USA > New York > History of the state of New York, political and governmental, Vol. III 1865-1896 > Part 18
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Assembly. Another bill passed both houses to impose a 4 per cent. tax on the gross receipts of the elevated railroads in lieu of a large amount of overdue taxes in dispute. In spite of the strong appeal of Conkling, who appeared as counsel for Jay Gould, Governor Cornell vetoed this measure. The Governor vetoed a revision of the civil code prepared under the direction of David Dudley Field, and also a revision of the military code.
An Assembly investigating committee headed by Alfred C. Chapin of Kings investigated insurance receiverships and censured Justice R. T. Westbrook of the Supreme Court for receivership appointments and for orders under which insurance company assets had been wasted. Assemblyman Theodore Roosevelt soon after forced another investigation of Justice Westbrook and ex-Attorney-General Hamilton Ward for their conduct relating to suits of the Manhattan Elevated Railway. The minority of the committee favored the impeachment of Westbrook, who was still in office, while the majority attributed the acts criticised to errors not properly impeachable.1 The majority report was adopted, it was openly charged, through the exercise of Gould's influence.
With Baker's aid and the sympathy of many of the Half-breed leaders, though he was not personally popular with them, Cornell built up a powerful fol- lowing, but his renomination was bitterly opposed by his old Stalwart associates. Crowley's friends resented his attitude in the first Senate election of 1881, and
1Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia, 1882.
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Conkling's feeling over the indifference of the "lizard on the hill" in the second Senatorial struggle was shared by President Arthur. Conkling had also a more recent grievance in the Governor's coldness to his legal plea for the Manhattan Railway Company.
All the power of the national administration's patronage was used against him. Wherever the admin- istration could control, delegates were elected favorable to the nomination of Secretary Folger for Governor. In other districts favorite sons were encouraged. Cornell wanted an early convention, but the Stalwarts in the State committee fixed it for Saratoga on September 20. The State committee also showed its attitude toward the new Federal Civil Service law by voting to refund to General N. Martin Curtis the $1,000 fine that had been imposed upon him for collecting political contributions, if the fine should be upheld on appeal.
The critical struggle between Cornell and the administration came over the selection of a temporary chairman of the State convention. The Stalwarts designated Edward M. Madden by a vote of 18 to 14 over Edmund L. Pitts, at a meeting in which Stephen B. French sat as proxy for William H. Robert- son. French's support of the Stalwarts was taken as an indication of Robertson's attitude toward Cornell by other Half-breed committeemen, and determined the vote. Robertson at once denied that he had given French a proxy, and it was shown that French's proxy, which he filed with the secretary of the committee, was a forged telegram written on a sending blank. French's
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excuse that it had been handed to him and that he supposed it was a genuine answer to a telegram asking for Robertson's proxy, convinced few.2
William J. Mantanye, who supported Madden, was likewise substituted for A. P. Smith of Cortland, an anti-administration man, with the aid of a forged tele- gram.3 Immigration Commissioner Edmund Stephen- son also charged French with urging him, professedly at the special request of Arthur, to support Folger, though Arthur had afterward denied to him that he sent any such message.4 Robertson, notwithstanding his Half-breed antecedents, according to both French and Crowley, was pledged to Folger.5 He apparently did not feel able to oppose his official superior, yet was unwilling to train with the Stalwarts in the fight for party control and so remained at home. But the forgeries brought forth his angry protests.
The fraud enabled the administration to organize the convention and gather in the floaters. The Stal- warts barely carried the convention on the test vote for Madden by 251 to 243, and doubtless would have been beaten if the forgeries of the telegrams had then been known. On the first ballot Folger had 223 votes, Cornell 180, ex-Comptroller James W. Wadsworth 69, John H. Starin 19, and John C. Robinson 6. On the second ballot the Starin and Robinson men went to Cornell, together with some of Wadsworth's votes.
2New York Tribune, September 21 and 22, 1882.
3New York Times, September 27, 1882.
4New York Tribune, September 25, 1882.
5New York Tribune, September 22, 1882.
