USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 1 > Part 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
One great obstacle which stood in the way of success was the fact that the Legislature had made no provision for the expenses of the trial, and such emi- nent counsel could not be obtained for nothing. But the determined Wolfe and his compatriots, nothing daunted, proceeded at once to obtain the necessary funds by private subscriptions, and pushed the suits with unabated vigor. Every obstacle which ingenuity, trickery and legal acumen could interpose was placed in the way of the prosecution. An extra grand juryman was smuggled into the grand-jury room, thus furnishing a technical pretext for the quashing of the first series of indietments. New bills were immediately presented and indict- ments obtained, and when the defendants had exhausted all means of delay and were compelled to face a jury of their peers, by the advice of their counsel four of them pleaded guilty, and one, Emil J. Petroff, was tried and convicted.
The effective work of the committee which had thus pushed these prosecutions to a successful issue was to be neutralized by the action of the Pardon Board, which remitted the penalty of imprisonment within less than twenty-four hours after sentence was passed. The moral effect, however, of the convictions was not destroyed. From the hour that sentence was passed upon the guilty parties the political atmosphere of the State has been undergoing the process of purifi- cation. The bribe-giver and the bribe-taker in the councils of the Common- wealth saw in the result of the trials the rise of a new spirit, and it is a fact worthy of record that from that time to this the Pennsylvania Legislature has been more elevated in tonc, more obedient to the will of the people, and freer
155
CHARLES S. WOLFE.
from the presence of the professional corruptionist than it had been for ten years previous. In all the tedious work of this laborious prosecution Mr. Wolfe was the acknowledged leader, and to his untiring energy, his wise counsels, and his relentless determination to vindicate the fame of the State, must be attributed in great degree all the good effects that followed.
In connection with this chapter of Mr. Wolfe's public record there is a fact never yet published, which, in justice to the patriotic manhood of Pennsylvania, should now be given its place in history. It is that the prosecution and convic- tion of the Riot bill bribers was accomplished without the expenditure of a single dollar of the public funds. All the expenses of the trial-and they were greater than those of any other State trial in the history of the Commonwealth- were paid by private subscriptions.
It is not improbable that the success which attended Mr. Wolfe's efforts to punish crime in high places had something to do with the organization of the reform movement which within the past five years has wrought such wholesome results in the municipal affairs of Philadelphia.
The fame acquired by Mr. Wolfe in his crusade against the Riot bill corrup- tionists led to his overwhelming re-election to the House in 1880, where he found himself again surrounded by his comrades in the celebrated prosecution.
The Legislature elected simultaneously with Garfield's elevation to the Presi- dency was thoroughly Republican. In the House the party had a majority of forty-three votes, and in the Senate a majority of sixteen. The interest of the session centered upon the election of a successor to William A. Wallace in the United States Senate, and the people of the State had formally and informally expressed their preference for Galusha A. Grow for that position. To the radical wing of the party Mr. Grow, because of his abilities, independence and ante- cedents, was thoroughly distasteful, and the edict went forth that he must be defeated. Representatives who had been instructed by their constituents to sup- port Mr. Grow were persuaded by the peculiar methods of the machine to ignore their obligations and indorse a candidate selected by Cameron. To prevent the nullification of the popular will it became necessary to resort to aggressive measures. A bolt was organized, and fifty-six Senators and Representatives, prominent among whom was Mr. Wolfe, refused to enter the party caucus. The bolters carried with them the balance of power, and held the machine at bay all through the hostile contests that followed. They voted for Mr. Grow steadily until he withdrew, and then transferred their strength to Thomas M. Bayne, of Allegheny, whom they continued to support until a joint committee appointed by the conflicting parties waited upon John 1. Mitchell as a compromise candidate, Mitchell being finally elected by a practically unanimous vote. Throughout this contest, from its inception to its consummation, Mr. Wolfe was a foremost and effective worker against the machine, sharing with Senators Lee and Stewart and Representatives Law, McKee and others all the trying labors of organization and policy.
