The life of William McKinley : soldier, statesman and president

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THE UNIVERSITY /.v OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY

From the collection of 0r. Julius Doerner, Chicago Purchased, 1918.

Preface

HE news of tlie appalling tragedy that ended tlie life of our beloved President was received with, profound Horror and indignation throughout the civilized world. It was instantly followed with a great outbreak of popular wrath and execration. No American Statesman or President ever filled the hearts of the people more frilly than he did.

The martyrdom of Lincoln and Garfield won for them a peculiar veneration and their names are now consecrated in the memory of their countrymen. President McKinley gained the highest place in public esteem, admiration and love, and his name and memory are doubly consecrated by his untimely death.

Brilliant as a Statesman and wise as a ruler, President McKinley was more than this. He was loved for his warm and generous nature. His patriotism was so broad and bold that it won the applause of his political opponents. Even they believed in the man. They honored his opinions and his honesty even though they differed from him. He was followed with the devotion and enthusiasm of the army that bore the eagle of France when Napoleon marched to his world-renowned victories. As the mighty ocean is stirred by the resistless cyclone, so the hearts of the American people have been moved by the infamous crime that laid our third martyred President in the grave.

The complete and graphic story of President McKinley' s marvelous career is written in this volume. His life and public services are a part of our country's most thrilling history, and these are vividly detailed in this work which is worthy of its illustrious subject. No grander record of dazzling achievements can be placed under the name of any man of modern times. Not merely in intellect, eloquence and far-seeing statesmanship — not merely as a great political leader and advocate of our national industries, welfare and great prosperity, but as a man of noble

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virtues and exalted character, President McKinley stood upon the highest pedestal. He fell from the very pinnacle of human fame.

From his boyhood to his entrance into the army, from his noble stand for- his country to the close of the Civil War, from his obscure beginning as a public man to the grand successes that pointed to him as a fit representative of his State in Congress, from his proud triumphs under the dome of our National Capitol to the Governorship of his State, and Presidency of the United States, the reader follows him with ever-increasing interest and admiration.

He was the master statesman of his age, the magnetic leader and gallant defender of American rights, the idol of his nation, unsurpassed in eloquence, invincible in debate — the man who was greater than any party and who will rank in history with Washington, Lincoln, Grant and Garfield. This memorial volume contains the complete and fascinating story of his life and depicts in glowing colors his marvelous career.

In Congress he was considered an authority on every subject upon which he expressed an opinion. Clear in his grasp of public questions, eloquent in advocating the principles he professed, considerate and lenient toward his opponents, affable in all his intercourse with others, and manifesting always a certain dignity, strength and sincerity that impressed all who knew him, he was for years one of the most conspicuous figures in the halls of Congress. For William McKinley to become President of the United States was only a natural step from the commanding position he had gained.

The story of President McKinley' s life is much like that of nearly all our renowned statesmen and rulers. He was born in humble life. He had that contact with Mother Earth which falls to the lot of the farmer's son. While his advantages for education were not the best, he made such diligent use of his time and opportunities that he became distinguished as a scholar, and especially as a student of political economy. He is an admirable example for young men. Let them emulate his diligence, his lawful ambition, his devotion to duty, and enthusiasm as a worker.

Introduction

BY

HON. JAMES RANKIN YOUNG,

Member of Congress and Late Clerk of the United States Senate.

Probably there is no one fact in the history of the Republic, of which Americans are prouder than that all their Presidents were exceptionally good men — men who filled the great office with credit to themselves and honor to the Nation. They were especially noted for their earnest love of country, their rigid integrity and the simplicity of their lives.

Simplicity was the ruling point in view when our fathers founded the Government, and the Presidents, in the performance of their duties, never seemed to have lost sight of the fact. Simplicity is known to be the leading characteristic of all great men, probably it would be better to say men who combine that which is good with that which is great. We saw it as a shining mark in Washington ; it was the ruling spirit with Jefferson, it made Jackson more famous than did his deeds of heroism and aggressiveness, it was personified in Lincoln and Grant, but with no desire to retract from the others, I am free to say that, the perfect model of simplicity was found in McKinley.

