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HAND-BOOK OF POLITICS

FOR 1894:

BEING A RECORD OF

IMPORTANT POLITICAL ACTION,

LEGISLATIVE AND EXECUTIVE, NATIONAL
AND STATE,

From July 31, 1892, to August 15, 1894.

BY

HON. EDWARD MCPHERSON, LL.D.,

OF GETTYSBURG, PENN'A,

REPRESENTATIVE IN 36TH AND 37TH CONGRESSES, AND

CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, U. S., IN 38TH, 39TH, 40TH, 41ST, 42D, 43D,
47TH AND 51ST CONGRESSES.

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WICKERSHAM PRINTING CO.,

Entered according to Act of Congress, in 1894,

BY EDWARD MCPHERSON,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

ELECTROTYPERS AND PRINTERS,
LANCASTER, PA.

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PREFACE.

THIS Volume is largely a record of the efforts of the Democratic Party, which
was given full control of the legislative and executive branches of the government
in 1892, to grapple with the financial and political situation of the country.

Nearly one-third of the volume is given to the passage, through the Congress,
of the TARIFF BILL OF 1894, and of the Supplemental bills which its passage
invited. As this page closes, the bill itself is in the hands of the PRESIDENT, and
the Supplemental bills are in possession of the Finance Committee of the Senate.

Next in interest, and hardly inferior to it, is the record of the long struggle in
each House of Congress over the Currency Question, as embodied in the proposed
Free Coinage of Silver and the Coinage of the Seigniorage, and the effected repeal
of the Silver Purchase clause of the Act of 1890. These measures will remain as
monuments of irreconcilable diversities of opinion which proved stronger than
the ties of partisanship.

The repeal of all the Statutes of the United States touching the election of
officers of the United States is the one unequivocal proof given by the Congress
of the political revolution of which it was the product. The Statutes themselves
and the votes wiping them out are given in full.

Within the period covered by this Volume a new Republic has sprung into
being upon our borders. The story of the struggle in Hawaii, and the action of
two of our Administrations with regard to it, form a chapter of abiding interest,
as written by the participants.

The startling Railway Strike, which for nearly three weeks during the past
summer paralyzed the business of a large portion of the country, with its collisions
of opinion between National and State authorities, deserves the adequate space
given to it by reason of the business questions and the political questions which
lay beneath it.

A glance at the Table of Contents will show the wide scope of the Volume,
the multiplicity of the details, and the variety of interesting and important
matters which it sets forth.

The Tabular Statements on Elections, Appropriations, Revenues, Expenditures,
Debt, Wealth, Tariff votes, are the very essence of political discussion, and will
repay close study.

(iii)

MAR 17 1908 225234

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