American Boys' Life of William McKinley/Chapter 16
CHAPTER XVI
William McKinley had been elected prosecuting attorney for two years. At the end of that time he came up for reëlection. Just before the balloting came off he said to a friend:—
"I don't wish you to speak of it to anybody, but I have figured it out, and I think it is going against me."
"How can that be?" answered the friend. "Surely all your friends are still your friends."
"That is true, but the population of the county has increased somewhat during the past two years, and the increase is largely on the Democratic side. If I win, I shall be very agreeably surprised."
Nevertheless, McKinley went into the contest heart and soul, for he believed that what was worth doing at all was worth doing well. As before, he made numerous speeches and he was always listened to with close attention, for he had a personal magnetism which to many was irresistible.
But the result was as he had surmised. When the ballots were counted, it was found that his opponent had beaten him by exactly forty-five votes.
"Not so bad," said one of his friends. "You are ahead of the rest of our ticket by at least a hundred votes." And what this friend said was true, and the showing was in reality excellent, although the young prosecuting attorney lost the office thereby.
Being retired again to private life, McKinley devoted himself exclusively to law work, and soon became known far and wide as a skilful practitioner. During the next five years he handled many difficult cases, some of which brought him in large fees. Yet, although he was making money, he remained the modest, unassuming man he had been in the past.
"Anybody could talk to him," said one resident of Canton, in speaking of those days. "He always had a kind word for the children, and some of them used to present him with bouquets which they had picked, and he would always give them a little money in return. Once one of the janitors of a building near the court-house had a case against a man who had run over him in the street and knocked him down. The janitor didn't have any money, and he went to McKinley and told his story, saying all he wanted was his doctor's bill paid. McKinley took hold of the case, wrote the other fellow several letters, and threatened to sue him, and the consequence was that the janitor got his doctor's bill paid and got somethmg like fifty dollars for loss of employment in the bargain. And McKinley didn't charge the janitor a cent."
During those five years the rising lawyer was much in demand as a public speaker, and his speeches were so good that even the older public men began to listen attentively to what he had to say. He had an excellent command of language, and his facts and figures, as one of his friends has said, "never got away from him." His capacity for figures was really remarkable, something which, later on, attracted even the attention of James G. Blaine, who was for many years one of the best-known public men of our country.
In our Centennial year, 1876, a surprise came to Major McKinley. While he was attending a private political meeting, one of the committeemen called him aside.
"Major, how would you like to go to Congress?" was the question put to him.
"To Congress?" repeated McKinley. "I hadn't thought of it."
"Well, we have thought it over, and we can slate you for the position if you will accept."
At first the rising young lawyer demurred. He himself said later: "I was not anxious to be a candidate at that time. I thought I was too young to go into politics. I had a good business, which I had worked hard to obtain, and I hated to run any chance of neglecting it."
But the others would not listen to his protestations. They felt that he was a strong, safe man and would make a worthy representative of the Stark-Columbiana counties district. Consequently he was placed on the ticket and told to go ahead and make the best run he could.
Once having accepted the nomination, McKinley did as was his usual habit,—put his shoulder to the wheel with all the force at his command. There were several candidates in the field against him, and toward election time the battle waxed more than usually warm. All sorts of stories were circulated about him and about what he proposed to do if elected,—generally stories calculated to turn the votes of the poorer class from him. But these people knew the rising young lawyer well and were not to be fooled, and late on election day night it was learned that McKinley had been elected as a representative to Congress by a handsome plurality.
It was his entrance into National affairs,—one of the mile-stones of his life,—and if the election to such a high and honorable office filled him with pride, I am certain that no right-thinking person will blame him. Yet when, amid the music of a brass band, the crackling of a huge bonfire, and the huzzas of a crowd, he received the congratulation of his fellow-citizens and political friends, he was not puffed up in the least, but thanked them simply and heartily for their kindness to him and promised to do all he could to serve them honestly and faithfully.
As a usual thing a new member of the House of Representatives at Washington has little to say and little to do excepting to vote. All is new and strange to him, and he must learn a great deal before he is qualified to take the initiative in the transacting of public business. He is placed on one or two committees of lesser importance, and there he remains until something he says or does brings him prominently before his fellow-members and the public at large.
William McKinley was too well educated and had the welfare of the country too much at heart to remain long in the background. When called upon to express his opinions he did so clearly, tersely, and forcefully, and his argument never failed "to hold water," as one of his fellow-members has expressed it.
"We could always rely on McKinley," said one representative. "There wasn't an industry that he didn't know something about, and generally he could give you the figures of that industry's output off-hand. Of course, coming from an iron district, one would expect him to know all about the iron trade, but he could tell you about the cotton trade of the South, or the lumber trade of the Northwest, just as well. I remember one day a member asked him off-hand about the glass factories in the country and the value of the output, and McKinley gave him the actual figures out of his head. I could hardly believe him, and I jotted the figures down on a pad. Afterward I found they were correct."
This was one of the secrets of William McKinley's success. He believed in being thorough in all he undertook. With him there was no such thing as learning a thing half or doing a thing half. If it was to be done at all, it must be done well.
And another secret was—study. He believed in study and he read all the good books that came within his reach. He was always ready to ask questions as well as to answer them. When a measure came up which was likely to affect a certain class of people, or a certain trade or industry, he would write to the people and ask them what they had to say on the subject, or he would go among them personally and talk with them, until he felt sure that he had heard both sides and that what he proposed to do by his vote would be right. He was no dreamer, but a practical, hard-working, up-to-date citizen and public servant; nay, I should have said, public benefactor. Would that all our growing American lads might profit by his shining example! 
McKinley, as Student, Soldier, Lawyer, and Congressman.