The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-04-26
A REVOLT OF wAeE.EARNERs.
The Real Reason % the Rebellion Against
Democratic Rule.

a REVOLT OF WAGE-EARNERS.
The Real Reason % the Rebellion Against
Democratic Rule.
The results of elections throughout
the country show conclusively that
there has been no change adverse to
republicans or in favor of the demo-
cratic party since last November. Here
and there democratic apathy or indif
ference is named as cause of results
which are nevertheless simply mex
plicable, unless for the apathy itself
an adequate cause is found. 1t is not
in accord with experience to attribute
these results to the bad conduct of Of
ficials in certain states or cities. 1t
would be more creditable to the people
if they had shown greater readiness to
punish rascality or crime; if .he shame
full conduct of rulers in New York,
Brooklyn, Jersey City and Chicago had
been more swiftly resented and pun
ished by respectable voters of the
party thus dishonored; if many men in
other cities and smaller towns. and
even in rural districts, had risen up in
a body to teach their party that it
could not retain decent support any
where if it made itself the hired tool
of blackmailers and criminals in the
most important cities. There has never
been evidence that the great body of
democratic voters were willing in this
effective way to punish their own lead
ers for wrongdoing. To attribute the
vast deluge of democratic disapproval
which has swept over the country to
the misconduct in certain cities would
be contrary to all experience and alb
surdly philosophical
Displeasure because business is poor
is not sufficient explanation, because
business is distinctly better than it
has been, but the flood of popular in
dignation and rebul1e is plainly not
abating, but rises higher every month.
There has been more business in
March than there was in October, but
the majority against the democratic
party and policy rises higher in April
than November 1t is a cumulative
displeasure, and obviously grows as
people get more undeceived regarding
the nature of the democratic policy
and the real causes of their miSfor-
tunes. When the panic came democrats
falsely asserted it was the fruit of
republican law which must be re-
pealed, but the repeal did not help
things, and the people saw that the
pretense was false. Again, when con-
gress was spending months in chang
ing the tariff, democrats continually
asserted that Astounding prosperity
would come with removal of burdens
imposed by republican laws. But the
democratic tariff, when it came,
brought no relief, and again the people
saw they had been cheated. Even
then it was asserted that only little
more time was needed; that the new
law had not yet manifested its benefi-
cent results. But with every week the
people see that its results are not
benefcent, and grow more angry be-
cause they have been cheated.
The practical effect is felt in wages
more than anywhere else. For thirty
years men have lied to the voters, say
ing that the tariff had nothing to do
with wages. All last year democrats
were asserting that their duties were
everywhere high enough to compen-
safe for the difference Ia wages be-
tween this and other countries. AS
soon as business settled to che new and
more blessed conditions, people were
assured, they would get as good wages
as ever Business has been recovering,
democrats tell us daily, but the work
ing people do not get the old wages.
Every weeks payment brings home to
them the fact that they have been per-
sistently cheated, and that the demo-
cratic policy was not intended to and,
in the nature of things, cannot main
tain the wages formerly paid. That
discovery is the one thing which affects
the minds of the great body of voters,
because most of them are wage-earners.
They are learning that the sort of bust
ness revival for which democratic
statesmen look means more severe COM
petition with the la Dor of other lands;
that its coming does not restore wages,
but only makes it more clearly impos-
Sible to restore them, and that the
policy of the democratic party is in its
very nature calculated to grind down
the worker by removing the defenses
against foreign competition. n. Y.