CHAPTER LXXVI. MCKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. The Inaugural.-Extra Session.-The Tariff, how matured.-The Dingley Bill.-Interest in the sad affairs of Cuba.-Measures of Gen. Weyler.-Efforts to relieve distress of the Cubans.-Congress providently makes an appropriation.—Spain virtually declares war.-Volunteer Troops called for.-Dewey at Manila.— Naval Blockade of Cuba.-Troops land and invest Santiago.Hobson and the Merrimac.-Cervera's fleet destroyed.-The land campaign.—Santiago surrenders.-Porto Rico occupied. WILLIAM MCKINLEY was born in Ohio January 25, CHAP. 1843. His education was at first in the public school, LXXVI. but when a student in Allegheny College and under 1897. eighteen years of age he left his studies to enter the Union Army (1861). He served during the whole war: entering as a private he came out a major; he was in a number of battles, and received on several occasions the commendations of his superior officers. At the close of the war he commenced the study of law, privately, but afterward entered the Albany Law School, from which he was graduated with high honor. At once he commenced the practice of his profession in Canton, Ohio, where he still has his home. He was elected to the Forty-fifth Congress (1877) in his 34th year, and for nearly fourteen years he served in that body. Meantime, he was an untiring student of all measures that pertained to the welfare of the country, especially on the lines of its industries and finances. In the Fifty-first Congress (1889), his ability being recognized, he was appointed chairman of the important LXXVI. CHAP. Committee of Ways and Means, and as such he devoted all his energies to complete the measures that came for consideration before that committee. The outcome was the McKinley Bill (1890). In 1891 McKinley was elected Governor of Ohio by a large majority; he was also elected to a second term (January 1, 1893). President McKinley was inaugurated with imposing ceremonies on March 4, 1897. His cabinet consisted of the following gentlemen: John Sherman of Ohio, Secretary of State; Lyman J. Gage of Illinois, Secretary of the Treasury; Russell A. Alger of Michigan, Secretary of War; John D. Long of Massachusetts, Secretary of the Navy; John W. Griggs of New Jersey, AttorneyGeneral; Cornelius N. Bliss of New York, Secretary of the Interior; James A. Gary, Postmaster-general; and James Wilson of Iowa, Secretary of Agriculture. The first administration of Mr. McKinley was noted for the enactment of a financial and industrial measure of far-reaching influence, and also for the stirring event of a brief war with Spain,-both in the first half of its term. On assuming office the President called an extra session of the recently elected Congress to convene on the 15th of March, 1897. The depressed condition of the general business and the industries of the Nation, and the corresponding distress, especially among the workpeople, owing to the influence of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff, necessitated this measure. In anticipation of this extra session and of its action on financial affairs, and also to facilitate its work, the Republican members of the Committee of Ways and Means, during the second session of the last Congress, had unofficially conferred together frequently, and matured a tariff on the lines of the McKinley Bill, which had been so remarkably successful in promoting the various business interests of the country. This self-consti MCKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 1179 LXXVI. tuted and earnest committee availed itself of every CHAP. facility to obtain correct information by inviting hearings from experts and also from gentlemen who were practical managers in the various industries of the land. The result was a tariff prepared with great care, which was introduced into the Lower House at its first meeting and placed in the hands of the members to be studied. The bill, having been thoroughly discussed in the House, was passed by a large majority and sent to the Senate. The Finance Committee of the latter body gave it careful attention for a month, calling for information from experts and business men. The bill was then placed before the Senate itself, which in the way of discussion went over the whole field, and, suggesting some amendments, sent it back to the House. A conference committee from both Houses went over the bill again, made some changes and reported it to the House. That body confirmed the report, and sent the bill thus amended to the Senate; and that body also accepted the report of the Committee of Conference. On the same day the 1897. President signed the bill, and the tariff known as the Dingley Bill became the law of the land. This financial measure is the outcome of thirty-five years of a series of tariffs, amended from time to time as experience dictated. It is so comprehensive in its provisions that it reaches every portion of the Union and takes cogni. zance of their varied productions. The friendly relations of the people of the United States and those of the island of Cuba had long been intimate in the way of commercial intercourse,-trade that was beneficial to both parties. The better portion of the Cubans, especially the native-born, were goaded almost to desperation by the numerous acts of tyranny and injustice inflicted upon them by the Spanish government, so that in self-defence they had entered a struggle July LXXVI. CHAP. for independence. The contest lasted for years. The taxes levied to support royalty in Spain were enormous and most unjust; the civil rights of the people were disregarded, while the venality of the island's civil authorities, the appointees of Spain, was well known to be almost universal. The American people sympathized deeply with the suffering Cubans, and their representatives time and again gave expression to their sentiments in resolutions passed in the national conventions of both the leading political parties. The United States government more than once proposed in a friendly manner to aid in remedying these wrongs; but though the Spanish government promised fairly, yet the oppressions continued to increase. 1896. Oct. 21. The culmination of these atrocities was reached when Gen. Weyler, commandant of the Spanish forces in Cuba, in order to crush the patriots, who lived mostly outside the towns garrisoned by Spanish soldiers, put in force a system of devastation by driving the people who resided in the country into the garrisoned towns. This was called "concentration "; and the people thus herded were known as reconcentrados. The latter were thus deprived of their means of living; their homes and farm buildings were burned; their fields laid waste; their live-stock driven away or killed. This policy continued as long as Weyler was in office, about two years. It is estimated on good authority that 400,000 farmers or residents of the rural districts were thus reduced to virtual starvation, and in consequence disease, so that one-half of these poor people perished. The accounts of their untold miseries were heralded abroad, and even Spain intimated that gifts of provisions would be acceptable, and in consequence President McKinley appealed to the humane in behalf of the sufferers. The appeal was quickly responded to, and provisions were sent in great quantities by American citizens. The distribution MCKINLEY'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 1181 of these supplies was entrusted to the United States con- CHAP. LXXVI. sulates, and to aid in the cause Miss Clara Barton, the head of the Red Cross Association, volunteered and did most effective work. Meanwhile, U. S. Consul-General Fitzhugh Lee at Havana, though trammeled by numerous other duties, did all he could to relieve these distresses. Strange to say, public opinion in Spain itself looked with suspicion upon those charitable efforts, while in Cuba the royalists were even more demonstrative in their hostile actions, so that the American residents became alarmed for their safety and appealed for protection to their own government. No doubt much of this popular enmity may be traced to the deliberate misrepresentation of the Spanish newspapers. For illustration: the President, in his anxiety to relieve these poor people as soon as possible, ordered war-vessels that were lying idle to carry these provisions rather than wait to charter merchant-vessels. This kind act was represented as a menace, and Spain was induced thereby to protest against supplies being sent in war-vessels. Again: these poor people, all their household effects being destroyed by the Weyler orders, now needed utensils to cook the raw provisions which they had received; but when these cooking utensils came from the United States, the Spanish authorities would not permit their distribution until the ordinary customs duty was paid. Jan. 25. For a time there seemed to be a better feeling on the part of the Spanish government, as it had given its acquiescence to certain measures and in some ways manifested good-will toward the United States. To reciprocate 1898. this disposition the warship Maine was sent on a friendly visit to Havana, as is customary between nations in amicable relations. The ship was apparently well received, and under the direction of a government pilot anchored in the harbor. Some of the newspapers bitterly assailed the visit as an attempt to aid the insurrec |
