Reasons for Confidence

     This country has passed through a severe and painful ordeal during the past fortnight in the assassination of President McKinley, whose death has left everywhere a sense of personal loss, so greatly was he admired and esteemed. At no time, however, did the feeling of consternation develop into panic, and now that Mr. McKinley’s successor has been inducted into office, the great onward movement of national affairs has been quietly resumed. The firm condition of our financial markets is an evidence of the stability of things and of faith in the continuance of that prosperity which marked in general the whole period of Mr. McKinley’s presidency. The foul murder by an anarchist of a man so universally beloved would have justified serious perturbation in trade and industry, but the very occurrence has only served to show how free our people, as a whole, are from acceptance of the villainous doctrines of those who see in social chaos a regeneration of mankind. And yet heaven knows how sedulously the yellow press for years past has been preaching discontent, hatred of wealth, dislike of work, enmity toward corporations, and particular distrust of Mr. McKinley as an alleged “tool of the trusts.” It has been sickening the past week to see how the same papers, realizing at last how utterly out of touch they are with real American sentiment, have turned around and tried to square themselves by representing the martyred President as little short of an archangel.

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     President Roosevelt has already declared his intention to maintain and carry on the policy of Mr. McKinley, and this is in itself another reason for public confidence. That policy found its last expression in Mr. McKinley’s speech, made at the Pan-American the day before he was shot, and in that broad, statesmanlike utterance was embodied the larger programme of trade, shipping and international relationships, which may be summed up in the two ideas of peaceful imperialism and progressive reciprocity. In Mr. Roosevelt we have a man of the highest character, lofty courage, extensive culture, and a capacity of intellectual growth—in short, all the qualities that afford bright auguries for his administration. The very impetuosity that has carried him far now becomes a pledge of vigor and efficiency in every governmental department; for no President yet had too much energy and activity for all the multitudinous duties and responsibilities of his great office.

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     President Roosevelt begins his administration at a time when the country under Mr. McKinley’s beneficent rule has enjoyed several years of prosperity, and there are pessimists who hold that “good times” cannot go on forever. On the other hand, it might be fairly asserted that the tide of prosperity has had at least two ebbs even under Mr. McKinley, but that progress goes on all the time. Since 1896, moreover, agencies have been set in motion for the development of the resources of this country, which will be long in exhausting their possibilities, and it is certain that under Mr. Roosevelt we shall all lead the “strenuous life” that lifts nations from higher to higher spheres of influence and success.