Waterbury Democrat., 1903-01-28
TRIBUTE TOM KINLEY
President Roosevelt's Elo-
 quent Eulogy at Canton.
LARGE ANDDISTINGUISHED GATHERING
DaRquet Given by the Republican LeagUe In Commcmorntion of Famous Ohioan's Birthday
 Judge Day Presides.

Famous Ohioan's Birthday
 Judge Day Presides.
 CANTON, O., Jan. 2S.-President Roosevelt last night participated i'll . notable tribute to the memory of the late President Mckinley. He was the principal orator at a banquet given under the auspices of the Canton Re- publican league in commemoration or the birthday of Mckinley. Surround ed by friends, neighbors and business and political associates of the dead president, he pronounced a brilliant and eloquent eulogy upon the life and works of Mckinley, a eulogy by many regarded as the most beautiful and heartfelt tribute ever paid to the mem ory of the distinguished dead.
 Among the 457 guests assembled about the boards were some of the most distinguished men in the civil, public and political life of the country. Among those seated at the speakers table besides President Roosevelt were Judge William R. Day, who acted as toastmaster; Secretary Root, Secretary Cortelyou, General $. B. M. Young, General Leonard Wood, General Luke E. Wright, vice governor of the Phil ippines, and Surgeon General Rixey.
 President Roosevelt said in part:
 MT. Toastmastsr and Gentlemen Throughout our history, and indeed throushout history generally, , It has aa been been men to take so marked lead in the crises faced by their several generations iuent of the triumphant effort of his gen. eration. President Mckinley was one of
 If during the lifetime of a generation no crisis occurs sufficient to call out in marked manner the energies of the stron- not and cannot know of the existence of such, leader, and in consequence there nato1 dung Which no man ie9yes an indeibie park in hstoEy to brought face to face with problems more sTsr then saTe ony m tS Revolution and in the civil war, and 1t was under his leadership that the nation Therefore he shafi stand in the eyes of history not merely as the first man of his gees in our naonal cong which. the Union was founded and pre-
 President McKinleys rise to greatness had in it nothing of the sudden. nothing
  Throughout his long term of service in congress there was a steady increase fe in his of bdb and pY a n sGssss e tss sesRson Ra9e aftsr session s ne p antagonists grew to look upon him with consistently. increasing respect. his party snds s th Hnbyy 1ess seEore as bs ready ss Hesa oonsidered "a presidentlai possDiii- I, nfvSe,k ,kor1 only his own high sense of honor prevent cd his being made formidable connection convention then actually fell. In 1886 he was chosen because the great mass of his party knew him and believed in him and regarded him as symbolfzing their ideals, as representing their aspirations.
 But, even as a candidate President Mo of party, and as president he was in the broadest and fullest sense the president of all the people of all sections of the
 His first nomination came to him be- cause of the qualities he had shown in leadership leaders p which @ by ' word and deed d im- haae presses itself as 2 yirile force Tor good the in at Mt and ntraus mhsn ha fairly Joined, chiefly upon question new, 50 that the old lines of political cleavage were in large part abandoned. wh the vital of our financial system on the high and honorable plane imperatively. demanded President Mckinley received the support en of na of fpah hose o e had been politically opposed: He tri- nmphed, and he made good with scrupu- 1ous fidelity the promises upon which the campaign was won.
 The president then spoke of the un- foreseen problems which President Mo- Kinley had to face brought about by the Spanish-American war and the con- sequent acquisition of Porto Rico and the Philippines and said:
 A weaker and less farsighted man than President Mckinley would have shrunk from a task very difficult in itself and certain to furnish occasion for attack and est misunderstanding. but President Mo Kinley never fiinched. He refused to duty in our new Possessions. Again his policy was amply vindicated. Peace has come to the islands, together with q fore known. All the tasks set us as a re- been well and honorably accomplished, and as a result this nation stands higher than ever before among the nations of
 President McKinley's second campaign s-, was fought mainly on the E. issue Y of ap-
 
 ministration and specifically what he had done as regards these problems springtng out of the war with Spain. The result was that the popular verdict in his favor was more overwhelming than 1t had been before
 No other president in our history has seen high and honorable effort crowned with more conspicuous personal success. No other president entered upon his sec, ond term feeling such right to profound and peaceful satSsfaction. Then by stroke of horror, so strange in its fantas- tic iniquity to stand unique in the black annals of crime, he was struck down. The brave, strong, gentle heart was stilled forever, and word was brought to the woman who wept that she was to walk thenceforth alone in the, shadow. The htdeous infamy of the deed shocked the nation to it's depths, for the man thus struck at was in a peculiar sense the champion of the plain people in pe- culiar sense the representative and the exponent of those ideals which 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 ina the golden f1llIneSS of his fri