The bee., 1902-03-06


william Mckinley. one Of that sensible
million OF men, gladly laid down his sword
and betook himself to his books. He
quickly made up the time lost in soldier
ing. He attacked his Blackstone as he
would have done a hostile intrenchment.
Finding the range of a country law IL
brary too narrow, he went to the Albany
Law school, where he worked energetical-
ly with brilliant success, was admitted to
the bar and settled down to practlce-a
brevetted veteran of twenty-four-in the
quiet town of Canton, now and hencefor-
ward forever famous as the scene OF his
life and his place of sepulture. Here
many blessings awaited him-high repute,
professional success and domestic affec-
ton so pure, so devoted and stainless
that future poets, seeking an ideal of
Christian marriage, will find in II theme
worthy OF their songs. This is a subject
to which the lightest alluslon seems
PROCLAMATION, but 1t is impossible to speak
of William Mckinley without remember
ing that no truer. tenderer knight to his
chosen lady ever lived among mortal men.
If to the spirits of the just made perfect
is permitted the consciousness of earthly
things. we may be sure that his faithful
soul is now watching over that gentle suf-
ferer who counts the long hours in their
shattered home In the desolRte splendor
of his fame.
which nature had endowed Mckinley
seeks political activity as naturally as a
growing plant seeks light and air.
wholesome ambition, rare power OF
making friends and keeping them. faith
which may be called religious in his coun-
try and its institutions. and flowing from
this belief that a man could do no no
bier work than to serve such n country
these were the elements in his character
that drew him irresistibly into public life.
He had from the beginning a remarkable
equipment, n manner of singular grace
and charm, a voice of ringing quality and
great carrying power Vast as were the
crowds that gathered about him, he
reached their utmost fringe without ap-
parent effort He had an extraordinary
power of marshaling and presenting sig
nifcant facts so as to bring conviction
to the average mind. His range of read
ing was not wide. He read only what he
might somo day find useful, and what he
read his memory held like brass. Those
who knew him we'll in those early days
can never forget the consummate skill
and power with which he would select
few pointed 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 Canaanite
captain. He was not often impassioned.
He rarely resorted to the aid of wit or
humor yet never saw his equal in con-
trolling and convincing q popular audi
ence by sheer appeal to their reason and
intelligence. He did not fiattcr or cajole
them, but there was an implied compli-
ment in the serious and 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 and under more favoring
circumstances might have been. He had
the divine gift of sympathy which. though
given only to the elect. makes all men
their friends.
HIS POLITICAL CAREER.
So it came naturally about that in 1876
the beginning of the second century Of
the republic. he began by an election to
congress his political career. Thereafter
for fourteen years this chamber was his
home l use the word advisedly No
where In the world was he so in harmony
with his environment as here Nowhere
else did his mind work with such full con-
sciousness OF its powers The air Of de-
bate was native TO him. Here he drank
delight OF battle with his peers. In after
days when he drove by this stately pile
OF when on rare occasions his duty called
him here he greeted his old haunts with
the affectionate zest of a child Of the
house. During all the last ten years of
his life, filed as they were with activity
and glory, he never ceased to be home
sick for this hall. When he came TO the
presidency, there was not a day when
his congressional service was not Of use
to him. Probably no other president has
been in such full and cordial communion
with congress- If we may except Lincoln
alone. Mckinley knew the legislative body
thoroughly, its composition, its methods
its habits of thought lie had the pro-
foundest respect for its authority and an
inhexible belief in the ultimate rectitude
OF its purposes. Our history shows how
surely an executive courts disaster ana
ruin by assuming an attitude of hostility
or distrust to the legislature, and. on the
other hand, McKinley's frank and sincere
trust and confidence in congress were re-
paid by prompt and loyal support and CO.
operation. During his entire term of office
this mutual trust and regard. so essential
to the public welfare, were never shadow
ed by single cloud.
He was a Republican. He could not be
anything else. A Union soldier grated
upon Clay Whig he necessarily bellev-
ed In the American system"-in protec-
tion to home industries: in q strong, ag-
gressive nationality; in liberal construc-
tion Of the constitution. What any self
reliant nation might rightly do he felt this
nation had power to do IL required by the
common welfare and not prohibited by
our written charter
M'KINLEY IN CONGRESS.
Following the natural bent of his mind.
he devoted himself to questions of finance
and revenue. to the essentials of the ma
tional housekeeping. He took high rank
in the house from the beginning. His
readiness in debate, his mastery of every
subject he handled, the bright and ami
able light he shed about him and, above
all. the unfailing courteaY and good will
with which he treated friend and foe alike
one of the surest signatures of a nature
born TO great destinie3-made his service
in the house n pathway of unbroken sue
cess and brought him at last to the all i'm
portant post of chairman of ways and
means and leader of the majority. OF the
famous revenue act which in that ca
pacity he framed and carried through con-
gress 1t is not my purpose here and now
to speak. The embers of the controversy
in the midst of which that law had its
troubled being are yet too warm to be
handled on a day like this. / may only
say that 1t was never sufficiently tested
to prove the praises of its friends or the
criticism Of its opponents. After brief
existence II passed away, for a time, In
the storm that swept the Republicans out
OF power. Mckinley also passed through
a brief zone of shadow. his congressional
district having been rearranged for that
purpose by hostile legislature.
Some one has said 1t is easy TO love our
enemies; they help us so much more than
our friends. The people whose malevo-
lonf cIrf hod ftIrp McI[ inlau N