Lin,










McKINLEY IN THE LIBRARY AT THE WHITE HOUSE.
Reproduced by courtesy of Collier's Weekly.




WILLIAM
MCKINL EY
A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY
f    By
Af" ELWOOD CORNING
I
JWith Introductory Address
by President Roosevelt
Illus rated
BROAD T iAY PUBLISHING CO..NE1 YORK


1907, _ _. __.._._




Copyr.ight, j9o7
A\. LWooiL C:ORI~NG




WILLIAM   McKINLEY
A
BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY








TO
MY MOTHER








We dwell on his statesmanship with pride,
We love, of his life, its Christ-like side.
His trusting faith in the All-Wise One,
"It is God's way; His will be done."
His loving care of his faihtful wife,
Ev'ry day of a busy life;
His thoughtful word for the deadly foe,
"Let no one harm him." Aye, we know
He must have sat at the Masters feet,
To speak forgiveness so complete.
"Nearer, my God, to Thee," his prayer,
"E'en though it be a cross," to bear.
Comforting words for the faithful heart
Who knew the hour had come to part.
The "good-bye, all" at life's ebbing tide,
A message to our nation wide;
No one forgotten-his great heart knew
The grief his people must pass through.
With sorrowing hearts we kneel and pray,
"God's will be done, not ours," alway.
We dwell on his statesmanship with pride,
We love, of his life, its Christ-like side.
M. WINCHESTER ADAMS.








INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS
by
President Roosevelt
As delivered at Canton, Ohio
in 1903








WilliWm         ~iEnLt*
AN ADDRESS
BY
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT.
Throughout our history, and, indeed, throughout history
generally, it has been given to only a very few thrice-favored
men to take so marked a lead in the crises faced by their
several generations that thereafter each stands as the embodiment of the triumphant effort of his generation. President McKinley was one of these men.
If during the lifetime of a generation no crisis occurs
sufficient to call out in marked manner the energies of the
strongest leader, then, of course, the world does not and can
not know of the existence of such a leader; and in consequence there are long periods in the history of every nation
during which no man appears who leaves an indelible mark
in history. If, on the other hand, the crisis is one so manysided as to call for the development and exercise of many
distinct attributes, it may be that more than one man will
appear in order that the requirements shall be fully met. In
the Revolution and in the period of constructive statesmanship immediately following it, for our good fortune it befell




INTRODUCTION


us that the highest military and the highest civic attributes
were embodied in Washington, and so in him we have one
of the undying men of history-a great soldier; if possible,
an even greater statesman, and, above all, a public servant
whose lofty and disinterested patriotism rendered his power
and ability-alike on fought fields and in council chambers
-of the most far-reaching service to the republic. In the
Civil War the two functions were divided, and Lincoln and
Grant will stand forevermore with their names inscribed on
the honor roll of those who have deserved well of mankind
by saving to humanity a precious heritage. In similar fashion
Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson each stands as the
foremost representative of the great movement of his generation, and their names symbolize to us their times and the
hopes and aspirations of their times.
It was given to President McKinley to take the foremost
place in our political life at a time when our country was
brought face to face with problems more momentous than
any whose solution we have ever attempted, save only in the
Revolution and in the Civil War; and it was under his leadership that the nation solved these mighty problems aright.
Therefore he shall stand in the eyes of history not merely
as the first man of his generation, but as among the greatest
figures in our national life, coming second only to the men
of the two great crises in which the Union was founded and
preserved.
No man could carry through successfully such a task as
President McKinley undertook unless trained by long years
of effort for its performance.  Knowledge of his fellowcitizens, ability to understand them, keen sympathy with even
their innermost feelings, and yet power to lead them, together with far-sighted sagacity and resolute belief both in
the people and in their future-all these were needed in the
man who headed the march of our people during the event



II


11


Reproduced from photo courteously loaned by H    Van Buren Magonigle, N   Y




INTRODUCTION


i..
iin


ful years from I896 to IgoI. These were the qualities possessed by McKinley, and developed by him throughout his
whole history previous to assuming the Presidency. As a
lad he had the inestimable privilege of serving, first in the
ranks, and then as a commissioned officer, in the great war
for national union, righteousness and grandeur; he was one
of those whom a kindly Providence permitted to take part
in a struggle which ennobled every man who fought therein.
He who when little more than a boy had seen the grim
steadfastness which after four years of giant struggle restored the Union and freed the slave was not thereafter to
be daunted by danger or frightened out of his belief in the
great destiny of our people.
Some years after the war closed McKinley came to Congress, and rose, during a succession of terms, to leadership
in his party in the lower house. He also became Governor
of his native State, Ohio.  During this varied service he
received practical training of the kind most valuable to him
when he became Chief Executive of the nation. To the high
faith of his early years was added the capacity to realize his
ideals, to work with his fellow-men at the same time that he
led them.
President McKinley's rise to greatness had in it nothing
of the sudden, nothing of the unexpected or seemingly accidental. Throughout his long term of service in Congress
there was a steady increase alike in his power of leadership
and in the recognition of that power both by his associates in
public life and by the public itself. Session after session his
influence?n the House grew greater; his party antagonists
grew to look upon him with constantly increasing respect;
his party friends with constantly increasing faith and admiration. Eight years before he was nominated for President he
was already considered a Presidential possibility.  Four
years before he was nominated only his own high sense of




IY                  INTRODUCTION
honor prevented his being made a formidable competitor of
the chief upon whom the choice of the convention then actually fell. In I896 he was chosen because the great mass of
his party knew him and believed in him, and regarded him
as symbolizing their ideals, as representing their aspirations.
In estimating the forces which brought about his nomination
and election I do not undervalue that devoted personal friendship which he had the faculty to inspire in so marked a degree among the ablest and most influential leaders; this leadership was of immense consequence in bringing about the
result; but, after all, the prime factor was the trust in and
devotion to him felt by the great mass of men who had come
to accept him as their recognized spokesman. In his nomination the national convention of a great party carried into
effect in good faith the deliberate judgment of that party as
to who its candidate should be.
But even as a candidate President McKinley was far
more than the candidate of a party, and as President he was
in the broadest and fullest sense the President of all the
people of all sections of the country.
His first nomination came to him because of the qualities
he had shown in healthy and open political leadership, the
leadership which by word and deed impresses itself as a
virile force for good upon the people at large, and which has
nothing in common with mere intrigue or manipulation. But
in 1896 the issue was fairly joined, chiefly upon a question
which, as a party question, was entirely new, so that the old
lines of political cleavage were in large part abandoned. All
other issues sank in importance when compared with the
vital need of keeping our financial system on the high and
honorable plane imperatively demanded by our position as
a great civilized power. As the champion of such a principle
President McKinley received the support not only of his own
party, but of hundreds of thousands of those to whom he had




INTRODUCTION                     x
been politically opposed. He triumphed, and he made good
with scrupulous fidelity the promises upon which the campaign was won. We were at the time in a period of great
industrial depression, and it was promised for and on behalf
of McKinley that if he were elected our financial system
should not only be preserved unharmed, but improved, and
our economic system shaped in accordance with those theories which have always marked our periods of greatest prosperity. The promises were kept, and following their keeping
came the prosperity which we now enjoy. All that was foretold concerning the well-being wvhjic- would follow the election of McKinley has been justified by the event.
But, as so often happens in our history, the President was
forced to face questions other than those at issue at the time
of his election. Within a year the situation in Cuba had become literally intolerable. President McKinley had fought
too well in his youth, he knew too well at first hand what
war really was, lightly to enter into a struggle. He sought
by every honorable means to preserve peace, to avert war.
He made every effort consistent with the national honor to
bring about an amicable settlement of the Cuban difficulty.
Then, when it became evident that these efforts were useless,
that peace could not be honorably entertained, he devoted
his strength to making the war as short and as decisive as possible. It is needless to tell the result in detail. Suffice it
to say that rarely indeed in history has a contest so farreaching in the importance of its outcome been achieved
with such ease. There followed a harder task. As a result
of the war we came into possession of Cuba, Porto Rico and
the Philippines. In each island the conditons were such that
we had to face problems entirely new to our national experience, and, moreover, in each island or group of islands the
problems differed radically from those presented in the
others.  In Porto Rico the task was simple.  The island




I             INTRODUCTION
could not be independent. It became in all essentials a part
of the Union. It has been given all the benefits of our economic and financial system. Its inhabitants have been given
the highest individual liberty, while yet their government has
been kept under the supervision of officials so well chosen
that the island can be appealed to as affording a model for
all such experiments in the future; and this result was mainly owing to the admirable choice of instruments by President
McKinley when he selected the governing officials.
In Cu:ba, where we were pledged to give the island independence, the pledge ws -kept, not merely in letter, but in
spirit. It would have been a betrayal of our duty to have
given Cuba independence out of hand. President McKinley,
with his usual singular sagacity in the choice of agents, selected in General Leonard Wood the man of all others best
fit to bring the island through its uncertain period of preparation for independence, and the result of his wisdom was
shown when last May the island became in name and in fact
a free republic, for it started with a better equipment and
under more favorable conditions than had ever previously
been the case with any Spanish-American commonwealth.
Finally, in the Philippines, the problem was one of great
complexity. There was an insurrectionary party claiming to
represent the people of the islands, and putting forth their
claim with a certain speciousness which deceived no small
number of excellent men here at home, and which afforded
to yet others a chance to arouse a factious party spirit against
the President. Of course, looking back, it is now easy to see
that it would have been both absurd and wicked to abandon
the Philippine Archipelago and let the scores of different
tribes-Christian, Mahometan and pagan, in every stage of
semi-civilization and Asiatic barbarism-turn the islands into
a welter of bloody savagery, with the absolute certainty that
some strong power would have to step in and take posses



INTRODUCTION


Vll


sion. But though now it is easy enough to see that our duty
was to stay in the islands, to put down the insurrection by
force of arms, and then to establish freedom, giving civil
government, it needed genuine statesmanship to see this and
to act accordingly at the time of the first revolt.
A weaker and less far-sighted man than President McKinley would have shrunk from a task very difficult in itself
and certain to furnish occasion for attack and misrepresentation no less than for honest understanding. But President
McKinley never flinched. He refused to consider the thought
of abandoning our duty in our new possessions. While sedulously endeavoring to act with the utmost humanity toward
the insurrectionists, he never faltered in the determination
to put them down by force of arms, alike for the sake of our
own interest and honor, and for the sake of the interest of
the island-,,, and particularly of the great numbers of friendly natives, including those most highly civilized, for whom
abandonment by us would have meant ruin and death. Again
his policy was most amply vindicated. Peace has come to
the islands, together with a greater measure of individual liberty and self-government than they have ever before known.
All the tasks set us as a result of the war with Spain have
so far been well and honorably accomplished, and as a result
this nation stands higher than ever before among the nations
of mankind.
President McKinley's second campaign was fought mainly
on the issue of approving what he had done in his first administration, and specifically what he had done as regards these
problems springing out of the war with, Spain. The result
was that the popular verdict in his favor was more overwhelming than it had been before.
-No other President in our history has seen high and honorable effort crowned with more conspicuous personal success.
No other President entered upon his second term feeling such




Vill               INTRODUCTION
right to a profound and peaceful satisfaction.  Then by a
stroke of horror, so strange in its fantastic iniquity as to stand
unique in the black annals of crime, he was struck down.
The brave, strong, gentle heart was stilled forever, and word
was brought to the woman who wept that she was to walk
thenceforth alone in the shadow. The hideous infamy of the
deed shocked the nation to its depths, for the man thus struck
at was in a peculiar sense the champion of the plain people,
in a peculiar sense the representative and the exponent of
those ideals which, if we live up to them, will make, as they
have largely made, our country a blessed refuge for all who
strive to do right and to live their lives simply and well as
light is given them. The nation was stunned, and the people
mourned with a sense of bitter bereavement because they had
lost a man whose heart beat for them as the heart of Lincoln
once had beaten. We did right to mourn; for the loss was
ours,, not his. He died in the golden fulness of his triumph.
He died victorious in that highest of all kinds of strifethe strife for an ampler, juster and more generous national
life. For him the laurel; but woe for those whom he left
behind; woe to the nation that lost him; and woe to mankind that there should exist creatures so foul that one among
them should strike at so noble a life.
We are gathered together to-night to recall his memory,
to pay our tribute of respect to the great chief and leader
who fell in the harness, who was stricken down while his eyes
were bright with "the light that tells of triumph tasted." We
can honor him best by the way we show in actual deed that
we have taken to heart the lessons of his life. We must
strive to achieve, each in the measure that he can, something
of the qualities which made President McKinley a leader of
men, a mighty power for good-his strength, his courage, his
courtesy and dignity, his sense of justice, his ever-present
kindliness and regard for the rights of others. He won great



INTRODUCTION                    ix
ness by meeting and solving the issues as they arose-not
by shirking them-meeting them with wisdom, with the exercise of the most skilful and cautious judgment, but with fearless resolution when the time of crisis came. He met each
crisis on its own merits; he never sought excuse for shirking
a task in the fact that it was different from the one he had
expected to face. The long public career, which opened when
as a boy he carried a musket in the ranks and closed when
as a man in the prime of his intellectual strength he stood
among the world's chief statesmen, came to what it was because he treated each triumph as opening the road to fresh
effort, not as an excuse for ceasing from effort. He undertook mighty tasks. Some of them he finished completely;
others we must finish; and there remain yet others which he
did not have to face, but which if we are 'worthy to be the inheritors of his principles, we will in our turn face with the
same- resolution, the same sanity, the same unfaltering belief
in the greatness of this country, and unfaltering championship
of the rights of each and all of our people, which marked
his high and splendid career,








CHAPTERS
x. Family Relations, Boyhood and Education'.... I
2. A Soldier and His War Record.............. 20
3. Lawyer and Officeholder..................... 52
4. An Orator and His Speeches................ 78
5. A   President and His Cabinet............... Iog
6. McKinley in the Home and as Commanderin-Chief............................  133
7. McKinley's Diplomacy, Morals and Religion.. I60








LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
McKinley in the White House Library....
Frontispiece
PAGE
Birthplace.............................  10
McKinley at the Age of Fifteen........... I8
McKinley in Fraternity Costume.......... 36
McKinley in His Library, Canton, Ohio.... 66
A  Characteristic  Pose....................  84
McKinley Delivering His First Inaugural
Speech............................  0o6
The  W ar  Cabinet.......................  Io
Home of McKinley, Canton, Ohio......... I34
Katie McKinley, the President's Daughter.. I38
McKinley on the Famous Front Porch..... 46
Temporary Tomb of McKinley, Canton,
Ohio............................. 172
Interior View First M. E. Church, Canton,
Ohio............................. I80
McKinley National Memorial, Canton, Ohio 184








WILLIAM McKINLEY,
A
BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY,








WILLIAM McKINLEY
A Biographical Study
CHAPTER I
FAMILY RELATIONS, BOYHOOD AND EDUCATION
N an address delivered before the Phillips
Exeter Academy, in I893, Phillips Brooks
said: "Since the noblest life on earth
is always human life, the literature which
deals with human life must always be the noblest literature. And since the individual human life must always have a distinctness and
interest which cannot belong to any of the
groups of human lives, biography must always
have a charm which no other kind of history
can rival. I believe fully that the intrinsic
life of any human being is so interesting that
if it can be simply and sympathetically put in
words, it will be legitimately interesting to
other men."
The scope and aim of this biography is a




*2


William McKinley


portrayal of William McKinley, not so much
in an historical sense as in that of his personality. I will not try to be conventional. I aim
to sketch the man as he really was; what he
was among his friends; what he was in the
hours of work as well as in the hours of leisure; what he said himself and what his close
associates said of him.  In short, I aim to
speak the truth, while endeavoring to bring
in important events and throw sidelights on
his character that may be interesting, without
giving a complete and connected biography of
the man.
No one is more cognizant than the author
of the fact that the time has not come to judge
impartially and accurately the acts of William
McKinley as a statesman. The main details
of his career have been rehearsed so often that
they are familiarly known to the reading public, but as to the meaning and significance of
his life we do not know where history will
place him. We are too near his time to rightly determine his full stature.  But it is believed that with the passing seasons, when the
secret workings of his life have been revealed,
that his memory will shine with brighter lustre
and his fame will be more radiant than during
the years he dwelt among us. This biography
then is not only a series of sketches, but an appreciation of the character of William McKinley. What we say, then, of his character and




'A Biographical Study


3


his kindness of heart we say without fear of
challenge.
Fie  men have been so universally beloved
as was William McKinley.   Senator George
F. Hoar, of Massachusetts, a man who differed
with McKinley as to his Philippine policy, said
in his autobiography that "No man has lived
in this country since Daniel Webster died, save
McKinley alone, who had so large a number
of devoted friends and admirers in all parts of
the country."
McKinle ya     l     Uian ta^      and.3.s
uniformlJyf wjris.aJuer. But it can be said
with deliberate judgment that the most striking feature of his whole life was his warm,
genial and generous nature. The last word
can never be said, wrote a well-known writer,
of such a man. To know William McKinley
was to love him. His influence in both public
and private life was of the loftiest and -mostbenignant sort.
Every nation and clime produce characters
which cannot perish from human memory.
They inbreed within the soul of man, passions
of love, honor and fidelity. They command
our respect and admiration. We look upon
them with a source of joy and pride, when we
note what they were and what they accomplished for the good of humanity. They incarnated the spirit of the times in which they
lived, and they were the embodiment of the




4


William McKintley


mental and moral forces of their period. Such
was Washington at the beginning of American
history. Such was Lincoln during the greatest crisis which ever befell our country. And
such was McKinley during the third period of
moment in the history of our nation.
McKinley's rise from obscurity to fame and
power was no strange coincidence. The history of America since her inception has been
full of such records.  McKinley's was only
one of the many. We have our Lincolns, our
Garfields, our Greeleys.
The successes of McKinley's life, gained during hard years of unceasing toil, were steps of
evolution. Like Abraham Lincoln, the higher
he rose the more modest, the more serene, the
more gentle and the more kindly in his dealings with his fellow-men he became.  Thus,
when he assumed the Presidency, he was equal
to all the cares and responsibilities that the high
office embodied.  He had the advantage,of
good blood; for his ancestors were sturdy,. industrious, high-minded, public-spirited and frugal. They did not belong to the royal class of
Scotland, but were of a more substantial type,
which eschewed that land and sought a larger
freedom in the New World. Owing to some,
of the inaccurate data which has been published
concerning President McKinley's genealogy, I
will quote from a sketch, which may be relied




'A Biographical Study


5


upon as being correct, prepared by the Rev. A.
Stapleton.
"The ancestors of President McKinley belonged to that sturdy race of people called the
Scotch-Irish, so called because in I607 King
James I. located a large number of Scots in the
northern part of Ireland on lands from which
the Irish had been evicted. These settlements
were gradually augmented by immigration until eventually the Scotch-Irish element predominated in this region. They were stanch Presbyterians in faith, and in course of time developed traits and peculiarities so marked as to
stamp them as almost a distinct race.   In
course of time this noble people were overtaken
by many hardships, such as the successive failure of crops, besides very unsatisfactory civil
and religious conditions. Their only source
of relief was in emigration to America, in
which they were encouraged by agents of the
American colonies.  After 1715 the emigration became very extensive, the chief port of
arrival being New Castle, on the Delaware, below  Philadelphia.  The Scotch-Irish being
citizens of the British realm, their arrival is
not a matter of record, that of the Germans,
Swiss, Dutch, etc., who are designated as foreigners in the colonial records, and were required to subscribe to an oath of allegiance
upon arrival, besides a subsequent naturalization.  Hence it follows that citizens of the




8


William McKinley


realm are more difficult to identify than foreigners by the historian. Our only recourse
is in tax lists, land warrants, court records, etc.
"In the case of President McKinley we have
an undisputed record to his great-grandfather,
David McKinley. We know that he was a
Revolutionary soldier, that he was born in
York County, Pa., that he removed to Westmoreland County after the Revolution, and in
1814 to Ohio, where he died. In the cemetery of the Chatfield Lutheran Church, in
Crawford County, Ohio, may be seen two
modest granite markers with the following inscription:
"'David McKinley, Revolutionary soldier,
born, I755; died, I840, and Hannah C. Rose,
born, 1757; died, I840.'
"David McKinley was the father of James,
born September I9, I783; married Mary Rose,
of Mercer County, Pa., and removed thence to
Chatfield, where he purchased a farm, on
which he died. He was the father of William
McKinley, Sr., born in I807, and died in Canton, Ohio, in 1892. The latter was the father
of President McKinley.  Hannah C. Rose,
buried by the side of David McKinley, was the
great-grandmother of the President.
"For the history of the family prior to David, the soldier, we must rely on the courthouse records at Lancaster, and York, Pa.
From various documents and entries we think




Xi Biographical Study


7


the evidence incontrovertible that David McKinley, the head of the clan McKinley in
America, landed at New Castle, and located in
(now) Chanceford Township, York County,
Pa., in 1743. At that time he was well along in
life. He was accompanied by his wife, Esther,
and three sons, John, David, Stephen and a
daughter, Mary. There are frequent references
to these sons in the county archives. The immigrant was a weaver by trade, but, like all
thrifty artisans of that day, he secured a good
homestead. It is possible, but not probable,
that he arrived in the province earlier than
1743, but in this year his name first appeared
on the records in a warrant for 316 acres of
land on a beautiful elevation, overlooking the
Susquehanna River in the distance.
"That he was a man of enterprise is shown
in the fact that in 1749 he circulated a petition
for a public highway, which he also presented
to Court. The following year he was made
supervisor, and doubtless had the task imposed
on himself to engineer his road to completion.
His name occurs frequently in the most honorable way, showing him to have been a man of
unusual probity and worth as a citizen.
"David McKinley, the immigrant, died intestate in 1757, leaving his wife and children
as already named. His daughter was intermarried with Samuel Gordon. The settlement
of the estate shows personal prosperity to the




8


~WilliamM~ McKinley


value of ~220, or $I,Ioo, besides the plantation, which was divided. Later, however, the
son John (who, with his mother, was the executor) purchased the entire estate.
"This leads us to the consideration of the
second generation, viz., John McKinley, eldest
son of the immigrant. Before entering upon
details, we here throw out the precautionary
statement that the names McKinley and McGinley are both contemporaneous and interchangeable in our early records, owing to the
carelessness of scribes. They were, however,
separate families in York County. The McGinleys proper came from James McGinley,
who died in York County in 1755, leaving an
only son, John. No relationship is known to
have existed between the families, although
remotely it might have been the case.  The
President's ancestors, so far as we have ascertained, always wrote their name as now.
"Resuming our narrative of the McKinleys;
John, son of the immigrant, was born about
1728, and in his day was one of the foremost
men of York County.    He became a large
land-owner, and frequently figures in important business transactions.  When hostilities
broke out with the Mother Country he stanchly
supported the revolution, and was made Wagon Master for Chanceford Township by the
Committee of Safety. He died on his estate
February I8, I779, being survived by his




'A Biographical Study


9


widow, Margaret, an only son, David, greatgrandfather of the President, and daughters,
Esther, Jean, Elizabeth and Susan. The
widow subsequently married Thomas McCulloch. She died in the winter of I78I.
"This leads us down to David McKinley,
grandson of the emigrant and great-grandfather of the President. He was born on the
old homestead in Chancefield Township, May
I6, I755. In 1776 he enlisted in Captain
Reed's Company of Ferrymen in the War of
the Revolution. This was the Seventh Company of the Eighth Battalion of York County
Militia. The Militia-men, it should be remembered, were called out in emergencies, and were
drafted in sections for active service, making
what were then called tours of service. In this
way nearly all the Militia of Pennsylvania saw
many tours of service, much hard fighting and
the most perilous kind of military life."
This David McKinley, who was a Revolutionary soldier, was not a distinguished officer,
but came from that grand class of privates.
On the President's grandmother's side he came
from equally good stock. Mary Rose, who
married James McKinley, the second, came
from Holland, where her ancestors had fled
from religious persecution in England. Andrew Rose was the first to see these shores.
He came over with William Penn, and became
one of the representatives of the thirteen Colo



o10


William McKinley


nies prior to the Revolutionary War. His son,
Andrew, was the father of Mary Rose, the
mother of William McKinley, the. father of
the President.
In the year 1829, at New Lisbon, Ohio, William McKinley, Sr., married Nancy Campbell
Allison, whose descendants came from England and settled in Virginia.  Mrs. William
McKinley, Sr.'s, branch, however, emigrated
to Pennsylvania.  Her grandfather not only
fought in the American Revolution, but made
bullets and cannon. William McKinley, Sr.,
took his wife to the small town of Fairfield,
Ohio, in order that he might be near his iron
foundry, located in New Wilmington.  For
nearly twenty years he was engaged in this
business. From Fairfield they moved to Niles,
Trumbull County, another small town. In this
town, in a plain, wooden dwelling, close to the
road, adjourning a field, as it has been described, the WILLIAM MCKINLEY was born
on January 29, I843.   His birthplace was
standing until the year 1895, although previous to that period the ground floor had been
converted into a store. In I896, when McKinley was running for the Presidency, the
house was divided and part of it removed.
Some of the wood of the building at this time
was made into canes and used in the campaign
for parade purposes.
William was the seventh child, and after him




Indiscriminatingly..........








