Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-10-05


banker, the manufacturer, the rich mer-
chant, the land owner could get along
after a fashion under the scourge of free
coinage, but the laboring man could not.
The laboring man would go down to the
level where you find them in countries where
silver is the standard metal. The two rem
edies our opponents propose--altering the
tariff and debasing the currency-could
have no possible effect in abating the evils
of the trusts and could hurt those who profit
by the trust only to the extent that they hurt
every member of the American business
community, from the capitalist to the day
laborer. For a number of years the dem
ocratic party has posed as the eSpeclal
enemy of corporate wealth, and in It's plat
forms has denounced monopolies, trusts,
rich corpora tions and the like, and bid
strongly for the vote of the working man.
Yet during the time that the democrats
were in power not one effective law was put
upon the statute books to carry out the
threats they made. We came in bent upon
doing what in us lay to tighten TO some eX-
tent the burden of injustice, to make con-
dtions a little fairer, little more equal
The inheritance tax, the corporation tax,
the franchise tax are one and all our hahdl-
work. They represent the first great at
tempt that has been made in New 1ork
state to meet the new conditions caused by
the upgrowing of great corporations, the
exploitation of municipal franchises. In
each instance, and especially in passing
the franchise tax, We had to face the op-
position of the great and wealthy corpora
tions. We disregarded their opposition, be-
cause we thought them wrong, just as fear
Iessy as we would have championed them,
IL we had thought them right.
1--WE abolished the contract labor system;
we established inspection of factories and
the bureau of labor statistics: the eight
hour law; the law providing for the aboll-
ton of sweat-shops-in short, every labor
measure has been initiated and put
through by us. The board of mediation
and arbitration has for the first time be
come "A live factor in the settlement OF Ia
Dor trouble; sweat shops are controlled'
the eight hour law Is enforced. In our
state convicts do not compete with free
labor. and the bureau of labor statistics
and factory inspectors department work
practically hand in hand with the foremost
representatives of the wage-workerS, TO DO
all that can be done in the interests OF
labor. What is true of New York is true
of the rest of the country, and what is true
of labor legislation and of the control OF
corpora tons, will be true of trusts. We seek
to ameliorate and curb abuses ana not TO
destroy what may be useful. our oppo-
nents take refuge in destruction only, and
not a few of the laws they propose against
trusts, if put on statute books, would de-
stroy the right of labor unions to exist. or
of small tradesmen or farmers to band to-
gether We shall do all in our power TO
destroy anything that upholds monopoly;
that artificially lowers wages, or artiflclally
increases prices or puts it in the hands
of one man, or one set of men, to become
absolute in any branch of business.
"Our opponents through the nation, and
in particular here in Ohio, propose as
method of attacking trusts to meddle with
the tariff, which would mean economic us
aster to the masses, and to debase the coin
age which in addition to even more fright
full economic disaster would mean ma
tional dishonor. When they come to the
second plank in their platform, the ques-
tion of expansion, they advocate the dis
honor of the American arms and the trail
ing of the American flag in the dust. Ihey
place themselves outside the rank OF prop
er party opponents and make themselves
merely the enemies of the nation as a whole,
as already by their action on the currency
they have shown themselves to be the en-
emies of honesty within the nation. The
other day Ohio sent to New York prophet
of Mr.. Bryans new dispensation in the
shape of ex-CongreSSman LentZ, VINO dl-
vided his time between fervent hopes Tor
the success of Aguina!do, and therefore,
for the ruin of the American army in the
| Philippines and the firmly expressed con-
viction that the mantle of Washington and
| of Lincoln had fallen upon the shoulders OF
| eX-Gov. Altgeld. Truly, Mr.. Brydn's new
| dispensation begins with queer cata-
| logue of saints, when they canonize Agui-
| naldo as a hero and Altgeld as a sage.
| The combination is entirely appropriate.
| Those who would encourage anarchy at
| home most naturally strike hands with
| the enemies of our country abroad. The
| friend of the bomb thrower and his apo.-
| ogiSts are doing what is fit and meet when
| they strike hands across the seas with those
| who are lighting our soldiers in foreign
| lands. Funda mentally the causes which
| they champion are the same. The step
| encoura ging the assassination of the guard
| to n,f hn la W a
| abetting of the shooting down of our SOL
| diers abroad, Is but a short one; ana 1t
matters little whether the encouragement
be given by the exercise of the pardoning
| power by raving speeches upon the plat
| form, or by the circulation of silly docu-
| ments composed by men too feeble to ac-
| complish the mischief they design.
| Make no mistake. In the Philippines we
are at open war with an enemy who must
| be put down. 1t is absolutely impossible TO
| save our honor except through victory;
| and it is equally impossible to win peace,
| to restore order in the islands, or to pre-
| pare the way for self government there,
| save through victory. People tell you that
the Filipnos are fighting for independence.
| This was exactly what the copperheads OF
| 1861 said of the confederates. Here in Ohio
Vallandingham ran on the issue that
| the war was failure, and that the inde-
| pendence of the southern states should be
| acknowledged. The feeble Vallandinghams
| of to-day take the same position ana ii
| Ohio is true to the great memories of her
| past she will give the same answer now
| that she gave then. No man can hesitate
| in this struggle and ever afterwards call
| himself a true American and true patriot
| He must stand by the flag. He must uphold
the honor and the interest OF the nation
and the only way in which he can stand
by the one and uphold the other, is to over
| whelm the party that assa!ls both.
| Two facts must be emphasized: First
| that out of the present situation the only
| honorable and humane way is to put down
armed resistance in the Philippines, and
| to establish a government of orderly justice;
and, in the second place, that this situation
inevitably arose out of the war, and could
not have been avoided save by shameful
| conduct on our part. You will meet short
| sighted people who say that Dewey, after
| sinking the Spanish fleet should have sailed
| away from Manila bay. OF course, such
| conduct was impossible. 1t is not too much
to say that such conduct would have beer
| infamous. Either the islands would have
| been left to their own fate, had such a
course been followed, in which case a series
| of bloody massacreS would have taken
| place and the war between the SDaniards