The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-04
Washington Correspondence of the
Houston Post.


Houston Post.
year from now the quadrennlal
fight for the control Of the government
of this country will be in full blast. It
may not be out of place to take little
look ahead and try to see where we are
at AT this time there is a tendency
on the part of some politicians of
sporting turn of mind to bet that Nc
kfnley will be reelected. There is
scarcely doubt, Of course, that Nc
klnley will be renominated by the re-
publicans. No other candidate is in the
held, and there is no likelihood that
there will be. On the surface the gem
eral condition of the country seems
good There are no Coxey armies
marching, and commerce, manufact-
ures and agriculture seem to be in fair
condition. This, however, is on the sur
race Tor away down deep there is more
distress, hard times and short money
than any one in the cities OF the East
can have any idea Of for their horizon
is very much circumsCribed.
With all this seeming prosperity the
administration of Mckinley does not
ENJOY the confidence of the country.
The administration is tolerated, but
not esteemed. Mckinley is an abject
opportunist. He Is as putty in the
hands of glazier Hanna. He has not
and never had a set or positive policy.
lie rs either unable or unwilling to push
this Philippine trouble to conclusion,
or deal justly with those Filipinos. Our
soldiers have been no more successful
IN the Philippines than were our prede-
cessors. The Philippine war is costing
the people Of this country in the neigh
borhood of 100000 a day. The casualty
list from loss in battle and through dis
ease is very large and constantly grow
ing. The treasury deficit for the pre-
sent year is nearly $1,000 000 This will
necessitate another bond issue. War
or no war, bond issues are not popular
with the people, and on the eve of
general election they are generally dis
astrous to the party responsible.
What can the administration of Nc
kinley show up to date for the $500, 900
a day it is spending in the Philippines;
for the S20,000,000 given to Spain; for
the less of life? These questions will
be asked with frequency during the
campaign next year, and if they are
not satisfactorily answered Mckinley Is
going to suffer 1t is the disposition Of
the American people not to re-elect a
president 1T is now nearly thirty years
since a president has been reelected,
and on that occasion the honor fell to
a great hero of the civil war. The war
with Spain is not big enough to give
two terms to Mckinley. And the man
agement of the war was not such as to
be referred to with glowing pride. En-
balmed beef. the spawned surgical
service, the inefficient quartermaster
department, the commissioning in the
army Of the worthless and often dis
reputable sons of influential daddies
will all receive hearing on the stump
next year. These and many other
things will rise up to haunt this adj
ministration, and it seems that Nc
kinly has no lead-pipe cinch on re-
election as his immediate encourage
would have us believe. The presidents
policy, or rather lack of policy, in the
prosecution of the war in the Philip
pines, is beyond comprehension. our
soldiers seem to fight well, but they
have won no great victory up to date.
He persists in keeping a man at the
head of affairs over there who Is mani
testify incompetent. He has been SO
designated not only by the unbiased
newspaper correspondents, but by the
returning volunteers. He has authority
from congress to raise 35, 900 volunteers,
but he has only asked for part ar
them. Thus, for politics, he runs the
risk of having our little army in the
Philippines slaughtered by an over
Whelning force, and he keeps on pill
ing up a burden that will soon amount
to over a million dollars a day on the
backs of the American people.
Here Is where Mckinley shows his
weakness. He has played with fire and
famed the flames. A strong man in
the White House would have had Co.
600 soldiers in the Philippines three
months ago.
The campaign in the Philippines will
not be a serviceable document in the
political campaign next year for the
republican candidate. True, he has un-
loaded Alger, but the unloading has
come too late. The mischief has all
been done Another thing, Alger is
now going back home and begin to do
some talking. When he does, there is
going to be some music in the air. He
is going to prove that Mckinley and
Corbin were fully cognizant of every