Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-01-28

different tribes-C Christian. Mohamlmc.
dan, and pagan in every stagesof semi.
civilization and Asiatic barbalisn
turn the islands into weite
of bloody savagery, with the alb
solute certainty that some stron;
power, would have to step n4aud take
possessiou Bt't though now itSis easy
5enough 10 sec fhaN our duty was to stay
l@n the Islands, TO put down the insin,-
|. recfion by force of arms, and then tc
Establish freedom giving civil govern
Isment, It. needed genuine stateslilanshir
10 see this and, TO ssscf accordingly al
the time of Tho first revolt A weaker
and less far-siglited man than presi
1ent Mckinley would have shpufk
from a task very difficult in itself. and
certain to furnish occasion for attack
and nisrepre sentation no less than 70,
honest misunderstanding But presi-
dent Mckinley never tiineI4od. He re-
fused to consider the thought of aban-
dorin2 oar duty ir our new possessions.
While: sedulously endeavoring to att
Mitl the utmost humanity toward the
insurrectionists, he never faltered 1t,
the determination to put them down by
force Of arms alike for the sake Of our
own interest and honor, and for tho
sake OF the interest of the islanders
ard particularly of the great nuns-
bers of friendly natives, including those
most highly civilized, for whom aban-
document by us would have meant ruin
and death. Again his policy was mos
amply indicated. Peace has come 10
the islands, together with greater
measure Of individual liberty ana self
government than they have ever befora.
knoMii. All thestasks set us as a result
of the War with Spain have SO far been
Well and honorably accomplished, and
as y result this nation stands highe r
than ever before among the nations OF
mankind.
president McKiney,s second cam
paign was fought mainly on the issue
Of approving what he had done in his
first administration and specifically
what he had done as regards these
problems spiinging out Of the war witt.
.'rain. The result WIS that the popular
verdict in his favor was more over
whehning than it had been before
No other President in our history
has seen high and honorable effort
crowned With more conspicuous per
sonal success. No other President en-
tered upon his second term feeling
such right to a profound and peaceful
satisfaction. Then by a stroke of hor-
ror. so strange III it's fantastic iniquity
as to stand unique in the black annals
of crime. he WAS struck down. The
brave, strong, gentle heart, was stilled
Il
woman who went that she was to
walk thenceforth alone in the shadow.
The hideous infamy of the deed
shocked the nation to its depths, for
the man thus struck at was in a pecu-
liar sense the champion of the plain
people, in a peculiar sense the repre-
sentative and the exponent of those
ideals which, if we live up to them.
will make, as they have largely made.
our country a blessed refuge for all
who strive to do right, and to live
their lives simply and we'll as light is
given them. The nation was stunned,
and the people incurred with Il sense
OF bitter bereavement because they
mad lost Il man whose heart beat for
them as the heart of Lincoln once had
beaten. We did right to mourn: for
the loss was ours, not his. He died in
the golden fullness of his triumph. He
died victorious in that highest of all
kinds of strife-the strife for an amp
Ter. juster, and more generous national
life. For him the laurel: but woe for
those whom he left behind; woe to the
nation that lost him; and woe to man
kind that there should exist creatures
so foul that one among them should
strike ut so noble Il life.
We are ;sathers3 together tonight to
recall his memory. to pay our tribute
of respect to the great chief and leader
who fell in the harness, who was
stricken down while his eyes We're
bright with the light that tells Of
triumph tasted We can honor him
best by the way We show in actual
deed that we have taken to heart the
lessons of his life. We must strive to
achieve. each in the measure that he
can. something of the qualities which
made President Mckinley a leader of
men, mighty power for good-his
strength, his courage, his courtesy and
dignity, his sense of justice, his ever
present kindliness and regard for the
rights OF others. He won greatness
by meeting and solving the issues as
they arose-not by Sinking them
meeting them with wisdom, with the
exercise of the most skillful and eau
tious judgment. but with fearless res
oiution when the time of crisis came.
He met each crisis on its own merits:
he never sought excuse for Sinking a
task in the fact that ii was different
from the one he had expected to face.
The long public career which opened
when as Il boy he carried Il musket in
the ranks and closed when as Il man
III the prime of his intellectual strength
ne stood among the worlds chief
statesmen, came to what it was be-
cause he treated each triumph as OPEN
ing the road to fresh effort. not as an
excuse for easing from effort. He I'M
dertook mighty tasks. Some of them
he finished completely; others we must
tnish; and There remain yet others
which he did not have to face but
which if We are worthy to be the in
heritors of his principles we will in our
turn face with the same resolution
the same sanity, the same unfaltering
belief in the greatness of this country.
and unsaltering championship of the
rights of each and all of our people.
Which marked mis- high and splenufJ