The times., 1898-12-07
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER :, IS
The Presidents Failure.

As, during the war with Spain. The
fines gave its loyal, hearty and dis
interested support to President McKin-
ley as the leader of the American peo-
pie IN a struggle for national honor
and humanity, it has earned the right
To criticise his present attitude, as dis
closed in his message to Congress,
which, we are sorry to observe, is that
of jelly-ssh stranded on hummock
Of greatness from which it cannot es-
cape. while to occupy it threatens indi-
vidual annihilation.
Washington and Lincoln excepted. no
man in the history Of the United
States ever had the chance of William
Mckinley TO carve for himself a niche
Of true greatness in the enduring rock
of his country's annals. What has he
done with it? The recognized lead
er Of his fellow -countrymen in an
adventure whose results all men know
must mark a new departure in the
whole scheme of the nations and the
worlds economy and must COM
pei America to expand from
the position of big. fat
but inconsidered Chinese province
To the proportions and influence of a
vast and mighty empire should be a
man of mind and constructive genius.
At least he should have some concep-
ton of the problem imposed upon the
nation by the events in connection with
which he has been the most conspicuous
figure and factor.
one would rightly presume that with
all the secret history OF the war at his
fingers ends; with all the esoteric
knowledge of foreign designs and at
tempted movements, and with a full
conception of the demands of the peo-
pie. as well as of conditions and per-
haps obstacles relating TO those de-
mands. the President would be the sin
gle man of the day who could adequate
ly point out the path of safety, of duty
and of glorious destiny to the nation.
1t was the confident expectation that
President Mckinley would do just that
thing. which kept the country for weeks
in a state of almost excited impatience
for his message to Congress. His
friends, and The Times among them,
confidently looked for a forceful and
scholarly paper on the subject of
American expansion thai would excite
the wonder and admiration of posterity
equally with Washington's Farewell
Address and the Emancipation Procla-
nation of Abraham Lincoln Especially
did We at least anticipate clear and
fearless utterances relating to those
questions of American material inter-
est and right, as to which the posi-
ton of the Administration, if it can be
uruthfully said to hold any, and the
nearly universal sentiment of the peo-
pie. are antagonized by the Hessians.
Tories and corrupt monopolists, who,
for the past two years, have been the
blatant and unblushing allies of Spain
and every other influence inimieal to
our honor and prosperity.
on the heels of our waiting what did
We get? Sixteen newspaper columns
full of meaningless phrases; or, if any
meaning could be extracted from the
mass of verbiage, the message amount
ed TO nothing better than a plea that
tne writer nliSnt De ie1l alone ana not
bothered to form or express opinions,
but that Congress would undertake the
herculean task of all our national his
tory, and tackle it without suggestion.
much less help, from the Executive.
Mr.. Mckinley might exactly as well
have recited the multiplication table. or
related the decline and fall of Samp-
sons Matanzas mule, for any useful
purpose his widely heralded eucyclical
is calculated to serve at this time of
emergency.
American patriotism has been stand
ing silent, with hat in hand. yearning
for the grand and vivifying deliverance
of a Master. 1t has simply been
drenched with dishwater