Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-05-17
M.kiNLEYIsM AND coxEYisM.
The ProtectIon Policy Carried to ITS
Logical Conclusion.


The ProtsctIoa Policy Carried to ITS
Logical Conclusion
The secretary of the American pro-
Aective tariff league writes To the World
protesting against the leagues being
held responsible in any wise for the
Coxeyite armies" 1t Is probable that
we were mistaken in naming the league
as the specific source from which the
Coxeyites were receiving aid. Never
theless. week ago there were unmis-
taxable signs that the protectionists
were lending the movement aid and en-
couragement of a substantial character;
just as there are signs now that they
dropped it when public attention was
called to the earmarks of partisan ma
nipulation-
And in spite of protests and disclaim-
ers nothing is more obvious than that
McKinleyism and Coxeyism stand in
the relationship of cause and effect
For twenty years the protectionists
have taught by speeches in congress
and on the stump and through their
party press that when any thing goes
wrong with business, or even with any
particular industry, congress should be
called upon to set things right Their
doctrine, put forward on all occasions,
has been and is that laws make pros
perity or bring disaster. and that the
remedy for industrial disasters is more
laws or changed laws.
In what does this differ from Coxey-
ism? The Coxeyites are in distress
They claim to be willing to work but
unable to obtain work, and to repre-
sent millions who are suffering priva-
ton by reason of this condition of
things. They follow the teachings they
have heard for years and turn to Wash
ington for help. They ask congress to
pass laws which they claim will bring
relief
Even their plan of presenting "a Pc
tition in boots" is borrowed from the
McKinleyites. How many times dur
ing the last dozen or twenty years have
the capitol and Washington swarmed
with people who had gone there to ask
congress to pass laws or to levy taxes
for their special benefit? How long is
ir since the protectionist spellbinders
and newspapers were sbrieking in
chorus because the democrats of house
and senate refused to give hearings"
to bands of people from all parts of the
country who insisted upon telling con-
gress what kind of laws and taxes they
Does the fact that the McKinleyites
had the money Tor had it put up for
them) to go to Washington in passen-
ger coaches give them any rights not
possessed by the Coxeyites, who for
lack of money must walk or steal rides
on freight trains?
The plain truth is that Coxeyisu is
simply McKinleyism reduced to an alb
surdity by being carried to its logical
conclusion. And though a burlesque
in its present phase it will have one
good effect We shall hear less here
after of congress and congress-made
laws as the remedy for industrial
troubles and trade depression We shall
see an end made of those petitions in
boots" which the palace car Coxeyites
have been thrusting upon congress year
in and year out We shall see the honest
American doctrine of self help put in
practice more and more.
Blindly and unconsciously, with but
a nebulous idea of what he is doing,
the grotesque COxey is great reformer.
His absurd army" will be turned into
a circus sideshow at twenty-five cents
admission and then melt away into the
police station, almshouses and casual
freight trains But be has taught
lesson that will not be forgotten. He
has opened our eyes to the extent to
which our social structure has been
undermined He has set men to think
ing, and as the first and surest result
of that thinking halt will be called
upon that form of state socialism
known as McKinleVism--N.Y Y. World