Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 102, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1903 — WANTED: A SYMPATHETIC STRIKE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WANTED: A SYMPATHETIC STRIKE.

most hopeless pessimist who will not acknowledge that such information is not only Instructive but almost invaluable. If then, such figures are worth while to collect and print once a year, as Is done in the “Statistical Abstract,” or once a month, as Is done in the “Summary of Commerce an# Finance,” then surely a weekly or even a dally gathering of similar figures must be both interesting and of value to all those concerned. As regards the “promotion of the high tariff propaganda,” the honest figures of the country’s industrial advance during the last five years must tend to that very end. Mr. Austin does not manufacture hls figures or his facts; he simply compiles and reports them, as he fiqds them on the official or authoritative recordg. As the Republican says: “These figures are spread out In specially prepared articles and mailed to the press for publication on a specified day.” This Is true, nnd a large portion of*tlie press of the country feel deeply Indebted to Mr. Austin and hls associates for this work. The busy editor has neither the means nor the time to collect these figures and present them to tils readers as he would like to. The Bureau of Statistics Is intended for the very purpose, and the result ot its work Is the property of the public. The disloyal papers which do not want to publish anything reflecting credit upon their country will leave them alone; the papers who are proud of their country’s record In Industry as well as war publish them, dr a part of them, as they •ee tit. Evidently the Republican man Is mad clear through because the country did not go to the demnltlon bow wows during the late decline In stocks. He no doubt had bis famous editorial, “I told you so,” all ready, and being left high and dry by a flurry Instead of a panic, he, of course, must get even somewhere, aud so he goes for Mr. Austin and the “high tariff propaganda’” A newspaper that finds fault with the publications of honest facts and figures calling attention to the progress of the country, either In Its foreign or domestic trade, no matter from what sources or for what purpose the figures emanate and are promulgated, Is not to be appeased by anything short of absolute free-trade and the most panicky of panics that could possibly follow. The figures sent curt from Washington to the newspaper are not like the weather reports*, which are purely guess work, or the crop reports, which are not absolute, but

They regard the taking of the Philippines as having been a duty that to evade would have been cowardice. They assert that to keep the Philippines is the destiny of this people, and that this course is the only one consistent with honor, redounding to the credit of the United States, and to the benefit of the islands. They hold that the record of the army has been clean and honorable, and that the American soldier fighting under a tropic sun does not by this act become a bandit, a thief or an assassin. All these points are cited simply for the purpose of throwing a preserver to Democracy as It flounders in a slough of uncertainty. I* is different from Republicanism now, but If It wants to Increase and emphasize the difference, the way Is easy enough.—Tacoma Ledger. Up Against It. Even with a united party the Democracy Is In the minority In the United States. Under the best possible conditions for Itself, It would have great difficulty In making headway against the Republican party. In every aspect the situation Is adverse to the Democrats. The Republican party, ever since Its return to power, has governed the country wisely and successfully. The Democracy has no policy popular regard. It has no leader whom any considerable body of the American people respect. The conditions all point to a big victory for the Republicans in 1904. —St. Loals Globe-Demo-crat. - v Wrong, ■■ Unnal. There were Democrats arguing for free silver a few years ago which almost every other nation In the world wag arranging to get to the gold standard; but you do not hear very much nowadays about the free silver question. There arc other Democrats, however, who are to-day crying for frea trade when even old free-trade England is getting ready to abandon that doctrine. The free-trade idea will be ns badly defeated In the next general election. If the campaign is fought on that Issue, as was the free-silver Idea. —Freeport (Ill.) Journal. As a vindication of the protective tariff policy the inauguration of a campaign for protection by some of the leading statesmen of Great BrltaJit is one of the most notable events of the times, and It will strengthen tbs advocates of protection In this country against the advocates of tariff reduction.—Denver Republican.