US History/US History (Bureau Development Inc.)(1991).ISO/dp/0022/00228.txt

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$Title{Our Country:  Volume 7
Chapter CXLIX}
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$Author{Lossing, Benson J., LL.D.}
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$Subject{states
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$Volume{Vol. 7}
$Date{1905}
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Book:        Our Country:  Volume 7
Author:      Lossing, Benson J., LL.D.
Volume:      Vol. 7
Date:        1905

Chapter CXLIX

The New Epoch in Our History - The Island of Cuba - Mr. Porter and General
Gomez - Our Occupation - Organization of a Cuban Republic - The Constitutional
Convention - Final Report - Porto Rico - The Civil Government - Guam - The
Philippines - Emilio Aguinaldo in Revolt - Attack on Manila - The President's
Proclamation - Successes of Our Generals - Reinforcements Sent - The Ports
Opened - Treachery of the Insurgents - Decline of the Rebellion - The Schurman
Commission Question of the Friars - Capture of Aguinaldo - He Takes the Oath
of Allegiance - The LV Congress - Reorganization of the Army - Dewey's Return
- Parades in His Honor in New York and Washington - The President's Message
The Gold Bill Passed - The Venezuelan Arbitration Alaska and Canada -
Government of Hawaii - Cession of Pago-Pago in the Samoan Islands - The
Trans-Isthmian Canal - The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty - The Nicaraguan Canal Bill
- Chinese Affairs - Troops Sent from Manila - China Appeals to the President -
Our Policy Defined - The Presidential Election - The Republican and Democratic
Platforms - McKinley and Roosevelt Elected - The Census of 1900 - The
President's Tour in the West - The Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo - The
President Assassinated - His Death - Universal Grief - The Murderer Tried and
Condemned - Honors Paid to the Dead President at Buffalo and Washington - His
Burial at Canton - Theodore Roosevelt Takes the Oath of Office as President -
McKinley's Last Speech.

     IN the 1st of January, 1899, when in Cuba, Porto Rico and the far
Philippine Islands, the crimson and gold of the Spanish flag gave way to the
Stars and Stripes of the United States, OUR COUNTRY entered into a new epoch,
not only of its own marvelous history, but of the history of the world.  At
first a few trifling colonies thinly scattered on the shore of the ocean,
inhabited by sparse bands of settlers who had to contend with hostile natives,
conquer an inhospitable wilderness and organize, each for itself, a system of
social life, they were held together only by the loose bond of a nominal
allegiance to a European power separated from them by the breadth of the great
ocean which their little ships could cross only with difficulty.  When the
Declaration of Independence was sided and the War for Independence began, an
imperfect confederation held them together till, when success crowned the
patriot arms, the Constitution of the United States formed them into a Union
which has grown with their growth and strengthened with their strength, till
the United States became one Nation, with sectional feuds outlived and
forgotten, expanding from the ocean to the Alleganies, and from the Alleganies
to the Pacific Ocean, and from the Saint Lawrence and the Great Lakes to the
Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico.  And with its growth in territory, its
growth in wealth, in industry, in commerce, in enterprise and in arms, kept
pace, till all the world acknowledges the Union as the supreme master of the
western continent. Now no longer merely an American power, she takes her place
as one of the great powers of the world, not encumbered by old traditions, not
hampered with the accumulated burdens of centuries, but in all the vigor of
youth, with youthful hopes and ideas, ready to proclaim the doctrine of true
liberty in "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people."
That she will perform her task nobly, no citizen will doubt; that she may
perform it successfully, every citizen must pray.

     By the treaty of peace, signed in Paris, Dec. 10, 1898, ratified by the
Senate, Feb. 6, 1899, and by the Queen Regent of Spain, March 17 of the same
year, Cuba was in the military occupation of the United States.  At that time
the effects of the insurrection against Spanish rule and of the means taken to
suppress it were everywhere visible; one-third of the population had perished,
the towns were crowded with fugitives from the country districts in which the
plantations had been destroyed, the crops burned, and the cattle killed, while
in the towns commerce and industry had ceased.  The first task of our
government was to feed those in want till some crops had matured, and
shiploads of provisions were sent to the distressed island.  Many of the
disbanded Cuban army found work in the cane fields, but some of their generals
kept their commands together till the future political status of Cuba was
determined.  The Cubans were distrustful of the surrender of the island by the
Spanish Captain-General Castellanos to our General Brooke, and General Maximo
Gomez declared that he would keep his army on foot till a date for proclaiming
Cuban independence was fixed.  He demanded that the United States government
advance sixty millions of dollars to be distributed among his men, to pay them
for their services and compensate them for their losses.  Mr. Robert Porter,
the United States commissioner, replied that we were willing to advance three
millions to the Cuban soldiers, to enable them to return home, on surrender of
their arms.  Finally this offer was accepted, the gold shipped from New York,
and the Cuban Assembly convened, and after long and tedious discussions it was
finally agreed that the money be distributed by American and Cuban
commissioners, and the arms surrendered to Cuban officials in the presence of
United States officers.  This arrangement was finally carried out, and the
arms were then shipped to Havana and Santiago and placed in United States
armories, under the charge of armorers appointed by General Gomez.

     Meanwhile, Governor-General Brooke did all in his power to conciliate the
natives by calling to his councils civilian subordinates and late officers of
the Cuban army; his example was followed by the governors of the various
provinces, and under this administration the island became peaceful and the
people returned to work on reviving the industries of the island.  A few Cuban
politicians agitated against the prolonged military occupation and threatened
revolt, but the people were content to wait for the gradual development of the
Cuban republic.  Many, indeed, were reconciled to the idea of the perpetuation
of American administration when they saw the improvement in the organization
of the police, of public schools, of justice, in the sanitation of the cities
which tended to check that fatal scourge, yellow fever, and ultimately to
extirpate it.  The military government was made as inconspicuous as possible,
and, it may be said, a normal civil government was established when General
Brooke retired, and General Leonard Wood succeeded as Governor-General.  The
latter, on November 6, opened a convention to frame a constitution for the
Cuban republic.  The delegates elected by the people were instructed to draft
a constitution adequate to secure stable, orderly and free government, and to
state formally what, in the opinion of the convention, ought to be the
relations between the island and the United States.  The convention,
consisting of thirty-one delegates, elected as temporary chairman Senor
Llorente, Justice of the Supreme Court, and took an oath to renounce all
allegiance to or to form any compact with any state or nation, to uphold the
sovereignty of a free, independent Cuba, and to respect the solution of the
question by the convention and the government established by the constitution.
Accordingly, Mendez Capote, Secretary of State under General Brooke, was
elected chairman of the Cuban Constitutional Convention. In May, 1900, a
committee of this body proceeded to Washington, to discuss the delicate
question of the relations between Cuba and the United States. The President
received them without delay; the policy of this country was fully explained
and the 7th of May they gave, on their return home, a report of their visit.
The difficulty had arisen from the so called Platt Amendment, by which the
withdrawal of our troops from Cuba is conditioned on the acceptance, as the
basis of the relations between the two republics, first, that the government
of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty with any foreign power that will
impair the independence of Cuba, nor in any manner permit any foreign power,
by colonization or otherwise, to obtain lodgement or control in any part of
the island.  Secondly.  It shall not assume or contract any public debt, to
pay the interest of which, after defraying the ordinary expenses of the
government, the revenues of the island are inadequate.  Thirdly.  That the
United States may intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence and for
discharging the obligations imposed by the treaty of Paris on the United
States.  Fourthly.  That the acts of the United States during the occupancy of
the island be ratified. Fifthly.  That plans be agreed upon mutually for the
prevention of infections or epidemic diseases.  Sixthly.  That the Isle of
Pines is not within the boundaries of Cuba.  Seventhly.  That Cuba shall sell
or lease to the United States lands necessary for coaling or naval stations at
such points as the President may select.  The Cuban commission, on May 16,
reported to the Constitutional Convention in favor of accepting these terms.
Senor Palma seemed likely to be the choice of the people for the presidency of
the Republic of Cuba.

