USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Historic homes in Washington : its noted men and women and a century in the White House > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26
President Harrison returned to the locality that gave Ben Franklin to the country's service, and from the city of Brotherly Love brought John Wannamaker to the front to handle the Nation's mail. It did not require a political campaign to make this man prominent before the people.
In 1849 Congress passed an act establishing the Interior Department, and Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, was the first Secretary. Able men have been called to the head of this Department, like Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana; James Harlan, of Iowa; Zach Chandler, of Michigan; Henry M. Teller, of Colorado. John W. Noble, the newly-appointed Secretary, had been tried and not found wanting.
Again must we go back a hundred years to learn who was the first Attorney-General, and to find that it was Edmund Randolph, of Virginia. What an array we find along the way! There were William Pinckney, Richard Rush, William Wirt, Reverdy Johnson, Caleb Cushing, Jeremiah Black, Edwin M. Stanton and William M. Evarts among them.
William Henry Harrison Miller was too closely allied to President Harrison for him to have made any mistake in his appointment. He was a wise counsellor and friend of the President, such as is a necessity to every man in his position.
The Cabinet centennial year could not have been better observed than by adding a new Department and a new Secretary to the President's official household. A new
:
162
HISTORIC HOMES IN WASHINGTON.
chair was placed at this family table, and the President happily invited Jeremiah MI. Rusk, from the Badger State, to fill it.
He bore the credentials of a public man. Three terms had he served in Congress, and three times been chosen Governor of his State; but, perhaps, what he prized most was his service to his country, that made him Brigadier- General. The picture that went over the country repre- senting him driving the "boys" to "Nacirema" showed his popularity. President Harrison's judgment was not faulty when he chose "Jerry" Rusk for his Secetary of Agriculture.
Mr. Harrison needed no pen picture to make him a familiar figure before the country. His ancestors, his birthplace, his daily life through the years were familiar to every newspaper reader. He need not depend for honor upon the prestige of his ancestors. The record of his personal life was his glory among his fellow-country- men. His character, both public and private, was above suspicion. His love for his family, the tender solicitude he manifested in their presence or absence, the simplicity with which his attention to their wants was carried out, his familiar figure, seen almost daily walking along the thoroughfares of Washington, were subjects of daily comment which won the hearts of the people. He loved and still loves his country and his fellow-men.
Internationally and financially this country never stood on a firmer basis than during President Harrison's Ad- ministration. Some of the State papers emanating from the conditions of that time are models in diplomacy, and the United States of America was honored of men and of nations.
President Harrison's masterly message on the Chilean difficulty quickly won the approval of the civilized world, as well as other state papers connected with this matter which were entirely from his hand, owing to the shattered condition of health of his Secretary of State. This mes- sage will rank side by side with Monroe's great American policy.
The position taken by the President was so just and so .
163
BENJAMIN HARRISON.
clearly set forth our claims that in less than three days he was enabled to announce to Congress that Chile had .substantially complied with our demands.
Neither was there any uncertain ring to his attitude on the Hawaiian policy. On Feb. I Minister Stevens raised the United States flag over Honolulu, landed the marines and established a protectorate.
A treaty of annexation was about to be signed, but President Harrison thought it a mark of courtesy to defer proceedings for action to the incoming President, a policy Mr. Cleveland failed to carry out.
It was during this Administration that the great Worlds Fair Exposition at Chicago was conceived and brought to maturity. No surer index of the prosperity of the country is needed than that this Nation was in a condition to take upon it and carry on to such magnificent results the greatest exposition of the world. President Harrison left the White House in March, after having seen the dedication the October preceding, and President Cleveland touched the button the Ist of May that put in motion all the activities of this wonderful creation.
PATRIOTISM AND STATESMANSHIP.
This Administration will be looked upon as one gov- erned by pure, exalted patriotism and broad statesman- ship.
Caroline Scott Harrison, during her husband's Ad- ministration, was elected to the Presidency of The Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It was largely through her zealous efforts in behalf of this society that it is to-day such a leading patriotic society in America.
It was Mrs. Harrison who first enthused the society with the desire to build in the City of Washington a home to be known as a Memorial Building for this society. To- ward the consummation of this object the society is work- ing, and the day is not far distant when it will be a realiza- tion.
