USA > Connecticut > Connecticut as a colony and as a state; or, One of the original thirteen, Volume IV > Part 8
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of the largest army of modern times involved correspond- ingly enormous production to replace the loss; duties were high, and accordingly the existing manufacturing establish- ments blossomed into unparalleled activity. Moreover, many of modest nature suddenly found themselves summoned to the front rank by the pressure of events.
It required no special insight to see that the makers of guns, large and small, of powder and shot, would have to work day and night to fill orders; that competition would strain every inventor's brain to devise some extra touch of death-dealing potency, as the rifling of cannon, the intricacy of compound shells, the best form of marine armor; but who would have thought that the meek and spinster-like occupa- tion of making thread would assume importance in time of war? Yet so it was: tents, uniforms, overcoats, shoes, sad- dles, must all be stitched with thread of the best quality. Perhaps the article would be thrown away on the next battle- field, and then it must be replaced. English thread was under a heavy duty; hence Willimantic thread-mills waxed mighty. So too the demand for brass buttons stimulated the button-making industry of Waterbury, Ansonia, and Nauga- tuck; and the need of good, strong saddle buckles gave a rea- son for the extension of the establishment of North & Judd in New Britain, which has now the most complete equipment for the production of saddlery hardware in the United States, and has expanded its business to fully forty times its power in 1861. This is only one of the many instances of the pro- ductive energy excited by the great war; instances so numer- ous that they went far towards compensating for the appall- ing waste of force and material which was an immediate result evident to every one.
With the horizon of opportunity so much widened, not
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only did men feel the courage to undertake great enterprises, public and private, but they cultivated the patience necessary for finding out the possibilities of small things.
It was a time when money was abundant, and it was easy to learn to spend it lavishly. What had been luxuries became necessities, and the very fact that men lived with added com- fort increased the labor involved in living, and gave oppor- tunity for ever-widening varieties of occupation.
If the working man could afford to have a house warmed and lighted throughout, the makers of heaters, of gas-fix- tures, of door and window hinges and fastenings, could enlarge their borders; if the poor man's wife could wear bet- ter clothes than before, then the makers of knit goods, of silks and of all textile fabrics, were justified in bestirring themselves to tempt her to buy articles of home production ; if the poor man's son could have a higher education than his father had had, if the poor man's daughter could play the piano, then the makers of school-books and pianos found their business increasing rapidly.
The manufacturers of carpets, of knit goods, of builders' hardware, of brass and silver-plated ware, of cutlery, of watches, who had been satisfied with a snug little business in the forties and fifties, now found themselves managing hun- dreds of workmen and making money hand over hand. The need of water for extinguishing fires inspired the build- ing of reservoirs and artificial lakes, from which water could be supplied for public and private use; and it was not long before the comfort of running water was regarded as a neces- sity in every dwelling, and the reign of the plumber came in.
While Congress was struggling with the great problems of reconstruction, of the Constitutional Amendments, of the impeachment of Johnson, State politics presented no burning
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questions for some years, and the citizens were free to devote themselves to the steady upbuilding of material prosperity. Like a hive of busy bees, the State hummed with industry, and grew rich by the labor of her busy workers, who trans- muted the crude material brought from all parts of the world into treasures of commerce.
After Buckingham resigned the office of Governor, the popular enthusiasm for military men demanded that the honor should be given to one who had come from the field with the smoke of battle still clinging to him. It was a graceful act of Henry B. Harrison to make the way clear for General Joseph R. Hawley, by definitely and voluntarily de- clining to be a candidate. General Hawley, it will be re- membered, had been the first in Hartford to volunteer, and he had fought bravely at Fort Wagner, James Island, Poco- taligo, Olustee, Richmond, and Petersburg. He had been the military governor at Wilmington, North Carolina, and Terry's Chief of Staff at Richmond.
