I supported
him. My motive in so doing was not so much that I favored Harrison
as because I felt outraged at the way _The Chicago Tribune_ had
treated me. The _Tribune_ was then supporting Blaine with all its
power, and I determined that Mr. Medill should not have his way;
hence I became one of the leaders in the renomination of President
Harrison.

Before leaving Washington for the convention I called to see the
President to learn what information he had to impart to me as one
of the delegates who expected to support him. He was more friendly,
free, and frank than he had ever been during his term as President.
We talked about different things, and in the course of the conversation
he adverted to Secretary Blaine.

Harrison and Blaine had fallen out. Jealousy was probably at the
bottom of their disaffection. Harrison did not treat Blaine with
that degree of confidence and courtesy one would expect from the
Chief Executive to the premier of his cabinet; while on the other
hand Blaine hated Harrison and was plotting more or less against
him while he was a member of the cabinet. The President talked
very freely about Mr. Blaine. He declared that he had been doing
the work of the State Department himself for a year or more; that
he had prepared every important official document, and had the
originals in his own handwriting in the desk before him. And yet,
he said, Mr. Blaine, as Secretary of State, was giving out accounts
of what was being done in the State Department, taking all the
credit to himself. He expressed himself as being perfectly willing,
to use a familiar figure, to carry a soldier's knapsack when the
soldier was sore of foot and tired, and all that he wanted in return
was acknowledgment of the act and a show of appreciation. This
was all he expected of Mr. Blaine. He said, in closing the
conversation, that he intended some day to disclose the true
condition of their relations.

The Harrison Administration was a very busy one, and should have
been a very satisfactory one to the country at large. The first
great subject taken up by Congress was the tariff, the final
disposition of which was embodied in what afterwards became known
as the "McKinley Tariff Bill." I never thought that Mr. McKinley
showed any particular skill in framing that tariff. My understanding
is that it was prepared by the majority of the Committee on Ways
and Means.

The manufacturers of the country appeared before that