(forticll Uniueraita 2jibratg 
 
 m;ite liBtacical ZJibcari) 
 
 THE GIFT OF PRESIDENT WHITE 
 
 MAINTAINED BY THE UNIVERSITY IN ACCORD- 
 ANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS 
 OF THE GIFT 
 
Cornell University Library 
 E711.6 .P84 1896 
 
 Life of William McKinle' 
 
 olln 
 
 soldier, lawye 
 
 wye 
 
 111 
 
 3 1924 030 932 903 
 
The original of tliis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030932903 
 
^t^^J^ 
 
SOPTHIGHT 1896 BY ."J, G. HAMILTON, 
 
 MRS. M'KINLEy. 
 
LIFE OF 
 
 WILLIAM McKINLEY, 
 
 SOLDIER, LAWYER, STATESMAN. 
 
 WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 , OF 
 
 HON. Gf A"? HOBAILT. 
 
 BY ROBERT P. PORTER. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION" 
 
 CLEVELAND, OHIO: 
 THE N. G. HAMILTON PDBLISHING COMPANY. 
 
 1896. 
 
 P. 
 
E 
 111 
 
 \8U 
 
 k-\s 
 
 . 1 b lxsi^> 
 
 COPYRIGHT i8gS, 
 
 BY 
 
 N. G. HAMILTON. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
 Many of the illustrations in this -work are fully protected by Copy- 
 right, and their reproduction is unlawful, and notice is hereby given that 
 persons guilty of infringing the copyright thereof will be prosecuted tc 
 the full extent of the law. 
 
PUBLISHER'S NOTE. 
 
 IN presenting to the public an authentic hfe of 
 , William McKinley, we are responding to a de- 
 sire on its part to understand more fully the character 
 and to learn with more exactness the particulars of 
 the career of a man who more than others compels 
 the attention and occupies the minds of the people. 
 
 Aside from the powerful political interest attached 
 to McKinley, his life has been one so typical of all 
 that is best in the self-made American, his career 
 one that affords such stimulus and inspiration to the 
 youthful brain and sinew of our country, that it is 
 with genuine satisfaction we publish the stainless 
 record of the citizen, soldier and statesman. 
 
 When we asked Mr. Porter to undertake this 
 biography, it was with the knowledge of his pecHliar 
 fitness — as writer, economist and personal friend of 
 McKinley-^for the task. For years an investigator 
 of industrial topics, as member of the Tariff Commis- 
 sion, Superintendent of the Eleventh Census, and 
 active journalist, Mr. Porter has had unusual oppor- 
 tunities to observe the progress of the Nation under 
 a generation of protective policy, and he, perhaps, 
 more than any other, save McKinley himself, has 
 given the people an intelligent understanding of its 
 working. 
 
4 PUBLISHER S NOTE. 
 
 It is with satisfaction we call attention to the 
 illustrations in this book, so unusual in number and 
 degree of excellence. As for the data, it has been 
 gathered in the most painstaking manner from a 
 variety of authoritative sources and carefully veri- 
 fied. No labor has been spared and no expense 
 considered in order to make this work not only a 
 complete and interesting biography, but a clear and 
 perfect chapter in the industrial history of our 
 country. 
 
 The life of Garret A. Hobart was written after the 
 St. Louis Convention by Mr. Porter, from material 
 furnished by the family, and is the authorized life of 
 the eminent citizen of New Jersey, nominated by 
 the Republican Convention for Vice-President. Mr. 
 Porter takes this opportunity to acknowledge his 
 indebtedness to Mr. William Nelson of Paterson for 
 the information in relation to the Hobart family, and 
 for other valuable assistance. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 CHAPTER I.— REVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN. 
 
 William McKinley from Good Fighting Stock on Both 
 Sides— His Great-grandfather Enlisted Eight Times 
 in the Revolution ary War — His Grandmother's 
 Father, Andrew Rose, Jr., Fought and Forged Bul- 
 lets and Cannon Balls for the Patriots— The Ameri- 
 can Spirit Bom in Him 29 
 
 CHAPTER II.— BOYHOOD AT POLAND. 
 
 Father and Mother — Birthplace of McKinley at Niles — 
 Early Bringing up — The Strong Force Which Formed 
 His Character — The Village of Poland — Boyhood 
 Companions — Dramatic Scene at the Old Sparrow 
 Tavern — Drilling on the Common — Company E of 
 Twentv-third Ohio Depart Amid Tears and Applause 
 —The Boyish Private 42 
 
 CHAPTER III.— THE YOUTHFUL SOLDIER. 
 
 McKinley's Entrance to a New and Strange Life — He 
 Joins Colonel Rosecrans's Regiment — Develops Abil- 
 ity for the Business of War — Kx-President Hayes De- 
 scribes the Boyish Private — Two Years on Hayes's 
 Staff— Gallant Conduct at Antietam— Made a Second 
 Lieutenant — General Hayes's Diary 59 
 
 CHAPTER IV.-THE TWENTY-THIRD OHIO. 
 
 Composed of a Superior Class of Men — Rosecrans, Scam- 
 mon, Matthews, Hayes, Comly, Hastings, McKinley 
 — The First Three- '5'ear Ohio Regiment — Official Rec- 
 ords — Number of Men in the Regiment from First to 
 Last — The Battles in which the Twenty-third Took 
 Part — McKinley's Official Record — Hardships 65 
 
 CHAPTER V.-ACTIVE SERVICE. 
 
 Ordered to West Virginia — Fighting at Carnifex Ferry — 
 A Foretaste of Real Fighting — Sickness in Camp — 
 Almost Starved — McKinley's First Glimpse of WaEh- 
 ington — Battles of South Mountain and Antietam— 
 Battle of Cedar Creek— Sheridan— McKinley's First 
 Vote — Homeward Bound 71 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI.-BATTLE AT KERNSTOWN. 
 
 Russell Hastings Describes a Lively Engagement Near 
 Winchester — Forward to Almost Certain Death — Mc- 
 Kinley Under the Enemy's Fire — Erect as a Hussar — 
 ABraveand Youthful Soldier on a Wiry Little Brown 
 Horse— How McKinley Carried Off the Guns 87 
 
 CHAPTER Vn.-WAR INCIDENTS. 
 
 The Young Commissary Sergeant at Antietam — Hot Cof- 
 fee for the Men in Front — McKinley Wins His First 
 Promotion— Incident of the Battle of Opequan— Cap- 
 tain McKinley Takes the Responsibility — Prompt to 
 Act in an Emergency — How McKinley Became a 
 Mason — Sheridan Refers to McKinley — The Famous 
 Ride From Winchester 103 
 
 CHAPTER VIII.-RETURNS TO CIVIL LIFE. 
 
 McKinley Studies Law With Judge Charles E. Glidden — 
 Renews His Friendships in Poland— President of the 
 Everett Literary Club — The Albany Law School — 
 Admitted to the Bar and Settles at Canton — Elected 
 District Attorney of Stark County, 1869 — Becomes 
 Active in Politics — Elected to Congress in 1876 109 
 
 CHAPTER IX.-MARRIAGE-MRS. McKINLEY. 
 
 Wedded to Miss Saxton — Remarkable Case of Editorial 
 Longevity — A Charming Bank Cashier-»-Housekeep- 
 ing in Canton — A Terrible Bereavement — Social Lite 
 in Washington — McKinley's Domestic Life — Mrs. Mc- 
 Kinley's Personality — A Devotpd Couple — Looking 
 Forward to Rest and Comfort at Canton 123 
 
 CHAPTER X.-A BLAINE DELEGATE IN 1884. 
 
 McKinley Becomes a National Character — A Tumultuous 
 State Convention at Cleveland — The Chairman vs. 
 the Delegates — McKinley Forced to the Front — The 
 Master-Spirit at Chicago Leads the Blaine Forces— 
 The Challenge — Accepted and the Victory Won 132 
 
 CHAPTER XL— LOYALTY TO SHERMAN— 1888. 
 
 The Hero of the National Convention — A Speech Unsur- 
 passed for Eloquence and Candor — A Midnight Epi- 
 sode—Dramatic Declaration of McKinley to the New 
 Jersey Delegation — Would Rather Face Death than 
 Such a Nomination — Other Incidents of the Conven- 
 tion which Nominated Harrison 141 
 
CONTENTS, y 
 
 FAGB 
 
 CHAPTER XII.-CONGRESSIONAL EXPERIENCE. 
 McKinley as a Congressman — A Painstaking Committee 
 Worker— Commanded Attention Whenever He Spoke 
 —Personal Popularitj' Among His Colleagues — A. 
 Close Student, but Accessible to Friends— An Adroit 
 Debater— Some Sharp Passages of Words Kecalled.... 152 
 
 CHAPTER XIII.-NOMINATED FOR GOVERNOR. 
 Gerrymandered Out of His Congressional Districi— A 
 Defeat that was a Victory — Unanimously Nominated 
 for Governor- An Ovation at Columbus — McKmley 
 and Protection — Campaign Songs— Joint Debate with 
 Campbell — Speaks in Eighty-four Out of the Eighty- 
 eight Counties of Ohio — Elected Governor 165 
 
 CHAPTER XIV.-NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1892. 
 McKinley in Favor of Harrison's Nomination — Is Made 
 Chairman of the Convention — Republican Conven- 
 tions Say What They Mean and Mean Whai They 
 Say — Able Presentation of the Politicallssues— Loyal 
 to Harrison — A Lively Debate— Moves to Make Pres- 
 ident Harrison's Nomination Unanimous — Receives 
 182 Votes for President 175 
 
 CHAPTER XV.— AGAIN ELECTED GOVERNOR. 
 
 Effects of the Cleveland Panic — Hon. L. T. Neal's Asser- 
 tions — A Lively Campaign — With a Clean, Able Record 
 as Governor, McKinley Again Faces the People of 
 Ohio — Opening Mteting at Akron — Elected by the 
 Largest Vote Ever Given for a Candidate — A Flatter- 
 ing Resolution 183 
 
 CHAPTER XVI.-McKINLEY, THE MAN. 
 
 Physically a Paradox — A Shapely Head and Good Shoul- 
 ders — A Good Dancer and Delightful Partner — Prob- 
 ably Made More Speeches and Addressed a Greater 
 Number of People than Any Man in the World — The 
 Record of His Strength and Vitality — His Habits of 
 Life — A Plain Liver — Patience and Self-control Strong 
 Characteristics 189 
 
 CHAPTER XVII.— McKINLEY AS A SPEAKER. 
 
 McKinley's Reserve Power— Absolute Enforcement of 
 Law and Order — His Method of Making Appoint- 
 ments — His Mastery of the Tariff Makes His Speeches 
 Interesting — Argumentative, Appealing and Concili- 
 ating — He Never Abuses His Adversary — The Best 
 Vote-winner on the Stump 193 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAOB 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII.-A CHARACTER STUDY, 
 
 A Tariff for Protection, Not a Protective Tariff— A Char- 
 acter Study by E. J. Edwards, the Brilliant Journal- 
 ist — McKicley Possesses a Logical Mind, and Has 
 Cultivated Habits of Patience and Industry — Surpris- 
 ' ing Capacity for Drudgery— He Has Made of the 
 Tariff a Poem, Not Dreary Schedules 200 
 
 CHAPTER XIX.-CAMPAIGN OF 1894. 
 
 Industrial and Financial Gloom — Condition of the Cotin- 
 try in 1894— The People Demand McKinley at the 
 Front— The Most Remarkable Campaign Since the 
 War— Nearly Four Hundred Speeches in Five Weeks- 
 Greeted With Ovations Everywhere — Good-natured 
 and Modest in Bearing — Fighting for Principle, Not 
 for Self-aggrandizement — Immense Audience — Inci- 
 dents of the Campaign 214 
 
 CHAPTER XX.-CAMPAIGN OF 1894-Continued. 
 After Repeated Appeals, McKinley Goes South — Is Greeted 
 with Enthusiasm in New Orleans — Graphic Descrip- 
 tion of the Monster Meeting at New Orleans — The 
 Platform a Mass of Struggling Humanity — First 
 Speech in Kentucky — Visits West Virginia and Ten- 
 nessee — Close of a Memorable Campaign 230 
 
 CHAPTER XXI.-VIEWS ON PUBLIC QUESTIONS. 
 
 McKinley not a Man of One Idea — Has a Broad Grasp of 
 All Questions — Irving, the Actor, Thinks Him a Man 
 of Intellectual Power — A. Vigorous Living Force in 
 Politics — Gladstone and McKinley Both Able in Deal- 
 ing with Fiscal Matters — Telling Statements in Rela- 
 tion to Pensions 248 
 
 CHAPTER XXII.-THE POLICY OF PROTECTION. 
 
 Review of McKinley 's Early Tariff Speeches — A Friend of 
 Judge William D. Kelley — Fight Against Morrison 
 Horizontal Bill in 1884— McKinley Turns the Tables 
 on the Veteran Leader — Leading the Opposition to 
 the Mills Attack on Our Industries in 1888— A Stu- 
 pendous Piece of Work — Hearing Tariff Appeals in 
 His Rooms at the Ebbitt House — A Great Protection 
 Speech..., 261 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII.-THE McKINLEY TARIFF LAW. 
 
 Principles on Which It was Constructed — Business Inter- 
 ests and Labor Consulted — The Most Carefully Pre- 
 pared Tariff Law Ever Enacted — The Changes It 
 Brought About — McKinley's Aim to Benefit the 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 United States— Desire to Give Additional Employ- 
 ment to American Labor and Prosperity to American 
 Homes— Tin Plate , 279 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV.-ITS EFFECT-PROSPERITY. 
 
 The Fall Election of 1890 Construed into Disapproval of 
 the McKinley Law— McKinley Stands Firmly by His 
 Guns- He Declared it a Cross Current, a Chop Sea- 
 Condition of the Country in 1892— New Industries 
 Started— Old Industries Revired- The Law Proves a 
 Wide-spread Blessing— Wages Increase— Result of 
 Thirty Years of Protection 296 
 
 CHAPTER XXV.— THE "OBJECT LESSON" REVERSED. 
 
 McKinley Confounds False Witnesses by Unimpeachable 
 Testimony— Good Times and Prosperity— Triumph of 
 Protection — Undaunted by the Democratic Victory 
 of 1892— McKinley Values His Principles No Less 
 ia Defeat than in Victory — He Inspires the Party 
 with Renewed Hope at Columbus in 1893 309 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI.-VIEWS ON LABOR ISSUES. 
 
 In Favor of Arbitration — Short Hours Improve the 
 Stamina of the People — The Living Wage — An Advo- 
 cate of the Eight-Hour-Law — Rights and Dignity of 
 Labor Triumphant in the United States — Liberty and 
 Labor — Patriotic Address at Chicago to Workingmen 
 on July 4th, 1895 329 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII.-FAIR ELECTIONS. 
 
 The Honest Voter has No Fear of Law — Fair Elections a 
 Necessity if the Republic is to Last — Folly of the Re- 
 peal of the Federal Election Law — The Question Will 
 Not Rest Until Equality of Suffrage is Established 
 Beyond Question 347 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII.-FINANCIAL QUESTIONS. 
 
 McKinley Would as Soon Lower the Flag as Debase the 
 National Currency — Favors the Use of Gold and Sil- 
 ver at a Parity of Values — A Comprehensive View of 
 the Currency Question — Philadelphia Speeches Oppos- 
 ing Return to State Bank Currency 353 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX.— RECIPROCITY. 
 
 Blaine fully in Accord with McKinley— Inside History of 
 the Reciprocity Movement — McKinley Voted for the 
 Reciprocity Amendment, Both in the Committee and 
 
lO CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 in Congress — Congressman Grosvenor Shows How 
 the Reciprocity Clause Improved Foreign Trade — Gail 
 Hamilton on the Subject 359 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. -PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION. 
 An Open Schoolhouse the Highest Evidence of Civiliza- 
 tion — It Makes the Great Possibilities of the Republic 
 — Security for Our Liberties and Independence — .4. 
 Teacher Once Himself, McKinley Speaks Lovingly 
 and Enthusiastically on Our Public System of Edu- 
 cation — A Word on the Jewish Race 363 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI.-VIEWS ON RELIGION. 
 
 McKinley a Religious Man — Believes Religion a Potent 
 Force for Good — Keep Your Heart Pure — No Presi- 
 dent from Washington to the Present Time Who Pub- 
 licly Avowed Infidelity or Scoffed at the Faith of the 
 Masses — Religion Makes a Higher Grade of Citizen- 
 ship 376 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII.-McKINLEY AS GOVERNOR. 
 
 An Administration Without Red Tape — A Wise and Pru- 
 dential Executive — Messages Plain Business Docu- 
 ments — Successful Management of Charitable Institii- 
 tioDS — Legislation for Protection and Comfort of 
 Workingmen — Passage of Arbitration Law — Faculty 
 for Settling Strikes — A Friend and Advocate of Labor 384 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII.-JUSTICE AND MERCY. 
 
 McKinley's Love of Peace Kever Interfered with Uphold- 
 ing Law and Order — Troubles in the Mining Districts 
 — McKinley's Military Experience Valuable — Wash- 
 ington Court House and Tiffin Riots — Relieving the 
 Distress A mong the Miners — Quick Night Work 400 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. -ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 The Story of Abraham Lincoln — McKinley's Oration on 
 the Great War President — A Man of the People — Re- 
 sult of Lincoln's success — Washington and Lincoln 
 Compared — The Two Greatest Names in American 
 History 410 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV.-ULYSSES S. GRANT. 
 
 The Heroof Appomattox— McKinley's Oration at Galena 
 on Grant's Birthday — A Great Soldier and Typical 
 American — His Brave and Gentle Nature — Career as 
 President — Simple and Affectionate in Private Life — 
 Great in Life, Majestic in Death 418 
 
CONTENTS. II 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XXXYI.-JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 McKinley's Estimate of Garfield — A Brave and Able Sol- 
 dier — It was as a Legislator that He Excelled — A Man 
 of Great Intellectual Resources — The Friend of all ' 
 Mankind— A Strong and Gifted Orator _ 428 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII.-RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 
 McKinley's Address on His Old Commander — The Friend- 
 ship of Hayes and McKinley — The Wise, Patriotic 
 and Conscientious Administrationof President Hayes 
 — The Dignity of the Closing Year of a Life Full of 
 Valor and Usefulness— A Merited Tribute 436 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIIL-JOHN A. LOGAN. 
 
 Our Citizen Soldiery — They formed the Irresistible Force 
 — ^John A. Logan as a Fighter — His Military Genius 
 Extolled — Courage and Devotion His Chief Charac- 
 teristics — A Useful Legislator and a Valued Citizen — 
 McKinley's Address on the Great Illinois Commander 442 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX.-A CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESI- 
 DENCY. 
 
 The Preliminary Canvass — How it was Conducted— 
 Choice of the Republicans — Workingmen Disillusioned 
 — ^Loyal Support of Republican Voters and Workers — 
 Splendid Generalship of Mark A. Hanna— Patriotism, 
 Protection and Prosperity the Cry 448 
 
 CHAPTER XL —NATIONAL CONVENTION, 1896. 
 Remarkable Gathering — First Test Vote — Fairbanks 
 and Thurston Presiding Oificers— Dramatic Episode 
 — Foraker Names McKinley — Nominated for the 
 Presidency, Amid Tremendous Applause, on the First 
 Ballot — Hobart for Second Place 453 
 
 CHAPTER XLI.-GARRET A. HOBART. 
 
 Son of a Humble Schoolmaster and Storekeeper — Born 
 at Long Branch, N. J.— Descended From a Norfolk 
 Family— The Old Town of Hingham— The Family 
 Famous for Teachers and Preachers— French Hugue- 
 not Blood From His Mother's Side— Dominie Ben- 
 jamin Du Bois, his Great-grandfather 462 
 
 CHAPTER XLII.-THE BOYHOOD OF HOBART. 
 Young Garret at the District School— A Difference With 
 the Schoolmaster— Takes up Classical Studies— Enters 
 Rutgers College at Sixteen— A Quick Student— Mem- 
 ber of the Base Ball Nine— Graduated With Distin- 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 guished Honors in Mathematics and English— School 
 Teacher-Law Student <t70 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII.-LAWYER AND MAN OF AFFAIRS. 
 Admitted to the Bar of New Jersey— Personal Character- 
 istics—Married toMissTuttle— Domestic Life— Voting 
 Hobart's First Political Office— City Counsellor of 
 Paterson in 1871— Elected to the State Assembly in 
 1872— Chosen Speaker in 1873— Refuses a Third 
 Term— Elected to Senate in 1876— President of the 
 Senate 4.76 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV.-NATIONAL POLITICS. 
 
 Hobart Elected Delegate to Republican Convention in 
 1876— Career as a StateLegislator— Secured Passage 
 of More Useful Bills Than Any Other Member- Inter- 
 ested in Technical Education — Favors Home Rule for 
 Municipalities — Establishes Bureau of Labor Statis- 
 tics — Always in Favor of Legislation in the Interests 
 of the Masses of the People — A Friend of the Wage 
 Earner 48S 
 
 CHAPTER XLV.-NOMINATED FORYICE-PRESIDENT 
 
 The Causes Which Led to His Nomination — Active in 
 National Politics for Twenty Years — A Man of Sterl- 
 ing Qualities — Beloved at Home, Respected Abroad — 
 TheNorainatingSpeech— Settled <m First Ballot— The 
 Selection Gives Unive sal Satisfaction — A Personal 
 Kriend of McKinlev's — A Man of Hard Business 
 Sense .'. 493 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI.— A GRE.AT DAY FOR PATERSON. 
 
 Fifteen Thousand People Under One Roof Greet Hobart 
 — His Modest Bearing — Democrats and Republicans 
 Vie With Each Other to do Him Honor — A Never-to- 
 bc-Forgotten Scene— McKinlev and Hobart an Ideal 
 Ticket .'. 501 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Frontispiece — Wm. McKinley, Mrs. Wm. McKinley. 
 
 William McKinley, Sr facing page 24 
 
 Interior of Convention Hall " 25 
 
 Mrs. William McKinley, Sr " 32 
 
 Republican Notification Committee, 
 
 1896 " 33 
 
 Birthplace of McKinley at Niles, Ohio... " 42 
 
 The White House " " 43 
 
 House in Poland, Ohio, Where McKin- 
 ley Lived While Attending the Sem- 
 inary " 48 
 
 Seminary, Poland, Ohio, Where McKin- 
 ley Attended School — From a Pho- 
 tograph Taken Five Days Before the 
 Collapse of the Building, Which 
 
 Occurred November 23, 1895 " 52 
 
 Main Street, Poland, Ohio, as it Novir 
 Appears — The Building at the Ex- 
 treme Left is the Village Postoffice, 
 
 Where McKinley was a Clerk " 54 
 
 McKinley at the Age of Sixteen " 58 
 
 McKinley at the Age of Eighteen " 58 
 
 McKinley as First Lieutenant Tw^enty— 
 third O. V. I., taken at Gallipolis, 
 
 Ohio, where McKinley Enlisted " . 59 
 
 Sparrow^ House, Poland, Ohio, Where 
 
 McKinley Enlisted in 1861 " 62 
 
 W. S. Rosecrans " 66 
 
 Stanley Matthews " 68 
 
 Philip H. Sheridan " 74 
 
 McKinley Removing an Abandoned Bat- " 
 
 tery in the Face of the Enemy, 
 After all Hope of its Recovery had 
 
 Been Given up " 88 
 
 McKinley Serving Coffee and Meat un- 
 der Fire at the Battle of Antietam, 
 Something that Never Occurred Be- 
 fore " 104 
 
14 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS . 
 
 McKinley Carrying Dispatches From 
 Gen. Hayes to Gen. Crook, Under a 
 Terrific Fire of Shot and Shell, at 
 Winchester facing page 
 
 McKinley Directing Gen. Sheridan to 
 Gen. Crook's Heaaquarters, After 
 His Famous Ride From Winchester " 
 
 McKinley when at the Albany Law- 
 School, age Twenty-two 
 
 Henry Clay Evans 
 
 McKinley in 1865 and 1866 
 
 McKinley When he Entered Congress.... 
 
 W. O. Bradley, Governor of Kentucky, 
 
 McKinley's Residence at Canton, Ohio... 
 
 Mrs. McKinley in 1896 
 
 Hon. James G. Blaine 
 
 McKinley in 1881 
 
 Hon. Levi P. Morton 
 
 State Capitol, Columbus, Ohio 
 
 McKinley Among the Iron and Steel 
 Workers 
 
 McKinley as a Knight Templar 
 
 Hon. Joseph B. Foraker , 
 
 McKinley in 1895 
 
 Hon. Thomas B Reed 
 
 Schoolhouse, Near Poland, Ohio, Where 
 McKinley Taught School in the 
 Winter of i86o-'6i 
 
 General U. S. Grant 
 
 James A. Garfield 
 
 Rutherford B. Hayes 
 
 John A. Logan 
 
 Hon. M. A.Hanna : 
 
 Birthplace of Hon. Garret A. Hobart at 
 Long Branch, New Jersey 
 
 Senator John M. Thurston 
 
 Hon. C. W. Fairbanks 
 
 Hon. Garret A. Hobart, Mrs.G. A. Hobart, bet. 462 and 463 
 
 Hon. Garret A. Hobart in 1869 facing page 482 
 
 Mrs. Garret A. Hobart in 1869 " 483 
 
 106 
 
 108 
 
 114 
 
 "5 
 118 
 118 
 119 
 122 
 123 
 132 
 
 154 
 15s 
 166 
 
 190 
 260 
 261 
 332 
 333 
 
 364 
 418 
 
 428 
 
 436 
 
 442 
 
 450 
 
 451 
 458 
 459 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A STUDY of the life, of the. military services and 
 of the public career of William McKinley com- 
 prises much that is instructive, fascinating and his- 
 torical. Essentially a man of the people, his rise 
 from a lad, born in an Ohio village, to the position 
 of one of the foremost statesmen of the times, is full 
 of interest to the American public. Still in the prime 
 of a vigorous and developing manhood, the subject 
 of this sketch presents alike to young and old the 
 possibilities of our free institutions, when supple- 
 mented by patriotism, integrity, courage, pei^sever- 
 ance 'and unbounded faith in the economic policies 
 which best promote the welfare of our common 
 country. The story is that of a serious and earnest 
 life — a life of devotion to duty, to principle and to 
 the public service. Aided by nothing save an honor- 
 able parentage, a good constitution, a quick percep- 
 tion, a courteous bearing, a brave heart and a high 
 sense of honor, this youth in his teens was mustered 
 into the army and began the conflict of life on the 
 Nation's battle-fields — a conflict continued in the 
 halls of National legislation, and closely interwoven 
 with the last twenty-five years of National progress. 
 Such a career becomes part of the history of the 
 
1 6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Republic, and the name of William McKinley will 
 always be associated with the most important fiscal 
 legislation of the latter part of the century. He 
 stands to-day the principal living exponent of the 
 protection side of the gi"eat economic question which 
 divides the two political parties. Back of him we 
 find a glorious array of American statesmen, who 
 have thought as he thinks, believed as he believes, 
 and who have, at various stages of the Nation's his- 
 tory, taught the doctrines that he teaches. Deeply 
 imbedded in the foundations of the Republic as are 
 the principles of protection, the work of demonstrat- 
 ing the truth of these principles beyond the reach of 
 doubt fell to the lot of McKinley. The McKinley 
 Tariff law stood on our statute books the industrial 
 Gibraltar of the Nation: When it was attacked, our 
 industries were threatened. When it was taken by 
 the enemy, many of our great industries fell with it. 
 The name of McKinley will always be associated 
 with the wisest, the broadest, the most harmonious 
 and the most American fiscal legislation of the 
 century — with legislation that promoted enterprise, 
 stimulated commerce, employed labor, increased 
 wages, and did much to make the people contented 
 and prosperous. Whatever the future may have in 
 store for this stalwai-t American citizen, his name 
 will always be synonymous to the myriad bread- 
 winners throughout the Union with fair wages, 
 plenty of work and good times. 
 
 That the heart of this man of the people should 
 beat in unison with those who toil, with the millions 
 
INTRODUCTION. I^ 
 
 engaged in the gainful occupations, is natural enough 
 when we read the story of his life. He has marched 
 in the ranks side by side with his comrade, the 
 private soldier. He has tasted poverty and learned 
 useful lessons of frugality as a young and struggling 
 country lawyer. In the broader field of states- 
 manship to which he was called nearly twenty 
 years ago, his influence and sympathy have always 
 been given on the side of those who toil for daily 
 bread. Surely we have here varied and useful les- 
 sons — experiences calculated to develop the broadest 
 humanity, the deepest sympathy for labor, and the 
 most earnest endeavor to improve the condition and 
 elevate the standard of that vast army of ovj fellow- 
 beings whase weekly or monthly wage forms the 
 only barrier between happy and contented homes and 
 absolute penury.- That a man thus born and with 
 such experiences, should believe in a policy which 
 has done so much for labor as some do in religion, is 
 not a matter of surprise, and that he should have 
 converted a nation to his belief is an indication both 
 of his own unwavering faith and of the tremendous 
 strength of the facts, figures, history and earnest elo- 
 quence which he has marshalled to win over and 
 convince. 
 
 It is the purpose of this volume to present the 
 most complete popular life of McKinley yet published. 
 All incidents of his boyhood life at Niles and Poland 
 have been obtained by personal visits to these places, 
 and by conversations with those who knew the 
 young soldier and statesman. The facts relating to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 McKinley's ancestors we believe have not been pub- 
 lished before, and in a measure explain the source of 
 his fighting qualities and strong Americanism. As 
 will be shown, when the call to arms came, the 
 slight, pale-faced, grey-eyed and earnest young 
 student flung aside his books, and with a fervor of 
 youthful patriotism decided to shoulder a musket 
 for the Union. To be sure he was young, but there 
 was splendid Revolutionary fighting stuflf in that 
 anything but stalwart frame. Without much con- 
 sideration as to the result, the college student en- 
 listed as a private. He had no particular influence, 
 no powerful friends, nothing but a clear mind and a 
 stout heart, brJmful of patriotism and love for the 
 Union, to help him in the weary marches, the dan- 
 gerous expeditions and the fierce conflict of war 
 times. The facts in relation to the war record of 
 McKinley have been obtained from the papers of the 
 officers under whom he sei'ved and from other orig- 
 inal sources, and are believed to comprise the most 
 authentic history of his military career yet given to 
 the public. 
 
 The next glimpse we have of this eminent states- 
 man is at Canton. The war ended, the youthful 
 soldier modestly laid aside the accoutrements of 
 war, wasted no time in recounting his exploits and 
 adventures as a soldier, and entered upon the study 
 of the law. He graduated from the Albany (New 
 York) Law School. One year after the close of the 
 war he was a briefless young lawyer in the little 
 town of Canton, Ohio, studying early and late, and 
 
INTRODUCTION. I9. 
 
 endeavoring to eke out a somewhat scanty living by 
 the aid of such retainers and fees as would come to 
 one experienced in civil war, but inexperienced in the 
 practice of the legal profession. An effort has been 
 made to give the real every-day life of the young 
 lawyer, and to picture the surroundings under which 
 his fertile mind was developed and his sterling 
 character built up. That McKinley at this time of 
 his life gave evidence of brilliancy and ability there 
 seems to be no doubt, for within a comparatively 
 few years after he began his practice, the people of 
 Canton recognized in him a man with a future, and 
 elected him prosecuting attorney of Stark county. 
 This happened twenty-five years ago. In this 
 capacity McKinley had opportunity for displaying 
 both his felicity and facility of speech. He was 
 soon regarded as an excellent advocate. His exacti- 
 tude of thought, his precision in expression, his 
 earnestness of manner, and the moral force which 
 he seemed to put into all his jases, won for him the 
 respect and admiration of the Stark county bar. 
 Those who imagine for a moment that McKinley 
 would not have made a profound jurist had he not 
 devoted the best of his life to statescraft have 
 evidently no conception of the man at the period of 
 his career when he in a measure gave up his law 
 practice to accept the nomination for Congress. 
 
 The facts brought out in this work will show that 
 he managed admirably the cases which came to him, 
 and in several important trials attracted the attention 
 not only of his colleagues at the bar, but of the 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 public at large. The case referred to in these pages, 
 namely, that of a number of miners prosecuted for 
 riot, in which McKinley's argument to the jury in, 
 behalf of the accused was at that time looked upon 
 as a notable effort, is remembered to this day in 
 Canton by those who knew him at this period of his 
 Ufe. 
 
 Many interesting stories will be found in this 
 volume of his every-day life in Canton, which have 
 never before been published. As a lawyer in those 
 days, McKinley was always regarded as thorough 
 and careful. He was not one of those men who 
 waited to try his cases until he got into court. Few 
 lawyers have prepared their cases with a view to 
 all possible contingencies as McKinley did. This 
 characteristic followed him into National politics, 
 and many a time have his eloquent, though not so 
 alert, free tirade antagonists been led into a trap by 
 the skillful preparation and absolute mastery of all 
 the facts which McKinley invariably gives the ques- 
 tions under consideration. He appears to have 
 enjoyed in those days the confidence of his own 
 locality in much the same way as he now enjoys the 
 confidence of the great political party with which he 
 is allied. He was respected as a citizen, beloved as 
 a man of kindly bearing and gentle spirit, and 
 admired as a rising lawyer and prominent advocate. 
 When he entered his broader public career, he was 
 well prepared for it by the thorough course of 
 reading and the study which he had gone through. 
 In this respect we shall note an analogy with Garfield, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 who, like McKinley, possessed elements of strength 
 by reason of his conscientious study of political 
 subjects. 
 
 McKinley was first elected to Congress in 1876. 
 His natural dignity, his thorough acquaintance with 
 the economic questions under discussion, together 
 with that self-contained, reserved force which always 
 seemed a strong element in his make-up, at once 
 gave him a good position in Washington. Added to 
 this, he had been a member of General Hayes's 
 staff, and hence enjoyed the social advantages of 
 being an intimate friend of the President of the 
 United States. For fourteen years McKinley re- 
 mained in Congress, steadily increasing in influence 
 with the great leaders of his party. Quiet, dignified, 
 modest, considerate of others, ever mindful of the 
 long services of the veterans of his party, true as steel 
 to his friends, unhesitating at the call of duty, no 
 matter what the personal sacrifice, unwavering in his 
 integrity, full of tact in overcoming opposition, yet 
 unyielding on vital party principles, with a heart in 
 sympathy with those who toil, a disposition unspoiled 
 by success, and a private life as spotless as self- 
 sacrificing, William McKinley overcame all the great 
 obstacles in the way of a young legislator struggling 
 for success in the United States capital, and in 1890 
 succeeded in passing through Congress the Tarifi" 
 bill which bears his name, and which has made him 
 famous throughout the civilized world. The steps 
 by which he reached the position of the natural, 
 logical leader of the Republican party, it will be the 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 endeavor of this book to recount. The brilliant 
 series of speeches which began in 1878, when he 
 attacked with great force the tariff bill introduced 
 into the House by Fernando Wood, to the elaborate 
 and statesmanlike report and eloquent and convinc- 
 ing oration with which he closed the tariff debate in 
 1890, will pass under review. 
 
 After all, the passage of the McKinley Tarifi' law 
 only marks an epoch in the life of McKinley. The 
 battle began with renewed fury almost immediately 
 after this law became a statute of the United States. 
 The work had been accomplished with infinite tact 
 and wisdom . The aim was to reduce duties wherever 
 they had reached beyond the protective and near 
 the prohibitive point ; to add to the free list every 
 article that could not be produced at home in quan- 
 tities to insure wholesome competition ; to make 
 free such necessaries as sugar ; to fearlessly increase 
 the duties on commodities that could, with a higher 
 rate of duty, be manufactured at home, such as tin 
 plate, pearl buttons, higher grades of textiles, and 
 other miscellaneous manufactures which were not 
 being produced in the United States. The idea 
 which permeated the McKinley law, from the chem- 
 ical schedule to the administrative regulations, was 
 how to increase the labor, the wages and the oppor- 
 tunities of American workmen. No one who exam- 
 ines the McKinley Tariff law, unbiased by partisan- 
 ship, can deny this. 
 
 The passage of this law was the signal for a con- 
 flict which few statesmen in the history of free govern- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 2^ 
 
 ments could have withstood. It was assaulted as 
 no other law has ever been assaulted during this 
 generation. An epidemic of assumptions, falsehood, 
 prejudices and platitudes seemed to seize the whole 
 country. For a time even Republican leaders had 
 misgivings. 
 
 The thoughtful face, the imperturbable personality, 
 the indomitable courage, and the unbounded faith of 
 William McKinley during this period alone seemed 
 to hold the Republican party together. He never 
 wavered for an instant. With a fervor boi'n of con- 
 viction, he had thrown his ambitions, his hopes, his 
 very life, into the great cause he represented. Its 
 defeat was his defeat. Its triumph was his triumph. 
 From the apparent defeat of his cause in 1890 and 
 again in 1892, he arose, courageous, steadfast, hope- 
 ful. Others might change, others might doubt, 
 others might modify their views, but he stood firm 
 for a protective tariff — for the American producer 
 against the foreign producer. He accepted with ti-ue 
 American spirit th^ popular verdict. He challenged 
 the interpretation put upon it by political oppon- 
 ents. He took an appeal to the people, and in two 
 years from the crushing defeat of 1892 he led the 
 Republican hosts to the greatest victory and the 
 most stupendous change in the popular vote of a 
 country ever recorded. The tide turned. The result 
 of the Free Trade policy was apparent. Thought- 
 lessness was followed by thoughtfulness. The object 
 lesson was received, noted, and the decision reversed. 
 Undismayed by defeat and undazzled by victory, the 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 subject of this sketch is again the leader of the Ameri- 
 can people, and he stands to-day the most popular 
 statesman in the United States. More than this, he 
 stands for the right principles of government and 
 against wrong. 
 
 The history of a man thus closely identified with 
 the economic progress of his country, is full of 
 absorbing interest. His everyday home life,- his 
 methods of work, the tendency of his thought, and 
 all that clusters around his personality are subjects 
 which interest his countrymen, and will be treated 
 impartially in these pages. 
 
 Great as were the struggles of these fourteen years 
 in Congress, there are at least two other striking and 
 dramatic periods in the life of this man which belong 
 to our National histoiy. 
 
 The first was during the memorable National con- 
 vention of the Republican party held at Chicago 
 in June 1 888. McKinley was there as a delegate 
 from Ohio, under instructions from his State conven- 
 tion to do all in his power to bring about the nomi- 
 nation of John Sherman. He was made Chairman 
 of the Committee on Resolutions. At a very critical 
 time a newspaper, friendly to the great Ohio leader, 
 suggested that the man who wrote the platform ought 
 10 be made the nominee. 
 
 It was during the fourth ballot that a delegate from 
 Connecticut cast a vote for William McKinley of 
 Ohio. Immediately the recipient of this vote was 
 seen to arise in his place and attempt to make him- 
 self heard. A storm of applause burst forth and the 
 
OPyRlGHT 1896 BY N. v.. HAMILTON. 
 
 WILLIAM M'KINLEV, SR. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 25 
 
 cheering for McKinley was prolonged. Finally he 
 made himself heard, and made the following earnest 
 and long-to-be remembered speech : 
 
 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 v\rorthy 
 endeavor for his nomination. I accepted the trust 
 because my heart and judgment were in accord with the 
 letter and spirit and purpose of that resolution. It has 
 pleased certain delegates to cast their votes for me. I 
 am not insensible to the honor they would do me, but in 
 the presence of the duty resting upon me I can not 
 remain silent w^ith honor. I can not consistently with the 
 credit of the State whose credentials I bear and which has 
 trusted me ; I can not w^ith honorable fidelity to John 
 Sherman, wrho has trusted me in his cause and with his 
 confidence ; I can not consistently with my own views 
 ot my personal integrity, consent, or seem to consent, 
 to permit my name to be used as a candidate before this 
 convention. I would not respect rfiyself if I could find it 
 in my heart to do, to say or to permit to be done that 
 which could even be ground for any one to suspect that 
 I w^avered 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. 
 
 McKinley spoke with great sincerity and with 
 evident earnestness, and when he had concluded 
 he was most generously applauded. This was per- 
 
26 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 haps one of the most dramatic scenes ever enacted 
 on the floor of a National convention. 
 
 The second time McKinley, then Governor of 
 Ohio, put the Presidency aside was at Minneapolis 
 in 1892. He was not bound by instructions from his 
 State, but he considered himself none the less bound 
 to the cause of President Harrison. When the State 
 of Ohio was reached on the call of the first ballot for 
 President, the leader of the delegation announced its 
 vote for William McKinley, Jr. This was a signal 
 for a spontaneous burst of enthusiasm from the gal- 
 leries. Hurried consultations of the various State 
 delegations were held, and amid the cheers and 
 applause which continued, one leader after another 
 arose to announce the change of his State to McKin- 
 ley. The Governor, evidently much affected by the 
 demonstration, but firm and composed, rose in his 
 place as presiding officer of the convention. Imme- 
 diately the tumult was hushed. All bent forward to 
 hear what the great leader had to say. All felt that 
 a critical moment had arrived — a moment which 
 might decide who the standard-bearer would be. In 
 unfaltering tones, McKinley demanded a poll of the 
 delegates from Ohio, and declared that he was not a 
 candidate, and desired the roll to be called in order 
 that he might record his vote for President Harrison. 
 The tide was checked, the ballot proceeded and the 
 result is a matter of history. 
 
 Twice had McKinley put from him a nomination 
 which would have been purchased at the expense 
 of broken pledges. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 2^ 
 
 McKinley has not won his places in public life 
 at all times easily. Several of his Congressional 
 contests were as noted as any that ever took place 
 in the history of the government. In one his margin 
 was so narrow that his seat was contested, and the 
 trial and final adjustment of that famous case is one 
 of the epochs in the history of the American Con- 
 gress. In another, his last Congressional campaign, 
 he was defeated by a narrow vote in a district ger- 
 rymandered against him, and out of that defeat he 
 arose as if it were a victory, as in truth it was. His 
 two Gubernatorial canvasses were among the most 
 noted in the history of his State. Plunged into joint 
 debate during the first one, he found himself pitted 
 against James E. Campbell, one of the most popular 
 and adroit Democrats of the day. In his second 
 campaign he spoke in eighty-six of the eighty-eight 
 counties of his State, a feat that had never before 
 been equalled, nor is it likely to be for many years 
 to come. 
 
 There is probably not a more stalwart and sturdy 
 figure to-day before the American people than Wil- 
 liam McKinley. The story of his life is not only 
 instructive but interesting ; it is the history of an 
 American for Americans ; its activity is so inter- 
 woven in the life of the Republic during his career 
 of the past thirty years, that political friends and foes 
 may read it with profit and learn an important 
 
 lesson. 
 
 R. P. P. 
 
 Cleveland, Ohio, December 15, 1S95. 
 
CHAPTEI^ I. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN. 
 
 William McKinley From Good Fighting Stock on Both 
 Sides — His Great-Grandfather Enlisted Eight Times 
 in the Revolutionary War — His Grandmother's Father, 
 Andrew Rose, Jr., Fought and Forged Bullets and 
 Cannon Balls for the Patriots — The American Spirit 
 Born in Him 
 
 MORE than a century before William McKinley, 
 the subject of this sketch, became famous as 
 an advocate of industrial freedom, his fighting an- 
 cestors had expressed themselves in no uncertain 
 manner in favor of a government free and independ- 
 ent of Great Britain. True, like all of us, they 
 sprang from British soil, but, as will be seen in 
 this particular instance, on both sides they came 
 from a line of people never much imbued with the 
 spirit of monarchy, and who were always willing to 
 fight, if needs be, for liberty of conscience, freedom 
 from tyranny, and individual equality in government. 
 According to family traditions, James and William 
 McKinley, who founded the two branches of the 
 McKinley family in this country, one in the Southern 
 states and the other in the Northern, came direct 
 here from the North of Ireland. This in itself 
 should be introduction enough, for many of our 
 
 29 
 
30 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 greatest patriots and most eminent statesmen have 
 pointed with pride to their Scotch-Irish ancestry. 
 Combining, as it does, the shrewdness and brain- 
 power of the Scotchman with the more volatile and 
 generous instincts and fighting qualities of the Irish 
 race, the descendants of this nationality in the 
 United States have, relatively to their numbers, made 
 a greater impression on our National life, and have 
 done more in the upbuilding of the Republic than 
 any other line of emigrants. They have invariably 
 been patriots at heart, men of strong convictions, of 
 the strictest integrity in their dealings with their 
 fellow- men, capable of great sacrifices for principles 
 which they believe in, and ever ready to' shoulder a 
 musket for the defense of our republican institutions 
 and government. 
 
 James and William McKinley, whom we first hear 
 of as emigrants from the North of Ireland, were 
 predominantly of Scotch descent, as the family was 
 originally from the West of Scotland. Back of their 
 advent to this country, more than a century and a 
 half ago, there are no records. We simply know 
 that at the time of their arrival in America, James 
 McKinley was but twelve years old. Naturally 
 we are more interested in him from' the fact that 
 this young Scotch-Irish emigrant, who, with his 
 relatives, crossed the Atlantic in a small sailing ship 
 at the beginning of the last century, was the father 
 of David McKinley, the great-grandfather of Wil- 
 liam McKinley, the popular American statesman 
 of to-day. James McKinley it was who settled 
 
REVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN. 3 I 
 
 in Pennsylvania, and founded what is known as 
 the David McKinley branch of the family, whose 
 history is herein recorded. The other brother, Wilham 
 McKinley, who likewise sought a home in what in 
 those days were barren shores and wildernesses, 
 settled in the South. Thus it seems that the two 
 brothers, either by intention or accident, separated, 
 the one going northward and the other southward, 
 but the good, sterling ability and character which 
 was implanted in them seems to have asserted itself 
 in both branches of the family. The McKinleys of 
 the South descended from William McKinley . They 
 have held offices of trust, were noted for good citizen- 
 ship, for good morals, and are recognized as men 
 of ability. One member of this branch of the family 
 became an associate justice of the' Supreme Court of 
 the United States. One of the descendants of the 
 original William McKinley who settled in the South 
 was named Stephen, and as late as 1888 a son of 
 this descendant of the original stock, Stephen Mc- 
 Kinley, lived at Folksborough, Pennsylvania. An- 
 other descendant of the Southern branch of the 
 family, Russell A. McKinley, settled at Clearfield, 
 Pennsylvania, and is a Presbyterian preacher. 
 
 Turning from the descendants of William McKinley, 
 it may be well to examine the facts in relation to the 
 descendants of James McKinley, who first appears 
 at the beginning of the last century as a boy of 
 twelve years of age, who seems to have settled in 
 York county, Pennsylvania, and May 16, 1755, we 
 have the record of a son having been born to him. 
 
32 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 This son, David McKinley, was the great-grand- 
 father of the present William McKinley. So far 
 as we are able to judge, no mention has been made 
 by those who have written sketches of William 
 McKinley's life of his Revolutionary ancestors. The 
 official answer to an inquiry as to the Revolutionary 
 ancestry of William McKinley is herewith printed, 
 and speaks for, itself.* It shows that David McKinley 
 
 * Department op the Interior, 
 
 Bureau of Pensions, 
 
 Washington, April 6, 1895. 
 In reply to your request for a statement of the military history 
 of David McKinley, a soldier in the Revolutionary War, you will 
 find below the desired information, as contained in his (or his 
 widow's), application for pension on file in this bureau : 
 
 Date of Enlistment 
 or Service Ap- 
 pointment. 
 
 LENGTH 
 
 OF 
 SERVICE. 
 
 RANK. 
 
 OflficcTS under whom Ser- 
 vice -was rendered. 
 
 CAPTAIN. 
 
 COLONEL. 
 
 
 7 months... 
 2 months... 
 2 months... 
 2 months... 
 2 months... 
 2 months... 
 2 months... 
 2 months... 
 
 Private 
 Private 
 Private 
 Private 
 Private 
 Private 
 Private 
 Private 
 
 W. McCaskey 
 Ross 
 
 
 1777 
 
 Smith, Pa.... 
 
 
 
 
 Reed 
 
 
 1778 
 
 Holderbaum.. 
 Sloymaker..... 
 Robe 
 
 Elder. Pa 
 
 
 
 1778 .. . . 
 
 Bar, Pa 
 
 1778 
 
 Harnahan 
 
 Not stated, Pa... 
 
 
 
 Battles engaged in : Defense of fort at Paulis Hook, and 
 skirmishes at Amboy and Chestnut Hill. 
 
 Residence of soldier at enlistment : Chanceford, Pa. 
 
 Date of application for pension : August 15, 1832. 
 
 Residence at date of application: New Lisbon, Ohio. 
 
 Age at date of application: Born May 16, 1755, in York 
 county. Pa. 
 
 Remarks: After the war, lived in Westmoreland county. Pa., 
 fifteen years; then removed to Mercer county, and in 1814 set- 
 tled in Columbiana county, Ohio. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Wm. Lochren, Commissioner. 
 
COPTKlilHT 1896 BY N. C. HAMILTON. 
 
 MRS. WILLIAM M'KINLEY, SR. 
 
w 
 
 H 
 h 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 z 
 
 
 
 •<! 
 O 
 
 H 
 O 
 
 <! 
 
 O 
 
 w 
 
 D 
 
REVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN. 33 
 
 enlisted as private in the Revolutionary war in June, 
 1776, and that he served for seven months under 
 Captain McCaskey and Colonel McCoUister; that 
 he again enlisted in 1777 for another six months, 
 serving under Captains Ross, Laird and Reed, Col. 
 Smith and General Potter ; there still being need for 
 volunteers, in 1778, we find that David McKinley 
 was again ready to take up arms against the British, 
 and he enlisted, this time for eight months, serving 
 under Captains Holderbaum, Sloymaker, Robe and 
 Harnahan, and Colonels Elder, Boyd and Bar. It 
 has been impossible to obtain any data as to the bat- 
 tles in which David McKinley was engaged, or as to 
 his personality. He was in the ranks. Each time 
 he enlisted as a private and there is no record of a 
 promotion. In this respect he was not as fortunate 
 as his descendant, William McKinley, Jr., who 
 started in as a private and came out as a brevet 
 major. That David McKinley saw active service 
 there can be little doubt. The record shows that he 
 was engaged in the defense of the fort at Paulis 
 Hook, and in skirmishes at Amboy and Chestnut 
 Hill. Moreover, it shows that during this service he 
 was wounded, how severely we do not know. On 
 his return from the army in 1778, he seems to have 
 resided in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and 
 here married. The marriage of David McKinley 
 and Sarah Gray was celebrated December 19, 1780, 
 about two years after his discharge from the army. 
 It will be noted that while David McKinley did not 
 serve as long in the Revolutionary war as Williani 
 
24 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 McKinley did in the War of the Rebellion, they 
 both took part in active military service for their 
 country before they had fairly reached manhood, 
 David McKinley being hardly twenty-one years old 
 when he shouldered a musket for independence, 
 while William McKinley some years before he 
 reached his majority, shouldered a musket for the 
 Union. 
 
 In 1780, we find David McKinley of Westmore- 
 land county, Pennsylvania, a young man of twenty- 
 five, with evidences of loyal service to his country, 
 and a young wife of his own age by his side. For 
 more than a generation this couple seems to have 
 lived in Pennsylvania, where the following children 
 were born to them : 
 
 William McKinley, born December 6, 1781, and 
 lived in Mercer county, Pennsylvania ; died, May 6, 
 1807. 
 
 James McKinley, great-grandfather of William 
 McKinley, born September 19, 1783, married "Polly" 
 or Mary Rose, and resided in Mercer county, Penn- 
 sylvania. 
 
 Martha McKinley, born September 16, 1785, mar- 
 ried James Rose. 
 
 John McKinley, born November 6, 1788, married 
 for second wife a Gilson, resided next farm to James 
 Rose, in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. 
 
 Sarah McKinley, born May 4, 1790. 
 
 Stephen McKinley, boi-n August 23, 1792, married 
 a Quillin for first wife, married a Nelson for second- 
 wife, lived in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. 
 
REVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN. 35 
 
 Rachael McKinley, born May 19, 1795, married 
 Barney Anderson, and resided in Lawrence county, 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 Esther McKinley, born October 11, 1797. 
 
 Mary McKinley, born June 6, 1800. 
 
 Elizabeth McKinley, Betsey McKinley, married 
 Daniel Boozle, a blacksmith, and resided in Lawrence 
 county, Pennsylvania. 
 
 David McKinley lived in Westmoreland county, 
 Pennsylvania, fifteen years ; he then removed to 
 Mercer county, and in 18 14 settled in Columbiana 
 county, Ohio ; he afterward removed to Crawford 
 county of this State, where he died. The date of 
 application of David McKinley for pension, August 
 15, 1832, shows that it was only when old age 
 seemed to overtake him that he made application, 
 fifty-four years after he was mustered out of service, 
 for such assistance as a now firmly established 
 Republic was willing to accord to veterans of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 David Mckinley's first wife Sarah, and the mother 
 of all his children, died October 6, 1814, and one 
 year later, at the age of sixty, he was married, this 
 time to Eleanor McClean. His oecond wife died in 
 1835, without issue. So the McKinley's whom we 
 have to deal with are all the descendants of David 
 and Sarah McKinley of the State of Pennsylvania, 
 and later of the State of Ohio. David McKinley 
 lived for five years after the death of his second wife, 
 and we find a record of his death August 8, 1840, 
 and of his burial on the tenth day of the same month, 
 
36 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 in the old cemetery in Crawford county, Ohio, in a 
 lot purchased by his grandson, William McKin- 
 ley, Sr., then a man of thirty-three, the deed for 
 which is recorded in Bucyrus, Crawford county. 
 
 It is assumed that at the time of his death David 
 McKinley was living with his grandson at New Lis- 
 bon. It appears that James McKinley, son of David, 
 had moved to New Lisbon in 1809, when William 
 McKinley, Sr., was one and a half years of age. 
 Here it was that the father of the present William 
 McKinley worked in Gideon Hughes' furnace. From 
 the fact that David McKinley's application for a 
 pension was dated from New Lisbon, it may be safe 
 to assume that he resided with his grandson. 
 
 On his grandfather's side, William McKinley can 
 boast of Scotch-Irish ancestors, and a great grand- 
 father who fought in the Revolutionary war. On his 
 grandmother s side he is equally well off, except that 
 the ancestors of Mary Rose, who married James 
 McKinley the second, originally came from Eng- 
 land. As the Scotch ancestors of McKinley left 
 the heather and bogs of the Highlands for Ireland's 
 more genial shores and thence emigrated to America, 
 so we find that the ancestors of Mary Rose fled 
 eastward from England to Holland in the hope 
 of freeing themselves from religious persecution, and 
 from thence emigrated to America. The first Rose 
 of whom we have any tradition is Andrew Rose, who 
 was an emigrant with William Penn. Andrew Rose 
 came from Holland whither, with his family, he 
 as a Puritan had fled from England on account of 
 
REVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN. 37 
 
 persecution. Land encompassing sixty miles in 
 Pennsylvania, on which Doylestown now stands, was 
 given to him. Andrew Rose seems to have been con- 
 siderable of a man. He was not only, as we have 
 seen, a large landowner, but he was one of the 
 representatives of the thirteen colonies before the 
 Revolutionary war. It was his son, Andrew Rose, 
 Jr., who was the father of Mary Rose, aftei-ward the 
 wife of James McKinley and the mother of William 
 McKinley, Sr. 
 
 Andrew Rose, Jr. , the great-grandfather of William 
 McKinley on his grandmother's side, was undoubt- 
 edly about as useful a man in our early disturbances 
 with England as his great-grandson has proven him- 
 self to be in the more recent attempts of the British 
 government to destroy American industry and impov- 
 erish American labor. Andrew Rose was not only 
 a fighter but a mechanic of no ordinary capacity 
 for the time he lived in. Not only did he shoulder a 
 musket and buckle on a sword and do valiant duty 
 for his country on its battle-fields, but he was so 
 versed in the art of producing instruments of war- 
 fare that it is rather doubtful as to which of the two 
 branches he excelled in. We hear of him in the 
 Revolutionary war up to the battle of Monmouth, 
 when he was sent home to make bullets and cannon 
 balls for the colonists, as he was a founder by trade. 
 From this aptitude of his ancestors (on his mother's 
 side) it may be that William McKinley, Sr. , inher- 
 ited his ability as an iron master. However this 
 may be, Andrew Rose, Jr., seems to have combined 
 
38 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 the occupation of soldier and manufacturer for 
 the cause of American independence ; while David 
 McKinley, William McKinley's ancestor on his 
 paternal side, seems to have combined successfully 
 the occupation of Revolutionary soldier and pioneer 
 farmer. That they were children of the battle-field 
 and the soil, there can be no doubt. That they were 
 patriots and their fathers and grandfathers before 
 them, is undoubtedly true, for on the one side we 
 see clearly set forth the old Covenanter stock, who 
 cared neither for king nor devil, and on the other 
 side the freedom-loving, self-sacrificing Puritans, 
 who, after fleeing from persecution in England and 
 finding no peace and no outlook for their endeavors, 
 turned their faces to that broader and more hope- 
 ful horizon, westward across the stormy Atlantic. 
 
 The war over, and the demand for fighters and 
 implements of ^destruction having ceased, Andrew 
 Rose, Jr., took up again the peaceful occupation of 
 founder and moulder. He was married twice. By 
 his first wife he had two sons, John and Henry, but of 
 the issue from this marriage we are not concerned. 
 His second wife was a Miss Chapman, a relative of 
 the eminent Dr. Chapman of Philadelphia, by whom 
 Mr. Rose had eight children : Betsey Mitchell, Eph- 
 raim, Jacob, Andrew, James, Polly, Chapman and 
 Benjamin. 
 
 Polly, or Mary Rose, was the grandmother of 
 William McKinley, Jr. Andrew Rose, Jr., as we 
 have said, was a founder and moulder by trade. He 
 moved from the Etna Furnace, Durham, Bucks 
 
REVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN. 39 
 
 county, to Center Furnace, Center county. At this 
 time it was that the family of Andrew Rose, the 
 Revolutionary warrior and maker of bullets and can- 
 non balls for the patriots, became acquainted with the 
 family of David McKinley. Finally, besides busi- 
 ness partnerships and associations, we find Mary 
 Rose married to James McKinley. Later, some 
 of the other children of Andrew Rose, Jr., notably 
 Ephraim Rose and Benjamin Rose, assisted William 
 McKinley, Sr., their nephew, the former as blower, 
 the latter as keeper at New Lisbon, Ohio, where they 
 ran an iron foundry. Ephraim Rose had a son John, 
 who was a wheelwright, and had a shop at New- 
 castle, Pennsylvania. He was a year and a half 
 older than William McKinley, Sr. Another Rose, 
 James, was interested in the iron business with Wil- 
 liam McKinley, Sr., in Mercer county, at Slippery 
 Rock, and, as we understand, also .with Ephraim 
 and Benjamin Rose at New Lisbon. It will thus be 
 seen that not only relationship by marriage, but by 
 association in business, sprang up between the Mc- 
 Kinley family and the Rose family, and that the 
 descendants of these two families were joined together 
 by the marriage of James McKinley and Mary Rose. 
 This couple moved to New Lisbon in 1809, when 
 William McKinley, Sr., was one and one-half years 
 of age. Several, of the Rose family had farms 
 adjacent to or close by one another in Wolf Creek 
 township, Mercer county, Pennsylvania. James 
 Rose was rnarried to Martha McKinley, daughter of 
 David and Sarah McKinley, April 3, 1806, so that 
 
40 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 we have here two connections by marriage with the 
 Rose family. 
 
 With the issue of James and Mary McKinley we 
 are particularly interested. They were as follows : 
 
 Elizabeth McKinley — Born June lo, 1806. 
 
 William McKinley — Born November 15, 1807. 
 
 David McKinley, Andrew McKinley (twins) — 
 Bom May 10, 1810. 
 
 Celia McKinley — Born April 26, 18 12. 
 
 James McKinley, Mary McKinley (twins) — Bom 
 July 31, 1814. 
 
 Sarah McKinley — Bom April 18, 1816. 
 
 John McKinley — Born April 18, 1818. 
 
 Ephraim McKinley — Born June 23, 182 1. 
 
 Hannah McKinley — Born December 14, 1825. 
 
 Martha McKinley — Born May 19, 1827. 
 
 Ellen McKinley — Born July 5, 1830. 
 
 Benjamin F. McKinley — Born December 4, 1832. 
 
 William McKinley, Sr., their oldest son, lived lat- 
 terly in Canton, Ohio; he was the father of nine 
 children, one of whom is Governor McKinley of 
 Ohio. William McKinley, Sr., was born on the 
 Dougherty farm, Wolf Creek township, Mercer 
 county, Pennsylvania, November 15, 1807. In the 
 twenty-second year of his age he was married to 
 Nancy Allison, the ceremony being performed by 
 Rev. A. G. Richardson. Mrs. McKinley, the 
 mother of William McKinley, is still living in Can- 
 ton. She is a woman of strong character and has 
 always been devoted to her distinguished son. The 
 names of the children of William and Nancy Mc- 
 
REVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN. 4I 
 
 Kinley are as follows: David Allison McKinley ; 
 Annie McKinley, died July 29, 1890 ; James Mc- 
 Kinley, died October 12, 1889; Mary McKinley; 
 Helen Minerva McKinley ; Sarah Elizabeth McKin- 
 ley ; William McKinley ; Abigail Celia McKinley ; 
 Abner McKinley. 
 
 These facts, which are published for the first time, 
 give an index to the characteristics of the man whose 
 life it is proposed to present in the chapters which 
 follow. We may certainly trace in these lines of 
 ancestry McKinley's fighting qualities, his patriotism, 
 his Americanism, and his conscientious performance 
 of all the duties of life. From these ancestors he 
 inherited the reverence for religion, love of free 
 institutions, devotion to the cause of the people, 
 because he was of the people, and his admiration for 
 the public school system and all institutions that are 
 truly republican and truly American. His own life, 
 though with broader opportunities and a larger field 
 than that of his ancestors, was entirely in keeping 
 with the kind of stock he comes from. While 
 McKinley's ancestors were neither great generals, 
 lords or dukes, nor landed proprietors, he has reason 
 to feel proud of their patriotism, their love of freedom, 
 their sturdy honesty, and their capacity for taking 
 up and entering into the new conditions which ■ 
 confronted them in the pioneer days of this western 
 land of promise. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 BOYHOOD AT POLAND. 
 
 Father and Mother — Birthplace of McKinley at Niles — 
 Early Bringing up — The Strong Force Which Formed 
 His Character — The Village of Poland — Boyhood 
 Companions — Dramatic Scene at the Old Sparrow- 
 Tavern — Drilling on the Common — Company E of 
 Twenty-third Ohio Depart Amid Tears and Applause 
 — The Boyish Private. 
 
 WILLIAM McKINLEY was born at Niles, 
 Trumbull county, Ohio, in a frame house 
 which answered the double purpose of a country 
 store and dwelling. It was a long, two-storied 
 building, with many windows. Luxuriant wood- 
 bine ran along the gabled rpof and fell almost in 
 masses over the broad doorway and hall windows. 
 In spite of the fact that a thriving country business 
 was carried on in the lower story, the place had an 
 air of thrift and domestic comfort, conveyed in part 
 by the fresh muslin curtains at the windows and the 
 wealth of foliage which always lends an air of refine- 
 ment. 
 
 Niles is a small Ohio city, and at the time of the 
 birth of William, January 29, 1843, his father, Wil- 
 liam McKinley, Sr., was managing an iron furnace 
 there. As we have seen in the preceding chapter, 
 
 42 
 
r 
 
 M 
 > 
 
 r 
 
 M 
 
 C 
 
 K 
 
BOYHOOD AT POLAND. 43 
 
 the McKinleys inherited not only fighting qualities, 
 but the skill of iron manufacturing, from their 
 Revolutionary ancestors. The father took natu- 
 rally to this occupation and followed it until 1876, 
 when he retired. This was his business in the early 
 part of the century at New Lisbon. In 1829 he 
 established an iron foundry at Fairfield, Columbiana 
 county, Ohio. For twenty years William McKin- 
 ley, Sr., was interested in iron furnaces at New 
 Wilmington, Ohio. From Niles he moved to Po- 
 land, because of the educational advantages of 
 Poland Academy. Shortly after he was associated 
 with S. O. Edison, uncle of Thomas Edison, to con- 
 stnict iron furnaces at Black River, now Lorain. In 
 1869 he moved to Canton with his family, intending 
 to retire, but he enjoyed and managed iron interests 
 at Caseville, near Saginaw, Michigan, up to 1876, 
 when he retired. He kept track of his business 
 with exactness up to three weeks of his death, which 
 took place November 24, 1892. 
 
 William McKinley, Sr., was a man of character 
 and of the highest integrity. His habits were frugal 
 and regular ; he was a hard and constant worker. 
 While at times it was a struggle to provide for such 
 a large family, he conscientiously performed what he 
 believed was his duty and made every possible sacri- 
 fice to educate and make useful men and women of 
 his children. In all this he was more than seconded 
 by his noble wife, McKinley's mother, whose maiden 
 name was Nancy Campbell Allison. Mrs. McKinley 
 was one of those rare women who are destined to 
 
44 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 shine in all sorts of good and useful work, whether 
 in pioneer life or amid the comforts of our modem 
 homes. McKinley owes much to this good mother. 
 All the children were instilled with sound Christian 
 ideas of life and with a patriotism and love for their 
 country which made no sacrifice for it too much. 
 Moreover, the mother was an intellectual force, and 
 encouraged boys and girls alike in their studies, and 
 was ever ready to surrender her own personal com- 
 fort that they might equip themselves as thoroughly 
 as possible for the battle of life. 
 
 Here we have a strong force in the development 
 of the young man's character. Many of the whole- 
 some traits which in after years endeared the soldier 
 and statesman to comrade and fellow-countrymen, 
 may be traced to the early teachings of the mother, 
 who still lives to feel proud and happy over her son's 
 achievements. That her son should have won fame 
 is undoubtedly a source of gratification and pride to 
 the mother, but her real happiness comes from the 
 fact that he is a man of honor and integrity. To 
 this plain, sweet, simple pioneer mother, who has 
 experienced much of the hardships and struggles of 
 early Western life, with a large family and limited 
 meatis, the fact that her son William is a man of 
 high principles and patriotic instincts and has never 
 ceased to love and cherish her, is a greater comfort 
 than the fact that he may some day occupy the 
 White House. 
 
 The Allisons originally came from England and 
 settled in Virginia, but that branch of the family 
 
BOYHOOD AT POLAND. 45 
 
 cm which McKinley is descended emigrated from 
 irginia to Green county, Pennsylvania, and there 
 as born Abner Allison, the grandfather of McKin- 
 y. Abner Allison married, in 1798, Ann Camp- 
 jU, who came of a Scotch-German family. Early 
 L the present century, this couple, then having 
 !veral children, left Pennsylvania for Ohio, making 
 le journey by means of horses, Mrs. Allison riding 
 le entire distance on horseback, holding in front of 
 sr their youngest child. 
 
 The Allisons settled on a farm, some eight miles 
 30ve New Lisbon, Ohio, and there, in the year of 
 Bop, was bom their sixth child, Nancy, who became 
 le mother of McKinley. Later the Allisons left the 
 irm and removed to New Lisbon, where several 
 ther children were born to them, making in all a 
 imily often children — ^five sons and five daughters. 
 
 The girlhood of Nancy Allison was passed quietly 
 ti her father's farm and in the peaceful little town 
 f New Lisbon. In the year 1827 she was married 
 ) William McKinley, Sr. , and afterwards liae young 
 ouple went to Fairfield, Ohio. 
 
 At eighty-seven, Mrs. McKinley is able to travel 
 nd take a lively interest in current events. She lives 
 t the family home at Canton, and with her reside an 
 nmarried daughter. Miss Helen McKinley, and two 
 rphan grandchildren. Of her parents' large family 
 lere are now remaining only herself and a younger 
 ster, Mrs. Abigail Osborn, aged seventy-seven 
 ears, widow of the late Abner Osborn of Youngs- 
 
46 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 town,. Ohio; she is now McKinley's nearest living 
 relative on his mother's side. 
 
 Mrs. Osborn possesses the mental and physical 
 characteristics of Mrs. McKinley, Sr. The same 
 happy disposition, the sweet, womanly dignity, the 
 natural intelligence and kindness of heart have made 
 of these two women the most enjoyable of compan- 
 ions and the most tender of mothers, of whom it can 
 truly be said: "Their children rise up and call 
 them blessed." 
 
 One who knew Mrs. McKinley in the old days at 
 Poland speaks of her quiet dignity of manner, of her 
 never-failing watchfulness of the young family, and 
 of her influence for good. Not only the memory of 
 the mother, but of McKinley's sister Annie, who 
 was for many years an accomplished school teacher, 
 and indeed of the whole family, are cherished by the 
 people of Poland. It was a family full of sunshine 
 and hope ; of self-sacrifice on the part of both father 
 and mother, and of filial devotion on the part of chil- 
 dren. It represented a pure American home, where 
 sound religion and love of country were inculcated 
 from childhood. It was typical of those homes 
 which turn out the best and most useful citizens of 
 the Republic. Hear what this friend says : 
 
 Many of McKinley's good qualities, both of heart and 
 mind, were due to his mother. I recall her quiet dignity 
 of manner. She \\\-, just the same in the midst of com- 
 mon-place duties as in a palace if she had been reigning 
 there. All her old friends and neighbors of Poland who 
 speak of her agree to this. Her character, for all that is 
 
BOYHOOD AT POLAND. 47 
 
 commendable in a woman's sphere, stands pre-eminent 
 here in church and in the hearts of her friends — she had 
 that blending of sweetness and strength of will and pur- 
 pose that has been a rich inheritance to her children. You 
 can not find in all Poland any unkind criticism or even a 
 shadow of a thought derogatory to McKinley and his 
 family. His oldest and nearest friends in youth appre- 
 ciate his characteristics and speak of him with the same 
 unstinted praise as those who have known him of recent 
 years. This is certainly the best testimony coming from 
 those that had no emoluments of office or gain of place or 
 position to influence them in those days, when there was 
 nothing to gain or lose thereby. 
 
 McKinley's mother and his entire family seem to 
 have made an indelible impression upon this little 
 village, which is really refreshing to those who have 
 studied the man in the larger affairs of life. Even 
 the old postmaster, whose name was Case, and who, 
 appointed by Buchanan, still adheres to his Demo- 
 cratic principles, is willing to give his young assistant 
 a good character for industry, faithfulness and con- 
 scientiousness in the discharge of his duties. Mc- 
 Kinley worked in the postoffice the year preceding 
 the breaking out of the Rebellion. In fact he was 
 assisting Mr. Case in Poland when he enlisted in the 
 army. Case is proud of the reputation his young 
 clerk has made for himself, but his affection has not 
 been strong enough to induce him to give up his 
 Democratic fallacies. 
 
 McKinley's boyhood life really began at Poland, 
 as he was but a child when his parents moved from 
 
48 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Niles and made a home in this little village in 
 Mahoning county. His surroundings and society 
 were partly agricultural and partly mining, for Poland 
 stands well by both these industries. It is the center 
 of a rich farming country, and in its appearance 
 partakes more of this characteristic than of coal and 
 iron mining. It is the most southeastern township 
 of the original Western Reserve. One of the 
 original Land Company from Connecticut settled at 
 this point. 
 
 Unlike most new places, orthographic reasons 
 entered into its baptism. It was named Poland 
 because the early settlers declared it was a word not 
 easily mispelled. 
 
 Poland, as we find it to-day, is a neat little village 
 about eight miles due south of Youngstown. The 
 principal artery of Poland is Main street. Indeed, 
 it might truthfully be said all of Poland, save the 
 academy, clusters round and about Main street. This 
 thoroughfare, which begins near the Methodist 
 church and terminates with a good sized common 
 and a Presbyterian church, is not precisely straight, 
 which is all the better for the general appearance of 
 the place, and yet it follows a general north and 
 south direction. Main street is well shaded with 
 handsome trees. The painful checkerboard appear- 
 ance of single street villages is not only modified as 
 above mentioned but also in the fact that Main street 
 wanders over a hill, down a dale and crosses a pic- 
 turesque brook. 
 
 As we have said, pretty much all there is of Poland 
 
BOYHOOD AT POLAND. 
 
 49 
 
 may be found along this street. Well-to-do and poor 
 have their residence here. The various stores do 
 business on this street. That center of politics and 
 gossip, the rickety old postoffice, in which McKinley 
 as a schoolboy served as clerk during vacation, is on 
 Main street. Further along we find the village grist- 
 mill beside the brook. The old Sparrow tavern, 
 built in 1804, now falling into decay, is likewise on 
 Main street. Stirring scenes for a village like Poland 
 have taken place within the crumbling walls of this 
 old building. In slave days many a runaway slave 
 was secreted, and after the pursuer had been thrown 
 off the scent, the unhappy wretches were sent on to 
 Canada and freedom. 
 
 This old inn a generation ago was enlivened by the 
 mutterings and murmurings of mustering hosts. 
 Poland had strong enlisting propensities. It was the 
 banner township. The boys went to the front just 
 as quickly as the National Government would take 
 them. Poland's pride to this day is that she never 
 stood the draft. Her quota was always full and 
 overflowing. Said an enthusiastic Polander to the 
 writer: "Of this she rightfully is proud. When the 
 war cloud had burst over our heads, Poland came 
 promptly to the front with more than her share of 
 treasured sons, as her offering." 
 
 And the preliminaries were, as a rule, conducted at 
 the Sparrow House. One day in June, 1861, a crowd 
 had gathered in this old tavern. An impassioned 
 speaker pointed to the stars and stripes which hung 
 on the wall, and exclaimed with much expression : 
 
50 LIFB OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 "Our country's flag has been shot at. It has been 
 trailed in the dust by those who should defend it, 
 dishonored by those who should have cherished and 
 loved it. And for what? That this free Govern- 
 ment may keep a race in the bondage of slavery. 
 Who will be the first to defend it?" 
 
 A deadly silence reigned in that hotel parlor. Many 
 beating hearts there were in the room. Many young 
 patriots stood there who longed to serve their coun- 
 try, and yet had not the courage to make the first 
 move. 
 
 Presently a space was cleared in front of the elo- 
 quent speaker. One by one some of the choicest of 
 the young men of Poland stepped forward. Among 
 them a slight, grey-eyed, boyish figure might have 
 been observed. Too much impressed with the seri- 
 ousness of the situation to put himself in evidence, 
 he stepped up with the rest. He was only a boyish 
 private then. 
 
 But this is a digression. Other chapters will be 
 devoted to the young soldier. For the moment we 
 are dealing with Main street, Poland. Even the 
 common is on Main street. Here the young recruits 
 drilled and marched with pride, while the mothers 
 and maidens of Poland alternately applauded and 
 wept. Here, too, these same boys had played and 
 romped before war's alarms made serious, thoughtful 
 men of lads in their teens. 
 
 Nor will it do to ignore the fact that Poland, on 
 Yellow Creek, is of importance as a mining place. 
 Coal and iron ore are found in the township, as well 
 
BOYHOOD AT POLAND. Cl 
 
 as a superior grade of limestone. Indeed, it is said 
 that this coal bank produces one of the finest brands 
 of bituminous coal in the world. The coal is harder 
 than ordinary soft coal and commands a very high 
 figure, especially in the Western markets. 
 
 The educational advantages of Poland were recog- 
 nized more than a generation ago, for did not Wil- 
 liam McKinley, Sr., move there because of the 
 excellent academy. He had a family of sons and 
 daughters to educate, and in those days, as indeed, 
 now, this institution of learning had a good reputa- 
 tion. As we have seen, the academy is about the 
 only part of Poland that is not claimed by Main 
 street. The building was a substantial one, and was 
 built before 1850, but as these pages are being pre- 
 pared, news comes from Poland that the old building, 
 after the storms of so many years, collapsed and 
 several of the students had narrowly escaped with 
 their lives. But the memories created by the army 
 of youth that has passed through its portals will 
 always be kept green by the loyal Polanders. It was 
 located west of Main street, and stood aloof from 
 the rest of the village. This academy is an institu- 
 tion the people of Poland think a good deal of. It is 
 still a well attended school and its rosters boast the 
 names of many who afterwards distinguished them- 
 selves as men and as useful citizens. 
 
 Such, then, is Poland, and from all that can be 
 learned it has not changed much since McKinley was 
 a boy. In this old Ohio village he was brought up, 
 attending the public school, and subsequently the 
 
52 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 academy at Poland. Life at Poland uatil the war 
 broke out was far from exciting. Youths like McKin- 
 ley were^ obliged to study hard, and not infre- 
 quently do odd jobs to help earn money for books 
 and tuition. As they advanced into professions, it 
 was often necessary to teach school, clerk in a store, 
 work on a farm, or take up some other occupation 
 during vacation. The McKinley family never hesi- 
 tated to do this, and as a result all were equipped 
 with good educations, two of his sisters became 
 excellent teachers, and he himself taught one term of 
 winter school in what was then called the Kerr dis- 
 trict. The school house still stands. It is about 
 two and one-half miles by road southwest of Poland, 
 but young McKinley usually strode manfully " across 
 lots" to shorten the distance. Many who live in 
 Poland still remember seeing the young schoolmaster 
 climbing fences and making his way over the rolling 
 surface of the country to and from his duties. He 
 was thus able to assist in defraying the expenses of 
 his tuition and that of other members of the family 
 at the academy. 
 
 This sort of life, while it developed and sharpened 
 the intellect, has a tendency to shorten the period 
 between boyhood and young manhood. McKinley, 
 so those who remember him as a boy in Poland 
 declare, was a real boy, full of fun, loving athletic 
 sports, fond of horses, hunting and fishing, and all 
 out-door exercises, and yet at sixteen we find 
 him taking upon himself a serious view of life. 
 Before he was eighteen he had enlisted. Compare 
 
BOYHOOD AT POLAND. 53 
 
 a lad with such an experience as that of McKin- 
 ley's and one of our boys of to-day, just out of 
 school and ready for college, and you find a great 
 difference. The one is a self-reliant young man, 
 conscious of defects of training and education, but 
 fairly well prepared to battle with the world. 
 The other is often an irresponsible boy, with little 
 thought of anything beyond class work and college 
 sports. 
 
 The church records show that young McKinley in 
 1858, when he was hardly sixteen, united with the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church of Poland. The minis- 
 ter. Rev. W. F. Day, D. D., was a man of great 
 influence and subsequently eminent in his profession. 
 Dr. Day's son, Wilson M. Day, is now President of 
 the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. McKinley, 
 like so many other successful men, seems to have 
 had the faculty of utilizing all the educational forces 
 within his reach. Aside from any deep religious 
 convictions, the church, when in the hands of a 
 scholarly man, was an influential educational factor 
 in a place like Poland. Young McKinley' s record 
 in the church was that of an earnest, persevering 
 Christian, who discharged all duties faithfully. 
 
 They say at Poland he was eternally asking ques- 
 tions in the Bible class. He took up the study of 
 the Bible in the same thorough way that he did the 
 law, and later in life questions of state, and went to 
 the bottom of the subject. Thus between the age of 
 fourteen and the time he enlisted, this young 
 American statesman must have worked very hard. 
 
54 I.IFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 A close Student, and always up with his academy- 
 studies, occupied every evening until after midnight 
 in a course of law reading, leader of the village 
 debating society, assisting the postmaster, teaching 
 school, doing odd jobs, and all the time a constant 
 attendant at church and questioner in the Bible class, 
 these were indeed busy days for William. For- 
 tunately a good constitution, hopeful heart and cheer- 
 ful disposition enabled him to go through this 
 unusual strain safely. It undoubtedly had the effect 
 of maturing his mind and hence fitted him earlier 
 than most young men for the active, practical side of 
 life. 
 
 An old friend of McKinley's who remembers him 
 as a school teacher when a lad not much over sixteen, 
 writes from Poland : " It is needless to seek for any 
 adverse criticism. In going about among old friends 
 and neighbors, one hears nothing but remarks on his 
 universal standard of honor and high principles. I 
 said to a neighbor coming out of church, who had 
 lived in a house almost touching the McKinley resi- 
 dence, and of course had intimate knowledge of 
 them, 'What are your reminiscences of the Gov- 
 ernor?' ' O, nothing but good. He was always 
 studying, studying, studying all the time.' Among 
 my own personal recollections the vivid impression 
 remains of genial, happy, buoyant, whole-hearted 
 self-surrender for the happiness and best interests of 
 others in social encounter. This was tnie of the 
 family. A sunshine, a radiance of countenance, that 
 needs to be seen to be appreciated. Once seen and 
 

BOYHOOD AT POLAND. 
 
 55 
 
 realized, it would never be forgotten. I never saw 
 or felt quite the same benignity and human kindliness 
 as glowed from his sister Annie's face. Her influence 
 as a teacher you will doubtless hear in other ways. 
 There is in existence a memorial that witnesses elo- 
 quently to the above facts in regard to her endless 
 influence." 
 
 The influence of McKinley's mother was not the 
 only woman's influence under which he was brought 
 in these early days of Poland, and which had more 
 or less to do with shaping his character. As we 
 have seen, his elder sister was an intellectual force, 
 not only in the McKinley farnily, but in the com- 
 munity. Her friend, Miss E. M. Blakelee, McKin- 
 ley's teacher, was also a woman of much force of 
 character. The part these two excellent women 
 played in the earlier life of McKinley will be more 
 fully understood by the perusal of the following let- 
 ter, which was received by the writer of this vol- 
 ume fron> a resident of Poland and an old friend of 
 McKinley's family : 
 
 I interviewed Governor McKinley's old teacher, who 
 resides in Poland. To her I heard him pay an eloquent 
 tribute at one time. It was when he was requested to 
 deliver the annual address to the graduating class in the 
 year 1883. Mrs. Morse, the teacher referred to, was 
 then Miss E. M. Blakelee. She was a friend of particu- 
 lar intimacy of his sister Annie. They vied with each 
 other in the number of years they should round up as 
 faithful school teachers. Miss Blakelee finally married 
 E. K. Morse, of Poland, after teaching for nearly thirty 
 
56 LIFK OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 years, much of that time in Poland. In this address, 
 Governor McKinley ascribed much of the good influence 
 upon the youth that went out from the Poland Union 
 Seminary to her — Miss Blakelee. She was a graduate 
 of Oberlin College. She was of Puritan stock. She 
 w^as a firm, resolute, earnest character and did much, 
 very much, in her quiet, womanly way, to influence and 
 impress those under her care. Too much praise can not 
 be inscribed to her for what she did. The results are 
 felt in many homes, by many firesides, as well as in 
 many intellectual centres that are now bearing fruit. 
 Many people that have rightfully won places to distinc- 
 tion and honor would bear testimony to these truths as 
 well as Governor McKinley. Mrs. Beauchamp, a sister 
 of Miss Blakelee, also taught here for a time. She was 
 a woman of rare intellectual ability and force of charac- 
 ter. She w^as here in the school at the time of the Gov- 
 ernor's return from the war. She wielded that influence 
 in an especial, vivacious, energetic way upon all the 
 youth with whom she came in contact. Governor Mc- 
 Kinley saw much of her, too, in those days, and doubt- 
 less felt as we all did the mental uplift and ^aspiration 
 which she inspired. I vividly recall that it was at this 
 time that Mrs. Browning wrote " Aurora Leigh," and 
 it was a mooted question with Governor McKinley and 
 Miss Blakelee which poem was better, Mrs. Browning's 
 " Aurora Leigh " or Owen Meredith's "Lucille." She 
 was intensely interested in political questions then, as 
 now 
 
 McKinley's education may be summed up in this 
 way : From early childhood he had the great ad- 
 vantage of that careful, intelligent, religious training 
 
IJOYHOOU AT POLAND. 57 
 
 which parents of the high character of his father 
 and mother would be likely to inculcate. He had 
 the advantage of sound intellect and good education 
 on both sides. His elder brothers and sisters were no 
 less anxious to educate themselves than he. He had 
 the advantages of the public school of Poland, after- 
 wards of the academy, which was an excellent in- 
 stitution for those times. He left the academy when 
 about seventeen, and entered Allegheny College. 
 Here, however, he remained only a short time, re- 
 turning to Poland in consequence of illness. Recov- 
 ering, he did not again return to Allegheny, but 
 taught a country school. At this period in his life 
 he enlisted. Returning from the war, as we shall 
 see, he entered upon the study of the law with Judge 
 Charles E. Gliddcn at Poland, afterwards taking a 
 course of study at the Albany Law School, of which 
 school he was a graduate. The chapter on the early 
 days at Poland closes with the departure of the young 
 soldier for the war. 
 
 The scene at the old. Sparrow House was followed, 
 as we have seen, by drilling of the raw recruits on 
 the common, and the preliminary excitement which 
 the departure of so many of the young men of the 
 village to fight for their country must have occa- 
 sioned. These were, indeed, stirring times for Poland, 
 and sad times, too, for the good mothers, wives, 
 sisters and sweethearts of the boys thus suddenly 
 called to defend their country's flag. A captain, a 
 first lieutenant and second lieutenant were elected 
 for the new company, and for the moment Poland 
 
tg LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 had quite a military air. The women met and' made 
 "havelocks" of white linen, a la General Have- 
 lock, of the Indian rebellion. These little articles 
 were intended as a protection from the heat of the 
 southern ■ sun. "The havelocks were soon dis- 
 carded," writes a Poland friend who took part in 
 this incident, "but the lint we scraped then was only 
 the beginning of the faithful, work we women did at 
 home. In such work as making bandages and com- 
 forts for the soldiers in their suffering in the army, 
 during the four years that followed, we all engaged." 
 Thus did Company E of the Twenty-third Ohio go 
 forth from the village of Poland in high spirits and 
 with flying banners, carrying with it the blessings 
 and the loving prayers of those they left behind them. 
 That day half the village followed them, some march- 
 ing as far as they could in the procession to Youngs- 
 town, where the railroad was reached. At this point 
 they were met by others and started to join the regi- 
 ment at Camp Chase, Columbus. With this little 
 company, followed by many fervent prayers and 
 loving thoughts from father, mother, sister, teachers 
 and old school friends of the gentler sex, marched 
 the boyish private — William McKinley. 
 
w 
 
 > 
 O 
 W 
 
 o 
 
M'KINLEY AS FIRST LIEUTENANT TWENTY-THIRD O. V. I. 
 TAKEN AT GALLIPOLIS, OHIO, DECEMBER, 1862. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE YOUTHFUL SOLDIER. 
 
 McKinley's Entrance to a New and Strange Life — He 
 Joins Colonel Rosecrans's Regiment — Develops 
 Ability for the Business of War — Ex-President 
 Hayes Describes the Boyish Private — Two Years on 
 Hayes's Staff — Gallant Conduct at Antietam — Made 
 a Second Lieutenant — General Hayes's Diary. 
 
 PICTURE, if possible, from this imperfect sketch 
 the little company of recruits from Poland as 
 they marched dowji the road to Youngstown, fol- 
 lowed by the blessings and God-speeds of their loving 
 friends and neighhiors. It was a beaijtiful summer 
 day, and all Poland had turned out and half the 
 village seemed marching with them. The hearts of 
 the young fellows must have swelled with pride as 
 they were cheered by those compelled to stay at 
 home. They had indeed gone forth in obedience to 
 the call to arms. They proposed to share in the 
 defense of the homes of Poland, and something to 
 spare, for Poland, be it remembered, was never sub- 
 ject to draft. She always had her full quota at +he 
 front. . 
 
 Some of Company E were mere striplings, boys 
 hardly out of their teens, all anxious to do what they 
 could to preserve the Union. It meant a good deal 
 
 59 
 
6o LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 to the loved ones left behind, for many never returned 
 to the old village, with its straggling Main street 
 and broad common. Others came back, and perhaps 
 have remained in the sleepy old place ever since, while 
 yet others have won distinction and renown, not 
 only on the Nation's battle-fields, but in peaceful 
 pursuits. 
 
 Those who knew McKinley little thought that in 
 time the military career of the boyish private, which 
 ended at twenty-two, would be a theme for the elo- 
 quence of a great general, and one who had in his 
 day been President of the United States. It is pro- 
 posed that General Rutherford B. Hayes shall write 
 this chapter on the youthful soldier. In the follow- 
 ing words he has done it, with so much skill and tact, 
 and in such chai^ming language, that it would be 
 folly to go over the ground where one so- fully 
 equipped has recounted the principal features of 
 McKinley's military career. Here, then, is the story 
 of the youthful soldier : 
 
 " Rather more than thirty years ago I fiist made 
 the acquaintance of Major McKinley. He was then 
 a boy, had just passed the age of seventeen. He 
 had before that taught school, and was coming from 
 an academy to the camp. He with me entered upon 
 a new, strange life — a soldier's life — in the time of 
 actual war. We were in a fortunate regiment — its 
 Colonel was William S. Rosecrans — a graduate of 
 West Point, a brave, a patriotic and a very able 
 man, who afterwards came to command great armies 
 and fight many famous battles. Its Lieutenant- 
 
THE YOUTHFUL SOLDIER. 6 1 
 
 Colonel was Stanley Matthews — a scholar and able 
 lawyer, who, after his appointment to the Supi-eme 
 Bench, the whole bar of the United States was soon 
 convinced, was of unsurpassed ability and character 
 for that high place. 
 
 " In this regiment Major McKinley came, the boy 
 I have described, can-ying his musket and his knap- 
 sack. In every company of that regiment General 
 Rosecrans and Colonel Matthews and myself soon 
 found there were young men of exceptional character 
 and promise. I need not go into any detail of the 
 military history of this young man I have described. 
 At once it was found he had unusual character for 
 the mere business of war. Thei-e is a quartermaster's 
 depaitment, which is a very necessary and important 
 department in every regiment, in every brigade, in 
 every division, in every army. 
 
 " Young as he was, we soon found that in business, 
 in executive ability, young McKinley was a man of 
 rare capacity, of unusual and unsui-passed capacity, 
 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 per- 
 formance of every duty. 
 
 " When I became commander of the regiment, he 
 soon came to be upon my stafF, and he remained 
 upon my staff for one or two years, so that I did 
 
62 LIFE OP WILLIAM M'KINLKY. 
 
 literally and in fact know him like a book and loved 
 him like a brother. 
 
