USA > Indiana > Public men of Indiana : a political history from 1860 to 1890, v. 1 > Part 6
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Among other army men who composed the mil- itary commission that tried him was General Malı- lon D. Manson, a prominent Democrat, about whom more will be written.
After his release Milligan brought a civil suit against the individual members of the commission for false imprisonment, claiming damages in a large sum and a petit jury awarded him one cent. Whether he was guilty of the acts with which he was charged, may have been a question of some doubt, but the public generally accepted the de- cision of the military commission as conclusive and believed him guilty. This was not, however, the opinion of all his fellow citizens of Huntington, who gave him a great ovation on his return home
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and he seemingly had their confidence and high respect generally. He resumed his law practice and continued it for many years afterwards.
It was in the wildernesses and about the foot- hills of the counties of Orange, Washington and Jackson, that the principal place of rendezvous of the Knights of the Golden Circle was found to be and because of that fact the people of these counties were often unjustly accused of disloyalty, when in fact the best of soldiers of the Union army went forth and served their country from these counties. Among those remembered were Colonels Cyrus L. Dunham and Frank Emerson, and Cap- tains John F. Scott and John N. McCormick of Jackson County; Captain John C. Lawler and Samuel B. Voyles of Washington, and Thomas B. Buskirk of Orange. Colonel Emerson was circuit judge for many years. John C. Lawler was a member of the legislature and the leader of the Washington County bar. Samuel B. Voyles was a state senator and circuit judge, as was Thomas B. Buskirk.
Robust and powerful as Governor Morton was, the great strain on him mentally and physically during the war had the effect to break his health, so that his limbs became partially paralyzed about the time that the war ended. and during the bal- ance of his life he had to support himself by crutches and canes, and remain seated on occasions when he addressed public meetings, but he still held his great power in his party and was elected United States senator in 1867, and re-elected in
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1873; and was a candidate for the nomination for president in 1876, but defeated by General Ruther- ford B. Hayes. As senator he became one of the members of the electoral commission that decided the disputed question as to who had been elected president in 1876. He was also one of the senators who voted for the conviction of Andrew Johnson on his impeachment trial.
Morton and Hendricks differed from each other in every way. Among the memorial addresses in congress on the occasion of the death of Hendricks, was one by William D. Owen, an eloquent clergy- man of the Cliristian Church, who then represented the Logansport district in congress as a Republi- can, in which an apt comparison or contrast of the characters of these two great men appears in his declaration that: "Two more diverse spirits never battled in government before; Morton and Hend- ricks-Sir Richard and Sir Launcelot, the lion- hearted, and the fair knight. The one spoke to men with the majesty of an autocrat; the other talked with men as a man with his fellows. The one always commanded; the other always pleaded. The one brooked no dissent in his following; the other left his train camp far apart. ] The one like Cæsar would burn eight hundred cities, bathe his sword in a million lives, and wade through blood to preserve the cause he championed: the other, Coriolanus like, seeing the carnage, the de- solation, the anguish, would sheath his sword and turn away."
The attitude of Hendricks towards the war was
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severely criticised by his political opponents. He was charged with being a Southern sympathizer and with disloyalty, without having the courage to openly manifest his real convictions. In support of their denunciations they cited among other things an address that he delivered on the assem- bling of the Democratie convention, over which he presided on the 8th day of January, 1862, in which he said: "With secession upon one hand and sec- tional interference with Southern rights upon the other we hold no sympathy."
The platform of his party that followed his ad- dress was claimed to reflect his real views in its vigorous denunciations of the conduct of the war, and in the declaration that: "it resulted from the long continued, unwise and fanatical agitation in the North of the question of domestic slavery, and we are opposed to a war for the emancipation of the negroes or the subjugation of the Southern States."
