USA > New York > New York : the planting and the growth of the Empire state, Vol. II > Part 19
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In the republican party in the State there was something of the same personal leadership. Roscoe Conkling, one of the representatives of the State in the national senate, had won dis- tinction for his support of the administration of President Grant, as well as for his qualities as a legislator and his force and eloquence as a political orator, and his friends urged that his own State should present his name as a candi- date for president. Resolutions were passed by the State convention to that effect, and prom- ising in case of his nomination the thirty-five
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electoral votes of New York for the republican ticket. An amendment declaring that "the nomination should be the result of the untram- meled deliberation of the national convention," received 113 yeas to 250 nays from the dele- gates assembled at Utica, and the opposition was carried to the national convention. There Mr. Conkling received ninety-nine votes on the first ballot, gradually running down to eighty- one on the sixth ballot, when his name was withdrawn. Three votes were cast on several ballots for president for William A. Wheeler, also of New York, and he was promptly selected for vice-president on the ticket with Rutherford B. Hayes. New York gave its electoral votes to Mr. Tilden by a majority of 32,742.
The story of the contest over the choice of president belongs to national history rather · than to that of a single commonwealth. In the dispute over Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina, Mr. Tilden exhibited the secrecy, the diligence, and the persistence which had given him success in the reorganization of railroad corporations, and his direction of the scrutiny of returns left no point unchallenged. With the eye of a detective and the acumen of a spe- cial pleader, he sought out every flaw on the side of his adversaries, and he held to his own claims with a tenacity which never relaxed.
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He never formally advised or approved of the electoral commission, although in conference with some friends he omitted to object to the bill establishing it, and left them to believe that it had his approval. His position on the subject has thus been matter of discussion among his intimate followers. He refused to take the counsel of those who called for protest by arms or in the courts, but he never recog- nized Mr. Hayes as president, notwithstanding the choice of the electors, the declaration of the returns, and the formal action of congress and the electoral commission. This contest gave to Mr. Tilden a peculiar position before the coun- try. About him was thrown some of the gla- mour with which devoted followers have in other lands enwrapped pretenders to the chief executive position, and visitors at his home in Gramercy Park or at Greystone sought him for counsel and influence, and with sincerity and affection gave him the title of "sage." Ile was never again a candidate for office. His name was presented for president in 1880, but he wrote a letter of declination, and the suggestion and the declination were repeated in 1884.
His career presents in larger measure than in most cases the features of his individual character. He sat in the constitutional con- ventions of 1846 and 1867, and was a member
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of assembly in 1846 and 1872. Indefatigable and successful as a lawyer in the class of cases to which he devoted himself, he was studious also in politics of details rather than of broad principles. A disciple of Van Buren and still more of Silas Wright, especially in stringent management of financial affairs, he adhered to the democratic party, and within it overthrew rivals, some of them chiefs in corruption, and asserted his individuality over the organization and its platform. Without the eloquence or popular graces of Horatio Seymour, a man of the closet rather than of the forum, his mastery of the politics of New York was superior to that of any other democrat in this generation, per- haps greater in its individual grasp and force than that of any other man since De Witt Clin- ton flourished in the plenitude of his power. At his death. August 4, 1886, national and State honors were paid to his services and his character, while his bequests for libraries and free reading rooms will perpetuate his memory as a public benefactor.
For governor in 1876 Horatio Seymour was nominated on the assurance of friends that he would accept the nomination, but he peremp- torily declined. and Lucins Robinson was nomi- nated and elected by 30.460 majority over Ed- win D. Morgan. Mr. Robinson was the first
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governor to serve under the term of three years, fixed by constitutional amendment adopted by vote of the people.
