 CHAPTER 11 PART 3 OF TWENTY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC, 1885-1905, by Harry Thurston Peck. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. THE ELECTION OF 1896, PART 3 The scene enacted in the convention as Mr. Bryan finished speaking was indescribable. Throughout the latter part of his address a crash of applause had followed every sentence, but now the tumult was like that of a great sea thundering against the dykes. Twenty thousand men and women went mad with an irresistible enthusiasm. This orator had met their mood to the very full. He had found magic words for the feeling which they had been unable to express, and so he had played at will upon their very heartstrings until the full tide of their emotion was let loose in one tempestuous war of passion which seemed to have no end. When order was partially restored the substitute resolutions offered by Senator Hill were rejected with cries of derision as were two other amendments afterwards proposed by him, and then the Free Silver Platform was adopted by a vote of 628 to 301. Having taken this action the delegates exhausted by the day's exciting scenes adjourned until the following afternoon. Overnight the question of the candidate to be nominated was earnestly discussed. It was evident that Mr. Bryan had suddenly leaped into a prominence which made him a formidable competitor for the highest honors. Before his address no one had thought of him as a presidential candidate. Mr. Bland of Missouri who was popularly styled The Father of Free Silver possessed the largest following, but now there were many who believed that their true leader had been revealed to them in Mr. Bryan. Mr. Bland was able and experienced, but he lacked the fire and the genius for a command which the young Nebraska had so strikingly exhibited. Hence when the convention reassembled and proceeded to the selection of a candidate, although the first ballot showed Mr. Bland to have received 235 votes, Mr. Bryan came next with 119, the number necessary to a choice being 502. Thirteen other gentlemen, note 20, page 503, received scattering votes. On the second and third ballots both Mr. Bland's and Mr. Bryan's following was increased, but on the fourth Mr. Bryan led with 280 to 241 for Mr. Bland. When the roll was called for the fifth time, Mr. Bryan lacked only 12 votes of a nomination and at once 78 delegates changed their votes for other candidates to him thereby making him the choice of the convention. Subsequently Mr. Arthur Seawall, a walthy shipbuilder of Maine was nominated for the vice presidency. The action of the Chicago Convention was received in the West with immense enthusiasm, in the South with doubtful approbation and in the East with anger and dismay. Over the offices of some democratic newspapers flags were hoisted at half-mast. Many journals expressed strong disapproval. Note 22, page 503. But a few openly avowed their purpose of supporting the Republican candidates. The Western Silvermen were described by these papers as being really populist who had stolen the name of Democrats. The gold delegates returning from the scene of their defeat set themselves to stimulate this feeling where they did not take refuge in significant silence. Are you still a Democrat? An intimate friend asked of Senator Hill. Yes, I am a Democrat still. But after a significant pause, very still, naturally the Republicans rejoiced at these evidences of democratic dissension. It appeared for a few days as though a victory over Mr. Brian might be won almost without a struggle. But very soon this view was seen to be erroneous and Mr. McKinley's managers perceived with genuine alarm that the contest was to be one of the fiercest ever fought in American political history. For though in New England and New York Mr. Brian was certain to lose many votes, this loss would be offset by the thousands of ballots which would be cast for him by the Silver Republicans and by the populists in the western states. On July 22nd, these two parties held conventions in St. Louis and each of them nominated Mr. Brian for the presidency, though the populist convention substituted the name of Mr. Thomas E. Watson of Georgia for that of Mr. Seawall as its candidate for the vice presidency. Note 23, page 504. Already a section of the prohibition party known as the Broad Gagers had adopted a platform favoring the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. It was plain therefore that Mr. Brian would receive a very heavy vote from sources outside the pale of the regular democracy. Moreover as time went on, many conservative Democrats who had earnestly opposed the silver movement were still so far affected by their sentiment of party loyalty as to prefer any Democratic candidate to a Republican. It was for the purpose of drawing the votes of these men away from Mr. Brian that the Gold Democrats summoned a convention which met at Indianapolis. Note 24, page 505. On September 2nd, and adopting the name of National Democratic Party, nominated for the presidency, General John M. Palmer of Illinois and for the vice presidency, General Simon B. Buckner of Kentucky. This convention to which 41 states and three territories sent delegates adopted a platform condemning the populace conventions of Chicago and St. Louis, urging the maintenance of the gold standard and highly commending the fidelity, patriotism and courage of President Cleveland in fulfilling his great public trust in maintaining civil order and the enforcement of the laws and in upholding the credit and honor of the nation. Note 25, page 505. The Democratic nominations were no sooner made than the whole country perceived the supreme issue of the campaign to be the silver question. Even Mr. McKinley ceased to discourse upon the tariff and addressed his visiting delegations on the one subject of the currency. The Republicans took up the cry of sound money and made that the party slogan. Active canvassing began at an unprecedentedly early date. There was no interval of rest and apathy. Mr. Bryan himself forced the fighting and made the first aggressive move by journeying in August to New York City in order that he might receive the formal notice of his nomination in the Madison Square Garden. As he expressed it in a phrase that was much criticized at the time, he wished first to present his cause in the heart of what now seems to be the enemy's country. Note 26, page 506. His intention created a genuine panic among the Republicans. Although in their public prints they had sneered at Mr. Bryan's oratorical powers, although they had derisively dubbed him the boy orator of the plat, and although they had absurdly described the famous peroration of his convention speech as plasphemous, they were secretly afraid lest his eloquence should produce the same effect in New York as it had in Chicago. But Mr. Bryan himself knew better. He was wise enough to understand that the conditions in Chicago could not possibly be reproduced in New York. He was aware that public expectation had been worked up to so extravagant a pitch that were he de Masthanese and Cicero in one, he must inevitably fail to satisfy it. He therefore very sensibly declined to attempt what would have been impossible. In other words, he refused to compete against himself. When he appeared before the immense audience in New York, he read a very carefully prepared address, well-reasoned, temperate, and persuasive but with no attempt at eloquence whatever. His opponents at once set up a howl of derision and even many of his own supporters were for the moment much chagrined. Nevertheless, he had acted wisely and he had followed an excellent precedent. For Mr. Lincoln, when he first came to New York after receiving the Republican nomination in 1860, had also read his speech and had declined to trust to his gift of improvising. But the circumstances of the meeting at the Madison Square Garden were undoubtedly unfortunate for Mr. Bryan. The night was one of intense mid-summer heat. The sweltering audience was kept waiting in extreme discomfort. The notification speech of Governor W. J. Stone of Missouri was inexcusably long, while Mr. Bryan himself spoke for nearly two whole hours. A feeling of relief was experienced by the Republicans when they found that their formidable adversary had at least performed no miracle of eloquence in the enemy's country. But Mr. Bryan gave them no cause to relax their efforts to defeat him. With astonishing energy, he planned and carried out four long journeys through the country, speaking at every place of importance in the doubtful states. On a single one of these progresses, he traveled more than 12,000 miles and was everywhere received by enormous gatherings and with intense enthusiasm. The funds for his campaign were slender. All the financial interests of the country were arrayed against him. His managers had no great sums to lavish in subsidizing newspapers, in circulating documents, in hiring bands, and in decorating whole cities with political banners. Mr. Bryan, in fact, fought single-handed against the Party of Wealth. Yet though almost alone, he made his foes strain every nerve to compass his defeat. It was estimated, note 27, page 507, that not less than five million persons heard him speak, and among them there were few who showed him anything that savored of discuritcy. Almost the only exception was found in an incident at New Haven where the students of Yale University interrupted his address with yells for McKinley and jeers for Mr. Bryan and his cause. But this was an exceptional incident and one which only the New York Sun had the hardy-hood to defend. It would indeed have been very difficult for any fair-minded person after hearing Mr. Bryan to feel odd but a sincere personal respect for him. The tone of all his speeches was most admirable. He dealt with principles alone and not with persons. Although showered with abuse by the Republican and Gold Democratic newspapers, he never condescended to reply in kind, and for his chief political adversary he had only words of courteous consideration. Speaking in the town of Canton, Mr. McKinley's home, he said, and the sentences were very characteristic of his manliness. I am glad to meet the people of this city, the home of my distinguished opponent, and I am also glad in their presence to testify to his high character and great personal worth. I shall be satisfied if, as an individual, I may be able to stand beside him in public esteem. I tell my neighbors at home that I shall bear them no ill will if they believe that my opponent should be elected, and I have so high an opinion of my opponent that I know he will say to his townsmen here that everyone should be free to make his ballot represent a free man's will, although it may result in keeping your distinguished citizen among you as a neighbor still. Very different from this was the treatment accorded Mr. Bryan by his adversaries. They could find nothing in his private life to censure, but they circulated absurd and absolutely baseless stories, besides misrepresenting the whole tenor of his political teaching. They professed to believe that he had once been a strolling actor. They denounced him as an anarchist and an enemy of public order. Some phrases in the Democratic platform relating to the income tax decision were so garbled as to make it appear that Mr. Bryan desired to abolish or discredit the Supreme Court. Thousands of men, women, and children were led to think of him as the incarnation of riot, revolution, and ruin. Some of the bitterest of the attacks upon him were made by the organs of the gold standard democracy. Thus, after Mr. Bryan had delivered an address