Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 21

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others
Publication date: 1905
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1149

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the people hostile in heart to those who live below the Ohio river. We shall learn at last, we shall come at last, to be one people. Why not now? Seven years ago the last shot of the war was fired; seven years, and more, ago the last Confederate flag was surrendered or furled, and still we go on holding conventions-military conventions-to emphasize and aggrandize the triumph of a part over another part. I rejoice in that coming tri- umph of the whole nation, when the people of the South shall say to the people of the North: "We rejoice that our country was not divided; that our mistaken efforts to have a Southern Confederacy were defeated; we find at last it was our destiny and our blessing to be a part of the great Ameri- can people." So the North will say. Time shall be when the states south of the Ohio shall rejoice as heartily as you can rejoice that slavery has passed away forever; they will feel that the great chain was lifted from their necks, the shackles were broken which bound their limbs, when four millions of American people were liberated and made citizens of this country, where they had for- merly been slaves; they will yet realize that Vir- ginia, and the Carolinas and Georgia shall be richer and nobler, freer and purer, than they would have been so long as part of their people were held in bondage; they will realize that what was their weakness will, through emancipation, be- come their strength, and they will rejoice that nothing now remains to mar the unity and cloud the destiny of our country and their country.

So then, fellow citizens, having asked of them to surrender secession and abandon slavery, to enfranchise their colored fellow citizens, we did everything reasonable and proper to make our tri- umph perfect. Now, we say, and they say: "Let hatred and bitterness, let contention and jealousy perish forever-[applause]-let us forget that we have fought; let us remember only that we have made peace; let us say that there shall be no deg- radation; no people over whom we triumph; our triumph is their triumph'; our triumph is the up- lifting of every one of the common platforms of American liberty and American nationality; our triumph is not the triumph of a section, it is the triumph of a race; it is not the triumph of a class, it is the triumph of the American people, casting off shackles that bound some presently and all ultimately, breaking down a wall or partition that separated us; go on to make us all in life, in heart and in purpose the people, the one people of the great American republic."

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Fellow citizens, to this work of reconciliation I dedicate myself. For this purpose I would not. feel it was a triumph for me to be chosen your President, if any part of the American people should have a right to feel that my triumph was their degradation. I believe the triumph of the liberal cause will be a triumph of the states that vote against it. [Applause.] That there is no county in the Union which will not be better worth living in and more valuable because we have so acted, so appealed, so been responded to by the American people that there are no longer lines of separation and alienation to divide us. To this end I have struggled since the last cannon shot was fired in the war of secession and disun- ion. [Cries of "That's so."] To this end I have hoped and aspired. This end seems to be not far distant.

People of Ohio, I entreat you so to act, so to speak, so to vote, that every one shall feel on the evening of the 8th of next month that he has taken a manful part toward the reconciliation of the whole American people to their government, and toward the upbuilding, toward the perfect- tion, the rounding-out of the American republican nationality. [Prolonged cheers.]

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1884-THE HENDRICKS MEETING.

On Saturday. September 20, 1884, Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks. candidate for vice- president, opened the Democratic campaign in Hamilton. Governor Hendricks was es- corted by the Rice Guards. of Indianapolis. The speakers were placed in carriages and driven through the principal streets to the residence of Colonel James E. Neal, where Governor Hendricks and General Durbin Ward were left. From thence Governor George Hoadly was taken to the residence of Judge Alex F. Hume and Senator Allen G. Thurman to the residence of Hon. James E. Campbell. In the afternoon speaking be- gan. Senator Thurman presided and made a brief speech that was replete with wisdom and bristling with Democratic principles. Governor Hendricks was then introduced.

and in a most masterly manner proceeded to handle the issues of the day. He held the vast concourse of people before him almost spellbound during the entire time he was speaking. The applause was frequent, hearty and long continued. He was followed by Governor Hoadly, John F. Follett, James W. Newman, secretary of state, and Emil Rothe.

Words are inadequate to convey any- thing like the idea of the immensity of the evening meeting. The city was brilliantly illuminated and the decorations. with trans- parencies, superb. A grand parade, with thousands of torches, was made through the principal parts of the city, and centered at the court house. where the ranks were bro- ken and the participants therein mingled with those on the ground. Numerous speeches were made and several stands kept running.

