The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-07-27

L loill lnc w usllllS lOSl.
There is contrast involved in the tar
iff legislation just completed by the Re-
publican party and that which the Dem
ocratic party gave us three years ago
We do not refer to the difference between
the two measures in point OF form or
principle, but to the manner in which the
two parties approached the problem and
achieved their respective purposes.
The campaign of 1892. like that of 1883.
was fought out upon the tariff issue, pure
and simple. Mr.. Cleveland had spent the
four years of his retirement in declaim-
ing against the infamous Republican idea
of protection, the robbery Of the toiling
masses for the benefit of the powerful
and wealthy, the blight upon our COM
merce, the general wickedness of the
whole thing. The enaction of the McKin-
ley law added fuel to his eloquence, and
during the campaign of 1892 he more than
once referred to it as an infamy to ter
inmate which was the bounden duty, the
sacred obligation of every patriotic
statesman. When Mr. Cleveland was in
augurated March 4, 1898, the country
naturally expected him to call congress
together without n moments delay, and
put an end TO a situation which he had
so persistently and so violently denounced
as an intolerable wrong to the American
people. He had appealed to the country
upon that issue alone. He had pledged
himself and the Democratic party TO
erase from the statute book the Nc
Kinley iniquity. and the voters had elect
ed him upon the faith of those profess
sions.
AS matter of fact however, Mr.
Cleveland appears to have lost his inter-
est in revenue reform the moment it
had served his purpose as a stepping
stone to the presidency. He not only
failed to hasten the repeal of the McKin-
ley act, and substitute for it such legls-
lation as would redeem his promises but
he actually convened congress i'm extra
session and limited that branch of the
government to the arrest of silver coin
age-a policy which the Democratic
masses did not favor and the announce
mcnt of which year earlier would have
defeated him for the Chicago nomination.
The measure was forced through by the
employment of that Tremendous pres
sure which the executive can exert, and
congress was then dismissed. The Nc
Kinley tariff was left undisturbed, The
runOus and oppressive ARRANGEMENT
which Mr.. Cleveland had been denounc.
ing for three years was continued by
his deliberate connivance. The only mat
ter which aroused his official solictude
at that time was the silver purchasing
clause of the Sherman act.
%
The taflm was taken up by congress at
| its regular session, some months later
| and in August, seventeen months after
| his inauguration, the Wilson German bill
| was passed-a futile and inadequate abor-
| ton, the only meritorous features of
which were the senate amendments
| forced through against the most obsti-
nate opposition of Mr. Cleveland and his
| satellites. If there were any improve
ments on the Mckinley act, they ap-
peared only where Mr.. Cleveland failed
| to have his way and where Messrs. Cor
man, Smith, Brice, Murphy, and Glib
son won the victory of reason and COM
| mon sense. With these exceptions, the
bill was a miserable failure, an utter
default upon the promises which had
brought Mr.. Cleveland back to power.
O.
The contrast presented by Mr.. McKin-
| ley and the Republican party needs very
| little comment. Mr.. Mckinley has been
president only little over four months,
| and at his instigation and through his
| prompt exercise of the authority confid-
ed to him, a new tariff measure has al.
ready been formulated, discussed, amend
ed, and enacted into law. II may not
be the sort of measure the Democrats
want, but 1t is just what was expected
of the Republican party, framed on the
! lines that Republican leaders have al