The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-21
The Country,s political Future.

Editor Watterson of the Louisville Cou-
rier Journal in an interview forwarded
from Paris, expresses the opinion that
the election of Mr.. Mckinley is the be-
ginning of the end of the agitation for
the free coinage of silver at the ratio of
16 TO Ian agitation which began twenty
years ago with the greenback movement.
Practically the men who are prominent
in the greenback, or fiat money. move
ment were the leaders in the free silver
coinage movement. The leaders in the
free silver coinage movement were. how
ever, reinforced by the silver mine OWL
ers.
Mr.. Watterson is of the opinion that
the election Of Mckinley settled nothing
that '1t merely removed fiat money and
deprecated silver dollars from among the
rocks ahead" What he means by this
is explained in an extract from his letter
which is as follows:
with that defeat ends the free silver
frenzy and the danger of a 16 to / kind.
But the elements of disorder it has called
into being and the agrarian issues it has
set into motion are left upon the scene,
tinue their assaults upon the life of the
nation and the integrity of the people I'M
til they are swept out of existence in
1900. Mr.. McKinley's election settles moth
ing"
What Mr.. Watterson means by the
rocks ahead is the accumulation in the
east of great wealth in the hands of cor
porations and few persons. Already
1.
between the east and the west-the west
arraying itself against the east because
of conditions in the east which appear to
be hostile to the interests and welfare
of the west. Speaking of the east, Mr..
Watterson says:
I'm it's concentration of the wealth of
the country and in its ostentatious dis
play of this wealth, in the gradual Gull
tivation of caste, in the tendency to hug
it's vast riches and in the finding of means
to keep it's millions at home, let it be-
hold a danger it will do well to consider
in the light of both ancient and modern
history, and if it has any real statesmen
they cannot put their genius and resources
to better uses than by the construction
of policies which will bring them alliances
and make them municipalities wise and
broad justifying in some measure the
unlimited accumulations they have been
able to pile up in such a relatively short
compass of time. Those accretions not
only serve to breed corruption among
themselves, but they unite against the
simple rights of property all the forces
of cupidity and rapine, operating on agra
rian and sectional lines. States have
been saved before now by timely fore
cast. Only PRIDE and a very foolish
pride at that. has led Spain to defy the
laws alike of God and nature in Cuba
Only pride the pride of wealth and caste,
will keep the east from seeing the truth
that it must make a partner of the rest
of the country, not alone by generous
and expanding policies but above all by
just policies, harder, perhaps, to realize
than any other policies We can always
be generous, but it is not always easy to
be just, wisely just, even to ourselves"
There is much truth in what Mr. Wat
terson says in the foregoing extract. Mr.
Bryan. in his campaign speeches, recog-
mixing the existence of a feeling of hos
tility among the poor against the rich
especially among the debt burdened farm
ers of the west against the money lend.
ers of the east-cons family sought to
array the masses against the classes
| In all of his speeches he had much tc
say against organized wealth-corpora-
| tions and trusts-and what he said will
not be forgotten soon by many of those
who heard him. There are many IL
every community who seem to think they
have a grievance against those who are
| rich, and the number of these dissatisfied
| people is pretty certain to increase.
In every country and every age ther'
have been rich people and poor people ana
there always will be; and the poor hav,
always thought, and doubtless will con
tinue to think, that the rich get theI
wealth by the misuse of power-that tn,
laws favor them. The time may come, o
course, when, in this country, this feel
ing will become so strong as to threaten
serious trouble but it is hardly probabl
that trouble will come while land is a
cheap as it is at present and the oppor
tunities for earning living are so nu
merous. Still, If our statesmen are wis
they will study carefully all outcroppinl
indications with the view of being guide
by them in making laws The aim of tn
legislation should be just to all classe
of the people. The rich should be give
no advantages simply because they ar
rich and influential. If there is absolut
fairness in making the laws the evils t
which Mr.. Watterson calls attention Wi
be put off long time.
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