The G. O. National League

The great republican rehearsal i nowon.at Cleveland, and may be taken as fairly ndicative of the coming gatherings of the clans President Tracy in impassioned anc windy eloquence has sent up both pibroch and slogan. As was to be expected he claimec that the incoming tide of business prosperity was only the awakening of the earth to the "bugle note" of the republican victory of 1894 though he is very careful not to re veal that this very activity is in iron steel and other lines of commerce that he xlaims the "Wilson bill' destroyed. We are to be-congratulated that the gentleman lost sight of his spleen long enough to acknowledge that business is really improving. The speech as reported is largely of the usual tirade against democracy and the fulsome praise of the g. o. p., regardless of facts or even political courtesy. It was unnecessary that he should menuon me ract tnat tnis is not tne real play, and that the League is irresponsible foT that is evident from his speech and his avoidance of living issues. The purpose of the gathering seem's to be only to find where greaterdust can be raísed to hide the real purpose of the party and befoöl the credulous voter, thus giving a nLw lease of .life'to the machine tnat will keep it in power or destroy the ñation in its attempts to Stay there. That there is ,.ani improvement in business is certain, but that it is not due to ány one cause is likewise certain, and that the republican cóngressional majority has anything at all to do witb it is juet as certainly not so. They can have no power to legislate until arter March 4, 1897, and it will require too great a stretch of imagination to believéÊthat the possibilities of that tirde are bf any great monrent now. However, as the partyi of fog and claims, the g. o. p. is eásiíy in the lead, and we could expect nothing better from them than just such insane clatter, by which to catch the voter. The political cyclone of last fall was responsible for the worst lot of state legislatures, probably, that ever disgraced northern constituencies. In fact there is nothing to compare them with except the carpet bag legislatures of the south during reconstruction days. From Maine to California they were overwhelmingly republican, and in nearly every case they have been severely cnticised by the leading organs of the party responsible for their being, as inimical to the interests of the people, and devoted to jobbing and corporate interests. Our own legislature was a notorious illustration of this. The legislature of Illinois was a close second. So devoted was it to Corporation interests and so subservient to Corporation influences that matters of the most urgent public concern were wholly neglected or carelessly and incompletely done. So negligent were the legislators in matters essential to the fiscal admlnistration of the state that their seats had scarcely cooled before it was necessary for the governor to cali them in extra session to provide funds for carrying the appropriations into effect and to give some attention to matters of public urgency which had been so largely neglected. The history of the legislatures of 1895 ought to be a lesson to the people against giving any one party absolute control over legislation. A vigorous minority is always an advantage to the people. For months the republican breth ren have been rubbing their hands in glee over the threatened split in the democratie ranks due to the question of free silver. But no sooner do they get together in anv official capacity than they find the same disquieting specter stalking in their midst. The meeting of the republican clubs now in progress at Cleveland is rent and torn by the dissensions of the respective adherents of the white and the yellow metáis. So dangerous has the schism become that the assembled faithful dare not take a decided stand on the question. It is expected that some temporizing, straddling, meaningless resolution will be adopted, which will be in accord with the views oi everybody, but which will commit those assembled to no policy. In fact the delegates to the eighth national convention of republican clubs will make the greatest efforts of their lives in trying to hoodoo the people. The supreme effort will be put forth to in reality say nothing while appearing to grant everything demanded by those voters who are unwilling to follow repub licanism in its onward march in the interest of favored classes and plutocracy. South Dakota's famous traveler, W. W. Taylor, the defaulting exstate treasurer, who stole all the money the state had, amounting to $344,000, has voluntarily returned, turned over all his possessions to the state and plead guilty in court, and now awaits sentence. It is alleged that two years in the penetentiary is the longest time that can be given him under the statute of South Dakota. The case is a famous one, and peculiar in this, that at Christmas time his shortage, which was then $150,000, was made known to his bondsmen, when, it is said, the conclusión was reached that it would be best for him to take the rest of the funds of the state and make his escape. It was thought that by pursuing such a course he would be able to dictate terms and either escape punishrnent altogether oí receive a vcry light sentence.; Such a conspi'racy as that is wcJrWJthan the original offense and merits the severest penalty. i "Legal tender" legilátion can make a unit of a certain amount of silver and give it a certain debtpaying power, but it is never able to attach to it a definite purchasing power. This truth is finely illustrated in the silver unit or dollar of Mexico. Giving it the name "dolar" has not given to sixteen grains of silver the buying power over one grain of gold. The fact is that one grain of gold will buy more than thirty grains of silver. The same would be true here were it not for the policy of our treasury, which maintains every dollar on a parity with every other dollar by practically agreeing to redeem silver dolars in gold dollars. The advocates of sound money ïave won a victory all along the ine in the blue grass state. In the primary elections held there the other day every congressional disrict was carried against the silver iatists. Our people never evolute ackwards. A majority of voters can always be found on the right ide of questions which they have tudied.