The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-15
. POLITICAL MECCA.
CANTON, M,KINLEr,s HOME.

widow -
Little did the old hero and war horse of tho
Revolution think ON that August day n hun
drcl and nineteen years ago whom he stood on
the steps Of the Court House in Bennington,
VT. and made this announcement to the Green
Mountain Guards. that some day in the fu-
turc an Ohio county would be named for him,
that its county seat would be Canton. that
Canton would be the home OF William MCkin-
ley, and tha3 William Mckinley would 10
iresldcnt-clcct OF the greatest nation on earth,
10 wit, the United States Of America, the same
which. the aforesaid old hero ard war horse
was tncn doing his best to establish, In con-
junction with several other old heroes and war
Horses whom we are to-day pleased to refer 10
rs our forrfathcrs. Yet 1t is all as true as Cos
vel. and Cot, John Stark, on the 10th Of Au-
EuSt, l1TT, swattcd the British in the neck,
as one hundred md nineteen years later Major
Mckinley sratted Bryan, and the nation Is
still preserved.
What n pity the Colonel didn't live to see tho
Dlalor.
Stark county was established in 1SoS and or
cani2ed in 1909. with Canton as its capital.
1t wns settled principally by Pennsylvania
Germans. with.a few from their native heath,
and n scattering of French. most of these latter
stopping in AIussillon. eight miles to the east.
Tho town WINS laid out by Bczal,el Wells of
Steubenvillc, o., in 1905, Mr.. Wells bringing
TO Canton with him the only boom Steubcn-
willie ever possessed, and Steubcnvllle has Ian
Yuished ever since.
At this point history limps and falters rela-
tive to Canton. Capt. Miller, who knows more
about the town than anybody else on earth,
says nobody knows how it was named.
Perhaps it got its name from Canton in
Switzerland. +" said J..
There isn't any Canton in switzerland said
lie. with the air of n man who knows things
like that.
Just the Same there are more cartons IN
Switzerland than in any other country on the
map" said /.
II anybody has any moro authentic informa-
ton than this the Captain will be pleased to
receive It.
a Massillon man told me with confidence
that Canton was named in honor of Canton,
China. There are few things so mean that n
MassIllon person won't say about Canton. or
that n Canton person won't say about Massil-
Ion. san n Partisan never would know, to
hear . Canton or a Massillon person pronounce
the name of Aiassilion, what the mischief they
were talking about. 1t Is also recorded that
q Frenchutan. looking for Massillon, wan
dered around northeastern Ohio FOR a: month
Gn various trains, because every conductor
ewore that no such n town AS he called for ex-
listed In that locality. So much tor gong
away from. homo Tor your supply Of municipal
Rnd.other nomenclature.
But to rsturn to our muttons. as they say in
Mnssillon.
Canton has a population Of 40, 900, though
RtidGvitS are not furnished with the figures.
md II IS handsolner on IL dark night after all
the lights are out than ut any other time.
IN beauty.
As u manufacturing centre Canton is hard
20 beat, the record showing that she has 1873
separate establishments turning out over 4. 900
different yarieties Of articles for the markets
claim. FOR their town first place. of all OF its
size, in manufactures, and nobody has a right
10 dis, ute it. Yet with all these manufacture
iLG facilities. the town has never been able to
Manufacture a reliable Republic IN majority,
and Major Mckinley only got it by 700 odd,
when lie yearned to have it by four times that
much. II is II little remarkable in a commu-
Nit. 90 per cent. of whose peoule depend
tolriy-upon manufacturing. and manufacture
sng depends upon protection, that tne party
II protection is not predominant. On the
IS accounted for BY none who have studied the
question on the ground that the earlier re-
tonlan Catnolici IN was democratic, and De
nocracy was anti-taTitf. To-day there are no
two finer and handsomer church editices in
Canton than St. Johns and ST. Peters.
Perhaps peculiar in this connection is the
TACT hat the wealth!eSt c5nEreSation in town
the strongest among the Pr"testants.
And Cartons public school buildings are
beauties. and the schools are of such excellence
that there is but one private mot parochiaD
school III the city. and that is of minor moment.
y Canton policeman gets $50 a month. and
] saw one on lie square in full uniform smok-
ing a cigar. Canton ought to lie glad her police
men have not.yet acquired the cigarette habit.
Railroad facilities are so good that Canton
gets Cleveland. Columbus, Cincinnati. Puts
ourGh. and Chicago papers on the day of publi-
startled TO hear IL Cantonian talking or the
local affairs OF one Of these cities as II he lived
there. Later. when he learns that Cantonian
tastes differ as 70 papers, and he discovers that
one man reads Chicago. another Cincinnati, a
third Sieyela1d, a fourth Pittsburgh, and
cosmopolitaness OF the Cantolian mind is ex-
planned, New York papers come in during
the night, and The next day they are on all
stands. and are sold on the streets and on all
t:aips. Possibly no towns in the United states
are better situated for Lewspapers than the 20
towns Of northern Ohio. midway between New
YORK and Chicago. Cincinnati. and the cities
OF her own; one. the LuHtOn RspuSitDTU. nas
been alive and Kicking since 1915. and It's
editor. James %Saxton., wrote for its columns
Sedan, ~tifty-iye years later. an editorial feat
which Is, no doubt, in the nature OF a scoop
Of journalism. Joe Medill Of the ChicugD TTT-
hume. wrot" able articles on education and kin
ms frst newSpapcr work. which accounts for
the Irlhunc being such n powerful educator.
Ninety years a%eo.when Bczaleel Wells opened
up business in Canton real estate and ndyer-
Used n pablo sale or town lots, he DID it Just
AS tho boomers do nowadays. and one of tho
features OF thr sal VAS IL great horse race in
sight OF the rTopeF!y. III" piOus OF that day
thereafter, spelled B"nalcel,s meme Belize
bub, but the horse rpCe has been n feature or
Canton ever since. and biz races are pulled off
every spring am fail.
The cemetery is called wcstlawu. and while
IL contains some beautiful specimens Of NEGRO
logic architecture. II mas ito peculiar effect
or cemeteries IN healthy towns. IL Is quite
iudescrlbab!c, hut one feels it whenever he
visits them.
Literature and the arts do not flourish like a
green bag tree IL the city nt Canton, though
why cannot be saiG, unless II is That industl hi
hrt has shut ont NIL other varieties. In one or
Two or three. houses are some good pictures.
but Canton has no art museum, neiIhvr has
tho produced II writer of any note, u piintcr.
nor SCULPTOR. True, Major Mckinley has
sculred a,nlc,e I"r himself III The temple of
lame, ana every man. woman, and child has
been pain Ing the town red since last June, hui
TITS can scarcely be ciussed ~ real art enti-
tlinR the city 10 q place among the classics. ON
u rainy day the, place looks like an i'm orcssi0n-
ist picture hont IN s,,noNe and.other distempers,
but this Is not sufficient either. so Canton
mast be lo.pcd of the list of literature and
at. j. St may be said tina. several Can
tonians, can, write checks which would he per.
fectlT delightful reading Il made u the order
at tho reader, n. B,-Thi4 beats ordinary
literature forty lcngthS.
The oldest person in Canton is Jerry Lind,
once 1 famous collin maker and now u sharp,
enHr OF butchers saws. Mr.. Lind. | am in
formed. is .uOl less tlRn 1pD Nnnrs nlI ia