St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-05-13
SCARE HEAD" wAsHBURN


Senator WAsHB URN was in New York
city the other day. and he talked. When
the senator keeps his mouth closed his
solemn countenance, aided by his sedate
WhiSkers, impreSSeS people with sense
of his wisdom. When he talks the
illusion vanishes. EMERSON somewhere
comments on this popularity, and warns
men against giving the world their
measure by their speech. There is also
the proverb about the silver of speech
and the gold of silence. If speech is
silver, the senator is free coiner.
The senator, weakly echoing REID
and HANSBROUGH, is of the opinion
that what of business depression there
is is due solely to the election of Mr..
CLEVELAND. Had HARRISON been
elected, I'VE would not have had finan-
cial panic in this country" said he
This remark is eminently worthy of
man so built mentally that he insists on
annual appropriations to be squandered
in the futile effort to make Minneapolis
the head of navigation on the Missis-
sippi river by removing distractions
from the channel. The two are on the
same intellectual plane; each equally
absurd.
There is not a man in the country in
telllgent enough to sense what he reads
but knows that whatever there is of dis
enlargement in the business of the
country is due, so far as it has an origin
in political action, in the false financier-
ing of the Republican party. 1t is due
to the act of rs, which kept in circnla-
ton the legal tenders, to redeem which
in gold is embarrassing the treasury; to
the purchase of silver and the is
sue of certificates and notes in
payment redeemable in gold; to
the squandering of the surplus by
the HARRISON administration, and
the mortgage of the revenues of the
future by making appropriations per-
manent and obligatory. Senator WASH
BURN may not know much, but he
knows this, because it is so plain and
simple and true that even his intelli-
gence can grasp it.
But there is a graver side TO this pratt
tie of the senator's. The country is
undergoing process of liquidation of
values. We are getting down to bed
rock again. Men have been living and
trading beyond their means. There IS
no real danger. The country is fairly
prosperous; the credit of the national
government is mistaken. But men are
nervous. There are atmospheric condi-
tons when spark will start a confia-
grafton. There are conditions of trade
when slight matter will start panic.
In such times it is little less than Grim
inal to needlessly aggravate the condi-
lions, to add to the impairment of con-
fdence. Mother O'LEARY's cows kick
was a small affair, but it jibed with
conditions that reduced Chicago to
ashes. In such a time, when the press
and business men are carefully avoid
ing the creation of more distrust, this
senator, Indifferent to aught but the in
diligence of his bitter, narrow parti-
sanry, declares to tine reading public
that CLEvELAND's election is ''assum-
ing the proportions of public calam-
ity. We are destined to have four years
of stagnation in business. Had Gen.
HARRISON been elected, we would not
have had apanic in this country and
so on. Mrs. O'LEARY's cow and Sem
ator WAsHBURN administer kicks with
the same reckleSsness of consequences.