A Biographical Study


{I It


came a boy and a girl. His parents were not
what would be called well-to-do people, but
they were by no mears as pobr,as Lincoln's
family. In his youth the boy William was a
mnanly little fellow. He possessed pluck, determination and wvll power, and; it is said,
used them right.  Although inclined to be
studious and thoughtful; he was.a-real -boy,
nevertheless, enjoyed skating, fishing and
sports of all kinds. As to his skating, an old
chum has said: "He couldn't do much at fancy figures, but he could beat lots of the boys
when it come to a straight-out race.  He'd
swing along like a steam engine, often with'a
stick in both hands and tippet flying from
around his neck and under his arms."
William was very popular with the rest of
the boys; they liked him and sought his companionship.
A story is told of his fishing that shows his
patience. It is said that he would sit for hours
waiting for a bite. One day he came home
after dark, and his mother inquired where he
had been. "I was fishing, mother," he replied.
"Fishing?" said his mother. "I don't see
any fish."
"I didn't catch any to-day..But I located
a big fellow, and I'll get him to-morrow."
McKinley was -blessed with a good, Christian mother. She was a hard worker, but' she
found time to help her children develop noble




12


Williamz McKinzley


characteristics and teach them to be thoughtful
for others.  Thn his early days we find him
leading the same kind of a life as the boys of
his neighborhood. He said of himself on one
occasion that "he did anything a boy would do
around the house; that money was very-scarce;
and on, had to w6rk hard for what little money
one had."
A gentleman well acquainted with the family said, in speaking of McKinley's boyhood
days: "I can still see him in my mind's eye,
the bright little chap in swaddling clothes that
I used to give hobby-horse rides on my knee.
Little Willie was an exceptionally bright child,
and I always predicted great things for him,
but little did I then dream that he would become the Chief Magistrate of the greatest government on earth. I never heard him say an
unkind word to his parents. He was a good
boy to his mother."
And this statement is borne out by the words
of his own mother when her son became President. "William was always a good' boy. I
could always depend upon him.  He never
gave me a cross word, and I don't believe he
ever told me a lie. I'm glad that he is President, for his sake, even though I did used to
think he'd make a fine minister."
On the day of his inauguration no one was
happier than the little mother who had come
on from Canton to see her son made President




A Biographical Study


I3


of the United States. As McKinley took the
oath of office the tears that fell from her eyes
were tears of pride and joy.
She remained a short time at the White
House, and then went back to her modest little
home in Ohio. Every day she received a letter from "my William," as she called him, and
her only regret was that her husband had not
lived to see their son made President.
During the days of stress and worry and responsibility these letters never failed to go
from the White House to the little woman in
Canton, but one day came when the President
was summoned to the bedside of his dying
mother. There he sat, hour after hour, until
the end came, on December I2th, I897. He
and his brother Abner made the arrangements
for the funeral, and then, after all was over,
he returned to Washington, a sad and heavyhearted man. When he was running for the
Presidency he once granted an interview to a
youth, who asked: "Can a boy neglect his
mother and get along and be great, Mr. McKinley?"  "Harry," said the President-elect,
"a boy should always be good to his mother,
and do everything in the world he can and love
her. He must comfort her, be kind and gentle
to her, and not only do all he can to make her
happy, but he should make opportunities to
try and do everything he can do. A boy cannot expect to succeed if he isn't good to his




I4


William McKinley


mother. A boy should do all the work for her,
because when the time comes that she has got
to leave for a greater world than this, and if
he has done what is right towards her, all the
time, then when the time comes for her to go
he will never regret the good he has done
towards her."
William McKinley learned to read at an
early age. He was taught by his older sisters and brothers before he went to school.
At the age of six he was sent to the village
school at Niles. Here he was instructed in the
first rudiments of education. The father wishing to provide the best training for his children, decided that Niles was too small a place;
that it was deficient in many ways. He therefore moved his family to Poland when William
was nine years old. This town was an agricultural and mining village, situated about
eight miles south from the city of Youngstown.
It is said that Poland never grew much, for it
was too near Youngstown, but it was a patriotic little village, for "there were always more
volunteers than Poland's quota justified."
When McKinley's time was not occupied in
study or at work doing the chores around the
house, he would be listening to the men of the
neighborhood talk politics and discuss State
rights, and very often would he go over to
Youngstown to hear some fine speaker who
was scheduled to address a political meeting.




A Biographical Study


'I5


After hearing some of these big politicians, as
they were called, William and the other schoolboys thought they would like to learn how to
speak, so McKinley said, "I'll tell you what
we can do."  "What?" replied the boys. "We
can organize a debating society." The subject
was suggested to others, and every one seemed
to fall in with the idea.  The society was
formed. It was known as the "Everett Society," in honor of Edward Everett.
William McKinley became its first president;
and the subjects that were taken up were
most interesting.  The members soon saved
money enough to buy a carpet for the floor of
the hall, and at the first meeting after the carpet had been placed down a rainstorm came up.
The members came, however, but did not dare
to venture inside the room with their muddy
feet. One boy suggested that they all take off
their shoes. This was done at once, and the
president took the chair and the debate proceeded.
Even as a child McKinley had a good deal
of sentiment. A lady in Ohio is in possession
of a souvenir given her by Mr. McKinley, of
which she is very fond. It is a stanza written
when he was only twelve years old. She was
a schoolgirl at the time:;'




i6          William McKinley
"FRIEND LUCY:
"A heart of heavenly purity
Is laid within thy breast,
And ever for the weary soul
It breathes some time of rest.
"Nov. I2th, I855, Poland, Ohio.
"WM. McKINLEY."
John Hay, in his address on McKinley before the two houses of Congress, said:
"He grew up in the company of boys like
himself, wholesome, honest, self-respecting.
They looked down on nobody; they never felt
it possible they could be looked down upon.
Their houses were the houses of probity, piety,
patriotism.  They learned in the admirable
school readers of fifty years ago the lessons of
heroic and splendid life which have come down
from the past.  They read in their weekly
newspapers the story of the world's progress,
in which they were eager to take part, and of
the sins and wrongs of civilization with which
they burned to do battle. It was a serious and
thoughtful time. The boys of that day felt
dimly, but deeply, that days of sharp struggle
and high achievement were before them. They
looked at life with the wondering yet resolute
eyes of a young esquire in his vigil of arms.
They felt a time was coming when to them
should be addressed the stern admonition of




X Biographical Study         M
the apostle: "Quit you like men; be strong."
The lessons of honesty, of faithfulness and
of gentleness which William McKinley learned
from his Christian mother were abiding elements of character during his entire life. In
later years President McKinley often said that
his mother was an inspiration to him.  Mr.
McKinley, Sr., had been a great reader, and
would often discuss the questions of the day
with his children, and doubtless Wiliam, Jr.,
inherited his love of reading.
When the McKinley family moved to Poland, William entered the Academy. From
the Academy he was sent to Allegheny College, at Meadville, Pa. He had done so well
at school that when he was examined for admission he was placed in the junior class. This
cut off one year of the regular course, and it
helped young McKinley greatly, for he knew
the sacrifices of his parents, so that he might
secure a good education.  He therefore pursued his work in such zealous fashion that before he had been at college a year his health
broke down, and he was compelled to discontinue his studies. It is said that he expected
to return to school, but just at that time wages
fell, throwing many out of employment. The
McKinleys suffered with the rest, although the
father still retained his position as iron manufacturer. Young McKinley, seeing all hopes




ri8


William McKinley


of returning to college gone, then sought employment.
He applied for the position of teacher at the
Kerr district school and secured the place.
The school was about two and a half miles
from his home, and McKinley used to walk
over in the morning and back again in the
afternoon. Some of the students were quite
as old as the young instructor, but he got along
admirably.  The salary was not large, only
$25 a month, but "it was better than nothing."
It was the custom for the teacher to "board
round" with the directors of the school, but he
lived at home principally.
After the school term closed young McKinley became assistant postmaster in the Poland
post office, and here is where we find him when
Fort Sumter was fired on. The news of Fort
Sumter's surrender stirred McKinley, for "the
fighting blood of many generations flowed in
his veins."
To speak again of his schooling, it may bo
said that he was diligent and faithful, though
perhaps not a brilliant scholar. He loved to
gain at general knowledge. In later years he
took private lessons in Greek and Hebrew.
To him education meant the secret of success.
Speaking once of his student days, he said:
"Exact knowledge is the requirement of the
hour. You will be crippled without it. Luck
will not last. It may help you once, but you




WILLIAM McKINLEY AT THE AGE OF FIFTEEN
Reproduced by courtesy of Collier's Weekly.








"A Biographical Study        19
cannot count on it. Labor is the only key to
opportunity."
His life was full of hours of study and
thought. To him a life well spent meant
ceaseless activity, a higher ideal for self and a
striving to uplift our fellow-men.  By this
splendid discipline McKinley created a mind
that was alert, clear, sagacious and comprehensive.
His years of training were everything in a
life that was destined to play so important a
part in the world's work. The superstructure
that he built in those early days helped in a
marked degree toward the life of the later fullgrown man of stainless honor, of wholk-hearted. friendliness and kindliness, "in its simplicity
sublime."




CHAPTER II


A SOLDIER AND HIS WAR RECORD
THE most inspiring feature of the world's
civilization is character. It is the composite element of the best traditions of
the human race. But in a literal sense,
character means more than goodness, purity
and honesty; it means bravery and courage as
well.
The stern admonition of the apostle when he
said, "Quit you like men; be strong," meant all
these; strong in body, strong in uprightness,
strong in faith and strong when duty calls.
It is very difficult for us to-day to realize the
vital dissensions which prevailed about the
days of '61, when the guns of Fort Moultrie
thundered forth their attack upon Fort Sumter. In an instant, as it were, a million men
stood eager to sacrifice themselves, their homes
and kindred for duty's sake; ready to die, if
need be, for the saving of their country. Love
of country was deeply written in the hearts of
the Boys in Blue and the Boys in Grey. This
manifestation of heroism and devotion has
never been equalled in the world's history, for
brother was arrayed against brother.




2A Biographical Study


21i


As Lincoln said, "the prayers of both could
not be answered." But to-day all prejudices
have mellowed and softened into real bonds of
kinship. A reunited country is the fruit that
was born from the mighty conflict. We glory
in the fact that human slavery was swept forever from American soil, and that a mighty
nation was again restored to itself, "save for
the thousands who were left lying dead on the
field of honor!"
William McKinley was the kind of yogta
for whom war had little attraction. But when
the call came he was not found wanting. The
love of liberty burned in his heart. It has been
said that it was to him a Crusade for liberty,
and, like a knight of the Holy Cross, he enlisted in the ranks.
William McKinley's perhaps greatest desire
when he became President was, like Lincoln's,
to know no North, no South, no East, no West.
And with candor, it may be said, that no President since Lincoln did so much to reunite the
South again into the friendly counsels of the
nation.
At Atlanta, Ga., he said: "The time has
now come in the evolution of sentiment and
feeling under the Providence of God when in
the spirit of fraternity we should share with
you in the care of the graves of the Confederate soldiers.
"The cordial feeling now happily existing




22


William 1McKinzley


between the North and the South prompts this
gracious act, and if it needs further justification, it is found in the gallant loyalty to the
Union and the Flag, so conspicuously shown in
the year just past by the sons and grandsons
of these heroic dead."
He concluded that remarkable speech with
these eloquent words:
"Reunited!   One Country again and one
Country forever! Proclaim it from the press
and pulpit, teach it in the schools, write it
across the skies. The world sees and feels it,
it cheers every heart in North and South, and
brightens the life of every American home.
Let nothing ever stain it again. At peace with
all the world and with each other. What can.stand in the pathway of our peace and prosperity?"
One day, in the early part of June, I86I,'a
meeting was called at the old Sparrow Tavern,in the town of Poland, to consider the great
question of the hour.
There was speechmaking and beating of,drums, and a general appeal for volunteers to
enlist to protect the flag. McKinley with the
rest of the young men of Poland walked over
to the Tavern. The hall was decorated with
red, white and blue. There was a recruiting
agent, and he was speaking to the gathering
and urging enlistment in the service.
"Our country's flag has been fired upon," he




A4 Biographical Study


23


said, as he pointed to the starry banner above
his head. "It has been trailed in the dust by
those who should have cherished and loved it.
And for what? That this free government
may keep a race in the bondage of Slavery!
Who will be the first to defend the glorious
Stars and Stripes?" "I expect to go," McKinley said, "but wish first to consult my
mother," which he did. After much persuasion, the mother consented. Back to the old
Tavern he went, and proudly signed his name
on the list of volunteers.
On June 7th, I86I, the volunteers gathered
on the village green, ready to start for Youngstown, thence to Columbus, the State capital.
The whole town came out to bid them goodby. It was a holiday in Poland, and some that
marched away that day never returned.
McKinley's mother was there, and with a
"God bless you, my boy!" she stood in tears as
the last of the volunteers faded from sight.
Upon reaching Columbus the recruits marched
to Camp Chase, a beautiful spot near the Capital. Here it was that each recruit was examined physically by General John C. Fremont,
known as the "Pathfinder of the West."
When young McKinley's turn came he was
a bit anxious as to the result. The General
looked him over, thumped on his chest, and remarked, "You'll do." Naturally, the young
man was very much pleased as to the outcome,




24


William McKinley


for it is said he returned to his fellows full of
smiles, at which they remarked:  "I guess
you're going, Will. He didn't turn you down,
did he?"  "No," said McKinley, "he said I'd
do. And I'm going to do the very best I can."
In those days some thought the war would
be short, while others anticipated a long struggle. But no one expected it to last four years.
McKinley fully realized the importance of the
conflict, and expected that time and hard fighting alone would cement the opposing forces.
The Poland recruits became Company E of
the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. It
was mustered into service for a period of three
years on June I I, I86I. And in this regiment
McKinley belonged to that grand classification
known as privates.
McKinley in later life seldom spoke of his
war record, but one day he was talking with
a friend in the Governor's office at Columbus,
and the subject of the war came up.  The
friend spoke of the Governor's enlistment and
service in that conflict. Mr. McKinley leaned
back in his chair, and with the pleasant memories of those days long passed said:
"I always look back with pleasure upon those
fourteen months during which I served in the
ranks. They taught me a great deal. I was
but a schoolboy when I went into the army,
and that first year was a formative period in
my life, during which I learned much of men




A Biographical Study


25


and facts. I have always been glad that I entered the service as a private, and served those
months in that capacity."
The Twenty-third Ohio was one of the most
conspicuous and celebrated in that it had
among its ranks and its officers men who during their lifetime became famous in different
lines.
The first Colonel of the regiment was William S. Rosecrans, a graduate of the Military
Academy, and one that rose to be a well-known
general of the Union army. He was after tle
war an officer of high rank in the Regular
Army.    The first Lieutenant-Colonel of the
regiment was Stanley Matthews, who, after
he retired from service, became United States
Senator from Ohio, and still later was appointed an Associate Justice of the United States
Supreme Court.
Its first Major was Rutherford B. Hayes,
who won rapid promotion for his gallantry and
steadfastness. He became a general, and in
1876 was chosen President of the United
States.  The regiment also produced others
that rose to eminence and distinction.
The statistics of the regiment show that from
the time of its formation until it was mustered
out of service, in I865, there were 2,230 men
enrolled as members. And it goes on to state
that 5 officers and 154 men were killed or died
from wounds, and in all there were 567 who




26


Wiiam     McKinl~ey


were killed or wounded. Thirty-nine of that
number died in Confederate prisons and from
disease, resulting from inclement weather and
hardships.
Like Hayes and Garfield, his noted predecessors in army life, McKinley was always observant, persistent and ardently desirous of doing the right thing and doing it well. He was
ever on hand and ready to perform any service
that came within his reach. President Hayes
on one occasion, when speaking of McKinley's
connection with the Twenty-third Ohio, said:
"At once it was found -lhat'he had unusual
character for the mere business of war. There
is a quartermaster's department in every regiment, in every brigade, in every division, in
every army. Young as he was, he soon found
that in business, in executive ability, young McKinley was a man of rare capacity, of unusual
and unsurpassed sagacity; especially for a boy
of his age. When battles were fought or service was to be performed in warlike things, he
always took his place. The night was never
too dark; the weather was never too cold; there
was no sleet or storm or hail or snow or rain
that was in the way of his prompt and efficient
performance of every duty. When I became
commander of the regiment he soon came to be
on my staff, where he remained for one or two
years, so that I did literally and in fact know
him like a book and love him like a brother."




A Biographical Study


27


During the time that young McKinley was
on General Hayes's staff they learned to love
each other like brothers. And it is stated that
the friendship continued until death called exPresident Hayes.
Murat Halstead, the famous journalist and
author, tells us that at the funeral of the exPresident, in 1892, Governor McKinley and
his staff were present, and that McKinley cried
like a child when he looked for the last time on
the face of his dead comrade and personal
friend.
During the war days young McKinley stood
firm as a rock,. in that he did not yield to the
terrible temptations that so often beset a man
in the rough and rugged life of the army. He
always remained true to his early moral instruction and religious training received around
the home hearthstone.
Dr. Nardyz, a retired army surgeon, who
was McKinley's intimate friend for three years,
said some years ago:
"The young Major seemed to be very religious. This fact impressed me very much,
as well as the deference shown him by the men
on this account. In the three years we were
together I never saw Major McKinley drink
a drop of liquor, nor heard him use a profane
word. That is wonderful to record of a man
thrown into the rough life of the army. It




28          William McKinley
was not at Antietam that President McKinley
distinguished himself, for his regiment had no
chance to do anything there. It was at Gettysburg. His name is always associated in
my mind with Gettysburg and a magnificent
charge on a stone wall in a hollow before Cemetery Hill. There is where the young, smooth
Major showed the true qualities of a soldier,
and the men who were alive after that charge
felt a new regard and increased respect for
the man who did not swear or drink, but was
as cool and collected as the oldest veteran."
It was said after the war that William McKinley learned his tactics and duties as a soldier very readily. From Camp Chase the regiment was ordered to Clarksburg, W. Va., and
toward the close of the month it left Clarksburg and went to Weston. There, it is said,
it rained constantly, making it necessary for
the soldiers to often sleep on wet blankets.
The guns that were used in those days were
the old-fashioned "smooth-bores."  The one
that Private McKinley carried during the fourteen months he served in the ranks is still in
existence, and is owned by a friend of McKinley's in Canton, who, it is needless to say,
greatly treasures it.  When McKinley was
Governor of Ohio he delivered an address in
memory of Rutheford B. Hayes. During the
speech he spoke a little about his army life and




A Biographical Study


29


of his first meeting Major Hayes at Camp
Chase. Concerning the army, he said:
"The State could furnish only the most inferior guns, and these we positively and proudly refused to accept. We would accept nothing but the best. The officers spent most of
the day in trying to persaude us to receive the
guns for a few weeks, if only for the purpose
of drill. None of us knew how to use any
kind of a musket at that time, but we thought
we knew our rights, and were all conscious of
our importance. They assured us that more
modern guns would soon be supplied. Major
Hayes did the talking to our company, and I
shall never forget the impression of his speech.
He said that many of the most decisive battles
in history had been won with the rudest weapons. At Lexington, Bunker Hill and many
other engagements of the Revolution our forefathers had triumphed over the well-equipped
English army, with the very poorest firearms,
and that even pikes and scythes had done good
work in that glorious conflict. Should we be
less patriotic than our brave ancestors? Should
we hesitate at the very start of another struggle for liberty and union, for the best and
freest government on the face of the earth, because we were not pleased with the pattern of
our muskets, or with the calibre of our rifles?
I cannot at this late day recall his words, but
I shall never forget his warmth of patriotic




30


William McKinley


feeling and the sound sense with which he appealed to us. That was our first and last mutiny.  We accepted the old-fashioned guns,
took cheerfully what was offered, and Hayes
held us captive from that hour."
Previous to September ist the regiment had
been divided, but at this date they came together at Bulltown, joined the forces under
command of General Rosecrans and moved to
Carnifex Ferry on September Ioth. At this
point a small battle ensued, resulting in victory
for the Union side. The Confederates were
under command of General Floyd. After being driven back they retreated across the Gualey River.
After this fight the regiment having little to
do, and the winter weather coming on, went
into winter quarters. Some of the hardest experiences and most trying times of the war
were encountered at this time. The historian
of "Ohio in the War" gives us an account of
this period. He says:
"From this point the regiment operated
against the numerous guerillas infesting the
country in that quarter, performing many days
and nights of excessively hard duty, marching
and counter-marching over the rugged spurs
of the Rich Mountain range, and drenched by
the almost continual rains of that season. Thus
we find the boys who had left their peaceful
occupations and happy homes but a few months




4 Biographical Study.


3Ii


previously suddenly plunged into an actual service that put to a severe test both their fighting
qualities and powers of endurance."
The hard winter did not break down McKinley's health, but seemed to build him up and
make him more rugged in stature. He was
very fortunate, only suffering one serious illness and being absent once on furlough in his
entire service.
Throughout the war no one showed a better
recprd than he did. During the winter he
ministered to the sick in the hospital, and,often, it is said, went without his own blanket
so he might loan it to another comrade less
fortunate than himself.
In April Private McKinley won his first promotion, to that of Commanding Sergeant. The
way in which he had borne his part as a private attracted the attention of his superiors.
They recognized in him a person possessing
more than the average of courage, steadfastness, executive ability and capacity for hard
work.   He entered upon his new duties on
April 15th, 1862. Two days later the regiment was ordered to leave winter quarters and
pursue the enemy, which they did, encountering the Confederate troops at Clark's Hollow.
After a slight skirmish, which was of little
importance, the Twenty-third proceeded to
Princeton, in West Virginia.  McKinley's
regiment expected a big battle at Princeton,




32


William  McKinley


but fearing that they were not strong enough
to hold the place, set fire to it and evacuated
it. The Union troops entered the town, put
out the fire, and thereby saved the inhabitants.
After this Colonel Hayes, who had received a
promotion, decided to leave the town and go to
Flat Top Mountain, which he did, and he remained there until July I3th, when he marched
the regiment to Camp Piatt, where they took
transport to Parkersburg, and thence to Washington, the Capitol City. This was McKinley's first trip to the Capital, and, it is said that
he enjoyed viewing the public buildings and
the White House. He little thought in those
days that later in life he would spend so much
of his timeeas a public servant in that city.
After the regiment left Washington they
were ordered to Frederick, Md., where it was
expected a great battle would be fought, but
upon the entrance of the Union army the Confederates departed and took up a strong position at South Mountain. McKinley himself
briefly described this battle in an oration before
the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware,
Ohio, in I893. He was Governor at the time.
He said:
"It was a lovely September day, an ideal
Sunday morning.   McClellan's army, with
Burnside's corps in front, was passing up the
mountain by the national road. General Cox's
Ohio division led Burnside's corps and the




A Biographical Study        33
Twenty-third Ohio was in the lead of that division. Hayes was ordered to take one of the
mountain paths, and move to the right of the
rebels. At 9 o'clock the rebel picket was driven back, and on our pushing forward the rebels
advanced upon us in strong force. Our regiment was quickly formed in the woods, and
charged over rocks and broken ground, through
deep underbrush, under the heavy fire of the
enemy at short range, and after one of the hottest fights of the war we drove them out of the
woods into an open field near the hill top. Another charge was ordered by Hayes. No sooner had he given the word of command than a
ball from the enemy's ranks shattered his arm
above the elbow, crushing the bone to fragments. He called to a soldier to tie his handkerchief about the wound, but, turning faint,
he fell, his men passing over and beyond him
into the fight, where he had ordered them.
When he regained consciousness Hayes found
himself under a heavy fire, with the bullets pelting the ground all about him. He feared that
his men were retreating, but he was soon reassured, when, on calling out, he was carried
safely into friendly cover."
The battle of Antietam followed shortly
after the fight at South Mountain. Here it
was that young McKinley distinguished himself again for bravery.
The valor of McKinley during the battle of




34


William McKinley


Antietam has been described by General J. L.
Botsford, of Youngstown, Ohio, who was the
Quartermaster of the Twenty-third Ohio. He
was present, and he says:
"At the battle of Antietam McKinley was
the Commissary Sergeant of the Twenty-third
Regiment 0. V. I., and his duty was, of course,
with the commissary supplies, which were at
least two miles from the battle-field proper.
As you, no doubt, are aware, on all battles,
whether large or small, there are numerous
stragglers, who easily find their way back to
where the commissary supplies are. This was
the case at Antietam, and McKinley conceived
and put into execution the idea of using some
of these stragglers to make coffee and carry it
to the boys in front. It was nearly dark when
we heard tremendous cheering from the left of
our regiment. As we had been having heavy
fighting right up to this time, our division commander, General Scammon, sent to me to find
out the cause, which I very soon found to be
cheers for McKinley and his hot coffee. You
can readily imagine the rousing welcome he
received from both officers and men.
When you consider the fact of his leaving his
post of security and driving into the middle
of a bloody battle with a team of mules, it needs
no words of mine to show the character and
determiniation of McKinley, a boy at this time
of about 20 years of age. McKinley loaded up




A Biographical Study        35
two wagons with supplies, but the mules of
one wagon were disabled.  He was ordered
back time and again, but he pushed on. As
he gave a can of hot coffee and "hard tack"
to one soldier, who had been shot, the comrade
muttered, "God bless the lad!"  And McKinley afterward said that that alone had repaid
him for the tireless energy and danger which
he passed through.
The result of this act of thoughtfulness on
the part of McKinley had a tremendous effect
on the lines. It made them like a new regiment, and when, later, the final order came to
charge they did it with renewed vigor and energy.
At the close of the battle, perhaps the bloodiest of the war, the Union men had the advantage of many points, although the victory, as
a whole, is placed in the "indecisive class."
One point was that Lee retreated to the left
bank of the Potomac, thereby preventing an
attack upon the capital city.
Upon hearing of Sergeant McKinley's devotion to duty and his bravery during the battle
of Antietam Colonel Hayes was much impressed, and when in Ohio called on Governor
Todd and told him of the incident. The Governor is reported as saying:
"Such a fellow deserves promotion," and the
latter at once wrote to headquarters and re



36


William McKinley


quested that Sergeant McKinley be promfoted
to Second Lieutenant.
Directly after the battle of Antietam McKinley's regiment, a part of the Kanawha division, was ordered back to West Virginia, and
there went into winter quarters alongside the
falls of the great Kanawha.  Here Hayes
joined his regiment after a short absence. He
was well received by his command, for they all
loved him. The camp that winter was named
"Camp Lucy Hayes," in honor of the Colonel's
wife.
The regiment remained in winter quarters
from October, 1862, to July, I863. During
this time McKinley received his third promotion, to that of First Lieutenant, and was assigned to his old company, in which he had enlisted as a private at-the outbreak of the war.
The Lieutenant passed a good portion of his
time drilling his company, but the remainder
was spent in reading and studying. Even
while in the army, every chance he got would
be taken up in studying the lives of great men
and the history of his country.
In July-the regiment moved upon John Morgan, the raider.  Morgan had started with
about 2,500 men to raid the country through
Kentucky and Indiana; most of his men were
mounted, and when their poor horses became
exhausted they would take others from the
natives. Morgan soon reached the Ohio River,




McKINLEY IN FRATERNITY COSTUME.
Courtesy of Roller Pub. Co., Canton, Ohto.








