Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1900 — NOW THEY KNOW. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NOW THEY KNOW.

The People Remember the Frost. Which Followed Free-Trade Experiments.

Ex-Governor Hogg, of Texas, professes to think that “everything looks as though this would be a Bryan year.” He says that thousands of men who did not vote for Bryan in 1896 will vote for him in 1900. Eight years ago the voters of the country sacrificed the prosperity which they were enjoying under the McKinley tariff law and elected the “stuffed prophet” of free trade to the Presidency. Perhaps it is this fact which leads ex-Governor Hogg to th>nk that they will go and do likewise in 1900. There certainly is no other sign anywhere which would lead a man in the possession of his senses to think that there was even a remote possibility of this being a “Bryan year.” But, Governor Hogg, the fact that the people have done a thing once is no sure sign that they will do it again. In fact it is often the surest sign that they won’t repeat it. And that is the way it is ih this case. In 1892 the majority of the people of the country did not know from actual experience what free trade meant, nor what Democratic tariff reform would mean, either. Now they do. They felt happy and prosperous and were willing to experiment a little with free trade—just to see what would happen. But “a burnt child dreads the fire,” and the people of this country got pretty badly burnt by playing with free trade in 1892. Or, perhaps it would be more apropriate to say that they got badly frozen through it, because of the lack of having sufficient warmth in their houses and for want of comfortable clothes to wear. In any case they are not likely to repeat the experiment of 1892. One period of idleness, poverty and discomfort is enough for a lifetime. That is what free- trade would mean, and the election of Bryan find of a Congress in

sympathy with him would mean free trade. The people want no more of either. Gov. Taylor’s Position. In bolding the fort until all legal resources are exhausted, Gov. Taylor has the approval of every fair-minded, manly American. He has been criticised for exercising a constitutional duty in case of insurrection, on the ground that no insurrection existed. On that point opinions differ. The State was at the verge of civil war and the danger still exists. The Legislature was about to throw all deliberation to the winds and declare itself the creator of a Governor. ITaylor either had to surrender and vacate without knowing why, or stick to his post until the path of courageous duty was made clear. “The burdens that I have had to assume,” he says, “have been most onerous and gladly would I have escaned them if such a thing had been possible.” That this is true is perfectly apparent. An office beset with such cares, hardships and dangers as that intrusted to Gov. Taylor Is endurable only on the ground that honorable obligations require that it be protected in behalf of the people until its last legal safeguard is broken ddwn.

In addition to the other burdens of the office, Gov. Taylor has been denounced by various Democrats as accessory to the murder of Goebel, and the detailed facts of the tragedy seem to be systematically suppressed by the Goebelites in order to support the charge. Every day Gov. Taylor receives letters threatening him with assassination and at night—the guards around his quarters are fired upon. Yet he remains where he belongs and is the Governor of Kentucky until the com trary is absolutely established. He represents the people and' the people honor him accordingly. Should he be thrown out, the right of the people to a ballot goes with him, and should he be personally injured by the partisan conspirators who have hounded him from the moment he was nominated he will be a martyr to the cause of popular government. Gov. Taylor has done the essential thing in the spirit of a true, brave American freeman.—St. Louis Globe-Democrat. What Lincoln Would Have Said. What Lincoln would have said had he been in McKinley’s place in the White House when the Filipinos attacked the flag has been a favorite subject for conjecture with the Aguinaldians. No American who halt understands the character of the wonderful man

doubts for an instant what Abraham Lincoln would have said and done. The answer is contained in the third article of his memorandum of April 5, 1865, outlining to Judge Campbell, of Virginia, his attitude toward thosoengaged in rebellion against the authority and the flag of the United States Government: “No cessation of hostilities short of an end of the war and the disbanding of all forces hostile to the Government.” That was Abraham Lincoln’s policy in 1865, and that has been President McKinley’s policy in 18J9 and 1900. New York Sun, Cause of the Advance. A reader of Gunton’s Magazine inquired why it was that wire nails sold at $1.50 in 1898 and at $4.35 in 1899, when the advance in wages had been but 10 per cent. The reply is worthy of attention, because the same statement is made in anti-trust speeches all over the? country. The price of wire nails in January, 1898, in Pittsburg, was $1.40, and of cut nails sl.lO. Instead of $4.35, the highest point wire nails have reached was was $3.20, and cut nails s2.so—the alleged quotation being nearly one-third higher than the real opc. Instead of 10 per cent., wages have risen 25 per cent, in every branch of iron production, including the ore. During the period named Bessemer pig advanced from $lO to $24.90 a ton, or nearly 150 per cent., while the price of wire nails advanced from $1.40 to $3.20,. or 128 per cent. Thus it is evident that the advance in price of wire nails Is due to the advance of the material out of which they are made. A few inquiries into the causes of the recent advance in prices of articles alleged to be made by trusts will make it clear that the rise is due to the rise in the price of the materials out of which the finished product is made. There is no

steel trust controlling prices and productibp, but prices have advanced because demand is in excess o'- production.—lndianapolis Journal. How Is It Now? While millions of dollars are being added to wages distributed ge : erally throughout the country the Boston Herald selects two industries for a special and very interesting comparison: “The two great industries that lead the procession of prosperity are the cotton and the woolen, and in both of these the advances carry the wages of the employes beyond the boom rates of 1893.” The boom rates of 1893, it will be remembered, were slaughtered in ©old blood by the wage-earners themselves, under various slogans of infuriated rot aimed at capital. That was done by the campaign of 1892. Will the campaign of 1900 see that folly repeated? We don't think.— New York Sun.

Conflict with Savagery. The reports from Luzon of the murder of prisoners, the burning of villages and other outrages by scattering bands of insurgents, says the Indianapolis Journal, show that the war has become a conflict between civilization and savagery like that kept up for years on the frontier against the United States by Indians. The deeds of the Filipinos are as atrocious as were those of the Indians. For All or None. These attacks on the part of the opponents of protection are not to be ignored, for there is an element of sound reason in them. If any break occur in the protective system by means of reciprocity, then there will be danger of .the whole system giving way. There should be protection for all or protection for none.—San Francisco Call.

What They Expect. The present prosperity of the country has cadaed no relaxation of efforts on the part of the Republican administration and Congress to increase our prosperity and to provide for its continuance. The people know by experience that they can always expect prosperity from the Republican .party.—Sonora (Cal.) Independent. Cold Facts, Dun & Co.'s statement that business is 40 per cent, better than It was a year ago is not a campaign lib, but a statement of coltL fact.- India uapolls (Ind.) Journal. '

Congress—There! I reckon that will keep the old boy from doing any mischief—St. Paul Pioneer Press.