Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1899 — POLITICS OF THE DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POLITICS OF THE DAY

CALLING A HALT TO M’KINLEY. If President McKinley, and the men who control him can read the signs of the times aright there surely will be a change tn the administration’s Philippine policy. The returns from the special election held In the Eighth Congressional District of Missouri ought alone to insure that. The Eighth was represented for years by Richard P. Bland, whose name Is associated with the sliver dollar, and who was-the chief rival of William J. Bryan for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1896. The vote has Been close there for quite a long t’me, the Republicans electing their candidate In 1894, and being beaten last fall by only 2,800 in a total of over 40,000. When Bland died the Republicans thought they would surely elect his successor, calculating largely on the popularity of their own candidate, the dissensions among the Democrats, and, above all, the aid the administration at Washington was extending to them. The contest was a most exciting one, with the result that last fall’s Democratic majority is Increased in an unusually heavy vote for a by-election. What did it? The answer is simple. Imperial expansion led to Republican defeat. The fight was made on this. The silver question was relegated to the rear. The necessity of slaughtering the Filipinos for the purpose of upholding the flag was brought to the front and fought honestly and bravely by the Democrats, who naturally feared that the brute instinct would prove stronger than reason. This Missouri district Is not the most promising field for a campaign against Imperialism. »The glamour that surrounds expansion Is as bright there as it ta anywhere else in the West, where national vainglory is a very strong factor. That the Republicans calculated on winning through this is abundantly proven by the efforts made by the administration and by the big St Louis newspapers. Their defeat Is emphatic, and shows that the American public still stands by the Constitution.—New Yorlc News. Vnr uni It usay well startle the advocates of an Imperialistic policy to learn from the annual report of the Pension Commissioner that there are now on the pension list no less than 991,515 names. If nearly forty years after the beginning of the great war between the States nearly 1,000,000 men are drawing annually over $140,000,000 from the treasury, what must be the final burden to the American taxpayer If President McKinley’s plan of conquest is carried out to Its logical conclusion? Truly. Imperialism is an expensive preposition. Can the people look with equanimity on a plan which carries with it the possibilities of an enormous increase of this burden of taxation to meet the tremendous expense entailed by pensions? From statistics furnished by the pension bureau, it Is learned that since 1860, when the pension list began to assume considerable proportions, $2,370.600,000 has-been expended in paying pensions. This is an amount not far from equal to the expenditures of the general government from Its organization down to 1860. The pension outlay from 1866 almost equals the highest notch that the public debt attained after the close of the civil war. The debt reached Its maximum Aug. 1, 1865, at $2,756,000,000. The pension expenditures since 1805 have been $2,370,000,000. The human mind is Incapable of realizing the magnitude of these money values. The pension outlay was double the gross earnings of all the 182,000 miles of railway in the United States during the fiscal year 1898. Truly, In calculating the cost of imperialism the minor expense of the present is not the only item worthy of consideration.—Chicago Democrat. I'rosoe’4 y With the'.r usual disregard of truth the Republican politicians are claimlug that the business prosperity of the United States is owing to the election of McKinley. Doubtless the business prosperity of the European nations is 1 also owing to the election of McKinley. When wheat went up to a dollar or . more a bushel the Republican shouters claimed that “McKinley did it.’’ But men of sense know that the famine in India and the short crop in Argentina did it. No\r wnat.was the direct result of McKinley's election? Let William J. (fvyan tell you. He says: “More banks ' \aileil the first B,x months after the ' ' election than ever in the history of the country. If I had been elected it would have been laid at my door. More business houses failed the first six mouths after the election than ever in the same period of time before. If I had been elected all this would haTe been my fault. Times got so bad that some people thought that I bad been elected, and one man from Texas wrote and congratulated me. But I have not been drawing a salary nor have I been appointing new cabinet officers to fill the places of those who have resigned. Times got better and the goldbug came out and said: ‘See; didn’t I tell you wbat would happen If the gold ticket " was elected? Didn’t I tell yon that gold would be discovered In British Columbia?* and did not every man who dlahml K»an mUtakan V irkA nrnnlw oe uau misinaen i lut people