The inauguration of President Hayes did not bring peace in the politics of New York, al- though he chose William M. Evarts as his sec- retary of state. While Mr. Tilden and his friends were prosecuting the contest over the election, those in the republican party who held the organization disapproved of the course of the new national administration in its treat- ment of the southern States and in the declara- tion of its purpose to maintain the competitive system for appointments in the civil service. The republican State convention in 1877 was attended with unusual excitement. The chair- man indulged in sharp criticism of the policy of the national administration, while the resolu- tions adopted were hostile in spirit, and care- fully refrained from expressing the usual cour- tesies to the president chosen by the party. Upon an amendment declaring the title of Mr. Hayes " as clear and perfect as that of George Washington," and commending " his efforts for the permanent purification of the southern sec- tion of the Union, and for the correction of the evils and abuses in the civil service," the con- vention divided 109 to 295. The division ex- pressed in less degree any judgment upon the
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points of the amendment, than the factional lines which started from the choice of the can- didate for president and the construction of his cabinet. The democrats carried the State in 1877 on the minor State officers that were chosen.
In 1878 the greenback party, which the pre- ceding year had cast only 20,282 votes, was able to give its candidate 75,133, and the re- publicans secured a plurality of 34,661 for jus- tice of the court of appeals, that being the only office to be filled on the State ticket. The court of appeals, more than once called to de- cide upon the constitutionality of laws rigidly. restricting the sale of intoxicating liquors, sus- tained in 1878 the "civil damages act " of 1873, which makes the landlord liable for dam- ages consequent upon the sale of liquors in buildings owned by him. The opinion was elaborate and full. and insisted on the principle that " all property is held subject to the power of the State, to regulate or control its use, to secure the general safety and the public wel- fare."
The legislature in 1879 met in the new Capi- tol, and celebrated the event by addresses. The edifice was begun under a limit fixed in 1867 that the cost should not exceed $4,000.000. The official statement to September 30, 1885,
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showed expenditures of $17,310,720, while an additional sum equal to the original limit will yet be required to carry out the plans, and will render the capitol the most costly edifice on the continent. Discussion over its architec- tural merits, and its adaptation to the uses for which it was designed, has developed widely divergent opinions, while the cost has been pro- nounced excessive by many critics as well as by public economists.
In the democratic State convention of 1879, a delegation, headed by Augustus Schell and representing Tammany Hall, protested against the renomination of Governor Robinson, and withdrawing from the hall, organized a sepa- rate convention and put John Kelly in nomina- tion for governor. The republican candidate was Alonzo B. Cornell, who received at the polls 418,567 votes, while Lucius Robinson re- ceived 375,790, and John Kelly 77,566.
The politics of the commonwealth continued to be as " peculiar " as the statesmen in Wash- ington pronounced the operations of New York leaders in the early years of the century. Its affairs, however, moved on healthfully and with general prosperity in social, and business, and miscellaneous interests. Time has not yet thrown into perspective the incidents and events upon which hereafter history will seize
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as illustrating the life and progress of this par- ticular decade. The activity of industry and literature was remarkable. The progress in art and architecture and society was broad as well as rapid. Inquiry relative to the founda- tions of the State, the relations of capital and labor, the cure of the evils which attend civili- zation, the best methods to secure the elevation of the masses, has been radical, sometimes au- dacious, and yet on the whole suggestive and beneficent. As elsewhere, local disturbances have served to show the unrest of many, and the desire for some change; yet the prevalent feeling has been one of generous effort to im- prove the condition of those who receive the least share in the wealth which modern produc- tion has so marvelously increased. The con- dition of those who labor with their hands has improved within the last generation in the limits of the day's work. in the comforts purchasable by a day's wages, in the facilities for education of children and for enjoyment for adults, while class distinctions in the State, if not in society, have suffered utter annihilation. Whatever mollification is possible for our common human- ity, has the fairest field and readiest opportu- nity in this commonwealth.
