USA > Ohio > The biographical annals of Ohio, 1904-1905. A handbook of the government and institutions of the state of Ohio Vol. 2, Pt. 2 > Part 31
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On March 19, 1887, the Legislature of the State of Ohio came to our aid, helping us in establishing a Normal and Industrial Department, and is appropriating now $17,000 per annum to the University. On Janu- ary 9, 1894, President Cleveland detailed Lieutenant John H. Alexander,
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The Wilberforce University.
a West Point graduate, to organize and instruct the Military Department of Wilberforce University, and the United States government is still main- taining this department. At the breaking out of the Spanish-American War, Wilberforce furnished some of the best negro soldiers that went to the front, a number of whom are fighting for the flag in the Philippines today.
The University has received from all sources since organization $513,202.80. Six thousand and six negro youths have attended the Uni- versity, most of them coming from the South. Two hundred and sixty- six have graduated from our literary courses, and are now preaching and teaching in the South, striving to help solve the race question. Two hundred and ten have graduated from the Industrial Department, and are now engaged in the useful trades. It is the pride of the University that it has always been the aim and object to contribute her full share to the intellectual, moral, physical, and industrial uplift of the negro, and thereby assist in removing the standing menace to our American institu- tions-the race problem.
OFFICERS.
Rev. Joshua H. Jones, A. M., D. D. President.
OFFICERS BOARD OF TRUSTEES.
Rt. Rev. Abraham Grant, D. D. President.
Rt. Rev. B. T. Tanner, D. D. Vice-President.
Rev. Horace Talbert, A. M. . Secretary.
Rev. James P. Maxwell Treasurer.
EXECUTIVE BOARD.
Rt. Rev. B. W. Arnett, D. D., LL. D. President.
Rev. J. Coleman, D. D. . Vice-President.
W. A. Anderson, A. M., Rt. Rev. B. F. Lee, D. D., Ph. D.,
Rev. Charles S. Smith H. H. Holland, Esq.,
Rev. Horace Talbert, A. M.
NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEPARTMENT.
Prof. Joseph P. Shorter, A. M. Superintendent
OFFICERS BOARD OF TRUSTEES.
W. A. Galloway . President.
B. W. Arnett . Vice-President.
A. J. DeHart . Secretary.
J. P. Maxwell Treasurer.
PART EIGHT.
MISCELLANEOUS.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS-PART EIGHT.
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Hanna Memorial Exercises. 903
Ohio at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition 914
Commissions 916
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HANNA MEMORIAL EXERCISES.
O N April 20, 1904, the two Houses of the 76th General Assembly met in the hall of the House of Representatives, in memory of the life and services of Senator Marcus A. Hanna. Senator Charles Dick was orator of the day and delivered the follow- ing eulogy :
1 Mr. President and Members of the Seventy-sixth General Assembly:
Marcus A. Hanna was born September 24, 1837, in New Lisbon, Colum- biana County, Ohio, and died in Washington, February 15, 1904, in the dis- charge of his duties as Senator from his native State.
Standing in the presence of this splendid representation of the citizenship of Ohio; impressed with the deep significance of this occasion, I am also re- minded of the importance of events that go to make up the history of our commonwealth, and the character of the people who have maintained her standing in the front rank of the States which constitute our glorious and im- perishable Union. In the light of these recollections, crowned with garlands, of achievement and duty well performed, stand the towering personalities of those sterling types of American manhood whose accomplishments during the last century have made the history of Ohio identical with that of the nation itself.
It is by no accident that Ohio has furnished so many distinguished sons to the nation, including Presidents, statesmen, military chieftains, lawyers, edu- cators, authors. artists, inventors, scientists and captains of industry. The cause is found largely in the circumstances of her birth and development, and in the character of her early settlers.
