THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, MARCH 8, 1897.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10384, 8 March 1897, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, MARCH 8, 1897.

♦ TiiE entrance of Mr. McKinley on the duties of the Presidential office in the United States is an iuoident that bears with it the interest of multitudes far beyond the boundaries of the Great Republic. Time was, and not very many years ago, when the idea of Mr. McKinley's accession to a position of so great power would have been viewed with aversion by many to whom his success is now a matter for sineere congratulation. With his name iudissolubly linked with the famous policy of tariff hostility to foreign trade, it seemed unlikely then that the ascendancy of his star in the political firmament would ever , be watched as the harbinger of international confidence. But the question of sound money has so overshadowed the question of tariffs that the inauguration of a McKinley regime is regarded as the guarantee of commercial peace and good-will, and his fiscal proclivities are overlooked, if not forgotten. And yet the position which the republican chief occupies ou the subject of a gold currency has only been one of development, for when the Presidential campaign opened, it was doubtful what stand should be taken on that question by the nominee of the party. Silverites and friends of a gold standard were included in botli the Republican and the Democratic parties, and for a considerable time it seemed in the chapter of accidents which party on the currency question would dominate in either. But when Mr. Bryan, at the Chicago Democratic Convention, carried the people away by the force of his personal magnetism, and his determined iSilverite proclivities impressed themselves on his supporters, it dawned on the leaders of the Republican party that there was no longer room for hesitation; and though the question obliterated to a large extent the ancient lines of' demarcation that had heretofore sharply defined the policies, the great Republican party swing almost wholly round the cause of gold'standard. The utter rout of Mr. Bryan and his Socialistic Silverite supporters has no doubt stiffened the Republican policy on the currency question, the voice of the country having been so distinctly in favour of the gold standard; and the President has accordingly declared that among other things the mandate of the people will be obeyed on the integrity of the cur-

rency. M, the same time a tendency ig indicated; towards conciliating' tlie Silverites, and in his inaugural address the President promises that the subject of international bi-nietallism would re-, peive his eirly attention. This, o£ course is in no sinse an abandonment of the, basis of smnd money, on which Mr, McKinley yas raised to the Presidency; for the couiestof the Republicanparty vas againsi the debasing of the national currQioy, as it was demanded by Mr. Bryln and the Democrats iu " the inimedute restoration of the free and uulimitil coinage of gold and. silver at the legal rate of 16 to 1 with'out waiting for the aid or consent of any other Ration." All that Mr. Me. Kinley coitemplates in his addresa appears to bo the opening of negotiations with foreign States to consider the possilility of obtaining an international igreoment for the establishment of libi-mstiillic standard between the natiris. The prospect of success iij this dirotion is very remote, ant) need lit have any very unsettliufj effect ii- trade or American investments, lnt if it have in any degree the efiact q appeasing the discomfited Silveritfj, its place in the inaugural address ofthe President will be justified. An inportant hint of a new departure is givenin the statement that an antitrust pdicy would be pursued. What form thj action herein indicated may take, wi are left to conjecture; buf that vgoi'ous steps of the kind are neded is known to all whQ have evir noticed the salient features of American commercial life. The innocent looking term " trust" covers , all thosi combinations by which interests oi every kind have been dominated fron time to time in the United States, h the great injury of the general public. By those, goods have been broight up and trades monopolised by a few unscrupulous persons forming a' corner." By these, railway interests been smashed *nd fortunes made; and the interests of dis-' tricts and of communities have been sacrificed, for the selfish gains oi a few, In fact, the generic term may be applied to every kind of these colossal swindles, that have made American enterprise infamous and a wonder to all the rest of the world, who find it difficult to understand how such tyrannical'exaotions can be enforced in a cointry boasting to have the freest and mosl popular institutions and government in the world, These trusts have been at tin basis of most of the fortunes of the uany millionaires that are such a feaiure of American life, and paradoxical though it seems, it will not be discordant with experience if a scheme to make " rings" and " corners" impossible tor the future should emanate from a Cabinet that contains six millionaire among its members. But the most interesting portion of the whole Presidential address is that ■ in which Mr. McKinley takes over with great cordiality the scheme of international arbitration inaugurated by his predecessor at the head of a political party opposed to him, Mr. Cleveland. The arbitration treaty between England ; and America has carried with it from the first and still bears the sincere . approval of all the best of the American people, indeed of almost all the people, who desire that the relations between the two nations may be established so that the possibility of war ever breaking out between the : two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon family may be rendered impossible, The treaty has been blocked in the Senate, with the possible prospect of its being shelved. It appears to be the last effort of an expiring ill-will between the nations to prevent the friendly co-operation of the two Powers, whose example of arbitration might lead to a general extension of the principle among all nations, and whose voice if speaking unitedly could go fat towards compelling peace throughout the world. The perversity of datura that prompts a portion of the American Senate to arrest the good work seems inexplicable; and in the face of the strong feeling that has found expression on both sides of the Atlantic, we can hardly think that the Senate will persist in its refusal of ratification to .. the treaty. But in this emergency the voice of the new President comes opportunely to the help of humanity, and it should be all the more effective from its rising above the iutereste and the din of party conflict, and from its pleading to have eflect given to a scheme that must always be associated with the name and redound to tin honour of President Cleveland.