failure of tariff legislation by vetoing it. He allowed the bill to become law by lapse of time, without his signature.

During the ensuing two years the financial and business situation became steadily worse. Each reacted upon the other. The lower duties imposed by the new tariff act were not followed by such an increase of importations as to make good the loss of revenue. Foreign distrust in the stability of our affairs led to a withdrawal of foreign investments, and this caused a heavy exportation of gold, which was drawn from the Treasury. The gold borrowed on government loans to make good the reserve maintained to insure the redeemability of the paper money was quickly lost; for the greenbacks paid out in excess of revenue were again presented for redemption, to procure more gold for export. The President, in calling the attention of Congress to the subject, likened the process to the operation of an "endless chain." The constant imperilling of the gold reserve caused frequent panics and a paralysis of business. The labor situation became serious. Great strikes took place, attended with extreme violence. One in particular on certain great lines of railway centring in Chicago led to a direct intervention of the national authority and the employment of the army to protect the running of trains, on the theory that it was necessary to continue the operation of the postal service. The use of the government troops was not solicited by the governor of Illinois, who publicly protested that the intervention of the national authority, by command of the President, prior to a request therefor by the governor, was an unconstitutional invasion of State rights.

The generally deplorable condition of affairs, which, as is usually the case, was popularly attributed to the inefficiency and failure of the party in power, caused a violent reaction from the great Democratic victory of 1892. The Congress elections of 1894 gave the Republicans a majority of more than two to one in the House. Hardly a dozen Democratic members were returned from all the Northern States. The situation of the Democratic party did not improve, and at the beginning of 1896 was as hopeless as it had been at any time during the second administration of Mr. Cleveland. It was at this time a common remark by Republicans, which their opponents ventured only mildly to contradict, that they "could nominate a rag baby and elect it President" that year.

Yet events so shaped themselves as to render the contest one of the sharpest, most memorable, and for a brief season the most doubtful, of all that have taken place since the election of Mr. Lincoln in 1860. That which brought about the change was the intrusion of the silver question into the canvass as the dominant issue, in opposition to the wishes and efforts of those who, in each of the old historic parties, had previously exercised a controlling influence in its councils. It is easy to understand why they took this attitude of opposition. As apostles of the gospel of success, they dreaded the division which a plain and unmistakable pronouncement on the subject of silver would cause. The Populist party alone was united on that issue. The growing strength of that organization had filled all the old politicians with alarm. In some of the Western States it had even become formidable to the extent of outnumIt was evident that, if bering both the old parties combined. the silver question were to become the foremost issue in the canvass, the old policy of a "straddling" platform would not do; since in that case all those who were resolved to have free coinage at all hazards would flock to the Populist standard. Out of this situation developed a sensational contest for the control of the Democratic organization. The Eastern section of the party was dominated by the advocates of the gold standard; the Free Coinage wing was overwhelmingly strong in the West and South; and the great battle-ground was the central Western States. The national administration employed all its influence to secure the election to the national convention of delegates who would oppose the demands of the Silver men. Kentucky was the scene of the fiercest conflict; and when the primary elections resulted in a brilliant victory for free silver, it was evident that the contest was ended, and that the only hope of the opponents of free coinage was that the victors might be persuaded not to carry their advantage to extremes,

a hope which was destined to be disappointed. The earnestness with which the struggle was carried on may be judged from the fact that the Democratic conventions of no less than thirty States resolved in distinct and emphatic language in favor of the free coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen to one. Fourteen state conventions opposed free coinage, and ten of them declared in set terms for the gold standard. One convention only, that of Florida, expressed no opinion on the silver question. The sectional division on this issue is indicated by

the fact that the fourteen anti-Silver States were the New England States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, with Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

