El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-07

PeddIers PrOseIyfe.
Peddlers were sent through Repub
Iican congressional districts with wa
CONS loaded with tinware, for which
enormous prices were asked. The
housewives were told that the McKfn-
ley bill had put up the prices. Thi:
campaign device was worked in Mr.
McKinley's own district All over the
country the Democratic orators were
busily engaged in tearing down the
new bill before it was really passed.
The result of the election in Novem-
Der was an unprecedented rout of the
Republican forces. Speaker Reed was
reelected in Maine in September, but
that was before the bill had passed
Mr. Mckinley, Mr.. Cannon and many
other Republican leaders went down III
the general disaster The house which
passed the Mckinley bill had 173 Re-
publicans TO 156 Democrats and one in
dependent
The house elected in 1890 had 231
Democrats, only So Republicans and IA
Populists. The Democrats had the
largest majority in that congress, the
congressional party.
Democrats EIated.
The Democrats in great glee began
at once to prepare for the presidential
campaign of 1892. The Mckinley bill
had been repudiated, the house was
Overwhelmingly Democratic but the
senate still was Republican. Great po-
litica1 unrest filled the country. The
Republican congress in 1890 attempted
to settle the money question by pass
ing the Sherman compromise measure
providing for the purchase Of a certain
amount of silver bullion each month.
But the problem grew more and more
insistent. The country was in a very
bad condition, financially, and in the
west the farmers were grooming under
a burden of debt and poverty which
was threatening political revolution.
The Farmers Alliance developed into
the Populist party and the new organ
ization made SomeS uprising advances
in the west, sending IA representatives
and two senators TO the fifty-second
congress. The westerners of all par
ties were for free silver. The eastern
ers of both parties were for the gold
standard
But in 1892 neither party was. willing
or able to take a position on the money
question. The Democrats forced the
fighting by declaring unequivocally for
a reduction of tariff duties. The Re-
publicans defended the Mckinley bill
as jest lHcy CONlO III view o. Inc ulS
aster Of 1890, but they talked more
about reciprocity than protection.
Cleveland Again Victor.
Harrison and Cleveland again were
the leaders of the two parties. Tho
Populists nominated James B. Weaver
Of Iowa, and in many western states
the Democrats and Populists fused
against the Republicans. The result
was a confirmation of the election Of
1890. The Republicans gained back
some of the congressional districts
they had lost two years before but
the Democrats had 22o members of the
house to 12S Republicans and eight
Populists, while the senate had again
changed complexion and was practical
ly under Democratic control. There
were AZ Democratic senator's, SO Re-
publicans, one Independent and two
populists, with three vacancies. This
gave the Democrats a majority Of three
and a plurality over the Republicans
Of six.
= Cleveland carried states which there
tofore had been deemed solidly Repub-
lican, including Illinois and Wisconsin,
receiving 277 electoral votes to 145 for
Harrison and % for Weaver This was
the only time since the Civil war that
third party candidate for president
has received any electoral votes. Wea-
yer carried Colorado, Idaho, Kansas and
Nebraska and got one vote from Ore
gon and one from North Dakota.
The result was that the Democrats on
March 4, 1893, came into complete con-
troll of the federal government for the
first time since Buchanan's administra-
ton. The president, the senate and the
house of representatives all were Dem
ocratic. After the election in Novem-
Der the Democratic press was jubilant,
but even before the beginning of the
new administration signs of discord
began to be apparent and the rumble
Of the coming storm was plainly to be
heard. The Democratic triumph was
destined soon to be turned into a party
Democrats in Control.
The Democratic party assumed COM
plete power in every branch of the fed
eral government on March 4, 1898, for
the first time since the disruption of
the union by sectional war For prac-
tically 20 years neither party had been
IN complete control, with the exception
Of the first two years of the Harrison
administration, and then that control
was so used or abused as to provoke a
rational revolt which turned the Re-
publicans out and the Democrats in.
The campaign of 1892 had been fought
On the tariff issue, and the country
believed and the Democrats admitted
that they came into office pledged TO
effect sweeping reductions in the pre-
FALLING rates imposed by the Mckinley
act. There was, as there always has
,een, and probably always will be, a
element in the Democratic
party which had resolved not to permit |
my too radical revision of the protec-
-ionist system. But, as yet, this ele-
nent had not made itself known to the |
public
Crisis Impending.
When Mr.. Cleveland took the oath of |
office for the second time he found |
he country in a most serious condi- |
ion. There was an unprecedented |
;tringency of the currency, gold was !
going out of the country rapidly, and |
he gold reserve Of the treasury was !
threatened by the daily drain caused /
~ the necessity of maintaining the (
parity of silver, and because of the le- |
al requirement for the immediate re- |
ssue of redeemed greenbackS. The |
outgoing administration had feared |
hat it would be necessary to issue |
,onds to- recoup the gold reserve of the |
reasury Preparations had proceeded /
% far that plates for printing the
,onds were made. The Harrison ad- |
s,,ie