The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-18

The hardest fought political battle of
 merlean Has1G5y v,i was M1,sS shs af ohio vSn Qufshed William Jennings Bryan of Neoras- ka- The fact that Mckinley was reelected with ease in his second campaign against Bryan. and that the Republican majorities Of 1898 look so great on paper, has caused many men of short memory to believe that Mckinley won his first election without great
 In that year the Democratic nominee, Mr. Bryan. made the most remarkaDie ari {, man. In the same year. sthe Republican campaign manager, Mir. Hanna spent more seesoraI onsg ihsa contest and % i've times as much as had ever been spept before in presi- dentiai race The Republican campaign was conducted with such consummate sklll that the name of Mark Hanna will live for years as the foremost political general the country has produced .,,,.., revolution. Both of the leading parties un- derwent great changes. and the number or Independent voters increased thousand fold Mr Cleveland's second administration began with the country on the verge or a financial crash. The blow descended and the panic of 1898 was on. The money questioh' which both parties had carefully side stepped for many years, was presented fn such a way that the administration couio 2 not avoid taking a position. MT Cleveland and his cabinet decided to place the eoun- try squareiy on the gold standard, and to disregard the petty sops which r,. nad .iena Ieen accomplished this purpose long before the Mckinley administration came In,
 For the first time since the first part or Buchanans administration the government was in the control of the Democrats that party having the president ana maJorlty of both houses of Congress. Mir. Cleveland called Congress together and urged the re peal of the silver purchasing clause or the sherman act which wouid aia hnay ma, rrse with him on that subject. and 1t was with the Ereatsst difficulty thai his purpose was ae-
 sshs Prssidsnt Cleveland had been an exem. plar of civil service reform and was opposed to s,pernicious activity in politics. but ne mage as a club to drive the repeal bill through Congress. Even then. 1t was done only by the help of Eastern Republican votes 1t left his party hopelessly divided.
 The Democratic landslide which re-eiect- cd Cleveland the result of popular dis approval of the Mckinley Tarin Dill of 1890. chaairg clause repeal, the Democratic Con- Eress endeayored to enact Democratic asunder and could act with no unanimity The result was the passage of the Wilson bill which MT, Cleveland permitted to De-
 As the people had condemned the Mc- Kinley bsn six months after it was passed and before it's effect could possibly have oeen fSIt by the election of the Democratic House in 1880. so the Wilson bill charged with responsibility for panic which was fu the overwhelming Republican congress sional victory of J1S94 Since that time the Democrats have never ha0 maJoTlly Of the House of Representatives. nor have they even approached success in any sort or national election.
 All thnbugh the three years of the Cleve- land administration leading up to the cam pafRR of 1898 there was constant strife in bokh parties. For a time 1t seemed that khe Republicans would declare for free sil- Yer and that the Democrats would follow 'their President in advocacy of the gold standard Then 1t seemed that both parties would declare for the gold standard and the silver hosts would enroll under the banner of Populism. The Republicans felt certain that they could win the prosperity issue, and by denouncing the Cleveland administra- sfon for it's issue of $262. 900 of bonds in time of profound peace" But they didn't want to split their own forces by taking sides in the money fight.
 Mr. Mckinley and Speaker Thomas B. Reed were the leading candidates for the Mckinley had the good fortune to have Mark Hanna for his political captain Han naN organized the states and took even New EnAland away from Reed long before the convention met. Mir. Hanna was afraid of the money question and Mir. Mckinley was committed by his record to 'bimetailism." So the Ohio leaders attempted to "straddle" the Issue once more. The Ohio state plat form contained delphic utterance on the money question which said nothing.
 But when the national convention met at St Louis MT. Hanna found that the ques- tion was one which was too big to be strad- dled. Senator Thomas c. Platt of New York, forced Hanna to accept a gold stand pronouneement in favor of international