The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-27
HON. PETER :. GROsSCUP.
Feeling Words in Responding to the
Toast civilian Mckinley"

The next speaker was Peter S. Grosscup,
judge of the United States Circuit Court of
Appeals, of Chicago. His topic was will
liam Mckinley" In the course of his re-
marks Judge Grosscup said:
This is Grants day. The generation to
which he belonged has nearly passed away,
and his figure has become historic. McKin-
lev on the contrary. has been gone from
among US not yet eight months. The banners
of the party he led to victory are still in
sight, the trumpet calls in hearing. Under
ordinary circumstances and with an ordi-
nary man, no fair judgment could yet be
pronounced"
After describing the last illness at Buffa-
10 and the funeral at Canton he proceeded:
There came a September afternoon when
the doors of the little church at Canton
opened and the casket was borne out. The
great whirl of industry of the last few
years had not subsidized. Through the can
yon streets of our cities, the surgirg and
eddying currents of humanity flow. mills
red i'm the face with busy toll; locomotives
from one corner of the continent to the
other drawing loaded trains; the farm
er is i'm the field reaping his harvest and
the schoolboy on his way home from his
lessons. But the little church doors
opened, and the casket appeared, the Ma
ton paused. The currents in the city can
yons CONCEALED as in midwinter, the faces
of the mills and furnaces paled, the loco
motives stopped. in the meadow or by the
mountain side, reaching up is arms of
steam in invocation TO the skies. the farmer
dropped his husking pin. the schoOlboy un-
girthed his books. Somewhere way up in
the blue dome surrounding the universe
there seemed to be tolling, tolling, tolling,
bells that have never been heard before
A burial such this sobers, as would the
flight of a century, and makes the habitant
Of the uncovered coffin already an historical
figure"
ACQUAINTANCE WITH MKINLEY.
The speaker then related his earliest ac-
quaintance with Mckinley, portraying his
personal appearance and his power of mag
netism commanding men. Running briefly
over the principal events of his life, he an
nounced that he would consider him in four
aspects-the orator, the politician, the
statesman and the man.
Some think the art of oratory is personal
presence. Others that it rests in a sonorous
and musical voice. Others that it is the
possession of imagination that can paint
the evening skies. and still others that il is
that mental depth and clearness that, like a
placid lake I'm the northern woods, reflects
beneath the armament above with its sur
rounding horizon of trees-the mind of the
orator the center of a perfect sphere.
These are qualities Of oratory but only
incidental qualities. The heart of oratory
is that the orator have convictions some
belief. an abiding faith in a mission and
the power not simply TO convey, but to
tranSfuse, as in chemical fire, this mission
of his into the mind of his audience"
Mckinley, said the speaker, had the pres
ence and voice of the orator, enough image
ry to give wings to his speech and depth
enough to give il freshness and interest
But his characteristic was conviction, a be-
lief that he had something to say, and that
unless he said it'and sent II home into the
minds of his audience the wrrld would have
lost something in its progress toward bet
ter things.
Mckinley, stated the speaker. was poll
tician. I'm the long run, upon great poll
cies," continued the speaker, public opin-
ion determines events. but in the shorter
tides that carry men in and out of power,
and that fashion the current policies. the
determining force is public will. Public
opinion and public men are not the same
Public will is rather opinion utilized
brought to head, the threads gathered up
and lied together. Public will is that por-
ton of public opinion that in conventions
and at the polls presses upon the valves
public opinion that never reaches the valve
is a stream gone TO waste.
WAS A STATESMAN.
Mckinley was a statesman. Equally
with any of his contemporaries he grasped
public questions. With equal courage he
persisted to their accomplishment"
Instances were given by the speaker of
the exhibition of these qualities. notably
the stand taken by him In the Governors
campaign in 1891 upon the silver question
But his great quality was his patience.
He could wait for seed TO ripen. The public
mind Is like the soil OF this great State
Look with me at yonder green spot. II
commands attention. but is a growth of
calumny only against our armies i'm the
field, or the men who make or execute our
laws. The seeds were dropped only last
night and this morning they have attained
their growth. for they are the weeds of the
public mind
Look again at the waving grain ripening
liz the sun, every head filling with what
Will buy schoOlbooks for the children
bread for the household and shelter for the
years 10 come. The seed was sown long
ago. as in s. in the tariff debates by the
great sower from Indiana, or In 20 ia cur