Always a favorite in his State, and especially in his own county, he was elected, and served in 1866-67 with ability and acceptance. It was afterwards, when taking the chair to preside over the convention which nominated Grant, that he made the often-quoted speech against repudiation, that every bond must be held as sacred as a soldier's grave. Gov- ernor Hawley was sent to Congress in 1872 and 1873, and has represented the State with distinction in the Senate since 1881.
The next turn of the political wheel gave the Democrats a chance at the helm, with James E. English as governor for two years. Governor English had helped to make the New Haven Clock Company (once the Jerome Company) one of the largest clock-making companies in the country, and had
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been identified in banking and other interests in the business community. He had been a Member of Congress in 1861-65 and was one of the "War Democrats" who were stanch sup- porters of the Union. He voted enthusiastically for the Fourteenth Amendment, at some personal inconvenience, de- claring that to have missed it would have been to miss the op- portunity of his life.
The two parties in the State played shuttlecock for a few years, Marshall Jewell of Hartford and James English al- ternating in the Governor's chair twice. Jewell, one of the firm which stands at the very head of makers of leather belt- ings, was a man who placed a broad construction on advisable means of acquiring political power; but he was also most scrupulous in administering that power faithfully and for the good of the State, and thus made an efficient Governor. In 1870 he lost his election, English coming in, and in turn going out in 1871 in favor of Jewell, who was then elected for two successive years.
During the two terms of Governor English, he gave much attention to free public schools, which he strongly advocated. In 1870 the Connecticut Industrial School for Girls was opened, sixty-six pupils being received during the first year. This school has done a good work ; arrangements being made whereby the time is divided between instruction in ordinary studies, and in the practical duties of cooking, sewing and housework.
Governor English shared a very general interest in schools, in fact, the decade ending in 1871 saw greater gifts to educa- tion in the State than any fifty years before. On all sides ap- peared convenient and costly buildings for educational insti- tutions-libraries, museums, laboratories, observatories; and gifts for endowments were made freely by rich men to their
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favorite schools and colleges. Besides the public schools and the eleemosynary institutions, Yale, Trinity and Wesleyan Colleges felt the benefit of this happy fashion of giving large gifts. During that decade, Trinity received an increase of endowment amounting to $126,000; Wesleyan had a gift of $500,000, and Yale's donations and bequests mounted up to $1,695,437. In all these institutions the scope of their activity has increased still faster than their endowments, so that relatively to their work they are poor.
The great success of the Sanitary and Christian Commis- sions had shown what could be accomplished by systematic charitable effort; and consequently hospitals, Homes for Vagrant Children, Orphan Asylums, Insane Asylums, and all kinds of philanthropic institutions sprang up or were rapidly developed from small previous beginnings. The Hartford Hospital was greatly enlarged, and was started on a career of increased activity; and the New Haven Hospital, a much older institution, which had done a great work as an army hospital for Connecticut soldiers during the war, was also provided with greater means of doing good.
Public spirit found an expression in works of beauty and utility like parks and water-works for cities and towns. Pic- turesque and accessible tracts of land could be easily found in all parts of the beautiful State, sometimes commanding noble views of the Sound or of the hills and rivers; and hav- ing been acquired by gift or purchase, they quickly became charming pleasure-places for the people, stimulating a love of Nature, offering fresh air and repose, and cultivating civic pride.
