The Colfax gazette. [volume] (Colfax, Wash.) 1893-1932, 1902-10-10
HOT AIR EFFUSIONS
senator Turner Emits the Vap-
Oring of a DemagOgue.
The OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Triessto
FOOL the People by Telling In
Them FaIsehOods. a q

Senator Turner, in his speech at Ritz.
vile, October 4, 1902, said.
The republican party of this state has provsr
itself inadequate to the task of present Gov
ernment. Within seven years after the state
was born that party had rolled up an immense
| state Indebtedness, and 30 impaired the craJ;t
Of the state that its obligations wars T,orth
only 80 cents on the dollar. In 1896 the CON.
dltion was so bad that the reform forces car
| RED the state by Il, 600 majority, and aIsctad
| that great and good man, John X. Ro,srs
governor; and in 1900 he was again trinnnb''
antly elected by the vote of the people of the
| state. '0
Inc seven years after this state was
OOrn-the time that Senator Turner saws
that the republican party Of this state
proved Itself inadequate to the task az
present government-Was from 1889 tn
1896, the last four years of which were
under President Clevelands administra-
hOn-knOwn in history as the SOM
house and tramp administration. when
the Coxy army marched to the national
capital. Washington took her place in
the galaxy OF states in 1889; she moved
forward with all the pride OF Young
and growing commonwealth, aud by the
election OF 1892 had reached the food
TIDE OF her constructive period. She was
making extensive state improvements
and building state institutions, and her
outlay was necessarily great. So il WAS
and Is with the farmer during the con-
| structlve period on the farm. When
| the farmer builds his house and his barn.
and fences his land, sets out his orchard
and sinks his well, his outlay is neces-
sarlly very great; his expenditures ex-
| ceed his lncOme-nOt only for one wear.
| but for several. The same rule that will
| apply to the constructive period on the
farm will apply equally we'll TO the con-
structlve period of the state-which fact
was overlooked by the distinguished
senator at Ritzville.
At the beginning of the wear 1892
| conditions were prosperous throughout
the United States, and the outlook for
commerce and trade, and business activ
ity was bright. The national debt had
| reached w-water-mark-it was the
| lowest since the rebellion. No sooner
had Cleveland been elected than values
began to decline; a feeling OF distrust
began to course through the arteries of
trade-a bright year ended in gloom.
In 1893 came the free trade congress.
Business CONSERVATION, revenues fell off.
bank clearances decreased, failures in
creased, and business stagnatiOn fol-
lowed. In 1894 the democratic party
gave us the WilaOn-Gorm8n free trade
| law, and as q result the national ex
penditures exceeded the receipts business
conditions went from bad to worse. In
the year 1895 the sun of prosperity was
totally Obscured, the wheels OF industry
stopped, and 100000 laboring men
thrown out of employment and cast
upon the highway as tramps. Panic and
ruin, poverty and distress was on every
hand, and all these things happened
under the administration of a demo
cratic president, a democratic senate and
| q democratic house. Those were times
we ell can remember and never forget.
The same panic and misery poverty and
| distress swept over the young state Of
Washington. The farmers and business
men were barely able to earn enough to
keep soul and body tOgether-let alone
| pay their taxes and private indebted
ness. Mortgage foreclosures and the
| appointment OF receivers constituted the
| business OF the cOurts-faiures we're of
every day occurrence. Since the tax
| payers could not pay their taxes to the
| county, the counties could not pay their
| proportion to the state, and as a
natural consequence the state was with
out money and issued warrants in paw
ment OF its current expenses-as did the
counties and the municipalities of the
state. As a natural result warrants
went below par, not because anyone
| thought that the state, county or mu-
| nicipality would not in time redeem it's
obligations dollar for dollar but because
the holder had to have money to live, to
keep soul and body together The war
rants we're sold for the same reason that
the farmer sold his grain or his stock;
not because he was getting it's value, but
because he had to sell to live.
| Had conditions been as they are now.
or were before the democrats were in
control. the taxes would have been paid
there would have been no warrants
issued to depreciate in value. These are
cold bard facts and no one knows it so
we'll as Senator Turner.
In 1896 Mckinley was elected presi-
dent and the protective policies OF the
the republican party assured. Prepara-
tiOns were at once made for opening the
factories, and change for the better iu
commerce and trade we're apparent; re-
ioicing and hope went skurrying through
the land and in 1897 the Dingley law
went into effect; the wheels of industry
were started; failures began to decrease,
exports to increase and difficulties TO
diminish. In 1898 confidence was fully
restored and the four million unemploy-
ed under the Wilson-Gorman law were
steadily employed at good wages, and
ever since the Industrial energy of the
country has been taxed to it's utmost
capacity. American trade balance has
reached the enormous sum of over two
billion dollars. Conditions in the United
States never were so prosperous as now
and our per capita wealth never so
great.
Turner further said that Governor
Me Bride must look for help TO the demo-
. cratic members of the legislature; that
the only hope for realizing the reforms
for which the people are looking lies in
the election of democratic legislature.
That McBride's fight before the state
convention for the recognition OF the
rights of the people was really a drawn
battle, and "if Mcbride be saddled with
a republican legislature the drawn battle
will be turned into a disastrous defeat"
Turner's statement, in that particular,
he knows to be untrue. While there was
a division of sentiment in the republican
state convention over the railway ques-
ton or commission plank, there was
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