Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1889 — THE FIGHT IS STILL ON. [ARTICLE]

THE FIGHT IS STILL ON.

BANQUET OF THE MASSACHUSETTS TARIFF reform league. Many Noted Men Present— Speech of Secretary Fairchild —A Letter from President Cleveland Commending the Work of the League Received with Cheers. [Boston special.] The annual banquet of the Massachusetts Tariff Reform League took place here at the Hotel Yendome Friday evening. The principal guest of the evening was Secretary of the Treasury Fairchild. Among the others were: The Presidentelect of Harvard College, T. W. Higginson, P. A. Collins, Henry L. Pierce, George S. Hale, C. R. Codman, Leopold Morse, Jesse Metcalf, and William Endicott. W. E. Russell presided, and in an opening speech said the gathering was :not one of interested capitalists to rejoice lover a political victory, but a gathering in the interests of the propagation of a (great political economic reform. A •letter from President Cleveland, who had been invited to attend the banquet, was then read. The letter was as follows: “Executive Mansion, I Washington, D. C., Dec. 24. ( i“Measrß. Sherman, Hoar and others. Committee: ! Gentlemen —l am exceedingly sorry that I can not be present at the annual , dinner of the Massachusetts Tariff Reform League of Dec. 28. This is not merely a formal and common expression of regret. It truly indicates how much I should enjoy meeting the members of your league, aud how glad I should be to express in person my appreciation of their important services in a cause to which I am earnestly attached and to acknowledge g.t the same time their frequent and encouraging manifestations of personal friendliness. I know, too, that it would be profitable and advantageous to be even for a brief period within the inspiring influence of the atmosphere surrounding patriotic and unselfish men banded together in the interests of their fellow-countrymen and devoted to the work of tariff reform. This reform appears to me to be as far-reaching in its purposes as the destiny of our country and as broad in its beneficence as the welfare of our entire people. It is because the efforts of its advocates are not discredited by any sordid motives that they are able boldly and confidently to attack the strongholds of selfishaesi and greed. Our institutions were constructed in purity of purpose and love for humanity. Their operation is adjusted to the touch of national virtue and patriotism, and their results under such guidance must be the prosperity aud the happiness of our people. And so long as the advocates of tariff reform appreciate the sentiments in which our institutions had their origin, bo long as they apprehend the forces which alone can guide Iheir operation, 60 long as they, in a spirit of true patriotism, are consecrated to the servioe of their country, temforary defeat brings no discouragement. It but proves the stubbornness of the forces ot combined selfishness, and discloses how far the people have been led astray, and bow great is the ne'cossity of redoubled efforts in their behalf. To lose faith in the intelligence of the people is a surrender and an abandonment of the struggle. To arouse their intelligence and free it frorc darkness and delusion gives assurance of speedy and complete victory. “In the track of reform are often found the dead hopes of pioneers and the despair of those who fall in the march. But there will be neither despair nor dead hopes in the path of tariff reform, nor shall its pioneers fail to reach the heights. Holding fast their faith and rejecting every alluring overture and every deceptive compromise which would betray their sacred trust, they themselves shall regain and restore the patrimony of their countrymen, freed fiom the trespass of grasping encroachment and safely secured by the genius of American justice and equality. Yours very truly, “Grover Cleveland.” Applause on the reading of the letter naving abated President Cleveland’s he.ilth was drank standing. Another thiee cheers was given and Mr. Russell then introduced Secretary Fairchild as the representative of the administration. Secretary Rairchild, after expressing his appreciation of the honor conferred by asking him to be the guest of the League, said that the election had by no means decided the question of the tariff and tariff reform. The struggle had only begun and the end was not yet. He continued as follows: “The record of Ihe late canvass brings no discouragement to our cause, but on the contrary high hopes for the future. It shows us that where intellect w as aroused, thought invoked, and experience appealed to, we made great gains; that we lost only in those places where mind was dominated by passion; where partisanship and the blind prejudice of lace and section overcame benevolence and love for a whole country. It is true the tariff should be settled and forever removed from the domain of politics, for it not only disturbs business but, infinitely worse, it prevents the simple purpose of universal beneficence for which alone our Government is fitted. It converts our legislative halls info scenes of barter between conflicting interests, whqre wrangles over means to enable men to get more and still more money from our citizens become the chief characteristics of the people's representatives. It degrades business and often makes success therein the prize of dishonor. It corrupts the people. “But how can this question be settled ? There are two kinds of so-called protective tariff—the one old-fashioned, now nearly obselete, that of Henry Clay, sometimes called ‘The Promotion of Infant Industries,’ the underlying principle of which was, if I rightly understand it, that there were certain unimportant industries which, if sustained by the promise of an assured market in this country, would in a short time become so established that they could give their products to our people as cheaply as they could be bought anywhere in the world; the other, the modem protective tariff—the tariff which was embodied in the platform of the party successful in the late election—has for its foundation the principle that it is the best for the American people to bay and use certain articles, or, in the language of the late Republican platform, articles which can be produced in this country, cost what they may, and that to the promotion of this end all the powers of the Federal Government should be invoked. The statement of the principles of this protective tariff shows it can