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Meantime another contest had been attracting deep interest throughout the country, a contest, not of principle, but between rival candidates for the Republican nomination. Major William McKinley, of Ohio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Thomas B. Reed, of Maine, had long been avowed candidates for the nomination. Months before the convention was to be held, the agents and partisans of each were at work laying plans, conducting correspondence, and dispatching emissaries to all parts of the country particularly into the Southern States - in order to secure the election of delegates. By far the better organized, more aggressive and systematic campaign was carried on in behalf of Major McKinley, under the direction of his friend Marcus A. Hanna, whose name became familiar as household words in the mouths of all the stump speakers before the presidential canvass ended. Mr. McKinley was proclaimed "the advance agent of prosperity;" and, in the renewed popularity of the protective system, no cry was more effective than the demand for "Bill McKinley and the McKinley Bill." Mr. Reed's immense and universally admitted services to his party, his talents, his iron will, and his almost undisputed leadership, gave him a host of supporters. New York brought forward her governor, the former Vice-President, Levi P. Morton. Iowa presented as a worthy candidate her senator, William B. Allison; and Pennsylvania named Senator Matthew S. Quay. The efforts in behalf of the minor candidates availed little save in their respective States; the hopes of their supporters hardly went further than this: that they might make such a display of strength as to suggest that, if neither Mr. McKinley nor Mr. Reed could carry the convention, one of them would be available as a "dark horse." But it became evident long before the convention, although the partisans of the other candidates would not admit it, that a strong majority of the delegates favored the nomination of Mr. McKinley. During the whole of this preliminary skirmishing in the Republican party, the silver question was thrust into the background as much as possible. Twenty-two state conventions, it is true, declared against free coinage; but many even of these gave greater prominence and vigor to their expressions on the tariff than to

their views on the money standard. Here also the gospel of success prevailed. The States of the extreme West, the "mining States," were practically unanimous in favor of silver. If the Democrats could count as usual on a "solid South," if they could hold the doubtful States of the Northwest, and if they could win over the new States of the far Northwest by taking ground in favor of free coinage while the Republicans opposed it, the canvass was already decided against the Republicans. It was announced by the Republican leaders in Colorado, Idaho, and other States that their electoral votes were irretrievably lost to the party if the national convention did not show itself more "friendly to silver" than the Minneapolis convention of 1892. This consideration caused many of the managers to do their utmost to retain the tariff as the leading issue, and to contemplate a "straddle" on the silver question. Their plans and purposes were overturned by influences too strong for them to resist.

Affairs were in this interesting situation when the time arrived for holding the national conventions. The results of these great assemblies were surprising to those even who had gauged accurately the intensity of the public feeling on the silver question. Never before were conventions so inharmonious, and never were there so many "splits" and "bolts" in. parties. The first convention to be held was that of the Prohibition party, which met at Pittsburg on May 27, 1896. Mr. A. A. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, was the temporary chairman, and Mr. Oliver W. Stewart, of Illinois, the permanent president of the convention.

The assembly was divided from the first into two factions, the "narrow gaugers" and the "broad gaugers." The real contest was over the silver question. The "broad gaugers favored a platform made up of resolutions on many topics, upon which they held views closely approaching those of the Populists. The "narrow gaugers," opposing particularly the adoption of a free coinage "plank," contended for a platform which should make the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors the only issue upon which the party should appeal to the people. So sharp was the contest between the two factions that a disruption was foreseen before the convention was called to order. Leading men on each side had announced that if their faction were defeated, they would not support either platform or candidates. There was war

between them in the choice of presiding officers; and the two presidential candidates ultimately named had been agreed upon in rival caucuses before the first session of the convention.

The platform was reported on the second day of the session. A majority of the committee consisted of " narrow gaugers," and all the resolutions, six in number, were aimed at the liquor traffic. A minority of the committee presented fifteen additional resolutions, the first of which demanded the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen to one. The convention, in order that it might consider the question as a whole, first voted, yeas 492, nays 310, to append the minority resolutions to those reported by the majority, and then proceeded to consider the resolutions seriatim. The first six were adopted with unanimity. The next,1 opposing all bank currency, and advocating the free coinage of silver, was warmly debated, and was rejected by a vote of yeas 387, nays 427. A motion was then made, and carried almost unanimously, to substitute for the resolutions already adopted the following, which became the platform of the convention:

We, the members of the Prohibition party, in National Convention assembled, renewing our declaration of allegiance to Almighty God as the rightful Ruler of the universe, lay down the following as our declaration of political purpose:

The Prohibition party, in National Convention assembled, declares its firm conviction that the manufacture, exportation, importation, and sale of alcoholic beverages has produced such social, commercial, industrial, and political wrongs, and is now so threatening the perpetuity of all our social and political institutions, that the suppression of the same, by a national party organized therefor, is the greatest object to be accomplished by the voters of our country, and is of such importance that it of right ought to control the political actions of all our patriotic citizens until such suppression is accomplished.

The urgency of this course demands the union, without further delay, of all citizens who desire the prohibition of the liquor traffic, therefore be it

Resolved, That we favor the legal prohibition by state and national legislation of the manufacture, importation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. That we declare our purpose to organize and unite all the friends of prohibition into one party, and in order to accomplish this end we deem it of right to leave every Prohibitionist the freedom of his own convictions upon all other political 1 See the third resolution of the National party, p. 531.