Southern Press on McKinley

     Not since the foundation of the government has there been a more universally popular chief executive.—San Antonio Express.

     Of all men in public life he was one that it would have been thought was least likely to excite the enmity of any man or set of men.—Austin Statesman.

     His is not a nature to estrange even his bitterest opponents, much less to make personal enemies, and for that reason everybody who knew him was his friend.—New Orleans Daily States.

     In winning and deserving the trust and esteem of the whole people, through his public acts and private intercourse, he has never been excelled, if equaled, by any Presidential predecessor.—Vicksburg Herald.

     The stricken President is perhaps the most popular man that ever filled the Presidential office. At every turn he has consulted public opinion, and he has never set up his judgment against it.—Birmingham Age-Herald.

     What heart but the heart of a madman or an insensate beast would be hard enough to even contemplate a deadly attack on one so gentle, so democratic, so “little given to the exercise of power?”—Chattanooga Times.

     He has won for himself the esteem, respect, and even the love of the whole people of this country, and in foreign lands he is justly counted as one of the wisest statesmen America has ever produced.—Baltimore American.

     There is less of partisan feeling and sectional spirit in him than in any occupant of the White House since the war. No man has ever made a more earnest, honest effort to be President of the whole people.—Nashville American.

     His kindly personal character has made him popular even with his political opponents, and as Americans they resent with unspeakable indignation and horror the act of the assassin and unite in the prayer that his life may be preserved to his friends and country.—Baltimore Sun.

     Never has there been so general a demonstration of sorrow over the illness of any ruler or potentate, and we are pleased that from all the world come messages of sympathy both for the President and his devoted wife, and for their grief-stricken fellow countrymen.—Mobile Register.

     With great occasions, great qualities he showed, not with strange exertion, not for display, but with that ease that indicated the nature of a man expanding with opportunity beyond the limits which the passions of the passing hour had fixed for a partisan leader; a partisan leader no longer, but the captain of a self-governing republic.—Louisville Post.

     After the election, and by his evident desire to do what he could for the South, the old Democratic stronghold came to regard him more than any other Republican as the President of the whole United States. He guided the affairs of the nation with an almost impartial hand, and to-day he is regarded as one of the very best Presidents since the time of Washington.—Natchez Democrat.

     He has grown steadily in the Presidential office, and he will go down in history with our greatest executives. That this kindly gentleman and broad-minded statesman should be the victim of a vile attempt at assassination is a sore trial on the patience of the American people; and when the news came, and it was said that the President had a fighting chance for life, we do not doubt that millions of prayers went up for his recovery.—Memphis Commercial.

     The American people, without distinction of party, feel outraged at the murderous assault, and they also feel that there is no adequate punishment to fit the crime of the would-be assassin. The wretch who fired the bullets that found lodgment in the President’s body administered a blow to every American who loves his country and its institutions, and if he have one single sympathizer in all this broad land it were at the risk of his life to express his sentiments.—Arkansas Gazette.

     If there is one man in all America whom his countrymen would have thought safe from such an assault that man is William McKinley. Upright in character, courteous, gentle, lovable in disposition and manner, he could have had no personal enemies. And he carried into public life the same traits that endeared him to those who knew him in his private relations. An executive who regarded his office as representative of the people, by whom his authority was conferred, he ever sought to find and obey their will, and in maintaining his most cherished political convictions it was always with perfect consideration toward his party opponents. There has been in his conduct no more provocation for political than for personal rancor and enmity.—Louisville Courier-Journal.

     What prouder moment could have happened in the life of any man? The spirit of Lincoln, speaking through McKinley, has pronounced the long delayed words of reconciliation. As the President of the United States Mr. McKinley’s name was honored in every home, and his love was shared by every man. In the smoke of foreign conflict and of victory the most prominent object to him was the reconciliation of an estranged people. He placed a Lee by a Grant, and commissioned a Confederate general to the same rank in the regular army. More fortunate than Lincoln, he lived long enough after the conflict to witness the fruits of restored brotherhood; to see Confederate vying with Federal in devotion to the flag, and to see the young sons of the South closest around the staff.—Atlanta Constitution.