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Mr. McKinley as President
"He lifted his administration to the plane of those of Washington and Lincoln, and linked his name with theirs for our time, if not for all time."
To understand Mr. McKinley as President you must understand him as a man. This seems easy, since he has lived so simply and so openly. But, on the contrary, it is hard, because, more than most Presidents, Mr. McKinley has been at once misunderstood and successfully misrepresented. Like all his predecessors, he is neither the saint that his friends, nor the sinner that his enemies have painted; but, unlike most of his predecessors, he has been made to appear, partly by friends and partly by enemies, very different from the man he really is.
Nothing illustrates the popular misunderstanding of Mr. McKinley more than the astounding delusion, entertained by some Republicans as well as by many Democrats who do not know him, that he is, and has been ever since 1895, more or less under the influence of Senator Hanna. This sums up, in a way that is as unjust as it is picturesque, all the notions to the effect that Mr. McKinley is a yielding and unstable person, without convictions, or even opinions, that cannot be changed at the command of a stronger man. Newspaper cartoons, which now have more influence than newspaper editorials, are largely responsible for these strange beliefs, but they have been fostered by uninformed editors and politicians misled by deceptive appearances and by malice. It is interesting to see how ignorance alone misleads writers about President McKinley who are friendly to him, as when they speak of him as "stolid and solemn" because they have only seen his manner in public, when the fact is that he is a man of humor, who enjoys even the cartoons at his own expense, and is as fond of good jokes, and as apt at telling them, as Abraham Lincoln. Remembering the fate of public men who have done otherwise, Mr. McKinley has kept his wit and humor for private conversation, and thus, naturally enough, has been accused of having none. These writers would probably be unwilling to believe that Mr. McKinley was a constant reader of Mr. Dooley during the Spanish War, just as Mr. Lincoln found recreation in the humorists of the Civil War.
As it takes more faith to be an infidel than a believer, so it takes more credulity to believe in the McKinley of fiction than in the McKinley of fact. It seems incredible that intelligent and educated men and women should be able to believe, even on the authority of both newspaper cartoons and editorials, that the man who has done what Mr. McKinley has done could be under the domination of any other man. Even after taking from President McKinley all the achievements of his administration that can possibly be credited to others, it must be admitted that he has accomplished more than any of his predecessors, with possibly one or two exceptions, in what he has clearly done himself. From such work it ought to be easy to infer the workman.
At all events, the only way to understand President McKinley's first administration is to recognize the fact that it was his administration. There is no doubt about this fact in Washington, where the whole story is known in detail, and all the characters in it are rightly appreciated because thoroughly understood. If it be said that Washington is friendly to Mr. McKinley, it can be said that Washington is familiar with Mr. McKinley. He has had to meet the disadvantage that the prophet finds proverbially in his own country and in his own house; for he has lived in Washington for almost a quarter of a century, and has grown steadily into larger powers before the eyes of many men who remember what he was when he first came to the House of Representatives. He has had to live down that familiarity which, in the beginning of a career, is still apt to breed contempt. It has been hard to do this, just as it has been hard to take command of men who were his commanders when he first appeared in public life. But to make himself the acknowledged leader under these circumstances means more than if he had gained the place by coming first to Washington with the prestige and authority of a President elect, personally unknown to most public men.
President McKinley's personal manner, which has had so much to do with his success, has had quite as much to do with the misunderstanding of him. The expression of a kindly and equable nature governed by the moderation and patience suggested by the crest of his Scotch ancestors, an olive branch clasped in a mailed hand, with the motto "Not too much," its strength failed to impress those who think that brusqueness and bluster and bragging are the necessary signs of power. "A very parfit gentil knyghte" is to many people a weakling simply because he is gentle, and they have had to know Mr. McKinley well to appraise him properly. Even close acquaintance has not helped those of opposite qualities to appreciate him. His "suaviter et fortiter" is one of the secrets of his success in making his way to the headship of his party, through the ranks of his colleagues, without alienating any considerable number of them, and without making personal enemies of any of his political opponents. It is the key, too, to his dealings with his Cabinet, which has contained such a large proportion of strong men, with Senators and Representatives of all parties, and with public men generally. Mr. McKinley has had his own way more than most party leaders, more than most of his predecessors in the White House. But he has had it in his own way. Always tactful, serene, patient, modest in manner, never sounding a trumpet of announcement or indulging in noisy threatenings or complaining recriminations, he has not had credit for his courage, persistence, and determination. He has cared more for real success than for making people think that he would have it or had won it. Now, most men are still children who are impressed by appearances. They like to be told, even by the President himself, that he is doing or going to do great things, especially if, as in the case of Andrew Jackson, he publicly defies some enemy, or talks contemptuously of the coordinate branches of the government. Most Americans look upon the President as superior to the Congress and the Supreme Court, about whose powers and functions they know very little; and they are rather pleased than otherwise when he acts as though he agreed with this opinion. Even if such a President actually fails to accomplish, perhaps because of a bellicose and blustering manner, any real, substantial success in the way of legislation or diplomatic negotiations; even if he is destructive rather than constructive, and leaves the country and his party worse off than when he became President, he may remain a hero indefinitely to many people.
Not only is Mr. McKinley's manner different from that of the Presidents that such men admire, but his theory of the presidency is equally different. Trained as he was, almost from his youth up, in the House of Representatives, intimately acquainted with all the phases of Congress and deeply imbued with its spirit, while possessed of the friendship of most of its leaders of his time, it was very natural that he should consider it entitled to its full constitutional powers and duties, and to the most respectful consideration on a plane of absolute equality with the President of the United States. Mr. Garfield was the only President of our time, except Mr. McKinley, who came to the White House after such an experience at the Capitol, and he had precisely the same theory of the relations between the President and Congress. According to this theory, Congress ought not to dominate the President, the President ought not to dominate Congress, but they should cooperate as far as practicable for the good of the country.
As human nature is very much the same in Congress as in a stock exchange, a church convention, or a newspaper office, the President who deals with Congress tactfully and courteously will, in the long run get more of what he wants than the President who does not do so. He may not get so much credit for what he does gain, from those people who like to see a President fight Congress, especially in that flattering way which consists in appealing to them to make Congress do what the President wants done. The tendency toward government by a monarch in this country appears most clearly in the sayings and doings of the people who want "a strong man in the White House," who shall show his strength by fighting the Senators and Representatives, who have been chosen quite as directly by the popular voice as he has. They like an arrogant egotism in the President, and would be quite willing to have him dominate Congress all the time, and the Supreme Court part of the time. They think the President is very much more likely to be right, and certainly more nearly represents the popular will, or at least what the popular will ought to be, than the other two branches of the government, and that he ought to fight as hard to get what he wants in legislation as to protect the executive prerogatives from encroachment. What they want, apparently, is a President who shall be the whole government, as in Mexico.
President McKinley had the point of view of Congress before he took the point of view of the President. He knows that Congress, collectively, is as wise, as patriotic, and as representative of the people as he is, an that, individually, there may be men in both houses who would be able to take his place at short notice, without detriment to the country. He remembers, too, how he looked at the President when he was a member of the House, and how what the President said and did affected him. It is, therefore, comparatively easy for him to practice the Golden Rule in dealings with Congress as in dealings with others. By treating Senators and Representatives, collectively and individually, in this spirit, President McKinley has forfeited the praise of some men outside of Congress, but he has won the confidence and cooperation of Congress as has no other President. It is admitted that no other President has had so many personal friends and admirers in Congress; and there could be no greater tribute to Mr. McKinley, for no one knows him better than these men. When, on the 9th of March, 1898, without a written request, without a word from him in public and formal fashion, on his mere intimations to the leaders of all parties in private conversation in his office, both houses by unanimous vote gave him fifty million dollars, "for the national defense, and for each and every purpose connected therewith, to be expended at the direction of the President," Congress showed what it thought of President McKinley. No such appropriation on such a request was ever made in such a way before, and it never would have been made in that way for any other kind of a President.
It is not enough that a President should be patriotic and high-minded in his intentions and wise in his purposes; he must also be efficient in carrying them out. In point of efficiency President McKinley has no superior in his predecessor, and his is largely because he has treated Congress as he wanted Congress to treat him. It is also, however, because Congress believed in him. The personal equation was as important in this case as in any other. His career has kept him under public observation from the day when, as a boy, he left his simple but comfortable home in the Western Reserve to go to the Civil War. As he rose from private to major, and as, after the war, he rose from country lawyer to Representative in Congress, he was constantly watched, and men recorded that he was honest, candid, courageous, clean in speech and behavior, a model son and an ideal husband. This record, with his intelligence and industry and his felicitous manner has given him his place among public men. It is impossible to describe either President McKinley or his reputation without dwelling upon the fact that he has lived a life as nearly blameless as that of any public man of our history. It may be, as we are told sometimes, that a good man may make a bad President, and that a bad man may make a good President, but in this particular instance a good man makes a good President chiefly because he is a good man.
His character secured him the confidence of his associates, his temperance and moderation kept mind and body in full vigor, and his religious faith sustained him in dark and trying days. Besides all this, his good life has given him much of his hold upon the country at large. Yet it must not be forgotten that goodness and greatness are not the same thing in a President, and that Mr. McKinley has shown not only goodness, but greatness. It is simply truth to say that he has met all the extraordinary requirements of an extraordinary period, and met them easily and well, and this is to say that he is a great President. It has been hard for many public men who frankly admitted his goodness to frankly admit his greatness, because he has been growing ever since they first knew him, and they have been too close to the process to observe the results. But some have been wiser. Mr. McKinley had been marked for the presidency by keener eyes, at the greater distance, than those of his associates, long before he was honored with a ballot in a national convention. Twenty years ago Mr. Blaine predicted with emphasis that Mr. McKinley would become President, at a time when Mr. McKinley had still to wait ten years before he became leader of the House. And there were others than Mr. Blaine who saw then, or a little later, that this young statesman, so strong, so industrious, so attractive, and so honorably ambitious, would reach the White House if he lived. As each opportunity came to him Mr. McKinley was ready for it, and he had patience to wait for the opportunity.
