Harper's Weekly On Mckinley

Harper's Weekly, which cannot be accnsed of dernocracy, has the following edturial nnder the heading of The Advanced Agent of Bankruptoy, which will well repay perusal. It appears in the issne of May 16, 1896 : "If, as seems likely, Mr. McKinley is to be the candidate of the republican party, nis nomiuation will be logical and fitting if the chief object of the party is to be the maintenanoe of high tariff taxation at any cost, even the cost of an unsound currency and of national dishonor. This is what Mr. McKinley stands for, and his supporters, led by men who have made vaSt snms of raoney from a system of taxation of which he is the chief apostle, and wbo favor him in anticipation of what he oan again accomplish for their pecuniary profit, are calling him the 'advance agent of prosperity. ' "This is to be the McKinley cry of the campaign ; but it is a false and misleadirjg cry, and if the Republican delegates to the national convention adopt it and the man, they will lind themselves, long before election day arrivés, face tofacewith stubborn f acts that prove the falsehood of the McKinley pretence that he and his tariff law brought prosperity with them. "Mr. McKinley was the leader of the house of representatives from 1889 to 1891. During that time he secnred the enactment of his tariff law. He also took an active and a leading part in the passage of the so-called Sherman silver-purchase act, which added 200,000,000 to onr stock of silver and nearly 150,000,000 to onr demand paper. He was the leader of the house when the expendltnres of the government were so greatly increased that that congress was called the 'billiou-dollar congress. ' Some of his friends speak of him as the author of the reciprocity treaties with South American states and as therefore, entitled to the credit of whatevsr increase of commerce was gained through them. But in the flrst place, those treaties were not of great advantage to the producers of the country, and were of no benefit whatever to the consnmers; and, in the second place, they were invented by Mr. Blaiue as part of his South American policy, and their adoption was compelled by him against Mr. McKinlej's opposition. While Mr, McKinley was not the aathor or friend of his partial reciprocity policy, he is responsible for the bounty system under which the pnblio money was frankly given to persons engaged in private euterprises, while the door was thereby opened for the admission into the Treasury of a horde of socialistic schemes of plunder, .a few of which have been reoently ennmerated in the Weekly. "His boasted tariff bill began to operate in the fiscal year 1891, and its effects were feit until the fiscal year 1804. Under this act the rate of duty increased frorn 44.41 per cent to 50.06 per cent. The vahie of the foreigti oommerce of the country feil frorn $1,647, 139,093 in 1890 to $1,547,135,194 in 1894. The values of onr irnportations decreased in the same period from $780,310,409 to $645,994,622. A falliug off of nearly 135,000,000 in the annual injportations must affect the public revennes, and acordingly we find that while this 'advance agent of prosperity' was at the head of the'ways and jneans oommittee he suoceedediu reducing the government's yearly incorne ' from customs duties from $229,668,585 j the customs receipts of 1890, to $131, r 818,831, the ciistuais receipts of 1894. "This 'advance agent of prosperity' promoted the passage of the Sherruan silver law. It was this Iaw vhich dragged down the Tieasnry to its pieseut condition aud bronght upon the country the panio, from the effects of which we will not recover nntil the and finp.ncial world believes that there is do longer auy danger that the United States will embark iu a free-coinage-of-silver enterprise. Bnt JVir. McKiuley favored the Sherman act because it was the uext best thiug to free coiuage, and if he shaJl ba elected president he will not veto dangerous money legislation, nor offend the populista by issuing bonds to maiiitain the credit of the government. As we have already said, Mr. McKinley was the leader of the honse in the congress whioh, by reason of , its extravagance, was known as the 'billiondollar congress. ' The first fiscal year for which Mr. McKinley's and Mr. Reed's congress appropriated was that of 1891, and in that year the appropriations iucreased over those for 1S90 by more thau $70,000,000, while for 1890 there ■was a still fnrther increase of about $36,000,000. Not only were the immediate expenditures of the government increased, but an inheritanoe of extravagance was left by this remarkable congress, iintu now