that they would lose their jobs. In a close election, Cleveland was elected over his Republican opponent, James G. Blaine. Randall also took two tours of the South in 1884 after the election. Although, he claimed the trips to be of a personal nature, they generated speculation that Randall was gathering support for another run at the Speakership in 1885. Resisting tariff reform As the 49th Congress gathered in 1885, Cleveland's position on the tariff was still largely unknown. Randall declined to challenge Carlisle for Speaker, busying himself instead with the federal patronage in Pennsylvania and continued leadership of the Appropriations committee. In February 1886, Morrison, still the chairman of Ways and Means, proposed a bill to decrease the surplus by buying and cancelling $10 million worth of federal bonds each month. Cleveland opposed the plan, and Randall joined 13 Democrats and most Republicans in defeating it. Later that year, however, Cleveland supported Morrison's attempt to reduce the tariff. Again, Republicans and Randall's protectionist bloc combined to sink the measure. In the lame-duck session of 1887, Randall attempted a compromise tariff that would eliminate duties on some raw materials while also dispensing with excises on tobacco and some liquors. The bill attracted some support from Southern Democrats and Randall's protectionists, but Republicans and the rest of the Democratic caucus rejected it. Declining influence The tariff fight continued into the 50th Congress, which opened in 1887, in which Democrats retained control of the House, with a reduced majority. By that time, Cleveland had openly sided with the tariff reformers and backed the proposals introduced in 1888 by Representative Roger Q. Mills of Texas. Mills had replaced Morrison at Ways and Means after the latter's defeat for reelection, and was as much in favor of tariff reform as the Illinoisan had been. Mills's bill would make small cuts to tariffs on raw materials, but relatively deeper cuts to those on manufactured goods; Randall, representing a manufacturing district, opposed it immediately. Randall was again ill and absent from the House when the Mills tariff passed by a 162 to 149 vote. The Senate, now Republican-controlled, refused to consider the bill, and it died with the 50th Congress in 1889. Mills's and Cleveland's defeat on the tariff bill could be considered a victory for Randall, but the vote showed how isolated the former Speaker's protectionist ideas now made him in his party: only four