Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 December 1896 — Make the Nation Strong. [ARTICLE]

Make the Nation Strong.

While the National Government is being steadily compelled to fate an average deficit of $8,000,000 per month, and is thus paralyzing all the efforts of the people to revive their own labor and business, it is folly to talk Dingley otf antl-Dtogley bill. Who cares what/bill it is, pr who is to be entitled to 'credit forjframing it, provided the sountThrorrey Democrats and Republican Senators and Congressmen come together and agree upon-and enact a bill into- law that will provide sufficient revenue to pay the,.expenses of the Government, ana to that extent protect American labor? If the Rel>u blioaiis and Democra ts caff not come together on a measure that w T ill be to that extent protective to American labor, let the Republican Senators and’ Congressmen accept and vote for any tariff bill the sound money Democrats may present that will provide cient revenues. It is no time to stickle over old time partisan policies while the steady bankruptcy of the Nation is carrying down the industries and business interests like the long fabled row of bricks. Let the Republicans accept any tariff mChsure that will restore the Government’s income this month. There will lie ample time to repeal or amend such a law later on. Just,now, the business and labor of the United States demand that tße Government be promptly mode able to pay Its expenses, without steadily and 1 largely decreasing the cash in the treasury and thus destroying the confidence of •the people in. their own. ability to .withstand the hard times. The people of no country can be strong and confident when their government is steadily drifting into bankruptcy. Let Congress do something quick, that will enable the Government to pay as it goes.—Des Moines Register.

Tlie Attacks on Soldiers. Senator Galllnger did a good service in showing in a mild and moderate way the humbuggery of President Cleveland’s references to the pensioners of the Government. The men who fought during the war w’ere the most, chart table after the fighting was over. They, were in it, aud they know what service meant. Thus it has happened that many of the bravest and most consistent defenders of the pension system have been soldiers on the other side. It has also happened thaf those who have been most bitter are men who never smelt powder, and who stayed at home when the country called That Mr. Cleveland sent a substitute to the war is a matter of familiar history, but it ought to be no reason for his harping upon the alleged abuses of the pension system. Only 107 convictions in pension cases have occurred within the year, and these, as. ft, rule, were not against pensioners. As the number on the pension rolls is far above 100,000, it can readily be seen that the proportion of attempted fraud amounts to nothing. The critics who stayed at home and made money while these men forsook everything dear to them, and went to the front, simply show their own meanness and cowardice when they abuse their betters, who did their duty and did not skulk, because there was danger in the work.—Baltimore American. Director Preston’s Report. The reportTbf Mr. Preston, director of tiie mint, oontnln& some interesting ’fig ures. It will be noticed that the original gold bullion deposited with the mint aggregated $08,769,383. Mest of this was American gold. During the last fiscal year we .coined $58,878,490 gold and silver dollars. But frwn July I to Nov. 1 we coined SS,782,100 silver dollars. In other words, the silver dollar coinage during the first half of tlie present fiscal year will be greater than that fpr the whole of the last fiscal yttir. Mr. Carlisle seems to feel justified in this coinage, but it does seem as if it were unnecessary and unwise. , It is decidedly Interesting to note that the commercial value of silver, for the last fiscal year ranged between 70.204 cents and GO.OSi cents.per ounce. But since July 1 silver bullion has fallen and now it is worth just a fraction over 05 cents an ounce. The commercial ratio between gold and silver for the last fiscal year was 1 to 30.58. That ratio is now about 1 to 31. The. silver men Wave talked of a scarcity of gold, but on July 1 the supply of gold in tlie United States aggregated $599,597,464. Since then we have imported about $61,000,000 in gold, so the supply of gold in tills country Is now over $060,000,000. The gold production of the country last fiscal year was $40,010,000, and that of ■tlie World $200,401x1)00... ..Ilia prod.uc.tlon. for tlie present fiscal year will greatly exceed this, whlch was the largest on record. ■ Stiver Is Dead. Say* the Detroit Free Press: “Never -ago m~WfiTcircmn sta n cos l n n 0 con d i tin ns combine in g manner so auspicious for tlie cause of silyerism as they did lu ■the contest which recently terminated in its'overthrow. The long and stealthy cultivation tff silver sentiment; the powerful representation in the Senate; the fruition of well-laid plans to capture the Democratic convention; the unexampled coalitlop (ft forces and the dis-content-nut} diirest arising from a prolonged depression were factors favorable to the success of silver which will never be .found in .combination again. It was silver’s supreme-opportunity this year— lfs leading champions so regarded it—and such a chance will not recur.” David 11. Hill again asserts that he Is a Democrat, and it must be so, because, like Cicero's antique Roman belle who was always Just 20, David has been sticking to that same statement these twenty years. Anyway, in three short months he will be statesman put .of a jobs and without a constituency.—Louis vl lie Times. ;