Sharp County record., 1891-08-13
THE MKINLH Gull.
a Striking Instance NJ Islamism IN Amer
ican Politics.


being compromised by he result. the
steady extension of what NAV be- called
Mckiu.rv Worship iu that party is q
matter Of interesting study not devoid
Of certain irre~errut amusement.
There has been nothing Ike 10 IN mod
eru times except the movement that
produced the ghost dances Of the past
winter among the northwestern Sioux.
. PERHAPS 10 is Of some significance that
. this upcuIi ar form 1f superstition gains
foothold among parties and r1cns IN
which the Intellectual and moral forces
are rudimeutar- either from arrested
F development or from degeneration 1w-
I iug 70 persistent uOuuse- At q certain
. stage in the upward 0r downward
. course Of the human mind the -andeucv
I TO sec in some actual Or imagluar- per-
son the embodiment 1t the qualities
needed to bring about either salvation
. rom threatened evils or restoration 20
/ 40st states Of satisfied wants and desires
/ is very strong. and when this tendency
maHifests itself among large numbers
. Of persons Of fairly equal intelligence,
5r uuiuteIIireuce, Of eEcitab.e tcmDarz-
. ment. and Of strong and common Dre1u-
/ dices 10 frequently gives rise TO the
/ most eZtravagant and ZrOt-snua nrac-
tices and TO the most aforementioned
. and unbalanced IDEAS And 10 is often
acharacter!stia Of this form Of delusiOn
/ that the person clothed with these pro-
t0undlv trusted and admired attributes
is in reality very commonplace and
even ridiculous.
In the case Of the ab7rIri1es whose
conception Of an ''Amer;can system
extends not only 70 the monopoly Of
the home market in rame and scalps
but TO the exclusion from America and
from human existence Of all whose an
cestors were foreign 70 this country be-
fore the Seventeenth century. it viii be
noted that the object Of their Worship
is described as nothing more nor less
than q half-idiotic haif-insaue red man
with brain Just Of the proper capacity
to shut out any but strictly red-Ameri-
can ideas. In the case of our republic
an fell0w-citizcus, the representative
Of the politico-messiauic notion is Alr
Mckinley, tondIv termed by his de-
voted followers Bill" Mckinley. which
aDpeilatiOu seems 70 them happily TO
link the author to his work the NcEin-
ley bill Judged by the standards 0t
Jt,,,,,.-- ,5-4,, ,-ft-F4oI o. I-ff 'r--
Mr.. Mckinley is the last person who
would seem to be fitted % excite e1thu-
siasm amounting 70 real or apparent
alteration His career previous 10 the
Fiftv-frst congress- was. If not entirely
obscure. certainly not eminent or even
conspicuous. He worked along in the
house Of representatives " tn neither
more norIess Of distinction than falls to
the lot Of score Of country members.
But in that congress. partly by chance
and partly from acls Of any better ma
teriaI, Mr. Reed made him chairman of
the vavs and means committee, and 10
became his fortune 10 link his name
with the measure that embodied the
modern republican idea of protection
that was made the great issue in the
elections Of last year and that was in
drnantlv and overwhelmingly con-
demned bv the American people Not
only was his name linked with this mo-
mentous measure. but he was in reality
more responsible for its provisions than
anyone else. The negotiations by
which the bill was framed to- deal ont
favors where they would bring the
highest price were naturally not such
as could be trusted TO many agents
Mckinley took charrc Of them, and
there was not in the bill when it went
20 the senate a single shady job that
had not passed through his hands.
10 might have been thought that
when this amazing measure had done
It's fatal w0rl, and buried the repub-
lican majority in the house the party
would have dropped It's author and
turned TO some new leader 10 guide 10
back to the power from which it had
been so ncrci.esSv swept. But the
chief difficulty in this line was chat
there is nothing in modern republican,
ism but protection and nothing IN mod
ern protection but McKinIeyism. 10 is
IsIamism in politics. There is no god
but Protection. and Mckinley is his
prophet So when the doub.y y-dcfcatel
leader recovered from his amazcment
"a. the outcome Of bis labors, he found
the leaders Of his party more be-
w.lderrd than he had been, and he
straiohtwav started the cry that time
would Justify him and his policy. The
party prcss, sorcly at 70 loss for nuv-
thing 10 say, took mp the cry The
puzzled readers took 10 from The press.
and almost before they knew 10 the
party managers found the name of Me-
Kinlev on everyoncs lips and McKin-
ley himself audiblv protesting all over
the country that he was the Heaven .
selected leader ~ republican, 10 is .
inconcpivabo that the mon In the high
places Of The party Mr. Harrison, Mr. .
Blaine, Mr. Reed. Mr.. sherman. and 80
on, do not understand the absurdity Of
this curious enthusiasm for Mckinley,
this persistent hallino as u savior the
man who more than anyone else ruined
the party But they cannot help them.
4,tv,g fThasg h 90 tgtl,tftgf 90 and H,IgIts