Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1899 — WHAT THEY MEAN. [ARTICLE]

WHAT THEY MEAN.

ffrne Significance of the Results of the November Elections. Among right thinking and fair minded people there to and can be but one conclusion formed as to the true significance of the elections of November, 1899—namely, that the country Is in cordial accord with the national administration in matters of national policy. This conclusion is well expressed by the New York Evening Post, as follows: “Although no Federal officials were chosen yesterday, except in four Congressional districts to fill vacancies in the House of Representatives, a national aspect was given to the campaign in so many States that the result must be accepted as a verdict of the country on the McKinley administration, and especially on its policy of expansion. The judgment of the people was so clearly expressed that no room is left for doubt as to the attitude of the nation.” This, coming from a newspaper noted for its hostility to Republican doctrines and measures, and especially noted for its bitter antagonism toward the policy of President McKinley in reference to the acquirement of new territory for the expansion of American trade and influence, is an unlooked for recognition of the plain meaning of the verdict just rendered by the American people. It to a recognition of the fact that the voters of this country have condemned Bryanism and Indorsed McKinleyism. There can be no doubt of it. • The fact that so conclusive a verdict has been rendered in an “off year,” when the successful party was deprived of the advantage of contesting the issue on national lines, is at once a compliment of which President McKinley may well and doubtless does feel proud, and an assurance that the hearts and minds of the people are In thorough sympathy with an administration that has proven Itself to be an American administration in the broadest, deepest, grandest sense of the word.

A Kansas Reminiscence. During the recent campaign the editor of a Kansas paper found a Bryan banner which had been carried in many processions during the year 1896, which bore the following Inscriptions; A vote for McKinley means more tramps. McKinley’s election means— Ten-cent corn. Twenty-flve-cent wheat Eight-cent oats. One dollar per ton for hay. ’ Five cents per pound for butter. Three cents a dozen for eggs. Two-cent hogs. One and one-half cent for fat cattle. No money to carry on business. Corn to-day is worth 20 cents in Kansas and from 29 to 32 cents in Indiana. There has not been much change in the price of wheat, but the price is far above 25 cents. Oats are worth 24 to 26 cents in Indiana. Hay ranges from $lO to $11.50 here and must be worth $5 or $6 in Kansas. Choice butter, wholesale, Is quoted at 14 cents, but those who get a good article at retail pay from 17 to 25 cents. Eggs are 17 cents, hogs $4.04 to $4.07% a hundred, and prime steers $5.75 to $6.50 a hundred. As for 'money, the rates of interest have never been so low; it can be obtained on security which would ngt have been regarded as good in 1896, and is in ample supply at the present time. Anyone but a Bryanite shouter who had made such prediction in 1896 would retire from the vocation of prophet in view of such failures as are set forth above, but they will not. They are already prophesying and showing how Mr. Bryan can be elected on the Chicago platform with a few amendments. They should have no believers, and they will not if Republicans will clip the foregoing inscriptions from the Kansas Bryan banner and read them whenever one of that breed of politicians begins his chatter. Frequent readings would discredit them.—lndianapolis Journal.

Mex.” The lowa volunteers have brought back from the Philippines a slang expression with a moral. During their experiences about Manila the boys came in contact with a good many Mexican silver dollars. They looked just as good as the honest money dollar of the United States mintage, but they werenot, and the soldiers quickly learned to watch for them and accept them only at the regular discount rate. Any attempt on the part of the foxy Filipinos to work off a dollar that was not backed by the gold standard in the place of a dollar that had the backing was met with a contemptuous Rejection of the cheap dollar and the comment: “That’s Mex.” The scope of the expression broadened, and now when the returned volunteers see anything that is masquerading for what it isn’t they size it up With the same contemptuous expressions “That’s Mex,” The moral is plain. Neither the returned veterans nor their fellow citlzents want to take any chances on having the dollars of their own country tossed back to them In any part of the world where they may be with a similar slang phrase.—Sioux City Journal. Expansion a Winner. lowa's immense Republican plurality, taken in connection with the sweeping Republican victory In South Dakota, shows that expansion will be a winning issue for the party in 1900. The great gain In the Republican vote in lowa over that of two years ago, when Shaw was first elected Governor, is a significant indication of the popularity of expansion. The Republicans should use their best endeavors to bait the Democrats on to make a fight next year on “anti-expansion.” The louder the flag furlers howl the next twelve months the larger the Republican majority will be In the electoral college of 1900.—St Louis Globe-Democrat What Does Thia Mean? “Every wool grower of the country

