USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume Three > Part 25
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The life of this master spirit, who accomplished more for the material progress of Ohio than any other man in her history cannot fail to interest the reader. For thirty-five years he was the leader in State business legislation, and as a conservative financier he was easily without a rival in his day. He was born in Middlefield, Connecticut, November 7, 1789. In June 1810, in his twenty-first year, he settled in Cleveland, which at that time had three frame and five or six log houses. The same year he was admitted to the Bar, and was soon appointed Prosecuting Attorney for Cuyahoga County, which office he held for twelve years. He resigned it to become Canal Commissioner in 1822.
At twenty-five, the eligible age under the first Constitution, we find him in the Legislature repre- senting Cuyahoga, Ashtabula and Geauga counties. Although the youngest man in the body, he soon became one of its most influential members. Judge Alfred Yaple of Cincinnati, years afterwards-in 1856-7-served in the Legislature with Mr. Kelley, who was then a member of the Senate. He has left a pleasant memento, written in 1875, of the latter's public life in "Reminiscences of Alfred Kelley," in which he speaks of the active and leading part Mr. Kelley assumed as a legislator. "During one of the sessions," says Judge Yaple, "he prepared and intro- duced a proposition to reform the practice in our
CHARLES HAMMOND From a painting in the office of the Reporter of the Supreme Court at Columbus.
Born in Baltimore County, Maryland, in September, 1779; removed to Ohio when six years of age; admitted to the bar in 1801; served various terms in the Legislature from 1813 to 1822; removed to Cincinnati in 1822 where he edited the Gazette until his death; was Reporter of the Supreme Court from 1823 to 1838; while in the Legis- lature led the opposition to the United States Bank; died at Cincinnati, April 3, 1840.
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easily without a sival in his day. He was born MaDefend, Corecticul, November 7, 1789. In Flis in his twenty -first year, he settled in Clevel chad at Uut time had three frame and five cr Tog Lowex. The same year he was admitted to Bar, and was soon appointed Prosecuting Attorney Cuyahoga County, which office he held for twel years. He resigned it to become Canal Commissio in 1822.
At twenty-five, the eligible age under the Constitution, we find him in the Legislature re senting Cuyahoga, Ashtabula and Geauga countl Although the youngest man in the body, he became one of its most influential members. Ju Alfred Yaple of Cincinnati, years afterwards 1856-7-served in the Legislature with Mr. Kelley, was then a member of the Senate. He has left pleasant memento, written in 1875, of the latt public life In "Reminiscences of Alfred Kelley," which he speaks of the active and leading part M Kelley assumed as a legislator. "During one of the sessions," says Judge Yaple, "he prepared and intr duced a proposition to reform the practice in our
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
courts. His proposition looked to the lopping off of all the formalities and verbiage of the old system of pleading and simplifying it. This proposition was the forerunner of our code, which came some thirty years afterward. It also provided for the abolishment of imprisonment for debt except in case of fraud.
"This was the first time, as I have heard him say, such a measure was ever seriously urged in any legis- lative body in the civilized world. Dickens' flaming pen had not then flashed light into the gloomy recesses and revealed the sufferings and wretchedness within the walls of the 'Old Marshalsea,' and aroused the English people to apply the plowshare to turning over the ground upon which its foundations had stood. Three years after he introduced it in Ohio, Kelley's bill was passed by the Legislature of one of the States -New York, I think-but not in Ohio until about 1836 or 1839. At the time he introduced it, it was considered so radical that it defeated his entire plan of judicial reform. He introduced it, as he said, because he held that property should be the basis of credit, and property alone taken for debt; that to discharge debt, the person could not be sold, and for debt, personal liberty should not be restrained. This prin- ciple is now, I believe, incorporated in the constitution of every State, and is upon the Federal statute book of the United States, and has been enacted by the Parliament of England."
For eighteen years this measure slept. In 1837 Mr. Kelley was elected to the Legislature from Franklin County and after persistent labors he secured the passage of his bill, and from that time to this no
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
honest man in Ohio has been imprisoned for inability to pay his debts. His patient and successful struggle for this reform alone has made humanity a debtor to him forever.
