Skip to main content

Full text of "As I Knew Them Presidents Politics From Grant To Coolidge"

See other formats 


921.1 


* 


^,rwT,.  m      ^ 

, .  ttf  HIT11 — * * 

, 
' 

tean 

lif  ^^ 

?  p 


*^W^W^W    ^Wnpi 


, 


KANPAf  CITY    MO    PUB    1C  LI  JRARY 


"THE  DREAMLAND  OF  OTHER  DAYS" 


AS  I  KNEW;THEM 

PRESIDENTS   ANtf' POLITICS 
FROM  GRANT  TO  COOLIDGE 


BY 

HENRY  L.  STODDARD 


"  Great  men  have  been  among  us;  hands  that  penned 
And  tongues  that  uttered  wisdom;  better  none" 

— WORDSWORTH 


HARPER  fc?  BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 
NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 


AS  I  KNEW  THEM 
COPYRIGHT,  1927,  BY 
HARPER  &  BROTHERS 
PRINTED  IN  THE  U.  S.  A. 


13  '28 


,00% 


TO   THOSE 

IN   EVERY   DEPARTMENT 

OF   NEWSPAPER-MAKING"  WITH    WHOM3 

THROUGH   HALF  A  CENTURY,   I   HAVE 

HAD   THE    PRIVILEGE   OF   SHARING 

THE   TRIALS   AND   TRIUMPHS    OF  A 

GREAT  CALLING,   THIS    BOOK 

IS    DEDICATED 

IN  THE   SPIRIT   OF   CORDIAL 

FELLOWSHIP 


CONTENTS 

FOREWORD  xxi 

I.  THE  DREAMLAND  OF  OTHER  DAYS 

"You  Have  Been  Coming  Here  Longer  Than  Any  Man  I 
Know11 — A  JBoy's  Piston  of  His  Future — Printer,  Proof-reader 
and  Reporter — The  Country  Weekly  and  Its  Place  of  Confidence 
— Chance  Makes  Opportunity  to  Cover  Half  a  Century  of  Poli- 
tics* 

II.  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS          %  6 

Companionships  and  Friendships  That  Are  Pine  Examples  of 
Loyalty — No  University  so  Trains  You  to  Know  Your  Own 
Levels — How  Lincoln  Was  Nominated — All  Presidents  Repre- 
sent the  Conflict  of  Politicians — Clay,  Elaine^  Bryan — The 
Stump  Speaker's  Silent  Foe — Women  and  the  Radio  in  Politics. 

III.  THE  "SWINGS"  OF  A  CAMPAIGN  16 

Fortune  Moves  Backward  and  Forward  Before  Election — Candi- 
dates Deluded  by  Hurrahs — Blaming  Others  for  Their  Defeat — 
The  Sherman- Alger  Rivalry  to  "  Persuade  "  Southern  Delegates 
— Many  Primaries  Are  a  Contest  of  Pocketbooks — Every  Nom- 
inee in  a  Primary  Feels  He  Is  His  Own  Party  Platform. 

IV.  THE  GENERALS  IN  PRESIDENTIAL  BATTLES  22 

Bliss,  CortelyoU)  Willcoxy  Hays  and  Butler — Millions  Spent  in 
a  National  Campaign — The  "Cash  and  Carry"  Army — Hays 
Would  Not  Have  Politics  Adjourned,  for  He  "Had  Counted  the 
Steps"— -The  Republican  Slogan  "Win  the  War  Now!11— -Bliss 
Ended  Discussion,  "  T.  R"  Did  Not  and  Became  President. 

V.  BAD  CITIZENS,  BAD  POLITICIANS  29 

The  Disloyalty  of  Non-voters — Absentees  from  the  Polls  Are 
Chiefly  Those  with  Most  at  Stake — The  Politician  Is  Individual,, 
Ambitious  and  Alert — Senses  What  We  Want  Before  We  Know 
It — Compare  the  List  of  Good  Laws  with  Bad  Ones — We  Can 
be  Proud  of  Our  Men  In  Public  Service — Some  Who  Left  Their 
Impression  on  Their  Party  and  the  Nation — They  Spell 
America. 

VI.  THE  PRESIDENTS  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  35 

From  Lincoln  to  Coolidge  Some  of  Our  Ablest  Chief  Executives — 
Cleveland,  Roosevelt  and  Wilson  Our  Outstanding  Presidents, 
but  Harrison  Ablest  of  All — Inaugurating  Cleveland  as  Presi- 
dent— Reporting  Grant's  Struggle  with  Death — Travelling  with 
Jefferson  Davis— "  Great  Lives  Never  Go  Out— They  Go  On!" 
Declared  Harrison. 

VII.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS*  FAREWELL  TO  THE  SOUTH  40 

A  Tour  from  Beauvoiry  Mississippi,  to  Savannah — Davis  Stands 


Contents 

on  the  Spot  on  Which  He  Had  Been  Inaugurated  President — 
The  Old  Gray  Uniforms  of  the  "Lost  Cause" — Davis  Says 
"  Your  Common  Country  " — Women  Shower  Him  with  Flowers — 
A  Question  I  Never  Asked— Davis  Would  Not  Go  to  Richmond. 

VIIL  ALONG  THE  HIGHWAY  OF  TIME  45 

A  Marvellous  Nation-building  Period — No  Two  Persons  Get  the 
Same  Impression,  Though  They  Travel  the  Same  Road — The 
Years  Mellow  Opinion — Youth  and  Later  On — Gaynor  Says> 
"How  Petty  They  All  Seem  as  the  Great  Moment  Approaches!  " 

IX.  " HURRAH  FOR  LITTLE  MAC"  48 

A  Memory  Picture  of  a  McClellan  Parade — New  York  City's 
Mayor  Who  Sympathized  with  Rebellion  and  Jesse  Seligman 
Who  Bought  Bonds  to  Save  the  Union — "  Vote  as  You  Shot" — 
The  Stirring  Marching  War  Songs  and  the  Picturesque  Zouaves 
—Heroes?  Of  Course!  They  Could  Do  No  Wrong— My  Enthu- 
siasm in  1880;  My  Revulsion  in  1884 — But  for  James  G.  Blaine 
I  Would  Have  Voted  in  Defiance  of  All  I  Had  Been  Seeing, 
Hearing  and  Believing — The  Personality  of  Blaine — "  Trusts 
Are  Largely  Private  Affairs" — Blaine  and  Some  Other  Political 
Leaders  Who  Were  Open  to  Suggestion;  Also  Others  Who  Were 
Not — Roosevelt  and  **  Unpleasant  Truths" — Alton  B.  Parker's 
One  Big  Move. 

X.  GRANT — SOLDIER,  NOT  POLITICIAN  58 

He  Frankly  Acknowledged  His  Mistakes — What  a  Tempter  Is 
Power! — Misfortunes  Followed  the  "306"  Convention — What 
the  Civil  War  Meant  to  Us — His  Battle  Against  Disease — 
W.  C.  T.  U.  Protests  Brandy  Injections — The  Reporters'  Strug- 
gle/or News — "Whom  Do  You  Represent?" — The  Fifty  Mil- 
lion Club — "On  the  Beach  at  Long  Branch" — Grant  Vetoed 
Inflation  and  Led  the  First  Battle  for  Sound  Money — Silencing 
the  Noisy  "Rag  Baby  " — Grant  the  First  Over-seas  Expansionist 
— The  World  One  Nation,  Using  One  Language — Grant's  De- 
termination Never  to  Turn  Back. 

XL  HAYES — A  PRESIDENT  OF  FINE  PURPOSE  76 

Not  Too  Late  to  Do  Him  Justice— The  Same  Title  to  Office  as 
Every  Other  President,  Backed  Also  by  Decisions  on  Which 
Existing  Law  Is  Based — A  Boy's  Impression  of  Tilden,  "  The 
Sage  of  Gramercy  Park'1 — Hayes*  Splendid  Background  in 
Ohio — No  Challenges  but  Firm  Purpose — Justice  to  the  South 
Even  Though  It  Meant  Political  Hostility — 'Hayes9  Prophecy 
as  to  Silver  Coinage — A  Telegram  That  Became  Historic — 
Removing  Chester  A.  Arthur  from  Office — Hayes  Restores  the 
Republican  Party  to  National  ControL 


Contents* 

XII.  "ELAINE!  ELAINE!— JAMES  G.  ELAINE !"  93 

A  Popular  Cry  for  Nearly  Twenty  Years — The  "Plumed 
Knight"  of  Politics — Conkling  s  Silence  Cost  Defeat — Conk- 
ling  s  Home  County  Turned  New  York  Against  Elaine — A 
Feud  that  Lasted  Unto  Death— "His  Turkey  Gobbler  Strut" — 
Elaine  s  Fight  Put  Hayes  and  Garfield  in  the  White  House — 
The  "Bloody  Shirt"  Era — Three  Incidents  that  defeated  Elaine 
in  1876 — Abolishing  the  Unit  Rule  in  Republican  Conventions. 

XIII.  THE  "STALWART"  CONVENTION  OF  1880  102 

The  Last  Ditch  Stand  of  the  Conkling-Logan-Cameron  Forces — 
Four  Days  Before  the  Convention  Could  Organize — Grant 
Really  Beaten  When  Unable  to  Revive  Unit  Rule — Conkling  s 
Inspiring  Struggle — The  Example  of  A*  Barton  Hepburn — 
Conkling  s  Resolve  Not  to  Enter  the  White  House — "If  Disked 
What  State  He  Hails  From" -^Garfield  Undertakes  a  Contrast 
— "Not  the  Billows  but  the  Calm  Levels  Are  the  True  Measure''9 
— The  "306"  and  Those  Who  Stood  Resolutely  Against  Them 
— Conkling  Not  a  Good  Loser. 

XIV.  GARFIELD  TO  His  GRAVE,  CONKLING  INTO  EXILE     112 

A  Tragic  Era  in  American  Politics — The  New  York  Collector- 
ship  a  Storm  Centre  That  Leads  Conkling  to  Resign  His  Senator- 
ship — Thomas  C.  Platt,  Also  a  Senator,  Says  "Me  Too" — 
Arthur ',  Though  Vice  President^  Joins  the  Fight  on  Garjield — 
Assassin  Guiteau  Shouts, "/  Am  a  Stalwart  of  the  Stalwarts!'" — 
Conkling  Asks,  "How  Can  I  Battle  with  a  Shroud? "-—The 
Victim  of  a  New  York  City  Blizzard. 

XV.  ARTHUR,  POLITICIAN,  MAKES  GOOD  117 

The  Country  Wonders  About  Its  New  President — Levt  P. 
Morton's  Story  of  How  He  Lost  the  Vice  Presidency  and  How 
Arthur  Won  It — Hayes'  Letter  to  the  Senate  Giving  His  Reasons 
for  Removing  Arthur  from  New  York  Collectorship — Cornell, 
Also  Ousted,  Becomes  New  York's  Governor — In  the  White 
House  no  Longer  "Chet"  but  "Mr.  President" — Arthur  Re- 
mained a  Stalwart^  but  Not  a  Conkling  Lieutenant — How  Arthur 
Cleared  Cleveland^  Path  to  Fame — Why  Vice  Presidents  Are 
Seldom  Nominated  jor  First  Place. 

XVI.  ELAINE  WINS  AND  LOSES  125 

His  Superstition  That  He  Would  Never  be  President—"  That 
Hoss'  Eyes  h  Sot" — Prefers  Circus  to  Nomination  Talk — My 
First  Convention  Experience — The  "Mugwumps"  Make  Their 
Initial  Bow  in  Politics — A  Most  Unsavory  National  Campaign 
—Both  Cleveland  and  Blaine  Had  to  Endure  a"  Whispering"  Cam- 
paign—"  Tell  the  Truth!"  SaidCleveland,andSilenceFollowed-All 


Contents 

Correspondents  Listened  to  Rev.  Dr.  Burchard's  Address  but 
None  Heard  "Rum,  Romanism  and  Rebellion" — Elaine  Would 
Not  Repudiate  Until  Too  Late— The  "Belshazzar  Feast"  Also 
Cost  Him  Many  Votes — All  the  "Breaks"  Against  Elaine — 
How  New  York  Went  for  Cleveland — Waiter  son  Gsts  Excited 
and  the  Crowd  Yells,  "Hang^  Hang,  Hang  Jay  Gould''' — Elaine 
Stops  the  Agitation. 

XVII.  "THE  SOUTH'S  IN  THE  SADDLE"  139 

A  President  Elected  by  the  "Solid  South"  Stirs  the  Old  War 
Spirit — Hard  to  Realize  in  These  Days  the  Feeling  Then  Pre- 
vailing— New  Influences,,  New  Policies,  New  Men  in  Control — 
Cleveland,  Stranger,  and  Strange  to  All — My  Winter's  Study  of 
Him  in  Albany — "He  Got  a  Hammer  and  Joined  the  Anvil 
Chorus" — Cleveland  Trusted  Timidly  Throughout  His  Career — 
Always  Perplexed,  Always  Burdened,  by  "  The  Damned 
Clamor  for  Office." 

XVIII.  No  FAREWELLS  FOR  CLEVELAND  148 

The  Country  Woke  Up  to  Learn  That  He  Had  Travelled 
Through  the  Night  to  Washington— Gossip  That  He  Never  Set 
Foot  on  the  Streets  of  the  Capital—Party  Leaders  Established 
Relations  Slowly  and  Some  Not  at  All — A  Story  About  Salt — 
Refining  the  Crudities  Out  of  Cleveland —  "if  Every  Other  Man 
Abandons  This  Issue  I  Shall  Stick  to  It" — Elaine  Promptly 
Cables  a  Challenge  and  Republicans  Enthuse — Ordering  the 
Return  of  Captured  Battle  Flags — Pension  Vetoes  Anger  the 
G.  A.  R.— "There's  One  More  President  for  Us  in  Protection.^ 

XIX.  ELAINE  GIVES  WAY  TO  HARRISON  156 

"My  Heart's  in  the  Highlands,  My  Heart's  Not  Here"  En- 
thused the  2888  Convention,  While  the  Plumed  Knight  Was  in 
Scotland— "  Rhine  or  Bust"  Was  the  Spirit  of  the  Delegates, 
and  California  Aided  with  a  Carload  of  Champagne — Elaine 
Thought  That  Only  a  United  Party  Could  Win  and  Knew  He 
Could  Not  Unite  It— Discussion  of  a  Father's  Son  Ticket, 
Lincoln  and  Grant — Elaine  Urged  Harrison  and  Phelps,  but 
Phelps9  Bang  Disqualified  Him — Why  John  Spooner  Lacked 
Faith  in  Harrison— "  Bob"  Ingersoll  Makes  a  Slip  and  Is 
Hissed  into  Silence — Tom  Platfs  Sunday  Afternoon  Carriage 
Ride  and  Its  Result— A  Colored  Delegate  Who  Wanted  White- 
i$ash  and  Plenty  of  It. 

XX.  HARRISON — ABLE,  WISE  AND  COLD  164 

The  Profoundest  Lawyer  Ever  in  the  White  House,  According 
to  Depew—An  Earnest  President,  but  He  Never  ''Played  to  the 
Galleries" — General  New  Said,  "Ben,  Sea  Human  Being"  and 
Later  Ben  Said,  "I  Tried  It,  John,  but  I  Failed"— "Lige" 


Contents 

Halford's  Suit  of  English  Plaids  and  Harrison's  Comment — 
Two  Occasions  When  Harrison  Swore — A  Fine  Tetter  of  Hoosier 
Stories — Tom  Platt  Knew  His  Bible  and  Matt  Quay  the  Classics 
— Harrison  Said  He  Had  No  Desire  to  Follow  a  Hearse  into 
the  White  House — Candidates  Who  Prefer  Sleep  to  Election 
Returns. 

XXI.  "THE  BILLION  DOLLAR  CONGRESS"  176 

Also  a  Billion  Dollar  Country — As  Joyous  in  Washington  as 
a  Donnybrook  Fair — Immigration  and  Anti-Trust  Policies 
Started  on  Their  Way — A  Gun  at  the  Head  of  Every  President 
— Harrison  Responsible  for  Flag  Over  Every  School  House — 
Some  Harrison  Epigrams. 

XXII.  THE  LAST  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  SOUTH  183 

The  "Force"  BilloflSyo,  Protecting  the  Negro's  Right  to  Vote-— 
Lodge's  First  National  Activity — Harrison  Expresses  Himself—- 
My  Own  Experiences  in  General  Mahone 's  Campaign — A  Stub- 
born Fact  that  Some  Day  Must  Be  Faced— Why  the  Electoral 
College  Should  Be  Maintained* 

XXIII.  TOM  REED — JOHN  J.  INGALLS  188 

One  of  New  England ',  One  of  the  West,  Both  Brilliant  Debaters — 
George  Harvey's  Dinner  to  Mark  Twain  Was  Reed's  Last  Ap- 
pearance— Strong  in  Convictions^  Dislikes  and  Friendships — 
The  Reed  Quorum  Counting  Rule  No  Sudden  Impulse — He  Goes 
to  New  York  Disappointed  with  Public  Life — Ingalls  Insistent 
That  the  Decalogue  Has  No  Place  in  Politics — "Purification  an 
Iridescent  Dream  " — Carried  Away  in  the  Bryan  Flood. 

XXIV.  "FOUR  YEARS  MORE  FOR  GROVER"  196 

Cleveland  not  a  Party  Leader — The  White  House  the  Loneliest 
Place  in  Washington — The  Tariff  and  Money  Battles — A 
"Campaign  of  Education"  that  Democrats  Did  Not  Want — 
The  Populist  Deal  by  Which  Cleveland  Withdrew  from  Many 
Western  States — Four  Years  of  Party  Strife^  Then  the  Chaos 
of  1896 — What  Might  Have  Been — Gorman* $  Withering  Ar- 
raignment of  Cleveland* 

XXV.  HAWAII — CLEVELAND'S  GRAVEST  ERROR  216 

The  Stars  and  Stripes  Had  Been  Hoisted  in  Honolulu,  and 
Harrison  Had  Approved,  but  Cleveland  Hauled  Them  Down, 
Only  to  See  the  Flag  Go  Up  Again  Five  Years  Later — "Para- 
mount" Blount  Finds  an  Impossible  Task — ^ueen  Lil  Addresses 
Her  "Great  and  Good  Friend" — The  New  Government  Func- 
tions and  Cleveland  Reluctantly  Acknowledges  //. 

XXVI.  VENEZUELA  BOUNDARY  NOTE  223 

Cleveland  at  His  Best — The  Country  Gets  a  Fright — Standing  by 


Contents 


the  Monroe  Doctrine— Air s  Well  That  Ends  Well—Cleveland's 
Words  and  Wilson's  in  Comparison. 

XXVII.  McKiNLEY — MAN  OF  KINDLY  WAYS 

You.  Hit  Hard-Pan  When  Integrity  or  Principle  Was  at  Stake- 
George  B.  Cortdyou  Names  Courage  as  McKinley' s  Dominant 
Trait — How  He  Delayed  the  War  with  Spain — Crowds  Brought 
Him  No  Problems^  but  He  Met  Death  in  One — Silence,  and  the 
Presidency  at  Stake — Garfield  Bows  to  the  Chairman's  Ruling 
and  Nomination  Follows — Elaine  Smashes  His  Hat  While 
Urging  Reciprocity — Harrison,  B-laine  and  McKinley  Rejoice 
Together  and  Later  Are  Rivals. 

XXVIIL  McKiNLEY,  SILENT,  GETS  662;  REED,  FOR  GOLD,  85 
Not  Until  the  Last  Moment  Did  McKinley  O.K.  the  Gold 
Plank— "I  Dont  Give  a  Damn  What  Wall  Street  Thinks" 
Said  Hanna,  but  He  Finally  Yielded— How  the  Two  Conven- 
tions Divided  on  the  Money  Issue — ujoe,  God  Almighty  Hates 
a  Quitter!" — Tom  Reed  the  Only  Gold  Candidate — He  Had 
Only  Three  Delegates  West  of  New  York. 

XXIX.  BEATING  BRYAN  IN  His  OWN  TERRITORY 

The  West  Was  Lost  to  McKinley  on  the  Gold  Issue,  So  He 
Switched  to  Protection— •"  Make  'Em  Talk  Tan/,  Think  Tariff, 
Dream  Tariff^  Declared  Hanna— McKinley  "The  Advance 
Agent  of  Prosperity !  ^— -He  Sends  Greetings  to  Congress — His 
Mother  Prays  God  to  Keep  Her  Boy  Humble. 

XXX.  McKiNLEY's  HANNA  OR  HANNA'S  McKiNLEY? 

The  Campaign  Manager  Wants  a  House  in  Washington^  but 
McKinley  Says,  "  It  Would  Never  Do,  Mark"— He  Insists  That 
Hanna  Must  First  Have  a  Title — John  Sherman  Goes  to  State 
Department  and  Hanna  to  the  Senate — Hanna' s  Keenest  Dis- 
appointment— The  Philadelphia  Convention  of  1900  When 
Dawes  Received  the  Message  That  Forced  Hanna  to  Say  to 
Roosevelt,  "Teddy,  You're  ///" 

XXXI.  HAWAII  AND  THE  WAR  WITH  SPAIN 

Both  "Manifest  Destiny  " — McKinley  Delayed  War  Until  Our 
Army  and  Navy  Could  Prepare — He  Believed  That  If  the  Par- 
liaments of  Both  Nations  Would  Adjourn,  Cuba  Would  Be 
Free  Without  War— Foresaw  the  Problems  That  Would  Follow 
War—Tells  Shafterto  Hold  San  Juan's" Thin  Line" —Seeking 
a  Right  Basis  for  Peace — McKinley  Ways  and  Wilson  Ways — 
The  Philippines  and  Cuba, "  Our  Opportunity  and  Our  Burden." 

XXXII.  "WE'LL  STAND  PAT!"  SAID  HANNA 

McKinley  Had  Made  Good— Prosperity  Reigned  Throughout  the 
Land—"Bet-you-a-Million"  John  W.  Gates  Typified  the 


229 


238 


24I 


245 


251 


Contents 


273 


Spirit  of  the  Day— Big  Effort,  Big  Capita!  and  Big  Results— 
So  McKinley  Got  a  Mandate  from  the  People  "In  the  Interest 
of  Business  Expansion"  as  Hanna  Explained  It. 