in Louisville, the courier journal of that city edited by Mr. Henry Waterson said of him, Mr. William J. Bryan has come to Kentucky and Kentuckians have taken his measure. He is a boy orator. He is a dishonest dodger. He is a daring adventurer. He is a political faker. He is not of the material of which the people of the United States have ever made a president, nor is he even of the material of which any party has ever before made a candidate. Popular preachers harangued their congregations on the despicable character and evil purposes of Mr. Bryan. In Brooklyn, the Reverend Cortland Meyers in a sermon said of the Chicago platform, that platform was made in hell. Note 28, page 509. The Reverend Dr. C. H. Parkhurst in New York spoke of the silver movement as inimical to credit and as an attempt deliberate and taught blooded to destroy what little of it still remains. I dare in God's pulpit to brand such attempts as a current and reasonable. Note 29, page 509. Mr. Thomas Dixon Jr. cried aloud to a New York congregation that Mr. Bryan was a mouthing slobbering demagogue whose patriotism is all in his jawbone. Note 30, page 509. From these citations it will be seen that the violence of language which in the popular starters had so amused the people of the East was now fully matched by the ranting of the gold men. Even some of the Catholic clergy were induced to speak in opposition to Mr. Bryan's cause, though of course they did so in terms of moderation and decorum. Governor Culberson of Texas had written to Prince Bismarck a letter asking for an expression of opinion as to the merits of bi-metallism as against gold monometallism. The ex-Chancellor replied from Frida Siew under the date of August 24th, 1896 to the effect that he had always personally had a preference for bi-metallism without considering myself infallible over against experts on the subject. He added, the United States are commercially freer in their movements than any single one of the European nations. And if North America should find it compatible with its interests to take an independent step in the direction of bi-metallism, I do believe it would have an appreciable influence upon the establishment of an international agreement and the cooperation of the European states. The silver orators made much of Bismarck's letter and Archbishop Ireland of St. Paul took occasion to refer to it in a statement which he made an answer to a request from a number of prominent merchants and bankers. The Archbishop wrote, Herr von Bismarck counseled the United States to go ahead and make the experiment all alone. Yes, and some Americans quote his advice as an authority. Thus, Sly Old Fox would indeed be pleased to see America make the experiment and go to the bottom of the sea. Note 31, page 510. It was not, however, upon newspaper discussion or platform oratory or the influence of the clergy that the Republican managers placed their main reliance. The whole vast machinery of commerce, of business, and of finance was set in motion to create a general impression that Mr. Bryan's success would mean disaster to every section of the American people. As the month of November drew near, capitalists resorted to the very effective device of giving large orders to manufacturers on condition that these orders should be executed only in case of Mr. McKinley's election. In this way, notice was served upon the artisans that if they voted for Mr. Bryan, they would be voting to deprive themselves of work. Agents of some of the great insurance companies of New York and New England which held mortgages upon Western farms intimated to the mortgages that if Mr. McKinley were elected, the mortgages would be extended for five years at a low rate of interest. At the end of the week preceding the election, many employers of labor in paying off their workmen gave them notice that they could not return to work in the event of Mr. Bryan's success. Note 32, page 511. The city banks brought to bear upon their country correspondents such powerful pressure as they could readily exercise and these correspondents transmitted that pressure to their depositors. In fact, the myriad influences which Mr. Hanon understood so well were all directed with astonishing effectiveness to the single end of defeating Mr. Bryan at any cost. These means were doubtless more certain in their operation than the mere use of money. Yet, money too was spent with a profusion hitherto unknown even in American political campaigns. A member of the Republican committee subsequently admitted that the campaign expenses of his party in 1896 amounted to not less than $25,000 a day from August 1st until the eve of the election. This money came from capitalists and businessmen in general and even from fiduciary institutions. Note 33, page 512. Yet, the result of an election so bitterly contested as was that of 1896, can scarcely have been decided by the use of money or by influences more insidious and no less discreditable. How did the cause for which Mr. Bryan so brilliantly contended commend itself to the sober judgment of intelligent Americans? In what way did the majority of these men sum up their verdict at the close of the campaign? Let us review the main contentions of the silver party and their endeavor to point out the like, their weakness, and their strength. Until 1873, either gold or a silver bullion might be taken by anyone to the mince of the United States to be coined into standard dollars at a ratio of 16 to one, exactly 15.988 to one. By 1873, however, the immense production of silver had cheapened the market value of that metal so that the old ratio of coinage was no longer an exact one. The price of silver was continually falling and fluctuating, and hence as early as 1870, President Grant's secretary of the Treasury had drafted a bill to demonetize the silver dollar and to establish the single gold standard for the United States. This bill was passed by the Senate in 1871, and two years later in 1873, it was passed by both houses and became law. It had been before Congress for nearly three years and it had met with scarcely any opposition. Presently, the world's annual production of gold diminished so that the value of the gold dollar appreciated as the supply of that metal shrank in proportion to the growth of the population, thus causing what some described as a contraction of the circulating medium. This brought several results to pass. Prices being measured in terms of gold continually fell while debts contracted under the other system were now payable in dollars for a greater intrinsic value than before. Presently, it began to be asserted that the act of 1873 had been passed by a conspiracy of the capitalists who had smuggled it through Congress by craft and stealth. It was spoken of as the crime of 1873 and was cited as an example of the wickedness of the financiers. Of course, the facts that's just given show that the charge was false. In one of the later debates in the Senate, Mr. Stuart of Nevada, after violently denouncing the crime of 1873, was put to confusion by Senator Sherman who showed by the record that Mr. Stuart had himself spoken and voted for the crime. In truth, all the senators from California, Oregon, and Nevada had supported the demonetizing act. Nevertheless, it had unquestionably worked a hardship to the debtor class throughout the country just as did the resumption of specie payments in 1879. Note 34, page 513. Yet this hardship was in reality due to natural causes and chiefly to a decrease in the world's gold supply. What Mr. Bryan proposed to do was to expand the currency by opening the mince once more to free silver coinage at the old ratio. He believed that this would increase the volume of money in circulation, raise prices, and perform an act of simple justice to the debtor class. That is, he believed that an act of legislation could at once effectually correct an inequitable condition which was the result of purely natural causes. That he was perfectly right in his diagnosis of the financial situation few will now deny. But that his proposed remedy was perilous and the extreme remains the opinion of the ableist students of financial problems. The dangers which had seemed to threaten finally rallied to the support of Mr. McKinley that mass of thoughtful citizens who in effect always hold the balance of political power. Mr. Bryan's definition of a debtor class was indeed too limited to be convincing. His thought was mainly of the farmers of the West who had mortgaged their lands to Eastern creditors. But the true debtor class was a much larger one than this. To it, in reality, belonged every person who had deposited his savings in a bank or who had taken out a policy of life insurance or who had made any small investment as a provision against illness or old age. These persons dreaded the possibility of receiving in place of their hard-earned money some form of depreciated currency and they did not draw any fine distinctions between the so-called fiat paper money of the old greenback party and the fiat silver money of the new democracy. And so in the end, the prudence or caution or timidity of this large class turned the scale against the party of free silver. Note 35, page 514. The excitement which marked this whole extraordinary contest increased in its intensity until the very end. An imposing demonstration in New York City signalized the close of the campaign on the Saturday before election day. More than 150,000 voters marched up Broadway under a forest of flags and vivid decorations which covered nearly every building on that famous thoroughfare. Thousands of them were men who had never perhaps taken part in a political parade before. Lawyers, merchants, clergymen, bankers, university professors, authors, all marched shoulder to shoulder cheering lustily for sound money and incidentally for the Republican candidates. The demonstration had no great political significance for New York was known to be safely Republican, yet the outpouring was one of the most picturesque as well as one of the most impressive incidents in a contest that was full of life and color. The election was unexpectedly decisive. Before midnight on November 3rd, it was known that Mr. Bryan had been defeated and that he would receive in the Electoral College only 176 votes to 271 for Mr. McKinley. He had carried all the southern states except West Virginia and had also received the votes of Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming while California and Kentucky had each given him one electoral vote. But the solid opposition of the East, the Northwest and the Middle West had overborn his loyal following in the more thinly settled mining and agricultural states. Note 36, page 515. Yet Mr. Bryan had given the Republican Party a shock of extreme severity. The extent of its fright may be measured by the ferocity with which its newspaper organs referred to Mr. Bryan even after the election. The following passage from the New York Tribune is sufficiently illustrative to deserve citation. The thing was conceived in iniquity and was brought forth in sin. It had its origin in a malicious conspiracy against the honor and integrity of the nation. It gained such monstrous growth as it enjoyed from an assiduous culture of the basest passions of the least worthy members of the community. It has been defeated and destroyed because right is right and God is God. Its nominal head was worthy of the cause. Nominal, because the wretched, rattle-pated boy posing in vapid vanity and mouthing resounding rottenness was not the real leader of that League of Hell. He was only a puppet in the blood imbued hands of Altgeld, the anarchist and