Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 85, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 June 1899 — Fine Music on a Fine Instrument. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Fine Music on a Fine Instrument.

The Example of lowa. The assured election of Congressman David B. Henderson as Speaker of the next House calls attention to the knowledge that the Republican party of lowa has brought to the front a great number of strong and capable men. She has In Congress to-day at least four men who are national figures. Either Hepburn or Dolliver might have aspired to the Speakership with Henderson, and of lowa’s eleven Republican Congressmen not one Is a stick or a hole-filler. In Senator Allen she has a man who some day may grace the Presidential chair, and In Senator Gear she has another who ranks high In the upper house of Congress, while taken as a whole her delegation Is one of the strongest that ever came from any State. We doubt, however, if lowa is possessed of more latent and undeveloped talent than any other of the Northern and Western States. In every State are many men with attainments enough and capacity enough to become marked figures before the nation. But In lowa the Republican party has been wise enough to draw upon Its best talent, to encourage the development of statesmanship, and to reward abaUity Wherever found. Every one of the eleven Congressmen from lowa is serving his second, third, fourth, fifth or even tenth term in Congress. By keeping its strong men to the front the Republican party of that State has been able to preserve a satisfied condition within the ranks of the party at home, to the end that the State is always safe for the Republican ticket. In brief, the Republican party of lowa has been wisely managed, and in this respect it offers a fine example to the States around it.—Kansas City Journal.

Bryan’s Chief Trouble. A Kentuckian who is visiting the city tells this story of the impression made by the boy orator in Louisville: “Louisville, as you know, is one of the greatest tanning centers in the world,” he said. “The day after William Jennings Bryan was in Louisville I was riding in a street car, when a passenger boarded the car and sat down next to me. He had the solid, robust look and dress of a cross between a German-American manufacturer and a tanyard laborer. The smell of the tanyard was all over and about him. He spied an old friend sitting just opposite him in the car. “ ‘Did you hear Bryan?’ asked the friend. " ‘I did,’ said the tanner. “ ‘What do you think of him ?’ said the friend. “ ‘Vel’ ’ said the tanner, ‘there is only one trubble mlt Brine; he ain’t got some sense. He’s good for shust one ting: He would make a good drummer. He’s certainly a fine traveler; makes five or ten towns a day—been doing it for several years without losing a day, and iss always full of vind. I git him SIOO a month to go on de road to seftl ledder. If necessary I gif him $1,350 for de ferst year, but I wouldn’t make a contrakt mit him for more dan a year. He iss worth nearer $1,200 ale $1,350, as a ledder drummer, and good for nothing else. He knows a good deal, but what he knows iss all •wrong.’ ” —New York Tribune.

Importance of the Ohio Campaign. Nobody doubts that Ohio will be the scene this year of the first great political battle in the Presidential campaign of 1900. It is conceded that the McKinley administration will be placed on trial here, and the result in Ohio will be regarded as an Indication of how the greater battle next year will go. The friends of President McKinley realized this when they asked that a firm friend and loyal supporter of the President be chosen as the Republican candidate for Governor, and that thought was uppermost in the minds of the delegates at Columbus when they made up the splendid ticket which has been presented to the people for their indorsement That is why the campaign in Ohio promises to be one of the most memorable in the history of the State.—Cleveland Leader. Echo Answersi “Who?” Now that Peffer is with us who will look after the octopus? Some one will have to exercise the octopus, or he will die of lethargy. Also, who wll prod the Rothschilds, and make the money barons writhe with anguish? Who win blow tne hot breath of sirocco into Wan street? Who will dynamite corporate wealth? Who will succor the great plain people? And the owl In the thick woods of oblivion answers: “Who, who, who!”—Emporia, Kan., Gazette. Squirming Democrat*. The Pennsylvania Democrats made a desperate effort to avoid indorsing the Chicago platform, specially without giving offense to the Bryanttea. With admirable ingenuity they expressed renewed fidelity to the principles “de-

