Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-01-29
BURLINGTON FREE PRESS THURSDAY JANUARY

their names symbolic to us their times
and the hopes and aspirations OF their
times.
II was given to President Mckinley TO
take the foremost place In our political
life at time when our country was
brought face to face with problems more
momcntous than any whose solution we
have ever attempted. save only in the Rev
olution and in the Civil War; and 1t was
under his leadership that the nation
solved these mighty problems Alright.
Therefore he shall stand in the eyes of
history not merely as the first man OF
his generation but as among tho greatest
figures in our national life. coming second
only to the men Of the two great crises
in which the Union was founded and
preserved.
No man could carry through success
fully such a task as President Mckinley
undertook. unless trained by long years
of effort for its performance. knowledge
of his fellow citizens. ability to understand
them. keen sympathy with even their
innermost feelings. and yet power to lead
them, together with far sighted sagacity
and rcsolute belief both in the people and
In their futurc-al these were needed in
the man who headed the march of our
people during the eventful years from
1896 to 1901. These were the qualities
possessed by Mckinley and developed by
him throughout his whole history previous
to assuming the presidency.
We are gathered 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 were bright with the light
that tells Of triumph tasted We can
honor him best hy the way VIC 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,
some thing of the qualities which made
President Mckinley a leader of men. "a
mighty power for good-his strength, his
courage, his courtesy and dignity, his
sense of Justice, his ever-present kindli
ness and regards for the rights of others
lie won greatness by meeting and solving
the issues as they arose--not by shirlting
them-meetinR them with wisdom, with
the exercise OF the most skillful and eau
nous judgment, but with fearless resolu-
ton when the time of crisis came. He
met each crisis on its own merits: he
never sought excuse for Sinking task in
the fact that it was different from the
one he had expected 10 face. The long
public career, which opened when as a
boy he carried a mlisket 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 it was because he treated each
triumph as opening the road to fresh
effort, not rs an excuse for ccasinr from
effort. He undertook mighty tasks Some
IF them he finished completely; others We
must finish, and there remain vet others
which he did not have to face. but which
If We are worthy to be the inhoritors of
his principles we will in our turn face with
tho sar,e resolution, the same sanity, the
same unfaltering belief in tho greatness of
this country, and unfaltcring champion
ship of the rights Of each and all of our
people, which marked his high and spen-
did career.