It was the adoption of this platform that caused the division of the Democratic party into two distinct classes, one called the "War Demo- crats." It was openly repudiated by such Demo- crats as Governor Joseph A. Wright, Wm. H. English, Cyrus L. Dunham, James Hughes, Gen. Lew Wallace, Gen. Alvon P. Hovey, Gen. Ebene- zer Dumon; Colonel Norman, Eddy, and hun- dreds of others.
Hendricks preferred to remain with the faction that opposed subjugation of the forces that were in rebellion and stood for peace at any price, and
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became the beneficiary of the power it possessed in making him its representative in the United States senate.
It is not believable that the great political up- heaval that brought the Democratic party into power in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and even in Iowa, in 1862, could have been foreseen by him when in January of that year he took his stand with the opponents of the war and that he took it merely to be on the winning side, a want of sincerity was never charged against him, and it must be assumed that his choice was made in accordance with his convictions. A consideration of the then existing conditions and the implications that his views were reflected in the platform that he supported indicate that his critics were not wholly without justification in their charges; but his course and votes in the senate showed no affection for or sympathy with the southerners, nor any opposition to the war. He voted for all appropriation measures that were pro- posed to carry it on, among these the largest ap- propriation bill that had ever been passed, also offered and voted for measures to increase the pay of the Union soldiers in proportion to the then de- preciated condition of the currency, and in his campaign for governor and vice-president after the war was always supported by a large number of former Union soldiers.
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CHAPTER IX
W ILLIAM H. ENGLISH has been the sub- ject of so many historic sketches that only a brief addition to them will be here attempted. His life is part of the life of the State itself, so closely was he identified with it in its development. He was born at Lexington in Scott County, and in his early years received a college education. Was a member and secretary of the constitutional con- vention of 1851, that still exists as the organic law of the State. He became a member of the first legislature that assembled under this constitution and was its speaker .. In 1852 he was elected to congress and served in that body for four consecu- tive terms, becoming on his entrance in congress a member of the committee on territories, then the most important committee of that body, as it had to deal with the all absorbing question of slavery.
The territory of Kansas was created in 1854, and aspired to statehood. Whether it should come in as a free or slave State made it a scene of bitter partisan conflict. A territorial legislature that assembled at Lecompton in 1857 adopted a pro- slavery constitution.
Mr. English dissented from his Democratic as- sociates upon the question of its admission and
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WM. H. ENGLISH
opposed its becoming a State, and in the commit- tee on conference reported what was known as the English bill that required the ratification or re- jection of the Lecompton constitution by a vote of the people of the State. The people rejected the Lecompton constitution and a new one was adopted in 1858 at Topeka that made it a free territory, and it was admitted as a free State in 1861. To William H. English the credit must therefore be given for the first practical step in re- pelling the encroachies of slavery. This act in antagonizing the dominant forces of the party to which he belonged required the kind of independ- ence and courage that always aligned him with the best leaders in thought and action in the pub- lic interest. This course in respect to the admis- sion of Kansas caused the first open threats of secession from the Union to be made, and Mr. English warned his fellow Democrats of the South- ern States that the people of the North would de- feat any such attempt on their part, and consistent with that warning he became an active war Demo- crat in his State, and, as mentioned elsewhere, aided Governor Morton in providing the neces- sary "sinews of war." He was a staunch Demo- crat of the Jefferson school, and while maintaining his identity as such at all times he made it a point to always use his influence at the right time to see that his party was not too far led astray by the many new theories and plans of temporary polit- ical expediency that were proposed, and accord- ingly it was in the Tilden and Hayes campaign of
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1876 that he came forward to lead his party in sup- port of the resumption of specie payment of the government's obligations, and thus aided in the overthrow of the so-called greenback party and in the triumph of democracy at that election.
John C. New was made quartermaster gen- eral by Governor Morton, and as before mentioned was on the legislative committee on finance in the legislature of 1863, and rendered the great aid to the State and to Governor Morton in obtaining the funds to carry on the war.
