New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-04-16
A PARTY OF INCOMPETENTS.
MISERABLE FAILURE OF THE DEMO-
Gratis TO LEGIsLATE INTELLIGENTLY.

THEY FIGHT WITH THE PRESIDENT AND AMONG
THEMSELVES. AND FAIL UTTERLY TO CARRY
OFT THE PROMISES OF THEIR PLAT
FoRM-No ONE ABLE TO LEAD THEM
Washington. April 10 (speciaD-When the LIN
Congress assembled here for the 1rst ume' VIII"
It's majority OF nearly hundred, with Demo-
crati President In the White House and DEM
ocratic Senate at the other end or the Capl'o'
with full power in every branch of the Govern
ment for the first time in thirty-three years
lodged in the hands of the Democratic party
there were many eager TO wager that oelore 'n'
recurrence of National election the Republic
can party would disband 1t was said, ana
many times repeated, that General Harrison was
the last Presidential candidate that the Republi-
cans az such would ever put into the field To-
dav there Is not a Democrat TO be found In
WASHINGTON who ventures TO offer the slightest
resistance to the prediction that there VIII not De
a dozen Democratic Congressman in the LlNtn
Congress from states north OF Mason ana
Dxon.s line Floods Of explanation will pour
forth as to what has caused this wonderiui re-
vulsion Of public feeling, and OF course the eA-
plantations are numerous and as antaSonis"o
10 one another are the Democratic lactlohs
hare II will be said for instance, that the
almost all the Democrats in Congress will agree
for the President does not seem to have single
friend left I'm his party. Those who were his
friends at Chicago, those who did the most 10
bring about his nomination. those who Ike
Colonel Morrison sacrificed themselves upon the
altar Of Clevelands ambition, have now no WORD
TO say in his defence Not half dozen OF the
forty-four Democratic Senators ever put loot In
the doors OF the White House, nor are those VINO
go there among the Democratic membership OF
the House more than corporaPs guard.
But they split up so soon as they begin 70
specify what his pa. ocular acts are whicn nave
given public offence. Some say his chief sin was
| the Van Allen appointment but others Will say
that this Is really the only creditable thing ne
has done. Almost all agree that no cause OF
! public disgust and resentment has been more
potent and constant than the Hawaiian bus'-
! ness Others, and these include the entre
! Southern and Western sections OF the party. in
sst that his attitude on the silver question Is by
far his gravest bunder. that all the rest might
nave been forgiven had he sustained the cause
Of silver" Not a few denounce him as mere
Mugwump and cite the appointment OF Gresham
and that of Wayne MacVeagh and the general
atmosphere of pomposity and pretence which
surrounds the Administration in all its DEPART
ments. as an evidence that it has got away from
the plain people. and is given over TO men who
want it TO be thought that they sniff rarer air
than their fellows But even the Democratic
Mugwumps are not satisfied. Even they have at
last ventured to critcise their god. They say
and sigh that somehow or another ne can't get
wholly away from the short-hared associations
| Of his earlier career, that there Is still In him
dull sympathy with the Philistnes which breaks
out every now and then like boils. Poor man!
There he sits. huge and lonely. absolutely sure
that he and only he is right; that he knows j.
! all. and that these fellows who Srowl ana corn"
plain are short-sghted fools exercising risat
OF criticism that expressly denied to them
in the scheme Of the creation and privilege
to think therein reserved exclusively to himself
there he sits in abomnation Of desolation.
with all the opportunity, all the fortune that he
thought was his, fading like fairy gifts
Agree as they may, however. that Ceveanfs
every act has been blunder. the factions IN
Congress attack one another quite as bitterly as
they attack him. Their differences afford another
convincing proof that the Democratic party IS
incapable OF government As a party Of oppo-
sition never until now called on to do anything
affirmatvely always able until now TO excuse
themselves for not doing something on the ground
that they did not have fun power, bound to pick
flaws in every Republican proposition and natur-
had they came here entangled with all kinds OF
alliances and under obligations to do all kinds
of crazy things.
In the South and West, phere the rise OF the
Popul!st party either threatened them with defeat
or afforded them through alliance their only
chance Of victory they compromised themselves
By undertaking to do things that were not part
of their official programme, and that were utterly
Objectionable to Eastern aad Northern Demo"
Gratis They have been in a continuous fight over
these things from the moment they entered
Washington. There were twJ things especially
which all the Western and Southern Democrats
considered themselves bound not merely in honor
for that perhaps they might have overlooked
but as a matter of self-preservation 10 accom-
pllsh-the enactment Of a free-coinage bill and an
income tax. II at the start there could have been
an agreement on these points they would have
conceded everything else that the Eastern Demo-
Gratis desired But 1t turned out that the defeat
of these measures was regarded by the Eastern
men as Of more Importance than all else, and the
factions unable to agree on these points, nave
worked themselves into such bitterness OF spirit
that they have been able to agree about nothing.
, We're there a man among the more numerous
: faction with ability superior as to put him In
authority-if Crisp. for instance. possessed the
strength and audacty of Hill-the Democratic
situation would be simpler II as httle hopetul.
IIilrs opposition Cleveland IS not one on which
he can carry any considerable strength IN CON
gress for IL has too much the appearance OF an
opposition TO Cleveland simply, and in so far as II
is professedly based matter OF public policy.
, that matter is the Populist demand for an income
tax which Cleveland is supposed TO receive II not
willingly at least consent.ngly. the New YORK
Senator has placed himself at the mead or new
and peculiar faction He cuts away from the
south and West. lie deliberately rejects the most
numerous faction and procaims himself as hosu .
, TO t. as both he and II ar. hostile to Cleveland.
The Western and Southern men might nave
their own way If they were an organized body'
ablv led and not a mere mob distressed by the
| ambitions Of half dozen woud-oe commanuerSs. =
! now no position left for the Democrats TO take
in which they will not be ridiculous. They vote