10O\63 
 1912 
 
 tributes to 
 
 Mm, fllbclkinle^ 
 
 ....Bp.... 
 
 3f. 3. Jorakcr. 
 
(Tributes to 
 
 Milliam riDclkinle? 
 
 Newspaper reports of speeches deliv- 
 ered at the State and National Conventions, 
 together with a Memorial Address deliv- 
 ered at Music Hall, Cincinnati,, on the day 
 of the President's funeral. 
 
 Cincinnati, 1901. 
 
Liw 
 
 fiol 
 

 COJ^TEJ^TS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Speech Nominating Wm. McKiNLEY for Governor. 1891. ... 5 
 
 Speech Endorsing Wm. McKiNLEY for President. 1896 15 
 
 Speech Nominating Wm. McKinley for President, 1896. ... 18 
 Speech Re-Nominating Wm. McKinley for President. 1900. . . 21 
 Extract from speech at Republican State Convention. 1901. . 25 
 Tribute written for Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. 1901. . . -26 
 Description of Memorial Meeting in Music Hall. Cincinnati. 1 90 1 . 28 
 Memorial Address delivered at Cincinnati meeting. 1901. . . . 32 
 
SPEECH NOMINATING WM. 
 McKINLEY FOR GOVERNOR, 
 DELIVERED BEFORE RE- 
 PUBLICAN STATE CONVEN- 
 TION AT COLUMBUS, O., JUNE 
 18, 1891. 
 
 Mt. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention :— Under this call 
 I have a duty to perform, and it is one of the most pleasing character. 
 I desire to enter upon its performance by reminding you, as it has already 
 been called to your attention, that we are here organizing for another con- 
 test. And as it has already been said to you, this contest upon which we 
 are to-day entering, is to be, in some respects at least, of unusual char- 
 acter. In the first place, while it is to be hoped that we are not to be 
 called upon to confront a greater number of enemies in the aggregate, 
 yet already is it known that we are to be compelled to contend against a 
 greater variety than ever before. (Applause.) 
 
 Jn the first place, we must fight that ancient, time-honored enemy, 
 the Democratic Party, which, it appears, no kind of defeat can kill. 
 (Laughter and cheers.) And in the next place, as allies, nobody yet 
 knows how many third parties. We do know, however, that the political 
 shibboleth of each and every one of these political organizations will be 
 '^anything to beat the Eepublican Party." Hence it is that we are con- 
 scious that when we go out from this convention hall, it will be to con- 
 tend against the combined opposition of all these parties, and that it 
 will be necessary for us to defend ourselves from every sort of crafty and 
 insidious effort that can possibly be made to divide and weaken and sap 
 
 our strength. 
 
 This contest will be unusual in this further particular: it will be 
 of extraordinary importance. It involves, in the first place, the political 
 control of this great State of Ohio, and that was never quite so import- 
 ant a^ it is at the present time. We thought we had had bad experiences 
 
6 WILLIAM Mckinley. 
 
 with, the Bishop and the Hoadly administration, but they appear now, 
 by contrast, as pleasing benedictions. (Cheers.) 
 
 TO INVOLVE MORE. 
 
 This contest is to involve more still — more than Governorship, more 
 than the General Assembly, more than the public institutions. It reach- 
 es out into national politics. A United States Senatorship will depend 
 upon its result; and, more important still than all these, it will deter- 
 mine whether this great State of Ohio is to go into the next national con- 
 test, that of 1892, at the head of the Republican or at the head- of the 
 Democratic column. 
 
 All this is intensified when we remember the election of last year, 
 or, rather, the defeat of last year. 
 
 We shall win this fight. (Cheers.) But, gentlemen of the conven- 
 tion, it is our duty as well as our pleasure not to be content with simply 
 winning it. We must win it triumphantly, decisively, overwhelmingly. 
 (Applause.) To that end we must select for our standard-bearer that 
 man who, above all others, can most surely command our undivided 
 strength. We must have for our leader a fit representative of our views, 
 with respect to every living issue, and one who in his record and his per- 
 sonality is the best type we have of the illustrious achievements and the 
 moral grandeur of Eepublicanism. (Applause.) 
 
 He must be more than that. He must have a sure place in the con- 
 fidence and in the affections of the Eepublicans of Ohio. He must be 
 able, because of their esteem for him, to command not simply their un- 
 falteriug, but their enthusiastic support. Give us such a leader and the 
 battle is easily fought and gloriously won. (Cheers.) 
 
 Such a leader we have. It is not my privilege to point him out; it 
 is no man's privilege to point him out. That has already been done. 
 By common consent all eyes have turned in the same direction. One 
 man there is who, measured by the exigencies of this occasion, stands 
 a full head and shoulders above all his comrades, and that man is Wil- 
 liam McKinley, Jr. (Tremendous applause and cheering.) 
 
 There are many reasons why he should be nominated. I can take 
 
WILLIAM Mckinley. 7 
 
 time to mention only a few of them. In the first place, everybody knows 
 liim. He does not need any introduction anywhere. (Applause.) Every 
 liepublican in Ohio not only knows him, but, what is better, every Eepub- 
 lican in Ohio loves him. (Cheers.) And that is not all. Every Democrat 
 Iq Ohio knows him (applause), and every Democrat in Ohio fears him. 
 (Applause.) His name is a household word throughout the nation, and 
 throughout the whole world, wheresoever civilization extends, it is famil- 
 iarly spoken. (Great cheering.) It is no exaggeration to say that never 
 in the history of our State has any man been nominated for the Gover- 
 norship by either party who at the time of his nomination was such a 
 distinctively national and international character. (Applause.) 
 
 IS TRUE AND TRIED. 
 
 In the second place, he is true and tried. (Applause.) He is not 
 an experiment. He has been a long time in the public service. He com- 
 menced thirty years ago. He started in with Abraham Lincoln. (Cheers 
 and applause.) He commenced on the 11th day of June, 1861. He began 
 by enlisting as a private soldier in the 23rd Ohio Eegiment, and as he 
 was one of the first of Ohio's sons to respond to his country's call, so, 
 too, was he one of the last of Ohio's sons to quit his country's service. 
 (Tremendous applause.) Not until the last shot had been fired; not un- 
 til the last armed rebel had surrendered did he put. off his uniform, and 
 resume the pursuits of peace. In nineteen of the bloodiest battles of the 
 war he bared his breast to the storm, and periled his young life that this 
 nation might live. (Applause.) At Carnifex Ferry, at South Mountain, 
 at Antietam, at Fisher's Hill, at Cedar's Creek, at Winchester, and I 
 don't know how many other great battles, he was foremost in the thick- 
 est of the fight. (Applause.) And there, by gallantry, and he;roism, he 
 won promotion after promotion, until at the close of the struggle the 
 beardless youth, unknown and without influence when he enlisted, had 
 risen to the high and responsible rank of Major of his regiment. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 So brave, so heroic, so gallant, so brilliant, were his soldier services, 
 that there lives not one human being in whose veins there is a single drop 
 
8 WILLIAM Mckinley. 
 
 of loyal Eepublican blood, who can either forget him or fail to support 
 hini with his ballot on election day. (Great applause.) 
 
 In the third place, he has been as great and as successful in civil 
 as he was in military life. He has been a gladiator in the political com- 
 bats of the country as he was a hero on the battle-fields of the Republic. 
 (Applause). From the day he first entered Congress until the day he left 
 he constantly gained in both position and influence, until at the close of 
 his service he stood, not simply nominally, but actually at the head of the 
 Republican party in the House of Representatives. (Applause.) 
 
 And it is no disparagement to any of the great men who so con- 
 spicuously preceded him to say that we have never had, in all the history 
 of the Republican party, a more accomplished, a more successful or a 
 more masterful leader than he. (Renewed applause.) 
 
 And so it is, my fellow-citizens, that William McKinley, Jr., has 
 been identified, in both field and forum, with every great measure of 
 the Republican party. Since that day, when he enlisted as a private sol- 
 dier, a great deal of glorious history has been written. He has had a 
 hand in the writing of every page of it. No man, therefore, is better 
 equipped and qualified than he, by experience, to discuss the great na- 
 tional questions that will be involved in the campaign upon which we are 
 entering. And when it comes to that one great national question, the 
 tariff, the question that will, by reason of his candidacy, rise higher than 
 any other, probably, it must be conceded and is conceded by all, that he 
 is the absolute master of the subject. (Applause.) 
 
 PROTECTION'S CHAMPION. 
 
