USA > New York > History of the state of New York, political and governmental, Vol. III 1865-1896 > Part 21
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11New York Tribune, September 25, 1885.
12Hudson, Recollections of an Old Political Reporter, p. 262. 13New York Tribune, September 30, 1885.
14 Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia, 1885.
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[1885
Bliss was the favorite of New Yorkers affiliated with the Union League Club. The friends of Cornell rallied around Davenport to beat Warren and Carr, while he was also looked upon as the most available candidate by some of the old Half-breeds. On the first ballot Davenport received 105, Carr 205, Warren 137, Bliss 53, General William H. Seward of Auburn, a son of the great Secretary, 57, John Swinburne of Albany 32, Joseph W. Drexel of New York 37, Morton 42, Henry R. Low 16, Cornell 4, and Evarts, John H. Starin, and Charles Andrews 1 each. On the second ballot Daven- port had 214, Carr 194, Warren 113, Bliss 66, Seward 54, Swinburne 29, Drexel 12, Morton 8, Cornell 2, Evarts 1. Miller, who had been voting for Warren, threw Herkimer to the leading candidate and started a concentration on Davenport, which nominated him without further balloting.15
The platform declared for the maintenance of the gold standard and against the enlargement of the silver circulation, for protection and national improvement of the Erie canal, the extension of the Civil Service laws, the solution of the prison labor problem by the widest possible diversification of industries to avoid serious competition with any trade, and for legislation to protect workingmen and women and children in industry. It denounced the national administration for removals to secure spoils.
15The ticket was: Governor, Ira Davenport, Steuben; Lieutenant-Gover- nor, Joseph B. Carr, Rensselaer; Secretary of State, Anson S. Wood, Wayne; Comptroller, James W. Wadsworth, Livingston; Treasurer, Charles F. Ulrich, New York; Attorney-General, Edward B. Thomas, Chenango; State Engineer, William V. Van Rensselaer, Seneca.
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1885]
HILL COMES TO POWER
Despite the Republican lack of strong leadership and a clear-cut issue, Governor Hill entered the campaign in a mood of discouragement. He had won his nomi- nation, but few of the old leaders were much concerned for his election; besides, all Independents had come to regard him as a cynical partisan. But with grim determination he fought his way to success. He had difficulty in getting a campaign manager. After sev- eral seasoned leaders had made excuses, he finally picked Alton B. Parker, then Surrogate of Ulster . county, who had attracted attention for his skill in building up a local organization, and this association was the beginning of a friendship that later made Parker Chief-Judge and finally a Presidential candi-
date. Hill, however, had Tammany with him earnestly, and Mclaughlin had been impressed by his energy and saw in him a useful future ally. He had conciliated the labor vote by urging its special interest in messages, and had also been a conspicuous discoverer of the need of a freedom of worship bill to facilitate the work of chaplains in public institutions. The liquor interests were almost solidly behind him. On the other hand, Davenport was bitterly attacked by Prohibi- tionists in country districts because he was a stockholder in one of the wine companies of the great grape- growing district in which he lived. Hill was elected by 11,134 plurality, and thus established complete domination over the Democratic organization in New York. The vote was: Hill, 501,465; Davenport, 490,331; H. Clay Bascom of Troy (Prohibitionist), 30,867.
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[1885
The Democrats won all the State offices. The Republicans, however, still held the Legislature, the Senate standing 20 Republicans to 12 Democrats, and the Assembly 77 Republicans to 51 Democrats.
CHAPTER XXVII HISCOCK GOES TO THE SENATE 1886-1887
I RWIN sought reelection to the Speakership of the Assembly of 1886, but this time the oppo- sition was concentrated on James W. Husted. The result of this contest was Miller's last conspicuous success, and in alliance with him were Arthur, Cornell, Hiscock, Wadsworth, and Robertson. Aside from his own northern counties, only the Southern Tier where Platt was influential supported Erwin, and on January 4, the day of the caucus, he withdrew and Husted was elected. The new Hill leadership was manifested in the nomination of William F. Sheehan of Erie as the minority candidate. He soon became known as one of Hill's most ardent and daring lieutenants. For Presi- dent pro tem. of the Senate the Republicans chose Edmund L. Pitts.
