Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1891 — CURRENT COMMENT [ARTICLE]

CURRENT COMMENT

REPUBLICANS TAXE COURAGE. They See Nothing in the Result of the Elections to Discourage Them. Vt h«r«T«r national luoeg, Snob as the Tariff, Reciprocity, and Silver, Were Brought to the Fore, Thera ~ Victory Was Wan Washington special to Indianapolis Journal. 1 Republicans here from every part of the country are feeling well over the result of the November elections, j There was to them but one real sur- \ prise, and that was the light vote j cast in the State of New York. It ; is confidently believed that had the country districts turned out their full strength, or anything approximating it, Fassett would have been elected Governor, and the Legislature would have been strongly Republican. President Harrison,while declining to talk for publication, has freely analyzed the general results in private conversation with his friends. He sees Republican victory wherever national issues were involved. So long as the Republicans confined the fight to State and National questions in New York, Fassett was far in the lead; when they began to focus the fight into the form of war against Tammany, the mo.»t o verbearing and corr upt pdliti;eal organization in existence, they began to circumscribe the battlefield to the municipal bounds of New York city, for, although Tammany is a curse to the State, the voters in the northern and western portions of the commonwealth appear to not have shown near so much interest in the struggle against Tammany as upon the tariff, reciprocity, silver,or ■ny of the general questions. They stayed afrhome in the country, and Ic vote showed up right where the Republicans would have been 6troH|p jst had the national issues been kept in the foreground. In New York c : ty splendid progress was made by the Republicans, but the light vote A the country lost them the State. Wherever a Congressman was to he elected or a national issue was directly involved, the President and Jis friends find, as- all-intelligent readers will see, material Republican /ains and success. Ohio afforded the only neutral ground in any of the States for a test on the tariff law and silver question, mainly because t was the home of the author of the arifi law and the oldest of our great financiers. The tariff law was there eminently indorsed and free coingge vetoed. - Pennsylvania has re-en-tered the Republican fold and no Republican here doubts thas it will remain there, and no Democrat has a fingering hope" that it will depart r rom Its okl path. The issues in Massachusetts, lowa and Nebraska were regarded from this view point »s most largely local and personal, there being the liquor and educational questions up in the former ind prohibition and other measures >f local in portanee only in the other .wo States. Senator Plumb wrote iere some days ago that he and othtra were •forcing national issues to file front, and the news shows that work of the Republican administration has been indorsed in Kansas. VIKWS OF CABINET OFFICERS.

Attorney-general Miller this evenng said this, which very clearly fep:esents the Republican view of the •esult: “Well, considering the great ■everses of a year ago, the result of •,be election yesterday as now reoorted is very encouraging to the Republicans. There were fiye States n which the lines of battle were important contests Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and ifSwa. In MwwadhoSett*,- as 'I tthlerstand, we have the State ticket jxcept Governor and the Legislature, tfi New York we are defeated, but no worse than generally in off years, Pennsylvania shows a disposition to return to her old tpne Republican majorities. In Objo the contest was jppn national issues and the tariff, especially the McKinley bill, and the silver question, and it has resulted in x square fight and a great victory for .ho Republicans. The result in lowa, is I understand, is much like that in Massachusetts- This indicates that I m four out of five States the Republicans are in the main successful. One of the most striking features of thd elections, however, is that in several States south of the Potomac ind Ohio it is said that elections ’were held, but the result was just as well known before as after the election. . No one stops even to read the Jispatches or to inquire whether the majority in one of the States is 20,000 on 60,000, knowing it may hav w I just as well been one as the other. ’’ln [conclusion Mr. Miller said he thought the Republicans ■ had reason to be gratified at the victory in Ohio, where national issues were fought over. . In Michigan and South Dakota. he said, Congressmen were elected on these issues, and if in New York a fight had been made on national issues the result would have been victory for the Republicans. Secretary Foster returned to Washington from Ohio shortly afternoon, and was at his desk in the Treasury Department within a couple hours thereafter. He is a very happy man over McKinley’s victory. To tin reporter he said that ’ the re--1 suit in Ohio was a complete vindication of protection principles. “The j McKinley ? \w,” he said, “nas worked out its own salvation. We were j brave enough to fight fairly and squarely on the tariff and the result proved that the people are satisfied with the bill. The Democrats made an effort to have the fight made on Slate issues, but we were bound that j tbp real issue should be faced. ProI taction and honest money are vindi-

cated. Campbell was badly crippled by the Democratic policy on the ail- ; ver question, but that did not cause nearly so great a loss of votes by him as his free-trade principles did. and we will elect a Republican Senator, tor, too,” “That means that Senator Sherman will succeed himself, doesn’t it. Me Secretary?” asked one of the gentlemen about Mr. Foster’s desk. py^rry eg , j SU ppo Se go,” was the reply. Secretary Rusk declares that the elections went as he expected and he was not at all surprised.

SENATOR CDLLOII NOT DISCOURAGED. Senator Cullom, of Illinois, said that the election returns had no discouragements for him. Although three Democratic Governors had been elected and only one Republican, he did not look upon this result as in any way indicating Democratic success or bearing upon the national election of next. “In the three States where the Democrats have won victories,” said he, “there was no contest over national issues and the two Democratic successes cannot be regarded as of any national importance. In lowa Boies had distinctly turned his back on national issues and had made his whole campaign on the prohibition question, which was distinctly local in lowa. I am inclined to think that there are a number of temperance people in lowa who are rather tired of the extent to which the prohition idea has been carried, and this sentiment, ih my judgment, accounts for the success of Boies. With this question out of the way, lowa is naturally a Regublican State. I do not regard dies’s election as anything more than the local advantage on purely local issues.

