The Greater Republic Part 66

For more than a year Private McKinley carried a musket, and on the 15th of April, 1862, was promoted to a sergeancy. Looking back to those stirring days of his young manhood, President McKinley has said:

"I always recall them with pleasure. Those fourteen months that I served in the ranks taught me a great deal. I was but a schoolboy when I went into the army, and that first year was a formative period of my life, during which I learned much of men and affairs. I have always been glad that I entered the service as a private and served those months in that capacity."

McKinley made a good soldier and saw plenty of fighting. Six weeks after leaving Columbus, his regiment was in the battle of Carnifex Ferry, Western Virginia, where the only victories of the early days of the war were won. It was the hardest kind of work, hurrying back and forth through the mountains, drenched by rains, and on short rations most of the time. The boy did his work well and was soon ordered to Was.h.i.+ngton, where he became one of the units in the splendid Army of the Potomac under General McClellan.

At Antietam, the bloodiest battle of the war, McKinley's gallantry was so conspicuous that he was promoted to a lieutenancy. He was sent to West Virginia again, where he was fighting continually. As an evidence of the kind of work he did, it may be said that one morning his regiment breakfasted in Pennsylvania, ate dinner in Maryland, and took supper in Virginia.

Winning promotion by his fine conduct, he became captain, July 25, 1864, and was brevetted major, on the recommendation of General Sheridan, for conspicuous bravery at Cedar Creek and Fisher's Hill. The t.i.tle, "Major McKinley," therefore, is the military one by which the President is remembered.

With the coming of peace, the young man found himself a veteran of the war at the age of twenty-two, and compelled to decide upon the means of earning his living. He took up the study of law, and was graduated from the Albany, N.Y., law school, and admitted to the bar in 1867. He began practice in Canton, Ohio, and, by his ability and conscientious devotion, soon achieved success. He early showed an interest in politics, and was often called upon to make public addresses. He identified himself with the Republican party, and was elected district attorney in Stark County, which almost invariably went Democratic. In 1876, he was elected to Congress, against a normal Democratic majority, for five successive terms, being defeated when he ran the sixth time through the gerrymandering of his district by his political opponents.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GREATER NEW YORK.

On January 1, 1898, Greater New York was created by the union of New York, Brooklyn, Long Island City, and Staten Island, into one munic.i.p.ality. The city now covers nearly 318 square miles, contains over three and one-half millions inhabitants, and, next to London, is the largest city in the world.]

During his seven terms in Congress, Mr. McKinley was noted for his clear grasp of national questions and his interest in tariff legislation. It was in 1890 that he brought about the pa.s.sage of the tariff measure which is always a.s.sociated with his name. In the same year he was defeated, but, being nominated for governor, he was elected by 80,000 majority. As in the case of Mr. Cleveland, this triumph attracted national attention, and his administration was so satisfactory that he could have received the nomination for the presidency twice before he accepted it.

The presidential administration of McKinley has proven one of the most eventful in our history, for, as set forth in the following chapters, it marked our entrance among the leading nations of the world, in the field of territorial expansion beyond the limits of our own continent and hemisphere. Before entering upon the history of this phase of our national existence, attention must be given to important happenings of a different nature. One of these was the organization of what is popularly known as "Greater New York."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE OBELISK IN CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK.]

"GREATER NEW YORK."

For a number of years, a prominent question among the inhabitants of the metropolis and outlying cities was that of their union under one government. The New York Legislature in 1890 appointed a committee to inquire into and report upon the subject. After several years of discussion, the Legislature provided for a referendum, the result of which showed a large majority in favor of uniting the cities referred to. A bill was carefully framed, pa.s.sed both branches of the law-making body by a strong vote in February, 1897, and was signed by the mayors of Brooklyn and of Long Island City. Mayor Strong, of New York, however, vetoed the bill, but the Legislature immediately repa.s.sed it, and it was signed by Governor Black.

