WILLIAM MCKINLEY

(1843-1901)

HE address, 'American Patriotism,' delivered by Mr. McKinley at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1894, has been greatly admired. With his address at the dedication of the Grant monument in 1897, it ranks among the most earnest and eloquent expressions of the feeling which inspired the volunteers who fought for the Union from 1861 to 1865.

Mr. McKinley was born at Niles, Ohio, January 29th, 1843. Though only a little over eighteen years old when the Civil War began, he enlisted and rose to the rank of Major. After serving from 1869 to 1871 as Attorney of Stark County, Ohio, he was elected to Congress, where he served in the House of Representatives from 1877 to 1891. From 1889 to 1891, he was chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which reported the McKinley Tariff Bill. Failing of election to Congress as a result of the general Republican losses of 1890, he was nominated by the Republicans of Ohio for Governor of the State in 1891 and elected. In 1893 he was re-elected by a plurality of about eighty-one thousand, and his election to the Presidency followed in 1896; he was re-elected in 1900, and was assassinated at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N. Y., on September 6th, 1901, and died at that place September 14th, 1901.

AMERICAN PATRIOTISM

(Delivered at the Dedication of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Cleveland, Ohio, July 4th, 1894. By Permission from the "History of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument.' Copyright by William J. Gleason)

Soldiers and Sailors of Cuyahoga County, My Comrades, and FellowCitizens:

I

WISH the whole world might have witnessed the sight we have just seen and have heard the song we have just listened to from the school children of the city of Cleveland. With pa

triotism in our hearts and with the flag of our country in our hands, there is no danger of anarchy and there is no danger to the American Union.

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The place, the day, and the occasion upon which we assemble, fill us with patriotic emotion. They are happily and appropriately united. The old Monumental Square is filled with hallowed memories. This day registers the birthday of the Declaration of Independence; and this monument that we dedicate to-day attests that every promise of that declaration has been kept and performed. Standing in this presence, I am reminded that this Public Square has witnessed many interesting and memorable events. The first that I recall was on the tenth day of September, 1860, when the monument to Commodore Perry was unveiled on this Square. It was a deeply interesting occasion. An immense crowd thronged this city as it throngs it to-day. Gov ernor Sprague of Rhode Island, with his staff and State officers, and the members of the legislature of that State, and the Providence Light Infantry, participated in the interesting ceremony. Governor Dennison, the first war Governor Ohio ever had, delivered the address of welcome. General J. W. Fitch, remembered by the older citizens of Cleveland, was the Grand Marshal of the day, and General Barnett, whose distinguished services in the war are yet fresh in the memory of the people, and who now participates in these ceremonies, was in command of the Cleveland Light Artillery Regiment. The great historian, George Bancroft, delivered the principal address of the day. It was probably, my fellow-citizens, the greatest celebration that Cuyahoga County had seen up to that time. It was on this ground, too, that the Soldiers and Sailors Aid Society of Northern Ohio, aye of the whole country, was organized, and some of the noble mothers who were at the birth of that organization are seated upon this platform to-day. These noble women gave unselfish devotion to the country, and money from all this section of the State poured into the coffers of that association for the relief of the men at the front who were sustaining the flag. It was in this Square, too, that the remains of the martyred Lincoln, the great emancipator, rested as they journeyed to his Western home. It was on this very spot, almost where we stand to-day, that the whole population of Ohio viewed for the last time him who had been captain of all our armies under the Constitution, and whose death was a sacrifice to the great cause of freedom and the Union. Here, too, my fellow-citizens, on this very spot, the remains of the immortal Garfield lay in state, attended by the Congress of the United States, by the supreme judiciary of the Nation, by the

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officers of the Army and the Navy of the United States, by the governors and legislators of all the surrounding States. The steady tread of a mourning State and Nation was uninterrupted through the entire night. It was here that the people looked upon his face for the last time forever.

Interesting, my fellow-citizens, and patriotic, as the scenes witnessed in the past have been, I venture to say that none of them have stirred so many memories, or quickened such patriotic feeling as the services we perform to-day in the dedication of this beautiful structure to the memory of the loyal soldiers and sailors who contributed their lives to save the Government from dissolution. Cuyahoga County can well be proud of this great memorial. It is a fitting tribute to the soldiers living and the soldiers dead. Cuyahoga's sons were represented in nearly every branch of the military service. Almost every Ohio regiment received some contribution from Cuyahoga County, whether in the infantry, cavalry, artillery, on land or on sea. Whether among white troops or colored troops Cuyahoga County's sons were to be found, they were always found at the post of greatest danger. Nothing has so impressed me in the program to-day as the organization of the old soldiers, carrying with them their tattered flags, which they bore a third of a century ago upon the fields of More than sixty of the old regimental flags will be carried by the survivors of their respective regiments, and the flag room at the capitol at Columbus could not supply the men of Cuyahoga County all the flags which they are entitled to bear. Is it any wonder that these old soldiers love to carry the flags under which they fought, and for which their brave comrades gave up their lives?

war.

