Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-01-04
CURRENT COMMENT.
Notes and Comments, Political aaa
Otherwise, on Matters Of Interest.
BY Andrew ]. Palm.


governments derive their just powers
from the consent of the governors"
Mark Hanna, John Bull and Wall
street are the trinity which Mr.. McKin-
ley now swears by. Though q Meths-
dist in theory, he hasn't been practicins
at 1t to any great extent since he as
cended the throne.
At the close of the fiscal year Treas
urer Beacon finds 81 900, zoe more in
the state treasury than was taken in
last year. When the people Of the state
take time to think about it they will
naturally ask, What excuse had Gsv-
ernor Stone for cutting out a million
dollars of the school appropriation? ?"
The public school is the last institution
that should suffer by the financial
pruning knife, and no excuse except
that OF absolute inability to pay will be
accepted as reason to Justify either
legislature or executive in cutting short
the appropriation. Governor Stone has
no such excuse to plead
The last legislature passed an act
providing that the appointment Of
county commissioner clerk shall be
for period of three years unlsss he
be discharged for cause. In view of
this act the clerks in Crawford, Mer-
Ger and Lackawanna counties resigned
recently and were reappointed, hoping
thereby to hold over for three years
from the time Of appointment As
there are several gentlemen hungsring
and thirsting for these positions, many
OF whom were promised them before
the election, if things went thar way,
1t is almost certain that the legality
OF such appointments will be tested In
court.
What shock it must have bsen to
the Republican members of the house
and their eleven Democratic allies to
learn that during the very hour they
were railroading the sound currency
measure through panic was occurring
In New York which, according to Re-
publican authorities. caused the less
OF $lO0.000,000 and the ruin Of thou
sands of men. This law that Is to es-
tablish honesty. stability, seundnsss.
confidence and everything else neces-
sary or desirable in our financial sys-
tenn! Twas really too bad. for 1t look
ed so very like a judgment sent from
Heaven to rebuke Wall street and Its
representatives at Washington.
The dividing line between the Demo
cratic and the Republican parties is no
wavering uncertain boundary. but has
clear and we'll defined limits. The
Democratic party is unalterably ar
rayed against trusts. against imperial
ism. against the single gold standard,
against robbery by tariff, and favors the
imposition Of a graded income tax.
There are other minor points Of differ
ence between the parties. but these are
the ESSENTIALS by which men are to be
judged. The man who imaeinss him
self Democrat. but finds himself out
OF harmony with his party on any of
these questions. may well begin to
doubt the soundness Of his Democracy,
and should not ask to represent his
party in any official capacity which has
to do with party policies.
No antediluvian high priest ever had
more reverence for his soothsayers and
sorcerers than have our secretaries of
the treasury held for the Morgans and
other Wall street usurers. 1t was an
nounced day or two before the late
panic in New York that Mr.. Gage and
Mr.. Morgan had u long conference. 1t
will be remembered that this same Mr..
Aioi Sun up tHo udv vi Ih0 bAhlC
and saved matters from utter demoral-
ization by offering a million dollars at
6 per cent, while money ut the same
time within few feet was brin sing SO
per cent. Possibly the million was
from Uncle Sans strong BOX. II Nor
gan sold his own money at per cent
when he might have had more for the
asking, the millennium may be locked
fnr nd
some bond business with this same
Mr.. Morgan which put him. president
as he was, under grave suspicion.
The imperialists are anxious to pro-
woke the Cubans into some overt act
as an excuse to seize upon the island
and forcibly annex 1t. Our govern
ment has all through the contest acted
more like an overgrown bully than an
honorable gentleman. The administra-
tion has steadily refused all concilia-
tory measures in dealing with the Fill
ipinos. Thor envoy on mission Of
peace was driven from Washington
without recognition, in spite Of the
fact that our soldiers had saluted the
Filipino flag and welcomed the Fill
pino soldier as an ally against Spain.
We provoked them into firing on our
flag by first firing at them, and then
like bully strutting around with q
chip on his shoulder. We take that
as reason for exterminating them or
compelling them to accept us as their
masters Some nimsy pretext will
sooner or later be trumped up as an
excuse for holding Cuba. Twill give
sufficient expansion to afford few po-
litical spoilsmen good fat places, and
that is what expansion really means.
and all it means, to those who are
most ardent in urging 1t.
Republican leaders especially those
who have brotherly feeling for trusts,
do not like Hon. William ]. Bryan's
proposition that trusts should be dealt
with by the general government. They
say that the states should look after
them, and they declare that Bryan is
undemocratic when he would invoke
the aid of congress. This is all very
fine. for when a state passes law
with a view to curbing the trust evil 1t
ia easy to get n decisiOn from the sli-