Evening star., 1909-05-25
Bailey on Raw Materials.

Progress with the tariff bill is slow in
the Senate, but other progress there Is
pronounced. Take this from yesterdays
| debate:
"Snce when has the doctrine of free
| raw material ceased to be democratic
doctrine?" asked Mr.. Aldrich.
"Since men like myself took control OF
the party" replied Mr. Bailey. The
senator ought to read the platform Of
| 1896 on that subject I wrote that plank.
| and l had in mind this very thing when l
| did" Mr.. Bailey was proceeding to con-
denim Mr.. Cleveland and the other lead
ers of his party who in 1896 and previ-
| ously had stood for free raw material,
when Mr.. Aldrich reminded him that Will
liam ]. Bryan had always been an ad-
vocate of free raw material.
| "Granting that were true. 1T would not
control me-" replied Mr.. Bailey. He de-
clared that the democratic party departed
/ from it's traditions when it advocated
| free raw materials, and that the attitude
was taken as matter of party ex-
pediency and not as matter OF party
principle"
| Here is great progress in the effort to
determine what is a democrat. Another
contribution or two of equal candor from
some other democratic source. and the
New York Worlds famous question will
| be answered.
The Chicago platform of 1896, we now
see, was a reputation of the whole
Cleveland program. Silver that year was
in the foreground, and was kept so. But
the tariff, as Mr.. Bailey shows, was in
the minds of the men who controlled the
convention which nominated Mr.. Bryan.
and they abandoned expediency and re-
turned to party principle.
The democratic campaign of 1892 was
distinctly one Of expediency. The ques-
ton was, what shall we do to get in?
And it was settled by a hocus-pocus ar
rangement which could not possibly hold
together under legislative responsibility.
and which in Office went to pieces with
crash Free silver democrats and pro-
lection democrats were rallied to the
support of a candidate who stood for the
gold standard and a tariff for revenue
only. When as President Mr.. Cleveland
disclosed his program, the silver south
| rebelled, and the protection north under
Mr. Germans leadership made show
of the revenue reformers. The gold
! standard won, with republican assistance,
| but free raw materials lost.
At Chicago in 1896 there was wreck
| to be handled. What could be done
with it? Everybody in attendance was
angry, and many were dispirited. But
in all the confusion one thing was plain.
Another campaign of hocus-pocus was
not to be considered. The platform must
mean something, and the candidate must
stand squarely with those to whom he
must appeal for support. AS result
the financial plank was very clear, and
Mr. Bailey shaped the tariff plank so as
to substitute principle for expediency.
And Of that performance he speaks with
pride today.
The Denver platform of last year de-
clared for free lumber. Yesterday Mr..
Bailey and sixteen other democrats voted
| for a duty on lumber. The Denver plat
form was the work Of Mr.. Bryan and
Gov. Haskell. Mr.. Bailey was not pres
| ent at the convention, and did not par
| ticipate in the campaign that followed.
No free raw materials for the Texas SEN
ator while duties remain on the finished
| products into which they enter. And
that. he says, Is democratic principle