USA > Illinois > Illinois, historical and statistical, comprising the essential facts of its planting and growth as a province, county, territory, and state, Vol. II > Part 36
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927
THIRTY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
tor-general at Rousseau's head-quarters at Nashville until the close of the war. He was appointed collector of internal revenue of the northern Illinois district by President Arthur.
Charles Becker, state treasurer, was born in Germany, June 14, 1840, and came with his parents to the United States in 1851. He was a soldier in the Twelfth Missouri Infantry, and at the battle of Pea Ridge was so severely wounded in the leg that amputation was necessary in order to save his life. He was elected sheriff of his county, St. Clair, in 1866, and circuit-clerk in 1872, and a second time in 1876. He has also frequently served as a member of the city council of Belleville.
George Hunt, the attorney-general, chosen on the same ticket and who now entered upon his second term, was born in Knox County, Ohio, in 1841. He enlisted in Company E, of the 12th Illinois Infantry, in July, 1861, as a private, reënlisted in the same organization as a veteran and came out at the close of the war as its captain. As already noted, he served two terms of four years each in the state senate-from 1876 to 1884. As a soldier, legislator, and lawyer, Attorney-General Hunt has made a worthy record.
The thirty-sixth general assembly convened January 7, 1889. The republicans had a greater preponderance in the senate than ever before, and a larger majority on joint-ballot than at any session since 1871.
The senators elect were Charles H. Crawford, reelected, Thos. C. Mac Millan, Horace H. Thomas," all of Cook County; Charles E. Fuller,* who had been a member of every general assembly since the thirtieth, Boone; Benjamin F. Sheets, Ogle; Robert H. Wiles, Stephenson; Henry H. Evans,* Kane, re- elected; Conrad Secrest,* a member of the thirty-second and thirty-third senates, Iroquois; Charles Bogardus," Ford; Mar- tin L. Newell, Woodford; Thomas Hamer,* Fulton; Orville F. Berry, Hancock; Mark M. Bassett, Peoria; Thomas C. Kerrick, McLean; Wilton W. Matthews, Champaign; Arthur A. Leeper, Cass; Harry Higbee, Pike; Edward L. Mc Donald, Morgan; Hiram P. Shumway,* Christian; F. E. W. Brink,* Washington; Dios C. Hagle, Clay; James . R. Campbell,* Hamilton; Joseph W. Rickert, Monroe; David W. Karraker, Union; Charles A.
* Those marked with a * had previously served in the house.
928
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
Griswold, Whiteside, successor to J. D. Crabtree, resigned; Wm. J. Frisbee, Mc Donough, as successor to Isaac N. Pearson, re- signed; and Lewis J. Lehman, Coles, successor to T. L. Mc- Grath, deceased. Theodore S. Chapman, of Jersey County, was elected president pro tempore, and L. F. Watson, secre- tary, for the third time.
In the house, there was a much larger proportion of members who had previously served in one or more of the general assem- blies than usual. Among these, were the following from Cook County: George S. Baker, Francis A. Brokoski, Clayton E. Crafts, George F. Ecton, James H. Farrell, John S. Ford, Thos. G. Mc Elligott, Joseph P. Mahoney, John Meyer, Stephen A. Reynolds, and Peter A. Sundelius; also the following: Charles A. Allen, Henry W. Allen, Benjamin H. Bradshaw, Richard G. Breeden, Edgar S. Browne, Albert L. Converse, Orrin P. Cooley, William W. Crawford, Robert H. Davis, John Eddy, Hendrick V. Fisher, Hugh C. Gregg, the veteran-Elijah M. Haines, John M. Hart, Daniel D. Hunt, David Hunter, Wiley E. Jones, James Kenney, Wm. H. Kretzinger, Perry Logsden, Charles M. Lyon, William T. McCreery, Daniel Mc Laughlin, Samuel H. Martin, Asa C. Matthews, Thomas E. Merritt, James H. Miller, Wm. Mooney, Anthony Morassy, Chas. A. Partridge, George W. Pepoon, O. W. Pollard, Eugene Rice, William G. Sloan, Ira Tyler, Albert W. Wells, and John W. White.
