The Greencastle Democrat, Greencastle, Putnam County, 7 October 1893 — Page 3

^ L-HW^ron l»^ ? ^ ' ! " ,y [CopyrlBht, 1H9.I, By tbe Author.] 1' 1' is diaffracflful!” fried Gertrude Foster, r-— my- yt passionately. -- “Tliat is a fact," returned her brother, coolly, “but what are you going to do about It?”

The young man was lying in a hammock, swung at the end of the piu/.za; his sister was seated near him, in a rocking-chair, which she kept in vigorous motion, as though thereby trying to accentuate her remarks concerning the letter she held in her hand. A boy, about sixteen years of age, was loungiag on the steps, with a novel before him, but the contents of that epistle had apparently taken away his interest in the story, for he was not reading. “You surely are not surprised, Gertrude,” continued the occupant of the hammock. "1 have been noticing for some time the care father took in his toilet, when he went out on business. Bu*ine*»!" laughing derisively; “my stern parent never fooled me much. I thought he was going a-woo-ing.” “But an old maid, Jim!” said his sister. “A woman probably full of freaks and fancies. It is all very well for you and Harold, but 1 have to be with her, at home, all the time.” “Only three months, my dear,” returned Jim. “Remember my future brother-in-law comes home to-day, and that you will soon be a blushing bride. Rather a bad day for his return, though,” he added, looking over the hammock at the landscape before him, half hidden by the heavy veil rain. “I do not think I ever knew it to pour harder.” “Yes, - ' assented Gertrude, meditatively. “That is my one consolation. If it were not for Dick, I would go out and hunt for tht; position of a governess to-morrow—” (“Which you would be quite incapable of tilling,” interpolated her brother, sotto voce.) "For I haven’t the patience to put up with an old maid’s quips and cranks.” “Pshaw!” said Harold, who had not yet spoken, “I think an old maid far preferable to a widow. She will probably be so grateful to father for marrying her that she will behave very decently. Generally an old maid’s chief fault is romancing about her former offers, and Mrs. Foster will probably not do that, now sue has really had one.” “That is so,” chimed in Jim. “Whereas a widow is always resurrecting her dear defunct, whenever his substitute does anything to displease her. Oh! undoubtedly, things might be worse.” “Yes.” returned Gertrude, “but how ean a man with a heart fall in love again so soon, anyway?” “Maybe she was his first love, from whom he was separated by a misunderstanding'.” said Harold, putting his hand over his heart sentimentally. "Hello! The rain has stopped—and there comes a livery stable carriage. How dramaticl Rain stops. Enter hero! Come along, Jim, we would not be here to embarrass the greetings of twoyoung and loving hearts.” He disappeared through the door while Jim slowly followed, in his lazy, languid way, saying: “Tell Dick I will see him at supper.” Uy this time the carriage had entered the gates and was coming rapidly up the long avenue that led to the house. The Fosters prided themselves on their well-kept grounds, especially the drive from the lodge gate to the house, which was bordered on either side by maple trees. They gave a delightful shade during the summer months, and their gorgeous foliage in the fall made the Foster place the glory of the neighborhood. Rut neither Richard nor Gertrude thought of the maples as he was driving under them that afternoon. He had been abroad two years his only thought was that, at last, he was really to be with \ns fiancee once more, while she forgot her father's second marriage in the joy of seeing her lover again. Rut, after they had been together an hour or two, Gertrude remembered the letter, and her face fell. "Oh, Dick!” she said, “father is married again. I received a note just a few minutes before you came, telling me about it. He said he should be home in a few days, and wanted me to have everything done to make her home-coming pleasant.” Dick looked grave—then replied: “Well, it will be only for a little time, but,”cheerfully, "I will takeyou away, right off, if you like.” Gertrude laughed. “Oh! I guess I can support her presence a few weeks, but isn’t it dreadful—for a man to get married a second time?” “Awful,” he returned, with conviction. Then, after a second's pause: “I mean as a rule; of course there are exceptional cases. That reminds me,” he added, "you have heard me speak of my Aunt Marion?” "The aunt who, you say, has redeemed the race of old maids in your estimation?" asked Gertrude. "The same,” he answered. “Well, mother wrote me some time ago that she was going to be married. I suppose I shall hear all about it to-night, when I go home. You know,” he continued, "a great many years ago Aunt Mar***s fell in love. She was boarding in the country at the time, and. although he reciprocated her affection, they had not confessed thfir mutual attachment, when her dearest friend came to board at the same place. ThU young lady also was fascinated by the same gentleman, and began to think how she could supplant my aunt in

