Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1896-11-26

but the establishment OF protectorat
by the United States over all territor'
in North aud South America. The,
argue that if the United States may in
terfere at all in any matter coming al
in controversy between power on thi
side OF the water and power on tina
side, it must become responsible fol
the conduct of the powers on this side
AS absurd as this proposition is, i
yet conveys valuable suggestion
And the suggestion is that the influenc,
of the United States should be mater
tally increased and strengthened
throughout the whole Of the territory
mentioned. The United States is the
great power of the western hemisphere
and will remain so. 1t is the guide fol
all the lesser powers. T~ey fashion
their institutions as we'll as may be
after the patterns found here. They
reckon themselves fortunate and pros
porous by their ability to copy what
exists and flourishes here.
The best means for drawing the coun.
tries of this hemisphere the more close
ly together are the means of trade
Why should Brazil, or Argentine, or
Venezuela, or any other of these coun-
tries send TO Europe for anything that
the United States can supply? Why
should not the United States have the
call? And, of course, why should not
the products Of those countries that
are needed here have the preference
here?
This policy, it will be remembered,
was inaugurated under the reciprocity
clause of the Mckinley bill, and, as far
as applied, it worked exceedingly we'll.
Trade with several of the countries to
the south, and notably with Brazil,
grew amazingly, and would have con
tinued to grow But reciprocity was
condemned with other things as the
result of the elections of 1892, and as
soon as the new Congress could get at
them the reciprocity conventions were
repealed.
Those conventions should be renew
ed and still others established. The
sieSsi fs.,fI III take up the subject,
and the opportunity will be propitious
for the Inauguration of a broad and
well considered policy of that kind
Such policy goes appropriately with
the policy of protection, and the United
States and its neighbors should have
the fullest benefit of it; and so encour-
aged and built up, the Central aud
South American republics would soon
become such valuable and powerful
that the United States would
not find it necessary to raise a warning
hand IN any way against encroachment
from across the sea.
The question of an extra session OF
the Fifty-ffth Congress grows in inter-
est. Prominent Republicans are
quoted on each side. Those who favor
the suggestion point to the necessity of
early action, both with regard to the
tariff and the currency. The verdict
just rendered at the polls, should, they
hold, be put into effect at once. Those
who oppose the suggestion offer as
their reason the belief that an extra
session of Congress would revive dis
trust and uncertainty, and throw the
country back INTO the agitation from
which it has just emerged. Their
phrase is that the country needs a rest
and wants rest.
Much, of course, depends upon the
developments Of the next three months.
Some things are very pressing, and
must be met. For one thing in par
ticular, the government must have
more revenue. If the Senate at this
short session should rise above the
lines that divided it at the long session
and pass the Dingley bill, or some
measure of like import, and that, added
to the revival Of business now in pro-
gress, should tone up the general situa-
tion, the need Of an extra session of the
next Congress would be greatly
modified, il it did not entirely disap-
pear. But if the Senate still halts at
a revenue me&ure putting again the
interests of party and faction above
those Of the country, and adiourns,
with no provision made for the proper
support OF tn, government, then the
new Congress should be, and probably
will be, callet together at an early
day. CHARLES e. PIERCE.
This is a bos composition on girls.
He says: "Grls are the only folks
that have ther own way every time.
Girls are of everal thousand kinds,
and sometime one girl can be like
several thousmd girls. all at once, if
she wants TO % anything. They are
also like kittas; they go singing and
purring arour until you stroke them
the wrong wa, and then they get mad.
This is all IknoW about girls and