New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-09-15
TEE PRESIDENTS LATEST.

TEE PRESIDENTS LATEST
President Cleveand's letter Of acceptance
has been before the country for several Gays,
and its effect upon public opinion can now be
measured 1t has not helped him. Per
functory applause by political adherents does
not alter the fact that the letter was intended
to produce an'impression which 1t has entirely
failed to produce and that the opposition to
the Presidents policy has been strengthened
rather than weakened by his Ineffective effort
10 shift his position. The impression which it
has produced has not been helpful to the
Presidents reputation for sincerity or courage;
both what he said and what he left unsald
have contributed to increase the feeling that
he is tricky politician and not straight
forward patriot The fact that he ignored the
question of retaliation, to which he had so re-
Gently sought to divert public attention, seems
to dispassonate observers evidence that he
was not sincere in his professions of anxiety
on that subject but was in fact troubled IN
mind by popular hostility to his course in re-
gard to the tariff. Having tried in vain to
divert public thought 10y a sensational change
of front on foreign issue, he returned per-
force to the tariff question with labored but
Ineffective attempt to explain away his preyi-
Gus utteTancoS thereon.
These are not the methods Of a brave and
sincere man. They are in perfect accord with
the denomination Of Governor Hill as the repre-
sentative Of an Administration protesting zeal
for reform and honest government They ac-
cord perfectly with the use Of an army Of
ofiicehoders to shape, control and carry on
partisan campaign To an honest man, in Mr..
Cloveands position, the course which Mr..
Cleveland has pursued in domestic and in
foreign affairs. in National and in State poll
tics, would have been impossible. So the
reader Of the Presidents letter is continually
forced to question the sincerity Of his pro-
LESSONS Of regard for the interests of labor,
and Of anxiety that change OF tariff shall not
be such as to dcpress home manufactures. IL
is not forgotten that the same President, in
his message Of last December treated the man
ufacurefS engaged in protected industries as
if they were robbers whose wholesale plumber
Of the people he was passionately eager to stop.
If the President had been even moderately
informed in regard to the tariff question, he
would have taken care to omit arguments
which are meaningless and worthless, unless
they justify entire abolition Of all protective
duties. His latest letter is crowded with such
arguments, just as his message of December
was and the intelligent reader who finds the
most ultra frcc-trade theories intcrlarded with
proteStationS that the President and his friends
have not entered upon any crusade for free
rrade is compelled to doubt either the Pres-
dents common sense or his sincerity. There
is really no help for it : either the man does not
know what he is saying, or he is radical
ultra and thorough Free Trader in belief and
purpose, and in that case his protestations arc
simply dishonest
II hurts the Presidents case too, that he 50
carefully avoids any mention of the tariff bill
which his party in convention deliberately in
dorsed, and which was forced through the
House by the use Of Executive patronage and
favor. The plain people Of this country have
sense enough to see that The President wants
TO cravG>h. lie would like to get the votes
Of all the thOroughgoing Free Traders, as one
Of them in convictions, and at the same time
to get the VIC IS Of the most moderate and
cautious tariff reformerS rs a man who has no
attachment to theories and is in no way com
mided to any Objectionable feature Of the
Mills bill But Mr. Facing Both- Ways is
never a popular character in American poll
tics. The President has lost something and
gained nothing by trying to escape personal
responsibility for the precise issue which he
has forced upon the country. The Free Trad
ers will support him, because they can sup
port no one else But the moderate men, for
whom the President is fishing. are persons who
thoroughly understand that an honest purpose
and sincere effort, instead Of the tricks Of
demagogue are essential to any safe revision
of the tariff.
To those who have fancied that the Presi-
dent desired free trade only in raw materials.
the question has come home, "What are raw
materials ~ TO one man, the ore TO an
other, tho smeted pig metal to a third the
bar or ingOt or wire rod to fourth, the com
plcted rail or the finished tool TO the spin
ner, wool is raw material to the weaver, yarn;
to the clothing manufacturer, cloth. The very
nature Of the Presidents plea for free ma
terials debars him from drawing the line any
where and puts him with the ultra Free
Trader who holds that any and every industry
will be best protected by clearing away all it's
" burdens" and letting everybody buy where
he can buy cheapest" In trying to explain
away his message the President has only made
it clearer that he is utterly hostile to the
American policy.
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COVEPNOP nm AND THE CANALS