I am here by resolution of the Republican State Convention, passed without a single dissenting vote, commanding me to cast my vote for John Sherman for President and to use every worthy endeavor for his nomination. I accepted the trust because my heart and my 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 for President. I am not insensible to 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 wish of the State whose credentials I bear and which has trusted me; I cannot with honorable fidelity to John Sherman; I cannot, consistently with my own views of personal integrity, consent, or seem to conset, to permit my name to be used as a candidate before this convention. I would not respect myself if I should find it in my heart to do so, or permit to be done that which would ever 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 delegate who would not cast reflection upon me shall cast a ballot for me."

CAMPAIGN ACHIEVEMENTS.

In number alone the McKinley speeches are impressive as betokening a magnificent reserve store of vitality, ten addresses a day consecutively for a month being among his campaign achievements in the old times. But they were always feats of strength in the intellectual even more than the physical sense, many of them having already passed into the classics of politicosocial literature, while his State papers have not only had a profound effect on the thought of the day, but are for the future as well.

One who knew him well described him as follows:

"Quiet, dignified, modest, considerate of others; ever mindful of the long service of the leaders of his party, true as steel to his friends; unhesitating at the call of duty, no matter what the personal sacrifice; unwavering in his integrity, full of tact in

overcoming opposition, yet unyielding on vital principles; with a heart full of sympathy for those who toil, a disposition unspoiled by success, and a private life equally spotless and self-sacrificing, William McKinley stood before the American people as one of the finest types of courageous, persevering, vigorous and developing manhood that this Republic ever produced. More than any other President since Lincoln, perhaps, he was in touch with those whom Abraham Lincoln loved to call the plain people of this country.

A greater encomium could not be written and the people will treasure it as the President's name and fame become splendid memories; for though Washingson's name is ever first in the people's thoughts, Lincoln's ever immanent as the glorious martyr to a great cause, the name of McKinley crystalizes an epoch, the most signal in the history of the Republic, surpassing in its achievements, under his administration, the most brilliant efforts of the past and dazzling in its possibilities for the future of the people, and of the Goverment for the people and by the people, whose preservation in all perpetuity of its free institutions was his fondest wish and to whose service he gave a lifetime of high endeavor.

CHAPTER IV.

Additional Account of President McKinley's Life-Ïllustrious Ancestry-A Young Patriot in the Army-First Term in the White House and Re-election.

[The following sketch of President McKinley's career was prepared by Mr. George R. Prowell for a semi-official publication. The data were furnished by Private Secretary Cortelyou, and the article-of course, with the exception of the concluding paragraphs -was revised by the President himself.]

WILLIAM MCKINLEY, twenty-fifth President of the United

States, was born in Niles, Ohio, January 29, 1843; son of William and Nancy Campbell (Allison) McKinley, grandson of James and Polly (Rose) McKinley and of Abner and Ann (Campbell) Allison, and great-grandson of David and Sarah (Gray) McKinley and of Andrew Rose, an ironmaster of Bucks county, Pa., who was sent home from the Revolutionary War to make cannon and bullets for the army.

David's father, John McKinley, came to America from Dervock, County Antrim, Ireland, in 1743, when twelve years of age, and the relatives with whom he came located in Chanceford township, York county, Pa. David was born there May 16, 1755, served for twenty-one months in the Revolution in the Pennsylvania line, and after peace was restored, became an iron manufacturer in Westmoreland county, where he was married, December 17, 1780, to Sarah Gray. He removed to Pine township, Mercer county, in 1795, and in 1815 to Columbiana county, Ohio, where he died in 1840. His seventh child, William, was born in Pine township, in 1807, was married in 1829, and engaged in iron manufacturing at Niles, Trumbull county, Ohio, where his son, William, was born.

On his removal, in 1852, to Poland, William, Jr., attended the Union Seminary until 1860, when he entered the junior class

of Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., but before closing his class year, was obliged to leave on account of a severe illness. He then taught a district school, and was clerk in the Poland post office.

On June 11, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company E, Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, served in Western Virginia, and saw his first battle at Carnifex Ferry, September 10, 1861. On April 15, 1862, he was promoted commissary sergeant, and served as such in the battle of Antietam with such conspicuous gallantry as to win for him promotion, September 24, 1862, to the rank of second lieutenant. On February 7, 1863, he was made first lieutenant, and on July 25, 1864, was raised to the rank of captain. He served on the staffs of Generals Hayes, Crook, Hancock, Sheridan and Carroll; was brevetted major March 13, 1865, for gallantry at Opequan, Cedar Creek and Fisher's Hill, and was serving as acting assistant adjutant general in the First Division, First Army Corps, when he was mustered out, July 26, 1865.

LAW STUDENT AT YOUNGSTOWN.

He returned home, and studied law at Youngstown, Ohio, and at the Albany Law School, and was admitted to the Ohio Bar at Warren, in March, 1867, and settled in practice in Canton, Ohio. He was elected by the Republicans of Stark county Prosecuting Attorney, and served 1870-71, but was defeated for re-election. He was married January 25, 1871, to Ida, daughter of James A. and Catherine (Dewalt) Saxton, of Canton, Ohio.

He was a Representative from the Seventeenth District of Ohio in the Forty-fifth Congress, defeating Leslie L. Lanborn, 1877-79; from the Sixteenth District in the Forty-sixth Congress, defeating General Aquilla Wiley, 1879-81, and from the Seventeenth District in the Forty-seventh Congress, defeating Leroy D. Thoman, 1881-83. His party claimed that he was elected from the Eighteenth District to the Forty-eighth Congress in 1882 by a majority of eight votes, and he was given the certificate of election but his seat was successfully contested by Jonathan H. Wallace, of Columbiana county, who was seated in June, 1884.

Mr. McKinley was elected from the Twentieth District to the Forty-ninth Congress, defeating David R. Paige, 1885-87, and from the Eighteenth District to the Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses, against Wallace H. Phelps and George P. Ikert, respectively, serving 1887-91, and was defeated in the Sixteenth District for Representative to the Fifty-second Congress in 1890 by John G. Warwick, of Massillon, Democrat, by 302 votes. The changes in the Congressional districts were due to political expedients used by the party in power, and Mr. McKinley, while always a resident of Stark county, was in this way obliged to meet the conditions caused by the combination of contiguous counties in the efforts of the opposition to defeat him.

APPOINTED ON JUDICIARY COMMITTEE.

He was appointed by Speaker Randall in 1877 to a place on the Judiciary Committee, and he succeeded Representative James A. Garfied on the Ways and Means Committee in December, 1880. In the Forty-sixth Congress he was appointed on the House Committee of Visitors to the United States Military Academy, and in 1881 he was Chairman of the committee having in charge the Garfield memorial exercises in the House. In Congress he supported a high protective tariff, making a notable speech on the subject April 6, 1882, and his speech on the Morrison Tariff bill, April 30, 1884, was said to be the most effective argument made against it.

On April 16, 1890, as Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means as successor to Judge Kelley, he introduced the general tariff measure afterwards known by his name, and his speech before the House, May 7, 1890, fully established his powers as an orator. The bill passed the House May 21, and the Senate, after a protracted debate, September 11, and became a law October 6, 1890. His notable congressional speeches not already mentioned include that on arbitration as a solution of labor troubles, April 2, 1886; his reply, May 18, 1888, to Representative Samuel J. Randall's argument in favor of the Mills Tariff Bill, of which millions of copies were circulated by the manufacturing interests