Quoting from the New York World, whose editorial of November 10th is printed herewith, these sentences occur: “This victory does not mean Free Trade.” Then, does it mean “Tariff for revenue only”? which is an expression in the Democratic platform, adopted in Chicago, and, therefore, if this be a Democratic victory, it must mean what the Democratic party pledged themselves to in their National Convention at Chicago. “It does not mean,” says the New York World, “the unsettling of industry nor the derangement of commerce.” Well, but how can we have tariff for revenue only without unsettling industry and the derangement of commerce? And, if it be a Democratic victory (by Democratic victory is meant a victory of the Democratic party), we must have such laws made and executed as will create a schedule of tariff for revenue only.
Quoting further from this editorial: “It does not mean disturbance of what is sound in finance.” Then how can that portion of the Democratic platform, adopted at Chicago, be made consistent with the legislation in the future regarding the finances of the country? If the tax of ten per cent. upon State banks be withdrawn, and thus State banks be enabled to issue their notes, how will it be possible to prevent “a disturbance” of whatever is sound in finance?
Now, if this be a victory of the Democratic party, such a repeal of the ten per cent. penalty tax upon State banks must be enacted—that is, if the Democratic party intends to keep faith with its constituents.
FOR THE GOOD OF ALL.
“If there are honest Republicans who really believe what their party journals and speakers have told them—who fear that Democratic success in the nation threatens danger or disturbance to business—to them we say: Your fears are idle.
“The majority of the people of the United States, represented by the great Democratic majority, do not mean injury to themselves. This country is their country. Its business interests are their interests. Its prosperity is their prosperity. Its honor and welfare are their concern.
“This victory does not mean Free Trade. It does not mean the unsettling of industry nor the derangement of commerce. It does not mean disturbance of whatever is sound in finance.
“The President-elect is the very embodiment of conscientious caution. He is preëminently conservative. His administration will mean economy, reform, retrenchment in every branch of the Government.
“The victory does mean putting a stop to the riot of extravagance, profligacy, and corruption. It means the end of the reign of Plutocracy. It means relief from the monstrous robbery of the masses by unjust and unnecessary taxation. It means a veto upon the looting of the Treasury and the hideous waste of hundreds—nay, thousands—of millions of dollars in the course of a generation by unmerited pensions. It does mean lower and juster taxes and larger freedom of trade. It does mean good money, and good money only.
“Our party has triumphed under the happy union of a great issue and a great man. The Republic is stronger for this Democratic victory. The Republicans themselves will be more prosperous, and in the end happier because of it. Government of the people is safe in the hands of a great majority of the people.”
In the concluding paragraph of the above editorial of the World, we read (and those of us who live in New York State, with considerable astonishment): “Our party has triumphed under the happy union of a great issue and a great man.” To start with, the issue seems to have been, judging from all of the preceding, Tariff on one side, Free Trade on the other; National banks on one side, State banks on the other; and Force Bill as a kind of “Flyer.”
With regard to these “great issues,” there was a lack of unanimity among even the great newspapers of the Union, at the head of which, justly and properly, we put the Free Trade New York World and the Protection New York Sun. With regard to the “great man” (and there is no attempt to disparage in any manner the President-elect of this nation), it seems somewhat peculiar to use the term “great” to designate that citizen of the Union who has been selected as chief magistrate of the nation, in view of the fact that he had been dubbed the “Stuffed Prophet” by that great organ of Democracy, the New York Sun, and was so heralded through the Union for more than a year before his nomination. And when four years ago, he sought re-election, the New York World killed this “great man” by faint praise. His popularity and greatness did not seem to be recognized by the seventy-two members of the Democratic National Committee who represented the State of New York, in the National Democratic Convention at Chicago, as these representatives protested against the nomination of their “great” fellow-citizen, declaring that he could not be elected if nominated; and they represented the politics of the Democratic party; and they told the truth as far as the Democratic party was concerned.
By reason of his greatness or his popularity, he could not have been elected. But when he came before the people, as representing the great mass of the “Common People,” then he became great, but only great in so far as he represented the greatness of the people.
The politicians of New York State pronounced the verdict of all that which is controlled by politicians in the State of New York, when they declared it as their opinion that Grover Cleveland could not carry the State of New York. They were simply saying what they, the politicians, in their little political way, could do. But when Grover Cleveland became the representative of the “Common People,” then the “Common People” made him great—far greater than could the politician have done—and he has sailed into office on the favorable wind of the opinion of the “Common People.” His greatness is only the reflected greatness of those whom he represents. Inherently, greatness in Grover Cleveland may exist, but certainly no evidence of it has yet been given. He is great to-day because of the great support that has been given him by the will and pleasure of the “Common People.” He is no more great of himself and in himself than would be the rifle in the hands of an expert marksman. The masses, the “Common People,” represent the marksman. Grover Cleveland is merely the weapon which they will use to bring down the animal which has been devouring their substance, destroying their homes and happiness. The weapon, even though it be the rifle of Davy Crockett, would become impotent in the hands of the weak and inexperienced. The people are powerful, and they will render great the weapon which they wield. The people are skillful. For many centuries, as the preceding chapters recount, in the history of all nations, the people have become trained and skillful in the use of their power.
The President-elect has it within his reach to achieve greatness as the willing and trusty weapon of the masses, the “Common People,” by whom he was elected. And wherever the “Common People,” the masses, have found a weapon untrustworthy, they have cast it aside as readily and quickly, and secured another, as the ordinary hunter of the wild animal would do.
The “Common People” have been engaged in a chase after this wild animal, this destructive beast, called “caste,” sham aristocracy, and over-accumulation of wealth. They imagine that they have secured a good weapon in the man of their choice, November last. And, should it become evident that they have been mistaken, his greatness will cease to be as soon as the great power by which he is supported falls away from him.
It is not well to call a man great until he is dead. Had Benedict Arnold died after the Battle of Saratoga, he would have gone down in history as one of the great heroes of the Revolution.
Grover Cleveland was elected, contrary to the expectations expressed (and expressed honestly) by the seventy-two most influential Democratic politicians of the State of New York. He carried the State represented by these sagacious politicians by more than 40,000 majority. And it was all done, independently of the politicians, by the will of the “Common People”—not by the Democratic party. For upon what issue, possibly, could converts have been made by the politicians?
