USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 1 > Part 21
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Mr. Cooper early took an interest in public affairs. At the age of fifteen he developed a taste for politics, and became a member of the debating societies
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and lyceums of his county. He mingled freely in debates, and soon became known as an excellent speaker. In 1860 he went to the Chicago Convention as an alternate, and was an avowed Lincoln man. Two of the delegates from his district-William Darlington, of Chester, and John M. Broomall, of Delaware county-voted for Mr. Lincoln steadily, though the Pennsylvania delegation supported Simon Cameron.
Though he took a prominent part in State politics both in conventions and through his paper, it was not until 1869 that he became a candidate for office. In that year he was nominated for the Assembly over six competitors in the county convention on the first ballot, and was of course elected, the county being largely Republican. In 1870 Mr. Cooper was again a candidate for the Assembly ; but he found a strong opposition to him in his own party, headed by . State Senator H. Jones Brooke, who had been for many years the most influen- tial man in the party in the county. Young Cooper at once determined to enter into a contest with Mr. Brooke, and a war ensued which distracted the Republican party for several years. Mr. Cooper received the regular nomination for the Assembly, but Mr. Brooke and his friends supported Hon. Tryon Lewis, a Democrat, and elected him. This rebuff aroused all the fighting qualities of Mr. Cooper, and he gave early notice the following year that he would again be a candidate for the Assembly. He took the stump and made a thorough canvass of the county, and in the end carried every delegate in the county convention but two, and was elected at the polls. In 1872 he declined a nomination, but in 1873 he pitted himself against his old antagonist, Mr. Brooke, who was then up for re-election to the State Senate in the Chester and Delaware District. Some of Mr. Cooper's friends thought it folly to continue the contest in this way, as they very much feared that Mr. Brooke would beat him; but the determined young editor said that his battle with Mr. Brooke could only be settled in a square combat, and he proposed to make it. The contest was one of the most remarkable that ever took place in the State. It lasted nine months, and so active was the canvass that the contestants travelled from house to house soliciting votes.
Senator Brooke was a power at this time. He had the warm support of General Cameron, who had been his life-long friend. He had a large and pow- erful political acquaintance throughout the State, and influential family connec- tions in his district; besides, he was a shrewd, far-seeing man, who had long been active in politics, and who was fully acquainted with the arts of the politi- cian. The struggle enlisted the whole party on one side or the other. When the votes were counted Mr. Cooper had a majority of six delegates and four hundred in the popular vote, and was nominated for Senator. The Brooke fac- tion, however, determined to continue their opposition, and nominated Dr. Hil- bourn Darlington in an irregular convention, Mr. Brooke himself, who was too good a party man to take a bolting nomination, having declined to run. The Democrats had nominated Tryon Lewis, Mr. Cooper's old antagonist, and a most
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interesting three-cornered contest ensued before the people. With characteristic dash and energy Mr. Cooper challenged his opponents to meet him on the stump, but they wisely declined to do so. Ile spoke nightly to the people of the dis- trict, and in the end was elected over both of his competitors. This contest gave Mr. Cooper much repute, and placed him in an impregnable position with the people of his district. In 1876 Delaware county was a Senatorial Distriet, and Mr. Cooper was unanimously renominated for the Senate, and elected almost without a contest. In 1880-a bad year for third-termers-he came before the people for the third time. W. B. Broomall disputed the nomination with him, but Cooper carried nearly every distriet. The contest was an animated one, and a determined effort was made to defeat Mr. Cooper at the polls, but he was elected by a very large majority.
