CHAPTER IV

THE LAWYER

N his address on "The American Volunteer

IN

Soldier," McKinley said: "My friends, we had a million soldiers in the field when the war terminated, and the highest testimony to their character is found in the fact that when the muster-out came, and that vast army, which for years had been accustomed to war and carnage, returned to their homes, they dropped into the quiet walks of citizenship, and no trace of them was ever discernible except in their integrity of character, their intense patriotism, and their participation in the growth and development and maintenance of the Government which they had contributed so much to save.'

McKinley, in these words, voiced what must have been his own feeling of responsibility when he returned to Poland after the war. It was not solely a question of finding a way to earn a livelihood. The sense of duty to his country, born of the Civil War and nurtured by four years of hard campaigning, was a plant too hardy to wither and die. That "intense patriotism" to which he refers had already taken a firm root and was to grow into the most

notable characteristic of his public life. To a marked degree he felt that the consummation of his patriotism in war was to be found in the services of peace. He was already beginning to look forward to a time when he might prove to be a useful citizen as he had been a loyal soldier.

It was perhaps natural that a young man in this state of mind should choose the law as a profession. Moreover, it suited his temperament perfectly, for he had already proved his natural ability as a speaker by pleading in various moot cases before judges composed of the boys and girls of "The Everett Literary and Debating Society."

McKinley, accordingly, in 1865, entered the of fice of Charles E. Glidden, a lawyer of Mahoning County, Ohio, who was elected judge the same year, at the early age of thirty-only eight years the senior of his pupil. It was a peculiarly fortunate choice as preceptor. Judge Glidden was a man of rare quality, singularly sweet in disposition, who seems to have inspired those who knew him with a feeling of strong affection. He was a man of high moral principle, eminently sound in his perception of truth and justice, an eloquent speaker and an able lawyer. Under such favorable influences, McKinley began the study of the law, and in accordance with the habits he had developed as a schoolboy and later

while a soldier, he read and studied persistently. After little more than a year of this work, it was arranged by the family, largely through the influence of his sister Anna, that he should have the advantage of a term at the Albany Law School, and thither McKinley went in September, 1866.

His roommate at Albany was George F. Arrel, now a prominent lawyer of Youngstown, Ohio. The two boys roomed at No. 36 Jay Street. The writer will never forget how Judge Arrel's eyes fairly glistened as they seemed to look back over the half-century, and his face beamed with a sweet smile of happy recollection tinged with sadness, as he remarked, "Those days are a lovely memory. McKinley," he said, was a delightful companion. He was jolly, always good-natured, and looked at the bright side of everything. He was a sociable fellow, liked the theater, and was fond of good company. He did not indulge in sport of any kind, but in those days a man could go through college without doing so. He was thoroughly genuine, chaste in every way, and despised vulgarity. He never quarreled, but he had a mind of his own and was very determined. Even at that time he had made up his mind to enter public life, and clearly showed an 'ambition to go to Congress. He worked very hard, often reading until one or two o'clock in the morning. It was his very great

industry, rather than genius, that paved the way for his success."

McKinley did not finish the course, which then consisted of only a single year, but left in the spring of 1867. He was admitted to the bar in Warren, Ohio, on motion of Francis E. Hutchins, who later became an assistant in the office of the AttorneyGeneral at Washington.

Anna McKinley was then teaching school in Canton, Ohio, whither she had come from Kentucky soon after the outbreak of the war. She had already won an enviable reputation as a teacher and had made many friends. Her beckoning hand was now extended to her brother, and to Canton, therefore, the young lawyer went. There were good reasons for this choice, other than the pleasure of being near his sister. Canton, the county seat of Stark County, was then a town of about five thousand population, — a thriving city compared with Poland,

situated in the midst of a fertile agricultural region, and with plenty of coal mines within easy reach. The elements essential to growth were well provided, and Canton seemed likely to prosper — as, indeed, it did, for mills and factories soon began to multiply and the thrifty population of Pennsylvania Dutch extraction became one of the important industrial centers of the State.

McKinley rented an office in a building which is still standing, with an entrance a few yards from Market Street. In the same building was the office of Judge George W. Belden, a Breckinridge Democrat and one of the most prominent lawyers in Canton, who as United States District Attorney had prosecuted some eighty professors and students of Oberlin College and put them in jail for assisting the escape to Canada of a fugitive slave. There was not much in this to commend him to a man of McKinley's ideas, but Judge Belden's attention was attracted by the busy young lawyer, whose industry was due to the zealous reading of law books rather than the preparation of cases. One evening Belden walked into McKinley's office and handed him some papers, saying that he was not feeling well, and that he had a case that must be tried the next morning and wished McKinley to take it. The latter protested that he had never tried a case and could not prepare to do so on such short notice. Belden insisted that he should take it, however, and finally remarked bluntly, as he laid down the papers and left the room, "If you don't try this case, it won't be tried." McKinley sat up all night preparing his argument and the next day appeared in court and won the

case.

"I can see him now," said William A. Lynch, a