The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-28
THE PATH IS PLAIN.

In another column. The Advertiser to- day publishes an interview with Congress- man Lowering of Massachusetts-an in- of fate to the duty of Democrats .n the next national campaign. What MT. Lowering says, as well as the plain in- ferences to be drawn from his words, blazes plain trail for our leaders to fol- low, if they will but have the sagacity and patriotism to follow 1t.
 With all due respect to the many good qualities possessed by our brethren of New England, 1t is not misrepresenting them in any degree to say that the pocket nerve Is the most sensitive portion of their anatomy. When that is touched, they sQuall, and they are not slow to let the world know where the pain lies. That some features of the present tariff law operate against American manufacturers, and especially those of he Eastern States, has long been patent. and the need as well as the line of revision has been dis cussed too often to need recapitulation now. It is sufficient to know that New England manufacturers are becoming restive and expressive. As MT. Lowering says, they want the tariff doors to swing 1 outward as easily as they swing inward"
 Do not these facts point out the road for Democrats to follow so plainly that ''the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein" as Isaiah tells us? It IA he ko tail crats that there can be no Issue made on the money question. No man, not sodden to the core with prejudice, or incurably affected with political blindness, can ex- pect Democrats again to make fight on free silver coinage, for Adam himself is no more unmistakably dead than free silver is. There will be important fnan- cial questions to discuss and settle, but | they will be such as should interest Democrats and Republicans alike, and both parties must take part in seeking out and solving the financial issues as offspring is dead, and the best service any one can render 1t Is to allow 1t to be forgotten.
 We cannot make an issue of expansion and ipperialism, because we've done ex- banded. Whether the extension of our domain was wise or unwise. cannot now be made a political issue, any more than sound money and free silver can, but the tariff is an Issue of itself. It Is. and should be, just as vital now as 1t was in 1892, when the Democrats swept the coun- try. A tariff for revenue has the double advantage of being both right and Demo- cratic flor 1t is essentially a Democratic doctrine and it is a correct one No man can claim to be a thorough Democrat wko is not opposed to the theory of a protec- tive tariff, as we'll us to its practical ap- plication in our Government.
 One of the strongest arguments-aside from the fact that 1t is right-in favor of making the fight on the tariff Issue IS that it offers Democrats such an oppor- tunity to divide and conquer as has rare- ly been offered us. The Republicans are not united in favor of the protective sys- tenn. From the far East as well as from the far West come mutterings of discon- tent and threatened revolt. They are not united, and if Democrats press them, they must either stand pat" on the pres ent unjust and unfair system, or they must try to steal our strongest card and play it themselves. In either case, they are bound to alienate some of their strongest supporers. and We don't believe that even the cohesive power of public plunder'' can hold them together.
 This, then. is the situation. Let the money question remain in the tomb of the capulets, where is belongs. Let imperial ism go hang, for the present at least, and