Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-12-15
THE RIGHT THING 70 90.

THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
1epuhIIcans should Remember That Com
dftions Change.
st is a condition and not a theory
that confronts us, Mr.. Cleveland saio
it. and all the republicans laughed.
They found the phrase funny to the
verge OF absurdity. and they laughed
over it and made Jokes about it, and
parodied and burlesqued it And so
they had great deal of fun with it
for . time IL was only for time,
however: and not very long time at
that We would not for a moment
deny that our estimable president-elect
occasionally lets down the tail-board of
the dictionary in places where. to our
own taste, severer simplicity of lam
guage would be preferable. 1t may be
that there Is rotundity and a pom
derosity abou. this particular sentence
that makes it amusing to those who
are easily amused But, like most of
ar. Cleveland's utterances. it has a
large amount of horse sense behind it,
and it wears uncommonly we'll This
Is shown by the fact that it is a con-
oA0SAo1As ChCCIAtC anu PAhSChs
statement to-day than it was when Mr..
Cleveland first made it
Mighty funny. wasn't it, gentlemen?
Mr.. Cleveland stood up and said:
Look here. things are not going the
way they ought to go. Here's heavy
war tariff tax taking the pennies out
of hard working peoples pockets. and
lot of the loosest kind of legislation
using extravagant river and harbor
bills and dishonest pension bills to rob
the government revenues of dollars and
millions of dollars This sort of thing
Is all wrong. 1t is wrong in itself and
it breeds other kinds of wrong. 1t
needs reform and it needs it imme-
diately. 1t. isn't a thing to fool
with or to falter with or TO
dawdie about 1t ought to be put
right at once. There is no need of any
fine talk about the matter-no need of
any metaphysical argument-the thing
is as plain as the nose on your face. In
fact, it is condition and not a theory
that confronts u.s."
You thought that was mighty funny,
and you laughed at it Well. where is
the laugh now? No, we are not wing
to rub it in, to exult over your defeat,
or to be mean about it in any way We
simply ask you to speak up fair and
square and admit that Mr.. Cleveland
was right about il, and that you might
have been better employed than in
laughing at him. You may be repub-
hcans, but you are, we hope, first of
all. and most of all. Americans. Now,
If you really think to-day that Mr..
Cleveland was talking with his mouth
only, and not with his heart and his
brain, when he told you that the bust
ness system on which the government
of this country is being run was both
dishonest and dangerous, just step up
and exnlain why you think SO: and
show wilau .e~son you have for your
belief Here is Mr.. Cleveland coming
back to office to meet treasury deficit
of no human being knows how much
He told Won that such a condition of
affairs was threatened Such a condi-
ton of affairs exists to-day, and was
brought about under your own man
agement and in the pursuance of your
own theories You laughed heartily
mt Mr.. CIevelant's clumsy phrase.
Well, what is it that confronts you
nova condition or n theory? What
do you call a treasury deficit. anyhow?
You made it. Are you proud of it?
You know perfectly well that the gov
eminent was collecting more money
than il had any rational or decent use
for. You know perfectly well that
millions upon millions of the money
thus collected was paid out to satisfy
fraudulent pension claims-not to help
honest, deserving. patriotic soldiers,
tut to bride worthless sneaks. who
never smelt powder, to vote for your
party and your pensions. Now, is that
so. or isn't it so? If it isn't so, let us
hear from you We don't believe that
YOU can snow US one township in the
United States where some rascal is not
drawing a pension who never got or
could have been got by any human
power within sight or hearing of the
rebel forces who threatened the unity
of our nation. On such rascals, and on
the dishonest contractors who live on
government building and dredging APP
preparations. you have squandered the
money collected from the people, cent
bv cent. dime by dime, dollar by dol
lar; not exactly without warrant of
law, but with the thinnest kind Of war
rant ever devised by legislative inge-
nuity.
1t is a condition and not a theory that
confronts you. If you are good Amer
leans you will face it frankly Own up
to the fact that long years of prosper
ity have made you selfish. self-conceit-
ed and disregardful of the peoples
needs and wishes. And then chip in
and help the people that have proved
that they are in the right That's 4
hard thing to do, but it's a manly.
American sort of thing, and well worth
doing. Put your self-conceit in your
pocket; remember, like the poor old
prize fighter. that if you've been licked.
you've been licked by Americans, and
make up your mind that, if you cannot
help the democrats, you will at least
offer them no hindrance when they set
out to make the pension-rolls honest
and honorable, and to wipe out the in
CAPABILITIES and unfairnesses of the
tariff legislation which your party has
foisted upon the country to suit its
it's a mean word, but there is no other
-customers--Puck.
A DULL DOCUMENT.