It is in the capacity of a legislator that Mr. Cooper has done his greatest service to the State. It is rather curious, but though a young and vigorous man (he does not appear to be over forty), Mr. Cooper is the oldest member in the Legislature in consecutive service. Others served at Harrisburg before he did, but none have been continuously in the office as long as Mr. Cooper. It was not until he was serving his second year in the house that Mr. Cooper took a prominent position on an important question. He successfully opposed Mr. Buckalew's proposition to elect the members of the Constitutional Convention by the cumulative plan of voting. Mr. Cooper made a speech which convinced the House that the measure was not one that ought to pass. The result was that Mr. Cooper was made Chairman of the Conference Committee considering the measure instead of Mr. White, of Allegheny, who favored the plan. Cooper fought one of his determined battles in the committee, keeping it up three weeks, and in the end defeated Mr. Buckalew by parliamentary proceedings in the House. In the celebrated contested election ease of McClure vs. Gray for a seat in the State Senate, Mr. Cooper strongly antagonized the bill which was pro- posed, and was designed to prevent Colonel McClure from filling his position. The bill was backed by leading Republicans, who determined to put it through the Legislature. Mr. Cooper characterized it as a partisan trick which really denied to Colonel McClure the right of contest. A very bitter struggle took place, which excited great interest in all parts of the State. During the debate Speaker Benjamin Hewitt, who was then Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, formally read Mr. Cooper out of the party because of his action. Cooper sat in his seat and listened with burning indignation to the remarks of the Blair county member ; but he changed the scene, which threatened to be serious, to one of the most humorous ever witnessed in the House. Imitating Mr. Hewitt in gesture, position, language and tone, Mr. Cooper read him out of the party amid loud laughter. When the fight began Mr. Cooper had twenty- seven Republicans behind him ; but such was the power of the machine in those days that only three of these stood by him at the close, and he was apparently beaten ; but he won his point by his skill in parliamentary tactics, and Colonel
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McClure got his scat after the most memorable legislative contest in the history of the State. On a number of occasions Mr. Cooper displayed an independence which won him praise in all parts of the State. After his election to the Senate, the first speech that he made that attracted attention was a pointed one on the Centennial Exhibition that was widely copied and read. He introduced and advocated for four years the celebrated apprentice bill, which prevents trade unions from denying the admission of apprentices to any trade in the Com- monwealth. While Mr. Cooper was urging the passage of this measure he antagonized a portion of the labor element. It was during the days of the " Mollie Maguires," and some of the leading men in the miners' union opposed him strongly. He received a number of threatening letters, but with his old perseverance he went on, and the bill passed both Houses, and is now a law.
It would be tedious to recite Mr. Cooper's connection with important legisla- tion. Since 1876 he has been the leader of the Republican side of the Senate, and on him has fallen the brunt of all political contests. In 1878 he was elected Speaker of the Senate, and was re-elected in 1879. His thorough knowledge of parliamentary law, and his method of getting through with the business of that body, made him a very popular presiding officer.
Mr. Cooper was chosen Chairman of the State Central Committee in 1881, and still remains in that position. His conduct of his first campaign was a master- piece of political work. The difficulties were the comparative insignificance of the office to be voted for, and the uncertainty as to the vote that Mr. Wolfe, who ran as an Independent Republican, would poll. Mr. Cooper confidently went to work, and persisted until the Republican ticket was elected.
The personal appearance of Mr. Cooper gives no evidence of his strength of character. He is rather below the medium height, and there is hardly an expres- sive feature in his face. When speaking he becomes greatly interested in his subject, and enunciates clearly and with great earnestness. A feature of his strength is that he is never known to be angry, and is cool in facing any diffi- culty. Withal he is kind-hearted and charitable, and he makes friends readily, who soon learn to regard him highly.
Mr. Cooper is the author of a work, entitled "American Politics," which appeared in 1882, and enjoys an established sale, thirteen editions already having been published. It is an extremely valuable book in many respects, being a collection of facts in relation to the political parties of the Government from its early days which would be hard to find in any other place. This collection gives an indication of the bent of the author's mind, and proves him to have tact and judgment as a collector and compiler of out-of-the-way facts.
Since 1882 he has continually served as State Senator and as Chairman of the Republican State Committee, and is everywhere known as the leader of the Senate. These years have been crowded with political events, in all of which he has taken so prominent a part that throughout Pennsylvania his name is a " household word." E. M. B.
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HON. JOHN F. DRAVO.
JOHN FLEMING DRAVO.