 " From that time he naturally progressed, for his 
 talents and capacity could not be unknown to the 
 staft' of the commander of the Army of West Vir- 
 ginia, George Crook, a favorite of the army he com- 
 manded. He wanted' McKinley, and of course it 
 was my duty to tell McKinley he must leave me. 
 The bloodiest day of the war, the day on which 
 more men were killed or wounded than on any other 
 day of the war — observe I don't say than any other 
 battle, stretching over many days, but any one day 
 — was the seventeenth of September, 1862, in the 
 battle of Antietam. 
 
 " That battle began at daylight. Before daylight 
 men were in the ranks and preparing for it. With- 
 out breakfast, without coffee, they went into the 
 fight, and it continued until after the sun had set 
 Early in the afternoon, naturally enough, with the 
 exertion required of the men, they were famished 
 and thirsty, and to some extent broken in spirit. 
 The commissary department of that brigade was 
 under Sergeant McKinley s administration and per- 
 sonal supervision. From his hands every man in 
 the regiment was served with hot coffee and warm 
 meats, a thing that had never occurred under similar 
 circumstances in any other army in the world. He 
 passed under fire and delivered, with his own hands, 
 these things, so essential for the men for whom he 
 was laboring. 
 
 " Coming to Ohio and recovering from wounds, I 
 
ji-^ ^.1(1, 
 
THE YOUTHFUL SOLDIER. 63 
 
 called upon Governor Tod and told him this inci- 
 dent. With the emphasis that distinguished that 
 great war Governor, he said, ' Let McKinley be pro- 
 moted from Sergeant to Lieutenant,' and that I 
 might nof forget, he requested me to put it upon the 
 roster of the regiment, which I did, and McKinley 
 was promoted. As was the case, perhaps, with very 
 many soldiers, I did not keep a diary regularly from 
 day to day, but I kept notes of what was transpir- 
 ing. When I knew that I was to come here, it oc- 
 curred to me to open the old note-book of that period 
 and see what it contained, and I found this entry: 
 
 "'Saturday, 13th December, 1862. — Our new Sec- 
 ond Lieutenant, McKinley, returned to-day — an 
 exceedingly bright, intelligent and gentlemanly young 
 officer. He promises to be one of the best.' 
 
 ' ' He has kept the promise in every sense of the 
 word." 
 
 Can anything be more to the point than the above, 
 and would it be possible for any words to describe 
 more dramatically the first two years of McKinley's 
 military career than these loving words of his old 
 commander. These remarks were made July 30, 
 1 89 1. McKinley had received his first nomination 
 for Governor, and was asked to address a religious 
 non-partisan gathering at Lakeside, Ohio. He was 
 introduced by ex-President Hayes, who made the 
 speech as above reported. 
 
 There has always existed a warm feeling, amount 
 ing to afltction, between Governor McKinley and his 
 associates. The Governor has time and again mani- 
 
64 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 fested this esteem on his part. One of the first 
 things he did when he entered the Governor's office 
 was to have taken from the rotunda of the Capitol 
 and put into the executive room the oil portrait of 
 Governor Tod. It was Governor Tod who had 
 signed the commission of the youthful soldier. 
 General Botsford of Youngstown was the quarter- 
 master of Major McKinley's regiment, and when 
 McKinley was elected Governor, he appointed 
 General Botsford on his military staff as quartermas- 
 ter-general. General Rosecrans was McKinley's old 
 commander, and the Governor did not forget to pay 
 him a glowing tribute at the dedication of Ohio's 
 monuments on the battlefield of Chickamauga. 
 
 While Hayes was President, Congressman Mc- 
 Kinley was a close friend and a frequent visitor at the 
 White House, and nobody was prouder of the success 
 of McKinley than Rutherford B. Hayes. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE TWENTY-THIRD OHIO. 
 
 Composed of a Superior Class of Men — Rosecrans, Scam- 
 mon, Matthews, Hayes, Comly, Hastings, McKinley 
 — The First Three-Year Ohio Regiment — Official 
 Records — Number of Men in the Regiment from 
 First to Last — The Battles in which the Twenty- 
 third Took Part — McKinley's Official Record — 
 Hardships. 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, in his forthcoming 
 life of President Hayes, has kindly placed at 
 the disposal of the writer the paragraph in his work 
 referring to the Twenty-third Ohio and McKinley. 
 "The Twenty-third Ohio," says Mr. Smith, "was 
 made up of a superior class of men — men whose 
 families were largely of New England origin. It con- 
 tained within its ranks those who could fill the most 
 difficult stations in a complex social organization. 
 They were soldiers who endured hardships with 
 patience and good humor ; who fought stubbornly 
 and fearlessly, but intelligently, and, of course, 
 effectively." 
 
 After referring to the field officers who won distinc- 
 tion — to Rosecrans, Scammon, Matthews, Hayes, 
 Comly and Hastings — the author calls attention to 
 "the remarkable career of one of the very youngest 
 
 65 
 
66 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 members of the regiment, who enlisted as a private 
 before he had attained his eighteenth year. William 
 McKinley, Jr., won promotion on his merit as a 
 soldier, and not by family or political influence, first 
 to commissary sergeant, then to second lieutenant 
 for gallantry in action at the battle of Antietam on 
 the recommendation of his colonel, and so on step by 
 step until, at the close of the war, he was promoted 
 to major by brevet. Soon after his appointment as 
 second lieutenant, he was detailed on the staff of 
 Colonel Hayes, in 1862, and his subsequent service 
 was as a staflf officer with Generals Hayes, Crook, 
 Sheridan and Hancock. 
 
 "His success on merit dui-ing the War of the Rebel- 
 lion has had its counterpart in civil life in the public 
 service. When some one remarked in the presence of 
 General Hayes that Major McKinley possessed many 
 brilliant qualities as a public man ; that he w^s skillful 
 in debate, and tactful as a leader, but was lacking in 
 business ability, he received this reply : 'A man who, 
 before he had attained the age of twenty-one, kept 
 up the supplies for the army of General Crook in 
 active service in the field, is not lacking in business 
 ability. He has capacity equal to any enterprise, for 
 any position in life, even the highest.' " 
 
 The first Ohio regiment to enlist in the three years' 
 service in 1861 was the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer 
 Infantry. Twenty-two regiments had preceded it, 
 but they were enlisted only for three months, though 
 a majority of those who saw their three months' 
 service in these twenty-two early regiments after- 
 

 **i>.5K;-^-^ - 
 
 >.;i>i;«:a^ ^^ >v 
 
 A^ 
 
THE TWENTY-THIRD OHIO. 67 
 
 wards re-enlisted for the longer period. The Twenty- 
 third was enrolled for the three months' service, but 
 when it presented itself for State inspection at 
 Camp Chase, in Columbus, the three months' quota 
 for Ohio was more than filled. However, at that time, 
 the call for three years' men was issued, and the 
 Twenty-third obtained the first chance to be mustered 
 in under that call. Nearly all who had signed for 
 three months attached their names to the rolls for the 
 three years' "campaign, while the few who could not 
 for various reasons returned to their homes. 
 
 The Twenty-third regiment was officered by three 
 men whose after prominence made this command one 
 of the most noted in the war. The first colonel was 
 W. S. Rosecrans, afterwards General Rosecrans, a 
 captain whose renown is now world wide, and whose 
 services later in the War of the Rebellion were 
 important in its suppression. The first lieutenant- 
 colonel was Stanley Matthews, afterwards Senator 
 from Ohio and a Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States. The first major was Rutherford B. 
 Hayes, afterwards a general of great abihty, thrice 
 Governor of Ohio, and President of the United States. 
 
 Not only was the regiment noted for its first three 
 line officers, but many of the men who served in its 
 ranks rose to positions of more or less note in after 
 life. The second adjutant was Cyrus W. Fisher, 
 afterwards major of the Twenty-third, then colonel 
 of the Fifty-first. He is still living, being a resident 
 of Bucyrus, Ohio. Grotius B. Giddings, son of 
 Senator Joshua R. Giddings, enlisted as captain 
 
68 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 of Company B, and soon after got an appointment in 
 the regular army, the Fourteenth United States 
 Infantry. Selick B. Warren, captain of Company I, 
 died three years ago at Emporia, Kansas, where he 
 had grown wealthy as a business man and banker. 
 Robert P. Kennedy was a second and first lieutenant 
 of Company F, afterwards captain of the same com- 
 pany, and then he was made assistant adjutant 
 general on General Crook's staff; he was afterwards 
 lieutenant governer of Ohio, and he was one of the 
 most famous lieutenant governors in the country at 
 the time. E. A. Abbott, the present director of 
 police of the city of Cleveland, was captain of Com- 
 pany F at the time of muster-out. Wm. C. Lyon was 
 first lieutenant of Company C, and was afterwards 
 lieutenant governor of Ohio. Harrison G. Otis, 
 captain of Company H, is now editor of the Los 
 Angeles Times, and was the first to recognize the 
 value as a campaign document of the famous Mur- 
 chison letter, which caused the recall of the British 
 Minister to the United States. 
 
 McKinley's technical connection with the regiment 
 is given in detail further on. The official records, 
 transcribed by Quaitermaster Benjamin Killam of 
 Cleveland, show that from first to last there were 
 2,095 men in the Twenty-third; the number killed 
 in battle was 169, and the number who died from 
 disease in consequence of service was 107, making a 
 total loss of 276. At the organization of the regi- 
 ment there were 953 men upon the rolls, and at the 
 time of the muster-out there were 747, and of the 
 total 2,095 there are 500 still living in various parts 
 

 
 
 STANLEY MATTHEWS. 
 
THE TWENTY-THIRD OHIO. 6g 
 
 of the country, whose addresses are carried upon the 
 Regimental Association's books by Mr. Killam. 
 
 The battles in which the Twenty-third engaged, 
 according to the official Ohio roster, were as follows : 
 
 Camifex Ferry, Sept. lo, 1861 ; Clarke's Hollow, 
 May I, 1862; Princeton, W. Va., May 15, 1862; 
 South Mountain, Md., Sept. 14, 1862; Antietam, 
 Sept. 17, 1862; Buffington's Island, Ohio, in Mor- 
 gan's raid, July 19, 1863; Cloyd's Mountain, Va., 
 May 9, 1864; New River Bridge, Va., May lo, 
 1864; Buffalo Gap, W. Va., June 6, 1864; Lexing- 
 ton, W. Va., June 10, 1864; Buchanan, W. Va., 
 June 14, 1864; Otter Creek, Va., June 16, 1864; 
 Buford's Gap, Va., July 21, 1864 ; Winchester, Va. , 
 July 24, 1864; Berryville, Va., Sept. 3, 1864; Ope- 
 quan, Va., Sept. 19, 1864; Fisher's Hill, Va., Sept. 
 22, 1864; Cedar Creek, Va., Oct. 19, 1864. 
 
 The official records indicate that McKinley's mili- 
 tary life and advancement were most creditable. 
 They show that William McKinley, Jr., enlisted 
 as a private in Company E of the 23rd O. V. I., June 
 II, 1861 ; that he was promoted to commissary ser- 
 geant, April 15, 1862; that he was promoted to 
 second lieutenant of Company D, September 23, 
 1862 ; that he was promoted to first lieutenant of 
 Company E, Feb. 7, 1863 ; that he was promoted to 
 captain of Company G, July 25, 1864; that he was 
 detailed as acting assistant adjutant general of the 
 first division, first army corps, on the staff of General 
 Carroll; that he was brevetted major, March 13, 
 
ijO LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 1865 ; and that he was mustered out of service. July 
 26, 1865. 
 
 The men who composed the Twenty-third Ohio 
 were soon launched into active service. The scene 
 described at Poland in June was followed in Septem- 
 ber by serious business. Before leaving for the field, 
 Colonel Rosecrans received a commission as Briga- 
 dier General, and Colonel E. P. Scammon succeeded 
 in command of the Twenty-third. By the end of 
 July the regiment was ordered to Clarksburg, West 
 Virginia. "From this point," says Whitelaw Reed 
 in his 'Ohio in the War,' "it operated against the 
 numerous guerrillas infesting the country in that 
 quarter, performing many days and nights of exces- 
 sively hard duty, marching and counter-marching 
 over the rugged spurs of Rich Mountain range, and 
 drenched by the almost continued rains of that 
 jeason. 
 
 ' ' Thus we find the boys who had left their peace- 
 ful occupations and happy homes but a few months 
 previous, suddenly plunged into an actual service that 
 put to severe test both their fighting qualities and 
 powers of endurance." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ACTIVE SERVICE. 
 
 Ordered to West Virginia — Fighting at Carnifex Ferry 
 — A Foretaste of Real Fighting — Sickness in Camp 
 — Almost Starved — McKinley's First Glimpse of 
 Washington — Battles of South Mountain and Antie- 
 tam — Battle of Cedar Creek — Sheridan — McKinley's 
 First Vote — Homeward Bound. 
 
 AND no^v our young soldier saw some active serv- 
 ice. The thought of the havelocks which the 
 pretty girls of Poland had made to keep oiF the 
 scorching Southern sun when they were playing sol- 
 dier on the old village common, must have caused 
 many a grim smile when encountering the cold rains 
 and driving snowstorms of the West Virginia moun- 
 tains. The Twenty-third Ohio was, as we have seen, 
 introduced to real fighting at Carnifex Ferry early 
 in September, about six weeks after it had left camp. 
 This proved little more than a foretaste, however, 
 because the enemy in the night abandoned his posi- 
 tion and the sharp skirmishing of the previous day 
 ended. Then the boys had an opportunity to chase 
 rebels, which they did with no small degree of suc- 
 cess and captured many prisoners. The heavy rains 
 of those mountain regions impeded their progress in 
 reaching Camp Ewing on the New river. 
 
 71 
 
72 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Here another new experience awaited them. The 
 camp was unhealthful and the wet and exposure to 
 cold caused much sickness. Fever, diarrhea and 
 other complaints became common, and some of the 
 strongest and healthiest of the brave fellows who left 
 Camp Chase died, while others were permanently 
 injured. With the exception of a little enterprise 
 into North Carolina in December, in which two com- 
 panies of the Twenty-third took part, the winter was 
 devoted to recruiting and much needed drilling and 
 discipline. 
 
 The spring of 1862 brought with it hope for active 
 work. The Twenty-third left winter quarters and 
 under command of Lieutenant-colonel Hayes, moved 
 in the direction of Princeton. The rebels immediately 
 evacuated Princeton, burning everything before leav- 
 ing. May I the Union troops arrived and took pos- 
 session of the deserted place. Here they were 
 attacked by an overwhelming force, and after a brave 
 stand driven back, but in good order and fighting as 
 they retired. The hardships they endured during 
 the first three weeks in May were great. The enemy 
 had cut off supplies, and some of our boys almost 
 starved. These experiences were, however, only 
 preparatory to the two great events of the year, 
 South Mountain and Antietam. 
 
 The command remained at Flat Top, after leaving 
 Princeton, through the early summer. The hard 
 experience was a rapid march, which took place 
 August, 1862. The regiment had been ordered from 
 Flat Top to Green Meadows, and from that point 
 
ACTIVE SERVICE. 73 
 
 orders came to march with all possible speed to Camp 
 Piatt, on the Great Kanawha. Here the Twenty- 
 third arrived on August i8, after a march of one 
 hundred and four miles in a little over three days. 
 It was undoubtedly one of the fastest marches ever 
 made by any considerable body of men. That it 
 was made under a burning August sun speaks well 
 for the endurance of the Twenty-third Ohio. 
 
 A few days later many of the boys had their first 
 glimpse of Washington. That the youth we are 
 interested in on that occasion looked forward to the 
 day when he should take a prominent part in 
 National legislation, or even had ambitions to fill the 
 chair then occupied by Abraham Lincoln, is hardly 
 probable. He occupied a very humble part, but, as 
 his old commander has told us, he performed that 
 part conscientiously and well. It was during this 
 visit to Washington that the photograph reproduced 
 especially for this biography was taken. There was 
 little time to enjoy the Nation's Capitol, for in a few 
 days the regiment was again on the march, this time 
 with General McClellan's army, toward Frederick 
 City, from which place they dislodged the Rebels. 
 By September 13 they were at Middletown. Here 
 was commenced the battle of South Mountain, 
 culminating in the great battle of Antietam, on Sep- 
 tember 17, in both of which the Twenty-third Ohio 
 participated. It was at Antietam that McKinley first 
 won substantial recognition, and for gallant condact 
 upon that bloody battle-field he was made a second 
 lieutenant. 
 
HA LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Of the part the Twenty-third Ohio took in the 
 battles of South Mountain and Antietam, Reid's 
 History of "Ohio in the War" says : 
 
 At South Mountain the regiment under.Lieutenant- 
 colonel Hayes (General J. D. Cox commanding division) 
 was the first infantry engaged, being the advance of the 
 column on that day. It was ordered at an early hour to 
 advance by an unfrequented road leading up the moun- 
 tain, and to attack the enemy. Posted behind stone 
 walls, the enemy, in great superior force, poured a 
 destructive fire of musketry, grape and canister into our 
 ranks at very short range, and in a very short space of 
 time Lieutenant-colonel Hayes, Captain Skiles and 
 Lieutenants Hood, Ritter and Smith were each badly 
 wounded (Colonel Hayes's arm broken ; Captain Skiles 
 shot through the elbow, arm amputated ; Ritter leg 
 amputated) ; and over one hundred dead and wounded 
 lay upon the field, out of the three hundred and fifty 
 who went into the action. The command now devolved 
 upon Major Comly, and remained with him from that 
 time forward. The enemy suddenly opened fire from 
 the left, and the regiment changed front on first company. 
 Lieutenant-colonel Hayes soon after again made his 
 appearance on the field, with his arm half dressed, and 
 fought, against the remonstrances of the whole command, 
 until carried off. Soon after the remainder of the 
 brigade came up, a gallant charge was made up the hill, 
 and the enemy was dislodged and driven into the woods 
 beyond. In this charge a large number of the enemy 
 were killed with the bayonet. During the remainder of 
 the day the regiment fought with its division. Three 
 bayonet charges were made by the regiment during the 
 
PHILIP H. SHERIDAN. 
 
ACTIVE SERVICE. ij^ 
 
 day, in each of which the enemy were driven with 
 heavy loss. 
 
 During the day the Twenty-third lost nearly two hun- 
 dred, of whom almost one-fourth were killed on the 
 field or afterward died of their wrounds. Only seven 
 men were unaccounted for at the roll-call after the action. 
 The colors of the regiment w^ere riddled, and the blue 
 field almost completely carried aw^ay by shells and bullets. 
 
 At Antietam the regiment fought with the Kanawha 
 division. Near the close of the day a disastrous charge 
 was made by the division (the Twenty-third occupying 
 the right of the First Brigade) by which the left of the 
 division w^as exposed to a large force of the enemy, who 
 suddenly emerged from a corn-field in rear of the left. 
 The colors of the regiment were instantly shot down. 
 At the same time a feint was made in front. A battery 
 in the rear opened fire on the advancing column of the 
 enemy, by which also the National forces sustained more 
 loss than the enemy. After a moment's delay the colors 
 were planted by Major Comly on a new line, at right 
 angles with the former front, and, without waiting for 
 any further order, the regiment, at a run, formed a line 
 in the new direction and opened fire on the enemy, who 
 for some cause retired. Little damage was done by the 
 enemy, except a few captures from the left. The divi- 
 sion soon after withdrew; but, through some inad- 
 vertency, no order reached the Twenty-third, and it 
 remained on the field until Colonel Scammon (command- 
 ing the division) came back and ordered it to the rear. 
 
 Almost exhausted by several days' hard fighting, the 
 regiment was ordered to support a battery of General 
 Sturgis's division during the night, and was not relieved 
 until after the afternoon of the next day. 
 
^6 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Back to the mountains of West Virginia went the 
 Twenty-third Ohio, after these bloody experiences in 
 Maryland. Back over very much the same ground 
 again. Before embarking they had been ordered to 
 make for Pennsylvania "double quick." It was on 
 this trip that they in one day ate breakfast in Penn- 
 sylvania, dinner in Maryland and supper in Virginia. 
 In November we find the Twenty-third, now com- 
 manded by Lieutenant-colonel Hayes, in winter 
 quarters at the falls of the Great Kanawha. It had 
 marched about six hundred miles that year, and seen 
 active and hard service. From November, 1862, to 
 July, 1863, the Twenty-third lay in camp performing 
 little or no duty, with the exception of a few scouts 
 and an advance as far as Raleigh, Virginia, and its 
 participation in the movements against the Morgan 
 raid in July. After this raid the regiment again 
 returned to Charleston, Virginia, and lay there dur- 
 ing the remainder of 1863 up to April, 1864, when a 
 movement was made to a point a few miles above 
 Brownstown, on the Kanawha, preparatory to join- 
 ing forces gathering under General Crook for a raid 
 on the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. Mr. Reid, 
 in his history, says: "This expedition was some- 
 thing worthy of their mettle. Their long inaction 
 had not hardened their sinews or made them im- 
 pervious to fatigue, but, as was their custom, the 
 rank and file of the Twenty-third entered into the 
 expedition with cheerfulness and a determination, if 
 possible, to make it signally successful. Without de- 
 tailing their daily marches, it is sufficient to say that 
 
ACTIVE SERVICE. *]>J 
 
 the regiment toiled on over the rugged mountains, up 
 ravines, and through the dense woods, meeting with 
 snows and rains in sufficient volumes to appall the 
 stoutest hearts ; but they toiled patiently, occasion- 
 ally brushing the enemy out of the way until, on the 
 ninth of May, 1864, the battle of Cloyd Mountain 
 was fought." 
 
 Here is a spirited description of this battle in which 
 the boys of the Twenty-third Ohio acted nobly : 
 
 In this engagement the Twenty-third was on the right 
 of the First Brigade. About noon they were ordered to 
 charge the enemy, who occupied the first crest of the 
 mountain, with artillery and infantry, behind rudely con- 
 structed breast-works. The hill itself was thickly 
 wooded, steep and difficult of ascent, and was skirted by 
 a stream of water from two to three feet deep. The ap- 
 proach -was through a beautiful meadow five or six 
 hundred yards in width. At the word of command, the 
 regiment advanced at double-quick across the meadow, 
 under a very heavy fire of musketry and artillery, to the 
 foot of the mountain across the stream. The regiment 
 advanced steadily to this point without returning the fire 
 of the enemy ; and after a short pause, a furious assault 
 was made upon the enemy's works, carrying them and 
 capturing two pieces of artillery, which were brought 
 off the field by Lieutenant Austin. The enemy fell back 
 to the second crest or ridge of the mountain, where a 
 determined attempt was made to form a line, but, after a 
 short struggle, he was driven from there in full retreat. 
 Reinforcements arriving on the field, a third attempt 
 was made to make a stand, but unsuccessfully. The 
 struggle at the guns was of the fiercest description. The 
 
ij8 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Rebel artillerymen attempted to reload their pieces when 
 our line was not more than ten paces distant. Private 
 Kosht, Company G, a recruit eighteen years of age, was 
 the first to reach the guns. With a boyish shout he 
 sprang from the ranks, and hung his hat over the muzzle 
 of one of the guns. 
 
 While 1863 was not a very active year for the 
 Twenty-third Ohio, 1864 brought with it much 
 activity and several important engagements. On 
 May 10 there was another affair at New Bridge, in 
 which artillery was mostly used. The enemy was 
 driven and the bridge destroyed. On May 1 1 the 
 march was continued to Blacksburg, skirmishing by 
 the way. On May 12 Salt Pond mountain was 
 crossed, the Twenty-third acting as train guard. 
 In describing this incident, Mr. Reid in his history 
 says : 
 
 The constant rains for several days had put the road in 
 wretched condition. Most of the way it was only wide 
 enough for only one team to pass at a time. The animals 
 were much fagged by heavy work and insufficient forage, 
 and many of them dropped dead in the harness, so that 
 loads had to be shifted and a number of wagons abandoned 
 and burned. To add to the confusion, a large number of 
 " contrabands," who had joined the column with all 
 sorts of conveyances, and a great many with no convey- 
 ance at all, began to lose horses and wagons, which 
 clogged the road, and many of the poor wretches had to 
 w^alk through the mud and rain, carrying children and 
 supplies, and whatever household goods they were unwill- 
 ing to leave. 
 
ACTIVE SERVICE. 
 
 79 
 
 It is hardly surprising, therefore, that on the morn- 
 ing of May 13 the Twenty-third reached camp at 
 twenty minutes past five, greatly exhausted by the 
 fatigues of the crossing. However, one hour's rest 
 seems to have been sufficient, and the march was 
 resumed and prosecuted day by day, " the troops 
 almost constantly harassed by the enemy, encoun- 
 tering great obstacles in swollen streams, rocky, 
 muddy roads, and semi-starvation." 
 
 After this experience the Twenty-third, early in 
 June, joined General Hunter's command. They were 
 at Lexington when, by order of General Hunter, the 
 Military Academy, Washington College and Gov- 
 ernor Letcher's residence were burned. They then 
 marched on to Lynchburg, and on the road met the 
 enemy and " drove them pell-mell for two miles, 
 capturing four pieces of their artillery." 
 
 After this success, instead of pushing on to Lynch- 
 burg, they were ordered into camp. A few days 
 after this while attacking Lynchburg, they were 
 repulsed by the enemy, who had been heavily 
 re-enforced from Richmond, and obliged to retreat, 
 marching rapidly toward the town of Liberty. 
 According to Reid, "the fighting was all done in a 
 dense thicket, where the light of the sun could not be 
 seen. The men had had no sleep for two days and 
 nights, and scarcely anything to eat. In this condi- 
 tion they marched, falling down frequently asleep in 
 the road, it being with the utmost difficulty that they 
 could be kept on their feet. About 10 A. m. the 
 
8o LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 regiment rested an hour and twenty minutes, and 
 then pushed on without any more halts." 
 
 The following is an interesting description of this 
 expedition, from the diary of one of the officers: 
 
 June 19. — Marched all day, dragging along very slowly. 
 The men had nothing to eat, the trains being sent in 
 advance. It is almost incredible that men should have 
 been able to endure so' much, but they never faltered, and 
 not a murmur escaped them. Often men would drop 
 out silently, exhausted, but not a word of complaint was 
 spoken. Shortly after dark, at Liberty, had a brisk little 
 fight with the enemy's advance ; reached Buford's Gap 
 about 10 A. M. of the twentieth. General Crook remained 
 here with Hayes' brigade, holding the gap until dark, 
 inviting an attack. The army was, however, too cautious 
 to do more than skirmish. After dark we withdrew, and 
 marched all night to overtake the command in advance. 
 Reached Salem about 9 a. m. Hunter had passed 
 through Salem, and a body of the enemy's cavalry fell 
 upon his train and captured the greater part of his artil- 
 lery. About the same time Crook was attacked in front 
 and rear, and after a sharp fight pushed through, losing 
 nothing. Heavy skirmishing all day, and nothing to eat 
 and no sleep. Continued the march until about 10 p. m., 
 when we reached the foot of North Mountain, and slept. 
 
 At four A. M. next morning (22d) left in the advance, 
 the first time since the retreat commenced. By a mis- 
 take a march of eight miles was made for nothing. Thus 
 we toiled on, suffering intensely with exhaustion, want 
 of food, clothing, etc. On the 27th a supply train was 
 met on Big Sewell Mountain. Men all crazy. Stopped 
 and ate ; marched and ate ; camped about dark, and ate 
 
ACTIVE SERVICE. 8 1 
 
 all night. Marched one hundred and eighty miles in the 
 last nine days, fighting nearly all the time, and with very 
 little to eat. 
 
 In July came the battle of Kernstown, near Win- 
 chester, described in a subsequent chapter, and in 
 which McKinley became conspicuous. Another 
 important engagement of the Twenty-third was the 
 battle of Opequan, which is referred to also in another 
 chapter, in which McKinley received special atten- 
 tion, on account of his quick action and good judg- 
 ment. This instance is mentioned further along, but 
 we quote the account as printed in " Ohio in the 
 War:" 
 
 After the usual amount of marching and countermarch- 
 ing, from the 4th to the i8th of September, the battle 
 of Opequan was fought on the 19th. General Crook's 
 command was in reserve, but was very soon brought 
 into action and sent to the extreme right of the line to 
 make a flank attack. Hayes's brigade had the extreme 
 right of the infantry. The position was reached under 
 cover of an almost impenetrable growth of cedar, cross- 
 ing a swampy stream. Here the division was halted and 
 formed — First Brigade (Hayes's) in front and the Second 
 (Johnson's) in rear. Throwing out a light line of skir- 
 mishers, the brigade advanced rapidly to the front, driv- 
 ing the enemy's cavalry. The National cavalry at the 
 same time advanced out of the woods on the right. 
 After advancing in this way across two or three fields, 
 under a scattering fire, the crest of a slight elevation was 
 reached, when the enemy's infantry line came into view, 
 off diagonally to the left front, and he opened a brisk 
 artillery fire. 
 
82 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLKY. 
 
 Moving forward double-quick under this fire, the bri- 
 gade reached a thick fringe of underbrush, dashing 
 through which it came upon a deep slough, forty or fifty- 
 yards wide and nearly waist deep, with soft mud at the 
 bottom, overgrown with a thick bed of moss, nearly 
 strong enough to bear the weight of a man. It seemed 
 impossible to get through it, and the whole line was stag- 
 gered for a moment. Just then Colonel Hayes plunged 
 in with his horse, and under a shower of bullets and 
 shells w^ith his horse sometimes down, he rode, waded 
 and dragged his way through — the first man over. The 
 Twenty-third was immediately ordered by the right 
 flank over the slough at the same place. In floundering 
 through this morass, men were suffocated and drowned, 
 and still the regiment plunged through, and, after a pause 
 long enough to partially reform the line, charged for- 
 ward again, yelling and driving the enemy. Sheridan's 
 old cavalry kept close up on the right, having passed 
 round the slough, and every time the enemy was driven 
 from cover charged and captured a large number of 
 prisoners. This plan was followed throughout the 
 battle, by which the cavalry was rendered very effective. 
 In one of these charges Colonel Duval, the division 
 commander, was wounded and carried from the field, 
 leaving Colonel Hayes in command. He was every- 
 where exposing himself recklessly as usual. He was first 
 over the slough ; he was in advance of the line half of 
 the time afterward ; his adjutant-general was severely 
 wounded ; men were dropping all around him, but he 
 rode through it all as if he had a charmed life. 
 
 No re-enforcements — no demonstration as promised. 
 Something must be done to stop the murderous concen- 
 trated fire that is cutting the force so dreadfully. Select- 
 
ACTIVE SERVICE. 83 
 
 ing some Saxony rifles in the Twenty-third, pieces of 
 seventy-one caliber with a range of twelve hundred 
 yards, Lieutenant McBride was ordered forward with 
 them to kill the enemy's artillery horses, in plain sight. 
 They moved forward rapidly under cover as much as 
 possible. At the first shot a horse drops ; almost imme- 
 diately another is killed ; a panic seems to seize the artil- 
 lery and they commence limbering up. The infantry 
 take the alarm, and a few commence running from the 
 entrenchments. The whole line rises, and with a tre- 
 mendous yell the men rush frantically for the breast- 
 works ; and thus, without stopping to fire another shot, 
 the enemy ran in confusion — that terrible cavalry, which 
 had been hovering like a cloud on the flanks, sweeping 
 dow^n on the rebels and capturing them by regiments. 
 Eight battle-flags were captured and a large number of 
 prisoners. The " graybacks " soon looked as numerous 
 as the " blue coats." The enemy's artillery in the Star 
 fort was obliged to stop firing and fell back, and the 
 battle was at an end. 
 
 It is impossible to recount here all the engage- 
 ments in which the gallant Twenty-third took 
 part. The principal ones are given for the purpose 
 of showing the part that McKinley took in the War 
 of the Rebellion. The service was active, the hard- 
 ships he endured great, and throughout all this 
 experience he showed personal courage, ability and 
 first-class fighting qualities. What President Hayes 
 says of him in a preceding chapter is undoubtedly 
 true. It should be borne in mind that he went into 
 the army as a youth and came out of it, after under- 
 going these experiences, at twenty-two. When we 
 
84 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 realize this, it will be impossible to expect any more 
 of him. That he should have won encomiums from 
 all his superior officers, stamps his record as a 
 remarkable one for one so young. The last engage- 
 ment of National importance, which practically closed 
 the active history of the Twenty-third Ohio, was the 
 battle of Cedar Creek. While some further instances 
 will appear in another chapter in relation to McKin- 
 ley, it is the purpose here to give the following brief 
 sketch of the situation after the attack was made : 
 
 Crook's command, overpowered and driven from their 
 advance position, were forming on .the left of the Nine- 
 teerLth corps, which corps was just getting into action, 
 the left being hotly engaged, but not so much so as 
 Crook's command yet. The right of the line had not 
 been engaged at all, and was not for some time after. 
 While the line was in this situation the trains were all 
 slowly moving off. A desperate stand -was made by the 
 shattered lines of Crook's command to save the headquar- 
 ters train of the army, which came last from the right, 
 and it succeeded. Many brave men lost their lives in 
 this — Colonel Thoburn, commanding First division; 
 Captain Bier, General Crook's adjutant-general, and 
 others. Colonel Hayes, commanding the First division, 
 had his horse shot under him, and narrowly escaped with 
 his life. Lieutenant-general Hall, of the Thirteenth Vir- 
 ginia, was killed, but the train was saved. 
 
 From this time the whole line fell slowly back, fighting 
 stubbornly, to a new position which had been selected. 
 There they halted, and the enemy seemed content with 
 shelling us. 
 
 General Crook lay a couple of yards away from the 
 
ACTIVE SERVICE. 8^ 
 
 line, in a place which seemed to be more particularly ex- 
 posed than any other part of the line. Colonel Hayes 
 lay close by, badly bruised from his fall, and grumbling 
 because his troops did not charge the enemy's line, 
 instead of waiting to be charged. Suddenly there is a 
 dust in the rear, on the Winchester pike ; and, almost 
 before they are aware, a young man, in full Major- 
 general's uniform, and riding furiously a magnificent 
 black horse, literally "flecked Avith foam," reins up and 
 springs off by General Crook's side. There is a perfect 
 roar as everybody recognized — SHERIDAN ! He talks 
 with Crook a little w^hile, cutting away at the tops of 
 the weeds with his riding- whip. General Crook speaks 
 a half-dozen sentences that sound a great deal like the 
 crack of the whip ; and by that time some of the staff 
 are up. They are sent flying in different directions. 
 Sheridan and Crook lie down and seem to be talking, 
 and all is quiet again, except the vicious shells of the 
 different batteries and the roar of artillery along the 
 line. After a while Colonel Forsyth comes down the 
 in front and shouts to the General : "The Nineteenth 
 corps is closed up, sir." Sheridan jumps up, gives one 
 more cut with his whip, whirles himself around once, 
 jumps on his horse, and starts up the line. Just as he 
 starts he says to the men : ' ' We are going to have a 
 good thing on them now, boys/" And so he rode off, and 
 a long wave of yells rolling up to the right with him. 
 The men took their posts, the line moved forward, and 
 the balance of the day is a household word over a whole 
 nation. 
 
 The war experience of the Twenty-third practically 
 closed after this battle. In October we find the regi- 
 ment at Martinsburg. On its march to that point the 
 
86 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 men voted at the Presidential election. The votes 
 were collected by the judges of election as the 
 column was in march, from among the wagons. 
 This, McKinley says, was his first vote. An ambu- 
 lance was used as an election booth, and an empty 
 candle box did duty as a ballot-box. At the same 
 time and place Generals Sheridan, Crook and Hayes 
 cast their ballots, and this was the iirst vote ever 
 cast by Sheridan or Crook, 
 
 In the early spring the Twenty-third returned to 
 Camp Cumberland, and on July 26, 1865, rather 
 more than four years from the time of enlistment, the 
 regiment was mustered out and the scarred veterans 
 who had experienced four years of dangers and hard- 
 ships, returned to the homes which they had left full 
 of life, vigor and youthful hopefulness. 
 
CHAPTEH VI. 
 
 THE BATTLE AT KERNSTOWN. 
 
 Russell Hastings Describes a Lively Engagement Near 
 Winchester — Forward to Almost Certain Death — 
 McKinley Under the Enemy's Fire — Erect as a Hus- 
 sar — A Brave and Youthful Soldier on a Wiry 
 Little Brown Horse — How McKinley Carried Off 
 the Guns. 
 
 THE history of the Tvirenty-third Ohio Volunteer 
 Infantry shows that on July 24, 1864, a battle 
 was fought at Kernstown, near Winchester, in which 
 the National forces were defeated after a well-con- 
 tested fight from early in the morning until nine 
 o'clock at night. The Twenty-third Ohio lost in this 
 engagement over one hundred and fifty men and 
 officers. The present importance of this engage- 
 ment is derived from the fact that it is possible to get 
 a glimpse of young McKinley in an active engage- 
 ment — a glimpse that comes to the writer of this 
 volume from an old friend of twenty-five years ago, 
 who now resides in the Bermudas. General Russell 
 Hastings was also a near and dear friend of young 
 McKinley's. They were intimately associated to- 
 gether in the same regiment on the same staif, and 
 slept under the same blanket. General Hastings 
 could tell many other incidents of those stirring days, 
 
 87 
 
88 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 but time and space make it impossible to give them 
 here, interesting as they would prove. 
 
 There are more than the ordinary obstacles in the 
 way of securing data relating to the active war record 
 of a staff officer. He simply carries orders in battle 
 and performs his. company duties. It is only when 
 kind fate gives him an opportunity — say in battle — that 
 he can and often does perform gallant acts. McKin- 
 ley, of course, had his due share of such work, as he 
 had the same courageous characteristics as a boy 
 soldier that he now has as a leader of the people. 
 The incident herein related comes via Bermuda, 
 from General Hastings. It occurred at the battle of 
 Kernstown in the Shenandoah Valley, and was a 
 gallant thing for a staff officer to do. It is only one 
 of the many similar incidents. The fact that one 
 who was there has kindly consented to write it out 
 especially for this work, makes it of interest as illus- 
 trating a day in the life of a staff officer during the 
 war. The account of the battle of Kernstown, as 
 contributed by General Russell Hastings, and of 
 McKinley's part in it, is herewith given : 
 
 The Union forces were commanded by General 
 George Crook. 
 
 The Confederate forces by General Jubal Early. 
 
 It is not pleasant work for one who participated in 
 a defeat to recount those hours, yet no one can be 
 better informed than he who saw each movement of 
 the command. To lead up to this battle, I feel it 
 necessary to begin at the time General Jubal Early 
 was menacing Washington, twelve days before the 
 
m'kinley removing an abandoned battery in the 
 
 face of the enemy, after all hopes of its 
 
 recovery had. been given up. 
 
THE BATTLK AT KERNSTOWN. 89 
 
 battle, when he had his whole army close up to the 
 works north of the city on July ii and 12. For two 
 days he stood before our National Capital challeng- 
 ing the Union troops to combat. General Grant soon 
 made such disposition of troops by sending from the 
 Army of the Potomac, before Richmond, the Sixth 
 and Nineteenth Army corps, as caused Early to 
 leisurely retreat towards the Shenandoah Valley, by 
 way of Poolesville, Maryland, Edward's Ferry on 
 the Potomac, and Leesburg in Virginia, reaching 
 Snicker's Gap in the Blue Ridge on the 17th and 
 crossing the Shenandoah at Snicker's Ford, went 
 into camp on the west bank. 
 
 The Sixth and Nineteenth corps as leisurely fol- 
 lowed, and at or near Snicker's Gap united with one 
 division of General Hunter's infantry (Thoburn's) 
 which had just arrived from the Kanawha Valley 
 over the Baltimore & Ohio Railway. On the after- 
 noon of the i8th, Thoburn's division was ordered to 
 cross Snicker's Ford and attack Early, but the Sixth 
 corps, which was to support Thoburn, not coming 
 into action, as expected, the latter was driven back 
 through the stream with considerable loss. 
 
 On July 19, General Early retreated southward on 
 the road toward Strasburg, safely carrying with him 
 all the plunder he had gathered over Maryland and 
 Pennsylvania, while the whole Union army, consist- 
 ing of the Sixth and Nineteenth corps and Hunter's 
 command, whith had but lately arrived from the 
 Kanawha Valley, was massed in the vicinity of Bevy- 
 
9° LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEV. 
 
 ville and Winchester, quite a formidable army, some 
 20,000 strong. 
 
 At this time it was supposed by General Grant 
 that General Lee had ordered Early with the main 
 body of his veteran army to Richmond, and Grant, 
 needing the Sixth and Nineteenth corps with him 
 before Richmond, ordered them to Washington on 
 their way. This left in the Valley to confront the 
 Confederates only Hunter's command, consisting of 
 the Eighth Infantry corps, commanded by General 
 George Crook, some 6,000 in number, with a brigade 
 of nondescript troops made up of dismounted cavalry- 
 men and decimated infantry regiments. S\ich troops 
 were naturally demoralizing to any command. In 
 addition to this infantry was some cavalry under 
 Generals Averill and Duffie, some 2,000 strong. 
 
 In this Eighth Infantry corps was a brigade com- 
 manded by General Rutherford B. Hayes, and it is 
 of the part taken by this brigade in the battle of 
 Kernstown that I propose to relate. The brigade was 
 formed as follows : 
 
 First brigade. Second division. Eighth corps. Gen- 
 eral Rutherford B. Hayes commanding. Twenty- 
 third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Colonel J. M. Comly ; 
 Thirty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Colonel A. I. 
 Duval ; Fifth West Virginia Infantry, Colonel E. H. 
 Enochs ; Thirteenth West Virginia Infantry, Colonel 
 "\yilliam Brown. The brigade staff was as follows: 
 Colonel Joseph Webb, surgeon ; Captain Russell Hast- 
 ings, adjutant-general ; Lieutenant William McKin- 
 ley, Jr., quartermaster; Lieutenant B. A„ Twiner, 
 
THE BATTLE AT KERNSTOWN. 9 1 
 
 ordnance ; Lieutenant A. W. Delay, commissary ; 
 Lieutenant O. J. Wood, aide. 
 
 General Crook's Eighth corps had just returned 
 from a raid to Lynchburg, close to Appomattox, 
 where General Lee surrendered his army in April, 
 1865, and were much fatigued and worn. We now 
 felt, with Early and his veterans well off on their 
 way to Richmond, with no enemy of any consider- 
 able force in our front, that we should have a few 
 days of much needed rest. From April 30 up to this 
 date we had made a raid to the New River Bridge in 
 southwestern Virginia, another raid to Lynchburg, 
 marching in these two raids over 800 miles, often out 
 of food, short of clothing' and shoes, were on the 
 skirmish line daily, either advancing or retreating, 
 and had fought four hard contested battles. Directly 
 after the close of these raids we had been moved 
 with inconsiderate haste from the Kanawha Valley, 
 near the Kentucky line, to this Valley, by forced 
 marches, on steamboats on the Ohio River and 
 freight cars on the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, with 
 no opportunity for sleep or rest. General Crook had 
 now advanced his little army to Winchester, going 
 into camp just south of town, where there is one of 
 those noted springs of the Valley, gushing out from 
 a crevice in the limestone rock, in sufficient quanti- 
 ties to furnish power for a large flouring mill. Here 
 we rolled ourselves in our blankets, upon the lux- 
 uriant grass under the shade of large oak trees, 
 and slept away the night and a large part of two 
 delightful days. 
 
92 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 On Sunday morning, July 24, our "resting spell" 
 came to a sudden close. While at inspection on this 
 bright, sunny Sunday morning, the sound of cannon, 
 well out on our front towards the south, was heard. 
 Usually such sounds did not worry us, as our cavalry 
 was always "banging away" with the artillery at- 
 tached to them. We did not, though, this morning 
 like the sound of it, for to a veteran's ear the fre- 
 quency of the discharges were such as seemed to mean 
 work before us. Soon cavalry couriers came in from 
 the front, bringing word to General Crook that our 
 cavalry outposts on the Valley pike, some ten miles 
 south of Winchester, were being driven in by seem- 
 ingly a large force. General Crook, still relying on 
 the former information that Early was well off on 
 his way to Richmond, did not feel the necessity of im- 
 mediately moving out and forming line of battle ; 
 but, as courier after courier arrived with the addi- 
 tional report of large bodies of the enemy's infantry 
 being seen, he jSnally ordered all his troops to ad- 
 vance to the front and form line of battle at the little 
 hamlet of Kernstown, some four miles south of Win- 
 chester. 
 
 This ground had already been made historic, as 
 here General Shields met Stonewall Jackson, in 1862, 
 and repulsed him. 
 
 At about noon Crook had formed all his available 
 troops in line with his First division on the extreme 
 right, extending to the Romney pike, with this non- 
 descript brigade of dismounted cavalry and infantry 
 next, and the Second division on the left, Hayes's 
 
THE BATTLE AT KERNSTOWN. ' 03 
 
 brigade occupying the extreme left, extending east of 
 the Valley pike, out into some open fields, where a 
 view of the country could be had for a mile or more 
 to our left. The Thirteenth West Virginia Infantry 
 regiment of Hayes's brigade was posted in an orchard 
 some five hundred yards to the rear and left to act as 
 a reserve. 
 
 At this moment Crook discovered he had been 
 deceived about Early's march for Richmond. On 
 July 23, Early had halted at Strasburg, and there 
 learning that the Sixth and Nineteenth corps had 
 withdrawn toward Washington, and that the forces 
 occupying Winchester were only those of Crook, 
 about one-third his numbeT;g, had determined to re- 
 turn and crush him without delay. 
 
 Several historians have made effort to show that 
 General Early was hardly fitted for the position he 
 occupied as commander of the Confederate forces in 
 the valley. The Union army before him, on the con- 
 trary, found him always watchful, alert, ready to 
 seize upon such an opportunity as now presented 
 itself; a hard fighter, full of vim and subtle cunning, 
 able to maneuver his troops in such a way as com- 
 pletely to deceive our commanders. Even after Gen- 
 eral Sheridan assumed command in the valley, with 
 an army more than three times larger than General 
 Crook had on this day, there was much marching 
 and countermarching, much maneuvering for an 
 advantage, before Sheridan thought it prudent to 
 attack, but when he did attack he gave Early a 
 crushing blow. 
 
QA ' LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 The battle opened with sharp firing all along the 
 line, our artillery on rising ground at our rear firing 
 over our heads, the enemy's artillery replying with 
 their shells . exploding amongst us. How could we 
 hope to win a battle when so largely outnumbered? 
 On the Union side was only Crook's little corps, some 
 6,000 strong, combating the whole of Early's army. 
 The Confederate infantry line extended far beyond 
 us on our left, and still beyond that could be seen 
 Confederate cavalry covering the country for a mile 
 or more, and rapidly driving back our cavalry in 
 great confusion. Although our infantry could prob- 
 ably manage to keep back the Confederates in our 
 front, this rapidly advancing line on our left, with 
 nothing whatever to oppose them, would soon engulf 
 us. At this moment this nondescript brigade broke 
 in great confusion, leaving a sad gap in our center. 
 Then, and not till then, and not until the enemy in 
 our front was severely punished, did Hayes's brigade 
 turn and fall back, with but trifling confusion, in the 
 direction of Winchester, maintaining our organiza- 
 tion then and throughout all the afternoon. 
 
 Now came hurrying times for staff" officers, orders 
 had to be carried in all directions. To one would 
 be given orders to gallop rapidly to the rear and try 
 to form a guard line to stop the stragglers ; to an- 
 other, to go to the rear and order the wagon train in 
 full retreat towards Martinsburg ; to another, go to 
 that battery and order it rapidly to form and unlim- 
 ber on that adjacent ridge, and play with rapidity 
 upon the advancing enemy with shot and shell ; to 
 
THE BATTLE AT KERNSTOWN. 95 
 
 another, direct the ambulance train down the pike, 
 and so on until this class of officers became scarce. 
 Crook was at one time without a staff officer about 
 him, having already borrowed of Hayes several, and 
 still he had need for more. 
 
 Just now it was discovered that one of the regi- 
 ments was still in the orchard where posted at the 
 beginning of the battle. General Hayes, turning to 
 Lieutenant McKinley, directed him to go for and 
 bring away this regiment, if it had not already fallen. 
 McKinley turned his horse, and keenly spurring it, 
 pushed it at a fierce gallop obliquely towards the 
 advancing enemy. A sad look came over Hayes's 
 face as he saw this young, gallant boy, pushing 
 rapidly forward to almost certain death. McKinley 
 was much loved in the command, a mere boy at the 
 beginning of the war, who had left his college, his 
 expectation for the future, all, everything, willingly 
 to serve his country and his flag in their dire need. 
 With wonderful force of character, then, true, pure, 
 noble and brave, he had, by reason of his ability 
 and wonderful power with men even much older 
 than himself, risen from the ranks to become a noted 
 staff officer, and later was called to the staff of Gen- 
 eral Crook, and so on up to General Hancock's 
 headquarters, and for his many brave acts and con- 
 spicuous gallaijtry was by President Lincoln brevetted 
 major. 
 
 Hayes loved him as a father loves a son, and only 
 imagine what must have been his feelings when the 
 necessities of the moment demanded that he should 
 
q6 life of WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 order this boy to do this dangerous work. None of 
 us expected to see him again, as we watched him 
 push his horse through the open fields, over fences, 
 through ditches, while a well-directed fire from the 
 enemy was poured upon him, with shells exploding 
 around, about and over him. Once he was completely 
 enveloped in the smoke of an exploding shell, and 
 we thought he had gone down ; but no, he was saved 
 for better work for his country in his future years. 
 Out of this smoke emerged his wiry little brown 
 horse, with McKinley still firmly seated, and as erect 
 as a hussar. Now he had passed under cover from 
 the enemy's fire, and a sense of relief came to us all. 
 Thus far he was all right, but we knew his danger 
 was really but just beginning, for the enemy was still 
 coming on, though not with the fierce energy with 
 which he had attacked the main line a few moments 
 before, no doubt feeling the need of cautious approach, 
 for Crook at this time had planted several batteries 
 on the ridge near by, which then were doing effective 
 work. 
 
 McKinley gave the Colonel the orders from Hayes 
 to fall back, saying, in addition, "I supposed you 
 would have gone to the rear without orders." The 
 Colonel's reply ^ was "I was about concluding I 
 would retire without waiting any longer for orders. 
 I am now ready to go wherever you shall lead, but, 
 Lieutenant, I 'pintedly' believe I ought to give those 
 fellows a volley or two before I go." McKinley' s 
 reply was, "Then up and at them as quickly as 
 possible," and as the regiment arose to its feet the 
 
THE BATTLE AT KERNSTOWN. 97 
 
 enemy came on into full view. Colonel Brown's 
 boys gave the enemy a crushing volley, following it 
 up with a rattling fire, and then slowly retreated 
 towards some woods directly in their rear. At this 
 the enemy halted all along Brown's immediate front 
 and for some distance to his right and left, no doubt 
 feeling he was touching a secondary line, which 
 should be approached with all due caution. During 
 this hesitancy of the enemy, McKinley led the 
 regiment through these woods on towards Winchester. 
 
 As Hayes and Crook saw this regiment safely off, 
 they turned, and following the column, with it moved 
 slowly to the rear, down the Winchester pike. At a 
 point near Winchester, McKinley brought the regi- 
 ment to the column and to its place in the brigade. 
 McKinley was greeted by us all with a happy, 
 contented smile — no effusion, no gushing palaver of 
 words, though all of us felt and knew one of the most 
 gallant acts of the war had been performed. 
 
 As McKinley drew up by the side of Hayes to 
 make his verbal report, I heard Hayes say, " I never 
 expected to see you in life again." During such 
 scenes as these were our friendly ties knitted, and 
 can you blame us if in our grizzled veteran age the 
 tears will sometimes spring to the eye when we greet 
 each other after a long separation? 
 
 The battle was over and now began a well organ- 
 ized retreat, so far as Hayes's brigade was concerned, 
 with the enemy's infantry pushing us from the front 
 and the cavalry harassing us on right and left. Our 
 wagon train was well off towards Martinsburg, and 
 
98 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 we knew our brigade could take care of itself, no 
 matter how hard Early should push us. We had 
 good, strong legs, plenty of ammunition, and we 
 certainly could march just as rapidly as Early's 
 infantry could follow ; and as for the cavalry, no 
 matter where they attacked, right, left or rear, we 
 could with a few well directed volleys scatter them. 
 
 All this long, fateful afternoon we marched down 
 the pike, first through Winchester town, where the 
 faces of the inhabitants instantly informed us on 
 which side of the cause were their sympathies. The 
 jubilant faces largely outnumbered the sad ones. 
 One dear, old Quaker lady, whom we all knew, stood 
 at her gate as we passed. Tears were running down 
 her cheeks and we knew they were caused by sympa- 
 thy for our misfortunes. For her own safety, with 
 her Confederate neighbors looking on, we dare not 
 make any effusive display of our sorrow at her con- 
 dition, but McKinley in his great kindness of heart, 
 reigned his horse to the curbstone and in a low voice 
 said, "Don't worry, my dear madam, we are not 
 hurt as much as it seems, and we shall be back here 
 again in a few days." A smile directly spread over 
 her face, and her heart was made almost happy by 
 these timely-spoken words. 
 
 During most of the afternoon we were marching in 
 line of battle on the east side of the pike, occasionally, 
 though, after we had given the pushing infantry of 
 the enemy a reminder that there was still some pluck 
 left in us, we would change the column to route 
 march, and on the pike made good time to the rear. 
 
THE BATTLE AT KERNSTOWN. 99 
 
 After we were past Winchester the infantry annoyed 
 us very little, but the cavalry harassed us more or 
 less during the afternoon. 
 
 I will relate an incident of the afternoon, which 
 occurred some eight miles north of Winchester, to 
 show that valor did not reside alone on either side, 
 that we were brethren of the same Anglo-Saxon 
 lineage, of like characteristics, and the two armies, 
 each in the other, found " a foe worthy of their steel." 
 Some Confederate cavalry had, while we were 
 marching to the rear in line of battle, formed column 
 and charged down upon what had now become our 
 right and front. On they came with the usual Con- 
 federate yell, and sabres drawn. This was a fright- 
 ful sight to men who a few hours before had become 
 somewhat demoralized by the onset at Kernstown, but 
 not a thought of fear was seen upon the faces of the 
 men ; calvary to them was a mere pastime, and with 
 a few well-directed volleys poured at the charging 
 columns, and with many empty saddles, this cavalry 
 broke and fled away in great confusion. Only the 
 officer in command charging at the head of his troops 
 did not flee, but continued right on, veering to his 
 right ; he kept at a respectful distance from us, riding 
 the whole length of our line. We discovered that 
 his horse was running away with him, and the only 
 guiding power he had was exerted to prevent the 
 horse from running into us. Very little firing was 
 directed upon him during these moments, as every 
 one watched with interest his efforts. Finally he 
 stopped his horse and turning retraced his steps in 
 
lOO LIFE OF WILLIAM M*KINLEY. 
 
 the direction where his troops were disappearing 
 over a hill. This again carried him along the front 
 of our line. An occasional shot was fired at him, but 
 now the word passed along our line, " Don't shoot, he 
 is too brave to kill," and instead a cheer broke forth 
 to which he responded by taking off his hat and bow- 
 ing in the most cavalierly style. He soon gained 
 the crest of the hill, seemingly unhurt, halted a 
 moment, and again saluting us, turned away and 
 passed out of sight. After this incident we were not 
 again disturbed by the cavalry. Perhaps a liking for 
 us had sprung up in this officer's breast, and he felt 
 he would no longer, at least for this day, quarrel 
 with us. I have often hoped I might, during the 
 peaceful days after the war, meet that officer and talk 
 things over. 
 
 We now changed our column into route march 
 and, walking along the pike, settled down to com- 
 parative peace, each man beginning to hunt in his 
 haversack for a stray bit of hardtack which might 
 happen to be there. Up to this time there had been 
 but little opportunity to think of food. It was now 
 nearly dark, and while plodding along, wondering 
 where we would find the balance of the command 
 and the wagon train, so we might go into camp, we 
 discovered that some time during the afternoon there 
 had been a stampede of our wagon train and several 
 wagons had been abandoned and left on the pike. 
 Quick investigation was made for food, but finding 
 none, a jolly fire was kindled in each wagon, and 
 they were soon reduced to ashes or so disabled they 
 
THE BATTLE AT KERNSTOWN. lOI 
 
 would be wholly useless to the enemy. Further 
 along the pike we found a battery of artillery, con- 
 sisting of four guns with their caissons, which had 
 been abandoned and left for peaceable capture by the 
 enemy. 
 
 Here, again, McKinley showed his force of charac- 
 ter and indomitable will power. He asked the privi- 
 lege of carrying away these guns, thus saving them 
 from the enemy. It did not, with the exhausted con- 
 dition of our men, seem practicable, yet he insisted 
 it could be done, and he thought his regiment, the 
 Twenty-third, would gladly aid him. Hayes, with a 
 smile, said, "Well, McKinley, ask them." Going 
 first to his old company (E) , he called for volunteers ; 
 all stepped out to a man and, the infection spread- 
 ing, soon the whole regiment took hold of these 
 guns and caissons and hauled them oiF in a trium- 
 phal procession. When we went into camp that 
 night long after dark, this artillery captain was 
 found, and the guns were turned over to him. He 
 cried like a baby. 
 
 Now this fearful day was over, and in a drizzling 
 rain, dinnerless and supperless, we wound our- 
 selves in our blankets and slept soundly until morn- 
 ing- 
 
 Our losses were very heavy. Hayes's little brigade 
 
 of 1,700 men alone lost one-fourth of its number in 
 killed and wounded, and most of the wounded were 
 left in the enemy's hands. The balance of the com- 
 mand lost in nearly the same proportion. The cause 
 of the disaster was simply that we were outnumbered 
 
I02 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 three to one, and the surprise is that we were not all 
 captured, as General Early anticipated. 
 
 Considerable effort was made at that time to im- 
 pugn the bravery of Crook's Eighth corps in this 
 disaster, but a noted and unbiased historian has 
 said the following, which I quote with much pleas- 
 ure : 
 
 Crook's troops had campaigned too well at Cloyd's 
 Mountain and during Hunter's march to Lyhchburg to be 
 disgraced by this encounter ; and while some of them, 
 chiefly the recent additions, had proved of little value, it 
 must be remembered that whatever efforts had been made 
 to challenge Early's retreat from Washington were the 
 work of this command. Their defeat was not strange, for 
 the force soon after assembled in the valley as needful to 
 match Early was thrice Crook's at Kernstown. 
 
CHAPTEI^ VII. 
 
 WAR INCIDENTS. 
 
 The Young Commissary Sergeant at Antietam — Hot 
 Coffee for the Men in Front — McKinley Wins His 
 First Promotion — Incident of the Battle of Opequan — 
 Captain McKinley Takes the Responsibility — Prompt 
 to Act in an Emergency — How McKinley Became a 
 Mason — Sheridan Refers to McKinley — The Famous 
 Ride From Winchester. 
 
 McKINLEY was promoted to second lieutenant 
 for gallant conduct at Antietam. As will be 
 seen in a previous chapter, President Hayes referred 
 to this incident, and he, as commander of the regi- 
 ment, as well as the o^her officers, declared that the 
 young soldier gave evidence of uncommon bravery. 
 
 General J. L. Botsford of Youngstown, who was 
 present, has prepared the following interesting ac- 
 count of McKinley at Antietam, which is herewith 
 given in full : 
 
 At the battle of Antietam, McKinley was the com- 
 missary sergeant of the Twenty-third Regiment O. 
 V. I., and his duty was, of course, with the com- 
 missary supplies, which were at least two miles from 
 the battle-field proper. 
 
 As you no doubt are aware, in all battles, whether 
 large or small, there are numerous stragglers who 
 
 103 
 
I04 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 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 com- 
 mander, General Scammon, sent 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, driving right into the middle of a bloody 
 battle with a team of mules, it needs no words of 
 mine to show the character and determination of 
 McKinley, a boy at this time about twenty 'years of 
 age. McKinley loaded up two wagons with sup- 
 plies, but the mules of one wagon were disabled. 
 He was ordered back time and again, but he pushed 
 right on. 
 
 Sheridan's great battle at Opequan was fought 
 near Winchester, Virginia, September 19, 1864. 
 
 Early in the morning the Sixth and Nineteenth 
 corps went into action, the First and Second divi- 
 sions of the Army of West Virginia (Eighth corps) 
 being held in reserve. 
 
 About ten o'clock, Captain McKinley, aide-de- 
 camp on the staff" of General Sheridan, brought 
 verbal order to General Duval, commanding the Sec- 
 
2; 
 w 
 
 x| 
 
 w 
 H 
 3 
 > 
 
 3 
 
 Q 
 O 
 
 o 
 
WAR INCIDENTS. I05 
 
 ond division, to move his command quickly to 
 position on the right of the Sixth corps, the First 
 division having previously been ordered to that 
 position. 
 
 General Duval, on receiving the order, and not 
 knowing the topography of the country, asked the 
 young aide : 
 
 " By what route shall I move my command?" 
 
 Captain McKinley knowing no more about the 
 country than did Duval, and without definite orders 
 as to the way to be taken, replied : 
 
 " I would move up this creek." 
 
 Duval then said : 
 
 " I will not budge without definite orders." 
 
 McKinley replied : 
 
 "This is a case of great emergency. General, I 
 order you, by command of General Crook, to move 
 your command up this ravine to a position on the 
 right of the army." 
 
 General Duval obeyed, and moved on the route 
 indicated by the aide-de-camp, and in a very short 
 time had his division in position on the right, and 
 gallantly charged the enemy in their fortified position, 
 on their left flank, and drove them in confusion from 
 their works, and by a movement which was made on 
 the judgment and to him perilous discretion of Cap- 
 tain McKinley, who took the responsibility of giving 
 the command. 
 
 Had he been mistaken, and the movement resulted 
 disastrously, McKinley's career would probably have 
 been cut short at twenty years of age. 
 
Io6 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 As an evidence of McKinley's good judgment and 
 heroic conduct on this occasion, General Harris, 
 commanding the First division, and who received his 
 order to move to the same point previously to that 
 given to Duval, moved presumably at his own dis- 
 cretion, on another route, and got into a thick woods, 
 and did not reach the objective point until a half 
 hour after Duval had his division in position, but did 
 some heroic fighting after he got there, all the same. 
 
 It is said that when Captain McKinley reported 
 what he had done, the General said : 
 
 " That is all right, my boy, since the movement 
 turned out successfully ; but if it had resulted in dis- 
 aster, it would have been all wrong." 
 
 The gentleman who gave the above account of the 
 battle of Opequan to the writer said in regard to this 
 interview : " This reported interview I do not know 
 to be true, but as to the interview between Duval and 
 McKinley I know it to be a fact, as I was an eye and 
 ear witness to that, and the results following." 
 
 McKinley is a Knight Templar, a Knight of Py- 
 thias, and is also a Greek Fraternity man. His 
 entrance into Masonry was an incident of the war 
 and rather unique. McKinley was going through a 
 hospital with one of the regimental surgeons. He 
 noticed that the surgeon and some of the Confeder- 
 ate wounded were very fnendly to each other, and in 
 several instances the surgeon gave money to the 
 prisoners. There was an unmistakable bond of sym- 
 pathy between them. Young McKinley asked the 
 surgeon if he knew these prisoners. The surgeon 
 
WAR INCIDENTS. I07 
 
 told him they were brother Masons. Young McKin- 
 ley was so much impressed by the friendly feeling 
 existing between Confederate and Union Masons, 
 that he expressed the desire to join the Order. He 
 was made a Mason in Hiram lodge, Winchester, Va., 
 May I, 1865, receiving his degree at the hands of a 
 Confederate Master of the lodge. After he estab- 
 lished himself in Canton, he took some higher 
 degrees, but he had not a little difficulty in getting 
 the record of his initiation from the Winchester lodge. 
 That record is as follows : 
 
 William McKinley, Poland, Ohio ; entered May 
 I, passed May 2, raised May 3. 
 
 The only living witnesses of the initiation of Mc- 
 Kinley into the mysteries of Masonry are Worship- 
 ful Master J. B. T. Ree'd and George E. Jenkins, 
 S. D. 
 
 Sheridan in his memoirs alludes to the fact that he 
 met McKinley on the day of his famous ride from 
 Winchester. Sheridan says: "At Newton I was 
 obliged to make a circuit to the left, to get round the 
 village. I could not pass through it, the streets 
 were so crowded, but meeting on this detour 
 McKinley of Crook's staff, he spread the news of my 
 return through the motley throng there." 
 
 McKinley had just returned from planting the 
 battery of Colonel H. A. Dupont (the present United 
 States Senator-elect from Delaware) of the Fifth 
 United States Artillery — part of General Crook's 
 corps. McKinley had planted the battery by direc- 
 tion of General Crook. Returning from the perform- 
 
I08 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 ance of this duty, he met Sheridan very much in 
 the condition as described in Reid's poem. 
 
 McKinley immediately took Sheridan to Crook's 
 position behind a stone wall, where Crook's troops 
 had been halted, determined to retreat no further. 
 Sheridan held a hurried consultation with Crook, 
 and they retired to a red bam in the rear for further 
 consultation. Sheridan quickly determined to make 
 an attack and a charge. After he had returned to 
 the line, somebody suggested that he take off his 
 great coat and ride down the line. McKinley 
 was one of those who helped to take off Sheridan's 
 great coat. When the overcoat was removed, 
 it was seen that Sheridan had a brand new uni- 
 form which he had just got from Washington. 
 His epaulets were handed to him. McKinley has 
 frequently been heard to say that Sheridan never 
 looked more like a soldier than he did then . Sheridan 
 rode down the line amid the huzzas of the troops. 
 
CHAPTEI^ VIII. 
 
 RETURNS TO CIVIL LIFE. 
 
 McKinley Studies Law With Judge Charles E. Glidden— 
 Renews His Friendships in Poland — President of the 
 Everett Literary Club — The Albany Law School — 
 Admitted to the Bar and Settles at Canton — Elected 
 District Attorney of Stark County, 1869 — Becomes 
 Active in Politics — Elected to Congress in 1876. 
 
 McKINLEY, after his military career, returned 
 . to Ohio, and entered civil life at the age of 
 twenty-two. It was claimed by some that his four 
 years of service had given him a taste for army life, 
 and that but for his father's opposition he might have 
 entered the regular army, as General Carroll desired 
 him to do. On the other hand, those who knew him 
 best in the army declare that he was always a 
 candidate for literary and economic study. It is 
 even said that when the army was in winter quarters, 
 debating societies were organized and that McKinley 
 took part in these debates. However this may be, 
 on his return to Poland, McKinley decided to choose 
 civil life and began the study of law with Judge 
 Charles E. Glidden of Mahoning county, and, as has 
 been said, took a course at the' Albany, New York, 
 Law School, and in 1867 was admitted to the bar, 
 Financially, he was in no better condition to take up 
 
 109 
 
no LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 his studies on his return from the army than he was 
 before he enUsted. That money was made by men 
 who had filled the position of quartermaster to their 
 regiment is undoubtedly true, but the early teachings 
 of rectitude had inculcated principles of honor and 
 honesty that were never shaken by any temptation, 
 though it must have come to him at an age when 
 character is in its formative condition. 
 
 In talking of this side of McKinley's character, 
 an old friend of his said to the writer: "I vividly 
 recall being with McKinley, by his request, at Cum- 
 berland, Maryland, to settle up his accounts. He 
 was then on General Crook's staff. At a time pre- 
 ceding this incident, when quartermaster for his 
 regiment at Salt Pond Mountain, after the retreat 
 from Lynchburg, Virginia, they v/ere obliged to 
 destroy much of Uncle Sam's property in store to 
 keep it from falling into the hands of the Rebels. 
 General Hunter was in command. In this quiet and 
 confidential talk with McKinley, I shall always 
 
 remember just how he said : ' ' (calling me 
 
 by my Christian name) , 'this is where the quarter- 
 masters make their money, but I don't want a dollar 
 of Uncle Sam's that doesn't belong to me.' " 
 
 The accounts were faithfully and honestly returned, 
 and so they were, undoubtedly, in a majority of cases, 
 for our country was rich then, as it is to-day, should 
 occasion require it, in men of honor and integrity. 
 Such possessions are surely worth something more 
 than dollars and cents. 
 
 Though McKinley came home no better able finan- 
 
RETURNS TO CIVIL LIFE. Ill 
 
 cially to secure the education he was striving to 
 obtain than he was before he went to the war, he 
 had gathered a valuable experience. As he was for- 
 tunate when a boy in being surrounded by the influ- 
 ence of intellectual and good women, so he seems to 
 have made a happy selection in reading law with 
 Judge Glidden at Poland. Judge Glidden was a man 
 of high character, eloquent address, magnificent 
 presence, and apathetic tone of voice that was never 
 forgotten by those who listened to him in the days 
 when the veterans came back from the war. Refer- 
 ring to Judge Glidden, one who had frequently heard 
 him speak, says: " I have seldom heard McKinley 
 speak, but the passionate, earnest manner he uses 
 when he is stirred always recalls to memory the dear, 
 lost voice of the man at whose feet he then sat." 
 
 McKinley studied law for two years, at least for a 
 year and a half, under Judge Glidden. From all 
 accounts, he was a diligent student. He was up 
 early in the morning at his books, and stuck to them 
 steadily until midnight, and sometimes long after. 
 Of the society and manner of life at this time, we get 
 a glimpse from a friend, who says : " Poland cher- 
 ishes as one of her brightest memories the day the 
 Soldiers' monument was dedicated and McKinley 
 made the oration. Thus early was he at the fore- 
 front among Poland's sons, and she makes no mean 
 showing of many men of mark and high attain- 
 ments. Her school in early days ranked high as 
 an institution of learning. It was first under Meth- 
 odist control. Among the teachers at the time 
 
112 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY, 
 
 McKinley studied there was Dr Reno. I have heard 
 the story related how diligently they studied. A 
 relative of mine roomed across the street from 
 McKinley, and it was a strife between them who 
 should first show a light to begin the early r.iorning 
 study, as well as the night vigils and the midnight 
 oil." 
 
 It was at this time that McKinley was president of 
 the Everett Literary Society, and on this subject a 
 resident of Poland says : "A brother of one of the 
 members says he always gained the decision of the 
 judges in debate in those days — laughingly adding, 
 we knew it was folly for us to try to gain a decision 
 in our favor on the other side, unless we had our 
 ' best girls ' on the committee acting as judges. The 
 society was in its glory then. Young men had 
 spent many of the best years of their lives fighting 
 for their country, now they were obliged to catch up 
 the dropped stitches ; hastily but earnestly they 
 worked for intellectual attainments. Nothing ever 
 gives me such a heart throb as the thought of this 
 remnant of their generation taking up where they 
 had left off and beginning over again, while so many 
 of their brothers had been left forever behind, 
 quietly sleeping under a Southern sun. The young 
 girl students found it took every effbrt they could 
 summon to keep pace with these men in years and 
 experience aiming now for intellectual culture. The 
 Everett Literary Society was a good training school 
 in those memorable days. I doubt if McKinley ever 
 became more heated or earnest in the halls of Con- 
 
RETURNS TO CIVIL LIFE. II3 
 
 gress in the years that followed than he did then in 
 gaining decisions, winning laurels, defending our 
 rights, as he, our leader, led us on to victory. We 
 had contests before a committee of judges, and our 
 chapel hall would be crowded to witness the triumph 
 of one contesting side over the other in essay, 
 oration, recitation, debate, music, etc. All the ques- 
 tions ripe then were freely discussed. It is a pleas- 
 ure to bring it all back. The same earnest pleading 
 and oratorical finish, familiar to many people now, 
 were then only realized by a limited few." 
 
 As with so many of our great men about this time, 
 it became a struggle to know whether it was best for 
 McKinley to pursue his course of study to comple- 
 tion, or to stop and take up some immediate means 
 of earning a living. He had become impressed with 
 the necessity of entering business for the purpose of 
 helping the family, and letting his studies go. At 
 this point in his career, the self-sacrificing and far- 
 seeing sister stepped in and objected. When he was 
 thus tempted, this dster said, " No, let us make any 
 and every sacrifice that our brother may go on to the 
 end." In obedience to this decision, McKinley, 
 after learning what he could in the office of Judge 
 Glidden, completed his course in the Albany Law 
 School and began the practice of the law immediately 
 after being admitted to the bar, in Canton, Ohio. 
 This took place in the spring of 1867, when he bade 
 adieu to his old friends and devoted followers at 
 Poland and began his career at Canton. 
 
 Canton at that time must have been a place of 5,000 
 
114 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 or 6,000 inhabitants, and not a flourishing manufac- 
 turing center of 30,000 or 35,000, as at the present 
 day. This place was settled mostly by Pennsylvania 
 Dutch and by Germans from the old country. Many 
 of its inhabitants did not speak English. Of late 
 years, however, the rapid growth of the town has 
 been caused by the establishment of new mills and 
 factories. These industries have attracted immi- 
 gration, and the American element is much larger 
 there than it was twenty-eight years ago, when 
 McKinley first went there. The advocate of protec- 
 tion would not have to go much farther than his 
 own home town to find a good illustration of the 
 protection policy. The manufactures of this place, 
 as we have seen, increased its population in twenty- 
 five years four- fold. 
 
 Nearly all -these improvements and this growth are 
 traceable directly to protection. Canton is located 
 at the junction of the two forks of the Nimishillon 
 Creek, a tributary to the Muskingum. It was laid 
 out in 1806 by Bezaleel Wells of Steubenville. It is 
 compactly built up for a city of its size. Like many 
 ether Ohio towns of its class, it has an open square 
 in the center from which the streets are laid out in 
 checker-board fashion. It is on three railroads, one 
 of which, the Pennsylvania, is a trunk line. Its 
 manufactures are diversified, as much so as any other 
 city in the country, audits people have the reputation 
 of being industrious and thrifty. 
 
 After Poland, with its one street, Canton at that 
 time undoubtedly seemed to the young soldier just 
 
hJTEU 150(5 111- .\. '.. nAMI[.To\. 
 
 m'kinley ^vhen at the ai.banv law 
 sciiooi,, age twentv-two. 
 
HENRY CLAY EVANS. 
 
RETURNS TO CIVIL LIFE. 
 
 "5 
 
 beginning the practice of the law, a considerable 
 town. He began the earnest work of a permanent 
 career without much of any influence excepting the 
 prestige that his good reputation as a student and 
 his career in the army would naturally give him. 
 That he was highly regarded from his advent in Can- 
 ton is evident from the fact that he had hardly been 
 there more than two years before he was accorded the 
 honor of the Republican nomination for prosecuting 
 attorney. From this it is fair to judge that McKin- 
 ley took an active part in the practical politics of his 
 country at once on casting his lot with the people of 
 Canton. At any rate, he won almost immediate 
 recognition. There is another side to the story oi 
 his first nomination, but whichever version is 
 accepted, it does not change the fact of McKinley's 
 popularity with the people. It is said by some that 
 as Stark county was hopelessly Democratic at the 
 time, the Republican nomination was tendered this 
 young lawyer as an empty honor. McKinley could 
 not have looked at it in this light, for he at once 
 took the stump, entered vigorously into the political 
 campaign, and, to the great surprise of those who 
 had regarded his fight as hopeless, was elected. In 
 this contest he first evinced his superb ability as a 
 successful campaigner. Within three years he had 
 won by his own energy an office which is usually 
 regarded as a prize to a young attorney. He served 
 as district attorney of Stark county for two years 
 and was renominated. This time the enemy was on 
 the alert and compassed his defeat, but it was never- 
 
Il6 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 theless a victory, for he kept the majority of his 
 opponent down to 45 . These two incidents attracted 
 the attention of the people and as the town of Can- 
 ton increased in importance, McKinley's law practice 
 'mproved. 
 
 This was the beginning of McKinley's political 
 career. After these two contests he generally took 
 an active part in the politics of the county, and soon 
 gained some reputation as a stump speaker in the 
 district which is known as the Eighteenth. 
 
 During this period and until his election to Con- 
 gress in 1876, McKinley gave considerable attention 
 to the law, and built up a lucrative practice. He 
 was regarded as a man of remarkable promise in 
 the legal profession. As a persuasive advocate before 
 a jury, he had no superior, certainly not in Canton, 
 and his thorough preparation and eloquence won 
 many important cases. In 1871 he was married to 
 Miss Ida Saxton, but this event and his domestic life 
 at Canton will be referred to further along. McKin- 
 ley was well equipped as a lawyer, and his tremen- 
 dous capacity for work and willingness to prepare 
 thoroughly for cases, together with his aptitude in 
 speaking, would have enabled him without doubt to 
 win recognition as an eminent jurist had he not drifted 
 into politics and then into statesmanship. 
 
 McKinley has really had two homes in Canton, 
 the first one the modest home in which he passed the 
 first years of his wedded life, and which is to be re- 
 fitted and furnished for occupancy on his retirement 
 from the ofiice of Governor of Ohio, in January, 
 
RETURNS TO CIVIL LIFE. II 7 
 
 1896. The other, the old Saxton homestead, has 
 been the Canton home of McKinley since his active 
 entrance into politics. Whenever he has returned 
 to Canton he has stopped at this house, which was 
 the home of Mrs. McKinley' s father and grand- 
 father. He still has a study in the old place. It is 
 a room under the mansard roof, up three flights of 
 stairs, as quiet and secluded as any one could 
 wish. Here are still to be found, as he left them, 
 volumes of the Congressional Record, papers and 
 documents which he has had little occasion to use 
 during his four years in the Governorship. The 
 homestead is a large brick structure. The main 
 part is quite old, but additions and changes have 
 kept it well up to date. It is located on the princi- 
 pal business thoroughfare of the city, just south of 
 the public square. Until recently it possesssd a spa- 
 cious lawn, but commercial encroachments have 
 narrowed this until there is little more than a door- 
 yard. 
 
 One of the chief features of the building is the 
 large portico extending around two of its sides. 
 The one on the north side was erected on the occa- 
 sion of the soldiers' reunion in 1880, when a large 
 company of the most prominent men in the country 
 were entertained by McKinley. Since then many 
 other distinguished men have shared the hospitality 
 of the home and enjoyed a cigar on the spacious 
 porch. 
 
 Among the men who have been entertained there 
 are President Hayes, President Garfield, James G. 
 
Il8 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KIULEY. 
 
 Blaine, Colonel Fred Grant, Governor Foster, Gov- 
 ernor Foraker, General Sherman, Senator Sherman, 
 John A. Logan, Hannibal Hamlin and others. A 
 few days ago, Joe Jefferson, the actor, was re- 
 ceived by Governor and Mrs. McKinley and given 
 a breakfast in the historic house , which is one of the 
 oldest and certainly most noted in Canton. 
 
 It was in 1876 that McKinley announced himself 
 a candidate for Congress. The sitting Congressman, 
 L. D. Woodworth of Mahoning, Judge Frease and 
 several other Republicans, three of them from his 
 own county, were opponents for the nomination. In 
 Stark county, delegates to the Congressional con- 
 vention were elected by a popular vote. McKinley 
 carried every township in the county but one, and 
 that had but a single delegate. In the other coun- 
 ties he was almost equally successful, and the 
 primaries gave him a majority of the delegates in the 
 district. He was nominated on the first ballot over 
 all the other candidates. 
 
 The sudden rise into prominence and popularity of 
 this young man naturally gave the old politicians 
 something akin to a shock. Here was a new and 
 unknown factor in the politics of the district. He 
 had been accorded an opportunity which to them had 
 seemed hopeless, had accepted, and won recognition. 
 It was soon discovered that McKinley had not only 
 come into the politics of that district, but that he had 
 come to stay. For fourteen years after this event, he 
 represented the district of which Stark county was a 
 part ; not the same district, for the Democrats did not 
 
3PYR1GHT 189t;i;\ .N . i.. . HAMILTON. 
 
 McKlNI^EY IX lS6^. 
 
 ■OPVRICHT lb96 BY N, G. HAMILTO.N 
 
 McKlNLEY IN lS66. 
 
 COrVBIOHT 1896 BY N. (5. HAMILTON 
 
 ISIcKlNLKY WHEN HE ENTERED CoNGKESS. 1S77. 
 
W. I). IIRADLEV, (.DVERMlK OF KENTUCKY. 
 
RETURNS TO CIVIL, LIFE. II g 
 
 relish the prominent part he was playing in Congress 
 and gerrymandered him three times, the last time 
 successfully, so far as the temporary defeat of Mc- 
 Kinley was concerned ; but most unsuccessful in 
 keeping him out of politics. The first attempt to 
 change his district was made as early as 1878 by the 
 Democrats, who, by gerrymandering the county, put 
 him into a district that had i ,800 Democratic major- 
 ity. McKinley carried it by 1,300 votes. In 1882 
 he had another narrow escape. This was the inci- 
 dent referred to by Mr. Springer of Illinois in debate, 
 in which McKinley made such a striking reply, 
 which will be found elsewhere in this volume. It 
 will be recalled that 1882 was a bad year for Repub- 
 licans. The New York State convention got into a 
 great quarrel in consequence of President Arthur 
 using his influence to nominate his Secretary of the 
 Treasury, Judge Folger, for the Governorship of that 
 State. The party was also torn up in Pennsylvania. 
 Grover Qeveland was elected Governor over Judge 
 Folger by a tremendous majority, and the gallant 
 General Beaver was defeated in Pennsylvania by a 
 then comparatively unknown man. Governor Patti- 
 son. That year McKinley's original district had 
 been restored, and he was seeking a " third term," 
 something not accorded its representatives. He had 
 strohg opposition for the nomination, some of it 
 rankling until the election, and that, with the pop- 
 ular discontent temporarily prevailing, brought his 
 majority down to eight votes. About this there is 
 told a story. After the election McKinley went to 
 
I20 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Washington and called on Secretary Folger at the 
 Treasury Department. Folger, as has been said, had 
 just been defeated for Governor of New York by 
 Grover Cleveland, by the somewhat unwieldy major- 
 ity of 192,000 votes. To him McKinley complained 
 of the result in his district. "My majority was 
 only eight votes," he said. "Young man," said 
 Secretary Folger, " let me tell you that eight votes 
 is a mighty big Republican majority this fall." 
 
 In 1884 they tried a similar gerrymander, but Mc- 
 Kinley was not to be downed, and made 1,500 ma- 
 jority. Finally in 1890, the year he had placed upon 
 the statute books of the Nation the famous ' ' McKin- 
 ley bill," partisan intolerance had its most iniquitous 
 expression. Stark county was put in a district with 
 Wayne, Medina and Holmes. One year before 
 these counties had given Campbell, Democrat, 2,900 
 majority for Governor. McKinley made the fight, 
 and against ex-Lieutenant Governor Warwick, a 
 prominent and popular Democrat. Not, perhaps, 
 since Abraham Lincoln contested Illinois for the 
 Senatorship against Stephen A. Douglass, has there 
 been a — in one sense — local political struggle which 
 the whole country watched with such intense inter- 
 est. It was indeed a battle royal. Some curious 
 schemes were resorted to by his opponents. The 
 cry that the McKinley bill had raised the price of 
 necessaries was harped upon incessantly. This cam- 
 paign is referred to at some length elsewhere, and it 
 is only necessary to say here that despite the heavy 
 odds against him, and such electioneering methods as 
 
RETURNS TO CIVIL, LIFE. 121 
 
 to say the least were unfair, McKinley was beaten by 
 363 votes, and that on the fullest vote ever cast in 
 the district. He polled 2,500 more than had been 
 given Harrison in 1888. This defeat in 1890 took 
 him out of Congress, but, as we shall see, it made 
 him Governor of Ohio in 1891. 
 
 While in Congress, Mr. McKinley served on the 
 Committee of the Revision of Laws, the Judiciary 
 Committee, the Committee of Expenditures of the 
 Postoffice Department, and the Committee on Rules ; 
 and when General Garfield was nominated for the 
 Presidency, McKinley was assigned to the Commit- 
 tee on Ways and Means in his place, and he con- 
 tinued to serve on the last named committee until 
 the end of his Congressional career, being chairman 
 of that committee during the last Congress, and the 
 author of the famous tariff bill which bears his 
 name. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MARRIAGE— MRS. McKlNLEY. 
 
 Wedded to Miss Saxton — Remarkable Case of Editorial 
 Longevity — A Charming Bank Cashier — Housekeep- 
 ing in Canton — A Terrible Bereavement — Social Life 
 in Washington — McKinley's Domestic Life — Mrs. 
 McKinley's Personality — A Devoted Couple — Looking 
 Forward to Rest and Comfort at Canton. 
 
 MRS. McKINLEY is an Ohio woman, born and 
 bred. Of good family on both sides, she has 
 the distinction of being a granddaughter of John 
 Saxton, a man of note and scholarship, who for 
 sixty years was the editor of the 0/iio RefosUory. 
 He founded that paper in March, 1815. Waterloo 
 was fought in June, and was given to his readers as 
 the latest news by Mr. Saxton in September of that 
 year. In September, 1870, he was still at his post 
 to publish the sunender at Sedan. This curious 
 measure of editorial longevity, the fall of the two 
 Napoleons, was feelingly commented on by Horace 
 Greelly, who was a warm personal friend of Mr. Sax- 
 ton ; also by the editor of the Chicago Tribune, 
 Joseph Medill, a former citizen of Canton. 
 
 The late James A. Saxton, the father of Mrs. 
 McKinley, was a man of affairs, a banker and capi- 
 talist. Born and married in Canton, it was in the 
 
 123 
 
MRS. M'KINLEY in 1S9G. 
 
MARRIAGE MRS. M'KINLEY. I 23 
 
 beautiful homestead of his own creation that his 
 daughter Ida was bom and passed her happy young 
 life. Mrs. Saxton, a woman of cultivation and 
 sound good sense, superintended her daughter's edu- 
 cation until the time came when, in order to procure 
 for her greater advantages, she was sent away to 
 school, first in Cleveland, and later to the Brook 
 Hall Seminary of Media, Pennsylvania, then under 
 the charge of Miss Eastman, a well-known educator 
 of that time, where she remained for three years. 
 In both schools Miss Saxton endeared herself to 
 teachers and pupils, and the friendships then formed 
 have retained their warmth to the present day. 
 
 In 1869, with her sister, now Mrs. Barber of Can- 
 ton, and a party of friends, Miss Saxton visited the 
 capitals of Europe, and returned after a tour of some 
 length to begin life in earnest. 
 
 A career of undisputed belleship offered itself to the 
 banker's daughter, who was remarkable not only for 
 her personal charms and attractive manner, but had 
 just that dash of mischief bordering on coquetry that 
 to men is irresistible, while her own sex loved her 
 for her generous warm-heartedness and quick 
 courtesy that in a girl of her social position were 
 doubly attractive. 
 
 It happened, however, that Mr. Saxton was a man 
 of opinions, and some of them — notably those to do 
 with women — were quite abreast of our own day. 
 He beheved that marriage should be entirely a matter 
 of choice ; that every woman should be so trained to 
 meet life that under necessity she could battle for and 
 
124 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLBY. 
 
 buy her own bread, and not, in the name of matri- 
 mony, sell herself for it. Further than that, his love 
 for his daughter was so pi-ofound and passionate that 
 he could not endure the thought of her marriage in 
 any event. And this was not from that sort of paren- 
 tal selfishness that demands the sacrifice of a daugh- 
 ter's life to a parent's whim, but because his concep- 
 tion of marriage was so high and ideal, that he 
 dreaded the possibility of one of those terrible mis- 
 takes that might destroy the peace so dear to him. 
 
 Mr. Saxton himself was one of those fortunate men 
 who, having met the right woman, knew it, married 
 her, and continued to know it all the days of his life. 
 Having realized his own ideals of that rare happiness, 
 the flower of perfect union, he had a fear almost 
 morbid that his daughter might listen to the voice of 
 any wooer. Like somewise fathers before him, he 
 devised a little scheme that with a single stroke would 
 put his theories in practice and divert the bright wits 
 of his daughter into channels in which suitors would 
 not figure. 
 
 Without more ado. Miss Ida Saxton was intro- 
 duced into her father's bank, and after a brief and 
 thorough training, put in the responsible place 
 of cashier, where there was little doubt her pretty 
 head cast such a halo round the dingy square window 
 at which she presided, that more than one young 
 man forgot whether he had come to cash a check or 
 make a deposit, and it is said a strange confusion 
 sometimes existed between bouquets and bills. At 
 any rate the young lady developed under her father's 
 
MARRIAGE MRS. M'KINLEY. I25 
 
 tuition into a thorough and practical woman of busi- 
 ness, and for that experience, so useful to her later 
 in life, she has never ceased to be grateful. 
 
 To go back a little. At the time when young 
 McKinley was fighting for the Union, Miss Ida Sax- 
 ton was pursuing her studies at home, and after 
 school hours her time was spent in scraping lint and 
 making bandages for our wounded soldiers, and so 
 all unconsciously the two began their life's work for 
 their country together. When she returned from 
 foreign travel, it was to find McKinley fairly started 
 in his legal career. 
 
 Then commenced the first and only romance of a 
 lifetime. The young lawyer vanquished an array 
 of rivals and eventually put the cashier's window 
 quite out of countenance, and won a tribute then, 
 than which none greater has ever been paid him. 
 
 ' ' You are the only man I have ever known to 
 whom I would entrust my daughter," said Mr. 
 Saxton, and there were tears in his eyes, but he 
 meant what he said. 
 
 So it came about that on January 25, 187 1, in the 
 quaint old Presbyterian church built almost entirely 
 by her grandmother, and of which Miss Saxton was 
 a member, and for several years a teacher in its 
 Sunday-school, she was married to William McKin- 
 ley. Dr. Buckingham of the Presbyterian church 
 and Dr. Eridsley of the Methodist church officiated 
 on the occasion. 
 
 • The wedding was the first ceremony of any kind 
 to take place in the church, which overflowed with a 
 
126 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 friendly throng anxious to bid God-speed to the 
 handsome and brilliant young pair. After her mar- 
 riage, Mrs. McKinley became a communicant of the 
 Methodist church, of which her husband has been a 
 life-long member. 
 
 Now began the first experience of housekeeping in 
 that cosy and pretty home in Canton that has since 
 become historic. Here the young husband could say 
 with Goethe : "A hearth of one's own and a good 
 wife are worth gold and pearls." 
 
 Here were born to them two lovely little children, 
 both girls, and christened Kate and Ida, the former 
 having come as a Christmas gift from Heaven in 
 1871. 
 
