in 1899, asserts that the last draft which he received directly or indirectly from Mr. Hanna did not differ essentially from the form originally brought to him from Canton by Mr. J. K. Richards. On the other hand, Mr. Merriam states explicitly that he, at the suggestion of Mr. Hanna, submitted on Monday evening the draft containing the word "gold" to Mr. Foraker and Senators Lodge and Platt. Senator Platt in his "Autobiography" (p. 325) confirms this statement. "That night (Monday) Governor Merriam came to Mr. Platt and Mr. Kohlsaat went to Mr. Lodge with the draft of the original Hanna plank with the word 'gold' inserted, and with the statement that it would be conceded." Mr. Kohlsaat confirms the statement of an interview with Mr. Lodge on Monday. Mr. Lodge himself testifies that the gold plank was finally drafted at a meeting of the sub-Committee on Resolutions by Mr. Foraker, Governor Merriam, Edward Lauterbach of New York and himself. Senator Proctor and Colonel Herrick corroborate the assertion that the draft submitted by Mr. Merriam was identical with the draft upon which the preliminary conference had agreed three days earlier. This testimony establishes the method whereby the original draft was transmitted to the Committee on Resolutions; and it justifies the inference that in respect to this detail Mr. Foraker's recollection must be at fault.

The Committee on Resolutions is technically responsible for the plank, and to a certain extent was actually responsible. Most assuredly it improved the phrasing of the resolution; but the testimony on which the foregoing narrative is based proves that the Committee merely confirmed a decision which in substance had already been reached. Not until Monday night was Mr. Hanna ready to have the matter finally settled. In the meantime he was allowing the delegations from New York and Massachusetts to do the work for him of consolidating the sentiment of the Convention in favor of an unequivocal declaration in favor of the gold standard. Responsibility for the result was widely distributed. No one man or group of men can claim more than a minor share. The gentlemen who participated in the preliminary conferences and who secured Mr. McKinley's consent to the insertion of the word "gold," played an important part, but even if no such conferences had taken

place the Eastern states could and would have forced a declaration in favor of gold. The party had become more united on the subject than its leaders realized, and there was a general and an irresistible convergence towards the goal of a single standard. That the salutary result was accomplished without a more serious bolt on the part of disaffected delegates was due chiefly to the way in which Mr. Hanna manœuvred to get the Convention to declare itself and so to give its action a higher momentum and a more authoritative force. As he says, "the whole affair was managed in order to succeed in getting what we got," and he might have added at the smallest possible expense.

None of the delegates to the Republican Convention of 1896 who insisted upon a declaration in favor of a single gold standard realized what the consequences of their currency plank would be. They anticipated a certain amount of disaffection, but they judged that the Democrats were so hopelessly discredited that they could afford to alienate a few silver states in the Far West. As a matter of fact, the resulting bolt of the Colorado delegates and others did not look serious, and the Republican leaders returned to their homes, satisfied that their work had been well and safely done. But their satisfaction did not last very long. The subsequent action of the Democratic National Convention did something to excuse, if not to justify, Mr. McKinley's dread of the currency issue. For a while it looked as if the very means taken to establish the gold standard might result in its disestablishment.

No wonder that the action of the Democrats at Chicago took every one by surprise, for it was without precedent in American political history. A Democratic administration was repudiated by a Convention of its own partisans. No attempt was made to defend its chief measures. On the contrary, the repeal of the Silver Purchase Act, which had been accomplished under the leadership of a Democratic President, was violently attacked. What the country needed was not less silver currency but more, and the best way to get it was to take down the bars and coin all the silver offered. The nomination was bestowed upon a young and comparatively unknown man, who had carried the Convention away by his eloquent denunciation of a currency system based on gold. Thus the Democrats refused to be placed

on the defensive. They took the aggressive, brushed aside the tariff issue and placed the Republicans on the defensive by declaring that the existing gold standard must be abandoned. The final effect of their action was to set up against a rich man's cure for the business depression a poor man's cure, and thereby to convert a controversy over a technical economic question into a sectional and class conflict. This transformation of the issue between the parties had such momentous consequences, not merely on the subsequent campaign, but upon the personal career of Mark Hanna, that in the sequel it will have to be examined with some care.

