Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-09-05
TRYING THE old GAME
Democrats Raising ANEW Issue
to Befog the Voters.
TOM L. JoHNsoN's TAX SCHEME.

NtE@-. :.

Let the Citizens OF Ohio Look at
the Republican Record of Perform-
ance and Not Trust Democratic
Promises.
The rugged rock of PROSPERITY,
the lawful heritage of the Republican
party, stands like rock of Gibraltar,
firm and impregnable, in. the way of
the Democratic party to the attainment
of political power. They cannot re-
move it. Therefore they must get
around 1t, orremain outside the breast
works-out of Office.
Tom Johnson's new tax scheme
shows the Trojan horse tactics of the
Democratic party,-the ever waVering,
ever vague and uncertain, ever vacil-
lating, course of that erratic and dan
gerous party. That party has never
had an issue, except opposition to the
successful policies of its great oppon-
ent, the party of progress. All of the
policies of the Democratic party for
half century past were born OF the
triumphs of it's successful adversary.
The Republican party from its birth
opposed slavery; it waged terrible
war against the abomination which
had been foisted upon the country by
the Democratic party. That party up
held slavery because it was the nat
ural, implacable enemy of the free
white labor of the North which was
30 h., oil
stood for the slave labor, the pet insti-
tuition of the South. That was the
true reason why the Democrats, led by
the South, opposed protective tariff,
and sought to nullify the acts of con-
gress which imposed q measure to pro-
tect the free labor of America against
the pauper labor of Europe. This led
to the civil war, with its ruinous con-
sequences.
The Democratic party opposed the
civil war. and all efforts to save the
Union; it opposed all efforts for the re-
construction of the Union. Failing in
these efforts, the party sought in every
way-frst, by the greenback heresy,
then by various reform" freak issues,
then by free trade, to undermine the
rock of prosperity which the Republi-
cans had placed as the foundation OF
the government. The Democrats got
into power in 1885, but Republican
congress saved the country from its
efforts. The Democrats got into power
again in 1898, with control of congress,
and began at once to undermine the
safe walls of prosperity which the Re-
publicans had set,-a protective tariff.
The result is we'll remembered, eS-
pccially by the bread-winners of the
country, and will not soon be forgot
ten. Facing such n terrible condition
of affairs as that which confronted the
country in 1S96-an industrial reign of
terror, the Democrats again resorted
to the Trojan horse tactics, and shifted
its base to free silver, an issue to which
1t clung with forlorn hope, despite a
crushing defeat in 1896, until the cam
paign of 1900. The tremendous defeat
of last year has demoralized and shat
tered the Democratic party, and driven
its greatest disciple into virtual exile.
Hence, the necessity of seeking new
Issue. That has been found in the
shape of the so-called tax-reform
movement. which is calculated to mis-
lead the people, and blind them to
their true interests. But the people
will not be misled or fooled; they will
not again get caught in the Industrial
holocaust which overwhelmed them
from 1893 to 1897. They remember the
days of adversely, the reign of the
soup Kitchen" and are wiser in their
own generation. They want work,
good wages, and prosperity more than
they do tax reform, and they Will see
that the party of prosperity is not
driven from power by the. dangerous
and erratic party which has been the
chief cause of all the calamities from
which the country has suffered during
the past half a century. Prosperity,
not taX-reform, is what the people de-
mand, and they will have the former.
Reforms often look we'll in the dis
tance, but have quite too often proved
dangerous and demoralizing in actual,
potential existence. The reform of the
tax laws of the state can be safely en-
trusted to the Republican party; and
prosperity need not be endangered by
entrusting the state government to the
Democrats.