BLAINE'S GREAT MEETING.

On Wednesday, October 1. 1884. Hon. James G. Blaine, the Republican nominee for President, addressed the citizens of But- . ler county, at Hamilton, at one of the largest mass-meetings held since the Civil war. The candidate was making his famous swing around the circle, and came to Hamilton from Dayton. where he had addressed a night meeting on Tuesday, September 30. He traveled by special train, and arrived at the C., H. & D. depot shortly after noon. He was met by a committee in carriages, and escorted to the home of Hon. Henry L. Morey, where he lunched. At two o'clock he spoke from a platform erected at the northeast corner of the court house square. Hon. Henry L. Morey. candidate for con- gress. introduced Mr. Blaine as the most

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distinguished representative of the Ameri- can flag. Mr. Blaine said :

Citizens of Ohio: It is now forty years since the question of protective tariff first engaged the attention of the American people as profoundly as it does today. It was in the contest of Mr. Clay and Mr. Polk, in 1844, that the great national debate on this question took place, and the protective tar- il was effected not by the popular vote but by the bad faith of that party which succeeded in the elec- tion; and I desire to call your attention-the at- tention of this large manufacturing population- to the fact that the policy of protecting America's industry has never been defeated in the United States by popular vote.

A contrary policy has been forced on the peo- ple at different times through the bad faith of their representatives, but never, I repeat, by popular vote upon a deliberate appeal to the people.

It therefore would seem to be the duty of the people of the United States, if by a majority they believe in the policy of protection, to see to it that that party is sustained which can be trusted to uphold it.

"Yes, but," said a gentleman to me yesterday. "Protection does not always secure abundant pros- perity; there are a great many idle men now in the country."

Well, we'll grant it; but there has never yet been a policy devised by wit of man that will in- sure through all times and all seasons a continu- ous flow of prosperity. But the question is, whether over a given series of years there has not been a larger degree of prosperity to the people under the policy of protection than under the pol- icy of free trade.

The question is to be gauged and tested, not by the experience of a single year, but by the ex- perience of a series of years. We have had a pro- tective tariff now for more than a decade, and I ask you whether there has ever been another per- iod in which the United States has made such progress as during the last twenty years. But it is true that now and then there will come a little lull, and a little reaction in business. There will come a little reaction even in the laws of nature. You had a great drought in Ohio this year, but you do not on that account avow that you will have no more rain. On the contrary, you are the more firmly persuaded that rain is the only ele- ment that will restore fertility to your soil, ver- dure to your fields and richness to your crops. So

in this little slough, this little dullness in the . business of the country, the one great element that can be relied on to restore prosperity is the pro- tective tariff.

On the 14th day of this month you will have opportunity to tell the people of the United States whether you believe in that doctrine. If you do, you will secure not only its continuance but its permanent triumph. But if, on the other hand, you should falter and fall back, it might produce disaster elsewhere. The responsibility is on you. Is your courage equal to your responsibility? Is your confidence equal to your courage? Then I have nothing more to say except good-bye.

Hon. William P. Frye, United States senator from Maine, spoke after Mr. Blaine.

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1892-WHITELAW REID'S VISIT.

September 11, 1892, Hon. Whitelaw Reid. of New York, candidate for vice-pres- ident on the Republican ticket, addressed a monster meeting at Woodsdale Island, near Hamilton. It was the occasion of the open- ing of the campaign in Ohio. Other dis- tinguished speakers on this occasion were Governor William Mckinley and Ex-Gov- ernor J. B. Foraker. Mr. Reid delivered a short address and said in part :

I am not here today to discuss President Har- rison's administration or the principles on which his party confidently appeals to the country for his re-election. That task is undertaken by two from among those younger sons of Ohio who have of late borne her standard to the front. Our party under this administration has matured, en- forced and magnificently vindicated a sound pro- tective tariff in the interest of our own country and our own countrymen. Our opponents wish to destroy it. We have coupled with it a system which gives you a free breakfast table and at the same time opens the best markets for the products of our farms and our factories. Our opponents threaten to destroy it-to shut the markets-what they call our sham reciprocity has opened up, if not also to tax our breakfast table by restoring the revenue tariff duties on coffee, tea and sugar.

