Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 March 1902 — POLITICS OF THE DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POLITICS OF THE DAY

Miraculona Results of Subsidy. It Is hard to take Mr. Frye seriously In bis recent report upon the ship subsidy bill. He gravely tells us that by paying a paltry 14,700,000 per annum to a few steamship companies we can establish postal lines superior to any now in existence, except on the North Atlantic, and in a few years we will be able to beat the English and Germans, even In the trans-Atlantic service. According to the estimates of the Senate Committee on Commerce (made by Commissioner of Navigation Chamberlain), the cost of building a ship here Is at least 30 per cent greater than in England, and the cost of running under the American flag Is about 40 per cent greater ttian the cost under British registry. They tell us that Great Britain pays $5,530,000 a year in Subsidies to her merchant marine. Mr. Frye proves to his own satisfaction, at least, that the effects of these subsidies, together with all the groat natural advantages enjoyed by England over us. can be triumphantly overcome by the payment to our great steamship companies of a sum SB4X).O<)O less than that expended by Great Britain for the same purpose. Such a stupendous effect from so inadequate a cause is Impossible unless by the miracuious intervention of some superhuman agency. The piously disposed may credit this happy result (If it ever comes about) to Divine Providence, But the true protectionist needs not to fceek so far for an explanation of his economic miracle. It is all due to the inherent beneficence ot the protective •obey. Has not the Dingley tariff still ed the troubled financial waters and raised up prosperity from the ruin of ’93 In the fact of such convincing evidence who will dare to assert that a subsidy of our shipping will not revive our drooping merchant marine? Nevertheless a few discontented freetraders still talk of our great natural resources and attempt to belittle the beneficent effects of protection. But the enlightened protectionist can prove statistically that Providence has played a very subordinate part In our industrial development compared to McKinley and Dingley.

Protectionist Hypocrisy. The Republican controversy over Cuban reciprocity has again laid bare the hypocrisy of the ultraprotectionists. They oppose any concession to Cuba on the ground that it would open the •way for an assault on the whole protective system. That system, therefore, is to lx* maintained In Its integrity at any cost—even at the sacrifice of national honor In the case of Cuba. But what becomes of the argument adduced to support every new tariff schedule, that it is to be “only a temporary measure?” Give us the duty for a little while, has always been the plea—Just for a short time, you know, until the new industry gets on its feet. But when anybody modestly suggests that the new industry Is able to walk alone and tread the public under its feet a fearful cry goes up. Kansas City Star.

Funston in Need of Instruction. General Funston says that “the great mass of the Filipinos do not know what Independence la.” Neither does General Funaton. He evidently thinks that when the temporary officials of a republic adopt a policy It Is the duty of all patriotic citizens to accept and Indorse It, no matter whether they consider It wise and patriotic or not. He would not hesitate to strike down a safeguard of liberty whose Importance has been conceded by every statesman of the past century and which Is one of the beat establlahed principles of Anglo-Saxon right, in order to gain a temporary advantage In subjugating a 10l of aemibarbarous foreigners. That is imperialism and militarism in its Concrete aspect.—lndianapolis Sentinel. The Truth About British Hu ba id lea. Senator Vest devoted hia speech in opposition to the Frye ship subsidy bill to an exposure of the claim that England's mercantile marine has been sustained by subsidies. He declared that 53 per cent of British cargoes was carried In tramp steamers that never received a penny from the government, a statement that la borne out by the briefest investigation of British shipping. As to the subsidies paid to mail steamers be correctly stated that the money paid by the British government was spent for military reasons altogether apart from any consideration of promoting trade.—Pittsburg Dispatch. Citizens Who Fail In Their Duty. There are too many otherwise good men who fall to take a proper Interest tn the affairs of government. They seem not to care beforehand what is going to be done, but afterward complain that it was not done as they would have it. This la both Inconsistent and unjust. No man has a right to expect or demand that others sliall take from his shoulders his part of the burden of government.—Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser.