During the second term of Governor English, the State was convulsed by the choice of a single capitol; and it was decided that one capitol was enough for the little State, and
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that that one should be Hartford. Thus New Haven, after one hundred and seventy-four years of sharing the dignity of the seat of government, was bereft of that honor. The discussion of this question, which began in 1869, originating in the dissatisfaction of the Legislature with the old and inad- equate state-houses in both capitals, was very vigorous, and the struggle evoked many heated words from both sides. It was even suggested to say good-bye to both time-honored cities, and pitch the tents of government in entirely new fields. But the central situation of Hartford, combined with the large sums of money pledged for a new state-house, placed the coveted prize in her grasp. In 1871 the city authorized the issuing of bonds for buying land and building. This involved changes for Trinity College, too: for the ground which it had always occupied, being especially eligi- ble for the new capitol, was twice sought by the city and twice refused by the college; but was at last sold for $600,000, a sum which enabled the college to secure land and erect fine buildings at some distance outside of the city. In 1873, Jewell's third year of office, the seat of government was definitely removed to Hartford, and the new building was occupied. It is the treasure-house of the State archives, of an exceedingly valuable and useful library of laws and law- books, and reports, of the precious and interesting gallery of portraits of the Governors, from the colonial times to the present, of a large chair carved from the trunk of the Char- ter Oak, and of the sacred battle-flags of the State regiments during the Civil War, which, in all the pomp of Battle-Flag Day, were deposited there with their pitiful and glorious rents and stains.
The cost of the new capitol with its grounds far exceeded the original estimate, but after the agony of discussion and
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decision was over, and heart-burnings as to choice of place and plan had been cooled, after the opponents of a dome on a Gothic building had decided to forget the anachronism and enjoy it as a picturesque landmark, with the glint of its golden cap gleaming over hill and dale for many miles, the State settled down to a feeling of pride in a capitol that was worthy of it, and in its matchless position as the crown of the ever-charming introduction to Hartford, Bushnell Park.
The capitol and Bushnell Park, with its graceful undula- tions, its trees numbering one hundred and fifty kinds, and the fine arch of the Soldiers' Monument, have made the approach to Hartford by rail one of the most attractive in the country, quite different from the ordinary depressing trip through slums with which the traveler is ushered into less favored cities.
Again the parties changed places, and Charles R. Ingersoll, the Democratic candidate, was elected. He was in office for three years and nine months, the last three months of his fourth year, having been cut off by a change of the time of inauguration from April to January. Mr. Ingersoll declined a renomination in 1876, but served in that year as Presi- dential elector for Tilden.
The year of his inauguration was the beginning of the great financial depression which affected the whole civilized world for eleven years, business not being firmly re-estab- lished till 1885. Its shadow consequently lay over the years when Richard D. Hubbard, Charles B. Andrews, and Hobart B. Bigelow were governors, the parties dividing power pretty evenly.
There had been panics and financial crises before this. The baleful effect of that of 1857 extended over the world, and was keenly felt in this country even at the outbreak of
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the Civil War. This was partly owing to the speculation which followed the discovery of gold in California. Gold speculation started the famous "Black Friday", Sept. 23, 1869, a panic on Wall Street so acute that its name is synony- mous with financial ruin. But the economic disturbance beginning in 1873 was industrial rather than financial; and it laid its blight on all classes. So long-continued a stagna- tion of business, extending all over the world, has never been known, and the United States House of Representatives was aroused to appoint a commission to inquire into the cause of it.
In the numerous discussions of this financial phenomenon, many explanations have been offered :- over-production, inflation of prices, the hasty extension of railroads over great stretches of new country, the Franco-German war of 1871, with its consequent heavy indemnity paid by France, the great increase in wages-all have been urgently presented as determining causes ; but probably these were accompaniments or tokens of a deeper cause, which is found in the great change in the routes and habits of commerce which followed the opening of the Suez Canal.
Before that, the long voyage around the Cape made the great storage warehouses in England necessary, providing employment for an army of men, and causing London to be the centre of the world's commerce. After the opening of the Suez Canal, these complicated arrangements were dis- pensed with, and cargoes could be ordered directly from India or Australia. Thus many men were displaced. Again, steamships that had only begun their career suddenly became out of date and had to be replaced by new ones, because their engines were supplanted by the new compound marine engines; and as invention was urging on improvement all
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the time, those were quickly cast aside; and thus an unusual amount of good material, representing much capital, was no better than scrap-iron in an unexpectedly short time. The ease with which grain could be brought to Europe from the East affected the grain market of the United States. Other causes contributed to the general upsetting of the old condi- tions of trade; the opening of new lands in Australia, Can- ada, and the West, the cheap production and use of Bessemer steel for rails and compound marine engines, thereby mak- ing transportation very cheap and leading to too much build- ing of railroads and too hasty development of lands in the West. According to the London Economist this financial disturbance "changed the employment of millions of capital and thousands of men".
