USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume Four > Part 27
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14th the spring before, was a subject of National debate in and out of Congress. The Republicans of course heartily endorsed it in their State platform and the Democrats as strenuously denounced it; on this ques- tion the Ohio canvass of 1890 was almost wholly fought.
This year witnessed the inauguration in Ohio of a legal warfare against the Standard Oil Company, which proved the precedent and incentive for a long course of fierce litigation concerning that corporation. The Attorney-General, David K. Watson, on May 8, 1890, filed a proceeding in quo warranto in the Supreme Court of Ohio against the Standard Oil Company, asking the court to adjudge the corporate powers, franchises and privileges forfeited, and that it be dis- solved. The specific ground for this action was that the stockholders of the Standard Oil Company, as well as the company itself, had formed a trust by entering into an agreement to transfer and did transfer 34,993 shares out of 35,000 to the trustees of the Standard Oil Trust. This, the Attorney-General contended, was sufficient ground for the ousting of the corporation from its powers and franchises, and for a winding up and dissolution. The Supreme Court, however, refused (State ex rel. Attorney-General, vs. Standard Oil Company, 49 Ohio State Reports, p. 137) to forfeit the charter of the corporation, but gave a judgment ousting it from the right to become or remain a party to the trust agreement.
The litigation attracted great attention throughout the country, as it was the first formidable attack made upon the Standard Oil Trust by any State through its Attorney-General.
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The centennial anniversary of the settlement of Gallipolis, October 19, 1790, was celebrated by proceed- ings principally oratorical at the ancient "City of the Gauls" on October 16, 17, 18 and 19, 1890. The addresses delivered on this occasion were purely his- torical and dwelt mostly on the unfortunate attempt to make a permanent French settlement on the Ohio river. Governor Campbell presided on the first day and delivered an address appropriate to the event. Subsequently addresses were made by David K. Watson, Attorney-General, on "The Early Bar of the Ohio Valley," Colonel John L. Vance, on "The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis, " Daniel J. Ryan, Secretary of State, on "The Scioto Company and the French Grant," and Dr. Washington Gladden on "Migrations and Their Lessons."
An important and very interesting item of the State's progress for the decade ending 1890 may be found in the decennial valuation of the real property in the State made this year by the local assessors. After revision by the county boards of equalization the returns were passed upon in 1891 by the State Board of Equaliza- tion. These returns from the various counties showed on an average a considerable falling off in the value of farm lands as compared with the figures of the preced- ing decennial valuation. Complaint was made to the State board that the local valuations had been too high. This board in revising the returns heeded those complaints and transferred a considerable percentage of the total from farm to urban property. In 1880 the total valuation of real property in the State was $1,097,509,830.00, of which $684,826,516.00 was re-
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turned as farm property and $412,683,314.00 as real property in cities, towns and villages. This left the valuation of 1890 as fixed by the State Board of Equalization in 1891 of the total amount of real prop- erty at $1,144,033,563.00 of which $576,183,975.00 was farm property and $567,849,588.00 was real prop- erty in cities, towns and villages. In 1880 the farm property formed 62 per cent of the total, while in 1890 it had fallen to 50 per cent. There had been, accord- ing to the returns of the two periods, a depreciation in farm property of 12 per cent. These valuations, it must be understood, were for taxation only. At the time of which we write, notwithstanding that the Constitution required that all property should be taxed at its true value in money, the custom was to place the · taxation value at about 60 per cent of its selling value. The total area of farm lands returned in 1890 was 25,319,698 acres, and the average taxable value was $22.76 per acre.
In the spring of 1891 the attention of the Republican leaders of the State was directed to the necessity of securing a strong candidate for Governor. Governor Campbell had fortified himself in the estimation of the people by an Administration that was patriotic and honorable, by his vigorous fight against corruption in Cincinnati and by his furtherance of the passage of the ballot reform law. All conceded that he was an exceedingly strong candidate for reelection. By common consent of all factions in the Republican party Major William Mckinley, Jr., Congressman from the Canton district, was agreed upon as the candidate and was accordingly nominated at the State
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Convention held June 16th. Former Governor Foraker presented Major McKinley's name to the Convention, and with unanimity he was declared the nominee. The candidate for Governor had had a long and con- spicuous career in Congress, and had directed the efforts of his public life to the promotion of the policy of a protective tariff until he became in the eyes of the country the embodiment of that doctrine. He was the author of the famous "Mckinley Bill," which had given him more than a National reputation, and as an American policy it was founded upon the funda- mental doctrine of the Republican party. It had been the issue in the former campaign and was still opposed by the Democratic party. The nomination of its author and the adoption of its principles gave the can- vass of 1891 in Ohio a distinctly National cast. Gov- ernor Campbell was heartily in line with his party in its opposition to the protective tariff, advocating a tariff for revenue only. He also stood upon the declaration of free and unlimited coinage of silver as promulgated by the Democratic platform of this year. The candidates, therefore, found themselves represent- ing diverse issues upon which there could be no com- promise or equivocation, Governor Campbell standing for tariff for revenue and free silver and Major McKin- ley opposing both. The campaign was devoid of all personalities and the discussion was confined to the high plane of principles. At one time during the can- vass, October 8th, the nominees met in joint debate on the silver and tariff questions at Ada, Hardin county. To an immense audience they presented their views, and both were received with great cordiality. The
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friends of each claimed for their leader a victory, but the result and the judgment must be left where all joint debates leave them-to the opinion of the general public, which is always divided on those subjects.
