Official Report of the Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting
of the American Public Health Association [excerpt]

     The Chair will call upon Dr. Holton as a member of the Committee on Resolutions to present the resolutions of respect to the memory of our late President.

     Dr. Holton then read the resolutions prepared by the Committee, as follows:
     “Your Committee appointed to draft resolutions regarding the death of President McKinley beg leave to submit the following resolutions:
     Resolved, That the American Public Health Association has received with deep sorrow the intelligence of the sudden and tragic death of the beloved President of the United States. [363][364]
     Resolved, That in President McKinley we recognize the highest type of modern civilization, a patriotic citizen, a Christian gentleman, and a sagacious and enlightened statesman.
     Resolved, That we respectfully extend our heartfelt sympathy to Mrs. McKinley in this her hour of bereavement, and to other members of the family.
     Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be spread upon the records of this Association and given to the press for publication.”

     It was moved by Dr. Durgin that the resolutions be adopted. Seconded.
     The Chair would suggest that some members would possibly like to express themselves in regard to these resolutions, and I will call upon Ex-President Bailey.

     DR. WILLIAM BAILEY.—Mr. President, and members of the Association: I feel words must fail me to express the depth of sorrow that we all feel. Yet it is a sad pleasure to me to speak a word on this occasion. As expressed I think well in our resolutions, we recognize in the late President all that is best in modern civilization. In every relation in life, as a statesman, as a soldier, and as a Christian, and as to his family relations, we all doff our hats when we contemplate the loyalty of this man to his afflicted wife.
     Coming as I do from the South I would like simply to call attention to the fact that no man since the Civil War has done so much as President McKinley to unify this country of ours. Without partisan bias when it came to the Spanish War we found that a Wheeler, a Lee and a Breckenridge were his prominent agents in the carrying on of this war, so that to-day in the South as never since 1860 have we had such feeling toward a President or towards the flag of our country. So for this we may be thankful for this man.
     The very heinous crime precludes almost its mention and yet allow me to express in this presence that this country since its organization has always been open to receive everybody from other climes who desire to come to us. While that is still our wish for those who come for the betterment of themselves and mankind and who desire to become Americanized, adopting the principles of this Government as their own, yet let me say that the day has come when it must be expressed that we have no place in this country for those who come with the view of promulgating principles that are so much at variance with the principles upon which this Government is founded, and that [364][365] there is no longer a place in this country for such spirits to come and concoct their damnable schemes.
     Simply then, and briefly, I would urge the adoption of these resolutions in their full spirit, that we do recognize an irreparable loss, that we recognize in this man one worthy of our deepest love, and I am sure that we likewise congratulate ourselves and feelingly return thanks for the expressions that have come to us from our sister nations and I might say from the world.     (Applause.)

     DR. C. P. WILKINSON, New Orleans, La.—Mr. Chairman, in seconding the resolution I voice the sentiments of the people of the extreme South, the section from which I come. We were recently favored by a visit from our now deceased President. Our people turned towards him with smiles and extended hands. They held out arms full of flowers and rent the air with their cheers for the man, the citizen and the President. The same bells that then rang out pæans for that man are now tolling dirges as his body lies just about ready to be consigned to the tomb. There is no section of the country that feels more acutely and more bitterly the killing of President McKinley than does the South. He was their friend. In the killing of President Lincoln the South was visited with dire punishment for any hand she might have had in that assassination; and today the South mourns the loss of this President who was the first since that time to extend open fellowship and invite us to join in the house of our fathers in the Union. Today, sir, we find no place for any reflections upon the previous history of any party or any man in that party, but we do recognize the onward march of William McKinley towards prosperity, peace and protection to every citizen of the land regardless of State or sectional birth. We mourn his loss today more than we can express, and on behalf of the South I join in the deepest regret that we have to pass these resolutions; with the most heartfelt earnestness in the truth of every word that they express.     (Applause.)
     THE PRESIDENT.—The Dominion of Canada has already in words most fittingly spoken and full of the deepest sympathy, expressed itself on this question. It would not be inappropriate, however, if at this meeting a further expression should be presented, and I will call upon Dr. Bryce for a word.

     DR. BRYCE, Toronto, Can.—Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is appropriate that a representative from the Dominion of Canada should have expressed in open meeting here the feelings of admiration for the late President which we all hold and should likewise have expressed feelings of regret for his untimely decease. [365][366]
     At the request of your Executive Committee and your Chairman I am asked to add a few words in connection with this expression of condolence on the part of the Association in the resolution which has just been read. The death of the President is one which must be regretted not alone by the people of the United States, not alone by the people of Anglo-Saxon lineage, but by all the civilized peoples of the earth; but I suppose to no one does that death come nearer than to the people lying to the north, a people who are not only the same in birth and aspirations, but also the same in their daily relations, because we are practically one with you, but especially because we see in the virtues of the life of the late President McKinley so many of those qualities which have been seen in our late Queen, a sort of loadstar to draw every good Briton, and I will say every good citizen of the world, the highest sense, towards the ideal.
     The fact that this Association is called upon to pass these resolutions has seemed to me an extremely appropriate thing, since the very aims and objects of this Association are to suppress those very irregularities, whether in society or not, which this sad circumstance has been an illustration of. Sad as the circumstance of the assassination is, it must come home to every one of us workers in the carrying out of the laws of the Almighty, as we understand them, to realize in it that it is one of the necessary results of an unalterable law, whether those catastrophes that we have seen striking society from time to time have affected some innocent person, some whole city, or some whole nation. To us, the work of regulating society comes as close as the regulating of an epidemic or of some catastrophe at sea through an imperfect vessel or some railway collision, which may be due to lack of knowledge of construction or lack of care in managing a train. When we point to the death of the President as an illustration of something, somewhere needing regulation, we feel that it devolves upon us not only to sympathize with the effects of such irregularity incident to the lack of harmony amongst the social elements, but points us still more, it seems to me, in the direction we have so long worked and impels us to work more earnestly and also shows us that in society we are subject to laws which are as unalterable as the movements of the planets, and that if we are ever to see evolved that harmony, which seems to be the purpose of the Creator, we will have to work along all the lines known to us whereby our labors shall go to make up the infinite harmony which are operant with the highest principles, whether of nature or of the Creator. I have only to add that I fully and heartily agree not only for myself but for my country in the resolutions which have been submitted. [366][367]

     Dr. Eduardo Licéaga of Mexico then spoke in Spanish, his remarks being translated by Dr. Gihon. He said:
     On the part of myself and my colleagues and my Government in Mexico, I desire to express our heartfelt participation in your sorrow. Referring to Dr. Bryce, I will say that he is practically one of the same people with yourselves and it would be natural for him to feel as you do, but the Mexican race is a different race, different people and speak a different language, but nevertheless our grief and sorrow are equally as profound as yours, and I desire you to feel that we are with you in all the sorrow that you feel yourselves.     (Applause.)

     The resolutions were adopted by a unanimous standing vote.