The expanded metropolis began its official existence January 1, 1898, the government being vested in a mayor and a munic.i.p.al a.s.sembly, which consists of two branches elected by the people. The population at the time named was about 3,400,000, the daily increase being 400. Should this rate continue, the total population at the middle of the twentieth century will be 20,000,000, which will make it the most populous in the world, unless London wakes up and grows faster than at present.

The area of Greater New York is 317.77 square miles. Its greatest width from the Hudson River to the boundary line across Long Island beyond Creedmoor is sixteen miles, and the extreme length, from the southern end of Staten Island to the northern limits of Yonkers, is thirty-two miles. Within these bounds are the cities of New York, Brooklyn, Long Island City, Jamaica, all of Staten Island, the western end of Long Island, Coney Island, Rockaway, Valley Stream, Flus.h.i.+ng, Whitestone, College Point, Willets' Point, Fort Schuyler, Throggs' Neck, Westchester, Baychester, Pelham Manor, Van Cortlandt, Riverdale, and Spuyten Devil.

REMOVAL OF GENERAL GRANT'S REMAINS TO MORNINGSIDE PARK.

The removal of the remains of General Grant to their final resting-place in the magnificent tomb on Morningside Heights, on the banks of the Hudson, took place during the first year of McKinley's administration, and was marked by ceremonies among the most impressive ever witnessed in the metropolis of the country. The final tributes to the foremost defender of the country were made by eloquent tongues, and pens, and by the reverent affection of the nation itself.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN SHERMAN.

Secretary of State under President McKinley; resigned 1898.]

There have been many attempts made to a.n.a.lyze the character of this remarkable man. Some of his most intimate friends failed to understand him. Among the best of these a.n.a.lyses is that of Lieutenant-General John M. Schofield. In this our last reference to General Grant, the words of his trusted confidant deserve record:

"General Sherman wrote that he could not understand Grant, and doubted if Grant understood himself. A very distinguished statesman, whose name I need not mention, said to me that, in his opinion, there was nothing special in Grant to understand. Others have varied widely in their estimates of that extraordinary character. Yet I believe its most extraordinary quality was its extreme simplicity, so extreme that many have entirely overlooked it in their search for some deeply hidden secret to account for so great a character, unmindful of the general fact that simplicity is one of the most prominent attributes of greatness.

"The greatest of all the traits of Grant's character was that which lay always on the surface, visible to all who had eyes to see it.

That was his moral and intellectual honesty, integrity, sincerity, veracity, and justice. He was incapable of any attempt to deceive anybody, except for a legitimate purpose, as in military strategy; and, above all, he was incapable of deceiving himself. He possessed that rarest of all human faculties, the power of a perfectly accurate estimate of himself, uninfluenced by vanity, pride, ambition, flattery, or self-interest. Grant was very far from being a modest man, as the word is generally understood. His just self-esteem was as far above it as it was above flattery. The highest enconiums were accepted for what he believed them to be worth. They did not disturb his equilibrium in the slightest degree. Confiding, just, and generous to everybody else, he treated with silent contempt any suggestion that he had been unfaithful to any obligation. He was too proud to explain where his honor had been questioned.

"While Grant knew his own merits as well as anybody did, he also knew his own imperfections and estimated them at their real value. For example, his inability to speak in public, which produced the impression of extreme modesty or diffidence, he accepted simply as a fact in his nature which was of little or no consequence, and which he did not even care to conceal. He would not, for many years, even take the trouble to jot down a few words in advance, so as to be able to say something when called upon. Indeed, I believe he would have regarded it as an unworthy attempt to appear in a false light if he had made preparations in advance for an 'extemporaneous' speech. Even when he did in later years write some notes on the back of a dinner-card, he would take care to let everybody see that he had done so by holding the card in plain view while he read his little speech.

After telling a story, in which the facts had been modified somewhat to give the greater effect, which no one could enjoy more than he did, Grant would take care to explain exactly in what respects he had altered the facts for the purpose of increasing the interest in his story, so that he might not leave any wrong impression.