A Biographical Study        37
for his speed was about sixty miles a day.
Within about seventy miles from Louisville, he
crossed the river into Indiana, and so rapid
was his march that on July I4th, he came within twenty-eight miles of Cincinnati. Colonel
Hayes then started to stop his raid. Morgan
did not wish to fight and retreated, but Hayes
pursued him, and within the next few days
caught him and captured all his men. The
raider was taken to the Ohio penitentiary and
the Twenty-third Ohio went into winter quarters at the same camp again.
During the ensuing winter Lieutenant McKinley was placed on Hayes's staff.
General Hastings, in speaking of McKinley's
war services, said:
"McKinley was always keen, quick and
alert, and so was naturally fitted for staff service, a fact his superiors soon realized and took
advantage of, so that during the greater part
of the war he served on the staff of the general officers, one of the most dangerous positions in the army, one which required the utmost readiness of resource and bravery of the
highest order."
This winter was not so severe as the previous
one, but still there was considerable suffering
in the camp. The Twenty-third left camp on
April 29th, and marched to a position a few
miles above Brownstown, and there joined
the division commanded by General George




38       William McKinley
Crook, who was preparing to cut the principal
lines of communication between the Southwest
and the city of Richmond. McKinley on one
occasion spoke of this expedition in the following words:
"It was a rough and trying march over
mountains and through deep ravines and dense
woods, with snows and rains that would have
checked the advance of any but the most determined. Daily we were brought in contact
with the enemy.   We penetrated a country
where guerillas were abundant, and where it
was not an unusual thing for our men to be
shot from the underbrush-murdered in cold
blood.
"At Cloyd Mountain, the regiment encountered the enemy, and there was a fierce and
desperate engagement.  The advance across
the meadow, in full sight of the enemy and
in range of their guns, through the creek and
up over the works on the ridge, was magnificently executed, and the hand-to-hand combat
in the fort was as desperate as any witnessed
during the war.   Still another charge was
made, and the rebels again driven back. On
we hurried to Dublin Depot, on the Virginia
and Tennessee Railroad, burning the bridges
there, tearing up the track and rendering the
railroad useless for the transportation of the
soldiers or supplies.  Then the new river
bridge was destroyed, and then with frequent




A Biographical Study        39
encounters we went on to Staunton, Va. We
entered Lexington, the seat of the Confederate
Military, Institute, after a sharp engagement,
Hayes's brigade in the lead and sustaining all
the casualties which occurred. Then on to
Lynchburg, where, overcome by superior numbers, constantly augmented by fast arriving
reinforcements from Richmond, the whole division was compelled to retreat. All commissary supplies were consumed, and, almost without food, we marched and fought our way back,
closely pursued by the enemy.
"'After we reached our supply train,' to
quote General Hayes, 'we stopped and ate,
marched and ate, camped about dark, and ate
all night. We had marched almost continuously for about two months, fighting often
with little food and sleep, crossing three ranges
of the Alleghanies four times, then ranges of
the Blue Ridge twice, and marching several
times all day and all night without sleeping.' "
By those who participated in that march,
which occupied a good part of a week, many
tales are told. It was one of hardship and
suffering. One veteran'had said, in speaking
of it: "I was used up by it. It was so cold
at times I couldn't tell whether I had my nose
or feet left, or not. When we laid down to
sleep our blankets would often freeze fast during the night, so that we'd have to take an
axe and chop them loose in the morning."




4,0


William McKinley


"I remember McKinley well on that march.
IHe had just been made a First Lieutenant, and
I imagine he had his eye on a captaincy-anyway, he did his full share toward hustling us
along and helping stragglers. There was one
poor chap who got dead beat out, and in climbing the mountainside he slipped and rolled into a hollow at least two hundred feet out of
the way.   There was no ambulance corps
around, and no doctor within call, and the
Sergeant detailed to look after stragglers, was
about as fagged out as the man who took the
tumble. I was looking at the poor chap when
McKinley rushes up to me, and cries: 'Come
on; let's help him up!' And away he goes,
and me after him.  I can tell you, it was a
tough climb down into the hole, and a worse
climb back. But we got him on his feet, and
then two or three others joined hands with
us, and in that way we got him up to the path.
We made some hot coffee for him and gave
him some liquor, and helped him along, and
by and by he was all right again.  But he
didn't forget what we did for him, and since
then he's voted for McKinley six or seven
times."
This great march, as described above, occurred in June, 1864. Hayes with his brigade
stayed at Charleston until July I8, when they
were ordered to attack the Confederates under
Early, some ten miles beyond Harper's Ferry.




A Biographical Study


4n


Under the large body of men und&'f Early the
regiment found themselves completely surrounded. They bored their way out, however,
and after hard fighting were able to join the
main body of the troops under command of
General Crook, near Winchester.   During
the next three or four months McKinley's
regiment went through hard and desperate
fighting.  Finally the Southern troops were
driven out of the valley of the Shenandoah.
At this time General Grant, in command of
the Union forces, received information that
General Lee had ordered Early to proceed to
Richmond. So, upon the reception of this
news, Grant withdrew two corps from the
valley to assist in the work before him at the
capital of the Confederacy. This movement
left Crook with only eight corps, or, in round
numbers, about 6,ooo men. Early, however,
had deferred his visit to Richmond, and had
taken his place at Strasburg.  He there
learned that Grant had taken two of Crook's
corps, and he at once determined to return
and overwhelm Crook, who, not being informed of the real condition of affairs, was
peaceful at Winchester.
Early arrived on Sunday morning, July
24th. Crook, not believing that Early had
come back with his entire force, sent only two
small brigades under command of Hayes and
Colonel Mulligan to check the advancing of the




42


Williadm McKinley


enemy, who, it is said, had about twenty thousand soldiers. Hayes was badly equipped,
having no cavalry and only a small number of
men.   At once he knew that his men must
fight desperately if they expected to escape.
In a few moments they found themselves
surrounded by the cavalry of General Early,
and at the moment it looked very much as if
they would be compelled to surrender, or, if
they attempted to fight, suffer a heavy loss of
men. McKinley was still on Hayes's staff,
and he with the rest of the regiment had a most
trying ordeal before them. Hayes was confident that there would be some way in which to
act that would prove advantageous- for his
regiment. Just then he noticed that Brown's
West Virginia regiment, which was irn an,
orchard near by, was holding its ground, and,
fearing that it would not surrender until given
orders to that effect and that it would be captured, said: "They must be informed that
the retreat has sounded." Just then Lieutenant McKinley passed by. "Lieutenant, do you
see, yonder, Brown's regiment?" Hayes asked.
The young officer saluted and said: "I do,
General." "It seems that the Colonel did not
hear the retreat; he does not seem to realize
that he alone is fighting a body of men ten
times his own. He must be given an order to
withdraw.   Will you carry that order to
him?"




A Biographical Study


43


"I will, General."
"Understand, it is a very perilous journey."
"I know that, General, but I will go."
And before another word was spoken he
was off, advancing toward the disabled regiment.
The course compelled him to go before the
fire of the enemy. Bullets flew around him
on all sides, and once, just as he was reaching
his destination, a shell burst almost under the
feet of his horse and completely inwrapped
him in the smoke.
"He can't get through. We have even lost
sight of him," said one.
"He'll never come back alive," murmured
one of the captains.
On, and still on he went, all obstacles, encountering bullets in front and behind him,
until at last he arrived unhurt, and safe in the
presence of Colonel Brown.
"I should have thought you would have retired without waiting for orders," McKinley
said.
"I was thinking I would retire without waiting any longer," the Colonel answered, "and
now I am ready to go wherever you lead; but
before I go I want to give those fellows just
one or two more volleys."
"Then let 'em have it quickly," McKinley
replied. At once the volleys were given and,
following under the leadership of Lieutenant




44          William McKinley
McKinley, Brown's men started for the rear.
Some of them were bewildered; they knew not
what to do. One body turned in the direction
of the enemy, but with a shout from McKinley
they about-faced and went in the right direction.
Lieutenant McKinley brought the regiment
back to Winchester, where it took its place in
the brigade. The first one to greet the young
officer as he dismounted was Hayes, who said:
"I never expected to see you again alive. You
did your duty well."
During that struggle the loss of officers and
men was great. A Captain's rank was vacant, and the records show that the day following after the siege William McKinley, for
bravery and devotion to duty, won the vacant
post. His assignment was to command Company G of the Twenty-third Ohio.
Another incident is told of McKinley at this
time, which shows his kindness of heart.
It seems that many of the inhabitants of the
town came out into the streets to see the soldiers go by, and some were affected at the
sudden turn of affairs. And it is said that, in
particular, there was one old lady in Quaker
dress who stood crying at her gate. McKinley rode up and, saluting her, remarked:
"Don't worry, madam, we are not hurt as
much as it seems. We shall be back again in
a few days."




A Biographical Study        45
The retreat was one which lasted until midnight. The line of march was one continuous
destruction of property. After marching up
and down the Shenandoah Valley for a period
of some length McKinley's regiment came to
Berryville.
One night, while the regiment was in this
locality, Captain McKinley was ordered to
take some directions from a Colonel who had
misunderstood his orders. It was a very dark
night, and McKinley was obliged to go by a
dense underbrush.
In speaking of it afterward, he said: "I
scarcely knew what to do. I walked on a
short distance, when a voice out of the darkness called 'Who goes dar?'  That was a
Southern voice, and without reply I stepped
back and took another course. Then came another voice, 'Who comes there?' and I knew
I was once more on the right side. I soon
reached the regiment I was seeking, and then
there was no more trouble."
It was a most perilous journey, and had the
Southerner knew he was a captain from the
Union ranks he would have been shot at once.
Soon after this came the battle of Opequan,
and here McKinley again distinguished himself by his good judgment and quick perception.
Captain McKinley was at this time on the
staff of General Crook, and at the start of the




46


William  McKinley


battle he went to Colonel Duvall with a verbal
order from General Crook. Duvall did not
know the best way to move his division. McKinley was no more familiar with the country,
but he had observed the country closely, as was
his wont. "By what route shall I move my
command?" inquired Colonel Duvall.   McKinley replied by saying, "I would move along
this creek."
Duvall, wanting to be more certain, said
that he would not move at all without orders.
Quick as a flash McKinley, realizing it as a
matter of grave importance to move immediately, said, unhesitatingly: "I order you, by
command of General Crook, to move your
command up this ravine to a position on the
right of the army."
Duvall obeyed at once.
It was a daring move, but it showed McKinley's power of decision. He shouldered
the whole responsibility. Long after, General
Sheridan said to McKinley: "That order of
yours was all right because it turned out all
right! But if it had turned out wrong, why,
then, it would have been very wrong!"
A short time after came the capture on Fisher's Hill.
McKinley himself said, concerning this capture: "This was one of the most brilliant of
the many brilliant achievements of General
George Crook. It was a flank movement




A Biographical Study


47


through the woods and mountains to the enemy's right. Never did troops advance with
greater difficulty, on what appeared to be an
impossible route over the mountainside, where
it seemed the foot of man had never trod.
Nothing was more brilliant or decisive during
the entire war."
After the enemy retreated, after being pursued for ten miles, the valley seemed to be so
much cleared that Sheridan did not think it
advisable to make another attack. But Early
did not mean to give up his position in the
Shenandoah unless forced to. Sheridan left
for Washington, and placed in command General Wright.  Then came the famous fight,
known to every reader of history. It has been
beautifully portrayed by T. Bichanan Read in
his poem, entitled "Sheridan's Ride."
-After consulting with the President and
Secretary of War, Sheridan started back to
Winchester, nearly twelve miles from his
army. He arrived at Winchester on October
i8th, spent the night there, and at daybreak
started for Cedar Creek. The sound of booming guns startled him.  "What!" he said,
"the battle can't be on!"  He at once hurried
in the direction of the sounds. As he rode on
he met baggage-wagons and wounded men
along the path. He spurred up his horse and
rode rapidly on. The route became clogged
up more and more, until finally he was com



48


William      McKinzley


pelled to take the field that he might quicken
his speed.
Upon arriving he was informed that Early
had attacked them at 5 o'clock in the morning,
taking Wright by surprise. Now Wright was
in a better position, and as Sheridan came on
the field of action a mighty cry went up: "It's
Sheridan! He will tell us what to do."
General Sheridan rode up to McKinley, who
had been earnestly working to keep the enemy
from advancing, and asked him where Crook
was.
"I left him over there," replied McKinley,
as he pointed toward the place.
"Come on, boys!" shouted Sheridan, and he
and McKinley rode off together, inspiring the
men by their words to follow. It is a matter
of history and well known how the Union
army, inspired by the gallant leadership of the
great General as he dashed down the Shenandoah, drove out Early and his rebel host.
With the defeat of Early the campaign in
the Shenandoah came to an end. Sheridan
now led his forces to Kernstown, and there
established a camp. McKinley's regiment was
located first at one place and then at another
until the first of January, I865, when it went
to Cumberland. On that day Colonel Hayes
received his appointment as Brigadier-General.
During the time the regiment was at Cumberland the weather was bitter cold. It rained a




A Biographical Study


49


good deal of the time, and food was very
scarce. The poor soldiers had a hard time of
it, and the officers fared no better than the
privates. In some cases the privates were better off, in that most of them had tents, while
some'of the officers slept on the ground without shelter.
At this time Captain McKinley was serving
on the staff of General Crook, and he went
with him back to West Virginia. Hancock
soon took command, and then McKinley
served as a member of his staff. During the
winter McKinley was assigned a place on General S. S. Carroll's staff in Washington. He
was made Adjutant-General, remaining at this
point until the close of the war.
General Sheridan had not forgotten McKinley's brave and ceaseless work during the raid
in the valley of the Shenandoah, so he recommended his promotion.   It came on March
I4th, 1865, when he was elevated to the rank
of brevet-major.
His commission read:   "For gallant and
meritorious services at the battle of Opequan,
Cedar Creek, and Fisher's Hill," and was
signed by A. Lincoln.
The Twenty-third Ohio was mustered out
of service on July 26th, I865. In those four
long years of war no one bore his part with
greater fidelity to duty, with greater courage
or steadiness than William McKinley, who en



50


~Williavtz McKinley


tered, a mere youth, as a private and came out,
at the age of twenty-two, a Major. There are
other records perhaps more brilliant, others
that gained higher place on their country's
roll, but none more faithful, more courageous
and more alert in every emergency that William McKinley. He was fortunate in not receiving any wound. Once, at Berryville, his
horse was shot from under him, but he was
unhurt. The records fail to show that he had
more than one furlough. He was never absent from duty on account of illness. It was
a record that attracted the attention of many
of his superiors, so much so, that General Carroll and others, it is said, urged him to accept
a commission in the regular United States
Army. It was a tempting offer. Upon the
advice and protests of his mother and family,
he gave up army life when the war closed.
In narrating McKinley's war record it has
been the aim of the author to speak of only the
most important engagements in which McKinley took part. To give the record complete
it would be necessary to relate a main portion
of the history of the Civil War, and that was
not the purpose in this chapter. The author
has endeavored as often as possible to quote
either the words of McKinley himself concerning an engagement, or those of some officer
or private on the scene of action who knew
exactly what took place.




W4 Biographical Study         51
Military life is hard, even when the best of
conditions prevail.  But through all those
years, which "tried men's souls," through the
temptations and rough environments which
exist in army life, it can be said truly that during the entire struggle he did not lose his virility, but rather grew stronger in nobility of
character.




CHAPTER III.


LAWYER AND OFFICEHOLDER.
T HE war having closed, and McKinley
having declined a commission in the
regular United States Army, he now
diverted his attention toward the selection of his lifework. It was soon observed
that he had a yearning for legal science. The
love of study and reading was still a predominant trait, and with his love of public matters
and powers of oratory, his mind naturally
tended to ie0 study 'f, fIho law.
In his youth and young manhood he had the
virility and seriousness of a man, and this attracted the professional men who came in contact with him. On one occasion his brother
Abner said that "William was just as much a
President in his bearing when he was a lad
as he was when he took the oath of office."
He was always very thoughtful, and formed
readily his own conclusions.  Some of his
chums spoke of him as "the'-Studious William."  He rather enjoyed thisydistinction.
The story is told that, after he had listened
very attentively to a case as it was being presented in court one day, a lawyer said to him:




"A Biographical Study       53
"Well, Mac, what did you think of the case?"
"I thought it went through the wrong way,"
he replied.  "Why do you think so?". continued the lawyer.  "The defendant didn't
bring out his evidence strong enough. He had
a good case, it seemed to me. The goods he
bought were not as good as they were represented to be, and it wasn't fair to make him
pay the full price for them."
The lawyer expressed the same opinion, and
remarked that the case would likely be appealed. And, strange to say, the case was appealed; taken to a higher court, and there tried,
and the verdict proved to be just as McKinley
said it ought to be-for the defendant.
The story is fitting, inasmuch as it shows
very readily the judicial mind that you'ng McKinley had at that early stage of his career.
The young student commenced his study of
the law in the office of a well-known member
of the Ohio bar in those days, Judge Charles
E. Glidden. The Judge had two offices, one
in Youngstown, the other at Canton. It was
to the former that young McKinley journeyed
to study his chosen profession. It is related
that he was then a tireless student, reaching
the office early in the morning and paying no
attention to lateness of hours. On one occasion, the Judge, having forgotten some important papers that he wished to take home, re



54


William  McKinley


turned about midnight. There McKinley sat,
absorbed in a huge law volume.
"Don't you ever expect to stop and go home
and' go to bed, young man?" inquired the
Judge.
"Oh, yes, Judge, after I master this insurance. case!" The Judge investigated the case.a little, and he, too, became interested. Together they sat down and studied the case for
an hour. And when the Judge came to a certain part he said:  "What do you think of
that?"
"It doesn't seem to me to be right," answered McKinley.
"And it is not right," said the Judge, emphatically. "That-decision can never, stand as
it is."
Two years later, itis said, the decisin.which'
both decided to be incorrect wasvreversed.
After remaining with Judge 'Gliddnfforb  a
year and a half, in every available ii6omnt:'0o
which the young student was employed assidL.
uously in the pursuit of legal knowledge, he
left Ohio and entered the celebrated Law
School at Albany, N. Y.
A former friend of the author's, now passed
beyond the veil, who was McKinley's fellowstudent at Albany, said that he did not impress
him so much as a brilliant, as he did a thorough, student.  He went at the bottom of
everything, and got as much out of it as pos



A Biographical Study


55


sible. He was earnest, resourceful and diligent throughout his entire course. McKinley
would often be found listening to the cases as
they were tried before the illustrious bar of
the New York Court of Appeals.
Upon graduating from the 'Albany Law
School the young student journeyed to Warren, Ohio, where he was to take his bar examinations. After passing creditably, he located
in Canton, Ohio, partly because it was an enterprising and growing town,,thereby offering
a larger opportunity for his labors andc partly
because his sister Anna, the one who had befriended.him lovingly in all his. undertakings,
was teaching school there. McKinley opened
a small office on the main street of 'the town.
It. might be added that, since those days, the
office building has been torn down, and the
Stark County court house erected in its place.
The young lawyer was not pressed for time
professionally in those days, but now and then
a little work would come his way.
One day Judge Belden, of Canton, whose
office was in the same building as McKinley's,
came in and handed the young attorney a bundle of papers, saying:  "Mac, here are the
papers in a case which is coming up to-morrow. I've got to be out of town, and I want
you to try it.","I have never tried a case, you know,




56


William McKinley


Judge," McKinley meekly replied. "Begin on
this one, then," answered Belden.
McKinley at once took the papers, and set
to work on the case. He sat up all night and
studied it. The next day he went to court
and won it. While he was pleading the Judge
came in the room, with a twinkle in his eye,
and sat down. McKinley did not see him for
a few days after he had won the case. Finally
one day the Judge came in McKinley's office
and handed the young lawyer $25, which McKinley refused to accept, saying: "It is too
much, Judge, for one day's pay." "Nonsense,
Mac," said Judge Belden.  "Don't let that
worry you. I charged them $Ioo, and can
easily afford to give you a quarter of it."
From that day on McKinley's law practice began to increase, until he became one of the
most prominent lawyers in Canton.
In McKinley's law pleading he indulged in
cogent elucidation of facts, and placed them
in logical order. His gift of oratory and most
pleasing personality helped him in arguing before a jury.  He took no mean advantages
over his colleague. He always played fair;
content to be right, whether he was praised
'or blamed. He was more anxious to be just,than famous. He soon became a leader of
the Ohio bar. His early success as a lawyer
cannot be better proved than by the fact that
in two years from the time he entered upon




A Biographical Study        57
his profession he was elected prosecuting attorney of his county, a distinction rarely conferred upon so young a man. Shortly before
this appointment he formed a partnership with
George W. Belden, then Federal District-Attorney for the Ohio district, the gentleman
who had given him his first case. And this
partnership lasted until the Judge's death.
In preparing his cases, it is said that McKinley took nothing for granted. He studied
the evidence thoroughly, and arranged his facts
in a logical manner, so he could give the points
of an argument in such a way as to convince
and impress. He would take as much pains
with, an easy case as he would with one that
was complicated. He was conscientious in
accepting retainers. When starting as a lawyer he promised his mother that he would
never take a case that he did not think was
right, and he never allowed that promise to
be obliterated from his memory. It is said
that he would often do more in the interest of
a client than was required. Said a gentleman
in later years: "During his law career McKinley and his partner took up three cases for
our firm. They won two and lost the other.
At first we were angry at losing that last case,
but, looking back, I am satisfied that McKinley
did all that any lawyer could do, and more
than many would do.    A similar case was
tried in Philadelphia by the leading lawyers of




58


IWiliamz McKinley


that city, and fell through, just as ours did."
McKinley soon became very popular. The
people saw in him a large, warm-hearted character.  The community in which he lived
strove to help his progress. The young man
had enemies, as all who rise up in the world do,
many tried to put him backward, but the majority loved him for his kindness of heart and
affability.
There was another case which will bear mention, as it showed McKinley's honesty and
fairness perhaps more than any other which he
ever tried. He had been engaged as cOunsel in
a very important case, one that involved thousands of dollars. As he was about to open it
he received a notice from his legal opponent
asking for a delay. "I am ready to proceed,"
said McKinley. "Why does my opponent ask
for a delay?  Everything is in readiness. I
cannot grant one unless there is a good reason
for it."
He then learned that some valuable papers
of his opponent's had been lost.  McKinley
granted the request for a delay. A few hours
later he was found in the law library, studying
the case further, when he came across the lost
documents. He took them up; handed them
to the librarian, requesting him to give them
to Mr. Blank, the lawyer who had asked for
the delay. The case came up the next day,
and by the trend of McKinley's argument it




A Biographical Study


59


showed that the honest young lawyer had not
looked at the papers. McKinley lost the case,
but put in at once a notice of appeal. Mr.
Blank said afterwards to some friends that
McKinley would have won if he had read the
lost documents. When the case came up the
second time McKinley won, and ever afterwards it is said the two opposing lawyers were
warm friends.
McKinley's legal knowledge came into serviceable play in not a few of the many public
positions that were given him to fill.
In Congress he was first put on the Committee, on the Revision of Laws of Judiciary.
And it is said that his legal views while in
Congress, except perhaps on political questions,
were never assailed. During his long Congressional service the librarian often found
him in the section of the Congressional Libra-'
ry devoted to jurisprudence, consulting authorities. Lawyers and judges of the Ohio
courts, it is said, often remarked that: "If
McKinley stated a proposition it was difficult
to gainsay it, so thorough had been his examinations, and so ethically accurate were his
comments."
Some of the volumes of Critchfield's Ohio
Reports show that Mr. McKinley practised
his chosen profession during the Congressional
recesses... But it is said that "he declined practice in pension cases and before the Court of




60o


' William McKinley


Claims, because he was unwilling to incur the
suspicion of bartering subsequent votes as to
claims through counsel fees." And it is also
said that "he would not appear as private counsel before committees of the House or Senate,
or among the departments of -the government."
Although McKinley had acquired a good education, he never ceased to be a student. He
recognized that knowledge was the door that
unlocks opportunity and advancement to the
individual.  Up to the very day of his untimely death he was eager to learn something
that he had never known before. It was related in Civil War times that Attorney-General
Bates once said: "Confound the President,
Lincoln is so excellent a lawyer under the maxim, ladem ratio ibidem lex, that he is apt to
advise himself offhand in matters that appertain to the Department of Justice, and does not
call for an official opinion."
The same case existed with the Ohio Attorney-General and McKinley, when the latter
was Governor of Ohio. The Governor was so
familiar with the laws of Ohio, and was so
used to being his own legal adviser, that he
would often without thinking advise himself
offhand in matters relating to the Department
of Justice, as Lincoln did in a national sphere.
And when McKinley became the Chief Executive of the nation his legal knowledge again
came into play. As an officeholder, McKinley




