The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1897-08-18
a VIRGINIA KEYNOTE,

turnings and twistings 20 which the
popocratic politician is compelled 10 re-
sort these days, when sold. concrete
facts are daily giving the lie 70 his free
trade and free silver theories ami proph-
ecies IN such fashion that even the dull
est and most unobservant cannot fail
70 see and comprehend them. The situa-
ton is one which, indeed. requires the
popocrat to exercise all his agility, YER
satility. ingenuity and Imagination, and
he often lands where one would last ex-
pect to find him. Such a case is tha.
OF Peter ]. otey, a representative in
congress and member OF the popocratio
national committee from Virginia, in
which state a general election IS TO be
held this year. Otey has recently
'sourded the KEYNOTE Of the campaign"
as We are informed, and a curious one
it is. otey Is an extreme and ardent
free trader and an equally ardent and
extreme advocate OF the free and unlm-
ited coinage OF silver at the ratio OF
IS TO l, "wi,hou; asking the aid or con-
sent OF any other nation on ear.h." In
congress he loudly acclaims against and
vehemendy denounces "the iniquitous
system OF protection and the crime Of
lSiS," which. he declares. have impov-
erished the farmer; reduced labor. both
skilled and unskned. 10 a condition Of
servitude: brought numberless woes and
untold burdens upon the masses for the
benefit Of the classes. and made the rich
richer and the poor poorer" and so on.
That sort of talk did very wen for
Virginia pOpocrat.c consumption last
year, but change is taking place and :
otey's keynote" shows that he IS
shrewd enough to see it Hear him:
Tobacco is Yirg.nias creates. crop.
Twenty years ago she was in the eighth
while now she has rissn to second place .
Kentucky alone exceeds her. In the oys-
ter industry We are second in import
ance. no less than 50, $4,000 being invest
ed. Our coal output has increased enor-
mously, whlls in the production Of wheat,
corn and rye We are actually ahead
Of some Of the more favored states Of
the West Half Of our cultivated land
Is in corn and a quarter Of It Is In
wheat The total product Of our man
ufaetories now reaches nearly sle0.900go
a year.
The keynote" contains other state
ments in regard 70 virginia's greatness
and progress, all Of which, Of course,
is attributed to the demo-populist party,
which has b=el doing It's utmost 70
break down American industries and
Mexiean.ze the money standard Of the
United States; but, Of course, Otey was
not quite satisfied until he had flsI
something In the nature Of a caveat lie
remembered how he had argued and
proved last year 10 the apparent salts
faction Of his popocratic audiences, that
the price Of silver and the prices u
wheat, corn, tobacco and other aericul-
,uraI products were linked tog. .ther with
Indissoluble bonds-that the prices Of
the latter were coincid@nt with and d.
pendent On the price Of the former-and I
he also remembered that, whereas the /
price Of silver had declined about % per
cent in the last twelve months, The
price of wheat had advanced more than
20 per cent. This thing will never do,"
thought Otey; If l dwell too much on !
virginia's prosperity AID grea.aess and
say not a word about silver the voterg
will begin to doubt my word or 1ny
good sense" And 50 he gathered himself
for high jump, and here Is where he
landed:
"The main point Is that everything has
increased in Virginia except values. Pro-
duction Of agricultural ana manufac-
tured products ard their consumption,
population, revenue-all these have In
creased marvelously n tn last decade,
but the prices have fallen, so that the
total values do not keep pace in proper
ton OF course, being an ardent l6 10
l silver man, I have my own ideas as
to the reason Of this decrease. but, apart
from this, the showing made by the
state Is worthy OF attention, without
regard to financial beliefs.
But in another place he aid: 'Wheth-
er we have a struggle IN the state thi