USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume II > Part 36
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Eugene Hale was born in Turner, Maine, on June 9, 1836, and was educated at the town schools and Hebron Academy. At the age of twenty
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he was admitted to the bar, and soon took up his residence in Ellsworth, where he has made his home ever since. He has had as law partners ex- Chief Justice Emery, and Hannibal E. Hamlin, a son of Hannibal Hamlin. In 1871 he married a daughter of Senator Chandler, of Michigan. Mr. Hale was county attorney of Hancock for nine years, and served three years in the Maine Legislature and ten in Congress. In the United States Senate, Mr. Hale gradually obtained a very influential position, and in the latter part of his service he was one of a small group that was extremely influential in shaping legislation. Senator Hale was long chairman of the naval committee, and was a staunch friend of the navy at a time when generous appropriations were very hard to get. During the latter part of his career he was closely identified with the conservative wing of the Republican party. It has been said of him, "Senator Hale is always recog- nized as a wise counsellor in party politics. He is an easy and forcible speaker, his words are carefully selected, and his extemporaneous speeches require no revision. He is a popular after-dinner speaker, and on these occasions, both where grave subjects are presented and where wit and merriment abound, he is in his element. He is a wide reader, keeping alive his love of books, and delights especially in poetry."*
Mr. Frye's senatorship was merely postponed, and for a brief time only. Mr. Blaine became Secretary of State in President Garfield's Cabinet and the Legislature promptly chose Mr. Frye as his successor.
William Pierce Frye was born in Lewiston, on September 2, 1831. When barely fifteen he entered Bowdoin. After his graduation, in 1850, he studied law in the office of William Pitt Fessenden, was admitted to the bar, practiced in Rockland for two years, and then moved to Lewiston. In 1866-67 he was mayor of Lewiston, and in 1867-68-69 Attorney-General of Maine. In this office he added to his reputation as a lawyer, and showed himself a master of cross-examination. He was elected to the National House in 1871, and retained his seat until his election to the Senate ten years later. Senator Frye's thirty years' service in the Senate, if it did not prove him a statesman of the first rank, was yet of distinguished quality. He was for many years chairman of the committee on com- merce, and thoroughly mastered the details of the subject. He was most anxious for the revival of American shipping, and the defeat of the Frye- Hanna ship subsidy bill, in 1902, is said to have been the greatest disap- pointment of his career. While his attention was chiefly given to the mer- cantile marine, he also took great interest in the navy, and in the revenue cutter and life-saving services. So devoted was he to his special subject that he refused the chairmanship of the highly important committee on foreign relations because acceptance would mean resignation from the com- mittee on commerce. He did, however, render valuable service on the foreign relations committee and, doubtless for that reason, was appointed
*Mr. Hale died October 27, 1918.
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by President Mckinley one of the commissioners to negotiate the treaty of peace with Spain in 1898.
Senator Frye was also president pro tempore of the Senate for fifteen consecutive years, a longer period than any Senator had held the office. Moreover, because of the death of Vice-President Hobart and the accession to the presidency of Vice-President Roosevelt, he was the actual presiding officer for over five years and was most successful. Senator Lodge said of him: "He was very kind and considerate and also very fair. . . . I have never known a Senator in this body who commanded so entirely the affection of all the members, without the slightest regard to party lines. I do not recall in all my service here any Senator whom the Senate was so ready to oblige as it was to oblige Senator Frye. Anything that he wanted was pretty sure to be done."
Mr. Frye was a most forcible speaker. "His magnificent voice and impressive manner, with his imagination, retentive memory, clear reason- ing, keen sense of humor, and power of apt illustration drawn from familiar incidents made a splendid equipment for campaign oratory." Yet his power was due most of all to his manifest sincerity, and his sympathy with his audience and ability to make them feel that he was only expressing for them their own ideas. He seems also to have had a power of thrilling his hearers by a single ordinary word, like that of the elder Pitt, who once awed a laughing House of Commons into respectful silence by repeating the word sugar three times. Senator Lodge, in describing a tariff speech of Mr. Frye's at Lynn, said: "He made the dry questions of rates of duty glow with interest as he went on from one topic to another. I recall particularly after he had closed an exciting discussion of the cotton schedule, the man- ner in which he paused and walked slowly across the stage, looking at his audience, and then began in a low and impressive voice by saying, 'now there is pottery.' His audience seemed transfixed by his manner, as if he had appealed to them in behalf of their lives, their property, and their sacred honor. They behaved as if the duties on pottery was (were) the one interest of their existence, although in that particular city there was nothing resembling a pottery industry." With such power it is not strange that Mr. Frye was one of the ablest and most sought-for campaign speakers in the country.
