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Sunday, September 6, 2015

Mourning the Death of President McKinley, 1901

From the Sept. 26, 1901, issue of Fisherman & Farmer, Elizabeth City, N.C., "Washington Letter…From Our Regular Correspondent"

Washington, Sept. 16th, 1901—The sudden change in the bulletins concerning President McKinley and the news of his death have caused an atmosphere of subdued and undemonstrative, but genuine sorrow, to pervade Washington. Everywhere one sees the colors draped with black framing pictures of the dead President. The people in charge of the “Oldroyd Collection of Lincoln Relics,” which fills the house in which Lincoln died, opposite Ford’s theatre, have hung the whole front of the house with crape and flags, surrounding portraits of Lincoln and McKinley. Yet, with all this, it seems hardly possible to believe that the genial, kindly-faced man will never again stroll along the streets or through the White House grounds, greeting everyone with his accustomed unostentatious courtesy. Washington has suffered a personal bereavement.

There is some speculation inevitably as to the possible and probable course of the new Executive. While Pres. Roosevelt is not so well known here, personally, as was McKinley, he is a national figure and every one is familiar with his eventful career. As the most careful observers of public affairs agree, it is not possible to foretell with any certainty what he will do in the next three years. His occupancy of the same ticket with President McKinley is another proof of the old trouble that politics make strange bed-fellows, for there never were two men more unlike. Curiously enough however, they held much the same views on most public questions. McKinley was wise, sagacious, thoughtful; he avoided making enemies whenever possible. Roosevelt is entirely careless on this point, and many of his enemies have been made, not so much by his policy as by his way of carrying it out. He has often appeared to seek dramatic effect, simply because he was not thinking about effect of any kind and did not avoid making one.

He is the youngest man, by five years, who ever held the office of President, being not yet 43; and when it is remembered that he was prominent in state and even national politics at an age when most men are scarcely beginning their careers, some of the popular impressions of this character may be better understood. The great responsibilities now laid upon him will inevitably test his qualities as an administrator, and the country will certainly know him far better a year from now than it does today. He is not a man to be guided. He will do what he thinks is best and remains to be seen whether those in both parties who wish to oppose him will be able to do so effectually.

It is thought that there will be some very important changes in the Cabinet before very long, though their nature depends on the plans the new President may have for 1904. Secretary Hay is said to be much broken in health since the death of his son and may resign at an early date, in which case the selection of a new Secretary of State will be a matter of the moment. The name of Lodge is suggested in this connection. He, like Roosevelt, has gone into politics under the conviction and for the love of it, and the two would probably agree. Walcott is another of the same sort, but he comes from Colorado, and there is an unwritten political law which is against the selection of a Secretary of State from the far West. The name of Depew has also been mentioned, but this would make rather too much Excelsior in the Cabinet for political purposes, for Depew is also a New Yorker. Besides, Depew is a humorist, and the joker does not always win in the game of office seeking. Secretary Long, while personally a friend of the President, might be forced out by the clamour of political opponents if the Schley-Sampson case develops in a way to warrant it.

Senator Wellington has been expelled from the Union League Club of Maryland, and he says he is glad of it, as the members thereof are his enemies. After his comments on the character of McKInley at the time of his assassination, it is likely that most of Maryland came under that category. Southern papers are urging that he be put out of the Senate.

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