If, as has been said, God sifted the whole world to find men worthy the high calling of founding a new nation, as truly may it be said that all the original States of the Federal Union contributed to the making of Ohio, the first State of the nineteenth century, the first new State formed out of national territory. Here converged nearly all the early lines of continental travel. Here came the Puritan and the Cavalier. the Scotch-Irish, and those of pure Tet tonic and Gallic blood; Lutheran, Presbyterian Catholic and Quaker. Con- necticut bounded the State on the north, and Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia on the south. New York, Pennsylvania and other States furnished generous contributions to her population.
Of the new States which preceded her into the Union after the Revolution, Vermont was the offspring of New York and New Hampshire, Kentucky of Virginia, and Tennessee of North Carolina. Ohio was the first State to which the entire Union contributed, the first national territory raised to statehood. All of the original States gave from their best citizenship to build up the first State carved out of the Northwest Territory. Massachusetts founded the first settlement at Marietta, Connecticut peopled the Western Reserve, New Jersey colony laid the beginnings of Cincinnati, much of the best blood of the States was filtered through New York from New England, Pennsylvania was a liberal contributor, and Virginia reserved a large tract to which came many of her Revolutionary soldiers and their descendants. The abolition of slavery drew to Ohio some of the best blood of the far South. Here, therefore, came all nationalities and all creeds, and they found not tolerance merely but equality in the sight of the law. The early use of federal troops to repress Indian uprisings in the State accustomed her citizens to the exercise of national authority. This Indian warfare held captive in Ohio for a time the determined rush of Western migration. Thus time was given these diverse elements to coalesce into one harmonious whole, and to form a type of stal -. wart, intensely patriotic Americans.
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Ohio is the neck of the hour-glass through which passed nearly all the streams of early migrations following the star of empire. All early railroads joining the East and the West crossed her boundaries and her territory. These circumstances also wielded a powerful and beneficent influence on the new commonwealth. We were debtors to all the States east of the Alleghanies, a debt Ohio has fully paid by sending out a million of her own sons in all direc- tions. They have proved worthy of her, and have given her added fame in all quarters of our country.
Pioneers are the sturdiest, the most enterprising and most daring. By such people was Ohio settled. Of such stock and under such surroundings was Senator Hanna born. He was a type of that mixture of elements so character- istic of his State. In him commingled many diverse strains of ancestry.
His ancestors were pioneers. They were among the more hardy and venturesome spirits of the older settlements who followed the frontier as it receded westward. In his family is to be found Scotch-Irish, Cavalier and Puritan, Presbyterian and Quaker stock. While his parents were residents of Ohio, they traced their descent to Virginia and Correctiout. He thus com. bined the best blood of North and South. His entire life. however, belonged to his native State. His public school training, his brief college days, his years in business and in the public service were spent in Ohio or in full view of the people of his native State. He was in every sense a true son of Ohio, and ranks with the noblest of the glorious company who have been proud to call her Mother.
It was not Mr. Hanna's fortune to be born in poverty, nor did affluence in early years hinder his growth and development. He belonged to the great middle class of fairly well-to-do Americans, who are richest perhaps in their descent from long lines of sturdy, intelligent, God-fearing ancestors.
The father was a country physician, who left a good practice in eastern Ohio, and moved farther west, to Cleveland, then a town of fair promise, and engaged in merchandising because of the wider field it offered for achieving success. In his father's store the future Senator received his first training in business. The beginnings were small but prosperous. He spent a year in the Western Reserve College, with what benefit to himself he declared he never felt certain, though he doubtless builded more wisely than he knew. He served a brief enlistment in the Union armies. The years which immediately fol- lowed were years of commercial upbuilding and expansion. His training was in the problems which confront the man of large affairs.
Thus he spent nearly a lifetime in business and with scarcely a thought for other matters. By his hard common sense he won the confidence of his associates and was a leader among them. He had the tremendous personal force of an aggressive mentality. He was as stalwart in mind as he was in body. His strength lay largely in the directness of his methods. He was a masterful man, possessing at all times definite aims in life. He saw with a clear eye, and was able by force of intellect and character to make other men think as he did. He was a man who accomplished results, a leader who led. His business methods were conservative. He was never a speculator, except as all business is a venture. He was constructive, but not a promoter.
