Wichita eagle., 1888-09-07
A TREMENDOUS BLUNDER.
From the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

| From the St. Paul Pioneer Press
| 1t is much easier to understand why
| Mr.. Cleveland wrote his message on our
relations with Canada than it is to see
why his constitutional advisers did not,
under threat of resignation, if necessary
prevent him from making the most
| stupendous and extraordinary political
blunder of the time. The president is
| one of those stubborn and determined
men to whom every disappointment be-
comes an intolerable personal grievance.
He addressed himself, long ago, to the
task of contriving some settlement of the
| questions in dispute between the United
States and Canada, and selected his own
method Of doing it. That method beng
disapproved by congress, he proceeded to
carry out his plan upon his individual re-
sponsibility. Then, the work of his
commission having been rejected by the
senate, he issues his document, while
fresh and smarting from the mortifca-
ton of failure. That Mr.. Cleveland has
a vindictive temper is shown by his
treatment of all who have withstood
him even though acting from conscien-
| tious conviction. That he is destitute of
a sense of proportion in public acts, and
unmindful of the dignity that BELTS his
office, appeared as long ago as when he
descended to active participation in a
New York City campaign. Both of
these qualities come to the surface in
full strength in the bitter, illogical and
purely personal message that he has put
before the country.
On sober second thought even his
closest friends must admit that he has
fallen into irreparable error. That he
is not actuated by desire to preserve
and defend the dignity of the nation
and the rights OF its people appears
from his Willingness to sanction treaty
that ignored those purposes. That he
seeks now as eagerly to pick a quarrel
with Canada as he did short time ago
to placate her by surrender is shown III
his long reference to canal tolls. matter
already under consideration and one in
which the Canadian government has pre-
pared to do what is fair and honorable.
His argument leads simply to this diem
ma: either what he says of Canadian in
science, aggression and denial of the first
principles Of international comfy is
false, or, If true, he was guilty of unpar-
donable treason to American interests in
attempting to close with such people Il
treaty agreement that guaranteed us no
protection. The message voices only Mr..
Cleveland's personal quarrel and it is a
quarrel not only with thel Dominion, but
the United States senate and the Repub-
llcan party, for assistance in which he
would commit the nation to a policy I'M
approved by the people and terminable
only by open rupture.
The results of acceding to the presi-
dents proposition are of two kinds. The
immediate effect would be to lay an en-
barge upon international traffic unknown
to the world since the time of Napoleon.
To apply the knife ruthlessiy would be
to MAIN American interests quite as Sc
riously as those of Canada. From Maine
to Oregon the great interchange of traf-
fic and the Intervening of transporta-
ton systems would be struck down at a
blow. Business relations concluded in
these years of uninterrupted intercourse,
relations now involving the future mil
lions of capital on both sides of the bor-
der, would be struck with instantaneous
paralysis. The beneficiaries would be
one or two great cities in this country, to
whom retaliation would bring a more or
less complete trade monopoly, and sew
eral great trunk railway companies, who
nave OCCh hONllS iiSdNtu
earth to cut off the Canadian
competition that has assisted the
people on this side of the boundary to Sc
cure cheap transportation service. The
injured parties would be those great
which extend along the
northern frontier. and the business CEN
tiers from Portland on the east to the
western extremity of Lake Superior.
The ultimate effect could be nothing
short of an actual declaration of war.
Transform this business summary OF the
into the political terms, remem-
Der that it is along these parallels that
votes must be won for the Democratic
ticket within the next two months, if it
is to escape defeat; consider the impor-
lance Of the business mans vote, and
the egregiousness of the presidents blum
der begins to appear. AS vote-winner,
his message has not the poor attri-
butte of ''smartness." 1t will cost him
more in New England, in Ohio and in
the northwest than any other act Of his