Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II, Part 17

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716

USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II > Part 17

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*Chapter XXIII.

tIn re the Plurality Elections, 17 R. I. 617.

¿In re the Representative Vacancy, 17 R. I. 621.

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Democrat, lacked 204 of a majority in a total vote of 11,628, receiving 5430 to 4854 for Nathan F. Dixon. Arnold B. Chace, Prohibition, and William A. Pirce, Republican, polled votes enough to prevent an election. The House of Representatives, on April 1, 1887, asked the Supreme Court to answer this question : "In case there is a failure at any election to elect a member of the House of Representatives to represent any district in the Congress of the United States, and no new election is called previous to the expiration of the term of service of the member holding office at the time of such failure to elect, is it the duty of the General Assembly or of the Government to call a new election?" The reason for the question appeared in the fact that the office had become vacant by expiration of term without the election of a successor on March 4, 1887. The Court ruled that, as the vacancy existed by reason of fail- ure to elect under the majority law "the statute imposes the duty of ordering the new election upon the General Assembly, and that the Governor, even if he has power under the Constitu- tion of the United States, may well wait for the General Assembly to act so long as it is in session."§ In an election held on November 8, 1887, Warren O. Arnold, Republican, defeated Charles S. Bradley, Democrat. by 837 plurality.

In presidential year, 1888, both districts were carried by Republicans by comfortable majorities, but in 1890 Oscar Lapham, Democrat, defeated Congressman Spooner in the First District by 1152 majority. Charles H. Page, Democrat, had a plurality of seventy-three over Warren O. Arnold, Republican, in the Second District, but failed of a majority because of one Tripp, John S., Prohibitionist, who polled 582 votes. In the second election, February 21, 1891, Page achieved a majority of 5720 in a total of 8088. Both Representatives in the Fifty- second Congress were Democrats, and both Senators were Republicans. Nelson W. Aldrich had been reelected as Senator in 1886, and Jonathan Chace in 1888. The latter resigned, and Nathan F. Dixon was elected as Senator April 10, 1889, on the eighth ballot, the closest com- petitor being ex-Governor Wetmore. Congressmen Lapham and Page, as candidates for reelection in 1892, ran second, respectively, to Melville Bull and Adin B. Capron, each of whom achieved a plurality in the year of the presidential election. In the second election, April 5, 1893, Congressmen Lapham and Page were reelected by pluralities. The Congres- sional election of 1892-1893 for the Fifty-third Congress was the last held previous to the plurality election amendment to the Constitution of Rhode Island. In the series of four elec- tions, 1886 to 1892, three second elections in the Second District, and one in the First had been necessary, because of close contests by candidates of the major parties, and the inter- vention of the Prohibition party, a very weak third party, but strong enough to offset the margin between Republican and Democrat.

In the elections of 1894, 1896, 1898 and 1900, Congressman Bull was elected by plural- ities so large as to be clear majorities also over candidates so popular as Oscar Lapham, George T. Brown, John W. Hogan, and Charles E. Gorman. In the Second District Warren O. Arnold, Republican, in 1894. and Adin B. Capron, Republican, in 1896, 1898 and 1900, defeated Lucius F. C. Garvin, Democrat, by large pluralities that were also majorities. The national issues at the period were the tariff -- high protective or for revenue only-and bimet- allism; on these issues Rhode Island stood squarely with the national Republican party. Ex- Governor Wetmore replaced Senator Dixon in 1895, and was reelected in 1900. Senator Aldrich was reelected with only four opposing votes in 1898, ten members of the General Assembly being absent. The string of Republican victories was soon to be broken, because of a renewal of Democratic strength in Rhode Island state politics, and a revolt in both state and national politics against the mighty combination of strong men who had grown careless and who no longer concealed the iron hand with which they had been directing the affairs of state and nation.

§In re the Congressional Election, 17 R. I. 624.