“In New York, also, our people insisted upon taking up local quarrels and issues to the exclusion of national issues. The fight was made against Tammany Hall, and while that may be a good line of attack in New York city, I do not believe that it is a fight that, in any way, interests the country people of the State. The rural districts of New York State have always been Republican on' national issues, but there were no national issues presented to them in this campaign. They declined to take a hand in the contest and fight the Tammany tiger; that they care nothing about, so that 1 look upon the election of Flower as wholly a local victory for the Democrats, and I am as fully satisfied as ever that, on national issues, New York State will again join the Republican column. In Massachusetts the tariff question figured in a small way, but it was nothing in comparison with the local feel ng on the personal merits of Russell and Allen. The whole contest in Massachusetts was narrowed down to one between the popularity of Russell and the unpopularity of Allen. The election of Russell is, therefore, entirely a local affair, without any bearing upon national issues. Ohio was the only State in which national issues were brought forward to the exclusion entirely of local disputes. It was a distinct issue between protection and honest money on one hand, and free trade and dishonest money on the other. Campbell was especially anxious to make the fight solely on the tariff issue. The result Is that in this one State, where national issues were at stake, the Republican candidate for Governor is elected. For these reasons I can see nothing in the returns which should be discouraging to Republicans as they look forward to the contest of 1892. The Democrats have carried the local issues, the Republicans have carried the national ones.” President Polk, of the Farmer’s 'AHiStfdef surprised by the result. In Ohio he saw no reason why McKinley should fail of ele< ti in when one considered the fact that a million dollars in cast) had been sent into Ohio to aid him in his campaign. The latter statement will be news to the Republicans of Ohio, who spent no money except for legitimate expenses. It is the general opinion here that Mr. Cleveland will be the Democratic nominee for the presidency next year, although Mr. Flower may take it into his head to contest for the honor and create a division in the party which will augment or renew the split which has heretofore existed between the Cleveland and Hill factions.

AFRAID OF THE TARIFF. Washington Special. “If we permit the Republicans to go into the presidential campaign with the tariff for an issue we shall be as badly beaten as we were at Malvern Hill and at Gettysburg.” That is the comment which was made by one of the most eminent of the Southern Democratic Senators here to-day upon the results of the election. The remark was not made for publication. Remarks of quite a different character will doubtless be made by that same Senator for the organs of his party, but the sentence quoted is the one he used to express his opinion, and, to give it greater emphasis, he used it twice. The comment of this Democratic Senator was passed upon exactly the same circumstances, which led the President this morning to express great satisfaction with the results of the election in the States whore alone the principles of the Renubliean party, and chiefly the tariff question, were the leading issues. The President said in substance: “The result in Ohio should give the greatest encouragement to Republicans. It shows that in the State where the tariff question wps mode the sharpest issue and where

the Democrats based their upon it. Hie masses of the jteo&e a» prove the policy of protection its embodied in the McKinley act. general issues in Ohio were the MqKinley bill and free silver. "Hb* State has passed its verdict upon both questions, in support of the Republican party by a very large majority.”

The President also called attention to a fact which will not have escaped the notice of skilled political observers. The Democrats placed their hopes for Campbell upon the farmer vote. Yet it was the farmer voto that elected McKinley. Democrats feared great disaffection in Hamilton county for their ticket because pf local opposition to Campbell. But McKinley madenoconsiderablegains in Hamilton county. Even in thd city of Cleveland in the northern part of the State, owing to a quarrel over a local issue, McKinley lost some from the ordinary Republican vote, while Campbell gained there. But the farmers voted for McKinley and the McKinley bill. They were not misled by the sophistry of Mills and his free-trade followers. The Democrats were disappointed in the farmers vote as they were in 1888. It was the farmers of the Northwest who defeated Cleveland then. It was the farmers of Ohio who have elected McKinley.

These were some of the suggestions made by the President in conversation with a friend. They show that he at least is not discouraged by the situation or misled by any of the campaign dodges to which the Democrats resort to explain the election returns.

A FARMER'S VIEWS ON THE NEW TAX LAW armer Pleak before the Decatur County Farmers’ Association, The average-assessment in Deca* tur county per acre is $27.14. Marion township lias the lowest assessment, being $12.17, and Clinton has the highest, being $37.13. Farm property has had a much heavier increase than any other kind of holdings in Indiana, and Indiana is the highest taxed State in the Ohio valley, there being no exemptions. The farmer has to pay tax upon the potatoes he stores - for the use of his own family, the apdes he puts aside, the vinegar he makes, the meat he salts down, the bay he mows for his own stock, etc., nothing is free from the all-reaching grasp of the tax gatherers, and the new law is stern in its provisions, and iW boards of review are exacting through the State in general. Farmers, instead of being mulcted by the law makers, should, if any difference, be favored, as they ai'e discriminated against sufficiently in other directions. For example, a loan if wanted on farm security can be obtained from one-half to fayothirds, or perhaps three-fourths ol the value ot the farm, but if banks or a merchant wants a loan upon a bund or security of similar class, he can secure its full face if be desires The one and one-half million of increase oi taxables upon wbich Decatur county will have to pay next year is a precedent and will not be set aside. Taxes are up to stay, and the present rate is for two years, and our State debt, which is piling up at the rate of over a million a year, will be reduced but little, as the six per cent, increase in the State levy is in the name of the benevolent institutions of the State. Our land tax is up for four years. Any farmer who don’t believe this now will be convinced when he stands before the. county treasurer next spring, and there is no additional advantages, either. ,