XXXIII.  MARK  HANNA — BUSINESS  IN  POLITICS  262 

It  Was  Clean  Business,  However^for  He  Was  not  a  Speculator — 
A  Man  of  Many  Kindly  Dualities  and  a  Loyal  Friend— Sensi- 
tive to  Cartoons — A  "Big  Boss"  but  a  Popular  One — Adrift 
After  McKinley9  s  Death—"' Of  Course  Since  You  Want  It,  I 
Will  Support  It"  He  Telegraphed  Roosevelt  About  His  Nomi- 
nation— Dead  Before  the  Convention  of  1904  Met — Hanna 
and  Bryan  as  Balances. 

XXXIV.  DEPEW — MAN  OF  YEARS  AND  OF  FRIENDS  267 

Everybody  Knows  Channcey  M.  Depew — Why  He  Abandoned 
Saloon  Campaigning— Seven  Decades  Before  the  Public — Chaun- 
cey  "de  Peach" — Supported  for  President  and  Twice  Elected 
Senator — Always  Sottght  as  a  Campaigner* 

XXXV.  BRYAN — A  CAREER  OF  PROTEST 

Two  Pictures  of  the  "Peerless  One"  Thirty  Years  Apart- 
Making  and  Discarding  Issues — Urging  a  Peace  Treaty  in 
Order  to  Have  a  Campaign  Cry — What  Was  His  Motive  in 
1912  ?  A  Tragedy  in  the  State  Department — His  Last  Appeal 
to  His  Party )  and  the  "Boos"  That  Greeted  Him. 

XXXVI.  "T.  R."  291 

His  Real  Interests  Were  Family ?  Country  and  Friends — His 
Last  Ten  Years  Were  Regarded  by  Many  as  His  Greatest — 
Always  Something  Doing  in  the  White  Housey  but  in  One 
Direction  Only — "Don't  Move,  We've  Got  It!"  Exclaimed  John 
Singer  Sargent — Where  Roosevelt  Should  be  Honored  with  a 
Monument — How  He  Found  Money  for  the  Battle-Fleet  Cruise — 
His  Loyalty  to  Friendship—"  Teddy  "  the  Whole  World  Round— 
The  Wide  Circle  of  His  Acquaintances. 

XXXVII.  Two  MEMORIES  OF  ROOSEVELT  305 

Opening  the  San  Juan  Battle^  and  a  Midnight  Conference  That 
Ended  at  Dawn  with  Decision  for  New  Party — Munsey 
Pledges  His  Newspapers  and  His  Fortune — Only  One  Inevitable 
End  at  Chicago — Never  Made  Decisions  for  Expediency's  Sake — 
An  Early  Dream  of  the  White  House — Harrison  Introduces  Him 
as  "Impatient for  Righteousness" — An  Epoch  in  Himself — The 
One  Title  That  in  His  Last  Years  He  Desired. 

XXXVIII.  "MY  LAST  MILE  AS  A  CAMPAIGNER"  319 

When  Roosevelt  Closed  His  Tour  for  Hughes ,  He  Declared  He 
Was  Through  with  Presidential  Stump-Speaking — "I've  Done 


Contents 

My  Bit"  He  Said— Looking  Ahead  to  1920  He  Declared,  "7 
Shall  Not  Be  the  Candidate!  "—His  Conviction  That  He  Would 
Have  a  Hard  Time  Fighting  for  Health  During  His  Early 
Sixties — A  Midnight  Motor  Ride  to  Oyster  Bay. 

XXXIX-  WHEN  ROOSEVELT  SAID  "TAFT"  322 

Loeb  Shows  Him  the  Need  for  Stopping  the  Drift  and  Insuring 
Control  of  the  Convention — Elihu  Root  Thanks  Roosevelt  but 
Declines  to  Be  a  Candidate— Taft,  Surprised,  Says,  "I  Must 
Go  in  and  Thank  Theodore  for  This  " — Why  Roosevelt  Remained 
Silent — Determined  to  Be  an  Effective  President  to  His  Last 
Day — Foraker  Demands  of  the  President  Equal  Respect  for  a 
Senator — "Joe'1  Cannon  Eases  a  Tense  Moment. 

XL.  THE  STRUGGLE  TO  NOMINATE  TAFT  332 

"  J  Cant  Understand  This"  Said  Roosevelt  When  He  Found  His 
Choice  of  Taft  Criticised— "It's  Taft  or  Me!"  He  Finally 
Declared— Cortelyou  Warns  Him  to  Prepare  Himself  for  a 
Different  Life  After  the  Presidency— The  Tap  Brothers,  Eager 
for  Delegates,  Raid  New  York—Roosevelt  Told  He  Will  Have 
Responsibility  Without  Power — Let  the  Party  Pick  Its  Own 
Candidate — The  T of ts  Always  Suspicious  of  Roosevelt — A  Scene 
While  Taft  Was  Being  Nominated. 

XLL  THE  WRONG  ROAD  TO  CINCINNATI  341 

Taft  Detours  to  Oyster  Bay  with  His  Acceptance  Speech — There 
He  Had  His  Last  Intimate  Talk  with  Roosevelt — He  Faced  an 
Issue  and  Stuck  by  Blood— A  Silent  Boycott  of  T.  R.—The 
Acceptance  and  the  Inaugural  Speeches  Were  the  Last  Heard  of 
"Roosevelt  Policies" — Sherman  Replies  That  the  Vice  President 
Is  Not  a  Messenger  Boy — A  Winter  of  Roosevelt  Humiliation 
and  Taft  Silence— Charles  P.  Taft  Makes  an  Effort  to  Get 
Burton  Out  of  the  Senate  and  Himself  In, 

XLIL  "I  HAVE  BEEN  A  CRUSADER  HERE!"  351 

A  Remarkably  Frank  Talk  by  Roosevelt  as  to  His  Course  as 
President—"  There  Was  Crusading  to  Be  Done  and  I  Didn't 
Use  a  Feather  Duster" — "We  Have  Raised  the  Standards" — 
"  The  Country  Has  Had  Enough  of  It  and  of  Me"  and  "Time 
For  a  Man  of  Toffs  Type"— Give  Taft  a  Chance—We  Will 
Have  Four  Years  of  Up-Building. 

XLIIL  A  PRESIDENT  IN  A  PROPHETIC  STORM  355 

Still  "Theodore"  and  "Will"  but  not  the  Same  Old  Ring— 
"  That  Was  a  Fine  Inaugural  Address"  Exclaimed  Roosevelt — 
//  Was  a  Good  Programme  of  Policies,  but  It  Never  Got  Beyond 
Mere  Say-so — Toft's  First  Conference  Was  with  Joe  Cannon 
and  Aldrich — "Carrying  Out  Roosevelt's  Policies"  on  a 


Contents 

Stretcher— Toft  Turns  to  the  Old  Guard— -Every  "Insurgent" 
Marked  for  Discipline—"  I  am  Leaving  That  to  Aldrich" 
Would  be  Taft's  Answer — Canadian  Reciprocity  Made  Party 
Unity  in  Congress  Impossible. 

XLIV.  TAFT'S  ONE  BIG  TRIUMPH  364 

He  Won  "  Decisions  That  Decided"  from  the  Supreme  Court  in 
the  Anti-Trust  Cases — Our  National  Policies  Take  Years  to 
Develop — The  Entire  Supreme  Court  Membership  Changed 
While  the  Sherman  Law  Was  Before  It — Only  Harlan  Stood  by 
the  Government  from  the  First. 

XLV.  WHY  TAFT  DID  NOT  SUCCEED  367 

Two  Reasons  Why  the  Smile  That  Captured  the  Country  Soon 
Lost  Its  Power  to  Persuade — The  Comparison  with  Jatkson*s 
Naming  of  Van  Buren—The  White  House  Had  Lost  Its  Real 
Meaning  to  Taft— Drift,  Drift,  Drift— Tap's  Real  Desire  Was 
for  the  Bench — An  Unusual  Conference  That  Gave  Him  a 
Scotch  Verdict—Trying  to  Help  Jim  Tawney— "  God  Knows" 
Said  Toft  Sympathetically,  but  Others  Took  It  Differently. 

XLVL  CITIZEN  ROOSEVELT  377 

Still  Sees  Himself  Out  of  the  Turmoil  of  Politics— Tells  Me  of 
-  the  Greatest  Battle  of  His  Life  and  How  He  Won  It  in  Africa — 
Frank  Visitors  Rare  at  the  White  House — Root  Said  in  London 
That  Taft  Had  Broken  Down— Roosevelt' s  Royal  Welcome  Home 
— Herbert  Parsons  Uses  a  William  Barnes  Interview  to  Stir 
Roosevelt  to  Action — The  Colonel  Tries  to  Stem  the  Anti- 
Republican  Tide,  and  Names  Toft's  Cabinet  Officer  for  Governor. 

XLVIL  THE  TAFT  BREAK,  AS  TOLD  BY  ROOSEVELT  383 

"Preposterous  to  Believe  I  Would  Want  a  President  to  be 
Merely  a  Pale  Shadow'1 — He  and  Taft  Knew  the  Facts  and  in 
Their  Own  Hearts  Could  Decide— The  Naming  of  Luke  Wright 
— "  Tell  the  Boys  I  Want  to  Continue  AH  of  Them,"  Said  Taft, 
but  All  Were  Dropped— All  That  Roosevelt  Asked  Was  That 
Taft  Should  Satisfy  the  People. 

KLVIIL  "MY  HAT'S  IN  THE  RING!"  386 

The  News  Stirred  the  Deadened  Party  Waters  into  Tempest- 
Tossed  Waves  Through  1912 — Roosevelt's  Early  Refusals  Cost 
Many  Delegates— "Let  Taft  Take  His  Spanking"  Said  the 
Colonel— Taft  Named  Because  "  There's  Nothing  Else  to  Do19 — 
"Gentlemen,  They're  Off!"  Said  Roosevelt— Walter  Brown 
Urges  a  Columbus  Speech  and  Promises  a  Crowd  That  Will 
Tie  Up  the  Trolley  Lines  of  the  City— It  Does  That,  and 
More,  Too. 


Contents 

XLIX.  THAT  COLUMBUS  SPEECH  395 

La  Follette  s  Lieutenants  Sought  to  Edit  the  "Recall  of  Judicial 
Decisions1*  Address^  but  Roosevelt  Stuck  to  the  Lines  of  His 
"Outlook"  Editorial — Nevertheless,  the  Country  Was  Astounded 
and  the  Colonel  Knew  He  Had  Made  a  Mistake — //  Surely 
Tied  Up  More  Than  the  Trolleys  of  Columbus — Roosevelt  Sur- 
prised and  Depressed — A  Campaign  of  Real  Spirit — Where 
Roosevelt  Won — Barnes  and  La  Follette  as  Allies. 

L.  THE  PROGRESSIVE  CONVENTION  404 

Personality,  Plenty  of  //,  Reigned  and  Rejoiced— ~d  "  Call"  or 
a  Platform — Muwsey  Talks  Dieting  to  Roosevelt — Beveridge 
Insists  on  His  Day*  -*'/  Want  to  Be  a  Bull  Moose"— A  Great 
Speech  by  Beveridge-  -*'  We  Stand  at  Armageddon" 

LI.  WAS  1912  A  MISTAKE?  414 

An  Earnest  Purpose^  Even  in  Politics,  Is  Never  a  Mistake — 
An  Endeavor  to  Save  the  Republican  Party  from  Defeat  with 
Toft— No  Other  Thought  Back  of  the  Roosevelt  Movement  Until 
the  Theft  of  Delegates—La  Follette  Would  Not  Dt—Ta/?s 
Weakness,  Not  Roosevelt's  Strength— A  Result  That  Might 
Have  Been  Secured — Norman  Mack's  True  Forecast. 

LIL  GEORGE  PERKINS  AND  FRANK  MUNSEY        '  421 

Two  Men,  New  to  Politics,  Whose  Pledge  Mad$  Possible  the 
Progressive  Contest  of  xgi2—A$  Strange  as  Any  Friendship 
that  Ever  Existed — Perkins  Liked  Politics  and  Kept  Qn>  tut 
Munsey  Sought  to  "Amalgamate "•—• Perkins  Tirtkss  in  Wel- 
fare Work. 

LIIL  ROOSEVELT'S  ONE  PURPOSE;  BEAT  WILSON  426 

Never  Had  Any  Other  Desire  in  /p/<5,  but  His  Name  Stalked 
Through  Republican  Committee  Meeting  Like  Banquo*$  Ghost— 
Sails  for  West  Indies  to  Avoid  Situations-— M^  Poya%t  to 
Trinidad,  and  the  Resulting  Message  to  the  Country  to  Get  into 
an  "Heroic  Mood"— A  Letter  from  Elihu  Root  That  Nf&er 
Got  to  the  Public—T*  R.  Hits  Hard  from  Trinidad—  ffibon 
Wanted  Roosevelt  as  Opponent. 

LIV.  1916 — A  CONTRAST  IN  CONVENTIONS  434 

The  Republican  Gathering  Colorless^  the  ProfffJtiws  Loaded 
with  Pyrotechnics— A  Conference  Committee  That  Knm  It 
Could  Not  Agre*~-Lodff%  Arom^d  Jrom  $tttp>  Piston*  the 
Presidency — Roosevelt  Rtftuts  th$  Progmsiiv  Nomination  &nd 
Centres  His  Efforts  on  D^fff^  &/  fWbo*—TA*  $rww/  ThW  of 
His  Carter. 


Contents 

LV.  HUGHES:  THE  OFFICE  SEEKS  THE  MAN  438 

No  Career  in  American  Politics  Compares  with  That  of  Charles 
E.  Hughes — Never  Sought  Honors,  Never  Asked  Support,  Never 
Expended  a  Dollar  for  a  Nomination — The  Archie  Sanders 
Incident  That  Separated  a  Governor  and  a  President — Hughes 
Would  Never  Use  Patronage  to  Pass  Legislation — Roofs  Ar- 
raignment of  Hear sty  "by  Authority  of  the  President" — A  Can- 
didate Who  Gave  No  Help — Roosevelt  Urged  Hughes  for  Governor 
in  1908 — Some  New  Facts  About  Hughes  and  Roosevelt  in  the 
Struggle  for  Direct  Primaries, 

LVI.  A  SURPRISED  AND  SILENT  JURIST  446 

Though  Lost  to  the  World  of  Politics  for  Six  Years.,  Hughes 
Was  Found  and  Made  a  Candidate  for  President — He  Knew 
Politicians  Did  Not  Like  His  Ways— His  Real  Desire  Was  to 
Return  to  His  Law  Practice — Finally,  Allowed  Fate  to  Take 
Its  Course — His  Campaign  for  Election  Was  Emphatically  His 
Own — Crocker,  Not  Johnson,  Responsible  for  Loss  of  California. 

LVIL  How  WILL  HAYS  BECAME  NATIONAL  CHAIRMAN    460 
LVIIL  WHEN  ACQUAINTANCE,  NOT  ISSUES,  WON  463 

The  1920  Convention  Had  Many  "Ifs"  to  It  but  Harding* s 
Acquaintances  Carried  the  Day — Hiram  Johnson  Refuses  to  Go 
on  Ticket — Oregon  Interrupts  the  Lenroot  Boom  with  Calls  for 
Coolidge,  and  Delegates  Insist  upon  Naming  Him  for  Vice 
President. 

LIX.  "DON'T  LET'S  CHEAT  'EM!"  470 

Harding  Always  Anxious  to  Tell  the  Whole  Story  in  His 
Speeches — My  Visit  to  Harding* s  Home  Town  and  a  Breakfast 
Prepared  by  a  Statesman — A  Last  Talk  with  Harding  Before 
He  Left  for  the  West—1'  You've  a  Better  Job  Than  I  Have"-— He 
Was  "Warren"  to  the  Whole  Town—Fighting  Illness  to  Do 
His  Duty— "It  Must  Not  Be  Again!  God  Grant  It  Will  Not 
Bel" — His  Last  Act  Was  to  Gain  an  8-Hour  Day  for  Iron  and 
Steel  Workers — A  Pine  Record  Through  the  Chaos  of  War* 

LX.  WHO  Knew  WOODROW  WILSON?  480 

No  One  Convinces  Others  That  He  Knew  Him — A  Many-sided 
Man — Would  Never  Get  Anywhere  if  He  Listened  to  Suggestion 
— No  Use  for  Cabinet  or  Senators — Write  and  Wait  for  Your 
Typewritten  Answer — A  Solitary  Figure,  Battling  Alone — The 
Schoolmaster  Sure  Enough. 

LXL  SAW  HIMSELF  THE  WORLD'S  ARBITER  488 

Wilson  Sure  at  First  That  He  Was  to  be  Arbiter  of  the  World 


Contents 

War— Other  Methods  Would  Have  Brought  Us  into  the  League 
of  Nations — An  Amazing  Secret  Agreement  "Probably"  to  Go 
to  War — "  You  Know  My  Mind  and  How  to  Interpret  It"  He 
Told  House — Kitchener's  Words  "Worth  Serious  Considera- 
tion"— "We*er  Just  Backing  into  War"  Said  Senator  Stone 
— Wilson's  Liking  for  "/j" — "How  Far  from  Paris  to  Ver- 
sailles? "  Asked  Senator  Martin, 

LXIL  THE  "WILSON  OF  PARIS"  504 

Amidst  the  Premiers  of  the  World  He  Was  Acquiescent  and 
Treated  Them  as  Equals— '"If  We  Could  Only  Bring  This 
Wilson  Back  Home  with  Us!"— But  Wilson  of  Paris  Could 
Not  Cross  the  Atlantic— His  Silent  Break  with  House—Was 
House  a  Sage?  A  Myth?  A  Sven%ali?—Qne  or  All?— Men 
Too  Keen  to  Be  Wrong  Sought  House  as  the  Real  Power. 

LXIII.  THE  EFFORT  FOR  "A  SOLEMN  REFERENDUM"          512 

Wilson  Was  Determined  to  Make  the  Senate  Yield  or  Force  an 
Issue  in  the  lp2Q  Elections  with  Himself  as  the  Candidate— 
Kellogg' s  Ofer  to  Ratify  Goes  Unheeded—The  Twelvemonth 
that  Marked  the  Highest  and  Lowest  Levels  of  Wilson's  For- 
tunes— Colby,  Buries  on  and  Daniels  Worked  for  Wilson's  Nom- 
ination— Colby's  "Mingled  Feelings"  Returning  to  Washing- 
ton—Wilson Said;  "We  Would  Have  Gotten  That  League 
Through  Had  My  Health  Been  Spared—It  Is  God's  Way  and 
He  Knows  Best." 

LXIV.  DAWES — POLITICIAN  AND  BANKER  520 

LXV.  BORAH — INDIVIDUALIST  524 

LXVI.  CALVIN  COOLIDGE  519 

LXVIL  THE  " INABILITY*'  OF  OUR  PRESIDENTS  539 

Who  Is  to  Determine  that  the  Chief  Executive  Is  Incapacitated? 
— Only  Eight  Years  Since  Pice  President  Marshall  Might 
Have  Taken  Over  the  Presidency-™*  Several  Other  Instances  that 
Have  Led  to  Repeated  but  Unheeded  Wamings-~Wi/son's  Col- 
lapse Meant  a  Bedside  Government— The  Timid  Wsit  qf  Stn- 
ators  to  the  White  House  to  See  for  Themselves. 

LXVIII.  "FIGHTING  BOB"  LA  FOLLETTE  548 

The  Czar  of  His  State  and  Spokesman  for  More  Than  4^000  £00 
Voters  in  the  Nation— He  Had  Much  to  Give  the  Country,  but 
He  Failed  Because  He  Would  Not  Do  Team  Work—It  fain 
Johnson  in  California  Won  and  Hold*  If  is  State  &r  La  Fottettt 
Held  Wisconsin. 


