USA > New York > Encyclopedia of biography of New York, a life record of men and women whose sterling character and energy and industry have made them preeminent in their own and many other states, Vol. 3 > Part 2
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Charles Stebbins Fairchild began his education in the common schools, then preparing for college at the Oneida Con- ference Seminary at Cazenovia. He entered Harvard College in his seven- teenth year, and was graduated in the year he attained his majority. For two years following he was a student in the Harvard Law School, and, having com- pleted the prescribed course, received the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1865. Lo- cating in Albany, New York, he com- pleted the usual novitiate, and was admit- ted to the bar in 1866 and entered upon practice. In 1871 he became a member of
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the law firm of Swartz & Fairchild, and continued in this relation with marked success until 1876, when he withdrew, on account of official duties. In 1874 he had been made a deputy under the Attorney- General of the State of New York, in which position he displayed such ability that he came to be recognized as the right arm of his superior, rendering espe- cially useful service in the case of the People vs. Gardner and Charlick, the New York police commissioners, and in those growing out of the reports of the Canal Investigation Commission. In the Demo- cratic State Convention in 1875 his con- duct had so commended him that he was made the nominee for the Attorney- Generalship by acclamation, and at the following election he was elected by a majority of 23,302 over his Republican competitor. In addition to the duties of that office, he was ex officio a commis- sioner of the Land Office and of the Canal Fund, a member of the Canal Board and of the Board of State Charities, and a trustee of the State Capitol and of the State Hall. On retiring from his office in 1878, Mr. Fairchild visited Europe, where he remained for two years, and on his return took up his residence in New York City and engaged in the practice of his profession.
In 1885 President Cleveland called Mr. Fairchild to his cabinet as Assistant Sec- retary of the Treasury. During his two years occupancy of this position, he was frequently called upon to represent Sec- retary Daniel Manning, as acting secre- tary ; and when Mr. Manning was obliged by ill health to resign his portfolio (April 1, 1887), President Cleveland at once ap- pointed Mr. Fairchild to the place so vacated. He remained during the entire remainder of Mr. Cleveland's administra- tion, and then returned to New York City and gave his attention to financial affairs, entering at once upon the presi-
dency of the New York Security & Trust Company, and which position he occupied until 1905. He is at present president of the Atlanta & Charlotte Air Line Rail- road Company, and of the Birkbeck In- vestment Savings & Loan Company of America ; and a director of the Lawyers' Mortgage Company, and of the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad Company. Through- out his career he has taken a lively inter- est in economic affairs, and has been a most useful member of various reform organizations and bodies akin thereto. He is an ex-president and ex-treasurer of the State Charities Aid Association ; vice-president of the Charity Organiza- tion Society of New York; and was for several years president of the Reform Club. An able speaker and a logical reasoner, he is frequently called upon to address important public assemblages. The trend of his thought and an index to his interest in economic affairs is dis- cerned in his utterance in September, 1889, before the Harlem Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association, when, in discussing certain social prob- lems pertaining to large cities, he said : "The city is the heel of our American Achilles-the place where our popular government may be wounded to its de- struction." He was a steadfast upholder of a sound money policy at the time when his party was disrupted by the silver move- ment, and he was one of the strongest figures in the Monetary Commission of 1897. He is a member of the following clubs-University, Harvard, Reform, Metropolitan of Washington, Ardsley, Garden City Golf, and Golf Links of America ; and of the Delta Kappa Epsilon, Alpha Delta Phi and Phi Beta Kappa fraternities. He received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Columbian and Harvard universities in 1888. He married Helen Lincklaen, of Cazenovia, New York, where is his residence.
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JAMES, Thomas L.,
Journalist, Banker, Public Official.
