GROUP OF OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF 1900, WHO CONDUCTED THE CAMPAIGN RESULTING IN MR. MCKINLEY'S RE-ELECTION CHAPTER I. Birth and Education of President McKinley-His Brilliant Career in the Army and Promotion for Bravery-Distinguished as a Lawyer, Congressman and GovernorChampion of the Rights of Labor. A CROWDED public reception in the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo. President McKinley shaking hands with the throng. Suddenly the sharp crack of a pistol shot, repeated in an instant. The President twice wounded by a desperate assassin. Horror, commotion and indignation on every side. Such is the short and appalling story of that fatal Friday afternoon, the sixth of September, 1901. Our honored President, who held so strong a place in the hearts of the whole American people was stricken by the dastardly hand of a coward and murderer. The shot was winged with death. He was in the apparent enjoyment of health, honor and every token of happiness. He was applauded by the vast throng that crowded around him at the Exposition Grounds. In the twinkling of an eye a ghastly change came over the whole scene. Men were petrified by the infamous deed; others were maddened to desperation. We shall relate the story of Mr. McKinley's life, with the earnest endeavor to make these pages worthy of the illustrious President, whose tragic death has stirred the hearts of the whole American people to their lowest depths. Seldom in the public life of the statesmen of this republic has the wisdom of pertinacious, continuous application to one broad issue of national policy as a road to highest preferment been so completely approved as in the career of President William McKinley. Twice his conspicuous championship of protection and home markets for American workmen almost stampeded conventions to his nomination, when acceptance 3 MCK 33 would have been violative of the high stand, and of personal honor, which has marked his public and private life. Quiet, dignified, modest, considerate of others, ever ready to postpone his own ambitions in favor of those of veterans of longer service, faithful to friends, unwavering in integrity, tactful in silencing opposition, but unyielding in matters of principle, strong in his sympathy with the toilers, unchanged by success, abounding in hope under defeat, of unspotted private life, he won his way to the top as one of the best examples of courageous, persevering, vigorous manhood that the nation has ever produced. IN TOUCH WITH PLAIN PEOPLE. More than any other who has reached his proud preeminence, save only Abraham Lincoln, his touch was closest with those "plain people" upon whom the martyred Lincoln relied with such unhesitating confidence. While yet a youth he marched in the ranks, a private soldier, and saw four years of the bloody struggle which made the country all free. In poverty he wrought to acquire his profession. These years of self-denial brought with them the self-reliance and self-control which resulted in his leadership on the floor of Congress at an age when no other American, save Henry Clay, had ever achieved similar prominence. He bore his part in great debates in a manner quiet, selfpossessed and dignified. His incisive logic, caustic raillery at antagonists, and sarcastic comments on the shortcomings of his own party, gave him a mastery in debate which won the admiration even of those who opposed him. Mr. McKinley's personality like his career was the fruit of a peculiarly logical and systematic character. Where others knew superficially he knew thoroughly. This thoroughness and skill in handling a slender majority of twenty-two enabled him to pass that tariff bill which bears his name, which found less favor when enacted than it has enjoyed since its revision. He afterward stood as the embodiment and apostle of that principle. It is not easy always to analyze the causes of a popular |