It was his life and staff. It permeated every fibre of his make up. It came with him at his birth. It clung to him through life — as the youth at school, as the soldier in the field, in his profession as a lawyer, as the servant of the public in the trusted positions in which they placed him. You had but to look at the benign expression ever present in his countenance to see that gentleness of nature was his leading characteristic.

Probably no better idea of just what the character of man our late President was can be found than in what was said of him

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by my brotlier, tlie late John Russell Young, wlio was his constant companion in his home at Canton, during the week when the Republican National Convention was held at St. Louis, June, 1896.

While," says Mr. Young, writing from a table adjoining that occupied by Mr. McKinley, ''the Major," as the late President was then called, "is in touch with whatever is going on in St. Louis, and as much in command of his forces in attendance at the Convention there, as Napoleon when he saw the gray morning skies brighten over the frosty plains of Austerlitz, there is in what he says a spirit of generosity and magnanimity. Here is a gentleman with opinions, and by no means reserved in theii expression, running over men, events, happenings, possibilities, and ever just and true.

'' He states a case or an estimate of a man, not as you would like it to be, but as it is, seeking always to find the best side and exhibit that. There is no throwing a man over a precipice with a phrase as Conkling would have done, nor some withering question of invective as so often fell from the lips of Blaine, but rather Uncle Toby's way, that the world is big enough for us all, and let us adjust ourselves without jostling. Behind this you have a granite wall of party stalwartism, reverence, a reverence for the Union, adoration for the men who saved the Union."

Continuing Mr. Young says: — Because of the doings in the St. Louis Convention Canton lives in a state of uneasy hope and expectation. Mr. McKinley is apparently the only placid man in town. He takes the concentration of the eyes of the world upon him with entire composure. He has been under fire before, has ridden by the side of Sheridan and Hancock in the great war, and is not to be disturbed by a mere political cannonade. You find him at the trains greeting friends with words of welcome or farewell, or jogging about the town or driving over shaded lanes and pointing out to some companions the growth and beauty of Canton, or the centre of a group of political parties who have come to adore the rising sun.

What they see is a resolute, quiet, courteous, kindly man, with sun beaming eyes, thoughtful, considerate. It has been my

INTRODUCTION.

vii privilege to ride witli him and learn all that is involved in His beloved Canton, to sit with him on his spacious piazza and look out upon the calm hushed town while we talked of men and events."

Speaking further on Mr. Young makes allusion to the beau- Aful homelife of Mr. McKinley and his dearly beloved wife. *'The McKinley homestead," he says, "is an ideal American home, as its master is an ideal American citizen. Taste, comfort, good books, attractive decorations, the touch of the woman's hand everywhere, for how could there have been an Eden unless Eve had made it so. An atmosphere of gentleness and repose. In spite of the excitement because of the doings at the convention — nobody seemed to be in a hurry ; not even Governor McKinley, who, with his shoulders thrown against his easy chair, talks and listens — listens rather than talks — his fine eyes beaming through the smoke of a cigar. The stillest, cosiest, sunniest place in the world, the very birds picking crumbs on the window ledge, as if in a doze, yet the heart of a great nation beating and throbbing towards this modest home in Canton.

" As the news comes over the wires from the convention Mr. McKinley sits in his modest home — the portraits of Washington, Lincoln and Grant above him — and goes from pile to pile of correspondence as though the theme of his letters were orders for iron or snuff and not a diadem richer than ever rested upon an imperial brow — a thoroughly self-contained man, who says precisely what he means to say ; never taken at a disadvantage, eminently serious, whether listening or talking his mind upon the one thing that concerns him. You divine in him a capacity for doing business, of hearing what has to be said and closing the conversation. When all that is useful has been said, wit, humor, imagination are not apparent qualities. This man has something to do and must do it.

