Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-03-06

done a hostile entrenchment; finding the
range OF a country law library too mar
where he worked energetically with bril-
liant success; was admitted TO the bar apd
settled down to practical brevetted vti-
eran OF Ain the quiet town OF Canton,
now and henceforward forever famous as
the scene of his life and his place of sepul-
ture. Here many blessings awaited him;
high repute, professional success, and a do,
stainless that future poets. seeking an ideal
OF Christian marriage, viii find J. IL a
theme worthy OF their songs. This is a sub
Jet to which the lightest a%llusion seems
~profanation; but II is impossible to speak
OF William Mckinley without remember
ing that no truer, .enderer knight TO his
chosen lady ever lived among mortal men.
II to the spirits of the just made perfect is
permitted the consciousness of earthly,
things, We may be sure that his faithtui
soul Is nov watching over that gentle SUI
ferer who counts the long hours in their
shattered home in the desolate splendor Oh
his fame.
Enters Public Life
A man possessing the qualities with
which nature had endowed Mckinley
seeks political activity as naturally as a
growing plant seeks light and air. a
wholesome ambition; a rare power OF
making friends and keeping them; a
faith, which may be called religious,
in his country and its institutions; and,
flowing. from this, a belief that a man
could do no nobler work thar to serve
such. a country-these were the elements
in his character that drew him i~rresist-
IDLY, into public life. He had from the
beginning a remarkable equipment: a
mannerof singular grace and charm; a
voice OF ringing quality and great carry.
ing. power-vast as were the crowds mat
gathered about him, he reached their Ut
most fringe without apparent EFFORT. ne
hiad an extraordinary power OF marsnal-
ing and presenting significant facts, SO
as TO bring conviction IN the average
mini His range of reading was not
wide; he read only what he might some
day find useful, and what he read his
memory held like brass. Those who knew
him well in those early days can never
forget the consummate skill and power
with which he would select a few point
ed facts, and, blow upon blow, would
hammer them into the attention of great
assemblages in Ohio, as Jael drove the
nail into the head of the C~anaanite cap
tain; He was not often impassioned; ne
rarely resorted to the aid of wit or hu-
NOR; yet | never saw his equal in con-
trolling and convincing a popular audi,
ence by sheer appeal to their reason and
intelligence. He did not flatter or caJole
them, but there was an implied compii-
ment in the serious me sober tone in
which he addressed them. He seemed
one of them; in heart and feeling he was
one of them. Each artisan in a great
crowd might say: That is the sort OF
man | would like to be. n under more
favoring circumstances might nave been,
he had the divine gift OF sympathy,
which, though given only to the elect,
makes all men their friends.
Felt at Home in Congress.
So it came naturally about, continued
the orator, that in 1S76-the beginning OF
the second century of the republic-he
began, by an election to congress, his
political career. Thereafter for IA years
this chamber was his home. | use the
word, advisedly. Nowhere in the world
was he so in harmony will his environ
ment as here; nowhere else did his mind
work with such full consciousness of its
powers The air of debate was. native
to him; here he drank delight of, battle
with his peers. In after. days, when he
drove by this stately pile. or when or
he greeted his old haunts with the affec'
tomato zest of a child of the house; dur,
ing all the last ten years of his life, filled
as they were with activity and glory
he never ceased to be homesick for this
hall. When he came to the presidency
there, was not a day when his congress
sional. service was not OF use to him
Probably. no other president has beer
in such full and cordial communion witt
congress, If we may except Lincoln
alone. Mckinley knew the Legislative
body thoroughly, its composition, 1t:
methods. its habits of thought. He hat
the profoundest respect for its author
ity and an infexible belief in the ulti'
mate rectitude of its purposes. Our his
tory shows how surely an executive
courts disaster and ruin by assuming al
attitude of hostility or distrust to thu
legislature; and, on the other hand, Nc
kinley's frank and sincere trust and con
hdence in congress were repaid by promp
and loyal support and cooperation. Dur
ing his entire term of Office this mutua
trust and regard-so essential to the pub
lie welfare-was never Swallowed by {
single cloud.
Following the natural bent of his mind
he devoted himself to questions o
finance and revenue, to the essentials o
the national housekeeping. He took higl
rank in the house from the beginning
His readiness in debate. his mastery o
every subject he handled, the bright AM
amiable light he shed about him, ant
above all the unfailing courtesy and goot
will with which he treated friend anc
foe alike-one of the surest signature
his service in the house a pathway o
unbroken success and brought him a
last to the all-important post of chat
man of ways and means and leader o
the majority. OF the famous revenue ac
which. in that capacity, he framed ant
carried through congress. 1t is not m.
purpose here and now to speak. Thu
embers of the controversy in the mids
of which that law had its troubled beini
are vet too warm to be handled. on
day like this. may only say that |
was never sufficiently tested to prov
the praises of its friends or the criticism
OIL us opponents. AlICT IL DTleI GNlSIeIC
it passed away for a time, out of power
that swept the republicans out of power
Mckinley also passed through a brie
zone of shadow; his congressional dis
trict having been rearranged for tina
purpose by a hostile legislature.
Pathway to the Presidency.
Someone has said it is easy to love GU
enemies; they help us so much more tina.
our friends. The people whose malevolen
skill had turned Mckinley out Of con
gress deserved well Of him and of tn
and energetic, The republicans Of Obi
were saved the trouble of choosing a gov
~ernor-the other side had chosen one 70
them. A year after Mckinley left cor
gress he was made governor of Ohio, an
two years later he was reelected, eac
time by majorities unhoped-for and over
whelming. He came to fill a space in tn
public eye which obscured a great poi
ton of the field of vision. In two ma
within his reach. But he had gone Their
in the interest Of others and his homo
forbade any d%alliance with temptation
So his nay was nay-delivered with
His hour was not yet come.
There was, however, no long delay. II
became, from year to year, the mo-
prominent politician and orator in Il
country. Passionately devoted to tt
principles Of his party, he was alway
ready to do anything. to go anywhere,
proclaim Its ideas and to support its cal
didates. His face and his voice BEGAN
I familiar to millions Of our people; an
t wherever they were seen and heard, mi
became his partlsans. His face was ca
t in a classic mold; you see faces like
in antique marble in the galleries of IL
: Vatican and in the portraits of the gre;
cardinal-statesmen of Italy: his voice ws
: the voice Of the perfect orator-ringin
t vibrating, persuading by its very SCUM
4 by it's accent of sincere conviction. s
prudent and so guarded were all his IL
r ~terances. SO lofty his courtesy, that !
. never embarrassed his friends, n new,
. offended his opponents. For sever
r months before the republican nation
convention met in 1896, 1t was evident
. all who had eyes to see that Mr.. McKi,
E ley was the only probable candidate
2 his party. Other names were mentione
I of the highest rank in ability, charact
e and popularity; they were supported |
. powerful combinations; but the nomini
: ton of Mckinley as against the field W,
9 inevitable.
: The campaign he made will be alwa,
y memorable in our political annals. 7