USA > New York > History of the state of New York, political and governmental, Vol. V > Part 8
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30
With the accession of the Harrison administration
114
POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
the Republican majority in Congress, under the leader- ship of William McKinley, promptly proceeded to make a radical revision of the tariff and to adopt a new schedule frankly protectionist for the sake of protec- tion. The result was the so-called Mckinley tariff of 1890. This noteworthy measure placed sugar and other important articles on the free list, established a system of reciprocity in trade with various countries in South America and Europe, levied high duties on foreign goods which competed with American products, and greatly stimulated some important American indus- tries. The natural reaction against the Mckinley tariff and the rise of the "Populist" party in the west drew away many voters temporarily from the Republican party, so that it suffered defeat in the Congressional elections of 1890, though of course the new tariff re- mained in force.
In 1892 the Republicans renominated President Harrison, with Whitelaw Reid of New York for Vice- President, on a platform which reaffirmed the principle of protection, holding that "all articles which cannot be produced in the United States, except luxuries, should be admitted free of duty, and that on all imports coming into competition with the products of American labor there should be levied duties equal to the difference between wages abroad and at home." It also approved the policy of reciprocity. It also advo- cated the establishment of a general system of free delivery of mails, in country as well as in city. The Democratic convention again nominated Mr. Cleve- land, with Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois for Vice-
115
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
President, on a platform denouncing the protective tariff as a fraud and demanding a tariff for revenue only. Conventions were held and candidates were nominated by the Populist, Prohibition, and Socialist Labor parties. The Farmers' Alliance was by this time merged in the Populist party. Because of the con- ditions already mentioned as prevailing in 1890, the Democrats won a sweeping victory. The Democrats secured 277 Electoral and 5,554,414 popular votes; the Republicans 145 Electoral and 5,190,802 popular votes ; the Populists 22 Electoral and 1,027,329 popular votes ; the Prohibitionists 271,028, and the Socialist Labor party 21,164 votes. The Democrats secured control of the Senate, also of the House by a large majority, and thus for two years had full control of the government in all branches for the first time since the years before the Civil War. But two years later, in 1894, the Republicans regained, by a still larger majority, control of the House, and also won a plurality of the Senate.
Having thus complete control of the government in 1893 the Democrats set about revising the tariff, and the result was described by their own President as one of "perfidy and dishonor." The Wilson-Gorman tariff, as it was known, was not at all a "tariff for revenue only" but was almost as much a protectionist measure as the one which it supplanted; only the duties were so shifted as to favor the industries of Democratic States. In addition it imposed an income tax that was de- clared unconstitutional. This measure was so objec- tionable to President Cleveland that he refused to sign it and let it become law without his approval. Its
116
POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
effects upon the industry and trade of the country were decidedly unfavorable, and, coupled with the financial panic and business depression that had set in soon after the accession of the Democrats to power, it con- tributed largely to the political landslide which, begin- ning in 1894 and culminating in 1896, returned the Republican party to complete control of the govern- ment in all its branches for many years.
Bad as the Wilson-Gorman tariff was, however, it practically marked the decline, if not the close, of the tariff controversy between the two parties, in what was virtually-though of course not so admitted at the time -a surrender by the Democrats to the Republican principle of a protective tariff. Thereafter the only questions were the amount of protection needed and the industries to which it should be extended. Having themselves enacted a protective tariff in 1894 the Dem- ocrats in their national platform of 1896 demanded that it should be left undisturbed, and while declaring the obvious truism that "tariff duties should be levied for purposes of revenue"-which of course nobody ever disputed-they were careful to omit the word "only" which they had thitherto inserted. Upon that platform, the salient feature of which was something other than the tariff, they nominated William J. Bryan of Nebraska for President and Arthur Sewall of Maine for Vice-President.
