Los Angeles herald., 1890-04-12
HARD LINES FOR THE REPUBLICANS.


the Republican leaders in the results of
the elections which have taken place
during the last four or five months
Beginning with the Democratic victories
in Ohio and Iowa-States supposed to
be Republican to the backbone-.all the
municipal elections which have since
taken place throughout the country
have emphasized this change of senti-
ment. From no point OF the compass
comes any consolation for the party of
great moral ideas The Harrison cam
paign was from first to last one OF false
pretenses. 1t was said that the election
of the Republican ticket meant revivi-
fed industries and broadcast prosperity.
The American workingman was to reach
the millennium of prosperity at a
bound if only Harrison were elected.
As matter of fact, there
has seldom been such an era of depres-
sion in all lines of business as has fol-
lowed the restoration of the Republican
party to power The workingman finds
his condition worse than ever, and the
continuous importation of cheap foreign
labor has had the effect of reducing his
wages to the lowest stage known for
years. The only thing upon which the
Republican pretends to make claim
for his party is on the result OF the Pan
American Congress, a measure carried
through under Mr.. Cleveland s admin
istration, whose results thus far have
scarcely reached even the stage of gilt
tering generalities. But while Harri-
sons administration has done nothing
to benefit the workingman or the sub
stantiai industries of the country, it has
been positively criminal in the extent to
which it has stood in the way OF an ad
vance to better times. II it were only
genuinely American we should witness
an immediate return to prosperity
through the reconciliation OF silver.
Free coinage of silver, or even the COIN
age OF $4 ,000, 900 month-the maximum
limit of the Bland bill-would immedi-
ately inaugurate better times by giving
the people an abundant circulating
medium and energizing our mining
interests, which is another way OF ofsaying
that every branch of business would be
vitalized, With legitimately expanded
currency, the debtor interests would feel
that they had again q chance in the
struggle for existence, and real and
inspiriting national prosperity would
result. The intelligence from Washing
ton is to the effect that the only thing
that stands in the way OF a policy which
would ultimately end in remonetizing
silver is the fear of the Presidential veto.
The Committee of Ways and Means
has shown itself to be most servile tool
of the over-protected manufacturing in
terests. The spectacle OF a people borne
down under immense burdens excites
no compassion in the hearts of Mckinley
and his associates of the majority of
that committee. The war tariff is not
only not to be reduced but is to be abso-
lutely increased, and all this under the
pretense of advancing the well-being OF
the wage-earner. On the one hand,
everything he consumes is to be taxed
to death; while, on the other, he
encounters hordes of Italian and Hun
garian laborers who have been imported
by the manufacturer to beat down his
wages.
But perhaps the most significant sign
of the approaching collapse of the Re-
publican party is the almost universal
depression in agricultural circles Farm
ing no longer affords those who follow
that pursuit even the necessaries of life
The wall OF the mortgaged rises from the
Hudson TO the Mississippi and Missouri
rivers and beyond. They are asking
themselves why they should adhere so
blindly to party under whose rule the
values OF their farms are shrinking, and
which has handed them over to the
Eastern gold-bug without recourse The
unwonted spectacle OF Ohio and Iowa
going Democratic will probably be fol-
lowed this Fall by similar experience
in Illinois, in which State campaign
as epic as that between Douglas and
Lincoln i'll 1865 is about to take place,
the Democracy under the lead of the
gallant Palmer.
Well may the Republican leaders
despond OF the future. They will be
forced, through the extravaganza OF a
Congress Republican in both branches,
to face the people with dissipated sur
plus, and with both the operative and
agriculturist classes alienated from them.
With the silver men unsatisfied, the
workingmen indignant, the farmer dis
gruntled and despairing, and only the
iron barons and other pampered manu-
facturers friendly-a numerically small
class-the aspiring statesmen of the Re-
publican party may we'll ask where they
are to get their supporters. They will
not materialize in numbers sufficient to
give them ghost OF a show in the next
Presidential election.
"UNDER which King, Bezonian, speak
or die 2r Something like thic is the cit