 Protection to American industries, to American labor, to the Ameri- 
 can farm, to the American wage-worker, the making of our own American 
 tin (cheering), in short, the protection of our industries against the in- 
 dustries and the interests of every other nation on the face of the earth, 
 is with Major McKinley a patriotic conviction. With all the earnestness 
 of his great soul he believes in it, and with all the eloquence of his 
 matchless oratory he is prepared to present the claims of this great doc- 
 trine to the American people, and to defend it as no other man can, 
 from the attacks of its enemies. (Applause.) 
 
WILLIAM Mckinley. 9 
 
 And then my fellow Republicans, there is another reason why he 
 should be nominated. While taking care of National issues, he has the 
 versatality, the force, and the power to take care of State issues as well. 
 (Applause.) Wliat a glorious feast there is for him in that. (Laughter.) 
 We are all going to help him in that. This is liardly the time to start in, 
 but we will be at it in due time, and Mr. Campbell need not be afraid as 
 to that. (Applause.) It will be, however, to Major McKinley but a pleas- 
 ing pasttirae, a sort of restful recreation, to dissect and expose the hypoc- 
 risy, the extravagance, the corruption, the disgrace, the mortification and 
 humiliation to the people of Ohio of the present State Administration. 
 
 There is another reason to which 1 want to call attention — and I 
 want to do this especially before this Convention and the Republicans 
 everywhere in this great State— one other reason why Major McKinley 
 should have this nomination to-day. He has ever, under all circum- 
 stances, in every campaign in your time, and mine, since he first took the 
 field for Republicanism, been a faithful and an unfaltering supporter of 
 the Republican party and its candidates. (Great applause.) I want to say 
 here to-day for the benefit of the Republican party, and say it more espe- 
 cially than anything else that I do say, that no Republican candidate has 
 ever suffered defeat through fault of his. (Great cheering.) There is not 
 one single drop of cut-throat blood in his veins. (Applause.) He is mor- 
 ally incapable of the treachery and cowardice of political assassination. 
 (Applause.) He doesn't know what a political razor is (applause), and has 
 only scorn and contempt for the sneaking, hypocritical scoundrel who 
 would use one. (Applause.) Nominate him, therefore, and every Repub- 
 lican in Ohio can press the collar as we march on to victory under his 
 leadership. Nominate him, and you fulfill the expectations of Ohio, and 
 meet that which this wonderful demonstration signifies. 
 
 WHAT IT SIGMFIED. 
 
 What does it signify? Republicans of Ohio, congratulate yourselves 
 upon the meaning of this tremendous outpouring. It means that the 
 500 000 Republican voters of Ohio have "got together." (Cheermg.) It 
 mea'n. that the 500,000 Republican voters of Ohio are proud of their 
 
lo WILLIAM Mckinley. 
 
 party, proud of its principles, proud of its past, proud of its promises, 
 and proud of its representatives in official places in the State and Nation. 
 (Applause.) It means that we are in good humor with everybody. (Ap- 
 plause.) We are proud of the wise, conservative and patriotic man, Ben- 
 jamin Harrison, who sits in the White House. (Great applause and cheer- 
 ing.) We are proud, too, of that great brilliant, magnetic statesman, who 
 has laid down the law to Europe with respect to America, James G. 
 Blaine. (Eenewed cheers and applause.) We are proud also of the rep- 
 resentation of Ohio in the Cabinet of the President of the United States 
 in the person of our own Charles Foster. (Applause.) And we are proud, 
 too, of our great Senator, who has served his State with such distinction 
 that he justly enjoys the reputation of standing at the head of all the 
 great men in the greatest legislative body on earth. (Applause.) We 
 are proud, to make a long story short, and to make sure that nobody will 
 be forgotten (laughter) of everybody from grandfather's hat to baby Mc- 
 Kee. (Laughter and cheers.) 
 
 AVhat, n.ow, does that mean? We can answer in a word, in a sen- 
 tence: "The Campbells must go." (Applause.) As it was with Allen 
 and Bishop and Hoadly, so, too, must it be with their Democratic succes- 
 sors — one term is enough. (Applause.) That is all we can tolerate, and 
 this uprising of the people has that meaning for those who occupy the 
 State House under the Democratic banner to-day. (Applause.) 
 
 My fellow Eepublicans, it was my fortune to be in Chattanooga a 
 few days ago, and while I was looking about over the battlefields and the 
 historic heights in that vicinity, the thought occurred to me, and I had 
 occasion to remark it there, but it will bear repetition here, that the mili- 
 tary situation at that point, in 1863, was somewhat similar to the political 
 situation in this country at this time. You will remember that in Sep- 
 tember, 1863, the battle of Chickamauga was fought. We got the worst 
 of it. We were whipped — not whipped, but exhausted (laughter), and 
 were compelled to fall back to rest. We moved back into our entrench- 
 ments about Chattanooga. The victorious rebels followed us up and took 
 possession of Lookout Mountain and Mission Eidge, and from their crests 
 
WILLIAM Mckinley. h 
 
 looked down upon us with longing, expectation and hope, day after day, 
 that they would see us move out and let them come in. But we had done 
 all the moving we had intended to do. We had no thought of abandon- 
 ment — defeat had only put us on our mettle. So at once, instead of plan- 
 ning a retreat, we sent for reinforcemeuts, and under the magnificent 
 leadership of such great generals as Ulysses S. Grant (applause), William 
 Tecmnseh Sherman (applause), Philip H. Sheridan (applause), George K 
 Thomas (applause), and Jos. Hooker (applause), we reorganized our army, 
 and made ready to resume the offensive, and one morning, in November, 
 when our enemies were looking down, hoping that day might be our last, 
 the whole great army moved out to give them battle. (Applause.) We 
 took position in front of their intrenchments. Hooker opened the fight 
 on the right, and we of the left and center stood and looked on, and en- 
 couraged with our cheering plaudits, while his brave boys fought their 
 way up the ragged mountain sides, until above the clouds, on the topmost 
 peak, they planted in triumph the starry flag of the Union. (Applause.) 
 
 THE ENEMY WENT DOWN. 
 
 It was a glorious day's work. It inspirited the whole army and pre- 
 pared it for the greater work and greater triumph of the next day. On 
 the morrow all columns, all guns, all flags pointed against Bragg and the 
 Rebel Army on the crests of Mission Eidge, and there, before the sun went 
 down, before the resistless columns of the Union, his lines were broken, 
 and he and his men were swept like chaff before the winds back into the 
 mountain fastnesses of Northern Georgia. (Applause.) 
 
 So, too, with respect to this political situation have we had a Chick- 
 amauga. We had it last year, when, save only here in Ohio, which stood 
 like Thomas at Chickamauga as a veritable rock of Gibraltar (applause), 
 we suffered defeat all along the line. We had to fall back into our en- 
 trenchments. The victorious Democracy following up their advantages, 
 at once climbed into the political high places of the country, and ever 
 since have been looking down with longing and expectant looks upon 
 Washington and other sections of the promised land. (Laughter and ap- 
 plause.) They have been busying themselves only with plans of future 
 
12 WILLIAM Mckinley. 
 
 occupation. But as it was at Chattanooga with the Union forces in 1863, 
 so too has it been with Eepublican forces of this country in 1890 and '91. 
 Defeat only nerved us for a greater effort. Under the leadership of such 
 mighty generals in politics as Harrison, and Blaine, and Reed, and Sher- 
 man, and McKinley, and Foster, we have been reorganizing. (Applause.) 
 Instead of abandoning we have been preparing to resume the offensive, 
 and to-day this mighty column is moving out as did our predecessors in 
 Chattanooga in 18()3 and forming the line of battle. (Applause.) 
 
 Ohio is the Lookout Mountain of the political battlefield on which 
 we stand (applause), and William McKinley, Jr., is the Joe Hooker of 
 the Republican party (great applause), and we are the boys (applause) 
 who intend to follow him up its steep and rugged mountain side and help 
 him plant the flag of Republicanism in triumph there. (Cheers.) And 
 next year, inspirited by this glorious achievement, all the columns from 
 Maine to Oregon will be turned against the enemy, and as to them it will 
 be as it was with Bragg in 1863. (Cheers.) Their lines will be broken, 
 and before the resistless onslaught they will be swept back into the depths 
 of defeat and despair. (Applause.) 
 
 ■My fellow Republicans, it is for such glorious victories — glorious for 
 Ohio, glorious for the Nation, and glorious for the Republican party, 
 glorious for every true American interest — that we are here to-day to 
 prepare. 
 
