Anarchy's Exalted Victim: Exposition and Chicago
On April 29 the President and his party left Washington in a special train, the most admirably equipped one that railroad art could provide. Every convenience and luxury and all the appliances for comfort known in travel were supplied, while the utmost pains were taken to insure ease and safety upon the many lines of rail to be traversed. The early part of the route led through the Southern States to New Orleans, the President being received everywhere with a generous welcome and warm enthusiasm which spoke volumes for the growing unity of sentiment in the country. His well-chosen responses to the addresses of welcome added greatly to the kindly feeling manifested by the people, and there was no indication that there had ever been any sentiment of disunion between the two great sections of the country.
In truth, sectionalism had been rapidly dying out during President McKinley's administration. The Spanish war, with the warm rapport which it brought about between North and South, had gone far to develop the sentiment of union. The sections were drawn together by the common tie of the war and the brotherhood of the camp. The personal influence of the President had much to do with this change of feeling, which he warmly exerted himself to bring about, and his gratification at the result was shown by him in words spoken at Atlanta during the Exposition in that city:-
"Reunited-One country again and one country forever! Proclaim it from the press and the pulpit; teach it in the schools; write it across the skies! The world sees and feels it; it cheers every heart North and South, and brightens the life of every American home! Let nothing ever stain it again! At peace with all the world and with each other, what can stand in the pathway of our progress and prosperity?"
His brief addresses during his journey south were well calculated to strengthen this sentiment, and in New Orleans the warmth of his welcome spoke strongly for the feelings of the Southern people. From that city his route lay through Texas and the thinly-settled territories beyond, until the agricultural Paradise of California was reached. Here the enthusiasm of his reception in the Southern States was repeated, and his journey through that fertile land was virtually over a bed of bloom, the profuse flowery wealth of California's gardens and fields being showered at every point where the President halted in his route.
Unfortunately, the fatigue of the journey proved too much for the delicate health of Mrs. McKinley, and after San Francisco was reached she became so violently ill that for several days her life was despaired of. During this perilous interval the President, whose love for his wife was as warm then as on the day in which they were wedded, could not be drawn from her side, while his evident distress added to the respect with which he was everywhere regarded. "The world loves a lover." The people deeply sympathized with their President in an affection which had persisted undiminished during thirty years of married life, and felt for him in the affliction which now hung over him like a threat.
Fortunately the stricken woman began to mend, and her husband was able to leave her side long enough to take part in the ceremonies at the launch of the Ohio. But the projected return trip had to be abandoned, and the enfeebled "Lady of the White House" was brought back to Washington by the shortest route, attended to at every point, with the most anxious and assiduous care, by her loving husband.
Another important event of McKinley's second term-one vitally important in its effect upon his career-was the Pan-American Exposition, a great display of products of the countries of the two Americas, its purpose being to show the progress of the western continent in the nineteenth century, to bring closer together, commercially and socially, the various countries of that continent, and to promote friendly intercourse between their peoples.
The Exposition was held at Buffalo, New York, from May 1 to November 1, 1901. It covered an area of three hundred and fifty acres, the ground chosen including the most beautiful portions of Delaware Park. The grounds and buildings, when completed, presented a magnificent scene. While on a smaller scale than the World's Fairs at Philadelphia and Chicago, the buildings were unsurpassed in architectural beauty. Instead of being pure white in hue, as at Chicago, brilliant colors and rich tints were freely used, giving a glowing effect to the artistically designed buildings. The general style of the architecture was a free treatment of the Spanish Renaissance, this style being adopted in compliment to the Spanish-American countries which participated so largely in the display. There were attractive hydraulic and fountain arrangements which added greatly to the general effect of the installation.
The acknowledged leading feature of the Exposition was its elaborate and magnificent electrical display. Buffalo being in close connection by conducting wires with the enormous electrical plant at Niagara, it possessed unequalled facilities in this direction, and of these a generous advantage was taken. The Electric Tower, 375 feet high, a stately and beautiful building, was the centre-piece of the Exposition, and the effect, as the light was gradually turned on when evening approached, and finally poured out suddenly from thousands of lamps, flooding with brilliance all the buildings within view, was so over-whelmingly beautiful that no observer could put his feelings in adequate words.