Captain before him and asked if it was correctly reported. McKinley replied that it was.

"Did you know the full consequence of that order?”

"I did."

"Did you know that if that order failed to bring Duval's division to the front the responsibility would have rested upon you alone?” asked the General.

"I knew that full well,” replied the young Captain. "And for that responsibility I was liable to court-martial and even death. But I took that chance, believing it was the only way to save the day."

The General looked at his young staff officer a minute and then replied:

“And you did save the day."

This readiness of William McKinley to accept responsibility and act promptly in an emergency has characterized his whole career as soldier, as statesman and as President of the United States. General Sheridan testified to this characteristic of McKinley in his account of the battle at Cedar Creek, the morning of his ride from Winchester. Sheridan says, that the first encouragement he met with on that famous ride was young McKinley rallying a squad of straggling troops to check the retreat. William McKinley remained in the army from June, 1861, until September, 1865. He served as private, as Sergeant, as Lieutenant, as Captain, and 1 the service as a major of United States volunteers by

brevet.

William McKinley was twenty-two years old when he returned to Ohio and civil life. His four years service had given him a taste for army life, and but for his father's opposition he might have entered the regular army, as General Carroll desired him to do. He chose civil life, however, studied law with Charles E. Glidden and David Wilson of Mahoning County, took a course at the Albany (N. Y.) law school and in 1867 was admitted to the bar and located at Canton, Stark county, which has since been his home. Soon after McKinley began his law practice he made the acquaintance of Marcus A. Hanna under circumstances which did not then suggest the strong friendship which has for years drawn the two men so close together. The father of Senator Hanna owned the coal mines at Massillon and during a strike incendiaries set fire to the works and they were destroyed. Twenty-three coal miners who had been employed there were arrested and tried for that

crime. They were poor and had not the means to secure counsel as the labor unions in that day were not so well organized or so able to assist their members. William McKinley heard of these arrests and to one of the miners volunteered their defense. He took charge of the defense of all the miners under arrest and while the evidence appeared to be overwhelming against them, twenty-two of these men were acquitted by the jury and the twenty-third who was found guilty was afterward pardoned, largely through the influence of his young attorney. In that trial McKinley made his first great fight for the laboring men. He did it without money and without price, for he refused to accept any pay for his services. In a contest between labor and capital he took his position with labor. He has maintained that position ever since and throughout his whole public career he has been the champion of American labor. He has always had the support of organized labor in his own county and congressional district and by that vote he has served not only his district but the whole country.

He began his political career by becoming a candidate for prosecuting attorney in Stark county in 1869. He was elected in a democratic county but defeated for re-election two years later. In 1872 he took the stump for his party, and in 1876 he was nominated as the Republican candidate for Congress. For fourteen years he represented the district of which Stark county was a part-not the same district, for the Ohio Democrats did not relish the part he was playing in Congress and "gerrymandered” him three times. In 1878 they so changed the district as to give it a Democratic majority of 1800, but McKinley carried it by a majority of 1300. In 1884 they again changed the district so as to give it a Democratic majority of 1500 but McKinley's popularity changed that to a Republican majority of 1530. Finally in 1890, the year he had placed upon the statute books of the nation the famous McKinley bill, partisan intolerance had its most iniquitous expression. Stark county was put in a district which had a Democratic majority of nearly 4000. McKinley did not falter but made the fight for re-election against the overwhelming odds and that campaign became one of the most notable political battles that has ever been waged in a congressional district. McKinley was defeated but the majority against him was not 4000 but only 303 votes. That defeat and that fight made William McKinley Governor of Ohio and later President of the United States.

William McKinley's record in Congress is a part of the most important history of the country. He was active and prominent from the time he entered the House of Representatives. When James A. Garfield became President, Major McKinley took his place on the Ways and Means Committee of the House. He served there for fourteen years and in that time he devoted his attention very largely to the tariff question. He took part in many prominent debates on various questions but he made the tariff his especial study. He followed the advice of President Hayes who said to him when first elected a Representative, "To achieve success and fame you must pursue a special line. You must not make a speech on every motion offered or every bill introduced. You must confine yourself to one thing in particular. Become a specialist. Take up some branch of legislation and make it your study. Why not the tariff?"

Everybody knows how Major McKinley did take up the tariff and how he made what was considered the driest subject in Congress one of the most interesting. He made it a question which became the great issue between the two great political parties of this country. With him "protection" became a passion. Until 1888 a protective tariff had been one of the planks in Republican platforms. In that year Major McKinley was the Chairman of the Committee on Platform, made "protection to American industry" the paramount issue of the campaign and on that issue Benjamin Harrison was elected President and the Republican party was given control of the House of Representatives.

