THE AMERICANISM OF
WILLIAM McKINLEY ::
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It Is God's way. His will, not ours, be done.
Great deeds are the offsprings of great ideas. Thought is
the most potent force in the world.
The strength of this Nation depends on something greater
than sts Army and Navy.
The measure of the country's growth was expansion, its
limits the pioneer citizen extending the frontier.
It has been said that Ohio has given the Nation men whose
grasp on the ax handle of the pioneer was no greater than
their grasp on the affairs of men.
Ih all American history there is no name that touches the
heart like that of William McKinley. He ruled himself
and called no man master.
When Mr. McKinley became President it may be said with
all candor that no President since Lincoln did so much to
reunite the South into the friendly councils of the North
as did he.
In his relations with Congress he was as sympathetic and
generous as he was in his relations with his friends. He
was natural and true in everything he did.
It has been said that Mr. McKinley was a yielding man..
He was deferential, but not yielding. He was deliberate
and cautious, and his conclusions were meant to be judicial
rather than popular.
In retrospect, his was a wonderful life, and he was a truly
great philosopher. His belief taught him that God in His
plan of development has appointed each man to walk forth
in the world and And his allotted task.
Men to-day call hard names and resort to threats. They
stab in secret with tongue and pen. They are not the men
to make a State, and neither are they fit to be American
citizens. He lived and he died a Christian and an American, and
always he did his best just where and as he was.- Charity
was the beautiful trait of his character.
He was greater than a patriot. He was a genius con
secrated to a purpose, and he will live in history's iron
memory by the side of the world's seers so long as per
sonality asserts its charm and the human soul is in sym
pathy with its own.
2 87714—22233

ADDRESS OF
HON. GUY D-. GOFF

THE AMERICANISM OF WILLIAM M'lvINLEY.
" It is God's way. His will — not ours — be done." Thus in the noon
of his manhood, resplendent iu life, and reverential in death, honored
of all men, William McKinley, with the hallowed accents of God on his
lips, passed beyond the worship of friends and the calumny of foes.
He died in the beautiful autumn, in the golden glow of his greatness,
beloved by the brave, patient, nameless people — the real heroes of his
State and his country. " He showed in his life how a citizen should
live, and in his last hour taught us how a gentleman could die." His
administration has taken its place in history, and under his magnificent
initiation the United States is respected throughout the civilized world,
because whether in Europe, Asia, or the islands of the sea, his policy —
President's Harding's policy — was and is that of justice and fair deal
ing in all international affairs.
THE FABRIC OF DEMOCRACY.
Every epoch in history has its master mind, its man of destiny,
Nature always keeps her great workmen for great crises. They have •
been marked by four great characteristics : Conviction, purpose, prepara
tion, and patience. They have been men with ideas born of moral
vision, men of action who dared to fight for the realization of their
ideals, men who could work and wait. And so through the silent,
solemn march of the centuries, fraught with conflict and with change,
with strife and with peace, has come the imperishable fabric of de
mocracy. Governments are not created, they grow out of the past.
Constitutions are not struck off in a single convention ; they are the
slow, deliberative work of the ages. The fabric of human institutions
is a texture that can be woven only in the loom of time.
Great deeds are the offsprings of great ideas. Thought is the most
potent force in the world. Empires are never built until men dream
them. As Carlyle said :
" Man carries under his hat sl private theater wherein a greater
drama is acted than is ever performed on the mimic stage, beginning
and ending in eternity."
With all great men it is not so much what they intend to do but
rather what the qualities of their natures impel them to do that detcr-
S7714— 22233 3

mines their careers. The strength of this Nation depends on some
thing greater than its Army and Navy. It rests on the sentiments and
the ideals that inspire our people. This Nation to-day rests not on
material achievements of men but on the homes of our country, where
the privileges of citizenship are learned at the mother's knee, where
love and generosity are made the maxims of youth, and where the
family life is a miniature of the broader life of the world. The forces
responsible for our development have been composite, the blending in
one of the best in many races, and the Master Spirit that could ride
the whirlwind and direct the storm has alone survived.
THE PURITAN AND CAVALIER.