Among the new members, the names most frequently appear- ing in the records of the proceedings were the following: Syl- vester Allen, Scott County; James O. Anderson, Henderson ; Jonas T. Ball, Marshall; Eugene K. Blair, Morgan; William H. Bowler, St. Clair; Jasmes N. Buchanan, Wm. Buckley, Quida J. Chott, Jethro M. Getman, Samuel C. Hayes, Bushrod E. Hoppin, Wm. E. Kent, Wm. H. Lyman, Jacob Miller, Jos. A. O'Donnell, James F. Quinn, Edward C. Whitehead, William F. Wilk, and Frank J. Wisner, all of Cook County; John S. Cochenour, Richland; Isaac B. Craig, Coles; Sherwood Dixon, Lee; Edwin A. Doolittle, Greene; James M. Fowler, Marion; James W. Hunter, Knox; Elmore W. Hurst, Rock Island; Robert M. Ireland, Kane; David P. Keller, Macon; Royal R. Lacey, Hardin; Milton Lee, Vermilion; Andrew J. Lester, Sangamon ; John P. McClanahan, Warren; Andrew S. Mc Dowell, Adams;
929
SPEAKER ASA C. MATTHEWS.
James P. McGee, Douglas; Thos. A. Marshall, Mercer; Samuel H. Martin, White; Free P. Morris, Iroquois; Joseph C. Meyers and Wm. H. Oglevee, De Witt ; Daniel H. Paddock, Kankakee; Frederick B. Phillips and Samuel C. Smiley, St. Clair; George W. Prince, Knox; Thomas T. Ramey, Madison; David Ross, LaSalle; Gardner S. Southworth, McHenry; David R. Sparks, Madison; Robert B. Stinson, Union; Michael Stoskopf, Stephen- son; Henry L. Terpening, McLean; George R. Tilton, Vermil- ion; Watson A. Towse, Macoupin; James P. Trench, La Salle; Pierson P. Updike, Montgomery; Frederick Wilke, Will; Reuben W. Willett, Kendall .*
Colonel Asa C. Matthews of Pike County, who had been unanimously endorsed by the republican caucus, was elected speaker, receiving 79 votes to 71 for Clayton E. Crafts of Chicago, the nominee of the democrats.
Colonel Matthews was born and raised on a farm in Pike County. After attending the common schools, the was matricu- lated at Mc Kendree College, and later became a student at the Illinois College, from which institution he was graduated in 1855. Having studied law with Hon. Milton Hay, who then resided in Pittsfield, he was admitted to the bar in 1858. He was building up a lucrative practice at the time of the outbreak of the war, soon after which event he enlisted as a volunteer in Company C, of the 99th Illinois Infantry, and was elected captain. This was a fighting regiment as the list of casualties shows. In that terrible assault of May 22, 1863, at Vicksburg, out of 300 men engaged, 103 were either killed or wounded, including all the field-officers, when the command devolved upon Capt. Matthews. When the regiment was consolidated into a battalion of five companies in 1864, he was commissioned its lieutenant-colonel, and subsequently its colonel and as such brought it home for muster out.
* Of the members, 33 were foreigners, 23 were born in New York, 10 in New England, 25 Ohio, 70 Illinois, 10 Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the remainder in the West and South. There were 58 lawyers, 53 farmers, 26 merchants and deal- ers, 10 editors and publishers, 11 belonging to professions other than the law, IO mechanics and laborers, 9 insurance and real estate, and the remainder bankers, capitalists, contractors, et cetera. Only one member was classed as a liquor-dealer, although there were several, one of whom called himself a teamster.
+ One of which was taught by the Author.
930
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
In 1869, Col. Matthews was appointed collector of internal revenue for his district, the duties of which position he dis- charged so satisfactorily that he was retained in office until 1875, when he was made supervisor of internal revenue, in which capacity he rendered efficient service in the prosecution of the Chicago whisky-ring. This position he resigned in 1876, and was elected to the legislature, reëlected in 1878, entering now upon service in that body for the third term.
The colonel had not in the meantime neglected his law prac- tice, and in 1886, a vacancy occurring on the bench of the cir- cuit-court of the sixth district, his eminent fitness for the posi- tion led to his appointment as judge by Gov. Hamilton. He discharged the responsible and arduous duties of this high office with distinguished fidelity.
Colonel Matthews is a speaker of no mean powers and is frequently called upon in his district to take the stump. He is rather under the medium size, but compactly built. His com- plexion is dark and his manners are characterized by a frankness and a geniality truly western. His former experience in the general assembly, wherein he was a leading member, his famili- arity with the rules, his sense of fairness, and his unvarying good nature, all combine to make him a popular and effective speaker.