     Porto Rico, like the Philippine islands, became, by the treaty of Paris,
a possession of the United States, and when our rule began was in a very
distressed condition.  The war had paralyzed trade, Spain closed her ports to
Porto Rican products, and in 1899 a terrible hurricane destroyed the food
supplies of the lower classes, and nine-tenths of the coffee crop.  Our army
had to perform a very different duty to that which fell to the lot of their
comrades in the Philippines; its principal work was to distribute 30,000,000
rations of one pound each to starving natives during the greater part of a
year, and organize relief work on the roads, for which purpose a million
dollars was allotted by the Secretary of War.  On April 12, 1900, an act of
Congress provided for the civil government of the island, the provisions of
the Dingley tariff were extended to it, and on May 1 Governor Allen assumed
the direction of civil affairs.  He appointed a cabinet, a council comprising
six Americans and five natives was created as an Upper House, and on Nov. 6 a
general election was held for members of the Legislature.  Since our
occupation there is little to record, except improvements.  New roads have
been built, school-houses have been erected, and more will be established till
each precinct has one; a Normal School has been completed, the administration
of justice has been purified, Porto Rico made a judicial district of the
United States, and an insular police, organized by an American soldier, has
freed the country from robber bands and preserves order.  Porto Rico is very
successfully Americanized.

     The island of Guam, the largest of the Marianne or Ladrone Archipelago,
was also ceded by Spain to the United States by Article 2 of the Treaty of
Peace.  It lies in a direct line from San Francisco to the southern part of
the Philippines, and is 5,200 miles from San Francisco, and 900 miles from
Manila.  It is about thirty-two miles long and 100 miles in circumference, and
has a population of about 8,661, of whom 5,249 are in Agana, the capital. The
inhabitants are mostly immigrants or descendants of immigrants from the
Philippines, the original race of the Ladrone Islands being extinct.  The
prevailing language is Spanish.  Nine-tenths of the islanders can read and
write.  The island is thickly wooded, well watered and fertile, and possesses
an excellent harbor.

     Commander Taussig, of the United States gunboat Bennington, took
possession of the island and raised the United States flag over Fort Santa
Cruz on February 1, 1899.  The present governor, who was appointed by the
President in 1900, is Lieutenant-Commander Seaton Schroeder, U. S. N.

     The United states flag was hoisted over Wake Island in January, 1899, by
Commander Taussig, of the Bennington, while proceeding to Guam.  It is a small
island in the direct route from Hawaii to Hong Kong, about 2,000 miles from
the first and 3,000 miles from the second.

     In the Philippine Islands the task of the Americans was more difficult
than in Cuba.  The expression covers over 3,140 islands, inhabited by thirty
distinct races and languages, the bulk being of the Malay stock, with a large
mixture of Chinese and Japanese blood; while some parts of the islands
inhabited by semi-savage tribes have never been explored, and other tribes
profess the Mohammedan faith, although the Catholic religion had been imported
by the Spaniards, as far as possible, after the introduction of the monastic
orders into the islands in 1565.  On taking possession of this archipelago, a
commission was sent out by our government, and their report says:  "Rich in
agricultural and forest products, as well as mineral wealth, commanding in
geographical position, the Philippine Islands should soon become one of the
great trade centers of the East.  New steamship lines, established since our
occupation, connect Manila, with its population of 220,000, to Australia,
India and Japan.  She will become the natural terminus of many other lines
when a ship canal connects the Atlantic with the Pacific; and others will be
attracted by the development of the Philippine coal deposits.  Our control
means to the inhabitants of the Philippines internal peace and order, a
guarantee against foreign aggression and against the dismemberment of the
country, and commercial and industrial prosperity.

     Before Admiral Dewey sailed from Hong Kong to Manila, an insurrection had
broken out in the island of Luzon, and Emilio Aguinaldo, who bad been leader
in the insurrection of 1896, was taken by an American ship to the port of
Cavite, where he landed in May, 1898, in order to organize an army to weaken
the Spanish power of defense; but at no time was any promise of independence
made to him in any form.  The forces under Aguinaldo soon became masters of
all Luzon, except the town of Manila, into which city the Spanish force a had
retired.

     On the arrival of American troops, he was requested to leave Cavite; but
when he did so he promised independence to the Philippine people in the name
of the United States government - an act entirely unauthorized.  He had
declared himself already president of the Philippine Republic, and continued
to make every effort to be recognized as an ally and as the head of a
republic.

     When Manila was taken, he claimed the right to occupy the city and have a
share in the spoils.  Such demands were, of course, repudiated, and then the
relations between the Americans and Aguinaldo's forces became hostile.
Assaults and robberies were committed by these insurgents on our troops;
citizens and friendly natives were killed; clubs were organized to foster
hatred of all things American; all males over the age of eighteen were ordered
to serve in the insurgent army, and every blacksmith in Manila was kept busy
forging arms.  Yet an open rupture with the Americans was not desired, and
many leading Filipinos asked Aguinaldo to write to President McKinley,
praying him not to abandon the Filipinos; but this letter he never sent.  A
plan was then formed by Aguinaldo and his military chief, General Pio del
Pilar, to drive out the American forces; the militia in Manila was to arise,
and a general attack to be made on our small army. After a conference at which
no conclusion was reached the insurgents began their attack.  They advanced on
the city on Feb. 4, and wounded our outposts, killing a sentinel; on Feb. 5
the Americans drove them back with great loss; on Feb. 27 an attempted rising
in the city, in which all the whites were to be killed, was frustrated by
General Hughes; but for weeks a reign of terror prevailed; the native
population fled; the streets were deserted, and incendiary fires blazed every
day.  Then a vigorous campaign was begun, General MacArthur attacking
Aguinaldo's main army and inflicting heavy losses, and General Otis was
uniformly successful in his measures, although the enemy displayed the
treachery they had employed against the Spaniards, hiding their arms and then
attacking small - bodies men, and menacing the rear of the advancing army.
The assurance of General Otis that the welfare of the Philippine people
depended on the protection of the United States made no impression on the
politicians of the Tagal provinces, among whom alone the anti-American feeling
wad strong; nor did the President's proclamation of April 4, warning all that
the supremacy of the United States must be enforced, and promising reforms in
all departments of government.  Nothing was left for us but to prosecute the
war, a guerilla war in which no brilliant victories could be won, but many
deeds of courage performed. General Lawton drove the insurgents from Manila
bay into the swamps and mountains, captured Malabon, and at the end of March,
Malolos, where Aguinaldo's headquarters were, fell.  The main Philippine army
was then at Calumpit, in a strong position on the Rio Grande, which was
attacked by General MacArthur on April 24, when the Nebraska and South Dakota
regiments swam across the river; and two men of the Kansas regiment swam,
under a galling fire, to fasten a rope by which two companies of infantry
under Colonel Funston were brought across on a raft.  Aguinaldo continued to
make proposals to treat for peace, while still preparing for further fighting
when the rainy season might paralyze the operations of our army Still, when
the Filipino congress met, on May 5, seven delegates were appointed to
negotiate with General Otis; two of these Aguinaldo caught and beheaded.  The
delegates learned from our commissioners that the President proposed to
appoint a governor-general, assisted by a cabinet of Americans and
Filipinos, but that no armistice would be granted.  So the war went on till
the rainy season, during which additional troops, released from Cuba and Porto
Rico, made the army strong enough for extensive field operations, and when
further reinforcements arrived in December, most of the provinces were
dominated by us, and the ports of the Philippines were opened to commerce.
One great loss befell our army - General Lawton was killed Dec. 19, in a
trifling skirmish at San Mateo; a soldier who in every battle had exposed
himself to the hottest fire.  The war then waged necessitated a dispersion of
our troops, and on Nov. 1, 1899, we had on the islands no less than
fifty-three military stations.  The insurgents now discarded uniforms, so that
we could no longer distinguish between friend and foe; disregarded all rules
of civilized warfare, and their leaders in the towns, while outwardly
complying with all forms of loyalty, secretly assisted the insurgents, who
deliberately murdered all their own countrymen that were friendly to the
United States, and created a reign of terror in districts beyond our posts.
But gradually American courage and perseverance began to prevail, and in the
spring of 1900 many of the leading generals and politicians of the
insurrection had been captured or surrendered, and on June 21, 1900, President
directed a proclamation to be issued granting amnesty to all insurgents who
made submission and gave up their arms.  Numbers of the enemy accepted these
terms, and soon many of their best generals cooperated with the Americans in
advising submission.  By August all northern Luzon except Bulacan was free
from insurgents; but, misled by expressions of opinion by various American
politicians during the electoral campaign, the insurgents redoubled their
activity, and a Filipino representative came to this country and issued a
proclamation to the effect that the war would last till Filipino
independence was gained.  With the close of the presidential election the
rebel activity ceased, and nothing but a few marauding bands remained, and our
troops were free to reestablish peace and order.