The metal schedule of the Mckinley Law was made a special object of attack in this campaign. Major McKinley in his bill had provided for a protective tariff on tin plate so high as to induce the development of that industry in this country. It had been demon- strated years before that tin plate could be manu- factured in the United States as successfully as it could in England or Wales. It was, therefore, not regarded as an experimental move. In his argument on this subject Mr. Mckinley stated that we had already demonstrated our ability to make tin plate in this country and that in 1873 there were two factories going. When they started tin plate was worth $12 a box, and as soon as the Welsh manufacturers found out that we proposed to enter the field they put the price down to $4.50 a box. Of course our factories had to close. The price at once began to go up until it reached $10 a box, and again we began, with exactly the same results as before. At that time the duty on tin plate was simply a revenue duty. We were con- suming 300,000 tons of tin plate a year, and we were simply paying the manufacturers of a foreign country and a syndicate of middlemen in this country for the privilege of using it.
At the time the Mckinley Bill was introduced Amer- icans were importing annually $21,000,000 worth of tin plate. It was Mckinley's calculation that we could establish an industry of that nature which would supply
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our own market and thus furnish steady employment to at least 24,000 men. With his splendid optimism, he maintained that a protective tariff would give birth to this new industry. It was contended by his oppo- nents that it was impossible to manufacture tin plate in this country which would be equal to the British pro- duction. While this discussion was going on and after the Mckinley Bill had passed, a few American manu- facturers in different portions of the United States started to produce tin plate and laid the foundation, in a modest way, for that industry. At this time there was at Piqua, Ohio, a plant fully equipped and which had commenced, since the Mckinley Law went into effect, the manufacture of terne plate-a coarser and different product of tin plate, but coming under the latter general industry. The head of this plant was Colonel J. G. Battelle, a prominent and influential Republican of that city, an intense advocate of the protective tariff, and a friend and counsellor of Mc- Kinley.
On September 17th, Major Mckinley spoke at Piqua and while there visited the Cincinnati Corru- gating Company's shops (Colonel Battelle's concern), to witness the manufacture of the first terne plates produced in Ohio under his legislation. To add to the realism, amidst the cheering workmen and an im- mense throng, Mckinley himself lifted a plate of sheet steel from its bath and exhibited a perfect piece of terne plate. It was of purely American manufacture, the plate was from American sheet steel, rolled from billets of ore mined in Ohio and made at Middleport, Ohio. The pig tin came from the Temescal mines in
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San Bernardino county, California, and the pig lead from Missouri. It was with intense satisfaction that the author of the Mckinley Law saw the modest beginning of an immense industry which he, with prophetic eye, felt would follow his legislation. This incident was heralded all over the country and became at once an issue in the Ohio campaign. It was charged by the opponents of the tariff that the whole proceeding was a fake, that it was not tin plate, and they reiterated that the article could not be made in this country. The plate produced on this occasion was a coarser form of tin plate used principally in roofing, but it came under the protective tariff law as did the more highly finished tin plate used for canning and other purposes. That Mckinley was not in error in his optimism has been demonstrated by time, and from such humble begin- nings as narrated here, there has grown up a gigantic American industry, engaging millions of American capital and employing thousands of American workmen, so that the product of tin plate and terne plate in the United States for 1910 amounted to 723,770 gross tons.
A peculiarity of the election returns grew out of the form of the Australian ballot which had been pro- vided for by law at the last session of the General Assembly. Many voters supposed that by voting for Governor they voted for all the balance of their party ticket. The result showed that the head of the ticket received nearly 30,000 more votes than the bal- ance of the State ticket. This mistake was made by 12,500 Republicans and 17,500 Democrats. The elec-
WILLIAM McKINLEY
From a painting by Albert C. Fauley in the Capitol in Columbus.