In the United States, the trouble was augmented by the general expansion of prices, wages, style of living, and the prevalence of strikes. After prices had steadily risen in 1870, 1871, and 1872, there was a sudden drop in 1873. The crisis began on Sept. 17, 1873, by the failure of an unimportant railroad, the New York and Oswego Midland. On the next day came the crash of the great banking house of Jay Cooke & Co., which, on the 19th, toppled over, the house of Fisk & Hatch, the London house of McCulloch, and seventeen other banking houses, like a row of ninepins.
After that, nothing could avert widespread disaster; and for four years, failures continued in melancholy succession, till the aggregate loss was counted at $775,865,000. On Jan. 1, 1875, the American railroad bonds in default amounted to over $789,000,000.
The pinch was sharpest in the most highly civilized parts of the world, in communities whose leading interests were the production of the comforts and conveniences of modern life,
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as railroads, ships, clothing, and, through means of trans- portation, live stock and coal.
The fluctuations of pig-iron kept the world in a fever. In 1872, so great was the demand for it that forty new blast furnaces were built. It sold in Philadelphia, in January 1871, for $30.50 a ton ; and in September of the same year, for $53. The sudden fall in 1874 was severely felt in the United States, and its production decreased until 1879, when the output was increased; but prices dropped to a point lower than at any day since colonial times. In 1879, pros- pects began to brighten; and on account of good crops at home and poor ones abroad, the leading maangers of rail- roads felt sufficiently sure of an increase in their business to order materials containing iron and steel.
At one time and another during this period, many mining and manufacturing establishments, eight per cent. of the whole in the United States, were quite idle, communicating a depressing influence to the whole country. All this was keenly felt by those concerned in the manufacture of articles from iron and steel, and therefore Connecticut was a sharer in the trouble; but it is a highly creditable proof of the vitality and vigor of her business institutions that she did not suffer disproportionately, and emerged from the struggle without material harm or change. Some companies betrayed a weak spot in resources or management, and could not stand the strain, but most of them came through nobly. The fact that most of the large establishments in the State had been toughened, so to speak, by the vicissitudes of many years, and had all the advantages of a long experience, was of great value in sustaining them through the long and try- ing ordeal. Perhaps the reaction from the rash, abnormal investment of capital in machinery and transportation agen-
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cies from 1869 to 1873 was a salutary lesson in restraint and caution, which resulted in solid benefit thereafter.
It is certain that during those years of financial anxiety, Connecticut did not change her character as a leader in indus- trial and inventive activities, nor did she vary the ordinary peaceful tenor of life. In fact, as is easily perceived, great prosperity and high wages are what give encouragement to ebullitions of discontent.
On the second inauguration of President Grant, he called the ex-Governor, Marshall Jewell, to the cabinet, as Post- master-General. To the administration of national postal affairs, he took the practical habits of exactness and thorough- ness that had made his business career successful. He expected department clerks to keep their hours and serve the United States as faithfully as if they were working for him personally; strange as it may seem, that was not what some people in Washington wished to have; and their feeling was expressed by Senator Chandler in his famous exclamation that "Jewell was running the Post Office like a factory"! In the light of recent Post-Office investigations, it seems not improbable that a continuance of the despised "factory" methods would have been advantageous for the country, and also for the reputation of some Post-Office officials !
When Mr. Jewell was ungraciously excused from further service, the feeling of the State was expressed in a reception which still lingers in memory as one of unsurpassed enthu- siasm. Party differences were dropped in the universal desire to prove that the prophet had honor in his own country, and to give unmistakable approval to the able and faithful son of the State in a hearty and magnificent welcome home.