He developed great executive ability and built up large business enter- prises which survive him. He selected his lieutenants, apportioned the work, directed in a general way without burdening his mind with details, and looked with confidence for results. He did not have the patience for infinite detail, but the greater power of conceiving and executing great undertakings. His success was the result of long years of preparation. He commanded success because he deserved it.
He was a man of great heart and a most liberal benefactor. Growing wealth developed in him the kindlier and more humane side. He gave freely and cheerfully, but modestly and without parade. His charity was discrimi- nating.
He will be most missed by the numerous charities in his home city to which he was a generous contributor. Churches and hospitals without regard to creed enjoyed his aid, and to the practical Christianity of the Salvation Army he was more than generous.
His relations with large bodies of workming men as employer sometimes led to differences which promised to result in the clash of industrial strife.
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The militant spirit was always strong within him and the prospect of a contest usually inviting, but he soon saw the great economic waste in strikes and lockouts. He discovered they were unnecessary. By frank and honest deal- ings with each other, by mutual understandings, by fair concessions honorably lived up to he dwelt on terms of harmony with his employes. He trusted them and they trusted him and by neither was that confidence betrayed. He was devoted and loyal to the interests of those who worked for him and that devotion and that loyalty was nobly repaid., He learned that labor could be trusted, that its engagements were sacredly observed. In one of his late public speeches before a large body of working men, many of them his own laborers, he declared that if he had ever injured anyone in his employ he would resign his seat in the Senate. That statement to this day has gone unchallenged. He stood in the way of business consolidations which would have added to his wealth for fear they would injure men who had grown gray in his service. In times of great business depression and industrial unrest the men who worked for him stood by their posts, because they knew Mr. Hanna was al- ways fair and generous with them and was paying as fair wages as the busi- Less justitied.
The social instincts were strong in Mr. Hanna. He delighted in the com- pany of his friends, in entertaining them around his own table., Their number was legion and they represented all the varied interests of human life. In the social circle he was most affable and genial, a most companionable man. In all the relations of home life he was most lovable. He was always interested in public matters and enjoyed the friendship of many public men long before he became a figure in national politics. He was a friend of Sherman and took an active interest in his campaigns. He was a friend of Garfield and gave him generous assistance. The political relation, however. which most beautified his life was his devotion to Mckinley. Their friendship was of long standing and the tie betwen them strengthened with the years. Each was great enough to recognize the greatness of the other. Both were masterful men, both were leaders, but their processes and their methods were entirely different. Hanna was the strong, forceful elder brother, but he yielded to and was influenced largely by the gentle strength and tactful guidance of the other. The blow of McKinley's death fell on him with crushing force.
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Mr. Hanna spent a full complement of years in business pursuits. He was the architect of his own fortune and achieved success because he earned it. At a time when most men who have engaged in manufacturing or commerce think to retire he entered upon his real life work. It was in the years devoted to business, however, that his talent developed, his great executive capacity.
His daily life was wholesome and clean, his pleasures were simple, his tastes natural. He was a most useful man to his community, but his mettle was yet untried. At three score years it remained to be demonstrated that Mr. Hanna was a born leader of men, a political general of great skill, an orator and statesman of high rank.
With the shrewdness and insight born of long experience and success in business and his intimate acquaintance with conditions in the commercial world, he foresaw the possible promotion of Mckinley and seized the opportune time to push his candidacy for the Presidency. With the same far-seeing vision which marked his judment in business affairs he predicted the elevation of his chosen leader. Politics became for a time the passion of his life; his devotion was unselfish and unwavering. He laid his plans far in advance and organized his forces with consummate skill. No detail was too minute to be overlooked. He won a signal victory against political leaders tried on many hard-fought battlefields. The victory he won in the preconvention campaign of 1896 was so complete that it obscured the magnitude of the struggle. Suc- cess was so overwhelming that one was tempted to forget there had been a struggle. No man who participated therein, however, could make that mis- take.
A political campaign followed which alarmed the country and made busi- ness interests anxious. More money was offered him for the purpose of wag- ing the contest than could be used. The statement of his expenditures, how- ever, could safely have been disclosed to the whole world.
