The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1894-03-30

GOVERNOR M'KINLEY.
Mckinley, of Ohio, addressed the
Minnesota League of Republican Clubs.
The Governor said:
Mr. PRESIDENT, GENTLEMEN OF THE
REPUBLICAN LEAGUE OF MINNESOTA AND
FELLOW CITIZENS:-
Much has happened since the great Re
publican national convention of 1892 assem-
bled in this hall. The platform and candi-
dates of that great convention, admirable as
they were, were rejected by the people at
the election following; but the people had
no sooner spoken than they realized their
great mistake-a mistake which they now
feel most sensibly and regret most deeply.
The principles enunciated at that conven
ton were true then; they are true now.
They are as dear to Republicans now as
then; they are better understood and more
ardently supported by the great body of
the people in the year 1894 than they were
in The year 1892. While the Republican
party failed to carry the election, the
cause for which it contended did not fail.
1t survived the awful disaster and shines
more brightly and gloriously than ever
before.
Everything Suffered But Republicanism
The past year has been a long one-the
longest since the war. 1t has been full of
changes and experiences which have been
impressive and instructive but expensive.
All kinds of business have been seriously
disturbed. Investments have been sacri-
ficed capital has been despoiled of it's
earnings, and labor, more than all and
dearer to us than all, has succumbed to
the wasting blasts of the great change by
which industry has been cheated of its
just rewards. Everything has suffered
but the Republican cause Everything
has been blighted but Republican princi-
pies. They have escaped the mildew
which has settled upon everything else
Even the Democratic party has suffered
calamity we could bear with resignation
if it had not also carried in it's train the
vast and sacred interests of the people.
The Principles Enunciated.
What were the great principles and pol
icies thus enunciated in this hall? Let
me enumerate them: A protective tariff,
which shall serve the highest interests of
American labor and American develop
ment; reciprocity, which, while seeking
the worlds markets for our surplus
products, shall not destroy American
wages. nor surrender American markets
for products which can be made at home;
to measure the exchanges of the people
and cheat nobody; honest elections, which
are the true sources of public authority;
the extension of our foreign commerce;
the restoration of our merchant marine by
home built ships; the creation of a navy
for the protection of our national interests
and the honor of our flag; the mainten-
ance of the most friendly relations with
all foreign powers and entangling alliances
with none. the reaffirmation of the Mon
roe doctrine, and of our faith in the
achievement of the manifest destiny of
the republic as the best government of
earth in the broadcast and truest sense.
Who would modify these principles;
who would reverse this declared policy;
who would strike from the Republican
banner single star or stripe? Like all
Republican doctrines they are unchange-
able. Upon them the Republican party
bases its claim to future supremacy, and
impatiently awaits the constitutional op-
portunity to make its appeal to the people
How the Democracy Won.
The Democratic party won in 1892, as in
every contest since the war in which it has
succeeded, by campaign of profuse and
glittering promises. 1t now stands de-
moralized on the field of performance, and
has, so far, signally failed to redeem a
single pledge it made to the people. 1t
has been for many years denouncing the
tariff, because some men became rich
under its operations and others poor. The
first year of Democratic control has cured
all that, and the prescription has proved
quite as effective on the poor as the rich,
for it has involved them all in a common
loss. What devastation and distress have
hapn wrOuUht in eli oil vaart
Two Years Contrasted.
Let the briefest statement of the bust
ness condition at the close of the year 1892
be contrasted with like statement of
that condition at the end of 1898. ''The
year 1892" says Dun's Review of Trade,
the best non-partisan authority, "has been
the most prosperous ever known in bust
ness" This is the business Endorsement
of thirty years of Republican rule. Now
mark the changed Says Dun's Review of
Trade for 1893:
Starting with the largest trade ever
known. mills crowded with work, and all
business stimulated by high hopes, the
year 1898 has proven in sudden shrinkage
of trade, in commercial disaster and the
depression of Industries, the worst for so
years. Whether the final results of the
panic of 1887 were relatively more severe
the scanty records of that time do not
clearly show. The year closes with prices
of many products the lowest ever known.
millions of workers seeking in vain for
work, and with charity laboring to
keep back suffering and starvation in all