Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/75

WILLIAM McKINLEY 51 Bangor, Me., September 8, and continuing through the next two months, he was constantly on the plat form. The Wilson-Gorman tariff law had just been enacted, and to this he devoted his chief at tention. After returning to Ohio to open the state campaign at Findlay, Gov. McKinley set out for the west. Travelling in special trains, under the auspices of state committees, his meetings began at daybreak and continued until nightfall or later from his car, or from adjacent platforms. For over eight weeks he averaged seven speeches a day, ranging in length from ten minutes to an hour; and in this time he travelled over 16,000 miles and addressed fully 2,000,000 people. During the ensuing winter there was great dis tress in the mining districts of the Hocking valley. Gov. McKinley, by appeals to the generous people of the state, raised sufficient funds and provisions to meet every case of actual privation, the bulk of the work being done under his personal direction at Columbus. Several serious outbreaks occurred during his administration, at one time requiring the presence of 3,000 of the national guard in the field. On three occasions prisoners were saved from mobs and safely incarcerated in the state prison. His declaration that "lynchings must not be tolerated in Ohio" was literally made good for the first time in any state administration. On the expiration of his term as governor he re-