The age-herald., 1898-04-07
THE HONOR OF
 OUR GOVERNMENT
By NED BRACE.

an honorable man. But President McKin-
 ley has evidently been made the tool of the speculative end of congress He has
 been made to daily with the dignity and
 honor of the American government. He
 has had several policies, but has pursued
 none of them. It Is true he is in posi-
 tfon that no man would covet. He has re- ceived fully ten thousand telegrams in the
 last ten days, nearly adj of which were in
 the nature of peace at any price" tele- | grams. The financial interests of the coun- | try, as represented by the speculators of | Wall street, are naturally against war.
 They would sacrifice the honor of their | country before they would sacrifice a few dollars in the value of stocks.
 | The impression has been created that America is 2. nation of towards. The Span- | iards have up to date maintained both | their dignity and the full position they set out to maintain; while this government has | been vacillating and daliying with the great l question at issue
 | It is a shame. but 1t is true, that the | American government has never been known to protect its citizens in foreign | countries. On the other hand, the English | government has never been known to fail 1 to protect the least of It's citizens. That Is why English trade has been pushed and 1 maintained in all parts of the world. | On the other hand, our foreign trade Is | not one-hundredth part of what 1t should be. We have never had a foreign policy. Our government has been afraid of offend-
 ing some friendly nation.
 At the present time the stock jobbers seem to be in cotrol of the government of | this country. Mckinley has been holding back because Mark Hanna, Soreno H. l Paine, Senator Aldrich and other we'll known congressional jobbers in the stock market, have beseeched and deplored him | to do so. It Is said in Washington that a number of senators and congressman have | been on the long side of the stock market , recently. and these men have beseeched | the president to hold back his message. | They want to get out.
 | Tom Reed, the czar of the house of rep- | resentatives, Is opposed to war. Tom Reed | is the referee of twenty of the largest life | insurance companies in this country. He | adjusts their differences when they arise. | It is seldom that they arise. but neverthe- | less MT. Reed draws a salary per annum composed of five figures. It is very much | more profitable to him than his salary as | speaker of the house of representatives. That amounts to but $S,OOO a year. The life insurance companies are opposed to war. | It would cost each one of them many l thousands-perhaps millions of dollars Tom | Reed seems to be more loyal to the life l insurance salary than to his salary as | speaker of the house of representatives, | We all know that such things are calculated | to influence the human mind. It Is not | meant that MT. Reed is dishonest. I do not believe that he is, but his life insurance l salaries make him see things in a different | light.
 Again, look at Stewart L.. Woodferd. | Stewart L. Woodford is our minister to l Spain. He is an able man. He Is likewise l the general attorney of one of the largest l life insurance companies in America. MT. | Woodford is making every effort to bring about peace. MT. Woodford is so thorough
 ly for peace that he would sacrifice much | dignity, and. perhaps, few paragraphs of national honor to bring 1t about.
 l Now. we all believe in peace. War is " l to maintain the dignity and honor of our l country. It is necessary to protect it's l citizens abroad. Spain has paid no atten- tion to our demands The Spanish govern l ment has almost laughed at the sugges- tions of this government. All Americans criticised England severely for not inter- l fering and stopping the massacre of Ar- menfans in Turkey, yet right at our doors | we have permitted the massacre of the | Cuban reconcentrados to go on month after | month and year after year. We have per- l mitted the brutal murder of Americans all l over the island Of Cuba. We have per. l mitted the Spaniards to anchor an Ameri- l can naval vessel over a government suh- | marine mine,- planted in the harbor of l Havana. This mine was set off, presuma- l ply by an agent of Spain, yet Spain has l never apologized nor made amends. Amert- | ca has been made the laughing-stock of l the nations of the earth, yet today the | United States is, all in all, probably tho | second strongest nation on earth. If the l American congress will do its duty 1t will l take the matter out of the hands of the | president and issue an ultimatum to Spain 1 making all necessary demands. It must l be sure that the demands are just. Such l an act will be upheld by the other nations l of the earth and Spain will probably not | fight If she does it will amount to but little. War would not last thirty days. It | is true it would entail much loss for a time. l but that loss would soon be regained and | the result would be to make America a bet | ter and a greater country.
 l As it is now, most Americans are dis- | gusted with the acts of the present admin | istration Whatever have been the req | sons for it's dallying policy the great mass l of the people believe that the stock mar | lsets of Wall street have been the leading | cause. In this connection American people 1 should demand law making 1t peniten- | tiary offense for any representative in qon- 1 eress. the senate, or any government om- l cial, to deal in stocks or commodities ar | fected by congressional legislation. biases opinion and warps the Judgment or l our alleged statesmen.