The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-06-20

Republican convention evoked little
enthusiasm anywhere except in Canton,
where Mr.. Mckinley resides. There
salute of one hundred guns was fired,
enthusiasm filled the town, and amid
the blare of trumpets and the ringing
of fire bells neighbors extended their
congratulations He is held in esteem
at home, for the Republican candidate
for President is popular citizen and
good neighbor.
If he is elected President, Mr.. Nc
Kinley will be fifty-three years old
and few days when he is inaugurated,
having been born February 20, 1S4@.
He served in the Federal army, was
county attorney afterwards, and has
been in Congress almost ever since, serv-
ing his first term in 1877. lie is man
of fair ability, Industrious and studi-
Gus, and owes his prominence to hav-
inc, taken Blaine's advice and made
himself a specialist. He has studied
little but the tariff, and his opinion has
never been sough 1t along any otherlines.
He is not brilliant or magnetic man,
but he has persistence, perseverance,
and they compensate for these higher
gifts. Moreover, he is affable and
agreeable, always saying nothing when
not certain what is best to say, and
saying nothing with consummate tact.
IL s,,1a Of RIlinp ha too
timid to be like that bold and fearless
knight, though receiving the mantle
of Garfield, he is lacking in the wonder
full intellectually that marked the
MARTYR President; though enjoying the
tutelage of John Sherman, he has less
craftiness, as we'll as less ability, and
more cleverness and socialbility.
The election of Mr.. Mckinley to the
Presidency would be an event to be de-
plored, not because he is corrupt or
vicious, but because he is a mortgaged
man and will do the bidding of the men
who are his managers. He has made
protection a fetch, and, with narrow
ness that marks even the greatest spe-
cialist. has failed to see that he has be-
come the plant tool of those who pro-
fess faith in his creed to make them
selves rich 1t is notorious that the
Mckinley bill was written not by Mr..
Mckinley, but 10y the manufacturers
who wanted TO impose higher taxes on
the people in order to enrich them
selves. and that it was a better reve-
nue. producer for private parties and
great establishments than for the Fed
eral Treasury. The bill was drawn by
grabbers.s and selfish interests. MI.
Mckinley, with a head full of details,
sat writing In all the taxes they want
ed. so long as they fiattered him anu
professed faith in the policy OF pro-
lection. AS soon as the people got
chance at the Mckinley act, they repu-
dated it. They will resent another
attempt to make them prosperous by
increasing their taxes just as they re-
sented the failure of the Democrats %
enact sweeping and needed tariff re-
auctions.
The attitude of Mr.. Mckinley on the
great issue before the people-the
question of free coinage has been that
of a straddler, and has lost
him the respect of honest men OF all
shades of opinion. He has voted
all ways and talked all ways
and sought to obtain favor with all by
such ambiguous expressions as have
shown him either to be totally igno-
| rant or passively dishonest. The Ohio
platform, understood to have been
written by him, was stradle of the
| first water. and was drawn with view
of making the West believe it meant
silver, and the East, gold. In ordinary
times, it might have been accepted, but
this year the people are determined
| to have straightforward expressions,
and SO the convention that nominated
| Mr.. Mckinley put him on gold plat
! form that compels him TO turn his
| back on the West and his eyes to the
| East Mr.. Mckinley is SO constituted
| that he can stand on either a gold or
| a silver platform. Indeed, he has the
| happy faculty of letting Mark Hanna
| do his thinking except upon the the
DRY of protection, and the adjustment
| of his views by Hanna will be easy.
| If Mr. Mckinley had little of Teller's
| convictions, he would be man worthy
of the high honor!
If he is elected he Will do the honors
| and study tariff theories, while Mark
Hanna will give the contributors to the
| campaign fund more bounties ana
| fuller control Of the currency.