INDEX 


555 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

I:<THE  DREAMLAND  OF  OTHER  DAYS"  Frontispiece 

"THE  WIGWAM" — WHERE  LINCOLN  WAS  NOMINATED 
IN  1860  Facing  p.  8 

THE  THINNING  LINE  OF  ZOUAVES  IN  THEIR  "WOOLEN 
TOGS"  "  8 

YEP,  BRYAN'S  GOING  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO!  Page    n 

"VOTE  As  You  SHOT!"  "      50 

CONKLING,    THE    TEMPTER.       "OH,    LET    HIM    HAVE 

PEACE,"  SAID  PUCK  Facing  p.    60 

A  GRANT  MEMO — FORCED  BY  PAIN  TO  CONVERSATION 
BY  WRITING  "  60 

AND  THEY  SAY  HE  WANTS  A  THIRD  TERM!  Page    67 

TILDEN  AND  His  BAR'L  "79 

ELAINE  AND  EVARTS  FIND  THAT  HAYES  DOES  NOT 
LIKE  THE  SHIRT  Facing  p.  80 

THE  TELEGRAM  ANNOUNCING  THE  RESULTS  OF  THE 
FIRST  DAY'S  "RESUMPTION"  AT  THE  NEW  YORK 
SUB-TREASURY  Page  86 

ROSCOE  CONKLING'S  "TURKEY  GOBBLER  STRUT"        Facing  p.    96 

A  HISTORIC  CARTOON:  CLEVELAND  AND  ROOSEVELT 

IN  1885  Page  127 

"THE  PLUMED  KNIGHT"  AS  PUCK  SAW  HIM  Facing  p.  128 

THE  ROYAL  FEAST  OF  BELSHAZZAR  BLAINE  AND  THE 
MONEY  KINGS  Page  133 

"THE  SOLID  SOUTH "  "     139 

"You  DIRTY  BOY"  "     142 

No  RETURN  OF  SOUTHERN  FLAGS  Facing  p.  144 

FACSIMILE  OF  CLEVELAND'S  LETTER  TO  "DEAR  CHAR- 
LEY" Page  145 
YES  GRANDFATHER'S  HAT  FITS  BEN — FITS  BEN.  HE 
WEARS  IT  WITH  DIGNIFIED  GRACE,  OH  YES!  So 
RALLY  AGAIN  AND  WE'LL  PUT  UNCLE  BEN  RIGHT 
BACK  IN  His  GRANDFATHER'S  PLACE — CAMPAIGN 
SONG  IN  1888  Facing  p.  166 

TOM  REED — CZAR!— LOOKING  DOWN  ON  THE  HOUSE          Page  189 


Illustrations 

"McKiNLEY  AFTER  1890"  Page  235 

IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  ROAD  "    238 

THE  CARES  OF  A  GROWING  FAMILY  SEEN  THROUGH 

"THE  BEE'S"  PROPHESCOPIC  SCOOPOGRAPH  Facing  p.  156 

MlCAWBER-LIKE,  BRYAN  WAS  ALWAYS  LOOKING  FOR 

SOMETHING  TO  TURN  UP  "        272 

"HE'S  GOOD  ENOUGH  FOR  ME"  Page  292 

THE  NEWS  REACHES  BOGOTA  "     297 

THEIR  ONLY  TEAM  WORK  "    313 

THE  PATRIOT'S  RESPONSE!  "  317 
THE  CROWN  PRINCE  Facing  p,  324 

WHY  DON'T  You  SPEAK  FOR  YOURSELF,  JOHN  "        332 

DEE:  LIGHTED:  OR,  THE  RINGMASTER  Page  343 

"UNCLE  JOE"  "    348 

STARTING  ON  A  LONG  JOURNEY  "    358 

TAFT  TURNS  TO  THE  OLD  GUARD  "    360 

"SAY,  Boss,  WHY  DON'T  YER  HUNCH  OVER  A  LITTLE 
TO  DE  ODDER  SIDE?    DEN  DE  MACHINE  WILL  RUN 

BETTER"  "    363 

A  TYPICAL  CARTOON  OF  THE  DAY  "    374 

"THE  CALL  OF  THE  AFRICAN  WILD"  "    378 

"NoT  YET,  BUT  SOON"  "    390 

IN  THE  RING  AFTER  IT  "    396 

THE  OLD  ORDER — THE  LASH  OF  THE  Boss  "    402 

"THE  OPEN  ROAD"  "    406 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  1912!  "    413 

1912 — THE  RETURN  FROM  Moscow  "    416 

A  PAGE  WRITTEN  BY  ROOSEVELT  FOR  ME  AT  TRINI- 
DAD «    431 

A  FINE"  HAUL  FOR  HUGHES  "  458 
THE  SPHINX  AND  THE  CANDIDATES  Pacing  p.  464 
WOODROW  WILSON  IN  CHARACTERISTIC  POSE  WHILE 

SPEAKING  "        480 

BRINGING  IT  HOME  Page  494 

THE  PARADE  TO  PARIS  "    499 

AT  13  "MAV-I-NoTS?"  AN  HOUR  "     502 

CALVIN  COOLIDGE  BEING  SWORN  INTO  OFFICE  AS 
PRESIDENT  Facing  p.  532 


FOREWORD 

reminiscences  are  not  an  attempt  to  write  history 
or  to  make  revelations.  History  is  for  other  pens  than 
mine,  and  revelations  for  those  who  may  feel  justified  in  mak- 
ing them.  The  confidences  reposed  in  me  remain  confidences 
despite  the  lapse  of  time,  and  the  passing  on  of  the  men  chiefly 
concerned.  Those  that  possess  lasting  value  will  find  their 
way  into  the  political  annals  of  the  country  through  other 
persons  authorized  and  competent  to  present  them.  The  rest 
will  be  no  loss  except  to  the  curious. 

The  reader  is  on  notice,  therefore,  that  As  I  Knew  Them 
is  just  a  review  of  the  period  from  Grant  to  Coolidge  based 
upon  the  writer's  impressions  as  he  has  moved  along  with  the 
years.  It  has  the  limits  of  one  man's  observations  and  the 
fault  of  human  prejudices. 

At  least  twice  during  the  writing  I  would  have  abandoned 
the  task  were  I  not  held  to  it  by  my  belief  that  we  should  not 
live  wholly  in  the  present,  that  we  should  not  drop  out  of 
mind  the  men  who  in  other  years  played  an  important  part 
in  the  development  of  our  nation,  each  according  to  his  light. 
I  have  endeavored  to  recall  and  interpret  some  of  those  men. 

Half  a  century  is  a  long  span, — too  long  to  do  more  in  one 
volume  than  touch  the  "high  spots"  and  give  them  your  indi- 
vidual interpretation  for  whatever  it  may  be  worth. 

I  have  found  that  memory  plays  queer  pranks.  Men  and 
events  familiar  to  me  in  my  early  'newspaper  career,  then 
seemingly  destined  to  endure  as  important  and  historic  figures, 
now  come  to  mind  in  dim,  shadowy  outline. 

Age-yellowed  newspaper  files,  old  pictorial  weeklies  with 
their  savage  cartoons,  back-shelf  books  with  their  half-for- 
gotten stories  of  other  days  have  acted  like  great  sounding- 
boards  hurling  back  at  me  voices  long  silent — the  well- 
remembered  tones,  the  dramatic  gestures,  the  fervor  of  men 
whose  sturdy  partisanship  excited  multitudes. 

"Swinging  'round  the  circle"  with  candidates  for  President 
or  Governor,  studying  the  tumult  of  conventions  for  the  one 


Foreword 

real  note,  trailing  political  "spellbinders"  to  estimate  their 
influence  on  voters  of  different  localities,  listening  to  the 
ambitions  of  the  "ins"  and  the  pleas  of  the  "outs" — what  a 
picture  is  recalled  as  your  mind  turns  toward  such  a  panorama 
of  the  past!  It  would  be  a  masterpiece  if  one  could  paint  it 
on  canvas  or  put  it  in  words  that  would  adequately  describe  it. 

Many  of  the  men  of  whom  I  write  lived  in  a  period  of 
tense  feeling  and  strenuous  pioneer  effort,  and  their  judgments 
took  on  the  deep  color  of  their  time.  We  must  keep  that 
fact  in  mind  as  we  consider  their  careers  and  their  utterances. 
Until  Roosevelt  entered  the  White  House,  every  President 
since  Lincoln,  except  Cleveland,  had  served  in  the  Civil  War. 
Almost  down  to  Roosevelt's  day,  also,  most  of  the  leaders  in 
one  or  the  other  House  of  Congress,  if  not  in  both  Houses, 
had  worn  the  Blue  or  the  Gray  in  the  fierce  struggle  of  the 
two  sections. 

Their  places  in  the  councils  of  the  nation  are  now  held  by 
their  sons  and  grandsons,  and  the  gracious  hand  of  Time, 
smoothing  out  the  passionate  lines  of  civil  war,  long  ago 
extended  its  beneficent  influence  over  a  north,  south,  east  and 
west  that  rejoice  in  one  loyalty  to  our  common  country,  in 
one  hope  for  a  common  destiny* 

Only  to  those  who,  like  myself,  have  lived  through  that  era 
can  the  reality  of  a  nation  unified  by  the  blood  of  its  men  and 
the  silent  heroism  of  its  women  appear  so  truly  like  a  glorious 
vision  of  triumphant  sacrifice, 

My  newspaper  career  kept  me  in  the  thick  of  events,  among 
those  who  had  much  to  do  with  this  achievement,  and  1  am 
led  to  the  opinions  I  express  and  to  the  picture  I  have  in  mind 
of  the  future  of  our  country  by  all  1  have  seen  and  heard, 

As  quickly  as  stage  hands  shift  the  scenery  for  another  act, 
and  with  the  same  definite  result,  the  World  War  made  our 
own  conflict  and  its  fading  prejudices  seem  as  remote  as  though 
a  century  had  elapsed*  The  curtain  rose  on  a  new  scene- — 
with  its  own  problems,  its  own  perils,  and  its  own  command- 
ing figures.  Those  new  figures  are  to  play  roles  as  decisive  in 


Foreword 

our  nation's  destiny  as  were  the  roles  played  so  well  by  others 
in  days  gone  by — but  henceforth  the  world  is  the  stage  on 
which  they  must  appear. 

Our  isolation  in  the  Western  Hemisphere  has  made  it  pos- 
sible for  us  to  build  a  nation  in  our  own  way;  we  have  needed 
no  alliances,  and  our  spirit  has  been  against  bargainings  and 
intrigue.  Our  motives  have  always  been  written  on  open 
pages  for  the  whole  world  to  read.  We  must  not  abandon 
that  wise  policy,  but  that  does  not  mean  that  we  should  go 
through  this  world  heedless  of  other  peoples.  I  see  nt  peril 
more  dangerous  to  us  than  the  delusion  that  there  is  greatness 
in  loneliness.  No  nation,  no  individual,  standing  alone  is 
great,  or  remains  powerful  for  long.  It  can  satisfy  only  its 
own  selfishness,  and  selfishness  breeds  its  own  inescapable 
penalties. 

America  can  no  longer  live  within  its  continental  bounda- 
ries, or  merely  pick  and  choose  when,  where  and  how  it  shall 
go  outside  of  them. 

Now  and  hereafter  we  must  think  and  act  in  world  terms. 
New  tests  as  a  nation  are  ahead  of  us.  Strive  as  we  may  to 
turn  back  the  currents  now  flowing  so  swiftly  and  persistently 
across  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  carrying  problems  of  other 
peoples  to  our  shores,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  prevail  against 
them  more  than  we  prevail  against  the  tides  of  the  two  oceans. 

The  America  of  today  has  responsibilities  that  if  met  with 
proper  spirit  will  be  the  glory  of  the  America  of  to-morrow. 

We  face  an  era  in  which  example  and  intimacy  are  to  be  the 
potent  influences  for  better  understanding.  A  more  candid, 
more  dependable  force  than  statesmanship  is  bringing  the 
nations  of  the  world  into  relations  more  secure  than  written 
treaties — the  force  of  the  airplane,  the  wireless,  the  radio 
and  travel.  The  great  beacon  lights  that  now  illumine  the 
path  to  safety  on  landing  fields  are  destined  to  displace  the 
camp-fires  of  contending  armies  and  the  cheers  of  welcoming 
multitudes  everywhere  give  more  promise  of  peace  everlasting 
than  any  roar  of  cannon  the  world  has  ever  heard. 


Foreword 

Commander  Richard  E.  Byrd's  flight  across  the  Atlantic  in 
June,  1927,  had,  I  firmly  believe,  no  incident  more  significant 
than  the  reply  of  the  lighthouse  keeper  on  the  coast  of  France 
when  thanked  for  having  sheltered  the  wrecked  crew  until 
dawn.  He  said  he  desired  no  thanks;  he  did  it  because  of 
his  affection  for  America ! 

Wealth  and  power  have  come  to  us  in  appalling  and  peril- 
ous abundance.  Their  safety  to  us,  their  real  value, -lies  in 
the  use  we  make  of  them.  How  are  we  to  use  them? 

To*make  America  envied?    Feared? 

I  hope  not. 

The  America  that  I  have  known  for  more  than  threescore 
years,  if  it  is  to  be  true  to  the  conception  of  its  founders, 
must  be  zealous  for,  a  kindlier,  more  lasting  place  in  the 
world  than  riches  can  purchase  or  power  command.  Other 
nations,  once  wealthy  and  powerful,  have  been  envied  and 
feared — and  have  perished.  No  nation  of  all  the  past  down 
to  our  own  times  has  put  righteousness  above  covetousness  in 
dealing  with  others  less  strong.  America,  giant  America, 
must  do  that. 

Two  years  ago  I  toured  the  world.  Everywhere — in 
Europe,  Japan,  China,  India,  Africa — I  met  the  inquiry,  What 
is  it  about  America  that  makes  it  possible  for  so  many  of  its 
people  to  be  happy  and  prosperous?  Who  rules  so  wisely 
and  so  kindly? 

My  answer  was,  just  the  people  themselves, 

In  every  country  I  visited  there  were  emperor's  palaces 
and  castles,  as  well  as  forts,  soldiers  and  battleships  as  sym- 
bols of  might  and  of  the  right  of  might  to  decide  the  fate  of 
peoples.  It  was  impossible  to  make  others  understand  why  it 
was  different  with  us — why  the  calm  and  simplicity  of  a  log 
cabin  in  Kentucky  and  of  a  modest  country  house  among  the 
oaks  and  poplars  of  Mount  Vernon  inspired  and  held  the 
loyalty  of  more  than  a  hundred  million  people. 

When  men  and  women  told  me  of  the  America  they  had 
in  mind  and  of  their  intense  desire  to  see  it  and  become  part 


Foreword 

of  it,  their  faces  glowed  as  though  thrilled  by  the  thought  that 
there  really  is  a  land  where  opportunity  awaits  effort,  and 
content  is  possible  to  every  man. 

uShow  us  the  way!"  is  the  world-wide  appeal  "Show  us 
the  way!" 

We  must  respond.  America  must  not  become  merely  an- 
other nation  patterned  after  so  many  that  have  been  deaf  to 
that  human  cry,  and  whose  power  has  served  only  the  vanity 
and  greed  of  ambitious  rulers.  We  have  not  yet  responded. 
Unfortunately,  today  the  voice  of  America  is  regarded  by 
the  world  as  the  voice  of  a  critic,  not  of  a  friend,  as  the  voice 
of  a  nation  made  pretentious  and  superior  by  sudden  wealth. 

I  could  not  reply  to  the  charge  frequently  made  in  my 
hearing  in  Europe  last  summer  that  in  the  past  seven  years 
our  country  had  contributed  too  little  to  those  finer  sentiments 
that  must  prevail  among  nations  if  peace  on  earth  is  to  abide. 

Our  gold  is  all  we  have  offered  other  peoples  burdened  with 
war's  terrific  sacrifices.  Gold  has  its  necessary  uses,  but 
our  failure  to  offer  with  it  that  "one  touch  of  nature  that 
makes  the  whole  world  kin"  seems  to  be  putting  us  in  the  atti- 
tude of  a  nation  having  all  the  callousness  of  great  wealth  to 
the  fate  of  others.  That,  of  course,  is  not  the  real  America — 
the  America  that  Americans  know.  It  must  not  be  the  America 
that  the  world  knows. 

In  our  day  of  strength,  America  needs,  above  all,  to  be 
humble.  I  cannot  help  recalling  the  prayer  uttered  by  Mc- 
Kinley's  mother  the  night  he  left  his  home  in  Canton,  Ohio, 
for  Washington  to  be  inaugurated  President:  "I  prayed  God 
to  keep  my  boy  humble!"  That  should  be  the  prayer  and 
the  hope  of  every  American — keep  us  as  a  nation  humble, 
keep  us  in  sympathy  with  every  effort,  wherever  made,  how- 
ever feeble,  to  put  into  every  life  the  inspiration  of  oppor- 
tunity, the  hope  of  a  better  day. 

I  would  have  America,  my  America,  endure  by  right  rather 
than  perish,  as  other  nations  have  perished,  by  reliance  upon 
might. 


Foreword 

I  would  have  "the  light  that  never  was  on  land  or  seaM 
shine  round  the  world  from  our  shores  like  a  blazing  beacon 
from  a  mountain  top. 

I  would  have  America  neither  feared  nor  envied  for  its 
power  or  its  wealth,  but  loved  because  its  power  is  the  moral 
power  of  fine  purpose,  because  its  wealth  is  the  wealth  of  a 
helpful,  understanding  bond  underwriting  the  brotherhood  of 
man,  because  its  example  is  the  example  of  a  nation  dedicated 
with  genuine,  passionate  devotion  to  those  principles  that 
place  the  welfare  of  the  many  above  privilege  for  the  few,  thus 
providing  a  firm  foundation  upon  which  to  rest  human  hopes. 

Who  cannot  look  with  pride  and  hope  to  such  a  future  for 
our  America  when  a  great  military  commander  like  Grant 
could  write  as  President  in  his  last  message  to  Congress : 

"Rather  do  I  believe  that  our  Great  Maker  is  preparing  the 
world  in  His  own  good  time  to  become  one  nation,  speaking  one 
language  and  when  armies  and  navies  will  no  longer  he  required," 

Or,  when  we  read  Roosevelt's  words : 

"We  here  in  America  hold  in  our  hands  the  hope  of  the  world, 
the  fate  of  the  coming  years/' 

Or  these  words  from  Woodrow  Wilson  ; 

"We  are  done  with  provincialism  and  we  have  got  to  have  a 
view  now  and  a  horizon  as  wide  as  the  world  itself.  America  has 
a  great  cause  which  is  not  confined  to  the  American  continent.  It 
Is  the  cause  of  humanity  itself*" 

Or,  finally,  these  words  from  Calvin  Coolidge : 

"We  are  not  going  to  be  able  to  avoid  meeting  the  world  and 
bearing  our  part  of  the  burdens  of  the  world.  1  desire  my  country 
to  meet  them  without  evasion  and  without  fear,  in  an  upright, 
downright,  square  American  way," 

Our  past  justifies  such  a  future;  more,  it  demands  it-  It  Is 
a  trust  bequeathed  us  by  the  men  who  founded  as  well  as  by 
those  who  developed  the  nation  now  become  so  great*  Their 


Foreword 

careers  and  their  sacrifices  reveal  their  determination  to  build 
an  America  that  would  seek  its  strength  in  the  welfare  of  Its 
people,  demanding  nothing  from  other  nations  but  respect 
and  nothing  from  its  citizens  but  loyalty. 

That  was  the  moving  spirit  back  of  the  men  of  '76,  when 
they  pledged  "to  each  other  our  lives,  our  fortunes  and  our 
sacred  honor" — of  the  men  of  J6i,  and  finally  of  the  men  of 
the  marvellous  period  since  '65  about  whom  I  write. 

With  weaknesses  and  mistakes  that  prejudice  may  exag- 
gerate or  favor  modify,  the  leaders  whose  achievements  are 
the  nation's  history  gave  their  best  to  public  service.  They  led 
no  armies  in  a  tyrant's  cause,  they  sought  no  victories  but  those 
of  peace  and  justice;  though  their  opinions  differed  widely 
and  intensely,  they  struck  a  common  chord  and  found  com- 
mon ground  in  their  patriotic  endeavor  to  further  the  aspira- 
tions of  their  country, 

The  story  of  their  careers  is  inspiring — not  the  less  so  be- 
cause you  may  have  only  condemnation  for  the  policies, 
methods  and  personality  of  one  or  the  other.  A  study  of  both 
sides — particularly  of  the  side  with  which  you  have  less  sym- 
pathy— always  leads  to  better  understanding.  It  is  the- whole, 
and  not  a  part,  that  counts. 

I  realize  that  these  pages  are  a  too  brief  summary  of  a  half 
century  that  has  no  equal  in  world  history,  but  if  they  should 
persuade  the  reader  to  seek  to  know  more  intimately  the  men 
who  have  shaped,  as  well  as  some  who  are  still  shaping,  our 
nation's  destinies,  I  shall  feel  repaid  for  my  effort 

In  confirming  my  recollections,  and  particularly  in  the  in- 
terpretation of  recent  events,  I  have  had  the  generous  aid  of 
many  associates  in  my  newspaper  work  of  earlier  days. 
Friends  in  public  life  have  also  cooperated.  To  each  and  all 
of  them  I  herewith  make  grateful  acknowledgment  Sherwin 
Lawrence  Cook,  of  Boston,  and  George  L.  Edmunds  gave  me 
the  benefit  of  research,  for  which  I  am  thankful.  The  staffs 
of  the  New  York  Public  Library  and  the  New  York  Society 
Library,  have  also  been  invaluable  aids,  particularly  Mr. 


Foreword 

Frank  Weitenkampf.  My  secretary  through  thirty  years, 
Mrs.  S.  C.  Rosensweig,  has  as  always  loyally  carried  the  bur- 
den of  detail. 

The  standard  reference  books  and  histories  covering  the 
period  have  been  freely  consulted  too.  Even  those  silent  re- 
positories of  fact,  however,  cannot  deprive  memory  of  its 
license  to  wander  far  afield  now  and  then.  I  ask  the  reader, 
therefore,  to  accept  these  pages  not  as  an  authenticated  record 
of  the  times,  but  merely  as  the  impressions  of  an  observer 
travelling  the  great  highway. 


May  fair  House 

New  York  City,  1927. 


AS    I    KNEW    THEM 


AS  I  KNEW  THEM 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  DREAMLAND  OF  OTHER  DAYS 

"You  Have  Been  Coming  Here  Longer  Than  Any  Man  I  Know" — A 
Boy's  Vision  of  His  Future — Printer,  Proof-reader  and  Reporter — 
The  Country  Weekly  and  Its  Place  of  Confidence — Chance  Makes 
Opportunity  to  Cover  Half  a  Century  of  Politics. 

"M"R"  STODDARD>"  said  Irwin  Hood  Hoover,  Chief 
•**  Usher  at  the  White  House,  as  I  entered  it  one  after- 
noon in  response  to  President  Coolidge's  invitation  to 
luncheon,  "you  have  been  coming  here  longer  than  any  man  I 
know,  and  I  have  been  here  since  Harrison's  inauguration." 

Hoover's  words  startled  me. 

"Is  it  as  bad  as  that?"  I  asked. 

"Yes,"  he  replied,  "that's  about  right." 


how  noiseless  falls  the  foot  of  Time ! 


A  few  hours  later,  on  the  Congressional  Limited  out  of 
Washington,  a  former  United  States  Senator,  a  Congressman 
and  I  drifted  into  discussion  of  the  Presidents  since  Lincoln 
each  of  us  had  personally  known;  we  endeavored  to  agree  on 
which  of  them  had  grown  while  in  office  and  which  had  not. 
We  differed  widely  in  opinion  at  the  outset,  but  before  the 
journey  to  New  York  City  was  over  we  found  ourselves  not 
far  apart;  partisan  and  personal  prejudice  gave  way,  slowly 
but  steadily. 

That  train  talk,  and  Hoover's  reminder  of  the  flight  of 
years,  are  responsible  for  this  book. 

My  mind  thus  started  on  its  wandering  went  back  to  the 
time  almost  half  a  century  ago  when,  as  political  correspond- 
ent of  the  Philadelphia  Press,  in  the  field  and  also  at  Wash- 
ington, I  had  my  earliest  contact  with  national  party  leaders. 


