FOR RELIEF OF THE NATIONAL FINANCES.

IN

N response to the President's special message calling on Congress to come to the relief of the Treasury, both Houses gave up the customary holiday recess to consider measures of relief for the national finances. The immediate result has been to disclose radical differences of opinion, apparently irreconcilable, between both branches of Congress, neither of which agrees with the President, regarding the kind of legislation needed to relieve the Treasury. These differences have reopened the whole field of political discussion on the tariff and currency.

The President believes that nothing less than the retirement of legal-tender notes will afford permanent relief to our financial condition.

In support of their contention that the operation of the "endless chain," which the Administration deems the cause of the financial difficulties, is itself the result of an insufficiency of the revenue, which makes it necessary to use in payment of current expenses the legal-tender notes redeemed with gold obtained by bond issues, the Republican majority in the House passed so-called "emergency" tariff and bond bills within a week after receiving the President's special message.

The tariff bill restores duties on wool, woolens, and lumber to the extent of 60 per cent. of the duties levied under the McKinley act, and makes a horizontal increase of 15 per cent. on all other schedules of the present Wilson-Gorman law, except the sugar schedule, with the proviso that none of the duties so fixed shall exceed the rates of the McKinley law; this increase to become inoperative August 1, 1898.

The bond bill authorizes the issue by public subscription of five-year 3-per-cent. coin bonds, to be used for no other purpose than the redemption of legal-tender notes, which may be withheld as a reserve at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, but not retired. The Secretary is also authorized to issue $50,000,000 in certificates of indebtedness to run for three years at 3 per cent., to be used in meeting deficiencies in the revenue.

The free-silver men are understood to have a majority of eight or more in the Senate. They will control the Finance Committee which will have charge of the House emergency bills, and are in a position to dictate terms.

Republican journals in general support the policy of the House, altho there is some difference of opinion as to whether the revenue or protective principle dominates the Dingley tariff bill.

Meantime the gold reserve has fallen considerably below $70,000,000, and preparations for a large issue of gold bonds under existing law (authorizing thirty year 4 per cents.) are reported. Provisions for issuing clearing-house certificates have been made in several cities since the recent flurry in the stock market. We quote press opinions on the financial situation and the proposed remedies:

A Complicated Situation.-"Before the war-scare complicated our difficulties the financial situation admitted of easy measurement. The Treasury had to deal with an export demand for gold, and this demand was caused purely and simply by an oversupply of currency... A sure cure for the trouble was obtainable through contraction. It was certain that this remedy would be speedily effective, for with dearer money here foreign capitalists could be depended upon to leave their balances on this side of the Atlantic for investment. But the war-scare has introduced a new complication. It has made foreigners distrustful, and their distrust attaches less to our Government credit than to our national character. . . . We hardly need say that whatever [clearing-house] certificates are emitted will operate as a direct inflation of the currency, and in so doing will counteract the contractive influence of an absorption of currency by a bond sale. It will be seen that the financial situation can no longer be regarded as a simple one. There are cross-currents of varying strength, and political considerations have become a factor of disturbance. A return to the simpler conditions that existed before the warscare is very desirable. If these conditions were restored the

ury.

Insufficiency of Revenue.-"It is admitted by the Administration that there has been an insufficiency of revenue in the past, but it is estimated that the present tariff law will work out its own salvation in the coming fiscal year, and more than meet the necessities of the Government. This is, of course, a matter of hope. The Republicans of the House refuse to accept that hope and insist upon making sure that the revenues of the Government shall be sufficient. They propose a system of present relief that to their minds seems adequate. The President's idea of the situation is that there should be a complete and final redemption of the troublesome notes by a bond issue of great size, and he persists in entertaining the belief that the Wilson-Gorman tariff act will meet the necessities of the Government. The practical outcome of the controversy is a matter of doubt. Everybody but the Administration believes that there is need of additional revenue from some source.”—The Star (Ind.), Washington.