 Let us go forward and win these victories as we should. (Applause.) 
 Moved by such considerations as these, I move you, Mr. Chairman, 
 that the rules of this convention be suspended, and that, by acclamation, 
 we nominate to be our candidate for Governor that brilliant statesman, 
 soldier and orator, William McKinley, Jr. (Tremendous applause and 
 cheering.) — Reprinted from Cincinnati Commercial-Gazette. 
 
SPEECH ENDORSING WM. 
 McKINLEY FOR THE PRESI- 
 DENCY, MADE AS TEMPO- 
 RARY CHAIRMAN OF THE 
 REPUBLICAN STATE CON- 
 VENTION. AT COLUMBUS. O., 
 MARCH 10, 1896. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention: 
 
 I sincerely thank the State Central Committee for the honor of tem- 
 porarily presiding over this Convention, and I most heartily thank you, 
 gentlemen of the Convention, for your kind and enthusiastic greeting. 
 Be assured of my proper appreciation. Ordinarily, as I understand it, it 
 is thought to be the chief duty and office of the temporary chairman 
 of a convention like this to discuss current political questions and define 
 party positions. Ordinarily I should make that kind of an address on such 
 an o'ccasion as this. It is possible that you are expecting some such re- 
 marks as those. If so, you will he disappointed, for in my judgment, 
 that kind of an address is not necessary under the circumstances attend- 
 ing us here to-day. 
 
 It is not necessary, because everybody knows that no matter what 
 
 questions may be discussed in the coming campaign, the one great, tow- 
 
 ■ ering supreme issue in the contest of "OG will be whether for the next four 
 
 years this country shall be ruled by Democrats or by Eepublicans. 
 
 (Cheering.) 
 
 And everybody knows in advance what the verdict will be. Even our 
 Democratic friends understand and can see that the sweeping victories 
 of last year are to be followed by still greater and grander triumphs this 
 year (Cheering and applause.) The Republican party was never so 
 strong never so powerful, never so popular, never so intrenched m the 
 hearts^nd affections of the people as it is to-day; and so far, at least as 
 far as Ohio is concerned, never so united or harmonious as at this very 
 hour. (Loud applause.) 
 
14 * WILLIAM Mckinley. 
 
 We have no differences of opinion with respect to National questions 
 or policies, and we have no factional dissentions to weaken our strength 
 or divert our attention from the common enem3^ (Cheers.) Therefore 
 it is, that while we are here for the purpose of nominating a ticket and 
 declaring anew the faith that is in us, we come also to the discharge of a 
 higher and more commanding duty. It has already been indicated by our 
 chairman. (Cheers.) 
 
 IIERK TO REDEEM IT. 
 
 The Zanesville Convention declared that the Eepublicans of Ohio 
 would unitedly and enthusiastically support the candidacy of Governor 
 McKinley. (Applause.) The time has come to redeem that pledge, and 
 we are here to redeem it. (Cheers and applause.) In every district and 
 county convention so far held this year in this State, he has already been 
 endorsed. We assemble now as the representatives of the Eepublicans of 
 the whole State for the purpose of doing the same thing. We owe it to 
 ourselves as well as to him to do it with spirit, to do it with earnestness, 
 to do it with unanimity, to do it in such a manner, in short, as will sig- 
 nify to the whole JSIation that he has now and will have at the St. Louis 
 Convention, the united, hearty, cordial, enthusiastic, unqualified support 
 ■of Ohio. (Long continued applause.) 
 
 It is due, however, to the Republicans of Ohio, and especially to Gov- 
 ernor McKinley himself, that it should be said, here and now, that our 
 preference for "him is not conceived in any spirit of antagonism or hos- 
 tility to any other man whose name is mentioned in connection with that 
 high honor. The Eepublicans of Ohio do not lack appreciation for Thos. 
 B. Reed, or Levi P. Morton, or William B. Allison, or Matthew Stanley 
 ■Quay, or any other great leader who has been mentioned in connection 
 with tliiit great honor. On the contrary, we admire and love them all, 
 and if the St. Louis Convention shoidd disappoint us and give its honor 
 to one of them, we here and now pledge to him in advance the electoral 
 vote of Ohio by the largest majority ever given in the history of the State. 
 It is not that we 'love Caesar less, but Eome more." (Loud applause.) 
 
 William McKinley is our own. (Cheers.) He lives here in Ohio, and 
 
WILLIAM Mckinley. 15 
 
 always has lived here in our midst. He is our friend, our neighbor, om- 
 fellow citizen, our fellow^ Eepubliean. (Applause.) Shoulder to shoulder 
 with, him we have been fighting the battles of Republicanism in this State 
 for a generation. (Cheers.) We know him and he knows us. (Cheers.) 
 We know his life, his character, his public services and his fitness for the 
 place for which he has been named. (Cheers.) He has been our soldier 
 comrade, our Representative in Congress, our Governor. By all these 
 tokens we here to-day present him to the Republicans of the other States 
 of the Union as our choice, and ask them to make him theirs. (Long con- 
 tinued cheering.) 
 
 In this connection it should be remembered that he is identified with 
 all that is good and great and grand and glorious in the history of Repub- 
 licanism, ^^lien but a mere boy, answering his country's call, he shoul- 
 dered his musket and marched away after the flag to the music of the 
 Union to make a record for gallantry and heroism at the front on the 
 battlefields of the Republic. (Cheers.) Returning and entering Con- 
 gress, he was soon there distinguished for his eloquence of speech, fidelity 
 to duty, his wise and conservative judgment, and his ever patriotic and 
 conscientious regard for the rights of the people. 
 
 IN CONGRESS. 
 
 The year 1890 found him at the head of the Ways and Means Com- 
 mittee and leader of the House. In that position it fell to his lot to frame 
 and secure the enactment of the M(^Kinley law. That measure has made 
 his name familiar in all the world and has made him exceedingly un- 
 popular in almost all the world outside of the United States. (Cheers 
 and laughter.) But it has correspondingly endeared him to his country- 
 men. Time has vindicated his labor. (Cheers.) The last three years 
 have been years of trial. They have been years of Democratic rule; they 
 have been years of education for the American people in the school of 
 practical experience. As a resiilt, the American people know a great deal 
 more about the tariff now than they did in 1893. 
 
 Every business man has found out that no matter what kind of busi- 
 he may be engaged in, the tariff has a close, direct relation to him; 
 
 ness 
 
i6 WILLIAM Mckinley. 
 
 and the wage-worker has learned that his prosperity depends on the 
 maintenance of a protective tariff policy. As a result, in every section, 
 in every State, in every county, in every municipality, in every mill and 
 mine and- furnace, forge and workshop, everywhere throughout all this 
 broad land where capital is invested or labor is employed, William Mc- 
 Kinley is the ideal American statesman, the typical American leader and 
 the veritable American idol. (Loud cheering.) , 
 
 ^o man ever in public life in this country enjoyed such universal 
 popularity as is his. (Applause.) No man in this country in public life 
 ever cominanded, as he now commtinds, the affection of the great mass of 
 the voters of this country. (Long applause.) 
 
 Blameless in private life as he has been useful and illustrious in 
 public life, his name in our Judgment will inspire more confidence, excite 
 more enthusiasm and give greater guaranty of success than any other 
 name that can be inscribed on the Republican banner. As the candidate 
 of the Republican party he will command the support of all classes and 
 shades of Republicans, and at the same time command also the help of 
 tens of thousands of patriotic Democrats in every State of the Union. 
 (Loud cheering.) 
 
 All who believe in America, all who believe in Americanism, all who 
 believe in promoting and advancing the interests of America at home and 
 abroad will rally to his support and help iiim to plant our banner in tri- 
 umph on the citadel of the Nation. (Cheers.) His administration will be 
 a fit rounding out of the glorious achievements of the nineteenth century 
 and constitute a bright and inspiring chapter with which to commence 
 the record of the second era of Republican rule. (Cheers.) 
 
 Under his administration there will be no deficits, no more bond 
 Issues in time of peace, no more bond syndicates, no more trouble about 
 the National credit or the National currency, no inore "higgling"' about 
 pensions for the men who saved. this Union, and no hesitation whatever, 
 such as we now see in the White House, in demanding and securing for 
 the United States her rightful place and consideration among the Nations 
 of the earth. (Loud applause.) 
 
