Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-10-19

Senator Bries Says Ne Ars On the Eve si .
Great Battle.

to say, but l should not be surprised If for
| a number of years to come our political
parties and campaigns were TO be ranged
| and fought upon one or the other side of
the financial issue The battle which we
| fought in Ohio and other western states
| from 1868 to 1876 for and against fiat money
md an inflated currency must now, with
some variations, be fought over again.
The field of battle has been transferred
| from Ohio and Indiana TO the states farther
west and south. Both of the old political
parties are sure to suffer heavy losses when
this issue is forced to the front TO the ex-
clusion of old questions. The third or
Populist party is already formidable fac
tor in those sections OF the country, and it
will soon become a positive force i'll our
government The silver fight which we
have Just had in the senate is only the pre-
liminary skirmish. | said week ago that
it was pity to waste SO much time and
strength in settling our little battle in the
senate chamber, because it was at best only
an exchange of shots between pickets, and
that the great armies would not come to-
gether for some time yet. / see no reason
to change my opinion.
How the People Are Dividing.
Brightly or wrongly" continued Sen
ator Brice, millions upon millions of
poor people believe silver TO be the money
Of the masses, and that any attempt to
strike it down is blow at them and
their prosperity. These people, who are
as honest and sincere a people as there
are in the country, think Wall street a
den of robbers, every bank an enemy to
mankind and every corporation or indus
trial concern Il menace to popular liberty.
1t does no good for us who believe other
wise to denounce these people or to ridicule
them. They and their belief exist, and
they are making their power manifest in
numerous ways. We must face the condi-
tions as we find them.
sit is apparent to me that the coming
winter is to be one of the severest ever eX-
perenced in the United States. Times are
to be hard, employment scarce, wages low.
| expect to see stocks selling much lower
than they were on the Goth day of last July,
when they reached their lowest point dur
ing the panic. l expect to see real estate in
New York and other great cities fairly
drug in the market. Men who need money
will offer real estate for sale, and no one
will want to buy it even at sacrifice figures,
for few people will have the ready money
with which to purchase or the moral cour
age necessary to go out and borrow it from
their friends.
Even in Chicago, after the Worlds fair
is over and the numerous hotels and the
other enterprises that have been in oper-
alton there on account of the exposition are
closed. expect to see great suffering and
commercial prostration. These conditions
will prevail more or less through the coun-
try, in my Judgment, for many months to
come The panic is over but liquidation
will go on. Men are hard run for money;
credit is at low ebb; new industries are
scarce; old ones are retrenching expenses;
contracts for the future are limited in mum
Der and Importance.
Only the Skirmish.
Having all these things in mind, have
urged upon my colleagues in the senate
that perhaps it was not necessary for us to
break our backs in order to effect uncondi
tional repeal of the Sherman act. We were
at best only the skirmishers of the coming
great battle, which is to stir the country
from center to circumference, recast par
ties, strike down leaders and build up new
men More than that, considering repeal
as Democratic measure, ] could see both
advantage and disadvantage that might
accrue from it. II we were to leave the
Sherman law undisturbed and these hard
times followed, responsibility therefore
would have been put IL on our shoulders
because we had failed to effect repeal, but
if we did pass repeal and the hard times
still went on, as they would be sure to do,
our responsibility perhaps would not be so
great, and we would have lost the oppor-
tunity to have done something further than
mere repeal for the relief of the country. l
confess that for one, while have always
favored unconditional repeal, my mind has
been more or less troubled by doubts as to
whether or not that was all we should do
in the present emergency"
Arc Parties to Break Up?
II is n matter of common gossip in the
higher political circles Of the capital that
q breaking up of all parties to greater or
less extent is inevitable in the near future.
There are in Washington eminent Re2ub-
licans who think the new states which they
brought into the Union in the far west are
about to drift from their allegiance to the
Republican party and give aid and comfort
to the Populists in the coming presidential
and congressional contests In the south
and southwest leading Democrats think
their party is to suffer similarly. If these
predictions all prove to be well founded,
the Populist party, which now has repre-
sentation in congress of seven members Of
the lower house and three or four in the
upper, may congratulate itself upon its
rapidly improving prospects.
PopuIists May Hold the balance of Power.
1t is not at all improbable if these proph-
sts know whereof they speak that in the
next congress the populists may hold the
balance Of power in one or both branches
IF congress- When that day comes, legis-
Iation will he even more difficult than il is
at the present time when the senate of the
United States is at the mercy Of minorities.
If the Populsts obtain the balance of
power they will be pretty sure to use it for
the advancement of their peculiar ideas
concerning finance, currency and banking.
II is evident from the remarks of Senator
Brice quoted above and the similar beliefs
held By other prominent men that the coun-
try is upon the eve of a most interesting
and important political era.
Even in the east this question Of the cur
rency is likely to upset party calculations,
because the party which stands most val
iantly for what is called hard money will be
likely to receive the support of many men
who have heretofore belonged to the other
party, while another class OF the people will
be driven to change their party from the
opposite motive AT any rate, it is well To
bear in mind the prophecy uttered by Mr..
Brice, who is one of the keenest observers
in public life