| Show A STKP AHEAD Monday the house after a somewhat 8tormy session accepted the senates amendments to the Wilson bill The acceptance comes on the principle of half loaf being better than no bread We hail this action as a step in the direction of tariff reform It is not as comprehensive or as sweeping as it should have been butit is something a step in the right direction and the commencement whose inevitable ending end-ing is sure to be a sweeping reform which will forever blot out all remembrance remem-brance of McKinleyism and the dishonesty dis-honesty and trickery of that great wet blanket upon American commerce In the closing struggle Wilson Cripp and the other leaders 1 of democracy towered grandly in the lead of the forces of reform There cannot be the shadow of a doubt but that the original bill as it left the house reflected the views of the great masses of the democratic demo-cratic party as well as ths mass of ot the intelligent voters of the union It is a hard thing that the house has been compelled by the exegencies of the case to concur in the amendments of the senate which rob the bill of very much of its virtues in the eyes of real taiff reformers But it would never have done for congress to have adjourned without something in the way of redeeming the pledges of the party to the people made In good faith This is the best thatthe senate would do It had to be accepted We do not consider that the cause of true tariff reform is defeated or even crippled crip-pled by this half way sort of measure It is only the commencement of what we had fondly hoped would have been the glorious finish of the battle Full fruition is reserved for a period in the future but that period is by no means a distant one Deficient aid halting as the measure undeniably is it is still immea surably better than the McKinley law which it supercedes We can wait Patience Pa-tience is now a democratic virtue and we must practice it until un-til we have another chance s a struggles in the future of democracy I will be to set aside the obstructionists obstruction-ists in the senate The democrats of I the states will send no more senators to tear down the wisdom and patriotism patriot-ism which the party has built up In the future the party policy will be to put none but trustworthy democrats on guard In that end of the capitol It is too infernally bad that with a royal democratic majority quite sufficient to carry any measure determined upon we are to halt along this way in sight of full success but still unable to attain at-tain it by reason of a few misplaced halfway party men in league with the ultra protectionists who have placed tHemselves across the hawse of progress and reform If the four independent bills are passed and become laws we will not haye failed so entirely as to preclude hope In fact it will represent repre-sent a measure of victory of no insignificant insigni-ficant proportions The future of congress will we doubt not disclose that the true democratic blood in that body will continue tile fight until full and complete reform has been attained We cannot afford to let the matter rest where it is It must go on and those democratic senators sen-ators who have made obstructionists of themselves will be compalled to gird place to those who carry out religiously relig-iously the instructions of their constituents con-stituents Mr Cleveland will not veto this bill He most likely will not sign It but suffer it to become a law by expiration ex-piration The country expects much of even this measure cf reform It will not be disappointed but it will have its healthy influence a sweet foretaste of what full cjinplete and entire reform can be made This action though tardy in its nature is still better in all respects than no action at all |