156
CHARLES S. WOLFE.
The Senatorial contest fairly settled, the next important work of the session was that which arose in connection with the reform legislation proposed by members from Philadelphia. The legislation in question consisted of acts re- pealing the Delinquent Tax bill, abolishing the Recorder's office, and kindred measures. Owing to the delay caused by the Senatorial struggle it was impos- sible to reach these bills in their regular order, and it was therefore necessary to make their consideration a special order, which required a two-thirds vote. But notwithstanding the fact that a clear majority of the House favored the bills, the machine was enabled to defeat their enactment by withholding the votes neces- sary to a special order. In Mr. Wolfe the gentlemen in charge of these bills, Messrs. McKee and Law, found a ready and powerful coadjutor.
In his legislative career Mr. Wolfe displays the same effective oratory that marks his services as a legal advocate. His argument against the constitution- ality of the Riot bill, founded upon the debates in the Constitutional Convention, has been pronounced a masterpiece by the best legal minds of the State; and the opinion of the Supreme Court, declaring Allegheny county responsible for the losses incurred in the riots, might almost be called an abstract of his argu- ment. Notwithstanding the snap and fire and eloquence of his oratory on the political stump or in some quiet churchyard, where the graves of soldiers have just received their offerings of bud and blossom, Mr. Wolfe's greatness as a speaker rises to its loftiest height in the heat of some fierce debate in the halls of the Legislature. It needs opposition, friction, contradiction or the blind as- sault of an infuriated antagonist to rouse his latent energies, and when that is done, he rises like some wild mountain torrent, and with logic, invective, ridicule and withering satire sweeps all before him.
Thus far this essay has dealt with Mr. Wolfe as a man, a lawyer and a legis- lator. We have now to consider him as an agitator and popular leader.
The inauguration of President Garfield was hailed as the signal for purer morals in Pennsylvania Republicanism. Garfield was in hearty accord with the Independent spirit which had but recently forced the election of Mitchell to the Senate. He had announced his purpose to recognize all elements of the party equally, and by his own record and the antecedents of his nomination stood dis- tinctly committed against the proscriptive policy which had been so long pur- sued by the radical wing of the party in this State. The courageous independ- ence of the Federal Administration and its evident determination to sce fair play to all sides had the effect of bringing about a change in the tactics of the leaders of the Pennsylvania machine, and they evinced a disposition to meet the Liberal element half way in the work of reconciliation. In the preliminary canvass and consultation William F. Davies, of Bradford county, one of the State Senators who had bolted the Senatorial caucus the winter before, was suggested by the Independents as an available man for State Treasurer, and the machine managers with little or no dissent offered to support him and make him the nomince of the convention. Accordingly the customary machine policy of nominating a
157
CHARLES S. WOLFE.
candidate solely with a view of his acceptance to Cameron was abandoned, and there was a tacit if not an explicit understanding that Davies was to be the party nominee.
On the 2d of July occurred an event which ultimately caused a reversal of the moderate policy thus introduced by the Radicals and a return to the arbitrary methods which alone are responsible for all the dissensions which have since dis- tracted the Republican organization. So long as there was a probability of President Garfield's recovery from the wound inflicted by Guiteau, so long the machine leaders professed a willingness to acquiesce and assist in the nomina- tion of Davies. But as the summer wore on and the patient sufferer in the White House drifted nearer and nearer the borderland of death, the machinists began casting about for a pretext on which to violate their pledges. They saw in the death of Garfield the accession to power of an administration headed by a man whose whole political career had been dominated and controlled by the party machine ; they saw that Arthur's elevation to the Presidential office would revo- lutionize the entire policy of the government and place it again in the hands of the desperate leaders who had been ingloriously beaten at Chicago; and, with the cunning of their craft, they resolved that Pennsylvania should present her- self to the new dynasty in the attitude of a supporter of Stalwart policy. To accomplish this purpose the pledges of fealty to Davies were cast to the winds and the forces of the Radical wing of the party were concentrated to nominate a candidate whose record should harmonize with the third-term idea.
