Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1893-01-18
WHAT CAUSED DEFEAT.
Ex-senator Ingalls, View of the Novem-
Der Landslide.


Ex-senator Ingalls, in American
Journal Of Politics: | know nothing
of the causes that operated in the
states east of the Mississippi river,
my observations and efforts having
been confined exclusively to the west
in the campaign. Here the result
was brought about by the coalition
of the Democracy with the agarian
and communistic elements, whose
panacea for existing evils is the repu-
diation of all debts, public and pri-
vate, the abolition Of taxation, the
forcible redistribution of property,
and the reorganization of society by
the degradation of the prosperous
and educated TO the level of the un-
successful and the ignorant.
Those unfamiliar with the situa-
ton in this region can have no idea
of the bitter intensity of the hatred
of the poor for the rich, and in a gen.
eral way of those who dwell in the
country for those who live in the
towns. The rancorous malignity
against banks, railroads, merchants,
lawyers and capitalists found express
sion in frenzied invective which was
not surpassed by the petroleurs in
the Commune of Paris. The assas-
sinatiOn of bankers was advocated
by Populist orators aud applauded
by their auditors The most de-
structive and pernicious theories of
finance and government We're the
staples OF every appeal TO the vic
Tins OF deot and misfortune, and the
result Is regarded as a distinct tri-
umph by the apostles OF State Social
ISM
The argument against the tariff
was addressed to the passions and
not to the reason of the people. 1t
is mistake to suppose that in the
agricultural states of the Northwest
there was any discomfort at the bur-
den Of taxation under the Mckinley
bill. Evidence that wages were high
er, prices of the necessaries of life
lower, and the market for farm pro-
ducts widened, was wasted The ver-
dict against the tariff was not because
it had unjustly increased the burdens
of the poor, but because it had made
some men rich. So with railroads,
they are stigmatized as public enc
mics, though all know that there has
never been an hour when man could
travel so far or send barrel of -four
SO many miles for a dollar as now.
The railroads are hated, not because
they have imposed unjust burdens
on the people, but because they have
made Jay Gould and Dillon and Van
berbilt rich. And the same way with
corporations. There has been no
other time since God called the dark
ness night, when the poorest man
could light his cabin so cheaply as he
can now with kerosene The Stan
dard Oil company is the object of
public execration, not for the reason
that it has increased the burdens of
the poor, since on the contrary it has
lightenedC) them, but because it has
made Rockefeller and his associates
millionaires, clad in purple and fine
linen and faring sumptuously every
day.
Universal education and increased
opportunity for travel and observa-
ton have multiplied desires and am
billions much more rapidly than they
have multiplied the means of their
qualification. To this is very largely
due the existing discomfort with our
social conditions. The vulgar and
insolent ostentation of the million
aires has also contributed much to
the development Of the communistic
spirit which in this campaign has pro-
nounced it's most ferocious formula.