Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-05-08
WILLIAM MCKINLEY.
THE MAN WHO WILL RECEIVE
THE NOMINATION.

He Is Not an Intellectual Gtant-li
Not Original in ThOught-He Il
Not Magnetic HE Is Mediocre
In Bvoryshing, bnt Honest.
Alfred Henry Lewis, in the S. F
Examiner, has this to say OF the mar
who will without doubt receive the st
Louis nomination for President. Al
everything relating to the candidates
for this high Office is Of interest to thu
American people, the article appears
entire. 1t is dated Canton, o., Apri
18th:
Four years in the army, fourteen
years in Congress, four as Governor o
Ohio, and to-day a sincere applicant
for four years in the White House
Such ia the record OF William McKin'
ley. Rather insatiate, some calm
judgment might call the Mckinley
ambition; but it will be understand
able, if not excusable, TO those who
know that the appetite to hold Office
is in its sort a mania, and grows with
what it feeds on.
1t Was 2 in the afternoon by all the
reputable clocks of Canton when ]
paused in front of McKinley's house
1t is in pleasant yard, on a pleasant
street, this house. 1t is a frame OF the
two.story variety, with wing and
two porches, over which creep vines
perfect veil Of clinging vegetation.
There are twelve rooms to the struc-
ture rs well as the plain necessity oil
another coat of paint. The yard
one can't call it grounds"-is the
home OF many tree and bush. Take
it all in all, the Mckinley house is a
beautiful corner in the beautiful town
of Canton, and one might live very
happily there indeed.
What's it WORTH" 1 asked of q
native who came up.
"The lots worth $75 front foot"
replied the native, "and there's sew
en,y-five front feet. I reckon, now,
you could slam up that house for about
$4,000. It's worth (say) $11, ,OOO."
"Does Mr.. Mckinley own it?"
"No," retorted the native, che rents
it. 1t ketches him for $40 a month"
This struck me as modest and vastly
encouraging to thus find the leading
Presidential candidate of the leading
party domiciled in leased house at
$40 per month. 1t seemed common.
place and simple.
But one can't tell. Twelve years
ago Cleveland was worth no more
money than Mckinley is to-day. The
Presidency has grown of late 10 be
what is styled ga lucrative position"
and not at all what it was when it
bankrupted Madison, made hunted
pauper of James Monroe, and forced
jefferson to consider the disposal OF
Monticello by lottery.
BY THE GRACE OF MARK HANNA.
Mckinley was at lunch when his
servant opened the door. 1 was there
by the grace Of Mark Hanna, just now
performing as the Marshal Ney to Nc
Kinley's Napoleon, and was shown
into the library without halt. 1t is
not an impressive apartment. but
handy and light and large enough for
even a man with a well-built and pow.
erful boom to do his work in. Against
one wall was cherry desk, on another
hung picture OF Grant, with pic.
ture of Lincoln opposite. There was
a portrait Of Gladstone also, and high
over door was dingy little bust in
bronze which might have been Ma.
poleon and might have been Edgar
Allen Poe. 1t was too high in the air
to settle its identity.
The main ornament OF the place, az
indeed the sweet original is the main
thought OF McKinley's life, was beau
tiful colored portrait OF Mrs. McKin.
ley. This is hung just above his desk,
where devotee would have his saint
and one glance upward from his work
and McKinley's eyes rest upon the
picture Of the woman who for a quar-
ter of century has been more his re-
ligion than his wife. If the wide
world loves lover it should love Nc
Kinley. twenty-five years ago the
25th Of January last they were mar.
ried. Their two children died long
ago and fed and filled their hearts with
gloom. For seventeen years she has
been nervously stricken, an invalid
without hope, human lily with a
broken stem, needing the trellis and
support of constant love and care
Such is Mrs. Mckinley.
twenty-five years ago." said Nc.
Kinley to ME, while his eyes lighted
like soft torches at the mere mention
of his wife" twenty-five years ago
when Mrs. Mckinley and were mar.
ried, we came here to live. We have
lived in other houses since, but we
came back TO this again as one OF the
dearest spots on EARTH"
SMOKES LIKE vEsUvIUS.
Mark Hanna had to put me under
solemn VOW not to talk politics with
Mckinley. Hanna is in Cleveland
seventy miles away, where with a CO.
terie of clerks and secretaries he fos.
ters the Mckinley boom. He sits