Oakes weekly Republican. (Oakes, Dickey County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1898, 1894-08-07

slStence present the greatest difficulties.
Our wool-growing people cannot compete
with the unequal and degrading condi-
tons which will confront them with wool
on the free list. They are American citi-
zens, and as such they live and perform
the duties incumbent upon them by their
ciuZenshlp and by our American civiliZa
hon. They are not ryots, coolies or serfs,
VINO receive the wages of slaves and live
upon the coarse provender of animals.
The lowest class Of beings are to be the
competitors of American sheep herders
and flock masters"
Sharp Answer to the Democratic Cir
cular Regarding the WiscOn-
sin War Debt.
A dispatch from Madison to the Even
ing Wisconsin lays bare Democratic at
tempt to deceive the people on the war
debt question. The "screed' referred to
in the expose was prepared in the edu
catlonal department of the state govern
ment, and the answer to it is as follows:
Madison, Wis.,, July 1s;-The Demo-
cratic press of the state has been fur
nished with and is widely circulating a
sscreed which is universally headed in
big, black type, "Wisconsin's Debt-A
Legacy Left by Our Republican Friends"
1t then goes on to relate that Wisconsin
has a public debt of $2,251 900, on which
it pays an annual interest of $157,57O.
and designates the debt as "a monument
to the incompetent craftsmanship of Wis
consin Republicans" 1t declares that this
debt is unconstitutional, and quotes sec
ton 6 of Article VIII: of the state con-
stitution, which provides that For the
purpose OF defraying extraordinary ex-
penditures the state may contract public
debts; but such debts shall never, in the
aggregate, exceed one hundred thousand
dollars"
The article then states that "no other
n &c fJ,fN tnt,
a public debit This is a lie pure and
simple. The very next section of the
constitution, section of article s. pro-
vides that 1.-The Legislature may also bor-
row money to repel invasion, suppress
insurrection, or defend the state in time
Of war"
Whether this provision definitely covers
the manner in which the state debt was
created has never been passed upon ju-
dicially, and there is no likelihood that
it ever will be. When the bill autnoriz-
ing the issue of the war bonds which Gre
their issue publicly declared, on the floor
OF the Assembly, that they did not believe
the patriotic people Of Wisconsin would
ever 1 raise such an issue.
The screed in question further falsely
states that the Republican party was
months after the war was closed" The
facts, which are so easily obtainable as
to leave no excuse for falsifying save that
OF malicious intent, are that the debt was
first created by the passage of bills dur
ing the hrst years of the war authorizing
the issue of bonds to raise money in equip
ping state troops, providing for the fami-
lies OF soldiers, etc. Two of these bills
were passed at the regular session in 1861
and another at the extra session in that
year The latter act, chapter 4, provided
Tor lifting out six regiments of state
0f {,
81 100000.
All this is state history, possibly un-
known to the men whose principal exne-
rience in official life has been the propaga-
ton OF roster jobs, and the prosecution of
winning public glory and at the same
time pocketing fat fee "on the side"
and whose ear-marks are discernible in
the screed referred to, but which are and
always have been well known to the men
who have made Wisconsin what she is to-
day, one of the best states in the Union.
with a record to which her citizens NAV
well point with pride.
Another attack along the same line
and from the same source. is based on
the undisputed and well-known fact that
the Legislature, to provide these funds,
loaned the money to the state from the
school funds. depositng state bonds as as
security, on which interest is paid by the
state to these funds. This is the whole
story. This act was passed March l3.
1867. In the argument for its passa ge
it was shown that over 5000. 900 of tRe
school funds had been lost through the
manner in which they We're then in
vested, and that these state bonds were
the safest if not the only safe invest
ment offered for them. At the same time
the plan provided a means for securing
100 cents on the dollar for the state
bonds, which in the then disturbed fnan-
clal condition of the country it was i'm
possible to do in the money markets.
some of them having in fact been already
sold at 20 cents on the dollar
Instead, then, of being "a monument
to the incompetent statesmanship of Wis
consin Republicans" the plain and un-
colored facts taken from the records
show that the state debt was created as
q patriotic measure to aid in carrying on
the war for the preservation of the
Union, and that its consummation was
effected by one of the wisest pieces of
hnanciering the state has known.
The Army Bill and the Bourbon Tariff
Bill.
If measure is to be passed in Con-
gress authorizing an increase in the army
of the United States it should be append
ed to the Bourbon bill for the impoversh-
ment of the farmers and wage-earners of
the United States. Before Clevelandsm
spread dismay and privation among the
toilers OF the land silenced the hum of
industry and evoked the spirit of An
archy, there was no necessity to increase
the army in order to represS popular dis
content. American workingmen had en-
ployment at wages that insured a COM
Portable support. American industrial