The Legislature at this session amended the Civil Service law, establishing the veteran preference for appointment. It created the office of Factory Inspector, fixed twelve hours as the legal day's work on street and elevated railroads in cities of over one-half million population, and for the first time made women eligible for admission to the bar. Although the prisons were in
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[1886
bad shape, owing to the expiration of the old labor contracts, no effective remedies were provided. The Governor was more intent on conciliating the labor unions by excluding prison-made goods from the market than providing a new system of labor,1 and the Legislature found the subject too complicated for the off-hand solution that Hill seemed to think easy. As a result the prisoners were left in increasing idleness till a few years later public indignation, awakened by the growth of insanity in the prisons, forced the adoption of the system of employment on supplies for State offices and institutions. The scandal over the bribery of New York City Aldermen who passed the Broadway Surface Railroad franchise, which afterward resulted in the conviction of Aldermen Henry W. Jaehne and John O'Neill2 for accepting and Jacob Sharp for giving bribes and the flight of six Aldermen to Canada, led to legislation repealing the railroad charter. In a message of March 22 Governor Hill declared: "The repeal of the charter and the dissolution of the corpo- ration would vacate the stolen franchise."3 But the Court of Appeals upheld the franchise notwithstanding its fraudulent origin,4 and it continued in the hands of another company after the original corporation had been dissolved for its sins.
As the only State officer to be elected was a Judge of the Court of Appeals to succeed Theodore Miller, the
1Lincoln, Messages from the Governors, VIII, p. 165.
2Myers, History of Tammany Hall, p. 264.
3Lincoln, Messages from the Governors, VIII, p. 200.
4People vs. O'Brien (1888), 111 N. Y., 1.
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1886]
leading parties held no State conventions. The Republican State committee nominated Charles Daniels of Buffalo, and the Democrats Rufus W. Peck- ham of Albany, a son of Judge Rufus W. Peckham, one of the original Judges of the Court of Appeals as reorganized by the Constitutional convention of 1867, who lost his life in the wreck of the ocean steamship "Ville du Havre" on November 22, 1873. Peckham was elected by 7,818 plurality, receiving 468,455 to 460,637 for Daniels, 2,281 for Lawrence J. McPartlan (Greenback), and 36,414 for William J. Groo (Pro- hibitionist). The Republicans elected 19 of the 34 Congressmen and 74 of the 128 Assemblymen. The hold-over Senate stood 20 Republicans to 12 Demo- crats, thus insuring a Republican United States Senator. The question of holding a new Constitutional conven- tion, which was submitted in this, the twentieth year since the last vote, resulted in 574,933 votes in favor of the convention to 30,766 against.
In New York City a spectacular contest occurred. Henry George, the advocate of the single tax, was the candidate of a labor movement for Mayor and was indorsed by Irving Hall. In the face of this rise of radicalism, the extent and meaning of which was little understood, Tammany and the County Democracy buried their differences and nominated Abram S. Hewitt. The Republicans nominated Theodore Roose- velt, but many of the business men in the Republican party were so terrified at the thought of the single tax that they not only went over to Hewitt but criticised the Republican organization for unpatriotic partisan-
.
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[188 7
ship in not sinking all differences with Tammany con- servatism to defeat George and "revolution." Hewitt was elected, receiving 90,552 to 68,110 for George and 60,435 for Roosevelt.
Three Republican candidates contested the succes- sion to the seat of Warner Miller in the United States Senate. Miller himself sought reelection and had behind him most of the old Half-breed strength, though the terms Stalwart and Half-breed had ceased to describe with any accuracy the two wings of the party; for former adherents of each faction had made new alignments. But in general Miller represented the progressive reforming wing of the party, while Thomas C. Platt quietly but persistently was welding together the conservative organization forces into a compact body. He had been defeated in the contest for Senator when Evarts was elected. Now for the second time he sought to make Morton Senator, though he himself remained in the background. Active in the management of the Miller campaign were Congress- men Burleigh and West, ex-Congressman John M. Davy, ex-Mayor B. B. Odell of Newburgh, father of the future Governor; George B. Sloan, James W. Wadsworth, Titus Sheard; Andrew S. Draper, Super- intendent of Public Instruction; William H. Robert- son, and ex-Postmaster-General James. Morton's most conspicuous supporters were George H. Sharpe, Anson S. Wood, Commodore P. Vedder, O. G. Warren of the Buffalo Commercial, a son of James D. Warren; J. Sloat Fassett, Henry J. Coggeshall, John Raines, George Z. Erwin, ex-Senator Woodin, Fremont Cole,
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1887]
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and John Van Voorhis. A third candidate, whose only hope lay in a deadlock, was Congressman Frank His- cock, who was ably supported by Francis Hendricks and Carroll E. Smith of the Syracuse Journal.
