The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-06-29

Second. it cannot possibly win with a
free silver candidate and platform.
Third. the gold Democrat might posi-
bly, win.
THERE is a grain of comfort this morn
ing in the bold stand taken by Senator
Palmer of Illinois an favor of gold. He
comes out iat-footed for the New York
currency plank, a declaration which, if
not ideal, at least covers the practical
needs Of the situation satisfactorily, while
1t gives the saner portion of the silver
men some foothold until the scales drop
from their eyes and they see their way
clear to gold.
The finest part Of Senator Palmer's
statement. however, is that in which he
deals with the fiction that the farmers
of Illinois are poverty-stricken. Though
his remarks on the subject are a trif1e
long, we can do nothing better than re-
print them here as a contribution to a
true understanding of the. existing state
of facts. This is what he says
Even the Democratic farmers, to whom
Altgeld has paid particular attention, are
growing dissatisfied with the outlook. He
has been telling them hat they are very
poor; that the East is expressing them;
that free silver means high prices for
corn n stock, and that the West and
OF New England and New York. With
some this appeal has met with success;
with the many It has utterly failed.
Trips here and there about the State
among the farmers, and visits paid to
many interior cities and villages, make
it seem astonishing that Altgeld should
nave succeeded as well as he has.
Illinois fs today a garden of plenty.
There is no sign of poverty. Such a
thing as actual want outside of the slums
of Chicago is unknown. There is hardly
g store to rent in Peoria. Pekin. SPRING
f,eld or any town in this section of the
state The business men all say that
than a year ago. and that they feel much
easier than they did then. Bankers re-
port that while money is still scarce, it
g more plentiful than It has been, that
farmers are meeting their obligations, and
are asking no accommodation.
Talks with farmers bear this or "p,'na
were hundreds in town here Saturday
with finer horses than New York farmers
drive, and they looked far more prosper
Gus than the farmers Of the East. They
complain. of course, of low prices for
corn and stock, but not one among the
poorest looking could say that he was in
want, or felt that despair which Altgeld
and the free SilveriteS so eloQuently de-
plct.
Saturday night there were fully 5000
welisaressed prosperous people in the
showed every evidence of comfort and
happiness and none of poverty and dis
tress- Out of all the thousands not one
cities Of Illinois outside of Chicago have I
met a beggar. Such a thing as a mendi-
cant is unknown here.
INT East has more evidence of great
individual wealth. but presents no such
picture OF general prosperity.
In passing. we may say thai it is no
more surprising that Altgeld should have
succeeded in misrepresenting the State
Of Illinois than that the Republican party
should have persuaded the people that
starvation and bankruptcy are abroad in
the land since the new tariff bill was
passed.
The fact is the ghost of hard times is
conjured up by. comparing the present
business statistics with those Of 1892 and
1898, when the boom caused by the Chi
cago Exposition was on and when the
mad speculation fastened by McKinleyism
was expanding into those gigantic bubbles
which burst soon after with SUCH dis
astrous results. Business shows depres-
sion-on its face-as compared with these
years Of unnatural and artificial imitation;
but we Doubt whether there is now or
has for the last twelve months been any
thing wrong about business except the
hesitation which the prospect Of more
change ~engenders. II, at this day, Grover
Cleveland were firmly seated IN the White
House for four years more, and a sound
money majority controlled at least one
House Of Congress, business would show
q real and substantial prosperity such as
The country mas never known before, and
such as It IS very unlikely to develop I'M
der McKinleyism.
1E1E Republican papers announce this
morning that Mckinley VIII speak out
jisinly and elnphattcally n favor * gold