The Days of a Man Ci8 9 8 



sinking At a. critical moment, the sinking in Havana 

 ?/'**. harbor of the Maine, United States man-of-war, 

 brought matters to a head ; yet I doubt if any well- 

 informed person ever believed the Spanish Govern- 

 ment to be party to such a suicidal act. Moreover, 

 the public has never known whether the explosion 

 was due to internal or external causes. But in any 

 case it gave great impetus to the war spirit in the 

 United States, although the body of our people still 

 hoped for peace. 



Meanwhile Woodford had negotiated a treat 

 whereby Cuba was to receive autonomy much like 

 that of Canada, and all outstanding differences, in- 

 cluding the affair of the Maine, were to be settled 

 by arbitration. Sensational papers, however, still 

 called loudly for war. McKinley was evidently 

 reluctant to yield, but his weakness as well as his 

 strength lay in "holding an ear to the ground" 

 in other words, in leading wherever the people 

 seemed willing to push him. And as I was told, 

 three Republican senators, Hanna, Elkins, and 

 one other, went to him, saying (in substance): 



The people demand war, they are ready for it and expec 

 it. If the Republican Party does not deliver it, the coming 

 election will certainly put Bryan in the presidential chair, a 

 result which will mean national disaster through the remone- 

 tization of silver, cutting the value of every security in two by 

 substituting a silver for a gold basis. 



These plausible considerations turned the scale, 

 and in his message to Congress the President prac- 

 tically left that body no alternative except to de- 

 clare war. As a matter of historical fact, when an 

 executive pronounces for it, the legislative body 



