The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1890-11-20
wAERg STANDS knurg NELsosa

Prominent as Hon. Knute Nelson
has been III the counsels of the rePnb-
lean party, adyanced Us once upon
time WAS his position on the leading
question of the day. his re,appearance
III politicsat the close of the campaign
Just ended. could not but create the
greatest interest.
Judging him, by his past, only one
course could be expected from Mr..
Nelson. A man who, as member of
congress placed himself in antagonism
to his own party, working and voting
fora measure reducing tariff taxation
would naturally be elassed as opposed
to another measure, the general tenor
of which is a parody upon the first. In
other words, and advocate of the Mills
bill which proposes to lower the tariff
rates, could not possibly, the public
thought, be found in the ranks of the
Mckinley bill supporters.
To the surprise, however. of all men
regardless of party, Mr.. Nelson took
pains to tell his felloN,citizens that
they had been mistaken. In the first
place the Mckinley bill was not so bad
as it had been painted. There was
free sugar-the bounty on domestic
sugar was not mentioned, though, nor
the fact that it is the corse unrefined
sugar only from which the duty has
been removed; and then, the law EN-.
bodied other features that Mr.. Nelson
himselfhad advocated in tariff bill of
his own, when a member of Congress.
To all who heard Mr.. Nelson's explain
alton this seemed a case of begging
the question. For the point was not
how tightly public man could com.
press his own personality in order to
squeeze it into the mould of the ordi-
nary unthinking and unreasoning pro.
tectionist partisan. Most anybody
can do that. Certainly 1t requires on
craftsmanship.
But the citizens of Minnesota did
expect to hear Mr.. Nelson treat the
tariff issue in a statesmanlike manner,
and there is where they were disap-
pointed. Mr.. Nelson may have
justified his course to the satisfaction
of himself; we venture to say that
the satisfaction does not extend much
if any, further and there is grief in
more than one heart over this. For
KRute Nelson has stood before the
| people of this state as a man who
could be relied upon to fight It's
battles, and who, whatever happened
would not go back upon his own
pledged word, or take up arms in
defense of the common enemy. And
his country men by birth in particular
have held him up high to the gaze of
men as one who fighting against odds,
all alone dared to protest against
political iniquity. We fail to see
that this position has been sustained
by Mr.. Nelson in the late
| unpleasantness
! III still leader, he leads net in the
van of progress, not in the front
franks of reform where his feIlow-men
Justly expected to find him.
~. Unable to follow where he himself
I opce led, has he retired to the camp
of the malcontents, and is he snlkIng
in his tent II yes g, he re4nEAed
like a prodigal son, to the Heshpots o.
the radical protectionists, and shall
he henceforth be reckoned as being
one Of them!
These Questions may seem imperti
nent, but they are made in good faith
and we think they fairly express
the muddled condition of the public
mind on the question, where stands
Knute Nelsonl
There is only one person who cal
T solve the riddle, and that is Mr.
Nelson himself. Were he aware O
the interest taken in his movements
and the concern felt for his reputation
as public man, he would feel it
duty almost to satisfy the public OF
this point. The North.