Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-02-24

1t is now estimated that the Feb
ruary receipts under the Dingley Law
will reach S29, 900. 600, which will be il
marked contrast with the February
receipts during the operations of The
Wilson law.
1t is time for some of the calamity
walters to explain" how it occurred
that the exports of the United States
in 1897 were larger than in any year
in the history of the country. These
are the folks who have been insisting
that the Dingley law would cut of
our foreign market.
1t is curious coincidence that the
| Omaha exposition is making the pros
perity OF the country and especially
of Nebraska its greatest feature, and
yet that W. j. Bryan, whose United
States home is in Nebraska, should
fail to discern any symptoms of rea!
prosperity in the country.
Treasury figures are assuming a
brighter and more satisfactory con-
ditiOn. Receipts this month thus
far have averaged over a million dol
lars day and prospects are that next
month will be even better. As the
total expenditures of the Government
average but million dollars a day, il
will be seen that the new law has al
ready practically reached the point
promised by its framers-an income
equal to the expenditures.
The following table giving the
amount Of money in circulation at
the beginning of the present month
compared with that in circulation at
the beginning of the month in which
Mr.. Bryan was nominated is extremely
interesting, and will be useful for ref
erence during the coming campaign,
in which the free-silveriteS will again
insist that their proposition is only
one which can increase the currency
of the country.
MONEY IN CIRCULATION IN THE UNITED STATES
February 81 729 99 DDS
July |, 1896. ...... 1906, 4S4 ,96f
Gain in 10 months................. S22S 556, 262
Economy and prompt business
methods are the rule of action in the
National House of Representatives.
which is controlled by the Republi-
cans. Present indications are that
the appropriation bills of the present
Congress will be kept at the very low
est possible figure, and that the re-
cord for prompt action upon them as
well as other important measures will
be an unusually good one. Ten of the
appropriation bills have already passed
the House, and it is expected the re-
mainder will be disposed of very
promptly.
The Republicans of the country
seem entirely willing to accept the
gage of battle thrown down by the
Democratic Congressional Committee
in their declaration in favor of the
proposition of the Chicago platform
of 1896. Every Congressional cOnven-
ton and other utterance by Republi-
can conventions or organizations dur
ing the present year has been clearly
and distinctly in favor of keeping the
currency of the nation at its very
highest standard. The Republicans
have welcomed an opportunity to
meet the enemy upon the same battle
ground in which they won their splen-
did victory of 1896.
The statistics of the iron trade
give the lie to those citizens wearing
smoked glasses who asserted that the
prosperity incident to the election of
President Mckinley was only tenn
pOrary affair and would soon SubSide,
leaving the country in worse cOndi-
ton than previously. The iron trade.
as barometer, is sure indication of
the general business condition of the
country. Manufactures of iron and
| of int oil bpoy oloc,
of industry the country over, from the
office of the Wall street stock broker
to the kitchen of the small farmer.
The Pennsylvania railroad alone has
ordered one hundred thousand tons of
steel rail, and new railroad in Maine
has ordered twelve thousand tons.
Orders for cars, railroad supplies,
plates, bars, and structural material
are reported unusually large for the
season.
The Republican party is and always
has been the advocate of education
and the best relationship. Many of
our best citizens, it is true, have been
men and women who could neither
read nor write, but it is also true that
at the present time the great majority
of illiterate immigrants reaching our
shores constitute the riff-ratf of Eu-
rope and are highly undesirable. The
recent discussion in the senate on the
immigration bill now pending before
congress, and the unanimous repub-
lican vote in that body favoring the
passage of the bill, show where the
republicans stand on this subject. 1t
will be remembered that similar bill
was passed by congress last year and
presented to President Cleveland for
his signature, but received instead his
veto. With President Mckinley in
hearty accord with the republicans in
congress, there is no danger of the
measure again meeting such fate.
The Republican Congressional Com
mittee has just organized, with Chair
man BabcOck, who made such splen-
did record in former campaigns, again
at it's head. The control of the next
House of Representatives to friends
tOf sound-mOney generally is especially
important. The Republicans have
good reason to expect to control the
Senate in the next Congress, and if
they elect a majority of the House of
Representatives it will give them an
opportunity in the last half of PresI-
dent McKinley's administration to
enact satisfactory legislation upon the