WILLIAM Mckinley. 17 
 
 Called to that office, he will fill it without obligation to any influence 
 of power except that which emanates from the people whom he will be 
 called to seyve, and in all that he does he will be governed by that belief 
 upon which has been founded and run his whole career — that this Gov- 
 ernment is of the people, by the people and for the people. (Cheers.) 
 
 Other States are declaring for him. (Cheers.) Ohio can not lead the 
 column; it is already on the march. (Cheers.) All we can do is to join the 
 procession. We will not hesitate longer to take action in that respect. 
 (Loud applause.) 
 
 I want my speech here to-day to be short enough for everybody to 
 read it and plain enough for everybody to understand. I have sounded, 
 gentlemen of the Convention, the keynote of this occasion. I thank you. 
 (Long continued applause.)— Eeprinted from Cleveland Leader. 
 
SPEECH NOMINATING WM. 
 McKINLEY FOR PRESIDENT, 
 AT THE NATIONAL REPUBLI- 
 CAN CONVENTION, ST. LOUIS, 
 MO.. JUNE 18, 1896. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention: 
 
 It ^yo^lld be exceedingl}'^ difficult, if not entirely impossible, to exag- 
 gerate the disagreeable experiences of the last four years. The grand ag- 
 gregate of the multitudinous bad results of a Democratic National ad- 
 ministration may be summed up as one stupendous disaster; it has been 
 a disaster, however, not without at least one redeeming feature. It has 
 been fair — nobody has escaped. It has fallen equally and alike upon all 
 sections of our country and alL classes of our population. The just and 
 the unjust, the EepublicaTi and the Democrat, the rich and the poor, the 
 high and the low, have suffered in common. Idleness and its consequent 
 poverty and distress have been the rewards of labor; distress and bank- 
 ruptcy have overtaken business; shrunken values have dissipated for- 
 tunes ; deficient revenues have impoverished the Government, while bond 
 issues and bond syndicates have discredited and scandalized the Nation. 
 Over against this fearful penalty we can set down one great, blessed, com- 
 pensatory result. It has destroyed the Democratic party. The proud 
 columns that swept the country in triumph in 1898 are broken and hope- 
 less in 1896. Their boasted principles when put to the test of a practical 
 application have proven delusive fallacies, and their great leaders have 
 degenerated into warring chieftains of hostile and irreconcilable factions. 
 
 AN APPROACHIIVG NIGHTMARE. 
 
 Their approaching National Convention is but an approaching Na- 
 tional nightmare. No man pretends to be able to predict any good result 
 to come from it, and no man is seeking its nomination except only the 
 limited few who have advertised their unfitness for any kind of a public 
 trust by proclaiming a willingness to stand on any sort of platform that 
 may be adopted. The truth is, the party that could stand up under the 
 odium of human slavery, opposition to the war for the preservation of the 
 
WILLIAM Mckinley. 19 
 
 Union, emancij)ation, enfranchisement, reconstruction and specie resump- 
 tion, at last iinds itself overmatched and undone by itself. It is writhing 
 in the throes of final dissolution superinduced by a dose of its own doc- 
 trines. ISTo human agency can prevent its absolute overthrow at the next 
 election except only this convention. If we make no mistake here the 
 Democratic party will go out of power on the -ith day of March, 1897, to re- 
 main out of power until God in his wisdom, and mercy, and goodness shall 
 see fit once more to chastise his people. So far we have not made any mis- 
 take. We have adopted a platform which, notwithstanding the scenes wit- 
 nessed in this hall this morning, meets the demands and expectations oi 
 the American people. It remains for us now, as the last crowning act of 
 our work here, to again meet the same expectation in the nomination o^ 
 our candidate. What is that expectation? What do the people want? 
 You all know. 
 
 They want something more than a good business man; they want 
 something more than a good Eepublican; they want sometliing more than 
 a fearless leader; they want something more than a wise, patriotic states- 
 man; they want a man who embodies in himself not only all these essen- 
 tial qualiii cations, but who in addition, in the highest possible degree, 
 typifies in name, character, record, ambition and purpose the exact oppo- 
 site of all that is signified and represented by the present free trade, de- 
 ficit making, bond issuing, labor saving Democratic administration. I 
 stand here to present to this convention such a man. His name is Wil- 
 liam McKinley. (Prolonged applause.) . 
 
 HEARD NAME BEFORE. 
 
 You seem to have heard the name of my candidate before. And so 
 you have. He is known to all the world. His testimonials are a private 
 life without reproach; four years of heroic service as a boy soldier for the 
 Union on the battlefields of the Eepublic, under such generals as gallant 
 Phil Sheridan; twelve years of conspicuous service in the halls of Con- 
 gress, associated with such great leaders and champions of Eepublican- 
 ism as James G. Blaine; four years of executive experience as Governor 
 of Ohio; but, greatest of all, measured by present requirements, leader 
 
20 wii^LiAM Mckinley. 
 
 of the House oi' Kepresentatives and author of the McKinley Law — a law 
 under which labor had the richest rewards and the country generally the 
 greatest prosperity ever enjoyed in all our history. No other name so com- 
 pletely meets the requirements of the American people; no other man so 
 absolutely commands their hearts and their affections. The shafts of 
 envy and jealousy, slander and libel, calumny and detraction 
 lie broken at his feet. They have all been shot, and shot in vain. 
 The quiver is empty and he is untouched. The American people know 
 him, trust him, believe in him, love him, and they will not allow him to 
 be unjustly disparaged in their estimation. They know he is patriotic; 
 they know he is an American of Americans; they know he is wise and 
 experienced; that he is able and just, and they want him for President 
 of the United States. They have already so declared; not in this or that 
 State or section, but in all the States and all the sections from ocean to 
 ocean and from the gulf to the lakes. They expect us to give them a 
 chance to vote for him. If we do we shall give joy to their hearts, enthu- 
 siasm to the campaign and triumphant victory to our cause; and he in 
 turn will give us an administration under which the country will enter 
 upon a new era of prosperity at home and of glory and honor abroad. By 
 all these tokens of the present, and all these promises for the future, in 
 the name of the forty-six delegates from Ohio, I submit his claims to your 
 consideration. — Eeprinted from St. Louis Globe-Democrat. 
 
SPEECH RE-NOMINATING WM, 
 McKINLEY FOR PRESIDENT. 
 AT THE NATIONAL REPUBLI- 
 CAN CONVENTION IN PHILA- 
 DELPHIA, PA., JUNE 21.,1900" 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention: 
 
 Alabama yields to Ohio, and I thank Alabama for tliat accommoda- 
 tion. Alabama has so yielded, however, by reason of a fact that would 
 seem in an important sense to make the duty that has been assigned to 
 me a superfluous duty, for Alabama has yielded because of the fact that 
 our candidate for the Presidency has, in effect, been already nominated. 
 (Applause.) He was nominated by the distinguished Senator from Col- 
 orado when he assumed the duties of temporary chairman. He was nomi- 
 nated again yesterday by the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts 
 / when he took the office of permanent chairman; and he was nominated 
 
 / for a third time when the Senator from Indiana yesterday read us the 
 
 platform. (Applause.) And not only has he been thus nominated by this 
 convention, but he has also been nominated by the whole American 
 people. (Applause.) 
 
 From one end of the land to the other, in every mind only one and 
 the same man is thought of for the honor which we are now about to con- 
 fer, and that man is the first choice of every other man who wishes Repub- 
 lican success next November. (Applause.) 
 
 On this account it is that it is not necessary for me or any one else 
 to speak for him here or elsewhere. He has already spoken for himself 
 (applause), and to all the world. He has a record replete with brilliant 
 achievements (applause), a record that speaks at once both his promises 
 
 and his highest eulogy. 
 
 H comprehends both peace and war, and constitutes the most strik- 
 ing illustration possible of triumphant and inspiriting fidelity and suc- 
 cess in the discharge of public duty. .., • u- i, + 
 
 Four years ago the American people confided to him their highest 
 and most sacred trust. Behold, with what results. 
 
22 WILLIAM McKINLEY. 
 
 He found the industries of the country paralyzed and prostrated; he 
 quickened them Mdth a new life that has brought to the American people 
 a prosperity unprecedented in all their history. 
 
 HAS GIVEX IT EJlPLiOYMENT. 
 
 He found the labor of the country everywhere idle; he has given it 
 everywhere, employment. He found it everywhere in despair; he has 
 made it everywhere prosperous and buoyant with hope. 
 
 He found the mills and shops and factories and mines everywhere 
 closed; they are everywhere now open. (Applause.) And while we here 
 deliberate they are sending their surplus products in commercial con- 
 quest to the ends of the earth. 
 