In the Senate, too, he distinguished himself, being especially formidable in the quick cut and thrust of a running debate; but he did not indulge in personalities. It was said of him that he used a rapier, not a bludgeon, and if he was a hard fighter he was also a fair one.
Mr. Frye was a man of the strictest integrity, a loyal friend, a lover of nature, and deeply though unostentatiously religious. He refused opportu- nities that were offered him of making money in a perfectly honorable way lest he might put himself under obligations that would later conflict with his duties as a Senator. His vacations he spent at his summer home at Squirrel Island or at the Rangeley Lakes. Of his life at Rangeley,
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where he delighted to go with his family and friends, he said: "Everybody thinks me a great fisherman, but, as a matter of fact, fishing with me is a mere incident of camp life. I love the woods and its solitude."
After his death, in the summer of 1911, a memorial service was held in the church at Squirrel Island and one of the speakers told of a kind of lay prayer meeting held in the open air on the verge of the sea, and of the deep feeling with which Senator Frye spoke of the Creator. Mr. Frye was devoted to his wife, a woman of fine character, who died ten years before him. He was obliged to go back to Washington only two days after the funeral. At the Senator's own funeral his pastor said: "I shall never forget his reply to my remark that it must be very hard for him to return to the capital without Mrs. Frye, who had been such a help and inspira- tion to him during his public service. With deep emotion he said, 'Duty calls me to Washington; I believe God always fits the burden to our shoulders'."
The gubernatorial campaign in Maine in 1880 was the more important because a President was to be chosen the following November, and the State election would be regarded as a forecast of the National one. The two leading candidates for the Republican nomination were General Grant and Mr. Blaine. The General had recently returned from a trip around the world, where he had been received with the greatest honor, and the news had thrilled America with pride. His old supporters, the Stalwarts, deter- mined to take advantage of this feeling, violate the tradition against a third term, and make Grant President again. The leaders in the scheme were Conkling of New York, Cameron of Pennsylvania, and Logan of Illinois. All three were able and energetic politicians, and they controlled a machine which they used ruthlessly to effect their purpose. Mr. Blaine was totally opposed to allowing any man a third term as President, and to putting a Stalwart "ring" in control of the Republican party. His objections were probably the stronger because of his feud with Mr. Conkling and a serious difference with General Grant.
Blaine's biographers, Mr. Stanwood and Gail Hamilton, say that he was put forward as a candidate against his wish, and his correspondence shows that his family and friends felt irritated that he did not take a more active part in the pre-nomination canvass. As the time of the convention drew near, however, he watched for weaknesses in his line. Hannibal Hamlin had attended the convention of 1876 as a spectator, and on his return had said to Blaine, "If you had put your campaign in my hands you would have been nominated." He then described what he regarded as the errors of the Blaine managers. Mr. Blaine now wrote to him: "Dear Sir :- I hear with concern that you are not going to Chicago. I dislike to ask any service of friendship that may subject you to personal incon- venience, but I fear your absence will be purposely misconstrued by my opponents, and to my injury. You will find good accommodations engaged for you at the Grand Pacific, and I shall be much pleased to have you go
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as my personal representative, and I will in any and every event ratify and confirm any and every agreement or arrangement which in your wise dis- cretion you may see fit to make." Mr. Hamlin complied with Blaine's request and rendered valuable service.
Senator Sherman was a third candidate for the nomination, and Ed- munds of Vermont, Windom of Minnesota, and Elihu B. Washburne of Illinois, formerly of Maine, were also supported. Washburne had been of the greatest service to Grant, but he now allowed his name to be used to divide the vote of Illinois, and the General never forgave him.
