USA > New York > History of the state of New York, political and governmental, Vol. III 1865-1896 > Part 20
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2Bigelow, Life of Samuel J. Tilden, II, p. 281.
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Meanwhile Manning's enemies had made good use of the time, and when the convention assembled at Saratoga on June 18 he found himself without a stable majority and under the necessity of winning votes in every corner by concession if he were to gain even an ostensible victory for Cleveland. He sedulously avoided every test vote. He had with him Hubert O. Thompson of the County Democracy and Sheriff Davidson of Irving Hall. But Kelly was in opposition and Hugh Mclaughlin was non-committal. The State committee had arranged to admit Tammany and Irving Hall on the same terms as in the last two conven- tions. But Kelly demanded that seven votes be taken from the representation of the County Democracy and given to him, placing the two organizations on an equality.3 Mclaughlin supported this demand and Manning yielded to it. They were both opposed to instructions, but Manning finally won Mclaughlin over to the application of the unit rule, under which the whole vote of the State delegation would be cast according to the decision of its majority.4 George Raines led a Cleveland delegation from Monroe county, but its seats were contested by Purcell. Learning that some thirty organization delegates, including a son of Senator Kernan, would desert him on the Purcell issue, into which some religious feeling had been injected, Manning decided that he would have to throw Raines overboard and offered him up as a concession
3New York Times, June 19, 1884.
4New York Tribune, June 19, 1884.
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for the exclusion of the Flower delegates from St. Lawrence.5
Thus at all possible points he avoided any trial of strength. The only issue he made was with Kelly over the proposal to send Dorsheimer to the national convention as a delegate-at-large. Cleveland wanted Dorsheimer, although at this time allied with Tam- many, to present his name. Kelly, however, insisted that he must be the delegate-at-large if any Tammany man was sent, and that Dorsheimer could go in his place as district delegate. Manning would not consent to Kelly, and the deadlock was finally broken by Dors- heimer's departure for New York full of resentment toward Kelly.6 The delegates-at-large were Daniel Manning, Edward Cooper, both Cleveland men ; Lester B. Faulkner, a Flower man; and John C. Jacobs, un- committed. Dorsheimer was made an alternate, and the honor of presenting Cleveland's name fell to Daniel N. Lockwood. Andrews and Rapallo were agreed upon for the Court of Appeals, and the platform, after reaffirming the declarations of 1874, 1876, and 1882, commended the administration of Cleveland and declared for the abolition of contract labor in prisons.
Manning won a Pyrrhic victory at Saratoga. He was by no means sure of controlling the New York delegation and of being able to cast its 72 votes for Cleveland under the unit rule. Without that he could not win Democrats from other States, much as they were inclined to accept a man who seemed able to win
5Hudson, Recollections of an Old Political Reporter, p. 156 et seq.
6Hudson, Recollections of an Old Political Reporter, pp. 156, 157.
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independent Republican support. Even if he could outvote the opposition and prevent the State support being given as a unit to Flower, an exhibition of open hostility by the New York minority on the floor of the convention threatened disaster. Moreover, Tammany had sent agents to Chicago, where the convention met on July 8, to circulate reports that Cleveland was hostile to Roman Catholics. Manning had countered this stroke by sending several Roman Catholic appointees of Cleveland to tell their story to the delegates.7 Not until he had won over Mclaughlin and made sure of eight votes from Kings county, did he dare test his strength in a meeting of the delegation. An informal ballot gave Cleveland 46 votes, Flower 23 (2 by the delegates-at-large, Jacobs and Faulkner), and 1 each for Tilden, Bayard, and Thurman. Purcell, Edward Murphy, Jr., of Troy and Elliot Danforth of Chenango went with Tammany for Flower. A formal vote gave Cleveland 47, Flower 1, Bayard 9, Slocum 15. Tam- many then made a fight against the unit rule, but many of its own friends would not so depart from Democratic tradition, and it was voted down, 61 to 118. Kelly carried his fight against the unit rule into the conven- tion, and was there voted down, 463 to 332.ยบ Governor Richard B. Hubbard of Texas was made temporary and William F. Vilas of Wisconsin permanent chair- man of the convention. After Daniel N. Lockwood had presented Cleveland's name, Grady, on behalf of
7Hudson, Recollections of an Old Political Reporter, p. 162.
8New York Tribune, July 8, 1884.
9Official Proceedings, p. 39.
