Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-08-29
EXPOSED DECEPTION.


sSter8 Last E9H We're Buucoo0 Dy No
publican misrepresentation
It is largely assumed by our repub-
lican friends that the men Of demo-
cratic antecedents who voted the re-
publican ticket last fall will do so this
year and next for the same reason.
Hence they entertain very lively hopes
of a victory in Kentucky this year and
of sweeping the country next year.
This view omits several important
factors. Last year the republicans
told the people and made some of
them believe that the democrats
brought on the panic and were respon-
sible for the depression in business
They told the people that the tariff
bill which became law last August
would be followed by reductions of
wages. suspensions of the mills and
general distress. They also promised
that it control of the house was given
them they would put an end to tariff
agitation.
In view of this plan of campaign, yet
fresh in the minds of the people, Sem
ator Lexow. of New York, recently
said that the rise in wages must neces-
sarily be temporary, for unless it was
had been wrong all the time" Yet
the increase in wages has continued
and now they are higher in some in
stances than they were before the
panic. This is a revelation to more
people than Senator Lexow. It must
be especially revelation to those who
thought last fall that the democrats
had caused the panic. What really
caused the panic is thus told in an ex-
change:
The reason for the passage OF the Sherman
act was stated long ago by Senator Jones. OF
Nevada, who was one Of the conferrees The
Mckinley bill was semitic the senate by the
house about the middle OF May. Senator
Jones served notice on his republican coll
leagues when the silver bill was in conference
committee early in July that II the committee
did not agree enough votes of republican SEN
ators from silver states would be cast against
the Mckinley bill: (which had not been taken
up for consideration at that time, to defeat it
That threat was effective, and the silver COM
promise bill was passed, and then the McKin-
ley bill went through afterward. Every one
can see now that it would have been far bet
ter for the republican party If that threat had
been treated with Indifference Had the re-
suit been the defeat OF the Mckinley bill the
democrats would have been deprived OF the
ammunition which enabled them to win the
sweeping victories of 1890 and 1892 and to pass
the Wilson-Gorman bill There would have
been no Industrial panic In 1893-94 II there
had been no legislation on the silver question
there would have been no increased purchases
OF silver ana no financial panic in 1898"
The candid and truthful statement
is taken from that well-known repub-
hcan paper, the Chicago Tribune, of
July 6, 1898. In the light of the facts
there set forth it is clear that the voters
who hold the balance of power in the
elections of last fall were buncoed by
being made to believe that the depres-
sion in business, reductions Of wages
and general distress were due to the
accession of the democrats to power
and the tariff legislation that followed.
Such republicans as Senator Lexow
and the editor of the Tribune see
clearly enough now that this is not the
case, and it is not to be presumed that
the democrats who were deceived last
fall can be induced to vote the repub-
1ican ticket second time for the same
reason.
The extract cited from the Tribune
shows that the corrupt bargain by
which the Mckinley bill and the Sher-
man bill became laws was at the bot
tom of all the business troubles of the
last two years. The Wilson bill, there
fore. had nothing to do with them, and
if business revival and advance of
wages should not be permanent it will
be due entirely to matters affecting
the currency, and not at all to the re-
vision of the tariff. The currency agi-
tation is the only thing which now
threatens the continuance of prosper
ity. Whether the republicans, when
congress meets, will keep their pledge
not to revive tariff agitation remains
to be seen. At all events, it is pretty
clear that they will not be able to
work the tariff as the cause of bust
ness depression for any democratic
votes at the coming election. That de-
ception has been pretty effectually ex-
posed by the ''inexorable logic of
events. louisville Courier-J ournal