By William “Skip” Deegans
On October 25, 1906, Thomas Dennis (shown), editor of Lewisburg’s Greenbrier Independent newspaper, wrote a forceful editorial critical of the McKinley Tariffs and how they led to creation of monopolies or trusts and high consumer inflation. William McKinley, Ohio Republican Congressman and chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, led Congress to pass the Tariff Act of 1890 that became known as the McKinley Tariff Act.
Dennis wrote that “under the pretext of encouraging home industry or protecting American labor the government is induced to put a high tariff duty or tax on all importations of goods brought from abroad.” The tariffs of 1890 on 1,500 items resulted in the highest import tax in U.S. history. Dennis wrote, “American manufacturers get together to form a combine or trust, agree on the outputs form each mill, fix the price and their monopoly of the home market is complete and the home customer is at their mercy.”
McKinley won the presidency in 1896 with the support of business tycoons. During his second term, he began to rethink tariffs. In a speech on September 5, 1901, he said, “A policy of goodwill and friendly trade relations will prevent reprisals. Reciprocity treaties are in harmony with the spirit of the times. Measures of retaliation are not.” McKinley was shot the next day and died on September 14. He was assassinated by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist and American laborer. Czolgosz said, “I killed the president because he was the enemy of the good people – the working people.”
Sources: Greenbrier Independent, PBS, National Bureau of Economic Research, NPR, University of Virginia.
