The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-11
COAL ISSUE CASTS SHADOW
 OVER REPUBLICAN, SLATE.
New Campaign Alignment Necessary
 in Congressional Elections.


 New York. Oct. "A Post Washington special says:
 In the opinion of many Republican leaders here the coal issue has washed l the slate of everything else that has been written upon it for the Congressional elections. This does not mean, as they put it, that the Republican party is nec- essarily in retreat but that this issue so interest that it is resulting in a new campaign alignment in which the other questions of the campaign have taken a secondary place
 General Charles H. Grosvenor of Ohio, is quoted in an interview as taking an extremely pessimistic view of Republican party prospects unless the coal strike should be settled. More conservative per- sons say that a normal vote with the new apportionment will give the Repub- licans a majority. but conditions are so peculiar and developments are so rapid that general estimates have ceased to be assuring to Republicans as they were, and a distinct feeling of alarm over the Con- gressional outlook pervades party cir cles.
 The disquietude is occasioned not so much by the coal famine itself as by the accentuation which this gives to condi- tions that have long been ripening. The country is feeling the effects of rising prices just as ten years ago 1t was near ly upset by the economic results Of fall ing prices. From time immemorial spell
 
 prices as prosperity" But not every body can spell prosperity out of the present prices of meat and other house. hold supplies. and above all, of coal. A cabinet officer remarked today he had grave doubts of the political wisdom of SO much emphasis on prosperity.
 In every audience to which this argu- rnent was addressed there would be a certain number of persons who would feel in their hearts that the tide had passed them by. This would apply to persons with fixed salaries and incomes of vari- ous sorts. and to those without any income in particular, by no means neg ligble element There Is always con- siderable number. too, who would esti- mate any increase il. material things which had come their way as notably less than their share.
 On general principles the rural districts arc prOfiting much more by the high prices than are the cities. and. to the ex- tent that the individual pOcketbook marks the ballot, Republican gains shouA be expected among the farmers and Hepub- lican losses among the food and fuel buy CTS of the urban communities. The im- portance of the coal famine lies in the heavy burden which 1t adds to the task of procuring the necessaries of life. and also in the practice which people have of charging whatever is wrong against the party in power.
 Labor union opposition In itself has never proved very potent. Experience has repeatedly shown that the labor union- ists vote as individuals, largely accord ing to the prevailing sentiment of their localities
 The political aspect of the present coal issue to be chiefly borne in mind is that : it Is the famine" and not the strike which is liable to prove most trouble some.
 | While no one can doubt that a labor war Of such magnitude contains possibil- ities of political upheaval. the conditions surrounding this one are so complicated that the men who go to the polls desir- | ing to rebuke Mitchell or to applaud him will have some difficulty in knowing how to mark their ballots. Republican | House would primarily he interpreted as an indorsement of Roosevelt; the Mitch ell people feel friendly to him On the | other hand. the Republican party is more distinctly identified with the tablished order of industry than its opponent; Dem ocratic platforms have been more radi- | cal than the Republican, notably that of l the New York State Convention, with it's demand for public ownership of the coal | mines.