CLEVELAND TO WILSON.

The President's Letter of July 2, 1894, on the Tariff.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, July 2, 1894.

MY DEAR SIR: 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 tariff 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 necessary 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 cannot rid myself of the feeling that this conference 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 misapprehending 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 Government, 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 Democratic principles may be surrendered.

In these circumstances they cannot do otherwise than to look with confidence to you and those who with you have patriotically and sincerely cham

poned the cause of tariff reform within Democratic lines and guided by Democratic principles. This confidence is vastly augmented by the action under your leadership of the House of Representatives upon the bill now pending.

Every true Democrat and every sincere tariff reformer 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 discouragement; 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 abandonment of the cause or principles upon which it rests, means party perfidy and party dishonor.

One topic will be submitted to the conference which embodies Democratic principle so directly that it cannot 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 peop'e and our manufacturers as soon as the Democratic party was invested with the power to determine 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 has occurred to release us from our obligation to secure this advantage to our people. It must be admitted that no tariff . measure can accord with Democratic principles and promises, or bear a genuine Democratic badge, that does not provide for free raw materials. In these circumstances it may well excite our wonder that Democrats are willing to depart from this the most Democratic of all 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 middle ground, since their subjection to any rate of tariff taxation, great or small, is alike violative of Democratic 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. refer to the adjustment of tariff taxation on sugar.

I.

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 conference that have aroused in connection with this subject a natural Democratic animosity to the methods 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 ourselves 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 granting them, under the guise of tariff taxation, any opportunity t› further their peculiar methods. I suggest that we ought not to be driven away from the Democratic 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 indirectly and inordinately encourage a combination of sugar refining interests. I know that in present conditions this is a delicate subject, and I 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 matters 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 a

wise adjustment, and that a confiding people still trust in our hand their prosperity and well-being.

The Democracy of the land plead most earestly for the speedy completion of the tariff legislation which their Representatives have undertaken, but they demand not less earnestly that no stress of necessity shall tempt those they trust to the abandonment of Democratic principle.

Yours, very truly,

Hon. WILLIAM L. WILSON.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

THE PRESIDENT ON THE NEW LAW.

His Letter of August 27, 1894, to Hon. T. C. Catchings.

Hon. T. C. CATCHINGS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, August 27, 1894.

MY DEAR SIR: Since the conversation I had with you and Mr. Clarke of Alabama a few days ago in regard to my action on the tariff bill now before me, I have given the subject further and most serious consideration. The result is I am more settled than ever in the determination to allow the bill to become a law without my signature.

When the formation of legislation which it was hoped would embody Democratic ideas of tariff reform was lately entered upon by the Congress, nothing was further from my anticipation than a result which I could not promptly and enthusiastically indorse.

It is, therefore, with a feeling of the utmost disappointment that I submit to a denial of this privilege.

I do not claim to be better than the masses of my party, nor do I wish to avoid any responsibility which, on account of the passage of this law, I ought to bear as a member of the Democratic organization. Neither will I permit myself to be separated from my party to such an extent as might be implied by my veto of tariff legislation, which, though disappointing, is still chargeable to Democratic effort. But there are provisions in this tariff bill which are not in the line with honest tariff reform, and it contains inconsistencies and crudities which ought not to appear in tariff laws or laws of any kind. Besides, there were, as you and I well know, incidents accompanying the passage of the bill through the Congress which made every sincere tariff reformer unhappy, while influences, surrounded it in its later stages and interfered with its final construction, which ought not to be recognized or tolerated in Democratic tariff reform counsels.

And yet, notwithstanding all its vicissitudes and all the bad treatment it received at the hands of pretended friends, it presents a vast improvement to existing conditions. It will certaintly lighten many tariff burdens that now rest heavily upon the people. It is not only a barrier against the return of mad protection, but it furnishes a vantage ground from which must be waged further aggressive operations against protected monopoly and governmental favoritism.