be settled. It could even be embodied in the Constitution. We have but to provide that no articles which can be produced or made in this country shall be imported, ot that they shall be subject to doty of 1,000 per cent, ad valorem. This would settle the question and remove it from politics. This settlement, however, can ODly be had after the principle involved has been held naked before the people: has been folly considered and discussed by them aud approved by an overwhelming majority. This question has not yet been so presented to the people, and the blame for its non-presentment rests with those business menrTmd manufacturers who were so active in the late canvass and who will now complain that your agitation tends to disturb that which for their interest ought to be settled. “I do not remember one document or one argument actively circulated among the people during the last year whioh presented or attempted to present this question pure and simple. On the other hand, we can all recall many documents and appeals the sole purpose of whioh was to divert men’s thoughts from this Siestiou and to confuse their minds upon is issue. It would be wearisome to tell the long list of non-arguments, and yet go to any Northern moral community and ask the inhabitants to give a reason for their action upon the tariff and see if you will get a satisfactory reply. Now and then yoa may hear a nebulous something about a home market, but it will be nebulous, indeed. No; snch arguments *so presented have not settled and oannot settle a principle for the future. We are told that this modern tariff idea is popular iu some of the Southern States, and that the party which advocates it will soon bB strengthened by their support. This may or may not be true. They can only be gained for it by presenting it clearly ana fairly to the people of those States. They can not be won by picturing to the people of the North the dangers which they have to fenr from old men who ceased to be rebel brigadiers before many of the present voters were born. If, however, any of those States can be gained for the cause after argument f airly made, it must be remembered that many a Northern man, many a Northern State must be released for broader, freer thought, and that the exchange thus made may advantage the great cuuse which we call our own. “ Gentlemen of the Tariff-Reform League, you set an example worthy to be followed oy patriotic and unselfish meu in all parts of our land. It is the duty of all such men never to rest, but agitate, discuss, persuade, until our adversaries shall be compelled to lay this issue clearly and directly before the American people, to the end that they may apply an enlightened intelligence to solve and settle the issue forever. ” Representative Fitch, of New York, followed. He said that President ’ Cleveland's message htid voiced the principles held by many leading Republicans, and he spoke from this standpoint. The presiding office* then read a letter from Secretary Endifcott regretting a necessary absence, and also one from Speaker Carlisle. Speaker Carlisle expressed his regret at not being able to be present, and said: “Under the ciicumstauces all I can do is to send you the assurance of my Warmest sympathy vyth every effort that may be made to advance the people’s cause in the strugglo now going on between the frieuds of industrial freedom and the beneficiaries of industrial slavery. This strugglo has just commenced iu this country, und those who delude themselves with the hope that it will bo abandoned before the triumph of right over wrong are simply augmenting the weight of the blow that will inevitably fall upon them in the future. This is nob a threat, but a friendly warning. The history of all movements for necessary social or political reforms shows that they grow more radical by opposition aud delay, und it would be wise und patriotic upon the part of onr opponents to recoguize the inevitable and accede to reasonable demands now rather than be forced to accept harder terms hereafter. “So far the sentiment in favor of a reduction of taxation and the removal of commercial restrictions has been conservative, and, if it does not continue to be so, the responsibility will rest solely on those who unreasonably oppose it. They alone can stop the agitation or confine ft within reasonable grounds by proper concessions to the demands of the people. The result of the contest in which we are engaged is not in the least doubtful. And, unless the evils of which we complain are removed—which seems not at all probabh —the agitation should go riqht on wits increased vigor and force until the public judgment and conscience refuse longer to justify or condone them. Nothing has yet occurred to weaken our faith in the justice of our cause or to abate our confidence in its ultimate success. A single defeat, even if it had been sustained on the real merits of the controversy, ought not to discourage us. No just cause is lost so long as it has a single earnest advocate among the people. “More than 5,500,000 of intelligent, patriotic Americans have attested their fidelity to the cause of revenue reform under circumstances well calculated to test the sincerity of their opinions and they will neither desert its standard nor make peace with the enemy until at least substantial justice is done." Letters of regret from David A. Wells, President Hyde of Bowdoin College, Carl Schurz, Gen. Francis A. Walker and others were read. Ex-Congressman P. A. Collins said the tariff reformers had fought a good fight, had kept the faith, but had not “finished their course." The meeting broke up after “three times three for President Cleveland and the Tariff Reform League. ” The diary of the late John R. Thompson, who was well known as a Southern man of letters, is being edited and published by Mr. R. H. Stoddard, the poet. In this diary Mr. Thompson relates some interesting anecdotes of literary London a quarter of a century ago. He speaks of Tennyson as “a quiet,-simple man, who smoked a pipe and drank hot punch with ns." For years after Mr. Thompson’s return to America he kept the poet supplied with Virginia tobacco, which he preferred to all other, and which he smoked in olay pipes, taking a new pipe for every smoke. Judge no one by his relations, whatE- criticism yon may pass upon his eomions. Relations like features, an ist upon us; companions, like clothes, are more or less our own selection. >