At the first meeting of the Board of Management after the Congress of 1892, from recommendations which were
104
HISTORIC HOMES IN WASHINGTON.
highly approved at that Congress, Mrs. Harrison pro- posed that a plan be immediately formulated for a Me- morial Hall, in honor of the statesmen, soldiers, sailors, and patriots of the American Revolution, to be known as the Continental Hall, which was to be the property in fee- simple of American women calling themselves by in- herited right Daughters of the American Revolution.
Acting on Mrs. Harrison's suggestion, a committee was formed to prepare and submit a plan and to further the fulfillment of the erection of such a building.
When that building is a fact and not an idea no name will be more honored in it than the first President of the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
During the last two years of President Harrison's Ad- ministration sorrow sat enshrined upon the portals of the White House. First came the death of Mrs. Harrison's sister, Mrs. Scott Lord, then that of her venerable father, Dr. John Scott, and lastly, on Oct. 25, 1892, Mrs. Caroline Scott Harrison passed into the silent land.
An inscrutable Providence rested his hand upon this family. Not only was the Nation in sackcloth, but individuals were in mourning over this broken house- hold.
The President, Benjamin Harrison, true to his trust, continued to exercise his public functions ably, honestly, faithfully, until the close of his Administration
-
1
CHAPTER XV.
CLEVELAND'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION.
ONE OF HIS FIRST ACTS WAS TO WITHDRAW THE HAWAILAN TREATY-SEVERELY CRITICIZED-A FINANCIAL CRISIS-THE WILSON BILL-REVOLUTION LV CUBA-VENEZUELAN QUES- TION-MRS. CLEVELAND.
Grover Cleveland as 24th President was inaugurated, for the second time, March 4, 1893. To his Cabinet he called Walter O. Gresham as Secretary of State; Hon. John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky, as Secretary of the Treas- ury; Daniel S. Lamont (his Private Secretary during his first Administration) as Secretary of War; Wilson S. Bissell, of New York, as Postmaster-General, succeeded by William L. Wilson; Richard S. Olney, of Massa- chusetts, was appointed Attorney-General. Mr. Gresh- am died March, 1895, and Mr. Olney was made Secre- tary of State and Judson Harmon Attorney-General. Hoke Smith, Secretary of Interior, was succeeded by D. M. Francis. J. Sterling Morton was Secretary of Agriculture.
The first official act of President Cleveland after March 4, 1893, was to request the Senate to recall the Treaty of Annexation with Hawaii. That was one of the last acts of President Harrison's Administration.
On April 14 the American Protectorate was withdrawn by Commissioner Blount, who had been sent there as the President's direct representative. The Administration made an unsuccessful attempt to reinstate the dethroned Queen.
The Republic of Hawaii was proclaimed by the Revo- lutionists July 14, 1893, and on Aug. 9. it was officially recognized by the United States Government.
Party feeling ran high. The people were not in accord with the action of the Administration. Their sympathies were in the interest of Hawaii.
In the Summer of 1893 a money panic as severe as this country was ever called upon to meet swept over the land.
( 165 )
166
HISTORIC HOMES IN WASHINGTON.
Banks refused the usual discounting accommodations, it mattered not how financially stable the parties. Public confidence was lost.
The panic was attributed to the "Silver Purchasing Act." The President convened a special Congress to take measures toward relieving the pressure. After a long and bitter debate, the Silver Repeal Act was passed Oct. 30, 1893. Party lines were obliterated.
On Dec. 19 a tariff bill, known as the Wilson Bill, was sent to the House. It was contested for 23 days, and passed Feb. 1, 1891. It was debated in the Senate until July, and after numerous amendments was passed by a strict party vote, 182 for and 106 against the measure.
The House rejected the 634 Senate amendments in gross. The Senate demanded the passage of their bill, or no tariff legislation. The House conferrees demanded free raw materials and no protection for sugar. The President's letter insisted on free raw materials; but all was in vain. The House fearing no tariff bill would be passed, finally, on Aug. 13, passed the Senate bill.