From the standpoint of politicians, and from past experience, that eminent Democratic orator, the Hon. Bourke Cockran, was perfectly correct when he stated in Chicago, in his famous speech before the National Democratic Convention, that Grover Cleveland was the most popular man in the country on every day in the year, except election day. This was said, honestly and sincerely, by a leading light of the political world of the Democratic party. Mr. Cockran could not foretell that the great Democratic masses, the “Common People,” would utilize any one who might happen to be chosen as the weapon of destruction which the “Common People” would use in the chase after the object of their resentment, that brute, represented by “Chappie” on Broadway, the Astors, Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and Goulds—the sham aristocracy.
Mr. Cockran has, since the election, doubtless realized that, as a politician of the State of New York, he is justly eminent for his sagacity and wisdom, as well as his eloquence; but, as a judge of what the PEOPLE will do, he is as unreliable in his judgment as the veriest babe in swaddling clothes.
He was talking in Chicago, as was the honorable Governor of the State of New York, and others, for the Democratic party, which COULD NOT and DID NOT elect Grover Cleveland. When, therefore, after the election of Grover Cleveland, that Democratic party, as represented by the New York Sun, assumes to dictate to the party of the people, who, independently of the Democratic party as a political organization, but acting only as “Common People,” have elected a chief magistrate and representatives to represent them, the “Common People,” it is simply bidding for the extinction of the power of that political party known as the Democratic party, with whom, on this occasion, the “Common People” have acted, for purposes of their own, and to achieve ends which they consider desirable.
Should it be assumed by those elected November 8, 1892, to represent the people in the government of the nation, that they were elected because they were Democrats—or, rather, members of the Democratic political party—then it would become their duty, as honest men, pledged to support the views entertained and expressed by the makers of the platform of the Democratic National Convention at Chicago, to repeal all existing tariff laws, until the amount received from duties would only be sufficient to defray the expenses of the Government. In other words, having a tariff for revenue only, and not for protection; but, inasmuch as the expenses of the Government are as great or greater to-day than its income, it would mean that the “Common People,” who voted for the nominee of the Democratic party, have simply swapped horses in crossing a stream, without benefiting themselves in any particular. The Government must have money to defray its expenses, and if, practically, the present tariff is only furnishing a sufficient revenue to defray the expenses of the Government, where is it possible to reform it, so as to lighten the burden of taxation now imposed upon the “Common People”? This is all upon the assumption that the Democratic party claim that it was that peculiar plank in their platform, “Tariff for Revenue Only,” that gave them the victory last November. Then the tariff would remain as it is, as we need every dollar of the income of the nation to defray its expenses.
Should the Democratic party assume that it was that peculiar part of their platform which demanded a repeal of the ten per cent. penalty tax for the State banks, then, by the repeal (to which they are pledged) of the said penalty tax of ten per cent., State banks would spring into existence, issuing their own notes, as was the practice before the National Banking Act was enacted. What great good to the “Common People” could grow out of this change in the currency of the nation (that would apparently be the only thing, if the Democratic party is convinced that its nominees were elected because of the virtues contained in their platform), that can possibly be carried into execution by the incoming Government? The suggestion of an increase in the internal revenue tax levied upon alcohol would not be productive of an increase in the revenue derived from this source, as past experience, both in this country and in Europe, has demonstrated that increased taxes upon any article decrease the consumption of said article, and, therefore, decrease the revenue.
The perplexing question, therefore, that will confront those who believe that the Democratic Party was elected to power, is: How can we adhere to the platform of the Democratic party, and at the same time benefit, in the slightest degree, the people of the nation? For even the most egotistical Democrat will understand, and does understand, that the people of the nation, having placed in the hands of those men whom they have chosen, the entire control of the affairs of the nation; that they, the “Common People” of the nation, will not be satisfied with merely holding things as they are. That would be merely a shifting of scenes without changing the play on the stage of public affairs. Something must be done, in addition to the mere putting out of one set of office-holders of the Republican party and putting in another set of office-holders of the Democratic party. The “Common People” of America, the masses, are not office-seekers. They desire something more than the mere changing of the political faith of their Postmasters, United States Marshals, and other Federal office-holders.
If the Democratic party, now in power, fails to do anything except shift the scene and change office-holders, then the Democratic party will be relegated to that dismal slough of despondency, at the next election, in which the Republican party is now submerged. The people will elect, by some political name, a party who will perform something for the people’s benefit.
It is almost impossible to reduce the tariff without running the government into debt. It is impossible to increase the internal revenue tax to supply the deficiency. Then, if the Democratic party believes in lower duties and decreased tariff, what other course is open for it? What other course is fair to the poor “Common People” of America than to pass an income tax to supply the needs of the nation? It is perfectly useless to talk about abolishing the pensions to any amount sufficient to create any perceptible impression upon the decrease in the income of the nation, should the tariff be materially reduced. It is utterly worthless to argue the subject. The time is wasted. Pension frauds—if any exist—should be at once abolished. But any attempt to repeal any existing legislation with regard to the pensions of the old soldiers of the Union would simply be met by such a howl of indignation as to make a step of that nature impracticable. Whatever sums have been given, and whatever obligations have been incurred, by the Federal Government in the last four years (except frauds which may possibly have been perpetrated), must continue to exist until time shall have relieved the Federal Government from its obligations to the old veterans of the Civil War.
We must have money for internal improvements, for our navy, and for our pensions. We cannot procure the money if we materially reduce the tariff, except in one way, and that is by an income tax, which necessarily must be a graded one. The people of America will not stand a general income tax, wherein one man with an income of a million dollars per annum can pay two per cent., and the man whose income is only two thousand dollars per annum shall pay also the same percentage upon his small income. That would be obviously unfair to the poor man, to whom two per cent. from his small income would represent an inconvenience to him greater than fifty per cent. would to the man with an income of a million.
If the Democratic party assume to have won this victory, then let them proceed, upon the platform adopted at Chicago, which will result practically in nothing being accomplished. If Grover Cleveland has been elected solely for his “greatness,” and by reason of his immense personal popularity, then let him gather the Reform Club with one arm and Tammany Hall with the other. This trinity of greatness, purity, and brightness will be sufficient for his administration, but nothing will be done.
