Western appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1885-18??, 1888-07-28
A HOUSING ADDRESS.


/" Private y Joe Fifer, the Republican Cam
didate for the Governorship of Illinois,
Delivers Grand Speech at Springfield.
IM.-CleyeIand and His Weak Civil-Serv-
ice Reform Given Bitter Scoring.
We are now entering upon political canvass
The results OF which must prove OF high and
alstlng Importance to the people Of this Nation.
long established American policy, vita to all
interests, is on trial before the voters on the
one hand, while upon the other an Administers
hon that gained power under q mask of reform
ana by the most solemn promises of a Jeffer-
sonian virtue is to receive attention in response
TO the demand that its dOings and DretensiOns
shall be ratified in November.
The result of this campaign must also go q
long way toward determining whether any
Effort in the future is to be made to enforce the
provisions of the constitution relating to suf.
frage in the South or whether we are to sit
down helplessly and allow political party to
ENJOY the perpetual fruits of violence and
fraud. Such questions may well receive the
candid consideration Of candid men. This cam
pa.gn Is, hope, TO be = battle Of opposing
principles. and not petty fusiladc Of personal
1etract:on and calumny.
Republican ideas have conquered acontinent,
Ind we behold today the Democratic party
!he old, uncompromisng enemy of Republican.
'sm, the party that contested with bludgeon,
steel and calumny each step of the splendid
advance from the last III beetle act of Buchanan
up TO the pure ana lofty craftsmanship of Ar
thur-crawling under tho big tent of Repub-
lcanism, and say ing: 20, yes, we agree to all
this and always did, but If you will give us a
chance we would like to reform the civil serv-
tcc'' ~
After referring TO the fact that MIR. Cleve-
lard was elected upon his repeated assertion
that he would, if elected reform the civil serv-
Ice. tho speaker continued:
II IS interesting well as instructive to note
kllc manner in which theseTpledges of Civil
Scr:lce Reform have been kept. shall not re-
sort to the long columns of statistics which are
Of hand to show the exact percentage of re-
moEals and appointments which Mr.. Cleveland
has made in three years, moved thereto by
partisan and personal motives. Happily with
men VINO have been living in this country tho last
three years and have kept their eyes and ears
open, no tedious statistics are needed to prove
the recrcancy OF this Administration to it's
promises. Scarcely had the ink with which the
President wrote his reform inaugural became
dry Dcfure the axe of the Administration heads
man began to be wet with the blood of Re.
publican officials whose efficiency aad faithful
ness We're unquestioned, and who were slain
solely that their places might be filled by
Democrats. 1t was only necessary to look and
listen for single day to be convinced of the
nollowncss of all the pretenses of the Presi-
dent concerning the civil service, and to know
these pretenses were put forth for the dishon-
sst purpose OF securing votes from the men
formerly affliating with the Republican party
who really did not believe civil service questions
TO DC more important than any others. Even
private character was not Safe from assassina.
ton at the hands of the Executive head of the
Nation in the search for causes which would
help TO make partisan acts seem to accord with
ante election professions; and We find this
& rS,n fi1yA $lo
he should in all honesty respect his own dec
larat;on Of the great danger lying in Il Presi-
dents personal ambition to renominate him
self NOT only setting at naught his own argu-
ment. but sliding down from his high pedestal
INTO the camp of the party spokesman, where
ae has been wholly invisible to the long.
-ns eye OF the ''mugwurnp'' for loi these
many months. All the alleged abuses
which before election furnished the texts
II Mr.. Cleveland's various homilies on re-
orm now hold unlimited sway nnder his ad-
ninistration. Pernicious activity by officials
party management; the levying Of assess
rents upon Government employees for cam
2aign purposes the removal of faithful officials
20 make places with which to reward ignorant
3arty hclpers-all these vices and many more
tbout which Mr.. Cleveland theor zed so well
chat he won the admiration of Mr.. Curtis and
VIZ. Schurz, have held uubounded sway at Wash
.ngton for the last two years, and that, too,
lot only in violation of the Presidents per-
jonal pledges, but in violation of the statute
I the land. 0, reform, thou art jewel, but
hou art not Democrat.
But are you not more than glad, fell
oW citizens, that the days OF the civil
service masquerade have drawn to a
closer Mr.. Cleveland makes much better
1gure as an avowed spokesman than he
yer did in the guise OF a reformer In the
Height OF the Inhibition he resembled hip
2opotamus trying to balance on u slack rope.
All is now changed. The last mugwump' has
disappeared down the back stairs OF the White
dousc, followed closely by the masterful boot
u the Democratic "bouncer,'' and henceforth
here is to be none to modest the President or
20 make him afraid It is to pc hoped we shall
future have less of hypocrisy, whatever may
De the fate of the civil service.
In the face OF the fact that the Democratic
Administration is distinguished tor its i'm
becilty and for its pledges to the people I'M
fulfilled Mr. Cleveland is accounted by his
party as great leader. To be the leader in
party in which man is accounted wise by
reason OF what he has not written or said, a
reformer by reason of what he has not reformed,
and patriot by reason of the sacrifices he
has not made, is, in my Judgment, rather an
easy position.
Taking up the tariff quest ion Mr.. Fifer said:
l predict that the Democratic party long be-
fore the close of this campaign will be chiefly
exercised to convince the voters, and particu-
larlY the mechanics and wage-workers of the
country, that they are not a free-trade party
and are not even infected with the kindred and
worse heresy of a tariff 'for revenue only"
but the issue upon this question is now made
and defined far beyond the power of any
Democrat to obscure and befuddle ii.
Upon this circumstance the country is to be
Time was when the Democratic
party, which lies principally in the South hated
the manufacturing industries of the North and
had the honesty and courage TO say SO boldly.
Away back in the sixties the. Democratic party
said ID terms that it was for free trade. AS
late as 1876 it said in terms that tariff should
be for revenue only. In 1880 and 1884 it pre-
and straddled. 1t sat upon the politi-
cal fence with one leg hanging down in Iowa
and the other in Pennsylvania, but neither
foot quite touching the ground. But while this
is true, there has never been the least doubt as
10 the real convictions and desires of that
party upon the tariff question. It is and always
has been a free-trade party Such its ira
ditions and it's history. And now in the full
ness OF time Moses has arisen in the Demo-
cratic Israel, and with all the stubbornness of
the taurine animal VIII Oh disputed the right of
way with the locomotive, and with about the
same perception OF the question, proclaims with
the courage OF his conviction that the protective
features OF the tariff are unjust and illogical
and should be abandoned. Let us thank the
President for his courage if not for his wis
dom. He has SO far alighted from the fence
that one foot at least now touches the ground d.
The different theories advanced to-day by the
advocates OF protection on the one hand and Of
free trade on the other are as old the Gov
itself. 1t is not too much to say that
the supporters of those different views of our
tariff are no nearer an agreement now than
they were in the days of Clay and Calhoun; and
If left In the domain of theory alone It'll safe to
say they will be as far apart at the close of the
next century as they are to-day. Now, some
questions may, concede, be settled theoreti-
cally, but the tariff is not, in my opinion. such a
question. A single years experience is worth
all the theories that have been advocated, from
the clear and statesmanlil1e utterances of
Alexander Hamilton down to the mustu thanries