Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1897 — GOOD PROGRESS MADE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GOOD PROGRESS MADE

REASSEMBLED CONGRESS FINDS THE COUNTRY PROSPEROUS. Administration’s Work Since Adjournment Has Been Very Satisfactory and Prices in All Branches of Trade* Generally Satisfactory. 'Washington correspondence: Upon Its reassembling Congress finds •that the few months which have passed since it Was called in special session by President McKinley have been extremely satisfactory in their developments. The tariff law, which was placed upon the statute books by the action of the special session, has fully justified the predictions of its framers and supporters, the administration,, has made splendid progress in its work with reference to foreign affairs, while ■the reports which members of Congress bring from all parts of the country show vastly improved business conditions. Increased earnings among farmers, increased earnings by railroads and Tailroad men, increased earnings among mine operators and mine workers, increased earnings among manufacturers; these are the reports which members bring from every part of the country. From Kansas alone comes an official report placing the value of farm products in that State this year at over $06,000,000, an increase of more than 30 per cent as compared with last year, .while the reports of mortgages cancelled in that and all of the farming States are equally gratifying. From the manufacturing and mining sections the reports are quite as favorable. .Members from the manufacturing sections of New England and the Ohio valley report large increases in number of people employed and that an increase in wages is now also being had In many cases. Naturally the first effect of a protective tariff is to increase the number of people employed, and it is not until the second stage of its work has been reached tlfat the effect Is felt in the increase in wages. This 1s now making itself apparent, for reports of increased wages come not alone from the manufacturing centers, but from the great iron mines of Pennsylvania, Michigan and elsewhere, and from other industries of this character In the Ohio valley. One subject for which members of •Congress of both parties are looking with interest is the statement of Senators Pettigrew, Mantle and Dubois, who hurried away from Washington at the close of the special session to visit Japan. It was announced that their object in making this trip was to examine into the causes which led Japan to abandon the silver standard and fall in line with the progressive gold standard nations of the world. Japan, it will be remembered, was a shining example of free silver prosperity during the discussions of 1890 and no single incident since the defeat of 189(5 so mucli disturbed the silver advocates as the loss of Japan from their list of silver standard countries. It was because of this fact that the silver advocates scurried away to Interview these Yankees of the Orient and find out just how they had been “taken in” by the gold schemers of Europe. These gentlemen, although they returned from Japan weeks ago, have been absolutely silent, and their coming to Washington is looked forward to with much interest, as there will be a disposition on the part of members of both parties to insist upon either a definite report or an explanation of their silence. The fact that they have had nothing to say since they returned is •considered, to say the least, suggestive •of failure to find in Japan any sufficient argument in support of their silver theory. Another subject which interests members of Congress much on their return is the announcement that all American prisoners in Cuba have now been set at liberty. It will be remembered that this administration, when it came into office nine months ago, found that a very large number of American citizens were confined in Cuban prisons and had been so confined in many cases for months. Within less than a single month many •of these were released, and now Congress finds upon reassembling that through the firm, but conservative, •course of the administration every American citizen who was thus confined in Cuban prisons and had been so confined for months, if not years, lias been set at lMfcrty. This fact is already having its effect in modifying the disposition on the part of certain people to criticise of the administration In regard to Cuban affairs and to lead to a feeling that the President and his advisers, if permitted to carry out thedr plans, will shape the matter in a satisfactory way. The operations of the tariff law during the four months since Congress placed it upon the statute books and left it to begin its career in the face of adverse conditions, have been very satisfactory. With a hundred million dollars’ worth of surplus foreign importations upon the markets of the country, the conditions in which it entered upon its work were, of course, extremely unfavorable. In the face -of that fact, however, its earnings have steadily increased, beginning with a little over $19,000,000 in its first month, and now reaching more than $25,000,000 in November. In each month since the tariff bill was placed upon the statute books the earnings "have Increased, and the Treasury of■flcials who have been studying the new law carefully are thoroughly satisfied with Its prospects as a revenue producer. Probably no man In the

Treasury Department is better capable to judge of these matters than Assistant Secretary Howell, who has grown up in the customs service from a subordinate position to the position which he now holds —Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. He says frankly that he thinks the earnings of the new law will be sufficient after the opening month of the coming year to meet running expenses. “The enormous stock of sugar, wool and other articles which had been brought into the country before the new law went into effect,” said Mr. Howell, talking to your correspondent, “will have been pretty well used up by the end of the present year and the importations will be reshmed. When this is done, I thkik the earnings of the new law will be very satisfactory. We are now getting $25,000,000 a month, and the revenue from sugar alone wilKjbe about 5,000,000, while the increase from other sources will also be very cofisiderable. So, It seems to me, that Congress, when it looks over the field\nd sees what the new law has done and what it is likely to do in the near future, will have no occasion to regret its action or to enter upon any fibrther revenue legislation at present at least.” A. B. CARSON. Thankful Kansas. The Governor of Kansas put a special clause of thanks in his Thanksgiving proclamation this year for the prosperity and good times that had

