Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1894-09-06
But OncJar.

came up that Jared the harmony
which seemed 20 prevail on every
hand, and that was the denunciation
of Senator Brice which was engraft-
ed in the resolutions. Many Os the
delegates thought that clause might
as well be stricken out, but the con-
vention seen fit TO adopt the resolu-
tions as they came from the commit
tee, and es the majority rule is one
of the cardinal principles of our par
ty, all democrats acquiessed in the
decision, still reserving their individ-
ual opinion as to the advisability of
the attack upon Senator Brice. In
this connection we append the fol
lowing, engrafted in a letter which
has been received from Washington,
and which contains truths which
democrats cannot help but accept:
when all the facts are known, it
is probable that all the people will
have more confidence in the men who
were responsible for the tariff bill,
than they have at present. The new
tariff is spoken of as the German bill
and the Brice bill, and these terms
are applied to it by the extremists in
the Democratic party and the Repub-
licans. 1t comes from the persons
who are opposed to the Democratic
organization, the organization which
made success possible and which gave
the Democrats control of both
branches of congress and the admin
istration. The conservative people
of the country will say that this is the
kind Of tariff that is wanted. 1t is
not SO high that people can not re-
ceive the benefits of foreign competi-
ton, nor yet is it so low that the for
eigners can introduce immense
amounts of goods into this country
and break down home manufactures
and leave the people at the mercy of
the foreign producer entirely. 1t
may take some time for the country
to fully understand this, but when it
does it will not regard the tariff bill
in the unfavorable light in which
some of the friends of so-called tariff
reform would be willing to place it.
No one ever heard Senator Brice
complain of having the bill bear his
name. He never complains of any
thing for that matter. He may have
opinions of men who agree to do GER
tain things, and when they find that
it is unpopular for the moment break
away from their agreements, but he
does not make any great complaint
even of this kind of people. He takes
it as matter of course that there
will be certain number of them in
every organization. He has found
few in the Senate. This was what
made it so hard to secure the 43votes
necessary to pass the tariff bill. They
were finally found, and by the most
adroit management they were held
together. 1t was part of the duty of
Senator Brice to hold them together.
The way he did it may be told some
day; all the facts are not now known.
At all events a bill was passed in
Senate which had amajority of three,
with one of those openly opposed to
the bill, leaving margin of one to
work on. That was what the Ohio
Senator found when he gcounted up
the votes to pass the bill. He was
one of the Democratic managers; his
business sagacity and keen under
standing was employed to secure a
bill and to hold 43 votes together un-
til it was passed. With the utmost
good nature he went about his task
of conciliating where he could and
conceding where he had to.
1t was easy to see, and everybody
knows who has been at all observant,
that a radical bill could not pass the
Senate. No man living could have
drawn such a bill. Senator Brice Sc
cured from over four thousand repu-
table men in his state views as to
what the tariff ought to be, and he
has had incorporated in the bill the
middle ground, the medium between
both extremes, so far as it was prac-
ticable. His own good Judgment of
what a tariff bill ought to be was as
certained from reports from his own
people.
That was one reason why he be-
came the most interesting figure in
the whole tariff struggle. He did not
make any long speeches, but he did
a great deal of work. He did not de-
nounce the administration for the at
tempts which were made to force the
Senate from it's position. Brice knew
as well as any other man knew, that
if the Senate attempted to recede
from the position it had taken when
43 votes were pledged for the bill,
that it would have been defeated.
Brice came in for more abuse than
any other man and was heralded
everywhere as the agent of the sugar
trust, and as one of the men who
were holding up all tariff legislation
unless sugar was taken care of. The
only answer Brice ever made to these
accusations, save in vindicating him
self before the sugar Investigating
committee, was to say that duty on
sugar was part of the plan of the
administration. This was long in ad-
vance of the letter of Cleveland to
Wilson in which the President advo-
Gated duty on sugar, and which
was later confirmed by a letter from
Secretary Carlisle when it seemed
possible that a free sugar bill might
be sent to the President. Even in the
last letter which Cleveland wrote to
Catchings sugar is not mentioned,
and it is only coal and iron ore which
seems to interest him. The duty on
either of these articles does not cut
any figure, except to3 thousands of
miners in various portions of the
United States.
During the fight the Ohio Senator
was serene. He applied the same
methods which has made him such a
a successful man in the past. He al
ways talked freely to the newspaper
men, and he told them what was go
ing on. He knew more about it than