The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1897-02-06
THIS Is OUR COUNTRY.

81 say it is not very much to ask thai
we restore the American system, fol
this is our country. 1t is nobody else's
but ours, and if we do not make i!
what we want it, it's our fault. I think
the true policy of the people of this
country is to protect the men who owe
allegiance to that flag first (pointing
to the American fag) and who will
ight-aye, die, if need be-to preserve
| it,"
Thus spoke William Mckinley, presi-
dent-elect of the United States, and
brave patriotic words indeed are they.
But has Mr.. Mckinley the proper con-
ception of what real protection to
the men who would fight and even die
for the flag of their country, really
mean? Is his idea of protection such as
will protect those who have made up
the armies that have fought for the
Union? Will the kind of protection he
stands for benefit the men who stand
the brunt of battle in times of war, the
real bone and sinew of the country, or
will it serve to enable such as hire
substitutes to defend the nations
honor in times of trouble to grind
down the wealth producers and the
rank and file of our armies?
UWho are those who are ready to
sacrifice their lives on the nations
alter? Who are most entitled to say
"this is our eountry?" The men who
delve in the fields and the forests, in
the mines and in the mills, or the no.
bobs who sit behind bank counters
and in counting rooms? If the latter,
then Mr.. McKinley's idea of protect
ing the men who lowe allegiance to the
flag" is correct, for the systems he has
always advocated and the ones he
stands for today are clearly in the in
terest of that class; but if the ones who
earn their living by the sweat of their
brow, the tailors, the producers, the
farmers, mechanics and artisans are
best entitled to call this ''their
country" then the president-elect has
wrong conception of tine means to be
adopted for restoring American sys-
TENS, protecting the real defenders of
the nation.
The systems which Mr.. Mckinley
holds to be necessary to protect Ameri-
can institutions are such as will benefit
two classes. the money lenders and the
manufacturers. His financial system
Is one that will make money dearer,
hence will increase the profits of the
lender. His protective policy is one
that increases the price of the manu-
facturer's products, or at least affords
him to exact from his consumers more
than the same product can be pur-
chased for from some foreign producer.
But it does not tend to raise the price
of the laborer's wages, for it leaves
him in direct competition with i'm
ported laborers from every part of the
globe. 1t forces the farmer to pay ad-
vanced prices for almost everything
he produces, but it has no provision |
the price of his wheat, his !
oats, his corn, his hogs, cattle or horses
shall be advanced. No doubt Mr.. |
is honest in his expressions
and believes in protecting those who
owe allegiance to the flag, but like |
many others whose associations have |
always been with those who are bene- |
ficiaries of the government, he has a
wrong idea of those who are most en-
titled to call this their country from
having been the ones who have most |
readily come to its defense in times of
trial, and from being the ones who pro-
luce its wealth and make it possible
'or the more favored ones to subsist.