As  I  Knew  Them 

This  intimacy,  begun  in  1884,  has  never  ceased  In  the  presi- 
dential campaign  of  that  year  I  had  my  first  political  assign- 
ments of  importance.  I  was  sent  to  Buffalo  to  look  into 
Grover  Cleveland's  early  career;  that  task  accomplished  I 
was  assigned  to  travel  with  James  G.  Elaine,  and  the  closing 
weeks  of  the  campaign  I  spent  at  Republican  national  head- 
quarters in  New  York  City. 

In  the  years  from  that  day  to  the  present,  I  have  met  either 
casually  or  on  closer  terms  every  President  since  Andrew  John- 
son except  Garfield,  as  well  as  most  of  the  national  leaders  of 
both  political  parties,  especially  those  in  the  East. 

THE   COUNTRY  PRINT  SHOP 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  at  the  outset  to  write  briefly 
of  myself  and  to  say  that  I  began  my  career,  if  such  it  may 
be  called,  as  a  typesetter  on  the  New  York  Tribune.  I  have 
no  recollection  of  any  other  desire  than  to  be  a  printer,  re- 
porter and  editor.  It  was  the  one  ambition  of  my  boyhood 
and  it  has  remained  my  one  ambition  through  life.  No  public 
office  has  ever  held  the  fascination  for  me  that  an  editor's 
desk  possesses,  no  work  has  had  the  thrill  of  a  newspaper 
correspondent's  duties  "covering"  a  great  event. 

In  boyhood,  my  vacations  from  the  public  schools  of  New 
York  City  were  often  spent  in  Hudson,  Columbia  County, 
New  York,  where  my  grandfather's  little  printing  shop  on  the 
main  street  was  to  me  the  most  interesting  place  in  the  world. 
In  1778,  now  150  years  ago,  my  grandfather,  four  genera- 
tions back,  had  trekked  over  the  Connecticut  border  and  had 
started  the  Hudson  Register,  continuously  published  since 
then,  and  now  a  prosperous  daily.  The  newspaper  was  trans- 
ferred to  other  ownership  years  ago,  but  the  printing  shop 
was  retained. 

In  that  family  printing  shop,  as  a  boy,  I  learned  the  boxes 
of  the  printer's  case — that  is,  the  divisions  out  of  which  each 
letter  of  the  alphabet  is  picked  by  the  typesetter.  All  the  men 

2 


As  I  Knew  Them 

of  four  generations  of  my  family  had  stood  in  their  youth  in 
front  of  the  same  dust-covered  cases,  setting  type  for,  and  pub- 
lishing, a  monthly  magazine  called  the  Rural  Repository,  one 
of  the  earliest  publications  in  the  country  to  be  illustrated. 

Later,  in  the  office  of  the  Eastern  State  Journal,  at  White 
Plains,  New  York,  a  weekly  newspaper  then  owned  by  an 
uncle,  I  undertook  during  school  vacations  to  gather  and 
write  village  news  paragraphs,  to  set  type,  and  to  "feed"  a 
Washington  hand-press. 

Best  of  all,  I  learned  there  the  place  of  confidence  and 
power  held  by  the  country  weekly.  May  it  never  decrease ! 
I  gained  a  respect  for  and  interest  in  those  modest  publica- 
tions that  increases  with  every  year  of  my  life. 

DREAMING  OF  LIFE'S  WORK 

My  keenest  delight  was  to  read  thoroughly  all  the  "ex- 
changes"— that  is,  the  weekly  newspapers  published  in  other 
villages  and  county  seats,  near  and  remote.  When  other  per- 
sons were  too  busy  with  their  own  work  to  be  concerned  about 
my  doings,  I  would  often  sneak  into  the  partitioned  corner 
of  the  composing  room  set  aside  as  the  editor's  sanctum. 

Seated  in  the  editor's  cane-bottomed  swivel  chair,  tilting 
it  far  back,  and  with  my  feet  on  the  desk,  assuming  as  closely 
as  I  could  his  pose  of  serene  and  lordly  ease,  with  country 
weeklies  scattered  thickly  on  the  floor  about  me,  I  would 
dream  dreams  of  editorial  triumphs  that  could  not  have  been 
dreamier  or  more  alluring  had  they  been  wreathed  in  the 
smoke  of  a  favorite  cigar  spiralling  above  one's  head.  Horace 
Greeley  was  not  my  goal.  The  man  who  in  my  mind  had 
the  world  at  his  feet  was  the  editor  of  a  country  weekly! 

Restless  to  get  really  into  newspaper  work,  I  had  no  sooner 
been  graduated  from  Public  School  49  in  New  York  City,  thus 
gaining  the  right  to  enter  the  College  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  than  I  found  a  position  as  a  beginner  in  the  composing 
room  of  the  New  York  Tribune.  Diploma  from  my  school 


As  I  Knew  Them 

in  hand,  I  was  now  eager  to  get  to  the  types  (not  linotypes 
in  those  days).  I  reported  for  work  at  six  o'clock  that  night, 
thrilled  with  ambition  to  win  my  way  some  day  to  the  editor- 
ship of  a  county-seat  newspaper. 

Here  those  imperceptible  currents  that  affect  one's  life 
$eem  to  have  changed  mine.  On  the  Tribune  I  was  soon 
made  a  proof-reader,  and  uteamed-up"  with  dear  kindly  U01d 
Man"  Barlow  of  Horace  Greeley  vintage  and  resemblance.  I 
attribute  my  keen  desire  to  know  public  men  and  to  study 
public  affairs  largely  to  the  fact  that,  night  after  night,  I  read 
with  Barlow  the  proofs  of  Whitelaw  Reid's  editorial  leader, 
Z.  K.  White's  Washington  dispatches,  and  George  W.  Smal- 
ley's  letters  or  cables  from  London.  Cables,  in  those  days, 
came  across  the  Atlantic  as  mere  skeletons  on  which  the  flesh 
of  language  was  hung  in  the  Tribune  office  by  a  jovial  and 
talented  Irishman  named  O'Dwyer. 

I  was  impressed  and  inspired  in  those  proof-reading  days 
by  the  evidences  of  all  that  those  great  writers  seemed  to 
know  of  conditions  and  events,  and  the  important  personages, 
high  in  position,  they  discussed  with  such  intimate  knowledge. 
Could  I  ever  get  to  know  even  a  single  one  of  the  great  men 
they  knew  so  well  ? 

I  made  up  my  mind  to  try — just  how  to  try  I  did  not  know. 

CHANCE,  AS  USUAL,  MAKES  OPPORTUNITY 

Chance  solved  the  problem  for  me  as  It  has  solved  it  for 
so  many.  Ordinarily  one  would  regard  New  York  City  as 
the  place  of  opportunity.  In  a  small  way,  I  happened  to  be 
of  service  to  Charles  Emory  Smith,  then  the  famous  editor 
of  the  Philadelphia  Press*  That  led  to  my  joining  the  staff 
of  that  newspaper,  and  a  year  or  so  later  I  was  able  to  satisfy 
my  longing  to  write  politics  and  mix  with  politicians. 

The  "Press1*  was  then  known  for  its  brilliant  editorial 
staff,  among  whom  were  Dr.  Talcott  Williams,  beloved  as 
UT.  W."  by  all  who  know  him,  and  Bradford  Merrills  in 


As  I  Knew  Them 

recent  years  the  able  editorial  director  of  the  Hearst  news- 
papers. 

Do  not  think  that  I  achieved  the  distinction  of  writing 
politics,  as  I  then  regarded  it  and  still  regard  it,  without 
months  of  uwatchful  waiting."  I  did  not.  The  details  of 
that  wait  for  the  great  event  are  of  no  interest  to  others; 
sufficient  that  at  last,  when  least  expected,  the  day  dawned 
when  I  was  the  proud  and  happy  correspondent  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Press  "in  the  field/'  I  was  assigned  to  interview 
Congressman  Samuel  J.  Randall,  then  the  Democratic 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives ! 

Randall  was  reluctant  to  talk,  but  I  kept  at  him,  finally 
telling  him  it  was  my  first  political  assignment  and  I  did  not 
want  to  fail.  Randall  was  a  high  tariff  Democrat,  and  it  was 
important  to  get  his  opinion  on  pending  legislation.  My 
recollection  is  that  I  got  enough  from  him  to  have  it  regarded 
in  the  office  as  a  "beat" 

"And  so  far — far  into  the  night,"  as  the  talented  Briggs 
puts  it  with  such  intimate  truth  in  his  understanding  cartoons. 


CHAPTER  II 


POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS 

Companionships  and  Friendships  That  Are  Fine  Examples  of  Loyalty — 
No  University  So  Trains  You  To  Know  Your  Own  Levels — How 
Lincoln  Was  Nominated — All  Presidents  Represent  The  Conflict  Of 
Politicians — Clay,  Elaine,  Bryan — The  Stump-Speakers  Silent  Foe 
— Women  And  The  Radio  In  Politics. 


T  T  has  always  seemed  to  me  the  duty  of  newspaper  writers, 
A  whether  correspondents  or  editors,  to  seek  the  men  in 
control  of  government,  or  of  large  enterprises,  and  to  talk 
with  them,  when  possible,  more  or  less  intimately — "off  the 
record,"  as  lawyers  say — the  better  to  understand  and  ap- 
praise their  purposes.  In  such  discussions  you  come  to  know 
the  real  man,  who  is  not  always  so  accurately  reflected  in 
what  you  read  and  hear  of  him. 

In  rny  own  case  I  know  that  meeting  the  responsible  leaders 
of  the  two  political  parties  through  so  many  years  has  been  a 
helpful  experience  and  a  privilege  for  which  I  am  grateful. 
From  them  I  got  a  broad  and  ever  new  outlook  on  the  country 
as  a  whole,  on  the  interplay  of  contending  forces  in  it, — the 
forces  of  business,  of  sentiment  and  of  prejudice  that  merge 
into  the  composite  life  of  the  nation* 

The  companionships  too  have  been  most  enjoyable;  many 
of  them  ripened  into  friendships  which  have  shown  me  inspir- 
ing examples  of  loyalty,  courage  and  honor  among  rivals, 
Out  of  the  passion  and  tumult  of  conventions,  Legislatures 
and  Congress  I  have  learned  to  respect  the  opinions  and 
motives  of  others,  and  to  withhold  judgment  until  certain, 
very  certain,  that  prejudice  is  out  of  mind,  so  far  as  it  may  be 
possible  to  exclude  it. 

6 


As  I  Knew  Them 

LEARNING  TO  MEASURE  OTHERS — AND  YOURSELF 

What  a  schooling  there  is  in  such  an  experience!  It  car- 
ries on  the  lessons  of  the  little  red  schoolhouse  now  dis- 
appearing much  too  rapidly  from  our  countryside, — lessons  in 
those  realities  and  simplicities  of  life  that  give  solid  backing 
to  those  who  will  learn  them.  No  university  so  trains  you  in 
understanding  the  bigness  and  the  littleness  of  others  or  so 
holds  you  at  your  own  proper  level. 

Every  human  instinct — whether  good  or  evil,  courageous 
or  cowardly,  fair  or  false,  selfish  or  unselfish — is  in  action 
when  the  men  of  politics  gather  to  make  party  platforms  and 
to  achieve  individual  ambitions.  The  struggle  to  hold  or  to 
secure  a  hold  on  the  largest  body  of  public  opinion,  to  find 
and  nominate  the  candidate  who  best  expresses  and  typifies 
the  mind  of  the  people,  requires  the  same  resourceful  genius, 
if  it  is  to  succeed,  as  does  the  conduct  of  a  great  industrial 
enterprise — or  even  war. 

From  that  fierce  crucible  flows  ultimately  the  nation's  lead- 
ership in  men  and  policies.  Its  results  are  the  best  evidence 
we  have  of  the  progress  of  the  world,  for  if  government  does 
not  advance  nothing  does. 

Disappointment  with  some  result  in  legislation  or  in  can- 
didates leads  us  at  times  to  denounce  those  in  responsible 
position  and  irritably  to  question  the  wisdom  and  ultimate 
success  of  our  experiment  in  government.  Later,  how  fre- 
quently we  see  with  clearer  vision  and  realize  that,  when 
measures  are  undertaken  on  the  scale  of  a  continent,  the  meet- 
ing of  many  minds  is  a  more  dependable  guide  to  the  coun- 
try's needs  than  the  judgment  of  one  mind,  however  wise  thaf 
mind  may  be, 

HOW  LINCOLN  WAS  NOMINATED 

Take  for  illustration  that  outstanding  example  of  the  work 
of  politicians — the  nomination  in  1860  of  the  crude  and  little- 

7 


As  I  Knew  Them 

known  Abraham  Lincoln  over  the  polished  and  widely-known 
statesman,  William  H.  Seward.  At  the  moment,  the  country 
was  staggered  by  the  news  from  the  Republican  national  con- 
vention. Seward  rejected!  Salmon  P.  Chase  rejected!  Lin- 
coln nominated !  It  seemed  incredible. 

Yet  who  today  would  reverse  the  unexpected  verdict  of 
that  gathering  of  politicians  ? 

Picture  that  historic  convention  assembled  out  in  Chicago 
in  the  flimsy  frame  building  called  "The  Wigwam." 

One  name  easily  led  all  others  as  the  man  to  nominate — 
William  H.  Seward,  former  Governor  of  New  York,  twice- 
chosen  Senator,  the  national  leader,  if  such  there  was  at  the 
time,  of  the  Republican  party.  Talented,  distinguished,  ex- 
perienced in  statesmanship,  he  loomed  a  towering  figure 
among  the  candidates.  Two-thirds  of  the  delegates  were 
claimed  for  him  in  advance. 

Who  will  attempt  to  fathom  the  influence  that  led  those 
politicians  to  turn  from  wealth,  prestige,  and  experience  and 
nominate  a  Lincoln  over  a  Seward?  As  though  inspired  much 
as  the  founders  of  our  Republic  seem  to  have  been,  the  dele- 
gates sensed  in  the  nation's  plight  the  need  of  a  candidate 
who,  to  use  an  expression  then  common,  "belonged"  to  the 
people- 
Has  monarchy  ever  scored  such  a  triumph  for  mankind  as 
democracy  then  scored — as  politicians  scored? 

WE  SHOULD  BE  PROUD  OF  OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Washington  is  the  one  man  ever  chosen  as  our  nation's 
chief  Executive  by  unanimous  consent.  All  of  our  other 
twenty-eight  Presidents  through  a  century-and-a-half  have 
come  to  us  out  of  the  same  conflict  of  politicians  in  caucus  or 
convention  as  did  Lincoln. 

They  represented  different  types  of  citizens,  and  came  from 
different  stations  in  life,  each  reflecting  at  the  moment  the 
keenness  of  the  politician  searching  for  the  man  who  meant 

8 


UTHE   WIGWAM1'— WHERE    LINCOLN    WAS   NOMINATED   IN    i860 


THE  THINNING  LINE   OF  ZOUAVES,   IN  THEIR  "WOOLEN   TOGS"— SEE   PAGE    5* 


As  I  Knew  Them 

to  the  people  just  what  they  had  in  mind.  If  a  mistake  was 
made  it  took  only  four  years  to  correct  it — a  brief  time  in  the 
life  of  a  nation.  This  fluidity  at  the  head  of  our  nation,  this 
changing  point  of  view  with  each  succeeding  President,  gives 
every  element  in  our  national  life  opportunity  to  express  itself. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  an  influence  tending  to  keep  the 
President's  thought  directed  toward  public  opinion. 

Though  not  all  the  men  who  have  occupied  the  White  House 
have  been  of  strong  character  and  purpose,  it  is  an  inspiring 
tribute  to  representative  government  that  as  a  people  we  are 
able  to  say  that  the  highest  ambition  of  every  President  has 
been  to  leave  the  country  better  off  because  he  had  served  it 
Even  James  Buchanan  may  be  so  classed,  though  his  timid 
attitude  during  the  last  year  of  his  term  amounted  almost  to 
surrender  of  national  sovereignty. 

Surely  we  have  reason  to  be  grateful  when  we  contrast  the 
course  of  our  Presidents  with  the  experience  other  nations 
have  had  with  their  rulers.  Not  one  of  the  twenty-nine  we 
have  had  in  150  years  exercised  the  great  power  of  his  office 
with  thought  of  a  personal  dynasty  or  indulged  in  sighs  for 
new  worlds  to  conquer. 

The  nation  made  up  of  thirteen  "original"  States  has 
been  extended  from  the  Alleghenies  to  the  Pacific  coast,  and 
then  beyond.  In  every  instance,  beginning  with  Jefferson,  this 
has  been  done  at  the  urging  of  a  President.  Though  each 
expansion  meant  the  addition  of  an  empire,  territorially,  it 
was  his  country's  greatness,  not  his  own,  that  moved  the  man 
at  the  head  to  action.  Thomas  Jefferson,  faced  as  President 
with  the  responsibility  of  decision,  put  aside  his  earlier  an- 
tagonism to  expansion  and  negotiated  the  "Louisiana  Pur- 
chase." The  territory  embraced  in  the  transfer  was  larger 
than  that  of  any  of  the  Empires  of  Europe,  except  Russia 
and  more  remote  at  the  time  than  any  of  our  ocean  posses- 
sions today;  yet  Jefferson,  rather  than  see  it  forever  under 
foreign  sovereignty,  did  not  hesitate  to  abandon  his  former 
opinions. 

9 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Only  one  President  has  ever  stood  against  expansion. 
Grover  Cleveland  refused  to  permit  Hawaii,  at  its  own  re- 
quest, to  come  under  our  flag;  the  islands  would  not  be  ours 
today  if  his  will  had  prevailed.  Even  Woodrow  Wilson 
bought  the  Virgin  Islands  in  1917. 

CLAY,   BLAINE,   BRYAN 

While  we  have  had  no  imperialists  in  the  White  House,  it 
is  equally  true  that  none  of  the  men  who  finally  became  Presi- 
dent have  represented  only  the  hurrahs  of  the  roadside. 

Alluring  and  deceptive  as  those  hurrahs  always  are  to  am- 
bitious men,  they  have  seldom  melded  down  as  majority  votes 
in  our  Presidential  ballot-box.  The  careers  of  Henry  Clay, 
James  G.  Elaine  and  William  J.  Bryan  are  outstanding 
demonstrations  that  the  path  of  popularity,  when  travelled 
too  rapidly,  does  not  always  lead  to  the  presidential  chair. 

In  his  day,  each  of  those  men  had  a  following  so  loyal  and 
so  enthusiastic  that  it  seemed  to  represent  a  majority  of  the 
people.  Clay  was  the  "Mill-boy  of  the  Slashes,"  Blaine  was 
the  'Tlumed  Knight";  to  his  supporters  Bryan  was  "The 
Peerless  One,"  while  his  opponents  called  him  "The  Boy  Ora- 
tor of  the  Platte."  Those  three  men,  or  their  supporters, 
struggled  through  three  or  four  national  campaigns  for 
nomination  or  election  as  President;  Bryan  was  the  most  suc- 
cessful in  achieving  the  indorsement  of  his  party. 

Accepting  as  valid  Bryan's  statement  that  he  did  not  seek 
to  be  named  in  1912,  the  record  stands  that  he  was  nominated 
on  the  three  occasions  when  he  desired  to  be.  Clay  and  Blaine, 
each  denied  nomination  in  two  or  three  conventions,  suc- 
ceeded in  being  nominated  only  to  be  defeated  in  the  election. 

Yet  no  candidates  ever  had  more  enthusiastic  supporters 
than  had  Clay,  Blaine  and  Bryan;  no  candidates  ever  seemed 
to  develop  in  their  campaigns  greater  evidences  of  popular- 
ity. Bryan  of  course  would  have  been  a  tragedy  in  the  White 
House,  He  came  perilously  near  being  one  as  Secretary  of 

10 


As  I  Knew  Them 

State.     Clay  and  Elaine,  however,  were  statesmen  well  qual- 
ified to  be  at  the  head  of  the  nation. 

THE  WARWICKS  OF  OUR  POLITICS 

Nevertheless  the  Presidency  was  not  for  any  of  them.  The 
fate  that  denied  it  to  them  gave  them  the  consolation  of  deci- 
sive power  with  their  party  to  nominate  others;  in  recog- 
nition of  that  power  each  served  as  Secretary  of  State  in  the 
Cabinet  of  the  President  he  had  named.  Henry  Clay's  sup- 
port made  John  Quincy  Adams  President  in  1825 ;  the  Elaine 
influence  nominated  Garfield  in  1880  and  Harrison  in  1888; 
Bryan  forced  Wilson's  nomination  in  1912.  President-makers 
they  could  be  but  not  Presidents. 


YEP,  BRYAN'S  GOING  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO! 

Clay  is  the  only  man  of  the  three  who  continued  through 
an  entire  term  with  his  President;  also  the  only  one  who  did 
not  oppose  his  chiefs  policies  in  the  subsequent  convention. 
Elaine  contested  Harrison's  nomination  in  1892;  Bryan  was 
elected  delegate  from  Nebraska  in  1920  on  a  platform  op- 
posed to  Wilson's  League  of  Nations. 

BOURKE  COCKRAN'S  WRONG  ESTIMATE 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  "hurrah'*  candidates,  let  me 
recall  to  many  readers  the  Bourke  Cockran  speech  in  the 

II 


As  I  Knew  Them 

1892  Democratic  convention.  1  listened  to  Cockran  when, 
as  spokesman  for  Tammany  Hall,  he  declared  that  if  Cleve- 
land were  made  the  Democratic  candidate  he  could  not  be 
elected,  adding  "He  is  popular  every  day  in  the  year  but  elec- 
tion day." 

That  sentence,  in  a  hectic  speech,  brought  great  applause, 
but  it  was  not  true.  It  should  have  been  reversed. 

Cleveland  never  excited  the  emotional  support  that  char- 
acterizes a  hurrah  campaign.  His  popularity  was  expressed 
silently  in  votes  on  election  day.  In  that  respect  it  was  in 
extreme  contrast  with  the  kind  of  popularity  enjoyed  by  the 
three  men  I  have  just  discussed.  In  his  three  campaigns, 
Cleveland  led  each  time  in  the  popular  vote,  and  twice  had 
an  electoral  college  majority. 

THE  STUMP-SPEAKER'S  SILENT  FOE 

Year  after  year,  as  I  study  election  returns,  I  am  impressed 
more  and  more  by  the  number  of  citizens  who  do  a  lot  of  un- 
influenced home-thinking  before  voting  for  President  or  even 
for  candidates  seeking  far  less  important  offices.  Such  voters 
are  not  so  numerous  as  they  should  be,  but  my  observation 
leads  me  to  believe  that  their  number  is  increasing — and  it 
should. 

