The age-herald., 1902-02-28
Legislative Wheel Stopped to
 Pay Tribute to Mckinley
SECT'Y HAY ORATOR OF DAY
In Beautiful Words He Reviewed the Life of the Man Who Died at the Hands of Assassin-Many
 Dignitaries Were Present.

Washington, February 27.-At noon to-
 day in the great hall of Representatives.
 In the presence of President Roosevelt
 Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of the
 German Emperor, the members Of the
 cabinet, the justices of the Supreme Court, the commanding general of the
 army and officers of the army and navy
 who have received the thanks of Con- gress, the ambassadors and other diplo- matic representatives of foreign coun- l tries, the Senators and Representatives l in Congress and a large number of dis tinguished guests the Hon. John Hay, McKinley's premier. pronounced eulogy on his dead chief Four times before na- tional memorial services for Presidents who have died in office have been held commemoration of chief magistrates who have fallen by the hands or an assassin George Brancroft, the historian pro- nounced the eulogy on Lincoln, and Blaine was Garfields orator
 Strange Coincidence.
 by d strange tOlnc1ueDCe IOuaY was the twentieth anniversary of that on which MT. Blaine was in the same hall and de- livered his eulogy on Garfield. and stranger still, the subject of todays me- morial service was the chairman of the committee who had charge of the ar engagements on that occasion. Only one year ago, less five days. at the head of an imposing civic and military procession, Mckinley passed triumphantly along Pennsylvania avenue for h $ second fn- augural. Six months later the tragedy oc- cured at Buffalo, and another but diff ferent sort of procession bore his body through the streets to the rotunda of the Capitol. where the tributes of the na- tons of the earth about his bier bespoke the universal sorrow Today once more with uncovered head the nation paid it's 1 last tribute of respect and publicly ex- | pressed it's living grief.
 Avenue Filled With People.
 Again the broad avenue was filled with | vast crowds as they were a year ago. | Then the streets were a sea of glistening 1 bayonets and waving plumes and air was l filled with the music of hundred-tongued 1 resplendent bands Today all was chang l ed. The procession was unorganized. No l martial music frightened the feet of the 1 throng. No cheers rent the afr For the 1 people the event was one for the mind and heart rather than for the eye and ear and they congregate in unnumbered thousands about the great marble pile upon the hill.
 In the area in front of the Speakers rostrum, heavy leather upholstered fau- teulis had been placed for the President Prince Henry, the Cabinet the General of the Army and the Justices of the Su- preme Court. The first two rows on the Democratic side were reserved for the diplomatic corps and the four rows imme- diately behind them for the members of the Senate. The commissioners of the District of Columbia and other invited guests sat back of the Senate.
 Secretary Hays Speech.
 Secretary Hay, who delivered the ora ton of the day spoke as follows:
 For the third time the Congress of the United States are assembled to com memorate the life and the death of a President slain by the hand of an assas- sin. The attention of the future historian will be attracted to the features which reappear with startling sameness in all three of these awful crimes: the useless ness, the utter lack of consequence of the act; the obscurity. the insignifcance of the criminal; the blamelessness-so far as in our sphere of existence the best of men may be held blameless-of the vic tim. Not one of our murdered Presidents had an enemy in the world; they were all of such pre-erninent purity of life that no pretext could be given for the attack of passional crime; they were all men of democratic instincts who could never have offended the most jealous advocate of equality; they were of kindly and generous nature, to whom wrong in- justice was impossible of moderate for tune. whose slender means nobody could envy. They were men of austere virtue, 1 of tender heart of eminent abilities. which they had devoted with single minds to the good of the republic. If ever men walked before God and man without blame. it was these three rulers of our people. The only temptation to attack their lives offered was their gentle ra- diance-to eyes hating the light that was offense enough
 Stupidly Useless.
 ''The stupid uselessness of such an in- fanny affronts the common sense of the world. One can conceive how the death of a dictator may change the political conditions of ar empire; how the extinc- ton of narrowing line of kings may bring in an alien dynasty. But in a wen-ordered republic like ours, the ruler may fall, but the state feels no tremor. Our beloved and revered leader is gone but the natural process of our laws pro- vides us a successor, identical in purpose and ideals. nourished by the same teach HES, HlSplItQ Dy lne SdIDc prlnclpfeS, pledged by tender affection as well as by high loyalty to carry to completion the immense task committed to his hands, and to unite with iron severity every manifestation or that hideous crime which his mild predecessor, with his dy- ing breath. forgave. The sayings of celestial wisdom have no date; the words that reach us. over two thousand years, out of the darkest hour of gloom the world has ever known, are true to the life today: They know not what they do." The blow struck at our dear friend and ruler was as deadly blind hate could make It. but the blow struck as an- archy was deadlier still.
 '''What a world of insoluble problems such an event excites in the mindl Not merely in it's personal, but in it's public aspects 1t presents paradox not to be comprehended. Under system of gov ernment free and so impartial that we recognize its existence only by It's benefacticns; under . social order SO purely democratic that classes cannot