\ \ \ * * i
"
ill
Conservative.
Whether in a
IILACK FACED.
mood for "period
ical diversions" a "peculiarosity" attri
buted to Senator Allen of Nebraska , by
W. E. Curtis , or not , that muscular
statesman on the 10th of March , 1900 ,
with his usual force declared :
1 Nothing that I ever said could by any
kind of torture be construed as a lack of
faith in my party platform , which de
clares for the free and unlimited coin
age of both gold and silver at the ratio
of 10 to 1. "
Mr. Allen read the colloquy between
himself and Mr. Aldrich , which , he said ,
was the basis of the report concerning
him.
"I want to repeat , " said he , "and I
want the public printer to put this state
ment iii black-faced type , that I am a
firm believer and always have been in
the doctrine of the free and unlimited
coinage of gold and silver at the ratio of
1G to 1 , and I do not believe in waiting
for any other nation. "
Mr. Allen was proceeding with an
elaboration of his views when he was in
terrupted by Mr. Turner of Washington
who had yielded to him , and was re
minded that "it was for a personal state
ment for which he had yielded and not
a speech. "
Perhaps red-faced type would better
typify that debate. It was an initiative
to "a diversion" and closed by Mr. Aid-
rich saying that the Associated Press ac
count of the colloquy was a fair and ac
curate statement of what occurred.
Probably Aldrich had been drinking !
only a perfectly sober man could aver "I
am a firm believer , and always have
been in the doctrine of the free and un
limited coinage of gold and silver at the
ratio of sixteen to one , and I do not be
lieve in waiting for any other nation 1"
No drunken man could speak so elo
quently.
LETTER FROM
TING-FANG ,
OKATOK. WASHINGTON.
His excellency ,
Wu Ting-Fang , the Chinese minister in
Washington , is making a great reputa
tion as an orator , and scarcely a week
passes but he receives an invitation from
some part of the country to make a
speech. He goes to Philadelphia tomor
row to deliver an oration at the Wash
ington birthday exercises , and his speech
will be of more than usual interest and
importance because it deals with the
problems confronting the United States
in the East. He takes his text from the
farewell address of General Washington
and draws therefrom lessons of great
value to the American people.
Mr. Wu's speeches are usually bub
bling over with humor , but this will be
entirely serious. His knowledge and
pronunciation of the English language
are perfect , but he sees its defects more
clearly than those who have always
spoken it , and one of his favorite themes
is to point out its solecisms. Mr. Wu's
repartee and his bousmots are quoted at
every dinner table in Washington. He
is able to take care of himself in a rough
and tiimble debate. He likes to satirize
and ridicule the follies and errors of the
American people , particularly when he
is surrounded , as is often the casewith _
boasters and braggarts.
Not long ago , while attending a ban
quet of the Silk Manufacturers' Associa
tion in New York City , he crushed Lieu
tenant Governor Woodruffthe candidate
for the Republican Vice Presidential
nomination.Mr. Woodruff made aspread-
eagle speech , in which he declared
that the Americans were the greatest
people on earth , and had done almost
everything that was good in the world.
He spoke particularly of our superiority
in the silk industry , and eulogized Mr.
Elaine as the discoverer of the recipro
city policy in trade. Mr. Wu who hap
pened to be the next speaker , listened
with great amusement to Mr. Wood
ruff's braggadocio , and proceeded
with mock humility to describe his own
embarrassment in standing in the pres
ence of such an eminent representative
of the greatest people on earth , who
had done everything worth doing. He
added that it would be a privilege for
him some time to go home and tell his people
ple of the honor he had enjoyed. China
was only about 6,000 years old , and its
achievements as a nation were , of course ,
mere trifles compared with the accomp
lishments of Governor Woodruff and
his friends. He then told of the silk in
dustry in China , which existed 8,000
years before America was discovered ,
and quoted from the writings of Confuc
ius to show that he had advocated the
theory of reciprocity in trade many cen
turies before the birth of Christ.
The audience was , of course , im
mensely amused at the manner and the
tact with which the oriental philosopher
walloped Mr. Woodruff , and punctuated
every sentence with a cheer.
PUBLICITY.
by many speakers
and writers that a panacea for all the
ills that come to consumers from the big
trade combines called trusts will be
found in publicity. By publicity they
mean the opening of their books to the
people by publishing in newspapers the
proceedings of all the stockholders and
directors in the great industrial com
bines. Some even advocate detailed
statements of cost of raw material , cost
of manufacture , salaries of officers and
wages of employees and the per cent of
profit on all the output of finished
goods. This publicity enforced upon
corporate capital and not required of
individual or co-partnership capital
would give the latter great advantages
over the former. But why isjarge capital ,
controlled by many , more danger
ous to the community than large capital
governed by one or two ? Is a money
monarchy less menacing than a money
democracy ?
The trades unions or guilds differ
from the cash combines only in form.
The latter concen-
TriuleH Unloiin. ,
trate money and
try to control its profits in certain lines
of commodities of which they endeavor
to become monopolists.
The trades unions concentrate muscle
and endeavor to fix the rate of wages
which it shall receive. If it be true that
the sole object of a trust is to increase
the profits of capital , is it any less true
that the main aim of a trades union is to
increase the wages of labor ? And if
there is no good reason for legislating
against a muscle trust or trades union
what good reason shall be advanced for
laws inimical to corporate capital ?
But if publicity is to be enforced as to
the meetings and doings of the directors
of moneyed incorporations why shall not
publicity be enforced as to the meetings
and doings of the directories of the
various labor organizations ?
Secrecy , privacy is worth as much , no
doubt , to the brotherhood of engineers
and to other fraternal guilds as it is to
bank directors , railroad managers and
manufacturing syndicates. If publicity
is demanded as to the capitalists it
should also be required for the laborers.
It will abolish all secret societies screen
ing from gaze the capital and the labor ,
the dollars and the muscles of the United
States.
PROPHETIC.
direful u
prophecies
were a specialty in the desultory dis
courses of Colonel Bryan during the
campaign of 1896. On page 550 of "The
First Battle" a marital biography of
the colonel the seer with clarified eyes
gazes into the future and exclaims :
"The gold standard means dearer
money ; dearer money means cheaper
property ; cheaper property means harder
times ; harder times means more people
out of work ; more people out of work '
means more people destitute ; more people
ple destitute means more people desper
ate ; more desperate people means more
crime. "
The colonel omitted the fact that the
gold standard would make his prophecies
appear the cheapest things in the United
States. A job lot of Bryan forecasts of
the finances of the United States , made
in 1896 , have been analyzed and assayed
to find that they contain only here and
there a trace of truth to the ton of
words and a grain of logic to the carload
of fallacies. Any enterprising collector
of oratorical and political curios , any
lover of the mendacious in literary bric-
a-brac , can make a glittering collection
of such abnormalities by rumagiug
through the trash and waste paper of
"The First Battle. " Not a single veri
fied forecast can be found in the whole
sale predictions of that tremendous
volume of verbosity and self-assurance ,