Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1900-08-09
SIBLEY'S COURSE AN HONEST ONE

tactS are the DeSU argument up
on any question, and they are
especially abundant, valuable and
convincing in the present political
campaign. In 1896 the country
had just passed through four years
of the greatest financial disturbance
and industrial depression the pres
cntgeneratiOn hasever experienced.
| Crash after crash had occurred in
the financial and commercial world
until every business man and in
stitution had lost confidence in
every other man and institution.
if not in themselves. All were OBJ
jects of distrust and suspician,
which were liable at any time to
assume tangible form and result in
disaster. The banking institutions
OF our town, which are all ordi-
narily known to be as absolutely
sound and reliable as any in the
State, were no exceptions, and
more than once during that period
some of them narrowly escaped be-
ing subjected to a run that might
have resulted disasterously, while
all were compelled to call in and
curtail their loans as means of
safety. For a considerable period
they practically ceased to do bust
ness.
All over this broad land were
silent factories, smokeless furnaces,
motionless machinery and idle
workmen. What had been the
greatest centres of industrial activ-
ity were the worst sufferers during
that period, as they were thus
transformed into the greatest cen
tres of enforced idleness. Scenes
were there enacted that had never
been seen before-stalwart men
begging, not for aims, but for a
chance to work, even for a pittance,
that they might keep their families
from starving; children actually
crying for bread who had never
known want before; organized
charity feeding countless thousands
who had never thought to be forced
to eat aught they had not honestly
earned. There We're no strikes.
No, every man who had work was
only too glad to hold on to it at
whatever wages his employer felt
able to give. Rich and poor suf-
fered alike. There was certainly
no discrimination to complain of.
Idle factories make no returns; idle
capital bears no interest; proitless
investments pay no dividends.
The supposedly rich were often in
as great straits as the confessedly
poor.
The very government itself was
as great a sufferer as any, if not the
primary cause of it all, and for the
first time in a generation was com
PEELED to make forced loan in
time of peace to meet its legitimate
expenses; and to negotiate that loan,
even at a high rate of interest, was
forced to pay many millions of dol
lars as a premium to the syndicate
who handled it. That syndicate,
the sheriffs throughout the land,
and then the President of the Unit
ed States, were almost the only
ones who emerged from that period
in better financial condition than
they entered it.
Then arose that self-constituted
Apostle, who held up the "Cross of
Cold as the soul and only cause
of all the trouble and proclaimed
the doctrine Of ''16 to J. as the
sovereign and only remedy. And
over and across, up and down this
broad land, he and his followers
preached this doctrine night and |
day with a tireless zeal and an ac-
tive energy worthy of any cause,
and among them was our own }. c. |
Sibley. That they believed what |
they proclaimed there was no doubt.
That they were firmly convinced of !
the truth Of their assertions no man |
need deny. But that they were |
mistaken has been abundantlv |
proven. For at the same time there |
came another apostle who preached |
the doctrine of running this gov
ernment on business principles that
whenever tried had not been found |
wanting. And he and his follow
ers gained the ears, and voice, and
votes Of the people, and the reins
of government were entrusted to
his hands.
The world breathed easier, and
business men OF the country smiled
and grasped each other confidently
by the hand And even the great
Apostle of "1G to J." in a moment
of frankness and candor, declared
"if good times should come under
President Mckinley's administra-
ton. the Republican party Would