The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-19
WHY SHOULD A MAN BE A
'nEMOCRATP

Party on the political waters In Ala
bama, and the prediction made by many
| that this action will to some extent cause
| q re-alignment OF the voters of the State,
! makes ii meet and proper that some
thing should be said about the differ
ences which divide the two parties. We
know there are those who seem to think
that the only difference between the par
| ties was founded on Democratic opp
sition to, and fear of, negro supremacy
| In Alabama. and that with this out OF the
way there is no need for adherence to the
I Democratic Party.
To those of our people who had at
| tained the age of manhood before the re-
| construction era in Alabama there is 40
need to wonder why white men are DEM
| ocrats. It Is true that more than a gen.
Grafton has passed away since that tins.
and much of the bitterness and rancor
| engendered by Republican misrule has
lost its vividness, but the memory is still
| with U.S. We saw the virtue and inteld-
gence of the South lying helpless at the
feet Of brutal ignorance. We saw the
| very best men of the South, or of any
other civilization, rudely thrust aside
| from any voice In public affairs, and
their places taken by ignorant negroes
and foreign enemies. We saw the halls
OF legislation and the temples OF justice
reeking with venality and corruption, ami
the most sacred institutions of the grand
old South desecrated. We saw. in short,
| the white people of Alabama at the
mercy of brutal negroes and conscience
| less carpet baggers All this is still ever
present IN our minds and memories, and
| with such pictures rising before the
older men there is TO need to ask them
why thew arc Democrats.
But there is a younger generation COM
| ing to the front. who have no personal
knowledge of the horrors to which we
have referred, and who may say that as
all these things have passed away why
| should they not become members of a
| Republican Party which proposes to be-
come and remain white mans party?
In other words, why should young man
belong to the Dempcratic rather thaa
questions are natural. and should be an
swered. 49,.
II there was nothing else to divide the
two great parties from eacn other but
the tariff, that should be sufficient to
cause the young men of Alabama to
unite with tine Democrats. The Republi-
can Party of To-Day is the party Of high
protective tariff, and that Is not the best
for the pec.le of this State. The DEM
ocratic Party has always been for a
revep-te tariff only, but it has not always
ha1 a monopoly of that doctrine to the
extent that it now has. The Wings adj
vocated what might be called limited
protective tariff. but even their great
leader, Henry Clay, was what would now
| be looked on as almost a free trader
| True, he advocated mild form Of pro-
lection for a limited time, but almost
| three-score years ago he used this lam
guage:
My opinion that there is no danger
| hereafter of a nigh tariff is founded on
| the gratifying fact that our manufactuf-
| ers have now taken deep root. In
| their infancy they needed a greater meas
ure of protection. but as they grow and
| advance they acquire strength ana sta
| biity and consequently will require less
Iprotection. Even now some branches OF
| them are able to maintain in distant mar
| kets successful competition with rival
| foreign manufacturers.
| But while this was so, the Democratic
was then the party of low tariff, and
the tariff laws of Folks administration
] would now be regarded by the Republi-
cans as only a small shade better than
! free trade. That party, as 1t now stanes.
is founded on the distinctive theory
| of protection for protectors sake, and
out Of that protection comes the trusts
| which are now the most dangerous and
destructive features of our national as
well as Industrial life. The very foun-
dalton of the protective theory is that
the many shall pay tribute to the few,
and that the favored protected few shall
grow rich and powerful while the great
body OF the people grow poorer.
Today the citizens OF London and Liv-
erpool and other cities of Great Britain
can buy all American made goods, on
which there are tariff duties, cheaper
1 imam our own CllloctS Call IHciC peiHS
q high tariff on foreign made goods our
home manufacturers can charge prac-
tically their own prices TO home people.
When they sell abroad they must COM
pete with foreign manufacturers and
must sell cheaper or not sell at all. But
does any one suppose that our dealers
sell goods in Europe at a loss2 They are
not built that way.
The protective tariff which enriches
few favored onas by taking und lie
profits from the masses is the creature
of the Republican Party. That party
Is built on and kept up by this monopo-
listic high tariff. and every mechanic and
farmer, every housewife and working wo
man-every one, in short, who uses AIMEE
lean made goods, is taxed to keep up
the robbery and to enrich the robbers. If
there existed no other reason on earth
why a large majority of the people Of
Alabama should be Democrats the fact
frat tt-is the party of low tariff, and
therefore is the friend of the masses,
while the Republican is the party of pro-
lection and therefore the enemy of the
masses-we say that If there existed not
another solitary reason lor it the masses
of the people of Alabama ought to vote
the Democratic ticket