When the Fifty-first Congress met, Major McKinley was a candidate for Speaker but was defeated by Thomas B. Reed, and Speaker Reed selected McKinley for Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. This was the natural result of the great campaign which had again placed the Republican party in power in all branches of the government. McKinley, as Chairman of the Committee that fomulated the Republican platform in 1888, became the Chairman of the great Committee in Congress that must carry out the pledges of that platform. He drafted the tariff bill with which his name became identified. Possibly no measure passed by Congress has been the subject of so much discussion and so widely varying opinions as has the McKinley tariff bill. Its friends have sung its praises and its enemies have been loud in their denunciation. Before it got into practical operation the over

whelming Democratic victories of 1890 threw uncertainty over the result of the Presidential contest of 1892, and the business interests of the country took alarm. Major McKinley was defeated in that year of 1890 and with him enough Republicans went to defeat to give the Democrats an overwhelming majority in Congress. Thousands of Republicans all over the country became timid and looked upon the McKinley tariff bill as the cause of the downfall of the Republican party. But the courage and the faith of its author rose above all the doubts and discouragements of the time. He said, "my friends, be firm. This is only a cross current; the tide of truth flows surely on beneath."

The history written in the last eight years has demonstrated the correctness of Major McKinley's view. The Democratic party came into power in 1893 on a platform of free trade which at once began to disturb business and industry. Before President Cleveland's last term was half finished, manufacturing industries were paralized and thousands upon thousands of American workingmen were without work, and the whole people were calling for a return to the prosperous times that had followed the enactment of the McKinley law. In 1894 there was an unprecedented demand for William McKinley, then Governor of Ohio, to speak in all parts of the country, and everywhere he went he was hailed as the next President of the United States.

Major McKinley had several times had the tempting offer of the Presidency dangled before his eyes by his admiring friends. In 1884 as a delegate-at-large from Ohio to the Republican National Convention he supported James G. Blaine for President. He was again a delegateat-large in 1888, this time advocating the nomination of John Sherman. It was a long and exciting contest. The convention was in session for more than a week. Mr. Blaine, then in Europe, was ardently supported by many, despite his letter declining to be a candidate. There grew up a strong feeling for McKinley. Many of the leaders favored his nomination as the best solution of the difficulty. On Saturday, June 22, every Republican member of the House of Representatives then in Washington, joined in a telegram to Chicago saying that the best interests of the party demanded the nomination of Major McKinley. That same day during the balloting, Connecticut cast a vote for McKinley. He rose in the midst of the roll call and said Ohio had sent him there to support John Sherman, and his heart and judgment accorded with his instructions. He could not remain silent with honor nor consistent

with the credit of Ohio, honorable fidelity to John Sherman or with his own views of personal integrity "consent or seem to consent to be a candidate." "I would not respect myself," said he, "if I could find it in my heart to do or to say, or to permit it to be done, that which would even be ground for anyone 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 a reflection upon me, shall cast a ballot for me." Major McKinley remained steadfast in his position, and when Blaine's letter came reiterating his refusal to be a candidate, the nomination went to Benjamin Harrison and was ratified by his election in the fall. It is not a rash statement to say that Major McKinley's fidelity lost him the Presidency in 1888. But it increased the confidence of the people in his honor and faithfulness to his trust.

Four years later when the Minneapolis convention met, Major McKinley was unanimously chosen its permanent chairman. When it became evident that Blaine could not defeat President Harrison's renomination, many of his friends again turned toward McKinley. There was great excitement when the convention began to ballot. Major McKinley was in the chair and announced that the ballot for President should be taken. The first State called, Alabama, told that some at least of Blaine's strength was going to McKinley. When Ohio's vote was called, the vote was announced as forty-four for McKinley and two for Harrison. The convention went wild. Amid the din and confusion Major McKinley, in the chair, demanded a poll of the delegation. He said, "I am a delegate from Ohio, and I demand that my vote be counted." "You are not here," shouted Foraker, chairman of the delegation, "and your alternate voted for you." Chairman McKinley insisted, however, upon a poll of the delegation, and Ohio cast forty-five votes for McKinley and one for Harrison. The one Harrison vote was cast by McKinley. Again he showed his loyalty to the trust imposed in him by his State and by the President, who was his friend. It was not remarkable after these two refusals to become a candidate that the Republicans of the country turned to Major McKinley again in 1896 and made him their candidate for President. He had served four years as governor of Ohio, and his State with great enthusiasm presented his name to the convention at St. Louis. He was elected by the largest popular vote ever given to a candidate for President. His administration has been one of the