 Just previous to the birth of the second child, Mrs. 
 McKinley was called upon to face the first great 
 sorrow of her life, in the death of her dearly beloved 
 mother. From this blow she never quite recovered, 
 and was still suffering with prostration when six 
 months later the little flower-like Ida faded away, to 
 be soon followed by Katie, who had reached that 
 charming age between three and four years, and 
 whose beauty and brightness were a source not only 
 of happiness but of pride to both parents. 
 
 After the loss of their children. Major and Mrs. 
 McKinley left their own house and went for a time 
 to the cheerful old homestead that had been Mrs. 
 McKinley's home in girlhood. There they resided 
 until Major McKinley's departure to take his seat in 
 .Congress, in 1877, after which and for the next 
 
MARRIAGE MRS. M'KINLEy. 12*J 
 
 fourteen years they were of course obliged to spend 
 most of their time in Washington. 
 
 Never a robust woman, Mrs. McKinley was so 
 physically overcome from these terrible bereavements 
 that from that time to this she has never known the 
 happiness of perfect health. When the average 
 woman is bereft of her children and her strength, is 
 exiled from society and compelled to deny herself 
 all those little pleasures that sweeten life, she is apt 
 to degenerate into an indolent and selfish invalid, 
 whose existence is as burdensome to others as to her- 
 self. 
 
 Certainly there is no severer test of a woman's 
 mettle than that of physical disability, but it is one 
 which Mrs. McKinley has borne with gentle heroism. 
 She has never allowed her health for a moment to 
 interfere with her husband's career. The sacrifices 
 he has made to be with and near her have been vol- 
 untary, and repaid on her part by a devotion which, 
 rendering her indifferent to suffering and exertion, 
 have enabled her to follow him wherever exacting 
 duties have demanded his presence. 
 
 A sensitive, nervous, high-strung woman, Mrs. 
 McKinley has the extraordinary power of endurance 
 that goes with her temperament. Though unable * 
 to be present at public meetings or formal festivities 
 of any sort, she travels North, East, South and 
 W^st, thousands and thousand of miles, in order to 
 be with her husband, at all times cheerful, ready to 
 be amused, quick to appreciate the kindness and 
 
128 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 consideration her presence commands, and able to 
 make her husband's friends her own. 
 
 During the fourteen years in which McKinley 
 represented the Eighteenth Ohio District in Congress, 
 Mrs. McKinley' s life was naturally of a quiet and 
 retired character, but notwithstanding she received 
 a great many of her husband's friends, and in a quiet 
 y^ay did a good deal for the enjoyment of other 
 people, though her lack of strength and the fact of 
 their frequent change of residence deterred her from 
 any attempt at housekeeping. 
 
 Through President Hayes's administration, Mrs. 
 McKinley was Mrs. Hayes's most intimate friend. 
 In Mrs. Hayes's absences, she frequently presided 
 at the White House. She was ever able to fulfill the 
 social duties of her position, and was considered one 
 of the belles of the administration, and the pictures 
 taken of her at that time certainly justify the admir- 
 ation she excited. 
 
 Mrs. McKinley was closely associated with the 
 one romance that took place in the President's fam- 
 ily during the four years of his administration. This 
 was the marriage of General Russell Hastings to 
 Miss Piatt, the very attractive niece of Mrs. Hayes, 
 lind a member of the President's family. General 
 Hastings was an old and dear army friend of Major 
 McKinley's, who had served in the same regiment 
 with him during the war, and they had often tented 
 together. 
 
 During the winter of 1878-9 General Hastings vis- 
 ited Washington, and it was then he became 
 
MARRIAGE MRS. M'KINLEY. I29 
 
 acquainted with Miss Piatt, who was a great friend 
 of Mrs. McKinley. It was in her pleasant drawing- 
 room at the Ebbitt House that the General had an 
 opportunity to evince that devotion which the pub- 
 licity of the White House would have made an alarm- 
 ing ordeal to a young man. The wedding of Gen- 
 eral Hastings and Miss Piatt took place in the White 
 House, and of course was a social event of import- 
 ance. 
 
 During the last few years Mrs. McKinley' s health 
 has greatly improved and, though unable to take 
 active exercise, she no longer finds it necessary to 
 seclude herself, but drives out daily, does her own 
 shopping, receives visitors, and is able to take part 
 in social pleasures of a quiet character. 
 
 Though years and cruel bodily anguish have left 
 their traces, Mrs. McKinley' s personality has lost 
 little of its charm. She has one advantage that time 
 never destroys — a remarkably well-shaped head, 
 small and admirably proportioned ; in short, fine 
 enough for a medallion — a milliner would say a good 
 bonnet head. It may be said that Mrs. McKinley 
 always wears pretty bonnets, in the choosing of which 
 the Governor takes a profound interest. 
 
 For greater comfort, the Governor's wife has had 
 her thick brown hair cut close, but it is not unbecom- 
 ing, and clusters over her white forehead in short 
 locks that wave into a harmonious frame for a face, 
 easier pictured in water colors than words. There 
 is that soft transparency of coloring which, with the 
 stamp of much suffering, imparts an almost intensity 
 
13° LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 of refinement to the features. The straight and deli- 
 cate nose, with its fine nostrils, rises well between the 
 deep blue eyes, over-arched by brows dark and dis- 
 tinctively drawn, and underscored by dark shadows 
 that enhance their size and impart a suggestion of 
 langour. 
 
 Mrs. McKinley has a firm little chin which adds 
 character to her face, and a very beautiful smile, one 
 of the kind that illumines the eyes and betrays sweet- 
 ness of disposition. She cares little for dress, and 
 her toilets are marked only by a simplicity and love 
 of color ; but she has a true feminine fondness for 
 the beautiful, and is a connoisseur in lace, of which 
 she has an exquisite and rare collection, the nucleus 
 of which was formed when, as a young girl, she 
 traveled for some time abroad. 
 
 Mrs. McKinley devotes a great deal of her time to 
 making pretty things for the comfort and amusement 
 of children, and her crocheted slippers — the dain- 
 tiest, warmest little foot-coverings ever devised, are 
 famous throughout the country. Indeed, more than 
 three thousand pairs of these slippers have found 
 their way into the hospitals, where weary feet delight 
 in them. 
 
 The Governor's wife does a great deal of news- 
 paper reading, and takes, as might be expected, a 
 profound interest in all that is printed in regard to 
 her husband. When she is well enough to go out, 
 the theater affords an attraction that, in common with 
 the Governor, she thoroughly enjoys. Their great- 
 est delight, when at home, is to be found in the com- 
 
MARRIAGE ^MRS. M'KINLEY. 13! 
 
 panionship of little children, for whom the Governor 
 and his wife both evince an affection as strong as it 
 is touching, and it may truly be said that they have 
 little friends in every part of the country, to whom 
 their arrival is always a source of interest and child- 
 ish joy. 
 
 In regard to Governor McKinley's domestic life, 
 perhaps the most pathetic thing to be said is that 
 there has been so little of it. On January 25, 1896, 
 Governor McKinley and his wife will celebrate their 
 silver wedding, in the same modest house in Canton, 
 in which a quarter of a century before they began 
 life together. 
 
 Out of these twenty-five years of success and sor- 
 row, hard work and sweet triumph, over twenty 
 have been devoted by the Governor to the public 
 service, a service that has demanded constant change 
 of residence and surroundings, making the privacy 
 and comfort of a home well nigh impossible. To a 
 man whose tastes and habits qualify him for the quiet 
 and enjoyment of home life, this has been, no doubt, 
 a continual source of regret, the more so that Mrs. 
 McKinley's fragile health has made it imperative 
 that she should lead as tranquil and restful a life as 
 possible. But now, whatever the future may have in 
 store for him, the friends of Governor McKinley 
 will rejoice in the rest and quiet that is his for the 
 present, and in the rene\val of that beautiful moon 
 that for these married lovers has never waned. All 
 James Saxton's hopes have been realized, for it may 
 be said of his daughter, " She is a wife who is the 
 soul of her husband." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 A BLAINE DELEGATE IN 1884= 
 
 * 
 
 McKinley Becomes a National Character — A Tumultuous 
 State Convention at Cleveland — ^The Chairman vs. the 
 Delegates — McKinley Forced to the Front — The Mas- 
 ter-Spirit at Chicago Leads the Blaine Forces — The 
 Challenge — Accepted and the Victory Won. 
 
 THE distinction which Governor McKinley enjoys 
 as a public man may be said to date from 1884, 
 although his great ability had been generally recog- 
 nized long before this, and he had already achieved 
 a wide reputation throughout the country as a cam- 
 paign speaker. But it was in 1884 that observers 
 began to realize that a new star had arisen in the 
 National political firmament. He did not spring sud- 
 denly before the public gaze ; his progress to the 
 front had been gradual but sure ; he had already 
 become recognized as one of the most popular 
 expounders of the doctrine of protection. Judge 
 Kelley of Pennsylvania conceded that the day was 
 not far distant when his leadership would be sup- 
 planted by that of the capable and sturdy young 
 Republican of the Buckeye State. Judge Kelley 
 often remarked to friends that there was no man 
 upon whose shoulders he would rather let his mantle 
 fall than William McKinley. 
 
 133 
 
TAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
A BLAINE DELEGATE IN 1 884. 133 
 
 It was at the great National convention of 1884, 
 at Chicago, at which McKinley's claims to leader- 
 ship — or, at least, to be considered as one of the 
 prominent men of the Nation in the councils of his 
 party — came to be recognized. He was a " Blaine 
 man " at this convention. His position was well 
 understood among his friends, and it was well 
 defined by the developments of the National conven- 
 tion. In being for Mr. Blaine he but represented 
 the overwhelming sentiment of the Mahoning valley ; 
 and yet, while he favored Mr. Blaine, he had the 
 kindliest feeling for the illustrious Senator from 
 Ohio, John Sherman, who at that convention was 
 also a candidate for the Presidency. 
 
 McKinley was a strong advocate of the sentiment 
 that all legitimate means should be sought to nomi- 
 nate Blaine, but if that was impossible, Ohio should 
 cast a solid vote for Mr. Sherman. There is the 
 best of reason for saying that Mr. Sherman respected 
 ' McKinley's attitude, and that from first to last the 
 Senator had confidence in McKinley's integrity and 
 good faith. It is noteworthy that in this contest 
 Hon. J. B. Foraker took the same position with 
 regard to John Sherman as Major McKinley did with 
 regard to Blaine. 
 
 The events in Ohio leading up to the National con- 
 vention are full of interest. Ohio was proud of John 
 Sherman, and there was a universal belief in the 
 thorough fitness of the Senator to fill the exalted 
 position of President of the United States ; but the 
 intense affection for Garfield in the State and particu- 
 
134 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 larly in the "Western Reserve," had been trans- 
 ferred to Blaine. Sherman's adherents always 
 recognized the force of this sentiment for Blaine, and 
 at the State convention the Sherman leaders adopted 
 a conciliatory policy. 
 
 The Ohio Republican State convention was held 
 at Cleveland in April, 1884. McKinley came to 
 Cleveland fresh from a tariff debate. He was made 
 permanent chairman of the convention. The splen- 
 didly efficient and impartial manner in which he 
 performed his duties was much commented upon 
 not only in Ohio but throughout the country. The 
 Blaine following manifestly were in the majority at 
 the convention, but the Sherman men had the best 
 organization, and most of the " old-time" politicians 
 of the State were pronouncedly in favor of the Ohio 
 Senator. McKinley' s speech as chairman was brief, 
 but was a skillful presentation of the issues of the 
 day. After hurriedly sketching the grand record of 
 the Republican party, he said : 
 
 The difference between the Republican and Demo- 
 cratic party is this — the Republican party never made a 
 promise which it has not kept, and the Democratic party 
 never made a promise which it has kept. Not in its 
 whole history, commencing from 1856 down to the 
 present hour, is there a single promise made by the 
 Republican party to the people that it has not faithfully 
 kept. And then it is not a laggard party. If there is 
 any one thing the people like, it is courage. They 
 neither like laggards nor do they like shams ; and the 
 Democratic party is the embodiment of both. 
 
A BLAINE DELEGATE IN 1884. I35 
 
 The great struggle at the convention was on the 
 election of four delegates-at-large. Although it was 
 well understood that Foraker's first choice was Sher- 
 man, the Blaine men generously acquiesced in his 
 election by acclamation as a delegate-at-large — a 
 deserved compliment earned by the magnificent 
 although unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign he 
 had made a year before. A number of names were 
 then presented for the remaining three places. Judge 
 King of Mahoning insisted that as the Blaine men 
 had agreed to elect Judge Foraker by acclamation, 
 they were entitled to the same compliment, and he 
 presented the name of the "Blind Man Eloquent," 
 the venerable Judge West of Bellefontaine, who was 
 afterwards selected to put Mr. Blaine in nomination 
 at Chicago. Motions were made for the selection of 
 other gentlemen by acclamation. Great confusion 
 reigned. Mr. King of Muskingum county mounted 
 a chair and created a sensation by nominating 
 McKinley as the second delegate-at-large. 
 
 McKinley's conduct was characteristic of the 
 man, and illustrated his unselfishness and his good 
 faith. From his place as presiding officer he thanked 
 the convention very sincerely, but he said that he 
 could not allow his name to go before the conven- 
 tion at that time, as he had assured some gentlemen 
 who were candidates that he would not permit his 
 name to be used as long as their names were before 
 the convention. The uproar became tumultuous. 
 The great majority of the convention were plainly 
 in favor of the election of McKinley by acclama- 
 
136 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 tion, although there was some objection, Mr. King 
 of Muskingum county assuming the prerogatives of 
 the Chair, put the motion and declared it carried, 
 McKinley all the time pounding on the table with 
 his gavel and protesting. McKinley ruled that the 
 motion had not prevailed. General Grosvenor of 
 Athens, amid great excitement, mounted the plat- 
 form and the second time put the motion and declared 
 it carried. 
 
 Again McKinley ruled that the motion had not 
 prevailed and insisted on the vote being taken on the 
 names already submitted, excluding his own. A 
 delegate on the floor appealed from the decision of 
 the Chair in his ruling that General Grosvenor' s mo- 
 tion had not prevailed and was out of order. The 
 decision of the Chair was not sustained, but in spite 
 of that McKinley stubbornly refused to acknowledge 
 the validity of General Grosvenor' s motion and the 
 action of the convention thereon. Once more Gen- 
 eral Grosvenor arose — this time to a point of order. 
 He insisted that McKinley had been elected by 
 acclamation, and that the convention had now to 
 elect two more delegates-at-large. 
 
 The Chair once more overruled the point of order 
 and declared that he had not been elected, and that 
 the business before the convention was the election 
 of three delegates-at-large from among the names 
 submitted, excepting his owu. A delegate appealed 
 from the decision of the Chair. McKinley begged 
 the convention to sustain him in his position. Amid 
 tumultuous confusion, the Chair ordered the balloting 
 
A BLAINB DELEGATE IN 1884. 137 
 
 to go on. A Western Reserve delegate urged all 
 the Blaine men to vote for Judge West. Another 
 delegate asked the convention to consider McKinley 
 as having been put in nomination, despite his declina- 
 tion. 
 
 At this there were thunders of cheers. The clerk 
 proceeded to call the roll. From early in the ballot- 
 ing it was evident that McKinley was bound to be 
 elected. Counties that had favored other candidates 
 abandoned them and voted solidly for McKinley. 
 Nearly all the "Blaine counties" voted in a lump for 
 McKinley. Judge King moved that McKinley be 
 nominated by acclamation. Cries of "no" came 
 from several counties having candidates, but nothing 
 could turn the torrent which was carrying McKinley. 
 After between three and four hundred votes had been 
 recorded for McKinley, and it was recognized 
 by everybody that he had already been elected, 
 Judge West moved that McKinley be elected by 
 acclamation. Further contest was stopped, and 
 McKinley was elected a delegate-at-large by accla- 
 mation. 
 
 McKinley bore himself modestly at Chicago, but 
 his great quality of leadership came to the front by 
 force of circumstances. He only spoke two or three 
 times from the floor of the convention, but every 
 time he arose he attracted attention, and the influence 
 he exerted was most remarkable. At the critical 
 time during the convention his was the voice that 
 rallied the Blaine forces. Three ballots had been 
 taken. Blaine gained on each ballot. The final and 
 
138 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 desperate effort was made by the other candidates 
 under the leadership of the dashing Foraker in Sher- 
 man's behalf for an adjournment. Curtis, the great 
 editor of Harfer's Weekly, and Theodore Roosevelt 
 were on chairs frantically yelling. Stewart of Penn- 
 sylvania, and Carr of California, in their zeal for 
 Blaine, were trying to outdo Curtis and Roosevelt in 
 voice. The massive and phlegmatic Butcher of New 
 York, one of Arthur's generals, was thundering 
 away in the effort to catch the ear and eye of the 
 chairman of the convention. General Henderson of 
 Missouri. There was pandemonium, and there 
 threatened to be a panic. 
 
 In the midst of the storm McKinley arose. 
 Although only of medium stature, his form seemed to 
 tower above those around him. His face was pale 
 and looked like a piece of marble statuary, except 
 that his eyes fairly blazed. Before he had uttered 
 two words, his voice could be heard. He waved his 
 hand and the tumult ceased. No mistake about it — 
 he was the master-spirit of that convention. Calm 
 and like granite he stood. His short speech was 
 carried in clarion tones all over the immense hall. 
 As a friend of Blaine, he said, he recognized and 
 respected the rights of friends of other candidates to 
 secure an adjournment, and said: "Let the motion 
 be put and let everybody favorable to the nomination 
 of Blaine vote against it." 
 
 That settled it. Under McKinley's leadership, 
 assumed spontaneously and boldly, the Blaine men 
 accepted the challenge, the motion for an adjourn- 
 
A BLAINE DELEGATE IN 1 884. 1 39 
 
 ment was voted down, and the victory was won. 
 It was not defeat that McKinley turned aside — the 
 situation was not so serious as that; but in a crisis, 
 when the Blaine men were getting demoraHzed and 
 the convention was turning itself into a mob, McKin- 
 ley leaping to the front, by one command martialed 
 the Blaine men into line, and pressed them forward 
 to their already sighted victory. Two men above 
 all others made their mark at that great convention, 
 and they were both Ohio men — McKinley and 
 Foraker. 
 
 McKinley was chairman of the Committee on Res- 
 olutions. He received an ovation when he appeared 
 to read the platform. Few men could have read it 
 as he did, his enunciation being perfect and his 
 sonorous voice carrying every word to the limits of 
 the hall. The resolutions had been unanimously 
 adopted by the committee. Following are the planks 
 on the tariff and financial questions : 
 
 It is the first duty of a good government to protect 
 the rights and promote the interests of its own people. 
 
 The largest diversity of industry is most productive of 
 general prosperity, and of the comfort and independence 
 of the people. 
 
 We, therefore, demand that the imposition of duties on 
 foreign imports shall be made, not " for revenue only," 
 but that in raising the requisite revenues for the Govern- 
 ment, such duties shall be levied as to afford security to 
 our diversified industries, and protection to the rights 
 and wages of the laborer ; to the end that active and 
 intelHgent laborer, as well as capital, may have its just 
 
140 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 reward, ■ and the laboring man his full share in the 
 National prosperity. 
 
 Against the so-called economic system of the Demo- 
 cratic party, which would degrade our labor to the for- 
 eign standard, we enter our earnest protest. 
 
 The Democratic party has failed completely to relieve 
 the people of its burden of unnecessary taxation by a 
 wise reduction of the surplus. 
 
 The Republican party pledges itself to correct the 
 inequalities of the tariff, and to reduce the surplus, not 
 by the vicious and indiscriminate process of horizontal 
 reduction, but by such methods as will relieve the tax- 
 payer without injuring the labor or the great productive 
 interests of the country. 
 
 We recognize the importance of sheep husbandry in 
 the United States, the serious depression which it is now 
 experiencing, and the danger threatening its future pros- 
 perity ; and we, therefore, respect the demands of the 
 representatives of this important agricultural interest for 
 a readjustment of duties upon foreign wool, in order that 
 such industry shall have full and adequate protection. 
 
 We have always recommended the best money known 
 to the civilized world ; and w^e urge that efforts should 
 be made to unite all commercial nations in the establish- 
 ment of an international standard which shall fix for all 
 the relative value of gold and silver coinage. 
 
 McKinley from this occasion became a national 
 character. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 LOYALTY TO SHERMAN— 1888. 
 
 The Hero of the National Convention — A Speech Un- 
 surpassed for Eloquence and Candor — A Midnight 
 Episode — Dramatic Declaration of McKinley to the 
 New Jersey Delegation — Would Rather Face Death 
 than Such a Nomination — Other Incidents of the 
 Convention which Nominated Harrison. 
 
 ONE of McKinley' s conspicuous traits of character 
 is his loyalty to his friends and to his word. 
 How he was loyal to Sherman in 1888, as Ohio's 
 declared choice for the Presidency, is well told as 
 follows by the New York Mail and Exfress of July 
 17, 1895. ' 
 
 " Caesar thrice thrust away the kingly crown on 
 the Lupercal, and McKinley has twice waved aside 
 a Presidential nomination which might have been 
 his. No one who was privileged to witness the 
 stirring scenes of the Republican National Conven- 
 tion in June, 1888, can ever forget them. No candi- 
 date had been able to secure a majority. Sherman, 
 Alger, Allison, Harrison, Gresham and Depew all 
 had a strong following, but none were anywhere 
 near a nomination. McKinley at the head of the 
 Ohio delegation, instructed to vote his delegation 
 
 141 
 
142 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 solidly of Sherman, was one of the heroes of the 
 convention. 
 
 ' ' His entrance at each session was greeted with 
 the wildest enthusiasm. Day and night he was at 
 work among the various State delegations, laboring 
 to secure votes for Ohio's great financier. On the 
 sixth ballot a delegate voted for William McKinley, 
 and was greeted by cheers which swelled again and 
 again before silence could be restored. The next 
 State that was called cast seventeen votes for McKin- 
 ley, and again the cheers broke forth. The drift 
 was unmistakably setting toward McKinley like an 
 ocean tide. 
 
 ' ' Every one expected to see the Garfield nomina- 
 tion of 1880 repeated. But they were disappointed. 
 The roll call was interrupted by McKinley, who, 
 leaping upon a chair at the end of the middle aisle, 
 pale, but calm and determined, uttered a speech 
 which, unpremeditated as it must have been, has 
 never been surpassed for eloquence, for candor and 
 unselfish loyalty. He said : 
 
 " ' Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Conven- 
 tion — I am here as one of the chosen representatives of 
 my State. I am here by resolution of the Republican 
 State Convention, commanding me to cast my vote for 
 John Sherman for President, and to use every worthy- 
 endeavor to secure his nomination. I accepted the trust, 
 because my heart and judgment were in accord with the 
 letter and spirit and purpose of that resolution. It has 
 pleased certain delegates to cast their votes for me for 
 President. I am not insensible to the honor they would 
 
LOYALTY TO SHERMAN 1 8880 I43 
 
 do me, but in the presence of the duty resting upon me, 
 I can not remain silent with honor. I can not consist- 
 ently with the wish of the State whose credentials I bear, 
 and which has trusted me ; I can not consistently, with 
 my own view^s of personal integrity, consent, or seem to 
 consent, to permit my name to be used as a candidate 
 before this convention. I w^ould not respect myself if 
 I could find it in my heart to do or to permit to be done 
 that which could even be ground for any one to suspect 
 that I wavered in my loyalty to Ohio, or my devotion 
 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.' 
 
 "The tide was turned, for who coiijd resist such 
 an appeal from a man so loyal, so honorable and so 
 unselfish? On the seventh ballot Benjamin Harrison 
 was named, but McKinley went home to Ohio 
 stronger than ever in the hearts of his fellow-men." 
 
 It is the privilege of the author of this book to 
 publish for the first time an incident which sets the 
 seal of sincerity upon McKinley' s public declaration 
 as above. The gentleman who tells it is one of the 
 best known Republicans of Ohio — Hon. John Little, 
 of Xenia, formerly Attorney General of the State and 
 afterward a Congressional colleague of McKinley. 
 In response to a request to narrate the incident — for 
 McKinley refused to talk about it — Mr. Little has 
 kindly written the following interesting letter : 
 
 Xenia, O., Dec. 6, 1895. 
 What, dear sir, I am about to relate, I once asked 
 of Governor McKinley permission to give to the 
 
144 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 press. It was not granted. A similar request now 
 would probably meet with a like fate. On reflection, 
 I am persuaded the incident is as much nly property 
 as his, so far as its publication is concerned, and 
 venture to give it to you for such use as is in your 
 judgment proper. 
 
 Those who attended the Republican National 
 Convention of 1888 will not fail to remember the 
 frequent manifestations of friendship towards Wil- 
 liam McKinley from its very beginning. During its 
 six days' continuance he was usually among the first 
 to reach his seat and the last to leave it. Whether 
 his purpose was to avoid conspicuity, I could not 
 say ; but if so, he could not better have accomplished 
 his design. Still, hurried as were his steps to his 
 seat, his entrance when discovered was the signal 
 for a cheer. Every day at Ohio headquarters, and 
 more and more as the week wore away, delegates 
 from all parts of the country asked : ' ' Why not 
 nominate McKinley?" 
 
 When the balloting began, occasional votes were 
 thrown for him. These were received in the con- 
 vention and in the galleries with marked favor. 
 They increased as the balloting went on, until he, 
 with Mr. Sherman's concurrence, arose in his seat 
 and made that short, eloquent appeal, destined to 
 live in the literature of conventions, in which he 
 urged — almost commanded — those throwing their 
 votes for him to desist. Commissioned by the Re- 
 publicans of Ohio to promote the nomination of Mr. 
 Sherman, he felt he could not honorably sit quietly 
 
LOYALTY TO SHERMAN 1 888. 1 45 
 
 and receive votes for himself, though few in num- 
 ber or merely complimentary in character. This 
 manly speech did not have the effect intended. The 
 vote continued. If anything, it quickened the inter- 
 est of the convention in its author. Talk of his 
 nomination about the hotels then became more 
 earnest. Particularly was this the case at the Grand 
 Pacific, where he and others of the Ohio delegates 
 stopped. This caused him much annoyance and 
 discomfort, along about Saturday, as I know. 
 
 Just after midnight of the Sunday before final ad- 
 journment on Monday, he took my arm at the Sher- 
 man headquarters in that hotel and requested me to 
 go with him. He did not state where he was going, 
 nor why he desired company. I asked no questions, 
 but went. He led the way to the rooms of the New 
 Jersey delegation in the same building. On enter- 
 ing, he at once inquired for the chairman of the dele- 
 gation. He was brought in from an adjoining room, 
 and after the usual greetings — they were old acquaint- 
 ances — the following colloquy took place. It deeply 
 impressed me and I think I give it almost word for 
 word. 
 
 Addressing the chairman by name — and this I do 
 not recall — Mr. McKinley said : "I have just been 
 informed that your delegation has determined to cast 
 its solid vote for me, to-morrow, and called to inquire 
 whether this is true." 
 
 " I do not wish to give you a short answer, Ma- 
 jor," responded the chairman, " but whether true or 
 not, it is a matter of our own concern. We act on 
 
146 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 our own responsibility in determining how we shall 
 cast our vote, being accountable only to the Repub- 
 licans of New Jersey for what we do." 
 
 " I beg your pardon," warmly responded the Ma- 
 jor, with a face somewhat flushed, " allow me to say 
 that it is not a matter of your own concern alone. It 
 deeply concerns me, and I feel that it is my right to 
 know your purpose. I am sure you will not deny 
 me." 
 
 " No, no," replied the chairman, " since you are 
 so earnest about it, I see no impropriety in saying to 
 you we have determined to cast our vote for William 
 McKinley, Jr., of Ohio, for President, from now o» 
 to the end, and we shall not be alone." 
 
 I will not attempt to quote the response. It was 
 short, not occupying more than three or four minutes 
 in delivery and addressed to all the delegates present. 
 He tersely spoke of Mr. Sherman's acknowledged 
 fitness for the Presidency, of the desire of Ohio long 
 entertained to see him in that exalted place, of him- 
 self having accepted the trust of delegate-at-large to 
 aid in accomplishing his nomination, of his purpose 
 expressed in open convention in that regard which he 
 still entertained, of the discredit that would neces- 
 sarily attach to his conduct if he now allowed his 
 own name to be used in that connection, repudiating 
 the idea that his nomination could occur without 
 being himself held to responsibility for it. His voice 
 was subdued to suit the surroundings, and somewhat 
 tremulous from excitement. It rang out but once 
 and that was the close. Speaking of receiving votes 
 
LOYALTY TO SHERMAN 1888. I47 
 
 for himself as he was situated, raising his right arm, 
 he said with clinched fist and face as white as it will 
 be in death — I seem even now to hear his ringing 
 words : 
 
 " Rather than that I would suffer the loss of that 
 good right arm ! Yes, I would suffer death ! To 
 accept a nomination, if one were possible, under these 
 circumstances, would inevitably lead to my defeat, 
 and it ought to lead to my defeat!''' The last clause 
 was uttered slowly and with great emphasis. 
 
 This short speech, made in the small hours of the 
 night to less than a dozen auditors, has since seemed 
 to me the most eloquent utterance I ever heard. At 
 any rate, I have no recollection of being myself so 
 moved. At its conclusion I turned from the light to 
 conceal my own emotions. The stillness which fol- 
 lowed, seemed to me long, was broken by the chair- 
 man, who said: "Well, Major, if that is the way 
 you view it, of course we will not vote for you." 
 
 " I thank you profoundly," said McKinley. " You 
 don't know what relief that assurance gives me. 
 Now that you have so kindly granted my request, let 
 me make another of you." 
 
 "What is it? " queried the chairman. 
 
 "That you cast your vote for Mr. Sherman to-mor- 
 row. We have now strong hopes of his nomina- 
 tion," was the reply. 
 
 The chairman promised to consider the request and 
 thought Mr. Sherman would get a part of the vote at 
 any rate. Very truly, John Little. 
 
 Robert P. Porter, The World, Cleveland, O, 
 
148 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 The dramatic incident so admirably told by Mr. 
 Little has made a profound impression upon the 
 writer of this volume, because at the time he was 
 strongly of the impression that McKinley's nomina- 
 tion was the best solution. On the same Saturday 
 night in 1888 that the above colloquy took place at 
 the New Jersey headquarters in Chicago, the writer 
 indited the following article : 
 
 THE BEST SOLUTION. 
 
 ' ' The Chicago convention very wisely decided to 
 adjourn until Monday rather than run the risk of 
 stampeding a nomination at the close of a feverish 
 and exciting day. Mr. Depew's withdrawal prac- 
 tically leaves the Western candidates, Alger, Allison, 
 Harrison, Sherman and Gresham, as the principal 
 contestants. 
 
 " If words count for anything, Mr. Blaine is out of 
 the contest, and the press, in defense of Mr. Blaine, 
 must contend that his friends in pushing his candidacy 
 make a great mistake. Five ballots have been cast, 
 and it is apparent that in the judgment of a majority 
 of the convention no one of the leading Western 
 candidates is sufficiently sure of carrying the doubt- 
 ful Eastern States to secure a prompt nomination. 
 At any rate, for either this reason or some other 
 reason which has not come to the surface, the five 
 principal contestants, now that Mr. Depew has 
 withdrawn, show, with the exception of Harrison, 
 
LOYALTY TO SHERMAN— 1 888. 1 49 
 
 about the same relative strength as they did at the 
 commencement of the balloting, and no one of the 
 five apparently can draw sufficient support from the 
 remaining four to make him the nominee of the 
 convention. 
 
 "This being the case, what is the best thing to do? 
 Stampede the convention for Blaine, say some of the 
 ardent followers of the Maine statesman. If it is 
 impossible to nominate any other candidate, by all 
 means let all the contestants withdraw in favor of 
 Mr. Blaine, and tender him the nomination unani- 
 mously. Anything short of this Mr. Blaine ought 
 not, in justice to himself, accept. Indeed, there 
 would be danger of his declining a nomination unless 
 tendered in the way suggested. What is the other 
 solution? Without in a say way underestimating the 
 strength and qualities of heart and mind of the five 
 statesmen who led in the balloting at Chicago yester- 
 day, there is a man who could crystallize the Sherman, 
 the Harrison, the Alger, the Gresham and the Allison 
 vote into one harmonious whole and bring together 
 all the warring elements at Chicago. 
 
 "He is a man whose public career as a fighting 
 soldier and working statesman has impressed itself 
 upon his countrymen without any effort of his own. 
 He is a man whose heart is in sympathy with those 
 who toil in the mine, the workshop and on the farm. 
 His Congressional record is without a blemish. He 
 is the best equipped man on the main question of the 
 tariff, and his pen has for years written the reports 
 and framed the platforms of the party. In ten or 
 
ISO LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 twelve years of Congressional life, this man has 
 always voted right on the great questions of the day. 
 He would bring to his support every Republican 
 vote, and, at the same time, no man who intends to 
 change from the Democratic to the Republican party 
 because of the free trade tendencies of the Democ- 
 racy, could refuse to vote for the great advocate of 
 protection — Major William McKinley of Ohio. 
 
 "The nomination of Major McKinley at this stage 
 of the proceedings would be a wise and a fortunate 
 thing for the Republican party. He would be 
 acceptable alike to Pennsylvania and New York, on 
 account of his tariff views. He would stand as good 
 a chance to carry the doubtful states of the East as 
 Mr. Blaine. His nomination would please Mr. 
 Blaine, because he knows that the success of the 
 Republican party depends on a strong fight for pro- 
 tection. And Mr. Blaine has shown that the success 
 and harmony of the Republican party are more to 
 him than personal ambition. 
 
 "The nomination of Major McKinley should be 
 gratifying to Senator Sherman and his friends, 
 because the veteran Ohio statesman has no truer and 
 more devoted and disinterested friend than the fight- 
 ing major. It would enable the Harrison men, the 
 Gresham men , the Allison men and the Alger men to 
 unite their forces on a Western candidate, who would 
 come to them free from all antagonisms and ready to 
 greet them all in a spirit that would promote party 
 harmony. And, lastly, it would enable the conven- 
 
LOYALTY TO SHERMAN 1888. I5I 
 
 tion to Still further strengthen the ticket with a New 
 York man for Vice-President. 
 
 "The Press has thus far offered no advice to the 
 convention in relation to candidates. It only makes 
 these suggestions because it believes that the easiest, 
 safest, and most satisfactory solution of the Chicago 
 problem is William McKinley. Let the man who 
 wrote the platform be our standard-bearer for 1888." 
 
 This article was printed Sunday morning in the 
 New York Press. It was, however, telegraphed to 
 Chicago Saturday, and appeared in some of the 
 Chicago newspapers, and naturally added to the 
 McKinley talk at the convention. That McKinley 
 himself was right cannot be denied, and yet under 
 such pressure how few men could have resisted the 
 nomination. That he did, not only showed his loy- 
 alty to Sherman, but it demonstrated his fitness for 
 any trust the people can bestow upon him. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CONGRESSIONAL EXPERIENCE. 
 
 McKinley as a Congressman — A Painstaking Committee 
 Worker — Commanded Attention Whenever He Spoke 
 — Personal Popularity Among His Colleagues — A 
 Close Student, but Accessible to Friends — An Adroit 
 Debater — Some Sharp Passages of Words Recalled. 
 
 THE experiences of fourteen years in Congress can 
 not be summarized in one brief chapter. Nor 
 is this the intention. Further along will be pre- 
 sented at some length the important part which 
 McKinley played in National legislation. In a pre- 
 ceding chapter it has been shown how the young 
 lawyer drifted into politics, surprised local sages and 
 made himself a power in the Congressional district 
 of which Stark county was part. Once firmly estab- 
 lished, there was no such thing as dislodging him, 
 even by changing the district, and there he remained 
 frdm 1876 to 1890. Aside from the part McKinley 
 took at the Capital in the important issues elsewhere 
 treated, he won for himself the reputation of an 
 industrious, well-informed, level-headed member on 
 any and all questions which came up. He was one 
 of those men who conscientiously attend to all the 
 duties which devolve upon them. He never neglected 
 
 152 
 
CONGRESSIONAL EXPERIENCE. I53 
 
 committee meetings. He was known as a working 
 member among his colleagues at Washington, and 
 among his people at home as a representative who 
 looked with scrupulous care after the varied wants 
 of his constituents. 
 
 Personally, McKinley was popular at Washington. 
 His manner toward the heads of the departments or 
 bureaus was affable and courtly. He was on good 
 terms with them all, attended to his business person- 
 ally, and not through the medium of a private secre- 
 tary constantly in evidence. 
 
 For reasons already explained, McKinley went 
 very little into society after the close of the Hayes 
 administration. He became almost a recluse for 
 some years, devoting evenings to study and rarely 
 leaving the side of Mrs. McKinley. Still he was 
 accessible to all friends who called in the evening to 
 smoke and chat with him in the little office on the 
 fifth floor of the Ebbitt House. Opposite were his 
 apartments, and rarely half an hour passed without a 
 brief visit to see that Mrs. McKinley needed nothing. 
 As a result of this quiet, studious life, McKinley 
 developed intellectually during his Congressional 
 career. His character was strongly formed before 
 his Washington experience began. Consequently 
 he came away from the National Capital a stronger 
 and more fully equipped man than most members 
 after such an experience. His sojourn there never 
 changed his ideas of life, nor his personal habits. 
 Success and additional honors have in no way 
 changed McKinley' s personality. With increasing 
 
154 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 years he has added a little to his dignity of manner, 
 but it would be difEcult for his friends of twenty-five 
 years ago to point out wherein his success has 
 changed his bearing towards the most humble of 
 them. 
 
 McKinley is an adroit debater. The Congres- 
 sional Record does not show that he was ever 
 worsted in a passage of firms with the most brilliant 
 of his colleagues. In the earlier years in the House 
 of Representatives, he was cautious and only under- 
 took debate on questions with which he was thor- 
 oughly familiar. Unlike most new members, 
 McKinley did not rush madly into the wordy arena. 
 
 He listened, weighed well the strength of his 
 antagonists and said little until his time and oppor- 
 tunity came. For this reason, when McKinley 
 arose to speak, he invariably commanded the atten- 
 tion of the House. He was generally regarded as 
 one of the members who had something to say, who 
 said it well, and when he had said it, stopped. It 
 was also discovered that McKinley was quick in 
 debate, and that though his speech upon such occa- 
 sions might be termed the essence of courtesy, it 
 usually made the gentleman who interrupted wish he 
 had let McKinley alone. 
 
 It is only possible to recall a few of these bright 
 passages of words, but they will serve to illustrate 
 the readiness displayed upon all occasions by McKin- 
 'ley in answering questions or in turning the tables 
 upon his adversary. While most of the incidents 
 herein referred to were spontaneous, the most adroit 
 
oomuoaT 1B96 Br s. a. Himiion 
 
 McKlNLEY IN iSSl. 
 
 ff-'HOTOGHdPH TAKEN' IN ram 
 
 PRANCISCO J 
 
LEVI P. MORTON. 
 
CONGRESSIONAL, EXPERIENCE. 1 55 
 
 and skillful, when the Mills bill was under dis- 
 cussion, was undoubtedly premeditated. In this 
 particular instance, McKinley deliberately led the 
 Honorable Leopold Morse of Boston into a trap, 
 and then emphasized a tariff lesson which made the 
 country laugh, and has never been forgotten by 
 those who, like the writer, witnessed the incident. 
 
 It must not be supposed for a moment that McKin- 
 ley went deliberately gunning for big game in the 
 early days of his career to show his skill as a de- 
 bater. On the contrary, the strong point in the man 
 is the fact that he always waited until some of the 
 most distinguished and ready debaters on the Demo- 
 cratic side came after him. Then, and not until 
 then, did he talk back. During the fourteen years 
 of his Congressional life, he came in hand-to-hand 
 conflict with such skilled parliamentarians as Car- 
 lisle, Hewitt, Crisp, Randall, Morrison, Mills, 
 Wilson, both the Breckenridges, Springer and a host 
 of lesser lights. In these debate^ he nearly always 
 came out ahead, and, with hardly an exception, sent 
 home the last thrust amid loud applause from the 
 Republican side of the House. 
 
 It was during the tariff debate in the early part of 
 1882. Mr. Hewitt, of New York, was at that time 
 one of the ablest and most skillful debaters in the 
 House. He was almost as much feared by his own 
 party as by the opposition, because while advocating 
 a policy which would mean free trade, he was suffi- 
 ciently interested in one great industry of the country 
 to realize better than his Southern brethren the 
 
156 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 calamity which would have followed to American 
 labor and industry had his policy been put in opera- 
 tion. In trying to reconcile his somewhat antag- 
 onistic views, the attention of Mr. Hewitt was called 
 to some glaring inconsistencies contained in a speecli 
 of his and in a set of resolutions of which he was the 
 author. He interrupted McKinley to explain that in 
 order to preserve the iron and steel business we must 
 do it by " a compensatory tariff. ' ' It was urged by 
 the opposition that the compensatory tariff was not a 
 protective tariff. McKinley yielded to him and the 
 following took place : 
 
 Mr. Hewitt. The compensation required in order 
 to enable the iron business to exist in this country, as 
 stated in my speech, is that which provides for the differ- 
 ence paid in the price of labor less the cost of transpor- 
 tation. 
 
 That is the gentleman's resolution. 
 
 Mr. Hewitt. I have stated that doctrine in my reso- 
 lution, and I adhere to it. 
 
 And yet in that connection, if the gentleman will per- 
 mit me, he declared in his speech made here the other 
 day, and to be found on page 2,436 of the Record : 
 
 Wag'es in this country are therefore not regulated by 
 the tariff, because whatever wages can be earned by 
 men in the production of agricultural products, the price 
 of which is fixed abroad, must be the rate of wages 
 which will be paid substantially in every other branch of 
 business. 
 
 Mr. Hewitt. Certainly. 
 
 That is what he said in his speech of but a week ago. 
 Yet in the letter from which I have quoted, he declared 
 
CONGRESSIONAL EXPERIENCE. 1 57 
 
 that the only need we have of protection is for the pur- 
 pose of maintaining the rate of wages in the United 
 States, 
 
 Mr. Hewitt. As to the iron and steel business and 
 protected industries, and in no other. 
 
 What is true of the iron and steel industries is true of 
 every other industry that comes in competition with 
 pauper labor of Europe — I care not what it is, cotton or 
 w^ool, pottery or cutlery. If we have to compete with 
 the pauper labor of Europe, and with the products of 
 that labor, we need just as much relative protection in 
 one branch of industry as we need in another. 
 
 One of the best hits McKinley made in debate was 
 during the discussion of the Morrison bill. He hap- 
 pened to wind up a sentence by this remark : 
 
 " I speak for the workingmen of my district, the 
 workingmen of Ohio and of the country." 
 
 It was in the spring of 1883, and McKinley had 
 been re-elected in 1 882 by a majority of only eight. 
 Hence Springer caused a laugh on the Democratic 
 side by injecting at this point : 
 
 ' ' They did not speak for you very largely at the 
 last election." 
 
 The laugh had hardly subsided when McKinley 
 turned quickly around and, facing Springer, said : 
 
 Ah, my friend, my fidelity to my constituents is not 
 measured by the support they give me ! I have convic- 
 tions upon this subject which I would not surrender or 
 refrain from advocating if 10,000 majority had been 
 entered against me last October ; and if that is the stand- 
 ard of political morality and conviction and fidelity to 
 
158 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 duty which is practiced by the gentleman from Illinois, 
 I trust that the next House will not do, what I know 
 they will not do, make him Speaker of the House. And 
 I trust another thing, that that general remark, inter- 
 jected here, coming from a man who has to sit in the 
 next House, does not mean that he has already pre- 
 judged my case, which is to come before him as a judge. 
 
 These remarks were greeted with deafening 
 applause from the Republican side. Even the Dem- 
 ocrats enjoyed the plucky Congressman's reply to 
 Mr. Springer. 
 
 McKinley was quite as much feared by Morrison 
 in debate as Judge Kelley, who, at that time, of 
 course, was the most experienced parliamentarian on 
 the tariff question. In one of his debates with Mor- 
 rison, the latter expressed the opinion that his bill 
 would result not only in a considerable modification 
 of the tariff, but in a substantial reduction. Hardly 
 had these views been expressed when McKinley 
 promptly said : 
 
 To these opinions we may add the following blunt but 
 frank admission by the London Spectator on the eighth 
 of December last : 
 
 ' ' Of course the north of England holds that American 
 free trade would be greatly to the interest of British 
 manufacturers." 
 
 And this from the Pall Mall Gazette: 
 
 " The progress of the Morrison bill will beVatched 
 with considerable interest by English exporters to the 
 American market, inasmuch as it can hardly fail to tend 
 in their favor." 
 
CONGRESSIONAL EXPERIENCE. I59 
 
 This deep solicitude of our English friends is, of 
 course, unselfish and philanthropic ; it is all for our ben- 
 fit, for our good, for our prosperity. It is disinterested 
 purely, and arises from the earnest wish of the English 
 manufacturers to see our own grow^ and prosper. 
 
 They want this marke.t. It is the best in the world. 
 They can not get it wholly while our tariff remains as at 
 present. They can not get it so long as our manufac- 
 tures can be maintained. They must be destroyed, their 
 fires must be put out, and this Congress is to-day engaged 
 in an effort to help England, not America, to build up 
 English manufacturers at the expense of our own. 
 
 Again McKinley in the course of debate said : 
 
 My friend from Illinois (Mr. Morrison) seemed to 
 dissent a moment ago when I said there was a difference 
 in the rate of wages. 
 
 Mr. Morrison. I did not, sir. There is a great 
 difference in the rate of wages in some industries, and 
 some difference in all. 
 
 This was the admission that McKinley was anxious 
 to force from the opposition, and the following 
 response to Mr. Morrison .was promptly given : 
 
 I beg the gentleman's pardon. The gentleman from 
 Illinois, in view of the statements I have made within 
 the last five minutes, now admits there is a difference. 
 I thank him for the frank confession. 
 
 Many people will recall the incident during the 
 discussion of the Mills tariff bill, when McKinley 
 drew from his desk a suit of clothes which had been 
 purchased and paid for at the large clothing store of 
 
l6o LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 the Honorable Leopold Morse of Boston, one of the 
 free trade leaders. This episode is so good, and 
 illustrates so well the most important point in favor 
 of protection that it is given verbatim from the Con- 
 gressional Record, including the reporters' notes of 
 applause, laughter, etc. : 
 
 The expectation of cheaper clothes is not sufficient to 
 justify the action of the majority. This is too narrow for 
 a National issue. Nobody, so far as I have learned, has 
 expressed dissatisfaction with the present price of cloth- 
 ing. It is a political objection ; it is a party slogan. Cer- 
 tainly nobody is unhappy over the cost of clothing, 
 except those who are amply able to pay even a higher 
 price than is now exacted. And besides, if this bill 
 should pass, and the effect would be (as it inevitably 
 must be) to destroy our domestic manufactures, the era 
 of low prices would vanish, and the foreign manufac- 
 turer would compel the American consumer to pay higher 
 prices than he has been accustomed to pay under the 
 " robber tariff " so-called. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I represent a district comprising some 
 200,000 people, a large majority of the voters in the dis- 
 trict being workingmen. I have represented them for a 
 good many years, and I have never had a complaint from 
 one of them that their clothes were too high. Have you? 
 [Applause on the Republican side.] Has any gentleman 
 on this floor met with such complaint in his district.? 
 
 Mr. Morse — They did not buy them of me. 
 
 No ! Let us see ; if they had bought of the gentleman 
 from Massachusetts it would have made no difference, 
 and there could have been no complaint. Let us ex- 
 amine the matter. 
 
CONGRESSIONAL EXPERIENCE. ;l6l 
 
 [Mr. McKinley here produced a bundle containing a 
 suit of clothes, which he opened and displayed, amid 
 great laughter and applause.] 
 
 Come, now, will the gentleman from Massachusetts 
 know his own goods ? [Renewed laughter.] We recall, 
 Mr. Chairman, that the Committee on Ways and Means 
 talked about the laboring man who worked ten days at a 
 dollar a day, and then went with his ten dollars wages to 
 buy a suit of clothes. It is the old story. It is found in 
 the works of Adam Smith. [Laughter and applause on 
 the Republican side.] I have heard it in this House for 
 ten years past. It has served many a free trader. It is 
 the old story, I repeat, of the man who gets a dollar a 
 day for his w^ages, and having worked for the ten days 
 goes to buy his suit of clothes. He believes he can buy 
 it for just $io, but the "robber manu-facturers" have 
 been to Congress and have got one hundred per cent put, 
 upon the goods in the shape of a tariff, and the suit of 
 clothes he finds can not be bought for $io, but he is asked 
 $20 for it, and so he has to go back to ten days more of 
 sweat, ten days more of toil, ten days more of w^ear and 
 tear of muscle and brain to earn the $10 to purchase the 
 suit of clothes. Then the Chairman gravely asks, is not 
 ten days entirely annihilated? 
 
 Now, a gentleman who read that speech or heard it was 
 so touched by the pathetic story that he looked into it and 
 sent me a suit of clothes identical with that described by 
 the gentleman from Texas, and he sent me also a bill for it, 
 and here is the entire suit ; "robber tariffs and taxes and 
 all" have been added, and the retail cost is what? Just 
 $10. [Laughter and applause on Republican side.] So the 
 poor fellow does not have to go back to work ten days 
 more to get that suit of clothes. He takes the suit with 
 
l62 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 him and pays for it just $io. [Applause.] But in order 
 that there might be no mistake about it, knowing the 
 honor and honesty of the gentleman from Massachusetts 
 [Mr. Morse] , he went to his store and bought the suit. 
 [Laughter and cheers on the Republican side.] I hold in 
 my hand the bill. 
 
 Mr. Struble. Read it. 
 
 Mr. McKinley (reading) : 
 
 Boston, May 4, 1888. 
 
 J. D. Williams, bought of Leopold Morse & Co., 
 men's youths' and boys' clothing, 131 to 137 Washing- 
 ton street, corner of Brattle — 
 
 I believe it is. 
 
 Mr. Morse. Yes, Brattle. 
 
 Mr. McKinley (reading) : 
 
 To one suit of woolen clothes, $10. Paid. 
 
 [Renewed laughter and applause.] 
 
 And now, Mr. Chairman, I never knew of a gentleman 
 engaged in this business w^ho sold his clothes without 
 profit. [Laughter.] And there is the same $10 suit de- 
 scribed by the gentleman from Texas that can be bought 
 in the city of Boston, can be bought in Philadelphia, in 
 New York, in Chicago, in Pittsburg, anywhere through- 
 out the country, at $10 retail the whole suit — coat, trous- 
 ers and vest — and forty per cent less than it could have 
 been bought in i860 under your low tariff and low wages 
 of that period. [Great applause.] It is a pity to destroy 
 the sad picture of the gentleman from Texas which was 
 to be used in the campaign, but the truth must be told. 
 But do you know that if it were not for protection you 
 would pay a great deal more for these clothes ? I do not 
 intend to go into that branch of the question, but I want 
 to give one brief illustration of how the absence of Amer-, 
 
CONGRESSIONAL, EXPERIENCE, 163 
 
 ican competition immediately sends up the foreign prices, 
 and it is an illustration that every man will remember. 
 My friend from Missouri [Mr. Clardy], who sits in front 
 of me, will remember it. The Missouri Glass Company 
 was organized several years ago for the manufacture of 
 coarse fluted glass and cathedral glass. Last November 
 the factory w^as destroyed by fire. Cathedral glass was 
 their specialty. Within ten days from the time that 
 splendid property was reduced to ashes, the foreign price 
 of cathedral glass advanced tw^enty-eight per cent to the 
 American consumer. [Applause on the Republican side.] 
 Showing that whether you destroy the American produc- 
 tion by free trade or by fire, it is the same thing ; the prices 
 go up to the American consumer, and all you can do is 
 to pay the price the foreigner chooses to ask. [Renewed 
 applause.] 
 
 Mr. Morse must have been very much disconcerted 
 by the production of the actual suit of clothes and 
 the receipt of his own firm in the halls of Congress. 
 The incident, however, did not leave the sting nor 
 engender the bitterness that some of these memor- 
 able passages of words have done in Congressional 
 debates. Mr. Morse, no doubt, was nonplussed at 
 the time, but as he is a good-natured man he has 
 undoubtedly forgiven McKinley and would enjoy 
 a hearty laugh over the suit of clothes episode with 
 the rest of those who were present when this rather 
 dramatic scene was enacted. 
 
 Samuel J. Randall of Pennsylvania was Speaker 
 when McKinley entered Congress, and they be- 
 came warm friends. There was one memorable 
 
164 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 scene in the Fiftieth Congress in which both figured. 
 It occurred on May 18,1 888 , the day on which the gen- 
 eral debate closed on the Mills bill. Randall opposed 
 this measure, and incurred the displeasure of the 
 rampant free trade element, headed by Mills of 
 Texas. He took the floor to speak against the bill. 
 In feeble health, his voice at times almost inaudible, 
 the great leader labored under serious disadvantages 
 in this, his first fight for protection. Before he 
 was through, his time expired, amid cries of "go 
 on." Mr. Randall asked for an extension, but Mills 
 with a discourtesy almost incredible, walked to the 
 front and said : "I object ! " The cry was repeated 
 by nearly fifty Democratic members. 
 
 It was a sad sight to witness this great Democratic 
 leader thus silenced upon a momentous question by 
 his own party friends. There was an exciting 
 scene. Members and spectators, for the galleries 
 were crowded, joined in making the tumult. Amid 
 it all, the Chairman announced that McKinley of 
 Ohio had the floor. The latter was to close the 
 debate on the Republican side. His desk was piled 
 with memoranda and statistics. 
 
 " Mr. Speaker," he cried, and his voice stilled the 
 din about him to silence. " I yield to the gentleman 
 from Pennsylvania out of my time all that he may 
 need in which to finish his speech on this bill." 
 
 Cheer after cheer arose from House and galleries, 
 and by the courtesy of the Republican leader, the 
 once leader of the Democracy was enabled to finish 
 his speech in a body over which he had thrice pre- 
 sided as Speaker. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 NOMINATED FOR GOVERNOR. 
 
 Gerrymandered Out of His Congressional District — A 
 Defeat that Was a Victory — Unanimously Nominated 
 for Governor — An Ovation at Columbus — McKinley 
 and Protection — Campaign Songs — Joint Debate With 
 Campbell — Speaks in Eighty-four Out of the Eighty- 
 eight Counties of Ohio — Elected Governor. 
 
 NO man was ever nominated with greater una- 
 nimity by his party than McKinley was for 
 Governor in 1891. He had demonstrated in his 
 Congressional district time and again his capacity to 
 overcome adverse majorities. The Republicans of 
 the State were on the lookout for some man who 
 could overcome the Democratic State administration 
 and again put Ohio safely in the Republican column. 
 In 1889 Hon. James E. Campbell, a Democratic 
 ex-Congressman from Butler county, had been 
 elected Governor by a plurality of 10,872. Mr. 
 Campbell was a gentleman of great personal popularity 
 and possessed considerable skill both as a speaker 
 and an organizer. It was his ambition to make 
 Ohio a permanently Democratic State, and during 
 a visit East, in 1890, he had boasted that this had 
 been accomplished. The Ohio campaign of 1890 
 was a heated one. The Democratic Legislature had 
 
 165 
 
l66 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 ' ' gerrymandered ' ' the State most unfairly. The 
 apportionment had been so arranged that even 
 though the Republicans carried the State at large by 
 20,000 plurality, they would not get more than seven 
 out of the twenty-one Congressmen. 
 
 McKinley, whose district had twice before been 
 "gerrymandered," was this time put into a strong 
 Democratic district. McKinley' s standard and 
 record were so high even among his Democratic 
 opponents, that Governor Campbell privately pro- 
 tested against this injustice, he being far-sighted 
 enough to see that it would have a reactionary effect 
 against the Democracy. The new district in which 
 McKinley was placed (Sixteenth) was composed of 
 Holmes, Medina, Wayne and Stark counties, having 
 a combined normal Democratic majority of nearly 
 3,000 Tn 1889 Mr. Campbell had carried this dis- 
 trict by 2,900 majority. 
 
 The fight in Ohio in 1890 was mainly in the several 
 Congressional districts, but the hottest fight of all 
 was in McKinley' s district. He had pitted against 
 him a very reputable gentleman, Hon. J. G. War- 
 wick, who, in 1883, had been elected on the Demo- 
 cratic ticket as Lieutenant-Governor. Mr. Warwick 
 was not an orator, but for personal reasons was 
 credited with ability to poll the full Democratic vote. 
 The whole resources of the Democratic party. State 
 and National, were used in his favor. The adroit 
 politician, Mr. Hill of New York, went into his dis- 
 trict to help him. McKinley 's prominence in tariff 
 legislation, particularly with regard to the newly 
 

 
 
NOMINATED FOR GOVERNOR. l6'J 
 
 framed protection law, made the fight of National 
 interest. The campaign he made was remarkable 
 for energy and ability. Against what seemed to be 
 overwhelming odds, he almost overcame the majority 
 against him, Mr. Warwick being elected by only 302. 
 
 The Democrats resorted to all sorts of schemes to 
 prevent McKinley being elected. The story is told 
 that they engaged peddlers to go through Holmes 
 county and offer five-cent tin cups and plates at 
 twenty-five cents each, charging that the great 
 increase of price was owing to the passage of the 
 " McKinley law." In the State at large, the cam- 
 paign was made entirely upon the tariflf issue. The 
 Republicans did not dodge, but accepted the chal- 
 lenge of their opponents and put the Democracy on 
 the defensive. 
 
 The result was that the head of the Republican 
 State ticket (Hon. Daniel J. Ryan, candidate for 
 re-election as Secretary of State) was elected by 
 10,969. This was a Republican gain in one year of 
 nearly 22,000. As above explained, it was almost a 
 mathematical impossibility, under the Democratic 
 " gerrymander," for the Republicans to secure a fair 
 proportion of Congressmen. Out of the twenty-one 
 they elected only seven, wresting one from what the 
 Democrats considered their sure districts. Although 
 the Republicans elected only just one-half as many 
 Congressmen as the Democrats did, their combined 
 vote for Congressmen exceeded the combined Demo- 
 crajtic vote for Congressmen throughout the State by 
 about 20,000. Two days after the election, the 
 
l68 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Republican State Committee issued a congratulatory 
 address in which they said : 
 
 In no State in the Union has the tariff battle been so 
 squarely fought as in Ohio. There have been no other 
 complications as in other States to defeat the Republican 
 forces. It has been a fair fight for the protection prin- 
 ciple, pure and simple, and the people of Ohio have again 
 decided in favor of American as against foreign interests. 
 
 The fight concentrated in Ohio, and particularly in the 
 Sixteenth Congressional district, where Major McKinley 
 was forced to contend against a majority of 3,000. No 
 compromise was allowed and no quarter asked ; and there, 
 as in other Congressional districts, the Republicans have 
 been practically victorious. You should, therefore, 
 rejoice, take new courage for the future, and prepare at 
 once for the battle of next year. Our party has never 
 been defeated when it fought for a principle. It is as em- 
 phatically committed to the principle of protection to 
 American industries and American labor as it was to that 
 of the preservation of the Union in 1861-63. -"-t must 
 continue to -wage that fight on principle, and it will 
 inevitably and gloriously win. 
 
 From the very day of election of 1890 there was 
 a strong sentiment throughout the State in favor 
 of the nomination of McKinley for Governor in the 
 following year. There was no organized movement 
 to effect this purpose. It was not necessary. When 
 this sentiment had found expression in declarations 
 by newspapers and by prominent Republicans, the 
 question was presented to McKinley by one of his 
 Congressional friends. He stated that while he 
 
NOMINATED FOR GOVERNOR. 169 
 
 would feel highly honored by the nomination for 
 Governor, yet he would not enter into any contest 
 for it. 
 
 At the meeting of the Legislature in January, 1891, 
 the Republican members brought to Columbus with 
 them the sentiment of their respective communities. 
 This sentiment was overwhelmingly in favor of Mc- 
 Kinley's nomination. Enterprising newspaper cor- 
 respondents interviewed the Republican members of 
 the Legislature, and there was a unanimous expres- 
 sion in favor of McKinley . From that time on spec- 
 ulation as to gubernatorial candidates ceased, as did 
 all opposition, whatever little there was, to the 
 nomination of McKinley. 
 
 Confidence in Republican success became strong, 
 and an unusually large number of candidates for 
 nomination on the Republican State ticket presented 
 themselves before the convention, which was held 
 in Columbus in June ; but there was only one name 
 mentioned for the gubernatorial nomination — that 
 of William McKinley. 
 
 When McKinley arrived at Columbus, he received 
 a great ovation. In many respects the State Con- 
 vention was the grandest held in Ohio since the war. 
 Ex-Governor Foraker put McKinley in nomination 
 in a speech of great brilliancy. Upon motion of 
 ex-Governor Foster, McKinley was unanimously 
 nominated. 
 
 The Apollo Glee Club of Columbus sang " McKin- 
 ley' s the Man," the words and music being composed 
 by Mr. Wash. T. Porter, specially for the Glee Club 
 
17° LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 of the Young Men's Blaine Club of Cincinnati. After 
 that, Mr. Sargent of Cambridge, Ohio, a professional 
 song-maker, captured the convention with a new 
 production entitled "McKinley and Protection." 
 Both songs were adopted as the " slogans"- of fhe 
 campaign clubs throughout the State, and very few 
 Republican political meetings were held during tne 
 campaign without their being sung. As they are 
 highly illustrative of the spirit of the great Republi- 
 can campaign of 189 1, they are here reproduced in 
 full: 
 
 MCKINLEY'S THE MAN. 
 
 The people of the Buckeye State did this year nominate 
 A man to rule them whom they call the Gov'nor of the State. 
 But now the idea uppermost in ev'rybody's mind 
 Is to elect our nominee; he's of the first-class kind. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 McKinley's the man, McKinley's the man, McKinley's the man 
 
 for Governor, 
 McKinley's the man, McKinley's the man, McKinley's the man 
 
 for GoTcrnor, 
 For Governor, for Governor, for Governor of the State of 
 
 Ohio ; 
 Oh, he's the man for Governor, for Governor of Ohio ; 
 McKinley's the man, McKinley's the man, McKinley's the man 
 
 for Governor, 
 McKinley's the man, McKinley's the man, McKinley's the man 
 
 for Governor, 
 For Governor, for Governor, for Governor of our Ohio ; 
 Oh, he's the man for Governor, for Governor of our Ohio. 
 
 Just now from ev'ry quarter of this glorious Buckeye State 
 There comes a call for one we all know will not hesitate 
 To answer to his party's call and take the helm of State, 
 McKinley, he of Tariff fame, 'twas best to nominate. 
 
NOMINATED FOR GOVERNOR. ^7^ 
 
 We'll sweep the State, and carry off a glorious victory 
 With " Governor McKinley," leader of the G. O. P. 
 So let us now elect him Ruler of this grand old State, 
 And prove to all McKinley was the man to nominate. 
 
 So now we've nominated this great son of Ohio, 
 To rule us next two years and give the Democrats no show, 
 And " later on " the man to rule the whole U. S., you know. 
 Will be our own McKinley true, the pride of Ohio. 
 
 Mckinley and protection. 
 
 Of all the mighty Nations 
 
 In the East or in the West, 
 This glorious Yankee Nation 
 
 Is the greatest and the best. 
 With a tariff for protection 
 
 To all the laborers in the land. 
 Uncle Sam is doing business 
 
 At the same old stand. 
 
 Then come along, come along, 
 
 Rally for the fray, 
 McKinley and protection 
 
 Are bound to win the day. 
 Our factories are booming. 
 
 There is plenty in the land ; 
 Uncle Sam is doing business 
 
 At the same old stand. 
 
 The South can raise the cotton, 
 
 And the West the corn and pork, 
 Then our million manufactories 
 
 Can do the finer work. 
 Just see the smoke ascending 
 
 As you travel through the land ; 
 Uncle Sam is doing business 
 
 At the same old stand. 
 
172 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY, 
 
 (Chorus.) 
 
 There is mourning in old England, 
 In their free-trade Cobden Club ; 
 
 They can't compete with Uncle Sam- 
 Protection — that's the rub. 
 
 Old Johnny Bull is hustling, 
 
 But we hold the winning hand ; 
 
 Uncle Sam is doing business 
 At the same old stand. 
 
 We set our tables, furnish them 
 
 From napkin to tureen, 
 And serye the finest Yankee meals 
 
 From ox tail to ice cream, 
 And each and every article 
 
 Is the product of our land. 
 Uncle Sam is doing business 
 
 At the same old stand. 
 
 How happy is the fatmer 
 
 When he drives his stock to tOTCIl, 
 For prices all are going up 
 
 And sugar tumbling down. 
 The laborer's dinner basket, now. 
 
 Is made within our land. 
 Uncle Sam is doing business 
 
 At the same old stand. 
 
 Our iron horse is whistling 
 
 For Jerusalem the Grand, 
 Our harvesters are threshing wheat 
 
 Way down in Egypt land. 
 The -wide world is our market 
 
 And they cry at every hand, 
 Uncle Sam is doing business 
 
 At the same old stand. 
 
 McKinley's speech of acceptance was a dignirieA 
 and able presentation of the issues of the day — par- 
 ticularly as to the currency and tariff — and elicited 
 
NOMINATED FOR GOVERNOR. 173 
 
 great enthusiasm. Senator Sherman followed in one 
 of his characteristic strong speeches. 
 
 Below are the leading planks of the platform 
 unanimously adopted. 
 
 1. We reaffirm our devotion to the patriotic doctrine 
 of protection, and recognize the McKinley bill as the 
 ablest expression of that principle enacted in fulfillment 
 of Republican promises, and we pledge ourselves to its 
 support, always having in view its improvement as 
 changed conditions or experience may require. 
 
 2. We favor such legislation by Congress and in the 
 States as will, in every practical mode, encourage, pro- 
 
 "tect and promote the interest of agriculture in all its 
 departments; protection of labor and the rights of 
 laborers such as will grant to toil its full and just re- 
 wards, is among the first obligations of government. 
 
 3. We demand protection for the wool industry 
 equal to that accorded the most favored manufacturer of 
 wool, so that in due time American wool growers will 
 supply all wool of every kind required for consumption 
 in the United States. 
 
 4. Thoroughly believing that gold and silver should 
 form the basis of all circulating mediums, we endorse 
 the amended coinage act of the last Republican Con- 
 gress, by which the entire production of the silver mines 
 .of the United States is added to the currency of the 
 
 people. 
 
 c. We demand, and will continue to demand, until 
 finally and absolutely secured, the free exercise by every 
 citizen of the supreme and sovereign right to cast one 
 ballot at lawful elections and have it honestly counted. 
 
 6. While inviting to our shores the worthy poor and 
 
^74 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 oppressed of other nations, we demand the enactment of 
 laws that will protect our country and our people against 
 the influx of the vicious and criminal classes of foreign 
 nations, and the importation of laborers under contract 
 to compete with our own citizens, and earnestly approve 
 the rigid enforcement of existing laws by the present 
 National administration. 
 
 The formal opening of the campaign did not take 
 place until August 22 ; but .in the interim McKinley 
 spoke on a number of occasions, at soldiers' re- 
 unions, "harvest homes," etc. It was at Niles, 
 Trumbull county, that the formal opening of the 
 campaign took place. Niles is McKinley's birth- 
 place, and its selection was a matter largely of 
 sentiment ; but politically, also, its choice was a wise 
 one, and there was an enormous attendance. There 
 was a big political and industrial parade, which was 
 reviewed by the gubernatorial candidate from the 
 veranda of the house in which he was born. A 
 feature of the parade and decorations was the lavish 
 and ingenious display of American tin-plate, so as to 
 make manifest the successful establishment of the 
 tin-plate industry under the ' ' McKinley law. ' ' This 
 feature was conspicuous all through the campaign. 
 From the day of his nomination until the election, he 
 made 130 speeches and visited 86 out of the 88 
 counties of the State. In its mere physical aspect, 
 this was an unprecedented record, and probably the 
 most notable. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1892. 
 
 McKinley in Favor of Harrison's Nomination — Is Made 
 Chairman of the Convention — Republican Conventions 
 Say What They Mean and Mean What They Say — 
 Able Presentation of the Political Issues — Loyal to 
 Harrison — A Isively Debate — Moves to Make President 
 Harrison's Nomination Unanimous — Receives 182 
 Votes for President. 
 
 SOME time before the Republican National Con- 
 vention of 1892, McKinley had privately and 
 publicly expressed himself as in favor of the renom- 
 ination of President Harrison. This he did not only 
 as a matter of personal preference, but because he 
 thought the best interests of the country demanded 
 Mr. Harrison's renomination ; and furthermore, 
 because the President's course deserved the honor. 
 Having committed himself, McKinley stood by his 
 declaration clear through. He was elected a delegate- 
 at-large as a Harrison man, and the understanding 
 was that Ohio would vote solidly for the President's 
 renomination. 
 
 The convention made McKinley its permanent 
 chairman. Hon. R. M. Nevin of Dayton was his 
 alternate. Before he took the chair as presiding 
 
 175 
 
^7° LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 officer, McKinley specifically charged Mr. Nevin to 
 vote for Harrison. 
 
 Following is Governor McKinley's speech as 
 chairman : 
 
 I thank you for the honor of presiding over the Ninth 
 Annual convention of the Republican party. Republican 
 conventions mean something. They have always meant 
 eomething. Republican conventions say what they 
 mean and mean what they say. They declare principles, 
 and policies, and purposes, and when entrusted with 
 power execute and enforce them. The first National 
 convention of the Republican party met thirty-six years 
 ago in the city of Philadelphia. The platform of that 
 great convention reads to-day more like inspiration than 
 the affirmation of a political party. Every provision of 
 that great instrument made by the fathers of our party 
 is on the public statutes of our country to-day. Every 
 one of them has been embodied into public law, and that 
 cannot be said of the platform of any other political 
 organization in this or any other country of the world. 
 Whenever there is anything to be done in this country 
 and by this country and for this country, the Republican 
 party is called upon to do it. There is one thing that 
 can be said about our organization that can not be said 
 about any other — it can look backward without shame 
 or humiliation, and it can look forward with cheer and 
 exultation. That can not be said of any political organ- 
 ization other than ours in the United States. 
 
 Gentlemen of the convention, we are here to-day to 
 make a platform and a ticket that will commend them- 
 selves to the conscience and the intelligence and the 
 judgment of the American people. And we will do it. 
 Whatever is done by this convention, either as to plat- 
 
NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1 892. 177 
 
 form or as to ticket, will receive the approval of the 
 American people in November of this year. 
 
 We have already heard some of the notes of victory, for 
 this is a Republican year. Rhode Island has spoken. Only 
 yesterday Oregon spoke, electing three representatives — 
 three Republican representatives to the Congress of the 
 United States — and when we get through -with this conven- 
 tion its conclusions will be the law of Republican action, as 
 they will be the assurance of Republican victory. We are 
 for a protective tariff and for reciprocity. We propose to 
 take no backward step upon either of these great Re- 
 publican principles. We stand for a protective tariff 
 because it represents the American home, the American 
 fireside, the American family, the American girl and the 
 American boy, and the highest possibilities of American 
 citizenship. We propose to raise our money to pay pub- 
 lic expenses by taxing the products of other nations, rather 
 than by taxing the products of our own. The Demo- 
 cratic party believe in direct taxation, that is, in taxing 
 ourselves, but we don't believe in the principle so long as 
 we can find somebody else to tax. Our protective tariff 
 not only does everything which a revenue tariff can do in 
 raising all needed revenue, but a protective tariff does 
 more than that. A protective tariff encourages and stim- 
 ulates American industries, and gives the widest possii 
 bilities to American genius and American effort. Does 
 anybody know what tariff reform is ? And that is to be 
 the platform of our political opponents this year. What 
 does it mean? You can study President Cleveland's 
 utterances from the first one he made in New York when 
 he said he didn't know anything about the tariff until 
 his last in Rhode Island, and you come away ignorant 
 and uninformed as to what tariff reform means. Since 
 
178 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 the war there have been three great tariff reform bills 
 proposed by the Democratic leaders, none of them alike, 
 neither of them with the same free list, neither of them 
 with the same tariff list, neither of them with the same 
 rates of duty, but all made by the Democratic party upon 
 the same principle, to symbolize and represent tariff 
 reform. 
 
 You may go to Mr. Mills, you may go to Mr. Springer, 
 and you will find they differ totally ; but you may go to 
 the House of Representatives at Washington, which was 
 elected distinctively upon what they call a tariff reform 
 issue, with two-thirds majority in the House, and what do 
 you find ? They passed three bills. Let me name them. 
 First, free tin plate, leaving sheet steel, from which it is 
 made, tariffed. That is, the finished product free and the 
 raw material bearing duty. Second, free wool to the 
 manufacturer, and tariffed cloth to the consumer. Third, 
 free cotton ties to the cotton States, and tariffed hoop 
 iron to all the rest of the States. That is their idea of 
 tariff reform. 
 
 Gentlemen of the convention, how do you like it ? This 
 contest that we enter upon is for the maintenance of reci- 
 procity ; and I w^ant to say here that there is not a line in 
 that tariff bill that is not American ; there is not a page 
 that does not represent true Americanism and the highest 
 possibilities of American citizenship. 
 
 We are to declare ourselves upon other questions here 
 to-day. We are to declare ourselves upon the question 
 of a free ballot and a fair count. No platform should ever 
 be made that does not reiterate that great constitutional 
 guaranty; no Republican speech should ever be made 
 that does not insist firmly and resolutely that the great 
 constitutional guaranty shall be a living birthright, not a 
 
NATIONAL, CONVENTION OF 1 89 2. ^19 
 
 cold formality of constitutional enactment, but a living 
 thing which the poorest and humblest may confidently 
 enjoy and which the richest and most powerful dare not 
 deny. 
 
 We can well leave to the Committee on Resolutions 
 the duty of making a platform that shall represent the 
 best thoughts and the best ideas and the best wisdom of 
 the Republican party. When w^e go out of this conven- 
 tion upon a true Republican platform, we may go out 
 marching to victory, no matter what name may carry the 
 banner. 
 
 This speech was certainly a masterful representa- 
 tion of the issues before the country in 1892. 
 
 Only one ballot was taken on the nomination for 
 President. When Ohio was called, ex-Governor 
 Foraker, one of the delegates-at-large from that 
 State, said that Ohio asked time for consultation. 
 
 After a pause, Mr. Nash, one of the district dele- 
 gates, and chairman of the Ohio delegation, an- 
 nounced the vote of his State as : Harrison, 2 votes ; 
 William McKinley, 44 votes. 
 
 Chairman McKinley sprang up from his seat and 
 shouted : 
 
 " I challenge the vote of Ohio ! " 
 
 The following debate then ensued : 
 
 Mr. Foraker — The gentleman is not a member of 
 this delegation at present. 
 
 Chairman McKinley — I am a member of that dele- 
 gation. 
 
 Mr. Ambler — The gentleman has left the delega- 
 
l8o LIFE OF WILLIAM m'kINLEY. 
 
 tion to assume a higher position, and has substituted 
 an alternate. 
 
 Mr. Foraker — The gentleman's alternate has taken 
 his place in the delegation and the gentleman is not 
 recognized as a member of the delegation now, and 
 we make that point of order. 
 
 The Chairman — The chair overrules the point of 
 order, and asks the secretary to call the roll of 
 Ohio. 
 
 Reading Clerk Hanley called the roll, which re- 
 sulted: McKinley, 44; Harrison, 2. 
 
 Mr. Alsdorf, alternate for Mr. Cooper of Ohio — I 
 announced my vote as for Harrison. I wish to have 
 it changed to William McKinley, Jr. (Cheers.) 
 
 Mr. Nevin of Ohio — That there may be no mis- 
 take about it, I want to say that, as the alternate for 
 William McKinley, Jr., and at his request, I voted 
 for Benjamin Harrison. 
 
 Reading Clerk Stone — Ohio : McKinley, 45 ; 
 Harrison, i. 
 
 Following is the vote by States and Territories : 
 
NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1 892. 
 
 181 
 
 States, 
 
 
 
 p 
 n 
 2. 
 m 
 
 
 a 
 
 s 
 
 5" 
 
 
 re 
 p. 
 
 n 
 
 
 p 
 
 Alaska 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 8 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 26 
 
 48 
 
 30 
 
 26 
 
 20 
 
 26 
 
 16 
 
 12 
 
 16 
 
 30 
 
 28 
 
 18 
 
 18 
 
 34 
 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 20 
 
 72 
 
 22 
 
 46 
 
 8 
 
 64 
 
 8 
 
 18 
 
 24 
 
 30 
 
 8 
 
 24 
 
 12 
 
 24 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 Alabama 
 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 
 Arkansas - 
 
 
 
 California 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 Colorado 
 
 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 26 
 
 34 
 
 30 
 
 20 
 
 11 
 
 22 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Delaware 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Florida 
 
 
 
 Georgia 
 
 
 
 
 
 Illinois 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 
 Indiana 
 
 
 
 
 Iowa 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 9 
 1 
 
 
 
 Kansas 
 
 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 2 
 8 
 12 
 2 
 1 
 2 
 9 
 
 4l^ 
 
 4." 
 
 6 " 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 2% 
 
 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 
 
 Maine 
 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 IS 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 W^ 
 28 
 
 15 
 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 11 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 Michigan 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Nebraska 
 
 
 
 Nevada 
 
 
 
 NewHampshire 
 
 4 
 18 
 27 
 17% 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 / 19 
 
 5 
 13 
 17 
 22 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 12 
 19 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 j^ 
 
 New Tersey 
 
 
 
 
 New\ork 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 45 
 7 
 42 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 
 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 
 
 Ohio 
 
 
 
 Oregon 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 3 
 4 
 6 
 
 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 Vermont 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 West Virginia 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 South Dakota 
 
 
 
 North Dakota 
 
 4 
 1 
 6 
 6 
 2 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Washington , 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 1 
 6* 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 Utah 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total number of votes, 904%; Harrison, 
 McKinlcy, 182 ; Reed, 4; Lincoln, 1. 
 Necessary for choice, 459, 
 
 535 1-6; Blaine, 184 1-6; 
 
l82 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 When the vote of Texas had been announced, 
 Chairman McKinley invited Mr. Elliott F. Shepard 
 of New York to preside, and then he took the floor 
 and moved that Benjamin Harrison be nominated for 
 President of the United States by acclamation. Mr. 
 Clarkson of Iowa seconded the motion. An objec- 
 tion, however, being made because the roll-call was 
 in progress. Governor McKinley withdrew his 
 motion, but after the roll-call was completed the 
 motion was again put, and the nomination was made 
 unanimous. 
 
 McKinley was chosen chairman of the committee 
 that officially notified the President of his nomination. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 AGAIN ELECTED GOVERNOR. 
 
 Effects of the Cleveland Panic — Hon. L. T. Neal's Asser- 
 tions — A Lively Campaign — With a Clean, Able Rec- 
 ord as Governor, McKinley Again Faces the People 
 of Ohio — Opening Meeting at Akron — Elected by the 
 Largest Vote Ever Given for a Candidate — A Flatter- 
 ing Resolution. 
 
 THE second gubernatorial campaign opened at a 
 time when not only the State of Ohio but the 
 Nation was suffering from the effects of the Cleveland 
 panic. The Democrats had been twelve months in 
 office, but the disastrous results following the threat- 
 ened repeal of the McKinley tariff, brought upon the 
 Nation a panic which prostrated industries, threw 
 wage earners of all kinds out of work, disturbed the 
 finances of the country and brought bankruptcy and 
 distress to a prosperous Nation. At one of his 
 opening speeches of this S.tate campaign, McKinley 
 said, in answer to the assertions of the Hon. L. T. 
 Neal, his competitor, that all these things had hap- 
 pened when the McKinley bill was still in force, 
 "But you have still the protective tariff," they 
 say. Yes, but you are pledged to repeal it and the 
 man who receives notice that his house is about to 
 be demolished does not wait until the dynamite is 
 
184 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 put in, but moves out his furniture as soon as he can. 
 Now, what will start your factories?" Thfe above 
 remarks were made in a speech before an enormous 
 meeting at East Liverpool, Ohio, October 16, 1893. 
 At this juncture a voice from the audience yelled 
 out, "Hundred thousand majority for McKinley in 
 November." 
 
 The uproar which followed this was simply deafen- 
 ing. McKinley was unable to proceed with his 
 speech for some time. When able to do so, he said: 
 " What is a lower tariff for? It is to make it easier 
 for foreign goods to get in the United States, to 
 increase competition from abroad. You can not buy 
 your goods and make them at home as well. No 
 good farmer thinks of having his neighbor's sons to 
 do his work when he has half a dozen boys at home 
 idle. I do not believe in buying any kind of goods 
 abroad that we can make here when we have a mil- 
 lion of unemployed men at home." Continuing, 
 McKinley said : 
 
 My competitor says protection is a " foul blot on the 
 fair escutcheon of our country." If it is, then George 
 Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, 
 Andre'w Jackson and Thomas Benton put that " foul 
 blot " upon the fair page of American history ; the men 
 who made this government put this first " foul blot " 
 upon the statute books of the United States. The pro- 
 tective tariff a "foul blot?" What has it done? For 
 thirty-two years we have collected our revenue from this 
 source, and with this revenue have subdued the most 
 gigantic rebellion recorded in human annals. We have 
 
AGAIN ELECTED GOVERNOR. 1 85 
 
 paid a greater public debt than was ever paid in the same 
 period by any government in the world. With this 
 revenue we paid more liberal pensions than in any other 
 country. And that is not all. During those thirty-two 
 years we raised this country from the lowest to the high- 
 est ranks in agriculture, and in mining, and in manufac- 
 tures, of all nations in this wide, wide world. It is a 
 remarkable spectacle. The people who voted for a 
 change last fall are not satisfied, and the people who did 
 not vote for a change are not satisfied. We find Demo- 
 crats petitioning to have the tariff left undisturbed. 
 There are a good many of them who have looked into it 
 since. Those who wanted a change got it, and now 
 they have it they are not satisfied with it. 
 
 Another strong point made during the Ohio cam- 
 paign of 1893, and which forcibly illustrates McKin- 
 ley's plan of campaign, was as follows : 
 
 In the midst of unexampled plenty, with no inflation 
 of prices, for prices had never been so low ; with no in- 
 flation of money, with every dollar in circulation as good 
 as every other dollar, with no premium on gold, we are 
 struck by business depression from ocean to ocean. 
 What has occasioned this ? Is it the money of the coun- 
 try ? We have more money to-day than we ever had in 
 all our history, and we have as good money as we ever 
 had before. Every dollar is worth 100 cents, and every 
 dollar is good to pay all debts — private or public. We 
 have everything we had last year but prosperity. We 
 bartered that away for a change of administration. If 
 the President were here to-night he would not have to 
 inquire whether we are making tin in the United States. 
 These tin horns here tell the story, and I doubt not every 
 
1 86 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 one of them is made from American tin, which two years 
 ago they said we could not make in the United States. 
 This year we have the same men, same money, same 
 machinery and the same markets that we had last year, 
 but we have another management. We have the same 
 enterprise, same energy, same magnificent manufacturing 
 plants, but the people last year decided for a change 
 of policy. 
 
 These two extracts illustrate the effective manner 
 in which the second gubernatorial campaign was 
 conducted. It should be borne in mind that McKin- 
 ley's State administrations had been strong, clear 
 and patriotic. The opinion throughout the State 
 was so general that he had administered this impor- 
 tant executive office with great ability and on strict 
 business principles, that the people were glad to have 
 him again accept this high office of honor and tnist. 
 It was simply impossible for the opposition to pick 
 any flaw in the administration of State affairs, and 
 therefore the campaign which McKinley conducted, 
 to a large extent on National issues, was made by 
 his antagonist on these issues, and naturally McKin- 
 ley was able to demolish his arguments at every 
 point. 
 
 In consequence of this, at the Republican State 
 convention held at Columbus, June 7 and 8, 1893, 
 McKinley was renominated by acclamation. Among 
 the resolutions adopted was the following : 
 
 The people of Ohio have a just pride in the adminis- 
 tration of the affairs of this State by Governor William 
 
AGAIN ELECTED GOVERNOR. I 87 
 
 McKinley, Jr. He brought to the discharge of his 
 duties as Governor, great learning, ability and statesman- 
 ship, and an honest and patriotic purpose, and he has 
 always shown himself capable, faithful and wise. We 
 heartily endorse his administration, and assure him of 
 our great esteem and confidence. 
 
 As in 1 89 1, McKinley prosecuted his campaign 
 with marked ability and great energy, and he 
 aroused tremendous enthusiasm. The opening meet- 
 ing, which was held at Akron, Summit county, was 
 one of the largest political demonstrations ever held 
 in the State. He defeated his Democratic opponent, 
 Hon. L. T. Neal, by the phenomenal plurality of 
 80,995, on the largest vote that up to that time had 
 ever been cast in Ohio. 
 
 Although General Asa S. Bushnell, who succeeds 
 McKinley, was elected this year by a somewhat 
 larger majority, his actual vote fell several thousands 
 below that of the McKinley vote of 1893. This 
 second great victory, based, as it was, so largely 
 upon the tariff issue, naturally attracted the attention 
 of the country to McKinley as a presidential possi- 
 bility. As another chapter will be devoted to 
 McKinley as an executive officer and to his manage- 
 ment of the affairs of the State of Ohio during his 
 four years of governorship, it is not necessary to 
 more than refer briefly to the State campaign of 
 1893. That the majority of the people of the State 
 ot Ohio were satisfied with the manner in which 
 McKinley administered State affairs was evident 
 
l88 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 from the fact that towards the close they gave him 
 loyal and enthusiastic endorsement for President. 
 
 The Republicans of Ohio, in State convention at 
 Zanesville, May 29, 1895, adopted the following as 
 one of the planks of their platform : 
 
 "The people of Ohio are proud of the character 
 and career of their distinguished fellow-citizen, Wil- 
 liam McKinley. A pure, patriotic, unselfish life of 
 public service has endeared him to the Republicans 
 of the Nation, and justly won him a place among 
 the few chosen by popular acclaim for high station 
 and great leadership. Believing him to possess, in 
 eminent degree, those rare qualities of broad, wise 
 and patriotic statesmanship, which not only fit him 
 for victorious leadership in a great campaign, but for 
 successful administration after election, we present 
 William McKinley to the Republicans of the Nation 
 as a candidate for the nomination for President in 
 1896, and we pledge him the absolute and un- 
 swerving support of Ohio at the next National 
 convention." 
 
 It will thus be seen that the second term of Wil- 
 liam McKinley as Governor terminated with the 
 general expression of public opinion of the State 
 that he should be promoted to the Presidency of the 
 United States. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 McKINLEY, THE MAN. 
 
 Physically a Paradox — A Shapely Head and Good Shoul- 
 ders — A Good Dancer and Delightful Partner — Prob- 
 ably Made More Speeches and Addressed a Greater 
 Number of People than any Man in the World — The 
 Record of His Strength and Vitality — His Habits of 
 Life — A Plain Liver — Patience and Self-control Strong 
 Characteristics. 
 
 PHYSICALLY, William McKinley is somewhat 
 of a paradox. Ordinarily, he has very good 
 health, and he is capable of marvelous endurance. 
 Yet he takes but little exercise. He possesses the 
 family characteristic physically. Several times, dur- 
 ing his gubernatorial term, McKinley 's physician at 
 Columbus prescribed a mild dose of exercise as a 
 cure for attacks of malaria or indigestion. McKinley 
 would take a walk around the State House, and up a 
 street for a square or so, a total distance of say half 
 a mile, and would return to his hotel all in a glow, 
 and he would really think that he had performed 
 quite a feat of pedestrianism. On these trips he 
 always liked to be accompanied by a personal friend. 
 The fact is, a half-mile walk seemed to have as much 
 effect on this man, in the way of beneficial exercise, 
 as a regular gymnasium course has upon most men' 
 
 189 
 
19° LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Although inclined to "stockiness" in build — with, 
 indeed, a tendency to corpulency — McKinley is 
 shapely and well-proportioned. His head is well 
 set on a stout neck and a fine pair of shoulders ; his 
 chest is full, showing strong lung capacity. His legs 
 are sturdy. He is muscular naturally. The fact is 
 not generally known that McKinley is possessed of 
 great physical strength. Had he gone into syste- 
 matic training when a young man, he would have 
 made a champion wrestler. In the free-and-easy 
 swing of his shoulders, moving in harmony with the 
 erect, gracefully poised head, and in the springiness 
 and yet firmness of his step, McKinley walks like an 
 athlete. The personification of dignity in his bearing, 
 there are few matured men of his physical build who 
 are so buoyant in movement as he. It is only on very 
 rare occasions that McKinley dances ; but fortunate 
 is the young lady who secures him for a partner, as 
 not only is he a veritable beau ideal in gallantry, but 
 he is almost youthful in ease, lightness and elasticity 
 of step. 
 
 McKinley' s marvelous powers of endurance have 
 been mostly manifested in political campaigns, par- 
 ticularly from and including the gubernatorial con- 
 test of 1 89 1. It is certainly safe to say that during 
 the last five years, McKinley has spoken to more 
 people than any other living man during an equal 
 length of time ; and it is probably true that he has 
 during his life made more speeches and addressed a 
 greater number of people than any other man in the 
 world. Nothing like his campaign of 1891 had ever 
 
M'KINLF.Y AMONG THE IRON AND STEEL WORKERS. 
 
m'kinley, the man. 19^ 
 
 before been seen in Ohio. Then, and a number of 
 times since, he has performed feats in traveling and 
 speaking that seem almost incredible. For a couple 
 of months he would be considered good for one set 
 speech a day, with two hundred miles a day of travel. 
 Then, as the campaign warmed, he would deliver 
 two set speeches a day, with several informal talks 
 as side issues not on the regular programme. And 
 when the campaign got to white heat, he has taken a 
 special train from town to town, speaking four, six, 
 ten, a dozen, and even fifteen times a day. This he 
 has done not only in Ohio, but in a number of other 
 States, particularly in the West. His friends have 
 wondered how he could stand the fatigue not only 
 of talking, but of traveling. He would return from 
 a trip of hundreds of miles with scores of speeches 
 made, and after a bath and a shave he would be as 
 fresh as when he started out. 
 
