Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1901 — POLITICS OF THE DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POLITICS OF THE DAY

What Doe* It Meant There la ground for suspicion that the tariff agitation which has suddenly sprung up In the Republican papers is a sort of red herring across the trail of the imperialistic sot. Not the slightest doubt is warranted that the Republicans are very much worried over the possible fate of their colonial schemes. It was only by a narrow majority of one that these schemes were not given their quietus by the Supreme Court; and the reasoning by which the majority reached this decision in favor of government by force was so devious and so incoherent that the fears of the plotters have been augmented rather than allayed. So far from the anti-imperial propaganda having lost heart or hope, there are evidences that it has taken on-fresh zeal and that it has accepted the hint of the Supreme Court and will center Its fire upon Congress hereafter. Had this been done in the last election, it Is exceedingly doubtful whether the Fif-ty-seventh Congress would have had a majority which could be relied upon to attempt the governing of acquired territory outside the pale of the Constitution. As it was the anti-imperialists let Congress go rather by default, concentrating their efforts on the overthrow of McKinley himself. This attack having failed and the question still being open, the anti-imperialists now see their way clear to a decisive test of strength. The question of imperialism in all its baldness and all its Immorality and all its cruel disregard of human rights will now be brought home to the plain people In the Congressional districts of the whole country. No intervening question will be permitted to cloud the Issue. No suggestion of “repudiation” or “national dishonor” or overthrow of prosperity” can be worked in by cunning political jugglers to confuse the public mind and frighten timid business interests into supporting the President in his brutal policy of foreign conquest. The people will be asked to decide whether they are In favor of American ideals and American principles or whether they wish to abandon these principles and ideals and go back more than a century to take up with a policy which our fathers fought and died to overthrow.

The Republicans undoubtedly see that this is going to be the line of attack. They are therefore casting about for the best way to side-track the agitation. Thgy know full well that the people are restless under the frightful burdens of Dingleyism, burdens which the trusts make heavier by extortions of their own under its monstrous protection. But tiie Republicans have no intention of wiping out Dingleyism or of overthrowing the trusts. They do intend to fool the people as far as they can with plans for the modification of the Dingley tariff and the curtailment of trust robbery. They talk and will continue to talk of reciprocity and perhaps Babcock will talk and continue to talk of free-listing gome trust-made articles; but let no one be deceived; The party of public plunder, the party of privilege, the party of plutocracy, is not going to put a stop to public plunder. Not If it can help it. But If this party can divert popular attention from its schemes of world-conquest by talking of the tariff and by renewing the agitation along that line, what more likely than that It should resort to this trick in order to gain time for the carrying oat of its vast undertakings in colonialism? That the tariff is attracting more and more attention and that sooner or later that issue must become a definitive one before the American people Is certain. It really ought to be the foremost question before the pbople at this moment and it would be but for the lamentable fact that the Dingley party has taken care to overshadow that tremendous issue with one even more tremendous. For after all the matter of preserving free government is more important than the establishment of free trade. Ordinarily Democrats would welcome the precipitation of the tariff question Into the arena of political discussion. Indeed they would welcome It at this moment if it did not come with the suspicious suggestion that it Is being dragged In for the purpose of distracting notice from the more vital question of whether we shall have a Republic or an Empire. Democrats can hardly avoid taking a hand in the fight where the tariff Is concerned and this fact Is relied upon by the Imperial freebooters to disturb the alliance between the Democrats and those of the faith who have joined the Democratic party on the issue of imperialism. Whether the plans of the Republicans will fail or not remains ta be seen. But that this Is really the Inspiration qf all the stir that Is recently abroad concerning the tariff we have little doubt. The plutocratic party has enormous undertakings In view. It Is not merely seeking to govern Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines by force; It Is not merely looking for the conquest of the island's of the sea; It Is planning for the. conquest of the United States; and It has made the first steps In that direction. It has already overthrown free government in one of the sovereign States of the Union. It ta only a question of time and of public temper when It will take further steps along the same Imperial road. And that party may be trusted to resort to any