come to Kansas. The Governor was elected on the ticket which supported Free-trader Bryan and his un-Ameri-can policy of giving the American market to foreigners, and on a platform which denounced the American system of protection and prophesied calamity if the great leader of protection were elected to the Presidency. But the actual existence of prosperity on every hand is a fact which even a man elected on a free trade ticket is obliged to recognize. Kansas owes her present prosperity to the victory won by protection. For, though the demand for American cereals in foreign markets has been a great element in the good times which have come to Kansas, yet it must be remembered that even. that demand could not have brought prosperity if the home demand had been cut off because the people were without work and therefore without wages with which to buy. Protection has made factories hum all over the country and has provided an army of workers to consume the Kansas farmer’s products. If Kansas likes the good times she has had this year, let her help to establish protection for American workmen and so create a home market great enough to take all her products every year, irrespective of what the foreign demand may be.

Things to Be Thankful For. Increased prosperity in every branch of industrial and commercial activity. Increased work for everybody and in many eases higher wages. Increased comfort and happiness for mhn, woman and child. Increased prices for the products of the farm, amounting, for the year 1897 alone, to more than $1,000,000,000. Increased demand for the products of factories, mills and mines. Increased bank deposits, loans and discounts. Increased sales by merchants and manufacturers. Increased railroad earnings of over 11 per cent, as compared with last year. Increased exports of food stuffs and manufactures! articles amounting to several hundred millions of dollars. The election of William McKinley as President of the United States. The triumph of protection. The passage of the Dingley tariff bill. -

The Real Robber Tariff. The free-traders have exhausted the resources of the dictionary to find scathing epithets for the tariff whiPh gives protection to American industries. “Robber tariff” Is one of their favorite names for it. The vast majority of the people of the country, however, are agreed that the true “robber tariff” was the free trade WilsonGorman law which robbed them of their work, their wages and their prosperity. Laborers Have Money This Year. The holiday season will be one of much greater happiness than those of the past few years. The earnings of employes In the manufacturing sections have already been increased In many instances, and recent dispatches

from Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio show that a number of the great iron mines of Pennsylvania and Michigan are to increase the wages of their employes 10 per cent, on January Ist, and that the limestone operators of the Mahoning Valley, in Ohio, have increased the wages of thedr employes 20 per cent. The effect of the return of a protective tariff Is being promptly felt. Becoming Financially Independent. American securities formerly held abroad are being returned to the United States ill large quantities, thus reducing the actual imports of money which would otherwise occur as a result of our large exportations. This fact is especially Interesting, because it shows that the people of the United States are rapidly becoming independent of the financiers of the old world* and that there will be from this time forward a great reduction in the amount of money sent abroad in the payment of interest. The country at large is following the example of individuals, and reducing its indebtedness to others. Bryan Needs Their Report. Those silver Senators who went to Japan a few months ago to find out just how it was that the “gold powers” had managed to induce the Yankees of the Orient to abandon the silver standard have not yet reported. They should do so in order that Mr. Bryan may advise the statesmen of

Mexico just how to escape the fate of the Japanese and of all the other intelligent nations which have adopted the gold standard in the last few years since the art of mining made it easy to produce silver at low cost and in enormous quantities.

An Issue Soon Dead. Free silver was made a distinct issue in a half dozen States in 1897. In every one of these States the percentage of loss in Democratic votes was greater than in the year following the Presidential election of 1892, when free trade "was the issue. The loss of Democratic votes in Massachusetts in 1597 was 24 per cent, of the 1896 vote, while in 1893 there was a falling off of 11 per cent, from the Presidential vote of the preceding year. In Virginia there was a falling off in 1897 of 28 per cent, in the Democratic vote, against 21 per cent, in 1893; in lowa, 12 per cent, in 1897, against 11 per cent, in 1893; in Ohio, 16 per cent, in 1897, against 12 per cent, in 1893; while in other States the results were equally disheartening to the advocates of silver.

Food for Thought. Mr. C. H. Cramp, a short time ago, at the meeting of the Board of Trade and Transportation York City, said: “No nation has ever been able to maintain ship-owning by purchasing its ships from the ship-builders of other nations.” This remark offers food for thought to members of Congress and to Die people generally. The American policy of protection is a broad and national policy and should embrace every American industry within its beneficent workings. See Their Error. The people of Kansas have evidently seen the fallacy of the political alignments upon which they have been fed during the past few years, and as a result have placed the State again in the Republican column, giving tk.’.t party a majority this year of over 9,000 votes against a Democratic majority of 13,000 last year. Foreign Markets Not Lost. The adaption of a protective tariff lias not cut off foreign markets for American products as was predicted, our exportations having increased materially since the enactment of the Dingley law, in the face of the fact that our purchases abroad have been reduced. John Bull Is Not In It.