throughout the country are collecting the dui< on wool as intended by the Dingley tariff.” This-is statement of a reliable authority in close touch with domestic wool Interests. What does it mean?—American Economist. It means that the Wilson-Gorman tariff act that allowed wolves to run at large and destroy sheep has been superseded by an act that has fenced up the wolves-so they will either have to devour one another or go hungry. They cannot feast on mutton to any great extent while the Qjngley bill remains Intact.—Peoria (Ill.) Journal. Bryan’s Cold Comfort. " Mr. Bryan in 1896 carried twenty-two States, including all the oidx Southern, States, except Kentucky and West Virginia, and the States of Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, -Montana, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. In the last elections held in the several States- Kansas* South Dakota, Washington and Wyon> Ing have given Republican majorities, while Maryland has joined the Democratic column.' On the record of elections held in 1899 and 1898 the Republicans have control of twenty-six States, with 285 electoral votes, and. the Democrats nineteen States, with 162 electoral votes, and yet Mr. Bryan and his associates pretend to be wed satisfied with the result of the elections of Nov. 7. An attempt has been made to torture the figures in Ohio, which gave the Republican candidate for Governor a plurality of 50,000, into an indorsement of Bryanism. It is contended by some of Mr. Bryan’s supporters that the vote for McLean in Ohio did not reprtssent the full Democratic strength, but that if the vote of Jones be added to that of McLean it will be shown that Ohio is Democratic. And yet the Democratic newspapers told us the day after the election that Jones received on a personal and local issue more Republican votes than he did Democratic. This was certainly true in Cleveland. If there is so little comfort for the Democrats in Ohio figures there is less comfort in lowa, Massachusetts, .New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In 1896 South Dakota gave Bryan a plurality of 183; in 1898 the State gave the fusion candidate for Governor a plurality of 370. In 1899 the Republican majorities for candidates for judges of the Supreme Court ranged from 5,000 to 10,000. In 1896 Kansas gave Bryan a plurality of 13,509; in. 1898 the Republican plurality was 15,870. In 1896 Washington gave Bryan a plurality of 12,493; in 1898 it gave a Republican majority of 13,114. Wyoming gave Bryan in 1896 a plurality of 593; in 1898 it gave a Republican majority of 1,394. By the vote of Nov. 7, 1899, Ohio, lowa, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey are as strongly Republican as they were in 1896. On the record of the election returns for 1898 and 1899 Mr. Bryan would have 162 electoral votes and the Republican, candidate for President 285, a majority for the Republicans of 123 votes in the electoral college. -

No More Use for Populism. Edgerton, S. D., Sept. 30, 1899.—T0 the Editor: I have noticed of late several statements in the Journal relating to the deposit per capita of residents in different parte of the country. I do not consider any of them, taking Into account our handicap of no railroad towns, as good as Charles Mix Coum ty’s. There are four banks in the old part of the county now having deposits of over S2O per capita. There are no manufacturers’, large ranchers’, stock or grain buyers’ deposits, and half of the merchants keep their accounts at their railroad shipping points, or use the “sock.” Ninety per cent of the deposits belong to the farmers, and the balance to a part of the merchants. This county went Populist last year, but it will never happen again as long as the present conditions of the country will last. T. E. ANDREWS. When prosperity comes in at the door Populism flies out at the window. That is the burden of a brief but significant communication from Charles Mix County, South Dakota. The statement that the farmers of that county have nearly S2O per capita laid away in the banks before marketing this year’s fine crops forms the basis of the prediction.— Sioux City (la.) Journal. The Waae-Earner’s Share. A dispatch from Youngstown, Ohio, reads as follows: »« “At a wage conference between James H. Nutt, of the Iron Manufacturers’ Association and a committee. representing the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, the wage scale for November and December was placed on a basis of 1 6-10 cents, which makes the wages of puddlers $5.50, an increase of 50 cents per ton. This is the highest price paid for puddling since X 880.” Thus does the wage earner come in for his share of the general prosperity. He has not been overlooked In* the division of benefits. It Is one of the glories of the protective system that It always looks after the wage earner. A Riotous Demand. In a late interview the Western manager of one of the chief watch-making factories of the world stated that he could sell (he entire output of the works, 2,000 watches a day, out of hand for cash, and furthermore added that the demand was for the better movements. The demand he described as “little less than desperate.” If McKinley prosperity continues at this rate we may have riots in the cities on the part of people who are unable to get rid of their money fast enough.—Tppeka (Kan.) Capital The Great Promoter*. To-day we stand at of iron