Evening star., 1895-04-29
History Of the Tariff Reform Strug-
gle May Be Repeated.
BIMETALILSTS MAKING NO HEADWAY
What the Sound Money Demo-
Gratis May Do.
WAIT FOR LEGISLATION

declaring for free coinage, the opinion is
| growing that the party is extremely likely
| to enter another national campaign on a
| platform favorable to silver. At any rate,
| silver seems to be holding its own in the
| ranks of the democracy. The bin.ctallic
party is making no headway. The Sibley
movement has failed to score. Mr. Sibley
himself is earnest enough, and his sup
porters are active enough. but the country
SO far has shown no disposition to respond
| to the bmetallic appeal. Mr.. Crisp, in
| Georgia; Mr.. Blackburn. in Kentucky; the
! Thurmans, father and son, in Ohio; Gov.
| Matthews. in Indiana, and the Stevenson
| following in Illinois, have all since ex-
| pressed themselves, and all have coun-
seled continuing the fight for silver with
| the agencies and within tie lines of the cid
| organization. The deliverances, indeed. Of
! this nature have been so numerous and SO
unequivocal that the democracy, as par
| ty, stands perlousy close to being ;-lraa iy
| committed the subject for next years.
contest.
The Tariff Fight History sIay BE Re-
peated.
Will the history of the fight for tariff re-
| form be repeated in this case? VIII the
sound money men in the democratic party
yield in the one case as the protectionists
| in the party did in the other, and after
king a campaign on an extreme ex-
preston of the issue in the platform carry
| their point when the day arrives for legis-
| lation? This is predicted by more than
| one politician of national reputation.
| When the democratic national conven-
| tion of 1892 met there was anxiety felt
on the score of the platform as on that OF
| the candidate. Everything pointed to the
nomination of Mr.. Cleveland again, but
| how should the tariff plank in the plat
| form be drawn? On the lines of his mes
sage of 1857? But" said the democratic
protectioniStS, "he made the race of 1883
| on that and was defeated. Why invite an
| other defeat, as We certainly shall If We
| put him up again on that rejected deliver
ance?"
"On what other platform could he stand,
consistently with his own work, the party's
record?" demanded the free traders, COM
| prising nine-tenths of the party. THE
| party has always stood for tariff reform.
| and MIR. Cleveland has declared for it in
| terms the most explicit and extreme. To
undertake to modify, or qualify, or repu-
date the record would be worse than folly.
We should fail and at the same time cover
ourselves with obloquy. Let's stand to our
guns or else abandon them altogether" So
spoke the free traders.
The Final Outcome.
But the protectionists kept up the fight.
They We're not numerous but coming, as
centers of the east, they were very influ-
entail. MIR. Whitney led them. They cap
tured the committee on resolutions and
secured tariff plank which might mean
something or nothing, as any plausible
campaign orator might decide in explaining
it. The free traders. however, denounced
it as an ignominious surrender and at
tackled it in the open convention. They
offered as a substitute the most extreme
expression on the subject ever written in
this country. 1t committed the party to
free trade without a single reserva ton.
The embarrassment, for the moment, of
Mr.. Whitney, Mr.. German, Mr.. Brice and
others of their school was very great
Could they afford to permit the adoption Of
platform containing plank SO radical
on vital issue? Would not it. il
adopted, send the party to certain defeat
at the polls and subsequently to disin-
tegration? They were not free traders. and
they declared that the party ought not to
be made to bear so great burden. But
could they prevent the taking of the pro-
posed action? Finding that they could not,
without bolting the convention, they
yielded the point.
The results in November. though so over
whelmng, did not convert them to the free
trade theory. They refused to accept 1t as
an expression Of the country in favor OF
free trade, and so set to work to prevent
any action in the way Of legislation that
might even appear as a literal redemption
of the national platform and the campaign
Interpretation of it. Mr.. German and Mr..
Brice came to the rescue. and the result,
when Congress got through with the SUBJ
ject, was the Gorman-Wilson tariff bill,
with protection in every line of 1t, and
with Mr.. Cleveland's unqualified denunca-
tion written boldly across the face of it.
And so the politicians are asking, was not
the action of Mr.. Whitney. Mr. German
and others at Chicago in 1892 wise? If they
had bolted the convention after the adop-
ton of the free trade plank in the platform
hoy loot to fha anvtty
The republicans would have swept the
country. Instead of that, they kept their
seats and suffered an apparent defeat on
the skirmish line They could see that as
a matter of fact they would lose no point
ultimately. A platform not capitalized by
legislation would be of small moment In
the end. They could take care of the legis-
lation, and this they resolved to do. They
are more than satisfied with the result
The Gorman-Wiso bill, in their opinion,
is a most faithful redemption of the tariff
plank that was rejected at Chicago. 1t
bears no relation whatever to the plank
that was adopted. 1t is so full of protec-
ton. indeed. that even leading republicans
are satisfied with it. Senator Lodge Of
Massachusetts, openly advises against any
early reopening Of the tariff question.
Strategy to the Silver Question.
What is in the way of an application OF
this strategy to the silver question? Is
the democratic party more strongly COM
mitted to silver than it was to free trade?
The party record is thought to be about
the same in both cases. The proportion OF
free traders and free slverites in the party
is about the same. The protectionist minor
ity refused to be driven out in 1892, and in
the end triumphed. They had the business
interests with them, and so buttressed they
could not, when the question came to Con-
gress be overthrown. What If the free sill
verites do declare in state conventions and
elsewhere for the unlimited use of the
white metal? What if they should capture
the next national convention and construct
a sounding free coinage platform, and then
win at the polls? That would not settle
'the question. The fight in Congress would
still be ahead. 1t would still be possible by
good management to carry the day for
compromise Are not the sound money
democrats as skilful and influential as
the protection democrats? Are they not, in
fact, as much III earnest? Did Mr.. German
and Mr.. Brice exert themselves more in
the Fffty-third Congress to prevent the
enactment of free trade legislation than
they would do in the Fifty-fifth Congress
to prevent the enactment of free coinage
legislation? Many shrewd politicians think
not.