ashington, D.C.
Copyright, 1901, by Underwood & Underwood.

Not a little of Mr. McKinley's apparent vacillation and of his
complaisance toward men and interests representing wealth was due to an
endowment of exquisite finesse which stooped to conquer, which led by
seeming to follow, or by yielding an inch took an ell. In him was rooted
by inheritance a quick sense of the manufacturer's point of view, for
his father and grandfather had been iron-furnace men, and a certain
conservative instinct, characteristic of his party, which deemed the
counsel of broadcloth wiser than the clamor of rags, and equally
patriotic withal. Notwithstanding this, history cannot but pronounce
McKinley's love of country, his whole Americanism, in fact, as sincere,
sturdy, and democratic as Abraham Lincoln's.

Mr. McKinley's power and breadth as a statesman were greatly augmented
by the responsibilities of the presidency. Before his accession to that
exalted office he had helped devise but one great public measure, the
McKinley Bill, and his speeches upon his chosen theme, protection, were
more earnest than varied or profound. But witness the largeness of view
marking the directions of April 7, 1900, to the Taft Philippine
Commission: "The Commission should bear in mind that the government
which they are establishing is designed not for our satisfaction or for
the expression of our theoretical views, but for the happiness, peace,
and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands, and the measures
adopted should be made to conform to their customs, their habits, and
even their prejudices, to the fullest extent consistent with the
accomplishment of the indispensable requisites of just and effective
government."

Most of President McKinley's appointments were wise; several of the most
important ones quite remarkably so. He managed discreetly in crises. He
saw the whole of a situation as few statesmen have done, penetrating to
details and obscure aspects, which others, even experts, had overlooked.
During the Spanish War his advice was always wise and helpful, and at
points vital. Courteous to all foreign powers, and falling into no
spectacular jangles with any, he was obsequious to none. No other ruler,
party to intervention in China during the Boxer rebellion in 1900, acted
there so sanely, or withdrew with so creditable a record.

What made it certain that Mr. McKinley's name would be forever
remembered with honor was not merely or ma