The Republicans in their platform strongly reaf- firmed the principle of a tariff so adjusted as to afford protection to American industrial development. They condemned the existing Democratic tariff for its sec-
117
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
tional character. Then they wisely closed the contro- versy by declaring that they were not pledged to any particular schedules; that the question of rates was a practical question, to be governed by the conditions of time and of production; and thus implied that the amount of protection afforded was to be determined by the need of it. They also strongly approved the policy of reciprocity as going hand in hand with protection. Upon this platform they nominated William McKinley of Ohio for President and Garrett A. Hobart of New Jersey for Vice-President.
The Populist, or People's party, nominated Mr. Bryan for President and Thomas E. Watson of Georgia for Vice-President. The Silver party ratified the Democratic nominations. A "National Democratic" convention, composed of Democrats who split from their party on the question of the monetary standard, nominated John M. Palmer of Illinois and Simon B. Buckner of Kentucky. There were also conventions and nominations by the Prohibitionists, by the National party which had split from the Prohibitionists, and by the Socialist Labor party. The campaign was fought with extraordinary zeal and spirit, almost exclusively on the monetary issue, and resulted in a great Repub- lican victory. That party had 271 Electoral and 7,035,638 popular votes; the Democrats had 176 Elec- toral and 6,467,946 popular votes; the Prohibitionists polled 141,676 votes, the National party 13,968, the Socialist Labor party 36,454, and the National Demo- cratic party 131,529. These figures, reported in each quadrennium, suggest the insignificance and futility of
118
POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
such party organizations. The Republicans secured a strong majority in Congress, which was repeated in the next Congress, elected in 1898.
Resuming full control of the government in 1897, the Republicans proceeded promptly to the enactment of a new protective tariff, known by the name of its chief author, Nelson Dingley. This was a considerably modified version of the former McKinley tariff, adapted to the altered conditions of the country and so judiciously devised as to give general satisfaction and to remain in force for many years. The Democratic platform in 1900 denounced it in general terms and called for an enlargement of the free list as a means of combating trusts, but abandoned the old cry of "tariff for revenue only" and obviously treated the issue as of minor importance. On this platform Mr. Bryan was renominated for President, with Adlai E. Stevenson for Vice-President.
The Republicans in 1900 reaffirmed the policies of protection and reciprocity, but treated them as accom- plished facts no longer open to political controversy and no longer leading issues of the campaign. They renominated President Mckinley, with Theodore
Roosevelt of New York for Vice-President.
The
People's party ratified the Democratic nominations. Tickets were also put forward by the "Middle-of- the-Road" People's party, the Silver Republicans, the Prohibitionists, the Socialist Labor party, the Social Democratic party of the United States, the Social Democratic party of America, the Union Reform party, and the United Christian party. The Repub-
119
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
licans won with 292 Electoral and 7,219,530 popular votes; the Democrats got 155 Electoral and 6,358,071 popular votes ; the Prohibitionists got 209,166 votes ; the Social Democrats 94,768; the "Middle-of-the-Road" party 50,232, and the Socialist Labor party 32,751. The votes of the People's party and the Silver Repub- licans are included in the Democratic total, and the remaining parties received small scattering votes.
In almost the last words uttered by him before his assassination President Mckinley indicated the pro- gressive and enlightened future policy of the Repub- lican party in respect to the tariff. Protection was to be maintained. Reciprocity was to be encouraged and extended. "The period of exclusiveness is past," he said. "The expansion of our trade and commerce is the pressing problem. Commercial wars are unprofit- able. If perchance some of our tariffs are no longer needed for revenue or to encourage and protect our industries at home, why should they not be employed to extend and promote our markets abroad?" That statesmanlike utterance embodied and expressed the logical culmination of the principles and policies of the Republican party for the preceding forty years, and the future policy from which neither party would ven- ture to depart. There was no further revision of the tariff until 1909, when the Payne-Aldrich bill was enacted by a Republican government-practically a mere readjustment of the Dingley law to meet changed industrial and commercial conditions.
