The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-09-03
A Brief Discussion of the Great
Issues.
HARD TIMES" CAMPAIGN.
A FALSE ISSUE PUT BEFORE The
PEOPLE.
Question of Responsibility Should
BE Fully yentiIated-PoIicyD of
the Two Great Parties With Re-
gard to Handling the Surplus
Prophecies of the Calamity Howl
ers Not Realized.

- idiSe crowd packed the hall at the
corner of First North and Fifth West
streets last night to listen to Democratic
oratory by Hon. B. H. Roberts
| A brief preliminary address was maze
oy Dr. Roumania B. Pratt. She said
Lhat ner devotion to the principles of
1enerson had always been strong and
that the majority of the women of Utah
! wouio mock to that standard. Jefferson
lahlsm' she said, is true Americanism
| ana every indication points to victory
Inns Ial for those who follow the stand
ara OF the Democracy.
q. II. Roberts then delivered the
speech OF the evening. He said that of
Inc many points at which the two great
b bS,t parties diverge he would discuss
! OUT one or two of the most vital issuaS
winch separate them.
| ~ g1oQ text is furnished by a plank in
E Tue PLATFORM adopted in the late Repub-
this statemento w IN e that is
o. O. me me. present national administration
aor ISSUING government bonds in time of
b. ,s,oe, 70 meet deficit as unwise and I'M
from, . sn add Ieglsiation." "A paragraph
ean campaign committee affords another
sSerVicSable text. 1t says: 1.-The party
n ln Hun ~ P9 eS is alike entitled to the
CIcuil OF the benedcent results that flow
from wise administration of good laws
enacted by it and blameable for dire cal
amities that inevitably follow the appli-
ment." % eoFeiH-
This last assertion is in every sense
true. It calls attention to the political
| history mat has been made in the United
i SrSle >. tgd the last few years: The
On the Ialsest of all false issues, namely
that OF hard times. The question for
me- me people to decide is, to whom were
states mad just passed through a time
or peace, uninterrupted fopaa quarter of
| century. During that period the soil
had peen fruitful, wealth had vastly en-
largeo, commerce and industries had ex-
panded. 1t seems strange at a casual
glance that at time like this while
peace yet prevailed, dire distress should
come upon the people; that thousands of
men who should have been engaged il,
honorable employment should be organ
lzed into discontinued bands of tramps
IL is a strange fact that this almost un-
paralleled condition was charged by the
Republicans to the Democratic party.
power.
This question of responsibility should
be fully ventilated and discussed. When
the Democratic administration began the
national finances were in a deplora BILE
condition: The credit of the nation had
TO be upheld, the gold reserve in the
! meet this condition something that was
almost unprecedented was done. United
states bonds y were issued in time of
peace. The responsibility of this was
laid upon the Democratic party and
upon that false issue the Democracy
was defeated.
Having one succeeded upon that issue.
the Republicans will try it again. Their
declaration in the recent platform against
| the issuance of bonds serves notice that
that cry VIII again be raised. We wei
come them to come out and fight the
"a a. In q
midst OF awakening industries and re-
viving prosperity, the people will be
ready to calmly consider the causes
which led to the industrial crisis and
later to the issuance of bonds.
Grover Cleveland was elected in 1884,
took the reigns of government in 1885 and
left his seat of honor in 1899. When he
retired at the end of that period it was
after a successful term Of office. The
administration was free from scandals
and injustice. It might have been even
vailed. He had to administer the laws
which had been enacted by Republican
legislators. Many of these were unwieldy
and imperfect
Gladstone said that the prosperity of the
last thirty years had been the result of
unlimited resources, the newness and
greatness of opportunity, and not be-
cause of a protective system. The pros
perity that crowned the nation during
that thirty years was not in reality be-
cause of Republican rule but in spite of
it, When the first term of Mr.. Cleve-
lands administration closed there was a
reserve Of $50, GOO, outside of the $780,
100000 reserve. Altogether the total sur
plus left in the treasury at that time
was about $685. 600 0O0 This was admitted
by Mr.. Harrison's first secretary of the
treasury.
The question when he left the White
house was, what shall be done with the
surplus? A solution of the problem was
offered by Cleveland; another was offered
and afterwards followed by Repuhl'c"os
The policies offered illustrate an essential
difference between the two great parties;
/ The Democratic president recommended
that the surplus be done away by the re-
duction Of taxation. With that issue the
Democratic party went before the peo-
pie at the next national campaign, but
strangely enough were defeated. When
the Republicans came into power their
solution of the overplus problem was
vastly different from that set forth by
Mr. Cleveland. Their idea was not to re-
duce taxation but to increase it. Instead
Of granting relief to the oYerburdened
millions their policy was to wrest what
little they had from the horny handed
sons of toll. The people were submissive
They bowed their necks and permitted the
yoke of higher taxation to be placed
upon them. In 1890 the Mckinley bill
passed. 1t went into effect in October of
Aug. 1, 1894. The Republican committee
who wrote that "the party deserves
credit for the "beneficient results" as we'll
as for "dire calamities'' that follow the
application of it's theories should remem-
! Der this. They should likewise not forget
that the Republican presidency contin-
ued until 1893.
So long as the Republican law is in
force the evil accruing therefrom should
be laid at the door Of the party enacting
it. What befel the country up 20 1894 is
chargeable TO the Republican party and
not to the Democratic. 1t was in 1893 that
the evils of this system reached their Gull
that Frustrated the national Industries
Would Republicans have it believed that
after having thirty years in which to
form a foundation for the future. it need
ed only the entrance upon the threshold
Of the Democratic president to make the
foundation shiver, the rocks tremble and
the majestic temple to crurnble and fall?
1t rather provides that their structure
was built on shifting sands. The people,
when they meet in November, will give
the Democratic party bill Of acquittal
for those great calamities.
After increasing the burdens of the peo-
pie, the Republicans conceived a method
of getting rid of the surplus. In this they
were eminently successful. They took in
outstanding bonds at a premium of and
s per cent. In this way s34.7SS,000 was
expended in premiums alone. Millions
that had been advanced by the states at
the time when the war clouds Of 1861 hung
over the nation were returned. To re-
turn this money was unnecessary; to re-
cefve it back was unworthy q patriotic
state.
They got rid Of more money by increas-
ing the pension rolls. The amount turned
per annun. Another magnificent way of
Wiping out the surplus was to give ten