McKINLEY, WILLIAM. 



335 



Augustana Book Concern, the printing and pub- 

 lication house of the Augustana Synod, at Rock 

 Island, 111., whose receipts for the year 1900 were 

 $80,441.18. 



Miscellaneous. Other matters considered by 

 the council at this convention pertained to the 

 deaconess work, the Sunday-school work, coopera- 

 tion with the other general bodies of the Church, 

 provision for a more careful oversight of educa- 

 tional matters, and for a more thorough study of 

 Lutheran church music. 



The next convention of this body will bo held at 

 Mansfield, Ohio, October, lt)U:j. 



The other two general bodies UK- S\riodic;al 

 Conference and the United Synod ot tlu,- South- 

 held no conventions during the year. Tin- l;iic,i, 

 accessible reports of their status and work :in- 

 given in the Annual Cyclopaedia for I !W. The 

 large independent Scandinavian synods held con- 

 ventions, and in the reports published give evi- 

 dence of continued progress in their educational, 

 missionary, and benevolent operations. 



M 



McKINLEY, WILLIAM, twenty - fourth 

 President of the United States; born in Niles, 

 Ohio, Jan. 29, 1843; died in Buffalo, N. Y., Sept. 

 14, 1901. The story of his life, up to his first 

 inauguration, March 4, 1897, is told in the An- 

 nual Cyclopaedia for 1896, page 428, and his por- 

 trait is the frontispiece of that volume. 



On March 6, 1897, the President issued a proc- 

 lamation calling an extra session of Congress for 

 March 15, and on that date he sent in a special 

 message on the subject of the tariff. The result 

 was the measure called " the Dingley bill," after 

 Chairman Nelson Dingley of the Ways and Means 

 Committee, which passed both branches of Con- 

 gress, and by the signature of the President be- 

 came a law. 



After the passage of this bill there was a de- 

 cided revival of prosperity. Many mills that had 

 been closed resumed work, and there were other 

 indications of returning confidence in the business 

 world. 



On May 17 the President sent to Congress a spe- 

 cial message, asking for an appropriation for 

 the aid of suffering Americans in Cuba, and in 

 accordance therewith $50,000 was appropriated 

 for that purpose. The policy of the new adminis- 

 tration toward Spain on the Cuban question had 

 been a ma'tter of much speculation. It soon be- 

 came evident that it was to be marked by calm- 

 ness and moderation. The President retained in 

 office Consul-General Fitzhugh Lee, who had been 

 appointed to his post by President Cleveland, al- 

 though he sent a commissioner to Cuba to report 

 to him on special cases; and the policy of the 

 Government in relation to the suppression of fili- 

 bustering remained unchanged. Gen. Stewart L. 

 Woodford, the new minister to Spain, was in- 

 structed to deliver to the Spanish Government a 

 message in which the United States expressed its 

 desire that an end should be put to the disastrous 

 conflict in Cuba, and tendered its good offices to- 

 ward the accomplishment of such a result. To 

 this message the Spanish Government returned a 

 conciliatory reply, to the effect that it had or- 

 dered administrative reforms to be carried out on 

 the island, and expected soon to put an end to the 

 unfortunate war, at the same time begging the 

 United States to renew its efforts for the sup- 

 pression of filibustering. 



As was generally expected, the opening of the 

 administration was marked by a fresh agitation 

 of the question of Hawaiian annexation. A new 

 treaty of annexation was negotiated and was sent 

 by the President to the Senate, but action upon 

 it was postponed. Meanwhile the Japanese Gov- 

 ernment lodged a remonstrance against any such 

 action on the part of the United States as might 

 prejudice the permanent rights alleged in favor 

 of the Japanese under the terms of the treaty be- 

 tween Japan and the republic of Hawaii or ad- 

 versely affect the settlement of the diplomatic dis- 



pute then pending in regard to the charged viola- 

 tion by Hawaii of the provisions of that treaty. 

 The Japanese minister having disclaimed any ul- 

 terior unfriendly purpose of Japan, either in re- 

 spect to the dispute or to the proposed annexa- 

 tion, the good offices of the United States were 

 successfully employed with the Hawaiian republic 

 to compose the controversy by the payment of a 

 money indemnity to Japan, which amicably closed 

 the incident before the final annexation of the 

 islands to the United States. This was effected 

 on Aug. 12, 1898, by the act of the Hawaiian 

 President in yielding up to the representative of 

 the Government of the United States the sover- 

 eignty and property of the Hawaiian Islands, in 

 accordance with the terms of a joint resolution 

 of Congress, approved July 7, 1898, whereby the 

 purpose of the annexation treaty was accomr 

 plished by statutory acceptance of the offered ces- 

 sion and incorporation of the ceded territory into 

 the Union. 



A prominent incident in foreign affairs was a 

 despatch sent by Secretary Sherman to Ambas- 

 sador Hay, at London, 'regarding the Bering Sea 

 seal question, w r hich was criticized because of the 

 recital of the facts of the preceding award of the 

 Paris Bering Sea Commission and the discussion 

 which followed in order to show that Great Brit- 

 ain stood committed to a revision of the Paris 

 rules for the regulation of seal-catching. On July 

 15 it was announced that Great Britain had final- 

 ly consented to take part, with the United States, 

 Russia, and Japan, in a sealing conference in 

 Washington in the autumn of 1897; but later 

 Lord Salisbury declared that he had been mis- 

 understood, and the conference convened in No- 

 vember without British delegates, although Sir 

 Wilfrid Laurier, the Canadian Premier, was pres- 

 ent unofficially. 



In the summer of 1897 the reports of great gold 

 discoveries on the Klondike river in British ter- 

 ritory near the Alaskan boundary caused much 

 excitement, recalling, especially on the Pacific 

 coast, the days of the early California gold-fever. 

 So many expeditions set off almost at once for 

 the north that the administration found it neces- 

 sary to warn persons of the danger of visiting the 

 arctic regions except at the proper season and 

 with careful preparation; and to preserve order in 

 Alaskan territory near the scene of the discoveries 

 the President established a military post on the 

 upper Yukon river. On April 7, in response to a 

 message from the President asking for relief for 

 the sufferers by flood in the Mississippi valley, 

 Congress appropriated $200,000. Much favorable 

 comment was caused at the beginning of the ad- 

 ministration by President McKinley's evident de- 

 sire to make himself accessible to the public. On 

 April 27, accompanied by his Cabinet, he attended 

 the ceremonies connected with the dedication of 

 the Grant Monument in Riverside Park, New 



