The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1888-01-26

object to the manner In which Mr.. Hurd
exPends his money, and we only print this
letter to show where the sustenance for the
free-trade, tariff-reform Democratic spout.
ers comes from, and because It is the pre-.
lude to an interview with Mr.. Hurd.
In this interview Mr.. Hurd tells how he
purchased paper containing the Presi-
dents message, how he was so delighted
and absorbed in reading It that the crowd
on the corner of Broadway and Wall street
swept by UNDECIDED. He says:
"People iostled ne but did not feel them
All felt WAS that the issue Of free trade was
now decisively brought before the American
| people, and that Its cause was more than hal
wen.'
"How do you suppose that the President ar
rived at his present views?'
| He came to Washington predisposed to free
trade. There ne met Carlisle; he met Morrt
son. he was In daily Intercourse with the op
poHents OF protection. He saw his duty clearly
ahead Of him, and when duty bsckons &c
President Cleveland no power on earth car
turn him aside from H."
'Do you feel certain that he has raised the
issue of the coming campaign
Absolutely certain. Congress will do moth
| ing about the matter. We shall enter into the
presidential contest with the issue precisely as
1t stands to-day. And when the presidential
contest Is ended the issue Will be definitely
closed"
"Y0u believe in its success?'
"Hew can ID failf Ithas never failed. AS
1eng ago as 1874, even before the corn laws
were repealed in England. it gave James K
Polk the victory over Henry Clay. 1t will re-
peat that triumph whenever it is put to the
test. If it could win in 1874, what must be its
strength to-dayT
| Mr.. Hurd then goes on in an extended
interview, rshashing the substance of some
of the "Cobden Club leaflets and pamph-
lets'' unworthy OF notice because of patent
absurdity. The point to which we desire
to draw attention is contained In the ex-
tract given above.
1t will be observed that Mr.. Hurd well
comes President Cleveland with exuberapt
! joy into the ranks of the free traders, be-
| cause of his message to the fftieth Con-
gress, and gives the process by which the
| ''eminent revenue reformer" became be
Mr.. Hurd is right In his deductions from
President Cleveland's message. Every
effort to conceal the evident intent of the
| message only makes its meaning palmer.
It means ultimate free trade, and nothing
else, and, as Mr.. Hurd says, the issue is
made up. for the Republicans gladly accept
that gage of battle, certsi in that the people
will sustain them by an overwhelming ma
joity in the defense of the American system,
which has made the country rich and ele-
waited the American workiHgman.
AS fer Mr.. Polk being elected upon the
free trade issue Mr.. Hurd is mistaken. The
writer OF this article heard Wilson McCapd-
less, one of the prominent Democratic lead
ers in the state Of Pennsylvania, on the 10th
OF October, 1914, in public speech deliv-
cred from the steps of the Exchange Hotel
In Pittsburg, Pa, declare s'that James X.
Polk was better tariff man than Henry
Clay" And all the Democratic speakers
in that state, and north Of there, said the
same thing, and the Democrats carried
Pennsylvania by practicing this fraud.
No man has ever been elected-or ever
will be elected-President Of the United
States on a distinctive free trade platform
It was because Mr. Randall and the Demo
Gratis who agree with him construed the de-
eeptive Chicago platform as declaration In
favor of protection that the present occu-
pant OF the white house had chance of
election, which was made certainty by an
alliterative sentence.
The Republicans agree with Mr.. Hurd
that President Cleveland is in favor of free
trade, and they will hold him to the record.