The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-10-12
The One Remedy.

The light is breaking. Even in In
dependent circles the fact is gaining
recognition that the true road to ma
tional prosperity does not necessarily
lie through the valley of the shadow
of industrial death. When, in 1887,
speaking in Boston, Mr.. Blaine drew
that famous picture Of his, depicting
the future of the country under the
then seemingly improbable event of
complete Democratic supremacy, there
were many persons who secuted 1t as
the imagining of q mind diseased.
The picture, it will be remembered,
was as follows:
n love my country and my country
men. am an American and rejoice every
day Of my life that am. enjoy the gen.
eral prosperity OF my country, and know
that the workingmen Of this land are the
best clothed Of any laborers on the face OF
the earth. Many of them have homes Of
their own. They are surrounded by all
the comforts and many Of the luxuries Of
AltOs buuuutI, uOWcNcI, dU tu6 UuUuRuU
that the time must come when all this will
be changed. when the general prosperity
Of the country will be destroyed, when
the great body Of workingmen in this land,
who are now so prosperous, will hear their
wives and children cry for bread. That
day must come when the great fac
tories and manufactures of this
land will shut down, and there
will be the silence Of the tomb.
And the reason why 1t must be 20 Is this:
The great southern wing Of the Democratic
party are determined to establish the doc
trine Of free trade in this land. They will
be assisted by their northern, allies. The
fight is now on. There is great body of
visionary, but educated men who are EN-.
ployed day by day in writing free trade
essays and arguments in favor OF that
doctrine, which find their way into every
Democratic newspaper in the land. The
great body of our people have neverexperi-
enced, themselves, the sufferings which al
ways result when the protective principles
are laid aside. Poisoned and excited by
the wild statements Of these writers
and the demagogue appeals Of Demo-
cratic speakers, the result will be
that, in the very near future. these
forces which are now working will be
strong enough to defeat at the polls the
party advocating the doctrine Of protec-
tion. 1t must inevitably follow that un-
certainty and doubt will ensue. The bust
ness men Of the country, fearing the de-
struction, will decline to engage in busi-
ness; consequently, mills will shut down
and the workingmen will be thrown out
Of employment. The people will then see
as we have never seen before, that they
cannot be prosperous and have work while
this principle is threatened. In the midst
OF this suffering they will learn that the
only way that they can be prosperous and
happy Is to.vote for the party that will
build up the industries by which they have
gained livelihood, because they can see
clearly that when mandatory is shut
down there is no demand for the thing
which they have.to sell, and sthat is their
labor.
Yet how true has been the fulfilment
Even the Washington Post, once a bit.
ter enemy of Mr.. Blaine, admits its
force, and says: "None of the tariff re.
formers Of that day dreamed in his
philosophy of such crazy experiments
as are now discussed and advocated
No prominent Democrat of that day
dreamed Of such extreme and revolu
tlonary expedients as, last winter
found expression in the Wilson bill
Even the measure, in its present shape
toned down by the senate amendments
which have been denounced as treach
erous, would then have been regarded
with wonder and alarm. But Mr.
Blaine's prophetic vision has been
realized, nevertheless. Demagogues
and visionaries have come to the front
with their reckless chatter and their
grotesque rhodomontade until the ma
tionis prey to fear. Capital is terri