     The Philippine Commission, of which J. G. Schurman was head, had reported
early in the year, recommending the appointment of an American governor, of a
council containing Filipinos as well as Americans, and of American
provincial governors.  A new commission, conveniently known as the Taft
Commission, from the name of its president, was appointed, and formulated new
tariff and tax laws, prepared a civil service law giving equal opportunities
to natives and Americans, reformed the civil and criminal codes, and discussed
the making a railroad into the rich mining districts of Luzon and the creation
of public schools.  The problem of the friars was one of the most troublesome
questions to be considered.  It had led to the first rebellion against Spain;
the later insurgents expelled them from their places, and the majority of the
Filipinos opposed their return.  The friars had been the embodiment of all
government, possessed 400,000 acres of cultivated land and large sums of money
which they lent out.  The United States, in the treaty with Spain, engaged to
protect them in their possessions, and the commission proposed to solve the
difficulty by purchasing these estates for public lands out of the island
revenues.

     The great event which ended the conflict in the Philippines was the
capture of Aguinaldo, the inspirer and leader of the insurrection.  In
January, 1900, he again proclaimed himself dictator, and lived for seven
months in a remote part of Luzon, till some intercepted letters betrayed his
residence.  General Funston, into whose hands they fell, resolved to capture
him by stratagem, and laid his plans before General MacArthur at Manila. After
this consultation Funston set out with four Americans, four former insurgents,
three of whom were Tagal and one Spaniard, and seventy-eight Macabebes, a
tribe which had been from the first on the side of the United States.  All of
these men spoke the Tagal language, and twenty of them wore insurgent
uniforms.  They left Manila on March 8, and landed near Casigauran six days
after.  The former insurgent officers, the three Tagals and the Spaniard were
placed in apparent command; the five Americans professed to be an exploring
party taken captive by the insurgents.  They advanced under the pretext of an
order to join Aguinaldo at headquarters.  After eight days of difficult travel
they reached Palaron, where he then was.  The party passed themselves off as
insurgent troops who had captured General Funston and others, and were taking
them as prisoners to Aguinaldo.  Aguinaldo furnished supplies and had his
escort of forty men paraded to give them an honorable reception.  The three
Tagals entered the house, and then the Spaniard exclaimed:  "Now, Macabebes,
go for them."  They opened fire and killed three of Aguinaldo's men; and he,
thinking the musketry fire was a salute, ordered his men to stop firing.  Then
one of the Tagals threw his arms round Aguinaldo, saying:  "You are a prisoner
of the Americans."  After a fight of a few minutes the insurgents fled.  The
captive chief said:  "I should never have been captured except by stratagem.
I was completely deceived by Lacuna's forged signature."  To explain this
remark, it may be added that General Funston had some months previously
captured Lacuna's camp, with many official papers, from which a letter was
concocted informing Aguinaldo that Lacuna's best company was being sent to him
as reinforcements.

     After his capture Aguinaldo was taken to Manila and treated with all
respect and courtesy, and after investigating conditions in the archipelago
and consulting with his friends, he took the oath of allegiance to the United
States, April 2, 1901, under the terms of the amnesty offered by General
MacArthur.  There were no charges against Aguinaldo for violating any of the
laws of war, and all talk of his being brought to trial was at once silenced.
However dangerous he might have been before his capture, now that he is a
sworn upholder of our government, the restoration of order, the creation of
civil institutions, and the industrial improvement of the islands will proceed
rapidly.  Colonel Funston was rewarded by being raised to the rank of
brigadier-general.

     When the third session of the LV Congress opened, in 1899, the state of
political parties was as follows:  In the Senate, forty-six Republicans,
thirty-four Democrats, and ten Independents; in the House, 206 Republicans,
134 Democrats, and sixteen Independents.  One of its most important acts was a
bill for reorganizing the army, by which the permanent standing army was to be
maintained at 65,000 enlisted men till July 1, 1901, by which time it was to
be reduced to 30,000 enlisted men, and the volunteer force discharged. By the
same bill a regiment of Porto Ricans was authorized, and a force of 12,000
recruited from the natives of the Philippine islands, to be commanded by
officers of the regular army.  Another act was also passed recreating the rank
of Admiral of the Navy, to which the President at once appointed the victor of
Manila, Admiral Dewey.  That distinguished officer did not return till the
month of September, when arrived on the 26th, at New York. Preparations to
give him a fitting welcome by a naval parade on the 29th, and a land parade on
the following day, had been made.  Both these days had been declared by
Governor Roosevelt to be legal holidays.  On the 28th the North Atlantic
squadron, under Admiral Sampson, had moved up from the lower bay, while at
night the Jersey coast as far as Seabright, and the Staten Island and Long
Island coasts, as far as Rockaway, were illuminated with colored fires.  At
noon on the 29th the parade began, Dewey's ship, the Olympia, leading the
squadron of battle-ships, which, in its turn, was followed by a flotilla of
yachts.  As the procession reached a point in the North river opposite Grant's
tomb, the Olympia came to anchor, and with colors half-masted, fired a
President's salute of twenty-one guns.  At night fireworks were displayed from
various points, and lighters sailed down the Hudson and East rivers, sending
off fireworks on their way to the Battery, where a pyrotechnic display of both
lines of lighters and others in the bay continued, not the least interesting
part being brilliant electric effects. On the following day Dewey was escorted
to the City Hall, where he received the freedom of the city and a loving cup
of admirable design, and thence proceeded to Riverside Drive, where the parade
began.  It was formed by representatives of the navy, the army, the national
guard of several States, and other uniformed bodies, and it was estimated
30,000 men were in line.  At Twenty-third street Admiral Dewey left the
procession and took his place on the reviewing stand, just above the stately
memorial arch that spanned Fifth avenue.  The arch, which stood between rows
of columns, north and south, was, with the exception of the cost of the
materials and the labor of workmen, the contribution of the American Sculpture
Society.  On the north the arch bore the inscription:

                           TO ADMIRAL GEORGE DEWEY,
                         GREETING.  WELCOME.  HONOR.
                         FROM THE PEOPLE OF NEW YORK,
                            SEPT.  XXX, MDCCCXCIX

And the south:

                      TO THE GLORY OF THE AMERICAN NAVY,
                          IN GREETING TO ITS ADMIRAL
                         TO SIGNALIZE THEIR TRIUMPHS,
                         A GRATEFUL CITY PROTECTED BY
                                 THEIR VALOR.

     The symbolical figures and medallions of our naval heroes were of unusual
excellence, and the whole ought to have been perpetuated in some more enduring
material than that of a merely temporary erection.  But, more than all
material or artistic testimonials to the hero, was the crowd of enthusiastic
spectators who lined the shores as he sailed up the Hudson, and the streets of
the city through which he passed.  In the following month, Oct. 3, another
brilliant demonstration in his honor took place in Washington, and a
magnificent sword, awarded by Congress, was presented to the hero by the
Secretary of the Navy, in the presence of the highest officers of the country.
The President spoke in fitting terms in praise of his distinguished services,
and the Admiral replied in a brief and modest speech of thanks.

     The main question which had divided political parties for many years and
which was the one decided by the defeat of William J. Bryan, the Democratic
candidate for president, by William McKinley, in the last presidential
election, was that of the currency, and when the LVI Congress met, on Dec. 2,
the President in his message recommended legislation to maintain parity in the
value of gold and silver coin and to maintain the gold standard.  A bill
embodying the President's recommendation was brought in, and passed in the
House of Representatives by 190 votes to 150, eleven Democrats voting in the
majority, and signed by him March 14, 1900.