In the convention the battle was fierce, the contest, as usual, being one of lungs as well as of votes. Mrs. Blaine wrote: "Mr. Hale telegraphed, 'The Grant men made a point of who could howl loudest and longest, and cheered and hurrahed and waved flags for fifteen minutes, Conkling himself condescending to wave. After they had tired themselves out, the Blaine men took it up and shouted twenty minutes.' Mr. Hale says the Grant men got enough of it. Four of their (Blaine's) tallest men mounted on settees, and Hale mounted on their shoulders and waved the flag, expecting every minute, he said, that he should fall and break his neck. Think of the position for a man who is not an acrobat."
The delegates were as loyal in voting as in shouting. On the first bal- lot Grant had 304 votes and Blaine 284. On the 34th Grant had 312 and Blaine 275, and a dark horse, James A. Garfield of Ohio, also appeared. General Garfield had come to the convention as leader of the Sherman forces and his very able speech putting Sherman in nomination had made a great impression on the convention. On the 34th ballot he received 17 votes, on the 35th, 50. Blaine and Garfield had long been on terms of cordial intimacy. A wire ran from the convention hall to Blaine's house in Washington and he promptly telegraphed for his friends to break to Gar- field. They did so, others followed, and on the 36th ballot Garfield was nominated. The nomination for the vice-presidency was given to the Stal- warts as a consolation prize, and Chester A. Arthur was nominated on the first ballot, receiving 468 out of 775 votes. His principal competitor was Elihu B. Washburne, who obtained 199 votes. The next candidate, Mar- shall Jewell of Connecticut, received only 43 votes.
The Blaine leaders were happy. Mr. Charles E. Hamlin says in his life of his grandfather that Joe Manley, one of Blaine's principal lieutenants, stated that they knew from the first that there was no hope of nominating Blaine, and that they really fought to defeat Grant.
The Whig said in an editorial: "Grant is defeated; Don Cameron the sly, Conkling the majestic, and Logan the volcanic, are defeated. The third-term business has been buried beneath the indignant protest of an aroused people." The Whig admitted its great disappointment at the defeat of the "people's candidate," but said "Mr. Blaine is not to sit upon the throne, but he will be the power behind the throne." Of Garfield it said, "To an unsullied reputation for integrity must be added a rugged and
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strongly marked individuality of character." It is doubtful, however, if history will consider rugged an appropriate adjective to apply to General Garfield. Perhaps the Argus was nearer the truth, though influenced by partisan prejudice, when it said, "His aspirations for right are admirable. His weakness in the presence of temptation is pitiable. It leads him into wrong which he has not the courage to confess in a manly manner, nor the self-control to avoid next time."13
The Democrats nominated General Hancock. Each party therefore went into the fight with a Union soldier at its head, but the Democrat had the more distinguished military record.
In the State election in Maine the Republicans endeavored to make the count-out the great issue. The call for their convention said: "For the first time in the history of Maine the attempt was made in 1879 to deprive the people of the right to choose their own officers, and to corruptly con- tinue in power those whom the people had rejected. The authors, abettors and accomplices in this crime against free government are now seeking to come before the people under some new party name-availing themselves of an alias, the common resort of those who seek to escape the responsibility and punishment of their crimes. Against these men, under whatever name they may appear, all those citizens who condemn the nefarious plot to destroy the rights of suffrage, are invited to unite without regard to past party affiliations, to preserve honest government for the honest people of Maine."
When the convention met, Governor Davis was renominated by accla- mation, the conduct of the Garcelon administration severely arraigned, and prohibition endorsed.
The statement in the call regarding the coming before the people under a new party name, referred to a fusion on candidates of the Democrats and Greenbackers. The conventions of both parties met in Bangor on June I. The Greenback platform, beside setting forth the usual theories in regard to the currency, demanded abolition of imprisonment for debt, a graduated income tax on incomes over $1000, equalization of the bounties of soldiers of the Civil War, the reservation of the use of the public lands for the people and "such a change in the manner of voting as shall secure to every citizen the free exercise of the right of suffrage." General Harris M. Plaisted was nominated for Governor by acclamation.
Harris M. Plaisted was born in Jefferson, New Hampshire, on Novem- ber 2, 1828. He graduated from Colby (then Waterville) College in 1853. In the same year he entered the Albany Law School and graduated with high honors two years later. He then took up his residence in Bangor, and after a year's study in the law office of Albert W. Paine was admitted to the bar. In 1861 he enlisted in the Union army and served until 1865, when he left the service on account of ill-health. He was first, lieutenant-
12 Argus, June 24, 1880.
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colonel, and then colonel of the Eleventh Maine, and for some time com- manded the brigade of which the Eleventh formed a part. After the war he served two terms in the Maine House and three as Attorney-General.