He might have been nominated for the presidency at Chicago, in the Republican National Convention of 1888, had he been willing to desert John Sherman who could not be nominated, but whom McKinley, as a member of the Ohio delegation, had been instructed to support. He was the most popular man in that convention, and was applauded every time he came into the hall. After five ballots had shown that none of the candidates had a majority, on the sixth ballot one vote was cast for William McKinley, and this was cheered by two thirds of the convention. Seventeen votes were cast for him by the next state called; and while the convention was cheering for him, and it seemed evident that it would nominate him, he sprang upon a chair and stopped it all by an appeal, or rather a demand, "that no delegate who would not cast reflection upon me shall cast a ballot for me. I cannot," said Mr. McKinley to the convention, "I cannot, consistently with the wish of the state whose credentials I bear, and which has trusted me; I cannot, consistently with my own views of personal integrity, consent, or seem to consent, to permit my name to be used as a candidate before this convention. I would not respect myself if I could find it in my heart to do, or permit to be done, that which could even be ground for any one to suspect that I wavered in my loyalty to Ohio, or my devotion to the chief of her choice and the chief of mine." And on the seventh ballot Benjamin Harrison was nominated.
Four years later Mr. McKinley was tested again, while presiding as chairman of the Republican National Convention at Minneapolis, where he had gone to advocate the renomination of President Harrison. The anti-Harrison managers, without consulting Mr. McKinley, sought to unite a majority of the convention in his support, and were apparently succeeding. They had induced the Ohio delegation, of which he was member, to vote for him. From the chair Mr. McKinley challenged the announcement of the Ohio vote, and demanded, as a member of the delegation, that its role should be called. Upon this poll of the delegation, his alternate, under his instructions, voted for Benjamin Harrison, while all the other votes were cast for Mr. McKinley; but Mr. McKinley's action prevented the success of the movement to nominate him, and although he received 182 votes, Mr. Harrison was renominated on that ballot.
When the fullness of time for his nomination came, at St. Louis, in 1896, he received the nomination on the first ballot with 661 1/2 votes, 84 1/2 being cast for Thomas B. Reed, 61 1/2 for M.S. Quay, 58 for Levi P. Morton, and 35 1/2 for William B. Allison. In 1900 he was nominated before the convention met at Philadelphia, by the voice of his party, and, when the role was called, received the votes of all the 926 delegates.
All this time Mr. McKinley had been broadening and deepening in mind and heart. All this time, through prosperity and adversity, public and private, he had been getting a stronger and wider grip upon the majority of his countrymen. The McKinley tariff bill of 1890, although he was not entirely responsible for it, retired him from Congress, but made him governor of Ohio, and eventually President of the United States. There was nothing accidental in it all. It was simply a natural and orderly process of evolution under favoring circumstances. It was the old story of an American country boy's success through steady and deserved promotion, without wealth, or a college education, or high social position as aid or hindrance. At fifty-three, ripened and enriched intellectually, he was elected President of the United States as though by inevitable logic. He was ready for his great task. How great it was to be neither he nor any one else could have imagined then. Few seriously thought that the United States was in danger of war with Spain, and even those who thought war possible did not conceive the extent or character of its consequences. Mr. McKinley was elected, as he thought, and as almost everybody else in his party thought, to substitute on the statute books in cooperation with the Republican Congress elected at the same time, a modification of the McKinley tariff bill for the Wilson Gorman tariff law, and thus to restore the prosperity which had for some reason disappeared; and also, as others thought, to bring about the enactment of a law for the maintenance of the existing gold standard, and to remedy the defects in the Treasury system which, under the conditions of the former administration, had compelled it to issue two hundred and thirty million dollars in new bonds, and at the same time to make a last effort to secure an agreement on "international bimetallism." To accomplish these things was felt to be enough for one administration, with the minor matters which naturally would be disposed of besides.
If the Cuban question, with all its consequences, could have been postponed for four years, and if the Chinese question, with all its consequences, had not arisen, Mr. McKinley could still have pointed, at the end of his first administration, to a record of work accomplished that would have been extremely creditable. The Fifty-Fifth Congress, on his recommendation and under his inspiration, passed the Dingley tariff law to take the place of the Wilson-Gorman law, at the extra session which he called promptly after his inauguration; and the next Congress, on his recommendation and under his inspiration, passed the law to maintain the gold standard, to provide for refunding at two per cent, the lowest rate of interest ever paid by the United States government, and to extend the national banking system to small towns. These two measures by themselves would make a very respectable showing for an administration in time of peace. While neither the President nor Congress can make prosperity to order, they can make conditions which are favorable or unfavorable to it. The Wilson-Gorman act, which was considered to be so largely a protectionist measure that President Cleveland allowed it to become law only against this protest, did not yield sufficient revenue, because the Supreme Court annulled its provision for an income tax; and this kept the "endless chain" going which drew the gold out of the Treasury, and compelled the issue of bonds to put more gold in the Treasury, since there was no law to protect the gold reserve necessary to maintain the gold standards. Following close on the commercial panic of 1893, these conditions prevented the restoration of business confidence, and so the return of prosperity. Sentiment, as usual, played a large part in the matter. President McKinley, who was nominated chiefly because of his record on the tariff question, and elected largely because of his position on the money question, stood, after his victory at the polls, as the prophet of "good times," and the long-desired confidence began to return before he was inaugurated. Redeeming his pledges in the order in which it could be best done, as well as in the order of making them, President McKinley first secured the necessary revenue, and at the same time satisfied the sentimental desire for a Republican tariff. He knew that that could be had quickly and easily, compared with any measure for the improvement of the financial system, in view of the differences over remedies for its ills which compelled delay and discussion. The drain of the Treasury gold was stopped, so that there was time to consider what should be and what could be done with respect to the future of the currency system. By the time Congress met in regular session the President was ready with his recommendation, which, postponing all the more elaborate and experimental projects of "currency reform," provided the plan on which the gold standard act of 1900 was built, — of keeping United States notes redeemed in gold at the Treasury, to be paid out again only in exchange for gold.
The President's wisdom in pressing the tariff bill ahead of the currency reform measure was shown by the fact that Congress could not agree upon a financial bill, and he had to wait until the first session of the next Congress for the law he desired. By that time, good crops, and a demand for them, and for an unparalleled amount of our manufactures, abroad, besides the extraordinary demand at home, caused by the Spanish War, had reversed the conditions of the former administration, so that gold was pouring into the Treasury. After the law was passed, this influx of gold continued until the Treasury held more than ever before in the history of the country. In inducing Congress to pass these two important acts President McKinley showed over and over again his tact and skill and courage and utilized his friendly relations with Senators and Representatives of the opposition, as well as of his own party, to the utmost advantage. In this work, as in all his dealings with Congress, President McKinley showed little care for getting the credit of what was done, compared with his great desire to secure results and maintain harmony. This way of thinking came out constantly in his unwillingness to exercise the veto power, which, he thought, ought to be reserved for rare occasions; preferring to point out privately his objections to bills before or after they came to him, so that their sponsors might correct them by amendments or new legislation, without having to undergo the disappointment, sometimes humiliation, of a presidential bid.
President McKinley, besides settling, with the aid of Congress, the tariff and the Treasury questions to the satisfaction of a majority of the people, brought about the annexation of Hawaii and the much-needed improvement in the government of Alaska. The adjustment of the long-standing controversy with the Pacific railroads, as to their indebtedness for the aid given them by the government, which secured a much larger amount than had been regarded as obtainable, so that the government will lose none of the principal, and only a comparatively small proportion of the interest, was so quietly made under President McKinley's direction that the country generally probably does not realize that it has been done.
In his strictly executive work President McKinley has shown administrative ability of the first order. This has appeared not only in his management of great affairs, but in what might be called the routine business of the office. Under his direction, his admirable secretaries, John Addison Porter and George B. Cortelyou, revolutionized the business methods of the Executive Mansion, to the great benefit of the government and everybody who had business with the President. In the matter of appointments, small and great, President McKinley has done his best to secure the best men available, and with remarkable success. He has not hesitated to appoint, as well as to retain, Democrats who seemed better fitted than Republicans for particular places. In the selection of men to establish civil government in the islands taken from Spain, the President exercised his usual care, and was as usual successful. Like every other President, he had to make most of his appointments on the recommendation of public men. Even a President like Mr. McKinley, who has more personal friends than any other man in his party, cannot know who should fill every office to which he must make an appointment, even if he were disposed, as President McKinley was not, to ignore any of the party leaders. But President McKinley has held to one rule throughout his dealings with the party leaders in making appointments, and that is that he must have a suitable man for every vacancy. When a suitable man was not presented, the party leader would be given, politely but positively, the alternative of endorsing a man that the President could find without his assistance.
A friend of the civil service reform when it had few friends in public life, who avowed his friendship in public speech in the House of Representatives when it was much harder to do so than a few years later, President McKinley has made his appointments in the spirit of the true civil service reformer, nor has he taken any backward step in the execution of the civil service law. He has been severely, but unjustly, criticised for taking out of the classified service a number of places which had been included in it by President Cleveland's blanket order at the close of his last administration. But these were taken out only because in the practical working of the order, Cabinet officers, all of whom were civil service reformers, — notably Secretary Gage, — advised the President that, for administrative reasons, it was necessary to permit exemptions. It was well understood at the time President Cleveland issued his order that it was experimental, and that his successor would have to make exceptions. President McKinley refused to yield many exceptions that he was urged by party leaders to grant, just as he stood firmly and successfully against any such looting of the executive departments as had taken place to a greater or less extent under recent administrations. The enemies of civil service reform, who are wiser in their generation than the children of light, can testify, and have testified, sometimes in bitterness, to the staunchness with which President McKinley has protected the merit system.
