The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-02-16
FIRST CITIZEN
OF TIE REPUBLIC
WALTER WELLMAN GIVES THIS
TITLE TO SENATOR HANNA.
Tells of His First Appearance at the
Capital AS Manager of the McKin-
ley Boom-The Cool Reception Ac-
corded Him by Old Republican
Leaders and His Subsequent Tri-
umph in the Convention and at the
Polls.

New York Sun Special Service
Chicago, Feb. 16.-Walter Wel1man
in a Washington special to the Rec
ord Herald says:
Marcus Alonzo Hanna died regarded
by many as the first citizen of the re-
public That he was a power in the
came not from official station, not
from great wealth, not from any of
the usual sources of power. He. was
a great man, not because he had
helped to make president of the
United States; not because he was the
as the chairman of it's national COM
mlttee; notbecause he was q United
States senator-but because he was
Mark Hanna.
Few men in the history of the coun-
try had achieved position comparable
to that which Mr.. Hanna had achieved
when fate overlook him. It was a po-
sition unique, well nigh unprecedent-
ed, altogether admirable. When
death called him this man Of striking
ly simple character, this mere business
man, this man of affairs, who lacked
the polish, the learning, the eloquence
of our traditional statemen, was I'M
doubtedly the second most powerful
man in the dominant party at Wash
ington, the second in influence over
policies and legislation. Only the
president Of the United States had
dent with all the paraphernalia and
panoply Of executive and political
power behind him; Mark Hanna with
just himself and his friends.
Hanna and His Friends.
Mark Hanna and his friends! Here
we strike the keynote of 1t ala note
hot ,>sy f,.11A naf a 1fa hot
should go singing thru the land and
reverberating down the corridors of
time, an inspiration to the men and
women of the future. It is a song
with a lesson in it, a lesson so useful
and beautiful that in some Slight de-
gree it softens the bitterness Of this
hour.
Mark Hanna rose to power thru the
love and confidence of his fellowmen,
thru the faith men and women placed
in his sterling character, his fine
sense, his wisdom and his justice. He
was potent in all the public activities
of his time and country because he
had more devoted personal friends
than any other living American! Thus
it was at the end; but it was not SO at
the beginning. Mark Hanna started
his career as public man under a
cloud.
One of the most marvellous stories
in the annals of our American life is
the story Of Mark Hanna's rise and
progress during the last five years
| his coming into his own. Well do I
remember the day Mr.. Hanna made
Of life at this capital 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 time earlier for the purpose
| Of making William Mckinley presi-
| dent. 1850 ~ 1 -
An Unknown Quantity.
Mr.. Hanna was then known to few
public men. When he came here to
| republican committee, just before the
presidential campaign of 1896, he had
| to seek acquaintance with the leading
| men of his party. It cannot be said
that they gave him warm welcome.
They knew little about him, save that
he was business man with a pen
| chant for politics, a hobby Of taking
| ing 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 Will
| liam Mckinley.
| Not much was known Of his meth
DDS or character, but the little that
| prevail. He was supposed to be a typ
| ical business man in politics. He was
an organizer, a man who carried bust
ness principles and methods into poll
tics-that much every one knew.
In the animosities and jealousies
incident to spirited contest for the
! presidential nomination, it was nat
ural for those who favored other aspi-
rants than Mark Hanna's man, to as
sumo that he was debauching the par
i ty: that he was buying up the mig
4 ger'' delegates from the south; that
he was becoming a man Of power thru
the use Of his checkbook. And SO it
came to pass that at the outset Of his
career Mr.. Hanna was regarded by
many who should have known better
as 8. somewhat vulgar parvenu In pol
itics, as a. brutal overrider of all the
niceties and amenities of public life;
} as a man who might, indeed, make a
!, president Of the United States, but
who could never make anything OF
himself.
Prejudice Died Hard,
Even after Mr.. Hanna had won his
first great success, the prejudice which
had thus been aroused against him
subsidized slowly. We all know thai
in politics it is true nothing succeeds
like success, and yet there was con-
: I StanCly AT WOIk llloI OLIiSI
: Of human nature, the persistent and
, unreasonable stubbornness Of a preju-
!, dice, the immortality of a suspicion.
Mr.. Hanna's success was signal and
complete. Thanks to the personal
! popularity Of Mckinley, thanks also
:. to the perfection Of Mr.. Hanna's or
: SANITATION, early planned and skilfuIly
executed, the national convention OF
1896 was thoroly and easily domi-
, mated by Mr.. Hanna and the other
friends Of Mckinley.
A "Parvenu in Politics."
With Mckinley as the candidate
Hanna naturally became campaign
Y manager. A man unknown, man
; without public record and without
training either in politics or states
r manship, was thus thrust forward to
t leadership of the party in all of its
!. practical affairs. It is we'll remems
1 bered by every one who was cognizant
> Of the events and inner movements OF
. those days, how many of the leading
f men. the old wheelhorses of the re-
; publican party, said to one another
t well, this parvenu has nominated hil
man by his own peculiar methods
Now let us see what luck he will have
in electing him.
So Mr.. Hanna, having made his
friend Mckinley nominee. was nov
forced to take command of the cam
paign What he did and how he did
I it. with what matchless energy and
resourcefulness, with what good sense
and good tact, and, above all, with
what good humor, every one remem'