Omaha daily bee., 1888-07-24
Cleveland's Suicidal Policy Costs
Him Many Friends.
HIS UNPoPuLARlTY AT HOME.
Many of His Warmcst supporters in
Former Years Hasten to Affirm
Their Allegiance Il Har.
rison and Morton.


the home of the president, if he has u home,
one usually finds more enthusiasm when his
name is mentioned than in any other part of
the United States. Local pride generally
outwclghs personal disappointment, and the
politicians, without regard to the distribution
Of patronage, usually have had the utmost
confidence in their townsman who happens
to be filing the chair of the chief magistrate
of this nation. Your correspondent has made
diligcnt effort to find some strong supporters
OF Grover Cleveland in the city which hon.
ored him by making him its mayor, by pre-.
senting him to the voters of the Empire state
for the govcrnorship, and to the country for
the presidency. Yet Cleveland enthusiasts
in Buffalo are exceedingly rare parties out.
side of his Office holders. 1t is an indisputa.
bic fact that Grover Cleveland is far weaker
in his home city today always providing
that Buffalo is his home city, than perhaps
IN any other town of its size on the American
continent.
In 1880 Garfield carried the county by a
majority of about thlrty-four hundred. In
lSS3, when the half breed stalwart fight was
at its b~ittcrcst point, when Judge Folgcr
had been nominated for the goyernorshlp of
the state by the republicans, by what were
considered unfair tactics on the part of the
so-callcd stalwart wing of the republican
party: when the feeling of the Garfield wing
Ol INC party was AZ us IOOu tlle OF OppOSl-
ton to the Arthur wing, sO-callcd, Erie
county gave Grover Cleveland Il majority of
about seven thousand over Judge Folgcr for
for the govcrnorship. AT that time Cleve.
land had the support of the Buffalo Express,
then the leading half-brCcd paper of western
New York, and the Buffalo Evening News,
a penny paper with the largest circulation of
any afternoon daily in the state outside of
New York city. The Buffalo Evening News
was the first to advocate the nomination of
| l.p,NnI. 4 lnNspllnl for tho nrnailnna,s he tl,
democrats of the country. The Evening
News gave the Cleveland Hendricks ticket
its most cordial support, and the re.
suit was that instead Of a majority
Blaine carried the county by only
1880. Now, in 1888 the Express, which was
not an original Blaine paper IN 1854. and
which swallowed the ticket with IA very WY
face, is advocating the election of Harrison
and Morton with all the vigor that it can put
into its columns. The Evening News is also
working to the same end, and its $1,000 read
ers are treated to Harrison and Morton cam
paign literature every evening. The News
is Il staunCh supporter of the republican doe.
trine of protection and the vigorous opponent
of the sccond.term IDEA. The loss of its
support is in itself a serious blow to the
Cleveland democracy, and is likely to result
in the old-time republican majority in Erie
county.
Beyond all this, some of the leading dem
ocratS of the county have come out s~quarcly
against Grover Cleveland. All the old.time
HARRISON men of 1910, those who shouted
for TippeCanOc and hard cider, have organ
lied themselves into Il Harrison and Morton
club with Lewis T.. Allen, uncle and bone.
factor OF Grover Cleveland, at their head.
Jonathan Scovillc, who represented the
Buffalo district in congress as il democrat
for "A term and a half, and who has also filled
the chair in the!mayor's office, is an extensive
manufacturer in the Queen city. Mr.. SEQ
vile is understood to have declared his de-
termination TO vote the Harrison ticket. He
subscribed $4,000 TO the Cleveland
campaign fund in 1854. Frank II.
Goodyear, a leading lumber manufactures,
whose headquarters are in Buffalo, and
whose business is conducted on the Penn
Sylvania line, said to your correspondent that
he could not endorse Grover Clcvcland's
message and its free trade tendencies. Mr..
Newman, another leading lumber manufac-
turer, who was a worm adnerent OF Grover
Cleveland in 1854, said that he should not
vote for Cleveland in 1855, and he did not
believe that the 80 men in his employ would
be likely to vote for the suicidal policy laid
down by President Cleveland's message, and
in part carried out by the Mills bill. {. j..
Hahn, one of the Wealthiest citizens of Buff
faio, the owner of one of the finest stock
farms in the world and the employer of sew
eral thousand men, VINO voted for Cleveland
in 1854, has declared his intention to support
the republican Ucket ana the republican
platform this year.
Buffalo is u manufacturing city and its
manufacturers see now that their former
townsman is thoroughly imbucd with the
British doctrine OF free trade, and they real
ize that to extend his power means the in
jury of their business and the discharge of
their employees. Naturally they are not dis
posed 10 this end. Men who have been
consistent democrats for years simply be-
cause there was, in their opinion, some sort
OF an obscure line between the two parties,
but which line did not divide them on the
question of tariff, are now frightened ut the
outlook, and there seems to be n stampede
among them away from the democratic
party.
have heard more talk among the laboring
men, too, on the subject of the tariff in Buff
falo lately than | ever heard before. Buffalo
has an intelligent class of mechanics and
working people generally, among whom are
numbered eighty or ninety thousand foreign
born citizens, many of whom know what free
trade and low wages mean to a man who is
| dependent upon the sweat of his brow for
the bread to support his family. These men,
in many instances, own houses in which
they live, and are an Industrious, WCll-diS-
posed, thinking class OF American citizens,
Efforts are being made by the democrats to
| stir up the German mericans here against
the republican ticket because of the high
| license bill passed by the republican lcgisla,
ture. But these efforts have not been very
fruitful, because the German Amcricans, as
q rule, realize that the saloonkecpers make
the profits, and that they alone would BE-
affected by the high license law.
One thing is patent to any casual visitor TO
Buffalo who takes any interest in politics
| whatever, and that is the absolute apathy of
the working politicians in the democratic
party. Four years ago the enthusiasm
started for Cleveland on the day OF his noml-
nation and il was continued up to the day Of
his election. When he was inaugurated
crowds of Buffalo democrats went 10 Wash
ingtun to see the ceremony. Naturally
many of them hoped for political reward, but
of those who iOurneyed to the capital IN uni.
form not a single one was appointed TO an
office by the president. He has utterly ig.
| nored the rank and file of his party in But
falo, and the few piums which he has dis.
tributed in the Queen city on the lakes have
fallen into the Outspread hands of personal
friends, and men who have not been identl'
fed with the working element IN his party
For this reason he will naturally md deep
| seated opposition to his reelection among the
men who formerly supported him. THIS OPP
position will, perhaps, not extend 50 lar as
10 induce the workers 10 vote for Harrison,
but it will go far enough to prevent them
from giving an enthusiastic support 10 the
democratic ticket.
Besides all this there is a marked develop.
ment of the protective sentiment IN the ranks
of the agricultural population round about
Buffalo. The Minis bill, which has the en-.
dorsement of the president, and is the basis
of tho democratic DlatfOrm, proposes to adj