The Democratic convention also nominated Plaisted, appointed a com- mittee to arrange with the Greenbackers for a division of the electoral ticket, and adjourned. A platform had been proposed, but a minority report by James F. Rawson, favoring local option, caused tremendous excitement, all the resolutions were finally laid on the table, and were left there. The Whig stated that "Mr. Rawson says he feels encouraged at the fact that his resolution, for the first time during the past ten years, was not voted down, and thinks he may succeed if he lives long enough."
The Republicans had paid homage to prohibition in their platform, but there was grave doubt whether mere words would be sufficient to keep the radical prohibitionists within the party lines. A prohibition party had been organized in Maine, and William M. Joy nominated for Governor. The Legislature had passed a law directing the Governor and Council on the representation of thirty or more well-known taxpayers in a county that the prohibitory laws were not faithfully enforced therein, to enquire into such representations, and, if they found them warranted, to appoint two or more special constables to enforce the laws. Governor Davis had appointed few constables, and was bitterly attacked in consequence. In July the Maine State Temperance Convention met at Augusta with a small attendance. Resolutions were passed declaring that the temperance men of the State expected the Governor to fulfill the duties devolving upon him under the special constable law, and advising certain action for its enforcement, but a resolution endorsing the nomination of Mr. Joy was defeated by a large majority. "A resolution of censure upon Governor Davis was presented, pending which the convention adjourned until evening. In the evening the discussion and other propositions were introduced, but without coming to a vote upon the matter the convention broke up in disorder." It appears, however, to have adjourned to meet at Portland on August 19.
The reassembled convention was extremely disorderly, and the lie was frequently given. The chairman, Joshua Nye, sharply assailed Governor Davis, who was also censured by Rev. Cyrus Hamlin. Ex-Governors Mor- rill and Perham opposed any attack on the Republican party which, they said, had been the friend of Prohibition. Finally, by a vote of 70 to 49, a resolution was passed declaring "That Governor Davis, by neglecting to appoint a sufficient number of constables to enforce the prohibitory law, has forfeited all right to the support of the temperance voters." It was announced that a new party called the Enforced Prohibitory Party had been founded, and Joshua K. Osgood of Gardiner was nominated for Governor. Mr. Osgood accepted the nomination, but in about a week announced that, finding himself praised by some of the strongest opponents of prohibition, he withdrew his acceptance and should support Davis.
The September election was a fearful disappointment to the Repub- ME .- 40
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licans. They had hoped for a glorious triumph and a great popular con- demnation of the "State Steal," but on the morning after election the Demo- crats were claiming that Plaisted had been chosen by two thousand majority. Most of the Republican papers admitted defeat and sadly declared that the honor of the State was deeply stained by this apparent endorsement of Garcelon and his Council. The election was extremely close, but if the votes were counted according to the intention of the men who cast them, General Plaisted received a small plurality. There were votes for Daniel F. David and Harrison M. Plaisted, and the votes of the town of Vassalboro cast for Harris M. Plaisted were returned for Hiram Plaisted. Mr. Dickey, of Fort Kent, however, discovered that the "return" was not signed by the clerk, and therefore no legal return; and in such a case a new return could be made. At this election amendments to the con- stitution were adopted providing that the Governor should serve two years and be chosen not by a majority but by a plurality vote.
The question was raised: Did the plurality amendment apply to the election of 1880? If it did not, there was no choice, the Legislature was Republican, and Davis would be the next Governor. The amendment could not be in force until the close of the voting at least, by that time the elec- tion for Governor had been completed and an amendment like a law is not retroactive unless there be a special provision to that effect.
Some of the Republicans claimed that the matter was doubtful, and wished to take the opinion of the judges. The Portland Press urged that the Republican Legislature declare Plaisted elected as a matter of mag- nanimity. Most of the Republicans believed that Plaisted should be recog. nized. But the Bangor Whig bitterly opposed such action. It declared that the Democrats had no claim to magnanimity, that law should rule, and that it was merely proposed to enquire of the judges what the law was. It said that some influential Republican lawyers who had helped draft the amendment were angry at the assertion that they had failed to express their meaning, that many Republicans believed that enough of the Repub- licans in the Legislature would vote with the Democrats to elect Plaisted and that it was unwise to make an attempt which would not be successful.