The candidacy of General Grant for election a third time to the presidency, led, in 1880, to
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discussion and controversy in New York. In the republican State convention, the right of the several districts was recognized to select delegates to the national convention as well as to nominate district presidential electors. That body, however, instructed the delegates from the several districts as well as those at large, " to use their most earnest and united efforts to secure the nomination " of General Grant. An amendment to leave the delegates unpledged was lost, - 180 to 217. Before the national con- vention assembled, several of the delegates pub- licly announced that the principle had been es- tablished in the convention of 1876, that each delegate possessed the right to vote according to his individual preference, although a State convention might have imposed instructions. Accordingly the New York delegation at Chi- cago was divided in its choice for president. After the nomination of James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur was selected for vice-presi- dent, and the State gave its electoral vote to them. On the inauguration of President Gar. field, the controversy which arose over President Hayes' cabinet and appointments was renewed with aggravated bitterness. Thomas L. James was designated as postmaster general, while the State was represented in the national senate by Roscoe Conkling and Thomas C. Platt. When
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President Garfield sent to the senate the name of State Senator William H. Robertson as col- lector of the port of New York, in place of Ed- win A. Merritt, nominated for consul general to Great Britain, Vice-President Arthur, Post- master General James, and the two senators joined in a request for the withdrawal of the nomination of Senator Robertson ; and when that request was not complied with, Mr. Con- kling and Mr. Platt transmitted to Governor Cornell, May 14, 1881, their resignation of their seats in the senate. Both became can- didates before the legislature for reelection, and excitement and discussion arose not only in Al- bany but in all parts of the State. While the controversy was at its height President Garfield was shot by the assassin Guiteau. The legis- lature after forty-eight ballots, extending from May 31 to July 17. chose Warner Miller to succeed Mr. Platt. and Elbridge G. Lapham to succeed Mr. Conkling. In 1885 William M. Evarts was elected in place of Mr. Lapham. and in 1887 Frank Hiscock to succeed Mr. Miller.
Charles J. Folger, soon after the accession of Vice-President Arthur to the presidential chair, resigned the position of chief justice of the court of appeals to become secretary of the treasury, and in September. 1882, was nominated for governor of New York. The convention which
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nominated him was remarkable for its divisions and the agitation which followed it. A mem- ber of the State committee was represented by a substitute who appeared on a proxy after- wards shown to be a forgery, and this substitu- tion affected the organization of the convention. The national administration was charged with throwing its influence against the renomination of Governor Cornell, and Judge Folger was de- nounced as its candidate forced upon an unwill- ing convention. The revolt at the polls was un- paralleled in the chronicles of the State. The eminent services, the high character, the unex- ceptionable attitude of Judge Folger as an indi- vidual, were acknowledged by many republicans who enlisted zealously for his defeat, as a rebuke to what they termed the " dictation of the ma- chine," and as a censure of the national admin- istration. He was defeated by a plurality of 192,854, and the result had broad effect on the current of affairs. Judge Folger continued at his post at the head of the treasury. until his death, September 4, 1884, but he felt very keenly the defeat in his own State. He experienced in his own person how little often the popular vote turns on the ability or services or character of the candidate, and how the drift of parties and the course of events may whelm the innocent when condemnation is aimed at general abuses
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or tendencies. While not ranking with the foremost statesmen, Judge Folger won honor- able rank in the State senate, of which he was a member for eight years subsequent to 1861, as well as in the constitutional convention of 1867, and in a still more eminent degree on the bench of the court of appeals, and for a while as its chief justice. His record as secretary of the treasury was creditable, and his sensitiveness to the result of the election expressed the deli- cacy of his feelings and his nice sense of honor. Paradoxical as it is, the immense majority against him taught the people to estimate his worth and character at a higher standard than before.
In the democratic State convention in 1882, on the first ballot Henry W. Slocum received 93 votes, Roswell P. Flower 97, and Grover Cleveland 66, while 125 were divided between five other candidates ; and on the third ballot Mr. Cleveland was nominated by 211 votes to 156 for General Slocum and 15 for Mr. Flower. The greenback and prohibition parties presented candidates, but the disruption of the republi- cans gave to Mr. Cleveland his phenomenal plurality, and secured for the democrats a ma- jority in both branches of the legislature. They were also successful in the election of their State candidates in 1883.