who said In 1896 that we had enough gold were the ones to do the most rejoicing whe nthat was discovered.’’ How plainly a frank statement of facts exposes the hypocrisy of these falsifiers who claim credit for acts of providence and seek to fool the people by preposterous assertions. If there la prosperity, the people should give thanks to world-wide conditions which make it possible, and not to McKinley. Money and the Masses. When the Ohio State Democratic convention adopted a resolution reaffirming the Chicago platform with full emphasis It served notice on the Republican party that gold legislation In Congross would precipitate the money fight of 1896 in more than its original bitterness. There can be no doubt that the masses la the United States believe in bimetallism. The fact that 6,500,000 votes were cast for William J. Bryan and free silver In 1896 shows how the people stand, and but for the false promises and coercion of the money power that Vote would have been largely increased. Should the Republican Congress, urged on by the money trust, pass laws making the gold standard the measure of values there will be a revolt on the part of the people which will overthrow the Republican party and make the money issue paramount. It is not likely, however, that any radical legislation concerning the currency will be passed by the next Congress. McKinley has too clear a knowledge of the fact that there Is a large silver sentiment in his own party to allow such gold legislation on the eve of a campaign for re-election. It has been made apparent that William J. Bryan will be the Democratic candidate for President, and however much (he Republican leaders may boast of their loyalty to gold they will think twice before they precipitate a fierce struggle on that specific question. Know Whit Imperialism MeannIt phould be borne in mind that there are two large and Influential elements in the voting population in all the States which may be counted upon to oppose imperialism regardless of party. Both the Germans and the Irish will none of it. The Germans have had experience of the burdens of militarism. They have come to this country to escape compulsory military service and taxation which amounts almost to confiscation—both being the natural and inevitable result of imperialism either in Europe or in America. As for the Irish, the history of their own country Is a guaranty that they will have no hand in the enslavement of other races struggling for independence and the right to govern themselves.—Chicago Chronicle. n Kndlcsa Tax ITnrdcn. The tremendous cost of the Philiopine war is just beginning to dawn upon the American people. The appropriation for the War Department is $80,000,000 for the current year, but the expenditure for military purposes during the month of July has been At this rate the expenditures for the year will amount to $220,000,000, leaving a deficit of $140,000,000. The regular appropriation will be exhausted by the time Congress convenes, and must be asked to make good the appalling deficiency that will be found to exist. Then, indeed, win the country get a realization of the frightful cost of the iniquitous war being waged against the Filipinos.—Chattanooga News. Commission or Omission, It is hard to tell whether the American people will base tbeir high respect for Dewey the more upon what he has done or upon what he has refrained from doing. His refusal, for example, to accept an invitation to dine with the millionaires of New York commends him mightily to the good will of a great majority of the people of this country. One Belshazzar feast of the kind partaken of by President McKinley at such hands is enough for a decade at least. If Admiral Dewey shall still further refuse to be trotted about the country for the purpose of popularizing the administration's Philippine policy he will be accounted thrice great.—Los Angeles Herald. McKinley the Agtrressor. Spain could not convey to us any rights which she did not possess and Mr. McKinley cannot justly claim any right not expressly conferred upon him by the constitution or laws of his country. “Our rights In the Philippines” would therefore seem to be limited to the right of self-defense—to repel ‘attacks upon our forces—and to the right of maintaining order and security in the city of Manila which we conquered from Spain, if Mr. McKinley had not claimed and sought to enforce rights far exceeding these there would have been no war there.—New York World. Test of Mltltarjr' Rale. Government revenues last mouth rose to nearly sso,ooo,ooo—exhibiting the continued great productiveness of the war taxes. Expenditures were also very heavy, and leave a deficit of about $8,000,000. The army and navy expenses were about $10,000,000 larger than In the same month of 1897, when matters were on a peace footing. This difference represents to a considerable extent the cost of holding our dependencies under military rule.—Springfield Renubllean.