GREAT EVENTS OF THE WORLD DURING PRESIDENT McKINLEY’S ADMINISTRATIONS.
William McKinley was inaugurated as the twenty-fifth President of the
United States March 4, 1897, succeeding Grover Cleveland, who was
serving his second term. Garret A. Hobart was sworn in as Vice-President
on the same day. The campaign between Bryan and McKinley had been one of
the most vigorously-fought in the history of the nation. The Democratic
party made the money question paramount, and the Republican victory on
that issue induced McKinley to call an extra session of Congress eleven
days after his inauguration. The gold standard was adopted, after which
Congress adjourned.
During April, May and June Turkey and Greece were at war. Greece was the
aggressor, but the outcome of the short campaign was disastrous for King
George’s troops, which were defeated in every battle by the Turks, who
displayed a knowledge of warfare that struck surprise throughout Europe.
Greece was made to pay a heavy indemnity and to cede Thessaly to Turkey
at the treaty of peace, signed September 18.
The first heavy shipments of gold from the Klondike region began to
arrive at San Francisco and Puget Sound ports. The output reached over
$20,000,000 a year.
The boundary treaty between Venezuela and Great Britain was ratified at
Washington June 14. It was regarding this boundary that President
Cleveland in the previous December threatened Great Britain with war
unless justice was done the South American republic.
July 24 the Dingley tariff bill became a law, the President having
signed it. This bill was practically a substitution of the old McKinley
tariff for the Wilson bill.
The first general knowledge of automobiles was spread by long newspaper
reports of a race between horseless carriages in France. The machines
were driven by electricity and gasoline.
August 25 is Independence day in Uruguay. While engaged in celebrating
the event President Borda was shot and killed by an assassin.
Star Pointer, the famous pacing stallion, on August 28 lowered the
world’s record for a mile at Readville, Mass., to 1:59¼.
Charles A. Dana, for years famous as the editor of the New York Sun,
died at Glen Cove, Long Island, October 17.
An attempt to assassinate President Diaz of Mexico September 15 failed.
During Diaz’s term in office—more than twenty years—no less than eight
attempts to kill him were made. Twice he was slightly injured.
Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, the Norwegian arctic explorer, whose expedition
came nearer reaching the North Pole than any previous attempt, reached
America in October on a lecture tour. He was paid $65,000 for fifty
lectures, probably the largest sum ever paid for such work.
A conspiracy against the President of Brazil resulted in a concerted
attack on him November 5. He was not injured, but his brother was
fatally wounded and the minister of war was killed in his efforts to
save the life of the President.
Mrs. Nancy A. McKinley, the aged mother of President McKinley, died at
Canton December 12. She was buried in the President’s family plot at
Canton, where McKinley’s two daughters lie buried.
1898 was an eventful year in McKinley’s administration owing to the
outbreak of the Spanish war. In Europe it will be best remembered
because of deaths of Gladstone and Bismarck.
The insurrection in Cuba had reached a stage when humanitarian efforts
on the part of this country seemed necessary owing to the reconcentrado
methods introduced by Weyler. The battleship Maine was sent to Havana,
arriving there January 25. No demonstration was made, but it was hoped
the moral effect of the presence of a warship would lead to good
results.
The Maine was blown up by a submarine mine February 15. The events of
the Spanish war will follow chronologically.
February 8—Letter was published written by Minister De Lome
disparaging President McKinley. After publication of the letter De
Lome asked the Spanish government to accept his resignation.
February 15—Battleship Maine blown up.
February 17—United States government appointed a naval court to
inquire into the cause of the destruction of the Maine.
March 5—General Fitzhugh Lee’s recall requested by the Spanish
government and promptly refused by the United States.
March 7—Bill introduced in the House appropriating $50,000,000 for
national defense. Passed the House March 7 and the Senate March 8,
and was signed by the President.
March 12—Battleship Oregon sailed from San Francisco to meet the
Atlantic squadron.
March 12—Spain offered armistice to the Cuban insurgents.
March 25—Report of the Maine Court of Inquiry delivered to the
President and transmitted to Congress, reaching there March 28.
April 5—United States consuls in Cuba recalled.
April 11—President McKinley sends message to Congress on the Cuban
situation, in which he advises intervention without recognition of
the Cuban government.
April 19—Congress recognizes independence of Cuba and authorizes the
use of United States forces in intervention.
April 20—President issues ultimatum to Spain.
April 21—An infernal machine was sent President McKinley, but the
White House detectives grew suspicious of the peculiar package and
it was investigated. It was filled with a powerful explosive.
