| Show I 1 1 I 1 4 CALAMITY G 1 IQ HS S PUERILE SPEECH af AT THE notification REVIEWED while ho ito played to the gallery he no jeweled nillon atres sat him III and applauded aped vapid platitude la in hueu of fact and argument we have been waiting with a good deal of interest for mr Clev elands first official utterance as a third time candidate for the presidency of the united states we were anxious for instance to know whether the ex president would I 1 again let his far famed honesty get the better of him in another attempt to straddle the issue BO so boldly stated in the democratic platform whether he would again turn up his eyes in virtuous indignation at the oppression of our vicious and illogical B system stem while of course professing the deepest affection and solicitude licit ude for all american interests in any way dependent upon existing law laws s and our desire has been gratified with sound of music and flare rare of light tho the democratic candidates were notified of their nomination in new york city recently the plain people of course were there in all their glory so were the robbed and cheated victims of the favored few but of this it may be well to let an eye witness speak a reporter of the new york press iress upon one side were mr whitney Wb itney with a company of his friends perhaps considering the iniquities of trusts which the platform denounced yet mr whitneys Whit friends seemed not n ot to be suffering from the burden of taxation and they chatted gayly and merrily until a roar announced the coming of the candidates J just beyond mr whitneys Whit box was that ono one reserved for governor flower flow er 0 who with bis his friends represented the enormities of republican rule which have enabled this gentle jeweler of watertown to gain a great fortune the railroad genius henry villard was just beyond heavy eyed solemn awaiting with seeming earnestness tho the coming of the candidates BO so that lie he who is the pance of blind pools would be beable able to demonstrate with vociferous acclaim his bis sympathy with that plank of the platform which denounces trusts and capitalistic enormities and on the other bide side of the hall there was wase E 0 benedict A diamond flashed from mr benedicts bosom and his eyes e es were very bright and he seemed to be in in thorough sympathy Bym pathy with the sentiment of 0 the platform which denounces trusts no doubt because his experience peri ence ceas as the great power in the chicago gas trust gave him opportunity toa to learn something of the enormity of these monopolies and then farther along in the boxes were orlando B potter a capitalist who it if he has buffered suffered has made no revelation of it and E ellery anderson and charles S F fairchild air child and frederic coudert and frank S scott and william B R grace and a score or more of suffering capitalists who w were ere ready to indorse those fulmination ns which were expected from mr cleveland against the greedy yearnings of the monopolists I 1 the great body in the garden however were w ere not able to distinguish these persons the mass of human beings was so great the boxes and the galleries were so densely packed that it waa was almost impossible even from the platform to dis distinguish the countenances of those suffering mortals tho the victims of corporate and tariff rapacity who occupied the boxes but bat if their faces were not distinguished their diamonds flashed with a brilliancy which vied led with the sparkle of the electric lights i however wo are concerned principally with mr Clev elands speech with its meaningless platitudes and empty phrases its shallow argument and demagogic appeals to prejudice with all the old and w saws without which no speech of the ex cx president seems to I 1 be complete all the old changes were rung in as a matter of course we are told that the workingman wor Lingman is starving of whom the greatest statistician of all the free traders says sa s that never before was he so prosperous that the farmers are going to the dogs doga the farmers whoso choso splendid crops and now markets aro are filling them with thoughts of better days to come and who w ho have ever constituted 0 protections stronghold at the polls the consumer too is not forgotten poorer than ever and staggering under the burden lurden of the higher prices duo due to mcanley protection when every country newspaper contains the announcement of cheaper and better goods and a nonpartisan senate committee agrees that most commodities cost less tho the old sickening cry of calamity and evil when every heart in the land is throbbing at tho the prospect of fairer brighter happier li appier times in in the new era of protection and reciprocity it makes ono one blush as an american citizen to read this false and canting arraignment of american citizenship and american policies what must foreigners think of such a description of the condition of our country and from the lips of an ex president we oppose earnestly says mr cleveland the theory upon which our opponents seek to justify and uphold existing tariff law laws s we need not base our attacks upon questions of cons titu dional permission or legislative power pow er we denounce this theory upon tho high cst est possible gro grounds ulias when wo we contend that in present conditions its operation is unjust and that laws enacted in accordance cor dance with ith it are inequitable and unfair the theory upon which these tariff laws are bast based d has mr cleveland forgotten that in his great freo free trade mes nage he spoke so earnestly of condi ions not riot theories tLe ories of tho the accumulating ain surplus which made lower tariff a it necessity hut tho surplus is gone and with it tho the condition and BO so it seam ithe theor must bo be taken as the pre dext text on kh to nde ride into office oura ours ia n ut a destructive party wo we arc are not at enmity with tao aguis or any of our citizen all are our coun country tryl mau mn we are not recklessly heedless of any american interests nor will we abandon our regard for them there it is again that cowardly halt half way sentiment that unwillingness to stand true to ones colors which is is typical 0 of cleveland honesty the chicago convention settled the question of f regard for american interests far better than mr cleveland ever did no regard for american interests for them free trade and nothing but free trade is their official ci amento mr Clev can t kejr action c S in receding g by an majority a plank which advocated fair treatment for protected industries into a disclaimer of being a destructive party no one but mr cleveland would attempt it the remainder of the speech was ablo pleasing no doubt to those representatives of the plain people of whose presence wo havo have spoken above but to the sober second sense of tho the true people the plain people whom lincoln loved and of whom he was the type such speeches as this will never appeal with any force they know that platitudes are no not arguments that assertions are not facts they know too that free trade not tariff reform or honest tariff is the democratic goal they know that honesty is the best policy that is the reason why they elected benjamin harrison president of tho united states in 1888 and why they will do it again in 1803 |
