CONGRESS. (THE TARIFF BILL.) 



187 



tariff principles, and that the inconsistent absurdity 

 of such a proposed departure should be emphasized 

 by the suggestion that the wool of the farmer be put 

 on the free list, and the protection of tariff taxation be 

 placed around the iron ore and coal of corporations 

 and capitalists. 



How can we face the people after indulging in such 

 outrageous discriminations and violations of principle ? 



It is quite apparent that this question of free raw 

 materials does not admit of adjustment on any mid- 

 dle ground, since their subjection to any rate of tariff 

 taxation, great or small, is alike violative <rf Demo- 

 cratic principle and Democratic good faith. 



I hope you will not consider it intrusive if I say 

 something in relation to another subject which can 

 hardly fail to be troublesome to the conference. I re- 

 fer to the adjustment of tariff taxation on sugar. 



Under our party platform and in accordance with 

 our declared party purposes sugar is a legitimate and 

 logical article of revenue taxation. Unfortunately, 

 however, incidents have accompanied certain stages 

 of the legislation which will be submitted to the con- 

 ference that have aroused in connection with this 

 subject a natural Democratic animosity to the meth- 

 ods and manipulations of trusts and combinations. 



I confess to sharing in this feeling ; and yet it seems 

 to me we ought, if possible, to sufficiently free our- 

 selves from prejudice to enable us coolly to weigh the 

 considerations which, in formulating tariff legislation, 

 ought to guide our treatment of sugar as a taxable 

 article. While no tenderness should be entertained 

 for trusts, and while I am decidedly opposed to grant- 

 ing them, under the guise of tariff' taxation, any op- 

 portunity to further their peculiar methods, I suggest 

 that we ought not to be driven away from the Demo- 

 cratic principle and policy which lead to the taxation 

 of sugar by the fear, quite likely exaggerated, that in 

 carrying out this principle and policy we may indi- 

 rectly and inordinately encourage a combination of 

 suirur-refining interests. I know that in present con- 

 ditions this is a delicate subject and 1 appreciate the 

 depth and strength of the feeling which its treatment 

 has aroused. 



I do not believe we should do evil that good may 

 come, but it seems to me that we should not forget 

 that our aim is the completion of a tariff bill, and 

 that in taxing sugar for proper purposes and within 

 reasonable bounds, whatever else may be said of our 

 action, we are in no danger of running counter to 

 Democratic principle. With all there is at stake 

 there must be in the treatment of this article some 

 ground upon which we are all willing to stand, where 

 toleration and conciliation may be allowed to solve 

 the problem without demanding the entire surrender 

 of fixed and conscientious convictions. 



I ought not to prolong this letter. If what I have 

 written is unwelcome, I beg you to believe in my 

 good intentions. 



In the conclusions of the conference touching the 

 numerous items which will be considered, the people 

 are not afraid that their interests will be neglected. 

 They know that the general result, so far as these are 

 concerned, will be to place home necessaries and 

 comforts easier within their reach, and to insure better 

 and surer compensation to those who toil. 



We all know that a tariff covering all the varied 

 interests and conditions of a country as vast as ours 

 must of necessity be largely the result of honorable 

 adjustment and compromise. I expect very few of 

 us can say, when our measure is perfected, that all 

 the features are entirely as we would prefer. You 

 know how much I deprecated the incorporation in 

 the proposed bill of the income-tax feature. In mat- 

 ters of this kind, however, which do not violate a 

 fixed and recognized Democratic doctrine, we are 

 willing to defer to the judgment of a majority of our 

 Democratic brethren. I think there is a general 

 agreement that this is party duty. 



This is more palpably apparent when we realize 

 that the business of our country timidly stands and 

 watches for the result of our efforts to perfect tariff 



legislation, that a quick and certain return of pros- 

 perity waits upon a wise Adjustment, and that a con- 

 fiding people still trust in our hands their prosperity 

 and well-being. 



The Democracy of the land plead most earnestly 

 for the speedy completion of the tariff legislation 

 which their representatives have undertaken, but 

 they demand not less earnestly that no stress of ne- 

 cessity shall tempt those they 'trust to the abandon- 

 ment of Democratic principle. 



Yours, very truly, GROVEK CLEVELAND. 



Hon. WILLIAM L. WILSON. 



Mr. Reed, of Maine, said : 



" I take it for granted, Mr. Speaker, that the 

 gentleman to whom the letter was addressed to 

 which we have just listened has observed all the 

 proprieties which gentlemen ordinarily observe 

 with regard to their correspondence, and that a 

 letter which is marked ' personal ' having been 

 addressed to him, he has not been guilty in any 

 way of making it public in this fashion 'without 

 the express consent of the author. 



" We ttow understand, then, that the Presi- 

 dent has been pleased to address a communica- 

 tion to the House of Representatives through 

 his faithful Committee of Ways and Means. 

 This seems to be a just reciprocal action on his 

 part ; for the House will recollect that the Com- 

 mittee of Ways and Means communicated to this 

 House its intention of having an income tax 

 through the kindness of the President of the 

 United States. 



" Whether this relationship thus intimate be- 

 tween a committee of this House and the Presi- 

 dent of the United States was contemplated by 

 the Constitution of the United States or not, is 

 hardly worth the trouble of inquiry, in the shape 

 in which the matter now stands before the 

 House. Least of all would anybody on this side 

 find fault with the severe language which the 

 President the Democratic President has seen 

 fit to use about a Democratic Senate. Undoubt- 

 edly his personal intercourse with the members 

 of that body and his official relations with them 

 have enabled him to put vigorously all the 

 strength of reproof which that letter contains. 

 But the transaction as it stands to-day is be- 

 tween them and him. Far be it from us to in- 

 terfere. If he has made a righteous charge, their 

 characters are blackened ; and if he has made 

 a false charge, it is for them to see that justice is 

 done to the truth of history. 



" We have no concern with it except as spec- 

 tators. The public aspect of this affair, how- 

 ever, shows that the newspaper rumors have 

 had all the truth that newspaper rumors ever 

 have in regard to the relations between this 

 committee of the House and the President of 

 the United States ; and it is shown very clearly 

 that the committee has his directions to con- 

 sent to a sufficient tax upon sugar in considera- 

 tion of the fact that coal and iron ore shall be 

 brought here free. In other words, in the great 

 contest between the trust which manufactures 

 the sugar of this country and which is a home 

 corporation, and the great corporation which is 

 to exploit the mines of Nova Scotia, and enrich 

 by $10,000,000 the set of men who are engaged 

 iii that enterprise, the President and a commit- 

 tee of this House take the side of the foreign cor- 

 poration with its Boston promoters. Which is 



