M-KINLEY, WILLIAM. 



fonl. of New York, spoke at Canton that, autumn, 

 and McKinley was prevailed upon, very reluctantly, 

 to close the meeting. Animated by the eloquence 

 of their visitor. .McKinley captivated both the audi- 

 ence and the orator who had preceded him. So 

 deep was the impression made upon him that on 

 his return to Columbus. Mr. \Voodford made it a 

 point to see the Slate Committee and urge them to 

 put McKinley upon their li.-t of speakers. They 

 had not heard of him lie fore, but they put him on 

 the list, and he lias never been off it since. The 

 next year, is 71.;. McKinley was nominated for Con- 

 gress over several older competitor?, on the first 

 ballot, and was elected in October over Leslie L. 

 Lanborn by 3,300 majority. During the pn _ 

 of the canvass, while visiting the Centennial Expo- 

 tition in Philadelphia, he was introduced by James 

 G. Blaine to a great audience which Blaine had 

 been addressing at the L T nion League Club, and 

 scored so signal a success that he was at once in de- 

 mand throughout the country. He has spoken 

 hundreds of times since, and in almost every State 

 and Territory, to more of his fellow-countrymen 

 than ever were addressed by any other public man 

 in the history of the republic ; but it can be safely 

 said that he never has failed to meet expectation or 

 benefit the cause he advocated. He is more like 

 Webster in personal appearance, style, and delivery 

 than any other American orator. The simplicity 

 of his addresses and their lofty and disinterested 

 patriotism afford other points of similarity. They 

 are always logical, forcible, and convincing. They 

 appeal to Americans everywhere, not simply to citi- 

 zens of one State or party, but all who love their 

 country and seek its highest good. 



Entering Congress on the day when his old colonel 

 assumed the presidency, and" in high favor with 

 him, McKinley was not without influence even 

 during his first term. He delivered a notable ail- 

 dress this year at the dedication of a soldiers' monu- 

 ment at the President's home, Fremont, Ohio. But 

 he devoted himself strictly to his congressional 

 duties, and on April 15. 1878. made a speech in op- 

 position to what was known as " the Wood tariff 

 bill," from its author, Fernando Wood, of New 

 York, the first of the measures designed (accord- 

 ing to its opponents) to cripple our protective sys- 

 tem. To this McKinley was unalterably opposed, 

 and he not only exposed the incongruities and ab- 

 surdities of the proposed law. but the impolicy and 

 recklessness of such legislation. His views were 

 evidently entertained by the majority of his col- 

 leagues, for, although the House was Democratic. 

 the pending measure was postponed until the ^hort 

 session, and then was abandoned altogether. His 

 speech was published and widely circulated by the 

 Republican Congressional Committee, and otherwise 

 attracted much attention. Mr. Blaine, in his "Twen- 

 ty Years of Congress." says, in reviewing the Forty- 

 fifth Congress: 'William McKinley. Jr.. entered 

 from the Canton district. He enlisted in anOhio 

 regiment when but eighteen years old, and won the 

 rank of major by meritorious services. The interests 

 of his constituency 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 defend- 

 ers of the doctrine of protection." 



In 1877 Ohio went strongly Democratic, and the 

 Legislature gerrymandered the State, so that Mc- 

 Kinley found himself confronted by 2.580 adverse 

 majority in a new district. His opponent was Gen. 

 Aquila Wiley, who had lost a leg in the National 

 army, and was competent and worthy. Not de- 

 terred. McKinley entered the canvass with great 

 energy, and after a thorough discussion of the i- 

 in every part of the district, was re-elected to the 

 VOL. xxxvi. 28 A 



Forty-sixth Congress by 1.234 majority. No >. 

 ures of greater importance than ihe attempt 

 fieal of the Federal election laws then oi-mpied 

 public attention. Against their repeal McK'inlev 

 was (irmly committed both by personal conviction 

 and party afliliation. and he "spoke with much elo- 

 quence in opposition to the pending bill at the extra 

 -11, April 18. 1*7!). Hi- .-peeeh abounds with 

 historical and legal citations of such s'alue that it 

 was issued as a campaign document by the Repub- 

 lican National Committees of that and the follow- 

 ing year. As chairman of the Republican State 

 Convention of Ohio of 1880, he made another ad- 

 dress devoted principally to the same issue. Speaker 

 Randall gave the rising young member a place on 

 the Judiciary Committee, and in December, 1880, 

 appointed him to succeed President Garfield as a 

 member of the Ways and Means Committee, an 

 honor much sought, but which came to McKinley 

 unsolicited, and it was repeatedly tendered him 

 until the termination of his congressional career, 

 in March. 1891. The same Congress made him one 

 of the House Committee of Yisitors to West Point 

 Military Academy, which duty he greatly enjoyed, 

 as it brought him into contact with some of the 

 bright young men of the country, for whom he has 

 always manifested much interest i:nd concern. He 

 was also chairman of the committee having in 

 charge the Garfield memorial exercises in the House 

 in 1881. 



The Ohio Legislature of 1880 restored his old 

 congressional district, and he was unanimously 

 nominated to the Forty-seventh Congress. His 

 election was assured, but he made a vigorous can- 

 vass, and was chosen over Leroy D. Thoman, subse- 

 quently one of the Civil Service Commission, by 

 3.571 majority. He was chosen by the Chicago 

 convention as the Ohio member of the .Republican 

 National Committee, and accompanied Gen. Gar- 

 field on his speaking tour through New York. He 

 opened the State campaign at Portsmouth. Ohio, 

 in July, and also spoke in Maine, Indiana, Illinois, 

 and other States. 



The Forty-seventh Congress was Republican, and, 

 acting on the recommendation of President Ar- 

 thur, it proceeded to revise the tariff. After much 

 discussion it was agreed to constitute a commission, 

 who should prepare such bill or bills as were neces- 

 sary and report at the next session. In the debate 

 on this project McKinley delivered an interesting 

 speech, April 6, 1882, in which, while not giving 

 his unqualified approval to the creation of a com- 

 mission, he insisted that a protective policy should 

 never for an instant be abandoned or impaired. 

 ' My own preference," said he, " would be that Con- 

 gress should do this work, and delegate no part of 

 it to commissions or committees unknown in this 

 body. This, however, is a matter of personal judg- 

 ment, about which men equally intelligent and 

 honest, equally devoted to the principle of protec- 

 tion, may differ, and which from any point of view 

 is in nowise essential or material. If we can get as 

 good work, or better, from a commission of prac- 

 tical experts, all ought to be satisfied and all will 

 be. ... Free trade may be suitable to Great Britain 

 and its peculiar social and political structure, but it 

 has no place in this republic, where classes are un- 

 known, and where caste has long since been ban- 

 ished : where equality is the rule: where labor is 

 dignified and honorable; where education and im- 

 provement are the individual striving of every citi- 

 zen, no matter what may be the accident of his 

 birth or the poverty of 'his early surroundings. 

 Here the mechanic of to-day is the manufacturer of 

 a few years later. Under such conditions free trade 

 can have no abiding place here. We are doing 

 very well ; no other nation has done better or 