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We have maintained the matchless national sys- tem originated by that great Ohioan, Salmon P. Chase. Our opponents wish to destroy it and go back to the state banks and shin plasters. We point to the prosperity of the country, to the sat- isfactory management of its affairs at home and abroad, to the successful working of the McKin- ley bill, and the utter discredit that has overtaken those who prophesied its disastrous results, to the liberal rewards for labor and the laws for the equal security of all other good citizens, to a wise, clean, strong and honest administration, and we say that under such circumstances, it is not good business policy or common sense to make a change and begin experiments. Our opponents want a change and want it bad. So stand the vital con- tentions between the parties. To the enlightened self-interest of common sense we make our ap- peal.

VICE-PRESIDENT STEVENSON'S MEETING.

Hon. Adlai Stevenson, of Illinois, the Democratic candidate for vice-president. visited Butler county on Saturday. October I. 1892. The afternoon meeting was held at Woodsdale Island. and was attended by several thousand Democrats from Cincin- nati. Dayton. Hamilton. Middletown, and the country districts. Ex-Governor James F. Campbell presided and introduced the speakers. In addition to General Stevenson. those who spoke were Hon. John A. Mc- Mahon. R. H. Marshall. John F. Follett. George W. Houk, and Governor Campbell.

A meeting was held in the city of Ham- ilton in the evening. Previous to the speak- ing a street parade was held which was par- ticipated in by the Duckworth Club. of Cin- cinnati, the Gravel Hall Club, of Dayton. and the Miami and the James E. Campbell Clubs, of Hamilton. The speaking took place from a platform at the east entrance of the court house at 7:30 o'clock. Hon. Lazard Kahn presided as chairman. Gen- eral Stevenson spoke for thirty minutes. He

thanked the people for their enthusiasm and earnestness and said he would carry back good tidings to Illinois and Indiana. He quoted Governor Campbell's remark at the Chicago convention : "Keep your eye on Ohio this fall."

General Stevenson discussed the Mc- Kinley tariff law at some length. He also spoke severely of the force bill. The dis- tinguished gentleman then left for his train, and Col. William A. Taylor, the newspaper correspondent and candidate for secretary of state, spoke entertainingly for some time. Short addresses were also made by Con- gressman Houk. Hon. Jesse Lewis and John A. McMahon.

THE BRYAN MEETING OF 1896.

No political demonstration of a half century had excited so great a public in- terest as the visit of William Jennings Bryan on Monday. October 20, 1896. The dis- tinguished Nebraskan and his party arrived by special train about 2:30 o'clock P. M .. and was met at the C., H. & D. depot by a reception committee in carriages, and marching clubs. and was escorted to the court house park. The speaker's stand was erected in the northeast corner of the park, and at three o'clock. the hour for the speak- ing to begin. the streets and the space sur- rounding the stand were one surging mass of human beings for a distance of several hundred feet in all directions.

Ex-Governor James E. Campbell pre- sided and introduced the great orator. The chairman said: "The largest audience ever 1 assembled in the city of Hamilton is here today. It has come to greet and listen to the nominee, the regular nominee of the Democratic party. And he is welcomed

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here in the old county of Butler, which is known everywhere as the Gibraltar of Ohio Democracy ; and he is welcomed as a private citizen of pure life, as a statesman of high *

motive, and most of all as a Democrat. * But you are here to listen to him, and there- fore I present him, the matchless Demo- cratic orator. William J. Bryan."

Mr. Bryan's speech was as follows:

Ladies and Gentlemen-I do not ask to have any warmer place in the hearts of the people of this county than the gentleman has who intro- duced me. If you can think as well of me as you have always thought of him, and if you can vote as strongly for me as you have always voted for him, I shall have good reason to remember my visit to Butler county.

