Page:Nation v71 no1832.djvu/2

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The Nation.

[Vol. 71, No. 1832

‘a weighty factor to reckon with in think- ing about the future.

Silence sometimes has a significance more impressive than speech. Such is the case when the man who was Mc- Kinley’s chief rival for the Republican nomination in 1896, and who was elected Speaker of the Republican House in 1897, says that he 1a “too busy a man” to make any speeches for the party this year. ‘The election in Mr, Reed's own State comes next month, and it will be the firet time in thirty years that he has not been on the stump, The sflence of ‘Thomas B. Reed will contrast sharply with the volubility of John Barrett and the other substitutes who will be put in the field. The most significant feature of the incident, however, {s not the loss of an orator whose support would be of immense service to McKinley. It is the fact that this great figure stands for a class of Republican voters of no small dimensions. A very noteworthy feature of the canvass is the large number of Re- publicans who manifest no enthusiasm for thelr party, and who are not inclined to exert themselves for {ta success,

‘The letter from Mr. Charles Francis Adams, published in Saturday's Hoening Post, should be read and digested by the large body of citizens who are in doubt concerning their duty at the com- ing election. They will not be likely to meet with any clearer or more carefully reasoned statement of the conditions o, the probabilities, and even those who do not find {t conclusive will admit {ts co- gency. Probably most independent voters agree with Mr. Adams that an op- position majority in the House of Repre- sentatives is destrable. If it cannot improve our situation, it can prevent its getting worse. Not so many have his confidence that Mr. McKinley ‘will be more conservative in his sec- ond term, or that the Jingo Republicans of the Roosevelt type will be discredited by the loss of the House of Representa- tives. As to Mr. Bryan's Anti-Imperial- ism, Mr, Adams forcibly presents the conviction which deters a great many In- dependents from voting for him. They do not belleve, judging from his course about the treaty with Spain, that he is ‘opposed to extending our sovereignty over other peoples; and they still less believe that there is any such opposition among the Democratic leaders. As Mr. ‘Adams says, no one thinks that the peo- ple of the Philippines can be elevated to Tammany {deals of self-government ‘within one, or a dozen, Presidential terms, Concerning the wisdom of organizing a third party, we doubt if those who favor the movement will be deterred by Mr. Adams's argument. They are, for the Most pert, voters who have made uy thelr minds that the condition of the country will not be much worse or much better, whether Bryan or McKinley 1s

Prealdent, and who are tired of having their political activity Ifmited to choos- Ing between evils. They see no hope of anything better In the future unless there {8 a revolt, and whether thelr numbers are sufficient or not to make their pro- test impressive, they will at least have freed thelr consclences, But, of course, this can be accomplished by simple ab- stention.

‘Mr, J. Sterling Morton's paper, the Conservative, republishes the speech made by Senator Money of Mississippi against the treaty with Spain while Mr. Bryan was himself urging its ratification, It would seem as though Senator Money was addressing himself particularly to ‘Mr. Bryan when he said:

“Wo are told that we want peace: that we want to get the volunteers home. We all

do." Everybody wants peace. I want the volunteers brought bome. + Does any man say we are going to have peace by rati-

fying this treaty? Yes; we will have peace with Spain, but we wili begin war with the Filipinos... Tf we ratify. the treaty ‘with no declaration in it that we disclaim any right to enslave these people, or to hold them in subjection, or use language which does not mean giving them thelr Iib- orty, wo have already embarked in 8 war that’ will not release the volunteers, but which will call for fresh volunteers, and thousands of the best American youth will lay their bones upon the plains and in the Jungle of Lazon and in other parts of the Philippines.”

Referring to the Bacon resolution which ‘Mr. Bryan wished to have adopted simul- taneously with the ratification of the treaty, Senator Money said that there ‘were several such resolutions before the Senate, but that they amounted to no- thing because they were mere declara- tions of opinion. Congress might pass them to-day and repeal them to-morrow. ‘They did not fix the status of the Fill- pinos. They did not disband the army. ‘They did not put a stop to bloodshed. ‘The only place to accomplish these things was in the treaty itself. He (Mr. Money) could not vote for a treaty with- out stipulations insuring peace engraft- ed in the instrument itself. With such stipulations he believed that it would recelve every vote on his side of the chamber.

Perhape the most noteworthy of all the Government returns for July are those which deal with the new issues of bank- note circulation. During the month, $12,- 381,000 in this currency was issued to the banks, and, allowing for circulation retired by other institutions, the net in- crease was $10,455,000, The volume of Increase has been surpassed in some previous months of the current year— in May, when the new issues ageregat- ed $15,210,000, in April, with $14,326,000, and in March, with $21,618,000; but these earlier additions to the currency were the first-frults of the new law of March 14, and the expansion was not expected to continue at any similar ra- tio. As the July figares show, however, there fs little or no check to the move-

‘ment. In the five months since the en- actment of the law, the country's total bank circulation has increased $70,- 500,000. The magnitude of this addition to the circulating medium may be judged from the fact that it far exceeds the national banknote issues of any full year in the country’s history, excepting only 1865 and 1866. It exceeds, in fact, the annual increase in all kinds of cur- rency combined, in twenty-eight out of the thirty-five years since the civil war. In the second year named, the new bank circulation reached a total of $138,- 000,000. This is a striking figure; yet it will be observed that if the new is- sues of the current year continue at the rate reported for last month, the increase in circulation for the first twolve months of the law of March 14 will far exceed even 1866. Few expert observ- ers ventured, last spring, to predict so huge a gain as this; yet it must be remembered that the relatively dull months of interior trade are now behind us, and that the harvest demand for currency, when bank issues would nor- mally expand, sete in this month.

Thousands of our European imm!- grants come in by way of Canads, among them many who could never pass our strict inspection. So many have chosen this indirect route that the steer- ‘age business of lines touching at Amerl- can ports is serlously affected. The united complaints of these steamship companies have brought the matter be- fore the Treasury Department, which is now considering the serious problem of guarding a border of three thousand miles, There has long been an agree- ment with the Canadian Government that its Inspection of immigrants bound for the United States should be strict and thorough. There has been, however, no means of enforcing euch tnepection, while nothing was easier for an immi- grant having some detect in the eyes of the law than to announce himself as a candidate for Canadian citizenship. This ‘usually sufficéd to let him through, for it 1s still the polley of Canada to en- courage immigration. Assistant Secre- tary Taylor of the Treasury Department ‘and Commissioner-General Powderly of the Immigration Bureau have gone to Montreal to confer with Canadian officials about the whole matter. It is suggested by Commissioner Powderly that Inspection points be established where the great railroad lines cross the Border. The suggestion is @ practicable one; and already, with almost suspicious alacrity, the Canadian allroad and steamship companies offer satisfactory assurance for the free return of rejected Immigrants, The lines that get such inspection points will, of course, gain largely. Already there fs a very pretty quarrel on be- tween Canadian railroad and American steamship interests, It would be unfor- �