Debs, the revolutionist, and other desperados of that stripe. But he was a willing puppet, Bryan was. Willing and eager. Not one of his masters was more apt than he at lies and forgeries and blasphemies and all the nameless iniquities of that campaign against the Ten Commandments. He goes down with the cause and must abide with it in the history of infamy. He had less provocation than Benedict Arnold, less intellectual force than Aaron Burr, less manliness and courage than Jefferson Davis. He was the rival of them all in deliberate wickedness and treason to the Republic. His name belongs with theirs, neither the most brilliant nor the most hateful in the list. Good riddance to it all, to conspiracy and conspirators, and to the foul menace of repudiation and anarchy against the honor and life of the Republic. Mr. Bryan himself set an example of dignity and generous feeling which his newspaper assailants might well have tried to emulate. No sooner was the result of the election a certainty than he telegraphed to his successful rival a message of cordial congratulation to which Mr. Kinley at once replied in terms of equal courtesy and personal goodwill. Thus, terminated the most eventful political struggle which the people of the United States had witnessed since that which ended in the first election of Abraham Lincoln. Looking back upon it with a true perception of its significance, one finds in it the temporary failure of a noble cause through a faulty adaptation of means to end. For the underlying issue was not that of the money question at all. The money question served only to obscure the vital question and to postpone its ultimate decision. The people of the West and indeed the people of the whole country were suffering from the innumerable abuses which the lawlessness of corporate wealth had brought upon them. Unwisely, they sought a remedy through an attempt to establish an unsound economic principle. The result was their defeat and for a time the defeat of the cause for which they were contending. The way to deliverance was not to be opened to them through the door of the national finances. Mr. Bryan resembled a champion who rushes forth to meet a powerful antagonist and who has armed himself with a sword of which the blade is flawed. At the very crisis of the combat, his weapon was shattered in his grasp and the victory was given to his adversary. End of chapter 11. Chapter 12, part one of 20 years of the Republic, 1885 to 1905 by Harry Thurston Peck. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. President McKinley and the Neo-Republicanism, part one. There was something symbolically significant in the pageant which accompanied the inauguration of President McKinley. Such displays in other years had exhibited the haphazard easygoing lack of management with which Americans are want to improvise their public ceremonials. But on the 4th of March, 1897, the scene in Washington was one that might have fitly graced a European capital. Every detail had been studied carefully beforehand and was carried out with absolute precision. The Great Avenues were well-policed. The crowds were efficiently controlled. There were no delays, no moments of embarrassment, no awkward pauses. The military review was especially effective. Instead of masses of raw militiamen marking often awkwardly and producing a bizarre effect by the diversity of their motley uniforms, they're now defiled before the president, column after column of regular troops whose perfect discipline and training made the sight of them as splendid spectacle. The finest cavalry regiments in the service had been drawn upon to render this inaugural review exceptionally brilliant while the artillery and infantry were not inferior in the precision of their revolutions. The civic part of the parade was subordinated to the military, but even the marching club swung by the presidential stand was something of the illaw of veteran troops. The Republican Party was coming back to power as the party of organization, of discipline, of unquestioning obedience to leadership, and the spirit of this new regime was easily perceptible, even in the ceremony which marked the day of its beginning. Mr. Cleveland remained at the sight of his successor until the formalities were all concluded. He had spent the last few hours of his presidency in a most characteristic fashion, examining and signing bills, and the marks of ink upon his ungloved hands bore witness to his diligence. His face was ruddy and he chatted and laughed with Mr. McKinley as the two were driven slowly to the capital. At last, the burden was lifted from his shoulders and he could again enjoy the tranquil life of a private citizen. Though the reins of power were passing from his hands to those of a political opponent, he probably felt no regret. It was his financial policy which the Republicans, after bitterly assailing, had been forced to make their own. The great battle of the preceding year had been fought over this one question. And so the victory which Mr. McKinley had gained was, in a very real sense, a victory for Mr. Cleveland. President McKinley's inaugural address contained as might have been expected an earnest commendation of high protective duties. In it, he also expressed a strong desire for peace with foreign nations. He recalled his own consistent attitude as a defender of the Reformed Civil Service and he intimated that the currency system of the United States should be placed upon a definite and satisfactory basis. There was nothing very noteworthy in his remarks. They were received by the press with a general, if somewhat, perfunctory approval. Perhaps the comment of an English writer best expressed what most persons really thought. It is a mild and not-unpleasing effusion. The tone is a little smug and goody-goody but kindly. Note one, page 519. In truth, the country had for a time grown weary of political strife and was disposed to give the new administration a free hand. The president showed his conservative cast of mind by appointing a cabinet of rather elderly men, only one of them being less than 60 years of age. The oldest of them all, Mr. John Sherman, a lately senator from Ohio, was also the most distinguished in the length and value of his public service. He now became Secretary of State, though under circumstances which made the appointment by no means a source of unmixed pleasure to his friends. Mr. Sherman had long been one of the foremost leaders of the Republican Party. As a member of the lower house before the Civil War, he had ably advocated the free soil cause. And as Senator during President Lincoln's administration, he had upheld the hands of the great liberator. As Secretary of the Treasury under President Hayes, he had brought about the resumption of species payments in so masterly a manner as not to cause the slightest ripple on the financial waters. Twice, in 1880 and again in 1888, he seemed likely to be his party's chosen candidate for the presidency. 10 years afterwards, his name was permanently associated with two highly important measures, the Silver Purchase Act of 1890 and the so-called Antitrust Law of the same year, note two, page 520. He was now an old man of 74 and had richly earned the right to finish his remaining years in the dignified and useful place which he had long held in the Senate. But unhappily for Mr. Sherman, his own desires clashed with a strong willed purpose of Mark Hanna. That appetite of person now demanded his reward. He had gained the presidency for Mr. McKinley and in return he wished to be a senator of the United States. He was not a man to be put off and therefore Mr. Sherman was sacrificed to Hanna's urgency. The open humiliation of so conspicuous a statement would have been too much for even Hanna to attempt but the desired end was reached by indirection and Senator Sherman experienced the sort of honorific elimination which an English party leader once described as being kit upstairs. Mr. McKinley offered to make Mr. Sherman his secretary of state and the aged senator knew that he must accept. He felt no special interest in diplomacy. Queerless and feeble and already verging upon senility he shrank from taking up new duties for which he felt himself no longer fitted. Yet he was well aware that he had no choice. He must make way for Mr. Hanna and hence he resigned the post of senator to become the nominal chief of the new cabinet, a pathetic figure destined very soon to pass away entirely from public life. The other ministers were men of good executive ability although of no special prominence. In recognition of the aid given to Mr. McKinley by the gold Democrats, one of their number, Mr. Lyman J. Cage, the Chicago banker was made secretary of the treasury. Note three, page 521. The war portfolio went to General Russell A. Alger of Michigan, a veteran of the Civil War who had subsequently become known as an adroit politician and successful man of business. President McKinley's secretary of the Navy was Mr. John D. Long of Massachusetts, a gentleman of scholarly taste who had however no slight experience in public life and who was soon to show himself to be an unusually capable administrator. The rest of the cabinet as originally constituted may be dismissed with a mere mention. The attorney general was Mr. Joseph McKenna of California. The postmaster general was Mr. James A. Gary of Maryland. The secretary of the interior was Mr. Cornelius N. Bliss of New York and the secretary of agriculture was Mr. James Wilson of Iowa. President McKinley's first important official act was the issuance of a proclamation convening Congress in special session on March 15th for the purpose of providing additional revenue for the government and to revise the tariff. Although the tariff question had been entirely subordinated in the late campaign and although Mr. McKinley had secured his great majorities wholly as a defender of the gold standard, it was plain that for the present he intended to ignore the money issue and to use his power to restore the high protective duties of 1890. The democratic opposition criticized this purpose asserting that it involved an element of duplicity. It was declared that Mr. McKinley could not have been elected merely as a protectionist yet his first concern was now a reversion to the very policy which the country had condemned in 1892. This criticism was unfair. The president fully intended to secure salutary legislation for the reform of the currency but the time was not yet auspicious for such legislation. Although the Republican party had more than a working majority in both houses of Congress, note four, page 522. There were still so many Republican senators favorable to the cause of free silver as to prevent concerted and successful action toward legalizing the gold standard. The president knew that the defeat of Mr. Bryan had put an end to all anxiety in the world of finance and so naturally enough he turned to the revision of the tariff, a policy with which his name had been so long associated. But when he argued that a new tariff act was necessary to augment the revenues of the government he was on more debatable ground. The Wilson Act of 1894 though in many respects imperfect from the point of view of the tariff reformer was not just the chargeable with the falling off in revenue during President Cleveland's term of office. In fact, had not President Harrison's secretary of the Treasury forced a balance. Note five, page 523. The year 1892-93 would have shown a deficiency of nearly $48 million for that period. Furthermore, the heaviest deficit under President Cleveland's administration, $69 million in 1893-94, occurred while the