USA > Michigan > Michigan as a province, territory and state, the twenty-sixth member of the federal Union > Part 14
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issued for the mobilization of the entire Michigan National Guard at Island Lake within three days. General E. M. Irish was placed in command and the work of completing the roster of the several regiments was earnestly prosecuted. The regiments thus organ- ized were designated thirty-first, thirty-second, thirty- third, and thirty-fourth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, following in numerical order the infantry regiments of the Civil War. The thirty-first was mustered May 10th and left on the 15th under command of Colonel Cornelius Gardner for Chickamauga Park, Georgia. The thirty-second was mustered May 4th and left on the 19th under command of Colonel William T. McGurrin for Tampa, Florida. The thirty-third was mustered May 20th' and left on the 28th under com- mand of Colonel Charles L. Boynton for Camp Alger near Washington. The 34th was mustered May 25th and left June 6th under command of Colonel John P. Petermann for Camp Alger. Under the second call of the President the 35th regiment was organized under Colonel E. M. Irish July IIth and left for Camp Meade, Pennsylvania, September 14th. In organizing, equipping and training these regiments while in camp at Island Lake, Captain Irvine of the Eleventh' United States Infantry and Lieutenant Winans of the fifth United States Cavalry, rendered efficient service.
The men gathered in the southern camps, particularly at Chickamauga and at Camp Alger, suffered severely from sickness. At the former camp there was an epi- demic of typhoid fever, and the thirty-first Michigan was removed to Macon, Georgia, where it remained in camp until January, 1899, when it was sent to Cuba. It was landed at Cienfugas and was thence distributed in the towns of Santa Clara province to preserve order and protect property. The regiment was engaged on this
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service until the following April when it was returned to this country and mustered out. It lost fourteen men who died from sickness in southern camps and hos- pitals.
The thirty-second was one of the earliest regiments moved to Fernandina, Florida, where it remained in camp for some time. It was not among those assigned to service in Cuba, and after a little delay it was trans- ferred to Fort McPherson, Georgia, where it remained until September, when it was returned to Michigan and mustered out of service. While in the service twenty men died of disease.
The thirty-third and thirty-fourth went to Tampa whence they were embarked for Cuba on the transports Paris and Harvard. They were in General Duffield's brigade, which formed a part of General Shafter's army which fought and defeated the Spaniards at San- tiago. They did not participate in the fight at San Juan Hill, but were engaged in the attack at Aguadores which was planned to divert the enemy from the plan of battle of the main army and prevent their reinforc- ing it. In this engagement three of the thirty-third were killed or died of wounds. Yellow fever broke out in the camp at Siboney and fifty died there or at Montauk Point or on the transport bound for the lat- ter camp. The thirty-fourth suffered even more seve- rely, for eighty-eight deaths in that regiment are recorded, a very large proportion of these being from yellow fever while in camp near Santiago or in hospital on Long Island. These regiments were returned from Cuba in August and reached Michigan in September. They were mustered out at various times between Sep- tember 3rd, 1898, and January 2nd, 1899. Of those who survived the hardships of the campaign many returned broken in health. The thirty-fifth was mus-
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tered out at Augusta, Georgia, March, 1899. Of its members twenty-three died of disease in camp.
The whole number of men mustered was six thou- sand six hundred and seventy-seven, and the total num- ber of deaths about two hundred and fifty. Through the efforts of Governor Pingree the men were permit- ted to draw thirty to ninety days' pay upon furlough prior to discharge. Those who were in Cuba were also allowed pay for the fever infected uniforms they were compelled to destroy.