President McKinley has not been unmindful of the evil of the commercial combinations which will always go by the misnomer "trusts." He did all that he could do to meet them under the law through the Department of Justice, and all that he could do to strengthen the law by recommendations to Congress, and meantime favored and appointed the Industrial Commission, which Congress authorized, and which has collected much valuable information on this subject.
The President has been fortunate in his dealings with foreign nations, apart from those which grew out of the war with Spain. He was able to settle satisfactorily the old and vexatious question of our relations to England and Germany in the Samoan Islands, by ending the embarrassing condominium and dividing the islands among the three governments, securing the best harbor for the United States. When the Yukon gold discoveries moved to Canada to claim American territory in Alaska, in order to get a seaport for the Yukon district, and great Britain, somewhat against her will, pressed the claim, with an intimation that a collision between American miners and Canadian constabulary would mean bloodshed, and might mean war, Secretary Hay, under the President's direction, succeeded in arranging a modus vivendi which, by establishing a temporary boundary line, postponed the question to a better occasion for peaceful settlement, without giving the Canadians, even temporarily, a seaport, or any concession of real importance. Secretary Hay was also able to negotiate with Great Britain a convention popularly known as the Hay-Pauncefote treaty, which abrogated so much of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty as prevented the United States from constructing an Isthmian canal without the cooperation of Great Britain, and secured the absolute neutrality, and therefore the absolute protection, of such a canal when built, since the other Powers were known to be ready to assent to it. But, unfortunately, the treaty was sent to the Senate on the eve of the presidential campaign, and side-tracked by Republican Senators upon Democratic criticism because it had not reserved the right to the United States to close the canal against an enemy in time of war. It was pressed, however in the next session of Congress, only to be so amended as to provide for an exclusively United States canal before it was ratified.
The attempt which the President made through the Wolcott Commission to secure an international agreement on bimetallism failed, as was inevitable in view of the conditions; but its very failure helped the gold standard movement.
President McKinley's personal qualities make him most successful in the performance of all the social functions of his office, formal and informal. President Arthur, hitherto unexcelled among modern Presidents in charm and courtesy to callers and guests, has been surpassed by President McKinley. "I ran into a bank of roses," said a Senator who went angrily to the White House to ask the removal of a Cabinet officer, and came away smiling, without having been able to complete his request: and this sums up in a striking way the experiences of all those who talk with the President. He likes to please. He would rather say yes than no, although he says no firmly enough whenever it is absolutely necessary to deny a request, but he always makes his visitor feel his desire to gratify him. Although he has never been a society man, he has performed the duties of entertaining at dinners and receptions—which are so much more important than they seem outside of Washington—in a most acceptable manner. His kindness and thoughtfulness have appeared in numberless personal courtesies to those in special joy or special sorrow, which have given him a personal place in Washington such as no other President has ever had. All this and much more of a minor character, would have made an enviable record for President McKinley in his first administration, if there had been no Spanish War or Chinese upheaval.
The war with Spain, which President McKinley did everything in his power to prevent, gave him the great opportunity of his life, and the one that he best improved. In it he lifted his administration to the plane of those of Washington and Lincoln, and linked his name with theirs for our time, if not for all time, as the liberator of millions from the yoke of Spain. The country wanted war, but was not prepared for it; the President did not want it, but was prepared for it when it came. Throughout the war he was not only the actual commander in chief, but the director of our diplomacy. The story of the United States in the summer of 1898 is as dramatic and as brilliant and as glorious as any that history tells. Spain was expelled from her last strongholds in the West Indies and in the East Indies, and shut up in the home peninsula; the islands she had misgoverned came under our flag; the United States, as the champion of the millions whom Spain had oppressed, came out of her isolation, and received recognition from all the nations. President McKinley could say more truthfully than any other man, "This was my work," while, with characteristic modesty, thoughtfulness, and generosity, he was praising and thanking other men, all of whom did not deserve to be so praised and thanked. The suddenness and completeness of our achievement won the admiration of the world. Its consequences made us an active instead of a passive world power, and gave us new duties and responsibilities, which we may regret, but could not honorably avoid.
No one foresaw all of this when President McKinley was elected. Few foresaw even the possibility of it when he was inaugurated. On that beautiful 4th of March nothing seemed more unlikely than that in a year the United States would be entering into war again. The thousands who heard President McKinley's inaugural address, in which Cuba was not even mentioned by name, listened without apprehension of war to the President's declaration against it in the abstract, and his warm commendation of the treaty of arbitration which Secretary Olney had concluded with Great Britain, and which the Senate had not yet ratified, as an illustration of the way in which war should be averted. War with Spain to free Cuba had been suggested by sensational newspapers, but they had not been taken seriously. The country was quite willing to leave Spain in possession of Cuba, if Spain could be induced to stop the cruelties, and give the Cubans a measure of freedom. It was willing to give the new President time to work it all out. A strong minority, made up of intelligent and unemotional people, was opposed to any interference by the United States that would bring the United States into a serious collision with Spain. While he was waiting in his Canton home for inauguration day, Mr.. McKinley, whose sympathies had been touched by the tales of the suffering in Cuba, brought to him, after election, by agents of the Cubans and others who wanted him to use his coming power to secure better conditions, and, if possible, independence for Cuba, thought out carefully a plan for bringing about the amelioration, if not the emancipation of Cuba, by diplomatic negotiations with Spain, to be carried on as rapidly as practicable. The surrender of Spanish sovereignty from motives of self-interest on the part of Spain, and probably for a sum of money to be paid by the United States, or by a Cuban republic under a guarantee by the United States, was apparently the ultimate object of this plan, although its purpose might have been satisfied by the cessation of Spanish cruelties, and the concession of real autonomy to the Cubans. President McKinley had the horror of war which most good men who have fought on great battlefields have entertained. He believed, as he said in his inaugural address, that "war should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed; peace is preferable to war in almost every contingency."
Mr. McKinley is a born peacemaker, in spite of his valiant service in the Civil War, and the fighting courage he has shown when it was necessary in public life. It is interesting to recall that the purpose he had most at heart, when he became President, was to bring about a complete reunion of the North and South, and to trample out the last embers of hostility between them. As a Northern soldier who was personally popular in the South, he felt that he could do much in his high office to obliterate sectional feeling and restore lasting peace. He could not know that he would be powerfully aided in this undertaking by another war, and that his great desire for the reconciliation of North and South would be satisfied when they once more marched to battle under the old flag.
The President has good reason to believe that if it had not been for the explosion of the Maine, war with Spain could have been averted, and his general purpose with respect to Cuba accomplished. While the war can justly be called a war of humanity, it is still true that the feeling suggested in the popular cry, "Remember the Maine!" was the immediate cause of it, under the predisposing cause of chivalric sympathy with the oppressed Cubans.
The President made the bravest fight of his life during the year that he tried to relieve Cuba by peaceful means, while the demand for war gradually rose until it engulfed Congress and all his advisers, and left him only the alternative of guiding it into the best expression, or of being swept aside by it. When he saw that there was nothing left but this choice, by choosing quickly and acting calmly and courageously, he was able to prevent a formal declaration of war at the first, and any official recognition of the paper republic of Cuba, with all the embarrassing consequences which that would have entailed. He also kept the full direction of the war, and was able to bring it to a close largely by his personal management of our dealings with other countries. After the explosion of the Maine, the President was preparing, through the State, War, and Navy departments, for the conflict that seemed likely to come. Through the State Department he was making our position clear to foreign nations, trying to conciliate their friendship, and getting valuable information about their intentions. Through the War and Navy departments, especially the latter, he was doing all that could be done to get the army and navy into a state of readiness. Both were very far from being ready, — a fact which the men and the newspapers who were advocating the war-making measure of recognizing the independence of the republic of Cuba probably did not realize. At last the verdict of the Court of Inquiry came, and its significant conclusion, although it did not hold the Spanish government or any Spaniard responsible, confirmed in most American minds the suspicion that the Maine had been blown up by Spanish agencies. All that President McKinley could do then was to delay the process of going to war until the army and navy were better prepared for it, with the faint hope that, in the interval, Spain might come to a better understanding with the Cubans by agreeing to give up the island. He has been criticised because he did not hold out longer against the demand for war, but those who were in Washington at the time can see no justice in this criticism. Spain prevented him from doing so by characteristic procrastination and persistence in a fatuous course. Congress, which had shown its confidence in the President by the unprecedented action of giving him fifty million dollars to spend in his own discretion for "the national defense," remained on good terms with him; but with almost unanimous voice, all the Democrats and the majority of the Republicans being openly in favor of war with Spain, it insisted that he should cut short the negotiations which he was still carrying on, and recommend war. Speaker Reed could not restrain the Republicans of the House. One by one the conservative men in the Cabinet and Congress who had stood by the President at first, including Vice President Hobart, his most trusted counselor, joined more or less strongly in the general demand. No President with less personal influence could have held Congress back so long. Finally, when he could do no more, and there was no hope of accomplishing anything by further resistance, he recommended armed intervention, after a last appeal to Spain; and Congress, under the guidance of his counsels authorizing this, refused to recognize the republic of Cuba, but promised that we would make Cuba independent. Spain responded by breaking off diplomatic relations, and the war was on.