FAILED TO SIGN IT
The bill was not satisfactory to the President, and he allowed it to become a law without his signature on Aug. 27, 1894. An income tax provision had been inserted in the bill at the suggestion of the President. After much rancorous debate it had limped through the House, and in much the same way was passed by a reluctant Senate. The United States Supreme Court afterward decided it unconstitutional. This was a disappointment to the President, for it reduced the Government revenue $30,- 000,000.
The President, therefore, had to ask of Congress the authority to issue gold bonds; or, by the change in the tariff laws the Government was forced to borrow money enough to cover the deficiencies. This recommendation of the President was defeated.
Following this was an announcement from the Presi- dent that he had already negotiated a conditional sale of
$1
167
CLEVELAND'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION,
over $62,000,000 of four per cent. bonds to a syndicate, mostly foreign capitalists, having no alternative because of the "omission thus far on the part of Congress to bene- ficially enlarge the powers of the Secretary of the Treas- ury in the premises," and recommending a proposition to issue three per cent. bonds by act of Congress.
Mr. Wilson reported a bill authorizing the issue of $65,116,275 of gold three per cent. bonds, as recommended by the President. The bill was called up Feb. 14 and defeated. Other loans were subsequently negotiated.
In the previous Administration the National debt was reduced $236,527,666. In President Cleveland's Ad- ministration in three years the interest bearing bonded debt increased $262,602,245.
The revolution in Cuba began on Feb. 20, 1895. Con- gress passed resolutions favoring the recognition of belligerency, but the President looked upon these reso- lutions as a somewhat perfunctory expression of opinions not well digested. He was not in accord with the act of Congress.
VENEZUELA'S TROUBLES.
The Venezuela case came to the front during Mr. Cleve- land's Administration. The Schomburgk boundary lines was the vital question. The discovery of gold in Venezuela induced Great Britain to claim the boundary line of British Guiana extended to the Orinoco, which included these gold fields.
When the British subjects entered the disputed terri- tory the authorities of Venezuela had them arrested. For this Great Britain demanded an indemnity. Our Government recommended arbitration, to which Great Britain did not accede, but threatened to seize a part of Venezuela. President Cleveland championed the cause of Venezuela and defended the Monroe Doctrine by assert- ing that this Government could not allow any foreign power to get possession of any part of this continent by any process.
Lord Salisbury at first refused, decidedly, to arbitrate
168
HISTORIC HOMES IN WASHINGTON.
the question, but a few months later England accepted the proposition of the United States.
Negotiations were pending with a New York syndicate -and foreign bankers for a new gold loan of S100,000,000. England's hand was seen when securities began to be unloaded. Stocks tumbled, and Wall street was wild for 48 hours. The syndicates asked for a larger rate of interest, to enable them to float the loan.
The press came to the rescue, and suggested a popular loan. The Administration at last tried it. There were 4,640 bids-for over $681,000,000-at prices far better than offered by the syndicate. The country and the Administration were surprised at the solid and united phalanx of the people.
The lesson taught must inevitably be that this patri- otic people will ever stand by their country, and that an insufficient revenue brings an unceasing deficit. Instead of a surplus in the Treasury we are borrowers in the market.
The effect of the policy of the time, its weal or woe for the country, has been cast .. It will be written in burning letters when it shall have become history.
The official ceremonies of the White House were con- ducted upon the same dignified plane as has long been the custom. The semi-official occasions as compared with the first Cleveland Administration were conspicuous by their absence. Mrs. Cleveland, who filled so large a space in the social life at Washington in the first reign, became somewhat retired in the last, devoting her life almost entirely to her children, showing herself quite as much a queen in the home as she had previously been in society.
Her three children-Ruth, Esther and Marion-have fully developed in her the higher attributes of woman- hood. When she left the Executive Mansion for her new . home in Princeton, Mrs. Cleveland carried with her the love of her countrywomen. Through the years she will be remembered as one of the most gracious of the Queens of Society in the first century of the White House, and the blessings of the people will follow her .
- -
CHAPTER XVI. OHIO'S SON HEADS THE NATION.
TRIBUTES BY GREAT SPEAKERS TO A GREAT COMRADE-FORGING TO THE FRONT-SPRUNG FROM STURDY STOCK-PRESIDENT MCKINLEY'S DOMESTIC RELATIONS-HIS WIFE.