 Under his wise guidance our financial standard has been firmly 
 planted high above and beyond assault, and the wild cry of sixteen to 
 one, so full of terror in 1896, has been hushed to everlasting sleep along- 
 side of the lost cause, and other cherished Democratic heresies, in the 
 catacombs of American politics. (Applause.) 
 
 With a diploinacy never excelled and rarely equaled he has overcome 
 what at times seemed to be insurmountable difficulties, and has not only 
 opened to us the door of China, but he has advanced our interests in 
 every land. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, we are not surprised by this, for we anticipated it 
 ail. When we nominated him at St. Louis four years ago, we knew he 
 was wise, we knew he was brave, we knew he was patient, we knew he 
 would be faithful and devoted, and we knew that the greatest possible 
 triumphs of peace would be his; but we then little knew that he would 
 be called upon to encounter also the trials of war. That unusual emer- 
 gency came. It came unexpectedly — as wars generally come. It came in 
 spite of all he could honorably do to avert it. It came to find the country 
 unprepared for it, but it found him equal to all its extraordinary require- 
 ments. (Applause.) 
 
 It is no exaggeration to say that in all American history there is no 
 chapter more brilliant than that which chronicles, with him as our com- 
 mander-in-chief, our victories on land and sea. (Applause.) 
 
WILLIAM McKINLEY. 23 
 
 In one hundred days we drove Spain from the Western Hemisphere, 
 girdled the earth with our acquisitions and filled the world with the 
 splendor of our power. (Applause.) 
 
 In consequence the American name has a greater significance now 
 Our flag has a new glory. It not only symbolizes human liberty and 
 political equality at home, but it means freedom and independence for 
 the long-suffering patriots of Cuba, and complete protection, education, 
 enlightment, uplifting and ultimate local self-government and the enjoy- 
 ment of all the blessing of liberty to the millions of Porto Eico and the 
 Philippines. What we have so gloriously done for ourselves we propose 
 most generously to do for them. (Applause.) We have so declared in 
 the platform that we have here adopted. A fitting place it is for this 
 party to make such declaration, here in this magnificent city of Phila- 
 delphia, where the evidences so abound of the rich blessings the Eepub- 
 lican party has brought to the American people. Here at the birthplace 
 of the I^ation, where our own Declaration of Independence was adopted 
 and our Constitution was framed; where Washington and Jefferson and 
 Hancock and John Adams and their illustrious associates wrought their 
 immortal work; here where center so many historic memories that stir 
 the blood, flush the cheek, and excite the sentiments of liberty, humanity, 
 and patriotism is indeed a most fitting place for the party of Lincoln and 
 Grant and Garfield and Blaine (applause); the party of Union and Lib- 
 erty for all men to formally dedicate itself to this great duty. 
 
 We are now in the midst of its discharge. We could not turn back 
 if we would, and would not if we could. (Applause.) We are on trial 
 before the world, and must triumphantly meet our responsibilities, or 
 ignominiously fail in the presence of mankind. 
 
 These responsibilities speak to this convention here and now, and 
 command us that we choose to be our candidate and the next President— 
 which is one and the same thing— the best fitted man for the discharge of 
 this great duty in all the Eepublic. (Applause.) 
 
 On that point there is no difference of opinion. ¥0 man in all the 
 Nation is so well qualified for this trust as the great leader under whom 
 
24 WILLIAM McKINLEY. 
 
 the work has been so far conducted. He has the head, he has the heart, 
 he has the special knowledge and the special experience that qualify him 
 beyond all others. And, Mr. Chairman, he has also the stainless reputa- 
 tion and character, and has the blameless life that endear him to his 
 countrymen and give to him the confidence, the respect, the admiration, 
 the love and the affection of the whole American people. (Applause.) 
 
 He is an ideal man, representing the highest type of American citi- 
 zenship, an ideal candidate and an ideal President. With our banner 
 in his hands it will be carried to triumphant victory in November. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 In the name of all these considerations, not alone on behalf of his 
 beloved State of Ohio, but on behalf of every other State and Territory 
 here represented, and in the name of all Republicans everywhere 
 throughout our jurisdiction, I nominate to be our next candidate for the 
 Presidency, William McKinley. (Applause.) — Eeprinted from Philadel- 
 phia Press. 
 
EXTRACT FROM SPEECH, 
 AS TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN 
 OF THE STATE CONVENTION 
 HELD AT COLUMBUS. OHIO- 
 JUNE 24, 1901. 
 
 Whatever else we may be, let us be Americans, and be worthy of 
 the events with which we are associated. This is a great history-making 
 epoch. Except only Washington and Lincoln, no president has had such 
 opportunities as have fallen to McKinley. Not one has escaped him. 
 All have been improved to the honor and glory of the Republic. No 
 emergency has arisen that he has not triumphantly met, and no duty of 
 Avar, peace or diplomacy has been so delicate or so difficult that he has not 
 performed it grandly and successfully. All his achievements are the 
 Nation's. His fame is ours. It fills the earth. All races honor and 
 applaud him. The single note of discord is here, at home, among our- 
 selves and under our own flag. It misrepresents the American people. 
 It misrepresents the people of Ohio. Their verdict in Novmber will so 
 declare. 
 
TRIBUTE WRITTEN FOR THE 
 CINCINNATI COMMERCIAL- 
 TRIBUNE OF THE DAY FOL- 
 LOWING WM. McKINLEY'S 
 DEATH. 
 
 The worst has happened. It is hard to understand such a dispensa- 
 tion of Providence. The whole world is shocked, and this whole country 
 is bereaved. " 
 
 This is the third Presidential assassination within the lifetime of 
 this generation. All have been startling and hard to understand; this 
 one particularly so. 
 
 Lincoln M^as the victim of the fierce passions of war, and Garfield was 
 shot hy a lunatic. Wliile, therefore, they were the most lovable of men, 
 yet there was a rational way of accounting for their murder. But this is 
 different. Of all the men in public life, McKinley was probably the very 
 last anybody would have thought of as in danger of death by violence at 
 the hands of a fellow-being. His whole life has been without offense, 
 even to his political opponents. Always able and persuasive in debate, 
 he never said anything bitter, acrimonious, or calculated to wound the 
 feelings, even when provocation had been given. 
 
 In his intercourse with men he was always polite and considerate, 
 and when he differed and refused requests he did it in such a way as to 
 inflict the least possible disappointment. 
 
 In the discharge of his public duties he aimed always to promote the 
 public Avelf are, and studiously, or, rather, naturally, for it was his nature, 
 avoided all thought of self or selfish interest. 
 
 He had a pleasing personality and fascinating manner. He was free 
 from ostentation under all circumstances, and never embarrassed in any 
 presence, but he was most at home with the people. He delighted to 
 mingle with them and talk VAdth them, socially and informally, and was 
 always pleased to address them on public questions. He always took 
 them into his confidence, and felt, with keenest appreciation, that he un- 
 derstood them and they understood him. 
 
WILLIAM Mckinley. 27 
 
 And now, this man, so devoted to the people and so entrenched in 
 their affections, is stricken down in their midst without a moment's 
 warning, and the miserable assassin, not professing passion or lacking 
 sanity, offers no excuse but duty. It is an awful, inscrutable mystery and 
 crime. 
 
 His career was a great one — one of the very greatest to the credit of 
 any American. He distinguished himself as a boy soldier fighting for 
 the Union. He attracted attention and arose to distinction at once when 
 he entered Congress, and steadily grew until made Governor of Ohio, 
 and then twice President. 
 
 He perishes in the midst of what seemed to be particularly his great 
 work. We can scarcely imagine how anybody else can complete it. While, 
 therefore, he dies full of honor, his country suffers a loss that seems im- 
 measurable. J. B. FOEAKER. 
 
MEMORIAL MEETING HELD 
 IN MUSIC HALL. CINCINNATI. 
 OHIO.THURSDAY, SEPTEM- 
 BER 20 190L 
 
 Description taken from Cincinnati 
 Commercial Tribune of Friday, Sep- 
 tember 20. 
 
 With head bowed down and eyes bedimmed with tears. Cincinnati 
 knelt in prayer yesterday — prayer for the honored dead and prayer for 
 the loved living. 
 
 Assembled in Music Hall and in all the churches about town, as- 
 sembled in private homes as well as in public places of worship, Cincin- 
 natians gave vent to the grief that is theirs and found fleeting solace in 
 a flood of tears. 
 