There have been marked differences between the sections of our coun
try, due not only to the people who first made their homes here but
largely to existing conditions. The God-fearing Puritan settled in New
England that he might worship according to the dictates of his con
science. The cavalier made his home on Virginia's soil, and the blue-
eyed Saxon, proud of his race arid eager for liberty, marched daringly
into the great Northwest, there to live and die unrestrained, save by the
law of the sovereign people. The story is familiar, so familiar that it
needs no repetition, that such were the men who early came to Ohio
when she was but bare creation. And what rugged, splendid men they
were. They were nature's kings, for the men and women of that day
avc re possessed of a tireless energy, an undaunted spirit, a courage that
achieved fine and marvelous results. They wrote their history upon
the minds and breathed their power into the hearts of their fellow
men. They read their Bible and prayed to their God. They lived
clean, honorable, and manly lives. The children of such men inherited
their father's grit and their mother's worth ; the blending formed
their characters and molded their lives. It instilled into them prin
ciples from which they have never wavered, by the light of which they
have never feared to live. Each for himself confronted the problems
of the hour, and in their solution developed the forces with which he
was endowed. We can little appreciate their undertaking, and all it
cost at such n time. We can follow them in fancy, look back and see
them clearing the forest, building a home or a shrine where some
loved one died, or hopefully moving on to where the voice of valor
called. They left home and ease just as sweet as any we have or enjoy.
They were made of sturdy stuff. They were great because they could
serve, and their characters and habits some future historian, whether
he do things with the pen or the brush, will lay as the corner stone
of all that is lasting in this land of equality and equal opportunity,
the home of all that is enduring of the democracy of Greece and Eome.
EMPIRE STATE OF THE WEST.
It has been said that Ohio has given the Nation men whose grasp
on the ax handle of the pioneer was no firmer than their grasp on
S7714— 22233

5
affairs of State. This Is true, but back of it all was the heroism of
the pioneer farmer, merchant, miner, and sailor struggling against
' unconquered nature with its setting of wild beasts and savage men.
All of these obstacles they overcame. Nature was conquered with her
own weapons. The wilderness gave way to the hamlet, villages sprang
up everywhere. The measure of the country's growth was expansion,
its limits the pioneer citizen extending the frontier. Thus upon the
solid foundation of all that is durable and vital has come Ohio — the
Empire Stato of the West. She early wrote into her creed the phil
osophy of liberty, equality, fraternity. There is nothing to add,
nothing to retrench. They are the three steps of the supreme ladder.
Liberty is right, equality is fact, fraternity is duty. All the man
is there. These are and were the vital forces working beneath the
surface of our American life.
AMERICA SYNONYMOUS WITH OPPORTUNITY.
But what is America? Emerson answers: "America is another word
for opportunity." He also says : " It is not free institutions, it is not
a Republic, it is not a democracy, that is the end — no — but only the
means." This may not be a perfect Government, and simply because
it can not reach a plane higher than the average plane of the people.
And yet it is the best, the most equitable, and the most progressive
civilization which it has ever been possible to establish.
At Cleveland, Ohio, July 4, 1894, at the dedication of the Soldiers'
and Sailors' Monument, Mr. McKinley said :
" We are the freest Government on the face of the earth. Our
strength .rests in our patriotism. Anarchy flees before patriotism.
Peace and order and security and liberty are safe so long as love of
country burns in the hearts of the people. It should 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 liberty we enjoy within the law
and for the law and by the law."
But, after all, the important question is : What of you ; what ol
me ; what of us all ? Will we measure up to the full stature of our
responsibility? Can our country rely on us to do our full share of
the task before us? Are we patriots to the core, or will our services
be grudgingly and hesitatingly rendered? Are we truly freemen — or
have we a sneaking, skulking, leaning toward the creed that despises
the marriage vow, industrializes the virtue of women, and degrades
the family life to the level of an African ape? Are we worthy of the
land of the free, and are our homes the homes of the brave? These
are the questions which everyone of us must answer.
87714—22233

6
OHIO AS M'KIMLEY FOUND IT.
Ohio stood for an independent statehood. She contained a people who
demanded that society and justice should equalize and protect all that
they had won from the wilderness. She stood for democracy militant,
while she preached and practiced republicanism industrial. Such a
people amid such conditions did necessarily bring forth a race strong,
practical, and wedded to the gospel of labor, love, and activity. Such
was Ohio January the 20th, 1843, when the gray light of a new-born
day stole through the window of her soul in the birth of William
McKinley. Patriotism and duty received him, courage and truth
attended him. He belonged to the most crucial period of our history —
the period when Abraham Lincoln wrote the New Testament of our
independence in the emancipation proclamation. The securing of the
Magna Charta was a great achievement, but the Magna Charta of man's
freedom and equality was secured by our fathers, and while the price
was high they paid it ungrudgingly, that this Union of States might
become a nation and the greatest charter of human liberty be forever
the heritage of the children of men.