Born in Niles, Trumbull county, Ohio, January 29, 1843; enlisted in the Twenty-Third Ohio Infantry, June II, 1861, and served throughout the war, rising to Brevet Major; admitted to the bar, 1867, and engaged in practice in Canton; Prosecuting Attorney of Stark county, 1869- 71; first elected to Congress 1876 and reelected until 1890; became prominent in that body as advocate of the policy of protection; author of the Mckinley Tariff Bill, 1890; defeated for Congress in the same year; Governor of Ohio, 1892-96; twenty-fifth President of the United States, elected 1896 and again 1900; shot by an assassin at Buffalo, New York, September 6, 1901, and died there September 14, 1901.
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San Bernardino county, California, and the pig lead
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the protective tariff law as did the more highly finished tin plate used for canning and other purposes. Tha Mckinley was not in error in his optimism has bom demonstrated by time, and from such humble begi nings as narrated here, there has grown up a gigant American industry, engaging millions of America capital and employing thousands of American workn so that the product of tin plate and terne plate in United States for Igio amounted to 723,770 gross tok
A peculiarity of the election returns grew our the form of the Australian ballot which had been pr vided for by law at the last session of the General Assembly. Many voters supposed that by vorou for Governor they voted for all the balance of th party ticket. The result showed that the head od ticket received nearly 30,000 more votes than the Il ance of the State ticket. This mistake was made b 12,500 Republicans and 17,500 Democrats. The
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tion returns showed Mckinley's plurality over his opponent to be 21,5II and that the General Assembly was overwhelmingly Republican.
William Mckinley on January II, 1892, became Governor of Ohio after practically twenty years' service in National affairs. His inaugural address was a plain, business-like document, standing rather for the things that were established in State affairs than for any changes, and suggesting nothing positive. The most important act of the General Assembly of this year was the election of a United States Senator to succeed Senator Sherman, whose term expired in 1893. The contest for the Republican nomination was between Senator Sherman and former Governor Joseph B. Foraker and resulted in the election of Mr. Sherman to the United States Senate for the sixth time. During Governor McKinley's first term, State affairs moved smoothly and he was not called upon to take an active position on any public question or situa- tion, but in his second term, to which he had been elected in 1893 over the Democratic candidate, Law- rence T. Neal, of Chillicothe, he was confronted with many conditions that required good judgment and executive force. It is to the credit of Mckinley that, with all of his natural gentleness and love of peace, he solved the problems that faced him as a courageous Executive should. At no time since the Civil War has an Ohio Governor been called upon to meet so many demands upon his executive power. During 1894, the first year of his second term, no less than fifteen calls were made upon the State government for military aid in upholding peace and order. In
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the month of June of this year a strike, which involved every mining district in Ohio, was the occasion of much disturbance among the turbulent and disorderly. Attempts were made to stop trains of coal-carrying roads and otherwise interfere with the property rights of corporations, as well as of those not engaged in the strike. To suppress this disorder a call was made upon the State for help, and the Governor ordered out several regiments of the Ohio National Guard until finally there were 3,600 men on duty. For sixteen days the strong arm of the State was held suspended over those who undertook to violate her laws.
Another outbreak which required the presence of the militia was at Washington C. H. in October, 1894. There was an uprising among the people of that town over the commission of a heinous crime. The criminal was apprehended in Delaware county and brought to Washington C. H. for trial. Troops were called for when the prisoner was brought back to Fayette county. He was indicted, tried, convicted and sentenced, and received the full limit of the law, but the spirit of the mob insisted upon lynching the prisoner. In the con- flict with the militia which followed, three people were, killed. This resulted in a court of inquiry instituted to investigate the conduct of Colonel Alonzo B. Coit. who was in command of the military. The court of inquiry exonerated him. Governor Mckinley approved the finding of the court in unequivocal language, at follows:
"The law was upheld as it should have been, and as I believe, it always will be in Ohio-but in this case at fearful cost. Much as the destruction of life which
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took place is deplored by all good citizens, and much as we sympathize with those who suffered in this most unfortunate affair, surely no friend of law and order can justly condemn the National Guard, under com- mand of Colonel Coit, for having performed its duty fearlessly and faithfully, and in the face of great danger, for the peace and dignity and honor of the State.
"Lynching cannot be tolerated in Ohio. The law of the State must be supreme over all, and the agents of the law, acting within the law, must be sustained."
In October, 1895, the Governor was again called upon to defend the law. An attempt was made to lynch a prisoner who was in the custody of the sheriff of Seneca county. This officer appealed to the Gov- ernor for help, and promptly four companies of militia were dispatched to the scene of violence, and all attempts at interference with the operation of the law were suppressed.