Beside the infantry regiments furnished to the volun- teer service Michigan was represented in the naval arm. Being encouraged thereto by the general government a naval brigade was organized in Michigan in 1897. The Navy Department assigned for the use of such naval brigade the United States Ship Yantic, which was at the time in the Boston navy yard undergoing repairs. The delicate international question of getting this war vessel through Canadian waters was successfully disposed of. The Governor of Michigan on behalf of the state receipted for the Yantic to be delivered to her com- manding officer, Lieutenant Commander Gilbert Wilkes, at Montreal. From that point she was taken and handled by the officers and men of the state naval reserves, and arrived at Detroit December 8th, 1897. The men had some opportunity to drill and familiarize themselves with naval discipline. Before the first call for volunteers Governor Pingree received a telegram from the Navy Department asking for men for service on the United States Ship Yosemite. The call was promptly responded to and 270 men and eleven officers of the Naval Militia of Michigan enlisted in the navy. The Yosemite was wholly manned by Michigan men and under the command of Lieutenant Commander W. H. Emory convoyed the transport Panther to Guanta-
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namo and covered the first successful landing of Amer- ican troops on Cuban soil. Afterward it maintained single handed the blockade of San Juan, Puerto Rico and proved the efficiency of the ship and her crew by the capture of prizes and the destruction of blockade run- ners. The Governor in his annual message congratu- lated the state on the showing made in the war by its naval militia, and also congratulated the men upon the records they made.
Through the whole session of the Legislature of 1897 Governor Pingree and his close friends in the house had strenuously and persistently urged a measure for the increase of taxation of corporations. But the influences of the latter were too strong to be overcome. So in March, 1898, the Governor called the Legisla- ture to meet in extra session. It was this session of the Legislature which was on when the destruction by explosion of the United States Ship Maine in the harbor of Havana so stirred feeling in this country that war was inevitable. Governor Pingree gave as a reason for this call that there are so many bills at a general session and the time of the members is so taken up with miscel- laneous matters that they have no opportunity to give the careful attention which it deserves to the question of railroad taxation. He said, in violation of the spirit, if not the letter of the constitution laws have been passed from time to time by which railroad companies, express companies, telegraph and telephone companies, now owning, according to their sworn returns, at least one-third of the property of the state, are required to pay only about one twenty-sixth of the taxes, leaving their just proportion of the cost of supporting our schools, asylums and other public institutions and of defraying the public expenses to fall upon the farmers, laborers, manufacturers and other property owners of
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the state. Upon this issue he fought vigorously, not only then but throughout his entire term in the guber- natorial chair. The Legislature sat in special session only a week. It accomplished nothing on the subject for which it was called. While the house took favor- able action upon the measure proposed by Representa- tive Atkinson the Senate blocked its passage.
In the regular session of the Legislature of 1899 Gov- ernor Pingree devoted the main portion of his very lengthy and elaborate message to this same subject. He again pointed out the inequality. He said that the average rate of taxation for all purposes is not far from two and a half per cent. on the dollar, while the rate paid by corporations that are taxed on their earnings is about six-tenths of one per cent. In other words, indi- vidual property pays twenty-five dollars upon a thou- sand dollars of valuation while the property of these corporations pays six dollars upon a thou- sand of actual value. He made a strong appeal for a change of the method of taxation of corporations to a taxation of values, as is the case with reference to all
other property. The Atkinson bill was again brought forward and its consideration took up much of the time of the session. It finally passed in March after having been modified in some respects. It provided for an assessing board and the Governor appointed Robert Oakman, A. F. Freeman and Milo D. Campbell as such board. The Supreme Court in the following April in a telephone case declared the provisions of a similar act with reference to ad valorem taxation of corporations in violation of the constitution.
