Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-04-12
GOOD GOVERNMENT.
Tho Chief Aim Of the Democratic Adtnii
fst~ Hasa


istration.
The braves of the !raquois club met
in Chicago on the evening of Tuesday.
April .. at grand banquet in memory
of Thomas Jefferson, the father OF dem
ocrats. Many democrats Of national
reputation were present and spoke
upon the leading political questions OF
the day. Among them was John e.
Russell, of Massachusetts,, who, in re-
Spouse to the toast. THE Admins
! tration, Vigorous, Fearless. Democrat
ic," said:
eral elections during the last admins ira ton
| show that soah as the policy of the party in
| rower was developed 1t lost the confidence OF
| the people and was discredited and repudiatcd
| to the end.
1.-THE pressing necessity for repeal of all the
fiscal legislation OF that period of reaction has
| led to oisQuiet which now makes all delibera-
| ton seem slow. We must Judge the vigor Of
| the administration not by this natural impa-
| thence OF the people but by comparison with
| other years.
1T is a year last month since party as.
sumed the responsibility of government under
| circums tances which could not be more dis
couraginG in time of peace. -Four years previ.
| Gus MIR Cleveland had given the chair to his
successor with only one pressing difhculty-ex-
cessive taxation creating large treasury sur
Plus This condition had been clearly put be-
fore the country in the famous message to the
Fftieth congress, which responded by the pas
sage of the Mills bill, salutary measure re-
jected by the republican senate.
Our opponents met the condition in their
way and at the end Of four years we return to o
change of affairs so radical that the recital
seems Incredible A treasury without dollar
OF working balance and loaded with obligations
deep bedded in laws: a tariff which has taken
the name OF Its author because 1t Is his inyen-
ton of new system to increase burdens while
1t reduces revenue by turning the stream Of
| taxes from the peoples treasury to the pockets
OF individuals. corporations and trusts.
1.-THE financial legislation bearing the name
OF Mr.. Sherman, had worked adversely to the
expectation Of its trainers and had so impaired
our credit abroad that our stock markets were
breaking down with securities sold for foreign
account and financial panic was well
under way. These were the conditions Mr..
Cleveland and his cabinet were called TO face.
Never did the people expect so much; there
must be economy to make up four years OF
waste; confidence, chilled by reckless financial
measures was to be warmed to life: trade. fit
full and feversh from excessive stimulation,
was to be restored to calm health and as ours
is government not OF men, but of laws, and
law Is the fruit OF wise delay, time was nsces-
sary.
Through the whole administration of Mr..
Harrison there had been o steady decline in the
values Of agricultural products and In the rail-
way traffic Of every part of the country The
iron and steel market, the barometer OF public
prosperity, had fallen until one-third Of the
furnaces Of the country we're cold But no fair
politician would attribute this solely to law, or
lack Of it
"Unwise and extravagant as the legislation
of the Fifty first congress was, prodigal as its
appropriations for pensions, bounties, subsi-
dies and public buildings, there were other and
deeper causes at work, involving the whole civ
nized world so closely are the nations bound
together in financial relations that under any
laws the currents OF our trade would have been
disturbed and could not avoid our share OF
the distress which has spared part of the
trading world.
1T is the common cry OF parusanship to at
tribute the troubles OF the past year to an elec
ton which implied reduction Of the taxes of
the people Ii this were true, If in the second
century of our government popular election
cannot be held and a change made in obedience
to the will of q great majority of the electors
without ruin to the business OF the country,
then our institutions failure No thought
full, no patriotic citizen will make such an as
sertion.
1.-THE business Of the country is not carried
on by political parties; 1t is based upon the re-
sources of the continent, upon the farm the
forest and the mine, and the daily toll of hum
BILE men. When the farmer OF the south feel
ing the airs OF the warm gulf, and looking out
upon the whitening cotton field, cries in dis
tress, aud is answered by the northwestern
farm, hopeless debtor amid his golden
sheaves, there are deep causes of trouble that
only the shallow politician or the partisan of
the hour would attribute to the changes Sug-
gested by an election
1.-The determination Of the people expressed
in several elections to eQualize taxation and
curb the power of privilege has not caused the
fall in the price of iron or Of silver. II the
whole fabric of protection was swept away in
rude disregard of the two three per cent OF
o,,r DOSSibiv derive
benefit from It. there would be no difference in
The value of the crops OF the country.
1--WE are dependent upon the worlds market,
and the world In this generation has become
small planet The submarine cable, the screw,
propelling an immense steel ship, and the Suez
canal, have brought all lands into a daily
market. and the prehistoric races of the east,
whose customs and heredity antedate our
origin jostle US in the worlds markets. The
millions who from time immemorial have
crouched OF. the ground floor OF bamboo hut
in bronze nakedness, eating handful OF rice,
have their wheat and cotton handled by railway
and steamer, and compete with the products
OF our soil in the worlds markets. The result
of such competition was shown on the produce
exchange of this splendid city, which is the Gre
alton of American farming This condition,
which has not been prevented by the power of
protective tariffs has not come suddenly 1t
las been the work of years speak Of it as q
Fart OF that serlous embarrassment, difficult
ties which no administration since Lincoln
frst took office has HAD to meet, and which we
are called upon to relieve by economy in ex-
penditure and by such changes of revenue
laws will fulfill, SO far as possible, these
democratic maxims-that all the money the
people pay in taxes the government should re-
ceive; that taxes should be so laid as 10 bear
equally upon all parts OF the country
In times of public distre and sharp p.rti
san criticism, 1t is hard to comply with the i'm.
patience OF the people; but assert that never
In our history has an administration moved
more rapidly in the correction OF legislation
Public confidence has been res tored in our
financial situation: the federal elections law
has been fully discussed and repealed with the
general appro baton of the people Of every part
OF the country who feel that the milduess of
government in the employment OF dangerous
powers Is no reason for their continuance. The
intrigue and jingoism which was the least ex-
cusable trait Of the Harrison admins tration
and which has impaired our influence, il it has
not lost the confidence OF the South American
republics, has been fifty rebuked in the Hawai-
ian matter; a revenue measure in accordance
with the orders OF the people has passed the
house and is before the senate months earlier
than tariff bill has ever before been presented
to that body the appropriation bills have been
well advanced. unwise measures initiating the
ury has been made secure in its ability to re-
deem the paper OF the government The same
contingency In Mr.. Harrison's time was met by
the Sherman act which shook our credit and
intensified the panic of last summer
Let partisan critics look back into the hts
tory of our government from the beginning and
see If at any time there has been more rapid
response to the will OF the people, more fear
less and vigorous action upon the part Of an ad-
ministration It is matter Of deep regret
doubt not to every man here, that there has
been opposition In the senate, which has ex-