A preliminary contest over the Speakership devel- oped four candidates in opposition to Husted. Charles D. Baker of Steuben had a considerable following of Miller men. Frederick W. Kruse of Cattaraugus was supposed to be the Hiscock favorite, while Fremont Cole of Schuyler and Frank Arnold of Otsego each had a small following. Before the caucus of January 3, however, Husted's strength seemed to be so overwhelm- ing that all his opponents withdrew and he was nominated unanimously.5 Sheehan received the com- plimentary support of the minority, which made him the Democratic leader in the Assembly.
Miller had a larger following than either of his rivals. His services had been creditable to himself and to the State, and his friends argued that he was entitled to a reelection. On the other hand, the plea was made that he had been elected as the result of a factional fight which left bitter feelings, and that these should not be perpetuated in the party. Moreover, Senator Evarts belonged to the same wing, and the representation of the other wing was advocated as a step toward harmony. On the first ballot in the caucus on January 17, Miller had 44 votes, Morton 35, and Hiscock 12, with three absentees. Under the rules 48 votes, or a majority of the full Republican strength in the Legislature, were required to nominate; so Miller was four votes from
5New York Times, January 1-4, 1887.
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[1887
victory. On the second ballot Hiscock lost and Morton gained one vote, and then an adjournment was taken.
Hendricks resisted all the appeals of the Morton men to throw Hiscock's vote to them on the ground that on a break some of the Hiscock men would go to Miller and elect him. So Platt, who was determined to beat Miller, faced the necessity of transferring all of Morton's 36 votes to Hiscock. Even if this could be done Hiscock would be one vote short of the nomina- tion. With great adroitness steps were taken to prevent any break from Morton to Miller, and at the same time several Miller men, who were for Hiscock as second choice, were brought to an agreement to vote for Hiscock whenever he had 47 votes. At the second session of the caucus, Miller's vote went up to 46 through the arrival of two of the three absentees, and so the vote continued for ballot after ballot until on the seventeenth ballot, in pursuance of a prearranged plan, Erwin withdrew Morton. Foreseeing defeat, Husted on behalf of Miller sought delay and urged that Hiscock should be content to remain in the House of Repre- sentatives, where he was sure to be elected Speaker, but his plea was greeted with derisive laughter and adjournment refused. The ballot showed 47 votes for Hiscock and 46 for Miller. At the beginning of the next balloting, Assemblyman Frost of Chautauqua, pursuant to the arrangement made the night before, changed from Miller to Hiscock, thus insuring his nomination. Before the ballot was concluded enough Miller men had gone to the winning side to give His-
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HISCOCK GOES TO THE SENATE
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1887]
cock 51 to Miller's 42.6 The minority nomination went to Smith M. Weed.
Hiscock had served ten years in Congress, and at the time of his transfer to the Senate shared leadership in the House with William McKinley and Thomas B. Reed. Despite his earlier excursion into the Liberal Republican movement, he was recognized as a mod- erate but firm organization man, and, without any spectacular gifts of leadership, he wielded great influence over party policy and legislation by reason of a sound, far-seeing judgment of political forces.
The personal wrangle between Governor Hill and the Republican Legislature, which began in 1885 and continued until 1891, centered this year about the Con- stitutional convention, for which the people had voted at the preceding election. In his annual message the Governor scolded the Legislature for failure to give him the simple enumeration bill that he was willing to sign and recommended the abolition of the Board of Regents, the transfer of its powers to the Superin- tendent of Public Instruction, and the substitution of single Commissioners for the State Board of Charities and the Health board. He recommended that the Con- stitutional convention be chosen at a special election, to consist of 110 delegates, two from each Congress district and 42 at large. No elector was to vote for more than 15 of the delegates-at-large, so that each of the major parties would have 15 and the remaining 12 could be fought for by the Prohibition and Labor parties.7
6New York Tribune, January 17-20, 1887.
7Lincoln, Messages from the Governors, VIII, p. 308.
