Chapter XXXVIII: Section 1: All men are by nature free and independent, and have certain (5)

But the reduction of taxation demanded should be so measured as not to necessitate or justify either the loss of employment by the working man nor the lessening of his wages; and the profits still remaining to the manufacturer, after a necessary readjustment, should furnish no excuse for the sacrifice of the interests of his employés either in their opportunity to work or in the diminution of their compensation. Nor can the worker in manufactures fail to understand that while a high tariff is claimed to be necessary to allow the payment of remunerative wages, it certainly results in a very large increase in the price of nearly all sorts of manufactures, which, in almost countless forms, he needs for the use of himself and his family. He receives at the desk of his employer his wages, and perhaps before he reaches his home is obliged, in a purchase for family use of an article which embraces his own labor, to return in the payment of the increase in price which the tariff permits, the hard-earned compensation of many days of toil.

The farmer and the agriculturist who manufacture nothing, but who pay the increased price which the tariff imposes, upon every agricultural implement, upon all he wears and upon all he uses and owns, except the increase of his flocks and herds and such things as his husbandry produces from the soil, is invited to aid in maintaining the present situation; and he is told that a high duty on imported wool is necessary for the benefit of those who have sheep to shear, in order that the price of their wool may be increased. They of course are not reminded that the farmer who has no sheep is by this scheme obliged, in his purchase of clothing and woolen goods, to pay a tribute to his fellow farmer as well as to the manufacturer and merchant; nor is any mention made of the fact that the sheep-owners themselves and their households, must wear clothing and use other articles manufactured from the wool they sell at tariff prices, and thus as consumers must return their share of this increased price to the tradesman.

I think it may be fairly assumed that a large proportion of the sheep owned by the farmers throughout the country are found in small flocks numbering from twenty-five to fifty. The duty on the grade of imported wool which these sheep yield, is ten cents each pound if of the value of thirty cents or less, and twelve cents if of the value of more than thirty cents. If the liberal estimate of six pounds be allowed for each fleece, the duty thereon would be sixty or seventy-two cents, and this may be taken as the utmost enhancement of its price to the farmer by reason of this duty. Eighteen dollars would thus represent the increased price of the wool from twenty-five sheep and thirty-six dollars that from the wool of fifty sheep; and at present values this addition would amount to about one-third of its price. If upon its sale the farmer receives this or a less tariff profit, the wool leaves his hands charged with precisely that sum, which in all its changes will adhere to it, until it reaches the consumer. When manufactured into cloth and other goods and material for use, its cost is not only increased to the extent of the farmer’s tariff profit, but a further sum has been added for the benefit of the manufacturer under the operation of other tariff laws. In the meantime the day arrives when the farmer finds it necessary to purchase woolen goods and material to clothe himself and family for the winter. When he faces the tradesman for that purpose he discovers that he is obliged not only to return in the way of increased prices, his tariff profit on the wool he sold, and which then perhaps lies before him in manufactured form, but that he must add a considerable sum thereto to meet a further increase in cost caused by a tariff duty on the manufacture. Thus in the end he is aroused to the fact that he has paid upon a moderate purchase, as the result of the tariff scheme, which, when he sold his wool seemed so profitable, an increase in price more than sufficient to sweep away all the tariff profit he received upon the wool he produced and sold.

When the number of farmers engaged in wool-raising is compared with all the farmers in the country, and the small proportion they bear to our population is considered; when it is made apparent that, in the case of a large part of those who own sheep, the benefit of the present tariff wool is illusory; and, above all, when it must be conceded that the increase of the cost of living caused by such a tariff, becomes a burden upon those with moderate means and the poor, the employed and the unemployed, the sick and well, and the young and old, and that it constitutes a tax which, with relentless grasp, is fastened upon the clothing of every man, woman, and child in the land, reasons are suggested why the removal or reduction or this duty should be included in a revision of our tariff laws.

In speaking of the increased cost to the consumer of our home manufactures, resulting from a duty laid upon imported articles of the same description, the fact is not overlooked that competition among our domestic producers sometimes has the effect of keeping the price of their products below the highest limit allowed by such duty. But it is notorious that this competition is too often strangled by combinations quite prevalent at this time, and frequently called trusts, which have for their object the regulation of the supply and price of commodities made and sold by members of the combination. The people can hardly hope for any consideration in the operation of these selfish schemes.

If, however, in the absence of such combination, a healthy and free competition reduces the price of any particular dutiable article of home production, below the limit which it might otherwise reach under our tariff laws, and if, with such reduced price, its manufacture continues to thrive, it is entirely evident that one thing has been discovered which should be carefully scrutinized in an effort to reduce taxation.

The necessity of combination to maintain the price of any commodity to the tariff point, furnishes proof that some one is willing to accept lower prices for such commodity, and that such prices are remunerative; and lower prices produced by competition prove the same thing. Thus where either of these conditions exists, a case would seem to be presented for an easy reduction of taxation.

The considerations which have been presented touching our tariff laws are intended only to enforce an earnest recommendation that the surplus revenues of the government be prevented by the reduction of our customs duties, and, at the same time, to emphasize a suggestion that in accomplishing this purpose, we may discharge a double duty to our people by granting to them a measure of relief from tariff taxation in quarters where it is most needed and from sources where it can be most fairly and justly accorded.

Nor can the presentation made of such considerations be, with any degree of fairness, regarded as evidence of unfriendliness toward our manufacturing interests, or of any lack of appreciation of their value and importance.

