Lower coast gazette., 1909-07-10
Party Loyalty.

than did General Hancock IN his presidential cam
paign of 1880, when he ran as a democrat against
Mr.. Garfield, the republican candidate. General
Hancock was disposed to reject the tariff issue as
a party issue. saying that it was a local issue. AS
the GAZETTE has already repeatedly said, in poll
tics generally and in American politics in particu-
lar. there are but two parties, the party Of the
rich and the party of the poor; the party of the
classes and the party of the masses, or, as it some
times stated, the party of the a%ristocrat and the
party of the democrat.
During the earlier days of this republic, when
the slave trade was in full swing and the ship
owners of New England dominated in the shipping
trade of the world, whether in bringing in slaves
from the West coast of Africa, or teas from dis
tant China, New England was a free trade section
of the country. At that time John C. Calhoun
and men of his stripe in the South were protec-
t%ionists. The development Of manufactures in
New England and the gradual diminution, or de-
cay Of the New England fishing and shipping in
terests because of the greater profits in manufac-
turing, changed the whole course Of New England
thought and that section of the federal union be-
came advocates of protection. In the mean time
the invention of the cotton gin by the school
teacher, Eli Whitney, opened up an unexpected
source of wealth to the South Atlantic states. In
digo and rice had been their staple crops and now
came the cotton crop and the Whitney cotton gin
with which to quickly make it ready for the mar
ket. The political result of all this was a change
of sentiment nm the Southwestern states to free
trade, as against their former advocacy of protec-
ton and John c. Calhoun became one of the most
~assertive of the free traders.
Successful wars break up all opposing political
parties and in 1848 Zachary Taylor, the Wing can
didate from a sugar producing state, was elected
2pregdsnt Of the United States, although four
yeats earlier the state Of Louisiana gave the de-
gliding vote which made James X. Polk democratic
president of the United States and insured the
Mexican war. General Taylor's successes in the
Mexican war made him the hero of the hour and
in politics he was a wing.
When Stewards 'irrepressible conflict be-
tween slavery and free labor finally brought about
the civil war, General Grant, a former democrat,
but a successful general under a republican re-
gime, became the republican candidate for the
presidency and was at once elected to that high
position. He naturally accepted the general
tenets of the republican party and at the same
time it was a conspicuous fact that the wheat
states of the northwest, while intensely republi-
can in their politics, were strongly free trade in
their tariff sentiments and so expressed them
selves every time they had the opportunity.
1t has been quite the fashion of recent years
to speak of democracy and free trade as though
they were synonymous and the republican party
has been spoken of as the high tariff party. A
very considerable tariff became essential in the
early days of the civil war, in order to secure ad-
equate revenue for carrying on the war and for
lQuidating the war debt. Subsequently the re-
publican party claimed extreme loyalty to the fed
eral union and demanded for it's chief factors such
Consideration as could be secured for them in a
protective tariff and held that tariff protection
was essentially a republican doctrine, notwith-
standing the fact that Calhoun had been a protec.
ZIONIST and had gone oyer to free trade, and not
understanding that in the good old shipping days in
New England the merchants and leading men had
ali been,free traders and subsequently went over
to protection, and Notwithstanding the fact that
the Northwestern wheat states were free traders
in tariff matters, although they loyalty sent many
thousands of soldiers to the front to fight the bat
ties for the mair t~enance Of the federal union.
We have always thought that it was improper
and unfair in political discussions to ignore the fact
that the democratic party was essentially the
party Of the poor and that the republican party or
any party as a frule opposed to the democratic
party, was essentially an aristocratic party and
opposed in its interests to the party of the poor.
Hancock spoke very truly when he said that a
tariff for protection was a local issue, and now the
matter has become so intensely worked up in
Washington that these so-called artificial party
lines that have prevailed now for nearly fifty
years, are being broken up and the great writers
Of the country are beginning to admit that tariff
issues are no longer the determining factor in any
political party. Delegates to a party convention
may insert in the party platform certain planks
and ask the candidate elected thereon to be guided
thereby" DpurnSsthe last forty years we have
found that those elected to the high office Of pres
:Jo~% nf ~, THr;FnJ ctcxcAf,,o ro-n~.I.. c.1.x.f