and did not look up or seem to be aware of all it exactly and conclusively meant.

The Ohio man next him threw down his pencil, saying: "There, that settles it, no more figures for me."

The Major looked up with an air of curiosity, saying: "Why are you no longer interested?"

The reply was: "Because the thing is done; let the boys cipher. The majority will be big enough. Major, I congratulate you. God bless you and give you all good gifts; and now you have just a quarter of a minute, before you are mobbed, to greet your wife and mother."

He quickly crossed the hall to the parlor, crowded with ladies, and, as his wife and mother were seated side by side, stooped low to kiss them and clasp their eager hands, the wife responding with a bright smile and a sweet exaltation in her eyes, as he told her that the vote of Ohio had given him the nomination, and the grand old mother, placing a trembling hand on her son's neck, and her eyes streaming with tears, brighter even than smiles, whispered to her illustrious boy some holy words for him alone.

At this moment the bells rang, the whistles blew, the cannon thundered, and beautiful Canton went stark, gloriously mad. The city, under a strong pressure, had kept quiet. There was a determination that there would be nothing done prematurely. Now the city blazed with bunting. There were

whirring carriages, galloping horses, wheel men and women swift as the wind! There seemed to have been an organization, including all the men, women, and children, to demonstrate instantly the moment the momentous signal was given.

As I hastened to the telegraph office there was a vast multitude precipating themselves in a gigantic, ungovernable procession upon Governor McKinley's house, and there, with wife and mother at the window with him, he acknowledged his gratitude to his neighbors first of all, and to his countrymen for their personal kindness, and his voice had the fine tone of resolution and sincerity that all who know him know, and that they hear with joyful confidence that heaven has sent a man of such manliness to serve his country in her great office, and help her upward and forward to her incomparable destiny.

CHAPTER XIX.

MAJOR MCKINLEY ACKNOWLEDGES AND ACCEPTS HIS NOMINATION.

THE

HE letter of Major McKinley, accepting his nomination for the Presidency by the National Republican Convention, was delivered by him. to the press for publication on the evening of August 26. It read as follows:

Canton, O., August 26, 1896. Hon. John M. Thurston and others, members of the Notification Committee of the Republican National Convention:

Gentlemen:-In pursuance of the promise made to your committee when notified of my nomination as the Republican candidate for President, I beg to submit this formal acceptance of that high honor and to consider in detail questions at issue in the pending campaign.

Perhaps this might be considered unnecessary in view of my remarks on that occasion and those I have made to delegations that have visited me since the St. Lous Convention, but in view of the momentous importance of the proper settlement of the issues

presented on our future prosperity and standing as a nation, and considering only the welfare and happiness of our people, I could not be content to omit again calling attention to the questions which in my opinion vitally affect our strength and position among the governments of the world and our morality, integrity and patriotism as citizens of that Republic which for a century past has been the best hope of the world and the inspiration of mankind.

We must not now prove false to our own high standards in government nor unmindful of the noble example and wise precepts of the fathers, or of the confidence and trust which our conduct in the past has always inspired.

For the first time since 1868, if ever before, there is presented to the American people this year a clear and direct issue as to our monetary system, of vast importance in its effects, and upon the right settlement of which rests largely the financial honor and prosperity of the country.

It is proposed by one wing of the Democratic party and its allies, the People's and Silver parties, to inaugurate the free and unlimited coinage of silver by independent action on part of the United States at a ratio of sixteen ounces of silver to one ounce of gold.

The mere declaration of this purpose is a menace to our financial and industrial interests and has already created universal alarm. It involves great peril to the credit and business of the country-a peril so grave that conservative men everywhere are

breaking away from their old party associations and uniting with other patriotic citizens in emphatic protest against the platform of the Democratic National Convention as an assault upon the faith and honor of the Government and the welfare of the people. We have had few questions in the lifetime of the Republic more serious than the one which is thus presented.

The character of the money which shall measure our values and exchanges, and settle our balances with one another and with the nations of the world, is of such primary importance and so far-reaching in its consequences as to call for the most painstaking investigation, and, in the end, a sober and unprejudiced judgment at the polls. We must not be misled by phrases nor deluded by false theories.

Free silver would not mean that silver dollars were to be freely had without cost or labor, It would mean the free use of the mints of the United States for the few who are owners of silver bullion, but would make silver coin no freer to the many who are engaged in other enterprises.

It would not make labor easier, the hours of labor shorter, or the pay better. It would not make arming less laborious or more profitable. It would not start a factory or make a demand for an additional day's labor. It would create no new occupations. It would add nothing to the comfort of the masses, the capital of the people or the wealth of the

nation.