Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 126, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 October 1903 — Political | (omave/nt. [ARTICLE]

Political | (omave/nt.

Clarke’* Panacea. Mr. Clarke is attending to the calamity prediction end- of the Ohio campaign, but is sadly .hampered by his inability to point with pride to a time when a Democratic administration gave prosperity to the nation. According to Mr. Clarke, who yesterday helped Mr. Johnson to open the State campaign at Akron, the United States is in a really bad way, and things are on the road to the. bow wows. It wIH bo recalled that In the campaign of 1896, when the country was actually in that condition because of the panacea which Mr. Clarke now offers—free trade —Mr. Bryan declared there could be no prosperity unless his remedy was adopted. His remedy was rejected and the antidote for prosperity which Mr. Cleveland had administered and which Mr. Clarke now offers was at the same time kicked out. The result was prosperity, which has continued ever since. During the greater part of this period of prosperity Mr. Bryan was declaring that it was not real. Now Mr. Clarke—who finds that after all he has points of contact with Bryan, while Bryan finds that he has points of contact with Clarke —declares that this prosperity brought about by Republican politicies is so real that it is imperiled by the very Republican policy which produced it. Mr. Clarke tells the people of Ohio that the Republican tariff policy on which S&nator Hanna asked to “stand pat” for the gcod it has done, and on which they have been standing pat, to be swept away. The people wefe told the same thing four years before Bryan’s first appearance in the Presidential arena, and for the ruin produced by the hoed they gave it Mr. Bryan proposed a remedy which Mr. Clarke denounced. It is not so long since all this happened that people have forgotten it, aiid the people of Ohio will give the heed to Mr. Clarke’s suggestion which it deserves. They will stand pat on their action of 1896 and will not repeat tlie blunder of 1892.—Plttsbtlig CBForilcle-if'elegrapli.

Senator Hoar and Revis'.on. Senator Hoar recently made a speech at Salem, Mass., which was full of sound doctrine. The upshot of his remarks was that the time to make a revision of the tariff Is not just before a Presidential canvass, but after the election. The Senator reasons that Congress cannot be at the business of revising tariff schedules all the time. Whenever the subject of revision is up business is perforce thrown into confusion and uncertainty*. Even a hail tariff, when business is once adjusted to It, is better the uncertainty incident to perpetual change. Moreover, it is illogical to start agitation in favor of a readjustment of details just at a time when the people are required to approve or disapprove by their ballots the fundamental principle upon which our tariff laws are based. Any student of our customs tariff legislation knows that the overwhelming majority of the American people are firm believers in the principle of protect ion to American Industries. So long as the Republican party stands as the champion of this tenet, and the Democracy as its opponent, the unwisdom of an attempt at revision by the party in power just before a general election is apparent. The election" should define and determine the principle, and the party successful at the polls should be trusted to furnish the details. Senator Hoar Is right in saying that the ftkae to revise schedules is afte r the people'have passed upon the broad policy, and when there will be a reasonable time to try the new arrangement before tbe subject matter is again submitted to the electors. Sober thought will convince minds not bent on disturbing existing business conditions that the conclusions of the Mnsnchusetts Senntor are correct. —Grand Rapldg Herald.

A Generom Country. There are petty persons who arc forever snarling about the cost of pensions. The United States Is paying pensions to nearly a million citizens as an act of simple Justice, not of liberality. Pensioner* ‘bmbraeh men who responded, In their early manhood, to the government call for soldiers to save the Union. They succeeded in that large undertaking, taking all the risks of four years of war In its deadliest forms. No pension will ever requite them. Their monthly stipend will add something to their comfort in old age. Over, 200,000 of the pensioners are soldiers’ widows or minor children. Let those who liegrudge It growl unanswered. They are not worth answering. Pensions are an instance of decent gratitude, not of generosity. But this country is strong In generosity, as well as equity, as a few examples will show. There are 250,000 Indians In the United States. The Govemmenl holds for their benefit trust funds stnountlng to 124,000,000 and 110.000.000 acres of land, an average of 400 acres of land and 1100 In money for every Indian man, woman and child. The Indians, pro rata, arc the richest Americans. During the last thirty years $240,000,000 list been spent on them. Appropriations for their education bare risen from $20,000 In 1877 to $3,000,000 In 1801. In twenty years Uongreas has voted $45,000.000M/or Indian schools. This country has been generous to Cuba beyond parallel In International