These interests constitute a leading and most substantial element of our national greatness and furnish the proud proof of our country’s progress. But if in the emergency that presses upon us our manufacturers are asked to surrender something for the public good and to avert disaster, their patriotism, as well as a grateful recognition of advantages already afforded, should lead them to willing coöperation. No demand is made that they shall forego all the benefits of governmental regard; but they cannot fail to be admonished of their duty, as well as their enlightened self-interest and safety, when they are reminded of the fact that financial panic and collapse, to which the present condition tends, afford no greater shelter or protection to our manufactures than to our other important enterprises. Opportunity for safe, careful, and deliberate reform is now afforded; and none of us should be unmindful of a time when an abused and irritated people, heedless of those who have resisted timely and reasonable relief, may insist upon a radical and sweeping rectification of their wrongs.

The difficulty attending a wise and fair revision of our tariff laws is not underestimated. It will require on the part of the Congress great labor and care, and especially a broad and national contemplation of the subject, and a patriotic disregard of such local and selfish claims as are unreasonable and reckless of the welfare of the entire country.

Under our present laws more than four thousand articles are subject to duty. Many of these do not in any way compete with our own manufactures, and many are hardly worth attention as subjects of revenue. A considerable reduction can be made in the aggregate, by adding them to the free list. The taxation of luxuries presents no features of hardship; but the necessaries of life used and consumed by all the people, the duty upon which adds to the cost of living in every home, should be greatly cheapened.

The radical reduction of the duties imposed upon raw material used in manufactures, or its free importation, is of course an important factor in any effort to reduce the price of these necessaries; it would not only relieve them from the increased cost caused by the tariff on such material, but the manufactured product being thus cheapened, that part of the tariff now laid upon such product, as a compensation to our manufacturers for the present price of raw material, could be accordingly modified. Such reduction, or free importation, would serve beside to largely reduce the revenue. It is not apparent how such a change can have any injurious effect upon our manufacturers. On the contrary, it would appear to give them a better chance in foreign markets with the manufacturers of other countries, who cheapen their wares by free material. Thus our people might have the opportunity of extending their sales beyond the limits of home consumption—saving them from the depression, interruption in business, and loss caused by a glutted domestic market, and affording their employés more certain and steady labor, with its resulting quiet and contentment.

The question thus imperatively presented for solution should be approached in a spirit higher than partisanship and considered in the light of that regard for patriotic duty which should characterize the action of those intrusted with the weal of a confiding people. But the obligation to declared party policy and principle is not wanting to urge prompt and effective action. Both of the great political parties now represented in the Government have, by repeated and authoritative declarations, condemned the condition of our laws which permits the collection from the people of unnecessary revenue, and have, in the most solemn manner, promised its correction; and neither as citizens or partisans are our countrymen in a mood to condone the deliberate violation of these pledges.

Our progress toward a wise conclusion will not be improved by dwelling upon the theories of protection and free trade. This savors too much of bandying epithets. It is a _condition_ which confronts us—not a theory. Relief from this condition may involve a slight reduction of the advantages which we award our home productions, but the entire withdrawal of such advantages should not be contemplated. The question of free trade is absolutely irrelevant; and the persistent claim made in certain quarters, that all efforts to relieve the people from unjust and unnecessary taxation are schemes of so-called free-traders, is mischievous and far removed from any consideration for the public good.

The simple and plain duty which we owe the people is to reduce taxation to the necessary expenses of an economical operation of the government, and to restore to the business of the country the money which we hold in the treasury through the perversion of governmental powers. These things can and should be done with safety to all our industries, without danger to the opportunity for remunerative labor which our workingmen need, and with benefit to them and all our people, by cheapening their means of subsistence and increasing the measure of their comforts.

The Constitution provides that the President “shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the state of the Union.” It has been the custom of the Executive, in compliance with this provision, to annually exhibit to the Congress, at the opening of its session, the general condition of the country, and to detail, with some particularity, the operations of the different Executive Departments. It would be especially agreeable to follow this course at the present time, and to call attention to the valuable accomplishments of these departments during the last fiscal year. But I am much impressed with the paramount importance of the subject to which this communication has thus far been devoted, that I shall forego the addition of any other topic, and only urge upon your immediate consideration the “state of the Union” as shown in the present condition of our treasury and our general fiscal situation, upon which every element of our safety and prosperity depends.

The reports of the heads of departments, which will be submitted, contain full and explicit information touching the transaction of the business intrusted to them, and such recommendations relating to legislation in the public interest as they deem advisable. I ask for these reports and recommendations the deliberate examination and action of the Legislative branch of the government.

There are other subjects not embraced in the departmental reports demanding legislative consideration and which I should be glad to submit. Some of them, however, have been earnestly presented in previous messages, and as to them, I beg leave to repeat prior recommendations.

As the law makes no provision for any report from the department of State, a brief history of the transactions of that important Department, together with other matters which it may hereafter be deemed essential to commend to the attention of the Congress, may furnish the occasion for a future communication.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

WASHINGTON, _December 6, 1887_.

Mr. Blaine’s Answer to Cleveland.

_By Cable to the N. Y. Tribune._

PARIS, Dec. 7, 1887.—After reading an abstract of the President’s message, laid before all Europe this morning, I saw Mr. Blaine and asked him if he would be willing to give his views upon the recommendation of the President in the form of a letter or interview. He preferred an interview, if I would agree to send him an intelligent shorthand reporter, with such questions as should give free scope for an expression of his views. The following lucid and powerful statement is the result. Mr. Blaine began by saying to the reporter:

“I have been reading an abstract of the President’s message and have been especially interested in the comments of the London papers. Those papers all assume to declare that the message is a free trade manifesto and evidently are anticipating an enlarged market for English fabrics in the United States as a consequence of the President’s recommendations. Perhaps that fact stamped the character of the message more clearly than any words of mine can.”