H ON. JOHN F. DRAVO, a member of the State Legislature and late Collector of Customs at the Port of Pittsburgh and President of the Chamber of Commerce, was born in West Newton, Westmoreland county, October 29, 1819, but spent most of his youth near Elizabeth, Allegheny county, Pa. He is of French extraction, his grandfather, Anthony Dravo, having been a native of France, who settled in Pittsburgh at an early day in the history of that city. Mr. Dravo was educated in the common schools and at Allegheny College, where he remained two years until compelled to withdraw on account of ill health. He taught school for a while, and having early identified himself with the Methodist Church, he has frequently occupied the pulpit as local preacher in the houses of worship of that denomination. In 1836 he took up his residence in Pittsburgh, but four years afterwards removed to Mckeesport, Allegheny county, and there engaged in the mining and shipping of coal. While there he founded the town of Dravosburg on the Monongahela river, eleven miles from Pittsburgh. In 1868 he sold his coal interests and embarked in the coke manu- facture at Connellsville as General Manager and Treasurer of the Pittsburgh Gas, Coal and Coke Company. At that time the coke manufacture was in its infancy, but during his connection with it the trade developed, until it is now one of the leading interests of Pennsylvania. The company with which he was connected began with forty ovens, and when he retired from the presidency, in 1883, it had three hundred ovens with a producing capacity of 15,000 bushels of coke per day. During his long connection with the coal and coke interests in and about Pittsburgh his urbanity of manner and unfaltering integrity made him a general favorite with river men, by whom he is known as Captain Dravo, and for many years he was President of the Pittsburgh Coal Exchange.
Early in life he became imbued with anti-slavery and temperance sentiments, and during his life he has made hundreds of speeches advocating those princi- ples. Commencing public life as a Ilenry Clay Whig, with strong anti-slavery convictions, in 1848 he ran on the Free Soil ticket for the Legislature from Allegheny county, thus anticipating the organization of the Republican party some six years later in Lafayette Hall, Pittsburgh, Feb. 22, 1854. When the Republican party was formed he identified himself with it, and has ever since been regarded as a stalwart Republican. Possessing oratorical abilities of a high order, he has generally been called upon to take a leading part in the campaigns of his party, and his speeches are effective because his hearers realize that he believes what he utters, and feels what he speaks. While his speeches have been confined in the main to the discussion of financial and tariff questions, he can rise with the occasion into the realm of true eloquence, as the peroration of his address on the death of General Grant, delivered at the memorial service held at Beaver Falls, evidences :
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" llow potent is a good name! Behold the men he conquered, the command- ers he defeated, with affectionate hearts and reverent hands, uniting with others in bearing his body to the tomb.
" The American home is a symbol of the advancement of the race and prophi- ecy of the permanency of our institutions, and it is a matter of profound thank- fulness that Grant, the eminent citizen, the distinguished soldier, was as conspic- uous for the purity and fidelity of his home life as he was successful in the realm of battle. Unaffected devotion to the loved ones; unswerving fidelity to its sanctities ; thoughtful for its comforts; tender as a child in his relations, giving without stint and receiving in like measure the tokens of love, make up a picture of family purity and felicity, and constitute a legacy to the present and coming generations beyond all price, and worthy of the imitation of all.
" Was there ever born of woman a human character more rounded and com- plete ? As a toiler he was industrious and not ashamed to make an honest liv- ing in honest ways and by honest means. As commander of mighty armies that never suffered defeat, as the gainer of victories great as the historian's pen ever recorded, he was as modest as a maiden, unassuming as a child. As ruler of a great nation, he was as gentle and considerate as the humblest citizen. As a traveller around the globe, receiving the testimony of respect from the great and learned of the earth, and from emperors and kings such full, free and hearty recognition as no other traveller ever received. Reaching the shores of his native land, an ovation without a parallel in the history of the Republic awaited him. Amid it all, and through it all, he remains the same quiet, unassuming citizen that he was at the commencement of his wonderful public career.
