in the minds of Ohio Republicans as to who should and must be their candidate for Governor. It was no consolation purse that he was to race for. It was simply and solely that the fortune of hostile legislative control had placed within reach as candidate for the Chief Executive of the State a man of spotless honor, whose many services made him the most popular man in the Commonwealth. The room in the northwest corner of the State House in Columbus is brimful of history.

A Secretary of the Treasury, a Chief Justice of the United States and a President sat there as the Chief Executive of the State before being called to higher preferment. Nearly every man who has occupied the chief chair therein has been or still is a vital force in the political or business history of the nation. No other State has ever contributed as many Governors to the National Executive in chair or council.

A FAITHFUL PUBLIC OFFICER.

Governor McKinley's career of four years in the Executive Chair of Ohio was exemplification of the fact that the most interesting period of a statesman's public service is not necessarily that in which he enjoys the greatest degree of public prominence. That office claimed, almost monopolized, his attention, and local interests were never in the remotest degree subordinated to wider political necessities. But this lessened neither the number nor loyalty of his friends in all parts of the country.

His solicitude for the toilers was marked. His sympathy with the eight-hour movement was early manifested. He was a conspicuous champion of arbitration in the settlement of labor difficulties. These convictions appeared in his recommendations of legislation to protect workingmen in hazardous occupations, to secure them more considerate treatment as well as more safety in the pursuit of their avocations. It was upon his recommendation that the Ohio law was passed requiring that all street cars should be furnished with vestibules to protect the motormen and conductors from inclement weather.

But it was along the line of arbitration-authorized but not

compulsory which he regarded as the true solution of labor troubles-that his best work was done. During his first term the State Board of Arbitration was created upon the Massachusetts plan, but he made its workings the subject of his personal supervision during all his administration. During the existence of the Board, twenty-eight strikes, some of them involving 2000 men, were investigated, and in fifteen cases the Board found a common basis upon which both parties could agree.

SENDS RELIEF TO MINERS IN DISTRESS.

No account of Governor McKinley's connection with labor problems would be complete without mention of the tireless energy he displayed in securing relief for the 2000 miners of the Hocking Valley mining district, who, early in 1895, were reported out of work and destitute. The news reached him at midnight, but by 5 A. M., on his own responsibility, a car, loaded with provisions, worth $1000, was dispatched to the afflicted district. Appeals made subsequently to the Boards of Trade or Chambers of Commerce of the great cities of the State increased this initial benefaction to $32,796 worth of clothing and provisions.

Governor McKinley's two terms as the State's Executive were on the whole smooth and harmonious, but he was repeatedly called upon to solve perplexing problems in the relations of capital and labor. In 1894 the State Government received no fewer than fifteen calls for State troops to aid in enforcing the law. No such demand had been made since the Civil War, but Governor McKinley, obeying the dictates of his judgment, answered with such popular acceptation that even those labor organizations which are most radical in opposing any action in labor troubles on the part of the State militia were forced to admit the wisdom of his course.

CHAPTER II.

A Man of Noble Ideals and Unselfish Aims-His Domestic Fidelity-A Governor of Rare Sagacity-His Successful Administration as President.

N°

events in the history of President McKinley commended him more to the confidence and respect of his fellow-citizens than his honorable course in two national conventions of his party, when, had he shown a momentary departure in steadfast loyalty in support of the men he had been instructed to vote for, he might have himself been the nominee. Since 1876 he had borne a prominent part in Republican national conventions. He was a member of the Committee on Resolutions of the convention of 1880, when the man who led the Ohio delegation, pledged to the candidacy of Senator John Sherman, and who placed that veteran statesman in nomination in a speech that was one of the masterpieces of his public utterances, was himself made the nominee. This was James A. Garfield.

Again, in 1884, he was the chosen member of the Committee on Resolutions who drafted the party platform with such skill that a newspaper raised his name to its column head with the words, "Let the man who wrote the platform of '84 be our standard-bearer for 1888."

Perhaps McKinley himself realized in 1888 that he then hardly measured up to the standard of the tried and true veterans in the public service whose names were to go before that convention. Certainly no one could have declared such fact more unhesitatingly or earnestly than he did. It was an occasion never to be forgotten, and it demonstrated even then that Mr. McKinley was a Presidential possibility who could afford to bide his time and need not crowd veterans in public favor out of a nomination which for him could have no charm unless fairly

won.

The balloting for President had reached the fourth call when

a Connecticut delegate cast his vote for McKinley. As soon as the vote was announced McKinley rose in his seat and lifted his hand for recognition of the Chair. Before he could utter half a dozen words a great shout, "McKinley" went up from all over the convention. Unshaken by this evidence of popular esteem, he said:

MANLY SPEECH IN CONVENTION.

"( 'Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention: I am here as one of the chosen representatives of my State; I am here by resolution of its Republican convention, passed without one dissenting voice, commanding me to cast my vote for John Sherman and to use every worthy endeavor for his nomination. I accepted this trust because my heart and judgment were in accord with the letter and spirit and purpose of that resolution. It has pleased certain delegates to cast their votes for me. I am not insensible of the honor they would do me, but in the presence of the duty resting upon me, I cannot remain silent with honor; I cannot consistently with the credit of the State whose credentials I bear, and which has trusted me; I cannot with honorable fidelity to John Sherman, who has trusted me in his cause and with his confidence; I cannot consistently with my own views of my personal integrity consent, or seem to consent, to permit my name to be used as a candidate before the convention.

"I would not restrict myself if I could find it in my heart to do, but I cannot permit that to be done which could even be ground for any one to suspect that I wavered in my loyalty to Ohio or my devotion to the chief of her choice and the chief of mine. I do not request-I demand-that no delegates who would not cast reflection upon me shall cast a ballot for me"

When McKinley, who spoke in tones whose earnestness and sincerity could not be doubted, concluded his speech his audience applauded him to the echo. It was so characteristic of the man that his name was not mentioned by any as a candidate. He had gained another popular victory.

Four years later at Minneapolis McKinley again had opportunity to show that he valued honor above even nomination to