An attempt was made in 1912 to inject the tariff controversy into politics, when the Democrats in their
1
120
POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
platform again demanded a tariff for revenue only, on the ground that a protective tariff was unconstitutional -an absurd contention, the constitutionality of a pro- tective tariff being all but universally conceded. But when they gained control of the government in that election, and President Wilson called Congress together in special session in April, 1913, for the pur- pose of enacting a "revenue tariff," the resulting measure proved to be a hybrid somewhat resembling the former Democratic tariff of 1894. It certainly was not a "revenue tariff," because it did not produce the needed revenue and it failed to tax various articles which might have yielded a large revenue; while on the other hand it retained some decidedly protective features. The average rate of duties imposed was about 28 per cent.
Finally, in their platform of 1916 the Democrats practically conceded the Republican principle by con- fessing that "tariff rates are necessarily subject to change to meet changing conditions in the world's pro- duction and trade." The Republican platform of the same year once more affirmed the principle of a protective tariff, adjusted to circumstances and cal- culated at once to give reasonable protection to Ameri- can labor and to prevent undue exactions by monopolies or trusts. Both parties favored the Republican policy of a Tariff commission to secure information and sug- gest to Congress a tariff schedule based on scientific principles. With these utterances the triumph of the Republican theory of tariff legislation may be regarded as complete, and the situation was left practically un-
JACOB SLOAT FASSETT
Jacob Sloat Fassett, congressman; born at Elmira, N. Y., November 13, 1853; graduated university of Rochester, 1875; admitted to the bar, 1878; studied at Heidelberg university, Germany, 1881; in practice at Elmira since 1878; proprietor Elmira Daily Advertiser, 1879-1896; district attorney of Chemung county, 1878-1880; member New York state senate, 1884-1891; delegate to republican national conventions, 1880, 1892 and 1916; republican nominee for governor of New York, 1891; member of congress, 1905-1911.
EDWARD HUBERT BUTLER
Edward Hubert Butler, publisher; born in LeRoy, N. Y., September 5, 1850; attended the public schools and studied under private tutors; joined the staff of the LeRoy Gazette; moved to Buffalo and established the Buffalo Sunday News, 1873; established Buffalo Evening News, 1880; presidential elector, 1896 and 1900; delegate at large to the republican national convention, 1908.
121
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
changed by the party platforms of 1920. In that year the Republican platform prudently referred to "the uncertain and unsettled condition of international balances, the abnormal economic and trade conditions of the world, and the impossibility of forecasting even the near future," as precluding the formulation of a definite program to meet conditions a year later. But it reaffirmed "belief in the protective principle" and pledged the party to "a revision of the tariff as soon as conditions shall make it necessary for the preserva- tion of the home market for American labor, agricul- ture, and industry." The Democratic platform re- affirmed "the traditional policy of the Democratic party in favor of a tariff for revenue only," and con- firmed the policy of "basing tariff revisions upon the in- telligent research of a non-partisan commission rather than upon the demands of selfish interests temporarily held in abeyance."
CHAPTER XII
SOUND MONEY
M ENTION has already been made of the suc- cessful resistance of the Republican party to the various schemes for repudiating the fiscal good faith of the nation by paying the public debt in irredeemable greenbacks and by flooding the country with "fiat money" created by the printing press. Its final fight on those lines was against an equally perni- cious scheme for flooding the country with depreciated silver. In 1873, as related, Congress dropped the stand- ard silver dollar from the list of coins thereafter to be minted, and the next year limited to five dollars the legal-tender power of silver coins of any denomination. At that time silver dollars had not been in circulation for more than thirty years. The legal ratio of value between silver and gold had been 16 to 1, and in 1873 the commercial ratio was 15.92 to 1, so that there was no inducement to silver-owners to seek to have it coined. But then Germany demonetized silver and the com- mercial value of that metal began to fall until in 1876 the ratio was 17.87 to 1, and in 1880 it was 18.04 to 1.
