St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-18

Cookers departure for Europe as the
act of coward. DIR. ParkhursI accepts
as true the statement that Mr.. Cookers
desire to avoid giving testimony before
the LeXow investigating committee was
the cause of his departure-a conclusion
that has its origin only in the magma
tion of Mr.. Croker's political and per-
sonal enemies. The presumption may
be true, but is far more likely to be
false, and DR.. Parkhurst does his cause
no good by jumping to the conclus ion
that Mr.. Croker is a criminal without
having a scintilla of evidence to prove
the charge.
The question that is uppermost in the
minds of the Democrats of the nation is
what will the house do with the Cor
mandized tariff bill which will soon be
sent back TO iJ for its action. Every
where the conviction is strong that the
future of the party will depend on the
answer the house makes to this QueS-
ton. No situation so grave, where de-
cisIon was traught with consequences SO
momentOus to the party, has confronted
its representatives for a generation
Senator Mills wrote that "seven or eight
senators hold the fate of the party in
their hands" 1t may be more truly
said that the Democratic majority in the
house holds the fate of the party in its
hands. Not the fate of the cause for
which the party has stood; no action of
any senate or house can decree its fate.
but the fate of the party as distln-
gushed from the cause.
There should De neither doubt nor
hesltancy as to the position the house
should take and hold to the end. Both
good party policy and right conduct
point the Way with clearness that no
sophlStry can hide and no cowardice
can becloud. For once political honesty
and partisan prudence agree. The
answer TO the question is that there
cannot exist two protective tariff parties
in this country at the same time. II the
Democratic party is to be CO mmitted to
that policy. then there is no excuse for
its existence. and il should merge in the
Republican party. There is no escape
from the logic Of this; if protection in
any degree is right, then the Repuh-
lican party is its best exponent. If il is
wrong, then the only possible course
for the Democrats to pursue is to OPP
pose it to the point of determination.
There are times in the lives of men
when the path of safety is the path of
courage. This is as true of parties.
Such a time the party has come to.
Such path lies before the house. If it
take it it will send the German bill on
mittee instead of to conference. with in
structions to draft revenue bill, Civ.
ing consideration only to ascertaining
the lowest rate that will yield the larg-
est amount of revenue. This should
be done. because it will be keeping faith
with the voters who entrusted US with
power. and party no more than IN all
can afford to deceive those who trust it.
1t Is the only course that can be safely
taken. The house should see this, and
it would if experience is the usefu!
school it is said to be. In departing
from it even tentatively, as the house did
in its bill, the first false step was taken
OF which the senate's steps were but
logical sequences. When the house
admitted protection to be part of its
purpose it warranted the senate in 60
ing farther. More than that, it precipi-
tated ON the senate the whole rave
nous horde of protectionists, encouraged
by the recognition the house gave them,
centering their forces on the smaller
body, farther removed from public
opinion. 1t was blunder. Every one
sees it now. 1t should be retrieved at
the first opportunity, and that will be
the moment the German bill reaches
the table of the house.
We do not underestimate the diff
Guilty of this course. 1t is always hard
TO admit and correct mistakes. The
trimmers will protest. The cry of the
business interests" will be raised
against it. The protest will be made
that the country demands the passage
of some tariff bill and is not particular
what it Is. 1t will he urged that the
German bill is less exacting than the
Mckinley bill. The threat will be
made that the senate will refuse con.
currence and no bill will be passed.
The poor workingman" and the ..army
of the unemployed" will be fully ex-
plotted, and the horde, successful in the
senate. will be on hand to use their
powers of coercion and persuasion to
secure ratification of the trades they
have made with the senate. But DOW
erful as all these Influences are, they
should be resisted and repealed and the
straight path of right and duty and
honesty be trodden.
Among the multitude of reasons that
flock to the mind why this course should
be taken we submit for the present but
two, either of which is sufficient. First,
it is right; it will obey the solemn COM
mand of the national convention; it is
in harmony with all the traditions of
our party; 1t is consonant with its basic
principle; it will keep faith with our
people and it will keep with US those
whom we have convinced that protec-
ton is wrong in principle and vicious in
practice. without whom we are minor
ity and whom our bad faith will repel.
Second. it is polite. No representative
can he ignorant of the intensity of the
unpopularity of the senate. Were the
question of its abolition submitted to
popular vote it would be swept away by
an overwhelming majority. Should the
house present new bill embodying the
Chicago plank and the senate refuse
assent, the issue in all the congressional
districts would at once shift from one of
parties to one of policies. 1t would not
be question of returning Democratic
or Republican representative, but of
sustaining the house or the senate.
Such an issue would not only infuse
new courage in disheartened party,
but it would hold those who have come
to us and draw others from those to
whom an appeal to their sense of right
is never made in vain. Such a stand
means victory, while compliance with
the treachery of the senate means a
richly merited defeat.