The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-19
PAY TRIBUTES
 TO CLEVELAND
tContinued from Page One)

| sednces as they arise may lind hfmsel1 In great difficulty. but as such in limits are gradually being defined. A Debt to Cleveland.
 We owe to Mir. Cleveland and his courage in dealing with the Senate of the United States the establishment of some useful precedents.
 "In Mir. Cleveland's second term there was a large majority of his party in the House and working majority in the Senate so that the whole responsi- bility of government fell upon the Democrats. with MT. Cleveland ct their head. The significance of his second administration centers about three is- sues. The first was the tariff; the second free silver. and the third the | suppression Of lawlessness directed against Federal authority by use of the process of Federal courts and by Federal troops.
 'The same influences in his own par ty~ which had sought to defeat him for nomination in his third canvass, he found entrenched in the Senate so strongly as to be able to defeat the declared policy of his party in favor of . tarif for revenue. and he refused to sign the German Wilson bill, but al- lowed 1t to become law after de- nouncing 1t as the result of perfidy and dishonor. This was doubtless the great est disappointment of his political life for 1t destroyed the opportunity to test the wisdom of the party policy advo- cated by him and declared in the party platform. while the business depression which existed before and after its pas- sage furnished ammunition to his po- lltical opponents, who did not hesitate to argue that the prospect of a revenue tariff on the one hand and the passage of the actual German Wilson bill on the other hand, paralyzed the indus- tries of the country.
 | Whatever ones views on the tariff whether he be a protectionist or free trader. he cannot but have the deepest sympathy with MT. Cleveland in his deep indignation at the party disloyal- 1t passed the House. and gave us the nondescript bill which became the l law.
 Free Coinage of Silver.
 But there was rising in the Demo- cratic Party at the time. especially in the Western and Southern, parts of the country "a desire for economic remedy which should cure everything in our business and body polite. This was the movement ih flavor oeff the free coinage of silver. The Republican Party and some of its leaders in the West and South, had not been free from weakness in this respect and the
 
 000,000 of silver hung like a stone around. the neck of the country.
 MT: Cleveland used all the author ity that he could command as the ex- ecutive to bring about repeal of this law and he finally succeeded. The deep gratitude of the country Is due to him for this result. Without 1t disas ster 1t of the country could not have been sustained and there would have been e blot on our financial escutcheon.
 But when MT. Cleveland succeeded In securing the repeal of the Sher- man act 1t seemed as if his control over the party with respect to the monetary issues, had been exhausted. His party became hopelessly divided and the ma jority of it declared in favor of the free coinage of silver, policy which we know today and which we ought to have known then. was nothing but a. policy of repudiation. It was a policy completely contrary to the ancient and traditional views of the old Democratic Party. It was a departure from the plainest principles of honesty to those who foresaw it's effect in repudiating and scaling down of public and private debts by legislative nat. It was 6 pol icy which has taken away from the Democratic Party the confidence of the business community. whether previous ly Democratic or Republican. It pre- sented a moral issue so sharp. so clear as completely to destroy party fealty as party attachments.
 .In the campaigns of Mir. Blaine and Nr Cleveland and of MT. Cleveland and MT. Harrison. everyone felt. how ever deep his partisan desires, that the institutions of the country, as estab- lished by the fathers would be pre- served under the leadership of either party but In the campaign of 1896 and the one which followed 1t there was certainly no such confidence on the part of the men who voted for MT. Mo Kinley. It seemed to be an issue ir which the permanence of our institu- tions was involved.
 'In this light 1t was an unfortunate day for the Republicans when the lead
 ership of the Democracy passed from Mir. Cleveland. The patriotic spiri which moved those under MT. Cleve lands leadership to break from party ties and save the country from repudi
 ation entitled them and him to oul everla sting gratitude.
 \ Stood Up for Courts.
 Another great debt which the coun q try owes to MT. Cleveland Is the asser
 ton, made through him as its chief ex ecutlve, of the power of the Fedora . government directly to defend the fed
 eral Jurisdiction through the proces
 of federal courts and by federal troops . | against the lawless invasion of mot u "Mr Cleveland was Democrat an of course. respected the traditional con a struction of the constitution by Una a party: but no fear of apparent incon slstency prevented him from assertin L. the full federal power to maintain 1t II authority to suppress laWlessness Whe a directed against federal right aLd fed
 eral jurisdiction; and he institute proceedings In the federal courts to re l.. strain the Debs boycott of the country
 the tying up of interstate commerc
 and the interference with the maill
 and he sent the troops under Geners
 Miles to Chicago to make his assertio
 of the power effective. h cost him tn
 support of the thoughtless, but he sue
 ceeded in stopping what had reall
 grown to the proportions of an insur
 rection~ The highest tribunal create
 by the constitution to fix the limits c L State and national authority complete
 ly sustained his course.
 - Grover Cleveland earned the sin - cere gratitude of his countrymen an q justified recurring memorial occasion ], like the one In which we are takin y part. He was a great President. nc
 because he was a great lawyer. not be - cause he was a brilliant orator, not be 6 cause he was a statesman Of profoun c leArnings but because he was a patriC
 with the highest sense of public duty a because he was a statesmen of clea d perspeetions. of the utmost courage ( r. his convictions, and of great plainnei