Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-03-23


gress was simply a thOughtless, IN
principled spendthrift. For four years
under Harrison the peoples estate was
souandered and the nation, after a
/ term of prodigal extravaganza was
left on the verge of bankruptcy. In
1888. the country was turned over to
the Re,ublicans with an oYerfiowing
treasury. with prosperity prevailing
everywhere. with its credit better than
ever before. with labor we'll employed
and fairly paid. In 1892 the country
was turned over to the Democrats with
an empty treasury, with business par
alvzed. with the public credit i'm
paired. with confidence lost, and with
labor unemployed.
The panic OF 1898 which followed
was the logical and inevitable result
Of this But the popular blame for it
fell not where it belonged-on the
shoulders Of the Republican leaders Of
the Observation-Disclosures regime
but on the Democratic administration
and Congress which had been thrust
into the breach in time to save the
country from the worst consequences
Of four years of unbridled Republican
profigacy.
Never was a Secretary of the Treas
ury or President or Congress Of the
United States confronted with more
stupendous task than that which con-
fronted the new administration in
1893.
But wherever the administration or
the Democratic Congress had full pow
err there the cry Of the people for relief
was promptly needed. The response
bility for the distressing, the criminal
delay in passing the needed lesisla-
ton i'm the late Congress must rest
where it all belongs, TO the last shred,
on the shoulders of the Republicans
in the United States Senate. Senator
Plat. OF Connecticut though strong
Republican partisan. frankly acknowl-
edges that responsibility. IN a recent
interview ne SAYS: 1t is, perhaps, not
too much to say that although the Re
Dublicans were in a decided minority
in the Senate. they were during the
whole session in practical control of
the order and conduct of business
And they used this control dur
ing the first session of the late
Congress TO delay or prevent the re-
lief of the country from the burdens Of
NcKinleyism from which it was suffer-
iug. and during the last session to pre-
vent sound legislation that the bust
ness of the country needed and was
loudly demanding. and which, unob-
sructed. the Democrats would have
provided. a sample of this was the
copperhead refusal to permit the DEM
ocrats to repeal the sugar differential
duties which have led TO a European
tariff war on American products. And
in every other way possible the Repub-
licans in the Senate sacrificed the pub
lie welfare to make party capital by
preventing the Democrats from furn-
ishing needed relief to business.
In spite of these serious handicaps,
however. the Democracy has restored
the credit of the government and
furnished the country the relief it
asked in large enough measure to
have brought it safely through one Of
the worst financial panics of history in
remarkably short time and with COM
paratiye small loss
Tt is frightful to contemplate what
might have been the result if the pres
ent strong and faithful Democratic adj
minisuation and the late Congress
much abused though that body has
been-had not been called to power
when they we're
Luckily the last echo of the Harri-
son-Beed-McNi1ley panic has died
away, and the country once more is be-
ginning to witness a return to its old
time prosperity.