Woodruff County news., 1901-08-29
POLICIES OF REPUBLICANS.
Prosperity Hns Not Always Come Un- der That Party's Dom
 inatiOn.

It is a standing argument of the re-
 publican spellbinder and republican
 newspaper that when their party is
 in control the country is prosperous,
 while disaster always follows in the
 wake of national democratic victory. says the Washington Times. The
 great objection to this argument is
 that 1t is not true. It is a claim that
 VIII not bear scrutiny in the light cf
 the country's past history. There have
 been some exceedingly favorable con-
 ditions in the United States with the
 republican party in absolute control
 of national affairs. The panic of 1873
 came with the republican power at its height, and republican policies in full
 force. There was not even remote
 prospect of any change. Gen. Grant
 had just been reelected and had nearly
 full term to serve. And yet the finan- cial storm swept the country like
 tornado, and there never was com
 plete recovery until considerably more
 than a score of years had passed.
 There was another smaller panic in
 1S81-S2, and the whole period between 1873 and 1893 was one of very general
 depression, subject only to temporary
 and spasmodic revivals. This is a mat
 ter of economic history, and the cause
 of the troubles has been made the
 subject of the most exhaustive investi-
 gations on both sides of the Atlantic. During all of this period the policy of
 the country was exclusively republic
 an, for the democrats never controlled both houses of congress and the presi- dency at the same time, and conse-
 quently were unable to place demo-
 cratic measure upon the national stat
 ute books.
 The panic of 1S93 likewise came with
 every vestige of our economic legisla- | tion of republican enactment Fhe | only democratic measure we have had since the civil war was the Wilson | tariff, and this was not enacted until | about 15 months after the financial storm broke. The great moneyed in | terests of the country insisted that the panic was caused by the Sherman law,
 distinctively republican measure, and l during the debate on the repeal bill 1 Senator Sherman declared in the sem l ate that if the law were repealed Chat 1 is, the purchase clause of it) prosper | ity would return in ten days. The re- | peal bill passed, but prosperity did not return in ten days, or in ten months,
 or in five years. And when the cam
 paign came on in 1896, forgetting their | former declarations, the republican l To-
 hard times were owing partly to the | Wilson tariff, and partly to the silver | agitation; but they conveniently omit | ted to explain what caused the trou-
 ble before the Wilson law was enacted
 and before the silver agitation began. The panic of 1893 was, in fact, a | forced one, brought on by President | Cleveland and Secretary Carlisle, in | collision with the New York bank ring,
 for the express purpose of giving the country an "object lesson," and thus | forcing a repeal of the Sherman law. ] The effort was eminently successful | in all respects except in restoring | prosperity. In carrying out this de- ] lectable scheme, as is well known, MT. ! Cleveland put himself outside the pale l of true democracy, and straight in line
 with the current republican thought. There might and probably would have been some trouble even without | this artificial forcing of the panic, for | the business stagnation was almost
 world wide, and we could not reason ably hope entirely to escape; but the | panic would not have come when it did | or have been so severe. When the ! revival came, that also was interna- | tional in character, the change ap- | bearing in Europe about year before | it did here But our main purpose now l is merely to show how unfounded is l the claim that we always have prosper ity under republican policies.
 | NnHENETSNTO