You call this the Gibraltar of Democracy. I want to say to you that in this campaign I stand for those policies which are Democratic in the broadest sense of that term. I believe in the De- mocracy that means the rule of the people, and I am opposed to plutocracy that means the rule of a few money magnates and the servility of all the rest of the people. If Jefferson's Democracy is ac- ceptable to you I want to say to you that we are preaching and teaching the principles taught by him. If Jackson's Democracy. is good enough for you I want to tell you that we are preaching and teaching today what Jackson put into execution when he was the leader of the Democratic party. And, my friends, in my judgment there never was a time when the people of this country loved more and needed more the principles of true Democracy exemplified in legislation than they need those principles today, and it is because we appeal to the lovers of the Democratic form of government and a government administered according to the motto-"Equal rights to all, special privileges to none," that we are bringing to our standard more and more the people of this country every day. Three parties have united in declaring the money question to be the paramount issue of the hour, and those Democrats who are seeking-who left the Democratic party to go to the enemy, the na- tional Democrats, who are seeking to elect a Re- publican president, have themselves declared that the money question is the paramount issue, and the Republicans, the leading Republicans, admit that it is more important that we settle the money

question now than that we settle another question before the people.

Therefore, I come to you, not only as the nomi- nee of the Democracy, regularly nominated by a convention regularly called by a delegation regu- larly chosen, but I come to you as the nominee also of two other parties which in this campaign were willing to join hands with us in restoring a financial system for the American people.

Here followed a discussion of bimetal- lism, in which the speaker advocated inde- pendent action and the free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver at the ratio of 16 to I.

GOVERNOR ROOSEVELT VISITS HAMILTON.

The first stop of the Roosevelt special train was scheduled to occur in Hamilton at 8:40 o'clock Thursday, October 18, 1900, and with that promptness that is character- istic of everything Rooseveltian, the train pulled into the city and brought up on a siding in Fourth street, just north of High, exactly on schedule time. The first boom of the cannon announcing his approach was magical in its effect. From every street people thronged and surged, and in five min- utes' time the crowd had swelled to not less than seven thousand. For several hun- dred feet. in every direction, a solid mass of humanity stretched away. Conspicuous in the throng were many ladies, many Dem- ocrats and many veterans of the Civil War.

A notable party followed Governor Roosevelt. His train was in charge of State Railway Commissioner R. S. Kayler. who conducted it through Ohio.

The reception committee of forty and the Miami band were in waiting and prompt- ly fell in line, while a detail of police opened a passage through the cheering, enthusiastic crowd. The march to the platform, half a square away in front of the Dr. Scott build-

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ing, did not occupy more than two minutes. George T. Reiss, of the Niles Tool Works Company, chairman of the meeting, introduced Governor Roosevelt at once in a brief, happy speech.

Colonel Roosevelt was up in a moment, waving for silence, and he forced it from an over enthusiastic throng, just as he al- ways forces his way to whatever end he sets before him. He is not a great orator, but he is a great speaker and campaigner, who strikes square to the minds and hearts of his hearers. With his chin elevated and his jaws set, he snaps out the words that never fail to carry with them the force of con- viction. No man who ever heard him ever doubts that he means just what he says. The Governor spoke for almost twenty minutes and three hearty cheers from the crowd arose spontaneously as he took his seat.

Senator J. B. Foraker was also heard for a few minutes at this meeting. It does not take the Senator a week to say something worth hearing. With his well-known elo- quence, he appealed to the people of Butler county, as his friends and neighbors, whom he had known and kept watch over for many years, to put aside the folly that has kept this county in the Democratic ranks so many years at the expense of her every in- terests. He complimented Governor Roose- velt and said among other things: "The question today is how can we maintain the prosperity we secured as a result of the last election? Only by combining with the party in power will you continue your prosperity.

"I could never understand why this beautiful Miami valley and this city should have a Democratic majority. It never did you any good. It never will do you any good. My Democratic friends, bear in mind

what Governor Roosevelt has told you and . that the Republican party has brought pros- perity to you as well as to the Republicans and to the whole country as well as to a section of it.

"Let it result in the biggest Republican vote you have recorded in Butler county and we will forgive you."