" You see in him a man of patience and courtesy. If you are not answered as to your wants you carry away the impression that he is more grieved over your disappointment than you could possibly be. This is something like Henry Clay. He has a quiet, prompt, narrative faculty. We talked much of the war viii

INTRODUCTION.

days of Lincoln, Grant and Sheridan, and he was always luminous and lucid, every detail coming out as though, it were an etching. He had served with Sheridan, was in fact the first officer Sheridan addressed when he came upon his beaten command, having ridden that immortal twenty miles, and in all his references to Sheridan and Crook and other famous captains there was a beautiful spirit of loyalty which noted the comradeship of the drum and the bivouac. Mr. McKinley impresses you as one who knows his mind — who would have a host of friends but few of what the world calls chums.

" I noted that his estimates of public men — and few escaped the scrutiny of a long conversation — were invariably academic and impartial — without censure, criticism or feeling. Lincoln, Stanton, Blaine, Grant, Garfield, Arthur, Randall were like so many photographs, and carefully studied and reverently put aside. For no one had he an unkind word. His ruling faculty is justice, wide embracing justice, tempered with kindness.

" I have to say that when the character of Mr. McKinley shall have been submitted to the political autopsy inseparable from the political canvass, an examination imposed something like a masonic ritual, upon every candidate for the exalted position of President, there is nothing in Mr. McKinley that may not be called genuine and true.''

He came from Scotch ancestry, or rather Scotch-Irish, like Jackson, Buchanan and Arthur, His ancestors had a Pennsylvania nurture like those of Blaine, Lincoln and Grant. McKinley' s father was a Pennsylvanian ; his mother an Allison, a name dear to those who recall and love the names of the Scottish Covenant. He became a Methodist like so many Covenanters, of amiable mood, who settled in the West, and was of course an Abolitionist nourished on the corn of Garrison, Sumner and Wendell Phillips.

JAMES RANKIN YOUNG.

Contents

CHAPTER I. PAGE Birth and Education of President McKinley — His Brilliant Career in tlie Army and Promotion for Bravery — Distinguislied as a Lawyer, Congressman and Governor — Champion of the Rights of Labor 33

CHAPTER IL

A Man of Noble Ideals and Unselfish Aims — His Domestic Fidelity — A Governor of Rare Sagacity — His Successful Administration as President 47

Chapter I

Birth and Education of President McKinley — His Brilliant Career in the Army and Promotion for Bravery — Distinguished as a Lawyer, Congressman and Governor- Champion of the Rights of Labor.

A CROWDED public reception in the Temple of Music at the

Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo. President McKinley shaking hands with the throng. Suddenly the sharp crack of a pistol shot, repeated in an instant. The President twice wounded by a desperate assassin. Horror, commotion and indignation on

Such is the short and appalling story of that fatal Friday afternoon, the sixth of September, 1901. Our honored President, who held so strong a place in the hearts of the whole American people was stricken by the dastardly hand of a coward and murderer. The shot was winged with death.

He was in the apparent enjoyment of health, honor and every token of happiness. He was applauded by the vast throng that crowded around him at the Exposition Grounds. In the twinkling of an eye a ghastly change came over the whole scene. Men were petrified by the infamous deed ; others were maddened to desperation. We shall relate the story of Mr. McKinley's life, with the earnest endeavor to make these pages worthy of the illustrious President, whose tragic death has stirred the hearts of the whole American people to their lowest depths.

Seldom in the public life of the statesmen of this republic has the wisdom of pertinacious, continuous application to one broad issue of national policy as a road to highest preferment been so completely approved as in the career of President William McKinley. Twice his conspicuous championship of protection and home markets for American workmen almost stampeded conventions to his nomination, wh^u acceptance every side.

EARLY LIFE OF PRESIDENT McKlNLEY.

would have been violative of the high stand, and of personal honor, which has marked his public and private life.

Quiet, dignified, modest, considerate of others, ever ready to postpone his own ambitions in favor of those of veterans of longer service, faithful to friends, unwavering in integrity, tactful in silencing opposition, but unyielding in matters of principle, strong in his sympathy with the toilers, unchanged by success, abounding in hope under defeat, of unspotted private life, he won his way to the top as one of the best examples of courageous, persevering, vigorous manhood that the nation has ever produced.

