The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1894-08-18
REEDS ROTTEN RANT.

Il REEDS ROTTEN RANT.
', 1ho E.-Czar.'s GiratoEy Ideas ON the 81
/ yer Question.
j When a man gets tho presidentia
;; bee in his bonnet its buzzing interfere
with and prevents that clear concep
q on Of cause and effect, and of condi
lions Which should distinguish an as
pirant for SO exalted station; and i
+ also affects in q singular manner the
to the active brain a distorted picture
of things and their relations. It i.
only, on this theory that one may 40
count for this aberrancy SO conspfcu
GUS in SO many of these ambitious pa
triots we might cite .disting uished
instances of this from our history, but
the present is rich enough, and we need
not point to any other than Mr.. Nc
kinley, who insists that the foreigner
pays the tax; to Mr.. Bland, who insists
that Us Adam dragged humanity down
with him into sin. SO silver has pulled
the values of every thing down with II
/ In it's deIrione citation.
But equally prominent with any in
the present or the past who have had
| the wheels in their heads set in mo-
! ton by the busy presidential bee, none
! Is more, few SO conspicuous as Hon.
Thomas 1srackett Reed, of Maine. Mr..
| Reed Is a stanch protectionist, one OF
those who laughed scornfully at the
| reciprocity dodge Of Mr.. Blaine as q
delivery to the enemy of the keys to
She gates Of the fortress of protection
But Mr.. Reed sees that Mr.. Mckinley
has a dead cinch on the single question
of projections; that there is q decidedly
silver lining to the clouds lowering
over his party; and he fancies if he can
couple silver and protection and reci-
procity he VIII have three trumps in
his hand to McKinley's one. So we
have him in his noted interview boldly
announcing a new policy. in which he
proposes to drive protection, silver and
free trade tandem. They are kittle
cattle, and we shalt watch with inter
est Mr.. Reeds handling of the ribbons
over his wild team.
Bat there are some fallacies in Mr..
Reeds statements that are too plain to
be hidden under any gauze of rhetoric
he may have at command. One of
these is the effect of the demonetiza-
ton OF silver on the exports of the sill
yer using nations. They have been
vastly stimulated by crafty merchant
men, who bought silver bullion at it's
market valve, took it to those coun-
tries, converted it into coin and bought
produce with the coin at it's face value,
making profit which they either
pocketed or shared with the consumer
In reduced price. This was not an
original discovery of Mr.. Reeds; we
something of the same statement in
his opening speech at Croolzston in the
campaign of 1890, but which he did not
again repeat, because his fellow cam
paigner, Gov. Merriam, told him. after
the speech, that it was dashed nom
sense.
If this is true fact, as the bows saw.
with a nice Discrimination, we might |
look to the trade returns |
OF these countries to find confirmation |
OF it in the increased imports of silver,
the decreased imports of gold and a |
great increase of imports of merchan-
disc and exports of produce. As India |
Is the great silver consumer of the sill |
yer nations. we might expect to see it's |
effects. there most marked For the |
eleven months ending with February,
1898, the latest return at hand. ler i'm
ports OF merchandise, stated in tens of
rupees, of the nominal value of 50. &c.
amounted to 56,o53 ,902, and for the
same period in 'e4 they were 81, 4O3, O97,
a gain of less than 1900, 900. The
total value OF her exports of merchan-
disc during the same periods were co.
4GS,O44 and 81, 522, OO6 respectively,
showing a gain of little over ,OoO, 900
IN 94.
The imports of gold into India We're
|, 4s4, ITO tens of rupees in the eleven
months ending with February, 1so3
against 2,9OS,9 56 for the same period in
[eo4, showing gain of 100 per cent. in
,he latter term. The inflow of silver,
which should show a large increase if
Mr.. Reeds conjecture is accurate
hows a hardly perceptible increase in
he periods compared, the imports be-
ng ID, o9o,3s4 tens of rupees in the first
md 4,210, o24 in the second term, gain
Il less than 10 per cent, while, as
'oted, gold imports increased 100 per
ent
Thus, accepting Mr.. Reeds own test,
We find his statement contradicted by
he facts. We have not the figures at ,
and for the silver countries south of
S, but have no doubt they show the /
anne proportions. Whatever of in ,
rease there is in exports, especially of
rain, is due, not to Mr.. Reeds absurd ,
muse, but to the developments, of the I
resources of those coun- I
ries, stimulated by our own policy of
the exchanges of the con-
timing nations with ourselves. Mr..
eed's new hobby may have wind and .
lusic enough to carry him through ,
he next national convention, but it :
i'll break down before it reaches the s
,dera1 capitol.-St. Paul Globe. ;
M'k!NIEYISM AND TRUSTS. =
gnldcant Facts Brought to Light In tho | +
Sugar Squabble. s
he Heaa@ - r.,