USA > New York > History of the state of New York, political and governmental, Vol. III 1865-1896 > Part 17
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7George S. Boutwell, Reminiscences, II, p. 272.
CHAPTER XXI
STALWARTS AND HALF-BREEDS
1881
T HE third term fight divided the Republicans of New York into two factions, known as the Stalwarts and the Half-breeds. The Half-breed resistance to Conkling had made Garfield's nomination possible, and this faction looked to the new administra- tion at least to protect it from proscription and anni- hilation. No effort was made, however, to interfere with the election of George H. Sharpe, the Conkling candidate for Speaker, but in the choice of a United States Senator the Half-breeds took an active part.
The two leading candidates were Richard Crowley and Thomas C. Platt. Crowley was an able speaker ; he had served in the State Senate and in Congress and as United States Attorney for the Northern district of New York. Platt also had served in Congress. He was a cool, efficient political manager, who made few enemies. Both were Stalwarts, but the Half-breeds saw more hope of independence, or at least moderation, in Platt. Conkling would not decide between his followers, but Arthur, Sharpe, and John F. Smyth supported Crowley, while Cornell, running true to the normal course of a Governor whom a boss tries to
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dominate, and inclined to assert his independence, favored Platt. A group who held with George William Curtis that the Independents should vote without compromise to show the existence of an opposition favored William A. Wheeler or Sherman S. Rogers, whose candidacy was managed by his brother-in-law, Senator Ira Davenport. At the request of Blaine and Whitelaw Reid, Depew entered the field to hold the balance between Crowley and Platt and secure a Senator pledged to Garfield's support. After succeeding in this manœuver he withdrew. Before the caucus the Half-breeds came to an understanding with Platt that he would support the Garfield administration in the matter of appointments, including an appointment for Judge Robertson if the President saw fit to give it.1 Speaker Sharpe, following the Younglove example of 1869 and the Cornell example of 1873, held up the com- mittee appointments to bring pressure for Crowley. But in the Republican caucus of January 13 Platt was nominated, receiving 54 votes to 26 for Crowley, 10 for Rogers, 10 for William A. Wheeler, 4 for Elbridge G. Lapham, and 1 for Levi P. Morton. The Democrats gave their complimentary nomination to Francis Kernan.
The administration opened with the President and Conkling on friendly terms, although Garfield had refused his request to make Levi P. Morton Secretary of the Treasury. He offered instead to give him the Navy department, or to make Thomas L. James Postmaster-General. James was finally chosen, as
1Statement of Mr. Depew to the writer, June 15, 1917.
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[1881
Morton preferred the French mission. Garfield was reluctant to antagonize the Stalwarts. When a Half- breed delegation urged upon him the nomination of N. P. Pond for Marshal of the Northern district of New York, he replied that while he would fight where necessary, it was his nature to shun a quarrel and cross a street to avoid one.2 John Hay had foretold to him his own weakness as an Executive. In declining the office of private secretary and paying warm tribute to Garfield's character and ability, Hay added: "'One thing thou lackest yet,' and that is a slight ossification of the heart. I woefully fear you will try to make everybody happy-an office which is outside of your constitutional powers."3 ''3 On March 22 he sent to the Senate a list of nominations for Attorneys and Marshals in New York, all of them Stalwarts, but the next day created a sensation by nominating William H. Robert- son for Collector of Customs to succeed General Mer- ritt, whom he nominated for Consul-General at Lon- don.
The Stalwarts were surprised, for Conkling had only a few hours before been requested by the President to withhold papers bearing on New York changes until he was ready to receive them.4 When he discussed with Garfield the first batch of nominations he had asked about the Collectorship, and been told to leave that for another time.5 This stroke was widely
2Statement to the writer by D. D. S. Brown, who was a member of the delegation.
3W. R. Thayer, Life of Hay, I, p. 442.
4Conkling's letter of resignation, New York Times, May 17, 1881.
5Boutwell, Sixty Years in Public Affairs, II, p. 273.