 The secret of McKinley's physical strength and 
 vitality is: a splendid constitution, good digestion, 
 and ability to sleep under almost any conditions. 
 He comes of a hardy race — the Scotch-Irish ; and his 
 family is a healthful, robust, long-lived one. But to 
 hereditary attributes must be added that which comes 
 from good habits and a clean life. While there is 
 nothing of the ascetic about McKinley, he is a "plain 
 liver," and from personal experience he does not 
 know what excess means, although occasionally the 
 doctor will advise him to place a closer limitation 
 upon the number of cigars he smokes a day. Mc- 
 Kinley likes "home cooking," and he prefers the 
 
^9^ LIFB OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 old-fashioned rule for the head of the family to carve 
 and serve his viands. He always wants a cigar im- 
 mediately after eating. 
 
 Gentleness and consideration for others are the dis- 
 tinguishing traits of McKinley's character. Probably 
 this is as much a matter of education as of natural 
 attributes. • As has been shown, for over a score of 
 years he has been a devoted attendant upon a deli- 
 cate wife, whose heroic patience under suffering would 
 appeal with irresistible force to a man of the chival- 
 rous instincts of McKinley. He has always re- 
 mained the gallant and ardent lover as of the days 
 of early romance ; and this affection has been beati- 
 fied and glorified by an all-pervading and ever-present 
 sentiment of tender care and guardianship. Unques- 
 tionably this gentle sentiment towards his wife has 
 had a great influence in the shaping and develop- 
 ment of his character. It is probably responsible for 
 the habitual expression of his face — a quietness ap- 
 proaching to gravity — not the sadness of a Lincoln 
 or the dark solemnity of a Napoleon — but rather the 
 introspective seriousness of the religious recluse. 
 With a natural tendency towards phlegmaticism, this 
 one great idea of incessant devotion has no doubt 
 been of inestimable service to McKinley in the forma- 
 tion of his mental and moral fibre. Patience and 
 self-control always abide with him. He philosoph- 
 ically brushes aside the small trials and annoyances 
 of daily Jif/^- 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 McKINLEY AS A SPEAKER. 
 
 McKinley's Reserve Power — Absolute Enforcement of 
 Law and Order — His Method of Making Appoint- 
 ments — His Mastery of the Tariff Makes his Speeches 
 Interesting — Argumentative, Appealing and Conciliat- 
 ing — He Never Abuses his Adversary — The Best 
 Vote-Winner on the Stump. 
 
 LIKE Lincoln, McKinley believes that the best 
 road is that which offers the fewest obstacles — 
 so long as the road is the right road ; and that it is 
 sometimes easier to plow around the stump than it 
 is to try to pull the stump up. Still, this yielding to 
 non-essentials does not imply a sacrifice of princi- 
 ple. No main can be firmer than he when duty so 
 requires. As in his physical make-up, so in his 
 mental and moral nature. He has a vast reserve 
 power. When a fair' and square issue arises, he is 
 firm to the degree of stubbornness ; and when after 
 careful and probably long consideration, he has 
 finally made up his mind, he has a rock-like immova- 
 bility. His very nature makes him inclined to use 
 the gloved hand, but should it be necessary he will 
 not hesitate to expose the steel beneath the velvet 
 covering. 
 
 Ohio never had a Governor who more promjjtly 
 
 193 
 
^94 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 and efRciently responded to the calls for troops to aid 
 the civil authority in upholding the laws of the State 
 than McKinley, and it is a remarkable fact that 
 during the last two years of his administration he 
 probably has had more calls for the use of troops 
 than have been made during any ten other years 
 since the war. It is a noteworthy testimony to the 
 confidence and esteem in which he is held by the 
 people of Ohio that there has always been practically 
 a universal approval of his action in ordering out the 
 militia — and this is true even as to the communities 
 in which the outbreaks occurred, when these com- 
 munities had had time to recover from the passion 
 which inflamed them. 
 
 No Governor was ever held in higher esteem by 
 his subordinates in a State administration than 
 McKinley. His habit is to be very deliberate and 
 careful in making appointments, and then to trust 
 his appointees implicitly. His confidence can not 
 be easily shaken, but when the evidence of wrong- 
 doing has been made clear to him, the revelation has 
 been a great shock. Then it was that the iron in his 
 nature asserted itself, and no guilty man escaped so 
 far as he was concerned ; but he has always wanted 
 to believe the best possible of every man. 
 
 It is sometimes suggested that McKinley is not a 
 good judge of men. Rather should it be said of him 
 that his rule is that if he can not say anything good 
 of a man, he will say nothing. He can aiford to be 
 deceived sometimes rather than to think every man a 
 rascal. Still, McKinley is not likely to be often 
 
« 
 m'kinley as a speaker. 195 
 
 imposed upon, as he is a keen though quiet student 
 of human nature. 
 
 McKinley is a good Hstener — so much so that he 
 has gained somewhat of a reputation for taciturnity. 
 While his manner is courtly and even gracious, he is 
 the opposite of effusive. Notwithstanding his exten- 
 sive and varied experience as a central figure on 
 great occasions, he frequently has to struggle against 
 a manifestation of that embarrassment which springs 
 from self-consciousness. If ever a living man ought 
 to be accustomed to handshaking and being stared at, 
 it is William McKinley, and yet he told the writer 
 once, on the occasion of a "church social," that 
 when the good brethren and sisters came around him 
 with kindly greetings, he felt as if he wanted to run 
 away. John B. Gough, the prince of platform Dila- 
 tors, once told the writer that he always had a fit of 
 trembling just as he was about to face his audience. 
 
 The habitual quietness of McKinley s expression 
 has led some indifferent observers to charge him with 
 austerity. Not long ago a newspaper correspondent 
 declared that McKinley never smiled. The truth is, 
 there is a great deal of quiet humor in McKinley 's 
 make-up, and when the reserve of officialdom or of 
 public function is removed, he loves to tell or listen 
 to a good story ; and among his intimates it is well 
 understood that to be teased by him is to be given a 
 proof of partiality. The genial humor and kindliness 
 of McKinley are never so abundantly manifested as 
 when he has young people around him. Then it is 
 that fun just bubbles from him. 
 
196 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 As a public speaker, McKinley stands in the front 
 rank. Even those who say that he can make only 
 one speech must admit that he *can make that one 
 well. But such a criticism is not fairly taken. The 
 truth is that few men in political life have delivered 
 speeches upon such a variety of subjects as has Mc- 
 Kinley. True, the tariff is his specialty — but he 
 makes a creditable presentation of any subject he 
 handles. Indeed, McKinley never makes a poor 
 speech. A few years ago a volume of speeches by 
 McKinley was published. This volume contains 
 sixty-five speeches. About one-fifth of them are on 
 the tariff, and the rest include the subjects of labor, 
 equal suffrage, pensions, finance, civil service reform, 
 education, patriotism and religion. Probably no 
 living American, with the exception of Mr. Depew, 
 has during the last four years delivered such a variety 
 of set and impromptu speeches as McKinley. 
 
 In his specialty, the tariff, he stands the undisputed 
 master. His attractiveness in the presentation of 
 this question is only equaled by the consistency and 
 tenacity of his view thereon. There is no hall which 
 McKinley cannot fill when he is announced to speak 
 upon his favorite theme. Naturally, it is a dry, 
 unattractive subject for popular discussion. He must 
 be a genius who can extract anything thrilling from 
 the tariff, and yet McKinley presents it with peculiar 
 fascination to the plain people. It must be conceded 
 that there are a number of American orators who are 
 much more eloquent than McKinley, but there is not 
 one among them who can so continuously, day after 
 
M'KINLEY AS A SPEAKER. 1 97 
 
 day, week after week, during a campaign, hold his 
 hearers spell-bound and so impress 'them as Mc- 
 Kinley can. 
 
 Wherein is McKinley's strength as a speaker 
 upon the tariff? The answer seems to be: First, 
 his evident sincerity ; and, secondly, his simplicity 
 in the presentation of his argument. There is very 
 little of the ornate in his style, but still it is graceful. 
 It is eminently epigrammatic, yet not mosaic, for the 
 sentences are not only well rounded, but are well 
 connected and are forcefully arranged, so that the 
 climax stands upon a broad and firm foundation of 
 argument and fact. 
 
 Not only has he a splendid voice, but his pronun- 
 ciation is charming. A lady once remarked that it 
 was worth going to one of McKinley's meetings just 
 to hear him say " Ohio." 
 
 One reason why McKinley is so successful in 
 handling the tariff is because he does the mental 
 work for his hearers. He does not throw down a 
 cart-load of tabulated figures and leave his auditors 
 to solve the problem by addition, subtraction or divi- 
 sion. He does that himself. It is wonderful what 
 an interesting story he can extract from a page of 
 hard, dry figures. 
 
 From a rhetorical standpoint, Ohio has produced 
 greater " stumpers " than McKinley. Tom Corwin 
 hardly had his peer anywhere since the war. A 
 more recent example is General Gibson. The latter 
 was, perhaps, fully equal to Gough in startling 
 realism, He appealed altogether to the emotions. 
 
198 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Gibson was an excellent man to send to Republican 
 strongholds to "rouse up the boys." McKinley's 
 style is entirely different from that of Corwin or Gib- 
 son. McKinley is argumentative, appealing and con- 
 ciliatory. He never abuses his adversary, or if he 
 does, it is with so much adroitness that the adversary 
 never notices it, and consequently his feelings are 
 not hurt. Thus it is that the politicians of his State, 
 irrespective of party, declare that McKinley is " the 
 greatest vote-getter in America." The State Com- 
 mittee assigns McKinley to the Democratic and 
 "doubtful" districts, for he not only gets out the 
 full Republican vote, but he wins over votes from 
 the enemy. 
 
 McKinley's personal appearance is a great aid to 
 his power as a platform speaker. He always wears 
 a black frock coat buttoned all the way down. His 
 face is pale, and he unconsciously assumes a statu- 
 esque pose. At first, he is slow of utterance and low 
 of voice. This is a method with him, for he has 
 learned that he can only get at the full strength of 
 his voice and maintain it by reaching it gradually. 
 By-and-by his voice grows louder. It takes but a 
 few minutes for him to measure the acoustic proper- 
 ties of the hall and know to a nicety (that comes 
 only from experience) to what key to pitch his voice. 
 Then it rings out with a bell-like clearness, and cuts 
 through and circles around the mightiest of throngs. 
 As a rule, he makes but few gestures, but those he 
 does make are emphatic. 
 
 Having captured his hearers by his manifestation 
 
m'kinley as a speakbr. 199 
 
 of sincerity and earnestness, he proceeds, step by 
 step, to convince them by his logic ; then he ham- 
 mers into them the truth as he understands it ; and 
 finally the sum is worked out, the problem is solved, 
 and the argument has reached its demonstration — 
 and then McKinley is afire ; his voice sounds like 
 an anvil struck by a sledge-hammer wielded by his 
 strong right arm, which now rises up and down with 
 quick, terrific force ; his form trembles with energy 
 and seems to grow to heroic size ; his deep-set eyes 
 flash out like living coals. This is the moment of 
 the orator's triumph. When his voice stops there is 
 a thunder of applause, repeated again and again. 
 With an " I thank you" in a low, nervous tone, the 
 great champion of protection bows, and then plunges 
 into his big overcoat, for by this time he has worked 
 himself into a profuse perspiration. 
 
CHAPTER XVI II. 
 
 A CHARACTER STUDY. 
 
 A Tariff for Protection, Not a Protective Tariff — A 
 Character Study by E. J. Edwards, the Brilliant 
 Journalist — McKinley Possesses a Logical Mind, and 
 Has Cultivated Habits of Patience and Industry — Sur- 
 prising Capacity for Drudgery — He has Made of the 
 Tariff a Poem, Not Dreary Schedules. 
 
 THE following delightful character sketch of Mc- 
 Kinley was written by the well-known and 
 brilliant journalist, E. Jay Edwards ("Holland") 
 for McClure's Magazine. It appeared in 1893, imme- 
 diately after McKinley' s great victory in that year. 
 It is reproduced in this volume by the courteous per- 
 mission of Mr. S. S. McClure : 
 
 McKinley was chosen a Representative in Con- 
 gress when thirty-three years of age ; at fifty, his 
 name represents a principle of government which ap- 
 peals to millions. That is an honor which has been 
 the lot of no Congressman since Wilmot gained it. 
 The youth who stood before the Speaker pale, 
 slender, almost of timid suggestion, but of such dig- 
 nity of countenance and manner as caused to be fixed 
 upon him the eyes of the veterans of Congress when 
 he took the oath, became, seventeen years later, the 
 
 protagonist of a principle not boldly avowed until he 
 
 200 
 
A CHARACTER STUDY. 201 
 
 did it. He has compelled his countrymen to accept 
 his name as a synonym for a policy which touches 
 the core of American institutions. Clay has been 
 called the father of the protective system, although 
 Hamilton was that. Judge Kelley was for thirty 
 years its special guardian. Mr. Morrill applied the 
 principle with wondrous skill when framing the 
 war tariff; but McKinley cast its apologies and its dis- 
 guises away, and came forth true to his early inspir- 
 ation, to proclaim it the American principle, to be 
 avowed, defended and made triumphant for its own 
 sake. In 1877 he was for a protective tariff; in 1888 
 he flung qualification to the winds, and stepped to 
 the front the champion of protection of and for itself. 
 And he put his party, till then hesitating, upon that 
 radical foundation ; made Congress his servant, so 
 that it spread upon the statute books, for the first 
 time, a law which was a tariff for protection, and not 
 merely a protective tariff. 
 
 Two years later, when the American people 
 seemed to have repudiated his work with overwhelm- 
 ing indignation, he furnished as fine an inspiration of 
 courage and faith as we have ever seen, when his 
 voice rang clear in that tempest of defeat, and bade 
 his party hold fast and steady its lines. There were 
 sneers and flippant jests for him, but he seemed to 
 have the faith of the Covenanters, whose blood runs 
 in his veins. There gathered about him, in his hotel 
 parlor, in a great eastern city, at that time, men of 
 his party, some complaining, many timid, seeming 
 almost ready to turn half backward on the party's 
 
202 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 record. He listened to them calmly, patiently, till 
 they were done, and then said, " My friends, be 
 firm. This is only a cross current, a chop sea ; the 
 tide of truth flows surely on beneath." Then these 
 men went away inspired by the faith that was in him, 
 and understanding something of the quality which 
 had made him a man of power. To them, at least, 
 the story of November 7th furnished no occasion for 
 surprise. 
 
 It was at the Republican Convention of 1888 that 
 McKinley first made revelation that he could inspire 
 and command as well. The prize that body was to 
 offer, another than he received ; but the honors were 
 his. President Cleveland had with his lofty courage 
 flung out his banner of defiance of the protective 
 policy, and rallied his party under it. McKinley 
 matched that splendid and passionate challenge, by 
 unfurling in that convention another banner with a 
 new legend ; " Protection not an incident, but a right 
 and duty ;" and with that inspiration faced his party 
 against the opposition for the battle of November. 
 
 Without patronage, without power of any sort 
 except that which is the handmaid of persuasion, he 
 stayed the influence and barred for the time the issue 
 created by the mightiest personal force in our public 
 life for a generation. He prevailed with Congress as 
 he had with his party's representatives at Chicago, 
 and put upon the statute books a law of which he 
 made proclamation, "This is a tariff for the protec- 
 tion of all things American,' 
 
 McKinley is better known, and, perhaps, less 
 
A CHARACTER STUDY. 2O3 
 
 understood, than any of those who began public life 
 with him. It is sometimes said that his success was 
 served by chance or circumstance ; that his faith is 
 cool calculation, his enthusiasm a simulation, his 
 impressive public manner the posing of an actor, his 
 gravity an affectation of self-praise. But those who 
 have been near him for many years do not speak 
 thus of him. Nor can those who, with something of 
 impartial spirit, make some study of his career, 
 come to such estimation of him. 
 
 He went to Congress well equipped. He was of 
 the age which seems best. The great careers have 
 been begun early there. Mr. Blaine has said that 
 the golden age for entering a service in Congress 
 which is to be prolonged, is at the first flush of vig- 
 orous manhood. Like McKinley, he was thirty-three 
 when he first went there ; and of that age or there- 
 abouts were Garfield and Conkling and Allison and 
 Sherman and Randall and Reed. The House is a 
 jealous mistress. Over its portals should be written, 
 "Ye who enter here must be single in my service." 
 And it was with such purpose that McKinley stepped 
 from the court room of the country village to that 
 finest of legislative arenas. 
 
 Congress was not greatly concerned about the 
 principle which was in McKinley's heart, sound and 
 abiding, when he entered that body. The Govern- 
 ment was financing for the resumption of specie 
 payments. Partisanship was still hot and angry over 
 the disputed results of 1876. Frank Hurd had 
 hurled the doctrine of free trade absolute over the 
 
204 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 heads of his rebuking party in a brilliant speech, 
 which made a sensation but not an impression. Mr. 
 Morrison was hinting at an early necessity for tariff 
 revision. Carlisle was compelling the first tributes 
 of respect for extraordinary lucid and thorough pre- 
 sentation of financial views. Kelley stood as a grim 
 guard at the gateway of the Morrill tariff". The 
 Republican party was proudly looking forward to 
 that day in 1879 when the Government was to pay 
 its debts in coin and at demand. McKinley entered 
 a Congress absorbed in these matters, and, although 
 one of the youngest of the members, he must have 
 early revealed himself as a man of power, who only 
 awaited experience and opportunity. He was indi- 
 cated in his second term as the man of all others who 
 should take Garfield's chair in the Ways and Means 
 Committee ; and there he remained until, becoming 
 the committee's chairman, he was named by the 
 Speaker leader of the House. He was then only 
 forty-six years of age. No trick of politics, no 
 wielding of men so as to make them play to his pur- 
 pose, no other quality than intellectual ability and 
 personal strength, could have brought so young a 
 man so swiftly to membership of the most important 
 committee of the House, 
 
 His career seems to be logically indicated when he, 
 a youth not long out of the army, his shingle just 
 swung over the door of a country law office in Can- 
 ton, met his opportunity and took it. It is a tradi- 
 tion which his neighbors like to tell, that at that 
 time there came a cunning lawyer to his town, who 
 
A CHARACTER STUDY. 205 
 
 matched himself against McKinley in debate, and 
 beat him and his feeble argument for protection down 
 by the forceful pleadings of a pronounced free trader ; 
 and that then the iron entered McKinley's heart, and 
 he said to a companion, "Hereafter no man shall 
 overcome me so ; I know that I am right in this mat- 
 ter, and I know that I can show that I am right by 
 and by." Thenceforth he studied books and men 
 and facts and his country, that he might be fortified 
 in maintaining his principle. 
 
 Nothing, perhaps, shows more clearly the serious 
 and earnest quality of his mind than in the manner 
 in which he approached this subject. The young 
 lawyer dug down at the roots, and, as he afterwards 
 told the story to a group of friends, he went back to 
 the Government itself and made his analysis, "Gov- 
 ments are for the protection of person and property. 
 Our own agreement of government, which is the 
 written Constitution, makes specific guarantees, and 
 adds to them the promise of providing for the gen- 
 eral welfare of the people. In our declaration of 
 rights there is to be found mentioned an inalienable 
 right, 'the pursuit of happiness.' The right of labor 
 and of labor's best reward is, therefore, not only in- 
 alienable, for in it lies the power to pursue happiness ; 
 but it is a right protected in terms by the Constitu- 
 tion." That was the groundwork of McKinley's 
 faith, and upon that as a bed-rock principle he built 
 his defences, which Mr. Carlisle has said have been 
 as perfect as it is possible to construct and maintain 
 for the protective principle. 
 
2o6 LIFK OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Therefore he was fortified when Judge Thurman, 
 profoundly versed in constitutional law, said one 
 day, "McKinley, where is your constitutional right 
 for protection?" and he replied, "Where was yours 
 when the creator of your party, Jefferson, bought the 
 Louisiana Territory?" 
 
 "Ah," said Thurman with ready reply, "that was 
 not unconstitutional, but ultra-constitutional." 
 
 "Well, then. Senator, if your party can defend the 
 purchase of the Louisiana Territory as an ultra- 
 constitutional act, isn't it straining at a gnat when it 
 denounces protection as an unconstitutional policy? 
 Moreover, I affirm that the Constitution defends and 
 maintains it." 
 
 When he made that decision at the debating club 
 where the cunning lawyer met him, McKinley took 
 opportunity at its time. {le received conviction 
 then, and made of it a prisoner, for life. As he has 
 cherished his faith, it has seemed to those with whom 
 he has been upon terms of intimacy as though it had 
 sometimes opened his eyes so that he had seen won- 
 drous things for our people when his face becomes 
 triumphant, and is in its perfect flower. That has 
 made him, what his friend Mr. Reed once called 
 him, and what many of his associates in Congress 
 have come to regard him, in some respects the most 
 passionate American, for his patriotism is a genuine 
 passion. Those who travel with him, those who 
 meet him in some place away from his home, have 
 been amazed at his persistent inquiry respecting ma- 
 terial things which may suggest a lesson of American 
 
A CHARACTER STUDY. 207 
 
 prosperity — the railways, their mileage, their traffic, 
 their dividends, their proposed extensions ; the mills, 
 what they make, the hands they employ, how the 
 workingmen live, how many comforts and luxuries 
 they possess ; the distinctive trade of any city where 
 he happens to be, whether it increases or is being 
 taken away, and why. Of the splendid domain 
 where American agriculture flourishes, he will tell 
 men who live upon it more than they know, and then 
 persist in inquiry like a cross-examiner. 
 
 Besides possessing the logical mind, McKinley has 
 acquired the habits of patience, industry and a 
 capacity to submit to drudgery, which is fully appre- 
 ciated only by those who know what the preparation 
 of a tariff bill involves. This is unquestionably an 
 acquired talent ; for McKinley, by nature, had some 
 tendency, if not to indolence, at least to easy manner 
 of life. But when he made the proclamation and 
 maintenance of protection his serious business, he 
 knew the dreary drudgery that was before him ; he 
 knew that no other policy of government compels 
 such incessant labor, constant watchfulness, wide 
 reading and all-reaching comprehension of all the 
 energies which go to make American life, as does 
 the mastery of this one. 
 
 If McKinley had been seen by the American peo- 
 ple when he was engaged in acquiring and applying 
 knowledge, he would have been discovered at his 
 committee rooms sometimes eight or ten hours a day, 
 or in consultation with his committee at his private 
 rooms often until long past midnight. He would 
 
208 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 have been exploring the mysteries of chemistry ; 
 reading the reports of trade associations, sometimes 
 with great volumes massed up before him, through 
 which he searched with the penetrating industry of 
 one who compiles history ; and in addition to these 
 duties was his occupation upon the floor of the House. 
 Such labor as this is exceeded by that of no lawyer 
 preparing briefs, no physician making research into 
 disease, no merchant in his counting room ; and it 
 puts to the highest test the capacity of a man for 
 dreary drudgery. The maker of a tariff bill, the 
 faithful member of a Ways and Means Committee, 
 whether he be a protectionist or the opposite, knows 
 his country and has his finger upon the pulse which 
 beats with the material energy of the world. There- 
 fore McKinley stands proved by the most severe 
 of tests as a man capable of exhaustive and long- 
 continued labor. This quality, combined with the 
 logical habit of his mind, as well as his native dispo- 
 sition, has caused him to be esteemed one of the 
 most serious of men. Perhaps it is for this reason 
 that not for him have been those furious and exultant 
 manifestations of popular acclaim which men with 
 more brilliant, dramatic and splendid personal traits 
 and intellectual display secure. He would never 
 compel a whirlwind of enthusiasm for personal qual- 
 ities as did Clay or Douglass, or, of our own time, 
 Mr. Blaine. But he has not failed in these later 
 years to command more permanent tributes. 
 
 It has been said that McKinley is no politician in 
 the sense in which that word is commonly employed ; 
 
A CHARACTER STUDY. 
 
 209 
 
 that he has no great command over masses of men, 
 no capacity for playing the game of poHtics as chess 
 is played, and wielding caucuses, conventions and 
 communities to serve his purpose. And it is doubt- 
 less true that he has, as yet, made no such mani- 
 festation as would justify the opinion that he is to be 
 esteemed one of the greatest politicians. His single- 
 hearted purpose may have made such a pursuit im- 
 possible. That, however, is an endeavor which 
 awaits him in the immediate future, if he is to so take 
 advantage of the position which he now occupies 
 that he may be named by his party as its Presidential 
 candidate in 1896. We shall discover whether Mc- 
 Kinley is a politician of the higher order in the sum- 
 mer of that year. 
 
 Able men have been placed, in the years that are 
 gone, exactly as he now is situated with respect to 
 the Presidency. Seward, three years before the 
 Republican convention of i860, seemed to be pre- 
 eminently proclaimed his party's candidate. He had 
 formulated his ideal in a single sentence, and he had 
 the wisdom of experience, and the advantage of 
 association with one of the ablest politicians ever 
 developed in our country, Thurlow Weed. At the 
 same time Mr. Lincoln was indicated as the leader of 
 his party. Two years before the convention of i860 
 he, too, had formulated the RepubHcan party faith, 
 and in a series of debates, which are now historic, 
 had overthrown Douglass, till then the ablest debater 
 of his day. Somewhat similar is McKinley's rela- 
 tion to his party to-day ; and it is doubtless within the 
 
2IO LIFE OF WILLJAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 truth to say that, on the morning after the election of 
 November 7, the thought that was common to the 
 politicians of either party was this : ' ' McKinley is 
 to-day pre-eminently indicated as his party's candi- 
 date." Those are the exact words uttered by two 
 distinguished politicians, Chauncey M. Depew and 
 William R. Grace, one a Republican the other a 
 Democrat, when the abnormal majority of Ohio for 
 McKinley was reported. But these men knew, as 
 every politician knows, that having secured such 
 advantage as makes a man pre-eminently indicated 
 so many months before his party's convention meets, 
 there are entailed upon such a man the very highest 
 qualities o'f political skill in order to gain his party's 
 highest honor. Lincoln displayed them ; Seward 
 made one or two blunders which were fatal. Mc- 
 Kinley must for the next three years be peculiarly 
 discreet, and yet show no lack of courage ; he must 
 watch the country, detecting instantly unfavorable 
 alliance or combination, and mass his resources for 
 their overthrow. 
 
 In his control of his tariff bill, when he was leader 
 of the House, he revealed the very highest qualities 
 in management of men, and of men mastered by the 
 supreme impulse — that of the pocketbook. A manu- 
 facturer, a Democrat, sought him at his rooms one 
 evening, and said to him : " Mr. McKinley, I have 
 been to my member, who is a Democrat like myself, 
 to have him help me get a hearing before your com- 
 mittee. I have been to my Senator, who is a Demo- 
 crat, and I have been to others, and they have all 
 
A CHARACTER STUDY. 211 
 
 failed me. Now I have come to you. I have no 
 claim on you, but I want to ask the privilege of rep- 
 resenting my case. " 
 
 McKinley sat with that man till midnight, listened 
 to his expositions, searched the books and prece- 
 dents, scrutinized the schedules, and at last said to 
 the manufacturer, who was a stranger to him : 
 " Your claim is just ; I thank you for bringing it to 
 me. We should have erred if we had left the sched- 
 ule as it is. I will see that it is changed." 
 
 His simplicity of life and character should serve 
 him in the politician's game. He lives like one who 
 has been bred among the plain people of the land, 
 and has never longed to stray from such association. 
 Those who know him tell many anecdotes that sug- 
 gest this plain and simple habit. McKinley, walking 
 to the Capitol with a friend, was overhauled by a 
 fellow-Congressman, a Democrat, who, behind a 
 gaily caparisoned team and with a gorgeously 
 liveried driver, hailed McKinley and invited him to 
 ride. McKinley cast a queer glance at the vehicle, 
 and declined, saying in an undertone to his friend : 
 " I should never know how to get into that thing, or, 
 being in, how to get out." The rich man insisted, 
 and McKinley climbed up over the lofty wheels, 
 scrambling like a boy Who steals a ride behind ; and, 
 being at last seated, received this compliment: 
 " McKinley, people who saw you get in might say 
 you were a better Democrat than I. " 
 
 " Who is that? " said Henry Irving, looking down 
 from the galleries of the House and indicating 
 
212 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 McKinley. " He should be a man of intellec- 
 tual power." And it has seemed to others, who, 
 seeing the House listening to him with the impres- 
 sive silence which there means highest respect, 
 that, as was said of Chatham, there was something 
 even finer in the man than in the speech he uttered. 
 
 It was that quality he revealed when men came to 
 him after the convention of 1888, and again after 
 that of 1892, when he had the presidential nomina- 
 tion almost surely within his grasp, but commanded 
 those who would offer it to be still, because he could 
 not in honor receive it, having gone to those places 
 in behalf of another ; and these men told him that he 
 had done as honorable a thing as the story of Amer- 
 ican politics tells. He looked upon them with 
 amazement, saying simply this: "Is it such an 
 honorable thing not to do a dishonorable thing ? ' ' 
 
 It has been said that the finest tribute paid by a 
 popular convention was that which he received when 
 he rejected these offers of the nomination. But it has 
 seemed to others that perhaps a gentler, truer meas- 
 ure of esteem was never delivered than when, not 
 long ago, it was revealed that he had lost his little 
 fortune, because he had been so occupied with the 
 Nation's business that he had not attended to his 
 own ; and there came to him tender messages of 
 sympathy, and with the utmost delicacy contributions 
 sent anonymously lest he should return them, saying, 
 " I can not accept these evidences of your good 
 will." Friends have paid the debts of more than one 
 statesman, but it has never before happened that in 
 
A CHARACTER STUDY. 21^ 
 
 time of personal financial distress there have been 
 submitted from all parts of the country silent and 
 anonymous tokens such as these were. 
 
 To such a man as these brief hints suggest McKin- 
 ley to be, it must seem true that the golden rule for 
 such a government as ours is the second of the 
 greater commandments of the Sciiptures ; and it is 
 easy to understand why he believes that this rule set 
 forth in law by gentle and kindly command compels 
 the common American hand-clasp, each citizen 
 through the operation of that law giving and every 
 one receiving strength. No dreamer, no theorist, 
 McKinley has yet made of his faith a poem as he 
 tells it ; for as he speaks, it seems no longer merely a 
 matter of dreary schedules and hated imposts, but 
 reveals the promise of that most beautiful of condi- 
 tions, a happy people who may compass greater 
 things than men have dared to dream. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1894. 
 
 Industrial and Financial Gloom — Condition of the Coun- 
 try in 1894 — The People Demand McKinley at the 
 Front — The Most Remarkable Campaign Since the 
 War — Nearly Four Hundred Speeches in Five Weeks 
 — Greeted with Ovations Everywhere — Good-natured 
 and Modest in Bearing — Fighting for Principle, Not 
 for Self-aggrandizement — Immense Audience — Inci- 
 dents of the Campaign. 
 
 IN the history of a nation, as in human affairs, 
 there are periods when troubles accumulate and 
 press heavily on all sides, when the future is dark 
 beyond compare, and when hope fades and despair 
 takes possession of the heart and mind. The nation 
 that survives such calamities is a superior nation and 
 the human being a man of first quality. The advent 
 of the Democratic party to power, March 4, 1893, 
 marked the beginning of the most sudden change 
 from industrial prosperity to industrial adversity ever 
 known in the economic history of any country. In 
 extent and rapidity of action this industrial devasta- 
 tion brought to mind the havoc of modern warfare 
 prosecuted with energy and force by the aid of the 
 most fearful and ingenious life — and property — de- 
 stroying implements. No matter what the cause or 
 
 214 
 
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1 894. 215 
 
 causes, this panic of distrust and contraction swept 
 the country from the Pacific to the Atlantic in an 
 incredibly short space of time, and threw its shadows 
 alike on every section of our broad domain. 
 
 Under its blighting effects private fortunes went 
 down, values shrunk, corporations were pushed to 
 the wall, banks closed their doors, solvent firms 
 sought refuge in the hands of receivers, great finan- 
 cial institutions resorted to extraordinary combina- 
 tions in the hope of stemming the almost resistless 
 tide, the people took alarm and drained the savings 
 banks of their deposits, orders for merchandise and 
 commodities stopped, and whole communities of 
 wage-earners were discharged from mines, mills, fac- 
 tories and workshops. 
 
 In the face of financial gloom and despair, the 
 financiers, the business men, the captains of industry, 
 exhibited courage, determination and the highest 
 order of patriotism. They risked their fortunes in 
 the effort to stem the current rapidly running against 
 them. They stood in the ranks with angry and 
 panic-stricken men and women and pointed out the 
 folly of withdrawing money from sound and well- 
 managed banks. They kept open their mills and 
 factories until forced to close for want of orders. 
 They, by their enterprise, forced a return of some 
 gold to our shores. The tide of calamity following 
 the advent of the Democratic party to power at one 
 time bade fair to engulf the business interests of the 
 Nation. 
 
 Labor, likewise, acted heroically. Reduction of 
 
2l6 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLBY. 
 
 wages was accepted. Factories went on half time 
 without a protest from the employes, and thousands 
 daily joined the mournful army of the unemployed 
 with the cherished hope that a few weeks would 
 bring about better times. Here and there the cry 
 went up for bread or work, and at such gatherings 
 the socialistic spirit naturally came to the front. The 
 hundreds of thousands, however, suddenly emerging 
 from a long period of prosperity, did not feel at once 
 the pinch of poverty. They were peaceable and 
 hopeful, and, like the business men of the country, 
 turned to the party in power for some remedy — to 
 the party which promised so much to the wage- 
 earner. 
 
 And what was the remedy offered? In the late 
 summer of 1894 a tariff bill was passed which deep- 
 ened the shade in the picture above given. It brought 
 about greater suspense in our industries. It filled 
 with uncertainty every branch of industry and trade. 
 In fact, millions of anxious, careworn American citi- 
 zens who had looked for statesmanlike action found 
 only indifference, bickering, crankism, sectionalism, 
 infidelity and incapacity both in the law and the 
 methods employed to secure its passage. Nothing 
 was being done to turn the tide and relieve the peo- 
 ple. With no steady, courageous hand and compre- 
 hensive brain at the helm. National legislation had 
 drifted into an uncertainty that bewildered even the 
 friends of the administration. At this crisis the calm 
 wisdom, vast experience, infinite industrial knowl- 
 edge and courageous determination of William Mc- 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1 894. 217 
 
 Kinley was called for by the people of the United 
 States in the most unmistakable manner. It does 
 not detract from the achievements or reputation of 
 any other contemporary Republican statesman to 
 say that th,ere never was in time of peace such a uni- 
 versal demand for a statesman, and it is doubtful if 
 there ever was another such campaign as that which 
 McKinley opened in September, 1894. 
 
 More than a generation will pass into the grave 
 before that campaign is forgotten. The scars of 
 eighteen months preceding it still remain and will 
 not be effaced for many years. In this man, merely 
 the Governor of one of our forty-four States, the 
 people recognized a statesman of courage and action. 
 He was in touch with the labor, the industrial and 
 the financial interests of the country. In such an 
 emergency they could rely upon his advice being 
 sound and for the good of the country. It is said by 
 those who know, that there was not a State in the 
 North that at this crisis in the Nation's history did 
 not clamor for McKinley. The Ohio Republican 
 State Committee was almost in despair at the demands 
 that came for McKinley's time. Every county in 
 Ohio wanted him to speak in it, and it was a physical 
 impossibility for the committee to meet the demands 
 and requests which poured in upon it. He was not 
 only wanted because of his pleasing personality and 
 earnest devotion to the Republican party, but because 
 he of all others was best able to crystallize the senti- 
 ment of protection and win the country back again to 
 
.2l8 LIKE OK WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 the American system, under which the Nation was 
 prosperous and the people contented and happy. 
 
 In commenting on this campaign, Mr. Samuel G. 
 McClure, who was with McKinley part of the time, 
 says : "It is a simple statement of facts to say that 
 the tours made by McKinley in the past seven weeks 
 have no parallel in American political history. The 
 swings around the circle made by Presidents Cleve- 
 land and Harrison are the only journeys in recent 
 years which may be compared to them, and they 
 were not in any strict sense of the word political at 
 all. The desire to see the chief executive of the 
 Nation in both of these cases and to do him honor 
 were the great moving causes that prompted display 
 and large attendance. But in the tours which 
 McKinley made, the official function was entirely 
 absent. In its stead was the wish to honor the 
 greatest exponent of a great cause and to hear the 
 tariff discussed by its master. On the part of Mc- 
 Kinley it was very far from a matter of self-seeking. 
 For years he has always been at the service of the 
 Republican party whenever it saw fit to command 
 him and it was in his power to comply. He had 
 made remarkable tours before this one , and in each 
 instance at the request of the committee where he 
 was called to speak. This was conspicuously the 
 case this year. 
 
 ' ' The combined tours far exceeded the distance 
 half around the world. It is one of the marvels of 
 the man that he was able to undergo all the fatigue 
 which this immense feat implies, and yet close the 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1 894. Sip 
 
 campaign in as good health as when he began and 
 without having lost a pound in weight. Very often 
 he was the last of the little paity to retire, and 
 almost invariably he was the first to rise. He seemed 
 tireless, and every State committee in the Mississippi 
 valley and beyond it apparently took it for granted 
 that the gallant champion of 'patriotism, protection 
 and prosperity ' could not be over-worked. When 
 he consented to make one speech for them, they 
 forthwith arranged half a dozen short stops en route, 
 and kept him talking almost constantly from day- 
 break till late at night. He agreed to make forty-six 
 set speeches in all during the campaign, and when 
 he had concluded he had not only made them, but 
 had spoken at no less than 325 other points as well. 
 For over eight weeks he averaged better than seven 
 speeches a day. At least two of these daily were to 
 large audiences where he was compelled to talk for 
 an hour or more. The others varied from ten min- 
 utes to half an hour in length, and were frequently 
 addressed to crowds of five thousand people. On 
 several occasions, as the special train was hurrying 
 him along, he was called out for a talk before he 
 had breakfasted, and would find to his surprise that 
 one, two or three thousand persons had gathered at 
 that early hour to see and hear him. It was not 
 McKinley who sought all this, it was the people who 
 sought McKinley. 
 
 " It did not require any great perception to dis- 
 cover that the glowing accounts which the Press 
 Associations carried about his meetings were in fact 
 
220 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 modest and moderate narratives of what transpired 
 daily. The correspondents were expected to give 
 non-partisan accounts, and did so, though some of 
 the Democratic papers, which were served by the 
 Press Associations, were growling at what they as- 
 sumed was the exaggeration the correspondents were 
 guilty of. The fact is, the meetings were not over- 
 drawn in the least. If anything, the press narratives 
 did not do them full justice, simply because to have 
 done so would have called forth general protests 
 from the Democratic papers and the charge that the 
 accounts were highly colored. It is not strange that 
 this should be the case. No one who was not with 
 McKinley part or all of the time can form an ade- 
 quate conception of the enthusiasm and interest with 
 which he was received in all parts of the Nation. 
 It had to be seen to be realized." 
 
 The most impartial historian, when he comes to 
 deal with the campaign of 1894, must admit that the 
 above sketch by S. G. McClure is merely a carefully 
 condensed narrative of what actually happened dur- 
 ing that memorable campaign. In seeking for infor- 
 mation, the writer has personally gone over news- 
 paper clippings covering actual reports of over two 
 hundred McKinley meetings held within five weeks. 
 This investigation included not only the reports pub- 
 lished of the meetings by the local newspapers, 
 but a series of admirable telegraphic dispatches sent 
 by Mr. Busbey of the editorial staff of the Chicago 
 Jnter-Occan, day by day. This gentleman was one 
 of the party, and we have in these accounts and 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1894. 221 
 
 the aforesaid separate local reports, information that 
 fully supports the reviews quoted. In further con- 
 sideration, the following list made up from the news- 
 paper clippings will be of value : 
 
 SOME OF THE PLACES WHERE M'KINLEY SPOKE. 
 
 Sept. 25 — Indianapolis, Ind. ; Pendleton, Ind. ; Ander- 
 son, Ind. ; Muncie, Ind. ; Farmland, Ind. ; 
 Winchester, Ind. ; Richmond, Ind. ; Cen- 
 terville, Ind. ; Cambridge City, Ind. ; 
 Knightstown, Ind. 
 Oct. I — St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 2 — Kansas City, Mo. ; Kansas City, Kan. 
 
 3 — Argentine, Kan. ; Lawrence, Kan. ; Topeka, 
 Kan. ; Scranton, Kan. ; Burlingame, Kan..; 
 Osage City, Kan. ; Emporia, Kan. ; Strong 
 City, Kan. ; Florence, Kan. ; Peabody, 
 Kan. ; Newton, Kan. ; Hutchinson, Kan. 
 
 4 — McFarland, Kan.; Manhattan, Kan.; Clay 
 Center, Kan. ; Clifton, Kan. ; Clyde, Kan. ; 
 Belleville, Kan. ; Fairbury, Neb. ; Beatrice, 
 Neb. ; Dewitt, Neb. ; Wilbur, Neb. ; Crete, 
 Neb. ; Lincoln, Neb. ; Omaha, Neb. 
 
 5 — Council Bluffs, la. ; Neola, la. ; Shelby, 
 la. ; Avoca, la. ; Atlantic, la. ; Anita, la. ; 
 Adair, la. ; Casey, la. ; Stuart, la. ; De 
 Soto, la. ; Menlo, la. ; Dexter, la. ; Des 
 Moines, la. 
 
 6 — Ames, la. ; Nevada, la. ; State Center, la. ; 
 Marshalltown, la. ; Liscomb, la ; Union, 
 la. ; Eldora, la. ; Steamboat Rock, la. ; 
 Ackley, la. ; Hampton, la. ; Sheffield, la. ; 
 Rockwell, la. ; Mason City Junction, la. ; 
 
222 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Lyle, Minn. ; Austin, Minn. ; Blooming 
 Prairie, Minn. ; Owatonna, Minn. ; Fari- 
 bault, Minn. ; Northfield, Minn. ; Farm- 
 ington, Minn. ; St. Paul, Minn. 
 8— Duluth, Minn. ; Superior, Wis. 
 9 — West Superior, Wis. ; Madison, Wis. ; Chip- 
 pewa Falls, Wis. ; Eau Claire, Wis. ; 
 Altoona, Wis. ; Black River Falls, Wis. ; 
 Merrillon, Wis. ; Elroy, Wis. ; Reedsburg, 
 Wis. ; Baraboo, Wis. ; Milwaukee, Wis. ; 
 Wonewoc, Wis. ; Lavelle, Wis. ; Lake 
 Mills, Wis. ; Waukesha, Wis. 
 
 lO— Joliet, Ills. ; Morris, Ills. ; Seneca, Ills. ; Mar- 
 seilles, 111. ; Sparland, Ills. ; Pekin, Ills. ; 
 Havana, Ills. ; Ottawa, Ills. ; Utica, Ills. ; 
 La Salle, Ills. ; Peru, Ills. ; Spring Valley, 
 Ills. ; Bureau Junction, Ills. ; Peoria, Ills. ; 
 Springfield, Ills. 
 
 1 1 — Adrian, Mich. ; Tecumseh, Mich. ; Clinton, 
 Mich. ; Jackson, Mich. ; Ann Arbor, Mich. ; 
 Detroit, Mich. 
 
 12 — Mount Clemens, Mich. ; Pontiac, Mich. ; St. 
 John's. Mich. ; Owosso, Mich. ; Ionia, 
 Mich. ; Grand Rapids, Mich. 
 
 15 — Columbus, O. 
 
 19 — Lexington, Ky. ; Somerset, Ky. ; Chattanooga, 
 Tenn. 
 
 20 — New Orleans, La. 
 
 22 — Mount Sterling, Ky. ; Olive Hall, Ky. ; Ash- 
 land, Ky. ; Catlettsburg, Ky. ; Huntington, 
 W. Va. ; Charleston, W. Va. 
 
 23 — Point Pleasant, W. Va. ; Mason City, W. Va. ; 
 Ravenswood, W. Va. ; Belleville, W. Va. ; 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1 894. 223 
 
 Parkersburg, W. Va. ; Saint Mary's, W. 
 Va. ; Sistersville, W. Va. ; New Martins- 
 ville, W. Va. ; Moundsville, W. Va. ; Ben- 
 wood, W. Va. ; Wheeling, W. Va. ; Bridge- 
 port, O. 
 
 24 — Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 25— Dunkirk, N. Y. ; Buffalo, N. Y. 
 
 26 — Batavia, N. Y. ; Rochester, N. Y. ; Pittsford, 
 N. Y. ; Canandaigua, N. Y. ; Seneca Falls, 
 N. Y. ; Auburn, N. Y. ; Utica, N. Y. ; 
 Geneva, N. Y. ; Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
 27 — Schenectady, N. Y. ; Albany, N. Y. ; Little 
 Falls, N. Y. ; Fonda, N. Y. ; Amsterdam, 
 N. A. ; Newburg, N. Y. ; Weehawken, N. 
 J. ; (Poughkeepsie, N. Y. ; Philadelphia, 
 Pa. 
 
 29 — Chicago, 111. ; Gillman, 111. ; Paxton, 111. ; Tus- 
 cola, 111. ; Areola, 111. ; Mattoon, 111. ; New- 
 ton, 111. ; Toledo, 111. ; Olney, 111. 
 
 30^Mansfield, O. 
 
 31 — Cambridge, O. ; Byesville, O. ; Kimbolton, 
 O. ; Point Pleasant, O. ; Caldwell, O. ; Dex- 
 ter City, O. ; Macksburg, O. ; Marietta, O. ; 
 Lowell, O. ; McConnellsville, O. ; Stock- 
 port, O. ; Beverly, O. ; Malta, O. ; Taylors- 
 ville, O. ; Zanesville, O. 
 Ij'ov. I — Sandusky, O. 
 
 2 — Erie, Pa. ; Ashtabula, O. ; Painesville, O. ; 
 Chardon, O. ; Middlefield, O. ; West Farm- 
 ington, O. ; Warren, O. ; Newton Falls, 
 O. ; Ravenna, O. ; Akron, O. 
 
 There may be in existence an actual official state- 
 ment of all the places visited, but it has not come to 
 
224 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 light. McKinley himself would never trouble about 
 keeping such a memoranda. That he made 371 
 speeches and visited over 300 separate towns, is un- 
 doubtedly true. The pleas which were made by the 
 people of Louisiana for McKinley are a fair illustra- 
 tion of what McKinley"' s friends had to deal with 
 from the beginning to the end of the campaign. The 
 Republicans of the other States simply would not 
 take "no" for an answer. They must have Mc- 
 Kinley, they said, and so urgently would they insist 
 that he was in a number of cases fairly forced into 
 doing nearly twice the work which he had engaged 
 to do. When the first route of the campaign was 
 being arranged, California made a strong appeal for 
 a visit, and it is said McKinley was more than half 
 inclined to grant the request and extend his Kansas 
 and Nebraska tour through to the coast. Those on 
 the inside say that it was all the managers of the can- 
 vass in Ohio could do to dissuade him from making 
 that attempt and giving the Sunset State the half 
 dozen speeches it asked. 
 
 The 371 speeches which McKinley made, Mr. 
 McClure informs us, rarely caused hoarseness. The 
 remarkable quality of his voice was frequently com- 
 mented upon. Compelled to speak under all sorts 
 of conditions, and at almost all times, it was littl«= 
 short of wonderful that his throat should show the 
 effects in such a slight degree. 
 
 It was also a striking illustration of the perfection 
 of the railroad accommodations of the day that the 
 extended tours which McKinley made should hav" 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1 894. 225 
 
 been completed without a single mishap of any kind, 
 and without missing a connection. If the newspaper 
 reports published at the time are valuable, McKinley 
 stood the fatigues of the journey remarkably well. 
 Although furnished with private cars, ostensibly that 
 he might have rest, they were of very little use to 
 him for that purpose. The cars were invariably 
 packed with a crowd of admiring friends who ren- 
 dered it impossible for McKinley to get any rest 
 whatever. Phenomenal records were made during 
 the trip, notably on the New York Central. From 
 Syracuse to Utica and back to Syracuse, and then on 
 down the Hudson river, through the Catskill moun- 
 tains, the special train of two cars was hauled by the 
 famous locomotive, No. 999, which was exhibited at 
 the World's Fair, in charge of its engineer, George 
 S. Mink. Going from Syracuse to Utica and back, 
 this engine, in charge of Mr. Mink, ran most of the 
 distance at the rate of ninety miles an hour. Mr. 
 Mink said he could easily make 100 miles an hour 
 and would do it on the following day. He did. 
 That special train fairly flew through the mountains, 
 and whenever it struck a curve everything in the car, 
 including the people, piled up at one side. At one 
 time there were eight gentlemen in the smoking- 
 room, all seated save two, and when the train struck 
 a curve those two men pitched to one side of the car, 
 piled into a disordered and scared mass. The speed 
 was too terrific for the members of the party, and the 
 engineer was induced to slow down to between sixty- 
 five and seventy miles an hour. A couple of hours 
 
226 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 later the New Jersey Central special train rushed 
 along from Jersey City to Philadelphia at a speed of 
 one mile in forty-five seconds, making the distance 
 of ninety miles in little less than ninety minutes, 
 stopping at several crossings on the way. 
 
 Mr. Harry Miner, the able and versatile corre- 
 spondent of the Times-Star of Cincinnati, had an 
 exceedingly interesting summary of this notable 
 campaign, published immediately after the close of 
 the campaign, when the facts were fresh in the public 
 mind. The subjoined extracts are worth perusing : 
 
 Governor McKinley is winding up what has been, per- 
 haps, the most remarkable political campaigning tour 
 made by any man in this country. He has spoken in 
 sixteen States, name]y, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, 
 Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michi- 
 gan, Kentucky, Louisiana, West Virginia, Tennessee, 
 Pennsylvania and Ne-w York. He has made as many as 
 twenty-three speeches in one day, most of them, of course, 
 being short. It has been estimated by those who have 
 been with him that he has addressed two million people. 
 
 The audiences which have flocked to hear McKinley 
 have been enormous. In many places the crowds that 
 went to hear him were the largest ever gathered in those 
 places upon any occasion. 
 
 People traveled for great distances to hear him. At 
 Lincoln, Nebraska, there were among his hearers 500 
 cowboys who had ridden ninety miles on their mustangs 
 for the sole purpose of hearing protection's chief expon- 
 ent. At St. Paul there were several men in the audi- 
 ence who came 300 miles from their homes in Dakota to 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1894. 227; 
 
 hear him speak, and at Huntington, West Virginia, a 
 man traveled 200 miles to hear McKinley s speech. 
 
 It is probable that the largest meeting was at Hutchin- 
 son, Kansas, where the number of outsiders was estimated 
 at not less than 30,000, coming from Texas, Nebraska, 
 Missouri, Oklahoma and Indian Territory. In the Eastern 
 States the crowds ^vere very large, but perhaps not quite 
 so much so as in the Western States. It is estimated that 
 the crowd at Albany numbered not less than 10,000 per- 
 sons. At Utica, Syracuse and Philadelphia many thou- 
 sands w^ere turned away from the doors of the large halls, 
 and huge as the crowd was it w^as not so large as the 
 crowd outside, which was not even able to get inside of 
 the doors. 
 
 It was a good deal easier for McKinley to talk to audiences 
 this year on political issues than it w^as two years ago. 
 These great popular demonstrations would seem to indi- 
 cate two things — that McKinley is respected, confided in 
 and admired by the people of the country, and that the 
 people want to know about protection. Before he was 
 telling the people what would happen ; now he vi^as 
 telling them how to undo what they had already done. 
 His prophecy of two years before has been proved by 
 events to be correct. 
 
 It would hardly be fair to accuse the committees that had 
 charge of McKinley of being unfeeling, but it is cer- 
 tainly true that they worked him like a horse, or more 
 properly speaking, like that tireless and amiable animal, 
 the uncomplaining mule. From the moment that a State 
 committee laid hands on him they worked him without 
 cessation, making him get up at six o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, take a bite of breakfast and rush out and make a 
 speech, and then keep on making speeches until late at 
 
228 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 night. No word of complaint ever came from MpKinley, 
 but he was most awfully tired out. But once did he say 
 anything which indicated that he felt he was being over- 
 w^orked. He addressed two immense meetings in Syra- 
 r.use, N. Y., finishing his last speech shortly after ten 
 o'clock. His train was not to leave until eleven, and on 
 his way to the hotel after the last meeting he turned to 
 the Mayor and expressed assumed surprise that he was to 
 be allowed to waste a full hour which he might have put 
 in in making another speech. The Mayor was not 
 familiar with McKinley's dry humor and hastened to 
 apologize for not having arranged a third meeting. 
 
 However, the next night at Philadelphia, McKinley 
 had a chance to make three speeches, and did so. 
 
 McKinley found a queer feature of political campaign- 
 ing in the South. Political meetings there are usually 
 held on Sunday. The reason for this is that men in the 
 country districts are adverse to losing a day's time from 
 their work and demand that political stumpers shall do 
 their talking on the Sabbath day. McKinley was asked 
 to make a few speeches in Mississippi and Alabama on 
 Sunday, while returning from New Orleans, but he 
 gently .declined, of course. 
 
 Everywhere that McKinley went on his great tour he 
 asked his audience the question, whether there was a man 
 in the audience who was v^^orking that was not working 
 in 1893 ; whether there was a man in the audience who 
 was working in 1892 who was not w^orking at all this 
 year. He never failed to put these questions at every 
 meeting, and at every one the reply was precisely the 
 same. He was everywhere told that not a man in the 
 audience was working who was not working in 1892 ; 
 that not one person in the audience was getting as good 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1 894. 229 
 
 wages as he got in 1892, but that there were numbers 
 out of work then who had worked in 1892. 
 
 This chapter has already reached its limits and the 
 topic not exhausted ; the conclusion of the campaign 
 of 1894 must be reserved for the chapter which fol- 
 lows. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1894— Continued. 
 
 After repeated Appeals, McKinley Goes South — Is 
 Greeted with Enthusiasm in New Orleans — Graphic 
 Description of the Monster Meeting at New Orleans — 
 The Platform a Mass of Struggling Humanity — First 
 Speech in Kentucky — Visits West Virginia and Ten- 
 nessee — Close of a Memorable Campaign. 
 
 THE most picturesque of the meetings held was 
 undoubtedly at New Orleans. Never was so 
 determined an attempt made to secure a speaker as 
 that put forth by the Louisiana protectionists. The 
 Ohio State Committee refused and refused again. 
 Not until the fourth appeal was made and a represen- 
 tative had come on to present the case in person, 
 was the request granted and McKinley persuaded 
 to make the trip of several thousand miles in order 
 to speak once to the protectionists of the Pelican 
 State. It must be remembered that in order to do 
 this he was obliged to cancel other engagements, 
 as every available hour had been pre-empted. Octo- 
 ber 19 the Ohio dates were abandoned, and McKin- 
 ley started on a special train for the land of Dixie. 
 The first stop was at Lexington, Kentucky, where a 
 large crowd greeted him. At places all along the 
 route, as the train rushed south at fifty miles an 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1894 CONTINUED. 23I 
 
 hour, people gathered. They knew the train would 
 not stop, but they assembled all the same, and in 
 some places greeted McKinley with flags and the 
 firing of gun powder. Miners left their work to pay 
 honor to the apostle of protection. Speeches were 
 made at several places. At Chattanooga thousands 
 assembled at the station, and McKinley was com- 
 pelled to make a speech from an extemporized plat- 
 form to over 6,000 people. On the morning of 
 the twentieth he arrived in New Orleans. He had 
 made a journey of one thousand miles to deliver 
 one speech. It was a tiresome and disagreeable 
 journey, because of the heat and dust. Still, it 
 was full of inspiration from the time McKinley 
 crossed the Ohio river until he reached the Crescent 
 City. In Kentucky and Tennessee he received ova- 
 tions such as he had just experienced in the western 
 States. The enthusiasm at New Orleans excelled 
 that of any campaign within the memory of the old- 
 est residents. 
 
 The enormous auditorium, built for the Fitzsim- 
 mons-Hall fight, seating over 12,000 people, was not 
 only packed, but five or six thousand men and wo- 
 men struggled on the outside for admission. The 
 crowd began to gather at five o'clock and some stood 
 in line two hours before the doors were open. To 
 this large assemblage McKinley spoke for two hours, 
 going over the whole tariff question in a calm and 
 instructive manner, and closing with a magnificent 
 peroration which had the fire of true eloquence. The 
 scene upon that occasion was described by a capable 
 
232 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 writer in the New Orleans Picayune. The following 
 extracts from this account, which, with a vei-batim 
 report of McKinley's speech, occupied three or four 
 pages of the paper, have become historical. It 
 should be remembered that the Picayune is a radical 
 Democratic newspaper, and hence this description 
 was in no way colored by partisan zeal. In short, 
 we have here a Democratic picture of McKinley : 
 
 McKinley appears a little under middle height, and 
 this defect of under size is increased by the exceeding 
 squareness and solidity both of form and face. His fore- 
 head, smooth and white, overhangs eyes deep-set under 
 bushy eyebrows of jet black. He has a trick, when asking 
 a question, of lifting those eyebrows so that the latent 
 fire in his eyes flashes forth suddenly and sharp. His 
 mouth is mobile, the face clean shaven, the hair thin on 
 the top and straggling to the coat collar in innumerable 
 fine points. 
 
 McKinley looks very like the pictures which have of 
 late been liberally distributed throughout the city. 
 
 In speaking, McKinley has few but effective gestures, 
 the chief of which is a sort of reiterated hammering into 
 space, as though driving a nail into the atmosphere. 
 Though the Auditorium arena is wonderfully large, Mc- 
 Kinley's voice filled it easily. And it is a voice in itself 
 singularly rich in the variety of inflection and emphasis, 
 deriving an added zest from the western drawi and man- 
 nerism still clinging to it. 
 
 Considered simply as a forensic display, McKinley's 
 speech was exceedingly interesting. The exquisite art 
 with which he evaded all the topics which, such as the 
 Force bill, might have touched his audience too nearly, 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1894 CONTINUED. 233 
 
 was admirable. His array of argument was marshaled 
 with the skill of a practiced debater, presenting with 
 marvelous ability an epitome of the Republican phil- 
 osophy of politics. 
 
 It was but natural that, in addressing an audience so 
 thoroughly Southern, Mr. McKinley should lay special 
 emphasis on the part which the South had played in the 
 history of tariff legislation. As he delineated the origin 
 of the Republican tariff [through the effort of Southern 
 statesmen, the applause was fairly indescribable. From 
 the gallery a voice cried out : " Give it to them, McKin- 
 ley ; give it to them." A burst of laughter attended this 
 ejaculation, but the orator never smiled. He mopped the 
 perspiration from his forehead, and while the din con- 
 tinued, refreshed his memory from his notes. The ap- 
 plause again became uproarious when, a few moments 
 later, he declared that the burden of the present adminis- 
 tration, " w^ith its free trade laws," was the greatest bur- 
 den the people had borne for thirty years. 
 
 Nor did the audience fail to respond when, a ready by 
 object lesson, the speaker illustrated the operation of the 
 tariff in relation to the manufacture of glass tumblers. 
 "Every tumbler imported," he said, "represents the dis- 
 placement of a tumbler of domestic manufacture. If you 
 cut the tariff on glass and expect to receive an increased 
 revenue, the importation must be redoubled. Is that 
 what you w^ant .'' ' ' 
 
 And the vast assembly fairly went wild for five min- 
 utes. 
 
 Again, when the Governor declared that the displace- 
 ment of an American laborer meant the cessation of his 
 wages, a voice cried out : 
 
 "The result is starvation." 
 
234 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 With a ready answer McKinley replied : 
 
 " Like the people everywhere I have been, are you 
 ready to vote?" 
 
 From the benches immediately in front, one of the 
 charcoal delegation responded: "Vote for you;" and 
 another supplemented with, " Vote for you for the next 
 Presidency." 
 
 Soon afterward the Democratic element was heard 
 from. The Governor said : " They said we had a splen- 
 did prosperity under President Cleveland in his first 
 administration ; so we had." " Hear, hear," mingled 
 with cheers, rose loudly from the Old Guard. 
 
 "And do you know why?" 
 
 "No," from a voice in the gallery. 
 
 " Because all Cleveland did was to execute the Repub- 
 lican laws already in existence." 
 
 And the Republicans cheered. 
 
 "War and treason," resumed McKinley, "are the 
 words of President Cleveland. He is a peace-man in 
 war ; a war-man in peace." 
 
 Great laughter followed this declaration. Under cover 
 of it. Governor McKinley asked Mr. Ferris the time. 
 Cries immediately arose, " Go on, go on ! We can wait 
 till to-morrow morning to hear that." 
 
 "Why is it," asked the orator a moment later; "why 
 is it that amid all the resources of the land we are suffer- 
 ing?" 
 
 (A voice, "Why is it?") 
 
 " I can answer in a word. The Democrats are running 
 the Government, and nothing else is running. Every 
 industry is practically stopped ; no man can- calculate the 
 loss to the people of this country in investment, prop- 
 erty, wages. We have been at school. It has been a 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1894 CONTINUED. 235 
 
 universal, a sort of compulsory education, from the 
 benefits of which none have been excluded. (Laughter 
 and applause.) While the tuition has been free, the 
 ultimate cost has been very great. (Laughter.) We 
 have been blessed with experience, if we haven't been 
 blessed with anything else. (Laughter and prolonged 
 applause.)" 
 
 Then followed the most dramatic scene of the even- 
 ing. Mr. McKinley had hitherto confined himself to an 
 analysis in general terms of issues affecting all sections 
 of the country alike. Said the orator : " What party 
 has taken from you the protection that the Republicans 
 gave ? ' ' 
 
 " The Democrats," cried an excited voice ;" " D n 
 
 them." 
 
 "When we framed the law of 1890," declared the 
 Governor, " we undertook to frame a bill based on the 
 principles of protection. We permitted everything to 
 come in free which we could not or did not produce." 
 
 " Enough of that," cried a voice. " Give us the Force 
 bill." 
 
 A good many people were anxious to hear McKinley 
 on that subject, and for a moment absolute silence 
 reigned. A committeeman whispered to him : " He 
 calls for something about the Force bill." 
 
 " I cannot be diverted from this discussion," said Mr. 
 McKinley, looking around and speaking in his loudest 
 voice. " If any proper question be put to me I will en- 
 deavor to reply as best I can. (Wild applause.) I 
 believe in the purest and fairest debate on all public 
 questions, and in my public life or my private record I 
 have nothing to conceal." 
 
 And that appeal, so eloquent, so ingenious, captured 
 
236 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KInLeY. 
 
 his hearers, and the last great burst of applause followed. 
 When the cheers ceased to ring, McKinley, turning first 
 to one side and then to the other, so as to address com- 
 prehensively the entire assembly, delivered the eloquent 
 peroration which, expressing the determination of the 
 party to discharge by Louisiana its duties no less sacredly 
 than by Ohio, closed his great effort. 
 
 This dramatic report of the Nevy Orleans meeting, 
 coming from a Democratic source, is indeed a strong 
 endorsement of McKinley' s remarkable campaigning 
 ability. The same newspaper gives this gi'aphic 
 account of the struggles which took place at the close 
 of the speech : 
 
 When the last words had been uttered, a cheer and a 
 shout went up which shook the very rafters of the vast 
 hall. Long and loud it was, being echoed and re-echoed 
 until the din was perfectly deafening. Then, before the 
 sounds had half subsided and the speaker had recovered 
 his composure, after his effort, some one of the horde 
 around the press table made a break to mount the plat- 
 form and shake the hand of the expounder of the theory 
 of protection. It was like applying a match to a powder 
 keg. Instantly there w^ere five hundred men bounding 
 on the platform and struggling and fighting among them- 
 selves to reach the center, whei-e McKinley, almost 
 smothered, and barely able to keep his feet, was having 
 both hands shaken at a rate that probably made him 
 think that he was w^alking on a tread mill on his hands. 
 They pushed and shoved and howled and cursed and 
 yelled until the scene was a perfect babel. The entire 
 platform was one mass of struggling humanity, black 
 and white and saffron, and the gehtlemen who but a ffw 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1894 CONTINUED. 237 
 
 moments before had been sitting up there the very imper- 
 sonations of dignity, were lost in the shuffle, and it would 
 have been like hunting for a needle in a haystack to try 
 to catch sight of any of them. 
 
 After a dusty and hot railroad trip of 2,300 miles, 
 McKinley was back in the Ohio Valley, October 22, 
 and covild look across the river to the Buckeye State. 
 Then came the splendid meetings in the coal districts 
 of West Virginia. He made the run from New 
 Orleans to Huntington in thirty-six hours, and to the 
 surprise of Republicans and consternation of Demo- 
 crats kept his engagement, addressing 6,000 people, 
 some of whom had come miles along the mountain 
 roads to hear him. The Wheeling- (W. Va,) Intelli- 
 gencer thus referred to "McKinley Day" in West 
 Virginia: "Yesterday was McKinley day in West 
 Virginia and without doubt Governor William Mc- 
 Kinley of Ohio addressed the grandest series of 
 meetings ever held in a single day in the great Ohio 
 valley. Twelve magnificent meetings were held, 
 commencing at Point Pleasant down in the lower 
 end of the State and winding up last night at Bridge- 
 port. The twelve meetings averaged much over 
 2,000 people at each, and the aggregate number of 
 people thaf heard McKinley yesterday was 32,000, 
 as follows : Point Pleasant, 800 ; Mason City, 2,000 ; 
 Ravenswood, 1,500; Bellville, 500; Parkersburg, 
 5,000; St. Mary's, 1,000; Sisterville, 2,000; New 
 Martinsville, 600; Moundsville, 1,500; Benwood, 
 500; Wheeling (McClure) , 5,000; Bridgeport, 
 10,000. 
 
238 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 From West Virginia McKinley went to Pittsburg, 
 and of course addressed a monster meeting there, 
 receiving an ovation at every place the train stopped. 
 Leaving Pittsburg on the 24th of October, he spoke 
 next day at Buffalo, where the popular demonstra- 
 tion was unparalleled. The town was simply in an 
 uproar. The Buffalo Express of October 26, says 
 of this visit : 
 
 Some 25,000 residents of Buffalo started out last even- 
 ing with the intention of hearing Governor McKinley 
 speak at Music Hall. It was only the limited capacity 
 of this place that prevented them from doing so. The 
 crowd was something enormous. It was more than a 
 crowd, it was a flood. Without any doubt, it was the 
 greatest assemblage that ever attended a Buff alo political 
 meeting. In spite of the fact that the Republican cham- 
 pion spoke at three halls during the evening, the crowd 
 of people that tried to hear him at Music Hall was un- 
 precedented in the annals of local political history. 
 
 Up Main street streamed one crowd, down Main street 
 streamed another. The point of convergence of those 
 mighty rivers of voters was the front entrance of the hall. 
 At a little after 7 o'clock there was not a seat left. The 
 street was packed with a dense crowd. The hall was 
 packed to its utmost capacity. Back of the long lines of 
 seats the people were marshalled. They stood on the 
 stairs that lead up into the flies. They thronged the 
 aisles. They choked the entrances. It was surely a 
 great crowd, and those who have seen the campaigns of 
 years marveled at it. 
 
 It was a curious crowd. At first the people came in 
 squads, then battalions, then regiments. Then they filed 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1 894 CONTINUED. 239 
 
 in a steady stream that knew no line of demarkation. 
 Staunch voters, who had voted for Republican principles 
 years ago, hobbled to the hall on canes. Men in the 
 prime of life proud in their strict adherence to the ticket, 
 veterans of the war and young men. 
 
 It was also a fine-appearing crowd. It contained the 
 solid men, the business men and the laborer — all attracted 
 by that magnet of true principle, McKinley. Inside the 
 hall the scene was one long to be remembered. It was 
 a vast area dotted with faces. The great galleries were 
 fairly running over. The crowd was so vast that a murmur 
 that almost amounted to a roar arose from it. 
 
 As Governor McKinley walked on the stage, the vast 
 audience broke into a long and hearty cheer. They kept 
 it up. They arose and shouted. They waved handker- 
 chiefs and threw their hats into the air. They yelled at 
 the tops of their voices. It was not until they were 
 almost breathless that they stopped, and even then the 
 cheering continued, led by straggling enthusiasts in dif- 
 ferent parts of the hall. It was the enthusiasm of com- 
 ing victory, the spirit that animates success. All through 
 the brilliant speech' it. continued. The air w^as resound- 
 ing with a prolonged roar whenever the speaker would 
 touch a vital point in the campaign, and these times were 
 more than frequent. Governor McKinley spoke to three 
 magnificent audiences during the evening, and made three 
 magnificent speeches. 
 
 Tremendous as the day at Buffalo undoubtedly was, 
 the scene was repeated at Albany. Here is the 
 account as published in the Albany Journal of Octo- 
 ber 27, 1894: 
 
 The City Hall Square in Albany was fairly blocked 
 
240 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 with people, and in front and around the platform they 
 were as. close together as sardines in a box. Such a 
 crowd has not been seen in Albany in many a day. It 
 numbered over 10,000. There were old men present, 
 some of whom had heard Daniel Webster make his great 
 plea for protection under the big spreading elm on the 
 Troy road, the greatest outdoor meeting in the history 
 of Albany, succeeded with anything like the same inter- 
 est by only two since : First, w^hen Mr. Blaine spoke at 
 the fair grounds in the campaign of 1888, and second, on 
 the afternoon of August 18, 1891, in the same place that 
 McKinley spoke to-day, when President Harrison made 
 his famous speech in favor of an honest dollar, in which 
 he said : " Any dollar, whether paper or coin, issued or 
 stamped by the general Government, should always and 
 everywhere be as good as any other dollar." 
 
 But in point of numbers and display of enthusiasm, 
 to-day's meeting eclipsed everything within the memory 
 of those who can go back any farther than twenty years 
 or so before the war. Rich and poor jostled with each 
 other in the crowd, but the poor were more than ever in 
 the majority, thanks to the tariff smashers. The banker and 
 merchant, the professional man, and he who toils — when 
 he can get work — in the sweat of his face were there. 
 No more striking illustration of the bad times could be 
 shown than in the presence of the great army of the 
 unemployed, who have but one answer to the question: 
 ' ' Why stand ye hear idle all the day } ' ' They were 
 anxious to see and hear the man who has made their 
 interests his concern from the time he was first sent to 
 Congress. 
 
 To many others McKinley appealed in divers ways ; 
 to the old, as one who was patriotic and sound in judg- 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1894 CONTINUED. 24I 
 
 ment ; to the young, for his dash and brilliancy ; to the 
 veteran of the war, as a comrade in arms ; to the farmer 
 — and hundreds of farmers were there — for his efforts to 
 protect them against the Canadian competitor, and to the 
 new American as an object of great curiosity, for was 
 not McKinley the most hated man in all Europe, because, 
 with Blaine, he had declared that Americans legislated 
 not for the world, but for America alone. And the 
 ladies ! Oh, they were there to catch a glimpse of the 
 possible next President of the United States. 
 
 Thousands who saw McKinley for the first time were 
 struck by his resemblance to Daniel Webster, when the 
 sage of Marshfield was at the height of his power His 
 face, in the judgment of many, was more Websterian 
 than Napoleonic, a face that betokened extraordinary 
 mental power, unbounded energy, a love of humor, the 
 tenderness of a woman and the courage of a soldier who 
 would fight to grim death. He has changed a little, a 
 few more gray hairs, perhaps, since his first and last 
 previous visit to Albany, when he spoke in the old Lark 
 street rink, John Swinburne, the fighting doctor, presid- 
 ing at the meeting. 
 
 It is impossible to give reports ot more than a few 
 of these meetings, by way of illustrating the triumph 
 of protection and its great leader. His trip through 
 New York was one continuous ovation. Thousands 
 crowded at every railway station. Speaking to an 
 immense gathering at Philadelphia on the night of 
 October 27, he again started westward to Illinois. 
 October 29 he must have made ten or a dozen 
 speeches. At Olney, Illinois, McKinley was wel- 
 comed by a crowd of 30,000 Southern lUinoisans. 
 
24^ LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 It was the greatest outpouring of the people at a 
 political rally ever held in this part of the State. 
 From Illinois he again turned his face homeward, 
 making speeches at every stopping-place. On Octo- 
 ber 31, he made no less than fifteen speeches. The 
 campaign was finally closed in Cleveland ; from 
 thence he went to Canton, where he cast his vote 
 election day. 
 
 Prior to his Southern trip, McKinley had made a 
 successful tour through the Western and North- 
 western States, and experienced the unfettered en- 
 thusiasm of a real Western audience. He opened 
 the Republican campaign in Missouri at St. -Louis, 
 where thousands crowded the hall and thousands 
 left, unable to gain admittance. The 'ovation he re- 
 ceived here was more than a political meeting or 
 demonstration. It was a hearty and uproarious wel- 
 come from the thousands who turned out to see and 
 hear the champion of protection. At Hutchinson, 
 Kansas, there was an immense outpouring of people 
 to hear McKinley. Says the Hutchinson (Kan.) 
 News : ' ' Last night visitors began to arrive in the 
 city and every train has brought in hundreds. The 
 Santa Fe ran two specials from the West and they 
 were crowded. The Missouri Pacific ran a special 
 from each direction, and so did the Rock Island, 
 and the special as well as the regular trains were 
 crowded with men and women. It is estimated that 
 there were at one o'clock in Hutchinson 20,000 
 visitors. The Hutchinson & Southern bro^ght in 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1894 CONTINUED. 243 
 
 upwards of i ,000 from the down line of that road 
 at noon." 
 
 A special despatch, written by an eye-witness, 
 thus describes the demonstration : 
 
 The McKinley train swept through a large section of 
 the Sunflower State to-day, and the Governor of Ohio 
 looked nearly 100,000 Kansans in the face, while more 
 than half that number heard him speak. It was such a 
 demonstration as could only be witnessed in the West, 
 where men and w^omen put the same emotion of fervor 
 into their politics that those farther East put into their 
 religion. It had in it even a phase of hero-worship, 
 and great as have been the crowds to which Governor 
 McKinley has spoken in this and other campaigns, he 
 wjU not soon forget this visit to Kansas. 
 
 The demonstration for McKinley began at 7 o'clock 
 this morning, w^hen he crossed the State line of Missouri, 
 and it kept up all the w^ay along 250 miles of the Santa Fe 
 Railway, from Kansas City to Hutchinson, where it 
 culminated in what might be called an interstate Repub- 
 lican rally, with a crowd estimated at from 40,000 to 
 50,000 people from Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska. 
 The railroads claim to have brought 20,000 people to 
 this city, and the streets are blockaded with vehicles of 
 every character and description, from the dusty old 
 prairie schooner, in which many of the settlers came to 
 Kansas, to the handsome turnout of city people and the 
 bicycle. 
 
 Over the entrance to the Capitol at Topeka was a large 
 streamer, inscribed : " The gates of Kansas swing with 
 the breeze and the keys of city and hamlet hang outside. 
 Welcome, thrice welcome, Ohio's Governor." 
 
244 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 The train reached Hutchinson at 3 145 p.m. Mc- 
 Kinley thought he had seen the people of Kansas and 
 had realized what wild western enthusiasm was, but 
 there he came in contact with the Kansas cyclone. 
 It was one of western Republican enthusiasm and it 
 surged through the wild streets of this western city 
 and threatened to lift the carriage in which the 
 Ohioan sat. It was not safe to try to take him from 
 the train at the station because of the crush of people 
 about the depot, and a stop was made half a mile out, 
 where the party was met with carriages. 
 
 Men, women and children cared nothing for the 
 rearing and plunging horses, nor the efforts of police- 
 men. They surrounded McKinley's carriage and 
 cut it off from the others. The bands tried to play, 
 but some of them were run over by the cheering 
 crowd, and in a moment the carriage was covered 
 with people vvho were determined to shake hands 
 with the Governor of Ohio. They were in the box, 
 climbing over the driver ; they were on the steps and 
 on the hubs of the turning wheels ; they were over 
 the back of the carriage, and while horses plunged, 
 drivers shouted and policemen tried to push in, men 
 laughed and assured McKinley that there was no 
 danger, as they would not let the horses run away. 
 The Governor laughed with them and reached out 
 both hands, which were passed from one to another 
 of these wild Kansans. 
 
 The carriages behind could not near that in which 
 he rode, but the procession slowly moved up the 
 street, and it was the strangest procession ever seen. 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1 894 CONTINUED. 245 
 
 The wide street was filled from curb to cui'b with 
 men, women and children, carriages, wagons and 
 buggies of every age and description. As an indi- 
 cation of how the people of Southern Kansas came 
 to hear him, the sidetracks of all the roads in the city- 
 were blocked with cars. 
 
 McKinley's reception at Omaha, Neb., is thus 
 described by a special telegram to the Inter-Ocean : 
 
 For thirty-six hours McKinley has been west of the 
 Missouri river, and only six of those hours had he to him- 
 self, when he could be free from making speeches, shak- 
 ing hands and talking to those who came on the train to 
 see him. He was called at five o'clock in Kansas City 
 yesterday morning, and for eighteen hours had not ten 
 minutes alone, or even with his secretary or intimate 
 associates on the tour. He was up again shortly after 
 five oclock this morning, to put in another eighteen 
 hours of speeches, handshaking and talking to commit- 
 tees and Western politicians, who crowded the special 
 train w^hich ran through Central Kansas and Southeast- 
 ern Nebraska for nearly three hundred miles, to land 
 in Omaha and face an audience of 15,000 people in the 
 Coliseum and hear the cheers of several thousand more 
 who were unable to get inside the building or within 
 range of his voice. The estimating of crow^ds grows 
 monotonous, where the people are computed by the acre, 
 but it is safe to say that the Buckeye Governor has been 
 cheered by over 300,000 people to-day. 
 
 October 6, McKinley recrossed the Mississippi 
 river at seven o'clock at night, after six days of the 
 most remarkable campaigning ever known in the 
 
246 LIFE OF Wiy^LIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 great Mississippi Valley. In his tour of the West, 
 McKinley traveled 2,500 miles, made more than 
 seventy-five speeches, varying in length from five 
 minutes to one hour and a half, and was greeted 
 by not less than a half million enthusiastic Western 
 people. At St. Paul he had an audience of 9,000 
 people inside the Auditorium, and 5,000 outside 
 waited to hear him, while 2,000 people assembled in 
 Market Hall to wait for a short talk. 
 
 At Duluth the car barn was the only place large 
 enough to accommodate the people. This made a 
 hall 300 feet long and 150 feet wide, in which seats 
 were arranged for 8,000 and standing room left for 
 4,000 or 5,000. The place was filled and the esti- 
 niates on the crowd placed the people at from 10,000 
 to 12,000. There were miners on the Mesaba range, 
 workmen from the docks and the mills, and business 
 men, while the first 1,000 chairs were reserved for 
 the ladies. 
 
 Flags and flowers marked the journey of Governor 
 McKinley across the Badger State. It was a tour 
 from extreme northwest of Wisconsin to the com- 
 mercial capital, and it took in every class of Wiscon- 
 sin people, from the miners to the merchants, from 
 the children to the patriarchs and pioneers of the 
 State. There were loggers from the lumber camps 
 in their picturesque coats of many colors, railroad 
 men in their blue blouses, farmers in their broad- 
 brimmed hats, business men from the country, 
 women and children, boys and girls from the village 
 schools, and college students from the university. 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1 894 CONTINUED. 247 
 
 It was without exception the grandest demonstra- 
 tion ever accorded to any man making a political 
 tour of Wisconsin. This tour was like the progress 
 of civilization in Wisconsin, beginning up in the 
 Chippewa valley, where are the greatest lumber 
 camps in the country, swinging down through the 
 Wisconsin river valley, where the dairy and tobacco 
 farms have represented the richest region of agricul- 
 ture in the State, and then reaching one climax at 
 the Wisconsin State University, the pride of intel- 
 lectuality in the Northwest, and another in the great 
 industrial and commercial center of Milwaukee. 
 
 At Adrian, Michigan, there were fully 10,000 peo- 
 ple in the crowd assembled to hear McKinley ; at 
 Detroit he held 6,000 spellbound in the auditorium 
 for nearly two hours. At Ionia he spoke to fully 
 5,000, and notwithstanding the rain, held their clos- 
 est attention during his speech. At Grand Rapids 
 he addressed an audience of 4,000 in the auditorium. 
 
 Such was the campaign of 1894. It is impossible 
 to present more than glimpses of McKinley 's recep- 
 tion in the South, in New York, in Pennsylvania, 
 Ohio, and Illinois, and in the West and Northwest. 
 The half remains untold, even though two chapters 
 have been devoted to this remarkable campaign. 
 The result we know. The tide that swept the Demo- 
 cratic party in, changed, and so far as the popular 
 House of Representatives was concerned, swept it 
 out in 1894. In 1896 the same protection sentiment 
 will carry the Democratic party out again, and the 
 youngest of its statesmen will never live to see the 
 return to power of the men who betrayed their coun- 
 try in this serious period of its history. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 VIEWS ON PUBLIC QUESTIONS. 
 
 McKinley not a Man of One Idea — Has a Broad Grasp 
 of all Questions — Irving, the Actor, Thinks Him a 
 - Man of Intellectual Power — A Vigorous Living Force 
 in Politics — Gladstone and McKinley Both Able in 
 Dealing with Fiscal Matters — Telling Statements in 
 Relation to Pensions. 
 
 IT has been asserted by some whose ambitions might 
 suffer by the growing popularity of McKinley, 
 that he is a one-sided man ; that while he is pre- 
 eminently the best equipped of our statesmen, so far as 
 the tariff and kindred questions are concerned, he 
 lacks the broader grasp of questions of government 
 necessary to higher statesmanship. Those who 
 know McKinley best, who have followed his career, 
 who have read his speeches on all conceivable topics, 
 and who are familiar with his method of thought and 
 wide range of studies, are amused rather than pained 
 at this criticism. 
 
 The tariff issue itself and all the delicate ques- 
 tions of public revenue which are interwoven with 
 it, constitute the most 'difficult and the most compli- 
 cated problems that a statesman has to deal with. 
 To master and understand them in all their bearings 
 requires an intellect of the highest order. To be so 
 
 248 
 
VIEWS ON PUBLIC QUESTIONS. 249 
 
 familiar with these questions as to make them interest- 
 ing and intelligent to the masses of people neces- 
 sitates an amount of study and an order of intellect 
 that few of our statesmen have possessed. It is 
 doubtful if any American statesman has ever been 
 able to so completely elucidate and bring the tariff 
 question home to the plain people with such direct- 
 ness and simplicity as we find displayed in all Mc- 
 Kinley's utterances on this question. 
 
 The admission, therefore, of friend and enemy 
 alike, that the subject of this sketch comprehends 
 these questions better than any other living Amer- 
 ican statesman is a recognition of intellectual 
 strength which would qualify McKinley for any 
 place of responsibility which his countrymen in their 
 wisdom might see fit to place him in. 
 
 "Who is that?" said Sir Henry Irving, looking 
 down from the galleries of the House of Representa- 
 tives and indicating McKinley. " He should be a 
 man of intellectual power." The great English 
 actor was right in thus applying the term in its 
 broadest sense. Above and beyond the study and 
 mastery of questions of revenue, tariff" and economics, 
 McKinley has distinguished himself as a man of 
 diversified intellect and of abundant capacity to grasp 
 understandingly all questions of government which 
 concern National legislation, both domestic and 
 foreign. Added to this, he has shown in his wide 
 experience in dealing with men, a knowledge of 
 humanity and judgment of human nature that places 
 him side by side with such American statesmen as 
 
250 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Lincoln, in the simplicity of his habits and his love 
 of the plain, every-day people ; with Blaine, in his 
 mastery of the facts appertaining to the great ques- 
 tions of the time ; and with William D. Kelley, in 
 his capacity for mastering the myriad details of the 
 tariff bill. Surely, no other American statesman, not 
 even Henry Clay, was capable of clothing the dreary 
 schedules of the tariff with such living, vital pictures 
 by the art of profound knowledge of them and 
 earnest oratory as McKinley. It is true, McKinley 
 is the greatest tariff advocate of the times. It is 
 likewise true that William E. Gladstone was, in his 
 day, the greatest Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 McKinley' s tariff reports and tariff speeches were the 
 greatest we ever had, like Gladstone's budgets 
 and fiscal speeches. No one who has studied them 
 understandingly will deny this. It would be equally 
 unfair to boh of these statesmen to assume for a 
 moment that in consequence of this they were one- 
 sided men. That thej' were dealers in schedules, 
 promoters of budgets, dreary experts, whose knowl- 
 edge was only needed when the finances of the 
 country were in distress through the folly of less 
 competent rulers, but who could be thrown on one 
 side when their particular fiscal measures, each 
 framed with care and suitable to the needs of their 
 respective countries, were enacted into law, and the 
 ship of state once more in Smooth waters. 
 
 Such a view would be as unjust and unwarranted 
 of McKinley as it would be of Gladstone. McKinley 
 stands to-day in the prime of life, a vigorous, living 
 
VIEWS ON PUBLIC QUESTIONS. 25 1 
 
 force in the body politic of his country, as capable 
 intellectually of undertaking and carrying through 
 any great measure which the necessities of the Re- 
 public may require, as Gladstone was of doing the 
 same thing a generation ago in England. As will be 
 shown further along in this chapter, no great ques- 
 tion has arisen and no great opportunity occurred 
 within the period of McKinley's life, of serving his 
 country faithfully, that he has not exhibited capacity 
 and willingness to do so. He was a boy of seventeen 
 when the war broke out, and at that age evinced patri- 
 otism and love of country, and a desire to learn the 
 practical arts of war on the battle-field. Thus his 
 studies of military affairs had a foundation in a rich 
 practical experience which has enabled him to grasp 
 with wonderful clearness all the questions he has 
 been called upon to deal with in civil life, relating to 
 military matters and pensions. His orations and 
 studies of the lives of such military commanders as 
 Grant, Garfield, Logan and Hayes are examples of 
 practical knowledge as well as literary and orator- 
 ical skill. In all legislation relating to the soldier, 
 the voice of McKinley has had no uncertain sound. 
 His own experience on the National battle-fields 
 brought him in closer sympathy with the veterans 
 of the Civil War than those statesmen who were 
 not able to engage in active service in the front, but 
 devoted their attention to what they termed pure 
 questions of statesmanship. In a speech on the pay- 
 ment of pensions in the House of Representatives, 
 June 22, 1886, McKinley said: 
 
252 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 1 say that is not fair ; that is not frank ; that is not 
 manly. If we have no money in the treasury to pay the 
 pensions of our worthy and dependent soldiers, let us put 
 some there ; let us provide means to increase our rev- 
 enues, let us increase taxation. 
 
 Again, on February 24, 1887, when irritated and 
 humiliated by the assaults on the old soldier, Mc- 
 Kinley exclaimed : 
 
 If I believed, as the gentleman from Wisconsin believes, 
 that the beneficiaries under this bill were "good-for- 
 nothing shirks," "scoundrels" and "vagabonds," I should 
 not vote for the passage of the bill over the veto of the 
 President, nor should I have voted for it when it first 
 came to the House ; but I do not believe with the gentle- 
 man from Wisconsin, that the beneficiaries of this bill 
 are either "shirks" or "vagabonds" or "good-for-nothing 
 scoundrels." I do believe that there are thousands scat- 
 tered all over this country who fought as bravely as the 
 gentleman from Wisconsin fought, although they are not 
 here to tell of their heroic deeds, their lofty courage and 
 glorious achievements. And though they never "rode 
 down the line amid the huzzas of their comrades," as the 
 gentleman tells us it was his wont to do — for these brave 
 men were generally afoot, and without horses, and foot- 
 sore and weary marched to the command of duty — they 
 were the soldiers of the country, the rank and file, fight- 
 ing for the maintenance of the Union. These are the 
 men that the bill applies to. 
 
 In concluding this stirring speech, McKinley, who 
 had been himself one of the rank and file, said: 
 
VIEWS ON PUBLIC QUESTIONS. 253 
 
 Between private charity or the poorhouse this bill says 
 neither, but in lieu of both the generous bounty of the 
 Government. Is not that right ; is it not a simple act of 
 justice ; is it not humane ; is it not the instinct of a decent 
 humanity and our Christian civilization? Where is the 
 wrong? Wherein is the robbery of the Treasury? These 
 soldiers are cared for now by private or municipal 
 bounty. They are cared for by the communities and 
 counties in which they reside, in some instances by tax- 
 ation, in others at the hand of charity. What course so 
 fitting as the w^ay pointed out by this bill, by the Nation 
 they served, from its own treasury; and upon w^hom or 
 what does the obligation rest so strongly and urgently as 
 upon the Nation itself? It is but discharging an honor- 
 able obligation upon the part of the Government, and 
 expresses its gratitude to its volunteer defenders upon 
 land and sea. It seems to me that the bill is in every 
 way vvrarranted by duty and our situation. That it takes 
 much or little money does not affect its righteousness or 
 justice ; that consideration can only apply to our condi- 
 tion and our ability to meet the contemplated expendi- 
 ture. The larger the class thus dependent and totally 
 disabled only appeals the stronger to our patriotic feeling 
 and duty, and makes greater and more commanding the 
 necessity for this measure, and the greater the disgrace 
 and inhumanity to withhold it. 
 
 In this last sentiment we have the exhibition of 
 the broadest possible statesmanship. In fact, an 
 unanswerable argument in a few brief words to the 
 claims of the ungrateful that the patriotism of those 
 who wrecked their health and shed their blood for 
 the Union should be measured in dollars and cents. 
 
254 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Another memorable utterance of McKinley's was his 
 speech on pensions and the. public debt, at Canton, 
 Ohio, May 30, 189 1. In this speech he exhibited a 
 carefully prepared statement, showing the decrease 
 of the interest on the public debt from 1867 to 1891. 
 In the former year the pension roll was $20,936,000, 
 and the interest on the public debt $143,781,000, 
 making a total of $164,717,000. In the latter year, 
 the interest on the public debt had been reduced to 
 $32,100,000, but the pension roll had increased to 
 $126,000,000. The two items aggregated $158,100, - 
 000 in 1 89 1 as against $164,717,000 in 1867. Com- 
 menting on this, McKinley said: 
 
 We have paid off the greater part of the public debt, 
 and reduced the annual interest to $32,100,000 as againgt 
 $143,781,000 in 1867. It will be observed that the two 
 items of pensions and interest on the public debt in 1891 
 are less than the two items were in 1867. The Govern- 
 ment has almost extinguished its debt to the bondholders, 
 stamped out every suggestion of repudiation of that debt, 
 and it proposes now to keep faith with its other sacred 
 creditors — the soldiers and sailors who saved the Nation. 
 The soldiers waited for their pensions, patiently waited, 
 patriotically waited, while the Government was strug- 
 gling under the mighty burden of money debt incurred by 
 the war. They stood firmly for the payment of that debt ; 
 they resisted every form of repudiation under any guise. 
 They have saved the country in war, they helped to keep 
 its financial honor free from stain in peace. The great war 
 debt is almost paid. Who shall say that the other Gov- 
 ernment obligation shall not be as sacredly kept ? Pen- 
 
VIEWS ON PUBLIC QJJESTIONS. 255 
 
 sions are less expensive than standing armies, and attest 
 the gratitude of a free and generous people. 
 
