The Washington times., 1901-11-10
The Thrift.

1t is very generally conceded that the
! recent State elections had but little ma
tional significance. Majorities were in
creased or diminished according to To-
cal conditions In some cases the Re
publicans gained in the relative vote,
and in others they lost. The Democratic
victories in Kentucky and Mary
/ land were of substantial Importance, al
/ though. as The Times has heretofore
observed. the Democracy in those
| States merely recovered what was legit-
| imately their own. Aside from these
two States. viewing the situation as a
whole, it can scarcely be said that the
! elections resulted in an actual gain or
loss TO either party.
1t is notable, though, that with their
customary exuberance of enthusiasm
some of the Republican leaders are
/ twisting the results into a sweeping
victory for their party, and arguing
from it that the people desire no re-
form of any kind, but are entirely con-
! tent with things as they are. This is
| the view taken in Ohio. where it is
! claimed that the elections amount to
declaration that the people want
neither reciprocity nor tariff reform
One Ohio politician, who assumes a de-
gree of prominence, asserts broadly that
as result the protective tariff is no
more to be revised or modified than are
the Ten Commandments 1t is. however
very easy for an Ohio politician to be
mistaken with respect to this matter
The fact is notorious that in the Buck
eye State the Republican leaders
scarcely discussed. the tariff at all. Their
heaviest bcoadsides were fired, to use
the campaign expression, from behind
the tomb of Mckinley" They appealed
to the people in the name of the mur-
dered President. assuming that the Re
publican party stood for everything
that Mr.. Mckinley favored. There is
no doubt that these appeals carried
force and helped to swell the Republi-
can vote.
But there is not an impartial nom
partisan trade journal or magazine in
the country that does not recognize the
fact that Mr.. McKinley's views upon
the tariff had been rapidly changing
for some time prior to his death No
person having the slightest compre-
hension of economic terms can read
his Buffalo speech without reaching the
conclusion that in Mr. McKinley's opin-
ion the time had come for a radical de-
parture from the policy of exclusion
which now prevails For any man to
proclaim himself follower of McKin-
ley. at the same time asserting that the
tariff must be neither revised nor mod
I flied, is to declare that when our late
President, at the very close of his life
pleaded so earnestly for a policy that
would enlarge our foreign markets, he
was simply indulg:ng in meaningless
rhetoric. Such a view is an insult to
his memory Everywhere. at home
and abroad. save within the narrow
circle which encloses the most extreme
protection bigotry, Mr. McKinley's
words were hailed as the harbinger of
p more liberal commercial policy, and
that he fairly spoke his views is proved
by the reciprocity treaties which he
caused to be negotiated
If we turn from Ohio to Iowa. that
Western stronghold of Republicanism.
We find that the State platform of the
uoiAAidhl party ulG demand not only
reciprocity, but something in the way
of tariff revision. There was a very
plain intimation that duties sho uld be
removed from trust-controlled products.
Does that mean nothing? Was it mere
buncombe TO catch votes? If so. it re-
fleets but little credit upon the leader
ship OF the Republican party in Iowa
1t is fairer to assume that these plat
form declarations mean what they saw.
and that they We're made in Difference
TO public sentiment known to exist.
If such is the case a failure on the part
of Republican craftsmanship to respond
to that sentiment may lead to results
in the not distant future that will be
something of a surprise to those who
are now so gratuitously assuming that
the people are willing to be plundered
indefinitely in the name of their favor
ite political party. 1t may with profit
be recalled that Kansas gave Benjamin
Harrison eighty thousand majority in
the Presidential contest of 1888, and two
years later was riding on the highest
crest of the Populistic wave Political
reactions sometimes come with start
ling suddenness. and just at a time
when the leaders of the party in power
think themselves the most secure