Thomas Lemuel James, whose brilliant career was principally useful in his wonderful development of the national postal service, was born in Utica, Oneida county, New York, March 29, 1831, the son of William and Jane Maria (Pria) James. Up to the age of fifteen he at- tended the public schools of Utica, where he was recognized as a bright, vivacious boy, quite as faithful to his studies as any of his young companions, yet gaining the affections of those with whom he was brought in contact by his amicable and attractive nature. When he was fifteen years of age he left school and was ap- prenticed for five years to Wesley Bailey, a printer of Utica, who was the father of E. Prentiss Bailey, editor and publisher of the Utica "Observer." At the age of twenty he became a partner of Francis B. Fisher in publishing the "Madison County Journal," at Hamilton, Madison county, New York, where he went to reside. This was an important period in politics-the closing up of the old and the beginning of the new regime. The paper was of Whig : proclivity. Mr. James showed himself to be an enthusi- astic, energetic, yet judicious young editor, and speedily made an impression upon the community. In 1852 Mr. James was married to Emily I. Freeburn. In 1854 he was appointed canal collector at Hamilton, New York, a position which he held for two years. In 1856 the "Madison County Journal" was united with the "Democratic Reflector," under the name of the "Democratic Republican." But small localities in the interior of the State were not stirring enough, or of sufficient importance, to very long hold a man of the calibre of Mr. James, and in 1861 he went to the metropolis, where Hiram Barney, at that time collector of the port,
appointed him inspector. From this he was soon promoted to the position of weigher of teas in the warehouse depart- ment, and when Thomas Murphy became collector he made Mr. James deputy col- lector of the third (warehouse) division, where he remained under the administra- tion of Chester A. Arthur, who succeeded Murphy as collector of the port. In what- ever position he had been up to this time, Mr. James had made for himself friends among the most influential men in polit- ical and business life, and so it happened that, when President Grant was making up his mind as to whom he should give the important position of postmaster of New York, he found that the general tendency of suggestion and advice pointed to Mr. James. The habits of the latter had been formed on such a methodical foundation, and he was so exact in his work, and so rapid in the conception and execution of his plans, that his value as a public officer could hardly be over- estimated. Appointed postmaster at New York, March 17, 1873, he found the office in a condition which showed clearly the necessity for reorganization, and, in many instances, for an entirely new arrange- ment for the delivery of the mails to the satisfaction of the enormous and growing business interests of the metropolis. A very brief study of the situation informed the new postmaster of the direction in which improvements could be made, and he set himself about making them with such zeal and efficiency that the New York office presently became a model for all others in the country. The election of President Hayes brought about new ap- pointments in New York, and while the names of gentlemen to succeed General Arthur as collector and Mr. Cornell as naval officer were pending in the Senate committee on commerce, on account of the aggressive opposition of Mr. Conkling and other anti-administration Senators,
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the collectorship of the port of New York was offered to Mr. James, but declined. In the meantime Mr. James had been re- appointed postmaster by President Hayes, and, his services having been recognized as marking a new era in postal administra- tion, he naturally felt disinclined to ex- change that position for any other while he still had in regard to it important plans to carry out. Besides this, having been General Arthur's deputy, he could not consent to supersede him. In 1880 Postmaster-General Key was transferred to a circuit judgeship of the United States Court, and the vacant cabinet position was offered to Postmaster James, but declined. During the same year the Re- publicans offered him the nomination for mayor of New York, but this honor he also declined. Finally, however, when President Garfield announced his cabinet on March 5, 1881, there was general re- joicing in both parties when it was seen that Mr. James had been appointed Post- master-General. His new office was, he soon found, full of difficulties. The de- partment of the Second Assistant Post- master-General offered for investigation the scandalous condition of the "star route" and steamboat mail contracts, which it was evident had been dishonest- ly manipulated, with the result of the rob- bery of the government of large sums. It was expected by the people, and justly expected, that Postmaster-General James would make such an examination of his office as would expose the guilty parties, and break up the existing wrong-doing. The opposition to such action on his part, however, was prolonged, powerful and bitter. It included the persistent antago- nism of his personal and political enemies, and even of some who had been his friends. Newspapers were subsidized at the capital and in other cities to attack the Postmaster-General and his assistants in the most determined and obnoxious
