Evening journal., 1913-08-04
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
President MCKinley'S In
tereSt in the Daily
Papers
Br HOLLAND

Among other incidents associated
with his intimate relations from boy
hood with President Mckinley which
William S Hawk recently narrated
TO me was something which happen
ed on the morning after Mcl<inleys
second Inauguration.
Mr.. Hawks family we're neighbors
OF the Mckinley family at Canton,
! O., and intimate social relations we're
established between these two fami-
I lies for years. Mr.. Hawk is now pre-
1 sident Of the Ohio Society Of New
York, and for more than twenty
years Mckinley was Mr.. Hawks
guest whenever he visited New York.
At the urgent invitation Of the Presi-
dent, Hawk and his family we're
guests at the White House on the day
| Of the second Inauguration ana for
/ two or three days thereafter.
! Although ! was very tired at the
end of inauguration day, for some
{ reason | woke early in the morning,
and finding It impossible 10 catch a
second nap, I dressed and went down
stairs" said Mr.. Hawk.
To may astonishment I found
/ President Mckinley already W and
dressed, and his manner indicated
that he had risen even before / did.
/ knew that he was very tired and so
asked him # he had been refreshed
/ by his nights sleep. Before he had
/ time to answer / said that il wasn't
, necessary for me TO ask that ques-
ton because his whole appearance
( was that Of a man who had refresh
ing sleep 80,
/ replied, and l have come to this
room lit was the red room upstairs)
so that / can look over the news
papers before breakfast
Draw up your chair near the fire,
| he continued. and we will look over the
newspapers together The day was raw
and the blazing fire was very comfort
able. President Mckinley had all of the
Washington newspapers. the Philadel-
/ phia newspapers and the New York
newspapers on the table before him. He
/ told me that the New York papers had
come in by special early train.
8" Let me read you some of these edi-
torial comments upon my inaugural
message he said.
% was very glad to have him do this,
| for it was a pleasure to listen TO him
when reading since he had an unusual
facility for reading aloud 1t was a part
OF that wonderful elocutionary gift,
which explains some of his effectiveness
as a public speaker
u confess I was a little astonished
to see the interest the President took in
the editorial comments. He would read
paragraph of an editorial and then
say that he was certain that that par
ticular newspaper would approve what
he had said or else would say that he
could have predicted that some other
newspaper would criticise some other
part OF his address / remember his
saying after reading part of an editorial
of New York newspaper 1t was
rather a smart editorial trick to pick
out one part of my address and make it
appear as if everything that l had said
in the address coincded with the views
OF the editor of that newspaper
Il asked him if he made a habit OF
READING the newspapers and he told
me that no man in public life could
adequately meet his responsibilities
unless he made himself familiar with
public opinion as that was voiced in
/ the newspaper press. He furthermore
IlhAiAloNNu " AAt AIdl nt louuu IL ulOIt
advantageous to read the newspapers
whose policy was different from his
own than to confne himself to those
which we're of his own political faith
He wanted to know what his political
ladversaries thought and to find out
how they expressed their thought
II think that in this respect Nc
Kinley was different from his prede-
lcessors, who. / have understood, never
cared very much for newspaper COM
ment On the other hand, he and his
successor, President Roosevelt, were
alike in the carefulness with which
they followed newspaper comments
and especially in the newspapers pub
lished remote from Washington"
| copyright. 1913, by =. j. Edwards,
All rights reserved.)