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In 1884 the State had candidates for the presidential nomination in each of the great parties. Chester A. Arthur sought the delega- tion from the State, and a combination was made by his friends with those of George F. Edmunds, by which delegates at large were chosen, while of the district delegates a major- ity favored the nomination of James G. Blaine. In the national convention Mr. Arthur received 278 votes on the first ballot, falling to 207 on the fourth ballot, when the nomination was conferred on Mr. Blaine.
While opposition was pronounced among democrats to the selection of Mr. Cleveland for president, the State convention chose delegates generally favorable to him, and instructed them to vote as a unit, in accordance with the will of a majority. . The opposition was expressed in the national convention, and when the vote of New York was announced as a unit for Mr. Cleveland, the statement was made that forty- nine delegates only favored Mr. Cleveland. while twenty-three were divided among other candidates. Mr. Cleveland, however, received 392 votes on the first ballot, and was nominated on the second.
The election in the nation turned on the re- sult in New York, where the incidents in the canvass were many and peculiar. The prohi-
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bitionists were active in behalf of their candi- date for president. General Benjamin F. But- ler made a tour of the State as the candidate of the national greenback labor party. The inde- pendents organized in favor of Mr. Cleveland, and in some localities some of those who styled themselves stalwarts took similar action. Mr. Blaine was greeted by great multitudes as he passed westward over the New York Central Railroad, and eastward, later, over the Erie Railroad, and receptions tendered to him at- tracted much attention. Just before the close of the canvass at a reception by clergymen, in New York city, Rev. Dr. Burchard denounced the democrats as supporting " Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion," and the phrase, it was believed, drove many Irish voters from Mr. Blaine. The result in the State, and therefore in the nation, was for several days in doubt, but the official returns showed a majority of 1,077 to 1.149 for the Cleveland electors. For the second time a citizen of New York was elected president of the United States.
Mr. Artbur was in ill health when he retired from the presidency March 4, 1885. The cir- cumstances which attended his accession to the executive office were trying, and they were met by him in the main with prudence and patriot- ism. He disappointed some of the partisans
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with whom he had formerly acted, and disarmed the criticism of those who had been his oppo- nents. His administration was marked by dig- nity and courtesy, while it closed for the time the control of his party in the national govern- ment. If he did not unite his party in his own State, the White House, while he was presi- dent, exhibited American society of the type of the richest circles of our largest cities. He retired with a broken constitution, and when he died, November 18, 1886, the judgment ex- pressed was in all quarters kindly; and history, without ranking him with the strong masters of principles and events, will concede him a creditable rank with those who in times of peace have sat in the executive chair.
In 1885, David B. Hill, who as lieutenant governor had succeeded to the executive chair when Mr. Cleveland entered upon his duties as president, was elected governor. Mr. Hill's plurality was 11,134 over Ira Davenport, the republican candidate.
CHAPTER XL.
MASTER IN MANUFACTURES.
1880.
THE inhabitants of New York are a busy people, and their industry is widely diversified. While 377,460 were in 1879 engaged in agri- culture, 537,897 were employed in professional and personal service, 339,419 in trade and transportation, and 629,869 in manufactures and mechanical and mining industries. The value of the products manufactured in the State in that year reached the vast sum of 81,080,696,596. Alabama and Georgia report more persons en- gaged in agriculture, but in the other occupa- tions New York naturally exceeds all the sister States.
