Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-11-17
PIRIT OF THE PRESS
ACTS AND OPINIONS GATHERED
FROM CONTEMPORARIES.


HE Reeuke TO CRIMINAL AGGRESSION.
The elections throughout the country
ave evidently resulted in general Demo
ratio gains and noteworthy Republican
administration reverses at critical
oints. So far as somewhat fragmentary
eturns indicate, the presidents party in
Is own state has been badly cut up.
While the Democratic nominee Is far
rom having carried the state, his vote,
bgether with that of Jones, lndepend-
MT, has put the Mckinley Republicans
notable minority.
Meantime the Bryan fusionists appear
have carried Nebraska by an increased
laiority, where the Republicans had
|een confident of winning. This Is in
icated by large fusion gains in the
trong Republican sections of the eastern
nd of the state. Maryland has swung
|ack into the Democratic column by a
ecided majority, and elsewhere, ex-
epting possibly Kentucky, the drift
ppears to have been decidedly against
he Republicans.
The meaning of this verdict at the
POLLS cannot be misunderstood. 1t car
les to the administration terribly en-.
bhatic rebuke for its war of criminal ag-
preston. The blow administered in the
pre- sident's own state is staggering. The
ssue there was clearly drawn. While
here are other questions of large i'm
portance inseparably connected with the
,anvass, said the personal organ of Nc
can on the eve of the election, 1.-THE
cal issue is, Shall our form of govern
nent remain as established by the
Fathers or shall it be perverted and sub
verted to an imperial svstem?' And
|hround this question Of Imperialism as
Embodied in the Philippine war of con-
quest the contest chiefly turned. If the
Republicans lost votes on account of
Hanna, the Democrats lost votes on ac-
count of the Objectionable character of
the Democratic candidate. And il the
Republicans lost votes on account of the
trusts, the Democrats must have lost
Votes on account of the general business
prosperity prevailing.
The great lurch which sends the presi-
dents party in Ohio from large and APP
|parently unassailable majorites in years
|past, into striking minority, has been
brought about by the presidential policy
|of criminal aggression; and the outcome
II Maryland, where Gov. Roosevelt was
sent to arouse an imperlalist spirit, and
lin Nebraska, where the contest was es-
|pecially sharp over this particular ques-
|tion, and where great agricultural
prosperity was expected to make the
invincible, confirm and
deepen the vast significance of this re-
suit.
We trust now that Mr.. Mckinley is
convinced now that the shouting crowds
about the rear end of the presidential
|stumping train do not fairly represent
1.-THE people. All that could be done to
rally the electorate to his standard of
revolution in the government was done
even to the abandonment of the tradi-
|tional dignity of the presidential office
which has kept it out of partisan cam
and to the hasty promulga-
ton of preliminary Philippine commits
sion report for spt cial effect on the
elections. All that the Iwaving of the
flag could do, and all that 'the,appeal to
popular sentiment and pride In the armed
power of the nation was able to &C.
complish in the sway of arousing the
people to an Endorsement of the admins
tration-all this was brought to bear,
but to no purpose. The brutal ma
terialism which would count as nothing
the blood of thousands of men against
the cent per cent profit of gain in
fancied commercial advantage, has wo-
fully miscalculated the character of the
American people, and brought upon it.
self the rebuke it so richly deserves.
The verdict raises at once the question
of the expedlency of Mr.. Mckinley S re-
nomination. 1t points to the impossi
bility of electing. him in 1900 on the
platform he has made for himself, and
by which he must apparently stand OF
fall.-Springtield Republican.
THE SCHURMAN TREATY.
The Reverend Doctor Schurman, presi
dont IF tho Philippina commits sion IL q O.