The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1893-11-24
M'K-INLEY In THE VAN
THE PROBABILITIES AS TO PRESl-
DENTAL CANDIDATES.

Tenn pOrary keverSeS Do Not D1Smay the
Democrats-The Tariff Bill May Now Be
Modifed-John Sherman Has Concluded
He Will Never Be President.
WASHINGTON, Nov. II. Especial. ] -
During the recess of congress the states
men and officials of the capital have moth
ing better to gossip about than the future
of parties and the probabilities as to pres
iiential candidates. The recent elections
afford these gossips ample text. The re-
suits of the voting in a number of states
affect the future of both parties and the
fortunes of several individuals. On one
! point the gossips appear to be united, and
this is that Mr. Mckinley will be the Re-
publican candidate for president in 1896.
On every street corner in Washington one
meets men who want to go on record with
the prophecy that the governor of Ohio
will lead the protection hosts in 1896, as he
came so near doing last year. If one were
to judge the future by the present, Mr..
Mckinley will have little opposition. To
day the talk is that he is so sure of success
that no one will care to oppose him. But
perhaps this is going too far. Many things
may happen betw now and the meet
ing of the national conventions. There
and no one can tell who will be brought
prominently forward by accident or cir
cumstance. Mckinley is now long ways
in the lead. That tremendous majority,
the fact that protection was the issue in
Ohio, the great revival of Republican spirit
and enthusiasm everywhere, with the tar
if as the leading issue, are circumstances
which make the gallant governor of the
Ruckeye State seem inVincible,
Democrats to Face the Music.
Nor should it be forgotten that McKin-
ley will be hel ed by events which are to
occur in the near future The Democratic
party will enact new tariff law. Though
the bill has not be IN made public, it is
nearly completed, nj the principles on
which it is construc ed are too well known
to make retreat posi- BILE at this time Your
correspondent is able to give little inside
information on this point. When the cleo
ton news came, the Democratic members
of the ways and means committee were at
work on their bill AS they approached
the end of their labors they felt pretty
good. But the news from Ohio, Massa-
chusetts, New York, Iowa and other states
was anything but pleasant. At once the
question arose whether or not, in view of
the results of the elections, the bill should
not be modified and be made a little less
radical in its application of the revenue
reform principle to the important sched-
ules. This discussion still continues. On
one side it is argued that the country
has not yet recovered from its business de-
preston, and that radical change of the
tariff will alarm the people and insure
Democratic defeat. Others point to the
Chicago platform and demand that the
well known principles of the party there
declared be strictly adhered to. These
men say it would be cowardly to retreat
under fire or to abandon principles be-
cause of temporary reverses. All the
chances are that the ways and means COM
mittee will stick to it's text and report the
bill which it had practically agreed upon
before the recent elections.
Will Help Mckinley.
In Washington it is believed the Demo-
cratic tariff law will help Mckinley and
make his nomination for president even
more probabl than it is today. 1t is held
that the people will not be satisfied with
the new law. They rarely are pleased with
any tariff law, no matter how constructed
or by which party effected. For these rea-
sons the men who are prophesying Nc
Kinley's nomination are willing to go far
ther and say he will be elected. Many
people are foolish enough to try to look
this far into the future. They may be
right, but they should remember that the
feeling of the people on the tariff question
is sort of pendulum, swinging now one
way, then the other. 1t is not impossible
it will swing back again before the next
presidential election.
The woman's Favorite Candidate.
If Mckinley proves to be the winner of
the Republican prize, many men and wom-
en- in Washington will be gratifed. He
is one of the most popular Republicans
that ever sat in congress He has dignity,
yet he is one of the most approachable of
men. He is genial, sunny, companionable.
So far as the women are concerned, they
are enthusiastic for him. He is the wom-
ans candidate for president. If the wom-
en- had vote, he would probably be
elected.
Their love for him grows out of his de-
votion to his invalid wife, which Wash
ington knows SO well. For years Mr.. and
Mrs. Mckinley lived at hotel in this
city. He was always by her side except
when his duties called him away. No
lover could be more attentive than he.
These are things which touch women's
hearts-and mems too.
John Sherman For Mckinley.
On another point the gossips are in &C
cord. They say Senator Sherman has
finally put the presidency behind him,
and that he will not be in Mr.. McKinley's
way in 1896. There can be no doubt this
is true. Senator Sherman said to some of
his friends here before going to Ohio to
take part in the campaign that if Govern
or Mckinley could win by big majority
nothing could prevent his nomination in
1896. One hears men saying Mr.. Sherman
should have been nominated for president
long ago; that he deserved this honor at
the hands of his party. Doubtless Mr..
Sherman thinks so too, but that he has
concluded the presidency is not for him,
that his day has passed, there can be no
doubt. While this is subject on which
he rarely or never talks, actions speak
louder than words. John Sherman, the
Nestor of American public life, is not in
the presidential running. Ohio will be
free for the first time to present as her can
didate her favorite son, William McKin-
ley, Jr. At Chicago in 1888 Mr.. McKin-
ley electrified the convention by his ring
ing declaration, while standing on chair
in the convention hall, that any man who
voted for him was his enemy; that he was