The  impassioned  rhetoric  of  the  stump-speaker  loses  much 
of  its  persuasive  power  crossing  the  threshold  of  the  home. 
There  it  faces  the  higher  te$t  of  calm  analysis  and  second 
thought;  there  it  has  to  battle  on  higher  levels  than  the  blare 
of  bands  and  the  emotions  of  the  crowd;  there  in  the  future, 
in  my  opinion,  it  will  have  to  meet  a  foe  of  increasing  poten- 
tiality— the  motives  of  the  family  as  voiced  in  the  quiet  of  the 
fireside  by  wife,  mother  or  daughter. 

Women  are  individual;  they  have  little  of  the  crowd-mind 
such  as  controls  most  men;  at  least  in  public  affairs*  The  bal- 
lot is  yet  too  new  to  women  for  this  independent  thought  to 

12 


As  I  Knew  Them 

be  shown,  but  it  seems  to  me  certain  to  come.  Probably  no 
other  agency  is  hastening  it  so  much  as  the  radio.  That 
marvel  of  the  age  has  taken  the  place  of  the  saloon  and  the 
corner  soap-box  as  the  new  centre  of  political  influence — the 
radio,  in  the  home,  with  the  entire  family  'listening  in."  It 
is  the  keen  rival  of  the  newspaper  and  the  stump-speaker. 

TWO  CONTRASTS  BY  RADIO  IN  1924 

^    In  the  years  ahead  of  us  there  is  going  to  be  developed  in 
Mthis  way  a  asilent"  vote  much  more  numerous  than  heretofore 
/and  more  difficult  to  analyze  in  advance;  more  remote  from 
V  corruption,  from  demagogy  and  partisan  control.     Two  ex- 
^amples  may  be  cited  to  substantiate  this  prophecy.     In  both 
instances  a  definite  influence  was  exerted  that  would  have  been 
I  impossible  by  any  other  means. 

The  first  was  the  radio  report  of  the  Democratic  national 
convention  in  Madison  Square  Garden  in  1924.  More  than  a 
million  people  ''listened  in"  on  those  proceedings  day  after 
day.  No  newspaper  could  have  reported  them,  no  orator 
could  have  reviewed  them,  in  the  realistic  way  the  radio  car- 
ried them  into  so  many  homes. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  dwell  upon  the  effect  on  the 

^Democratic  party.    Its  disastrous  consequences  are  conceded. 

/vHad  John  W.  Davis  possessed  the  popularity  of  a  Wilson 

^and  a  Roosevelt  combined  he  could  not  have  overcome  the 

* A  blighting  effects  of  that  convention;  his  election  was  never  a 

possibility. 

In  contrast  was  the  influence  of  the  radio  report  of  Presi- 
dent Coolidge's  address  the  night  before  election  in  that  same 
^""1924  campaign.     The  "hook-up"  carried  his  voice  to  every 
^voter  who  had  a  radio  receiver.    It  is  impossible  to  estimate 
Phow  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  heard  him  as  he 
C*  dwelt  on  the  patriotism  of  voting,  never  once  referring  to 
^•his  own  candidacy,  finally  bidding  the  folks  good  night,  "in- 
cluding my  father,  up  on  the  Vermont  farm,  'listening  in'." 


As  I  Knew  Them 

That  radio  speech  made  votes  for  Coolidge,  everywhere, 
In  one  campaign,  therefore,  we  have  two  instances  of  decisive 
radio  influence  that  nothing  else  could  have  equalled.  The 
people  heard  for  themselves  and  acted  on  their  own 
impressions. 

Often  enough  to  be  accepted  as  a  factor  this  "silent"  vote 
emerges  from  the  ballot-box  as  the  surprising  feature  of  the 
election.  It  rarely  goes  to  the  seemingly  "popular  man."  I 
regard  it  even  now  as  a  stabilizing  influence  in  our  politics.  It 
is  a  menace  to  every  party  machine  that  becomes  defiant  with 
power  and  also  a  challenge  to  too  hasty  progress  with  new 
policies  even  in  the  right  direction.  It  wants  no  short-cut  to 
the  millennium.  It  prefers  time  to  think  while  on  the  way. 

FASSETT  THOUGHT  HE  COULD  DEFY  IT 

Many  a  candidate  has  missed  nomination  in  convention  be- 
cause party  leaders  .were  fearful  that  by  reason  of  his  extreme 
views  he  could  not  command  that  "silent"  vote;  often  candi- 
dates have  been  amazed  when  receiving  election  returns,  to 
discover  that  the  voice  unheard  in  the  campaign  speaks  loud- 
est on  election  day.  It  is  the  voice  of  those  who  have  thought 
things  out  with  their  own  best  selves. 

I  remember  when  in  1891,  J.  Sloat  Fassett,  of  Elmira, 
New  York,  a  State  Senator  and  Congressman  several  terms, 
demanded  of  Boss  Thomas  C.  Platt  that  he  be  nominated  for 
Governor.  Fassett  would  have  made  an  excellent  Governor. 
He  was  eloquent,  able,  and  experienced  in  public  affairs,  but 
he  was  known  as  a  Platt  lieutenant;  indeed,  the  personal  rela- 
tions between  the  two  men  were  almost  as  close  as  father  and 
son.  Platt  demurred.  He  said  to  Fassett  in  my  presence  at 
Rochester  as  the  convention  assembled;  "You're  too  close  to 
me,  Sloat  They  call  me  a  boss  and  the  people  opposed  to  me 
as  a  party  boss  would  be  opposed  to  you.  There  are  too  many 
voters  of  that  kind  for  you  to  risk  it  this  year.  Better  wait 
for  an  issue." 

14 


As  I  Knew  Them 

The  ambitious  Fassett,  however,  remained  unconvinced,  so 
Platt  let  him  have  his  way.  He  ran  against  Roswell  P.  Flower 
and  was  beaten  by  the  "silent"  vote  from  the  homes  in  the 
rural  districts. 


CHAPTER  111 

THE  "SWINGS"  OF  A  CAMPAIGN 

Fortune  Moves  Backiuard  And  Forward  Before  Election — Candidates 
Deluded  by  Hurrahs — Blaming  Others  For  Their  Defeat — The  Sher- 
man-Alt? er  Rivalry  To  "Persuade"  Southern  Delegates — Many  Pri- 
maries Are  A  Contest  Of  Pocket  Books — Every  No7?ri?iee  In  A  Primary 
Peels  He  Is  His  Own  Party  Platform. 

T  ALWAYS  study  with  keen  interest  the  "swings"  of  a  cani- 
•*•  paign.  In  almost  every  contest  there  are  currents  of 
opinion  that  can  be  definitely  charted  as  they  flow  to  and  from 
a  candidate  several  times  before  merging  into  the  mighty 
stream  of  settled  public  opinion.  Matthew  Stanley  Quay,  so 
long  the  controlling  power  in  Pennsylvania  politics,  always 
urged  his  lieutenants  to  hold  the  high  waves  back  until  near 
election  day,  so  as  to  be  able  to  coast  their  candidate  in  on 
the  crest  But  such  strategy  is  only  for  masterful  cam- 
paigners, as  Quay,  of  course,  was. 

I  have  known  only  a  few  candidates  for  public  office  who 
were  not  persuaded  as  they  listened  to  the  final  hurrahs  of 
the  campaign,  that  they  would  win — and  the  greatest  delusion 
is  usually  among  those  having  least  chance.  Candidates  for 
nomination  are  equally  blind  to  their  own  fortunes. 

I  have  sat  in  convention  by  the  side  of  men  who,  despite  the 
plain  evidence  that  they  were  not  in  the  running,  confidently 
believed  as  the  roll-call  progressed  that  the  next  county  or 
district  called — always  the  next — would  turn  the  tide  in  their 
favor.  Disappointment  as  the  roll-call  proceeds  seems  only 
to  encourage  new  hope  until  the  last  vote  Is  polled.  Never 
will  candidates  see  defeat  so  long  as  it  is  possible  to  see  any- 
thing else.  In  business  and  in  the  professions  men  usually 
know  their  possibilities — seldom  in  politics* 

16 


As  I  Knew  Them 

John  W.  Mackay,  father  of  Clarence  H.  Mackay,  was  one 
of  the  few  men  I  ever  met  who,  while  deeply  interested  in 
politics,  kept  a  common-sense  view  of  his  own  relation  to  it. 
He  was  one  of  the  "Bonanza"  Kings  of  the  sparsely  settled 
State  of  Nevada.  He  spent  a  great  deal  of  his  time  around 
the  Hoffman  House  in  New  York  City. 

Of  course,  this  was  many  years  ago.  His  influence  made 
State  officials  and  national  legislators,  but  he  could  not  be 
induced  himself  to  accept  office.  When  the  Legislature  wanted 
to  make  him  Senator  he  refused  and  said:  "I  would  rather 
be  at  home  in  ia  silver  mine  in  Nevada  than  out  of  place  in 
the  United  States  Senate!" 

Some  degree  of  courage  is  required  to  make  such  a  state- 
ment— and  to  mean  it. 

THE  LOSER  OFTEN  SCENTS  BETRAYAL 

More  than  once  I  have  met  men  in  conventions  convinced 
that  the  people  eagerly  demanded  their  nomination,  and  who, 
when  not  named,  blamed  their  defeat  on  the  disloyalty  of  party 
leaders,  asserting  they  had  reason  to  rely  upon  them  for  sup- 
port. Whether  that  reliance  should  in  fact  be  called  a  hope 
rather  than  a  settled  matter  is  a  question;  usually  it  is  a  hope, 
for  as  a  rule  politicians  keep  their  word.  You  must  have  it 
definitely,  however,  for  "I'll  do  what  I  can,"  means  nothing. 

I  had  one  example  some  years  ago  when  a  candidate  for 
nomination  for  the  Presidency,  smarting  under  a  defeat  that 
came  when  he  seemed  close  to  victory — seemed  so  to  others 
as  well  as  to  himself — told  me  several  weeks  after  the  con- 
vention had  adjourned  that  his  long  friendship  with  the  pre- 
siding officer  was  ended.  He  said: 

"We  have  been  friends  for  years,  but  in  the  chair  he  proved 
untrue.  He  promised  our  people  to  recognize  us  for  a  motion 
to  recess,  provided  we  showed  certain  strength  on  the  first 
two  ballots  that  final  day;  we  showed  that  strength  and  more. 
If  we  could  have  forced  a  recess  before  another  ballot,  we 


As  I  Knew  Them 

had  enough  help  promised  to  nominate  me.  The  chairman, 
however,  despite  his  agreement  would  not  see  our  man  when 
he  rose  to  make  the  motion.  Instead  of  recognizing  him,  he 
hurriedly  announced  another  ballot  and  directed  the  Secretary 
to  call  the  roll.  Of  course,  no  motion  was  in  order  during 
roll-call.  That  cost  me  the  Presidency." 

I  did  not  intend  to  reveal  the  identity  of  the  candidate  and 
the  presiding  officer  referred  to  above;  but  since  writing  it 
death  has  removed  the  impropriety  of  doing  so — perhaps  it 
has  made  it  a  duty.  The  candidate  was  General  Leonard 
Wood  and  the  presiding  officer  was  Senator  Henry  Cabot 
Lodge.  The  Harding  "drive"  was  set  for  the  Saturday  morn- 
ing session  of  the  1920  Republican  convention;  Wood  did 
not  believe  there  was  "staying"  strength  behind  Harding;  he 
was  convinced  that,  if  after  one  or  two  test  ballots  that  morn- 
ing he  was  still  holding  his  column  intact,  he  could  arrange 
to  take  over  a  considerable  block  of  Lowden  votes.  A  re- 
cess would  be  necessary  to  negotiate  this  transfer,  and  Wood 
believed  he  had  Lodge's  word  to  aid  him  secure  the  recess. 

Later,  in  Manila,  I  talked  over  the  convention  with  Gen- 
eral Wood,  recalling  incidents  familiar  to  both  of  us.  De- 
spite an  heroic  effort  to  conceal  his  disappointment  and  to 
make  the  best  of  life  as  he  found  it,  the  General  carried  to 
his  grave  the  deep  wounds  of  two  poignant  regrets — Wil- 
son's refusal  to  permit  him  to  go  with  our  army  to  France, 
and  Lodge's  refusal  to  allow  the  motion  to  recess  the  Chicago 
convention. 

THE  SHERMAN-ALGKR  RIVALRY 

Senator  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  in  two  conventions  a  can- 
didate for  the  Presidency,  died  believing  that  in  1888  he  was 
defeated  by  the  loss  of  Southern  colored  delegates  pledged 
to  him  but  "persuaded"  by  the  money  of  Governor  Russell  A. 
Alger,  of  Michigan,  to  support  Alger.  He  publicly  upbraided 
and  never  forgave  the  Michigan  man,  who  really  had  as 

18 


As  I  Knew  Them 

much  right  to  Southern  delegates,  if  he  could  get  them,  as  had 
Sherman. 

In  that  convention  as  in  many  other  conventions  it  was 
simply  a  question  of  who  bought  Southern  delegates  best — 
that  is,  who  bought  them  last, — the  last  being  the  buyer  just 
as  the  roll-call  starts. 

No  charge  of  disloyalty  was  ever  made  by  Sherman  against 
James  A.  Garfield,  however,  who  was  nominated  in  1880  by 
the  convention  he  had  addressed  in  Sherman's  behalf.  While 
Sherman  acquitted  Garfield,  as  he  should  have  done,  he  did 
not  acquit  half  the  delegates  from  his  home  State  of  Ohio. 

The  Buckeye  delegates  were  an  unstable  lot  then,  as  always. 
Ohio  delegates  seldom  "stay  put" — and  they  did  not  with 
Sherman. 

"The  only  shade  that  rests  on  my  feeling  about  Garfield," 
wrote  Sherman,  "is  that  he  went  to  the  convention  by  my 
selection  and  comes  away  with  the  honor  I  sought."  Thus, 
Senator  Sherman  always  felt  that  his  Presidential  fortunes 
were  unkindly  dealt  with  in  two  conventions  by  those  upon 
whom  he  had  relied. 

A  CONTEST  OF  POCKET-BOOKS 

Twin  with  campaign  hurrahs  in  furnishing  candidates  false 
foundation  for  hope  is  the  extravagant  use  of  money — prob- 
ably it  is  responsible  for  more  disappointments  on  election 
day  than  is  so-called  popularity.  Besides,  it  is  a  vicious  and 
demoralizing  influence,  now  extending,  I  regret  to  say,  to 
State-wide  primaries  as  well.  The  theory  back  of  primaries, 
that  if  the  people  are  wise  enough  to  elect  their  public  officials 
they  are  wise  enough  to  select  them  as  candidates,  is  not 
working  out  as  anticipated. 

I  was  an  early  advocate  of  primaries;  I  am  not  yet  ready 
to  abandon  them — certainly  not  if  the  old  convention  ways 
are  to  be  restored;  but  I  am  ready  to  concede  that  in  the 
populous  States  primaries  have  degenerated  into  a  rich  man's 

IQ 


As  I  Knew  Them 

sport.  Unless  he  is  backed  by  the  wealth  of  others,  which  in 
its  implications  is  worse  than  spending  one's  own  money,  a 
poor  man  now  has  only  the  remotest  chance  in  a  primary  in 
any  large  state. 

The  term  of  Senator  Frank  Flint  of  California,  ended 
when  the  election  of  Senators  by  State  Legislatures  was  aban- 
doned for  election  by  popular  vote.  His  colleagues  were  sur- 
prised when  he  announced  that  he  would  not  enter  the  pri- 
maries. "It  is  purely  a  business  problem  for  me,"  said  Flint 
when  asked  his  reason.  "The  unavoidable  personal  cost  of 
my  candidacy  in  a  State-wide  primary  will  exceed  the  total  of 
my  six  years'  salary  as  a  Senator/' 

Senator  Flint  does  not  stand  alone  in  his  reluctance  to 
impoverish  himself  by  remaining  a  Senator. 

It  is  no  longer  debatable  that  in  many  States,  primaries  are 
a  debauching  contest  of  pocket-books  instead  of  a  contest  of 
men  or  of  principles.  At  most  not  one-third  of  the  money 
contributed  is  put  to  any  legitimate  or  effective  use. 

EVERY  PRIMARY  NOMINEE  HIS  OWN  PARTY 

Another  disturbing  development  of  the  primary  is  the  loss 
of  the  strength  and  unity  of  organization.  The  nominee 
assumes  to  be  superior  to  the  platform  of  the  party  under 
whose  emblem  he  sought  nomination  in  the  primary  and 
election  by  the  people.  Authority  is  gone,  for  every  nominee 
of  a  primary,  unlike  a  convention  nominee,  deludes  himself 
that  he  and  not  his  party  won  the  day. 

That  feeling  of  superiority  to  party  control  finds  its  reflec- 
tion in  many  State  Legislatures  and  particularly  in  the  un- 
stable party  majorities  in  both  houses  of  Congress;  it  kills 
party  responsibility. 

Those  of  us  who  have  vivid  recollections  of  "King  Cau- 
cus" and  of  steam-roller  conventions  cannot,  however,  accept 
the  old  conditions,  even  though  we  realize  the  weakness  of 

20 


As  I  Knew  Them 

the  new  ones.  We  cannot  go  back,  for  in  America  we 
never  go  back,  but  some  method  must  be  found  for  rigidly 
limiting  expenditures  in  primaries  and  for  asserting  the  author- 
ity of  party  control  over  those  who  enter  them  as  candidates 
for  party  favor. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  GENERALS  IN  PRESIDENTIAL  BATTLES 

Bliss,  CortelyoUj  Willcox,  Hays  and  Butler — Millions  Spent  In  A 
National  Campaign — The  "Gash  And  Carry"  Army — Hays  Would 
Not  Have  "Politics  Adjourned,'  For  Pie  "Had  Counted  The  Steps" — 
The  Republican  Slogan  "Win  The  War  Now/'" — Bliss  Ended  Discus- 
SIGH,  "T.  R"  Did  Not  And  Became  President. 

TN  ELECTION  campaigns,  even  more  than  in  primaries, 
-*-  money  melts  like  snow  in  a  spring  freshet.  Successive  na- 
tional chairmen  of  both  political  parties  while  talking  with  me 
have  fixed  their  estimate  of  the  working  "efficiency"  of  a  cam- 
paign dollar  between  25  and  33  per  cent.  I  have  never  heard 
any  experienced  politician  rate  it  higher;  I  have  heard  many 
rate  it  lower.  Yet  I  have  never  known  any  politician  who  did 
not  seek  more  and  more  of  it  for  campaign  use,  despite  this 
knowledge. 

It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  total  expenditures  of  a 
Presidential  campaign.  Each  of  two  national  committees 
now  confesses  to  over  three  million  dollars,  but  the  State  and 
local  committees  spend  as  much  more.  Certainly  not  less  than 
fifteen  millions,  in  one  way  or  another,  are  expended  every 
four  years  by  the  two  great  parties  In  a  Presidential  cam- 
paign— much  of  it  as  useless  in  effecting  results  as  water  over 
the  dam. 

And  the  most  wasteful  expenditure  is  the  last  ditch  "drive" 
for  which  the  campaign  committee  always  goes  heavily  in 
debt.  Every  doubtful  State  makes  such  an  appeal  to  the  na- 
tional committee  and  every  doubtful  County  to  its  State  Com- 
mittee. If  the  party  loses,  the  banks  from  which  the  Com- 
mittee borrows  must  wait  until  the  next  campaign  to  be  repaid. 
If  the  party  wins  the  obligations  are  met  in  a  year  or  two. 

22 


As  I  Knew  Them 

But  how?  From  those  who  expect  Administration  favors  in 
Washington  and  in  State  Capitals  and  who  are  willing  to  pay 
in  advance  for  them ! 

THE  "CASH  AND  CARRY"  ARMY 

Far  too  many  persons  desire  to  be  known  as  "friends  of  the 
Administration"  at  any  cost  to  themselves — whether  the  Ad- 
ministration is  city,  state  or  national.  I  am  glad  to  be  able 
to  say,  however,  from  my  observation  that  the  "cash  and 
carry"  friends  of  an  Administration  rarely  realize  on  their 
investment.  Nevertheless  there  is  always  an  embarrassing 
number  of  them.  They  do  not  have  to  be  sought.  They 
stand  around  during  and  after  the  campaign  check  book  in 
hand,  with  some  office  or  honor  in  mind. 

This  does  not  apply  to  all  campaign  contributors,  or  even 
to  a  majority,  and  seldom  to  the  largest  contributors.  Men 
of  fortune  are  usually  men  who  believe  strongly,  whole- 
heartedly, no  less  in  their  politics  than  in  their  own  affairs. 
The  late  Cleveland  H.  Dodge,  for  example,  was  probably  by 
far  the  heaviest  contributor  to  Woodrow  Wilson's  political 
fortunes.  Yet  I  never  heard  of  his  wanting  anything  for 
himself;  he  was  interested  in  the  success  of  Wilson's  Adminis- 
tration. Both  George  Perkins  and  Frank  Munsey  frequently 
declared  to  Roosevelt  and  to  other  friends  in  1912  that  if  he 
were  elected  President  they  would  not  accept  any  office  in  his 
Administration. 

CHAIRMEN   WHO   WANTED   TO   KNOW 

Cornelius  N.  Bliss,  of  New  York  city,  several  times  Repub- 
lican national  treasurer,  George  B.  Cortelyou  in  the  Roosevelt 
campaign,  Willcox  in  the  Hughes  campaign,  and  William  M. 
Butler,  Chairman  of  the  1924  Coolidge  campaign,  are,  so  far 
as  I  know,  the  only  political  generals  who  would  not  allow 
expenditure  without  money  in  hand  to  meet  it.  That  policy 

23 


As  I  Knew  Them 

is  always  bitterly  opposed  by  party  leaders  who  declare  it 
cramps  the  campaign.  I  think  it  makes  organizations  more 
careful  of  their  money  and  thereby  helps  the  campaign; 
whether  it  does  or  not,  its  result  after  election  is  to  save 
Presidents  and  Congress  from  unpleasant  decisions. 

