Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-08-26

Of which is under the charge of us ALL
Among the arguments which the
friends of silver urge, today, is one
which was to be anticipated long ago,
and which / knew was sure to come.
| When the Sherman law was struggling
to be repealed, the Democratic press,
and even some Republicans, told us
that repeal alone would be the final
remedy, and business would again re-
! vive. l never shared that belief; on
| the contrary, just three years ago to-
| DAY, lacking two days, while 1 was
consorting with good Democrats, as /
| hope to consort with the like in this
campaign, | took occasion in the pres
ence of 5000 men, women and children,
to declare that the. repeal of the Sher-
man law was only one step in the up
| ward march. Since then many bad
| things have happened, plunging us
| deeper into the mire. In that very
| discourse | told the Democrats that II
| did not expect the Democratic party
TO be utterly bad" l have always
| been very much interested in the DEM
ccratic party. l have always been it's
| true friend, tender, affectionate, but
always truthful, pointing out its faults
| i'll spirit of meekness. remembering
| ourselves. fellow Republicans, lest we
also should be tempted. But when l
said in 1899 that | did not expect the
, party to be utterly bad. l had not the
slightest idea what the convention of
Chicago would do and say in 1896
Since that time in 1893 we have had
most severe lesson. When the tariff
act proposed by Mr. Bryan and his as
i1f toe Tod ;x,
it was certainly a great shock to the
business of the country. The change
was so radical and men like Mr.. Bryan
We're SO carried away by their own elo-
quence that there seemed no limit to
the possibilities of evil Now l am
not here just now to say whether that
bill was founded on just principles or
not | have my own opinion, which I
propose to express at the proper time.
Nor do | propose to charge Democrats
with that bill. The one they finally
passed was a vastly different one. But
the mischief had been done. The
shock had stopped business. Men did
not know which way to turn Money
in hand is better than money in
bush. especially when you cannot tell
what kind of bush it will be- Then
came the income tax, unconstitutional
and destructive. declared so by the
supreme court, and then the attendant
deficiency. That deficiency has been a
coTroding cancer ever since. That de-
ticiency and the way it has been man.
aged has scared and frightened our
people beyond all reason. What are
Si00,0oO, 900 increase of debt to nation
so rich that one of its big railroads on
half its lines in six months can lose
twice as much as paid the whole rev.
cnue of good Queen Bess in the days
OF her highest glory, and never pass a
coupon or refuse a dividend? Why has
this 100000, 900 frightened us so? Be
cause the government has refused
either to raise revenue or to separate
the deficit from the redemption of
greenbacks. We have been frightened
by talk of an endless chain, which
could have been broken like pipe
stem by providing for the borrowing
on short time certificates of indebted
ness lawful money directly: instead of
borrowing it for the gold fund indi-
rectly and thus creating the false i'm
preston of struggle for gold when we
We're only borrowing money to pay our
debts.
Had the House revenue bills of the
last session passed Congress and
become law. the country. with full
hope of a Republican administration in
the near future, would then have
started upward and onward
But the condition has been peculiar.
We have had a three cornered, TRAN
Sular government. Everybody has
been in the minority and hence nobody
has had any responsibility and nobody
has been able to take any RESPONSIBLE
ity. and we have drifted sailless and
but. thank God. with a
stout ship, stouter than all the winds
that blow. When next you put that
ship into commission had you not bet
ter have a harmonious captain and
crew, all of them men who have been
to sea? l know that the four gentle
men. Messrs Bryan and Watson. and
Bryan and Sewall, have been at sea
Tor many years, but that is a different
thing
While / do not propose to offer any
for | have not a powerful
imagination and no powers of descrip-
ton of things which have never hap
)ened. nevertheless. l venture to sug-
sest that what has happened will hap
pen again. The past is for the wise
men the only guide for the future.
What man has done, man will do.
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