Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1892-01-15
A SOUND SPEECH.
Fair and Honest Convictions of ohio's
New Governor.


New Governor.
Gov. McKinley's inaugural address
30 the legislature of Ohio gives an adj
ditional proof-though it hardly was
needed-of the wisdom of the majority
that elected him to the highest office in
the state. The outcome of the campaign
invol-ed not only the censorship but
the senatorship, and. ). @smuch as that
involved national politics, Maj. McKin-
ley dealt largely. indeed chiefly, with
the great issues Of tariff and currency
whenever he addressed the citizens of
the commonwealth. But now that the
legislature has done its duty to the
state and to the nation by the reelec-
ton of ,'ohn Sherman to the senate the
residue of its duties are local to Ohio.
Nothing that any state legislature can
say or do after its senatorial election
can have any effect upon federal legis-
lation. SO Gov. Mckinley makes no
allusion to national affairs in his in
augural address. AS governor of state
he advises the legislature of the state
concerning the condition of the state,
and concerning what he deems best for
the continued prosperity of its people.
And yet in at least two passages of
his speech he treats of principles and
practices in the fulfillment of which
all the people of this republic are in
terested, You will be required" he
says, under the new census to redis-
trict the state for representatives in
congress. This will afford you an op-
20 lie+, ;.,t< a,
fairness to all. Make the districts SO
fair in relation to the political divisions
of our people that they will stand I'M
til a new census be taken" These are
plain and courageous words. The vice
OF gerrymandering has infected most,
if not all, the legislatures of the states.
Its most virulent form has been OBJ
servable in close states or in republican
states in which the democrats have OBJ
tanned an accidental majority, but
scarcely any state has escaped mild
attack of this epidemic of political dis
honesty. In Ohio the democrats so
gerrymandered the districts that the
republicans. who have a normal ma
jority in fifty-one counties of the
Lightweight that form the state, have
been able to elect but seven out of the
twenty-one congressman which it
sends to Washington. That is to say
the majority elected one-third and the
minority two-thirds of the congression-
aldelegaues. This evil must be rem
edied. but the governor warns the re-
pubiicaI majority of its responsibility
to the people. as well as to the party,
and cautions it against dishonest re-
prisals for dishonest act of its demo-
cratic predecessor. Deal honestly
with the people and they will deal
generously with YOU has been Gov
MeKinley's rule of life, and in his most
statesmanlike message he impresses ii
upon the legislature.
Il is local to the state of Ohio that its
legislature make fit appropriation for
display of its resources at the world S
Columbian exposition, but the spirited
tone of Gov. Mckinley's advice as tc
the action of congressman from that
state upon the question of additional
aid may have national effect The
people and their representatives, he
says, should urge upon congress such
action as will make the exposition
worthy of the great event that it cele
brates, and worthy also of the dignity
and honor of the nation" This is il
the nature of keynote. Each stale is
interested in making fine dis play OF
its own achievements. but all the states
are interested in making the exposition
worthy of the dignity and honor of the
nation.
The governors review of the prog
ress of Ohio during the years between
the census of 1850 and that of 1890 is
full and satisfactory. The debts OF the
state and its municipalities have de
creased. their revenues have been en-
larged, their resources multiplied, the
farmers have passed from gloom int
sunshine. Ohio is more than prosper
Gus; it stands among the richest com
monwealths of the world, and, though
the governor does not repeat in hi
message what he often said during tn,
campaign, the vast development of the
wealth of the state and the nation i
more due to the republican policies o
protection and honest money than t.
any other causes.-Chicago Inter Ocean