Its striking events are so fresh in the public mind that they need not be rehearsed. President McKinley played the same part that President Lincoln played in the Civil War, night and day, sometimes all night and day, from the "war room" in the White House. The War Department, with a Secretary chosen with no thought of war, an antiquated bureau system, and some inefficient officials among many who were highly efficient, was used by President McKinley as the best means then at hand, and no one regretted more than he any ill consequences that followed, or made more allowance for them. He could find compensation for whatever was lacking in the War Department in the almost faultless administration of the Navy Department, which shone the more by contrast. At the head of the State Department, after the war began, he had his closest personal friend and most trusted adviser, William R. Day; and in their administration of its affairs no real mistakes have been discovered, although there was some criticism at the time. When the inner history of that war comes to be written, it will be seen that the administration's achievements in diplomacy were more remarkable than its achievements on the sea or in the field. The way in which the invaluable moral aid of Great Britain was secured, when all other Powers were indifferent or unfriendly to us, and still regarded us as a second or third class power, and the way in which they were later brought to see our true position and influence, and therefore to cultivate our friendship, made a wonderful impression upon the world. President McKinley, who seemed to overlook nothing, made the war the occasion for establishing more firmly the most enlightened rules of naval warfare, and thus incidentally conferred a lasting benefit on all maritime nations.
It was by the administration's diplomacy that the war was brought so quickly to an end; for Spain would have dragged it on indefinitely, in spite of her defeats, if it had not been for the pressure brought upon her, through France, by the other Powers to end what had become a trying and even dangerous situation to most of them, with the threat looming large before their imaginations that the United States, for the first time, would invade Europe by attacking the Spanish coast. President McKinley made peace in the courteous and clement fashion characteristic of him, and with such acknowledgments to France and her representatives as furnished recognition for their timely assistance, and drew our ancient ally back to us, with her modern ally, Russia, our quondam friend.
President McKinley, in sending Admiral Dewey to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet in the Philippines, had no intention of acquiring that archipelago for the United States. He merely sought to make war most effectively on Spain. Nor, when Admiral Dewey, having no other port open to him in that part of the world, and having shattered the only sovereignty there was in the Philippines, remained in Manila harbor, was there any intention on the part of the President to take even the city of Manila as a permanent possession. The Philippines had not been in his scheme of action any more than they had been in the thought of the country. It was a providence, or an accident, according to the point of view, that the most striking victory of the war came at the most unexpected point and time, and with the most unexpected consequences. But events marched fast from May until September, when Secretary Day and the other members of the Peace Commission went to Paris to negotiate the treaty with the representatives of Spain; and by that time it was evident that, for our own interest in the East, and for the protection of those who had trusted us in particular, and of all the inhabitants of the Philippines in general, we must remain in the archipelago.
Upon this principle, the cession of the entire archipelago was obtained in the treaty of peace concluded on December 10, 1898; the United States agreeing to pay Spain twenty million dollars, and the treaty providing that "the civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to the United States shall be determined by the Congress." Proclamation was immediately made by our representatives in the Philippines that the authority thus obtained by the United States would be used only for the protection and benefit of the natives; that "we come, not as invaders or conquerors, but as friends;" and every effort was made to impress this upon the people. The President has been more severely criticised for taking the Philippines than for any other act of his administration or of his life. Not only his political opponents generally, but many of his own party, have contended that he ought not to have done so, although they have not agreed as to what he should have done. It is a matter of fact that the treaty of peace, carrying the title to the Philippines, was ratified by the two-thirds vote of the Senate on the 6th of February, 1899, and the twenty million dollars promised to Spain was immediately appropriated by large majorities in both houses of Congress; and neither of these things could have been accomplished except by the leave of those who differed from the President. And Congress has left the whole matter to the President ever since.
The President, it should be said, has been criticised also, though less severely, by those who thought that he ought to have prevented the insurrection by having the leaders apprehended before they were ready to strike, instead of allowing them to obtain advantage of his policy of conciliation. To this the reply is that until the treaty of peace was ratified, after the armistice with Spain was begun, he could not honorably do anything in the Philippines but what he did do to say nothing of his desire to win the affection of the people. In this effort he has spared no pains. He sent first the Schurman Commission, and then the Taft Commission, to treat with the natives, with a view to convincing them of our good intentions, and setting up suitable local and general governments for them, offering amnesty and even reward to armed insurgents; and those efforts are gradually producing the result desired. The President has constantly emphasized the difference between Aguinaldo and his associates of the Tagal tribe, and the people of the other eighty tribes of the archipelago; justly holding the former responsible for the insurrection, and believing that the latter would willingly have accepted the sovereignty of the United States, and the good government that it means. He has argued that only as a sovereign power can we guide the Filipinos to self-development and self-government; that a protectorate would be impossible; and that we could no more establish one, under the arguments of his opponents, "without the consent of the governed," than we could establish a government of our own.
The logic and the practical wisdom have been in the President's argument rather than in that of his opponents many of whom were trying to rush us into war with Spain when he was trying to prevent it, and are now unwilling to take the necessary consequences. They have called President McKinley, the most democratic of men, an "imperialist," and have accused him, known to be a lover of peace and a hater of war, of leaning to "militarism." Nevertheless, while the people generally have grown as weary as the President himself of the long and costly struggle in the Philippines, fomented and maintained in a measure by the President's critics, it seems certain that a majority of the voters would have condemned at the polls a surrender to Aguinaldo or an abandonment of the purpose of the President in the Phillippines and that the overwhelming majority of the President's reelection means that the country believes the time has come when, in the providence of God, our nation, reunited by war, prosperous and powerful beyond the dreams of its founder, must meet new responsibilities in new ways.
By the treaty of peace, the United States took Cuba in trust for its people, then without other government than that of Spain, and it took Porto Rico absolutely as partial indemnity, as the island commanding the entrance to the proposed Nicaraguan Canal, and for the benefit of the Porto Ricans. The United States, through the declaration of Congress, having promised Cuba independence upon the establishment of a stable government, President McKinley, through major General Leonard Wood and other competent officers, had been endeavoring to construct a state out of the ruins that we found when we took possession on the 1st of January, 1899. He is able to say with truth: "We have restored order and established domestic tranquillity. We have fed the starving, clothed the naked, and ministered to the sick. We have improved the sanitary condition of the island. We have stimulated industry, introduced public education, taken a full and comprehensive enumeration of the inhabitants." Local governments administered by the people have been chosen for all the municipalities of Cuba, and by the first Monday in November last a convention, chosen by the people, had assembled to frame a constitution, which must be acceptable to Congress, preparatory to independence and adjustment of Cuba's relations to the United States. But although by that time the army of occupation had been cut down from 43,000 to less than 6000, the fact that the President had not withdrawn it and all other American authority from the island, precipitously and without action of Congress, was used to sustain the accusations of "imperialism" and "militarism," and even insinuations that the promise of the united States would not be kept; while the embezzlements of two or three postal officials in Cuba, in spite of the prompt exposure and prosecution of them by the administration, were dwelt upon.
Much more was made by the President's critics, in his own party as well as in the opposition, of a determination to treat Porto Rico as a special form of territory, not intended to become a state, and for two years to be distinguished by a duty of fifteen per cent of the Dingley tariff on its imports and exports in its dealings with the United States. Declaring that "the Constitution follows the flag," although that doctrine is contrary to the precedents, and without waiting for the authoritative decision sought from the Supreme Court of the United States, the opponents of the President's policy stirred up a strong sentiment against this form of imperialism. The President had said, in his annual message in December, 1899, that it was our "plain duty" to give Porto Rico freedom of trade with the United States; and his critics harped upon that, ignoring the fact that it was found afterwards to be necessary to provide revenue temporarily for the island by very small tariff duties, all the money collected here as well as there being spent on the island, which, swept by a hurricane and disordered by Spanish misrule, could not raise adequate revenue by internal taxation. Congress was careful to provide that this tariff taxation should cease in two years, and earlier if sufficient revenue were provided otherwise. The President sent an admirable man in Governor Allen, and gave him assistants of like character, to cooperate with the natives, who were given a larger measure of self-government than Louisiana had under Jefferson, in the reorganization and upbuilding of the island. Guam and other small islands taken from Spain have been governed wisely and without serious criticism.
From the time that Mr. John Hay succeeded Secretary Day as the head of the State Department, the President's attention was directed with special care, amid all his other responsibilities, to the necessity of maintaining our commercial and other treaty rights in China, in view of the gradual encroachments of Russia, Germany, England, and France upon the territory and authority of that empire. In due time, Secretary Hay, by the President's direction, by clever and candid management, drew from these Powers and others assent to the maintenance of the "open door" of commercial and financial dealings with China, guaranteed to us as to the other Powers by the treaties with China, and declarations that no further territorial acquisition would be made by the Powers in China. This success in an entirely new role among the nations gave our government a position of leadership in China; so that when, in May, 1900, the anti-foreign Empress Dowager and her advisers encouraged anti-foreign demonstrations by the patriotic society known as the "Boxers," which led to attacks upon the diplomatic corps and the other foreigners in Pekin, and finally their imprisonment in the British legation compound under intermittent assaults from imperial troops, the concerted movement for their rescue was led by the United states, helped greatly by having the Philippines as a base of operations. Moreover, Secretary Hay, on the 3d of July, laid down the principles which were accepted by the other Powers, for the settlement of this matter with China, under which, after the rescue, negotiations began for the settlement, with the strict understanding that there would be no territorial indemnities, and no interference with the open door in the exaction of penalties for the past and guarantees for the future. In the rivalries among the European Powers over this settlement, they paid a remarkable tribute to the success of the McKinley administration in foreign affairs by competing with one another for the favor and influence of the United States. President McKinley, who had been accused by his critics of entangling alliances with Great Britain and other countries, notwithstanding his constant refusal to enter in such alliances, was able to secure every advantage the United States desired by acting concurrently with the Powers as they accepted his principles of dealing with the Chinese question, and finally to prevent the dismemberment of the Chinese Empire and maintain the open door.
Without undertaking to anticipate the judgment of posterity, it seems safe to say that President McKinley has had a great part to play, and has played it well and that it was fortunate for the republic that he was at its head in the closing years of the nineteenth century.