Thereupon Governor Pingree called an extra session of the Legislature in December, 1899, and an amend- ment to the constitution was proposed to cover the point which in the opinion of the Supreme Court was fatal to
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the plan of taxation intended. This special session continued from December 18th, 1899, to January 5th, 1900, but failed to agree upon an amendment to the constitution. October 10th, 1900, the Governor again called the Legislature into extra session, and this time an amendment was approved to be submitted to the people. At the general election in November, 1900, it carried by the overwhelming popular majority of 443,- 000 for to 54,000 against. Thus it would appear that public opinion was strongly with the Governor in his campaign for a better adjustment of tax burdens, as between corporations and individuals. The amendment having carried, the Governor again called the Legis- lature into extra session, December 12th, 1900, upon the eve of the expiration of his term of office, and urged the re-enactment of a measure along the lines of the Atkinson law to require the property of all corpora- tions heretofore paying specific taxes upon earnings to be spread upon the assessment rolls at its true value. The session continued ten days, but the Senate refused to pass any measure to which the House would consent, and so the effort for legislation satisfactory to the Gov- ernor was fruitless. Governor Pingree thus made a vigorous and consistent fight throughout both his terms of office to secure reform of our tax laws and to get all property on the assessment rolls upon an equal basis. But the corporations were sufficiently powerful through their friends in the Senate to defeat his purpose. The fight, however, was not ended. Though Governor Pin- gree passed from the stage his spirit survived to carry on the warfare against privilege.
One of the notable events attendant upon the Legis- lature of 1899, was the passage of an act for the muni- cipal ownership of street railways in Detroit. Gover- nor Pingree was greatly incensed when all the street
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railway corporations in that city practically consolidated, by passing into the hands of a single corporation owned and controlled by New York capitalists. We have seen how he induced the city to engage in litigation in an effort to forfeit the charters of some of the compan- ies which had formerly obtained through the aldermen an extension of their rights and privileges, and also how he induced a competing company to enter the field and operate several lines under reduced fares. Now that all the lines were operated under a single company, cap- italized and bonded at a sum enormously beyond actual value, he conceived the idea of getting the city to buy them and either operate them on municipal account or lease them to an operating company. In this way the city could regulate fares and relieve the people from the exorbitant rates charged. He negotiated with the owners of the company and a price was agreed upon which he declared a fair one. He was convinced that the city could pay the seventeen and a half million asked and operate the lines at a good profit on a three cent, or even a two cent, fare.
Through his instrumentality a measure was put through the legislature authorizing the city of Detroit to buy, build and operate street car lines and a board of commissioners was provided to handle the business. The common council was subservient. But there was very strong opposition among citizens and much excitement prevailed. Some thought the scheme a good one; more opposed it as a dangerous socialistic movement, tending to build up a huge political machine, a fruitful source of graft and dishonesty. The subject was discussed with great heat on both sides. Steps were taken to test the constitutionality of the act referred to. The supreme court found it in violation of the constitution and so declared it null and void.
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Another subject in which Governor Pingree was deeply interested and which he advocated in his several messages was primary election reform. The legislature of 1899 gave considerable attention to the question. The politicians soon found that its adoption would put them out of business to a great extent. Those whose occupation it had been to manipulate caucuses and con- ventions in the interest of this or that boss were opposed to any interference with their methods. Although there were earnest and persistent efforts, the best that could be done was to get a law applicable only to the city of Detroit, and through the efforts of the members from Grand Rapids another applicable to that city.
Other measures of importance were an inheritance tax, a board of registration of physicians, and a board of library commissioners to look after the establishment and development of public libraries throughout the state. A board of arbitration in labor disputes opened the way for a better understanding between employers and their workmen. A Northern Normal school was established at Marquette.
An unfortunate incident developed during the last term of Governor Pingree which cannot be ignored. This was criminal conduct on the part of some of his appointees in the military department. William L. White of Grand Rapids, was quartermaster general; Arthur F. Marsh of Allegan, was inspector general. These men with the adjutant general and their assistants, constituted the military board, which had the manage- ment and control of all military supplies, equipment and material. In procuring equipment for the regiments called into the field by the war with Spain, more clothing, etc., was bought than actually required, as it proved. The law did not permit this surplus stock to be used by the militia companies. It therefore became necessary to
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dispose of it, and negotiations were opened with the Henderson, Ames Company of Kalamazoo, through their agent, S. N. Bickerstaff, on the plan of their hand- ling these goods to the best advantage to the state, and being paid for their services. Instead, however, of car- rying through the transaction in an open and honorable manner, a scheme was hatched through which the state was defrauded to the extent of some thirty-five thou- and dollars and the several parties concerned in it divided the profits. The goods were sold to the Illinois Supply Company, a purely fictitious concern. They were shipped to Kalamazoo and surreptitiously the labels on the garments were changed. They were then bought back by the state through the military board from the Henderson, Ames Company. It was the intention to so cover up the steps of this transaction that the identity of the goods could not be traced.
