Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1888 — RATIFYING AT GOTHAM. [ARTICLE]

RATIFYING AT GOTHAM.

An Immense and Enthusiastic Meeting Held at the Academy of Music. Housing Speeches Made by Speaker Carlisle and Governor Hill. [New York special.] The County Democracy held a rousing ratification meeting in the Academy of Music and Nilsson Hall Thursday night. 'Every seat was •occupied, and standing-room was hard to obtain. The appearance of Speaker John G. Carlisle and Gov. David B. Hill on the platform, escorted by D. Willis James, ex-Mayor Edward Cooper, and Senator Michael C. Murphy, -was the signal for an outburst of applause and the waving of bandanas. D. Willis James presided at the meeting. Letters of regret from Congressman Perry Belmont and Mayor Hewitt were read. Tne former, in his letter, said: “The decline of our merchant marine and the loss of our proper trade relations—outstripped in foreign markets as we are by our great commercial rival, England—are in themselves sufficient reason for Congress to make a change in •our tariff laws. The Mills bUI simply lowers

the rate at tariff taxation from about <7 pea cent, to about 42 per cent. It U not a free-trade measure, but it is a step directly in accord with the growing needs of our fiscal and commercial system—namely, a reduction of the surplus and md increase in our foreign trade." Mayor Hewitt, in his letter, said that what might be termed “the personal equation of the candidates’ had been eliminated from the contest, inasmuch as either of the gentlemen who are put in nomination for President will fill the office with credit aud success. Both parties had promised to reduce revenue by revision of the tariff, bnt Democrats had not dime so because the Republicans, had successfully tried to thwart their efforts to do so. The Democracy had renewed its pledge this year; but the Republicans, having resisted all efforts to reduce revenue by reducing taxes, have been forced by the inexorable logic of the situation to declare in favor of reducing the revenue by increasing the taxes. In the coming election the issue is not between free trada and protection, but the burning question is, Shall the revenue be reduced by the reduction of the tariff taxes, or shall it be reduced by an increase of these taxes ? Both plans are feasible, but both cannot be right. Speaker Carlisle was introduced and received with great enthusiasm. He said : “Four years ago it was said that the election of a Democratic President would be immediately followed by the prostration of our manufacturing industries, the derangement of our finances, the debasement of our currency, and the destruction of the public credit, and that even the civil and political rights of the people would not be secure. According to these partisan prophets the Supreme Court of the United States was to he reorganized and the constitutional amendments annulled ; the Confederate debt was to be paid and the Confederate soldiers pensioned; the colored race was to be re-enslaved in the South; the doctrine of secession was to be reasserted; the soldiers and sailors of the Union were to be deprived of the pensions and bounties heretofore granted to them, and all the terms and conditions of the adjustment which succeeded the late civil war were to be entirely disregarded. These preposterous predictions were based upon the assumption that the Democratic party possessed neither patriotism nor common sense. They were founded upon the absurd supposition that five million American citizens, with all their interests as individuals and members of the community, dependent upon the stability of cur social and political institutions, would deliberately proceed, as soon as they were intrusted with power, to destroy the foundations of their own safety and prosperity. Incredible as it may appear, there were undoubtedly some people in the country who really believed these extravagant assertions and allowed their suffrages to he controlled by them ; but they cannot be deceived again. The Democratic party has not only demonstrated its capacity to administer the executive deportment of the Government in strict accordance with the Constitution and the laws, but it has set an example of fidelity to the interests of all the people and integrity in the discharge of official duties which will be of infinite value to the country through all time to come. ” Mr. Carlisle eulogized the Democratic candidates, and added: “That grand old man [Thurman], the leader in many a fierce contest for the principles of his party, has been called once more from his retirement to participate in its last great struggle and to witness its final and permanent triumph over its old antagonist. I say final and permanent triumph, because, unless all the signs of the times are deceptive, the Republican party cannot survive another defeat in a national contest. Its cohesive power will be destroyed and it will fall to pieces as all its predecessors have done. Its dismembered parts will be converted into warring factions or form themselves into a new party under a new name. Fifteen years it has had no mission except to foment strife and discord among the people and no ambition except to hold the offices and control the expenditure of the public moneys ; and yet during all that time it has ostentatiously paraded itsel. as the special guardian and sole custodian of the public interest and as the only political organization having the patriot!-m and wisdom to govern the country.' We have as much interest as our opponents can possibly have in the continued prosperity of all our varied industries. We recognize the fact that the complete development of the marvelous resources of such a country as this requires the investment of immense amounts of money, and the employment o manual labor and mechanical appliances to an extent unknown in the history of the world heretofore, and we are, therefore, in favor of that policy wh'ch will most certainly and permanently encourage such investments aud secure the highest rewards for the labor necessary to make them profitable. The Democracy makes no war upon capital, but it denounces monopolies and comb nations as gross ana dangerous violations of the law of trade and tne lights of the people. It is and always has been the friend of labor and it will continue to stand for the rights of th) m lli ms who toil for their daily bread in every conflict with those who seek to depress or degrade them. “Why should the Republican party he restored to the position from which the people drove it by their votes four years ago ? It is the same political organization now that it was then, and has the same purposes and objects in view. If we examine its promises, what are they? Read its platform adopted at Chicago a few days ago. Read it in the light of our political history during the twentyfour years that the party had control of the Government, and what does it mean? Every abuse it now denounces or complains of was inaugurated by itself when it had absolute control in all the departments of the government. Every reform it now promises was made necessary by its own legislative and executive action. The country is now called upon to turn the Democrats out and put the Republicans in simply for the purpose of affording them an opportunity to make a partial atonement for their crimes against the people while they were in. It professes now to be in favor of a free ballot and a fair count, and yet scarcely a decade has passed since it deliberately perpetrated the grossest outrage upon the electoral rights of the people that ever disgraced the annals of this or any other country ; and it still boasts of that achievement..- It declares its hostility to the introduction into this country of foreign-contract labor, and yet it is the only political party that ever enacted a statute to encourage and legalize the importation of foreign labor under contract to servo the importers. I allude to the Congressional statute of 1804, which was passed at a time when there were scarcely dhougli Democrats in either House to call the yeas and nays.” As to the Mills bill the speaker said: “I think it is safe to say that nine-tentlis of the people who are daily denouncing it in the public press and otherwise as a free-trade measure have never read it, and perhaps they would not understand it if they had. ” He then proceeded to explain the salient points of the bill, particularly the sections regarding wool, tobacco, and whisky. He declared that the Democratic party does not advocate free trade, but it believes that the interests of all our manufacturing and other industries would be advanced, that the wages of all our laborers would be increased, and the general welfare of the whole country would be greatly promoted by repealing, as far as possible, the taxes upon raw materials and reducing or repealing the taxes upon the actual necessaries of life; and upon these simple propositions it proposes ■ to stand or fall in the great contest before it. The audience listened with interested attention to Speaker Carlisle, frequently applauding his sentences. At the conclusion of bis speech a storm of applause broke out. Speaker Carlisle was followed by Gov. Hill, who was warmly received with cheers and applause.