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I have listed a new property at Glover Acreage in Blucher.
Do you dream of living a quiet lifestyle outside of the city! This outstanding home is located just 10 minutes east of Saskatoon on 19.1 acres of well-treed land. Check out the virtual tour where you'll see a gorgeous main floor with a formal dining area adjacent to the kitchen, a bright living room area with plenty of windows, natural gas fireplace with built-in cabinetry and a coffered ceiling. The kitchen has tons of cabinets, a large island, natural gas stove and room for an eating area. On this level, there is a tidy powder room and stylish laundry room. Upstairs there are three good-sized bedrooms, a 3 pc bathroom with hexagon tiled floor and subway tiled walls and backsplash. The Master bedroom is incredible with a large walk-in dressing room and a 5 pc ensuite with his/hers sinks and jetted tub. The lower level has an additional bedroom, 3 pc bath with tiled shower and a large family room with electric fireplace and soundproofing insulation in walls and ceiling. The 24 by 34 ft garage has lots of room for two vehicles, a work bench AND an added heated/cooled equipment room for hockey bags, golf clubs, etc. Outside you'll find perennials, trees and shrubs, and a large 32 by 48 foot shop with a 12 ft overhead door for large equipment, motor home, etc.

subset: commoncrawl


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Schumer: Reimburse fishermen for 'excessive' fees
Sen. Charles Schumer Monday accused federal fisheries police of exploiting millions in fishermen's fines as a "slush fund for excess," and demanded money be returned to those wrongly or over-penalized.
The demand comes in response to revelations that the law enforcement arm of the National Marine Fisheries Service, which polices national fishing grounds, spent millions on unauthorized travel, boats and cars, some for personal use. Local fishermen have complained about excessive fines for years.
"It appears that we had an out-of-control regional fisheries office that used excess fines and forfeitures as a slush fund for excess," Schumer said.
In a letter to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrator Jane Lubchenco, Schumer demanded that unauthorized assets be sold and the money returned to fishermen.
Lubchenco last week said she was "deeply troubled by the way the [fund] has been handled in the past," and has already shifted its administration to a comptroller within NOAA.
One of a dozen fishermen at a Schumer briefing Monday at the Town Dock in Port Washington was Tom Kokell, who had been fined $125,000 for possessing 600 pounds of fluke without a permit. He got it lowered to $65,000 by pleading guilty. Two months ago, he said, he stopped paying the fine, and has not fished since.
"I'd like to see power taken out of the hands of these people," he said of fisheries police. "We don't stand a chance. If something doesn't happen, we're done."
The report by the inspector general of the U.S. Commerce Department came after complaints from fishermen. Besides car and boat purchases, the report focused new light on the fund's use to pay expenses of the legal team that prosecutes fishermen and sets fines.
According to the report, nearly all non-payroll expenses come from fishermen, including pay for administrative law judges who oversee violation hearings. Some say the practice presents a conflict.
"It's outrageous," said Steve Ouellette, an attorney in Gloucester, Mass., who represents fishermen. He said he's seen a sharp increase in fines for even minor violations and has suspicions about why.
NOAA spokesman Justin Kenney said Lubchenco "greatly appreciates Senator Schumer's suggestions and shares his concerns. NOAA takes this issue very seriously and is aggressively responding to the report."


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Executive Summary
- Sector implications of Brexit fallout. Uncertainty likely to prevail globally, at least until U.S. presidential election. Major corporate and consumer spending decisions potentially on hold, a negative for Information Technology, Industrials, and Consumer Discretionary (downgraded to Neutral). Low rates continue to pressure Financials.
- Regional strategy. Russia and Australia still rank at top of regional model. Both seem relatively insulated from the uncertainty that's likely to weigh on the U.K., Europe and the U.S (downgraded to Neutral). While a strong dollar will pressure commodities —Materials just 14% of Australian market — oil prices may prove resilient following production cutbacks, a potential positive for Russia. (Energy upgraded to Neutral.)
- Strategy in sync with Brexit thesis, but not driven by it. Both our sector strategy (neutral or negative on Consumer Discretionary, Industrials, Information Technology, Financials) and regional strategy (overweight Australia, Russia two countries far from the U.K.) are in sync with our Brexit thesis but are not driven by it, with valuation and earnings being the key determinants.
Figure 1: Industry Rankings
Source: Cornerstone Capital Group
Click here for important disclosures. Our full report is available to clients of Cornerstone Capital Group.
Michael Geraghty is the Global Markets Strategist for Cornerstone Capital Group. He has over three decades of experience in the financial services industry including working as an investment strategist at UBS and Citi.