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attributed to Blaine's insistence on the recognition of his friends. But Blaine told George S. Boutwell that he had no knowledge of the nomination in advance, and Garfield acquitted him of all responsibility. The first nomination of an entirely Stalwart slate brought upon the President a flood of protests, and his sudden determination to show some recognition to the other side may have been the impulsive reaction.6 On the other hand, many careful observers, including Frye, Blaine's friend and successor in the Senate,7 felt that Blaine was the ultimate force behind Robertson's nomination. Garfield had sought to settle the question amicably, presenting to Conkling his desire to make one conspicuous appointment in New York among his friends who had opposed Grant.8 But Conkling was implacably against any appointment for Robertson within this country. The State Senate, which was under Half-breed control, adopted a resolution com- mending all the New York appointments, including Robertson's, and the Stalwarts in the Assembly, not then daring to make an issue with the President, also passed it but later reconsidered it.9
Conkling as chairman of the committee on commerce had Robertson's nomination in his own hand. The Vice-President, the Postmaster-General, the two Sena- tors, and Governor Cornell united in urging the with- drawal of Robertson's name. Failing to secure it, the suggestion was made that some other office, a foreign
6Boutwell, Sixty Years in Public Affairs, II, p. 274.
7 Alexander, Political History of the State of New York, III, p. 471.
8George F. Hoar, Reminiscences, II, p. 57.
9 Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia, 1881.
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[1881
mission or a judgeship, be given to Robertson. But the President stood firm. He took the position that if the nomination was unfit it should be rejected, but he would not yield to the doctrine of "Senatorial courtesy" invoked by Conkling with his colleagues, which substi- tuted for the judgment of the Senate the personal whim of every Senator as to all nominations in his State. The issue, as put by Whitelaw Reid in his message to the President through John Hay, was: "This is the turning point of his whole administration-the crisis of his fate. If he surrenders now, Conkling is President for the rest of the term and Garfield becomes a laughing-stock. With the unanimous action of the New York Legislature, Conkling cannot make an effectual fight. That action came solely from the belief that Garfield, unlike Hayes, meant to defend his own administration."10 Speaking of Robertson, Garfield, when this message was read to him, replied to Hay: "They may take him out of the Senate head first or feet first; I will never withdraw him."11
Finding it difficult to rally the Senate in opposition to the administration, Arthur and Platt suggested that all New York nominations be withdrawn, but without any consent to Garfield's suggestion to withdraw all except Robertson and then if he failed of confirmation to make up a new list. On May 6 the President, fore- seeing the danger that Conkling might confirm all his own friends but hold up Robertson, withdrew all the other names. This brought the crisis. Several Senate
10New York Tribune, January 7, 1882.
11Mrs. James G. Blaine, Letters, I, p. 286.
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1881]
caucuses were held, in which Conkling found a growing disinclination to support him in his fight. Finally, on May 16, he and Platt sent their resignations to Governor Cornell with a long letter defining their position.12
Platt originated this plan, to which Conkling reluctantly consented, and the popular epithet of "Me too," which was applied to Platt because of the transaction, misrepresented his position.13 He shared Conkling's views, but he had pledged support of the President. If they could be reelected, as they had every reason to believe, he would be freed from this pledge. The Stalwarts expected an easy triumph. They moved on Albany, where most of the old group set to work for Conkling's reelection. Cornell alone stood aloof. He refused to be a candidate himself, though votes were cast for him, and encouraged his friends to support Conkling and Platt, but he had sought har- mony, advised acquiescence in Robertson's confirma- tion, and refused to use the power of his office in the contest. This made him an "ingrate" and a "traitor," whom the imperious Conkling openly characterized as the "lizard on the hill."
Clever parliamentary tactics on the part of the Half- breeds delayed the official announcement of the resignations to the Senate for one day, from Monday, May 16, to Tuesday. As the statute provided for a vote on the second Tuesday after the announcement,14
12New York newspapers, May 17, 1881.
13Thomas C. Platt, Autobiography, p. 150.
14New York Times, May 17, 1881.
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[1881
this carried the time for a ballot over a whole week, and in the fortnight interval popular support of the President had a chance to manifest itself. Balloting began on May 31. The Democrats in caucus nominated Jacobs and Kernan for the two vacancies. Speaker Sharpe endeavored to arrange a Republican caucus with Dennis McCarthy, chairman of the Senate caucus committee, but was unable to do so, and the Repub- licans went into the joint session without any agreement.
For the short term Conkling led the ballot with 35 votes, while the opposition was divided among 18 candidates. Wheeler had 19, Rogers 13, Cornell 9, Crowley 5, Folger 4, Pomeroy 3; Henry E. Tremain, Andrew D. White, J. W. Wadsworth, William M. Evarts, and Thomas G. Alvord 2 each; and Hamilton Ward, Warner Miller, G. P. Edick, R. E. Fenton, Silas B. Dutcher, Hamilton Fish, and Orlow W. Chap- man 1 each. For the long term Platt had 29 votes, Depew 21, Cornell 12, Lapham 8, Folger 6, Evarts 5, Miller 5, Crowley 3; Morton, Wadsworth, Tremain, Noah Davis, Rogers, and Joseph H. Choate 2 each ; and Sharpe, Pomeroy, Wheeler, and J. M. Francis 1 each.