A Biographical Study


8n


was faithful to every trust. His personal popularity exceeded that of any man of his generation.
His friendly, loyal and unselfish disposition
won him lasting friends. He was generous
to a fault.  Indeed, his generosity knew no
bounds. He never permitted small things to
worry him, and it is said that defeat never
made him gloomy. His campaigns were conducted on a high plane. He never spoke ill
of any one, and none could truthfully speak ill
of him.
In the fall after his marriage, in 1871, McKinley was defeated by a very narrow margin
of 45 votes for re-election as Prosecuting Attorney of Stark County. After his defeat
he resumed the practice of the law for five
years. During this period he was an ardent
Republican, but had no personal interests in
the results of the elections, except in wishing
for party success. He always took an active
part, hoxyever, in each campaign as a stump
speaker.
Party bosses and political veterans are not
inclined to recognize, if they can help it, young
blood that seeks political preferment, unless it
does not affect their plans of leadership.
McKinley was no exception to the rule. His
friends had urged him to s.eek.the nomination for Congress. He, being ambitious in
that direction, accepted their proposal, and an



62


William McKinley


nounced himself as a candidate. It is said
the party managers of his district did not take
much notice of his candidacy, and little thought
that McKinley would win. He went into the
canvass in his usual vigorous style, being
known at that time only as a young lawyer of
Canton and former Prosecuting Attorney of
Stark County. The good work which McKinley rendered the party in the preceding campaign, when he assisted his old commander,
General Hayes, in his contest for the Governorship, won him many votes.  A friend has
told the author, when speaking of those days,
how McKinley and he hired a horse and buggy
and drove around the country, meeting personally the voters of the various towns and
villages. Although his first nomination was
hard to secure, the election resulted in a victory for McKinley of a plurality of more than
thirty-three hundred. It is not strange that
the old political war-horses were surprised at
the rise of this young man, who was only thirty-three, but ever afterwards his party leaders
and constituents were proud of him as their
representative.  When his opponents raised
the question of his youth, as some did, they
did not remember that Jefferson wrote the
Declaration of Independence when he was but
thirty-three, that Henry Clay became Senator
at twenty-nine, that Madison went to Congress
when he was twenty-nine, or that Webster




A 'Biographical Study


63


and Blaine entered Congress at thirty-one and
thirty-two, respectively.
McKinley was put at the bottom of the
Committee on the Revision of Laws by Speaker Randall. A committee of not much importance, still it gave the young Congressman
time for study and research.   In his first
years in Congress he was modest, contenting
himself to be a silent listener, rather than
speaking upon every subject that came up. But
it is said that when he did speak he had something to say that was worth hearing. The
young Congressman grew day by day in mental strength, and soon became a persistent
worker. After the day's work at the Capitol
he went straight to his hotel and his invalid
wife. Tom Murray, who was the manager
of the House restaurant for years, tells us that
he watched McKinley's daily coming for a
bowl of crackers and milk, which; consumed,
he returned to his work, while his colleagues
"regaled upon terrapin and champagne." Yet
it is said that McKinley was very popular with
his fellow-members on both sides of the House.
His colleague from Ohio, Hon. John A.
Kasson, in speaking of McKinley's Congressional career, has said: "I well remember his
courteous manner, his flow of candid speech,
his patience under interruption by more excitable members. He always answered by truthful statement or conscientious argument, not




.64


William McKinley


by sharp and impatient repartee, as was our
more common custom in that numerous assembly. Candor and kindness appeared to be instinct of his nature. His breast gave no shelter to malice or anger. In return, neither wrath
nor antipathy ever found expression against
that patient and courteous gentleman; for gentleman he was in manner and in every impulse
of mind and heart."
His real Congressional prominence began in
his second term in Congress or upon the retirement of General Garfield from the Ways and
Means Committee after election to the Presidency, in I880.  From the day he entered
Congress McKinley was a protectionist, His
district was a manufacturing one, and this,
naturally, led him to consider industrial problems. In his own mind he saw where protection was a benefit, and then and there proposed
to stand by thatcause. He faltered not, but
sought with all his energy and intellectual vigor to impress Congress with his views. In a
very brief period, when measured by the course
of others, he won unusual distinction by his
judgment and sagacity. When we remember
that he began at the foot of the ladder in committee appointment and steadily worked his
way to the front, it is all the more praiseworthy. In his book, "Twenty Years in Congress," James G. Blaine speaks of McKinley,
in reviewing the Forty-fifth Congress, in the




A Biographical Study


65


following words: "The interests of his constituency and his own bend of mind led him
to the study of industrial questions, and he
was soon recognized in the House as one of
the most thorough statisticians and one of the
ablest defenders of the doctrine of protection."
McKinley's greatest work in Congress was.
of course, on the tariff question. He became
a past master in every phase of that subject.
A perusal of the "Congressional Record" during the time in which he was a member of the
House will show no better exponent of it than
William McKinley. Some one has said that
"he was a thorough master of all the intricacies
of commercial history and commercial theory
which the work of handling such a law in the
passage through Congress demanded. He did
the work with consummate ability, and entirely
earned his right to be known as the father of,
the McKinley bill, and henceforward as the
leading exponent of the protective doctrine in
the Republican party." The tariff question is
generally regarded as dry and uninteresting to
the average person, but McKinley had a way
of presenting facts and theories and clothing
them in such interesting language that his addresses on that subject were noteworthy.
The bill which bore his name was signed by
the President and became a law on October 6,
I890. For the success of this measure McKinley labored early and late.  He never




'66


William McKinley


swerved. No duties were fixed until every
condition that was worthy of consideration
had been heard.   The work was carefully
done, and when it was finished, it was said to
be "the best, the most complete bill ever produced." The Hon. John Sherman said of the
bill, in a letter to W. C. Harding, of Boston,
that, "on the whole, it is the fairest and best
tariff, not only for revenue, but for protection, that has had a place on our statute book."
In closing his speech on the bill before its
passage, and after he had explained its provisions and had spoken upon the tariff question as a whole, McKinley said:
"Experience has demonstrated that for us
and ours, and for the present and the future,
the protective system meets our wants, our
conditions, promotes the national design, and
will work out our destiny better than any
other.
"With me this position is a deep conviction,
not a theory. I believe in it and thus warmly
advocate it, because enveloped in it are my
country's highest development and greatest
prosperity; out of it come the greatest gains to
the people, the greatest comforts to the masses,
the widest encouragement for manly aspirations, with the largest rewards, dignifying and
elevating our citizenship, upon which the safety
and purity and permanence of our political
system depend."




McKINLEY IN HIS LIBRARY, CANTON OHIO
Couitesy of Roller Pub Co, Canton, Ohio








A P'iograph~ical St~udy


67


While it is not the aim to go into McKinley's Congressional work as a whole, for it
would be impossible in this chapter, still the
above was given to show how deepy he felt in
regard to the passage of the bill in which he had
worked so earnestly and so long.
It will be remembered that the incoming administration under Cleveland placed upon the
statute books the Wilson-Gorman tariff, which
took the place of the McKinley bill.  And
when it was remarked that the McKinley bill
caused the defeat at the polls of the Republican
party, the next year after its passage, William
McKinley said to Mark Hanna the following':
"That may have been so, but the bill was
passed so short a time prior to election that it
was easy for our opponents to make charges,
and there was no time for us to combat them;
but wait and see, Mark; wait and see. The
principles and policies of that bill will yet win
a greater victory for our party than we have
ever had before. This misunderstanding will
yet contribute to overwhelming Republican
success."
McKinley served fourteen years in the
House, and when he came up for the eighth
nomination he found himself facing, as it has
been said, a difficult campaign, inasmuch as
the Democrats had obtained control of the
Ohio Legislature and had gerrymandered his
district. This was the second time that this




68.William McKinley


had been done. McKinley's opponent was the
Hon. John G. Warwick, a gentleman who had
previously served as Lieutenant-Governor of
the State. Nevertheless, the Major, as McKinley's friends called him, went into the contest with as much spirit as in former campaigns, and worked hard for his re-election.
He came within 300 votes of winning. It
was the second and last time that McKinley
lost an election.
After it was known that he had been defeated he was asked to make a statement in
regard to the result, and, taking up a "Congressional Record," he wrote on the back page
these words:
"Protection was never stronger than it is
at this hour, and it will grow in strength and
in the hearts of the people. It has won in
every contest before the people from the beginning of the government.    The elections
this year were determined upon a false issue.
A conspiracy between importers and the free
traders of this country to raise prices and
charge it upon the McKinley bill was successful. But conspiracies are short-lived and soon
expire. This one has already been laid bare,
and the infamy of it will still further appear.
Increased prosperity, which is sure to come,
will outrun the maligner and vilifier. Keep up
your courage. Strengthen your organizations
and be ready for the great battle in Ohio in




A Biographical Study


69


I89I, and the still greater in 1892. Home and
country will triumph in the end. Their enemies, whether here or abroad, will never be
placed in permanent control of the Government
of Washington, of Lincoln, and of Grant."
His defeat for re-election to Congress
brought him forth as the candidate for Governor of Ohio. Even before he left Congress he
was looked upon as candidate. When the convention convened no other name was presented,
and McKinley was nominated on the first ballot. The Major spoke during the campaign
which followed in eighty-five counties of the
State, and made one hundred and thirty-four
speeches. At the polls in November he won
a decisive victory over his opponent, Governor
Campbell, who had been renominated by the
Democratic  Convention.  McKinley's first
term as Governor was a quiet administration.
In the summer of I893 he was renominated,
and was elected by a still larger majority than
in the first contest, receiving at the time the
largest vote that the State of Ohio had ever
given a candidate for Governor. His second
administration was a far more difficult one.
In the first year alone McKinley was compelled to call out the militia some fifteen times
to maintain peace.
It was on one of these occasions that a politician called to see the Governor. Mr. McKinley was engaged at the time and could not




70          William McKinley
be interrupted, and this was reported to the
gentleman. After Governor McKinley's secretary informed the man that the Governor
was busy, the man said: "Tell him that, in
my opinion, if he calls out the State militia, he
will never become President of the United
States." Quick as a flash, with the delivery
of the message, Governor McKinley turned to
his secretary and said: "You return to that
man and tell him that we will take care of the
strike first and the Presidency afterwards."
Just about this time occurred the unfortunate
affair of the failure of Mr. Robert L. Walker,
capitalist, banker and boyhood friend of Governor McKinley's. When McKinley ran for
the first time for Congress Mr. Walker had
helped him financially. He had also loaned
McKinley money at other periods of the Major's life; but these debts had all been paid.
Mr. Walker came to McKinley one day and
asked him to endorse some notes for him, saying that he was pressed for money. McKinley, trusting his old friend, gladly did as requested, remembering how Mr. Walcer had
helped him.   The Governor also endorsed
other notes from time to time to help his friend
out only. He felt confident in doing this, as
Mr. Walker was a prominent man of Youngstown, enjoyed the friendship of the community, and was said to be rated at $250,000. The
notes were made payable in thirty, sixty and




A Biographical Study       71
ninety days. And, to quote Mr. Murat Halstead, "Major McKinley endorsed, as he supposed, about $I5,000 worth. They were discounted as Walker planned, and Major McKinley thought no more of the matter until
February 17th, I893. On that day Youngstown and Mahoning Valley was startled by
the assignment of Robert L. Walker, a judgment of $I2,000 against the Youngstown
Stamping Company causing the failure.~ The
stove company, the coal mines and the other
enterprises of Mr. Walker's went down by the
next day.  Then the banks which held the
Walker paper began to figure. Major McKinley was leaving his home to go to the banquet
of the Ohio Society in New York when he was
informed of the disaster. He cancelled his
New York engagement, and took the first train
to Youngstown. There he learned that instead of being on the Walker paper for
$I5,ooo, his liability in that direction was over
$Ioo,ooo. He could not understand it. Banks
all over the State telegraphed him they had
some of the paper. He was under the impression the paper had been discounted in but
three banks. He had a conference with his
friends.  He told them he had endorsed a
number of notes, b\t he understood that fully
half of them were made out to take up notes
which he had first endorsed, and which had
fallen due. A little investigation showed that




72


Williaml McKinl~ey


the old notes were still unpaid, and the new
notes had doubled, trebled, quadrupled the
debt.  The Walker liabilities were about
$200,000, and the assets not half that sum.
After the conference with his Youngstown
friends, Major McKinley said: "I can hardly believe this, but it appears to be true. I
don't know what my liabilities are, but whatever I owe shall be paid, dollar for dollar."
McKinley was not interested in any of
Walker's business enterprises.  The connection was simply one of friendship.
McKinley bore up under the strain nobly.
"He was again among the ranks of the poor
where he started," but he still retained his
honesty and untarnished name. Subscriptions
began to pour in from all over the State and
elsewhere, and although McKinley sent many
back, refusing their acceptance, he was, however finally compelled to allow friends to accept the money and pay every endorsement in
full. One old colored woman saved up a few
dollars from her hard earnings, and that was
received among the other gifts of money. On
February, 1894, every cent was paid, and the
trustees deeded back to the Governor and Mrs.
McKinley their original property.
It will be seen that after all the years of
preparation, as a lawyer, prosecuting attorney,
Congressman  and Governor he was well
equipped for the Presidency when he was




A Biographical Study


73


nominated for that exalted office.  He had
twice put the opportunity aside; now he was
the logical candidate, and he felt that he could
accept the offer without infringing on the
right of others more entitled to the honor.
We have elsewhere spoken of McKinley in the
Cabinet room  and as Commander-in-Chief.
Suffice it to say that he was a statesman and
a diplomat of a high order. His administration is yet too near to call forth any comments.
That will be done by future writers. It is
rather the purpose of this book, as has already
been said, to sketch the man, his character and
his ways, more than his official acts as a ruler.
William McKinley never held himself above
the rank and file.  He was as kind and as
cordial to the laboring people as he was to
those in more exalted positions. One day, in
the summer of I9go, he was sitting on his
porch at Canton, when an old colored man
passed by. The old man saw the President on
the porch, and cried out:  "Hello, Major!"
"Hello, Tom!" said McKinley, "come here and
let me shake hands with you. How are you,
Tom? How is business?" It is needless to
say how much it delighted the old man.
McKinley has left us no anecdotes such as
Lincoln, but the following story was much enjoyed at McKinley's expense for some time:
On one occasion Mr. McKinley and a lawyer of Canton named Manderson, afterwards




V74         William McKinley
Senator of Nebraska, were to address a meeting at a certain place. McKinley was always
very careful in preparing speeches, and this
same careful preparation he displayed throughout his entire life. On the appointed day McKinley and Manderson drove over to the town
where they were to speak together, and during
the course of the drive Manderson said: "Major, what points are you going to bring out
mostly in your address to-day? I have not
prepared any speech."
"What!" said McKinley, "you going to
make a speech and don't know at this late hour
what you are goin to say?" "No," said Manderson.
McKinley then commenced to give Manderson a few ideas regarding his address, and the
Major, so enviewed and absorbed with his
subject, found at the end of the journey that
he had simply recited his whole address, and
also had produced documents and shown them
to his friend to prove his statements.
Manderson suggested that he should speak
first, making a few remarks, and then yield
over his time to McKinley.  So, as agreed,
Manderson spoke first, and, having a good
memory, simply gave McKinley's speech nearly word for word, and when he had finished
said that Major McKinley had documents to
prove all the statements that he had made, and,
turning to McKinley, said: "Just let me have




A Biographical Study


75


the documents," and there was nothing else to
do but to hand them over to him. McKinley's
turn came; he spoke briefly and retired. That
was the first and only time McKinley was
caught unawares or allowed another to get the
better of him. Justice Day, of the Supreme
Court, McKinley's Secretary of State, who
told the author this story, said that it was a
standing joke on McKinley for a long time
around Ohio.
It is often asked, especially by the young,
if the great men of our history, those who attained the Presidency, ever wished or thought
in their boyhood or young manhood that they
would some day become President of the
United States.
We know that many did. Take Lincoln,
for instance. One day, in answer to a lady's
question of what he was going to make out of
himself, said, "Oh, I will work and study, and
some day become President." When the author asked a friend of McKinley's whether the
President ever thought about those things in
his youth, he replied that he did. He said
that McKinley had promised a fellow-lawyer,
that when he became President he (McKinley)
woud appoint his friend to the Supreme Court
bench.   The President did not forget his
promise, and the place was duly offered to the
gentleman, but the latter, for certain reasons,
declined the honor. It is also said that when




,76         William McKinley
McKinley first entered Congress he had the
Presidency in view.
Having been so long in the legislative department of the government, he understood the relation between Congress and the Executive
when he became President. He never antagonized Congress,but he was none the less strong
in advocating the views which he wanted the
Congress to consider. His methods with Congress resembled those of-Garfield's.
Senator Hoar has said that: "Presidefit
McKinley, with his great wisdom and tact, and
'his delightful individual quality, succeeded in
establishing an influence over the members of
the Senate, not, I think-, equalled from the beginning of the Government, except possibly by
Andrew Jackson."
On the g9th of January, I886, Congressman McKinley delivered a speech in the House
of Representatives in accepting the statue of
General Garfield, which was presented by the
State of Ohio and placed in Statuary Hall.
It was so singularly like his own life and
death that we could not close this chapter more
fittingly in summing up McKinley's public
career than to quote in part from its text:
"In life his great character and commanding
qutalities earned the admiration of the, citizens
of his own State and the nation at large, vhile
the lessons of his-iife and the teachings of his
broad mind- will be cherished and remembered




'A Biographical Study


77


when marbles and statues have crumbled to
decay.
"He was brave and sagacious. He filled
every part with intelligence and fidelity. Distinguished as was his military career, his most
enduring fame, his highest renown, was earned
in this House as a Representative of the people. Here he grew with gradual but increasing
strength.  Here he won his richest laurels.
Here he was leader and master, not by com'bination or scheming, not by chicanery, or caucus, but by the' force of his cultivated mind, his
keen and' far-seeing judgment, his unanswerable logic, his strength and power of speechv
his thorough comprehension of the subjects of
legislation.
"In personal character he was clean and
without reproach. As a citizen he loved his
country an'd her institutions, and was proud
of her progress. and:prosperityu As an orator'he Was exceptionally strong and gifted.
As a soldier, he stood abreast with the bravest
and best of the citizen solhlery of tie RepullL
lic. 'As a legislator -hisv most- enduring testimonial will be found n'the records of Congress
aid' thestatutes of his country. As President
he displayed moderation and wisdom."




CHAPTER IV.


AN ORATOR AND HIS SPEECHES.
FRANKLIN said of Lord Chatham: "I
have sometimes seen eloquence without
wisdom, and often wisdom without eloquence; but in him I have seen them
united in the highest possible degree." What
Franklin said of Lord Chatham may be said of
William McKinley.   In his eloquence there
was logic, courageous thought, sincerity and
truth. His earnestness and forcible way of
putting arguments and his deep sympathy with
the common heart of humanity made him not
only an orator of the first magnitude, but won
for him the admiration and friendship of the
masses of his fellow-countrymen.
He was gifted in the making of striking
phrases, and often in these he looked with prophetic vision into the future.
The way in which he set forth facts and
theories, embodied as they were in a single
phrase, and the numerous subjects which he
handled gave proof, more than anything else,
of the fertility of resource and the flexibility
of his mind.
He was always very careful in preparing




A Biographical Study        7g
his letters, messages and speeches. Through
them all is found running his characteristic
style of thought, and his foresight, courage and
common sense. No American orator ever produced purer rhetoric or exhibited more enthusiastic earnestness or more beautiful sentiment.
John Hay said: "He became from year to
year the most prominent politician and orator
in the country. Passionately devoted to the
principles of his party, he was always ready to
do anthing, to go anywhere, to proclaim its
ideas, afd to support its candidates. His face
and his voice became familiar to millions of
our people, and wherever they were seen and
heard men became his partisans.  His face
was cast in a classic mould; you see faces like
it in antique marble in the galleries of the
Vatican and in portraits of the great Cardinal-i
statesmen of Italy; his voice was the voice of
the perfect orator —ringing, vibrating, tireless,
persuading by its very sound, by its accent of
sincere conviction. So prudent and so guarded were all his utterances, so lofty his courtesy,
that he never embarrassed his friends, and
never offended his opponents."
Such was John Hay's opinion of William
McKinley, the orator. Men who had heard
McKinley's first speech say that it was strong
and logical, and insist that at that early day
they foresaw a great career in public life for
the young speaker.




80


William McKinley


According as the story goes, McKinley did
not make his maiden speech as a political
"spellbinder" on a finely arranged platform,
but on a drygoods box, in the little town of
New Berlin, Ohio. It seems that he was invited over from Canton on that occasion to fill
a vacancy caused by a speaker who was unable,
at the last moment, to be present.
The drygoods box was placed in front of the
village post office. Mr. Michael Bitzer, who
was still living a few years ago at the age of
eighty-six, was chairman of the meeting, and
when McKinley, a mere youth in appearance,
stepped upon the platform the first question
of the presiding officer was, addressing the
young man, "Can you make a speech?" The
rest of the story may be told by Mr. Bitzer
himself:
"Could he speak?   Well, I should say he
could. Everybody was simply dumfounded.
For nearly an hour he talked as never a young
man in Stark County had talked before. I
told Judge Underhill, who accompanied him,
after the meeting that McKinley did a blamed
sight better than he did, and the Judge, too,
pronounced him a coming politician.
"I really was surprised when Judge Underhill introduced that young stripling of a boy
to me, saying that he had come to make a
speech in place of another Judge, who was
unable to be present. Of course, I only asked




rA Biographical Study


8II


McKinley in a joke if he could make a speech.
I spoke to him much as I would to a boy, but
I really did have my doubts about such a young
man doing justice to the occasion."
Mr. Bitzer introduced him as William McKinley, of Canton. It is said that McKinley
arose and looked over his audience in a way
as though accustomed all his life to making
speeches. There was not a sign of the perturbation which generally accompanies the
maiden effort of a speaker. "But," says Mr.
Bitzer, "as I remember him, the same strong
characteristics which have been so notable in
his public life within the last few years stood
out forcibly on that night."
Ever after that first speech he was in constant demand as a campaigner. In the Presidential campaign of I868 he spoke at town
halls and schoolhouses throughout the country,
so by the time his own campaign in I869 for
Prosecuting Attorney came along he was equal
to the task. It has been said that "he was
assiduous in his campaigning and persuasive,
not antagonistic, in his arguments."
When McKinley entered Congress Rutherford B. Hayes, his old military commander and
personal friend, was President.  The Chief
Magistrate was closely watching the career of
his former comrade, and one day he said to
McKinley:    "To achieve success and fame
you must pursue a special line. You must not'




82


William McKinley


make a speech on every motion offered or bill
introduced. You must confine yourself to one
particular thing; become a specialist.  Take
up some branch of legislation and make that
your study. Why not take up the subject of
the tariff? Being a subject that will not be
settled for years to come, it offers a great field
for study and a chance for ultimate fame."
With these words ringing, as it were, in his
ears, McKinley at once set to work on the
study of the tariff question. He saw where
protection was a benefit, and then and there
proposed with unconquering zeal to stand by
that cause.  He never faltered.   It was a
recognized fact that McKinley had a thorough
and complete knowledge of the tariff. He believed in protection, because he was convinced
it was necessary for the prosperity of the country.   It was not a theory with him, but a
sound, settled conviction.
McKinley, in speaking, never indulged in
any flights of oratory; he never told any anecdotes; he went straight to the subject of his
theme, and used argument and illustration to
convince his hearers.
One of his leading opponents in the House
used to say that he had to brace himself mentally not to be carried away by the strong undercurrent of McKinley's irresistibly persuasive
talk.
His first speech in Congress, which was de



IA Biographical Study


83


livered at a night session, was in opposition
to Fernando Wood's non-protective bill, which
was introduced in the House during the season of 1878.
Like Lincoln, he could state the argument of
his adversary as justly and as impetuous as his
own.
Old politicians soon discovered that a new
force was arising on the political horizon; and
when the day came upon which McKinley reported and opened the debate on the tariff bill
which bears his name, it won for him lasting
renown as a debater and orator.
It has been said that "his contrast between
protection and free trade, which closed that
famous utterance, points at once a picture and
a prophecy."
"We have now," he said, in closing, "enjoyed twenty-nine years continuously of protective tariff laws-the longest uninterrupted
period in which that policy has prevailed since
the formation of the Federal Government, and
we find ourselves at the end of that period in
a condition of independence and prosperity, the
like of which has no parallel in the recorded
history of the world. In all that goes to make
a nation great and strong and independent, we
have made extraordinary strides. We have a
surplus revenue and a spotless credit.
"To reverse this system means to stop the
progress of this Republic. It means to turn




84.amliay   McKinley


the masses from ambition, courage and hope
to dependence, degradation and despair.
"Talk about depression! We would have it
then in its fulness. Everything would indeed
be cheap, but how costly when measured by the
degradation that would ensue! When merchandise is cheapest, men are poorest, and the
most distressing experiences of our countryaye, of all history-have been when everything was lowest and cheapest, measured in
gold, and everything was highest and dearest,
measured by labor."
It is singular that McKinley's first speech in
the halls of Congress was on the protective
tariff question and his last speech was also on
that subject. How eloquent McKinley could
make his speeches on the supposedly dry subject of the tariff is well illustrated by an anecdote told by one of the noted judges of that
time:
A bill was pending in the House, and a number of speakers were to talk on either side before a final vote was taken. McKinley, who
was put on the list was next to the last speaker
on his side. When his turn came, his hearers
became tired out and were getting anxious to
retire from the chamber. But as McKinley
proceeded one after another turned to listen
attentively, until the whole House was following every word he said. When he concluded
there was a burst of applause, and the Hon.




tOPYRO3HT BY J. C. HEIMHENT


A CHARACTERISTIC POSE
Reproduced by courtesy of Collier's Weekly.