“You don’t mean actual free trade without duty?” queried the reporter.

“No,” replied Mr. Blaine. “Nor do the London papers mean that. They simply mean that the President has recommended what in the United States is known as a revenue tariff, rejecting the protective feature as an object and not even permitting protection to result freely as an incident to revenue duties.”

“I don’t know that I quite comprehend that last point,” said the reporter.

“I mean,” said Mr. Blaine, “that for the first time in the history of the United States the President recommends retaining the internal tax in order that the tariff may be forced down even below the fair revenue standard. He recommends that the tax on tobacco be retained, and thus that many millions annually shall be levied on a domestic product which would far better come from a tariff on foreign fabrics.”

“Then do you mean to imply that you would favor the repeal of the tobacco tax?”

“Certainly; I mean just that,” said Mr. Blaine. “I should urge that it be done at once, even before the Christmas holidays. It would in the first place bring great relief to growers of tobacco all over the country, and would, moreover, materially lessen the price of the article to consumers. Tobacco to millions of men is a necessity. The President calls it a luxury, but it is a luxury in no other sense than tea and coffee are luxuries. It is well to remember that the luxury of yesterday becomes a necessity of to-day. Watch, if you please, the number of men at work on the farm, in the coal mine, along the railroad, in the iron foundry, or in any calling, and you will find 95 in 100 chewing while they work. After each meal the same proportion seek the solace of a pipe or a cigar. These men not only pay the millions of the tobacco tax, but pay on every plug and every cigar an enhanced price which the tax enables the manufacturer and retailer to impose. The only excuse for such a tax is the actual necessity under which the government found itself during the war, and the years immediately following. To retain the tax now in order to destroy the protection which would incidentally flow from raising the same amount of money on foreign imports, is certainly a most extraordinary policy for our government.”

“Well, then, Mr. Blaine, would you advise the repeal of the whiskey tax also?”

“No, I would not. Other considerations than those of financial administration are to be taken into account with regard to whiskey. There is a moral side to it. To cheapen the price of whiskey is to increase its consumption enormously. There would be no sense in urging the reform wrought by high license in many States if the National Government neutralizes the good effect by making whiskey within reach of every one at twenty cents a gallon. Whiskey would be everywhere distilled if the surveillance of the government were withdrawn by the remission of the tax, and illicit sales could not then be prevented even by a policy as rigorous and searching as that with which Russia pursues the Nihilists. It would destroy high license at once in all the States.

“Whiskey has done a vast deal of harm in the United States. I would try to make it do some good. I would use the tax to fortify our cities on the seaboard. In view of the powerful letter addressed to the democratic party on the subject of fortifications by the late Samuel J. Tilden, in 1885, I am amazed that no attention has been paid to the subject by the democratic administration. Never before in the history of the world has any government allowed great cities on the seaboard, like Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Baltimore, New Orleans, and San Francisco, to remain defenceless.”

“But,” said the reporter, “you don’t think we are to have a war in any direction?”

“Certainly not,” said Mr. Blaine, “Neither, I presume, did Mr. Tilden when he wrote his remarkable letter. But we should change a remote chance into an absolute impossibility. If our weak and exposed points were strongly fortified; if to-day we had by any chance even such a war as we had with Mexico our enemy could procure ironclads in Europe that would menace our great cities with destruction or lay them under contribution.”

“But would not our fortifying now possibly look as if we expected war?”

“Why should it any more than fortifications made seventy or eighty years ago by our grandfathers when they guarded themselves against successful attack from the armaments of that day. We don’t necessarily expect a burglar because we lock our doors at night, but if by any possibility a burglar comes it contributes vastly to our peace of mind and our sound sleep to feel that he can’t get in.”

“But after the fortifications should be constructed would you still maintain the tax on whiskey?”

“Yes,” said Mr. Blaine, “So long as there is whiskey to tax I would tax it, and when the National Government should have no use for the money I would divide the tax among the Federal Union with specific object of lightening the tax on real estate. The houses and farms of the whole country pay too large a proportion of the total taxes. If ultimately relief could be given in that direction it would, in my judgment, be a wise and beneficent policy. Some honest but misguided friends of temperance have urged that the government should not use the money derived from the tax on whiskey. My reply that the tax on whiskey by the Federal Government, with its suppression of all illicit distillation and consequent enhancement of price, has been a powerful agent in the temperance reform by putting it beyond the reach of so many. The amount of whiskey consumed in the United States per capita to-day is not more than 40 per cent. of that consumed thirty years ago.”

After a few moments’ silence Mr. Blaine added that in his judgment the whiskey tax should be so modified as to permit all who use pure alcohol in the arts or mechanical pursuits to have it free from tax. In all such cases the tax should be remitted without danger of fraud, just as now the tax on spirits exported is remitted.

“Besides your general and sweeping opposition to the President’s recommendation have you any further specific objection?”

“Yes,” answered Mr. Blaine; “I should seriously object to the repeal of the duty on wool. To repeal that would work great injustice to many interests and would seriously discourage what we should encourage, namely, the sheep culture among farmers throughout the Union. To break wool-growing and be dependent on foreign countries for the blanket under which we sleep and the coat that covers our back is not a wise policy for the National Government to enforce.”

“Do you think if the President’s recommendation were adopted it would increase our export trade?”

