USA > Michigan > Michigan as a province, territory and state, the twenty-sixth member of the federal Union > Part 6
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In the early part of his life he was absorbed in busi- ness affairs. He gave little attention to politics, but took sufficient interest in public matters to render service in the Detroit Board of Education, and to represent his ward in the Common Council. A law having been passed creating a metropolitan police department for Detroit to be governed by a board of four commission- ers Mr. Bagley was named as one of the number and was made president of the board. This was a matter of very great interest to him. The organization of
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the force, creation of rules for its government, selection of officers and men, absorbed his attention. He was commonly recognized as the father of the department, and to this day there are veterans on the force who testify that his warm heart and fatherly regard were fully recognized and appreciated by every wearer of the blue. The nomination for governor came to him unsought and practically without opposition. There were delegates in the convention who would have liked to give Governor Baldwin another term. He firmly declined it and then most of the delegates turned to Mr. Bagley, though Francis B. Stockbridge of Kalamazoo received a few votes, solely on the score of locality. There were some who thought that two governors in succession from Detroit were altogether too many.
The campaign which followed was that of the memor- able Greeley fiasco. There were very many members of the republican party who were dissatisfied with the poli- cies which had been pursued by the stalwart leaders, and particularly so with the Grant administration and its sorry scandals. It was very evident to these malcon- tents that the re-nomination of Grant could not be pre- vented. So they separated themselves from their old party and held a national convention in Cincinnati, where, under the name of Liberal Republicans, they nominated Horace Greeley for the presidency. The democratic managers, believing it futile to try to elect a candidate of that party, were persuaded to endorse Mr. Greeley. This resulted in a split and the nomina- tion of a straight democratic ticket. In Michigan, Aus- tin Blair, who had been a republican, and as such was twice elected governor, accepted the nomination for governor again on the fusion ticket, while William M. Ferry was nominated by the straight democrats. It is a matter of history that the effort to make Mr. Greeley
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president was the flattest failure on record. The result showed in the poll of Michigan, as elsewhere. Mr. Bagley's plurality was 57,000. His total vote was 138,968, while that for Mr. Blair was 81,880, for Mr. Ferry 2,728, and for Henry Fish, prohibition, 1,230. At the election in 1874, Governor Bagley was chosen for a second term by a vote of 111, 519 against 105,550 for Henry Chamberlain, democrat, and 3,937 for G. B. Carpenter prohibition.
The other state officers who served during the first term of Governor Bagley were, Henry H. Holt, lieu- tenant governor; Daniel Striker, secretary of state; Victory P. Collier, state treasurer ; Leverett A. Clapp, commissioner of land office; William Humphrey, audi- tor general; Daniel B. Briggs, superintendent of public instruction ; Byron D. Ball, attorney general. The state officers during his second term were the same, except that Ebenezer G. D. Holden was secretary of state; Wm. B. McCreery was state treasurer; Ralph Ely was auditor general, and Andrew J. Smith was attorney general.
There was much important legislation during the first term of Governor Bagley. Chief of this was prob- ably the act creating a state board of health. The members of the first board were Homer O. Hitchcock, president ; Robert C. Kedzie, C. H. Brigham, Henry F. Lyster, John S. Goodman, and Henry B. Baker, secre- tary. This board was charged with the duty of protect- ing the public health, by the enforcement of sanitary regulations, and especially by providing rules for the control of contagious and infectious diseases, and by collecting and publishing from time to time information regarding the prevalent disease in various sections of the state. The board was fortunate in the selection of its secretary, Dr. Baker, who, as executive officer,
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proved very efficient and was continued in that position for more than thirty years.