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But the administration had cleverly used Wadsworth's name to elect delegates of whom Folger had the reversion, and enough of them went to Folger to give him the nomination with only eight more votes than were required. The vote stood: Folger, 257; Cornell, 222; Wadsworth, 18.6
The platform, adopted after the nominations, cynically eulogized Cornell, the rejected candidate, commended Arthur and his veto of the River and Harbor bill, and attacked the Democrats for their factional blocking of the Legislature. It favored the establishment by law of a competitive civil service with fixed terms and removals only for cause, the submission of the liquor question to a popular vote, taxation reforms to reach corporations as well as persons, safe- guards against monopolies, better primary laws, and action to discourage appeals for laws overriding local authorities.
The Democratic State convention met at Syracuse on September 22 with eight candidates seeking the nomi- nation for Governor. No contest was made over the selection of Rufus W. Peckham for temporary or Lester B. Faulkner for permanent chairman. The County Democracy was the recognized regular organi- zation in New York City, but the two leading candi- dates for Governor, remembering how Kelly had beaten Robinson, were inclined to conciliate Tam-
6The ticket was: Governor, Charles J. Folger, Ontario; Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, B. Platt Carpenter, Dutchess; Chief-Judge of the Court of Appeals, Charles Andrews, Onondaga; Congressman-at-large, A. Barton Hepburn, St. Lawrence.
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many. The friends of Roswell P. Flower created a sentiment for the admission of Tammany delegates. Flower was a native of Watertown and a banker in New York City, who represented a city district in Congress and had all the popularity belonging to a genial rich man in politics. He suffered from the disadvantage of having his name coupled by Ira Shafer before the convention with the financial transactions of Jay Gould. General Henry W. Slocum, whom Tam- many had sought to nominate three years before, also favored the Tammany claims. Slocum this time had the Kings delegation, though many doubted the earnestness of McLaughlin's devotion, and Shafer, turning his attention from Flower to Slocum, held him responsible for frauds in connection with the Brooklyn bridge. The convention, while recognizing the County Democracy and seating its 38 delegates, also admitted Tammany with 24 delegates and Irving Hall with 10, in order to promote harmony.
The County Democracy supported Allan Campbell, the Comptroller of the City of New York. They would have been for Edward Cooper if they had seen a chance to win.7 Other candidates were Erastus Corning of Albany, Homer A. Nelson of Dutchess, Perry Belmont and Waldo Hutchins of New York, and Grover Cleveland of Erie. Cleveland was a new man, whose pretensions were not taken seriously even by himself. He had been Sheriff of Erie county, and as Mayor of Buffalo he had made a reputation for sterling inde- pendence and honesty. His ambition was a Supreme
7New York Tribune, September 23, 1882.
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Court Justiceship. The movement had been organized by his friends in his absence from Buffalo, and he was frank in saying that he did not expect the nomination but hoped that the prestige of being voted for in the State convention would lead to his selection as the Democratic representative on a non-partisan judiciary ticket then in prospect.8 Newspaper correspondents at Syracuse patronizingly reported that while he was not seriously considered for first place he could have the second by common consent. Far-sighted observers, however, saw in him the solution of the party diffi- culties.
The leading candidates were bound to kill each other. Manning did not trust Flower, and while he had promised one hundred votes to Slocum, which he duly delivered, the more he studied Slocum's political alignment the more ready he was to be overcome by a dark horse. Cleveland had no part in factional antag- onisms, no embarrassing record coming down from Civil War days such as troubled many Democratic leaders, no relations with the canal ring, but an undimmed reputation as a reformer. Behind Corning stood Edward Murphy, Jr., of Troy, who was after- ward to be a power in the party. But Corning's only chance was as the heir of Slocum or Flower, and his old antagonism to Tilden was not forgotten.
On the roll-call Kelly divided his vote, giving 7 to Flower, 6 to Slocum, 6 to Cleveland, and 5 to Corning. The first ballot was: Slocum, 98; Flower, 97; Cleve- land, 66; Corning, 35; Campbell, 37; Nelson, 26;
8Hudson, Recollections of an Old Political Reporter, p. 134.