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It was a beautiful mid-August day. The Doctors Burke, brothers who shared a dental practice, returned to their office after lunch in midtown Manhattan. The word on the street was that the war with Japan might be over. Their assistant offered to walk to Times Square to get the news on her lunch break. Like every other day, Greta Zimmer was dressed in her white nursing uniform — white dress, white stockings, white shoes — she removed her white nursing cap, and quickly walked the couple blocks from the Lexington Avenue office to investigate. The news ticker that wrapped around the Times Building at One Times Square exclaimed V-J DAY! V-J DAY! V-J DAY!!! Greta, who was 21 at the time, said she barely had time to register the cacophony around her when she was grabbed hard by a sailor — "a very strong man" is how she described him — bent backwards and kissed full on the mouth. Unbeknownst to both Greta and the sailor, this moment was preserved for all time by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt. In a 1980 interview for the Library of Congress's Experiencing War: Stories from the Veterans' History Project, Greta Zimmer Friedman described it as a silent act. She said, "And the reason he grabbed someone dressed like a nurse was that he just felt very grateful to nurses who took care of the wounded."
A young woman, all alone in a big city, was grabbed and kissed by a random man who thought that forcing himself on her was a good way to thank all the nurses who cared for the wounded in World War II. It was a silent act in the middle of a celebration in crowded Midtown Manhattan.
It's the sentence, "It was a silent act" that gave me pause. With all the noise of New York City, plus the noise of the celebration of V-J Day, where did that silence come from? How did it happen? Why is it that silence is a character in stories of abuse? How is it that so many women and girls are assaulted in silence?
It's not that silence is inherently bad — it's absolutely not. Silence, when it is used well, can create space for growth. It can stand in for the many things that need to remain unspoken. Silence can be meditative, it can accompany rest; silence can bring healing. Silence has power. John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, the First Baron Acton, was an English Catholic historian and writer, and is best known for giving us the quote, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Saying that silence has absolute power is going a bit far, but I believe that silence has enough power to at least accompany corruption.
Last week the story broke about movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's decades of sexual misconduct. I'm not going to get into the heartwrenching details — I'm certain you all know how to consult the Googles for all the news that's been deemed fit to print — but a common element in many of the stories I've read is the use of silence to reinforce power. People were encouraged to not speak up or complain about Weinstein's crimes for fear of losing their jobs or being blackballed completely from the movie industry. In addition to enforced silence, many victims were dismissed with comments that suggested this behaviour was the sort of thing one should expect from such a powerful, wealthy man, which calls to mind a phrase that's absolutely forbidden in my home and around my sons: Boys will be boys.
Boys will be boys in the movie industry; boys will be boys on Wall Street; boys will be boys in the locker room, boys will be boys outside the locker room; boys will be boys in academia; boys will be boys in the church.
Judges 19-21 tells the story of a Levite and his concubine who were traveling through Israel. They arrived in a town late one night and none of the townspeople took them in. This was a major violation of the code of hospitality that everyone was expected to adhere to. Finally a local man arrived home very late, and offered hospitality because he was embarrassed by his neighbors. You'd think that this would be a happy ending, but this is where the nightmare started. The rest of the men of the town demanded that their neighbor turn out the traveling man, but the neighbor would not. Instead he offered the crowd his daughter and the traveler's concubine. The crowd was displeased, and the situation deteriorated. The story says that the traveller opened the door and gave his concubine to the crowd. There were no words spoken. It was a silent act. The crowd destroyed the concubine and left her on the doorstep. The next morning, the traveller speaks. Did he ask her if she needed water? If she needed help? Did he apologize for throwing her to the pack of human wolves? No. He told her to get up. The traveler was completely silent about the woman's obvious suffering and about what had happened the night before. She was unable to even move, so he threw her over the back of his donkey, took her home, and cut her into twelve pieces, which ultimately started a very enormous intertribal war. Did he kill her? Was she already dead? It's unclear who caused her death, but it is very clear who was responsible. The traveler used silence as a shield for himself, to preserve his own life and to assert his power over the concubine.
The last verse of Judges 21 says: In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes. In second Samuel 11, we read the story of King David, who did what was right in his own eyes when he forced Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite to have sex with him, and he did what was right in his own eyes when he created the perfect scenario in which Uriah lost his life. Silence and power worked together to allow Bathsheba to be raped and become pregnant. Nobody spoke up for Bathsheba. Nobody said to David, "This is wrong." David did what was right in his own eyes, and it wasn't until after the whole mess had played out and Uriah was dead, did Nathan the prophet call King David out.
My friends, I hope you know these things still happen. We have a President who has been named more than 13 times as perpetrating sexual assault, and was voted into office (many thanks to my fellow white women) even after a widely circulated video clip where he proudly claims to have assaulted women by grabbing them. You know the one. This kind of power harms, and silence intimidates, and when someone does have the courage or enough frustration to speak out, they are forced to repeat their stories again and again and again until the people with the power are satisfied that, yeah, they are probably telling the truth. But what were you wearing, and what did you have to drink, and why didn't you say no and why didn't you file a complaint with HR and why didn't you call the police and why didn't you behave differently and why do you hate men and why do you expect me to do something about this so long after it happened… why, why, why.
There was some big drama on Twitter last week. Actress Rose McGowan was put in Twitter Jail after a series of tweets condemning Weinstein's actions, and one of the responses to this drama was the suggestion by a women's rights non-profit to tweet #metoo if you experienced sexual assault or abuse. Perhaps you saw statuses and comments on your social media feeds that said "me, too." The oft-quoted statistic is that one in three women are sexually assaulted in the United States. And maybe it's true, maybe it was only a third of my Facebook friends and a third of the people I follow on Twitter and Instagram, who said "me, too;" I was too horrified to count and do the math. But I know two things: 1) Silence is powerful, and I know there are people who are not interested in sharing their pain and their shame in a public forum. And 2) NOT ONE WOMAN SAID, "This has never happened to me."
Isaiah 61 says: The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners…to provide for those who mourn in Zion – to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
This is the scripture on the scroll Jesus read to introduce himself at the synagogue. This is the scripture that Jesus declared fulfilled after it was read. As the Body of Christ, we need to acknowledge that the Spirit of the Lord is upon us, and we need to lean into the power of the Spirit and reclaim the power that oppressive silence steals from us. It is our mandate to bring good news to the oppressed. Good news like "I believe you," and "You didn't deserve this," and "There wasn't anything you could have done to change the situation." It is our mandate to bind up the broken-hearted, to share the oil of gladness, to wrap the broken-hearted in a mantle of praise. This means providing health care that does not consider rape a pre-existing condition. This means providing emotional and mental health support, recognizing that assault victims experience PTSD, and destigmatizing depression and mental illness. It is our mandate to love, and that love will create space for the healing and restoration of the broken and vulnerable among us.
And finally, to those of us who are broken-hearted, who are mourning, who feel faint in spirit, who have said "me, too," whether it be in an act of silence or an act of defiant solidarity: The Spirit of the Lord is also upon us. There is healing and restoration available to us, and it is us who will be called oaks of righteousness and who will continue to display his glory. And for THAT, I say thanks be to God.


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Stephen Fry Wrestles With Wagner
Stephen Fry has one of those faces you likely recognize but don't know why. Did he live in the old neighborhood? Did you go to school with him? Or, as is the case, is he someone almost famous?
Fry was a Golden Globe nominee for playing the title role in the 1998 film, "Wilde." He's also appeared in "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" and has a role in next year's Hobbit movie, "The Desolation of Smaug." But the actor/writer is best known in his native England.
Fry is at the center of a documentary, "Wagner & Me," opening December 7 in New York and in several other major cities in coming weeks. Fry is a Wagner enthusiast. He claims he was 11 or 12 when he heard his music "on my father's gramophone. It released forces in me. No music has done it like Wagner's."
The problem is that his "passion was shared by Hitler. I'm Jewish and lost relatives in the Holocaust."
Fry's discomfort is understandable. I feel the same way myself — albeit on a more plebeian level. I won't see a Mel Gibson film. I won't even watch him on cable. Does it make a difference? Obviously he doesn't care or even know — unless he reads The Forward — but it makes me feel better.
So Fry poses an interesting question. Does art trump hate? The problem is that the film doesn't really answer the question.
Much of the documentary is a Wagner biography, covering his early days, his exile in Switzerland and his resurgence under the patronage of Prince Ludwig of Bavaria.
Richard Wagner, composer and dramatist of the "Ring" cycle and "Parsifal," was clearly a genius. But in 1850 he wrote "Judaism in Music," an anti-Semitic diatribe that said Jews had no connection to the German spirit and were only interested in popularity and profit rather than creating works of art.
His essay was in many ways directed at Felix Mendelssohn, whose music was better received that Wagner's (and who was, ironically, raised without religion and was later baptized as a Lutheran).
But viewed in the context of the time — and this is by no means intended to excuse Wagner — anti-Semitism was far more prevalent than today and there were far fewer constraints on voicing those feelings. After all, do Americans think less of the founding fathers who owned slaves?
But matters are complicated by Wagner's descendants who were also virulently anti-Semitic. And then of course there is the subject of Hitler and the Nazis, who hijacked Wagner and his music.
Fry imagines the collected works as a "beautiful tapestry that's stained indelibly. Hitler and the Nazis stained Wagner. For some people, that stain ruins the whole work."
But Fry clearly is not one of them. It seems he undertook this project more to justify his passion than question it. He goes to Bayreuth, the theater Wagner built specifically to house the "Ring" cycle. There he meets and overwhelms Wagner's granddaughter, Eva, who, with half-sister Katharina, runs the annual Bayreuth Festival. She seems almost frightened by his enthusiasm and runs away mid-interview claiming to be busy. She leaves Fry gushing like a teenager about how happy he is that he shook the hand of an actual Wagner.
The most moving moments come when Fry speaks to an Auschwitz survivor, who came through alive because she played the cello. She talks about how she was called in to play Wagner for Mengele. How she learned never to make eye contact with the Germans. He asks: Am I betraying my Jewishness by playing Wagner?
She asks: Why listen to him at Bayreuth? Why can't you stay home and listen?
Fry has no intention of doing that. The closing scenes show him all tuxed out on opening night of the 2009 festival, when the film was shot, rationalizing: "I'm not prepared to surrender" to Hitler.
Watch the trailer for 'Wagner & Me':