his estimation. She had recourse to strategy: told numberless falsehoods to both of them, and managed, in a short space of time, to provoke a quarrel between them. "Aunt Marion was very proud and sensitive, sought no explanation from her whilom admirer, trusted her friend, and lost her lover. “In a year or two she heard of their marriage, which opened her eyes a little, and caused the girlish friendship to be broken off. Two years ago she received a letter from this woman, who. it seems, was dying, confessing the whole truth. She also left an explanation for her husband, which he found when she was dead. After awhile, Aunt Marion acceded to the widower’s repeated entreaties to be allowed to cull—and in a few months they were engaged. I guess my prospective undo made the other woman a good husband, but he did not really love her, for his wife wrote that he had never forgotten hia first love, and only married her in gratitude for the sympathy and tenderness she showed when telling how my aunt had deceived him. I think,’’ continued Richard, "that I would never have made known the truth, if I had been in her place. Rut I suppose the voice of conscience gets very loud in the presence of death. It was a tardy reparation, though.” "Dick, what is your aunt’s name?” asked Gertrude, abruptly. “Why the same as my mother's,” ho answered, somewhat astonished at the question; "Moore. Marion Moore. Pretty name, isn’t it?” he added. “Too pretty to change, I think. Why, Gertie, what is the matter?” For the girl had grown deathly white, and did not seem to hear his last remark. “Nothing,” she said, at last, making an effort to recover her self-possession, "onli/ i/our aunt ti—mg Htepmolhcr." "What!” ejaculated Richard, “Aunt Marion your stepmother! It cannot be -and yet—I never knew her lover’s name, never heard it. Is that hty name, Gertie? Are you sure?” “Here is iny letter; you can read for yourself,” she answered, faintly. He saw there was no mistake and wondered how in the world he could recall his words. "I am sorry, Gertie,” he said, at last "Of course you know I never would have told you had I dreamed of such a thing. 1 dare say I exaggerated. I never heard Aunt Marion say anything about it All my information came

M’KINLEY'S TIN PLATE FAKE.

-. .

WATCIIKI) THE CAHItTAOE DKIVE DOWN THE AVENUE, from her sisters, who did not like your —her friend. Just forget all about it, Gertie.” Gertie was weeping as if her heart would break, but as he finished speaking she handed him her ring without looking up. “What is that for?” asked Richard, aghast “I did not mean to hurt you; surely, you are not going to punish mo like that, when I offended so unintentionally?” “No,” sobbed Gertrude, “it isn’t that, ouly I shouldn’t think you would want to marry the daughter of such a mother.” Richard laughed, as he took the ring and placed it on Gertrude’s finger again. "What a silly child you are!” he said fondly. “It wouldn’t make any differ ence to me if every relative you had was in the penitentiary. You would) not be responsible for their sins. Resides, 1 suppose your mother though) she had every right to try and win your father. He was not engaged to my aunt, you know, and, they say, all is fair in love and war. So think no more about it—and we will never- mention it again.” Gertrude never did mention it again, but she thought about it many times; and when Mr. Foster brought his wife home, he found everything arranged to his liking. He had said to her: “The boys wiR be all right, and if Gertrude does not treat you well let me know.” “Never, James,” replied Mrs. Fostei’, “for you might be tempted to tell her the history of the years that are gone, and children should reverence their mother’s memory, which I doubt if sha could do, knowing all.” Rut there was no trouble. Gertruda treated her stepmother with the utmost respect and courtesy, and behaved ia such a way that Mrs. Foster actuall f dreaded the girl’s wedding day. As she watched the carriage that cor • tained her nephew and his bride driva down the maple avenue, now r« - splendent in its autumnal coloring, sh» sighed—then turned toward her husband, who was standing near. “i never thought to have loved Txmisa'a child so well,” she said.