manner, but none of these affected Mr. James in the way of causing him to lessen his efforts to break up the nest of dis- honest officials, whose nefarious work was speedily laid bare before him. The dishonest mail routes were cut off, faith- less employees were dismissed, and the general tone of the service was strength- ened and improved. He had been met on his entrance into office by the fact of an annual deficit of $2,000,000, which had varied in amount every year from 1865, and, with one or two exceptions, from 1851. The reductions which he made in the star route service and the steamboat service amounted to over $2,000,000, while his thorough investigation into the abuses and frauds of the post-office resulted in the famous star route trials, and revealed the scandals which had existed in that service prior to his assuming charge of it. Applying as far as it was practicable, the civil service methods which had been in operation in the New York post-office to his new field of operations, the postal service was made self-sustaining up to the time when the rate of postage was reduced by act of Congress. After the deplorable event of the assassination of President Garfield and the assumption of the presidential chair by General Arthur, Mr. James was reappointed by the latter to the position of Postmaster-General. But the political conditions rendered it desirable for him to go out of the public service, and he accordingly resigned his portfolio to become president of the Lin- coln National Bank, then just organized in New York City, and where he assumed office in January, 1882. Combined with the bank was the Lincoln Safe Deposit Company, of which Mr. James became also president, and both these institutions, under his shrewd business management, and greatly on account of his own per- sonal popularity, grew to be thoroughly successful. Genial in his manner, quick
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and appreciative in his understanding, the social position of Mr. James matches his official standing. He has friends innumer- able; indeed, no one who is brought in close or continued contact with him fails to become his friend. Mr. James holds the degree of Master of Arts, con- fered upon him by Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, in 1862, and that of Doctor of Laws, from Madison Univer- sity, in 1882. St. John's College, at Ford- hanı, New York, also conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
BUTLER, Nicholas Murray, Educator, Publicist.
Nicholas Murray Butler was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, April 2, 1862, son of Henry L. and Mary J. (Murray) Butler, the former named president of the Board of Education of Elizabeth for many years. He attended the schools of his birthplace until he was sixteen years of age, when he entered Columbia Col- lege, New York City, from which institu- tion he received the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, 1882, Master of Arts, 1883, Doctor of Philosophy, 1884. In 1884 he visited Europe, and continued his studies at the universities of Berlin and Paris, and at the former named institution he formed a strong friendship with Professor Paulsen, the foremost living philosopher of Ger- many, and this association proved bene- ficial in determining the lifework of Dr. Butler. He returned to his native land in 1886, and then entered upon a career that had been in his mind for many years, that of an educator, and he accepted the position of instructor in philosophy in Columbia College, acting as such until 1889. In that year he became adjunct professor, and in the following year was made full professor of philosophy, ethics and psychology, and lecturer on the his- tory and institutes of education. In the
same year he was elected dean of the faculty of philosophy for a term of five years, and reëlected at its expiration. In addition to his duties in Columbia Col- lege, which were numerous and varied, Dr. Butler devoted considerable time to the study of educational systems, State and city, to statistical reports and official documents, and he served in the capacity of president of Barnard College; first president of the New York College for the Training of Teachers, now Teachers' College, of Columbia College, where, in the Horace Mann School of Practice, he had an opportunity to test his theories by experiments, serving from 1886 to 1891; member of the State Board of Education from 1887 to 1895, and was instrumental in bringing about the educa- tional revolution in his State which sub- stituted the town for the district system of administration ; president of the Pater- son Board of Education, 1892-93, where he acquired a thoroughly practical ac- quaintance with the working of a city system of schools. In 1894 he became university examiner in education for the State of New York. Since 1902 he has been president of Columbia University, including also the presidency of Barnard College, Teachers' College, and the Col- lege of Pharmacy.
