The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-07-31
GORMAN'S DEFENCE
IN BITTER TONES HE ARRAIGNS
CLEVELAND.

Against the President by the Maryland
Senator--"The Limit of Endurance
Reached"
WASHINGTON, July % Mot for
many years has the Senate chamber,
rich as it is in historic "reminiscences,
witnessed a more stirring spectacle
than that which took place there to
day. The knowledge that Senator
German was to take up the gauntlet
thrown down by President Cleveland
at the feet of Democratic Senators, at
tracted to the Capitol a large part of
the visitors and people of leisure who
take delight in the combats of political
gladiators.
Mr.. German was in his best fighting
trim. Never did he acqUit himself of
a task in connection with his Senate
rial duties In a manner so calculated to
win praise for himself. Without a note
or memorandum to refer to or to re-
fresh his memory, he held the floor for
nearly three hours, exhibiting powers
OF Oratory which few even of his warm
est admirers would have given him
credit for. For all that time he was
the central figure on which every Y
in the immense assembIage of specta-
tors and Senators was fixed, and to
whose words every a was turned in
closest attention.
CLEVELAND ACCUSED OF N%GRATITUDE.
He accused the President Of ingrati-
tude to the men who had stood by him
In the filth and slime" of his first
campaign, and who had given their
time and labor and wealth to secure
his second election ~(referring in this
connection to Senator Brice, of Ohio,
especially and asserted that the con-
ference bill, as prepared by Senators
Jones, of Arkansas, and Vest, of Mis-
souri,, and as finally passed by the Sen
ate had been submitted on several occa-
siOns to the Secretary of the Treasury
and to the President, and had been ap-
proved by both of them; and that it
was not until the publication of the
Wilson letter that the hostility of the
President to the Senate bill had been
known Or suspected. Germans asser-
tiOns on that point were fully corrobo
rated, and with all necessary detail by
Messrs. Jones and Vest, and also by
Mr.. Harris, who described two inter
views, which he had had with the
President-the last of them while the
bill was in cOnference-from which he
had come away with the distinct I'm
derstanding that the President was
strongly in favor of the bill as it passed
the Senate, eff no better terms could
be obtained"
Interest did not abate as Mr.. German
dropped for the time being the more
sensational features of his speech, and
gave attention to the rates of duty in
the bill. The floor at this time was
crowded. Every Senator in town Cccu-
pied his chair, and every vacant place
was filed by a member of the House.
So great was the influx of representa-
tives that chairs for their accommoda
ton were placed around the walls, but
these were not sufficient and three
score or more Of them were obliged to
stand. Even the usually vacant
diplomatic gallery was comfortably
filled at this point, and apparently the
most Interested spectator wasS Sir Julian
Senator White, of California, made
a short speech in favor of the motion
to insist on the Senate amendments
then, without action on any pending
amendment.
SENATOR GORMANS SPEECH
After the expiration of the prelimi-
nary routine at 10 90, Senator Voorhees,
called up the conference report on the
tariff bill. Then the storm broke. Mr.
German Immediately arose. He began
by saying that he hoped he appreciated
the gravity of the situation.
Ordinarily the situation would be
easy of solution. There would ordi-
narily be no difference of opinion about
sending the bill to conference where
the differences between the two houses
could be adjusted. He drew a graphic
picture of the anxiety with which the
country awaited the fate of the bill
the idle factories, the closed workshops,
and the unemployed. Further suspense
was neither to the best interests of the
country nor to the Democratic party.
He hoped that the Senators would meet
the situation as became patriotic men
and duty-bound Democrats. It was
idle for him, he said, to add anything
to what had been said on Friday last
by the Senator from New Jersey. In
the House there was an overwhelming
Democratic majority. Here in the
Senate the Democrats were at the out
set confronted with the fact that there
we're but forty four Democrats.
A bill must be framed which would
secure the support of all the Senators
all of whose votes save one were
necessary to pass it. That one vote
was lost. The Senator from New York
Child had from the beginning opposed
the bill, openly and manfully. The
Democrats, faced with such condition,
had gone manfully to work to harmon
ize the differences, and had accomp-
lished it by many sacrifices-almost at
the sacrifice of principle. No legisla-
tive body in this country, he declared,
had ever been confronted with such a
condition.
The representatives of New York,
New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and