Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-02-22

United States: not because he was
the official head of the Republican
party as the chairman OF Its national
committee: not because he was
United States senator-but because
he was Mark Hanna Few men in the
history OF the country had achieved
position comparable to that which Mr..
Hanna had achieved when fate over
took him. 1t was position unique,
wellnigh unprecedented altogether ad-
mirable. When death called him this
man OF strikingly simple character.
this mere business man, this man of
affairs. who lacked the polish. the
| learning. the eloquence of our tradi-
tional craftsmanship. was without
| question the second most powerful
man In the affairs OF tho dominant
party at Washington. the second in
Influence over policies and legislation.
| Only the President OF the United
States had more potent voice than he
| the President with all the parapher-
MALTA and panoply of executive and po-
| ltical power behind him: Mark Hanna
with just himself and his friends.
Mark Hanna and his friendsl Here
We strike the keynote of IL ala note
that rings true and sweet, note that
| should 10 singing through the and
and reverberating down the corridors
of time, an inspiration to the men and
| women of the future. 1t is n song
| with lesson in 1t. a lesson so useful
and beautiful that In some slight de-
gree it softens the bitterness of this
hour. Mark Hanna rose to power
through the love and confidence OF his
fellow men. through the faith men and
| women placed In his sterling charac-
ter. his fine sense his wisdom and
his Justice. He was potent in all the
public activities of his time and coun-
try because he had more devoted per-
sonal friends than any other living
American.
Thus 1t was at the end; but 1t was
not so at the beginning Mark Hanna
started his career as u public man
under cloud. One of the most mar
yelous stories In the annals of our
American life is the story of Mark
Hanna's rise and progress during the
last FIVE years-hs coming into his
own Well do | remember the day
WI tllA utDuI upon inc
stage Of the theater of life at this cap
ltal of the nation. It was December,
1895. He had come to Washington as
the known manager of the movement
that had been set on foot some tlmo
earlier for the purpose of making Will
liam Mckinley president of the Unit
ed States, Mr. Hanna was then known
TO few public men. When he came
here to attend the meeting of the ma
tlonal Republican committee. just be-
fore the presidential campaign OF
1896, he had to seek acquaintance with
the leading men of his party. 1t can
not be said that they gave him warm
welcome. They knew little about him
save that he was business man with
a penchant for politics, a hobby of talk
ing up some friend in public life and
trying to make a president OF him.
| They knew he had once tried to do
this with John Sherman and now he
was essaying the same achievement
with far better chance of success, for
William Mckinley.
Not much was known of his meth
ods or character. but tho little that
proval. He was supposed to be typ
lcal business man in politics. He
was an organizer. man who carried
business principles and methods into
politics-that much everyone knew.
And this was popularly supposed to
mean that whatever one wants he may
buy, If he have long enough purse.
In the animositles and Jealousles in
cident 10 a spirited contest for the
presidential nomination It was natur-
Al for those who favored other aspir-
ants than Mark Hanna's man to as
sumo that he was debauching the par
ty; that he was buying up the mig
ger" delegates from the South; that
he was becoming a man OF power
through the use OF his checkbook. And
so II came to pass that at the outset
Of his career Mr.. Hanna was regard
ed by many who should have known
better as a somewhat vulgar paryenu
In politics. as brutal oyerrider OF all
the niceties and amenities of public
life. as a man who might, indeed.
make president of the United States,
but who could never make anything
Of himself.
When MIR. Hanna entered the Unit
ed States senate seven years ago
next month, at the same time his
| friend. William Mckinley took the
| oath of office as president of the Unit
| ed States, Mr.. Hanna was not cordial
| ly welcomed in the senate. Even Re-
publlcans held aloof from him. He
was, of course, treated with polite
ness, and he had his friends. But
| round him clung the marks of those
dollars the cartoonist had put on him,
and at every turn, nearly always un-
consciously to himself, he encounter
| cd the furtiye shades of the ancient
suspicion. Senators who today wept
when they heard that Mark Hanna
had passed away have confessed to
me that when MIR. Hanna first appear
ed In the senate they instinctiyely
looked upon him as something un-
clean, as a man whom they could not
| admit TO full fellowship, as one who