     The bill enacted that the dollar consisting of twenty-five and eight-
tenths grains of gold, nine-tenths fine, shall be the standard of value, and
all forms of money issued or coined shall be maintained at a parity of value
with this gold standard.  The United States notes and Treasury notes shall be
redeemed in gold coin, and a redemption fund of $150,000,000 of gold coin and
bullion is set aside for that purpose only.

     The National Bank law was amended to permit banks to be created with
$25,000 capital in places whose population does not exceed 3,000.  Provision
was made for the refunding of outstanding bonds at a low rate of interest, and
under it bonds bearing three, four, and five percent interest have been
refunded for bonds bearing two per cent.

     Another section provided for the issue of circulating notes to banks on
deposit of bonds, and for additional deposits when there is a depreciation in
the value of bonds.  The total amount of notes issued by any National banking
association may equal at any time, but shall not exceed the amount at any such
time of its capital stock actually paid in.

     Every National banking association shall pay a tax in January and July of
one-fourth of one percent on the average amount of such of its notes in
circulation as are based on its deposit of two percent bonds, and such taxes
shall be in lieu of the taxes on its notes in circulation imposed by Section
5,214 of the Revised Statutes.  Provision for international bimetallism is
made in the final section of the act, which is as follows:

     "Sec. 14.  That the provisions of the act are not intended to preclude
the accomplishment of international bimetallism whenever conditions shall make
it expedient and practicable to secure the same by concurrent action of the
leading commercial nations of the world and at a ratio which shall insure
permanence of relative value between gold and silver."

     It will be remembered that in 1896 President Cleveland appointed a
commission to examine the claims of Great Britain to territory also claimed by
Venezuela.  The commission took evidence as to the boundary line, but made no
report as Great Britain agreed to leave the question to arbitration.  An
arbitration tribunal composed of American and English judges, with the Russian
jurist, Martens, presiding, sat in Paris, and on Oct. 3 gave a unanimous award
authorizing the inclosure within British Guiana of most of the territory
embraced by the Schomburgh line drawn by that explorer in 1841, and thud
removed all cause of contention respecting an affair that at one period
assumed an aspect threatening the friendly relations between the United States
and the United Kingdom.  A modus vivendi was agreed upon with Great Britain
regarding the boundary line between Alaska and Canada, but no permanent
arrangement will be made till arbitration is appealed to.  The text of the
document states that "the Anglo-American Joint High Commission to adjust all
outstanding questions between the United States and the Dominion of Canada
having been unable to reach a conclusion at the time of the adoption of this
agreement, October 20, 1899:  It is hereby agreed between the governments of
the United States and of Great Britain that the boundary line between Canada
and the Territory of Alaska, in the region about the head of Lynn Canal, shall
be provisionally fixed without prejudice to the claims of either party in the
permanent adjustment of the international boundary," and further that "the
government of the United States will at once appoint an officer or officers,
in conjunction with the officer or officers to be named by the government of
Her Britannic Majesty, to mark the temporary line agreed upon by the erection
of posts, stakes, or other appropriate temporary marks."  During the same
session a government for the territory of Hawaii was provided, by which a
Senate and House of Representatives was created, the governor to be appointed
by the President.  By the Samoa treaty, ratified by the Senate January 15, the
island of Tutuila was ceded to the United States; an island valuable to us as
containing our coaling station at Pago-pago, the best harbor in the Samoan
group of islands.

     The burning question of a trans-Isthmian canal, and the agitation of it,
led to the drawing up of a new convention to take the place of the Clayton-
Bulwer treaty, and on February 5 Mr. Hay, then Secretary of State, and Lord
Pauncefote signed the document.  In the old treaty it was stipulated that
neither the United States nor Great Britain should maintain any exclusive
control over a ship canal.  By the new convention this stipulation is struck
out; Great Britain concedes to us the right to build and maintain such a
canal, the United States agreeing to maintain its neutrality and keep it
perpetually open to the ships of all nations in peace and war.  In its
original form the treaty was not ratified by the Senate, which referred it to
its Committee on Foreign Relations, and on Dec. 20 it accepted an amendment
declaring the Clayton-Bulwer treated "superseded," cancelling a provision
inviting the adherence of other powers to this convention, and adding that no
conditions or stipulations in the treaty thus amended shall apply to measures
that the United States may take for securing by its own forces the defense of
the United States and the maintenance of public order. The President
transmitted the document thus amended to the British government as a purely
ministerial duty, but without any expectation that it would be accepted, as it
really proposed to abrogate a treaty without consent of the other party
thereto.

     The Isthmian Canal Commission recommended in its report to Congress the
Nicaraguan route in preference to the Panama route.  Meanwhile, the Nicaraguan
government declared that the concession to the Maritime Canal Company had
elapsed, owing to nonfulfillment of conditions, and on May 2 the Nicaragua
Canal Bill was reported from the Committee on Interoceanic Canals, by which it
was enacted that the "President of the United States be, and is hereby:
authorized to acquire from the States of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, for and in
behalf of the United States, control of such portion of territory now
belonging to Costa Rica and Nicaragua as may be desirable and necessary on
which to excavate, construct, and protect a canal of such depth and capacity
as will be sufficient for the movements of ships of the greatest tonnage and
draught now in use, from a point near Greytown, on the Caribbean Sea, via Lake
Nicaragua, to Breto, on the Pacific Ocean; and such sum as may be necessary to
secure such control is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury
not otherwise appropriated.  And that when the President has secured full
control over the territory referred to, he shall direct the Secretary of War
to excavate and construct a canal and waterway from a point on the shore of
the Caribbean Sea near Greytown by way of Lake Nicaragua, to a point near
Breto on the Pacific Ocean.  Such canal shall be of sufficient capacity and
depth as that it maybe used by vessels of the largest tonnage and greatest
depth now in use, and shall be supplied with all necessary locks and other
appliances to meet the necessities of vessels passing from Greytown to Breto;
and the Secretary of War shall also construct such safe and commodious harbors
at the termini of said canal, and such provisions for defense as may be
necessary for the safety and protection of said canal and harbors."

     The President's message to the second session of the LVI Congress devoted
much space to Chinese affairs.  Since the war between China and Japan various
European powers had taken possession, under one pretext or another, of various
portions of Chinese territory.  These cessions of territory created an intense
anti-foreign sentiment in the country, which culminated in the so-called
"Boxer movement," and the perpetration of massacres of missionaries and native
Christians, and finally in attacks on the foreign legations in Peking.  The
Tsung-li-Yamen, which is the Chinese equivalent for a responsible government
ministry, being itself permeated by sentiments hostile to the foreigners,
could or would not take effective measures to protect the legations and allow
them to depart from the country in safety. For several weeks the fate of the
foreign ministers and their families and attaches, the legation guards, and
the converted Chinese under their protection was in painful doubt, while
reports of the most distressing character of wholesale massacres and outrages
perpetrated upon the besieged, filled the world with horror.

     The foreign powers, alarmed at the situation, hastily assembled their
available fleets in Chinese waters and hurried troops to the ports nearest to
the points of danger.  An attempt to land marines at Taku was resisted by the
Chinese, the forts were shelled by the foreign vessels, the American Admiral
taking no part.  Forces were landed by all the European powers, and some of
our troops were dispatched from Manila, and attempts made to withdraw the
foreign legations closely besieged by the Chinese in Peking.  The Chinese,
recognizing the disinterested policy of America, made appeals to the President
for peace, but the reply was that free communication with the legations must
first be established.  In August our minister at Peking, Mr. Conger, succeeded
in sending a cipher telegram, which read: "Still besieged.  Situation more
precarious.  Chinese government insisting on our leaving Peking, which would
be certain death.  Rifle firing upon us daily by Imperial troops.  Have
abundant courage, but little ammunition or provisions.  Two progressive Yamen
ministers beheaded.  All connected with legation of the United States well at
the present moment." On the 14th of that month Peking was captured, the
American troops being the first to enter the city.  Our policy from first to
last had been frank and open; we declared that we desired no acquisition of
territory, but only that China should be free to the unrestricted commerce of
the world. President McKinley, in his annual message to Congress, December 3,
1900, made the following statement of the principles which animated the
government of the United States in dealing with the situation in China:

     "The policy of the government of the United States is to seek a solution
which may bring about permanent safety and peace to China, preserve Chinese
territorial and administrative entity, protect all rights guaranteed to
friendly powers by treaty and international law, and safeguard for the world
the principle of equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese
Empire.