No Permanent Relief in the Emergency Bills.—“Congress has again displayed its ignorance in the measures it has proposed for the relief of the financial situation. Neither the revenue bill nor the bond bill finds approval in financial or trading circles. The first will disturb trade even if it does produce more revenue, and the second is only another way of perpetuating the evils which threaten the Treasury with bankruptcy from time to time. They are only two more examples of what the cowboy can do with difficult and delicate subjects. It is said that if these measures reach the President they will be vetoed. Wall Street is, therefore, looking for another issue of bonds to make good the Treasury gold reserve. For that reason the stock market is strong, and ought under the stimulus of such an issue go back to the prices that existed before the war-scare. It is too much to expect that a rise similar to that that followed the issue of March last will take place now, because whatever the Treasury does is a makeshift because of the laws that tie its hands, and, while the business community will be glad of the temporary relief occasioned, it will not forget that it is temporary, or that so long as Congress is so obstinate in its refusal to apply the proper remedy, it is only a matter of time when the Treasury will be as badly off again as ever.”—Record and Guide (Financial), New York. The Tariff Bill Just, Wise, and Necessary.-"Our Democratic friends must, it would seem, admit that the Dingley bill is as just and wise as it is necessary. It is conceived distinctly on a revenue, as distinguished from a protective, basis. It will, indeed, afford ‘incidental protection,' but only incidental. Any tariff bill that lays duties on imported articles which compete with home products is inevitably protective. That the Dingley bill is far from being a revival of the McKinley bill is shown by the fact that, so far as the two measures cover the same ground, the rate named in the measure passed by the House is, for the most part, but 60 per cent. of the rate named in the bill of 1890. The expectation, based upon careful study and expert opinion, is that the new measure will result in an addition of between $40,000,000 and $50,000,000 per annum to the Government's income. That will suffice to stop the growth of the deficit and probably to yield a small but comfortable surplus.

"The operation of the measure is limited to two and one-half years. Excepting in the cases of wool and lumber, the principle followed is that of a 'horizontal' increase in rates of duty. Both these features stamp the measure as a temporary expedient, to meet a temporary and urgent necessity. As the chairman of the committee of ways and means points out, the principle of

But

"It is not material which protected interest, which monopoly fattened on the taxes paid by the people is most agressive and rapacious in this emergency when the country is in the midst of a struggle with its foes of all kinds-with England claiming and ready to enforce by its armies and fleets vast territorial rights on this continent, with the gold sharks attacking the specie reserve and the public credit at all points, with every form of domestic and foreign enmity.

"This is the emergency which the piratical protected interests have chosen as a time to enforce on Congress their demands for new subsidies, new bounties, new extortions under the false color of revenue taxation."-The Chronicle (Dem.), Chicago.

First Step in a McKinley Revival.-"It [the Dingley bill] is not designed primarily to raise revenue but to raise protection. If more revenue was the sole or main object of the House, and objection was made to resorting to additional excise taxes, on beer, for example, a small duty on tea and coffee would produce a certain revenue result. But additional duties on woolens, etc., will not produce certain revenue results. They are not designed to. The committee's report expressly states that one object of the higher rates is to secure to home-producers a larger measure of the production demanded by the country's consumption. Thus the aim is rather to discourage importations and hence to reduce revenue, than to increase revenue. The difference between a tariff for revenue with incidental protection and a tariff for protection with incidental revenue is irreconcilable, and in choosing the latter the Republicans are estopped from claiming revenue as their chief object.

"This, of course, reopens the whole question. No one will be deceived by the provision that the new rates shall lapse in August, 1898. That is a design in the first place to disarm the opposition to high-tariff changes prevalent among Western Republicans; and, in the second place, to pave the way for a general and permanent upward tariff revision when the party shall get full power, as it expects to within the next twelve months. Certainly the House majority has no idea of shaking up the woolen industry, now, for example, with any intention of permitting it to be unshaken or shaken up again at the end of two and a half years."- The Republican (Ind.), Springfield, Mass. Coin Bonds as Good as Gold Bonds. "Our Government is pledged to maintain the parity of gold and silver. To discriminate against silver by saying that we will accept only gold for new bonds is to violate that policy. Moreover, it is useless.