Another important piece of legislation during the session of 1873 was the creation of the office of railroad commissioner, to which Stephen S. Cobb of Kalamazoo was the first appointee. Referring to this subject in his message the governor says, "Railroads are something more than mere private enterprises. They are not only a public convenience but a public necessity. By the law of necessity they must be made subservient to the public ends. The public are directly interested to see that these roads are constructed and operated honestly ; that they are managed and operated alike for the benefit of their owners, creditors and the public, and with a view to the public convenience and interests." The governor calls attention to the abuse which results from the organiza- tion of fast freight lines, sleeping car lines and other similar corporations, organized inside the railroad cor- porations, which "milk" them, to the detriment of the stockholders of the railroad companies. He says these corporations pay good dividends, but the railroad stock- holder gets none.
The creation of the office of commissioner of insur- ance, to which Samuel H. Row of Lansing was appointed, was an important step in the matter of sys- tematizing methods and controlling the insurance com- panies doing business in the state. In the interest of the citizen, it was considered the duty of the state to see to it that insurance companies do business in Michi- gan by authority and that they are responsible.
The subject of banking was thoroughly overhauled, the old laws repealed and a general law for the regula- tion and control of all banks organized under it was adopted. This applied to banks of deposit and dis- count, as well as savings banks, and it looked to the 1V-8
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security of depositors and safeguarded the interests of the public. It provided for a bureau in the treasurer's office, with some one in charge who should make per- sonal examinations from time to time. It required reports to be made and published in the same manner as was required of national banks. From these state- ments it will be seen that the administration of Gov- ernor Bagley gave attention to affairs of business and inaugurated methods calculated for the highest public service. It was pre-eminently a business administration characteristic of its chief, a plain, unassuming, but shrewd and level-headed citizen.
One other matter of some moment was brought for- ward. On account of its extended coast line and vast expanse of interior lakes, fishing had been a very profit- able industry. The main supply of the country, in the matter of fresh water fish, was drawn from the greater and the lesser lakes. But for years the catch had been decreasing, showing that unless something were speedily done, it was only a question of time when the industry would practically end. The artificial propagation of fish had been found practicable, and it appeared to be quite feasible to restock the lakes with the more valu- able varieties, so that, with proper regulation, the life of the business could be prolonged indefinitely. With this end in view the legislature of 1873 created a fish commission. Governor Bagley appointed as members of the first commission George Clark of Ecorse and George H. Jerome of Niles. In 1874 Mr. Jerome resigned and A. J. Kellogg of Allegan was appointed to fill the vacancy. Mr. Jerome was then appointed super- intendent of fisheries. The first state hatchery was established at Pokagon, and at the end of the first sea- son it turned out five million fry which were carefully deposited in suitable waters. Several other hatcheries
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were established later in various parts of the state and the business of producing young fish was carried on systematically and extensively. The fact that it has been continued and enlarged is proof that in the public estimation it has been of advantage to the state. There is abundant evidence that the waters which have been stocked, especially those in the interior, have furnished greatly increased results for the fishermen.
Governor Bagley's many and staunch political friends were desirous to see him occupy a seat in the United States Senate. The opportunity seemed to have come at the opening of the legislative session of 1881. Upon the death of Senator Chandler in November, 1880, Ex-Governor Baldwin was appointed to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term, ending March 4, 1881. It was well understood at the time that he would be content to fill out this short term, and that he would not be a candidate for the full term succeeding. Accordingly, Ex-Governor's Bagley's friends rallied to his support. The legislature was strongly republican, and it was certain that whoever should receive the nomination of the party caucus would be elected. Omar D. Conger of Port Huron was a candidate. He had occupied a seat in the lower house of congress for several terms and had proved particularly strong and ready in debate, and had established a wide reputation for his oratory and legislative influence. The caucus was a lively and exciting affair, for it was known in advance that the contest would be close. So it proved to be, for the decision turned in favor of Mr. Conger by a single vote. The result was particularly disappointing to Mr. Bag- ley and his friends, for the reason that the member who cast this deciding vote against him was naturally expected, by reason of location and personal friendship and political interests, to have voted the other way. But
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Mr. Bagley accepted the decision gracefully and loyally supported his successful antagonist.
