Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-01
TRIBUTE TO MCKINLEY
NORTH AND SOUTH OBSERVE HIS
BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSARY.
Addresses at Banquet at Canton Last
Night-Senator Fairbanks a
Guest of Honor.

| dueSC OF HONOR.
concentrating the natal day of the late
President Mckinley, the Young Mems Nc
| kinley Club of Canton held a notable ban
| quet in the new auditorium in that city
last night. Vice President-elect Fairbanks
| occupied the central position as chief guest
of honor. Justice William r. Day, friend
| neighbor and confidante of the late Presi-
dent, was master of ceremonies. To his
, left was Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, idol and hero
of the south. Vis-a-vis sat Gen. Black for
mer communicative chief of the Grand Army
OF the Republic. To either side of these
guests were Gov. Myron T. Herrck and
Lieut.. Gov. Warren G. Harding of Ohio.
In the banquet hail. 1anking these guests
and orators, were representatives and cx
representatives and party leaders from
Ohio, as well as notables from remote dis
tances. Down in the pit of the hail. to
the number of more than 800 We're resi-
dents of Canton and many other persons
prominent in state politics.
In the midst of the serving of the menu
there was a sudden hush to the festivities.
ana almost to one man the vast assem-
blage rose to its feet and for more than
a minute stood in respectful silence. The
occasion was the arrival of Mrs. Mckinley,
wife of the late President, She was &C
companied by large party of friends, in
Guiding Mrs Day, Mrs. Fairbanks. Miss
Grace Mckinley. Miss Black daughter OF
Gen. Black. They occupied box during
the speaking.
Justice Day Toastmaster.
Invocation by Rev. DR.. o. w. Holmes,
pastor of the late Presidents church. was
followed by the serving of the dinner, and
then Justice Day, as POSTMASTER, opened
the speaking program. Justice Day said:
William McKinley's birthday will be
more widely observed as the years go by.
Appreciation of his character will grow
his life is studied and history reveals the
patriotic devotion with which he served
his fellow-men.
THE aspiring youth of America can have
no safer guide to follow than that afforded
in the life and career of William Mckinley.
Great genius is rare. and its ways not al
ways the ways of truth and honor Nc
kinleys life is refutaton of the oft-re-
peated suggestion that great success in
public life and loyalty to high ideals in pri-
waite conduct are Incompatible
Vice President-elect Fairbanks, honor
guest of the evening, spoke to the toast
Mckinley" saying:
Senator Fairbanks Tribute
eve are assembled to pay tribute to the
memory of a great man, one whom we all
knew and loved as a friend We pause to
recall his life and recount his achieve
ments, which entitle him to high rank
among the foremost men, a remarkable era
in the worlds history. We do this, not for
his good, for he sleeps well yonder, be
yOnd the reach of praise or cenSure,' but
for our own. We review life of pure pur-
! pose and exalted deed, and find ourselves
lifted to a higher and better plane by the
contemplation.
1.-The life of William Mckinley is indeed,
an, open book. We are familiar with his
mornings and outgoings among us, from
his birth in the village of Niles, sixty-two
years ago. until he laid down his great re-
sponsibilities in the city of Buffalo His
life was not a life of ease and idleness, but
one of activity: it was not aimless life,
but one of high and well-defined resolve
1t was a clean life; clean in thought and
spotlesS in deed.
His administration will rank among the
most successful In our national history. In
1901 our country had advanced, under his
policies and under his leadership, to high
degree of prosperity. Peace and content
ment generally prevailed among the people
within our borders, and we We're on friend
ly terms with all the world The skies
bent benignantly above us. There We're no
signs of danger anywhere. The hearts of
our countrymen were filled with love OF
home, love of flag and love of their Presi-
dent. He had ridden the storm and looked
forward with happy contemplation to the
hour when he could lay down his vast re-
sponsibilities and return here to resume the
duties of a private citizen amidst the scenes
and the neighbors so dear to him.
Gen. Blacks Remarks.
General Black responded to "Comrade"
Mckinley, saying:
ut is well with Mckinley now; fallen at
the meridian of achievement, when recon-
Citation was in the hearts of his once war;
ring countrymen; when, instead of hate,
love filled the breast of all; when prosper
ity showered its blessing over a smiling
land, with the whole past secure and the
future opening long avenues to the feet of
the republic, and bidding it walk under the
ever-blossoming flag of the free.
He fell on the very utmost human
height, close under the stars, when all men
loved him, and in the service of his people
and of God; and, it may well be said of
every act of this mans life. outside the
mere domain of party behests. that every
act in his career was luminous with the
light of that comradeship whose bonds he
assumed in 1861, and which lasted through
all his life. This was an American; this
was an American President; this comrade
of the veteran soldiers of the great war;
Mckinley and the South.
mckinley and the South" was General
Lees subject. He said:
"Ohio. it is true, is the state of his ma
tivity Her citizens knew and loved the
living Mckinley; her soil is sacred with the
grave which marks the resting place Of the
dead Mckinley; her people will cherish his
long as the mountains kiss the heavens or
the rivers roll to the sea.
"Ohio, however, cannot bound his bound
less fame, for, on the wings of renown his
glory has been waited to all parts Of the
world. Tonight, each state which is repre-
scented by star in the national crown
which binds the American Union, is equally
interested in all that concerns the name
and fame of the man who sleeps his last
sleep in your midst SO quietly that no sound
can ever wake him to glory again.
Was a Blessing to His Country.
"sleep on, oh, just and wise ruler. Your
birth was a blessing to your country; your
life a blessing to all of it's Inhabitants; your
death a calamity which has excited the
lamentations of a world The poison I'M
der the wing of the American eagle which
John Randolph said he saw when first
pluming himself for his splendid fight has
been extracted and all the sections tonight
hear the echo of the voice of the great SOL
der u s. Grant, when on his deathbed he
said I feel that we are approaching an era
of great good feeling between federal and
confederate soldiers. I shall not be here
to witness it in its perfection; but feel
within me that 1t is to be SO. Let US have
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