If, as the facts are, or seem to be—and the vote indicates the correctness of the position—Grover Cleveland and the Democratic party have been put into power by the “Common People” because they represented to the minds of the “Common People” the opposition to “caste,” sham aristocracy, and great accumulation of wealth, and not by the mugwumps and the kid-gloved gentlemen of the Reformed Club or the Tammany Heelers, then, if Grover Cleveland and the Democratic party recognize their election to be the result of the votes, not alone of the faithful of the Democratic faith, but of the “Common People,” let something be done that may enable the “Common People” to realize their hopes and expectations—then, at the end of Grover Cleveland’s four years of administration, he having performed the wishes of the “Common People,” let us pronounce him GREAT.
If the Democratic party, with the President at its head, will now utterly throw to the wind old traditions and principles of the Democratic party, and give no heed to the howling of the Democratic press, but comply with the mandates of the people, that they should be relieved from this incubus which is crushing them—over-accumulation of wealth, centralization of capital, and sham aristocracy; the only possible way, without resorting to measures obnoxious to the American mind—confiscation and like enactments—is by a graded income tax, which will throw the burden of the Government where it belongs,—i. e., upon the shoulders of those who have become fat and lusty by feeding upon the blood of the nation. And, in proportion as the burden of taxation is laid upon those ample shoulders, it may be lifted from the crushed and suffering poor of the body politic.
The mere utterance and repetition of the word “reform” is meaningless. Saying the word does not make any reformation. When Grover Cleveland was elected eight years ago, he was elected upon the “Reform” cry. The people were then suffering from this “class” infliction, and they gave vent to their feelings by the election of Cleveland. It had been so often repeated that there was great corruption in the Republican party, that the people expected a wonderful exposure of corruption and a great reformation in the affairs of the nation. Nothing was done. No corruption was exposed. The ledgers of the nation seemed to have been accurately kept. No crime was unearthed, and nothing was accomplished. The very plausible excuse was offered that the Republican party still controlled the Senate of the United States, and made abortive any attempt at reformation, or the accomplishment of any relief for the “Common People.”
Now, upon this occasion, Grover Cleveland, after a vacation of four years, has been called once again by the “Common People” to command the Ship of State. Both mates and the whole crew have been placed under his command. They believe of him what the New York World, November 13th, here gives us:—
THE “STUFFED PROPHET.”
“The ‘Stuffed Prophet’—that is the nickname bestowed upon Mr. Cleveland by the newspaper organ of plutocracy, which has for years professed Democracy for the purpose of betraying it.
“The name was bestowed in derision. It was the favorite invention of a malice which mistakes insolence for wit. It was intended for ridicule, but, rightly viewed, it is a title to be worn as an honor.
“It is an honor to Mr. Cleveland that he has never had or merited the approval of the New York Sun. It is a credit to him that that journal is chief among those to whom General Bragg referred when he said, ‘We love him for the enemies he has made.’
“And there is fitness in the nickname, too.
“Mr. Cleveland was a true prophet when he set the face of Democracy towards reform, foreseeing that the country would in due time demand it. He had the gift of the seer, when at the Washington Centennial banquet, he avowed his unfaltering confidence in the wisdom of the people who had so recently overthrown his cause, and his assurance that they would soon come to a juster view, and vote down the policy of monopoly and class privilege and oppressive taxation. They have done it this year.
“And this prophet is stuffed.
“He is stuffed with the virtue which accepts public office only as a public trust;
“Stuffed with the honor which refuses to ‘palter in a double sense’ with words, or even to keep silence when—as at the time of the silver craze—frank utterance seems to promise only destruction for his own and his party’s ambitions;
“Stuffed with sturdy common-sense which ‘sees clear and thinks straight,’ and so commends itself to the ‘plain people’ who love the right and seek justice;
“Stuffed with a foresight unsurpassed by that of any statesman of our time;
“Stuffed with a purity of patriotism which views place and power merely as opportunities to render service to the country;
“Stuffed with unprecedented majorities, the eager tributes of the people in testimony of their approval;
“Stuffed with the confidence of his countrymen, who have called him again into their service in order that wrongs may be righted, oppressions overthrown, errant tendencies checked, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people may not perish from the land;
“Stuffed with the Democracy that means all this, for truly—
“The next President is a Democrat.”
If, as we hope, “Grover Cleveland is stuffed with the virtue which accepts public office only as a public trust,” then he will accept his office as President of the United States as a trust from the “Common People” of our country, and not from the political party who nominated him,—i. e., the Democratic party; he will accept the trust confided in him by the Democracy in its broadest sense—the “Common People” of the land.
If he be “stuffed with honor,” in accepting that trust, he will do so with full cognizance of the fact that in honor bound he is to acquit himself in his high office to which he has been called by the “Common People” of America, as will best satisfy them, and remove those crying evils which call aloud from the hearthstone of every Common Man in America. The most objectionable of all the evils, and the one most prominently considered by the voter last November, was the existence of an attempted class distinction in our country.
If he is “stuffed,” as God grant he is, “with sturdy common-sense, which sees clearly and thinks straight, and so commends itself to the plain people who love the right and seek justice,” his sturdy common-sense will teach him that he has been elected by the “plain people,” and he will “think straight,” that the “plain people” want such legislation and the execution of such legislation as may relieve them—not in pocketbook, but in feeling—from the assumption of a superiority upon the part of the wealthy worshipers at the throne of “caste,” and to that end a graded income tax will be productive of more good and be more efficacious in the accomplishment of an object so near to the “plain people who love right and seek justice,” that it made the plain “Common People” forget old affiliations last November—old ties and associations—and vote for the President-elect and the political party by which he was nominated.
If he be “stuffed with a purity of patriotism which views place and power merely as opportunities to render service to the country,” then when his term of office shall have expired, having rendered that service to the country, and the “Common People” of the country, to do which he was elected President by the “plain people,” he will have endeared himself so to the patriotic “plain people” of the land, having faithfully kept the trust reposed in him by the people, that his name shall go down in the records of the nation associated with the names of Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, and Lincoln.
