USA > Ohio > Ross County > Chillicothe > Ohio centennial anniversary celebration at Chillicothe, May 20-21, 1903 : under the auspices of the Ohio State Archaelogical and Historical Society : complete proceedings > Part 27
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When the war was over and reconstruction was undertaken, the usual reaction occurred in political sentiment. This had the effect in Ohio of giving the Democrats a majority in the Legis- lature elected in 1867, and that majority chose Allen G. Thur- man to be the successor of Benjamin F. Wade.
In many respects there was a striking resemblance in the characters of these two men. Both were strong men physically ; both were rugged and sturdy in thought and speech; both were plain and direct in argument, and both despised all kinds of cant, pretense, hypocrisy, and evasion. They excelled in frank, open, manly sincerity and candor. Both were partisans ; not in a nar- row, but in that broad sense that regards parties as necessary
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political agencies in the administration of popular government. Each believed in his party and aided to maintain its organization and uphold its discipline. Both believed that party mistakes should be corrected, but that party defeat was not occasion for dissolution or despair.
Thurman not only possessed all these natural qualities, but, when elected, he already had a ripe experience. He had seen considerable public service, and was known everywhere as a pro- found constitutional lawyer. It was not only natural, but inevi- table, that such a man, entering the Senate from a great state and with the prestige of having defeated such a leader as Wade, would immediately take high rank in the councils of his party. It, therefore, occasioned no surprise when, by common consent, he was accepted as the leader of his party in the Senate, almost from the day he became a member. He sustained himself in that leadership throughout the 12 years of his service there, notwith- standing there were no national victories for Democracy during all that period, beyond an occasional majority in the House of Representatives that imparted temporary hope, perhaps, of greater things to come; but, as the sequel showed, only to be again and again deferred, until the Democratic heart was indeed made sick.
So far as partisan questions were concerned, he was during that period, all that his party was, and nowhere can be found stronger advocacy of its claims for power or more complete de- fense of its positions and purposes than in his speeches in the Senate.
But he was more than a party leader. He rendered service of the most important character to his country in connection with the Union Pacific Railroad Funding Bill, by the provisions of which that road was made to keep faith with the government, and the government's claims were fully protected and finally fully realized. To him, more than to any other man, is credit due for the enactment of that measure.
He held the chairmanship for a time of the judiciary com- mittee of the Senate, and was a member of the Electoral Com- mission that determined the Hayes-Tilden presidential dispute. He was universally esteemed by all who knew him, Republicans
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and Democrats alike, as a man of irreproachable integrity and an able and fearless champion of his convictions.
At the end of his second term, the political pendulum in Ohio swung again to the Republican side, and the Legislature elected John Sherman to be his successor.
Sherman had for his colleagues during his term of service not only Wade and Thurman, but also Pendleton, Payne and Brice.
Pendleton was one of the most accomplished men of his time. He was a polished speaker. He had engaging manners, decided ability, and a good name in every sense of the word. He was never severe or acrimonious in debate, yet was sufficiently partisan to be constant and zealous in the support of his party and the advancement of its policies. His greatest work was as the successful advocate of our first civil service legislation. That legislation has been severely criticized, but it has never been repealed, and never will be. Amended and improved it will continue to stand as his greatest monument.
Payne had been prominent in his party for years. He was its candidate for United States senator when Wade was first elected in 1851, and its candidate for governor against Chase in 1857, when he was defeated by only 503 votes.
He was a Democratic member of the House of Representa- tives in the Forty-fourth Congress, and chairman of the house committee that acted in conjunction with a like committee from the Senate in devising the Electoral Commission for the settle- ment of the Hayes-Tilden presidential dispute.
He was quiet and modest in manner, and made but few speeches, but he was so wise in judgment that his advice was sought and followed to such an extent that he exerted an un- usual influence upon his party associates, and, in non-political matters, upon men of all parties and measures of all kinds.