dared In the platforms of our several national conventions.” That might; have answered the purpose of a “hedge” very nicely, but the continue-1 tion of the same sentence expressed pride in “our matchless leader, William Jennings Bryan.” There is the real Indorsement of the Chicago platform.! If Bryan means anything he means the Chicago platform. Pride in him Is pride in 16 to 1. The Pennsylvania Democrats haven’t done it in so many words, but they have indorsed the Chicago platform specifically.—Sioux City Journal. Other and Better Ways. The free-trade element is clamoring for the repeal of the protective tariff as a method of stamping out trusts. There is no doubt that the introduction of free trade as our national policy would stamp out many trusts; but it would stamp them out by stamping out the industries©! the country. If there are no industries, there can be no industrial trusts. That’s sure. And free trade has proved itself a hustler in getting rid of industries. But however anxious the people of the country may be to get rid of trusts, they are not likely to be willing to get rid of them at that cost. If a man has a boil on his leg he can get rid of it, beyond a doubt, by cutting off his leg. But .there are other ways. The cutting off of the leg would be the method approved of by the free traders, if they would be consistent Kill the trusts, they say, by killing the industries. Protectionists prefer to keep the Industries, and to deal with the trusts in some other way. The question is a complicated one, and will need for its satisfactory solution the broadest statesmanship and the maximum of ability. That it will be rightly solved in time there can be i.ctle doubt The American people have a pretty good record for solving difficult problems. Just what that solution will be the future alone can show. It Is safe to prophesy, however, that the solution will not involve the wholesale Industrial ruin which would be the Inevitable result of an abandonment of the protective policy.

No Backward Step. There has been a good deal of talk about President McKinley’s "backward step” in the matter of civil service reform. The National Civil Service Reform League jumped before it looked and quite a number of Republican newspapers joined in the process of interpreting the President’s exemptions as meaning the complete turning over of the appointments affected to the “spoils” politicians. President McKinley’s mere statement that the changes were made for the Increased efficiency of the government service was not accepted and long strings of details were printed illustrating the alleged evil effects of the new order. Secretary Gage, who is admittedly a consistent advocate of civil service reform, has deemed the misrepresentations of sufficient Importance to warrant attention, and he has voluntarily bestowed a little upon them. The result is an authorized statement from Mr. Gage that will be accepted by tbs friends of civil service reform as worthy of more credence than the irresponsible criticisms, so hastily voiced by lightweight critics. Mr. Gage’s statement amounts to a categorical denial of every one of the accusations so brusquely put forward by the civil service league and the papers which took its say so for gospel.—Sioux City Journal.

A Question of Comparisons. Nobody needs to be told that prosperity is here. Every one knows that, from having actual individual participation in It. It is so universal that It is getting to be accepted quite as the natural order of things, and interest begins to center in a comparison between our present prosperjty and that of other yeafs when a protective tariff policy has been in effect The Indications are that the period of prosperity inaugurated by the Dingley law is to be a record breaker. In many cases It has been stated that the prosperity now being enjoyed surpasses that of any other period. A recent instance of this sort is reported from Connellsville, Pa., where the 12,000 men employed by the H. C. Frick Coke Company have just been most agreeably surprised by having been Informed that a general advance of wages, ranging from 6 to 12% per cent, would take effect from May L The new scale, it is stated, will be the highest ever paid in the Connellsville region. This is the kind of news which we may begin to expect now. The question is not, “Are we prosperous?" but, “Etow much more prosperous are we than during any previous period?”

Polltlcal Orphan* The Popociwts who are demanding that silver be “relegated to the rear” forget that such action would leave the “free silver RepubMcahs” entirely orphaned. Of course, a majority of them are Populists or Democrats, but they wish to keep up their separate organization in order that they may demand a share of the offices. If there is no chance for this kind of plunder they may sulk in their tents or vote the Republican ticket out of pure pique. Of course, this has no reference to the large number of Republicans who were led temporarily astray by the sophistry of “Goto,” but regained their senses as soon as the better times began to ftawn. These people are all back in the Bo* publican party at present, leaving no* body in the “silver Republican” organ!* zation but the officers and professional politicians.—Deadwood, 8. D., PioneerTimes. The great pyramid of Cheops is ths largest structure ever erected by ths hand of man. Its original dimensions at the base were 764 feet square, and its perpendicular height in the highest point 448 feet ■ ■