The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1894-01-08
TO THE PRESIDENT.
AN UNEMPLOYED WORKMAN WRITES
AN OPEN LETTER.

a'f'N
Results Must Follow the Adoption of the
Un-American Tariff Bill.
To His Excellency Grover Cleveland.
President of the United States:
SIR-As your excellency is an Amer
lean president. invested with the pow
erful influence of your high office and
welding that influence to force legis-
iation ~antagonistic to the interests of
your country, If it is not too late. it i
certainly not ont of place to ask your
excellency whittier You are drifting; if
the varied interests of that portion OF
the world 5 inhabitants living within
the territorial limits of the United
Staetes and owing allegiance thereto are
not large enough for your stewardship:
whether You are moving within the
lines of national Democracy and for the
interests of the nation hat placed you
at its head. or if you have switched
off 10 the line Of UNI yersal Democracy
and taken the nation of the world un-
der your considerat N to the neglect
and material INJURY Of your own:
Whateves may h the object of your
a. lhition. the one fact is established
that your policy j. destructive to the
interests of your wn country.
Within the tirt SIX months OF Your
administration what is the condition
of business under 1t? The money
that maintained business has been
Withdrawn and Is slowed away in
the banks. The industries that pros
pered before You came have withered al
your approach. The labor that was
happy and cOntent-d is becoming de
mented from starvation, and yet while
your policy has been condemned by six
of the leading industrial states and the
people of every section which it Is de-
signed 10 affect have protested against
IL. while the voice of starving labor has
swelled the oiniuOus sound Of discun-
tent. you seem indifferent To a cDudi
ZION that il increasing III danger: that l.
a to public tranquility and may
lead To necessity fuT measures that
would Ice aAUurgyut to civilization. iau
Yet pursue the uur-e that CI.,t britain
has laid down a. tine chart Of Am ri,flu
politics. You have found .a" tools IN
the Wilson commute, g. shape your Lili
of destruction and se.,u impatient far
Its completion to a..N your signature
thereto.
Your zeal for this foreign measure
would be "A mystery but for the fact that
you have the Endorsement and approval
of foreign countries. What We viii
lose in productive values they will gain.
The business which your tariff reform
policy will sheriff out of the country
will be transferred to your foreign al
lies England. France and Germany
favored, il they did not materially aid
III your election. They are now iucrras-
ing their plants and oiiing their spindles
in anticipation of "A share III the pros
pective wreck Of American industries.
Your minister lBayard) AT the Sheffield
dinner could look with AN ungrudging
eye on the growing prosperity of Shelf
field artisans. while he could strike
with a traitor : hand at the law which
assured tEe prosperity Of American
workmeu. This III itself l. a trivial
incident and unworthy of notice, but in
keeping with the foreign interest of your
administrator.
This picture i not overdrawn. 1t is
a fac-simile from an American point of
view, and from this Point | again ask
your excellency whittier you are drift
ing? Iou are pursuing a destructive
and dangerous course.
In view OF the condition resulting
from your policy. the increasing distrust
and disturbing circumstances that are
sure TO follow and the emphatic condem-
nation by those same people who one
year z were mislead to support it, you
a no longer hide your purpose under
the Chicago platform. If judged on the
basis of intelligence, that platform was
never tenable. You are well aware of
the fact that a large proportion of your
votes Were cast by men who Were reck-
less of consequences. indifferent to the
public welfare and incapable of distin-
gushing in many cases between the
tariff and internal revenue They GER
tainly did not represent an intelligence
on which to base a Justification for the
enactment of a ~ruinous and, to them, de-
structive law. although they represent
more than your majority multiplied by
10, and they did yell for Cleveland and
a cheap shirt. Yet it would i'll beft the
honor, the justice or the humanity of an
enlightened and Christian government
= take advantage of their ignorance.
To err is human. l acknowledge it is
noble. but topursue a obstructive course
where honorable retreat is open is worse
than criminal.
You are the elected trustee and chief
custodian of the people of the United
States. You have accepted the steward
ship over the interests of industry and
the millions of people whom that indus
try maintain. Yet if the industries that
nave been scattered. the homes that AVE
been wrecked and the labor that has
been pauperized by your foreign policy.