Ohio History Journal

McKINLEY MONUMENT.

 

 

DEDICATED SEPTEMBER 30, 1907.

 

Soon after the tragic death of President William McKinley

many leading citizens of the nation such as Senator Hanna,

Justice Day, Governor Herrick, Hon. George B. Cortelyou and

other prominent state and national officials united in the organ-

ization of The McKinley National Memorial Association. The

purpose was the erection at Canton, Ohio, of a monument suit-

able to the memory of the beloved and noble President. Sub-

scriptions poured in from all parts of the country and the asso-

ciation raised through voluntary contributions more than $600,-

000; a result eloquently attesting the abiding and deep hold the

late President had in the hearts of his countrymen. And here

it is appropriate to state that already more monuments have been

erected to the memory of McKinley than to any one of the other

presidents, including Washington and Lincoln. Of this munifi-

cent sum $100,000 was set aside as a permanent fund to be used

in the maintenance of the monument and its surroundings. Thus

about one-half a million dollars was at the disposal of the officers

of the association and the monument committee for the securing

of designs and the execution thereof. The selecting committee

secured the assistance of an advisory commission consisting of

the architects Robert Peabody, of Boston, and Walter Cook, of

New York, and Daniel Chester French, the distinguished sculptor

of the "Minute Man" and other famous American figures. Many

architects and artists submitted plans for the mausoleum. The

award was conferred upon H. Van Buren Magonigle, of New

York. The corner stone was laid with imposing ceremonies on

November 16, 1905. There are many monuments in various

parts of the world, vaster in size and more ornate and costly,

but none, to our mind, in which are so happily combined the ele-

ments of simplicity, dignity and purity; elements so eminently

Vol. XVII-15.        (225)

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226      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. characteristic of the man whose memory this mausoleum is to perpetuate. The stately tomb stands upon the summit of a hill, on the borders of the beautiful Westlawn Cemetery, Canton, and in the center of a tract of land twenty-six acres in extent, owned by the association and laid out by it, with the view of enhancing the

general effect of the memorial erected as the resting place of the President and Mrs. McKinley. As a portal to the patriotic Mecca there is a circular plaza, surrounded by a parapet wall, and directly in front of the mausoleum is a basin, more than 500 feet in length, known technically as the long water. Steps rise

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The McKinley Monument.              227

 

from this basin to the tomb itself and the latter is reflected in

the smooth water below as in a great mirror. The steps con-

stitute a grand stairway, seventy-five feet in height and forming

the principal approach to the tomb. The mausoleum itself is

ninety-eight feet in height and seventy-nine in diameter. It is of

circular form, and adapts itself to the shape of the hill on which

it is placed. The material of the exterior wall is pink Milford

granite. The interior, which has been given an imposing col-

umnar treatment, is finished in light gray Knoxville marble with

a honed surface, the high Doric columns being so placed as to

appear half buried in the sides of the wall.  The floor is mosaic

marble, the pieces of which were brought from many states.

There is a double sarcophagus of black polished granite for the

bodies of the late President and his wife.

The lighting of the interior of the tomb is from above, the

opening being so proportioned to the space to be lighted as to

attain an effect of solemnity. In the arrangement of the grounds

about the mausoleum and the approaches to the tomb there is a

suggestion of a cross and sword, such a design being thought

appropriate in the case of a memorial to a martyr President who

was a warrior, and a chief magistrate in time of war.

At the head of the grand stairway and almost fifty feet in

front of the facade of the mausoleum stands the statue of Mc-

Kinley executed by Charles Henry Niehaus, of Cincinnati, the

designer also of the statue of Garfield, at Cincinnati, Lee, at

Richmond, Va., and those of the historian, Gibbon, and the He-

brew, Moses, in the Congressional Library. Mr. Niehaus found

a worthy subject for his genius in the princely figure and chaste

features of the late President. The statue is in bronze and of

heroic size and represents the President as he appeared deliver-

ing his last public utterance to his people in Music Hall at the

Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, just before the fatal shot

was fired that terminated his illustrious career. He stands before

an arm chair, attired in his customary frock coat, his right hand

thrust into the pocket of his trousers, holding in his left hand

the manuscript of his speech.

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228      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

Upon the face of the pedestal of the statue these words are

inscribed:

"William McKinley, President of the United States, a states-

man singularly gifted to unite the discordant forces of govern-

ment and mold the diverse purposes of men toward progressive

and salutory action; a Magistrate whose poise of judgment was

tested and vindicated in a succession of National emergencies;

good citizen, brave soldier, wise executive, helper and leader of

men, exemplar to his people of the virtues that build and con-

serve the state, society and the home."