On the other side it was urged that there could be no doubt that it was the general understanding that the amendment was to apply to the election of 1880. Moreover, should the Republicans take an opposite view they would appear to be trying to defeat the people's will by the merest technicalities and the party might suffer severely. Should the judges feel bound by the strict principles of law to decide against Plaisted, their opinion could not fail to be regarded by the "man in the street" as highly partisan and the moral authority of the court would receive a heavy blow. For these reasons a great majority of the Republicans of the Legislature con- curred with the Democrats in declaring Plaisted elected.
The Republican Legislature had given Governor Plaisted a solid Re- publican Council and from the first there was much friction between them.
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The contest began over the election of a messenger to the Governor and Council. The Council at its first session re-elected the former messenger, Major House. The Governor refused to concur. He said that in general he would prefer to be relieved from the burden of making appointments, but that he thought that he should be consulted in regard to the officers of his staff and the person who would act as his private secretary and have charge of his papers. Later he nominated his son, Harold, for the office, but the Council refused to consider the nomination, claiming that the messenger was not a civil officer to be nominated by the Governor, but a hired employe like a night watchman, whose employment was at the dis- cretion of the Council. The matter, after long dispute, was compromised by a provision for two officers instead of one, a private secretary to the Governor and a messenger to the Council. Young Mr. Plaisted became his father's private secretary and Major House messenger to the Council.
The Governor repeatedly removed officers by appointment of others and the Council refused to concur, on the ground that they disapproved of the removal. The Governor also removed officers by his own authority, the Council, considering such action illegal, passed warrants for the continued payment of the salaries, and the Governor refused to approve them, on the ground that the men were no longer in office. On July 13 a serious differ- ence of opinion concerning the appointment of trustees of the Reform School having arisen, the Governor declared the Council adjourned and withdrew to his private room. The Council, however, refused to recognize the legality of the Governor's action, continued in session, adjourned to the next day, and then adjourned to a day in August. There was in conse- quence a failure to provide for the payment of $50,000 of State bonds. The treasurer, acting on his personal authority, saved the credit of the State, but Governor and Council blamed each other for the danger of a default. In September, 1881, the justices of the Supreme Court, in reply to a question from the Council in which the Governor had declined to join, gave an opinion against the Governor's claim to remove Mr. Spauld- ing, the reporter of decisions to the court, but two justices, Messrs. Libby and Walton, while giving an opinion out of deference to the Council, stated that they did not think the occasion one in which they should be called upon and that the proper proceeding would be for the Attorney General to bring a writ of quo warranto.
At the close of the year the question of appointments was again raised as a result of the recent constitutional amendment establishing biennial elections. There were numerous elective county officers, such as sheriffs and registers of probate, whose terms would expire with the year, and the biennial amendment gave the Legislature authority to provide for the filling of vacancies. Instead of directing that the incumbents should retain their offices until the next election, the Legislature gave the appointment for the ensuing year to the Governor and Council. Governor Plaisted nominated Fusionists to fill almost every vacancy. The Council was will-
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ing to confirm Fusionists if the previous officer had been a Fusionist, but the Governor refused this compromise. The Council, angered, resolved to confirm only those Fusionists whose county was still Fusionist. The Gov- ernor, however, would not give way and the Council ultimately confirmed his nominations for all offices where the vacancies could not be temporarily filled in other ways should the Council fail to act.
The term of Judge Libby of the Supreme Court would expire in April, 1882, and considerably before that date the Governor had nominated William L. Putnam to fill the impending vacancy. In itself it was a highly proper nomination, but the Republicans declared that the purpose was to punish Judge Libby for joining in the opinion against the count-out two years before, and rejected the nomination. The Governor then submitted the name of Nathan Cleaves, of Portland, which was rejected for the same reason.