He entered the Senate late in life, when his party was in the minority, and when, on that account, there was little oppor- tunity for him to add to his reputation.
Brice was young and buoyant, of sanguine disposition, al- ways bright, versatile and charming. He was exceedingly pop- ular on both sides of the chamber. He had a faculty for large 4
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affairs and was unusually successful in business. He might have participated in the debates with much credit to himself, but he preferred the more quiet and less frictional work of the commit- tee, where his power and influence were fully felt and recognized.
It is no disparagement of anyone and no exaggeration of the truth to say that, of all the many able men who have repre- sented Ohio in national affairs, John Sherman is facile princeps.
Others reached the presidency, and some of them, through fortuitous circumstances and opportunities, may have attained greater popularity and a more commanding place in history, but no other stood so long on the "perilous heights."
No other was tried in so many ordeals. No other was called upon to deal with so many and such difficult questions. No other showed such varied powers of adaption to rapidly chang- ing and widely different conditions, and no other so completely and uninterruptedly commanded the confidence and enjoyed the respect of the whole American people as a wise, safe and capable leader and statesman.
He had a tall and commanding figure - not a magnetic, but a pleasing personality. He was a man of conservative tempera- ment, considerate judgment and affable manners.
He had a strong intellectual endowment, clear conceptions, and great powers of logic and analysis. His voice was agreeable, and his speech easy and fluent. His arguments were plain, direct and convincing. He commanded attention, and easily held it. No one could remain within the sound of his voice while he was speaking, no matter what his subject, without following his re- marks.
He too was a self-made man. He was of the plain people and always had their sympathy and support. He was born poor but had a sound constitution, and was proud to earn his own liv- ing. He commenced as a rodman in an engineering corps, but he advanced rapidly. He acquired a good education, read law, was admitted to the bar, and finally entered public life in 1854. as a member of the Thirty-fourth Congress, admirably equipped for the great work and the great career before him.
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The slavery question in general, and the Kansas-Nebraska question in particular, then held public attention. From the first he took and held high rank as a leader and a debater.
When the war came he was thoroughly prepared for his part.
Entering the Senate in March, 1861, he carried with him from the House an experience and a prestige that gave him right- fully a place in the front rank of his colleagues.
It is impossible and unnecessary to relate here his services during the thirty-six years that followed until the fourth of March, 1897, when he resigned his seat at the request of President McKinley to accept the office of secretary of state. They are so interwoven with the history of our country for that period that all are familiar with them.
It is enough to say that to him more than to any other man the American people are indebted for the sound currency, the safe and adequate banking facilities, and the general improve- ment of our fiscal system by the adoption and development of those economic policies, under which our country has so devel- oped and prospered.
His most pronounced triumph was in connection with the resumption of specie payments in 1879, but his services in that respect were only in keeping with his record throughout. He was given special credit in that instance not because his labors in that particular were exceptional, but because they were prac- tical and apparent. While he will be most remembered for his services in connection with the finances of the country, yet they were only a part of his work.
In the troublesome and trying days of reconstruction he was untiring.
As a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Pacific Railroads and the Judiciary, he was constantly engaged in the consideration of grave questions and great measures.
Many statutes bear testimony to his far-sighted wisdom as a legislator. One of the most important was one of the latest.
It shows how clearly he understood the progress of chang- ing conditions and the legislative remedy to apply to correct apprehended evils and abuses.
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He was among the first to see the enormous combinations of capital we have been witnessing and the temptation there would be to unreasonable restraint and monopoly, and before others realized the danger or comprehended that any legislation was necessary or even appropriate he had secured the enactment of what the whole country has recently become familiar with as the Sherman Anti-trust Law of 1890.
He gave himself up wholly and devotedly to his work, so much so that he probably did himself an injustice by the conse- quent neglect thereby occasioned, to some extent, at least, of social duties and relations.
He was for years, without regard to his own desires in the matter, considered a leading candidate for the presidency. His name was repeatedly presented to national conventions for the nomination. That honor was denied him, but there never was a time when the whole country did not feel that he was well equipped and well entitled to hold that high office. He will rank in history with Webster, Clay and Blaine.
