Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1882 — Attorney General. [ARTICLE]

Attorney General.

[Evannville Oourier.j It is announced by authority that ( Hon. David Turpie/ of Indianapolis, will accept the nomination for the office of Attorney General. The State es Indiana has risen before now to do honor to tnis distinguished citizen. Hia party once nominated him for Lieutenant Governor, and although he was not elected, defeat brought no discredit to his name, for he only shared the fortunes of the others on the Democratic ticket. Subsequently he was chosen by the Legislature to fill the unexpired term of Jesse D. Bright in tne United States Senate. Although his time in the Senate was short, he left an impression upon that body that h s never been forgotten. Since then Judge Turoie ...is <!<•'.-<>•■ <! ; ; m-> r ex< 1.-.-ively 0 'he ; 1.1- tier i.f i»i«- law, in which i rofession h« occupies a prominent place in the foieino-t rank of Indiana jurists. Io the winter of 1879 he was appointed by Governor Williams as one of the three Commis-ioners to codify the 1. W* of the State, and his scholary effcr s in this important work have become a part of he history of Indiana. No man is bettei qualified to perform the duties of At torney General. As an advocate, he has no superior; as a scholar law aud literature few men are as widely known. He would interpret the laws withan inteligouce that has rarely adorned our department of justice,, and the Courier believes that he Democratic Convention will show its appreciation of his gieat services to the State and :o the party by giving him the nomination which he has consented to accept. [Winamac Democrat.] Out this way the Democrats have set their eyes upon the Judge for our next Attorney General, aud they ex pect not only to see him nominated, but elected. [Michigan City Dispatch.] Mr. Turpie is known and respected by the whole Democracy of the State; lie is a politician of singular clearness of thought, and a speaker of extreme force and elegance. While he would run well everywhere, ae would meet an enthusiastic reception in the North western Counties, where tie p-onle have often voted for him in the gallant contests th. t he made against Colfax when a Democratic victory was impossible. [South Bend Times.] The name of Hon. David Turpie, of Indianapolis, is very fovorably mentioned by the Democratic Press of Indiana tor the position of Attorney General on the Democratic ticket at the approaching State Convention. Mr. Turpie is well known to the read ers of ho Times as a lawyer of fine accomplishments a.id as a politician who has devoted much hara labor on the stump to the advancement of Democrati ideas in Indiana. Ho would be a strong cand date, and has a .arge and enthusiastic following among the gallant Democrats of Northern Indiana. [Fort Wayne Sentinel.]

Hon. David Turpie aspires to the position of Attorney General of Ind*, iuna. Politically there is no man in the Dem >cratic party better entitled to recognition and the position he seeks than is Mr. Turpie. and professionally he would do honor to and elevate to its proper sphere the office of Attorney General. [Logansport Pharos.] David Turpie is to d.iy one of the srongest men intellectually in the State, and the Democrats could not secure a stronger oandidate.for Attorney General. [Peru .Sentinel.] Hon. David Turpie, of Indianapolis, will oe a canidate before the next Democratic State Convention for At torney General. Mr. Turpie is well known, not only to the citizens of Miami County, but throughout the State is an able attorney and a con sistent Democrat. His nomination should be acceptable to the people of the State, as there are none more capable and none more thoroughly conversant with the duties of the office. Our old friend Judge Turpie is re--ceiving a boom for the office of Attor ney General. As the nominee he would make it decidedly hot for his opponent in the canvass. And if elected will give to the position a dignity it does not now possess. As a lawyer he has no superior in the Stato. If he will accept, it is to the interest of the State and the Democratic party that he be placed in nomination.

Mr. Dewitt in his speech favoring a reduction of the present oppressive system of protection, said “that it. was dangerous to delay action on the tariff We are now prosperous, but our prosperity will continue only so long as there is an adequate market for our products. At present we have a foreign market chiefly for raw materials such as food products, cotten. petroleum, and tobacco. For our manufactured products the markets of the world are perpetually closed against us. We tax food, of which we are the great exporters; we tax wool which is the great foundation of a vast indus>« try; we tax bituminous coal, iron ore scrap iron, which lies at the base of the great iron and steel industry; we tax coi per ores, alcohol, and oils, and numerous chemicals, whithout which many branches of industry cannot exist. Having thus created an artificial system, we find ii impossible to compete with Great Britain and France and Germany, whose industry stand up the firm and national basi 3 of tree raw material. This defect in our revenue system could be remedied by a joint resolution in one week,and the Committee on Waysand Means could ♦hen take as much time as might be needed to consider and adjust the infinite detail Involved in the reconstuctiotf of a tariff covering 2,500 articles. Unless a remedy be speedily applied, the industry of this country wilt be surfeited by the excess of products for which it can find ao market. If good harvests should be secured abroad, we shall have a great surplus of food upon our hand 8 and the price will fall. Wages will go down with the fall in prices. The rc. duction of wages will be resisted by strikes and lockouts. The conflict between capital and labor will be reopened, and,indeed havingalready be> gnu. The prosperity of the country will be arrested. Railroad transportation will faH off. New railroads will c 'ase to be constructed. Our shops will lack work; there will be a dearth of employment all over the country. The volume of immigration will fall