April 22—Proclamation announcing war issued by President McKinley.
April 23—President McKinley issued a call for 125,000 volunteers.
April 24—War against the United States formally declared by Spain.
May 1—Spanish fleet at Manila entirely destroyed by Dewey’s fleet.
May 8—Miss Helen Gould sent the government a check for $100,000 to add
to the war fund.
May 19—William Ewart Gladstone died at Hawarden. He was England’s
greatest parliamentarian and a leader for many years. He was
acknowledged throughout the world as one of the ablest men of
modern times. He was born in 1809.
May 19—Arrival of Admiral Cervera’s fleet in the harbor of Santiago,
Cuba.
May 25—Second call for 75,000 volunteers issued by the President.
June 3—Merrimac sunk in the harbor of Santiago by Lieutenant Hobson.
June 20—United States Army of Invasion landed in Cuba under General
Shafter.
July 1 and 2—El Caney and San Juan, Cuba, captured by United States
troops with heavy loss.
July 3—Admiral Cervera’s fleet attempted to escape and was entirely
destroyed by United States fleet under command of Commodore
Schley.
July 3–6—No newspapers were published in Chicago in these days of
great events on sea and land, owing to a strike of the
stereotypers. New men were secured July 6 and publication resumed.
The newspaper owners formed a trust to fight the workers. Bulletin
boards throughout the city were used to convey the latest news to
the citizens.
July 4—The French line steamer La Bourgogne collided with the British
ship Cromartyshire sixty miles south of Sable Island, near
Newfoundland, and sunk. Five hundred and sixty of the 725 persons
on board were drowned.
July—Agitation of the Dreyfus case in France followed by anti-Semitic
riots.
July 26—Spanish government, through French Ambassador Cambon, asked
for terms of peace.
July 30—Prince Otto Leopold von Bismarck died at Friedrichsruh. He had
been chancellor of the German Empire and for thirty years was the
greatest figure in European politics. He was born in 1815.
August 12—Peace protocol signed and armistice proclaimed. Cuban
blockade raised.
September 18—Miss Winnie Davis, daughter of Jefferson Davis and known
as the “Daughter of the Confederacy,” died at Narragansett Pier,
R. I. She was born in Richmond, Va., in 1864. Her efforts to
cement the union between the North and the South in recent years
received high praise.
October 17—University of Chicago conferred the degree of LL. D. on
President McKinley.
October 18—United States takes formal possession of Porto Rico.
December 10—Peace treaty signed at Paris.
The year 1899 witnessed the closing acts of the Spanish war proper, but
in the meantime the troops left in the Philippine Islands came in
conflict with Aguinaldo’s forces, and the friction soon lead to the
Filipino outbreak. Hostilities were opened February 4, when the American
lines just without Manila were attacked by 20,000 insurgents. The attack
was repulsed with great loss, and the American troops under General Otis
then took the aggressive. Several fierce engagements resulted, in which
the Americans were invariably victorious.
In Europe the Dreyfus trial attracted great attention during July and
August. Later the South African trouble came up and overshadowed all
other subjects. The war was the final outcome of the Jameson raid of
1895, by which a party of Englishmen hoped to overthrow the Transvaal
Republic under President Kruger, and establish a province under the
protection of England.
Kruger’s reply to England’s demands for a new franchise law was given
September 17. It repudiated England’s claim, and both sides knew war to
be inevitable. Preparations for the conflict at once began.
October 12 the Boers invaded British territory and on the 20th of that
month the first battle, at Glencoe, resulted. Both commanders were
killed. The battle did not give either side the advantage. Mafeking was
besieged October 26 and Ladysmith October 28. Kimberley, where Cecil
Rhodes was at the time, next found a cordon of Boer soldiers and
batteries surrounding it. The Boers were successful in the engagements
at Modder River and Colenso, although both sides sustained heavy loss.
The year closed with the three towns under siege and the British
disheartened.
President McKinley signed the peace treaty with Spain February 10, and
the Queen Regent of Spain signed the document March 17, ending the war
formally. Already there had been severe engagements in the Philippines
and many of the volunteers who served in Cuba were sent to the new
possessions in the Pacific.
General Lawton and General McArthur were the most prominent in the
campaigns in the interior of Luzon. They drove the enemy from town to
town, capturing many prisoners. On April 27 Colonel Funston of the
Twentieth Kansas Regiment, with two volunteers as companions, swam the
Rio Grande River in the face of a murderous fire from the concealed
enemy. A rope was carried across and by this means the soldiers were
enabled to follow on rafts. The exploit ranks next to Dewey’s victory in
Philippine war annals.
