WILLIAM L. WILSON

(October 18, 1900)

In the death of William L. Wilson at Lexington yesterday a life was closed which, for purity, elevation of purpose, and self-sacrificing devotion to public duty, may well challenge comparison with that of any American of our time. The commanding position in his party which came to Mr. Wilson at a critical period in its history came to him solely as a tribute to his ability, his sincerity, his zeal for the principles he represented, and the personal regard and confidence which he so universally inspired. In some respects, his attainment of such a position was literally unique. Not only did he practise none of the arts of the professional politician, but his personality was devoid of most of those attributes which are usually thought necessary to the acquiring of high political eminence in our country. He was a man of extremely slight physique, and of little or no "magnetism." There was an engaging friendliness, simplicity and good humor about him that was certainly attractive, and the total absence of any kind of pretension went far to making those with whom he came in contact feel kindly toward him; but he was anything but effusive, and indeed was given to expressing far less than his real feelings in personal intercourse. Moreover, he was the "scholar in politics " in a far truer sense than that in which these words are usually applied; for he was not merely a man in politics who had once been a scholar, but a

was due to the fact that, in addition to his tual ability, his unflinching integrity, his deto his work, and the manifest sincerity of his er, he possessed two qualities which gave and force to the impression which those y attributes produced. These were, first, a eniality which made him popular wherever he rsonally known; and secondly a gift of elowhich made his speeches upon all great occaot only the utterances of a keen thinker but ving appeals of a true orator.

work with which Mr. Wilson's name will be y associated in history is the framing and e of the Tariff Act of 1894. His exhausting n the preparation of the tariff bill, and in the

of the long debate upon it, were, it can be doubted, the real cause of his untimely Coming, as they did, shortly after the strain

to his leadership of the Democrats in the during the intense struggle over the repeal silver-purchase clause of the Sherman act, bors undermined a constitution never very and wrought the damage which culminated yesterday morning. It was a cruel fate that the experiment of that reform in the tariff had so long been the object of Democratic

endeavor to be made at a time when conditions were such as to make an immediate favorable showing quite impossible. Under any circumstances, a reform of the tariff would naturally bring about at first some disturbance and loss; but in 1894 the country was in the early stages of a business depression which required years to run its course, just as the business depression started by the panic of 1873 required years to run its course. Popular discontent resulted in defeat of the Democrats in the elections; demoralization of the Democratic party and its surrender to the silver element followed. In 1896, the Republicans gained control of Congress and the Presidency, and immediately undid the work of the Wilson act. Time had not been given for anything like a fair trial of its working, and there is not a shadow of reason for the assertions so glibly made that it was a failure. Normal conditions of prosperity did not set in until long after the passage of the Dingley act, and the increase of manufacturing exports which has been so much commented on began, on a great scale, during the Wilson act period. The depression beginning with the panic of 1893 was precisely parallel, in character and duration, with that which began with the panic of 1873; and yet glib and shallow writers will doubtless continue to set down this depression as proof of the disastrous character of the tariff legislation of 1894.

No tribute more striking to the high worth of Mr. Wilson could be cited than the universal respect in which he has been held in spite of the belief honestly entertained by so many that he represented not only a mistaken but an infinitely disastrous economic

policy. No better proof can be given than this to the youth of America that character and solid ability can triumph against all odds, and achieve a reward far more gratifying than can be attained by the most specious qualities or by the most skillful intrigue. To those who knew Mr. Wilson's life well, however, this but expresses a small part of what his career signifies. The modest simplicity of his life when he was one of the leading men of the nation; the total lack of ostentation with which he devoted himself to the welfare of the republic, not sparing himself even when his very life was evidently at stake; the steady pursuit of duty, whether in public office or in private station-these are the things which Mr. Wilson represented and in which he was most distinguished from the general run of men who are in the public eye. In the example of such men, and in their emulation by the rising generation, lies the chief hope of this great Republic; for it is the example of stainless integrity, unflinching courage, and steady devotion to the truest ideals of American citizenship.

AT THE END OF FOUR YEARS

(March 4, 1901)

When Mr. McKinley succeeded to the Presidency of the United States, four years ago today, a fairly definite impression of the man's qualities was current among his fellow-citizens of both parties, other than extreme partisans on either side. He was a man whose personal traits aroused neither enthusiastic admiration nor impassioned enmity. He was careful, moderate-on everything except the tariff -conciliatory, diplomatic, prudent. On no great question upon which the ground was difficult to tread had he at any time figured as a leader. Throughout the intensely interesting period which preceded his nomination—the period during which the Chicago platform was incubating, and the Bryanization of the Democratic party was foreshadowed his voice had been conspicuous by its silence. Although the leading candidate for the Republican nomination, no appeals were adequate to induce him to declare his attitude on the one great question of the day. Not until, through the recognition by others of the clear path at once of duty and of party policy, it had become established that the Republican party must anticipate the uncompromising declaration of the Democrats for free silver by an equally uncompromising declaration for the gold standard, did Mr. McKinley make it known where he stood on that vital question. And it was as the exponent of this issue, which he had