"NOT FOR HIMSELF, BUT FOR HIS COUNTRY."
In all American history there is no name that touches the heart like
that of William McKinley. He was a rare combination of such admirable
qualities, with so many claims upon our sympathies, that he stands
absolutely without a parallel. He was the product of his conditions,
and he typified always the aspirations of Ohio. He possessed an inborn
might that elevated him to heights supreme. He ruled himself and
called no man master. He was equipped with all the effective weapons
of intellectual strife, and with such perfect speech that he commanded
alike the applause of " applauded men " and waiting multitudes. He
was a graduate of the remorseless school of experience, and he had
little respect for mere formality. He thought truly upon every subject
to which he turned his well-trained mind, and his eloquence has fed a
Nation's hunger. He lived truly, and his life has become a noble creed.
Nothing could buy the good faith that filled his heart. The granite fiber
of his manhood stood in unbought majesty — true emblem of his character
and his native land. He always did his best— the sublimest thing in
the world— and went onward and upward without a change of purpose.
Men with such qualities become the founders of government and the
saviours of system and policies. Such men are leaders, not through
the intrigue of craft and cunning or the power of wealth, rank, or family
traditions, but from an innate and rightful sovereignty in human
nature. His was a wonderful career. Wonderful because no obstacle,
either defeat or apparent failure, retarded his onward and upward
march. The Civil War interrupted his college course, and, though
letters attracted him, he answered the call of duty, and at the age of
87714—22233

17 enlisted as u private in the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteers, and for
14 months, with a rifle on his shoulder, as a volunteer soldier of the
Union, " not for himself but for his country," he engaged in many of
the minor and major battles of the war. The war over, enriched by
the lessons of experience, he returned to take his place and do his best
to build up again. He possessed the tremendous forces of self-reliance,
frugality, and progress. And in all he did and wherever he went he
took with him all the rights of personal manhood and respect — serious,
reverent respect — for the great problems of human life, because he had
felt its pinch, suffered its tragedies, and lived its joys. His life at the
bar was successful, and just as he was entering upon a great career
in the profession he was called to the Congress of the United States. As
a soldier, a lawyer, a statesman, as governor, and as President he was
great in everything he did, because in every position he filled his life
was full of study and thought. He was so faithful in little things
that he was worthy to succeed in big things. Such unswerving loyalty
was destined to play an important part in the sublimest period of his
whole career. PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS.
It was my great privilege to know Mr. McKinley as an intimate
family friend. He and my father were in the Union Army together,
and Mrs. McKinley and my mother were schoolmates at the same semi
nary- I recall distinctly a day I spent with him at my father's home
in Clarksburg, W. Va. We took a walk through the town and over the
range of hills that surrounds the valley. He was stationed there dur
ing the war. It was an 'interesting ramble through the woods. He
had completed his second term as governor of Ohio. He expected to
be nominated for the Presidency, and of all men he had earned the
right to indulge this hope. He, of all men, had been disciplined by
the unpleasant and unprofitable experiences of life, and when pros
perity and popularity came it was merely the tribute which a grateful
people paid to him who had performed the labors and endured the
fatigues of the journey. He spoke about his ambition, and the wonder
ful possibilities that were opening to the young men of the country,
and especially to those who were moving West. I was then on my
way to settle in Wisconsin. I recall further his affectionate regard
for Gen. Tecumseh Sherman. He quoted him as saying that in all
his experience with men he had come to the conclusion that it makes
little difference where a man lives, whether in city, town, or hamlet,
but it makes all the difference, in the world how he Hves. Then, in
explanation, he shared with me some of his philosophical views. He
said that the individual Is always responsible for what he is and what
he d/>es ; that he must have patience and do his very best wherever he
may be placed ; that the reason so many people fail is that they tire
long before the real test comes — that they surrender to their imaginary
87714—22233

8
fears. I remember this reflection : Every defeat ie a victory, if you
view it constructively ; and that while ambition is becoming, we must
never let it drive us or teach us to want what we can not have. He
then impressed upon me that men make their places in life by the
quality and character of the work they do ; that if they show ability
their enemies will harvest the crop and forgive their sins merely be
cause they are capable of competent service. How true these reflections
were and are. If a man becomes efficient, the world seeks him in
response to its helplessness and its selfishness ; it measures and selects
him by the hard, cold standards — can he deliver the message and re
turn with the answer? THE LESSONS OF WAR.
