St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-08-15
",rIsrAKEs ARE CRIMES. 8,

Napoleon said that lin warfare mis-
takes are crimes" In the great and
constant struggle of principle against
sordid selfishness which has been the
history of the upward progress of our
race, in which every decisive victory of
principle marks an epoch, the mistakes
of leaders and trusted representatives,
which result in the temporary check or
the defeat of the forces endeavoring to
wrench from privilege larger measures
of freedom for men, are none the less
crimes against our common humanity
that no statute prescrIbes their punish
ment. Whether they result from error
of judgment or cowardly surrender or
unconcealed treachery, the result is the
same, and the motive only modifieS the
degree of offense.
We are now again in the thick of an
other fight for more freedom. Disguise
the conflict as either party may, con-
tend as the Democrats may that they
are merely endeavoring to prevent the
use Of the power to tax for the purpose
of private gain. or pretend, as the Re-
publicans do, that this power may be
used to build up industries or increase
iabor's wage-back of it all, underlying
it ALL the forces engaged are the his
toric ones of freedom against privilege.
1t is free trade, the right of man to
exchange the products Of his labor
where he will. the right to sell in the
dearest and buy In the cheapest market,
that is battling with seltishness sitting
at the throttle of the machine of gov
ernment and directing its forces to en-
rich itself. Just as it was the principle
of freedom that was back of the Repub-
lican pretense of non-intervention with
slavery in the states, so now it is the
Impulse for free trade that is the motive
power back of the Democratic pretense
OF non-intervention with the protection
that follows tariff tax. 1t will be all
the better for the Democratic party
when itrecognizes and halls the morality
and ethics of free trade, and inScrioes
it on its banners, just as it was better
for the Republican party when the lump
of abolition leavened the mass of that
party.
In this present renewal of the old
struggle there have been mistakes to
which may be traced the present check.
1t would be folly to deny it or to refuse
to point them out. Parties no less than
the men composing them have to learn
theiI best lessons in the school of eXpe-
rience, in which the best teacher is
their own mistakes. They become the
buoys and lightships marking the reefs
and shoals. All the mistakes have come
directly from the departure from the
course laid down by the great assembly
of the representatives of the party at
Chicago in 1892. There was no doubt
as to the spirit of that great convention
or its purpose. 1t was not the case
where platform committee had pre-
scented declaration accepted without
thought or discussion by the couven-
ton. 1t was case where the commit.
tee advised a shifty policy declared in
words capable Of diverse and opposite
meanings, and the convention DELHI
erately and purposely erased the SUBJ
terfuge and wrote in its place clear.
terse, unequiyocal statement of pur-
pose.
1t was mistake. the first one and the
leading one in the series. when Mr..
Cleveland made use of expressions in
his letter Of acceptance that enabled
Democratic papers, partially chioro-
formed by the fumes of an atmosphere
saturated with protectiOnism, to de-
clare that he had "kicked the Chicago
plank from under his feet" Not in
express words, but in differences from
the spirit back of the words. was d rawn
the conclusion that the candidate was
not in sympathy with the radicaliSm of
the convention. But the people were
inspired with the spirit of the conven-
ton, and refused the Interpretation put
on the letter. The victory at the polls
was that Of the convention.
The next serious. mistake was In the
failure to follow the inaugural with a
call for the Immediate assembling of
congress to give effect to the policies
accepted by the people. Had congress
met amid the resounding crash of bust
DesS houses, the thrush Of our securi-
ties from abroad, and the outflow of
our gold for which the stocks and bonds
| were sold, the joint result of specula-
ton and speculative laws, we would have
been spared the humiliation of the long
| wrangle over the repeal of that most
vicious phase of protection, the silver
purchase act. Instead of taIdily call
| ing congress together for that purpose,
| the same early call should have told
them to meet and issue execution en-
I1a ind nf Ina