Omaha daily bee., 1903-01-28

among the ablest and most Influential lead
ers; this leadership was Of immense Conse-
quenCe in bringing about the result; but,
after all. the prime factor was the trust in
and devotion to him telt by the great mass
of men who had come to accept him as
their recognized spokesman. In his nom
ination the national convention of a great
party carried into effect in good faith the
deliberate judgment Of that party as to
who its candidate should be.
But even as a candidate President Nc
klnley was far more than the candidate
OF a party and as president ne was in the
broadcast and fullest sense the president OF
all the people of all sections Of the
country.
Brings Prosperity to Land.
His first nomination came to him be
cause OF the qualities ne had shown IN
healthy and open political leadership the
leadership which by word and deed i'm
presses itself as a virile force Tor good
upon the people at large and which has
nothing In common with mere intrigue or
fairly Joined, chiefly upon a question when
as a party question was entirely new, 50
that the old lines OF political cleavage were
In large part abandoned. All other issues
sank in Importance when compared with
the vital need Of keeping our financial sys-
tenn on the high and honorable plane I'M
peratively demanded by our position as a
great civilized power. AS the champion
OF such a principle President Meh u nnS
party but of hundreds OF thousands OF
those to whom he had ben politically OPP
DpStus lie lTllIlDleu, anu ~ ildut kONh
with scrupIlous fidelity the promises upon
which the campaign was won. We were
at the time in a period of great INDUSTRIAL
depression and IT was m for ana on
behalf of Mckinley that II he were elected
our financial system should not only be
preserved unframed, but improved, anu
our economic system shaped in accord
ance with those theories which have al
way marked our periods OF greatest pros
perlty. The promises were kept, ana toi-
lowing their keeping came the prosperity
which we now ENJOY. All that was toretold
concerning the well-being which would tOl-
low the election of Mckinley mas Deen
justified by the event.
But, as often happens in our history, the
president was forced to race qusstlons
his election. Within a year the situation
I'm Cuba had become literally tntolerabie;
President Mckinley had fought too Wen
in his youth, he knew too. Wen at nrst
hand what war really was, lghtly 10 enter
INTO a struggle. He fought by every honor
able means to preserve peace, 10 avert war
He made every effort consistent with the
national honor to bring about an amicaple
settlement of the cuban ditficulty. Lhen,
when 1t beCame evident that these eIorts
were useless, that peace coulq not De non
orably entertained, he devoted his strength
to making the war as short ana as declsite
as possible. 1t is needless to tell the result
i'm detail. Suffice II to say that rarely IN
deed in history has a contest so tar-
reaching in the importance of It's outcome
been achieved with such ease. There fol-
lowed a harder task. AS, a result OF the
war we came into possession OF Cup9,
Porto Rico and the ~BnllpplleS. III SoNH
island the conditions were such that we
had to face problems entirely new to our
national experience, and, moreover, IN each
island or group of ISLANDS the proplSlls
differed radically from those presented IN
the others. In Porto Rico the task was
simple. The island could not be lndepende
emit. 1t became In all essentials a part or
the union. 1t has been given all the pehe-
fits of our economic and financial system.
its inhabitants have been given the highest
individual liberty, while yet their govern
ment has been kept under tine supervision
OF officials so well chosen that the lsland
can be appealed to as aftoTding a mouei
for all such experiments in the future; ana
his result was mainly owing to the ADMIR-
able choice of instruments by President
| Mckinley when he selected the governing
President McKinIey's second campaign
was fought mainly on the issue OF apPrIv'
%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
overwhelming than it had been before
Honorable Effort Attains Success.
No other president in our history has
seen high and honorable effort crowneu
with more conspicuous personal success;
No other president entered upon ms secohG
| term feeling such right to a profound ana
peaceful satisfaction. Then by a stroke OF
horror. so strange in it's fantastic iniqulty
as to stand unique in the black annals OF
crime, he was struck down. me brave
SITOUR. BtIllt uCdA "bo $3.50
and word was brought to the woman wno
wept that she was to walk thencefortn
alone in the shadoW; the ne hI nn tioS man To itss
DEPTHS. for the man thus struck at was
in a peculiar sense the OF the
plain people, in a peculiar sense the repre-,
which, If we live up to them, Will make, as
they have largely made, our country "a
/ right and to live their lives simply ana
well as light is given them. The nation
was stunned, and the people mourneo Wltn
a sense of bitter bereavement because they
lad lost a man whose heart beat Tor them
as the heart of Lincoln once had beaten
We did right to mourn S9dT t4 {be me goI6 lTsS f MIs
ness of his triumph. He died victorious In
that highest of all kinds OF, strlte-the
erous national life. For him the laurel;
nut woe for those whom he left behlndi
woe to the nation that lost him; and woe 20
mankind that there should exist creatuTes
so foul that one among them should strike
at so noble a life.
we are gathered together tonight to re-
call his memory, TO pay our tribute or re-
spect to the great chief and leader who
fell in the harness, VINO was sirlCkSu
down while his eyes were brlghI WIN oaatt
honor him best by the wav we snow ~
actual deed that we have taken TO near
the lessons Of his life. We must strive tc
achieve, each in the measure that he can,
something of the qualities which made
President Mckinley a leader OF men,, a
mighty power LOT BOOu-hLS iClEN" - go
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 IS
sues as they arose-not by Sinking them
meeting them with wisdom, with the exer-
else of the most sklllful and cautious Judg-
! ment. but with fearless resolution when
the time of crisis came, He net each crisis on
its own merits; he never sought excuse
for Sinking a task in the fact that 1t was
Iedifferent from the one he had expected 70
face. The long public career, which opened
when as a boy he carried a musket IN the
ranks and closed when as a man in the
prime of his intellectual strength he stood
among the worlds chief statesmen, came
To what Ii was because he treated each
triumph as opening the road TO fresh eff
fort, not as an excuse for ceasing from
effort. He undertook mighty tasks. Some
Of them he finished completely; others we
must finish. and there remain yet Others
which he did not have 20 face, but which
If we are worthy to be the inheritors of his
principles we viii in oar turn face with
tho same resolution, the same sanity, the
same unfaltering belief in the greatness OF
This country, and unfaltering championship
Of the rights Of each and all of our people,
which marked his high and splendid career.
HYMENEAl