On the day, however, that Mr. McKinley was nominated it looked as if the nomination was equivalent to election; and the delegates were thinking more of celebrating their performance than of casting gloomy forebodings towards the future. The celebration began not unnaturally with the offer of congratulations to the hero of the occasion, who, in the eyes of many of the delegates, was as much Mark Hanna as it was William McKinley. In the extent to which Mr. Hanna had contributed to his friend's nomination, the delegates recognized that they were confronted by a new thing under the sun of politics, and behind the new thing was a new man. The general appreciation of Mr. Hanna's performance could not be expressed with entire frankness, but during the regular process of making the nomination of Mr. McKinley unanimous, it did receive a certain outlet. The official report reads as follows: "A general call from all parts of the Hall was then heard for Mr. Hanna, who finally yielded to the entreaties of the audience and arose and said:

"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention: I am glad that there was one member of this Convention who has the intelligence at this late hour to ascertain how this nomination was made by the people. What feeble efforts I may have contributed to the result, I am here to lay the fruits of it at the feet of my party and upon the altar of my country. [Applause.] I am ready now to take my position in the ranks alongside of my friend, General Henderson, and all other good Republicans from every state and do the duty of a soldier until next November.' [Great applause.]"

Mark Hanna was, however, not to return to the ranks as long as he lived. He was undoubtedly right in saying that McKinley had been the choice of a larger number of Republican voters than any other candidate: but no one knew better than himself that their choice might not have received effective expression, had it not been reënforced by very able and resolute assistance from Mr. McKinley himself and from Mr. McKinley's "confidential friend," Mark Hanna. The Republican leaders were also fully conscious of the ability with which the canvass had been managed, and they realized that even though Mr. McKinley were the popular choice for President as well as for Republican nominee, it would not do any harm to lend the people some effective help in making their preference good. Mr. Hanna, both by his personal relations with the candidate and his proved ability as a political organizer, was marked as the director of the campaign of 1896. He was immediately selected as chairman of the National Committee, which was, of course, absolutely in accordance with Mr. McKinley's own wishes and intentions. Instead of retiring to the ranks, he became the field general of the whole army - a position for which his peculiar training and gifts had made him extraordinarily fit. He was an expert in organization, whose success in business had been based upon his ability to communicate his personal energy to a many-headed human machine. The work on behalf of Mr. McKinley's nomination had placed him closely in touch with local political conditions in many of the most important states in the Union. Finally he had an instinctive grasp upon the human factors which at once complicate a political situation and endow it with humor and life. He never made a move in politics without feeling around for the support of a sufficient body of public opinion. He had just given an excellent illustration of his gift for the most effective kind of political management by arranging that the Convention declare for the single gold standard in a manner which caused the smallest possible friction within the party and the smallest possible loss of prestige to Mr. McKinley. The campaign was to afford him an opportunity of so managing that the claims of Mr. McKinley for election and the superiority of the Republican platform were properly placed before a bewildered and hesitating electorate.

The ovation tendered him by the Convention was the first of several which showed the popular appreciation of his contribution to Mr. McKinley's nomination. When he returned to Cleveland, he was greeted by his townsfolk as a conquering hero. A huge crowd met him at the railroad station, cheered themselves hoarse, tried to listen to a few words of thanks and escorted him through the city to his own house. On the margin of the crowd was an old friend, who had not done as well in the world as had Mark Hanna - Mr. A. B. Hough. When Mr. Hough saw the greeting which the King-maker was receiving, he began to wonder whether the big man's head would be turned, and how far he would foregather with the less conspicuous of his former friends. He soon learned. Mark Hanna spotted Mr. Hough as he rode past in the street and immediately greeted him: "Hello, Hough!" Then inflating his chest he pointed to himself with mock pride and added: "Big Injun! Me Big Injun !”

The short speech which he made on this occasion deserves to be quoted in full:

"Mr. Chairman and Fellow-members of the Tippecanoe Club: This unexpected and almost overpowering reception robs me of what little power of speech I had left. I had little idea that anything I had done entitled me to such distinguished consideration. True, I have been for a number of months associated with a cause dear to the heart of every honest Republican in Ohio and every patriotic citizen of the United States. I entered upon that work because of my love for William McKinley. No ambition even for honors such as are being accorded to me on this occasion prompted me. I acted out of love for my friend and devotion to my country. I lay no claim to the honors you have accorded to me. I could have done nothing without the people. All I have done is to help the people in gaining a result upon which they were united - the accession to the presidency of William McKinley."

On the evening of Saturday, June 27, he was tendered a dinner at the Union Club by his lifelong friends and associates. It was attended by all the men in Cleveland among whom and with whom he had worked for forty years, and the warmth with which they congratulated him on his success must have