| OCR Text |
Show i V " , ''y - ; 1)71 "J 4 ''' r(V W r nnTTfmifmrmTirTrmnrrTnnrfriiTnnrTTrmrmrTrmin)iiiiiiprnij ...lr-' g;i f Nearer, My God, to Thee! 9 I a Nearer, my God, to Thee, 1 Nearer to Thee! I E'en though it be a cross g That raise th me; 1 Still all my song shall be, a Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee.! 3 Though like the wanderer, n l The sun gone down, 3 Darkness be over me, 3 My rest a stone, 1 3 Vet in my dreams I'd be p Nearer, my God, to Thee, B Nearer, my God, to Thee, e Nearer to Thee! rj There let the way appear, Steps unto heaven ! i All that Thou send'st to me ij In mercy given: d Angels to beckon me 1 a Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee! Then, with my waking thoughts I Bright with Thy praise, Out of my stony griefs p I Bethel I'll raise; i So by my woes to be g 3 Nearer, my God, to Thee, a Nearer, my God, to Thee, ! Nearer to Thee! Of If on joyful wing Cleaving the sky, 3 Sun. moon and stars forgot, 3 Upwards I fly, i Still all my song shall be, I Nearer, my God, to Thee, I Nearer, my God, to Thee, -. Nearer to Thee! -MRS SARAH F. ADAMS 1 which the public assumed and he was & master of securing harmonious co-operation for a desired end." Of him another biographer has written : "1'resident McKinley's course during dur-ing the many exciting events of his administration was marked by a decree de-cree of tact, prudence and foresight which surprised even his friends. He surrounded himself with able advisers, maintained cordial relations with congress con-gress and steadily grew in popularity with the country at large. He possessed pos-sessed to an unusual degree the faculty fac-ulty of forecasting public senvinient." In the light of these estimates it would appear that McKinley, even though he did not have that training in statecraft which might be considered consid-ered essential to a situation involving international relations, was apparently apparent-ly an ideal leader for a people once they had entered upon a war which was to be so momentous in their history. his-tory. It was a war which he was opposed op-posed to and during all the negotiations negotia-tions with Spain, that preceded the actual outbreak of war, he repeatedly counseled patience ant", restraint. Even after the destruction of the Maine, when the country was in a white heat of indignation against Spain, he held fast to his purpose of securing a peaceful settlement of the dispute between the two countries over the Cuban problem. Finally, convinced that Spain would not accept ac-cept America's proposals and assured of the deep-seated conviction of the American people regarding their duty to the Cubans, the President reluctantly reluc-tantly took the decisive step. Not only did the Spanish-American war, the highlight of McKinley's administration, ad-ministration, result in America's coming com-ing into possession of colonies in the Far East which brought the country into the realm of International politics, poli-tics, but during that administration were taken also the other steps which aided in furthering her Interests in world-wide affairs. It was McKinley's McKin-ley's secretary of state, John Hay. whose "open door" policy in regard to China made the United States an active factor in the future of the Orient and it was McKinley himself, whose proposal in 1S09 for a Pan-American Pan-American congress, who made the first overtures for a better understanding among the American republics. North and South. It was to popularize the Pan-American idea that the exposition, exposi-tion, where the President received his death wound, was arranged, and it was just after he had set forth his views on the ties which should bind the two continents that he was shot. Today a magnificent memorial stands in Ids home city of Canton. Ohio, as the tribute of that state and the nation as well to a beloved leader. lead-er. Historians of the future may point to his administration as the most significant turning point in all American history, and as time gives a better perspective for evaluation of his importance, President William McKinley Mc-Kinley may loom larger and larger in the gallery of American notables Hut for the American people, whom lie understood as few Presidents have, the best tribute that they can pay him is the simple tribute on January 20 of each year of honoring his memory with a simple tiling his favorite fiower. T By ELMO SCOTT WATSON tN JANUARY 29 carnations will adorn the buttonholes of thousands of Americans who will thus be carrying on a unique tradition in jj honoring the memory of a " 'resident of the United Btates. February 12 and February 22 re set aside In our patriotic calendar for reverent tribute to the' names of Lincoln and Washington. October 27, Roosevelt's birthday, is often observed ob-served as Navy day, thus recalling bis part In building up our first line of defense. Hut January 29 is a date for remembering not so much those elements of statesmanship which twice made him Chief Executive of bis country as it is for remembering the simple, kindly soul that was the man named William McKinley. Therefore There-fore this simple tribute of wearing his favorite flower on his birthday is singularly appropriate. So swiftly has the world moved in the last quarter century that, to the present generation, at least, the name of the twenty-fourth President is comparatively com-paratively unknown. His fame Is greatly overshadowed by the dominating dominat-ing personality of his immediate successor, suc-cessor, the "strenuous American," and by a still later strong personality of quite another sort, whose fortune It was to lead us In the greatest war this country has ever known. Hut to those of a previous generation the came of McKinley has a very definite meaning. Its mention recalls to them that September day in 1901 when the word was flashed all over the country that an anarchist had shot the President rs he stood In Music hall at the Pan American exposition in Buffalo, N. Y.. greeting the long line of his fellow-citizens fellow-citizens who filed past him to shake his hand. They remember, too, how for the next week the whole nation watched his valiant fight for life; how he accepted the inevitable with the historic woids, "Thy will, not ours, be done" and how, when the end came on September 14, his favorite hymn, "Nearer, My God, to Thee!" was the requiem of sorrow of thousands thou-sands who mourned the loss of William Wil-liam McKinley, the President, but more the passing of William McKinley, McKin-ley, the man, whose "perfect devotion to his Invalid wife had excited universal uni-versal admiration. " So America added a third name to make its trinity of martyred Presidents, and as. It did so little realized that it was definitely writing "Finis" to an era in American history. Little wonder won-der that the present generation has almost forgotten him and his times! For in at least one Important respect, the day of William McKinley is as remote from the present as is the day of Abraham Lincoln or even of Andrew An-drew Jackson. The year 1900 was more than the "turn of the century" for the United States. For 110 years America had been concerned with its own Internal affairs, with the prob lems of forming a union out of a group of jealous and wrangling col- ' onies lately freed from European domination, of conquering a wilder ness and expanding westward until the land hunger of Its people was satisfied, sat-isfied, of preserving the nation from disunion and healing the wounds of civil strife. But when on the 2.rth of April, 1S9S. congress passed a reso lution, declaring war between "the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain," it marked the end of America's "splendid isolation," the beginning of Its concern with external affairs and its assumption of a place of importance in the congress of nations. na-tions. So the historical importance of William Wil-liam McKinley is that he was a guiding guid-ing force in turning the American ship of state from the sometimes troubled trou-bled waters of nationalism into the ever-turbulent waters of internntion-in internntion-in which it seems destined to sail henceforth. What was the historic background of the man cast for this role and his preparation for his task? Not in the least the kind that a prophet would have called appropriate appro-priate for the result to be attained. But it was apparently the kind that only a democracy such as ours could produce. For the man whom Fate had selected to be leader of the nation at this turning point in the relation of the United States to the outside world was an Ohio school teacher and lawyer who had served faithful ly but with no especial brilliance In the Civil war and who had risen by the successive steps of prosecuting attorney, at-torney, congressman, and governor to the Presidency. "Emphatically not a leader," writes Carl Russell Fish in his volume. "The Path of Empire." in the Yale University Press" "Chron icles of America," and continues: "He was, however, unsurpassed in his day as a reader of public opinion and i.e believed his function to he that of interpreting the national mind Nor did he yield his opinion in a grudging grudg-ing manner. lie grasped broadly the consequences of each new position |