Above the door of the tomb and forming a background for

the statue as seen by the approaching visitor, is a lunette, also by

Mr. Niehaus. In the semi-circular field are three figures. In the

center, wearing a mural crown, is the figure of Ohio. She raises

with both hands a voluminous cloak with which she appears to

cover with a protective gesture the two kneeling figures to right

and left. On the right of the central figure kneels a male genius

representing the arts of peace. Near by is an anvil. In his right

hand this figure raises toward the protecting deity a vase and in

his left carries another emblem of the arts. The genius of war,

on the opposite side of the lunette, kneels and presents a sword

wreathed with flowers. The figures are in relief, the central be-

ing the highest. The effect of the composition is decorative, and

it gives a poetic and artistic background to the McKinley statue

itself, without in any way distracting from the latter the attention

it should receive.

This monument was dedicated on September 30, 1907.

Thousands gathered not only from Ohio, but all sections of the

country. Amid brilliant military pageant and fitting civic cere-

monies the casket containing the mortal remains of the late

President were consigned to their last resting abode. The ad-

dress of President Roosevelt and Governor Harris are herewith

given. They were worthy tributes to an inspiring memory and

deserve permanent preservation.

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The McKinley Monument.              229     ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT. We have gathered together to-day to pay our meed of re- spect and affection to the memory of William McKinley, who

as President won a place in the hearts of the American people such as but three or four of all the Presidents of this country have ever won. He was of sin- gular uprightness and purity of character, alike in public and in private life; a citizen who loved peace, he did his duty faithfully and well for four years of war when the honor of the nation called him to arms. As Con- gressman, as Governor of his State, and finally as President, he rose to the foremost place among our statesmen, reaching a position which would satisfy the

keenest ambition; but he never lost that simple and thoughtful kindness toward every human being, great or small, lofty or humble, with whom he was brought in contact, which so en- deared him to our people. He had to grapple with more serious and complex problems than any President since Lincoln, and yet, while meeting every demand of statesmanship, he continued to live a beautiful and touching family life, a life very healthy for this nation to see in its foremost citizen; and now the woman who walked in the shadow ever after his death, the wife to whom his loss was a calamity more crushing than it could be to any other human being, lies beside him here in the same sepulchre. There is a singular appropriateness in the inscription on his monument. Mr. Cortelyou, whose relations with him were of such close intimacy, gives me the following information about it: On the President's trip to the Pacific slope in the spring of 19O1 President Wheeler, of the University of California, con- ferred the degree of LL. D. upon him in words so well chosen

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230      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

that they struck the fastidious taste of John Hay, then Secretary

of State, who wrote and asked for a copy of them from President

Wheeler. On the receipt of this copy he sent the following let-

ter to President McKinley, a letter which now seems filled with

a strange and unconscious prescience:

 

DEAR MR. PRESIDENT

President Wheeler sent me the enclosed at my request.

You will have the words in more permanent shape. They seem

to me remarkably well chosen, and stately and dignified enough

to serve - long hence, please God - as your epitaph.

Yours faithfully,

JOHN HAY.

 

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, ]

Office of the President.  ]

"By authority vested in me by the regents of the University

of California, I confer the degree of Doctor of Laws upon Wil-

liam McKinley, President of the United States, a statesman

singularly gifted to unite the discordant forces of the Govern-

ment and mold the diverse purposes of men toward progressive

and salutary action, a magistrate whose poise of judgment has

been tested and vindicated in a succession of national emergen-

cies; good citizen, brave soldier, wise executive, helper and

leader of men, exemplar to his people of the virtues that build

and conserve the state, society, and the home.

"Berkeley, May 15, 1901."

 

It would be hard to imagine an epitaph which a good citizen

would be more anxious to deserve or one which would more

happily describe the qualities of that great and good citizen

whose life we here commemorate. He possessed to a very ex-

traordinary degree the gift of uniting discordant forces and

securing from them a harmonious action which told for good

government.  From purposes not merely diverse, but bitterly

conflicting, he was able to secure healthful action for the good

of the State. In both poise and judgment he rose level to the

several emergencies he had to meet as leader of the nation, and

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The McKinley Monument.               231

 

like all men with the root of time greatness in them he grew to

steadily larger stature under the stress of heavy responsibilities.

He was a good citizen and a brave soldier, a Chief Executive

whose wisdom entitled him to the trust which he received

throughout the nation. He was not only a leader of men but pre-

eminently a helper of men; for one of his most marked traits

was the intensely human quality of his wide and deep sympathy.

Finally, he not merely preached, he was, that most valuable of

all citizens in a democracy like ours, a man who in the highest

place served as an unconscious example to his people of the

virtues that build and conserve alike our public life, and the

foundation of all public life, the intimate life of the home.

