Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 October 1892 — BOMBSHELL FOR THE G. O. P. [ARTICLE]

BOMBSHELL FOR THE G. O. P.

fi-Attorney General Wayne MacVeaghi Cornea Out Boldly for Grover Cleveland. Ex-Attorney General Wayne MacVeagh, who held office under Garfield, has written a (otter to John W. Carter, secretary of the Massachusetts Reform Club, in which he announces that he will vote for Grover Cleveland. The letter says in part: “As both parties have presented unexceptionable candidates there is no reason why the ditlerences which exist upon questions of public policy should be discussed otherwise than in good humor and with entire respect for each jther’s opinions. “In the present campaign what may fairly be called the false alarms of the canvass will prove of little value because of the general confidenoe in the safe and coniervative character of both candidates. ” The writer finds himself in full accord with the Democratic party and finds it more easy to aot with them, because the Republican party, securing Its return to power four years ago by promising to preserve matters as they were, at once embarked upon what he regards as a reckless and revolutionary policy, even overturning all the safeguards of legislation in the House of Representatives in their haste to pass the force bill and the McKinley bill, both, to his mind, unnecessary and unwise measures. Truth About tho Tariff. Passing over the force bill with a reference to the earnest and widespread opposition thereto, and to the advocacy two yoars ago of the measure by President Harrison, General MacVeagh takes up the tariff, of which he says: “The economio evils, however great, of the McKinley bill and the unreasonable system of protection it represents are of far less importance, to my mind, than the moral evils which follow in their wake. In deciding for what purposes the masses of the people may properly bo taxed, it must not be forgotten that the taxes have a wonderful capacity for filtering through intervening obstacles till they reach the bowed back of toll and resting there, and therefore, the giving of bounties, under any form of taxation, is mainly the giving away of the wages of labor. The sad truth that the curse of the poor Is their poverty, is illustrated in nothing more dearly than In tho undue share they suffer of the burdens of taxation. “But even soph inequality and injustice are the lsast of its evils, for while such a system endures political corruption is absolutely sure to Increase, as such a system not only Invites but It requires the corrupt use of money both at the polls and in Congrosß. In to Silver. “The Republican party ought to be an honeßt-money party, and it would be If It oould, but while It demanded increased bounties for Its favorite manufacturers. It could not refuse Increased bounties to the silver producers, as the votes they control were probably necessary to tho passage of the McKinley bill. The poison of a debased currency is making Itself dally more and more felt In every channel of business and finance, and it is inevitably driving gold out of the oountrv and leading us to all the evils of a fluctuating and therefore dishonest currency based upon silver alone. “If Congress was to levv taxes upon tho people to oonfer bounties upon certain classes of manufacturers, it was very natural that the pension agents should also join hands to Increase their fees by an indiscriminate granting of penslous. The result is that nearly a generation after the dose of the war there is a steady increase of the vast sums passing through the pension agents' hands, until now the total amount, staggers belief and has become of itself a very serious burden upon the treasury. Surely there is nelthor reason nor Justice in legislation which destroys all distinction between the discharge of duty and the shirking of H, between loyal service and desertion of the colors, between wounds, received in. battle and diseases contracted in the pursuits of peace." i Immigration Abates. j There is still another great and increasing evil traceable, in his opinion, to the maintenance of an excessive tariff since the war and the constant meddling with it to make it higher, and that is the bringing to our shores of the vast swarms of undesirable immigrants. Just as the duties upon imported merchandise have been inoreased, so has the grade of Imported labor been lowered. As the Republican party Is now definitely committed to the poiioy of taxing the people for ihe purpose of giving bounties to such persons or interests as can secure the necessary votes in Congress, so the Democratic party is now as definitely committed to the policy of reetricting taxution to the needs of the Government for public purposes alone. Gen. MaoVenah is convinced that the good cause in which he is interested cannct hope for suoeess until the avowed polfoy of the Republican party on this subjeot Is overthrown. Until then the right of eaoh State to control elections within its borders will not be secure; there is no prospeot of our enjoying the single and staple standard of value whloh other civilised and commercial nations possess; there ie no hope of placing either our pension system or the regulation of immigration upon Jgsfc and proper basis; the purification or our polities will continue the “iridescent dream" which high Republican authority has declared it must always remain, and any pretended reform of the civil service must prove a delusion and a snare. Even ballot reform must share the same fate of betrayal in the house of its pretended friends. All these good causes are, in the very nature of things, the relentless foes of a system of government by bounties to favored interests, and such a system is their relent, less foe.