 In the courageous fight which Speaker Reed made 
 on the question of a quorum, he had no more stead- 
 fast and capable supporter on the floor of the House 
 than McKinley. McKinley appreciated the impor- 
 tance and gravity of the question confronting the 
 Republican party at that time, as fully as any of our 
 leaders. He knew that the question involved was 
 important not only to the majority but to the 
 • minority. That it was important not only at that 
 time, but for future action, and furthermore he 
 realized its supreme importance to the people of the 
 United States. It is not likely at this time, however, 
 that either Reed or McKinley expected that in so 
 short a time after this fierce fight had been made to 
 secure majority rules, the Democratic party and the 
 self-same leaders who fought the Republicans at that 
 time would be obliged to take advantage of Reed's 
 rules in order to control the House of Representatives, 
 in which they were largely in the majority. 
 
 Those who will take the pains to go to the Con- 
 gressional Record, and study McKinley's speeches 
 and look over the debate, would indeed return from 
 such an expedition satisfied that his mental grasp 
 of this question was as comprehensive and statesman- 
 like as that of any Republican leader. 
 
 What is this question? What are we contending 
 about ? We are contending as to how it shall be ascer- 
 tained that we have a constitutional majority present in 
 
256 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLBY. 
 
 the House. We insist, and the Speaker's ruling so 
 declares, that members in their seats shall be counted for 
 the purpose of making a quorum, and that their refusal 
 to respond to their names upon a call of the roll, though 
 present, shall not deprive this House of moving in the 
 discharge of great public duties and stop all legislation. 
 Gentlemen on the other side insist upon vv^hat? That 
 they shall perpetuate a fiction — that is what it is — that 
 they shall perpetuate a fiction because they say it is 
 hoary with age, a fiction that declares that although 
 members are present in their seats they shall be under a 
 fiction to be constructively absent. That is w^hat they 
 are contending for. We are contending that this shall 
 be a fact and a truth, not a fiction and a falsehood, and 
 that members who sit in their seats in this Hall shall be 
 counted present, because they are present. They want 
 the Journal to declare a lie ; w^e want the Journal to 
 declare the truth. And it is the truth that hurts their 
 position and makes it indefensible ; it is the continuance 
 of the fiction that they invoke in justification of that 
 position. It is about time to stop these legal fictions. 
 
 Let us be honest with each other and with the coun- 
 try ; let us defeat bills in a constitutional way, if we can, 
 or not at all ; give freedom of debate, opportunity of 
 amendment, the yea and nay vote, by which the judg- 
 ment and will of every Representative can be expressed 
 and responsibility fixed where it belongs, and we will 
 preserve our own self-respect, give force to the Constitu- 
 tion of the country we have sworn to obey, and serve 
 the people whose trust we hold. Why, this controversy 
 is to determine whether a majority shall rule and 
 govern, or be subject to the tyranny of a minority. 
 Talk about the tyranny of the majority ; the tyranny 
 
VIEWS ON PUBLIC QJJESTIONS. 257 
 
 of the minority is infinitely more odious and intolerable 
 and more to be feared than that of the majority. The 
 position of the gentlemen on the other side means that 
 they will either rule or ruin, although they are in the 
 minority. We insist that while we are in the majority 
 they shall do neither. 
 
 Mr. Crisp. If the gentleman has his majority here, 
 he need not ask us to assist. 
 
 The gentleman is not only entitled to have his own 
 majority here, but he is entitled to have the legally elected 
 representatives of the people here, and here always. 
 
 Mr. Crisp. In the language of Mr. Blaine, I deny 
 utterly that you have any right to say I shall be present 
 or vote except as the constitution gives you the right to 
 require my attendance. 
 
 I know^ you deny it, and we are discussing whether 
 that denial is right or wrong. That is the issue — whether 
 it is true or whether it is false ; and the country and an 
 enlightened public will settle the issue between us. I 
 say we have settled one question — settled it, I trust, for 
 all time ; settled it at a good deal of cost, it is true — that 
 the minority can not ruin this Government ; and we in- 
 tend, if we can, under the Constitution and the laws, in 
 broad daylight and in the presence of 63,000,000 people, 
 whose deliberate judgment we invite upon our acts 
 to-day, to determine whether the constitutional majority 
 legally chosen to this House shall do the business of this 
 House. 
 
 The passage of words in the above extract be- 
 tween Mr. Crisp and McKinley illustrates the latter's 
 skill as a debater. It is doubtful if any of the emi- 
 nent gentlemen present on the floor could have done 
 
258 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 any better than this. Throughout this debate 
 McKinley held Mr. Crisp firmly down to the real 
 issue, and closed with as concise and clear a state- 
 ment of the whole question at issue as it would have 
 been possible to prepare with deliberation in the 
 tranquility of the study. 
 
 During his more active career in Congress, the 
 civil service reform question has come up only each 
 year for discussion in the annual appropriation bills. 
 All demands on the part of the Democratic party to 
 cripple the civil service law by reducing the appro- 
 priations for its execution, have met with a prompt 
 and decisive opposition from McKinley, who has in- 
 variably favored giving the commission all the appro- 
 priation that they asked for the improvement and 
 extension of the system. He has contended upon 
 every occasion, both in Congress and out, that if the 
 Republican party of this country is pledged to any 
 one thing more than another, it is to the maintenance 
 of the civil service law and its efficient execution. 
 Not only has he thus expressed himself, but upon 
 more than one occasion he has come out flat-footed 
 in favor of its enlargement and its further applica- 
 tion to the public service. The writer remembers 
 the vigorous answer that McKinley gave in the 
 House of Representatives, April 24, 1890, to one of 
 those annual attempts to cripple the civil service. 
 He took the ground that the law as it stands upon 
 the statute books was put there by Republican votes, 
 and that it was a Republican measure. He called 
 attention to the fact that every National platform of 
 
VIEWS ON PUBLIC QUESTIONS. 259 
 
 the Republican party since its enactment has declared 
 not only in favor of its continuance in full vigor, but 
 in favor of its enlargement so as to apply more gen- 
 erally to the public service. Continuing, he said: 
 
 And this is not alone the declaration and purpose of 
 the Republican party, but it is in accord with its highest 
 and best sentiments — aye, more, it is sustained by the 
 best sentiment of the whole country, Republican and 
 Democratic alike. There is not a man on this floor who 
 does not know that no party in this country, Democratic 
 or Republican, will have the courage to wipe it from the 
 statute-book or amend it save in the direction of its im- 
 provement. 
 
 Look at our situation to-day. When the Republican 
 party has full control of all the branches of the Govern- 
 ment, it is proposed to annul this law of ours by with- ' 
 holding appropriations for its execution, when for four 
 years under a Democratic administration nobody on thi s 
 side of the House had the temerity to rise in his place 
 and make a motion similar to the one now pending for 
 the nullification of the law. We thought it was good 
 then, good enough for a Republican administration ; 
 and I say to my Republican associates, it is good enough 
 for a Republican administration ; it is good and whole- 
 some for the whole country. If the law is not admin- 
 istered in letter and spirit impartially, the President can 
 and will supply the remedy. 
 
 The Republican party must take no step backward. 
 The merit system is here, and it is here to stay ; and we 
 may just as well understand and accept it now, and give 
 our atfention to correcting the abuses, if any exist, and 
 improving the law wherever it can be done to the ad- 
 vantage of the public service. 
 
26p LIFE OF WILLIAM M^KINLKY. 
 
 In concluding this chapter, it will be ■ observed that 
 McKinley's views of the several important questions 
 herein discussed cover as wide a range as those of 
 any of our leading statesmen. They certainly do 
 not indicate that the popular statesman who has mas- 
 tered with such consummate skill the details of the 
 tariff is either a narrow-minded man or a man of 
 one idea. It has been the endeavor to let McKinley 
 speak for himself in this chapter, and this plan will 
 be adopted as far as possible throughout this volume. 
 He certainly speaks well. 
 
m'kinley as a knight templar. 
 
9-' 
 
 ilOX. JOSEPH B. FORAKEJ!. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE POLICY OF PROTECTION. 
 
 Review of McKinley's Early Tariff Speeches — A Friend 
 of Judge William D. Kelley — Fight Against Morrison 
 Horizontal Bill in 1884 — McKinley Turns the Tables 
 on the Veteran Leader — Leading the Opposition to the 
 Mills Attack on our Industries in 1888 — A Stupendous 
 Piece of Work — Hearing Tariff Appeals in His Rooms 
 at the Ebbitt House — A Great Protection Speech. 
 
 IT is impossible in this chapter to more than re- 
 view briefly what may be regarded as the official 
 utterances and reports by McKinley on the tariff 
 question. Beginning with the speech on the Wood 
 tariff bill, delivered in the House of Representatives 
 April 15 , 1878, and closing with his speech in favor of 
 the tariff bill of 1890, which, as chairman of the 
 Ways and Means Committee, McKinley reported to 
 the House, and which was subsequently passed, and 
 is known throughout the world as the McKinley tariff 
 of 1890. 
 
 In such a necessarily brief review of speeches cov- 
 ering a period of twelve years, it will be impossible 
 to touch on anything but the salient features. The 
 aim will be to give the reader an idea of McKinley's 
 own views on the fiscal legislation which bears alike 
 upon the revenue of the Government and the pros- 
 
262 LIFB OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 perity of American industries and labor. That this 
 may be done with exactitude it is better to quote the 
 precise words whenever possible, because by so doing 
 the reader is given the shades of meaning which a 
 mere summary of a man's ideas is often incapable of 
 conveying. 
 
 It would be impossible to study the speeches of 
 McKinley with any degree of care without being 
 struck by the fact that he has been actuated in his 
 advocacy of a protective tariff by the highest sense of 
 public duty. Many of the prominent statesmen in 
 his own party have at times wavered on the tariff 
 question. McKinley never has. There is nothing 
 in his speech onthe Wood tariff bill, delivered seven- 
 teen years ago, that could not be published as his 
 platform of principles to-day. It is not meant by this 
 that the man himself has not broadened in that period, 
 and that his speeches have not immeasurably im- 
 proved. It does mean, however, that he opposed 
 the Wood bill because of a strong conviction that the 
 proposed measure would, if it had been enacted, 
 have been nothing short of a public calamity. For 
 this reason we find him, in 1882, advocating a 
 friendly revision of the tariff by a Tariff Commission, 
 to be authorized by Congress and appointed by the 
 President. 
 
 A year later he took up and discussed, with great 
 ability the tariff bill of 1883, which was the result of 
 the labors of the Tariff Commission. The two 
 strongest advocates of this bill, which became a law 
 March, 1883, were the late William D. Kelley of 
 
THE POLICY OF PROTECTION. 263 
 
 Pennsylvania, then chairman of the Ways and Means 
 Committee, and McKinley. The writer was the 
 intimate friend of Judge Kelley, and recollects the 
 generous praise which that great tariff advocate ac- 
 corded McKinley upon the occasion of the passage 
 of the bill. Judge Kelley recognized the rising 
 statesman, and over and over again he reiterated the 
 fact that McKinley had distanced all his colleagues in 
 mastering the details of the tariff. 
 
 As a member of the Tariff Commission of 1882,* 
 it was not unnatural that the author of this volume 
 should have watched with intense interest the tariff 
 debate of 1883. It was upon this occasion that 
 McKinley planted so firmly the protection banner 
 upon the ramparts of the Republican party. He then 
 and there took the ground that the farmers, for 
 whose special interest the Democratic party assumed 
 to speak, did not ask for the reduced tariff; that 
 they wanted to produce and wanted the laboring 
 men in the factories to consume their products and 
 pay a good price for them. The farmers, he declared, 
 have no desire to break down manufacturing and 
 transfer the vast army of men who are consumers 
 and who work in the shoos to the ranks of the pro- 
 
 *This Commission -was appointed by President Arthur, June 7, 
 1882, confirmed by the Senate, and, as finally constituted, was 
 as follows : John L. Hayes of Massachusetts, chairman; Henry 
 W. Oliver, Jr. of Pennsylvania; Austin M. Garland of Illinois; 
 Jacob A. Ambler of Ohio ;■ Robert P. Porter of the District of 
 Columbia; JohnW. H. Underwood of Georgia; Duncan F. Ken- 
 ner of Louisiana; Alexander P. Boteler of West Virginia; and 
 William H. McMahon of New York. 
 
264 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 ducers to become competitors with them. They, he 
 truly remarked, want a market, and protection en- 
 ables them to have it ; and above and beyond all, 
 the business interests wanted a settlement of the 
 question. 
 
 Agitation, he said, was paralyzing business, creat- 
 ing uncertainty and distrust of the future. The high- 
 est statesmanship demanded a prompt and speedy 
 disposition of the whole question. McKinley's 
 remarks on the tariff bill of 1883 read, in the light of 
 events, more like a prophecy than a political speech. 
 He foretold precisely what happened ten years later. 
 Had these words been heeded then, we should have 
 had no "object lesson" which cost the country a 
 sum equivalent to the cost of the civil war. But 
 Democrats are Democrats, and no amount of per- 
 suasion, no amount of facts, no amount of eloquence, 
 could convince them they were wrong. 
 
 One year later, April 30, 1884, we find McKinley, 
 now regarded as the champion of American protec- 
 tion, opposing the Morrison horizontal bill, which he 
 denounced as too ambiguous and uncertain for a 
 great public statute. He pointed out with wonder- 
 ful force and exactitude that, if passed, it would 
 involve dispute and contention upon nearly every 
 invoice, and would lead to frequent, expensive and 
 annoying litigation. But these, of course, were 
 minor objections to his mind ; the principle was 
 wrong, and upon that ground • he based his strong- 
 est opposition. The discussion of the Morrison bill 
 enabled McKinley to answer with telling force some 
 
THE POLICY OF PROTECTION. 265 
 
 of the criticisms that had been made by Democrats 
 in a previous Congress of the Republican policy of 
 appointing a commission. The opposition had 
 claimed that Judge Kelley, McKinley and his friends 
 had not sufficient ability to frame a tariff bill them- 
 selves, and, therefore, " farmed out" the subject to a 
 commission of nine experts. Much opprobrium was 
 sought to be put upon the majority because of its 
 alleged abrogation of a Constitutional duty. One 
 accustomed to public debate can appreciate the 
 opportunity which McKinley had when Morrison 
 brought in this same identical bill which had been 
 framed by the Tariff Commission and proposed 
 simply a horizontal reduction of 20 per cent, all 
 around. In speaking of this absurd proposal, made 
 by Mr. Morrison of Illinois, McKinley said : 
 
 What can be said of the capacity of the majority of the 
 Committee on Ways and Means as evidenced by the bill 
 now before us ? It is a confession upon its face of abso- 
 lute incapacity to grapple with the great subject. The 
 Morrison bill will never be suspected of having passed 
 the scrutiny of intelligent experts like the Tariff Com- 
 mission. This is a revision by the cross-cut process. It 
 gives no evidences of the expert's skill. It is the inven- 
 tion of indolence — I will not say of ignorance, for the 
 gentlemen of the majority of the Committee on Ways 
 and Means are competent to prepare a tariff bill. I re- 
 peat, it is not only the invention of indolence, but it is 
 the mechanism of a botch workman A thousand times 
 better refer the question to an intelligent Commission, 
 which will study the question in its relations to the 
 
266 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 revenues and industries of the country, than to submit to 
 a bill like this. 
 
 They have determined upon doing something, no mat- 
 ter how mischievous, that looks to the reduction of im- 
 port duties ; and doing it, too, in spite of the fact that 
 not a single request has come either from the great pro- 
 ducing or great consuming classes of the United States 
 for any change in the direction proposed. With the 
 power in their hands they have determined to put the 
 knife in, no matter w^here it cuts nor how much blood it 
 draws. It is the volunteer surgeon, unbidden, insisting 
 upon using the knife upon a body that is strong and 
 healthy ; needing only rest and release from the quack 
 whose skill is limited to the horizontal amputation, and 
 whose science is barren of either knowledge or discrimina- 
 tion. And then it is not to stop with one horizontal 
 slash ; it is to be followed by another and still another, 
 until there is nothing left either of life or hope. And the 
 doctrinaires w^ill then have seen an exemplification of 
 their pet science in the destruction of the great produc- 
 tive interests of the country, and " the starving poor," 
 as denominated by the majority, will be found without 
 work, shelter or food. The sentiment of this country is 
 against any such indiscriminate proposition. The 
 petitions before the Ways and Means Committee from 
 twenty to thirty States of this Union appeal to Congress 
 to let the tariff rest where it is, in general, while others 
 are equally importunate to have the duties on two or 
 three classes of American products raised. The laboring 
 men are unanimous against this bill. These appeals 
 should not go unheeded. The farmers for whom you 
 talk so eloquently, have not asked for it. There is no 
 appeal from any American interest for this legislation. 
 
THE POLICY OF PROTECTION. 267 
 
 It is well, if this bill is to go into force, that on yester- 
 day the other branch of Congress, the Senate, passed a 
 Bankruptcy bill. It is a fitting corollary to the Morrison 
 bill ; it is a proper and a necessary companion. The 
 Senate has done wisely, in anticipation of our action 
 here, in providing legal means for settling with creditors, 
 for wiping out balances, and rolling from the shoulders 
 of our people the crushing burdens which this bill will 
 impose. 
 
 Again, in 1888, we find McKinley leading the 
 fight against another assault on American industries, 
 this time the one proposed by Representative Mills 
 of Texas, known as the Mills tariff bill. The 
 Mills bill was forced upon the country in a peculiar 
 and unusual manner. The schedules were not taken 
 up publicly and discussed by public hearings. 
 Specially appointed committees, comprised of one or 
 two members, were held, and they considered the 
 work, without reference to public testimony. Having 
 completed the schedule to thus suit their own ideas, 
 they were ready to doom the great industries of the 
 country. It was finally presented one day, ready 
 made, by the chairman of the committee, Mr. Mills. 
 It was framed, completed and printed without the 
 knowledge of the minority, and without considera- 
 tion or discussion in the full committee. 
 
 This naturally surprised McKinley and the other 
 Republican members. Every effort had been made 
 on the part of the minority to obtain from the 
 majority the facts and information upon which they 
 constructed the bill. It had all proved unavailing. 
 
268 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 In almost daily relations with McKinley at this time, 
 the writer well remembers how justly incensed he 
 was at the treatment accorded the minority. But 
 this attempt to take advantage of an honorable 
 minority, bad as it was, was not as serious in the 
 eyes of McKinley as the treatment accorded the 
 great industrial and laboring interests of the country. 
 Commenting on this action at the time, he said : 
 
 The industries of the country, located in every section 
 of the Union, representing vast interests closely related 
 to the prosperity of the country, touching practically 
 every home and fireside in the land, which were to be 
 affected by the bill, were denied a hearing; the majority 
 shut the doors of the committee against all examinations 
 of producers, consumers and experts, whose testimony 
 might have enlightened the committee. The farmers, 
 whose investments and products were to be disas- 
 trously dealt with, were denied an opportunity to address 
 the committee. The workingmen of the country, whose 
 wages were at stake, were denied audience. The Repre- 
 sentatives on the floor of the House were not permitted 
 to voice the wants of their constituents. Proposing a 
 grave measure, which would affect all of the people in 
 their employments, their labor and their incomes, the 
 majority persistently refused the people the right of hear- 
 ing and discussion ; denied them the simple privilege 
 of presenting reasons and arguments against their pro- 
 posed action. 
 
 The views of the minority of the Ways and Means 
 Committee, which were written by McKinley, form 
 one of the ablest tariff documents ever prepared, and 
 
THK POLICY OF PROTECTION. 269 
 
 will remain for all time to come a masterly public 
 document. He spent many laborious evenings in 
 his room at the Ebbitt House, preparing this report. 
 The appeals which the majority of the committee had 
 refused to listen to, were poured into McKinley's 
 ears, not only by letter and petition from all sorts 
 and conditions of men in all parts of the Union, but 
 by the personal appeals of committees representing 
 labor organizations, industrial associations and all 
 the varied interests that are affected by tariff legisla- 
 tion. It was a great piece of work, and stamped 
 McKinley as a master of detail. It, furthermoi-e, 
 brought out his remarkable aptitude for condensing 
 and putting into readable form vast masses of infor- 
 mation and all kinds of statistical data. 
 
 One paragraph of this report is herewith quoted : 
 
 The bill is a radical reversal of the tariff policy of the 
 country which for the most part has prevailed since the 
 foundation of the Government, and under which we have 
 made industrial and agricultural progress without a par- 
 allel in the world's history. If enacted into law, it will 
 disturb every branch of business, retard manufacturing 
 and agricultural prosperity, and seriously impair our in- 
 dustrial independence. It undertakes to revise our entire 
 revenue system ; substantially all of the tariff schedules 
 are affected ; both classification and rates are changed. 
 Specific duties are in many cases changed to ad valorem, 
 which all experience has shown is productive of frauds 
 and undervaluations. It does not correct the irregular- 
 ities of the present tariff ; it only aggravates them. It 
 introduces uncertainties in interpretation, which will 
 
270 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 embarrass its administration, promote contention and 
 litigation, and give to the customs officers a latitude of 
 construction which will produce endless controversy and 
 confusion. It is marked with a sectionalism which every 
 patriotic citizen must deplore. Its construction takes no 
 account of the element of labor which enters into pro- 
 duction, and in a number of instances makes the fin- 
 ished or advanced product free, or dutiable at a less 
 rate than the materials from which it is made. " The 
 poor man's blanket," which the majority has made a 
 burning issue for so many years, is made to bear the same 
 rate of duty as the rich man's. More than one-third of 
 the free list is made up from the products of the farm, 
 the forest and the mine ; from products which are now 
 dutiable at the minimum rates, ranging from seven to 
 twenty-five per cent, and even this slight protection, so 
 essential, is to be taken from the farmers, the lumbermen 
 and the quarrymen. 
 
 Some people contend that McKinley's speech on 
 the Mills tariff bill, May 18, 1888, which followed a 
 few weeks after the report above referred to, was 
 one of the ablest, if not the ablest speech ever made 
 in defense of the policy of protection. It is undoubt- 
 edly true that in this magnificent appeal to the pa- 
 triotism of our representatives in Congress, McKinley 
 scored some tremendous points in favor of a protec- 
 tive tariff. The writer was in the gallery and heard 
 every word of it. The effect was electrifying, not 
 so much on account of the eloquence of the speaker, 
 because, as has been said before, there are more 
 eloquent speakers than McKinley. His earnestness, 
 
THE POLICY OF PROTECTION. 27 1 
 
 his knowledge, his grasp of the facts, his clearness 
 in going fearlessly to the bottom of the strongest 
 arguments which his adversaries could advance, con- 
 vinced every one who listened that he was the master 
 of that situation. Among other things he said: 
 
 What is a protective tariff? It is a tariff upon foreign ' 
 imports so adjusted as to secure the necessary revenue, 
 and judiciously imposed upon those foreign products the 
 like of which are produced at home, or the like of which 
 we are capable of producing at home. It imposes the 
 duty upon the competing foreign product ; it makes it 
 bear the burden or duty, and, as far as possible, luxuries 
 only excepted, permits the noncompeting foreign pro- 
 duct to come in free of duty. Articles of common use, 
 comfort and necessity, w^hich we cannot produce here, it 
 sends to the people untaxed and free from custom-house 
 exactions. Tea, coffee, spices and drugs are such articles, 
 and under our system are upon the free list. It says to 
 our foreign competitor : If you want to bring your 
 merchandise here, your farm products here, your coal 
 and iron ore, your wool, your salt, your pottery, your 
 glass, your cottons and woolens, and sell alongside of our 
 producers in our markets, we will make your product 
 bear a duty ; in effect, pay for the privilege of doing it. 
 Our kind of tariff makes the competing foreign article 
 carry the burden, draw the load, supply the revenue ; and 
 in performing this essential office it encourages at the 
 same time our own industries and protects our own peo- 
 ple in their chosen employments. That is the mission 
 and purpose of a protective tariff. That is what we 
 mean to maintain, and any measure which will destroy 
 it we shall firmly resist ; and if beaten on this floor, we 
 
272 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 will appeal from your decision to the people, before 
 whom parties and policies must at last be tried. We 
 have free trade among ourselves throughout thirty-eight 
 States and the Territories, and among sixty millions of 
 people. Absolute freedom of exchange within our own 
 borders and among our own citizens, is the law of the 
 Republic. Reasonable taxation and restraint upon those 
 without is the dictate of enlightened patriotism and the 
 doctrine of the Republican party. 
 
 Free trade in the United States is founded upon a com- 
 munity of equalities and reciprocities. It is like the 
 unrestrained freedom and reciprocal relations and obliga- 
 tions of a family. Here we are one country, one language, 
 one allegiance, one standard of citizenship, one flag, one 
 Constitution, one Nation, one destiny. It is otherwise 
 with foreign nations, each a separate organism, a distinct 
 and independent political society, organized for its own, 
 to protect its own, and work out its own destiny. We 
 deny to those foreign nations free trade with us upon 
 equal terms with our own producers. The foreign pro- 
 ducer has no right or claim to equality with our own. 
 He is not amenable to our laws. There are resting upon 
 him none of the obligations of citizenship. He pays no 
 taxes. He performs no civil duties ; he is subject to no 
 demands for military service. He is exempt from State, 
 county and municipal obligations. He contributes noth- 
 ing to the support, the progress and glory of the Nation. 
 Why should he enjoy unrestrained equal privileges and 
 profits in our markets with our producers, our labor and 
 our taxpayers? Let the gentleman who follows me 
 answer. We put a burden upon his productions, we dis- 
 criminate against his merchandise, because he is alien to 
 us and our interests, and we do it to protect our own, 
 
THE POLICY OF PROTECTION. 273 
 
 defend our own, preserve our own, who are always with 
 us in adversity and prosperity, in sympathy and purpose, 
 and, if necessary, in sacrifice. That is the principle 
 which governs us. I submit it is a patriotic and right- 
 eous one. In our country each citizen competes with the 
 other in free and unresentful rivalry, while with the rest 
 of the world all are united and together in resisting out- 
 side competition as we would foreign interference. 
 
 Free foreign trade admits the foreigner to equal priv- 
 ileges with our own citizens. It invites the product of 
 foreign (iheap labor to this market in competition with 
 the domestic product, representing higher and better 
 paid labor. It results in giving our money, our manu- 
 factures and our markets to other nations, to the injury 
 of our labor, our trades people and our farmers. Protec- 
 tion keeps money, markets and manufactures at home 
 forthe benefit of our own people. It is scarcely worth 
 while to more than state the proposition that taxation 
 upon a foreign competing product is more easily paid 
 and less burdensome than taxation upon the noncompet- 
 ing product. In the latter it is always added to the 
 foreign cost, and therefore paid by the consumer, while 
 in the former, where the duty is upon the competing 
 product, it is largely paid in the form of diminished 
 profits to the foreign producer. It would be burdensome 
 beyond endurance to collect our taxes from the products, 
 professions and labor of our own people. 
 
 In closing this speech, McKinley spoke as follows 
 upon the general effect of a protective system upor 
 our people in their employments : 
 
 There is no conflict of interests and should be none be- 
 tween the several classes of producers and the consumers 
 
274 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 in the United States. Their interests are one, interre- 
 lated and interdependent. That which benefits one 
 benefits all ; one man's work has relation to every other 
 man's work in the same community ; each is an essential 
 part of the grand result to be attained, and that states- 
 manship which w^ould seek to array the one against the 
 other for any purpose, is narrow, unworthy and un- 
 patriotic. The President's message is unhappily in that 
 direction. The discussion had on this floor taken that 
 turn. Both have been calculated to create antagonisms 
 where none existed. The farmer, the manufacturer, the 
 laborer, the tradesman, the producer and the consumer 
 all have a common interest in the maintenance of a pro- 
 tective tariff. All are alike and equally favored by the 
 system which you seek to overthrow. It is a National 
 system, broad and universal in its application ; if other- 
 wise, it should be abandoned. It cannot be invoked for 
 one section or one interest, to the exclusion of others. 
 It must be general in its application within the contem- 
 plation of the principle upon which the system is 
 founded. We have been living under it for twenty-seven 
 continuous years, and it can be asserted with confidence 
 that no country in the world has achieved such industrial 
 advancement, and such marvelous progress in art, science 
 and civilization, as ours. Tested by its results, it has 
 surpassed all other revenue systems. 
 
 From 1789 to 1888, a period of ninety -nine years, 
 there has been forty-seven years when a Democratic 
 revenue-tariff policy has prevailed, and fifty-two years 
 under the protective policy, and it is a noteworthy fact 
 that the most progressive and prosperous periods of our 
 history in every department of human effort and mate- 
 rial development were during the fifty-two years when 
 
THE POLICY OF PROTECTION. 
 
 275 
 
 the protective party was in control and protective tariffs 
 were maintained ; and the most disastrous years — ^years 
 of w^ant and wretchedness, ruin and retrogression, 
 eventuating in insufficient revenues and shattered credits, 
 individual and National — were during the free-trade or 
 revenue-tariff eras of our history. No man lives who 
 passed through any of the latter periods but would dread 
 their return and would flee from them as he would 
 escape from fire and pestilence ; and I believe the party 
 which promotes their return will merit and receive pop- 
 ular condernnation. What is the trouble with our pres- 
 ent condition? No country can point to greater 
 prosperity or more enduring evidences of substantial 
 progess among all the people. Too much money is being 
 collected, it is said. We say, stop it ; not by indiscrim- 
 inate and vicious legislation, but by simple business 
 methods. Do it on simple, practical lines, and we will 
 help you. Buy up the bonds, objectionable as it may 
 be, and pay the Nation's debt, if you cannot reduce 
 taxation. You could have done this long ago. Nobody 
 is chargeable for the failure and delay but your own ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 Who is objecting to our protective system? From 
 what quarter does the complaint come ? Not from the 
 enterprising American citizen ; not from the manufac- 
 turer ; not from the laborer, whose wages it improves ; 
 not from the consumer, for he is fully satisfied, because 
 under it he buys a cheaper and better product than he did 
 under the other system ; not from the farmer, for he finds 
 among the employes of the protected industries his best 
 and most reliable customers ; not from the merchant or 
 the tradesman, for every hive of industry increases the 
 jiumber of his customers and enlarges the volume of his 
 
276 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 trade. Few, indeed, have been the petitions presented 
 to this House asking for any reduction of duties upon 
 imports. None, that I have ever seen or heard of, and I 
 have watched -with, the deepest interest the number and 
 character of these petitions, that I might gather from 
 them the drift of public sentiment. I say I have seen 
 none asking for the passage of this bill, or for any such 
 departure from the fiscal policy of the Government so long 
 recognized and follow^ed, while against this legislation 
 there has been no limit to petitions, memorials, prayers 
 and protests, from the producer and consumer alike. 
 This measure is not called for by the people ; it is not an 
 American measure ; it is inspired by importers and for- 
 eign producers, most of them aliens, who want to dimin- 
 ish our trade and increase their own ; who want to 
 decrease our prosperity and augment theirs, and who 
 have no interest in this country except what they can 
 make out of it. To this is added the influence of the 
 professors in some of our institutions of learning, who 
 teach the science contained in books, and not that of 
 practical business. I would rather have my political 
 economy founded upon the every-day experience of the 
 puddler or the potter, than the learning of the professor, or 
 the farmer and factory hand than the college faculty. 
 Then there is another class who want protective tariffs 
 overthrown. They are the men of independent wealth, 
 with settled and steady incomes, who want everything 
 cheap but currency ; the value of everything clipped but 
 coin — cheap labor but dear money. These are the ele- 
 ments which are arrayed against us. 
 
 Men whose capital is invested in productive enter- 
 prises, w^ho take the risks of business, men who expend 
 their capita) and energy in the development of our re- 
 
THE POLICY OF PROTECTION. 277 
 
 sources, are in favor of the maintenance of the protective 
 system. The farmer, the rice-grower, the miner, the vast 
 army of vvrage-earners from one end of the country to the 
 other, the chief producers of wealth, men whose capital 
 is their brain and muscle, who aspire to better their con- 
 dition and elevate themselves and their fellows ; the 
 young man whose future is yet before him, and which 
 he must carve out with his hand and head, who is with- 
 out the aid of fortune or of a long ancestral line — these 
 are our steadfast allies in this great contest for the pres- 
 ervation of the American system. Experience and 
 results in our own country are the best advisers, and 
 they vindicate beyond the possibilities of dispute the 
 worth and wisdom of the system. 
 
 The Mills bill, with all its incongruities and dan- 
 gerous experiments with our industries, passed the 
 House of Representatives, but was finally defeated 
 in the Senate. The Republican party made the issue 
 of the Presidential election of 1888 on the bill. They 
 went to the country with McKinley's minority report, 
 with his exhaustive speech already quoted from, and 
 with the admirable report prepared under the direc- 
 tion of Senators Allison, Hiscock and Aldrich. 
 Thus armed, the Republicans of all parts of the 
 country pushed the tariff issue to the front, and 
 brought it home to the people in one of the most 
 vigorous campaigns in our political history and 
 closed by triumphantly electing Benjamin Harrison 
 President, and returning a protection majority in 
 both houses of Congress. This was, undoubtedly, 
 McKinley's first great victory, and the results may 
 
278 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 in no small degree be attributed to his ten years of 
 incessant and enthusiastic advocacy of a protective 
 tariff. We have seen that as far back as 1878, in his 
 speech on the Wood tariff bill, that he put the tariff 
 issue on a higher plane than it had occupied since 
 the time of Henry Clay. In other words, he put 
 it above and beyond all other measures. This was 
 a political innovation, for the Republican plat- 
 form of 1876 had hardly made it an issue at all, and 
 it was not until 1880 that it appeared as a prominent 
 feature in the Republican platform. While himself 
 an advocate of the tariff bill of 1883, he never shared 
 the opinions of a large number of less enthusiastic 
 Republican leaders who were inclined to advocate 
 what were called all-round reductions of duty — that 
 is, reductions of duties, irrespective of the condition of 
 an industry. The victory, therefore, df 1888, while 
 electing Benjamin Harrison President, was in fact 
 the strongest endorsement of the views which Wil- 
 liam McKinley had been persistently contending for, 
 in and out of Congress, for ten years. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE McKINLEY TARIFF LAW. 
 
 Principles on Which It was Constructed — Business Inter- 
 ests and Labor Consulted — The Most Carefully Pre- 
 pared Tariff Law Ever Enacted — The Changes It 
 Brought About — McKinley's Aim to Benefit the 
 United States — Desire to Give Additional Employ- 
 ment to American Labor and Prosperity to American 
 Homes — Tin Plate. 
 
 IT is proposed in this chapter to give a brief account 
 of the reasons for the introduction and passage 
 of what is generally known as the McKinley tariff 
 law, together with a discussion of the principles 
 upon which it was constructed. The election of 1888 
 had passed upon the question of protection. In 
 spite of all the Democratic leaders could do to strad- 
 dle the real issue, the Republican leaders were able, 
 through the ill-advised message which Grover Cleve- 
 land, then President of the United States, sent to 
 Congress, to hold them down to the real issue before 
 the country, namely, protection or free trade. It is 
 doubtful if the tariff question was ever so intelligently 
 presented and discussed as during this campaign. 
 The Democrats were in power and had all the 
 advantages of patronage and a vast army of office- 
 holders. The popular House was Democratic. The 
 
 279 
 
28o LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Mills bill had passed the House of Representatives 
 and was only thrown out by a small majority in the 
 Senate. There was no mistaking what that bill 
 meant. It was as bad in all essential points as the 
 Wilson bill, which likewise passed the House of 
 Representatives in 1894. In repudiating the Presi- 
 dent's message and the Mills bill, it was natural 
 that Republican leaders who had the courage of their 
 convictions should construe this to mean that here- 
 after the tariff policy of the United States had been 
 decided in favor of protection, and that what was 
 needed was a bill framed in the interests of American 
 industry and American labor. On the assembling 
 of Congress, December, 1889, a Ways and Means 
 Committee, with McKinley for chairman, was 
 formed, and that committee at once proceeded to 
 prepare a bill which had for its object the double 
 purpose of reducing the then surplus revenue and of 
 strengthening and harmonizing the several schedules 
 of the tariff law. So sure were the business interests 
 of the country that no harm could come to any Amer- 
 ican interests in this tariff revision, that there was 
 hardly a ripple in industrial, commercial or financial 
 circles. The work progressed in the most business- 
 like manner. Hearings were given to all interests 
 likely to be affected, those 01 the manufacturer, 
 importer or laborer. Not a single interest in the 
 country that asked for a hearing before the Ways 
 and Means Committee while McKinley was chair- 
 man of it, was refused. Manufacturers, laborers, 
 consumers, importers, consigners and consignees, 
 
THE M'KINLEY tariff LA">V. 281 
 
 free traders and protectionists, all who presented 
 themselves at the door of the Committee on Ways 
 and Means, were heard. In the morning at half past 
 nine o'clock the committee met, and sat continuously 
 until eleven to hear gentlemen dilate upon the sev- 
 eral schedules of the tariff. At the outset McKinley 
 announced that the committee would meet and con- 
 tinue to meet and hear all the great interests of the 
 country until the bill was finally passed through the 
 House. 
 
 In this respect the work resembled that of the 
 Tariff Commission of 1882. This Commission vis- 
 ited over thirty cities in the United States, and took 
 the testimony of over seven hundred witnesses of all 
 grades of political and economic faith, before it pre- 
 pared its tariff report and bill. The part McKinley 
 took in the tariff of 1890 was simply Herculean. He 
 not only devoted all day to the Committee work, but 
 every night he was visited by those anxious to give 
 information on the innumerable items which go to 
 makeup the schedules of a tariff act. 
 
 Not only was great attention given to the schedule 
 of rates, but great improvements were introduced in 
 what are known as the administrative sections of the 
 tariff law. 
 
 When completed, the tariff bill of 1890 was un- 
 doubtedly the most complete, most harmonious and 
 the most truly patriotic tariff law ever framed by an 
 American Congress. In presenting it to the House, 
 McKinley took the ground that it was not necessary 
 for him to enter into an extended discussion of the 
 
282 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 two economic systems which divided parties in the 
 United States. As we have seen in the preceding 
 chapter, for two years both branches of Congress had 
 been occupied in discussions before the people of 
 these contending theories of taxation. In short, from 
 December, 1887, to March 4, 1889, no public ques- 
 tion ever received, in Congress or out, such scruti- 
 nizing investigation as that of the tariff. Holding 
 these views, it did not seem necessary to McKinley 
 at that time to do more than present his bill and 
 explain the proposed changes it involved. This he 
 did in a speech in the House of Representatives, May 
 7, 1890. In his opening remarks, he said: 
 
 If any one thing was settled by the election of 188S, 
 it was that the protective policy, as promulgated in the 
 Republican platform, and heretofore inaugurated and 
 maintained by the Republican party, should be secured 
 in any fiscal legislation to be had by the Congress chosen 
 in that great contest and upon that mastering issue. I 
 have interpreted that victory to mean, and the majority 
 in this House and in the Senate to mean, that a revision 
 of the tariff is not only demanded by the votes of the 
 people, but that such revision should be on the line and 
 in full recognition of the principle and purpose of protec- 
 tion. The people have spoken ; they want their will 
 registered and their decree embodied in public legislation. 
 The bill which the Committee on Ways and Means have 
 presented is their answer and interpretation of that vic- 
 tory, and in accordance with its spirit and letter and 
 purpose. We have not been compelled to abolish the 
 internal-revenue system that we might preserve the pro- 
 tective system, which we were pledged to do in the event 
 
THfi M'KINLEY TARIFF LAW. 283 
 
 that the abolition of the one was essential to the preserva- 
 tion of the other. That was unnecessary. 
 
 The bill does not amend or modify any part of the 
 internal-revenue taxes applicable to spirits or fermented 
 liquors. It abolishes all the special taxes and licenses, 
 so called, imposed upon the manufacture of tobacco, 
 cigars and snuff, and dealers thereof, reduces the tax 
 upon manufactured tobacco from eight to four cents per 
 pound, and removes all restrictions now imposed upon 
 the growers of tobacco. With these exceptions, the 
 internal-revenue laws are left undisturbed. From this 
 source we reduce taxation over $70,000,000, and leave 
 with the people this direct tax which has been paid by 
 them upon their own products through a long series of 
 years. 
 
 The tariff part of the bill contemplates and proposes a 
 complete revision. It not only changes the rates of 
 duty, but modifies the general provisions of the law re- 
 lating to the collection of duties. These modifications 
 have received the approval of the Treasury Department, 
 and are set forth in detail in the report of the committee, 
 and I will not weary you by restating them. 
 
 One of the most radical changes made by this law, 
 and one of the mQst just, and, as future events have 
 shown, one of the wisest, was the advance in the 
 duty on tin plate. For many years, through a tech- 
 nical error, the duty on tin plate had been less than 
 the duty on the material (sheet iron) out of which it 
 was made. The Tariff Commission took strong 
 ground on this question and recommended the plac- 
 ing of tin plate in the class to which it belonged. In 
 
284 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 the report made to Congress by the Tariff Commis- 
 sion in 1882, the Commission said: 
 
 The present duty upon tin plates is an anomaly ; the 
 sheet iron out of which tin plates are made being duti- 
 able under the present law at one and three-quarters 
 cents per pound, and then finished tin plate, after being 
 sheared, coated with metal, and boxed, being dutiable at 
 one and one-tenth cents per pound. On account of the 
 difference between the cost of labor in England and in 
 the United States, it is now impossible to manufacture 
 tin plates in this country, and the few tin plate estab- 
 lishments have been struggling for an existence. 
 
 The Commission is of opinion that a moderate rate of 
 duty will develop this important industry, and that wise 
 public policy dictates that at least a part of the amount 
 consumed in this country of so essential an article as tin 
 plate should be produced here. The testimony shows 
 that the intention of the framers of the act of 1864 was 
 to place a duty upon what is commercially known as tin 
 plates, of two and one-half cents per pound, but by an 
 error of punctuation, and the transposition of a comma, 
 they were, by Treasury decision, placed at a much lower 
 rate. 
 
 With a small majority at his back, and a weaker 
 protective sentiment than McKinley had, it was im- 
 possible for Judge Kelley to secure the adoption of 
 this recommendation of the Tariff Commission, and 
 it was defeated. McKinley, it will be seen, recog- 
 nizing that one of the essential principles of the 
 tariff bill was justice to all interests concerned, boldly 
 
THE M'KINLEY tariff LAW. 285 
 
 took up the question of tin plate, and advanced the 
 duty. On this subject he said : 
 
 We propose this advanced duty to protect our manu- 
 facturers and consumers against the British monopoly, 
 in the belief that it will defend our capital and labor in 
 the production of tin plate until they shall establish an 
 industry which the English shall recognize has come to 
 stay, and then competition will insure regular and rea- 
 sonable prices to consumers. It may add a little, tem- 
 porarily, to the cost of tin plate to the consumer, but 
 will eventuate in steadier and more satisfactory prices. 
 At the present prices for foreign tin plate, the proposed 
 duty would not add any thing to the cost of the heavier 
 grades of tin to the consumer. If the entire duty was 
 added to the cost of the can, it would not advance it 
 more than one-third, or one-half of one cent, for on a 
 dozen fruit cans the addition would properly only be 
 about three cents. 
 
 Mr. Cromemeyer said before the committee : 
 
 After we get fifty mills in this country and exchange 
 our ideas, we can reduce the price by the use of improved 
 machinery and methods which they never thought of in 
 the other countries. 
 
 We consumed last year 300,000 tons of tin plate, all of 
 it imported, upon which we paid $7,000,000 duty, every 
 dollar of which was paid by the consumer, for it is a 
 revenue tariff, and there was no competition at home to 
 influence or regulate the prices. The price of tin plate 
 to the American consumer for the last twenty-four years 
 has been the foreign price fixed by the foreign producer, 
 with the American duty added, and every dollar of that 
 
286 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 duty has been paid by the canners and by the consumers 
 in every form, small and great. They put the price up 
 and they put the price down, according to the will of 
 those who belong to the combine. Why, the very agita- 
 tion, the very suggestion that we proposed to increase 
 the duty on tin plate has already crushed out one foreign 
 combine ; one foreign trust, and it will stay crushed out 
 until the political complexion of this House shall change 
 and this duty shall be reduced, for I assume we are going 
 to advance the duty on tin plate. 
 
 The duty on tin plate was advanced, and the 
 results are known to the people of the country. 
 While this feature of the bill was criticised most 
 severely by the Democrats^ it has since proved one 
 of its greatest points of strength. 
 
 The reader will recall the epidemic of falsehood 
 and discouragement which followed this courageous 
 legislation. The tin plate liar was able to attract to 
 himself a great deal of public attention during the 
 short period of his existence. In his day he was the 
 most impudent, the most aggressive, the most bare- 
 faced, and by all odds the most ingenious liar the 
 Republican party ever had to contend against. For 
 a time, so persistently and circumstantially did this 
 creature lie, that he made you doubt your own eye- 
 sight and wonder if your best and most trusted friend 
 was not trying to bunco you. 
 
 To-day he was peddling tinware on the country 
 roads on salary, and asking double price " all on 
 account of the McKinley bill ! " To-morrow he was 
 lecturing in the school-house on the enormous duty 
 
THE M'KINLEY TARIFF LAW. 287 
 
 on tin, an article not produced in the United States, 
 well knowing that McKinley found tin on the free 
 list and left it there. 
 
 So successful was the tin plate liar that even lead- 
 ing Republicans were demanding the proof as to 
 whether we could or could not make tin plate in this 
 country. The organs of the Welsh tin plate trust in 
 this country made a tremendous fight, and lost. 
 Once more American labor and enterprise came out 
 ahead, and the Welsh concerns will, in the course 
 of time, be pushed to the wall. The consumers of 
 tin are getting a cheaper and better article, and best 
 of all, it is American. The canners of salmon are 
 happy, and the lamentations of the oyster and green 
 corn men have changed to anthems of praise for 
 McKinley and American tin plate. The poor work- 
 man's dinner pail is no longer an object of Demo- 
 cratic sympathy, possibly because allusions to it may 
 remind wage-earners it was none too full during 
 Democratic panic times. Meantime, the manufacture 
 of tin plate, made possible by the McKinley tariff, 
 goes on at a rapid rate, and we shall ere long supply 
 our home demand. Give the American producer 
 half a chance and he will do with tin plate as he has 
 done in other important industries — make a better 
 and cheaper article, and pay a higher rate of wages 
 to labor. In this case he had only half a chance. 
 That he succeeded is a great victory for American 
 ingenuity and hopefulness. 
 
 The most recent report, that made by John Jarrett, 
 secretary of the Tinned Plate Manufacturers' Asso- 
 
288 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 ciation of the United States, shows that six months 
 ago there were i66 tin plate mills complete and fifty- 
 nine mills contemplated. It is safe to assume that at 
 the present time there must be not far from two hun- 
 dred tin plate manufactories in the United States. 
 The capacity of the mills already completed will be 
 about 30,000 boxes per mill per annum, or in round 
 figures, 5,000,000 boxes. If we add to these the 
 capacity of the mills not completed six months ago, 
 and include in our estimate the two hundred odd 
 mills, we have a grand total capacity of nearly 7,000,- 
 000 boxes per annum. Mr. Jarrett's estimate for the 
 annual consumption of tin plate in the United States 
 is about 6,000,000 boxes. 
 
 Thus in less than four years the tin plate industry 
 has so developed as to be ready to supply the entire 
 home market as soon as all the mills get in working 
 order. In this connection, it must be borne in mind 
 that the reduction of duty on tin plate by the Wilson 
 bill of 1894 has very seriously retarded the develop- 
 ment of this industry. Had the McKinley bill stood 
 without changes, the tin plate industry at this moment 
 would be firmly on its feet, and without any doubt 
 supplying the entire home demand with cheaper and 
 better tin than we ever imported from abroad, and 
 employing thousands of additional workingmen at 
 good wages. There is no reason why America 
 should not make tin plate, and there is every reason 
 why we should. It is no more right that we should 
 go abroad for our tin plate than for our steel rails. 
 It has been demonstrated to the entire satisfaction of 
 
THE M'KINLEY TARIFF LAW. 289 
 
 every student of the question that we can make the 
 tin plate as well as any other country. 
 
 The mills that are now running are making all 
 grades and plenty of it, and large quantities of it go 
 to canning companies and others who work up the 
 product. 
 
 The success of the legislation in favor of making 
 tin plate on this side the Atlantic instead of the other, 
 was one of the most marked victories of the McKin- 
 ley bill, though on a smaller scale hundreds of others 
 might be named. These will be referred to else- 
 where, as it is necessary to continue the argument 
 of McKinley in support of his tariff bill of 1890. 
 
 In concluding this admirable argument in favor of 
 the McKinley bill, he said : 
 
 We have now enjoyed twenty-nine years continuously 
 of protective tariff law^s — 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 pros- 
 perity the like of which has never been witnessed at any 
 other period in the history of our country, and the like of 
 which had 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. In 
 arts, in science, in literature, in manufactures, in inven- 
 tion, in scientific principles applied to manufacture and 
 agriculture, in wealth and credit and National honor we 
 are at the very front, abreast with the best, and behind 
 none. 
 
 In i860, after fourteen years of a revenue tariff, just 
 the kind of a tariff that our political adversaries are advo- 
 
290 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 eating to-day/, the business of the country was prostrated, 
 agriculture was deplorably depressed, manufacturing was 
 on the decline, and the poverty of the government, itself, 
 made thisNation a by- word in the financial centres of the 
 world. We neither had money nor credit. Both are 
 essential ; a nation can get on if it has abundant revenues, 
 but if it has none it must have credit. We had neither 
 as the legacy of the Democratic revenue tariff. We have 
 both now^. We have a surplus revenue and a spotless 
 credit. I need not state what is so fresh in our minds, so 
 recent in our history, as to be known to every gentleman 
 who hears me, that from the inauguration of the pro- 
 tective tariff laws of 1861, the old Morrill tariff — which 
 has brought to that veteran statesman the highest honor 
 and will give to him his proudest monument — this con- 
 dition changed. Confidence was restored, courage was 
 inspired, the government started upon a progressive era 
 under a system thoroughly American. 
 
 With a great war on our hands, with an army to enlist 
 and prepare for service, with untold millions of money to 
 supply, the protective tariff never failed us in a single 
 emergency, and while money was flowing into our treas- 
 ury to save the government, industries were springing up 
 all over the land — the foundation and cornerstone of our 
 prosperity and glory. With a debt of over $2, 750,000,- 
 000 when the war terminated, holding on to our protec- 
 tive laws, against Democratic opposition, we have reduced 
 that debt at an average rate of more than $62,000,000 
 each year, $174,000 every twenty-four hours for the last 
 twenty-five years, and what looked like a burden almost 
 impossible to bear has been removed under the Republi- 
 can fiscal system, until now it is less than $1,000,000,000, 
 and with the payment of this vast sum of money the Na- 
 
THE M'KINLEY TARIFF LAW. 
 
 291 
 
 tion has not been impoverished, the individual citizen 
 has not been burdened or bankrupted, National and indi- 
 vidual prosperity have gone steadily on, until our wealth 
 is so great as to be almost incomprehensible when put 
 into figures. 
 
 The accumulations of the laborers of the country have in- 
 creased, and the w^orking classes of no nation in the world 
 have such splendid deposits in savings banks as the work- 
 ing classes of the United States. Listen to their story : 
 The deposits of all the savings banks of New England in 
 1886 equaled $554,532,434. The deposits in the savings 
 banks of New York in 1886 were $482,686,730. The 
 deposits in the savings banks of Massachusetts for the 
 year 1887 were $302,948,624, and the number of deposi- 
 tors was 944,778, or $320.67 for each depositor. The 
 savings banks of nine States have in nineteen years ih- 
 creased their deposits $628,000,000. The English savings 
 banks have in thirty-four years increased theirs $350,- 
 000,000. Our operative deposits $7 to the English ope- 
 rative's $1. These vast sums represent the savings of the 
 men whose labor has been employed under the protec- 
 tive policy which gives, as experience has shown, the 
 largest possible reward to labor. 
 
 There is no one thing standing alone that so surely 
 tests the wisdom of a national financial policy as the 
 national credit, what it costs to maintain it, and the 
 burden it imposes upon the citizen. It is a fact, which 
 every American should contemplate with pride, that the 
 public debt of the United States, per capita, is less than 
 that of any other great nation of the world. Let me 
 call the roll : France's public debt per capita is $218.27 '> 
 Great Britain, $100.09; Italy, $74.25; Spain, $73.34; 
 Belgium, $72.18; Germany, $43.10; Russia, $35.41 ; 
 
292 LIFB OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 United States, $33.92,011 a population of 50,000,000; 
 and now, with our increased population, the per capita 
 is under $25. England increased her rate of taxation 
 between 1870 and 1880 over 24 per cent., while the 
 United States diminished hers nearly 10 per cent. 
 
 We lead all nations in agriculture, we lead all 
 nations in mining and we lead all nations in man- 
 ufacturing. These are the trophies which we bring 
 after twenty-nine years of a protective tariif . Can any 
 other system furnish such evidences of prosperity ? Yet 
 in the presence of such a showing of progress, there are 
 men who talk about "the restraints we put upon trade," 
 and "the burdens we put upon the enterprise and energy 
 of the people." There is no country in the world where 
 individual enterprise has such wide and varied range, 
 and w^here the inventive genius of man has given such 
 encouragement as in the United States. There is no 
 nation in the world, under any system, where the same 
 reward is given to the labor of men's hands and the 
 work of their brains as in the United States. We have 
 widened the sphere of human endeavor, and given to 
 every man a fair chance in the race of life and in the at- 
 tainment of the highest possibilities of human destiny. 
 To reverse this system means to stop the progress of the 
 Republic and reduce the masses to small rewards for 
 their labor, to longer hours and less pay, to the simple 
 question of bread and butter. It means to turn them 
 from ambition, courage and hope, to dependence, degra- 
 dation and despair. No sane man will give up what he 
 has, what he is in full possession of, what he can count 
 on for himself and children, for what is promised by your 
 theories. 
 
 Free trade, or as you are pleased to call it, "revenue 
 
THE M'KINLEY TARIFF LAW. 
 
 293 
 
 tariff," means the opening up of this market, which is 
 admitted to be the best in the world, to the free entry of 
 the products of the world. It means more — it means 
 that the labor of this country is to be remitted to its 
 earlier condition, and that the condition of our people is 
 to be leveled down to the condition of rival countries, 
 because under it every element of cost, every item of 
 production, including wages, must be brought down to 
 the level of the lowest paid labor of the world. No 
 other result can follow, and no other result is anticipated 
 or expected by those who intelligently advocate a revenue 
 tariff. We cannot maintain ourselves against unequal 
 conditions without the tariff, and no man of affairs 
 believes we can. Under the system of unrestricted trade 
 which you gentlemen recommend, we will have to reduce 
 every element of cost down to or below that of our com- 
 mercial rivals, or surrender to them our own market. 
 No one will dispute that statement ; and to go into the 
 domestic market of our rivals would mean that produc- 
 tion here must be so reduced that with transportation 
 added we could undersell them in their own market ; and 
 to meet them in neutral markets and divide the trade 
 with them would mean that we could profitably sell side 
 by side with them at their minimum price. 
 
 First, then, to retain our own market under the Demo- 
 cratic system of raising revenue, by removing all protec- 
 tion, would require our producers to sell at as low a price 
 and upon as favorable terms as- our foreign competitors. 
 How could that be done ? In one way only — by produc- 
 ing as cheaply as those who would seek our markets. 
 What would that entail? An entire revolution in the 
 methods and conduct of business here, a leveling down 
 through every channel to the lowest line of our competi- 
 
294 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 tors, our habits of living would have to be changed, our 
 wages cut down fifty per cent, or more, our comfortable 
 homes exchanged for hovels, our independence yielded 
 up, our citizenship demoralized. These are conditions 
 inseparable to free trade ; these would be necessary, if 
 we would command our own market among our own 
 people ; and if we would invade the world's markets, 
 harsher conditions and greater sacrifices would be de- 
 manded of the masses. Talk about depression — we 
 would then have it in its fulness. We would revel in 
 unrestrained trade. Everything would indeed be cheap, 
 but how costly when measured by the degradation which 
 would ensue ! When merchandise is the cheapest, men 
 are the poorest ; and the most distressing experiences in 
 the history of our country — aye, in all human history — 
 have been when everything was the lowest and cheapest 
 measured by gold, for everything wak the highest and 
 the dearest measured by labor. We have no wish to 
 adopt the conditions of other nations. 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 9ur 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 devel 
 opment 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 per- 
 manency of our political system depend. 
 
 Thus was the tariff of 1890 ushered Into existence. 
 
THE M'KINLEY TARIFF LAW. 
 
 ^9S 
 
 What followed must be left for another chapter. 
 That all which McKinley said in this peroration has 
 come true, every intelligent citizen of the Republic 
 who has watched the drift during the last five years 
 knows full well. The bill passed Congress and 
 became a law. It was attacked by theory, ignorance 
 and prejudice, and for the moment, perhaps, it 
 seemed to those whose protective principles were not 
 firm, a too radical measure. Then the prosperity 
 which McKinley predicted dawned, only to disap- 
 pear in 1892, when the Democratic victory spread its 
 blighting effects over the industrial regions of the 
 country. Then followed two years of panic and dis- 
 tress, which, as we shall see, was only lifted from 
 our prostrated business when the principles so elo- 
 quently set forth in the above address were again 
 victorious in 1894. 
 
CHAPTEI^ XXIV. 
 
 ITS EFFECTS— PROSPERITY. 
 
 The Fall Election of 1890 Construed Into Disapproval of 
 the McKinley Law — McKinley Stands Firmly by His 
 Guns — He Declared It a Cross Current, a Chop Sea — 
 Condition of the Country in 1892 — New Industries 
 Started — Old Industries Revived — The Law Proves 
 a Wide-spread Blessing — Wages Increase — Result of 
 Thirty Years of Protection. 
 
 THE McKinley bill became a law so late in the 
 fall of 1890 that it was impossible to explain it 
 fully to the voters before the Congressional elections 
 of that year. It was attacked vigorously by the 
 opposing party, and as it was impossible in the time 
 to explode all the falsehoods and answer with facts 
 the assumptions and assertions, a temporary reaction 
 followed. The fall elections went against the Repub- 
 licans and a Democratic House was returned. As 
 the bill was only in force a few months before the 
 election, it was impossible to show its workings. 
 Though attacked on all sides, McKinley stood firmly 
 by his guns, and never for one instant indicated a 
 doubt as to the wisdom of the measure or the ultimate 
 verdict of the people. 
 
 From this defeat, as in the defeat of 1892, he arose 
 courageous, steadfast and hopeful. "My friends, be 
 
ITS EFFECTS PROSPERITY. 297 
 
 firm. This is only a cross current, a chop sea ; the 
 tide of truth flows surely on beneath." These words 
 the writer heard him say when, in the spring of 1891 , 
 we journeyed together from Washington to Toledo 
 to speak at the Lincoln birthday banquet of that 
 year. Others mig^ht change, others might doubt, 
 others might modify their views, but he stood firm 
 for a protective tariff — for the American against the 
 foreign producer. That was sound doctrine and as 
 lasting as the hills. 
 
 Within two years after the passage of the McKin- 
 ley tariff bill, the weight of the facts was over- 
 whelmingly in favor of the protection accorded 
 American industry and labor under that law. The 
 benefits derived from the McKinley law were 
 undoubtedly real and in their immediate effect far in 
 excess of the anticipations of the friends of the meas- 
 ure. The free-traders, who during the campaign of 
 1890 had made such remarkable assertions about the 
 McKinley tariff, two years later found it difficult to 
 deny that new industries were being started, that old 
 industries had been revived, that commerce had been 
 increased rather than decreased, that prices of com- 
 modities came down while wages showed a decided 
 upward tendency. More than this, it will be noted, 
 McKinley himself did not promise. 
 
 In this chapter it will be the endeavor to touch 
 upon some of the important results that were directly 
 traceable to the McKinley tariff law. In the first 
 place, the greatest and most direct boon of the 
 McKinley act was putting sugar on the free list. 
 
298 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 The decrease in price of this article of general con- 
 sumption in itself was a widespread blessing. 
 "Cheap sugar for the farmer and workingman " 
 would win a Presidential election in most republics, 
 and elect by a large majority the fortunate advo- 
 cates. With the multitude of blessings which fol- 
 lowed in quick succession the passage of the tariff 
 bill of 1891, this important feature, with other exten- 
 sions of the free list, was apparently overlooked. 
 Not only was cheap sugar a blessing to every house- 
 keeper of limited means throughout the country, but 
 it at once gave an impetus to the jam and preserve 
 business in New York and other States, and would 
 ultimately have established on this side of the Atlantic 
 an industry worth several millions of dollars if it had 
 not been for the repeal of the bill. 
 
 The sugar producer was not destroyed nor wiped 
 out. He was producing less than ten per cent of the 
 sugar consumed. It was cheaper to give him a 
 bounty, for with improved methods there is still hope 
 for an American beet-sugar industry. If firmly 
 established, such an industry might be worth $200,- 
 000,000 per annum to our farmers. It would be 
 unwise to absolutely abandon such possibilities. 
 
 Free-traders frequently ask the question: " If a 
 protective tariff decreases the cost of commodities, 
 what good is it ? " The object of a tariff is not to 
 increase the cost of commodities, but to encourage 
 their manufacture this side of the Atlantic instead 
 of the other side. As will be presently shown, 
 foreigners^ unable to imoort their commodities, were 
 
ITS EFFECTS PROSPERITY, 299 
 
 compelled to move their factories to this country 
 where, after a short time, they produced goods as 
 cheap and even cheaper than before the increase 
 of duty. But they do it with American labor. 
 
 This was the case in Germany after their tariff act 
 of 1878. English firms, unable to import their 
 woolen goods into Germany, sent the junior members 
 of their firms to the fatherland and built up the 
 manufacturing towns along the Rhine. As the cost 
 of labor was about the same in Germany as in 
 England, the Germans were soon getting their cloths 
 as cheap and even cheaper than before. The only 
 difference was that German labor instead of English 
 labor was employed in its manufacture. 
 
 The claim that a tariff increases the cost of all 
 articles, whether imported or not, is too silly for a 
 moment's consideration in the light of recent investi- 
 gations. No man of any statistical reputation would 
 for a moment undertake to sustain such an assump- 
 tion. The facts are all against him. The following 
 table, which was carefully prepared in 1892 for this 
 particular purpose and based on official data, not only 
 shows the tendency of prices for nearly a generation 
 of protection, but it likewise proves how utterly false 
 were the statements that the McKinley law indis- 
 criminately raised prices : 
 
300 
 
 LIFE OP WILLIAM m'kIXLEY. 
 
 TENDENCY OF PRICES UNDER PROTECTION : 
 
 ARTICLES. 
 
 1857. 
 
 OCT., 
 
 1889. 
 
 OCT., 
 
 1890. 
 
 SEPT., 
 
 1891. 
 
 Ax 
 
 Binding twine, pound 
 
 Blankets, pair 
 
 Blue shirting, yard 
 
 Boots 
 
 Calico, yard 
 
 Carpets, yard 
 
 Cotton gloves 
 
 Cotton hosiery 
 
 Cotton knit goods 
 
 Cotton thread, spool 
 
 Crowbar, pound 
 
 Drawing chains, pair 
 
 File 
 
 Fork, three-tined 
 
 Flannel, yard 
 
 Fruit cans, per dozen 
 
 Gingham, yard 
 
 Hand saw 
 
 Hoe 
 
 Hemp rope, pound 
 
 Linen, yard 
 
 Mowing machine 
 
 Nails, wire, pound 
 
 Nails, iron, pound 
 
 Oil cloth, yard 
 
 Overalls 
 
 Pearl button, dozen 
 
 ■Pins, paper 
 
 Plow 
 
 Rake, horse 
 
 Rake, hand 
 
 Reaper and binder 
 
 Rubber boots 
 
 Salt, barrel 
 
 Shoes ; 
 
 Sheeting, yard 
 
 Shovel 
 
 Spade 
 
 Starch, pound 
 
 Straw hat, good 
 
 Straw- hat, common 
 
 Sugar, pound, granulated.. 
 
 Sugar, pound, brown : 
 
 Sugar bowl 
 
 Scythe 
 
 Tin dipper 
 
 Tin milk pail 
 
 Tin milk pan 
 
 Ticking, yard 
 
 Wagon 
 
 "Washboard 
 
 Wash tub 
 
 Wheelbarrow 
 
 Wooden pails 
 
 Woolen clothing 
 
 49 
 
 121 
 
 SSMi 
 
 17% 
 
 76 
 
 141/2 
 
 30% 
 
 34% 
 
 47 
 
 98 
 
 9 1-5 
 llVs 
 28% 
 43 
 9911 
 70' 
 00 
 22% 
 43% 
 85 
 21 
 83 
 15 
 
 247 
 4 
 2 
 5 
 
 24 
 
 8% 
 85 
 20% 
 22% 
 llVa 
 12y3 
 25 
 61% 
 85 
 83y3 
 30 
 84 
 12?i 
 47 
 44.1/3 
 13% 
 75 
 44 
 J 9% 
 16% 
 61 
 22 
 25 
 75% 
 37% 
 35% 
 00 
 41 
 20 
 23 
 44. 
 00 
 
 $0 95 
 14% 
 
 4 23 
 11% 
 
 5 27 
 
 7V8 
 77% 
 24% 
 25% 
 52% 
 
 5 
 
 7% 
 71% 
 27% 
 56% 
 39% 
 72 
 10% 
 162% 
 48% 
 14 
 48% 
 56 98 
 
 5 
 
 3% 
 38 
 
 11% 
 6% 
 14 37% 
 22 56% 
 34 
 142 36 
 3 10% 
 175 
 3 45 
 8 
 97% 
 
 1 28 
 31 
 9% 
 8% 
 38% 
 85% 
 12% 
 46% 
 18% 
 20 
 95 00 
 24% 
 70% 
 1 65 
 24% 
 16 75 
 
 $0 92 
 14% 
 4 09% 
 
 11 
 3 97 
 6% 
 72% 
 22% 
 25% 
 46% 
 4% 
 6% 
 65% 
 24 
 52% 
 37% 
 65 
 10% 
 1 53 
 43 
 14% 
 47 
 52 60 
 4% 
 3% 
 35% 
 79% 
 11% 
 6% 
 
 13 93% 
 21 24% 
 
 30 
 129 85 
 3 00 
 1 65 
 3 15 
 7% 
 93% 
 954i 
 9% 
 1 25 
 28 
 
 1^* 
 37% 
 74% 
 11% 
 43% 
 17% 
 18% 
 90 00 
 24 
 65 
 1 60 
 22 
 
 14 50 
 
 $0 88 
 
 11 
 
 3 70 
 
 9% 
 2 78% 
 6 
 6'5% 
 19% 
 20% 
 41% 
 4^ 
 6% 
 58% 
 20% 
 46% 
 34% 
 54% 
 8% 
 139 
 37% 
 11% 
 42% 
 47 10 
 3% 
 3 
 31 
 70% 
 13% 
 5% 
 12 90 
 19 40% 
 26% 
 115 96 
 
 2 73% 
 1 38 
 
 3 06 
 
 6% 
 80% 
 84 
 
 9% 
 110 
 23% 
 
 5% 
 
 4% 
 32% 
 68% 
 10% 
 39% 
 15% 
 17 
 75 00 
 22% 
 65 
 140 
 20% 
 14 25 
 
ITS EFFECTS PROSPERITY. 30I 
 
 It was admitted by a non-partisan report of a com- 
 mittee of the United States Senate, that, under the 
 two years of the McKmley bill, prices of commod- 
 ities were reduced and that wages slightly increased. 
 In fact, all the statistical evidence that could be mar- 
 shaled in 1892 pointed silently but strongly to the 
 fact that the McKinley law had not resulted in giving 
 the farmer lower prices for his produce, and it also 
 exhibited the falsity of the prediction that the prices 
 of all manufactures would be higher under the Mc- 
 Kinley law. So much for prices. 
 
 To what extent did this law establish new indus- 
 tries? If newspaper reports made at the time may 
 be relied upon. New York, New Jersey and Connec- 
 ticut in 1892 were greatly benefited by the starting of 
 new and the revival of defunct industries. In the 
 matter of tin plate, the advantages extended still fur- 
 ther and have been treated of in a previous chapter. 
 Next in importance to the tin-plate industry, which 
 represents many millions in wages annually, comes 
 the manufacture of cotton ties, which the McKinley 
 law transferred bodily to this country. The Demo- 
 cratic tariff law of 1894, however, wiped it out com- 
 pletely by the most outrageous sectional legislation 
 known in years. Under the mistaken notion of help- 
 ing the cotton-raiser of the South, the Wilson tariff 
 bill destroyed the cotton-tie industry by putting cot- 
 ton ties on the free list. In 1892, under the McKin- 
 ley law, when the subject was investigated, many 
 works were found engaged in making ties which 
 could not make them with safety before the new 
 
302 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 duties were imposed. They afforded occupation to 
 thousands of hands, who realized their advantages 
 when they drew weekly wages about double those 
 paid in any other country for the same work. 
 
 It was claimed that the McKinley bill increased 
 the duty on coarse wool, and hence the price of car- 
 pets would go up and the industry be crippled. Noth- 
 ing of the sort happened. Carpets were even 
 cheaper in 1892 than in 1890 — an average of about 
 ten per cent. The development of this industry is 
 one of the marvels of the protective system. After 
 the passage of the McKinley law, and until the elec- 
 tion of a Democratic President, every carpet factory 
 was in full operation and new mills for making the 
 finest quality of goods were under construction, and 
 would have been built had the Republicans carried 
 the election. Carpets which once sold for $3 a yard, 
 in 1892 brought 62^ cents. So there was nothing 
 the matter with the carpet industry. 
 
 The manufacture of lace curtains was another 
 industry which McKinley went gunning for, and, 
 what is more to the point, he bagged the game. 
 Here is the story as written by a correspondent who 
 visited Patchogue, New York, in 1892 : 
 
 There is a notable example in this village of an 
 ' ' infant industry ' ' which has been created and pro- 
 tected in its growth by the McKinley act. The 
 manufacture of cotton lace curtains has given em- 
 ployment here to 200 hands, who might otherwise 
 have been idle. The industry pays out in wages 
 to these hands the sum of $1,500 weekly, or $78,000 
 
ITS EFFECTS PROSPERITY. 303 
 
 yearly. Its establishment has been a decided gain for 
 the town, and it has not entailed any burdens upon 
 the great body of consumers outside. The price of 
 cotton lace curtains is as low this year as it was in 
 1890, when the McKinley act was passed. So far 
 as the villagers can reason about the matter, there- 
 fore, the tariff on lace curtains is not a tax on the 
 consumer, while it has given employment to their 
 working population and increased the business of 
 Patchogue. 
 
 When the industry is established elsewhere it will 
 create competition from other Anaerican lace-curtain 
 manufacturers, and speedily it will force down the 
 price of goods far below the figures for which they 
 were selling in 1890, when the additional duty was 
 imposed. 
 
 In 1882, the writer" was in Nottingham, England, 
 the center of the trade. The hands in the great 
 machine-made lace factories were found among the 
 most prosperous and well paid of English operatives. 
 The reason given for this was that Nottingham almost 
 monopolized this line of trade. They were confi- 
 dent then it could not successfully be transplanted. 
 But the McKinley law did it. This industry is one 
 of the nicest of all the textile industries and calls for 
 an intelligent class of operatives. 
 
 Hear what the lace-curtain man said : 
 
 If the McKinley law had not been passed, I feel 
 certain that there would not have been a lace or 
 lace-curtain factory or mill in this country. I have 
 looked over the situation thoroughly and I know 
 
304 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'kINLEY. 
 
 OiA&RAM Showing the tNCRCASe <N 
 Population, AsfiicuLTuRC, Manufactures ^,FRor4 tSteTolBqo. 
 
 OCCUPMTIOM* 
 Afil 
 
 JBiCUuTUAfc 
 Immovto /kMjM» 
 
 CtHBHL RfOOUCTlOMS 
 VfltVt Of fjlllMt 
 
 Vfitu* «fC/vt Srocit 
 
 Manupacturcbi 
 
 Exports. ooMtsTic 
 
 Munufacruitli 
 Mines FontiTs Stc, 
 
 CiRCUkOTioN o» Moirf 
 Afseseeo ViSLUPTioN 
 
 Railroads 
 
 <MlLCfi»» 
 
 fisscT9 
 
 <IM6H« lOOPMCim. 
 
ITS EFFECTS PROSPERITY. 305 
 
 the truth of what I say. The United States is the 
 greatest market in the world for lace, and it stands 
 to reason that lace articles should be made here. 
 
 The. McKinley magnet also attracted a large 
 Huddersfield plush manufactory. Like machine-made 
 lace, plush can be made in the United States, and 
 made as cheaply and as good as anywhere on earth. 
 This firm did nearly $1,000,000 worth of business 
 with the United States, and it simply moved nearer 
 the market. Here is the plush story, as told by Mr. 
 Lister, the head of the concern which moved here in 
 consequence of the passage of the McKinley bill : 
 
 When the McKinley bill became law our business 
 was paralyzed. Orders from the country were can- 
 celed and 90 per cent of our trade was with the 
 United States. The value of our stock went down 
 and down until the stuff was hardly worth any 
 thmg. Tussah silk, which had sold for 80 cents 
 per pound, dropped to 16 cents within twelve months, 
 and the manufactured tussah articles declined in pro- 
 portion, and silk products were a large factor in our 
 business. The result of this depreciation was a loss 
 to our concern exceeding half a million dollars, with 
 worse prospects at the beginning of the second year 
 than when the McKinley law was passed. We con- 
 tmued business, though at a loss, hoping that the bill 
 would be repealed and that we could again control 
 the American market. The showing of the second 
 balance sheet was so much worse than that of the 
 first that father and I at once decided to try the United 
 
3o6 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Stales. In this way we established an industry 
 which will employ 1,200 persons. 
 
 " The poor boy's jack-knife " would have been the 
 cry, but the boy not being a voter it was the. "poor 
 man's cutlery." The attempt was made to prove 
 that a tax of 117 per cent had been levied upon 
 pocket knives which had been selling for 18 cents a 
 dozen, or li cents a piece. There was even more 
 class legislation in razors than in knives, the poor 
 man being taxed 1 70 per cent and the rich man only 
 56 per cent. The effect of the new law was not to 
 raise the price, but to prevent the importation of 
 fraudulent knives with American trade marks. 
 Wages in this business increased from 50 to-25 per 
 cent., according to a letter published in 1892 from 
 Meriden, the center of the industry. 
 
 There are other instances, but only one more will 
 be recalled, for these details may weary the reader. 
 Pearl buttons! Before the McKinley bill, 11 ; in 
 1892, nearly 80 manufactories. The number of 
 persons employed prior to 1890 was between 200 
 and 400, and the wages paid were from $9 to $12 a 
 week ; but it must be understood that none of these 
 persons worked more than three, or at the most, 
 four days a week. The amount of production then 
 was not more than $500,000 a year. The amount 
 of capital invested was very limited prior to 1890. 
 In the seventy-five or eighty pearl button factories in 
 operation in 1892 there were about four thousand 
 persons employed, certainly not less, and the number 
 piobably exceeded that figure. The wages paid 
 
ITS EFFECTS PROSPERITY. 307 
 
 were from $15 .to $24 a week, according to skill. 
 There was plenty of work for all employed, and the 
 capital invested was considerably over $1,000,000, 
 while the production of the manufacturers at that 
 time amounted in the aggregate to between $6,000,- 
 000 and $7,000,000. 
 
 To show the prosperous condition of the country at 
 this time, the table and diagram have been presented 
 on pages 296 and 300. They show the growth 
 of the country during thirty years of a protective 
 tariff, while the facts already given indicate that the 
 McKinley bill, far from injuring this prosperity, gave 
 to manufacturing, commerce and agriculture a good 
 start on the last decade of the century. So far as 
 examined, the signs were all good until the Demo- 
 cratic success in the fall of 1892 put an end to pros- 
 perity. A glance at the table and diagram shows a 
 great and satisfactory progress under thirty years of 
 a protective tariff, that is, from i860 to 1890, while 
 all the facts point to a continuation and even increase 
 of that prosperity for the two years immediately fol- 
 lowing the passage of the McKinley law. Such is 
 the case for the McKinley Tariff law. 
 
i 
 e 
 
 ^ 
 
 « ■ 
 
 Si 
 
 pa oo 
 
 Ph 
 
 O g 
 
 ai "J 
 
 < ^ 
 
 >- i 
 
 S 
 
 B 
 w 
 
 B 
 
 o 
 
 o a 
 
 a s 
 
 M O 
 
 o o 
 
 "art 
 o o 
 
 ■*03 
 
 c o 
 
 oo 
 aid 
 to 00 
 HH 
 
 MOO 
 
 O O 
 
 fl I I 
 
 hOOOO 
 
 
 o 
 
 05 
 
 tj CO 
 P.y 
 
 oo 
 
 00 00 
 
 ■d fl 
 
 o! dc-M n a 
 
 /-K !T V fl u V 
 Si , ^1 '^ I- u< 
 
 W 1^ rtj 1^ ni ai 
 
 ■J nj O N M N 
 rt^ H 01 tH H 
 • . i> 4) flj 4j 
 Pi^ w en w CO 
 
 A ra O ri Cd d 
 
 O Q U U U U 
 
 s 
 
 
 CO 
 
 rilS 
 
 K5 
 
 ■*ffl 
 
 c* 
 
 o 
 
 rtrt 
 
 m 
 
 »» 
 
 
 
 
 OO 
 
 
 noi 
 
 ■* 
 
 00 00 
 
 MOl 
 
 mm 
 co" 
 
 (OS 
 
 00 00 
 
 JS 1-1 
 
 Q.C. 
 o o 
 p. p. 
 
 V V 
 Pnfc 
 
 01 u u u 
 CO « CO n 
 A d n n 
 
 OJ V <U V 
 
 .9 .9 .9 .9 
 n c n d 
 
 dj u u u 
 
 u u u u 
 
 t* tH ^ l-l 
 
 V U V ii 
 P<p4P.p4 
 
 t-io wo 
 
 ■ u ^-O ... o 
 
 fofjOlOOO 0) 
 
 (©•yaJHOOCOOO H 
 
 O B g'S'"''-!'-' C 
 
 S'- S'^.n c fl ■" 
 
 o'Oflg&g.P. g 
 
 oiOj!t.Sf^s ^. 
 
 iSo s P.E u u a 
 
 ^-oo»u,<oaa 00 
 
 ■*uo'-'0*.°. « 
 
 co3 2-o»»» O 
 
 m-a '^■w -u 
 
 .fl'ao+'-*-'+^ o 
 
 o^^ioooo ■- 
 
 00 •" ja H oj >-■ 00 
 
 H+j 
 
 I. -I 
 
 a§5'2,-S.S.- 
 
 oflgS'p.e.p. 
 
 ■-J " OJ Ui y o o 
 
 « s «; v< > K 
 +j s w. au u o 
 o o-w^ aaa 
 r.j2T3otoinio 
 o a +• o ~ - " 
 • Q. a th w H o 
 
 "olsaaa 
 
 V, o to o 
 u u vh iH V4 ;h 
 Pu-ii BbBB 
 
 oioo 
 
 lOQOO 
 
 ?*coo 
 
 wxo 
 
 OOOrf-OCO 
 OOOOOOM 
 
 o_o_o_«qq 
 
 o'o'co'rt O'CD 
 oo r^CO O to 
 
 C C o_o_o t-^ 
 \n6ao6io 
 
 wo T-l 10 H 
 0C-* i-clO'* 
 
 oo 
 oo 
 oo 
 
 NCOCO 01 
 flJ-^OOM 
 lOt-t-M 
 
 OO 
 
 oo 
 
 OO 
 
 OIHOIH 
 00 01 01 to 
 
 oo 
 oo 
 oo 
 ■*o" 
 
 10 CO 
 
 CO to in t^ 
 
 (0« lO 
 HOO CO 
 
 oo 
 oo 
 oa^ 
 corC 
 »-ei3 
 •*o_ 
 io"io" 
 
 NtO 
 »«■ 
 
 COlOr-ttO 
 01 00 CON 
 
 e)_t-_i-<_c>5 
 tn'^H^ 
 'ii»«ioto 
 
 XtOTH» 
 
 •i — 1-4- 
 
 r-tOcn OOOXt^iHIO t' 
 
 c^to-it eo.-iioo-^H ^^l 
 eooio toNt^OHOi O) 
 
 loto oocoo moo cowcooo M 
 
 HN WMO-* OtO «t-t-t- to 
 
 t-tO O>t-'*00 oo TilOlOOtO N 
 
 COC-JN 0401010QOOJ 
 ■^t'QO -HHCO-^HM 
 -^OC^ 0»WC0OHC0 
 
 lOH OOOO 
 
 toto W-* 
 
 0030 0) 
 
 OtO WOOON 
 
 (OH 'ftoion 
 
 lOtD WlOtOO 
 
 WIOOO NO:'*tOtDO> 
 CO OtD ■*':? 00 
 
 ■*H tqoio_ 
 
 tO^w" 
 
 Olio 
 OtO 
 
 ooo 
 
 ^o> totDin-<« 
 
 WIO HtO-^W 
 
 OH corxe-w- 
 
 •^ 
 
 a 
 
 +» a 
 a fl 
 
 flj "* .. 
 
 ■PC" 
 "Sri " 
 
 ojCOo 
 
 a 
 & 
 a 
 
 las 
 
 §.S.2 
 <332 
 
 Sell's 
 
 ■O •> (0 CQ o 
 4j OJ U 4J 
 
 |2«a5 
 
 : I o^ I- a B.C 
 
 ; i) ^1 c 3 .-H .r. -- 
 
 E " 
 
 Sua aS — « R u c w 
 « ha B s a S.a 5 H s 
 
 evOAiMUT'Oubcaaa 
 0, < 
 
 a 1 
 
 C l> 
 u Hit 
 
 a 
 
 «j 3 I "O 
 ai O 2 O 
 
 a aa-s 
 '.■[.^ -w a 
 
 •3 ^ '' 
 
 as « a SI 5 SIS' S! 
 
 ■d 
 a "^ 
 
 ■d 
 
 1! 
 
 r-d 
 
 iio^ 
 xOa 
 
 •Cff-d 
 
 tSBfi 
 
 a^ cj0t;o-2.S 
 ■ja l'-g^.2'"-ai«. 
 S flii S S s "•a " 
 OS o S F § K u 
 M « So EbSsfc i« 
 
 fl 
 "3 
 
 a 
 
 M 
 u 
 
 S" 
 o£-tJ 
 
 a u 
 
 I s 
 
 i° 
 .Sa 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE "OBJECT LESSON" REVERSED. 
 
 McKinley Confounds False Witnesses by Unimpeach- 
 able Testimony — Good Times and Prosperity — Tri- 
 umph of Protection — Undaunted by the Democratic 
 Victory of 1893 — McKinley Values His Principles No 
 Less in Defeat than in Victory — He Inspires the Party 
 with Renewed Hope at Columbus in 1893. 
 
 McKINLEY himself put the case in even a more 
 emphatic manner before the facts enumerated 
 in the previous chapter were obtainable. Februaiy 
 12, 1 89 1, he spoke at the Lincoln banquet at Toledo, 
 and planted the protection banner more firmly than 
 ever. The defeat of a few months before had not in 
 the least discouraged him. He said : 
 
 We believe the American policy is best adapted to our 
 citizenship and civilization, and this belief is sustained 
 by the highest American authorities from Washington 
 dow^n, and by a hundred years of experience. We know 
 what it has already accomplished for a self-governed 
 people. The world know^s of the wonderful progress 
 we have made. If this policy is to be reversed, it must 
 be done, not by clamor and misrepresentation, not by 
 schoolmen and theorists, not by falsehood and hypocrit- 
 ical solicitude for the poor man, not by exaggerated 
 laudation of the cheap coat, but after the fullest discus 
 
 309 
 
3IO 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 sion and investigation by the sober and intelligent 
 judgment of the majority constitutionally registered. 
 It will never be so reversed while we remain a Nation of 
 political equals. Time and experience have vindicated 
 the great system ; time and truth will vindicate the new 
 law which was founded upon it. False witnesses will 
 be confounded by the unimpeachable testimony of trade 
 and experience. Their poi tents have already been im- 
 peached. False prophecy must fall before good times 
 and abounding prosperity. Campaign prices have 
 already been convicted as campaign lies. New indus- 
 tries are being founded ; others now established are 
 enlarging their capacity. Idle mills are being started. 
 The only menace to our advancement and prosperity, to 
 our wage-earners and farming industries, is the party 
 which is pledged to the repeal of the new law and the 
 substitution of the British system in its place. Free and 
 full discussion will avert the danger. Nothing else will. 
 
 Commenting on the triumph of the McKinley law 
 as illustrated by the facts as they existed in the fall of 
 1 89 1, two years after its enactment, McKinley said 
 in a speech before the Nebraska Chautauqua Asso- 
 ciation, at Beatrice, Nebraska, August 2, 1892: 
 
 Mr. Cleveland, in his r3cent speech in Rhode Island, 
 said : " The consumer has found life harder since the 
 passage of the new tariff law than before." That is not 
 true. The consumer has not found life harder, for the 
 commodities which enter into his daily life are, in a 
 great majority of cases, lower than they were before the 
 new tariff law went into effect. He has had cheaper 
 sugar, cheaper clothing, cheaper boots and shoes, .ind 
 cheaper nails than before. A careful investigation of 
 
THE "OBJECT LESSON REVERSED. 3II 
 
 prices of woolen and cotton goods made in the city of 
 New York, and embracing over two thousand quota- 
 tions of articles for a comparative period under the new 
 and old tariffs (and this was made by an expert who has 
 reported prices for forty years) shows that in about 
 ninety-eight per cent of all these quotations and articles 
 there has been an actual decrease in price since the new 
 tariff went into effect, as compared with the same prices 
 of goods under the old tariff. Furthermore, the old 
 industries have been stimulated and very many new in- 
 dustries started, which are now estimated to have given 
 employment to from 200,000 to 250,000 employes ; and it 
 is a fact well established by reports from all other coun- 
 tries that at this time, while depression and anxiety exist 
 in their industries, there is prosperity in the United 
 States alone. When the tariff has been increased upon 
 a foreign article, and it does not increase the price to the 
 American consumer, how does the American consumer 
 suffer? He gets the commodity at as low a price as he 
 got it under the old tariff, notwithstanding the increase 
 of the tariff ; so he loses nothing, but labor in America 
 gains everything. Take the case of carpets, one of the 
 most marked increases under the new law. We ad- 
 vanced the tariff on wool, which lies at the foundation 
 of the carpet industry, to protect the wool growers of 
 the country. We advanced the tariff on carpets, the 
 finished product, to compensate the manufacturer for the 
 increased duty on wool, and yet to-day the prices are no 
 higher than they were before the enactment of the new 
 law. It is true, prices went up on carpets immedi- 
 ately after the passage of the law, but these prices were 
 speculative rather than real. But to-day there is no line 
 of carpets that you can not buy as cheaply as you could 
 
312 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 prior to October 6, 1892 ; and as to ingrain and other 
 lower grades of carpets, they are even cheaper now than 
 then ; so that the increased protection that we give to the 
 wool grower, and which he required as a defense 
 against ruinous competition from abroad, has cost the 
 American consumer nothing, and to the wool grower 
 and farmer has been a positive benefit. 
 
 They say that a protective tariff shuts us out of a 
 foreign market. I have before me a statement from the 
 Treasury department, corrected July 14, 1892, showing 
 our foreign commerce. The total value of imports and 
 exports of merchandise attained its highest point, 
 amounting to $1,857,726,910, in the last fiscal year, as 
 against $1,729,307,006 during the fiscal year of 1891, an 
 increase of $128,329,904, and an increase of $370,198,- 
 883 over 1889. The excess in value of exports over 
 imports during the last fiscal year was $202,944,342. 
 The value of our imports of merchandise during the 
 last fiscal year amounted to $824,301,284, as against 
 $844,916,193 in 1891, a decrease of $20,614,909. There 
 w^as an increase in our imports of coffee, unmanufactured 
 silk, sugar and molasses, and the decrease was in tin 
 plate, manufactured silk, manufactures oj tobaccos, 
 manufactures of wool, vegetables, fruits and textile 
 grasses. Notwithstanding the cry that under a protec- 
 tive tariff we can not sell abroad if we do not buy 
 abroad, yet during the last fiscal year we sold abroad 
 nearly $203,000,000 more than we bought abroad; 
 $203,000,000 was the excess in our favor which the for- 
 eigners paid to us, and which we have at home circulat- 
 ing among our own people. Dutiable merchandise has 
 decreased under the operation of the new law, as shown 
 by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury. The 
 
THE "OBJECT LESSON " REVERSED. 3I3 
 
 value of merchandise imported upon which duty was 
 paid for the year ending June 30, 1892, was $369,300,- 
 139, while for the preceding year it was $478,674,844, 
 showing a decrease in the value of merchandise paying 
 duty of $109,374,705. 
 
