The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-03-22
Noted Philadelphia Dis
Cusses Political Situation.
the "uNHALLowEo CONSERVATION
or 1902 Elected Cleveland and the
Results Are What Might Have Been
Expected-A Remarkable Commune
cation.
,rrom Uarper,s weekly Of March io)

may possibly be able to take not wnoiiy
prcjudiced view OF the political situation.
To understand it Alright we must cast
backward glance on the election OF lssz.
The canvass OF that year on the part OF the
Democracy was the boldest and most sue
cessful 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 a
letter which was model oil
adroit evasiveness. His managers were thus
enabled to solicit popular support on
pledges suited TO any given section. III
objections were made TO the radical dema-
poguery Of the platform, they could de-
Clare that Mr.. Cleveland was the platform
and that his assumed conservatism was
guarantee against dangerous innovation.
Where that conservatism was objection
able, they could point to the
platform, and promise that It's
principles should be enforced
In legislation. The bogy OF defunct and
buried force bill was effectively used,
farmers were dazzled with the prospect OF
8 llar-and -a-quarter wheat, while work
ingmen were told that the tariff had
nothing to do with wages. The anti
snappers were lured with the hopes OF
vindication Of the principles for which they
had struggled, while the Tammany tiger
was p!acated in the mysteries, ,. OF the
summate but short-sighted skill the man.
ayers succeeded in uniting in Mr.. Cleve-
lands support the most incongruous and
antagonistic elements. So heterogeneous
Q combination of voters was never before
marshalled 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 based 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
linois; and the socialists, who under va
rious DISCUSSES, have obtained so wide
following beyond the Mississippi. Mr..
Cleveland marched to triumph at the head
of all the dangerous classes OF the
republic. 1t was a 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
made for Mr.. Cleveland by his lieutenants,
there inevitably ensued the disintegration
and Generalization which are rendering
Congress an object OF contempt, and
which ara only kept under fitful control
by . prostitution Of patronage more
cynical than has hitherto disgraced the
nation. No great party in our history was
ever before placed in position so humili-
ating as was the Democracy when in order
to carry out the silver policy of its plat
form 1t was obliged to call upon its
cheated and defeated opponents to over
come the majority of its own members;
nor ID It today able to control the antics
Of Mr.. Bland with that majority at his
back, or to prevent its helpless and nerve
- 61n frcv ton
with the Elusive prospect of fifty-five
millions of fat money to be based on the
swindle of the so-called seigniorage.
II Is small wonder that the land which
two years since was so prosperous Is now
paralyxed 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
70 the tender mercies OF the South. To
one whose memories of the civil war are
still fresh IL would seem impossible that
the vanquished South should already, by
means OF the Democratic party, have be-
come dominant in the Union, into which it
was coerced Yet SO it is. II may please Mr..
Hewitt TO disparage the statesmanship OF
the South, but In so doing he only passes
sentence OF the severest condemnation on
his own party, which is so abjectly under
Southern control, and is content to be
the instrument through which the lately
rebellious States rule the republic. The
thence on the spectacle OF the suffering
industries OF the North--the
silent forges, the closed mills the
hundreds of thousands OF starving men
and women converted from industrious
operatives TO dependents on charity. To
one who deplores this desolation it adds a
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 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 Massachus-
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 $40, ,000,-
900 tariff il framed deliberately estimated
toreduce the revenues $50, ,000, 900 more, and
to I'LL this yawning abyss resort
Is had to the most unjust and
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 to throw the bur-
den mainly on the industrious commune
ties OF the North. Under the $1,000 ex-
emption 1t Is reasonably fair to predict
that south of the Potomac the returns
VIII not defrny the cost OF collection, and
that the practical working OF the law
will be TO send money into that region
rather than to draw IL thence. When the
South can accomplish legislation so
purely sectional, Gettysburg and Five
Forks are avenged.
Thnt sectionalism is i'm fact the guiding
principle OF this series OF measures would
appear evident from the fact that the hate
full burden thus to be imposed upon the
North is wholly work of supererogation-
that there are ample sources OF revenue ac-
cessible which would I'LL the deficit, and
would have the supreme advantage OF
immediate availability and OF reasonable
certainty. The proposed income
tax will produce no returns
for eighteen months, when the amount
which IL will realize IL purely con-
5cctural. and will be as small as the i'm
genuity OF it's victims can make ID. In
spite OF penalties and OF the most odious
system Of inquisition, there will be rank
ling sense Of injustice that will prompt
The employment OF all practical means Of
evasion. Tho scanty income OF the
widow and the orphan can be
reached through the corporations, but
Che individual will largely escape, as Mr.