Rensselaer Democrat, Volume 1, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1898 — POLITICS OF THE DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POLITICS OF THE DAY

INCOME TAX REVIVING. A new terror rises up to deepen the -dismay of the abject boudmongers. It Is that if war comes there will be another tax agitation for income tax. ‘One of their organs remarks with bated breath: “If the Income tax is impossible under the constitution as it stands, there would certainly be a movement to amend the constitution in that particular.” This is dreadful - to think of. Such a peril is quite enough to put all thoughts of preserving the national honor and dignity out of mind. If the fool people are likely to get at the incomes of those who run the gov- , • ernment as a business enterprise for their own profit, and make them pay for their privileges, what is the use of living?—St. Louis Post Dispatch. Democratic Gains The spring elections continue to result favorably. The disreputable performances of the Republican Congressmen at Washington, the vacillation of President McKinley, and the prospect that Banker Gage, with Grosvenor, Dingley, and the rest, will hatch up some national bank finance schedule which will rob the people by means of taxes and bank issues to pay interest on large sums of borrowed money, have disheartened the Republican masses. Everywhere there is Democratic gain. Chicago has been swept as by a tornado, and the reform element there has encountered a defeat similar to that which it experienced here in New York. The group of Ohio cities has gone back on the Republicans. Cincinnati, which gave nearly 20,000 majority for McKinley, has been carried by the Democrats by 2,<K)O majority. The same change is to be found Jathe returns from Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo. Milwaukee its to have a silver Democratic Mayor. The general disappointment at the non-arrival of the promised McKinley ■era of prosperity has disgusted the people, and has started them upon the .road of reversing the fraud of 1896. New York News. Let the People Buy Bonds. A New York bank president is quoted as saying that the government could readily obtain from the great financial interests of the country all the funds ft needed if bonds wore issued. This is true, no doubt. But the biggest financial Interests of this continent are the interests of the masses of American citizens who create the wealth of the nation. They are the ones who should first be considered if Itonds are put on the market. If these Government securities, backed by the superb credit •of the United States, are excellent investments for the bankers,’ they are ■equally good investments for the wage earners and the farmers. It Is the people who tight the battles and pay the taxes of the Government. They ate entitled to the foremost chance when bonds are to be sold.—Philadelphia Bulletin.

Taxation to Make Up Deficit. Whether we have war or peace with Spain we shall have to pay the cost of getting ready for war. and suggestions for Internal taxes are heard here and there. But it is misleading. In the present condition of the national income, to call these proposed taxes war taxes. Why should not the ruling political party in Congress face the fact that its revenue laws do not bring in enough income to meet the expenditures of the Government on a peace footing? There should be no humbug about increasing taxation because of making war or making ready for war. What the treasury demands is more revenue than Dlngleyism produces whether for war or for peace.—Boston Post. Too Mnch of a Stale Fiction. Let us be done once and forever with the; stale fiction of Spain's honor being Involved in the preservation of her territorial Integrity. It has been said—her public men still say—she cannot relinquish Cuba without compromising hor honor. Was her honor, then, compromised when she relinquished Mexico? And Guatemala? And ten or a dozen colonies in South America? And when she receded Louisiana to France? And when she ransomed Cuba by giving up Florida? And when, after regaining Florida, she once more and finally relinquished it for eash, under fear of military compulsion?—New York Tribune. Dinsley Wisely Keeps Silent. The Dingley bill isn’t such a howling success that its author is howling about 1t loud enough to be heard. Dingley isn’t saying a word in these exciting times. Dingley isn’t defying the galleries, like the fearless Johnson of Indiana. He is sitting timidly watching his monumental deficit bill and waiting for the opportunity to amend it to get more revenue, when the stress of war may be pleaded as an excuse, instead of an absolute failure of the bill Itself.—Utica Observer. The Maine Count The Maine disaster is the main count In our indictment against Spain. It is our supreme justification for driving Spain from Cuba. It is the high and conclusive reason upon which the nations expect us to act, and they will justly lose respect for us, as we will lose respect for ourselves, if we do not act.—New York World. Favorite Son of Old Glory. and difficult experience at Havana to find that the whole nation honors and * ■ /<