Mr. Wolfe as a spectator attended the convention which nominated General Bailey. He saw that body in complete submission to the men who in two National Conventions had stifled the voice of Pennsylvania by binding her in slavery to the unit rule ; he saw it controlled by the Pardon Board, that had de- stroyed at a blow the fruits of the Riot bill prosecutions, and he saw the same organization compel the nomination of a gentleman who stood with the " 306," in defiance of the people's will, at Chicago.
Hot with indignation at what he deemed a base stultification of the Republican party, Mr. Wolfe retired to his quiet home in Lewisburg, chagrined and humil- iated. The action of the convention had placed him in a position that offered but one alternative-he must either indorse the nominee of the convention and thus tacitly approve the action of the Pardon Board, which wiped away the re- sults of the great triumph of his life, or come out in open rebellion against the machine. One thing meant self-stultification and the other meant sacrifice of political prospects. He chose the latter, and without a word of consultation with his friends he announced himself as an Independent Republican candidate for State Treasurer.
The history of the brief campaign which followed constitutes one of the most picturesque chapters in the political annals of Pennsylvania. In the four weeks intervening between his announcement and the day of election, he spoke in nearly every city in the State, his speech in every instance ringing with brave words for
158
CHIARLES S. WOLFE.
reform in methods of party management. His appeal to the people evoked a response which fully justified his courageous attitude and opened the way for the organized opposition which has since appeared against the machine.
The great success of this personal campaign startled and alarmed the machine leaders, and efforts were made to heal the division in the Republican party caused by Mr. Wolfe's revolt. A conference of Independent Republicans took place at Philadelphia, January 12th, 1882, at which Mr. Wolfe made a speech. A resolu- tion was adopted, calling for a State Convention on May 24th, for the purpose of nominating a State tieket. The machine leaders had decreed the nomination of General Beaver for Governor of the State, and while the Independents had no personal objection to him, they were determined that nominations made at the parlor caucuses of a few assumed leaders should be rebuked. Every prepara- tion was therefore made for the selection of the best representatives of the Inde- pendent element as delegates to the coming Independent Convention. In this work Mr. Wolfe was as usual the master spirit. Prior to the time for the as- sembling of the convention, however, a Peace Conference was arranged com- posed of five representatives of each faction. Mr. Wolfe was a member of this conference on the part of the Independents. The conference met on the evening of May Ist, and recommended the adoption of what was afterwards called the Continental Conference rules for the government of the party, but failed to make them applicable to the coming Republican Convention, which was to meet on May roth. The convention met on that date and carried out the prearranged programme in making its nominations, and while making a show of adopting the recommendations of the Peace Conference, refused to adopt the really vital propositions contained therein. The Independent Convention met May 24th and proceeded to nominate a ticket with Senator John Stewart at its head as the candidate for Governor. Mr. Wolfe was present as a delegate and took a very prominent part in the proceedings of the convention. He afterwards participated in the campaign in the most active and effective manner, speaking in every im- portant city in the State, and witnessing as the result of his labors the final and complete overthrow of the oligarchy which had so long controlled the Republi- can party of Pennsylvania. During the campaigns, from 1883 to 1885 inclusive, he took no active part, attending strictly to his constantly increasing law prac- tice; but in 1886 his proud spirit of independence again asserted itself, and he not only advocated the cause of Prohibition, but accepted the candidacy for Governor of that party, and made one of his characteristic, thoroughly aggressive and extraordinarily able canvasses. Though he fell far short of the vote he had received for State Treasurer, he succeeded in fully arousing the people, and the principles he advocated bore fruit at the subsequent session of the Legislature, January, 1887, when the subject of Temperance received more attention than for many years before.
