The morning call., 1893-03-26

little tW0-stOry cottage IN winch his boy
hood was spent. 1t did not cost more than
$500 10 build, and a part of it is now used
as a groceTy-stOre. There is porch over
the front door, aud Mckinley, when he
makes stump speeches al Niles, usually
comes out on this porch and addresses the
people. His father was one of the more
important employees Of one Of the rolling
mills of the town, and young Mckinley
was given fairly good education. He
was known in Niles as Young Bill Nc
Kinley," and the people there told me that
he was s,udiOus boy with enough muscle
to take care of himself. He went into the
army when lie was II, and when the war
was over he went to Canton, which was
then town of perhaps 1900. and began
the practice Of law.
1t was from Canton that he came to Con-
gress and the best part OF his prime has
boen spent in political life. He has never
spent much money in entertaining at WASH
ington. though this may have been due
what to the poor health of his vile.
He usually lived at the Ebbtt House and
always looked clean and well dressed. He
had a fair practice before he came to Con-
gress, but lie has never saved much money
To speak of, and | understand that his 20
litcal career has cost him more than his
salary. lie is very ambitious man and he
still hopes 10 have term IN the White
House. lie is quiet in his way when he is
off the stump and Is good conversational
ist as well as good speaker. friend of
his, who has gone with him during many Of
his campaigns, told me that Mckinley dis
likes to talk politics when off the stump and
that he is man of wide reading and OF much
general knowledge. He said that Mckinley
had no particular rules as to the use Of his
voice, but that after he finished speech
he always goes to his room and takes off
every stitch Of his clothes and then rubs
himself down with q coarse towel He then
puts on new underclothes to wear during
the rest of the day or evening.
Speaking of Ohio, it is wonderful how
many prominent men come from that State
In HarrisOn's Cabinet there were four men
who were born in Ohio. These were Rusk,
Ekins. Foster and Noble. President Har-
Tison first saw light in the same State.
Senator Allison spent his bOyhOOd in Ohio.
Manderson came from Canton, and Jones,
the silver millionaire, went to school in
Cleveland. Senator Stewart of Nevada
came from Newark, OHIO. Dan Voorhees,
got his first spanking not far from Cincn-
NATL and Turpie Of Indiana first sQualed in
Hamilton County. The two great generals
of the war, Grant and Sherman, we're born
in Ohio, and The buckeye woods are full of
good stories of them. Among others the
following were told me by General ". II.
Gibson, the famous Ohio orator. who is now
Postmaster a Tiffin. Said General Gibson:
II knew both Grant and Sherman before
they became famous and l was very close
to them during the first part of the war.
Grant was the great general Of the war and
Sherman was the great field marshal.
General Sherman was great as a a pusher
of men and a fighter, but Grant was the
Washington OF our civil strife. Sherman
was full Of good ideas They called him
crazy when he proposed 100000 men to be
marched right down into Tennessee and ON
through the South, but that idea was a cor
rect one and had it been followed the North
would have had conquered the South more
quickly aud with less loss of men. Sher-
man was very superior as leader of an
army where the lines were mapped out and
as for Grant, lie could carry the whole
country from the mountains to the sea in
his eye. He knew every part Of our fight
ing grounds and of all It's people from the
Pacific slope to the capes of Virginia and lie
played the game OF war with a full knOwl-
edge of the position and the probabilities of
every man on the chessboard.
Speaking of military genius" General
Gibson went on, during the earlier part OF
the war we lay for long time inactive and
General Grant used 10 come TO our head
quarters and we had many talks together
Grant has been accused OF getting drunk
during the first part of the civil war. This
was not true. He took glass now and
then, as most OF us did, but | have never
seen him under the Influence of liquor. He
was fiue talker and full of ideas. His talk
showed that he had been a great reader and
he was especially well posted on the Bible.
AS an instance Of this l remember a chat
we had on q book entitled Partisan War
fare, which Gillian, an officer of the South
ern army. had published. l referred to il
and asked Grant whether he had seen it.
Yes, he replied, Il have read il. Gillian
was always great fool and his book
is pure baldeTdasn. Talk sbout partisan
warfarei There is no partisan warfare
going on in this world to-day. Ihe only
man who is carrying on his fighting in this
way is General John Morgan. the Kentucky
raider. If you want an example of partisan
warfare you can see 1t in him. The days
of such lighting are gone by. That was the
warfare of the past. The Bible is full of it,
and one of the greatest partisan warriors Of
the world was King David. He fought all
all OF his campaigns along such lines, and he
was good fighter. But the great military
leader OF that time was Joshua. He would
have been great in any generation and In
any war. lie saw all things and he manipu-
lated his troops with military genius"
'Ex-Secretary Foster lives not very far
from 1lttin," said |.
YES" replied General Gibson. "Charley
Foster was raised at Fostoria, few miles
from Tiffin, and he has large amount of
property there. His father came here when
the country was young, and Charley was
born in a log cabin and got his business
education In his fathers store. The same
store is still in existence to-day and Foster
has an interestin 1t. He has other inter-
ests throughout this part of Ohio, and his
private property Is such that he cannot
afford to take public office. l happen to
know that lie was very reluctant to take the
secTetaryship of the treasury and he is
glad to get out OF it. The Treasury has so
affected his health that fear he will never
be the man he was before he entered it,
That Government machine Is too big for
any one man, II has killed nearly every
statesman who has tried to cope with
it. 1t made Fairchild sick. it sucked
the juice out Of ManninG's giant physique,
1t killed FOlg6r, and Foster was very
close to the edge of the grave when he had
to go off to Europe to get rest. And still
Secretary Foster was warned that 1t would
ruin his health If he tried to master it, and
he had the best advice on this subject that
any Secretary of the Treasury has ever had.
This came from Judge Niblack of Indiana.
aud l saw the letter which Niback wrote to
Foster at the time he was offered the ap-
pointment II was very strong letter, and
can, of course, only remember the sub
stance OF It, Judge Nlblaek told Foster
that he wanted him to accept the portfolio
of the treasury, but only on the condition
that he would act like q man OF sense
when in office. The treasury, said
Niblack. SIS too big a thing for any
one mind TO grasp in all its details. and
il you attempt it 1t will surely ruin
your health. There are. however, In the
department scores of men who have been
connected with ii for years and who under
stand perfectly the different parts in which
they are employed. You want to make
these men do the work for you, TO accept
their prophecies and rely upon their est-
mates. Let them make out the papers for
their own branches aud incorporate their
ideas into your report as yours. Devote
yourself almost entirely to great Questio MS
and you will end your career in the de-
partment with record as the greatest and
| ablest of our Secretaries ! think Foster
went into the treasury with the idea of do
| ing this" said General Gibson, ''but he is
| such practical business man that lie could