Grover Cleveland is certainly “stuffed” with the confidence of his countrymen, who have called him again into their service, in order that wrongs may be righted, oppression overthrown, arrant tendencies checked, and that “the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, may not perish from the land.” Let us hope that this confidence is well placed, and that now, when he may call to his assistance both branches of the national legislature, he will right those wrongs, and overthrow the oppression of which the people complain; and the chiefest of these is the accumulation of vast sums of money in the hands of families and persons, which creates a danger to “the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
The people do believe that he is “stuffed with true democracy, in its broadest sense,” else they never would have elected him. And how can that true democracy be exhibited better than by suggesting such legislation as will cast the burden of taxation upon that class who can so easily bear it—that class which have rendered themselves so entirely obnoxious to the “Common People” of America, those “plain people, who love the right and seek justice,” and who, loving the right, have sought justice by calling him to the position of Executive of the nation? How can Grover Cleveland better right the wrongs of the “Common People” than by urging, as chief of the party in power, the passage of a graded income tax, which would certainly meet with the approval of the “Common People,” by whom he was elected, that thereby funds might be furnished for defraying the expenses of the nation, and thus relieving the burden cast upon the “Common People,” at the same time preventing a continuation of this much-to-be-feared accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few in our country.
A double object would be thus accomplished: First, the primary consideration for which they voted, the abolition of “caste,” sham aristocracy, would be brought about by preventing vast incomes being enjoyed by individuals or families, and the consequent idleness, luxury, selfishness, sensuality, and snobbishness attendant upon the enjoyment of vast incomes, where the recipient remains in idleness. Second, it would afford a cure and relief for the present excessive system of taxation which falls so heavily upon the general mass of the people. Thus, at one time, and by one measure (perfectly consistent with the will of the people by whom he was elected), Grover Cleveland could right most of the wrongs, and give relief to the “Common People,” the “plain people” (so called by the New York World), by whom he has been chosen as chief.
There is no need to mince matters upon this subject. It is plainly and obviously the duty of Grover Cleveland to give some outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace which is in him. There is no time to waste in this matter. Grover Cleveland understands too well that he was not elected by the Democratic party; that he will have the support of the party of the people, call it by what name you will. The Populists, representing, as they do, some of the grievances of the “plain” “Common People,” will act with Grover Cleveland’s party, the party of the “Common People.”
The New York World furnishes an admirable article upon the subject, “Why Are They Natural Allies?” speaking of the Populists. Because they are the party of the plain “Common People,” who, along with the Democratic party, will control the legislation of the nation, Grover Cleveland represents this army of “Allies,” as surely as did Wellington, at the Battle of Waterloo, and the “Common People” will expect him to defeat, “horse, foot, and dragon,” the enemy—the sham aristocracy, the representatives of “caste,” and the monopoly of money, who have, like Napoleon, carried devastation and destruction into our country; just as Napoleon did into every country of Europe. Grover Cleveland will have the assistance of these “Natural Allies,” the Populists, which is indicated in the timely article below, from the New York World, of December 15, 1892:—
“The Populists in the next Senate will be the natural allies of the Democrats on the most important matters that will come before Congress.
“The Democrats and the Populists fused in several of the Western States. They will together control several of the legislatures. The third party has no affiliation with the Republicans. It is composed in the main of voters who have become disgusted with Republican rule.
“The Republicans cannot rely upon retaining their grip on the Senate by the votes of the men who have overthrown them at the West.”
If Grover Cleveland and the party which nominated him will but once recognize, and at once, that they did not triumph by reason of the conversion of old Republicans to the doctrines enunciated in the Democratic platform, at Chicago, but will now promptly come to the conclusion, which is so obvious, that they were elected by the “Common People,” for the plain purpose of righting those wrongs which the people have endured in silence, then it will be impossible for Republican newspapers to claim that they are “at sea without a chart.” They are “at sea without a chart” at present, because the Democratic party, under the whip and spur of Democratic newspapers, driving them to cling on to Democratic principles, and to hold to Democratic doctrine, will prevent Grover Cleveland and the Democratic party from taking any action which would furnish relief to the people. The New York Sun, under the able and magnificent management of Hon. Charles A. Dana, cries for Protection and against the Income Tax; while that most potential newspaper, the New York World, also Democratic, under the control of the Hon. Joseph Pulitzer, inveighs against Protection and in favor of an Income Tax. Torn by the dissensions in its own ranks, the Democratic party, if it attempts to cling on to the old ideas, will simply do nothing; and that is what the people fear.
Now is the occasion for Grover Cleveland to prove himself to be a “great” man. Now is the time for those representatives, elected by the will of the people, to demonstrate to the people that they are willing servants, and that “public office is a public trust”; that, as trustees of the will of the people, they will comply with the request of the people. And the request has gone forth to give relief to the people from this tumor which has grown upon the body politic—“caste,” snobbery, and sham aristocracy, and the attendant evil which was the cause of the tumor—excessive taxation and class legislation. Throw old doctrines and principles of the Democratic party to the winds. Cleveland, the next House of Representatives, and the Senate of the United States were not elected and selected upon old principles, which were part of the constitution of the Democratic party. They were elected upon a broad democracy, and if they will adopt the will of the people, their wants and needs, and apply such remedies as the people may demand, then will it be impossible for Republican writers, who wield a trenchant pen like that of the Hon. John A. Cockerill, to truthfully say: “The incoming party is at sea without a chart.”
The New York World, of December 11th, says of Grover Cleveland’s speech, that its generalities are eminently sound and patriotic, and that he asserts that the people can be trusted and that they know what they want, which is here given:—
“Those who looked for any definite statement of his policy from the President-elect in his speech at the Reform Club banquet last night will be disappointed. Mr. Cleveland evidently thinks, and probably correctly, that the time for this has not yet come.
“But Mr. Cleveland’s generalities are eminently sound and patriotic. Especially excellent is his sturdy assertion of the good Democratic doctrine that the people can be trusted, that they know what they want, and are entitled to have their will respected. Contrasted with the current Republican talk that the voters have been befooled for three years and are bent on turning the progress of their country backward, Mr. Cleveland’s robust patriotism and faith are eminently refreshing.
“The spirit in which he contemplates the responsibility soon to be placed upon him and his party is equally admirable. There is neither shrinking nor boastfulness, but a calm courage characteristic of the man and befitting the occasion. It is to be hoped that Mr. Cleveland’s admonition to and defence of economy, as something about which ‘there is nothing shabby or discreditable,’ will not be lost upon the present Congress.”