It soon transpired that Mr. Bagley's health was even then in a precarious condition. He survived little more than six months. He went to California in the hope that a change of climate and surroundings would be beneficial. He was suffering from disordered circula- tion, for which there appeared to be no remedy. He expired in San Francisco July 27, 1881. He bequeathed a sum of money with which a granite memorial drink- ing fountain was erected in the street on the south side of the Detroit city hall by the executor of his estate. A few of his local admirers erected a bronze portrait bust of him on a modest pedestal in the Campus Mar- tius of his home city. This is an evidence of popular ap- preciation not yet accorded to any other citizen, with the single exception of Ex-Governor Pingree.
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CHAPTER VII ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
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T HE figure which looms largest in the polit- ical history of Michigan is Zachariah Chandler. Lewis Cass, in his day, was much in the public eye. As territorial governor, United States senator, mem- ber of two cabinets, minister at the court of Louis Phillippe, and candidate of his party for president of the United States, he was conspicuous. But it is doubtful whether, with all these honors he exerted so wide an influence in the councils of the nation and in shaping the course of government upon important issues as did Mr. Chandler. The methods and characteristics of the two men were radically different. But both were active and virile and both honored the state of their adoption as few states have been honored by their representatives in public life.
Mr. Chandler was fortunate in the period of his ad- vent. He succeeded Cass at the expiration of his term in the senate, March 4, 1857. Large questions were be- fore the congress and the American people. Cass repre- sented the old conservative elementwhich was dominated by southern influence. He was disposed to conciliate the slaveholders by concessions and compromises, and to save the union by temporising. To his credit be it said that when, as secretary of state in the cabinet of James Buchanan, he saw that the south was determined to re- sort to the extreme measure of war, he came out square- ly as a patriotic defender of the union at any hazard, surrendered his porfolio, and washed his hands of all complicity with the wreckers of the government. When the war actually broke out he took part in public meet- ings in Detroit to promote patriotic feeling and encour- age enlistments in the army. He contributed a thou- sand dollars to help defray the expense of equipping
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the earlier regiments which Michigan sent into the field. No citizen of the state was more urgent for a vigorous prosecution of the war to restore the union.
Chandler was the most radical of radicals. He was an anti-slavery man from the bottom of his heart. He had the courage of his convictions and did not shrink from the consequences of the policy which he advocated. There was no compromise in his nature, and in the try- ing times upon which the country was then so evidently entering he was the boldest of all the anti-slavery sen- ators.
Mr. Chandler was a native of Bedford, New Hamp- shire, where he was born December 10, 1813. He was the second son and fourth child of Samuel Chandler and Margaret Orr. There were seven children in the family, all of whom, except one, survived to maturity. Samuel Chandler was a farmer and sufficiently well-to- do to give a college education to all his sons who wished it. All of them did, except Zachariah, who, when he reached the proper age, was given a thousand dollars by his father, with the option of spending it for an educa- tion, or as he might see fit. He passed by the college and decided upon a business career. In his youth he at- tended the schools of his native town, and in his fifteenth and sixteenth years attended the near-by academies of Pembroke and Derry. He afterward taught school winters in the neighboring country districts and worked on the farm during the summers.
In 1833 he entered a store in Nashua, and in Septem- ber of that year he fell a victim to the fever of westward migration, then prevalent throughout New England and New York. In company with his brother-in-law, Franklin Moore, he came to Detroit, which was there- after his home. The two appear to have had some cap- ital, at least they had the financial backing of the father,
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who made some advances which were speedily and fully repaid. Under the name of Moore & Chandler they opened a general store on Jefferson avenue near Ran- dolph street. In the following year they removed to the southwest corner of Woodward and Jefferson avenues. In the summer of 1834 an epidemic of cholera devas- tated the town, but both the members of the firm and the business escaped the contagion and its disastrous con- sequences. 1836 the partnership was dissolved and the junior member continued the business in his own name. He applied himself with characteristic intensity and the establishment flourished from the start. As interior Michigan developed he added jobbing to his retail de- partment, and by shrewd business judgment, both in buy- ing and selling, his success was early achieved. This was the period of the astonishingly rapid growth and devel- opment of the state. It was also the period of specula- tion and wild-cat schemes to get rich quickly. Mr.