IN TOUCH WITH PLAIN PEOPLE.

More than any other who has reached his proud pre-eminence, save only Abraham Lincoln, his touch was closest with those " plain people upon whom the martyred Lincoln relied with, such unhesitating confidence. While yet a youth he marched in the ranks, a private soldier, and saw four years of the bloody struggle which made the country all free. In poverty he wrought to acquire his profession. These years of self-denial brought with them the self-reliance and self-control which resulted in his leadership on the floor of Congress at an age when no other American, save Henry Clay, had ever achieved similar prominence.

He bore his part in great debates in a manner quiet, selfpossessed and dignified. His incisive logic, caustic raillery at antagonists, and sarcastic comments on the shortcomings of his own party, gave him a mastery in debate which won the admiration even of those who opposed him. Mr. McKinley's personality like his career was the fruit of a peculiarly logical and systematic character. Where others knew superficially he knew thoroughly. This thoroughness and skill in handling a slender majority of twenty-two enabled him to pass that tariff bill which bears his name, which found less favor when enacted than it has enjoyed since its revision. He afterward stood as the embodiment and apostle of that principle.

It is not easy always to analyze the causes of a popular

EARLY LIFE OF PRESIDENT McKlNLEY.

favorite's hold upon the masses. High principle, personal magnetism, gallantr}^ boldness even to rashness, great skill in debate or ability as a platform orator — all these may in turn be cited as reasons why a man should be liked or respected. But to awake the love and warmest admiration of a people require qualities which well nigh defy analysis. It has been Mr. McKinley's good fortune to be able to offer a very large class of his fellow-citizens just what they seemed to need.

He aroused and attracted their sympathies, and this tremendous logical fact is what brought about the overwhelming ground-swell which swept other aspirants off their feet, and landed him an easy winner over men of larger public service and greater brilliance in many of the attributes of statesmanship. "All things come to him who waits," and William McKinley's self-denial received its great reward.

CAME FROM A STURDY PARENTAGE.

Mr. McKinley had a long expectation of life if the longevity of his parents can be taken as an indication. His father, William McKinley, Sr., died in 1893, the ripe age of 85, and his mother, Mrs. Nancy McKinley, died in 1899, Canton, the proud recipient of the filial attentions of her distinguished son. Mrs. Nancy McKinley's father was of German birth, and her mother was of Scotch descent. William McKinley senior's grandfather was a Scotch-Irishman, and his mother was an Englishwoman. Mr. McKinley, Sr., was born in Mercer County, Pa., but his family moved to New Lisbon, Columbiana County, O., in 1809, where for many years he was manager of a blast furnace.

It was in New Lisbon that he met his wife, whom he married in 1838. Two sons, David and James, were born there, but owing to lack of educational facilities the father established his family in a little house in Niles, Trumbull County. It was in this house that William McKinley was born, February 26, 1843. is worth remark that a considerable number of prominent Americans were natives of counties of Ohio, in the near vicinity of Niles,

EARLY LIFE OF PRESIDENT McKINLEY.

Cuyahoga, thirty miles away, was the birthplace of James A. Garfield. Senator Allison, of Iowa, lived onl}^ thirty miles from Canton, and Senator Manderson, of Nebraska, lived and married only fifteen miles from that city. Ex-Senator Thomas Collier Piatt kept store at one time in Massillon, only eight miles away, and Senator Quay's home at Beaver is only sixty miles off. Rutherford B. Hayes was a native of Delaware County, near b}^ and Senator Sherman and General William T. Sherman were born and reared at Lancaster, O., less than a hundred miles away.

Several of Mr. McKinley's brothers and sisters died in infancy. His oldest brother, David, was a resident of San Francisco, where he discharged the duty of Hawaiian Consul to the United States. James, the next older brother, died about 1890. Abner, a younger brother has been engaged in business in New York. William McKinley entered the village school in Poland, to which his family had removed when only five years old. He remained in the schools of that town until in his seventeenth year, when he made enough money by teaching in a near by district public school to pay his matriculation fees in Allegheny College.