His name was strongly urged upon President Harrison for the position of commissioner of internal revenue. While there were obstacles in the way of his appointment to that position, the strength of his endorsements so impressed the mind of the president that the latter named him first comptroller of the United-States treasury. When the news of his appointment reached the house, May 9, that body did the speaker the unusual honor of taking a recess and publicly congratulating him, a pro- ceeding in which leading democrats took part equally with the republicans .*
Governor Fifer and the other state officers were inaugurated January 14, 1889.
* Asa C. Matthews, son of Benjamin L. and Minerva Carrington Matthews, was born near Perry, Pike County, Illinois, March 22, 1833. In 1858, he was married to Anna, daughter of Col. William Ross of Pittsfield, who had been an officer in the war of 1812, and whose name frequently appears in the early legislative history of this State. He was a most estimable and leading citizen in his day.
93I
CULLOM'S SECOND ELECTION TO THE SENATE.
In his address, the governor spoke upon the topics of the ballot, the labor question, and education. "Political power," he said, "resides with the people, and is expressed only at the ballot-box; therefore the man who refuses acquiescence com- mits an offence of the same grade as he who seeks to falsify the result by corrupt methods at the polls. The consequences of ordinary crimes are usually confined to a few victims, while he who by any means robs the citizen of his constitutional right of casting his one vote, and having that vote fairly counted and its effect fairly registered in the declared result, violates the fundamental principle of free government, corrupts and poisons political authority in its very sources, and should receive speedy and severe punishment." He recommended that the laws relating to bribery be so amended that the giver should be held equally guilty with the receiver.
On the subject of labor, as to which he advanced enlightened and comprehensive views, he recommended such amendments to existing laws as should secure the better protection of miners and factory operatives, and provide an equitable method for the arbitration of all controversies arising between employers and employés in regard to wages and hours of labor.
In respect to education, the governor recommended a more thorough preparation, and a higher standard of attainments for those intending to become teachers; and advised such a change in the compulsory education law as might render it more effective.
For the first time in the history of the State, a United-States senator was reëlected without a dissenting voice being raised against him in caucus, and without leaving his seat in the senate to make a canvass. This high honor came to Shelby M. Cullom, whose first term would expire March 4. The election was held in each house January 22-the nominee of the demo- crats being once more Gen. John M. Palmer. Each candidate received the full vote of his party. Senator Cullom telegraphed his thanks from Washington.
Col. Matthews resigned the speakership on May Io, in order to enter upon his new and broader field of duty. He was succeeded by James H. Miller, of Stark County, a leading member of the bar in his section of the State, whose judicial
932
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
mind and familiarity with the principles of parliamentary law eminently qualified him for the position.
The thirty-sixth general assembly was a fairly industrious and intelligent body, and consumed less time in its deliberations than any of its predecessors under the new constitution except the twenty-ninth. It was conspicuous for the large number of bills which passed one house but failed in the other, some of which were really meritorious, for instance: the measure estab- lishing the jury-commission; that providing for the employment of prison labor; and the pure-food bill.
714 bills were introduced in the house and 401 in the senate, of which 159 became laws-48 of these relating to appropria- tions, and most of the others being merely amendatory of existing statutes.
The school-law was revised, and the perennially recurring sub- jects of corporations, courts, elections, fish and game, insurance, mines and mining, roads, highways and bridges, and township organization, received due attention. He would, indeed, be a rash legislator, who would venture to face his constituents upon his return from Springfield and tell them that he had neither said nor done anything in reference to these weighty matters.
Among the most important new measures of legislation were the following: the drainage law, being "an act to create sanitary districts, and to remove obstructions in the Desplaines and Illinois rivers; providing for the annexation of cities, incorpor- ated towns and villages, or parts of same, to cities, incorporated towns and villages; to regulate primary elections, repealing the former law on the subject; to provide for pleasure driveways; authorizing cities to convey real estate; prohibiting the em- ployment of other than native born or naturalized citizens or those who have declared their intention to become such, in the public service; providing for the location, erection, and organi- zation of an asylum for insane criminals; to suppress selling, lending, giving away, or showing obscene and immoral news- papers to minors; and a new law on compulsory education.
The drainage law was intended primarily for the benefit of the city of Chicago, and contemplates the improvement of the Desplaines and Illinois rivers, and the enlargement of a water-
ASA C. MATTHEWS
ISAAC N. PEARSON
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2
LYMAN B.RAY
JOHN R. TANNER
DANIEL SHEPARD
'S PTG. CO
CHICAGO
933
THE DRAINAGE COMMISSION.
way from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River. The act ceding the locks and dams at Henry and Copperas Creek to the United States was repealed, and provision made for their removal "whenever the depth now available for navigation can be secured and maintained by channel improvement without the aid of dams." A joint-resolution was adopted requesting the United States to aid in the construction of a channel not less than 160 feet wide and 22 feet deep, with such grade as to give a velocity of three miles per hour, from Chicago to Lake Joliet, and to project a channel of similar capacity, and not less than 14 feet deep from Lake Joliet to La Salle.
