ue, which was fairly in harmony with
Democratic Free Trade principles, and in harmony with the President's
message. The bill was passed without long delay, Mr. Reed leading
the ineffectual opposition to its passage in the House, with a
speech of great eloquence, in which he depicted conditions that
would surely arise after the passage of such a measure.

But this bill still had to run the gantlet of the Senate, where
many Democratic Senators did not sympathize to the full extent with
the Cleveland-Carlisle Free Trade theory. Senators Gorman, Hill,
Murphy, Jones, Brice, and Smith of New Jersey, led the opposition,
uniting with the Republicans in securing some seven hundred
amendments, all in the interest, more or less, of Protection.

The truth is, we were all--Democrats as well as Republicans--trying
to get in amendments in the interest of protecting the industries
of our respective States. I myself secured the adoption of many
such amendments. After I had exhausted every resource, I went to
Senator Brice one day and asked him if he would not offer some
little amendment for me, as I felt pretty sure that if Brice offered
it it would be adopted, and I knew if I did it myself it stood a
good chance of being defeated. Brice, by the way, was a very bluff,
frank man; he replied to me, half jocularly, "Now, you know when
your party is in power you will never do anything for a Democrat,
and I won't offer this amendment for you. You go and get your
colleague, Senator Palmer, to offer it for you." I left him and
went to General Palmer; he presented the amendment, and it was
adopted.

The bill passed the Senate; and after going to conference, when it
seemed likely the Conference Committee would not agree, the Democratic
leaders of the House, fearing the bill would fail entirely, decided
to surrender to the Senate and accept the Senate bill with all its
amendments. President Cleveland denounced this temporizing, coining
the famous expression, "party perfidy and party dishonor" in the
Wilson letter, evidently referring to Mr. Gorman and other leaders
of the Senate.

There has been endless controversy and discussion over the attitude
of Senator Gorman on the Wilson Bill. I myself have always believed
that Senator Gorman felt that the industries of the country could
not prosper under a Democratic Free Trade Tariff, and that he was
willing to afford them a certain amount of protection. Especially
was he criticised on a