Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-08-09
TRUE DEMOCRACY.
Principles Which Prompted the Presi-
Gents Letter to Chairman Wilson.

| Principles Which Prompted the Presi-
| Dents Letter to Chairman Wilson.
| The presidents letter to Chairman
| Wilson is full of sound democratic doc
trine. 1t is refreshing to read it after
the weary weeks of democratic silence
in the face of a betrayal of the party's
| pledges by senators who hold demo
cratic commissions but who place their
| own interests above those of their
| party and their country.
Mr.. Cleveland wrote the letter as an
appeal to Mr.. Wilson in this crisis to
'insist upon party honesty and good
faith and a sturdy adherence to demo-
cratic principles
The question as presented to the con-
ferrees is. in Mr.. Cleveland's words,
whether democratic principles them
selves are to be saved or abandoned ~
In view of his belief that democratic
| principles are imperiled by the senate
bill, Senator Smiths protest against
| the interference of democratic presi-
dent in behalf of his party by writing
a letter to the democratic chairman Of
the ways and means committee is of a
piece with his insistence on no tariff
bill at all unless the sugar trust shall
be amply provided for.
What are the democratic principles
in behalf of which Mr.. Cleveland las
done an unprecedented thing under
unprecedented circumstances? He
states them in his own terse way in
the letter. He says:
1T must be admitted that no tariff measure
can accord with democratic principles and
promises or bear genuine democratic badge
that does not provide for free raw materials >
This is absolutely true. absolutely
sound, absolutely democratic. AS Sen
ator Hill said the other day in his re-
markable speech upholding the presi-
dent:
1T expresses better than can hope to do
the true, sound and logical position OF the
democratic party upon this question. !"
Upon the question OF free raw materials the
president is right. and you knowit You cannot
answer his arguments. You cannot success
fully dispute his propositions You cannot
doubt his sincerity and patriotism. You must
yield in the end to his views. You cannot stand
up against the sentiment of the great demo-
cratic masses OF the country which will rally
around the president in his contest with you
upon this particular branch Of the subject
Again the president says. in speak
ing of the senate BILL which leaves the
wool of the farmer on the free list and
proposes to protect the coal and iron
ore of the capitalist:
How can we face the people after INDUCING
In such outrageous Determinations and viola
tions Of principle: 1t is quite apparent that
this question of free raw materials does not
admit of adjustment on any middle ground,
since their subsection to any rate Of tariff tax
alton, great small. is alike vfolative of DEM
ocratic principle and democratic good faith
If this is not democratic. and if Mr..
Smiths ''swea LEA ther' statesman
ship and his and Germans and Brice's
sugar trust craftsmanship are demo-
cratic. then those who have made the
democratic party what it is. those who
have led it through its hard but patri-
otto struggle for tariff reform, those
who have won it's triumph. those who
have given Smith and German and
Brice what power they possess, have
been basely deceived. 1t was Cleve
lands democracy, not Smiths, for
which the people supposed they were
voting in 1890 and in 1899.
And this again is theirs as it is Cleve-
lands democracy:
The democracy of the land plead most earn
estly for the speedy completion of the tariff leg
islation which their representatives have un-
dertaken; but they demand not less earnestly
that no stress of necessity shall tempt those
they trust to the abandonment OF democratic
principles
Rather than a bill dictated by the
sugar trust and the money-bags of the
senate it would be better to have no
bill at all. We will then at least save
the issue for which the democratic
party has been courageously and hope
fully struggling for twenty years.
In conclusion we quote once more
from Senator Hills speech, because Of
the force and eloquence with which he
emphasizes the point made by the
World since this bill went into con-
ference:
THE house Of representatives. fresh from
the people. which represents more distinctly
and peculiarly than we do the taxing power of
the people, repudiates our bill, and demo-
cratic president has emphasized that repudia-
ton. and the condition which confronts is
one Of extreme embarrassment. Shall We
treat or advance? shall we surrender to the
house while do honorably. shall
we wait until driven to it:'-N. Y.