 It will also be observed that, under the operation of 
 the new law, the free list has been increased, while the 
 dutiable list is decreased. The value of free imports for 
 the last year exceeded the value of dutiable imports by 
 $88,000,000. During the last fiscal year the value of 
 imported merchandise free of duty was over $458,000,- 
 000, an increase over the preceding year of $91,759,793. 
 The average ad valorem rate per cent of duty on the 
 aggregate of imports has gradually decreased since the 
 passage of the new tariff law. The average rate per 
 cent for the year ending March 31, 1892, of free and 
 dutiable goods, was 20.65 P^*" cent; in 1891, 28 per 
 cent ; in 1890, 28.92 per cent, and in 1889, 30.69 per 
 cent. The average rate to-day is less than it has been at 
 any time before for thirty years. More than one-half of 
 the value of all our imports is absolutely free. In 1889 
 the percentage of free goods was 34.42 per cent, and in 
 1892, 55.36 per cent. We collected during the last fiscal 
 year $65,810,670 in duties less than the duties collected 
 during the preceding year. So, if " the tariff is a tax," 
 as our adversaries assert, we should at least be credited 
 with having wiped out $65,810,670 of "burdensome 
 taxes" from the people. The value of our exports of 
 merchandise during the fiscal year 1892 was $1,030,335,- 
 626. The value of our exports in 1891 was $884,480,810, 
 an increase of $145,854,816 — a wonderful and marvelous 
 increase of our foreign trade under a tariff law which 
 was to close the foreign market to our products ! Our 
 
3^4 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 exports never before reached that point in any given 
 year in our history. 
 
 Following the defeat of 1892, when the Demo- 
 cratic party was returned to power in all branches of 
 the government, McKinley again took strong and 
 advanced ground in favor of the policy of protection. 
 His speech at Columbus, February 14, 1893, was 
 one of the strongest speeches of his life. Temperate 
 in tone, firm in belief, and patriotic in sentiment, he 
 inspired every one who heard or read it with renewed 
 hope in the apparently defeated cause. He said : 
 
 The Republican party values its principles no less in 
 defeat than in victory. It holds to them after a reverse, 
 as before, because it believes in them ; and believing in 
 them, is ready to battle for them. They are not espoused 
 for mere policy, nor to serve in a single contest. They 
 are set deep and strong in the hearts of the party, and 
 are interwoven with its struggles, its life and its history. 
 Without discouragement, our great party reaffirms its 
 allegiance to Republican doctrine, and with unshaken 
 confidence seeks again the public judgment through 
 public discussion. The defeat of 1892 has not made 
 Republican principles less true nor our faith in their ulti- 
 mate triumph less firm. The party accepts with true 
 American spirit the popular verdict, and, challenging 
 the interpretation put upon it by our political opponents, 
 takes an appeal to the people, whose court is always 
 open and whose right of review is never questioned. 
 
 The Republican party, which made its first appearance 
 in a National contest in 1856, has lost the Presidency but 
 three times in thirty-six years, and only twice since i860. 
 
THE "OBJECT LESSON " REVERSED. 315 
 
 It has carried seven Presidential elections out of ten since 
 its organization. It has more than once witnessed an 
 apparent condemnation of Republican policy swiftly 
 and conclusively reversed by a subsequent and better- 
 considered popular verdict. When defeat has come it 
 has usually followed some measure of public law or 
 policy where sufficient time had not elapsed to demon- 
 strate its wisdom and expediency, and where the oppos- 
 ing party by reason thereof enjoyed the widest range for 
 popular prejudice and exaggerated statement and misrepre- 
 sentation . Of the fitness of the Republican party for public 
 trust, its record for thirty years is its best testimonial. In 
 this particular it is unmatched. It never lacked courage 
 when in power to put into public law its declared pur- 
 poses, and the statutes of the United States register its 
 proudest achievements. For more than a quarter of a 
 century it has made the laws of the country, which have 
 withstood every assault, and in the end have won public 
 approval. We are living under these laws now, and 
 except for the uncertainty hanging over us by reason of 
 the election of 1892, the country is in a most prosperous 
 and assuring condition. Nothing but the result of that 
 election can stand in the w^ay of our continued prosperity. 
 If we could strike from the history of the country all 
 that has been done and accomplished through the agency 
 of the Republican party, what would we have left ? 
 Little to be proud of. Repudiation of the public faith ; 
 a disordered currency ; a bankrupt treasury ; a broken 
 Union, with discordant and warring States ; a dishonored 
 flag ; human slavery with the lash and chains and the 
 auction block, not in the South alone, but in the great 
 free Northwest as well ; a discredited name among the 
 nations of the earth, and the universal verdict that free 
 
3l6 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 government had failed. If, since the war, the Demo- 
 cratic party could have made effective in administration 
 and legislation the declarations of its National platforms, 
 what would we have witnessed? Repudiation of the 
 Constitutional Amendments ! Repudiation of the war 
 debt ! The wildest inflation of irredeemable currency ! 
 The repeal of the Resumption Act ! British free trade 
 and its dire conditions! 
 
 He concluded with these remarkable words : 
 
 As a party we have nothing to recall, and little to re- 
 gret. The past is secure and its glories can not be dimmed. 
 The future will yet commend the latest Republican leg- 
 islation and approve the present Republican adminis- 
 tration. Republican purpose is written in public law. 
 It can be read by all men. The country knows what it 
 has accomplished and is accomplishing. It does not rest 
 in the breath of orators nor in the declaration of campaign 
 platforms. It is an enduring statute. Criticism will no 
 longer avail our political adversaries. Positive enact- 
 ment must be met by positive enactment. Carping at 
 our laws must give way to construction of theirs. A 
 Democratic tariff, law must now stand actual comparison 
 with a Republican tariff law. That is the real test, and 
 it must come, or the Democratic party must stand con- 
 victed by its own confession of obtaining power under 
 false pretenses. We do not fear the contrast. Nay, we 
 invite and welcome it. The business interests, the wage- 
 worker, the agriculturist of the country await with anx- 
 ious solicitude the promised reforms. They should not 
 be delayed. The Republican tariffs -which have been so 
 persistently characterized as artful devices to rob the 
 poor should not be tolerated a single day after the Democ- 
 
THE "object lesson" REVERSED. 317 
 
 racy takes power. Prompt action is the test of good 
 faith and capacity ; procrastination is a sure proof of 
 insincerity and infirmity. Which will it be ? 
 
 In a few days the country passes into the control of the 
 Democratic party, in a condition of matchless prosperity 
 in every department of industry. We do not leave them 
 a legacy of hard times, idle industries, unproductive enter- 
 prises and unemployed labor. We turn over to them a 
 country blessed with unprecedented activity in every ave- 
 nue of human employment, with labor in active demand 
 and better paid than in all our history before ; a govern- 
 ment with unparalleled resources and credit, and with no 
 stain upon its honor. " The year 1893," says Dun's Re- 
 view of Trade, "has been the most prosperous ever known 
 in business." This is the non-partisan testimony of the 
 triumph of the revenue and financial policies of the 
 Republican party. 
 
 This is the business indorsement of thirty years of Re- 
 publican rule. This was a year, too, of "unconstitutional 
 tariffs" and "sham reciprocity." This was the year, 
 according to our adversaries, that the Republican policy 
 was robbing the people. It was in this year, 1892, while 
 in the enjoyment of unexampled prosperity, that the Re- 
 publican legislation which made this condition possible 
 was, as the Democratic leaders would have us believe, 
 repudiated by the people, and the Democratic policy of 
 British free trade and wildcat money endorsed. I do not 
 believe it. If they act upon that belief they will be 
 promptly repudiated by the people. Not only has the 
 year 1892 registered an era of conspicuous progress 
 and unexampled prosperity, but it witnessed a National 
 administration under President Harrison unexcelled in 
 honestv. oower and patriotism by any of its predecessors. 
 
3l8 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Of this rich inheritance the Democratic party becomes 
 the trustee for the people. It is my hope that it may 
 suffer no loss or waste in their hands. I wish the country 
 could be assured it would not. If it does, the trust will 
 come back to us — and it will come back to us with the 
 doubly-renewed confidence of the people. We have but 
 to hold fast, abating nothing of conviction and yielding 
 nothing of our faith in the great docrines which are des- 
 tined to secure victories as signal as any which have gone 
 before. The party of Lincoln — whose anniversary we 
 celebrate to-night — still lives. The party which rallied 
 the young men of the country around the banner of lib- 
 erty and union still carries it, with the glories you have 
 added. Upon it are emblazoned the victories of the past 
 and the great principles which will win victories in the 
 future — equal and impartial suffrage, protection and 
 reciprocity, honest money and National honor. 
 
 Soon after these words were uttered at Columbus, 
 a Democratic President was inaugurated. Before 
 the inauguration, however, the threatened tariff legis- 
 lation began to unsettle values, close mills and fac- 
 tories, reduce wages, and throw hundreds of thou- 
 sands of workingmen out of employment. A Demo- 
 cratic administration came into power pledged to 
 reverse the protective policy of the Government, 
 which, as already shown in preceding chapters, had 
 existed for more than thirty years and resulted in 
 great prosperity to the Nation. Distrust and con- 
 sternation followed in every business circle. No 
 business man knew what to do, for he could not pre- 
 dict what the party in power would do. Business 
 
THE "OBJECT LESSON " REVERSED, 3I9 
 
 collapsed, panic and failures followed. Considerable 
 stress has been laid in preceding chapters on the con- 
 dition of the country in 1892. It will be interesting 
 to contrast a like statement of that condition at the 
 end of 1893, after less than one year of Democratic 
 supremacy. This was described by McKinley him- 
 self in a speech delivered March 29, 1894, at the 
 Exposition Building in Minneapolis : 
 
 Starting with the largest trade ever known, mills 
 crow^ded with work and all business stimulated by high 
 hopes, the year 1893 has proved in sudden shrinkage of 
 trade, in commercial disaster and the depression of indus- 
 tries, the worst for fifty years. Whether the final results 
 of the panic of 1837 were relatively more severe, the 
 scarcity of records of that time do not clearly show. 
 The year closes with prices of many products the lowest 
 ever known, with millions of workers seeking in vain for 
 work, and with charity laboring to keep back suffering 
 and starvation in all our cities. All hope that the new 
 year may bring brighter days, but the dying year leaves 
 only a dismal record. The review of different depart- 
 ments of trade given to-day exhibits a collapse of indus- 
 try and business which is almost without precedent. 
 
 After bringing forward facts to substantiate this 
 great change, and after showing that precisely the 
 same results had followed similar attacks on our 
 industries by the Democratic party, McKinley con- 
 tinued : 
 
 Is history worth nothing ? Are experience and its les- 
 sons to be forgotton ? Are the teachings of the past to 
 Count for naught ? Is the National distress, the business 
 
320 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 depression and "the universal poverty of the people, which 
 have relentlessly follow^ed the enactment of every revenue 
 tariff measure in all our history, to be lost upon us in the 
 calm consideration of this economic subject? Are all 
 these to be discarded in the making up of our verdict? I 
 implore you to study them without bias, for they will 
 steady your judgment in reaching a righteous conclusion. 
 
 This speech was delivered at a time when the Wil- 
 son bill had passed the House, but before it had 
 passed the Senate. Referring to this measure, Mc- 
 Kinley said : 
 
 The Wilson bill is not like any of the early tariff 
 measures, but is one in which the changed condition of 
 the country and its marvellous growth and development 
 are utterly ignored and forgotten. Its promoters forget 
 that slavery no longer exists. They do not recognize nor 
 appreciate the independency and dignity of labor and 
 cannot understand that the protective policy, under 
 which we have had such splendid prosperity, is not to be 
 determined by geographical lines. The bill is a narrow, 
 sectional and provincial measure, unworthy the great 
 party which proposes it and wholly unsuited to the needs 
 of the country. 
 
 After a long wrangle in both Houses of Congress, 
 the Democrats succeeded in passing a tariff law 
 which, while called by some the Wilson bill, can 
 hardly claim this title, because the original bill pre- 
 pared and passed by the House of Representatives, 
 under the direction of Mr. Wilson, was mutilated 
 and vitally changed by the coterie known as the 
 
THE " OBJECT LESSON " REVERSED. 32 1 
 
 Brice-Gorman combination of the Senate. The first 
 utterance of McKinley on the tariff bill after the pas- 
 sage of the measure was an address before the 
 Republicans of Maine, in Bangor, September 8, 
 1894. He opened by saying : 
 
 The Democratic President and the Democratic Con- 
 gress have been running the Government for eighteen 
 months, during which time little else has been running. 
 Industry has been practically stopped. Labor has found 
 little employment, and when employed it has been at 
 greatly reduced wages. Both Government and people 
 have been draining their reserves, and both have been 
 running in debt. The Government has suffered in its 
 revenues, and the people in their incomes. The total 
 losses to the country in business, property and wages are 
 beyond human calculation. There has been no cessation 
 in the waste of wealth and wages ; no contentment, 
 brightness or hope has anywhere appeared. Discontent 
 and distress have been universal. The appeals to charity 
 have never been so numerous and incessant, nor their 
 necessity everywhere so manifest. 
 
 Congress has disappointed the people, trifled with the 
 sacred trust confided to it, excited distrust and disgust 
 among its constituents, and impaired their enterprises 
 and investments. In almost continuous session for 
 thirteen months, it has done nothing but aggravate the 
 situation. Pledged, if platforms mean anything, to over- 
 throw our long-continued policy of protection, it has 
 quarreled and compromised, and upon its own testimony 
 has been compromised. 
 
 The result of the long wrangle is a tariff law with which 
 nobody is satisfied. 
 
322 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 A law which even those who made it apologize for. 
 
 A law which the Chairman of the Committee on Ways 
 and Means and almost the entire Democratic side of the 
 House condemned by a yea and- nay vote only a few 
 days before its passage, affirming their intention in the 
 most solemn manner not to permit it to be enacted. 
 
 A law which was never approved by a majority of 
 either the House Committee on Ways and Means, or the 
 Senate Committee on Finance, who were charged with 
 the preparation and management of the bill. 
 
 A law which all factions of the Democratic party agree 
 is the work of a monstrous trust, which Chairman Wilson 
 confessed amid the applause of his confederates, with 
 deep chagrin and humiliation, "held Congress by the 
 throat." 
 
 A law which never received the deliberate consideration 
 of the Conference Committee, and was not withdrawn 
 by the Senate only because of the forced and hurried 
 action of the House in accepting it, under the threat of 
 the agent of the trust that it was " that or nothing," and 
 in all human probability nothing. 
 
 A law which, since its passage, the majority of the 
 Senators have rushed sw^iftly forward to denounce and 
 condemn, although they are responsible for its passage. 
 
 A law of which the House of Representatives were so 
 thoroughly ashamed that they had no sooner passed it 
 than they made hot haste to seek its immediate amend- 
 ment by passing supplementary bills, which put their 
 tariffed sugar, coal, lead, iron and barbed wire on the 
 free list, under threats of still further similar assaults on 
 the much disturbed and distressed industries of the coun- 
 try, utterly heedless of the stupendous ruin they have 
 already wrought. 
 
THE "OBJECT LESSON REVERSED. 323 
 
 A law which the President condemned before its pas- 
 sage, and from which, when passed, he withheld his 
 approval. 
 
 A law which was characterized before its passage by 
 the greatest leader in the Democratic party, the senior 
 Senator from New York, as " a violation of Democratic 
 pledges and principles," and which was denounced by 
 the official head of the Government as such an act of 
 " party perfidy and party dishonor," that if the House 
 should at last concur in it " they would not dare to look 
 the people of the country in the face," and which the 
 executive still condemns, since their surrender, as the 
 very " communism of pelf." 
 
 Those who believed that the present administration was 
 to settle the tariff question and take it out of the domain 
 of politics and public discussion, have already discovered 
 their fatal mistake, for they find that even those who 
 made the law spurn it as a settlement. It is a settlement 
 where the participants — those who projected and carried 
 it on — boldly declare either that it is a no settlement, or, 
 if anything, a spurious one. 
 
 After eighteen months' useless agitation, not yet con- 
 tent with the vast ruin they have wrought, they are still 
 unwilling to give the business interests of the country any 
 rest or relief, but continue and constantly renew the 
 threat of still other and more hurtful changes in our tariff 
 schedules. 
 
 Even the President himself, in his letter to Congress- 
 man Catchings of Mississippi, says : 
 
 The millions of our countrymen who have fought 
 bravely and well for tariff reform (not excepting this bill) 
 sjiould be exhorted to continue the struggle, boldly chal- 
 lenging to open warfare, and constantly guarding against 
 treachery and half-heartedness in their camp. 
 
324 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 And who, while he permitted the bill to become a law, 
 lacking the moral courage to veto it, yet boastingly 
 announces : 
 
 I take my place with the rank and file of the Demo- 
 cratic party who believe in tariff reform and who know 
 what it is ; w^ho refuse to accept the results embodied in 
 this bill as the close of the war ; who are not blinded by 
 the fact that the livery of Democratic tariff reform has 
 been stolen and worn in the service of Republican pro- 
 tection ; and who have marked the places w^here the 
 deadly blight of treason has blasted the councils of the 
 brave in their hour of might. 
 
 Strong and sanguinary words these, and new to Mr. 
 Cleveland's vocabulary, " treason," " and the close of the 
 war." War for and against what ? War against the best 
 and the highest interests of the people of the United 
 States, whose chief executive he is. War against our 
 industrial independence and business prosperity. How 
 bravely he sounds the note of battle ! How confidently 
 he again calls to arms every enemy to our industrial sys- 
 tem, and challenges to open w^arfare the friends of Amer- 
 ican prosperity and American labor. 
 
 These w^ords were the key note of that wonderful 
 campaign, described elsewhere, which McKinley 
 opened at this time, and which only closed in the 
 following November with the most sweeping victory 
 for the Republican party and protection ever 
 recorded. This victory was conceded on all sides to 
 be largely due to the courageous efforts of McKinley. 
 
 One of the first of McKinley' s speeches in 1895, 
 following the victory of 1894, was that before the 
 Michigan Club, at Detroit, February 22, 1895, in 
 
THE "OBJECT LESSON" REVERSED. 335 
 
 which he referred to the victory of 1894 in the fol- 
 lowing way : 
 
 I have not met with the RepubHcans of Michigan since 
 the great victory of 1894 — the great National victory — 
 and I bring to you my congratulations upon the proud 
 part you bore in that great conflict, resulting so triumph- 
 antly for Republican principles, and, as I believe, for the 
 best interests of the whole country. I cannot believe 
 that our principles are less dear to us in their triumph 
 than they were in their temporary defeat. I cannot 
 believe that the principles which won a most unprece- 
 dented victory from ocean to ocean, require now either 
 modification or abandonment. They are dearer and 
 closer to the American heart than they have ever been 
 in the past, and notwithstanding the magnificent victory 
 of 1894, and notwithstanding these great principles are 
 cherished in the hearts of the American people, there is 
 still a greater and more significant battle to be fought in 
 the near future, before we w^ill realize these principles in 
 administration and legislation. 
 
 While, in the situation of the country, there is no 
 cause for congratulation, this is not the time to employ 
 terms of distrust or aggravation. Times are bad enough, 
 and the voice of encouragement is more appropriate than 
 that of alarm and exaggeration. The realities are quite 
 ugly enough, and it is the duty of each of us, by word 
 and act, in so far as it can be done, to improve the pres- 
 ent condition. But above all we must not disparage our 
 Government. We must uphold it, and uphold it at all 
 times and under all circumstances, notwithstanding we 
 may not be able to support the measures and policies of 
 the present administration. 
 
326 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 In the above utterance McKinley's patriotism rises 
 above his partisanship. In concluding the speech, 
 he said : 
 
 Home prosperity is the only key to an easy treasury 
 and a high credit. The Republican party never lowered 
 the flag or the credit of the Government, but has exalted 
 both. I agree with the President, in his recent message, 
 that a predicament confronts us. . When I was here six 
 years ago, reading from his message, it was a condition 
 that confronted us, and that condition was an overflowing 
 treasury, made so by Republican legislation. Now I 
 come back to you, and it is a predicament that confronts 
 the people of the United States, because of a deficiency 
 created by the legislation of a Democratic Congress and 
 administration. 
 
 I am sure, however, that there is wisdom and patriotism 
 ample enough in the country to relieve ourselves from 
 that or any other predicament, and to place us once more 
 at the head of the nations of the world in credit, pro- 
 duction and prosperity. The Republican party needs 
 but to adhere faithfully to its principles — to the principles 
 enunciated by its great National Conventions, which 
 guided the Republic for a third of a century in safety 
 and honor, which gave the country an adequate revenue, 
 and while doing that, labor received comfortable wages, 
 and steady employment ; which guarded every American 
 interest at home and abroad with zealous care, principles, 
 the application of which made us a Nation of homes, of 
 independent, prosperous freemen, where all had a fair 
 chance and an equal opportunity in the race for life. 
 You do not have to guess what the Republican party 
 will do. The whole world knows its purposes. It has 
 
THE "object lesson" REVERSED. 327 
 
 embodied them in law, and executed them in administra- 
 tion. It has bravely met every emergency, and has ever 
 measured up to every new duty. It is dedicated to the 
 people ; it stands for the United States. It practices 
 what it preaches, and fearlessly enforces what it teaches. 
 Its simple code is home and country. Its central idea is 
 the well-being of the people, and all the people. It has 
 no aim which does not take into account the honor of 
 the Government and the material advancement and hap- 
 piness of the American people. The Republican party 
 is neither an apology nor a reminiscence. It is proud of 
 its past and it sees greater and greater usefulness in the 
 future. 
 
 Not resting on laurels won in 1894, McKinley was 
 again active in the State campaign of 1895, and 
 made several notable speeches, which resulted in the 
 election of General Asa S. Bushnell Governor of 
 Ohio by a plurality of 92,000. The last speech, 
 November 2, 1895, preceding the election, at Cleve- 
 land, Ohio, he closed with the following stirring 
 appeal : 
 
 They say prosperity has come. Well, we have got 
 more prosperity this year than we had last, because we 
 had none at all last year. They say that wages are bet- 
 ter this year than they were last, but we had little or no 
 wages last year, and we did not have any prosperity in 
 this country until after the elections of 1894. When the 
 people of this country from ocean to ocean rose in their 
 might and in their majesty as one man and voted in a 
 Republican House, that was the first rift in the clouds. 
 That was the first star in the business man's constella 
 
328 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 tion. Then, with the feeling that for two years the 
 Democratic party could not injure his enterprises, the 
 business man commenced to do business the best he 
 could, making his own advancement, and whatever 
 prosperity we have got now we have got because of 
 that victory and in spite of the Democratic party. 
 
 And noiv you are ready to vote. The people of this 
 country everywhere are ready to vote, for they are sick 
 and tired of this tariif tinkering and the increased bond- 
 issuing, pension-cutting, queen-restoring Democratic 
 administration. 
 
 In less than five years we find the apparent defeats 
 of 1890 and 1892 turned into the most sweeping and 
 tremendous victories for the principles of protection 
 ever recorded in American history. The Republi- 
 can victories of 1895 v/ere even more decisive than 
 those of 1894, for in the former, New Jersey, Mary- 
 land and Kentucky caae into the Republican line. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 VIEWS ON LABOR ISSUES. 
 
 In Favor of Arbitration — Short Hours Improve the Stam- 
 ina of the People — The Living Wage — An Advocate 
 of the Eight-Hour Lavi^ — Rights and Dignity of Labor 
 Triumphant in the United States — Liberty and Labor 
 — Patriotic Address at Chicago to Workingmen on 
 July 4, 1895. 
 
 IN all matters appertaining to labor in the United 
 States, McKinley is one of the closest students. 
 His experience in connection with tariff matters has 
 qualified him in a marked degree for the still broader 
 study of the labor question, not only as it presents 
 itself in matters of legislation, but in the social eco- 
 nomics of the times. Few men know the history of 
 labor during the past century in all parts of the world 
 as well as he does. Few men have made a closer 
 study of labor engaged in manufactures in all parts 
 of the world. No American statesman is to-day so 
 well qualified, by reason of careful study, sound 
 judgment, and intuition as to the higher aims and 
 ambitions of wage earners, to arbitrate fairly in a 
 great labor conflict. Ten years ago, in a speech on 
 labor arbitration, he said : 
 
 There is a sense of fair play among the people which, 
 when crystallized into public judgment, is as potent — aye, 
 
 329 
 
330 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 more potent — than statute or judicial decree. No rail- 
 road corporation, no labor union, no body of laboring 
 men could long hold out against a fair and equitable 
 demand, backed by a willingness to submit the justness 
 of that demand to a board of competent arbitrators. In 
 any view there is no harm in trying this experiment ; 
 and in this effort, small and inconsequential as it may 
 seem to be, I am confident we are moving in the right 
 direction, and that nothing but good can result. 
 
 Continuing, he said : 
 
 I believe in arbitration as a principle ; I believe it 
 should prevail in the settlement of international differ- 
 ences. It represents a higher civilization than the arbi- 
 trament of w^ar. 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 under- 
 standing, uniting them closer in interest, and promoting 
 better relations, avoiding force, avoiding unjust exactions 
 and oppressions, 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. 
 
 Under existing conditions the average man is un- 
 doubtedly kept busy too many hours. The agitation 
 for shorter hours is the first step for the improvement 
 of the condition of the working men. This agitation 
 is making greater headway in England than in the 
 United States. Wherever it has been fairly tried, it 
 
VIEWS OK LABOR ISSUES. 33 1 
 
 has worked satisfactorily. It has not reduced wages. 
 In many- cases the eight hour law has increased 
 wages. Wages are low when two men are running 
 after one job. Our recent experience shows this. 
 When two masters are running after one man, wages 
 rise. A reduction in the hours of labor will bring into 
 regular work riien who are now either unemployed or 
 half employed. In England, the United States and 
 Australia, those trades that have gained the eight 
 hour law have done so without a fall in wages. 
 Neither has it undermined the property of the cap- 
 italist. This also applies to piecework. 
 
 While short hours do not reduce wages, they im-i 
 prove the stamina of the people. Men and women 
 who work for wages are getting tired of only being 
 beasts of burden. Life is expanding on all sides. 
 More attention than ever before is given to the work 
 of improving the condition of the people. Such 
 endeavor is wasted if reasonable time is not given for 
 physical, emotional and intellectual enjoyment. It 
 is silly to talk of fresh air, music in the parks, moon- 
 light excursions for the masses, if they are compelled 
 to dig, and dive, and weave, and grind for ten and 
 twelve and fourteen hours a day. A barely broken 
 round of monotonous toil will not develdp good citi- 
 zens. Those who employ labor must begin to realize 
 this. 
 
 McKinley favors a protective tariff simply because 
 he believes it one of the instruments which improve 
 the condition of the wage-earner. It helps to main'- 
 tain wages. Short hours are equally important, 
 
332 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 because they confer the power and opportunity to 
 enjoy the advantages of decent wages. Cheapness 
 is the enemy of those who labor. It is the degrada- 
 tion of labor. Below the living wage no man 
 should be expected to labor. Long hours are the 
 enemy of health. Evil physical effects follow undue 
 labor. No man or woman should be required to 
 do more than eight hours of steady work per day. 
 What is true in mechanical pursuits and trades holds 
 good in stores and offices. Early closing not only 
 confers a benefit upon those whose hours of toil are 
 lessened, but it elevates and Christianizes the whole 
 community. 
 
 Those who understand the full meaning of the 
 eight hour law will appreciate the fact that McKin- 
 ley has gone to the bottom of this question, and is 
 conversant with the soundest and most advanced 
 views on the subject. Hardly any act of legislation 
 would be more truly beneficial to the labor interests 
 of both sides the Atlantic than the enactment and 
 absolute enforcement of the eight hour law. Wher- 
 ever this law has been fairly tried, and it has been in 
 many industries, especially in England, it has worked 
 satisfactorily. . During the recent depression in Eng- 
 land, by the enforcement of the eight hour regulation 
 for public servants by the London County Council, 
 and by Parliament as applied to some departments of 
 the Government, such as the navy department, over 
 thirty thousand idle workmen were given employ- 
 ment. It is also an established fact that even piece 
 workers employed eight hours per day make just as 
 
COPYEIGIJT 1896 EV N. G. HAMIl 
 
 M*KINLEY IN 1896 
 
THOMAS B. EEED. 
 
VIEWS ON I^ABOR ISSUES. 333 
 
 much money in their time as they used to make in 
 working much longer hours. It is natural, therefore, 
 that we should find this advanced statesman on the 
 side of the question which favors the upbuilding of 
 labor, and not its degradation. Long, weary hours 
 make poor citizens for a free country, indifferent 
 parents, and lower the stamina of the people. When 
 the bill constituting eight hours a day's work for all 
 laborers and mechanics employed by the Govern- 
 ment came up in Congress, McKinley said : 
 
 I am in favor of this bill. It has been said that it is a 
 bill to limit the opportunities of the workingman to gain 
 a livelihood. This is not true ; it will have the opposite 
 effect. So far as the Government of the United States 
 as an employer is concerned, in the limitation for a day's 
 work provided in this bill to eight hours, instead of put- 
 ting any limitation upon the opportunity of the American 
 freeman to earn a living, it increases and enlarges his op- 
 portunity. Eight hours, under the laws of the United 
 States, constitute a day's work. That law has been on our 
 statute books for tw^enty or more years. In all these years it 
 has been " the word of promise to the ear," but by the 
 Government of the United States it has been " broken 
 to the hope." The Government and its officials should 
 be swift to execute and enforce its own laws ; failure in 
 this particular is most reprehensible. Now, it must be 
 remembered that when we constitute eight hours a day's 
 work, instead of ten hours, every four days give an addi- 
 tional day's work to some workingman who may not 
 have any employment at all. It is one more day's work, 
 one more day's wages, one more opportunity for work 
 and wages, an increased demand for labor. I am in 
 
334 LIFE OF WILLIAM m'KINLEY. 
 
 favor of the bill as it is amended by the gentleman from 
 Maryland. It applies now only to the labor of men's 
 hands. It applies only to their work; It does not apply 
 to material, it does not apply to transportation. It only 
 applies to the actual labor, skilled or unskilled, employed 
 on public works and in the execution of the contracts of 
 the Government. And the Government of the United 
 States ought, finally and in good faith, to set this 
 example of eight hours as constituting a day's work 
 required of laboring men in the service of the United 
 States. The tendency of the times the w^orld over is for 
 shorter hours for labor, shorter hours in the interest of 
 health, shorter hours in the interest of humanity, shorter 
 hours in the interest of the home and the family ; and the 
 United States can do no better service to labor and to its 
 own citizens than to set the example to States, to corpo- 
 rations and to individuals employing men by declaring 
 that, so far as the Government is concerned, eight hours 
 shall constitute a day's work, and be all that is required 
 of its laboring force. This bill should be passed. My 
 colleague, Mr. Morey, has stated what we owe the fam- 
 ily in this connection, and Cardinal Manning, in a recent 
 article, spoke noble words on the general subject when 
 he said : 
 
 " But if the domestic life of the people be vital above 
 all ; if the peace, the purity of homes, the education of 
 children, the duties of wives and mothers, the duties of 
 husbands and of fathers be written in the natural law of 
 mankind, and if these things are sacred, far beyond any- 
 thing that can be iold in the market, then I say, if the 
 hours of labor resulting from the unregulated sale of a 
 man's strength and skill shall lead to the destruction of 
 domestic life, to the neglect of children, to turning wives 
 
VIEWS ON LABOR ISSUKS. 335 
 
 and mothers into living machines, and of fathers and 
 husbands into — what shall I say, creatures of burden ? — 
 I will not say any other word — who rise up before the 
 sun, and come back when it is set, wearied and able only 
 to take food and lie down to rest, the domestic life of 
 men exists no longer, and we dare not go on in this 
 path." 
 
 We owe something to the care, the elevation, the dig- 
 nity and the education of labor. We owe something to 
 the workingmen and the families of the workingmen 
 throughout the United States who constitute the large 
 body of our population, and this bill is a step in the right 
 direction. 
 
 The following noble words spoken to the Ameri- 
 can workingmen in an address at Cincinnati, Ohio, 
 September i, 1891, on Labor Day, will go home to 
 the hearts of those who toil : 
 
 Nowhere in the world has the cause of labor, its rights 
 and its dignities, been more triumphant than in the United 
 States. Labor here is free and independent ; slave labor 
 has been abolished, and the workman makes his own 
 contracts and enters only into voluntary employment. 
 He is his ow^n master ; no man owns his laborer. He is 
 respected and honored in every walk of life, he has by 
 merit forged his w^ay to the very front rank in mechan- 
 ism and invention, and his trophies are seen on every 
 hand. The advantages which we enjoy as a people, and 
 which crown the opportunities which we enjoy above 
 all other nations, are the character and quality of our 
 labor. American workmen are, as a body, the most 
 ingenious and intelligent of the world. Inventiveness 
 has come to be a national trait. The United States Gov- 
 
336 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 ernment issues four times as many patents as Great Brit- 
 ain, our greatest competitor. From the patent office in 
 Washington, during the past decade, there have been 
 issued annually from iS,ooo to 22,000 patents, the great- 
 est number in the history of any country in any previous 
 period of the world's history. At the International Elec- 
 trical Exposition at Paris, a few years ago, five gold 
 medals were offered for the greatest inventions or dis- 
 coveries. How many of them, do you suppose, came to 
 the United States? Only five. Testimonials to our 
 mechanical superiority abound on every hand. The 
 Mechanical World of London, a great trades organ of 
 England, says the United States has the best machinery 
 and tools in the world. The French Minister of Com- 
 merce has made public an official report to him that the 
 superiority of tools used here and the attention to details 
 too often neglected in Europe, are elements of great 
 danger to the supremacy of European industries. 
 
 What the late President Garfield said of our great Cen- 
 tennial Exposition, I doubt not, will be proclaimed of the 
 World's Fair of 1893. In a speech in Congress, in 1878, 
 General Garfield observed : 
 
 " Let it be remembered that twenty-two per cent of all 
 the laboring people of this country are artisans engaged 
 in manufactures. Their culture has been fostered by our 
 laws. It is their pursuits and the skill which they de- 
 veloped that produced the glory of our Centennial Expo- 
 sition. To them the country owes the splendor of the 
 position it holils before the w^orld more than to any equal 
 number of our citizens." 
 
 As more than twenty-two per cent of our laboring 
 people are now skilled artisans, and are now mdfe 
 advanced and skillful and prosperous than ever, so antl 
 
VIEWS ON LABOR ISSUES. 
 
 337 
 
 confident that the glory of our great Columbian Exposi- 
 tion, at Chicago, will be attributed in a larger degree to 
 them than to any or all other forces. It is our glory 
 that the American laborer is more intelligent and better 
 paid than his foreign competitor, and so far no call upon 
 his greater inventive skill and genius has been made in 
 vain, Herbert Spencer has testified, " Beyond question, 
 in respect to mechanical appliances the Americans are 
 ahead of all other nations." Superior tools would alone 
 give us no small advantage, but the possession of the best 
 machinery implies much more, namely, that we have 
 also the best mechanics in the world. 
 
 There are some things we should remember, however. 
 Nothing is cheap which enforces idleness upon our own 
 people. Invention does not follow idleness. Nothing 
 is cheap which permits to slumber in our hills and moun- 
 tains the rich raw materials that only await the. manipu- 
 lation of than to produce untold wealth. The first duty 
 of a nation is to enact those laws which will give to 
 its citizens the widest opportunity for labor and the best 
 rewards for work done. You can not have the best 
 citizenship without these encouragements ; and with us 
 the best citizenship is required to secure the best govern- 
 ment, the best laws, and their wise administration. Our 
 citizenship must be protected in every way possible, for 
 upon it rest the permanency and glory of our institutions. 
 
 If I were called upon to say what, in my opinion, con- 
 stitutes the strength and security and integrity of the 
 Government, I should say the American home. It lies 
 at the very beginning and foundation of a pure national 
 life. The good home makes the good citizen, arid the 
 good citizen makes wholesome public sentiment. Good 
 government follows. It matters little what our occupa- 
 
338 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 tions may be. Every employment is honorable which is 
 an honest employment. The capital of one may be in 
 his hand and eye, the capital of another his brain and 
 intellectual equipment. Both are equally honorable and 
 useful and necessary. We need them both. We can 
 not get on without both. Both contribute to national 
 and individual welfare and the advancement and eleva- 
 tion of the people. There are many skilled workmen 
 who earn more money than the average member of the 
 learned professions. The family of the workingman is 
 the unit of our national welfare. 
 
 Many of the men who labored with their hands thirty 
 years ago are now at the head of the great industrial 
 institutions of the country. In the railroad service the 
 best and most responsible positions are now filled not 
 from the ranks of capital but from the ranks of labor. 
 The system of promotion upon merit is fast becoming 
 the rule of the great corporations ; so that skill and 
 industry and adaptation to work are almost certain to 
 secure advancement and promotion and independence. 
 Good places are always open to beckon the industrious 
 and intelligent employe. 
 
 The great editors of the country commenced at the very 
 bottom. When Horace Greeley founded the New York 
 Tribune, in 1841, among the employes at eight and ten 
 dollars a week were George William Curtis, the gifted 
 editor of Harper's Weekly; Mr. George Jones, lately 
 deceased, who became the editor and proprietor of the 
 New York Times, a great and influential journal, and 
 Charles A. Dana, who is now the brilliant editor and 
 proprietor of the New York Sun. The men who con- 
 trol and manage other great enterprises of the country 
 also, are, in the main, men who commenced in the shop 
 
VIEWS ON LABOR ISSUES. 339 
 
 or on the farm as laborers. And the conditions of labor 
 are constantly being improved. With shorter hours, 
 better tools and machinery, security and protection. from 
 accident, bad buildings and bad ventilation, strictly 
 enjoined by law upon those who employ labor, we have 
 much which is cause of congratulation. But much still 
 remains to be done for the benefit and amelioration of 
 labor. Improvement in every walk of life is the out- 
 growth of thought and discussion and ambition. We do 
 better as we are better ourselves. 
 
 The ideals of yesterday are the truths of to-day. What 
 we hope for and aspire to now we will realize in the 
 future if we are prudent and careful. If right is on our 
 side, and we pursue resolute but orderly methods to secure 
 our end, it is sure to come. There is no better way of 
 securing what we want, and what we believe is best for 
 us and those for whom we have a care, than the old way 
 of striving earnestly and honestly for it. The labor of 
 the country constitutes its strength and its wealth, and 
 the better that labor is conditioned, the higher its rewards, 
 the wider its opportunities, and the greater its comforts 
 and refinements, the better will be our civilization, the 
 more sacred will be our homes, the more capable our 
 children, and the nobler will be the destiny which awaits 
 us. We can only walk in the path of right, resolutely 
 insisting upon the right, always being sure at the same 
 time that we are right ourselves, and time will bring the 
 victories. To labor is accorded its full share of the ad- 
 vantages of a Government like ours. None more than 
 the laborers enjoy the benefits and blessings which our 
 free institutions make. This country differs in many and 
 essential respects from other countries, and, as is often 
 said, it is just this difference which makes us the best of 
 
34° LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 all. It is the difference between our political equality 
 and the caste conditions of other nations which elevates 
 and enlightens the American laborer, and inspires within 
 him a feeling of pride and manhood. It is the difference 
 in recompense received by him for his labor and that 
 received by the foreigner which enables him to acquire for 
 himself and his a cheery home and the comforts of life. 
 It is the difference between our educational facilities and 
 the less liberal opportunities for learning in other lands 
 w^hich vouchsafes to him the priceless privilege of rear- 
 ing a happy, intelligent and God-fearing family. The 
 great Matthew Arnold has truly said, "America holds . 
 the future." It is in commemoration of the achievements 
 of labor in the past that Labor Day was established. It 
 was eminently fitting that the people should turn aside 
 on one day of the year from their usual vocations and 
 rejoice together over the unequaled prosperity that has 
 been vouchsafed to them. The triumphs of American 
 labor can not easily be recited nor its trophies enumer- 
 ated. But, great as they have been in the past, I am 
 fully convinced that there are richer rewards in store for 
 labor in the future. 
 
 McKinley's last utterance on labor issues may be 
 found in his address, " Liberty and Labor," de- 
 livered July 4, 1895, at Chicago. This oration was 
 delivered at the request of the Illinois State Feder- 
 ation of Labor and of the Trade and Labor Assembly 
 of Chicago. It was an important occasion. The 
 address he gave was declared one of the most patri- 
 otic of his many speeches on this and kindred topics. 
 He opened by saying : 
 
VIEWS ON LABOR ISSUES. 34 1 
 
 We are a Nation of working people ; some one has 
 said that Americans are born busy, and that they never 
 find time to be idle or indolent. We glory in the fact 
 that in the dignity and elevation of labor we find our 
 greatest distinction among the nations of the earth. The 
 United States possesses practically as much energy or 
 working power as Great Britain, Germany and France 
 combined, so that the ratio of working power falling to 
 each American is double that of other nations. But 
 with our improved and superior machinery, each Amer- 
 ican laborer is enabled to accomplish, relatively, still 
 more than his European competitor. The American 
 laborer not only does more and better work, but there 
 are more skilled, intelligent and capable artisans here 
 now in proportion to the total population than in any 
 other country of the world. No other country can boast 
 of so great a percentage of producers among her in- 
 structed population, and none other can point to so large 
 a number of enlightened and educated citizens. 
 
 His closing words upon that occasion breathe an 
 earnest patriotism and adjure those who labor to 
 have confidence in the strength of our free institutions 
 and faith in the justice of their fellow-citizens. These 
 are indeed inspiring words : 
 
 What a mighty Nation has been erected upon the im- 
 mortal principles of the great declaration, the signing of 
 which we celebrate to-day! We have increased from 
 thirteen to forty-four States; from 3,000,000 to nearly 
 70,000,000 people. We have arisen from slavery to 
 freedom ; from what some men believed a mere con- 
 federacy of States, to be dissolved at pleasure, to a mighty, 
 eternal Union of indivisible, indestructible States ; from 
 
342 LIFB OF WILLIAM M'KINLEV. 
 
 an agricultural community to the foremost Nation of the 
 world in all the arts and sciences, in manufactures, in 
 agriculture and in mining. Liberty, labor and love have 
 accomplished it all. Labor has been dignified and has 
 vindicated the truth that the best citizen of any commun- 
 ity is its most useful citizen. All men have equal rights 
 guaranteed by our Constitution and laws, and that equal- 
 ity must be forever preserved and strengthened and every- 
 where recognized. We are all Americans, we are all 
 sovereigns, equal in the ballot, and that citizen is the best 
 who does his best ; who follows the light as God gives 
 him to see the light ; who concedes to all the races of 
 mankind what he claims for himself ; w^ho rigidly 
 respects the rights of others ; who is ever willing and 
 ready to assist others ; w^ho has the best heart, the best 
 character, the greatest charity and sympathy, and who 
 withholds from none of his fellow-men the respect, 
 privileges and protection he claims for himself. This is 
 the citizenship that is the need of every age, and to 
 which we must educate ourselves and those who are to 
 come after us. This is the citizenship that is the hope of 
 the Republic, its security and permanency, which is the 
 hope of mankind, our own best hope ; a citizenship that 
 is faithful to home and family, devotedly loyal to country, 
 that encourages the truest and broadest national spirit, 
 the most thorough and genuine Americanism, that is 
 ever moving onward and upward toward the highest 
 ideals of modern civilization ; a citizenship that respects 
 law and constituted authority, that loyally upholds, 
 guards and supports the Government of which it is a 
 part, in whose administration it has a voice, and that 
 rests upon the free choice and consent of a majority of 
 the people. These were the characteristics which pos- 
 
VIEWS ON LABOR ISSUES. 343 
 
 sessed the souls of the men who landed in the Mayflower, 
 who resisted British oppression, who promulgated the 
 immortal Declaration of Independence. These are the 
 elements of character which gave us a Patrick Henry, a 
 Franklin, a Washington, a Jefferson, an Adams, a Jack- 
 son, a Grant, and which produced a Lincoln, whose 
 name has enriched history, and whose great Emancipa- 
 tion Proclamation has blessed mankind and glorified God. 
 
 It was this character of citizenship, and the aim to 
 secure it, that animated the men who fought all the bat- 
 'tles of the Republic from the Revolution to the great 
 Civil War ; that struck slavery from the Constitution 
 of the United States, that obliterated caste and bondage 
 and made freedom universal in the Republic. The 
 greatest battle which the Nation has fought has been to 
 secure to labor the right to do with its skill, energy and 
 industry what it chooses, through lawful pursuits and by 
 peaceable means, ever obedient to law and order, and 
 respectful of the rights of all ; that has given labor the 
 unquestioned right to use what it earns in its own way 
 in the elevation of home and family ; that has taught 
 labor to give conscience its full sway, and that has 
 inspired labor to improve wisely every opportunity 
 which makes possible the realization of the highest hopes 
 and best aspirations of the human race. 
 
 Peace, order and good will among the people, with 
 patriotism in their hearts; truth, honor and justice in the 
 executive, judicial and legislative branches of the Gov- 
 ernment, municipal, state and national ; all yielding 
 reSpect and obedience to law, all equal before the law, 
 and all alike amenable to law — such are the conditions 
 that will make our Government too strong ever to be 
 broken by internal dissensions and too powerful ever to 
 
344 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 be overturned by any enemy from without. Then will 
 the government of the people, under the smiles of heaven, 
 bless, prosper and exalt the people who sustain and 
 support it. 
 
 In America, no one is born to power ; none assured 
 of station or command except by his own worth or 
 usefulness. But to any post of honor all w^ho choose 
 may aspire, and history has proved that the humblest in 
 ■youth are frequently the most honored and powerful in 
 the maturity of strength and age. It has long been 
 demonstrated that the philosophy of Jefferson is true, 
 and that this, the land of the free and self-governed, is 
 the strongest as well as the best government in the world. 
 We accept no governmental standards but our own ; we 
 will have no flag but the glorious old stars and stripes. 
 
 Workingmen of Chicago, let me adjure you to be faith- 
 ful to the acts, traditions and teachings of the fathers. 
 Make their standard of patriotism and duty your own. 
 Be faithful to their glorious example. Whatever' the 
 difficulties of the present, or problems of the future, meet 
 them in the same spirit of unflinching loyalty to country, 
 the same devotion and love for home and family, the 
 same acknowledgment of dependence upon God that has 
 alwrays characterized those grand men. Therein rests 
 your greatest prosperity and happiness, and the surest 
 attainment of your best and dearest ambitions. Have 
 confidence in the strength of our free institutions and 
 faith in the justice of your fellow-citizens, for as Lincoln 
 often said, " There is no other hope in the world equal 
 to it." 
 
 In conclusion, let me offer the advice and exhortation 
 of one who spoke on an occasion somew^hat similar to 
 this in the Centennial year 1876 in the city of Boston, 
 
VIEWS ON LABOR ISSUES. 
 
 345 
 
 the venerable Robert C. Winthrop of Massachusetts, in 
 his masterly Fourth of July oration, and one of his last 
 great public addresses. He had lived through nearly the 
 whole period of our national existence, and had been an 
 active participant in public affairs and a close student 
 of our history and people for many years. With this 
 training and all the wisdom and experience of age, he 
 profoundly observed : 
 
 " If I could hope without presumption that any hum- 
 ble counsels of mine, on this hallowed anniversary, 
 would be remembered beyond the hour of their utterance 
 and reach the ears of my countrymen in future days, I 
 could not omit certainly to reiterate the solemn obliga- 
 tions which rest on every citizen of this Republic to 
 cherish and enforce the great principles of our Colonial 
 and Revolutionary fathers — the principles of liberty and 
 law, one and inseparable — the principles of the Consti- 
 tution and the Union. I could not omit to urge every 
 man to remember that self-government politically can 
 only be successful if it be accompanied by self-govern- 
 ment personally ; that there must be government some- 
 where ; and that if the people are indeed to be sovereigns 
 they must exercise their sovereignty over themselves 
 individually as well as over themselves in the aggregate — 
 regulating their own lives, resisting their own tempta- 
 tions, subduing their own passions and voluntarily 
 imposing upon themselves some measure of that restraint 
 and discipline w^hich, under other systems, is supplied 
 from the armories of arbitrary power — the discipline of 
 virtue, in the place of the discipline of slavery. I. could not 
 omit to caution them against the corrupting influence 
 of intemperance, extravagance and luxury ; I could not 
 pmit to call upon them to foster and further the cause 
 
34^ LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 of universal education ; to give a liberal support to our 
 schools and colleges ; to promote the advancement of 
 science and art in all their multiplied divisions and 
 relations, and to encourage and sustain all those noble 
 institutions of charity which in our own land, above all 
 others, have given the crowning grace and glory to 
 modern civilization." 
 
 It would to me be an honor beyond any other to have 
 been the author of these sublime sentiments. I can and 
 do adopt them, and beg you to heed, cherish and teach 
 them, as a rule of action to yourselves and to your chil- 
 dren. American citizenship thus molded will perpet- 
 uate freedom, exalt the freeman, and distinguish the 
 Republic beyond its past glorious achievements. 
 
 And this is McKinley's platform when dealing 
 with labor. Surely it commends itself to those who 
 toil. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII, 
 
 FAIR ELECTIONS. 
 
 The Honest Voter has No Fear of Law — Fair Elections 
 a Necessity if the Republic is to Last — Folly of the 
 Repeal of the Federal Election Law — The Question 
 Will Not Rest Until Equality of Suffrage is Estab- 
 lished Beyond Question. 
 
 NEXT to the great questions relating to revenue 
 and taxation, which we had to face in order 
 to put the Nation on a firm financial footing after the 
 devastation of the Civil War, and the military issues 
 arising therefrom, it is safe to assume that the ques- 
 tion of free and fair elections, not only in Southern 
 States but in the North, is of vital import to the 
 Nation. If there are more comprehensive, more 
 carefully prepared, more thoroughly weighed and 
 more patriotic utterances on record in reference to 
 this subject than those made by McKinley, we are 
 not aware of it. 
 
 In this issue, as in all other great National issues, 
 McKinley has never hesitated to take strong sides 
 and express himself in the most unmistakable terms. 
 As far back as 1879, when the Democratic partyx 
 made its first movement against the Federal election 
 
 law, the Congressional Record shows that one of its 
 
 347 
 
348 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 strongest advocates was the membei- from Ohio. 
 He saw at once that the repeal of this law would 
 remove every safeguard against fraud in the exercise 
 of the elective franchise, and was a wanton attempt 
 to wipe from the law all protection of the ballot-box 
 and surrender its purity to the hired repeater and its 
 control to the ballot-box-stufters of the great cities 
 of the North and the tissue ballot party of the South. 
 A glance at a speech delivered by him at this time 
 shows that McKinley has as thoroughly mastered 
 this subject as the distinguished member who had 
 charge of the bill. He said : 
 
 Has any legal voter in the United States been pre- 
 vented from exercising his right of suffrage by this law, 
 or by the officers acting under it? This is the practical 
 question. None that I have ever heard of ; while thou- 
 sands, yes, tens of thousands of illegal voters have been 
 deterred from voting by virtue of it. The honest voter 
 has no fear of this law ; it touches him as lightly as the 
 law of larceny touches the honest man, or the law of 
 murder touches him whose hands are stainless of human 
 blood. The thief hates the law of larceny, the murderer 
 the law of homicide. They, too, can truthfully urge the 
 cost of the execution of these laws ; both are expensive 
 and onerous to the taxpayer. But I have never known 
 such arguments seriously entertained as a reason for their 
 repeal. The law is without terror save to wrongdoers. 
 The presence of officers of the law only deters criminals 
 from the commission of crime. They are no restraints 
 upon the honest man. You can form no system of laws 
 which will not be open to some criticism and abuse. 
 These prove nothing against the importance and neces- 
 
FAIR ELECTIONS. 
 
 349 
 
 sity of their maintenance. If any better method can be 
 offered for preserving the ballot-box in its purity, I will 
 cordially accept it and labor for its passage, but until 
 such better method is proposed, we should stand by ex- 
 isting statutes. We cannot afford to break down a single 
 safeguard which has been thrown around the ballot-box. 
 Every guarantee must be kept and maintained. Fair- 
 minded people everywhere are interested in honest elec- 
 tions. It is not a partisan measure ; it falls alike upon all 
 political parties. The law recognizes no political creed, 
 and those who execute it should carefully obey its letter 
 and spirit. It protects Democrats and Republicans and 
 men of all parties alike. 
 
 Although the Federal election law, by reason of 
 the Democratic victory in 1892, has been repealed, 
 the above will at once be recognized as an impartial 
 and concise statement of the question from the Re- 
 publican point of view, not only as it presented itself 
 in April, 1879, when this speech was made, but as it 
 appeared when, by virtue of a majority, the Demo- 
 creits were able to remove this safeguard of the free 
 ballot. No more thorough and convincing argu- 
 ment, showing the folly of the repeal of these laws, 
 could be written to-day than the one given in the 
 House of Representatives by McKinley sixteen years 
 ago. \ year later (1880) in speaking in Columbus, 
 Ohio, on the crimes against the ballot, we find the 
 following sentiment, which applies to some of the 
 Southern States to-day with ttunning force : 
 
 Is this system of disfranchisement to be further per- 
 mitted? Is the Republican sentiment thus to be hushed 
 
3 so LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 in the South, and how long? Are the men who increase 
 the representative power throughout these States to have 
 no representation ? Are free thought and free political 
 action to be crushed out in one section of our country? 
 I answer No ! No ! But that the whole power of the 
 Federal Government must be exhausted in securing to 
 every citizen, black or white, rich or poor, everywhere 
 within the limits of the Union, every right, civil and 
 political, guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws. 
 Nothing short of this will satisfy public conscience, pub- 
 lic morals and public justice. 
 
 In 1890, though engaged in framing the taciif bill, 
 McKinley took part in the debate on the Federal 
 election bill. He took the ground that while the bill 
 might not be in all its provisions what he would like 
 to have it, it was a bill looking to honest representa- 
 tion on the floor of the American House of Repre- 
 sentatives, to honest voting and a fair count of votes 
 in every part and section of the Republic. McKinley 
 said: 
 
 That is all there is of the bill, and no honest man can 
 afford to oppose it. It is said that this measure is harsh. 
 It will rest heavily only upon districts and upon States 
 which violate the laws and the Constitution of our com- 
 mon country. Let every citizen of this Republic vote, 
 and then see to it that his vote is counted as it is 
 cast, and returned as counted, and you never need 
 invoke any of the provisions of the bill or subject 
 yourselves to what you termed its harsh provisions. But 
 they say that it is expensive ; that it will cause $10,000,- 
 000 to be taken out of the National treasury. That as- 
 
FAIR ELECTIONS. 35 I 
 
 sumes that the three hundred and thirty districts of this 
 country will invoke the operation of the law. But there 
 is not a man on this floor who does not know that 
 not a hundred districts in the United States will 
 invoke its operation when it goes into effect. It will 
 not be required even in that number. And let me 
 remind gentlemen on the other side of this chamber, as 
 well as my friends on this side of the chamber, that you 
 will diminish the cost of the administration of this bill in 
 the ratio that you diminish fraudulent voting, false 
 counting, stuffing of ballot boxes, and suppressing the 
 voice of the Republicans in the South. It will cost 
 nothing jf it is not used, and it will not be used if there 
 is no need for it. Honest elections will make the law 
 unnecessary ; dishonest ones should be stopped by the 
 strong arm of the law. 
 
 In concluding, he said : 
 
 The question will not rest until justice is done ; and 
 the consciences of the American people will not be per- 
 mitted to slumber until this great Constitutional rights 
 the equality of suffrage, the equality of opportunity, 
 freedom of political' action and political thought — shall 
 be not the mere cold formalities of Constitutional enact- 
 ment as now, but a living birthright which the poorest 
 and the humblest citizen, white or black, native-born 
 or naturalized, may confidently enjoy, and which the 
 richest and most powerful dare not deny. Remember 
 that God puts no nation in supreme place which will not 
 do supreme duty. God keeps no nation in supreme place 
 which will not perform the supreme duty of the hour, and 
 He will not long prosper that nation which will not pro- 
 tect and defend its weakest citizens. It is our supreme 
 
352 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 duty to enforce the Constitution and laws of the United 
 States " and dare to be strong for the weak." Gentle- 
 men of the other side, I appeal to you to obey the laws 
 and the Constitution ; obey them as we obey and observe 
 them ; for I tell you the people of the North will not 
 continue to permit two votes in th"e South to count as 
 much as five votes in the North. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 FINANCIAL QUESTIONS. 
 
 McKinley Would as Soon Lower the Flag as Debase 
 the National Currency — Favors the Use of Gold and 
 Silver at a Parity of Values — A Comprehensive View 
 of the Currency Question — Philadelphia Speeches Op- 
 posing Return to State Bank Currency. 
 
 McKINLEY stands squarely upon the National 
 Republican platform as to its financial declara- 
 tions. Talking to the reporter of a Kansas City- 
 paper, in 1895, he said : " I would as soon think of 
 lowering the flag of my country as to think of lower- 
 ing its National credit or honor." He has always 
 favored the use of gold and silver and paper with a 
 parity of values. 
 
 In his speech at Dayton, Ohio, October 26, 1893, 
 McKinley, in referring to the repeal of the " Sher- 
 man law " of 1890, said : 
 
 I was in the House of Representatives when that bill 
 became a law^. I advocated and voted for it, and I have 
 no apologies to make either for my party or myself for 
 the action thus taken. It was the best possible financial 
 measure attainable at the time, and was only meant for 
 temporary relief. Its adoption prevented the passage of 
 a financial scheme that would have disarranged and 
 destroyed almost the entire business of the country, and 
 
 333 
 
354 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 the measure was at best a compromise. It has served a 
 noble purpose, and has given to the country $150,000,000 
 of treasury notes, all as good as gold, possessing every 
 attribute of the old greenback, which the people loved 
 so well, every one redeemable in coin, either gold or sil- 
 ver, at the pleasure of the Government, and every one of 
 the notes a legal tender for all debts, public and private. 
 The Republican party has not revised its monetary 
 policy. It stands where it has always stood. It believes 
 in gold, silver and paper money, and that every kind of 
 money we use must be issued by the Government of the 
 United States, and by no power less than that Govern- 
 ment. It will have no " wild-cat " money, no State 
 bank money, but insists that every dollar which circu- 
 lates must be National money, as good as the Government 
 itself, and respected wherever our flag is respected. 
 
 In his great speech at Philadelphia, in the National 
 campaign of 1892, on September 23, McKinley said : 
 
 The proposition to go back to State bank circulation 
 is, perhaps, the worst manifestation of financial unsound- 
 ness that has ever emanated from the Democratic leaders, 
 mischievous and prolific as they have been in such 
 schemes for generations past. It is more dangerous than 
 their w^ild-cat propositions during the inflation era, 
 through which the country has happily passed, although 
 inflation and repudiation were encouraged by those who 
 were then in control of the Democratip party. It is 
 infinitely more harmful than the irredeemable greenback 
 in unlimited volume, as was once proposed by that party. 
 It would be a hundred-fold more hurtful, more destruc- 
 tive to business and trade, more disastrous to every inter- 
 est, than the free and unlimited coinage of silver — bad 
 
FINANCIAL, QJJESTIONS. 355 
 
 as that "would be. For forty years the Democratic leaders 
 have been unsound in their financial policies. This un- 
 soundness has not always taken the same form, but its 
 effect has always been to corrupt and debase the currency 
 of the country. Driven from their opposition to resump- 
 tion by the thoughtful men of their party, who voted 
 against them when that issue was presented, they then 
 demanded an inflation of the currency and the payment 
 of the bonds in greenbacks. Routed from that position 
 by the sober sense of the country, they became the advo- 
 cates of the free and unlimited coinage of a dollar worth 
 less than one hundred cents. Driven from that by party 
 exigency, they now pronounce for a financial policy 
 which would inflict upon the country the most worthless 
 currency we have ever had. If this was all there was of 
 the campaign, it ought to be enough to defeat the party 
 which in a deliberate convention of the representatives 
 of the National Democracy has resolved to go back to 
 the wild-cat currency of forty years ago. 
 
 In the Ohio State campaign of 1891, when McKin- 
 ley was first a candidate for Governor, the Demo- 
 cratic party declared directly in their platform for 
 " the free and unlimited coinage of silver." It thus 
 became a direct issue, and Governor Campbell, the 
 Democratic candidate, declared in a newspaper inter- 
 view soon after his renomination, that he "was 
 willing to chance it on free silver." To this McKin- 
 ley replied in his opening speech, at Niles, Ohio, on 
 August 22, 1 89 1, as follows: 
 
 Governor Campbell declared in one of his recent inter- 
 views, that while he has doubts about it, he was willing 
 
356 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 " to chance the free and unlimited coinage of silver." I 
 am not willing to "chance" it. We can not gamble 
 with anything so sacred as money, which is the standard 
 and measure of values. I can imagine nothing which 
 would be more disturbing to our credit and more 
 deranging to our commercial and financial affairs 
 than to make this the dumping-ground of the world's 
 silver. The silver producer might be benefited, but 
 the silver user never. If there is to be any profit in 
 the coinage of silver, it should go to the Government. It 
 has gone to the Government ever since the Bland- Allison 
 law went into effect. This new declaration would take 
 it from the Government and give it to the silver pro- 
 ducer. Now, the people know that if we had two yard- 
 sticks, one three feet in length and the other two and a 
 half feet in length, the buyer would always have his 
 goods measured to him by the shorter stick, and that the 
 longer stick would go into permanent disuse It is 
 exactly so with money. A one-hundred-cent dollar will 
 go out of circulation alongside an eighty-cent dollar, 
 which is a legal tender by the fiat of the Government ; 
 and no class of people will suffer so much as the wage- 
 earner and the agriculturist. If it is the farmer you 
 would benefit, there is one way to do it. Make the 
 bushel measure with which he measures his wheat for 
 the buyer, three pecks instead of four, and require the 
 buyer to pay as much for three pecks as he now pays for 
 four. I am in favor of the double standard, but I am 
 not in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of silver 
 in the United States until the nations of the world shall 
 join us in guaranteeing to silver a status which their laws 
 now accord to gold. The double standard implies 
 equality at a ratio, and that equality can only be estab- 
 
FINANCIAL QUESTIONS. 357 
 
 lished by the concurrent law of nations. It was the 
 concurrent law of nations that made the double standard , 
 it will require the concurrent law of nations to reinstate 
 and sustain it. Until then, for us to decree the free and 
 unlimited coinage of the world's silver would be to 
 ordain that our silver dollars must surely depreciate, and 
 gold inevitably go to a premium. No man knows what 
 the future may be, but in our present condition and with 
 our present light, every consideration of safety requires 
 us to hold our present status until the other great nations 
 shall agree to an international ratio. 
 
 In his speech upon the " Silver Bill," in the 
 House of Representatives, Washington, June 29, 
 1890, when chairman of the Ways and Means Com- 
 mittee, McKinley said: 
 
 We should preserve the two moneys, gold and silver, 
 side by side. It is because I want so to preserve these 
 equal standards of value that I have opposed and shall 
 oppose concurrence in the Senate amendments. I do 
 not w^ant gold at a premium. I do not w^ant silver at a 
 discount, or vice versa. But I want both metals side by 
 side equal in purchasing power and in legal tender qual- 
 ity, equal in power to perform the functions of money 
 with which to do the business and move the commerce 
 of the United States. To tell me that the free and un- 
 limited coinage of silver of the world, in the absence of 
 co-operation on the part of other commercial nations, 
 will not bring gold to a premium, is to deny all history 
 and the weight of all financial experience. The very 
 instant that you have opened up our mints to the silver 
 bullion of the world, independently of international 
 action, that very instant, or in a brief time at best, you 
 
3S8 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 have sent gold to a premium, then you have put it in 
 great measure into disuse, and we are remitted to the 
 single standard, that of silver alone ; w^e have deprived 
 ourselves of the use of both metals. It is only because 
 of the safe and conservative financial policy of the Re- 
 publican party, aided by the conservative men of both 
 parties, which has more than once received the approval 
 of the country, that, since 1878, by our legislation, we 
 have compelled gold and silver to w^ork together upon 
 an equality, both employed as safe means of exchange in 
 the business of our country. Let the bullion of the world 
 come into this market from Europe and Asia, and then, 
 w^hether gold flow^s out of this country or not, it flows 
 out of the channels of business and the avenues of trade, 
 and we are in danger of being driven to the use of silver 
 alone. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 RECIPROCITY. 
 
 Blaine Fully in Accord With McKinley — Inside History 
 of the Reciprocity Movement — McKinley Voted for 
 the Reciprocity Amendment, Both in the Committee 
 and in Congress — Congressman Grosvenor Shows How 
 the Reciprocity Clause Improved Foreign Trade — Gail 
 Hamilton on the Subject. 
 
 THE truth of history demands the statement that 
 Blaine's pet scheme of Recipi'ocity had a firm 
 friend in McKinley from the time of its inception. 
 Probably no man stood closer to Mr. Blaine in this 
 matter than Mr. William Eleroy Curtis, Secretary of 
 the Bureau of American Republics. He was in a 
 position to know not only the attitude of Mr. Blaine, 
 but that of other public men, in relation to the ques- 
 tion of Reciprocity. During the Ohio gubernatorial 
 campaign of 1891, an attempt was made by the 
 Democrats to show that Blaine was opposed to the 
 " McKinley Bill " and that McKinley had been op- 
 posed to Reciprocity. In an authorized interview 
 published in the Massillon (Ohio) Independent, 
 August 19, 1891, Mr. Curtis demolished both these 
 misrepresentations, as follows : 
 
 ' ' The history of the Reciprocity movement is this : 
 
 The Pan-American conference had the question under 
 
 359 
 
360 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 discussion while the House Committee on Ways and 
 Means was framing the present tariff law, and 
 adopted a report, written by Mr. Romero of Mexico, 
 recommending the adoption of reciprocity among 
 American nations so far as could be done without 
 impairing their necessary revenues. On February 
 10, 1880, Mr. Blaine met the House committee in 
 Mr. McKinley's rooms at the Ebbitt House. He ex- 
 plained the situation, and asked the committee not 
 to distui"b the duties on merchandise from South 
 America. 
 
 "They did not follow his suggestion, but prepared 
 their bill without regard to the conference. When 
 Mr. Blaine found that it was proposed to remove the 
 duty on sugar, he sent me to Mr. McKinley with a 
 proposition which he wanted added to the bill as an 
 amendment. It afterwards became known as the 
 Hale amendment. It provided that the President 
 should be authorized to take off the duty on sugar 
 whenever the sugar producing nations removed their 
 duties on our farm products and certain other 
 articles. 
 
 "Mr. McKinley presented this amendment to the 
 Committee on Ways and Means. It was not adopted. 
 Mr. McKinley voted for it the first time it was pre- 
 sented. Then a second proposition containing some 
 modifications was presented, and Mr. McKinley 
 voted for that, as he voted for the Blaine reciprocity 
 amendment every time it was submitted in whatever 
 form. 
 
 "It has been currently reported that Mr. Blaine 
 
RECIPROCITY. 361 
 
 denounced the McKinley bill with so much vigor 
 that he smashed his hat. Mr. Blaine's opposition to 
 the bill was because of the free sugar clause. He 
 criticised the refusal of Congress to take advantage 
 of conditions which he thought were very favorable 
 to our trade. They proposed to throw away the duty 
 on sugar when he wanted them to trade with it. 
 
 ' ' When what was known as the Aldrich amend- 
 ment was adopted, Mr. Blaine was perfectly satisfied, 
 and there is nothing in the current tales that he is 
 unfriendly to McKinley. On the contrary, he is one 
 of his warmest friends. Had it not been -for Mr. 
 McKinley and Senator Aldrich of Rhode Island the 
 reciprocity clause in the tariff act would never have 
 been adopted." 
 
 Mr. Curtis is not the only authority we have on 
 this point. In a recent speech by Hon. Charles H. 
 Grosvenor he referred not only to the benefits of the 
 McKinley law, but to its effect in increasing foreign 
 commerce : 
 
 Who spoke anywhere about the rates of the McKinley 
 law as compared with the rates of the schedules of the 
 Wilson bill? Who talked about it? Nobody charged 
 with any duty, nobody authorized by any political party 
 or any political organization. The whole burden of our 
 campaign was that the Democratic party is seeking to 
 overthrow just and adequate protection to American 
 industry. We are for that principle ; they are against 
 it. That was the shibboleth, and in hoc signo vinces. 
 
 The talk about changing the issue upon which the 
 RepubHcans are to fight the battle of 1896, and deserting 
 
362 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 protection, comes from two sources only. The Demo- 
 cratic leaders want it to a man. They realize that it w^as 
 the tariff which defeated them both this year and last, 
 and that it will inevitably defeat them again. They are 
 anxious for the change w^hich some alleged Republican 
 organs are foolish enough to suggest. 
 
 If they can only induce the Republicans to fight the 
 campaign of 1896 on the money question, if there is any 
 such question, at the same time it gave to this country 
 the largest foreign trade and the largest free list of non- 
 competing foreign products it has ever known. 
 
 Gail Hamilton, in her recently published biography 
 of James G. Blaine, states that Mr. McKinley was one 
 of the'earliest converts to Reciprocity. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION. 
 
 An Open School-house the Highest Evidence of Civiliza- 
 tion — It Makes the Great Possibilities of the Republic 
 — Security for Our Liberties and Independence — A 
 Teacher Once Himself, McKinley Speaks Lovingly 
 _ and Enthusiastically on Our Public System of Educa- 
 tion — A Word on the Jewish Race. 
 
 FROM an educational standpoint, it may be truth- 
 fully said that McKinley represents our public 
 school system, which he has so frequently referred to 
 with force and eloquence. Like many other Amer- 
 ican statesmen, his early education was imbibed at 
 the country school-house, which has done perhaps 
 more than any other element of our civilization to 
 spread the patriotic sentiments which inspire us with 
 love for the Republic. As has been shown in the 
 chapter on his boyhood days, McKinley not only 
 attended the country school in true American fashion, 
 but we find him, when quite a young man, teaching 
 school near Poland in a little school-house, a sketch 
 of which may be found in this volume. It is true he 
 afterwards went to college for a short time, but the 
 foundation of his education lay in the public schools 
 «f the United States. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it is hardly a matter of 
 
 363 
 
364 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 surprise that McKinley should be an enthusiastic 
 admirer of our public school system ; that he should 
 on every opportunity refer to it with a feeling of 
 affection, and that he should regard the little school- 
 house as the strongest rock and the most enduring 
 stone of the temple of liberty. One has a large range 
 of speeches on educational matters to select from, as 
 he has delivered, during the twenty years of his pub- 
 lic career, numerous addresses bearing on this topic. 
 The extracts presented below are from an address at 
 the dedication of a public school building at Canal 
 Fulton, Ohio, August 30, 1887. The sentiments ex- 
 pressed therein are so inspiring to the youth of the 
 country that they have been selected in preference to 
 some more pretentious addresses : 
 
 An open school-house, free to all, evidences the high- 
 est type of advanced civilization. It is the gateway to 
 progress, prosperity and honor, and the best security for 
 the liberties and independence of the people. It is the 
 strongest rock of the foundation, the most enduring stone 
 of the temple of liberty ; our surest stay in every storm, 
 our present safety, our future hope — aye, the very cita- 
 del of our influence and power. It is better than garri- 
 sons and guns, than forts and fleets. An educated 
 people, governed by true moral principles, can never 
 take a backward step, nor be dispossessed of their citizen- 
 ship or liberties. 
 
 What a marvelous conception is the public school sys- 
 tem of Ohio ! 
 
 Permanently ingrafted upon the policy and legislation 
 of the State, it is free to all ; to it all are invited and 
 welcome, without money and without price. It is sup-. 
 
PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION. 365 
 
 ported with boundless generosity by the people of the 
 State, open to the children of the humblest citizen or ex- 
 iled sojourner within our gates, as freely and ungrudg- 
 ingly as to the native-born, or the children of the most 
 opulent. Within its jurisdiction all distinctions, social, 
 political and religious, are banished ; all differences 
 hushed ; all barriers removed. It recognizes neither party 
 nor church, creed, condition, nor station ; but, free as the 
 air we breathe, its bounties and benefits fall in equal 
 measure upon all. 
 
 I fear sometimes that we do not appreciate these ad- 
 vantages and blessings. The older men and women 
 before me realize the disparity between the educational 
 facilities of their childhood and those enjoyed by the 
 present generation. The log school-house is gone ; in its 
 place stands the stately modern edifice, built by the 
 thoughtful generosity of a great State. The few weeks, 
 or at best months, of schooling in a whole year, with long 
 distances to travel to secure even the meager advantages 
 of the earlier times, have given place to full ten months' 
 instruction at every cross-roads, within easy reach of the 
 children of every hamlet. The simple studies of reading, 
 writing and arithmetic, which constituted the entire cur- 
 riculum of our fathers, and to which they so diligently 
 applied themselves, while still retained, have been sup- 
 plemented by a course of study which rivals even that of 
 the colleges. One marvels not that it includes scientific 
 and historical studies, the higher mathematics, the 
 ancient languages — all within grasp of the Ohio boy and 
 girl, all of use to the mental equipment of every-day life, 
 all essential to the higher and greater duties which every 
 American citizen may be called to perform. 
 
 These advantages should be sacredly cherished, never 
 
366 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 lightly regarded. The time to enjoy them is in youth ; 
 no other time is so opportune. If neglected then, they 
 are reasonably certain to remain forever unimproved. 
 Few men or women ever acquire an education after they 
 are twenty-five years of age. There are, of course, ex- 
 ceptions, but the exceptions are so rare that they but 
 enforce the rule, and are only noted in men and wome!n 
 of exceptional character and great mental endowments. 
 It is said that no man learns to spell after he is forty, and 
 that only a limited few learn to read or write when be- 
 yond that age. The rudiments must be acquired when 
 we are young, or they are never acquired ; this is the 
 common experience of mankind. There is no time for 
 study when the active, busy, struggling period in every 
 man's life sets in. The fight for bread and butter shuts 
 out all inclination for it. Our daily round of duties com- 
 mands our time and faculties, often to the exclusion of 
 even current reading, and always of hard mental labor 
 and close thought. We have no time to waste in this 
 short, hurrying life. The early years are the golden ones 
 for preparation ; not a moment should be squandered. 
 It might be otherwise could we realize the sentiment of 
 the old rhyme : 
 
 Could a man be secure 
 
 That his days would endure 
 As of old, for a thousand long years — 
 
 What things might he know, 
 
 What deeds might he do. 
 
 What reap and what sow^, 
 And all without hurry and care ! 
 
 But it is otherwise ordained ; " our brief span " admits 
 of no idleness, no loitering by the way. The to-morrows 
 are too full to be crowded with the yesterdays. We must 
 move on and forward. We must learn that every day is 
 
PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION. 
 
 367 
 
 a new day, with its own distinctive and commanding 
 duties, and can not atone for the yesterdays unimproved. 
 To-morrow's tent must be pitched in new fields; to- 
 morrow^'s thought in advance of yesterday's. We must 
 keep up, or be crowded out. I congratulate you most 
 heartily upon the grand opportunities to which you are 
 invited and the matchless age in which you live. I en- 
 join you to improve the one and appreciate the responsi- 
 bilities and inspiration of the other. Never country had 
 such a fortune, as men speak of fortune, as this — in its 
 resources, its history and majestic possibilities. Make 
 every effort to put yourself in the line of your country's 
 possibilities. Make every sacrifice to embrace the ad- 
 vantages so freely afforded you by the State, and in after 
 life you will not account them as sacrifices, but turn to 
 them as genuine blessings ; for they will spare you many 
 conflicts, many blunders, many heart-burnings, and re- 
 move many hindrances in your onward path. 
 
 You can afford to appear here in any department, 
 from the primary to the high school, poorly dressed, if 
 your necessities require it. You can face the sharp and 
 sometimes humiliating contrast with your more fortunate 
 and better-dressed classmate, for be assured that attention 
 to your studies, thought and industry in your work, and 
 a hearty rer^lization of your advantages and duties, will 
 remove these differences in a few years. With your 
 growth and progress, your patched and shabby clothes 
 will be wholly forgotton, or if recollected, remembered 
 only to your honor, and your independence will stand as 
 an example worthy of emulation by the struggling boys 
 who are to follow you. The poor and shabbily clad boy, 
 with clean face and clear head, seeking and appreciating 
 the advantages of the public school, will win his way 
 
368 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 against all opposition. His future is assured. The Want 
 of the time is manly men, men of character, culture and 
 courage, of faith and sincerity ; the exalted manhood 
 which forges its way to the front by force of its own 
 merits. Self-earned stations are the best and most secure ; 
 self-earned reputations the most lasting. What you have 
 fairly acquired by your own brain and conscience and 
 mind belongs to you. It is your throne, from which you 
 cannot be misplaced ; your scepter, which you alone 
 have the right to wield. It is your priceless possession. 
 A man may get rich in a day or an hour by the quick 
 turn of fortunate speculation, but the only wealth which 
 lasts and wears is that which builds steadily up through 
 honesty, industry and sacrifice. 
 
 Another address, somewhat of a different charac- 
 ter, but in a large measure bearing on education, was 
 that delivered July 18, 1893, upon the occasion of 
 the silver jubilee of the Jewish Orphan Asylum of 
 Cleveland, at Saengerfest Hall. In this address he 
 touched more upon the necessity of higher education 
 for the youth of the country. It is not improbable 
 that McKinley may have felt during his career the 
 need of that thorough classical training from which 
 he was precluded, partly on account of the inability 
 of his parents to defray the expenses of a long course, 
 and partly on account of his own desire to take an 
 active part in the war. Among other things he said : 
 
 The young men and young women who succeed now- 
 a-days must succeed because of superior knowledge. 
 This is an age of exactness. What you know you must 
 know well and thoroughly, and to reach prominence you 
 
PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION. 369 
 
 must know it better than anybody else. It will not do to 
 know a thing half any longer. You must know it- all, 
 and the man who knows a few things — worthy things, I 
 mean, in science or art or mechanics or business — ^better 
 than those around him, is the man who will succeed. 
 
 And the only way to acquire knowledge is to labor 
 There is no substitute for it. The best time to get it is 
 when you are young. Proxies are not recognized either 
 in the intellectual or business conflicts of the present day . 
 To use a homely but expressive phrase, " You must hoe 
 your own row." 
 
 Don't try to master too many things. A few things 
 of which you are thoroughly master give you batter 
 equipment for life's struggles than a whole arsenal of 
 half-mastered and half-matured things. 
 
 This is the soundest kind of advice for young peo- 
 ple, whether they are able to secure for themselves a 
 college or university training or not. Certainly 
 McKinley himself is an illustration of the great suc- 
 cess a man can make by doing what he undertakes 
 thoroughly, and not undertaking too many things. 
 While it has been shown in this volume that McKin- 
 ley has a broad grasp on all public questions likely 
 to come up for consideration, his superior knowledge 
 of matters relating to the public revenue has given 
 him his great prominence. Referring to the Jewish 
 race, McKinley said, in this same address • 
 
 You belong to a great race and a great age, and you 
 are citizens of the greatest country on the face of the 
 earth. Every opportunity is open to you as it is to me, 
 and to every citizen as they have never been opened in 
 
370 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 any other quarter of the globe. Here is absolute 
 equality of opportunity and of advantage, and those who 
 can win must do so by force and their ow^n merit ; and 
 here what you win you can wear. 
 
 The Jewish people have for centuries been conspicuous 
 in almost every department of life. In music they have 
 taken the highest rank as composers and performers. 
 Mendelssohn, Rubenstein and Joachim have few equals. 
 As actors, they had Rachael and Bernhardt, and a long 
 list beside who have been recognized as stars the world 
 over. Among the philosophers is to be named the great 
 Spinoza ; in medicine, Franke ; in Greek literature, 
 Bernays ; while Benfrey was the first of Sanscrit schol- 
 ars ; Ricardo, conspicuous in political economy, and Sir 
 Moses Montefiore, the great philanthropist, who died 
 full of honors, a century old, w^hose memory is cherished 
 the world over. His intellectual and physical faculties 
 were marvelous. He retained his mental faculties until 
 the last. After he was eighty years old, in the interest 
 of his race and humanity, he made four great journeys — 
 two to Jerusalem, one to Roumania, and one to Russia. 
 He -was always doing good. 
 
 I observe from your souvenir that here in this institu- 
 tion you sacredly observe his memory. He was broad- 
 minded, not bigoted, loving his race and believing in it, 
 and yet helping Gentile as well as Jew. He contributed 
 to build Protestant churches and found hospitals for the 
 Turk and the Catholic, and assisted in every way to the 
 elevation of all races and all colors of men. 
 
 In statesmanship, Lasker and Gambetta and Disraeli 
 stand out as the commanding figures. The story of Dis- 
 raeli's first speech demonstrates his pluck and persistency, 
 his faith in himself and his race. He ventured on one 
 
PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION. 
 
 371 
 
 occasion, when new in Parliament, to call the great 
 I>aniel O'Connell to account, then at the very summit of 
 his fame. The learned parliamentarian sneered at the 
 interruption and stared at Disraeli with insolence, while 
 the whole house joined in mockery at what they called 
 the young upstart. Disraeli raised his voice above the 
 confusion and, shaking his thin hand at the hostile house, 
 cried out : " The time will come when you will be glad 
 to hear me," and that time came. 
 
 This is an interesting field in which I have entered, but 
 the time allotted to me demands that I no longer tarry 
 here. George Eliot, writing a few years ago about the 
 Jewish race and as indicating the rank they had already 
 taken, said : " At this moment the leader of the Liberal 
 party in Germany is a Jew ; the leader of the Republican 
 party in France is a Jew, and the leader of the Conserv- 
 ative party in England is a Jew." Our own country 
 can furnish a long list of useful and conspicuous men of 
 your race — merchants and bankers, philanthropists and 
 patriots, physicians and lawyers, authors and orators 
 and editors, teachers and preachers — all of them furnish- 
 ing the young people of this Jewish orphan asylum 
 worthy models to excite their ambition to become worthy 
 successors. 
 
 The last important address by McKinley on edu- 
 cation was at the reunion or commencement exer- 
 cises of the Northwestern University of Chicago, 
 June 13, 1895. Speaking at this time particularly 
 of university education, he said: 
 
 The beginning of education is the home and the great- 
 est advantage of the American system of instruction is 
 largely due to the elevated influences of the happy and 
 
372 
 
 LIFK OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 prosperous homes of our people. There is the foundation 
 of the most important part of education ; if the home life 
 is pure, sincere and good, the child is usually well pre- 
 pared to receive all the advantages and inspirations of 
 more advanced education. The American home where 
 honesty, sobriety and truth preside, and a simple, every- 
 day virtue without pomp and ostentation is practiced, is 
 the nursery of all true educations. Out of such homes 
 usually come the men and women w^ho make our citizen- 
 ship pure and elevated, and the State and the Nation 
 long and enduring. John Milton spoke words of wisdom 
 more than three centuries ago when he said : " To make 
 the people fittest to choose and the chosen fittest to gov- 
 ern will be to mend our faulty education." 
 
 The value of university education can not be over- 
 estimated. Its support can not be too generous nor 
 too earnest upon the part of our people, and after, all 
 the hope of the Republic, its safety and security, 
 and the strength and prosperity of public govern- 
 ment, must rest upon the great public school system 
 now happily and firmly established throughout the 
 United States. Nothing can take its place, and for- 
 tunately the public school is everywhere becoming 
 the vestibule to the university. As the curriculum of 
 the free school is advancing, the tie between the 
 fundamental and advanced education is ■ closer and 
 stronger, and is more clearly recognized and appre- 
 ciated everywhere. Continuing, McKinley says : 
 
 We cannot have too much education if it be of the 
 right kind, and if it be rightly applied it is of inestimable 
 value to the citizen in every walk and branch of life. 
 
PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION. 
 
 373 
 
 Young man and young woman, what your education will 
 be and do for you depends upon yourselves. The chief 
 difference in men in school or out is the amount of work 
 they do. No measure of genius, so-called, will take the 
 place of well-directed hard work in any and every calling 
 of life. There is no royal road to learning, no substitute 
 yet discovered for industry. You have seen, as we all 
 have seen, the most brilliant man overtaken in the race 
 by one known in the class-room for indifferent ability, 
 but always the plodder, pushing on and on in the face 
 of inherent disadvantages to the successful realization 
 of a high and determined purpose. 
 
 Referring, however, in a latter part of this address, 
 to those who have made great names for themselves 
 without a college education, McKinley spoke thus 
 of Lincoln : 
 
 No college can make you great, no university can 
 make you successful. These achievements, and it is the 
 common experience of mankind, depend upon yourself. 
 The secret of getting on is to keep always moving to- 
 ward a cherished object. The way-train may have the 
 same running schedule as the through train, but the latter 
 reaches its destination first because it makes fewer stops 
 and it keeps going. Exertion is the secret of success in 
 life. Mr. Lincoln represents a well-known type, one of 
 the best types of the patriotic, self-reliant American. 
 He was not a university man and yet not an uneducated 
 man. He was not without great learning, but educated 
 himself in the school of experience by the severe discipline 
 of rigid application and patient investigation. With 
 such facilities as you enjoy and his determination, what 
 might not be expected of a college man of to-day ? 
 
374 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 In concluding this address, he urged upon his 
 hearers the necessity of a citizenship worthy of the 
 great Republic, and pointed out that this had been 
 due in a large measure to the effectiveness of the 
 higher schools and colleges. His words were elo- 
 quent and to the point : 
 
 But we must not forget that the whole aim and object 
 of education is to elevate the standard of citizenship. 
 The uplifting of our schools will result in a higher and 
 better tone in business and professional life. Old meth- 
 ods and standards may be good, but they must advance 
 with the new needs and problems of the age. The 
 methods of the eighteenth century -will not suffice for 
 the twentieth any more than the pack horse could meet 
 the demands of the great freight traffic of to-day. This 
 age demands an education which will not lack in any 
 degree the inestimable advantages of high and intel- 
 lectual culture, which will best befit the man and the 
 woman for the calling in which he or she have placed 
 themselves. Never forget that the moral element must 
 not be omitted. Christian character is the foundation 
 upon which we must build if our citizenship is to be 
 lifted up, and our institutions are to endure. Our obli- 
 gations for the splendid advantages we enjoy should not 
 rest upon us too lightly. We owe to our country, we owe 
 to our commonwealth much. We must give in return 
 for these matchless educational opportunities the best 
 work, the best achievements and the best results in our 
 own lives. Unless we make our citizenship worthy of 
 the great Republic, intelligent, patriotic and self-sacri- 
 ficing, all our institutions will fail in their high purpose 
 and our civilization will inevitably decline. Our hope 
 
PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION. 
 
 375 
 
 is in the public school and the university. Let us fer- 
 vently pray that they may always be as generously sup- 
 ported, and that those who go out from them, go out 
 from these w^alls, go out from kindred institutions, shall 
 be themselves the best witnesses of their force and virtue 
 in popular government. 
 
 That McKinley has comprehensive views on the 
 vast educational system of the country his public 
 utterances certainly indicate;. There is nothing sec- 
 tarian, nothing narrow, about his views on this im- 
 portant subject. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 VIEWS ON RELIGION. 
 
 McKinley a Religious Man — Believes Religion a Potent 
 Force for Good — Keep Your Heart Pure — No Presi- 
 dent from Washington to the Present Time Who Pub- 
 licly Avowed Infidelity or Scoffed at the Faith of the 
 Masses — Religion Makes a Higher Grade of Citizen- 
 ship. 
 
 WILLIAM McKINLEY is not only a sincere 
 and earnest man, but a religious man. He is 
 a member of the Methodist church. This religious 
 spirit has helped him a great deal in his career. He 
 is one of those who believe that religion is the strong- 
 est, most lasting and most vivacious of all the powers 
 in our world ; that it is imbedded firm as a rock in 
 the institutions of the Republic. If we glance at the 
 facts for a moment, this view of religion is borne 
 out. 
 
 There are in the United States 143 distinct denomi- 
 nations, besides independent Lutheran and unasso- 
 ciated Baptist churches and independent miscellane- 
 ous congregations. There are over twenty millions 
 actually communicants, and the united sitting capac- 
 ity of churches, halls and school-houses used for 
 religious purposes exceeds 46,000,000. There are 
 probably not less than 120,000 regular ministers, not 
 
 376 
 
VIEWS ON RELIGION. 377 
 
 including lay preachers, prea-ching the Word of God 
 in the myriad churches and school-houses of the 
 land. 
 
 Surely, religion is potent in this land, whei"e the 
 home, the school-house and the church lie at the 
 foundation of the Government and combined form the 
 most powerful, the most enduring, the most hopeful 
 forces for the continuation and upbuilding of the Re- 
 public. It is said we are a practical people, that we 
 care more for railroads and bridges and canals and 
 factories and mills and tall buildings than we do for 
 art and letters and music and the higher sentiments 
 of life. This is not true when applied to religious 
 sentiment, for no nation on earth has put such vast 
 sums of money into religious edifices and church 
 possessions as we have in a century — the largest part 
 of it in the last forty years. 
 
 In a speech that was full of that admirable, earnest 
 eloquence for which McKinley is famous, delivered 
 at the dedication of the Y. M. C. A. building at 
 Youngstown, Ohio, September 6, 1892, he said: 
 
 It is a good omen for our civilization and country 
 when these associations can be successfully planted as a 
 part of the system of permanent education for the im- 
 provement and elevation of the masses ; it is another 
 step upward and onward to a higher and grander Chris- 
 tian civilization. It is another recognition of the Master 
 who rules over all, a worthy tribute to Him who came on 
 earth to save fallen man and lead him to a higher plane. 
 It 'is an expression of your faith in an overruling Provi- 
 Idence, and strengthens the faith of every believer. You 
 
378 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 have been made better by the gifts you have bestowed 
 upon this now completed undertaking ; you have the 
 approval of not only your own conscience, but you have 
 the gratitude of the present generation, and you will 
 have, in all time to come, the blessings of those w^ho are 
 to be the future beneficiaries of this institution. Respect 
 for true religion and righteous living is on the increase. 
 Men no longer feel constrained to conceal their faith to 
 avoid derision. The religious believer commands and 
 receives the highest consideration at the hands of his 
 neighbors and countrymen, however much they may dis- 
 agree with him ; and when his life is made to conform to 
 his religious professions, his influence is almost without 
 limitation, wide-spread and far-reaching. 
 
 No man gets on so w^ell in this world as he whose daily 
 w^alk and conversation are clean and consistent, whose 
 heart is pure and whose life is honorable. A religious 
 spirit helps every man. It is at once a comfort and an 
 inspiration, and makes him stronger, wiser and better in 
 every relation of life. There is no substitute for it. It 
 may be assailed by its enemies, as it has been, but they 
 offer nothing in its place. It has stood the test of cen- 
 turies and has never failed to help and bless mankind. 
 It is stronger to-day than at any previous period of its 
 history, and every event like this you celebrate increases 
 its permanency and power. The world has use for the 
 young man who is well grounded in principle, who has 
 reverence for truth and religion, and courageously fol- 
 lows their teachings. Employment awaits his coming 
 and honor crowns his path. More than all this, con- 
 scious of rectitude, he meets the cares of life with cour- 
 age ; the duties which confront him he discharges with 
 manly honesty. These associations elevate and purify 
 
VIEWS ON RELIGION. 
 