We come to the one in the line of Presidents whose Ad- ministration will complete the first century of the White House. We find for the fifth time the country has called upon a son of Ohio to become its Chief Magistrate. Honors are even between Virginia, the Mother of Presidents, and Ohio.
We also recall the fact that in the morning of the present century the broad acres and thrifty farms on which the Capital City now stands were owned and had been settled a century back by a company of sturdy Scotch-Irish.
No people have made a stronger impress upon American history than this nationality, and it is a striking coin- cidence that should bring a man to wield the destinies of the Nation out of the evening of the old into the morning of another century whose Scotch-Irish blood tingled in the veins of his ancestry:
When President Mckinley looks out of the windows of the White House over the sweeping lawns and on toward the Potomac he is looking at the same general landscape that filled the eve and heart of honest Davy Burns, and he can see the spot where Tom Moore wrote to Thomas Hume the lines:
"So here I pause; and now, my Hume! we part; But oh, full oft in magic dreams of heart Thus let us meet and mingle converse dear Bv Thames at home or by Potomac here! O'er lakes and marsh, through fevers and through fogs, 'Midst bears and Yankees, Democrats and frogs,
Thy foot shall follow me; thy heart and eyes
With me shall wonder, and with me despise."
The Convention at St. Louis chose William McKinley (169)
.
170
HISTORIC HOMES IN WASHINGTON.
as their standard-bearer. Hon. Mr. Foraker, in his nominating speech, said, among other things:
"His testimonials are of private life without reproach; four years of heroic service as a boy soldier on the battle- fields of the Republic under such gallant Generals as Philip H. Sheridan; 12 years of conspicuous service in the halls of Congress associated with great leaders of Re- publicanism; four years of executive service as Governor of Ohio; but, greatest of all, measured by present require- ments, leader of the House of Representatives and author of the McKinley law-a law under which labor had richer reward and the country greatly increased prosperity."
Senator Thurston, during the speech by which he seconded the nomination, said: "When this country called to arms he took into his boyish hands a musket and fol- lowed the flag, bravely baring his breast to the hell of battle that it might float serenely in the Union sky. For a quarter of a century he has stood in the fierce light of public place, and his robes of office are spotless as the driven snow. He has cherished no higher ambition than the honor of his country and the welfare of the plain people. Steadfastly, courageously, victoriously, and with tongue of fire he has pleaded their cause. His God- given powers are consecrated to the advancement and renown of his own country, and to the uplifting and en- nobling of his own countrymen. * Omnipotence never sleeps. Every great crisis brings a leader. For every supreme hour Providence finds a man. * * %
"That comfort and contentment may again abide, the fireside glow, the women sing, the children laugh; yes, and on behalf of that American flag, and all it stands for and represents, for the honor of every stripe, for the glory of every star, that its power may fill the earth and its splendor span the sky, I ask the nomination of that loyal American, that Christian gentleman, soldier, statesman, patriot-William McKinley."
The result we know. He received the nomination, and the people said: "Go higher."
That Convention addressed itself to the awakened in- telligence of the people by certain declarations of facts
171
OHIO'S SON HEADS THE NATION.
and principles, and then selected the man whom they could trust to carry them out. There was no uncertain ring to the platform. Every vital point had its hearing- the tariff, reciprocity, sound money, pensions; Monroe Doctrine, civil service, National arbitration, rights of women, foreign relations.
MR. MCKINLEY'S ROMANCE.
A Providence took Maj. Mckinley to Canton when he came to the mile-stone in life that was to guide him to success or failure in the affairs of men. There he first met Miss Ida Saxton and subsequently made her his wife. She was the daughter of James A. Saxton, one of the leading men of Canton. There they first set up the home. The first shadow that came upon this household was the death of their first-born, a little daughter three years old. This was followed by the death of her mother, and soon the second child, a baby.
The shock of this triple loss made an invalid of Mrs. McKinley for several years. When her husband came to Congress she took up her duties and was his constant companion. She was a close companion of Mrs. Hayes, and was often called upon to assist in the social functions of the White House. Her experience, her culture and education have fully equipped her for the duties she is now called upon to meet.
She is singularly attractive in person. She has an oval face, with large, deep-blue eyes that express her soul as she looks into your face. Her head is well formed and covered with soft, brown, wavy hair tinged with silver. She keeps it short, which gives' her a youthful appearance.
