Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-05-10

THE REPUBLICAN RESOLUTIONS.
The resolutions adopted by the Re-
publican Convention at Clarksburg
call for some consideration and COM
ment. They are remarkable alike for
the fulsome eulogy of President Ne
Kinley, for the civil service straddle,
for the allegation of prosperity, and
for the browning prevarication that
party pledges have been scrupulous-
ly kept" The resolutions, prepared,
as a matter of course, before the ses-
ssion, were evidently drawn by past
master in the use Of glittering gener-
alities, unhampered by any scruples Of
conscience. They read very much like
the advance notice of a circus, and, in
deed, the comparison is not inapt, for
the band is beginning to play and the
elephant is going round. The CLINT OF
tinsel, the sheen of tin armor and the
odor of the sawdust are alike in evil
dence, and the cry Of the fakir and the
tent door are heard in the land. It's
simply the old show with a fresh coat
of paint and the canvas displaying
new patches here and there.
Under its Republican, policies, the
country has passed from extreme depreS-
sion to unparalleled prosperity
Has it? There is prosperity of the
classes, but not of the masses. The
country, at the acme OF this so-called
prosperity has labor strikes upon
every hand. No day passes that does
not bring it's tidings of workingmen
throwing down their tools in the effort
to obtain some share OF the alleged i'm
provement in the condition of the peo-
pie. And the effort to wiring from
trusts and combines and corporations
some additional compensation for la
Dor was never harder fought. While
on the other hand the air is filed with
rumors of impending danger in the
great industries, and there is a most
decided element OF uncertainty in the
, situation all around. A few, it is true,
have reaped gigantic benefits during
the last two years; but how is it with
the many? The slight increases in
earnings here and there have been
much more than Offset by the large in
creases in the prices Of necessities,
while those whose earnings have not
increased have been almost crushed by
the enhanced cost of everything they
eat and wear. Many men, working
hard and faithfully, earn no more now
than after the panic OF 1898, and it
costs them one-third more to live. Has
prosperity come to them? This "splen-
did Republican prosperity" responds to
the tap of calm investigation with
rather hollow sound.
Party pledges have been kept; the dig
nifty and honor of the nation maintained
every where"
The Republican party has not kept
its pledges as to bi-metallism, as to
civil service, as to Porto Rico, as. 10
q Cuba. or to the people in regard to the
Spanish war. The dignity and hon
or" Of the nation las not been MAIN
tanned in several regards. and the peo-
pie are still being bled by a war tax
in time of pea 2e, for the dual purpose
Of maintaining an army of 65, 900 men
on the other side of the world, and
pili"g IN a surplus of cash in the
treasury 30 be used 70. Heaven alone
knows what future extravaganza.
The public credit strengthened until
the nations bonds, bearing a lower rate
Of interest than any like securities in the
E 'es command premium in the mar
This assertion is not warranted by
TIE facts. English loans for many
JARS have beeil made at from 21s to 3
per ce1t.. ard have sold at a premium
of Is to ~ per cent. France has also
a large bonded debt at rates equally as
low.
There have been rightfully excluded
from he classification of the civil SER
vice by President Mckinley number of
places previously included, hut there are
yet in the classified service in the inter-
nal revenue service and in the United
oil the government service in our State
and elsewhere those who properly should
not be included
This paragraph is in trucking SUBJ
mission and approval of the act of
President Mckinley in which. In viola
ton of the party declarations in the
St. Louis platform, he deliberately
weIt about the making of about ten
thousand political appointments by
taking certain officers from the civil
service list. Mckinley did violence to
his party's promise in that. The Fair
aont Republican Convention approves
his act, and would go even farther, as
the concluding lines of the resolution
quoted show.
These are but examples Of things