Is it any wonder that the old soldier loves the flag under whose folds he fought and for which his comrades shed so much blood? He loves it for what it is and for what it represents. It embodies the purposes and history of the Government itself. It records the achievements of its defenders upon land and sea. It heralds the heroism and sacrifices of our Revolutionary fathers who planted free government on this continent and dedicated it to liberty forever. It attests the struggles of our army and the valor of our citizens in all the wars of the Republic. It has been sacrificed by the blood of our best and our bravest. It records the achievements of Washington and the martyrdom of Lincoln. It has been bathed in the tears of a sorrowing people. It has

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been glorified in the hearts of a freedom-loving people, not only at home but in every part of the world. Our flag expresses more than any other flag; it means more than any other national emblem. It expresses the will of a free people, and proclaims that they are supreme and that they acknowledge no earthly sovereign but themselves. It never was assaulted that thousands did not rise up to smite the assailant. Glorious old banner!

When the Stars and Stripes were hauled down on Sumter, flags without number were raised above every fireside in the land; and all the glorious achievements which that flag represented, with all its hallowed memories, glowed with burning fervor in the heart of every lover of liberty and the Union. The mad assault which was made upon the flag at that time aroused its defenders and kindled a patriotism which could not be quenched until it had extinguished the unholy cause which assaulted our holy banner.

What more beautiful conception than that which prompted Abra Kohn, of Chicago, in February 1861, to send to Mr. Lincoln, on the eve of his starting to Washington to take the office of President to which he had been elected, a flag of our country, bearing upon its silken folds these words from the fifth and ninth verses of the first chapter of Joshua: "Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord our God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. There shall no man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so shall I be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."

Could anything have given Mr. Lincoln more cheer or been better calculated to sustain his courage or strengthen his faith in the mighty work before him? Thus commanded, thus assured, Mr. Lincoln journeyed to the capital, where he took the oath of office and registered in heaven an oath to save the Union; and "the Lord our God" was with him and did not fail nor forsake him until every obligation of oath and duty was sacredly kept and honored. Not any man was able to stand before him. Liberty was enthroned, the Union was saved, and the flag which he carried floated in triumph and glory upon every flagstaff of the Republic.

What does this monument mean? It means the immortal principle of patriotism. It means love of country. It means sacrifices for the country we love. It means, not only love of

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country, but love of liberty! This alone could have inspired over two million eight hundred thousand Union soldiers to leave home. and family and to offer to die if need be for our imperiled institutions. Love of country alone could have inspired three hundred thousand men to die for the Union. Nothing less sacred than this love of country could have sustained one hundred and seventy-five thousand brave men, who suffered and starved and died in Rebel prisons. Nor could anything else have given comfort to the five hundred thousand maimed and diseased who escaped immediate death in siege and battle to end in torment the remainder of their patriot lives. It is a noble patriotism and it impels you, my fellow-countrymen, to erect this magnificent monument to their honor and memory. And similar love of country will inspire your remotest descendants to do homage to their valor and bravery forever.

This is what the monument means. the present and all future generations.

The lesson it conveys to

It means that the cause

in which they died was a righteous one, and it means that the cause which triumphed through their valor shall be perpetuated for all time.

Charles Sumner said that President Lincoln was put to death by the enemies of the Declaration of Independence; but, said Sumner, though dead, he would always continue to guard that title deed of the human race. So that it does seem to me that every time we erect a new monument to the memory of the Union soldiers and sailors we are cementing the very foundations of the Government itself. We are doing that which will strengthen our devotion to free institutions and insure their permanency for the remotest posterity. We are not only rendering immortal the fame of the men who participated in the war by these magnificent structures, but we are doing better than that. We are making immortal the principles for which they contended and the Union for which they died.

Their erection may be a matter of comparatively little importance or concern to the Union soldiers who are still living, but no one can accurately foretell the value and importance of their influence upon the young men and the young women from whom the Republic must draw her future defenders. Every time we erect a monument, every time we do honor to the soldiers of the Republic, we reaffirm our devotion to the country, to the glorious flag, to the immortal principles of liberty, equality,