The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1893-10-26
ANOTHER COWARDLI MAKE
SHIFT.

extending over nearly three months,
session called for the sole purpose of
redeeming solemn, emphatic and
absolute pledge of the Democratic
platform, it is now announced that the
Democratic majority in the Senate Of
the United States is willing to abandon
the effort to secure the unconditional
repeal of the Sherman law and to lend
itself to the adoption of what is euphe-
unsteady called compromise. We
say euphemistically, for in reality the
proposition to which thirty-fve Demo
cratic members Of the~Senate are said
to have agreed is not a compromise in
the true sense of that word, but
shameful and unwarranted surrender,
for which, if they persist in its support,
they may be sure the people of the
country will hold them to a stern and
exact account. In proposing to prolong
the life of the Sherman law unto
October 1, 1894, and to keep the
country stretched upon the rack of
financial uncertainty and agony for
another year, the Democratic majority
is compromising itself and the party,
whose leaders would seem to possess
an extraordinary genius for compro-
missing themselves even under condi-
tons that apparently offer no opportu-
mites for such an achievement. Cen
eral Grant once said that the Demo-
cratic party could always be depended
upon to make mistakes for the benefit
Of its opponents. Is it once more,
with all the trump leading cards in the
political pack in its hands, about to
give away the game that was inevitably
its own2
For the question which is presented
to this majority for decision is not
whether their proposed " compromise"
is better than nothing at all, whether
half loaf is better than no bread, but
whether the party will do what it
promised the people of the United
States it would do, whether it will
give them the whole loaf to which it is
pledged and which it is able to give.
1t was given power on the strength of
that pledge, and it will not do, when
it appears in the next campaign before
the people to give an account Of its
stewardship, to offer the stone of COM
promise for the bread that was solemnly
promised. The people will not accept
compromise in place Of the absolute
performance to which the honor and
faith of the party were plighted. To
substitute one cowardly makeshift'
for another will neither deceive the
country nor relieve the financial
stringency and alarm.
In fact, there would seem to have
been altogether too much d" makeshitt'
about the whole of this senatorial
campaign against the Sherman bill
From the very first the struggle fol-
repeal in the Senate has lacked the
hearty, downright aggressiveness, the
earnestness and sincerity which
characterized the fight in the House
There has been a faintheartedness OF
indifference in certain quarters which
has led Henry Watterson to say
recently in the Courier Journal thai
the battle has been sham one in the
Senate. Whether this imputation be
true or not, there can be no doubt thai
there is growing suspicion to that
effect, that the country is beginning
to wonder what influences are al
work behind the veil Of senatorial
courtesy" to produce these results
These doubts cannot but be strengthen
ed when we see such compromise as
this suddenly raise its head in the face
of an agitation for closure and the
resolution on the subject which has
been brought to the front within the
last few days through the efforts Of
Senator Hill. If the New York
Senator could succeed in securing the
adoption of his closure resolution he
would be the political hero of the
hour. He has seen his opportunity,
and like a shrewd politician has not
been slow to utilize it. Can it be
possible that this compromise is the
result of an effort on the part OF
ambitious rivals to head him off and
to prevent his securing the glory that
might otherwise be his? Stranger
things than this have happened in
politics.
At all events, whatever the causes
and influences at work, we have this
for the net situation after all these
weeks of debate: A proposal by the
steering committee, which seems
always to be steering the party toward
the rocks, to substitute one " cowardly
makeshift" for another. This COM
promise may or may not be adopted,
and upon this point the Republica n
members of the Senate may have
something to say, but the gentlemen
who are doing this steering should
understand that the Democratic voters
throughout the Union will condemn
it and that the country will repudiate
it and them, if they make it. Let US
hope that the friends of constitutional
government will not yield the principle
of majority rule, nor those to whom
party faith is dearer than shifty devices
allow the name of Democracy to be
linked with reputation of pledges in
the popular mind. The country will
back up the men in the Senate who
are honest and brave enough to do
their duty. Baltimore Sun.
The Way to Show Appreciation.
The people of Durham do not believe
in waiting until man is dead to speak
words of kindness or manifest their
high regard and appreciation for his
virtues and public acts. They take
the proper course and do these things
while he lives. Commenting on the
recent banquet given at Hotel Carr