"When Grant's attention was called to any mistake he had committed, he would see and admit it as quickly and unreservedly as if it had been made by anybody else, and with a smile which expressed the exact opposite of that feeling which most men are apt to show under like circ.u.mstances. His love of truth and justice was so far above all personal considerations that he showed unmistakable evidence of gratification when any error into which he might have fallen was corrected. The fact that he had made a mistake and that it was plainly pointed out to him did not produce the slightest unpleasant impression; while the further fact, that no harm had resulted from his mistake, gave him real pleasure. In Grant's judgment, no case in which any wrong had been done could possibly be regarded as finally settled until that wrong was righted, and if he himself had been, in any sense, a party to that wrong, he was the more earnest in his desire to see justice done. While he thus showed a total absence of any false pride of opinion or of knowledge, no man could be firmer than he in adherence to his mature judgment, nor more earnest in his determination, on proper occasions, to make it understood that his opinion was his own and not borrowed from anybody else. His pride in his own mature opinion was very great; in that he was as far as possible from being a modest man. This absolute confidence in his own judgment upon any subject which he had mastered, and the moral courage to take upon himself alone the highest responsibility, and to demand full authority and freedom to act according to his own judgment, without interference from anybody, added to his accurate estimate of his own ability and clear perception of the necessity for undivided authority and responsibility in the conduct of military operations, and in all that concerns the efficiency of armies in time of war, const.i.tuted the foundation of that very great character.

"When summoned to Was.h.i.+ngton to take command of all the armies, with the rank of lieutenant-general, he determined, before he reached the capital, that he would not accept the command under any conditions than those above stated. His sense of honor and of loyalty to the country would not permit him to consent to be placed in a false position, one in which he could not perform the service which the country had been led to expect from him, and he had the courage to say so in unqualified terms.

"These traits of Grant's character must now be perfectly familiar to all who have studied his history, as well as to those who enjoyed familiar intercourse with him during his life. They are the traits of character which made him, as it seems to me, a very great man, the only man of our time, so far as we know, who possessed both the character and the military ability which were, under the circ.u.mstances, indispensable in the commander of the armies which were to suppress the great rebellion.

"It has been said that Grant, like Lincoln, was a typical American, and for that reason was most beloved and respected by the people.

That is true of the statesman and the soldier, as well as of the people, if it is meant that they were the highest type, that ideal which commands the respect and admiration of the highest and best in a man's nature, however far he may know it to be above himself. The soldiers and the people saw in Grant or in Lincoln, not one of themselves, not a plain man of the people, nor yet some superior being whom they could not understand, but the personification of their highest ideal of a citizen, soldier, or statesman, a man whose greatness they could see and understand as plainly as they could anything else under the sun. And there was no more mystery about it all, in fact, than there was in the popular mind."

[Ill.u.s.tration: SPEAKER THOMAS B. REED.

Resigned as Speaker in 1899.]

To the widow of General Grant was given the right to select the spot for the last resting-place of his remains, she to repose after death beside her husband. She decided upon Riverside. It then became the privilege of his friends to provide a suitable tomb for the ill.u.s.trious soldier. The funds needed, amounting to nearly half a million dollars, were raised by subscription, ground was broken on the anniversary of Grant's birthday, April 27, 1891, and a year later the corner-stone was laid by President Harrison.

The tomb of General Grant, standing on the banks of the Hudson, is an imposing structure, square in shape, ninety feet on each side, and of the Grecian-Doric order. The entrance on the south side is guarded by a portico in double lines of columns, approached by steps seventy feet in width. The tomb is surmounted at a height of seventy-two feet with a cornice and parapet, above which is a circular cupola, seventy feet in diameter, terminating in a top the shape of a pyramid, which is 280 feet above the river.

The interior of the structure is of cruciform form, seventy-six feet at its greatest length, the piers of masonry at the corners being connected by arches which form recesses. The arches are fifty feet in height, and are surmounted by an open circular gallery, capped with a panneled dome, 105 feet above the floor. Scenes in General Grant's career are depicted with sculpture on the plane and relieved surfaces in _alto rilievo_. The granite of the structure is light in color, and the sarcophagus of brilliant reddish porphyry. The crypt rests directly under the centre of the dome, stairways connecting with the pa.s.sage surrounding the sarcophagus, where the remains of the widow of General Grant are eventually to repose.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TOMB OF U.S. GRANT, NEW YORK.]

