Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-28
THAT TARIFF PLANK.
The Watterson-Vilas Spat at the
Democratic Convention and
THE BEN BUTLER VOTE OF 1884
Some Of the Inwardness in the Light Of
Very Recent History.
GREAT YEAR FOR CYCLONES AND HENRI
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH.

tional Convention between Villas and Wat
terson. touching the ''inwardness" of tn
famous tariff plank in the Democratic Ma
FOR the public, dropped at the point where
1t was becoming very interesting. But thu
s'outcropping" was sufficient to emphasize
the differences that have existed for 10
these many years between the aggressiv,
tariff reform element in the party repre-
sented by Watterson and the timid vote
catching element represented in a mild de
gree bv the gentleman from Wisconsin.
watterson, above most men, hates politica
shams, and despises half way, "small beer
politics; has always insisted that the Demo.
Gratis won when they openly proclaimed
their principles and deserved to win, and
lost when they paltered, and became ''pol
icy" men and deserved to lose. Ii
every campaign the Democratic Party
was charged by its opponents with
being free traders, and while this
was not exactly true, as no party IN thlt
country for obvious reasons can operate
under tree trade conditions, yet the change
was either lodged or family denied.
wattersou Not a Coward.
The brilliant Kentuckian now, as in the
past, with the missionary zeal of Peter
the Hermit, has proclaimed that nothing
was to be gained by cowardice or evasion
that the Democratic party might as well
have the game as the name, and instead of
irving to fit National Democratic principles
to Pennsylvania conditions the party should
practically abandon States like Pennsyl-
vania to the ''Robber Barons, as he kindly
calls the tariff kings, and open recruiting
Offices in the "Wild and Woody West, %
where the high tariff 'idee" seemed to
pinch some of the pet diversified industries
OF that section.
Hence the henceness of "Henri's" latest
successful raid on the "policy" platform
makers at Chicago The drift of events ON
the Democratic side at present, mainly
as a result of Watterson's labors, in
vests the platform of 1884 with something
more than passing interest, and as 1 was a
critical "Looker on in Vienna" or rather
in Chicago in 1884, when these platform
makers were "building better than they
knew" few extracts from my mote book
of that day man serve to show how far
Watterson was in advance of his time, how
much his party has grown in the interim,
and how much the aggressive personality of
one man like Watterson has to do with the
and principles of a party, and it may be of
nation-wfth either the crippling or the up
building of communities and what Garfield
SO eloauently characterized as the married
calm of States"
Day for Democracy to Remember.
July 10, 1884, therefore, is an ever to be
remembered dav for the Democratic party
of the United States. On that day in the
city of Chicago, after one of the hottest
convention committee contests on record,
the Tilden tariff plank was re-afirmed
Watterson was vindicated and Converse,
Hav, Randall, ct al, were, in the express
i've phrase of the day, turned down." to
figure thereafter only as specimens of the
prehistoric red sandstone era of the great
party which then and there and in the great
Presidential struggle following, won its
fight on Watterson shines"
The subcommittee in the convention of
's4 wrestled all night much as Jacob did
with the angel, not knowing where they
were going to land. Mcpherson, OF New
Jersey, was especially hot under the collar,
and the voluble Benjamin H. Butler
injected his volcanic utterances into the
Watterson camp, but made no recruits.
Butler was looked upon coldly, as it was
generally understood that he would submit
a minority report, and if it was not adopted
the bull would smash all the china in the
shop. Randall was sour on Converse
for what he called his surrender,
and in order to relieve himself
from that impusation he moved as a substi
tute the adoption of the sOhio platform -
of 80 to 6, and when the result was an
nounced Frank Hurd remarked: 'This
is nv vindication. / said at Columbus, Il
appeal from this convention to the National
Convention of the party, and this vote is
their answer to nv appeal" Interest cen-
tered at the time more on the platform than
the candidate, and Messrs. Carlisle, Hurd
Wheeler and Bookwalter discussed the pro-
ceedings in the ante-room of the hotel as
the returns were doled out from the COM
mittee room.
Bookwslter's Free Trade Appeal.
81 am here" said Bookwalter, "only for
one purpose, and that is to aid in any way
in nv power those who are making a fight
against the tariff. 1 am a manufacturer,
but see that unless we have a change soon
we are doomed to disaster and commercial
distress Only by radical revision can we
find a market for our products. Our ships
have disappeared from the seas, while those
of England enter every port. There is lit
tie foreign demand for wheat, and railroads
suffer. Instead of sending wheat we will
send specie abroad. This d1sturbs business
and can only have one end. The farmer
will understand then that be is in direct
competition not only with the pauper labor
of Europe, but with the labor of India,
where labor gets but 10 cents a day and
where it is cheaper to buy labor than to
buy plows or labor-savIng machinery. In
India labor is not worth saving. They send
their surplus to Europe, and there the
American farmer, handicapped by the tariff
which enhances the cost of everything he
buvs, must meet this competition. The |
farmers, at low estimate, pay $500, 900, 600 |
annually more than they ought for what |
they consume, and this because of the |
tariff That is per cent on S8, 600, 600, 0OO |
In other words, if the tariff was abolished |
outright, the value of the agricultural lands |
in America would be increased to that ex- |
tent. The thing for the Democrats to do is |
to plant themselves Alright on this issue and |
appeal to the farmer of the West and the |
South" |
Mr.. Wheeler, President of the New York |
Free Trade Club, said:
Yes, the thing for the Democratic party 1
to do is to put itself right on this issue and |
appeal to the manufacturers of New Eng |
land and New York and merchants everv- |
where. On this issue we will be certain of |
New York, reasonably certain of Connecti- |
cut and Massachusetts, and other Republican
States doubtful
Meantime the Platform Committee in an
room were making history rather
rapidly. After the Ohio platform was
beaten the st. Louis platform was offered
and voted down by a vote of 81 to 5 as
not sufficiently specific. Then the final
rally came. In the closing clause the
Revenue Reformers wanted it declared that
'all taxation must be exclusively for pub