Chandler tabooed specualtion and gave all the schemes a wide berth. Consequently the disastrous financial panic and depression which soon followed had no ser- ious effect upon him. He pushed his jobbing trade in all directions and made his interior customers his per- sonal friends, very greatly to his advantage later in life. He invested his surplus profits in productive real estate which grew rapidly in value. Some time in the '40S he changed his business to dry goods strictly at whole- sale, and soon made himself independently and perma- nently rich.
Though actively absorbed in business, he had, nev- ertheless, given close attention to public affairs. He had made numerous commercial journeys through the state and had become thoroughly familiar with its resources and its industrial progress. He had made himself per- sonally acquainted with all the men in every locality who
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were prominent and influential in business and public concerns. Shortly after 1850 he began to give consid- erable thought to political matters. Born and bred in New England, he had early imbibed anti-slavery ideas. It may be said that these were indelibly fixed in his mind. The anti-slavery agitation then going on throughout the north found in him an ardent supporter. Since becoming a voter his ballot had been uniformly cast for the whig candidates. He took such interest in the local affairs of that party as an energetic and earnest citizen might be expected to take. In 1848 he made a few speeches in behalf of General Taylor as presidential candidate of the whigs. In 1850 he was a delegate to the whig state convention. In February, 1851, the whigs nominated him for mayor of Detroit. The cam- paign which followed showed clearly the characteristics and political methods of the man. His opponent was General John R. William, who had already held the office for six years and was one of the most conspicuous and popular citizens. Mr. Chandler organized his first political battle with striking system and earnestness. He made a peronal canvass of every ward and talked with voters, old and young. When the ballots were counted it was found that he had been elected by a very decisive majority. His service as mayor met with universal ap- proval.
In November, 1852, occurred Michigan's first gen- eral election under its new constitution. Robert Mc- Clelland, who had held the office during the preceding short term, was the democratic candidate for governor. Mr. Chandler was the nominee of the whig party, and also headed the temperance ticket. But there was a split in the whig ranks and Isaac P. Christiancy was the candidate of the wing which supported John P. Hale for the presidency. With the single exception of Wil-
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liam Woodbridge in 1839-40, Michigan had had an un- broken succession of democratic governors. The elec- tion in 1852 did not change the rule and Mr. Chandler went down to defeat, though he led his ticket by five hun- dred to four thousand votes. In this campaign he had fully manifested his personal strength and political abil- ity. The legislature chosen at the same election was charged with the selection of a United States senator. Being strongly democratic, it chose Charles E. Stuart, though Mr. Chandler received the entire vote of the opposition. Curiously enough, four years later Mr. Chandler took his seat in the senate as the colleague of Mr. Stuart.
Political agitation was bringing more and more sharply to the front the issue between the north and the south on the slavery question. In 1854 the republi- can party was organized "under the oaks" at Jackson and in November of that year demonstrated its strength in the state of its birth by triumphantly electing Kinsley S. Bingham, governor of the state. Events of signifi- cance and influence followed fast and faster. The abro- gation of the Missouri compromise, the arbitrary en- forcement of the fugitive slave law in the north, the struggle between freedom or slavery in Kansas stirred public sentiment in Michigan, as elsewhere. Mr. Chandler threw himself into the contest with all his wonderful energy. In the campaign of 1856 he made speeches throughout the state which disclosed his sin- cerity of conviction, his courage of opinion, and with a plainness of expression that could not be misunderstood. In this campaign Fremont was the candidate of the party for the presidency, and he carried Michigan by nearly twenty thousand plurality. The republican state ticket was elected and the legislature was republican by a majority on joint ballot of seventy-two. That legisla-
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ture chose Mr. Chandler United States senator to suc- ceed General Cass.
