434 



McKINLEY, WILLIAM. 



makes a better showing in the world's balance sheet. 

 . . . We find ourselves in the beginning of the sec- 

 ond century of the republic without a superior in 

 the industrial arts, without an equal in commercial 

 prosperity, with a sound financial system, with 

 an overflowing treasury, blessed at home and at 

 peace with all mankind. . . . The creation of a 

 commission will give no alarm to business, it will 

 menace no industry in the United States. What- 

 ever of good it offers on the first Monday in De- 

 cember next we can accept, all else we can and 

 will reject." During this speech occurred an amus- 

 ing colloquy between Abram S. Hewitt, of New 

 York, and McKinley, in which the latter showed 

 that while Hewitt was now contending that " wages 

 in this country are not regulated by the tariff," he 

 had in his correspondence with Jay Gould. Presi- 

 dent of the Erie Railway, some years before, de- 

 clared that " free trade would simply reduce the 

 wages of labor to the foreign standard.'' and that 

 " the ability of the laborers to consume would be 

 reduced, and a serious loss inflicted on commerce, 

 general industry, and the business of railways es- 

 pecially." 



The 'elections of 1882 occurred while the tariff 

 commission was still holding its sessions, and the 

 Republicans were everywhere most disastrously de- 

 feated. The Democracy carried Ohio by 19,000, 

 and elected 13 of the 21 congressmen. McKinley 

 had been nominated, after a sharp contest, for a 

 fourth term, and was elected in October by the nar- 

 row margin of eight votes over his Democratic com- 

 petitor, Jonathan H. Wallace. At the short ses- 

 sion an exhaustive report by the tariff commission 

 was submitted, and from this the Ways and Means 

 Committee framed and promptly introduced a bill 

 reducing existing duties, on the average, about 20 

 per cent. McKinley supported this measure in an 

 explanatory and argumentative speech of some 

 length, Jan. 27, 1883, but it was evident from the 

 start that it could not become a law, and the Sen- 

 ate substitute was enacted instead. In contrasting 

 the respective advantages of the two revenue sys- 

 tems, he said : " If labor was degraded on this side 

 of the Atlantic as on the other, we might compete 

 with the best manufacturers of the world in any 

 market. No lover of his race, no friend of hu- 

 manity, wants reduced wages. I do not speak for 

 capital. Capital can take care of itself. Rob it of 

 its profits in any of the so-called protected indus- 

 tries, and it will seek other avenues of investment' 

 and profit. I speak for the workingmen of my dis- 

 trict, the workingmen of Ohio, and of the country." 

 Here Mr. Springer, of Illinois, interjected : " They 

 did not speak lor you very largely at the last elec- 

 tion." Quick as a flash, McKinley replied, amid 

 great applause on both sides of the Chamber : "Ah, 

 my friend, my fidelity to my constituents is not 

 measured by the support they give me ! I have 

 convictions upon this subject which I would not 

 surrender or refrain from advocating if 10.000 ma- 

 jority had been entered against me." Although 

 his seat in the Forty-eighth Congress was con- 

 tested, he continued to serve in the House until 

 well toward the close of the long session. In this 

 interval he delivered his great speech on the Mor- 

 rison tariff bill, April 30, 1884, which was every- 

 where accepted as the strongest and most effective 

 argument made against it. Speaking of the course 

 of the majority of the Ways and Means Committee, 

 he said : " They have determined upon doing some- 

 thing, no matter how mischievous, that looks to the 

 reduction of import duties, and doing it, too, in 

 spite of the fact that not a single request has come 

 here either from the great producing or the great 

 consuming classes of the United States in the di- 

 rection proposed. With the power in their hands, 



they have determined to put the knife in, no mat- 

 ter where it cuts nor how much blood it draws. It 

 is the volunteer surgeon, unbidden, insisting upon 

 using the knife on a body that is strong and healthy, 

 needing only rest and release from the quack whose 

 skill is limited to the horizontal amputation, and 

 whose science is barren of either knowledge or dis- 

 crimination. And then it is not to stop with one 

 horizontal slash ; it is to be followed by another 

 and still another, until there is nothing left either 

 of life or hope. And the doctrinaires will then have 

 seen an exemplification of their pet science in the 

 destruction of the great productive interests of the 

 country, and the 'starving poor.' as denominated 

 by the majority, will be found without work, shel- 

 ter, or food. The sentiment of this country is 

 against any such indiscriminate proposition." This 

 seemed certainly the case, for at the conclusion of 

 the general debate, May 6, 41 Democrats, under the 

 leadership of Mr. Randall, voted with the Repub- 

 licans to defeat the bill. 



At the Ohio Republican State Convention of that 

 year, 1884. McKinley presided, and, despite his re- 

 peated declinations and protestations that he pre- 

 ferred the selection of others, he was unanimously 

 elected a delegate at large to the national conven- 

 tion. He disliked to oppose Senator Sherman, but 

 he was an avowed and well-known supporter of Mr. 

 Elaine for the presidency, and did much to further 

 his nomination. There were few more popular or 

 prominent delegates. He served on the Committee 

 on Platform, drafted its tariff planks, and read it 

 to the convention with fine effect. At more than 

 one critical moment he held the Elaine men in line 

 in the movements on the floor, and, as one of the 

 vice-presidents, had admirable control of the con- 

 vention while in the chair. So great was the ad- 

 miration for him that several of the delegates gave 

 him their votes in the balloting for the presidential 

 nomination. In the campaign he was equally ac- 

 tive and prominent. The Democrats had carried 

 the Ohio Legislature in 1883, and he was again 

 gerrymandered into a district supposed to be 

 strongly against him. He accepted a renomination, 

 made a diligent canvass, and was again elected, de- 

 feating David R. Paige, then in Congress, by 2,000 

 majority. But his energies were by no means con- 

 fined to his own district. He accompanied Mr. 

 Elaine on his celebrated Western tour, speaking 

 constantly with him from the same car or plat- 

 form, and, after the October election in Ohio, de- 

 voted his time to the campaign in West Virginia 

 and New York. Excepting the candidates them- 

 selves, there was hardly a more popular or success- 

 ful speaker in the country. 



In the Ohio gubernatorial canvas of 1885 Major 

 McKinley was equally active, conspicuous, and 

 popular. He also went to Virginia in October 

 and spoke for Mahone and Wise at Petersburg, 

 urging the people of the Old Dominion to declare 

 for protection as the best promoter of 1 heir material 



Srosperity. " Make it possible.'' said he. "to break 

 own the prejudices of the past. Get out from 

 under your ancestral tree. Recognize and give 

 force to the Constitution, permit every man to vote 

 for the party of his choice, and have his ballot 

 honestly counted. Push to the front where you lie- 

 long as a State and a people. Be assured that the 

 Republicans of the North harbor no resentments 

 only ask for the results of the war. They wish v<<u 

 the highest prosperity and greatest development." 

 His district had been restored in 1886, and he was 

 again unanimously nominated for Congress from 

 the old Eighteenth District for the sixth time, and 

 elected by 2,550 majority over Wallace H. Phelps, 

 the Democratic candidate. 

 In the State campaigns of 1881, 1883, and 1885, 



