St. Paul daily globe., 1896-03-04
THE MOMENTUM OF GREAT ISSUES.

Great questions of government move
with momentum of their own, an in
herent, propelling force, that ceaseless-
ly urges them on until they find a.
final and satisfactory adjustment The
movement may be for time obscured
from views and it may appear as if
some other question has come to divert
attention, but all the time the issue
that has had the. right of way rolls
silently on gathering force as it goes,
and when the temporary obscuration
begins to pass away the movement
becomes again discernible. 1t has been
so with every great question of hu-
man right. 1t was so with the slavery
question. While the Republican party
was protesting it's desire to perpetuate
slavery in the states and only stop
Its expansion, the momentum of the
movement for universal liberty was
sweeping the party along to the eman-
cipation proclamation of Lincoln. On
the other side the momentum of slav
cry carried its adherents resistlessly
along into self-destruction.
We see the same conditions now.
Back of the assault on protection by
tariffs, back of the Democratic pre-
tense Of purpose to eliminate protec-
ton and retain tariffs, was the motive
force whose ultimate end was the free
dom of the exchanges of the people.
Every argument against protection ran
as logically to free trade as did every
argument against slavery run un-
erringly to it's abolition. On the other
hand, every argument for protection
carried it's advocates irresistibly to sus-
pension of imports and to the embodi-
ment of the same policy In internal
affairs. Then came the panic to raise
Its dust, to divert attention from pub
lie matters to private distress, and
create the confusion of ideas and pol
acies that we have seen in both parties
since 1893. But now that another pres
idential election is coming on, the fog
Of finance is lifting and the momentum
OF the old issue is discernible The
being felt, disclosing the momentum
and showing how resistless it is. The
actions Of conventions, the interviews.
"straw ballots" canvasses among Re-
publican voters everywhere, reveal
the fact that the old fight is still on.
and that the real issue to be contested
again this fall Is the old one between
ultra protection on the one side and
tariff reduction eventuating in free
trade on the other.
Naturally the choice of voters gravj-
tates towards the man who most rep
resents their views. In 1892, with the
politicians and managers all against
him, the mass Of the Democratic party
compelled the nomination of Mr.. Cleve-
land. Now the evidence everywhere is
that Mckinley is the favorite of the
mass, the rank and file of the Repub-
1ican party. Mckinley clubs spring
up spontaneously everywhere. At the
Springfield "love feast" designed to
boom Cullom, the favorite was McKin-
ley. The views of the Republican ed
itors of the state of Illinois, obtained
by the Tribune showed the large ma
FORTY for the Ohio man. In New
York the Buffalo Commercial has been
obtaining the sentiment of the party,
and it is about unanimous for McKin-
ley. Not only in Buffalo, but in four
teen towns of Western New York this
is the condition. At a caucus in Chau-
tauqua county 210 Republicans out of
213 present were for the little major.
This in a state committed by Platt to
Morton"
This indicates that if the panic and
financial question have obscured the
movement of the cid issue they have
not stopped it. What might be the
case had the parties aligned them
selves on the money question as they
did on the tariff need not be consid-
cred. They did not. 1t cuts across
party lines, dividing them and leaving
the old issue intact Mckinley will be
The nominee if the mass of the voters
IF his party have their wish. The