Mexico weekly ledger., 1894-10-18
TIME 10 SIoP t.IEING.
A Letter From e. n. Ruckner on Re-
publican Campaign Arguments.


From the Kansas City Star.
To the Star: l find in a recent Re-
publican paper this paragraph:
"rhere are two facts which Democrat
lie orators, be they ever so eloquent,
cannot explain away. One is Il that the
country was highly prosperous under
Republican rule. The other is thatits
prosperity rapidly disappeared when
the Democrats came int power" This
is the false foundation upon which
Mckinley aud all the Republicans
build their arg ument. 1t is not true
that the country twas highly prosper
Gus under Republican rule" Any
man with an ounce of brains and a
memory reaching back to Cleveland's
former administration will agree with
me that we have had no real prosper
ity here in Kansas City or the country
since Cleveland's first administration.
The whole country was more prosper
ous from 1884 to 1888 than it had been
for a long time before Or has been
since. Kansas City and the whole
Western country made greater strides
in those four years than had been ac-
complished in any prior ten years, and
any school boy knows it. That times
have been getting harder and tighter
ever since the Republicans came into
power in 1888 no thoughtful and re-
fecting mind honestly deny. 1t
was directly upon that issue in 1892
that the Democrats achieved their
wonderful victory, captured both
houses of Congress and the presidency.
When the Republicans came into
power in 1888 they found the country
prosperous and a surplus in the treas
ury of over 100 millions of dollars.
The issue before the country was how
to get rid of the surplus. The
Democrats said get rid of it by tariff
reform and by reducing taxation.
The Republicans said get rid of
the surplus by spending it, and
by placing tariff duties so high that
they would be protective and prohib-
tive. The Republicans ON that issue
won. Harrison was elected. Congress
was also elected by the Republicans.
The surplus was spent. The Sherman
law and the Mckinley law were en-
acted; everything ran riot and with it
all the prosperity of the country van
ished as a sunbeam and the Republic
can party was hurled from power on
account oft. Every department of
government was taken from it as the
penalty for its profligacy. That grand
est Of governmental captains, Grover
Cleveland, was again called to the
helm and when he came he found a
bankrupt treasury and the country on
the eve of a panic which was inevita-
BILE and which soon followed as a di-
rect result and directly on account of
Republican incompetency and pro-
fiigacy and under Republican laws
What the future may be we can only
We believe, however, that
with the repeal of those obnoxious
El6puDllCdl ldWS-bIlo MCIAluloy pllis
and the Sherman act to which may be
attributed the business derange-
ment of the country flor it was under
their operation it actually existed), a
new era of prosperity will dawn upon
the country. AS before said, what
the future will be we can only con-
lecture. What the past has been,
is a question of fact and his
tory; and to say ''the country was
prosperous under Republican
in view of the facts of history, |
is down right lying.
1t is upon this false promise that
is trying to electrify the
country. I will conclude by stating
these two facts. Within my recollec- |
ton this country was W. more
prosperous and never developed more |
than under Cleveland's first admins |
tration, and of this fact l call upon
every reader of this article to witness.
Second-The condition of the eoun-
try has gradually been getting worse
aver since 1883 until it eliminated in
the panic of 1898.
Third-This panic was while the |
act and Mckinley law were
both upon the statute books and
they had been In full operation.
Is it not time to stop this downright
living? r. B. BUCKNER. |