Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-09-27
No FbL1ERING UNDER
THE NATIONS DUTY.
Silver and Expansion Are the
Paramount Issues.
M. E. ingalls,, Lifelong Sound Money
Democrat, Writes of the Neces-
sity for Assuming Larger
National Life.

One of the most successful, distin-
guished and popular railway presidents
in the United States is the Hon. Mel
vile e. Ingalls, of Cincinnati. From the
very ground of railroad construction he
has worked his way up to the presidency
of the Chesapeake and Ohio and Big
-Four railway systems, among the most
prosperous of our great trunk lines. MI
Ingalls, is one of the people, and 1s prac-
teal in every idea. 53Ie is a lifelong Dem
ocrat, and from the September issue OF
the North American Review the follow
ing extracts are made from Mr.. ingalls,
Advice to Gold Democrats:
What has happened since November,
1896, to warrant a reversal of the Judg-
fmcnt which the American people then
pronounced at the polls? Under what
conditions have we entered on the pres
ent presidential campaign, and what, IN
this regard is TIE duty of patriotic c1tl-
zens, independent of partisan atiillationE
To the Democrat who voted for Palmer
and Bucllner, as well as to the Democrat
who voted for Mckinley four years ago,
The situation to-day presents peculiar
embarrassments Preferring to act with
his party, when possible, the patriotic
Democrat must, nevertheless, answer the
I'll of duty, no matter in what direction
it leads him.
The second and supreme trial of the
great financial issue, which never should
have been dragged into partisan politics,
will be made at the polls in November,
1900 This test will, I believe, be con
elusive. What are the conditions under
which it is to be made?
There is in the United States at the
unparalleled prosperity, in
to share.
the leading creditor nation, and We g..
financing the world We have produced
three great crops in succession, and we
are feeding Europe. We have had three
years of unexeellad manufacturing in
dustry, and we are finding a prompt and
generous market all over the world. The
American farmer, the American laborer
and the American business man We're
never as prosperous as they are to-day.
1t is by Their SURFACES that this presiden-
tial election must be decided. In what
direction 90 tier interests lie?
The American farmer is selling for
37h cent q bushel corn which it costs
him Is cents to produce. His wheat and
cotton, his beef and pork are selling at
profitable prices. He is spending his
money in Injuries ard enjoying himself.
lie is riding in railroad trains ara as he
looks from the car windows oven the
bountiful harvests, he is taking new
view not only Of his native LAND, ,yhich
was never fairer or happier, but is also.
thinking of his new markets and new
''DOSSpSSlOnS'' across the
The labOrer is to-day receiving more
wages than he ever received before, and
he is receiving them in a currency that is
good all over the world. In many in
stances, undoubtedly. there must be
reimbursement Of wages, and the sporadic
strikes now reported in various manufac-
turing ccnters point probably to the be-
ginriDg Of this re,'.!"stmcnt. IL na- cnn-
ion, these a1G t1AhtaG difficulties will be
safely and aUe2Ciy settled
Now, can an sane man tell me how
the laborer Tii lel2 his condition, or the
solution of the problems so vital to him.
by voting to dn0aSe our standard of value
and thereby reducing his own wages?
What has labor to hope from Bryan,
OStensibly the friend of the dissatisfied,
the champion of the aggrieved, and the
chosen candidate of all the long-haired
reformCrs in the United States? Does
not the supreme salvation of labor de
pend. after all, upon preserving our
standard of value, upon the nOn-partiSan
regulation OF trusts, and upon the appli-
cation to those great commercial aggre-
cations, which are so peculiarly pro-
duct Of this age, of a system of license
and taxation? Is it not idle to denounce
the trust as an evil, a menace to the ma
tional welfare? Is not the trust a nat
ural and essential development of our
time? a quarter of a century ago the
word "cOrpofetto implied an inherent
repGOach in the minds of exactly those
citizens who to-day regard the trust,
which is the incorporation o. corpora
tons with the same disfavor Yet it is
to the solution of the trust problem that
the American business man. as well as
the American farmer and leborer, must
address himself. And in the solution of
that problem he will find the present goal
of patriotism
The business man who does not inquire
into the politics of his bookkeeper Is
asked by the supporters of Mr.. BRYAN to
allow partisan politics to be injected into
the circulating medium through which he
carries on his business. He refused in
1925, as he will refuse, l believe, in 1900 |
to impute either Democracy or Republi- |
canism TO the dollar. He will say that
it is not a political question, and that it
should not be made such. Asking him
self where he shall seek guidance in the /
casting Of his ballot, he, like the laborer /
and the farmer, looks out upon prosper |
ity unprecedented. He sees trade follow /
ing the flag all around the world. and |
new markets opening to him under new |
national RESPONSIBILITIES. He realizes as |
business man, that these responsible I
ties must be grappled with and adjusted /
on business basis. No policy of evasion