off, and the career of, expansion and I general developement will be brougl t to a disastrous conclusion. The sad •Xpscience of 1873-76 will be repeated until through the gate of suffering poverjy, and want, we shall establish a lower rate of wages, and the products of the country, weighed as th&y are with obstructive taxes, which mu.-t be deducted from the wages of labor will force their way into the opeu markets of the world in spite of the tariff”

It protection is a good thing, prohibition is a better one; and the best of all would be to close all our ports against foreign nations, and surround ourselves with an impassable wall, like China and Japan. Commerce is the exchange between nations of their surplus commo< 1 ies, a d tl ere must be some reciprocity or there can be no foriegn trade. Whatever shuts out imports shuts in exports. If we would sell we must also buy, or there is an end of trade. Trade’cannot bo kept tip long where the cash is all on one side. The friends of protection do not state the issue fairly. They try to force it between protection aud absolute free trade. Nobody is for.free trade just now. The wants of the Government are so great that all agree a very a large amount of revenue must be raised from the customs. The difference is, the manufacturer wan's tariff so high upon all articles that come in competition with him as to keep them out altogether, or load them so heavily with charges as to destroy competition. We want a tariff that will yield the most revenue at the lowest pate of assessment, Free trade would yield no revenue, While prohibition would be equally fruitless

We want, a lower tariff with larirer importations which will give the Government more revenue and the people more comforts. We want foreign competition in our own markets, to give us lower prices and bet-, ter goods. The amount of revenue now derived from customs is about $200,000,000, collected from about $400,000,000 of imports that come in competition with domestic products. This $200,000 000 comes from the pockets of the people, but they pay it cheerfully, because it goes into their treasury to support their govs ernment. But this tax has a reflex action, against which the people protest.

This tariff not only increases the price of imported goods, by the amount of duty assessed, but it augments the price of all that is manufactured and consumed at home, which is many times greater than the imports. A Louisville merchant goes to New York to lay in a stock of goods, He first enters an English importing house, and prices a bale of coarse woolen cloth, which is two dollars per yard; “But”says he “I bought this cloth before the war at one dollar.” “True,” says the Englishman, “but your government has put on a duty of one dollar per yard, and I have only added that to the price.” Our merchant pays for the goods and the importer puts one dollar into his own pocket, and the other into our treasury. Now this is revenue and goes to support the government. “He now r crosses the street to an American’s house and examines a similar bale of domestic goods and finds the prices exactly the same. “But how is this,” says he, “you pay no duty and yet sell as high as the Englishman ” “True,” says the sales man, -‘You see the foreign article fix--es the price, and we ask .two dollars because'we can get merchant pays the two dollars a yard and the manufaturer puts every dollar into his own pocket and not a cent into our treasury. Now this is protection.

Proof is daily that the last Legislature was the most incompetent body of lawmakers that ever convened in Indianapolis. Pretty nearly every member had some pet piece of legislation which lie wished to push through. ‘‘You scratch my back and I will scratch yours” seemed to be the policy that ruled, resulting in much bad and indifferent legislation. Crudeness and ambiguity entered largely into the worTt. The laws enacted are susceptible of conflicting interpretations, and the Attorney General, notwithstanding the large stock of opinions which he usually carries in stock, has but little else than bare shelves to offer those who now call upon him to aid them in solving the puzzles,’conundrums and acrostictics which the last Legislature turned out under the name of laws.—Wabash Courier.

It may not be generally known but it is a fact nevertheless that the Supreme Court of Indiana has decided that when any person Is damaged by falling on an 111-kept, or deficient sidewalk, or is injured in any manner by the negligence of any property-hold* er relative to his property, then should the citizen sue and recover damages from the city, the city in turn can recover damages, with co>ts of original suit, from the negligent property-holder. Certain parths should take the hint.