Many lessons are taught us by his career, but none more

valuable than the lesson of broad human sympathy for and

among all of our citizens of all classes and creeds. No other

President has ever more deserved to have his life work charac-

terized in Lincoln's words as being carried on "with malice to-

ward none, with charity toward all." As a boy he worked hard

with his hands; he entered the Army as a private soldier; he

knew poverty; he earned his own livelihood; and by his own

exertions he finally rose to the position of a man of moderate

means. Not merely was he in personal touch with farmer and

town dweller, with capitalist and wageworker, but he felt an

intimate understanding of each, and therefore an intimate sym-

pathy with each; and his consistent effort was to try to judge

all by the same standard and to treat all with the same justice.

Arrogance toward the weak, and envious hatred of those well

off, were equally abhorrent to his just and gentle soul.

Surely this attitude of his should be the attitude of all our

people to-day. It would be a cruel disaster to this country to

permit ourselves to adopt an attitude of hatred and envy toward

success worthily won, toward wealth honestly acquired. Let us

in this respect profit by the example of the republics of this

Western Hemisphere to the south of us. Some of these repub-

lics have prospered greatly; but there are certain ones that have

lagged far behind, that still continue in a condition of material

poverty, of social and political unrest and confusion. Without

exception the republics of the former class are those in which

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232      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

honest industry has been assured of reward and protection; those

where a cordial welcome has been extended to the kind of enter-

prise which benefits the whole country, while incidentally, as is

right and proper, giving substantial rewards to those who man-

ifest it. On the other hand, the poor and backward republics,

the republics in which the lot of the average citizen is least de-

sirable, and the lot of the laboring man worst of all, are pre-

cisely those republics in which industry has been killed because

wealth exposed its owner to spoliation. To these communities

foreign capital now rarely comes, because it has been found that

as soon as capital is employed so as to give substantial remu-

neration to those supplying it, it excites ignorant envy and hos-

tility, which result in such oppressive action, within or without

the law, as sooner or later to work a virtual confiscation. Every

manifestation of feeling of this kind in our civilization should be

crushed at the outset by the weight of a sensible public opinion.

From the standpoint of our material prosperity there is only

one other thing as important as the discouragement of a spirit

of envy and hostility toward honest business men, toward hon-

est men of means; this is the discouragement of dishonest busi-

ness men.

Wait a moment; I don't want you to applaud this part un-

less you are willing to applaud also the part I read first, to which

you listened in silence. I want you to understand that I will

stand just as straight for the rights of the honest man who

wins his fortune by honest methods as I will stand against the

dishonest man who wins a fortune by dishonest methods. And

I challenge the right to your support in one attitude just as much

as in the other. I am glad you applauded when you did, but I

want you to go back now and applaud the other statement. I

will read a little of it over again. "Every manifestation of

ignorant envy and hostility toward honest men who acquire

wealth by honest means should be crushed at the outset by the

weight of a sensible public opinion." Thank you. Now I'll

go on.

From the standpoint of our material prosperity there is only

one other thing as important as the discouragement of a spirit

of envy and hostility toward honest business men, toward hon-

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The McKinley Monument.                 233

 

est men of means, and that is the discouragement of dishonest

business men, the war upon chicanery and wrongdoing which are

peculiarly repulsive, peculiarly noxious when exhibited by men

who have no excuse of want, of poverty, of ignorance for their

crimes. My friends, I will wage war against those dishonest

men to the utmost extent of my ability, and I will stand no less

stoutly in defense of honest men, rich or poor. Men of means

and, above all, men of great wealth can exist in safety under the

peaceful protection of the state only in orderly societies, where

liberty manifests itself through and under the law. That is

what you fought for, you veterans. You fought for the suprem-

acy of the national law in every corner of this Republic. It is

these men, the men of wealth, who more than any others, should

in the interest of the class to which they belong, in the interest

of their children and their children's children, seek in every way,

but especially in the conduct of their lives, to insist upon and to

build up respect for the law. It is an extraordinary thing, a

very extraordinary thing, that it should be necessary for me to

utter as simple a truth as that; yet it is necessary. It may not

be true from the standpoint of some particular individual of

this class of very wealthy men, but in the long run it is pre-

eminently true from the standpoint of the class as a whole, no

less than of the country as a whole, that it is a veritable calamity

to achieve a temporary triumph by violation or evasion of the

law, and we are the best friends of the man of property, we

show ourselves the staunchest upholders of the rights of property

when we set our faces like flint against those offenders who do

wrong in order to acquire great wealth, or who use this wealth

as a help to wrongdoing.

I sometimes feel that I have trenched a little on your prov-

ince, Brother Bristol, and on that of your brethren, by preaching.

