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GENERAL BENJAMIN HARRISON

EN. BENJAMIN HARRISON was a man of most sturdy and admirable qualities, an old-fashioned kind of man whose mental attitude to many problems of our time was the attitude of a generation ago. In politics he was extremely partisan with the partisanship of the war period, but there was no more patriotic man in the Republic than he. In his religious life he held to the straight sect of Presbyterianism, and he believed in the value of rigid discipline after the fashion of an earlier generation. For instance, on his journey through the West while he was President he stopped in Denver on Sunday. The citizens of Denver wished to invite him to make an address, but they hardly dared suggest that he speak on the Sabbath. But they did ask him and he consented. The address was a sermon on the sacredness of the Lord's Day.

He had a certain hardness of mind accompanied with great clearness, a high sense of justness coupled with an unsympathetic manner. He had the power of convincing men, but he seldom moved them; everybody greatly respected him, but the respect was not accompanied with personal affection.

Of a distinguished ancestry, he made his own way and stood on his own merits, and his strength of character and mind was such that he fairly won the great honors that came to him. His great-grandfather was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, his grandfather was President of the United States, and his father was an Ohio Judge. He was born at North Bend, Ohio, on August 20, 1833, and he spent two years at Miami University in Ohio. When he came of age he married and went to Indianapolis where he made his home till his death. His diligent application to his profession, and his careful study of public questions brought him a good equipment both for professional and political success. He was elected Reporter of the Supreme Court of Indiana in 1860 and reelected in 1864 while he was in the army. In 1862 he volunteered and went to the war as a second-lieutenant, and he made a most creditable military record. He rose to the rank of Brigadier-General of Volunteers.

When his second term as Reporter of the Supreme Court expired, he resumed his law practice in Indianapolis, and took part in most of the important cases in his state during the next twenty-five years. In 1876 he made a canvass of Indiana for the office of governor, under conditions that were hopeless and that brought his defeat. He was offered a place in Garfield's cabinet in 1880. But he declined it, preferring a seat in the United States Senate, where he served one term. The Democrats by a gerrymander of the State carried the Legislature in 1886 and thus defeated his reelection. But his friends, feeling that he had been ill treated, made the more energetic effort to secure for him the nomination for the Presidency in 1888. The friends of Mr. Blaine in that convention gave Harrison their support at last, and he was nominated. In that campaign Mr. Cleveland had staked his whole chance of reëlection on his famous radical tariff-reform message, and General Harrison was elected. He owed the Presidential nomination in great measure, and his election, as many Presidential candidates have, to his residence in a doubtful state; in great measure, too, to his staunch partisanship.

His Administration was a creditable one and a clean one. But there were no great events that make it stand out conspicuously. The McKinley tariff-act, the so-called Sherman. Silver-purchase act and a vigorous effort made by the Administration to pass the Force bill indicate the direction of his thought and activity and the vigor of his partisanship.

Both he and Mr. Cleveland were renominated in 1892. Neither man had a genius for political leadership, and their failure to inspire enthusiasm made them better candidates when they were out of office than when they were in. The administration of each gave the opposing party the advantage. Mr. Cleveland, therefore, won; and General Harrison retired from public life.

He took up his law-practice again and was very successful. He was retained as counsel for Venezuela in its boundary dispute with Great Britian. After the Peace Conference at the Hague he was appointed Arbitrator for the United States.

General Harrison maintained the dignity of an Ex-President's difficult position with both grace and increasing usefulness. He gave much time to the great religous body of which he was the most distinguished layman. He presided at the World's Ecumenical Congress in New York, and he was a member of the Presbyterian Committee to consider the revision of the creed. He gave much time, too, to educational institutions in which he was interested; and he kept alive his interest in

public affairs. The passing of the period of his participation in politics softened his partisanship. He married a second time after his retirement from the Presidency and he seemed likely to grow old both gracefully and usefully when his death occurred suddenly on March 13 from pueumonia. He continued to develop at a time of life when most men begin to show some signs of decay. Mr. Cleveland is again, as he was once before, the only living ex-President.