Htuli End* of Thouglit. With some of us hope never comes to the full bloom. The tears that come easy go easy. Trust is the strongest link in tha chain of association. Not one time in a million are a man's tears dishonest; what may be said of a woman’s is different. Everybody would be perfect if everybody else thought so. Matrimony is love’s eye-opener. Gossip is the bullet in the gun of idl« curiosity. Honesty is not contagious. It s a long way around to reach Heavan by some churches. —Detroit Fre*

Praws

An Industry Unlit ('pon the Ruins of More Important Industries Kurnlslie* the

Oovernor’s Creates! Argument.

As was expected. Gov. McKinley opened his campaign in Ohio by pointing with pride to “forty-two tin-plate factories employing thousands of men, not one of which (he probably means industries) was in existence before the tariff of 1890.” After stating that the products of ids pet industry was nearly 40,000,000 pounds for the three months ended June 30, 1893, and that 4.’i per cent, of that was made from

Ameracan black plates, he said:

“I assume that tiu plate is to be made free, because the last house of representstive,which was democratic.made It free by a party vote. These splendid industries which have been built up in our country, anil which have supplied employment for so many workingmen, are to lie closed, and this, the greatest consuming nation of tin plate in the world, will hereafter buy this product from abroad, unless our labor is brought down to the degraded level of competing labor. I cannot believe that the people of the United States favor this policy. If they do, they are recreant to their highest and best interests. The manufacture of the tin plate annually consumed by the people of the United States would keep up an army of (50,000 workingmen in constant employment. The policy of my distinguished competitor, the democratic candidate for governor, is to take this employment from them and to give it to the cheaper labor of Europe. The tariff of the republican party would employ these 00,000 workingmen in the United States at good wages and thus give the agriculturists, to the manufacturers and to merchants 00,000 profitable consumers of their prod-

ucts.”

Undoubtedly the tin plate industry is the greatest achievement of McKinley ism. Rut should its putative father be proud of it? In the first place we will inspect the governor’s figures: The official estimate for the quarter ended Juno 30th, 1803, is 35,000,000 pounds Rut nearly 20,000,000 pounds were made from imported sheets. As nine-tenths of the weight and of the value and three-fourths of the labor cost of tin plates is in the black or uncoated sheets, the treasury department has very properly decided that such sheets when merely dipped in imported tin, often by imported workmen, do not constitute “American tin plate.” It was only by a patriotic move of re- | publican officials, who wished to mug- ! nify our production, that this foreign product was ever declared to be American. Our actual product for this quar- | ter, then, was less than 1(5,000,000 pounds, about half of which was terns or roofing plate. Next, as to that “army of 60,000 workingmen.” Hon. Thomas L. Hunting, president of the Tin Plate Consumers’ association, said in congress in 1892, that our average annual consumption of tin plate (after deducting 1,000,000 j boxes for export) is about 5,000,000 ; boxes; and that the total labor cost of producing this is $5,000,000. At $400, the average wages paid such help in this country, 12,500 people might possibly find employment in this industry if we should make all the tin plate we consume. If we should employ an army of 60,000 the average wages would Vie less than $2 per week. The governor can choose between the two horns of this dilemma. As 1(5,000,000 pounds equal about 100,000 boxes we are now employing about 400 people in this genuine American industry. If. as Congressman Hunting estimated, 300 men at $400 a year could tin, wash, grease, rub and dust the 5,000,000 boxes which we annually consume, we are now employing about 115 men in our tin-dipping establishments. About 500 men, then, should bo employed in our tin plate works. As, however, many of the plants are small ; and not run to good advantage the number actually employed may be considerably greater. We will be very liberal and give it 1,500 men at $400 each, making a total for wages paid of $(500,000 as the result of the McKinley

t<i riff.

