The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-10-11

Lincoln, Ills, Oct. 10.-In point OF
numbers, the demonstration of the De-
anocraey Of Logan county here today,
in honor of Vice-President Stevenson,
WAS a keen disappointment. The day
was dull and chilly. with high wind.
Stevenson held a reception from TO
until y o'clock. An outdoor meeting,
arranged on a large scale, was aban-
doned and a hall resorted to, where
Mr.. Stevenson made a speech in de-
Tense of the tariff bill.
Mr.. Stevenson began:
'In the presidential contest of 1892,
the battle was fought and won by the
Democratic party almost upon the sin
gle issue of tariff reform. How has
the party kept faith with the people?'
The speaker reviewed the conditions
leading up to the panic of 1893 and
pictured the financial distress of the
country at that time.
The Actual Condition.
Bear in mind" he continued, that
this was the actual condition while the
4 Mckinley law was still in force, and
&efore an arm had been lifted by the
Democratic Congress to change the
existing laws. Have you forgotten that
thd American people, by a plurality of
132] in the electoral college, elected
Cleveland over his Republican COM
petitor? And yet, notwithstanding
the fact that the people by this unpre-
cedented majority elected Cleveland,
you are told that the people at once
ts,1
him. You are told that the people I'M
mediately contemplated, with appre-
hension and alarm. what they had
themselves achieved at the ballot box.
In addition to this, you are told
that the same condition existing at the
c]nse of the Harrison administration
was the result of apprehension upon
the part of the American people that
the Democratic president and Congress
would endeaNor to- tinker with the
tariff
with the benefciaries of high pro-
lection, any attempt to reduce taxa
tion is always tinkering with the
tariff
Object of Protection.
''The object of protection, as you
know, is to enable the producer to sell
his goods at ar increased price over
what he would be otherwise able to Sc
cure in the open market. The higher
the tariff, of necessity the higher the
price charged the consumer. In order
TO shield themselves from the response
bilities of the evils brought upon the
country by the enactment of the Nc
Kinley law. Republican orators and
papers declared these evils We're the re-
suit not of what the Republicans had
done but OF what the Democrats might
possibly do. In other words, in order
70 dam ION +Ia lie
resulting from their own vicious legis-
lation. Republicans are driven TO the
assumption that the people Shrank with
horror from the contemplated tariff re-
form for which they had so earnestly
and emphatically declared at the polls.
II come now to consider the question
as to how far the Democratic party has
redeemed its promises and how well it
has kept faith with the people.
1T promised a reduction of the ex-
penditures of the government. This
promise has been made good by a re-
: duction Of the expenditures $2S,000,000
over those of the previous year, wien
the executive and Senate were Republi-
can. In this connection, it must be re-
membered also that the sum appropri-
ated by the present Democratic Con-
gress for pensions exceeded by $4,000 :
900 that appropriated for the SAM
purpose by the Republican billion dol
lar Congress.
"Have YOU forgotten that the entire
extra session of Congress, convened
soon after President Cleveland's inaug-
uration, was consumed in repeating the
Sherman law, passed by a Republican
Congress and approved by a Republi-
can president?
Pledges Performed.
'By its platform and the utterances
of its candidates, the Democratic party
stood pledged to the repeal Of the obi
Gus federal election laws For years
they have stood a constant menace to
the freedom of the ballot box. BY the
act Of the Democratic Congress, ap-
proved by a Democratic president, these
enactments. like Republican 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 is now the law of
the land. 1 state to you, in al candor,
that it is not all that / desired. There
never was a moment that I would not
gladly have given the casting vote in
the Senate in favor of the tariff dill as
il passed the House of Representatives
From the beginning have been firm
believer in the doctrine of free raw ma
teriais But it must not be forgotten
that while the House contained "a ma
jority of nearly LOG, 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 Demo-
Gratis, ana with the Republican sena-
tors voting sohdly against the bill at
every stage, it can easily be seen. that
in body SO 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 of the presiding officer of the SEN
ate.
Was Wonder.
Recalling, as I do, the hostility of
Republican senators TO the tariff bill
from the moment it crossed the
threshold of that chamber, l can orly
wonder that it ever became a law.
Firmly believing, as / do now, that
beneficial results must follow its pas
sage, rejoice with you in its triumph.