Democratic Sentinel, Volume 21, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 March 1897 — POLITICS OF THE DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POLITICS OF THE DAY

REPUBLICAN GLOOM. At the very outset of the McKinley administration the Republicans, who understand the signs of the times, are despondent, for they see quite clearly that hundreds of thousands of those who voted their party ticket four short months ago are already convinced that they were deceived, and that never before has the tide of iwpular opinion turned so quickly against the victors in a political contest as it has since last New Year's day. There are dozens of Republican Senators and Representatives in Washington to-day who feel certain that if the election of last November were to l>e held over again now the result would be different. The only consolation that those on the winning side can find is that the people cannot turn them out by to-morrow. Not within the memory of the present generation has a party assumed power in this country under such discouraging circumstances as the Republican party is doing now, and this in spite of what was claimed at the beginning of winter as the most magnificent victory ever achieved in a free nation! '1 here is none of the enthusiasm among the masses that was both predicted and expected, and there is scarcely any of that hopeful feeling that the promises of the campaign will be realized, and that the man who is now President is really the advance agent of prosperity. On the contrary, the suspicion is already widespread, and is growing in strength every day, that tie Is merely the weak representative of a gang of corporation sharpers. Those Democrats whowere led away frpm their old party affiliations know now, since McKinley spoke bis piece from the gaily-draped stand at the Capitol, that their one idea of "sound money” lias no place of honor reserved for It in the President's mind. He has proven that their hobby never received serious consideration, and that while he may feel sorry for them for l>elng duped so easily by his partners, be is not going to pay further attention to them. In fact, like the ordinary vender of a gold brick, he wants to create the impression that he never had any dealings with them.

McKinley’s Financial Utterances. McKinley’s Inaugural utterances on pretty much everything excepting the need of re-enacting his “tariff for monopolists only” are oracularly indefinite, and In many cases even confusing and contradictory, thereby confirming the opinion of those who regard him as a man lacking that breadth of mind and wide Information which should characterize the occupant of the Presidential chair. It is impossible, for instance, to get any clear idea of his meaning when he says in regard to rhe money of the country that it is all good now, but that it should be “put on an enduring basis, not subject to easy attack nor its stability to doubt or dispute.” How can it be “all good,” as he says it is, If it is not on an enduring basis, and Is subject to easy attack? Does he know what he means? Then he says that the several forms of our paper money offer a constant embarrassment to the Government, “and a safe balance in the treasury.” In this last part of the sentence he probably means that it is “a danger to a safe balance in the treasury,” bnt why should It be so If it is “all good?” He talks of getting rid of the gold reserve in the treasury, and yet he declares that until the advent of international bimetallism “the value of the silver coined and of that which may herafter be coined, must be constantly at par with gold by every resource at our command,” and that “the credit of the Government, the integrity of its currency, and the Inviolability of its obligations must be preserved.” Here is a declaration that he is in favor of redeeming the Government’s obligations of all sorts In gold, of keeping on a par with gold, and at the same time in favor of doing away with the gold reserve! Even the- former spook advisers of Lyman J. Gage, the national banker whom McKinley has put in charge of the Treasury Department, could not put forth a worse hodgepodge than this. Whether McKinley is for the bankers’ plan of converting the non-interest-bearing greenbacks into interest-bear-ing Government bonds and turning the entire business of issuing paper money over to the national banks, does not appear, and it is extremely doubtful whether he has any opinion on the subject. He seems indeed to be a tariff monomaniac.-—New York News.

Bryan’s View. His (the President’s) promise to endeavor constantly to secure international bimetallism is a rebuke to those who think that the gold standard should be maintained because of its merits. The system which is so bad as to justify an early and earnest attempt to get rid of it cannot be defended. But his declaration that, bad as it is, it must be endured until help comes from abroad, will be discouraging to those who have ceased to expect that international co-operation can be secured through persuasion.— William J. Bryan in New York Journal. ' Too Much Like a Coronation. To sensible Americans the gorgeous military and civic pageant attending the inauguration of President McKinley arouses feelings of regret and depreciation rather than admiration and enthusiasm. It indicates an unhealthy drift from the democratic simplicity which was the characteristic our republican institutions and thy'outward expression of a fundamental principle of free government.—Si; Louis Republic. Privilege Inimical to Prosperity. What the country needs and must have is general prosperity and not a specific thrift for the few to the detriment of the many. All men, and all corporations who invest their money in legitimate enterprises for Industrial