“Possibly in some articles of peculiar construction it might, but it would increase our import trade tenfold as much in the great staple fabrics, in woollen and cotton goods, in iron, in steel, in all the thousand and one shapes in which they are wrought. How are we to export staple fabrics to the markets of Europe unless we make them cheaper than they do in Europe, and how are we to manufacture them cheaper than they do in Europe unless we get cheaper labor than they have in Europe?”

“Then you think that the question of labor underlies the whole subject?”

“Of course it does,” replied Mr. Blaine. “It is, in fact, the entire question. Whenever we can force carpenters, masons, ironworkers, and mechanics in every department to work as cheaply and live as poorly in the United States as similar workmen in Europe, we can, of course, manufacture just as cheaply as they do in England and France. But I am totally opposed to a policy that would entail such results. To attempt it is equivalent to a social and financial revolution, one that would bring untold distress.”

“Yes, but might not the great farming class be benefited by importing articles from Europe instead of buying them at higher prices at home?”

“The moment,” answered Mr. Blaine, “you begin to import freely from Europe you drive our own workmen from mechanical and manufacturing pursuits. In the same proportion they become tillers of the soil, increasing steadily the agricultural products and decreasing steadily the large home demand which is constantly enlarging as home manufactures enlarge. That, of course, works great injury to the farmer, glutting the market with his products and tending constantly to lower prices.”

“Yes, but the foreign demand for farm products would be increased in like ratio, would it not?”

“Even suppose it were,” said Mr. Blaine, “do you know the source from which it will be supplied? The tendency in Russia to-day, and in the Asiatic possessions of England, is toward a large increase of the grain supply, the grain being raised by the cheapest possible labor. Manufacturing countries will buy their breadstuffs where they can get them the cheapest, and the enlarging of the home market for the American farmer being checked, he would search in vain for one of the same value. His foreign sales are already checked by the great competition abroad. There never was a time when the increase of a large home market was so valuable to him. The best proof is that the farmers are prosperous in proportion to the nearness of manufacturing centres, and a protective tariff tends to spread manufactures. In Ohio and Indiana, for example, though not classed as manufacturing States, the annual value of fabrics is larger than the annual value of agricultural products.”

“But those holding the President’s views,” remarked the reporter, “are always quoting the great prosperity of the country under the tariff of 1846.”

“That tariff did not involve the one destructive point recommended by the President, namely, the retaining of direct internal taxes in order to abolish indirect taxes levied on foreign fabrics. But the country had peculiar advantages under it by the Crimean War involving England, France, and Russia, and largely impairing their trade. All these incidents, or accidents, if you choose, were immensely stimulating to the trade in the United States, regardless to the nature of our tariff. But mark the end of this European experience with the tariff of 1846, which for a time gave an illusory and deceptive show of prosperity. Its enactment was immediately followed by the Mexican War; then, in 1848, by the great convulsions of Europe; then, in 1849 and succeeding years, by the enormous gold yield in California. The powers made peace in 1856, and at the same time the output of gold in California fell off. Immediately the financial panic of 1857 came upon the country with disastrous force. Though we had in these years mined a vast amount of gold in California, every bank in New York was compelled to suspend specie payment. Four hundred millions in gold had been carried out of the country in eight years to pay for foreign goods that should have been manufactured at home, and we had years of depression and distress as an atonement for our folly.”

“Then do you mean to imply that there should be no reduction of the national revenue?”

“No; what I have said implies the reverse. I would reduce it by a prompt repeal of the tobacco tax, and would make here and there some changes in the tariff, not to reduce protection, but wisely foster it.”

“Would you explain your meaning more fully?”

“I mean,” said Mr. Blaine, “that no great system of revenue, like our tariff, can operate with efficiency and equity unless the changes of trade be closely watched and the law promptly adapted to those changes. But I would make no change that should impair the protective character of the whole body of the tariff laws. Four years ago, in the act of 1883, we made changes of the character I have tried to indicate. If such changes were made, and the fortifying of our sea coast thus undertaken at a very moderate annual outlay, no surplus would be found after that already accumulated had been disposed of. The outlay of money on fortifications, while doing great service to the country, would give good work to many men.”

“But what about the existing surplus?”

“The abstract of the message I have seen,” replied Mr. Blaine, “contains no reference to that point. I, therefore, make no comment further that to endorse Mr. Fred. Grant’s remark, that a surplus is always easier to handle than a deficit.”

The reporter repeated the question whether the President’s recommendation would not, if adopted, give us the advantage of a large increase in exports.

“I only repeat,” answered Mr. Blaine, “it would vastly increase our imports while the only export it would seriously increase would be our gold and silver. That would flow out bounteously, just as it did under the tariff of 1846. The President’s recommendation enacted into law would result, as did an experiment in drainage of a man who wished to turn a swamp into a productive field. He dug a drain to a neighboring river, but it happened, unfortunately, that the level of the river was higher than the level of the swamp. The consequence need not be told. A parallel would be found when the President’s policy in attempting to open a channel for an increase of exports should simply succeed in making way for a deluging inflow of fabrics to the destruction of home industry.”

“But don’t you think it important to increase our export trade?”

“Undoubtedly; but it is vastly more important not to lose our own great market or our own people in vain effort to reach the impossible. It is not our foreign trade that has caused the wonderful growth and expansion of the republic. It is the vast domestic trade between thirty-eight States and eight Territories, with their population of, perhaps, 62,000,000 to-day. The whole amount of our export and import trade together has never, I think, reached $1,900,000,000 any one year. Our internal home trade on 130,000 miles of railway, along 15,000 miles of ocean coast, over the five great lakes and along 20,000 miles of navigable rivers, reaches the enormous annual aggregate of more than $40,000,000,000, and perhaps this year $50,000,000,000.

