dy and Reading

References.--Scribner's _Popular History_, V, 579-659;
McMaster's _School History_, chs. xxxiv, xxxv.

Home Readings.--Any short, attractive account of the Spanish
War.

CHAPTER 44

CONFUSION IN POLITICS

[Sidenote: Benjamin Harrison elected President, 1888.]

464. Benjamin Harrison elected President, 1888.--In 1888 the
Democrats put forward Cleveland as their candidate for President. The
Republicans nominated Benjamin Harrison of Indiana. Like Hayes and
Garfield, he had won renown in the Civil War and was a man of the
highest honor and of proved ability. The prominence of the old Southern
leaders in the Democratic administration, and the neglect of the
business interests of the North, compelled many Northern Republicans who
had voted for Cleveland to return to the Republican party. The result
was the election of Harrison and of a Republican majority in the House
of Representatives.

[Sidenote: The McKinley tariff, 1890.]

[Sidenote: Reciprocity.]

465. The McKinley Tariff, 1890.--One of the questions most
discussed in the campaign of 1888 was the reform of the tariff. There
seem to have been two sets of tariff reformers. One set of reformers
proposed to reform the tariff by doing away with as much of it as
possible. The other set of reformers proposed to readjust the tariff
duties so as to make the protective system more consistent and more
perfect. Led by William McKinley, the Republicans set to work to reform
the tariff in this latter sense. This they did by generally raising the
duties on protected goods. The McKinley Tariff Act also offered
reciprocity to countries which would favor American goods. This offer
was in effect to lower certain duties on goods imported from Argentina,
for instance, if the Argentine government would admit certain American
goods to Argentina on better terms than similar goods imported from
other countries.

[Illustration: THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON.]

[Sidenote: Gold and Silver]

[Sidenote: Sherman Silver Law.]

466. The Sherman Silver Law, 1890.--In the Civil War gold and
silver had disappeared from circulation. But after the close of the war
a gradual return was made to specie payments. In the colonial days the
demand for silver, as compared with the demand for gold, outran the
supply. The consequence was that silver was constantly becoming worth
more in comparison with gold. In the nineteenth century the supply of
silver has greatly outstripped t