Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1904-09-15

tHs aDoiilIoR OF the war taxes in the in.
| IeFEat between the two dates The acts
OIL dafch : 1891, and April r. 1902, cut
| down the internal revenue taxes to ar
amount estimated at $105. 600 600 a year. In
other words, the reduction of taxation has
been considerably greater than the reduc.
tlon In the annual surplus. Since the close
or the war with Spain there has been me-
substantial change in the rate of annual
expenditures AS compared with the ifs
| cal year ended in June, 1901, for example
the hscal year that has just closed show
ed a relatively small increase in expendi-
ture excluding the canal payment al
ready referred to, while the year previous
| showed relatively small decrease.
me expenditures of the nation have
been managed in a spirit of economy as
far removed from waste as from Mig
saTdIlhess and in the future every effort
VIII be continued to secure an economy as
strict as is consistent with efficiency
once more our opponents have promised
what they cannot or should not perform.
The prime reason why the expenses of the
government have increased of recent
years is to be found in the fact that the
people after mature thought have deemed
WISE TO have certain new forms of
work for the public undertaken by the
public. This necessitates such exnendi-
lures, for instance as those for rural free
delivery, or for the inspection of meats
uhder the department of agriculture or
Tor irrigation. But these new expendi-
lures are necessary. No one would seri-
ousiy propose to abandon them. And vet
II is IDLE to deClaim against the increased
expense of the government unless it is in
tended to cut down the very expenditures
which cause the increase. The pensions
TO the veterans of the civil war are de-
manded by every sentiment of regard and
gratitude. The rural free delivery is of
the greatest use and convenience to the
farmers, a body of men who live under
conditions which make them ordinarily
receive little direct return for what thew
pay toward the support of the govern
ment. The irrigation policy in the arid
and semiarid regions of the west is one
fraught with the most beneficent and far
reaching good to the actual settlers the
homemakers, whose announcement is a
traditional feature in Americas national
policy. DO our opponents grudge the $780,
OOOO0O paid for the Panama canal? Do
they intend to cut down on the pensions
to the veterans of the civil war? Do they
intend to put a stop to the irrigation pol
Icy or TO the permanent census bureau
or to immigration inspection? Do they
intend to abolish rural free delivery? Do
they intend to cut down the navy or the
Alaskan telegraph system? Do they in
tend to dismantle our coast fortifiCationS?
If there is to be q real and Substantial
cutting down in national expenditures 1t
must be in such matters as these. The
department of agriculture has done serv-
Ice of incalculable value to the farmers of
this country in many different lines. Do
our opponents wish to cut down the mon
ey for this service? They can do it only
by destroying the usefulness of the sery-
ice itself
The public work of the United States
has never been conducted with a higher
degree of honesty and efficiency than at
the present time, and a special need of
praise belongs to those officials RESPONSE
BILE for the Philippines and Porto Rico,
where the administrations have been
models of their kind. OF course wrong
has occasionally occurred but it has been
relentlessly stamped out. We have
known no party in dealing with offenders
and have hunted down without mercy ev-
cry wrOngdoer in the service Of the ma
ton whom it was possible by the utmost
vigilance tosaleteCt for the public servant
who bCtrayS his trust and the private in
diVidual who debauChes him stand as the
worst of criminals, because their crimes
are crimes against the entire community
and not only against this generation, but
against generations that are vet to be-
Our opponents promise independence to
the Philippine Islands Here again we are
confronted by the fact that their irrecon-
Cilable differences of opinion among them
selves, their proved inability to create
g. constructive policy when in power, and
their readiness, for the sake of momen-
tary political eXpediency, to abandon the
principles upon which they have insisted
as essential, conspire to puzzle us as to
whether they do or do not intend in good
faith to carry out this promise if they are
given control of the government. In
their platform they declare for indepen-
dence, approximation their language is
little obscure-Without qualification as
10 time-and indeed a qualification as to
time is an absurdity, for we have neither
right nor power to bind our successors
when it is impossible to foretell the con-
ditions which may confront MEANWHILE
If there is any principle involved in the
matter ii is just as wrong to deny indie
Dendence for a few years as to deny it
for an indefinite period. But in later and
equally official utterances by our oppo-
nents the term self government was sub
stituted for independence, the words used
being so chosen that in their natural con-
StructiOn they described precisely the
policy now being carried on. The Ian
guage Of the platform indicated a radical
change of policy; the later utterances in
Dictated a continuance of the present pol
icy. But this caused trouble in their
own ranks, and in still later, although
ment promise was recanted and indie
pendence at some future time was prom
ised in its place. They have occupied
three entirely different positions within
fifty days. Which is the promise they
really intend to keep? They do not know
their own minds, and no one can tell
how long they would keep of the same
mind should they by any chance come to
q working agreement among themselves.
If such ambiguity affected only the
American people it would not so greatly
matter, for the American people can take
care Of themselves. But the Filipinos are
in no such condition. Confidence is with
them a plant of slow growth. They have
been taught to trust the word of this
government because this government has
promised nothing which it did not per-
form If promised independence they will
expect independence, not in the remote
future for their descendants, but immedi-
ateIy for themselves. If the promise thus
made is not Immediately fulfilled they
will regard it as broken and will not again
trust to American faith, and it would be
indeed q wicked thing to deceive them In
such fashion. Moreover, even If the
prornise were made to take effect only
in the distant future the Filipinos would
be thrown into confusion thereby. In
stead of continuing to endeayor to fit
themselves for moral and material adj
yancement in the present they would
abandon all effort at progress and begin
factional intrigues for future power.
To promise to give them independence
when it is prudent to do so or when
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