The Elk Mountain pilot., 1900-09-18
WHAT HE STANDS FOR.
McKinley's Policy in China and Bry-
ans Paramount Issue"
Especial Correspondence.)

talking about MckiuleyS mastery
diplomacy. OF course here in WASH
ington people have had an opportunity
to observe closely everything that Is
going on, and are perfectly aware that
the difficult Chinese problem has been
handled by the President in n most
skillful manner. But it is not only
here that this sort of talk is heard, for
people all over the country are evil
IDENTITY gratified that our President has
taken the lead in every diplomatic
| move relating to China and that he
| has met every problem i'll most skill
| full manner, and has placed Washing
| ton in the lead in matters relating to
world events. ON a train the other
| day, in the smoking ear, there was a
! general discussion of the Chinese sit
| uation. when some man broke loose in
| about this fashion: You can all say
| what you please about this chinese
| situation, and what has been done, but
| tell you right now that the people
| that / have talked with are mighty
well pleased with the way President
| Mckinley has handled the situation.
He has been right there at home in
Canton most of the time, handling
these questions for himself. He has
met every shrewd Chinese move with
counter reply that has received the
approval of every right-thinkinG man
in this country. and has started the
tongues of the diplomatic world wag-
ging about his ability In trying sit
| uation You can all talk ms much aS
you please about this man or that
man. but everybody knows that Me
Kinley has done the right thing. and
that he is the right kind of man to
trust with any difficult situation that
may come up. If there was not an
other thing to his credit, the manner
in which he has handled this Chinese
problem ought to re-elect him to the
presidency"
found. upon inquiry. that this man
was not politician mt all. but plain
business man. who looked mt things
from n practical standpoint, and who
Judged things on their merits. Now
there are n great many men going
about the country talking in this sort
of n way. and they are not doing 1t as
politicians but as American citizens,
with n pride in their country. one
good thing about IL is that such state
mcnts as these cannot be denied. There
were two or three Democrats in the
| party. and they could not gainsay n
single utterance that the gentleman
made regarding the splendid achieve
ments of the Mckinley administra-
ton in this dealing with the Chinese
problem.
Some Democrats who. in their anX-
| iety to say something against the ad-
| ministrution. have endeavored to crit
| icise the action of the President In
sending troops to rescue the American
minister and the American citizens i'm
| prisoncd in the Chinese capital as "im-
perialism.'' But such utterances have
proven so unpopular that nearly every
man that has said anything on that
line has had to explain. one of the
most recent explanations of that kind
came from l.. W. Habercrom. who evil
| IDENTIFY talked too much at the recent
indianapolis gathering. When he got
| back to Washington Hnbercrom had TO
explain and attempted to modify his
statement The modification amounted
to about this: 1T was right to send
troops to the rescue of the American
citizens. but it was wrong for Me
Kinley to do It,"
| There are few chronic kickers who
| insisted that before anything was done
| or before the troops were sent, or now
| that the troops are there. awaiting the
| modification of China. so that negotia-
| tions can 20 forward for settlement
session. They want something of that
sort to plunge the country into n state
| of uncertainty and trepidation. Now
no one wants war with China, and
| barring n very few persons. no one
| wants Congress I'm session. More than
| that. the satisfaction with which every
act of the President is viewed Is n
guarantee that he has taken the right
course. and that his position Will be
| indorsed This talk about getting Con-
| cress in session in order to raise an
| army is one of the most absurd propo-
| sitions that the Democrats have ad-
yanced. 1t would take months to
raise volunteer army after ii was au-
thorized by Congress. and everything
so far has shown that the raising Of
such an army is absolutely unncces-
sary. one of the brightest pages in the
history of this administration will he
the manner in which it has dealt with
the difficult Chinese situation.
| Curbstone political arguments are oft
entimes improbable. hut at the same
time gems of thought sometimes are
heard in these same discussions that
are well worth recording and setting
| before the American people. Tell me
what Bryan stands for?" | heard n man
| in an outside town say to Bryanite
who was trying to make some impress
sion upon small crowd who We're
| listening. 1t is needless to say the
| question was not answered. for any
statement as to what the Democratic
candidate stands for Is almost sure to
be misleading. and promptly denied by
| any one arguing the other side.
-Four years ago Bryan stood for free
silver: for practical destruction of the
Supreme Court; for the Chicago riots;
for n reduction of the tariff which
would bring, back the disastrous Dem
ocratic times from 1893 to 1896. His
careful avoidance of such issues in his
speech of acceptance shows that Bryan
is a shifty politician. and that he does
: