Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 April 1888 — GERMANS FOR CLEVELAND. [ARTICLE]

GERMANS FOR CLEVELAND.

The Tariff Policy of Clen* land Indorsed by the Germans of New York. The Qermau-American citizens of New York have resolved to unite in support of the President in advocacy of the policy of the Democratic party. The following address has been issued b i.rominer t German citizens of that city: To the Germans of New York: The Democratic administration at Washington has proved itself a blessing +o the country. The apprehensions felt by many in 1884 at the impending change of party in the Federal Government have been pleasantly dispelled. Instead of disaster to the business of the country a general progress in every department of life has taken place. The machinery of the Government has not been impeded, but is moving more swiftly and effectively than ever befor-. The spectre of the assumption of the Confederate debt has vanished; the South and the North feel themselves as one and indivisible. All the Federal debts that became due have been paid off; hundreds of millions of acres of agricultural lands, which the corruption and criminal negligence of the Republican party have granted away, nave been rescued from the railway monopolists. A remedy has been found against the crying evil of arbitrarily discriminating freights and passenger rates by the inter-State commerce commission. The public offices are no longer }he property of party organization, but open to any one who has given proof of his qualifications, and the beneficial measures and institutions are the result of long contests. Their maintenance is necessary for the stability of our national existence. But new and more difficult preb lema are yet so be solved.

Our iniquitous tax Jaws take every year from the pockets of the people the enormous sum of SIOO,000,000 more than is necessary to defray the expenses of the government. This needless accumulation of money in the treasury endangers the continuance of our republic, forming, as it does, a continuous incentive to extravagance and corruption, and will before long launch the country in a terrible financial crisis, if the remedy is not applied soon. The remedy against this, evil lies in the abolition of the taxes and customs on the necessaries of life and on raw materials. This does not mean the introduction of free trade; it means a sensible tariff, a cheapening of things felt as daily needs and wants br the workingman. It means an increasing competitive capacity < f our industries by multiplying the opportunities for employment. The tariff now in force has created enormous monopolies and socalled trusts, which displace a great many workingmen by wilfully curtailing production and at

the feme time lowering the average wages. The tariff does not protect the workingmen, for while it restricts merely the importation of foreign goods, it does not restrict the importation of foreign labor, which needs must compete •atith our workingmen. The revision of the traiff is ab solutely necessary for a favorable d velopmentof our industries. It will restrict the importation of manufactured articles’more effectively than the high custom duties have done heretofore, and will also enable our manufacturers to successfully compete in the markets of the world. Our individual as w 11 as national instinct of self-preservation compels us to solve this problem. The ways and means for its solution mist be made clear to our minds. This clearness of understanding c rt n b i obtained effectively by discussion and political organization only; and the effective j means ot pr .otically bringing | about the needed desired results.

The question now arising is this: Shall we Germans organize ourselves separately? The answer must be yes, and again vee, because comparatively few Germans only have the capacity to effectively express their views in the English language in a public meeting. And as not the few ouly, but all the Germans, should perform their duties as citizens, and farticlpate in the political straggles of the country, a separate organization is necessary.

That we cannot organize an independent Germ-n party is plain; we must of necessity ally ourselves with t .at partv which is most in sympathy with our principles and views. Such an ally is not to be found in the monopoly-ridden Republican party, but it is to be sought for in the Demo jratio party because it represents sound political progress and because it is the friend of the foreign-born element of owr population. The Democratic party advocates relief from excessive taxation, ab tement of the surplus in the Federal treasury, improvement of our commerce, shipping and industry; if advocates the securing of the public domain to bona fide settlers; suppression of monopolies and trusts, the regulation and 1

supe;yision of the railroads, the fostering of trades unions. It is against the infringement of the rights of the naturalized citizen, and especially dpea it seek to maintain inviolate the right of universal suffrage. A movement iiii deal to the forborn element is spreading through the whole country. The errors of a *ew fanatics that call 'themselves Anarchists are used as a pretext and the Republican party as an organ, for all the proposed measures of disfranchisement and sumptuary laws aimed at the foreign born citizens.. We protest against being identified <ith said fanatics. This n ovement will, however, assume overwh. dining dimensions unless by a strong German organization and a strong support of a Democratic party we raise a dam to confine it to that portion of opr population which to gets that this . country is a Democratic republic, I the “home of the free;” that the ancestors of every and each one of us was an immigrant, and that no one can claim any merit over others from the mere fact of having been born ii. this country, an event obout which he has not been consulted. We must go to work immediately. The political parties are already preparing for this year’s campaign. For it is not one election only, but three of the most important elections, that will coincide in New York next fall. New York, with its 37 electoral votes,, is the pivotal State and its decision depends upon the vote in this city. In the hands of the citizens of New York the election of the President, Governor and of the Mayor reits. And this decision depends largely upon the attitude of the 70,000 German voters residing in New York city. j’ [The address is signed by Wm. Steinway, the piano manufacturer, as chairman; Edward Grosse, Secretary; Joseph Keppler, of Puck, and a large number of tho most respected and influential German citizens of New York. Their names are printed with the address in the New York papers and in its circular form.] Groceries! Groceries!! Groceries!!! Cheap as the cheapest, at J. W. Duvall’s new Grocery.