But whenever I speak of the wrongdoing of a man of wealth

or of a man of poverty, poor man or rich man, I always want

to try to couple together the fact that wrongdoing is wrong just

as much in one case as in the other, with the fact that right is

just as much right in one case as in the other. I want the plain

people of this country, I want all of us who do not have great

wealth, to remember that in our own interest, and because it is

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234      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

right, we must be just as scrupulous in doing justice to the

man of great wealth as in exacting justice from him.

Wrongdoing is confined to no class. Good and evil are to

be found among both rich and poor, and in drawing the line

among our fellows we must draw it on conduct and not on

worldly possessions. Woe to this country if we ever get to

judging men by anything save their worth as men, without re-

gard to their fortune in life. In other words, my plea is that

you draw the line on conduct and not on worldly possessions.

In the abstract most of us will admit this. It is a rather more

difficult proposition in the concrete. We can act upon such doc-

trines only if we really have knowledge of, and sympathy with,

one another. If both the wage-worker and the capitalist are

able to enter each into the other's life, to meet him so as to get

into genuine sympathy with him, most of the misunderstand

between them will disappear and its place will be taken by a judg-

ment broader, juster, more kindly, and more generous; for each

will find in the other the same essential human attributes that

exist in himself. It was President McKinley's peculiar glory

that in actual practice he realized this as it is given to but few

men to realize it; that his broad and deep sympathies made him

feel a genuine sense of oneness with all his fellow-Americans,

whatever their station or work in life, so that to his soul they

were all joined with him in a great brotherly democracy of the

spirit. It is not given to many of us in our lives actually to

realize this attitude to the extent that he did; but we can at least

have it before us as the goal of our endeavor, and by so doing

we shall pay honor better than in any other way to the memory

of the dead President whose services in life we this day com-

memorate.

REMARKS OF GOVERNOR ANDREW L. HARRIS.

I thank you, Mr. Justice Day, and your associates of the

McKinley National Memorial Association for the very great

honor that you have conferred on me in inviting me to preside

over the exercises of this memorable dedication. It is indeed an

honor to present at any time to any audience the President of

the United States. But on this occasion when we are assembled

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The McKinley Monument.               235 to reverence the memory of another President of the United States, one who had long been the idol of our state before he became president, it is impossible for me to give due expression to my appreciation of such manifold honor at your hands. It is a distinction worthy of any ambition to have been pre- ceded on the program of this day by one of the most eminent jurists of the highest court on earth and by one of the men in whom the lamented McKinley had the most unbounded confi- dence. Added to that most honorable association is that which follows in the course of these historic exercises in being called

upon to present to you the worthy successor of our be- loved McKinley. It was my fortune to have been associated with Mc- Kinley in state affairs as it was that of Justice Day as a neighbor, of President Roose- velt in national affairs, and of other members of the McKin- ley Memorial Association in other capacities.  All who knew him loved and admired him. He was worthy of their fullest confidence and equal to any emergency in either private or public life. I am not here to speak of him as a devoted husband, a

sincere Christian, a faithful student, a loyal citizen, a brave soldier, a true gentleman, or a comprehensive statesman. That is the mission of one who is worthy of the great subject and equal to it in all that can be said of Wm. McKinley. As we are to hear from one of the most distinguished sons of New York about our illustrious son of Ohio, I wish to point briefly to presidents from these two great commonwealths, to those men of Ohio and of New York who planted still higher the standard that had been

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236      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. upheld by those noble Americans in the succession from Wash- ington to Lincoln. Almost forty years ago, a native of Ohio, General Ulysses S. Grant, became president of the United States. Two days hence the state officers and others from different parts of Ohio will participate in the dedication of a tablet that is to mark the birthplace of that hero of the Civil War in Clermont county, Ohio. General Grant's last residence was in New York and his tomb there will forever be the Mecca of the Metropolis. Ever since the inauguration of Grant the destinies of this nation have been in the hands of rulers from one or the other of

the great states of Ohio and New York. The administrations of Grant, Haves, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, McKinley and Roosevelt cover one-third of the period of our history as a nation. Of the eight presidents in that period five were natives of Ohio, and they had all been soldiers in the Civil War. They were the only Civil War veterans who reached the presidency. The last in that eminent line of Union soldiers to be honored with the highest office in the gift of the people was McKinley, one of the purest and noblest Americans of them all. McKinley had been a pupil of Grant, Haves, Garfield and Harrison in war

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The McKinley Monument.               237   and in peace, and he added fresh laurels to the crowns of his elder comrades. In the alternation between Ohio and New York during the past four decades, none have contributed more to the honor and the glory of their country, to the prosperity and the welfare of the people than the last two in the presidential succession. It is therefore eminently fitting that the great defender of popular rights, who took up the work, when McKinley was stopped by the hand of the assassin, should be the one on this sacred occa- sion to speak of the life and service of the martyred president.

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