Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-04-05
MEN kNDTnINGs AT WASHINGTON

Hawley and Frye on the question Oh
pensions is causing universal COM
ment. Whilst they differ with many
of their party associates In the
Senate there can be no doubt that
they represent the great mass of Re
publicans. 1t is just and proper
that a man who was wounded or
lost health in the service OF the
country should be literally pension
ed, but it is gross injustice to the
taxpayer that the bounty jumper
and hospital beat should be imposed
as a burden upon the country. 1t is
estimated that there are several
thousand such persons upon the rolls
at present, and strange to say no
effort is made to purge the list by
eliminating this class of frauds.
There are many intelligent and think
ing PERSONS who deprecate the en-
tire pension business upon the
ground that it does the 6eneticiaries
more harm than good. Human en-
deayor seems necessary Tor human
happiness, aud once the incentive to
labor is removed idleness and decay
are sure to follow. Rome was in
vincible so long as she pushed for
ward in her career of conquest but
when she sat down in idlenesS to en-
10y the spoils Of war she started on
the road which ended in her ulti-
mate dissolution. In England 1t is
the upper classes who get upon the
pension rolls, but i'll this country it
is the poor man who served IN
the ranks. This difference he
fleets credit upon our system OF gov
eminent, but il is a question whether
the system itself is not wrong in
principle.
1t is to be sincerely regretted that
the Republicans IN the Senate
should have recorded themselves
during the present week in opposi-
ton to an income tax. Even Eng
land, without claim to Democratic
form of government, collects fifteen
millions annually by a tax on in
comes, and it is a standing reproach
that under our government "of the
people - no Law of a similar charac-
ter is on tue statue books. The PEG
pie who have grown enormously rich
should be made 10 bear a Larger
share of taxation, and it is a matter
of surprise that Il proposition to that
end should be autagOnlzed by solid
Republican vote. The Republican
party has wisely reversed its posi-.
ton on the silver question, and the
sooner it does the same in regard to
the imposition of an income tax the
better for it.
The Democratic patty has fallen
upon evil times, and its leaders are
disheartened at the disasters which
crowd upon them in thick and rapid
succession. During the past two
wears six Democratic state tteasur
ers have defaulted in large sums.
Tammauy's government of New
York city has revealed mass Of
corruption greater than anything Of
the kind since the Tweed regime.
and the farmers of So2th Carolina
have raised the standard ofrebelliOn
against Democratic ring rulc which
has held that state III Its IRON grasp
for the last fifteen years. Added to
all these, the Republican party in
the House has agreed upon a revl,
sion of the tariff which redeems
the pledges made in the Chicago
platform, and at the same time pre-
serves intact Its policy of protection
to American labor and American in.
dustries. The Democratic leaders
have asserted 50 often aud 50 earn
estly duriug the past two yealS that
the Republicans were not sincere in
their promises of tariff revision that
they now find their stock OF cam
paign arguments in danger OF ami
hilation at a single blow. The only
thing which cndangers the Republi
can position is the discomfort pre-
vailing in agricultural districts be,
cause of the low prices Of farm pro
duets. The Farmers Alliance will
soon show its hand in politics, and it
may produce strange results in uneX,
pected quarters. The farmer has
suffered so much at the hands Of the
railroad, the middIeman and the
Spectator who has proSpered 10y his
misfortures that he may strike friend
as we'll as foe when he pools his is.
sues and seeks relief through a unit.
cd ballot. The Democrats tell him
that his distress is due to protec.
tective tariff, but they fail to tell him
that in free trade countries the farm
er is in a much worse condition than
he is here, and that at three differ
ent periods in the history of this
country we tried free trade aud 1t
engulfed the farmer in RUN. The
causes which underlie the present
agricultural depression are manifold.
and over production, the demOneti.
cation of silver. increased cost Of la.
Dor and an expensive scale of living
out of all proportion to the pToduc.
tive power of the soil are chief
among the number. Neither quacks
or demagogues can afford him any
relief, and be should turn deaf ear
to them in whatever party they APP.
pear. He creates the wealth OF the
country and his welfare should rise
above any personal or party considera-
ton.
One of the committees of the House
has recently made report in the matter
of John Roach, deceased which affords
same very interesting reading. 1t is
shown that Cleveland's administration
literally drove this man into bankruptcy
and into an untimely grave by refusing
TO pay for work which he had performed
under contract with the government. 1t
calls to mind the case of Capt. Ericsson
the builder of the famous Monitor which
met and overthrow the Merrimac in
Hampton Roads during the early years
Of the civil war. Ericsson had brought
his plans to Washington and submitted
them to the Navy Department and they
were promptly rejected, and although he
was persistent in his efforts to obtain re-