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[1887
The conventions of 1801, 1821, and 1846 had all been elected by Assembly districts. That of 1867 had been made up of four members from each Senate district and thirty-two at-large, divided equally between the major parties.
The Legislature declined to accept Hill's suggestion, but passed a bill for one delegate from each Assembly district and thirty-two at-large to be divided between the two parties, all to be elected at the general election of 1887. This bill the Governor vetoed, arguing that representation by Congress districts was fairer, since the apportionment had been made in 1883 on the basis of the census of 1880, while the Assembly apportion- ment had been made in 1879 on the census of 1875.8 He also objected to the choice of delegates at the gen- eral election and to the greater cost of the convention under the Legislature's plan. The Assembly committee to which the veto message was referred made a report commenting sarcastically on Hill's concern for repre- sentation of the Prohibitionists after he had vetoed measures to restrict the liquor traffic, and pointed out that the appropriation for the convention was to be less than the convention of 1867 cost.9 Hill's desire for representation by Congress districts was natural, for the Congressional was much more favorable to the Demo- crats than the legislative apportionment, the Repub- licans said unfairly favorable. On the other hand, the Assembly districts, based on the enumeration of 1875, were quite as unfair to the Democrats. But the
8Lincoln, Messages from the Governors, VIII, p. 393.
9Lincoln, Messages from the Governors, VIII, p. 470.
RUFUS WILLIAM PECKHAM
Rufus William Peckham, jurist; born at Albany, N. Y., November 8, 1838; educated at the Albany academy and in Philadelphia; admitted to the bar, 1859; district attorney, Albany county, 1868-1871; corporation counsel of Albany, 1880-1881; justice supreme court, 3d judicial district, 1883-1886; associate judge of the court of appeals, 1886-1895; appointed to United States supreme court, December 3, 1895 when the New York senators refused to confirm the appointment of his brother, Wheeler Hazard Peckham; died at Altamont, N. Y., October 24. 1909.
€
CORNELIUS NEWTON BLISS
Cornelius Newton Bliss, American merchant and politician; born in Fall River, Mass., January 26, 1833; clerk in New Orleans, subsequently in Boston and in 1866 was taken as a partner in the commission business of J. S. & E. Wright & com- pany of the latter city; in 1881 his firm was merged into that of Bliss, Fabyon & Co. of New York; chairman of the republi- can state committee, 1887-1888 and treasurer of the republican national committee of 1892, 1896, 1900 and 1904; secretary of the interior in President Mckinley's cabinet, 1897-1898. An attempt was made to draw him into the controversy brought about by the charges of Alton B. Parker that large contribu- tions had been made to the republican campaign fund by corporations, but he refused to make any statement in regard to the matter; died in New York City, October 9, 1911.
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1887]
Republicans had the advantage of precedent and logic in objecting to the Congress districts as a basis for State representation. Thus, like the question of enumeration, the matter of the Constitutional convention was in a deadlock until the Democrats obtained control of the Legislature and were able to carry out their own particular plans.
The Republican State convention at Saratoga on September 14 was distinguished for overflowing har- mony. It had three leaders and no boss; perhaps because no one of the leaders would have joined the other in a fight on the third. Platt and Hiscock worked together, but every disposition was shown to conciliate Miller and present a united front to the Democrats. Seth Low was temporary chairman, and Miller, at the personal request of Hiscock, became permanent chair- man.10 10 In the search for a popular candidate for Secretary of State all factions united on Frederick D. Grant, a son of Ulysses S. Grant, whose death in 1885 had renewed all the old affection for the victor of Appomattox, which years of political controversy had somewhat abated.11
The platform found much fault with Democratic administration in the State and nation, especially with the return of the Confederate battle-flags and Hill's veto of the Constitutional convention and census bills and measures to prevent registry frauds. It revived the old
10New York Tribune, September 14, 1887.
11The ticket was: Secretary of State, Frederick D. Grant, New York; Comptroller, Jesse S. Lamoreaux, Saratoga; Treasurer, James H. Car- michael, Erie; Attorney-General, James A. Dennison, Fulton; State Engi- neer, O. H. P. Cornell (a brother of Governor Cornell), Westchester.