For obvious reasons I shall leave to some future orator who may have occasion to speak of "Ohio in the Senate" an account of the work done by the present incumbents. I take advantage of this opportunity however to inform him in advance that if he shall be able to say of them that they earnestly strove to emulate the examples of their illustrious predecessors that, in their opinion, will be the highest character of compliment and praise.
OHIO IN THE NATIONAL HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
CHARLES H. GROSVENOR.
INTRODUCTORY.
Mr. President and Fellow-Citizens:
It is well that at the end of a hundred years of statehood Ohio should pause in her grand march and consider the path- way over which she has trod, take stock of the present, and look forward, with hope and confidence, to the future.
C. H. GROSVENOR.
A hundred years in the life of the world, in the life of the great nations of the world, is but a brief episode ; and yet, looking back and contemplat- ing Ohio in 1803 and contrasting her with Ohio of 1903, this state presents a condition of growth in wealth, in property, in intelligence and in pa- triotism and virtue, unequalled in the history of modern times, and far out- ranking the development of nations of the old world in all the past.
It is difficult for our neighbors to account for the progress of Ohio. They sometimes think our po- sition has been won by aggressive competition, by aggressive as- saults upon the rights of others, but Ohio has ever been contrib- utor of her splendid population to the growth, development, and. honor of other states.
I desire to place in this memorial an extract from a little volume called "Ohio in Congress," by Colonel William A. Taylor. That distinguished writer and political philosopher has explained to the public why it is and how it is that the people of Ohio, have made this wonderful progress. It is as follows :
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Read of the founding of the ancient states, and the elemental constituents were as naught compared with that of Ohio. A single race or a single sect made up the founders of the ancient state. There was no combining and no affiliation of strong elements, which became stronger and better by the union. No empire or state mentioned in history em- braced so many elements at its birth, and during its early growth, as Ohio. In the sunset of the 17th and the morning of the 18th centuries, a few intermittent heralds and pursuivants of the coming civilization came into and crossed some portion of the Miami Valley, blazing the future march of empire, and startling the puny civilization of Europe with their wonder- ful narratives, but not until the close of the revolutionary epoch did the tide of venturesome civilization rise to the Appalachian summits, and trickle down into the Ohio basin in forceful streams, constantly fed and constantly augmented by those whose gaze was fixed upon the evening star.
They comprised the children of every family of the Aryan race - all the strongest elements of European civilization. Celt and Gaul; Pict and Scot; Saxon, Dane, Norman and Briton; Teuton and Latin; Roundhead, Cavalier, Huguenot and Puritan; Covenanter and Dissenter ; Calvinist and Lutheran; Catholic and Protestant, they marched abreast under the single banner of civilization, and gave the first exemplification not of the right alone, but of the practice of worshipping God according to the dictates of their own conscience, while each respected his fellow who followed the same practice.
Think of these varying elements and the remote generations from which they had descended. Some from the dwellers of ancient Memphis and from the artisans of the pyramids. Others dated back to the events of the Roman Empire, or to Marathon, or Thermopylae. Still others could trace their lineage to the heroes of Cressy, Positiers, Agincourt, or Flodden. All were strong family types, proud and independent spirits, fretting against the debasing environments of European monarchy, slowly evolving from a rapidly disappearing feudalism, and seeking in the new world an asylum, for the promised land where the new political birth was destined to challenge the wonder and admiration of the nations, and light up the proud standard of individual manhood and sovereignty.
