The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-21
TRYING ORDEAL PASSED
NERVE-RACKING SITUATION OF THE
PRESIDENT HAS ENDED.
Bit of Official History Showing Me-
KinIey to Be a Man of Keen Judg-
ment and Much Discretion.

Washington Dispatch in New York Herald.
The eyes of the world to-day are turned
on President Mckinley. He is the man OF
the hour With him rests the momentous
question of war or peace. He has been hon
ored as few rulers in the history of the
world-honored by the confidence of the
Nation, which has placed at his disposal
the sum of $5O,OO00OO to be used for the
best interests of the country. And this
without a promise. He has pledged him
self neither for war nor yet for peace.
But come what may, he is prepared. No
one can quite realize just what this man of
steel has endured since that Hateful night
when the waters of Havana harbor were
tnged red with the blood of American
sailors That great class of persons who
talk first and think afterward, when they
think at all, have called him laggard.
Caustic comments on the quality and sub
stance of his backbone were openly and
flippantly uttered.
Through it all President Mckinley pre-
served that wonderful calmness which ex
asperated the unthinking and treasured
those who reason. The hardest duty known
to mankind is that of waiting. President
Mckinley waited. A false step would have
been fatal to his policy. When the time
came to act he entered the breach. The
days and nights of mental and physical
strain had left their imprint upon him. But
when few minutes before 4 o'clock last
Wednesday afternoon he signed his name
to the bill which made the appropriation
of $50 100000 a law, a great burden fell from
his shoulders And when he went out from
the White House into the open air his step
was firm, his eye bright, and it seemed
that nature had ironed out the care fur
rows from his brow.
Supreme responsibilities have their penal
ties and their rewards The two extremes
of depression and citation were never better
illustrated than by President McKinley's
varying moods during the last fortnight.
During that period he has been in one sit
uation where no sane man would willingly
have exchanged places with him, and in an
other where any person would have been
glad to have his lot The one situation was
Just prior TO the mapping out of the policy
which led to the asking of Congress for
large sum OF money for the national de-
Tense. The other was after Congress had so
handsomely responded, by unanimously
voting $50 0O0,000, to be expended entirely in
the discretion of the President-an express
sion of confidence the like of which has
never fallen under similar conditions to
any President of the United States.
President Mckinley is an extremely sem
SltlVe man. yet man OF remarkable calm
ness and man with nerves of steel His
kindness of heart, his sympathy for men,
his personal knowledge of what war is and
his deep sense of responsibility to the coun-
try and to the world-all these combined
to make the burden which fell on his
shoulders following the Maine disaster one
of tremendous weight A man with more
dash, with coarser feelings and less regard
for mankind, would have gone along easily
WITH WITH smiling countenance President Nc
klnley got along with a smiling face it is
true, until the crisis was reached, but the
strain told on him. Yet only those who are
intimate with him know the fortunes of
mind he underwent.
What did this man have to contend with?
What were the problems which confronted
him on all sides, which drove sleep from
his eyes and rest from his brain? A hasty
review of the situation as it existed pre-
vious to last week will show. In the first
place, the country seemed drifting newt
ably toward war. Nothing seemed likely to
stop it. An explosion at Madrid or Havana
could instantly precipitate hostilities. In
Spain and in Cuba were an excited popu-
lace, At home We're minimizing millions.
misled by the yellow journals.
THOSE WHO WANTED WAR.
The entire country seemed in state OF
feverish excitement. A mistaken idea of pa
triotism, fostered and famed to a growing
flame by sensational newspapers, was be-
ginning to have an alarming effect upon
the community The delay in ascertaining
the cause of the disaster TO the Maine con-
tributed to this state of affairs. WAR ex-
tras" fabulously numbered and printed in
uiitdiu VI type, although IauBned at by
the better classes. nevertheless had their
effect upon the multitude. President Nc
Kinley realized fully that phase of the sit
uation
Then there was another and even more
serious proposition to face. We were totally
unprepared for war. True. Spain was also
unprepared. But with our thousands of
miles of seacoast undefended with an in
adequate fleet and not enough sailors to
man them, with not enough artillerymen to
garrison the slight land defenses we had
with Congress apparently disposed to with
hold all measures for men and munitions
until the President promised the expulsion
of Spain from Cuba, the outlook was bad
enough. Wearied, worn out and discour-
aged, the President still hoped that the
situation would change He slept but little
His brain, ever active. denied his body the
repose which it craved But he is a man
with nerves of steel You who have gazed
into his face must have seen those lines
about the mouth. eloquent of determine
ton, of marvellous will power. They never
weakened.
On Saturday. March ;. he expressed him
self beginning to lose hope. But the
change came the following day, W hen the
memorable conference was held TO discuss
the willingness of Congress TO provide funds
At that conference the proposition was
made TO appropriate $I00,e00O0O for defense
The President shook his head No" he
said, that Is certainly more than we can
Immediately. and it would look to the
world as though il We're merely made fer
effect on the public mind.
Then the suggestion was made that the
amount be $25,oOO,Ooo Some one remarked