New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-13

ridiculous 10 the Populists in Mrs. Leases fury'
they thought 1t only a proper statement o.
things, and admired her with all their simph
! hearts. They called her Our Queen Mary
She has been a leader among them ever Since
! In appearance Mrs Lease is tall woman "
whom in middle life has come the kind OF grace
that grows out of composure and self-possession
She is not exactly handsome. but she Is NOT
plain; and in her ater-day toilets from New
York or Paris she is attractive as well as
impressive figure. And she has the power OF
sincerity. great power. this lightning force
OF earnestness that is not feigred, and II Is not
! in the possession OF every political speaker
Even the workingman Is beginning to look
askance at the fatterer Even the farmer ID
beginning to suspect that a candidate for q
S50,OOO-s-year JOB may have something in MS
mind besides the securing Of higher prices FOR
/ farm products But when this tall eager.
clarion voiced woman rises, her hearers may
J believe that she is utterly wrong headed ana
| be sure that the very class that she pities WOULD
be the first TO be overwhelmed by the ruin
that triumph Of her theories would insure; YET
they never doubt that she herself is honest
! Once a Western hearer finding nothing else
at her tongues control. stammered: You seem
very much in earnest. Mrs Lease"
The tears rose to Mrs. Leases eyes. "Oh, my
dear woman" she exclaimed you can't know
how in earnest I am"
Mrs Diggs and Mrs Cougar are slighter
creatures but of the same eoquence anb the
same sincerity II is not credtabe to the
Wanted instinct of woman that most women
politicians should take to plausible. rotten social
and economic theories naturally as children
take TO poisonous sweets. but the facts seem 10
support the charge Nor is it difficult to un-
derstand the position OF these Western women.
They are all self-educated women, and. previous
to their campaign experience women with mar
row lives They are all women OF the sympa-
thetic | may say the sentimental, temperament
! The sentimental temperament recoils from iron
truths it rushes to remedies. whether the rem
edies have the guarantee OF ever having reme-
died anything or not. IL is sympathetic, IL -
hopeful it is anything but clear-sighted or iogi-
cal. Consequently a large degree OF miscei-
| laneous culture and many moral beauties may
consort amicaby in the mind Of the sentimental
temperament with business views beneath con-
! tempt sentimentast with logic small 'as
I the phrenolOgsts phrase it, may believe IN
/ perpetual motion or blue glass, or the inlme-
dIate end of the world or Christian Science or
that the more plentiful the supply OF silver ths
greater it's price. or in young Mr. Bryan, OF
| Nebr aska or in Mrs. Howes bank. He or she,
beholding that most appalling most pitiiul
spectacle in our times, the man VINO Is Willie. ms
| to work but cannot get work, VIII nave inc
| heart wrung God forgive the man or woman
whose heart is not wrung by thst sighs.D, w
he will not patiently consider the cause Tor .nls
stagnation In industry. lest the remedy pro-
posed be worse than the disease, even tas many
| Of us believe sometmes) the cause OF the u, i,,
ease Not he; of all the cures in sight he VIII
| take not the one with sound record III Tue
past but the promising the most. NoW'
| The quack always promises more than the regu-
lar physician, and the swndler never nassIes
over the rate of interest, like the honest Dor
rover But the sympathetic. illogical lover OF
mankind can never resist the nattery OF tne
| future He is never willing 70 believe tnat 'he
human tree cannot be made to grow by ma
| chincry 1t is not human nature or lean har-
vests that make hard times; 1t is always iegis-
lation And as legislation is the root OF all e'h'
| O. also is il the cure
The sentimentaiist believes in laws not in
| law And il is a further popularity OF the SEN
timental mind that 1t Is as reckless aS g. ,hs
| blind But indeed. it's blindness. which Is the
dream haunted blindness or Ignorance anu NO
the dense blackness Of stupidity, Is the cause Oh
its recklessness. 1t Is IKE cnild on ih ~
! car plunging down HILL exhllarated VIII, .ne
| motion knowing nothing Of the crash ana the
black water in waiting ,-, a..
Women sentimentalists are more reckless, IL
| ANYTHING than men, But women, In general,
are restrained from political mischief ny oth le
elements in their nature besides symPa.ny.
They take their opinions from lhose hec -
| and dearest to them in large measure Inns
NAV be very rcprehensible and weak, out tns
present writer who uies to see facts as tney
| are is obliged to place the proportion as hIs"
! as % in 100 Women also are naturanS '
! servative and naturally CONSCIENTIOUS
| All these forces make against women iau 100
| and women socialists. But the same FORCES nave
| worked the other way in certain sections or the
| Far West and South. There are certain parts
Of the Far West-not the Middle Wes,LMnei :.
| there are wonderful harvests when there IL
| ,sin. hut rain does not always come. oH-
happily these parts Of the country nave peen
| settled by poor Unhapply, also; CAPITA
| as foolish in its daring as us tlHhully mas
| flowed over these arid wastes investment Soii-
panies have sprung up. Almost any larhei
has been able to borrow morey on almost any
| T,,a
| original borrowers have sold their farms with
the mortgages them and the secondary own
ers have found themselves face TO race Win d
disproportionate burden on the Iand; poor 9ue
YEAR and falling prices At one end Of the me
there Is an Eastern widow who has invested
her scanty dependence N the sarest Oh ioahs
a mortgage on farm lands" and at the other
desperate earth-tiller who works fourteen
hours a day and sees the gap between MS ex-
nenses and his income widening al. the tiihe
Vnrv likely the latter has bought his over.
rated land with glowing hopes OF paying ior IL
In tyyo or three years (as often as has peen uoneI
and the contrast between his hopes ana MS
disannointment makes him all the btterer.
such men are too desperate 10 reason ana
70 such men come the politicians, viewing Ger
tain defeat unless they can make new PROMISES
80 Shout a new war cry; come with offers 20
double the farmers prices and naive ms eeu u
and overturr the classes for the DeneHt OF lhe
masses and do any other niue lhiis '.a' -
wants The inevitable result IS discomfort ANA
therefore the women are only Voiclng the oPIII-
ion Of their husbands and fathers anu plo ~
rhe, have simply lost their heads over the
-. ,bst they have seen. And they nave
nnt . vide enough vision TO see how mario" -
the field that they survey; nor wlde enough
knowledge TO understand that what Kansas
~ ~ H-oiroska need is not free silver but frri-
eation. not reputation. but capital enough 10
1Take their country profitable; not reform put
horse sense , 80 :, t. IA
Rut the situation is as natural as II IS oe,
,nrahle These hard working. half-educaten
Women. whose hearts are aching with pity nave
devoured the shallow but picturesque arsu-
ucN - ,ba nronhets Of 2 svpr-plated millen-
niun And ono. having accepted the faith,
the: are defending it with woman's headlong
zeal a woman's blind devotion ana woman
self-sacrifce.
Oh the pity OF it. the pity of II. lago
OCTAVE THANET,