New-York tribune., 1898-11-11
TH4T W4NT-OF.CONFIDENCE yOTE.

| THAT WANT-OF-CONFIDENCE VOTE.
| The anxiety of .The New-York Times to dis
| cover in the election returns vote OF want oI
confidence in President Mckinley Is perieot!
natural. for The Times itself voted wah' oi
| confidence in him a long time ago. and mas De'h
| extremely impatient because that vote was not
sufficient TO turn him ont or make hlm rnahee
| his policy. Nevertheless. II il had been less
| hasty in reading him the severe lesson OF the
| peoples Endorsement Of It's censure without due
| perusal Of its own news columns-whch we
| take occasion 10 assure II are excellent IN tner
! way and worthy Of IFS editors careful study
| might not have read him the lesson at all The
| same edition Of THE Times yesterday wh'ch
| contained the news that the House OF Repre-
| sentatives had gone Republican. and that the
| Republicans would not only control but have n
| larger ajority in the new Senate than they had
| had in many years: that they had doubled their
| plurality in Ohio: that Mr.. Mckinney was the
first Republican President to get the indorse-
ment Of that State in the "Of yenr OF his Al
mnstratlon: that the Republicans had swept
one after another Of the doubtful western
States-in fact, with one or two exceptions,
everything but some hopeless silver mining anu
Southern States-the same paper that tod all
this draws the following moral from the vote:
We know OF nothing in the returns calculated
TO crafty or console the President OF the United
States Six months ago Congress gave nm an
unprecedented and unanimous vote OF conn
dence That confidence he has cOntriNed TO mt
ter away so that after a successful war the
country votes It's want OF confidence In him and
sends majority TO the House OF Represeh'a-
tives to oppose him
OF course when those sentences were written
| The Times was not aware that the majority
Pom
can. In that case it would have found the vote Of
want of confidence in some other circumstance
There are people in this city who can see an
argument against the retention Of the Philip
pines alike in the election or the defeat OF
| Roosevelt in the sending Of good man TO cuba
| or in the sending Of bad man. in the lynching
OF a negro or in the American petroleum trade
with Italy. In the face of such ingenuity ii is
no great feat 10 Il ccnsllre OF the Admins
trafion in any old thing The mistake in
picking tho wrong old thing If THE Times
had argued that the loss of the Maria Teresa
was the verdict of Heaven on the first year and
a half of the Administration. that view might
have passed muster at least until we heard
abont the identity and condition Of the ship said
TO he stranded on Cat Island. and even then the
complaint could be diverted TO a censure Of the
doned ship that would not sink BIT TO read
an Administration rcbuke in Democratic Con
grcss ma ajori'y which does not exist comes dan
eerously near 10 asserting that there is a com
mcndation for The Administration in the Repub
lican ma icrity which does exist.
And indeed there is. for. as pointed ont
Yesterday not an Administration in nearly half
century has been strong in it's second
q. frct nd mi inn N
period-one Of them in the Civil War and one
in Reconstruction days. when the opposition
party was practically paralyzed-has the Ad
minis,raiion had any majority at all in its see
ond House Mr.. Mckinley has done well as
any and better than most of his predecessors FOR
fifty years In the matter Of mid-tcrm elections:
and he has done 1t under the disadvantage OF
having war just far enough of to relieve crit
les Of the necessity Of exercising patriotic mod
Grafton. and Just near enough for the din Of
every coInpla int. whether reasonable or unrea
sonable. 10 be in every persons ears. More
over the new problems arising from the war
are so difficult and strange that many people
even Of those who favor the Presidents policy
in a general way, are uncertain about one or an
other possible step in dealing with foreign na-
tons. while the positive opponents Of his for
eign policy aggressive and denunciatOry.
and. above all. they have tie advantage Of max
ing definite criticism the basis Of what has
been while he under this criticism has 10 de-
vclop policy 10 suit conditions which can only
be foreseen Tint under such circumstances
Mr.. Mckinley should have been sustained aS
well as other Presidents is remarkable That
| he should have won a positive victory j. "A Irib-
| nte hardly to he Oyeresii imated. vote Of conf
| drnce of the most thOroughgOng character. The
| error Of THE Times is that il has confused it.
| self with the people. II was only THE Times"
| that passed the vote Of want OF confidence in
| the President. The people In many States have
! passed such q vote Of confidence In him aS il
! has been the lot Of few Presidents to receive