MCKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 1197 by good morals and a proper political education for self- CHAP. government. The Spanish troops, according to an agreement, were to evacuate Cuba and Porto Rico on or before the first of January, 1899. LXXVIL Gen. Elwell S. Otis, who, like Merritt, was a veteran of the Civil War, and after that a valiant Indian fighter, was now sent to succeed Merritt as Military Governor of the Philippine Islands. He sailed from San Francisco July 10, 1898. As directed by the Government, he stopped over for a day or two at the Hawaiian 1898. Islands, and there, in accordance with the action of Congress in annexing these islands to the United States, he hoisted the Stars and Stripes at Honolulu. Aug. 12. To return briefly to civil matters:-The United States Government had issued bonds to aid the construction of certain Pacific railways. These bonds were a loan, to be returned with the accrued interest thereon. The roads had failed to meet their obligations and unsuccessful efforts were made to adjust these claims. The Government had received from time to time a portion of this indebtedness, in the form of transportation on the roads. When Mr. McKinley's administration came in, the prospect for better business times began to brighten, and for that reason the Government was more able to dispose of its liens on the Union and Kansas Pacific railways. These roads were bought in by the "Reorganization Committee," and the final adjustment was arranged. "The total amount received 1898. by the national Government in the two sales was $64,151,223-about $20,000,000 in excess of the amount the Government offered to take in the latter part of the preceding [Cleveland] administration." Gold, being the less variable in value of the precious metals, had been accepted, though conventionally, in Feb. 16. CHAP. commerce as the standard of value from time immemoLXXVII. rial. But owing to the prominence of the "gold basis," which had induced many independent Democrats as well as the Republicans to vote for Mr. McKinley, and the general distrust of the country for the extreme "silver basis" of the Bryan Democrats, the new Republican Congress fulfilled their campaign promises by enacting a law that "makes the dollar con1900. sisting of twenty-five and eight-tenths grains of gold nine-tenths fine the standard unit of value." Also, the law "requires the Secretary of the Treasury to maintain at a parity of value with this standard all forms of money issued or coined by the United States." March 14. In order to aid the people of Porto Rico in providing revenue to support temporarily their government, April Congress passed a law imposing a tariff-only fifteen 12. per cent of that of 1897-upon imports from Porto 1900. Rico into the United States after the evacuation of that island by the Spanish troops, October 18, 1898. The law also provided that these moneys thus received should be paid over to the people of Porto Rico, to be used "in public education, public works, and other governmental and public purposes therein, till otherwise provided by law." The Fifty-sixth Congress enacted laws authorizing territorial governments in Hawaii and in Alaska, April 30 and June 6, 1900. As the time drew near again to make nominations for the offices of the Presidency and the Vice-presidency, the sentiment of the Republican party turned spontaneously to the renomination of President McKinley. The Republican Convention met in Philadelphia June 19, 1900. At first several names were mentioned in connection with the nomination for the Vice-presidency, but finally the general choice fell upon Theodore Roosevelt, then Governor of the State of New York. MCKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 1199 LXXVII. President McKinley was unanimously nominated, and CHAP. Governor Roosevelt lacked only one vote-his ownof being thus chosen. The Convention numbered 920 members and was remarkably harmonious in all its deliberations. We give only a brief summary of the salient points of the Republican platform. It reiterated the party's well-known political and financial doctrine of protection, under which principle the varied industries of the country had always prospered, especially within recent years. The party renewed its allegiance to the gold standard of value, "in order that trade may be evenly sustained, labor steadily employed, and commerce enlarged. We condemn all conspiracies and combinations intended to restrict business, to create monopolies, to limit production, or to control prices. We favor legislation to protect and promote competition and secure the rights of producers, laborers, and all who are engaged in industry and commerce." The platform cordially endorsed the policy and action of Mr. McKinley's administration in respect to the war with Spain, the treaty of peace with Spain, and its treatment of the inhabitants of Cuba and Porto Rico and those of the Philippine and Hawaiian islands. "We favor the construction, ownership, control, and protection of an Isthmian Canal by the Government of the United States." The Democratic National Convention met in Kansas City, Missouri, July 4, 1900. It re-nominated for the Presidency Mr. William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska, and named for the Vice-presidency, Mr. Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois. The following is a summary of the leading principles announced by the Convention: "We reaffirm our faith in that immortal proclamation [the Declaration of Independence] and our allegiance to the Constitution LXXVII. CHAP. framed in harmony therewith. . . . We assert that no Nation can long endure half republic and half empire, and we warn the American people that imperialism abroad will lead quickly and inevitably to despotism at home. . . . The burning issue of imperialism growing out of the Spanish war involves the very existence of the Republic and the destruction of our free institutions." Again: "We endorse the principles of the national Democratic platform adopted at Chicago in 1896, . . . and demand the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation.” "We favor the immediate construction, ownership, and control of the Nicaraguan Canal by the United States. . . . We condemn the ill-concealed Republican alliance with England, which must mean discrimination against other friendly Nations. . . . We recommend that Congress create a Department of Labor, in charge of a Secretary with a seat in the Cabinet. . . . Believing that our most cherished institutions are in peril, we earnestly ask for the foregoing declaration of principles the hearty support of the libertyloving American people, regardless of previous party affiliations." This platform, unfortunately, overlooked the then unprecedented prosperity of all the industries of the land, including that of foreign commerce, which for the two previous years had had an enormous annual average balance of trade in our favor. A resolution endorsing Mr. Cleveland's administration was rejected by a majority of 207. The "Silver Democracy" had no use for a "Gold Democrat." The Social Democratic" party, the outcome of the union of that organization with the "Socialist Labor " party, held its Convention at Chicago on September 29, 1900. It nominated Eugene V. Debs of Illinois for MCKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 1201 LXXVIL the Presidency and Job Harriman of California for the CHAP. Vice-presidency. The distinctive object of the party is thus stated: "The party affirms its steadfast purpose to destroy wage-slavery, to abolish the institution of private property in the means of production, and to establish the co-operative commonwealth. . . . The introduction of a new and higher order of society is the historic mission of the working class. All other classes, despite their apparent or actual conflicts, are interested in upholding the system of private ownership in the means of production. The Democratic, Republican, and all other parties which do not stand for the complete overthrow of the capitalist system of production are alike the tools of the capitalist class." The Convention of the Prohibition party was held in Chicago June 27, 1900. It nominated for the Presidency Mr. John G. Woolley of Illinois, and for the Vice-presidency Mr. Henry B. Metcalf of Rhode Island. The platform was quite lengthy and on the usual lines characteristic of that organization. Thus in the year 1900 an unusual number of parties under different names made nominations for the Presidency and the Vice-presidency. This fact seemed to indicate an underlying distrust, especially in respect to the financial and political principles of the two main parties of the Nation. In addition, the occasion afforded an opportunity for these dissatisfied citizens to publish to the country their various theories of government and of social problems. The first administration of President McKinley was noted for two events of special interest-the war with Spain and the remarkable material progress of the entire Nation-both industrial and commercial. The first revealed to the world the self-contained power of the American people; and the innovation in the world of waging a war in order to relieve a people from oppres |