The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1900-10-04
BUSINESS INTERESTS
lMpERILED BY BRYAN
HIS ELECTION WoULD. MEAN A
TRYING REIMBURSEMENT.
Voters should Remember the Fear
full storm which Passed over
the Country When Cleveland
Was Elected I'm 1892.

was Elected In 1892.
The timely and pertinent article
from the pen Of Secretary Gage or
the subject of the gold standard law
and the opportunity that the presi.
dent would have to nullify its effects
and his reply to Mr.. Schurz, suggests
( a danger that is not only imminent
but Is apparent when considered with
the conditions resulting from the last
administration under Mr. Cleveland.
In the campaign that ended in the
election OF that gentleman the, issue
was the tariff. The Democratic plat
form had denounced the McKinle,
law In the usual terms; had pledged
the country that, If given power, it
would repeal the protective tariff and
substitute tariff for revenue only;
denouncing the reciprocity clause as
fraud, etc.
This was a pledge on the part Of
the democracy which, IL elected, it
was In duty bound to fulfill and con-
trary to the general expectation of the
business men Of the country Mr..
Cleveland and both houses Of congress
favorable to the Democracy, were
elected.
The questions that presented them
selves to the minds of the business
men We're:
What changes will be made in the
tariff?"
ITO what extent will those changes
go?"
How will it affect the industries of
the ccuntry?'
4 asVViu NV b,,c;,acs ~, aee.a4.a -
to what extent?"
Then followed the inevitable re-
trenchment on the part of the business
men to make themselves safe and to
protect their business interests from
the consequences of the changes that
the Democracy was pledged to make.
No country could undergo the pre-
paratory stage of such radical changes
resulting from the election without
feeling the effect, and the sudden halt
to which all business interests were
brought precipitated the panic.
Mr.. Cleveland and his advisers
failed to see the cause, and as a con-
sequence the Democracy went off on
the wrong scent. When congress was
called together in the spring of 1892 by
Mr.. Cleveland it was to consider the
advisahility Of repeating the Sherman
law. as a measure of relief in staying
the storm. Instead of making the
changes pledged to be made in the
tariff laws. and after spending several
months quarreling, during which time
the business interests of the country
were trying to adjust themselves to
change they could only anticipate, and
the smaller concerns were collapsing
like frame houses in a tornado, con-
gress managed to repeal the purchas-
Ing clause, and adjourned 81
Newspapers attributed the panic to
first one cause and another, and the
Democratic party was all at sea.
Values were shrinking, prices were
going down, mills were closing, fur
naces were being banked, mercantile
houses of all kinds and sizes were
breaking, banks were closing their
doors, thousands and thousands OF
workingmen and laborers of all kinds
were thrown out of employment, and
went in, good many instances as
charges to the charitably inclined,
every city of any consequence opened
soup houses to help the starving; in
fact, to use figure of speech, it was
the wreck of a cyclone in the business
houses of the United States, and the
party in power not only failed to APP
ply the necessary relief but was ut
terly unable to comprehend the cause
of the disaster, and tried to shift the
responsibility of their vacillating, sell
fish, office grabbing, business-wreck-
ing policy upon the shoulders of the
previous administration.
The cause of the panic, as viewed
from business standpoint, was the
ina bility of the Democratic party to
handle the. affairs of the government 4
in a crisis. A prompt and decisive |
action on the part of the party in /
power in fulfilling it's pledges would |
have in measure saved the country |
millions of dollars loss. But. instead |
of this prompt action, there was moth |
ing but needless procr stination, ana ,
when the Wilson bill was finally |
passed it was so unsatisfactory that /
the president refused to sign it. ~
The same kind of danger in worse
form, will threaten the country should |
Mr.. Bryan be elected The Democratic i
party is pledged to free coinage of |
silver at the ratio of lie to /, both in
he Chicago and Kansas City plat
forms, and Mr.. Bryan, in his speech i
at Knoxville Sept. 16, 1896,
said:
IF there is any enc who believes
hat the gold standard is good thing,
,r that it must be maintained, warn
him not to cast his vote for me, be-
,ause I promise him it viii not be
maintained in this country longer than 4
am able to get rid of it,
Suppose he is elected president, and
should have congress his way OF
linking, would not the country be
justified in believing that the Demo-
ratio party would attempt to carry
tut it's pledges? Would not the busi-
less interests be justified in trying to
protect themselves from loss by an
fcipating the action of Mr.. Bryan in
arrying out the promises made in the
Kansas City platform? Would not
he result be the same or worse than
n 1892 when M. Cleveland and the
,arty pledged to reform the tariff
we're placed in power?
What right has any one to expect
hat the interests of the country will
,e safe from the consequences Of Mr..
3ryarl's election and the fulfillment of
he pledges Of his party, and his own
penly expressed determination con-
erning the gold standard act, in the