McKinley Act was still in force and before the Wilson Act had become operative. Indeed, each succeeding year witnessed an improvement in the Treasury balances and in the very month when Mr. McKinley called Congress together to restore the high protective tariff, the Treasury report showed an actual surplus of nearly $9 million. The customs receipts for that month having been exceeded only twice in a period of more than 40 years. It was plain enough then that the Wilson Act was in no wise responsible for the temporary loss of revenue from 1893 to 1895 and that if left alone it would now provide an ample income for the ordinary needs of the government. But in reality the question was not one of revenue at all. The old protected industries were clamoring for the full favors which they had formerly enjoyed. Not for maltuistic motives had the manufacturing interests contributed heavily to the funds of the Republican Party in the late campaign. Their gifts had on the contrary been a strictly business investment and the time had now come for them to receive full payment of their claims. When Congress met in extra session a remarkable and quite unprecedented condition of affairs was at once made known. It showed more clearly than ever the wonderful compactness and machine-like efficiency of the Republican organization since that party had passed under the control of businessmen in politics. The elections of the preceding November had determined the composition of the new Congress and so the leaders of the Republican majority after conferring together agreed upon a plan of action which took slight heed of precedent or of constitutional forms. It was planned that Mr. Reed should be re-elected Speaker of the House and Mr. Reed and his turn indicated the Republican representatives whom he would appoint to membership in the Committee of Ways and Means. The gentlemen therefore in advance of their actual appointment and before the new Congress was convened had already framed a tariff bill. As soon as the extra session of March 15th began the program was carried out to the letter. Mr. Reed again became Speaker. He appointed the Committee precisely as he had agreed to do and its chairman Mr. Nelson Dingley Jr. of Maine had once reported to the House the bill which he and his Republican associates had prepared. Never did a controversial party measure so quickly past the lower chamber. Although the Dingley bill as it was called filled 163 printed pages only 22 pages of it were considered and discussed upon the floor of the House. Mr. Reed's rigorous rulings made short work of the disheartened opposition and in less than two weeks the bill was transmitted to the Senate. Note 6, page 525 where it was referred to the Committee on Finance. In the Senate its schedules were carefully examined and amended. Note 7, page 525. The bill as reported by the Finance Committee was by no means so very radical a measure as might have been expected. Though it was essentially protectionist in its general character it contained some duties that were intended solely to produce revenue and in many items the purely protective duties had been appreciably lowered but in the open Senate a different tendency was seen. Here was in part a repetition of the history of the Wilson bill. Note 8, page 525. Now as in 1894 there was an attempt on the part of disinterested senators to make the measure a rational one from an economic and financial standpoint. But now as in 1894 a number of senators who represented the great corporations and the manufacturers interposed on behalf of their friends and benefactors. For more than two months the schedules were discussed item by item and when the bill passed the Senate July 7th it contained 870 amendments. Like the Wilson bill it was then sent to a conference committee of both houses. There however its fate was very different from that of its democratic predecessor. Republican organization and party discipline were far too good to permit an open rupture between the conflicting interests. The influence of President McKinley and the firmness of Speaker Reid compelled an agreement so that on July 24th all details having been adjusted the Dignly bill passed both houses of Congress and became a law. On the whole it resembled the McKinley Act of 1890 though the average rate of duty on imports was slightly lowered. Some features however deserve attention. The Wilson Act had remitted the duties upon wool. The Dignly Act not only restored them but even made them higher in spite of the fact that the increase was earnestly opposed by manufacturers of woolen goods. The secretary of the Wool Manufacturers Association had said to the committee of the house never until he had experience under free wool did the manufacturer realize the full extent of the disadvantages he suffers by reason of the wool duty. Note nine, page 526. The reason why the tax on wool was restored in spite of so strong a protest is curiously illuminating as an example of the complexities of tariff framing. Free wool had so stimulated the manufacture of woolen goods as to create an exceptional demand for the raw material. This demand had led ranch owners in the far western states to raise sheep instead of cattle and it was found that they could produce wool cheaper than could the Ohio farmers. The latter therefore demanded a high tariff upon wool so as to limit the American manufacture of woolen goods and thus to keep down the demand for wool to the amount which they could themselves supply. Note 10, page 526. In other words, the heavy duty upon wool imposed by the Dignly Act was not intended to protect Americans against foreign competitors but to favor one set of Americans who lived in a Republican state against another set of their own countrymen. The wool duty therefore both hampered the woolen manufacturers of the United States and at the same time actually killed the new wool-growing industry west of the Mississippi River. This fact was pointed out as an ideal illustration of the essential selfishness and economic folly of protective legislation. It certainly emphasized the truth of General Hancock's declaration in 1880 that the tariff is a local issue. The duties on silks and linens were also considerably augmented. Those on cottons were somewhat lower than in the McKinley Act. On most metals, the rates of the Wilson Act were not greatly altered while copper was even retained upon the free list. But on manufactured articles of iron and steel, the McKinley rates were practically restored. Of more interest were the sugar schedules over which in 1894 the action of the Senate had created so much scandal because of the favor shown to the sugar trust. Note 11, page 527. While the Dignly Bill was under consideration, the sugar senators had in committee sought to secure new advantages for the trust and had reported an entirely new scheme of sugar duties, partly specific and partly ad valorem, complicated in its effects and difficult to explain except as a means of making concessions under disguise to the refiners. Note 12, page 527. This complicated scheme was rejected by the Senate itself, which however amended the house schedule in such a way as to increase the differential to the advantage of the trust. But upon this point, the house stood firm. It would take away none of the privileges which the trust already enjoyed, but it would not augment them. In the end, the Senate was obliged to yield, thus leaving the existing situation substantially unchanged. One other feature of the Dignly Bill was not without significance. As originally reported, it imposed the tax of 25% upon books and scientific instruments imported for the use of schools, colleges and other institutions of learning, and it also levied an import duty of 20% on foreign works of art. This called out some very sharp criticism. Wrote one critic. The Dignly tax on books and instruments for libraries and colleges, along with the renewed tax on art, shows the country how much the Republican Party really cares for the intelligence of the nation, to which it so earnestly appealed in the last campaign. It was never tired of boasting of the way the educated man of the land had rallied to its support, irrespective of former party preferences. By making it difficult for us to take advantage of the discoveries and improvements of the leaders of thought and investigation in other lands, we simply condemn ourselves to be losers in the race. Taxing knowledge of this kind is both a mark and a cause of barbarism. Free art, of course, had to go. Paintings in oil and watercolors, admitted free by the Wilson Bill, have made it dangerously easy for our artists and the visitors to our public galleries to become familiar with foreign masterpieces. What has protection to do with education or art? Nothing, except to cripple them in every way. Note 13, page 528. So much opposition was aroused by these clauses in the Dignly bill as to lead to their modification. The duty on books and instruments was stricken out. The tax on works of art, however, still remained in spite of the fact that nearly all American artists were opposed to it and that no one outside of Congress had any interest in its retention. Taken as a whole, the Dignly Act made it plain that the extreme protectionists were still in control of the Republican Party and that they hadn't no wise been affected by the experience of the past. This act, indeed, in several of its provisions carried the protective principle further than it had ever been extended. The anomaly was presented of gigantic industries which were actually underselling foreign competitors in foreign markets, yet which were at the same time demanding from Congress a duty to protect them against competition in the United States. Such a duty enabled them to compel Americans to pay more for certain American goods than the foreigner paid for precisely the same articles. This was the reductio ad absurdum of the neo-Republican doctrine which had been rapidly developed since 1883. The businessman in politics of whom Senator Hanna was a type was not, however, disturbed by this economic monstrosity in its practical results. He knew that his own class reaped immense benefits from it and, perhaps, he entertained a pious hope that it might in some way incidentally benefit the people as a whole. But his first thought was for himself alone since this was business and it gave him no concern if the tariff system of his time embodied a concrete defiance of all the principles which the early Republican protectionists, Lincoln, Morrill, Chase, Fessenden and Stevens had avowed. Note 14, page 529. If the people of the United States felt but a languid interest in an economic measure so important as the tariff act of 1897, the fact is easily explained. For 10 years, American politics had turned almost exclusively upon questions of finance and the culminating struggle of 1896 had left the great body of citizens wearied to the point of exhaustion. Nations, like individuals, are capable of being bored and, just as the salutary but uninteresting domestic reforms of Gladstone finally made Englishmen out of sheer enri turn to the brilliantly spectacular foreign policy of the Israeli, so after a decade of controversy over bimetalism and free silver and tariff schedules, most Americans were eager for some less prosaic theme of public interest. The economic era had itself represented a reaction from the long agonies of the Civil War and now the swing of the pendulum found a younger generation impatient of the commonplace and avidly alert for a new and stimulating national issue. There has been noted in the course of the present narrative a growing tendency on the part