Huntsville gazette., 1893-05-13
A CROSS-EYED PARTY.
The Democracy Can See Nothing Rut q
Chance for Plunder.

Inc democracy Can See Nothing Rut u
Chance for Plunder.
Whenever the time shall come for
Mr.. Cleveland to look in the face tho
congress that was elected with him and
upon the same platform, and shall con-
front the main question which the Chi
cago convention put forward in its
platform-the one to which in his own
avowed belief he owes his success both
in the convention and at the polls-we
apprehend that he Will find a somewhat
perplexing situation. One of the most
| interesting features of the Chicago con-
vention was the delightful frankness
with which its undercurrent of mystery
and tangles of intrigues were brought
to the surface and freely exposed by
those most deeply engaged in them
during the progress of the game. 1t il
well known, of course, that Mr.. Cleve-
lands nomination was effected hv the
wing of the party which makes a cardi-
nal doctrine of free trade, setting it above
and beyond every other political issue.
1t is also known equally well that the
gentlemen who did not desire Mr.. Cleve-
lands nomination, so soon as they
found it could not be prevented, united
in an effort which proved successful TO
give him, as they said, "a dose Of his
own medicine in the form Of the radi-
cal free trade plank which went
through as an amendment to the report
of the platform committee amid tre-
mendous cheering, the most vociferous
of which came from the Tammany
| benches
Elected Notwithstanding, and, as is
shrewdly suspected, somewhat To the
surprise Of the men who made his plat
form for him, he finds some Of his
party insisting that he must carry out
the extreme promise Of the platform,
and among these some of those most
active in opposing his nomination, and
| failing in that, in loading him down
| with the free trade plank. Others are
for modification Of the extreme free
trade view, and a temporizing policy
with the system denounced as fraud
and robbery Still others, and per-
haps the majority Of the party, are Of
the opinion that it is dangerous to
undertake to do anything, and that the
cunning way is to talk about the tariff
great deal, ''putter" with it little
here and there, but go slow and take
no chances. At present he has business
of vastly more Importance to the party
| to attend to than the tariff. But when
| he gets through distributing the pat
ronage and hurls himself upon states
manship as he is no doubt impatient to
do, and takes up his favorite topic, the
tariff, as he naturally will, the condi-
tions recounted are likely to confuse and
bewilder him. For he has to meet IA
congress elected as free traders, an in
significant minority of whom will favor
that dogma, with strong suspicion
| attaching to those who do that their
main purpose in doing it is to trip up
the president
| The truth is that Mr.. Cleveland,
though he may have clear vision and
sec straight himself, has taken Office
and is the servant of cross-eyed party
"a party that has congenital strabis-
mus. No one can ever tell from its APP
pearance in what direction tits actually
looking. The only thing certain about
it is that it always has its eyes on
whatever plunder is in sight. When
Mr.. Cleveland gets ready to talk tariff
to his party he VIII be in the position
of the man who held the OK for the
cross-eyed butcher Are you going to
i, strike where you're looking?" asked the
man, with sudden anxiety. "Of course
am" said the butcher. Then" said
the other, letting go his hold, you'll
have to get somebody else to hold your
OK" 1t is not probable that Mr.. Cleve-
land will carry it quite 50 far az to let
60, but when he begins to hold up the
tariff for his party to knock it on the
head, we rather fancy a feeling of in
security will steal over him if he gets
notion that the party is going to
''strike where it is looking. IN. Y.
! Tribune