Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-09-27


or retreat can commend itself to him.
Yet, into the field of partisan discussion
he finds these responsibilities dragged,
like the dollars from his counting room,
by the politicians who seek his vote. And,
like the farmer and the laborer, he finds
his next national ballot invested with
UNIQUE Importance. % {
What will be the reply of the American
patriot, who is now asked to believe that
his home and his pocketbook are staked
on the next turn Of the ballot, that
wrong decision spells ruin, and that he
must decide issues of such moment as
were never before submitted to the Amer
lean electorate? 80 e.vzas ..
Bryan's election appears to
me impossible Good citizens,
irrespective Of party, should vote for Me-
kinley in November. That 1t is the duty
of patriots to do so have no doubt u
The safety of the American republtcis
not menaced by DOGGY, crowned with an
imperial diadem of straw. The cry OF
Imperialism is simply prete1t Of the
Democratic leaders to save themselves
frcm the fatal blunder they made in
1895, the blunder of dragging the dollar
to the polls and endeavoring TO degrade
it. Impecialism is not the paramount
issue, dtcp'te all efforts to make It so. 81
Now. as n 1896. the real issue is the
Silver DANCE. That is the peril threat
ening this country, not the imaginary
evils attendant on the acquisition of new
territory, which was the inevitable re-
suit of a war for which the shriekera
against Imperialism were largely respon-
sible. The only peril now threatening
the United States is ruin and retrogres-
sion under silver, the turning back Of
the wheels of progress and prosperity
to the standards of China and Mexico,
and the abandonment Of our position as
the greatest country In the civilized
world. atH,.T a53xS.
Shall we go forward or shall we turn
back? That is the question for the yot-
ers in November. Under Mckinley we
go forward, under Bryan we turn back.
The coming test of the silver question
at the polls must, in all human proba-
bility, be the final one. The will Of the
voters twice registered will not be the
third time disputed. Each year that we
| preserve our present money standard
gives it additional security. The Amer
lean people do not like experiments with
! their currency, their school houses, their
churches or their savings banks. A re-
versal of the popular verdict Of 1896
would mean a reversal of all the achieve
ments that make up our national pros
perity. Bryan's election would mean that
| the sovereign people had decreed that OUT
laborers shall be paid In silver, while
our foreign debts must still be paid in
! gold .s-.. <-~-. x
Convinced as I am that the financial
! question is the paramount issue ID NO
vember, 1900, as it was in November,
1896, it is worth while for Democrats
who supported Mckinley, as I did, four
years ago, to ask what are the issues
upon which our party could have appeal
ed to the American people with fair pros
9ectsf of success, and what we can con-
f. .+~rn tests, afteE this
fQppItSS1y1 ISIS Il - all
the immediate enactmens Of IA s-.->
honest scheme Of colonial government
These would have been issues upon which
every patriot could have been honestly
asked to vote. Why should we not sci
fairly about reform in our old system
of taxation, and, at the same time, init
ate departure which might we'll result
III Ill ONlIls illC COSL Ol government uCOI
those who can best afford it? -
The silver problem solved once for ALL as
it will be in November, the colonial prob
lem at once becomes paramount. D We
must either give up Hawaii, Porto Rico
and the Philippines, haul down our flag,
and shamefully abandon the righteous
fruits of our prowess by land and sea,
or we must prepare to govern these dis
tant additions TO our country fairly and
honestly and capably. A per-
petual, constitutional barrier must be
! erected against the statehood Of all our
non-coptiguous possessions. That SUI
| premely important problem IS to be met
and overcome, not by cowardly evasion
or diSgraceful retreat, for the American
| people will tolerate no such course. We
must institute honestly and wisely and
| administer economically All American CO.
lonial system, worthy alike of our new
! possessions and of their mother country.
| We are not incapable Of governing them.
! We c, IS nation, incapable of nothing.
1ully believe in the future of the
American republic, and that we are wise
and b,aye enough to bear the bur6 ems
and fulfill the task Providence has aIlot-
| ted US. Let us not falter at the thr--sh-
! old NJ e. INGALL+.