of the United States to concern itself with its international relations. The intervention in Samoa against the aggression of the Germans was the first evidence of this new drift. The Chilean embryo was another. The Venezuelan incident was still another. Note 15, page 530. Not without significance also was the fact that in the American Diplomatic Service the rank of ambassador had been created by act of Congress in 1893 and that this rank had been conferred upon the minister's plenipotentiary to Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Italy. The Republican Convention of 1896 had, as already recorded in these pages, urged an increase of the Navy, the annexation of Hawaii and the purchase from Denmark over West Indian possessions. All these circumstances served to show very plainly that the national activities would not long be confined to matters of purely domestic interest but that the United States grown conscious of its strength was already stirred by an imperial ambition and the spirit of adventure. As it happened, a situation existed at its very gates which quickened this new restlessness into an aggressive mood. In February 1895, the native inhabitants of Cuba driven to desperation by the long misrule of their Spanish masters rose in a revolt which gradually reduced the island to a condition resembling one of anarchy. Unable to defeat the disciplined troops of Spain in open battle, the rebels resorted to a guerrilla warfare, cutting off small detachments, burning plantations, raiding villages and endeavoring by incessant activity to sap the energy and exhaust the resources of their opponents. A Cuban Republic had been proclaimed but it had no capital and had organized no government. It had not even an army in the proper sense of the word and its prowling bands of ill-armed peasants appeared and disappeared like phantoms. Nevertheless, although Spain had sent out to Cuba no less than 200,000 troops, the insurgents under the leadership of Maximo Gomez and Antonio Maseo fairly held their own until by the end of 1896, they roamed at well over three fourths of the inland country. Note 16, page 531. The colors of Spain still floated above the cities but the insurrectos were practically masters of the interior. Meanwhile, Cuba, one of the richest and most fertile islands in the world was being swiftly ruined. The furious devastation of property continued. Plantations and villages were laid waste while it seemed as though any definite end to the destructive process might be deferred for years. The revolution in Cuba passed through two distinct stages. In 1895, the Spanish governor general was Martinez Campos, a high-sold, chivalrous soldier who waged war in accordance with the usages of high civilization. His ill success, however, led the Spanish government to replace him by General Valeriano Weller, a harshly tyrannical commander of the type of the infamous Baron Hino. Weller was directed to crush the insurrection at any cost and on October 21st, 1896, he issued an order which put into effect his so-called policy of a reconcentration. From this moment, the war ceased to be merely a war of repression and became a war of extermination. As the great body of the Cuban peasantry sympathized with the rebellion and gave aid and comfort to the rebels, Weller's order directed that these people be driven in herds to the vicinity of the fortified towns. There they were pinned in like cattle and were compelled to subsist under conditions which no cattle could have endured. Deprived of their homes and with little clothing, they lay upon the earth with foul air, foul water, and foul food, until emaciated and diseased, they died like flies. In all, there were some 400,000 of these reconcentratos and their condition excited at once the pity and the indignation of the world. When the war in Cuba first broke out, American sympathy was very naturally extended to the insurgents. A little later it was seen that American interest were directly involved. As President Cleveland said to Congress in his last annual message, note 17, page 532. It, Cuba, lies so near to us as to be hardly separated from our territory. Our actual pecuniary interest in it is second only to that of the people and government of Spain. It is reasonably estimated that at least from 30 million to 50 million dollars of American capital are invested in plantations and in railroad, mining, and other business enterprises on the island. The volume of trade between the United States and Cuba, which in 1889 amounted to about $64 million, rose in 1893 to about $103 million, and in 1894, the year before the present insurrection broke out, amounted to nearly $96 million. Besides this large pecuniary stake in the fortunes of Cuba, the United States finds itself inextricably involved in the present contest in other ways, both vexatious and costly. The last sentence here quoted refers to the fact that many American citizens resident in Cuba had been arrested and ill-treated by Spanish officials on the chart of aiding the Cuban rebels and that these arrests had led to incessant friction between the government of the United States and that of Spain. In 1895, a Spanish ship had even fired upon an American passenger steamer, the Alianza, when the latter was beyond the three-mile limit. Furthermore, in the exercise of its neutrality, the United States was compelled to guard its long line of sea coast against filibustering expeditions and to endure the recriminations directed against it by the Spanish press and people. Nevertheless, for the space of a year and a half, Mr. Cleveland, following the example of President Grant during the so-called Ten Years' War, note 18, page 533, had studiously abstained from interference with Spanish operations in the island. While offering from time to time his friendly mediation to secure a cessation of hostilities, he had respected the rights of Spain and had so strictly enforced the statutes against filibustering expeditions as to make himself exceedingly unpopular among American sympathizers with Cuba. Finally, however, after Weiler's reconcentration order had been issued and after it was fairly evident that Spain could not repress the revolution, President Cleveland, in his annual message of December 7th, 1896, showed plainly that the government of the United States would not much longer maintain a passive attitude. Recapitulating the facts with regard to Cuba, he wrote some sentences of ominous import. He said, neither has Spain made good her authority nor have the insurgents made good their title to be regarded as an independent state, except in towns the whole island is given over to anarchy. It cannot be reasonably assumed that the hitherto expectant attitude of the United States will be indefinitely maintained. When the inability of Spain to deal successfully with the insurrection has become manifest, a situation will be presented in which our obligations to the sovereignty of Spain will be superseded by higher obligations, which we can hardly hesitate to recognize and to discharge. The United States is not a nation to which peace is a necessity. Apart from the natural sympathy with which Americans regarded any struggle for political independence, and apart also from any commercial interests which were threatened by the Cuban insurrection, there was still another reason for American resentment against Spain. Thousands of citizens recalled a grievous outrage against the dignity of the United States for which Spain had been responsible in the past and which had never been avenged. This was the notable affair of the Virginias. On October 31st in 1873, during the former revolution in Cuba, an American merchant vessel of the Virginias was forcibly captured on the high seas by the Spanish gunboat Tornado. The American flag was hauled down and trampled upon with every possible sign of derision and the Virginias itself with its captain, passengers, and crew of whom nine were American citizens were taken to the port of Santiago de Cuba. Captain Fry and the ship's company were cast into prison and by order of the Spanish governor, General Buriel, were tried by drumhead court-martial. 53 of the 59 were condemned and shot and the survivors also were sentenced to be executed. At this moment, however, they're steamed into the harbor of Santiago, the British man of war, Naiobi, commanded by captain, afterward, sir, Lampton Lorraine. When he learned of what had been done and of what was then impending, he wasted no time in official correspondence. Swinging his ship about, broadside on, he sent a curt note to General Buriel intimating that unless the order of execution were suspended, the Naiobi's guns would at once open fire upon the city. Note 19, page 535. General Buriel revoked his order immediately, but nonetheless, 53 unarmed persons had been taken from under the protection of the American flag and had been shot to death. Indignation in the United States was extreme. President Grant took measures to place the Navy upon a war footing and caused a strong protest to be made to the Spanish minister, who with true Castilian haughtiness refused to receive it. On the following day, November 4th, the American minister at Madrid, General Sickles, was notified by cable. In case of refusal of satisfactory reparation within 12 days from this date, you will at the expiration of that time close your legation and leave Madrid. Spain still gave no satisfactory reply, and therefore on November 15th, Secretary Fish again cabled. If Spain cannot redress these outrages, the United States will. Nevertheless, when the 12 days expired, Spain had not yielded nor the General Sickles leave Madrid. As a matter of fact, the United States was in a most humiliating position. Its Navy under the corrupt administration of Secretary Robeson had so degenerated that it did not possess a single fighting ship which could have met successfully the Spanish armored cruisers with their modern guns. Even the antiquated hulk-stilling commission were scattered and ill-equipped and time was necessary to collect them. The Spaniards knew this very well and sneered at all American protests. Finally, however, November 25th, President Grant resolved on more if war were necessary. Whatever losses the United States might at first sustain, in the end there could be no doubt of the result. Hence, another cable-gram was sent to General Sickles at Madrid. If no accommodation is reached by the close of tomorrow, leave. When the moral came, Spain proposed a sort of compromise. She would surrender the Virginias and would proceed against her own officials if it should be found that they had violated the treaty rights of the United States. She would not, however, in surrendering the Virginias, salute the flag of the United States nor offer any compensation for the men who had been done to death. This compromise was accepted by the American government. Note 20, page 536. Partly because a war was then most undesirable and partly because there was some serious doubt as to the regularity of the papers which the Virginias carried. It is now, indeed, quite certain that the Virginias was engaged in an unlawful errand and was conveying both men and ammunition to the Cuban rebels. Yet this circumstance did not justify her capture on the high seas or the execution of her crew and passengers by the sentence of a court-martial. When the Spaniards came to surrender the ship to American naval officers, they did so in a fashion that was full of insult. The surrender took place not in the harbor of Santiago but in the secluded and lonely port of Biajanda where few could witness it. While before the delivery of the Virginias, the interior of the ship had been knocked to pieces and its decks smeared with excrement another filth. This mortifying incident had not been forgotten by the American people and the memory of it gave poignancy to the anger with which they viewed the barbarities of Wailer. In 1896, both the Democratic and the Republican platforms had expressed sympathy with the Cuban people and the Republican declaration had even hinted at actual intervention by the United States. Such was the situation when President McKinley took office and before long that situation became acute. End of chapter 12, part one. Chapter 12, part two of 20 years of the Republic, 1885 to 1905 by Harry Thurston Peck. