People's voice., 1900-08-09
DEFEAT FOR M'KINLEY.
Imperialism Has Estranged the
,s.,. German Vote.
REPUBLICANS SEE THE DANGER

Thoroughly Alarmed By Indications
of Bryan's Election-Insult. to the
Fatherland and War Taxes Have
Had Their Enect-Boer War Also n
Factor.
The New York Evening Post, an ar
dent supporter of Mckinley during the
last presidential campaign and bitter
opponent of Bryan and the principles
for which he stands, recently published
the following:
Garter Harrison's declaration that
the German vote in the United States
will be given largely to Colonel Bryan
Is generally agreed with by local Ger
mans. One Of the most prominent
German citizens Of the city said the
other day that he had little doubt that
his countrymen in this state would
vote for Colonel Bryan for president
and whatever candidate for governor
the state Democracy will have named.
And, as far as he had observed, the
same condition Of affairs prevailed all
over the country.
~ myself am a Republican, he con-
tinued, and shall vote for Mckinley,
as l did four years ago. So that my
opinion is unbiased by political consid-
eratiOns. But regret to say that the
majority Of Germans will in all proba-
bility support the Kansas City candi-
date. This means Of course that there
Is every likelihood that the Democratic
candidates will be elected, and much
as | should dislike to see such an out.
come to the election, l am greatly
afraid that It will end that way
ut was interesting to him to observe
how in the last year, and especially in
the last few months, the Germans and
the Irish had been coming together pO-
litically. This was all the more inter-
esting in view Of the fact that the Ger
mans and the Irish had not usually
found much common ground to stand
upon.
"Of course the attitude of the admin
istration toward England had a great
deal to do with this.
'The Spanish-American war had not
improved the position of Mckinley
with either the Irish or the Germans.
The Germans were greatly angered by
the unpleasant condition Of affairs
about Manila bay, and they felt that
the Republicans went out Of their way
to say unpleasant things about their
fatherland. The Coghlan and 'Hoch
der Kaiser incident had been largely
forgotten by the general public, but
not by the Germans. The absence Of
a pro-Boer plank In the Philadelphia
platform would offend the Germans
less than 1t would the Irish.
Aside from these considerations,
continued this German, the Germans
are as rule opposed to the imperial
istic policy Of the administration. The
imperlalistic policy of Germany itself
is greatly opposed by the average Ger
man, and 1t Is, therefore, not to be ex-
pected that they will regard its adop-
ton here with favor.
"'One Of the reasons for this which
Is worth noting is that Imperialism
means greater taxes upon the Ger
mans. A large number Of the Germans
In this country still learn their politics
In the lager beer saloon, the teacher
being the barkeeper or the proprietor.
All over the country these saloon keep
ers are pointing to the smaller glasses
OF beer their customers receive and
telling them that they are small be-
cause Of the heavy war taxes the Re-
publican administration Is levying.
There is, therefore, an intimate con-
nectiOn between imperialism and beer.
"The situation, as far as the Ger
mans are concerned, is briefly this:
They voted for Mckinley four years
ago on the gold issue. They now re-
gard that question as settled and will
vote against Mckinley to express their
disapprobation Of imperialism and Of
the insulting way In which they believe
the Mckinley administration has treat
ed the German empire
Another distinguished German who
is an active politician took a similar
view.
"The large majority Of Germans
he said, are opposed to imperialism
and expansion by force and know
win not vote for Mckinley"