery disappeared forever from among
us with the triumph of the "Boys ii
Blue" For years the Democrat,
army was routed. Unfortunately
however, free trade remained-and i
was the only principle around which
they could rally their scattered forces
No other war-cry was familiar to thei
ears, or found that echo in their heart
which could lead them In unity to bat
tie, because free trade was all that fin
ally remained of their old battle tlal
against northern industry and prosper
ity. Which fully explains why tn,
first time the Democrats regained tn,
direction of public affairs after th'
war, they regained it with the cry o
free trade.
Therefore, If we now crush the fret
trade element--if the free trade stat