the Republioaus, once more in power in both houses of congress, are showiug that tüey are still under the impulse and stimulus of the palmy days of the 'advance agent of prosperity. ' They have therefore passed appropriatiou bilis tbat vill neoessitate the inorease of the public debt by at least $100,000,000. How extravagance has bred extravagance, and what may be expected from a McKinley administration, may be learned by the statement made the other day bv Senator Gorman. His euumeratiou of the amouuts now called for by the appropriatious of the present session of congress shows that the enormons expeuditure of 1520,000,000 has been authorized by the law-niaking power. If this vast sum were to be expended in a single year, the government woald be forced to borrow nearly $200,000,000 within the nexi twelve mouths to meet the obligatious imposed upon it by those who seeru to be elamormg for another experienee with the 'advaLca agent of prosperity. ' "We find, therefore, that Mr. MuKinley, instead of promoting prosperiiy, is largely responsible for the commercial and flnancial disasters nader vvhioh the country has been sulfering. He was the author of the tariff law nnder which the revenues of the goveruinent decreased .$98,000,000; and he was aa active participator and leader in flnancial legislation and in legislativo extravaganoe which stripped the treasuiy of the mouey which was left there by Air. Cleveland at the end of his first term, whieh brought a panic upon the country, and which threatens to loac the government with new indebtedness ünder the MoKinley system the treas ury has lost its surplus, the business of the country has been disturbed, bankniptcies have increased, the public debt has been augmented, we have for years been in danger of becoming a silver monometallic country, while the expenditures of the government have increased in ten years by nearly 200 per cent. Por two years the expenditures of the government have exceeded it) receipts, and soon for a third time we are to find the balance on the wrong side of the books. "While the McKinley system of statesmanship has been accomplishing all this for the United States, we learn from the budget speech of the British Chanoellor of the Exohequer that the opposite system has brought to England nnheard-of prosperity. There the government has a surplus alnaost as largs as the deficiency which we expect at the end of the present fiscal year, and there the expenditures grew by only 38 per cent while ours were increased by 200 per cent. Which ' is the more pleasing prospect to Americana who ]ove their conutry, and who be lieve that it ought to be the foremos land of the world, not only in riche and power, but in the practiee of a po litical ruorality which teaohes that the money of the government should b honest, its expenditurs wise and econom ical, and its taxation for the publi welfare? Shall we go back to the sys tem of the advance agent of bankrupt cy, or shall we insist that our public flnances shall be administered by men of comrnon-sense and conmioD hon esty?" Speaker Reed has evidently given up hope of tbe republican noraination anc we again hear his pictnresque remarks It is only the other day that be re marked that this seems to be a year for bugs, that we hear much of the golc bug and the silver bxig and that over in Ohio they seem to have the straddle bag. A dáy or two later, when some one spoke of JUuKinley as the "advauce agent of prosperity," Reed said when he was a boy it was a great day when the advance agent of a ci'rcns carne to town. He put ap flaraing posters, depicting droves uf elephants, gorgeous chariots, daring acrobatic feats, etc. But the performance never came np to the posters. Iustead of a drove of elephants there was usually one lone lop-eared elephant, a dromedary or two and a dingy conveyauce or so, called chariots, but there was always one good acrobat who could straddle two horses. It is now thought tbat the rupublican state convention to uominate a candidate for governor will be held in the latter part of Augnst. This is a scherue to tire the Pingreeites ont before tne couvention. It is very evident that the republican leaders do not desire a man to be a caudidate in a republican 'convention until he has flrst consultad with the republican bosses. This in Pingree's greatesü fault in their eyes. Hou. J. Wirt Newkirk, of Dexter, is evidently a candidate for probate judge on the republican ticket. He is a hustler and has joined all the sooieties in sight and of ten visits neigh boring lodges. This probably has nothing to do with the judgeship, but all the me, Mr. Newkirk is a hustler.