The balloting continued until June 9 without material change, when Assemblyman S. H. Bradley of Cattaraugus charged that Senator Loren B. Sessions had offered him $2,000 to vote for Depew. A legis- lative committee turned the matter over to the grand jury, which indicted Sessions, but in 1883 he was acquitted. On June 22 Jacobs, who had all along been voting for George B. Bradley, while the other Demo-
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1881]
crats voted for him, withdrew in deference to doubts concerning his eligibility because of his membership in the Legislature, and Clarkson N. Potter was substi- tuted. At one time Webster Wagner entered into negotiations with the Democrats for them to join forces with the Half-breeds and break the deadlock by electing Jacobs and Depew. But Depew would take no part in this scheme,15 and any chance of carrying it to success was frustrated, to the discomfiture of Jacobs,16 by the tragedy of July 2 at Washington. On the day before the firing of the assassin's shot, after the thirty- first ballot, Platt withdrew from the fight and his 28 votes were scattered, the larger part of them going to Crowley.
The attack on Garfield turned the indignation of the whole country upon the Stalwarts, who had been opposing him on questions of patronage, and, it was felt, had helped to inflame the brain of the assassin, himself a disappointed office-seeker. The more mod- erate men on both sides saw the necessity of reaching an understanding. Depew went to Sharpe and asked what was necessary to bring the Stalwarts into caucus. He replied that Conkling would never consent to Depew. Calling Robertson, Husted, and Woodin, Depew at once wrote his withdrawal with his hat for a desk and suggested the candidates finally chosen.17 As a result, on July 8, a conference of 68 legislators was held, which agreed to join in electing one Senator from
15Statement of Mr. Depew to the writer, June 15, 1917.
16Hudson, Recollections of an Old Political Reporter, p. 120 et seq. 17Statement of Mr. Depew to the writer, June 15, 1917.
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[1881
each faction, the nominees of the caucus to be the first of their respective factions on whom 54 should unite. This conference resulted in the selection of Warner Miller, a Half-breed, for the long term, and Elbridge G. Lapham, a Stalwart, for the short term, although on the first ballot in the caucus Platt had still 38 votes.
The original supporters of Conkling and Platt refused to enter the conference, and no break in their line was made until July 17, when on the forty-eighth ballot Speaker Sharpe went over to the caucus candi- dates. No election occurred for the short term, Lapham receiving 68 votes to 29 for Conkling, 47 for Potter, and 1 for Evarts. Miller was chosen for the long term, receiving 76 votes to 47 for Kernan, 9 for Fish, and 4 for Wheeler. The Stalwarts continued to vote for Conkling until July 22, when in the midst of a conference Senator Edwin G. Halbert, a Stalwart of the Stalwarts, suddenly exclaimed: "We must come together or the party is divided in the State. I am willing to vote now." A vote was at once taken and Lapham was nominated, receiving 61 votes while Conkling received 28, Evarts 1, and Woodford 1. That evening, on the fifty-sixth ballot, Lapham was elected, the vote standing: Lapham, 93; Potter, 41. Lapham's election was most galling to Conkling, as he had been one of the company of Stalwarts that had advised the fight for reelection. "That man must not reap the reward of his perfidy," he exclaimed when he heard of Lapham's participation in the plan for giving each faction a Senator.18
18New York Tribune, July 7, 1881.
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1881]
STALWARTS AND HALF-BREEDS
The new Senators had both served in Congress. Lapham was a lawyer of Canandaigua, a man of good rather than distinguished abilities, who made no claims to leadership. Miller, starting life as a school-teacher, acquired wealth as a paper manufacturer in Herkimer. He was a forceful though not brilliant speaker and a high-minded man. The liberal elements of the party looked to him for leadership, but he had little aptitude for the details of politics and his conscientious deter- mination to study all public questions was no match for the organizing abilities and manipulation of patronage through which Thomas C. Platt in a few years over- threw him.