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. McKinley and neo-Republicanism, part two. The continuance of General Wailer's cruelty swelled from week to week the rising tide of American anger which was also increased by many special incidents. The frequent arrest of American citizens in Cuba, the ill treatment often accorded to them and the insults directed against American consular officers in the island, all of which received a sensational publicity in the press, aroused public sentiment in the United States to a pitch of dangerous irritation. A definite desire for intervention in Cuba became more manifest. In Congress, a majority of both houses were willing to recognize the Cuban rebels as belligerents. Even under President Cleveland, it had been proposed to grab this recognition by joint resolution. Secretary Olney, however, had bluntly declared that even should such a joint resolution be adopted by Congress, the president would entirely ignore it. In truth, the Cubans had not yet gained the status of belligerency and this was President McKinley's opinion as set forth in his first annual message, December 6, 1897. Nevertheless, events were drifting dangerously toward a definite crisis. The Spanish government was still unwilling to consider even friendly mediation on the part of the United States. The Spanish people believed that Americans were secretly aiding the Cuban rebels and this, in fact, was true, although President McKinley, like President Cleveland, honestly endeavored to prevent it. He felt obliged, however, to make in September, 1897 a peremptory demand for the release or speedy trial of all American citizens under arrest. He had previously, note 21, page 538, asked Congress to appropriate the sum of $50,000 for the benefit of indigenous Americans in Cuba and this help had been promptly given. All recognized that the situation was becoming unendurable. On September 18, 1897, General Stuart L. Woodford, the new American minister to Spain, once more tendered to the Spanish government the friendly offices of the United States. In doing so, he wrote a sentence of which the language, although guarded, was full of meaning. Note 22, page 538. A new ministry had been formed in Madrid under the premiership of the liberal leader, Signora Sagasta. He replied to General Woodford's note by announcing that Spain would grant to the Cubans the right of self-government under Spanish sovereignty. General Whaler was recalled and General Blanco was appointed in his place. The reconcentration order was modified and for a time it seemed as though the crisis had passed. Such, however, was not the case. The Cubans, remembering the promises which Spain had broken in 1878, refused to lay down their arms. The reconcentrados experienced no real relief. Finally, the Spanish loyalists in the island bitterly resented even a nominal grant of self-government to the Cubans. Mobs in Havana threatened the authorities and marched through the street cheering for Whaler and cursing President McKinley and the United States. So formidable were these outbreaks that the American consul general, Vitzuli, appealed to his government to send a naval force to Cuban waters. The same request had been often made before, but now at last it was heated. In January 1898, orders were issued in Washington for the North Atlantic squadron Chirondevou at the dry tortugas within six hours steaming distance of Cuba and on the 25th of the same month, the second class battleship Maine was ordered to Havana. Note 23, page 539. The dispatch of the Maine was officially declared to be a friendly act. The Spanish government was notified and it consented somewhat reluctantly to the presence of the American warship. Senora Sagasta, in a courteous note, informed the American government that Spain would reciprocate by sending the Spanish armored cruiser Vizcaya to visit the harbor of New York. The Maine was received with punctilious attention by the Spanish authorities in Havana. She was conducted to her anchorage by a Spanish officer and her commander, Captain Charles D. Sixby, became the official guest of the Spanish governor general. The people and the press of Havana were, however, far less amiable. Note 24, page 540. Meanwhile, a powerful squadron of battleships and cruisers was gathering at Key West under the command of Captain William T. Sampson, who kept himself in communication with the commander of the Maine by means of the torpedo boat Cushing. This was the situation at the beginning of February, 1898, when an incident occurred to strain still further the relations between the United States and Spain. The Spanish minister at Washington, Senor Duprida Lom, had written a private letter to a friend of his in Havana, one Senor Canalejas. This letter fell into the hands of a Cuban sympathizer, who gave it to the American press and it was published in translation on February 9th. The letter spoke cynically of Spain's grant of self-government to Cuba. It suggested bad faith in Spain's dealings with the American government and it contained one passage which was grossly disrespectful to the American president. Senor Duprida Lom wrote of Mr. McKinley's message. Besides the natural and inevitable coarseness with which it repeated all that press and public opinion in Spain have said of Whaler, it shows once more that McKinley is weak and caterer to the rabble and moreover a cheap politician, debil y populacero y ademas un politicastro, who wishes to leave a door open to himself and to stand well with the jingos of his party. The publication of this letter led to D'Alem's immediate resignation, though the Spanish government disclaimed all sympathy with its sentiments. Popular excitement, both in the United States and in Spain increased daily. Spain protested against the presence of the American squadron at Key West and against the action of the Red Cross Society in collecting subscriptions for the relief of the reconsentratos. In the United States, a section of the press published the most inflammatory appeals in behalf of Cuba. In the Senate, the question of intervention was debated from day to day and many influential leaders of both houses urged aggressive action upon President McKinley. The president, however, showed great firmness and self-control. A member of his cabinet afterwards wrote, during the consideration of the notes exchanged, I was often struck by the concern manifested by President McKinley and his advisors of the cabinet to be considerate of the susceptibilities of the Spanish people and at the same time to attain the one object in view, the permanent pacification of Cuba. Note 25, page 540. Then occurred an event of momentous and far-reaching consequences. At a little before 10 o'clock on the evening of February 15th, the battleship Maine, as she lay at Anchorage in the harbor of Havana, was blown up by an explosion which wrecked the ship with a loss of two officers and 264 enlisted men. The news of this appalling catastrophe reached Washington soon after midnight in the form of a telegram from Captain Sixby in command of the Maine. After briefly narrating the loss of his ship, he added the words, public opinion should be suspended until further report. A thrill of horror and indignation unparalleled since the firing upon Sumter swept over the American people. Nevertheless, there was no violent demand for vengeance. The gravity of the situation gave steadiness and poise to public opinion. The nation displayed a universal willingness to suspend judgment until a full and rigorous inquiry should be made. The tone of the press throughout the country was admirable and is well exemplified in an editorial which appeared in the Philadelphia Press on February 18th. With the continued tension of feeling and the uncertainty respecting the catastrophe to the Maine, there rest unabated the continued duty to sobriety and reserve of judgment. This is due to truth, to reason, and to ultimate justice. Note 26, page 542. Mr. Henry Waterson wrote in the Louisville Courier Journal, we are the people of common sense as well as of high spirit. Hence we have never yet gone into a war that was not justified. Hence, too, we await some definite reports as to the disaster which befell the Maine before asserting any other sentiment than horror at the calamity and grief for its victims. And the Kansas City Star well said that the United States was not seeking war but was endeavoring to ascertain whether an act of war had already been committed against it. A great nation can afford to take time to be perfectly just. Telegrams of sympathy from the governments of foreign countries poured in upon the president. The Spanish prime minister spoke wars of profound sympathy and sorrow as did also Governor General Blanco in Havana. While the high-minded and womanly queen Regent of Spain cabled an expression of her personal feeling of horror and regret. The honor of Spain as a civilized power was indeed at stake. That's so terrible an event should have happened in a time of peace to the worship of a friendly nation while its commander was a guest of Spain jeopardized her place in the family of nations. There were many, however, who believed that the disaster to the American battleship had been an accident due either to the carelessness of the officers and crew or to the spontaneous combustion of high explosives stored within her hull. This view was tentatively held by not a few Americans while it was almost universally adopted in such European nations as sympathized with Spain and her controversy with the United States. President McKinley immediately ordered a naval court of inquiry to investigate the cause of the disaster. This court was composed of officers whose high professional standing was unquestioned, its president being captain W.T. Samson who had served as chief of the Bureau of Ordinance. After a very careful examination of the circumstances based in part upon the work of divers who examined the wreckage underneath the water, the court of inquiry made its report to the secretary of the Navy on March 21st. The report showed conclusively that the main had been destroyed from without apparently by a submarine mine. This was made evident by the circumstance that the plates of the ship had been blown inward and its skill driven upward through its deck. The reverse of what would have happened had the explosion been an internal one. The court confined itself to a detailed statement of the facts and of its own conclusions. It did not attempt to fix the responsibility. Subsequently, a Spanish court of inquiry made an independent examination and reported that the explosion had been an internal one but it gave no facts such as would amount to a justification of this opinion. It was now obvious to those in power that war could not be long averted. The temper of the people both in the United States and in Spain became distinctly belligerent. The Spanish press teamed with insults directed against the Yankee pigs. One influential journal, El Global of Madrid