CHAPTER VIII.

FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF MCKINLEY,

W1

1897-1901-CONTINUED-PRESIDENTIAL

ELECTION OF 1900.

WHEN the Southern Confederacy was organized in 1861, a provision was inserted in its Constitution which many believe was eminently wise: this was to the effect that the President should be elected for a term of six years and should not be eligible to succeed himself. The prudence of this law lay in the fact that the chief magistrate was shut off from laying any plans for a second term, and perforce had nothing to engage his abilities and energies but the welfare of his country. Naturally he would do all that lay in his power to win a name as one of the foremost patriots, statesmen and rulers. It has been advocated in more than one quarter that a similar amendment should be made to the Federal Constitution.

As in all great questions that come before our country, there is much to be said in favor of and against the plan. We have already named the strongest argument in support of the change. There is no office in the world more exalted than that of the Chief Magistrate of the eighty-odd millions of people who make up the United States of America; and it would be reversing the law of human nature for a President chosen by the suffrages of such a mighty people to feel no desire or longing for a second term. It is inevitable that, no matter how pure and patriotic his course, he should weigh it more or less with an eye to his own succession. The question whether a certain policy would affect his chances for renomination cannot fail to have an influence more or less upon his conduct while in office. The leaders of the political party to whom he is indebted for success must have great weight with him, and too often the action of the Executive is based on the probable results it will have in the ensuing presidential struggle. The good of the party" must sometimes rise above the good of the country.

Opposed to this view of the question is the assertion that if it so happens that a President does not measure up to the high requirements of his office, six years is too long to wait for a chance to supplant him with a better man. The same argument will apply in a smaller degree to the term of four years, and it should be remembered that a President is always limited and restrained to certain bounds which must prevent his working any disaster or serious ill to the whole country.

Down to the opening of the twentieth century there have been twenty-five occupants of the presidential chair. The list does not include a single man who was not patriotic, able and devoted to the interests of the country. They have widely differed in ability, and in some instances their policy was severely criticised, but never was the welfare of the nation seriously threatened. It is impossible in the nature of things that such should be the case. The risk, therefore, of a President ruling for six instead of four years can never be alarming. The United States is too mighty and too powerful a nation for its safety to be threatened by a single man.

Every four years we are rocked by a political earthquake. The excitement of election disturbs business, rouses resentment and creates dissatisfaction. Until of late years

the success of one political organization meant the wholesale turning out of men from office, and a still greater turmoil in business interests. True, this evil has been greatly lessened by civil service reform, which is intended to keep a person in office so long as he proves himself worthy and capable, but it is impossible to prevent a certain degree of injurious upsetting of the established order of things.

Every one who expects to become an American citizen should make it his duty to study with all the intelligence at his command the politics of the most favored land on which the sun ever shone. To us is entrusted the safety of the Republic, and as patriots we must do our utmost to meet those duties conscientiously and rightly. The opinions of men will differ, and it is better that it should be so. Religion is more vigorous and successful because of the diversity of sects than it could be without them. The average patriotism of the American people can be depended upon to be right, and the discussion that follows differing views is sure to bring the truth to light.

The impressive benefit of a republican form of government is that no wholly incompetent man can ever obtain the reins of power. To become President, he must receive the suffrages of the majority of his fellow-citizens; and they are too numerous to make any serious mistake possible. Examine the lists of sovereigns of the countries across the ocean, and you will find that many have been incapable and utterly unfitted to preside over the destinies of a people. Worse than that, the list includes the most degraded of men and women,—murderers, wantons, lunatics,-who brought war, woe and desolation upon their subjects, without the slightest thought or care for the crimes. they were committing.

No good citizen can hold aloof from politics. He must dismiss prejudice from his mind and do all that in him lies for the advancement of public virtue, good policy and the best interests of the nation. There are sections and communities where corruption and degradation prevail and where men are chosen to office whose proper place is in the penitentiary. In such sections and communities we too often hear the better citizens. declare that their self-respect will not permit them to have anything to do with politics, and they not only refuse to attend primary meetings, but refrain from voting. You need not be reminded that the self-evident consequence of such a course is to encourage evil-doers and prevent the political purifications which it is every one's duty to strive to bring about. No one making any claim to patriotism and virtue can shelter himself behind such a refuge as this.

The conclusion, therefore, is that it is the duty of every one to help in selecting the right rulers and to aid the cause of virtuous rule-a duty which we cannot escape without committing sin.

The establishment of the civil service rules in late years has greatly lessened the quadrennial convulsion which formerly shook the foundations of government. As we have learned, Washington, the first President, was chosen unanimously, and it may be doubted whether throughout the whole country there was a single man who seriously thought of any other choice. Under heaven he had piloted the brave and impover

ished colonies into the haven of nationality, and it was impossible to believe that any one was as competent as he to preside over the infancy and young manhood of the nation. But the great and good Washington was abused in some quarters as shamefully as have been most of his successors, and the crystallization of political parties began while he was President.

As we know, the nation has often been wrought to the highest pitch of excitement by momentous questions of public policy. The wars in which we have been engaged have caused intense partisanship, and in all there has been a determined minority, who it would be unfair to say were less conscientious than the majority. Had not the War of 1812 come to an end when it did, it is probable that the New England States would have forcibly interfered. The contest with Mexico, which broke out in 1846, was really a strife between the friends and enemies of slavery, in which the former won, while the stupendous struggle of 1861-1865 split the nation into two sections which fought each other with a valor and desperation that have never been surpassed.