These diverse, or seemingly diverse, human elements, speedily blended and commingled, forming a splendid composite type, the grandest of the 19th century, and one which will put its impress upon all the decades of the 20th. The whole was better and greater than any of its individual parts. The new type was grander, and of infinitely greater proportion, than any of its prototypes, containing the best and strongest of all, and the worst and weakest of none. It was born of common dan- gers, common hardships, mutual sacrifices and common purposes, shared by all and endured by all with a common fortitude. These founders of a new moral and material empire came to build up a nobler common- wealth in a virgin soil; not to dismantle, dismember and scatter the
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accretions of the ages ; to forge and weld the new link of a newer brother- hood, higher than creeds, holier than dogmas, not to tear agape the wounds inflicted by the javelins of prejudice or wrought by the hand of bigotry.
This explains the grandeur of Ohio; it is due to her peculiar population. But the topic of this hour is "Ohio in Congress." The distinguished senior Senator from Ohio who has spoken of Ohio in the United States Senate has found the task of referring to the senators who have preceded him by name and individuality a much easier task than would be mine were I to attempt to discuss Ohio in the House of Representatives, and in doing so refer to individuals to any considerable degree. Thirty senators. can be more easily mustered and discussed by name than can the long list of members of the House of Representatives.
Ohio has been represented in the House of Representatives by a few more than 400 men, and in fulfilling the duty of this hour I shall not attempt, with very few exceptions, to discuss individual character and individual attainment. There have been a few men in the House who by reason of their relation to peculiar events at special times, under extraordinary circum- stances, have so far identified themselves with current events. and great questions of policy that my address would be in- effective were they not referred to by their names and achieve- ments; but I shall do so rather in discussing the period, the event, the question, than as discussing the man himself.
Men have gone from Ohio to the House of Representatives, passed through the period assigned them and have disappeared and are forgotten. Others have filled, with marked ability and great distinction, the positions given to them, and opportunity has come to some to make careers which would not have been afforded them in the ordinary current of everyday events.
OHIO'S INTRODUCTION TO THE UNION.
Ohio was admitted into the Union in 1803, that is, she became fully clothed with statehood in that year. At her ad- mission political questions arose which have been the subject of discussion on the coming in of each individual state from that
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day to this. Political and partisan considerations have ever and always been present and potent in deciding for or against each application of a new state for admission.
Ohio was the first born of the Ordinance of 1787. That ordinance antedated the constitution by the period extending from April to September. The constitution, when ratified, "formed a more perfect Union" in the language of its creators. It became a political corporation. Its members stood upon an equality of political rights. There were thirteen of them, and while it was true that the Ordinance of 1787 contemplated the creation of states northwest of the Ohio River, and undertook to prescribe the terms and conditions upon which the new states might come into the Union, it was nevertheless denied by the statesmen of that day, that there was such a thing in ex- istence as vested political rights, and it was denied that the state of Ohio had any right to come into the Union, any right to demand introduction, any right to come in and be a factor and component part of the political corporation to which she aspired. That is as a matter of actual right which the territory might assert independent of the views and opinions of the United States.
Upon the other hand, it was claimed that she must come as a humble suppliant for the favor of introduction, she must seek the boon of statehood not as a matter of right, but as a matter of grace, and the question to be decided by the Con- gress, and which was decided by the Congress, was that Ohio, as a state, would confer benefits upon the Union, and be a perma- nent blessing to the political corporation, and for that reason she was admitted, and not because of any claims that she asserted by virtue of the Ordinance of 1787; and it may be said, with absolute accuracy of statement, that from that day to this, upon the recurring application of each individual state, which has raised the number from 17 to 45, the question to be decided has been one of benefit and of political aggrandizement to the cor- poration rather than as a matter of right to the applicant. The strength or weakness of the dominant party at the time of the admission has always been deemed a pertinent and proper ques- tion.
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Thus, the equilibrium of free and slave states was main- tained by the admission of one of each condition at a time. Thus it was that Nevada came into the Union for a sole and simple political purpose, and thus it has ever been. And thus it ever will be so long as this national government is one by parties and partisan action. And so it always should be.
