Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-01-31
President Roosevelt Pays Tribute
to Memory of Mckinley.
SPEAKS At A BANQUET IN CANTON.
Occasion Was Celebration of Ami
versary Of the Birth of the Late
President-Extracts from His
Eloquent Address.

-
quet given under the auspices of the
Canton Republican league in COM
memoration of the birthday of McKin-
ley. Surrounded by friends, neighbors
and business and political associates
of the dead president, he pronounced
brilliant and eloquent eulogy upon
the life and works of McKinley-a eu-
logy by many regarded as the most
beautiful and heartfelt tribute ever
paid to the memory of the distin-
guished dead. The banquet was held
in the Grand opera house, the seats
being removed in the pit and the
house entirely refoored for the occa-
sion. The interior of the building was
beautifully decorated with flags and
flowers, the floral decorations being
particularly elaborate. :
The occasion was the most brilliant
of the kind ever witnessed in Canton,
and few banquets held in Ohio have
equalled it in beauty, elaborateness
and interest. Among the 457 assem-
bled about the boards were some of
the most distinguished men in the
civil, public and political life of the
country. Judge William F. Day act
ed as POSTMASTER.
Following is synopsis of Presi-
dent Roosevelt's address at the ban
quet:
The Presldent's Address.
President Roosevelt paid a tribute
to the martyr president only, and did
not make any statements that might
be taken as an outline of the admins
tration policy. Beginning, he said:
''Throughout our history, and ind eed
throughout history generally, it has
been given to only very few thrice
favored men to take so marked lead
in the crises faced by their several
generations that thereafter each
stands as the embodiment of the tri-
umphant effort of his generation.
President Mckinley was one of these
men.
'1t was given to President Mckinley
to take the foremost place in our DO
litical life at a time when our country
was brought face to face with prob
lens 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 nation solved these mighty
problems Alright. Therefore he shall
stand in the eyes of history not mere
1y as the first man of his generation,
but as among the greatest figures in
our national life. coming second onlv
to the men of the two great crises in
which the union was founded and pre-
served
The president outlined McKinley's
military and political career, down to
the date of the convention when he
was first nominated for president, and
of this he said:
President OF All the People.
In 1896 he was chosen
because the great mass of his party
knew him and believed in him and
regarded him as symbolizing their
ideals, as representing their aspira-
tons. In estimating the forces which
brought about his nomination and
election I do not undervalue that de-
voted personal friendship which he
had the faculty to inspire in SO
marked degree among the ablest and
most influential leaders; this leader
ship was OF immense consequence in
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 ia
accept him as their recognized
spokesman. In his nomination the
national convention of a great party
carried into effect in good faith the
deliberate judgment of that party as
to who it's candidate should be.
"But even as a candidate President
Mckinley was far more than the can.
1idate OF party, and as president he
was in the broadest and fullest sense
the president of all the people of all
sections of the country"
Referring to the conduct of the
war and the problems which followed
especially in the Philippines, Presi-
dent Roosevelt said:
Genuine State.manship.
Dut though now 1t is eaSV
enough to see that our duty was to
stay in the islands, to put down the
insurrection by force of arms, and
then to establish freedom-eiving civil
government, it needed genuine states
manship to see this and to act accord
ingly at the time of the first revolt.
A weaker and less far-sighted man
than 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 honest misunderstanding.
But President Mckinley never flinched.
He refused to consider the thought
of abandoning our duty in our new
possessions. While sedulously en-
deavoring to act with the utmost
humanity toward the insurrection-
lists, he never faltered in the deter
mination, to put them down by force
of arms, alike for the sake of our own
interests and honor, and for the sake
of the. interest of the islanders, and
particularly of the great numbers of
friendly natives, including those most
highly civilized, for whom abandon