In order to estimate the profits of this industry to this country we shall now see what it is costing us. The duty on 500,000,000 pounds of tin plate is $12,000,000. Seven million dollars of this was added by McKinley for the express purpose of inducing tin plate factories to sojiunt, with us. The first two years was almost a dead loss to this country, as the mills were not, in 1892, making more than 5 per cent, of I our consumption. Now, after nearly three years of prosperity, greater than that of “any other new industry ever started in the United States,” as Mcj Kinley tells us, we pay out $12,000,000 and take in $600,000. And Ohio’s govj ernor considers this a great bargain. J Rut suppose that the great expectations | and promises of McKinley had been j realized and that we were now making | all of the tin plate we consume, and that our factories were dependent upon the duty, we would then expend $12,000,000 in increased cost of tin plate and get back $5,000,000 in wages, if Congressman Hunting's statistics are correct Rut it should not be forgotten that not all of this $5,000,000 is gain; the most of those employed in this industry could find employment in other industries—not pensioners upon public charity—where they could earu almost or quite as much as in this pauper industry. The actual gain to tiie wageearners employed in this industry, thuu, is very small. Rut thi> is not alL Congressman Hunting sr awed that the net value of the raw mate Hals—outside of the pig tin—in 5,000,000 boxes of tin phite is $3,150,000. He came to the conclusion that "consumers of «n plates, therefore, could afford to pay for all these raw materials, and leave them in the ground, pay for all the labor to make them up, and leave it idle, and still save $3,700,000.”

tin* injury extends to the building | trades, to small fruit and vegetable farming and to other trades and Indus- | U'ies. \Ve will take space to enumerate | only a few of the industries struck by McKinley blight. The can-making establishments are great sufferers from tiie decreased use of cans duo to increased cost. Mr. Hunting mentions eight that paid $83,576 for wages in 1891 and only $39,791 in 1892—a loss of $42.785 to labor. The wage-earners had to share with the consumers in paying the duty which McKinley says the foreign- j er pays. There are 1,200 canning concerns in the United States, besides 800 more meat, fish and oyster packers. The ; growers, pickers, packers, etc., engaged in producing the contents of these cans make up an army of 2,000,000. The $8,000,000 tax on tin plate used for canning purposes touches every one of these producers as well as the 65,000,000 consumers of canned goods—many of whom depend for cheap food for canned vegetables, i meats, etc. Thus the tomato funner averages about five tons of tomatoes, wortli $6 per ton, to an acre. The duty cost on the cans necessary to can five tons of tomatoes is $22.50. Without this duty the eanner could afford to pay 70 per cent, more for tomatoes— 13>£ cents per bushel. If he should pay the same for tomatoes he could af- | ford—and increased competition would compel him—to deduct $8,000,000 from the selling price of his gixids, in the in- ; terests of millions of poor consumers. "The average yield of corn per acre,” j says Mr. Hunting, “is three tons, which ! at $6 per ton, nets the farmer $18; the duty cost of the cans to put up an acre i of corn is $11,61. In the absence of the tariff on tin plates the farmer could re- j ceive (54 per cent, more for his crop and j the eanner still be able to sell his goods j at the same price.” Millions of bushels of vegetables and fruits rot each year in this country because it will not quite pay to can them | after paying McKinley taxes on tin plate. Millions of poor people in this and other countries suffer for the cheap food of which this duty deprives them. ' Instead of exporting milliousof dollars worth of canned goods, as we would do | if canning materials and supplies were ! untaxed, we now import large quanti- ) ties of jams, jellies, marmalades, etc., j from England. And McKinley takes a fiendish delight in strangling the American canning industry that his compar- i atively insignificant industry may have some political signficance. lie poses as a statesman because he lias given life to a leech capable of sucking the life blood from creatures a thousand times larger and more valuable. Bosh! He should repent in sack cloth and ashes for having brought about such a condi- 1 tion. If the voters of Ohio give him his dues they will set him up in business with that other great republican statesmen John J. Ingalls. Byron W. Hoi.t.