     "Faithful to those professions which, as it proved, reflected the views
and purposes of the other cooperating governments, all our efforts have been
directed towards ending the anomalous situation in China by negotiations for a
settlement at the earliest possible moment.  As soon as the sacred duty of
relieving our legation and its defendants was accomplished, we withdrew from
active hostilities, leaving our legation under an adequate guard in Peking as
a channel of negotiations and settlement - a course adopted by others of the
interested powers."

     The excitement preceding a presidential election once more agitated the
country.  Admiral Dewey in April announced his intention of becoming a
candidate, but no serious attention was paid to it.  The Republican Convention
met in Philadelphia on June 19, and nominated William McKinley, of Ohio, for
President, and Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, for Vice-President.  The
Democratic Convention assembled at Kansas City, Missouri, July 4, and
nominated William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, and Adlai S. Stevenson, for President
and Vice-President.  The Republican platform declared that the Republican
party came into power four years ago charged by the people to restore
prosperity by two legislative measures, a protective tariff and laws making
gold the standard of value, and then continued:

     "This commission has been executed, and the Republican promise is
redeemed.  Prosperity more general and more abundant than we have ever known
has followed these enactments.  There is no longer controversy as to the value
of any government obligations.  Every American dollar is a gold dollar, or its
assured equivalent, and American credit stands higher than that of any nation.
Capital is fully employed, and labor everywhere is profitably occupied.  No
single fact can more strikingly tell the story of what the Republican
government means to the country than this - that while during the whole period
of 107 years from 1790 to 1897 there was an excess of exports over imports of
only $383,028,497, there has been in the short three years of the present
Republican administration an excess of exports over imports in the enormous
sum of $1,483,537,094.

     We indorse the administration of William McKinley.  Its acts have been
established in wisdom and in patriotism, and at home and abroad it has
distinctly elevated and extended the influence of the American nation. Walking
untried paths and facing unforeseen responsibilities, President McKinley has
been in every situation the true American patriot and the upright statesman,
clear in vision, strong in judgment, firm in action, always inspiring and
deserving the confidence of his countrymen.

     "In asking the American people to indorse this Republican record and to
renew their commission to the Republican party, we remind them of the fact
that the menace to their prosperity has always resided in Democratic
principles, and no less in the general incapacity of the Democratic party to
conduct public affairs.

     "We renew our allegiance to the principle of the gold standard, and
declare our confidence in the wisdom of the legislation of the LVI Congress by
which the parity of all our money and the stability of our currency upon a
gold basis has been secured.

     "We recognize that interest rates are potent factors in production and
business activity, and for the purpose of further equalizing and of further
lowering the rates of interest, we favor such monetary legislation as will
enable the varying needs of the seasons and of all sections to be promptly met
in order that trade may be evenly sustained, labor steadily employed, and
commerce enlarged.  The volume of money in circulation was never so great per
capita as it is today."

     The platform also favored the policy of protection, of reciprocity, and
of aid to American shipping, and demanded a more effective restriction of
immigration, the raising of the age limit for child labor, and an effective
system of labor insurance.  With reference to the war, it said:  "While the
American people, sustained by this Republican legislation, have been achieving
these splendid triumphs in their business and commerce, they have conducted
and in victory concluded a war for liberty and human rights.  No thought of
national aggrandizement tarnished the high purpose with which American
standards were unfurled.

     It was a war unsought and patiently resisted, but when it came the
American government was ready.  Its fleets were cleared for action, its armies
were in the field, and the quick and signal triumph of its forces on land and
sea bore equal tribute to the courage of American soldiers and sailors and to
the skill and foresight of Republican statesmanship.  To ten millions of the
human race there was given `a new birth of freedom,' and to the American
people a new and noble responsibility."

     The Democratic platform denounced Imperialism, denounced the
administration's policy in Porto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines, and declared
that the Constitution followed the flag.  With regard to expansion, its words
are:

     "We are not opposed to territorial expansion when it takes in desirable
territory which can be erected into States in the Union, and whose people are
willing and fit to become American citizen.  We favor expansion by every
peaceful and legitimate means.  But we are unalterably opposed to the seizing
or purchasing of distant islands, to be governed outside the Constitution, and
whose people can never become citizens.

     "We are in favor of extending the Republic's influence among the nations,
but believe that influence should be extended not by force and violence, but
through the persuasive power of a high and honorable example.

     The importance of other questions now pending before the American people
is in nowise diminished, and the Democratic party takes no backward step from
its position on them, but the burning issue of imperialism growing out of the
Spanish war involves the very existence of the Republic and the destruction of
our free institutions.  We regard it as "the paramount issue of the campaign."

     It declared warfare against trusts:

     "We pledge the Democratic party to an unceasing warfare in nation, State,
and city against private monopoly in every form.  Existing laws against trusts
must be enforced and more stringent ones must be enacted, providing for
publicity as to affairs of corporations engaged in interstate commerce and
requiring all corporations to show, before doing business outside of the State
of their origin, that they have no water in their stock, and that they have
not attempted and are not attempting to monopolize any branch of business or
the production of any articles of merchandise, and the whole constitutional
power of Congress over interstate commerce, the mails, and all modes of
interstate communication shall be exercised by the enactment of comprehensive
laws upon the subject of trusts.  Tariff laws should be amended by putting the
products of trusts upon the free list to prevent monopoly under the plea of
protection.

     "We condemn the Dingley Tariff law as a trust-breeding measure,
skillfully devised to give the few favors which they do not deserve and to
place upon the many burdens which they should not bear.

     "We reaffirm and indorse the principles of the National Democratic
platform adopted at Chicago in 1896, and we reiterate the demand of that
platform for an American financial system made by the American people for
themselves which shall restore and maintain a bimetallic price level, and as
part of such system the immediate restoration of the free and unlimited
coinage of silver and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, without
waiting for the consent of any other nation."

     The platforms of other parties, such as the Gold Democracy, the Silver
Republican party, the Socialist Labor party, and of the People's party (Middle
of the Road) need not be quoted.  The campaign was waged chiefly on the gold
standard question and expansion, and was a very animated one, the Democratic
candidate displaying remarkable activity in his tours through the country.
The final returns showed:  Popular vote, McKinley over Bryan, 849,455; over
all, 446,718.  Electoral vote, McKinley over Bryan, 137, and a total popular
vote of 13,969,770.

     In 1900 the decennial census was taken, and by it the total population of
the United States in 1900 was shown to be 76,304,799, of which 74,610,523
persons are contained in the forty-five States, representing the population to
be used for apportionment purposes.  The total population of the country
includes 134,158 Indians not taxed, of whom 44,617 are found in certain of the
States, and which are to be deducted from the population of such States for
the purpose of determining the apportionment of Representatives.

     The total population in 1860, with which the aggregate population at the
present census should be compared, was 63,069,756, comprising 62,622,250
persons enumerated in the States and organized Territories at that census,
32,052 persons in Alaska, 180,182 Indians and other persons in the Indian
Territory, 145,282 Indians and other persons on Indian reservations, etc., and
89,990 persons in Hawaii, this last named figure being derived from the census
of the Hawaiian Islands taken as of December 28, 1890.  Taking this population
for 1890 as a basis, there has been a gain in population of 13,235,043 during
the ten years from 1890 to 1900, representing an increase of very nearly
twenty-one per cent.  A census of Porto Rico, taken in 1899, showed a
population of 953,243, but no enumeration has yet been made of the inhabitants
of the Philippine group of islands.

