Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-04-18
Timely Topics.
BY PUBLICOLA.

BY PUBLICOLA.
If one win stop and think, and look
abroad with the eye of a philosopher" !"
divested OF all party feeling, and Oh
serve the moves being made on the
party chess-boards by so-called lead
ers in National and State polictics.i it is
difficult to escape the profound convic-
ton that our country is passing through
an era of political demagoguery and
Incompetent statemanship.
One panacea after another is pre-
scribed by the politicians as a cure for
the hard times. Each one in success
sion being heralded as the one thing
needed to cure all the ills which the
body polite is suffering, and to secure
to every man, woman and child in the
land .health. wealth, and happiness, I"
each one in time proving its abor-
tiveness when tested by experience.
For instance, in the campaign which
brought into existence the late unla-
mented Congress, the political heavens
were perturbed and clcuded with pro-
testation that the Sherman act"
provided for putting over 50,00O,000
ounces of silver either in coin or silver
certificates, in circulation every year.
was the one especial thing above every
other thing which stood in the way of
full fiedged prosperity. The silly
clamor had it's effect in deceiving the
people. The measure was repealed, TO
the delight of the single gold-standard
people. What prudent and thoughtful
people foresaw happened. The whole
theory.-the whole clamor,-proved
to be mistake. Times grew harder.
and wha: theorists clamored for as po-
tent for relief, proved worse than "a
failure.
Then the cry Immediately went up
by the same set of political doctors
that the Tariff was to blame; that was
the cause OF distress. If we could on
ly have an approach to free trade SO
that our goods could be mostly manu-
factured in England, France and Ger
many(D we could play most of the
time, wear cheap English WOODEN goods,
and eat roast beef and go to the circus!
Plain it was to them that the Mckinley
bill was the one infamy that blasted
all hopes ano all happiness.
DWell, the Mckinley bill of course had
its faults,-all bills of the kind have,-l
but, like the Sherman act" it had to
go. 1t went! But the hard times did
not go with it. No, they remained,
and have increased in severity. The
specifics of the political doctors proved
to be no remedies.
Now we have another attempt by
these same doctrinaires. They have di-
agnosed the case again. This time the |
remedy is sure cure.
The food that nouri shed the baby |
calf. will surely cure the old steer
when dilapidated,-he must return TO
the teat and suck, If he is the only |
steer in the universe that does suck!
This time it is the '.free unlimited |
coinage of silver" only, that is needed
to establish paradise, an elysium!
And so the country will be again
and prosperity retarded by
another campaign on purely materi-
alistlc issues. Is it any wonder men
stop voting, or vote ''the other ticketP''
1t is refreshing to turn from the po-
litical discussions about the "everlast-
ing dollar" to the new issue thrust
upon the people of Missouri by Gov.
Stone in his call reconvening the Legis-
lature to enact a new election law and
to ..outlaw" the lobby.
Here is something of high principle
to talk and> think about instead of
naanRaon. Democracy ..gained its
spurs" in the advocacy of human
rights. human liberty. 1t never could
have gained any abiding hold on the
hearts of men if it had started out at
its birth with the materialistic faith
and purposes for which it is now
sought to make 1t sponsor.
Pure and fair elections strike at
once at liberty, at the rights of men,
at free government. The lobby is a
menace to every right function of
Governments menace to every right
and every interest of The people. If it
we're possible to conduct a campaign
on such issues, it would greatly ele-.
vate and purify politics; for the mass
es are always right on such issues.
But as party move it is more than
probable that Gov. Stone has made a
mistake. His oserweening ambition
TO work himself into Senator Vests po-
sition has led him to take step which
may make the defeat ofthe Democratic 1