remarked, as a matter of fact, the United States is at present very much like an immense main floating between the Atlantic and the Pacific. And some of her crew have evidently lost their heads. President McKinley, the commander, does his best to restore order among his undisciplined crew. The real main was lost in consequence of the slip-shod manner in which the enormous quantities of explosives were stored and to the undue haste which caused these war preparations to be made on board a vessel manned by an ill-disciplined crew. The ruin of the United States will also probably be caused by an explosion. In this case, however, it will really be external. In the United States a no less bitter feeling now prevailed. Meetings were held in the great cities to urge the declaration of war and the recognition of the Cuban Republic. The tone of the press became more and more war-like. Spanish flags were burned by great crowds which cheered for free Cuba and reproached the government for its apparent inactivity. President McKinley, however, and his advisors were far from deserving this reproach. They knew that war was unavoidable yet they were desirous of gaining time for preparation. The Navy yards and arsenals worked night and day. Messages speeding under the sea directed the rapid concentration of ships of war at important strategic points. One finished vessels were hastily completed. Repairs were made with all possible expedition. An naval officer was sent to Europe to purchase men of war from foreign nations. An immense number of torpedoes and submarine mines were bought or manufactured for the defense of American harbors. Guns were mounted on the seacoast fortifications. On March 8th, Congress unanimously voted an appropriation of $50 million to be placed at the disposal of the president as an emergency fund for national defense. Spain responded to this measure by securing a loan of 200 million pesetas, $40 million, from the Bank of Spain. On April 1st, Congress appropriated for the Navy a further sum of $39 million. Negotiation still continued between Spain and the United States with regard to the Cuban situation but with no satisfactory results. The recall of General Fitzhugh Lee from Cuba was demanded by the Spanish government and was refused by the United States. Spain proposed to submit to arbitration its alleged responsibility for the destruction of the main but this offer was declined. The issue between the two countries had now passed far beyond that isolated subject of dispute. Meanwhile, the attitude of certain foreign powers to the controversy had assumed a serious importance. Three European nations of the first rank were anxious either to prevent the outbreak of a war or if it were possible, directly to intervene on behalf of Spain. These three nations were Austria, France and Germany. The motives animating their governments were quite diverse. The Austrian emperor had a dynastic interest in the welfare of the Spanish kingdom for the queen regent of that country was a Habsburg, the daughter of the Austrian archduke Carl Ferdinand and personally admired and loved by the age Kaiser. The interest of France in the dispute was a financial one. French citizens had invested large sums of money in Spanish bonds while French bankers had financed a great number of Spanish commercial enterprises. A war between Spain and the United States must necessarily depreciate the value of these investments and therefore France was eager to give the strongest possible support to its Iberian neighbor. The case of Germany was different from that either of Austria or France. There was no ill will between the American people and the people of the German empire. They were friends as they had always been, but the official class in Germany disliked all that was American, the easygoing ways, the democratic manners and above all the material success of the American Republic. The German military cast had been humiliated by the stubborn resistance offered to German ambition in Samoa and by the subsequent defeat of Bismarck in his negotiations with American commissioners at Berlin. The German Kaiser with his colonial ambitions had long been vexed to find that the sturdiest of his subjects refused to go on any terms to Cameroon or to New Guinea. While every ship that sailed from German ports to the United States bore hundreds away to that Republic whose strength they made still stronger in whose loyal sons their sons became. Hence to the German Junker, to the arrogant representatives of militarism and to the monarch who believed in the divine origin of his own power, America seemed a land that existed only to unsettle the minds of the lowly and to mock by its prosperity and contentment the basic principles of autocratic rule. For many years therefore, the official German feeling towards the United States had been one of smoldering dislike. Moreover, the general staff at Berlin entertained the lowest possible opinion of American military power. The mighty contest which was waged on American soil during the four years of civil war made no impression upon the German experts. It was a German chief of staff of whom a visitor once inquired, have you given much attention to the battles of the American war? And he replied with a nice stare, I have no time to waste in studying the struggles of two armed mobs. So spoke the Prussian military expert and so thought all the disciples of von Malka. Americans were highly prosperous. They were good at trading and at slaughtering hogs, but they deserved serious notice only when they made themselves offensive to the Hulg-Wolge-Bauden. In 1898, a new motive swayed the restless mind of William II. He was now carrying out with Vigor his favorite project of a great colonial empire and of a navy able to defend it. Note 27, page 547. His attempts at colonization in Africa had not met with much success. His subjects could not be induced to go out as settlers to land so utterly unlike the land in which they had been born. In the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul, however, many Germans had found homes and had formed the nucleus of what might with careful nursing become a German state. Brazil was weak. What then stood in the way of finding in South America an outlet for German immigration in a country over which the flag of imperial Germany might be ultimately raised. Nothing saved the fixed purpose of the United States that no part of the American continent should be regarded as subject to future colonization by any European power. But how far, so queried the Kaiser, was a nation of traders and money-grubbers able to maintain this doctrine in the face of a great military state like Germany. Of how much importance was the new American Navy? What fighting power was there in the sort of armed mob which Americans were satisfied to call an army? These questions doubtless flitted through the Kaiser's mind at the moment when more seemed to be impending between the United States and Spain. Here was a rare opportunity for testing the American capacity for war against the fleets and armies of a European nation. The theoretical soldiers at Berlin knew that Spain had 200,000 regular troops in Cuba. They knew also that Spain possessed on paper a Navy not much inferior to that of the United States. They argued, therefore, that the war must be a fairly long one and that if the Americans invaded Cuba with their motley forces, equipped with small arms that were obsolete and unprovided with siege artillery, they must inevitably be defeated by the Spanish regulars. As to the Navy, the Germans were not so sure, but at least they thought that the contest on the sea would be fairly even. Hence, the Kaiser looked for a prolonged struggle with the odds somewhat in favor of Spain, at least at the beginning of the war. In order that these odds might be quite overwhelming, the officials in the Vilhemstrasse conceived the plan of a diplomatic demonstration by the chief continental powers which should hint at intervention on behalf of Spain. This scheme to embarrass the American government appears to have found a ready acceptance at the French foreign office and undoubtedly at Vienna. Its consummation must, however, be carried out in Washington. There remained one factor in the situation with which these three pro-Spanish powers had still to reckon. This was the attitude of Great Britain as to which nothing as yet was known but which was of the very last importance. If that nation with its mighty fleet should give even a passive support to the scheme of intervention, then the United States might well be forced to halt and to recede from aggressive action. Lord Salisbury had sent explicit instructions to Sir Julian Ponce vote in Washington, but the purport of these instructions was unknown. On April 6th, Sir Julian, as Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, received at the British Embassy the representatives of France, Austria, Germany, and Italy. Just what took place at this gathering is not definitely known. It is practically certain, however, that the Continental Diplomat suggested that a joint note be addressed to President McKinley, couched in such terms as to imply a cordial understanding between the signers of the note on behalf of their respective governments. It was intended to sow word this letter as to make it in effect a protest against the attitude of the United States and an intimation that the five great powers would not view with indifference an attack upon the sovereignty of Spain and Cuba. To the consternation of the plotters, the British ambassador gave a flat refusal. Great Britain would not, by word or deed, do anything to mar the very cordial relations which now existed between her and the United States. Back of this plain assertion, there lurked something even more significant, a veiled intention on the part of Her Majesty's government to secure to the United States an entirely free hand. When these words had been spoken, intervention became at once impossible, and it was hastily agreed that the joint note should contain only a friendly and humane expression of a general desire for peace. Such a note was then prepared and was read to the President on April 7th by Sir Julian Ponsfault, who was accompanied to the White House by Dr. Von Holben, the German ambassador, Monsieur Jules Cambon, the French ambassador, Baron Von Hengelmuller, the Minister of Austria-Hungary and the Chargé d'affaires of Italy and Russia. The text of the note communicated to the President was as follows. The undersigned representatives of Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Russia, duly authorized in that behalf, address in the name of their respective governments a pressing appeal to the feelings of humanity and moderation of the President and of the American people in their existing difficulties with Spain. They earnestly hope that further negotiations will lead to an agreement which, while securing the maintenance of peace, will afford all necessary guarantees for the re-establishment of order in Cuba. The powers do not doubt that the humanitarian and purely disinterested character of this representation will be fully recognized and appreciated by the American nation. To the reading of this note, President McKinley made the following reply. The government of the United States recognizes the goodwill which has prompted the friendly communication of the representatives of Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Russia as set forth in the address of your excellencies and shares the hope therein expressed that the outcome of the situation in Cuba may be the maintenance of peace between the United States and Spain by