The sanitary district of Chicago having been duly created under the act, the following board of 9 trustees, to hold office until the first Monday of December, 1896, was duly elected on Dec. 12, 1889: John J. Altpeter, Dr. Arnold P. Gillmore, Christopher Hotz, John A. King, Murry Nelson, Judge Richard Prendergast, William H. Russell, Frank Wenter, and Henry J. Willing. The board was organized by the election of the follow- ing officers: Murry Nelson, president; Byron L. Smith, treas- urer; Charles Bary, secretary ; L. E. Cooley was appointed chief- engineer; General George W. Smith, attorney; and Thomas F. Judge, clerk.
The commission is limited in its expenditures to the sum of $15,000,000. Preliminary surveys have already been made and work begun.
Congress, having in obedience to a loudly expressed, popular desire, determined to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America, by the holding of a great inter- national exposition; and Chicago, after an exciting contest, having been selected as the location for the same, it became necessary to call a special session of the thirty-sixth general assembly for the purpose of enacting certain measures which the situation had rendered necessary. A petition, requesting the same, having been forwarded to Gov. Fifer from the local directory and the authorities of the city of Chicago, the governor issued his call for the legislature to convene on July 24, 1890. Four days before the assembling of the body, the speaker of the house, James H. Miller, died at Manitou Springs, Colorado. Wm. G. Cochran, of Moultrie County, was elected speaker, and Geo. T. Buckingham, clerk, vice John A. Reeve, resigned.
934
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
A law was passed granting to the World's Columbian Expo- sition the use and occupation of all the lands of the state of Illinois within, or adjacent to Chicago, submerged or otherwise, as a site, the use to continue one year after the close of the exposition; also the use and employment of any public or park grounds belonging to Chicago, said city consenting thereto; and express authority was given to park commissioners, having the control or management of public parks, to allow the use of the same or any part thereof for the purposes of the exposition.
A joint-resolution was also adopted providing for the sub- mission of an amendment to the constitution empowering the city of Chicago, upon consent of a majority of the voters therein, to issue interest-bearing bonds to the amount of $5,000,000, the proceeds thereof to be paid to the managers of the World's Columbian Exposition to be used and disbursed for its benefit.
The special session adjourned August I.
The credit of originating this great enterprise seems to belong to the Chicago Inter-State Exposition. As early as Nov. 14, 1885, the following resolution, suggested by George Mason, was introduced by Edwin Lee Brown, at a meeting of the board of directors of that organization:
"Resolved, that it is the sense of this meeting that a great World's Fair should be held in Chicago in the year 1892, the four hundredth anniversary of the landing of Columbus in America."
This resolution was referred to the executive committee, who, recognizing the imperative necessity of the cooperation of the business interests of Chicago, instructed its secretary, John P. Reynolds, to lay the same before the Commercial Club for its approval and endorsement. That influential body having its attention occupied in securing a site for Fort Sheridan, at the time, no action was then taken. But the subject was not per- mitted to drop out of discussion, and at a meeting of the Iroquois Club on May 1, 1888, on motion of Judge Henry M. Shepard, a conference was invited between that club, and the Union League, Commercial, University, Illinois, Kenwood, and Standard clubs of the city, at which, on July 6, a resolution was adopted favoring organization and the taking of action to secure
935
THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
"the location of an international celebration of the four hun- dredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus, at Chicago."
Although the movement was thus fairly inaugurated, no organized action was taken until July of the following year, when, under direction of the city council, the mayor, De Witt Clinton Cregier, appointed a committee of 100, which was afterward increased to 250, who were charged with the duty of using "all honorable means" to secure the World's Fair for Chicago.
A location for active operations was obtained, a corporation was formed with a capital of $5,000,000, afterward doubled, and the country generally flooded with carefully-prepared reasons why the proposed celebration should be held in Chicago. Head-quarters were opened in Washington in September, and on December 19, Senator Cullom introduced a bill providing for the necessary legislation by congress. This was referred to a committee, and the name of the particular locality at which the fair should be held having been left blank, to be filled in after hearing and weighing the inducements and arguments offered by competing points, Chicago, New York, Washington, and St. Louis all being bidders for the prize. The spirited con- test which followed attracted the attention of the entire Nation, and wassettled in the house of representatives on Feb. 14, 1890. Eight ballots were taken, Chicago and New York gaining in each at the expense of Washington and St. Louis, the final result being Chicago 157, New York 107, St. Louis 25, and Washington 18, the Illinois metropolis receiving a majority of 7 votes.