I  am  told  that  Cortelyou  and  Butler  had  the  best  budgeted 
national  campaigns  ever  made,  and  personally  scrutinized 
more  closely  than  any  other  chairmen  the  use  made  of  the 
money  furnished  by  them  to  each  State. 

The  national  campaign  work  that  most  interested  and 
aroused  the  energies  of  party  workers,  however,  was  that  of 
Will  Hays. 

HAYS  UNADJOURNS  POLITICS 

Hays  in  1918  succeeded  William  R.  Willcox  as  chairman  of 
the  Republican  national  committee.  He  had  the  enthusiasm 
of  a  new  mind  for  a  campaign  on  new  lines.  He  wanted  some- 
thing different  from  the  old  conventional  way  of  waiting  until 
the  ticket  is  in  the  field  before  beginning  to  fight.  He  believed 
in  organizing  at  once.  He  called  it,  in  Hoosier  language, 
"getting  the  jump"  on  the  other  fellow. 

As  we  were  then  at  war  with  Germany  President  Wilson 
had  said  that  "politics  is  adjourned."  Hays  wanted  politics 
unadjourned.  He  believed  that  a  Republican  majority  elected 
to  Senate  and  House  in  1918  would  aid  in  the  conduct  of  the 
war  at  least  as  effectively  as  would  a  Democratic  majority — 
perhaps  more  so.  Some  Republican  leaders  hesitated  to  uun- 
adjourn"  politics;  they  thought  it  would  seem  unpatriotic. 
Colonel  Roosevelt  and  others,  however,  backed  the  Hays  plan 
to  win  Congress  if  possible,  and  to  begin  a  two  years'  con- 
dnuous  battle  for  the  Presidency. 

HE  HAD  "COUNTED  THE  STEPS" 

An  interesting  ^story  was  told  at  the  time  illustrative  of  the 
acquiescent  mood  of  the  Senators  that  for  a  brief  period  held 

24 


As  I  Knew  Them 

the  Hays  plan  in  check.  Hays  went  to  Washington  to  per- 
suade them  that  a  fight  should  be  made.  That  was  then  an 
unfamiliar  city  to  him;  as  a  stranger  he  was  deeply  interested 
in  all  he  saw.  One  thing  he  did  with  Hoosier-like  curiosity 
was  to  walk  up  the  Capitol  steps,  and  to  count  them.  That 
done,  he  proceeded  to  the  conference. 

When  he  found  himself  confronted  by  the  Senatorial  atti- 
tude of  indifference,  he  remarked  that  he  did  not  believe  the 
particular  Senator  most  opposed  to  his  plan  realized  what  was 
going  on  in  the  country.  Sitting  day  after  day  in  the  Senate 
Chamber  he  had  not  been  out  among  the  people. 

"Senator,"  he  said,  udo  you  know  how  many  steps  there 
are  on  the  front  of  this  building?" 

"No — never  counted  them/'  came  the  quick  reply.  "What 
have  they  got  to  do  with  it?" 

"Well,  I  have  counted  them,"  replied  Hays.  "I  counted 
them  this  morning.  You  have  been  looking  at  them  every 
day  for  years.  You  have  thought  you  knew  all  about  them, 
but  you  don't  even  know  how  many  there  are.  They  were 
new  to  me,  and  I  was  interested  enough  to  want  to  know  how 
many  there  are.  It's  the  same  with  conditions  through  the 
country.  You  have  sat  here  and  assumed  that  you  know 
them;  I  have  been  out  among  the  people  and  I  have  asked 
them  what  they  thought.  I  know  what  they  think  because  I 
have  counted  the  steps.  I  know  we  can  win." 

The  Senator  agreed  to  let  Hays  have  his  way. 


"WIN  THE  WAR  NOW!' 


The  night  after  that  climb  of  the  Capitol  steps,  Hays  was 
the  recipient  of  a  unique  honor  at  the  hands  of  a  group  of 
Washington  correspondents  of  Republican  newspapers  and 
themselves  Republicans.  It  was  their  wish  to  know  this  gritty 
little  son  of  Indiana  who  had  jumped  into  political  eminence 
"over  night"  as  it  were.  The  war  had  hardly  begun  so  far  as 
America  was  concerned  and  the  proposed  "adjournment  of 

25 


As  I  Knew  Them 

politics"  had  not  appealed  strongly  to  these  writers.  They 
wanted  Hays  to  indicate  a  line  of  political  activity  that  was 
partisan  yet  patriotic. 

In  his  address  to  the  diners  Hays  said,  uthe  first  duty  of 
every  Republican  in  the  United  States  is  to  help  win  the  war." 

"Let  me  amend  that,  Mr.  Hays/'  said  a  voice  at  his  elbow, 
"why  not  include  the  word  'now'  in  the  slogan?" 

"You're  right!"  cried  Hays.  "Win  the  war  now!  We'll 
make  that  the  battle  cry  of  the  Republican  party." 

The  Hays  argument  prevailed  with  Republican  leaders. 
Promptly  Hays  undertook  a  canvass  of  every  State.  He  got 
to  know  the  men  on  whom  he  could  depend.  Party  enthusiasm 
grew;  everybody  went  to  work,  and  a  Republican  majority 
was  elected  in  both  Houses  of  Congress. 

Later,  in  preparing  for  the  presidential  campaign,  Con- 
gressman Ogden  L.  Mills,  of  New  York  city,  joined  Hays  in 
an  effort  to  ascertain  the  sentiment  in  every  State  on  different 
issues.  Thus  the  National  Chairman  was  able  to  present  the 
convention  in  Chicago,  in  1920,  with  an  outlined  platform  as 
well  as  an  organization  mobilized  for  battle.  It  was  one  of 
those  things  "never  done  before." 

Its  result  was  that  the  Harding  and  Coolidge  ticket  entered 
the  campaign  an  assured  winner.  From  the  moment  of  the 
nomination,  its  election  was  a  certainty.  The  "tides"  and 
"swings"  were  absent  from  the  campaign  of  1920  and  the 
night  of  November  2 — Harding' s  birthday  by  the  way — was 
a  night  of  complete  triumph.  Even  the  Solid  South  yielded 
to  the  onslaught  of  the  busy  little  chairman  of  the  G.  O.  P. 

It  was  a  campaign  of  big  expenditures;  it  also  was  a  cam- 
paign of  big  results.  Hays  had  "the  jump." 

ELUDING  THE  VICE   PRESIDENCY 

I  have  spoken  of  Cornelius  N.  Bliss,  treasurer  of  the  Re- 
publican National  Committee.  I  would  like  to  divert  here 
to  tell  the  story  of  how  he  missed  becoming  McKinley's  sue- 

26 


As  I  Knew  Them 

cessor  as  President  by  refusing  to  allow  his  name  to  be  used 
for  Vice  President  in  the  1900  convention.  It  is  well  to  know 
something  of  Bliss,  whose  son  is  now  worthily  bearing  his 
name.  He  was  one  of  New  York  city's  "merchant  princes'* 
in  days  of  old  as  the  head  of  Bliss,  Fabyan  &  Co.  He  had  a 
distinct  aversion  to  holding  public  office  but  he  liked  the  game 
of  politics — he  thoroughly  enjoyed  a  seat  at  the  table.  He 
was  among  the  earliest  and  most  influential  of  McKinley's 
supporters.  He  declined  to  be  McKinley's  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury, — only  at  the  last  moment  to  consent  good-naturedly 
to  be  his  Secretary  of  the  Interior.  Before  the  first  term  had 
expired  Bliss  had  resigned  and  was  back  at  his  old  desk  in 
Worth  Street,  New  York  city. 

While  I  sat  talking  with  him  there  about  two  weeks  before 
the  national  convention  a  telegram  was  handed  him.  He  read 
it,  then  handed  it  to  me.  It  was  signed  Hanna  (Mark 
Hanna).  In  effect  it  said  that  some  friends  expected  him  to 
come  over  to  Washington  on  the  Congressional  Limited  and 
meet  with  them  that  evening  in  Hanna's  house. 

"I  know  what  that  means.  They  want  me  to  go  on  the 
ticket,"  he  said,  "and  I'll  be  d — d  if  I  will  I've  had  enough 
of  Washington." 

"But  this  is  the  Vice  Presidency — quite  different  from  a 
Cabinet  job,"  I  urged. 

"Yes — that's  the  argument  I'll  hear  if  I  go  over  to  Hanna's 
tonight  and  I'll  hear  it  so  much  that  I  may  believe  it.  So  I 
am  not  going." 

Bliss'  secretary  entered  to  say  that  the  telegraph  boy  wanted 
to  know  if  there  was  any  answer. 

"No  answer,"  replied  Bliss. 

That  response  gave  me  hope  for  an  instant  that  perhaps  he 
was  thinking  it  over.  But  not  so. 

"If  I  reply  now,"  he  said  to  me,  "they'll  have  another  tele- 
gram on  the  heels  of  this  one.  The  best  way  is  to  let  my 
telegram  start  as  the  Congressional  Limited  starts  this  after- 
noon— then  it  will  be  too  late  for  further  discussion." 

27 


As  I  Knew  Them 

And  he  laughed  a  good  hearty  laugh  at  the  way  he  would 
elude  Hanna. 


BLISS  ENDED   IT:  T.   R.   DID  NOT 

In  truth  Bliss  then  eluded  the  Presidency  as  well  as  Hanna. 
President  McKinley  had  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
the  choice  for  Vice  President,  but  his  esteem  for  Bliss  would 
have  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  refuse  to  support  him  had 
he  been  favorably  inclined.  Hanna  had  failed  with  other 
names,  and  had  taken  up  Bliss  because  he  knew  he  was  the 
one  man  for  whom  McKinley  would  exert  his  influence. 

The  next  week  in  Washington  I  asked  Senator  Hanna  about 
Bliss.  uThere  would  be  no  fight  over  him  if  he  would  say 
the  word,"  he  replied.  "We  can  get  support  (meaning  Mc- 
Kinley) for  him  that  we  cannot  get  for  any  other  man." 

On  the  convention  train  from  New  York  city  to  Philadel- 
phia some  days  later,  I  asked  Bliss  if  he  had  noticed  how 
strongly  Gov.  Roosevelt  was  resisting  Tom  Platt's  purpose 
to  name  him  for  Vice  President.  "Yes,  I  have,"  he  said  with 
a  good-natured  laugh.  "There's  this  difference  between  us  in 
that  matter — I  resisted  it  and  ended  it;  Teddy  is  resisting  it 
but  not  ending  itl" 

And  a  Presidency  was  in  the  offing! 


28 


CHAPTER  V 
BAD    CITIZENS,   BAD    POLITICIANS 

The  Disloyalty  Of  Non-Voters — Absentees  From  The  Polls  Are 
Chiefly  Those  With  Most  At  Stake — The  Politician  Is  Individual,  Am- 
bitious And  Alert — Senses  What  We  W ant  Before  We  Know  It — 
Compare  The  List  Of  Good  Laws  With  Bad  Ones— We  Can  Be  Proud 
Of  Our  Men  In  Public  Service — Some.  Who  Left  Their  Impression 
On  Their  Party  And  The  Nation — They  Spell  America. 

T  ET  me  say  here  that  no  justification  of  or  apology  for  our 
-*--'  government  by  politicians  is  offered  by  me  to  the  too- 
many  citizens  who  neglect  to  vote.  I  class  such  citizens  with 
Edward  Everett  Hale's  "Man  Without  a  Country."  It  is 
regrettable  that  in  State  elections  nearly  40  per  cent  of  quali- 
fied voters  do  not  go  to  the  ballot-box;  in  Presidential  elec- 
tions fully  30  per  cent  neglect  to  exercise  their  privilege, — 
much  more  than  that  percentage  when  you  include  many 
women  who  still  refuse  to  vote. 

When  we  think  of  the  hardships  that  have  been  endured, 
the  sacrifices  that  have  been  made,  to  give  to  every  man  the 
title  of  "freeman,"  to  insure  him  a  voice  in  the  government 
under  which  he  lives,  the  refusal  of  so  many  citizens  to  appre- 
ciate their  heritage  and  accept  its  responsibilities  is  beyond 
my  comprehension. 

Everyone  must  pay  in  some  way  for  things  worth  while, 
and  the  price  asked  of  each  individual  in  return  for  the  high 
privilege  of  citizenship  is  participation  on  election  day  in 
the  choice  of  officials  who  under  the  law  are  to  protect  and 
promote  his  welfare.  It  is  as  small  a  contribution  as  could  be 
asked  of  anyone;  the  amazing  feature  is  that  the  persons 
with  most  at  stake  are  the  most  numerous  on  the  list  of  those 
missing  at  the  ballot-box!  They  are  also  the  loudest  in  criti- 

29 


As  I  Knew  Them 

cism  of  those  who  give  their  time  and  who  at  least  are  making 
an  effort. 

To  my  mind  the  disloyalty  of  such  non-voters  to  their  citi- 
zenship bars  them,  and  their  opinions,  from  the  right  to  con- 
sideration. They  are  defaulters  on  their  membership  in  the 
body  politic.  Until  they  reinstate  themselves  by  the  exercise 
of  the  franchise  they  are  not  in  position  to  challenge  the  ver- 
dict of  the  ballot-box.  Those  who  perform  their  duty  as 
citizens  clearly  have  that  right,  but  when  on  occasion  their 
confidence  in  the  wisdom  of  our  voters  lags,  I  ask  them  to 
find  any  form  of  government  that  has  provided  a  nation  with 
a  line  of  rulers  comparable  to  our  Presidents. 

Politicians  are  responsible  for  their  selection;  many  of 
them  were  politicians.  In  the  cases  of  Lincoln  and  Roosevelt 
the  better  the  politician  the  better  the  statesman ;  just  as  the 
opposite  is  true,  for  example,  of  Woodrow  Wilson. 

ALL  KINDS  IN  POLITICS 

When  you  meet  the  men  who  hold  public  office  or  who  sit 
as  delegates  in  our  national  and  State  conventions,  you  often 
find  an  unusual  type  of  citizen — individual,  ambitious,  alert, — 
close  students  of  their  country  and  the  world.  Many  of  them 
see  a  career  in  politics  and  diligently  try  to  make  a  record; 
some  are  in  office  or  public  affairs  at  the  sacrifice  of  their 
personal  interests;  others  there  are — as  Richard  Croker,  one- 
time Tammany  boss,  candidly  conceded  as  to  himself — "work- 
ing for  their  pockets  all  the  time." 

Men  in  politics  do  not  represent  a  cross-section  of  virtue 
or  of  vice,  but  of  humanity  at  its  average. 

I  know  how  the  term  "politician"  grates  on  the  ears  of 
men  and  women  in  private  life;  I  know  the  impression  created 
by  newspaper  and  partisan  denunciation  of  our  "do-nothing 
Congress/'  our  "corporation-owned"  Governors  and  Mayors, 
and  our  "bolshevik"  legislators.  These  are  largely  the  com- 

30 


As  I  Knew  Them 

monplace  accusations  of  the  "outs"  against  the  "ins,"  some- 
times justified  but  always  exaggerated. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  NEW  LAW 

We  have  only  to  consider  present  laws  regulating  our  rail- 
roads, our  corporations,  our  food,  and  for  that  matter  our- 
selves, to  realize  that  we  accept  and  indorse  today  what  yes- 
terday we  denounced  as  radical  and  destructive  measures 
devised  by  political  demagogues.  Often  those  political  dema- 
gogues sense  what  we  want  long  before  we  know  we  want  it. 
At  the  first  suggestion  of  getting  out  of  old  ruts  to  face  new 
responsibilities  or  restraints,  we  make  wry  faces,  utter  out- 
cries of  protest  and  publish  shrieking  editorials.  Suddenly 
faces  relax,  cries  soften  into  silence,  editorial  tone  changes — 
and  the  so-called  demagogy  becomes  the  welcomed  law  of  the 
land. 

Such  is  the  history  of  two-thirds  of  the  legislation  of  the 
past  thirty  years  affecting  national  and  State  policies. 

Undeniably,  much  bad  legislation — such  as  measures  called 
"strike"  bills  and  others  against  public  and  private  interest — 
is  attempted  in  Congress  and  in  State  legislatures.  Bills  are 
introduced,  committee  hearings  are  held,  fiery  speeches  are 
made,  and  newspaper  articles  prophesy  fierce  struggles.  But 
how  many  of  those  measures  really  become  law? 

GOOD  LAW  OUTWEIGHS  BAD 

After  adjournment  let  any  citizen  take  the  list  of  laws  en- 
acted at  any  session,  put  the  good  laws  in  one  column  and  the 
questionable  laws  in  another.  He  will  find  the  column  of 
helpful  and  needed  legislation  quite  lengthy  and  the  other 
column  close  to  the  vanishing  point. 

Another  way  to  get  an  accurate  reflection  of  the  purposes 
of  the  majority  of  men  in  public  life  is  to  consider  all  our 
national  and  State  laws.  Despite  the  weaknesses  and  contra- 


As  I  Knew  Them 

dictions,  where  will  you  find  a  better  framework  of  govern- 
ment? Yet  it  is  wholly  the  work  of  politicians,  and  it  is 
steadily  reaching  high  levels. 

MEN  WHOSE  CAREERS  SPELL  AMERICA 

Taking  them  by  and  large,  our  country  can  be  proud  of  the 
men  who  give  their  lives  to  public  service.  I  certainly  feel  so 
whenever  I  recall  the  Republican  and  'Democratic  leaders  I 
have  known.  What  a  list  of  names  could  be  taken  from  the 
not-too-distant  past  and  posted  in  a  deserved  uhall  of  fame!" 

I  shall  not  here  name  all,  who,  dead  and  gone,  are  entitled 
to  a  place  in  the  kindly  memory  of  those  who  remain,  but  I 
am  sure  that  many  readers  will  share  the  pleasure  I  always 
have  in  recalling  them.  They  were  politicians  as  the  term  is 
used;  some  dominated  their  State  organizations;  some  were 
interested  solely  in  policies  and  not  at  all  in  party  machin- 
ery; some  were  passionate,  fiery,  and,  let  us  say,  from  our 
point  of  view,  reader,  vicious  and  wrong;  yet  all  left  their 
impress  on  the  policies  of  their  party  and  the  laws  of  the 
nation.  Here  is  a  list  worth  looking  over: 

Take  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  Henry  L.  Dawes,  George  F,  Hoar, 
John  W.  Weeks  and  Murray  Crane,  of  Massachusetts;  Orville 
H.  Platt,  of  Connecticut;  Eugene  Hale,  Nelson  Dingley  and 
Thomas  B.  Reed,  of  Maine;  Arthur  Pue  Gorman,  of  Maryland; 
Redfield  Proctor  and  George  F.  Edmunds,  of  Vermont ;  Allan  G. 
Thurman,  the  Red  Bandana  statesman,  of  Ohio;  Jonathan  Dolli- 
ver,  of  Iowa;  Dan  Voorhees,  the  Tall  Sycamore  of  the  Wabash; 
Albert  J.  Beveridge,  of  Indiana;  John  C.  Spooner,  of  Wisconsin; 
Roscoe  ConkKng,  Thomas  C.  Platt,  Warner  Miller,  Frank  His- 
cock,  William  M.  Evarts,  Sereno  E.  Payne  and  David  B.  Hill,  of 
New  York ;  John  G.  Carlisle,  of  Kentucky ;  John  Sherman,  "Calico" 
Charles  Foster  and  "Fire-Alarm"  Joseph  B.  Foraker,  of  Ohio; 
Governor  "Dick"  Oglesby  and  Shelby  M.  Cullom,  of  Illinois; 
Cushman  K.  Davis,  of  Minnesota;  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar,  of  Mississippi; 
Samuel  J.  Randall  and  "Pig  Iron"  W*  D.  Kelley,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania; John  B.  Gordon,  of  Georgia;  John  M.  Daniel,  of  Virginia; 

32 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Wade  Hampton,  of  South  Carolina;  Henry  M.  Teller,  of  Colo- 
rado; Roger  Q.  Mills,  of  Texas;  John  T.  Morgan,  of  Alabama; 
William  B.  Allison,  of  Iowa;  Stephen  B.  Elkins  and  William  L. 
Wilson,  of  West  Virginia;  Thomas  F.  Bayard,  of  Delaware;  "Joe" 
Blackburn,  of  Kentucky;  Zach  Chandler,  of  Michigan;  "Silver 
Dollar"  Richard  Bland  and  George  G.  Vest,  of  Missouri;  Preston 
B.  Plumb  and  John  J.  Ingalls,  of  Kansas;  Zebulon  B.  Vance,  of 
North  Carolina;  "Pitchfork"  Benjamin  R.  Tillman,  of  South 
Carolina;  Charles  Culberson,  of  Texas;  "Fighting  Bob"  La  Fol- 
lette,  of  Wisconsin ;  and  Albert  Baird  Cummins,  of  Iowa. 

— Oh,  like  the  brook  I  could  go  on  forever! 

I  am  not  going  to  say  that  these  men — some  only  recently 
dead — who  were  controlling  figures  in  their  time,  were  supe- 
rior to  the  leaders  in  public  life  today,  but  I  do  say  that  they 
were  strong,  purposeful  men  who  believed  powerfully  in  the 
measures  they  advocated,  and  whose  careers  at  Washington 
meant  more  to  the  country  than  perfunctory  responses  to  roll- 
calls.  Their  clashings,  their  strivings,  their  wisdom  and  un- 
wisdom, taken  together,  spell  America;  what  more  could  be 
asked  of  them? 

BAD  MEN  AND   GOOD  MEN  IN   POLITICS 

Of  course,  there  are  bad  men  in  politics — too  many  of 
them.  We  owe  their  presence  largely  to  the  neglect  of  so 
many  "good"  citizens  to  vote.  So,  too,  there  are  "bad"  law- 
yers, "bad"  bankers,  "bad"  doctors,  "bad"  business  men. 
They,  also,  are  too  often  on  the  front  pages  of  newspapers  to 
the  exclusion  of  their  betters,  but  the  same  rule  applies  to 
them  as  to  "bad"  politicians.  Like  the  frogs  in  the  pond,  a 
few  are  responsible  for  a  lot  of  noise. 

