The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-05-29
THE CLAIMANT IN 1892.
PoLr7IcAL Iupos7URE ASALrzED.
A s.areh,uu Examination by Joseph O'Con.
nor OF Rochester Of Grover Cleveiand's
Pretensions to a Third Nomination.

T'feteneIONS 10 u
Under dato o. May %. 1893 THE SN
published ~ letter OF mine setting forth
tho reasons why tho Democratic party
should not ronominats Mr. Cleveland for the
Presidency. Tho letter was not written with
any notion that 1t was possible to prevent his
denominations thcn forcgonc conclusion, but
for tho purpose Of stating tho case against
him. MS clearly and strongly ns might bc. be.
foro the opening Of tho Presidential canvass.
II was clear that tho party was going 70 com :
init tho folly OF making him it's candidate for II
second timo. il deserved defeat for taking
such a course. the prospects OF defeat were
plain and i, was duty 10 put a protest
on record. II seemed ~ II a rain Ike that de-
s"ribcd IN onc 81 Pierre Cardinals sl,Ventes
making crazy whumsn"yrr IL tYurh0d had
fallen ON the party: AMI II was 'it,iug shat ore
who had Mt boon touched hv the shower nnl
st!ll rrescrrol hiI political senses. should
speak word of warning. though tho irench.
al fanatics might regard him us u fool.
Tho "vca' lust'ci tho protest. |, is now
III" rro'cnco oi Mr.. Cleveland and his friends
That Tho canvass OF 1888 was made in tuc full
cNr"nta,ion OF political disaster. and ont OF
mcr" devotion to rrin"ir!r. That gentleman
said in his ere. n III Providence on tllr =! 81
last Ant, " Il "Urel, WIS not p,cy nor eX.
raiien"v In inla"ed us drnlnily to carry
tine tanner oTtartf icrurp as W, went forth to
'n"rt ! wrii-or;ani2rd and desperately deter
min"i amy "n IA. irHstrou' Held .; 1SSG"
Ike iaps' urTnns who hisn tNtnn special
rE.ns t. uyui ihe smell NJ 'u"d"d ..uupuwdur.
Mr. Cleveland i n "'!3,N' "1iIl"' IN his
rhetoric ntTnrt1 p1'ti4i upi ntiur9 sty'r.
nm a"uunhs in h!o .hi'sti ntntaThufs: hut.
lis"ntang!ns his n"lniIE from the armies.
ti'.' hanne's and tie var '.'"s that surround
AMI COS fGsn II nj. Though 'l' passage where
in tni- Frai"rrn ""ru'", She IN ,'i,'s' sus.;es-
ton meets u, lhls The candidate VA all right.
hU; ia II tho issue, IL. Ia" nature or things. in.
volyrl preliminary irNcr~r. 1hi5 pra.ance
OF clnllon.inI: defeat deliberately in 1883 il |
the so.t ~ n'trrth pualr that can be spelled +,
with thrcn lc'trrs. The Issue was good |
enough. 1t hal been with tho Dcmocratic |
marty for more than two generations in sun-
shin. and SHADOW. III trouble lay In the
focsw0rn ana Misunderstanding candidate. and !
fu III" weak and cunGirptihlc administration
up"n whose record tho people were called to
ass Judgment
The Indications arc that many Democratic
politicians intend trnominnteMr Cleveland Tor
u third time. and tho old impulse comes upon
me to make another protest against the rs:.
erntci and rcdoublcl folly.
Before beginning this letter have raad over
TINT OF May ~. 1855 and find nothing therein
10 rctract or mo !ify. The points made have
never boon refmtcd They were good against
second nomination OF Mr.. Cleveland. and
they are better against third nomination.
What WAS said on that occasion may stand
and this letter is simply sequel to that.
TIRE POLICY AND THE PEErEXl.
or course the great issue in the canvass Of !
1883 was tariff reform. Four years befor.
that subject was KEEP: in the background. Mr..
Cleveland previous to his first nomination.
told L. c. Crawford that Tho didn't know IL
do tnI al. ~
to 1t in his arst lctte- OF acceptance. and h.
did not take 1t up in earnest until the third
year Of his Presidential term. Though civil
service reform. which had been tho great
thone In 1854. had lost ground it was set
aside In 1888 with mere passing allusion. 1t
had served its turn In helping the professional
reformers into Office: it had lost its popularity
and they had no further use for it. and hardly t
cared to keep up even q decent show OF sham t
devotion. The new universal political solvent ]
had taken Its place. 1t was tariff reform. and t
that alone. which was to purify our civlliza. {
tlon pull down tho rich and exat the lowly, Y
wine away all tears from oil eyes. and last, 9
but not least. give them a new lease OF power. K
No doubt tho policy OF the Cleveland Admin II
fstration on this question was first shaped by "
Daniel Manning Secretary OF tho Treasury in h
his report datod Doc q. 1886 1t was n mas. /
terv argument for revenue reform on FREQ Q
siuue anu mem DOTS 81 INC sian q! tho "
World. Consute Piano. have their own opinion Y
as to who wrote it Few public documents d
have been moro generally praised and the h
reception 1t met with probably emboldencd Mr. t
Cleveland to adopt its positions a year later, S
when 1t became necessary to do som eth ing on u
which to appeal to tho Democratic party for a n
denomination But he followed Mr.. Manning's \
lead with some misgivinGs and based his de- Il
nand Tor tariff rc!orm not on tho evils arising q
,ut OF protective system. but on the evils Il
arising out OF an excess OF revenue and the ac- fc
of the surplus. This pr.trxt was II
very clever at the time: but it is y
lever wise to substitute an incident in con. II
roversy for the real points ut issue. W
But while tho demand for tariff reform was | 81
nade on the preteXt Of surplus. ana while the u
MEASURE for carrying out tho reform YVES not al
ltogether true to free trade principles in its II,
etails. tho arguments for the movement took Il
wider scope. They wero .! eve.y gra 10. from W
hat OF expehienoy to that OF rehabilitation tr
no plea for incidental protection to that for W
bsolute free trade. 1t is hardly worth while y,
0 consider Alr. Ceveland's utterances at that iii
sriod seriously. They were TOO oquiyocal for rl
In his letter OF acceptance Sent. c,
1888. he -ehearsed the stock arguments for in
rec trade. but nearly every ono OF ca
lem was followed by some modlHea- til
on or proviso in favor of protectlon es
nd the writer. like II fcrryman. kept w
ossing from ono side to tho other and land. he
g on neither. 1t is easy to SOC that ne was N W
D comfortable frame OF mind. and rcpcrusai Gu
the letter leads ono to put faith In the story T!
at he made al effort to hedge before the i;
National Convention. and sna. his 90
'n0dentlal agent to induce that body t. adopt to
Q declaration OF the Chicago Convention OF lit
VA on this subject and avoid any step in nd OF
NICE. 1t took the doicat on tho tariff reform tic
sue to settlo his opinions. at least until the or
invention OF 1892. But 1t may 10 worth St
lille to say IL word rs to tho general discus MI
IN that characterized tho canvass. les
It has been called fondly tho campaign OF mt
ucatiun:" but very often it seemed. In tho sh
urso OF II, more like the campaign OF misin- hi,
'mation. The assertions on both sides were eri
mmonly inaccurate. and very seldom got de
yond half truths at the best Tho argu- ut
snts were nearly always falacies. The | sto