Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 5.djvu/124

100 of the protected manufacturers bodily sat down together and formally drew up, signed, sealed and delivered a corrupt compact. What I do mean to say is that, the high-tariff policy having been adopted under the circumstances mentioned, the compact made itself and was mutually understood without being signed and sealed, but as well as if it had been; that the campaign funds were actually delivered by the moneyed power with the expectation of higher tariff duties yielding larger profits; that the higher tariff duties were actually delivered with the expectation of further and larger electioneering funds. What I do mean to say is, even admitting for argument's sake, the good of the country, as the Republicans understand it, to be their main object, and the money contributions of the beneficiaries of the tariff only a mere incident, that this incident will, as to the demoralization of our political life, have practically the same effect as if it were the main object. What I do mean to say is, that while the high-protective policy is not the only source of political corruption, it is, in its present development, the most insidious and most powerful promoter of it, and that it will inevitably, in the very nature of things, if continued, produce a state of political demoralization in the highest degree dangerous to the vitality of our free institutions. What I do mean to say is, that the Republican Party, however great its history, and however honest and well-meaning many of its leaders and the bulk of its rank and file may be, by the natural working of its high-tariff policy becomes the greatest engine of political corruption on a grand scale that this country has ever seen.

It is useless to point to the fact that Dudley was sent to the rear and that Quay, confronted with his record, had to give up the Chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, as an evidence of the power of virtuous influences. Do not indulge in delusions. So long as the