St. Paul daily globe., 1895-05-05
THE REFORM CLuB,s MOTIVE.

The New York Reform club, in
addition to the publication Of Sound
Currency" is providing such pa
pers as will use them with supple
ments containing discussions of the
present absorbing question. In some
cases the club has made proffer Of
these to papers whose editors, for
some reason-generally a yielding to
what they regard the local sentiment
decline to accept them. Some Of the
rabid kind work their refusals to the
frenzy pitch and rave about this or
gan Of the gold bugs" and the money
power" Sorry it is to have to say
that some of these editors think they
are Democrats.
Among those who regard the proffer
with suspicion, doubtful of the motive
lying behind it, is our good friend OF
the Benson Monitor, who notes the
receipt of a circular from the secre-
tary, and he declines the proposition
without thanks. 1t is not because
the matter to be sent is offensive or
opposed to the opinions of the editor,
but as he expresses it, because:
1--WE cannot understand why the
Sound currency committee mentioned
can afford to maintain an office in
New York and furnish immense guam
titles of printed matter to papers with
out cost unless there is something in
it for them. They are not taking this
| interest solely for the sake of the dear
people. They either have an ak to
grind or else they have one on the
grindstone now and want the people
to keep on turning. The Monitor does
not care to sharpen axes for either
the gold monometallist or the silver
monometalliSt. We cannot believe that
they can discuss the question without
| bias any more than the owners of the
silver mines in Nevada. Both of these
factions have a selfish interest to
serve, and if the public decides to
follow the advice of neither it will be
the most likely to hit on the right
| course"
Eight years ago President Cleve-
land started his party on a crusade
against the iniquitous policy of pro-
lection. Arrayed against it was
| horde of selfish interests licensed by
protection to exact from the consun-
ers Of their wares profits that free
! trade, with it's free competition,
would have denied them. They had
waXed insolent, rapacious and power
full under the long enjoyment of their
| privilege. They combined to oppose
the threatened withdrawal of their
| privileges. 1t was a matter of dollars
| and cents to them. They could
count up the precise additions to
their profits the tariff gave them.
| They formed their leagues and clubs
and combinations. They printed car
toons, pamphlets and supplements
for papers by the million.
They went into the electoral con-
test of 1883. The Manufacturer's
Club of Philadelphia raised the $780,
600 which pious John Wanamaker
| put in the hands of the national
committee to carry New York, ''ask-
ing no questions" he afterward ad-
mitted. ''as to how it was to be
spent" 1t was spent in debauching
the corruptible in the electorate.
| They furnished the money with
| WIi4SA DuQlSy 1QdrSDdI6Q his
punches of five" in Indiana. It was
big stakes they were playing for,
and they put up their money with
out stint. They made their own
terms. If successful the tariff wall
was to be built higher. They won.
Liberty of traffic was defeated, not
crushed. The story of the McKin-
ley bill, with its disgusting incidents
of the beneficiaries of the victory,
the contributors to the corruption
fund, writing into it's schedules their
demands to be ratified by congress.
is yet fresh in all memories.
On the other hand, contending with
this, the only great money power
of the land, were the people of the
commonwealth. Victory by them
could not be reckoned in dollars be-
cause no man knew how much pro-
lection made him pay either to the
treasury or the manufacturers. No
merchant ever gave them a bill of
items showing how much was normal
cost and how much was tariff profit
Tariff and bonus were merged and