The San Francisco call., 1904-11-25


ershlp OF President Mckinley under
took that championship, believing the
war would have no other end than the
independence of Cuba, but nations no
more than individuals can control the
sequence of events. We see the begin
ming of many things, but we cannot see
the end of anything. That little con-
hlct, so petty in comparison with the
mighty struggles that began the nine
teenth century, has had sequences as
far reaching and as portentous of good
or evil as the most prolonged and ter
r1ble OF the wars of the great Napo-
leon. 1t transformed the ocean-girt re-
public into an ocean girdling empire.
1t carried our banner beyond the sweep
of the Pacific, to far off islands of the
Chinese sea, and established it in per-
manent dominion over millions of the
peoples Of oldest Asia.
NEW EPOCH In OUR HISTORY.
So great a change in the relations of
the United States to the rest of the
world marked nothing less than the be-
ginning of a new epoch in our history,
and our politics, both domestic and for
eign, will be forevermore affected by it..
All experience teaches that when an
old order of things terminates and a
new order begins the factor of supreme
Importance in determining the course
of political events is the personal char
acter of the dominant leader of the
time. The course of the commonwealth
of England after the war between Par
lament and King Charles would have
been widely different had Oliver Crom-
well fallen in battle instead of John
Hampden; the French revolution would
have had another issue had Robespierre
died in the early days of the revolt in
stead of Mirabeau; we all know how
much of the success of our republic is
due to the fact that at the foundation
of the Union it had the leadership of
Washington; we know how priceless to
the side OF the Union during the days
of the Civil War was the personal in
fiuence of Lincoln. Even so shall we
recognize the high good fortune that is
ours in having had during the Spanish
war and at the beginning of our colo
nial expansion the guidance, the infiu-
ence and the inspiration of the leader
ship of William Mckinley.
For the right performance of the du-
ties imposed upon him by the emer-
gency of the war and its consequences
the man was so well fitted by nature
and by training that it seems almost as
if he had been prepared for the work
by direct act of Providence. He had
lived his youth in times when the stress
and strain of the most tremendous civil
war in modern history tried mems souls
to the uttermost. He passed at IL years
of age from school into the army, and
there amid a million valiant men, so
distinguished himself that despite his
youth he rose rapidly to high rank on
the staff of his commanding general,
winning promotion by faithful service
and by gallantry on the field of battle.
Try.A IL - I, ~ n
political life and was elected seven
times Representative in Congress and
twice Governor of Ohio before his ele-
vation to the Presidency. So from first
to last his course was steadily upward; /;
there were no accidents in his career;
he attained the chief magistracy of the
republic untrammeled by promises or
pledges, becoming in the fullest sense
of the words the free leader of free
people.
HIS PERSONAL CHARACTER.
Through the whole course of his pub
lie life he was noted for a singular
sweetness of disposition and courtesy
of manner He had in a high degree
the fine faculty. of making and retain
ing friendships strong enough to with
stand all the friction of party strifes
and of individual ambitions. His charm
ton of a personal magnetism. 1t was
the rich perfume of the flower of a
chiyalrous and sympathetic manhood.
His nature was full and fine in all the
faculties and graceS of the affections;
his tenderness for his wife shone OUT
over the whole land and will be long
remembered as one of the most beauti-
full love stories in the annals of his
tory; while his wider sympathies en-
braced within their scope of genuine
friendliness, every degree and kind of
men with whom he had any dealings
whatever, and seem to have been in
spired always by that touch of nature
that makes the whole world kin.
= Such was the man whom the votes
of the people had placed at the head
of the republic when, in the resistless
march of events, necessity compelled
this country to destroy the last ves-
tiges of Spanish empire in America and
in Asia, and to provide governments
for the various peoples thus released
from their ancient rule. Every great
faculty of his nature was summoned
to great action by the issues that con-
fronted him. Well was it then for
him, for Cs and for the liberated peo-
plies Of the redeemed islands, that he
had so worthily lived and so unselfish-
ly worked throughout his entire life,
that at this juncture he had the full
confidence Of his countrymen and their
full support in the performance of the
mighty task before him. That conf
dence could not have been given to one
less noble than himself, and without it
the issues resulting from the war might
have been involved in partisan politics
to disturb the country for years and
ieeve a direful heritage for future gen.
erations.
The influence of his personal char
acter was shown first in the calmness
and steadinesS with which agitators
clamoring for war were held back un-
til the rightfulness of our cause was
made evident to all, and the sober judg-
ment of the whole people was with
him; il was shown again in the COM
pleteness with which he won the hearts
of the people of the South and reused
among them genuine devotion to the
Union so that when the call to arms
was heard there were no longer any
slightest traces of old divisions and
antgonisms, but only a loyal rivalry