an explanatory and argumentative speech of some
length, 27 Jan., 1883, but it vvas evident from the
start that it could not become a law, and the senate
substitute was enacted instead. Although his seat
in the 48th congress was contested, he continued
to serve in the house until well toward the close of
the long session. In this interval he delivered his
speech on the Morrison tariff bill, 'SO April, 1884,
which was everywhere accepted as the strongest
and most effective argument made against it. At
the conclusion of the general debate, G May. 41
democrats, under the leadership of Mr. Randall,
voted with the republicans to defeat the bill.
At the Ohio republican state convention of that year, 1884, McKinley presided, and he was unani- mously elected a delegate at large to the national convention. He was an avowed and well-known supporter of Mr. Blaine for the presidency, and did much to further his nomination. Several delegates gave him their votes in the balloting for the presi- dential nomination. In the campaign he was equally active. The democrats had carried the Ohio Ipgis- lature in 1888, and he was again gerrymandered into a district supposed to be strongly against him. He accepted a renomination, made a diligent can- vass, and was again elected, defeating David R. Paige, then in congress, by 2,000 majority. But his energies were by no means confined to his own district. He accompanied Mr. Blaine on his cele- brated western tour, and afterward spoke in the states of West Virginia and New York. In the Ohio gubernatorial canvass of 1885 Major McKin- ley was equally active. His district had been re- stored in 1885, and he was elected by 2,550 ma- jority over Wallace H. Phelps, the democratic candidate. In the state campaigns of 1881, 1883, and 1885, and again in 1887, he was on the stump in all parts of Ohio. In the 49th congress, 2 April, 188G, he made a notable speech on arbitration as the best means of settling labor disputes. He spoke at this session on the payment of pensions and the surplus in the treasury, and both speeches merit at- tention as forcible statements of the position of his party on those questions. Major McKinley delivered a memorial address on the presentation to congress of a statue of Garfield, 19 Jan., 1886. He also advocated the passage of the so-called dependent pension bill, 24 Feb., over the president's veto, as a "simple act of justice," and " the instinct of a decent humanity and our Christian civilization."
In accordance with Mr. Cleveland's third annual message, 6 Dec, 1887, which attacked the protec- tive tariff laws, a bill was prepared and introduced in the house by Mr. Mills, embodying the presi- dent's views and policy, and the two parties were arrayed in support or opposition. Then occurred one of the most remarkable debates, under the in-, spiration and encouragement of the presidential canvass already pending, in the history of congress. It may be classed as the opportunity of McKin- ley's congressional life, and never was such an op- portunity more splendidly improved. Absenting himself from congress a few days, he returned to Canton, 13 Dec, 1887, and delivered a masterly address before the Ohio state grange on " The American farmer," in which he declared against alien landholding, and advised his hearers to re- main true to their faith in protection. He also went to Boston and discussed before the Home mar- ket club, 9 Feb., 1888, the question of " free raw material," upon which the majority in the house counted so confidently to divide their republican opponents, with such breadth and force that the doctrine was abandoned in New England, where it was supposed to be strongest.
On 29 Feb. he addressed the house on the bill to regulate the purchase of government bonds, not so much in opposition to the measure, as because he believed that the president and the secretaiy of the treasury had been " piling up a surplus " of $00,000,000 in the treasury, without retiring any of the bonds, " for the purpose of creating a con- dition of things in the country which would get up a scare and stampede against the protective system." On 2 April he presented to the house the views of the minority of the ways and means committee on the Mills tariff bill. On 18 May, the day the gen- eral debate was to close, McKinley delivered what was described at the time as " the most effective and eloquent tariff speech ever heard in congress." The scenes attending its delivery were full of dra- matic interest. The speaker who immediately pre- ceded him was Samuel J. Randall, who had in- sisted on being brought from what proved his deathbed to protest against the passage of the pro- posed law. He spoke slowly and with great diffi- culty, and his time expiring before his argument was concluded, McKinley yielded to Randall from his own time all that he needed to finish his speech. It was a graceful act, and the speech that followed fully justified the high expectations that the inci- dent naturally aroused. In it he showed that no single interest or individual anywhere was suffer- ing either from high taxes or high prices, but that all who tried to be were busy and thrifty in the general prosperity of the times. In a well-turned illustration, at the expense of his colleague, Mr. Morse, of Boston, he showed, by exhibiting to the house a suit of clothes purchased at the latter's store, that the claims of Mills as to the prices of woollens were absurd. His refutation of some cur- rent theories concerning "the world's markets" and the effect of protective laws upon trusts was widely applauded. He held that protection was from first to last a contention for labor. Both congress and the country heartily applauded this speech. The press of the country gave it unusual attention, republican committees scattered millions of copies of it, and it everywhere became a text- book of the campaign.
Major McKinley was a delegate at large to the republican national convention of this year, and took an active part in its proceedings, as chairman of the committee on resolutions. He was the choice of many delegates for president, and when it was definitely ascertained that Mr. Blaine would not ac- cept the nomination ,a movement in his favor be- gan that would doubtless have been successful had he permitted it to be encouraged. When during the balloting it was evident that sentiment was rapidly centring upon him, McKinley rose and said: "I cannot with honorable fidelity to John Sherman, who has trusted me in his cause and with his cause ; I cannot consistently with my own views of personal integrity, consent, or seem to consent, to permit ray name to be used as a candidate before this convention. ... I do not request, I demand, that no delegate who would not cast reflection upon me shall cast a ballot for me." The effect on the convention was as he intended. His labors for Sherman were incessant and effective, but while he could not accomplish his friend's nomination, he did preserve his own integrity and increase the general respect and confidence of the people in himself. He was for the seventh time nominated and elected to congress in the following November, defeating George P. Ikert by 4,100 votes. At the organization of the 51st congress he was a candi- date ft)r speaker, but, although strongly supported, he was beaten on the third ballot in the republican