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BRIGADIER-GENERAL FUNSTON

ENERAL FUNSTON'S capture of Aguinaldo, carefully thought out, well-planned with an admirable judgment of men, successfully executed without loss, requiring deliberation, coolness, endurance and daring, was characteristic of the resourcefulness and energy of the man. He is the most picturesque soldier, and along with General Bell, the most dashing that the war has developed. The many kinds of danger that this expedition involved, especially the danger of treachery, make it stand out as a most extraordinary exploit; and it is no doubt the last brilliant military achievement of the war in the Philippines, for it has the great and welcome merit of ending hostilities. The story of the capture is worth telling.

Aguinaldo had long been in hiding in the Province of Isabella, in the northeastern part of the Island of Luzon. In January he sent a messenger with letters to Baldemero Aguinaldo in Central Luzon, ordering men to be despatched to him as soon as possible. General Funston secured these letters which, of course, conveyed the information where the leader was. He had already secured the seal of Lacuna, one of Aguinaldo's generals.

Funston then went to Manila and secretly organized his expedition, consisting of seventyeight Macabebes who spoke the Tagalog language, and four American officers-Capt. Russell T. Hazzard and Lieut. Oliver P. M. Hazzard, Capt. Harry W. Newton and Lieut. B. J. Mitchell and four former insurgent officers-one Spaniard and three Tagalogs.

They sailed from Manila on March 8 on

the gunboat Vicksburg; and after six days the Vicksburg put out her lights and ran in shore on the north of Luzon. The party landed and marched twenty-five miles to Casiguran, where the former insurgent leaders exhibited the American officers as prisoners, and said that they had captured them and were carrying them to Aguinaldo. General Funston and the other American officers were kept in prison for three days to deceive the people of the settlement, who were strongly loyal to Aguinaldo, and letters were sent forward to Aguinaldo bearing the forged signature and the seal of Lacuna. One of these letters gave news of the progress of the war, and the other said that the writer was sending him reënforcements. The forged letters completely deceived Aguinaldo.

On March 17 the party started on a ninetymile march to Palanan, where Aguinaldo's headquarters were, through a rough, uninhabited country, eating only shell-fish and. suffering many hardships. After a march of seven days and nights they halted eight miles from Palanan, and sent to Aguinaldo's camp for food. The Filipino chief sent supplies and directed that the Americans be kindly treated, but be forbidden to enter the town.

By a skilful manœuvre, to avoid attracting attention, the American officers did accompany the Macabebes and the Tagalog officers into the town. The Spaniard of the party, when he thought that Aguinaldo's body-guard had had their suspicions aroused, ordered an attack. Three insurgents were killed, and in the confusion that followed one of the former

insurgent officers arrested Aguinaldo, saying, "You are a prisoner of the Americans." General Funston had already openly taken command of the party. Some of Aguinaldo's officers fled and others were captured. The party returned to the Vicksburg with Aguinaldo, and arrived at Manila on March 27. Aguinaldo, who had on January 28 proclaimed himself dictator, and had been living at Palanan, was imprisoned in the palace, where his former generals and his mother and his wife were permitted to visit him.

General Funston, who had held the rank of Brigadier-General of Volunteers, was on March 30 promoted by the President to the same rank in the regular army.

Within a half a decade General Funston has risen from obscurity to his high rank by his restless and energetic courage. His early life was dull and unexciting. He was born in 1865; and when he was two years old his father moved to Kansas. He attended the public schools, and finally the University of Kansas at Lawrence, where he was considered a rather poor student.

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Funston left the University without graduating, and became a newspaper reporter, giving up his desk before long to collect botanical specimens for the government in the Bad Lands of Dakota. He took part in the expedition to the Death Valley in California in 1891. His party spent a considerable time in that fiery sink, suffering terribly. all the members of the expedition Funston is the only one now living who is still sane. In 1893-4, he went north to botanize. for the government in Alaska. He had some scruples about undertaking this trip, because as he said his botanical knowledge did not "extend much further than knowing a violet from a sunflower." He bought a few text books, however, and got to know a little about Arctic flora before he started, so that his trip turned out to be valuable after all.

