Staunton Spectator

For Tariff Reform.

MR. CLEVELAND TALKS ABOUT THE CAUSES OF THE POLITICAL UPHEAVAL

The New York Commercial Advertiser says a representative of that paper asked ex-President Cleveland for an expression of opinion as to the causes of the recent political revolution.

"Well," said the ex-President, "it must be clear to all thoughtful men that the popular demand for a reform of the tariff which the republican party denied, was the chief factor in the result. The people wanted a reduction of the cost of living, and the republican Congress increased the cost of the necessaries of life. As a consequence, the people showed their disapprobation by electing a Congress from which they may expect relief from their burdens. The public may be hood-winked for a time by false representations, but it never fails to find out the deception and punish the deceivers. The campaign for tariff reform was inaugurated in full reliance on the intelligence of the American people, and the results of last Tuesday's election justify this faith in them."

"I believe that this victory for democracy is not the result of the passing enthusiasm among democrats or of factional quarrels among republicans. It is, in my opinion, a deliberate expression of a conviction which has been reached after careful thought."

"During the last two years the tariff Reform League and similar organizations have been sending documents all over the country. This is a rather slow way to make conversions. It has not the immediate effect of eloquence on the people, but when men's minds are convinced by careful reading and thinking the effects are likely to be more enduring than those produced by a speech. The tariff reform campaign has been carried on by these leagues on this assumption, and I think that the men who voted for tariff reform this year will be apt to remain with our party on that issue if their faith in our party's sincerity continues."

"What do you think of the result in Massachusetts?" asked the reporter.

"It is one of the most significant features of the election," was the reply. "Governor-elect Russell made his canvass on the tariff reform issue, and was elected by 10,000 majority in a strongly republican manufacturing State. The democratic candidates for Congress asked the votes of the people on the same issue, and the complexion of the Massachusetts delegation in the Fifty-second Congress shows the result."

"The tariff has also done its work in New Hampshire and other New England States."

"The democratic victories in the West are the protests of the farmers against a tariff which taxes their agricultural implements, their clothes and their household goods and gives them no compensating benefits. The elections in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas and the other Western States indicate that the work begun two years ago is bearing fruit."

"The democratic party is still held by its pledge to make a just revision of the tariff. It now has a large majority in the House of Representatives, and it will continue the work begun in the Fiftieth Congress and keep up the fight until its promises to the people are redeemed."