The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-05
MIR. M,KINLEY,s sALUTAToRY.

The first portion Of the inaugural adj
dress delivered by Mr.. Mckinley yes
terday seems scarcely worthy of the
man or the occasion. He mistook, fer
one thing, the requirements of the sit
uation. A brief and simple inaugural
address, expressing a sense Of the du-
ties and responsibilities assumed, and
avoiding specific issues unless some
special reference should be called for,
is at once best in taste and greatest in
force. The first official utterance of
President Mckinley has all the too
great latitude of the average message
to congress. 1t essays a review OF all
leading questions, of foreign relations
and domestic policy, on an occasion
where the briefest summary must be
tedious and the most exhaustive re-
view permissible incomplete. Hence
the beginning of the address is dull
and filled with platitudes
1t is hard to be patient with an ex-
ecutive who expresses himself thus
upon the great question Of finance:
with adequate revenue secured, but
not until then, we can enter upon such
changes in our fiscal laws as will, while
lnsuring safety and volume to our
money, no longer impose upon the gov
eminent the necessity of maintaining
so large gold reserve, with its at
tendant and inevitable temptations TO
speculation" If this means anything.
what is it? If it does not mean any,
thing, as the words indicate, why touch
the subject? On the revenue question.
Mr.. McKinley's limitations appear in
this one sentence: Between more
loans and more revenue there ought to
be but one opinion" No more is there.
But is there no other choice? WHY
should our annual expenditures be
from $15O,0OU,000 to $780, 000, 900 more than
they were eight years ago? This sim
pie fact knocks out all the labcred az
gument to prove the need of higher
taxes. But to Mr. Mckinley the last
election meant only more tariff: and
the country has no right to quarrel
with him, for it knew in what his
views of public policy were summed
up when it elected him president.
Agriculture is put off rather sum-
marily with the assurance that the
revival Of manufacturing will bring re-
lief to it. Why not take the other tack
a while, and try the beneficial effect
upon the manufacturer of giving helm
to the farmer? And the new president
does not seem quite as confident of the
merits of his attraction as when he
was only an advance agent. Deep mel
: aneholy must settle upon those who
have believed that prosperity m,st
come with Mr.. McKinley's Inaugural
ton when they read that "It will take
. tlme to restore the prosperity of fern
er years" This is hardly carryinp cut
the alluring promises of the bill boards
However, more tariffs we must AMI
shall have, and Sc congress is called
IN special session in ten days from date
and then the wheels will begin to go
around We fear sadly that the hnsi
est whirring will not be heard from the
wheels of mills and factories.
Passing from these profoundly unsat-
isfactory features Of the address we
are glad to commend as heartily those
other portions in which the new presi-
dent is not bound in slavery to any pre-
conception, and where he can speak
out the honest aspirations and pur-
poses with which he is possessed. His
tribute to a government of law and
order is strong and sound He advo-
Gates civil service reform in words
which, while not devoid of ambiguity,
we prefer to interpret as voicing a sin
cere friendship. He urges the adop-
ton of the arbitration treaty. And,
mirabile dictu, he has not a word CT
comfort for the jingoes. Not a hand
is held out to the Cuban orators. That
transformation scene which the Repub-
licans told us we were to witness on
the Attn of March is absent. we are
to leave other nations "undisturbed
with the settlement OF their own do
mestic concerns" I'VE want no wars
OF conquest; we must avoid the temp