Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1897 — HOT FIGHT AT HAND. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOT FIGHT AT HAND.

.CAMPAIGN IN VARIOUS STATES TAKING definite shape. /Republican Leaders Arc Confident of Sweeping Success—Too Confident, It la Suggested by Those Watching Events. The Political Sitnation. Interest is beginning to center in the campaigns in the various states where elections are to be held this fall. Parties arriving here from New’ York. 'Nebraska, Kentucky, lowa and Ohio, report extreme activity and interest in the fight which is to be made in those states. Remarkable as it is that the allver cause should still have any life r left in it, it Is a fact. It is to be made tthe basis of the battle in every state iwhere there are important elections ■this fall. One year ago one ounce of •liver would buy one bushel of wheat ■in New York; now it takes two ounces, •and silver is still falling and wheat ■still rising. It would scarcely seem ■possible that anybody could successfully argue in favor of currency made ifrom a metal whose value has fallen over 25 per cent in eighteen months. ■Yet that is a fact as to silver. On March 7th of last year it was worth 70 cents an ounce in New York, now it is worth 52 cents. How is it that any party can now’ assume to win a battle with silver as the chief issue in states where they could not win on that issue a year ago, Jis hard to understand. On last presidential election day silver was worth 65.7. To-day it is worth 51 cents, a (fall of over 20 per cent. If the Democrats could not carry Ohio, Kentucky, ■lowa, Maryland or New’ York on the silver issue in November, 1890, with their proposed dollar worth 51 cents, how can they expect to w’in this fall with a dollar worth only 40 cents. Yet they are going into the fight for it everywhere, though there are signs of ■weakening in spots. Situation in Ohio. The Democrats it seems, from reports received, are trying to run away from their platform made but a short two months since. This action however, is not to be wondered at in view of the fact that silver has fallen 15 per cent in value even in that short space of time. July 10 an ounce of silver was worth in the New’ York markets 60.6 cents and it is now worth but 52 cents and still going down. Small w’onder then, that the Democrats are ashamed of their platform and are trying to get away from it when, within two months aftei’ its adoption, the metal w’hich it advocates as money declines 15 per cent. It goes without saying, how’ever, that the Republicans of the state will not let their opponents . get away from the issue which they Tiave made. It also goes without saying that the Republicans will sweep the State now that they have the enemy on the run, providing they are not over-con-fident.

Situation in New York. New York city is the coign of vantage In state contest. The fight in New York this fall relates to the mayoralty, but it is for a first mayor of the largest city in the United States and second largest in the world, and will decide whether or not Tammany hall shall control Greater New York. If Tammany gets control It will greatly endanger Republican prospects in the state, indefinitely. Those opposed to Tammany and free silver must therefore combine on one good man. By refusing to do so they give Greater New York and probably the state over to the Tammany-silver Democracy, indefinitely. Situation in Maryland. There is good reason to hope that the party in Maryland will fall into lino, now that the factional fight in Republican ranks is over, and with the aid of the gold Democrats and the antiGorman men win in the fight for the legislature. Owing to Gorman's free silver leanings and the generally conceded opinion that he would vote for free silver In the Senate, the sound money Democrats throughout the state are ready to again co-operate with the Republicans as are also of course all the anti-Gorman men, to secure his defeat. Generally speaking the drift all seems to be in the direction of Republicanism. The people see that Bryan and the silverites made a deliberate effort to deceive them last year and many of those who voted for him will have nothing further to do with silver. But the Democratic leaders are not asleep. They are conducting an active and vigilant campaign and are out on a “still hunt” for votes whose result may surprise the Republicans unless they are wide-awake and working to arouse every man and push him enthusiastically into the fight. The tide is now all running in the right direction, but this very evidence of prospective victory is liable to lead to over-confi-dence on the part of some of the Republicans and to allow dissensions to arise which will prevent a solid front against the enemy. A. B. CARSON.

An ignoramona. Not one American in a thousand is in favor of the abominable tariff which is now on the eve of becoming law.— New York correspondent of the MornSing Post, London. Where does this correspondent hibernate during these balmy days of good business, when all classes of people are feeling the good effects of the Ding's Jey protective tarff? The odds are an elephant to an apple that he is a member of the “Tariff Reform” club or on the Staff of one of our free-trade dailies.

Perhaps both. Hence his Ignorance is due to his surroundings. Pope Badly Defeated. The Populists in the Farmers’ National Congress were badly defeated during its sessions. “Calamity” Weller, of lowa, introduced a resolution for the restoration of / the free coinage of silver. This was reported unfavorably and rejected. ' ’hen came a resolution favoring the prohibition of “private monopoly in public necessities,” even to the extent of the exercise of the right of eminent domain and the acquirement of such necessities by the State. On a call of States a three-to-one majority against the resolution w’as developed. Another financial resolution was similarly disposed of after a short discussion to avoid filibustering, which had been resorted to by the Populists. Later in the day the Populists were again “turned down” on the final report of the Committee on Resolutions. Resolutions were adopted commending the Secretary of Agriculture for his efforts in behalf of the dairy industry; favoring government inspection and grading of butter for export, and the reduction of official.salaries; providing for a committee to report a plan for cooperation betw’een the States for ine prevention of the spread of contagious diseases among domestic animals. Resolutions introduced by Mr. Loucks favoring the income tax, government control of telegraph and telephone, the prohibition of corporate ownership of laud for speculative purposes, and the Initiative and referendum had been ( turned down in committee, and Mr. Loucks had made a minority report in each case. He was allowed to speak in support of each of the resolutions, and then the congress overwhelmingly sustained its committee.—New York World. A Public Benefactor.

