The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-12-06

The Presidents Message.
The Presidents Message, presented :
Congress yesterday, was quite a fehaiA
.n,e ,saort-for Mr.. Mckinley. 1t was SO
a.. s,inerior to the v~acuity which ne
created last year that it suggests the h0pe
that If he be reelected he may be aOie =
write an entirely significant Message ~
ne close Of his second term.
In fact. there is one item OF precisioA :"
tba nresent document which covers a nui
.,t,as ~ sins. It is the clear, unmis-
takab.e declaration for the gold stanoaro'
II virt,,e Of this honorable guarantee, the
h,,s,ness community will be apt to forgive
Mr. MCKINLEY for the houndering anu
vallowing in a confusion OF words "hen
,nark intolerably prolonged stretches ~
the document. To the prosperity q 'ne
country. this declaration has been the Que
needful thing Its urgency has neen grow
and more acute as the Presl-
Dental election draws nearer ano heai
= T. necessary to the people to kno" that
,aast one candidate will be sincerely III
favor of honest finance. MT Mcnih'
has thus far been painfully timor0us aDou'
defining his position. and it is a Joyous
surprise, and one for which nougn'iui
men win he truly grateful, that he mas a.
500 raso,vas 10 keep faith with the people
s,sc.ed him and stand solidly upon
the platform which they ratified with thsif
,otas that is to say upon the single stand
ard. gold platform.
The rest OF the message is pretty pooi
800 tbo,ph It shows efforts to define
roa,c,es stuerIor to any of its ~forerunners.
The effort never reaches f%ruition. nut TINS
!. .,aar,v because the President does not
dare fell the people, in cold blood. "hat
aas,ons are Perhaps he hardly dares
confess them to himself. Thus the pan
= ss,za mon the Island Of Cuba and py
oh,oane and trickery subject her people 10
a new foreign domination. is cioaked uh-
aa~ vav,,e reasons for -postponement OF
the dav OF independence. alleged to be IN
the interest Of the Cubans, but really I'M
accountable on any theory except that OIL
territorial robbery. The passages regard
sn~ tho phtlinnfnes show that Mr.. Nc
Kinley has no clear idea as to how we got
into that fearful tangle of crime and
plunder. no reasonable explanation as TO
why we stay in it. no plan either to get US
ont of II or to enable us to stay in it I'M
harmed.
The Presidents illusions to the trusts
are most com.cal. A clever New YORK
evening paper, last evening. said OF TINS
section that he simply raised the ordi-
nary antitrust plank to the nth power,
In his firm opposition to all that is bad in
trade combinations, united with an equal
Iy firm refusal TO say what is bad or to
g a remedy" The preposterous
feature OF the thing is that this man Nc
R4nley who IS the father of trusts through
his monstrous tariff leadership, shoulo
thus invelgh against his own offspring.
There is one easy way to wipe out every
thing that is evil in trusts. 1t could be
done in a month If the Republican party
we're not the ally and the f%osterer of
trusts. The passage Of a liberal tarin
measure. on the general lines Of the old
time Mills bill would settle the question
of hand.
one more feature Of the message de-
serves attention. It is the proposition to
subsidlze a shipping ring. This species Of
robbery Is in line with average Repuo-
iicahism. 1t is of a piece with the tariff
and trust system Of plunder. The only
wonder it creates is hat the party, which
thus takes money out Of the pockets Of
the people to enrich a privileged class
should have missed SO obvious an cppor-
tpnity for the same purpose as free s..ver
coinage affords.