The Homestead Riots.

237

free coinage of gold and silver. On March 22d it came up for discussion, and on March 24th a test vote was made upon the motion of Mr. Burrows of Michigan to lay the bill upon the table. The motion was lost, the vote of the Speaker making a tie. The subject could not be brought before the House again, except through a report from the Committee on Rules, setting apart a day for its disposal. On July 13th, Mr. Catchings of Mississippi introduced a resolution from the Committee on Rules providing for immediate consideration of the free coinage measure passed by the Senate. The resolution was defeated by a vote of 136 to 154, 39 not voting. The free coinage question therefore, which had consumed months of the time of both Senate and House came to naught for that session.

Toward the end of the session a considerable discussion ensued over the Pinkerton detectives, and their action at the Homestead riots. A presidential campaign was approaching, and it was evident that the Democrats were eager to throw upon the Republicans, and particularly the Protective Tariff, the blame for all labor disturbances in general, and the riots at Homestead in particular. There is no doubt in the judgment of the writer that the speeches made during the closing days of this session of Congress upon the subject, and repeated afterwards on the stump by the Democratic orators and echoed by the Democratic press, were one of the causes of the defeat of General Harrison for re-election, which led to such disastrous results in the following years. On August 2d the Senate passed the following resolution:

That a select committee of seven Senators be appointed by the President of the Senate, whose duty it shall be to investigate and report to the Senate the facts in relation to the employment for private purposes of armed bodies of men or detectives in connection with differences between workmen and employers, such investigation to include the facts in relation to the existence and employment generally of such or similar armed bodies of men or detectives in the United States since their first organization or appearance therein.

The investigation shall extend to and embrace the reasons for the creation of such organized bodies of armed men, their characacter and uses; also as to where, when, how, and by whom such

men have been employed and paid for any services they may have rendered, and under what authority of law, if any, they have been so employed and paid.

In addition to the testimony and conclusions of fact, the committee will consider and report, by bill or otherwise, what legislation, if any, is necessary to prevent further unlawful use or employment of such armed bodies of men or other similar armed bodies for private purposes, and also for the more effective organization and employment of the posse comitatus in the District of Columbia and the Territories of the United States for the maintenance and execution of the laws.

Said committee, either as a full committee or through sub-committee thereof, shall have authority to send for persons and papers, administer oaths to witnesses, and take testimony in Washington or elsewhere, according to its discretion, during the present session or the approaching recess of Congress, and to employ a clerk, messenger, and stenographer; the expenses of the investigation to be paid from the contingent fund of the Senate.

No action on the matter was taken in the House.

The only change in the Cabinet that took place in 1892 was the appointment of John W. Foster of Indiana, as Secretary. of State to succeed James G. Blaine, who resigned on June 4th. On March 1, 1892, the United States Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of the McKinley Tariff act. Justice Jospeh P. Bradley of the Supreme Court died on January 22d, his place being filled by the appointment of George Shiras, Jr., of Pennsylvania.

In the diplomatic service the principal appointments were the following: Frederick H. Grant of Washington, Minister to Bolivia; Rowland B. Mahany of New York, Minister to Ecuador; T. Jefferson Coolidge of Massachusetts, Minister to France, in the place of Whitelaw Reid, resigned; Frank L. Coombs of California, Minister to Japan; Andrew D. White of New York, Minister to St. Petersburg; A. Loudon Snowdon of Pennsylvania, Minister to Spain; David P. Thompson of Oregon, Minister to Turkey; William D. McCoy of Indiana, Minister Resident at Monrovia, Liberia; and Watson R. Sperry of Delaware, Minister Resident at Teheran, Persia.

CHAPTER X.

CONVENTIONS OF 1892-THE "HIGH PRICES

THE

DEMOCRATS ELECT PRESIDENT AND BOTH

HOUSES OF CONGRESS.

