Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1886 — CAMPAIGN ISSUES. [ARTICLE]

CAMPAIGN ISSUES.

Ssnatcr Allison Makes a Scathing Arraignment of the Administration. The Democratic Party’s False Pretenses Shewn Up in No Enviable Manner. [Speech of Hon. William B. Allison before the lowa Republican Convention.] More than one-third at President Cleveland’s administration has passed into history; the ’Democratic House of Representatives, elected at the same time, has been in session for more than eight months. This time is long enough to fairly and impartially review the conduct at the administration and of the House of Representatives as compared with the promises and pledges of the Democratic party made to the people in 1884, to secure a majority in the House and the administration of the Government. These promises and pledges are still fresh in the memory of the people. The Republican party had been in power for many years. It had passed successfully through the most perilous period in our history since the foundation of the Government, and was constantly compelled to deal with questions of the greatest magnitude. Look at’ the situation and condition of pur country and people when Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office in March, 1861, and then look at our situation and condition when the Republican party surrendered power in 1885. A period of [great deeds and achievements, making greater progress for liberty and for mankind than had been achieved for centuries before. At every step of .the progress we had the hostility of the party now in power. It was charged by our opponents that we had abused the trusts imposed upon us, by extravagant and wasteful expenditure of public money. That we had created unnecessary offices and employments for the purpose of rewarding partisan service. That the legislation of Congress had been in the interest of corporate monopolies and what they chose to caM the money power. That the tariff system, the growth of Republican ascendency, was unjust in its burdens on the great body of the people. That an onerous and burdensome system of taxation had gathered vast hoards in the Treasury which, instead of being used for the payment of the interest-bearing debt of our Government, was being hoarded in the Treasury vaults in the interest of the bondholder and the speculative interests in Wall street. That the various departments of the Government were honey-combed with corruption and that a change of administration was necessary in order to fully expose and lay bare these transactions. These and kindred charges were made with elaboration and reiteration, from year to year, and pressed with all the vigor of a great party in the campaign of 1884, to induce the people to abandon the Republican party and intrust the great affairs of our country to the Democratic party. These changes were coupled with promises that the Democratic party, if placed in power, would reform these alleged abuses, and change entirely the current of legislation and administration so as to greatly reduce public expenditures ; expose fraud and venality; mitigate the public burdens of taxation by changes in our existing tax laws; apply the surplus in the Treasury so as to enlarge the volume of circulating money, and by this means revive our industries and secure general prosperity throughout the country; that public offices should be held as public trusts and not as rewards for partisan service. These and kindred promises were made in the campaign of 1834. How have they been redeemed? Have they reduced public expenditures, as they promised ? A brief comparison will show that they not only have not reduced public expenditures, but that they have been greatly in- ' creased. Appropriations of public money are not a sure index to public expenditures. If they were, a comparison of the last few years would make a most favorable showing for the Republican. party. The total annual appropriations for 1883-4 were, in round numbers, $232,001,004; for 1834-5, $235,000,000; for 1885-6, $219,000,000;- and by the Congress just adjourned, for the current year, $ 5?,001,000, in round numbers. So that the appropriations for this year are J 30,000,000 more than the highest sums appropriated for the ordinary operations of the Government during the last four years, and $45,000,000 more than the appropriations made for the last fiscal year. It has been stated that the ordinary expenditures of the last fiscal year were, in round numbers, $18,000,010 less than they were for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1885. ’lbis is true, but is easily accounted for by a few items of expenditure of an extraordinary character made in 1885, and entirely omitted from the expenditures of last year. Of this sum $8,000,000 was expended for rivers and harbors, there being no appropriation for rivers and harbors last year; $1,000,000 for the repayment of deposits made by individuals for surveying public lands; $3,500,000 for Alabama claims judgment; $4,500,000 on account of the sinking fund to tha Pacific railroads; $1,990,000 