The Washington weekly post., 1900-09-11

our present well-belng. but do claim that
| IL Is this administration and this lsgis-
lation which have rendered 1t possible for
the American people 20 achieve such we'll
being. insist. furthermore, that the one
and only way 10 insure widespread in
| dustrial and social ruin would be now 10
| reverse the policy under which We have
so prospered and 10 try that policy Of
/ financial disgrace and economic disaster
which We rejected I'm lsss Our opponents
now advance the most extraordinary ar
guments that have ever been advanced
| in Presidential campaign by any party
| on behalf OF It's Presidential nominee.
| They have reaffirmed specifically their
entire iss6 platform. and yet they insist
| vigorously that all they considered OF
most vital Importance in 1ssS shall now
4 be -elegated TO a subordinate place And
| more extraordinary still. they actually
ask that Mr. Bryan and a Democratic
| House be elected. because the Senate VIII
/ remain Republican anyhow. so that the
| President and the House Will not be able
| 10 do much harm.
Want Excuse 10 Vote for Bryan.
Think Of II. gentlemen. This Is the
| position actually taken by not a few OF
| our opponents, and especially By the men
/ who know that Mr.. Pryan's financial
policy is utterly ruinous, but who want
! TO give themselves some excuse for vot-
I ing against President Mckinley. because.
/ forsooth, President Mckinley has been
| too active in upholding the honor OF the
| flag. Mr.. Bryan himself is sufficiently
| strident when he talks about those tig-
/ ments OF disordered brains. militarism and
/ Imperialism, yet he cooes as mildly as a
| sucking dove when he whispers his un-
| changed devotion TO free silver.
Now, IL Is worth while remembering
/ that IL the question OF the unsettlement
OF our currency is raised in any cam
paign. IL must be one OF the paramount
questions. The other day. In accepting
/ the Populistic nomination. Mr.. Bryan was
careful 10 point out how little he and they
| differed I'm essentials on the greenback
question. He is quite right Both are be-
( levers in fiat money; what particular
/ kind of fiat money is necessarily minor
detail. 1t makes no difference whether
free silver or fiat money is champi1ned
| as the first or second issue so long as Il
Is championed at ALL save that to sUbor-
dinate 1t as an issue removes the least
| justification for raising the issue at all
/ The one element more essential than any
/ other 10 the prosperity of a great civil
/ lied nation is sound and stable cur
rency. The only possible excuse for Ieop-
| ardizing the prosperity of the whole ma
| ton by attacking its system of currency.
| Is conviction so intense that the issue
must OF necessity be a burning one. If
our opponents do not regard the silver
issue as a paramount issue. then they
! nave been guilty of gross wrong 10 their
IeiioW-countrymen In raising IL at all
As matter of fact il is paramount
anu tne attitude OF the Populistic Democ-
u IN to-
east OF the Mississippi. while Insisting
upon their adheHlnce to it west of the
/ Mississippi, is irN itself enough To dis
credit them In the eyes of ali good citi-
zens. whether Republicans or genuine
| Democrats.
Abate the Evils of Trusts.
"A word as to trusts. Beyond a oues-
ton the great industrial combinations
which we group in popular parlance nm
DER the name of trusts have produced
great and serious evils. There is every
reason why We should try to abate those
evils and TO make men Of wealth, whnth-
! er they act individually or collectively.
bear their full share of the country's 3
| burdens and keep as scrupulously within
the bounds OF equity and morality as any
| or their neighbors. But wild and frantic
denunciation does not do them the least
/ harm. and simply postpones the day
when We can make them amenable 10
proper laws. Hasty legislation of a vio-
/ lent type is either wholly ineffective
against the evil, or else crushes the evil
at the expense of crushing even more of
good. We need to approach the subject
both with firm resolution to abate the
evils and in a spirit of hard common
sense as we search for the means of
| abating them.
"One of the first things to obtain is
| publicity. We must be able by law 10
find out exactly what each corporation
does and earns. This mere publicity it.
self will effect something toward remedy
ing many evils. Moreover ii will give
US a clearer idea as to what the remain
ing evils are, and will, therefore, enable
US to shape our measures for attacking
the latter with good prospects of sue
| cess. Immoderate attack always invites
reaction and often defeat. Moderation,
! combined with resolution. cam alone Sc
| cure results worth having. Let me point
out to you that within the last two years
we have in New York established a fran
| chise tax under which the corporations
| which owe most to the State, but which
! had hitherto largely escaped taxation.
| have been required 10 pay their just share
| OF taxation.
This law has resulted in putting upon
the assessment books nearly two hundred
! millions of property which had thereto
! fore escaped taxation. IL represents ten
] times over more than our opponents ever
! did in that State, or so far as / know In
any other State, have done TO remedy the
/ inequalities which can justly be complain
[ ed of; and yet We did IL without any dem
! agogic outcry, and we did IL in no an
! archie spirit, but simply as the friends Of
order and liberty. OF property and indivi1-
ual rights who intended temperately but
firmly to insist upon justice for all. Ii
! other words, We made our performance
square with our promise
Now word specifically as TO the
Philippines. IL is in connection with the
Philippines that Mr.. Bryan has chiefly
harped upon the consent of the govern
| ed theory. As a matter OF fact. we can
not too clearly keep in mind that the
success OF the Aguinaldian rebels would
mean not liberty for all Filipinos, but
liberty for a certain bloodthirsty section
| TO oppress a great majority of their
| fellow-cogntrymen Under Spanish rule
| the Filipinos were treated with intOerable
| cruelty. The Aguinaldian leaders nave
| wherever their power has extended, con-
| tinued a system almost as bad. The chief
/ victims or this system have been not
the Americans. but their felow-F Filpinos;
for their hatred and cruelty have been
exhibited chiefly at the cost OF theiI
| fellowcountrymen. who have had the
good sense and genuine patriotism ia
realize that the true interests OF the ISL
| snds lay in the American government. So
| far as j am aware not one competent
| witness who has actually known the
! facts believes the Filipinos capable OF
self-government at present. or believes
( that such an effort would -esult IN any
| thing but a horrible confusion OF tyran-
| ny and anarchy.
Our Rule In the Philippines.
Remember that 10 surrender the Phil
ippines now to a little band OF military
! urgUrpers would be 10 surrender the ISL
| ands 10 blOodshed and misery. Our stay
| in the islands is the condition precedent
of peace. With US. expansion means. as
II always has meant, peace. When we
took New Mexico. il meant that we gave
20 that Territory peace. and saved II
from the quarter Of century Of bloody
fighting, which followed for old Mexico.
When we expanded west Of the AIssissip-