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[1887
question of civil rights for the negroes, denouncing the persecution of labor in the south. It called for the exclusion of undesirable immigrants, the improvement of the Erie canal by the national government, and expressed sympathy for the cause of home rule in Ire- land. The most important declaration, however, was that which commended Republican legislative attempts to curtail the liquor traffic and favored local option and restriction by taxation. The growth of the Prohi- bition party, which was making serious inroads on the rural Republican vote, was coming to be a matter of great concern to Republican leaders.
But if the Republican leaders feared temperance defections, the Democrats were equally worried over the labor vote in New York. The 68,000 ballots cast for Henry George were a club that brought even Tammany and the County Democracy together. At the Democratic State convention held in Saratoga on Sep- tember 27, the spirit that Richard Croker had substi- tuted for the proscriptive policy of John Kelly was manifest in the harmony with which the two wings of the New York City Democracy worked side by side. Croker was not yet established as the absolute ruler of Tammany, but he had been Kelly's deputy, and after Kelly's death on June 1, 1886, he was the most influen- tial member of the ruling junta. It was his sagacity that in 1886, after efforts to get George out of the field by offers of a seat in Congress had failed, brought about the union on Hewitt for Mayor.12 Irving Hall, which
12Myers, History of Tammany Hall, p. 269.
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1887]
had supported George, was alone excluded from the convention. Hill reached out a friendly hand to bring into his camp George Raines, who had become luke- warm in his feelings toward Cleveland, and Raines was made temporary chairman. Entire harmony prevailed in the selection of candidates.13
The platform approved the administrations of Cleve- land and Hill and called for the reduction of Federal taxation, the lengthening of canal locks, and the protec- tion of farmers against the competition of substitutes for butter. Like the Republicans, the Democrats made a bid for the Irish vote by a resolution deploring the wrongs inflicted on Ireland. They favored a uniform Excise law and opposed "sumptuary laws grievously interfering with the personal liberty and reasonable habits and customs" of any body of citizens. The only struggle in the convention was over the attitude of the party toward civil service reform. W. Bourke Cockran, with strong Tammany backing, opposed any commen- dation of the merit system, as he had done the year before in the State committee, and threatened to carry the fight from the committee on resolutions to the floor of the convention if his views were not met.14 Finally he agreed to a compromise, which committed the party to the support of the existing Civil Service laws but
13The ticket was: Secretary of State, Frederick Cook, Monroe; Comp- troller, Edward Wemple, Montgomery; Treasurer, Lawrence J. Fitzgerald, Cortland; Attorney-General, Charles F. Tabor, Erie; State Engineer, John Bogart, New York.
14New York Tribune, September 29, 1887.
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[1887
proposed that the policy of the merit system be submitted to a vote of the people.
The Democrats again succeeded in electing all of their State ticket. Cook received 469,888, a plurality of 17,077 over Grant, who received 452,811. The United Labor Party nominated Henry George for Secretary of State and polled 70,055 votes. Of these votes, 34,477 were cast in New York and 15,635 in Kings. Another labor faction, called the Progressive Labor party, nominated I. E. Hall and cast 7,622 votes, 5,884 of these being in New York and 1,130 in Kings. The Prohibition vote for D. W. C. Huntington was 41,850. ›
The Republicans still maintained their hold on the Legislature, with 21 Republican to 11 Democratic Senators, and 72 Republican to 56 Democratic Assem- blymen.
CHAPTER XXVIII MILLER "OUTSIDE THE BREASTWORKS" 1888
T HE impending election of both President and Governor turned the legislative session of 1888 into a political game. Each side strove to make capital with the voters. Even the "bloody shirt" made a belated appearance in the caucus, which nominated Fremont Cole of Schuyler for Speaker, as a young man's candidate. Under the management of Francis Hendricks he bowled out Danforth E. Ainsworth of Oswego before the vote and carried the caucus 54 to 19 over Husted, whose chief supporters, outside of West- chester, were Edmund L. Pitts of Orleans and Charles W. Hackett and James S. Sherman of Utica.1 The caucus with one dissenting vote called on the New York Senators to oppose the confirmation of L. Q. C. Lamar for Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The New York Tribune carried on a bitter campaign against Lamar, urging that Caleb Cushing's chance of confirmation as Chief-Justice had been killed by the discovery that he had merely written a letter recom- mending a man for a clerkship under the Confederate government, while Lamar was still defending Jefferson Davis and voting against a declaration that the war
1New York Tribune, January 1, 3, 1888.
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