The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-09-13

stock market responded Immediately
to the first of the sensational "booms"
, that have succeeded one another from
that day to this with few setbacks,
while general business, as indicated
by the returns of iron production, rail
road earnings, bank clearings, failures
and all the barometers of trade, has
year by year shown advances. That a
series of good crop years begin with
the bountiful wheat crop and high
prices of 1897 have given impetus to
and have sustained this movement
ought not to blind any one to the fact
that even good crops would have
availed little had the administration
showed any disposition to temporize
with the demands for silver and repu-
diation. In July, 1897, the new tariff
act was passed which with the subse-
quent war revenue act has brought the
treasury SO large surplus that it is
rapidly becoming embarrassing.
But the browning achievement of
President McKinley's administration
has been his handling of the war, and
particularly of the problems growing
out of it. AS is usually the case with
those who have to bear the burden of
response Utility, he did his utmost.
even after the Maine disaster had
made war inevitable, to check the war
fever and to avoid the conflict That
he was saddled with Alger, and that
the army suffered at first from what
has been termed Algerism, is true but
even Lincoln had his Cameron, and,
like Lincoln, President Mckinley rec
titled his error by selecting for the less
conspicuous but really more important
work of the war department-thee s-
tablishment of stable governments in
the Philippines and in Cuba-a ma n
who, whether as secretary Of war or
as an administrator, has had few
equals. In like manner the presi dent
had the courage to put Day and Hay
in the place of the revered but unalert
Sherman. The consequence was that
in the peace negotiations and in the
development of the new governments
that have taken place of the corrupt
and inefficient governments of Spain,
President Mckinley has had for ad-
visers and assistants a group of the
ablest men in the country. From top
to bottom in everything connected
with the administration of the islands
he has endeavored to secure, and in
most cases has succeeded in securing,
men of special fitness for the specific
task before them. The consequence
has been that already enough has been
accomplished to convince the public
and even the anti-imperialists that the
purpose of this government has not
been exploitation of the islands, but
benefcent development, and that it is
bent upon securing the material and
intellectual welfare of those islands in
the firm belief that that policy will
rebound to the advantage of the United
States in fuller measure than more
selfish course.
In fact, nothing has more convinc-
ingly proved the craftsmanship of the
president than the kind of men he has
chosen to fill the important Offices.
Hay, Day, Gage, Root, Smith, Long
and Griggs in the cabinet, Choate,
Porter, White, Rockwell, Kasson and
Foster in the regular and special di-
plomatic service, show the quality of
the service he has sought, not to men
tion score of consuls and minor Off
GERS of note or Governors Wood and
Allen or the mem ers of the two Phil
| ippines commissions.
Furthermore, there is line of
achievements that, apart from the
| Spanish war and the establishment of
governments in Porto Rico, Cuba and
the Philippines, and apart from do
nestle achievements like the restora-
ton of commercial prosperity and the
passage of the gold standard act has
already marked the administration of
President Mckinley as one of the most
striking in the history of the country.
Not only has Hawaii been annexed
and Alaska been recognized, but an
advantageous treaty put an end to the
tripartite embarrassment in Samoa
and giving us valuable naval station
in the South sea. What appears to
have been an effective beginning has
been made toward the realization of
the isthmian canal dream Of the last
half century, and more would have
been accomplished had not a short
sighted jingoism rejected the advan-
tageous treaty which Secretary Hay
concluded for the termination of the
Clay -Bulwer blunder. In China
too, the United States has asserted
it's right to trade on equal terms with
other nations and has borne part
which absolutely and by contrast with
other nations is one of which it can
be proud. The same altruistic belief
that it's own good will be best served
by generosity and justice has guided
it's course, and in pleasing contrast
with the ineficiency of most former
administrations it has left no doubt
that it intends to sacrifice no legiti-
mate right in any quarter of the world.
Nor is this all. The day before he
was shot down President Mckinley
announced in no uncertain tones that
the time has Coma xuban the old no1icv