This fills us with hope, we “Common People,” who regard the World as a leading light in the Democratic firmament of journalism. It is like a bow of promise set in the heavens of the future, and especially when, upon the succeeding day, the World, which voices the sentiments of the Democratic party, publishes the following:—
“A monopoly organ declares that an income tax is ‘undemocratic.’ It says that ‘the only excuse for the income tax was that it was a war measure,’ and asks: ‘What excuse can be given for reimposing it?’
“The excuse of necessity. The government is confronted with the condition of an empty treasury and a demand for tariff reduction twice made by the people. Either one of these things may make new taxes necessary. Combined, they are almost certain to do so.
“With an annual expenditure of over $220,000,000 due to the war (for pensions and interest upon the public debt) a choice in war taxes would fall on a graded income tax upon every principle of economy and justice.
“It is surely Democratic to tax luxuries rather than necessaries, superfluities rather than essentials. As one of the speakers at the Reform Club said: ‘Any tax on what men have is better than a tax on what men need.’ It cannot be undemocratic to tax those who are best able to pay, to apportion public burdens in a manner to cause the least hardship to the greatest number.
“A graded income tax is the coming tax if the expenditures of the government are to continue anywhere near the present mark.”
It is with hope and trustfulness that we regard the future.
Here is a spectacle presented before us by two of the Democratic newspapers of New York City—the stronghold of Democracy in the Union is New York City—one arrayed on the side of Protection and against a graded income tax, the other, of equal prominence and position, arrayed on the side of Free Trade and a graded income tax. Now, let the members of the Democratic party view this picture presented to the “Common People” of America, and ask themselves: For what did the people vote November 8, 1892? Did they vote with the New York Sun when they voted for Grover Cleveland, or did they vote with the New York World when they cast their ballots for the President-elect? Common-sense, common reason, would indicate to the most superficial that they voted neither with the New York Sun nor the New York World, nor the Democratic party.
This is not a victory of the Democratic party! And it cannot be said too forcefully that this victory does not belong to the Democratic party! It is a VICTORY OF THE PEOPLE, who demanded a suppression and an extinguishing of the wrongs that had been inflicted upon them. They voted out West with the Populist party on the same basis as they voted with the Democratic party in the East and South. It was anything—call it by what name you please—so that that thing, when elected, should be a party of the people.
Don’t insist upon a revivification of the doctrines of the Democratic party. The people have spoken for themselves, and their voices must be heard through the representatives selected by them in the halls of Congress. During the next four years, Grover Cleveland must execute the WILL OF THE PEOPLE. He has been elected by no party. The Populists will be his “natural allies,” because they represent the People, as he does. He need not remain “at sea without a chart” one day or hour, only follow the will of the people! They have placed their heels of disapprobation upon “caste” and sham aristocracy and the attempt to engraft it upon American society. They have placed the nail erect and have given Grover Cleveland the hammer. Now let him drive it home! And we will stud the coffin of dead “caste” so full of nails that the shaking skeleton, borrowed from Europe, will never have a resurrection in our country. There is only one effectual way to accomplish the end desired—the eternal entombment of this multi-lived creature—and that is by the infliction of such an income tax as will prevent the possibility of the existence of a thing like “Chappie” on Broadway, and make America an undesirable field for the coroneted sportsmen of Europe to hunt in for matrimonial game, and prevent the accumulation of fortunes that would arouse a feeling of cupidity in the weazen chests of the puppified lords and degenerate descendants of Europe’s nobility, whose greatest pride is in the “Bar Sinister” in their armorial bearings.
Why is delay in the execution of the will of the people necessary? Grover Cleveland is thoroughly convinced that he was elected, not by the Democratic party, but by the people at large. The first step in the right direction would be this—as soon as Grover Cleveland assumes the office of President of the United States—(that is, President of the nation, by the will of the “Common People”), to then and at once take such steps as would quickly afford the relief the “Common People” expect of him and his administration. Will the cry of the Republican newspapers, that “the Democratic party will do nothing,” prove correct? It is only for four years that this man of the people, Grover Cleveland, can occupy the position to which he has been called by the “plain” people of America. After his induction into office, the “Common People” will expect that not one single day will be wasted in the execution of their wishes. “Twice in the election of Congress the people have decreed a reform in taxation and other changes in the policy of the government.” And the people will not permit any further delay in the matter. The people, in the most pronounced manner, have exhibited their determination to bring about certain changes and a certain kind of reformation. Every hour that it is delayed is pregnant with danger to the Democratic party.
The closing sentence taken from the New York World, of December 10th, seems full of meat—“The way to reform is to reform.” All the platitudes and promises ever uttered would not be a reformation. The people, by an overwhelming majority, have decreed that there shall be a reformation in taxation, and with regard to the social life of the American people, which has been made unhappy by the introduction of foreign mannerisms. The way to begin is to begin, and the sooner the better.
The calling of an extra session of Congress is but a minor detail where the will of sixty-five million people has been expressed in the positive manner that it was on November 8th, 1892. The great Democratic dailies of the Union, like Kilkenny cats, are fighting over little matters, seemingly losing sight entirely of the truth of the case, i. e., that this is not a Democratic victory, but a victory of the people. And the sooner the wrongs of which the people complain are righted, so much sooner will end the sorrow, sufferings and the oppression of the people. Whether there should be an extra session or not, it is hardly worth while for two great dailies like the New York World and New York Herald to quarrel over. The people have said: It is well that certain things be done. “Then, if it be well that it be done, it is well that it be done quickly.”
In concluding this chapter, it is desirable to have it distinctly understood that this volume was not written or intended as a Democratic aftermath campaign argument. If it be incomprehensible with the mass of the people who may read this book, that it was written from a broad democratic standpoint, and not from a Democratic party standpoint, that it is to be regretted. It has not been the aim of the author to fall prostrate at the feet of the Hon. Grover Cleveland, the President-elect of the nation, further than to believe and trust in his promises and integrity, and his manliness of character, and to await the result of his actions, with regard to the will of the people, pronounced the 8th day of November, 1892, in their selection of him as their representative. Should the Hon. Grover Cleveland, President-elect of the Union, by the will of the “Common, ‘plain’ People” of America, prove himself to be all that the people believe, should he fulfill the trust reposed in him, as did Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and Abraham Lincoln, then with earnestness and sincerity would the author lend his voice to the anthem that would go up in his praise from the mouths of the “Common People,” saying: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; great hast been thy trust, and in such manner hast thou executed the trust that thy name shall be handed down, in the records of history, to be read by future generations of Americans as The Great Grover Cleveland.”