     The year 1900 opened auspiciously.  The temporary flurry into which the
country had been flung at the period of the presidential election had been
succeeded by confidence, the Cuban question was settled, the Philippine
troubles were drawing to a close; at home and abroad everything pointed to a
new period of peace and prosperity.  Our foreign relations were satisfactory,
and a striking proof of our good understanding with England was shown by the
universal sympathy expressed on the death of Queen Victoria, on Jan. 22, and
testified to by more than the official tokens of our government to a friendly
power, by a general display of flags half-masted, and by commemorative
services in many churches.  The country was happy to see again, in its highest
executive position, the man whose administration will always be identified
with such a remarkable development as had taken place, and under whose term it
would be brought to a satisfactory conclusion.  Our territorial expansion will
have results that as yet we cannot foresee, but the most striking phenomenon
of McKinley's first term was the commercial revolution.  Instead of being
exporters of raw material and importers of manufactured goods, we had become
exporters of all kinds of industrial products.  Instead of being borrowers, we
had become lenders; and students of our history and of the history of the
world saw that some change in our system was imminent, and who could steer the
ship of state so well through the seas it had to traverse as the pilot who had
guided it through other seas in safety?

     On the 4th of March, William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt were
inaugurated as President and Vice President of the United States, with the
greatest military and civic pageant ever witnessed in Washington; and in his
speech to the people the President justified his present policy, taking the
line which more fully developed in his last speech, the day before his death
at Buffalo.

     On the 13th of March the death was announced of Benjamin Harrison, the
twenty-third President of the United States, the only President excepting John
Quincy Adams who could count a President among his ancestors.  His death left
Grover Cleveland the only living ex-President.  Benjamin Harrison was the
grandson of William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the Republic, "old
Tippecanoe," and great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, one of the
signers of the Declaration of Independence.  He was born in South Bend,
Indiana, where his father was a farmer, in 1833; studied and practiced law
till he entered the army, in 1862, and when the struggle was over returned to
civil life and resumed the practice of his profession at Indianapolis.  In
1880 he entered the Senate of the United States, and in 1888 was elected
President, with Levi P. Morton as Vice-President, on the Republican ticket, by
233 electoral votes, against 168 cast for the late President, Grover
Cleveland, and Allen G. Thurman.  The first great function in which he
appeared was the celebration of the centennial of Washington's inauguration,
at New York, in 1889; another was the opening of the World's Fair at Chicago,
1892; but at the next election he was defeated by Grover Cleveland, who
received 277 electoral votes over 145 for Harrison.  On retiring from his
exalted position he resumed his law practice, in which the only interruption
was his appointment as a member of the International Court of Arbitration by
President McKinley.  He was in his sixty-seventh year when he died.

     On April 29 the President and Mrs. McKinley left Washington for a trip to
the Pacific coast.  At every place where he stopped he was greeted by cheering
crowds whom he addressed.  The health of Mrs. McKinley had long been a cause
of anxiety to her husband and her friends, and when the presidential train
reached San Francisco her condition, weakened by the long journey and its
attendant excitement, necessitated a return homeward, and on May 30 he again
was in his quiet home at Canton.

     One of his earliest public utterances on his return was that under no
circumstances would he consent to run for a third term.  He had been urged to
accept another nomination, but he preferred to adhere, in spite of strong
solicitations from leading members of his party, to the unwritten clause in
the Constitution which restricts the ambition of our Presidents to two terms
of office.

     In 1897 plans had been drawn up for a Pan-American exhibition at or near
Niagara in 1901.  The war interfered with the carrying out of the project, but
when the war was over the idea was revived on a larger scale, and at the city
of Buffalo.  Large sums of money were subscribed for completing the scheme;
the Federal Government appropriated half a million of dollars to the fund, and
on June, 1899, invited all the governments of the Western Hemisphere to
participate in the exhibition.  A site comprising 350 acres near Buffalo was
selected for the buildings, most of them in compliment to the Latin-American
countries, being in the style of the Spanish renaissance, with a successful
use of color.  The great feature of the exposition, however, was the
electrical display, and the marvelous resources of electricity were exhibited
in more ways than were ever shown in one spot before.  Thither the President
and Mrs. McKinley, whose health was improved, journeyed, arriving Sept. 4.  On
Sept. 5 he delivered his last speech, defending his past policy and outlining
his future course.  A copy of this document we annex to this chapter.

     On the following day, Sept. 6, the President again visited the
exposition, and this time held a public reception in the Temple of Music. As
is customary, a long line of some three thousand persons began to pass before
the President about four o'clock.  Policemen and detectives were near to him,
and in the line, just behind a little girl whom he had kindly welcomed, came a
young man, decently dressed, smooth-faced, by no means of a criminal cast of
countenance, but evidently of foreign extraction.  The only remarkable thing
in his appearance was a white handkerchief wrapped round his right hand, as if
it had been crushed.  As the President leaned forward to shake hands with him
(a custom more honored in the breach than in the observance), his gesture
indicating that he intended to grasp the left hand, the assassin raised his
right hand, dropped the bandage, and fired two shots in quick succession.  One
of them glanced off the breast and inflicted only a contusion; the second
penetrated the stomach and loped in the muscles of the back.  The President's
first thought was for his wife, and he begged that she be not informed of the
attack; the next was for his murderer, who was being badly treated by the
bystanders.  "Be easy with him, boys," he said, as he sank into a chair.  He
was at once taken to a room in the building; surgical aid was summoned; an
operation to close the wounds of the stomach was performed, and the medical
men declared that from a surgical point of view it was perfectly successful.
The President was then taken to the home of Mr. Milburn, a director of the
exposition, whom he was visiting, and was resting quietly when the night came.
For some days after the shooting the bulletins issued by the surgeons spoke
most hopefully, late ones even predicting that he would soon be in a condition
to be removed to his home. But towards the end of the week hope was succeeded
by anxiety, and then anxiety by despair, when on Friday morning a relapse took
place and the President was lying a dying man.  He calmly bade good-bye to
those near and dear to him; his last words were:  "It is God's way; His will
be done, not Ours," and he repeated some of the words of his favorite hymn,
"Nearer, my God, to Thee."  The cause of death was gangrene, as was shown by
the Necropsy, and the theory that the bullet was poisoned was rejected.
Fourteen medical men of eminence united in declaring that death was the direct
result of the wound, and could not have been warded off by any human skill.

     On Sunday, after simple funeral exercises in the presence of the family,
the body was removed to the City Hall, where it lay in state, while 90,000
persons passed reverently before the remains.  On Monday the transference to
Washington began; at every station the train was met by silent crowds.  On
Tuesday the obsequies at Washington took place; there was an elaborate escort
of honor, and religious services at the Capitol.  The coffin was laid on a
platform where Lincoln's remains once rested.  On the right stood the members
of the late President's family, on the left the new President, Theodore
Roosevelt, with his family.  Thursday may be described as the people's day of
mourning, when the body was taken to his family tomb at Canton.  Then, in
every city or village of the Union, all flags were at half-mast, all public
and many private buildings draped in black or black and purple, all business
was suspended, all places of amusement closed, all churches crowded, and the
moment of interment was marked throughout the country by the stopping for a
few minutes of all traffic; every railroad train, every trolley car, every
carriage, every kind of conveyance, heavy or light, paused in reverence and
sympathy, as all that was mortal of William McKinley was laid in its grave.

     After the assault the assassin was at once seized.  He gave the name of
Leon Czolgosz, and was a Pole by descent, although born in America.  He avowed
his belief in Anarchism, but denied that he was the agent of any society or
conspiracy.  He was twenty-eight years old, attended school at Detroit, and,
although not very intelligent in appearance, was by no means repulsive.  The
police took all precautions against any attempts at lynching, and his trial
began at Buffalo Sept. 23.  The case was carried on with dignity and
promptness.  The prisoner had pleaded guilty, but this plea was not accepted,
and counsel was assigned to him by the court.  The jury was selected with
little difficulty, the evidence was brief, and sentence of death was at once
pronounced.  He was executed in October at the prison at Auburn.  Let him be
forgotten.

