A Supplement to A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: William McKinley
Part 34
It is hereby ordered that the Executive Order of Jan. 4th, 1901, reserve for light house purposes among other tracts of land or cites in the District of Alaska a tract described as follows: "Scotch Cap beginning at a point at low water mark, said point being three miles easterly of point at low water mark opposite Scotch Cap Pinnacle six (6) due north one mile, thence north seventy-one (71) degrees east true four (4) miles, thence south thirty-eight (38) degrees true to low water mark; thence follow the windings of the low water mark to place of beginning," be and the same is hereby canceled so far as it relates to the above described tract, and it is hereby ordered that in lieu thereof a tract described as follows: Scotch Cap beginning at point at low water mark on Unimak Island, said point being three miles easterly of a point at low water mark opposite Scotch Cap Pinnacle; thence due north one mile; thence north seventy-one (71) degrees west true to four miles; thence south thirty-eight degrees west true to low water mark, thence follow the windings of the low water mark to place of beginning, be and it is hereby reserved and set apart for light house purposes, subject to any legal existing rights thereto.
WILLIAM McKINLEY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., August 29, 1901._
In accordance with provisions of Section 179 Revised Statutes as amended by act approved August 5th, 1882 (22 Stats, at large 238), Brigadier-General G.S. Gillespie, Corps of Engineers, United States Army, is authorized and directed to perform the duties of Secretary of War during the temporary absence from the seat of Government of the Secretary of War and the Assistant Secretary of War.
WILLIAM McKINLEY.
PRESIDENT McKINLEY'S LAST PUBLIC UTTERANCE TO THE PEOPLE, BUFFALO, N.Y., SEPTEMBER 5TH, 1901.
_President Milburn, Director General Buchanan, Commissioners, Ladies and Gentlemen_:
I am glad to be again 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. To-day 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 Central and South America and the commissioners of Cuba and Puerto 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 timekeepers 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 instruct the brain and hand of man. 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 efficiency of high quality and new pieces 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 people, 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 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 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 co-operate 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 international asset and a common glory.
After all, how near one to the other is every part of the world. Modern 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 swift 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 Puerto Rico by cable, 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 capital, 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 awful suspense when no information was permitted to be sent from Pekin, 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 filled 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 many times. Then there was not a line of electric telegraph; now we have a vast mileage traversing all lands and 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 there is 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 and 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 is 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, and 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 the 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 system, 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, a mutual exchange 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 were 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 steamers 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 eastern coast of the United States and South American ports. One of the needs of the times is to 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 convenience 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 furthering 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 this 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? Gentlemen, 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, 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.
DEATH OF PRESIDENT McKINLEY.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE ASSASSINATION.
_Buffalo, N.Y., Sept. 6-7 P.M._
The President was shot about 4 o'clock. One bullet struck him on the upper portion of the breastbone, glancing and not penetrating; the second bullet penetrated the abdomen five inches below the left nipple and one and a half inches to the left of the median line. The abdomen was opened through the line of the bullet wound. It was found that the bullet had penetrated the stomach. The opening in the front wall of the stomach was carefully closed with silk stitches, after which a search was made for a hole in the back wall of the stomach. This was found and also closed in the same way. The further course of the bullet could not be discovered, although careful search was made. The abdominal wound was closed without drainage. No injury to the intestines or other abdominal organ was discovered. The patient stood the operation well, pulse of good quality, rate of 130. Condition at the conclusion of operation was gratifying. The result cannot be foretold. His condition at present justifies hope of recovery.
GEORGE B. CORTELYOU, _Secretary to the President._
NEWS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.
The official announcement of the President's death was received at the White House at 2:35 o'clock, September 14, 1901, as follows:
_Buffalo, September 14._
_Col. B.F. Montgomery, Executive Mansion, Washington_:
The President died at 2:15 this morning.
GEORGE B. CORTELYOU.
Immediately upon receipt of the official dispatch the following was sent to Secretary Cortelyou:
Members of the executive staff in Washington are deeply affected, and beg to tender their profound sympathy to Mrs. McKinley.
O.F. PRUDEN, _Assistant Secretary._
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH BY THE PHYSICIANS.
MILBURN HOUSE, _Buffalo, N.Y., Sept. 14._
The following report of the autopsy upon the remains of President McKinley was issued at 5 o'clock:
The bullet which struck over the breastbone did not pass through the skin, and did little harm. The other bullet passed through both walls of the stomach near its lower border. Both holes were found to be perfectly closed by the stitches, but the tissue around each hole had become gangrenous. After passing through the stomach the bullet passed into the back walls of the abdomen, hitting and tearing the upper end of the kidney. This portion of the bullet track was also gangrenous, the gangrene involving the pancreas. The bullet has not yet been found. There was no sign of peritonitis or disease of other organs. The heart walls were very thin. There was no evidence of any attempt at repair on the part of nature, and death resulted from the gangrene, which affected the stomach around the bullet wounds as well as the tissues around the further course of the bullet. Death was unavoidable by any surgical or medical treatment, and was the direct result of the bullet wound.
