Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1894-07-27
THE PRESIDENTS LETTER AND
MR.. GORMAN'S SPEECH

THE PRESIDENTS LETTER AM
Mr.. GORAAN'S SPEECH.
The letter OF President Cleveland, which
was read by Mr.. Wilson In the House o
Representatives on the 10Th instant, hal
naturally excited unusual interest and wide
comment. For the most part the criticism
from Democratic sources has been favora
BILE. In the Senate it awakened a spirit o.
intense hostility.
Considered by itself, we find in the lettei
nothing more than the appeal of an earnest
party man for the redemption Of party prom
Uses and the preservation Of party principles.
Holding the views he does, and with which
the country is thoroughly acquainted, 1t
would have been impossible for the Presi-
dent to discuss the situation without saying
something at which conservative" Senators
would take umbrage. The chief burden OF
the adverse criticism is that the letter was
extraordinary and unprecedented, and this
lie true. Bot 1t is also true that the situation
In Congress is extraordinary and unpre
cedented. We cannot recall another in
stance in the history of the country in which
a small minority Of great political party
sought TO change the aims and purposes of
party policy and refused TO alter existing
laws except upon lines which were accept
able TO them, regardless Of the convictions
and wishes Of the overwhelming majority.
MIR. Clevelands position is also unique. 1t
was the popular faith in his fidelity TO polit-
icai pledges which more than anything else
secured the triumph Of 1892. His response
bilily is therefore great. He had seen the
prolonged struggle in the Senate, not be
tween Democrats and Republicans, but with
in his own party, and the outcome was
tariff measure which surrendered every fun.
damental principle for which the long bat
tie had been 80 heroically waged. To his
mind the situation was full Of danger to his
country and his party. Could he do less
than make an effort to save bothi The Presi.
dent is not the man to hesitate when he sees
a duty before him. He saw II here, he per.
formed II in his own resolute way, and the
commends his courage and pa
triotism.
1t is not surprising that some Senators
should feel the sting of MIR. CleVeland's
sturdy, honest words, and Il was natural
that Mr.. German should come to the front
as the chief defender of the bill which his
genius as a compromiser concocted. His
speech in the Senate on Monday last adds
nothing of defense to his speech Of the 23d
OF May, and furnishes no facts OF secret his
tory which justify the conduct OF him and his
co. conservatives There are but two things
which il sets at rest forever, and they are
that at the very outset the nine Democratic
Senators from New York, New Jersey, Ohio,
West Virginia and Maryland, refused to
support the House bill. no matter what
might be the views OF the other thirty five
Democrats in the Senate, and that any
change of the Senate bill in conference
would be fatal to tariff legislation. According
to this programme, the only function of the
conference committee would be the formal
report OF acceptance of the Senate amend.
ments. The House was TO be shern of its
right Of insistence upon its bill, while the
Senate conierees were powerless to reach
any agreement which disturbed the sleek
and disgraceful bargain Of the conservatives
who had ousted the committee on finance
and usurped its functions.
And yet Senator German himself had, In
his speech of the 23d Of May, clearly stated
the precedent which oyerrules his contention
when he said, "From time immemOrial it
has been the custom in tariff revision for the
House of Representatives TO enunciate the
general policy of the party in power and
for the Senate to perfect the BILL" Had he
and his friends acted within this well known
precedent, combining themselves to the Con-
stitutional power of the Senate to amend
the details without disturbing the policy of
the bill, tariff reform would have been long
ago an accomplished fact, and the business
of the country relieved of the stagnation
which uncertainty inevitably produces.
In spite Of Senator Germans lsbored at
tempt To prove the contrary, the Wilson
bill was formulated upon the principles of
the party platform. So thought the great
majority In both Houses of Congress-so
think the great body Of Democrats through
out the country II is absurd now to at
tempt To make another rule and say that
"when one house proposes 10 change an ex
listing statute and the other refuses TO go so
far, the house making the radical demand
shall give way" Acknowledgements is by
no means conceded-that this is true in Or
binary legislation, 1t Is utterly untenable
and false when applied To q case where par
ty men have received instructions from the
party convention. Mr.. German knows that
the country expected radical changes in the
Mckinley act. He knows that the Demo
cratic attack was made upon duties that
were mild in comparison with that act, and
he knows that il the declarations of a great
national convention consisting of hundreds
Of delegates had no weight with the Amer.
lean people" the great campaign of 1899
was roaring farce AS matter of fact,
had great weight with the American people,
the House Of Representatives had the right
10 "enunciate the policy" Of the tariff bill,
and party treason was committed when
conservative" Senators sought to reverse
II.
There are many assertions in Mr.. Cor,
mans speech which il would be easy to re-
flute if space permitted and the occasion re.
uuirel IL Rallied down tn aOlid n,atiar we
fail TO discover in it anything more than q
labored attempt to excuse u course which Is
almost universally condemned by the men,
beers of his own party, aud TO shift to other