Under both a protective and a freetrade tariff we have been able to secure practically the same share of trade in the markets of the world, our exports to foreign countries being $1,030,278,148 in 1892 and $1,051,987,091 in the 1897 fiscal year. The total imports of all foreign countries reached only $7,569,000,000 in 1888, the latest date for which Mulhall has compiled such statistics. If we allow an increase of one-third in the value of the goods imported by all foreign countries since 1888, it will give a total of ten billions of dollars as their entire value, to be competed for by all exporting nations. It is clear then that, in 1892 and in 1896, we secured each year one-tenth part of the possible import trade of all countries in competition with the cheaper labor of all European and Asiatic manufacturing and exporting nations. We regard this as being a very favorable showing considering the fact that we are dependent upon England for our shipping facilities, that we pay higher wages than any other country in the world, and that the value of our home market is worth to us —when we are prosperous under protection—nearly eight times as much as we could possibly secure if we supplied all foreign countries with their entire import trade. The Folly of It. The statistics of the cotton crop for last year show it to have been 8,757,964 bales. It has been sold for about $350,000,000, or somewhere more than the total volume of the greenback currency. This is more than five times

the value of the annual silver product! of the country. What folly is it tnen for cotton-growers to think that theii prosperity depends upon “doing something for silver,” when air the sllvei , produced in the country would not buy one in five of their cotton bales! —New York World (Dem.). Revjval of Business. When the bustle’s in the factory and the smoke is in the stack, And the workman’s at his bench again and has his old job back; His voice is piU-hed in harmony with the ■workshops pleasing din And he laughs to hear the engine go and sec the fly wheel spin Oh, then’s the time the workingman is as happy as a lord, For there's sunshine in his home again and plenty for his board, And his “nest egg” in the savings bank will shortly be put back, For there’s bustle in the factory and the smoke is in the stack. ’Mid the rattle of the spindles and the whirring of the wheels; The laughter of the factory girls rings out in merry peals; The hurry in the shipping room, where they’ve so long been still, Till prosperity came back again with orders they could fill; The tooting of the whistle when the quitting hour draws near, And the happy workers leave their tasks for their homes now full of cheer— But tri a Democratic tariff they’ll ne'er again go back, For there’s bustle in the factory and thf smoke is in the stack v —American Economist. The End of It. It seems only to be a question of time when Great Britain must cease to export any tin plates to the United States, and that time may probably be here very soon.—lron and Coal Traders’ Review, England. We hope so. This was the Intent and purpose of the McKinley tariff of 1890, and it is gratifying to learn, from an authoritative foreign source, that such a favorable result is being so quickly achieved. —— Hard for Silveritee, The wheat question is a hard one for the silver patriots to explain. They are now saying the aavance in wheat in the face of the fall in silver is due to scarcity of wheat. But this very statement merely strengthens the assertion of their opponents who insist that the low price of wheat was the result of plenteousness coupled with cheap production and transportation.

Benefits the Laborer, “The benefit of protection goes first and last to the men who earn their bread in the sweat of their faces. The auspicious and momentous result is that never before in the history of the world has comfort been enjoyed, education acquired; and Independence secured by so large a majority of the total population as the United States of America.”.!—James G. Blaine. Political Paragraphs. Wool has made as big an advance as wheat in the past year. Is that the result of “scarcity,” too? The free-traders are not shouting about that recent sale of American tin in foreign markets. Altgeld (to McLean)—“Why didn’t you take warning by my fate and keep that gold bond out of sight?” Was it the “gold powers” of Great Britain that sent statistician Mulhall over here to show that this is the most prosperous country in the world? The more the coal strike is studied the more apparent it becomes that the reduction in coal tariff by the Wilson law is responsible for the low wages which caused it. The advance in the price of wool and sheep will soon bring back to the farmers the $75,000,000 loss in the value of sheep which befell them under the Wilson law. Did Mr. Bryan demand that $1,500 he is to get for his Ohio speech in “gold coin of present standard weight and fineness?” That is the habit of his masters; why not Bryan, too? Professor Wilson does not seem to be much in demand as a campaign orator among the Democrats this year. His name is a little too suggestive of the recent bitter experiences of the workingmen and farmers of this country. : One remarkable development of the opening months of the new tariff law is the general gratification with -which It is accepted irrespective of party. Even the Democrats are omitting the usual talk about increase in prices under the new law.

Value of Foreign Markets.