Her bearing is benignant and serene, and draws old and young alike unto her. She takes a deep interest in all public questions and holds herself ready to respond to the requirements and duties devolving upon the first lady of the land, although she does not hesitate to say, "It is not of my choice that we are here. Mr. Mckinley has given so many years to his country and his country's service that it did seem to me the remainder of life he
172
HISTORIC HOMES IN WASHINGTON.
belonged to me. Had it been left to me I would have so settled it." .
We have seen Mr. McKinley in the various attitudes of public life, but to know the truest manhood that lies within him is to know him in his domestic relations from the lips of those who have lived nearest to him. We know there was never a more devoted, tender, thoughtful husband-never sweeter family relations -- never a truer friend.
When the imaginary walls of office are scaled that shields a public man from the masses, behind it President McKinley still wears the garb of comrade and friend, and his hand is ever extended for good fellowship.
We know the stock from whence he sprang. His parents possessed the sterling qualities of good citizen- ship. His mother was a woman of strong and passionate patriotism. She was one who was willing to make sacri- fices to save her country's flag. She was now reaping her reward. When we saw her in the home of the Presi- dent, sitting there in the beauty and serenity of years that brought a halo over her, we asked if it was not a proud day for her to see her son President, she sweetly answered: "I am proud to be the mother of my boy "
DAWN OF A NEW CENTURY.
We are nearing the time when the hour will be rung, the curtain will go down, the lights turned out, and the dawn of a new century will appear. And what have we of this century to bequeath to it? Let us see. The little narrow strip of territory lying along the small portion of the Atlantic coast, about as large as the State of Texas, has been added to from time to time. Before any of the acquisitions of the last war our possessions had grown until they were 50 times greater than the 13 original States. It seems a little late in the century to raise the cry against expansion. But now a hundred years of our Republic has been completed, President Mckinley has made up the National ledger, a balance sheet is presented for inspection After a century of expansion the Consti-
173
OHIO'S SON HEADS THE NATION.
tution is stronger than ever to-day. The Government has a standing at home and abroad that it never had be- fore.
When John Adams entered the White House, Nov. 17, 1800, 24 years after the Declaration of Independence, the houses in Washington would scarcely accommodate the small retinue of officials, 54 in number, including the President, Secretaries and clerks.
Pennsylvania Avenue was a deep morass covered with alder bushes. The streets were roads and the sidewalks cow-paths. One wing only of the Capitol was finished. To-day it is a city of palaces; silent in its magnificence- a dream-world of column and capital, shaded parks and broad avenues.
Since this century began this Nation has become a giant among nations. What has it wrought? What has invention and discovery brought to it? The popu- lation was 5,308,483. To-day, in round numbers, it has 75,000,000 of people.
When John Adams entered the White House, 100 years ago, Robert Fulton's steamer Claremont had not sailed up the Hudson. Since that time the echoes from the puffs of that little craft have been heard around the world, and the commerce of the earth has taken on new proportions.
President Adams and Congress traveled by horse and chaise to the new Capital, and were lost in the forest before reaching Washington. To-day there is not a Capital of a State in the Union, from ocean to ocean, from lake to gulf, that a palace car does not enter over the steel high- ways of the continent. The first track laid, the first puff of a locomotive, and the first trial trip made was from Washington to Baltimore.
There was no electric telegraph, but the potent in- fluences of the century bade it spring into life, and "deep calleth to deep," "and the deep uttereth his voice," and the Nations of the earth speak with one tongue, and with the morning and the evening sun they are in touch with each other.
The same spirit of discovery dominated other minds in the century. The telephone has enabled the Washing-
-
174
HISTORIC HOMES IN WASHINGTON.
tonian to literally speak face to face with his neighbor in New York. Thomas Edson has divided the electric current and its light indefinitely, -so that man holds a torch in his hand and the dark places of the earth are thereby made light.
Through the discoveries of the century lightning has become a winged messenger. It has been harnessed to chariots and man has commanded it to stand still and become the beacon light to the nations of the earth.
The Ohio River was the limit of civilization; now it is bounded only by the waters of the deep, and the great deserts are dotted with the cities of the plain.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.