Perhaps the first inquiry to suggest itself to the casual visitor to Mr. Wolfe in his own home would be, " Why does a man with these surroundings permit him- self to be drawn into the turmoil of political warfare?" A home which in its
159
CHARLES S. WOLFE.
material elements combines all the luxury and elegance at the command of abundant means; a home in which refinement and domestic happiness reign supreme ; where a womanly wife and sweet-voiced children worship the house- hold gods in happy simplicity-all these possessions, added to a large and profit- able professional practice, amply justify the visitor's query.
The explanation of it all is that the man is by nature and instinct a politician and a leader. To him the heat and strife of a great political contest are meat and drink and air. He is a fighter by choice and a leader by force of character.
The duty of a friend in writing of a friend should conform with Othello's in- junction to his chronicler, " Speak of me as I am." Wolfe's personal character is that of the radical. His perceptive powers are keen, his convictions immov- able and his manner impetuous. He is impulsive and combative in the highest degree. He lacks patience ; he is intolerant of those who lack his own power of reaching quick conclusions, and his brilliant manner of thought and speech sometimes dazzles and misleads his own judgment. With these qualities he combines a conscientiousness which shines conspicuously through his every act, and a fidelity to his duty which always compels respect, if it sometimes fails to command approval for his conduct.
What the future of this man may be is largely to be determined by the out- come of the great political contest which he helped to inaugurate and of which he has ever since been a conspicuous leader. He possesses the elements of true political greatness and occupies a position whose individuality is more vividly defined than that of any man of his years who ever appcared in Pennsylvania poli- tics. But whether his career hereafter shall be brilliant or without lustre, the impartial historian will write him down as one of the fearless few who were brave enough to sacrifice the prospect of political advancement to a sense of duty to the Commonwealth.
-
HON. JOHN J. MACFARLANE.
.
JOHN JAMES MACFARLANE.
H ON. JOHN J. MACFARLANE, Senator from the Fourth District of Penn- sylvania, and President of the American Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia, was born in that city on the 5th of June, 1846. His parents both came from the North of Ireland, and were descendants of a long line of what is known in history as the Scotch-Irish stock, which has made itself felt in every walk of life-civil, political and military. The son inherited the sterling qualities of this excellent race, and very early in life manifested the physical and mental traits that characterize the sturdy Scotch-Irish lineage wherever found. His education was begun in the public schools of the city of his birth, and completed in the Central High School. The lad made no holiday of life. From carly childhood his career has been marked with determined effort and laborious application. When he worked or studied he applied all his faculties to the task before him, and never left it until he had completely mastered it. If he played, he entered into the sport with all the ardor of his nature. As he grew toward and into manhood, the same energy and application marked his course and dis- tinguished him from the mass of his associates. When he left school he almost immediately became prefect of Girard College, the date of his accession to that place in the institution being 1864, when he was but eighteen years of age. He held and successfully filled the position in the college until 1871, when he relin- quished it to accept the position of Principal of the Chestnut Hill Grammar School, which rapidly achieved a foremost rank among the public schools of Philadelphia under his proficient and painstaking management. Stephen A. Douglas is authority for the statement that the best place to study human nature and human government is from the teacher's desk in the public school, and one of the foremost lawyers at the Philadelphia Bar asserts that no man can become a proficient lawyer who has not served half a dozen years of his life as a school teacher. Be this as it may, history avouches that many of our most astute statesmen and successful politicians and lawyers have served such an apprentice- ship in teaching. A generation ago those known as self-made men used the teacher's platform in the public schools as a stepping-block to their chosen profession.
Mr. Macfarlane served an extended apprenticeship in the vocation of a public school teacher, remaining in his chair as Principal of the Chestnut Hill Grammar School until 1881, a period of nearly eleven years. His inherent ambition made him desire a wider sphere for advancement, and with the shrewdness and courage of his lineage he chose an occupation which, as a reward for close application, hard labor and shrewd intelligence, promised correspondingly large rewards. JIe embarked in the insurance business, and, with his characteristic thorough- ness, applied himself to the task of mastering the details of the business. His
(161)
21
162
JOHN J. MACFARLANE.
foresight suggested this step as necessary to gradual advancement and ultimate success in attaining the foremost stand in the vocation which he had determined upon as the business of his life, and his foresight speedily fruited into prophecy as he promptly and steadily went forward and upward in his profession until he attained the topmost round of the ladder.
