Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-07

democrats, % republicans and IL pop
ulists. The majority Of the democrats
who voted for the repeal did it against
their will. They were under the compul-
sion of the big stick in the White
House and in the Speakers chair at
Washington. and the demand of the pie
hungry constituents at home. Cleveland
and Crisp let it be known that patronage
and committee appointments would 60
only to those who supported the admins
tration measure. Otherwise the repeal
never would have passed in that Con-
gress.
In the Senate the Presidents power was
not so great and he was able to control
but half OF his party following. The re-
peal bill passed the Senate by a vote of
43 to 30. OF the forty-three affirmative
votes twenty-three were cast by repub-
leans and twenty by democrats, while
there We're nineteen democrats. ten repub-
leans and three populists in the negative.
Party lines were destroyed absolutely.
When the final vote was taken in the
House on concurrence in the slight
amendment made by the Senate, an at
tempt was made to filibuster against the
bill. This filibuster was led by William
Jennings Bryan, who had the support of
seventy-six democrats and five repub-
licans, one of them being Joseph G. Can
non.
When the extra session adjourned the
democratic party was no longer a COM
pact organization. There were two dem
ocratic parties, one Cleveland, the other
anti-Cleveland - And. as vet. nothing had
been done toward redeeming the promises
made In the campaign with respect to the
revision of the tariff.
u
Chairman Wilson of a, the ways and
means committee of the House reported
his bill January 8, 1894 several months
after the end of the panic for which the
Wilson bill is frequently held responsible.
The party was torn asunder by the silver
question and there was small disposition
to get together On the tariff. AS the bill
passed the House February it provided
for substantial reduction Of tariff duties
and included an income tax feature. 1t
went to the Senate and there was amend
ed beyond all precedent land so changed
that 1t bore small resemblance to the
original measure. In spite of the. radical
amendments by the Senate, however, it
represented considerable reduction from
the schedules of the Mckinley act. The
great fight came over the subject of free
raw materials, and in the end the House
had to surrender to the Senate. Senator
German had much to do, with the course
of the bill in the Senate, and, as finally
passed. August -, the measure was
known as the Wison-Gorman bill.
Four years before the Mckinley bill
was passed only. a month before the cleo
ton. The Wilson bill was passed less
than two months before the election. The
Mckinley bill was repudiated at the polls
before the country had an opportunity to
test It,. The Wilson German bill met a
similar fate. The November elections in
1894 resulted I'm a veritable republican
landslide. which wiped out the democratic
majority in both Senate and House and
gave the republicans control of both
republicans. 1O4 democrats and { popu-
lists.
Yet the tariff question entered but little
into the campaign OF 1894. The Wilson
CORN bill
Tariff Entered Little was not a fair
Into the Campaign. the e papty plat.
form promises. and Mr.. Cleveland refused
to sign it, permitting it to become a law
without his signature, characterizing the
action of prominent democratic senators
as party perf1dy and dishonor''
But the country was no longer interest
ed in the tariff question. The money
problem was the chief issue. Throughout
the south and west the mass Of the dem
ocrats were silver men; they were oppos-
ed to the policy of the administration,
and they were particularly wrathful
against those representatives and sena-
tors who had bowed to the administration
will in the hope of reward at the pie
counter. These democrats for the most
part did not go SO far as-to vote against
their party candidates. but they retired
10 inc
conventions and primaries and on the
election day hundreds ef.-.thousands of
democrats went a-fishng' The demo-
cratic defeat was absolute. and since
March 3, 1895, the democratic party never
has had control of any branch of the
federal government.
Tomorrow - CONGRESSIONAL CAM
PAIGNS.
XV-Party Politics in Congress.