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a filibustering expedition. This was the first step in his military career. About two weeks after his arrival he was made a Captain and placed in command of two guns. He commanded these guns in the twelve days siege of Cascorra, and in the engagement at La Machucha. He took part in the battle of Desmayo, the Cuban Balaklava, on October 8, 1896. "At Desmayo," he wrote, "that little force of 479 Cubans rode against magazinerifles firing seventy shots a minute, and breechloading artillery, and held their position in the face of that pitiless fire until fifty-two per cent. had tumbled from their horses killed or wounded."

After Desmayo, Gomez, under whom Funston was serving, marched to meet Calixto Garcia near Guimaro. Guimaro, although defended by eleven small forts, was attacked. On the second day, Major Osgood, of Garcia's force, who had charge of the artillery, was killed, and Captain Funston took his place with the rank of Major. He was created chief of artillery the day Guimaro surrendered. Subsequently he took part in numerous engagements east of the Cauto River. He fought at Banes, and on May II, 1897, bombarded the Sama forts for General Torres. He commanded the five guns used in the attack on Las Tunas on August 28, and at the end of the operation was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. On December 12, 1897, while crawling along the ground, suffering cruel pain from bullet wounds in both lungs and other injuries, he was captured by the Spanish. His old habits of mind promptly came to his assistance, and giving the Spanish certain facts about the Cuban army, in which much poetry was mixed, he managed to get permission to leave Cuba. He went to New York where it was at first thought he would never recover from his wounds; but very soon he was lecturing in Kansas about his exploits.

When our war with Spain began he offered his services to his country. Governor Leedy of Kansas appointed him Colonel of the 20th Kansas Regiment. While the regiment was being drilled, Colonel Funston was called to Tampa to consult with General Miles about the situation in Cuba. In Tampa he went about in civilian clothes, saying that when there were plenty of sure-enough fighters around he would not pose as a warrior-not without stimulants at least. He returned to Kansas and took his regiment to San Fran

cisco. Between drills, Colonel Funston used to run over from San Francisco to Oakland, where he fell in love with Miss Eda Blankart, whom he married. Then he sailed for Manila at the head of his 1,300 men.

It was not long before the cable began to bring news of the 20th Kansas. Towards the spring of 1899, the country was thrown into amazement by two startling feats of its Colonel, and several of its members. Funston's own words give a sufficient description of these exploits. He wrote:

"I swam the Bagbag river with the other officers and 4 men of the 20th Kansas under a hot fire, April 20. The Rio Grande River I crossed two days later on a raft with 45 men and after a desperate fight drove 2500 of the enemy from an intrenched position."

In recognition of his gallantry and skill, he was appointed Brig.-General of Volunteers on May 3, 1899. Shortly after this he sailed for the United States with his regiment, arriving in San Francisco on October II, 1899. The men, then only 708 in number, were met by the Governor of Kansas and a large delegation of happy friends for whom they paraded before proceding to their homes. The people of

Kansas presented General Funston with a handsome sword. handsome sword. But on the 23d of November, he sailed again for Manila to complete his work and, as it was to prove, to round out his fame.

The distance between this country and the Philippines makes the soldiers seem vague and uncertain figures. Only occasionally when they perform some extraordinary deed do they stand out clear and firm in the sight of the public. General Funston stands so now and gives promise of keeping the position. His rise has been rapid, almost without precedent; but it has been won by extraordinary achievement.

Five years ago he was unknown; to-day at the age of thirty-six, he is a Brigadier-General in the United States Army. He has gone through the horrors of Death Valley; he has lived through a long Arctic night; he has fought for a people whom he thought oppressed; he has swum rivers, driving savage enemies before him; he has led bloody charges; and last of all, he has captured the leader of the Filipino insurrection. A man who has done all these things is a man who sets the blood tingling and gives wings to the imagination.

