Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1894-04-20
MINNESOTA DEMOCRATS.
A Highly Sensational Address to
the Rank and File.

the Rank and File.
Probably the most remarkable polit
ical address of the year was tina. issued
by the Democratic leaders of Mime
sofa through the Democratic Associa'
ton of Minnesota. 1t says in part:
at is useless to disguise the fact
that our party is confronted with seri
Gus peril. 1t is time for plain words
Silence now is disloyalty to our party
and its cause. In less than two year.
after winning the most complete vic
tory any party ever won, and while in
full possession of the powers then
given us, we present the appearance ol
defeated party, while our opponents
defeated in the battle wear all the airs
of victory. What has wrought this
astounding change? Whence comes
this peril? Not from our opponents
not from the brawling horde of pro.
tectionists whom We met and over.
threw in 1892, but treacherous infiu-
ences, allied with weakness or coward
ice within our own ranks, the danger
that Observant men saw when the
election of 1892 put on our party the
responsibility of directing national af-
fairs and the duty of redeeming the
pledge of tax reform made to and &C.
cepted by the people. Then a cloud
no larger than mans hand, it has
now overspread the whole sky.
"What was our promise to the peo-
pie and what has been so far our per.
formance? We denounced protection
as "a fraud and robbery of the masses
for the benefit of the few; and we
promised that the taxes on imports
should be laid with \ sole view to af-
fording revenue. Our first disappoint-
ment was in the departure from the
declared policy of the party in the un-
due and needless measure of protec-
ton granted by. the House bill, but,
mindful of tho extent to which con-
tact with and sharing in the extortions
Of protection had demoralized repre-
sentatives in our ranks, we accepted it
as the best now attainable and looked
to its free listing of coal, iron ore,
wool and lumber rs the entering
wedge to be driven home by later and
harder blows. The House added sugar
to the free list and sent the bill to the
Senate. Here the error of the House
bill became apparent. Supporters of
the principle made more plenteous
fruit in the Senate.
"The concessions made in the
House only whetted the appetite and
fred the audscity of the protected
interests. With renewed energy they
concentrated their efforts on the
smaller body farther removed from
the people, less responsible to them
and more impervious to public opin-
ion. To our shame and dismay, they
found Senators representing Demo-
cratic constituencies which had de-
nounced protection and dema nded its
obliteration from our taxing policies,
willing to aid them. In the secresy
of the committee rooms these Sena-
tors browbeat the subcommittee with
threats Of open opposition to the bill.
unless the special industries they rep.
resented were also granted protection
or given an increase Of it. There was
weak surrender to the demands of
these attorneys of the trusts, and q
bill was reported in which the one re-
deeming feature of the House bill, its
one distinctively Democratic feature,
was eliminated, and the bill made
scarcely distinguishsble from the one
it proposes to displace. Who are
these men, Democrats in name, pro-
tectionists in fact, who have thus
brought dishonor and shame on our
great party? Who are these men who
have interposed insuperable obstacles
and opposition, and made a failure
due to our fault and neglectf These
are the men: names fit to stand
alone alongside of Benedict Arnold in
the annals of our country:
"Senator Calvin s. Brice, of Ohio /;
d. B. Hill and Edward Murphy, jr., of
New York; John X. Mcpherson and
James Smith, jr., OF New Jersey; Ar
thur P. German and Charles H. Glib
son, Of Maryland; johnson N. Cam.
den, of West Virginia; Donelson Nc.
Caffrey and Edward d. White, of Lou
isiana; John ]. Morgan and ]. L.
Pugh, of Alabama"