Only legal tender will be accepted, of course. So long as the interchangeability of gold, silver, and paper is practically maintained by the directions given to sub-treasuries, it does not matter a picayune what the bonds are paid for with. Coin bonds will serve every purpose of gold bonds and avoid national self-stultification."-The Recorder (Rep.), New York.

Republican Indorsement of Bond-Issuing.-"The only thing the bond bill will accomplish, if it passes, will be to stop the Republicans from criticizing in future the policy of the Administration in having issued bonds. They will then be in the same boat with the Administration, in the respect of indorsing bond issues as a proper mode of relief. The only difference will be that the passage of a bond bill will be the height of Republican statesmanship, and will be accepted as their plan of relieving the Treasury, while the Democratic Administration declares that bond issues are but temporary makeshifts and that nothing short of the retirement of the greenbacks and other legal tenders will afford adequate relief to the Treasury."-The Times (Dem.), Kansas City.

A Popular Loan Bill.-"Its [the bond bill's] most valuable provision is that which directs that these bonds shall be advertised to be sold at sub-treasuries and depositories of the United States, it being also provided that the small bonds shall be placed on sale at certain classes of post-offices. This policy embodies the principle of a popular loan, and as such it will be heartily welcomed. With more than $200,000,000 of gold lying in the vaults of state, national, and savings banks of the country, and fully as much more stored by in private hoardings, it is morally certain that an offer of bonds which practically meant an appeal to the patriotism of the people would quickly bring enough yellow coin into the Treasury to meet every requirement of the Government."-The Journal (Dem.), New York.

Two Sides of the Free-Silver Issue.-"The great obstacle in the way of remedial legislation is not so much the President as the Senate. While the bills proposed by Speaker Reed's committees do not commit the Government in any degree to the cheapmoney craze, they scrupulously avoid a clear proclamation in favor of honest money; but the Senate is differently constituted, and there is now little likelihood of any financial bill passing that body without the free-silver heresy engrafted into it.

"It is needless to worry about the possibility of Speaker Reed and President Cleveland harmonizing on remedial legislation to meet the present necessities of the Government. It is quite possible that they could harmonize their ideas sufficiently to accept the same measure, but with free silver running riot in the control of the Senate, not only is public and private credit greatly threatened, but the necessities of the Government are likely to be made the mere plaything of the most arrogant and senseless demagogs of modern history," The Times (Ind. Dem.), Philadelphia.

"Altogether the situation is in a very serious muddle and a crisis seems to be at hand. If we are to continue the gold standard we must pay dearly for it, and the debt of very nearly $200,000,000 already saddled upon the people in two years for this disastrous experiment will be but the beginning of the load which is to be put upon them if they are to carry the single gold standard. If we are to let England control our money system we might as well make up our minds now that she will in the end control our politics."-The Constitution (Dem.), Atlanta.

SPEA

SPEAKER REED'S COMMITTEES.

·PEAKER REED'S announcement of the committees of the House attracted little attention in the press compared to that usually given to such an important matter. The newspapers were too much exercised over the "war-scare" to bestow much attention upon the make-up of the committees. The general verdict, however, so far as expressed, of Republican, Democratic, and Independent papers gives credit to the Speaker for accomplishing a difficult task with an unusual degree of satisfaction to the members concerned. The principal chairmen are Dingley, of Maine, ways and means; Hitt, of Illinois, foreign affairs; Speaker Reed, of Maine, rules; Cannon, of Illinois, appropriations; Walker, of Massachusetts, banking and currency; Stone, of Pennsylvania, coinage, weights and measures; Boutelle, of Maine, naval affairs; Hull, of Iowa, military affairs; Powers, of Vermont, Pacific railroads; Henderson, of Iowa, judiciary. A departure from long custom is noted in the appointment of three committees on elections instead of one.