 Up in the little city of Canton those nearest and dearest to the mar- 
 tyred President, William McKinley. were paying a last respect to the 
 ashes of the dead. Elsewhere in the Nation, and throughout the world. 
 Americans were bowed in prayer, petitioning the All-Wise Ruler of the 
 universe for strength to bear the burden of woe that hasljeen thrust upon 
 
 them. 
 
 Here in Cincinnati thousands who knew the dead President as a 
 man and as Chief Executive of the Nation assembled together in Music 
 Hall to do honor to his memory. As the prayers ascended at Canton, so 
 did they ascend from this city. As the casket containing the remains of 
 the President was placed in the vault in the little city that gave him to 
 the world, the people of the greatest city in Ohio sobbed out a requiem. 
 
 Gathered in Music Hall yesterday morning was one of the most re- 
 markable audiences that has ever been seen in this city — remarkable in 
 its magnitude, remarkable in its representativeness, remarkable in its 
 silence and reverence for the dead in whose honor it was gathered. 
 
 Music Hall, vast ihough it be, never held a larger audience. 
 
 Tt never held a more representative audience. It never gave pro- 
 tection to so many sorrowing people. 
 
 MANY SOUGHT AI>MITTAACB. 
 
 Long before the hour set for the meeting people congregated and 
 sought admittance. Outside the iron fence that surrounds Music Hall 
 
wiivLiAM Mckinley. 29 
 
 a vast crowd surged back and forth, now threatening, now pleading, for 
 admission. Elm Street was jammed from curb to curb for over a square. 
 Those who attempted to force their way through the human gorge were 
 almost crushed in the attempt. Some were injured. Several women and 
 children fell in the crowd and were trampled under foot. 
 
 It was after 11 when the gates were opened. At least half the seats 
 in Music Hall had been filled before by the ticket holders, and when the 
 vast multitude outside began to rush in the scene was indescribably im- 
 pressive. 
 
 It was a tidal wave of humanity. Through the doors and over the 
 seats and down the aisles, ceaselessly, relentlessly, almost involuntarily, 
 the great crowd swept and surged, while the mournful sounds of Chopin's 
 "Funeral March" filtered through the swish of rustling skirts and the 
 shuffling of feet. 
 
 Yet withal the crowd was orderly in its very disorder. It was not 
 demonstrative, except in its sorrow. Those present had come with heavy 
 hearts to weep and pray together. The awful crush and jam at the gates 
 and the doors was a silent crush, in so far as there could be an absence 
 of sound on such an occasion. It was like the resistless rushing of an 
 unlocked flood. There was a roar that was silent and a silence that was 
 a roar. 
 
 SEVEK THOUSAND PEOPIiE. 
 
 About 7,000 people found places within the hall. More than that 
 number were unable to gain admittance, and could only wait without the 
 walls and add their voices to the melody that came from the thousand 
 throats within. 
 
 And, oh! the stirring beauty of that melody! 
 
 Oh! the sadness of it and the pain! 
 
 Nothing could be more touching, nothing more beautiful, than the 
 rendition of "America," by that sorrowing, loving, saddened audience. 
 
 The organ recital came first, and in its solemn simplicity caused tears 
 to start and voices and lips to quiver. 
 
 The brief, appropriate and touching address of Mayor Fleischmann, 
 an address that was well timed and well delivered, in words that were 
 well chosen and sensibly said, came next. 
 
 And then, with simple pathos the Catholic Festival Chorus rendered 
 the martyred President's favorite hymn, "Lead, Kindly Light " in a 
 manner that impressed one with the wondrous depth of feeling that can 
 
30 WILLIAM Mckinley. 
 
 be imparted by the human voice, and of the solemn grandeur of a choru.s 
 like the one that sung that hymn. 
 
 "Lead, Kindly Light, Amid th' Encircling Gloom," welled forth 
 from a thousand throats, while tears dimmed countless eyes. 
 
 The prayer by Eev. Davis W. Clark came immediately after the ren- 
 dition of the hymn. 
 
 The stillness that settled clown upon the house while Dr. Clark was 
 praying was as remarkable as any feature of the service. At a gesture 
 from the minister the audience arose and stood with downcast eyes while 
 the prayer was pronounced. One coiild almost have heard the dropping 
 of a pin in that vast hall. 
 
 The Memorial Committee had had printed on the program two verses 
 of -'America." A note requested the audience to join in the singing of 
 this best known of National songs. 
 
 RESPONI>Ii:i> "WITH FERA^OR. 
 
 And the audience responded with a fervor that filled not only Music 
 Hall, but the entire square and adjoining squares with melody. The 
 crowd outside the hall took up the strain and the sounds were carried 
 afar. People on the other side of Washington Park stopped and listened. 
 Across at the hospital grounds men bowed in grief as the sweet sounds 
 of the great chorus, with its complement of 7,000 voices, came rolling out 
 from Miisic Hall. 
 
 The organ, with its wonderful tone and prodigious depth, was 
 drowned out in the ocean of sound that poured from the myriad throats. 
 My country, 'tis of thee. 
 Sweet land of liberty. 
 Of thee 1 sing. 
 Was there ever a more inspiring sound? Could there be a more im- 
 pressive ceremonial ? 
 
 Up through the very roof that marvelous melody ascended. Out 
 into the streets and through the park — up to the clouds it seemed to roll, 
 gathering volume as it went and carrying with it the soulful supplica- 
 tions^ of a heart-broken people. 
 
 Sweet land of liberty. 
 Why should the sweet land of liberty be so stricken by one who had 
 been welcomed to the feast of freedom ? was a thought that seemed to be 
 born of the very sentiment expressed in the song. 
 Land where my fathers died. 
 
wiiviyiAM Mckinley. 31 
 
 Land of the pilgrim's pride, 
 From every mountain side 
 Let freedom ring. 
 
 THREW SOIL. INTO IT. 
 
 As the song progressed the vast audience seemed to throw its soul 
 into the words. Men and women sang fervently, prayerfully, while tears 
 streamed down their cheeks. Some of those on the stage were deeply 
 alfected by the scene and the sounds. It was an intoxication of grief. 
 Let music swell the breeze, 
 And ring from all the trees. 
 
 Sweet freedom's song; 
 Let mortal tongues awake. 
 Let all that breathe partake, 
 Let rocks their silence break. 
 The sound prolong. 
 Nothing could have been more appropriate to the occasion than the 
 rendition of this song by the wonderful audience congregated in Music 
 Hall. Nothing couhi have been more appropriate to the occasion than 
 the verses selected by the committee for the chorus and the audience. 
 
 And nothing could have been more beautifully touching, nor fraught 
 with greater grandeur than the manner in which those two inspiring 
 verses of "America" were rendered. 
 
 Following the rendition of "Nearer, My God, to Thee," by the 
 chorus. Senator Foraker arose and advanced to the front of the stage 
 His voice was vigorous and penetrating, and every word that he uttered 
 was heard in the furthest part of the hall. 
 
 The Senator had prepared his address in manuscript form, but he 
 had to refer to the written words so seldom that it did not detract in any 
 way from, the effectiveness of his delivery. That he was much affected 
 by the occasion was manifest several times during the delivery of the 
 oration by a slight tremor in his voice — momentary, but nevertheless 
 noticeable. 
 
 Those who heard the oration believe it to be one of Senator Foraker's 
 
 greatest efforts. 
 
SENATOR FORAKER'S MEMO- 
 RIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and fellow citizens: "In the midst of life we are Id 
 
 death.'' 
 
 Kever was the truth of these words more strikingly exemplified than 
 
 by The tragedy that brings us here. 
 
 In the vigor of robust manhood; at the very height of his power? 
 in ihe possession of all his faculties; in the midst of a great work o^ 
 world-wide importance; in the enjoyment of the admiration, love and 
 affection of all classes of our people to a degree never before permitted 
 to any other man; at a time of profound peace, when nothing was occur- 
 ring to excite the passions of men; when we were engaged in a celebra- 
 tion of the triumphs of art, science, literature, commerce, civilization and 
 all that goes to make up the greatest prosperity, advancement and happi- 
 ness the world has ever known; surrounded by thousands of his country- 
 men, who were vying with each other in demonstrations of friendshif 
 and good will, the President of the United States, without a moment's 
 warning, was stricken down by an assassin, who, while greeting him with 
 one hand, shot him to death with the other. 
 
