St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-06
NELSON'S HAND IN IT
The Willy Knute Was Not at
Little Falls, But His Part
nep Was.
How Gunderson Knocked
Protection Out Of Com
stocks Platform.
Frank Searle'S Tariff Resolu-
tion as He Drafted It at
st. Cloud.
Old-Line Republicans Do Not
Take Kindly to Demo-
cratic Doctrines.

Special to the Globe.
LITTLE FALLS, Minn., Sept. 5.-The
''tariff for revenue only'' platform,
adopted by the Republican congressional
convention held in this city yesterday,
is not meeting with the appreciation of
all the faithful in this district. On the
contrary. many of the old-line and dyed
in-the-wool Republicans do not hesitate
to denounce the tariff plank roundly.
Judge w. A. Fleming, of Brainerd. is
one of the dissatisfied members of the
convention and he did not hesitate to
stamp the tariff declaration as ''splin-
ter from one of President CIeyeland's
messages.
1.-Two or three times" said Mr. Flem-
ing. while that resolution was being
read l wanted to get up and oppose it
on the ground that it was not express
ing the doctrines Of the Republican
party
On the Tariff Question.
l am sorry l did not do so now, al
though | thought at the time that if the
rest of the delegates could stand it 1
could. believe in protection, and so
does the Republican patty"
Judge Fleming is by no means alone
in the belief that the tariff declaration
is un-Republican and dishonest, espe-
cially in view of the fact that the can
didate placed upon and voted and
worked for the passage of the McKin-
ley tariff bill. Hon. j. G. Flynn, Nor
riSon county's candidate for the Repub-
lican nomination for state senator in
this district, while not disposed to dis
cuss the matter at length, ventures the
opinion that the tariff plank is
Decidedly ssOf-CoIor,,,
and will not help Mr.. Comstock as much
as courageous declaration of the
party's views on the tariff question.
Mr.. Flynn, Ihowever, doesn't think that
platforms cut much figure in political
contests. Others incline to the belief
that the tariff plank in the platform
will never be mentioned III Mr.. Com
stocks campaign.
How did this piece of sound Demo-
cratic gospel get into the platform.
This is an interesting question, but
the answer is still more interesting.
One of the members of the platform
committee was G. j. GunderSon, of AL
eXandria, who is the law partner of
Hon. Knute Nelson, and solely through
the efforts and demands of Mr.. Gunder-
son was this tariff plank presented to
the convention in the form in which it
was adopted. The chairman of the
committee on resolutions was Hon. F.
e. Searle, of st. Cloud, who came to
convention with platform
SO In His Pocket.
This pocket-platform however, had a
rather more lengthy declaration on the
tariff. The plank adopted read as fol-
lows:
We indorse the efforts made at tariff re
vision and ask that they be continued on the
lines of a reduction of the revenues to the
point that only sufficient shall be raised to
meet the necessities of the government econ
omically administered, and the duties shall
be SO adjusted as to bear fairly and equally
on all sections and interests of the country.
we are unqualifiedly i'll favor of the idea of
reciprocity of trade, as advanced by Hon.
James G. Blaine. We believe that through
it the tariff may mott proftably be adjusted
and at the same time furnish large market
for the products of our farms and factories.
Chairman Searle's draft read quite
differently, and under stress of circum-
stances might have passed muster as a
regulation Republican platform this
year. 1t read as follows:
We endorse the efforts made at tariff re-
vision and ask that they be continued on the
lines Of a reduction of the revenue to the
point until only sufficient shall be raised to
nomicallv administered, and that the duties
shall be so adjusted asto Dear fairly and
equitably on all sections and interests of the
coutry, with sufficient protection to Ameri-
can labor and such industries as need pro-
lection, and which in the end will result in
cheaper commodities to the people,"
Following this was the
Reciprocity.
The clause quoted was erased in the
original draft of the platform, and in
this fact is found the only explanation
which can be given for the hour spent
by the committee in passing upon Mr.
Searle'S platform.
That the protective tariff annex to the
platform was stricken out to please Mr..
Gunderson, and through him Mr.. Mel
son is freely charged on all sides here.
and no member of the committee seems
to care to deny the charge. Hon. w. E.
Lee, of Todd, escapes answering the
question, "Who did it?'' by saying that
he was out of the room at the time the
transition was made from ''Republlcan-
ism and protection" to democracy and
tariff for revenue only" Mr.. Gunder-
the matter, contenting himself with
remarklng that the Farmers Alliance
was
Well Organized
in Douglass county, and it would re-
Quire work to whip them back in the
traces.
The object of the gentlemen who per-
mitted Mr.. Nelson's ideas to rule as far
as the tariff declaration was concerned,
is now hard to discern-indeed. The
announcement in the Republican pa
pers that "Knute Nelson would take the
stump for Nj. ComStocll'' shows exactly
the cause which impelled Mr.. Searles
and his fellow-members of the commit
tee OIL resolutions to adopt Mr.. Gun
de ms recommendations on the
tariff plank reported to the convention.
But there is little reason to believe that
MIR. Nelson will take the stump for any
one this year, and, while he may visit
stronghold of his here and there
throughout the district. as he did two
years ago, in the interests of his friend
Comstock, it is safe to predict that he
will do
No Campaigning
for the whole ticket.
The general impression of the Repub-
licans hereabouts is that this peculiar
Republican utterance on the tariff will
damage Mr.. ComStOck greatly. 1t, first
of ali, demonstrates that Republican
voters of the Fifth district, or at least
a majority of them, do not believe
in protection and that, furthermore,
they concede that the Democratic idea
of tariff taxes is the correct one. This
removes from this campaign the stereo-
typed cry of protection to American
labor" and will give the Democrats a