Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1893-07-20
A HARRISON ExPEplENT.
The Ex-President's Revelation Concernin
the sherman Law.

The Ex-President's Revelation Concerning
the Sherman Law.
In the course of very courteous in
teryiew with representative of the
Times Mr.. Harrison was kind enough
to give his recollections, favored with
few personal reflections, upon the
history of the Sherman law. He did
not ''care to go into full discussion of
the financial question" remarking hui
morously that that would require a
large book" He showed the same gem
tie aversion to this subject when he was
president. and it will be remembered
that when his secretary of the treasury,
Mr.. Window, proposed an elaborate
plan to promote the use of silver in our
currency without danger of debasing
the currency, Mr.. Harrison reported to
congress that he had not had time to
examine it carefully, and that perhaps
he would, in the slang of the day. 'see
them later ON the subject But he
never did.
Mr.. Harrison, however, is willing to
say unqualifiedly that the sherman
act was an expedient only. Mr.. Sher-
man, Mr.. Aldrich and other couserva-
tive members of the senate regarded it
simply as an expedient to prevent
something worse. and. as an expedient,
only a temporary one. I think" he
added, this is generally understood"
We agree that 1T is generally under
stood, though perhaps not exactly as
Mr.. Harrison fancies The notion has
been industriously spread that the sex
pedient" was in the interest of sound
finance, and that the something
worse" which it was meant to prevent
was the unlimited coinage of silver.
But there is clearly an error in this, be-
cause free coinage could not have been
enacted without the presidents con-
sent There were not enough votes in
favor of it to override his veto.
What, then, was the thing to be
avoided? On this very interesting point
Mr.. Harrison's subsequent remarks
throw some light. He said:
"Our democratic friends, who are now appeal
ing to to be patriotism appeal to which we
have always listened-were willing to vote for
free coinage bill just to put Harrison in hole
They wanted nothing else so badly that. and
they were willing to do anything the silver
question TO make that hole deep
81 do not say this any excuse for similar
course on the part of republicans now, but do
say that never had any fears of that hole"
Apparently, then, though c1r. Har-
rison in his natural simplicity does not
seem conscious of how plain he makes
it, the Sherman bill was an expedient,
and a temporary one, to prevent Mr..
Harrison being put into a hole to
prevent him having to veto a free-coin-
age bill. 1t is plain that if the demo-
Gratis had voted for such bill Mr.. Har-
rison could easily have prevented it
from becoming law. 1t was not for
that purpose, therefore, that the Sher-
man ''expedient" was invented. The
nv-nraSidapt hot no hol
any fears of that hole" We are
bound to accept his statement No one
knows better than he what he was
afraid or was not afraid of. But it is
great pity that Mr.. Sherman and Mr..
Aldrich and the others did not know
how he felt, or, if they knew, that they
should have loaded the country with so
bad piece of financial legislation to
save him from what he had mo fears
of.
Mr.. Harrison makes no prediction as
to the course of congress upon the re-
peal of this temporary expedient,"
the Sherman law. He says; The men
who will have to vote on the silver
question have very positive ideas on
very different lines. They are hard to
manage. 1 do not know how well
President Cleveland has broken his wild
team, or how sknlfully he can handle
the reins." We rather like this modesty
in the matter of prophecy. Mr.. Har-
rison probably feels that he is not, him
self, an expert in the art of guiding
cong1 ess. There were several important
occasions when he handled the reins''
when it was his uncomfortable fate to
be dragged whittier he did not want to
go, or when his wild team baked
with him and left him where he did not
wish to stay. The Sherman law is a
case in point. The congress, or his
party in party in congress, in this in
stance, ran a wild course, with the sole
purpose of saving him from a situation
which, it now appears, he did not fear,
and rather courted. Clearly, as char
ioteer he is right in refraining from
a prediction or criticism.-N. Y. Times