The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-06-23
THE DEMocRATIc ~

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. is not
so rich, either in leadership or in
position of strategic advantage
that it can afford to reject good coun-
sells from any quarter: but surely it
has the right to draw the line on
Grover Cleveland. To Mr.. Cleveland's
insufiiciency, 10 use no harsher term, it
owes its undoing. To claim that he
is the one man who has led it TO ma
tional victory in forty years falls 10
the ground when il is recalled that in
1884 he won the election by a doubtful
margin in the state OF New York,
which he had carried the year before
by nearly 200 600; that in 1883 he lost
the election through his fatuous van
ity and self-cOnfidence, and that in 1892
the Homestead riots. which transferred
the vote of the labor unions bodily
from the Republicans to the Demo-
Gratis, made the defeat of the Demo
cratic ticket impossible.
Destined to Be President.
One star at least shone over Mr..
CleVeland's cradle. He was born in
luck. and he was destined to be presi-
dent. Mr.. Cleveland's political stock
in trade, his party trademark. so to
say, since his tariff message Of 1857,
Is the pretension that he has been, par
excellence, true to the recognized tenets
Of revenue reform. AS far as he I'M
derstoOd them, he was first ia last false
to them. II Mr.. German and Mr. Car
Isle could be put on the stand and be
compelled to answer. they would relate
that within ten days after Mr.. Cleve-
land sent the one document to con-
gress Identifying himself with the free
trade wing OF the party, he was pre-
pairing to emascuiate, and it is a mat
ter of record that he sent German and
Scott to st. Louis in 1888 with a cut
and dried platform, ignoring his own
message, ignoring the Mills bill, then
before congress, and repeating the
straddle which, with General Butler on
our flank and Mr.. Randall on our back,
we had been forced to make at Chicago
in 1884
But the story does not find here, for
it is also of record that in 1892 Mr.
Cleveland sent seven members Of his
former cabinet TO Chicago, not merely
to work for a nomination he pretended
not to seek, but again to put him on
"a NNAN INV VI ~ kfAe~NA1A III |AAAbOhg AAAE3
as good prOtectionist gospel as the Re
pUblicans themselves could reasonabl
desire; a platform so bad from the
Democratic point Of view that the con-
vention rose upon it's hind legs and
pitched it out. on the spur of the mo-
ment adopting a tariff plank of its
own. He sought in his letter Of &C
ceptance 10 qualify this tariff plank Of
the platform on which the convention
that nominated him had placed him
there are those who say he did qualify
il; but it is certain that once Sgain in
the White House, he turned his back
upon the tariff, sending it to the rear
and brought the money question TO the
front, precipitating a raEcorous and
ruinous party fight so that finally
when he reached the tariff, the party
was out at elbow and literally all fin
gers and thumbs.
Then, obliged to do something, he
caused a tariff bill to be prepared. not
according to the instruction of the
platform on which he had been elected.
not in conformity to the hopes and
pledges of his party. but a ringed,
streaked and striped measure Of quasi
protection doomed in advance TO hope
less. inglOriOus defeat. That at the last
he refused to sign the act which came
to him as the result of his own bung-
ling. Still juggling as a revenue re-
former, he would have been amusing
if the situation had been less tragical,
and was in the highest degree gro
tesQue.
Those who know him will not deny
to Mr.. Cleveland a personality all his
own. He is a man of great force of
will and dOminancy of character. DEM
ocrats have a superstition in favor of
what is called "Jacksonian firmness. -
Courage. indeed, is a popular attribute
with all classes OF the people. Mr.
/ Cleveland has gained largely in pOpu-
lar favor by reason Of the reputation
of a sturdiness and integrity which his
panegyrists have assiduOusly Guilt
waited. Neither his honesty nor his
hardihood need be gainsaid in order to
prove his deficiency as a party leader
though both have been most vio-
! lently assailed--and having no personal
in viii TO crafty at his expense, we
shall not stop to inquire where the
trophies of either may be on exhibit
ton. 1t is enough to declare that he
! found that party what Mr.. Tilden had
made Of it, moral unit; a great, COM
pact body of fighting men, and that.
having twice betrayed tive will not
say consciously betrayed it-fOT his own