The adjutant general and his assistant had no knowl- edge of the deal, which was carried through by White, Marsh and one Harold Smith, who was assistant to the quartermaster general. One Eli Sutton, a member of the governor's military staff, was commonly supposed to have had inside information and to have shared in the spoils. Rumors of crookedness soon came to the sur- face and the prosecuting attorney of Ingham County secured the calling of a grand jury. This grand jury found indictments against White, Marsh, Smith, Sut- ton and others. Thereupon White fled and was in con- cealment for several months on the Pacific coast. Marsh was brought to trial and convicted. The Henderson, Ames Company and Bickerstaff made restitution of the sum which the state had lost in the transaction and were not prosecuted. Smith pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a fine of twelve hundred dollars. Sutton was acquitted. He was, however, afterward indicted for
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perjury committed upon his former trial, when he fled to Mexico. Later, through negotiations with the authori- ties of Ingham County, he returned, pleaded guilty and was let off with a nominal fine. He left the state. White returned late in 1900 after an absence of nearly a year. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to ten years in the state prison at Jackson. He was taken to the prison but remained there only one day when he was par- doned by Governor Pingree, on the condition that he pay five thousand dollars into the treasury of Ingham County to reimburse it for the expenses created in the several cases. Marsh, though convicted, had not been sentenced, but was at the time out on bail, pending an appeal of his case to the supreme court. Governor Pingree also pardoned him at the same time and on the same conditions as in the case of White.
These pardons provoked a great deal of comment. The governor gave as his reason for theaction that these men should not suffer the penalties of their crimes if Bickerstaff and the Henderson, Ames people were to go free. He appeared to have no resentment against them, although they were his own appointees who had betrayed his confidence and brought scandal upon his administra- tion. Governor Pingree had certainly a kind and sym- pathetic heart. He was credulous and believed in the goodness of others. In this respect he had not a very keen knowledge of men. He was inclined to turn upon those who advised against his own opinions and to favor those who fawned upon and flattered him. His record of pardons has not been equalled by any governor. Dur- ing his four years of service he pardoned one hundred and fifty convicts and paroled two hundred and forty- four. Many of these soon found their way back into the prison again.
At the election of 1900 Aaron T. Bliss of Saginaw, IV-17
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was chosen governor by a plurality of about eighty thousand over William C. Maybury, democrat. The other state officers elected at the same time, all repub- licans, were Orrin W. Robinson, lieutenant governor; Fred M. Warner, Secretary of State; Daniel McCoy, treasurer; Perry F. Powers, auditor general; Horace M. Oren, attorney general; Edwin A. Wildey, com- missioner of land office; Delos Fall, superintendent of public instruction. Governor Bliss was a native of Smithfield, Madison County, New York, where he was born May 22nd, 1837. He was brought up on a farm and attended the public school near by. When seven- teen years old he left the farm and took employment in a store where he was when the civil war broke out. He enlisted in the tenth New York cavalry in October 1861. A year later he was promoted to be captain. He spent three and a half years in the service, participating in many engagements. He was captured and spent six months in southern prisons, when he escaped and made his way into the union lines. In the fall of 1865 he settled in Saginaw and began his successful career as a lumberman, engaging at the same time in other lines of business. In 1882 he represented his county in the state senate. He also served one term in congress. In 1897 he was elected department commander of the Grand Army of the Republic of Michigan.
