Huntsville gazette., 1891-09-12
MAJ. M'K,NLEY's SPEECH. c
A Clear Showing OF the Benefits Derived
from Republican Methods,

from Republican Methods
The Ohio campaign was formally
opened by Mai. Mckinley in his speech
at Niles, his birthplace, yesterday.
Clearly the republicans of that state
have never been more enthusiastic;
clearly in no campaign have they had
leader who more perfectly represents
their present purposes or arouses their
noblest aspirations than Maj. McKin-
ley. He has been one of the few states
men able to consolidate the wishes of
a great national party into tariff bill
which neither friends nor foes have de-
rided as compromise or makeshift.
The Mills bill was confessedly sacra-
fee of conviction to temporary expedi-
ency. The only other tariffs framed
and passed by the democrats during
the whole history of that party were
the horizontal revenue tariffs OF 1916
and 1851, and neither at that time nor
since has any person ever pretended
that those were anything but a cow
ardly evasion of the convictions the
party professed Nor were the tariffs
enacted by friends of protection in
years before the war at all comparable
to the act of 1890 in breadth, fidelity to
protective principles, courage or true
craftsmanship. The leader who was
not only able to devise but also to car
ry such measure through closely
divided house has few equals in the
history Of economic legislation.
Mr.. Mckinley gives his attention
first to the question of sound currency.
1t is an issue which Ohio has already
decided, and decided rightly, and at a
time when the policy of the whole
country depended on that state. In the
desperate struggle of 1875 that state
turned the tide against financial folly
and dishonesty. and Maj. Mckinley IS
confident it will do the same in the
contests of 1891, essentially the same
issue being presented. His argument is
that the republican party has already
erected mighty bulwark for the pro-
lection. of silver; has preserved and
enlarged its monetary uses upon safe
basis, and has provided that the silver
dollar shall be kept as good as the best
dollar of our currency" He shows
that unlimited coinage would mean
that 1.-The silver producer whose 41215
grains of silver are worth only so cents
in the markets of this country and the
world is thus enabled to demand that
the government shall take it at 100
cents" Then he asks with irresistible
force: ''Will the government be as
kind to the producer of wheat, and pay
him 20 cents more per bushel than the
market price," -@
Mr.. Mckinley believes an interpa-
tional agreement on coinage the only
true remedy, but that is prevented by
the belief of Europe that this country
will eventually go to silver basis
eff Europe believed otherwise she
would not be slow to give consent"
He then quotes the letter of President
Cleveland, and with especial force in
Ohio the declaration of Congressman
Harter, distinguished democrat, who
said: 'sThe adoption Of this wild idea
will not bring into the democratic
power a solitary state in the union. 1t
will be political suicide, and we might
as well make an assignment of the
party and have a receiver appointed.
Finally, Maj Mckinley showed that
free coinage would be robbery of pen
sioners, whose claims against govern
ment are not less sacred than those Of
men who loaned it money in its time of
need. When reputation sought to
plumber bondholders, the soldiers stood
firm for the public honor. Now the
debt has been SO far paid that interest
thereon is only S27, 200, 600 annually, as
against SLAB, 000,O 900 in 1867, and the
pension roll of the soldiers is $751;
600, 900, against $50, 900, 600 in 1867. Mr..
Mckinley asks: shall the soldier have
his great debt paid off in the. same coin
as the bondholder? Is it right to force
upon him dollar worth so cents when
other creditors of the government
were paid dollar worth 100 cents?"
Maj McKinley's discussion of the
tariff question is exhaustive, and con-
vincing, and deserves the careful at
tention of candid citizens in every state.
He shows that revenue tariff ''does
not move a single spindle except in
foreign countries. 1t increases the de-
mand for foreign goods, and diminishes
the use of domestic goods. 1t is for the
foreign shop and against the American
shop" He recites the history of the
country under various tariffs and the
result of each with great clearness, and
then discusses the position of the two
parties, with regard to the wool duty
in particular, showing that the demo-
Gratis now complain because the farm
err receives low price for his wool.
eff this be so, then the tariff is not
a tax" He shows that the democra in
previous years have affirmed that re-
duction of duties ON wool was great
outrage upon the wool grower, and
that the republican party has restored
substantially the duties of the tariff of
1867.
Mr.. McKinley's exposition of the re-
suits of the new tariff thus far and of
the precise changes of duty it has made
is much the clearest yet made by any
debater His defense of the duty on
tin plates is the more forcible because,
as he stated, works are about to be es-
tablished in every town where he spoke.
In closing, he quotes with great effect
the remarks of English journals on the