Celebrate Recovery with Special Day

Exposition to Be the Scene of National Demonstration—Plans
Now Being Considered by Director Buchanan.

     Out of national gloom, caused by the attempted assassination of President McKinley, is to come an occasion for national thanksgiving. Buffalo is to be the center, and the Pan-American Exposition the climax of it.
     Director-General William I. Buchanan made the formal announcement yesterday that plans are under way for a national demonstration, patriotic, reverential, as a thanksgiving so that all of the people of the United States and the whole world can simultaneously rejoice. Orators, statesmen, divines and public-spirited men from every state in the Union are to be invited to participate.
     Arrangements are to be perfected so that at a certain hour of the day set apart, a click of the telegraph wire will set the whole country ringing and reverberating with bells, whistles and the shouts of people. In sentiment and in fact the noise will sound the death knell of anarchy.
     It will not merely be a happy day for this country, but for the people of all countries. South American republics will be particularly prominent in the festivity and the effect will reach Europe.

Plans Conditional.

     Of course the plans are tentative and conditional upon President McKinley’s recovery. President McKinley himself has expressed the desire that the Exposition keep up its spirit and prosper. It was the outgrowth of this wish that a special day for national rejoicing be set apart, and made the greatest in the Exposition’s history.
     The exact time for the celebration has not yet definitely been decided upon, but Director-General Buchanan says it will be between now and the 25th of this month. The subject came under the attention of the Exposition directors yesterday. It was at once decided that the plan would be the best to prevent any possible apathy that might result and go broadcast over the country, because of the misfortune of last Friday. So unanimous and enthusiastic were the officials over the idea that Mr. Buchanan made the announcement without hesitation.
     The only reserve he made was that the plan is still nebulous, though full of possibilities. The purpose is to utilize all of the possibilities. Everywhere, in every city and village in the country, the people are filled with suppressed emotion, which only waits for the signal to cause it to burst forth in common patriotism. Thanksgiving and patriotism will be the keynote of the occasion. In all probability the day will be known as President McKinley’s Day. Though the President himself will not be able to be there, the glad news will be carried to his bedside.

Greatest Day.

     Buffalo and the Pan-American Exposition will be the Mecca toward which the people will be drawn, simply because at this time the city is the most convenient place for such an event and because now the eyes of the world are turned upon the Exposition.
     “The day we now hope to have,” said Director-General Buchanan, “will be greater than any that has gone before or that is to come. We want to make it a tribute worthy of the President of the United States, to show the world our love for our country, and to thank God.
     “That President McKinley will recover and thus give us this cause for national happiness we have the greatest hopes. While we have still to await the news that he is beyond all danger, yet the reports given us by the physicians are the most encouraging.
     “The great day will come before September 25th. The suggestion has been considered not only by myself, but by others, and is pronounced a good one. The event will serve to dissipate any possible odium that might be thrown upon the Pan-American Exposition, and will raise it from a landmark of gloom to a symbol of happiness.

No Details Yet.

     “As I have said the details of the occasion have not yet been gone over. Noted divines and orators, men whose voices shall serve as the voice of the people, will be asked to come. There is no doubt but that they will be only too glad to come. Besides the speaking there will probably be a great musical festival and other features.
     “The fact that I make this announcement is sufficient to assure the public of our confidence that the President will recover.”
     If the day most remote within the time limit of September 25th, as suggested by Mr. Buchanan, is selected, at least two weeks yet remain in which to make preparations and spread the news over the country. Within the next few days the character of the features of the day will be discussed, and by that time it will be decided just at what time the active publicity work ought to begin. Following this, invitations to various states will be sent out, and each state will be asked to make as much effort as if the day were exclusively its own. In this way the occasion will be a composite of state days.

Continue to Grow.

     To the people of Buffalo and to those concerned in the success of the Exposition the setting apart of a day in honor to President McKinley, showing at the same time sympathy and gratitude, will mean much. As soon as the shocking news of last Friday flashed through the city the first impulse of the people was to show some demonstration of resentment that such a diabolical plot could have been brought to a consummation here. At the same time the officials of the Exposition received the blow as one that they might never overcome. Gloom hovered over the Exposition, and has begun to lift now only at the bright hope entertained for the President’s recovery.
     Mr. Buchanan believes that from now on the Exposition will continue to grow. No fixed events scheduled for the future will be changed, and much gratification is felt over the fact that no states or organizations have asked that their plans be abandoned. In fact, the condition is the reverse. Applications for special days are being received constantly.