When Alfred Kelley was designated as Canal Com- missioner, he enjoyed a fine professional practice at Cleveland. No man ever accepted a responsibility at greater cost than he when he assumed its labors. Influenced by the belief that his work would confer a lasting benefit to his State, he made a sacrifice that only a deep and convincing patriotism could prompt. His compensation of three dollars a day was to him not worth considering, and yet all through his years of sacrifice of time, money and health, no breath of scandal or suspicion was attached to his name. The fitting farewell to his services came when, in March 1836, in response to his own request, the General Assembly appointed a committee to examine the accounts and vouchers of the Canal Commissioners; this committee reported that "we find no account of money disbursed by them which has not been honestly accounted for, either as agents for contracts, or for contingent and incidental expense for the construction of the Ohio canals." When we consider that the committee was composed of three partisan political adversaries of Mr. Kelley, and the amount expended amounted to nearly sixteen million dollars, we can form some idea of his inflexible integrity and business- like management.
Mr. Kelley returned to legislative life, and served in the General Assemblies of 1836 and 1837. During
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this brief period his most notable work was the abolition of imprisonment for debt, and the creation of the office of State School Superintendent. He saw the coming financial storm, and endeavored to check the practice of the State loaning its credit to railroads, private canals and turnpikes, but in vain. The subsequent history of the State's finances shows how wise were his judgment and efforts. In 1840 the period of distrust and embarrassment came, and the State turned to Alfred Kelley for relief. The financial situation was bad, and Ohio was a heavy borrower on account of canal construction, the work of which was not yet completed. March 30, 1841, he was appointed Canal Fund Commissioner, and it was in this capacity that he performed still greater service for the State in saving it from financial embarrassment and disgrace.
The effect of the panic of 1837 was still apparent, and the securities of Ohio were without a market either at home or abroad. It was impossible to sell canal stock either in London or New York. This was the situation that confronted Alfred Kelley in 1841, with demands from canal contractors and other sources continually draining from the canal fund its already limited resources. Between November 15, 184I and January 1, 1842, there was $300,000 temporary loans and over $400,000 interest to pay and nothing to pay with. Mr. Kelley was in New York trying to save the honor and credit of the State. But everything was conspiring against success. The market was paralyzed from general conditions which were intensified by the fact that some of the states had failed to pay the interest on their public debts,
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and Mississippi had actually repudiated a portion of hers. The condition is further disclosed in a letter dated December 10, to Mr. Kelley from Noah H. Swayne, one of the Fund Commissioners, and after- wards a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States: "I am greatly alarmed by what you say in regard to the prospect of raising means to pay our interest. Stocks dull at 75! The London agents forbidden to make advances! The banks pressing for the payment of their temporary loans! Money tight beyond example, panic and paralysis universally prevalent, everything covered with gloom and de- spondency, and tending downward to the lowest point. It is a crisis calculated to quail the stoutest heart. "
To add to the complexity and disgrace of the situa- tion, the dishonorable proposition to repudiate a portion of the debt of the State was mooted in the Legislature; this took the form of a resolution offered December 21, 1841. Fortunately, it was defeated, but its deadly influence reached New York, where Mr. Kelley was patiently conducting his financial negotiations. In a valuable work by Judge James L. Bates, "Alfred Kelley. His Life and Work, " modestly "printed for private circulation," is given a character- istic letter written to his wife on Christmas, 1841. It pictures vividly the critical situation, and the frightful burden he was carrying.
In this letter he writes: "It is now evening, and I have spent anything but a merry day. Never before in my life have I been placed in a situation so peculiarly difficult and embarrassing. We have up-
ALFRED KELLEY From a painting in the Capitol at Columbus.
The Father of the Canals, Reformer of the Taxation System of Ohio and State Financier.
Born in Middlefield, Connecticut, November 7, 1789; settled at Cleveland in 1810; served many years in the Legislature and as Canal Commissioner; by his patriotic exertions in 1836-1843 chiefly on his personal responsibility he raised large sums of money to discharge the State debt and thereby saved the State from bankruptcy and repudia- tion; he died at Columbus, December 2, 1859.
