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664 Protection: the McKinley Tariff. [i890-i he struck at the power of the minority to employ obstructive tactics. A new code of rules, designed to facilitate the control and dispatch of business by the majority, was adopted by a strict party vote. The limitations placed on what had been regarded as proper freedom of debate created an intense bitterness of feeling, which characterised the whole session ; but the old system has not been restored. The Republican leaders also proceeded to frame a tariff bill, in the spirit of their national platform. A measure of this kind, bearing the name of McKinley, chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, passed the House in May and the Senate in September, and, after an adjustment of differences by a conference committee, was signed by the President on October 1, 1890. It largely increased the rates of duty on competitive articles of importation. It removed the duty on sugar, which was highly productive of revenue, and gave the American sugar-planters a bounty. The effect on the popular mind was somewhat startling. The great increase made in duties during the Civil War had generally been regarded as a temporary expedient. From time to time during suc- ceeding years the question of a general reduction was agitated; and many influential Republican statesmen, like President Garfield, gave their support to the principle. The theory of Protection for its own sake, without regard to the effect on revenue, though it had found some advocates, especially among publicists, had not found its way into the popular mind. Its enunciation in the Republican national platform of 1888 was perhaps not clearly apprehended, certainly in its full import. Its application in the McKinley Bill therefore attracted universal at- tention, and, doubtless to some extent because of its novelty, excited widespread opposition. It aroused antagonism even among the leaders of the Republican party. Elaine publicly attacked the bill as a measure that would not open a market for another bushel of wheat or another barrel of pork. His sensitiveness to this subject was doubtless enhanced by his connexion with the International American Conference, which had just closed its sessions in Washington. He had been its president ; and by the Act of Congress of May 24, 1888, under which the conference assembled, one of the declared objects of its convocation was the adoption of a measure " under which the trade of the American nations with each other should, so far as possible and profitable, be pro- moted." It was due chiefly to Elaine's efforts that the bill was so amended as to authorise the making of limited reciprocity arrangements. The McKinley Act had barely gone into effect when the Congressional elections were held. The Democrats carried the House of Representatives by almost a three-fourths majority. The Republicans had not only increased the tariff, but they had made liberal appropriations, besides adopting legislation that necessitated larger expenditure in future. To a certain extent an increase in national expenditure was incidental to the nation's growth ; but the present increase was criticised as excessive ; and