St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-08-12
THE TIMES AND MIR. NEAL.

The New York Times wish is graft
fed, and MI. NEAL is nominated ION
his own platform" The Times belongs
to that class of Democratic papers which
have not yet ceased to shiver when the
taunt of free trader" is flung at them,
and which raise their hands in Mortified
depreciation. 1t is useless to speculate
on the cause of this, as to whether it is
the result of environment, or whether,
as with the Sun, when they moved out
OF the Republican party they brought
their protectioniSt furniture along with
them.
The Times. however. is mistaken in
attributing the exclusive authorship of
the amendment to Mr.. NEAL. He was
on the platform committee, and vigor-
ously opposed the stradde which Mr..
WHITNEY deemed essential to success
in the Eastern and manufacturing
states. The committee yielded to Mr..
WHlTNEY'S Judgment, and Mr.. NEAL
went out of the room discouraged. He
met Ton JOHNSON, the free trade con-
gresham from Cleveland, and told him
what the committee had done. JOHN
SON suggested that NEAL had the right
to bring in minority report, and be-
tween them they drafted the famous
amendment.
The Times is equally mistaken in
suppOsing that the motive of it was
opposition to Mr.. CLEVELAND. That
gentleman had no stronger supporter
than Mr.. JOHNSON. The amendment
Clmnlv Ala
ton of the element that had there
tofore made the party try to car
ry water on both shoulders. and its
adoption was because the frank, honest,
fighting element had grown too strong
to be controlled. and it took the bits in
its teeth and ran away. 1t was magnifi-
cent outburst of the pent-up disgust of
the great rank and file for the twaddle
endeayored again to be forced on them.
There was, 1T is true, an element there,
of which the Times representatives
were the chief factor, who were indif.
ferent If not hostile to the amendment.
but were more antagonistic to Mr..
CLEVELAND: and they looked on this
amendment as the opening wedge with
which to split the CLEVELAND vote. If
was this support and its readily recov-
nized purpose that made delegations
like those from Minnesota and Wiscon-
sin oppose the amendment. though, had
1T been embodied in the report of the
committee, they would have preferred
it and accepted it with enthusiasm.
Neither is it true,a as the Times claims,
that Mr.. CLEVELAND "deliberately
kicked out the plank which Mr.. NEAL,
had inserted therein" Both the Ian
guage of Mr.. CLEVELAND and the
thought it carried. which the Times
quotes. is an approval of the spirit of
the amended plank. 1--WE oppose ear
! nestly and stubbornly the theory of ex-
listing tariff laws, he says. That theory
is that it is both the right and the duty
of the government TO use its taxing
power to build up and maintain such
| industries as may win its favor. The
| NEAL amendment stated the same
thing, only in stronger words, in decIar
ing this theory ''fraud'' and "a robbery
| of the great majority of the American
| people for the benefit of few" Mr..
! NEAL and the convention declared it an
unconstitutional use of power. Mr..
| CLEVELAND said that there was no
| need of that because I'VE denounce this
theory upon the highest possible ground
when we contend that, in the present
conditions, its operation is unjust. and
that the laws enacted in accordance
| with it are inequitable and unfair"
The Times mistakes moderation of
language for reputation of doctrine.
| We see in the same language an ap-
| proyal OF the purpose expressed by the