Dr. Butler has also achieved success in the literature of his profession. In 1891 he founded the "Educational Review," probably the foremost educational maga- zine in the world, which he edited with great ability, and he is also the editor of the "Great Educators" series, and of the "Teachers' Professional Library," as well as of the "Columbia University Contri- butions" to philosophy, psychology and education. In 1889 he was the New Jer- sey . commissioner to the Paris Exposi- tion ; delegate to the Republican National conventions of 1888, 1904, 1912 ; chairman of the New York Republican Convention,
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1912; received the Republican electoral vote for Vice-President of the United States, 1913. He was chairman of the administrative board of the International Congress of Arts and Sciences, St. Louis Exposition, 1904; chairman of the Lake Mohonk Conferences on International Arbitration, 1907-09-10-11-12; president of the American branch of Conciliation Internationale; trustee of Carnegie Foundation Advancement of Teaching, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; governor of the Society of the Lying-in-Hospital ; trustee of the Colum- bia University Press and the American Academy in Rome; chairman of the Col- lege Entrance Examination Board, Officier de Legion d'honneur, 1906, and com- mandeur, 1912; commander of the Order of Red Eagle (with Star) of Prussia, 1910.
Dr. Butler is a member of the National Educational Association, of which he was elected president in 1894; of the Amer- ican Academy of Arts and Letters, the Pilgrims, the American Philosophical So- ciety, American Psychological Associ- ation, New England Association, Amer- ican Historical Association (life), New York Historical Society (life), German- istic Society, American Scandinavian So- ciety, University Settlement Society, Na- tional Red Cross (life), National Council of Education, New York Chamber of Commerce, American Society of Interna- tional Law, and the Century, Church, Metropolitan, University, Barnard, Co- lumbia University, Authors, Garden City Golf and Ardsley clubs. He is the author of: "The Meaning of Education," "True and False Democracy," "The American as He Is," "Philosophy," "Why Should We Change Our Form of Government," "The International Mind," and "Education in the United States," and various other works. Dr. Butler is a man of great natural force and of high attainments, and as a
writer and speaker he is clear, forcible, con- cise, and he possesses in an extraordinary degree that power of exposition which con- vinces friends and confounds opponents. Dr. Butler received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Syracuse, 1898, Tulane, 1901, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania and Yale, 1902, Unversity of Chicago, 1903, St. An- drews and Manchester, 1905, Cambridge, 1907, Williams, 1908, Harvard and Dart- mouth, 1909, and University of Breslau, 1911, and the degree of Doctor of Litera- ture from the University of Oxford, 1905.
Dr. Butler married (first) February 7, 1887, Susanna Edwards Schuyler, daugh- ter of J. Rutsen Schuyler, of Bergen Point, New Jersey, and they were the parents of one daughter. Mrs. Butler died January 10, 1903. Dr. Butler mar- ried (second) March 5, 1907, Kate La Montagne.
ODELL, Benjamin B., Jr., Congressman, Governor.
Benjamin Barker Odell, Jr., who as the thirty-seventh Governor of the State of New York, labored arduously and suc- cessfully for an economical administra- tion of the public affairs, was born in Newburgh, New York, January 14, 1854, son of the Hon. Benjamin Barker and Ophelia (Bookstaver) Odell. His father, but recently dead, was a man of ability, and occupied various important public positions.
The future governor passed from the public schools of Newburgh to Bethany (West Virginia) College, and later to Columbia University (1873-75), and from which he received the LL. D. degree in 1903. He was for some years engaged in banking, electric lighting and commer- cial enterprises at Newburgh, and served as a director in the Central Hudson Steamboat Company of New York, and
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president of the Newburgh Chamber of Commerce. From his early voting years he took an active interest in political affairs. From 1884 to 1896 he was a mem- ber of the Republican State Committee, and chairman of the Republican State Executive Committee from 1898 to 1900. A steadfast Republican, he was elected to the Fifty-fourth Congress, and was re- elected, serving from March 4, 1895, to March 3, 1899, having declined the renom- ination for a third term.