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Tammany, though he was being voted for Cleveland, made a bitter speech in opposition, declaring that the Irish, the Roman Catholics, and the labor interests were against him. In reply General Bragg of Wisconsin declared that the young men of his State loved Cleve- land for the enemies he had made.
On the first ballot Cleveland had 392 votes, Bayard 170, Joseph E. McDonald of Indiana 56, Samuel J. Randall 78, Allen G. Thurman 88, John G. Carlisle 27, George Hoadly 3, Thomas A. Hendricks 1, Samuel J. Tilden 1, Roswell P. Flower 4. An overnight adjourn- ment was taken with every prospect of Cleveland's nomination. The next day the opposition attempted to stampede the convention to Hendricks. Having control of the ticket arrangements, they packed the galleries with their adherents, but Manning had timely warning and the word was passed to all the Cleveland forces not to let themselves be fooled into any complimentary demonstration for Hendricks, but to sit in silence and weather the storm. These tactics succeeded.10 The demonstration was started and Tammany joined in, but the Cleveland men could not be stampeded, and the second ballot gave Cleveland his two-thirds vote. The vote was: Cleveland, 683; Bayard, 811/2; Hen- dricks, 451/2; Thurman, 4; Randall, 4; McDonald, 2. Hendricks was nominated for Vice-President by acclamation.
The campaign that followed was one of extreme personal bitterness. The New York Times bolted the
10New York Tribune, July 12, 1884; Hudson, Recollections of an Old Political Reporter, p. 172.
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Republican ticket, and Independent Republicans like George William Curtis, Carl Schurz, and Henry Ward Beecher declared for Cleveland. Curtis in seconding Edmunds's name to the Republican national convention had characterized the Democratic party as "very hun- gry and, as you may well believe, very thirsty; a party without a single definite principle; a party without any distinct national policy which it dares to present to the country ; a party which fell from power as a conspiracy against human rights, and now attempts to sneak back to power as a conspiracy for plunder and spoils." He had not opposed making Blaine's nomination unani- mous; he had opposed an earlier resolution pledging every delegate to support whoever might be nomi- nated as unnecessary among honorable men; and the New York Tribune reported him as giving the impres- sion to William Walter Phelps after the nomination that, while disappointed, he would support the action of the convention. Consequently his defection was more deeply resented than that of any other Republican leader. In the struggle the old charges with regard to Blaine's railroad speculations while in Congress were revived and amplified. On the other hand, Repub- licans made charges of immorality against Cleveland, which he met by the frank order to his friends to "tell the truth" about his early faults. This method of attack awakened sympathy for him, though his old enemy, Purcell, who had been nominated for Elector, found in it an excuse for publicly denouncing Cleveland as a "moral leper," an epithet that he later retracted. He had already withdrawn from the ticket and temporarily
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from the editorship of the Rochester Union and Advertiser.11
Cleveland spent most of the summer at his executive duties, attending a few demonstrations in New York City and elsewhere. Blaine made addresses through New York, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and West Vir- ginia. As election approached it was evident that the contest was a close one, and that the result depended on New York. Democratic canvasses gave the State to Blaine. Tammany was openly charged with being in league with General Benjamin F. Butler, who had been nominated by a National Anti-Monopoly conven- tion at Chicago on May 14, and by the Greenback party at Indianapolis on May 27, but had not accepted these nominations till after he had gone to the Demo- cratic national convention as a delegate and there been defeated in an attempt to commit the party in its platform squarely to a protective tariff. Charles A. Dana from personal dislike of Cleveland threw the New York Sun to the ostensible support of Butler, but to the real support of Blaine. Tammany reluctantly remained loyal to Cleveland at the personal solicitation of Hendricks.12 The Republicans, on the other hand, considered that the Prohibition candidacy of ex-Gov- ernor John P. St. John of Kansas was being carefully fostered by the Democrats to offset the Tammany and Greenback defection. The Republican State platform of 1883 had promised to submit a Prohibition amend-
11New York Tribune, July 16, 1884; Rochester Union and Advertiser, August 9, and New York Tribune, August 10, 1884.
12E. B. Andrews, The Last Century in the United States, II, p. 88.
