Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-07-20
POLITICAL OUTLOOK.
The Situation and Its Possibilities
Carefully Summed Up.
The Congressman Want to Get Home--Ar
UniayorabIs Industrial Outlook.

lad tended to business, | should be at
home tonight, and if they don't get q
move on them soon this body will dis
solve without the forInality Of adjourn
ing" This is but sample exclamation
of many heard in the house within the
last day or two, and appearances some
times indicate that the body has almost dis
solved already. 1t Is chiefly in appear
ancc, however. The members are really
in the city, some closing up their work in
the committee rooms, more attending to
their final correspondence and the ship
ment Of their documents, and many more
ranging tho departments and fixing tho in
tcrcsts of their appointecs preparatory to
their departure. Printed matter Is going
out from tho folding room by rons and
almost every member has long lists Of
constituents TO whom he wants stuff"
scnt-culogics on dead members to the
preachers, agricultural reports to influen-
tlal farmers, animal industry books to
stock breeders, semiscientiflc works to
professional gentlemen and speeches by
thousands to everybody. At the congress
sional committee rooms of both parties
there is great activity. The country is
infinitely mapped out, the storm centers
of political unrest arc carefully noted, and
the new forces are estimated from reports
of reliable gentlemen" as carefully as u
commanding general maps out the coun-
try In which he - to carry on war.
The Political Situation.
The situation and its possibilities may
DO summed up thus: Excluding co4f,rcss-
men at large, there are 2l5 Democratic dis
tricts, l2O Republican, . Populist and
silver Republican (Nevada). This also
omits vacancies and districts, which,
owing to byelecti0ns, cannot really be
classified. Now, OF tho gentlemen who
constitute the majority, if Populists and
Democrats be counted together, there are
eight whose pluralltics III 1892 were less
than 100 each. For instance, Hon.
George f.. Richardson of the Fifth Michi-
gan only had IA plurality of 10, and on the
face of the returns those gentlemen who
contested successfully had no plurality at
all. or Democrats with more than 100
and less than 1000 plurality there arc 10;
of those between 1000 and /, 800. IS, and
of those above that mark, but still with
less than 1000, there are 22 TO state it
in another way, adding in the minor num-
bers y Democrats had less than 100 plu-
1900 and 81 less than 2, 900.
Now therefore, the Democrats can afford
to lose every district in tho United States
where their plurality was 900 or less and
still have handsome working quorum in
the filty-fourth congress. If they lose every
district where their plurality was /, 500 or
less tho Populists viii have tho balance
of power in the next house-that is, If the
Iopulists hold theis own-and if they lose
every district undor the 2, 600 mark they
are in minority. From tho standpoint
of the Republicans it looks like this They
must defeat every Democrat whose plural
ity was not over ], 500 and seven Others
and keep down the Populist strength to
its present size in order to have an organ
i2ing majority.
In the South.
For these reasons both committees have
taken 5000 majority as tho limo of doubt
and the Democrats arc making arrange
mcnts fora very thorough study of every
such district On Tao other hand, it must
be noted that quits y number of Republic
ans came in by small majoritics and il
sections where II combination of the other
two parties would oNCrwhclm them. Thus
on the face of the returns the Republican
victory in Oregon seems overwhelming
vet PopuliSts and Democrats combnCd
have u majority there. In tho south, how
over there AFRO several districts that coul6
unqucstionahly ho carried by union Of
Republicans and Populists, and both sidcs
seem to tako 1t for granted that II thor
ough fusion of that sort would captur,
North Carolina as u state. Tho Rcpub
Leans also allcgC that the apparent plural
ity of 1892 is not the real plurality at all;
that owing To the extraordinary slump
of that year, Democratic majoritiCS arr
only nominal, and that there should DO &
deduction Of 1000 from the Democratic
vote or, what Is the same thing, an even
addition II 1000 TO tho Republican vote
for each district in order to give tho true
figures.
Reduced Industrial Production.
As IL to further depress their spirits the
various departments reports now coming in
show tho industrial condition to DO even
worse than bad been expected. Tho bal
anCc of trade is in our favor, it Is true, to
the tuno Of some S237, 900, 600 per year,
but prices AFRO So low that exports which
seem in figures but 20 per cent larger
than those of few years ago arc in prod
ucts from 40 to 60 per cent larger The
figures also indicate that there has been
an alarming unucrcOnSulnptlon. In SHOrt,
il really looks rs il our people were doing
as the peasantry in some parts of Europe
arc reported 70 do--that is, eating and
wearing nothing that they can sell. The
geological survey shows II decreased prod
net of almost everything except gold. In
1899 the mineral product of the United
States was worth S6Ss, 616,9 54, while in
1898 it was but 5000, S21, $40, and the ad-
vanced sheets for this year show IA still
greater falling Off, the decline being great
est in iron, and especially in structural
iron.
In many other lines the production has
gone back To the figures of 1887. In the
very latest bulletin, however, not yet put
in print, tho department presents some
hope in regard TO the iron business, based
on the fact that the supply of coal and
coke has been SO reduced as to force many
furnaces, steel works and rolling mills to
suspend operations, and SO the surplus is
being worked off. After long and truly
exhaustive If not exhausting study the