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Belmont, 12, and Hutchins, 13. The County Democ- racy stuck to Campbell on the second ballot, but Corning withdrew and a large part of the Belmont and Nelson strength was divided between Slocum and Flower, placing them far in the lead. Kelly threw a few more votes to Cleveland. The ballot was: Slocum, 123; Flower, 123; Cleveland, 71; Campbell, 33, Nelson, 15; Belmont, 6; Hutchins, 13. The Corning vote had gone to Slocum and the chances favored his nomination on the third ballot, but the County Democracy, seeing the time for the break had come, went to Cleveland in a body and started a stampede of part of the Flower strength. Manning allowed Albany to follow, and Murphy threw in Rensselaer. Then Kelly changed the Tammany vote to Cleveland. After much confusion and a new roll-call the third ballot as declared was: Slocum, 156; Flower, 15; Cleveland, 211, or nineteen more than the number necessary to nominate.9 The platform reaffirmed Tilden's old plat- form of 1874, arraigned the Republican Congress for failure to reduce the tariff, denounced Federal inter- ference in State politics as shown by the nomination of the Secretary of the Treasury for Governor, and made an appeal to the friends of the agitators then clashing with the authorities in Ireland by blaming the Republicans for not protecting foreign-born citizens abroad. Cornell's defeat was attributed to his veto of corporate schemes. Restoration of the merchant
9The ticket was: Governor, Grover Cleveland, Erie; Lieutenant-Gover- nor, David B. Hill, Chemung; Chief-Judge of the Court of Appeals, William C. Ruger, Onondaga; Congressman-at-large, Henry W. Slocum, Kings.
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marine was urged but the way was not indicated, cost and reasonable profit was fixed as the proper limit of transportation charges, and planks were included favoring home rule, free canals, honest primaries and individual freedom, and against the competition of prison with free labor.
The Greenback Labor party held its convention at Albany on July 19 and nominated Epenetus Howe for Governor. Besides avowing its familiar principles on financial questions, and declaring for the election of all public officers including postmasters, the party reflected the prevalence of the popular movement against contract labor in prisons in resolutions that were echoed by the Anti-Monopoly convention at Saratoga on September 13. This Anti-Monopoly party also denounced the sway of corporations and favored the making of the telegraph lines a part of the postal service.
From the first Folger faced an almost hopeless cam- paign. The cry that Federal domination had forced a member of the cabinet on an unwilling party was at best difficult to meet. The reformers, moreover, regarded Carpenter as a political trickster10 and asserted that many who otherwise were too disgusted to vote would go to the polls solely to "scratch" him. The situation was made much worse by the forgeries that had indirectly made the nomination possible and by the election of John F. Smyth to the chairmanship of the State committee in defiance of reform sentiment. Hepburn withdrew from the ticket, October 4, on the
10New York Times, September 22, 1882.
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ground that the nominations were in public opinion tainted by fraud, and Howard Carroll of New York, long a political writer and correspondent of the New York Times, was substituted for Congressman-at-large. No one for a moment believed Folger guilty of any- thing improper or unfair, and many of his best friends, including General Woodford,11 urged him to with- draw. But the Stalwarts persuaded him against his own better judgment. His campaign was based on appeals to party loyalty and fears of financial disturbance if the Democrats won. This latter argument, coming from the Secretary of the Treasury, was sharply criticised as "a stock exchange view of politics."12
For the first time in years the Democrats were united and were aided at once by the appeal of their candidate as a reformer of independent sympathies and by the. widespread disposition among Republicans to rebuke the administration. In the absence of Curtis Harper's Weekly was committed to Folger, and Curtis resigned, but the publishers promptly repudiated the article and followed him in support of Cleveland.13 Cleveland carried the State by the enormous plurality of 192,854, the largest ever given to a candidate in the State up to that time. The vote was: Cleveland, 535,318; Folger, 342,464; Howe (Greenback), 11,974; A. A. Hopkins (Prohibitionist), 25,783. Hill's plu- rality was 196,781, Slocum's 109,722, while Ruger even
11New York Tribune, September 29, 1882.
12New York Tribune, October 21, 1882.
13Cary, Life of George William Curtis, p. 275. See also Curtis's letter to William Potts, New York Tribune, October 4, 1882.
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defeated the popular and respected Andrews, already sitting as Chief-Judge, by 73,400. In the sweep the Democrats carried 20 of the 33 Congress districts, while 84 Democrats, 42 Republicans, and 2 Independents were sent to the Assembly.