affairs. Its army of school teachers in the Philippines is another instance of a noble, big-hearted way of looking at the problems of government In this direction the United States leads the world.—St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Farmer* and Tariff*. We read In the New York World that the value of the big six crops of ths country fpr this year, on the basis ofSept. T reports,” Is now estimated as follows: Clorn .$1,144,950,000 Wheat 535,872,000 Oats* 267,901,050 Barley 57,200,975 Hay 510,000,000 Potatoes 127,000,000 Total ....$2,635,438,213 This grand total Is larger by upward of $355,000,000 than the value of the same six crops in 1902. Of course It Is not all profit—the cost of production is to be deducted. But It guarantees the continued prosperity of our great basic Industry—farming. And every dollar of this enormous sum total is produced from the soli by the unprotected, unbounded and unsubsidized labor of the American farmer, paying tariff toll on nearly everything he boys and selling everything h 6 sells In open and unsheltered competition with the farmers of all countries. If the World man will run his eye over the Dingley tariff schedules he will discover that the American farmer is well protected on everything ho lias to sell, and cannot be undersold in his own market by the cheaper products of other countries. It was not so when Democrats made our tariff laws, but it Is so now. * Lincoln an Kxpausioniat. William J. Bryan has repeatedly alluded to Abraham Lincoln as an antiexpansionist, though never citing any proof of .It. There is some evidence to the contrary. In 1861, when on his way to Washington to assume the Presidency, Mr. Lincoln was given a reception at Philadelphia, and in a brief speech at a flag-raising he said: “The future Is in the hands of the people. It is on such an ocasion as this that we can reason together, reaffirm our devotion to the country and the principles of the Declaration of Independence. Let us make up our mind that when we put a new star upon our banner it shall be a fixed one, nerver to be dimmed by the horrors of war, but brightened by the contentment and prosperity of peace. Let us go on to extend the area of our usefulness, add star upon star, until their light shall shine upon five hundred millions of free and happy people. As the total population of the United States, Including its new island possessions, is still far short of the mark fixed by Mr. Lincoln, It Is fair to rate him as an expansionist. He certainly was not a contractionist.—lndianapolis Journal. The Farmer Is Patlsfle The slight falling off in exports seems to be giving considerable comfort to the free traders, as they welcome anything that will serve as an argument against the Dingley law. They do not note that the falling off Is In agricultural products, while our exports of manufactures are Increasing. High prices naturally have the tendency to check" Imports and Increase imports, and exports of agricultural products will always fluctuate. But It is no argument against protection, when our farmers can market at home more nearly all they produce and at profitable prices. The table of the prosperous American is loaded three times a day, and full stomachs, full; dinner palls and full lunch baskets are full testimony to the efficacy of protection. The Fliht Against Hanna. Johnson and (’larky are both making Senator Ilnnna the target for the greater part of their abuse. Wero they to l>e believed, the <3hlo Senator Is first of kin to Ills sa'anic majesty—a man unwcr.hy of respect among h!s fellows. But this Is not the first campaign In which Mr. Ilnnna has played! a conspicuous part—not the first political battle he has fonght and won., lie Is ns strong among the Ohio Republicans ns' lie ever was, aud will continue to hold his seat In the United' States Senate. When the rotes ara couuted in Ohio Johnson will find th >, p»>ople do not want lilm for Governor, but have derided that Myron T. Herrick Is the better and safer man for that high office. —Baltimore American. When to Rcriu thj Tariff. The fact Is that the tariff will be revised when the people at the polls demand It, aud not before.— York Times. Right, for once. That Is precisely when, and only when, the tariff will bo or should lie revised. When the people, being tired of prosperity, or for knjs other rsason satisfactory to themselves, want the tariff revised, reduced or removed, they will say so, and It will be done. Rut until that time coim-s. until the people have said so. the proper thing to do la let the tariff alone. ... A Orest Th*nk*slv!*Si The next holiday will be Thanksgiving. and what a bounteous Thanksgiving It will be If we return thanks for all the great multitude of bliwlrga protest lon has brought to ua.