purposes, are entitled to fair and reasonable profit on their Investments, but no man or set of men should be permitted to use the legislative and executive departments of the Government for their specific benefit.—Dubuque Times. The Fifty-Fifth Congress. The present United States Senate consists of 90 members, and of these 48 are classed as Republicans on all questions but that of the free and unlimited coinage of silver, 37 as Democrats and 7as Populists. There is consequently a clear majority of Republicans on all ordinary political issues and that party cannot shirk any responsibility for the management of the country’s affairs for the next two years at least, as they have a clear majority in the House of Representatives of at least fifty over the combined opposition of Democrats, Populists and Fusionists. In the Senate the straight-out Republicans number 42, while there are six classed as Silver Republicans. The Democrats who staud squarely on the national platform of the party a<‘- pled at Chicago last year muster 29 in the same body, the other 6 being classed as in favor of gold and against the free coinage of silver at the declared ratio of Id to 1. The 7 Populist Senators are, of course, sllverites, so that on the silver issue the Senate stands: For free coinage—Democrats, 29; Populists, 7; Republicans, 6—total, 42. Against free coinage—Republicans, 42; Gold Democrats, 6—total, 48. The Silver Republicans• and Gold I'cnccrats in the Senate just balance each other, and the dominant party can, therefore, always muster a majority whether the question to be voted on is a purely party one or a financial one. The House of Representatives, which is classified as consisting of 204 Republicans, 122 Democrats and 30 Populists, Fusionists and Silver party men, with a vacancy from one of the Missouri districts. Even If all the Populists, Fusionists and Sllverites were to combine with the Democrats and vote against the Republicans, the latter would still be in a large majority. The Republicans must, while the Fif-ty-fifth Congress lasts, be held responsible for all the legislation enacted. They have no excuse for shirking any of it.

McKinley and the Civil Service. The great questions agitating the mind of the average Republican politician at the present time is whether McKinley will enforce the civil service law or not. If he does the “pickings” will be unpleasantly restricted. An appreciation of this faet was recently manifested In Congress when a general assault on the civil service policy was made. Mr. McKinley Is on record as an adherent of the civil service theory. —lndianapolis Sentinel, Don't Forget Thia. In the midst of all this triumph of one party, and this elevation of its chosen leader, It Is curious to remember how narrow was McKinley’s majority over Bryan. A change in the votes of twenty thousand citizens would have put the Democratic candidate where the Republican is to-day and changed the whole counse of the history of this continent. No man should forget that.—New York News. Exchange Comment. Somehow or other Marcus A. Hanna has a grip on the neck of the uew administration that means submission or protruding tongues and purple countenances.—Vincennes, Ind., Suu. During the campaign, it is said, Mr. McKinley greeted 1,009,000 persons. Notwithstanding his impaired health, a large proportion of this 1,000,000 insist on greeting him again in order that he may be enabled to perceive their fitness for places under the new administration. —St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Mr. Alger, the gentleman with a plethoric purse who is to be Mr. McKinley’s Secretary of War, has arrived in Washington, and declares that the financial situation can be materially Improved by the passage of a tariff bill. Mr. Alger's views have been thoroughly Cantonized. —New York Journal. The old McKinley tariff reduced the revenues of the country and the Republicans promise that the new McKinley tariff which they hope to enact will increase the revenues. A McKinley tariff is apparently a magician’s bottle out of which you can get any kind of liquor you call for.—Buffalo Courier. There are still a good many Republicans, who, like Grosvenor, cannot understand why Democrats should be allowed to hold office under a Republican administration, and they promise to make life pretty uncomfortable to Major McKinley when the flowers of spring begin to bloom.—Philadelphia Bulletin.

The suggestion of a mugwump organ that Vice President Hobart should reform the United States Senate is impracticable. Mr. Hobart will be too busy taking care of his coal trust. If he has any desire to reform things he can begin at home, where his efforts will be less dangerous and more effective.—Kansas City Times. In the recent investigations of the coal trust It was admitted that the price per ton had been advanced sl, but without any increase of pay to the miners. The increase in price was accomplished by' four successive advances of 25 cerfts each “in order to obtain a fair Remuneration,’’ in which nobody shared but the trust.—St. Louis Globe-Demo-crat. The true Way in a time of profound industrial depression to help distressed business is to lighten the burden of taxation by cutting down taxes to the limit of a safe economy and by cutting down expenses to the measure of revenue. But the Congress has not even considered a decrease of and only one mau in Congress has labored effectively to cut down expenditure.—Philadelphia Record.