to the New Orleans Exposition; and $1,500,000 on account of repayment to importers. So that of this $19,50®,000 no portion of it can be credited to economies introduced by the new administration into she public service. The expenditures for every purpose of 1885, including the items I have named and including indefinite and permanent appropriations and the sinking fund, amount to $351,000,000 in round numbers, whilst the expenditures of 1886‘ of every kind, including the sinking fund, amount to $330,000,000 in round numbers, or a reduction of $21,000,000, which I have already accounted for, except $1,500,000, which was a reduction of the amount of the sinking fund of 1886, as compared with j the amount of that fund in 1885. This is the ; state of the account, comparing the loat vear of i President Arthur’s administration with the first i year of Mr. Cleveland’s administration. apdXutme?_Wlien. ! Congress assembled in Decemoer last it was i confronted with the total estimate of the Treasury Department, including regular and permanent annual appropriations, of $406,000,600; and when the appropriations were all made, annual and indefinite, at the close of the session, they amounted in round numbers to $384,000,000, or $24,000,000 leas than the departments asked for. The appropriations of this year are $51,000,000 in excess of the expenditures of the;, last year. This, in brief, is the net result of?the experiment of an economical Democratic administration of public expenditures as disclosed by eighteen months experience, $3>,0W,000 more than was expended in 1885, and $54-,000,000 more than was expended in 1886. I make the comparison not for the purpose of showing that the administration has been guilty of a profligate and wasteful expenditure of public money, nor for the purpose of showing that their extraordinary demands made upon Congress for increased appropriations this year were intended to , put in their hands public money to be used for improper and wasteful purposes, blit mere to show either the ignorance or malignity with which they pursued the Republican party through all the years of the past with reference to its merits of expending the public money. And I will say further that, notwithstanding the extraordinary appropriations for this current year, it will be seen atthe ' end of the year, that fqr many of the necessary ' purposes of Government an insufficient sum [ has been appropriated, which will require de- ■ flciency bills to meet the necessary expenditure. j So it was said that there were a vast number of useless employes and officeholders in the va- , rious departments of the Government. A ; scanning of the estimates will show that in ■ every department of the Government except j the Treasury alone, an increase in the number i and compensation of employes was asked for; , it you will scan the appropriation bills of the last session, you will see that in every depart1 ment except the Treasury alone, the number of | ertrployes. haa been increased, shawiTic; that in the judgment of the new administration, more persons were needed to carry on the great operations of the Government than had been provided tor by the Republican party when in i power. Again, it was said that if the Demo--1 cratic party could secure control of the de- ; part’nents great frauds and wrongs ; would be- exposed to the public gaze. With as much haste as possible, all the ! heads of departments, and all the chiefs I of bureaus were changed, thus giving complete i and ample control of all the operations of the I Government and opportunity for a thorough examination of the accounts. So that now for i more than a jear complete opportunity has I l>een given for exposing wrong-doing, and with but two or three trifling exceptions, unworthv of comment, not a blur or taint is found in the i Executive Departments of the Government . Thus, this party has been condemned by its own public and trusted servants for ita injustice to the Republican party. In 1884 our opponents criticised severely the general ’management of the finances, and especially the fact that large sums of money were hoarded in the Treasury, which ought to jbe ap- ; plied to’the payment of the interest bearing public debt. This surplus was magnified acI cording to the degree of intelligence or integrity of the critics, and by such careful and truthful oratory as generally represented the party in lowa, and it was said that this surplusamounted to more than $400,0oo,o00: ]>eople less scrupulous in their statements would bring it . down from $100,000,030 to $230,000,0 Ml, but cer- ! tainit was, that there was an enormous sur--1 plus there, which was hoarded up for the benefit of the bankers and monopolists generally, 1 and to the detriment of the great body of the i people,and it was absolutely necesaary to elect

