Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-04
Secretary Of the Navy Outlines the
Coming Campaign.
PROSPERITY, REPUBLICAN SLOGAN
Democrats Will Oppose Every
thing the Former Advocate.
THE PEOPLE WILL DECIDE

In the campaign tnat IS now opening
enunciation and denunciation will, as usual,
be the dominant notes Of the platforms OF
the two contending parties. The repub-
licans, standing by the record that has
been made by the President and by Con-
gress, will propose to carry out the policies
that have been initiated so successfully
and with such signal advantage to the
prosperity and growth Of the country. The
democrats will, of course, condemn the acts
and purposes of the republican party, but
will present nothing in the way Of COLI
structive policy.
Prosperity is theme on which every re-
publican campaign orator can with irle-
sistible force appeal to the good sense ard
the interests of the voters. In every COM
munity marked contrast exists between
the conditions of today and those of 1896.
In that year the mills were silent and
workingmen were idle. The purchasing
power of the wage earners had been re-
duced to such low point that the products
of the farm and plantation were often sold
at less than the cost of production. ..nCGy
smoke is pouring from every factory Chin
ney, and every man anxious to work can
find employ ment at remunerative wages,
while the farmer and the planter enjoy a
degree of prosperity that has seldom been
equaled.
The increased prosperity of the whole
country can best be shown by a simple
comparison of the foreign commerce of 1896
Will tHdl Ol lJUD. OF ten months OF the
fiscal year of 1896 ending April 80 the
United States sold abroad goods to the
value of S1i9,44+,5 13. For the correspond
ing ten months ending April 80 of this year
the exports amounted to 81, 112, 749. 430, an
increase of S425.:;04 917 During the ten
months ending June So 1896 the imports
into the United States were valued at $685.
81, lJ1, While those for the same period Of
the present fiscal year amounted to $I17,-
24l .i66. This in itself is an indication of
increased prosperity, as 1t shows that the
people of the United States were able to
spend for foreign goods $5o,950:iO3 more
than in 1896. Still more forciby is the in
creased prosperity of the country shown
by the fact that the balance of trade in
favor of the United States, which for the
ten months ending April 80, 1896 amounted
to $50, lJ3,356, had increased to the enor-
nous of s455,3U7, 964 for the same
period in the present year. There is more
than eloquence in these figures. The voter
will not shut his eyes to their bearing on
his own welfare.
Result of McKinIey's Election.
This prosperity has been the natural re-
suit of the restoration of confidence brought
about by the election of 1896, and of the
enactment into law of the two leading
principles which Mr.. McKinleys cam
paign was conducted. The Dingley law,
| framed with view of depriving the prod
| ucts of cheaper foreign labor of an advan-
| tage in the American market, has enabled
| command the home market but to compete
| with most gratifying results for the mar
kets of the world. The advantages of the
reciprocity feature of this law already
partially realized as a result of the COM
mercial agreements entered into. The gold
standard law enacted during the recent
session of Congress has established the
financial system of the country on sound
footing. 1t has made it impossible to put
| the country on a basis that will depreciate
| its currency. 1t has provided for refund
| ing the national debt at the lowest rate paid
| by any nation on earth and has effected
| an annual saving in interest of many mil
| lions of dollars. 1t has extended the bene-
| fits of the national banking system to small
towns and has provided for an expansion
of national bank circulation adequate to
| the development of the business Of the
| country.
| Unless the Kansas City convention is car
| ried off It's feet by the extremists in their
| ranks it is possible that the leading dem
| ocratic issue of 1S96-the free coinage Of
| silver at the ratio of 16 to 1-may recei re
| only 4 perfunctory Endorsement. Still, they
| will argue that the soundness of their free
| silver campaign four years ago has some
| vindication in the increased prosperity Of
| the country, on the ground that what they
then contende1 for was an increase in the
| volume of basic money. That increase
| which they sought to bring about by open
ing the mints to silver, they will assert has
been achieved by the enormous increase inf
| the output of gold. There will be some con-
| demnation of the Dingley law by demo
cratic campaigners. though with the
changed conditions of the country and the
| development Of manufacturing industries in
the south the democratic party can no
longer unitedly support a free trade plat
| form. This issue cannot be revived without
injury to the democratic party, in the face
of our present financial and industrial good
condition. Any denunciation of the repub-
lican Congress for giving the country the
single gold standard and for increasing the
powers of the national banks will have lit
tie force in view of the increased volume of
currency and the general reduction of in
terest rates.
President Safe in His Record.
The President can safely go before the
country upon the record he has made. In
the republican platform of 1896, referring
to Cuba, the party declared:
I'VE believe that the government of the
United States should actively use its in,
fuence and good offices to restore peace
| and give independence to the island
How effectively that pledge has been and
is being carried out the world knows. Anx
ious to evade the horrors of war the Presi
dent strenuously endcavored to bring abou
a solution of the Cuban difficulty by peace
{ full means He persisted In this policy 81
5 far that even many members of his owl
: party became impatient When war coul'
no longer be avoided, the country found II
. him patriotic and efficient leader. Unde
!; his direction an army was created which a
Ell Caney and San Juan Hill added new
| always ready for action, swept the Spanis
: fleets from the seas at Manila bay and San
j | tiago de Cuba. Victorious in war, the ma
: | ton was generous in peace. Seldom hav
a | such terms been given to a vanquished TO
I as Were granted to the Spanish government
t in the treaty of Paris. The war undertake
:. | for the liberation of Cuba had accomplish
!, | its object 1t had grave results and en-
tailed grave responsibilities. but gave grea
t opportunities for the development of tn
e interests of the United States which wer
/ Unforeseen at its inception. Grave as thes
o responsibilities were, the President did nc
e shirk them. Had Porto Rico been left
possession of Spain, the same system {
# government which proved so intolerable
IT Cuba would have been continued In ths
+ | island. and sooner later the Unite
lie States would have been compelled to aba,
n this nuisance also. For the autocratic ru
J. of Spain there has been substituted In Port
n Rico a government in which the people wi
participate fast and far as their CT
n pacity for self-government will admit Wit
r. larger experience, they will be given II
f. creased responsibilities
re When Admiral Dewey's guns destroye
l. the Spanish feet in Manila bay the so
Is ereignty of Spain in the Philippines can
Is to an end. That government. Its fleet al
initiated and its army defeated. cou