The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-01-23
Senator Teller Says He Has No
Easy Time Before Him.
The Country In a DeplOrable
COnditsOn
SAYS SENATOR TELLER
Chicago Suffering and Buying
Glass There "Paralyzed."
COlOradO's Senator Gets Off an
Able Bodied Calamity Wall.

Denver, Jan. 23-'I would not go to the
extent of saying that Senator Sherman
is the most incompetent man Mckinley
could name to be secretary of state" said
Senator Teller at the Brown hotel yes
terday. But do believe he is incompe-
tent for the position. He will be neither
aggressive nor able Everybody knows
that. 1 was talking to a number of SEN
ators in the cloak room of the senate and
L said that there were not more than six
men in the senate who We're not more
competent for the duties of secretary OF
state than Senator Sherman. A New
England senator answered that there
We're not six who were not more compe-
Il don't think Sherman wanted to be
secretary of state. His place, as every
body recognizes is in the treasury. I
should rather have seen him there. We
all know that whoever is put there VIII
take his cue from Senator Sherman, and
1 should wish to him manage the
finances directly. His appointment is the
outcome of the political situation in Ohio.
The people of Colorado have never had
any politics like Ohio politics. They have
never had an absolute political boss.
4 shall not look with envy upon Pres
Mckinley in his position He has no easy
time before him. The country is in a de-
daily. In the east it is Enthusiastically
worse than it is here. Particularly in the
manufacturing centers business is becom-
Chicago IS suffering greatly. Mer-
chants have plenty of goods to sell, but
there are no buyers. The buying class is
paralyzed. And l do not see even p ray
of hope in the situation. Tariff will not
help US and they know it. The Dingley
bill, which was got up to attract atten-
ton from the real issue, was dropped
quickly enough There never was any
hope of passing it and they told me So
one of the advocates of the bill-not long
ago. No tariff bill can do us any good.
The trouble lies in our disordered fnan-
ces.
Senator Wolcotts mission will be
fruitless one, think. 1 told him that
before he started for England. 1t can do
no harm, of course, for anything that
will keep up the agitation is not entirely
useless. But bimetalliSm by international
agreement is a dream There may some
Will come when some strong nation takes
the lead and forces the world to follow.
put ourselves in a position to trade with
silver-using countries; we should not long
Mckinley is not a silver man-not even
a bimetallist- At the st. Louis conven-
He could have demanded a silver plank
and got it. But he favored gold, and the
form was but the fiimsiest kind of veil.
Mckinley talked gold The campaign was
made upon gold. The New York Tribune
and that class of papers made no pre-
tense about it, but talked gold from the
start and never limited or suggested that
Mckinley was anything but a gold stand
ard man. So what can we expect for
silver in the next four years? Absolutely
Having talked at length before the leg
islature of silver and national finances,
subject quickly. He talked a little then
of other, things. One. of these subjects
was the homestead bill, which passed the
senate and is now stuck in the house of
representatives.
The homestead bill is a measure of
some Importance to settlers" he said,
especially to those that have bought GER
tain land of the government and have
been unable to make their payments. 1t
concerns only lands that have been
bought by the government from the IN
dams and then thrown open to settlement.
These lands have been sold at the rate
of $1.25 in Colorado, 81. so in Oklahoma and
even higher in other parts of the west.
The law was meant particularly for the
settlers in Oklahoma and was. in a way, a
relief measure. The people there had got
into a distressed condition The best
lands had been selected by the Indians
themselves before the white settlers had
chance, and those that the white people
occupy are rot very good lands. They
have made payments On them and are not
able to make the others. The bill RENTS
all future payments the land and
makes a hve-year residence the condi-
tons to give title.