The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-28

Others best fitted to bring the island
through its uncertain period of preparation
dom shown when, last May, the island
became, in name and in fact. a free repub-
lic for ii started with better equipment
and under more favorable conditions than
had ever previously been the case with any
Spanish-American commonwealth.
Finally. in the Philippines, the problem
was one of great complexity. There was an
insurrectionary party claiming to represent
the people Of the islands and putting forth
their claim with a certain speciousness
lent men here at home, and which afforded
to yet others a chance to arouse a factious
party spirit against the President. or
course, looking back. Ii is now easy TO see
that il would have been both absurd and
wicked to abandon the Philippines and let
the scores of different tribes-Christian, Mo-
hammedan and pagan, in every stage or
standardization and Asiatic barbarism-
turn the Islands into welter of bloody
savagery, with the absolute certainty that
some strong power would have TO step in
and take possession. But though now ii is
easy enough to see that our duty was TO
stay in the islands. TO put down the insur-
rection by force OF arms, and then TO es-
tablish freedom-giving civil government, it
needed genuine craftsmanship to see this
and to act accordingly at the time of the
man that President Mckinley would have
shrunk from a task very difficult in itself
and certain to furnish occasion for attack
and Misrepresentation no less than for hon.
est misunderstanding But President Nc
| Kinley never tiinched. He refused to con-
slider the thought of abandoning our duty
| in our new possessions. While sedulously
! endeavoring to act with the utmost hu-
| manity toward the insurrectionist, he never
| faltered in the determination to put them
| down by force of arms. alike for the sake
| of our own interest and honor but for the
| sake of the interest of the islanders, and
particularly OF the great numbers of friend
ly natives, including those most highly civ
| ilized. for whom abandonment by us would
| have meant ruin and death. Again this pol
| icy was most amply vindicated. Peace has
come to the islands, together with great
er measure OF individual liberty and self
| government than they have ever before
known. All the tasks set us as a result of
the war with Spain have so far been well
and honorably accomplished, and. as re-
| suit, this Nation stands higher than ever
| before among the nations of mankind.
MKINLEY'S SECOND CAMPAIGN.
| President McKinley's second campaign
was fought mainly on the issue of approx
ing what he had done in his first admins
tration, and specifically what he had done
as regards these problems springing out of
the war with Spain. The result was that the
popular verdict in his favor was more over
whelming than it had been before.
mo other President in our history has
seen high and honorable effort crowned
with. more conspicuous personal success.
| No other President entered upon his second
| peaceful satisfaction. Then, by stroke of
horror. so strange in its fantastic iniquity
as to stand unique in the black annals of
crime, he was struck down. The brave,
| strong, gentle heart was stilled forever,
and word brought to the woman who
| wept 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 peculiar sense, the champion of the plain
people, in a peculiar sense the representa-
| fiVa nd ha aVn nf lc Hic1,
If We live up TO them. will make, as they
| have largely made, our country blessed
refuge for all who strive to do right and to
| live their lives simply and well as light is
given them. The Nation was stunned, and
the people mourned with a sense of bitter
bereavement because they had lost 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 ampler.
juster and more generous national lfe
For him the laurel: but woe for those whom
he left behind woe to the Nation that lost
him; and woe to mankind that there should
exist creatures so foul that one among
them should strike at so noble life.
A FINAL TRIBUTE.
1--WE are gathered together tonight to re-
call his memory, to pay our tribute of re-
spect to the great chief and leader who fell
in the harness, who was stricken down
while his eyes were 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 les
sons of his life. We must strive to achieve,
each in the measure that he can. something
of the qualities which made President Nc
kinley leader OF men, mighty power
for good-his strength, his courage. his
courtesy and dignity, his sense of justice,
his eVer-preSent kindness 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 cautious judgment, but with
| fearless resolution 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 1t was different from
the one he had expected to face. The long
public career, which opened when, boy
he carried a musket in the ranks, and
closed when as a man I'm the prime of his
intellectual strength. he stood among the
Z worlds chief statesmen. came to what il
) was because he treated each triumph as
opening the road to fresh effort not as ar
excuse for ceasing from effort. He under
took mighty tasks. Some of them he fin
, ished completely; others we must finish
and there remain yet others which he die
not have TO face, but which, If we are
! worthy to be the inheritors of his princi
! pies, we will, in our turn face with the
: same resolution, the same sanity, the same
) unfaltering belief in the greatness of this
, country, and unfaltering championship OF
o
which marked his high and splendid
) career"
! In thanking President Roosevelt for his
speech Judge Day said that by it "a classic
has been added to the literature of eulogy.
7 OTHER ADDRESSES.
Secretary of War Elihu Root responded
to the toast, THE Army" AT the conclu
sion Of the secretary's speech Judge Da,
, read the following letter of regret from
ex-Secretary of the Navy John d. Long
who is i'll at his home at bingham, Mass.
81 very much appreciate the courtesy o
t the Canton Republican League in invitin,
! me to its banquet on the eth inst. in homo
e of President Mckinley L am unable to at
i tend it, but beg to send my earnest sym
pathy with the occasion and the expression
q of my admiration and love. for the states
h man, the patriot the beloved friend, tn
| model citizen whom il commentaries. Fit
| ting words will be spoken by eloquent lips
, but the heart alone can measure the affec
: ton in which he Is held by the peopl
q | whom he served.
Vice Governor of the Philippines Genera
n Luke r. Wright responded TO the toast
S 1.-The Future of the Philippines" Afte
| Hon. James G. Grant, of Canton, in takn
| the place of Governor Nash, had respond
= | ed eloquently to the toast, "Ohio," Hon
. | Charles Emory Smith, editor of the Phila
= delphia Press, spoke to the toast lou
!. | Country"
:, At the conclusion of the banquet tn
= | President and party were driven to tn
= | station and shortly after ] o'clock tn
. | special train started for Washington.
a