 '379 
 
 our citizenship, and establish more firmly the foundations 
 of our free institutions. The men who established this 
 Government had faith in God and sublimely trusted 
 in Him. They besought His counsel and advice 
 in every step of their progress. And so it has been 
 ever since ; American history abounds in instances 
 of this trait of piety, this sincere reliance on a Higher 
 Power in all great trials in our National affairs. Our 
 rulers may not alvsrays be observers of the outward forms 
 of religion, but we have never had a President, from 
 Washington to Harrison, who publicly avowed infi- 
 delity, or scoffed at the faith of the masses of our people. 
 
 These are inspiring words for the youth of the 
 country. The Eleventh Census shows that the value 
 of Church property in 1890 was nearly $700,000,000. 
 To-day it is safe to assume that the churches of the 
 United States represent this enormous sum — an 
 amount equivalent to twice the capital invested in the 
 manufacture of clothing ; to three times the capital 
 invested in furnishing flour ; to nearly twice the 
 capital used in the production of iron and steel ; a 
 sum equivalent to the aggregate combined capital 
 invested in the manufacture of liquor, woolen goods, 
 boots and shoes, and carriages and wagons — a sum 
 so vast that if invested in the manufacture of boots 
 and shoes, bread-baking, brick-making, carpenter- 
 ing, car-building, clothing, dressmaking, furniture 
 and the manufacture of hats, would have paid in 
 wages in 1890 the stupendous sum of $498,000,000, 
 sufficient to employ eight or nine hundred thousand 
 persons in the particular industries named. Had 
 
38o 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 this capital been invested in these industries instead 
 of in ecclesiastical edifices and church property, the 
 annual amount paid out in wages would have been 
 equivalent to half the amount paid in wages for all 
 manufacturing industries in 1880, and over one-fifth 
 of the amount thus expended, according to the 
 census of 1890. Religion is indeed a vital force. 
 
 In an address before the General Synod of the 
 Lutheran Church at Canton, Ohio, May 27, 1893, 
 McKinley read the following words of Washington, 
 and endorsed them as a safe guide for the Nation : 
 
 It would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first 
 official act, my fervent supplication to that Almighty 
 Father who rules over the universe, -who presides in the 
 councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply 
 every human defect, that His benediction may be secured 
 to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United 
 States and the Government instituted by themselves, and 
 may enable every instrument employed in its administra- 
 tion to execute with success the functions allotted to its 
 charge. In tendering this homage to the great Author 
 of every public and private good, I assure myself that it 
 expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those 
 of my fellow-citizens at large less than either. No people 
 can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible 
 hand which conducts the aflfairs of man more than the 
 people of the United States. Every step by which they 
 have advanced to the character of an independent nation 
 seems to have been distinguished by some token of prov- 
 idential agency. In the important revolution just ac- 
 complished, in the system of their united government, 
 the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so 
 
VIEWS ON RELIGION. ogl 
 
 many distinct communities from which the event has 
 resulted, can not be compared with the means by which 
 most governments have been established, without some 
 return of pioug gratitude, along with an humble antici- 
 pation of the future blessings which the past seems to 
 presage. These reflections arising out of the present 
 crisis have forced themselves too strongly on my mind 
 to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in 
 thinking that there are none under the influence of which 
 the proceedings of a new and free government can more 
 auspiciously commence. 
 
 Speaking before the Epworth League, in Cleve- 
 land, June 30, 1893, he paid this high and deserved 
 tribute to the Epworth League : 
 
 I am glad and honored to welcome you to the State of 
 Ohio. A return to birthplace is always interesting, and 
 this was the birthplace of the Epworth League. It ex- 
 cites the tenderest emotions and sentiments of the human 
 heart, and recalls the sweetest memories and associations. 
 Such a visit is suggestive of retrospection and introspec- 
 tion, and, if the intervening years have been successful, 
 of congratulation and felicitation. You could have had 
 no better State in which to be bom than Ohio, and no 
 better place in Ohio than the city of Cleveland. We are 
 proud of the fact that the Epworth League started here, 
 and rejoice in its marvelous success, and affectionately 
 welcome the daughter to her home and to our hearts. 
 We share in the pride which the Christian vvorld feels 
 over the great achievements already recorded and of the 
 certain promise of still greater honors yet to be recorded. 
 The purpose of your organization is worthy of the high- 
 est commendation. However we may differ in our relig- 
 
382 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 ious beliefs, your aims command the approval of those 
 who respect good conscience and value good character. 
 The League seeks to build up the moral nature and pro- 
 mote the intellectual culture of the youth of the land. It 
 looks after the heart and head of the young people, and 
 neglects neither. It is calculated to secure well-rounded 
 manhood and w^omanhood. It provides moral and mental 
 equipment. It engages the mind with useful and elevat- 
 ing thoughts. It unites righteousness and reason, piety 
 and patriotism, and gives strength and purity to the 
 Church and to the institutions of the country. It enlists 
 the youth and strength, the spirit and courage of one of 
 the great religious denominations of the world, and turns 
 them into a well-disciplined army, to battle for the no- 
 blest cause in which mankind ever engaged — the cause of 
 the Master and the man. It keeps young manhood pure 
 and saves it before evil associations have darkened its 
 life. It appeals to the nobler instincts of our nature, and 
 it promotes by its uplifting hand the best development 
 and contributes to the highest destiny of the race. 
 
 On a still more recent occasion, July 13, 1894, at 
 the greatest convention the Society of Christian En- 
 deavor ever held, McKinley delivered an oration 
 which shows not only his deep religious convictions, 
 but his broadness of mind. In opening, he said: 
 
 It is a mighty cause that would convene in any city of 
 any State of the Union the splendid assemblages of 
 people gathering in so many places this morning in this 
 city by the lake. No cause but one could have brought 
 together these noble, earnest people, and that is the 
 cause of the Master and the cause of man. It is fitting 
 that the largest convention of Christian Endeavorers 
 
VIEWS ON RELIGION. 
 
 383 
 
 ever held should be '.n the State of Ohio. I bring you 
 the welcome of the State which you have honored with 
 your presence, a State, the opening words of whose Con- 
 stitution make grateful acknowledgment to Almighty 
 God for our freedom; and it declares that religion, 
 morality and knowledge are essential to good govern- 
 ment ; and the law-making powers shall therefore pro- 
 tect every religious denomination in the peaceful enjoy- 
 ment of its own mode of public worship, and encour- 
 age schools and means of education. 
 
 These few extracts certainly show the religious 
 bent of McKinley's mind. It is in keeping with the 
 rest of the character of this serious and patriotic 
 statesman. While himself a member of the Metho- 
 dist church, his religion is broad enough to include 
 all the Christian sects, and reach out to that broader 
 humanity which he describes so eloquently in his 
 speeches. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 McKINLEY AS GOVERNOR. 
 
 An Administration Without Red Tape — A Wise and 
 Prudential Executive — Messages Plain Business Docu- 
 ments — Successful Management of Charitable Institu- 
 tions — Legislation for Protection and Comfort of 
 Workingmen — Passage of Arbitration Law — Faculty 
 for Settling Strikes — A Friend and Advocate of 
 Labor. 
 
 AS in his private life, so William McKinley's a<i- 
 ministration as Governor of Ohio has been con- 
 spicuous for unostentatiousness and simplicity. Vis- 
 itors to the executive office have frequently observed 
 the absence of red tape and the easiness of approach 
 to the Governor. 
 
 McKinley's policy, as chief executive of Ohio, has 
 been conservative. The opening paragraph of his 
 first inaugural address was as follows : 
 
 I approach the administration of the office with which 
 I have been clothed by the people deeply sensible of its 
 responsibilities, and resolved to discharge its duties to the 
 best of my ability. It is my desire to co-operate with 
 you in every endeavor to secure a w^ise, economical and 
 honorable administration, and, so far as can be done, the 
 improvement and elevation of the public service. 
 
 This indicated the policy of his administratioCj 
 
 384 
 
m'kinley as governor. 385 
 
 and during the four years of his term he has steadily- 
 followed the lines above mapped out. He has aimed 
 to give to the public institutions the benefit of the 
 services of the best men of the State ; and while there 
 has never been any question as to his stalwart Repub- 
 licanism, yet he has always tried to prevent ineffi- 
 ciency and demoralization in the management of the 
 State institutions through the introduction of extreme 
 partisanship. At the inception of his administration 
 he realized the tendency to extravagance in public 
 administration, and he advocated economy from the 
 start, and insisted upon it all through the four years 
 of his term, yet he approved of liberal appropriations 
 for necessities, and he has never believed in a stinted 
 provision for the care of the helpless and unfortunate 
 wards of the State. 
 
 There is official and impartial testimony to the high 
 state of efficiency of the benevolent institutions of 
 Ohio under McKinley's administration. Integrity in 
 public officials has ever been one of his cardinal doc- 
 trines ; and on proof being made clear to him of dis- 
 honesty on the part of any of his appointees, he has 
 not hesitated officially to decapitate them. Believing 
 that a good official record is the best basis for popu- 
 lar approval, he has never attempted as Governor to 
 build up a personal or factional "machine." No 
 Governor has ever had the esteem and affection of 
 his State official colleagues more than has McKinley. 
 In his dealings with the General Assembly he has 
 always been careful to observe the Constitutional 
 distinction between the executive and legislative 
 
386 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 branches of the State government, yet he has en- 
 deavored to keep "in touch" with the members of 
 the Legislature, and has been glad to confer with 
 them on matters of public interest. 
 
 His relations with the boards of trustees of the 
 various State institutions, and with the appointive 
 heads of departments, have been pleasant and con- 
 siderate. He has liked to talk over with them as to 
 the general policy of administration, and at proper 
 times he has not hesitated to make suggestions'; but 
 he has held responsible those who by law were given 
 authority over the various departments of the State 
 government ; he has trusted them and has allowed 
 them a wide sphere of liberty of opinion ; and he has 
 never thought it beneath his dignity even to yield 
 his own judgment to the judgment of his appoint^ees 
 when it was manifest that the good of the service 
 was aimed at by the appointees. He has always con- 
 ceded that matters of detail should be left to those 
 who were best competent to judge. 
 
 McKinley's messages to the Legislature have been 
 plain business documents relating solely to State 
 affairs. The first inaugural address, delivered Jan- 
 uary II, 1892, was somewhat of a surprise to those 
 who had thought that McKinley's knowledge was 
 restricted to matters of National import. This first 
 inaugural address demonstrated that he had due 
 appreciation of the material progress of his State so 
 far as it could be influenced by legislation. He 
 earnestly advocated legislation for the improvement 
 of country roads. In that address, as well as in sev- 
 
M'KINLEY AS GOVERNOR. ng^ 
 
 eral others, he strongly urged the conservation ana 
 development of the canals of the State. 
 
 McKinley had himself been the victim of unfair 
 " gerrymanders" — conspicuously so in 1890, when, 
 by his own popularity and strength of canvass, he 
 cut down a normal Democratic plurality of 3,000 to 
 300. In his first inaugural address he expressed his 
 views upon the subject of ' ' geiTymandering ' ' as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 You will be required under the new census to redis- 
 trict the State for Representatives in Congress. This 
 will afford you an opportunity to arrange the districts 
 with fairness to all. Make the districts so fair in their 
 relation to the political divisions of our people that they 
 will stand until a new census shall be taken. Make them 
 so impartial that no future Legislature will dare disturb 
 them until a new census and a new Congressional ap- 
 portionmen!: will make a change imperative. Extreme 
 partisanship in their arrangement should be avoided. 
 There is a sense of fair play among the people w^hich is 
 prompt to condemn a flagrant misuse of party advantage 
 at the expense of popular suffrage. Partisanship is not 
 to be discouraged, but encouraged in all things where 
 principle is at stake ; but a partisanship which would 
 take from the people their just representation, in the case 
 of the Congressional redistricting by the last Legislature, , 
 is an abuse of power which the people are swift to re- 
 buke. You must have observed from the returns of the 
 late election that the party which carried the State by a 
 plurality of more than twenty-one thousand and which 
 received a plurality in fifty-one counties of the eighty- 
 ight in Ohio, carried but seven Congressional Districts 
 
388 LIFE OF "WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 of the twenty-one — the minority party thus controlling 
 two-thirds of the Congressional Districts, and the major- 
 ity party only one-third. It will be your duty to re- 
 enfranchise the citizens of Ohio who were disfranchised 
 by the last legislative " gerrymander," and to restore to 
 the people their rightful voice in the National House of 
 Representatives. Free suffrage is of little service to the 
 citizen if its force be defeated by legislative machina- 
 tions in the form of a "gerrymander." The districts 
 should be made so as to give the party majority in a State 
 a majority of Representatives in the National House of 
 Representatives, and so arranged that if the party 
 majority shall change, the Representative majority shall 
 also change. 
 
 One of the greatest problems in Ohio is that of tax- 
 ation. In his messages of 1892, 1893 and 1894, he 
 drew the attention of the Legislature to this matter 
 and urged that a remedy be applied. His messages 
 of 1893 and 1894 show that he had given earnest 
 consideration to the question of municipal govern- 
 ment. He commendably drew attention to the 
 Federal plan of government, and yet he remarked 
 " that no system, however perfect in ideal, can be 
 satisfactory or meet public expectation, if those who 
 are entrusted with its execution are not capable and 
 honest. The trouble is more frequently with those 
 who administer the government of cities than with 
 the structure of the government itself." 
 
 In his message of 1894 he called attention to a 
 growing evil not only in Ohio but in other States — ■ 
 that of recklessness in authorizing local indebtedness. 
 
M'KINLEY AS GOVERNOR. 389 
 
 He urged that local and special legislation should be 
 avoided as far as possible, and laid down the rule 
 that "the creation of local indebtedness of counties 
 and municipalities should not be authorized by the 
 General Assembly without submission to the people, 
 except for great emergency." 
 
 McKinley is one of those who believe that legisla- 
 tion can be over-done in quantity. In his message 
 of 1894, he remarked that " a short session and but 
 little legislation would be appreciated at a time like 
 this." It was largely because of his recommenda- 
 tion to the General Assembly of 1894 and his public 
 attitude upon that question, that the Legislature in 
 that year adopted a resolution to return to the intent 
 of the Constitution as to biennial sessions. The 
 Republican State Convention of 1893 adopted a reso- 
 lution in favor of biennial sessions. The experience 
 of biennial sessions in 1894-1895 was so satisfactory 
 that the Republican State Convention of 1895 
 reaffirmed its declaration of 1893. 
 
 McKinley has always been in favor of legislation 
 for the protection of workingmen in hazardous occu- 
 pations, and of procuring for them such considerate 
 treatment as of right belonged to them, and which 
 could be secured by enactment. In 1892 he recom- 
 mended legislation for the safety and comfort of 
 steam railroad employes ; and in 1893 he repeated 
 that recommendation, and specifically urged the 
 furnishing of automatic couplers and air-brakes for 
 all railroad cars used in the State. In the same year 
 he drew attention to the wonderful development of 
 
39° 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 street railways and the application of electricity 
 thereto, and urged that legislative requirements 
 should be made looking to the safety of employes 
 and the traveling public. He particularly recom- 
 mended that the Legislature should require that all 
 street cars should be furnished with ' ' vestibules ' ' to 
 protect the motormen and conductors from the severe 
 weather to which they are exposed ; and in pursu- 
 ance of this recommendation the Legislature of Ohio 
 passed such a law. 
 
 It would be expected that one who has devoted so 
 much time to study and effort to ameliorate the con- 
 ditions of labor and promote useful industries in this 
 country, as has McKinley, would take a deep inter- 
 est in the question of the best means of settling anr" 
 of preventing "labor troubles." And such is th 
 fact. Few, perhaps, have given this subject moii 
 thorough investigation and consideration. 
 
 The question, of course, with him has been : Whfv 
 can the State do to prevent or reduce to a minimurxi 
 the evils of these troubles? Years ago he becamt 
 convinced that just here was a field for useful legisla- 
 tion on lines of authorized and favored, rather than 
 compulsory arbitration. A warm advocate of arbi- 
 tration as the most enlightened and rational means 
 of composing international disputes, he saw no good 
 reason why the principle might not be applied in the 
 lesser controversies of men, and he has embraced 
 every suitable opportunity to impress and give effect 
 to these views. 
 
 On April 2, 1886, when the O'Neill bill for the 
 
m'kinley as governor. 391 
 
 settlement of controversies between inter-state com- 
 mon carriers and their employes by arbitral measures 
 was before the National House of Representatives, 
 he said in a speech of great cogency in support of the 
 measure : 
 
 I believe in the principle and tendency of the bill. It 
 confers no rights or privileges touching arbitration which 
 are not now enjoyed by common carriers and those 
 engaged in their service. It leaves them where it finds 
 them, with the right of voluntary arbitration to settle 
 their differences through a peaceful, orderly tribunal of 
 their own selection. It only follows the principle recog- 
 nized in many States of the Union, notably in Ohio and 
 Massachusetts, and gives National sanction and encour- 
 agement to a mode of settlement of grievances between 
 ^;mployer and employe which is approved by the best 
 judgment of the country and the enlightened sentiment 
 of all civilized people. While the bill does not compel 
 'Arbitration, its passage here will not be without influence 
 'ds a legislative suggestion in commending the principle 
 3to both capital and labor as the best and most economic 
 way of composing differences and settling disagreements, 
 which experience has uniformly shown, in the absence 
 .of an amicable adjustment, results in loss to all classes of 
 ,the community, and to none more than to the working- 
 men themselves. If by the passage of this simple meas- 
 ure arbitration as a system shall be aided to the slightest 
 Textent or advanced in private and public favor, or if it 
 'shall serve to attract the thoughtful attention of the 
 people to the subject, much will have been accomplished 
 for the good order of our communities and for the wel. 
 fare and prosperity of the people. 
 
392 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 After warning against too great reliance on tiie 
 efficacy of the measure to prevent strikes, etc., he 
 proceeds : 
 
 It simply proves that when the raihoad companies 
 operating through two or more States or Territories and 
 their employes shall agree upon and consent to an arbi- 
 tration, this bill will aid, encourage and assist the parties 
 concerned to get at the truth, to probe to the bottom, 
 ascertain the facts of the situation, by -which the Board 
 will be enabled to act intelligently and justly to all inter- 
 ests involved. 
 
 He combated the claim that arbitral awards would 
 be ineffective because wanting authority to enforce 
 them. He said : 
 
 I have the least concern on that score. We need bor- 
 row no trouble on that account. Refusal to obey the 
 judgment of the arbitration would be the exception and 
 not the rule, and an award honestly reached would be 
 sacredly observed. Nor am I troubled because there is 
 no compulsion to arbitrate in the first instance. Either 
 party provided for in the bill, believing it has a genuine 
 grievance and inviting the other to arbitrate, will occupy 
 a vantage ground which the other can not long success- 
 fully defy. There is a sense of fair play among the peo- 
 ple which, when crystallized into public judgment, is as 
 potent — aye, more potent — than statute or judicial de- 
 cree. No railroad corporation, no labor union, no body 
 of laboring men could long hold out against a fair and 
 equitable demand, backed by a willingness to submit the 
 justice of that demand to a board of competent arbitra- 
 tors. 
 
M'KINLPY AS GOVERNOR. 
 
 393 
 
 He commended that feature of the bill as of "great 
 practical value" which provided for the payment of 
 the expenses of arbitration out of the public treasury : 
 
 "It places both parties," he said, "upon an equality in 
 pursuing the investigation. A lack of means upon the 
 one hand or the other will not impair the fullest consid- 
 eration. The humblest and poorest can send for persons 
 and papers without incurring an expense which very 
 often they can illy bear." 
 
 Alluding to that provision authorizing the publica- 
 tion of the report after arbitration in case of continued 
 disagreement, he said : 
 
 The great public is put in possession of the grievances 
 and can judge who is right and who is wrong; and the 
 public judgment, whatever it may be, upon the one 
 side or the other, will be more forceful, more command- 
 ing, more certain of considerate attention, than any pen- 
 alty we could impose by legislative enactment. 
 
 He closed this not lengthy, but effective speech — 
 the bill passed the House the same day, as follows : 
 
 I believe, Mr. Chairman, in arbitration as a principle. 
 I believe it should prevail in the settlement of interna- 
 tional differences. It represents a higher civilization 
 than the arbitrament of war. I believe it is in close ac- 
 cord with the best thought and sentiment of mankind ; 
 I believe it is the true way of settling the differences be- 
 tween labor and capital ; I believe it will bring both to a 
 better understanding, uniting them closer in interests,, 
 and promoting better relations, avoiding force, avoiding 
 unjust exactions and oppression, avoiding loss of earnings 
 
394 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 to labor, avoiding disturbances to trade and transporta- 
 tion ; 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. 
 
 The bill as it was presented was not in all respects 
 in accord with his views, but it was amended more 
 nearly to conform therewith, and the speech should 
 be taken as in support of the principle of the bill, 
 rather than its details. 
 
 The features that should distinguish an arbitration 
 statute in the then and still undeveloped and ten- 
 tative state of the law on the subject, are clearly 
 foreshadowed by it. They may be indicated as 
 follows : 
 
 1 . Arbitration should be authorized and favored — 
 not compelled, and sh,ould be free of expense to the 
 parties. 
 
 2. The parties themselves should retain the 
 right of selecting their own arbitrators, if they so 
 desire. 
 
 3. Awards of arbitration should rest for their 
 sanction upon their own manifest justice and merits. 
 This, of course, would not apply where the 
 parties covenant in advance for other means of en- 
 forcement. 
 
 4. Investigations into causes of strikes, etc. , when 
 made, should be thorough and impartial ; and where 
 disagreements continue after awards or investigations, 
 the facts should be laid before the public. 
 
M'KINLEY AS GOVERNOR. 
 
 395 
 
 During his first term as Governor of Ohio, and as 
 a feature of his administration, the law was passed 
 creating the State Board of Arbitration. This law 
 is substantially a transcript of the Massachusetts 
 statute, which is the pioneer among the States of this 
 order of legislation. It is worthy of note in this 
 connection that the enactment of the present law of 
 Massachusetts occurred two months after the delivery 
 of McKinley's speech in Congress elucidating the 
 principles which should underlie arbitration ; and 
 further, that fifteen States have followed with like 
 legislation, Ohio being the third. 
 
 It embraced substantially the features above named, 
 and it was amended and improved during his second 
 term. He has watched the operation of the law with 
 zealous care, frequently consulting and advising 
 with the members of the Board in cases under con- 
 sideration. 
 
 The State Board, under the law, has cognizance of 
 controversies between employers and employes where 
 the latter number not less than twenty-five in the 
 same line of employment. Since its organization in 
 1893 (made non-partisan, though not so required by 
 statute) it has had to deal with twenty-eight strikes, 
 involving from thirty to upwards of two thousand 
 employes each. Fifteen of these have been settled 
 through the interposition of the Board, and the 
 remainder by the parties themselves. There have 
 been other cases of threatened strikes coming under 
 its jurisdiction which have received its attention. 
 
 In no instance where the parties to a controversy 
 
396 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 have agreed to abide by the award of the Board have 
 they failed to do so ; and in but one instance where 
 an investigation was made in which both parties par- 
 ticipated has there been a refusal so to abide, and there 
 the party refusing participated in the investigation 
 under protest. The experience of this Board thus 
 supports the view of McKinley, expressed ten years 
 ago, that awards should be respected and lived 
 up. to. 
 
 There is another fact to be noted in this connection 
 as vindicating his view that arbitration makes for 
 peace and good order. Neither the militia nor the 
 police have been called out on account of any strike 
 or dispute with which the Board has had anything to 
 do. There has been no breach of the peace or 
 malicious destruction of property growing out of 
 such ; although feeling had run so high and animosi- 
 ties had grown so strong in some instances that the 
 Board found, on appearing at the scenes of contro- 
 versy, much apprehension of outbreaks. In two 
 instances at least, applications had been made to the 
 Governor for force to prevent them. 
 
 But the Board has experienced no difficulty on this 
 score. The fact of it being regarded as a peaceful 
 agency of, and representing the State, exerted a 
 restraining and wholesome influence. 
 
 McKinley never failed to recommend visiting dele- 
 gations from these disputants (and they have not been 
 uncommon from both sides) to arbitrate their differ- 
 ences when unable to settle them themselves, nor to 
 point out that the State had provided ample means 
 
M'KINLEY AS GOVERNOR. 39I7 
 
 speedily to adjust them on the basis of justice and 
 reason, unless indeed they were ready to maintain 
 that such adjustment was not attainable by a tribunal 
 of their own selection (if they objected to that pro- 
 vided by the State) with power to develop every fact 
 bearing on the questions at issue. This logic was 
 irresistible. In some instances long-continued strikes 
 were thus brought to an end. In the miners' strike 
 in the Massillon district, where every effort at settle- 
 ment had failed, and hope of reaching one had 
 about departed, he, by the aid of the State Board, 
 brought the parties together in arbitration, when 
 each had looked upon such a solution as out of the 
 question, though the miners had desired it. Here 
 about twenty-five mines and upwards of two thou- 
 sand mine-workers had been idle for eight months. 
 The loss of earnings, wages and business consequent 
 upon this strike has been estimated at $1,000,000. 
 Yet there was no violence, no breach of the peace, 
 no malicious destruction of property, no cost to the 
 State. 
 
 In the summer of 1894 an employer of a great 
 number of men then on a strike called on the Gov- 
 ernor and inquired what he would do about ordering 
 out the militia in a certain contingency then thought 
 to be imminent. "It is needless," he answered, "to 
 ask what a public officer in Ohio will db. He does 
 his duty. The practical question is what can you 
 do, and what will your employes do, what can we 
 all do properly to divert the necessity of using force ? 
 That is the question for immediate solution , at which 
 
2o8 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 I have been engaged for some days." That day at 
 noon, July 17, 1894, there was a meeting at the 
 Governor's office, convened at his instance, and at 
 which he presided, of the employer, the State Board 
 of Arbitration (which had been on the ground for 
 some days as co-laborers in the cause of settlement) 
 and delegations of citizens and business men con- 
 cerned. Before McKinley retired to rest that night 
 he received a dispatch from the State Board of Arbi- 
 tration at Nelsonville, the headquarters of the strikers, 
 announcing the end of the great A. R. U. strike on 
 the Hocking Valley Railway. This occurred with- 
 out expense to the State and without even as much as 
 an assault to disturb the public peace. 
 
 By dawn on the i8th, the thousands of freight- 
 laden cars that had stood on switches for three 
 weeks, the numerous coal mines stopped through 
 sympathy for the strikers or for want of transporta- 
 tion facilities, and the four thousand men who had 
 been forced to idleness, began to stir, and in less than 
 twenty-four hours all were in motion and at work 
 with their wonted activity. The valleys and hills of 
 the Hocking and yards and docks of the company, 
 which during this period had been still and lifeless, 
 now resounded with the hum of industry. 
 
 McKinley has been so retiring and unobtrusive in 
 all these settlements that his activity has scarcely 
 been observed by the public. He takes no credit of 
 them to himself, but is free to bestow it upon others, 
 especially of the parties themselves who have co- 
 operated. 
 
M'KINLEY AS GOVERNOR. 399 
 
 Under his administration, the cause of arbitration 
 has so advanced that there is no longer apprehension 
 of labor riots in Ohio. It has come to be regarded 
 as prettj well settled that differences between em- 
 ployers and employes will be adjusted by peaceable 
 means, either by the parties themselves or by arbitral 
 measures. 
 
 From this brief epitome it will readily be perceived 
 that of all our public men, William McKinley easily 
 stands in the front as the firiend and advocate oi 
 arbitration . 
 
CHAPTER XXXI H. 
 
 JUSTICE AND MERCY. 
 
 McKinley's Love of Peace Never Interfered With Up- 
 holding Law and Order — Troubles in the Mining Dis- 
 tricts — McKinley's Military Experience Valuable — 
 Washington Court House and Tiffin Riots — Relieving 
 the Distress Among the Miners — Quick Night Work. 
 
 McKINLEY'S nature is permeated with the love 
 of peace. His counsels, his admonitions and 
 his advice are for peaceful settlements of disputes, 
 whether public or private. Through his efforts Ohio 
 has perhaps the best arbitration law to be found in 
 the country, by which hundreds of strikes and labor 
 difficulties have been settled peacefully and without 
 loss of time and money to either labor or capital. 
 He believes that all means for a peaceful solution o/ 
 whatever difficulty arises ought to be exhausted before 
 all effort in that direction is given up. 
 
 Yet with all his natural gentleness and love of peace, 
 he believes no less in law and order, and he has had 
 abundant opportunity of proving to the country what 
 a tower of strength a courageous executive may be. 
 At no time since the war has an Ohio Governor had so 
 many difficult problems of" this kind to solve. During 
 1894, the first year of McKinley's second term, no 
 less than fifteen calls were made upon the State Gov- 
 
 400 
 
JUSTICE AND MERCY. .qj 
 
 emment for military aid in upholding the law of the 
 commonwealth. And the local authorities knew that 
 all necessary aid would be forthcoming — there would 
 be no faltering. An outbreak against the laws of the 
 State and the good order of a community was 
 enough — Ohio's Governor could be depended upon 
 to act without delay in all cases. Yet he never 
 acted in the spirit of the demagogue nor the sub- 
 servient. 
 
 In the month of June, 1894, the great miners' 
 strike, involving every mining district in Ohio, was 
 the cause of many outbreaks among the turbulent ele- 
 ment. A disposition was shown to stop trains upon 
 the coal-carrying railroads, and otherwise to interfere 
 with the property rights of those not engaged in the 
 strike on either side. No sooner was this disposition 
 manifest and a call made upon the State for help, 
 than McKinley ordered out the several regiments of 
 the Ohio National Guard. These 'troops were called 
 into service one regiment at a time, until nearly 
 every soldier in Ohio was on duty — 3,600 in all. 
 These citizen-soldiers were in active service about 
 three weeks, and acquitted themselves in every par- 
 ticular. Their bearing was soldierly, their services 
 valuable and valued, and they reflected great credit 
 upon their Commander-in-chief. 
 
 McKinley took hold of the labor troubles with a 
 vigor that served notice upon the whole country that 
 he meant to uphold the dignity and the good name 
 of the State as long as there was a soldier to obey 
 his orders. The very spirit thus exhibited inspired 
 
402 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 the troops, and indeed the whole State. What he 
 did was at the right time and in the right way. He^ 
 had been through four years of active service during 
 the war, and he knew better than did the young men 
 then in the coal valleys of the State what it was to 
 march and to fight. The experience of the four 
 years in the Virginias, coupled with the good sense 
 of the man, prevented the mistakes that so often 
 attend the efforts of well-meaning but inexperienced 
 men in charge of important movements. 
 
 General James C. Howe, Adjutant General of 
 Ohio, in his annual report to the Governor, in cover- 
 ing the period of the military operations during the 
 strike, says : 
 
 The complete success of the campaign was due largely 
 to the close watchfulness and numerous suggestions re- 
 ceived from you as Commander-in-chief. Knowing, as 
 you did, the every move and condition of the troops, 
 your care and attention reaching far into the early morn- 
 ing of every day — instructions and telegrams being re- 
 ceived at as late an hour as three o'clock a. m. — urged 
 forward those in the field, as you were certainly doing 
 that imposed upon you. 
 
 For a period of sixteen days the Governor re- 
 mained incessantly at his post, many of his orders to 
 his officers being sent out in the hours long after 
 midnight. Four in the morning came to be his reg- 
 ular hour for retiring. And while he was so regard- 
 less of his own health and comfort during those try- 
 ing times, he was ever thoughtful of the health and 
 
JUSTICE AND MERCY. ^O'? 
 
 comfort of the men in the field. The Cleveland, 
 Lorain & Wheeling Railroad Company announced 
 that traffic would be suspended on its road on Sunday, 
 June lo. Afterwards McKinley accidentally heard 
 that this program had been changed, and he 
 immediately sent the following order to General 
 Howe: 
 
 Columbus, O., June lo, 1894 — 11 : 40 a. m. 
 y antes C. Howe, Adjutant General, Wheeling' Creek, 
 
 via Bridgeport, O.: 
 
 What is the reason for change of purpose of C. L. & 
 W. about running trains to-day ? Rest to the Guard and 
 their health are of the highest importance. This being 
 Sunday, I hope its peace will not be broken. I would 
 deeply regret to learn of any conflict being brought on 
 to-day which w^as not necessary to the preservation of 
 the peace and protection to property in aid of the civil 
 authority. 
 
 Wm. McKinley, Governor. 
 
 Another outbreak, requiring the presence of the 
 militia, was at Washington Court House, Fayette 
 county, Ohio, in October, 1894. There was an out- 
 break among the people of that town, over the com- 
 mission of a heinous crime. The criminal was appre- 
 hended in Delaware county, and was brought to 
 Washington Court House for trial. The call for 
 troops was made when the prisoner was first brought 
 back to Fayette county. He was promptly indicted, 
 tried and sentenced, and received the full limit of 
 the law. Justice was swift and sure in this case, but 
 this did not seem to satisfy the mob, the leaders of 
 
404 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 which insisted upou lynching the prisoner. In the 
 melee which followed, three people were killed. A 
 court of inquiry was instituted to inquire into the 
 conduct of Colonel Coit, who was in command of 
 the military, and he was exonerated. McKinley 
 gave this exoneration the most unequivocal endorse- 
 ment. In the concluding portion of this endorsement 
 the following characteristic language is used : 
 
 The law was upheld as it should have been, and, as I 
 believe, it always will be in Ohio — but in this case at 
 fearful cost. Much as the destruction of life which took 
 place is deplored by all good citizens, and much as we 
 sympathize with those who suffered in this most unfor- 
 tunate affair, surely no friend of law and order can justly 
 condemn the National Guard, under command of Colonel 
 Coit, for having performed its duty fearlessly and faith- 
 fully, and in the face of great danger, for the peace and 
 dignity and honor of the State. 
 
 Lynching cannot be tolerated in Ohio. The law of 
 the State must be supreme over all, and the agents of 
 the law, acting within the law, must be sustained. 
 
 The proceedings and findings of the court of inquiry 
 have been carefully considered by me. I hereby an- 
 nounce my approval of the conclusions of said court, 
 which find that Colonel Coit and his officers and enlisted 
 men of the Fourteenth Infantry, O. N. G., acted with 
 prudence and judgment and within the law, supporting 
 the civil authority of Fayette county, and in the aid of 
 it, and acting in pursuance of lawful orders, and that 
 they performed their duty with singular fidelity, and that 
 through them the majesty of the law and government by 
 law was vindicated and sustained. 
 
JUSTICE AND MERCY. 4O5 
 
 Again, in October, 1895, an attempt was made to 
 lynch a prisoner who was in the custody of the Sheriff 
 of Seneca county, of which Tiffin is the county-seat. 
 The Sheriff and his deputies manfully stood by their 
 posts. McKinley was appealed to for help, and with 
 promptness that was almost startling, four companies 
 from as many cities were dispatched to the scene of 
 trouble. 
 
 Ohio's Governor had by this time shown the coun- 
 try that law and order would be upheld while he was 
 in command. There would be no lynching, no res- 
 cuing of prisoners, no rioting, no bridge burnings, 
 nor other crimes incident to turbulent times and fron- 
 tier life, without the whole force of the common- 
 wealth being put forward to prevent. The New York 
 Sun, in a leading editorial shortly after the Tiffin in- 
 cident, printed the following : 
 
 Honor to Governor McKinley of Ohio for his protec- 
 tion of a prisoner w^hose life was threatened by a mob of 
 lynchers ! As soon as he learned that the prison guards 
 at Tiffin were not strong enough to hold their ground 
 against the mob, and that there were but a few militia- 
 men in the place at the call of the Sheriff, he sent orders 
 by telegraph to Toledo, Sandusky, Fremont and Kenton, 
 that militia companies be dispatched to Tiffin. Within 
 a few hours a company from each of these places, or four 
 companies in all, arrived there armed and equipped, and 
 fully ready to try conclusions with the mob. The pres- 
 ence of this trained force at Tiffin, under command of 
 an experienced officer, proved to be all that was neces- 
 sary for the dispersal of the rioters and the prevention of 
 the lynching. 
 
406 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 It was but an act of duty, required for the preservation 
 of the peace and the maintenance of the supremacy of 
 the law of the State, that Governor McKinley performed ; 
 yet, when we think of the conduct of too many other 
 Governors under similar circumstances, we make haste to 
 come forward with praise for the Governor of Ohio. 
 
 Henceforward, a mob in any part of Ohio, got up to 
 break jail for the purpose of lynching a prisoner, will 
 know what they may expect, if they attempt to carry out 
 their design so long as William McKinley is Governor 
 of Ohio. 
 
 We are happy to say that there have been exceedingly 
 few "lynching bees" in the great and law-abiding State 
 of Ohio. We are able to recall but two or three of them 
 in w^e can riot say how many years. May the fate of the 
 dead and wounded rioters at Tiffin live in memory as the 
 last of them in the Buckeye State. 
 
 On January 7, 1895, the Trades Labor Union, 
 comprising the Hocking Valley mining district, held 
 a meeting in Nelsonville, the object of which was to 
 effect an organization and formulate some plan for 
 the relief of distress and destitution existing among 
 the miners and their families. 
 
 The question as to how relief could be secured and 
 through whom obtained, was discussed, which re- 
 sulted in the appointment of a committee, who were 
 authorized to wait upon McKinley, to present to him 
 in behalf of the miners the memorial adopted by the 
 meeting. On January 8, the committee, as directed, 
 called upon McKinley, to whom a statement' was 
 made relative to the condition of the miners, and the 
 
JUSTICE AND MERCY. .qh 
 
 need of prompt relief. No definite action was taken 
 at this conference, but McKinley suggested that the 
 committee return to Nelsonville and request the Mayor 
 to call a meeting of the citizens, to consider the ques- 
 tion of relief, and when advised of their action he 
 would take immediate steps toward carrying out their 
 wishes. 
 
 A meeting of the citizens was called as requested, 
 and the action of the previous meeting ratified and 
 McKinley informed accordingly. On January 9, 
 at II 145 p. M., McKinley was aroused by a messen- 
 ger with a dispatch from the chairman of the Relief 
 Committee, which read as follows: "Immediate 
 reHef needed." Upon receipt of the message, 
 McKinley dispatched messengers to the proprietor 
 of a wholesale grocery, a dealer in vegetables, flour, 
 etc., a transfer company and the officials of the 
 Hocking Valley Railroad Company, to meet him 
 immediately at his rooms. The object of the meeting 
 was for the purchase of a car load of provisions and 
 to arrange for the shipment early in the morning. 
 The supplies were purchased and loaded in the car 
 before 5 o'clock, a. m., and within nine hours 
 after the receipt of the message the car load of pro- 
 visions was in Nelsonville ready to be distributed to 
 the hungry. 
 
 McKinley not only purchased the supplies, but also 
 assumed the payment of the same. It was not his 
 purpose to ask the people to provide for the payment 
 of this car of provisions, amounting to nearly 
 $1,000.00, but some of his friends learned that he 
 
408 LIFB OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 had assumed the obligation and they at once took 
 the matter in hand and secured from State officers 
 and heads of departments the larger proportion of the 
 amount, which they turned over to him, this being 
 added to his own liberal subscription, thus meeting 
 the obligation assumed by him. 
 
 On January 14, the chairman of the General Com- 
 mittee wired McKinley that 1,763 miners were out 
 of employment and great distress existed in the fol- 
 lowing places: Corning, Rendville, Jacksonville 
 and Shawnee, where supplies would have to be sent 
 immediately to prevent further suifering. Upon the 
 receipt of the message, he authorized the purchase of 
 provisions for each of the mining regions, with 
 instructions to ship on first trains leaving Columbus. 
 The prompt action taken doubtless prevented actual 
 starvation. 
 
 On January 16, another appeal was made by the 
 chairman for supplies for Nelsonville, Lathrop, 
 Jacksonville, Shawnee, Rendville and other points. 
 The calls for help continued almost daily from Jan- 
 uary 10 to April 4, the last shipment being made on 
 the last named date. 
 
 McKinley appointed committees on the following 
 dates, January 10, 14 and 18, to visit the mining dis- 
 tricts to ascertain the real situation, that an intelligent 
 distribution of supplies should be made. 
 
 On February 19, he addressed a communication to 
 the Boards of Trade and Chamber of Commerce in 
 the following cities: Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleve- 
 land and Toledo, requesting the appointment of com- 
 
JUSTICE AND MERCY. ^OO 
 
 mittees to visit the mining districts, to make a 
 thorough and complete investigation of the situation 
 and report thereon. 
 
 During the progress of the relief work, on one 
 occasion McKinley was called away from the city, 
 but before leaving he gave positive instructions that 
 in the event of appeals being made for help, to see 
 that every demand made was met and not allow any 
 one to go hungry. These instructions were adhered 
 to, and the chairman of the General Committee 
 reported at the close of the work that the promptness 
 with which McKinley acted, and the liberal contri- 
 butions made, prevented hunger and suffering. 
 
 On February 27, the chairman reported 2,723 
 miners out of employment, representing a population 
 of at least 10,000. It will thus be seen that 2,732 
 miners and their families were made comfortable, 
 which required the expenditure of $32,796.95. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 The Story of Abraham Lincoln — McKinley's Oration on 
 the Great War President — A Man of the People — Re- 
 sult of Lincoln's Success — Washington and Lincoln 
 Compared — The Two Greatest Names in American 
 History. 
 
 ONE of the most masterly addresses on our great 
 American statesmen delivered by McKinley 
 was that on Lincoln, at Albany, New York, before 
 the Unconditional Republican Club, February 12, 
 1895. Many of his speeches, especially those deliv- 
 ered before Lincoln clubs, and on Lincoln birthdays, 
 fittingly refer to the greatest American statesman. 
 This oration is in itself a complete study of Abraham 
 Lincoln. McKinley opened by saying : 
 
 A noble manhood, nobly consecrated to man, never 
 dies. The martyr of liberty, the emancipator of a race, 
 the savior of the only free government among men may 
 be buried from human sight, but his deeds will live in 
 human gratitude forever. 
 
 The story of his simple life is the story of the plain, 
 honest, manly citizen, true patriot and profound states- 
 man who, believing with all the strength of his mighty 
 soul in the institutions of his country, w^on, because of 
 them, the highest place in its government — then fell a 
 
 410 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 4II 
 
 sacrifice to the Union he held so dear, and which Provi- 
 dence spared his life long enough to save. We meet to- 
 night to do honor to one whose achievements have 
 heightened human aspirations and broadened the field of 
 opportunity to the races of men. "While the party with 
 which we stand, and for which he stood, can justly claim 
 him, and without dispute can boast the distinction of 
 being the first to honor and trust him, his fame has 
 leaped the bounds of party and country, and now belongs 
 to mankind and the ages. 
 
 In the opinion of McKinley, the trait of character 
 which made Lincoln a leader and master without a 
 rival in the greatest crisis of our history was his deep- 
 rooted faith in the people. On this point McKinley 
 says: 
 
 Lincoln had sublime faith in the people. He walked 
 with and among them. He recognized the importance 
 and power of an enlightened public sentiment and was 
 guided by it. Even amid the vicissitudes of war he con- 
 cealed little from public review and inspection. In all 
 he did he invited rather than evaded examination and 
 criticism. He submitted his plans and purposes, as far 
 as practicable, to public consideration with perfect frank- 
 ness %nd sincerity. There was such homely simplicity in 
 his character that it could not be hedged in by the pomp 
 of place, nor the ceremonials of high pfficial station. He 
 was so accessible to the public that he seemed to take the 
 people into his confidence. Here, perhaps, was one se- 
 cret of his power. The people never lost their confidence 
 in him, however much they unconsciously added to his 
 personal discomfort and trials. His patience was almost 
 superhuman. And who will say that he was mistaken 
 
412 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 in his treatment of the thousands who thronged continu- 
 ally about him ? More than once when reproached for 
 permitting visitors to crowd upon him, he asked, in 
 pained surprise, "Why, what harm does this confidence 
 in men do me?" 
 
 This characteristic was the secret of his success as 
 chief magistrate of the Republic during the Civil 
 War. The people were always with him. Again 
 quoting from McKinley : 
 
 In all the long years of slavery agitation, Lincoln 
 always carried the people with him. In 1854 Illinois cast 
 loose from her old Democratic moorings and followed 
 his leadership in a most emphatic protest against the 
 repeal of the Missouri Compromise. In 1858 the people 
 of Illinois indorsed his opposition to the aggressions of 
 slavery, in a State usually Democratic, even against so 
 popular a leader as the Little Giant. In i860, the whole 
 country indorsed his position on slavery, even when the 
 people were continually harangued that his election 
 meant the dissolution of the Union. During the war the 
 people advanced with him step by step to its final over- 
 throw. Indeed, in the election of 1864, the people not 
 only indorsed emancipation, but went far toward recog- 
 nizing the political equality of the negro. They heartily 
 justified the President in having enlisted colored soldiers 
 to fight side by side with the white man in the noble 
 cause of union and liberty. Aye, they did more; they 
 indorsed his position on another and vastly more impor- 
 tant phase of the race problem. They approved his 
 course as President in re-organizing the government of 
 Louisiana, and a hostile press did not fail to call attention 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 4^3 
 
 to the fact that this meant eventually negro suffrage in 
 that State. 
 
 In comparing Washington and Lincoln, McKinley 
 again says : 
 
 The greatest names in American history are Washing- 
 ton and Lincoln. One is forever associated with the inde- 
 pendence of the States and formation of the Federal 
 Union ; the other with universal freedom and the preser- 
 vation of the Union. Washington enforced the Declara- 
 tion of Independence as against England; Lincoln 
 proclaimed its fulfillment not only to a down-trodden 
 race in America, but to all people for all time who may 
 seek the protection of our flag. These illustrious men 
 achieved grander results for mankind w^ithin a single 
 century, from 1775 to 1865, than any other men ever ac- 
 complished in all the years since first the flight of time 
 began. Washington engaged in no ordinary revolution ; 
 with him it was not who should rule, but what should 
 rule. He drew his sword not for a change of rulers 
 upon an established throne, but to establish a new 
 government which should acknowledge no throne but 
 the tribune of the people. Lincoln accepted war 
 to save the Union, the safeguard of our liberties, 
 and re-establish it on "indestructible foundations" as for- 
 ever " one and indivisible." To quote his own grand 
 words: Now we are contending " that this Nation under 
 God shall have a new birth of. freedom, and that gov- 
 ernment of the people, by the people, for the people, shall 
 not perish from the earth." 
 
 Each lived to accomplish his appointed task. Each 
 received the unbounded gratitude of the people of his 
 time and each is held in great and ever-increasing rever- 
 
4^4 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 ence by posterity. The fame of each will never die ; it 
 will grow with the ages, because it is based upon imper- 
 ishable service to humanity ; not to the people of a sin- 
 gle generation or country, but to the v/hole human family, 
 wherever scattered, forever. 
 
 The present generation knows Washington only from 
 history, and by that alone can judge him. Lincoln we 
 known by history also, but thousands are still living who 
 participated in the great events in which he was leader 
 and master. Many of his contemporaries survived him ; 
 some are here yet in almost every locality. So Lincoln 
 is not far removed from us ; he may be said to be still 
 known to the millions — not surrounded by the mist of 
 antiquity, nor a halo of idolatry that is impenetrable. 
 He never was inaccessible to the people ; thousands 
 carry with them yet the w^ords which he spoke in their 
 hearing ; thousands remember the pressure of his hand ; 
 and thousands have not forgotten that indescribably sad, 
 thoughtful, far-seeing expression which impressed every- 
 body. Nobody could keep the people away from him, 
 and when they came he would suffer no one to drive 
 them back. So it is that an unusually large number of the 
 American people came to know this great man and that 
 he is still so well remembered by them. It cannot be 
 said that they were all mistaken about him or that they 
 misinterpreted his greatness. Men are still connected 
 with the Government who served during his adminis- 
 tration. There are at least two Senators, and perhaps 
 twice as many Representatives, who participated in his 
 first inauguration — men who stood side by side with him 
 in the trying duties of his administration and who have 
 been, without interruption, in one branch or another of 
 the public service ever since. The Supreme Court of 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 415 
 
 the United States still has among its members one whom 
 Lincoln appointed, and so of other branches of the Fed- 
 eral judiciary. His faithful private secretaries are still 
 alive and have rendered posterity a great service in their 
 history of Lincoln and his times. They have told the 
 story of his life and public services with such entire 
 frankness and fidelity as to exhibit to the world " the 
 very inner courts of his soul." 
 
 This host of w^itnesses, without exception, agree as to 
 the true nobility and intellectual greatness of Lincoln. 
 All proudly claim for Lincoln the highest abilities and 
 the most distinguished and self-sacrificing patriotism. 
 Lincoln taught them, and has taught us, that no party 
 or partisan can escape responsibility to the people ; that 
 no party advantage, or presumed party advantage, should 
 ever swerve us from the plain path of duty, which is 
 ever the path of honor and distinction. He emphasized 
 his words by his daily life and deeds. He showed to 
 the world by his lofty example, as well as by precept and 
 maxim, that there aiVe times when the voice of partisan- 
 ship should be hushed and that of patriotism only be 
 heeded. He taught that a good service done for the 
 country, even in aid of an unfriendly administration, 
 brings to the men and the party, who rise above the 
 temptation of temporary partisan advantage, a lasting 
 gain in the respect and confidence of the people. He 
 showed that such patriotic devotion is usually rewarded, 
 not only with retention in power and the consciousness 
 of duty well and bravely done, but with the gratification 
 of beholding the blessings of relief and prosperity, not 
 of a party or section, but of the whole country. This 
 he held should be the first and great consideration with 
 all public servants. 
 
4l6 LIFE OF VriLLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Lincoln was a man of moderation. He was neither an 
 autocrat nor a tyrant. If he moved slowly sometimes, it 
 was because it was better to move slowly and he was 
 only w^aiting for his reserves to come up. Possessing 
 almost unlimited power, he yet carried himself like one 
 of the humblest of men. He weighed every subject. He 
 considered and reflected upon every phase of public duty. 
 He got the average judgment of the plain people. He 
 had a high sense of justice, a clear understanding of the 
 rights of others, and never needlessly inflicted an injury 
 upon any man. He always taught and enforced the 
 doctrine of mercy and charity on every occasion. Even 
 in the excess of rejoicing, he said to a party who came 
 to serenade him a few nights after the Presidential elec- 
 tion in November, 1864: "Now that the election is 
 over, may not all having a common interest reunite in a 
 common effort to save our common country? So long 
 as I have been here I have not willingly planted a thorn 
 in any man's bosom. While I am deeply sensible to the 
 high compliment of a re-election, and duly grateful, as I 
 trust, to Almighty God for having directed my country- 
 men to a right conclusion, as I think, for their own 
 good, it adds nothing to my satisfaction that any other 
 man may be disappointed or pained by the result." 
 
 It is in the studies of such self-sacrificing, patriotic 
 American lives as those of Lincoln and of our other 
 American statesmen that McKinley best reflects the 
 qualities of his own mind and heart. In this sketch 
 of his life it has only been possible to present a few 
 extracts from some of his most notable addresses on 
 our great soldiers and statesmen. There are others 
 just as eloquent, just as full of true patriotism as those 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 417 
 
 given. Running through them all, we find the same 
 affection and respect for the opinion of the plain 
 people which was the source of Lincoln's strength. 
 And it is this characteristic, above and beyond all 
 other elements of his character, that would enable 
 McKinley to meet successfully any emergency that 
 might arise should he be called upon to fill the place 
 of chief magistrate of a Nation of seventy millions of 
 people. That the lives of Lincoln, Grant, Hayes 
 and Garfield, indeed, of all our eminent American 
 statesmen, have been thoroughly impressed upon the 
 career of McKinley is evident to those who have 
 studied his utterances on the life and character of 
 these statesmen. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 
 
 The Hero of Appomattox — McKinley's Oration at 
 Galena, on Grant's Birthday — A Great Soldier and 
 Typical American — His Brave and Gentle Nature^ — 
 Career as President — Simple and Affectionate in Pri- 
 vate Life — Great in Life, Majestic in Death. 
 
 PERHAPS the most fitting comment on McKinley's 
 oration at the celebration of the seventy-first 
 anniversary of the birth of Ulysses S. Grant, at 
 Galena, Illinois, on April 27, 1893, was that paid 
 him by the Chicago Intcr-Ocean : "Yesterday was 
 one of triumphant patriotism in Galena. The air 
 was balmy and the sky clear enough to permit of the 
 original plan of an outdoor celebration had the earth 
 been as favoring ; but as it vvas, with exercises 
 indoors, the old town gave every evidence of appre- 
 ciative pride in its privilege of celebrating the birth- 
 day of the immortal hero of Appomattox. It seems 
 felicitously fit that Governor McKinley should be the 
 orator of the day. This man has proved himself as 
 intrepid, as decisive, and, we doubt not, as wise in 
 politics as Grant proved himself in the time of war, 
 and he has many of the moral and mental qualities 
 that made the Old Commander great. McKinley 
 knew Grant in all the phases of his public career, 
 
 418 
 
U. S. GRANT. 
 
ULYSSES S. GRANT. ^ig 
 
 having served in his armies as soldier, and been 
 arrayed with him in the cares of State, and having 
 studied him with that admiring regard that a noble- 
 minded young man ever gives to one his elder who 
 has achieved honorable distinction. 
 
 "With the memories of affection and admiration 
 to intensify the genius that has characterized Ohio's 
 little giant as an orator, McKinley was, perhaps, the 
 most suitable man in the country to fill the office of 
 orator at Galena yesterday, and the address else- 
 where published is in evidence how thoroughly well 
 the speaker fulfilled expectations. The subject was 
 an inspiring one, particularly amid the scenes of the 
 ' mute, inglorious life ' of the man whom fate had 
 singled out to hold the world in awe ; but the schol- 
 arly statesman who is an idol of his countrymen was 
 equal to the fullest demands of the occasion, even to 
 the extent of enriching his theme, as the enthusiastic 
 poet ever ennobles his heroes." 
 
 There are some thoughts scattered through this 
 oration that deserve to be taken as patriotic axioms — 
 thoughts that are worthy to be cherished in the heart 
 of every true American ; indeed, of every man who 
 loves manhood and esteems honor. 
 
 McKinley distinguished himself, and left to those 
 who selected him a grateful pride in their choice and 
 a greater than former admiration of the man who has 
 been to us something of an ideal American. 
 
 In consequence of his early military experience, 
 the sympathy of the soldier-statesman has, as a rule, 
 been with the private soldier. This is clearly demon- 
 
420 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 strated in his numerous speeches in relation to pen- 
 sions, in Decoration Day orations, and the memorial 
 addresses on great soldiers which he has been called 
 upon at various times to make. To see that he is 
 likewise capable of admiring and appreciating the 
 great generals of the war, it is only necessary to read 
 his now celebrated address on Ulysses S. Grant 
 referred to above. Of Grant's wonderful military 
 career, McKinley said : 
 
 On March iS, 1864, a little more than three years from 
 his departure from Galena, where he was drilling your 
 local company as a simple captain, Grant assumed the 
 control of all the Federal forces, wherever located, and in 
 less than fourteen months, Lee's army, the pride and 
 glory of the Confederate government, surrendered to the 
 victorious soldier. It was not a surrender without 
 resistance — skillful, dogged resistance. It was secured 
 after many battles and fierce assaults, accompanied by 
 indescribable toil and suffering, and the loss of thousands 
 of precious lives. The battles of the Wilderness, Spott- 
 sylvania, North Anna and Cold Harbor, and the siege 
 of Petersburg, witnessed the hardest fighting and the 
 severest sacrifices of the war, while the loss of brave men 
 in the trenches was simply appalling. The historian has 
 wearied in detailing them, and the painter's hand has 
 palsied with reproducing the scenes of blood and carnage 
 there enacted. General Grant not only, directed the 
 forces in front of Richmond, but the entire line of 
 operation of all our armies was under his skillful hand 
 and was moved by his masterful mind. The entire field 
 was the theatre of his thought, and to his command all 
 moved as a symmetrical whole, harmonious to one pur- 
 
ULYSSES S. GRANT. 
 
 421 
 
 pose, centering upon one grand design. In obedience to 
 his orders, Sherman was marching, fighting and winning 
 victories with his splendid army in Georgia, extending 
 our victorious banners farther and deeper into the heart 
 of the Confederacy ; and all the while the immortal 
 Thomas was engaging the enemy in another part of the 
 far-stretching field, diverting and defeating the only 
 army which might successfully impede the triumphant 
 march of Sherman to the sea. Sheridan, of whom Gen- 
 eral Grant said the only instruction he ever required was 
 "to go in," was going into the Shenandoah Valley, that 
 disputed field, the scene of Stonewall Jackson's fame. 
 Here his dashing army, driving by storm and strategy the 
 determined forces of Early, sent them whirling back, 
 -stripped of laurels previously won, without either their 
 artillery or battle flags. Schofield had done grand work 
 at Franklin, and later occupied Wilmington and Golds- 
 boro, on the distant seacoast, with a view to final con- 
 nection with Sherman. These movements, and more, 
 absorbed the mind of the great commander. 
 
 Sheridan soon left nothing in the Shenandoah Valley 
 to fight, and was called to Grant's side to command all 
 the cavalry in the final and triumphant conflict which 
 was to be waged against the chivalrous forces of Lee. 
 Then the fighting was in earnest all along the line — with 
 a desperation born of conviction, with a determination 
 not to be thwarted by any host nor turned back ' by 
 any slaughter. I could not and would not undertake 
 to describe these closing scenes. They were mighty 
 in conception, quick and irresistible in execution, bold 
 almost to rashness. Sweeping like a mighty storm, un- 
 checked by any resistance, right on in the face of death, 
 until the great goal, for which so many had fought and 
 
422 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 fallen and so many had prayed and wept, was reached. 
 The army of Northern Virginia surrendered to the matcii- 
 less Ulysses, and the wicked conspiracy to destroy the 
 Union was dead — forever dead. The Union was saved 
 with Liberty, and we pray both may be eternal. 
 
 In speaking of Grant's magnanimity in accepting 
 the surrender of Lee, McKinley says : 
 
 The liberal terms given to Lee at Appomattox revealed 
 in the breast of the hard fighter a soft and generous heart. 
 He wanted no vengeance ; he had no bitterness in his 
 soul ; he had no hates to avenge. He believed in war 
 only as a means of peace. His large, brave, gentle 
 nature made the surrender as easy to his illustrious foe 
 as was possible. He said, with the broadest humanity : 
 " Take your horses and side arms, all of your personal 
 property and belongings, and go home, not to be dis- 
 turbed, not to be punished for treason, not to be outcasts ; 
 but go, cultivate the fields whereon you fought and lost. 
 Yield faithful allegiance to the old flag and the restored 
 Union, and obey the laws of peace." Was ever such 
 magnanimity before shown by victor to vanquished? 
 Here closed the great w^ar, and with it the active military 
 career of the great commander. 
 
 It is doubtful if a more concise and admirable sum- 
 mary of Grant's civil career has been written than 
 the following : ' 
 
 His civil administration covered eight years — two full 
 terms as President of the United States. This new exal- 
 tation was not of his own asking. He preferred to re- 
 main General of the Army with which he had been so 
 long associated and in which he had acquired his great 
 
ULYSSES S. GRANT. 423 
 
 fame. The country, however, was determined that the 
 successful soldier should be its civil ruler. The loyal 
 people felt that they owed him the highest honors which 
 the Nation could bestow, and they called him from the 
 military to the civil head of the Government. His term 
 commenced in March, 1869, and ended in March, 1877. 
 It constituted one of the important periods of our Na- 
 tional life. If the period of Washington's administra- 
 tion involved the formation of the Union, that of Grant's 
 was confronted with its reconstruction, after the bitter, 
 relentless, internal struggle to destroy it. It was a most 
 delicate era in which to rule. It would have been diffi- 
 cult, erhbarrassing and hazardous to any man, no matter 
 how gifted, or what his previous preparation or equip- 
 ment might have been. Could any one have done better 
 than he? We will not pause to discuss. Different opin- 
 ions prevail, and on this occasion w^e do not enter the 
 field of controversy ; but, speaking for myself, I believe he 
 was exactly the man for the place, and that he filled to 
 its full measure the trust to which his fellow-citizens 
 called him. He committed errors. Who could have 
 escaped them, at such a time and in such a place? He 
 stood in his civil station battling for the legitimate fruits 
 of the war, that they might be firmly secured to the liv- 
 ing and to their posterity forever. His arm was never 
 lifted against the right; his soul abhorred the wrong. 
 His veto of the Inflation bill, his organization of the 
 Geneva Arbitration Commission to settle the claims of 
 the United States against England, his strong but con- 
 ciliatory foreign policy ; his constant care to have no 
 policy against the will of the people ; his enforcement of 
 the Constitution and its Amendments in every part of 
 the Republic ; his maintenance of the credit of the Gov- 
 
424 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 eminent and its good faith at home and abroad, marked 
 his administration as strong, wise and patriotic. Great 
 and wise as his civil administration w^as, however, the 
 achievements which make him "one of the immortal few 
 whose names will never die" are found in his military 
 career. Carping critics have sought to mar it, strategists 
 have found flaws in it, but in the presence of his suc- 
 cessive, uninterrupted, and unrivalled victories it is the 
 idlest chatter, which none should heed. He was always 
 ready to fight. If beaten to-day, he resumed battle on 
 the morrow ; and his pathway was all along crowned 
 with victories and surrenders, which silence criticism, 
 and place him side by side with the mighty soldiers of the 
 world. 
 
 With no disparagement to others, two names rise 
 above all the rest in American history since George 
 Washington — transcendently above them. They are 
 Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. Each will be 
 remembered for what he did and accomplished for his 
 race and mankind. Lincoln proclaimed liberty to four 
 million slaves, and upon this act invited " the consider- 
 ate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of 
 Almighty God." He has received, the warm approval 
 of the one, and I am sure he is enjoying the gener9us 
 benediction of the other. His was the greatest, mighti- 
 est stroke of the war. Grand on its humanity side, mas- 
 terly in its military aspect, it has given to his name an 
 imperishable place among men. Grant gave irresistible 
 power and efficacy to the Proclamation of Liberty. The 
 iron shackles which Lincoln declared should be loosed 
 from the limbs and souls of the black slaves, Grant with 
 his matchless army melted and destroyed in the burning 
 glories of the war; and the rebels read the inspired 
 
ULYSSES S. GRANT. 425 
 
 decree in the flashing guns of artillery, and they knew 
 what Lincoln had decreed Grant would execute. 
 
 He had now filled the full measure of human ambition 
 and drunk from every fountain of earthly glory. He had 
 commanded mighty legions upon a hundred victorious 
 fields. He had borne great responsibilities and exercised 
 almost limitless power. He had executed every trust 
 with fidelity, and, in the main, with consummate skill. 
 He had controlled the movement of a larger army than 
 had been commanded by any other soldier, the world 
 over, since the invention of firearms. He was made 
 General of the United States Army by Congress on July 
 25, 1866 — a rank and title never given to an American 
 soldier before. He had w^on the lasting gratitude of his 
 fellow^-countrymen, and whenever or wherever he went 
 among them they crowned him with fresh manifestations 
 of their love and veneration — and no reverses of fortune, 
 no errors of judgment, no vexatious and unfortunate 
 business complications ever shook their trustful con- 
 fidence. When he sought rest in other lands, crowned 
 heads stood uncovered in his presence and laid their 
 trophies at his feet, while the struggling toiler, striving 
 for a larger liberty, offered his earnest tribute to the 
 great warrior who had made liberty universal in the 
 Republic. Everywhere he went, grateful honors greeted 
 him, and he was welcomed as no American had been be- 
 fore. He girded the globe with his renown as he 
 journeyed in the pathway of the sun. Nothing of human 
 longing or aspiration remained unsatiated. He had en- 
 joyed all the honors which his lavish countrymen could 
 bestow, and had received the respectful homage of for- 
 eign nations. 
 
 His private life was beautiful in its purity and sim- 
 
426 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEV. 
 
 pHcity. No irreverent oath passed his lips, and his con- 
 versation was as chaste and unaffected as that of simple 
 childhood. His relations with his family were tender 
 and affectionate, and with his officers and soldiers, 
 cordial and considerate. He was a typical American, 
 free from ostentation, easily approached. His whole 
 life gave proof of his nationality — a man from the 
 people, of the people, for the people, and never above 
 the people. 
 
 This address, which in expression and charm of 
 style deserves to rank with the first productions of 
 the kind, closes with these eloquent words : 
 
 Mighty events and mightier achievements were never 
 crowded into a single life before, and he lived to place 
 them in enduring form, to be read by the millions living 
 and the millions yet unborn. Then, laying down his 
 pen, he bowed resignedly before the Angel of Death, 
 saying : " If it is God's providence that I shall go now, 
 I am ready to obey His will without a murmur." Great 
 in life, majestic in death! He needs no monument to 
 perpetuate his fame ; it will live and glow with increased 
 luster so long as liberty lasts and the love of liberty has 
 a place in the hearts of men. Every soldiers' monument 
 throughout the North, now standing or hereafter to be 
 erected, w^ill record his worth and work as well as those 
 of the brave men who fought by his side. His most last- 
 ing memorial will be the work he did, his most enduring 
 monument the Union which he and his heroic associates 
 saved, and the priceless liberty they secured. 
 
 Surrounded by a devoted family, with a mind serene 
 and a heart resigned, he passed over to join his fallen 
 comrades bevond the river, on another field of glory. 
 
ULYSSES S. GRANT. 427 
 
 Above him in his chamber of sickness and death hung 
 the portraits of Washington and Lincoln, whose disem- 
 bodied spirits in the Eternal City were watching and 
 waiting for him who was to Complete the immortal trio 
 of America's first and best loved ; and as the earthly 
 scenes receded from his view, and the celestial appeared, 
 I can imagine those were the first to greet his sight and 
 bid him welcome. 
 
 We are not a Nation of hero worshipers. We are a 
 Nation of generous freemen. We bow in affectionate 
 reverence and w^ith most grateful hearts to these immor- 
 tal names, Washington, Lincoln and Grant, and will 
 guard with sleepless vigilance their mighty work and 
 cherish their memories evermore. 
 
 ' ' They were the luster lights of their day, 
 The . . . giants 
 Who clave the darkness asunder 
 And beaconed us where we are." 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 McKinley's Estimate of Garfield — A Brave and Able 
 Soldier — It was as a Legislator That He Excelled — A 
 Man of Great Intellectual Resources — The Friend of 
 all Mankind — A Strong and Gifted Orator. 
 
 THE life of James A. Garfield must have appealed 
 w^ith more than ordinary interest to McKinley. 
 Garfield was an Ohio boy. He began life in much 
 the same way as McKinley did, his birthright being 
 good, honest parents, a sturdy body and receptive 
 brain. Like McKinley, he seems to have equipped 
 himself for the struggles of both military and civic 
 life by dint of his own energy and courage. Like 
 McKinley, he worked from an early age. He, too, 
 was neither ashamed nor afraid of manual labor, but 
 engaged in it resolutely for the means of maintaining 
 and educating himself. An older man than McKin- 
 ley, he could claim some experience in public life 
 before he entered the Union army, August, 1861. In 
 the one case, at this point in their careers, we are 
 dealing with a boy of seventeen, and in the other 
 with a young man of twenty-nine. Garfield was 
 rapidly promoted. His military services secured him 
 his first National prominence. As McKinley said of 
 
 ■428 
 
JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
^AMES A. GARFIELD. 429 
 
 him in an address accepting the statue of Garfield, 
 presented by the State of Ohio, in the House of Rep- 
 resentatives, January 19, 1886: 
 
 He showed himself competent to command in the field, 
 although without previous training. He could plan bat- 
 tles and fight them successfully. As an officer he was 
 exceptionally popular, beloved by his men, many of whom 
 were his former students, respected and honored by his 
 superiors in rank, and his martial qualities and gallant 
 behavior were more than once commended in general 
 orders and rewarded by the Government with well- 
 merited promotion. 
 
 There is no doubt that Garfield filled every military 
 post with intelligence and fidelity, and directed the 
 movements of troops with judgment and skill. He 
 was, in short, brave and sagacious. In his study ol 
 President Garfield, McKinley rightly attributes his 
 most enduring fame to his ability as a legislator. 
 Speaking of Garfield upon the occasion above referred 
 to, McKinley says : 
 
 Distinguished as was his military career, which in 
 itself would have given him a proud place in history, his 
 most enduring fame, his highest renown, was earned in 
 this House as a representative of the people. Here his 
 marvelous qualities were brought into full activity, here he 
 grew with gradual but ever-inci-easing strength, here he 
 won his richest laurels, here was the scene and center of 
 his greatest glory. Here he was leader and master, not 
 by combination of scheming, not by chicane or caucus, 
 but by the force of his cultivated mind, his keen and far- 
 seeing judgment, his unanswerable logic, his strength 
 
43 O LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 and power of speech, his thorough comprehension of the 
 subjects of legislation. Always strong, he was strongest 
 on his feet addressing the House, or, from the rostrum, 
 the assembled people. Who of us having heard him here 
 or elsewhere, speaking upon a question of great National 
 concern, can forget the might and majesty, the force and 
 directness, the grace and beauty of his utterances. He 
 was always just to his adversary, an open and manly 
 opponent, and free from invective. He convinced the 
 judgment with his searching logic, while he swayed his 
 listeners with brilliant periods and glowing eloquence. 
 He was always an educator of the people. His thoughts 
 were fresh, vigorous and instructive. 
 
 In running over his public service here, covering a 
 period of nearly eighteen years, crowding page after page 
 of the Congressional Record, I have sought to settle in 
 my own mind the question or questions in which he was 
 greatest and with virhich his name will be best remem- 
 bered. I confess it is no easy task. He was not a spe- 
 cialist in statesmanship. The subjects which he debated 
 covered all the leading issues of the parties and the polit- 
 ical policies of his time. He limited himself to no one 
 topic, and was confined to no single range of National 
 legislation. His thoroughness upon, every question he 
 touched was marked and habitual. The Congressional 
 debates show him prominent in discussion of the military 
 affairs of the Government in time of war, when mighty 
 armies were to be mustered and the means provided for 
 their maintenance ; the emancipation of the slave, and' 
 the problem of his future ; the reconstruction of the se- 
 ceded States ; the amendments to the Constitution giv- 
 ing suffrage to the newly enfranchised race ; the tariff ; 
 refunding the National debt ; general education ; the re- 
 
JAMES A. GARFIELD. 43 1 
 
 sumption of specie payment ; silver coinage ; the civil 
 service ; the independence of the several branches of the 
 Federal Government. 
 
 He brought to this wide range of subjects vast learning 
 and comprehensive judgment. He enlightened and 
 strengthened every cause he advocated. Great in deal- 
 ing vv^ith them all, dull and common-place in none, but 
 to me he was the strongest, broadest and bravest when 
 he spoke for honest money, the fulfillment of the Na- 
 tion's promises, the resumption of specie payments, the 
 maintenance of the public faith. He contributed his 
 share, in full measure, to secure National honesty and 
 preserve inviolate our National honor. None did more, 
 few, if any, so much to bring the Government back to a 
 sound, stable and constitutional money. He was a very 
 giant in those memorable struggles, and it required upon 
 his part the exercise of the highest courage. A consider- 
 able element of his party was against him, notably in his 
 own State and some parts of his Congressional district. 
 The mad passion of inflation and irredeemable currency 
 was sweeping through the West, with the greatest fury in 
 his own State. He w^as assailed for his convictions, and 
 threatened with defeat. He was the special target for 
 the hate and prejudice of those who stood against the 
 honest fulfillment of National obligations. In a letter to 
 a friend on New Year's eve, 1867-68, he wrote : 
 
 "I have just returned from a tedious trip to Ashtabula, 
 where I made a two hours' speech upon finance, and 
 when I came home, came through a storm of paper- 
 money denunciation in Cleveland, only to find on my 
 arrival here a sixteen-page letter, full of alarm and 
 prophecy of my political ruin for my opinions gn the 
 currency," 
 
432 LIFK OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 To the same friend he wrote in 1878 : 
 
 "On the whole, it is probable I will stand again for the 
 House. I am not sure, however, but the Nineteenth Dis- 
 trict will go back on me upon the silver question. If 
 they do, I shall count it an honorable discharge." 
 
 These, and more of the same tenor, which I might pro- 
 duce from his correspondence, show the extreme peril 
 attending his position upon the currency and silver ques- 
 tions, but he never flinched, he never wavered ; he faced 
 all the dangers, assumed all the risks, voting and speak- 
 ing for what he believed ■would secure the highest good. 
 He stood at the forefront, with the waves of an adverse 
 popular sentiment beating against him, threatening his 
 political ruin, fearlessly contending for sound principles 
 of finance against public clamor and a time-saving 
 policy. To me his greatest effort was made on this floor 
 in the Forty -fifth Congress, from his old seat yonder 
 near the center aisle. He was at his best. He rose to 
 the highest requirements of the subject and the occasion. 
 His mind and soul were absorbed with this topic. He 
 felt the full responsibility of his position and the neces- 
 sity of averting a policy (the abandonment of specie 
 resumption) which he believed would be disastrous to 
 the highest interests of the country. Unfriendly criti- 
 cism seemed only to give him breadth of contemplation 
 and boldness and force of utterance. 
 
 Those of us who were so fortunate as to hear him can 
 not efface the recollection of his matchless effort. Both 
 sides of this chamber were eager listeners, and crowded 
 galleries bent to catch every word, and all were sensibly 
 moved by his forceful logic and impassioned eloquence. 
 He at once stepped to the front without rival contes- 
 tant, secure in the place he had fairly earned. The press 
 
JAMES A. GARFIELD. 433 
 
 and the people received the address with warm approval, 
 and his rank before the country was fixed as a strong, 
 faithful and fearless leader. No one thing he had ever 
 done contributed so much to his subsequent elevation ; 
 no act of his life required higher courage ; none displayed 
 greater power ; none realized to him larger honors ; none 
 brought him higher praise. 
 
 Something of his real character and high aims as a 
 legislator and public servant is disclosed in his private 
 correspondence, from which I quote a single sentence : 
 
 "You know that I have always said that my whole 
 public life was an experiment to determine whether an 
 intelligent people would sustain a man in acting sensibly 
 on each proposition that arose, and in doing nothing for 
 mere show or demagogical effect. I do not now remem- 
 ber that I ever cast a vote of that latter sort." 
 
 His experiment, although a perilous one and fraught 
 with extreme danger, w^as yet successful, and that it was 
 so is a high tribute not to him alone, but to the justice and 
 intelligence of the old Western Reserve district and the 
 whole American people. He was sustained, triumphantly 
 sustained, over and over again by his immediate con- 
 stituency. His State sustained him, and at last a Nation 
 of fifty millions of people rewarded his courage and con- 
 sistency wth the highest honors it could bestow. 
 
 Although elected, General Garfield never took his seat 
 in the Senate of the United States. His legislative 
 career ended here, where it had practically begun 
 eighteen years before. His nomination for the Presi- 
 dency occurred soon after the Legislature of Ohio had 
 chosen him Senator, and came to him, as did all of his 
 honors, because deserved. Although unsought, no 
 mere chance brought him this rare distinction. His solid 
 
434 LIFK OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 reputation rendered it not improbable at any time. He 
 4iad the qualities which attached his great party to him, 
 and the equipment which filled the fullest measure of 
 public and party requirement. From the stirring scenes 
 at Chicago to the succeeding election, he bore himself 
 like a statesman and patriot fit for the highest trust. He 
 advanced in public confidence, and whenever he met 
 with or addressed the people, he enlarged the circle of his 
 admiring followers and friends. His brief term in the 
 Presidency, so tragically ended, gave promise of large 
 usefulness to the country in the realization of the true 
 American policy at home and abroad. His death filled 
 the Nation with profound and universal sorrow, and all 
 lands and all peoples sympathized in our overshadowing 
 bereavement. 
 
 In General Garfield, as in Lincoln and Grant, we find 
 the best representation of the possibilities of American 
 life. Boy and man, he typifies American youth and 
 manhood, and illustrates the beneficence and glory of our 
 free institutions. His early struggles for an education, his 
 self-support, his "lack of means," his youthful yearnings, 
 find a prototype in every city, village and hamlet of the 
 land. They did not retard his progress, but spurred him 
 on to higher and nobler endeavor. His push and perse- 
 verance, his direct and undeviating life purpose, his 
 sturdy integrity, his Christian character, were rewarded 
 with large results and exceptional honors — honors not 
 attainable anywhere else, and only to be acquired under 
 the generous and helpful influences of a free government. 
 
 He was twenty-three years of age when he confronted 
 the practical duties and the wider problems of life. All 
 before had been training and preparation, the best of 
 both, and his marvelous career ended before he was fifty. 
 
JAMES A. GARFIELD. 4.35 
 
 Few have crowded such great results and acquired r.uch 
 lasting fame in so short a life. Few have done so much 
 for country and for civilization as he whom We honor 
 to-day, stricken down as he was when scarce at the me- 
 ridian of his powers. He did not flash forth as a meteor ; 
 he rose with measured and stately step over rough paths 
 and through years of rugged work. He earned his pas- 
 sage to every preferment. He was tried and tested at 
 every step in his pathway of progress. He produced his 
 passport at every gateway to opportunity and glory. 
 
 His broad and benevolent nature made him the friend 
 of all mankind. He loved the young men of the country, 
 and drew them to him by the thoughtful concern with 
 which he regarded them. He was generous in his help- 
 fulness to all, and to his encouragement and words of 
 cheer many are indebted for much of their success m life. 
 In personal character he was clean and without reproach. 
 As a citizen, he loved his country and her institutions, 
 and was proud of her progress and prosperity. As a 
 scholar and man of letters, he took high rank. As an 
 orator, he w^as 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 Presi- 
 dent, he displayed moderation and wisdom with execu- 
 tive ability, which gave the highest assurance of a most 
 successful and illustrious administration. 
 
 In this little sketch of President Garfield, McKin- 
 ley unintentionally gives us, with eloquence it would 
 be difficult to match, the sketch of a career which in 
 many important points resembles his own. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 
 
 McKinley's Address on His Old Commander — The 
 Friendship of Hayes and McKinley — The Wise, Patri- 
 otic and Conscientious Administration of President 
 Hayes — The Dignity of the Closing Year of a Life 
 Full of Valor and Usefulness — A Merited Tribute. 
 
 McKINLEY, as we have seen iu the chapter on 
 his military career, served as a young officer 
 on President Hayes's staff. The outcome of this 
 early association resulted in a strong friendship be- 
 tween the two men, which it is hardly necessary to 
 say lasted until the death of President Hayes. On 
 several public occasions, and in his diary, President 
 Hayes refers to McKinley, both as a young and 
 courageous soldier, and as a fearless and honest 
 statesman. Hayes was President when McKinley 
 was elected to Congress, and his personal friendship 
 begun on the Nation's battlefields continued through- 
 out the Hayes administration at the National Capital. 
 In the chapter on McKinley's rnilitary record is given 
 a brief history of the young soldier's career by his old 
 commander. General Hayes. It is a tribute which 
 McKinley may well be proud of. In his address be- 
 fore the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, June 
 20, 1893, McKinley said: 
 
 436 
 

 KUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 
 
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 43 ^ 
 
 The administration of President Hayes answered the 
 highest test to which it could be subjected. It was satis- 
 factory and successful ; it was clean, conscientious, wise 
 and patriotic. During it, preparation for the resumption 
 of specie payments was made with such care and wisdom 
 that when the appointed day came there was no shock or 
 disturbance to business ; it came almost unobserved, 
 bringing security and courage to the business world. 
 This was wholly accomplished in less than two years 
 after Hayes was inaugurated, and as the result of the 
 work of his administration, and his administration alone. 
 The public debt was also funded at lower rates of inter- 
 est, and the country entered upon an era of unexampled 
 prosperity. His determination and firmness in resisting 
 unwarrantable interference by Congress with the execu- 
 tive power of the Government, displayed his accustomed 
 bravery. With both branches of Congress a part of the 
 time against him, he nevertheless compelled it, by the 
 weight of public opinion, to accept his position on 
 many of the most important bills. He maintained in full 
 vigor the Constitutional prerogatives of the President. 
 As to his position on the Southern question and his at- 
 tempted reforms in the civil service, there will always be 
 honest differences of opinion. In his veto of the anti- 
 Chinese bill, he displayed great moral courage. His 
 special message of March 8, 1880, on the inter-oceanic 
 canal, also merits warm commendation, and the policy 
 thus outlined has since been adopted by Congress and 
 sustained by three successive administrations. His be- 
 nevolence and piety dictated his Indian policy, and under 
 no other administration in American history was so much 
 done for these unfortunate people. His administration 
 began under the most unfavorable auspices, for, aside 
 
43^" LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 from the threatening and troublesome political complica- 
 tions, business stagnation and severe distress had pre- 
 vailed throughout the country, resulting from the great 
 panic of 1873. His conduct of public affairs made Re- 
 publican success possible in 1880, fully restored and 
 strengthened the confidence of the people in that party 
 in the Northern States, and won for him the genuine re- 
 spect and good will of the wisest and best men of all 
 parties. His lofty purpose was never questioned — his 
 purity of personal and ofRcial life was everywhere ac- 
 cepted. His death discloses this even more clearly than 
 did his retirement from public office. His bitterest enemy 
 can find no flaw in his character, no defective link in the 
 chain of his life. . He expressed a noble sentiment, one 
 that fitly characterized his own conduct, w^hen he de- 
 clared : "He serves his party best who serves his country 
 best." 
 
 Not far from the city of Cleveland is the beautiful 
 country home of the Hayes family, which his chil- 
 dren keep up with great care, and in which may be 
 found at this time his library and all his belongings 
 carefully preserved by affectionate and tender hands. 
 Commenting on the dignity of the closing years of 
 Hayes's life, McKmley said: 
 
 At the expiration of his term, Mr. Hayes sought the 
 peaceful quiet and retirement of his old home at Fre- 
 mont. He was then and subsequently the recipient of 
 many honorable distinctions. Kenyon, Harvard, Yale 
 and Johns Hopkins universities conferred upon him the 
 degree of LL. D. He was elected commander-in-chief 
 of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and at his 
 death held that office. He was also elected commander 
 
RUTHBRFORD B. HAYES. 
 
 439 
 
 of the Ohio Commandery of that patriotic order, the first 
 president of the Society of the Army of West Virginia, 
 and president of the Twenty-third Regiment Ohio 
 Volunteers' Association. His time was almost entirely 
 devoted to benevolent enterprises. He was president of 
 the board of trustees of the John Slater Educational 
 Fund ; president of the National Prison Reform Asso- 
 ciation ; an active member of the National Conference 
 of Correction and Charities ; a trustee of the Ohio State 
 University at Columbus ; a trustee of Kenyon College at 
 Gambier ; a trustee of the Western Reserve University 
 of Cleveland, of the Wesleyan University here at Dela- 
 ware, of Mount Union College at Alliance, and of various 
 other charitable and educational institutions. You can 
 attest his usefulness in college work, you know and 
 appreciate his fidelity and his worth, but who can tell 
 the noble work done by this pure and enlightened man 
 among the friendless inmates of asylums, almshouses and 
 prisons? God alone knows how many he lifted up to a 
 higher and better life. He had a heart large enough to 
 feel for all sufferers, and a disposition that prompted him 
 to constant and generous effort in behalf of the depraved 
 and the unfortunate. 
 
 No ex-President ever passed the period of his retire- 
 ment from the executive chair to the grave with more 
 dignity, self-respect, or public usefulness. None met 
 him but to admire the head and the heart of the man, 
 and to marvel how he could have been so much 
 misjudged and so often belittled, berated and ma- 
 ligned. His old army comrades knew the stuff of 
 which he was made; knew that his every aspira- 
 tion was manly ; knew that every fiber of his nature was 
 true and steady. His old friends and neighbors at Pre- 
 
440 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEV. 
 
 mont understood him and appreciated his genuine worth, 
 the simplicity and nobility of his character, better, per- 
 haps, than any others. Your board of trustees and 
 faculty knew his strength, and had occasion to observe 
 his unselfish devotion to the cause of greater enlighten- 
 ment and higher education. General Hayes never spoke 
 ill of any one, nor slightingly of friend or foe. He was 
 a serious, earnest man, never a trifler. There was some- 
 thing in his life that reminds me of those lines of his 
 favorite poem, Tom Taylor's tribute to Lincoln, in Lon- 
 don Punch: 
 
 He went about his work — such work as few 
 
 Ever had laid on head and heart and hand — 
 As one who knows, where there's a task to do, 
 
 Man's honest will must Heaven's good grace command ; 
 Who trusts the strength will with the burden grow, 
 
 That God makes instruments to work His will. 
 If but that will we can arrive to know. 
 
 Nor tamper with the weights of good and ill. 
 
 It is too soon, perhaps, to form a just estimate of his 
 character. He moved so quietly in our midst, so unosten- 
 tatiously, and so entirely without assertion of rank or 
 excellence. He w^as so at home with all classes and con- 
 ditions of men that we failed to observe how superior he 
 was in many of the qualities that go to make a great 
 character. He was diligent in whatever he undertook, 
 fervent in purpose, with an abiding faith in the people 
 and a trustful confidence in God. We could not appre- 
 ciate w^hile he was with us how pure, how gentle, how 
 true, how wise, how noble, how unselfish he was. His 
 simplicity of manner, his purity and truth, his absolute 
 freedom from pretense, veiled his excellencies to the com- 
 mon mind. All felt that he was one of us, our brother. 
 
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 
 
 441 
 
 our friend, our comrade, our delightful and genial asso- 
 ciate, whose presence was an inspiration, and whose 
 companionship was beneficent and uplifting. Yet in 
 the short time we have had in which to sum up the 
 elements of his character, we are surprised at their 
 strength, their virility, their exalted quality. Some of 
 us may have partly appreciated them, or thought we did ; 
 death alone reveals them, in their perfection and 
 grandeur. Compare him with his contemporaries. They 
 lived during the period favorable for the development 
 of the highest qualities of manhood, of soldiership, of 
 statesmanship, of philanthropy. Call the long and 
 honorable roll ; others were, perhaps, his superiors in 
 intellect, some were more brilliant, but, measured by the 
 success achieved, measured by the work he wrought, 
 none have surpassed him. He kept pace wth the best 
 in the race for usefulness and eminence. He was always 
 advancing, never receding from any position that he won : 
 
 His steps were slow^, yet forw^ard still 
 
 He pressed where others paused or failed. 
 The calm star clomb with constant will — 
 The restless meteor flashed and paled ! 
 
 This well-earned tribute of affection and respect 
 from the former young staff officer is regarded by 
 the children of President Hayes as one of the most 
 cherished of the many tributes paid their dis- 
 tinguished father. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVOL 
 
 JOHN A. LOGAN. 
 
 Our Citizen Soldiery — They Formed the Irresistible 
 Force — John A. Logan as a Fighter — His Military 
 Genius Extolled — Courage and Devotion His Chief 
 Characteristics — A Useful Legislator and a Valued 
 Citizen — McKinley's Address on the Great Illinois 
 Commander. 
 
 McKINLEY has frequently expressed to the writer 
 an admiration for that great volunteer soldier, 
 General Logan. As a young man he recognized the 
 unselfish patriotism of the rank and file of the army 
 and their unselfish consecration to the country. 
 McKinley has always contended that the American 
 volunteer soldier entered the army moved by the 
 highest and purest motives of patriotism. They went 
 to the front that no harm might befall the Republic. 
 While never detracting in any of his speeches from 
 the fame of the trained soldiers, McKinley has 
 always recognized the fact that without the great 
 army of volunteer citizen soldiery, as he calls them, 
 the brilliant achievements of the war would not have 
 been possible. He has repeatedly contended that 
 they were the great power, that they were the 
 majestic, irresistible force. They stood behind the 
 strategic commanders, whose intelligent and indi- 
 
JOHN A. LOGAN. 
 
JOHN A. LOGAN. 443 
 
 vidual earnestness, guided by their genius, gained 
 the imperishable victories of the war. 
 
 One of these was John A. Logan. In speaking of 
 him in the memorial address in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, Febi-uary i6, 1887, McKinley truly said: 
 
 He was never long in the rear among the followers. 
 Starting there, his resolute and resistless spirit soon im- 
 pressed itself upon his fellows, and he was quickly ad- 
 vanced to his true and rightful rank of leadership. With- 
 out the aid of fortune, without the aid of influential 
 friends, he won his successive stations of honor by the 
 force of his own integrity and industry, his own high 
 character and indomitable will. And it may be said of 
 him that he justly represents one of the best types of 
 American manhood, and illustrates in his life the out- 
 come and possibilities of the American youth under the 
 generous influences of our free institutions. 
 
 Participating in two w^ars, the records of both attest 
 his courage and devotion, his valor and his sacrifices for 
 the country which he loved so well, and to which he 
 more than once dedicated all he possessed, even life it- 
 self. Reared a Democrat, he turned away from many of 
 the old party leaders w^hen the trying crisis came which 
 was to determine whether the Union was to be saved or 
 to be severed. He joined his old friend and party 
 leader, Stephen A. Douglas, with all the ardor of his 
 strong nature, and the safety and preservation of the 
 Union became the overshadowing and absorbing purpose 
 of his life. ' His creed was his country. Patriotism was 
 the sole plank in his platform. Everything must yield 
 to this sentiment ; every other consideration was subor- 
 dinate to it, and so he threw the whole force of his great 
 
444 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 character at the very outset into the struggle for National 
 life. To him no sacrifice was too great, no undertaking 
 too diflScult, no charge too desperate, no exposure too 
 severe, no siege too hazardous. He commanded on the 
 battle line, and never ordered his men to go where he 
 w^ould not lead. His skirmishers were never too close to 
 the enemy's guns to keep him away. He was every 
 inch a soldier, dashing and fearless, often exposing him- 
 self unnecessarily, against the earnest protest of his com- 
 manders and comrades. Wherever the fire ^vas the 
 hottest, wherever the line w^as most exposed, w^herever 
 the danger w^as most imminent, John A. Logan was 
 always to be found. He seemed the very incarnation of 
 soldierly valor and vigor. Belmont, Henry and Donel- 
 son. Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hills 
 and Vicksburg, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw, and the battle 
 before Atlanta tell the story of his lofty courage, of his 
 martial qualities, of his genius to command and of his 
 matchless heroism, as these great battles tell to all man- 
 kind the dreadful cost of liberty and the price of our 
 Nationality. 
 