Grover Cleveland in order that thia enormona and growing abuse might be corrected and the money thus lying idle be disseminated and diffused among the people, creating prosperity in its pathway. And the promise was made for thts administration that straightway on ita advent to power, thia great abuse would be corrected. How baa thia promise been redeemed? The first method of the redemption of this promiae was made by a change in the public debt statement, which by a cabalistic manipulation of figures, this enormous hoard of $400,000,000 was reduced in a single night to $23,000,000 without the change of a dollar in the Treasury or the paying of any portion of the debt. That was the first method. Now what were the real facts? Leaving out of the account the money held in the Treasury for specific purposes designated by law, and leaving out fractional silver which under this new manipulation of the Treasury balances is not called money, and leaving out the accrued interest on the public debt which is now calculated every day and charged up, but including the $100,000,060 set apart for the redemption of greenbacks, there was in the Treasury at the time Mr. Cleveland’s election became certain on the Ist of December, 1881, in round numbers, $110,603,000, or deducting the $100,000,000 reserve, $10,000,000 surplus. ' President Arthur's’Administration doubtless believing that It would be unwise to in any way cripple the incoming administration in its newly proposed financial policy, refrained from applying the surplus revenues, accruing between December, 1884, and March, 1885, to the payment of the public debt, as had been the custom of all Republican administrations since the close of the war, allowed these accumulations to reach on the 4th of March, 1885, in round numbers, $123,000,000, or $20,000,000 exclusive of the reserve. So that when Cleveland was inaugurated the surplus in the Treasury, according to the present mode of cementation or statement, was $30,000,000 in round numbers. Now, was this surplus applied immediately to the payment of the interest-bearing debt, as promised? Certainly not, until the surplus accumulated at a rate of from $5,000,000 to $10,60),000 a month from the 4th day of March to the 29th day of December, 1880, or for a period of ten months before a single call was made for bonds, then a call was made for $10,000,000, payable on the Ist February, 1886. So that, when this administration began the payment of the public debt by a call for $10,000,000 of bonds, the surplus had increased, in round numbers, to $80,000,000, or $60,001,000 increase over and above the accumulations in the Treasury when Mr. Cleveland came into power, and 173,000,000 increase over the $110,000,009 December 1. 1884, when it became certainly known that he was elected. This payment of $10,000,000 February 1,1886, was followed by other payments, from time to time, up to the Ist of July last, aggregating during this time a total payment of $50,0(0,000. These payments were made from surplus revenues coming into the Treasury, and not from the accumulations already made. So that, on the first day of this month with this payment of $>0,000,000 there was still an accumulation in the Treasury of $80,000,000 as shown by the debt statement, or some $60,000,000 beyond the amount in the Treasury when Mr. Cleveland came into power. This is practically the condition of the Treasury to-day, showing a surplus of $80,000,000 over and above every possible charge that can be made against the Treasury, including the charge of $100,000,000 set apart exclusively for the redemption of greenbacks. The excuse made by the administration for this vast hoarding of money was that this accumulation was necessary to maintain a large gold balance in the Treasury. Curiously enough, subsequent experience dissipated this excuse. During the period between February 1, 1886, and August 1, 1886, when $50,000,000 of the debt was paid, the gold balance constantly increased, and is larger now than at any time since the sth of March, 1885. Even the Democratic party itself became restless because of this accumulation, and late in July the House passed a resolution requiring the Treasury to pay out at the rate of $10,000,000 a month the surplus over $100,000,000. And in specific terms did what was never done before, set apart and devoted by this joint resolution $100,009,000 in coin for the redemption of greenbacks and for that purpose only. This resold, tion passed the House by more than two-thirds majority, coming to the’ Senate where it was amended by allowing the Secretary of the Treasury in his discretion to hold a working balance of $209,000,000, in addition to the $100,000,000, in order to meet extraordinary payments, such as pensions and the like, which are drawn from the Treasury in large sums and at stated intervals. Thus amended, the bill passed the Senate by a large majority, I think more than twothirds, and was returned to the House. A committee of conference was agreed to, and the conferrees reported back the provisions substantially as amended in the Senate, and these amendments were agreed to by more than a two-thirds majority in the House, and agreed to with practical unanimity in the Senate, as the yeas and nays were not called in the latter body. This moderate, conservative, and just measure was then