loves him. Few public servants have been more promptly rewarded for distinguished services. Not long ago he was the favorite son of old Virginia. Now he is a favorite son of old glory.— New York Sun. Trusts Number 200 Now. An expert who has canvassed the growth of trusts finds that fully 200 such organizations are now in existence. with a total capital in stocks and bonds of $3,662,000,000. This does not include tn airy business and manufacturing combinations in process of formation, for there is scarcely a week that the announcement of a new pool or trust of gigantic proportions is not made. The capitalization claimed for existing trusts is equal to 56 per cent of the aggregate capital credited to all manufactures in the United States by the census of 1890.—New York Journal of Commerce. Big standing Army Not Wanted. It would be hardly possible to state a plainer proposition than that the genius of the people of the United States is opposed to the creation of a considerable standing army. President Jackson, who had had in his character more of the military spirit than any of our Presidents, never asked for it. President Taylor, another military hero, looked with abhorrence upon the thought. President Grant never took a step in that direction. These men all had experience of what standing armies were.—Boston Herald. What Plain People Think. The plain everyday people of the United States hold that a nation is like a man; when it has received an insult and tvblow it is high time to fight. Fur tbermore, people unhampered by books, feel that for a nation like this to sit idly by and watch cowardly barbarians like the Spaniards torture and starve wretched noncombatants, almost withIn cannot shot of its boundaries, would amount to a national compounding of crime.—Kansas City Times. What Grosvenor Didn't Explain. Mr. Grosvenor has not explained how Wall street came to know of the postponement of the President's message before Congress knew of it and while that body, as a matter of fact, was waiting for the message. But Mr. Grosvenor is not expected to explain. Like the gentleman who held a prominent position on a certain front porch in Canton some time ago, he has, for obvious reasons, “nothing to say.”—Columbus Press Post.

McKinley a Tenderfoot. President McKinley resorted to diplomacy with, a nation skilled in its arts by centuries of practice, while he had but his own inexperience, the aid of his Canton lawyer, and that of an old man in his dotage. When a tenderfoot sits in a game with an expert he is pretty apt to get the worst of it. Sagasta was not slow to take the advantage of him.—St. Paul Globe. Republicans Growing Scarcer. While Grosvenor valiantly protests against the injection of politics into the discussion of the Spanish question, at the same time he boasts that if there is a war “it will be a Republican war.” Judging by the results of last Tuesday’s municipal elections, there are not now enough Republicans in the country, outside of Rhode Island, to make a very formidable army.—St. Louis Republic. Patriotism Bounded by Pelf. “Trust us to preserve the honor of the nation!” shouts the broker. “We will keep that honor secure—for a consideration.” “War is hell!” shouts the excited dealer in options, and in an undertone he adds: “It depreciates the price of my securities.” The patriotism that is confined to pelf seems to be in the saddle now. But it is riding for a fall.—Omaha World-Herald.

McKinley Can’t Cut Loose. If President McKinley could but muster up the courage to cut loose from Hanna and bls stock-gambling friends It would perhaps be possible yet for him to regain in some mea:«ure the confidence of the people. But with Hanna he is like Sinbad with the old man of the sea astride his neck.—Kansas City Star. Political Paragraphs. After the army and navy have evicted Spain from Cuba, why not employ them to evict Hanna from the cabinet meetings?—Chicago Dispatch. Just how an act of war, such as the blowing up of the Maine, can be arbitrated is hard to undertsand.—Memphis Commercial Appeal. A circus manager has offered the Government the services of twenty-five patriotic elephants' But with Hanna on its hands the Government hesitates. —Exchange. In the memorable language of Ambassador John Hay, it looks as if Consul General Lee was determined to hold her nozzle again’ the bank till the last galoot’s ashore.—Boston Herald. The thievery and jobbery, the bad faith and chicanery which have brought the Republican State machine into laid odor are sufficient to bring a heritage of defeat.—Pittsburg Dispatch. ■ It would take old Grover and Olney about three minutes to decide whether we should have peace or war with Spain, and iu view of the way they cut J. Bull’s comb three years ago there is not much doubt about Which they would choose.—Memphis Scimitar.