Government by Committees.—“Apart from the personal aspect of the question, as it may or may not affect the political fortunes of the speaker, the appointment of the committees in the House of Representatives is the highest duty devolved upon him.

“For the fact is, all our legislation is done in and through the committees, and, to bring it down to a finer point, done substantially by the chairmen of the committees. No matter how many bills the gentleman from Buncombe may introduce into the House, unless he can gain the favorable report of a committee he might as well have proclaimed his measure from the steps of the Capitol. And even if he should obtain the favor of a majority of the committee to whom his bill is referred, unless the chairman is with the majority he still stands no chance. The chairman is the mouthpiece of the committee, and it is only on very rare and fortunate occasions that any other member can accomplish anything in legislation against his will.

"And not only is the House governed by committees, but it is rapidly approaching the point where one committee is swallowing up all the power. In the last Congress the committee on rules was the master of the House and dictated what measures should be submitted to vote and which should not. Of course, above all is the Speaker himself, who dominates the committees and the House alike, but there is no question but that we are approaching a time when a single committee will dictate all the legislation of the House of Representatives. In this we will more nearly approach the system of the English House of Commons than one might think.

"The British cabinet is simply a committee of the House of Commons and shapes all legislation. So long as it has a majority of the House in its favor it remains in power, but whenever it is defeated it resigns.

'It is not impossible that in this way practise and custom may give us almost as full a measure of responsible government as Great Britain enjoys, and another unwritten amendment be added to our Constitution."- The Times-Herald (Ind.). Chicago.

Committees Constituted for Efficiency.-"Speaker Reed seems to have been governed more by a regard for personal fitness than by the question of locality. Hence he is criticized in some quarters for giving too many important places to men from the same State, and of slighting certain sections. But Mr. Reed evidently knows his business better than his critics do, and so far as can be judged he has constituted his committees with reference to efficiency. As all the work of legislation in the House is practically done by the committees, this is a very important point."— The Tribune (Rep.), Minneapolis.

They Fairly Represent the Republican Party.-"They [the committees] fairly represent the majority in the House, and all the more important and influential positions are as well filled as they well could be, considering the material available. Mr. Dingley, as chairman of the ways and means committee, will doubtless show himself a robust partizan and a strong adherent of the protection policy; but he has had long experience in dealing with the class of subjects that will now engage his attention, and he is as well fitted for the committee work as any Republican member. Mr. Cannon at the head of the appropriations committee may be expected to be more economical than Mr. Henderson would have

been. Mr. Walker, chairman of the banking committee, is a zealous currency reformer, and the committee itself contains a clear majority for sound money. Mr. Hitt and several other members of the committee on foreign affairs have had previous experience in diplomatic matters and are probably as likely as any other set of men in the House to act with some discretion when the present excitement has somewhat subsided. We could wish that this committee had less of the jingo flavor, but to have made it any different in that respect the Speaker would have been obliged to go outside of Congress for its members."- The Journal (Ind.), Providence.

A Difficult Task Well Done.-"It will be conceded that the Speaker has acquitted himself well of a most difficult task; and, putting out of sight the political and sectional considerations which always enter more or less into such selections, it will likewise be agreed that the principal assignments have fallen to men of capac ity and experience, and are such as to promise due expedition of the business of the session."-The Record (Dem.), Philadelphia. "Speaker Reed, being a man of wide experience, has constituted the committees of the House with rare skill and judgment. He has managed to put the strong men of the House where they can do the most good without giving serious offense to any one. He was obliged, in view of his own political position, to be extremely careful not to give offense in any quarter, and under these circumstances has accomplished a difficult task successfully. It is said that the committees have been made up to carry out Mr. Reed's program of economy in appropriations, very little legislation, Treasury relief by temporary tariff taxation, an issue of coin bonds, and relief for the national banks."-The Ledger (Rep.), Philadelphia.