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THE COMPLEX SITUATION IN 1902-The first break from unwavering support of the national Republican party came in 1902, when Lucius F. C. Garvin, Democrat, led his party to victory in the state election for the first time in twelve years since Honest John Davis had been chosen by the General Assembly of 1890. Back in 1890 the Democratic landslide had carried Daniel L. D. Granger into the office of City Treasurer in Providence, and he had continued there by annual reelection until 1901, when he chose to be and was elected as Mayor of the city. Daniel L. D. Granger, favorite son of Providence, was pitted against Melville Bull, favorite son of Newport, as candidate for Representative from the First District in 1902, and Granger won by 663 plurality in a total of 31,016 votes. Both men were popular ; Bull, by unctuous kindness and unstinted willingness to respond to a request from any con- stituent, Republican or Democrat, had won the esteem of men of all parties. Granger was twice reelected to Congress from the First District by small majorities over John H. Stiness, who had resigned as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court a week before election, and Elisha Dyer, who had been Governor, 1897-1900, and whose father, Elisha Dyer, had been Gover- nor, 1857-1859. In 1908, Congressman Granger was defeated by William P. Sheffield by eighty-one plurality in a total vote of 37,514. Congressman Granger was preparing plans to contest the election in the national House of Representatives, when he died, February 14, 1909, after more than twenty years in public service as Representative in the General Assem- bly, City Treasurer, Mayor and Congressman. The Second District remained staunchly Republican ; Congressman Capron, who had been elected first in 1896 to the Fifty-fifth Con- gress, was reelected six times, defeating, besides Lucius F. C. Garvin four times,* Franklin P. Owen twice and Thomas F. Cooney. Congressman Capron's service of fourteen years in the House of Representatives was the longest credited to any Representative from Rhode Island; his nearest competitors were Dutee J. Pearce, twelve years, 1825-1837; Clark Bur- dick, twelve years, 1918-1930;} Tristam Burges, ten years, 1825-1835; and Ambrose Ken- nedy, ten years, 1913-1923. Senator Wetmore was reelected in 1900, defeating Colonel Sam- uel R. Honey easily; Senator Aldrich was reelected for the fourth time in 1905 to round out service of almost thirty years in the Senate, and over thirty years in Congress. He had achieved a position of acknowledged and unquestioned leadership in Congress; he was the undisputed final authority on economic questions ; his was the master hand in tariff and finan- cial legislation. The plan for the federal reserve banking system, enacted into law by a Democratic Congress, was his, although he had retired from Congress before the Democratic party, with Woodrow Wilson leading, adopted it as part of their program. He had been appointed chairman of the national monetary commission appointed by Congress to revise the national banking laws; the commission in 1911 announced the Aldrich plan for currency reform, which contained the essential principles of the federal reserve legislation adopted later. Senator Aldrich's part in making tariff bills is familiar; one tariff bill carried his name, but he was influential in the writing of most of the economic legislation that Congress enacted while he was a Senator. Senator Aldrich died in New York City, April 16, 1915.

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1906-Senator Wetmore was a candidate for reelection in 1907; colo- nel Samuel P. Colt was a rival Republican candidate. Senator Wetmore had served two years as Governor, 1886-1888, before his election as Senator in 1894. Colonel Colt's ambition to succeed Senator Wetmore was not concealed, nor even disguised. Colonel Colt had had a remarkable and distinguished career as lawyer, public officer, manufacturer, farmer and financier. Besides holding other public offices, he had been Attorney General, 1882-1886. He had been a member of the distinguished commission which in 1898 reported to the General Assembly a revised constitution for Rhode Island, to be submitted to the referendum. As a

*Ex-Governor Garvin ran the fourth time in 1906.

1Reelected for two years more, 1930.

OLD RHODE ISLAND STATE CAPITOL BUILDING AT NEWPORT

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manufacturer he had been interested in rubber and rubber goods, and under his leadership one of the largest American manufactories of rubber boots and shoes had been developed in his home town of Bristol. As a farmer he had acquired and beautified Poppasquash Point, opposite the compact part of the town of Bristol, making the Colt farm there one of the most attractive estates in New England, broad in acreage, rich in forage crops, famed for its herd of sleek prize-winning cattle. As a financier he had been a prominent factor in the upbuild- ing of the Industrial Trust Company, until it had become one of the strongest banking enter- prises in New England, with intimate connections in New York and other financial centres. Colonel Colt longed for new conquests, and a seat in the Senate of the United States, after the Roman Senate of antiquity the most august legislative body in the world, found favor in his eyes and matched his restless ambition. To attain the coveted place he must first wrest con- trol of the Republican state organization from Senator Wetmore. The latter, far from being inclined to announce that he did not choose to run for a third term as Senator, was quite content to succeed himself and had been making preparations accordingly. Thus there were two Republican candidates for election as United States Senator in the campaign of 1906- 1907, so far as it might be accurate to say that there was any Republican candidate until a state convention had assembled and had nominated a candidate.

