The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-12

| steadily continued through many years
to treat the veterans Of the civil war in q
question carried out this policy, and ID
justified, not merely on legal grounds, bui
! also on grounds of public morality.
Ii is matter OF common knowledge that
when the average man who depends foI
his wages upon bodily labor has reached
the age of 80 his earning ability Is In all
probability less by half than 1t was when he
was In his prince and that by the time
he has reached the age OF 20 he has PROB
ably lost all earning ability. If there is
anime the employees doing manual labor In
| any great mandatory or on any great
| railroad, and find out how large Is the
proportion of men between the ages Of
81 and TO, and whether these men are still
| employed at the highly paid tasks which
they did in their prime. AS matter of
fact many railroads pension their en-
ployees when they have reached these
ages, and in nations where old age PEN
sions prevail they always begin somewhere
between tho two limits thus set. 1t Ia easy
to test our opponents sincerity In TINS
matter. The order In question is revocable
at tho pleasure OF the Executive. Ii our
opponents come into power they can revoke
this order and announce that they viii
treat the veterans of 90 to 10 as presumably
in full bodily vigor and not entitled to pen
sions. Will they now authoritatively state
that they intend to do this? II 80, we &C
cept the issue. II not, then we have the
right to ask why they raise an issue which,
when raised, they do not venture to meet.
The Antitrust Prosecutions.
. In addition to those acts Of the Admin
istration which they venture to assail only
after incorporating them, there are others
which they dare not overly or officially
forward az reasons for the overthrow OF
the party. In certain great centres and
with certain great interests our oppo-
nents rPke every effort to show that the
settlement Of the anthracite coal strike
BY the individual act Of the President, and
the successful suit against the Northern
Securities Company-the merger suit.
undertaken by the Department Of Justice,
were acts because OF which the present
Administration should be thrown from
power. Yet they dare not openly con-
denim either act. They dare not in any au-
thoritative or formal manner say that in
either case wrong was done or error COM
mitted in the.method Of action, or in the
choice Of instruments for putting that
action into effect. But what they dare not
use furtively and through special agents.
1t is perhaps natural that an attack so
conducted should be made sometimes on
the ground that too much, sometimes on
the ground that too little. has been done.
Some Of our opponents complain because
under the antitrust and interstate COM
merce laws suits were undertaken which
have been successful others, because suits
were not undertaken which would have been
unsacoessfHl The Democratic tt state Econ. con
cite coal strike by demanding in deliberate
and formal fashion that the National Gov
eminent should take possession Of the coal
fields: yet champions of that conventions
any action by the President at although
they must know that 1t was only this action
by the President which prevented the move
ment for national ownership Of the coal
fields from gaining what might well have
been an irresistible impetus Such mu-
adequate measure Of the chance for CO.
herent action or constructive legislation
II our opponents should be given power.
silence on the Money Issue.
So much for what our opponents openly
or covertly advance in the way OF an attack
on the acts of the Administration. When
we come to consider the policies for which
they profess to stand we are met with the
difficulty always arising when statements
interpreted in different ways. On some
of the vital questions that have confronted
the American people In the last decade our
opponents take the position that silence Is
They contend that their lukewarm attitude
Of partial acquiescence In what others have
accomplished entities them to be made the
custodlans Of the financial honor and COM
mercial interests which they have but re-
Gently sought to ruin. Being unable to
agree among themselves as to whether the
gold standard 10 curse or blessing and
as to whether we ought or ought not to have
free and unlimited coinage Of silver, they
have apparently thought it expedient to
and individually each to follow his par
ticular bent. Their nearest approach to
a ma jority Judgment seems to be that 1t is
now inexpedient to assert their convictions
one way or the other, and that the estab-
lishment of the gold standard by the Repub-
lican party should not be disturbed unless
there Is an alteratio in the relative quantity
OF production of silver and gold. Men who
hold sincere convictions on vital questions
can respect equally sincere men with whose
confess a ci,ange OF faith without compro-
missing their honor or their self-respect.
But it is difficult to respect an attitude OF
mind such as has been fairly described
above; and where there is no respect, there
a basis of principle would not stand the
strain Of single year OF business adversely
We, on the contrary, believe In the gold
standard as fixed by the usage and verdict
Of the business world. and in sound rione-
tiers not of momentary political expediency.
but Of permanent organic policy. In 1896
and again In 1900 far sighted men, without |
regard to their party fealty In the past,
Joined to work against what they regarded |
as a debased monetary system. The poll |
cies which they championed have been |
steadfastly adhered to by the Administra- |
ton; and by the act Of March ID, 1900, Con- !
gress established the single gold standard |
as the measure Of our monetary value. |
This act received the support Of every |
Republican In the House and OF every |
Republican except one in the Senate. OF |
our opponents, eleven supported 1t In the |
House and two in the Senate; and one hum |
bred and fifty opposed 1t In the House and |
twenty-eight in the Senate. The record |
OF the last seven years proves that tho !
party now in power can be trusted to take |
the additional action necessary to improve |
and strengthen our monetary system, |
and that our opponents cannot be so trusted. |
The fundamental fact Is that in a popular |
government such as ours no policy Is ire |
vocably settled by law unless the people |
keep in control Of the government men who |
believe In that policy as matter OF deep
rooted conviction. Laws can always be |
revoked; 1t is the spirit and the purpose |
Of those responsible for their enactment |
and administration which must be fixed |
and Interchangeable. 1t is idle to gay that !
the monetary standard OF the nation Ia |
irrevocably fixed so long as the party which |
at the last election cast approximately 20 per |
cent Of the total vote. refuses to put in its |
,,lotforv,, INV stntamppt that tho question L