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When Race Director Bob Nichols recently began working on the prize money structure for the 2016 Surfing Madonna Beach Run, he realized he had made a serious error. Following the 2015 edition of the race, held October 24 in Encinitas, California, he had mistakenly paid the event's top finishers, 18 runners in all, twice as much prize money as he intended—a $9,500 mistake.
When Nichols asked the affected athletes to give half the money back, most of them refused, some rudely, according to Nichols. That led him to consult with a lawyer and give the runners options, one of which was settling the matter in court.
After speaking with Runner's World last Monday, reviewing the discussion about the matter on the LetsRun message board, and reflecting further, Nichols decided to let the runners keep the money. In order to prevent his organization, the Surfing Madonna Oceans Project, from taking a financial hit, he decided to repay the $9,500 out of his own pocket.
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Ambiguous Wording
Nichols advertised that the race would give out $15,000 in prize money (including masters, team, and costume awards, which were not affected by the error), but he accidentally gave out $24,500. How does something like that happen with no one noticing for more than six weeks? It centered around the language Nichols had used when posting the prize money structure on the event's website.
What Nichols meant was that the first male and female finisher in the 10-mile race, for example, would receive a combined $1,800—$900 each. But the elite runners who ran the race read it as $1,800 each.
The language was confusing enough that, on the day of the event, a race volunteer looked at the website and wrote out big checks for the prize winners to pose with for double the amount intended.
Nichols made the same error when he wrote the checks he mailed to the prize winners, most of which went out in early November, after he received their W-9s.
Phil Stewart, publisher of the industry newsletter Road Race Management, told Runner's World that he's never heard of an error of this nature happening at a road race. He called the manner in which the prize money was listed "very confusing."
Nichols is the founder and director of the Surfing Madonna Oceans Project; he created the Surfing Madonna Beach Run, which has become the organization's biggest fundraiser, in 2013. When Nichols realized his error, he worried that it would significantly impact his organization's ability to do good in the community.
Past race proceeds have funded a surf camp for children with special needs, the purchase of beach wheelchairs, and marine mammal rescue equipment, among other things. Nichols said the race, which had about 3,800 registrants, netted roughly $100,000 in 2015.
Return Requests
When Nichols began calling the race's elite athletes and asking them to return half of the money, for the most part, the request did not go over well.
"I would say that probably a third of them were really responsive and said, 'No problem, I get it. I've been to your race before and I know what you do in the community and yes, I'm going to write you out a check for the overpaid amount,'" Nichols told Runner's World last Monday. "The rest, I haven't been able to get ahold of or they just said, 'No, I'm not paying the money back.'
"One [elite runner] said, 'I will take all your prize money and I'm going to laugh in your face, and I'm going to participate in your run next year and I'm going to win the prize money and I'm going to laugh in your face again,'" Nichols said.
According to Nichols, another said, "We are the reason that your run is successful. It's the elite athletes that make this event happen."
"I think that's what kind of set me off. That was the end of it. I was like, 'These people just don't care at all,'" Nichols said.
That was when Nichols decided to consult a lawyer who does pro bono work for the Surfing Madonna Oceans Project. The race sent an email that offered the runners three options: pay back 75 percent of the amount they were overpaid immediately, keep 25 percent of it, and receive some free race entries; work out a payment plan with the race; or settle the matter in court.
Matt McElroy, 23, of Poway, San Diego, who makes his living as a professional triathlete and runner, finished third in the 10-mile race and earned $700. He told Runner's World that, after consulting with his coach and two lawyers, he had no intention of paying the money back to the race.
"I'm an elite athlete who just graduated from college. To be honest, $700 for me goes a long way," McElroy said. "I understood they were [a] nonprofit trying to help out paraplegic surfers and they were trying to get behind the community…I personally felt like [Nichols] was trying to guilt-trip me by bringing up that he's a nonprofit organization and that I'm basically taking away from the community and his events. So that just kind of rubbed me the wrong way.
"Once you send a check and it's cashed, that's official. If Bob called and said, 'Hey, would you be interested in giving some of your prize money to charity?' that would have been a better way of handling it," McElroy continued. "He might not get all the money back, but maybe some of us might have thrown some money in…I just think he handled the situation kind of the wrong way."
Regina Lopez, 25, who received $1,000 for finishing second in the 10-mile race, said that paying the money back wasn't an option for her.
"I just finished college and just got a job three months ago. I don't have the money to pay back," Lopez said.
Michael Davila, 25, of Moreno Valley, California, is a professional runner and part-time student who received $500 for finishing third in the 5K race. He said that, although he'll have to do so in installments, he planned on paying the money back.
"I understand it was a mistake. It was the right thing to do to just pay it back," Davila told Runner's World. "It was a human error on his side, but we all make mistakes and sometimes you just need help with the mistakes."
Change of Course
Last Monday, after reflecting on the situation further, Nichols decided to let the elite runners keep the money. To prevent the Surfing Madonna Oceans Project from being affected by the situation, Nichols decided that he would pay the money back to the organization out of his own pocket.
"I thought [the intended prize money structure] was obvious, but it wasn't obvious. It wasn't even obvious to me, and that's when I made the decision, 'Oh my gosh, I'm wrong here,'" Nichols said in a follow-up conversation last week. "I realized, 'This was your mistake, Bob. This is confusing and you need to rectify this."
Stewart commended Nichols for doing the "honorable thing" by letting the runners keep the money.
"I think the athletes came to the race based on a certain set of assumptions. Those assumptions turned out not to be true, through an innocent [error]," Stewart said. "You could go one step further as far as the runners go and say that if they had truly felt that the first place was only $900, they might have gone to a different race where there was more prize money. I think it's an unfortunate situation all the way around."
The Road Ahead
Nichols' negative interactions with some of the race's elite athletes made him realize that, in 2016, he wants to put his prize money elsewhere.
"Frankly, it's left a very bad taste in my mouth. Our elites make up probably a quarter of a percent of our participants and they ask for free entries, they ask for hotels, they ask for travel accommodations, and this is a community event," Nichols said. "Let's just concentrate on the people that do make up our event—parents pushing strollers, people in their 40s, 50s, 60s, people wearing costumes. Let's put the prize money next year towards them."
Nichols has since posted his 2016 prize money structure, which has the biggest prizes going to the largest teams and costume contest winners. He will award $500 for new course records, but other than that, the most anyone will be able to earn for an individual running performance is $350.
Nichols doesn't think potentially losing some of the event's top runners will hurt the popularity of the race.
"[The] people who show up to this event, they don't know who any of these athletes are," Nichols said. "Maybe if it's a Meb [Keflezighi], a Michael Jordan, or some famous athlete shows up, they'll know who it is. But somebody that was on the varsity team running for Berkeley or something, nobody knows who that is."


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James Cameron's (Terminator, Aliens) highly anticipated smurfs-at-war epic Avatar is set to arrive in theaters and IMAX screens on Dec. 18. The sci-fi actioner boasts groundbreaking 3-D technology and an estimated $230 million budget.
Sam Worthington (Clash of the Titans, Terminator: Salvation) stars in the film as Jake Sullly, a crippled ex-Marine chosen to participate in the government's Avatar program on the planet of Pandora. As humans aggressively mine the planet for resources, a native species known as the Na'vi plot a revolt to save their blue asses from extinction. Sully, who regains use of his legs while plugged into the Avatar system, soon finds himself forced to choose between his own kind and the love of a young Na'vi female and her family (think Dances with Wolves).
Of course, this being a Cameron film, many of you are wondering if you need to pack meals, medicine, and a toothbrush before heading off to the multiplex. Avatar runs 150 minutes (2 1/2 hours). Cameron, whose Titanic ran a whooping 194 minutes, kept the film's length down to ensure that it would play on all IMAX screens, including those that have not yet been converted to digital projection and, therefore, can only support a 170 minute run time.


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The Harry Potter books nd films are still fondly discussed by our students. Today we began a unit on film study looking at film techniques and many examples from the Potter films were given by the boys.
So it is with interest that I looked at the latest addition to the Potter stable. The latest installment of the Harry Potter series has a trailer out. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."
As always everyone has an opinion and they are quick to share. Below is a video that has a few fans discussing their reactions to the teaser trailer.
What do you think of the trailer?
Filed under: literature, Video | Tagged: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, film trailer, Harry Potter | Leave a comment »


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Pair to Taste
Wine has a significant role in the hospitality industry. It is one of the most popular beverages which people love to drink and pair up with good food. For the same reason, it is crucial for individuals in the said industry to have substantial knowledge regarding proper wine and food pairing which was why students belonging in the Hospitality course attended The Beringer Wine Seminar at Resto 101 on November 23, 2010.
Many people believe that food and wine pairing is complicated but if you attended the Wine Seminar, Mr. Jerry Comfort, the speaker, would have proven you wrong. Working for many years,Mr. Jerry Comfort is a certified Wine Master Sommelier. He wrote the definitive guide, 'The Progressive Wine and Cheese Pairing Wheel' in 2003. He oversees the Culinary Arts Center of Beringer. He also served as guest instructors at L'École Hôtellerie Lausanne in Switzerland and the Culinary Institute of America in New York and Napa Valley. He conducts seminars at prestigious events such as Viniexpo in Finland and in Tokyo, Prowen in Germany, and the Gourmet Summit in Singapore.
In the table is a spread of four different wines ranging from sweet white wines to strong red wines: the sweet White Zinfandel, without oak dry Chardonnay, soft tannin Pinot Noir and the strong tannin Cabernet Sauvignon. Slices of apple, lemon, meat, and shrimp, a cup of water with amino acid – that gives the taste of umami, and peppered cheese awaited the students as they were ushered inside the venue.
Food changes the way wine tastes and not the other way around, this was one of the lessons the students learned as they were asked to compare the effects of the different tastes of the food – bitter, sour, salty, sweet, and umami on the different wines. Rounding up the seminar, Mr. Comfort shared some interesting facts about wine and food pairing.
There are four categories in which the food is divided by the effects that they make on the wine.The first category explains that sweet, spicy, or protein dominant – umami, and low in salt will make wine's texture stronger and all wines will become more acidic or crisp. The recommended wines for these dishes are of dry or light wines because the food makes the wine bitter and their sweetness buffers the rise in acidity. Dishes that are acid dominant will make wine milder and softer. This rule is discussed in the second category.But since these foods are low in salt, the wine will taste bitter therefore crisp, light-intensity wines are best paired with acid dominant dishes. For the third category, dishes that are properly balanced in salt seasoning and acidity will pair well with all wine categories.As mentioned in Category 1, sweet dishes will make wine's texture stronger and desserts are usually sweet and low in salt therefore the last category mentions to serve dessert wines that are sweeter than the dessert so that the acidity of the wine will not be so pronounced.
The four categories above were the main points mentioned in a capsule during the seminar. The things we learned in the wine seminar are truly very helpful. There is no more reason for the students to be intimidated in food and wine pairing because it is surprisingly very simple.


