In Memory of the Late President

BRONZE TABLET MAY BE PLACED IN CITY HALL WHERE
MULTITUDE GAZED ON DEAD CHIEF.

     The fact that the late President of the United States, William McKinley, first lay in state in the main corridor of the official building of the City of Buffalo and the County of Erie, in a central spot beneath the rotunda, is to be commemorated in some manner. So the trustees of the City and County building have decided, and it is understood that the trustees have decided to leave the final manner of commemorating the occurrence with the Superintendent of the Building, William F. Fisher and Trustee Henry V. Bisgood. At present the sentiment of the trustees seems to favor the placing of a bronze tablet on the spot where the body of the late President first lay in state and was viewed by hundreds of thousands of patriotic Buffalo citizens. There are others, however, who believe that under the circumstances something more than this should be done.
     William McKinley received his first boom for the nomination for the Presidency of the United States from Buffalo. To commemorate this fact the song of “Put Me Off at Buffalo” was composed and was accepted as appropriate by all the people in every State in the Union. The late President had a warm spot in his heart for Buffalo ever after and time and again showed this by his actions. He drove the first stake in the plot at first selected for the Pan-American Exposition on Cayuga Island, and afterwards he did everything in his power to further the interest and success of the present Exposition. He finally came to Buffalo, and it was here that he promulgated what was looked upon as the first radical departure from his past policy, but which was probably what he thought was the necessary line to take, in view of the progress of the country.
     Buffalo has been an important spot throughout the Presidential career of the dead President and, unfortunately, was the place in which that brilliant career was brought to a close.
     The City and County Hall was the first place that the body of the distinguished President lay in state; the city and county was the first place to boom his candidacy for the Presidency and it was here that he died by the bullet of the assassin while trying to help the citizens to boom the great Exposition.
     This is the line of argument put up by those citizens who believe that something more than a bronze tablet should commemorate the event.
     It is argued by the latter that instead of a bronze tablet on the spot where the President lay, that a life-sized marble statue should be erected of the dead martyr. While it would cost more, still it would also be more of an object lesson to the children of the generations to come. They would have a much better idea of what manner of man William McKinley was in life.