Conservative.
You Imvo prob-
ablvrcnd spenker
Reed's apt retorb to
the windy representative who declared :
"I would rnther bo right than presi
dent , " and Mr. Reed answered : "Y-a-as ,
but you'll never bo either. " For the
sound meat in that laconic rejoinder it
might almost become a classic.
There are so many mouthy people
who shout so loudly about being
"right , " whose every act , according to
their representative , is based on the
"truth. " They work only for truth ,
they have no aim or object but to show
forth the truth ; in short , their constant
declaration , in whatever form of ex
pression , is : "I had rather be right than
president. "
And we who see through the film of
words to the motive beneath , say in our
hearts : "Oh , y-a-a-s , but you'll never
be either. "
In the July number of The Arena the
Rev. W. D. P. Bliss acts as mouthpiece
for the Union Reform League. He adds
an asterisk and calls on us to see that
this article of his is an open letter
from the Union Reform League of
America to the members of the Buffalo
conference. A good deal of it has the
ring of the howl of a single wolf on the
mountain who , being lank and sniffing
plunder , howls to drum , up a pack that
united they may over-master the prey.
He leads off with this statement :
"There will be , on the republican
side , in the campaign , of 1900 , the
organizers of every trust , the president
and directors of every bank , the officers
and larger stockholders of every rail
road , the employers in every protected
industry , the managers and beneficiaries
or every corporation operated under , erin
in hope of , special privilege ; and , above
nil these , the creators of and gainers by
the great monopoly of money. There
will be exceptions , but so few as only to
illuminate the fact ; and this will occur ,
no matter what the platform , or who
the nominees of the party. The plat
form will be framed to deceive , the
nominees chosen to mislead. "
Yet this man signs himself "Rev. "
Do we wonder that religion is in dis
repute ? Do we wonder that the truth
ful business man so often considers the
title of "Rev. " as the synonym of a
driveling prevaricator ? Further on he
says :
"Yet this is not all. It is startling to
realize that on the republican side will
be many workinginen , especially among
the poorest. "
I wonder why he is so startled ? It is
probably quite true that thousands of
the men who were without work and on
the verge of starvation four years ago ,
and who have steady work since the
shops and factories opened up when the
present administration came into con
trol , may vote the straight republican
ticket. But if the men prefer work and
wages to idleness and starvation , why
should the president of the Reform
League be "startled ? "
But ho wishes to start a new party.
Evidently he is not in the old one , and
proposes to build a party up about him
self. He declares that there is no way
to whip the republican party , and bo in
the one that is in power , except for all
who are out of the republican party to
unite. "Unite or Perish" is his slogan.
This is good , shrewd , political schem
ing ; excellent , so far as its proposed
results , but extremely silly and ama
teurish as to its conception.
Somehow it is easier to get elected as
president of a reform league than it is to
mnss all the disgruntled in politics , and
have them elect you president of the
United States. The Rev. W. D. P. Bliss
will learn this later.
But it is not his lack of political in
sight that most amuses the reader. He
is hardly a Mark Hanna , and is not to
blame for that , but his pulpit-theatrical
stage play is simply side-splitting. He
says :
' 'But there is one other condition of
success , a condition greater than that of
union. It is truth. Truth is greater
than unity. "
Yea , verily , brother , yea , verily. But
let us look at this new party platform of
truth. The first "plank" added , that at
all differs from ordinary republican
principles , is this :
"Two other planks must be added.
The first of these is an auti-imperialist
plank. "
Let us see , were not there a number
of people back in the early 'GO's who
carried precisely the same hue and cry ?
Was it not exactly this same spirit , this
"platform of truth , " that urged J.
Wilkes Booth on to his fateful deed ?
There can be but one answer to this
question. There can be no possible
question of "imperialism" now ; there
might have been one raised then , but
not a sane man of our united nation
today will say the republican policy then
persued was wrong or unwise. The cry
of "imperialism" is a whine for "spoils"
from the puppies outside the present
"basket. " "Only that and nothing
more. "
Listen what our "brother" says of
this plank :
"There will , too , be political gain in
such a plank. "
Now listen to his "fourthly : "
"The fourth plank that we must
adopt is the endorsement of the funda
mental principles of the Chicago plat
form of 1896. This at first will not ap
pear necessary to some , but it is so. To
leave it out would mean absolute defeat.
Let any who doubt ask themselves two
questions. First , can reform win with
out the cooperation of that great new
democratic party which , in 1896 , polled
6,500,000 votes ? Second , can that
democratic party , fresh from that bat
tle , go back on the issue that gave it
birth ? "
And this is the party that is to bo
builded on the solid foundation stone of
"truth. " If you notice , we do not
" " the " " because
"adopt" "Chicago platform"
cause it is right , is "truth" at all , but
bless your eyes , because we can't win
unless we do.
This , you see , is the religious teacher
who does not teach you that you must
not sin , but who teaches you that after
you have had a first-class bout of sinning
you can shirk all the consequences off
onto a "Redeemer. " "Jesus paid it all. "
It is the same bent of mind. Found all
your undertakings in "truth. " Shout
loudly for truth , but when it comes to
getting into political power , be , to quote
the famous author , "de-vel-ish sly. "
Oh , consistency , thou jewel ! He adds
further :
"Free silver furnishes the feet of re
form , and it alone can give us a stand
ing that can unite with us the largest
party opposed to republican domination.
Without the democratic party we can
not win. "
And when they pass the plums ,
Brother Bliss , which shall they reserve
for you ?
MAUDE MEREDITH.
Dubuque , la. Sept. 9 , 1899.
MELTING UP COPPER COINS.
"The Brass Foundry company of New
Haven has profited by the low price of
old copper coins in India to buy them
by the ton to melt up. Nearly 10,000
bags or about 250 tons of these old coins
have been brought from India as scrap
copper to be melted up , as at the present
price of copper they are worth more
than their coin value. Scrap copper is
worth 19 cents a pound , but for 19 cents
silver several pounds of these coins can
be bought in India , and with proverbial
Connecticut shrewdness one foundry
company in that state has profited finan
cially by this fact. " Chicago Tribune ,
Sept. 14 , ' 99.
The late John M. Forbes , of Boston ,
many years ago , when he sailed in the
China trade , brought home several hun
dred tons of copper cash a Chinese
coin. Mr. Forbes bought the coin at a
less rate than the uncoined metal sold
for in Boston and made money selling
Chinese money merely as scrap copper.
The Chinese government had not
raised the bullion value of copper , and
copper coinage in India has been equally
unsuccessful in adding value to that
metal.
How does silver differ from copper so
that free coinage at 16 to 1 will raise its
bullion price all over the world to $1.29
an ounce ? If government cannot en
hance the bullion of one metal by coin
age , how can it do so much for silver
values by coinage at 16 to 1 ?
