Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1894-08-31
"Perfidy" and "DishOnor."
The Arraignment which Mr.. Cleveland
Has Made of Himself by His own
Words.


From the New York Tribunel
In the Wilson letter the President said:
every true Democrat and every sincere
tariff reformer knows that this bill in its
present FORM and as it will be submitted to
the conference falls far short of the con
summation for which we have long labored
for which we have suffered defeat without
Encouragement, which in its anticipation
gave us a ralying cry in our day of triumph
end which in its promise of accomplish
ment is so interviewer with Democratic
pledges and Democratic success that our
abandonment of the cause of the principles
upon which it rests means party perfdy
and party dishonor.'
The President by his neglect to veto the
bill arraigns himself before the American
people. He pleads guilty tc the charge of
abandoning the cause of which he has been
the leader. He brands himself with the
shameful and degrading words, ''perfdy"
and "dishonor."
In the same Wilson letter the President
contended with great force that
"Ths question of free raw material does
not admit of adjustment on any middle
=
of tariff taxation, great or small is alike
violative of Democratic principle and Dem
ocratic good faith"
Continuing with characteristic fervor and
earnestness, he remarked:
at must be admitted that no tariff meas
ure can accord with Democratic principles
and promises or bear a genuine Democratic
badge that does not provide for free raw
material. In the circumstances it may well
excite our wonder that Democrats are will
ing to depart from this, the most Demo-
cratic of all tariff principles, and that the
inconsistent absurdty of such proposed
departure should be emphasized by the
suggestion that the wool of the farmer be
put on the free list and the protection of
tariff taxation be placed around the iron
ore and coal of corporations and capitalists
How can we face the people after indulg
ing in such outrageous determinations and
violations of principles"
In allowing Democratic principles to be
compromised, and in condoning this breach
of party faith, the President turns his back
upon the people whom he does not dare to
face. How can he look any honest Amer
lean citizen in the eyes after "indulging in
such outrageous determinations and viola
tons of principles?'
In the same Wilson letter the President
described the Democracy as pleading for
the speedy completion of tariff legislation,
but as demanding mot less earnestly that
no stress of necessity shall tempt those
they trust to the abandonment of Demo-
cratic principles" Mark how completely
the President has cut himself off from apol-
ogy or defence in those words, mo stress of
necessity He has allowed bill invov-
ing, according to his own deliberate con-
fession, cowardly abandonment of princi-
Piles to become law, when he has de-
scribed the Democracy of the land as plead
ing with those whom they trust to resist
the temptation to do exactly what he has
done. Under mo stress of necessity
ought the President to have placed himself
in so humiliating and dishonorable posi-
tion.
Who will ever again say that President
Cleveland is either courageous, or consis-
tent, or honorable in his public relations,
or in any respect better than his party?
1