sent to the President for his approval; he quietly put it in his pocket, refused to sign it, or return it to Congress unsigned, which if he had done, would have secured its passage by more than a two-thirds majority over his objections. This must have been plain to him. as it was to every member of the Senate and the House. Thus by interposing this pocket veto ho set up his own will and judgment against the unanimous will and judgment of the two houses of Coagrees. He knew, as well as every person who hears me now knows, that if he had refused to sign that bill, and had returned it to the House of Representatives that it would have been passed in five minutes over his veto, by more than two-thirds majorily. He knew, as we all know, that if it had come to the Senate it would have been passed with practical unanimity. I don’t believe that in the Senate there would have been five votes against it. So that the President of the United States, in violation of the spirit of the Constitution of his country, withheld from Congress, knowing its published will and judgment, a bill of the most important character relating to and affecting the industrial, laboring and material interests of thia country, and in absolute contempt of Congress, put it in his pocket in order that Congress might have no opportunity of reversing his judgment with reference to it. This is Democracy, and —the-’jmrty—-fir--tMr —stawso — clare; because the first section of their Democratic platform contains a full and complete indorsement of the administration of President Cleveland. Democrats and Greenbackers and all are expected in this campaign to uphold the hands of this administration in thus thwarting the will of Congress by the interposition of the one-man power. And now what have you to say, my Democratic friends, with reference to the management of the finances of your administration as compared with their management under Republican administrations, and as compared with the pledges and promises solemnly made to the people by your leaders ? Has t!he Democratic party redeemed its promises respecting the alleged burdens of taxation imposed upon the people by our tariff laws? Over and over again they said that our tariff system was one of organized jobbery made for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, which they promised to correct if they could secure a Democratic President and House. It would be natural to suppose that so great an evil would be remedied by this party of reform, that they would not allow slumber to their eyelids until they had started well in the direction of correcting this abuse. The Senate, early in the session, took up the question of interstate commerce and the regulation of railroads engaged in interstate traffic and, after full debate and careful consideration passed “the Cullom bill,” so-called, a just measure on this subject. I have already shown its failure in the management of our finances as respects’Qie hoarding of treasury balances, and the payment of the interest-bearing debt. It has failed to provide for our natural defenses, aud has made feeble and inadequate provision for rebuilding and reconstructing our navy, so that, if need be, we may be prepared to assert our power on the j ocean. It has so administered the public land system as to unsettle all titles of the homestead settler seeking a home in the Territories, making no; distinction between these honest settlers and the comparatively few who are seeking to despoil the Government of the public Janas. It has with persistency resisted the admission of Dakota as a State, upon the shallowest pretexts, because if made a, it would be reliably Republican. It has not even allowed these people a hearing in the House of Representatives. It has used the dilatory power of the House Under its rules to prevent the consideration of the general subject of pensions to soldiers. It has upheld the hauds of the President in his vetoes of small private pension bills fer the relief of the worn-out soldiers of the Republic. It has fostered monopolies by insisting upon impracticable and ineffectual measures to cure alleged evils. It has masqueraded as the friend of labor, but has done nothing and proposed nothing for the benefit of labor, out persisted in a policy to handicap, if not destroy,the true interests of the American laborer. This is the party that this year asks the confidence of the country in the coming campaign, and asks the Greenbackers and laboring interests in the State to give it support at the ballot box. I cannot think that party leaders, blinded by party zeal and by party patronage already secured and hoped for, can thus lead the masses of the people on to ita support. It is the duty and should be the mission of the Republican partv to unmask these pretenders and hold up to tlie public gaze th»ir pretensions and promises, as compared with their failures and shortcomings. -- , ■ '■■■:. j, Senator Jones, of Nevada, in a long interview says he believes the Republican party will win in 1888, and that Mr. Blaine is the strongest man in the party.