BOGUS VOLUNTEERS.

POTATOES AND ONIONS. The Iternimla I'ntnto mnl Onion Argu-

ment.

Find a man a mine, a manufactory, a village, an island, a province, or a country so situated with reference to i markets that one market is near and convenient and all others distant or inconvenient. and the natural advantage of the near and convenient market will J outweigh any artificial advantage that ! shall reach to the degree of prohibition. There are parts of the dominion of Canada and there are some of the nearer islands in the Atlantic ocean so situated with reference to the United j States that they cannot advantageous- j ly trade with any other country. They are either closely allied to, or belong to European nations; but their best and i natu.-.il market is in this country. Unless we impose tariffs upon their j products so high that they are com- | pelled to go elsewhere they prefer, when they find themselves unable to add our customs tax to the selling price as their product, to bear such part of the burden as they cannot shift. Rut all such trade is exceptional. It 1 does not follow that because Bermuda | potatoes and Canadian barley sell in our markets, notwithstanding tariff restriction, to better advantage than in other distant markets, the rule that the consumer pays the duties collected at the custom houses is therefore invalidated. On the contrary, the exception ! proves the rule. The Canadians and the Bermudans are in sucli a defenseless position that under certain conditions of the markets we ean make them stand and deliver. Rut other foreign traders cannot be so coerced. Whatever tax we may elect to put on their products we must pay ourselves when we import their stuffs. When the tax is so high as to prevent importation, i we then pay it to our own trusts, monopolies and other gatherers-in of goveminent bounty.—Philadelphia Rec- \ ord. Wi’Mm* Hero m ill ell tint loin*. The report of Mr. David A. Wells to Secretary Carlisle on the advisability of making changes in the internal rev- ■ enue taxes on distilled spirits, malt | liquors and tobacco is of great interest. ' The conclusions of his investigation are that any change in the present tax on distilled liquors are inadvisable, but that the taxes on malt liquors and to- | bacco are now “below the safe line of expediency” and may be increased with advantage. He thinks that the customs duties on these three articles are absurdly high as compared with the internal revenue taxation. He suggests changes which he estimates would result in increasing the revenue supplied by these three sources from $181,000,000 to $245,000,00. It is apparent that the ways and means committee are to have the advantage not only of all the statistics and information in the treasury department but of the judgmeut of unofficial specialists in all matters considered.—X. Y. World.

Undeserved Praise Hestowed t’pou Fraudu* lent Skulkers. “Whatever else we may forget,” said Maj. McKinley to the Society of the Army of the Tnanessee; “whatever else we may blot from our history we can never forget the brave men who entered the service of their country without hope of reward and without any incentive of fame or popular praise, but who, taking their lives into their own hands, gave the best they had, and all they had—their life’s blood—to the saving of the freest and best government under the sun." To the volunteer who answers that description every fair-minded man may heartily say amen. So far as the pension roll has grown out of tiie war, and the beneficiaries are such men surviving with wounds or enervated by disease contracted in the line of service, this country may cheerfully pay the amounts, and tho benefits may with applause be extended to the widow and minor children of such volunteers if those widows were actually war-

made.

Rut Maj. McKinley had large observation of the war and of tho condition of the north, and of tho plans of enlistment which came when thcstrugglo had settled down to one of dead earnestness and it was found by enthusiasts that tho battlefield was not a holiday; and ho knows, as every man knows who was part or parcel of that struggle, that there were volunteers who did not fill the description made by Maj. McKinley in his after-dinner

speech.