The Forty-Fifth State in the Union.-The formalities connected with the admission of Utah into the Union will be concluded by a proclamation of admission by the President on January 4. The new State government will be controlled by the Republicans, due, it is asserted, to the influence of leaders of the Mormon Church unexpectedly thrown in favor of Republican candidates. Such political activity on the part of the Latter-Day Saints raises the question in some quarters as to whether the "Mormon problem" has really been settled by the provisions for religious toleration and the prohibition of polygamy incorporated in the new constitution. The Providence Journal (Ind.) thinks that public sentiment outside the State ought to be strong enough to operate powerfully against future interference of the Mormon Elders in political affairs. "We shall all of us," says the Journal, "regard Utah as a ward of the nation for some years to come, a younger member of the family of States which deserves. our oversight and protection on account of the peculiar conditions. under which it has developed. And while Congress has made the Mormons comparatively independent by its enabling act, it is. pretty certain that intelligent criticism of their policy in the futurewill have its influence upon them, even if it comes from the fardistant Atlantic slope."

The State will add two Republicans, probably free-silver men, to the United States Senate, making the number of members of that body 90, and but one representative to the House, making the number there 357. Of the political effects to follow the admission of Utah the Baltimore Sun says: "The total of the electoral college is correspondingly increased. For 1896 it will number 447, and 224 votes will be required to elect our next President.

Parts

"The population of Utah in 1890 was 207,905, as against 143.963 in 1880. As the apportionment act of 1893 makes 173,901 the ratio of representation, it is evident that the new State is entitled to but one Representative in the House. The population of Salt Lake county, in which Salt Lake City, the capital, is situated, in 1890 was 58,457. Two other counties have populations exceeding 22,000 and four others have populations exceeding 13,000. of the State are but thinly settled, Grand county having but 541 souls and San Juan but 365. As a center of Mormon thought Salt Lake City, with the spirit of independence quickened by statehood, will count, perhaps, for more than its population might suggest. The Mormons have become numerous in the adjacent States, and will, it is thought, to some extent control their political future. Idaho, Nevado, Wyoming, and Colorado will be subject to influences emanating from Salt Lake City. There remain of the once long list of Territories only Arizona, New Mexico, and

Oklahoma."

COMING

OMING on the heels of the discussion about the possible renomination of President Cleveland for a third term in the White House, the Venezuelan message has excited considerable comment as to its probable effect in this direction. The charge is made by some that the spirit of the message was influenced by a supposed desire of the President to secure such a renomination. Others who make no such charge yet think that the message is very likely to bring about such a result.

President Cleveland's Opportunity to Say No.-"President Cleveland never had a better opportunity than is now presented to serve his country and earn its everlasting gratitude.

"His apparent reversal of policy in reference to foreign affairs and his aggressive attitude on the Monroe doctrine, which has brought this country to a more advanced position than it ever before occupied, has naturally given rise to the suspicion freely expressed at home and abroad that he has been influenced by a desire to revive the drooping prospects of the Democratic Party, and at the same time to quicken his own chances for a fourth Presidential nomination. Whether this suspicion is well founded is not the question. It exists, and it weakens our position before the world, to say nothing of the tendency to create dissension at home.

"The one man who can dispel this idea is Grover Cleveland. How? By saying at once over his own signature that he will not be a candidate for reelection and would not accept a renomination. "Such a declaration at this time would make the people of this country more united than ever in the support of an administration which would give this crowning proof of its independence of personal and partizan considerations, and it would bring the European world to a realization of the earnestness of our purpose. Will Mr. Cleveland do it?"- The Times-Herald (Ind.), Chicago. To What Might the Desire of a Third Term Lead ?—“ The World has never advocated a third term for President Cleveland. We have insisted that the people have a perfect right to elect a President for as many terms as they want him, and that to attempt to limit their freedom of choice by the conjured spook of 'Cæsarism,' or by reference to 'unwritten laws,' is unwarranted and wrong. We have maintained that the clamor against a third term involved a denial of the people's capacity for self-government, and was therefore to be opposed upon principle.