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
and Mississippi had actually repudiated a portio of hers. The condMadan daalde disclosed in a letter dated Decudmylop ts dotige Miri andeiner moram Noab 14. noitexeT ont to remote alsas ont to match adT mmissioners, and
Swayne, one of the fund
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presta for the payment of their temporary loans!
rumple, parle and paralysis universally prevalent, ewaything covered with gloom and aposilincy, and tending downward to the In nl just. Tem a eri is calculated to quail the straiml The art
To add to the complexity and disgrace of the tion, the dishonorable proposition to repudi portion of the debt of the State was mooted Legislature; this took the form of a resolution December 21, 1841. Fortunately, it was defe but its deadly influence reached New York, wi Mr. Kelley was patiently conducting his final negotiations. In a valuable work by Judge Jaim Bates, "Alfred Kelley. His Life and Work, " mod "printed for private circulation, " is given a character istic letter written to his wife on Christmas, 1441 It picture vividly the critical situation, and Lle frightful burden he was carrying.
In this letter he writes: "It is now evening, and I have spent anything but a merry day. before in my life have I been placed in a situation peculiarly difficult and embarrassing. We have op
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ward of three hundred thousand dollars to provide, against the third day of January, and as yet I do not know positively where more than eighty or ninety thousand of it is to be obtained. We are trying to make arrangements and have hopes of effecting them. But we have not yet the certainty. While everything here has been of the most disheartening character, money scarce, want of confidence in all kinds of securities, stocks failing, money dealers panic-stricken, some wretch, in whom is concentrated the essence of malginity, has written a letter over a feigned name, or the name of some unknown individual, intimating that the Commissioners of the Canal Fund had exceeded their powers, that their accounts would not balance by five hundred thousand dollars, and that there was reason to apprehend that they had been guilty of still grosser frauds, and that the State might refuse to pay debts of their contracting, and this infernal letter is published in one of the principal daily papers of this city.
"Thus while I am here making almost super- human efforts-using my personal influence, pledging my individual responsibility to raise money to pay the interest on the State debt, to preserve her faith and her credit untarnished-some debased wretch, some degraded son of Ohio for the sake of thwarting and embarrassing me to gratify his personal or political enmity, is willing to make a stab at the honor of the State and cause her serious pecuniary loss. True, this infamous libel was soon contradicted in the same print, but slander flies on eagle wings, while truth creeps slowly after on the back of a snail.
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"We hope to know on Monday or Tuesday what we can do-what we must do. That we shall be compelled to raise money at a great sacrifice I have no doubt, and I hope that one good at least will grow out of the evil-that the Legislature and the people will at least be convinced of what I told them long ago, that they must curtail their expenditures or be bankrupt. They are now at the end of their tether and can go no further."
Mr. Kelley remained in New York until February under circumstances which would have discouraged any man who was not fortified with an indomitable courage and will. The necessary money was raised, interest was met and the credit of the State was saved. The price was a pledge of his own financial resources and the guarantee of his personal honor that the loans he made in his own name would be protected by the State. The credit of Ohio was such that he could borrow no money as Commissioner of the Canal Fund; it was loaned to Alfred Kelley. At home the war against the banks and the canal finances was kept up with unabated hostility in the Legislature and opposing newspapers. Judge Bates says that when Mr. Kelley returned to Columbus he confided to a few of his personal friends that he had procured money for the State on his individual credit. One of these, John W. Andrews, a scholarly and accomplished lawyer, earnestly urged Mr. Kelley not to make public this fact as the effect would be mischievous. The bitter political opponents of Mr Kelley would have increased their antagonism to canal financiering if they thought they could have injured him personally.
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It was not until March that the Legislature would consent to declare the intention of the State to pay all of its liabilities, redeeming thereby Ohio's honor and Mr. Kelley's guarantees.
