Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/190

158 for their kindness to him and promised to do all he could to serve them honestly and faithfully.

As a usual thing a new member of the House of Representatives at Washington has little to say and little to do excepting to vote. All is new and strange to him, and he must learn a great deal before he is qualified to take the initiative in the transacting of public business. He is placed on one or two committees of lesser importance, and there he remains until something he says or does brings him prominently before his fellow-members and the public at large.

William McKinley was too well educated and had the welfare of the country too much at heart to remain long in the background. When called upon to express his opinions he did so clearly, tersely, and forcefully, and his argument never failed "to hold water," as one of his fellow-members has expressed it.

"We could always rely on McKinley," said one representative. "There wasn't an industry that he didn't know something about, and generally he could give you the figures of that industry's output off-hand.