twenty cents a pound, all because of the McKinley Bill; and the old lady returned to the house and blew the horn, and, as her husband came up, she made him swear that he would vote against the McKinley Bill on account of those fish." When the McKinley Bill was completed in committee McKinley claimed for the majority that it would reduce the customs duties about sixty-one million dollars, while Roger Q. Mills for the minority members claimed that it would increase the duties about four million dollars. If there was this difference of opinion in the minds of the majority and minority members of the same Committee, working with the same data before them, it is perhaps not to be wondered at that the people themselves should be so completely befuddled. As a matter of fact, the decrease shown by the first year of operation was about fifty-two million dollars, which, in itself, is a verdict in favor of the intelligent foresight on the part of the majority members. "In McKinley himself, defeated for reëlection to Congress by the landslide caused by the Bill, said: creased prosperity which is sure to come will outrun the maligner and villifier. Reason will be enthroned, and none will suffer so much as those who have participated in misguiding a trusting people." 99 1 1 Olcott: "The Life of William McKinley," volume I, page 188. When a nail is driven into a post the hole remains even after the nail is withdrawn. The fact that the McKinley Tariff was proving successful could not be grasped by the voters, even though fully appreciated by economists and students of the subject. With the return of the Democratic Party to power, business, from perfectly natural economic causes, suffered a serious depression, which the Democrats used as further evidence of the disastrous effects of the McKinley Bill. Burrows' retort to this accusation, made in the course of his remarks upon the Wilson Bill which is to be considered later, is characteristically apt: "This general paralysis of business throughout the country," he said, "comes solely from the ascendency of a political Party pledged to the repeal of the Act of 1890, and the substitution therefor of a tariff divested of all protective features. With such a Party in full control of the Government is it any wonder that domestic manufacturers suspend operations until advised of the conditions under which they must market their output? Business prudence dictated the suspension of the manufacture of domestic fabrics with high-priced labor until the conditions should be determined upon which the foreign competing products should be permitted to enter our markets. Importers naturally limited their orders to the strict necessities of trade in anticipation of more favorable conditions. And so manufacturer and importer alike prudently suspended business until the Democratic Party should fix the terms upon which they would be permitted to resume. When the judge pronounces the sentence of death on the convicted felon there is no change in the law, but the victim is apt to lose interest in human affairs. On an ocean voyage the chart and compass may remain undisturbed, but with a madman at the wheel and a lunatic on the bridge the interest of the passengers will be chiefly centered in the supply of life preservers." In a letter dated October 1, 1893, ex-President Harrison wrote to Burrows, giving his viewpoint on the situation at a time when he could look back upon it freed from personal concern: From ex-President Harrison MY DEAR BURROWS: INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA You know from conversations I have had with you that my purpose was in that last message to put a mark on the stone by which the receding of our prosperity, which was inevitable, might be seen and measured. I can understand how a man may hold to the views of the Free-Trader or Tariff Reformer and yet be mentally sound and morally sincere; but I cannot understand how any man not a subject for guardian ship can think that a country can pass from the McKinley Bill to the Chicago platform without disastrous convulsions, or that when the rough passage has been made it will not leave the laboring men with a lower scale of wages. My own impression of these people is that the intelligent among them did see these results, and not a few of them contemplated them with favor. I tried to point out in my letter of acceptance that so far as the election was a choice between men it was of minor importance, but that the choice between policies involved stupendous results. The conservative Democrats, business men, bankers, etc., of the East did not see the distinction. They saw in Mr. Cleveland a conservative man, and forgot to take account of a Democratic Congress. Their mistake, I think, must be apparent to them now. But I did not intend to lead into a discussion of public affairs; however, of course I continue to feel a strong but quiet interest in everything. I am spending my days in my library preparing my lectures for Stanford University, and giving needed attention to a few important legal matters that I have become connected with. With the very kindest personal regards, I am Sincerely your friend, BENJAMIN HARRISON CHAPTER X RECIPROCITY. 1889-1902 HEN the principle of Reciprocity was written into the McKinley Bill a new phase of Republican legislation began, and over this the struggle was long and exciting. James G. Blaine of Maine may properly be called the Father of Reciprocity. While Secretary of State in the Garfield Administration he proposed a Pan-American Congress, but the idea did not take concrete form until the last year of Cleveland's Administration. When the Congress finally convened, Blaine by a curious coincidence was again Secretary of State, this time in the Harrison Cabinet, and was ready to give to it a hearty welcome. Representatives of nineteen independent nations of the Western Hemisphere met in Washington in October, 1889, to consider such points as the method of communication between South and North American ports; the establishment of a uniform system of weights and measures; the possible adoption of a common silver coin; and a plan to arbitrate disputed questions which might at any time arise between the nations represented at the conference. Blaine him |