He was clerk of the Marion County circuit court from 1857 to 1861; was treasurer of the United States during part of the administration of Pres- ident Grant, 1875-76, and assistant secretary of the treasury in 1882, under President Arthur. He was an active promoter of the candidacy of Gen- eral Benjamin Harrison for president, and cred- ited with bringing about his nomination and elec- tion, and was appointed consul general at London, England, by President Harrison. He was for more than half a century identified with financial and business enterprises of Indianapolis and always stood in the front ranks of its best citizens. He was born at Vernon in Jennings County in 1831, and knew what it was to endure the privations of pioneer life. His father was one of the early set- tlers of that county who had served as a soldier in the war of 1812.
A part only of the public record of General Mahlon D. Manson, who was for so many years in public life, will be given in this chapter. He was
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elected auditor of state in 1878. Long and event- ful as was his life he related an incident in that year that set forth much of his career that will be recited here. It was part of his official duties as auditor of state on the convening of the state legis- lature to take part in its organization, by making up a roll of its members to be called and sworn in.
On the day preceding the meeting of the assem- bly of 1879, the members came into his office to present their credentials so that he might enroll their names.
On going to the old Grand Hotel at Indiana- polis on the evening of that day, he met a group of young men who always sought association with him and greatly admired him, when he said: "Boys, you are all aspiring to fame and I want to tell you what fame is. As the members of the legisla- ture came into my office today and were intro- duced or introduced themselves, there was one who did not know my name and asked to have it repeated, I said, sir, my name is Manson. He said Manson, Manson, what county are you from Mr. Manson? I said, I am from Manson County. He said, Oh, yes, I think I have hearn of you before. Just think of it, boys! In my youthful days in the year 1846 I enlisted as a soldier and went to the war with Mexico, I fought at the battle of Buena Vista and was at the storming of Cha- pultepec, I revelled in the Halls of the Montezu- mas, and returned to my home at the beautiful city where Wabash College is located and engaged in
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mercantile business until the Civil War begun. On the first call for troops I hung a sign on my store door saying, 'this store will be open when the war is over,' and locked it and again enlisted as a sol- dier. I became colonel of the 10th Indiana Regi- ment and led it in the first battles in the State of Kentucky, where I was severely wounded and was promoted to be a brigadier soldier for bravery in action and served until the war ended. My party nominated me for secretary of state while I was in the field and I was defeated. On my return home I was nominated for congress and defeated the author of the Fair God and was nominated for re-election and defeated by Godlove S. Orth. I have presided at Democratic state conventions and made political speeches in every county in the State and was elected auditor of state in 1878, and here comes a man to make laws that are to be rules of action for the people of this great State who believes there is a county in it named Manson and thinks he has hearn of me before; such is fame."
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CHAPTER X
T HE Republican candidates for State offices who had been elected in 1868 were again nom- inated in 1870, as were the four judges of the Supreme Court of the State who had been elected in 1864.
These judges were Jehu T. Elliott of New Castle, James S. Frasier of Warsaw, Robert C. Gregory of LaFayette, and Charles A. Ray of Indianapolis.
The Democratic convention nominated to head its ticket Colonel Norman Eddy of South Bend, who had been elected to congress in 1852 and in whose honor a post of the Grand Army of the Re- public of that city was named and still exists. In 1861 he organized and was appointed Colonel of the 48th Indiana Regiment and fought in the bat- tles of Corinth, Grand Gulf and Iuka, where he was severely wounded, but remained with his regi- ment in the seige of Vieksburg and served until the war ended. He led his party to victory in the State in 1870, and died while holding the office of secretary of state.
The Democratic candidates for judges of the Supreme Court were James L. Worden of Fort Wayne, Alexander C. Downey of Rising Sun, Samuel H. Buskirk of Bloomington, and John
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Pettit of LaFayette, who were elected and their judicial opinions ranked as high as had those of their predecessors, and they were all renominated in 1876, but all with the exception of Judge Wor- den lost their places as candidates by reason of circumstances hereafter related.
