The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-04
FIRST0FFIcIAL TALK
NO DETAILS REGARDING THE IN
AUGURAL ADDRESS HAVE
LEAKED OUT.
CUBA MOST IMPORTANT.
ON OTHER QUESTIONS THE PRESI-
DENT-ELECT'S VIEWS ARE
UNDERSTOOD.
TRADITION AN UNwRrTTEN LAW.
The Custom Inaugurated by Wash
ington Has Been Followed by
All of His Successors.

| WASHINGTON, March All infor-
nation regarding the inaugural adj
! dress which Maj Mckinley will de-
| liver tomorrow has been carefully
/ guarded. The document will touch on
! Cuba, the tariff and the financial ques-
| ton, but no details regarding the stand
! TO be taken have leaked out This ap-
! plies largely to Cuba, for Mr.. McKin-
! ley's views on the other questions are
fixed by his platform and are well
Known. 1t is said the inaugural will
be rather shorter than the average.
There is tradition which has been
! c1yStal1zed into an unwritten law re-
! curing the president who takes the
oath OF office to deliver an inaugural
! address to the people, whose chief
magistrate he is to be. This custom,
| begun by George Washington, has
! never been broken nor has there been
! through the history Of the government
any wide differences in the character
! of the speeches with which presidents
| have begun their official service. In
! two features nearly all of the addresses
| have been cast in the same mold, for
| almost without exception they have
! been begun with an Introductory SEN
! tence, expressing in some form the
! gratitude Of the president for the high
| honor which the people have conferred
/
! invocation Of the help of the Supreme
| Being in performing the duties of the
| office. The body of the address has
varied according to the spirit of the
| times in which it has been made. The
| inaugural speeches of the first presl-
| dents, those who served during the
| first quarter century of the govern
ment, were largely treaties upon a re-
| publican form of government, contrast
ing the peace and prosperity which it
gave to the people of the United
! States with the wars which were dis
! turbing the monarchies of Europe, and
| praising the balance between the
! federal authorities and the states Sc
! cured by the constitution.
| In later years, particularly since the
! war of the rebellion, the presidents
| have given themselves to the discus
| sion of absorbing current issues, and
| judged by the standards of the more
| modern addresses, those OF the old
! school style, if reviewed, might seem
| somewhat pOnderous and academic.
| The inaugural utterances of the pres1-
| dents have rarely been tinged with
partisanship, and they have not often
been the most important official ut
| terances of the men who have spoken
them. With the notable exception OF
Lincoln's second inaugural address the
| inaugurals are not held in the first rank
! of state papers, either by their rhetori-
! cal or political worth. The whole Of
| Lincolns second address is preserved
| in the school readers and recited on
! the platform, but other presidents have
! spoken few sentences on their installa-
! ton which have been considered
! epigrammatic or are often quoted. The
more important and historic utterances
Of the presidents, those which have
marked out policies have been con-
veyed through messages to congress.
! NC
The average length Of an inaugural
| address has been about 5000 words,
| enough to fill two columns Of a news
reaper. and they have taken about
! forty minutes for their delivery. The
| longest speech ever made was that by
! Gen. William H Harrison, which con
! tanned $500 words; the shortest was
! that with which George Washington
! began his second term. The latter was
| a formal and personal utterance of only
! 1874 words. and did not touch upon any
| public questions. The inaugural was
! in the old independence hall in Phila-
| deIphia, where the Third congress sat
| in 1892 and was in the room where
! the Declaration of Independence had
been signed. All the officials of the
| government and foreign ambassadors,
with prominent citizens, were present.
! Washington's first address, made in
/
| April 80, 1889, contained 1,2OO words.
! None Of the speeches, except Gen. Will
! liam Henry HarriSOnS, have been more
| than 5000 words long, while the vice
| presidents who have been called to
| the presidency by the death of four
presidents have made very brief proc
| lamatiOns, except John Tyler. Three
| distinguished soldiers who have been
| elected to the presidency, Andrew Jack
| son, Zachary Taylor and Grant, have
| been men of action rather than OF
! speech, and have spoken hardly more
| than 1000 words in their inaugurals
The inaugural ceremonies Of the first
! five presidents were held in the SEN
! ate chamber, but Madison was sworn
| in and made his address in the house
! of representatives, and several other
| inauguratiOnS took place in the house
| because this was the larger hall Of the
| two. John Quincy Adams was inaugu-
rated in the house ALSO but Andrew
! Jackson spoke on the east portico of
! the capitol to a multitude which was
| the greatest the city had ever shell
! tered, and which Daniel Webster said
! could be fed only by miracle. These
! people mobbed the platform after "Old
J Hickory" had spoken, and endangered
mis- life by the eagerness to shake his
| hand.
Every inaugural address has been
/ Franklin Pierce The president from
| New Hampshire delivered an GRAFTON
! Of forty minutes length without the
| aid of manuscript or notes, having
| committed it to memory and with con-
| siderable rhetorical effort. George
| Washington, 1t is related, was ex-
| tremly nervous when he spoke his first
! inaugural. He trembled visibly, and
when he attempted a gesture once or
| twice it was so awkward that a spec
tator writing of the affair, remarked
that he wished the president had not
! attempted oratory, as he did not wish
to think him not first in everything.
After Washington had read his Sec
| ond brief inaugural in the senate
| chamber he put the manuscript on the
| vice presidents table and sat down
! for a few minutes, then rose and with
| drew, those In the hall standing until
he passed out. Then the manuscript
was taken up by the clerk of the house
and again read from beginning to end.
WASHINGTON'S INAUGURAL.
Washington's first address dealt
largely with the then untried duties OF
the chief executive under the new
| constitution. It contained one unique
statement which has never been re-
peated. Washington said: when 1
was first honored with a call into the
service of my country, then ON the eve
of an arduous struggle for its liberties,
the light in which / contemplated my
duty required that I should renounce
every pecuniary compensation. From
this resolution I have In no instance
| departed; and being still under the i'm
| pressions which produced 1t, 1 must
decline as inapplicable to myself any
share in the personal emoiuments
which may be indispensably included
| in permanent provision for the ex-