Mr. Macfarlane came into public notice and public life by his campaign for the office of State Senator from the Fourth Senatorial District in 1882, in which he was elected by a flattering majority. His career in the Senate has been marked by a wide knowledge of men and a comprehensive grasp of affairs. His probity and courage have commended him to his fellow-citizens and the tax-payers, and his courtesy and painstaking devotion to duty have won for him the regard of his colleagues and the confidence of his constituents. lle has earned the name of a reformer for the sake of reform, and not alone for the ephemeral fame that would serve as a stepping-stone to selfish aggrandizement and personal profit. His reform was not " a promise made to the ear and broken to the hope." Nor is he radical or revolutionary in his language, methods or measures. He is conserva- tive in all things. Assured that great bodies move with proverbial tardiness, he was satisfied to go forward slowly and safely; so no backward step was taken. That his constituents appreciated his intentions, efforts and achievements, they hastened to attest at the first possible opportunity. This occurred at the expira- tion of his first term as Senator, which was in 1886. He was again nominated and elected with increased manifestations of public favor, and will hold the office until 1890.
Upon his entrance into the Senate he was compelled to differ with many of his political associates on matters of legislation pertaining to Philadelphia. First came the bill to abolish the office of Collector of Delinquent Taxes, which was finally passed; then the repeal of the Recorder's bill. The existence of these offices had caused considerable trouble and dissatisfaction in Philadelphia, and their recission now saves the community hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Ile became a leader of the Republican side in all matters relating to the appor- tionment legislation during the cleven months' session of 1883, and his speeches, which were printed and sent broadcast over the State, were used by most of the speakers during the canvass following as the basis of their addresses, and con- tributed largely to the success of the party in that year. During the session of 1885 and 1887 he was made Chairman of the Finance Committee in acknowl- cdgment of his special qualifications, and became as much an authority in all matters of financial legislation as he had formerly in that connected with appor- tionment. He has always taken the side of the people, even when it seemed to presage his political death or loss of influence, and his constituents feel that he honestly represents them, for no one has ever been said to control his vote. Many of the prominent citizens of Philadelphia have said that it would be a pub- lic calamity if his new business should cause him to retire from public life. He was the active man in securing the insertion in the High License bill of the
JOIIN J. MACFARLANE.
requirement that all licenses should be granted by the Judges in Philadelphia and Allegheny counties after it had been struck out in the House.
Meanwhile the star of his destiny in the insurance firmament had been mount- ing higher and higher. With a shrewd Scotch regard for the old maxim that " Ile who best helps himself, most helps the world," he had not neglected liis business interests while attending to political campaigns and public duties. His thorough mastery of the details of the insurance business, his unimpeachable integrity, and his comprehensive intelligence marked him for a rising man in the insurance world, and he went forward with a steady, self-reliant step until, in April, 1887, he was elected President of the American Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia, and soon made the impress of his energy and systematic labor felt on its affairs.
Amongst other posts of trust or honor held by Mr. Macfarlane is that of Director of the Bank of America, and also of the Seventh National Bank.
Mr. Macfarlane is not entirely without a military record, although he was too young to have attained prominence during the war. When not yet sixteen years of age he served in the Keystone Battery in the year 1862, and in the following year (1863) was enrolled in Miller's Independent Battery.
Althoughi but forty-two years of age, and consequently in the early pride of manhood's physical and intellectual vigor, he already has a record which few men of three-score years can boast, and the promise of a successful, useful and honorable life ahead of him, which promise, precluding accidents, disease or premature death, will assuredly be realized steadily and rapidly, else the past is no criterion of the future, and coming events do not cast their shadows before.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.