The times., 1898-12-16
A National President.


Great was President McKinley's oppor-
tunity. Grandly did he seize it. The note
he sounded at Atlanta ended the Civil
War Let the date be remembered-De-
cember Ii, 1898!
The Spanish war was a righteous
war, but, right or wrong, it was
needed to remove the last traces of
an animosity that began almost with
the century and increased in vi. ulence
try against each other in one of the
bloodiest conflicts in the history of man
kind. That the defeated South. reiuced Ia
penury by four years of carnage and
with every household a place Of m5urn-
ing for the killed in battle, should re-
member with fierce indignation its un-
paraiieled losses. while the North, with
its greater resources. forgot in its pres
periry its lesser sufferings, was matter
of course. The passing years have NV
brought material progress to the South
ern States. They have wrested from
New England no small share of the pre-
ductive enterprises. the wealth of which
absorbed the energies of the people of
that section and made it easier TO forget
past issues. The new South has now
other concerns than the dead past Wi
keeping alive proud memory OF the de-
votion and courage or its dead. 1t only
needed some cause to bring the young of
both sections together in a common pur-
pose under the nations flag, TO Danish
whatever was bitter in their recol &C.
dons. The cause came with the war
with Spain, than which nothing is nobier
in recorded time.
That the President was superior 10 mere
ly party considerations was apparent in
his prompt and full recognition of the
qualities of Southern soldiers. Among
the first to be chosen TO uphold the honor
of The flag were men who had won con-
spicuous places In the service of the Con-
federacy-Wheeler. Lee. Butler and others
When the soldiers returned from the war
the North was no less enthusiastic and
demonstrative in honoring the gallant
men of the South than the Southern pc lple
! themselves. The Alabama heroes receiy-
ed n hundredfold more of honors in the
North than the Michigan man who was
Theoretically the commander of the Gu
ban expedition. Here. at least, the hatreds
of the past were forgotten. 1t was in
the same spirit that the President was in
yited 10 the Peace Jubilee at Atlanta. AT
every station on the way he was welcomed
with cheers as the head of united and
victorious nation At Atlanta nothing that
could be suggested to show how entirely
the spirit of Americanism had supplanted
every other was left undone.
1t is gratifying to know that the Presi-
dent understood and responded fully. He
surprised and delighted the Southerners
by his deliberate recognition of the most
important fact that has emerged from
the clash OF battie-that the country is
united, that the memories that are pre-
served are kindly and common to all. He
was peculiarly happy in his form of ex-
preston. Considering his career as a
politician and his timidity as a speaker,
it was almost an inspiration that he
should touch the tenderest heartstrings
of his hearers. Nothing could show
more entirely the absence of sectional
hatred than a tribute TO the Confederate
dead, whose memory is n religion in the
South. His words are the last on the
subject of the old sectional strife They
are the announcement of the new condi-
tions under which a solidified people will
undertake the serious responsibilities
that have been placed upon them by the
fortunes of war. The President has
reached noble height in way that will
endear him to all Americans who are
worthy of the institutions under which
We live.