The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-02-27

Mr.. Mills was always active. He was
preaching that the Custom Houses were a
pest and his prophetic soul cried out for
Free Trade.
Finally, the Democratic party, deafened
by the long talk about the evils Of protec-
tion and supposing that the Buffalo Cob
DEN was the MOSES who would lead 1t to
the fair and happy land OF revenue re-
form. elected him President again. The
Democrats said in their platform In
1892 that Republican protection was "a
fraud, a robbery Of the great majority OF
the American people for the benefit OF the
few" and they declared 1t to be "a funda-
mental principle OF the Democratic
party that the Federal Government has
no constitutional power to impose and
collect tariff duties, except for the pur-
pose OF revenue only" For years the
Democracy had been fed with the sincere
milk OF tariff reform. 1t had learned
to abominate protection. 1t had chosen an
~eleventh-hour and presumably enthusiast
tic apostle OF tariff reform to smash pro-
~teotion. At length tho Robber Barons were
to be hanged from the battlements OF their
ill-gotten castles, and everybody waa to be
ndDDy uUuBT u COUbJlllllOudl lhLuhs NJ
last the congregation OF the hypoorites
should be desolate and FIRE should consume
the tabernacles Of bribery. .
On the contrary, the eleventh-hour apos-
tie Joined the congregation and repaired
the tabernacle. He proposed the income
tax, dear to the Populists. The fraud and
robbery were allowed to go on. The con-
stitutional tariff was kicked into a dark
corner. Protection continued to rule the
roost and the Star-Eyed Goddess was al
lowed to cry her eyes out in the cellar. So
burst the bubble which Mr.. MILLS had
spent twenty years in blowing. Protec-
ton was deliberately adopted by the repre-
sentatives Of the Democracy, who broke
the solemn promise OF the platform and
frustrated the hope of the party.
Disguised by this ~dishonorable conduct,
the Democratic party was carried inevitably
from Clevelandism to Organism. The
hostility to the protective tariff developed
naturally into a hostility to wealth in gen.
eral. The income tax was as much q piece
OF Clevelandism as OF Populism. The
vocabulary of Organism is only a transla-
ton Of the hieratic language Of Cleveland
ism. The generally violent tone OF 1t is only
the tone Of Clevelandism. A great party
was embittered by the treachery Of its
leader, but it is only following the path
which he marked out, Even the stuff o
government by injunction was inspired by
personal hatred Of CLEVELAND rather than
by any special sympathy for the Chicago
rioters of 1894. Is it n wonder that a
party which had been 80 gulled by it's
leaders, should be extreme in its rage
against its real or supposed cnemies2
Mr.. MILLS finds himself marooned by the
Democrats. They have no more use for
him. They are not seeking to slay Robber
Barons now, but plutocrats and trusts and
corporations. The Custom Houses are still
healthy. The unconstitutional tariff -four
ishes like a green bay tree. GROVER CLEvE-
AND is become a museum piece. A new
Democracy that knows not ROGER hes
arisen, but it is the son of such Incorporate
preachings as his and C~LEvELAND's and Of
the bitterness and shame Of a broken
promise.