New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-06-16
ISSUES or TIE CINVASS.


Whether Mr.. Cleveland be nominated or set
aside at Chicago the chief issue which his party
will advocate is peculiarly his own. What he
described with sonorous ferv0r at Providence as
"thc Peoples cause of Tariff Reform will be
the cardinal doctrine of the Democracy in this
canvass 1t was the issue to which he devoted
an entire Presidential Message i'll 1887 to the
exclusion of all other questions. 1t was the
issue on which he appealed to the people Tor
reelection and was defeated four years ago
Whether or not the candidate who was beaten
then be again brought into the field the re-
vision of the tariff on the lines of the Clevc-
land Message and the Mills bill is practically
the only question which the Democracy can
produce for new canvass.
1t will be the privilege of the delegates to
the Chicago Convention to determine whether
the leader who was defeated in 1883 would be
stronger in 1892 when running again against
General Harrison on substantially the same
ISSUE They will not, however have any al
Tentative course in making their platform.
From sheer lack of other political capital they
will be compelled to take up the issue upon
which they were disastrouSly beaten in the last
canvass They will be forced to advocate a
lower tariff without equivocaion or disguise
In 1883 Mr. Cleveland's contention that it was
a condition and not a theory which confronted
the people was repeated from one end OF the
country to the other. The necessity of re-
ducing the surplus revenues was the pretext
then offered for tariff revision on English lines
That necessity no longer remains When the
Democracy declares for what Mr. Cleveland
e.. q xnp,H
form'-a cause in his sight as sacred as the
Decalogue-it proclaims its loyalty to the the
ory of Free Trade without reference to the
condition of the National Treasury. To be
practical and consistent it must even be pre-
pared to recommend the reimposition OF taxes
on incomes, since it will be impossible for
Democratic Congress to revise the tariff with
out providing new and adequate sources of
revenue
This, then. is the situation which now con-
fronts the Democracy. 1t may or may not re-
nominate its vanquished leader, but it cannot
avoid committing itself TO the policy of Free
Trade and income taxation. II the tariff
schedules are to be lowered, the most unpop-
ular of the war taxes must be revived.
That is the price which Americans will be
called upon to pay for the English theory Of
Free Trade. Income taxation will be abso-
lutely essential if Mr.. Cleveands :" sacred
causen be practically carried out in tariff legs
laton by Democratic Congress, with Dem
ocratic President in office to sign the bill.
Here is ground for strong feeling of con-
fidence in Republican success this year. The
candidate who was not beaten four years ago
has been renominated. The issue of Protec-
ton which was victorious then has been re-
affirmed under conditions highly favorable for
securing popular approval. The Republican
party has not been either idle or inconsistent
since 1888. 1t has revised the tariff in such
a way as to reduce heavily the unnecessary
revenues of the Government and at the same
time to promote the establishment of new in
dustries and to multiply the sources OF en-
ployment for American labor. 1t has enlarged
the volume of foreign trade without abandon
ing the home market to competition from coun-
tries where labor is underpaid. II has cheap
ened food supplies and not raised the price Of
any article of common consumption. 1t has
opened foreign markets for American exports
by comprehensive series OF treaties which
have excited the admiration and envy of an
English Prime Minister ana drawn from him
the confession that his own country has car
ried Free Trade too far. All these great prin-
ciples have been reaffirmed at Minneapolis, and
the country is asked to sanction in November
a policy under which the Nation is prospecting
as never before in its history. Protection is a
stronger policy to-day than it was in 1883, and
it was winning issue then. 1t is a winning
issue now.