THE AMEUICAN SITUATION.
LTranslatcd from The Berlin Nation of May 27. ]
The chief difficulty under which the
i democratic party at the presidential
election of next year nmst labor will be
to frame a platform on which its dis
cordant elements may be united. A
majority being opposed to trusts and
high tariff it is expected that the real
and imaginary evils which are attri
buted to them will bo exhibited to pub
lic opprobrium. Although more evenly
divided on the question , democrats will
consider it politic to oppose expansion.
Since money began to accumulate and
interest rates to decline , one industry
after another has been absorbed by com
binations until competition has well-
nigh ceased to be an element of trade.
Efficiency of individual skill finds now
no better recompense than the wages it
can earn in serving some gigantic cor
poration. The fact that in certain in
stances necessities have been actually
cheapened by combinations will be disre
garded. Being generally able to demon
strate that stockholders continue to re
ceive liberal dividends , a claim that it is
one of the duties of the state to place
within reach of the people what they
mostly need at actual cost of production ,
will be embraced. To deal with this
burning question the civic federation of
Chicago has recently issued a call for a
national conference.
The expansion policy of our govern
ment will continue to be criticised as
long as it remains an experiment. It
necessitates a largo increase of our
navy and army , a corresponding increase
of our budget , and invests in the execu
tive a power which our constitution did
not contemplate. When permanently
established it may easily involve us into
complications with some European
power.
It is evident that duties which in
tended to protect wool and woolens
have blighted and partially ruined these
industries ; that duties on iron , steel ,
copper and other articles too numerous
to mention , which we now can furnish
in open competition on better terms than
any other nation , are simply retained to
give their producers a whip-hand over
American consumers.
With the currency question demo
crats will probably deal in terms so am
biguous that they may satisfy the
friendly disposed goldbng without giv
ing too much offence to the silverite.
Stress may be laid on recent concentra
tion of bank capital , the establishment
of branches and the discrimination by
Eastern banks against Western and
Southern checks. These movements
can easily be interpreted to mean WaL
street conspirations to draw capita
from distant points where it is needed to
the East , where it is superabundant
Depreciated money will look less attrac
tive to the mass of voters , as their wea
progresses , but silver dollars in value
equal to gold may continue to find
'avor with many friends of the white
metal. If Win. J. Bryan appreciates
; he trend of public opinion he will bee
e most popular man of the democratic
> arty and may again be nominated.
In republican ranks there is no
tronger man than Wm. McKinley.
The platform of that party will proba
bly rest :
1. On confidence of the people that
will permanently establish the
currency on a gold basis and by its un-
ihangeablo value maintain the credit of
; he nation.
2. They will claim that the prosper-
ty of the country resulting from abun
dant crops and favorable circumstances
s due to their wise administration.
8. The glory of our recent war and
; he prestige wo gained by its successful
issue.
4. The advantages which industry
and commerce will derive from our
newly acquired territory ; if we admiuis-
: er as well as Great Britain , these ex
pectations may bo realized.
5. They will attribute the large
and continuously growing export of
manufactures to their high tariff policy ;
appreciating that some taxes are unjust
and unequal , while others favor hated
trusts to the detriment of individuals ,
they may promise some adjustment by
equalization in terms as ambiguous as
the democrats will use in their currency
platform.
Even if shedding of human blood
ihould extend in far-away Asia , as long
as money remains easy , speculation ac
tive and products of the farm bring re
munerative , prices , so long will the ad
ministration be upheld ; these conditions
being likely to continue the chances are
decidedly in favor of the republicans.
Our misunderstanding with the Ger
mans originated in a tariff policy which
their manufacturers considered inimical ;
while we differ among ourselves about
the wisdom of closing our markets to
them they feel aggrieved although all
nations are treated by us fairly alike.
Their agrarians complain because we
furnish food at prjlces lower than they
can produce it. Under the pretense
that it is unwholesome they foolishly
attempt to exclude it by legislation. Tf
they are successful they may discover
that such prohibition will inflict greater
injury on their own than upon our coun
try. We need not beg customers to buy
our cheap food , but by trying to protect
agriculture to the detriment of their
home industry , the Germans may injure
both of them. What would have be
come of the fair fields of England if
Peel had not abolished the corn laws ?
The German government , prematurely
frightened by our aggressive warfare
evidently thought that , together witl
Great Britain , wo might control suprem
acy of the Pacific ocean.
A large portion of the American pee
pie may favor annexation of the contig
lous West India islands. There is a
videspread opposition , however , to our
colonization of the Philippines. No
ouger tolerated in any neutral port ,
Dewey was compelled , on May 1 , 1898 ,
o seek shelter at Posig and coal in Ma
nila. How he annihilated the Spanish
fleet , how by treaty of peace wo ac
quired title to the islands from Spain
and how war with the Filipinos was
'orced upon us by themselves is well
anderstood. But the future will de-
) end on circumstances which time only
: an develop. When we finally succeed
u overpowering the islanders their
iouutry may seem les attractive than it
did when we so fondly believed that we
lad acquired it by "purchase ; should we
actually become the undisputed masters
of Luzon , Germany need not yet bo en
vious. There are other desirable colo-
lies obtainable along the broad expanse
of the Pacific , the possession of which ,
if Germany wants them , no American
, vill over dream , of disputing.
A better understanding is foreshad
owed by various signs ; sentiments of
German animosity which found expres
sion during the war in the German
press and were echoed here by mis
chievous writers , who foolishly believed
they could inveigle Americans , acci
dentally born in Germany , against the
country of their deliberate choice , have
disappeared.
A teapot tempest created in Manila
harbor by bickerings of irritable naval
officers of both nations fortunately has
ended in the deserved reprimand of one
of our own captains for his foolish esca
pades.
The ridiculous quarrel about the
choice of a nominal ruler for Samoa
temporarily continues , but the arrival
of commissioners from Germany to
study the status of our life insurance
promises to result in a recession from
measures of German retaliation.
The "entente cordiale" between the
Anglo-Saxons and their German cousins ,
so desirable for their mutual interests ,
will doubtless soon be reestablished.
LOUIS WlNDMULLER.
After reading B. P. Porter's declara
tion that the annexation of Cuba is sure
to come , The Boston Record ( rep. ) asks
that he be muzzled. "It is inconceivable
that we are going to do as he says , " it
adds , "but if we are , let us keep still
about it , and have it come , as Napoleon
III got the Frenchmen to vote him
emperor , by a popular 'call' from the
Cubans , under the thoughtful direction
of our army of occupation. "
"We want Mr. Bryan renominated
and the Chicago platform reiterated , "
says the Mobile ( Ala. ) Register ( dem. ) ,
"for wo want the question brought to a
plain , square , unembarrassed issue , and
decided once for all. The sooner we
know for good and all whether we are
to have free silver or are not to have it ,
the better for the country , and surely
the better for the democratic party. "
