St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-04
HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN.


Republicans of the old stripe will COW
er their faces in confusion and endure
the silence of utter humiliation as they
read the speech delivered by Mr..
Sherman in the senate yesterday on our
financial policy. Mr.. Sherman, al
though he is a politician tricky and
insincere, has been relied upon by them
BIS their leader against the financial
heresies which have multiplied like the
Russian thistle in the fields of Repub-
lican policy. He at least might be ex-
pected to make a stand for those cor
rect principles which he has intelli-
gence enough to comprehend, and Of
whose necessity in practical operation
at this time he cannot himself fail to
be con-inced. Instead of this, Mr..
Sherman made an address to the SEN
ate yesterday which is not only I'M
worthy of MIN and his reputation, but
ut one point and another gives adhe-
sion to almost every financial heresy
that has been advocated in this coun-
try. There is no Populist and no silver
crank in the United States senate who
might not draw aid and comfort from
Mr.. Sherman's financial discourse Of
course. his character, as man
who always puts party politics above
national prosperity or honor, required
him to give to his speech a polit-
lcal turn. His first duty, as he under
stood it, was not to explain the finan-
cial situation, or to suggest remedies
for the difficulties that it contains, but
TO place, by some hocus-pocus, the onus
pr all our troubles upon the Demo-
cratic party. Therefore, he begins and
ends with the false and untenable posi-
ton that the embarrassments of the
treasury arise from an insufficient rev.
enue.
We have gone over this ground re-
peatedly, and our readers all know that
when Senator Sherman says this he
ntters merely a particularly mean and
silly falsehood. That governmental ex
pendituTe has been in excess of revenue
nobody questions. This was rendered
inevitable by the policy Of the congress
that passed the Mckinley act. The
figures quoted by Senator Sherman
himself, Of a decline in the surplus
from $37,00OO0O to 100000 and thence
20 $20eo,OOO under this policy, show
what forces were at work Had con-
gress made no changes in the tariff. but
left the profiigate legislation of 1890 in
force, the nation would today stand
face to face with a greater deficit than
now exists. Moreover, there is not one
word in this speech to admit, as should
be done in common fairness, that the
tariff act Of 1894, as it became a law.
provided revenue enough to meet every
dollar of expenditure. The deficiency
occurring has been due to the elimina-
ton of the income tax feature. 1t is.
therefore utterly unfair to charge upon
the trainers Of this revenue bill inabiI-
ity or unwillingness to levy taxes suffi-
cient for the country's needs.
That the excess of expenditures over
receipts is not the cause of our SUBJ
sequent inability to maintain the treas
ury reserve is known to every honest
and intelligent man in the country.
MI. Sherman does not deserve the
former epithet, but it is known to him
also. For instance, during the month
of December the accounts of the gov
eminent show a surplus of over half a
million dollars. In that same month
there We're weekly withdrawals of gold
from the treasury amounting in all to
from $4,000 GOO TO $4,000, COO. This gives
the lie at once to MIR. Sherman's state
inent. Ii gold goes out of the treas
Dry only 70 pay bills, how did this get
out when all bills We're paid, with q
balance remaining on hand? Mr.. Sher-
man knows that the draft upon the
gold reserve began when our paper
money became so great in volume that
confidence in our ability to redeem it
in gold was weakened 1t will be with
drawn as long as that confidence is
impaired, and as long as we insanely
permit the greenbacks to stand as the