He set forth his reasons in a letter on August 27, 1894, to Representative Catchings of Missouri, in which he sharply commented upon the incidents accompanying the passage of the bill and in which he declared: "I take my place with the rank and file of the Democratic party who believe in tariff reform, and who know what it is; who refuse to accept the result embodied in this bill as the close of the war; who are not blinded to the fact that the livery of Democratic tariff reform has been stolen and used in the service of Republican protection; and who have marked the places where the deadly blight of treason has blasted the counsels of the brave in their hour of might." The letter was written throughout with a fervor rare in President Cleveland's papers, and it had a scorching effect.

Senator Gorman and some other Democratic Senators lost their seats as soon as the people had a chance to express their will.
The circumstances of the tariff struggle greatly increased popular discontent with the way in which the government of the country was being conducted at Washington.

It became a common belief that the actual system of government was that the trusts paid the campaign expenses of the politicians and in return the politicians allowed the trusts to frame the tariff schedules.

Evidence in support of this view was furnished by testimony taken in the investigation of the sugar scandal in the summer of 1894.

Charges had been made in the newspapers that some Senators had speculated in sugar stocks during the time when they were engaged in legislation affecting the value of those stocks.