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ment, and though Roosevelt introduced such a bill in the next session it failed, and the failure made votes for St. John in New York.13
A week before election an incident occurred that was adroitly used by Manning and Lamont. A delegation of clergymen called on Blaine at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York on October 30 to present an address. Among them were Roman Catholics, includ- ing the Rev. Sylvester Malone of Brooklyn. Blaine had been asked to designate their spokesman, and he had suggested that the oldest clergyman present speak, so the lot fell to the Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Burchard, a Presbyterian.14 Dr. Burchard, whose political acumen was not equal to his age, in the course of his talk described the Democracy as the party of "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion." Blaine, whose mind was intent upon his own speech of reply, perhaps did not notice the phrase, or else thought it less dangerous to pass it by than call attention to it, but Democratic agents, who followed the Blaine meetings on the look- out for material, did, and in a few hours they had the expression placarded all over the State. Before Blaine knew of it, it was too late for any repudiation to have weight.15 This incident checked a tendency of Irishmen, Roman Catholics, and labor men to make good Grady's threat against Cleveland, and cost Blaine several thousand votes and with them New York State
13New York World, September 9, 10, 1884.
14Francis Curtis, The Republican Party, II, p. 158.
15Stanwood (History of the Presidency, I, p. 440) doubts if Blaine heard the words, but A. K. McClure (Our Presidents and How We Make Them, p. 311) reports Blaine as saying he did hear but did not realize the necessity for an immediate disclaimer.
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and the Presidency. Cleveland had 219 and Blaine 182 Electoral votes. The popular vote was: Cleveland, 4,912,696; Blaine, 4,849,680; St. John, 151,830; Butler, 133,824. The highest Blaine Elector in New York received 562,005, while 25,006 votes were cast for the St. John and 17,004 for the Butler ticket. The pluralities of the Cleveland Electors ran from 1,047 to 1,149, so that less than 600 votes would have changed the result in the nation. The Republicans asserted that the large corrupt vote cast by John Y. McKane in Gravesend, Kings county, was enough to determine the result, and subsequent revelations as to McKane's methods went far to justify the assertion. Blaine also suffered from the quiet hostility of Conkling, which was plainly discernible in the returns from Oneida county. The Republicans won 17 of the 34 seats in
Congress. The Assembly stood 73 Republicans to 55 Democrats. The hold-over Senate stood 19 Repub- licans to 13 Democrats. Thus the election of a Republican to succeed Senator Lapham was assured.
A constitutional amendment restricting the power of cities of over 100,000 population to incur indebtedness beyond ten per cent. of their assessed real estate valua- tion was carried by a vote of 499,661 to 9,161. In New York City Tammany Hall nominated Hugh J. Grant for Mayor, while the County Democracy and Irving Hall supported the nomination of ex-Mayor William R. Grace made by a citizens' committee. The Repub- licans nominated Frederick S. Gibbs. Grace received 96,288, Grant 85,361, Gibbs 44,386, Crittenden (Pro- hibitionist) 501.
CHAPTER XXVI HILL COMES TO POWER
1885
T HE spirited contest for Senator Lapham's seat occupied the attention of the State at the beginning of 1885 almost as much as slate- making for President Cleveland. The Senatorial rival- ries complicated the selection of a Speaker. George Z. Erwin of St. Lawrence was the candidate of the old Stalwart element, which Thomas C. Platt was begin- ning to reorganize as a step to the domination of the party that he subsequently exercised. With him were ex-Governor Cornell, Senator J. Sloat Fassett, ex-Attor- ney-General Leslie W. Russell, and Silas B. Dutcher. The opposition was divided among Walter S. Hubbell of Monroe, William T. O'Neil of Franklin, Walter Howe of New York, N. Martin Curtis of St. Lawrence, and James W. Husted of Westchester. Hubbell was supported by Arthur, Miller, Hiscock, and Roosevelt. By his opponents his candidacy was represented as a movement to make Arthur Senator, but his friends denied this, and he, like all the other candidates, promised not to use the Speakership to influence the election of the Senator. On the eve of the caucus all the candidates opposed to Erwin except Hubbell withdrew
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and sought to transfer their strength to him. But the St. Lawrence men who had been pledged to Curtis immediately went to the other St. Lawrence candidate, and Assemblymen from Chautauqua and Cattaraugus, who had been counted for Hubbell, finding that Frederick S. Gibbs and other New Yorkers who were essential to success were going over to Erwin, also deserted, and on January 5, the day of the caucus, Hub- bell sent to Erwin his congratulations.1 Erwin's election aided Platt's campaign to send Levi P. Morton to the Senate, and for some days his success seemed probable. But the opposition, which had been divided among Hiscock, Leslie W. Russell, and William M. Evarts, concentrated on Evarts before the caucus of January 19,2 and, in spite of Stalwart attacks upon him as a poor Republican from the politician's point of view, the anti-machine sentiment and the popular demand for a representative of eminence, voiced by such organizations as the Union League Club of New York, gave Evarts 61 votes in the caucus to 28 for Morton and 2 for Depew. The Democrats cast their vote for Edward Cooper.