When President Grant wisely checked greenback inflation with a veto in 1874, the inflationists began to consider increased silver circulation as a means to their
122
123
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
end. New mines in Colorado and elsewhere had enormously increased the output of that metal, and the mine-owners were eager to realize for it the old coinage value. The Democrats took the lead, followed by some Republicans, in seeking remonetization of the silver dollar, and in 1878 Congress passed a bill introduced by Representative Bland, a Democrat, providing for the purchase and coinage of $2,000,000 to $4,000,000 in silver every month. President Hayes vetoed it, but the bill was repassed over his veto. Thus the government, under that unfortunate policy, every month bought silver at more than its commercial value and coined it into dollars which nobody wanted to handle and which remained stored in the treasury vaults while paper certificates representing them were put into circulation.
This unsound system continued, with the commercial value of silver steadily falling, until 1890, when the Sherman bill was enacted providing for the continued purchase of a limited amount of silver bullion against which there should be issued treasury notes payable "in coin," which might be either gold or silver. Following this an attempt was made to pass a bill providing for the free and unlimited coinage of silver, which passed the Senate but was rejected by the House. Now, although the treasury notes might be paid in silver, the President rightly held that good faith required their payment in gold if that metal was demanded. In consequence the gold reserve in the treasury became nearly exhausted, a financial panic occurred, and in August, 1893, Grover Cleveland called Congress in special session to repeal the Sherman law and stop the
124
POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
purchase of silver and the issuance of "coin" notes. Such repeal was effected after a struggle of months, in which the Republicans generally supported and the Democrats generally opposed the President, though both parties were divided on the subject.
This controversy made the silver question paramount in the campaign of 1896. The Republican platform of that year declared unreservedly for the maintenance of the gold standard and opposition to the free coinage of silver, unless under some international agreement with the principal nations of the world which would assure the maintenance of silver at its money value-an agreement which everybody knew it would be impos- sible to secure. Until that impossible achievement, that is perpetually, "the existing gold standard must be maintained." At this a faction of the party, chiefly in the western and silver-producing States, seceded and joined the Democrats. The Democratic platform demanded the "free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver at the ratio of 16 to 1" and that such silver dollars should be "full legal tender, equally with gold, for all debts, public and private." At that a faction of the party seceded and nominated an independent ticket, while many other Democrats openly supported the Republican ticket.
It was recognized throughout the nation that the Democratic free silver proposal meant the flooding of the country with silver "dollars" worth little more than half a dollar each, with consequent enormous losses to millions of persons. Every savings bank depositor would find his savings practically cut in half. Every
125
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
life insurance policy would be paid at a discount of fifty per cent. At such a prospect of repudiation and disaster the nation revolted and the Democratic ticket was overwhelmingly defeated. The Republican party saved the nation from financial dishonor and ruin just as truly as it had saved it from secession and dissolution a generation before.
Following this the Republican government in March, 1900, passed the Gold Standard act, which made gold the sole monetary standard and stopped the coin- age of silver dollars. That practically ended the silver controversy and won the fight for sound money. In 1900, it is true, the Democrats perfunctorily repeated the demand for the free and unlimited coinage of silver at 16 to 1, while the Republicans unequiv- ocally denounced such proposals and reaffirmed their allegiance to the gold standard; but that campaign was fought on other issues. Finally in 1904 the Democratic platform was silent upon the subject, while the Democratic candidate in accepting the nomination for the Presidency explicitly declared his acceptance of and adherence to the Republican principle of a gold standard for the money of the Nation.
NATIONAL EXPANSION CHAPTER XIII
NEW STATES AND TERRITORIES
T HE Republican party has been prolific of addi- tions to the Union and to the national domain. It came into existence in the midst of a struggle- and largely because of that struggle-over the creation of new western States, and through its far-seeing poli- cies of granting homesteads to settlers, encouraging migration and immigration, and providing transcon- tinental railroads to make the remotest regions acces- sible, it promoted the development of wilderness Terri- tories into populous and prosperous commonwealths. Several of the western States, thus fostered by Repub- lican statesmanship, were actually received into the Union under Democratic administrations, but their fit- ness for such reception was to be credited to the Repub- lican party ; while all the States but one taken into the Union since the Civil War were brought in by Republi- can Presidents and Congresses.
