The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1896-11-26
WILL M'KINLEY RULE A SECOND
TERM9

Will Major Mckinley rule second
term? is now the question that is agitat'
ing the Republican mind, His admins
tration will no doubt be shaped with that
object in view. In the matter of appoint
ments everything will be done to give
him second nomination. In this re-
spect he will follow in the footsteps of
President Harrison, but second nomi.
nation is one thing and second election
is quite another.
Whoever has studied the drift of
popular elections cannot fail to see that
there is in this country a law in full
operation which might be termed
electoral vibration" The remarkable
and regular vibrations of the political
pendulum during the past twelve years
have been 50 pronounced and phenome-
nal as to suggest the existance OF such
law, which under certain conditions is
regular and inexorable in its operation.
Prior to the general election Of 1884 the
Republican party held the scepter for
nearly a quarter of a century, multiplied
abuses engendered discomfort which
manifested itself in increasing opposition
strength in both branches of congress
and finally landed the Democratic party
and its candidate in the white house
March /, 1885. The election OF that year
was the first outward stroke of the
pendulum-the first oscillation which
signalled the approaching conflict be-
tween Democracy and plutocracy in the
new world. Cleveland-both terms
was the President of discomfort, but has
never taken note Of the principal factor
| in his elevation. He was weak enough
to suppose that his crude notions Of
public policy had made him popular
among the people. Harrison and his
advisers made the same fatal mistake.
Mckinley is simply third in the Cleve-
land dynasty and will follow his pre-.
decessors to the same inevitable failure.
1t is an ill fated line.
Mckinley and his hackers are sure
to make the same fatal blunder. He
will feel the same restless pulsations
within the next eighteen months. Like
stranded mariner, he will see and feel
the tide as it ebbs away, but like his
predecessors, will be powerless to pre-
vent it. For twelve years these electoral
vibrations have been growing more and
more violent. Their periodicity is as
regular as the motion of the planets and
will continue until the cause is removed.
You can, in fact, calculate the fall of the
plutocratic administration, Republican
or Democratic, with as much precision as
you can foretell the dark of the moon or
schedule the arrival of a solar eclipse.
You can tell exactly when the obscura-
ton will take place. Think of 1884 and
Cleveland's plenitude of power How
quickly a disappointed people bound
him hand and foot. Then Harrison
swung in with paeans of joy. Two years
later the electorate sent to Washington
a hostile congress to belabor him the re-
mainder of his term. Then he was dis
missed with sweeping rebuke. Cleve-
land, during his second term, followed
Harrison's fatal example, and has shared
his fate. The most pitiable exhibit of
the two rejected administrations cooling
their griefs and railing at Bryan, the
gallant leader, as he made his matchless
fight for the people. When the cause of
this popular discomfort is removed, we
shall have peace and not until then.
Already the pendulum is on its return
stroke. 1t will sweep out Mckinley as it
did Cleveland and Harrison, and it will
swing in with Bryan and the rule of the