Amador ledger., 1900-09-14
MCKINLEY THE MAN.
Some Personal characteristics of the
Republican Candidate.


as one sometimes does in travelling, the
huge mass presents differing aspects to
the eye from the different points of
view. That is because it is large, lofty
and many sided.
1t is a tribute to the greatness of
William Mckinley that men differ in
estimating his abilities and influence
What volumes have been written on the
characters of Shakespeare, Goethe. Ma
poleon, Washington, Lincoln, Grant
and the future historian of the great re-
public will not dismiss the admins
tration of William Mckinley with
Single chapter. 1t will require volumes
tor it will mark an epoch.
-Four years ago the world knew Will
liam Mckinley as an American states
man who had risen from humble sta
tion with great steadiness and persig-
tency, but without haste and not with
out that careful training which comes
Of long service in congress and as gov
ernor Of a great state. He had imprinted
his name upon highly important piece
Of protective legislation, but the world
did not know, as it could not know un-
til the hour of trial came, that in time
Of national peril he was not alone wise
to know and bold to perform but that
he was rock to resist the rushings and
swashings of popular waves of frenzied
feeling.
William Mckinley is no human mush-
room to spring up in a night. He is no
comet to challenge the attention of star
gazers. He is no burst of oratorioal
fireworks to dazzle nation with burn
ished bit of borrowed eloquence.
He is the product of a normal and
healthful growth. Possessing a sure
foundation of ample native capacity he
has builded for himself and his country
what the world will yet recognize as a
colossal structure of craftsmanship and
manly character. He will continue to
grow as he has continued to grow and
the time is not far distant when he will
stand out as one among the few tower
ing personalities marking decisive epoohs
in the history of the republic.
It is to his credit that men differ in
their estimation of him and that they
change the estimates they have formed
as nearer views afford better perspec.
tive.
Such as thought him ambitious for
power were charmed to note that he
made no effort to secure denomination
for president at the hands of the ma
tional convention of his party, but suf-
fered the presidential Office to come to
him unsolicited or go to another as
the American people might see fit to
determine.
Such as thought him weak or want
ing in decision found when he stood un-
moved, though the pillows of a storm
tossed public opinion broke over him,
that they had been gazing upon mirage
of their own making and not upon the
man
Only those who have made war upon
the authority of the constitution and
laws and sovereign power of the Ameri-
can nation, or have sympathized with
those who have made such war, regard
him as severe in the execution of the
authority vested in him, and he has
been as humane with them as he could
be and yet execute the laws and vindi-
cate the authority of the republic.
Our president is not spectacular. He
does not seek to force his personal will
upon an unwilling constituency. He
makes no effort to keep himself in the
public eye and he has not devoted the
last four years to posing in popular at
titudes to keep the people mindful of
him. His utterances are few outside
the regular and necessary issuance of
messages and documents and these are
not rehashes of what he has said re-.
peatedly before.
He does not strive to fill the dual
function of executive and legislator, but
leaves to congress the constitutional
functions of congress. Nor does he pre-.
sumo to invade the proper province Of
the supreme court of the United States,
but leaves to the Judiciary in unim-
paired supremacy the constitutional
function of the judicial Office.
The unintelligent class him as trim,
ner because he seeks to know the VIA
Of the people and, having ascertainea
it Enthusiastically, puts forth his power
to make that will effective, not rejecting
that only by that means can we have
government by, of and for the people,
and that the executive who does not fol-
low that course, but pursues a policy
marked out by his own headstrong in
clination, is an imperialist and a usuYper
and merits Impeachment for exceeding
his authority. The American people are
coming to know and appreciate the
sterling qualities of their chief execu-
tive and to trust him. They have found
him wiser than many of his would-be
advisors in knowing what to do when
the time came for doing it. They have
found him bold in performance when
the time came for performance and not
slow to invoke the strong arms of the
navy and army in executing the will of
the people.
He has grown also into the regard of
the nations of the earth. His victories
In diplomacy have been not less illustri-
GUS than the achievements of the navy
and the army, and European diplomats
have been brought face to face with a
diplomacy that has another purpose
than that of concealing its meaning be.
meath a mountain of courtesy and plati-
tude,
Through all the clashings of war,
the rivalries of ambitious men, the bick-
erings Of politics and the aspersions of
o vindictive partisanship, William Nc
Kinley is the same unperturbed Ameri-
can statesman that he was in congress