The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1910-08-26
Springs to Catch WoodeoeE.

DOCK, VINO make Ine JdTlh lue 1snlci :
piece around which they rally and
call the braves to bottle. remind the
old stager Of the man who first dis
covered that water runs down hill.
AS little as the boy learning bis null
duplication table conceives the eomplf-
cations of the higher mathematics do
they conceive the mystifications Of the
Tariff. They are to-day where the
path-finders Of Tariff Reform were
forty years ago.
Nothing IN any political history
could be more anomalous than the at
titude of the farmer vote OF the
Northwest toward the Protective
System since the end of the Sectional
War. The high duties were enacted
in 1861, with the express proFIso that
they should not outlast the exfgeneies
of that war. The Protective Tarin
was distinctly a War Measure. IL
was confessedly an imposition upon
the patriotism of the people.
Proteetionism was distinctly not
Republicanism. 1t was SO little SO
that after the War the live ana pro-
gressive leaders of the Republican
party set out on Free Trade lines.
They had freed the Niger and they
were going to free the trade. 50 the
story ran Allison and Garfield be-
came members of the Free Trade
Golden Club of London. David A.
Wells was Republican. In the be-
ginning he had the sympathy OF John
Sherman and James G.. Blaine.
Mark, when graft gets Its foot In
the stirrup. how 1t mounts To the sad
die Between 1865 and 1880. the
burning question was not the Tafin,
but Reconstruction. The state Of par
ties and the Nation was influenced
and controlled by the supposed need
of regulating the States lately IN re-
be!lion. Republieanism became a
synonym for loyalty. Democracy for
disloyalty
Beneath the surface of the tumult
and excitement. the sleek Robber
Barons worked their game. They
worked in the dark. skillfuily. fnees-
sanity, remorsalessly. They kept
strong lobby At Washington. The
Ways and Means Committee Vas pack
ed, controlled and instructed b their
attorneys. Everything the farmer Of
the Northwest lad to sell vas priced
In free trade market. that Z N
Liverpool. Everything he Ind . buy
was priced II the protective duties.
keeping ont foreign competition vast
ly to enrich the Eastern manufaetur-
CT. Thus, .ear IN and year OH The
farmers o. the grain-grOWinH regions
OF Illinois. Iowa and Kansas. II order
TO suppress treason and keep Ihe hof-
rid rebbela o. the South from rising
against the Government. voted n tax
themselves thrice over.
The benefieiaries of the Protective
System could afford to put NJ the
money 10 confirm the deluaion of the
farmers. They financed the Repab-
lican party whilst the Republican
leaders elevated the protective nrln-
ciples into party gospel and law
Thus, and mus only. did Protection
ism and Repnblicanism become one
and inseperable Thus and thus
alone was the Protective System
fastened nnon the country. Instead
of keeping the promise thai The high
duties should not outlast the needs of
the war which had called them into
being, every time the Republicans
have touched the tariff. they have
made the duties still higher and
higher
As a consequence we see til NAM
moth fortunes of the billIonaiHee piled
mp In a single generation al the cost
of the Enthusiastically the farmers
of the great Notwithstanding viii
ing tribute 70 prevent another rebel
lion. They we're hidden 70 xote AZ
they shot. and they did. nj seeing
that they we're being piundered right
and left, and that there waa 10 more
danger of another rebellion fhHn an
other Deluge. Such pufblind folly
makes one doubt the elective prin-
ciple.
Now comes the queer situation IN
Iowa and Kansas. For the fir tine,
through their own leaders. Ihat Is
through DolliYer and Gnmmlns,
Bristow md Mnrdock aud polntdex-
ter, the farmers Of the great North
west and the far-away Pacific re be-
ginning 70 realize something d what
has been done 10 them. But those
leaders touch the real question 50
gingerly thai they do no. much
threaten the Protective System. II
the ProteetionIEts we're wise. they
would adjust themselves 10 the new
conditions and accept the proposed
reform, under Republican auspices.
L HitNfHH A1863Elt are iH8H8 = III
The Robbef Harons. swollen 18th pelf
and pride. intrenehed In their priyll-
eyes legally 10 levy tribute. sire OF
their footing at Washington support
Aldrich and Cannon and fepudiate
Dolliver and Cnmmina. Bristow,
Pointdexter and Murdoch Like the
old slave Aristoerats Of the South,
they yield nothing. They know their
advantage and propose to stand pat
upon II
That advantage Is the Yastneas OF
the Protective system, the myEtlfica-
tons, the impossible complications OF
the Tariff.
This tariff Is feudal castle. girt
by massive walls and m0aIH vide
ard deep outside constructed within
upon a system of corridors and Cross
ways, defended by rine-pita and
masked batteries. so that IN ease the
outer works be carried the besIegiBp
force viii find itself when i has
passed the external barriers entombed
in a labyrinth and at the mercy OF
the besieged
1t was thus that the Cleveland Ad-
ministration. induced TO CROSS the
drawbridee and to come Inside the
walls--in other words. to recognize
the schedules and classifieatIonE. To
tackle the masked batteries and rife
pits. to assall the mysti6eatI0ns and
complications of the robber castle
instead Of blowing 1t up VIII dYna,
mite--Wns cruelty slaughtered. just
as the neN school OF reformaTs vii
be slaughtered unless they pursue a
different method of warfare Al the
revenue We need to get through inc
Customhouses NAV be derived from j
simple scale Of revenue duties not e
cunl,nd .I..la4aI..- G1.n thInI.E Ila..nr