A Biographical Study


85


D. C. Haskill, who spoke last pressed forward,
shook McKinley's hand cordially and said:
"Major McKinley," with real earnestness, "I
shall speak last; but you, sir, have closed the
debate."
Critics have said that President McKinley
was a man of one idea. Because of his vast
and manifold study of the tariff question and
because he was identified so closely with that
subject, they presumingly supposed he was lacking in knowledge upon other subjects. Nothing could be farther from the truth than that
supposition.
General Grosvener, who served long with
McKinley in Congress, and who knew him intimately in private and public life, says, regarding McKinley as a man of one idea:
"During Governor McKinley's long service
in Congress he gave special attention to the
subject of the tariff, and as a member of the
Ways and Means Committee devoted much of
his time to revenue legislation; but it must not
be understood that Governor McKinley is a
man of power and a man of knowledge upon a
single subject. It has been said of him incidentally that he is a statesman upon a single
question and a man of learning with a single
idea. No greater error could possibly be suggested.
"Since the expiration of his term in Congress and during his four years in the admin



86         'William McKinley
istration, as Governor of Ohio, he has delivered
addresses upon a great variety of questions,
and discussed a large number of subjects, all
outside of his specialty in national politics. He
has made many notable speeches upon questions
wholly independent and differing from mere
political considerations.  Among the notable
speeches which he made in Congress other than
upon the tariff question were: upon the contest
against Judge Taylor in the Forty-fourth Congress; the subject of free and fair elections in
the same Congress; a memorial address on the
death of Garfield; payment of pensions in the
Forty-ninth Congress; the Dependent Pension
bill in the same Congress; the purchase of Government bonds in the Fiftieth Conress; memorial adress on the death of John A. Logan; the
question of a quorum in the Fifty-first Congress; civil service reform in the Fifty-first
Congress; the Direct Tax Refunding Bill; the
Hawaiian Treaty; the eight-hour law; and the
Silver bill. These speeches, which are of the
highest order of excellence, covered a wide
tange of subjects.
"Outside of Congress his speeches and public
utterances have covered a still wider range.
Among those that might be noted as of special
interest are his address at Atlanta, Ga., before
the Piedmont Chautauqua Association; the
'American Volunteer Soldier,' Memorial Day
address at New York City; 'Prospect and




iA Biographical Study


87


Retrospect,' an address to the pioneers of the
Mahoning Valley; 'The American Farmer,' an
address before the Ohio State Grange; 'Our
Public Schools,' an address at the dedication
of a public school building; 'New England and
the Future,' an address before the Pennsylvania
New England Society; 'The Tribune's Jubilee,'
an address at the fiftieth anniversary of the
founding of the New York Tribune; 'Pensions
and the Public Debt,' a Memorial Day address
at Canton, Ohio; 'No Compromise with the
Demagogue,' at the Ohio Republican State
Convention of I891; a Fourth of July address,
at Woodstock, Conn., 'The American Working
Man;' a Labor Day address at Cincinnati; the
'State of Ohio,' an address before the Ohio
State Republican League; 'Oberlin College,' an
address before the Cleveland Aumni; 'Issues
Make Parties,' an address to the Republican
College Clubs of Ann Arbor, Mich; his notification address to Mr. Harrison; a Fourth of
July oration at Lakeside; 'The Triumphs of
Protection,' an address before the Chautauqua
Association, at Beatrice, Neb.; 'An Auxiliary
to Religion,' an address at the dedication of the
Young Men's Christian Association at Younstown, Ohio; an oration at the dedication of the
Ohio Building at the World's Fair at Chicago;
a memorial address upon the life and character
of Rutherford B. Hayes; a speech at Minneapolis upon questions of national import; an




88


William M1~cKinleyr


address on Washington before the Union
League Club, of Chicago, February 22nd,
1893; an address to the students of the Northwestern University at Chicago on 'Citizenship
and Education,' 'Law, Labor and Liberty,' a
Fourth of July oration before the labor organizations of Chicago, addresses before the National Jewish Association at Cleveland, before
the National Sangerfest at Cleveland; Grant
memorial address at New York; an address at
the dedication of the Grant Monument at Galena, Ill.; an address before the Epworth League
of the United States at Cleveland; an address
before the Christian Endeavorers of the Baptist
Union, and before the Christian Endeavor
Association of the United Presbyterian Church
at Columbus; an address at Albany, N. Y., on
Abraham Lincoln; an address before the Chamber of Commerce at Rochester, N. Y., on 'Busiiness and Politics,' before the State (Ohio)
Chamber of Commerce on 'Business and Citizenship,' before the German Veterans of the
United States, at Columbus; a Memorial Day
address at Indianapolis; an address before the
Grand Army of the Republic; an address before the Grand Army of the Republic at Pittsburg, and most notably, his splendid oration
at the dedication of Chicamauga and Chattanooga Park, and at the Atlanta exposition his
speech upon 'Blue and Gray.'
"A careful perusal of these speeches, ora



A "Biographical Study


89


tions, and addresses, will show that Governor
McKinley, while an absolute master of all that
relates to the tariff and all phases of governmental revenue, had yet distinguished himself
in these other fields of oratory by the same
thoroughness of knowledge and the same
beauty of oratorical effect. His oratory is of
the choicest character; phrases and sentences
came tripping and bubbling forth from him
apparently without preparation, apparently
without effort, forming the most beautiful constellations of oratorical effect and oratorical
beauty."
Although McKinley's voice had a wonderful
carrying power, it is said that the impress of
conviction it carried rather than the mere voice
therof exerted a far-reaching effect on his audiences.
His attitude in regard to his convictions is
aptly illustrated by the following anecdote. It
occurred in his congressional campaign of
1882, when on account of the Democratic tidal
wave, he was returned by a very small majority. Referring to this one day, Congressman
Springer said in rather a derisive manner:
"Your constituents do not seem to support you,
Mr. McKinley." Mr. McKinley's reply was
worthy of a Roman tribune. "My fidelity to
my constituents," he said, "is not measured by
the support they give me. I have convictions




90


William Mc~Kinleyp


I would not surrender if IO,OOO majority were
entered against me."
As an orator, he did not belong to that class
of public speakers who tried to win, through
sensations or mock pathos; but what he had to
say, was said in the most earnest and unaffected style. It never failed, however, in its
effectiveness.
The great words which he uttered in the
Chicago convention of I888, when his name
was before the House as a candidate for the
Presidency, have been called "literary gems."
He had gone as a delegate from Ohio, and was
pledged for John Sherman.
This speech throws an admirable light on
McKinley's character and political integrity.
Shaking his head vigorously, said: "Mr.
Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention:
I am here as one of the chosen representatives
of my state; I am here by a resolution of the
Republican convention, passed without one dissenting voice, commanding me to cast my vote
for John Sherman and use every worthy endeavor for his nomination. I accepted the trust
because my heart and judgment were in accord
with the letter and spirit of that resolution. It
has pleased certain delegates to vote for me. I
am not insensible to the honor they would do
me, but in the presence of the duty resting upon
me I cannot remain silent with honor. I cannot consistently with the credit of the state




A Biographical Study


91


whose credentials I bear, and which has trusted
me; I cannot with honorable fidelity to John
Sherman, who has trusted me in his cause and
with his confidence; I cannot consistently with
my own views of personal integrity, consent,
or seem to consent, to permit my name to be
used as a candidate before this convention. I
would not respect myself if I could find it in
my heart to do so, to pay or to permit that to
be done which could even be ground for any
one to suspect that I wavered in my loyalty to
the chief of her choice and the chief of-mine. I
do not request-I demand-that no delegate
who would not cast reflection upon me, shall
cast a ballot for me."
As the Lincoln-Douglas debate brought Lincoln before the eyes of the country, so McKinley's continued campaigning made him the central figure of the political world. Beginning
with his campaign for Congress in I890, which
resulted in his defeat, and the Gubernatorial
canvass of I89I, the congressional campaign
of I892, the second fight for the Governorship
in I893, the great congressional contest of
I894, the Ohio campaign of I895, and the
great struggle for the Presidency in I896. McKinley was constantly in battle; never ceasing
in his work of advocacy and loyalty to party
principles. His voice seemed to gain in power
and strength, instead of breaking down under
the constant strain. As a campaigner and his




William McKinley
appearance on the public rostrum, Murat Halstead gives us a vivid and lucid description in
his "Life and Distinguished Services of William McKinley," as published by the author in
900o; he says:
"It is interesting to note the way McKinley
begins a speech. The hall is always filled when
he is booked to talk. It usually happens that it
is difficult to get him into the hall, because of
the crowds on the outside. The moment he
appears on the platform is a signal for a prolonged and vehement cheering. His face flushes
a little and his eyes flash. He breathes quickly
and compresses his lips, the lines around the
mouth taking prominence. He brushes the hair
back from his forehead with a nervous hand.
Though outwardly composed, it appears to
those who know him that he is a little anxious
and a bit apprehensive, possibly almost
alarmed. It is worthy of note when he steps
on a platform and is greeted with enthusiasm,
he bows low and waves his hands from side to
side. The silk hat is always in the right hand,
the brim firmly gripped. This is generally
ruffed, for at the moment he forgets that it
gets pressed. rthe bowing continues until the
fury of the reception shows a sign of abatement. For the last four years almost every
chairman of a meeting has introduced him as
"the next President." To those who campaigned with him, this became somewhat of a




i Biographical Study


93


joke, and there were bets made, the odds being
always two to one that would be the introduction. Now the chairman of a political meeting
is generally a man of consequence in the neighborhood where the meeting is held. The opportunity of introducing such an orator as McKinley does not come often, and every chairman takes advantage of it. It is amusing to
note the expression of McKinley's face when
the introduction is prolonged.  He frowns
almost imperceptibly. Only one who has studied his countenace would notice it. There follows a look of weariness and then of impatience. He moves his feet a little and is restless. The strain is becomng painful to hear
and the compliments dreary. They have been
repeated probaby twice before on the same day,
and it is not often that anything of keen interest is said. When the inevitable "next President" comes the Major's face is impassive. One
would not know from his attitude that the reference was to him. He does not seem to hate
it, but would as leave it was omitted.
Finally the chairman has come to the "Fellow citizens, I have the great pleasure, etc.,"
and McKinley steps forward and there are
cheers. The speaker clasps his hands behind
him and bows right and left, to the pit and to
the gallery. He moves his hand to still the enthusiasts and begins.  He has discovered
whether there are women present and then in




94


William McKinley


a voice almost inaudible says, "Ladies and
Gentlemen, my fellow citizens." The opening
sentence is always a striking one. It is spoken
in a low tone. Some one in the rear of the hall
or at the edge of the crowd says "Louder!" and
there are many sounds of "Shu!" McKinley
pays no attention to the interruption except
to wave one hand again. The voice of the orator becomes stronger and in ten sentences the
words ring and reach every corner of the hall.
The audience is leaning forward, eager to catch
every word. As he proceeds the Major warms.
He gesticulates with both hands. He hits the
air a little to emphasize a point and while his
attitude is unstudied it is graceful. He owns
the crowd now. It is hypnotized by his eloquence. His hair grows damp with perspiration. Possibly a dark lock will stray over his
forehead. It is impatiently brushed back and
the sweep of a handkerchief cools the brow.
His eyes are flashing fire. His breast heaves
with the storm. His voice rushes from between
his teeth and his lips are compressed as he finishes a word. His tones are pitched in a higher
key. There is a metallic tone in the voice and
yet it is. musical. His bearing is impassioned.
He has forgotten self and is regardless of
everything, but his subject. Oneperceives that
he is sincere in what he says. Every one sees
that he is in dead earnest, that this is no sham
passion but the real thing. His words pierce




1 Biographical Study        95
the air defiantly and it is astonishing any creature can fail of conviction. The audience has
grown intense in its interest. Many forget to
cough or move. They are absorbed and their
little selfishnesses are neglected. Every now
and then some deep voice says "That is so!"
or utters an "Amen." His companions, who
have heard him a hundred times are as interested as those who are hearing him for the first
time. There is no resisting the earnestness of
the orator, for all his soul and strength are in,the speech. There will be nothing more serious in the sound of the last trumpet. Some
one may interrupt to ask a question, to try to
"stump him," to catch him unawares.   McKinley is so discussing his subject that he fails
to hear what is said. He stops and looks in the
direction of the ground and then says sharply,
"What's that?" The audience cries, "Put him
out." Probably the question is repeated. There
is no hesitancy in the answer. The Major is
ready. He turns a laugh on the questioner, by
his flashing reply. He takes no mean advantage, but answers the question frankly. Generally his reply is epigrammatic. It always is
complete.  Major McKinley has dramatic
power and a magnetism as a speaker. In describing scenes he pictures realistically. The old
soldiers are always impressed when he refers
to them. Again and again he has brought
tears to the eyes of the veterans when he has




96


William McKinley


told of the horrors of war.  Old men sob
like children and there is scarcely a dry eye in
the multitude. There is a sincerity in his tributes to soldiers that is convincing. He has
been there. He knows what he is talking
about. Though of any one else, his talk of the
war might be called stagey; that criticism is
never made of McKinley. It would be impossible to find a speaker who has a better grasp
of the subject, whether finance, protection, arbitration or foreign affairs. His talk is always
illustrative and comprehensible and instructive.
It is serious. There are not anecdotes to amuse.
The orator does not convince by raising laughs,
but rather by the indisputability of statements.
It is a grave matter, this campaigning with
him. It is a mission, not a jest; an attempt to
convert, not to please. Neither does he arouse
passion or opposition by assaults or trivial personalities. He assumes that those who disagree
with him are sincere, as he is, and seeks to
relieve them of their error."
President McKinley believed in sounding
public sentiment. No other President, while
performing the duties of his office, ever did so
much travelling through the United States as
he did; unless it is President Roosevelt.
This was the method by which McKinley
became acquainted   with the masses, and
learned to feel the pulse of the people and satisfy himself in regard to their desires. These




A Biographical Study


97.






trips brought forth the greatest enthusiasm
for him, and the greetings and cordial receptions, were marked on the part of the hosts,
with the most hearty and genuine demonstrations. All his addresses were carefully worded
and because of their good will and fraternal
spirit they were received with as much enthusiasm in the South as they were among his own
people in the North.
The President began these trips to different
parts of the country soon after his inauguration
in I897. The first of these was his visit to
New York to make an address at the dedication
of the great monument on Riverside Drive,
April 27, I897. That address reveals McKinley's style as a eulogist. The following extract
will show its style and sentiment:
"A great life, dedicated to the welfare of the
nation, here finds its earthly coronation. Even
if this day lacked the impressiveness of ceremony and was devoid of pageantry, it would
still be memorable, becauuse it is the anniversary of the birth of the most famous and best
beloved of American soldiers.
"With Washington and Lincoln, Grant had
an exalted place in the history and the affections of the people. To-day his memory is held
in equal esteem by those whom he led to victory, and by those who accepted his generous
terms of epace. The veteran leaders of the
Blue and Gray here meet not only to honor the




98


William McKinleyr


name of Grant, but to testify to the living reality of a fraternal national spirit which has triumphed over the differences of the past and
transcends the limitations of sectional lines. Its
completion-which we pray God to speedwill be the Nation's greatest glory. It is right
that General Grant should have a memorial commensurate with his greatness and that his last
resting place should be in the city of his choice,
to which he was so attached, and of whose ties
he was not forgetful even in death. Fitting,
too, is it that the great soldier should sleep beside the noble river on whose banks he first
learned the art of war, of which he became
master without a rival. But let us not forget
the glorious distinction with which the metropolis among the fair sisterhood of American cities has honored his life and memory. With all
that riches and sculpture can do to render the
edifice worthy of the man, upon a site unsurpassed for magnificence, has this monument
been reared by New York as a perpetual record
of his illustrious deeds, in the certainty that,
as time passes, around it will assemble, with
gratitude and veneration, men of all climes,
races and nationalities.
"New York holds in its keeping the precious
dust of the silent soldier, but his achievement
-what he and his brave comrades wrought
for mankind-are in the keeping of seventy
millions of American citizens, who will guard




A Biographical Study


99






the sacred heritage forever and forevermore."
He made short trips afterward to attend the
unveiling of the Washington statue, at Philadelphia, May 15th, I897; and to deliver an
address before the American Medical Association, at Philadelphia, June 2Ist, I897. But
his first extended tour was to attend the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, at Nashville,
June IIth, 1897, and other cities in the South.
He made other brief trips out of Washington
during that year and in the early part of I898,
but during the progress of the Spanish War,
he was unable to leave the seat of government
for a long time.
But as soon as hostilities were over and the
treaty of peace signed, he took up his tours of
the country again.
The immediate trips after the close of the
war were diplomatically used by the President
to ascertain the true sentiment of the people
toward the Philippines question.
In his speech at the auditorium in Atlantic
on December I5th, I898, speaking of the war
and its results and in regard to the flag, he
said: "That flag has been planted in two hemispheres, and there it remains the symbol of liberty and law, of peace and progress. Who will
withdraw from the people over whom it floats
its potecting folds? Who will haul it down?
Answer me, ye men of the South, who is there
in Dixie who will haul it down?"




Too


William McKinley




It is said that the cheering and applause
which followed was tremendous.
The most extended tour during his Presidency, of course, was his trip to the Pacific
coast, in I9OI, which terminated in the serious
illness of Mrs. McKinley at San Francisco.
The declaration of love, veneration, and esteem for a President, was never more manifest
in any tour before. He made many notable
speeches and was received with the utmost cordiality.
More than forty trips out of Washington
were made by President McKinley during the
four and a half years of his incumbency as the
Chief Executive of the Nation. Although he
had traveled many thousands of miles prior to
his elevation to the Presidency, yet it is said
that he covered more territory in the four and
a half years than in all the years preceding.
As this chapter deals with his speeches I am
going to give a few extracts from some of his
most important addresses.
From an address delivered at the dedication
of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers' Monument
at Cleveland, Ohio, 4th July, I894, he said:
"The unity of the Republic is secure so long
as we continue to honor the memory of the
men who died by the tens of thousands to preserve it. The dissolution of the Union is impossible so long as we continue to inculcate lessons of fraternity, unity, and patriotism, and




A Biographical Study        IO
erect monuments to perpetuate these sentiments.
"Such moments as these have another meaning which is one dear to the hearts of many
who stand by me.
"It is, as Mr. Lincoln said at Gettysburg,
that the dead shall not have died in vain; that
the Nation's later birth of freedom and the
peoples' gain of their own sovereignty shall
not perish from the earth. That is what this
monument means. That is the lesson of true
patriotism; that which was won in war shall
be won in peace.
"But we must not forget, my fellow countrymen, that the Union which these brave men preserved, and the liberties which they secured,
places upon us, the living, the grandest responsibility. We are the freest government on the
face of the earth. Our strength rests in our
patriotism. Peace and order and security and
liberty are safe so long as love of country burns
in the hearts of the people. It shall not be forgotten, however, that liberty does not mean
lawlessness. Liberty to make our own laws
does not give us license to break them. Liberty to make our own laws commands a duty
to observe them ourselves and enforce obedience among all others within their jurisdiction.
Liberty, my fellow citizens, is responsibility,
and responsibility is duty, and that duty is to
preserve the exceptional libety we enjoy within




'102


William  McKinley


the law and for the law and by the law."
And in the House of Representatives on
April 2nd, I886, he had this to say on Arbitration:
"I believe, Mr. Chairman, in arbitration as
in principle: I believe it should prevail in the
settlement of international differences. It represents a higher civilization than the arbitrament of war. I believe it is in close accord with
the best thought and sentiment of mankind;
I believe it is the true way of settling differences between labor and capital; I believe it will
bring both to a better understanding, uniting
them closer in interest, and promoting better
relations, avoiding force, avoiding unjust exactions and oppession, avoiding the loss of
earnings to labor, avoiding disturbances to
trade, and transportation, and if this House
can contribute in the smallest measure, by legislative expression or otherwise, to these ends,
it will deserve and receive the gratitude of all
men who love peace, good order, justice and
fair play."
At the eleventh annual banquet of the Home
Market Club, of Boston, Mass., on the I8th of
February, 1899, McKinley spoke on the future
of the Philippines. In closing that speech he
said:
"No imperial designs lurk in the American
mind. They are alien to American sentiment,
thought and purpose. Our prices as principles




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103


undergo no change under a tropical sun. They
go with the flag. They are wrought in every
one of its sacred folds and are inextinguishable
in its shining stars.
"'Why read ye not the changeless truth,
The free can conquer but to save.'
"If we can benefit these remote peoples, who
will object? If in the years of the future they
are established in government under law and
liberty, who will regret our perils and sacifices? Who will not rejoice in our heroism and
humanity?
"Always perils, and always after them
safety; always darkness and clouds, but always
shining through them the light and the sunshine; always cost and sacrifice, but always
after them the fruition of liberty, education
and civilization.
"I have no light or knowledge not common
to my countrymen. I do not prophesy. The
present is all-absorbing to me, but I cannot
bound my vision by the bloodstained trenches
around Manila, where every red drop, whether
from the veins of an American soldier or a
misguided Filipino, is anguish to my heart; but
by the broad range of future years, when that
group of islands, under the impulse of the year
just passed, shall become the gems and glories
of those tropical seas; a land of plenty and of




o104


Wil22iarm McKinley


increasing possibilities; a people redeemed
from savage indolence and habits, devoted to
the arts of peace, in touch with the commerce
and trade of all nations, enjoying the blessings
of freedom, of civil and religious liberty, of
education and of homes, and whose children
and children's children shall for ages hence
bless the American Republic because it emancipated and redeemed their fatherland and set
them in the pathway of the world's best civilization."
And on April 2Ist, 900o, his missionary address at Carnegie Hall, New York City, is
worth quoting:
"I am glad of the opportunity to offer without stint my tribute of praise and respect to
the missionary effort which has wrought such
wonderful triumphs for civilization.
"The story of the Christian missions is one
of thrilling interest and marvelous results. The
services and sacrifices of the missionaries for
their fellowmen constitute one of the most
glorious pages of the world's history. The missionary of whatever church or ecclesiastical
body,.who devotes his life to the service of the
Master and of men, carrying the torch of truth
and enlightenment, deserves the gratitude, the
support and the homage of mankind.
"The noble, self-sacrificing, willing ministers of peace and good-will should be classed
with the world's heroes. Wielding the sword




A Biographical Study


Io5


of the spirit, they have conquered ignorance
and prejudice.  They have been among the
pioneers of civilization. They have illumined
the darkness of idolatry and superstititon with
the light of intelligence and trust. They have
been messengers of righteousness and love.
They have braved disease and danger and
death, and in their exile have suffered unspeak.
able hardships; but their noble spirits have
never wavered.   They count their labor no
sacrifice; 'away with the word in such a view
and with such a thought!' says David Livingstone; 'it is emphatically no sacrifice; say,
rather, it is a privilege.' They furnish us examples of forbearance, fortitude, of patience
and unyielding purpose, and of spirit which
triumphs not by force of might, but by the
persuasive majesty of right. They are placing
in the hands of their brothers less fortunate
than themselves the keys which unlock the
treasures of knowledge and open the mind to
noble aspirations for better conditions.
"Education is one of the indispensable steps
of mission enterprise, and in some form must
precede all successful work.  Who can estimate their value to the progress of nations?
Their contribution to the onward and upward
march of humanity is beyond all calculation.
They have inculcated industry and taught the
various trades. They have promoted concord
and amity and have brought nations and races




Eo6


William McKinley


closer together. They have made men better,
They have increased the regard for home; have
strengthened the sacred ties of family; have
made the community well-ordered, and their
work has been a potent influence in the development of law and the establishment of government. May this great meeting rekindle the
spirit of missionary ardor and enthusiasm to
go teach all nations, and may the field never
lack a succession of heralds who shall carry on
the task-the continuous proclamation of His
gospel to the end of time."
It was a great convention of missionary
workers. The evening meeting at which President McKinley made the above address was
presided over by ex-President Benjamin Harrison. President Roosevelt, then Governor of
the State of New York, also made an address.
McKinley's address made a deep impression
on the audience, and was heartily applauded.
McKinley's second inaugural address was
considered one of the most inspiring, lucid and
capable of his many State papers.
The part which brought forth the most applause and which the President himself was
most eloquent at was the closing, when he said:
"Our countrymen should not be deceived. We
are now waging war against the inhabitants
of the Philippine Islands. A portion of them
are making war against the United States.
"By far the greater portion of the inhabi



PRESIDENT McKINLEY DELIVERING HIS FIRST INAUGURAL SPEECH
Reproduced by courtesy of Collier's Weekly.








A Biographical Study


'10o7


tants recognize American sovereignty, and
welcome it as a guaranty of order and of security for life, property, liberty, freedom of
conscience and the pursuit of happiness.  To
them full protection will be given. They shall
not be abandoned. We will not leave the destiny of the loyal millions in the islands to the
disloyal thousands who are against the United
States.  Order under civil institutions will
come as soon as those who now break the peace
shall keep it. Force will not be needed or used
when those who make war against us shall
make it no more.
"May it end without further bloodshed, and
there be ushered in the reign of peace to be
made permanent by a government of liberty
under law!"
President McKinley's last speech was his
greatest. As he stood there, on the platform
at the Pan-American Exposition, in the city
of Buffalo, it was a supreme hour of a life
which was in every way triumphant.
The closing words of that last public speech
on earth outlined his national policy for the
great nation which he was so soon to leave.
The words of sentiment and patriotic aspiration were in accord with the nation's history,
and it duly marked the culmination of his development and power in statesmanship.
"Let us ever remember that our interest is'
in concord, not conflict; and that our real em



Io8         William McKinley
inence rests in the victories of peace, not those
of war. We hope that all who are represented
here may be moved to higher and nobler efforts
for their own and the world's good, and that
out of this city may come not only greater
commerce and trade for us all, but more essential than these, relations of mutual respect, confidence and friendship which will deepen and
endure.
"Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness and
peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings
to all the people and powers of earth."
Such was McKinley the orator. His public addresses not only showed an insight into
governmental affairs which equalled few
statesmen of his age, but they were sparkling
word-gems, revealing alike his rhetorical brilliancy and his love for all humanity.




CHAPTER V.


A PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
URING the days intervening between a
Presidential election and the inauguration, the man who has been exalted
by his countrymen to the highest
post of honor in the land is besieged by many
persons, with all kinds of wants, and many
other duties are required of him; but if he
wishes the future administration to be a successful one, the question which most perplexes
him and for which all his energy, tact and
adroitness must be manifested, is the choice of
his Cabinet.
That body of men constitutes the most important part of any administration. Itt is imperative that its choice should be so made that
all sections of the country be represented. It
is even more necessary that the gentlemen
chosen should be not only men of high rank
as statesmen, but that they be eminently fitted
for the respective departments for which they
are selected. It is, indeed, a most difficult task
and one not to be envied. All of our Presidents have taken great care in the selection of
their cabinets.




IIO


William McKinley


It is said that when President McKinley
was inaugurated John Hay was his first choice
for the office of Secretary of State, but circumstances, however, required another appointment. It fell to the Hon. John Sherman, ex-Secretary of the Treasury in General
Harrison's Cabinet, and at the time United
States Senator from Ohio. Mr. Sherman was
a statesman of high rank, a man whose views
were sought; one who was a loyal Republican and an upright and honest citizen. But
hMr. Sherman, when he took up the cares of
the office, was by no means a young man, and
its responsibilities weighed on him, and ere
long he was compelled to relinquish the office
and retire to private life.  The President's
bosom friend and his neighbor in Canton, the
Hon. William R. Day, then Assistant Secretary of State, succeeded him. Judge Day was
and is a modest, unassuming gentleman, but he
is a man of profound judgment and of vast
capabilities. A man who had rendered excellent service as Assistant Secretary of State and
was well qualified to be elevated to the premiership.
Just here it might be of interest to quote an
incident told by Charles Emory Smith, illustrating the President's sense of humor.
Says Mr. Smith:
"In the higher and gayer humor he had a
deft touch. Judge Day, after his splendid ser



THE WAR CABINET
Reproduced by courtesy of Collier's Weekly








A Biographical Study


III




vice as Assistant Secretary and Secretary of
State, had been appointed President of the
Peace Commission that was about to leave for
Paris, and was attending his last Cabinet sesson.
"For eighteen months he had really managed
the State Department under trying conditions
with signal skill and judgment. He had been
the lifelong friend and neighbor of the President, who knew his great capabilities, and had
called him from his vicinage to high responsibilities.
"In that closing hour of his Cabinet service
there were mutual expressions of good-will
and of regret at the coming separation. Judge
Day was not without his facetious vein. In
a playful spirit he proffered his sympathies to
his associates, who were about to lose his counsel, and, the most modest of men as he was
and is, remarked that he didn't know how they
were going to get along without him. 'Well,'
said the President, with that most serious aspect which he put on when he was most in
fun, 'as every change in the Cabinet had been
an improvement, perhaps we can stand it.'
"The tables were turned on Judge Day, and
no one joined in the laugh more heartily than
he did. The two devoted and admiring friends
could safely chaff each other."
Upon Judge Day's departure from the Cabinet, and after Colonel John Hay had served




II2


William McKinley




eighteen months as Ambassador to the Court
of St. James, he was recalled and placed at the
head of the State portfolio. Of all Secretaries
of State, perhaps in John Hay was combined
the genius of the diplomat and the statesman
to a greater degree than any of his predecessors with the exception of Webster and Blaine.
On one occasion an Ambassador of a European power, when asked to name the Minister
for Foreign Affairs who administered his office
with the greatest ability, replied, without a
moment's hesitation, "I should say Mr. John
Hay, your Secretary of State."
At the time of Mr. McKinley's election the
country was at large more interested and anxious as to the appointment of Secretary of the
Treasury than any other. The condition of
the national resources were such that the selection of this appointment was far from an easy
one, and yet with that skill of his judgment of
men, which was one of his most striking characteristics, the President soon solved the difficult problem. He was anxious to find a man
with broad and catholic views, who was well
versed in business affairs as well as familiar
with financial questions; a man of strong ideas
and who had the courage of his convictions; a
man who did not represent any particular section of the country, who had no prejudices, and,whose one ambition or aim was to serve the
whole country, irrespective of party; a man of




A Biographical Study       II3
culture, high and lofty integrity and of intellectual powers of the first order.
To find a man with those qualifications was
no easy matter; yet all these requirements were
met in the Chicago banker, the Hon. Lyman J.
Gage.
Mr. Gage made a most admirable official,
and he will go down in history alongside our
greatest Secretary of the Treasury.
The next thing in order is the Secretary of
War. When Mr. McKinley made this choice,
he little thought that part of his administration
would be taken up with the problems of war.
This department was intrusted to Russell A.
Alger, of Michigan, a man of fine personality
and winsome manner; a true and loyal friend,
and a man fully capable of the arduous duties
of the office.
Like Lincoln, President McKinley was a
student of men. No man during his generation so well knew the lives of the public men
as he did. He could intuitively perceive the
latent genius of a man long before others, and
if he were convinced in his own mind that the
man was all right no power on earth could
change his conviction for a moment. This
was admirably shown in the case of his Secretary of War. At a time when all the country
was crying for the dismissal of that officer the
President remained firm, and would not yield
to the pressure. Even the Secreary himself




II4.


William  McKinley


besought the President to allow him to resign
to protect the party; but no, the President was
satisfied, and he would not consider the proposition under any circumstances.
On August I, I899, after the close of the
war, Secretary Alger did resign, and was replaced by Mr. Elihu Root, of New York City.
At first this appointment did not meet with
entire approval. "Who is this Root?" was the
question asked. "What has he done?" etc.
But the President again knew his man, and a
few months after the President's selection was
applauded by all, and it is now conceded that
Elihu Root, at present our Secretary of State,
made one of the most efficient of Secretaries
that the War Department has had in years.
As to the Attorney-Generalship, McKinley
gave the place to Joseph McKenna, of California. He was a lawyer of marked ability. He
was admitted to the bar in 1865. He was twice
elected District-Attorney for Solano County,
then served two terms in the lower house of
the Legislature of his State, then four terms
in Congress, resigning from the latter body to
accept the position of United States Circuit
Judge, to which he was appointed by President
Harrison in 1893. That was his record when
President McKinley tendered him the Attorney-Generalship in his Cabinet. On January
26th, I898, he retired from the Cabinet to accept at the hands of his Chief a seat on the




A Biographical Study


Jr 15




Supreme Court bench. He in turn was succeeded by John W. Griggs, of New Jersey,
who resigned the Governorship of that State
to enter the Cabinet. After a little more than
three years of excellent service in the Cabinet
business interests made it imperative that he
should resign, so on April 9th, 901o, Mr. Philander C. Knox, of Pennsylvania, was sworn
into office as Attorney-General. He retained
the post until after President McKinley's
death.
James A. Gary, of Indiana, was made Postmaster-General. He was a gentleman of fine
qualities, and possessed a keen mind. He was
succeeded in I898 by the Hon. Charles Emory
Smith, of Philadelphia. This appointment at
once gave universal satisfaction. Mr. Smith
had a wide acquaintance with public men and
affairs, was a personal friend of the President's, having stumped the State of Ohio with
Mr. McKinley when the latter ran for Governor of that State. In I898 President Harrison appointed Mr. Smith Minister to Russia,
which office he resigned after having served
two years. While he was in that country he
was extremely active in the relief work of the
great famine in 1891 and I892, and had sole
charge of contributions that came from America of over $Ioo,ooo in money and several shiploads of goods.
Mr. Smith is a most genial and courteous




nI6


William McKinley


man to meet. He possesses many of the qualities of his Chief. He made a most popular
Postmaster-General, and was invariably consulted on many questions of great importance
which did not relate to his department. His
vast experience as a teacher, editor, diplomat
and man of affairs entitled him to rank as one
of our best known public men.
The Secretaryship of the Navy was allotted
to the ex-Congressman and ex-Governor of
Massachusetts, the Hon. John D. Long.
This appointment proved to be one of McKinley's best. Mr. Long conducted the affairs
of our Navy Department during a most trying
time.   Through his labors the service was
brought up to a standard of efficiency second to
none in the world. No man had better right
to feel proud of his work when he laid down
the cares of office than John D. Long.  He
served throughout President McKinley's entire
term of office.
President McKinley appointed as his Secretary of the Interior the Hon. Cornelius N.
Bliss, of New York. Mr. Bliss was a thorough business man, and well fitted for the head
of the Interior Department.  On February
20th, I899, he was succeeded by Ethan Alien
Hitchcock, of Missouri, another man of wide
business interests, and one who had discharged
the duties of his office in a most satisfactory
manner.




A Biographical Stucdy


II7


And for Secretary of Agriculture the Hon.
James Wilson, of Iowa, was selected, a man
who had been engaged in practical farming;
who had been in the State Legislature as well
as the national House of Representatives. For
six years prior to his elevation in President
McKinley's Cabinet he was director of the
Agricultural Experiment Station and professor
of agriculture at the Iowa Agricultural College
at Ames. This brief biographical sketch will
show that the choice of Mr. Wilson to head the
Agricultural Department was a good one. It
is a singular coincidence that Mr. Wilson is
still retained in the Cabinet by President
Roosevelt, and that the men who entered with
him have either passed away or resigned.
The wisdom of his appointment was revealed in the fact that President Roosevelt
still wishes him to remain at his council board.
When one scans the names of men whom
President McKinley appointed to his Cabinet
table he will see that those selected were men
of brains and of eminence in their respective
lines. When everything is taken into consideration, no President had a better or more efficient Cabinet than he. It has been said by one
of the President's closest friends that "there
was fot a detail or a situation in any branch
of the government with which he came in contact that he did not fully fathom and master."
The President was an attentive listener and




II8


William McKinley


an earnest seeker after the truth of any subject. He had strong opinions of his own, but
his course at the Cabinet meetings would be
to seek his advisors' opinions first, so that he
could ascertain their individual feelings before
expressing his own.
His Postmaster-General, Charles E. Smith,
has given us a near view of McKinley in regard to his manner at Cabinet meetings when
he says that McKinley "at the Cabinet table
was suggestive, fertile and wise. Sometimes
he led discussion, quite as often he first elicited
the views of his counselors. He recognized
and treated his Cabinet as advisers in the fullest sense of the word, not as mere recorders
and executives of his will. He sought and respected their independent judgment. It was
quite his habit with them, as with others, to
draw out their opinion before he had indicated
his own, so that he secured their unbiased expression. He was receptive and responsive,
but not pliant. He acorded full weight to all
that was said, btit he formed his own convictions. No man was more judicial and sane in
summing varied views and deducing the wisest
conclusion. His pre-eminence in the council
was unchallenged."
Although eminent counselors may surround
a President at his Cabinet table, men in some
lines perhaps greater than the President himself; that is, finer statesmen, men better skilled




A Biographical Study


flo9


in public affairs, or perhaps as lawyers whose
minds were keener or more adroit than their
Chief, or statesmen whose greatness is innate.
Yet the President, and he alone, is responsible
for the success or failure of the administration. The public always looks and expects the
President to guide and direct the destiny of the
nation while he is at the head of government.
President McKinley well understood the importance of his position, and he was not
weighed down by its cares; on the contrary,
the more he had to do the kinder would be his
manner and the more gracious his attitude.
As Lincoln was the dominating spirit in his
Cabinet, so was McKinley the magnetic leader
and gallant defender of American interests in
his Cabinet.
He always espoused the cause wherein he
believed his duty lay, and I do not hesitate to
express the opinion as a deliberate judgment
that his sole purpose in life was to do the thing
that was right as it was giveni him to see the
right. Political amibition which he possessed
never sprang from selfish motives, but his lifelong aim was the best good of his country and
of all humanity.
On one occasion he remarked to his friend,
Senator Hanna: "There are some things,
Mark, I would not do and cannot do, even to
become President of the United States."
The question whether the Philippines should




120


William McKinley


be kept or allowed to pass from our jurisdiction
was one of the most perplexing problems on
which the President and his Cabinet had to
meet. I will again quote from Charles Emory Smith, who has written very clearly and
vividly on this matter. He says:
"When did President McKinley decide to
keep the whole Philippine archipelago? Was
this his original determination, or did he grow
up to it with the progress of events and the
development of discussion? What were the
controlling considerations which influenced his
final judgment? What was his own personal
feeling? These questions are often asked, and
the answer is full of historic interest and personal illumination.
"The protocol, which was signed August
I2th, I898, left the future of the Philippines
open and undetermined. The language was
chosen with deliberation and care. The fifth
stipulation provided for the ocupation by the
United States of the city and harbor of Manila pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace
which should determine the control, disposition
and government of the Philippines.  Every
word was studied and weighed. To leave the
'control' and 'disposition' of the Philippines
for the final determination of the treaty was
to leave their fate unsettled till then. This was
done advisedly.
"The President had not at that time reached




AQ Biograph~ical St~udy


I2I,


a definite conclusion, and he deemed it prudent
to reserve freedom of action. Three lines of
action were possible. The first was the establishment simply of a naval and military station. The second was the retention of the
single island of Luzon. The third was the
acquisition of the whole archipelago. No one
proposed to abandon the opportunity we had
gained in the Philippines without at least reserving a base for naval necessities. There
were a few who suggested some such location
as the Subig Bay, where a new American establishment could be created, and deprecated
the absorption of any old town with its population and connections; but they were very
limited in number. It was generally recognized that, as we were in full possession of the
city and bay of Manila, that foothold should
at least be held.
"With what justification, indeed, could it
be turned back to the domination and oppression of Spain? If the United States withdrew
from Manila, Spanish authority must be reasserted.  There was no other.  That would
mean not only the characteristics of Spanish
rule, but the reopening of revolt and war.
"The knowledge of that inevitable consequence brought a general perception and acknowledgment that nothing less than the retention of Manila was admissible. But when
so much was granted, it immediately faced an



122


'William McKinley


other question. How could Manila be wisely
separated from the island of which it was the
heart and life? How could London be politically and commercially dissevered from England? or Brooklyn from Long Island? Must
not the city have its hinterland? Must not the
country have its outlet? Was not the connection of so close a character that the interests
of both demanded that they should be together?
"That argument led to the conclusion that
the United States must take Luzon. But between the adoption.of Luzon and that of the
whole archipelago there was apparently a margin for difference of opinion.   Necessity
seemed to compel the first, but moderation
prompted that the demand should be bounded
by those limits, if the line could be logically
drawn. Accordingly, in the general letter of
instructions with which the President sent the
Peace Commissioners on their momentous errand, he said that the United States cannot accept less than the cession of Luzon. Whether
more should be taken was left for developments.
"Nearly six weeks intervened from the first
instruction before the final issue of the Philippines was reached. It was a time of investigation, reflection and discussion. A majority of
the Peace Commissioners in Paris came to the
decided conviction that it would be a naval, po



A Biographical Study


I23


litical and commercial mistake to divide the
archipelago, and made a strong representation
to the President to that effect. The information which came to him from the officers in
command pointed to the same conclusion. The
more the question was studied the greater appeared the difficulties of division and the more
imperative the reasons for limiting the choice
to the whole of the archipelago or none.
"The group is naturally a geographical and
political unit. The islands are close together,
and for the most part interdependent. Manila
is the commercial centre of all. It would be
as easy to hold the whole as a part. If we
took Luzon and turned the other islands back
to Spain they would immediately flame with
revolt against which Spain would be impotent,
and we should be compelled, in self-protection
and on grounds of humanity, to intervene. It
was morally certain, moreover, that if the title
were left with Spain she would sell and transfer her islands to another and stronger European nation, and we should be confronted with
a powerful rival side by side in the same group
dividing authority and responsibility.  The
dangers of such a divided control among a
people naturally related were manifest and inadmissible.
"These considerations finally decided the
President to require the cession of the whole
archipelago.  When he reached that conclu



124


-widliam McKinley


sion he was clear and unwavering.   There
were critical moments in the negotiations at
Paris-moments when even our Commissioners feared that the conference would break up
and the treaty fail. The tension of those hours
was extreme, and was calculated to make even
the strongest men quiver and ask themselves
whether some concession should not be sought.
But again, as in the crisis of the Santiago campaign, the President was firm and unfaltering.
He was willing that a reasonable pecuniary allowance should be made for any fair claim that
compromised no principle; but once convinced
that safety required our control of the whole
of the Philippines, he held fast to that ground.
"There can be no doubt that he came to this
view with great reluctance. It was against his
personal feeling and predisposition. He had
no ambition, so far as his frankest talk in the
innermost circle of friendship revealed, for
more territorial acquisition.
*     *      *     *     *     *
"Besides his freedom from territorial greed,
he saw that the acquisition of the Philippines
would open difficult and perplexing problems.
He thus approached it with real hesitation, and
if he could have seen a way of avoiding it compatible with honor and duty, he would have
been glad to do so. He knew that popular
sentiment was for expansion over the Philippines. This became plain during his Western




A Biographical Study


125


tour while the issue was unsettled.  It has
some times been said,, indeed, that he made
that journey among the people to ascertain
their feeling, and that their demonstration determined his course. What is much nearer the
truth is that he led public sentiment quite as
much as public sentiment led him, and the popular manifesations on that journey were in response to the keynotes he struck.
"He realized the vital importance of popular
support, especially in a new departure on a
great national experiment.
"Coming to the conclusion that it was a necessity, he touched the popular chords, and was
undoubtedly encouraged and strengthened in
his course by the public approval. But it is
equally true that a popular sentiment in favor
of holding the Philippines would not have carried him for that policy unless he had felt it
to be a duty.. Thoroughly mnan of the people
as he was, few men were less swayed by mere
momentary and ephemeral currents. He could
look beyond the fleeting and superficial impulses of the hour to the calm judgment of the
future. And thus his conclusion to hold the
Philippines was not moulded by popular opinion, but was his final conviction as a statesman
and rather against his personal prepossessions."
There was never a more fearless man' than
William McKinley after he had proven in his




126


William McKinley


own mind that his course was right; but even
so, he would give the public a chance to be
heard even after his mind had been made up.
It was just this phase of his character that was
so much misunderstood. He was not blunt in
his manner, but he was none the less strong
-and fearless because he was gentle in his dealings with men. Just here I desire to quote
from an address delivered by President Schurman, of Cornell University, at Ithaca, N. Y.
He says: "Strong as he was, and firm to
the point of obstinacy, yet he was so deferential to the judgment of others, so willing to listen to everybody, so truly democratic in his
search for truth and wisdom, that his very lack
of dogmatic self-conceit and even the deliberateness of his method were at first construed
as signs of weakness, and in the early days of
his Presidency it was not uncommon criticism
that he had no mind of his own."
"Never was there a greater mistake, as the
men who came closest to him will universally
testify. His Cabinet was made up of strong
men, but the President dominated the Cabinet.
He saw everybody, heard everybody, but followed nobody.
"Yet, somehow, he was the leader of all, and
all fell into line and marched behind or beside
him. He acquainted himself with all the facts
of a given case, listened to all manner of advice from those who might be supposed to




A Biographical Study


12s


know all about it, even suffering fools gladly,
and then reached a decision or adopted a policy
of his own, which, being well considered, was
sure to command general assent. It was his
own views, yet it was the quintessence of the
public mind. He was the greatest inductive
philosopher who ever experimented with
American politics, and it did not take the
American people long to discover his method,
or to show their appreciation of it. Even before his re-election, the talk that he lacked independence of judgment had entirely ceased.
I have dwelt on this point because it is here
that MciKnley suffered most injustice at the
hands of his critics."
On the great public questions the President
would be more deliberate, more cautious in the
way in which he arrived at his conclusions.
He used to say, to quote again from Mr.
Smith, "that when all the members who comprised his Cabinet had reached a conclusion on
any subject, it was most generally sure to be
the right conclusion."
As has already been stated, Mr. McKinley
was unusually careful in the selection of appointments.  He took the greatest pains to
avail himself of the right man for the right
place.
On one occasion a gentleman who had received an important appointment came hurryingly to the White House to explain to the
i1




I28


W~tiliam M2lcKintley


President that he did not agree on some of the
President's policies, and said that he no doubt
would want to appoint another man who
thought as the President did. "You are just
the man I want," replied the President.  It
did not matter with him whether the man was
for or against the policies of the administration. He was only looking for the best man
for the place.
In speaking of the President's appointments,
Mr. Charles E. Smith says: "The great body
of appointments are not brought before the
Cabinet, but are considered and determined between the President and the particular member
in charge.  But the important appointments
of a really national character are often the subject of general conference and careful discussion by the whole Cabinet. President McKinley, who had an unusually large number of
such selections to make, like the Paris Peace
Commission, deliberately canvassed every
name with all his advisers. And it is worthy
of note how little, when they are thus treated,
mere political or personal considerations weigh
and how the single question of fitness becomes
decisive."
There were strong minds in President McKinley's Cabinet-minds that were different
from the President's, and minds that would
naturally reach different conclusions-but there




A Biographical Study


1I29


was not that divided sentiment which characterized the Cabinet of Mr. Lincoln.
McKiriley's Cabinet always respected the
President's judgment, while at first Mr. Lincoln's advisers were unmindful of Lincoln's
logical perceptions and moral leadership, although they soon realized that his rugged and
uncouth exterior was only the outward mantle, and within there existed a mentality
equalled by none of his day and generation.
We learn from the records now that President McKinley's Cabinet was divided just
prior to the Spanish-American War; that some
of its members sympathized with the war
party, while the others were opposed to the
war.   And says Mr. Smith: "The President's policy in that crisis was his own, guided,
first of all, by his own strong convictions, and
then moulded by events which controlled him.
Again, at a crucial point, he had to decide
whether the Philippines should be retained or
not. With some division at first, his Cabinet
came to concur in his conclusion; but in such
a transcendent issue he knew that conscience
and history would hold him to his own personal responsibility, and however much he may
have felt strengthened by the concurrence of
his advisers, he had in the last resort to rely
on his own independent insight and judgment."
William McKintey 'wa  y.ra-gta4teiand




130         William McKinley
wiser man than some of his critics will admit. It is not claimed that he was a second
Webster or Clay or Calhoun, but it is maintained that he was a statesman and political
leader of high rank.
The.popular appreciation of his career was
at first slow in its growth, but after he became
President his countrymen and the world looked
upon him with more favor and with less reluctance.  His commanding influence and
power over the people's minds and hearts grew
steadily day by day; from the hour he took the
oath of office as President until the assassin's
bullet ended his noble and beloved career.
In closing this chapter let us consider for a
moment one of the President's most predominating characteristics. It was patience; never
has an Executive showed it in a more marked
way than William McKinley.
He carried this virtue with him wherever
he went, and it was his up to the day he received his "crown of martyrdom."   Says a
friend: "If you ask the hundred of notable
men who were frequent and solicitous visitors
at the official mansion what quality of his character was the most remarkable in a man of his
many cares and anxieties, the large majority
will answer patience-an indomitable, unvarying patience."
"In all the various demands for the exercise
of his many constitutional powers, in the pres



A Biographical Study


I3I'


ence of conflicting interests and urgent representations, he preserved his serenity of manner and gave a patient audience outside his
own official household. Only members of the
Cabinet had the right of immediate admission
to the audience chamber. Waiting Representatives, Senators and others in official and private life must await their turn. The waiting
numbers were often so large that impatience
and nervous irritation seized them in the long
delay, and when they were summoned they entered in a mood far from amiable. But when
the President turned to them with his kindly
face and tranquil manner, as if he had no burdens on his mind, and no other duty than to
listen to his visitor, there was such a soothing
charm in his bearing that all this irritability
disappeared as by magic.
"On one occasion, when a certain line of Executive action was supposed to affect injuriously the interests of some constituents of a certain Senator, the latter entered the room of
audience with denunciatory remonstrances on
his lips, and sw-elling with inward excitement.
The President listened to his extravagant
words, and advancing a step put a hand on his
shoulder, and said, in a tone that a gentle nurse
might use to a fretful invalid: "Oh, no, no;
not so bad as that; not so bad as that!" And
soon reason resumed its throne. Far beyond
any precedent this last administration had fur



132         William McKinley
nished a volume of proof that "a soft answer
turns away wrath."
All who perchance came within his presence
admired him at first sight. His Cabinet ministers, when speaking of him to-day, refer to
him with loving recollections. Let it be said
that no man in the history of America was so
universally beloved as William McKinley. His
whole life is a theme of inspiration to the
youth of our land. And God grant that they,
may take pattern after him,




CHAPTER VI.


*McKINLEY IN THE HOME AND AS COMMANDERIN-CHIEF.
T HE home-which has been called the
most imposing and magnificent temple
of civilization, is the very essence of
the foundation of the Republic. When
all the achievements and aims of man have
crumbled into dust, the purity and the example of the home will be more renowned, more
significant, and more far-reaching in its mission than any other power in the annals of the
world. The moral and material teaching of
the home appeals to the reason of man; and
wields his good judgment and determining
powers for the right more than any other force
that can be exerted. It has been said that "the
nationalism of the world rests upon the hearthstone."
There is nothing on earth sweeter or dearer
than an ideal home. "Be it ever so humble,
there's no place like home."  We know not
what rank McKinley may be accorded in history. Time alone shall determine. But there
is one thing certain, with which all must agree,
that his home life and his unselfish devotion




1r34~


Williamz McKinley


-- --


to his wife stood out perhaps pre-eminently
among his other characteristics, and were
worthy of the emulation of all.
McKniley's devotion to his wife was so tender, so true, so sincere, that the story of it will
be told for years to come.  Amid the deep
cares of public life, amid the strenuous activity
of daily duties; in the thick of his personal
duties and achievements, and they were many,
he never relaxed his tender care, his sympathy and his untiring thought for her comfort
and happiness.
Senator Hanna once said, in regard to McKinley's home life, "an ideal home-body was
William McKinley, and the American fireside
was a shrine of worship with him."
At his fireside, with his wife and children
about him, the man is seen at his best. He is
no longer the active centre of affairs; he unbends from the dignified demeanor which is
characteristic of men in their relations with
men, and he is the devoted husband, the kind
and affectionate father.  Such was William
McKinley.
After Major McKinley returned from the
war and moved to Canton, the acquaintance
with Miss Ida Saxton, whom he had corresponded with while in the army and met on a
former visit to Canton before the war, ripened
into love. She was the belle of that city, and
her father was a prominent banker and a man




THE HOME OF WILLIAM McKINLEY, CANTON, OHIO
Reproduced by courtesy of Collier's Weekly.








