The argus., 1896-02-13
Tillman on Cleveland.

as was done the other day by Till
man, the South Carolina firebrand,
who has kept quiet for two months,
but who evidently has been storing
up venom all the time. Some of his
sentences will go down into the
history of the Senate. For instance,
Tillman did not hesitate to say that
many of his colleagues did not know
when to stop in making speeches and
talked in a circle, 'like kitten fol-
lowing its own tail" 1t was when
he came to discuss President Cleve-
land that Tillman reached the
hight of his virulence. He describ-
ed the scene in what he pronounced
the "Palmmer" House, where 'All the
demons in hell were collected in one
group shouting for Grover" As he
went on democrats and Republicans
alike shuddered as he spoke of the
President as 'That bull-headed and
self-idolatrous man who holds the
reins of power" He declared fur
thermore with much solemnity that
Grover Cleveland was the last presi-
dent the democracy would ever elect.
He concluded his speech with the
prediction that this country would
yet wade through seas of blood and
emerge either despotism or such
democracy as was intended to be
created by the French revolution.
Mr.. President" the Senator said,
''it is not saying too much, and 1
feel warranted in charging that the
arrangement in our financial affairs
and all this cry about sound money
and maintaining the honor and cred
it of the United States are all part
and parcel of a damnable scheme of
robbery, which has for its object,
first, the utter destruction of silver
as a money metal; second, the in
crease of the public debt, the issue
of bonds payable in gold, and third,
the surrender to corporations of the
power to issue all paper money and
give them monopoly of that func-
tion. If the secret history of the
year 1892 shall ever be written it
will disclose the fact, which cannot
be proven now, but of which 1 have
not the slightest doubt, that the
gold ring of New York, which en-
braces nearly all the bankers in the
eastern and middle states, and the
stock gamblers of Wall street, con-
trolled the presidential nominations
of both the democratic and republi-
can parties, and had an understand
ing with the managers, or with both
the candidates themselves, in regard
to what policy should be pursued
toward our finances. They contrib
uted money for the booming of Mr..
Cleveland as the only available
democratic candidate, and they
abused and ridiculed every other
democratic aspirant. How many"
he asked, "of these reasonable ex-
pectations have been metz Whose
advice has he (the President) recog-
nizedi None but the bootlicks and
sycophants who have crawled on
their knees for crumbs of patronage
and betrayed their constituents for
the Offices in his gift. In the entire
history of this country the high
office of president has never been so
prostituted and never has the ap-
pointing power been so abused.
Claiming to be an apostle of civil
service reform, he has debauched the
civil service by making appoint
ments only of those whose sponsors
would surrender their manhood, and,
with bated breath, walk with SUBJ
missive head in his presence. With
relentless purpose he has ignored
his oath of Office to uphold and
obey the law, and has paid out gold
instead of coin and issued bonds to
buy more gold, by both actions over
riding the law, and giving no heed
to the interests of any but moneyed
friends-I might say his owners or
partners. While to this besotted
tyrant coin has come to mean gold
alone, he cannot by his mere 'ipse
dixit' change the law of this land