“It is into this illimitable trade, even now in its infancy and destined to attain a magnitude not dreamed of twenty years ago, that the Europeans are struggling to enter. It is the heritage of the American people, of their children, and of their children’s children. It gives an absolutely free trade over a territory nearly as large as all Europe, and the profit is all our own. The genuine Free-trader appears unable to see or comprehend that this continental trade—not our exchanges with Europe—is the great source of our prosperity. President Cleveland now plainly proposes a policy that will admit Europe to a share of this trade.”

“But you are in favor of extending our foreign trade, are you not?”

“Certainly I am, in all practical and advantageous ways, but not on the principle of the Free-traders, by which we shall be constantly exchanging dollar for dime. Moreover, the foreign trade is often very delusive. Cotton is manufactured in the city of my residence. If a box of cotton goods is sent 200 miles to the province Of New Brunswick, it is foreign trade. If shipped 17,000 miles round Cape Horn to Washington Territory it is domestic trade. The magnitude of the Union and the immensity of its internal trade require a new political economy. The treatises written for European States do not grasp our peculiar situation.”

“How will the President’s message be received in the South?”

“I don’t dare to answer that question. The truth has been so long obscured by certain local questions of unreasoning prejudice that nobody can hope for industrial enlightenment among the leaders just yet. But in my view the South above all sections of the Union needs a protective tariff. The two Virginias, North Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia have enormous resources and facilities for developing and handling manufactures. They cannot do anything without protection. Even progress so vast as some of those States have made will be checked if the President’s message is enacted into law. Their Senators and Representatives can prevent it, but they are so used to following anything labelled ‘democratic’ that very probably they will follow the President and the progress already made. By the time some of the Southern States get free iron ore and coal, while tobacco is taxed, they may have occasion to sit down and calculate the value of democratic free trade to their local interests.,”

“Will not the President’s recommendation to admit raw material find strong support?”

“Not by wise Protectionists in our time. Perhaps some greedy manufacturers may think that with free coal or free iron ore they can do great things, but if they should succeed in trying will, as the boys say, catch it on the rebound. If the home trade in raw materials is destroyed or seriously injured railroads will be the first to feel it. If that interest is crippled in any direction the financial fabric of the whole country will feel it quickly and seriously. If any man can give a reason why we should arrange the tariff to favor the raw material of other countries in a competition against our material of the same kind, I should like to hear it. Should that recommendation of the President be approved it would turn 100,000 American laborers out of employment before it had been a year in operation.”

“What must be the marked and general effect of the President’s message?”

“It will bring the country where it ought to be brought—to a full and fair contest on the question of protection. The President himself makes the one issue by presenting no other in his message. I think it well to have the question settled. The democratic party in power is a standing menace to the industrial prosperity of the country. That menace should be removed or the policy it foreshadows should be made certain. Nothing is so mischievous to business as uncertainty, nothing so paralyzing as doubt.”

G. W. SMALLEY.

THE NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF 1888.

The Democratic Convention.

The Democratic party, being in power, assumed the customary _rôle_ of the majority party, and after a close struggle its National Committee called its Convention at St. Louis, June 5th, two weeks in advance of the time fixed by the Republicans. The sessions continued throughout three days, being somewhat prolonged by the differences of opinion upon the platform, the immediate friends of the Cleveland administration desiring an unqualified endorsement of the Presidential message relating to the tariff, and as well to the Mills bill, the measure supported in the lower House of Congress by all of the Democrats save those led by Samuel J. Randall, who stood upon the platform “straddle” of 1884. Finally the differences were partially adjusted by a reaffirmation of the platform of 1884, and very decided endorsements of both the President’s message and the Mills bill. The result was not satisfactory to the Protective-Tariff Democrats, but they were without large or courageous representation, and the platform was adopted with but one dissenting vote. (For platform and comparison of platforms of the Conventions of the two great parties, see Book II.)

On the third day Grover Cleveland, of New York, was nominated for President by acclamation. A ballot was started for Vice-President, between Allen G.Thurman, of Ohio, and Governor Gray, of Indiana, but before it closed Thurman’s nomination was so apparent that Gray was withdrawn, and the nomination made unanimous. In the midst of the applause which followed, the California delegation presented to the Convention thousands of the “red bandana” worn by the “old Roman” Thurman, and it was immediately placed upon the standard of every State, and accepted as the emblem of the Democratic party.

The Republican Convention.

The National Convention of the Republican party met in Chicago, June 19th, and continued its sessions until the evening of the 25th. Major McKinley, of Ohio, was the Chairman of the Committee on Platform, and on the second day made a unanimous report, which was adopted with great enthusiasm.

The platforms of the two great parties, better than anything else, illustrate the lines of difference between them. One of the lines was plainly drawn by President Cleveland’s message to Congress. This paper plainly advocated a reduction of tariff duties with a view to reduce to the actual requirements of an economic administration of governmental affairs, the surplus in the treasury, then approximating $80,000,000. He opposed the repeal or reduction of the internal revenue taxes, upon the ground that they were placed upon luxuries. Mr. Blaine answered this message for the Republican party, and opposed any system of tariff reduction which tended to free trade, and favored the repeal of the internal revenue taxes upon tobacco and upon all liquors used in the arts. So that the truthful and probably the most compact statement of the position of the two great parties is this: The Democratic party in the campaign of 1888 favors an established tendency to free trade; the Republican party opposes any such tendency, and rather than promote it in any way, would repeal all of the internal revenue taxes and enlarge the pension list—in this way disposing of the treasury surplus. The platform of the Republican party not only followed, but went beyond the expressed views of Mr. Blaine, and accepted in the plainest way the issue thrust upon the country by Mr. Cleveland’s message. The position of the two great parties had been anticipated by their respective leaders, and both Conventions advanced beyond the lines laid down by these leaders, and entered upon the campaign in this shape.