Governor Roosevelt's speech was as fol- lows :

My Fellow Americans-I feel less like appeal- ing to you as Republicans than as Americans, [ap- plause] because under these conditions I feel the right to ask the support of all good citizens, what- ever may have been their party affiliation in the past. I ask it for the sake of preserving the con- ditions which have affected our material well-be- ing.

Gentlemen, we are not so far removed from the days of Coxey's army and the free-soup kitchen that you should have forgotten it. Now if you want to go back to those days, it is your privilege to do so, but if you do go back, do not say that you did not know it was loaded. It is no use of advancing the plea that the thing was done by accident, if it has been done.

I recall once when I was in the cow business out West. I was in a little town, staying there, and there was a big cow punch leaning against the wall and a fellow with a revolver flashed around and fired, but the revolver only went off in the air, and he apologized to the cow punch, and said that it went off by accident, and the cow punch said, "If you shoot me on purpose, maybe I will forgive you, but if you shoot me by acci- dent, I will kick you out of this town." Now, do not let us shoot ourselves by accident.

I appeal to you, and I appeal to the Demo- crats as well as to the Republicans, to remember what Mr. Bryan prophesied four years ago and to compare it with everything that has not come to pass. That is all. [Applause.]

The worth of a promise comes in its being kept; isn't that so? The worth of a prophecy comes in its fulfillment and, when a prophecy slips up as badly as Mr. Bryan's did, I do not think much of the intelligence of those who trust his further prophesies.

I want you to look back and see what has hap-

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pened, and you will see that prosperity has come to all. Remember this, gentlemen; take your own town and your own country. Look back at '93. Nobody had prosperity; then the business man was down, the farmer was down, the pay for work was down and everything was down; and in 1897, when prosperity again came, it came to all of us. [Cheers.] Now Mr. Bryan has been seeking to persuade you that some people could be benefited with a policy that would benefit some few, that of getting out the capitalists. Now in 1892 they had us. They downed the capitalists, but they had all the rest of us, but where has the hitch come in? [Cheers.] We are going to go up or down together, but it looks as if we are going to go up.

The motto of our opponents is, some men down, and our motto, is all men up. Now on an issue like that I have a right to appeal to Demo- crats as well as to Republicans and I feel in the same way to all men with regard to party on the moral issues of a campaign. Glad indeed am I to see Democrats such as the ex-Union soldiers, General Bragg, of Wisconsin, and Sickles, of New York, and the Confederate soldiers, General Buck-

ner, General Joe Wheeler and General Basil Duke, men who had been Democrats all their lives, but now they have left their party. I appeal to all men to stay with us; to stand with us now, be- cause our opponents stand for an unsound cur- rency and a policy that repudiates the obligations of the nation, and I appeal to you Republicans as well as Democrats to uphold the hand of Wil- liam Mckinley when he stands as he stood for the honor of the flag as it floats over us all. [Cheers.]

Republicans and Democrats alike, we appeal to the men who believe in the Democracy of Jef- ferson and Jackson. Jefferson who preached lib- erty and law, and Jackson, who was a Democrat of hard money and for the honor of the flag. [Cheers.] I appeal to every man in every position to stand for 13 and finally, I appeal to the young men in whose hands lies the fate we are coming to. I appeal to them in the name of the memories of our forefathers from '61 to '65. I appeal to them to remember the nation and to help to make this nation. We honor the American flag and as it has once been hoisted it shall never be hauled down. [Cheers prolonged.]

THE CIVIL ROSTER OF BUTLER COUNTY.

COMPILED BY B. S. HARTLOW.

This chapter includes the names of those men whom Butler county, from 1803 to 1905, has contributed to the civil service of the state, or elected to county offices. The list comprises the successions of members of congress, state senators and representa- tives in the legislature, together with those of other counties in the same district with Butler, two governors of Ohio, one judge of the supreme court of Ohio, one speaker of each, the state senate and the house of rep- resentatives of the Ohio general assembly, one auditor of state, one state treasurer, one president of the state board of equalization, circuit, common pleas, president and associ- ate judges. clerks, sheriffs. prosecuting at- torneys, probate judges, auditors, treas-

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Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 21

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1149

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others
Publication date: 1905
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1149