The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-10-10
ADLAI TALKS
The Vice President Speaks to
Illinois Democrats.
A Chilly Wind SpOiIS the Dem
ocrats' Big Rally.
HAS KEPT THE FAITH.
Says the Democratic Party Re-
deemed Its Promises.
Wilson Bill is Not What He
Would Have Had 1t.

LINCOLN, Ill. Oct 1O-In point of
numbers the demonstration of the De-
mocracy Of Logan county here today in
honor Of Vice President Stevenson, was
a keen disappointment The day was dull
and chilly. and a high wind setting ear
ly, growing more violent as the day pro
gressed- The president spent the
night here the guest OF old friends.
He was escorted to the Ludtng hotel at
10 a. m. and held reception until
II o'clock. The outdoor meeting,
which had been arranged on
an enlarged and complimentary scale,
was abandoned at noon and a hall re-
sorted to-. The city was profnsely and
suitably decorated with flags, banners
troduced at O'Clock by DR.. Ambrose NJ.
Miller, Gov. Altgeld's main manager.
Mr.. Stevenson said:
Tin the presidential contest of 1892,
the battle was fought and won by the
Democratic party, almost upon the single
issue of tariff reform. How has the par
ty kept faith with the people?"
''lt promised a reduction of the ex-
penditures of the government. This
promise has been made good by re
ductiOn of the expenditures $2S OOO,00O
over those of the previous year, when
the executive and senate were Repub-
ican.
'sIn this connection, il must be remem-
bered, also, that the sum appropriated
by the present democratic congress for
pensions exceeded by $20.OO0, 900 that
appropriated for the same purpose bv
the Republican "billon dollar congress-"
Have you forgotten that the entire
extra session of congress convened soon
after President Cleveland's Inauguration
was consumed in repealieg the Sherman
law, passed by a Republican congress and
approved by a publican president.
~By its platform and the utterances or
its candidates the Democratic party stood
pledged to the repeal of the ex-federai
election laws. For years they had
stood a constant menace 10 tie
freedom of the ballot box. BY the
act Of the Democratic congress, approved
by a Democratic president, these enact
ments, like the Repu blican force bills
and the federal alien and sedition laws,
have become things of the past.
Il ask your consideration of the tariff
bill, which has passed both the house and
the senate, and now is the law of the
land. | state to you, in all candor, that
it is not all that | desired. There never
was a moment that | would not gladly
have given the casting vote in the senate
in favor Of the tariff bill as it passed the
house.
"From the beginning 1 have been a
firm believer in free raw material. But
it must not be forgotten that while the
house of representatives contained a
Democratic majority OF nearly 100 our
majority was but one in the senate. In
fact with every state fully represented
in that body there would probably have
been no Democratic majority at all
The senate contained but forty
four Democrats and with the Republican
senators voting solidly against the bill at
every stage. it can easily be seen that
in IA body 50 nearly balanced tariff re-
form had no easy battle to fight At this
critical moment of the struggle the bill
was only saved by the casting vote or the
presiding officer OF the senate
"Recalling as l do the hostility of Re
publican senators to the tariff bill from
the moment it crossed the threshold of
that chamber. l can only wonder that it
ever became a law. Firmly believing as
l do that beneficial results must follow
its passage / rejoice with you in its tri-
umph and that the Mckinley law is no
longer upon our statute hooks.
you have seen in the papers in the
past few days account OF a conven-
ton of sugar planters in Louisiana, in
which they resolved to abandon their
former political associates and hence
forth to support the Republican party
Why? Simply for the reason that
the Republican law makers always
favored the sugar bounty which
i Democratic congress has swept from
the statute book. If the new tariff law
had no other merit, this provision alone
would entitle it to our warmest com
mendatiOn. But this is but the begin
ming. BY the new tariff law more than
one hundred articles highly taxed under
the Mckinley law are placed upon the
free list