 History has no precedent for such treachery and wickedness since 
 Joab, deceitfully inquiring, "Art thou in health, my brother?" smote 
 unsuspecting Amasa in the fifth rib and "shed out his bowels to the 
 
 ground.'"' 
 
 Imagination could not well picture out a situation of greater ap- 
 parent security than that by which the President was surrounded. 
 
 But what was all life and health and happiness one moment was 
 turned to dismay, horror and death the next. Verily, 
 
 "Like a swift-fleeting meteor, a fast-fljdng cloud, 
 A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, 
 Man passes from life to his rest in the grave." 
 
 The whole world is shocked, and Americans everywhere are humil- 
 iated, dazed and plunged into unspeakable grief and sorrow. 
 
 We can scarce realize that such a crime was possible, much less that 
 it has been actually committed, and our sorrow is yet too fresh, our grief 
 too poignant and our indignation too acute for us to contemplate it dis-" 
 passionately or discuss it considerately. 
 
 But while we can not now speak becomingly of the murderer and his 
 
/ 
 
 / 
 
 WIIvIvIAM MCKINI.EY. 33 
 
 awful crime we can fittingly employ this hour to commemorate the vir- 
 tues of his victim, and to recount in part at least his great services to his 
 country. 
 
 The allotted age of man is three score years and ten, hut William! 
 
 McKinley was not yet fifty-nine when his career ended. In these short 
 years he did a Avondrous work. In its accomplishment he was unaided 
 by fortuitous circumstances. He was of humble origin and without influ- 
 ential friends except as he made them. 
 
 A SOI.DIKR. 
 
 His public service commenced in 1861, when he enlisted as a private 
 soldier in the 33d Ohio Eegiment. 
 
 Among the officers of that command were an unusual number of men 
 of ability and high character, who afterward attained great public dis- 
 tinction. 
 
 Rutherford B. Hayes, afterwards President of the United States, 
 was one of them, and Stanley Matthews, afterwards an associate justice 
 of the Supreme Court of the United States, was another. 
 
 These men were quick to note and appreciate the bright, frank, 
 genial and zealous young boy who had placed his services, and, if need be, 
 his life, at the command of his country, and it was not long until they 
 promoted him to a sergeantcy. 
 
 With responsilulity, he developed and showed competency for some- 
 thing higher. One promotion followed another, all earned by efficiency 
 and gallantry, until, at the close of the war, he was mustered out with 
 the rank of major. 
 
 IN CONGRESS. 
 
 In due time he was admitted to the bar and elected prosecuting at- 
 torney of his countv. His i)rofessional successes were of the most prom- 
 ising character, but^iust when he had begun to feel assured of distinction 
 in the practice of the law, he was again called into public service and sent 
 to Congress, where he served fourteen years with constantly increasing 
 distinction, influence and usefulness. 
 
 He represented a manufacturing district, and on this account, as well 
 as from natural taste and disposition, he gave particular attention to 
 
 economic questions. 
 
 He was a thorough protectionist of the Henry Clay school, and soon 
 became the leading advocate of that policy. 
 
 During all the years of his service in Congress the demands of our 
 
34 WILLIAM Mckinley. 
 
 home markets were far greater than our manufacturers could supply. 
 There was a constant importation from abroad to meet this deficiency. 
 
 It was his contention that our resources were practically unlimited; 
 that the employment of our labor should be diversified as much as pos- 
 sible; that wages should be higher in this country than in any other, be- 
 cause our standard of citizenship must be higher; and that, therefore, it 
 should be our aim so to legislate as to secure the development of our re- 
 sources, the multiplication of our industries, and the ever-increasing em- 
 ployment of wage earners who would make a home market for the pro- 
 ducts of the farm, to the end that we might, as quickly as possible, sup- 
 ply all our wants and thus make ourselves independent of all other 
 countries. 
 
 He contended, as did Garfield and all other orthodox tariff men, that 
 the only way to ever reach free trade, or tariff for revenue only, as tc 
 articles of our own production, without injury to the country, was through 
 the operation of the policy of protection, whereby we would, in time, reach 
 the point where, fully supplying our own demands, we could go into the 
 markets of the world to dispose of whatever surplus we might have. 
 
 As chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the House of 
 Eepresentatives, he embodied these views in a bill to revise the tariff and 
 adapt it more perfectly to the conditions then existing, which was re- 
 ported and passed, under his leadership, in 1890, after a protracted de- 
 bate in which he gained great prestige by his successful championship of 
 the measure. 
 
 THE McIvIM^KY LAW. 
 
 The act was known as the McKinley law. It went into operation just 
 prior to the elections of that year, at which time the country had not yet 
 felt its effects. 
 
 It was bitterly assailed and denounced as increasing the burdens of 
 taxation, and one provision in particular — that which, for the first time, 
 made it possible to manufacture tin plate in this country— was both de- 
 nounced and derided. 
 
 Taxation is always odious. It is easy to excite prejudice against any 
 measure that is charged with its unnecessary increase. 
 
 It requires argument and practical results to meet such charges, and 
 in this instance there was no time for either. 
 
 The result was that, aided by a congressional gerrymander, Major 
 McKiiilev, the author of one of the greatest measures of the kind ever 
 
y 
 
 WILLIAM Mckinley. 35 
 
 placed on our statute books, was defeated for re-election to that body in 
 which he had served with such patriotism and distinction. 
 
 He was not alone in his defeat. There were crushing defeats for the 
 Eepublican candidates all over the country. His measure seemed to be 
 condemned, and from every quarter there came criticisms for its author. 
 
 It was a dark hour for protection, a dark hour for the Republican 
 party, and especially a dark hour for William McKinley. It was a time 
 that would have made most men waver; but not so with him. 
 
 The defeat, so far as he was personally concerned, only brought out 
 in clearer light his strong qualities, his splendid self-control, his confi- 
 dence in his faith, and his sublime courage, ^ith which the country has 
 since become so familiar. 
 
 At the first appropriate opportunity he answered and silenced all 
 criticism, not by defending, but by aggressively resuming the advocac; 
 of his measure, and proclaiming that, in view of the debates and the re 
 suits of the law, which he could foresee, and all would soon feel, he was 
 more a protectionist than ever before. 
 
 The operation of the law quickly vindicated his judgment, and the 
 next year the rejected congressman was made governor of Ohio as a re 
 ward for his services in securing its enactment, after a spirited campaign 
 in which the chief decorations at political meetings were tin cups, tin 
 plates, tin horns, and all kinds of tinware, displayed in honor of the 
 magic-like establishment and success of the tin plate mills that marked 
 the°beginning of one of our greatest and most important industries, for 
 which we are indebted to him alone. 
 
 GOVKRXOR OF OHIO. 
 
 During the four years he held the office of governor of Ohio "the 
 stars in their courses fought for him." 
 
 The elections of 1892 resulted in the choice of a Democratic Presi- 
 dent, on a free trade platform, supported by a Democratic Senate and a 
 Democratic House of Representatives. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland had scarcely been inaugurated when there commenced 
 a most disastrous panic and business paralysis. 
 
 His partv undertook to check it and restore prosperity by repealmg 
 the McKinley law and substituting what is popularly kno^vn as the Wil- 
 son-Gorman act, but this seemed to make matters worse rather than bet- 
 ter and the hard times continued without abatement or mteriaption. ^ 
 ' By the time 1896 was reached the question uppermost m every man s 
 
36 WILLIAM Mckinley. 
 
 mind was. How could prosperity be restored? 
 
 The Democrats said by free silver; the Eepiiblicans said by a return 
 to the policy of the McKinley law. 
 
 That settled the issues and determined the candidates. 
 
 Long before the T^^ational Eepublican Convention met in St. Louis it 
 was knoM^n who would be its nominee. 
 
 That body only registered what had already been decreed. 
 
 PRESlDENTlAIi CANDIDATE. 
 
 The canvass that followed was one of the most exciting, most closely 
 contested and most highly educational ^the country has ever known. 
 
 From the hour of his nomination until the hour of his victory, Gov- 
 ernor McTvinley bore the most conspicuous part. 
 
 His home at Canton was the daily scene of assembled thousands who 
 came from all parts of the country to see their candidate and pledge him 
 their devoted support. 
 
 To the visiting clubs and delegates he was almost constantly speak- 
 ing. His addresses were marvels of clear and elegant expression; no two 
 were alike; every one had some new thought, and all were helpful to his 
 cause. Not an unwise word was spoken. 
 
 The reserve force, the sound judgment and the rare versatility he dis- 
 played gave the country an enlarged conception of his intellectual stature 
 and gave him that control and leadership of his party so essential to the 
 success of a national administration. 
 
