Major McKinley's Interplanetary Campaign
A satirical set of questions directed at the inhabitants of Mars, lampooning the economic protectionism of the 1892 presidential campaign.
Apropos of the announcement by Edison that it may be possible to converse with the inhabitants of Mars, when that planet in August approaches to within about 36,000,000 miles of our humble sphere, Major McKinley has prepared a set of questions which he hopes the inhabitants of Mars will kindly answer in time for campaign purposes here this fall. McKinley's absolute faith in 'protection' has led him to attempt the novel plan of going to Mars for campaign material. Some of the questions ready to fire at the unsuspecting Martian statesmen include: 'Are those big marks which cross the surface of your planet canals to facilitate commerce, or are they immense tariff walls to obstruct trade? Do you make your tariff walls strong, high and absolutely prohibitive? Do you encourage manufactures by putting a duty on raw material? Do you not find that competition will lower prices faster when restricted to small countries than when spread over the entire planet?'
“Do you encourage manufactures by putting a duty on raw material? Are your manufacturers grateful for the protection they get, or do you have to 'fry the fat' out of them every campaign?”
This piece uses the then-cutting-edge buzz about radio contact with Mars to mock the high-stakes political debate over tariffs that dominated 1892. It highlights how the era's economic anxiety—specifically regarding industrial trusts and wage depression—found expression in the most surreal, speculative frontiers of the day.
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