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CHAPTER XVI FOREIGN ELEMENT OF THE POPULATION
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T' HE original settlers in Michigan came from France. But from the day when the lilies of France gave place to the red cross of St. George, the people of that country turned their faces in another direction. It is a curious fact that while almost every other nation of Europe has at one time or another, caught the American emigration fever, it seems to have already run its course in the veins of the French- man. Thousands of Scotch, Irish, English, Dutch, German, Scandinavian, Hungarian, Polish, Italian immigrants have come to make homes for themselves in the Peninsular state, but the Frenchman appears to have had enough of American experiences to satisfy him for all time. The descendants of the original settlers remain in considerable numbers, but in proportion to the total population now they are insignificant. The number of French immigrants in modern times is too small to be worthy of mention.
With the English occupation of the country there was an influx of natives of the British isles. Many of these were in search of adventure or material profit who were as a rule mere birds of passage and had no intention of fixing here a permanent habitation. But some lingered to grow up with the country. This was especially the case with the Scotch, who in the early days of Detroit formed a very important element of its mercantile and business life. In the early half of the nineteenth cen- tury conditions in Ireland drove great numbers of her people to the United States. While many lingered in New York and Boston others pushed westward to find employment and better situations for themselves in less crowded communities. These were the days of great activity in railroad extension and in the erection of blocks of buildings in the larger cities and towns. There
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was sure to be a job waiting for any man who could handle a pick and shovel and who could carry a hod. Here was the Irish immigrant's opportunity, and he was not slow to take advantage of it. He was the common laborer of that day and he served his generation well. In time he passed beyond that humble stage of self- development and showed capacity for something dif- ferent. He left the spade and wheelbarrow to the peas- ant immigrant from the continent while he bossed the job at an advanced rate of compensation. He developed skill as an organizer and leader and showed a high appreciation of the possibilities of political emolument. It is a stale joke that the Irish hold the offices, but there is no denying that they have generally managed to get their share of them.
Unquestionably Germans form the largest percentage of our foreign population. As early as 1825 Conrad Bessinger came to Ann Arbor. So far as it is possible to trace, the next German settler did not arrive until 1829. In 1834 the rush for land was on and people were com- ing to Michigan in such droves that it was almost impos- sible to house and feed them comfortably. These were New York and New England migrants who were looking to better their condition bymaking homes for themselves in a new and fertile country where land was cheap. In 1836 more public land was sold in Michigan than in all the preceding years from 1821 to 1833 put together. With this swelling tide of immigration were doubtless many people of foreign birth, who, arriving in the coun- try, were swept into the westward advancing column. The first German evangelical church in Michigan was organized in 1833. It was built about two miles west of the site of the Ann Arbor court house and dedicated in December of the same year. The whole cost of the building was $265.32. This new house of worship was
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in charge of Pastor F. Schmid, who was sent as a mis- sionary to this state by the Basle Evangelical Missionary society. German congregations were founded about the same time in Detroit and Monroe. They were minis- tered to by Pastor Schmid.
The German element in Michigan is greatly indebted to the revolutionary movement in the fatherland in 1848-9. The failure of that movement drove to the United States thousands of young men of talent and edu- cation. This did more than has commonly been sup- posed to sustain the sentiment of the northern section of the country in the conflict with the southern slaveholders. The Germans of St. Louis saved the state of Missouri to the Union. The Germans of the north and northwest were unfaltering in their support of the republican party on the issues then before the country. The Germans formed a very large contingent in the armies of the Union and furnished officers of high rank and ability as well as stalwart soldiers of the line.
During 1848-9 thirty-five exiled advocates of German freedom fled to Detroit at a time when the German pop- ulation of the town numbered but a few families. Very soon thereafter upwards of a hundred others joined them. Strong champions of liberty and justice, these men entered into the business and political life of the city as earnestly as though they had been American born. They came of the best educated classes of Germany. Though few in numbers at first they soon began to exert a wide influence in the city's life and leavened the poorer immigration which followed. Such a favorable impression did this foreign element make in the com- monwealth that immediately after the close of the civil war the state undertook to encourage further immigra- tion to settle upon and improve our new lands. Really only a small part of the state had been settled and it was
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