Governor Cleveland resigned at the opening of the Legislature on January 6, and David B. Hill took the Executive chair. His methods were in sharp contrast to those of Cleveland. He was a readier and more acute man than his predecessor, but his political conduct was controlled by no such ethical principle as marked Cleveland's course and accounted for his fame. He was
1New York Tribune, January 6, 1885.
2New York Tribune, January 17, 1885.
1
JOHN M. FRANCIS
John M. Francis, journalist; born in Prattsburg. Steuben county, N. Y., March 6, 1823; apprenticed to a printer at the age of 14; became editor of the Wayne Sentinel at Palmyra, 1843; editorial writer on Rochester Advertiser, 1845; Troy Budget, 1846; established the Troy Times in 1851; city clerk of Troy, 1851-1855; delegate to constitutional convention, 1867- 1868; appointed by President Grant minister to Greece, 1871; resigned, 1873; minister to Portugal, 1882-1884 and to Austria- Hungary, 1884-1885; member of state constitutional convention of 1895; died in Troy, N. Y., June 18, 1897.
WILLIAM RUSSELL GRACE
Wliliam Russell Grace, mayor; born Queenstown, Ireland, May 10, 1832; ran away from school at 14 and worked his way on a sailing vessel to New York; in 1865 organized the firm of W. R. Grace & Co. leading firm in South and Central American trade; established the New York and Pacific Steamship com- pany, 1891; mayor of New York City in 1881-1882 and 1885- 1886; in 1897 founded Grace institute for affording women and girls a practical education in stenography, dressmaking, millin- ery, domestic science, etc .; died in New York City, March 28, 1904.
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an able, forceful Executive. His financial integrity was beyond question and his plans of administration busi- nesslike and economical. He did not care for wealth, but for political power and party success, and he followed his ambition with a daring that his enemies called cynicism and his friends scorn of hypocrisy. Scholarly in taste, almost ascetic in habit, serious and sarcastic, witty without being humorous, with a poor memory for names and faces, by sheer adroitness, intel- lectual force, and practical talent for tying other men's interests to his he dominated his party for a decade.
Hill's first message revealed a disposition to make strictly partisan use of his power, and he early devoted himself to building up an organization for his own advancement. Controversy soon developed with the Legislature over the enumeration required by the Con- stitution. Hill recommended that the enumerators be appointed by the County Clerks under civil service regulations and that nothing but a mere count of the people be made. The Legislature, keeping the law of 1855, which had been the model for all subsequent enumerations, in mind, proposed that the census should be taken by the Secretary of State and that a great variety of statistics be collected. The Governor vetoed this bill and then endeavored to get his own plan adopted at a special session and, failing, vetoed the special session bill.3 So no census was taken. This Legislature provided for a Forestry commission to take over and administer the Adirondack Reservation, as a commission appointed in 1884 recommended. It also
3Lincoln, Messages from the Governors, VIII, pp. 40, 66, 84, 132, et seq.
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provided for the transfer to the State at a cost of over $1,000,000 of the lands needed to protect Niagara Falls.
Hill did not commend himself to the national administration. He did not follow in Cleveland's footsteps either in matters of policy or patronage. Cleveland had declined to appoint William Purcell to the State Railroad commission, but one of Hill's first acts was to place him on the new Arbitration commis- sion, which was this year established for the com- position of labor troubles. Cleveland resented this and he also disapproved of Hill's dispute with the Repub- lican Legislature and his calling of an extra session. Cleveland's own course, however, made it possible for Hill to impose himself on the party. Cleveland early lost the sympathy of Tilden and studiedly ignored his
advice. 4 He unwillingly offered Manning the Treasury department, and Manning unwillingly accepted on the urgency of Tilden that it was a duty, although Tilden's first choice for the Treasury had been John Bigelow.5 On his own motion he gave the Navy department to William C. Whitney without any regard to Tilden's views and over the protest of George Jones of the New York Times.6 In the cabinet Man- ning found himeslf ill at ease and unable to reward his friends. Hubert O. Thompson, the chief of the County Democracy, having been displaced from the city Department of Public Works, wanted to be Collector of
4Bigelow, Life of Samuel J. Tilden, II, ch. Ix.