In 1900, when not yet forty-seven years of age, he was elected Governor and was reëlected in 1902. In his inaugural address the following January, he de- clared his policy to be the conduct of the business affairs of the State "with econ- omy and good judgment, and that the burdens of taxation should be so adjusted as to fall lightly upon those who can ill afford to bear them, and be borne more generously by those who have received from the State protection and rights which have been giving to their vast business interests the success they de- serve," and in this line argued for the additional taxation of corporations, to the relief of real estate owners. He set an example of economy when he dispensed with the "counsel to the Governor," and devolved the work of that official upon the Attorney-General. He effected a con- siderable lessening of the burdens of gen- eral taxation, and the elimination of un- necessary expenses, at the same time without impairing the usefulness of any of the administrative departments. He materially reduced the expenses of tax collection, notably in the items of inher- itance tax, resulting in an average saving of $150,000 per annum. Other savings were effected by the consolidation of various bureaus and the erection of a comprehensive Department of Labor in their stead, with a resultant annual saving of about $70,000. An expensive State Com-
mission of Prisons was replaced with a board of three members; and the State Board of Health gave place to a Commis- sioner of Health. Two commissions, the one charged with the protection of for- ests, fish and game, and the other with forest preservation alone, were consoli- dated into one department. Legislation enacted at his instance resulted in great saving in the item of printing. Perhaps the most important innovation was the legislation for the taxation of trust com- panies, insurance companies and savings banks, and which resulted in trebly in- creasing the income from these sources; while other enactments increased liquor taxes fifty per cent. Another important innovation was the creation of the office of Fiscal Supervisor of State Charities. Good roads also occupied a large share of Governor Odell's attention, and great im- provements and extensions were made under the State Engineer.
Governor Odell interposed his veto in several important instances. One was of a bill giving, through general legislation, to the New York & New Jersey Bridge Company certain rights for the construc- tion of elevated railroad structures upon West Street, in New York City, along North river ; two related to the Park ave- nne tunnel in New York City and another was one conferring unusual powers upon a gas company. Governor Odell while in office was a strict partisan and an active politician, doing all that he could honor- ably and consistently to advance the in- terests of his party ; but his highest claim upon the gratitude and esteem of the peo- ple are the financial reforms which were consummated during his administration. He was throughout the watch-dog of the treasury and to him are due the lowering of the burdens of taxation, the elimina- tion of unnecessary or ill-considered appropriations and the scrupulous regard for the economies, without diminishing
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the usefulness of any of the departments of government. He declined a renomina- tion in 1904, and has since devoted him- self almost exclusively to his large busi- ness interests. He married, August 20, 1877, Estelle Crist, of Newburgh (died 1888); and (second) Mrs. Linda (Crist) Trophagen, sister of his first wife.
PARKER, Alton Brooks, Jurist, Statesman.
Hon. Alton Brooks Parker, who was the Democratic nominee for the presi- dency in 1904, was born May 14, 1852, at Cortlandt, New York, son of John Brooks and Harriet F. (Stratton) Parker. Both parents were persons of more than ordi- nary intelligence and gentility-qualities which were reflected in the son. The Parker family was prominent in Massa- chusetts, and John Parker, paternal great- grandfather of Alton Brooks Parker, served for three years in the Revolution- ary army.
Alton Brooks Parker was educated in the public schools of his native town, the Cortlandt Academy, and the State Normal School at the same place. He taught school for three years after concluding his studies, and then engaged in the study of law in the offices of Schoonmaker & Har- denbergh, both accomplished lawyers, and the first named soon afterward becoming Attorney-General of the State. He sub- sequently took a course in the Albany Law School, from which he graduated, and he was admitted to the bar on attain- ing his majority. He then formed a law partnership with W. S. Kenyon, of Kings- ton, an association which was maintained until 1878. Meantime he had already entered upon a public career. In 1877, at the age of twenty-five, he was elected surrogate of Ulster county, the youngest surrogate ever elected in the county, and his popularity is attested by the fact that
all other candidates on his ticket (the Democratic) were defeated by upwards of a thousand votes. In 1885 Governor David B. Hill appointed him a justice of the State Supreme Court to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Theo- dore R. Westbrook, and on the expiration of the term he was elected to the place for the full fourteen year term, no Re- publican candidate being nominated · against him. Meantime he had declined other preferments-his party nomination for Secretary of State, and for Lieutenant- Governor, and later the proffer of the position of First Assistant Postmaster- General by President Cleveland. In 1885 at the earnest solicitation of many of the principal men of his party, he accepted the chairmanship of the executive com- mittee of the Democratic State Commit- tee, and in this position exhibited master- ly qualities of leadership in the campaign which resulted in the election of David B. Hill as Governor in succession to Grover Cleveland.
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