Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-10-15

| dIU SlI over the L nloD. NNal Is tue pres
ent condition of things, and what ought We
as sensible men TO want?
! The past IS months have been months Of
suffering and stsgnstion, not suffering and
misery in the mouth CT partisan orator
but suffering in the houses of the people
not starvation, not deprivation of the abSo-
lutte necessities of life, for this country had
accumulated too much of this worlds goods
the past 80 years that utter want 81 ould
paralyze and kill but that want which j.
the great unhsppiness Of civilization, the
want of comforts to which we nave beer
accustomed. l will draw no picture of idle
mills, silent machinery, men without work
money without employment, capital unused
and labor wasted snd lost with each day:
setting sun. That picture is too familiar tc
you all, Nobody can charge this fairly to
the terms of the tariff which now exists any
more than they can TO the tariff which used
to exist. What caused all this disaster
everybody knows who has any business
sense. 1t wSs the utter uncertainty,
The Appalling Doubt
as to what would happen to us. Who could
build on shifting sands? During all the
time that the socalled House bill was pend
ing men could only fear the worst, for the
| House bill was about the worst thing " hich
the unwisdom of man ever devised ia these
late years of Christian civilization. THIS
| bill went to the Senate, many a Democrat
voting for it not because he believed iu it,
| but because the Senate would make il
nearer decency and fitness.
| 1t is the fashion among Democratic con-
| yanfipns nnuc1oyS I npfi0n m Ianpnppa
the Democratic senators and to demand that
| they shall be relegated to private life. This
is absolutely inhuman gratitude.
Bat do not care here and now to dis
cuss the relative merits of Mr.. Wilson's or
Mr.. G0gman's system. Both are Demo
Gratis. Nor do | care to discuss the merits
of the Senate bill. So far as it protects
reasonably American industries, all is well {;
so far as it does not, all is wrong, to my
thinking. But it is the law of the land, not
with my consent, and for that matter, not
with the consent of the Democratic candi-
date for Governor.
There is also another fixed fact. So long
AS Mr.. Cleveland stays in power the evil
| canoot be rectified. What then remains
not for the Republican party or the Demo-
cratic party, but for the people of the
United States, TO do? DO we want certainty
or uncertainty from now to 1896? We can
lay aside all our partisan feeling and agree
that the great and paramount curse of
this country for the last Is months has been
uncertainty. Nobody dared to start in
business or 90 on with bis business so long
as no foundation could be discovered.
Business is not gambling. 1t tries its best
to take no chances. What it demands
more and more every year is certainty.
What, then, shall the business world do to
procure certainty as the basis of its future
action?
1t is not necessary, in order to arrive at a
proper conclusion, to discuss or decide
which party is best or which is worst.
Would the success of the Democratic
party this fall produce certainty? Let us
see what they say for themselves. If the
leaders lie you would not want to trust
them. If they tell the truth you can find no
rest for the soles of your feet on any Ara
rat. The Democratic chairman of ways and
means, who was leader until the Demo-
cratic senator from Maryland stripped
him of his armor and dragged him about
he walls of Troy, declared before the
House adjourned, amid the cheers of Dem
ocrats, that the fight was but begun. He
FASTENED back to his constituents in West
Virginia to reiterate the same notes crossed
the lifting waters to proclaim it sgain to his
mother earth, vibrated back to renew bis
declaration. Surely be does not mean peace
and quietness Nor has he the slightest
idea of the value thereof. Mr.. President
writes to Mr.. Cltchings that this is only
the vantage ground for new attack Mr.
Iat r,,lxr tla ntto al hna
been carried and he is going back for the
rest of the town. These men seem backed
mp by all the official Democratic power.
The Democratic press seems with them.
1t is pretty evident, then, to any sensible
man, that quiet and certainty are
No! to be Hoped Tor
in Democratic success.
On the other hand, the Republicans are
placed into such q position that they must
for the next two years give to business that
certainty which it must have to do anything
successfully. We could not make any
change for the better from our point of
view, because Cleveland and the Senate
could oppose. We certainly should not do
anything to make the tariff worse, for that
is contrary to our principles.
To sum it all up in word, this appeal to
business men, and by business men | mean
almost all the people, Democracy promises
var on business certainty while the Repub-
licans must give you rest. We do not
promise you prosperity, for these condi-
tions are not of cur choosing. We do not
recommend the Senate bill. 1t was not of
our enacting. But it is very certain that if
there is any good in it the only way to get
at i; is to give it chance.
OF course business in this country must
revive to som9 small degree if we can have
peace. It cannot stay where it is now I'M
less American enterprise is dead and that
can never be. We shall have Struggles
over wages and lessened profits, ard in
creased competition to contend with. and
whatever failures TO protect there are in the
bill will find themselves out. That much
hurt will come, that wages will not again
reach their former level, | DO not doubt.
But we shall learn at the costly school of
experience, and perhaps learn enough 10
pay the cost of tuition.
We shall learn, among other things, to
avoid the chairman of the ways and means
AMI his entire school as men who are pur-
suing a by-gone dream.
Education is the necessity of The human
race, not book education, hut education in