The Appeal., 1901-09-21

w 'iAiAiAi AhN1NlillSy "dS oVII al Miles,,
Trumbull county, Ohio, Jan. 80. 1s43.
He was the son of William Mckinley and
Nancy Campbell Allison.
When William Mckinley was a small
boy his father, who was engaged in the
iron business at Niles, decided to move
to Poland, in Mahoning county, Ohio, be-
cause of the superior educational ad-
vantages 1t afforded for their children
Here William McKiney's boyhood life
really began, and like that of all bows in
small communities it was devoid of any
special incident. .',..-.
When the call ito arms came he was
eighteen years old A company was
quickly formed in Poland and was dig
nified with the name of the POLAND
Guards.r
He made haste to join his friends and
schoolmates and was mustered in with
the company at Columbus.
Mr.. Mckinley served In the ranks until
a few DAYS after the first battle Of An
tietam. when he was promoted to sec
ond feutenantcy. At the battle Just
mentioned he was acting ,commissary,
and during the heat of the fight took
to the front cooked rations to feed his
hungry comrades. who had been without
food for ,twenty-four hours.
Feb. 7. 1853. he was made first lieuten-
ant; July %, 1854 captain and breveted
major by President Lincoln for
Gallant Conduct :on itlle Fields
of Opequan Fishers Hill and Cedar
Creek. He served on the staffs of ex-
President Hays Gen. Crook Gen. Han
cock and Gen.. Carroll. He was with the
old Twenty-third in all it's fights and was
mustered out with the regiment in July
1865
During his military service Mr.. McKin-
ley took part lin the engagement at
Clarks Hollow, Princeton, W. Va, the
battles Of South Mountain. Antietam
Bufhngtons Island, Ohio, in the campaign
against Morgan's raiders at Cloyds Noun
tain, at Westchester, Va; at the Berry,
Vile, Va; at Cedar Creek and many other
engagements.
After the close of the war Nal. McKin-
ley entered upon the study of law He
was admitted to the bar at Warren in the
early months Of 1867. The young at
torney ,practiced alone for awhile, having
located at Canton, Ohio.
Maj. Mckinley was an excellent ~adyo-
cate and made some of the best jury ar
guments ever made at the Stark county
bar AT the time he was first elected to
places and one of ltile
Rest General Practices
In the county. He prepared himself by
thorough courses of reading for his pub
lie career. During all this time he was
an active participant in Republican cam
paigns and early gave evidence of the
power he afterwaRd developed as a pub
1ic speaker and orator.
Mr.. Mckinley first became prominent
In the state politics of Ohio in the cam
paign in which his former colonel, Ruth
erford B. Hayes, was the Republican can
didate for governor. Mr.. Mckinley threw
himself into this contest with ardor, and
was considered one of the most effective
speakers of his party in that exciting
campaign. 1t also made him widely
known throughout the state among the
party leaders and gave him an ambition
to aspire to political preferment for him
self. IL H. n
In 1876 Mr. Mckinley ANNOUNCED himself
as a candidate for congress In his dis
$rict He had plenty Of opponents for the
domination. Mr.. Mckinley was such a
strong favorite that he had a majority OF
fhe delegates in almost every county in
the district and was nominated on the
arst ballot in the convention. -
For Fourteen Years After This
event he represented the district OF whica
Stark county was part.
Aside from the part Mr.. Mckinley took
at washington in the important work be-
fore the congress he won for himself q
reputation as an industrious, well in
formed, level headed member on any and
all questions which came up. %..s d
During the fourteen years of his con-
lgressional life he CO me in hand-to-hand
conflict with such skilled parliamentarians
as Hewitt, Crisp, Randall, Morrison,
Mills, Wilson, both the Breckinridges,
Springer and a host of lesser lights. In
these debates he nearly always came out
ahead. and with hardly an exception sent
home the last thrust amid loud applause
from the Republican side of the house
1t was these qualities that soon attract
ed the attention of the Republican leaders
IN the house and led to Mr.. McKinley's
advancement in the party ranks His
Irst notable speech in the house was de-
llVered on April 10, 1878, and was in op-
position to the Wood tariff BILL In his
advocacy OF a protective tariff, policy
with which Mr.. Mckinley then first be-
came prominently identified, he was actu-
ated by the highest sense of public duty.
MANY OF the prominent statesmen of the
IRepuhlican party have at times wavered
ION the tariff question.
Mckinley Never Did.
{ A year later he took up and discussed
with great ability. the tariff bill of 1883
(which was thesresuIt Of the labors Of the
tariff commission. The two strongest ad-
vocates Of this bill, which became q law.
were William D. Kelly Of Pennsylvania
then chairman of + the ways and means |
|committee, and Mr. Mckinley.
It was upon this occasion that Mr.
mckinley 50 firmly planted the protec.j