Views Of A Randall Democrat

Mr. (li-oitrc Ti knor ('urtis, hi, tarog-h be minl agalsel Cleveland, - a dwnocrat, luit of tfoe Banflaí chool, lias. siiif' the electlon, ull a letter to t.ho American Tar"f League, in vhich he says severa] linios pertinent to the patst of flemocai y ami to tbe tature ot repnbUcanin. Kcia.iivc to democratie act ion conei-nrag Vbe tarilf he sa.vs ; By ini-ivpiesrntation and by 4peal8 to the luw prejudíceg of iii' ,t "poor" againist the sn-i-all(1 "ík-li," the pTwaeni democratie leadn liave peraoÁded large majorities or Aamlltlee to go againgt the U'st inerest of t lie ím.tion. Thfa shows how uní h the people of tlii.s country still need to edneated politícally on thie p-eut (utior! Tlie supposed "poor" nust lean toconqnec tbelr prejndlces. riicy inuKt team tliat there i no other ountry in the WOrld in whkh vcaltii is BOgenerally diffused ob it is n this ; nuil -tlint, properiy speakinír, liave no poor excepting the paupers vflvo are mipported by private harty or it the public expense. A man viho luist .'i L-apaoity to labor- ulio has muwjle, manual skill, intelltgenee, and fxperionce in a calling- is Ín a ust w.nse a eapitalist. To cali him a "poor" man ie to degrade him to the level of the inmates of a workhouw. Yet thcre ore thousande and thoiiaiMls who do not realize this, and w-duo allow the demagoguee of our ln.nl"to treat tliem ae if there were a' natural antagonieim between them and fhe t'l88e who are called "rich." I know so well many of the men who foieted the anti-protet-tion plank uto tlu: CliiciVfro platform that I have no dlffkiilty in judging of thelr movh. Tliey are not free traders on conviction. They went tipon the principie of "anytlhing to beat the repubicaim aad pain politioal power," lieroby nuuüfctitinK a latk of all prinipl Tliey rfllsed the falHe cry that a protntive tnriff is bot3i unconstltutknwil anl nndemocraflc. Tïiey detandied the minde öf gTeat numbera of people wltn fnlse meas, and rrougnt about t.his great politioal ch&Bge, to 1he injuTy of the very voters -n-hom they had pereuaded to lend themselves to tJveir 6chenep. This unquestionnbly ie true, and it s true also tfaat the trieksters who 'are not free traders in conviction," but. wtho have been eucceseful in de■civing Uie pM)i)lc. tp(X'ially the "socalled poor people," into believing wttwit they themselves knew to be minie concerninjc tlie effect of proM'tim, now are anxious that the rerabUcaoe in conj?rese shall save the lemocrats tn congress from the nessity of fulfilling the proraises made ii ttoeir niitional jilatform, and reiteratel by tJieir newspapers and oraors dut hiji the campaiign. The democrats are plelged to a free trade polioy, but are anxious to avoid redemption of their pledge. It would uit thein admirably were they able to go to the people in 1894 and 1896 vith a prete.nse that they have been prevented from keeping ttoeir promise 'by tJie repulilican majority in one of the branches of congress." Hut, as we tliink fortunately, there s not libely to be a republijun maor'.ly '.n either branch of eongress. Mr. Curtid, however, thinks otherwise, and says : I not ice that certain republicana have expressed the liope that the democrate will galn a majority in the senate so that the experiment of free trade can be trled. Tliey think It will (all, and tüiat the republican party will thu8 reg-ain power, which they will hereafter hold for a long course of years. I do not like Buch táctica. Tliey bear too close a reaemblence to the tactic8 of your adversarles. They went for free trade in order to gain politieal power. You are advised to po to Tree trade, temporarily, in order 1 recover the power you have lost. I do not wish the experiment of fren trade to be tried for tliix or any otber purpose. This ín nol a oiiii t ry in Alii-]i it shonld Ik? tried, for it will inveritably result in an Incalculable loss of national and indlv'hIumI wealth and in great injury to tihe lalíoriiiír people who are cmployed in all kinds of manufactures. Wë, no more than Mr. ('urtis, desire "the experiment of free trade to be bied In ttote counti-j-." We are as firinly oonvtooed as he is that the experiment will be attmded by almosst unbnagtnable suifei-inir, especlally to tJie "so-called poor," who ander it will lnvoine tlio really poor. But il s not a quostion a.s to what we desire. "Uneettled oacstioaa have no pity oai the repose of nations." Tlie tariff questkm must be Bettlpd, nul it aeema a if it can be settled only through the iiory ordeal of a free trade experiment. The unLounded prosperity that protettion has bioiinlit to the country lia.s not settled it. Demagogues ïiave toid the people that tlie prosperity is illuBive, and tho people have believed them. Trickatera wtoo liad no expectatlon of tJie possiUility of democratie ascondency in all the co-ordinale branches of tbe Government have assured the people of wonderfully inereased prosperity under a democratie policy of free trade, and the pcoj)lo havo bpliev ed tliem. One taste of the bitter dr&oght that fhovrs from the free tradi alemlnr wil] oauM a deaire to return to and ponnain'inl.v aUde by the cool swect waters of prertectéon. It la not from desire of tomporarj vfetory in 1894 or 1896 tliat eome republioanii rejoice in the complete aeee of öi democratie majorlty in bot hocusefl of Oaagnu, but from dcBtre of BXKto permanent BOlntlOn of tlu tarifl cxmtpoverey as avüi take it out öf party politie.-.