It has been said that war had little attraction ' for a man like
William McKinley. This is true, and yet war taught him this fact :
That the men who contend on the field of battle are brave and worthy,
or else they would not die for their convictions. When Mr. McKinley
became President, it may be said with all candor that no President
since Lincoln did so much to reunite the South into the friendly coun
cils of the North as did he. 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. * * *
" 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 oheers every heart in North
•and South, and brightens the life of every American home. Let noth
ing ever stain it again."
At Montgomery, the first capital of the Confederacy, he said :
" The governor says he has nothing to take back. We have nothing
to take back for having kept you in the Union. We are glad you did
not go out— and you are glad you stayed in."
At the dedication of the great monument on Riverside Drive April 27,
1807, Mr. McKinley said :
" A great life, dedicated to the welfare of the Nation, here finds its .
earthly coronation. Even if this day lacked the impressiveness of ceTe-
mony and was devoid of pageantry, it would still be memorable, because
it is the anniversary of the birth of the most famous and best beloved of
American soldiers. * *
" 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 peace The
veteran leaders of the Blue and Gray here meet not only to honor the
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 "tran
scends the limitations of sectional lines."
S7714 -22233

9
In the House of Representatives on the 2d of April, 1886, 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 repre
sents a higher civilization than the arbitrament of war. I believe it is
in close accord with the best thought and sentiment of mankind ; I be
lieve it is the true way of settling differences between labor and
capital ; * * •."
Speaking before the Home Market Club, of Boston, on the 18th of
February, 1899, on the future of the Philippines, Mr. McKinley said:
" No imperial designs lurk in the American mind. They are alien to
American sentiment, thought, and purpose. Our prices, as principles,
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. * * *
" I have no light or knowledge not common to my countrymen. I do
not prophesy. The present is all-absorbing to me, but I can not 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 tbe year just passed,
shall become the gems and glories of those tropical seas ; a land of plenty
and of 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 reli
gious liberty, of education and of home, 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."
In an apostrophe to the American flag at Cleveland, July 4, 1894, he
said :
" Is it any wonder that the old soldier loves the flag under whose folds
he fought and for which his comrades shed so much blood ? He loves it
for what it is and for what it represents. It embodies the purposes and
liistory of the Government itself. It records the achievements of its
defenders upon land and sea. It heralds the heroism and sacrifices of
our Revolutionary fathers who planted free government on this continent
and dedicated it to liberty forever. It attests the struggles of our
Army and the valor of our citizens in all the wars of the Republic. It
has been sanctified by the blood of our best and our bravest. It records
the achievements of Washington and the martyrdom of Lincoln. It has
been bathed in the tears of a sorrowing people. It has been glorified in
the hearts of a freedom-loving peple, not only at home but in every part
of the world. Our flag expresses more than any other flag ; it means
more than any other national emblem. It expresses the will of a free
people, and proclaims that they are supreme and that they acknowledge
87714—22233

10
no earthly sovereign but themselves. It never was assaulted that
thousands did not rise up to smite the assailant."
And on the 21st of April, 1900, at Carnegie Hall, New York City, in
what is known as his missionary address, he said :
" 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 civilizataion. * * *
" The noble, self-sacrificing, willing ministers of peace and good will
should be classed with the world's heroes. Wielding the sword 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 superstition 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
unspeakable hardships, but their noble spirits have never wavered."
HIS LAST ADDRESS.
The closing words in his last and greatest public "speech, delivered in
the city of Buffalo, September 5, 1901, embodied his political thought
and outlined his policy :
" Let us ever remember that our interest is in accord, not conflict,
and that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of
war." These words epitomize all that he lived for and tried to see adopted
as the guiding principles of his country. He spoke of commerce, the
Panama Canal, economics, trade wars; art, science, and philosophy. He
recognized that our splendid " isolation is no longer possible or desir
able " ; that " the period of exciusivencss is past." He admonished that
our capacity to produce had exceeded our markets, and that " only a
broad and enlightened policy will keep what we have." And then, as
though he was looking into the commercial present, he emphasized and
stressed the self-evident fact that —
" We must encourage our merchant marine ; we must have more ships.