Of the members of the senate which Mr. Chandler then entered, the most prominent on the northern side were Stephen A. Douglas, Lyman Trumbull, Charles Sumner, Henry Wilson, W. P. Fessenden, Hannibal Hamlin, William H. Seward, Simon Cameron, Benja- min F. Wade; on the southern side were Jefferson Davis, Robert Toombs, Judah P. Benjamin, John Sli- dell, Samuel Houston, R. M. T. Hunter, James M. Mason. Preparations for the dissolution of the Union were already in a forward state, under the manipula- tions of the rule-or-ruin representatives of the south. It was then evidently idle to talk further of conciliation or compromise. Mr. Chandler was convinced that it was the settled purpose of the statesmen of the south to carry that section out of the Union, and that the longer the crisis was delayed the greater would be the difficul- ties of suppressing the rebellion. No one now believes that he desired to see a war precipitated upon the coun- try. While he did not covet bloodshed, he was not afraid of it. There were those on his side of the ques- tion who showed symptoms of vacillation and moral cowardice, but his attitude was clear and positive and did much toward invigorating northern sentiment. Southern senators had been in the habit of bullying and brow-beating their opponents. They showed a swag- gering and threatening attitude which too often was ef- fective in accomplishing its purpose. This sort of tac- tics was not acceptable to Mr. Chandler in any sense of the word. His plan of action was the simple, character- istic one of meeting threats with defiance, and treason with all the necessary force to suppress it.
The troubles over Kansas were at the front when Mr. Chandler entered the senate. His first set speech was
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brought out by the plan of the southern senators to force the acceptance of the Lecompton constitution up- on the people of Kansas. In this speech he struck straight from the shoulder. He said, "The old women of the north who have been in the habit of crying out, the Union is in danger ! have passed off the stage. They are dead. Their places will never be supplied, but in their stead we have a race of men who are devoted to this Union and devoted to it as Jefferson and the fathers made it and bequeathed it to us. Any aggression has been submitted to by the race who have gone off the stage. They were ready to compromise any principle, anything. The men of the present day are a different race. They will compromise nothing. They are union- loving men; they love all portions of the Union; they will sacrifice anything but principle to save it. They will, however, make no sacrifice of principle. Never! Never! No more compromises will ever be submitted to to save the Union. If it is worth saving, it will be saved. The only way that we shall save it and make it permanent as the everlasting hills will be by restoring it to the original foundations upon which the fathers placed it. I trust in God civil war will never come; but if it should come, upon their heads, and theirs alone, will rest the responsibility for every drop of blood that may flow." Referring to this speech, the New York Courier and Enquirer said, "The speech of Mr. Chand- ler places him among the first debaters of the country. No more unanswerable exposition of the usurpation in Kansas has been made."
In the same year came the Dred Scott decision which added fuel to the flame throughout the north. In this decision the majority of the court held that negroes had no rights which white men were bound to respect; that as a principle of law neither emancipated slaves nor
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their descendants were entitled to claim the rights which the constitution guarantees to citizens of the United States, and that under the constitution acts excluding slavery from the territories were not valid. To the people of the already inflamed north this decision was a tremendous irritant. Of it Mr. Chandler said, "What did General Jackson do when the supreme court de- clared the United States bank constitutional? Did he bow to it? No! He said he would construe the consti- tution for himself. I shall do the same thing. I have sworn to support the constitution of the United States, and I have sworn to support it as the fathers made it, and not as the supreme court has altered it." Events followed fast. The John Brown raid at Harper's Fer- ry in the autumn of 1859 made a most profound sensa- tion throughout the country. Speaking upon this af- fair Mr. Chandler said, "John Brown has been executed as a traitor to the State of Virginia, and I want it to go upon the records of the senate in the most solemn man- mer to be held up as a warning to traitors, north, south, east, west. Dare to raise your impious hands against this government, its constitution and its laws, and you hang. Threats have been made year after year for the last thirty years, that if certain events happen this Union will be dissolved. It is no small matter to dissolve this Union. It means a bloody revolution or it means a hal- ter."
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