As swift as Governor Mckinley was to respond with the militia, he was equally so in tendering help to those in distress. In January, 1895, destitution prevailed among the miners and their families in the Hocking valley. The unfortunate people were at a loss as to how to secure the necessaries of life, and in their despair they appointed a committee to wait upon the Governor. The next day he took prompt steps for relief. He dis- patched messengers to the proprietors of different groceries in the city of Columbus, a transfer company, and the officials of the Hocking Valley Railroad, and within a few hours a car load of provisions was on its way to Nelsonville to be distributed to the hungry. The Governor not only purchased the supplies but
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assumed the payment for the same. Famine and distress continuing and the Governor being advised that 1,763 miners were out of work and unable to pro- cure food, he appointed committees in the different centers of the mining population. At Corning, Rend- ville, Jacksonville, Shawnee and Lathrop committees were designated to receive and distribute supplies. On February 19th, he addressed communications to the boards of trade and chambers of commerce in the cities of Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo, requesting that relief work be inaugurated at those points. Upon the final closing of this philanthropic movement, the report of the committee showed, on February 27th, that 2,722 miners out of employment, representing a population of at least 10,000, had been cared for and made comfortable at an expenditure of $31,785.05.
As a result of a law passed in 1894, granting women the right to vote for school officers and sit on school boards, many registered and voted in some of the muni- cipalities of the State, and some were elected to school boards. This was the first step taken towards woman suffrage in Ohio. The law was declared to be consti- tutional by the circuit court of Franklin county and subsequently by the Supreme Court, on the ground that the whole subject of the public schools is relegated to the General Assembly.
The Republican State Convention, which met at Zanesville, May 28, 1895, nominated for Governor Asa S. Bushnell, of Springfield, one of the leading and wealthiest manufacturers of the State and in every way a high type of the successful American business
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man. He had always been more or less interested in politics and was especially regarded as a close personal friend of former Governor Foraker, and it was generally regarded as a significant fact reminiscent of factional differences that he was opposed by the friends of Governor Mckinley, who favored George K. Nash, of Columbus. The Democrats nominated former Gov- ernor James E. Campbell. The Cleveland Adminis- tration was unpopular, and, notwithstanding that Governor Campbell made a spirited campaign, he went down to defeat under a plurality of 92,622. The Legislature was overwhelmingly Republican. In the Senate there were 30 Republicans, 6 Democrats and I Populist; in the House there were 87 Republicans and 25 Democrats. On January 14, 1896, former Governor Joseph B. Foraker was elected to the United States Senate for the term beginning March 4, 1897, as the successor of Calvin S. Brice. Thus he entered upon a National career that was to be no less brilliant than that in his native State.
The day before Foraker's election to the Senate, Governor Mckinley passed out of office into private life. In his last annual message to the Legislature he reviewed the legislation of his Administration relative to taxation, and an examination of it shows that to him is due much of the advancement in that direction. Under his Administration there was an increase in the sphere of corporation tax, including taxes on foreign corporations, foreign insurance companies, express companies, telegraph and telephone companies, all of which materially increased the revenue of the State. He had left behind him a record for excellent service.
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Asa S. Bushnell was inaugurated as Governor, January 13, 1896. Through his recommendation vari- ous important acts were passed by the General Assem- bly. The Dow tax upon the traffic in intoxicating liquors was increased from $250 to $350 yearly. In addition he was responsible for the following important acts: providing for the State Board of Medical Regis- tration; providing for taxing electric light, gas, natural gas, pipeline, waterworks, street railroad, railroad and messenger companies; providing for the taxation of freight-line and equipment companies; providing for electrocution in the execution of the death sentence: providing for the registration of land titles in Ohio providing for the prevention of corrupt practices at election and regulating the permissible expenditures of candidates.
While William McKinley was Governor of Ohio he was an active candidate for the presidency, and early in 1895 a campaign to that end was begun by his friends in Ohio. The Republican State Convention which met March 10th, was presided over by Senator elect Foraker, who, in his opening speech, spoke o the signal services that Governor Mckinley had ren dered his party and urged his support by the Republic ans of Ohio for the presidency. On that day the Stat Convention adopted a resolution instructing the Repub lican delegates-at-large to vote for William McKinle; for President at the Republican National Convention to be held at St. Louis the following June. On th same day the Republicans of Kansas in State Conven tion announced that they would support Williar Mckinley at the National Convention for President
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Thus Ohio and Kansas on the same day gave their support to the former Governor of Ohio. To the National Convention Senator-elect Foraker presented McKinley, and on the first ballot Mckinley was nom- inated. The national character of this and subse- quent events precludes further consideration here.
Governor Bushnell was renominated at the Repub- lican State Convention held at Toledo, June 23, 1897, and was reëlected over Horace L. Chapman, the Demo- cratic candidate, by a plurality of 28,165. Unlike his first term, the second engaged the best ability of the Governor. His activities and success in the Span- ish-American war will stamp his Administration as one of the most successful in the history of the State. This event and the details connected therewith are of sufficient importance to be treated at length in a sub- sequent chapter.
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