The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1892-11-26

The Democr11fc Programme. |
The course Of the democratic party (
when it shall be usherei into power
on the Ath Of March nsxt is as die
tinctly mapped out in advance by |
the public pledges and declared I
purposes OF the party itself as by
any personal uslerances Of official I
acts Of Dir. Cleveland. Uyva ali /
points the party is as one With its
leader. Dir. Cleveland was nomi- /
mated. not simply or even chiefly he
cause of bis soundness of judgment,
his proven integrity and his admitted
patriotism, but because he was rec
ognfzed u u We best exponent Of
Democratic principles and because,
as was justly said, he was the ''log-
zeal candidate" OF the party. 1t
would be doing great injustice to the
vast body Of intelligent and patriotic
American citizens who forced tie
nomination of Mr. Cleveland at
Chicago and made his re election
possible to regard them simply as
the personal following of the ex-
President. They follow Mr.. CIeve-
land because he truly and faithfully
represents them.
1t has been said That he is strong
er than his party, and the result of
the election is supposed TO demon
strate his fate. This may we'll be
true, because there can De. no doubt
that Mr.. Cleveland received the sup
port, open or tacit, Of thousands Of
republicans who, probably, could
not by any induccment have been
persuaded to vote tor any other dem
ocratic candidate. But Mr.. Cleve.
land is no more democratic than the
great historical party which has
chosen him for it's leader-the party
of jefferson, Jackson and Tilden. If
he 10 a better democrat than others,
it is only in the sense that he is
more consistent democrat
The policy of.the next adninistra-
ton will be shaped and determined
less by the personal initiative OF the
President than by the promises and
pledges of the party, which he made
bis own by his acceptance of the
party nomination. There we're two
great issues before the people in the
recent Observation-Disclosures and
the force bill. Upon the former is
sue the party is pledged not merely
to the repeal of the Mckinley tariff
and the removal Of the additional
burdens and exactions which it has
imposed. That would be simply go
ing back to the condition Of affairs
which existed when Mr.. Cleveland
sent his famous tariff reform message
to Congress in December, 1887, and
urged upon that body the duty of
tariff revision, with view to reliey-
ing the people of the burden of war
taxes which they had been bearing
during twenty-five years Of peace.
There was no Mckinley tariff in ex-
istence when Mr.. Cleveland thus
sounded the keynote of Jeffersonian
democracy and urged an adjustment
and reduction of the peoples burdens
to the level OF the actusl necessities
of the groverment.
1t is not to the merely negative
task Of repeating the Mckinley tariff.
but to the positive and affirmative
duty of reforming the tariff altogeth-
er that the democratic party pedg
ed itself last June ut Chicago. 1t
is in reliance upon the fulfilment of
this pledge that the people have en-
trusted the party with the control OF
the Legislative as well as the execu
tive powers Of the government. 1t
is not merely democratic President
that has been chosen, but a demo-
cratic Congress, with all the power
and responsibility that this implies
First in order of Importance, if not
of time, will come, therefore, the
great work of tariff revision to be
conducted upon the lines and in &C
cordanee with the principles laid
down in the Chicago platform; and
this means good deal more than
simply uprooting McKinleyism and
undoing the work of Speaker Reeds
Congress But there was another
great issue before the people growing
out of the attempt of the republican
party to pass through the last Con
gress force bill. Here again the
democratic position is very far from
being merely negative of the re
publican platform and policy. There
was no particular force bill before
the country pending in either House
of Congress, on the Stb of November
1892, as there was in November,
1890. In the congressional election
of two years ago the people emphat-
ically condemned the Lodge Daven-
port bill, which had then passed
Speaker Reeds House and was pend
ing in the Senate. This year the
democratic victory means that the
people condemn, not only that bill,
but the whole practice and policy of
federal interference with the conduct
and regulation of elections within
the States. 1t means that the peo-
pie desire return to the policy of
non-interference on the part of the
federal government, which prevailed
from the adoption of the constitu-
tion until after the close of the civil
war
The democratic party stands