The “embalmed beef” investigation ended at Washington February 6. On the
following day the President suspended General Eagan from duty for six
years for his attack on General Miles during the hearing of the beef
scandal.
Dewey was made a full admiral by Congress March 3.
Charles M. Murphy rode a mile on a bicycle in 57⅘ seconds, behind an
engine with a wind shield.
Captain Alfred Dreyfus returned to France from Devil’s Island July 1.
His trial began July 7. He was again found guilty, but the sentence of
ten years’ imprisonment was not enforced, which was a practical
vindication of the artillery officer.
Secretary of War Alger resigned July 15, and Elihu Root was appointed to
succeed him July 22.
Cornelius Vanderbilt, born 1843, died at New York September 12.
Admiral Dewey arrived at New York from the Philippines via the Suez
Canal September 26. A great naval demonstration in the harbor and an
immense parade followed.
The American Cup defender, Columbia, defeated Sir Thomas Lipton’s
Shamrock I. off New York harbor in the international yacht races October
20.
Vice-President Hobart died at Paterson, N. J., November 21. He was born
in 1844.
World interest at the opening of the year 1900 was centered in the
heroic struggle of the Boers, who in the rapid campaigns of November and
December, 1899, had won several notable victories over the British
forces and had Mafeking, Ladysmith and Kimberley beleaguered. The tide
of war swept the soldiers of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State
irresistibly along. It was in the dark days of England’s plight, that
orders were issued from London to recall General Buller, and Lord
Roberts was selected to take charge of the South African armies.
Roberts arrived at Cape Town, January 10. In a few weeks all was in
readiness for the advance and the tide had turned. General French’s dash
relieved Kimberley February 15, and Cronje was driven back at Modder
drift the same day. The intrepid Boer leader with his 4,000 men
intrenched himself at Paardeberg on the Modder River, but was forced to
capitulate on February 27. This was a severe blow to the republican
forces.
The onward march of Roberts continued, Bloemfontein, the capital of the
Orange Free State, being entered March 13. On March 28, the siege of
Ladysmith was raised. June 5, Pretoria was entered and then began the
guerrilla warfare which continued throughout the year. In October Kruger
fled from South Africa, landing in France November 22.
Next in importance to the Boer war was the Boxer uprising in China,
which horrified the entire civilized world by its atrocities. Beginning
in March and April reports began to come from China telling of hordes of
fanatics, who were threatening the lives and property of missionaries.
The real state of affairs was not realized until in May, when the Boxers
grew so strong they overawed the government, and on May 28, they seized
Peking, the capital. Then the world stood aghast, but it was too late to
save the lives of thousands of Christian Chinese.
Threats from Europe failed to accomplish the all-important object and
when, on June 16, Baron von Ketteler, the German minister to China, was
murdered, armed forces were rushed to China. After weeks of desultory
fighting, in which several hundred of the allied forces were killed, the
international relief column entered Peking, August 15. Minister Conger
was alive, he along with many other whites having fortified the British
legation, where the attacks of the armed rabble and Boxers were
repulsed.
The European powers took possession of the Chinese government and each
demanded a heavy indemnity for the losses sustained. It was through the
intervention of President McKinley and Secretary Hay, that the Chinese
were enabled to make satisfactory terms with the other nations which had
troops in China. The “open door” policy, by which commercial rights were
accorded all nations at the ports of China, was a victory for the United
States. At the end of the year the allies were in possession of Peking,
while the Emperor and Dowager Empress were in the interior. There was no
fighting of any consequence after August.
In the Philippines, the insurgents were gradually falling back before
the advance of the American forces. Aguinaldo retreated to the mountains
and his followers were in great part dispersed. Here and there would be
found a small armed band, but the skirmishes invariably resulted in
American victories.
The result of the gubernatorial election in Kentucky, in 1899, was long
in doubt and both Democrats and Republicans attempted to seize the State
government. Excitement was intense when, on January 30, William Goebel,
the Democratic aspirant, was shot and fatally wounded. He died February
3. Governor Taylor, the Republican incumbent, was indicted as an
accessory to the crime. For a time serious trouble was feared, but the
courts were allowed to settle the claim and civil war was averted.
February 5, the Hay-Pauncefote treaty was signed, amending the
Clayton-Bulwer treaty. The chief feature of the old treaty was the
agreement that any canal joining the Atlantic and Pacific would be
jointly controlled. America is now free to build and control an isthmian
canal.