In connection with the admission of Ohio and to emphasize my statement, it will be seen that the election of Thomas Jef- ferson to be president in 1800 was, first, a surprise to the Fed- eralists, and, second, was a very closely contested election, and if a new state could be carved out of the Northwest Territory and admitted into the Union in time for the election of 1804 it would secure three additional votes for Thomas Jefferson as president, and so it was that from and after the introduction of the state Jeffersonian Democrats, appealing to the people that their statehood was due to the Democratic party in Congress, carried the new state almost constantly for a long time for the Democrats, and Ohio cast her electoral vote in 1804, 1808, 1812, 1816 and 1820 just as it was supposed she would when she was admitted by the influence of Jefferson and his partisan friends.
It does not appear from the record that Ohio became con- spicuous in the House of Representatives or of Congress in the early days of her statehood. During the first decennial period she had but a single member of Congress, Jeremiah Morrow. Ohio having come into the Union in 1803, there was no appor- tionment until 1810. So it was that Governor Morrow, ad- mitted as the single representative of the new state, was our sole representative from 1803 to 1812. Jeremiah Morrow was a Democrat, if Jeffersonianism of that date was Democracy. This is not the proper place to discuss that question, nor is the ques- tion itself pertinent to the day we celebrate. It may be possible that a clear-minded, analytical student of politics would be driven hard to discover the similarity in the details of the Democrat of the Jeffersonian school, and the Democrat of the current period. But it is enough to say that whatever Jefferson was in politics, so also was Jeremiah Morrow. He had been an active advocate for statehood for Ohio, and the honor of representing her alone and singly for ten years was conferred upon him. But it does
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not appear that he took an active part, at least upon the floor of the House of Representatives. As I have said, he served for ten years and was elected to Congress again in 1838, and 1840. So much for the first member of the House of Represen- tatives from Ohio.
In this connection it may be said that during the hundred years of our statehood there have been four members of Con- gress turned out upon contests, and that, in view of the great number of representatives, and the controversies that have arisen in Ohio politics, speaks well for the contentment of the people to abide by the verdict as first announced from the polls. Mere technical contests, based upon trivial grounds, have not been favored in Ohio, nor yet by her representatives in Congress.
The cases of contests where the sitting member has been turned out were those of Vallandingham against Campbell (Lewis D.), Wallace against Mckinley, Campbell against Morey, and Romeis against Hurd.
Twelve congressmen died in office, as follows: Moore, of Franklin County; Brinkerhoff, of Huron County; Hamer, of Brown County; Dickinson, of Sandusky County; Hamilton, of Union County ; Hoag, of Lucas County; Updegraff, of Jeffer- son County ; Warwick, of Wayne County ; Houk, of Montgomery County ; Northway, of Ashtabula County ; Danford, of Belmont County, and Enochs, of Gallia County. These twelve men died while in office.
Twenty have resigned, negativing the old proverb that "Few die and none resign." Of these twenty, however, John Mc- Lean resigned to accept the position of United States judge; William Creighton, Jr., of Ross County, to accept the position of United States judge, but he was not confirmed. Humphrey H. Leavitt, of Jefferson County, resigned to accept the position of United States district judge. Thomas Corwin resigned to be- come governor of Ohio. Joshua R. Giddings resigned for a special reason, personal to himself, in March, 1842, and was re- elected as his own successor on the twenty-sixth of April of the same year. Thomas Corwin again resigned to become minister to Mexico ; John Sherman to become United States senator ; Ruther-
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ford B. Hayes to become governor of Ohio, and John A. Caldwell to become mayor of Cincinnati.
In this connection it may be properly said, moreover, that three ex-members of the House of Representatives from Ohio became president of the United States-Hayes, Garfield and Mc- Kinley. Fuller reference to these gentlemen will be made later on. Each of them had won distinction as soldiers in the field in the great war for the Union; each of them became dis- tinguished leaders in the House of Representatives, each of them served well his day in the highest office in the gift of the people, and two of them filled martyrs' graves. Thus it will be seen that of Ohio's sons who have achieved highest place in the Nation three of them had won renown in the House of Rep- resentatives.
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