There is a nether side to this story of patriotism. As the war went on resort to draft was necessary, and those who as volunteers entered the military service came to be of a class that* were not without hope of reward. They were paid large bounties, they were purchased as substitutes, they were enlisted by local committees for the purpose of filling up quotas, and they had merely to give consent to enter the service accredited to a particular congressional district or subdivision thereof to receive a sum of money, sometimes thousands of dollars larger than they ever had before and than they have ever had since, even under tho arrears of pension aeL The mercenary spirit came in strongly toward the close of the war. Men would not budge as volunteers unless they were paid handsomely, and most of such persons sought short-time enlistments. In addition to their bounties—paid not by tho government of tho United States, but by districts seeking to avoid draft—they were clothed and fed and cared for, and many thousands of them never heard tho report of a hostile cannon. They did not appear upon the scene of war. Their part was one of entire safety to themselves. If there is glory in war, theirs was an inglorious service. They were safely in camps at the north or ventured no further south than mere depots of sup- ! plies. Such volunteers certainly do not deserve the high eulogium bestowed indiscriminately by Maj. McKinley upon all volunteers. Rut it is tho latter | mercenary class, the men who have no i record of actual peril of war, who were j never for a moment in personal danger. ! who gave nothing of their life’s blood or of ahy material service to tho government of the United States who are now loudest in clamoring for wholesale pensions. They wish to hang on to the coattails of real dcservers, men who did participate in battles, men who actually received scars. It is against undeservers like these that the country cries out, and soldiers of merit, among whom Maj. McKinley is enrolled, are not true to men who did fight and who did bleed and who did make sacrifices when they are willing to cover with their shield of eulogy masses of mere mercenaries and skulkers.—Chicago Times.

OLD FALSEHOODS REPEATED. Stock-ln-Traile Ancumenti of IIIkIi Tariff Rrpulillcanii. Said Mr. McKinley in his recent speech at Akron: “They say a protective tariff is a tax and a burden upon the people. It is a tax upon the foreign producer, and his welfare is notour first concern. ” The soft coal beggars in their supplications before the ways and means committee told a different story. They all agreed that they wanted the tax on' imported coai because without it Nova Scotia coal could be delivered in New England ports cheaper than their own could be. That is, they wanted tho tax to enable them to exact seventylive cents per ton more from New Englanders than they could get without the tax. They wanted it as a tax on New England consumers, not on Nova Scotia producers. Other tariff beggars have admitted the same thing, some of them expressly as well as by necessary implication. For instance, George 1*. Ikert, who was heard on behalf of the pottery beggars, said in reply to a question from Mr. Reed that “the tariff tax was undoubteilly added to the price, and the consumer really paid the duty.” Threa years ago ex-Gov. Warmoth, of Louisiana, protested against the substitution of a bounty for the tariff tax “because it would disclose the fact that the tariff is a bounty,” and the people wouldn't stand it when they discovered that fact. When Benjamin Harrison was president Ids protectionist solicitor general made an argument before the supreme court in which he said that “tho amount of duty levied is a bounty to the domestic manufacturer’” and that “it is with a view to such a benefit for him that it is levied.” And so say they all when they are not trying to deceive people whom they take to be underwitted. McKinley himself said so when he was defending his notorious bill three years ago. Speaking of his ridiculous provision putting the same duties on articles imported for government use as on the same articles imported for private use, he said: “The government, its officers, agents and contractors will hereafter have to pay the same duties which its citizens generally are required to pay.” In ids eagerness to fool the people in one way he let slip the truth in another way. He admitted that the citizens of tide country, and not foreign producers, pay the duties. In the same speech, referring to thelfree admission of “personal effects” under the old law, he said: "The practical effect of this provision was that the wealthy classes who wore able to visit distant countries secured exemption from the payment of duties, while the average citizen, unable to go abroad, was compelled to pay a duty upon the articles which he might want to use." So it was the “average citizen" who paid the duties, while the wealthy citizen, who could go abroad and bring in a small cargo of “personal effect* free, escaped. And even in his Akron speech, after asserting that the tariff ia a tax on the foreign producer, he admits in no less titan three places that the home consumer pays it in the form of higher prices. Of course every man who understands the subject knows that the object of protection is to tax the domestic consumers for the benefit of favored producers, and that if this were not the effect the latter would lose all interest in protection. Rut since the protectionists persist in their old attempt to deceive, it is in order to convict them of falsehood out of their own mouths. —Chicago Herald.