The Democrats also carried the legislature and at its meeting in January, 1871, William Mack of Terre Haute was elected speaker of the house. The Democrats had elected as one of their mem- bers a gentleman from a southern Indiana county, who was reported to have operated a gambling de- vice called a "Faro Bank." Maek found it difficult to select his chairman of the standing committee on banks and called in Colonel James H. Rice to assist him. Rice, like Mack, was not lacking in humorous qualities and proposed that the member from southern Indiana be selected, as he was the only Democratie banker in the house, and Mack yielded to the suggestion. There were a number of Re- publican bankers in the house with whom he served and associated, and it was said that the committee on banks and banking met oftener than any other during that session, and that the chairman pocketed all the bills that were referred to it.
There was no very important legislation en- acted at that session. Such a publication as a non- partisan newspaper was not in general circulation in Indiana at that time. The now great and in- fluential Indianapolis News that was founded by John H. Holiday as an independent newspaper in 1869, was then struggling to maintain an existence.
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The dissemination of public intelligence and partisan doctrines was the work of the old reliable Indianapolis Journal and the Indianapolis Sen- tinel. By custom the party that succeeded at the election bestowed upon the publisher of its State organ the office of state printer, which however, was not an office created by either the State con- stitution or any legislative enactment, but by usage and precedent was called an office. From that of- fice the books and stationery of every description required by the State and its several departments were furnished at prices that the state printer fixed, no competition was permitted, nor was there any limit to the quantities of supplies that might be furnished.
Alexander Hamilton Conner then the owner of the Indianapolis Journal had been the State printer for six years prior to 1870. The election of that year displaced him and the publisher of the Sentinel succeeded him.
The old reliable Journal changed its ownership soon afterwards and its new editor, from motives of jealousy or for some other cause, and unmindful of the amenities and harmony that ought to exist between the proprietors of two great party organs, charged in a leading editorial that the state printer had prevailed upon a complaisant state auditor to give him a warrant on the State treasury for the value of a large quantity of stationery without observing the formality of furnishing it. This charge led to further investigations by someone of mousing propensities who discovered that the
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basements and all other storing places for such supplies were so crowded that there was no room for any more.
About the same time that these disclosures were made it was suggested from many sources that there were other irregularities and customs of long standing in regard to the State's finances that should be reformed. And there was a loud clamor for the state printer to take some notice of the charges against him, that was not confined to Re- publicans alone, but Democrats who had a fond admiration for their State paper also demanded a defense from him. To this he responded in an editorial with headlines reading:
"When you get a good thing save it, save it." When you get a black cat skin it to the tail," and justified his act by citing Republican precedents.
Another instance of a want of discipline of temper, and an absence of refinement on the part of a later owner of the Sentinel was on an occa- sion when the Supreme Court of the State had decided a case contrary to his wishes and he headed an editorial saying, "Damn Their Cowardly Souls."
Such performances and examples were more reprehensible than those of rival editors of country newspapers in giving weekly entertainments to their readers by publishing columns of personal abuse of each other, their quarrels generally orig- inating over contests for the county printing of delinquent tax lists.
This condition of affairs had gone to such an
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JOHN B. STOLL
extent that the power and influence of the Demo- cratic partisan press of Indiana had almost ceased to exist when it occurred to the now veteran editor, John B. Stoll, that a Democratic editorial asso- ciation would be an appropriate instrumentality in reviving the influence and usefulness of the press, and be the means of defining, co-ordinating and harmonizing Democratic doctrines and disseminat- ing them in the education of voters to an under- standing of the principles of democracy. To him is the credit due for the origin and influence of that association that he was the first president of.