During the ballotings of the Republican Convention Mr. Blaine was upon all save the last solidly supported by the California delegation and by scattering votes. On the last day Hon. Charles A. Boutelle, Chairman of the Maine delegation, read two cablegrams from Mr. Blaine, who was then in Edinboro, Scotland, asking his friends to respect his Paris letter of declination. It was at any time within the power of his friends to nominate him, but his final refusal led nearly all of them to vote for General Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, at all times one of the leading candidates before the Convention. There was no general combination, but the nomination was largely traceable to the expediency of selecting both of the candidates from pivotal States.

Summary of the Ballots.
│ │ │
│ Friday. │ Saturday. │ Monday.
─────────┼──────────────┼───────────┼──────────────
│ 1st 2d 3d│ 4th 5th│ 6th 7th 8th
Sherman, │ 229 249 244│ 235 224│ 244 231 119
Gresham, │ 111 108 123│ 98 87│ 91 91 59
Depew, │ 99 99 91│ Withdrawn.
Alger, │ 84 116 122│ 135 142│ 137 120 100
Harrison,│ 80 91 94│ 217 213│ 231 278 544
Allison, │ 72 75 88│ 88 99│ 73 76
Ingalls, │ 28 16 Withdrawn. │
Phelps, │ 25 18 5│ │
Rusk, │ 25 20 16│ │
Fitler, │ 24 Withdrawn. │
Hawley, │ 13 Withdrawn. │
Lincoln, │ 3 2 2│ 1 │ 2
McKinley,│ 2 3 8│ 11 14│ 12 16 4
Miller, │ 2│ │
Douglas, │ │ 1 │
Foraker, │ │ 1 │ 1 1
Grant, │ │ │ 1
Haymond, │ │ │ 1
Blaine, │ 35 33 35│ 42 48│ 40 15 5
─────────┼──────────────┼───────────┼──────────────
Total, │ 830 830 830│ 829 827│ 829 832 831

Mr. Griggs, of New Jersey, presented the name of William Walter Phelps, of New Jersey, for Vice-President, which was seconded by Mr. Gibson, of Ohio, Mr. Eagan, of Nebraska, and Mr. Oliver, of Iowa, and others.

Senator Warner Miller, of New York, presented the name of Hon. Levi P. Morton, of New York, which was seconded by Mr. Sage, of California, Governor Foster, of Ohio, Mr. Oliver, of South Carolina, General Hastings, of Pennsylvania, and others.

Mr. McElwee, of Tennessee, presented the name of William R. Moore, of that State.

One ballot was taken, resulting as follows:

Morton 591
Phelps 119
Bradly 103
Bruce 11
Thomas 1

The nomination was then made unanimous.

Mr. Boutelle, of Maine, then addressed the Chair and stated that he desired to offer a resolution to be added to the platform, as follows:

“The first concern of all good government is the virtue and sobriety of the people and the purity of the home. The Republican party cordially sympathizes with all wise and well-directed efforts for the promotion of temperance and morality.”

As soon as this was read there was a rush from the various States to second the motion, and, after some time, the question was put and the resolution adopted by a rising vote, only one delegate from Maryland recording himself in the negative. In this way the above temperance sentiment was made part of the platform. It was due largely to the attitude of the Republican party within many of the States, where in the current and previous year it favored high license laws and the submission to a vote of the people prohibitory constitutional amendments.

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1888.

Shortly after the adjournment of the National Conventions, the National Committees of the two great parties opened headquarters in New York City, Senator M. S. Quay being Chairman of the Republican National and Executive committees, with full authority in one head, while ex-Senator Barnum headed the Democratic National, and Calvin Brice its Executive Committee. Both Committees devoted themselves to practical political work, and the result was a greater expenditure of money than was ever previously known. From information gathered by the writer, it can be safely stated that the Democratic National Committee, with its drafts upon the Federal office-holders, raised two millions of dollars, while the Republican business men and manufacturers contributed one million three hundred thousand to their National Committee. It was a business battle, largely waged between the manufacturing and importing interests, the smaller farmers being allies of the manufacturers, the planters adhering to their support of the Free Trade tendencies of the Democratic party. The literary and oratorical features of the canvass were not neglected, and tariff discussion was the order of the day and the night throughout the entire country. The pivotal States were, in the order of their importance, New York, Indiana, Connecticut, New Jersey, West Virginia, and California. From the day of General Harrison’s nomination, Indiana became, and continued, the scene of the most intense political excitement. Visiting delegations called upon the nominee from every town and hamlet in the State, and the fever extended to adjacent States. The ordeal was a most trying one for a candidate, and, for a time, there was grave fear that a mistake might be made, or a trap sprung, like that of Burchard’s upon Blaine in 1884; but General Harrison was singularly fortunate in all of his remarks, and yet so earnest and able that his own work soon began to be recognized as the best of the campaign. President Cleveland was compelled by his official duties, and probably by inclination, to keep out of even the speaking part of the campaign.

Senator Quay regarded New York as the sole key to the contest, and his determination to carry that State, even at the risk of all others, was maintained with the greatest firmness. The usual appeals came from hopeful States, like Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and even Delaware and Maryland, while alarming predictions as to Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa flew thick and fast; but the Republican National Chairman, wisely clothed with absolute authority as general of the battle, kept up his steady assault upon New York, and organized so closely that the usual frauds in New York City and Brooklyn became impossible. The wisdom of this policy was confirmed by the result, and to it is directly traceable the Republican victory which followed. General Harrison carried New York by 14,000 plurality, while Governor Hill, the Democratic candidate for reëlection, carried it by 18,000. This apparent political phenomenon finds its explanation in the liquor issue, which attracted wide attention throughout the State. Warner Miller, the Republican candidate, favored high license, while Governor Hill opposed it.