In March 1843 he retired from the office of Canal Commissioner, but in the fall of 1844 he was elected to the Senate. There was a call for him from the business men of the State that he should perfect some plan by which its currency and finances should be placed on a more stable basis. A "degraded paper currency" and a swarm of "wildcat" banks were demoralizing business conditions. Mr. Kelley after his election directed his attention to remedying this, so that when the Legislature met he offered his bill "To incorporate the State Bank of Ohio and other banking companies." It became a law in February 1845, and it differed materially from any legislation that preceded it. It did not establish a State Bank individually, but the State Bank of Ohio was formed of branches located in all parts of the State. Up to the establishment of the National Banks it was operated with integrity and prudence, and proved of incalculable value to the people of Ohio. Judge Bates writing of it says: "If any one will take the trouble to compare the bank law of the United States with that of Ohio, he will find that nearly every material provision is found in them both. He will also find that there is a striking similarity in the language of many sections. The law of Ohio seems to have been the model used, and was only so modified as to be adapted to the United States instead of Ohio alone." It is not at all improbable that Salmon P. Chase, the Secretary of
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the Treasury during the Civil War, when he first officially proposed the National Banking system, had in mind the Ohio idea, born in the brain of Alfred Kelley, with which he was thoroughly familiar. It had been in successful operation for the years that he was Governor of Ohio and its United States Senator, and it doubtless suggested itself to him in the troublous times of the war.
His crowning work was the "General Property Tax Law" of March 2, 1846, which was the most advanced and perfect piece of legislation, enacted up to that time. On that day, it was fixed as the law of Ohio that all property, real and personal, and the moneys and credit, belonging to persons residing in this State, should be taxed at their true value, except what might be expressly exempted. In the light of all former legislation, this was a bold step. It was the first successful attempt at uniform taxation in Ohio. It distributed among the whole people the burden of sustaining the expense of the State, but, like all reforms in taxation, it met with bitter and uncompromising opposition. It was called by its enemies "the Plunder Law" and in the political campaign, which succeeded its passage, a paper called the "Tax Killer" was published to oppose its operation. The law was sustained by popular approval, and so much did it appeal to the sense of justice to the people of the State, that when the convention met in 1851 to frame a constitution, it embodied Alfred Kelley's principle of taxation in the second section of its thir- teenth article.
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The benefits which Ohio derived from this law were immediate. Its results were apparent the succeeding year as the following will show:
The total value of taxable property
in 1846 under the old law was. $150,293,132
In 1847, under the new law, it was. . 410,763,100 The personalty in 1846 was 40,352,496 The personalty in 1847 was. 83,564,430
The aggregate of State taxes, levied on $150, 293, 132 in 1846, was. ... 1,214,897
The aggregate of State taxes, levied on $410,763, 100 in 1847, was. 1,331,398
The per cent on the value of taxable
property for State purposes in 1846, was. 8 mills
The per cent. for the same purposes in 1847, was. 234 mills
The operation of the law silenced all opposition; it has stood for sixty-five years as the organic idea around which all taxes on property have been levied. It has been evaded in a large degree, and maladminis- tered, but notwithstanding these evidences of un- worthy and dishonest citizenship, it remains as a monument to the wise statesmanship of its author.
For ten years, from 1846 to 1856, Mr. Kelley devoted himself to his private business. During this period he constructed and operated railroads with the same executive capacity that he bestowed upon public affairs. In the fall of 1855 he was again elected to the State Senate serving until 1858. But this time he was confronted with no important domestic prob-
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lems. They were all solved, and the State and Nation were trembling over new issues about to be precipitated and over which there was to be waged a great war. He was spared the agony of witnessing a distracted and divided Nation for on December 2, 1859 he died at Columbus, Ohio. In his remarkable public life which commenced in 1814 when he entered the House of Representatives, he fairly won and is justly entitled to be called the Father of the Canals, the Preserver of the Public Credit and the Author of an Equitable Tax System.
This review of Alfred Kelley's public career has been given in detail for two reasons, first because he was the dominant character in the construction of the canals and in the financial situations developed by that work, and second because his place in the history of Ohio has never been fully appreciated. He is a stranger to this generation, and yet in an era when Ohio grew giants of men, he was head and shoulders above his fellows. Had his lines been cast in our National life, and had he been confronted with problems similar to those which he met in his State career, he would have become an heroic figure in the annals of the Republic. As a constructive legislator in the higher sphere of politics, he was the greatest in the history of this State, and as a statesman-financier he ranks fully abreast of Salmon P. Chase and John Sherman.