     The murder of President McKinley gave as great a shock to Europe as to
America.  Every State, when the news was flashed across, gave expression to
its abhorrence of the assassin's deed, to sympathy with the victim's family,
and to good wishes for his recovery.  Telegrams from every sovereign and from
the Republics of France and Switzerland, all agreed in the messages sent
during the last days, and when the end came every country put on signs of
mourning, and in England the newspapers appeared with black rules, and
services were held in the churches.  Never, perhaps, had such general grief
been felt, so causeless was the crime.  The victim was a man of blameless
private character, who had not a personal enemy; the time chosen was when the
party struggle was over, and the assassin seemingly had no possible motive to
commit his crime.

     The first of McKinley's forefathers born in this country served in the
Revolutionary war, and, that ended, moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio.  There,
on Jan. 29, 1843, at a village called Niles, the late President was born.
After a common school education, a partial course at Allegany College, and a
few months of teaching school he entered the army in the 23d Ohio Regiment, of
which Rutherford B. Hayes was Major.  Till the regiment was disbanded he was
only once absent on a short furlough, and he left it with the rank of Major.
He then studied law, took up his abode in Canton, and took an active share in
political life.  In 1875 he took the stump for his old commander, Hayes; in
1876 he was elected to Congress, where he soon became noted as an advocate of
the protective system.  As Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee he gave
his name to the bill passed by the LI Congress, which is known as the McKinley
Bill.  Defeated for another term in Congress, he was elected Governor by
20,000 votes against the Democratic candidate.  Reelected Governor by a
majority of 80,000, his prominence in the National Convention of 1888, made
him a prominent candidate for the Presidency, and his nomination in 1896 was a
logical one.  The events of the first administration have been already
recorded in the pages of OUR COUNTRY, and of them may be here quoted the words
of Senator Thurston:

     "The achievements of this administration have not only made us a world-
wide power, but a power in the whole wide world.  The prestige gained for us
as a people will be lasting and permanent, guaranteeing continued peace with
all other nations, giving us equal advantages for trade and commerce in all
other countries, and enabling us to project the mighty energy of all our
business enterprises into every field of commercial opportunity and activity.

     "In spite of anything said to the contrary, the President has stood by
the Constitution of the fathers and has exercised no power or authority
without warrant of law.

     "In the recent Chinese complications the valor of the American soldiery
has been once more exemplified, and the steadfast, conservative, humane
position of William McKinley toward the people of the Orient has compelled the
great military powers of Europe to modify their more barbarous and selfish
plans to meet the requirements of the American conscience.

     "Take it all in all, historians will say that the first administration of
William McKinley, in peace, in war, at home, abroad, in domestic matters and
in international complications, surpasses in importance and abiding results
that of any other.  It stands to-day indorsed by the American people and
approved by the best judgment of the civilized world."

     In an address four days before President McKinley's speech at Buffalo,
Vice-President Roosevelt, at Minneapolis, gave an exposition of his favorite
text, "a strenuous life." "The willfully idle man, like the willfully barren
woman, has no place in a sane and vigorous community.  We must use no words
that we cannot back up with deeds," he said, and added that "the same spirit
of strenuous endeavor must characterize the nation as well as the individual;
that commercially we ask only for a fair field and no favor, and that we can
best get justice by doing justice."  Respecting Cuba, he said that we have
given the island law and order, and ask in return only that at no time their
independence shall be prostituted to the advantage of some foreign power so as
to menace our well-being.  As to the Philippines, he remarked:  "Barbarism can
have no place in a civilized world," and that Governor Taft was giving the
islands "a peace and liberty of which they never dreamed."  Compared with the
President's speech the day before he was attacked, this expressed the policy
of the administration and the policy, now that he has succeeded to the supreme
executive office, President Roosevelt will carry out.

     As soon as the assault on President McKinley was known the Vice-
President and the Cabinet were summoned to Buffalo.  The physicians then were
all hopeful of the President's recovery, and Mr. Roosevelt went to the
Adirondacks to bring his family home.  When death was seen to be inevitable
another message was sent to recall him.  He at once set out and reached
Buffalo on Saturday afternoon.  The oath of office as President was
administered at once in the presence of five members of the Cabinet, and
before taking it he made the declaration:  "I wish to state that it shall be
my aim to continue absolutely unbroken the policy of President McKinley for
the peace, prosperity and honor of our beloved country."  He announced that
all the members of the Cabinet had been requested to retain office, and that
no special session of Congress would be called.  President Roosevelt's first
official act was to issue a proclamation appointing Thursday, Sept. 19, the
day of McKinley's funeral, as a day of mourning and prayer, and in it occurred
the sentence:  "President McKinley crowned a life of largest love for his
fellow men, of most earnest endeavor for their welfare, by a death of
Christian fortitude; and both the way in which he lived his life and the way
in which, in the supreme hour of trial, he met his death will remain forever a
precious heritage of our people."

     Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-fifth President of the United States, is
the youngest man who ever filled the office of President.  He is, too, we may
say, one of the most romantic figures that have appeared in our annals.  A
scholar and a ranchman, an author and a soldier, a lawyer and a politician, he
has in abundant measure the qualities that make men great when they are united
with courage and integrity, and, to use his own words, strenuousness. Eight
generations of his family have been prominent in the affairs of New York
State, and Theodore, only a year after leaving college, entered the Assembly
at Albany, in which he served three terms, becoming noticeable by his
opposition to the "third term scheme."  He was unsuccessful as Republican
candidate for Mayor of New York against Abram S. Hewitt, but he did admirable
work for his party when he acted as Police Commissioner under Mayor Strong in
1895.  He was appointed, in 1897, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and his
work in preparing the navy for the war was warmly acknowledged by Secretary
Long and the President.  When the war broke out he, inspired by his own maxim,
"We must use no words that we cannot back up by deeds," resigned his position
at Washington, and with his Rough Riders proceeded to Cuba.  The war over, he
was elected Governor of New York, and in the late campaign accepted, with
reluctance, the nomination for the Vice-Presidency.  He undoubtedly, by the
reputation he had already won and the energy he exhibited in the campaign,
contributed to the success of the ticket.


President Mckinley's Last Speech.

     President Milburn, Director-General Buchanan, Commissioners, Ladies and
Gentlemen:  I am glad to again be in the city of Buffalo and exchange
greetings with her people, to whose generous hospitality I am not a stranger,
and with whose good will I have been repeatedly and signally honored.  Today I
have additional satisfaction in meeting and giving welcome to the foreign
representatives assembled here, whose presence and participation in this
Exposition have contributed in so marked a degree to its interest and success.
To the Commissioners of the Dominion of Canada and the British Colonies, the
French Colonies, the republics of Mexico and of Central and South America, and
the Commissioners of Cuba and Porto Rico, who share with us in this
undertaking, we give the hand of fellowship, and felicitate with them upon the
triumphs of art, science, education and manufacture, which the old has
bequeathed to the new century.

     Expositions are the time-keepers of progress.  They record the world's
advancement.  They stimulate the energy, enterprise and intellect of the
people, and quicken human genius.  They go into the home.  They broaden and
brighten the daily life of the people.  They open mighty storehouses of
information to the student.  Every exposition, great or small, has helped to
some onward step.

     Comparison of ideas is always educational, and as such instructs the
brain and hand of men.  Friendly rivalry follows, which is the spur to
industrial improvement, the inspiration to useful invention and to high
endeavor in all departments of human activity.  It exacts a study of the
wants, comforts, and even the whims of the people, and recognizes the efficacy
of high quality and low prices to win their favor.  The quest for trade is an
incentive to men of business to devise, invent, improve, and economize in the
cost of production.  Business life, whether among ourselves or with other
peoples, is ever a sharp struggle for success.  It will be none the less so in
the future.  Without competition we would be clinging to the clumsy and
antiquated processes of farming and manufacture, and the methods of business
of long ago, and the twentieth would be no further advanced than the
eighteenth century.  But though commercial competitors we are, commercial
enemies we must not be.

