People's voice., 1900-06-28
!" WIfnt Waste
Makes Woefat Want. "

<sszasAss4slL.2 2lss[lI.lIkDT
facts That is their business, and if
they choose not to give the informa.
tion to the public, that is their busi-
ness also,"
And so Mr.. Hanna and his associates
calmly vote to give sl7,OOO,O 900, more
or less, to a combination that saws that
the cost of the article it is selling to
the public is none of the publics busi-
ness.
The Porto Rico matter gave occasion
for another exhibition of Republican
lnsincerity. When Congress met it
was to listen to exhortations from the
president to do our plain duty" by
giving the Porto Ricans free access to
to our markets. "Plain duty" meant
nothing to Mr. Mckinley, 1t sounded
well and seemed safe. But his recon-
mendation Immediately brought
swarm of buzzing, stinging protected
interests about his ears. He promptly
retreated, and took his party IN Con-
gress with him. That the change of
programme was due to this cause and
no other was notorious. The protec-
tionists, led by their gan in New
York, boasted of their victory, and
taunted the wretched Porto Ricans
with their helplessness and their lack
OF votes. Eut the Republican leaders
in Congress, congehitally incapable of
a sincere statement of anything with
politics in it, had the assurance to put
in the preamble of their bill the asser-
tion that it was passed for the benefit
OF the Porto Ricans themselves, who
had money to pay crooked taxes, but
could not pay straight ones.
We needed cable across the Pacific,
Of course, to statesmen such as those
who control the Republican party at
Washington, that could mean only one
thing-subsidieS to a corporation. But
there is popular prejudice against
subsidies, even when it is not known
for crtain that the pockets of the
statesmen who are voting for them are
filed with the stock of the corpora.
tions they are subsidizing. So Con-
gress, just before a presidential elec-
ton, had to be cautious. The house
passed bill providing for a cable to
be laid chiefly with government
money and owned by a corporation.
The senate amended it to make the
government own the cable after paying
for it. The matter then went over
until after election, when the cable
will doubtless be given to the corpora
tion.
The Republicans in Congress were
hungry for ship subsidies. They could
hardly keep theil hands off that gi-
gantic job, even with the spectre of
November before them But here, too,
they remained on the familiar ground
Of pretence. They got their subsidy
bill in position to put through next
winter, and then passed the word to
keep quiet about it until after cleo
ton.
So Of the army. The provisional
army law expires next year, and per-
manent measure should have been
passed at this session to take its place.
The Republican party intends to have
great standing army, and it shows
that noth;n of the sort is wanted by
the people Consequently it passed no
army reorganization bill at this session
that was another thing that could be
handled better after election.
Nor would the party put its Philip.
pine policy in the form of a statute. 1t
would not frankly expose its pro-
gramme to criticism. 1t preferred an
indefinite regime OF executive orders,
which might be un-American and
might cost few lives, but would lend
itself to elastic representations on the
stump
This Congress has been frank in
only one thing-its reputation of its
party promises on the financial ques-
tion and its undisguised subserviency
to aggregated capital.-New York
Journal.