River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1902-03-06

row, he went to the Albany law school,
where he worked energetcally with Drill
liant success; was admitted to the bar ard
settled down to practice breyetted Vet
eran OF M-in the quiet town OF canton,
now and henceforward forever famous as
the scene of his life ard his place of sepul-
ture. Here many blessings awaited him;
high repute, professional success, and a DO
nestle affection so pure, so devoted and
stainless that future poets, seeking an ideal
of Christian marriage, viii find in II
theme worthy of their songs. This Is sud-
ject to which the Iightest allusion seems
profanation; but it is impossible to speak
of William Mckinley without remember
Ing that no truer. -enderer knight TO MS
chosen lady ever lived among mortal men.
If to the spirits of the just mad perfect IS
permitted the consciousness Of earthly
things, we may be sure that his faltnful
ferer who counts the long hours in their
shattered home in the desolate splendor OF
hts fame.
Enters Public Life
A man possessing the qualities with
which nature had endowed Mckinley
growing plant seeks light and air. a
wholesome ambition; a rare power OF
making friends and keeping them; a
in his country and it's institutions; and,
flowing from this, a belief that man
could do no nobler work than to serve
in his character that drew him irresist-
IDLY into public life. He had from the
beginning remarkable equipment:
mannerof singular grace and charm;
voice Of ringing quality and great carry
ing power-yast as were the crowds tndC
gathered about him. he reached their ~
most fringe without apparent e1IofI. ne
mad an extraordinary power or maTshal-
ing and presenting significant facts, SO
as to bring conviction to the average
mind. His range of reading was not
wide; he read only what he might some
day find useful, and what he read MS
memory held like brass Those VINO knew
1t Ill ,.1r 6nx
forget the consummate skill and power
with which he would select a Jew 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 Canaanite cap
tain. He was not often impassioned; ne
NOR; yet 1 never saw his equal in con
trolling and convincing q popular audi
ence by sheer appeal to their reason ana
Intelligence. He did not hatter or caJo!e
them, but there was an implied compil-
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 great
crowd might say: That is the sort of
man I 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.
Felt at Home in Congress.
So it came naturally about, continued
the orator. that in 1876-the beginning OF
the second century of the republic-he
political career. Thereafter for IA years
this chamber was, his, home. | use the
word advisedly. Nowhere in the world
was he SO in harmony with his environ
ment as here; nowhere else did his mind
work with such full consciousness of it's
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 on
he greeted his old haunts with the affec-
tionate 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 day when his congress
Probably. no other president has been
in such full and cordial communion with
congress, If we may except, Lincoln
body thoroughly, its compositi R5n,|' its
methods, it's habits of thought He had
the profoundest respect for its author
ity and an infiexible belief in the ulti-
mate rectitude Of it's purposes. Our his
tory shows how surely an executive
courts disaster and ruin by assuming an
attitude of hostility or distrust to the
legislature; and, on the other hand, Nc
Kinley's frank and sincere trust and con-
fidence in congress were repaid by prompt
ing his entire term of Office this mutual
trust and regard-so essential to the pub
lie Welfare-waS never Swallowed by a
single cloud.
Pathway to the Presidency.
Someone has said it is easy to love our
enemies; they help us so much more than
our friends. The people whose malevolent
skill had turned Mckinley out of con-
gress deserved well of him and of the
republic. Never was Nemesis more swift
and energetic. The republicans of Ohio
were saved the trouble of choosing a gov
ernor-the other side had chosen one for
them. A year after Mckinley left con-
gress he was made governor of Ohio, and
two years later he was reelected, each
time by majorities unhoped-for and over
wheiming. He came to fill space in the
ton of the field of vision. In two ma
tional conventions, the presidency seemed
in the interest of others and his honor
forbade any dalliance with temptation.
SO his nay was nay-delivered with a
tone ton and gesture there was no denying.
His hour was not yet come.
There was, however, no long delay. He
became, from year to year, the most
prominent politician and orator in the
country. Passionately devoted to the
principles of his party, he was always
ready to do anything, to go anywhere, to
proclaim its ideas and to support its can
didates. His face and his voice became
familiar to millions of our people; and
wherever they were seen and heard, men
became his partisans. His face was cast
in a classic mold; you see faces like it
in antique marble in the galleries of the
Vatican and in the portraits of the great
cardinal-statesmen of Italy; his voice was
the voice of the perfect orator-ringing
vibrating, persuading by it's very sound
by it's accent of sincere conviction So
prudent and so guarded were all his ut
terances, so lofty his courtesy, that he
never embarrassed his friends, and never
offended his opponents. For several
months before the republican national
convention met in 1896, it was evident to
all who had eyes to see that Mr.. McKin-
ley was the only probable candidate of
his party Other names were mentioned
of the highest rank in ability, character
and popularity; they were supported by
powerful combinations; but the nomina-
ton of Mckinley as against the field was
inevitable.
Faces n Difficult Situation.
When he came to the presidency he con-
fronted a situation of the utmost difficulty
which might well have appalled, a man OF
less serene and tranquil self-confi0ence.
There had been a state of profound com
mercial and industrial depression, from
which his friends had said his election
would relieve the country. Our relations
with the outside world left much to be de-
sired The feeling between the northern
and southern sections of the union was
lacking in the cordially which was neces-
sary to the welfare of both. Hawaii had
asked for annexation and had been reject
ed by the preceding administration. There
was state of things in the Caribbean