The State campaign of 1882 was fought chiefly on the appointment issue. The Greenback convention renominated Governor Plaisted and the Democrats did the same. In the letter informing him of the latter nomina- tion the chairman of the convention said that Greenbackers and Democrats were in accord on practical issues, especially on the vital State issue, involv- ing the constitutional prerogative of the executive, and that questions of fin- ance were of little practical importance in the State contest. The Fusion- ists claimed that Governor Plaisted's position was like that of President Garfield in his contest with Senator Conkling; the Republicans replied that the Garfield-Conkling dispute was over the right of the Executive to nomi- nate, that the Maine Council only claimed an equal share in appointments. Practically, however, the difference was not very great, though in Maine there was no question of an individual veto under the name of conciliar courtesy.
For the Republican nomination there was a sharp contest between W. W. Thomas, of Portland, and Frederick Robie, of Gorham. There was a strong local feeling in Portland on behalf of Mr. Thomas. The Advertiser said: "No candidate for Governor has ever been taken from Portland by the Republican party, although this honor has been conferred upon Bangor once, upon Lewiston twice, and upon Augusta six times."
But although the convention was held in his own city, Mr. Thomas again met defeat. Mr. Robie was nominated by a vote of 690 to 592 for Thomas, 38 for J. H. Drummond and 7 scattering. The platform con- demned Governor Plaisted for the use he had made of the appointing power, and endorsed prohibition.
Mr. Robie was born in Gorham on August 12, 1822. He graduated from Bowdoin in 1841, and from the Jefferson Medical College, at Phila- delphia, in 1844. He practiced medicine at Biddeford and Waldoborough until 1858, when he returned to Gorham. Early in the Civil War he was appointed paymaster and served from 1861 to 1866. He showed himself a faithful and courteous officer, was held in high esteem both by the gov-
frederick Robie-
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ernment and the soldiers, and in 1865 was made brevet lieutenant-colonel.
Colonel Robie, as he was often called, had taken an active part in political life, had served seven terms as Representative and two as Senator in the Maine Legislature, had been speaker in 1872 and 1876, and had been a councillor under Governors Washburn, Davis and Plaisted. In 1878 he was a United States Commissioner to the Paris Exposition. He had been managing director of a railroad and business manager of a Portland paper, and at the time of his nomination was director of the First National Bank of Portland.
Mr. Robie died on February 2, 1912, in his ninetieth year, having reached a more advanced age than has been attained by any other Maine Governor.
Several minor parties made nominations for Governor. The Enforced Prohibition party, which had nominated Nye in 1880, did not again appear. But the Prohibitionists who had supported Joy now nominated William T. Eustis. Their convention was largely a gathering of idealists. A reporter wrote to the Advertiser: "One delegate said that he cast the first abolition vote in his town forty years ago, and another said that his father was an early abolitionist; and both regarded this movement as the beginning of a new crusade as righteous and as certain of God's favor as the movement to secure the emancipation of the slaves."
The straight Greenbackers, much offended by the fusion with the Democrats, nominated Solon Chase.
Certain Liberal Republicans nominated Warren H. Vinton.
The campaign was a rather quiet one. Robie's headship of the State Grange gave him a considerable advantage and the Portland Democratic and half Democratic papers declared that he was no farmer. The Adver- tiser, in the sketch that it gave of Mr. Robie after his nomination, spoke of his father and then said: "He left a large estate to his son Frederick, who was bred a physician and calls himself a farmer, but is in reality a gentle- man of leisure. Colonel Robie owns perhaps 160 acres of land in Gorham which is cultivated by his tenants." A Portland correspondent of the Bos- ton Advertiser said: "Colonel Robie is a genial, cultured gentleman of agri- cultural tastes, the official head of the Grangers in the State, and the pos- sessor of a large inherited fortune." The Argus declared that "He never did a good severe day's work on the farm in his life, and knows absolutely nothing of practical agriculture."
In the same article it declared that the Republicans had given up all hope of electing Robie. But a little later it headed an editorial on the election, "Our Surprise Party," and said: "For some time past it has been apparent that there was a surprise party in store for somebody this morn- ing, and we are the fellows surprised. The Republicans have made a clean sweep of the State and have won a great victory." Robie received 72,481 votes to Plaisted's 63,921. The minor parties made a very poor showing. The Straight Greenbackers polled 1,324 votes, the Prohibitionists 381, the Independent Republicans 269, and there were 102 scattering."
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