The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-01-01
THE YEAR IN RETR osPECT


THE YEAR IN RETROSPECT.
The termination Of the year, the arti-
fetal milepost marking the passage of
time over another twelve month, dis
poses and invites one to retrospect. The
individual asks: What have I accom-
plished? The nation asks: In what are
the people better or worse than a year
ago? The world asks: How have the
humanities that make for the uplift
Of mankind, the progress that makes
for their material comfort, Jared? It
is the season of taking account of
stock, of balancing books, of determin-
Ing the amount Of profit or loss, for
men and nations and the world.
How has it gone with the United
States? On the whole fairly well. Ma
terfally, in the things which make for
comfort, there is q residuum of gain
after spasms OF advance and the reac-
ticns that the lack of sustaining con-
ditions forced. The recuperation, the
rebuilding, that began after the panic
hidden by the din of politicians alter
nately bowling calamity, has gone
steadily on. This year the fancied in
teTest of the dominant political party
seemed to require that it's return to
power and the initiation Of ifs
hscaI policy should be the occasion for
change of its lugubrious note to a hail
to prosperity. Crop conditions here and
abroad seemed to warrant the ioyous
acclaim. There was a squirt Of activity
stimulated by it. There came a reac-
ton that has left another impression
The conditions are better than last year
but the Improvement is due to the fru
gaIIty enforced by the panic.
POLITICALLY, the leading event of the
year is the renewal of the effort Of the
harrison administration to commit the
nation to a departure from its historic
confinement of expansion to the conti-
nent in the annexation Of Hawaii
once initiated, all such movements go
forward of their own momentum. AL
ready it is proposed to buy the Danish
west Indies. Cuba, Santo Domingo and
Hayu will follow. The end no man can
fcresee. In Importance we put this
movement ahead of the change in ad-
ministrations, for they are tmperma-
nent; that, if embarked on, will be en-
during. One parallel between the course
of the Cleveland and Mckinley admin
1strations is striking Each fought tba
campaign and won it on one issue. and
on installation, abandoned it and nut tn
the front a secondary one. Antt-pro-
lection elected Cleveland, and his con-
gress gave the country a protective
tariff. The gold standard and the re-
moVal of the causes that endangered #
elected Mckinley, and there is nothing
anywhere to give ground on which to
rest hope that a single cause of danger
will be removed. Winning on a plank
promising not only maintenance. but
extension of the civil service reform
there rises in the Republican party o
movement to overthrow it. The ante
election promises of a moderate tar
if'' have been redeemed with the most
abominable one ever put on the books
Pretentiously prepared to supply rev
enue and prevent the deficits for which
its predecessor had been so vociferouslv
denounced, It proves a more prolific
producer of deficits than was the act
displaced. Politically the review brines
a sense Of disappointment.
Industrially the feature that at onoa
attracts by its prominence is the tre-
mendous forward movement in that lat
est development of commercialisn tho
trust In the face of hostile nubIio
opinion, Of weak national and strineen+
state legislation, systematically invoked.
with an audacity that argues either
the process of natural, inevitable irre-
pressible evolution, or the possession of
power by greed that recks no obsta c1as
these combinations are develonine- with
the fecundity of cultured bacteria. Sin
gularly the provisions Of the federal
constitution designed to preserve tho
autonomy of the states serve NV ra-
stricting the respective spheres of i1ris-
diction of federal and state courts ~
favor their creation. The federal law,en-
acted to prevent them, falls down before
state barriers, and finds efficacy only
In invalidating railway agreements as
to freight rates, or in the overthrow of
stock exchanges. On the other hand, we
see state barriers melt away before this
spreading commercialism and the con-
ltrol of corporations created by the
state, wholly within the state, in the