On the Fourth of July, 1825, the construction of the Public Works of Ohio was formally commenced. Governor DeWitt Clinton, of New York, and his staff, were the invited guests of the State on this occasion. The place where the work was started was
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on the Licking Summit near Newark. Governor Jeremiah Morrow was present representing Ohio. The Chief Executives of the two states first in advan- cing internal improvements initiated the labor of breaking the ground by each digging a shovelful of earth, amidst the applause of thousands. The work that was to give Ohio power, population and wealth had begun.
One of the most important factors in canal construc- tion, as well as in the development of the State, was the extensive grants of land by the General Govern- ment. Early in the movement for internal improve- ments the question of National aid was agitated. February 8, 1828, just four days after the canal construction act was passed, the General Assembly petitioned Congress for land donations for aid in the construction of the canals. This was responded to generously. The first grant was made March 2, 1827, to Indiana, to aid in the construction of a canal to connect the Wabash River with Lake Erie, and inas- much as a part of this canal would be in Ohio, the State of Indiana, by authority of Congress, conveyed of this grant 292,223.51 acres to the State of Ohio. On May 4, 1828, for the purpose of aiding in the ex- tension of the Miami Canal from Dayton to the Mau- mee River, Congress granted a quantity of land equal to one half of five acres in width on each side of the canal, which amounted to 438,301.32 acres. By the same act 500,000 acres was donated to be selected from lands subject to private entry. Under this grant the State obtained the proceeds of 499,997.12 acres. These munificent grants amounted altogether
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to 1,230,512.95 acres. The State of Ohio realized from their sale the sum of $2,257,487.32, which was used in the construction of the various canals. Another source of financial assistance was donations from pri- vate individuals and corporations along the routes. These consisted of gifts of land, right of way and money. Governor Bartley, in his Annual Message of December 3, 1844, says the subscriptions from these sources, togeth- er with the premiums on loans, amounted to $500,000.
All that energy, men and money could do, was directed to these public improvements; the result was a system composed of two great waterways. The Ohio and Erie Canal was commenced July 4, 1825, and completed in 1833. It extends from Portsmouth on the Ohio River to Cleveland, a distance of 309 miles, with its branches and reservoirs. The total cost of construction was $7,904,971.89. The con- struction of the Miami and Erie Canal was commenced July 21, 1825, and was finally completed in 1845. The cost of this canal, including the St. Mary's Reser- voir, and all structures and feeders, amounted to $8,062,680.80. As a necessary part of the Public Works in order to feed these canals, the State con- structed extensive reservoirs. Their cost is included in the figures given, but the following shows area and cost of each reservoir: St. Mary's, in Mercer and Auglaize counties, 15,748 acres, cost $582,222.07; Lewiston, in Logan County, 6,332 acres, cost $600,000; Loramie, in Shelby County, 1,828 acres, cost $22,000; Licking, in Licking, Perry and Fairfield counties, 3,942 acres, cost $200,000; and Portage, in Summit County, 2,209 acres, cost $80,000.
ne
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
It is only when we examine into the cost of canals that we get an adequate conception of the vast under- taking assumed by the people of Ohio. When the original estimates were made for the canal system it it was reported that it could be constructed for $5,715,203.00. As a matter of fact the cost was $15,967- 652.69. This difference can be readily explained how- ever, by the extensions to the original plans, the changes in construction and increased cost of labor and materials in the latter period of the term of building. With the year 1847 the era of canal building ended in Ohio. The canal system then consisted of 813 miles of canals and slack-water navigation. Of this the Ohio canal system had 512 miles, and the Miami and Erie 301 miles. According to the Report of the Board of Public Works for 1909, the total canal mileage is but 642 miles, a loss by abandonment, lease or sale of 171 miles. At present the Ohio Canal system is 379 miles in length and the Miami and Erie 263 miles.
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