Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 February 1901 — POLITICS OF THE DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POLITICS OF THE DAY

i A BILLION SESSION IN SIGHT. flJrf ®fc**a3tor Alll*en, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, is a RepultliKatt leader who Is not given to exagfceratfhg in estimating expenditures by ■Republican Congresses. When he •tales, as he did on the floor of the Senflte Thursday, that the appropriations iduring the present session will approximate $7(10,000,(KKI, with obligations of »»>0,000,000 more for future sessions, we (kiay well believe that the total will not Be Jess. According to another Republican Sena tor— Hale of Maine—who uu toerstauds the situation in this respect well, even Hie enormous figures Allison may be SOO,MOoTOuubelow the mark. J Be it observed that it was this distinguished Republican Senator, not a •captious or mendacious Democratic jcritic, who made this estimate and who Jdeclared that tlie tide of expenditure rapidly rising and that the time fwas approaching when instead of a {dllion dollar Congress the public would >e shocked to find themselves watchng the proceedings of a billion dollar jjession. If any Democratic statesman Bias said more than this regarding the pendency to prodigal expenditure the ■act has escaped the notice of the Vlhronicle'. f Before the war with Spain the aver )age expenditures for a number of years tiad be<>u less than $31)5,000,000, or less dhau $1,000,000 a day. According to ifclr. Allison's estimate, deducting $120,Tf)tMl,(KH'i for the postal service, we have SO-40,000,000 ns the corresponding total

4<jc the ni'xt fiscal year, with obligation* for 960,000,000 more. Here is au increase of not fur from B<> per cent, ■leaving obligations out of the account. ‘According to Mr. Hale the increase is likely to be 100 per eent—l3o3,ooo,ooo /ear, with more coming. Accepting the lowest of these figures from leading Republican Senators, the situation can hardly be agreeable to 'American taxpayers, and when they once fairly realize it there is liable to be Much a reaction as lias not. been seen in ttuatiy a day. It is not altogether sur'firising that Mr. Allison, with nine jother Republican Senators, indicated g heir hostility to the shipping piracy bv for adjournment Thursday night in face of the resistance of the managing pirates. Chicago Chronicle. A Great Economic Cliunge. Almost every day brings some new announcement with regard to the ab aorption of one railroad or another by pome other rairoad. It is noteworthy ftbat tiie same group of capitalists always has these transactions in charge, iltor do these rich men confine their activity to railroads. A dozen men have become suddenly the leading influence In the country, while people have been thinking that they saw the national iflrift In Imperialism,'in corrupt municipal politics, in mechanical inventions, )u broadening of religious beliefs or in extravagant living; the concentration of power in a few hands, to an extent Which dwarfs to Insignificance the moat gigantic of the modern transactions, has become the central and basic fact. Host on Transcript. limiting for an Ivxciia*. Cuba was never so thoroughly searched by Spaniard or Instirreeto for tils foe ns It is now being by the administration for some shadow of an excuse 4t> violate the promise of Cuban Independence made before the beginning of , the Spanish war. If the Cubans would puly revolt or something like that! Hut they won’t. That the promise to turn Cuba over to Cubans must lie broken ueern* to be the major premise of the arguments of the imperialistic press how to Justify violation of the promise is what tormenls them.—Utica (N. Y.) Observer. I ode Slunk tn the Trust. The trusts and sjTidlcates who have mapped out all our new possessions—arpj a spor or two which we do not postevs -as their own especial fields of endeavor have received something ljke a Ijar from the action of the government Jm ,KflUto Domingo, which has had the temerity to take possession of Its own p ■ sauces and to übnul the contract with jin Improvement company composed

principally of New York capitalist* which has been holding the customhouses and making disbursements. The government of this country has been asked to intervene, and to the consternation of the company has refused to act. Philadelphia Times. It Will Be n Dead Letter. The ease with which Senator Chandler's lilll to prohibit corporations from making campaign contributions is progressing, it having been reported favorably by unanimous vote of the Senate pommlttce on privileges and elections, is a pretty good indication that no tangible results arc to bo expected from it. The experienced politicians who are dealing with It are entirely willing to have It passed, since that action will have the appearance of virtue, while they know that its enforcement in letter and spirit will be a practical impossibility. Philadelphia Ledger. A Clown Out of Motley. It is said that the crowd that turned out to hear Chauucey M. Depew tell the Senate all the jokes he knew in connection with the ship subsidy 1)111 the other day departed In high dudgeon. The speech lmd nothing in it but statistics and dry farts ami figures. If Ghauncey ceases to be a Joker and funny story teller the people want to hear nothing further from him. This shows the danger of being funny in public.—Nebraska State Journal. Doinc Business tit Heavy Loss. The government will never get rich by engaging In the ship brokerage busi-

ness. At the beginning of the war with Spain it paid $1,1192,000 for five vessels which were offered by private patriots. Since then It has been able to sell these same ships for the sum of $710,900. A simpe arithmetical process shows Uncle Sam to be the user to the extent of s."*•_'<hhi. it may bo that the gentlemen who did the purchasing for the government were altogether too anxious atnl overestimated our danger.—Washing ton Post. Time to Tak» Off the Duties. Is it not time for Congress to think •ibout taking tiie duty off all kinds of steel pisMlnetsV bast year there were exported from this country vast quantities of articles made of steel, showing beyond a doubt that there is no need fora protective tariff on steel products. Hut as long as that tariff remains it will I>e utilized by tiie steel producers to keep up prices in the domestic market. Savannait News. be'eetive Naval Reserve System. I' nless the Navy Departtf nt can devise some means of making the pro posed reserve attractive, it is not likely to attract many recruits. A service in which thert' is no hope of promotion or emolument and where important obligations must lit' assumed is not calculated to commend thelaverage American. " Profit* of the Oil Trust. That N a significant object lesson in the workings of truism which is found in (lit' recent declaration of a 20 per cent dividend by the Standard Oil Company presumably a quarterly dividend anti the showing of tiie enormous profits made by that giant monopoly,— St. liOttls Republic. Trouble in store for Hanna. If Mr. Hanna experiences trouble in getting his subsidy bill past the men who come up for re-election only once In six years wliat will he experience when it gets over into the House, where tiie members luwe to go before the people every two years? An Atl-S'ulHcient Reason. What is the use of all this heating about the bush to find reasons for not keeping our promise to Cuba? She is too weak to force us to observe good faith and that ought to be sufficient.— New York Kveulng Tost. • *