The Washington times., 1894-05-06
Barrel Organs.
o the Editor of TIE TINES:

| To the Editor of TIE TINES:
| We often give pennies to the hand workers of
these peripatetic orchestrions, not because we
| are fond of that kind of entertainment, but from
| pure sympathy for the turner of the crank We
put ourset in his place in our imagination, and
| experience the saturating safety of indefinite
| repetition OF the same Old tunes
For n like reason Mr.. Reed-ex-Speaker Reed
| has our sympathies when called away from his
| pleasant duty OF bell-wether OF his defeated
yet eypcctant party in the House, he goes hence
| to Pittsburg 10 banquet SO called, for the
| express purpose of grinding out that same old
refrain of the tariff hymn set to the tune of II
| told You so" and variations from the opera
| "When Johnnie Comes Marching Home Again" 4"
| This is the opera that Lawyer Harrison has
put his voice in training for by pitching IL TO the
monotone of the sad waves of the Pacific AS
n suloist Mr.. Harrison has had more experience,
and his ''ice-house" temperament is never dis
| turbed by the glare of the footlghts, while Mr.
Reeds line seems to be that of chorus leader,
with light and catchy nourishes on his own ac-
count
AT all events, these two gentlemen realize that
there is more or less of treadInill work neces-
sary to being well trained but, oh. the nonot-
ony of being called ON for music and the score
of only one set piece ready for usel Our Indian
tribes however, find no difficulty in dancing all
night 10 the monotonOus beat of the foin-;om.
and very likely our Republican clnb banqueters
are well satisfied TO Keep 1t mp into the "wo
sma' provided the viancs and wines are good
and abundant and applaud the old tune to tho
echo to hear II beaten out on their fayorite Tom
Tom
Well. Thomas B. is n large man in many ways
Fairbanks scales are unequivocal lie is the
Moses OF the bewilicred yet resolufe entities in
tho present wilderness OF party strife. An Is
realite is he, indeed. for he never hesitates TO
attack any tribal organization that stands in the
way Of the promised land OF Get There
Nothing is impossible with n true political
singer This tariff music wfs formerly, in fact
originally, set 20 the maior key, TO be sung for
tissiino, but our versatile Mr. Reed has success
fully arranged the same old tune to the wailng
OF A minor.
We once heard Yankee Doodle" sung, as ar
ranged by n London composer, as a funeral
dirge TO Il room full of Yankees, and no one de-
tected either the tune or words, Dut pronounced
Ii fine; so We can hear the vociferous applause
OF the Pittsburg club making the glasses ciink of
their own vibratory sympathy at this latest per-
formance of Our Tom.
Neither reason nor logic are required ut one
OF these after-dinner performances-only the ia
vorite time sung with feeling-by q favurite
singer. We're this not the case the committee of
arrangements would have wisely taken Mr.
Reed round by the lakes, or by any other route
than through that garden of protection. western
Pennsylvania. The only kind of foreign goods
that does not pay tribute to the tariff tax bag,
not being in demand Just at present, are getting
noisy and troublesome, while there is probably
no abatement in the feeding proclivities of the
future enlightened American citizens They are
at present breeding q fine assortment Of mis-
chief
No story Is good without its logical selilel
Western Pennsylvania is fast becoming a sequel
TO the story told from an infinite variety of
stumps, that american labor must be pro
tected," while the eternal fact is that the only
possible protection for labor is It's own honest
excellence and free commerce. absolute freedom
Of exchange for the skilled labor of one pair of
hands for another pair; for the materinlized
thought OF one busy brain for that of another