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Show H Plalforms and Candidates. B Business men are anxious about the candi- B dates to be nominated at Denver and Chicago, B respectively, but more anxious about the plat- B forms. We do not expect anything new or par- B ticularly encouraging in either of them. The B things most needed are an intelligent outline B of a sj;stem of finance, a plain statement of the B way the tariff should be revised, a clear outline B of such a revision of taxes as will make them B equal upon all alike and clear-cut statements of B the things which require prompt legislation. W.e B shall get, instead, some generalities about tariff B revision, a denunciation of trusts and monopo- B lies, somo demands for economy, a sop thrown to B catch the labor vote, in one or both platforms a B demand for a more elastic currency, some refer- B ences to the ancient glories of each of the old B parties, and on the Domocratic side a denuncia- B Hon of the Republicans for bringing on a great B panic and depression after ten years of unex- B ampled prosperity. Then will follow the four B and a half months' campaign, tho hot speeches, B the hot partisan editorials, and then the election, B and then the beginning all over again. Many B people deplore the excitement and disturbance B of business of frequent presidential campaigns B and want the term extended. If we had our way B we would have tho election every year. We B would have the states in state convention name IB their favorite candidates and in national con- B vention select the candidates to be nominated B fiom those named by the states, and make it B impossible for any President to succeed himself. B Experience has established that nothing is to bo B gained by giving any man more than four years B of tho Presidency. It is a place that taxes the B vitality of a man heavily; it ministers to his B vanity and love of power; if naturally egotis- B tical he is prone to reason himself into the be- B Hef that he can fill the place for a socond term B better than anyone else; he can, through his B appointments, always have in every state a mul- B titudo of sycophants to tell him he is the only H "It," and ho, as ho nurses his ambition, losqa hjs B Wel-headedness and grows to believe that it is Mi best for the country to re-elect him. H The most important questions that can be HI considered is what will make a sound financial m system and how the money of the country can m ho kept from gravitating in such tremendous m Bums to foreign countries. Tho first cannot be Hj outlined, for tho reason that half the peoples of the earth cannot accept any system that the United States can at present adopt, and hence no system that can be devised under present conditions can regulate exchanges or stimulate trade with tb half of the world that cannot do business on a gold standard. The Democrats will not dbjge demand the rehabilitation of silver for fear 6fKing defeated, in our judgment they would 'comeearer winning on that demand than any other that they can make. Then there should be afdemand for a restoration of our merchant mffrine on some basis. It would save to our country one thousand millions of dollars in ten years and give to the Republic four wheels to run on instead of three. Then an income tax should be insisted upon, a progressive tax, beginning very light on moderate mod-erate incomes and progressing up to confiscation before men can reach the Carnegie and Rockefeller Rocke-feller rolling snowballs that work like avalanches ava-lanches when in motion. But there will be nothing of these; the platforms will be fashioned with a desire to catch votes and it will probably be two more decades before conventions by their work will appeal to the best judgment of tho voters. |