A fire at Ottawa, Canada, swept several square miles of area April 26,
rendering 1,500 persons homeless and destroying $15,000,000 worth of
property.
May 28, a total eclipse of the sun was visible in most of the Southern
States, and several good photographs of the heavenly bodies obtained.
McKinley and Roosevelt were nominated at Philadelphia, June 21.
Three hundred lives were lost and $10,000,000 worth of property
destroyed in a fire which started in the North German Lloyd piers at New
York and communicated to the ocean liners Saale, Bremen and Main.
July 5, Bryan and Stevenson were nominated at the Kansas City
convention.
King Humbert of Italy was assassinated by an anarchist from Paterson,
N. J., named Bresci, July 30.
A hurricane swept the gulf states on the night of September 8, reaching
the proportions of a tidal wave at Galveston. A large portion of the
city was wrecked, 6,000 lives lost, and property worth $12,000,000
destroyed. The havoc created by the waters has no parallel in American
annals, with the possible exception of the Johnstown disaster.
John Sherman, of Ohio, Senator, Secretary of Treasury, and Secretary of
State, died at Washington, October 21. He was one of the Republican
leaders for many years.
November 6, the national election resulted in the re-election of
President McKinley by a large majority.
Conditions in South Africa, remained practically unchanged during the
fall of 1900, and the spring of 1901. The Boers refused to surrender and
harassed the British whenever possible. England formally annexed both
the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, but the encouragement of the
continental powers of Europe induced the Boers to continue the struggle.
President Kruger made his home in Holland. Mrs. Kruger died at Pretoria,
where she remained when her husband left for Europe.
England’s gloom was intensified when, in January, it was announced that
the health of the aged Queen Victoria was rapidly failing. She died
January 22, and the Prince of Wales was proclaimed King Edward VII. The
coronation will take place in 1902.
McKinley and Roosevelt were inaugurated March 4.
Former President Benjamin Harrison died at his Indianapolis home, March
13. After his term as President, he resumed the practice of law and
appeared in some of the most important international cases of recent
years.
The rebellion in the Philippines, which had lost its effectiveness in
1900, received another blow when, on March 23, General Funston, with a
few companions, captured Aguinaldo. The Americans were accompanied by a
band of Filipinos. The natives announced that they had taken the
Americans prisoners, and were taking them to Aguinaldo. By this ruse his
hiding place was discovered. Aguinaldo took the oath of allegiance to
the United States and was given a residence in Manila, where he is under
surveillance.
In industrial circles, the most momentous event of the year was the
incorporation of the billion dollar steel trust, by J. Pierpont Morgan,
Andrew Carnegie, and others, April 1. The consolidation of the various
interests lead to a strike by the Amalgamated Association of Steel, Iron
and Tin Workers, June 30, under the leadership of Theodore Shaffer, of
Pittsburg. The strike was not well organized and many of the men refused
to obey the orders to walk out.
President and Mrs. McKinley left Washington on an extended tour, April
29. They travelled through the South, along the Mexican border and
through Southern California, reaching San Francisco May 12. Here Mrs.
McKinley was taken seriously ill. The tour was announced at an end.
After a week of rest Mrs. McKinley was able to return to Washington by
easy stages.
May 28, Cuba voted to accept the Platt amendment to the Constitution.
During the first few days of July an oppressively hot wave swept over
the country, hundreds dying from the heat. In New York the suffering was
pathetic. Following this wave came a period of drouth, which extended
over the entire country doing inestimable damage to crops. In some
districts rain did not fall for two months, and vegetation all perished.
Prices of produce rose rapidly, but copious rains in August and
September saved many of the late crops.
Dowager Empress Frederick, mother of Emperor Wilhelm of Germany, died at
Berlin in August. She had been living in practical retirement since the
death of her husband, Emperor Frederick, in 1888. She was the oldest
child of Queen Victoria.
After years of negotiations, the United States and Denmark arranged
satisfactory terms, September 2, and the Danish West Indies, three small
islands near Porto Rico, will be transferred to this country. The chief
object in acquiring these islands was to get possession of the port of
St. Thomas, one of the best in the West Indies. The islands are St.
Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. The price paid is a little over
$4,000,000.
September 2, President and Mrs. McKinley started for the Pan-American
Exposition, where the President had arranged to deliver an address on
President’s Day, September 5. The address was a notable one, as it
outlined McKinley’s national policy for the coming years. Within 24
hours of the deliverance of the famous speech, the President was shot
down by the assassin.