Office-holding,  like  every  other  calling,  has  its  human  weak- 
nesses. Men  vested  with  power  often  yield  to  temptation  for 
the  sake  of  their  purse,  their  party,  or  their  desire  for  greater 
power.  You  find  them  here  in  America;  you  find  them  the 
world  oveu*.  No  governing  class  has  yet  been  developed  in 

33 


As  I  Knew  Them 

any  nation  that  is  standardized  on  one  level  of  unswerving 
integrity  and  unselfishness.  Until  such  a  class  is  developed 
in  this  world  or  the  next — probably  in  the  next — I  shall  hold 
to  the  high  estimate  I  have  of  the  responsible  men  of  both 
parties  in  our  public  service,  and  the  motives  that  actuate 
them. 


34 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  PRESIDENTS  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY 

From  Lincoln  To  Coolidge  Some  of  Our  Ablest  Chief  Executives — 
Cleveland,  Roosevelt  and  Wilson,  Our  Outstanding  Presidents,  But 
Harrison  Ablest  of  All — Inaugurating  Cleveland  as  President — Re- 
porting Grant's  Struggle  With  Death — Travelling  With  Jefferson 
Davis — ''Great  Lives  Never  Go  Out — They  Go  On!"  Declared  Harri- 
son. 

Q  INCE  my  first  experience  in  political  reporting  in  the 
^  Elaine-Cleveland  campaign,  a  definite  opinion  has  slowly 
formed  in  my  mind  of  the  men  I  have  met  while  they  served 
as  Chief  Executive  of  the  nation.  The  quick,  sharp  and  often 
partisan  judgment  of  the  day  has  not  always  withstood  the 
modifying  influence  of  time,  of  better  information  or  of  mind 
broadened  by  events. 

Casting  up  their  weaknesses  and  their  strength  and  striking 
a  balance,  I  believe  that  from  Lincoln  to  Coolidge  inclusive, 
we  have  had  in  the  White  House  some  of  our  ablest  Presi- 
dents, and  certainly  more  Presidents  of  ability  than  during  the 
years  from  Lincoln  back  to  John  Quincy  Adams. 

Presidents  grow  in  office  as  men  in  other  places  of  respon- 
sibility grow, — if  it  is  in  them  to  grow, — by  their  oppor- 
tunities. Crises  bring  out  character  and  test  judgment.  Our 
earlier  Presidents — Washington,  Adams,  Jefferson,  Madison, 
Monroe — whom  we  properly  rank  so  high,  were  among  the 
founders  of  our  Republic;  as  such  they  had  opportunity  to 
impress  themselves  upon  our  history  not  open  to  their  succes- 
sors except  to  Lincoln  with  the  struggle  to  save  the  Union 
and  to  Woodrow  Wilson  with  the  World  War, 

How  well  the  Presidents  since  the  Civil  War  would  have 

35 


As  I  Knew  Them 

handled  the  problems  of  our  earliest  Presidents  it  is  mere 
speculation  to  say;  how  well  they  would  have  met  Lincoln's 
problems  or  what  course  from  1914  to  1920  any  one  of  them 
would  have  pursued  had  he  been  in  Woodrow  Wilson's  place, 
is  speculation  also.  What  we  do  know  is,  that  taken  collec- 
tively they  did  mighty  well  as  trustees  of  a  limitless  inheri- 
tance during  half  a  century  of  national  development  more 
marvelous  than  Emperors  of  old  times  or  new  ever  dreamt  of. 

It  is  one  task  to  create  a  nation,  another  to  unify  it,  still 
another  to  hold  its  restless  spirit  from  excesses  that  lead  in- 
escapably to  destruction. 

This  last  task  has  been  the  task  of  our  Presidents  since 
Lincoln.  Each  has  had  his  own  way  and  each  has  sought  his 
own  results;  all  differed  in  personality,  method  and  policies. 

CLEVELAND,  ROOSEVELT  AND  WILSON 

If  I  were  asked  to  pick  the  three  outstanding  Presidents  of 
that  period,  I  would  say  as  most  men  would  say — Grover 
Cleveland,  Theodore  Roosevelt  and  Woodrow  Wilson.  I 
feel  as  though  I  were  doing  an  injustice  to  Benjamin  Harrison 
not  to  crowd  him  into  the  three,  for,  intellectually,  he  out- 
ranked them.  He  was  the  ablest  of  all.  During  Harri- 
son's one  term  we  were  at  peace  with  the  world,  prosperity 
made  new  high  record-marks,  and  a  calm,  reasoned  policy 
prevailed  in  all  matters,  so  far  as  the  President's  influence 
extended.  History,  like  news,  is  made  up  of  the  unusual,  and 
no  important  events  of  unusual  character  occurred  during 
Harrison's  term  to  bring  out  the  sterling  qualities  of  the  man. 

Whether  to  your  liking  or  not,  it  must  be  conceded  that 
Roosevelt,  Cleveland  and  Wilson  gave  their  respective  admin- 
istrations definite  significance  In  American  history.  They  were 
not  mere  patronage  dispensers  for  their  party  (although  in 
patronage  they  abided  largely  by  their  party  demands)  ;  they 
were  mpre  concerned  with  measures  than  with  offices.  For 

36 


As  I  Knew  Them 

example,  one  rarely  heard  any  contention  In  the  White  House 
over  patronage  while  Roosevelt  was  there;  there  was  a  con- 
stant struggle  over  "My  Policies." 

Cleveland's  serious  troubles  also  were  over  policies,  not 
patronage.  Cleveland  did  his  work  laboriously  as  it  carne 
along,  day  by  day;  he  did  not  reach  for  more;  he  was  content 
to  deal  with  that  which  came  before  him  as  before  a  Judge 
on  the  bench.  Cleveland  found  so  much  in  his  todays  that 
he  had  no  time  left  for  tomorrows. 

Roosevelt  and  Wilson,  on  the  other  hand,  centred  on  to- 
morrow. Wilson  admitted  frankly  that  he  was  aplaying  for 
the  judgment  of  tomorrow."  Both  he  and  Roosevelt  worked 
and  thought  in  terms  of  the  future — one  with  the  quick  vision, 
determination  and  energy  of  warm  blood;  the  other  with  the 
cold  analysis  of  the  cloister. 

In  my  study  of  the  two  men  Wilson  stands  out,  clear  cut 
and  rigid,  in  the  sharp  definite  lines  of  a  steel  engraving;  when 
I  turn  to  Roosevelt  he  is  revealed  in  strong  human  tints,  the 
warm  flesh  tones  of  a  Rembrandt  or  a  Franz  Hals. 

FROM  UNION  CHIEF  TO  CONFEDERATE  LEADER 

It  was  my  fortune  in  the  period  between  January  1885  an(^ 
May  1886  to  be  assigned  by  the  Philadelphia  Press  to  "cover" 
three  men  who  figure  largely  in  American  history,  though  in 
very  different  ways.  Early  in  1885  I  was  sent  to  Albany  to 
remain  with  Grover  Cleveland  until  he  left  for  Washington 
in  March  to  be  inaugurated  President.  I  then  returned  to 
New  York  city  to  report  General  Grant's  gallant  fight  against 
the  inevitable  there  and  at  Mt.  McGregor,  where  he  died. 
Less  than  a  year  later  I  was  travelling  with  Jefferson  Davis 
on  his  farewell  tour  of  the  South. 

Few  newspaper  correspondents  have  had  such  an  experi- 
ence in  the  brief  space  of  sixteen  months, — Cleveland,  Grant 
and  Davis!  Of  course,  no  one  could  study  such  men,  day 
after  day,  without  benefiting.  The  thing  that  most  deeply 

37 


As  1  Knew  Them 

impressed  me  was  their  unaffected  simplicity.  They  corrected 
a  youthful  impression  that  greatness  had  to  be  linked  up  with 
the  manner  of  a  grand  seignior. 

The  vigil  almost  at  Grant's  bedside  in  particular  gave  me 
many  opportunities  to  study  him  at  close  range,  especially 
toward  the  last  on  Mt.  McGregor — under  conditions  that 
tested  the  fibre  of  the  man  and  bared  it  to  the  world  as  only 
intense  suffering  can  do. 

I  had  seen  him  frequently  in  the  summer  of  1882  and  1883 
as  he  drove  along  the  ocean  drive  at  Long  Branch,  New  Jer- 
sey, and  once  I  had  interviewed  him  in  his  home  there,  but  it 
was  a  different  Grant  that  I  looked  upon  in  New  York  city 
in  1885  suffering  from  cancer. 

GRANT'S  LAST  BATTLE 

In  the  early  period  of  his  illness  he  was  frequently  able  to 
leave  his  bed  for  an  hour  or  so.  He  would  sit  in  an  arm-chair 
in  front  of  the  second  story  window  of  his  house,  3  East  66th 
Street.  At  times  he  would  stand  for  a  few  moments  looking 
out.  Always  there  was  a  group  of  three  or  four  correspond- 
ents gathered  on  the  opposite  sidewalk.  We  had  established 
a  patrol  and  took  turns  on  duty  night  and  day. 

There  were  many  times  when  I  wondered  whether  the  Gen- 
eral did  not  regard  us  as  a  sort  of  death-watch — whether 
whenever  his  gaze  fell  upon  us  the  thought  did  not  come  to 
his  mind — "'Well,  here  I  am — still  in  the  flesh — still  cheating 
you  out  of  that  big  piece  of  news  you  are  waiting  for." 

When  not  too  depressed  Grant  would  recognize  some  of 
the  newspaper  men  he  knew  and  smile  pleasantly — pleasantly, 
but  sadly,  very  sadly.  He  was  then  struggling  to  complete 
his  "Memoirs"  in  the  hope  that  their  sale  would  furnish  finan- 
cial provision  for  his  family.  It  was  a  race  with  death  for  a 
fortune.  On  Mt.  McGregor  he  won  it  by  a  few  days.  With 
the  task  done,  collapse  quickly  followed. 

38 


As  I  Knew  Them 
"GREAT  LIVES  NEVER  GO  OUT — THEY  GO  ON!" 

Some  years  later,  standing  on  the  porch  of  that  cottage, 
while  delivering  an  anniversary  address  commemorating 
Grant's  death  there,  ex-President  Harrison  used  this  memo- 
rable sentence : 

"It  is  said  that  a  great  life  went  out  here.  Great  lives  such 
as  General  Grant's  never  go  out.  They  go  onT 


39 


CHAPTER  VII 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS'  FAREWELL  TO  THE  SOUTH 

A  Tour  Prom  Beauvoir,  Mississippi,  to  Savannah — Davis  Stands  On 
The  Spot  On  Which  He  Had  Been  Inaugurated  President—The  Old 
Gray  Uniforms  Of  The  "Lost  Cause" — Davis  Says  "Your  Common 
Country" — Women  Shoiver,  Him  With  Flowers — A  Question  I  Never 
Asked— Davis  Would  Not  Go  To  Richmond. 


OUPPOSE  we  leave  Grant  and  other  leaders  of  the  North 
^  for  a  moment  to  record  some  memories  of  Jefferson 
Davis,  whom  I  accompanied  as  correspondent,  in  May,  1886, 
when  he  made  the  unveiling  of  a  statue  to  Senator  Ben  Hill 
at  Atlanta  the  occasion  for  what  was -in  fact  a  farewell  tour 
of  the  South. 

The  former  President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy 
travelled  in  a  special  train  from  his  home,  Beauvoir,  Missis- 
sippi, to  Savannah,  stopping  at  several  cities  to  be  greeted  by 
old  comrades.  Nearly  all  the  chieftains  of  the  army  boarded 
that  train  at  different  stations,  and  remained  for  a  time. 

I  doubt  whether  there  ever  was  such  a  meeting  of  men  who 
had  fought  and  lost  together — certainly  not  with  so  many 
mothers,  wives  and  daughters  of  intense  memory  present  It 
was  a  reunion  as  well  as  a  farewell.  Two  beautiful  daughters 
of  the  South — Miss  Winnie  Davis  and  Miss  Fannie  Gordon 
— were  of  the  immediate  party. 

How  vividly  I  can  remember  Davis  standing  on  the  por- 
tico of  the  State  Capitol  in  Montgomery,  Alabama,  that 
portico  on  which  he  had  stood  twenty-five  years  before  when 
inaugurated  President  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America. 
I  have  witnessed  many  stirring  scenes  since  then,  but  none 
that  moved  me  more  deeply.  Tear-drenched  recollections 
came  to  thousands  that  thronged  the  Capitol  steps  and  the 

40 


As  I  Knew  Them 

wide  Avenue  extending  far  away, — much  as  Pennsylvania  Ave- 
nue at  Washington  leads  from  the  national  Capitol. 

Old  gray  uniforms  had  been  taken  from  trunk  and  garret, 
tattered  with  wear,  stained  with  the  grime  of  battle  and 
bivouac,  to  cover  once  more  the  waning  forms  of  veterans  of 
that  "lost  cause."  It  was  the  last  occasion  so  many  were  to 
be  seen  upon  those  who  had  worn  them  in  battle.  And  theft 
we  were  not  so  far  from  war's  passions  as  to  be  beyond  their 
thrilling  influence.  The  sight  of  their  old  President  opened 
floodgates  of  precious  memories. 

"YOUR"  NOT  "OUR"  COUNTRY 

Davis  spoke  at  Montgomery  with  great  feeling.  Here  are 
some  extracts  from  his  speech : 

"I  am  standing  now  very  nearly  on  the  spot  where  I  stood  when 
I  took  the  oath  of  office  in  1861.  Your  demonstration  now  ex- 
ceeds that  which  welcomed  me  then.  I  felt  as  I  came  here  that 
I  was  coming  to  my  home — coming  to  a  land  where  liberty  dies 
not  and  serious  sentiments  will  live  forever. 

"Associated  here  with  so  many  memories — thrilling  and  tender 
— I  have  felt  that  it  were  dangerous  for  me  to  attempt  to  speak 
to  you  as  my  heart  would  prompt  me.  Not  that  I  am  always 
treasuring  up  bitterness  against  any  one,  but  I  am  overflowing 
with  love  and  admiration  for  our  people! 

"We  have  no  desire  to  feed  the  fires  of  sectional  hate,  while  we 
do  not  seek  to  avoid  whatever  responsibility  attaches  to  our  belief 
in  the  righteousness  of  our  cause  and  the  virtue  of  those  who  risked 
their  lives  to  defend  it. 

"Alabama  having  resumed  her  place  in  the  Union,  be  it  yours 
to  fulfill  all  obligations  devolving  upon  all  good  citizens,  seeking 
to  restore  the  general  government  to  its  pristine  purity,  and,  as  best 
you  may,  to  promote  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  your  common 
country." 

I  was  not  the  only  one  who  heard  and  noticed  that  Davis 
said  "your"  common  country,  not  "our"  common  country. 

41 


As  1  Knew  Them 

THE  SOUTH'S  CORDIAL  GREETING 

At  the  old  Exchange  Hotel,  Davis  was  given  the  rooms  he 
had  occupied  as  President  before  going  to  Richmond.  When 
he  entered  them  the  evening  of  his  arrival  the  women  not  only 
of  Montgomery  but  of  all  Alabama  gathered  on  the  balcony 
outside  and  showered  him  with  flowers,  until  his  rooms  were 
literally  carpeted  with  roses*  I  never  saw  so  many,  or  so 
much  real  feeling  accompanying  them. 

The  same  scene  was  repeated  wherever  we  stopped.  At 
Atlanta,  everyone  of  importance  in  the  State  greeted  him. 
When  the  crowd  saw  Generals  James  Longstreet  and  John 
B.  Gordon,  in  their  gray  uniforms,  on  horseback,  escorting 
Jefferson  Davis  to  the  Ben  Hill  statue,  it  went  wild.  They 
were  led  by  Captain  Evan  Howell,  father  of  my  friend  Clark 
Howell,  editor  of  the  Atlanta  Constitution.  Henry  W.  Grady, 
who  was  the  South's  eloquent  orator  of  the  day,  made  the 
most  of  that  stirring  spectacle.  Davis  spoke  briefly,  closing 
with  these  words : 

"My  friends,  these  are  the  days  of  peace;  let  us  not  be  less 
faithful  in  peace  than  we  were  in  war." 

At  Savannah,  the  Savannah  Light  Artillery  laid  down  a 
heavy  barrage  of  Southern  hospitality  which  instantly  put  the 
organization  in  sharp  competition  with  the  Ancients  and 
Honorables  of  Boston,  so  famous  as  genial  hosts  until  the 
Volstead  law  dimmed  the  lustre  of  their  renown. 

A  QUESTION  NEVER  ASKED 

Davis,  at  that  time  in  the  eighties,  was  a  feeble  man.  On 
the  train  between  stops  he  would  rest  on  a  couch,  in  what  was 
then  called  a  drawing  room.  In  turn  one  after  another  would 
sit  beside  the  couch  and  talk  with  the  old  man.  This  gave 
me  an  opportunity  to  speak  with  him  several  times. 

With  the  eagerness  and  indiscretion  of  a  youthful  corre- 
spondent I  longed  to  ask  him  the  great  question,  whether  he 

42 


As  I  Knew  Them 

would  not  like  to  say  something  that  would  bridge  the  last 
gap  between  North  and  South  and  tend  to  restore  him  as 
well  as  others  to  the  citizenship  they  had  abandoned. 

Twelve  years  later,  Congress  unanimously  passed  a  bill 
doing  that  very  thing  and  President  McKinley  signed  it.  Of 
course  I  had  no  such  ambitious  plan  in  mind,  but  it  seemed  to 
me  that  some  well-considered  word  from  Davis  while  on  that 
farewell  tour  might  have  advanced  the  unifying  spirit. 

It  seemed  to  me  unfortunate  that  any  former  citizen,  par- 
ticularly one  born  on  our  soil,  should  be  nearing  his  grave 
as  a  man  without  a  country.  I  racked  my  brain  to  find  some 
discreet  way  of  approach  to  the  subject,  but  there  was  none 
less  obvious  than  the  frank  and  pointed  question.  It  was 
never  asked. 

AN  EXILE  IN  HIS  OWN  LAND 

Nevertheless,  I  was  sure  that  a  man  who  in  younger  years 
had  made  a  good  record  in  Mexico  as  a  soldier  for  his  coun- 
try, who  had  been  Secretary  of  War  in  his  nation's  govern- 
ment, Congressman  and  United  States  Senator,  must  have 
something  deep  in  his  heart  that  he  would  like  to  say  to  a  re- 
united nation;  must  feel  that  he  would  like  to  die  a  citizen  of 
it; — must  feel  that  a  word  from  him,  twenty  years  after  the 
event,  might,  by  revealing  the  convictions  that  stirred  him  to 
the  course  he  pursued,  modify  the  tone  of  history  and  pos- 
sibly the  opinion  of  his  time. 

If  only  a  way  could  be  found  for  such  a  word  without 
misunderstanding ! 

More  than  once  I  sat  by  his  side  hoping  to  find  that  way. 
The  desire  for  "news"  was  strong  in  me  but  there  was  some- 
thing, I  do  not  know  what,  stronger  still,  that  silenced  me 
as  I  looked  upon  the  frail  and  fading  figure  that  was  all  that 
remained  unconquered  of  a  great  conflict.  He  died,  five  years 
later,  as  he  had  lived. 

In  spite  of  his  years  there  was  something  statesman-like 

43 


As  I  Knew  Them 

about  Davis.  He  still  showed  the  manner,  ways  and  mind  of 
a  man  talented  for  government  All  the  South  turned  out  to 
greet  him.  The  cordiality  of  his  old  comrades  cheered  him, 
but  he  seemed  to  feel  that  he  was  a  man  apart,  even  from 
them,  and  to  hold  himself  as  one  from  the  outside  looking  in. 
He  asked  about  many  men  and  sections  of  the  South ;  it  may 
be  that  he  inquired  about  men  and  affairs  north  of  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line;  if  he  did  I  never  heard  of  it. 

Evidently  he  had  blotted  that  section  of  our  country  out 
of  mind — at  least  in  conversation. 

While  he  denied  that  he  was  embittered,  he  surely  had  un- 
pleasant recollections  that  still  controlled  him.  The  world  of 
his  activities  was  a  closed  book;  he  wanted  none  of  its  pages 
opened  for  discussion  or  revision;  he  had  written  "finis"  to  it 
as  it  was. 

Every  persuasion  was  used  to  have  Davis  extend  his  trip 
to  Richmond.  He  refused.  He  had  no  desire  to  revisit  the 
old  Capital  of  the  Confederacy.  Yet  in  Richmond  his  body 
has  its  last  resting  place;  there  the  silence  of  the  tomb  is  the 
only  answer  to  the  question  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  ask  the 
Chieftain  of  the  Lost  Cause. 


44 


CHAPTER   VIII 
ALONG  THE  HIGHWAY  OF  TIME 

A  Marvellous  Nation-Building  Period — No  Two  Persons  Get  The 
Same  Impression  Though  They  Travel  The  Same  Road — The  If  ears 
Mellow  Opinion — Youth  And  Later  On — Gaynor  Says  "How  Petty 
They  All  Seem  As  The  Great  Moment  Approaches!" 

/TAHE  years  that  have  elapsed  since  the  activities  of  Genera! 
•*•  Grant  and  Jefferson  Davis  cover  a  marvellous  nation* 
building  period.  To  have  lived  through  such  years,  to  have 
witnessed  your  country  moving  steadily  on  and  on,  despite 
baffling  world  currents,  some  within,  some  beyond,  its  con- 
trol;— its  people  wandering  almost  to  destruction's  brink  and 
then  finding  anew  the  road  that  leads  to  national  strength 
and  unity  and  fine  purpose; — is  like  the  gradual  realization  of 
a  dream  whose  grandeur  and  glory  even  those  who  have 
dreamt  it  can  only  dimly  visualize. 

It  would  require  someone  more  certain  of  himself  than  I  to 
offer  his  recollections  of  its  men  and  events,  and  his  estimate 
of  them,  in  any  other  form  than  as  the  contribution  of  a  single 
individual,  to  be  given  place  with  similar  contributions  in  the 
sifting  mind  of  the  historian,  there  to  be  checked  off  against 
other  impressions  and  other  facts  as  well  worthy  of  considera- 
tion. 