"But-oh, these inexorable buts!-we are now frank to admit that in the light of recent events we are compelled to revise our opinion. When the apparent desire for a third term, which is naturally far more difficult to attain than a first or second term, impels the incumbent of the Presidency to push the country to the verge of war with a great and friendly nation over a preposterous and false pretense, the fact establishes a reason against a third term which did not before exist. It converts what was a theoretical objection into a very hard and practical one. If a supposedly phlegmatic, conservative, and 'safe' man like Grover Cleveland, whose intimate friends have held the idea that he would rather go fishing than be President, can do this thing, how much more dangerous to the country might be the third-term campaigning of a daring and audaciously ambitious Executive!” -The World (Dem.), New York.

The Third-Term Idea Must be Driven from American Politics. "There is no necessary or logical connection between a third term for Cleveland and his patriotic stand for the Monroe doctrine in its full integrity in the territorial dispute between Great Britain and Venezuela.

pean power.

...

"A third term for Cleveland or for any other President is as much fraught with danger to our American system and our free institutions as would be the unchallenged subjugation of one or all of the South American states by Great Britain or any other EuroA republic may as readily be destroyed from internal disease as from external violence; and there is no form of national malady likely to prove more speedily fatal to the Republic than that manifested by slothful indifference to the rigid maintenance of the unwritten law which limits the holding of the office of President to two terms, however great the services of the in

cumbent to his country.

"The danger from a continuing President is greater now than in the younger years of the Republic. The gigantic wealth of the nation, the great number of millionaires, the concentration of

1

money in few hands, and the uneasiness of the masses arising from it, lead the rich to yearn for a strong government rather than a free one. They will attain their end more speedily and surely by breaking down popular opposition to the election of the same President for many recurring terms. It will be a short step from a third-term President to one for life, selected and maintained in office by the moneyed and corporate influences of the country. The third-term idea must not develop in Cleveland's, or in any other President's, case into a reality. It must be driven from the possibilities of American politics."—The Rocky Mountain News (Pop.), Denver.

The President Will Not Commit Political Suicide.-"From an object of public derision, not unmingled with public scorn, by the stroke of a pen he [the President] has emerged into a commanding figure of public confidence and admiration. Whether his latest attitude be right or wrong, whether he be masquerading as a patriot or intriguing as a politician, he is to-day the most talked about and lauded man in this country. But even tho his patriotism be exalted to the skies and his praises be chanted in one grand national anthem, he will be no more available for a third term, no more welcome to our votes, and no more likely to be elected if he shall be nominated.

"The spirit of our political traditions, the enduring fixity of national precedents, the patriotic temper of the masses will never yield to honor Mr. Cleveland with a third term. He knows it just as well as everybody else feels it. The empty honor of nomination is not fairly exchangeable for crushing defeat. He will never imperil his standing or tarnish his reputation for political astuteness by doing what everybody would characterize as political suicide.”—- The Journal (Rep.), Detroit.

Populist Views of the "War Scare."-Expressions. from the weekly newspapers that represent Populist opinion on current topics come later than those of the daily press. These papers substantially agree in vehemently condemning President Cleveland. The Sentinel, Chicago, explains its refusal to join in "the general yell of delight" and its inability to seem pleased over the “extravagant exhibitions of patriotic fervor and laudation of the hitherto defiant demagog who suddenly decides to pose as the 'first patriot' of the Republic," as follows:

"I. The President is neither earnest nor honest in his apparent desire to maintain American honor and vindicate the Monroe doctrine. 2. The President's policy, if carried out, will result only in delay and final decision in England's favor regarding the Venezuelan boundary, without settling a single point involved in the Monroe doctrine. 3. Cleveland's message, sent to Congress on Tuesday last week, is but a single movement in the details of a huge conspiracy, a plutocratic plot, concocted and conducted by European and American bankers and capitalists for the purpose of depressing the price of American securities for future purchase and compelling the issue of gold bonds and the rejuvenation of the national bank system-of which conspiracy the President is one of the principal actors and beneficiaries. And these conclusions are supported not only by reason and common-sense but by circumstantial evidence so convincing as to be regarded in court in a common case at law as positive proof."- The Sentinel,

Chicago.