They must be under the American flag, built and manned and owned
by Americans. These will not only be profitable in a. commercial sense,
they will be messengers of peace and amity wherever they go."
FORESIGHT, AFFABILITY, AND AMIABILITY.
In his relations with Congress he was as sympathetic and generous
as he was in his relations with his friends. He was natural and true
in everything he did. In accepting the statue of Gen. Garfield, which
was presented by Ohio and placed in Statuary Hall, Mr. McKinley said,
January 19, 189G :
" He was brave and sagacious. He filled every part with intelligence
and fidelity. Distinguished as was his military career, his most endur
ing fame, his highest renown, -was earned in this House as a Repre
sentative of the people. Here he won his richest laurels. Here he was
87714—22233

11
a leader and master, not by combination 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
speech, his thorough comprehension of the subject of legislation.
" In personal character he was clean and without reproach. As u.
citizen he loved his country and her institutions, and was proud of her
progress and prosperity. As an orator he was exceptionally strong and
gifted. As a soldier he stood abreast with the bravest and best of the
citizen soldiery of the Republic. As a legislator his most enduring
testimonial will be found in the records of Congress and the statutes
of his country. As President he displayed moderation and wisdom."
How true in this description are the facts of his own life.
Mr. McKinley showed great foresight in the selection of his Cabinet.
The country knows that the Cabinet constitutes the most important
part of the administration. The gentlemen called upon must not only
be men of high rank as statesmen, but they must be eminently fitted
for the respective departments for which they are selected. It is a
difficult task and -one not to be envied. And yet, in tbe discharge of
this duty he showed the same wonderful foresight that has character
ized him in all of his public relations. It has been said that Mr.
McKinley was a yielding man. He was deferential, but not yielding.
He was deliberate and cautious, and bis conclusions were meant to be
judicial rather than popular. Those who knew him recognized that
there was never a more fearless man than he, after he had proved in
his own mind that his course was right. Let me cite the testimony of
President Schurman, of Cornell University, who said :
LACKED DOGMATIC SELF-CONCEIT.
" 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 every
body, so truly democratic in his search for truth and wisdom, that his
very lack of dogmatic self-conceit and even the deliberateness of his
methods 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 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
87714—22233

12
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."
In retrospect, his was a wonderful life, and he was a truly great
philosopher. His belief taught him that God, in his plan of develop
ment, has appointed each man to walk forth in the world and find
his alloted task, and then as a righteous warrior to meet the common
enemy of the race. Frequently he saw his hopes fail, things the world
holds dear fall from his grasp, yet he kept the faith and trusted
self. He did not murmur nor lose confidence in man. He was patient
when the world ignored him and calm and unspoiled when it brought
him its praise. In the congressional campaign of 1882 he was returned
to Congress by a very small majority. One of his Democratic con
freres, referring to his meager majority, said :
" Your constituents do not seem to support you, Mr. McKinley."
His instant reply was worthy of the man :
" My fidelity to my constituents is not measured by the support they
give me. I have convictions I would not surrender if a ten-thousand
majority were entered against me."
AN HONORED AND TRUSTING SPIRIT.
He did his best and went onward without a change of purpose. He
did not compromise with expediency, and he practiced always the prin
ciple that nothing can be politically right that is morally wrong. And
so, when the hour and the man met iu him, he lead the van and died
as he had lived, an honored and trusting spirit, embalmed in the
affections and indelibly stamped on the will of the whole American
people. After he had finished what he had intended to accomplish,
after he had stolen forth and done his beautiful work, he was willing
to go into the shadow and great enough to seek tbe repose of the silence.
In life William McKinley was obedient to the beckoning finger, and he
struck his colors only to Eternity. How sublime the lesson, how exalted
the sacrifice. For whether on the scaffold high,
Or in the battle's van ;
The fittest place where man can die
Is where he dies for man.
For what greater measure of praise can be given a man than to steal
away honorably and quietly, and be remembered lovingly for what he
has done? After all, he only is great who floods the world with a
great affection — stirs it with a great thought, and shapes it to a great
career. And how different with Napoleon on the barren shores of St.
Helena. He found no satisfaction in his victories, or in his belief
that the battle's glory justified the cruelty and carnage of war. He
had lacked the moral: strength to throw away ambition, and, too late,
he learned that his creed, " Might makes right," could not bless his
87714—22233

13
memory in the sight of man and God. And so he died, remembered
for the evil he did — the good was interred with his bones.