It was understood perfectly well that his campaign for election as Governor in 1903 was the opening manoeuvre in Colonel Colt's contest for the Senatorship. Colonel Colt was defeated by Governor Garvin by 1303 plurality in a total of 62,035, the largest vote cast in Rhode Island election up to that time, a truly remarkable total for an off-year in politics, when there was no presidential election. Colonel Colt's total of 29,275 was the largest polled for any candidate for Governor to that time, save those for Governor Garvin in 1902 and 1903. While election as Governor in 1904 would have favored Colonel Colt's candidacy for the senatorial toga in 1906-1907, a second defeat in a popular election would be an irretriev- able disaster, from the ruins of which Colonel Colt scarcely could contrive a reasonable excuse for seeking nomination as Senator. George H. Utter, Republican, was elected as Governor in 1904 in a closely contested election. Republican primaries had begun to assume an unwonted activity, as astute politicians grasped the significance of the major strategy in which Utter was pitted against Garvin, while both Colt and Wetmore were gathering strength for the real battle in 1906 to obtain for one or the other of them a majority in the joint assembly of 1907. Democratic primaries and conventions also became restless, and factional fights developed partly because the Democratic successes in 1902 and 1903 suggested other victories and spoils of office in which many were willing to participate, and partly also because the Republican strategy was projected into Democratic strongholds. In the close contest in the joint assembly that might be expected with two strong contenders such as Colt and Wet- more leading rival wings of the Republican party, the Democrats might hold the balance of power, and victory perch on the banners of the Republican who had the largest number of friends among the Democrats.

The "regular" Democrats were beaten unexpectedly in the Providence city convention in 1904 for nominating candidates for Senator and Representatives by the very simple expedient of nominating a complete list of candidates and forcing a vote upon it quickly, whereas the practice established by precedent was selection of candidates one by one. The "regular" Democrats retrieved the situation by rallying to support the ticket thrust upon them, thus establishing lasting friendship with the "invaders." The city party emerged from the family quarrel strengthened by reason of it, and the "insurgents" were elected, although in some quarters there was dissatisfaction that prepared the way for factional contests in the pri- maries of 1905. In both Republican and Democratic primaries in the year last mentioned strange new faces were seen, and contests were waged in places in which in other years little

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opposition to lists of candidates prepared by ward committees had been manifested. Follow- ing the Democratic primary in the First Ward in Providence charges of irregularity were made, and the city board of canvassers was requested to recount the ballots and hear testi- mony. The number of ballots returned by the warden outnumbered by several hundred the electors who had participated in the primary, according to careful records kept by watchers. There had been, at the beginning of the primary, an acrimonious discussion by the warden and candidates for election in the primary, who insisted that they had a right to place watch- ers within the rail. To the warden's suggestion that he did not "need watching," the answer was made that an honest man "never feared watching." The balloting progressed regularly and continuously during the hours established by the caucus act, under which the primary was conducted. Then came the deluge-a deluge of ballots from the air that reached the table as the ballot box was emptied preliminary to counting. The procedure had been care- fully planned even to the detail of checking by caucus officers on the lists of electors furnished by the board of canvassers a number of names additional to those properly checked by voting sufficient to account for the extra ballots. The return made by the warden of ballots and check lists had the appearance of regularity, and the board of canvassers sustained the pri- mary, in spite of the fact that more than fifty men were called and testified that they, although their names had been checked as voting, had not attended the primary. The persons elected at this primary included a new ward committee, and the fires were lighted then to heat the irons for a new contest in 1906. For this ample preparation was made by the "regular" Democrats, now outside and no longer in control of the machinery. The preparations included the pres- ence at Pioneer Hall, on South Main Street, in which the primary of 1906 was conducted, of a half-dozen of the best lawyers in the Democratic party at the time; checkers who took down in shorthand the names of every person who offered to vote, double record being made, that one list might corroborate the other; challengers who knew well the residents of the ward, and who might easily detect "substitutes"; watchers placed within the rail. The primary was orderly, though the atmosphere was tense, until a few minutes before closing time, and then events happened in rapid succession. To avoid a recurrence of the deluge of 1905 request was made that a space be cleared so that the counting of ballots might not be interfered with, and then, that instead of opening the ballot box and counting, it be sealed up and sent to the board of canvassers for a count to be made by them. In the course of the discussion of the requests a rush for the ballot box was made from the floor, and hands full of ballots were thrust toward the box. A burly young Democrat, a lawyer among the watchers, pushed the warden aside as the latter reached for the slide controlling the mouth of the ballot box. The lawyer threw his body against the slide and over the mouth, closing the box and holding on stoutly, in spite of efforts to pry him away, as the crowd surged backward and forward, until the police charged through and seized the box. Even as the box was being carried by the police down a long flight of stairs to the street, another rush and attempt to stuff it were made and were frustrated by the same burly fellow who had covered the box in the first instance. Thus the ballot box reached the office of the board of canvassers and there it was sealed up at the request of lawyers, who signed the seals. The board of canvassers, because no count and no return had been made, after conducting a hearing found "that no persons were lawfully elected or nominated at said caucus, and that said caucus was illegal and void."