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CHAPTER V REVISIONS OF THE GENERAL STATUTES
S INCE the famous constitution of 1818 was adopted, revisions have occurred at intervals of a few years; although the first, that of 1821, was in force for a quarter of a century. In 1835, ref- erences to judicial decisions were printed for the first time; and some years afterwards, the Secretary began to publish separately the Private Acts, which in 1870 had accumulated to six volumes.
The districts were rearranged in 1842; and in 1847, a commission consisting of Governor Dutton, Judge Waldo, and Francis Fellowes, was appointed to make a new revision, known as that of 1849; and the first and second named gen- tlemen, with David B. Booth, served again in the same way in 1864. This revision was known as that of 1865.
Before many years had passed, the need of another revision was felt, and another commission was appointed to make a new revision, with a view to classifying, consolidating, and supplying omissions and giving notes and references accord- ing to its judgment. Many ancient titles which had become obsolete, as Concerning Slavery, Taverners, and the like, were left out; many penalties and fines were changed because inadequate or expressed in antiquated terms; and by careful condensation, the whole mass of statutes was abridged to a volume little larger than the previous one. This was the revision of 1875.
Important amendments were made soon after. In 1875, the date of the State election was set back from April to November, beginning in 1876. It was for this reason, as has been said, that Governor Ingersoll's last term of office was shortened. A corresponding change was made in the terms of the members of the General Assembly, and in the sessions of that body. A needed reform was made in 1877, when mar-
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ried women were placed on an equality with men in the right to own and dispose of property.
Any effort to increase the number of representatives was repressed by an amendment providing that neither a new nor a parent town could send a representative if, after dividing, the population of each fell below twenty-five hundred. In 1639 that would have rightly seemed oppressive; but altered conditions imposed new interpretations of the law of liberty. Very properly, the word "white" was stricken out in describ- ing classes of the population. Counties and cities were for- bidden to subscribe to or purchase the stock of any corpora- tion. A "specific appropriation" bill was passed, which directed that for every appropriation specific estimates must be made.'
So long ago as 1856, the terms of the judges of the Supreme Court and the Superior Court were reduced from "good behavior" to eight years. This was in order to pre- vent the long continuance in office of undesirable judges; but it did not forbid the reappointment of those who were satis- factory. However, as the right of appointment belonged to the General Assembly, there was opportunity for hasty if not corrupt action in the game of political grab; and a step in the right direction was made when, in 1880, the power of nomina- tion passed to the Governor, the General Assembly still "appointing" the men whom he nominated. This most salu- tary constitutional amendment secured a calmer and presum- ably wiser choice than was always obtained by the other way; and the resulting benefit was so obvious to the upholders of a pure judiciary that a successful effort was made in 1901 to place also in the Governor's hands the power of nominat- ing the judges of the Courts of Common Pleas and of the Dis-
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trict Court of Waterbury, such nominees to be appointed by the Legislature.
Moreover, another improvement has been made by length- ening the terms of the judges of the inferior courts. Judges can hardly dwell in the ideal atmosphere of judicial calm if their equilibrium and position itself are liable to be disturbed by the vacillations of political parties and the fear of losing a re-election. One of the most priceless safeguards of our institutions is the upright and impartial character of judges; and all legislative vigilance which tends to preserve that safe- guard in its integrity is encouraging for the commonwealth.
In 1884, one more important constitutional amendment was passed, making the State elections biennial, with a con- sequent extension of the Governor's term and the omission of the session of the Legislature on alternate years. These changes have not been made without much discussion between men of conservative and radical tendencies of thought. Per- haps they are the best proof that life is not dormant in the old constitution which has been the pride of the State; for the law of life is change.
The completion of the first century of our national exist- ence was an epoch in the history of the United States in more ways than one; for the Exposition of the World's Indus- tries which was held at Philadelphia in celebration of the anniversary was a turning point in the esthetic and the indus- trial life of the people, and consequently, in their application of art to industry.
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