The Defeat And Its Causes

It would be uscless to underestlmate tlie extent of the republlcan reverses in Uu1 congressional elections on Tuesday, and we have no doslre to do so. It is well to look the matter squarely In the fttce and to seek to understniul its meanIng. At the sume tin.e there is nothlng to be {fiiiuud by silence in the face of inisrepresentalions, and it is not the part of wisdom to accept the mUconceptions or perversions of those who do not consider all the factors lti the sltuation or who designedly inistake or misplace them. In 1888 tbe people of the United States elected a president and a house, pledged to do just what the republican president and congress have done. Kvery important measure passed bas been in fulïillini-nt of one of the pledges ot' the republlcan platform, reiterated on every republican stump and in every republican newspaper throughout tbe campaign. The republican majorlty of 24 in the present home, as it stands af ter the settlement of the contested election cases, was turned into a democratie majority of over 90 by Tuesday's elections. Does tliis mean that the people of the United States have radically changed tbeir minds on the tarlft' question in two years? That will be the claim of the mugwump and democratie free traders. Tbat view of the case will be accepted by the Eureopean manufacturero, wliose market In this country is restrlcted by the McKinley law. But is that true, or to what extent, if any, is it true? That is the question to which every honest free trader, as well as every honest protectionist, and every believer in popular government, whatever bis political or economie views, should seek a true aníwer. That soine part of the reverse experienced Tufsday is due to the passage of the McKinlcy law is more thau probable; it certain. No measure of tqual importance has been passed in twenty years. It affects enorm us and conflictIng interesU. The Mills hill was repudiated by the producers In 1888 as destructive to thelr interests. We may well believe that soine considerable part of the consumers who are not producers have antagouized tbe McKinley law. The nurnber of producers who are consumers and consumers who are producers is exactly equal. Tbe class tbat consumes but does not uroduce holds the balance of power, and a large proportiou of this claes is npposed to the protectivc policy. It was inevitable that a Btronjj protective law should encounter tltplr itiiniKÍIinti win! 1 1 ji i i i íit tu ] ] v thia lucir opposmon, ana unuouoteuiy mis mfluence has contributed to the result. When we remember that the strength of tlie two jjreui parties, in the number of voters, is almost exactly equal, the difference mot boin-; moro tlmn 200 000 to 300.000 in a tot il of 12,000,000, it can readily be seeii that the passage nf any comprehensiva measure largely aflícting the contllcting interests to which the masses of population are attached, paesed on the eve of an election as was the McKinley luw, was practical ly certaii) to eucounter a repulse at that election. ín so far as the reduit Is a condemnution of the McKinley luw, it is a condeinuution without trial. What the verdict would have boen had the law been in operation a year or two, or what it will be two years henee when its efiects have been f.iirly measured, no one can certainly ay. There will be two opinions abotit it, and the nulion will in due time pass judginr.it upon the fiets as they are then found to exist. The producing interests of the country muy reet assured that it will have Bttch a triitl. No protectionist bat any doubt that the verdict, ifter a two ytmrs' trial, will be favorable to the law, i ii spite of the faut that the resulta of tliia election will inspire tiniid investors will] feúra as to the permanency of protection. Somc considerable part of the nood effects expected will be lost through the existence and tft'nts of a rampant democratie free trade housi, but the law will prove wliolesome In spite thereof. But the new turiff law was only one of several causes that contributed to the defeat. The uggregate of other causes is (ar greater tlian this. About sixty seats In congress have been lost In all. Thirteen of these are in the south, where the república vote has been practically suppiessed. Ow'.ng to the failure of the senate to pass the federal elections bill, and threats of violence If they attempted to vote, the colored voters uniformly staid away from the polls. The McKinley law was not retponsible for that. l'artisan gerrymauders in Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland, and Tennessee resulted in a direct loss of eleven republican congressinen. The tariff law had nothing to do with that. The flglit over the school issue in Wlsconsin and Illinois cost the republicans flve and possibly six seaU more. The tight against Senator Quay in Pennsylvania was the direct cause of the defeat of five republlcan congressmen. The liquor queslion in Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas cost us three or four more. The McKinley law had little or nothing to do with the los of any of these seats In congress, and they constltute two-thirds of the whole loss. The remuining third may beattributed to the senseless acare about "McKinley priees,"concoctpd by the importers and free trade journals to influence the election, and to minor causes in some of the other states. Aided by these conditions the demoorats have won a striking victory In the house. How will they utllize it? Will they try to force the passage of another Mills bilí, or a "more advanced" free trade mcasure, as they have threatened? However that miy be this much is certain : They cannot pass any tariff bill before the suinraer of 1892, and the senate will then have a republican inajority of eiijht or more.- Cleveland Leader.