New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-12-04
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

/ proSident Clpyeland'S Message is unique, as Il
revelation of character. Sturdy adherence TO
on;pion in the face Of majorites may belong
olu,e N ,he highest statesman and the widest
crank But adherence in the face or facts aoil-
inv n ignore facts utterly when they conflict with
ones opinions. is not greatness No fresiueht
has ever delivered another message afrohtinS
so large share Of the people. It's treatment OF
foreign questions will affront very many OF MS
own party; its treatment OF the silver question
win ofrend moro than twothrds Of that party;
its preience that the present Whlskey ana sugar
tariff which he denounced as "perfdy and dis
honor" is "in Drlnciule based on denial Of the
right of Government to protect Industries, VIII
offend every sincere advocate of that cause; ana
its demand for the substitution OF bonds for
greenbacks will affront many Democrats; while
In scarcely any respect will the Message satisfy
the great majority who elected more than two
thirds Of the present House of Representatives,
But while it may be heroic to go down with
the shin for any good cause, il is something
else 10 deny facts and distort facts for the sake
Of a personal theory.
over half If this Message said to be the long
est ever delivered, is devoted to foreign affairs
while the rest is wholly devoted to the retirement
Of sreenbacks all other domestic concerns being
ignored Reasons against free coinage are pre-
sented with much force, but obviously to win
over partisan friends who prefer that to the
course proposed Political opponents who urge
an increase of revenue are assured at length that
| the deficit of revenue has really nothing to do
with financial troubles Not word is said Of
/ the further tariff reform which was so sacred
q year ago nor is any change whatever of the
revenue laws recommended. Everything il
made to turn upon the single fact that gold may
be withdrawn either for export or for boarding
by repeated use Of about S500o00OO0 legal
tender and Treasury notes which, when thus
redeemed. are leissued According to the Presi-
dent. this alone caused panic, though it is the
nared fact that his own attacks upon his previ-
ous policy of the Government created most OF
the alarm, and repeatedly revived and increased
il. TO support his theory. the President atiirms
tha, the previous tariff restricted exports which
were. in fact. greater under the tariff of 1890
than ever before and asserts that this tariff for
the protection of favored CLASSES at the expense
"or others was insufficient for the purpose Of
revenue" when in fact, it yielded a surplus.
He is obstnately blind to the truth that appre-
hension is always excited by deficient reve-
+ nue. and insists that the question of ability to
meet current expenses uOcS not enter INTO 1ne
estimate of sovency"
The President pushes into dark corner the
nroposed unlimited issue OF State bank notes,
though men do not forget tlat this was the main
object Of retiring legal tenders. He now pro
noses that SJ0O0OO,OC0 demand notes shall be
retired by issues of bonds on which the people
are TO pay interest. and these bonds are to be Il
basis for S5OO000.O00 more National bank notes,
on which the people are again to pay interest.
while he would have these banks exempted from
/ taxation excepting a quarter OF one per cent OF
their circulation. and permitted to issue to the
par value of their bonds. As the bonds he pro
poses are 3 per cents, and any time Of business
depression or foreign difficulty might put them
below par the entire paper circulation would
then be rendered peculiarly insecure Yet the
President labors most earnestly to convince peO
ple that such system would be UNNECESSARILY
preferable to one under which, from the day or
specie resumption down to the success Of the
Presidents party in the fall of 1891. the redemp
ton of legal-tender notes had been absolutely
INSIGNIFICANT 1t is hard to speak with modera-
ton Of parsanshp which does such violence
to facts by refusing even to mention the alarm
caused first by the great success Of Democratic
Free Traders and free silverites in 1891 and
then by the victory Of the Free Trade party in
1892
The sales Of bonds by the President. with the
occasion for them, are reported III detail and ii
Is admitted that over $ls2,11l,195 in gold has
been received for bonds sold between February,
1894 and the completion Of the contract with
bankers made in February, 1880, but the Presi-
dent is careful not 10 state that his own in
sistence upon the State bank scheme for months,
and then upon ISSUES Of gold bonds only, were
accurately timed to make impossible any help
full action by Congress. He argues with much
creditable earnestncss against free silver coin
age and vet suggests that Sl1S,OO0,OOO in silver
dollars might be coined from bullion in the
Treasury to fill the gap created by retirement
of notes. Persistently he talks Of panics and
popular apprehension and withdrawal and large
exports of gold, as if all were due only to the
silver act Of 1890 and the greenbacks and never
in the least 10 the tremendous revolution in do
nestle industries which he and his party threat
/ encd and partially carried out. Truly it Is
| Message more memorable for its obstinate def
ance Of truth than for its obstinate defiance Of
defeat But for this mental inability to any
! thing beyond his personal preferences much
hope might be drawn from the Presidents as
surance that he is prepared 10 cooperate with
Congress in preferring" TO the measure he urges
ANY other measure promising thorough and
practical reform" BIT II he refuses TO see that
surplus revenue instead Of deficit restricted i'm