The ceremonies attending the removal of the remains on April 27, 1897, included three impressive displays, the ceremony at the tomb, the parade of the army--the National Guard and civic bodies--and the review of the navy and merchant marine on the Hudson. Those who gathered to take part in the final tribute to the great soldier included the President, Vice-President of the United States, the Cabinet, many State governors, prominent American citizens, and representatives of foreign nations.

From 129th Street to the Battery, and from Whitehall up East River to the Bridge, thousands of American and foreign flags were displayed, while the parade of men on foot included 60,000 persons.

Bishop Newman opened the exercises with prayer, and President McKinley made one of the finest speeches of his life, the opening words of which were:

"A great life, dedicated to the welfare of the nation, here finds its earthly coronation. Even if this day lacked the impressiveness of ceremony and was devoid of pageantry, it would still be memorable, because it is the anniversary of the birth of the most famous and best beloved of American soldiers."

[Ill.u.s.tration: REVIEW OF THE NAVY AND MERCHANT MARINE ON THE HUDSON, APRIL 27, 1897.]

The President concluded with the words:

"With Was.h.i.+ngton and Lincoln, Grant had an exalted place in the history and the affections of the people. To-day his memory is held in equal esteem by those whom he led to victory, and by those who accepted his generous terms of peace. The veteran leaders of the Blue and Gray here meet not only to honor the name of Grant, but to testify to the living reality of a fraternal national spirit which has triumphed over the differences of the past and transcends the limitations of sectional lines. Its completion--which we pray G.o.d to speed--will be the nation's greatest glory.

"It is right that General Grant should have a memorial commensurate with his greatness, and that his last resting-place should be in the city of his choice, to which he was so attached, and of whose ties he was not forgetful even in death. Fitting, too, is it that the great soldier should sleep beside the n.o.ble river on whose banks he first learned the art of war, and of which he became master and leader without a rival.

"But let us not forget the glorious distinction with which the metropolis among the fair sisterhood of American cities has honored his life and memory. With all that riches and sculpture can do to render the edifice worthy of the man, upon a site unsurpa.s.sed for magnificence, has this monument been reared by New York as a perpetual record of his ill.u.s.trious deeds, in the certainty that, as time pa.s.ses, around it will a.s.semble, with grat.i.tude and reverence and veneration, men of all climes, races, and nationalities.

"New York holds in its keeping the precious dust of the silent soldier, but his achievements--what he and his brave comrades wrought for mankind--are in the keeping of seventy millions of American citizens, who will guard the sacred heritage forever and forevermore."

[Ill.u.s.tration: ALASKA]

General Horace Porter, president of the Grant Memorial a.s.sociation, made an address, giving the history of the crowning work of the a.s.sociation, rendering acknowledgment to those who had given valuable help, and closing with a masterly and eloquent tribute to the great citizen whom all had gathered to honor.

THE KLONDIKE GOLD EXCITEMENT.

There was much excitement throughout the country in 1897 over the reported discoveries of rich deposits of gold in the Klondike, as the region along the Yukon River in Alaska is called. These reports were discredited at first, but they were repeated, and proof soon appeared that they were based upon truth. In the autumn of 1896, about fifty miners visited the section, led thither by the rumors that had come to them. None of the men carried more than his outfit and a few hundred dollars, but when they returned they brought gold to the value of from $5,000 to $100,000 apiece, besides leaving claims behind them that were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. In July, 1897, a party of miners arrived at Seattle from the Klondike, bringing with them nuggets and gold-dust weighing more than a ton and worth a million and a half of dollars. Besides this, other men continually came back with such quant.i.ties of the precious metal that it was apparent that not only were the reports justified, but, what is the exception in such cases, the whole truth had not been told.