River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-09-22
CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS
Indiana Senator Well tilted for
The Vice Presidency.
He HAS DIGNITY AND FORCE
And His Training and Experience Will
Enable Him to Preside Over the
Senate with Credit to the Ma
ti0n-MCKinIey's Friend.

Washington, D. c., Sept. 10.-Every
one here who is any way connected with
the government has a great amount Of
personal interest in the nomination of
Senator Fairbanks of Indiana for second
place on the Republican ticket. The In
diana Senator has a personality all his
own, and his figure merely from physl-
cal point of view is 50 striking he has
been q marked man in Washington ever
since he came here. Straight as an ar
row, thin unusually tall, with bright
red cheeks, with a becoming amount of
senatorial dignity, and yet with a genu-
inc democracy which is seldom eQualed
by public men, the Republican candi-
date for the vice presidency is more than
usually popular as public men go.
Aside from this, however, the people
who are ON the inside of public affairs
in Washington know, as people of the
rest of the country may not know, that
Senator Fairbanks is one of the compar-
atively few men in public life who have
actually made their impress upon the
affairs of the government. In every
church, every club, every village debat-
ing society, in every Congress and every
Parliament, there are always a select
few who do the great bulk of the work,
who are men Of action, who are selected
by their associates to perform the things
which have to be done, who have the
executive gift which makes them wise in
council, and whose advice and assistance
are sought when great things are to be
done
Courteous and Modest.
Constantly courteous, invaria bly, kind
ly, always reserved, consistently modest,
never seeking to put himself in the front
rank, Senator Fairbanks is not usually
credited by the world at large with the
extraordinary influence he really pos
sesses here in Washington. His asso-
ciates in the Senate, the members Of the
cabinet, and those whose duty it is to
execute the law have learned, however,
the quiet force Of the Senator from In
diana, and ever since he came here with
Mckinley in 1897 Senator Fairbanks has
been one of the inner circle. He has
grown stronger day by day until his
nomination for the vice presidency was
absolutely forced upon him because, IN
the opinion of his associates in the Sen
ate and the party leaders generally, he
was the best equipped man for the posi-
ton, and was by his training and by his
political association of presidential size,
so that he might be ready at any time
to exercise the duties of chief executive
| if it should become necessary.
Few people are aware of the unusual
degree to which William Mckinley gave
his confidence to Senator Fairbanks. The
two men were old friends, they repre-
| scented much the same element in the
| party, and an the early months of 1897
| following the bitter political battle Of
the previous autumn Mckinley and Fair
banks were in constant touch and the
Presid ent-elect began to lean upon the
Senator-elect. This trust in the wisdom
of the statesman from Indiana was never
lessened, but as month after month went
by the Indiana Senator was more and
more drawn into the deepest condolences
of the President.
There were trying times in Washing
ton during the latter part of 1897 and i'll
the early part of 1898. The United States
and Spain were drifting inevitably to-
ward war. The sentiment in this coun-
try was overwhelmingly in favor of in
reference in behalf OF the suffering peo-
pie of Cuba. The pressure for action
grew daily stronger. In the public press,
in Congress, in the churches, on the
streets, everywhere from the Atlantic
to the Pacific there was a constantly
growing sentiment that the United States
must put an end to the shocking condi-
| tons in Cuba.
Mckinley Knew Public Sentiment.
When he was elected William McKin-
ley we'll knew what this public sentiment
was and where it was likely to lead. No
man ever lived who was more skilled in
feeling the pulse of the public than the
President who laid down his life at
Buffalo. When he came to the White
House, nevertheless, he was determined
to exhaust every device known to diplo-
macy, short of actual warfare, to bring
Spain to terms and to bring peace to
Cuba. Trained in the arts of war him
self, William Mckinley we'll knew that
war was not to be entered upon lightly
He was for peace from the beginning.
During the first six months of the Nc
Kinley administration the tension here
in We shington was extraordinary. Pub
lie sentiment Of itself might have forced
war because of the Outrages contin-
ually committed by the Spaniards upon
the poor people of Cuba. Then came
the explosion of the Maine, which
| touched the spark in the magazine, and
within a few weeks the people of the
United States were raging with the lust
of blood.
Still William Mckinley stood stead
fast. He knew war was nearly in
evitable, but he was in a position to
know also that this country, rich though
it was in men and resources, was not
ready for war. He was in position
to know that there were no rifles, no
| cannon, no clothes, no tents, no pro-
visions of war for even the most mod
crate army. He had not exhausted di-
plomacy, and even then he knew that
time was necessary to prepare the coun-
try for war. The great public which