436 



McKINLEY, WILLIAM. 



amount of Government debt, but he would first 

 have the country understand why the Administra- 

 tion had not done this long ago." 



On April 2 he presented to the House the views 

 of the minority of the Ways and Means Committee 

 on the Mills tariff bill, which he had himself main- 

 ly prepared, after careful investigation and study. 

 In concluding this report, they said : " The minori- 

 ty regard this bill not as a revenue reduction meas- 

 ure, but as a direct attempt to fasten upon this 

 country the British policy of free foreign trade. 

 So viewing it, their sense of obligation to the peo- 

 ple, and especially the working people employed in 

 manufacturing and agriculture in all sections of 

 our common country, impel them to resist it with 

 all their power. They will assist the majority in 

 every effort to reduce the redundant income of the 

 Government in a direct and practicable way ; but 

 every effort of fiscal legislation which will destroy 

 or enfeeble our industries, retard material develop- 

 ment, or tend to reduce our labor to the standard 

 of other countries will meet with their persistent 

 and determined opposition." On May 18, the day 

 the general debate was to close, McKinley delivered 

 what was described at the time as " the most effect- 

 ive and eloquent tariff speech ever heard in Con- 

 gress." The scenes attending its delivery were full 

 of dramatic interest. The speaker who immediate- 

 ly preceded him was Samuel J. Randall, who had 

 insisted on being brought from what proved his 

 deathbed to protest against the passage of the pro- 

 posed law. He spoke slowly and with great diffi- 

 culty, and his time expired before his argument was 

 concluded. There were cries of "Go on" and Ran- 

 dall asked permission to finish, but Mills walked to 

 the front and shouted, " I object," and so the dis- 

 tinguished ex-Speaker was obliged to take his seat. 

 The chair announced that " the gentleman from 

 Ohio had the floor," and McKinley was instantly 

 on his feet, and, as the tumult subsided, calmly but 

 clearly spoke. " Mr. Chairman," he said, " I yield 

 to the gentleman from Pennsylvania out of my 

 time all that he may need in which to finish his 

 speech on this bill." The crowded galleries, in- 

 cluding nearly every reporter in the hall, broke into 

 a mighty cheer, members applauded, ladies waved 

 their handkerchiefs, and Randall again arose, 

 thanked his " friend from Ohio " with deep feeling, 

 and laboriously concluded his address. It was a 

 graceful, characteristic act, true to the spirit and 

 courtesy of the man who performed it, and the 

 speech that followed fully justified the high expec- 

 tations that the incident naturally aroused. It can 

 not be given piecemeal, but will be read with in- 

 terest as long as political orations have a perma- 

 nent place in our literature. By arguments the 

 most lucid and irrefutable, and illustrations the 

 most pleasing and convincing, he showed that no 

 single interest or individual anywhere was suffer- 

 ing either from high taxes or high prices, but that 

 all who tried to be were busy and thrifty in the 

 general prosperity of the times. In a well-turned 

 illustration, at the expense of his colleague, Mr. 

 Morse, of Boston, he showed by exhibiting to the 

 House a suit of clothes purchased at the latter's 

 store, that the claims of Mills as to the prices of 

 woolens were absurd, and by equal tact he convinced 

 his hearers of the bad policy of our Government 

 importing foreign blankets for the army, at the ex- 

 pense of domestic manufacturers and home labor, 

 for the sake of saving about 30 cents apiece on 

 them. Many of his statements as to the bad effects 

 of such legislation have proved prophetic, and some 

 of his objections to the bill, as it was then before 

 the House, were so cogent and conclusive that its 

 authors felt constrained to amend it in the partic- 

 ulars enumerated. His statement of the false theo- 



ries concerning "the world's markets" and the 

 effect of protective laws upon trusts was timely and 

 beneficial, and never has been controverted.' He 

 held that protection was from first to last a conten- 

 tion for labor, whether it should be well paid and 

 independent, as befitted citizens of the republic, or 

 poorly paid and degraded, as was conspicuously the 

 case in governments where its opportunities' and 

 privileges were most contracted. " The hope of 

 the country," said he, in conclusion, "is in the bal- 

 lot. The future, and, as I conceive, the welfare 

 and progress of the republic, the future condition 

 of the wage-earners, depends upon the issue to be set- 

 tled in November. Americans who love their country 

 must be on guard on that day of supreme concern ; 

 it is their duty, their one great opportunity. Par- 

 ties must be subordinated to the great interests of 

 the masses. No party necessity is great enough to 

 force its adherents against the country's best inter- 

 ests. I care not what in the future may be the 

 party name which stands for this system, which 

 stands for the people, I will follow its flag under 

 whatever designation or leadership, because it is 

 my country's flag and represents its greatness and 

 its glory." Both Congress and the country hearti- 

 ly applauded this speech. The feeling among his 

 colleagues may be shown by an incident of the day. 

 Judge Kelley. the Republican leader of the House, 

 had chosen McKinley to close the debate, but Mr. 

 Haskell had begged that privilege, and McKinley, 

 hearing of it, at once conceded it to him. When Mc- 

 Kinley sat down, Haskell leaned over his desk, just 

 back of McKinley's, and, clasping the latter's hand 

 enthusiastically, declared : " Major, I shall speak 

 last, but you have closed the debate." The press 

 of the country gave it unusual attention, Repub- 

 lican committees scattered millions of copies of it. 

 and it everywhere became a text-book of the cam- 

 paign, the basis of more speeches, perhaps, than 

 any single tariff speech yet made. 



At the Ohio convention of 1888 McKinley was 

 elected a delegate at large to the Republican Na- 

 tional Convention, and took an active part in its 

 proceedings. As chairman of the Committee on 

 Resolutions he had a large share in the preparation 

 of the platform, reported it to the convention, and 

 secured its unanimous adoption. He was from the 

 start the choice of many delegates for President, 

 and when it was definitely ascertained that Mr. 

 Blaine would not accept the nomination, a move- 

 ment in his favor began that would doubtlessly 

 have been successful had he permitted it to be en- 

 couraged. All the Republican congressmen then 

 in Washington, considering his availability greater 

 than that of any name presented, united in a tele- 

 gram urging his selection. But he had gone to the 

 convention committed to John Sherman, and 

 viewed with abhorrence the idea of himself accept- 

 ing an honor which he was earnestly seeking for 

 another. The first day's balloting was indecisive, 

 but on Saturday morning it was evident that senti- 

 ment was rapidly centering upon him, and this the 

 next roll call soon developed. McKinley leaped 

 upon his chair at the head of the Ohio delegation, 

 and in the hush of the moment was heard by every 

 man in the hall. " I am not insensible to the honor 

 you would do me," he said, " but in the presence of 

 the duty resting upon me I can not remain silent 

 with honor. I can not consistently with the wish 

 of the State whose credentials I bear and which has 

 trusted me; I can not with honorable fidelity to 

 John Sherman, who has trusted me in his cause and 

 with his cause ; I can not consistently with my own 

 views of personal integrity, consent, or seem to 

 consent, to permit my name to be used as a candi- 

 date before this convention. I would not respect 

 myself if I could find it in my heart to do, or per- 