The “Grand Old Party,” which sprang from American intelligence and the advancement of civilization, fully armed, like Minerva from the brain of Jupiter!
That transcendent glory which will ever surround the name of the Republican party with a halo, was not forever submerged beneath the flood of indignant votes, November 8, 1892. That party which, by its deeds, shall ever live in the grateful recollection of the American heart, was not vanquished in the fight November last.
The symmetry, beauty, and virtues so pre-eminent in the party of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, will ever present a spectacle for the admiration of the “plain” “Common People” of America. They loved the Republican party in 1860, and cast their votes for it because it represented them—the plain “Common People”; because the candidate of the Republican party, Abraham Lincoln, was one of them, the “Common People”; because in the right hand of the Republican party was carried the standard of equality and emancipation; because in their standard-bearer, Abraham Lincoln, the plain people recognized a typical man of the “Common People.” “Mudsillism” was synonymous to them with the term “Common People.” The industrial and laborial North was aroused to righteous indignation by the assumption of a social superiority on the part of the cavaliers, the believers in “caste,” in the South. The Republican party, led by that wonderful creation of the American soil and the air of freedom, Abraham Lincoln, won the battle of the equality of man in 1861-65. Following still the guiding star which had left its reflected glory upon the horizon even after it had descended into the tomb made by the assassin, the people of the Union elected the victorious general, Ulysses S. Grant, to the office of Chief Executive of the nation. Believing in and trusting the man who had been a friend to Abraham Lincoln, when he was surrounded by a multitude of dangers, they cheerfully re-elected the victorious General Grant to be the President of the people for a second term.
Slowly, but none the less surely, had been going on, during General Grant’s administration, the disintegration of those principles that made the party of Abraham Lincoln great in the eyes of the “Common People” of the Union. After twice enjoying the exalted position of Chief Magistrate of the nation, General Grant was called upon to surrender his office to a successor. So great had been the inroads of decay upon that sterling honesty of the Republican party—that Republican party which had been planted by the loving hands of Lincoln in the breasts of the American people—that President Hayes succeeded General Grant, as a Republican President, only by concessions made in the interests of peace by a great statesman, Samuel J. Tilden.
The weakening influence of the barnacles growing upon that stalwart tree of Republicanism, and which had been washed there by the ocean tide of prosperity that had surged upon our nation, was felt in the campaign between Hayes and Tilden. And let all good Americans, Republicans as well as Democrats, uncover their heads in speaking of a man like Tilden, who was a man of the people, thought of the people, and of the horrors of civil war. Each succeeding administration tended but to weaken the hold of that good old Republican party, that Grand Old Party! (and it gives us pleasure to say it) upon the hearts of the American people, because the barnacles which had clung on to the life-giving roots of the stalwart oak of Republicanism and the Grand Old Party—those barnacles of sham aristocracy, believers in “caste” and class distinction, the wealthy—had managed to sap the strength of the vigorous young tree planted by Abraham Lincoln, until, deformed, it presented a spectacle obnoxious to the eyes of the “Common People” of America.
The first decisive evidence of the dissatisfaction of the people was given in the election of Grover Cleveland in 1884.
While Burchard, with that remarkable alliteration, “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion,” is accredited with having caused the defeat of James G. Blaine, the impression made upon the “Common People” by the spectacle of that dinner of millionaires, called the “Belshazzar feast,” at which the nominee of the Republican party, James G. Blaine, occupied a seat, was much greater than the howling of “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion,” by an obscure preacher.
The Republican party had ceased to represent to the minds of the plain “Common People” what it had originally represented. There had grown upon that party the fruit of evil, in the shape of a moneyed class, who assumed to be better than the plain “Common People” of America. Hence, James G. Blaine, with all his personal popularity, magnetism, and magnificent record, was unable to secure, from the ranks of the “Common People,” the votes necessary to elect him President.
The defeat of Grover Cleveland by President Harrison was brought about (and there can be no doubt of it) largely by the use of money, secured as contributions from the moneyed class to perpetuate the control of the Republican party in the Federal Government, thinking that by so doing the power and assumption of social superiority upon the part of believers in “caste,” who cared nothing about the principles of the original Abraham Lincoln Republican party, and who were as far beneath it in patriotism, honesty, and truth as the earth is beneath the heavens, would also be perpetuated.
There is not a shadow of doubt, and even the most prejudiced slave of political “bossism” will be forced to admit, that President Harrison has filled his high office with dignity; that he is an honest, patriotic, representative American. He has kept faith with the American public, as far as was possible for him to do so, in the execution of the laws enacted by the legislative bodies of the nation. His renomination was but the natural consequence of his administration.
The Republican party certainly entered the campaign of 1892 opposed by a divided Democratic press, a divided Democratic party, upon the supposed and alleged great issue of the campaign—that is, Protection and Free Trade.
To illustrate that point, compare the New York Sun, believing in Protection, with the New York World, believing in Free Trade.
The American people for intelligence will average as highly as the people of any other nation, but they are not all political economists. They had not, even during the four years and with all “the campaign of education,” become sufficiently instructed to form a decided opinion upon the information acquired by them with regard to the questions of political economy involved in the discussion of Protection and Free Trade.
It is perfectly ridiculous to hear it asserted that the people of the United States voted against the Republican party in sufficient numbers to create a political revolution by reason of the fact that they had learned sufficient to become convinced, founding their conviction upon information and reason, that Free Trade was preferable to Protection.
The average American voter would be as lost in an argument upon the subject of political economy as would a disputant regarding a legal proposition who had never heard of Blackstone or Kent, because the average American citizen has never read one line of Adam Smith, John Stewart Mill, or, in fact, any of the hand-books of political economy.
The conclusion to be drawn from the assertion that the people of the United States had become convinced that it was beneficial to them to have Free Trade is groundless. The Republican party had certainly the advantage in the argument, because, under the existing state of our tariff laws, the country is and was prosperous, wages were higher, a greater sum of money was deposited in the savings banks by the laboring classes than ever before in the history of our country. Now, these good things, representing a prosperous condition, actually existed and do exist under the Protection policy of the Republican party. It is hard to believe that the mass of our fellow-citizens would be led away by the simple desire for an “experimental change.” It is hard to convince any man (when you select an individual) that he shall forsake a business or occupation which he knows furnishes him with a competency, to embark into some new and untried venture, forsaking that which he already knows furnishes him with a sufficiency, for that which is speculative.
