The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-05-13
The Industrial Idea In American
Politics.

The first tariff act expired in 1896, hav-
ing been in force nearly seven years. Ii
was not listed among the acts specially
odious to the party which jefferson was
then organizing But the act of 1916
combined the principles of revenue and
protection. and from the April day when
Monroe signed il the idea of state SOW
ereignty underwent "a change. Thirty
years before, Hamilton had declared that
the national government would never be
supreme until it should turn all the
principles and passions OF men TO its sup
port From tho passage of the tariff of
1916, the national government gradually
becam2 identified with the personal for
tunes of a manufacturing class The doc
trines of '9S were from this time made TO
include the doctrine Of free trade. The
old parties divided on new lines and
tho first industrial struggle between them
began. The country, hitherto agricul-
tural now divided into manufacturing
states and agricultural states; into the
northern.with free labor, and the southern
with slave. There were tariff men in the
south and southwest, but the majority
there gradually combined into party
favoring free trade, state sovereignty,
and slavery extension. The first struggle
between the radical wing of this party
and the national government eliminated
in the effort of South Carolina 20 nullify
the tariff laws in 1888, ana to administer
the doctrines of the Kentucky resolu-
tions.
The new industrial doctrines which had
triumphed over the doctrines of '9S were
briefly set forth i'm President Lincoln's
first inaugural: 1.-The Union is much
older than tho Constitution. 1t was
formed, in fact, by the Articles of Associ-
alton in IVA" Few indeed of those
, who Heard him could have told at that
Il
the president referred. Two years older
than the Declaration Of Independence
they declared the industrial independence
of the colonies. They were "a solemn nom
importation agreement TO encourage
'frugality economy, and industry, and
promote agriculture, arts, and the man.
ufactures of this country" The nation
rested on industry; the nation was
sovereign-ideas antagonistic TO the doc
trincs of '9S. And these ideas We're now
TO be tested in administration.
When, IN 1890, the state of Mississippi
| promulgated u new Constitution, 10 de-
clared that the paramount allegiance of
| the citizen was due to the government of
the United States. But, before adjourn
| ing the convention adopted an ordinance
| which briefly suggests the cause and the
nature of that change which has been
| wrought In this country during the hun
| dred years campaign. Until 1900, all
| permanent factories established In Missis-
/ sippi for working cotton, WOOL silk,
| furs, or metals, and for making imple-
| ments or articles In a finished state,
| were declared TO he exempt from taxation.
| or this character Is the economic force
| which has slowly changed the political
| institutions of the country. II is in an
| industrial sense that the Constitution in
| all it's provisions looks TO an indcstructi-
| BILE union of indestructible states. Will
not the political campaigns of the next
| hundred years evolve yet more perfectly
| the industrial rights of citizens of the
| republicl
Prophesying in politics Is n hazardous
! employment of expectation, but us one
reads the political platforms of the CEN
| tury he finds here and there prophetic
| passages. At the close of the eighteenth
| century reformers were still talking of
| the rights of man and meant by that
| phrase equal civil and political rights.
| At the close of the nineteenth century
reformers are interpreting the same
phrase, but IL now signifies economic
| equality. In the last presidential cam
| paign the idea was freely advocated by
| the friends of the laboring man--who
! are usually numerous at such time.
| Economic Inequality VS.. Economic Equal
| ity, that is the great political issue of our
| day The basis of Democracy In America
| Is Industrial. Does Lincoln's remark, I'm
| his inaugural, indicate the course Dem
ocracy is taking; and does the now
political phrase-economlc equality
Intimate that 10 shall dominate American
Democracy before the close of the twentieth
century From "The Hundred Years
Campaign" by Professor Francis n.
Thorpe in Harper's Magazine for May.