Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1902-01-27


Senator Hanna's ex-
I NJ KINLEY ceedingly interesting
AND THE "reminiscences of Will
IGOLD PLANK. lam Mckinley. With
out attempting to fol-
low any particular chronological order,
the senator gives his recollections of
his martyred friend in n style which
holds the reader through every para
graph. Perhaps the most interesting
Feature of these papers in the current
number of the Magazine is the sena-
tors revelations concerning the au-
thorship of the famous gold plank in
the national platform of 1896. The au-
thorship of this plank has been claimed
for Senator Plat of New York, for
Senator Lodge of Massachusetts, and
for others. Senator Hanna makes the
surprising statement that Mckinley
himself inspired the famous St. Louis
declaration.
The one absorbing purpose in Will
lam Mckinley's political career, says
| the senator, was to keep closely in
touch with the people, so that he might
promote their material and moral wei
| fare.
ne Sttiil-u 10 ana WHICH
| rent events as a barometer. gauging
the growth of public sentiment keen
| ly, and particularly watching the de-
velopment of the new industries and
new RESOURCES. He aocentuatei the
American idea in everything he under
took.
There was something sublime in the
way in which he viewed his defeat in
the tariff reform cyclone in 1892.
often discussed the situation with him
and then we talked of the Mckinley
bill" 1 remember how his eyes
sparkled when it was suggested that
his bill was the sole cause OF republic
can defeat, and how he delivered a
statement to me with an air of pro-
phecy:
THAT may have been SO, but the bill
was passed so short time prior to
the election that il was easy for our
opponents to make charges, and there
was no time for us II combat them
but wait and see. Mark-wait and see.
The principles and policies of that hill
will yet win q greater victory for our
party than we have ever had before.
This misunderstanding will yet con-
tribute to overwhelming republican
success
The general conditions were such
however, that the party's reverse could
not De enIlTely TO the NC
Kinley bill. There We're other factors
in the landslide of 1892.
During the early part of the cam
paign of 1896, the charge was made
that Mckinley voted for the free coin
age of silver. And with his usual
candor he admitted that, in the earlier
stages of the agitation of the money
question. it was to him a proposition
he had not fully investigated; he did
not pretend to be a doctor of finance
and had followed the popular trend of
that time. After fuller discussion and
practical demonstration of facts; OBJ
serving after the changing conditions
of the country. and weighing the ques-
ton in its various relations to the
fundamental laws of practical finance
and the true policy best for the coun-
try-his conclusions We're voiced in the
St Louis platform of 1896.
The last discussion that 1 had with
him upon the money question before
he was nominated was few days be-
fore 1 left for st. Louis. at my office
in Cleveland.
He turned to my desk, sat down and
wrote in lead pencil an article which
he handed me when finished, saying:
There Mark, are my ideas of what
our platform should be on the money
question:
L carried the paper IN my pocket TO
st. Louis some days before the conven-
ton and that declaration of William
Mckinley contained in substance what
was afterward drafted in the platform
on that question. / mention this be
cause in subsequent discussions a great
deal has been said about the construc
ton of that plank in the St. Louis plat
form on the tariff and money question.
This absolute declaration was given
me by Major Mckinley as embracing
his ideas, and while the language may
have been changed somewhat, the
meaning of the article he wrote weeks
before the convention was absolutely
followed in the platform of 1896.
AS to the quality of this courage-I
never knew a man more fearless. In
the dark days of the Ohio gerryman-
der, when, as author of the Mckinley
bill. he lost his seat in congress. he
was cheerful in defeat that had cut
a democratic majority of 1000 down to
300. He had fought an uphill fight,
and although defeated, was elated over
the confidence which his home people
expressed in the principles which he
represented. The defeat had no de
pressing effect on his mind and ener-
gies, but spurred him to greater effort.
And in every serious emergency that
confronted him he was prepared for
the event-always Gains and coura-
geous. Even amidst the onslaughts of
campaign abuse he never uttered in
my presence one retailatory word, but
always referred to the enemy as our
opponents" while 1 must confess 1
used stronger adjectives at times.