CALL TO ARMS FOUND HIM READY.

He remained at the college only a few weeks when the call to arms for the Civil War came, and the pale-faced, grey-e3'ed, earnest and patriotic young student flung aside his books and decided to shoulder a musket for the preservation of the Union. This step was taken only after earnest conference with his parents. Owing to his youth and physical immaturit}^ th y were loath to consent to interruption of his studies and the incident exposure to the hardship of campaigning.

But the enthusiastic patriotism of the youth kindled like emotion in the Scotch-Irish blood of his parents and bore down their opposition, for they saw that in spite of his youth there was plenty of fighting stuff in him. And so his education in books ended, and that broader education of stirring events and the ways of men began.

EARLY LIFE oF PRESIDENT McKINLEY.

Young McKinle}^ entered the Union army a mere stripling, without influence or powerful friends, with only a heart brimful of patriotism and love for his flag. He joined a company of volunteers from his own neighborhood, which, after the fashion of the time, took the pretentious name of *'The Poland Guards." The company had already selected its officers. The captain, a youth named Zimmerman, was chosen because of a brief service in a Pennsylvania militia company, in which he had learned the facings and a few other rudiments of the school of the soldier. He was the only man in the company who had any military training whatever.

Another young fellow named Race was first lieutenant, and J. L. Botsford, second lieutenant. This company was mustered into the volunteer service at Columbus by General John C. Fremont in June,. 1861, and was attached to the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which William S. Rosecranz was colonel and Rutherford B. Hayes major.

HARDSHIPS OF A SOLDIER'S LIFE.

The regiment saw service first in General George B. McClellan's campaign in the Kanawha, which wrested West Virginia from the parent State and added another star to the sisterhood of States. It was a campaign of few battles, hard marches and plenty of experience in the hardships of soldiering. Of the fourteen months which McKinley served in the ranks he once said : " 1 always look back with pleasure on those fourteen months of soldiering. They taught me a great deal. I was only a school-boy when I entered the ranks, and that year was the formative period of my life, during which I learned much of men and affairs. I have always been glad that I entered the service as a private.''

Promotion came to him after Antietam. During that battle he was acting commissary for his company, and in the heat of the fight he took cooked rations to the front to feed his hungry comrades who had been in battle line for twentyfour hours. The fighters fell back in squads to refresh themselves, and Vv^ere

EARLY LIFE OF PRESIDENT McKINi^EY.

loud in praises of McKinley's thoughtfulness. He obtained furlough a few days after the battle.

On bis way borne be passed tbrougb Columbus and paid bis respects to Governor Tod, wbo surprised tbe young volunteer by presenting bim witb a second lieutenant's commission. General Hayes, wbo bad been wounded at tbe battle, was borne and recommended tbe promotion. Tbis was September 24, 1862. February 7, 1863, be was promoted to first lieutenant, and on July 25, 1864, captain. Tbis latter promotion was supplemented by bis appointment as adjutant-general of bis brigade, and be remained upon tbe staff until mustered out in July, 1865.

It was as assistant adjutant-general that be went tbrougb Sberidan's famous campaigns in tbe Sbenandoab Valley. Wbile on bis way to Winchester Sberidan found young McKinley, tben only 21 years old, rallying tbe panic-stricken troops at Cedar Creek, and at Berry ville tbe young officer's borse was killed under bim. ''For gallant and meritorious services at tbe battle of tbe Opiquan, Cedar Creek and Fisber's Hill," reads bis commission as brevet-major, and it is signed " A. Lincoln."

ADMIRED BY YOUNG MEN.

Tbus William McKinley, at a time of bis life wben most young men are at school or preparing for professional life, bad experience in over four years of active warfare and bad contributed as many years of his life to active military service of his country as any veteran of tbe Civil War. This is one of tbe potent holds be had upon the young men of the country who steadily held him in view as a paragon of 3^)11 thful courage and patriotism.