" In the last year of his life, as already intimated, financial disaster came to him and his household, as sudden and complete as a western cyclone. As in all the emergencies of his eventful life, he was equal to the occasion. Mindful of those dependent upon him, he at once commenced writing a history of the tremendous events through which he had passed, that the income from the sale might sustain his loved ones when he was gone. Thus a personal calamity will be turned into a public good-for who is not anxious to read the story of our nation's second great struggle as told by the most conspicuous actor in that struggle himself ?
"A common fate awaits the race, great and small, famed and unfamed. The pale horse and rider will overtake us all, sooner or later, and wind up the his- tory of our earthly pilgrimage. So a few months ago disease fastened upon the fife of this great man. Months in advance the sentence of death was pronounced, and General Grant learned that in a short time he must bid farewell to the scenes of time. He heard the sentence calm and unmoved, and through months of suffering and pain, with a loving heart, he toiled away at his self-assigned task, fighting off death until he could finish his work, in the meantime displaying such Christian patience and giving utterance to such tender sentiments of universal charity and love as to endear him, not to our nation alone, but to the world of mankind at large, thus demonstrating that his greatness was inborn.
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JOIIN F. DRAVO.
"And now, good citizen, heroic leader of armies, wise and patriotic ruler, modest traveller, Christian sufferer, as the civilized world looks on in sorrow, we commit thy mortal remains to the dust. Thou didst not live in vain nor die in vain. Although to generations to come the story of thy life will be told to encourage the young to noble deeds of doing, and thy patient sufferings to for- tify the afflicted, on each returning memorial day, as long as the nation lives, thy grave will be strewn with flowers by a grateful people."
During his Presidency of the Chamber of Commerce he manifested a deep interest in the improvement of the Monongahela and Ohio rivers, and the letters he wrote and speeches he made on the subject would fill a volume. He has frequently been sent to Washington to represent the interests of Pittsburgh before Congressional committees, and the argument that he delivered before the House Committee on Rivers and Harbors was pronounced " admirable."
In 1881 he was appointed by President Garfield Collector of Customs and Surveyor of the Port of Pittsburgh, and when there was some delay in his con- firmation by the United States Senate, in consequence of political cabals, his popularity with the people was strikingly manifested. The business men of Pittsburgh, without distinction of party, united in petitioning for his con- firmation, and the local journals of Beaver county, where he resides, were earnest in their advocaey of his claims to the position. " What ?" said one, " does not a life of faithful and efficient service to the Republican party, a life of devotion to every beneficent enterprise calculated to lift and benefit mankind, the most liberal gifts to educational institutions and equally liberal gifts for the establish- ment of churches and the support and maintenance of the gospel-do not these acts, as well as others that might be named, make the nominee worthy of con- firmation by the United States Senate?" These powerful appeals prevailed. He received his commission May 20, 1881, and for four years was a most effi- cient and capable officer.
Besides the offices held by Mr. Dravo already alluded to, he has been Director in the Tradesmen's National Bank and People's Insurance Company, Trustee of Allegheny College, at Meadville, President of the Beaver Female College, Director of the Allegheny County Home for eight years, and Director and Vice- President of the Pennsylvania Reform School for four years.
In the fall of 1886 he was selected by the people of Beaver county to repre- sent them in the State Legislature, and at the first session he was made Secretary of the Committee of Ways and Means, and also of the Committee on Constitu- tional Reform-an unusual honor for a new member. During the session he also had the honor of introducing the " Constitutional Prohibitory Amendment" which passed the Legislature, and of nominating Col. Quay for U. S. Senator.
In 1842 Mr. Dravo married Miss Eliza Jane Clark, and for nearly half a cen- tury has lived with her in congeniality and happiness. They have had a family of ten children, of whom five are now living, four having died in infancy and one in young womanhood.
E. T. F.
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HON. ROBERT ADAMS, JR.
ROBERT ADAMS, JR.
H ON. ROBERT ADAMS, JR., ex-Senator from the Sixth Senatorial District of Pennsylvania, was born in the city of Philadelphia, February 26, 1849. llis father was Robert Adams, a distinguished merchant of that city, and his grandfather was Robert Adams, of " Lifford Hall," County Tyrone, Ireland, who left the family-seat to seek his fortune in America in 1793, and settling in Phila- delphia became a leading merchant of that place. His mother was Matilda Maybin, daughter of Captain William H. Hart, also a merchant and prominent citizen of the same city.