 AS PRESIDENT, 
 
 'I'he whole country realized that he was fitted for this great office, and 
 that under his guidance we would be led by a master hand. 
 
 Expectation was justified. 
 
 His first official act was to convene the Congress in extraordinary 
 session. In the usual way, he submitted his recommendations. They 
 were promptly accepted and enacted into law. Instantly the spell of 
 stagnation was broken; confidence returned; business revived and the 
 country entered upon an era of prosperity without a precedent in the his- 
 tory of this or any other nation. 
 
 If this had been the full measure of his work it would have been suf- 
 ficient to have endeared him to all the people and to have ranked him as 
 one of our greatest and most successful Presidents; but it was only the 
 beginning, only, one chapter of a whole volume of mighty history. 
 
 His fame will be chieflv associated with his conduct of the Spanish- 
 
'WIIvIvlAM McKINLEY. 37 
 
 American war, the freedom of Cuba, the acquisition of our insular terri- 
 tories and the solution of the many difficult and far-reaching problems 
 arising therefrom. 
 
 He did not seek war; on the contrary, he did all he could do honora- 
 bly to avert it; but when it came he did not shrink from its requirements. 
 
 He met them \sdth a purpose unselfishly consecrated to the honor and 
 glory of the republic. 
 
 He was in reality, as in name, the commander-in-chief of the army 
 and the navy of the United States. 
 
 He marshaled our forces on land and on sea and struck quick and 
 hard and everywhere. 
 
 Not a regiment was organized, not a ship was put in commission, not 
 a movement was made, not a battle was fought except with his personal 
 knowledge, approval and direction. 
 
 The unbroken series of victories that crowned our arms and glori- 
 fied our flag were his as well as those of our gallant soldiers and sailors. 
 
 There has been much acrimonious debate concerning the acquisition 
 of the Philippines and the policy he has pursued there. 
 
 This can not be reviewed without trenching upon what have become 
 partisan political questions, which some might object to the discussion 
 of on this non-partisan occasion; but it can be said, without offending the 
 reasonable sensibilities of any, that in it all he acted only from a sense of 
 duty and according to his convictions of right and the obligations and 
 interests of his country. 
 
 He died proud of his work in that respect, and in the just expecta- 
 tion that time will vindicate his wisdom, his purpose and his labors— and 
 
 it will. 
 
 What he was not permitted to finish will be taken up by other hands, 
 and, when the complete, crowning triumph comes, it will rest upon the 
 foundations he has laid. 
 
 His great loss to the country will not be in connection with policies 
 now in process of solution, but rather in connection with new questions 
 What he has marked out and put the impress of his great name upon will 
 receive the unquestioned support of his own party and the great majority 
 of the American people. 
 
 He had so gained the confidence of his followers and the whole coun- 
 try in his leadership that practically all different^es of opinion on new 
 propositions would have yielded to his judgment. 
 
38 WILLIAM Mckinley. 
 
 HIS I^^ST SPEECH. 
 
 The progress of events will not stop. 
 
 "Unsolved problems have no respect for the repose of nations." 
 
 New questions will arise — are arising — have arisen. 
 
 With his calm, clear judgment and foresight, he saAv and appreci- 
 ated all this. His last speech was a testimonial to this fact. It was in 
 many respects the ablest, the most thoughtful and the most statesman- 
 like utterance he ever made. It was the triumphant sequel to his long 
 years of sturdy battle for a protective tariff: a complete vindication of all 
 his predictions in that behalf, and, at the same time, a fitting farewell to 
 the American people whom he had served so well. 
 
 Who can exaggerate the gratification he must have experienced in 
 pointing out the immeasurable prosperity that has resulted from the ener- 
 gizing effects of the policies he had done so much to sustain? 
 
 Dwelling upon the fact that we had now reached a point in the devel- 
 opment of our industries where we are not only able to supply our home 
 markets, but are producing a large and constantly increasing surplus, for 
 which we must find markets abroad, he reminded us that if we would se- 
 cure these markets and continue these happy conditions we must not only 
 maintain cordial relations with other nations, but must establish suc''- 
 reciprocal relations of trade as will enable them to sell as well as to buy, 
 and that in this great work we should utilize the protective element of 
 existing duties where it is no longer needed for purposes of protection. 
 
 Over the details there will doubtless be differences of opinion, but as 
 to the general proposition, his words will live after him to speak with de- 
 cisive authority. 
 
 Such is a brief epitome, imperfectly stated, of only some of the great 
 public services of this great son of our great state. 
 
 But he no longer belongs to us alone. We long ago gave him to the 
 nation, and the nation has given him to the world. 
 
 There is no place in all Christendom where his name is not spoken 
 with admiration and cherished with affection. 
 
 The whole world mourns with us and pays tribute to his memory; 
 not because of his public services, for they were rendered for America, 
 but for the gentleness of his nature and the nobility of his character. In 
 these respects he is without a rival since Sir Philip Sidney. 
 
 , HIS PERSONALITY. 
 
 He was of splendid presence, of pleasing personality and of polished 
 
WILLIAM Mckinley. 39 
 
 and graceful address. There was no court in Europe where his manner 
 and deportment would not have commanded the highest respect, and yet 
 it was all so natural and free from simulation or affectation that he was 
 always, without any sacrifice of dignity or change of manner, familiarly 
 at home with Abraham Lincoln's common people of America. 
 
 He loved his countrymen and was never so happy as when in their 
 midst. From them he constantly gathered suggestions and ideas and wis- 
 dom. The cares of state were never so exacting that he could not give 
 consideration to the humblest, and his mind was never so troubled that 
 his heart was not full of mercy. 
 
 HIS ORATORY. 
 
 As a public speaker he had few equals. His voice was of pleasing 
 tone and unusual carrying power. He had it under complete control. He 
 ciould adapt it perfectly to any audience or any subject. It was always in 
 tune with the occasion. From one end of the land to the other he was 
 constantly in demand for public addresses. He responded to more such 
 calls probably than any other orator of his time. Most of his speeches 
 were of a political character, yet he made many addresses on other sub- 
 jects; but no matter when or where or on what' subject he spoke, he never 
 dealt in offensive personalities. He drove home his points and routed his 
 antagonist with merciless logic, but never in any other way wounded his 
 sensibilities. 
 
 MRS. M'KINLEY. 
 
 The remarkable tale is not all told. 
 
 No language can adequately tell of his devoted love and tender affec- 
 tion for the invalid partner of all his joys and sorrows. 
 
 Amidst his many honors and trying duties, she ever reigned supreme 
 in his affections. 
 
 The story of this love has gone to the ends of the earth, and is writ- 
 ten in the hearts of all mankind everywhere. It is full of tenderness, full 
 of pathos, and full of honor. 
 
 It will be repeated and cherished as long as the name of AVilliam Mc- 
 Kinley shall live. 
 
 It was these great qualities of the heart that gave him the place he 
 holds in the affections of other peoples. They claim him for humanity's 
 sake, because they find in him an expression of their highest aspiration. 
 
 By common consent, he honored the whole human race, and all the 
 race will honor him. 
 
40 WILLIAM Mckinley. 
 
 HIS REMGIOIJS CHARACTER. 
 
 Bill he was more than gentle. 
 
 He was thoroughly religious, and too religious to be guilty of any 
 bigotry. 
 
 His broad, comprehensive views of man and his duty in his rela- 
 tions to God enabled him to have charity and respect for all who differed 
 from his belief. 
 
 His faith solaced him in life, and did not fail him when the supreme 
 test came. 
 
 When he realized the work of the assassin, his first utterance was a 
 prayer that God would forgive the crime. 
 
 As he surrendered himself to unconsciousness, from which he might 
 never awake, that surgery could do its work, he gently breathed the 
 Lord's Prayer, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done." 
 
 And when the dread hour of dissolution overtook him and the last 
 touching farewell had been spoken, he sank to rest murmuring, "Nearer, 
 My God, to Thee." 
 
 This was his last triumph, and his greatest. His whole life was given 
 to humanity, but in his death we find his most priceless legacy. 
 
 The touching story of that death-bed scene will rest on generations 
 yet unborn like a soothing benediction. 
 
 Such Christian fortitude and resignation give us a clearer conception 
 of what was in the apostle's mind when he exclaimed, "0 death, where is 
 thy sting? grave, where is thy victory?" — Cincinnati Commercial 
 Tribune, September 20, 1901. 
 
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