The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1894-05-11
OOXEYIsM AND MKINLEYIsM.

The Secretary Of the American Pro-
tective Tariff League writes to the
World protesting against the Leagues
being held responsible in any wise for
the Coxeyiie armies" II is prob
able that we were mistaken in naming
the League as the specific source from
which the Coxeyites were receiving
aid. Nevertheless, a week ago there
were unmis;akable signs that the Pro
tectlonists were lending the move
ment aid and encouragement Of sub
stantial character just as there are
signs now that they dropped it when
public attention was called to the ear.
marks of partisan manipulation.
And III spite of protests and dis
Chalmers nothing is more obvious than
that McKinleyism and Coxeyism
stand in the relation Of cause and
effect.
For twerty years the Protectionists
have taught by speeches in Congress
and on the stump and through their
party press that when anything 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 oc
casions, has been and is that laws
make prosperity or bring disaster, and
that the remedy for industrial disasters
is more laws or changed laws.
In what does this differ from Cox
eylsm p? The Coxeyi:es are in dis
tress. They clam to be willing to
work but unable to obtain work, and
to represent millions who are suffer
ing privation Ivy reason of this con
ditlon of things They follow the
teachings they have heard for years
and turn to Washington for help.
They ask Congress to pass laws
which they claim will bring relief.
Even their plan of presenting ga
petition in boots" is borrowed from
the McKinleyites. How many times
during 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 it since the Protectionist
spellbinders and newspapers were
shneklng in chorus because the Dem
ocrats Of House and Senate refused
to give " hearings to bands of people
from all parts of the country who in
sisted upon telling Congress what
Kind OF laws and taxes they wanted
for their own beneft2 Is it a month
since Mrs. J. Ellen Foster carried
,hrong Of Rhode Island factory girls
to Washington and chased Senators
around the committee rooms with her
petition in boots ~
Does the fact that the Mckinley
ties mad the money Tor had it put up
tor them) to go to Washington in
passenger 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 Coxeyism is
simply McKinleyism reduced to an
absurdity by being carried to its logi.
cal conclusion. And though a bur
lesque In It's present phase it will have
one good effect. We shall hear less
hereafter of Congress and Congress-
made laws as the remedy for industrial
troubles and trade depression. We
shall see an end made of those "pe-
tltions in boots which the palace car
Coxeyites have been thrusting upon
Congress year in and year out. We
shall see the honest American doc
trine of self-help put in practice more
and more.
Blindly and unconsciously, with but
a ne5ulous idea of what he is doing,
the grotesque Coxey is a great re-
former. His absurd army" will be
turned into a circus side show at 25
cents admission and then melt away
into the police stations, almshouses
and casual freight trains. But he has
taught lesson that will not be for
gotten. He has opened our eyes to
the extent to which our social struc.
ture has been undermined. He has
set men to thinking, and as the first
and surest result of that thinking a
halt will be called upon that form of
State Socialism known as Mckinley
ism.-N. y. World.
THE PULLMAN PALACE CAR.