affording the necessary guarantees for the re-establishment of order in the island. So, terminating the chronic condition of disturbance there, which so deeply injures the interests and menaces the tranquility of the American nation by the character and consequences of the struggle thus kept up at our doors, besides shocking its sentiments of humanity. The government of the United States appreciates the humanitarian and disinterested character of the communication now made on behalf of the powers named, and for its part, is confident that equal appreciation will be shown for its own earnest and unselfish endeavors to fulfill a duty to humanity by ending a situation, the indefinite prolongation of which has become insufferable. The note and the reply were rather neatly summarized by an editorial writer as follows. Said the six ambassadors, we hope for humanity's sake you will not go to war. Said Mr. McKinley in reply, we hope if we do go to war you will understand that it is for humanity's sake. And the incident was closed. Note 28, page 551. The failure of this diplomatic plot lent venom to the comments which Continental Journals published with regard to Spanish-American affairs. The Paris-Tain predicted that a war would have grave international consequences to the United States and might even produce a revolution and lead to the development of caesarism, an evil which gnaws the vitals of every democracy. The Journal de Débat spoke of American intervention in Cuba as an act of international piracy without a shadow of justice about it. The libre parole in a vituporative article made clear the fact that Great Britain's attitude was thoroughly well understood upon the continent. It said, Great Britain is the hypocritical partner of the United States. Their alliance against Spain is a disgrace, but it is just as well to have them work together now since together they will have to render an account to international justice. The time is coming when Europe will no longer tolerate such miscreants and assassins as John Bull and Brother Jonathan. In Austria, the comments of the press were equally unfavorable. The Fremdenblatt of Vienna declared that a war with Spain would be criminal and asserted that only an infinitesimal minority of the Cubans favored annexation to the United States. But it was in Germany that the anti-Americanism took on its most offensive form. Thus, the Berlin Echo remarked, a great deal of noise is made about the $50 million voted for war-like preparations, but this means very little since the armament of the United States was at zero. Moreover, one cannot tell how much of this money will stick in dirty hands. In short, European opinion generally supports the view that the American people yell loudest for war and are least prepared, while the Spaniards are more anxious for peace but are better armed. Prince Bismarck's organ, the Hamburger Narikton, compared the behavior of the Americans to that of an incendiary, who pretends to help extinguish the flames in order to hide his own guilt. This notoriously disreputable republic has the assurance to pose as a censor of the morals of European monarchies. Die Nation of Berlin said that if war came, it would be due to the low politicians of democracy. General Bronsart von Schalendorf, formerly Prussian minister of war, was quoted as saying that in German military circles the fighting capacity of the American army was not highly rated and that the American navy was not sufficiently powerful to destroy the Spanish fleet. A widely read Dutch paper, the news Vandedoch of Amsterdam, which drew its inspiration from Paris and Berlin, was particularly bitter. Spain, it said, has proved itself a nation of men capable of any sacrifice in behalf of their national honor. The corruption of the Spanish officials will have to become a great deal worse before it can rival in rottenness the administration of Tammany, Ridden New York or of Parcapolis. The meanest thing of all is that the Americans try to avoid the responsibility of declaring war and seek to insult Spain so grossly that the proud Spaniard loses patience. But there is danger for the rich pork butchers of Chicago and the corrupt debauchees of New York who speculate a la base in war. The continental press teamed with the grossest caricatures in which Americans were drawn as swine. It was declared again and again that the navy of the United States was utterly devoid of discipline and training and that the army would be put to flight by the Spanish regulars. In England, both press and people were heartily in sympathy with the United States. Only one conspicuous exception was found and this was in the Saturday review of London which maintained to the full its old traditions of hostility to everything American. It described the United States as socially sordid to the last degree and as having contributed nothing to the self-respect of humanity. On the contrary, it has shown all the world to what a depth of public depravity civilization is capable of descending. Of President McKinley, it said. Mr. Pexnip rebuking vanity and selfishness never struck a more beautiful attitude. America is not ready for war. The authorities at Washington know how much all this part valiant bragging is worth. Then it proceeded to forecast the result of a war between the United States and Spain. It described the American Semenas, the sweeping of the keys of New York and New Orleans, men who deserted their own ships, attracted by the high pay and easy life of the American Marine to whom in most cases fighting is the last thing thought of. The Spaniards, on the other hand, are still capable of sublime heroism and daring on the high seas and it is not at all clear that Chile and Peru and Mexico may not discover that they too have a moral sense which is capable of being outraged by oppression and injustice. Note 29, page 554. As the weeks went by, American preparation took on the aspect of completeness. The naval militia was mobilized. Swift ocean steamers were chartered and equipped with modern guns. Two protected cruisers, a gunboat and two torpedo boats were bought in England. Note 30, page 554. Of the regular naval force, a strong fleet had now assembled at Key West under Captain Samson. A flying squadron under Commodore Schley lay at anchor in Hampton Roads, while a patrol squadron under Commodore Howell cruised in the vicinity of the northern Seaco cities. In Asiatic waters, Commodore George Dewey collected at Hong Kong the ships under his command and to him were dispatched large quantities of ammunition on the cruiser Baltimore. More than 1,500 torpedoes and mines were placed in the principal harbors of American Seaco cities. Note 31, page 555. The Spanish war office also displayed activity. A Spanish squadron was ordered to St. Vincent and rumors said that another naval force was assembling at the Cape Verde Islands. The moment for decisive action had arrived. On April 11th, the president sent to Congress a special message in which, after a recapitulation of recent events, he asked that he be empowered to take measures to secure a full and financial termination of hostilities between the government of Spain and the people of Cuba and to use the military and naval forces of the United States as maybe necessary for these purposes. In the name of humanity, in the name of civilization, in behalf of endangered American interests, which give us the right and the duty to speak and to act, the war in Cuba must stop. The issue is now with Congress. It is a solemn responsibility. I have exhausted every effort to relieve the intolerable condition of affairs which is at our doors. Prepare to execute every obligation imposed upon me by the Constitution and the law. I await your action. To this message, Congress responded on the 19th. Note 32, page 555. By adopting a joint resolution declaring that the people of Cuba were and have right ought to be free and independent, authorizing the president to demand that Spain relinquish her sovereignty over Cuba and withdraw her forces from that island, directing him to employ the Army and Navy to enforce this demand, and finally asserting on the part of the United States a determination to leave the government and control of Cuba to its people. Pursuant to this mandate, the president caused to be cabled to General Woodford the American minister to Spain the text of an ultimatum. But already the Spanish minister in Washington had demanded and received his passports and had departed for Canada. Before General Woodford in Madrid could communicate with the foreign office, he received a note from the minister of foreign affairs informing him that diplomatic relations between the United States and Spain had already terminated. General Woodford thereupon left Madrid. Under very trying circumstances, he had borne himself with great dignity and circumspection. For a long while he and his family had been subjected in Madrid to something like a social ostracism, yet he had made no sign and had compelled the personal respect both of the diplomatic corps and even of the Spanish officers of state. Events marched fast. The queen regent of Spain attended by her son the king, then a boy of 12 years, addressed the assembled Cortes in a speech. Note 33, page 556, animated by a noble yet pathetic courage and the people of her capital greeted her with frenzied cheers as she made eloquent appeal to their devotion. On the following day, Captain Samson, now raised to the rank of acting rear admiral, was directed to blockade the coast of Cuba. The president almost simultaneously called by proclamation for 125,000 volunteers. Already detachments of regular troops were moving southward. Air long, they began to pitch their tents in Key West. On April 25th, Congress, by a unanimous vote of both houses, made a formal declaration of war. It was with a feeling of relief that Americans received the tidings of this momentous step. At last, the long expected hour had come. The nation entered upon the struggle at Carligé. Curiously enough, there was expressed no hatred of the Spanish people. The war appeared to the multitude in the light of a romantic episode, a picturesque adventure. In the cities, at the theaters and restaurants, orchestras played patriotic heirs, intermingling the star-spangled banner with the strains of Dixie. Men and women leapt to their feet and sang the words. An air of buoyant gaitity pervaded every gathering. Once more, the nation was truly and inseparably won and patriotism was not merely dominant. It was the fashion. Far more remarkable was the manner in which the news was greeted in Great Britain. Within six hours after the cable had told the story, all London burst out into the rainbow hues of the American national colors. Thousands of American flags floated from shops, hotels, and private houses, while streamers of red, white, and blue affected a brilliant contrast with the smoky walls of the metropolis, a great multitude of people assembled before the American embassy cheering heartily for the United States. No such demonstration in behalf of another country had ever before been witnessed in the British capital. It banished from the hearts of all Americans who witnessed it the memory of other days when the ties of blood and language had been nearly sundered. But history was already making. From Washington on the preceding day, a brief dispatch had flashed around the world to Commodore Dewey at Hong Kong. War has commenced between the United States and Spain. Proceed at once to the Philippine Islands. Commence operations at once, particularly against Spanish fleet. You must capture vessels or destroy. Use utmost endeavors. End of chapter 12.