Union gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1899-1900, 1900-02-09
FRIDAY. FEB. o, 1900.
AN IDEAL EXECUTIVE.

its editor, when not CALLED and
fretted, may pronounce a sober
judgment. He has taken as his
text, president Mckinley" and
gives us a calm and dignifed
estimate of the man. To him,
McKinley's great goodness of heart
is an evidence of weakness, while
millions of his countrymen COM
mend. this as virtue in the presi-
dent and say, ellis life is gentle
and the elements 50 mixed in him,
as to give assurance of q man" "
That Mckinley has erred, no one
will question, but it was Lincoln
who said, "a man who never makes
mistakes never accomplishes any
thing" and the Oregonian's editor
very generously admits that the
president has hastened to rectify
all mistakes "and in the main his
course has been correct and lauda-
ble."
Why should a quality which
has enabled the president to
adapt himself with felicitious celer-
ity to every change in our national
situation" cause the people of the
United States humiliation? Rather
let US rejoice that we have chief
executive to whom the voice of the
people is the voice of God, and who
has the intelligence to discern his
mistakes and the manhood to
remedy them. The article in ques-
tion is as follows:
'The republican state league
takes pride in the record of the
Mckinley administration, and well
it may. The mistakes of the presi-
dent are SO many and SO plain that
he who runs may read, but he has
been the head of an administra-
ton that will live as one of the
most noteworthy in American an
mails, and in the main his course
has been correct and laudable.
The presidents lack of courage and
decision as a leader is measurably
counterbalanced by his almost
miraculous discernment in inter-
preting public opinion as a follower.
His most grievous offenses have
sprung from an excess of amiability.
Kind and generous to a fault, Presi-
dent Mckinley has lacked firmness
to withstand appeals for unworthy
aspirants for Office, and he has
hesitated inlthe Philippines when
he should have gone boldly for
ward. Many, perhaps most, of his
mistakes he has faithfully sought
to rectify, and no small portion of
his effort has been expended in en-
deavors to atone for blunders SO ex-
ecrable that, though they may be
forgiven, can never be forgotten or
condoned.
"The political shrewdness which
President Mckinley has manifested
in a degree truly wonderful has
enabled him to command most ad-
mirable selections in his advisers.
He has laid the best brains of the
country under tribute for counsel
and assistance. His Paris COM
missioners and his Philippine COM
missioners have attested their
worth in the high character Of the
work they have left behind. The
peace commission was wise and
firm enough to compel the president
himself to modify his original in
struc!ions to take Manila only
from Spain, so as to include the
whole Philippine archipelago, and
the Philippine commission has per-
formed a remarkable service that
would have been impossible for
any men except just such as went
there, as Schurman and Worces-
ter did, opposed to imperialism"
but honest enough to see and de-
clare the truth as they found it.
$50 with the cabinet. Every
change has strengthened it. Time
has emphatically approved the
elimination Of Sherman, and Secre-
tary Hay is busy adding one
triumph of diplomacy to another.
Secretary Gage has Loyalty and
efficiently served the cause of the
gold standard and currency reform.
The change from Alger to Root
was late, but abundantly justified
in its results. Secretary Wilson
has done much in a practical way
to advance the condition and en-
large the markets of our farmers,
and Pension Commissioner Evans
has proved to be the right man in
the right place. No better appoint
ments could be made than those of
Rufus Choate at London, Andrew
d. White at Berlin. and Horace
Porter at Paris. We were as ably
represented as any power at
The Hague. In the war with
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