Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-08-23
PATTISON'S VIEWS
POSSIBLE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE
ON ISSUES OF THE DAY.
HE is NOT FOR FREE SILVER
NEITHER is HE SCARED TO DEATH
OVER "IMPERIALIsM."
And Yet He Is BeinE Doomed by East-
ern Democrats rs n Good Man to
Nominate for President In
stead of William j.
Bryan.
HE is NOT FOR FREE SILVER

PHILADELPHIA, PA, Aug. 22.-Ex-
Governor Robert E. Pattison is being urged
oy Eastern Democrats as a presidential
posslpiiity. They are insisting that he
Wouid De good man to nominate On the
issues of the day Mr.. Pattison said:
L think when the Democratic managers
get down TO business you will find they
VIII take conservative action. Issues which
have been gone over and settled in one
campaign and have not been strengthened
since by events nor by conditions are not
ilkely TO be fought over again. We can
expect to win only on new issues.
The financial question in this country is
one of the chronic subjects of campaign
agitation, just as the tariff question has
been for years. 1t has been clear for some
time to the representatives of Democratic
sentiment in the West, as l know It TO be
in the East, that the American people are
thinking on matters which more directly
concern their interests.
Il found everywhere in the West unpar-
alleled prosperity, not in manufactures
only, but in agricultural pursuits Farmers
are getting good prices for their products
AS they constitute the great mass of voters
of this country, they form an important
element, possibly the most important in
all political calculations.
Besides, the relations of the United
States to the commerce and markets of the
world are different from what they were
four years ago. The people, I find, fully
understand this. Then there was great
paralysis in industries of all kinds. Some
attributed 1t to the financial question and
others to various distempers, real or i'm
agined, in the economic system of the
country.
No matter what was thought about 1t,
everybody knows the result. We are now
approaching another campaign, this time
with prosperity everywhere. 1 do not
think the farmers and wage workers, with
wages increasing, orders coming in from
all over the world, and every workingman
and every dollar of capital put to the Sc
verest tension to keep up with the de-
mands of trade, will stop long to discuss
or even consider obsolete issues.
YES; you may call it expansion or i'm
perialism. There are 100000 people in this
country to-day. So far as 1 learned from
Democrats of prominence and influence
everywhere, the overwhelming majority is
in favor of pushing ahead.
After becoming possessed Of these out
lying countries as a result of a victorious
war, We cannot abandon them. If we gave
up the Philippines Germany. France or
England would take them up gladly. They
would never revert to Spain. and they GER
tainly would not be left in the hands of the |
native population.
Let us look at the Louisiana purchase. |
That was a Democratic measure. 1t is |
true, it met with some opposition then. but |
there Is not person in the country to-day |
who can say that that was not a firstGlas. |
bargain. . o.ouo, +, 49,, r,,,..,
These islands to-day with steam and elec-
Louisiana
was in the beginning of this century. We /
knew so little about the country that the |
organized an expedition under
Lewis and Clark, and sent it out to explore
those unknown possessions of the United
States. 1t was two years before the ex-
pedtion was heard from. Now We can hear
from the Philippines in few minutes,
and we can send our merchandise there In
less than two months from the Atlantic
side of our country.
I'VE as nation are to-day the neighbors
Of the whole world. We are shipping loco
motives to Siberia, railroad bridges into the
heart of Africa, electric plants to India,
our textiles to China, steel rails to England
We are the foremost nation of the world
n the output of Dig iron. We turn out
other nation. The people are too busy to
stop to consider whether silver should be
6 to l or coinage, free. They know that
Intercourse with the outer world in finan-
,fal matters must be based on the coin of
commerce, whether 1t be gold, silver, nickel
n any other thing of fixed intrinsic value.
workshop and grarary of the world, but
It's cotton is staple at home and abroad
IheSe are things to be considered in pre-
pairing for national campaign
The American is q hustler, as the say
Ing goes. With everything booming around
him, he Is not likely to stop to reconsider
questions of four years ago. when he had
nothing to do but to chew his cud of dis
appointment and nope over the dullness of
the times.
In Cuba we should hold to our position.
Give the island a stable government if the
people are adapted to such a responsible
lty, and. If not, educate them up to that
point. We did that in the louisiana pur-
chase. See what magnificent array OF
states we have there!
There was a time when we were bor-
overs in the money centers of the world.
The securities upon the proceeds of which
he government fought the civil war were
lmost wholly held abroad, and we were
aging out millions upon millions every
ear to foreign holders at high rates of
interest How is it now? The government
7anted coo for the Spanish war. and
yer S500,O00,000 was offered at home. we |
re now a money lending nation. The
hing Is to look at conditions as they exist
nd not as they were, or you think thew
ught to be. simply in order to be on the
ther side The people in these days know
mat they want, and they will have n n
takes all the votes in the countr,, - - |