With the resignations of Conkling and Platt, all opposition to the President's appointments dissolved. Robertson and Merritt were confirmed, and the Stal- wart nominations were sent in again with a few minor changes, not of a factional nature, and they were all confirmed. Thus the struggle over the New York spoils was ended, but out of it came the humiliating end of Conkling's political power and the tragedy of Garfield's death. Conkling settled in New York City, where he practiced law with great success, until his death from exposure in the blizzard of 1888. Though he lacked the initiative and the constructive ability of the highest statesmanship, his personal integ- rity, eloquence, faithfulness to his followers, and capacity to command obedience, gave him a power and prestige that only his own arrogance wrecked.
With the Legislature intent upon the prolonged Senatorial contest, few important measures were passed.
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[1881
The Governor vetoed an unusual number of bills, including one for the extension of New York City's water supply. The perennial demand for revision of the tax laws was renewed, and a joint committee in cooperation with a commission of which Joshua M. VanCott was chairman reported sixteen bills dealing with the subject, but only eight of these were passed. The most important made a new definition of real estate to include railroad tracks, telegraph lines, and pipes under ground, and imposed a tax on collateral inheri- tances. The growing anti-monopoly sentiment called for legislation to prevent the consolidation of the Western Union, American Union, and Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph companies, which was just then under way, but nothing was accomplished.
Conkling's friends still controlled the Republican State committee, but when the State convention met in New York on October 5 the passing of the old order was clear. Garfield had died on September 19, and Arthur was in the White House. After Frank Hiscock had declined to run for temporary chairman, Warner Miller, the new Half-breed Senator, was chosen by a vote of 298 to 190. Conkling did not attend the con- vention, though a body of contestants from Oneida claimed a seat for him. Chauncey M. Depew was made permanent chairman without opposition. The platform eulogized Garfield, expressed confidence in Arthur, indorsed Cornell's administration, pointed with pride to the Republican prosecution of the Star Route frauds, and declared for the establishment of a Railroad com- mission. The ticket, made up almost entirely of
ALONZO BARTON CORNELL
Alonzo Barton Cornell, 30th governor (1880-1882 - three- year term) ; born, Ithaca, N. Y., January 22, 1832; manager Western Union Telegraph company, New York City, 1855; commissioner for construction of new capitol at Albany, 1868- 1871; defeated for lieutenant governor, 1868; surveyor of the port of New York, 1869-1872; speaker of the assembly, 1873; elected governor, 1879; died at Ithaca, N. Y., October 15, 1904.
WILLIAM HENRY ROBERTSON
William Henry Robertson; born in Bedford, N. Y., October 10, 1823; studied law; was admitted to the bar and practiced ; member of the state assembly in 1849 and 1850; state senator, 1854-1855; judge of Westchester county, N. Y., for 12 years; presidential elector in 1860; elected as a republican to the 40th congress (March 4, 1867-March 3, 1869) ; again a state senator; collector of the port of New York by appointment of President Garfield, on account of which appointment Senators Platt and Conkling resigned their seats in the United States senate; died in Katonah, N. Y., December 7, 1898.
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1881]
Half-breeds, was headed by General Carr, and James W. Husted, a political associate of Robertson, was named for Treasurer.19
Although Kelly had been received back into the bosom of the Democratic party after the nomination of Hancock and had been allowed to control the autumn State convention, the Democratic failure to carry New York led to a new movement against him. His enemies charged that he had sacrificed Hancock to carry through his local ticket. Mayor Cooper refused to reappoint him Comptroller, and, just before surren- dering office to Mayor Grace, nominated a successor whom the Republican Aldermen helped to confirm. William C. Whitney, Abram S. Hewitt, and Hubert O. Thompson started a movement for a popular represen- tative party organization in New York City, with a general committee of over six hundred members, in place of the Tammany organization, where twenty-four men were in practical control. Tammany refused to cooperate in this undertaking and the reorganizers proceeded to form the County Democracy, based on a public enrollment of the Democratic voters. On October 7 Hewitt announced that there were 26,500 enrolled members.
This organization sent delegates to the State conven- tion, which was held at Albany on October 11. Manning was again in power, for the rural opposition
19The ticket was: Secretary of State, Joseph B. Carr, Rensselaer; Comp- troller, Ira Davenport, Steuben; Treasurer, James W. Husted, Westchester; Attorney-General, Leslie W. Russell, St. Lawrence; State Engineer, Silas Seymour, Saratoga; Judge of the Court of Appeals, Francis M. Finch, Tomp- kins.
