The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1901-09-27

tOuhui luo ONtl hIOWus NOlb bDHI
say master of men" and the term is
used advisedly for not one of our
Presidents, not Andrew Jackson or
Abraham Lincoln, ever more com
pletely mastered the men with whom
he was associated in government.
The charge SO often made in the un-
thinking raucor of partisan discus
sion, that President Mckinley was "a
mere appendage of stronger men,
nerveless tool which they used at their
will, had so little foundation in fact
that those who knew the truth ans
wered it only with a smile. Amen
able to advice and grateful for sug-
gestion, he surely was, as all great
and modest men are. But in the end
the court of his own Judgment and
conscience was for him the court of
last resort, from whose decision there
was no appeal And this man mas
tered not only his own political parti.
sans, but his politician opponents as
we'll. In the closing hours of the last
congress, when the question was upon
the adoption of the resolutions defin-
ing the future relations that should
exist between this country and Cuba,
| stood upon the floor of the Senate
and heard Democratic Senator APP
peal for an hour to his party col
leagues to stand with him and defeat
the resolutions, and one after another
they turned their backs upon him and
left the chamber. 1t was understood
that the resolutions embodied the
Presidents policy and not five men
in all that body could be rallied to
oppose it.
What was the secret of this
/ tho xthiph
rallied his own party in a solid
and harmonious phalanx about him
while it carried decentralization into
the ranks of his opponents? The
secret was this: He was gentle man.
He was wise and farsighted. it is true,
and the soundness of his conclusions
appealed TO the intelligence of men.
But his gentleness appealed to the
hearts of men, and that is the appeal
that wins. While intense in his 10y
atty to the party of his choice, Will
liam Mckinley never forgot that he
was president of the whole country,
and so he consulted not the lead
ers of his own party merely, but the
leaders OF all the parties. And he
treated them with such sincerity, such
Difference, such simple candor and
good will, that their hearts were won
even il their judgment was not con-
WINGED. Let us reflect moment and
we will see that no greater test has
come to any man in all our history,
save only one, than came to this man.
Recall the conditions that existed
when he was first elected, the depres-
sion, the discomfort, the actual dis
tress, the sincere belief in the minds of
millions of his countrymen that his
election meant almost irretrievable
ruin: recall the Spanish war and the
war in the Philippines and all the new
and perpleXing and tremendously i'm.
portant problems they presented. Is
IL conceivable that a cold-hearted
man. selfish and arrogant man, even
though proposing precisely the meas
ures that have been proposed, could
have carried them to successful con-
cusion? All no. it was the heart that
won, repeating the age long story.
For
"AS long rs the grass shall be growing
And as long rs the rivers run.
The hearts shall forever be winning
As hearts have forever won. "
He WAS \ MAN OF THE PEOPLE.
what is your secret, Mr.. President
a Kansas man said to him not long
ago, with frank audacity. you have
made no mistakes. You have pro-
posed no measure that you lave not
been able to carry through. How
have you done it?n And smiling quiz
city at the audacity the President re-
Piled 1T has been easy. have
simply listened to the people and have
tried to do what | knew they wanted
done. The people are the real leaders.
The American people, when they have
taken sober second thought, are the
safest counsellors. And that was
not the affected mOdesty of a man who
really feels himself above the people.
1t was the sincere expression of con-
tidence in the integrity the good sense
and the patriotism of his countrymen
to which all his public acts bore wit
ness. In Washington it was easier to
reach the President that it was to
reach his private secretary. And
when you reached him you found a
man so modest in his bearing, so cor
dial in his greeting, so direct and un-
affected in his conversation that you
found it difficult to realize that you
were standing in the presence of man
who occupied the most exalted station
that is attainable by any man upon
this earth. He trusted the people alb
solutely. And the bitterest drop in the
bitter cup that we drain to-day is the
thought that he trusted them too much;
that in all these eighty millions there
should one be found with soul so en-
venomed, with heart so scared and
calloused that he could betray that
sacred confidence. One of the reasons
why we loved him was because he
trusted us. We were proud to have
him feel that he could go in and out
among us unguarded and unafraid.
And to think that even in the very
midst of us, as he stood among the
people, giving his hand to them in
familiar and friendly greeting, he
should be stricken down! oh, the pity
of it! Oh, the black shame and sor-
row of it!
And last and greatest of all, we see
in this man man who feared God
and kept his commandments. Becom-
ing member of the Methodist church
when mere boy, his whole life bore
testimony to his faith in the Christian
religion Not passive conventional
faith, but an active living faith, the