Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-28
PUBLIC OPINION.
CLEvELAND's SPEECH.


New York Press
II is the custom of the Press to be
scrupulously fair in its criticism of po-
litical opponents. But simple justice
demands the statement that Mr.. Cleye-
lands speech at Madison Square Car
den last week was an utterance of rank
demagogy. In his assertions in regard
to the tariff and the honesty of elections
the Presidential candidate of the De
mocraey deliberately contradicted thor
oughIy established fccts. 1t would be
paying a poor compliment to Mr.. Cleve-
lands intelligence to assume that his
misstatements were the result of ignor-
ance. That they were intended to in
fiuence and prejudice ignorant voters is
not open to question. The evidence is
conclusive that these recklessly false
utterances were made in the full knowl-
edge that they were untrue.
What possible justification can be
urged for the statement that the Amer
lean people are "burdened as consumers
by tariff system that relentlessly and
unjustly demands from them in the
purchase of the necessaries and COM
forts of life an amount scarcely met by
the wages of hard and daily toll. The
Press prints an editorial synopsis of the
Senate Committees report on the work
ings of the tariff, signed by two Of the
foremost Democrats in the United States
Senate. This report shows that every
statement which Mr.. Cleveland made in
reference to the operation of the Nc
Kinley law was false. 1t shows that
average wages have risen; that average
prices of manufactured articles have
declined; that the farmer, whom Mr..
Cleveland selects as an especial object of
commiseration, has been benefited by
greatly increased demand for his prod
ucts under the Mckinley law.
In the face of these facts, self evident
to every intelligent observer, Mr.. Cleve
lands sweeping misrepresentation in
regard to the tariff are as puerile as they
are dishonest. The only utterance which
he made regarding the tariff which de-
serve serious consideration was the un-
equivocal Endorsement of the plank in
the Chicago platform which demands
the abolition of protection and the
adoption of absolute free trade by the
United States. Here the Democratic
candidate manifested his real sentiments
and purposes. Here he directly enun-
clated the issue of lower wages, of the
loss of independence and the decrease
In the comforts of American working
men. The challenge will be gladly ac-
cepted by the great mass of voters whom
the Democratic policy would bring In
equal competition with foreign labor
receiving less than one-half their wages.
There is only one term that describes
Mr. Cleveland's utterance in regard to
Southern elections. 1t was cant of the
most contemplate. The pretense that
the Republican platform calls for un-
warranted interference with the control
exercised by States over elections was
unworthy of any man of honor OF COM
mon sense Like the letters previously
written by Mr.. Cleveland on the subject,
it proved his entire willingness to pander
to the vilest and most lawless element
of the Democracy. 1t amounts to an
open notice to Democratic ballot box
suffers and criminals against the
suffrage that they can count on Mr..
Cleveland's sympathy and support. 1t
is disgraceful incitement to election
frauds; and it furnishes proof for the
hundredth time of the absurdity of the
Mugwump cry that Grover Cleveland,
the humble servant of the Tammany
bosses and the solid South, is "better
than his party"
The figure which Mr.. Cleveland cut
last night was altogether shabby one.
Self conceit, Pharasaical pretense, dem
agogic subservienee to ignorance and
crime-all these were manifest; but of
manly patriotism, of broad, genuine
craftsmanship there was not trace.
The Madison Square Garden demOnstra-
tion will make the Democracy and its
candidate weaker than ever with all
thinking men.