That campaign was essentially a campaign of education. His motto was, "Thousands for education and organization, not one dollar for corruption." He
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brought into politics the straightforward, open methods of the upright, God- fearing American business man. If this was an innovation in American poli- tics, it was to the great advantage of politics and the country. He believed that a political campaign should be managed like any other reputable business undertaking. He was honest, sincere and frank and won the confidence of the country. He was loyal to the interests of the party workers who helped him win victories and their devotion to him was unfaltering. If he married busi- ness to politics, it was because he brought to politics the same honesty, direct- ness and straightforwardness essential to business success. This country need never fear commercialism in politics as long as commercialism stands for Senator Hanna's methods and practices. Business men had been in politics before, but the advent of this business man with his frank, open methods came as a surprise and something of a shock to many party workers. He was a captain of industry who commanded his lieutenants. He was accustomed to say to this man, go, and he went; to another man, come, and he came.
He managed campaigns the same way, and the innovation was not at first entirely acceptable. The ways of political managers had been looked upon as devious and secret; their comings aud goings subterranean and boconny !. He brought daylight into dark places, conducted nis first national campaign as he planned and carried on industrial undertakings. The stockholders always had access to the books. This is a commercial era, and if he brought business methods into politics, who will say it has not been to the great advantage of politics ?
In the national campaign of 1896 he came under the fierce glare of public opinion, and was immediately seized upon as a fitting target for unmeasured abuse and vilification. He was unknown to the general public, which is only too eager to believe evil of any public man. The cartoonist and the para- grapher exhausted their resources in holding him up to public contempt. These poisoned arrows could not pierce his armor. No man enjoys abuse, and Mr. Hanna suffered because he was not understood; but he went his way serene, calm, cheerful, and undisturbed. Kindlier feelings and a more generous appre- ciation succeeded to distrust and malignity. Vituperation and abuse recoiled from him. He outlived all calumny, and it was his good fortune to live to see the shafts of malice blunted and turned back on his assailers. For eight years the strong searchlight of infinite inquiry was focused upon him, but nothing mean or small was ever disclosed. The honesty of his life and the purity of his motives were admitted even by those who differed with him politically. His life was an open book, every page as clean as the first.
The only political office Mr. Hanna ever held, except membership in the school board of the city of his adoption, was a seat in the United States Senate. President Mckinley offered Mr. Hanna a place in his cabinet: this he declined. He was appointed by Governor Bushnell to fill the vacancy caused by Senator Sherman's appointment as Secretary of State, and was endorsed by the State convention of his party for election to the seat. He was still serving his first full term and had been elected to another when his life was closed. The con- trast between the circumstances attending his two elections marks the prog- ress of popular knowledge of the man. In both campaigns he was endorsed by the State Convention of his party, the nearest approach perhaps to election to the Senate by direct vote of the people. At the first election the margin of party success was narrow, but apparently entirely sufficient, until faction raised its poisoned head within his own party. During the campaign there were no open evidences of the treachery that was working under cover. After the election the conspirators threw off the mask. It was a base plot against the will of the people regularly expressed. Men high in the confidence cf the party and enjoying honors at its hands joined to defeat the expressed will of the people. There was no scheme too desperate to be resorted to. The in- tensity and bitterness of that struggle no one can appreciate who was not a part of it. It required an uprising of the people in their majesty and wrath to register the verdict which they had instructed at the polls. By resolutions and delegations and informally appointed committees they assailed those who were dallying with dishonor or were listening to golden-tongued tempters. The people spoke and in no uncertain terms. They did not speak in vain; Senator Hanna was elected by a majority of one vote and the State was spared the misfortune and worse of violated instructions and tainted honor. Six years
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later he was a candidate for re-election. The State convention again declared him the nominee of his party. The difference between his two elections to the United States Senate indicates his siy years' growth in public regard. In that time he had become the unquestioned leader and idol of his party. He was the most sought for man on the stump for several campaigns. His meetings were thronged by enthusiastic followers. They were never larger or more enthusi- astic than in his last campaign. The result was an overwhelming personal triumph; he was returned to the United States Senate by the largest majority ever given in this body. You witnessed that triumph and know how gratifying it was to him.
