Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1901-09-26

William Mckinley was born at Niles.
fTrumbull county. Ohio, Jan. 20. 1913.
HE was the son OF William Mckinley and
Nancy Campbell Allison.
When William Mckinley was a small
boy his father. who was engaged in tho
iron business at Mics. decided to move
sto Poland. in Mahoning county, Ohio be-
cause of the superior educational adj
vantages it afforded for their children.
Here William MclItnley's boyhood life
ceally began. and like that Of all bows in
small communities it was devoid of any
special incident.
When the call to 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"
He made haste to Join his friends and
echoolmates and was mustered in with
the company at Columbus.
Mr.. Mckinley served in the ranks until
q few days after the first battle Of An
>tietam. when he was promoted to a Sec
ond lieutenantcy. At the battle just
mentioned he was acting comnissary,
and during the heat of the fight took
to the front cooked rations to feed his
hungry comrades. who had been without
food for twentyfour hours.
Feb. Z. 1863. he was made first lieuten-
sant July Is, 1864. captain and brevetcd
major by President Lincoln for
Gallant Conduct on the Fields
Of Opeauan. Fishers Hill and Cedar
Creek He served on the STATS of ex-
President Hays. Gen. Crook. Gen. Han
cock and Gen. Carroll. He was with the
old Twenty-third in all its fights and was
mod n wifi In
1865.
During his military service Mr.. McKin-
ley took part in the engagement at
tClarks Hollow. Princeton. w. Va. the
battles of South Mountain. Antietam,
Buffingtons 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 Maj. McKin-
aey 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 advo-
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
congress ne enjoyed one Oh the leduluS
places and one of the
Best General Practices
IN the county. He prepared himself by
thorough courses of reading for his pub
lic career. During all this; time he was
SAN active participant in Republican cam
paigns and early gave evidence of the
power he afterward developed as pub
dc speaker and orator.
Nv
in the state politics of Ohio in the cam
paign in which his former colonel. Ruth
.erford B. Hayes, was the Republican cam
rdidate for governor. MIR. 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 rreferment for him
self.
In 1876 Mr.. Mckinley announced himself
as q candidate for congress in his dis
trict He had plenty of opponents for the
nomination. Mr.. Mckinley was such
strong favorite that he had majority of
the delegates in almost every county in
the district and was nominated on the
first ballot in the convention.
For Fourteen Years After This
event he represented the district of which
Stark county was a part.
Aside from the part Mr.. Mckinley took
at Washington in the important work be-
fore the congress he won for himself a
reputation as an Industrious, we'll in
formed, level headed member on any and
all questions which came UP.
During the fourteen years of his con-
1reSsiOna1 life he came in and to- hand
conflict with such skilled parliamentarians
as Hewitt. Crisp, Randall. Morrison.
Mills, Wilson, both the Breckinridges,
Springer and 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
first notable speech in the house was de-
alvered on April IL. 1878. and was In OPP
position to the Wood tariff bill. In his
advocacy of protective tariff. a policy
with which Mr. Mckinley then first be-
came prominently identified, he was actu-
nted by the highest sense of public duty
Many of the prominent statesmen OF the
Republican party have ut times wavered
on the tariff question.
Mckinley Never Did.
year later he took up and discussed
with great ability the tariff bill OF 1851
which was the result Of the labors of the
tariff commission. The two strongest adj
vocates OF this BILL which became law.
We're William d. Kelly Of Pennsylvania.
then chairman of the ways and means
committee, and Mr.. Mckinley.
1t was upon this occasion that Mr..
Mckinley 10 firmly planteo The proteo.