     The Pan-American Exposition has done its work thoroughly presenting in
its exhibits evidences of the highest skill and illustrating the progress of
the human family in the western hemisphere.  This portion of the earth has no
cause for humiliation for the part it has performed in the march of
civilization.  It has not accomplished everything; far from it.  It has simply
done its best, and without vanity or boastfulness, and recognizing the
manifold achievements of others, it invites the friendly rivalry of all the
Powers in the peaceful pursuits of trade and commerce, and will cooperate with
all in advancing the highest and best interests of humanity.  The wisdom and
energy of all the nations are none too great for the world's work.  The
success of art, science, industry, and invention is an inter national asset,
and a common glory.

     After all, how near one to the other is every part of the world.  Modem
inventions have brought into close relation widely separated peoples and made
them better acquainted.  Geographic and political divisions will continue to
exist, but distances have been effaced.  Swift ships and fast trains are
becoming cosmopolitan.  They invade fields which a few years ago were
impenetrable.  The world's products are exchanged as never before, and with
increasing transportation facilities come increasing knowledge and larger
trade.  Prices are fixed with mathematical precision by supply and demand. The
world's selling prices are regulated by market and crop reports.  We travel
greater distances in a shorter space of time and with more ease than was ever
dreamed of by the fathers.  Isolation is no longer possible or desirable.  The
same important news is read, though in different languages, the same day in
all Christendom.

     The telegraph keeps us advised of what is occurring everywhere, and the
press foreshadows, with more or less accuracy, the plans and purposes of the
nations.  Market prices of products and of securities are hourly known in
every commercial mart, and the investments of the people extend beyond their
own national boundaries into the remotest parts of the earth.  Vast
transactions are conducted and international exchanges are made by the tick of
the cable.  Every event of interest is immediately bulletined.  The quick
gathering and transmission of news, like rapid transit, are of recent origin,
and are only made possible by the genius of the inventor and the courage of
the investor.  It took a special messenger of the Government, with every
facility known at the time for rapid travel, nineteen days to go from the city
of Washington to New Orleans with a message to General Jackson that the war
with England had ceased and a treaty of peace had been signed.  How different
now.  We reached General Miles, in Porto Rico, and he was able through the
military telegraph to stop his army on the firing line with the message that
the United States and Spain had signed a protocol suspending hostilities.  We
knew almost instantly of the first shots fired at Santiago, and the subsequent
surrender of the Spanish forces was known at Washington within less than an
hour of its consummation.  The first ship of Cervera's fleet had hardly
emerged from that historic harbor when the fact was flashed to our Capitol,
and the swift destruction that followed was announced immediately through the
wonderful medium of telegraphy.

     So accustomed are we to safe and easy communication with distant lands
that its temporary interruption, even in ordinary times, results in loss and
inconvenience.  We shall never forget the days of anxious waiting and suspense
when no information was permitted to be sent from Peking, and the diplomatic
representatives of the nations in China, cut off from all communication,
inside and outside of the walled capital, were surrounded by an angry and
misguided mob that threatened their lives; nor the joy that thrilled the world
when a single message from the Government of the United States brought through
our Minister the first news of the safety of the besieged diplomats.

     At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was not a mile of steam
railroad on the globe; now there are enough miles to make its circuit in any
times.  Then there was not a line of electric telegraph; now we have a vast
mileage traversing all lands and all seas.  God and man have linked the
nations together.  No nation can longer be indifferent to any other.  And as
we are brought more and more in touch with each other, the less occasion is
there for misunderstandings, and the stronger the disposition, when we have
differences, to adjust them in the court of arbitration, which is the noblest
forum for the settlement of international disputes.

     My fellow citizens, trade statistics indicate that this country is in a
state of unexampled prosperity.  The figures are almost appalling.  They show
that we are utilizing our fields and forests and mines, and that we are
furnishing profitable employment to the millions of workingmen throughout the
United States, bringing comfort and happiness to their homes, ind making it
possible to lay by savings for old age and disability.  That all the people
are participating in this great prosperity is seen in every American community
and shown by the enormous and unprecedented deposits in our savings banks.
Our duty in the care and security of these deposits and their safe investment
demands the highest integrity and the best business capacity of those in
charge of these depositories of the people's earnings.

     We have a vast and intricate business, built up through years of toil and
struggle, in which every part of the country has its stake, which will not
permit of either neglect, or of undue selfishness.  No narrow, sordid policy
will subserve it.  The greatest skill and wisdom on the part of manufacturers
and producers will be required to hold and increase it.  Our industrial
enterprises, which have grown to such great proportions, affect the homes and
occupations of the people and the welfare of the country.  Our capacity to
produce has developed so enormously and our products have so multiplied that
the problem of more markets requires our urgent and immediate attention.  Only
a broad and enlightened policy will keep what we have.  No other policy will
get more.  In these times of marvelous business energy and gain we ought to be
looking to the future, strengthening the weak places in our industrial and
commercial systems, that we may be ready for any storm or strain.

     By sensible trade arrangements which will not interrupt our home
production we shall extend the outlets for our increasing surplus.  A system
which provides a mutual exchange of commodities is manifestly essential to the
continued and healthful growth of our export trade.  We must not repose in
fancied security that we can forever sell everything and buy little or
nothing.  If such a thing here possible it would not be best for us or for
those with whom we deal.  We should take from our customers such of their
products as we can use without harm to our industries and labor.  Reciprocity
is the natural outgrowth of our wonderful industrial development under the
domestic policy now firmly established.

     What we produce beyond our domestic consumption must have a vent abroad.
The excess must be relieved through a foreign outlet, and we should sell
everywhere we can and buy wherever the buying will enlarge our sales and
productions, and thereby make a greater demand for home labor.

     The period of exclusiveness is past.  The expansion of our trade and
commerce is the pressing problem.  Commercial wars are unprofitable.  A policy
of good will and friendly trade relations will prevent reprisals. Reciprocity
treaties are in harmony with the spirit of the times; measures of retaliation
are not.  If, perchance, some of our tariffs are no longer needed for revenue
or to encourage and protect our industries at home, why should they not be
employed to extend and promote our markets abroad?  Then, too, we have
inadequate steamship service.  New lines of steamships have already been put
in commission between the Pacific coast ports of the United States and those
on the western coasts of Mexico and Central and South America.  These should
be followed up with direct steamship lines between the western coast of the
United States and South American ports.  One of the needs of the times is
direct commercial lines from our vast fields of production to the fields of
consumption that we have but barely touched. Next in advantage to having the
thing to sell is to have the conveyance to carry it to the buyer.  We must
encourage our merchant marine.  We must have more ships.  They must be under
the American flag, built and manned and owned by Americans.  These will not
only be profitable in a commercial sense; they will be messengers of peace and
amity wherever they go.

     We must build the Isthmian Canal, which will unite the two oceans and
give a straight line of water communication with the western coasts of Central
and South America and Mexico.  The construction of a Pacific cable cannot be
longer postponed.  In the furtherance of these objects of national interest
and concern you are performing an important part.  This Exposition would have
touched the heart of that American statesman whose mind was ever alert and
thought ever constant for a larger commerce and a truer fraternity of the
republics of the New World.  His broad American spirit is felt and manifested
here.  He needs no identification to an assemblage of Americans anywhere, for
the name of Blaine is inseparably associated with the Pan-American movement
which finds here practical and substantial expression, and which we all hope
will be firmly advanced by the Pan-American Congress that assembles this
autumn in the capital of Mexico.  The good work will go on. It cannot be
stopped.  These buildings will disappear; this creation of art and beauty and
industry will perish from sight, but their influence will remain to "make it
live beyond its too short living with praises and thanksgiving."  Who can tell
the new thoughts that have been awakened, the ambitions fired and the high
achievements that will be wrought through this Exposition?

     Let us ever remember that our interest is in concord, not conflict; and
that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war.  We
hope that all who are represented here may be moved to higher and nobler
effort for their own and the world's good, and that out of this city may come
not only greater commerce and trade for us all, but, more essential than
these relations of mutual respect, confidence and friendship which will
deepen and endure.  Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe
prosperity, happiness and peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings to
all the peoples and powers of earth.