Now, this is exactly what the Republican party, as represented by the Republican newspapers, is trying to preach as the cause of the defeat of the Republican party last November. In other words, the press of the Republican party assumes that, collectively, the people of the Union are more utterly ignorant, stupid, and absurd than they would be when acting as individuals, which, of course, is ridiculous.
It was not a question of the pocketbook with the masses. It was not a question whether they were doing better by reason of the Protective policy of the Republican party than they could hope to do under the Free Trade policy enunciated by the Democratic party. It was a clear-cut proposition: Shall we allow longer the accumulation of money in the hands of a few families, who are assuming before us and flaunting in our faces their claim to a social superiority, making a sham aristocracy, “caste,” in our country? It was not the pocketbook, for with regard to that proposition there can be no doubt that the American characteristic, “shrewdness in business,” would have inclined every voter to let well enough alone.
The Republican party and the principles enunciated at Minneapolis with regard to Protection had certainly the best of the argument. From a business standpoint, what was and is, is well. What may be in the future, under the Free Trade theories of the Democratic party, from a business standpoint, is problematical. But the voter remembered the snubs, sneers, and insults inflicted upon his wife and family by would-be social superiors, whom he associated in his mind, in an unmistakable manner, with the Republican party.
It was not a defeat upon the principles of the Republican party. It was a defeat of class, “caste,” and sham aristocracy. It was not a defeat because of the pocketbook.
On November 5th, the Mail and Express, of New York City, published the following editorial, which is absolutely truthful:—
BUSINESS AND POLITICS.
“Here it is the last week before the Presidential election, and so sound are all the conditions that people seem to have little time to talk politics. Never before in the history of the country has business gone right on with so much more than usual activity for the season. Money has been easy and the volume of exchanges, as shown by the Clearing House returns, unprecedented for the season. Anxiety over the result of next Tuesday’s election has neither interfered with the ordinary trend of trade nor has it checked its activity.
“The fact that wheat has this week sold at the lowest price ever known at New York (73½ cents) must interest the farmer in the cry of English cheap labor. If the Englishman comes to this country because he can live better here, he increases the demand for bread, and the farmer can certainly get a better return for his produce when he sells it to a workingman at home instead of sending it 3,000 miles across the ocean, paying freight room in a foreign steamship to support a foreign workman.
“It is rather surprising that this cry should have been raised just at this time. If the consumer and the producer are brought closer together, is it not better for both? They save the cost of the transfer from one to the other. If the English weaver can come to this country and work, so that his product does not have to cross the ocean, and then get his wheat, flour, and meal without having to pay the additional cost, do not both profit? The country is so large that we can well afford to increase its population when we can reduce to a minimum the cost of the exchange of necessary means of life.
“The market for iron is better all around, from the fact that stocks are being taken up faster than ever at this season of the year. This is due very largely to the even weather, which has been so favorable to building projects, the number of working days in October being probably more than in the same month for years, and now, in the first week of November, work is going on just the same.
“This will be apparent to every one who has watched the progress of work and seen new buildings reach the fifth or sixth story when, if the season had been adverse, they might not have been half as high at this time. The railroads have also contributed to consumption, for they are forehanded in placing early orders for the large increase in the equipment that they will have to have for next year.
“The voluntary advance in wages by the Fall River manufacturers is another suggestive indication. The South has had three years of steadily increasing cotton crops. The country has not only exported more than ever, but it has consumed more, and out of this great crop the proportion spun and woven in the United States has advanced even more rapidly. The figures will show that domestic consumption has increased proportionately faster than the crops.
“There is no better proof of prosperity than the ability of the people to buy clothes. Food they must have, but they can wear old clothes. Now, the woolen factories are full of work, and yet, thus late in the season, the orders are so large that the cotton manufacturers make a second advance in wages within three months. There is no idleness in the boot and shoe factories, and the rubber mills are as fully occupied.
“The country never was more prosperous on the eve of election.”
It is impossible for a truthful man, who is not talking for the benefit of “the galleries,” or as a political demagogue, to dispute the facts recited in the above article in the Mail and Express. That argument and the facts therein recited, ought to have had great weight; but did they? No! And the reason? The Mail and Express is owned by Colonel Shepard—doubtless a most worthy gentleman—but, unfortunately for any effect that might be created by the utterances of Colonel Shepard; unfortunately for the influence looked for by articles published in the Mail and Express upon this occasion, it is well and thoroughly understood that Colonel Shepard is a very wealthy man, a son-in-law of the Vanderbilts; that he represents the money power of the Vanderbilt family. The people of New York City (and Colonel Shepard and the Mail and Express is but an example) said to Colonel Shepard, to the Mail and Express, in no hesitating manner, November 8th, We will not dispute the facts that you publish concerning our prosperity and the advantages that we enjoy under the Protective policy. You appeal forcibly to our pocketbooks. But it is now the turn of the people to say to Colonel Shepard, the Mail and Express, and all the representatives of capital—The truth of your argument, so far as our pocketbooks are concerned, to the contrary notwithstanding, you, Colonel Shepard, representing that class of which your father-in-law was a prominent member, and to quote from his magnificent rhetoric—you, Colonel Shepard, Mail and Express, and representatives of “caste” and sham aristocracy, now in turn we say it, “You be damned!” as Vanderbilt a few years ago said “The public be damned.”
We have been Republicans, we, the “Common People,” until the party for which we voted in 1860, and which, under the leadership of that great Commoner, Abraham Lincoln, forever silenced the claim of the Southerner to social superiority. We have been good Republicans until you have fostered and aggravated the ulcerous sore of a sham aristocracy, defiling the healthy and vigorous body of the Republican party. You may have the best of the argument on Protection; it may benefit our pocketbooks, but we are not selling our birthright, the equality of man, for a mess of pottage!
The Mail and Express, at great trouble, and, doubtless, expense, furnished plausible excuses for the defeat of the Republican party, and disliking to admit the true cause, for in admitting that true cause, it would be necessary to hold the father-in-law of the proprietor of the newspaper responsible for his share of this “Waterloo.” (In fact, W. H. Vanderbilt was to the Republican party what Grouchy was to Napoleon at Waterloo.) With great care did the Mail and Express, saving no expense, ascertain the opinions of the various newspapers in the State of New York, concerning the cause of the defeat of the Republican party.
