Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1892-12-15
THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
Republicsns should Remember That Con-


Republicans should Remember That Con-
dltlons Change
SIT Is condition and not theory
that confronts us" Mr.. Cleveland said
1t. and all the republicans laughed
They found the phrase funny to the
verge Of absurdity. ana they laughed
over 1t aEd made jokes about it, and
parodied and burles1ued it And so
they had great deal of fun with it
for a time. Il was only for tiEne+
however, and not a very long time at
that We would not for moment
deny that our estimable president-elect
| occasionally lets down the board OF
| the dictionary in places where. to our
| own taste. a severer simplicity OF Ian
| guage would be preferable. 1t may be
| that there is rotundity and pom
! derosity about this particular sentence
| that makes it amusing to those who
are easily amused. But, like. most of
Mr. Cleveland's utterances. it has
large amount of horse sense behind II,
and it wears uncommonly we'll This
| IS shown by the fact that it Is a con-
siderably more effective and pungent
state zent to-day than it was when Mr..
| Cleveland first made it
| Mighty funny. wasn't 1t, gentlemen?
| Mr.. Cleveland stood up and said:
Look here, things are not going the
| way they ought to go. Here's a heavy
war tariff tax taking the pennies out
OF hard working peoples pockets. and
a 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
dawdle about ut 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 us"
You thought that was mighty funny
and you laughed at it. Well. where is
the laugh now? No, we are not trying
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 it, and that you might
have been better employed than in
laughing at him. You may be repub-
licans, 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 beng run was both
dishonest and dangerous, just step up
and explain why you think so; and
show what reason 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 you that such 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
at Mr.. CIeFe1and's clumsy phrase.
Well, what is it that confronts You
nova condition or a theory? What
do you call treasury deficit, anyhow?
You made it Are you proud of it?
} You know perfectly well that the gov
eminent was collecting more money
, than it 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
honest, deserving. patriotic soldiers,
, but 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 OF
, 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 ap-
preparations, you have squandered the
money collected from the people, cent
,, by cent, dime by dune, 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 condition and not theory that
confronts you. If you are good Amer
leans you will face it frankly. Own ur
, 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 q
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 sci
out to make the pension-rolls honest
and honorable, and to wipe out the in
equalities 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.