THE INAUGURATION.
March 4th, William McKinley was duly inaugurated as Chief Officer of our country.
For once the weather was perfect, and everybody was in the best of good humor, and up early to see the sights. At about ten o'clock Major McKinley was escorted from his hotel to the White House by a company of soldiers.
Here he was received by Mr. Cleveland, who up to the very last moment was busy writing and attending to the final duties of his office.
The members of Mr. Cleveland's Cabinet also came to pay their respects to the President-elect. After the greetings were over, Mr. Cleveland and Major McKinley walked out on the porch side by side, ready to make their journey to the Capitol.
As they passed down the steps through the crowd that was waiting to see them, every hat came off, and the spectators stood bareheaded as the two most important men in the country passed before them.
The state carriage, drawn by four horses, was waiting for them; stepping into it, they started on their trip to the Capitol.
The streets through which the carriage passed were thronged with people, who cheered and yelled, some even dancing up and down in their excitement.
There was a trifling accident to the President's carriage in the course of the journey, but it did not delay the procession much, and, except for the excitement it caused, would hardly have been noticed.
One of the rear horses slipped and fell, and in his fall broke one of the silver links that held the traces. It was mended in less time than it takes to tell about it, but every one feared that some accident had happened to the Presidents, and for a few minutes there was a good deal of galloping back and forth, and excitement among the leaders of the procession.
As soon as the trace was mended the procession swept on, and reached the Capitol without further delay.
An interesting part of the parade was the squad of soldiers on bicycles which brought up the rear.
Inside the Capitol all was excitement, for the President and President-elect were to be received in the Senate Chamber.
As a rule, the Senators and their desks spread out in a semicircle round the raised dais on which is the Speaker's chair, and they take up pretty much the whole of the Chamber.
On inauguration days the desks disappear, and the Senators are seated in rows on one side. On this occasion they were placed on the right of the chamber, packed just as closely together as they could be.
All the galleries of the Senate were also closely packed with the families of the Ambassadors and Ministers, and the friends of the Senators. In a place set apart for them were Major McKinley's family and friends, amongst them being his wife and his mother, Mrs. Nancy Allison McKinley, a bright, active old lady, over eighty years of age.
The Senators being in their places, the President of the Senate gave one stroke of his gavel, and immediately the doors of the Senate were thrown open, and the usher of the Senate announced:
"The Ambassadors of foreign countries."
All the Senators rose to their feet, and in filed the Ambassadors in full diplomatic dress.
Their dress-coats and trousers were decorated with gold bullion, they carried their white-feathered, three-cornered hats in their hands, and across their shoulders, from left to right, were sashes of colored satin, according to their rank or their country—pink, white, yellow, and red satin.
They were ushered to seats in front of the Vice-President's dais, and almost immediately the doors were again thrown open and the page announced:
"The Ministers of foreign countries."
The Senators again rose, and in walked the Ministers, and were ushered to their seats.
All wore the full diplomatic costume, which, as you will see, varies considerably according to the Minister's country. The Chinese Minister wore a slate-colored, figured silk, his official hat being of black velvet with a red silk crown. The Turkish Minister was dressed in black broadcloth and white satin, all covered with gold embroidery, and wore the national red fez as a hat. The Japanese Minister wore dark clothes magnificently embroidered in gold. The Coreau Minister had a loose robe of sea-green silk with a tortoise-shell belt. The Austrian Minister wore the beautiful Hungarian costume, with the short cloak hanging from the shoulder.
The Ministers appear from all accounts to have made a most gorgeous group with their jewels and their gold embroidery and their orders and colored dresses, making a strong contrast to the simple, ordinary dress of the Senators.
After these persons, the Judges of the Supreme Court were announced; then came the members of the House of Representatives, headed by their speaker; then President Cleveland's Cabinet; and then the whole house rose to receive the Vice-President-elect of the United States, Mr. Garret A. Hobart, of New Jersey. He had no sooner arrived in his place, than the usher made the important announcement of the day:
"The President and the President-elect of the United States."
Down the aisle came Mr. Cleveland and Mr. McKinley, side by side.
The whole assembly remained standing until the two Presidents had taken their seats, and then the official proceedings of the day commenced.
Mr. Hobart took his oath of office as Vice-President of the United States.
The former Vice-President then made a farewell speech to the Senate, and handed his gavel to Mr. Hobart. The gavel is a little ivory or wooden mallet used by a presiding officer to rap on a table or stone when he wishes to gain the attention of an assembly.
The first use made of the gavel by the incoming Vice-President was to rap for order while the blind Chaplain of the Senate, the Reverend Dr. Milburn, called for a blessing from on High.
The prayer over, the Vice-President made his first address to the Senate, and immediately after administered the oath to fifteen newly elected Senators. The little bustle of people leaving the galleries while this latter was proceeding, showed that the great moment had come—and it was time to inaugurate the new President.