The war over, McKinley found himself at 22, a man without a profession and means to live on. Military life still had many fascinations for him, and a commission in the regular army was within the reach of tbe influence he was now able to exert. That would at least provide him witb a living, and tbe temptation was strong. His sister. Miss Anna McKinley, a woman of fine judgment and strong character, had already established herself as a

EARLY LIFE OF PRESIDENT McKINLEY.

school teacHer in Canton, O., and she proved to be the pioneer of the McKinley family in Stark County. It was largely due to her forcible arguments that the young soldier laid off his uniform and devoted himself to study of law.

This period of three years between the time he left the military service, in 1865, and the day he left the Law School, at Albany, N. Y., in 1868, is one of which few facts are known. The man who knows all about the difficulties and struggles with lean purse and long ambition that marked those years has never taken any one into his confidence concerning them. He had the advantage of the law library of Judge Glidden, in whose office he was entered as a law student. That able jurist took great interest in his pupil and gave him freely of his knowledge. When the young man vvas at last admitted to the bar Judge Glidden gave him his first case. This is always a memorable event in the life of a young lawyer.

WON HIS FIRST CASE.

It came about thus : McKinley had found a hole in the wall outside of which he stuck up his shingle as a lawyer. A fortnight passed and so did all clients. Then Judge Glidden handed the half-discouraged young attorney a bundle of papers with the remark : —

" Mac, here are the papers in a case which is coming up to-morrow. I have got to go out of town and you must try it."

I have never tried a case yet, you know, Judge ! " McKinley replied.

"Well, begin on this one then," Glidden answered. McKinley began work at once, and after studying the case all night went to court next day and won the suit. Glidden called at his office a few days afterward and handed McKinley $25, which he refused to take.

" It is too much. Judge, for one day's pay," the conscientious young attorney said.

"Nonsense, Mac," said the veteran. "Don't let that worry you. I charged them $100 and can easily affi^rd to give vou a quarter of it."

EARLY LIFE OF PRESIDENT McKINLEY.

In a case which came to him soon afterward McKinley won one of his most substantial earlier triumphs. He was pitted against John McSweeny, one of the most brilliant lawyers at the Ohio bar. It was a suit for damages for malpractice against a surgeon, who, it was claimed, had set a broken leg so unskilfully that the patient was made bow-legged. McSweeny brought his client into court, and after he had told his story he bared his leg to show how far it was out of line.

McKinley, for the defense, demanded that the plaintiff bare the other leg for comparison. The court upheld this demand, in spite of McSweeny' s vigorous objection. To the confusion of the plaintiff and his counsel, and the merriment of court and jury, that leg was found to be the worse bowed of the two. His trousers had concealed his natural deformity.

PARTNERSHIP WITH A LEADING LAWYER.

" My client seems to have done better by this man than did nature itself," said Counsellor McKinley, and I move that the suit be dismissed with recommendation that he have his right leg broken and set by the defendant in this case." The plaintiff was laughed out of court. Soon after this success Judge Belden, a leading lawyer of Canton, formed a partnership with the young attorney which lasted until the Judge's death, in 1870.

He had already won his way so that the people in that year elected him Prosecuting Attorney of Stark County, which office he filled for several years. Practice now flowed in to him, and he speedily won repute as an excellent advocate. He is credited with making some of the best j ury arguments ever heard at that bar. When elected to Congress he was a recognized leader of the Stark County bar and had one of the best general practices at that bar.

Another case in which he especially distinguished himself was tlirit of a nunilx r of miners prosccntcd for riot, whom he defended in an appeal to the j ury which is remembered to this day as a triumph of eloquence over hard fact. It was the first opportunity of his career to test his deep sympathy with wage-workers, and his use

EARLY LIFE OF PRESIDENT McKINLEY.

of it gave him a hold upon their gratitude that time only strengthened.

James G. Blaine, in his " Twenty Years of Congress,'' wrote : William McKinley, Jr., enteted from the Canton district. He enlisted in an Ohio regiment when only i8 years old, and won the rank of major by meritorious services. The interests of his constituents and his own bent of mind led him to the study of industrial questions, and he was soon recognized in the House as one of the most thorough statisticians, and one of the ablest defenders of the doctrine of protection."