 Great and commanding, however, as were his services 
 in -war, the true eulogist of General Logan can never 
 pass unnoticed the important services rendered by him 
 immediately preceding his enlistment and afterwards, in 
 arousing an intense, a deep, a profound love for country, 
 and a strong and lasting sentiment for the cause of the 
 Union, not only in his own State, but in every one of 
 the Northern States ; and the full measure and influence 
 of his prompt action and courageous stand at that time 
 never can be estimated. His patriotic words penetrated 
 the hearts and the homes of the people of twenty-two 
 States. They increased enlistment. They swelled the 
 
JOHN A. LOGAN. 445 
 
 muster rolls of the Union. They moved the indifferent 
 to prompt action ; they drew the doubting into the ranks 
 of the country's defenders. 
 
 His first election to Congress was in the year made 
 memorable by the debate between Lincoln and Douglas. 
 In the Presidential contest of i860, soon following, he 
 was the enthusiastic friend and supporter of Douglas. 
 But the' moment secession w^as initiated and the Union 
 threatened, he was among the first to tender his sword 
 and his services to President Lincoln, and to throw the 
 weight of his great character and resolute soul on the 
 side represented by the political rival of his old friend. 
 He resigned his seat in Congress to raise a regiment, and 
 it is a noteworthy fact that in the Congressional district 
 which he represented, more soldiers were sent to the 
 front according to its population than in any other 
 Congressional district in the United States. It is a 
 further significant fact, that in i860, when he ran for 
 Congress as a Democratic candidate, in what was known 
 as the old Ninth Congressional District, he received a 
 majority of over 13,000; and six years afterward, when 
 at the conclusion of the war he ran as a candidate of the 
 Republican party in the State of Illinois as Representa- 
 tive to Congress at large, the same old Ninth district 
 that had given him a Democratic majority of 13,000 in 
 i860, gave him a Republican majority of over 3,000 in 
 1866. Whatever else these facts may teach, they clearly 
 show one thing — that John A. Logan's old constituency 
 approved of his course, was proud of his illustrious 
 services, and followed the flag which he bore, which was 
 the Flag of the Stars. 
 
 His services in this House and in the Senate, almost 
 uninterrupted, since 1S67, were marked by great industry, 
 
446 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 by rugged honesty, by devotion to the interests of the 
 country and to the whole country, to the rights of the 
 citizen, and especially by a devotion to his late comrades 
 in arms. He was a strong and forcible debater. He 
 was a most thorough master of the subjects he discussed, 
 and an intense believer in the policy and principles he 
 advocated. In popular discussion upon the hustings, he 
 had no superiors and but few equals. He seized the 
 hearts and consciences of men, and moved great multi- 
 tudes with that fury of enthusiasm with which he had 
 moved his soldiers in the field. 
 
 McKinley agrees with many others in the opinion 
 that General Logan's military career, standing alone, 
 would have given him a high place in the world and 
 a secure one in the hearts of his countrymen. The 
 same may be said with eqiial' force of his legislative 
 career. That, standing alone, would have given him 
 enduring reputation, associating his name with some 
 of the most important legislation of the time and 
 centuiy ; but united, they undoubtedly represent a 
 combination of forces and of qualities ; they present 
 a success in both careers almost unrivaled in the his- 
 tory of man. General Logan lived during a period 
 of great activities and forces, and he impressed him- 
 self upon his age and time. To McKinley the domi- 
 nant and controlling force in the life of Logan was 
 his intense patriotism. 
 
 Whatever the future may have in store for William 
 McKinley, his life, to the point where he retired to 
 private life, has been both useful and patriotic, and 
 carries with it much to inspire the American youth. 
 
JOHN A, LOGAN. 447 
 
 At the age of fifty-two, he has seen twenty-five 
 years of active public service as soldier, lawyer, 
 statesman and as executive officer of a great' State. 
 He has figured prominently in the industrial progress 
 of his country, and has been the central and con- 
 spicuous figure of several of its most remarkable 
 political campaigns. 
 
 As to his fitness for further promotion, it is only 
 necessary to study his life from our first introduction, 
 to the sturdy young man equipping himself for a 
 useful career in the public schools and academy of 
 Poland, to the close of his second term as Governor 
 of Ohio. As a youth, he was industrious and earn- 
 est ; as a young soldier, he was courageous and no- 
 ble ; as a lawyer, painstaking and capable ; as a 
 statesman, able and honorable, and as a Governor, 
 broadminded and fearless in the discharge of all 
 duties. He is a type of American citizenship and 
 American manhood of which we may well be proud. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 A CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 
 
 The Preliminaiy Canvass — How it was Conducted — 
 Choice of the Republicans— Workingmen Disillusioned 
 — Loyal Support of Republican Voters and Workers 
 — Splendid Generalship of Mark A. Hanna — Patriot- 
 ism, Protection and Prosperity the Cry. 
 
 THE preliminary canvass or campaign of 1896, 
 which resulted in the nomination of William 
 McKinley, was remarkable in many ways, but in no 
 respect more so than in the unanimity of public 
 sentiment which made it possible to predict with 
 almost absolute certainty, weeks before the conven- 
 tion, the selection of the champion of protection as 
 the Presidential candidate. 
 
 His choice by the Republicans, as the representa- 
 tive of their party best fitted to be entrusted with the 
 administration of National affairs, was a natural 
 sequence — the result of a sentiment that had been 
 engendered during all of the four years previous, 
 and yet it had every characteristic of spontaneity. 
 The increasing favor with which McKinley was 
 regarded by the voters of the country was until a 
 few months before the convention a steady, rapid, 
 but withal a natural growth, and the almost universal 
 endorsement of his candidacy, which came a short 
 
A CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 449 
 
 time before the gathering at St. Louis, must be 
 attributed, in a great measure, to the impatience of 
 the American people to return to an idea and a policy 
 which the average citizen of the United States has 
 come to regard as absolutely indispensable to indi- 
 vidual and National prosperity, and of which the 
 Ohioan is the recognized exponent. 
 
 It may well be said that this principle of protection 
 to American industries, expressed so significantly in 
 the slogan, " America for Americans," can not be 
 overestimated as a factor in the popularity of Mc- 
 Kinley. There were in his party other men equally 
 desirous of the highest office in its gift, who 
 must needs be considered the equal of McKinley in 
 personal magnetism, intellectual force and wisdom 
 of judgment ; there were even candidates whose 
 public career rivaled his in brilliancy, whose loyalty 
 to party was as great, and whose regard for political 
 obligations was as high, and yet millions of voters, 
 realizing all this, accorded McKinley the most enthu- 
 siastic support, because of his unfaltering devotion 
 to a cause in which they now saw the only remedy 
 for the condition induced by four years of financial 
 panic, low wages and falling prices. The working- 
 men disillusioned as to the meaning of competition 
 with foreign labor, the manufacturer wiser by expe- 
 rience in the "markets of the world," and the farmer 
 with a realization of the failure of a promising exper- 
 iment, turned eagerly to the man at whose faith in 
 his belief in the hour of adversity they no longer 
 marveled. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 A CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 
 
 The Preliminaiy Canvass — How it was Conducted— 
 Choice of the Republicans — Workingmen Disillusioned 
 — Loyal Support of Republican Voters and Workers 
 — Splendid Generalship of Mark A. Hanna — Patriot- 
 ism, Protection and Prosperity the Cry. 
 
 THE preliminary canvass or campaign of 1896, 
 which resulted in the nomination of William 
 McKinley, was remarkable in many ways, but in no 
 respect more so than in the unanimity of public 
 sentiment which made it possible to predict with 
 almost absolute certainty, weeks before the conven- 
 tion, the selection of the champion of protection as 
 the Presidential candidate. 
 
 His choice by the Republicans, as the representa- 
 tive of their party best fitted to be entrusted with the 
 administration of National affairs, was a natural 
 sequence — the result of a sentiment that had been 
 engendered during all of the four years previous, 
 and yet it had every characteristic of spontaneity. 
 The increasing favor with which McKinley was 
 regarded by the voters of the country was until a 
 few months before the convention a steady, rapid, 
 but withal a natural growth, and the almost universal 
 endorsement of his candidacy, which came a short 
 
A CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 449 
 
 time before the gathering at St. Louis, must be 
 attributed, in a great measure, to the impatience of 
 the American people to return to an idea and a policy 
 which the average citizen of the United States has 
 come to regard as absolutely indispensable to indi- 
 vidual and National prosperity, and of which the 
 Oliioan is the recognized exponent. 
 
 It may well be said that this principle of protection 
 to American industries, expressed so significantly in 
 the slogan, " America for Americans," can not be 
 overestimated as a factor in the popularity of Mc- 
 Kinley. There were in his party other men equally 
 desirous of the highest office in its gift, who 
 must needs be considered the equal of McKinley in 
 personal magnetism, intellectual force and wisdom 
 of judgment ; there were even candidates whose 
 public career rivaled his in brilliancy, whose loyalty 
 to party was as great, and whose regard for political 
 obligations was as high, and yet millions of voters, 
 realizing all this, accorded McKinley the most enthu- 
 siastic support, because of his unfaltering devotion 
 to a cause in which they now saw the only remedy 
 for the condition induced by four years of financial 
 panic, low wages and falling prices. The working- 
 men disillusioned as to the meaning of competition 
 with foreign labor, the manufacturer wiser by expe- 
 rience in the "markets of the world," and the farmer 
 with a realization of the failure of a promising exper- 
 iment, turned eagerly to the man at whose faith in 
 his belief in the hour of adversity they no longer 
 marveled. 
 
450 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Moreover, having ascertained the cause of a con- 
 dition so embarrassing, the suiferers sought a remedy 
 with a determination that permitted of no ulterior 
 considerations. The lessons of upwards of four 
 years offered the most conclusive evidence of the 
 disastrous influence felt in every channel of trade and 
 industry by reason of the menace of free trade, which 
 cast its blighting shadow upon the Nation coinci- 
 dently with the Democratic victory of 1892. As a 
 result, thousands of workingmen, farmers and manu- 
 facturers in every pai't of the country, who had 
 formerly been freetraders in theory, or were wavering 
 in opinion between free trade and protection, were 
 converted to the latter cause by the inflexible logic of 
 events. 
 
 His long championship of the cause had induced a 
 feeling on the part of most persons that McKinley 
 represented protection, and the widespread growth 
 of sentiment in favor of that great American doc- 
 trine made him pre-eminently the ' ' logical candi- 
 date." Every manifestation of the overwhelming 
 preference for him showed, upon close investigation, 
 that it was based upon principle rather than on mere 
 personal considerations. His winning personality 
 and acknowledged supremacy in statesmanship were 
 potent factors, it must be admitted, but for all that it 
 is apparent that it was to a universal recognition of 
 the fact that more than any other American ptiblicist 
 did he symbolize the idea of protection of American 
 enterprise and labor against the ruinous competition 
 
HON. M. A. HANNA. 
 
A CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 45 1 
 
 of Europe, that the nomination of the great exponent 
 of tariff protection must be attributed. 
 
 That his selection was virtually unanimous must, 
 of course, be regarded as of the greatest possible sig- 
 nificance. There were to be found some Repub- 
 licans who had no marked preference as to the 
 standard-bearer of the party, and still others who 
 preferred some other candidate, but they were in the 
 nature of exceptions which proved the rule and were, 
 in most cases, confined to a few States. The party 
 leaders recognized, too, early in the campaign, when 
 the issues had only just commenced to shape them- 
 selves, that the Ohio candidate would, in addition to 
 commanding the loyal support of every Republican 
 voter, draw thousands of votes from the opposition. 
 
 One of the most interesting features of the cam- 
 paign was the manifestation of the growth of the 
 McKinley sentiment. It must be flattering to the 
 candidate to know that it began where it should be- 
 gin — with the people — and that the first evidence of 
 its existence came from the ward clubs and the 
 little township organizations scattered all over this 
 great country. Then the wishes of the people began 
 to find expression at county conventions, and, finally, 
 this unostentatious — one might almost say un- 
 heeded — growth burst forth into a great popular de- 
 mand that became a tower of strength at the District 
 and State conventions, and for whose dictates no 
 person could express a disregard. 
 
 But this was not sufficient. The cause in which 
 the people felt so vital an interest must needs find 
 
452 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 endorsement elsewhere, and so expressions favor- 
 able to the great economic principle of tariff protec- 
 tion came from labor organizations, the granges of 
 the rural districts, and even from clubs, some of 
 whom altered their by-laws in order that they might 
 be permitted to accord official endorsement to the 
 candidacy of Ohio's ex-Governor. 
 
 And it all afforded conclusive evidence of one 
 thing — the intense earnestness of the people. As an 
 eminent writer expressed it, "The farmers wanted 
 the country to sell more corn and less bonds," the 
 industrial classes came to a realization of the fact 
 that it made little difference how cheap commodities 
 wer6, if they had no money wherewith to make pur- 
 chases, and so these people, with a long and inti- 
 mate acquaintance with hard times, placed their con- 
 fidence in the man so aptly termed the "advance 
 agent of prosperity," with a determination that 
 nothing should prevent the fulfilment of what they 
 regarded as his mission. 
 
 Credit must be given for the generalship displayed 
 in the management of the great force which stood at 
 the back of the champion of protection. While 
 there are many who deserve mention, the central 
 figure in the magnificent campaign was Mark A. 
 Hanna, who proved himself one of the most valiant 
 and capable of generals in the field of American 
 politics ever in charge of political forces. That he 
 was successful in so unqualified a degree cannot but 
 prove gratifjdng to the workers and to the man in 
 whose interest he labored so faithfully. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 NATIONAL CONVENTION, 1896. 
 
 Remarkable Gathering — First -Test Vote — Fairbanks 
 and Tiiurston Presiding Officers — Dramatic Episode — 
 Foraker Names McKinley: — Nominated for the Presi- 
 dency Amid Tremendous Applause on the First Ballot 
 — Hobart for Second Place. 
 
 THE eleventh National Convention of the Repub- 
 lican party convened in the City of St. Louis 
 on Tuesday, June 16, 1896. It had been regularly 
 called by the National Committee of the party to 
 nominate candidates for the offices of President and 
 Vice-President of the United States. In many re- 
 spects it was the most remarkable National conven- 
 tion of any party ever brought into being. Its chief 
 nomination had been foreshadowed for several 
 weeks ; its utterances upon the economic questions 
 agitating the public mind were as well known long 
 in advance of their promulgation. And yet the 
 gathering lost none of the features that characterize 
 National political conventions. There were the 
 brass bands, candidates' headquarters, fireworks, 
 processions for this man and for that, speechmaking, 
 conferences, caucuses and booms. All these were 
 there, just as if it were not well known in advance 
 that William McKinley was to be nominated on the 
 
 453 
 
454 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 first ballot and placed on a protective and sound 
 money platform. Those who had been chosen be- 
 cause they were for another candidate or for another 
 set of principles, were lo3al to their pledges and were 
 the more honored therefor. 
 
 For almost a week before the actual convening of 
 the convention, St. Louis was filled with a host of 
 earnest and busy Republicans. The National Com- 
 mittee held its final meeting during these days, in 
 which much important business was transacted. 
 The final result of the convention itself was fore- 
 shadowed in several of the votes taken over a week 
 before the Presidential vote, by the convention itself. 
 The greatest number of contests for seats m the tem- 
 porary organization ever brought before a National 
 convention had to be settled. The committee worked 
 diligently from Wednesday noon until early Sunday 
 morning, with scarcely time for eating and rest, in 
 clearing away this mass of work. That the conven- 
 tion afterwards was willing to adopt the committee's 
 findings as its own, as to permanent credentials, tes- 
 tifies to the care with which the National Committee 
 did its work. 
 
 The first session of the convention was called to 
 order promptly at noon by Chairman Thomas H. 
 Carter. Secretary Joseph Manley of Maine read 
 the call, after prayer by Rabbi Sales of St. Louis. 
 Congressman C. W. Fairbanks of Indiana, chosen 
 by the National Committee, was announced as the 
 temporary presiding officer, and upon motion of Del- 
 egate Sutherland, the selection was approved. Chair- 
 
NATIONAL, CONVENTION, 1 896. 455 
 
 man Fairbanks delivered a most scholarly address, 
 in which he touched pointedly upon the issues of the 
 day, and to which he applied the lessons to be found 
 in the history of the Republican party. The address 
 was listened to with attention and care and its manv 
 excellent shafts of wisdom were applauded vigor- 
 ously. 
 
 Senator Thurston's address was short, but its brev- 
 ity did not prevent the able Nebraskan from express- 
 ing his well-known patriotism and Republicanism in 
 well-chosen and easily understood words. His 
 utterances were listened to with no little interest, 
 because of his well-known friendship with the com- 
 ing nominee of the convention, and what he said in 
 his address, as afterwards proved to be true, was 
 thought to be a forerunner of the coming platform. 
 
 The first business of importance at the third day's 
 session was the report of the Committee on Resolu- 
 tions. The report was read by Senator Joseph B. 
 Foraker of Ohio. The platform as reported was 
 afterwards adopted. 
 
 It was upon the consideration of the report as pre- 
 sented by Senator Foraker that occurred the dra- 
 matic episode in which several western delegates 
 withdrew because of their inability to subscribe to 
 the financial plank of the platform. 
 
 With the suddenness of a meteor, after this lengthy 
 discussion, the presiding officer announced that nom- 
 inations for President of the United States were in 
 order, and the clerk was directed to call the roll of 
 States for that purpose. Hon. John N. Baldwin of 
 
456 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Iowa named Senator Allison, Senator Henry Cabot 
 Lodge of Massachusetts named Congressman and 
 Speaker Thomas B. Reed of Maine, Dr. Chauncey 
 M. Depew named Governor Morton of New York, 
 Governor Hastings named Senator Matthew Stanley 
 Quay of Pennsylvania, and Senator Foraker named 
 William McKinley of Ohio. All of the nominating 
 speeches were of a high order and each brought out 
 all possible applause from the friends of the individ- 
 ual candidates. 
 
 Senator Foraker, notwithstanding his arduous 
 labors on the Committee on Resolutions, made one 
 of his brightest efforts in placing Ohio's candidate 
 before the convention. Mr. Foraker spoke as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention : It 
 would be exceedingly difficult, if not entirely impossible, 
 to exaggerate the disagreeable experiences of the last 
 four years. The grand aggregate of the multitudinous 
 bad results of a Democratic National administration 
 may be summed up as one stupendous disaster. It has 
 been a disaster, however, not without at least one re- 
 deeming feature, it has been fair — nobody has escaped 
 it. It has fallen equally alike upon all sections of our 
 country, and all classes of our population ; the just and 
 the unjust, the Republican and the Democrat, the rich 
 and the poor, the high and the low, have suffered in 
 common. Idleness and its consequent poverty and 
 distress have been the rewards of labor ; distress and 
 bankruptcy have overtaken business ; shrunken values 
 have dissipated fortunes ; deficient revenues have im- 
 poverished the Government, brought about bond issues 
 and bond syndicates and have discouraged and scan- 
 dalized the Nation. 
 
 Over against this fearful penalty is, however, to be set 
 
NATIONAL CONVENTION, 1896. 457 
 
 down one great compensatory result — it has destroyed 
 the Democratic party. The proud columns which swept 
 the country in triumph in 1892 are btoken and hopeless 
 in 1896. Their boasted principles, when they came to 
 the tests of a practical application, have proven nothing 
 but fallacies, and their great leaders have degenerated 
 into warring chieftains of petty and irreconcilable 
 factions. Their approaching National convention is but 
 an approaching National nightmare. No man pretends 
 to be able to predict any good result to come fiom it, and 
 no man is seeking the nomination of that convention 
 except only the limited few who have advertised their 
 unfitness for any kind of a public trust by proclaiming 
 their willingness to stand upon any sort of platform that 
 may be adopted. The truth is, the party could not stand 
 up under the odium of human slavery. Opposition to 
 the war for the preservation of the Union, emancipa- 
 tion, enfranchisement, reconstruction and specie resump- 
 tion at last finds itself overmatched and undone by itself. 
 It is writhing in the throes and agonies of final dissolu- 
 tion, superinduced by a dose of its own medicine. No 
 human agency can prevent its absolute overthrow at the 
 next election, except only this convention. If we make 
 no mistake here, the Democratic party will go out of 
 power on the fourth day of March, 1897, to remain out of 
 power until God, in His wisdom and mercy and good- 
 ness, shall see fit once more to chastise His people. 
 So far, we have not made any mistake. We have adopted 
 a platform which, notwithstanding the scenes witnessed 
 in this hall this morning, meets the demands and expecta- 
 tions of an American people. 
 
 It remains for us now, as the last crowning act of our 
 work here, to again meet that same expectation in the 
 nomination of our candidate. 
 
 You all know that they want in their candidate 
 something more than a good business man ; they want 
 something more than a good Republican ; they want 
 something more than a fearless leader ; they want some- 
 thing more than a wise, patriotic statesman— they want 
 a man who embodies in himself not only all of these 
 
458 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 essential qualifications, but who in addition, in the high- 
 est possible degree, typifies in name, in character, in 
 record, in ambition and in purpose, the exact opposite 
 of all that is signified and represented by this free trade, 
 deficit-making, bond-issuing, labor-saving Democratic 
 administration. 
 
 I stand here to present to this convention such a man. 
 His name is William McKinley. (Here the speaker was 
 interrupted by twenty-seven minutes of applause.) 
 
 Gentlemen of the convention, you seem to have heard 
 the name of my candidate before. And so you have. 
 He is known to all the world. His testimonials are, of 
 private life, without reproach. Four years of heroic 
 service as a boy soldier on the battlefields of the Republic, 
 under such gallant generals as Philip H. Sheridan; 
 twelve years of conspicuous service in the halls of Con- 
 gress, in association with such great leaders and such 
 great champions of Republicanism as James G. Blaine ; 
 four years of executive service as Governor of Ohio ; 
 but greatest of all, measured by present requirements, 
 leader of the House of Representatives and author of 
 the "McKinley law" — a law under which labor had 
 the richest reward, and the country generally the great- 
 est prosperity ever enjoyed in all our history. No 
 other name so completely meets the requirements of 
 the American people ; and no other man so absolutely 
 commands their hearts and their affections. The shafts of 
 envy, malice, slander and detraction lie broken and 
 harmless at his feet. They have already been shot and 
 shot in vain, and the quiver is empty and he untouched ; 
 and that is so because the people know him, trust him, 
 believe in him, love him, and no effort to disparage him 
 can succeed. 
 
 They know that he is patriotic, and they know that he 
 is an American of Americans. They know he is wise, 
 that he is able and true, and that they want him for 
 President of the United States. They have already so 
 declared, not in this or that State or section, but in all 
 the States and all the sections of our country, from ocean 
 to ocean and from the Gulf to the lakes. They expect 
 
SKNATOK JOHN M. THURSTON. 
 
NATIONAL, CONVENTION, 1896. 459 
 
 US to give them a chance to vote for him. It is our duty 
 to do it. If we discharge that duty, we will give joy to 
 their hearts, enthusiasm to the campaign and triumph- 
 ant victory to our cause ; and he in turn will give us an 
 administration under which the country will enter upon 
 a new era of prosperity at home and of glory and honor 
 abroad. By all these tokens of the present, all these 
 promises for the future, iri the name of the forty-six dele- 
 gates of Ohio, I submit his claims to your consideration. 
 
 The twenty-seven-minute interruption indicated in 
 the foregoing was a season of the greatest applause 
 that ever shook a convention. The gathering had. 
 been looked upon as cold and lacking in appreciation 
 up to this time. The people present had simply been 
 saving their throats and their lungs for this supreme 
 moment, and all questions as to the warmth of the 
 hearts of those present were swept away. Twenty 
 thousand people seemed to be carried away with the 
 excitement of the moment. Delegates mounted the 
 tops of chairs and vied with each other in holding 
 aloft whatever they had in hand. Some had flags, 
 others tri-colored plumes, many opened umbrellas, 
 while hats were thrown nearly to the roof, banners 
 waved, fans fluttered and pandemonium reigned 
 supreme. The bands in the galleries struck up 
 National airs, and the audience began to sing the 
 words, using the ordinary applause for interludes. 
 The convention and the galleries simply wore them- 
 selves out in the efforts to make a noise, and it was 
 only when worn out that Senator Foraker was allowed 
 to proceed. 
 
 Senator Thurston followed in a most eloquent sec- ^ 
 onding speech. The last speech made before the 
 balloting was that of Senator Vance of Louisiana, in 
 behalf of the Afro- American voters of the country. 
 
 The ballot resulted as follows ; 
 
460 
 
 ilFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 STATES!. 
 
 3 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 
 
 .52 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 19 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 23 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 46 
 30 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 
 
 20 
 26 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 12 
 
 1 
 29 
 
 
 V2 
 
 % 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 1 
 28 
 18 
 17 
 34 
 
 1 
 16 
 
 3 
 
 '" 19 "" 
 17 
 19% 
 
 6 
 46 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 ■■"i's"" 
 
 8 
 24 
 21 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 23 
 
 8 
 12 
 24 
 
 6 
 
 e" 
 
 5 
 4 
 4 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 +NPTrnHa .. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 i'vi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ohio 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5S 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 
 XJtali 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 66iy2 
 
 84% 
 
 58 
 
 35% 
 
 60% 
 
 
 
 • Absent. 
 
 t Pour blank; 1 for J. Donald Canieron, 
 
 ^ Three ^bs?nt. 
 
NATIONAL, CONVENTION, 1 896. 46 1 
 
 On motion of Senator Lodge, seconded by Gov- 
 ernor Hastings, by Ex-Senator T. C. Piatt and Dr. 
 Depew, and by Congressman Henderson, the nomi- 
 nation was made unanimous by a rising vote. This 
 was done to the booming of the cannon on the outside 
 of the hall. 
 
 The nomination of a candidate for Vice-President 
 was the next order of business, and but one ballot 
 was necessary. It resulted in the nomination of 
 Garret A. Hobart. 
 
CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 GARRET A. HOBART. 
 
 Son of a Humble Schoolmaster and Storekeeper — Born 
 at Long Branch, N. J. — Descended From a Norfolk 
 Family — The Old Town of Hingham — The Family 
 Famous for Teachers and Preachers — French Huguenot 
 Blood From his Mother's Side — Dominie Benjamin 
 Du Bois, His Great-Grandfather. 
 
 WHILE McKinley can point with pride ' to his 
 fighting Scotch-Irish ancestry on his father's 
 side, blended with the English blood of his grand- 
 mother, Mary Rose, Garret A. Hobart, candidate 
 for Vice-President on the Republican ticket, may 
 look back with satisfaction on his Norfolk ancestors 
 of East Anglia, the Hobarts of Hingham, and on his 
 mother's to the Huguenot Vandeveers, who emigrated 
 in 1659 from North Holland to New Amsterdam, and 
 who were as ready to fight as to pray for liberty of 
 conscience and free government. Both these ex- 
 amples of wholesome American manhood may feel 
 proud of their origin. Not because of the title or the 
 fortune bequeathed, but because of the far more val- 
 uable legacy of good qualities of mind and body, 
 bound to spring from lives devoted to freedom, edu- 
 cation, religion and all the influences that inaugu- 
 rated the spirit of popular government in England and 
 
MRS. G. A. KOlJAItT. 
 
GARRET A. HOBART. 463 
 
 Holland, and which took firm root on this side the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 In connection with this chapter, glance at the 
 chapter on the origin of the McKinley family, and 
 we find that both these men may well look with satis- 
 faction upon their ancestors, and that while McKin- 
 ley and Hobart may occupy a more conspicuous 
 place in the eyes of their countrymen, their fore- 
 fathers on both sides were men of sound character 
 and principle, and examples that may be followed 
 to advantage by those occupying the most exalted 
 places in public affairs. In short, those who have 
 for years known and studied the characters of Wil- 
 liam McKinley and Garret A. Hobart will see in 
 their personality unmistakable signs of their origin 
 and be able to trace the sterling qualities which they 
 possess to the early teachings and inspiration of the 
 good men and women from whom they sprung. 
 
 True, in America, as in no other country in the 
 world, to an equal degree, it is our boast that every 
 man has an equal chance with his fellows to raise 
 himself from the lowest to the highest position in the 
 land. We are proud of our self-made men, and al- 
 though the satirist may sometimes suggest that " self- 
 made men are not always well-made," still we 
 recognize the fact that a man who has been the archi- 
 tect of his own fortunes, and who, by his unaided 
 exertions has won the respect, the confidence, and 
 the esteem of others to an unusual degree, whether 
 in the field of agriculture, manufactures, literature 
 or art, must possess superior qualities, or success 
 
464 LIFK OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 would not have been his. It is of interest in such 
 cases to know something of the parentage from which 
 such men spring, because therein lies a suggestion 
 of the origin of the forces which have enabled them 
 to rise to eminence. 
 
 Garret A. Hobart, the son of a humble school- 
 master, country storekeeper and farmer — earning 
 his own living from his boyhood, without any ad- 
 ventitious aids to fortune — is certainly a self-made 
 man ; but the most carping critic, beholding his well- 
 rounded character, admirable in every respect, would 
 be constrained to admit that he is as surely a " well- 
 made" man. Precisely the same has been shown to 
 be true of William McKinley. In a previous chap- 
 ter we have laid before the reader McKinley's 
 ancestry. Whence does Hobart derive those quali- 
 ties of success whereby he has made himself what 
 he is? 
 
 On his father's side he is descended from Edmund 
 Hobart of Hingham, Norfolk, England, who emi- 
 grated thence to New England in 1635, settling at 
 Charleotown, Massachusetts. Two years later he 
 removed to Hingham, Massachusetts, which town 
 he represented in the General Court of Massachusetts 
 from 1639 to 1642. He was the first Hobart in 
 America to sit in the Legislature. He died in 1646. 
 His son Peter was born in Hingham, Norfolk, Eng- 
 land, in 1604 I graduated at Cambridge University in 
 1629 ; taught grammar school for a while, was pastor 
 of a church at Haverhill, Suffolk, England, until 
 1635, when he removed to Charlestown, Massachu- 
 
GARRET A. HOBART. 465 
 
 setts, but almost immediately settled a new town, 
 which he called Hingham,-after his birthplace ; thither 
 his father removed also. Peter established a Con- 
 gregational church at Hingham, of which he was 
 pastor until his death, in 1678. Four of his sons were 
 graduated at Harvard University, and were pastors 
 of Congregational churches. 
 
 Fifth in descent from Peter was Bishop John 
 Henry Hobart ; also John Sloss Hobart, a distin- 
 guished lawyer of New York, United States Senator 
 from that State in 1798, and Judge of the United 
 States District Court of New York for some years. 
 Another of Peter's descendants removed to New 
 Hampshire, and there Roswell Hobart had a farm in 
 the Columbia Valley, Coos county. He was 
 richer in children than in other possessions, and ac- 
 cordingly, his son, Addison W. Hobart, when a 
 mere lad, left the paternal home to make his own 
 way in the world, to which end he chose the avoca- 
 tion of schoolmaster. Removing to New Jersey, he 
 took charge of the Long Branch Academy, in what 
 is known as the Upper Village, and which was quite 
 famous in its day as a superior institution of learning 
 in that vicinity. There he married Sophia Vander- 
 veer. He afterwards removed to Keyport, Mon- 
 mouth county, N. J., where he kept a country store 
 for several years ; thence he removed to Marlboro, 
 in the same county, where he combined the occupa- 
 tion of country storekeeper with that of farmer. 
 He died at Marlboro, in 1892. His wife died in 
 April, 1881, both of them advanced in years. 
 
466 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Sophia Vanderveer, wife of Addison W. Hobart, 
 and mother of Garret A. Hobart, was a daughter of 
 David G. Vanderveer, who lived above Freehold, in 
 Monmouth county, not far from the site of the battle 
 of Monmouth, fought that hot June day in 1778, 
 when Washington, by his impetuous gallantry, never 
 more strikingly displayed, wrenched from the jaws 
 of defeat a glorious victory, and again, as at Tren- 
 ton and at Princeton, showed the world that the 
 American volunteers were a match for the British 
 and Hessian trained soldiery. Mr. Vanderveer's 
 grandfather suffered great loss from the depredations 
 of the invading army during the Revolution. He 
 was a descendant of that Cornells Janse van de 
 Veer (" Cornells, son of John, from the ferry") 
 who emigrated in the ship Otter, in 1659, from 
 Alkmaer, in North Holland, to New Amsterdam 
 (now New York) . He settled at Flatbush, Long 
 Island, where he was a magistrate in 1678—80. 
 There he married Tryntje (Catharine) , daughter of 
 Yelles (Giles) de Mandeville. Her father came 
 from Gelderland, in Holland, to New Amsterdam, 
 in 1659, being one of those Huguenots who were so 
 numerous among the early emigrants, and who, by 
 their knowledge of textile industries, formed so val- 
 uable an addition to the early settlements in the new 
 country. One of the sons of Yelles was Hendrick 
 Mandeville, who settled at Pompton Plains, N. J., 
 within eight or ten miles of the present city of Pat- 
 erson, where he died about 17 12, and where a 
 numerous posterity, among the most respectable citi- 
 
GARRET A. HOBART. 467 
 
 zens of New Jersey, perpetuate his name. Cornelis 
 Vanderveer and Tryntje, his wife, had numerous 
 children, among them, Dominicus, who was baptized 
 November i6, 1679. The latter also had several 
 children, one of them being Tunis, who was the first 
 . of the family to settle in New Jersey, taking up his 
 residence near Freehold, where he married Aeltje 
 (Alida) Schenck, who belonged to another of the 
 earliest Dutch families in America. Tunis was the 
 great-grandfather of David G. Vanderveer, who 
 married Catharine, daughter of the Rev. Benjamin 
 DuBois. 
 
 Dominie Benjamin DuBois was a remarkable 
 character. He was descended from Louis DuBois, a 
 French Huguenot, from Artois, in France, born 
 about 1630. He removed to Mannheim, on the 
 Rhine, where he was living in 1658. He probably 
 came to America in the ship Si. Jan Ba-ptist, which 
 sailed from Amsterdam, Holland, on May 9, 1661, 
 arriving at New Amsterdam, August 6, 1661, after a 
 weary voyage of nearly three months. He received 
 a grant of land at Hurley, near Kingston, N. Y., 
 April 25, 1663. A year or two later the Indians 
 attacked the white settlers, and his wife (Catharine 
 Blancon) was taken prisoner, with three of her chil- 
 dren. The savages tied her to a stake, on a pile of 
 wood, to which they were about to set fire, when 
 she, with an admirable disregard of death, began 
 singing a psalm of confidence, and her melodious 
 voice, no less than her bravery, so charmed the blood- 
 thirsty Indians, that they deferred the sacrifice so 
 
468 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 long that a rescuing party of whites arrived on the 
 scene, and Mrs. DuBois was restored to her husband's 
 arms unscathed. DuBois died in 1696, leaving sev- 
 eral children, among them a son Jacob. Some of 
 his descendants removed to Pennsylvania, and others 
 to various parts of New York, Jacob had a son 
 Louis, who was born at Hurley, N. Y., January 6, 
 1695, and married Margaret Jansen, May 22, 1720. 
 It was doubtless soon after his marriage that he re- 
 moved to Salem county, N. J., where he acquired 
 more than one thousand acres of land. He was the 
 father of Benjamin DuBois, who was born in Salem 
 county, March 30, 1739. Having studied under the 
 Rev. John Henry Goetschius, of Orange county, N.Y., 
 then one of the leading clergymen of the Reformed 
 Dutch Church in America, Benjamin DuBois was 
 licensed as a preacher in 1764, and immediately 
 became pastor of the churches of that denomination 
 located at Freehold and Middletown, Monmouth 
 county, N.J. 
 
 Dominie DuBois was a man of varied attainments. 
 He preached in Dutch to the edification of the older 
 people, and in English to please the rising genera- 
 tion. During the troublous times of the Revolution, 
 he showed that he could fight as well as pray, 
 and frequently shouldered his musket and knapsack, 
 to join the local miHtia in resisting the forays of the 
 invading enemy. Even when his physical powers 
 were enfeebled by half a century of arduous toil, his 
 will-power rose above such weakness, and he per- 
 sisted in preaching, even though he sometimes 
 
GARRET A. HOBART. 469 
 
 fainted during the service. He died in 1827, at the 
 age of eighty-eight years, and after a service of sixty- 
 three years in the ministry. His wife survived him 
 twelve years, when she too passed away, having al- 
 most reached her ninety-sixth year. Dominie 
 DuBois had ten children , five of whom removed to 
 Franklin, Ohio, where they organized " The Jersey 
 Church," in connection with the Presbyterian de- 
 nomination. One of his daughters, Catharine, mar- 
 ried David G. Vanderveer, whose daughter Sophia 
 was the mother of the subject of this sketch. 
 
 Thus was the sturdy New Hampshire stock, of 
 English origin, grafted upon the mingled Holland and 
 French stock, composing that conservative strain 
 known as the Jersey Dutch of Central New Jersey. 
 
 Of such ancestry — simple, humble. God-fearing, 
 doing their duty as they found it to do, making no 
 great figure in the world, but leading the life of the 
 average American citizen — comes Garret Augustus 
 Hobart. He was born on the third day of June, 
 1844, while his father was teaching in the Long 
 Branch Academy. The house in which he first saw 
 the light still stands in the village of Long Branch 
 on the public road leading from Long Branch to 
 Eatontown. It has been somewhat remodeled since 
 that day, and is now occupied as a dwelling house. 
 Mrs. Edwards, the present tenant, says that it has be- 
 come a great object of interest to visitors since the 
 St. Louis Convention, many being curious to inspect 
 the birthplace of the next Vice-President of the 
 United States. 
 
CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 THE BOYHOOD OF HOBART. 
 
 Young Garret at the District School — A Difference 
 With the Schoolmaster — Takes up Classical Studies — 
 Enters Rutgers College at Sixteen — A Quick Stu- 
 dent — Member of the Base Ball Nine — Graduated 
 with Distinguished Honors in Mathematics and En- 
 glish — School Teacher — Law Student. 
 
 THE father of Garret A. Hobart was not favored 
 by large riches. A man obliged to combine 
 the occupation of teacher and storekeeper in Mon- 
 mouth county, N. J., in the fifties, could hardly be 
 other than poor. , Still, he seconded his son's efforts 
 to secure an education, and if the records show any- 
 thing, they indicate that Garret took advantage of 
 the opportunities open to him. When a mere child, 
 he was sent to the district school of his neighbor- 
 hood, and thus both Presidential and Vice-Presi- 
 dential candidates received their first impressions of 
 life in a humble but well-regulated home, and in the 
 common schools of the Republic. Later on, we 
 shall find the young Jerseyman teaching a district 
 school in New Jersey, as McKinley did in Ohio. 
 Garret was very quick in his studies, so much so that 
 when he was twelve years of age, he had outstripped 
 the village school and was sent away from home to 
 
 470 
 
THE BOYHOOD OF HOBART. 47 1 
 
 the Classical School of Wm. W. WoodhuU, in Free- 
 hold, Monmouth county, to prepare for college. He 
 remained there about one year, when there arose a 
 slight difficulty between him and the master, which 
 determined him to return home with the resolve 
 never to go back to Mr. WoodhuU. He then en- 
 tered the Classical School kept by James W. Scher- 
 merhorn, at Matawan, Monmouth county. Here he 
 made such rapid progress that in 1859 ^^ '^^^ fitted 
 to enter the Sophomore class at Rutgers College, at 
 New Brunswick, N. J. However, owing to his ex- 
 treme youth, it was deemed advisable to keep him 
 home for a year, and it was not until i860 that he 
 matriculated at Rutgers, entering the Sophomore 
 class. 
 
 Rutgers, it will be remembered, is the favorite 
 college of the Reformed (Dutch) Church of 
 America. It was this same college, by the way, 
 which furnished the first Vice-Presidential candidate 
 from New Jersey, Theodore Frelinghuysen of New 
 Jersey, who ran on the ticket with Henry Clay in 
 1844, the same year in which Hobart was born. His 
 college life seems to have been uneventful. Those 
 who knew him intimately declare that he was quick 
 of perception, full of good nature and a great lover of 
 the athletic sports of the day. He was particularly 
 apt in mathematics, and excelled in English litera- 
 ture. He took a prominent part in the great Na- 
 tional game, and figured as a member of the college 
 base ball nine. In June, 1863, at the age of nine- 
 teen, Hobart graduated from Rutgers, taking the 
 
472 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLKY. 
 
 prize in mathematics and delivering the English 
 salutatory. Thus it will be seen that the boyhood of 
 this young man had been a serious one, and that be- 
 fore he was out of his teens his life took an earnest 
 turn. 
 
 Out of college, it was necessary to cast around for 
 some occupation by which he could at once earn a 
 living. The first thing that presented itself was 
 school-teaching, so Hobart immediately entered into 
 an agreement to teach school, the term beginning in 
 September, 1863. The schoolhouse in which he 
 taught is located in the churchyard of the Old Brick 
 Church of Marlboro. Those who have never gone 
 through this experience can not appreciate the mis- 
 givings of a young fellow just from college, teaching 
 a country school for the first time. Many of the 
 pupils were older than himself. Many of the pretty 
 girls he had taken to parties and dances. To be 
 severe and dignified was difficult. It is a useful expe- 
 rience, and in this, as in other instances, developed 
 both self-reliance and decision of character. It also 
 brought in some much needed funds, though from a 
 financial point of view. Garret A. Hobart's first ven- 
 ture did not turn out as well as some of more recent 
 date. The tuition fee for the quarter's teaching was 
 $1 per scholar, and had all paid up, the sum would 
 have been $110 for the three months' work. Alas, 
 they did not. Some were too poor, some became ill, 
 others were indifferent, and in this way he lost fully 
 one-third of his anticipated dues. While teaching. 
 
THE BOYHOOD OF HOBART. 473 
 
 Hobart lived at home, riding to school on horseback 
 every morning. 
 
 In connection with this period of Hobart' s life, it 
 may be well to mention an incident that took place 
 at St. Louis. Among his pupils was John W. Her- 
 bert, Jr., now a prominent lawyer of New Jersey. 
 He was a delegate at St. Louis, and had the pleasure 
 of casting a vote for his old schoolmaster for Vice- 
 President of the United States. This fact pleased 
 the grateful recipient very much, for, as he said, 
 it is doubly gratifying to have those who know you 
 longest honor and respect you. 
 
 Hobart's purpose in teaching was to earn some 
 money, so that he would be in a measure independent 
 of his father and able to rely upon his own exertions 
 in entering upon his chosen profession, that of the 
 law. With the little money which he had thus earned, 
 he came to Paterson, December i, 1863, and entered 
 the law office of Socrates Tuttle, then one of the 
 leading lawyers of Paterson. 
 
 And here may we not digress long enough to tell 
 one of those stories which sound so much like fiction 
 and yet are of frequent occurrence. Mf-. Tuttle, like 
 the older Hobart, was of New Hampshire origin. 
 He, too, came from Coos county. Though brought 
 up as a blacksmith, he became impressed with the 
 idea that the great name he bore would be more 
 harmonious in connection with the eloquence of the 
 bar than with the ringing rhythm of the anvil. Car- 
 rying out this idea, Socrates Tuttle cast ofFhis leather 
 apron, threw away his hammer and took up the call- 
 
474 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 ing of schoolmaster. The change of occupation in- 
 volved a change of residence, and soon we find Mr. 
 Tuttle, schoolmaster, boarding at the house of that 
 other New Hampshire man, Addison W. Hobart, 
 now residing in New Jersey. Tuttle, however, had 
 still higher ambitions. He was fitting himself for the 
 legal profession and afterwards became a lawyer of 
 eminence. 
 
 Just before the subject of this sketch was ushered 
 into the world, the young blacksmith-lawyer left the 
 home of the elder Hobart to make his home in 
 Paterson. 
 
 " Good-bye, Hobart," said Socrates Tuttle, as he 
 left for his new home ; "if it's a boy, mind, you must 
 make a lawyer of him, and he shall study law in my 
 office, for I shall become an important lawyer by 
 that time." 
 
 " All right, Tuttle, that's a bargain," was the re- 
 sponse, and the two friends parted. 
 
 It was a boy I 
 
 Twenty years later. Garret A. Hobart did enter 
 the law office of Mr. Tuttle, by that time one of the 
 leading lawyers of New Jersey, and a few years later 
 he united his fortune with as lovable, amiable and 
 intellectual a woman as ever made a man happier 
 and stronger and better for being his wife — and that 
 young woman was Socrates Tuttle's daughter. 
 
 Before his marriage, however, Hobart had not 
 only shown his ability as a lawyer, but his independ- 
 ence as a young man, capable of studying law and 
 earning his living at the same time. Still determined 
 
THE BOYHOOD OF HOBART. 475 
 
 to pursue his self-relying course, he sought and ob- 
 tained employment in various ways by which he 
 could contribute to his own support. He worked 
 many long hours, day and night, copying law papers 
 in the office of William Gledhill, then one of the 
 leading lawyers of Paterson, and who was Surrogate 
 of the county at this time. The First National Bank 
 of Paterson had just started, and Hobart worked 
 many days and weeks as a clerk in that bank. It 
 was then a very modest institution, with a capital of 
 $100,000; and he little dreamed that in after years 
 he was destined to be one of the largest stockholders 
 and one of the most influential directors in that insti- 
 tution, with a capital and surplus of nearly $800,000, 
 and with assets of nearly $3,000,000. Such, how- 
 ever, was his fate. 
 
CHAPTEI^ XLIII. 
 
 LAWYER AND LEGISLATOR. 
 
 Admitted to the Bar of New Jersey — Personal Charac- 
 teristics — ^Young Hobart's First Political Office — City- 
 Counsel of Paterson in 1871 — Elected to the State 
 Assembly in 1872 — Chosen Speaker in 1874 — Declines 
 a Third Term — Elected to Senate in 1876 — President 
 of the Senate. 
 
 THERE are many classes of lawyers of the first 
 quality. In England, the classification is far more 
 distinct than with us, though in the more prominent 
 law firms of this country the work is specialized. 
 Garret A. Hobart is a counselor, one of the ablest in 
 the United States. He is not given to forensic display, 
 and has always shrunk from the duties of advocate, 
 but nevertheless he is a jurist of rare qualifications 
 and of the highest order of intellect. 
 
 His practice at first was largely in the line of com- 
 mercial business, making collections, settling business 
 disputes between merchants and others. Ha was im- 
 mediately noted for the promptness with which he 
 despatched all business entrusted to his care, as well 
 as for the shrewdness and sagacity with which he 
 handled the most diflScult matters. With this busi- 
 ness capacity, Hobart still retained a winning man- 
 ner, a frank, almost boyish expression of countenance. 
 
LAWYER AND LEGISLATOR. 4^7 
 
 which won him friends from the start, and he soon 
 numbered many staid old Jersey Dutch farmers 
 amongst his clients. 
 
 Hobart has always had a curious diffidence which 
 makes him averse to going into court. However, 
 when the interest of his client demanded that he 
 should make a plea, he has never failed to do so, and 
 in such cases has shown himself to be an effective 
 and convincing orator. Hobart has been remarkably 
 successful in the forum. His practice, however, has 
 been mainly in the line of counsel, and in this 
 capacity he has had an extraordinary amount of 
 the most varied and complicated matters submitted to 
 him. The confidence reposed in him by his clients 
 has been shown in another way, namely, in his selec- 
 tion to be the executor of many estates, some of them 
 of great magnitude, which he has invariably managed 
 to the satisfaction of the heirs and all concerned. 
 
 A man with Garret A. Hobart's pleasant manner 
 and manifest capacity for affairs obviously could not 
 long keep out of politics. His first office was a very 
 little one, but it showed the confidence of }iis imme- 
 diate neighbors, who, in April. 1868, selected him to 
 be Judge of Election in the Fourth Ward in the City 
 of Paterson. The pecuniary compensation was $2.00 
 for a day's work, and he served two days in the 
 year. 
 
 In New Jersey the ancient Grand Jury system is 
 still preserved, with the great body of the English 
 Common Law. In 1865 Hobart was appointed by 
 the Hon. Joseph D. Bedle, one of the Democratic 
 
478 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 justices of the Supreme Court, clerk for the Grand 
 Jury. It was his business to keep the minutes of the 
 Grand Jury, a record of all criminal complaints 
 brought before it, of the witnesses examined, and 
 the substance of their evidence, and to assist the 
 Prosecutor of the Pleas in drawing up indictments, 
 and in preparing evidence for use in court on the 
 trial of indictments. All these difficult and arduous 
 duties he performed so satisfactorily as to gain the 
 public thanks of the court and of the Grand Jury. 
 
 The City of Paterson was in Democratic control 
 at this time. In the spring of 1 871, the Republicans 
 nominated the Hon. Socrates Tuttle for Mayor, and 
 he was elected by a handsome majority. In the 
 choice of new city officers, Mr. Hobart was elected 
 City Counsel. 
 
 The Aldermen were all pleased with the readiness 
 with which the duties of the position were performed, 
 but he had no disposition to retain the office. In 
 May, 1872, he was elected Counsel for the Board of 
 Chosen Freeholders, the body charged with the 
 administration of the county affairs. In the fall of 
 this year he was agreed upon as the most available 
 Republican candidate for member of the Assembly 
 (the Lower House of the Legislature) , from the Third 
 district of Passaic county. He made a thorough can- 
 vass, winning friends wherever he went, and was 
 elected by the largest majority ever given to any 
 candidate in that district, even running ahead of 
 Gen. Grant, the Republican nominee for President. 
 
 In the Legislature which met in 1873, Hobart, 
 
LAWYER AND LEGISLATOR. 4^9 
 
 although one of the younger members, immediately 
 took a leading part. The most important bill of that 
 session was the General Railroad Law, which was 
 designed to do away with the monopoly which had 
 for so many years made New Jersey a byword 
 and reproach to all travelers across her soil. This 
 measure had been strenuously fought for many years 
 by the lobbyists, but Mr. Hobart was one of its 
 foremost supporters in the interest of the citizens of 
 the entire State. So just and beneficent was this 
 law that no corporation has ever dared to ask its 
 repeal. In the fall of 1873, Hobart was re-elected 
 to the Assembly, and on the convening of the Leg- 
 islature of 1874 he was elected Speaker of the As- 
 sembly. This distinguished honor, often the subject 
 of bargains, came to him so spontaneously that he 
 was absolutely untrammeled in the selection of his 
 committees and in the discharge of the multitudinous 
 duties of that office. 
 
 During these two years of service in the Assembly, 
 Hobart consistently favored general instead of spe- 
 cial legislation. He introduced and pressed the pas- 
 sage of many bills for the reduction of official salaries, 
 and for the restriction of local expenditures, which 
 usually bear so grievously upon the farmer and the 
 working man. He favored the abolition of useless 
 offices and measures, and making the local bodies 
 more strictly accountable to their constituencies. To 
 the same end he likewise advocated the adoption of 
 sundry constitutional amendments, which were calcu- 
 lated to reduce and simplify the body of legislation 
 
480 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 and to secure a more efficient administration of public 
 affairs in cities and counties. 
 
 So thoroughly had he satisfied his constituents 
 during his two years of service in the Legislature, 
 that when the nominating convention assembled in 
 the fall of 1874, they insisted upon nominating him 
 for a third term. This was contrary to all precedent, 
 but it was the unanimous wish of his people, never- 
 theless ; Hobart was reluctant to be the first to infringe 
 upon the rule, and with characteristic consideration 
 of others, preferred likewise to stand aside that some 
 other candidate might receive the honor which had 
 been his for the usual period. He went before the 
 convention, therefore, and putting aside the strenuous 
 insistence which he could not but appreciate, he 
 gratefully but peremptorily declined the re-nomina- 
 tion. No man rendered better service in the ensuing 
 campaign than he. It has always been his pleasure 
 to fight in the ranks for somebody else, rather than 
 for himself. 
 
 In 1873, Passaic county had elected to the State 
 Senate a Democrat, the Hon. John Hopper, one of 
 the most popular men in the State. His successor 
 was to be chosen in the fall of 1876, and the Repub- 
 licans felt that it was incumbent upon them to select 
 as their candidate the strongest man in the party, 
 with the hope of regaining the Senatorship. There 
 was little discussion about the matter ; all eyes at once 
 turned toward Garret A. Hobart as the one man, 
 beyond perad venture, who would surely redeem the 
 county. He was strongly averse to taking the nomi- 
 
LAWYER AND LEGISLATOR. 48 1 
 
 nation, and presented his youth and the stronger 
 claims of other and older men in the party. It was 
 of no avail ; the party unanimously demanded the 
 sacrifice, and he, seeing the unanimity of sentiment, 
 put aside all questions of personal considerations, 
 accepted the nomination, entered upon the canvass 
 with all his characteristic vim and shrewdness, and 
 was triumphantly elected. The Legislature of 1877 
 had a Democratic majority, and so had that of 1878. 
 In the latter year the Hon. George C. Ludlow, 
 Governor of New Jersey, in 1881-2-3, and now one 
 of the Justices of the Supreme Court, was chosen 
 president of the Senate . Although politically opposed 
 to Hobart, he was one of his earnest friends and 
 admirers, and appointed him on several of the most 
 important committees. Some of the warmest letters 
 and telegrams of congratulation sent to him on his 
 nomination for Vice-President, came to him from 
 George C. Ludlow, Rudolph F. Rabe, and others of 
 his Democratic associates in the State Senate. 
 
 In 1879 he was renominated unanimously by the 
 Republicans of his county, and re-elected to the 
 State Senate by a majority of 1,899, ^^^ largest 
 majority ever given up to that time to any candidate 
 in the county. In 1881 he was elected president 
 of the Senate, and was re-elected in 1882. 
 
 During these two years in the chair, he displayed 
 such a knowledge of parliamentary law, that his 
 decisions were seldom if ever questioned, and were 
 never reversed. He dispatched business with a 
 rapidity that won the admiration of everyone who 
 
483 , LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 witnessed the proceedings from day to day, and at 
 the same time conducted himself with such unfailing 
 good nature and tact as to win the universal esteem 
 of his fellow Senators, regardless of party. 
 
 During his service in the Senate, his reputation as 
 a leader in the Legislature became so widespread 
 that he was appealed to by men interested in public 
 aftairs from all over the State for advice and counsel 
 as to the enactment of public legislation of the most 
 diverse and important character. 
 
 He introduced and secured the passage of more 
 bills than any other member of the Legislature. Con- 
 sistently with his course, while a member of the As- 
 sembly, as a Senator, he steadfastly opposed special 
 and favored general legislation. He gave much at- 
 tention to a rednction of excessive State expendi- 
 tures, secured legislation reducing excessive official 
 fees, and constantly advocated the compensation of 
 public officials by salaries, instead of by fees and 
 perquisites. He sought to put practical checks upon 
 extravagant and illegal expenditures by public 
 servants, arid to reduce State and local taxa- 
 tion. In the line of lessening the body of 
 legislation, he advocated home rule for cities, giving 
 them larger powers of self-government. As a lawyer, 
 he had seen the hardships experienced by the owners 
 of modest homes during the panic of 1873 and the 
 succeeding years, and in order to lessen such hard- 
 ships, he secured the enactment of a law reducing 
 the cost of foreclosures in such cases, and protecting 
 the owner against undue pressure by his mortgagee. 
 
GARRET A. HOBART IN 1S69. 
 
MRS. GARRET A. HOBART IN 1869. 
 
LAWYER AND LEGISLATOR. 483 
 
 This legislation brought cheer and comfort to many 
 a home in New Jersey during those dark days, and 
 put it in the power of many a working man to save 
 his home, which would have been lost but for these 
 beneficent measures. It was through his instrumen- 
 tality that, so long ago as 1877, a commission was 
 appointed under authority of an act of the Legisla- 
 ture, to consider and devise plan« for the encourage- 
 ment of manufacture of ornamental and textile 
 fabrics in New Jersey. It was the means of bringing 
 many manufacturers to that State. Incidentally, it also 
 led to the establishment of the Bureau of Labor and 
 Statistics, which is regarded by workingmen through- 
 out the country as one of the most efficient and most 
 useful instrumentalities of the kind. He also advocated 
 the establishment of technical schools in the principal 
 cities of the State, and pressed a bill providing for 
 the arbitration of labor disputes. 
 
 His career as a legislator may be summed up by 
 saying that he advocated and devised a large number 
 of measures calculated to promote the happiness of 
 the vast majority of the citizens of his State, that he 
 favored all measures in the interest of the people at 
 large, in preference to individual interests; that he 
 took advanced ground in favor of the welfare of the 
 masses, and favored legislation for the protection of 
 those least capable of protecting themselves. 
 
 The ability manifested by Mr. Hobart in the man- 
 agement of his private business has led to his being 
 called upon to take an active and prominent part in 
 various enterprises connected with the development 
 
484 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 of Paterson and vicinity. For more than twenty- 
 years he has been interested in the street railways, 
 which have been largely instrumental in the expan- 
 sion and steady growth of the city of his residence. 
 In 1875 he was appointed receiver of several rail- 
 roads in New Jersey, and he ran them so successfully 
 that in the course of two or three years he was able 
 to hand them over to their stockholders with the 
 floating debts paid off and a surplus of cash in the 
 treasury. He has also been a leading spirit in the 
 Passaic Water Company, which supplies the City of 
 Paterson with water. He is a trustee of the leading 
 savings bank of the city, and a director in one of 
 the local cemetery companies, as well as in sundry 
 other enterprises connected with the development of 
 Paterson. It is a notable fact that any business with 
 which Mr. Hobart is responsibly connected always 
 gets along without any trouble with its working peo- 
 ple. The men always feel the utmost freedom in 
 appealing to Mr. Hobart in case of any disagree- 
 ment, and they have such absolute faith in his justice 
 and such confidence in his goodwill toward them- 
 selves, that they invariably accept his decision, even 
 though it be at times averse to their claims. 
 
 It need hardly be said that in view of his very ex- 
 tensive business connections and from his knowledge 
 of the best interests of the working people, who 
 comprise nine-tenths of the population of Paterson, 
 he has always been in favor of the soundest kind of 
 souqd money, as the best currency in which to pay 
 the returns due to either labor or capital. This issue 
 
LAWYER AND LEGISLATOR. 485 
 
 was raised in New Jersey in 1886, when Gen. 
 Thomas D. Hoxsey, of Paterson, one of Mr. Ho- 
 bart's warmest personal friends and admirers, was 
 the Greenback candidate for Governor, and made a 
 most energetic canvass for the promulgation of his 
 theories in favor of cheap money, both paper and 
 silver. Mr. Hobart took every occasion, in public 
 and in private, to controvert the arguments of Gen. 
 Hoxsey, and to show that cheap money invari- 
 ably meant that wages alone would be cheapened, 
 and everything else would be increased in price, but 
 paid for in a depreciated currency. 
 
 Similarly, Mr. Hobart's extensive interests in and 
 wide knowledge of the manufactures of Paterson 
 and of New Jersey — a knowledge not merely the- 
 oretical, but intensely practical — has made him a 
 consistent and invariable advocate of protection to 
 American industries, as being essential to the highest 
 prosperity of the workingmen and of the manu- 
 facturer. Even in the thirty years that he has been a 
 resident of the City of Paterson, he has beheld the 
 silk manufacture grow from comparative insig- 
 nificance into mighty proportions, and it has been a 
 fact universally accepted by all those familiar with 
 that interesting industry, that the silk manufacture in 
 America is to all intents and purposes a child of the 
 tariff. 
 
 On these two great public questions — sound money 
 and protection — Mr. Hobart has been invariably in 
 sympathy with the declarations of the Republican 
 party. 
 
CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 An Ideal Marriage — Hobart's Marriage to Miss Tuttle 
 — A Glance at the Woman Who has Supplemented 
 His Endeavors — Sad Bereavement — Garret A. Hobart, 
 Jr. — Two Pen Pictures of the Next Vice-President's 
 Wife — A Comfortable Home. 
 
 MUCH of Garret A. Hobart's happiness and 
 success in life has been due to the incidenl 
 already related, of the ex-blacksmith and teacher-stu- 
 dent who boarded at the elder Hobart's house at 
 Long Branch. In the office of Socrates Tuttle of 
 Paterson he studied law, and in the home of his 
 father's old friend he found an amiable and intellec- 
 tual helpmate, who has had much to do in developing 
 the strongest and best qualities of her husband. Mrs. 
 Hobart to-day fully supplements her distinguished hus- 
 band, and is as capable of fulfilling the important 
 social duties which will be required of her next March 
 as her husband is of executing the high office of Vice- 
 President. By education, by association and by a 
 wide acquaintance throughout the country, Mrs. 
 Hobart will come to these new responsibilities as 
 fully equipped as the wife of a public man should 
 be. So far as the public is concerned, this statement 
 can not well be strengthened. 
 
 486 
 
DOMESTIC LIFE. 487 
 
 So far as Garret A. Hobart is concerned, it may- 
 be said that his domestic life has been one of singular 
 felicity. When he began studying law in the office 
 of Socrates Tuttle in Paterson, he practically became 
 a member of the Tuttle family, with uncommon 
 opportunities of studying the character of the only 
 daughter, Miss Jennie, who had grown into an ac- 
 complished and attractive womanhood. Mrs. Tuttle 
 was a daughter of one of the early settlers of Pater- 
 son, Baltus Winters, of German descent, and of 
 Esther Dickey, of the well-known Dickey family of 
 Philadelphia, who, under the leadership of William 
 Dickey, came froili Ireland in 1793. Mrs. Tuttle 
 and her daughter were noted, not alone for their 
 beauty, but for the unusual combination of domestic 
 excellence, quick wit and good humor, derived from 
 this admixture of Teutonic and Celtic blood. 
 
 Nothing could have been more natural than that 
 these two young people, already bound by an inheri- 
 tance of friendship, and gifted with all that makes 
 youth beautiful, should have fallen in love with each 
 other. It has been said of Mr. Hobart that he 
 never makes a mistake. He certainly did not make 
 a mistake when he fell in love with and married Jen- 
 nie Tuttle. Nor was it a mistake on her part, for a 
 happier married life was never spent by any couple, 
 their one great grief having come to them in the death 
 last summer of their only daughter, an accomplished 
 and attractive girl. 
 
 Speaking of the wife of the next Vice-President 
 
488 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 of the United States, the Newark Daily Advertiser 
 of June 19, 1896, said : 
 
 Mrs. Hobart, however, has her only son and her hus- 
 band to live for, and to them she devotes h^r life. 
 "Junior" is a bright little fellow of about twelve years, 
 but delicate in constitution. He is getting stronger now, 
 however, rides his bicycle and plays ball like other boys, 
 and there is every prospect of his becoming a robust, 
 healthy man. 
 
 The care and anxiety for the lad have occupied a good 
 deal of Mrs. Hobart's time, and this, together with her 
 attention to her domestic duties and charitable work, 
 have constituted her chief work in life. Mrs. Hobart is 
 a model housekeeper. Her house always looks homelike 
 and comfortable. There is nothing for mere show, but 
 everything for convenience and comfort. Every chair 
 and settee is placed in such a position that it seems to be 
 a standing invitation to rest ; every table is set just right 
 in the room, and there is a general air of welcome every- 
 where that makes the visitor feel at home the minute he 
 has lifted his eyes after placing his hat and cane in the 
 hall rack. All this is not accident. It is the effect of 
 the subtle touch of a domestic woman. 
 
 Mrs. Hobart, having a large house, manages things 
 with such a quiet system that she finds time to devote to 
 other things, especially to charity. The names of benev- 
 olence and Mrs. Hobart are synonymous. She is a mem- 
 ber of the Presbyterian Church of the Redeemer, and 
 active in all the work connected with that church. Her 
 chief work of charity, however, is in connection with 
 the Old Ladies' Home. She is the president of the or- 
 ganization and a dominant spirit of the noble charity ; 
 all the meetings of the managers are held at her house. 
 
 It must not be imagined, however, that this constitutes 
 her entire charitable action. She is constantly doing 
 something for somebody. It is all done so quietly, so 
 unostentatiously, that even her closest friends know 
 nothing of it. Only by accident are some of these acts 
 discovered. If there be a poor family that she hears of, 
 
DOMESTIC LIFE. 489 
 
 suffering for the necessaries of life, the ravens fiy into 
 the door with food. No one but Mrs. Hobart knows 
 who sent the ravens. A harsh landlord threatens to turn 
 out an impecunious family. Mrs. Hobart hears of it. 
 For some reason unknown to the distressed family, the 
 landlord fails to carry out the threat. Thanksgiving 
 dinners and Christmas gifts find their way to the hospi- 
 tals and orphan asylums — no one knows w^hence, except 
 God and the giver. Surrounded, as she is, by every 
 comfort and luxury herself, her heart is touched when 
 she hears of those in suffering and deprivation, and they 
 do not go unrelieved if this noble-hearted woman hears 
 of the case. 
 
 Mrs. Hobart's home life is the calm, unruffled life of 
 an essentially domestic woman. She is modest and un- 
 assuming, and likes her home better than anything else 
 in the world. When she first heard of her husband's 
 name being connected with the Vice-Presidency, she 
 rather shrunk from it, for she knew what that meant to 
 her in a social way. But her life is a part of that of 
 her husband, and she said that whatever he wanted she 
 wanted. If she were the wife of the Vice-President, 
 there is no fear but that she would preside over all the 
 social functions appertaining to that position with quiet 
 dignity and tact. 
 
 Mrs. Hobart is a brilliant conversationalist, and can 
 intelligently converse on a wider range of subjects than 
 one woman in a thousand. Be it politics, music, art, lit- 
 erature, or what not, the listener imagines that she has 
 made of the subject at hand a life study. And, by the 
 way, speaking of art, the picture gallery attached to 
 Mr. Hobart's residence has few equals in the State. It 
 is not large, but every piece is a gem, and some are the 
 works of the great masters. 
 
 Mrs. Hobart is a woman who is beloved by all who 
 know her, a domestic woman, a womanly woman, 
 just the sort of a woman that nature intended should 
 be the wife of such a man as Garret A. Hobart. 
 
 Among the many interesting pen pictures of Mrs, 
 
490 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 Hobart may be quoted the following from the New 
 York Tribune, by one who has known Mrs. Hobart 
 for twenty years. 
 
 Mrs. Hobart is decidedly fine looking ; of medium 
 height, slightly full in figure, with dark hair and eyes, 
 and a wonderfully pleasant mouth and handsome teeth. 
 I think if I were asked to describe my impression of Mrs. 
 Hobart in three words, I would enthusiastically answer : 
 "Bright, cordial and womanly" — as any stranger would ; 
 but since I have lived in the same city with her for 
 twenty years, and see her on the streets and in her 
 carriage frequently, I can go much further and assure 
 the Tribune that if, or rather when, Mrs. Hobart 
 assumes the position of second lady in the land, she will 
 fill the bill to perfection. 
 
 Without sacrificing her dignity, Mrs. Hobart is of a 
 merry, mischievous disposition, bright of wit and ready 
 with an answer upon any subject. She is a brilliant con- 
 versationalist, a wide reader and thoroughly up in poli- 
 tics. As a hostess she is at her very best. The elegant 
 hospitality of the Hobarts is well and widely known, 
 and many famous men in science, art, literature and 
 politics have gathered around their hospitable table. 
 
 Here is another from the pen of that brilliant 
 newspaper correspondent, Mrs. McGuirck, of Wash- 
 ington : 
 
 The oftener one meets Mrs. Garret A. Hobart, wife of 
 the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, the more 
 one is impressed and delighted with her charms of 
 manner. She is indeed an attractive woman. 
 
 Mrs. Hobart's head is broad across the forehead. The 
 temples are full. The eyebrows curve to follow the 
 shape of the eyelid. The lines of the fare are artistically 
 correct. It is worth racking one's wit for a clever ex- 
 pression to see the answering response in her eye. She 
 has a keen sense of humor The corners of her mouth 
 show unusual reticence for a woman. 
 
DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 491 
 
 One of the first things I noticed was Mrs. Hobart's 
 walk. She holds herself well, steps very gracefully and 
 . preserves the perpendicular line from chin to knee that 
 marks the well-trained body. If Mrs. Hobart is called 
 on to shine as the chief star in official society in Wash- 
 ington, she will need no Delsarte training. 
 
 She is not a member of any of the ancestral societies. 
 She said : 
 
 "I've never made any claim, but Lieut. Peter Tuttle 
 was my revolutionary ancestor." 
 
 Upstairs, Mrs. Hobart showed me a quaint old family 
 record, yellowed. and creased with age, dating back to 
 1753. It was hanging in an inconspicuous place in the 
 corner of the hall, as if Mrs. Hobart didn't base her 
 claim to people's consideration on the dates upon that 
 old piece of paper. 
 
 Indeed, Mrs. Hobart is as interesting a subject 
 in her way as her husband is in his, and it is only 
 because this, at the best, is but an imperfect sketch 
 of Garret A. Hobart, that we refrain from quoting, 
 more of the thousands of pleasant things said in the 
 newspapers about Mrs. Hobart. 
 
CHAPTEI^ XLV. 
 
 NATIONAL POLITICS. 
 
 Hobart Enters National Politics in 1876 — Delegate-at- 
 Large for Blaine — Refuses the Nomination for Con- 
 gress — Steps on One Side for John W. Griggs as 
 Gubernatorial Candidate — Talked of for Place on 
 Republican Ticket — Nominated at St. Louis for Vice- 
 President. 
 
 SINCE retiring from the State Senate in 1882, Gar- 
 i-et A. Hobart has never held any public office. 
 Repeatedly he has been urged to accept the nomina- 
 tion for member of Congress from his district, but he 
 has uniformly declined," partly because his extensive 
 business interests required his constant attention, but 
 largely because of that unselfish consideration for the 
 desires of others which has continually prompted 
 him to stand aside and allow others to be thus hon- 
 ored. He would have been nominated for Congress 
 in 1880 had he been willing, but instead, he favored 
 the nomination of John Hill. When William Walter 
 Phelps was nominated in 1882, he had no more cor- 
 dial supporter in the canvass than Hobart. In 1888 
 he was again urged to take the nomination for Con- 
 gress, but still declined, as he did in 1890 and 1892. 
 He was urged to accept the nomination for Gov- 
 ernor of his State in 1892, but stood aside in favor 
 
 492 
 
NATIONAL POLITICS. 4^3 
 
 of his friend, John Kean, Jr. In 1895 there was 
 again a very general desire for him to lead the party 
 in the gubernatorial contest, but he declined, and 
 threw himself with all his energy into the prelim- 
 inary canvass which secured the nomination of his 
 friend and neighbor, John W. Griggs. 
 
 Although thus standing aloof from public office, 
 Hobart was no indifferent spectator of the contests 
 waged by his party. Indeed, it is a curious fact that ' 
 he entered the field of National politics as a delegate- 
 at-large to the Republican National Convention the 
 year that William McKinley made his first canvass 
 for Congress. In 1876 Garret A. Hobart was 
 elected as a delegate-at-large to the Republican Na- 
 tional Convention, which met at Cincinnati. He 
 was one of the most enthusiastic and unswerving 
 supporters of his personal friend, James G. Blaine. 
 .In 1880, Hobart was again chosen as a delegate-at- 
 large to the National Convention, which met at Chi- 
 cago, and again he steadfastly advocated the nomina- 
 tion of Blaine. During this same year, he was 
 elected chairman of the Republican State Committee, 
 and conducted the most vigorous campaign known 
 in New Jersey in fifteen years. It was believed that 
 the Republicans actually elected a Governor, but the 
 Democratic candidate was seated. 
 
 In 1884, Hobart, as delegate-at-large to the Re- 
 publican National Convention, had the satisfaction of 
 seeing his friend, Mr. Blaine, nominated for the 
 Presidency. He was elected a member of the Na- 
 tional Committee in this year, and spent a great deal 
 
494 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 of time in hai^d work at the headquarters of the 
 committee, in New York City, and it was a great 
 grief to him when Mr. Blaine failed to win the prize 
 so nearly within his grasp. 
 
 In 1888, he was a member of the National Conven- 
 tion, which met at Chicago, and nominated Benja- 
 min Harrison far President, and he rendered arduous 
 and efficient service on the National Committee. Dur- 
 ing the campaign of" 1892, Mr. Hobart was again a 
 member of the National Convention, and served on 
 the National Executive Committee as vice-chairman. 
 He declined an election as chairman of the State 
 Committee during this campaign, but remained on 
 the committee. His service as a member of succes- 
 sive National Conventions, as a delegate-at-large 
 from New Jersey, from 1876 until 1896, inclusive, 
 and his active service on the Republican National 
 Committee, from 1884, naturally brought him into* 
 contact with.all of the men most prominent in Re- 
 publican politics throughout the country. 
 
 So long ago as the summer of 1895, Hobart's 
 name was mentioned in connection with the Vice- 
 Presidency. It was very well known that during the 
 last Republican administration he was on very 
 friendly terms with President Harrison, and it was 
 suggested that "Harrison and Hobart" would make 
 a well-sounding ticket and a strong combination. 
 Public sentiment in New Jersey, however, during 
 last summer, was more interested in the gubernato- 
 rial contest pending in that State, and the people 
 began to look around* for the most available candi- 
 
NATIONAL POLITICS. 495 
 
 date under whose banner New Jersey might be com- 
 pletely redeemed from the control of the Democratic 
 leaders, who by their methods had gained the popular 
 condemnation. There was a natural gravitation of 
 sentiment toward Garret A. Hobart. He, however, 
 had become warmly interested in behalf of his 
 neighbor and friend, John W. Griggs, whose candi- 
 dacy he espoused with all his natural enthusiasm. It 
 was remarked that his two-minute speech in the 
 Republican State Convention, presenting the name 
 of Mr. Griggs in behalf of the Passaic county dele- 
 gation, was one of the most effective speeches of the 
 day. When Mr. Griggs was nominated, at his par- 
 ticular request, Hobart again assumed the chairman- 
 ship of the Republican State Executive Committee 
 (Franklin Murphy being chairman of the General 
 Committee) . Hobart devoted nearly all his time to 
 the ensuing canvass, and when Mr. Griggs was tri- 
 umphantly elected by 26,900 majority — twice as 
 large a majority as any candidate for Governor had 
 ever received — wherever the news was flashed 
 throughout the country, the name of Gan-et A. 
 Hobart, as the leader of the triumphant Republican 
 party of New Jersey, was naturally associated with 
 that of John W. Griggs, the successful candidate for 
 Governor. It is remembered that on the night of 
 the election, as the returns came in, and the majoi-ity 
 for Griggs v/ent mounting higher and higher, a friend 
 of both of these gentlemen, sitting opposite to them, 
 quizzically asked, "Is there anything in the Consti- 
 tution of the United States to prevent a candidate for 
 
496 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 President and Vice-President both being selected 
 from the same State?" So early was it in the minds 
 of men that either or both of these gentlemen pos- 
 sessed the two great qualifications of National candi- 
 dates — ability and availability. Hobart already had 
 a National reputation, but it was greatly strengthened 
 by his masterly conduct of this magnificent campaign, 
 and from that hour forth the talk of Hobart for Vice- 
 President, with a not infrequent mention of his name 
 for the first place on the National ticket, became more 
 general throughout the country. 
 
 In its issue of March i, 1896, The Cleveland 
 World thus referred to Hobai't's availability for Vice- 
 President : 
 
 GARRET A. nOBART. 
 
 "Who will the New Jersey delegation vote for at St. 
 Louis?" asked a New York //era/c? reporter the other 
 day of a prominent Trenton politician. "First decide 
 which end of the ticket will be given Garret A. 
 Hobart," was the reply. This illustrates the esteem in 
 which Mr. Hobart is held by those who for years have 
 been associated with him in politics. 
 
 Mr. Hobart is a prominent candidate for Vice-Presi- 
 dent. In the event of McKinley's nomination, he w^ould 
 stand a good chance for the place. The half-toned por- 
 trait which forms the supplement of The Sunday World 
 is a good likeness, and the biographical sketch printed 
 elsewhere will give the readers of The World an oppor- 
 tunity to learn something about a man who for many 
 years has played an important part in New Jersey and 
 in National politics. 
 
 Now that New Jersey is a full-fledged Republican 
 State, why not recognize the man who, periiaps more 
 than any other one person, deserves the credit for the 
 Republican victory last November. 
 
NATIONAL POLITICS. 497 
 
 From this time, the prospect of the nomination 
 was discussed by newspapers outside the State of 
 New Jersey, and, as we shall see, before the conven- 
 tion, he became one of the prominent candidates 
 before the people of the country. 
 
 When the Republican State Convention of New 
 Jersey met in April, 1896, it unanimously declared 
 in favor of Hobart for a place on the National ticket, 
 and the delegates then selected to be sent to the St. 
 Louis Convention enthusiastically set about compass- 
 ing the wishes of their constituents so expressed. 
 Without any parade or fuss, they diligently canvassed 
 the views of the other delegations chosen, as they 
 were selected, and presented the name of Hobart for 
 their consideration, giving the reason for the choice. 
 All this was done without antagonizing the candidacy 
 of any other aspirant for the nomination. Indeed, 
 when Hobart left Paterson to start for the conven- 
 tion, he could hardly bring himself to permit his 
 name to be used in connection with the office ; but 
 when he reached St. Louis, he found already there a 
 strong and very widespread sentiment in his favor. 
 But with characteristic modesty, he still perceived 
 tl>e availability and merit of other candidates more 
 clearly than his own, and was continually heard 
 descanting on their good qualities for the Vice-Presi- 
 dential nomination. The writer had repeated inter- 
 views with Hobart during convention week, at St. 
 Louis, and it was always the same thing: 
 
 " Select the strongest available man for the ticket, 
 utterly regardless of my interests." 
 
498 LIFE OF WILLIAM M'lCINLEY. 
 
 This was his positive wish. 
 
 Even after the New Jersey delegation had ap- 
 pointed a campaign committee, at St. Louis, to urge 
 his candidacy, in a speech to the delegation, Hobart, 
 while assuring them of his high appreciation of this 
 evidence of their regard, nevertheless assured them 
 that he could not ask a single delegate for a vote. 
 And he did not. His friends were content, however, 
 to have him acquiesce in the movement, which 
 speedly attained an irresistible momentum, culmi- 
 nating in his nomination. 
 
 After the formal nomination of William McKinley 
 for President, the roll of States was called for the 
 presentation of candidates for Vice-President. 
 When New Jersey was reached, the Hon. John 
 Franklin Fort, of that State, arose, and in these 
 eloquent words proposed the name of Garret A. 
 Hobart : 
 
 I rise to present to this convention the claims of New 
 Jersey to the Vice-Presidency. We come because we 
 feel that we can, for the first time in our history, bring 
 to you a promise that our electoral vote will be cast for 
 your nominees. If you' comply with our request, this 
 promise will surely be redeemed. For forty years, 
 through the blackness and darkness of a universally 
 triumphant Democracy, the Republicans of New Jersey 
 have maintained their organization and fought as val- 
 iantly as if the outcome were to be assured victory. 
 Only twice through all this long period has the sun shone 
 in upon us. Yet, through all these weary years, we 
 have, like Goldsmith's " Captive," felt that — 
 
 Hope, like the Kleaining taper's light, 
 
 Adorns and cheers our way ; 
 And still; as darker grows the night. 
 
 Emits a brighter ray. 
 
NATIONAL POLITICS. 499 
 
 The fulfilment of this hope came in 1894. In that 
 year, for the first time since the Republican party came 
 into existence, we sent to Congress a solid delegation f>{ 
 eight Republicans and elected a Republican to the 
 United States Senate. We followed this in 1895 by 
 electing a Republican Governor by a majority of 38,000. 
 And in this year of grace, we expect to give the Repub- 
 lican electors a majority of not less than 20,000. I come 
 to you, then, to-day, in behalf of a new New Jersey, a 
 politically redeemed and regenerated State. Old things 
 have passed away and, behold, all things have become 
 
 new. 
 
 ****** 
 
 We believe that the Vice-Presidency in 1896 should 
 be given to New^ Jersey. We have reasons for our 
 opinion. We have ten electoral votes ; we have carried 
 the State in the elections of '93, '94 and '95 ; we hope 
 and believe we can keep the State in the Republican 
 column for all time. By your, action to-day you can 
 greatly aid us. Do you believe you could place the Vice- 
 Presidency in a State more justly entitled to recognition, 
 or one which it would be of more public advantage to 
 hold in the Republican ranks? 
 
 In conclusion, Mr. Fort said: 
 
 We are proud of our public men. Their Republican- 
 ism and love of country has been welded in the furnace 
 of political adversity. That man is a Republican who 
 adheres to the party in a State where there is no hope 
 for the gratification of personal ambitions. There are 
 no camp-followers in the minority party in any State. 
 They are all true soldiers in the militant army, doing 
 valiant service without reward, gain, or the hope thereof, 
 from principle only. 
 
 A true representative of this class of Republicans in 
 New Jersey we offer you to-day. He is in the prime of 
 life, a never-faltering friend, with qualities of leadership 
 unsurpassed, of sterling honor, of broad mind, of liberal 
 views, of wide public information, of great business 
 capacity and withal a parliamentarian who would grace 
 
500 LIFK OF WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 
 
 the presidency of the Senate of the United States. A 
 native of our State, the son of an humble farmer, he 
 was reared to love of country in sight of the historic 
 field of Monmouth, on which the blood of our ancestors 
 was shed that the Republic might exist. From a poor 
 boy, unaided and alone, he has risen to high renown 
 among us. 
 
 In our State we have done for him all that the polit- 
 ical conditions would permit. He has been Speaker of 
 our Assembly and president of our Senate. He has 
 been the choice for United States Senator of the Repub- 
 lican minority in the Legislature, and had it been in our 
 pow^er to have placed him in the Senate of the United 
 States, he would, long ere this, have been there. 
 
 His capabilities are such as would grace any. position 
 of honor in the Nation. Not for himself, but for our 
 State; not for his ambition, but to give to the Nation 
 the highfest type of public official, do we come to this 
 convention by the command of our State and in the 
 name of the Republican party of New Jersey — uncon- 
 quered and unconquerable, undivided and indivisible^ 
 with one united voice speaking for all that counts for 
 good citizenship in our State, and nominate to you for 
 the office of Vice-President of this Republic, Garret A. 
 Hobart of New Jersey. 
 
 The nomination was seconded by J. Otis Humph- 
 rey of Illinois, and Garret A. Hobart nominated on 
 the first ballot, receiving 533^ votes. 
 
CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 DEMONSTRATION AT PATERSON. 
 
 Fifteen Thousand People Under One Roof Greet Ho- 
 bart — The City of Paterson To-day — His Modest Bear- 
 ing — Democrats and Republicans Vie With Each 
 Other to do Him Honor — A Never-to-be-Forgotten 
 Scene — McKinley and Hobart an Ideal Ticket. 
 
 THERE are scenes which make an indelible im- 
 pression. Such was the demonstration in 
 honor of Garret A. Hobart at Paterson, on the even- 
 ing of June 22, 1896. The writer was present and 
 will never forget the tremendous enthusiasm of up- 
 ward of fifteen thousand men and women who stood 
 on the floor and sat in the galleries of the great 
 armory to do this man honor. It was not a political 
 gathering. And yet there seemed to be as many 
 people and they were as spontaneous in their expres- 
 sion of joy, as at the St. Louis Convention. To the 
 close observer, the Paterson throng seemed more 
 unique. They had turned out in these vast numbers, 
 dressed in their best, to welcome a friend and a 
 neighbor ; to express their affection and respect to a 
 fellow-citizen whom it was evident was admired and 
 beloved. Democrats were as conspicuous as Repub- 
 licans and took equal part in the exercises. A life- 
 long Democrat presided. The Democratic Mayor 
 
502 
 
 introduced the Republican Governor, who in turn 
 introduced the honored citizen of Paterson, and the 
 favorite son of New Jersey. 
 
 That the good City of Paterson did herself honor 
 upon this occasion and covered Garret A. Hobart all 
 over with glory, goes without saying. Paterson has 
 a history of which her citizens may justly feel proud. 
 Unlike most cities, Paterson had no accidental begin- 
 ning. Paterson started at a definite time for a 
 definite purpose. Here was to be located the 
 "National Manufactory" and here was to arise the 
 greatest manufactui"ing center of the United States 
 and one of the most magnificent cities in the world. 
 Alexander Hamilton, himself, believed this would 
 someday come true, and though Paterson, to-day, is 
 not the greatest of our manufacturing cities, she has 
 a record in many industries which gives her a high 
 position among her sister cities. And then there is 
 a range to her manufactures, for is not Paterson 
 famous alike for beautiful silk fabrics and the fastest 
 locomotives ; for the finest threads and the strongest 
 steel bridges ; for the netting that brings sweet slum- 
 ber in the mosquito districts of New Jersey and else- 
 where, and for machinery that in delicacy and finish 
 has no equal. Nor is this all. Near at hand, there 
 is a worsted mill, brought to the neighborhood by 
 the McKinley law, which would have now employed 
 five thousand operatives instead of 1,500, had that 
 law remained on the statute books. In short, Pater- 
 son is a picturesque, prosperous, progressive city, 
 with a generous-hearted and law-abiding population 
 
DEMONSTRATION AT PATERSON. 503 
 
 of over one hundred thousand. Moreover, Paterson 
 has a comfortable way of growing at the rate of 25 
 per cent, every five years, thus making the "boomers" 
 within its borders happy and the census men popular. 
 The affection and esteem of such a people is a prize 
 in itself, and this, Garret A. Hobart, in his speech, 
 seemed to fully realize. 
 
 Upon this occasion, among other speakers. Gover- 
 nor John W. Griggs, after waiting at least ten 
 minutes for the applause to subside, said: 
 
 When the visitor to St. Paul's Cathedral inquires for 
 the monument of Sir Christopher Wren, he is told to 
 look around him. If any expression is wanted of the 
 esteem in which our distinguished friend and fellow- 
 citizen is held by his friends and neighbors of Paterson, 
 look around you ! This great gathering, composed of 
 all parties, varying in their political faith and in their 
 political hope, is unanimous in doing honor to Garret 
 A. Hobart. 
 
 Such universal demonstration? of regard are often re- 
 served until the objects of them are dead and beyond 
 capacity of appreciation. Happy fortune for our friend, 
 that now in the meridian of his life he can realize the 
 affectionate favor of his fellow-townsmen ! 
 
 For thirty years and more he has lived and wrought 
 among us, working out his destiny in quiet, unassuming 
 modesty. Four times before this the people of his 
 county have called him to their service, which he has 
 performed with an ability and distinction that have re- 
 flected credit upon his constituents. Now, a great 
 political party has raised him to a position of world-wide 
 interest, and placed his name alongside those of other 
 great Jerseymen — Theodore Frelinghuysen and William 
 L. Dayton — as worthy of being called the heir apparent 
 of the Presidency of the United States. 
 
 Now it was Garret A. Hobart's turn. Twice he 
 
504 LIFE OF WILLIAM M KINLEY. 
 
 had been compelled to rise and show himself. And 
 twice had cheers such as few men hear rent the air. 
 For fifteen minutes this man stood, waiting to tell 
 his neighbors and friends how heartfelt was his grat- 
 itude ; how happy and yet how miserable (for he 
 shrank from the ordeal) he was that evening. Then 
 he suddenly made a determined movement and 
 began to speak. The speech, which was absolutely 
 unprepared, was, in part, as follows: 
 
 If ever there was a time when I was embarrassed, this 
 is the time, this is the exact moment. Often have I 
 wished that I possessed the grace of oratory and the 
 grace of diction which our. Governor has to such a full 
 extent But I have it not ; and in the plainest -words 
 possible, my friends, I can only tender to you for this 
 magnificent testimonial, this superb tribute to me and to 
 the State of New Jersey, which in some degree I repre- 
 sent, my deepest thanks for all this scene, for all the 
 confidence in me which you have shown. 
 
 I would rather have the confidence and esteem of my 
 fellow-citizens, including men of all political parties, 
 whom I find here to-night, than have any office in the 
 gift of the people. It is only the non-partisan aspect 
 of this assemblage that makes it possible for me to be 
 here at all to-night, because under any other circum- 
 stances it would not be proper nor prudent for me to ad- 
 dress you at this time. 
 
 Then the speaker referred to his old friends of 
 Paterson by name, and told the simple story of 
 thirty years of his life in Paterson, and the great 
 changes that had taken place during that period. 
 
 In conclusion, he said: 
 
 Whatever I am, whatever I may be, whatever position 
 in life may come to me, I shall be only too glad to dedi- 
 
DEMONSTRATION AT PATERSON. 505 
 
 cate myself to you. I have been nominated for a great 
 office. If I shall be called to exercise the functions of 
 this office, I shall endeavor to exercise them with all the 
 fidelity, with all the vigor, with all the ability that God 
 has given me. If not, I shall bow to the will of the 
 majority and continue to live in Paterson, to be your good 
 friend, your appreciative neighbor, your esteemed fellow- 
 citizen. Whatever I have acquired has been acquired in 
 the City of Paterson, and belongs here. Whatever of 
 repute has come to me belongs likewise to your city. 
 And so this honor which has just become mine is also 
 yours. Whatever I have, whatever I shall have, is and 
 will be one to the citizens of Paterson, to the confidence 
 and esteem of my friends and neighbors, which I have 
 always so greatly enjoyed. Citizens of Paterson, to 
 you I may say, as Burns said to Glencairn : 
 
 The bridegroom may forget the bride was made his wedded wife 
 
 yestreen ; 
 The monarch may forget the crown that on his head an hour 
 
 has been; 
 The mother may forget the child that smiles sae sweetly on her 
 
 knee; 
 But I'll remember thee, Glencairn, and all that thou hast done 
 
 for me. 
 
 However people may differ as to the St. Louis 
 platform, there can be but one opinion as to the can- 
 didates. McKinley and Hobart are both ideal types 
 of American manhood, and a study of their lives 
 should show the American youth what may be ac- 
 complished by industry, application and a strict 
 adherence to the high principles inculcated by 
 parents whose own lives, though not distinguished 
 above their fellow-citiz-ens, were, nevertheless, of 
 the highest type of good and useful citizenship.