The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1895-08-23
H5H THINGS POLITICAL LOOK.
Ths Political Field as Browning Sees it From
Washington.
Both Republicans and Democrats See gls,
tory For Their Respective Parties In
lse8-CIaims Of the Silver Msn-A 6itq
UatiOa POpuiists shOuId Study.
Especial Correspondence

~eS tAA-D "a t4tV So4tltIdA UaLLEcHSlll a.
seen from this signal station. Washing
ton is perhaps not the best place in the
nation to get At the existing sentiment
Of the people, especially in dog days and
the middle Of the long congressional re-
cess. but thnre is never a day without
one or more arrivals Of politicians from
the out townships, and unless they arc
lying, the following facts may be taken
as proved. TIE division among PopuIists
as to the Lest policy for next years CAM
paign is more clearly defined; candid
silverites coDcede serious losses in some
sections, but still claim "all west Of
Ohio;" the Knights Of the Golden Cir
Gle are loudly and arrogantly confident
that their battle is already won; the
Democrats are building great hopes On
the alleged return of prosperity, and the
Republicans continue to smile with the
supreme Calf satisfaction Of men who
feel that heaven is full Of days and earth
Of nights and ali coming their way.
Since the party was born I have never
known Republicans more serenely GER
tain Of success than now, and inciden-
tally, 1 may add, that in very few
cases have they been able to give so
many reasons for it. And finally all
men Of all parties agree that the cam
paign Of 1895 will beat the record for
heat and party fury that the holiness Of
1910, 1856 and 1872 all in one would
scarcely exceed the holiness thereof. In
fact, nearly all the prominent men with
whom have talked reason as if next
year We're to witness the final battle be-
tween all the elementary issues, such as
tariff and free trade, hard money and
soft money, or rather bank money and
government money, paternalism and in
dividualism, the ideas Of Hamilton as
against the ideas Of jefferson. At least
q dozen we'll informed Democrats have
told me that in their judgment, if the
party is badly defeated next year, it will
enter On another long era as q minority
party, The oldest journalists here say
that whenever one campaign is phenom-
enally dull, as in 1859 and again in
1892, the next one is sure to be a soul
stirring rabhle rouser.
Some of the above statements deserve
more detail As to the revival Of bust
ness, Of course it is nothing like what
the Cleveland CuckOos claim, but the
testimony on all sides sufficiently proves
that there is a revival, and that we may
expect a steady rise for some time. So
far it has followed exactly the line Of
the revival Of 1879, which came after
the resumption Of specie payments, and
when the money question was supposed
to be settled for good and all, and the
indications are that the turn will follow
as it did then. In 1873 there were arapid
revival and tremendous rise III prices 4;
in 1880 a wild, hilarious boom, then a
decline, and in a year or two a resump-
ton Of the old routine of strikes and
riots and falling prices for farm produce,
with increasing mortgages, general dis
content and great reyulsions in the pop
ular vote. And right here I digTess
far enough to point out why nearly
all our official statistics are so unre-
liable. Every census We have had
since that Of 1850 has been taken On
the very crest Of a boom and under
circumstances which made tables q
prices almost entirely worthless As
an instance I take the county in which
I have lived the larger part Of my life
and which is almost purely agricul-
tural, In 1870 it was assessed as worth
a little over $4,000, 900, but it has
never since been worth so much, and
once has been rated neaFlya as low as S.
900, COO
1t is not unreasonable, Judging from
the past, to look for brief let up in the
distress and a period Of perhaps two OF
three years n which the victims Of
monopoly may acquire some more blood.
l have asked many, and all reply that
such a revival. however temporary, will
certainly chill the enthusiasm Of many
who were eager for reform. This is
something we must expect, as there are
many men who can only realize the evil
while the hot end Of the poker is jabbed
into their ribs. On this subject had an
interesting talk the other day with Con-
gresham Bankhead Of Alabama, who
does not profess to be a master Of poll
tics, but is q remarkably shrewd busi-
ness man and knows the minds of busi-
ness men. He said;
There never has been 3 season Of dis
tress that did not hurt the party in pow
or nor a revival Of business that did
not help It Everybody knows that by
/ experience or can be convinced Of it by
reading American history. The Repub-
icsns cannot prevent the revival from
! helping us by their pretense that they
did it, Just as we last year eouldn't say
( anything to convince the people that
we were not responsible for hard times
But tell you the fellows who staid at
home last year viii be out the next, and
/ lively too. The revival will be good for
the Democrats, Of course, and equally of
course it VIII hurt the straight silver
men, and there is 10 help Tor it VIII
many leave their party? you ask. No.
Probably not one in a hundred, Dam
ocrat or Republican 1t is a serious
thing for man TO leave his party. And
it is probably worse down our way than
I out with you Shouldn't be surprised
if the whole question OF silver Is laid
aside, bat, aftes All. it IS nothing but
surmise. Here's the long term Of con-
+ gTess yet to come, and a terrific Repub-
EoaR majority. Who knows what they
viii do, and ny to do They may get
up an entirely new issue, or we may
have a foreign war, or something worse.
What is absolutely certain now is that
the Democrats who staia at hslHs last
: year viii al turn ont aud vote next
sag aga ;hsf 10 Esgigal d EnslDsss