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POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
had disintegrated with the defeat of Hancock. He cordially welcomed the County Democracy and placed its delegates on the preliminary roll. Both the Tam- many and Irving Hall delegates were unanimously excluded. The platform denounced the Republican Legislature for defeating transportation reform and declared for free canals and civil service reform. In making up the ticket Manning was liberal-minded toward old opponents of Tilden and gave the nomina- tion for Secretary of State to William Purcell of Rochester.20
The apparent harmony of the Republican convention and the division in the New York City Democracy promised a sweeping Republican victory, but when the votes were counted the resentment of the Stalwarts was easy to be traced. Carr was elected by 13,022 plu- rality, receiving 416,915 votes. Purcell had 403,893 and Epenetus Howe of Tompkins, the Greenback candidate, 16,018. The rest of the Republican State candidates were elected by similar pluralities, excepting Husted, whose vote was cut to 392,251, while Maxwell received 413,194 and was elected by 20,943 plurality. The Republicans lost both houses of the Legislature for the first time since 1869. The Senate stood 17 Democrats to 15 Republicans, and the Assembly, 67 Democrats to 61 Republicans. Three of the Senators and eight of the Assemblymen from New
20The ticket was: Secretary of State, William Purcell, Monroe; Comp- troller, George H. Lapham, Yates; Treasurer, Robert A. Maxwell, Genesee; Attorney-General, Roswell A. Parmenter, Rensselaer; State Engineer, Thomas Evershed, Orleans; Judge of the Court of Appeals, August Schoon- maker, Jr., Ulster.
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1881]
York City, however, were Tammany men, and this gave Kelly a balance of power, which he used effectively in the next session.
The election of 1881 is notable in the history of municipal administration for the placing of Seth Low in the Mayoralty of Brooklyn under a charter that gave him large executive powers and centralized responsibility. His successful administration was one of the first triumphs of a movement, which has spread widely, for the treatment of municipal problems on their own merits without regard to national or State politics.
Immediately following the election, President Arthur, after having offered the place to Edwin D. Morgan, who declined, appointed Charles J. Folger Secretary of the Treasury. The Chief-Judgeship, which Folger had filled for less than a year, thus becom- ing vacant, the Governor appointed Charles Andrews to succeed him, and named General Benjamin F. Tracy of Brooklyn for the Associate-Judgeship, temporarily vacated by the promotion.
CHAPTER XXII FOLGER'S OVERWHELMING DEFEAT
1882
T HE whole legislative session of 1882 was one of intrigue and turmoil owing to Tammany's bal- ance of power. Kelly's followers refused to caucus with the regular Democrats, who nominated John C. Jacobs for President pro tem. of the Senate, and Charles E. Patterson of Rensselaer for Speaker. The Republicans supported Thomas G. Alvord for Speaker. Tammany demanded the chairmanship of the cities committee in both houses, satisfactory represen- tation on the committees on railroads and commerce and navigation, a share in the subordinate offices of the Legislature, and the exclusion of Jacobs. Failing to obtain these concessions, it blocked legislative business. The Senate, having a presiding officer in the Repub- lican Lieutenant-Governor, was not left absolutely immovable, but the election of a Clerk and the appoint- ment of all committees were held up, and in the Assembly nothing could be done. Tammany voted for J. J. Costello for Speaker until February 2, when it joined in electing Patterson on the understanding that it would be allowed to control the committees on cities and railroads. When, twelve days later, the committees
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1882]
were appointed, Tammany declared that the compact had been violated and showed its resentment the next day in the Senate by aiding the Republicans to change the rules so as to give the Lieutenant-Governor power to appoint committees. It also elected a Republican Clerk of the Assembly and joined with the Republicans in filling the minor positions in the two houses.
The death of Senator Webster Wagner in the New York Central Railroad wreck at Spuyten Duyvil focused attention on the need of railroad regulation. The Governor in a special message advocated more rigid requirements for safety, and Assemblyman C. S. Baker of Monroe introduced a bill to establish a Rail- road commission, substantially along the lines recom- mended by the Hepburn committee of 1880. The Democrats and anti-Cornell Republicans refused to give the Governor the appointing power, fearing that he would use it as a personal political engine, as he had shown a disposition to do in the appointment as Super- intendent of State Prisons of Isaac V. Baker, an able political manager who was confirmed by Tammany votes. As the act was finally passed, it deferred the first appointments to the term of the next Governor and provided for a bipartisan commission with the three Commissioners to be named on the nomination of the New York Chamber of Commerce, the New York Board of Trade and Transportation, and the National Anti-Monopoly League. The commission's powers were confined to investigation and recommendation. A bill passed the Senate to reduce the elevated railroad fares in New York City to five cents, but it failed in the
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