The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-01-28

honor roll of those who have deserved
well Of mankind by saving TO humanity
a precious heritage. In similar fashion
Thomas Jefferson and Andrew jackson
each stands<as the foremost representa-
tive Of the great movement OF ms gen
Grafton and their names symbolic TO
us their times and the hopes and asra-
rations of their times.
Ii was given to President Mckinley 20
take the foremost place in our political
life at time when our country was
brought face to face with problems more
mOmentOus than any whose solution We
have ever attempted. save only IN the
revolution and in the civil war; and it
was under his leadership that the ma
ton solved these mighty problems
Alright. Therefore he shall stand in the
eyes of history not merely as the first
man OF his generation but as among
the grea test figures in our national life
coming second only to the men of the
two great crises in which the union was
founded and preserved.
NO man could carry through success
fully such task IS President Mckinley
undertook. unless trained by long years
OF effort for its performance. knOw1-
edge of his fellow citizens. ability to
understand them, Keen sympathy with
even their innermCst feelings, and yet
power to lead them, together with far
sighted saeacity and resoiute belief
both in the people and in their future
all these were needed in the man who
headed the march of our people during
were the qualities possessed by McKfn-
ley and developed by him throughout his
whole history previous TO assuming the
presidency As d lad he had the in
estlma bic privilege Of serving, first in
the ranks. and then as a commissioned
officer, in the great war for national
union. righteousness, and grandeur; he
was one OF those whom a kindly Provi-
dence permitted to take part in a strug
gle Whicn enno5led every man who
fought therein. lie who when little more
than boy had seen the grim stead
lastness which after four years of giant
struggle restored the union and freed
the slave WAS not thereafter to be
Qaunted by danger or frightened out Of
ms belief in the great destiny of our
people.
some years after the war closed Me
hlnley came to congress, and rose. dur
ing a succession Of terms. to leadership
IN his party in the lower house. He
also became governor of his native
state, Ohio. During this varied service
ne received practical training of the
kind most valuable to him when he be-
came cA-e- executive Of the nation. To
the high faith of his early years was
added the capacity to realize his Ideals,
to work with his fellow men at the same
time that he led them
PRESIDENT Mckinle--s rise to great
ness Fad in it nothing of the sudden.
notllnS of the unexpected or seemingly
dccluental Throughout his long term
of service in congress there was a steady
increase alike in his power of leadership
ana IN the recognition Of that power
both by his associates in public life and
by the public itself. Session after ses-
sion his i-huence in the house grew
greater; his party antagonists grew 10
look upon him with constantly increas-
ing respect; his party friends with con-
stantly increasing faith and admira tioia
Eight years before he was nominated
Tor president he was already considered
q presidential possibility Four wears
before he was nominated only his own
nigh sense Of honor prevented his being
made formidable competitor of the
chief upon whom the choice of the con-
venrion then actually fell In 1895 he
was chosen because the great mass Of
mis- party knew him and believed in him
ana regarded him as symbOIizing their
Ideals. as representing their aspirations
IN estimating the forces which brought
about his nomination and election I 60
not underValue that devoted personal
friendship which he had the faculty to
inspire in so marked a degree among
the ablest and most influential leaders:
this leadership was of immense consa-
quence III bringing about the result,
but, after all, the prime factor was the
trust in and devotion to him felt by the
great mass of men who had come to
accept him as their recognized spOkes-
man. In his nomination the national
convention of a party carried into effect
IN good faith the deliberate judgment
OF that party as to who its candidate
should be.
But even as candidate President
Mckinley was far more than the candi-
date of party, and as president he was
In the broadcast and fullest sense the
president of all the people of all sections
of the country
His first nomination came to him be-
cause of the qualities he had shown in
healthy and open political leadership,
the leadership which by word and deed
lmpresses itself as yiriIe force for
good upon the people at large and which
mas nothing in common with mere in
trigue or manipulation. But in 1896 the
issue was fairly Joined, chiefly upon d
question which as a party question was
entirely new. so that the old lines of
political cleavage We're in large part
abandoned. All other issues sank in
Importance when compared with the
vital need of keeping our financial sys-
TEN on the high and honora bic plane
lmperatVely demanded by our position
as great civilized power. As the
champion of such a principle President
Mckinley received the support not only
Of his own party but of hundreds of
thousands of those to whom he had
been politically opposed. He triumphed
and he made good with scrupulOus
fidelity the promises upon which the
campaign was won. We were at the
time in a period Of great Industrial de-
preston and II was promised for and
on behalf Of Mckinley that if he were
elected our financial system should not
only be preserved unframed but i'm
proved and our economic system shaped
i'm accordance with those theories which
have always marked our periods OF
greatest prosperity. The promises were
kept and following their keeping came
the prosperity which we now enjoy. All
that was fOretold concerning the well
being which would follow the election
Of Mckinley has been justified by the
event.
But as so often happens in our his
tory, the president was forced to face
questions other than those at issue at
the time of his election. Within q year
the situation in Cuba had become lit
orally intolerable- President Mckinley
had fought too we'll in his youth. he
knew TOO well at first hand what war
really was. lightly to enter into a strug-