—Tiie Galveston News (dem.) says: ‘The ways and means committee is now giving a hearing to the tdriff beneficiaries and they are explaining why

Nor is thijK*' 11, or even the greater | they should be allowed to continue part of y .inley’s bad bargain. The | their legalized hold-up. They were Increased cost of tin plate has had a j heard at length last fall and the conmost injurious effect upon all tin plate gressional jury was instructed by tiie

consuming industries. Some of these are the can-making, the roofing and

people to bring in a verdict of estoppel. There is no necessity of reopening the the cunulng industries. Through these 1 case.”

ECONOMY UNDER MORTON. flopping Off Expenses Created by Ills Republiuitu I’rediM’essor. Becretary Morton's conception of the democratic doctrine of economic government is working exceedingly well in practice. The praise bestowed upon him is deserved. He is saving money by lopping off the useless and expensive branches of his department from time to time. The promise of economy in governmental affairs is being rigidly enforced. He has saved thousands of dollars during the seven months he has held office, and he has not stopped saving yet. He is curtailing the expenses of ilia department without curtailing its usefulness. Doubtless he is impressed with the uselessness of the department of agriculture altogether. At the rate lie is going he will have removed at the end of his first year all of the costly bureaus which Secretary Rusk provided. The last branch to be lopped off by the blows of Becretary Morton’s ax is the congressional division, which has for many years performed the work of preparing franks for senators and congressmen for the distribution of seeds. In his notice of the change to congress ! he says: “In view of the fact that ! each senator and member is now pro- j Tided with a clerk to aid him in the performance of such duties as may be ; required in the service of his constitu- * ents, it is respectfully submitted that the necessity for the above-named di- | vision lias ceased to exist, and, in pur- | suaneeefthe policy of retrenchment and reform, the congressional division of this department will be abolished." The excuse is suflieienL No one can gainsay it Economy under the present administration means economy. It means the saving of dollars, shillings and pennies wherever and whenever the saving can be made. Becretary Morton is giving an excellent example of democratic economy.—Albany Argus. The one hope of the republican managers in tho country is to keep iniquitous legislation of their own making in force and charge tho deplorable results to the party now in power. It is in pursuance of this policy that they are doing all within their ability to block tiie wheels of legislation, both in the house and the senate.—Detroit Free 1‘resi

COMMENTS OF THE PRESS. A republican exchange boasts that the democrats cannot find any new faults with McKinley’s speech. If ho would give us a new speech we could accommodate'them.—N. Y. World. It seems to be the opinion of interested parties that the removal of tiie McKinley duty of two cents a pound on macaroni would ruin the production of the genuine Italian article in this country.—Boston Herald. “If tariffs give high wages, why is it that labor is so much, higher in Kngland than it is in France and Germany, the latter countries having protective tariffs and England having none?” — Renton McMillin, on Mills Bill ——After reading the calamity screeches of the republican high-pro-tective barons before the Wilson tariff committee, one would imagine that this country had been fenced in for their benefit, and they were grumbling because the fence isn’t whitewashed.—St. Bouis Republic. Gov. McKinley insists upon it that the tariff caused the business depression and has made that the key note in opening his campaign for reelection. Undoubtedly the tariff has created depression and hard times in the business of the republican party.— Louisville Courier-Journal. The people know what they want, and they are going to have it. They have not changed their minds since last November. They are not afraid of themselves, and they are not going to invite Mr. Bherman and his tariff-for-plunder-only associates to protect them against themselves. They expect their representatives in congress to go right on and do what they were told to do with the tariff, as they have begun to do what they were told to do with the “misnamed” Sherman act—Chicago Herald. After reading the reports of tiie tariff hearings at Washington we confess our inability to solve tiie mystery of protection. Our protectionist friends say, it observes, that put a high enough tariff on a tiling, and instead of an increase of price of the corresponding thing made in this country resulting, as people ignorantly think, the price begins to go down for some mysterious reason; at the same time, the wages of the men engaged in its manufacture begin mysteriously to go up. And, with lower price for product and higher wages for labor, the prosperity of the masters grows greater! it really does seem too good to be true, and we suspect it is.—Ind .tnapolle News (Ind.).