The bill providing for the exposition passed the house April II, the senate April 21, and became a law by the signature of the president, Benjamin Harrison, April 25, 1890.
The law provided for the appointment by the president of two commissioners and alternates from each state and eight commissioners at large. Those from Illinois are: Adlai T. Ewing of Chicago, Charles H Deere of Moline, and their alternates Lafayette Funk of Mc Lean County, and Dewit W. Smith of Springfield. The commission was organized June 27, 1890, with Thomas W. Palmer of Michigan as president, and John T. Dickinson of Texas as secretary. George R.
936
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
Davis of Chicago, upon the recommendation of the local directors, was elected director-general.
The corporation organized under the laws of the state of Illinois, upon which largely devolves the local management and control of the exposition, the selection of a site, and the erec- tion of buildings, is governed by a board of forty-five direc- tors, which organized with the following officers: Lyman J. Gage president, Thomas B. Bryan first vice-president, Potter Palmer second vice-president, Benjamin Butterworth secretary, Anthony F. Seeberger treasurer, and William K. Ackerman auditor.
Each section of the city presented its claims, and the task of making a selection from the many eligible locations offered was one which required not only sound judgment but also rare tact. After carefully weighing the respective merits of all the sites tendered, the choice of the directors finally rested upon that which seemed to combine the essentially desirable elements of ample room and easy access. They chose a portion of the Lake-Front and Jackson Park, where the principal buildings will be located, and the tract known as the Midway Plaisance.
Preparations for the biennial political campaign were inaugu- rated in 1890 much earlier than usual. The democrats led off with their state convention, which was held at Springfield, June 3, Hon. Joseph B. Mann of Danville in the chair. Judge Edward S. Wilson of Richland County was nominated for state treasurer, receiving a majority of votes over William Fitzgerald of Chicago; and Henry Raab of St. Clair County, who had formerly occupied the same position, was named by acclamation the candidate for state superintendent of public instruction.
A departure from the usual course was made in the nomina- tion by a state convention of a candidate for the United-States senate. Gen. John M. Palmer, who had been repeatedly there- tofore the nominee of his party in the legislative caucus, received this distinction. To invest this action with an air of consistency, a resolution was incorporated in the platform favor- ing the election of United-States senator by a direct vote of the people. Other new planks were as follows: favoring a change in the compulsory school -law; in favor of the Australian ballot system; requiring the state treasurer to pay
937
THE ELECTION OF 1890.
to the State all interest received on deposits; and in favor of the preparation and publishing of school-books and furnishing them to the children at cost.
The republican state-convention met at the same place, June 24. Ex-Senator Horace S. Clark of Coles County was elected temporary, and Gen. John Mc Nulta of Mc Lean permanent, president. Two ballots were had for state treasurer, resulting in the nomination of Franz Amberg of Chicago, the other principal candidates being Senator Conrad Secrest of Iroquois County, and Judge Cicero J. Lindley of Bond. Dr. Richard Edwards, the then incumbent, was, without opposition, nomi- nated for superintendent of public instruction.
The platform adopted agreed with that of the democrats in declaring in favor of the Australian ballot system, and in amend- ing the compulsory school-law, and reaffirmed the principles of the national republican convention of 1888. Strong resolutions were also adopted in favor of the rights of the workingman.
The democrats, for the first time in 27 years, succeeded in electing their state ticket; the state treasurer by a majority of 9847 and the superintendent of public instruction by 34,042.
The causes which led to this result have been variously attributed to the passage by a republican congress of the so- called Mc Kinley tariff bill, the agitation of the compulsory education law, and general dissatisfaction with the national administration. It was certainly presuming a great deal upon the power of party organization to precipitate an issue of so great importance as an entirely new tariff-law upon the people, with only a three-weeks' canvass in which to counteract the unfavorable impressions created against it by the opposition. Whether true or not, the argument that it would induce high prices so industriously circulated against it, both during the pendency of the bill and after its passage, had their undoubted effect. But whether it was unwise tariff legislation, the adverse vote of many republican farmers, the indifference of others, or the revolt of a portion of the German republicans as shown in the vote against Edwards, the party suffered a still more disas- trous reverse than in 1874, not only in Illinois, but throughout the country.
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