Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1900-07-26
PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.
THE SITUATION SUccINoTLY
STATED.

The Presidential campaign OF
1900 is under way. The leaders
have been chosen and the line Of
battle drawn.
William Mckinley is primarily
politician. lie wears his principles
lightly. When he thought silver
very popular he was free silver
man. lie voted for free coinage
along with Bland when Bryan was
boy at school. Later he criticised
the Democratic party for not doing
enough for silver and told how
much more the Republicans would
do il they were intrusted with pow
or. In the Republican convention
four years ago he was afraid to
have tho word gold" mentioned.
Now he 10 a partisan Of the abso-
lutte, unmitigated, single gold
standard.
In Congress, when he had no Of
fees to distribute, Mr.. Mckinley
was an ardent civil service roformer.
He became Governor OF Ohio and
turned over the helpless lunatics in
the insane asylums, and the in
mates OF oil the other State char.
table institutions, to the tender
mercies Of tho spoilsmen. When
he was candidate for President the
first time he promised that he would
take "no step backward" in the
matter of civil service reform.
When he took office he became the
first President to take a backward
step since the reform was instituted
under Arthur, fourteen years be-
fore.
President Mckinley said that we
could never be guilty OF criminal
aggression" and then he began and
carried on on unnecessary war in
the Philippines.
lie said it was our "Plain Duty"
TO give the Porto Ricans free admia-
sion to our markets, aud then he
not only accepted but actually
forced through Congress bill levy
ing heavy taxes both ways on Porto
Rican trade.
lie promised pure Government
to our dependencies, and he filled
the public service Of Cuba with
thieves.
All these inconsistencies have q
single cause-Mr, Mckinley is not
his own master. lie speaks from
the good impulses Of his heart, and
then he does what he ia told to do.
1t is impossible even TO imagine
William Mckinley making such a
stand for hls principles against the
pressure Of party leaders as William
j. Bryan made last week. When
We elect Mckinley to Office, there
fore, his words furnish us no clew
whatever to his probable course
after he gets into power. TO know
what he is going to do We must
know the man who, for the
time being, is running" him. In
this case it is Mark Hanna.
William j. Bryan is the very an
tithesis Of his opponent. No man
has had more virulent or more un-
scrupulous enemies no man has
been more outrageously misrepre-
scented no man has had his char
acter, opinions and conduct more
distorted and caricatured, but in
all the whirlpool OF detraction that
has surged about him nobody has
yentured to suggest Mr.. Bryan is
owned by anybody but William }.
Bryan.
He takes orders from no Hanna.
He does not have to call anybody
into consultation to find out what
he thinks. His convictions, based
on his own mGtured study, are his
own property, and when he has
once formed them no power on
Garth can induce him to give them
up, or modify them, or hide them
under a mask.
The country is coming to know
and admire that splendid stubbor-
ness Of Mr.. Bryan's. The Demo-
Gratis who did not agree with him
on the silver question, annoyed as
they were with what seemed to them
an unnecessary sacrifice of political
strength, are beginning to be glad