A like association was later organized by Re- publican editors and they have both perpetuated their powers. It was not alone in this association that Stoll's great work and influence was recog- nized. For a half century his advice and influence has been sought by the political leaders of the party with which he has been identified, his popu- lar name has also been frequently used by his selection as a presidential elector, and he has been deserving of much hgher honors. The purity, vigor and independence of the editorials in his own news- papers and his contributions to others attest his culture, and his continuous labors as a journalist place him at the head of that profession in the State. He has at all times stood as a prominent protagonist for high ideals and basic principles of right in matters both secular and sacred, and has never been known to yield his sound convictions to the temptations of questionable political expe- dients. At the time this is written, in the year
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1920, the author of this production has found two articles from his gifted pen that have an appro- priate application to existing conditions and to illuminate its pages they are here reproduced from the Kendallville, Indiana, News-Sun:
"MAN'S INDISPUTABLE PREROGA- TIVE
"The basic principle upon which the American republic was founded assures its inhabitants of the God-given right of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' Experience teaches that work is an essential part of organized society. Common sense teaches that human existence is dependent on pro- ductive work. The avenues to production must therefore be open to all capable of some sort of productive activity. But along comes the profes- sional labor leader or agitator with the specious plea that in all essential productive institutions only such persons may work who hold membership in an oath bound organization commonly called 'union.' By establishing what is called the 'closed shop' all persons disinclined to subordinate per- sonal prerogative to union dictatorship are ex- cluded from such institution, no matter how much such laborer may wish to find employment therein or how greatly the owner or owners of such insti- tution might desire to secure such service. As has been stated over and over, the establishment of labor unions is not objected to so long as the para- mount object is mutual benefit, proper working conditions, and just remuneration for service ren-
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dered. The more amicable the relations between laborers and employers the better for the commu- nity and for society. Professional agitators and walking delegates are justly looked upon as leeches sucking the lifeblood of labor. To brand a non- union laborer 'a scab' is an outrage to which no wageworker should ever be subjected. To attempt to deprive him of the privilege and opportunity to work wherever his services may be desired is a flagrant violation of human right and an indefen- sible disregard of individual prerogative.
"No non-union worker has ever been known to refuse work side by side with a member of any labor organization. The right of workingmen to organize and maintain labor organizations is not disputed. But the right of such organization ar- bitrarily to control or regulate the management of any employing institution is emphatically denied. The demand for what is known as the 'closed shop' is unreasonable, unwarranted and intolerable. This demand is as unreasonable as would be a rule that only members of certain fraternal organizations may obtain employment in this or that establish- ment. Unions for the betterment of conditions in any branch of industry are commendable and worthy of encouragement. Unions for raising hell in a community may justly be designated as pub- lic nuisances-a detriment to wage workers and an evil to society. These self-evident but dogmatic- ally suppressed truths should be conspicuously brought to public attention and to popular under- standing. "
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"NO SAFETY WITHOUT RELIGION
"Time and again the declaration has been made through the medium of this department that no republic can long endure without the observance of religious tenets. High authority for this con- tention has been cited. No one has ventured to pronounce this assertion to be either unsound or fallacious. The declaration stands as an unshaken and uncontradictable truth.
"Persistently maintaining this attitude, it is highly gratifying to be splendidly reinforced by what I consider the most perfect daily newspaper in the United States-the Kansas City Star, founded many years ago by an Indiana product, Col. William R. Nelson, born and reared at Ft. Wayne by a profoundly religious family, headed by I. D. G. Nelson, a man of high standing in city, county and state.
"In a recent Sunday issue of that admirable pub- lication appeared an editorial headed 'A Sermon.' The text of the sermon reads: 'And Abraham was rich in cattle, in silver and in gold.' After com- prehensively detailing the doings and experiences of Abraham, the Star sermon runs thus:
"The text finds Abraham on his way back to Canaan. In Egypt he had lost his power, his in- fluence and even his self-respect. He had only his riches left. But it was not through riches that the world was to be blessed through Abraham. God had something better in store for the world than cattle and silver and gold.
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"And when Abraham was taken back to Canaan he was taken, also, back to Bethel, back to 'where he was in the beginning,' and there, it is recorded, he did something that he did not do in the land of Egypt: 'There he called upon the name of the Lord.'
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