A VOICE FROM THE PAST.
It is worth a great deal in this life to catch such voices as McKin
ley's calling from the past and to hear the thunder of the unknown
sea. His imperishable spirit and influence tell us that a nation is not
worthy to be saved if in the hour of its travail it can not gather up
tho jewels of its manhood and go down into the conflict, however
bloody and doubtful, resolved on measureless ruin or complete success.
This country must harbor no pariahs. Mere profession of loyalty
without acts of devoted patriotism is despicable hypocrisy. There must
be no halting, no hesitating, no shrinking, no harking to a rotten public
opinion. We must perform to the full measure. We must help the
world back to happiness and peace, that fruitful effort and not a bol
shevik blight may prevail. We can if we wish and if we will, for
after all we are our father's sons, as we so gloriously proved when we
were drawn into the World War. If we do not, because we wish not
and will not, then let us confess our degeneracy and, like the lictors
of old, clear the way, that ruin, death, rapine, and red-handed anarchy
with torch and bomb may have their sway. But before we do it let
us turn the martyred face of Lincoln to the wall, throw the sword of
Grant into the sea, and write upon the flag that McKinley lived and
died a lie. Charles Sumner said, " The true grandeur of nations is in
those qualities which constitute the true greatness of the individual."
William McKinley was the kind of man out of which to make a State.
He was a man with a single face, a single eye, a single tongue. He
could stand still and take the storm. He was afraid to kill but not
to die. A man who has no patriotism can never be a good citizen.
He is just so much flesh and his heart a muscle. He has no past for
reverence nor future for reliance. McKinley and his generation were
refined in the great crucible of war and schooled in the priceless lessons
of American liberty. Not mere love of country, which is commonplace,
not mere willingness to fight and die, which is sweet, but the mighty
emotion of patriotism, which is love of home and country as the place
of our birth or adoption, as the land where our fathers rest, the spot
where the gentle and the brave of our blood and our race sleep their
last hallowed sleep, until as immortals they awaken to the glories of
the life to come. FIRESIDE CRITICISM.
Men to-day call hard names and resort to threats. They stab in
secret with tongue and pen. They are not the men to make a State,
and neither are they fit to be American citizens. There is to-day too
much " fireside " criticism, too much insidious anarchy. It dwells
apart in the seclusion of its own self-importance and would not soil
its dainty fingers by contact with public affairs. Such people through
envy and discontent attack in others the possession of those qualities
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which they lack themselves and which they covetously crave. They
exclaim that the world is to be made safe for democracy, but they pur
posely shut their eyes to the fact that if their preachments be prac
ticed democracy will not be safe for the world. Mankind is justified
in seeking its rights, but not in seeking them blindly. There must be
no betterment of class at the expense of humanity. Such an attitude
is not only antidemocratic and vulgar, but it is fatal to society, to
liberty, and to civilization. It is wrong — willfully and maliciously
hurtful — for if one fact stands reflected in the mirror of time, it is
the sincerity of character, the nobility of purpose, and the integrity
of action of those whom a former generation thought well to excoriate
and abuse.
McKinley was made of the stuff that makes democracy, and was
trained with the discipline that shall preserve it. There was some
thing about him, either his splendid intellect or his indomitable will,
that fascinated men and bound them to him. He possessed the magic
gift of touching and leading the minds of men. He came to the rescue
in a great crisis and started the impulse that made us a world power.
What he did was transacted on a stage of which all the world was
spectator ; what he said was transmitted in echoes that will never
cease. What he was has an immortality that nothing- can destroy.
POSSESSED COURAGE OF SOUL.
Courage is not synonymous with leadership, although necessary to it.
Learning, eloquence, courage, talent, and genius, altogether, do not
make a leader. There is a great and glorious courage found least in
those admired for bravery, and McKinley had it to a superlative degree.
It is the courage that dares to do right in the face of scorn, rather
than violate a duty or surrender a conviction. It is the courage of the
soul, which was so conspicuously emphasized in his last speech. It
was great, majestic, equable, coherent, and persuasively prophetic.
