The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-19
Politics Played No Part in Mo-
Kinley's Reception.
CHIEFLY BY DEMOCRATS
They Led the Outburst OF Enthusiasm
for the New Union-Con.eder Ites
Have Nothing to Rssret-speech
Marked an Epoch.

ended tonight after two days of re-
markable displays of enthusiasm. AL
though to-day was supposed to be a
day of rest, the president attended two
public functions and received ovations.
But far above the importance of the
receptions to-day and the receptions
already reported is the fact that the
original object of President McKinley's
visit has been entirely lost sight of.
The unprecedented outbursts of loyal
ty to the union have completely over
shadowed the rejoicing over the peace
with Spain. though participation in the
latter was the avowed object of the
presidents Southern trip.
To thoroughly explain what is going
on in the South to-day IL Is necessary
not only to record the continuous en-
thusiasm and hospitable receptions. but
also to recount the causes that have
made the trip remarkable. In all the
speeches and in all the demonstration
which have marked the espresidents Wis.,
IL TO Atlanta. Tuskogee. Montgomery
and Savannah, there has been the tacit
admission that the war with Spain was
the great factor in achieving the result,
but IL is to the result and not to the
factor that the chief trend of speech
making and of enthusiasm has lent IT.
SELF Political influences seem to play
no part in the reception of President
Mckinley. On all sides there Is an
eagerness to publicly express the 10y
atty of the Southern states and to ad-
nit that the war with Spain not only
helped to weld the compact of the sec
tions, but gave to the South the oppor-
tunity to express sentiments OF loyalty
that have long lived. but which have
lacked opportunity of expression: and
this has been done chiefly by demo-
Gratis, manv of whom fought for the
stars and bars. and to all OF whom
the name of Davis is a sacred memory.
The frank references TO and discussion
of the civil war have led to many deli
cate situations that were only saved
from becoming irritating dilemmas by
the tact of a president who fought
against the Southern troops. or by the
graceful utterances of the confederates
who years ago opposed him on the bat
tlefield. The marvellous scene of an
audience i'm the old confederate capital
cheering the stars and stripes until
they grew hoarse. of confederate vet
erans struggling to grasp the hand of
a Northern republican president: of
General Wheeler leading the people of
his state in cheers for William McKin-
ley in the place where jefferson Davis
once urged the South to fight for sep
aration, are all redeemed from the sus-
piclon of fulsomeness or the faint
praise of the politicians by the blunt
truthfulness of the men who led in
these new and tremendously fervent
declarations of loyalty. Governor John
ston OF Alabama said at Montgomery:
We of the South have nothing to re-
gret. except our dead"
But he at once went on to say that he
rejoiced in the United States with a
strong accent on United" and IL any
man now asked us Alabama loyal to
the Union?' he asked an absurd quas-
tion, because Alabama's loyalty has
been proved by Wheeler and Hobson,
and there were hundreds of other
Wheelers and Hobsons i'm Alabama
ready to give equal proof of Alabama's
glad fealty to the Union. Such utter
ances as these have marked the trip
with more frequency than IT has been
possible to report. OF all the former
confederates who have made addresses
of welcome to President Mckinley there
had been no eleventh hour confession of
sin. In substance, they have all said
that they fought for what they then
thought was right, that they neither
blame themselves nor their dead fathers
or sons for enlisting in the cause of the
confederacy. but they accept to-day the
changed conditions with a gladness and
sincerity they never felt until the war
with Spain knit the nation into a COM
mon cause and until a republican pres
ident urged the people of the North and
South to honor the confederate dead.
In the latter reason lies the main in
centive to the intense and almost unex-
pected enthusiasm with which the pres
idential party has been greeted since
Mr.. McKinley's first speech in Alabama.
Scarcely a speaker or a paper in Ala
bama or Georgia has made reference
to the president without mentioning on
every occasion his tribute to the con-
federate dead. A distinguished South
erner said to this correspondent:
There have been many reunions of
the North and South on paper and in
speeches. These were well meant, but
they signified little. because neither side
had given in TO the other on the prin-
ciples they fought over. This sugs IS
ton of the president to care for our
dead is the first practicable evidence
given to the South that the North really
means what IL says, and IL has touched
our hearts more than we can say. Com
ing as IL does upon the heels of the war
with Spain. which gave to the South
the chance to prove her loyalty. this
utterance OF the president enables us
to say not only that we are true TO the
Union. but for the first time that We
love it,
This utterance represents a host of
public and private speeches that have
otcu iudut S.'itt Alft VI ttt pttr-
ident,al party in the South. Ii is the
consensus of various opinions expressed
to this correspondent by state officers
and citizens of Georgia and Alabama.
nearly all of whom are opposed to the
president in pol l'tics but who have well
coined him right gladly in his capacity
of chief executive and who have given
vent TO wild enthusiasm over his ut
| terances regarding the confederate
/ dead. In this way. what was planned
| to be celebration OF the peace with
! Spain. has become almost entirely
genuine practical ratification OF the
peace between North and South. epoch
/ making in its significance. thrilling in
its details and pathetic in the countless
memories that II awakens.
Notwithstanding this was supposed
| TO be day of rest with
the presidential party, it vas.