The board of canvassers refused to designate a time and place or to furnish parapher- nalia for another primary, and the Supreme Court refused to issue a writ of mandamus com- pelling the board to order another primary .* The Supreme Court later refused to try the title of the rival ward committees in quo warranto proceedings,t or to review and revise the

*Kelley vs. Whitley, 27 R. I. 355.

Greenough v8. Lucy, 28 R. I. 230.

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decision of the board of canvassers that the primary was illegal and void .; Thus the "reg- ular" Democrats lost not only control of the party machinery in the First Ward, which con- tinued with the hold-over committee, but the First Ward lost representation in the city con- vention for nominating candidates for Senator and Representatives in the General Assembly. The "regulars" had won in five of ten wards, in spirited primary contests, and controlled the convention. Thus it happened that the Providence delegation in the General Assembly of 1907 was staunchly regular in its democracy, and in its support of the third candidate for Senator, Colonel Robert H. I. Goddard, running as a Democrat in the interests of "good government."

A NEW NEWSPAPER-One of the strongest agencies supporting Colonel Colt in his cam- paign for the Senate was the "Providence Tribune," newspaper. In February, 1906, the "Evening Telegram" was purchased by a syndicate of newspaper men, consisting of Matthew A. Dwyer, Frederick H. Howland, Frederic N. Luther, Timothy F. Dwyer, Daniel J. Dwyer, Albert C. Rider, John J. Rosenfeld, Edmund E. Eastman, Charles R. Thurston, Frank E. Jones, Horace C. Belcher and Thatcher T. Thurston. All had been included in the staff of the "Providence Journal," and most had been editors by some classification. Along with them to the new enterprise went a large contingent of other "Journal" employes from editorial and reportorial staffs, counting room, and mechanical departments. The episode is referred to in "Journal" tradition as "Exodus," because of the many who went out, the number assum- ing such proportions that for a brief period of time it seemed almost that the "Journal" had departed in life and spirit, leaving only a building with deserted rooms, and shops. The recovery was almost instantaneous; telegrams dispatched to other cities brought men in large numbers who were glad to find employment on the "Dear Old Journal," as the newspaper was familiarly and affectionately known by newspapermen in eastern cities. Back to assume charge of the editorial staff came Frederick Roy Martin, a former chief editor; with or not far behind him were other old-timers, so that the new "Journal" staff was not entirely strange in its environment. So many arrived hurriedly in response to urgent request that they reached the "Journal" office direct from the railroad station, carrying personal baggage. And thus it happened that they were referred to as "carpetbaggers."

