Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1898 — WHO WHIPPED SPAIN? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WHO WHIPPED SPAIN?

Republicans are endeavoring to make the people believe that the Republican party whipped Spain. Had it not been for the Democrats in Congress the Republican administration would have swallowed all the Spanish insults and have accepted without protest the destruction of the Maine. Have the people forgotten the struggle in Congress to force McKinley to cake a manly and patriotic stand? Have the people forgotten Mark Hanna’s insolent boast, “Give us twenty-four hours and we’ve got ’em licked?” Do the people remember that it was not the Spanish that Hanna said would be “licked,” but the patriotic Congressmen who wanted to fight Spain? After the war had been begun, Republican newspapers alleged that McKinley had been coerced into fighting, and Mark Hanna said that “nobody wanted war but tramps and loafers.” That is the vtfhr record ot the Republican party—the party which now claims the honor of whipping Spain. Forced into the conflict against its will, the Republican party now poses as the victor. Such a claim is absurd on its face, and will serve no purpose other than to make ridiculous the party making it. As a matter of fact, the war was won by the people, but the Democratic party was the cause of giving the people an opportunity to fight the Spanish. Patriotism is not the exclusive possession of either party, but it can safely be said that the Republican leaders were sadly lacking in that regard when the war question was unler discussion in Congress.

Questions for Congress. There are several things which the McKinley investigating committee has not yet Investigated. It is quite probable that this white-washing committee will not reach the matters in question, but Congress may be so careful of Alger’s feelings. Among the problems to be solved are the following: Who sold decomposed meat and spoiled canned goods to the government at the price of firstclass articles, and what official secured the “rake off”? Who bought rotten hulks as auxiliary craft for the war department at three or four times their real value, and what did the purchasing agents get for their share of the “swag”? Who acted as buyer in negotiating deals for palatial yachts with their millionaire owners at fancy figures, and what share did the buyer get of the “boodle”? Who purchased army mules In the north at $l2O. each on the very day that several thousand army mules were sold at Chickamauga for S4O apiece, and who got the benefit of the “dicker”? There are many other questions of a timilar nature that might be asked.

Fostering the Trusts. Organized capital has been systenatically strengthened by Republican egislation. As a result of the compact nade by Mark Hanna with the trusts before the election of McKinley, the Republican party is the slave of the rusts. Republican workingmen should ■end the record of trust legislation; •hey should peruse the history of the enactments made in the Interests of the sugar trust, the steel trust, the whisky trust and the other great combines of capital against labor, and they should resolve to break their connection with a party which is their deadliest enemy. When a trust is formed what is its first avowed object? To cheapen the cost of production. Who are the ones to suffer from this cheapening process? The laborers. Fostering the combines, the Republican party strikes a blow at every wage earner in the nation. And yet there are wage earners who will vote the Republican ticket. Who are the leaders of this party which is the friend of organized capital? Mark Hanna, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Lukens, and all the managers of the great combines in this country.

AFTER THE WAR.