Other questions than those named have at times distracted the country. One of these has baffled our statesmen from the beginning: that is the tariff. Ought this country to admit the products of all other countries free,—that is to say, without paying any duty on such products? To do so would be free trade, for which some of the ablest men have contended and still contend,-on the principle that every one should be allowed to buy and sell goods where he can do so to his advantage. Thus, if a certain kind of cloth can be made in England and sold in this country at ten cents a yard, it should be every one's privilege to buy it at that price, instead of paying an additional five cents per yard in the way of a tax to the government.

This sounds reasonable, but our manufacturers instantly reply that the workmen in other countries are paid such poor wages that ours cannot compete with them. The only way by which the goods in question can be sold as cheaply here as abroad is for the factories to cut down the pay of their workmen to the same point as that of foreign laborers. They insist that to give employees living wages a tax must be imposed upon foreign goods, so great that it will permit the American manufacturer to sell them at a fair profit.

A half-century ago there were comparatively no manufactories in the South. The tariff enabled the Northern manufacturers to fix a higher price on their products, which therefore cost the Southerners much more than would have been the case under free trade. This tariff was continually increased in the North and every such increase added to the burden of the South, until hot-headed South Carolina lost all patience and declared that she would go to war before consenting to pay the oppressive duties. The firmness of President Jackson and a gradual reduction of the tariff soothed the trouble for the time, and since so many manufactories have been established in the South, it is not probable that any similar revolt will again occur, though the many diverse interests must always give rise to wrangling in Congress.

Numerous other causes bring about political changes, and often they are not wholly reasonable. No human wisdom is able to prevent the occasional recurrence of "hard times" in the best-governed countries, but woe to the administration under which they

come! That of President Van Buren suffered the penalties of the stubborn policy of President Jackson, and the nation was swept by a disastrous depression in 1837. The wisest man that ever lived could not have been elected in 1840 on the Democratic ticket, and the Whig candidate, Gen. W. H. Harrison, was carried into the White House by a stupendous majority. Had Cleveland been defeated in 1892, no doubt the successful candidate in 1896 would have been Democratic, for the hard times that followed sounded the death knell for the time of the administration then in power. Since it was Democratic, the successor was Republican, and had the conditions been reversed the results also would have been reversed.

The two most absorbing questions of the last few years have been those of colonial expansion and of trusts. The one problem that seems beyond the power of man to solve is the equitable distribution of capital and the adjustment of labor problems so as to "abolish poverty." It has been said that if the wealth in the country were divided equally among the people, so that all stood on precisely the same basis, ten years would be sufficient to bring back things exactly as they were before. The variety of ability is infinite and must always remain so, and he who has the greatest share is certain to climb to the top. The question arises as to what extent capital should be allowed to combine. When it reaches the point of injuring the public, it would seem the strong hand of the law should be interposed. At this writing, beef and other articles of food are abnormally high, and legal steps have been taken to protect the community at large. It is claimed that the establishment of trusts reduces the number of producers and raises the cost of the necessities of life. What, then, should be the extent of the law's interference?

You know that, until the conclusion of the war with Spain, the policy of our government had been to keep to itself. America was deemed extensive enough to permit us to grow and expand for centuries to come. But the wail of suffering humanity led us to interfere with the tyranny of Spain in Cuba, and at the close of the war we had the distant Philippines on our hands. Our policy was to secure good government for those islands and then turn them over to the natives. The natives resented the attempt, which they considered to be aimed at wresting away the government for ourselves. They resisted, and there has been fighting ever since, sometimes of the most vicious. character. There are those who maintain that the Filipinos are fighting a war of independence as much as did our ancestors in the Revolution. They insist that we should withdraw and leave them to themselves. On the other hand, it has been shown that the Boxer uprising assisted to place us in the rank of the great Powers, and that we are fully committed to the policy of expansion. All these questions entered largely into the political struggle of 1900.

The Democratic National Convention met at Kansas City, Mo., and on the 5th of July, 1900, nominated by acclamation William J. Bryan for President. There had been considerable opposition to his nomination before the meeting of the convention, and several others' names were discussed, but none of them gained a formidable following. Mr. Bryan was regarded as the logical candidate, and he refused to agree that the money question was a dead issue. The platform adopted on the date named declared "Imperialism" the paramount issue; that all governments instituted among men derive their

just powers from the consent of the governed; that any government not based upon such consent is a tyranny; and that to impose upon any people a government of force is to substitute the methods of imperialism for those of a republic. It was held that the Constitution follows the flag; the doctrine that an Executive or Congress can exercise lawful authority beyond the Constitution was denounced, and the American people were warned that imperialism abroad will lead quickly and inevitably to despotism at home. The Porto Rico law was said to be a bold and open violation of the nation's organic law and a flagrant breach of the national good faith, and was declared the

first act of the imperialistic programme, inconsistent with republican institutions and condemned by the Supreme Court in numerous decisions.

Since profound peace reigned in Cuba its evacuation was demanded in accordance with pledges made long before. The Philippine policy was denounced in equally strong language. "It has involved the Republic in unnecessary war, sacrificed the lives of many of our noblest sons, and placed the United States, previously known and applauded throughout the world as the champion of freedom, in the false and un-American position of crushing.with military force the efforts of our former allies to