fund to vast proportions. Of the many millions raised there is no public record. Secrecy was then permitted regarding political expenditures. But the example of 1896 hastened the coming of some legal regulation of the use of money in political contests.

Major McKinley, urbane and charming, remained at his home in Canton, Ohio, where he addressed many visiting delegations. Organizations of "business men" were formed over the country to support "sound money" and the Republican ticket. Old political lines were disregarded in a surprising way, to the end that McKinley was elected in November by a popular vote of 7,106,779 to 6,502,925 for Bryan, and an electoral vote of 271 to 176.

XLIII

MCKINLEY'S CABINET AND THE WAR WITH SPAIN

THUS another Ohio man came to the presidency. Possible it might have been to forecast the calling of John Sherman into the cabinet, as the secretary of state so taking him from the Senate and opening the way for Mark Hanna to sit there. It would not have been difficult to predict that Joseph McKenna of California, made attorney-general, would ultimately be given place on the Supreme Bench. But no one could have foreseen that William McKinley, like James A. Garfield, was to be murdered while in office and become our third martyred President. In him also were to appear heroic and endearing qualities as he faced untoward death. That was to come during the first year of a second term.

It is worth saying that President McKinley made possible the important part of John Hay's career. John Sherman retired from the state department after one year's pathetic presence there. William R. Day, later to be appointed to the Supreme Court, was made secretary of state. But only for five months, when he was sent to Paris as a member of the Peace Commission, following our war with Spain. Mr. Hay, who had been assistant secretary of state 1879-1881, was living in Washington when McKinley

was inaugurated, a pleasant figure in its select social life, and apparently with all public service behind him. The new president promptly made Mr. Hay ambassador to Great Britain, whence he was summoned in 1898 to do his brilliant work as head of the state department under McKinley and Roosevelt.

John D. Long's appointment to the Navy Department came about through James Phillips, Jr. There was a movement by Senator Hoar and others to obtain a place in the cabinet for T. Jefferson Coolidge of Boston. Mr. Long had suffered a serious illness sometime before, and was generally supposed to be incapacitated for public life. One night word came that he was near death, and I remained at the office far into the small hours preparing an obituary for immediate use. In such cases, as office tradition came to have it, sick men were pretty certain to recover. It was so with Governor Long. A mistaken diagnosis was revised and full health came back. In talking about the McKinley Cabinet, Mr. Crane remarked that Long would be the Massachusetts man to urge but for his impaired health. I could give him reassurance on that point. But Mr. Crane, who had supported Reed's candidacy, was not in position to offer suggestions to the president-elect.

Mr. Phillips of Fitchburg, then owner of the New York Press, a leader in manufacturing and politics, had been in close relations with McKinley as the tariff law bearing his name was being constructed. The New York Press and its owner early favored Governor McKinley's nomination. It was natural that Mr. Phillips should be called into consultation in Janu

ary, 1897. He found Mr. McKinley considering offering the place of secretary of the treasury to George F. Hoar, a post which no doubt would have been as alien to the senator's liking as it was to his experience. Other names of Eastern men were talked over, with the result that McKinley settled back on Mr. Gage, the choice of the Middle West. Mr. Phillips rather diffidently suggested that Massachusetts had other men fit for cabinet places, and mentioned John D. Long. Mr. McKinley responded warmly, but said he had been assured that his friend and former associate in the House was incapacitated for any kind of work. Mr. Phillips set him right, and was commissioned to inform Governor Long that he could have choice of three positions - attorney-general, secretary of war and secretary of the navy. Mr. Phillips met Mr. Crane and William M. Butler on his return to Boston, who welcomed the news he brought. Governor Long was deeply gratified by the offer, but in view of the fact that question of his health had been raised, felt called upon to consult his physician before making definite answer. He was assured that such service in Washington would be distinctly desirable for him. Governor Long went to Canton, expressed his preference for the navy department and was given the place. It was characteristic of Mr. McKinley's tactfulness that he expressed regret to Mr. Phillips that Vermont had voted for him in the national convention, so robbing Mr. Reed, "the greatest political leader New England had produced in the last twenty-five years", of the solid backing of his section. There was healing power in that message.

Recognition was given the gold Democrats in the appointment of Lyman J. Gage of Chicago to manage the treasury department. General Russell A. Alger of Michigan, made secretary of war, fell into disrepute because of the incompetence of his department during the war with Spain, and was succeeded by Elihu Root in 1899; one always wondered how the great lawyer could have been persuaded to take that job. No doubt he recognized that the war had brought new and difficult problems to the war department. James A. Gary of Maryland, postmaster-general, was succeeded after a year by Charles Emory Smith, editor of the Philadelphia Press. Cornelius N. Bliss of New York, skilled raiser of campaign funds, served two years as secretary of the interior, and was replaced by Ethan Allen Hitchcock of St. Louis. James Wilson of Iowa became secretary of agriculture. When California, in the person of Joseph McKenna, was given a place on the Supreme Court in 1898, John W. Griggs of New Jersey was made attorney-general. He coined the phrase "glory-crowned heights" to describe our campaign for the subjugation of the Filipinos, which called out sharp challenge from those opposed to the acquirement of the Philippine Islands.

Secretary Hitchcock's record in promoting honesty in the wide reach of his department stands high in a judicial consideration of the McKinley cabinet. He acquired a fortune in business and was minister to Russia when recalled to take charge of the interior department. After McKinley's death Secretary Hitchcock was retained by Roosevelt. In a resolute and thorough way he went in pursuit of the perpetrators