Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-09-11
The Free Traders Claim Mr.. Cleve.
land.

/
teresting of the developments of this
canvass is the fact that the free trade
Democrats are representing Mr.. Cleve-
land as man who is as thorough in his
hostility to the protection of American
industry as Speaker Carlisle or Col. Nor
rison, or even Frank Hard himself.
Among the commonplaees of Mr.
Gleveland's letter of acceptance there is
Ehothing to show what he thinks respect
hing free trade and protection, nor, in
fdeed. to indicate that the subject has ey-
fer occupied his thoughts. 1t appears,
however, that not many months ago Mr.
Cleveland was actively engaged in mist
sionary work in behalf of the Morrison
bill. The subjoined statement by Mr..
Henry L. Nelson, of Washington, is
printed in the Boston Herald: I!
There is no doubt of Mr.. Cleveland's s
position. He is as thoroughly in earnest
in the cause of revenue reform as his
friend Mr.. Dorsheimer. In the contest
in Congress last winter he stood with
Carlisle and Morrison and against Ran
dali 1t is within my personal knowl-
edge that he wrote letters to New York
members of Congress, urging them to
vote with Mr.. Morrison, both on the
question of consideration and on the
motion to strike out the enacting clause
of the Morrison bill. At least one vote
and perhaps more were gained for the
bill by these letters"
On the strength of his personal knowl-
edge of the facts in the case, Mr.. Nelson
proceeds to classify Mr.. Cleveland with
uncompromising free traders:
z 'Mr Cleveland is revenue reformer.
He is as aggressive against protection as
any one of the men who made Mr.. Car
Isle Speaker, and who worked for the
Morrison bill. The National Commit
tee ought to recognize facts. All the
opposition to revenue reform, all the
llprotection sentiment OF the country, IS
Iiarrayed against the Democratic party
because four-iifths of the Democrat
ic majority in the present Federal
House of Representatives voted last
winter in favor of reducing tariff taxa
tion For the same reason, and because
Mr.. Cleveland approved of the action of
these four-ffths. all the protection senti-
ment Of the country will be against him.
1t is proper to say that the gentleman
responsible for this highly interesting
statement is both competent and a
trustworthy witness. Mr.. Nelson is
Speaker Carlisle's private secretary. He
is one of the most ardent and at the
same time one of the best informed of
the theorists now engaged in maintain
ing free trade opinions. With the in
ternal organization and operations of
the Carlisle-Mo movement he was
thoroughly familiar from the first. He
has been in position to know exactly
who were its friends and who were not !;
rand we have no doubt that many of the
arguments advanced on the floor of the
House last winter by the supporters of
the Morrison bill were indirectly, if not
directly, the results of Mr.. Nelson's in
geniOus industry. He has at his fingers
ends the whole free trade case in the
tariff controversy. His pamphlet, "Our
Unjust Tariff Law; a Plain Statement
About High Taxes" recently published
in Boston, is very forcible presentation
of that side of the question. 1t is, in
fact, the anti-protection text book of the
campaign, and it was put forth as such
with the formal approval of Mr.. Car
Isle.
So it appears that Mr.. Nelson is quail
flied to speak with authority on the sub.
ject of Mr.. Cleveland's relations with
the Washington leaders of the free
trade crusade. When he says that to
his positive knowledge Mr.. Cleveland is
as aggressive against protection as any
supporter of the Morrison bill--and that
puts the Democratic candidate for Pres
ident in the same category with such
extreme and uncompromising aggress-
ors AS Frank HIrd. for instance-the as
sertion is likely to startle those Demo-
caats who do not believe that the pres
ent mission of Democracy is the over
throw of protection and the establish
ment in this country of tariff for rev.
nue. only.
What do Democrats of this sort think
of the open assertion by Democrats of
the other sort that Mr.. Cleveland is an
out-and-out free trader?-N. Y. Sun
(Dem.)