PRESIDENT DIAZ AND HIS SUCCESSOR

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AN EXPLANATION OF THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN
MEXICO THE MEN WHO ARE NATURALLY IN THE LINE
FOR CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE "DESPOTIC REPUBLIC"

BY

J. D. WHELPLEY

SHOULD like to live fifty years to see the result of the seed I have planted," remarked General Porfirio Diaz, the President of Mexico, to a friend but a few days ago. This is some of the "seed": Twenty-four years of peace for a nation of 14,000,000 people who had been at war with others and among themselves for half a century; compulsory education; religious freedom; safety for foreign and domestic life and property; the creation of a middle class; a modern army of 38,000 trained soldiers armed with Mauser rifles and officered by graduates

of a modern military school; representation for Mexico at the capitals of all foreign nations of importance; an increase from 420 to 8,000 miles of railroad; an increase from $35,000,000 to $78,000,000 in the output of precious metals; an increase from $20,000,000 to $51,000,000 in imports; an increase from $23,000,000 to $75,000,000 in exports; the investment of $30,000,000 of foreign capital in cotton mills and millions more in breweries, paper mills and many other forms of enterprise; a general increase of wages paid for common labor from eighteen to sixty

cents a day; a government the expenses of which are always within its income and which has an accumulated surplus in bank of $18,000,000 in currency; a capital city with 400,000 inhabitants in which is now being spent about $10,000,000 for water, light, sewers and pavements.

This reads more like a harvest than a seed sowing, but it is looked upon as only a beginning by this ruler who entered his kingdom as the man-on-horseback, but who will be known to history as a prince of peace.

His rule did not commence until he was past fifty years of age, and it is to-day, at the end of twenty-four years, as vigorous and effective as ever. That this rule cannot last very many years more the Mexican nation now mournfully admits. With keen anxiety the possible successors to the President are being weighed in the balance in hopes of finding another whose energies and statecraft are of such heroic mould as to warrant his being entrusted with the cultivation of the crop sown by his predecessor.

FIGHTER AND STATESMAN

In the council room of the municipal building in the City of Mexico hangs an oil painting, the portrait of a soldier. There are many other portraits in the room, some of them occupying more prominent places upon the wall, but this one personality dominates the entire group. The face is unmistakably that of a Spanish-American. The complexion is dark, and the cheek bones are high. The eyes are sombre, but they have a keen and flashing glance. It is "the man-on-horseback,' bitious, daring, content only with supreme leadership and working relentlessly toward that end. To him death is the only acceptable alternative to success. This is General Diaz, as he appeared in 1877, when, at the head of his victorious army, he made himself President of Mexico.

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To-day, in the executive office of the national palace, but a stone's throw from the municipal building, sits a man best known to the world as the builder of modern Mexico. He is the same Porfirio Diaz in name, and still President of the Republic, but his character has changed-the emphasis is now on other qualities. This change is written plainly upon his face. The same lines are there, but they have been broadened and softened. The hair is white. His eyes are deep and thought

ful. Statesmanship and the arts of peace have dominated and subordinated the military instinct.

"If Mexico should get into trouble she would have to look to her great northern neighbor for support, and I know of nothing so binding between nations as a commercial tie." Such a sentiment would have been incomprehensible to the leader of 1877. With the leader of 1901 it is the inspiring motive of his foreign policy. He has faith in its truth, for, by following its dictates, he has in twentyfour years brought his people farther along the road towards civilization than they had gone in five centuries preceding.

The credit for this tremendous accomplishment must be given to President Diaz. Those who have served him faithfully and intelligently in carrying on the work would have been powerless without his leadership. He has been the whole government in every sense of the word, and he is to-day; for, notwithstanding the Constitution of 1857, Mexico is governed "without the curse of parliamentarism," and by a power centralized in one mind. It is a government entirely rebuilt with each succeeding administration, and from the top down. Always in evidence-always behind every civil order-is the military arm knowing no law other than the will of its leader, recognizing no constitutional principle other than the integrity of Mexico as a nation. This army was never in better condition than it is to-day, and it constitutes a formidable military showing for such a minor power.

PROGRESS REPLACING POMP

When the ill-fated Maximilian became ruler of Mexico, he spent the first hours of his administration designing new orders and decorations for his favorites. The first plans put forth by the administration of President Diaz were for great railroad systems, and for laws to encourage the development of the country by foreign capital. The man of pomp perished miserably. The man of military and commercial genius will live for ever in his works, for with his coming dated the birth of modern Mexico. To make a throne of bayonets and to sit upon it in comfort is an unique task; but by cushioning it with a constitution and by making his rule the best that Mexico has ever had, President Diaz has kept the mass of the Mexican people more than content and so busy reaping a harvest of industry that the

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