In New York City a non-partisan movement had been started, in which the Republicans joined, for the election of Allan Campbell to the Mayoralty. Under Whitney's leadership, however, the County Democracy sacrificed its city policy to united support for Cleve- land, and, although that organization had supported Campbell for Governor, it deserted him now and made common cause with Tammany and Irving Hall in the nomination of Franklin Edson, who was elected by 21,417 plurality over Campbell.
Two constitutional amendments were adopted by the people, one increasing the judiciary force of the Supreme Court, by 170,000 majority, and the other abolishing canal tolls, by over 300,000 majority.
The latter was the culmination of the attempt to make the old canal compete with railroads. The Erie canal, started in 1817 and completed in 1825 at a cost of over $5,000,000, brought vast wealth to the State. Despite great waste and recurring scandals, up to 1894 it cost only $60,000,000 and returned to the treasury $133,000,000, while boatmen in addition took for freights $225,000,000 and the State's commerce bene- fited incalculably. Originally four feet deep and carrying thirty-ton barges, the demands upon it led in 1838 to enlargements, calculated to cost $12,500,000, but which it was soon discovered would cost some
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$23,000,000. A long period of confusion followed, and it was not until 1862 that a double-lock canal with seven feet of water for 240-ton barges was completed at a cost of $32,000,000. Meanwhile the State built many and projected more lateral canals in the enthusiasm for water transport, only to find the railroads doing more and more what these had been expected to do, so that most of them were ultimately abandoned. Up to 1872 the canals carried 70 per cent. of the grain coming to New York, but by 1876 they carried only 57 per cent., and in spite of lowered rates they steadily lost this supremacy until the people became convinced that only free use could make the canals an adequate regulator of railroad rates, then not effectively controlled by law, and prevent the diversion of New York's commerce. As the revenues collected on the Erie canal up to 1882 exceeded by over $42,000,000 the total cost at that time, the sacrifice of tolls did not seem extravagant. But the results were disappointing, because other factors, such as terminal charges, small cargoes, and slowness of transport in the confined waterway, even with steam propulsion, counted against the water route. The next step to fit the Erie, Oswego, and Champlain canals to modern requirements was the $9,000,000 project of 1895 for nine feet of water and 320-ton barges. The cost of this, like the project of 1838, was grossly under- estimated, and when the money was gone the Greene commission of 1900 found it would require $21,000,000 to complete and would then be out of date. A canal for 1,000-ton barges with ten feet draft was recommended at a cost of $59,000,000. This plan, revised to cost
WILLIAM CRAWFORD RUGER
William Crawford Ruger, jurist; born, Bridgewater, Oneida county, January 30, 1824; moved to Syracuse, 1847; delegate to the famous Hunker convention of 1849; the first state judicial convention of 1870; democratic national convention of 1872 and the democratic state convention of 1877; defeated for congress in 1863 and 1865; first president of the state bar association, 1876; nominated for chief judge of the court of appeals, 1882 and held the office until he died in Syracuse, January 14, 1892.
--
ELBRIDGE GERRY LAPHAM
Elbridge Gerry Lapham, congressman and senator; born in Farmington, N. Y., October 18, 1814; studied first civil engineer- ing and afterward law; admitted to the bar in 1844 and prac- ticed in Canandaigua. N. Y .; member of the constitutional con- vention, New York, 1867-1868 ; served in congress from March 4, 1875 to March 3, 1883; elected to the United States senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Roscoe Conkling and served from July 22, 1881 to March 3, 1885; died at his country home at Canandaigua Lake, January 8, 1890.
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$101,000,000, was finally adopted in 1903. In 1911 a bond issue of $19,800,000 was authorized to provide for canal terminals. In 1915 a further bond issue of $27,000,000 was authorized to complete it, and this was substantially done in 1918, except the work of con- structing terminals. The necessary interruption of this work on account of the war has rendered the barge canal of little use to local shipping interests and has required the State to maintain portions of the old canal for their convenience. The lowest tonnage coming to the Hudson over the Erie canal was reached in 1917, when it was less than one-tenth that of 1900 and one- thirtieth that of 1862, the year of highest traffic.