A Biographical Study


135


of considerable literary ability, being editor of
the Canton Repository, which is still in existence.
Miss Saxton was thoroughly educated, having graduated from the Brook Hall Seminary
at Media, Pa.   Her father sent her abroad
with her younger sister, so as to enable her to
receive a broader view of life. Upon her return from the foreign tour she entered her
father's bank as cashier.
Although Mr. Saxton was a man of considerable wealth, he had a theory that young
girls should be taught a business that would
make them independent, and enable them to
support themselves if necessary.
It has been said that the courtship of Major
McKinley was very unique. He was a Methodist Sunday-school teacher and Miss Saxton
a Bible class teacher in a Presbyterian church.
On a street corner each Sunday they met to
chat about their work.  This continued for
some time.   One afternoon he said to her:
"This separation each Sunday I don't like at
all-your going one way and I another. Suppose after this we always go the same way.
What do you think?"
"I think so, too," was her quick reply.
Mr. Saxton had hoped that his daughter
would not soon fall in love, for he wanted her
to remain at home to brighten his declining
years, but he said "that Major McKinley was




136         William McKinley
the only man he was willing that she should
marry."   Many incidents of their devotion
during their courtship have been told by old
friends.
The wedding took place in the New First
Presbyterian Church, which was hurried to
completion for the Saxton-McKinley wedding,
on January 25th, I87I.
A fac-simile of the wedding invitation follows:
Mr. and Mrs. James A. Saxton
will be pleased to have you present
at the marriage of their daughter
Ida
to
William McKinley, Jr.,
Wednesday evening, January 25th, 1871, at
'72 o'clock.
First Presbyterian Church,
Canton, Ohio.




A Biographical Study


I37


Major McKinley's brother Abner was best
man, and Miss Saxton's sister was maid of
honor. The bride and groom went East on
their wedding tour, stopping at Washington
on their return home.
Two little girls were born to them-Kate,
on Christmas Day, I87I, and Ida, April ist,
1873. The latter died in babyhood, and Kate
died when she was three years and six months
old, both keenly mourned.
Mrs. McKinley was naturally a strong
young woman, but the cares of motherhood
and the death of her mother, with those of her
little ones, brought on an illness from which
she has never completely recovered, although
she is ever patient, kind and good to everybody. She tried to be always cheerful for her
husband's sake, and he to be happy and cheerful for her sake. What a beautiful picture
of wedded life!
It is said that while on his way to the inauguration at Washington, the comfort of his
wife during the journey was more to him than
all the honors of the people who met and
cheered him at. every railroad station.  To
him she was as precious as the most costly
jewel that ever a monarch boasted.
He would always appeal to her.  In the
evening, when they were sitting alone in the
Red Room at the White House, she with her
knitting and he reading to her, and a card




138


William McKinley


would be brought in, the President would say,
"Ida, shall we see them?"
When Major McKinley was in Congress he
would work at the Capitol all day, and when
closing hours came would return to his hotel,
the Ebbitt House in Washington, and draw
a chair beside Mrs. McKinley's, and relate to
her what had gone on during the day. When
dinner was announced, they would regularly
proceed together to the dining-room.  This
was told by an eye-witness, who said that it
was repeated day after day. It has been said
by those who knew them well that they were
"a pair of old-fashioned lovers from first to
last."
A story is told of how one day an autograph
album was laid before the President for his signature. Many of these albums came to the
President daily, and he was supposed to place
his name on the first page. In this particular
case, it is said, the President noticed the picture of a flower on every page, and just beneath each picture was a verse. He turned
over the pages until he came to the one which
had a pansy on it. The pansy is Mrs. McKinley's favorite flower, and on this page read
the sentiment:
"You cannot guess the power
Of a little simple flower."




KATIE McKINLEY, THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER, WHO DIED AT THE
AGE OF THREE AND A HALF
Reproduced by courtesy of Collier's Weekly.




6




A Biographical St~udy


'I39


The President took up his pen and wrote
beneath the verse "William McKinley," and
sent the album back to its owner.
While Governor of Ohio McKinley had
rooms in the Chittenden House, in Columbus,
directly opposite the State House. He always
left the hotel by a side entrance to avoid notice, and cross the street, after which he would
lift his hat, and a handkerchief would flutter
from his window at the hotel. This was repeated every evening as well.
On Sunday the Governor would take the
train to Canton and accompany his mother to
the First Methodist Episcopal Church.
Although McKinley had no training, he
nevertheless loved music. It is said that "anything from a hurdy-gurdy to a grand opera
would please him; he would keep time with
his hands and enjoy every bit of it."
Senator Hanna wrote of McKinley's generosity in these words: "A man of more generous impulses than McKinley never lived.
When cases were presented to him for relief
that were beyond his ability to meet he would
apply to me or some of his friends for some
assistance in aiding worthy persons, and his
friends were always glad to respond to these
appeals.  He was liberal without stint.  It
gave him actual physical pain to see any one
suffering or in distress, and on such occasions
showed his great faith in friendship, never hes



140         William McKinley
itating to go to any bounds in an appeal for
others."
A story is told that he was traveling on one
occasion when a man approached him and a
wealthy friend sitting by his side for money
for a worthy cause.   McKinley pulled out
from his pocket a fifty-dollar bill and a five;
he gave the fifty-dollar bill to the man, and
placed back in his pocket the five, while the
millionaire gave a ten-dollar bill.
An act which occurred during his last and
tragic visit to Buffalo will illustrate the simple
manner and graciousness of the man. On the
day before the assassination the President
started out of the Milburn House for an early
morning stroll; the weather was very bright
and beautiful. As he turned out from Delaware Avenue into a side street he stopped in
front of a house where a laborer was cutting
the grass with a lawn mower. He engaged the
man in conversation.  The President asked
him the cost and workmanship of the different
kinds of mowers and other little details of the
man's calling. While he stood there talking
a street sweeper came along, and he, too, was
stopped by the President and drawn into the
conversation, all of which had reference to the
work in which the men were engaged. Just
as he was about to leave he put his hand into
his pocket, and, pulling out two one-dollar
bills, presented one to each of the men, asking




A Biographical Study       14!
them to accept them as a token of the goodwill of the President of the United States.
This little deed of kindness and pathos was
the last that President McKinley did in his
capacity as a private citizen. The two men
were much touched when they related this simple story of the great and kind-hearted man
who was so soon to go home to his reward.
Even the little children loved him. It is related of a little boy that on the night before
Mr. McKinley died he said to his mother:
"You needn't wake me, mama, if President
McKinley dies. I don't want to see any 'Extras,' for I never loved any other President
half so well as I love him." The newsboys
loved him, for they knew he was their friend.
When he met them on the street he would almost always stop and buy papers from them.
Another of those acts of his illustrating the
kindly and gracious side of his nature, that
never could be concealed, occurred on the fateful day when he made the rounds of the Exposition Buildings at Buffalo. While passing
one of the booths in the Agricultural Building
the young lady in charge, Miss Antoinette Witt,
attracted his attention. He stopped, shook her
hand, spoke with his charming smile a few
words of well-wishing, and presented to her a
rich bouquet of American Beauties, which had
been given him shortly before. Then he passed
rapidly on, but the young lady was the hero of




'I42


William n  McKinzley


the day, and cherishes the recollection fondly.
Another incident occurred on the day of his
funeral which is so pathetic and so beautiful
a picture that it cannot be too often told.
It was that incident of the little girl of unknown name who on the day when the remains
of William McKinley were laid at rest in Canton was found just at dusk at the entrance
gate of the cemetery in Atlanta, Ga. She had
been waiting there for some time, for in her
hands were tightly clutched a bunch of wilted
wild flowers. She had heard that her beloved
President, whom all loved, was to be buried
that afternoon, and she had come to the only
burial place of which she knew to place on
his bier a tender token of her love and esteem.
As Antony said of Brutus, so of him: "His
life was gentle, and the elements so mixed in
him that Nature might stand up and say to
all the world, 'This is a man!'"
Nothing would delight the President better
after the hours of work than to have a number
of his close friends to dinner. After dinner
he and his friends would talk into the early
hours of the morning.   McKinley loved a
good joke, and when he laughed he would
laugh heartily all over. It is said that he was
a perfect boy in his capacity for merriment.
He liked to go to the theatre, and would always avail himself of the opportunity if there
was a good play on.   His favorite dramas




A Biographical Study


r143


were "Rip Van Winkle" and the "Cricket on
the Hearth."   He enjoyed meeting all the
prominent actors, and was especially fond of
Mr. Joseph Jefferson. The noted actors would
always call at the White House when in Washington. McKinley also enjoyed Shakespearean plays. He said he received a great deal
of good from a good play, and to attend the
theatre was a relaxation from his public cares.
President McKinley was not what is called
an athlete. He enjoyed recreation, however,
being a good walker, and taking daily drives
with Mrs. McKinley. He had no taste for
fishing or hunting in after-life, although he
engaged in these sports when a boy. He enjoyed the saddle and was a good rider, and
often would he be seen on the outskirts of
Washington on horseback, accompanied by a
member of his Cabinet.
He was not a brilliant man like Webster,
nor had he the rugged strength or humor of
Lincoln; but it is said that "he rarely spoke
an idle or foolish word."  He did not show
any real native wit; he left us no real anecdotes such as Lincoln, but he has left behind
him the record of a great career, a career(which
will shine with more lustre as time advances.
William McKinley was a man, he was human
like the rest of mankind, and he' made mis:
takes like every one. His judgment was not
infallible, but hp was a man possessed of momr




I 44    _ _- -_


William M 2cKinley




than the average of patience, of goodness, of
fortitude and of fidelity to duty. He believed
that life was all too short to treasure up any
animosities toward his fellow-men. He believed in the martyred words, "With malice
toward none, with charity for all."
Sensitive to criticism, yet no one overheard
him speak unkindly about any one. He never
consciously  wronged  a  fellow-being.  He
would turn from the cares of State to give a
flower to a little child or to say a kindly word
to some visitor for whom'he could do no more.
His beginning was that of the average American bey, and he won every step of his noble
and brilliant career because he was a true,
patriotic, kind and courageous man. No matter what came up in his official duties, he always remained true to his character and convictions as a Christian gentleman. He was so
upright in nature, so tolerant in temper, so
grand in bearing and so kind and considerate
of others, that he proved by his acts and words
that "the bravest are the tenderest, the loving
are the daring." In regard to this side of his
character, Mark Hanna has written of his
friend:
"He seems to have met every emergency and
the unusual problems and annoying complications of the times in a masterful way. These
conditions furnished the opportunity for him
to demonstrate his enormous talent and ability




A B'iographical Studty     tr4
for successfully solving every problem, rising
to the full measure of every situation and overcoming all obstacles." And he goes on to say
that: "In all those thirty years of close relations I never heard him utter one word of what
I would call resentment, tinged with bitterness,
toward any living person." This was again
reflected in the story of the assassination told
by Mr. Milburn, who said that he could "never
forget the picture in the expression of his countenance as he glanced toward the dastard assassin. In his eyes read the words as plain
as language could express it, 'Why should you
do this?'  And then, when the assassin was
hurled to the ground when the fury and indignation of the people had begun to assert itself, he said, with almost saintly compassion,
'Don't let them hurt him.' I. know of nothing in all history that can compare with the
splendid climax and enduring of this noble
life."
William McKinley consecrated his whole
career to his country and his fellow-men. He
often said that he got more out of people by
meeting them than they got out of him. McKinley was very proud of the bronze button
of the G. A. R.
Edward Stratemeyer, in his "Boy's Life of
McKinley," relates the following story:
"One day an old Grand Army man presented
himself at the door of the White House and




146


William McKinley


asked to see the President. The doorkeeper
said, He cannot receive you, sir; he has called
a Cabinet meeting for 10 o'clock, and it is now
five minutes of ten.' 'But he told me I could
come and see him,' responded the old soldier.
'When did he tell you?' 'About six months
ago, when he was in our town in Ohio.' 'Oh,
well, you had better come in when he receives
visitors.' 'I can't come in then,' said the man,
with tears in his eyes. 'I'm going back home
this afternoon. Can't you please take in my
name to him?' After some hesitation, the old
soldier's name was taken in to the President,
who was busy with some important public document. After waiting in the hallway for a
moment or two the old veteran saw the President coming toward him with outstretched
hands. 'I am glad to see you, Sergeant,' he
said, calling him by name. 'Come in and tell
me how you have been.' He led him into a
side apartment, where they could talk without
interruption. Here the soldier was offered a
chair and a cigar, and the President asked him
all about his family, his brother who had gone
to California, and a number of other personal
affairs. He spent some time with him. After
the old veteran had left the White House he
said: 'e's a gentleman, every inch of him,'
and in speaking of his visit later to his friends
he said: 'I thought the interview was going
to be downright straight-laced; but I soon got




McKINLEY ON THE FAMOUS FRONT PORCH
Courtesy of Roller Pub Co, Canton, Ohio




I




A Biographical Study       I47
that knocked out of me. He talked to me like
a brother, and he hasn't forgotten a one of us,
even if he is President. He talked to me almost half an hour, and if that Cabinet got together it had to wait, that's all.'"
Those who knew the White House best in
its relation to the public during the incumbency
of different Presidents have told many incidents concerning their chiefs, but for McKinley they have nothing to relate except kindly
acts and genial ways in his dealings with the
public.
It is said that he left a Cabinet meeting to.
receive the secretary of the Anti-Imperialist
League when that gentleman visited Washington for the first time. It was a very unusual
courtesy.
There is another story which has been related by Mr. Stratemeyer, of the old colored
woman who had moved to Washington from
Ohio, just before McKinley became President.
Her husband had died, and her son, who was
then out of a position, was the only person
whom she depended upon for support. Soon
after McKinley became President she resolved
to call on him and see if she could not have
her son given a government position.
After many attempts to gain admission, for
no one knew exactly what she wanted as she
could not make herself understood, she went
and joined the long line on visitor's day and




148         William McKinley
stood for nearly an hour waiting for her turn
to meet the President of the United States.
So nervous was she that when she actually
stood in front of McKinley she could hardly
raise her hand to greet him, much less say
what she wanted. In speaking of the occasion afterwards she remarked: "I dun stood
dar jest like a fool. He seemed to be sech a
big man, I couldn't say nuffin, nohow. He
looked at me cu'rus like, ap' all to once he
says:  'Ain't dis Mammy Tucker?'    Den I
most gasp fo' bref, an' I says: 'Yes, dis is
Mammy Tucker, Mister P'residerdt,' an' he
give my hand a hot squeeze an' says 'Glad to
see you, Mrs. Tucker. I hope you are well!'
Dat flustered me mightily, but I braces up an'
I says: 'I'se putty well, sah, but mighty poor,
sah-wid de old man gone, an' Washington
out o' wuk. Wisht Washington cud git somet'ing to do around yeah, sah.' By dat time
de crowd behin' was pushin' up an' he sayd:
'Come an' see me to-morrow at 9 o'clock; an'
den I had to pass on wid everybody a-lookin'
an' a-starin' at me, 'cause de blessed President
had stopped to talk to a poor old colored pusson like me.'"
The next morning at 9 o'clock the old colored woman was at the White House; the
President saw her, and gave'her some money
to keep her from distress until her son secured
a position. Presently the son was given a po



A Biographical Study        149
sition as a cleaner in one of the public buildings, with a salary sufficient for the old mother
and son to live comfortably.
The lapse of time will never dim or dull the
affection which the American people will forever have for the memory of William McKinley. His domestic life will ever be a precious
legacy to our people. His beauty of disposition and his unerring tenderness towards his
wife will be an inspiration to future generations
and spur men on to higher and nobler endeavor
for their own and the world's well-being.
McKinley's career was a remarkable process
of evolution. Each day of his long training,
both in Congress and as Governor, revealed
his intellectual powers and administrative ability.
When the call to the Presidency came he was
ready to take the command and show his ability to govern and be the commander-in-chief.
For that is what he really was, notwithstanding his opponents' opinion to the contrary.
Many have said that McKinley was a yielding person, without convictions or opinions;
that he was swayed to and fro at the command
of such men as Mark Hanna and others, but
nothing could be more false than such a statement. It would be truer to say that he towered above all others, throughout his term of
office, "as a mighty oak towers the lesser trees
of a forest."




150 ~

William McKinley


His friends knew his capabilities, and they
well understood from the time he entered Congress that he was a coming man.
At a time when McKinley had to work and
wait, ten years before he became leader of the
House of Representatives, James G. Blaine predicted most emphatically that he would become
President of the United States.
It was a deal harder to take command when
he came to Washington as President of men
who had been his commanders when he first
made his appearance in public life, than it
would have been if he had come without any
special acquaintance as President-elect; but he
soon lived down the familiarity. It has been
said that his "suaviter et fortiter" was one of
the secrets of his success in obtaining the chief
place of his party.
The President had keen critical faculty, he
was quick to perceive the "flaw of logic or of
rhetoric" in another's composition. It is said
that no paper which was shown to him ever left
his hands without some revision, either in
matter or style. Sometimes he would merely
give suggestions.  Again, like Lincoln, his
keen sense of detection was not so much due
to his- training as ithwas to his natural sense of
harmony. During the Spanish War the President was the real 'commander-in-chief.  Nothing hardly escaped his\ notice. No,'President
so absolutely;directeld the fighting forces of the




A Biographical Study


5II


United States as did William McKinley. He
was the leader and commander, and he well
knew that history would hold him responsible
for the acts of his administration. He felt an
overwhelming sense of his cares, but he was
not oppressed by them. He approached them
with hopeful temperament; with a spirit due to
their gravity, and he met them with full consideration as to his own honor and the honor
and welfare of the great nation in his care. He
could think fast and act quickly if it was necessary, but he. held the balance of his intellect
and was impulsive to the smallest degree. He
was always desirous like his Secretary of State,
John Hay, of giving others more than their
share of the credit in any transaction, when he
had been the prime mover and the master mind.
While administering his office, as President,
he stood firm and with untiring energy he set
himself to the task of duty. It would often
be two or three o'clock in the morning before
he would leave the war room at Washington.
He held conference with members of his Cabinet and 'other officials every evening when the
war was'in progress. Those to whom he consulted with most were Secretary of War,
Alger, Secretary of the Navy, Long, and General Corbin, the adjutant-general of the Army.
The President requested that all orders of a
military character be submitted to him personally befote being issued and many of them, it




I52


William McKinley


is said to-day, bear his corrections in pencil.
But with all these arduous duties which required his constant attention, he was as calm
and tranquil as if he was going through the
simple and ordinary routine of every day life.
He was never ruffled or excited on even the
most trying moments of the contest. Often
would he be seen in the Telegraph Bureau reading the messages, sheet by sheet, as they came
over the wires.
To show how thoroughly McKinley was in
command, the following might be cited:
Colonel Miller's command sailed from Manila to Iloilo in December, I898. General Otis
reported this fact, and said that the soldiers
were suffering greatly from the transport. The
message was written on New Year's Day of
I898, and was as follows: "It is of first importance that conflict be avoided at this time,
if possible. Can not Miller get into communication with insurgents giving them the President's Proclamation and informing them of
the purposes of this Government, that there is
no other purpose than to give the peace, prosperity and protection in all their civic rights?"
The President inserted in the dispatch following the word conflict the phrase: "Brought
on by you," and amended the concluding lines
to read, "that its purpose is to give them a good
Government and security in their personal
rights."  He also added this to the despatch:




A Biographical Study


I53


"It is most desirable that Miller should hold
his ground and as health of the soldiers may
not permit of their remaining on transports,
could not a landing at some healthful place
convenient be effected without a conflict?'
"The report of excited conditions in Manila
makes it incumbent upon you not to weaken
your forces at that point."
Upon the same day word was received from
General Brooke that the United States flag had
been raised over the island of Cuba. Secretary
Alger at once prepared a dispatch of congratulation. It was as follows: "January ISt, '899.
Brooke, Major General, the President instructs
me to send to you and your command his best
congratulations upon the successful and peaceful turning over of the island of Cuba by the
Government of Spain to your forces." The
President corrected the dispatch to read, following the word "peaceful" "events of the
day," and by striking out best before congratulations. The next order we find that President
McKinley at times named the regiments for
active service:
"Washington, D. C., General Corbin. If we
need more troops for Manila after the force
vow at S. F. has gone, I direct that you will
order the I2th N. Y. Col. Leonard, Comdg.
August IIth, I898.
William McKinley."




F154


William McKinley


William McKinley saw more clearly than
the Generals in the field, the disastrous effect
of allowing the evacuation of Santiago and the
retreat of the Spanish army from that place.
He realized that it would greatly encourage the
Government of Spain; that it would break the
complete destruction of the Spanish fleet, and
would naturally affect public sentiment in this
country as well as in Europe. So the President
believed that unconditional surrender was the
only alternative.  He felt that to fight was
better than to concede; so with unflinching determination, he stood by his decision. So immediately after the last battle around Santiago,
when General Shafter reported to the Adjutant General that the Spanish Commander desired that his troops be allowed to retain their
arms, the Secretary of War answered at once
under the direction of the President, as follows:
"Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C.
"Major General Shafter:
"Your dispatch is a surprise to the President
and me. What you went to Santiago for was
the Spanish army. If you allow it to evacuate
with its arms, you must meet it somewhere else.
This is not war. If the Spanish Commander
desires to leave the city and its people, let him
surrender, and we will then discuss the question as to what shall be done with them."




'A Biographical Study


i-55


In writing on this subject, Postmaster
Charles E. Smith has said: "The Spanish proposition of evacuation was made on July 8th,
I898. The surrender was yielded on the fifteenth and arranged on the sixteenth. That
was a week of intense anxiety in the Cabinet
room. The meetings were frequent and the
consultations most serious. Every successive
dispatch was awaited with the deepest expectancy. The Cabinet was unanimous in sustaining the President's determination, but, however
helpful and strengthening this unanimity was
the decision was and must be his. It was no
light responsibility to overrule the Generals in
the field with all the possibilities that were involved. It required moral courage and resolution.  The result vindicated the President's
judgment and firmness and it naturally brought
great relief and joy to those who had known
the strain. The dispatches had not been made
public; the real issues in the negotiations were
understood only by those who had participated.
When on a hot summer evening they gathered
on the south porch of the White House, to
mingle their rejoicings, some of them felt that
the events of the week should be made known
and that the President should have the credit
with the country that was justly his.
"Not a word," he answered. His generous
and unselfish spirit was unwilling that a single
leaf shoud be plucked from its well-won laurels




156         William McKinley
of his Generals, and not a word of this did
appear until the official records afterward published disclosed it in part.
The following order to General Miles was
written by President McKinley as soon as he
reached Porto Rico.
"How many troops will you require for the
campaign in Porto Rico? After being on the
ground, do you revise your original figure of
40,000?"
The above order shows his personal knowledge that he possessed in every detail. Shortly
after the inception of his administration, when
war clouds were gathering, he used all his
energy and influence in trying to avert war, but
when it was thrust upon him, he resolved to
bring it to a conclusion as soon as possible and
to this end he bent all his efforts.
One who was near to the administration in
those days spoke thus of the President:
"It seemed to me the President hardly
allowed himself time to eat or sleep in those
exciting days. He was up by sunrise and I
known he was often up until after midnight. He
had a wonderful memory for facts and figures,
and whenever anything was told him about the
army or navy affairs, he never forgot it. I remember once something was said about sup



A Biographical Study


157


plies at a certain fort along the coast. Nobody
seemed to be able to tell what the fort had,
and they were going to consult some papers,
when the President spoke up and told exactly
what the fort had to draw on. Afterward the
figures were verified by the Secretary of War."
Of course McKinley was not ignorant of
military affairs when he came to the Presidency. His four years spent in the Civil War
gave him vast experience in the science of warfare, but he was accustomed to consult every
person'in whom he confided and he understood
military questions, but his quick perceptions,
combined with is reasoning powers, gave him
greater knowledge of the right course to pursue than any of his generals that were on the
field of action.
We have thus seen in the foregoing papers
that William McKinley was not only President
in name but he was the real commander-inchief. He was glad when the war closed and
the laurel wreath of victory was placed on the
fair head of Columbia. It was a war. against
oppression, a war of humanity. He brought
the moral quality of public action to a higher
level during his administration, than had
existed in any period before in out history.
Although he gloried in the victories which
were wrought on land and sea, and in the extension of our boundaries, yet his greatest sat



158


William McKinley


isfaction rested in the fact that under God, to
use his reverential words, "the barriers of
sectionalism had finally and completely disapi
peared during his administration."
That he computed was the greatest victory,
that the lines of North and South were no
more; but a re-united country stood in place
of a once divided nation.
The love of the flag was the symbol which
made it possible to join hands and forget the
differences of other years.
"So with an equal splendor, the morning sun
rays fall,
With a touch impartially tender on the blossoms blooming for all,
Under the sod and the dew, waiting the judgment day;
Under the one the Blue, under the other the
Gray.
From the silence of the sorrowful hours, the
desolate mourners go,
Lovingly laden with flowers alike for the
friend and the. foe
Under the sod and the dew, waiting the judgment day;
Under the roses the Blue, under the lilies the
Gray.
Sadly, but not the upbraiding, the generous
deed was done,




A Biographical Study       159
In the storms of the years that are fading no
braver battle was won
Under the sod and the dew, waiting the judgment day;
Love and tears for the Blue, tears and love for
the Gray."




CHAPTER VII.