Why was it great? Why was it lasting? It was great because it came
from a heart overflowing with eloquent truth. It was lasting because
it said with power the things that touched his hearers and will always
move his readers. Eloquent as it is, it did not and could not express
all that he felt. The spirit that attuned his heart and annotated his
tongue with the grace of speech on that occasion is ineffable. As the
poet so beautifully puts it :¦
I wonder if ever a song was sung
But the singer's heart sang sweeter ;
I wonder if ever a rhyme was rung
But the thought surpassed the meter ;
I wonder if ever a sculptor wrought
Till the cold stone echoed his ardent thought,
Or if ever a painter with light and shade
The dreams of his inmost mind portrayed.
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FEARLESS UNTO DE (.TH.
In the afternoon of September 6, 1901, William McKinley faced death
with fortitude and Christian serenity. He believed that death never
comes too soon — if in defense of principles and country. He had found
the truth, and for him who seeks and finds and loves the truth there
is neither fear nor bondage in this or any other world. The assassin
struck him as he extended the hand of generous and encouraging wel
come. For a moment he stood erect, his head thrown back, as if lost
in thought ; but the mists were gathering about him. He was thinking
of the most precious experiences of his life, of his wife, of his boyhood,
of his country, and then, like the soldier he was, he gave his life to his
country and his soul to God.
He lived and he died an American, and always he did his best, just
where and as he was. Charity was the beautiful trait of his character.
It enabled him to divine the opinions, the faults and the foibles of
others, and to realize that men could differ from him and be just
as honest as he himself. He gave to life the best he had and the best
of the ages came back to his people. He was greater than a patriot
He was a genius consecrated to a purpose, and he will live in history's
iron memory by the side of the world's seers, so long as personality
asserts its charm and the human soul is in sympathy witliNits own.
His memory is secure, and a grateful posterity will always cherish
his name. He deserves a monument — he does not need it. His career will
always remain an enduring monument of human purpose. His name
will always warm the marble with the memories and the deeds that
the world can never forget. Tears and glories will bathe its granite
shaft, and all the sacrifices that were demanded and all the sorrow
that was felt will exempt from oblivion the great truths for which he
lived and died. HEROIC, DEVOTED, UNASSUMING.
His life and the glory of his death are each an inspiration. His
spirit tells us : That in the quiet, unassuming American will be found
the same qualities of heroism, devotion, stability, and self-control as are
found in those whose careers loom large to inspire the dreams of youth,
and guide the steps of resolute manhood. It tells us that we are too
indifferent ; that from the clutch of the self-interested leader, we have
fallen into the hands of the so-called reformer, equally self-interested,
who tells us that the fault is with our system of Government, and that
we need a new Constitution or perhaps none at all. It reminds us that
the fault is not with our Constitution, but in the indifference of tbe
average American absorbed in bis own private affairs. It admonishes
us  there is need of self-criticism, lest confusion may be mistaken for
accomplishment. It tells us in no uncertain terms that it is our duty
t0 substitute for the machinations of .the wily reformer, the simple
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fact that"loyalty to State and Nation demands explicit obedience to the
voice of reason and conscience, and the constant discharge of the
nearijst duty without regard to the remote or the immediate wishes of
any nfttn or combination of men who for mutual self-interest ignobly
seek success. It warns us that tbe war has brought many changes, and
in every phase of life we shall meet new problems, not separate and
detached conditions, but aspects of fundamental changes that have
brought us to where we find ourselves to-day.
ETERNAL JUSTICE A GUIDE.
May I leave with you a picture and a thought. There in the shadow
of history rise Lincoln, Garfield, and- McKinley, with truth as their
watchword and eternal justice as their guide, facing peril and fearlessly
taking their . stand in the van, until their message, your message, de
mocracy's message, " Let us have peace," becomes an everlasting psalm,
a melody, for those who live and feel that victory is but a power in
trust. And there, incomparably splendid, with soul undaunted and eye
undisturbed by doubt, amid the wreck of empires and the decay of
civilizations, with the sword beaten into the red cross of mercy, and the
spear a staff for the homeless and the weary, stand these United States
of America, glowing like a mountain peak purpled by the rising sun,
ministering to a tottering world, even as did the Prince of Peace min
ister to pagan sick humanity. And here with us, crowned and mitered
by the hands of invisible consecration, dead at the post of duty, strong
in every virtue, true to every trust, responsive to every demand, an
ornament to his State, an inspiration to his Nation, stands liim whom
we honor to-night, the embodiment of all that is just, impartial, loving,
and true in American liberty.
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