The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-09-20

the knowledge That Spain Could
Not PrOIOng the StruggIe-End
of the War Was in Sight Before
1t Was Begun - Republican
Leaders Blamed.
DANVILLE, Va, Sept. 19.-Congress-
man ]. w. Bailey spoke at Chatham.
the county seat, today in the interest
or Z. A. Swanson, Democratic nominee
Tor congress from the Fifth district.
People for miles around were in the
big crowd to hear the Texan.
In his speech Representative Bailey
made 1t plain that the Democrats mean
TO make the present campaign an ag-
gressive one. Among other things Of
similar import he said:
For months Republican politicians
and Republican editors have talked
and written, necessarily, about the
mistakes Of the Democratic minority
In congress, but now that they are re-
quired to specify our mistakes. in order
to divert public attention from their
own, they find it impossible to make
good their repeated and reckless asser-
tions
I'm order to escape the just and uni
Versal indignation which has been
aroused against them by the suffering
lnIllcted upon the volunteer army,
through the incompetency or dishon-
esty of those whom they have placed
In power, they have been searching the
congressional records and racking their
brains to find some damaging accusa-
ton which they can sustain against
US. But they have not found it. and
they will not find 1t. The record of the
Democratic party throughout the last
and trying session Of congress Is alb
solutely above all criticism. I do not
say it with the purpose of claiming
credit for myself, but as a matter of
simple justice to my Democratic asso-
ciates I declare that in all the history
OF this government no minority party
ever passed through a war session of
congress with so much credit as did
the Democrats Of the present con-
gress.
THE WAR REVENUE BILL.
'"The only important vote which we
believed at the time we cast it could
ever become the subject Of reasonable
war revenue bill, and events have COM
pletely Vindicated our course in respect
TO that measure. We opposed the pas
sage of that bill because we believed
that it authorized an unnecessary sale
OF 1nterest-bearing bonds; and the con-
dition of the treasury proves conclu-
sively that we were right. When con-
gress cOnVenes in December next It will
find that the surplus in the treasury.
above the 800 600 900 gold reserve. will
exceed the amount received from the
sale of bonds, thus demonstrating that
there was no necessity for the govern
ment to sell its bonds.
Our Republican friends cannot ex-
cuse themselves by saying that they
could not forsee the early termination
OF the war, because every man who
was reasonably well-informed about
the condition Of Spain understood that
it was impossible for her to continue
long and expensive struggle. Owing
to the greater distance between her
base Of supplies and the seat of war, it
was certain that it would require the
expenditure of at least a dollar and
twenty-five cents to one dollar on the
part of the United States. 1t was GER
tain, therefore, If the war cost us $780,
O0O coo, it would cost Spain $3.50 OOO. .OO0.
and where could she raise any such
sum as that? Torn with civil strife;
| her throne claimed by pretender; her
| people impoverished, she could not levy
additional taxes without precipitating
| bread riots within her own borders. and
her only means of carrying on the war
IN1yo 70 GO,-,. Frt-
| not hope to do, because her bonds were
already selling at thirty cents on the
! dollar, in the markets of the world,
and had she attempted to borrow $780,
! 900 she would have been compelled
to issue $500, 600, 600 worth of bonds. Be
! fore she could have sold one-half Of
that amount her credit would have fall
len still lower. and her bonds would
not have commanded twenty cents on
| the dollar.
REPUBLICAN BLUNDERS.
with am adversary unable to raise
money by taxation, and powerless to
borrow it, the end of the war was in
sight before it was begun. The Repub-
lican leaders in congress knew this as
we'll as we did, or If they did not know
it they are not wise enough to be en-
trusted with the administration Of this
government. But with the knowledge
that the war must soon end, and with
their usual extravaganza. they pro-
ceeded to enact a law imposing an
annual tax of $3.50, 900 on the peo-
pie of the United States, and author
izing a $780, 900, 900 debt. Upon that
monstrous proposition almost every
Democrat in congress voted no, and
our only regret today is that there was
a single one of us who felt called upon
by his sense of duty to support it."
PLEDGED TO PROHIBITION.