M'KINLEY'S DIPLOMACY, MORALS AND
RELIGION.
T     HE peculiar faculty or skill of conduct,
which is known as tact, is certainly a
rare gift.
In the every day affairs of life this
gift is termed tact; in governmental affairs, it
is known as diplomacy. The employment of
diplomatic methods has wrought good results
out of entangled controversies, has averted
wars, and has been the means whereby treaties
of peace have been more rapidly enacted.
William McKinley possessed rare diplomatic
skiU. More than most rulers of his day, he understood the impulse and sentiments which
moved mankind; and he acted in accordance
in dealing with men and measures. He never
allowed one to go away after a conference feeling in any way displeased should the interviewer have failed to receive what he wanted;
but, rather, he would dismiss him in such a
manner as to leave the most agreeable impression. Before long the caller would be thinking how exceedingly kind and courteous the
President had been to him. Like Lincoln, al



A Biographical Study


i6i


though naturally diplomatic, his constant contact with people widened and enabled him
to deal, as time went on, more satisfactorily
with the masses. His faith in American institutions, and American people, helped in no
small degree in discharging the duties and responsibilities of his office. His character and.
the influence of his life, swayed the sceptor of
his power, in shaping and in dealing with the
problems that confronted him. "If genius he
had, it was of common sense, enriched by long
experience and unhindered by fear."
His Tritiing, his wisdom and his kin4ness of
heart developed the diplomatic side of his dharaeter. 'No6v, in regard to McKinley the diplomat in a national sense, let us see what John
Hay, the greatest diplomat of his day said of
McKinley's skill:
"In dealing with foreign powers he will take
rank with the greatest of our diplomatists. It
was a world of which he..had-Uittle-speeial
'knowyedge —4 be-fre- coming4ao the.. presidenczy.
But his marvelous adaptability was in nothing
more remarkable than in the firm grasp he immediately displayed in international relations.
In preparing for war and in the restoration of
peace he was alike adroit, courteous and farsighted. When a sudden emergency declared
itself, as in China, in a state of things of which
our history furnished no precedent and international law no safe and certain precept, he




i62


WCtilliam1~ McKinltey


hesitated not a moment to take the course
marked out for him by considerations 'of humanity and the national interests. Even while
the legations were fighting for.their lives
against bands of infuriated fanatics, he decided
that we were at peace with China; and while
that conclusion did not hinder him from taking
the most energetic measures to rescue our imperilled citizens, it enabled him to maintain
close and friendly relations with the wise and
heroic Viceroys of the South, whose resolute
stand saved that ancient empire from anarchy
and spoliation.
He disposed of every question as it arose
with a promptness and clarity of vision that
astonished his advisers, and he never had occasion to review a judgment or reverse a decision.
-By patience, by firmness, by sheer reasonableness, he improved our understanding, with 'all
the great Powers of the world, and rightly
gained the blessing which belongs to the peace-makers."
After McKinley came to the Presidency,
those nearest to him in an official sense, said
that, they could see him grow day by day. He
possessed the capacity.4or-.growth-a4l- that was
4he.,,cret..,QfW1i s greatness.
McKinley, like Lincoln, learned more by his
close association with the masses and from the
school of experience than from any other




A Biographical Study


i63


source. He was a    Tmma  h prarg-from the
cOmnoir-people-and -naturally he loved' and
trusted The~ toil'er whob earns his daiTy bread by
the sweat of-his hrow.-... And as Dr, Bristol
of Washington puts it, "He believed in wellpaid labor, well-paid capital and well-paid
brains."
Though very tactful, his will power, when he
believed a thing to be right, was immovable,
and his associates said that he could say "No,"
as positively as he could say it pleasantly, but
he preferred the kind to the unkind way of
dealing with his fellowmen.
His flexii:lity and tt  always showed themselves at the right time. For he believed in letting the people know the policy of the government. He was always honest with himself,
with his fellows, with is country and with his
God. And there is nothing more worthy of respect and reverence in a public official than honesty-man4-sitLeerityu'frpose.
His patience was manifested in many ways.
There is a story told of a manufacturer of
chemicals which reveals in a marked degree his
profound patience.
When the McKinley tariff bill was pending,
a manufacturer appealed for a hearing to every
member of the committee, but each in turn refused him consideration. At last he went to
McKinley who happened to be the only member of the committee he had not approached,




I64


Wil~iliam t  McKinley


and the Major at once sat down and listened
attentively for three hours to the man's argument, full as it was with technical data.
This same consideration was always a predominant characteristic of his; it followed him
to the White House and indeed it was there,
that it was more noticeable than ever. "I ran
into a bank of roses," said a Senator who went
to the White House for the specific purpose
to ask the removal of a Cabinet officer and who
came away smiling without having been successful.
Throughout the Spanish War he was the
director of our diplomacy, although he praised
and gave more credit to others than he took
himself; nevertheless, in reality he was the
prime mover and promoter. It has been said
that in McKinley's administration, the achievements in diplomacy were more remarkable
than its achievements on land or sea, and it
was through this diplomacy guided by the hand
and brain of William McKinley that the war
was brought so speedily to an end; and that
peace was wrought in such a courteous and
clement a fashion that it achieved for the
United States a pre-eminent place among the
nations of the earth. He did not indulge in
complaining recriminations or in declamations
of command. But he got things done nevertheless. Some one has said that: "He cared
more for_ —eal,-succeas than for making people




A Biographical Study


I65


thi.nk-vhtledIeLarxJh              '
Charles Emory Smith, MclJinley's Postmaster General, wrote on one occasion that
"President McKinley was a natural diplomat.
If he had training it was not in the professional
school of diplomacy but in the experience of an
habitual method in all affairs which was essentially diplomatic. He made sure that the underlying strength of his case should be its
right and reason, but no man could excel him
in the art and force with which it was stated
or in the persuasiveness with which it was
urged. He was quick in perception and could
turn a point with great dexterity. His skill
in thrust and parry was unsurapssed, and he
could veil the most resolute determination, with
the utmost suavity."
When Cambon suggested that the terms of
the treaty were harsh, and that the President
was too severe, McKinley replied with a smile
that he was spoken of as "amiable" and to a
degree yielding, and with a quick response
Cambon answered, "Mr. President, you are.as
firm as a rock." It was his sagacity and diplomacy that enabled him to triumph in the
end.
It is a fine thing to know a statesman or a
genius or a scholar or a philosopher, but it is
a still nobler and grander thing to know a
true, hrae adhonest man, and here,
my readers, we have one personfined.  For




166


Willica    McKinley


I


i66     illcfmMc-nle


herein lies William McKinley's greatest legacy to us-that his was one of the most beautiful characters that has ever adorned public or
private life.
It is said that, "he lived a life as nearly
blameless as that of any public man of our history,".
jsIis high ideals, his unwavering loyalty to
the right, his honesty and his moral attributes
won for him, not only the affection and love,
but stamped him as o)e of the greatest and
'best men of our history.
It is becoming more and more prevalent in
this country to make the final measurement
not what a man was as a statesman, or soldier
or lawyer, but what was he as a man? What
were his sentiments, his thoughts, his abiding
faith in the cause of humanity, of civilization,
or of religion. And here is where McKinley
revealed himself the strongest, namely, in his
sturdy and upright and Christian manliness.
His Washington pastor, Dr. Bristol, had this
to say concerning McKinley, the man, shortly
after his death at a dinner in New York: "William McKinley was an ideal character. In
that high-minded quality of power which we
call character, and in the honor to which his
country exalted him, he was the envy of
kings, the idol of the common people, the model
and pattern of aspiring youth, and to the
world's pure womanhood the embodiment and




A Biographical Stu'dy


I67


exemplar of holy love, fidelity, honor and chivalry. He was the chevalier Bayard of American statesmen. No mantle of charity is needed
to hide from the purest eyes any part of that
character or career. The mantle of his own
chaste, unstained and Christian manhood,
which he wore with such grace among us, he
has fearlessly worn to the throne of the judgment of history and to the throne of the judgment of God." There was always such a generosity of spirit which attached itself to all his actions, that men never wearied in being in his
company, but rather they were glad to know him
and be counted one of his friends. His charming manner was an inspiration. He never repulsed people, but rather drew them to him by
his personal magnetism and sunnyness of disposition. He always wanted to do his duty.
He regarded that word as did Robert Lee, as
the "sublimest word," in the English language."
There are always enough men of intellect
in politics, but too few who have the courage
of their convictions and who will stand for the
right, no matter what the cost.
Mr. McKinley could read the minds of men
as easily as he could read the printed page. He
could perceive the latent genius of a man long
before others. He took great delight in the
study of human nature. Some one has said
"that he was trustful where he had confidence,




I68


William McKinley


but he was wary and watchful where he had
doubt or suspicion."
There are few men in our history of whom it
can be said that their whole life was an example to their countrymen. But in William McKinley I think all will agree that his greatest
gift to the world and to humanity was the
manner in which he lived his life and met his
death.
When McKinley was in Congress, there was
a page in the House, who was a very unruly
boy. He was a bright little fellow, but very
impertinent, and was continually concocting
schemes and putting them in execution. He
sort of took the initiative and was the leader
among the pages.
"This won't do," said one of the Congressmen, who had been made the subject of a trick,
"We must get rid of that boy or he will demoralize all the rest." - "That is true, said
another and after holding a consultation, they
decided to dismiss the boy.
The lad had been told, however, that he had
to go if he did not reform. McKinley had
taken a real liking to the boy in spite of his
actions, so he sent for him. The fellow came,
hanging his head in shame. "You were dismissed, and you know you deserve it," said
McKinley mildly, "but I want to give you
another chance. If I speak for you, what will
you do?"




A Biographical Study       I69
"Oh, sir, I'll do my best!" cried the boy,
earnestly. "I won't be tricky any more, I'll
promise you. Just give me another chance."
McKinley sat down and talked to the boy for
about an hour, and then said that he would see
what could be done in the boy's interest. At
first no one wanted the lad back; they said he
would never be better, but McKinley won them
over to giving the boy a chance. When he
came back, McKinley watched him continually
and encouraged him and gave him advice. At
dorrcf-hebegan- tereform,  h became a model
youth, joia4d-the-eureh aTrnde ced to ed&-.cate- hi'hfL  When William  McKinley became President of the United States that same
boy, who in his youth was going to ruin, became a preacher of the Gospel.
Little deeds, such as that count so much in a
man's life. They go to make up the qualities
of greatness in a career. Mr. McKinley's personality was charming. His presence was prepossessing. He was dignified, yet kind and
affable. He looked somewhat like the great
Napoleon, although a much better looking man
was he, than the "Little Corporal."  He was
about five feet, seven inches in height, and very
straight in statue, with a fine, large, intellectual head. He impressed one as a man of great
physical and mental power.
Dr. David J. Hill, Assistant Secretary of
State under McKinley and now minister to




170


William AfIcKinley


the Netherlands, once remarked to a friend
when Mr. McKinley's personality was under
discussion, "that if the Lord had ever breathed
the breath of life into a more gracious and
amiable man than Mr. McKinley, he had yet to
find it out." And Senator Tillman, who once
declared that McKinley was gradually becoming a dictator, said afterwards, that in his
opinion no finer gentleman from George Washington's time to the present had ever occupied
the presidential chair.
We have thus seen how his morals, his kindness of heart and his goodness as a man
blended. Now, let us look on the religious side
of his character. William McKinley from his
youth up was a man of God. He was intensely
religious. On one occasion the President said
that no man would gain the highest place in the
gift of his countrymen-the Presidency, unless
he were a moral and spiritual man; that no
man would occupy the presidential chair who
did not believe in the living and true God.
We know that our Presidents have been
God-fearing men. That, for example, Washington and Lincoln received strength and comfort through the medium of prayer. But I believe that the following incidents will bear out
my contention that of all our Presidents, none
was a better Christian or considered himself
more directly under Providential destiny as the




A Biographical Study


I7I


ruler of a great country than William McKinley.
Christianity is based upon the ethics of Holy
Writ. To be a Christian, one must have the
spirit, the tone, the temper, the character of
Christ or else you are none of his. That is
the final test of Christianity. McKinley once
stated that his "belief embraced the Divinity of
Christ and a recognition of Christianity as the
mightiest factor in the world's civilization."
In the November Chautauquan of I90o, Mr.
Barton wrote an admirable paper entitled "A
Christian Gentleman: William McKinley,"
from which I will frequently quote. He says:
"I had a conversation with Rev. A. D. Morton,
under whose preaching the late President was
converted. He said that McKinley's mother
and his sister Anna were very earnest Christians. They would not have been satisfied with
anything else than a definite spiritual experience. The fact of his merely joining the
Church would not have satisfied them, and
they gave expression to their satisfaction on
this subject many times. His devoted mother
was not altogether pleased, however, that he
did not enter the ministry. She said several
times that if she could have had her wish William would have been a Bishop."
Mr. Barton goes on to say that, "The Rev.
A. D. Morton (now retired from the ministry,
and engaged until recently in business in Cleve



172


William McKinley


land) said that he was pastor at Poland, Ohio,
in I856, and became quite well acquainted with
the McKinley family. At that time William
was attending school, and was a scholar in the
Sunday-school.l A series of revival meetings
were held during the winter, and among those
who gathered almost nightly was the Sundayschool scholar, who, no doubt, as a result of his
mother's teaching, was an attentive and
thoughtful listener. He made a decision, and
at an evening meeting of young people, arose
and said: 'I have not done my duty. I have
sinned. I want to be a Christian, for I believe
that religion is the best thing in the world. I
give myself to my Saviour, who has done so
much for me.' A few evenings after, he gave
his testimony with others, saying: 'I have
found the pearl of great price and am happy.
I love God.'
"It was related to Rev. C. E. Manchester,
D.D., the President's Pastor at Canton, Ohio,
and also a member of his regiment, the Twenty-third 0. V. I., by W. K. Miller, an old resident of Canton, who died several years since,
but who accompanied the politician on most of
his campaigns, excepting the Presidential
Campaign. He said: 'Major McKinley is a
quiet man upon religious subjects, but he is a
religious man. I have been with him many
times during all of his campaigns. We have
frequently attended political meetings, and




TEMPORARY TOMB OF McKINLEY, WESTLAWN CEMETERY, CANTON OHIO
Courtesy of Roller Pub Co, Canton, Ohio








A Biographical Study


73


banquets, and have often retired at a late hour,
but I have never known him to go to his bed
until he had read from his Bible, and had knelt
in prayer.'"
It proved that his religion was as dear to
him as his birthright, when he practiced it during the heat of a political campaign. It was
not only confined to his early days but was his
comfort and sweet environment throughout his
entire life.
Mr. Barton goes on by telling of two incidents
related by Dr. Manchester: "During the first
campaign for the Presidency, when thousands
were visiting him at his North Market Street
home in Canton, a company of a hundred or
more influential young men from Detroit
arrived on Sunday, and sent word that they
would call on him. He replied at once: 'This
is the Sabbath day, and I cannot receive delegations, much less would I have you come to
me with a band of music on the Sabbath. I
cannot, in any event, see you this morning for
I must go to church. I attend the First M. E.
Church, and would advise you to be present.'
He added that if one or two at a time cared to
call for a friendly greeting, he had no objection. Those young men attended church in a
body. It is doubtful if any of them ever had a
stronger appeal to consider the Christian life,
and not one of them had room for doubt as to
the reality of the religion of the man who was




I74


Wiiamp McKinley


a candidate for the highest office in the land.
It was not politic, for such things are magnified
into mountains in the heat of the campaign.
He was a Christian first. He placed the cross
higher than the flag, which Gen 'Bill' Gibson
used to say was high enough for the flag, although he loved it as much as any one. This man
preferred to be right with God rather than be
President; he has told intimate friends that he
regarded the Presidency as a God-entrusted responsibility. The other incident occurred the
Sunday before he went to Washington to be
inaugurated. He wished his regular pastor to
preach, and added that if he, or any other
preacher, should begin to gush over him, he
would get up and leave the church. He once
said, 'I like to hear the minister preach a plain,
simple gospel-Christ and Him    Crucified.'
Appreciation was kindly received by him, but
he rightly judged that the pulpit was not the
place for it. The text that day was: 'If any
man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The
Lord hath need of them' (Matt. 21:3). One
of the hymns sung was No. 602 in the Methodist collection, the words being written by John
G. Whittier:
"It may not be our lot to wield
The sickle in the ripened field;
Nor ours to hear, on summer eves
The reapers' song among the sheaves.




A Biographical Study


I75


"Yet where our duty's task is wrought
In unison with God's great thought,
The near and future blend in one,
And whatso'er is willed, is done.
"And ours the grateful service whence
Comes, day by day, the recompense;
The hope, the trust, the purpose stayed,
The fountain, and the noonday shade.
"And were this life the utmost span
The only end and aim of man,
Better the toil of fields like these
Than waking dream and slothful ease.
"But life, though falling like our grain,
Like that revives and springs again;
And, early called, how blest are they
Who wait in heaven, their harvest day!"
"Next day when the board of trustees called
upon him, to bid him farewell, he asked as a
special favor that they give him the copy of the
book from which he sang the day before, saying that he had marked that hymn and would
like to have the book.
"It was given to him and was carefully preserved. Read now it seems almost prophetic."
When McKinley was asked one time
whether he was ever a local preacher, he remarked that he had been everything else



I76


William McKinley


Sunday- school superintendent, trustee and
everything, but somehow, was never a local
preacher. When he went to Washington, he
did not take his letter from his church in Canton, but he never missed attending divine worship Sunday morning at Dr. Bristol's Church
save for once or twice, said Dr. Bristol, during
the Spanish War.
When making his canvass for governor of
Ohio he said: "I pray to God every day to give
me strength to do this work, and I believe he
will do it!" And after his election as President
he expressed his profound faith in God many
times. "Mr. Grosvenor once asked him if he
was not inflated with so much praise. He replied: 'I am rather humbled, and pray to God
to guide my steps aright.'
"His humility," continues Mr. Barton, "and
desire for wisdom for the task he undertook is
also shown by the selection of the scripture at
his first presidential inauguration. When he
took the oath of office as President of the
United States, he placed his lips on these
words: 'Give me now wisdom and knowledge,
that I may go out and come in before this
people; for who can judge this thy people that
is so great?'
"Soon after the inauguration the Rev. W.
V. Morrison of New England,who had been
one of Mr. McKinley's tealchers when a boy,
called upon the President. When leaving Mr.




A Biographical Study


177


Morrison said: 'You have a great responsibility devolving upon you, but the love and confidence of the American people are behind you.'
The President replied: 'I hope I shall have the
sympathy and prayers of yourself and all good
people.' "
Mrs. McKinley had this to say in an interview on her journey to California: "Do you
know Major McKinley? No one can know
him, because to appreciate him one must know
him as I do. And I am not speaking now of
Major McKinley as the President. I am speaking of him as my husband. If any one could
know what it is to have a wife sick, complaining, always, an invalid for twenty-five years,
seldom a day well, he knows, and yet never a
word of unkindness has ever passed his lips.
He is just the same tender, thoughtful, kind
gentleman I knew when first he came and
sought my hand. I know him because I am his
wife, and it is my proudest pleasure to say this,
not because he is the President but because he
is my husband."
Referring again to McKinley, the Christian,
it is said that he spoke thus to a number of
ministers and friends who called upon him at
the White House, and when discussing the
Philippines: "I walked the floor of the White
House night after night, until midnight, and I
am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that
I went down on my knees and prayed for light




178


William~M   McKintley


and guidance more than one night before the
answer came, but when it came I was satisfied."
And on that same occasion he said: "I am a
Methodist, nothing but a Methodist, a Christian and nothing but a Christian, and by the
blessing of heaven I mean to live and die,
please God, in the faith of my mother."
He was always very reverent and prompt in
recognizing the guiding hand and omnipotent
power of Divine Providence. Again and again
-in his state papers, his letters and formal addresses-we find him quoting from the Holy
Scriptures. Upon returning home from church
and on week days as well, he would often be
humming hymns to himself.
On Sunday afternoons when he was in Congress and also when President, he would invite
all his guests to come in the music room and
there they would participate in singing church
hymns.
It can be said most emphatically that his
supremely religious life made him an ideal
President and placed him on a plane with
Washington and Lincoln, whose religious
views are so well known.
An eminent churchman has said: "Religion
is the stronger in America to-day for William
McKinley's life and death." To a neighbor,
who regretted his departure from Buffalo, he
said before leaving Canton. "If anything hap



4 Biographical Study      I179
pens to me, I want you to know that I am prepared to meet my God."
We recall the words in part of President
McKinley which were delivered in San Francisco on his last tour to the Pacific coast. It
was delivered at an impromptu reception given
him by the Epworth League and Christian Endeavor Society at the California Street Methodist Episcopal Church:
"It gives me great pleasure on this, the last
evening of my stay in your hospital city, to
meet with the young men and the young women
of the Epworth League and the Christian Endeavor, and the union of the Baptist Church
and the Christian young people generally who
have dedicated themselves to the holy cause of
Christian teaching. I congratulate you that
you are to be the host of the great international
Epworth League Convention, to be held in
your city in the month of July, for the success
of which you have my best wishes. I congratulate you upon the noble work in which you are
engaged, and the great results which have followed your efforts. He who serves the Master
best, serves man best, and he who serves truth
serves civilization. There is nothing that lasts
so long or wears so well and is of such inestimable advantage to the possessor as high character and an upright life, and that is what you
teach by example and by instruction. And
when you are serving man by helping him to




I8o


William McKinley


be better and nobler, you are serving your
country. I do not know whether it is true that
every man is the architect of his own future,
but surely every man is the architect of his own
character, and he is the builder of his own
character. It is what he makes it, and it is
growing all the time easier both to do right
and to be right."
On the day of President McKinley's funeral,
there were a few moments when everything as
nearly as possible became silent. Electric wires
were still, trains ceased to move and people
with uncovered heads stood silent in the streets.
Never was such a scene witnesed before in
America.
Dr. Iglehart in speaking of this incident says
that, "There is a legend that at the birth of
Jesus Christ everything stopped still. That
night birds flying in the mid-air became motionless, that the shepherd reaching his crook
toward the sheep held it still; that people eating a meal held their hands midway between
the dish and the mouth, and that everyone
awake had a sudden inclination to be still. Historically this legend is very far from the truth,
for there was almost nothing that the world
thought less about, and paid less attention to,
than the Babe that was born in Bethlehem, and
yet in a deeper sense the fiction was fact. The
world did stop still at the birth of the Babe and
began its thoughts and acts anew from the




INTERIOR VIEW FIRST M E CHURCH, CANTON OHIO
Courtesy of Roller Pub Co, Canton, Ohio








iA Biographical Study       i8I
impulse of His life and love. And whatever it
has of goodness or greatness to-day, it has derived from Him.
It was largely because William McKinley
took this Babe of Bethlehem as his model, his
Master and his Saviour; because he was Christlike in his spirit and his life that the people
of America stopped still to think and to mourn
when he was laid in the tomb."
In his last public speech, but a few hours
before he was stricken down by the assassin,
he had raised his hand in benediction over his
people and had closed that speech by saying:
"Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness, and
peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings
to all the people and powers of earth."
His beautiful Christian faith and his readiness to leave this world when he found it was
the will of Providence, was exemplified in his
almost sublime death, murmuring with his latest breath those incomparably touching
words: "Nearer, My God To Thee." Whatever else history may say of William McKinley, one thing we know, and that is, that the
crown of his life which set him apart from all
other American statesmen, was his Christian
character, his beautiful life exemplifying it,
and his unwavering devotion to the cherished
wife of his youth.
He lived and died an American. He also




182         William McKinley
lived and died a Christian and his parting
words will be remembered, long after the generations coincident with his time, shall have
been but a memory. "Good-bye, all. It is
God's way. His will, not ours, be done."
May the inspiration of his life and the glory
of his death live on down through the ages,
strengthening the hopes and the aspirations of
man. And may the deep and beneficent influence on the nation's history and on the whole
world's progress, which he spread so lavishly
and so sweetly, never perish from the earth
while time and life shall last.
THIE END.




THE McKINLEY CHRONOLOGY


Born at Niles, Trumbull County, Ohio, January 29,
1843.
Became a student at the district school at Niles, 1849.
Removed to Poland, Mahoning County, Ohio, I852.
Entered the Union Seminary of Poland, 1852.
Joined the Methodist Episcopal Church of Poland,
x859.
Entered Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania,
I860.
Left college on account of illness and same year taught
at the Kerr District School near Poland, I860.
Assistant Postmaster in the Poland Post Office, I86I.
Enlisted as a private in Company E of the Twentythird Ohio Volunteer Infantry, June 11, I86I.
Promoted to commissary sergeant, April 15, I862.
Promoted to first lieutenant, September 24, I862.
Promoted to second lieutenant, February 7, I863.
Promoted to captain of Company G, July 25, I864.
First vote for president cast, while on march, for Abraham Lincoln, October II, 1864.
Commissioned major by brevet in the Volunteer United
States Army by President Lincoln, March x3,
I865.
Mustered out of army, July 26, I865.
Entered the Albany Law School, i866.
Admitted to the Bar at Warren, Ohio, in March, 1867.
Elected Prosecuting Attorney, I869.
Married January 25, 187I.
Elected to Congress, I876.
Re-elected to Congress, I878, i88o, 1882, 1884, I886,
I888.




11            M KINLEY CHRONOLOGY,Delegate-at-Large, Chicago Convention, I888.
Defeated for Congress, 1890.
Elected Governor of Ohio, November 3, I891.
Delegate to Minneapolis Convention, I892.
Re-elected Governor of Ohio, 1893.
"Nominated for President, June I8, I896.
Elected President, November 3, I896.
Inaugurated President, March 4, I897.
Renominated President, June 21, 1900.
Re-elected President, November 6, I9oo.
Second inauguration, March 4, I99I.
Assassinated, September 6, 9goI..SDied at the Milburn House, Buffalo, New York, at
2.15 A. M., September 14, I9OI.