The Northwest, always before believed to be inclined to Free Trade, gave surprising tariff majorities, while Kansas proved the banner Republican State, giving over 80,000 for Harrison in a territory made up mostly by farmers. Indeed, the farming excelled many of the manufacturing sections in showing tariff or Republican gains.

Results proved to be very close in Connecticut, the two Virginias, Maryland, and Tennessee, and for a time the attitude of the lower House of Congress was in doubt. At this writing the Republican majority is estimated at seven, and the new Congress will have to consider more than a dozen contested seats. The Republicans made a net gain of one in the Senate by their success in the counties of Sussex and Kent, in Delaware. This was due to a quarrel between the Bayard and Saulsbury factions of the State. New Jersey remained with the Democrats, and the Republicans elected General Goff for Governor of West Virginia, with three Labor men holding the balance of power in the Legislature.

ELECTORAL VOTE.

Harrison. Cleveland.
California 8 Alabama 10
Colorado 3 Arkansas 7
Illinois 22 Connecticut 6
Indiana 15 Delaware 3
Iowa 13 Florida 4
Kansas 9 Georgia 12
Maine 6 Kentucky 13
Massachusetts 14 Louisiana 8
Michigan 13 Maryland 8
Minnesota 7 Mississippi 9
Nebraska 5 Missouri 16
Nevada 3 New Jersey 9
New Hampshire 4 North Carolina 12
New York 36 South Carolina 9
Ohio 23 Tennessee 11
Oregon 3 Texas 13
Pennsylvania 30 Virginia 12
Rhode Island 4 West Virginia 6
Vermont 4 ———
Wisconsin 11 168
———
233
168
———
Harrison’s majority 65

Here is a majority of 65 electors, and yet less than 3000 votes in New York, cast for Cleveland, would have reëlected him, but with grave danger to the country, because of disputed results in the two Virginias.

THE POPULAR VOTE—1888.

Rep. Dem. Pro. Labor.
Alabama 57,197 117,320 583
Arkansas 58,752 85,962 614 10,613
California 124,809 117,899 5,761 1,591
Colorado 50,831 37,345 2,490 1,287
Connecticut 74,584 74,920 4,234 240
Delaware 12,950 16,414 400 1
Florida 26,659 39,561 403
Georgia 40,413 100,742 1,802 136
Illinois 370,241 348,360 21,562 8,556
Indiana 263,361 261,013 9,881 2,694
Iowa 211,598 179,877 3,550 9,105
Kansas 182,610 102,580 6,452 36,236
Kentucky 155,154 183,800 5,225 622
Louisiana 30,181 84,941 130
Maine 73,734 50,482 2,690 1,345
Maryland 99,761 106,172 5,358 1,241
Massachusetts 183,447 151,990 8,641
Michigan 236,307 213,404 20,942 4,542
Minnesota 142,492 104,385 15,341 1,097
Mississippi 30,096 85,476 218 22
Missouri 236,325 261,957 4,954 15,853
Nebraska 108,425 80,552 9,429 4,226
Nevada 7,088 5,149 41
N. Hampshire 45,728 43,457 1,570 13
New Jersey 144,344 151,493 7,904
New York 650,337 635,965 30,321 5,362
N. Carolina 134,784 147,902 2,788
Ohio 416,054 396,455 24,356 3,496
Oregon 33,293 26,524 1,677 363
Pennsylvania 526,223 446,934 20,758 3,873
Rhode Island 21,960 17,533 1,281
South Carolina 13,740 65,825
Tennessee 138,988 158,779 5,969 48
Texas 88,422 234,883 4,749 29,459
Vermont 45,192 16,788 1,459
Virginia 150,442 151,977 1,678
West Virginia 75,052 75,558 669 1,064
Wisconsin 176,553 155,232 14,277 8,552
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
Totals 5,438,157 5,535,626 250,157 150,624

ANALYSIS OF THE POPULAR VOTE.

In the following tables the vote is arranged according to sections: The Northern States, the Middle or Border States, and the Gulf States.

THE NORTHERN STATES.

1884. │ 1888.
────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────
Rep. Dem. │ Rep. Dem.
Maine 72,209 52,140│ 72,659 49,730
N. Hampsh’e 43,249 39,183│ 45,728 43,444
Vermont 39,514 17,331│ 45,192 16,788
Massachus’ts 146,724 122,352│ 183,447 151,990
Rhode Island 19,030 12,391│ 21,960 17,533
Connecticut 65,923 67,199│ 74,584 74,920
New York 562,005 563,154│ 649,114 635,715
New Jersey 123,366 127,778│ 144,426 151,154
Penna. 473,804 392,785│ 526,223 446,934
Ohio 400,082 368,280│ 416,054 396,455
Indiana 238,463 244,990│ 263,361 261,013
Illinois 337,469 312,351│ 370,241 348,360
Michigan 192,669 149,835│ 236,307 213,404
Wisconsin 161,157 146,459│ 176,553 155,232
Iowa 197,089 177,316│ 211,592 177,899
Minnesota 111,685 70,065│ 136,359 99,664
Colorado 36,166 27,603│ 51,796 37,610
California 102,416 89,288│ 124,809 117,729
Kansas 154,406 90,132│ 182,610 102,580
Nebraska 76,912 54,391│ 108,425 80,552
Nevada 7,193 5,578│ 7,238 5,326
Oregon 26,860 24,604│ 33,293 26,524
────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────
Totals 3,608,965 3,153,912│4,081,971 3,610,556

Republican majority in 1888 471,415
Republican majority in 1884 455,053
———————
Republican gain 16,362

MIDDLE (OR BORDER) STATES.

