The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-04-11
Predicts Republican Defeat.

OF men and events, predicts the
| defeat of the Republicans in the
coming presidential election.
Writing from Rochester, N. Y,
he says: "In the midst of much
that justifes pessimism in the
forecastit is as refreshing as a
west wind-this protest of the
whole country against the treat
ment of Porto Rico. I have never
seen anything to equal the scope
of the protest or the extent of the
revolution it has wrought in
public sentiment. For these
four years gone, and up to six
weeks ago, to mention the name
of Mr.. Mckinley in a public
audience in the Northern Or
Middle States was to create a
whirlwind. Now it means 81
lence-absolute silence every
where-broken only by the
lonesome clatter Of some blind
and expectant partisan who
sees nothing but the Office he
hopes to get.
''From a proud and happy
position of a popular idol the
president has fallen, for a time
at least. into desuetude and dis
trust. Bryan has risen as high
as his rival has fallen deep, and
discounts the president in the
favor of every popular audience
that I have seen from Minnesota
to Rhode Island. When the
state of Iowa, which, in the
memory Of living men, has
never been anything but radi-
cally Republican and has for
seven years followed the for
tunes Of Mckinley with devo-
ton that was almost blind and
servile-when Iowa boldly rises
up in the might of a strong con-
viction and expresses, through
her legislature, a free trade
resolution that contains an al
most passionate rebuke to the
Porto Rican iniquity of its party
it is indeed, a matter of amaze
ment and alarm.
"But when a conference of
northern Methodist ministers
the most fanatical partisans that
the president has in the coun-
try-holding session in the state
of Pennsylvania, with its 2Oo,-
900 Republican majority, delib-
erately and repeatedly Kisses
the name of Mckinley, it is time
to look for the falling of the
stars Or the collapse the Repub-
lican party. It may be that
the gods do not design to de-
stroy' the Republican party,
but they have certainly COM
pleted the preliminary of max
ing it mad With the single
exception Of three colossal
trusts, the whole green country,
from Colorado to Maine, is up in
arms against this Porto Rican
infamy. Men who have been
life long friends of the president
like Kohlsatt, of Chicago, and a
score of others in journalism
and public life, have openly pro-
tested against the recent action.
"One Of the most significant
straws in the whirling tempest
is the ease andgrace with which
the Democrats here in northern
and western New York have re-
versed long-standing majorities
in municipal and county cleo
tions and swept the field clear
for November. Think the hope
of the country rests in just such
a spirit as has moved this insur-
rection. I believe in parties
just as I believe in churches. It
is impossible to carry principles
forward without organization
and cooperation but somehow
I always thank God when I see,
in a crisis of national honor or
national danger, men by the
thousands, rising up to declare
that truth, towers mountains
high above all parties, and that
by comparison, parties are moth
ing and our country and right,
everything.
'sParty ties are resting very
lightly on the great body of the
people these days: and the Or
ganization that thinks it can
command iniquity in the name
of loyalty is going to realize the
real calibre Of a great and noble
people. Of course the plain idea
of the trusts is that their money
can buy back in November the
confidence their selishness has
outraged in March. 1t is the
same brutal estimate of the peo-
pie on which Mark Hana-in-
carnate spirit of arrogant and
unscrupulous politics-has pre-
dicated his whole career. When
that man falls-as he surely will
fall-te deums should be sung
in the churches, and the day
should be made a national holl-
day. No figure more monstru-
Gus and baneful has obscured
the political sky in this genera
ton. I should blush for my
country if permitted myself to
believe that the money OF the
trusts cculdbuy another endorse
ment of this man at the ballot