Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1907-10-03


letter to President Mckinley, a letter
which now seems filled with a strange
and unconscious prescience:
Dear Mr.. President:
President Wheeler sent me the in
closed at my request. You will have
the words in more permanent shape.
They seem to me remarkably well
chosen, and stately and dignified enough
to serve-long hence, please God-as
your epitaph.
" Yours, faithfully,
JOHN HAY
=" University of California,
" Office of the President.
BY authority vested in me by the
regents of the University of California,
l confer the degree of Doctor of Laws
upon William Mckinley, President of
the United States, statesman singu-
larly gifted to unite the discordant
forces of the government and mold the
diverse purposes of men toward pro-
gressive and salutary action, a magis-
trate whose poise. of judgment has
been tested and indicated in a success
sion of national emergencies; good
citizen, brave soldier, wise executive,
helper and leader of men, exemplar to
his people of the virtues that build and
conserve the state, society, and the
home
Berkeley, May Is, 1901
'It would be hard to imagine an
epitaph which a good citizen would be
more anxious to deserve or one which
would more happily describe the quail
ties of that great and good citizen
whose life we here commemorate. He
possessed to a very extraordinary de-
gree the gift of uniting discordant
forces and securing from them har-
monious action which told for good
government. From purposes not merely
diverse, but bitterly conflicting, he was
able to secure healthful action for the
good of the state. In both poise and
Judgment he rose level to the several
emergencies he had to meet as leader
Of the nation, and like all men with the
root of true greatness in them he grew
to steadily larger stature under the
stress of heavy responsibilities. He
was good citizen and brave soldier,
a chief executive whose wisdom entitled
him to the trust which he received
throughout the nation. He was not
only leader of men, but pre-eminently
helper of men; for one of his most
marked traits was the intensely human
quality of his wide and deep sympathy.
Finally, he not merely preached, he
was, that most valuable of all citizen
in democracy like ours, a man who in
the highest place served as an uncon-
scious example to his people of the
virtues that build and conserve alike
our public life, and the foundation of
all public life, the intimate life of the
home.
MANY lessons are taught us by his
career, but none more valuable than
the lesson of broad human sympathy
for and among all of our citizens of all
classes and creeds. No other President
has ever more deserved to have his life
work characterized in Lincoln's words
as being carried on with malice toward
none, with charity toward ALL AS a
boy he worked hard with his hands; he
entered the army as private soldier;
he knew poverty; he earned his own
livelihood; and by his own exertions he
finally rose to the position of a man of
moderate means. Not merely was he
in personal touch with farmer and town
dweller, with capitalist and wage
worker, but he felt an intimate under
standing of each, and therefore an init
mate sympathy with each; and his con-
sistent effort was to try to Judge all by
the same standard and to treat all with
the same justice. Arrogance toward
the weak, and enviOus hatred of those
well off, were equally abhorrent to his
just and gentle soul.
''Surely this attitude of his should be
the attitude of all our people today. 1t
would be cruel disaster to this coun-
try to permit ourselves to adopt an atti-
tude of hatred and envy toward wealth
honestly acquired. Let us in this re-
spect profit by the example of the re-
publics of this western hemisphere to
the south of us. Some of these repub-
lies have prospered greatly; but there
are certain ones that have Jagged far
behind, that still continue in condi-
tion of material poverty, of social and
political unrest and confusion. With
out exception the republics of the
former class are those in which honest
industry has been assured of reward
and protection; those where a cordial
welcome has been extended to the kind
of enterprise which benefits the whole
country, while incidentally, as is right
and proper, giving substantial rewards
to those who manifest it. On the other
hand, the poor and backward republics,
the republics in which the lot of TIE av-