5Bigelow, Letters and Memorials of Samuel J. Tilden, II, p. 676. 6Bigelow, Letters and Memorials of Samuel J. Tilden, II, pp. 666, 668.
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the Port, but Cleveland would not yield to Manning's plea.7 Manning was finally forced to consent to the appointment of Edward L. Hedden, a merchant of no political experience. But when in March, 1886, Hedden's failure made a change imperative, he again urged recognition of Thompson with great vehemence. Cleveland was obdurate, and Manning left the White House in a state of chagrin and anger, which brought on an apoplectic stroke as he climbed the steps of the Treasury to his office.8 From his invalid's retreat, where he lingered for a few months, he acquiesced in Cleveland's suggestion of a compromise on Daniel Magone. He nominally retained the Treasury depart- ment until April, 1887, but took no more active part in politics and died on December 24. Meanwhile Tilden had passed away, on August 4, 1886.
Manning and Whitney wanted to run Edward Cooper for Governor, but Mclaughlin would not con- sent to this, for it meant the sway of Thompson and the County Democracy over the whole State, and he regarded himself a coordinate leader with Thompson. He did not like Hill, though the Governor had tried to conciliate him by vetoes of Brooklyn reform bills. When the Democratic State convention met at Sara- toga on September 24, under the chairmanship of George Raines, Hill's manipulation of the rural counties and the skillful advantage he had taken of Democratic disappointments over Cleveland's handling
7New York Tribune, June 28, 1885.
8New York papers, March 24, 1885; Hudson, Random Recollections of an Old Political Reporter, p. 270.
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of patronage were apparent. The County Democracy sought by a filibuster to put over the vote for Governor until the second day, in hope of strengthening the opposition to Hill. But they were defeated on a motion to adjourn late at night, by 2311/2 to 1481/2, the Kings county vote being thrown against Hill.9 The County Democracy kept up its fight to the last, concentrating its vote for Governor on Hewitt, but Hill was nomi- nated, receiving 338 to 33 for Hewitt, 8 for Slocum, and 1 for Flower.10
The platform commended both the Cleveland and Hill administrations, and favored the suspension of silver coinage and such a revision of the tariff as would protect labor by adjusting duties to cover increased cost of production in this country due to higher wages than were paid abroad. It favored civil service reform, but declared for provisions to preserve the appointing power of executive officers and for preference to veterans. It repeated the demand for the abolition of contract labor in prisons. Flower, with scarcely disguised contempt, immediately declined to run for Lieutenant-Governor. With no training in public life except a term in Congress, he had blossomed forth as a Presidential candidate, had had aspirations for the Governorship as a second choice, and could not look
9New York Tribune, September 25, 1885.
10The ticket was: Governor, David B. Hill, Chemung; Lieutenant- Governor, Roswell P. Flower, New York (declined, and Edward F. Jones, Broome, substituted) ; Secretary of State, Frederick Cook, Monroe; Comp- troller, Alfred C. Chapin, Kings; Treasurer, Lawrence J. Fitzgerald, Cort- land; Attorney-General, Denis O'Brien, Jefferson; State Engineer, Elnathan Sweet, Albany.
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upon the Lieutenant-Governorship as a consolation prize. Hill would not take John C. Jacobs for his running-mate.11 He got McLaughlin's consent to Slocum, but Slocum indignantly refused to run, saying he had been commanding a great army when Hill had been sweeping the floor of a law office.12 So the State committee finally picked Edward F. Jones of Bing- hamton,13 a manufacturer of scales, whose extensive advertising had given him the nickname, "Pays-the- Freight" Jones.
The Republican State convention, which met at Saratoga on September 22, was the first one made up, as had been suggested by Warner Miller, to secure the more popular representation of the voters. The mem- bership was increased by 197, making a convention of 694 delegates.14 The representation was based in part on the Republican vote, so that districts where the largest Republican vote was cast had a corresponding weight in the councils of the party. Warner Miller was temporary and James W. Husted permanent chair- man. The absence of any single dominant leadership was more apparent than at any time since the overthrow of Conkling. The most conspicuous candidates for Governor were Joseph B. Carr, James D. Warren, ex-Comptroller Ira Davenport, and Cornelius N. Bliss. Carr and Warren were considered to represent the old Arthur interests, though they had other following.
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