Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-08
Debate That Has Been Going on in
the Cloak Room.
FRIENDS OF PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRANTS
Discuss Whether McKinIeyism
Must Go or Stay.
BABCOCK AND BOUTELLE

q
| public could have been admitted to hear
| this debate, instead of to the galleries of
| the House. the latter would nave soon
been emptied The subject that has been
| under discussion has been the policy Of the
| republicans as regards the tariff in the
next House and In the next presidential
| campaign. Incidentally, the relations of
| two presidential candidates to this SUBJ
| ject and the probable attitude of the
| Speaker of the next House have been
| considered.
The controversy has arisen over state
| ments which have been attributed to prom
| inent republicans, in which they have
| been represented as denouncing what is
| called "McKinleyism." The little war that
has been going on in the House cloak room
has resembled that agitation which would
| have gained ground in the party during
| the campaign IL Mr.. Reed had not dis
avowed the authenticity of the interview
which was attributed to him in Michigan,
| in which he Was represented as being op-
| posed to McKinley's tariff position, and If
| Senator Sherman had not also disavowed a
similar interview which was accredited to
him since the election, in which he took
similar ground. The whole agitation pro-
ceeds from the friends of rival aspirants
for the presidency in the republican party,
who seem to be seeking to occupy different
positions On the protective side of the tariff
question. The immediate cause for this
new agitation has been an interview attrib-
uted to Congressman Babcock, the chair
man of the republican congressional COM
mittee. in which that gentleman was rep
resented as opposed to Mr.. Mckinleys
views on protection. This interview of Mr..
Babcock was called to the attention of the
Home Market Club in Boston. which is
sort of stepmother for all Mckinleyites.
Mr.. BabcOck's Real Position. 80
The Home Market Club, as every one
who has had access to the House republi-
can cloak room for the past few days has
known, has sent a telegram to Congress
man Babcock asking him II he Is the au-
thor of any such sentiments, and If the
interview attributed to him Is authentic.
Chairman Babcock has replied in sub
stance that the interview was not author
lied, and Is inaccurate, and that his own
views on the tariff may be summarized
in the statement that he favors a con-
servative tariff which will furnish suf-
fcient protection to the manufacturer and
to labor, and will insure adequate revenue.
Going more fully into details Chairman
Babcock has said: II have never had such
an interview. l have had no interview at
all with any representative of the paper
in which this pretended interview appeared.
do not entertain the sentiments which are
attributed to me in that interview. l have
not cared to correct the interview, as do
not wish to appear in print and think, now
that the campaign is over, the committee
should remain in the background. But my
position is very plain and has been a SIM
pie one throughout the campaign The
republican congressional, committee con-
Quoted the campaign upon the Minneapolis
platform as to the tariff. There was no
attempt or any desire on the part of any
one to deviate from 1t. 1 believe and l
think that all republicans believe, that the
republican party will advocate a tariff
policy which will furnish adequate protec-
ton to all manufacturers and to American
wage earners. and which will supply suf-
fcient revenue. That Is my platform and
that Is the platform of the republicans"
This Is a disavowal Of some Of the bald
statements attributed to Chairman Bab-
cock to the effect that McKinleyism must
go. But the fact that he speaks of a con-
servative tariff, and has intimated that
there may be two kinds Of protection, has
aroused some of the more stalwart protec-
tionists, who do not admit that, in the
cause of protection, one can serve two
masters, or that there can be a protection
that is good, and another kind Of protec-
tion that Is to be disavowed. Congressman
Boutelle Of Maine, very earnest, positive
man, Is one of these men, and he is not
willing to allow the word conservative"
to have any place. either i'm his vocabulary
of the tariff or of any other public Ques-
ton.
What Mr.. BOutelIe Says.
The gentlemen inside the republican
party who are thinking Of endeavoring
to organize the House on the basis of
tariff conservatism will be interested In
reading what Mr.. Boutelle has to say. He
says:
Il have no patience with any republicans
who permit themselves to be made the
cats-paws by democratic and mugwump
newspapers that are laboring to belttle
and break the force of the great protec-
ton victory of 1894, by intimations that
the republican party has in some way
weakened or retrograded from it's former
stand upon the tariff question. 1t is an
old trick of the democracy to invent a
phrase or catch-word which they seek
to make odious by iteration, and then use
1t as a bugaboo with which to scare timid
and feather-brained republicans. BLEED
ing Kansas Bloody Shirt" and Force
BIZ are examples, and just now. after
the awful thrashing administered by the
people, they are desperately shouting
against "Mckinleysm," and claiming that
1t shared in their defeat. The transparent
trick Is to ask some unsuspicious repuhli-
can whether our party will re-enact the
future conditions may indicate some pos
sible change of rate in some item of some
schedule, the democratic paper instantly
reports said republican as having declared
that "Mckinleyism Is dead" and that the
party will never think of restoring it, OF
course the obvious purpose Is to get the
impression abroad that the republicans
have repented of repudiated the tariff
legislation of 1890 as too pronounced In
the line of protection, and that the result
of the recent elections has caused the
the Importance of preserving our home
markets, and encouraging our own indus
tries.
The Triumph Of Protection.
THE falsehood of this pretense is shown
by every fact of the recent campaign.
Never before in political history was there
contest In which the main issue was
made overshadowing it's triumph
pronounced as in ;he elections Of this
year, when the principle of protection to
American industry received the most over
whelming Endorsement ever given by the
American people. And it was not only a
victory for the principle, but concrete
triumph for the system of republican pro-
lection enacted in 1880, as against the as
sault made upon 1T by the Wilson Brice-
German monstrOsity enacted by the demo-
Gratis.
THE attempt to impart a prejudice
against the tariff revision of 1890 by char
acterizing it as 'McKinleyism,' and repre-
senting 1t something indefensible, is an
insult to the republican Congress that gave
to the country two years ago what in
comparably the wisest, most thoroughly