HE Republican National Committee met at Washington, D. C., on the 21st of November, 1891, and after considering the claims of several cities issued a call for the Republican National Convention to be held at Minneapolis, Minnesota, on the 7th day of June, 1892. On that day the tenth Republican National Convention was called to order by James S. Clarkson, chairman of the Republican National Committee. After prayer had been offered, and the call for the convention read by M. H. De Young of California, Chairman Clarkson announced that the Republican National Committee recommended for temporary chairman J. Sloat Fassett of New York. Mr. Fassett on taking the chair said, among other things:

The history of our party since 1856 is the history of our country. There is not a single page which does not shine with greater lustre because of some words or some deed of some great Republican inscribed thereon. Count me over our chosen heroes, the men whom you and I are teaching our children to love, emulate, and revere, and they shall be Republicans, every one, Lincoln, Seward, Grant. When the spirit of Republicanism fills a man, it seems to have the power of transfiguration. These men are great. These men will always remain great, because of their growth in the line of devotion to Republican doctrine and Republican principles.

Sherman, Garfield, Logan, Harrison, and Blaine; these are a few only of our jewels, and we may proudly turn upon our Democratic

friends and utter the defiant challenge, Match them! Of all the vast array of Democratic orators and men who have spoken against these men, as each, one by one, rose higher and higher in public esteem, there is not one who would not give his sword arm if he could name one of them as a Democrat,-only one.

Name me over the great masterpieces of constructive and progressive legislation enacted since the civil war, and you shall find the author and finisher of each to be a Republican. From the measures of reconstruction, to the measures of modified protection and reciprocity, each name along down the list belongs to us. He is of the household of our faith.

Loud calls were then heard for "Reed," and Thomas B. Reed of Maine addressed the convention as follows:

Mr. President and Fellow-Citizens: I want to add in the presence of this vast audience my hearty expression of faith in the future of the Republican party. Its past needs the endorsement of no man. That has the endorsement of history, for the deeds of the Republiparty are history itself. And while we are prevented from pointing with pride to the achievements of our party on account of our tenderness for the Democracy, nevertheless we sit here to-day rejoicing that our past history shows that from our birth until now our character has been such that it is a guaranty of the magnificent future which we are sure to have. It is true that we have done great things, but it is equally true that we have no right to rest upon them. Our past is glorious, but our future ought to be more so. It is true that we have given to this great country a wonderful physical prosperity. It is true that wealth has been poured into the laps of all our people by the great system which we believe in, and which we have carried out, and I say to you to-day that there is a nobler future, even than having given prosperity to a country, before the Republican party. And that nobler future is to give to every citizen of the United States the liberty of speech and action. Wealth and prosperity are noble, but human liberty is magnificent.

The rest of the day was taken up with the announcement of the various committees.

On the second day, D. C. Lockwood of Idaho, chairman of the Committee on Permanent Organization, recommended for permanent president of the convention William McKinley of

Chairman McKinley's Address.

241

Ohio. The committee further recommended for permanent secretary of the convention Charles W. Johnson of Minnesota, and for Chief Reading Clerk Charles F. Haney, also of Minnesota. The temporary force of assistant secretaries, clerks, and stenographers were then made permanent officers of the convention. Mr. McKinley, on taking the chair, addressed the convention as follows:

Gentlemen of the Convention: I thank you for the honor of presiding over the Tenth National Convention of the Republican party. Republican conventions mean something. They have always meant something.

Republican conventions say what they mean and mean what they say. They declare principles, and policies, and purposes, and when entrusted with power, execute and enforce them. The first National Convention of the Republican party, thirty-six years ago, was held in the city of Philadelphia. The platform of that great convention reads to-day more like inspiration than the affirmation of a political party. Every provision of that great instrument made by the fathers of our party are on the public statutes of our country to-day. Every one of them has been embodied into public law, and that cannot be said of the platform of any other political organization in this or in any other country of the world. Whenever there is anything to be done in this country, and by this country, and for this country, the Republican party is called upon to do it. There is one thing that can be said about our organization that cannot be said about any other; it can look backward without shame or humiliation, and it can look forward with cheer and exultation. That cannot be said of any political organization other than ours in the United States. Gentlemen of the Convention, we are here today to make a platform and a ticket that will commend themselves to the conscience and the intelligence and the judgment of the American people.

We are for a protective Tariff and reciprocity. We propose to take no backward step upon either one of these great Republican principles. We stand for a protective tariff because it represents the American home, the American fireside, the American family, the American girl, and the American boy, and the highest possibilities of American citizenship. We propose to raise our money to pay public expenses by taxing the products of other nations, rather than

VOL. II-16.