Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-26
PRoNPERlrrI Np POLITICS.

"The greatest national issue is the
maintenance of prosperity" declares the
New York republican platform. This
appeals to all classes Of our people.
Everybody desires that prosperity shall
be maintained. The manufacturer
whose plant is running full time, the
merchant whose trade is active. the
farmer who finds a ready and profitable
market for his products, the working
man who has constant employment-all
favor the maintenance Of prosperity.
With every one Of these interests it Is
the paramount consideration. They
nave not forgotten that only a few
years ago the country was not prosper
Gus. that hundreds of mills n fac
tories and workshops were idle, that
millions of people were unemployed,
that business was stagnant and that
the farmers of the country had a poor
market at Improbable prices. No n
wants a return of those conditions. For
the last FIVE years the American people
have beer having a higher measure Of
prosperity than they had ever before
known and without distinction of class
or party they wish it to continue.
How shall this prosperity be main
talned. Manifestly by adhering to the
policy which has been largely instru-
mental in producing It. To quote again
from the New York republican plat
form: THE pledge given by William
Mckinley of abundant work and good
wages, based on the passage of a pro
tective tariff, has been fulfilled" There
has been realized very much more than
was expected when that pledge of the
great champion of protection was given.
The great industrial and commercial
progress since made was then hardly
dreamed of, the general expectation be-
ing that we should simply recover what
had been lost under the operation of
democratic policy hostile to protection.
The large gains Of labor in the last FIVE
years, as disclosed in the statistics of
savings bank deposits and building and
loan associations, are far beyond what
the most sanguine would have pre-
dicted when the republican party was
restored to power less than six years
Ago.. Even more remarkable is the
prosperity realized by the farmers of
the country in this brief period. In his
memorable Buffalo speech President
Mckinley said: statistics indicate that
this country is in a state of uneXampled
prosperity. The figures are almost APP
palling.. They show that we are utiliz-
ing our fields and forests and mines and
that we are furnishing profitable en-
ployment to the millions of workingmen
throughout the United States, bringing
comfort and happiness to their homes
and making it possible to lay by savings
for old g and disability. That all the
people are participating in this great
prosperity is seen in every American
community and shown by the enormous
and unprecedented deposits in our saw.
ings banks" This, uttered a little more
than a year ago, is applicable today.
What is obviously necessary, then, fol-
the maintenance of prosperity is to up
hold the policy which brought prosper
ity. This does not require that the pol
icy shall undergo no notifications, bu
1t does require that the principle of pro
lection, which the democratic party IL
again assailing, shall not be abandoned
That principle must be preserved, al
the New York republicans said, in ordeI
to maintain the highest scale of Ameri
can wages and the supremacy of tn,
American workshop.