Minnesota in 1858, Oregon in 1859, and Kansas in 1861 entered the Federal Union under a Democratic administration, though the Republican party was even then a powerful influence in effecting those results. Nevada in 1864, Nebraska in 1867, and Colorado in
126
127
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
1876 were Republican creations. The four States of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wash- ington date from November, 1889, when a Republican President and Congress were in office. The same is true of Idaho and Wyoming in 1890. Utah in 1896 came in under Democratic rule. Oklahoma in 1907 and New Mexico and Arizona in 1912, completing the Union, were Republican admissions.
The outlying Territories belonging to the United States are also with a single exception Republican acquisitions. We have already seen how the great and rich Territory of Alaska was secured. The next addi- tion to our territorial possessions was Hawaii, a group of mid-Pacific islands of almost incalculable richness and value. These were annexed without cost in 1898 by a Republican President and Congress against the bitter and persistent opposition of the Democrats. The next year, as a result of our little war with Spain for the liberation and independence of Cuba, we acquired Porto Rico, the vast and priceless archipelago of the Philippines, and the small but useful mid-sea islet of Guam. These were secured by a Republican adminis- tration against Democratic opposition so bitter that it made the matter the leading issue of the 1900 Presi- dential campaign, in which the Republican policy of "expansion" was overwhelmingly approved by the nation. The acquisition of Tutuila in the Samoan group in 1900 and of the Panama Canal Zone under a perpetual lease in 1904 were also purely Republican achievements. The purchase of the Virgin Islands, or Danish West Indies, in 1917, was indeed effected by a
128
POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Democratic government, though the policy of making that purchase was originally adopted, against Demo- cratic opposition, by the Republicans.
In addition to such territorial expansion, an enor- mous extension of American political influence and commercial interests in all parts of the world was effected under Republican direction. It was under Republican administrations that the United States participated prominently and influentially in both of the international Peace Congresses at The Hague. It was a Republican Secretary of State, John Hay, under a Republican President, who enunciated the great principle of the "open door" in China and secured the acquiescence of all other nations therein. It was under a Republican government that the United States participated in the international expedition into China to rescue the beleaguered legations and to save that ancient empire from anarchy. It was a Republican President who successfully offered mediation between Japan and Russia for the termination of their war, and thus won the gratitude of both those countries and secured for the United States a commanding prestige in in the far East.
In the western hemisphere, too, Republican policies have been inestimably advantageous in international affairs. The Pan-American movement, which led to the formation of the Pan-American Union, or Bureau of American Republics, and which has been of the greatest possible service in promoting cordial and profitable relations between this country and the other American republics, was conceived, founded, and
129
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
developed to its present great usefulness by Republican statesmen. It was a Republican President, Mr. Hayes, who first enunciated the policy of making whatever canal should ever be constructed across the American Isthmus an American canal under American control; and it was another Republican President, more than a score of years later, who successfully executed that policy by acquiring the unfinished Panama canal and vigorously pushing it to completion. It was also a Republican President, Theodore Roosevelt, who, when the German Kaiser had fitted out a formidable naval and military expedition for the invasion and conquest of Venezuela, calmly but resolutely informed him that the German expedition on its arrival in American water would be met by the American battle fleet ready for action-at which announcement the sailing of the German expedition was promptly countermanded. It was under a Republican government that the dispute between this country and Great Britain over the Alaska boundary was settled through arbitration and the title of the United States to all that it had claimed was finally confirmed. The troublesome fisheries dispute with Canada was settled by a Republican President.
It was, indeed, because of Republican policies and under Republican government that the United States began to be spoken of as a "world power." The phrase was something of a misnomer, no doubt, for the United States had in theory and to a degree in fact been a world power since its foundation. But it was Repub- lican statesmanship that so made the legitimate influence of this nation felt throughout the world as to
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.