expedient, however desperate, to avoid a square issue before the people on the vital question of Republic or Empire. If it can keep the Empire in the background by lugging the tariff to the front, it will accept the risk of free trade rather than challenge a return to the old fundamentals of the Republic. —Johnstown Democrat. Where Do Kepablicana Stand. Senator Foraker is right, no doubt, in saying that the Democratic party has not lately made an authoritative declaration of what It would do, if in po\\er, about the tariff, the money of the country, shipping bounties, the Nicaragua canal, Porto Rico, the Philippines, Cuba and other matters. There has been no convocation authorized to speak forthe Democratic party of the nation for nearly a year. Mr. Foraker is warranted, therefore, In assuming that the Democratic party has not changed, judging it by its own official record. But it Is just as true of the Republican party as It Is of the Democratic party that nobody knows to a certainty what it means to do or can agree to do about most of these matters, w hich are of very great importance. Take the tariff, for instance. Will the Republican party follow the Aidriches and Dalzells of New England and Pennsylvania, and continue to protect the gigantic combines in exacting higher prices from Americans thau from foreigners, or will It comply with the reasonable demands of the Babcocks of the West, and deprive those combines of their tariff instrument of extortion? Can any man tell? Does even McKinley or Hanna know ? Or take the question of shipping bounties. The Republican party did nothing during the life of the last Congress; does any Republican know what it will do in the new Congress, especially In view of the fact that Americans are building and buying ships without any bounty from the United States Treasury to encourage them? Will it vote $180,000,000 out of the National Treasury into the strong boxes of men who can make plenty of mouey without being bounded by American taxpayers? Or take the Philippines. The Supreme Court has not yet decided that we may put up tariff bars and keep them up forever against the products of that or any other portion of the territory of the United States. Suppose it should decide in effect that we cannot do that; what then will the Republican party do? In the words of Mr. Foraker, “Is our flag to come down or stay up?” An answer to that question may be suggested if we recall the fact that Mr. Foraker himself said on the floor of the Senate that If we could not lay duties on the products of the Philippines brought Into our continental ports we could not get rid of them too soon. “We know where you stood last year” when you said that, “but where do you stand this year? What answer do we get?” These questions, Mr. Foraker, which you put to Democrats you will please answer for yourself and your party associates. Does the answer to the question whether the flag is to come down or stay up depend on an opinion of the Supreme Court not yet handed down? If the provision of the constitution that duties must be uniform follows the flag, must the dag come down? You said so last year, Mr. Foraker; do you say so this year? ’"What answer do we get?”—Chicago Chronicle.

G'eaoing and Glance*. Some hints have been thrown out so? reciprocity In the Republican State platform. It is not, however, to be allowed to interfere with the protective system. In other words, the tariff barons are to be allowed to pick out those things upon which they feel that they can bear reciprocal relations. Just as they required the administration and Congress to fly in the face of the declaration that free trade with Torto Rico was a plain duty. • • • • The President’s renunciation of a third term is something like the story of the man who offered $50,000 reward for the apprehension of an offender, though he had not 50 cents. “But it was a good offer,” said a friend and admirer. • * * General Miles was celebrated at the Pan-American Exposition as the hero of Porto Rico. General Miles marched through that island without opposition, and promised the people the benefits of American Institutions. Then our government put a tariff tax on their Industries. General Miles would not be ihe hero of a picnic party in Porto Rico to-day. The poor Porto Ricans have simply to take what they can get, though. • • • Clmuneey Depew says Ilanna Is a good fellow, but he Is uot for him for Presideat. He Is for Odell or Roosevelt. So long, however, as “the peach” is for nobody more formidable than Odell or Roosevelt his opposition to anybody else is not likely to Influential. If Mr. Depew should get really In the way Mr. Hanaa will send for him. Then there will be silence for a few days, and then the New Yorker will proclaim Hanna ns his one and only Presidential iove-that is, If Hanna will let him.