The growth of the banks of the State may be expressed in figures, and marks the general pro- gress in all material clements. Previous to the declaration of the second war with Great Brit- ain, June 11, 1812. the authorized capital of twenty banks then existing was $19,165,000. The number of such institutions became 86 in
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the year 1836, and their capital was $31,300,000, their loans $72,500,000, their deposits $19,100,- 000, and their circulation 821,100,000. Twenty years later, the number was 303, and their cap- ital 896,400,000, loans 8183.900,000, deposits $96,900,000, and circulation $34,000.000. The increase continued after the establishment of national banks, a large part of the State banks entering the national system, and in 1876, 365 banks had a capital of $128,100.000, with loans of 8321,700,000, deposits $294,000,000, and circulation of 842,300,000. Ten years later, the reports of 1886 show 411 banks with a capital of $103,900,000 - a falling off during the decade, due to taxation and to a diminution of the rates of profit, and to the use of accrued profits as capital. The loans are much greater, amounting to 8469,000,000, while the deposits also reach a much higher figure, 8488.800,000.1
While banks of discount are measures of the general business, savings institutions indicate the thrift and material improvement of the working people and small capitalists. The first
1 In his reports (notably for 1876) as comptroller of the cur. rency of the United States, Hon. John Jay Knox, now posi- dent of the National Bank of the Republic, New York, pre. sents the banking laws of all the States, and the statistics of all institutions of this class. To these and to hi- personal courtesy for the latest figures, the reader is indebted for these statistics.
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savings bank in the State, chartered in 1819, the third in the country, was the outgrowth of thoughtful and practical philanthropy, and the example was followed, though not at first with rapid pace, for in 1839 only twelve like institu- tions existed. An addition of thirty was made before the close of 1852. By 1863, the number was 71, and the maximum, 155, was attained in 1873. While the number has fallen to 123 in 1886, the deposits have increased, save only during the intervals of panic. The rate of in- crease has varied greatly, reaching the highest standard in 1871 and 1872, being 837,156,418 in the latter year, and again mounting up to $34,371,156 in 1851. The grand total of de- posits in the savings institutions of the State was in 1863 876,538,183. in 1873 8285,286,621, and in 1886 8469,622,557. The number of indi- vidual depositors is 1.234,241, more than one in five of all the inhabitants of the commonwealth - a proof of the general prudence and fore- thought, typical of the prevalent habits and character, and of a varied and remunerative production which is the basis of our wealth. .
New York city, as the financial center of the continent, performs professional services and acts in trade and transportation for the whole country in no little degree. The monstrous transactions in stocks at the New York Ex-
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change, amounting in 1882 to 116,307,271 shares and in 1881 to a value of $8,197,506,403, include often dealings from all the States. So also the volume of operations in the Clearing House of that city, reaching in 1886 833,676,- 830,000, exceeding even those of London, but by reason of difference of methods adjusting a business somewhat less than that of the British capital, is continental and not local. But as it is greater by two and one-fifth times than the clearings of all the other cities of the Union. it expresses the concentration of interests and of activities. It is more than eleven times the total of our national debt at its maximum.
The Stock Exchange and the Clearing House, like the chief port and the center of distribution of the country's commerce, have a special rela- tion to the general activity of the common- wealth. The sea offers harbors elsewhere. as at Norfolk and Newport News, and efforts have been put forth to divert trade to some other point. Nature has found here ready and effi- cient allies, who have created trade, and estab- lished industries, and have built the chief city of America, which is still more intimately the metropolis of its own State.
The vast earnings of the railroads of the State, which were in 1886 8125,160,289, repre- sent through as well as local business. On
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these roads, other than elevated, in 1885, 1,834,- 580,425 passengers were carried one mile, and this movement is equivalent to carrying the whole population of the State a mile every secular day in the year.
By such facility of communication access to markets has been rendered both easy and cheap, and the effect has been felt in all branches of industry. Without rich beds of coal providing fuel at hand for large establishments, the com- monwealth has multiplied the branches of its production, first where water-power was avail- able, and as steam was introduced, at points where other advantages were secured. In 1880 steam furnished 51.70 per cent. of all the power used, and water 48.30 per cent. The produc- tion was therefore due more to the energies of the people than to the special advantages given by nature.
The period succeeding the Revolution, and next the years of the embargo and non-inter- course and the second war with Great Britain, were marked by rapid growth in various branches of industry. With the building of the Erie Canal and the consequent increase of population, industry was further extended and diversified ; and the construction of railroads connecting the markets more closely with the food-producing districts, has wrought further in the same direction.
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