Its columns were filled with the opinions of editors throughout the Empire State. Many and various were the reasons given. The defeat was blamed upon the “stay-at-homes”; the defection of the farmers on account of the McKinley Bill; the Saxton Ballot Law; a simple desire for a “change”; lack of organization; and a few correspondents intimated that the “Common People,” tired of accumulations of wealth, voted the Democratic ticket in the hope of securing relief and equality thereby.
Could not one editor have been found by the inquiring representatives of the Mail and Express who possessed sagacity sufficient, coupled with enough frankness, to say, directly, that it was not against the policy of the Republican party, their platform, nor candidate, that the people voted November 8th, but that it was against that element in society which the proprietor of the Mail and Express represents so ably as the son-in-law of W. H. Vanderbilt, the sham aristocracy, snobbery, and the believers in “caste”?
It is not so much a matter of astonishment that the editors of Republican newspapers should have misjudged with regard to the cause of the social revolution as it is to find that eminently representative American, General Benjamin Harrison, the candidate of the Republican and the present President of the United States, giving expression to ideas so erroneous as those accredited to him in an interview published in the New York World, November 13, 1892.
The American people will always regard with kindly feeling the present President of the United States, General Benjamin Harrison, as a citizen of the Union, who was elevated to the position of Chief Executive of the nation, and who has kept faith with those by whom he was elected. It is well for a President, upon leaving the White House, to feel that he carries with him into his reabsorption in the mass of the people, the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens. President Harrison, personally, has the respect and admiration of every patriotic American citizen in this broad land of ours. He may feel justly that satisfaction which is the reward of services well rendered to the Republic. Had his party, or, rather, the party which nominated him, the Republican party, not been cursed with the crime of “caste,” doubtless he would have been re-elected, for he enjoys the confidence, irrespective of political affiliation, of each individual voter in the Federal Union.
In the day of disaster to the party by which he had been nominated, in the bewilderment arising from the overwhelming defeat of the Republican party, President Harrison may reasonably be excused for his erroneous judgment as to the cause of the disaster to the Republican party. That he should seek for an excuse, standing upon the vantage ground of truth itself, in the idea that the people of the Union had become Free Traders, possibly may be justifiable. At the same time, President Harrison is so thoroughly American that we would have expected a nearer approach upon his part to the real cause of the defeat of the Republican party.
That the Republican party had the best of the argument, so far as sound finance is concerned, there can be no question or doubt. There lingers yet, in the minds of many voters, recollections of the debased currency in use prior to the National Banking Act, passed by the Republican party. A bill issued now by a bank has the guarantee of the credit of the Federal Government behind it. Such would not be the case should the penalty tax of ten per cent. upon State banks be repealed. Every dollar of currency to-day in use in America is worth a hundred cents. And a lively picture to the contrary is presented by the experience of those older citizens who endured all the inconveniences of a State bank currency. The most ardent Democrat (meaning member of the Democratic party) would hardly have temerity sufficient to assert that the financial policy, as advocated by the Democratic platform, adopted at the Chicago National Convention, is superior to the sound money existing by reason of the legislation enacted under the Republican administration of the finances of the Federal Government.
But the people said, November 8, 1892, it matters not whether the currency be debased or not. We, the plain “Common People,” will not be debased into social inferiority! It matters not whether there be thousands of counterfeits in the currency of the community. We would rather have counterfeited currency than counterfeited aristocracy! The dollar to-day, guaranteed by the faith of the Federal Government, may be worth a hundred cents, and we’ll make it worth only fifty cents, as guaranteed by each State in the Union, but the position, socially and otherwise, of each man and citizen of the Union must be worth a hundred cents. And we are weary at the attempt made by sham aristocrats to depreciate the value of that doctrine, which is dearer to the American than dollars and cents—the EQUALITY OF MAN.
With regard to the Force Bill, the Republican party had the best of the argument. Their platform, as adopted in Minneapolis, only indorsed the idea of a fair, free, and honest election, all of which was but the reiteration of part of that Rock of Ages for the patriotic American—the Constitution of the United States. Can any man argue that, as a good citizen of the Union, it is proper for him to believe in anything other than a fair, honest election? If there be such, he is not to be found in the ranks of the plain, common, honest people, who absolutely abhor any fraud upon their franchise as citizens of the United States.
So that, in point of fact, apparently the three great issues to be decided in the last campaign by the American people were: Protection versus Tariff; National Banks versus State Banks; Fair Elections versus Frauds on the Franchise.
Without a moment’s hesitation, the American people would have decided that the Republican party should continue in control of the affairs of the nation, especially when that Republican party had for its standard-bearer a man who, like Benjamin Harrison, possessed the confidence of the American people—a man in whom the American people recognized every patriotic principle inherent in the breasts of the common, plain people of America.
But the Republican party of 1892 had become lost in the mist arising from the exhalations from the manure heap of sham aristocracy and “caste.” Figures looming out of the gloom of the present, hardly compare favorably with those giants who cultivated the soil in which was planted the Republican oak tree.
Through the miasma arising from the rotting present of the Republican party, the picture of Thomas Platt appears. In the pellucid atmosphere of the Republican party of the past, we see the picture of Seward.
Amidst the odoriferous present we find the likeness of the skillful, the Honorable Matthew S. Quay. Upon the clear sky of the past is mirrored the majestic Roscoe Conkling.
Amidst the hurly-burly and charlatan parade of the present, we perceive that prince of clowns and jesters, Chauncey M. Depew, king of after-dinner speech-makers, the witty buffoon who represents the princely Vanderbilts, the man who was never heard of except when clothed, either in dress suit or imported English clothing. By the side of this figure of the present, look back and see the picture of that man of the Republican party who met Stephen A. Douglas on the stump in Illinois, whose jests were filled with the meat of common-sense, whose heart was an out-gushing spring of kindness towards his fellow-men, the “Common People.” Place the present picture, Chauncey M. Depew, in dress suit, supported by the Vanderbilts’ millions, beside the long, angular figure of that Illinoisian, Abraham Lincoln, supported by the people—but pause; this is sacrilege!
Republicans, you know why your party was defeated. Be frank; be brave; be manly, and charge it upon the proper cause—“caste!” affectation! sham aristocracy! degeneracy!