The President always takes the oath of office on the porch of the Capitol—in full view of the people—and so, the work in the Senate being finished, the two Presidents walked side by side out to the eastern front of the building.
As soon as the Judges, Senators, and Congressmen had taken their places on the stand provided for them, Chief Justice Fuller came forward to the little enclosure which had been railed off and fitted with two great leathern arm-chairs for Major McKinley and Mr. Cleveland.
He told Mr. McKinley that it was time to take his oath of office: and standing bareheaded, his hand resting on the Bible, William McKinley swore to be true and faithful to the great trust he was receiving from the people.
His oath being taken, he kissed the Bible, and the ceremony was complete. He is the twenty-fifth President of the United States of America.
The moment had now come for the new President to deliver the inaugural address. Great anxiety has been felt about this speech, because it was expected that it would give the people some idea of the way Major McKinley meant to treat the several questions that are vexing us at the present time.
He opened his speech with these beautiful words:
"Fellow Citizens:—In obedience to the will of the people, and in their presence, by the authority vested in me by this oath, I assume the arduous and responsible duties of President of the United States, relying on the support of my countrymen and invoking the guidance of Almighty God. Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps."
He then took up the subject of Money, and said that he thought the Government wanted to look closely into the Treasury matters, and devise a means whereby we might be able to have as much money as we needed in circulation, without having to keep the enormous reserve of gold, which costs us such ruinous interest every year.
He would like to have all the laws relating to the coining of money and banking of money carefully revised, and to put our money system on such a sound basis that it will not be threatened with change at each change of party.
He said that he hoped to make the other Powers of the world agree with him about the wisdom of bimetalism—which means the equal use of silver and gold. Many of our present troubles have been supposed to come from the fact that we cannot pay our debts to foreign countries in silver, but only in gold, and that we have not enough gold to pay all the debts we owe, and so we are obliged to borrow gold from these foreign countries at ruinous interest, to pay back again to them.
President McKinley hopes that we may arrange with other countries to take silver or gold equally the one with the other, just whichever happens to be most plentiful at the time.
He went on to say that we must be economical, and try to reduce our national debt, and that the Government should not be allowed to spend more than its income, but that if it was necessary to increase the income to meet the just expenses of pensions for soldiers and sailors who had fought for us, and for the widows and orphans of the brave men who died for our country, he thought the money should not be raised by loans, which put the country still more deeply into debt, but by taxes, whereby each man could take his share of the expense of the Government which protected his home.
He then spoke about the Tariff, and said that the tariff laws which he hoped to see made would bring in enough money to supply all needs, without directly taxing the people—which was a thing he did not approve of, except in time of war. The tariff is a tax put on all foreign products brought into this country.
He then touched upon Trusts, and very severely, too. He approved entirely of the efforts that had been made by Mr. Cleveland's Government to suppress trusts, and he said that his Government would follow steadfastly in its footsteps—enforcing the laws that already existed, and making such new ones as were necessary.
He spoke about Immigration. President Cleveland vetoed the immigration bill, about which we were speaking; but President McKinley approves of restricting immigration, and will probably sign the bill if it is brought before him.
One very interesting point that he touched on was the subject of American Merchant Marine.
At the present time we have so few of our own ships sailing the seas, that we can be said to have no merchant marine at all. The ships that crowd our ports are from foreign countries.
President McKinley said he would like Congress to take the matter in hand, and assist in restoring our merchant navy to its former greatness.
Then he spoke on Foreign Policy. This is also a very interesting subject, because it shows us the attitude President McKinley will take toward poor little Cuba.
He said he believed in peace and friendship with other countries, and that war should never be entered upon until every effort for peace had failed.
He believed in a policy of non-interference, and of leaving to foreign countries the business of settling their own quarrels with their colonies.
He believed, however, in being just and impartial, ever watchful of our national honor, and always insisting on the lawful rights of our citizens every where.
About Arbitration, President McKinley said that he considered it the only true method of settling international quarrels, and that he was in favor of ratifying the treaty with Great Britain, and hoped the Senate would do so at a very early date.
He then said he should call an extra session of Congress for March 15th, to attend to various important affairs that needed immediate attention.
His closing words were:
"Let me again repeat the words of the oath administered by the Chief Justice: 'I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.' This is the obligation I have reverently taken before the Lord Most High. To keep it will be my single purpose, my constant prayer, and I shall confidently rely upon the forbearance and assistance of all the people in the discharge of my solemn responsibilities."
When the speech was made, the main work of the day was over.
After this came the great parade; the new and old Presidents were escorted back to the White House, in front of which a stand had been erected. From this stand the new President reviewed the parade.
This took two hours and a half to pass, and consisted of National Guardsmen from every State in the Union, a division of the regular army and navy, clubs and organizations, and a division of Indian cadets from the Government School at Carlisle.