It is given to few men who have been reviled and persecuted as he was to enjoy such a complete reversal of sentiment and to close their days in the full sunlight of public confidence and esteem. Public sentiment seemed to desire to make atonement for its early injustice and so lavished upon him an ap- probation and affection which few Americans have enjoyed to so great a de- gree. All misunderstanding had passed away. His honesty and sincerity and purity of motives were recognized of all men. He had conquered all miscon- ception, and the years to come promised happiness without alloy, for he had won the universal regard and esteem of his fellow-meni.
When Senator Hanna first entered the Capitol at Washington the atmos- phere had not been. cleared of suspicion, but his unassuming manner, his frankness and geniality soon dissipated all distrust and won the respect and cordial friendship of his colleagues, which in many cases ripened into deep affection. Some of his warmest friends were on the other side of the wall of party politics. He won his way to commanding inbflence there by the soundness of his judgment and the confidence he inspired.
He was willing to do hard work. The large part he took in helping to frame the schedules of the Dingley tariff law is known to but comparatively few. He rarely took part in debate, but when he did, he spoke with a full knowledge of his subject and with a force and earnestness which carried con- viction.
His greatest legislative achievement was in changing a hostile majority against the Panama route for an isthmian canal into a decisive majority in its favor. The country was commited to another plan; the claims of another route had been written into party platforms, and he was told that his efforts would be futile. When he entered upon this contest few members of Congress agreed with him. He made a study of the subject with all his energy and gave it patient, painstaking examination. Having convinced himself, he started out to convince the Congress and the country. He made the contest with all the zeal and energy of his strong nature. When he spoke, it was the successful business man of large affairs who addressed his hearers upon a purely business proposition. His speech in the Senate of the United States was a most convincing presentation of the advantages of the Panama route. The country, as well as Congress, when the final judgment was reached, was converted to his views and no one longer seriously questions the soundness of that position. The canal will be built at Panama and will be his greatest monument. No more signal personal and legislative triumph has ever been won in the Congress of the United States.
His courage never showed to greater advantage than in his efforts to upbuild an American merchant marine. Largely owing to his efforts a ship- ping bill passed the Senate but has never succeeded in the House of Repre- sentatives. Despite strong prejudice against the measure he was unfailing in his support. He believed the opposition was largely due to misunderstanding. He was challenged to advocate the measure in the last campaign in Ohio. The challenge was boldly accepted. He presented his views fearlessly. The result vindicated his judgment and his courage. The people do desire our flag restored to the seas.
Senator Hanna was not merely a scholar; he was more than that; he was a thinker who did not permit others to think for him, and he put his best thoughts in his daily life. True, he held no diploma from college or academy, but he was graduated from the greater university of experience, whose lessons and teachings supplement all other education.
Senator Hanna had no training in the art of public speaking. He never undertook an extended address until after he reached three score years. He
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was not an orator in the sense that polished paragraph and stately language makes an orator, and he never prepared a set speech. When first he attempted to speak in public he spoke haltingly and hesitatingly, but practice gave him power. He developed amazingly in the faculty of apt and forceful expression. Much speaking gave him ease and self-confidence. He developed the power that was within him and became a convincing speaker. He believed what he said and said it in a way that carried conviction. When he spoke it was from a full heart and a mind richly stored with his subject. He talked the speech of common, every-day life, the vernacular of the plain people; and he talked to them, not over them. He had the gift of homely phrase, and these phrases often crystalized into campaign cries. He used language to express thought, not to conceal it; speech was given him not to hide truth, but to proclaim it. Few public speakers have been more popular, have drawn larger audiences, or moved them more profoundly. So we may say that if oratory is the power of carrying conviction to the hearts of one's hearers and giving them a message " which will endure, then Senator Hanna was an orator of no mean rank.
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