440 



McKINLEY, WILLIAM. 



apparent in his recommendation of additional pro- 

 tection to steam and electric railroad employees, 

 and his interest in the problems of municipal gov- 

 ernment by his approval of what is called the " Fed- 

 eral plan " of administration. On the seventy-first 

 anniversary of the birth of Ulysses S. Grant he de- 

 livered an address in Galena, III., and on June 20 a 

 memorial address on Rutherford B. Hayes in Dela- 

 ware, Ohio, both of which were greatly admired for 

 their research and beauty. At the Republican con- 

 vention in Ohio he was unanimously renominatcd 

 for Governor, and he entered upon the campaign 

 with a vigor and confidence that insured success 

 from its very beginning. He made an exhausthe 

 canvass and" was re-elected by an overwhelming 

 majority, the greatest ever recorded, with a single 

 exception during the war, for any candidate up to 

 that time in the history of the State. His com- 

 petitor was Lawrence T. Neal, who, as a member of 

 the Committee on Resolutions at the Democratic 

 National Convention of 1892, had written the plank 

 denouncing the new tariff law as a " fraud,'' as " un- 

 constitutional," as a " sham," and as "the culminat- 

 ing atrocity of class legislation." The issues dis- 

 cussed were National, and McKinley's voice was 

 again heard in every locality in the State in earnest 

 condemnation of "those twin heresies, free trade 

 and free silver." His election was predicted, but 

 by none was it expected by so great a preponderance 

 his vote aggregating 433,000 and his plurality 

 80,995. 



The country viewed this result as indicative of 

 what would be recorded at the next National elec- 

 tion, and he was everywhere hailed as the most 

 prominent Republican aspirant for President. His 

 second annual message ranks high among such 

 papers. He recommended biennial sessions of the 

 Legislature; a revision of the tax laws by a com- 

 mission created for the purpose; condemned any 

 increase of local taxation and indebtedness ; called 

 attention to the annual report of the State Board 

 of Charities, a nonpartisan body, which declared 

 that " the general condition of the benevolent and 

 correctional institutions of the State was never bet- 

 ter than at present"; enjoined the necessity for 

 economy ; and warned his party, which had elected 

 three fourths of the Legislature, that the greater 

 its power the vaster were its responsibilities, and 

 the less excusable was needless or reckless legisla- 

 tion. The affairs of the State were never more 

 prudently or capably administered, the only, com- 

 plaints being about details of official inattention 

 that never had been given any notice whatever. 



On Feb. 22, 1894, McKinley delivered an address 

 on the life and public services of George Washington, 

 under the auspices of the Union League CJub in the 

 Auditorium at Chicago, which gave much gratifica- 

 tion to his friends and admirers. Nothing could have 

 exceeded the interest and delight of the vast audi- 

 ence, and the address will always command atten- 

 tion among the many great lectures on this most 

 familiar of American characters. He reluctantly 

 consented to speak in Minneapolis on the tariff 

 question March 28, fearing it would be impossible 

 to procure a representative audience at so early 

 a season. Every county and town in the State was 

 represented, and the large exposition hall in which 

 the national convention had been held was filled to 

 its utmost capacity by an enthusiastic audience. 

 Contemplating the condition of the country and 

 the effects of the agitation then going on, he said : 

 " A revenue tariff is the sure precursor of national 

 poverty and individual bankruptcy and distress. It 

 is a forerunner of hard times. It is without a single 

 worthy triumph. The years in which it has been tried 

 in the United States excite neither our respect nor 

 our pride. It has furnished no inspiring page in 



our history. Its record has been one of deficient 

 revenue, greater bonded indebtedness, and universal 

 want among the people." Beginning at Bangor, 

 Me., Sept. 8, and continuing through the next two 

 months, he was constantly on the platform, his tour 

 from State to State being such an ovation as was 

 never before given any public speaker. The Wilson- 

 Gorman tariff law had just been enacted, and to this 

 he devoted his chief attention, his arraignment of 

 the measure being warmly applauded by the country 

 as a deserved and proper rebuke of the party in 

 power. "The Administration and Congress," he 

 declared, "are without compass or rudder. They 

 have at length passed a tariff law, such as it is ; but 

 if we credit Democratic testimony alone the people 

 burn with impatience for an opportunity to repu- 

 diate both it and them. We could bear with resig- 

 nation their party differences and demoralization, 

 if the Democratic party was the sole sufferer ; but 

 when we contemplate the widespread ruin to busi- 

 ness, enterprise, and employment, we appreciate the 

 dreadful sacrifice which this Administration has en- 

 tailed and the appalling mistake of 1S!)2." 



At Indianapolis, Sept. 26, Gen. Harrison intro- 

 duced him to an audience such as had never before 

 assembled in that city on the occasion of the open- 

 ing of a State campaign, in the following felici- 

 tous words : " Major McKinley has endeared himself 

 to all by his record as a gallant soldier, battling for 

 the Hag. He has honored himself, his State, and the 

 country by his conspicuous services in high legisla- 

 tive and executive places. No man more than he is 

 familiar with the questions that now engage public 

 thought. No man is more able than he lucidly to 

 set them before the people. I do not need to invoke 

 your attention to what he shall say. He will com- 

 mand it." After returning to Ohio to open the 

 State campaign at Findlay, Gov. McKinley set out 

 for the West, and in a series of speeches through 

 Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska. Iowa, Minnesota, Wis- 

 consin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and again in 

 Ohio, was greeted apparently by the entire popu- 

 lace. He proved himself one of the most remark- 

 able campaigners the country has ever known. 

 Traveling in special trains, under the auspices of 

 State committees, his meetings began at daybreak 

 and continued until nightfall or later from his car, 

 or from adjacent platforms, crowds greeting him at 

 every station, and, whether stops had been arranged 

 or not, blocking the track until he appeared and 

 addressed them. He frequently spoke a dozen 

 times a day, and two, three, or four times at night 

 in the largest halls of the chief cities on his route. 

 In his trip through Wisconsin he spoke twenty-three 

 times in sixteen hours, and his itinerary in Iowa 

 was so arranged that he visited every cpngressional 

 district but two. Turning southward from Cin- 

 cinnati on a Friday morning, he made the long 

 trip to New Orleans to address a monster mass 

 meeting there Saturday night, as well as smaller 

 audiences in Kentucky, Tennessee. Alabama, and 

 Mississippi en route. The 2,000 miles were traveled, 

 with all the intervening speeches and thousands of 

 personal greetings, without a single appointment in 

 West Virginia being missed on Monday, or an audi- 

 ence anywhere detained. Thence from Wheeling 

 via Pittsburg and Erie to Buffalo, the tour was 

 continued through northern and central New York, 

 the last four meetings, being at Philadelphia on 

 Saturday night. From this city he was induced to ' 

 travel directly to Olney, 111., where he spoke Mon- 

 day morning to 10,000 people before breakfast, and 

 journeyed through the central and most populous 

 district of the State, addressing great audiences at 

 every station, over 200 miles, to speak at Chicago 

 that night. Here the greatest political meeting in 

 the history of the city greeted him ; but at daylight 