During the late war exclusive jurisdiction over the control and management of the canal was assumed by the Federal government. The failure of the gov- ernment to utilize canal facilities to any material ex- tent and its continuance of operation of government- owned barges after the restoration of State control, in competition with and discouragement of private ship- ping interests, subjected the government to severe criticism and formed the subject of many memorials to Congress on the part of the Legislature and private commercial interests.
The movement on the part of western shipping inter- ests to procure the construction of a through waterway from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic by way of the St. Lawrence River without the necessity of breaking cargo, through government aid for the canalization of
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connecting waterways, has assumed formidable propor- tions, which threaten to jeopardize the usefulness of this expensive project, and its future value as an adjunct to commerce is shrouded in grave doubt.
CHAPTER XXIII CLEVELAND THE REFORMER
1883
G OVERNOR CLEVELAND took office as a reformer and succeeded in his first year in getting an unusually large number of general laws; but he had to work with a reluctant party, and some of the most important measures of reform were forced through by the Republicans. The session opened with a struggle over the Speakership. Tam- many, under the lead of General Francis B. Spinola, opposed Alfred C. Chapin of Kings, Manning's choice for Speaker. In the caucus on New Year's day, Chapin won in a close fight on the second ballot over Erastus Brooks of Richmond, Thomas E. Benedict of Ulster, and William A. Poucher of Oswego.1 Chapin was a young, able, and cultivated man, to whom the reformers looked with some hope, notwithstanding his advance- ment through the patronage of Hugh Mclaughlin. Not to be outdone by the Democrats in welcoming young men, the Republicans gave the compliment of a minority nomination to Theodore Roosevelt of New York, who was just beginning his second term in the Legislature, where he was showing an aggressive and unconventional devotion to clean politics.
1New York Tribune, January 2, 1883.
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The spirit of the Assembly majority soon appeared in the contested election case of Henry L. Sprague, the Republican from the Thirteenth district of New York, against Thales S. Bliss. The majority of the votes had been cast for Sprague, but a transposition of figures gave Bliss the election on the official returns. A com- mittee majority controlled by the Democrats reported in favor of Sprague, but two members, though not disputing the fact of the transposed figures, arbitrarily reported for Bliss, and this minority report was adopted by the Assembly, though fourteen Democrats were opposed.2 Both parties had promised to deal with the convict labor problem, but the only results were an act forbidding the renewal of a contract for making hats at Clinton prison when it ran out, and an act submitting to the people the question of abolishing contract labor. The Brooklyn Primary law of 1882 was extended to the whole State. It required oaths from primary officers and applied to primaries some of the safeguards against frauds and bribery that were thrown about elections.
The long fight that George William Curtis and Dorman B. Eaton had led against the spoils system resulted in the first State Civil Service law passed in the United States. The majority did their best to hold up this legislation, but public opinion and the activity of the Republicans in forcing the hand of their opponents finally compelled its passage, and the Governor appointed as the first commission Andrew D. White, Augustus Schoonmaker, and Henry A. Richmond. Silas W. Burt, who had enforced the merit system in
2New York Tribune, February 17 and March 9, 1883.
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the New York custom house, became the first chief examiner. White declined office and John Jay was made president of the commission. The Governor also appointed the first Railroad commission under the law passed in 1882. It consisted of William E. Rogers, John D. Kernan, and John O'Donnell. O'Donnell, who was designated by the Anti-Monopoly League and other organizations, was with difficulty confirmed. The management of the new Capitol was placed in the hands of a single Commissioner, Isaac G. Perry of Binghamton, in the hope that this monument to waste- fulness might be more speedily and economically com- pleted. The State Board of Claims, out of which the Court of Claims subsequently grew, was substituted for the Canal Appraiser, and the Niagara Falls Reser- vation was established under the management of William Dorsheimer, J. Hampden Robb, Andrew H. Green, Martin B. Anderson, and Sherman S. Rogers. A new Congressional reapportionment was made despite the opposition of the Republicans, who declared the districting in New York City to be unfair.
The Governor almost wrecked his popularity by his veto of a bill to reduce to five cents the fares on the New York City elevated railroads.3 He held that the bill was a violation of contract and of pledged faith, since the companies were entitled to at least 10 per cent. profit on their investment. Though attempts were made to show that they were making more than this on their actual investment,4 the veto was not overridden,
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