Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-10-07

For Republicans to claim credit for
present conditions is the acme of nom
sense and the height of folly. The par
ty of the administration is no more re-
sponsible for increased buying and sell
ing than the man in the moon, and
study of facts and conditions will verify
this. A worldwide prosperity must
have a worldwide cause. and the i'm
perialistic coterie at Washington has
scarcely worldwide influence in COM
mercial matters.
The New York Evening Post has con-
sidered this Republican claim to credit
in great detail, and concludes long
review of the situation in these words;
Now we will inquire what foundation
there is for the CAIN that the present
prosperity is due to the Mckinney admin
istration, or to the Republican party. 10
answer this question, II is necessary TO go
back to the last previous Republican ad-
ministration that of President Harrison,
in WHICH, as ii happens, Mar. Mckinney Was
potent factor IN the legislative Drahcn
ten that in the first Cleveland adminlstra-
ton (ISo5-l5S9) The country was remarkaD-y
prosperous, ana that the interest bearing
debt of the nation was reduced at the rate
of more than one hundred million dollars
per year. This notable and advantageous
condition, which would have lett the ma
ton free from debt if 1t had been continued
few years longer. was brought TO an
end during the Harrison admins ration py
three principal measures, VIZ nrst, the
Mckinley tariff, Whicn repealed the sugar
duties and reduced the pubic revenue by
So0,0OJ,000; second, by the new pension Dill,
which added $5000U,O00 TO ne puDlc ex-
which more than doubled the government
silver purchases. THESE three measures
literally bankrupted the Treasury. Iney
made the government S outgo greater tndh
its income, and the party which was re-
sponsible for 1t took no steps 10 replenlsh
the Treasury or to redress the Ddiance.
That party was so fortunate as TO be peat
en- in the next Presidential election Qosz);
BY being beaten 1t avoided the pohucdl
consequences of its own ba!eIuI acIs;
These consequences fell upon the second
Cleveland administration, which was IN
no wise responsible for them.
In the case OF nation whose resources
are ample bankruptcy of the pubic treas
ury is not necessarily damaging 70 private
credit. II must always be accounted an
act of folly because IL is an expensive al
air for the taxpayers, but IS not otHefW4se
harmful. In Lnis case, however, the pup
1ic credit was interviewer with private
credit. The TWO tnlngs were tied togethef
yer legislation OF which the sherman act
was the climax. This act was nEeWlse
interviewer with the Mckinney tariff. On
the very day when the tarih Dill reached
the Senate the latter BODY passed a free-
coinage bill, aid then sat down on the
tariff and waited TO see what eHect lts
action would have at the other end OF
the capital. In Cue time tie sherman DlIl
emerged from the deprts or the previous
WinGom bill, and in the course OF events
the Mckinley bill and the sherman OH
were linked into a law as matter OF par
gain and log-ro.ling.
For the purposes of the present argu-
ment, we will consider only the revenue
features of the Mckinley bill. It's title de-
clared that it was a bill 10 reduce reVe-
nue." 1t accomplished this purpose TO
degree that must have astonished ITS pro-
moters. The receipts from customs duties
fell from $229, t00, 90 IN 1880 TO $l!h051C0J n
1892, a net loss of $4,000. CO. which was Just
about the measure of the sugar loss aIone
The expenditures for the same period rose
from $35S, 900 90 10 $4l5, 100000, an increase
of $57O04000. Here was showing OF sl9s,-
Oe9000 ito the bad, and this showing be
came much worse in the TWO following
years. The most deplorable fact in the
situation was that the maintenance Oh ne
gold standard depended upon the eondl-
ton of the Treasury-upon the relation OIL
receipts 70 expenditures. s,,,.., cot
pouring a fresh deluge of silver currency
(redeemable in god into the clrcuIatlon'
the condition brought ABOUT by the Mchlh-
ley bill Of 1880 and the new, pension Pill
%
would have been hazardous in a high de-
gree With the Sherman bill, when pro-
Vided for the purchase of 100000 ounces
of silver every month (for which gold must ni;5
be paid and its conversion into a new ana
terrifying kind of currency we had all the
ingredients of panic and crash. Tnis Sam same
in 1893. That is was caused by the dlsas-
trous combination Of events here enumer-
ated all of which were the doings OF the
Republican party, for which VIM. Mel<1n-
ley was the leading agent there is no room
to doubt. The founoation Of the, present
prosperity was laid by the Cleveland ad-
ministration when it forced the uncondi-
tonal repeal of the Sherman act. That
Mckinley and his party should now lay
claim to the credit for the revival OF Of, bust us
which they plunged it by the measures
above recited, is mark either of gross i'm
pudence or of the grossest ignorance.
While we do not agree with all the
Evening Post says, much of it is true
at least to the extent that the Repub-
lican claim of credit for business pros
perity is mere bosh.