Muzzling the Cabinet Officers. White Houue news must hereafter roach the public through Secretary Cortelyou And not through members of the cabinet. Such Is the latest Rooseveltlan edict. The clear Implication Is that members of the official family have been talklug too much and too loosely and must stop It. It may be easier to

muzzle a cabinet than a Senate—the number concerned being smaller in the former cose—but folks will talk, cabinet ministers included, give them provocation enough. Springfield Republican.

Henderson Is Receiving Light. It must be admitted that when Speaker Henderson flops—and his record in this line is something remarkable—he comes down with both feet. About a fortnight ago he was, if not openly and avowedly for beet sugar first, last and all the time, leaning strongly toward beets as the basis of harmony. Tuesday night he was friendly to Cuba with all the zeal of the convert who has come to a definite conclusion as to which side of the bread is buttered. He was for harmony without beets as ingredients. In effect he warned the extremists among the opponents to Cuban relief that if they persisted they had better make an assignment to the Democratic party and be done with it.—Boston Transcript. The Ship Subsidy Swindle. Again a chance has been provided in the Senate for the passage of the ship subsidy bill of unpleasant memory and evil (present) repute. We do not pretend to say that the bill would not result in an Increased tonnage under the American flag. We do Insist that tile game would not pay for the candle and that without this unjust subsidy, but with a fair reduction in the tariff and a proper apprehension of the enormous growth of our commerce, our mercantile marine will Increase by leaps and bounds within the next decade. Even the advocates of the bill acknowledge in private if not in public that the principle of subsidies is a bad principle.—Minneapolis Tribune. Both Houses After -‘Pork.” In the late Congress a large majority of Senators sat waiting to pass the $•10,000,000 river and harbor bill and Inwardly cursing the filibustering speech of Senator Carter of Montana, by which It was defeated. There is no change in the Senate in this respect. Hence the alleged menace of the ship subsidy Senators to defeat the river and harbor bill, should subsidy be defeated In the House, is not likely to cause much alarm. The Senate is quite as eager for the river and harbor “pork*, as the House.—Philadelphia Record. Must Stay Behind the Gnna. Gunner Hill has joined Gunner Morgan In the class deemed ineligible to promotion because not up to the etiquette standard established by the naval ring. They are flue types of those “men behind the guns” of which we hear so much In song and story. But they must stay behind the guns. Pro motion is not for them. They are not tit to associate with our new-found friends among the kings and princes. Class distinctions, bard and fast, are parts of the price we must pay in order to be a world power.—Terre Haute Gazette. Proves Republican Subserviency. In nothing else that the Republican party has done has the subserviency of the organization been so completely exposed as In the fact that It has authorized and defended tariff schedules that enable American producers to sell goods in foreign markets, with the cost of shipping added, at lower rates than are charged domestic users or consumers. That this state of things has existed for years is a standing reproach to the Republican lawmakers of the laud. May Give Democrat* a Chance. If the dallying about fair treatment for Cuba continues much longer, and ret Iproclty as recommended both by Mr. McKinley and Mr. Roosevelt Is Ignored by Cbngress, and the Isthmian canal question is bungled, the Democracy, under intelligent leadership, mny find Its opportunity and, shrewdly evading the old issues, capture the next House and the Presidency on the new lines of campaign.—Washington Star. Advantage of a One-Term Preaident No President who is ambitious for a second term can carry out his own ideas of right and Justice. He must bend to the will of a lienighted or selfish or corrupt Congress and he must constantly stand In fear of popular opinion, however mistaken it may be. Only a one-term President, with a Jacksonian backbone, can be depended upon to do his best.—St. Ix>uls PostDispatch.

Senators Fear Popular Election. Senator Hoar has once more risen to say that the United States Senate is the greatest deliberative body in the world, adding that the proposition to elect its members by a popular vote is a blow at one of the glories of the republic. The chances are that a large majority of his fellow Senators will agree with him on that point. I) may be said to be the inside view.—Boston Herald. Merely a Stalking Horse. The stand of Republican Congressman against Cuban reciprocity Is not to be credited to the influence of the beet sugar interest. That Is only a stalking horse. The big tariff trusts are all making their fight over the shoulders of this comparatively unimportant interest of “the farmer.**—ln. dianapolis Sentinel.