The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-11-15
THE MEANING OF 1T.


the most thoughtful campaign in the
history of the nation.
The causes that have led them to
This decision are so numerous and so
universal and so weighty that it is
difficult to enumerate them all, or to
determine which has had most in
fiuence in bringing about the result
The condemned party has lost votes
in every State of the Union, even in
Pennsylvania and New England.
The revolution has gone on without
regard TO sect5on or class. 1t can no
longer be said that Democracy is the
party of a ST ctiun.
The South mIgnt have been left out
OF the Electoral College and stlIl
Cleveland would have b7en elected
by handsome majority in the
Northern states.
The ~od,nerm people may now rest
i'm peace and Le TO more haunted 10y
toe grim spectre of the Force bill.
The lear of THAT bill sOlijitied the
South from the beginning. There
was no other issue South OF the
Mason Il Dixon line. From the day
the Minneapolis convention declared
for its methods in their platform, the
I59 votes of this section were safe Tor
Democracy. The same cause eX-
ercIsed a potent influence in the
great cities of the North, where
Federal Supervisors would have
been as insutferable as in Mississippi
or Louisiana.
In the North, however, the tariff
was perhaps the most potent factor.
1t has taken quarter of century to
educate the masses up to q proper
understanding of this subject.
Political economists and educated
men VINO were not personally inter
ested in protected industries, knew
the iniquity of the war tariff aid the
fallacies of Republican arguments
for it, but the great body of The
Northern people were humhugged
into a belief of its benefits.
so prevalent was this belief, that ii
caused revuIsion OF public seuui-
ment four years ago when Cleveland
came out boldly for tariff reform, and
defeated him for the Presidency III
spite of the great confidence reposed
in HIM personally. That was 3 cam
paigu of education, but the people
did not have time 10 properly solve
the problem. They arrived al a
wrong conclusion, committed the
country to protection and awaited
the result. They kept on thinking
however, aud watched the effect Of
the Mckinley bill with awakened
intelligence. They repudiated it in
the elections Of 1890 with an over
whelming rebuke, repeated still more
emphatically at the ballot box las
tuesday.
The wOrking-men Of The protected
manufactures deserted in greater
numbers than any other class-much
more largely than the Northern
farmers. They have found that the
benefits of protection all go to the
Capitalist and not to them. The
Capitalist combines against them and
they " i'll combine against the CAPT
tal1st. Tricks contribution OF $780,
900 to the Republican corruption
fund, drove tens Of thousands of wori =
ing-men into the ranks of Democ-
racy at one impulse.
The arrogant spirit o. the RePub-
lican party, its centralizing tenden-
cies, it's reckless extravaganza and its
shameless corruption, are among
many other causes that could be
assigned for the landslide. Any one
of them would have been sufficient TO
account for the result.
In addition to ali this, the splendid
personality of Mr.. Cleveland, must
be taken into consideration. No;
since the days of Washington has
any American commanded such uni
versal respect and confidence. He
embodies all that is best in Ameri-
can politics and his influence drew
to his party the purest elements Of
Republicsnism.
Judge Gresham, Judge Cooley ana
Wayne McVeagh are types of toe
men who were thus brought into cur
rams. The effect of the example OF
such meu was pronounced and wide
spread Such men as these are per
maneut additions to our RACKS, and
give promise that we will hold what
we have won, in the future.
There is every reason to believe
that the Democrats are in to stay for
many succeeding administrations to
come, and that the country will reap
the benefits of all that such admins
trations mean.