1884. │ 1888.
────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────
Rep. Dem. │ Rep. Dem.
Delaware 12,951 16,964│ 12,950 16,414
Maryland 85,699 96,932│ 99,761 106,172
Virginia 139,356 145,497│ 150,442 151,977
W. Virginia 63,096 67,317│ 75,052 75,588
Kentucky 118,122 152,961│ 155,154 183,800
Tennessee 124,078 133,258│ 139,815 159,079
Arkansas 50,895 72,927│ 58,752 85,962
N. Carolina 125,068 142,950│ 134,784 147,902
Missouri 202,929 235,988│ 236,325 261,957
────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────
Totals 922,194 1,064,794│1,063,035 1,188,851

Democratic majority in 1884 142,600
Democratic majority in 1888 125,816
———————
Democratic loss 16,784

GULF STATES.

S. Carolina 21,733 69,890│ 13,740 65,825
Florida 28,031 31,766│ 26,659 39,561
Georgia 28,617 97,292│ 40,496 100,499
Alabama 59,444 92,973│ 56,197 117,320
Mississippi 43,509 76,510│ 30,096 85,476
Louisiana 46,347 62,540│ 30,181 84,941
Texas 93,141 225,309│ 88,442 234,883
────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────
Totals 328,822 656,280│ 285,811 728,505

Democratic majority in 1888 442,698
Democratic majority in 1884 327,458
———————
Democratic gain 115,240

PRESIDENT HARRISON’S MESSAGE ON THE CHILEAN TROUBLES.

In October, 1891, directly after the overthrow of Balmaceda by the Congressionalists of Chile, U. S. Minister Egan sheltered a number of political refugees, as did other foreign ministers. Both the government and populace at Valparaiso took special umbrage at the action of the authorities of the United States, and as a result a mob of citizens, police and soldiers assaulted American sailors on shore, killing two and wounding sixteen. President Harrison’s message, sent to Congress on the 25th of January, 1892, is the strongest state paper in behalf of the rights of American citizens abroad yet given to the country. It explains all of the facts as to the Chilean difficulties, and as well lays down the principles which conduct his course. It was well received by the American Congress, and compelled Chile to act promptly in answer to the American demands. We quote its text, for it will be historically very valuable:

TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: In my Annual Message,
delivered to Congress at the beginning of the present session, after a
brief statement of the facts then in the possession of this government
touching the assault in the streets of Valparaiso, Chile, upon the
sailors of the United States steamship Baltimore, on the evening of
the 16th of October last, I said:

“This government is now awaiting the result of an investigation which
has been conducted by the criminal court at Valparaiso. It is reported
unofficially that the investigation is about completed, and it is
expected that the result will soon be communicated to this government,
together with some adequate and satisfactory response to the note by
which the attention of Chile was called to this incident. If these
just expectations should be disappointed, or further needless delay
intervene, I will, by a special message, bring this matter again to
the attention of Congress for such action as may be necessary.”

In my opinion the time has now come when I should lay before the
Congress and the country the correspondence between this government
and the government of Chile from the time of the breaking out of the
revolution against Balmaceda, together with all other facts in the
possession of the Executive Department relating to this matter.

The diplomatic correspondence is herewith transmitted, together with
some correspondence between the naval officers for the time in command
in Chilean waters and the Secretary of the Navy, and also the evidence
taken at the Mare Island navy yard since the arrival of the Baltimore
at San Francisco. I do not deem it necessary in this communication to
attempt any full analysis of the correspondence or of the evidence. A
brief restatement of the international questions involved, and of the
reasons why the responses of the Chilean government are unsatisfactory
is all that I deem necessary.

It may be well, at the outset, to say that whatever may have been said
in this country or in Chile in criticism of Mr. Egan, our minister at
Santiago, the true history of the exciting period in Chilean affairs,
from the outbreak of the revolution until this time, discloses no act
upon the part of Mr. Egan unworthy of his position, or that could
justly be the occasion of serious animadversion or criticism. He has,
I think, on the whole borne himself in very trying circumstances with
dignity, discretion and courage, and conducted the correspondence with
ability, courtesy and fairness.

It is worth while, also, at the beginning to say that the right of Mr.
Egan to give shelter in the legation to certain adherents of the
Balmaceda government who applied to him for asylum has not been denied
by the Chilean authorities, nor has any demand been made for the
surrender of these refugees.

That there was urgent need of asylum is shown by Mr. Egan’s note of
August 24, 1891, describing the disorders that prevailed in Santiago,
and by the evidence of Captain Schley as to the pillage and violence
that prevailed at Valparaiso. The correspondence discloses, however,
that the request of Mr. Egan for a safe conduct from the country, in
behalf of these refugees, was denied.

The precedents cited by him in the correspondence, particularly the
case of the revolution in Peru in 1865, did not leave the Chilean
government in a position to deny the right of asylum to political
refugees, and seemed very clearly to support Mr. Egan’s contention
that a safe conduct to neutral territory was a necessary and
acknowledged incident of the asylum. These refugees have very
recently, without formal safe conduct, but by the acquiescence of the
Chilean authorities, been placed on board the Yorktown, and are now
being conveyed to Callao, Peru.