HARVEY D. GAYLORD, M.D. HERMAN G. MATZINGER, M.D. P.M. RIXEY, M.D. MATTHEW D. MANN, M.D. HERMAN MYNTER, M.D. ROSWELL PARK, M.D. EUGENE WASDIN, M.D. CHARLES G. STOCKTON, M.D. EDWARD G. JANEWAY, M.D. W.D. JOHNSON, M.D. W.P. KENDALL, _Surgeon, U.S.A._ CHARLES CARY, M.D. EDWARD L. MUNSON, _Assistant Surgeon, U.S.A._ HERMANUS L. BAER, M.D.
ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE VICE-PRESIDENT.
At the residence of Mr. Ansley Wilcox, 641 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, N.Y., Mr. Root stepped forward and said, with deep emotion: "Mr. Vice-President, I have been requested on behalf of the Cabinet of the late President--at least those who are present in Buffalo, all except two--to request that for reasons of weight affecting the affairs of Government you should proceed to take the constitutional oath of President of the United States."
THE VICE-PRESIDENT'S REPLY.
"I shall take the oath at once in accordance with your request, and in this hour of deep and terrible national bereavement. I wish to state that it shall be my aim to continue absolutely unbroken the policy of President McKinley for the peace and prosperity and honor of our beloved country."
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE ASSASSINATION TO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES ABROAD.
(_From the Washington Post, Sept. 15, 1901_.)
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, _Washington, Sept. 14_.
_Sir_: It is my painful duty to announce to you the death of William McKinley, President of the United States, in the city of Buffalo, at fifteen minutes past 2 in the morning of to-day, September 14.
Laid low by the act of an assassin, the week-long struggle to save his life has been watched with keen solicitude, not alone by the people of this country, who raised him from their own ranks to the high office he filled, but by the people of all friendly nations, whose messages of sympathy and hope, while hope was possible, have been most consolatory in this time of sore trial.
Now that the end has come, I request you to be the medium of communicating the sad tidings to the Government of the honored nation you so worthily represent, and to announce that in obedience to the prescriptions of the Constitution, the office of President has devolved upon Theodore Roosevelt, Vice-President of the United States.
Accept, sir, the renewed assurance of my highest consideration.
JOHN HAY.
ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE ARMY.
[GENERAL ORDER No. 13.]
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, _Washington, D.C. Sept. 16, 1901._
With great sorrow, the commanding general announces the death of William McKinley, President of the United States and, by statute, Commander-in-Chief of the District of Columbia Militia, which occurred at Buffalo, N.Y., at 2:15 o'clock A.M. on September 14, 1901.
Throughout his tragically terminated administration President McKinley was actively interested in the welfare of this organization and frequently gave it evidence of his sincere friendship. His distinguished services as soldier and civilian must incite to emulation and will result in purer patriotism and better citizenship wherever his career is studied.
The national flag will be displayed at half-staff on all armories from sunrise to sunset of each day until sunset of Thursday, the 19th instant, on which day the remains of the late Commander-in-Chief will be interred at Canton, Ohio.
The officers of the National Guard will wear the usual badge of mourning upon their swords, and the regimental and battalion colors will be draped in mourning for a period of thirty days.
By command of BRIG.-GEN. HARRIES.
CHARLES H. OURAND, _Major and Inspector General, Acting Adjutant-General._
By direction of the Acting Secretary of War, the National Guard of the District of Columbia will assemble for escort and parade duty on Tuesday, September 17, 1901, to participate in the funeral of William McKinley, late President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the District of Columbia Militia.
The brigade will assemble at 8:30 o'clock A.M., in column of companies, on Pennsylvania avenue facing east, its right resting on Nineteenth street northwest.
The order of formation, from right to left, will be as follows:
General staff and general non-commissioned staff. Brigade Band. Engineer Corps. Second Regiment of Infantry. First Regiment of Infantry. Corps of field music. First Separate Battalion. Signal Corps. Naval Battalion. Ambulance Corps.
Undress uniform, forage caps, leggings, white standing collars, and white gloves will be worn; the Naval Battalion to be in its prescribed uniform.
All members of the general staff and general non-commissioned staff, and the field officers and adjutants of regiments will be mounted, and will wear the prescribed undress mounted uniform.
All commanding officers will assemble at the adjutant-general's office at 9:30 o'clock on the evening of September 16, to receive any special orders that may be issued.
Commanding officers of companies will furnish their battalion adjutants with "morning reports" immediately after the parade is dismissed, noting thereon the names of all officers and men absent from the parade without leave. Commanding officers of regiments, separate battalions, and separate companies will furnish these headquarters with consolidated morning reports before 10 o'clock A.M. of the 19th instant; will see that all enlisted men absent without leave are properly dealt with, and will report to these headquarters the names of all commissioned officers so absent.
By command of BRIG.-GEN. HARRIES.
CHARLES H. OURAND, _Major and Inspector General, Acting Adjutant-General._
OFFICIAL ORDERS SENT OUT.
SALUTES TO BE FIRED AND FLAGS LOWERED AFLOAT AND ASHORE.
Secretary of State Hay and Secretary of the Treasury Gage, the only Cabinet officers in town, held a consultation on the morning of the 13th as a result of which the following order was issued:
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, _Washington, Sept. 14._
_To the Secretary of the Navy_: