186 



CONGRESS. (THE TARIFF BILL.) 



pared to recede from the House position for free 

 sugar and attempt to agree upon some revenue 

 taxation for sugar, they could not, without the 

 mandate of this House, accept such a provision 

 as that which is offered in the Senate bill. If it 

 be true that the great American sugar trust has 

 grown so strong and so powerful that it says 

 that no tariff bill can pass the American Con- 

 gress in which its privileges are not adequately 

 guarded if, I say, that be true, I hope this 

 House will never" consent to adjournment. 1 

 hope, whatever the fate of the general tariff bill 

 is, that this House will not consent to an ad- 

 journment until it has passed a single bill put- 

 ting refined sugar on the free list. 



" The American people have three times voted 

 for the present occupant of the White House on 

 the great issue of tariff reform. When, in 1888, 

 we were defeated by a narrow margin before the 

 people of this country, there was not a Demo- 

 crat in all this land who did not feel on the 

 morning after the election as enthusiastic and as 

 determined to press forward in that fight as he 

 did when the hope of victory was with him the 

 day before. It was because of that determina- 

 tion, it was because of that growing enthusiasm, 

 it was because we felt the spirit and the thrill 

 of the spirit of American liberty inciting us, it 

 was because we felt the incitement of a great 

 moral purpose which multiplies men by ten, that 

 we took up this cause in 1888, fought for it in 

 1890, and prevailed in 1892. 



" The American people have given us the re- 

 sponsibility. It remains to be seen whether we 

 also have the power to fulfill their mandate. 

 The bill which passed the House was not only 

 approved, prepared, and voted for by those who 

 are the immediately chosen servants of the tax- 

 payers of this country, but it has been officially 

 approved and indorsed by the President who 

 was chosen by them to carry out this great re- 

 form of the tariff. Thus every part of the ma- 

 chinery of the United States Government to-day 

 deriving its authority from the direct vote of 

 the American people for the electoral college 

 now amounts to nothing, and the President is 

 virtually chosen by a direct vote every part of 

 the lawmaking machinery deriving its authority 

 from the direct vote and mandate of the people 

 has indorsed the scheme of tariff reform pro- 

 posed here and carried through this House. 



" No man in this country, Mr. Speaker, has 

 been more interested in the progress and suc- 

 cessful termination of this great movement than 

 the man whom the people selected to lead them 

 in this great campaign. He has never spoken 

 an uncertain word as to his position on this 

 question. In his official message of last Decem- 

 ber he emphatically and unqualifiedly indorsed 

 the action of the House and the bill which had 

 then been prepared for its consideration. 



" While the proprieties of his position have 

 compelled him. as a matter of courtesy to the 

 two branches of Congress, to remain in a large 

 measure quiet during the pendency of these bills, 

 yet he has felt it to be his duty to express in 

 every suitable manner exactly what his position 

 is to-day, and, just as we were entering on the 

 great work of conferring between the two Houses, 

 L had the honor to receive from him a long per- 

 sonal letter, which, with his consent obtained 



this morning, I will now send to the clerk's desk 

 to be given to the people of this country." 



[Personal.] 

 EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, July 2, 189U. 



MY DEAK SIB : The certainty that a conference will 

 be ordered between the two Houses of Congress for 

 the purpose of adjusting differences on the subject of 

 tariff legislation makes it also certain that you will 

 be again called on to do hard service in the cause of 

 tarifl reform. 



My public life has been so closely related to the 

 subject, I have so longed for its accomplishment, and 

 I have so often promised its realization to my fellow- 

 countrymen as a result of their trust and confidence 

 in the Democratic party, that I hope no excuse is ne- 

 cessary for my earnest appeal to you that in this crisis 

 you strenuously insist upon party honesty and good 

 faith and a sturdy adherence to Democratic principles. 



I believe these are absolutely necessary conditions 

 to the continuation of Democratic existence. 



I can not rid myself of the feeling that this confer- 

 ence will present the best if not the only hope of true 

 Democracy. Indications point to its action as the 

 reliance of those who desire the genuine fruition of 

 Democratic effort, the fulfillment of Democratic 

 pledges, and the redemption of Democratic promises 

 to the people. To reconcile differences in the details 

 comprised within the fixed and well-defined lines of 

 principle will not be the sole task of the conference ; 

 but, as it seems to me, its members will also have in 

 charge the question whether Democratic principles 

 themselves are to be saved or abandoned. 



There is no excuse for mistaking or misapprehend- 

 ing the feeling and temper of the rank and file of the 

 Democracy. They are downcast under the assertion 

 that their party fails in ability to manage the Govern- 

 ment, and they are apprehensive that efforts to bring 

 about tariff reform may fail ; but they are much more 

 downcast and apprehensive in their fear that Demo- 

 cratic principles may be surrendered. 



In these circumstances they can not do otherwise 

 than to look with confidence to you and those who 

 with you have patriotically and sincerely championed 

 the cause of tariff' reform within Democratic lines 

 and guided by Democratic principles. This confi- 

 dence is vastly augmented by the action under your 

 leadership of 'the House of Eepresentatives upon the 

 bill now pending. 



Every true Democrat and every sincere tariff re- 

 former knows that this bill in its present form and as 

 it will be submitted to the conference falls far short 

 of the consummation for which we have long labored, 

 for which we have suffered defeat without discour- 

 agement; which in its anticipation gave us a rallying 

 cry in our day of triumph, and which, in its promise 

 of accomplishment, is so interwoven with Democratic 

 pledges and Democratic success, that our abandon- 

 ment of the cause or the principles upon which it 

 rests means party perfidy and party dishonor. 



One topic will be submitted to the conference whieh 

 embodies Democratic principles so directly that it 

 can not be compromised. We have in our platforms 

 and in every way possible declared in favor of the 

 free importation of raw materials. We have again 

 and again promised that this should be accorded to 

 our people and our manufacturers as soon as the 

 Democratic party was invested with the power to de- 

 termine the tariff policy of the country. 



The party now has that power, "we are as certain 

 to-day as we have ever been of the great benefit that 

 would accrue to the country from the inauguration 

 of this policy, and nothing lias occurred to release us 

 from our obligation to secure this advantage to our 

 people. It must be admitted that no tariff measure 

 can accord witn Democratic principles and promises, 

 or bear a genuine Democratic badge, that docs not 

 provide for free raw materials. In these circumstances 

 it may well excite our wonder that Democrats are will- 

 ing to depart from this, the most Democratic of all 



