The Coconino weekly sun., 1894-02-22


 in all things that come in the prosperity and happiness Of the people or the glories of this great country than he had before he took ofice. Unless he Is an exceptionally dull man his wide experiences and contact with affairs in the position Of president of the United States must have given him wide acquaintance and large understanding of those principles that lie at the foundation of our government
 II have not in view at present the entering into discussion of the intense ques tions that are burning at the heart of the American peo pie have only said this in the nature of an introduction, by way of caveat or notice, if you please that some time in the future when the people wish it and think the occasion willing VIII address you upon the prominent Ques- tions of the day
 ''The present state of the country is not one of prosperity. We as 0 nation were recently prosperous, but this was not due to any one man It was the result of definite policy adopted and put in force. The present distress we are now enjoying is not due to any one man but Is due 10 tho threat that this oldestab- ltshed policy is to be reversed and a new ono instituted. That is the cause of the trouble.
 "I am not one of the ancient landmarks, but my memory runs back to the days when such men as Thomas A. Hendricks and Joseph E. Mcdonald were the leading spirits in the Indiana democracy, and the opponents of the
 
 heard my late lamented friend, Mir. Mcdonald, expouna the principles of the democratic party. He often and often said that one of the most important principles of the democratic party fin thts state was that the national revenue of the great national government of ours should be raised by customs duties levied upon such articles as not to harm the interests of the la boring man or the agricultural classes These were the words of the great Mcdonald. Had the Wilson bill been constructed upon princi. pie such as this there would have been no harm done and our national calamity would have been averted
 But there has come new gospel A new creed has been adopted by the democratio party and they have now promulgated theory which resorts to extraordinary and outrageous systems of taxation. They want to revive the iuiQuitous direct taxation as the means of rais ing the revenues of the national government They want 10 tear down the grand system of customs duties, by which our factories were reared and our advanced prosperity acquired and maintained,
 II used 10 hear much of war taxes They were onerous in the extreme, for they searched out the only means, fair or foul, by which to fill the vaults of the national government and searched out every possible source of revenue, while the taxgatherer laid hands on all But as soon as the country was relieved from its distress and exigencies of war these taxes were stopped remember while in the senate of voting to repeal the stamp duties on patent medicines and perfumery, the last of the odious direct taxation. And now those who cry out against these very same war taxes want us to return to the same burdensome system that never was intended 10 be used except In time of war. They hold that the revenues of the government by means of customs duties must be reduced al the expense of the American factories American workingmen and American farmers to be substituted by this same old and discarded war method
 Whether these threats Of certain reduc- ton fin the customs duties have been the cause of our great national distress is a question for the Lincoln league to consider well at all of its meetings You should look into the true cause of this terrible depression, get at the root of the evil and dig it out and examine it that the people may know.
 "I have no intent to further pursue this line IL is well accepted as the right principle that 0 city council, board of county commissioners or 0 state legislature should legislate to create work for the unemployed You may read any day in the newspaper an appeal to the city council to legislate in order to aid the unem. ployed of the city, and in the same paper turn to another page and read lengthy articles advo- eating the reduction of the tarn revenues of the country It is a republican principle that all legislation should have for its prime object the creation of work for and the promotion of the comforts and prosperity of the laboring man The national government Is bound by the same duties as the city council or the board of county commissioners, and this duty must be fulfilled strictly and faithfully in order that American mills may keep alive the fires in their furnnces."