Los Angeles herald. [volume] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1890-1893, 1890-10-16
THE M'KINLEY BILL, THE PEOPLE
AND THE NEXT HOUSE.

There is scarcely limit to the specu-
lation that has been INDUCED in as to
the effect of the Mckinley bill, politi-
cally, CONNER cially and internationally.
No measure ever passed by Congress has
excited such widespread and absorbing
attention, either in this country or in
Europe. Until Mr.. Blaine showed his
party the advantage that might be
taken Of the manly although perhaps
ill-timed message of Mr.. Cleveland,
men of all parties were agreed that any
change which should take place in the
tariff of 1865, commonly though erro-
neously called the war tariff, ought to be
in the line of reduction. As Mr.. Cleve-
land and the Hon. Roger @. Mills placed
the matter before the country, the pa
triotic Democratic president would have
been reelected. But, unfortunately,
Mr.. Cleveland and Mr.. Mills were not
allowed to prescribe the conditions of
the contest. There are in the Demo-
cratic party good many hotheads,
many of them men of superlative ability,
who are fanatical free traders. These
gentlemen both speak and write elo-
quently and voluminously. During the
campaign which resulted in the election
OF Gen. Harrison, they came to the front
very frequently with the announcement
that the measures proposed by Mr..
Cleveland, and embodied in the Mills
bill, formed simply the thin edge of the
wedge, and that the butt end would fol-
low. At that time the people of the
United States were not prepared to
accept any radical tariff programme, and
the Democratic party, to the great detri-
Eent of the country, was forced out of
power.
Yet even Mr.. Blaine, staunch protec-
ZIONIST as he is, and as he always has
been, sees that there is no basis for an
enduring hold upon power in disre gard
ing the popular demand for lessened i'm
ports and free raw material. He did
not hesitate to express his disapproba-
ton OF the extreme Reed-McKinley pro-
gramme, and through his great influence
in the senate of the United States he
has tried to apply break to the fren-
zied onrush of his maddened followers
in the shape of reciprocity in trade be-
tween the United States and foreign
countries. This is a makeshift of doubt
full practical utility. 1t is one of those
brilliant coups de theatre, however, for
which the Plumed Knight is famous,
and it will to some extent serve to dis
tract public attention from the main
issue.
Diminishing these general aspects of
the tariff issue, most interesting ques-
ton remains, which will ba solved on
the ensuing 4th Ct November, and it
can be compressed into, "Will the peo-
pie of the United States-the voting
masses-stand in with their betrayers Pr
This is harsh phrase to apply to
both houses of; congress and to presi-
dent Of the United States, but it is none
the less just the one adapted to the stu
alton. There is no use of mincing
words when treating of proposition in
which the poor men of this country are
being skinned alive. They are SUBJ
jected to this barbarous process nomi-
nally in the interest of American labor
but really that the profits of the Iron
Barons, the monopolies and the trusts
may be swollen beyond measure.
That the verdict will be against the
Mckinley bill, and that it will take the
shape of two-thirds majority for the
Democrats in the house of representa-
tives, the HERALD does not doubt.
The Mckinley outrage is so gross and
far-reaching in it's qualifications that it
ought to admit even of the redemption
of SO strong Republican district as the
Sixth of California, now misrepresented
by Gen. Vandever. A Republican plur-
atty of 603O, which is the figure by
which Vandever beat Terry, is, of course,
hard to overcome, but it is not a hopeless
case. In 1872 the county Of Allegheny,
Pennsylvania, gave Grant $4,000 ma
jority over Greeley. This county in 1874,
exactly two years afterwards, elected
James H. Hopkins and Alexander G.
Cochran, both Democrats, to congress.
Here was majority OF $4,000, or an
average of $500 apiece, overcome in two
districts in two years.
We in California should do our best to
cooperate with that sentiment of the
country which will repudiate the Nc
Kinley bill. We can give best effect to
the honest indignation of the masses by
doing our utmost to elect w. ]. Curtis,
an honest and able man, over w. w.
Bowers. We should know no such word