The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-03-27
Noted Philadelphia Dis
cusses Political Situation.
THE "uNHALLowED COMBINATION
OF 1892 Elected Cleveland and the
Results Are what Might Have Been
Expected-A Remarkable Communi-
cation.



As an original mugwnmp OF Republican
entecodents who has never hesitated TO
act with the Democracy when the pubic
good seemed 10 demand it, or TO denounce
the errors and abuses OF both parties,
NAV possibly be abb. 70 take not wholly
preiudiced view OF the political situation.
70 understand 1t Alright we must cast
backward glance on the election of 1892.
The canvass OF that year ON the part OF tho
Democracy was the boldest and most sue
eessful fraud since the somewhat similar
one OF 1874. Mr.. Cleveland was nominated
on platform framed TO render his nomi-
nation impossible, and he accepted 1t in
letter which was aLTaodel OF
droit evasiveness. His managers were thus
nabled to solicit popular support on
vledges suited 10 any given section. III
objections were made TO the radical dema-
{oguery OF the platform, they could de-
llsro that Mr.. Cleveland was the platform
~nd that his assumed conservatism was
guarantee against dangerous innovation.
Where that conservatism was objection
able. they could point To the
principles should be enforced
In legislation. The bogy OF defunct and
buried force bill was effectively used,
farmers were dszzled with the prospect OF
q Acknowledgement wheat, while WORK
nothing TO do with wages. The anti
snppers were lured with the hopes of a
elpdication OF the principles for which they
had struggled, while the Tammany tiger
was placated in the mysteries OF the
Victoria Hotel dinner. Thus with con-
suinmate but short-sigbted skill the man
sgors succeeded in uniting in Mr.. Cleve-
lands support the most incongruous and
antAgonistic elements. So heterogeneous
q combination of voters was never before
marsnalIed together at the polls. It's
nucleus was that standing menace TO our
institutions, the solid south, with its
votes in Congress and the electoral
college hSgcd on the freedmen,
whose ballots are practically suppressed.
Allied with this were the great corpora
tions in sugar, beer and whiskey; Tam
many Hall in New York; the racetrack
gamblers in New Jersey; the anarchists
And enemies OF the public schools in IL
@nois; and the socialists, who under va
Gous DISCUSSES, have obtained so wide
following beyond the Mississippi. MIR.
Cleveland marched TO triumph at the head
OF all the dangerous classes OF the
republic. 1t was Pyrrhic victory, and
the success OF an administration so brought
into power would be a reversal of the moral
law. When the time came to redeem the
assortment OF mutually destructive pledges
rnade for Mr.. Cleveland by his lieutenants,
there inevitably ensued the disintegration
Congress an object OF contempt, and
which are only kept under fitful control
by a prostitution of patronage more
cynical than has hitherto disgraced the
nation. No great party in our history was
ever before placed In a position SO humili-
ating as was the Democracy when in order
30 carry out the silver policy OF its plat
form il was obliged to call upon its
cheated and defeated opponents TO over
come the majority OF its own members;
nor Is II today able TO control the antics
of MIR. Bland with that majority at his
back, or to prevent its helpless and nerve-
less Secretary OF the Treasury from toying
with the Elusive prospect OF fifty-tiye
millicns of fiat money 10 be based on the
swindle Of the so-calied seigniorage.
IL is small wonder that the land which
two years since was so prosperous is now
paraiyzed with fear OF the possibilities
which lie before Us at the hands OF the
motley mob gathered in the halls of Con-
gress. Nor, in considering the effect of
this upon the popular mind, can we
omit the bitter humiliation arising
from the fact that we are delivered over
to the tender mercies of the South. To
one whose memories OF the civil war are
still fresh II would seem impossible that
the vanquished South should already, by
means OF the Democratic party, have be-
come dominant in the Union, into hich IL
was coerced. Yet so II Is. 1t may please Mr..
Hewitt to aisparage the statesmanship OF
the eSouth, but in SO doing he only passesa a
sentence OF the severest condemnation on
his own party, which is SO abiectly under
Southern control, and Is content TO be
the instrument through which the lately
rebellious states rule the republic. The
Senth is thus enabled TO look with pa
fience on the spectacle of the suffering
industries OF the North-the
silent forges, the closed mills the
hundreds OF thousands of starving men
operatives Independents on charity. 10
one who deplofes this desolation it adds
sense Of shame to reflect that the vast and
complex structure OF Northern civiliza-
tion was placed in the House OF
Representatives at the mercy OF a little
knot OF southern country lawyers, and
thst in the Senate Missouri, Arkansas,
and Texas furnish the men who counsel
together on the destinies OF Mnssachus-
etts, New York and Pennsylvania. Under
such conditions Il is no wonder that the
policy adopted seems as though il were
meant for the Grand Duchy OF Gerolstein.
To meet an approaching deficit OF 10000
600 "a tariff is'irRmed deliberately est timated
10 oreduce the revenues $40, 600. 900 more, and
90 fill this yawning abyss resort
Is had TO the most unjust aud
detested of war taxes-the tax on
incomes. Moreover, as though TO adver-
tise the predetermined purpose OF this,
the tax is so devised as 20 throw the bur-
den mainly on the industrious communi-
ties OF the North. Under the $1,000 ex-
emption il is reasonably fair to predict
that south Of the Potomac the returns
Will not dcfray the cost Of collection, and
that the practical working Of the law
will be TO send money into that region
rather than 10 draw il thence. When the
South can accomplish legislation so
purely sectional Gettysburg and Five
Forks are avenged.
That seciionaiism IS IN fact tho guiding
principle ~ this series OF measures would
appear evident from the fact that tho hnte-
ful burden thus 10 be imposed upon the
North T. wholly work OF fsupcrcrogntion-
that the are ample sources OF revCnuoac-
ccssihle which would On the deficit, and
would have the supreme advantage OF
immediate availability and OF reasonable
eertalnliy The proposed income
tax VIII produce no returns
Tor cightetn months, when Che amount
which n Diil realize IS purely con.
jeciural, ard VIII be as small az the in.
Eenuity az So victims can make ii. In
spite Of penalties and Of the most odious
system Of inQuisition there will be a rank
ling sense 81 Injustice that will prompt