, 1896-12-16
THE SPECTATOR ON THE AMERICAN
ELECTION.

doubted thai Mr.. Mckinley would prevail in
the electoral contest, but we believed, as we
know some Of the. ablest Americans also be-.
loved, shat his opponent would reach more
nearly to the goal. Mr.. Bryan, after a Struggle
in which he displayed,to our mind, little men-
tai power. but extraordinary energy and some
insight into the real grievances Of his coun-
trymen. has been defeated by a maiority OF
moro than o million. He has captured an
area equal. to more than half the. United
States, and nearly as many separate States
as bis rival. the .proba BILE figures being 81
States for him, and "A for Mr.. Mckinley but
he has niaNc nothing like the same IMPRESS
sion upon tie greet body of the people. and
'the str 9Th Of Kings is in the msR who
ound the throne" The masses Of the
East, OF the Middle States, of he North West,
and Of the Mid West, who constitute the
strength of the Republic and secure its ma
~ial prosperity woke up at las! to a sense
of t. magnitr = of the issue, discerned that
the future of their country was ut stake,
appreciated the argument that to pay i'll
silver was dishonest, and once aroused did
their dntv at the polls as in l861-65 they did
it with the rifle. They crushed Mr.. Brya an,
as the Americans put it, under q "snow-
fall" of votes. The artisans of the factories,
the farmers of country districts, the multi
IuU6e u Lu6 RiSdU ClblOS, ON@iJ O&oe @I'Sh
had been considered doubtful, Supported
Mr.. Mckinley and he will rscoive probably
270 votes out of tho AT. which, now make up
the total NUMBER Of ELECTORS who, though :
originally. expected. to deliberate. n0w vote
with the automatic precision OF English:Ca-
thedral Chapters when the Queen invites
them to choose freely ber nominee. There :
was an amount Of lying after ths election
which ia almost infxplicable, unlesslth local :
reporters were paid by stoekjobbers but the
broad result is what we have Indicted, and
it is thoroughly creditable TO the SOUND sense
and stro,g character of the AmenoD4 people.
Capital, when employed az q weapon, as it
now is in the States. undoubtedly needs res-
traints but Mr.. Bryan's proposals about 4,
silver were confisoatory, and his followers
grand idea, that wealth is always swindIilg
poverty, is an absurd illusion. A greater
approach to economic equality must te a.
CURED by other means than force End fraud,
and the American people are right in decid-
ing that until those means are discevsrsdthey
will bear with the ills they have rather than
by a wild attempt to remedy them, destroy
credit, degrade morality, and throw the in5.
: Gustry Of a continent into hopeless confusion.
We doubt if a vote was ever given that was
better calculated to dispel, or at least dimin-
ish, the fears of those who, while 'hey do not
question hat Dsm9s. the new Sovereign, is
we'll mentioned, are full of alarm as to both
his knowledge and'his wisdom. The Demo.
cracy has acted list as y wise committee of
English Wings would have acted, that is,
it has accepted q Government i'll many res
poets Objectionable, because it can be relied
on not to ruin ommerc by tampering with
the currency, and not to demoralise the
people by plnndering property in order to
distribute the spoil among them as prize Of
war. None of the problems which agi'ats
the. Union are. solved :by the election
indeed one problem, that Of the wiseSt
tariff, is probably made . rore hopeless
but the American people has refused to-
solve them by legalised violence, ard that
. is much.
The refusal, too. is, we imagine, definite
at least f>r this geAeiation. Desperate efforts
viii s.uI be made toHehabilitate silver, popu-
lar war will be waged, and will, We hope. be
successful, against Trusts-,hat is, monopo-
lies-and it is Of course most depressing that
Mr.. Bryan's proposalo should have seemed
sndurablo to some FIVE millions Of electors.
But it is more Ian probable that the solid
block of his ~le"tors were not att. acted half
so much by his leas as the fact that they
could net bear to desert, and in practice
e1tinguish, tB old Democratic party,
: With its.devot.,n ITO Estate Rights" Taxa.
+ion sfors Ravan1a -. ond tha gooms of