Robert Adams, Jr., began his educational course at the boarding school of Rev. Dr. Clemson at Claymont, Del. From there he entered the classical institute of the Rev. J. W. Faires in Philadelphia, where he was prepared for the University of Pennsylvania, at which institution he matriculated in the class of 1869. During his entire course Mr. Adams ranked among the distinguished students, and won the prize for declamation offered in the Freshman year. In 1868-69, during his Senior year, his health broke down, owing to over-applica- tion and to having contracted a heavy cold. This necessitated an absence of two months from his studies, which he spent in the South. Notwithstanding this, however, upon his return in the spring he successfully passed his examination, but could take no honors. The Faculty paid him the great compliment of giving him one of the speeches at commencement, a reward granted as a rule only to " honor men."
After leaving college Mr. Adams went abroad for a year and travelled through the principal countries of Europe, and on his return was entered as a law student in the office of George W. Biddle, Esq. At the end of the winter, his health again becoming impaired, he secured a position in the United States Geological Survey, which, under Prof. F. V. Hayden, was starting to explore the then (1870) unknown region of the Yellowstone. Mr. Adams also represented the Herald and Evening Post of New York, and the Inquirer and Telegraph of Philadelphia, as special correspondent, and the accounts of the wonders of that remarkable country were by him first given to the public, and established his reputation as a descriptive writer. He continued in the survey five consecutive summers, acting in various capacities, and so thoroughly gaining the confidence of his chief that upon the resignation of Captain Stevenson, the executive officer, Professor Hayden offered the place to Mr. Adams; but he, having been admitted to the bar and already successfully practicing, was obliged to decline. He continued his law business until 1877, when, on the death of his grandfather, Captain Hart, he inherited a competence and retired, living in Philadelphia and making occa- sional visits to Europe.
Mr. Adams was of too active a mind and disposition to lead an idle life, and
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his tastes and favorite studies had always inclined towards public questions; so that, when the death of his schoolmate, Edward Law, left vacant the seat of Representative from his legislative district, he began a canvass for the nomination to succeed him. At the same time Colonel A. Wilson Norris, who represented the Senatorial District, declined a renomination. The district was rent asunder by the factions of the Stalwarts and Independents, and the party was looking for some one to lead it to victory. The active canvass of Mr. Adams for Represent- ative called attention to him as an aggressive worker, and he was nominated by the Republicans for the State Senate. The Independents promptly nominated Mr. Henry Reed, now Judge of the Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia, and the Democratic party indorsed him. Then began a political struggle such as is seldom waged. Both candidates were personally above reproach, and nothing occurred during the canvass to cause regret to either. It was the disastrous year of 1882 when General Beaver was defeated, and the Independents carried many legislative districts. There were none where, as a rule, the Independent spirit existed stronger than in the Sixth Legislative District, but Mr. Adams was elected by a little less than half the usual majority.
Senator Adams entered upon his duties with the ardor that comes alone from interest in the work. He was overwhelmed with bills placed in his charge. The very citizens who had tried to defeat him showed their confidence by placing in his hands their pet scheme-the Reform Charter for Philadelphia. The State Medical Society's Act to Establish the State Board of Health, which had failed to pass for twelve years, and the Wayfarers' Lodging-House Bill of the Society of Organized Charity were also committed to his care; while the Master Plumbers' Association Bill, the Plumbing Inspectors' Bill, and others of a sanitary and reform character were offered by him and became laws during his term, though many of them had to lie over until the session of 1885 before their final passage, and their success was largely due to the tireless energy and thorough preparation for debate of the Senator in whose hands they had been placed. In debate he distinguished himself by quickness, adroitness and good judgment. Alert and nervous, he was yet suave and genial. When party questions absorb attention Senator Adams, who is an ardent Republican, throws his whole soul into the conflict. He is a Hotspur in partisan debate, and so warm in his enthusiasm that old party leaders wax strong in admiration.
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