Later came as the new managing editor John R. Rathom, from Chicago immediately, but more remotely from California, China, the polar regions, South Africa and Australia-a man with world-wide experience-born in Australia, schooled at old Harrow in England, and educated in the University of the World. He had been reporter and war correspondent before he had been an editor, accompanying military and exploratory expeditions. The last "Evening Telegram" was printed March 10, 1906; the first "Evening Tribune," the name chosen for the new venture, was issued March 12, 1906. The "Sunday Telegram" was continued as the "Sunday Tribune," and on July 4, 1906, a new morning newspaper, the "Morning Tribune," the first morning rival of the "Daily Journal" in twenty years, was published for the first time. To emphasize the secession from the "Journal," and the suggestion that the "real" "Journal" had moved out of the old shell into a new and "lively experiment," the "Tribune" in type, makeup and general appearance, so nearly resembled the "Journal" and "Bulletin," evening edi- tion of the "Journal," that one must read title carefully to distinguish one from the other. The "Tribune" was a penny paper, and it became popular immediately: (1) Because of the price; (2) because of the men who were publishing it; (3) because of excellent news service, local and telegraphic; (4) because it was new and enterprising; (5) because of curiosity ; (6) because it was supporting Colonel Colt and the Republican organization; and (7) because of a great many other reasons. It was an excellent newspaper, and it achieved both

#Dwyer vs. Board of Canvassers, 28 R. I. 401.

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circulation and advertising patronage that warranted the investments made in new machinery, new features, and in first class service generally. Friends of the "Journal" characterized "Exodus" as desertion in pursuance of a plot to wreck the newspaper, and the printing of the "Tribune" in dress so nearly like the "Journal" as an attempt to deceive the general public. The "Journal" said nothing at all; regular editions were printed without failure and on time, news and editorial service was maintained; within a month the size of the paper was increased as new departments were inaugurated and old departments were strengthened. The mechan- ical plant was augmented. The "Journal" was meeting competition on the basis of a rivalry in excellence.

It had been for many years a tradition with the "Journal" never to mention other Provi- dence newspapers in news or editorial columns, and this tradition was observed without excep -- tion. But the rivalry of the period, newspaper and political, produced a character new to Rhode Island-a certain Colonel Linkaby Didd-who became an occasional contributor to the "Journal" and "Bulletin." Colonel Linkaby Didd was jocular in his most serious moments, and serious in his marshaling of side-splitting humor. The Colonel never mentioned names, yet the most casual reader who was at all familiar with the political situation had no difficulty in identifying the politician or the newspaper that was being caricatured. The day following the publication of a statement of the number of papers printed by the "Tribune," Colonel Linkaby Didd related the story of a barge heavily loaded with waste newsprint paper being towed far down Narragansett Bay to a place where the paper could be sunk far beneath the surface of charitable waters. Colonel Linkaby Didd announced himself as a candidate for the United States Senate, and occasionally, in his letters, reviewed the progress of his cam- paign. He followed statements made by campaign managers or speeches on behalf of other candidates, riddling them with innuendo and satire. His attack was baffling and damaging because the politician ridiculed could not take up the gauntlet thrown down by Colonel Link- aby Didd without accepting the position or the role manufactured for him by the Colonel. All Rhode Island rocked with the laughter of the many, as the few whom the Colonel lashed with his sarcasm gnashed their teeth with rage to which they might not give expression with- out taking further punishment. Colonel Linkaby Didd gave no opportunity for libel suits ; his methods were far too subtle; yet he was causing irremediable damage to pretentious political schemes. John R. Rathom had reached Rhode Island and was beginning to play the masterful rôle that he maintained until his death nearly a generation later, and to build up the "Journal" and "Bulletin" as distinctive among American newspapers. Colonel Linkaby Didd arrived on the same train with John R. Rathom, and died at the same moment.

THREE CANDIDATES FOR THE SENATE-The campaign of 1906, which had opened with bitter contests in political primaries, continued unabated in the months that intervened before election. Both Republican candidates for the United States Senate spared no effort to elect their candidates for the General Assembly against the Democratic and Good Government candidates pledged to vote for Colonel Robert H. I. Goddard. There was vigorous opposition in Rhode Island to Senator Wetmore, who, although a legal resident of Newport and prop- erly qualified, was considered as a New Yorker rather than a Rhode Islander. Colonel Colt had made many enemies in the course of a career in which he had been successful and for- tunate otherwise. In the emergency Colonel Robert H. I. Goddard was chosen by a group styling themselves advocates of reform and good government, and he was indorsed by the Democrats. The revolt at the time against alleged "bossism"* contributed no small part to the triangular contest for the United States senatorship. With three parties in action, the state was canvassed thoroughly in stump speaking campaigns, and rallies in unprecedented number on behalf of rival candidates were conducted in sections of Rhode Island seldom given atten-

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Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II, Part 17

Author: Carroll, Charles, author Publication date: 1932 Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716