New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-01-18

and creates q deficiency Of S75000.OOO In DELI
ance Of the platform adopted at Chicago. " III
we are digging our political graves. he Vlrtu-
ally tells his colleagues, let us not do 1t WIN
faces quite chapfaen. but chcerfully like the
clowns in Hamlet"
THE comic Cochran undoubtedly has his uses
He contributes to the gayety Of Washington
and the country when everybody Is IN the
dumps and whistling hard to keep up courage
He sprngs to the defence of the President
tariff policy when schOOlmasters like MI. VIII
son have failed to excite enthusiasm for II by
abstract discussion and when every Democratic
CONGRESSMAN has a solemn hour each morning
in opening his mail and communing in silence
with his constituents. He takes the floor. ana
in "A moment everybody Is grinninS WITH oe-
light. The jokes may not be very good but
they serve the purpose of proving that all the
shirt has not gone out Of the Democratic side.
In many different ways he intimateS that HIS
onponcnts do not know what they are talking
about that he cannot understand them, tlit
they are evidently speaking without informa-
ton. that their own side is unwilling to be he!d
responsible for what this one or that one says
and that Democrat always knows Wnit lle 10
about makes no pretences. and speaks the EilS
ljsh language which the House ought 10 w
competent to understand. Each sally Is wei
coined with oulbursts of hilarity from the noor
and the galleries. The comic Cochran Is INV
ing a great run. His jokes, sarc;islnS ana sHi'rp
ncttifogging are more useful in their way than
the pondcrouS polemics and complex theories
Of the serious advocates Of the Wilson Dill. III
he does not convince any one either tlat iIS
Marty Is i'm the right or that he himself IS III
earnest. he raises loud gufaw ut every turn
of the proceedings and makes the debate more
cheerful for his demoralzed colleagues.
or course the comic Cochran runs goou
many serious risks in his campaign. lie
may repeat his jokes SO often that the
audiences will forget to laugh ut them fuilny
as II may have been for him to shrug
his shoulders and 10 confess that he couih
not understand Mr.. Dingley. Mr. Walker. ME-
PAYNE and Mr. Boutele, the time may come
whom the Democratic side will be 80 completely
saturated with this kind of humor that IT can
moi obsorb any more of it, Then. too. Mr. Cock
ran. having made his reputation as the emu
man of the tariff reform orchestra. VIII COLI
stantly be under obligation 10 be rs 1unny rs
he can. If he relapses into serious argument
the galleries may continue for time from force
Of habit To laugh at what he says. but sooner
or later they will find out that he can be rs
STUPID. dense and unintelligible as Professor
Wilson. or even the Republican leaders i'll dis
cussing an economic question in an abstract
way Moreover. the comic Cochran will ultimate
Is have to carry his jokes into the home mar
kct among his constituents. and to aScer-
tain whether they are appreciated there rs Wei
rs i'm Washington. The workers of this town.
who are ont Of employment ana earning noun
ing. may not relish his humor When the times
have gone from bad 10 worse. so that even the
comic Cochran lacks the heart to be funny
thousands of starving men and women In ms
town may reproach him for his part in enact
ing the Wilson bill Where he your jih"S
now" they may cry ont. 50 Your gamDoiS
Your songs? Your flashes of mcrriment that
were wont to set the table on Il roar: Not one
now to mock your own grinning.