New-York tribune., 1900-10-28
THE PEOPLE MAKE THE ISSUE.
AND THEY MAY BE DEPENDED UPON TO
MAKE A RIGHT DECISION.

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: After all is said and done the people have a
wonderful way Of getting at the root OF an issue
when once their attention is aroused. The dnl-
Guilty ofttimes is to get them really interested
This accomplished IL is hard to mislead thenl &c
&c the true issue. This is no doubt what Lhcolh
meant when he said, You cannot fool all the peO-
pie all the timel"
of the United States, some time since pointed out
to me that when National affairs reached Crisis
and were to be determined by a vote the Ameri-
can people could be depended upon to make a right
decision He has said something IKE thls III oHe VI
his later essays.
The people have always in the last analysis been
right on the money question For a time 1t Is pos
sible to misead of them; but not for long or
on the decisive test. A policy of reputation mas
never prevailed in a National campaign The ques-
ton has been begged or shifted; but when there
was no escape from a final decision the majority
to be found the side of honesty
A shifting policy may prevail for while; but
sooner or later the day Of reckoning is demanded.
In 1860 that day the slavery question
The people of this country decided in unequivocal
terms that the Constitution did not carry slavery
into the new territory and that slavery should not
be extended beyond its then present limits 1t took
civil war to prevent minority from upsetting
the decision of the majority but the issue is set
tied; the incident, closed for all time m
and Everett with their Constitutional party
were unable to begue the American people from
their determination. These candidates and their
platforms were unable to induce them to abandon
a discussion and settlement of what they rightly
determined to be the then paramount issue.
In 1896 Chairman Hanna sought TO make the tariff
the issue of the campaign. Gow well he succeeded
we know. His carefully laid plans all went astray
in the of the unerring instinct of honest Amer
lean sentiment Before the tariff before every
thing the people determined that they would de-
eide whether or not this country was to be con-
Quoted an honest basis.
Chairman Hanna's insistence on the tariff in 1896
was as ineffective in making II an issue Candi-
date Hancocks declaration in 1880 that II was a
local issue ineffective then in making 1t such.
The Prohbitionists for twenty years have de-
cared that prohibition was the supreme issue:
The Single Takers have gone up and down the land
issue. But declarations do not make the issue.
The Democrats have tried to make what they
choose 10 call Imperialism" the paramount issue,
and have relegated the currency question to the
else this year must give way TO a final determine
tion of whether this Nation intends to conduct its
affairs on an honest business basis This Is the
issue. No amount of defamation or declaration
II will divert the voters attention Il is the in
sinct of self preservation asserting itself The peo-
nle recognize that the Nation cannot long exist on
a 20 per cent basis If it cannot be true to itself,
It can be TO nobody else. BY blind instinct,
but nevertheless. an unerrng one, the American
people this. appreciate this and therefore act
upon 1t. -. -.
The people make the paramount issue, not party
conventions party managers, or party canol-
de tes The campaign of 1896 demonstrated this. as
The non-a cceptan-e cf the results IF the elN"ttN
of 1850 on the part of section Of the country led
TO the Civil War The non-acceptance OF the re-
suits of 1896 will make IT necessary to hight the
battle of that year over again
CLINTON ROGERS WOODRUFF.
Philadelphia, Oct. "a 1900