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238. Smiling cause I'm so much better.
239. Laughing at them again.
240. My first time at Maria's. Thanks NBoone!
241. Hannah Boone, for letting me borrow her husband on a weeknight.
242. Finally getting to sing Taylor Swift songs with Julie.
243. Going to the mailbox when there are no bills, but one piece of good news mail.
244. Just a good, good day.


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Some behaviors never get easier, regardless of how often you practice them or how often they're called for. Patience has always been one of these things, for me at least. I grew up in a culture of instant gratification and I didn't even have access to the internet until I was in my teenage years. Maybe patience is only a matter of counting down and we're not the only ones practicing it; maybe it's always painful even under the guise of anticipation. Either way and in every way, it is crucial and it is common, like all of The Seven Virtues. Next up is…
Theme: Diligence – constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent exertion of body or mind.
Structure: Free Verse
Now if patience is hard because it requires a lack of action, diligence is difficult for the opposite reason. It demands steady labor in the face of obstacles, apathy, and injury. I'm curious to see what motivates you guys to work hard and what kind of hard work you do. Until next week, I'll leave you with a quote:
"The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools." – Confucius
We happily await your interpretation of this great virtue: Send submissions to firstname.lastname@example.com to be published.


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Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered that a potential marker called Bim may be a clue to overall survival in patients undergoing anti-PD-1 therapy.
The team believes that measuring the Bim protien in metastatic melanoma patients, may constitute a less invasive strategy for clinicians to identify patients less likely to benefit from such therapies. The study, "T cell Bim levels reflect responses to anti–PD-1 cancer therapy," was published in the May 5 edition of JCI Insight.
PD-1 blockade immunotherapy targets the interaction between two molecules, PD-1 (programmed death 1 receptor) and PD-L1 (PD-1 ligand), expressed at the surface of T-cells and tumors. Up regulation of PD-L1 is one of the mechanisms by which different cancer types can limit and evade the host immune response, decreasing T cell population and leading to cancer cell survival and proliferation. To increase the anti-tumor immune response, researchers have made a considerable effort to develop several therapeutic molecules targeting PD-1, which have had varying degrees of success when it comes to patient response.
Because the therapy comes with significant side-effects and costs, researchers agree it is critically important to discover markers that can help predict the outcome of such approaches and deliver the more personalized clinical treatment to patients most likely to benefit from PD-1 blockage.
Mayo clinic researchers had previously demonstrated that PD-L1 is responsible for the upregulation of Bim in activated CD8+ T cells in tests performed in subjects. Next, they investigated if an increased frequency of T cells expressing Bim in patients who respond to immunotherapy reflects an increased number of target T cells for PD-1 blockade with pembrolizumab, explaining the improved outcomes in patients. By analyzing peripheral blood samples collected at initiation of treatment and 12 weeks after, PD-1 blockade response was proportional to the presence of T cells expressing Bim and PD-1. Assessing the level of these cells in a patient's blood prior to therapy could be a factor affecting clinical decision making and formulation of the most appropriate course of treatment.
"A great advantage of this approach lies in the ease of serial peripheral blood testing, compared with repeated invasive tissue biopsies," lead author Dr. Roxana Dronca, said in a press release. "We are currently validating these results in a larger prospective cohort of patients with metastatic melanoma and in patients with lung cancer using multiple serial peripheral blood samples and standardized tumor assessment."


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Welcome to the United Church of Sun City
Provides extensive support services for older adults, adults with intellectual disabilities, children and the families who care for them.
Provides senior citizen resources for residents in Sun Cities, Youngtown, El Mirage, Surprise and Peoria. All services provided are free: benefit assistance, legal consultation, property tax matters, income tax preparation, and dial-a-ride tickets.
Provides independent, assisted living, memory care related services and Parkinson's care. Sun Valley Lodge was the creation of Sun City's first church (now called United Church of Sun City).
Other local non-profit organizations that are recipients of benevolent funds include: Arizonans for Children, Relay for Life, Southwest Conference United Church of Christ, Sun City Community Fund, Sun Valley Animal Rescue, Sun City Posse, Salvation Army, Sunshine Service, Hospice of the Valley, Sun City Fire Dept., Westside Tremble Clefs, Luke Air Base Christmas Angels, Peoria Good Shepherd/Good Samaritan Society, and Valley View Community Food Bank.
Each year during the weeks before the Super Bowl, the congregation at United Church collects thousands of cans of soup for the Valley View Food Bank.
During the remainder of the year, we regularly collect food for the Valley View Food Bank: Canned vegetables, canned fruit, canned tuna fish or canned chicken, peanut butter and jelly, canned spaghetti, canned meat, and boxed mac & cheese.
Banner Olive Branch Senior Center (623-465-6000) – provides services in the community: activities/events/fellowship, meal programs (home delivery/curb side), pantry/foodbank, and legal assistance, sustainability program (volunteers assist in the application process of local, state and federal programs).
In a creative arrangement, the Banner Health System leases our original church building on our campus to serve as the Olive Branch Senior Center. Providing hot lunches, relevant programming for Seniors, access to specialized training, and a site for weekly access to the Attorney General's office, Olive Branch is both a resource that our members use and a place for many to volunteer. The program is extremely active, and is a win-win for the church and community.
Treasures 4 Teachers (480-751-1122)
Provides educators who have big ideas and limited funds to get school supplies and re-usable materials at little or no cost. Also, provides ongoing series of free hands-on-workshops for teachers to implement in their classrooms. The T4T has been supported for almost 4 years with collection of recycle materials for craft activities.
Shortly after the church's founding, Dr. Walter Witt, our first pastor, was instrumental in starting an outreach to migrant workers in El Mirage. Known as the Dysart Community Center, our church still supports this vibrant program which offers English as a Second Language classes, after school latchkey programming, athletic programs, tutoring, supplemental food, etc. Eligible for the Arizona "Working Poor" credit; many of our members appreciate the tax credit available for their contributions to Dysart.
The Mission Board relies on contributions received from United Church of Sun City members, family and friends to help continue charitable programs in the west valley communities. We are grateful for the generous support that enables us to continue offering our mission outreach.
The Mission Board outreach funds are given to organizations and agencies that address the challenges faced by older adults, disadvantaged children, low-income families, victims of domestic abuse and those in need of compassionate care including:


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Cover image: Gifu at the Japan Society © Kaori Mahajan for WhereNYC
If you ever thought about becoming a writer or just want to check out what's happening in the city, WhereNYC is looking for enthusiastic writers to cover events in the city. From foodie soirées, cultural expos, cocktail receptions to museum after-hours events, experience the city as never before. This is a fantastic opportunity to have fun and meet people.
For inquires, please contact email@example.com or by Facebook.


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text: Our 5 star cakes in Kolkata are sourced from the most famous 5 star hotels in Kolkata. Though a little bit on the expensive side these are definitely are harbingers of happiness and luxurious taste. These sweet offerings are so rich and luxurious that it is like a slice of heaven right in your plate and every mouthful seems like a gooey melting goodness in your mouth. Be it chocolate, strawberry, red velvet or pineapple ever cake is prepared with premium artisan ingredient and epitomizes the good life. Send 5 star cakes in Kolkata online to those special souls who are dearer to you than life itself.


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After getting off the highway, we drove through mostly residential streets, and were amazed to practically dead-end into Bauman's! As we got closer, we could tell that something big was going on. Cars lined both sides of the street, and wound back into the neighborhood -- and the people just kept coming. We were lucky to catch the last weekend of their "Fall Festival 2013" -- a great family atmosphere!
One of the first tents that greeted us was the donut-making tent. These are little cinnamon-sugar dusted gems that shouldn't be missed! They were offered individually, or boxed by the dozen.
We decided to pick our own apples, not sure how much reaching and climbing we'd have to do. We were given a bag, and a map that guided us to the rows of apples that were ready for picking.
We found out that many of the Bauman trees are of the dwarf or semi-dwarf variety. They make for some family-friendly pickin'!
We'll definitely be going back to Bauman's!
Did you have any big "fall adventures" this weekend?


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Finally got my new Apple Wireless Keyboard working with my HP 2540p laptop. One "small" little trick did the job, I use an external USB bluetooth dongle – a noname cheap one I had in my drawer that I haven't used for years. After a lot of unsuccesful tries with the HP integrated bluetooth module, the keyboard connects just fine but disconnects quickly without installing as an input device, and services tab under device properties shows no available bluetooth services. I thought I was out of luck getting the keyboard to work, but since both my iPhone and my Samsung Galaxy Tab running Android both connected just fine to the keyboard, I guessed it was something about the module. This irritates me a lot, since I now have to bring my USB BT dongle if I want to use the keyboard with my HP laptop. I searched a lot of forums, and most posts mentioned how it just works out of the box with Windows 7, most problems were funny enough had when running Windows XP/Vista/7 inside Boot Camp.
[UPDATE] Same bluetooth dongle works under Ubuntu Linux, set up took under 1 minute from plugging in the BT dongle. Tried another old MSI Bluetooth dongle and it didn't work. It's found by Ubuntu, the keyboard is also found afterwards and connects, but as with the HP module the input doesn't work. If I remember correctly the working BT dongle is a low-priced Trendnet dongle.
[UPDATE 2(4 months later)] Just tested the keyboard again with the built-in dongle and now it works in Windows 7, I've recently added the Service Pack 1 and I probably also updated whatever was available from the HP driver section. So now I am happy happy happy 🙂