The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1900-10-06
BUSINESS INTERESTS
IM2ERILED BY BRYAN
BIS ELECTION WOULD MEAN 4
TRYING REIMBURSEMENT.
full Storm Which Passed Over
the Country When Cleveland
Was Electedin 1892

~ 'Ae opportunity tnat the preSl-
oent would have to nullify its effects,
ana his reply to Mr.. Schurz, suggests
Danger that is not only imminent,
out is apparent, when considered with
the conditions resulting from the last
administration undep 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 Mckinley
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.
inns was a pledge on the part of
the Democracy which, if 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
serves to the minds Of the business
men were:
What changes will he made in tho
TARIFF"
~ "udl extent VIII those changes
go?"
How will it affect the industries of
the cCuntry?"
will my business be affected, and
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
adV1sahility of repeating the Sherman
law, as 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 a
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.
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 a 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 ap-
ply the necessary relief, but was ut
terly unable to comprehend the cause
of the disaster, and tried to shift the
responsibility of their vacllating, sell.
fish, office-grabbing, business-wreck-
ing policy upon the shoulders of the
previous administration.
The cause of the panic, as viewed
from a business standpoint, was the
inability of the Democratic party to
handle the affairs Of the government
in crisis. A prompt and decisive
action on the part of the party in
power in fulfilling it's pledges would
have in a measure saved the country
millions of dollars loss. But, instead
of this prompt action, there was moth
ing but needless procrastination, and
when the Wilson ~>.bill was. finally
passed it was so unsatisfactory that
the president refused to sign it.
The same kind Of danger, in a worse
form, will threaten the country should
Mr.. Bryan be elected. The Democratic
party is pledged to free coinage Of
silver at the ratio of 1e to /, both in
the Chicago and Kansas City plat
forms, and Mr.. Bryan, in his speech
delivered at Knoxville Sept. &c. 1896,
said:
"If there is any enc who believes
that the gold standard is a good thing.
or that it must be maintained, I warn
him not to cast his vote for me, be-
cause + promise him it will not be
maintained in this country longer than
I am able to get rid Of it,
Suppose he is elected president, and
should have .a;&cOngress his way of
thinking, would not the country be
justified in believing that the Demo-
cratic party would attempt to carry
out it's pledges? Would not the bust
ness interests be justified in trying to
protect themselves from loss by an
ticipating the action of Mr.. Bryan in
carrying out the promises made in the
Kansas City platform? Would not
the result be the same or worse than
in 1892 when M. Cleveland and the
party pledged to reform the tariff
were placed in power?
What right has any one to expect
that the interests of the country will
be safe from the consequences of Mr..
Bryan's election and the fulfillment Of
the pledges of his party. and his own
openly expressed determination con-
face of his ability to carry them out?
The cry of imperialism is cloak
which hides the more deadly intent OF
Mr.. Bryan, and the American citizen
who, knowing the utter absurdity of
the charge, aids in his election, with
a consequent knowledge of the result
to the country by a change to the free
silver basis, must bear the RESPONSE
bility of the era SIN in the business Of
the United States that Will follow. It
will be too late when the storm breaks
in all it's devastating fury and the
death knell to millions of dollars now
profitably invested is sounded, and
the cry of distress from the hungry
is borne on every br eeze that sweeps
over our land; to try to avoid the con-
sequences. The weaker will go down
first, and, as usual in panics, the