People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1893-02-24
THE ONUS ON WILLARD.
FRIENDS CLAIM TO
HAVE MADE A DISCOVERY.
Biggest Contribution to the Democratic
campaign Fund Condition as
to the Interior Portfolio.

large. ~ Will 10 4C4AA0AuUcl0A CAdO
a little earlier in the cabinet making
season the Democratic leaders as
sumed that as a matter of course
Hon. William r. Morrison would be
in the cabinet. He was the pioneer
of tariff reform. Years before Mr..
Cleveland was known outside of Buff
falo, and while yet the tariff was re-
mote from his philosophy, Mr.. Nor
rison was the gallant, the dauntless,
the devoted apostle Of the movement.
He consecrated to that cause the best
years Of his life, the energies of his
matured manhood, the forces of his
vivid and impassioned nature. Mr.
Cleveland, after three years of ex-
perience and observation in the ex-
ecutive chair, became a convert to
Mr.. Morrison's propaganda, and
his famous message of December,
1887, brought him into the commun-
ion Of which Morrison, Carlisle, Cox,
Dorsheimer, and Mills were prophets
and opponents.
From that day to this Mr.. Cleve-
land has made tariff reform the dom
inant feature of his political faith.
Throughout the four years of bis re-
tirement from Office he was kept be-
fore the country as the one hope of
our relief from the evils of protection,
and last year he received the nomina-
ton because of his Identification with
the movement Of which Mr., Morri-
son had been for years the recognized
! Exponent.
Nothing could have been more
natural than for Democrats to expect
that a Democratic president elected
to carry out-an explicit policy of re-
form would call to his councils the
man who, more than any other, had
given that policy vitality and defni-
ton. And, indeed, the leaders of
the party, whether they were per-
sonal friends of Mr.. Morrison or not,
took it for granted that he would be
invited to enter the cabinet, and so
to take part in the contamination of
his lifelong work.
When it became known, as had
really been expected, that Mr.. Car
Isle was to be Secretary of the
Treasury, it seemed to follow as a
matter of course that Mr.. Morrison
would be slated for the Interior.
That he might not be slated at all
does not seem to have occurred to
anybody. His appointment sug-
gested itself generally as being much
more logical and appropriate than
even Col. Lamont's, and to say that
it took precedence among probabili-
ties over that of Judge Gresham is
to PROFOUND the most obvious Of
axioms.
AS the time went by, however,
and place after place was filled, MIR.
Morrison's friends began to wonder
among themselves, and when, at last,
the appointment OF Mr.. Hoke Smith,
of Georgia, transpired, and it became
evident that there was no portfolio
left to which he could be proftably
assigned, amazement, mingled with
conjecture and chagrin, broke out
with almost violence.
What did it mean-what could it
mean? A tariff reform administrass
ton without Mr.. Morrison,s the pio-
neer of the faith-was such thing
to be? The party had looked con-
fdently for William r. Morrison and
it had received-Hoke Smith
Perhaps the incident that first pro-
voked suspicion and so gave direc-
ton to the theory that now prevails
was the assignment Of Mr.. Gresham
to the State of Illinois. He had al
ways previously been regarded as an
Indiana man. It was as a force in
the politics OF that State that ne
had clashed with Mr.. Harrison.
From Indiana he had been appointed
to Mr.. Arthur's cabinet, and as one
of Indiana's favorite sons he aspired
to the presidential nomination in
1888. At what conclusion, then,
could the gossipers arrive except that
Gresham had been assigned to ILL
nois for the purpose of shutting out
Morrison? Anyhow, they did ar
rive at just that conclusion, and now
comes the sensational end of the
story.
Men who claim to be on the special
inside and to know whereof they
speak have within the last day or
two declared that the largest indi-
vidual subscription to the Cleveland
campaign fund (and it is said to have
amounted to more than S100,0O0)
was made by Mr.. Henry Willard.
They have stated, further, that it
was made-and accepted-on the ex-
press condition that Mr.. Morrison