Just  as  no  two  persons  see  precisely  the  same  rainbow 
though  they  scan  the  horizon  at  the  same  instant  and  from 
the  same  spot,  and  as  no  two  travellers  on  the  hignway  get 
precisely  the  same  lights  and  shades  upon  the  same  moun- 
tains and  valleys,  so  those  of  us  who  are  fortunate  enough  to 
have  continued  the  journey  through  life  to  the  allotted  span 
do  not  get  the  same  impression  of  all  we  have  seen,  heard  and 
lived  through, 

45 


As  I  Knew  Them 

We  must  differ,  often  widely,  in  opinion,  when  we  under- 
take to  assay  the  ability,  the  purpose  and  the  character  of 
our  fellow-men — particularly  those  upon  whom  great  respon- 
sibilities have  rested. 

YOUTH  AND  LATER  ON 

And  the  years  have  their  influence  on  one's  judgments,  too. 
Opinions  mellow  like  good  wine.  I  am  not  sure  that  Balzac 
was  wholly  right  when  he  said  that  you  do  not  begin  to  live 
until  you  have  recollections.  The  thought  has  its  consoling 
side,  and  some  measure  of  truth.  Nevertheless  there's  a  great 
deal  worth  while,  vital  and  inspiring  in  the  years  of  youth. 
Then,  for  you,  the  world  is  in  springtime  and  budding  blos- 
som; you  are  at  the  beginning;  you  are  living  in  a  world  of 
imagination;  the  real  one  lies  unrevealed  just  ahead  of  you — 
always  just  ahead  of  you,  and,  finally,  in  the  lengthening  and 
baffling  shadows.  You  do  not  begin  to  plumb  the  depths  of 
life,  you  do  not  get  beyond  the  shallows  or  reach  that  level 
where  "deep  calleth  unto  deep"  until  you  near  the  tapering 
end  of  the  pyramid  of  years  and  look  down  upon  the  tur- 
bulences below  of  which  you  were  once  a  part. 

Glorious  were  those  strenuous  days  of  youth  with  their 
triumphs  and  their  defeats,  their  stirring  dreams  and  their 
cruel  awakenings,  their  resolves  and  their  fears.  As  Father 
Time  leads  you  not  always  gently  out  of  them,  steadily  on 
towards  the  inescapable  goal,  you  see  the  true  character  of 
much  that  is  behind  you — how  selfish,  how  misery-breeding, 
how  needless  and  how  futile ! 

Yet  it  is  life! 

I  recall  that  when  Judge  William  J.  Gaynor  was  Mayor  of 
New  York  city,  the  Democratic  State  leaders  seriously  con- 
sidered nominating  him  for  Governor.  Gaynor  was  danger- 
ously ill  at  his  Long  Island  home.  James  Creelman,  still  well- 
remembered  as  a  newspaper  correspondent,  was  an  intimate 
friend  of  the  Mayor,  and  was  sent  to  learn  his  attitude. 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Ordinarily,  Gaynor  would,  no  doubt,  have  been  favorably 
disposed.  But  when  Creelman  brought  up  the  subject,  he 
replied  wearily: 

"Creelman,  I'm  not  interested  in  Governorships.  When  a 
fellow  lies  in  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death  he  is  not 
thinking  of  vanities  or  ambitions.  How  petty  they  all  seem  as 
the  Great  Moment  approaches  !" 


47 


CHAPTER   IX 


"HURRAH  FOR  LITTLE  MAC'' 

A  Memory  Picture  Of  A  McClellan  Parade — New  York  City's  Mayor 
Who  Sympathized  With  Rebellion  And  Jesse  Seligman  Who  Bought 
Bonds  To  Save  The  Union — "Vote  As  You  Shot" — The  Stirring 
Marching  War  Songs  And  The  Picturesque  Zouaves — Heroes?  Of 
Course/  They  Could  Do  No  Wrong — My  Enthusiasm  In  1880;  My 
Revulsion  in  1884 — But  For  James  G.  Elaine  I  Would  Have  Voted 
In  Defiance  Of  All  I  Had  Been  Seeing,  Hearing  And  Believing — Ttie 
Personality  Of  Blaine — ff Trusts  Are  Largely  Private  Affairs" — Blame 
And  Some  Other  Political  Leaders  Who  Were  Open  To  Suggestion; 
Also  Others  Who  Were  Not — Roosevelt  And  ff Unpleasant  Truths" — 
Alton  B.  Parker's  One  Big  Move. 

T  ET  me  illustrate  this  changing  judgment  that  comes  with 
-*^'  the  years  by  giving  a  picture  of  the  2Oyear  period  follow- 
ing 1865,  the  tense  passion  of  the  people  then,  and  the  impres- 
sions made  upon  youthful  minds,  my  own  among  the  number. 

That  period  covered  my  boyhood  and  young  manhood. 
Throughout  those  years,  it  was  definitely  settled  and  accepted 
by  the  older  folk  to  whom  I  listened  with  unquestioning  faith 
that  everything  done,  or  sought  to  be  done,  by  a  Republican 
was  by  the  grace  of  God;  while  everything  done  or  sought  to 
be  done  by  a  Democrat  was  with  the  connivance  of  the  devil. 

This  belief  was  strengthened  in  my  mind  by  a  picture  that 
even  now,  so  many,  many  years  later,  is  with  me  vividly  of  a 
parade  that  passed  in  front  of  my  home  on  Franklin  Street 
in  lower  New  York  City  late  in  the  Presidential  campaign  of 
1864. 

That  afternoon  I  was  wearing  my  first  trousers — velveteen, 
with  a  little  Eton  jacket;  my  mother  had  allowed  me  to  stand 
on  our  stone  steps  and  watch  the  paraders.  They  were 
wildly  shouting  "Hurrah  for  Little  Mac." 

One  of  the  enthusiastic  paraders  ran  up  the  steps  and  en- 

48 


As  I  Knew  Them 

deavored   to   make  me   repeat    "Hurrah   for   Little   Mac." 
Frightened  I  beat  a  frantic  retreat  into  the  house. 

THE  BIGGER  MEANINGS 

I  do  not  know  why  those  hurrahs  lasted  through  my  child- 
mind  as  something  to  be  remembered,  but  they  did.  Some 
years  later,  when  I  came  to  understand  the  meaning  of  the 
McClellan  candidacy  against  Lincoln,  I  kept  the  sight  of  that 
parade,  and  the  sound  of  its  hurrahs,  before  me  as  final  and 
convincing  evidence  that  the  devil  was  surely  the  guide,  phi- 
losopher and  friend  of  the  Democratic  party.  What  other 
influence,  I  asked,  could  or  would  oppose  Abraham  Lincoln? 

During  these  years  of  youthful,  patriotic  fervor,  I  hated 
New  York  city,  my  birthplace,  for  its  support  of  McClellan 
in  1864,  for  its  Copperhead  rioting  against  drafting  soldiers 
to  serve  in  Uncle  Abe's  army  fighting  the  Johnny  Rebs,  for  its 
eagerness  to  displace  Webster's  inspiring  line,  uThe  Union — 
One  and  Inseparable"  with  that  sordid  trade  symbol  "Business 
as  Usual." 

I  had  contempt  for  Fernando  Wood,  mayor  of  the  city  in 
1 86 1,  who  openly  sympathized  with  the  South;  and  intense 
admiration  for  Jesse  Seligman,  the  New  York  banker,  who, 
though  born  in  another  land,  had  patriotically  led  the  bond- 
buying  in  support  of  our  government  when  it  sorely  needed 
such  support. 


"VOTE  AS  YOU  SHOT" 


I  was  by  no  means  alone  among  young  men  of  my  day  in 
that  feeling.  For  years  after  the  war,  every  boy  just  coming 
of  voting  age  was  harangued  from  Republican  platforms  to 
vote  as  his  father  or  uncle  or  elder  brother  had  shot;  he  obeyed 
as  loyally  as  though  he  were  on  the  battle  line  back  in  the  '6o's 
and  had  had  the  command  to  fire. 

Under  the  conditions  how  could  it  have  been  otherwise? 

49 


is-xlgfe^  i 

r=S<  j-=*v.lry     v       N        ^^ 

^-7^^^ 

^>i 

:^i^ 


"VOTE  AS  YOU  SHOT!" 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Grant,  Sherman,  Sheridan,  Meade,  Logan,  McCook,  and 
other  Union  Generals  were  the  inspiring  figures  in  our  national 
life. 

No  gathering  was  of  importance  without  one  or  more 
of  them  present;  no  marching  band  or  banquet  orchestra 
ever  omitted  "The  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic,"  or  "We're 
Coming  Father  Abraham,  300,000  More,"  or  "Marching 
Through  Georgia."  Ellsworth's  and  Duryea's  fierce-looking 
"Zouaves"  in  their  picturesque  woolen  "togs,"  as  they  were 
called,  marched  in  our  Decoration  Day  parades  headed  by  a 
fife  and  drum  corps  playing,  shrilly  but  oh  so  gloriously,  "Rally 
'Round  the  Flag,  Boys,  Rally  Once  Again." 

Who  now  recalls  those  Zouave  uniforms — loose,  short 
jacket  of  blue  trmmed  with  red;  and  waistcoat,  red  with 
Turkish  trousers,  red  fez  and  sash,  and  yellow  leather  leg- 
gings ?  What  boy  could  resist  the  tune  and  the  sight ! 

When  the  bullet-shattered  flags  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic  were  carried  along  Broadway  and  lower  Fifth 
Avenue  there  was  no  timid,  abashed  lifting  of  our  hats  as  we 
notice  today  when  the  flag  goes  by;  our  hearts  beat  faster,  our 
eyes  filled  with  tears,  our  thoughts  instantly  went  back  to  the 
awful  conflict,  then  so  tragically  close  to  every  home. 

Heroes?  Of  course;  to  us,  they  were  heroes — every  one 
of  them !  They  could  do  no  wrong — certainly  none  we  would 
not  promptly  forget  and  forgive.  Down  in  Congress  the 
persistent  cry  was  "For  the  old  flag — and  an  appropriation." 
The  old  crowd  of  war  days  stood  solidly  together  with  equal 
enthusiasm  for  both;  every  protesting  voice  was  challenged 
and  condemned  as  from  traitorous  quarters. 

REPUBLICANS  OVER-PLAYED  THE  WAR 

With  such  sentiments  controlling  my  youthful  spirit  I  could, 
not  conceive  how  Winfield  Scott  Hancock,  a  worthy  Union 
General,  could  accept  the  nomination  of  the  Democratic  party 
for  President;  particularly  against  James  Abram  Garfield, 

51 


As  I  Knew  Them 

another  Union  General.  Fortunately,  in  1880,  I  was  not 
eligible  by  a  year  to  vote  so  I  did  not  have  to  settle  in  my 
mind  just  how  the  devil  had  managed  to  lure  General  Hancock 
away  from  the  Lord's  cause. 

The  national  election  of  1884  seemed  a  long  while  for  me 
to  wait.  I  was  convinced  that  my  vote  must  forever  be  dedi- 
cated to  keeping  the  Democratic  party  idle  on  the  mourners' 
benches.  Impatiently  I  awaited  the  hour  when  the  ballot-box 
would  reflect  my  super-heated  patriotism.  When  finally  the 
hour  came,  the  heat  was  gone,  and  a  chilly,  reluctant  vote  was 
cast  by  me  for  James  G.  Elaine — cast  for  Elaine's  sake — not 
for  the  party. 

As  a  correspondent  I  had  accompanied  Elaine  on  part  of 
his  campaign  tour.  I  had  seen  much  of  him  on  that  trip;  I 
certainly  felt  that  I  was  in  the  presence  of  a  man  of  real 
ability.  To  me,  he  towered  high  above  the  unknown  and  un- 
approachable Cleveland.  Had  I  not  in  this  way  met  Elaine 
I  am  sure  I  would  have  found  courage  to  vote,  as  I  really 
wanted  to  vote,  in  defiance  of  all  I  had  been  seeing,  hearing 
and  believing  since  the  "Hurrah  for  Little  Mac"  episode. 

THE  PERSONALITY  OF  BLAINE 

For  me  the  Republican  party  had  overplayed  the  war;  reac- 
tion had  set  in.  I  had  no  desire  to  vote  as  others  had  shot. 
The  thought  had  become  revolting  to  me.  If  I  were  to  remain 
a  Republican,  the  party  would  have  to  make  some  other  appeal 
than  to  the  passion  and  prejudice  of  a  war  twenty  years  past. 

It  did  just  that  in  the  personality  of  Elaine.  It  was 
not  possible  for  an  unprejudiced  person  to  meet  the  man 
from  Maine  without  being  attracted  to  him.  As  corre- 
spondent of  the  Philadelphia  "Press"  I  had  unusual  access  to 
Elaine.  That  newspaper  was  one  of  the  leading  supporters 
of  the  "Plumed  Knight";  Elaine  was  in  constant  communica- 
tion with  Charles  Emory  Smith,  my  editor.  Now  and  then, 
I  was  the  channel  used. 

52 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Thus  Elaine's  mind  was  revealed  to  me  in  a  most  Intimate 
way,  and  I  was  impressed  by  his  readiness,  after  discussion, 
to  adjust  his  course  to  the  suggestion  of  others,  or  give 
sufficient  reason  for  not  doing  so. 

"TRUSTS  ARE  LARGELY  PRIVATE  AFFAIRS" 

I  recall  one  incident  of  that  character  that  brought  a  storm 
of  criticism  down  upon  Elaine.  He  returned  from  a  long 
vacation  in  Europe  in  1888  while  the  Harrison  campaign  was 
getting  under  way,  and  was  urged  to  make  a  "keynote"  speech. 
He  finally  agreed  to  speak  at  Portland,  Maine.  On  the  train 
from  his  home  in  Augusta,  Joe  Manley,  Elaine's  chief  lieuten- 
ant, gave  the  correspondents  printed  proofs  of  the  speech. 
While  we  were  reading  them  Elaine  came  over  and  said, 
"Gentlemen,  I  have  been  urged  to  add  something  about  trusts, 
and  I  may  do  so."  Thus  warned  we  waited  for  the  inter- 
polated sentence. 

"Trusts  are  largely  private  affairs!"  declared  Elaine  in  the 
middle  of  his  speech  with  great  emphasis. 

Instantly  every  correspondent  lost  interest  in  the  printed 
copy.  Telegraph  service  was  not  efficient  in  those  days,  and 
the  telephone  was  still  merely  hoped  for.  The  Elaine  declara- 
tion had  to  be  on  the  wires  promptly,  if  it  was  to  appear  in 
the  morning  papers.  The  newspaper  section  of  Elaine's 
audience  therefore  disappeared  with  a  rush, — much  to  his 
amazement,  he  told  me  later. 

That  one  sentence,  however,  was  the  first  sensation  of  the 
Harrison  campaign  and,  of  course,  got  the  ticket  no  votes. 
Elaine,  like  other  leaders  in  politics,  was  alert  to  public  opin- 
ion, but  in  that  case  he  had  no  thought  that  his  utterance 
would  arouse  such  widespread  condemnation.  Harrison  had 
to  repudiate  it.  % 

Later  Elaine  came  to  New  York  city  and  made  a  speech 
from  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  balcony  modifying  his  "trust" 
sentence.  He  never  referred  to  the  fact,  however,  that  it 

53 


As  I  Knew  Them 

was  not  in  his  Portland  speech  as  originally  planned,  and 
that  it  had  been  incorporated  because  of  the  persistent  urg- 
ing of  a  friend  upon  whose  judgment  he  relied. 

PRESIDENTS  WHO  WOULD  LISTEN 

Of  all  the  Presidential  candidates  since  that  day  (and  I 
have  known  all  the  Republican  candidates  and  most  of  the 
Democratic) — Theodore  Roosevelt  was  the  only  one  as  recep- 
tive to  the  counsel  of  others  as  Elaine.  However,  there  was 
this  difference  between  the  two  men:  Elaine  had  the  tact  to 
listen  long  to  poorly  considered  and  often  selfish  suggestions, 
getting  rid  of  his  visitor  without  hurting  his  feelings;  Roose- 
velt, on  the  other  hand,  often  became  irritated  in  such  circum- 
stances and  did  not  always  try  to  conceal  his  restlessness  or 
even  his  resentment.  He  had  contempt  for  time-wasters. 
The  man  with  real  purpose,  however,  always  found  Roosevelt 
willing  to  listen  and  to  heed. 

I  can  imagine  that  many  readers  will  question  this  state- 
ment about  Roosevelt.  All  his  critics  and  some  supporters 
regarded  him  as  self-willed;  intolerant  of  the  ideas  of  others. 
Those  who  really  knew  the  Colonel  know  how  untrue  that 
was.  His  weakness  was  in  listening  too  often  and  acquies- 
cing too  readily.  It  was  the  source  of  many  of  his  troubles. 
But  the  Colonel  always  shouldered  responsibility  for  his 
course,  once  taken,  and  stood  silently  and  uncomplainingly 
for  mistakes  due  to  friendship. 

ROOSEVELT  AND  UNPLEASANT  TRUTHS 

An  incident  in  my  own  contact  with  Roosevelt  is  illustrative. 
In  1903,  my  newspaper,  the  New  York  Evening  Mail,  was 
not  in  accord  with  some  of  his  policies.  „  Believing  that  no 
good  would  come  of  argument,  and  having  no  reason  for 
taking  up  a  busy  President's  time,  I  did  not  call  at  the  White 
House  on  several  visits  to  Washington.  Discussing  the  situa- 

54 


As  I  Knew  Them 

tion  frankly  with  George  B.  CortelyoUj  then  Secretary  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor,  he  asked,  "Have  you  talked  this  way  to  the 
President?" 

"No,"  I  answered.  "I  doubt  whether  he's  a  man  who 
likes  to  hear  unpleasant  truths-" 

"Oh,  yes  he  is,"  said  Cortelyou.  "He's  a  good  sport. 
Better  see  him," 

Nevertheless,  I  still  thought  it  of  no  consequence;  there 
were  more  than  enough  people  pressing  their  views  upon  the 
President  My  paper  was  expressing  my  opinions — why 
bother  him  with  them  ? 

FRONTING  UNPLEASANT  TRUTH 

That  afternoon,  I  found  a  note  in  my  box  at  the  Arlington 
Hotel  asking  that  I  telephone  Mr.  Loeb,  the  President's 
secretary.  I  did  so,  and  was  told  the  President  would  like  to 
see  me  about  five  o'clock. 

"Hello,"  exclaimed  the  President  as  we  met.  "I  hear  you 
think  I  cannot  stand  unpleasant  truths." 

"Well,  Mr.  President,"  I  replied  in  some  confusion  at  such 
a  sudden  attack,  "I  doubt  whether  many  men  care  to." 

"I  don't,"  he  snapped.  "I  don't — when  they  come  from 
people  whose  judgment  I  don't  respect.  But  I'm  always  ready 
to  listen  to  a  sound  argument  against  any  policy  I'm  pursuing, 
and  by  George !  I'll  switch  if  I'm  convinced." 

And  Theodore  Roosevelt,  to  my  personal  knowledge,  lived 
up  to  that  assertion  much  too  generously  many  times. 

MCKINLEY,  HARRISON  AND  CLEVELAND 

McKinley  was  a  patient  listener,  but  McKinley's  long  ex- 
perience as  a  Congressman  had  made  him  shy  of  visitors  with 
"views";  he  did  not  encourage  them  and  he  had  the  art  of 
making  their  visits  pleasant  but  brief.  If  you  knew  your  sub- 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ject,  however,  McKinley  gave  you  time,  and  he  was  not  afraid 
to  agree,  even  when  it  involved  modifying  his  own  views. 

Cleveland  and  Harrison  looked  upon  counsel  with  that 
apprehension  one  might  feel  in  handling  dynamite.  Bryan  and 
Wilson  were  still  worse — they  simply  accepted  no  suggestions 
from  any  source.  Their  policies  and  acts  were  based  on 
"principle"  or  they  believed  they  were,  and  both  took  refuge 
from  suggested  change  by  declaring  they  could  not  yield 
because  principle  was  involved. 

Probably  no  two  men  in  our  public  life  were  so  hostile — no 
other  word  is  adequate — to  counsel  as  Wilson  and  Bryan. 
They  could  not  conceive  that  there  was  wisdom  in  any  mind 
but  their  own.  The  one  exception  with  Wilson  was  Colonel 
House,  and  he  did  not  last  to  the  end.  At  the  very  moment 
when  Wilson  most  needed  his  counsel  and  his  information,  he 
dropped  House  and,  when  House  went,  the  Wilson  policies 
dwindled  into  gestures,  phrases  and  futile  defiance. 

PARKER'S  ONE  BIG  MOVE 

Alton  B.  Parker,  of  course,  does  not  count,  except  that  for 
a  few  months  he  was  the  chosen  leader  of  his  party.  He 
hailed  from  the  historic  Esopus  Creek  in  the  lower  Catskills 
and  owed  much  of  his  prominence  to  David  B.  Hill.  During 
his  meteoric  national  career  as  a  Presidential  candidate  in 
1904,  he  acted  like  one  who  did  not  comprehend  just  what  had 
happened  to  him.  Only  on  one  policy  did  he  know  whether 
he  was  going  or  coming.  No  one  else  could  tell,  either.  His 
f amous_a»Gc4d^--t4egram  to  the  Democratic  national  conven- 
tion at  Kansas  City)  stands  out  like  a  lone  pine  on  a  mountain 
top  above  fhCTflmt)er  line. 

Everyone  was  so  amazed  by  that  masterful  seizure  of  a 
rare  opportunity — and  none  more  amazed  than  his  own 
party  leaders — that  the  inspiration  if  not  the  actual  author- 
ship of  the  telegram  was  generally  attributed  to  helpful 
friends.  But  Parker  wrote  and  sent  that  telegram  without 

56 


As  I  Knew  Them 

consulting  anyone  except  a  World  reporter  named  William 
McMurtrie  Speer,  then  acting  as  his  secretary.  Speer  urged 
him  to  send  it.  No  candidate  ever  did  a  more  courageous 
act.  If  Parker  had  maintained  throughout  the  campaign  the 
pace  he  set  that  first  day  he  might  have  given  Roosevelt  a 
closer  finish.  As  it  was,  he  merely  ualso  ran."  I  deal  more 
fully  with  the  Parker  telegram  incident  in  the  chapter  on 
Cleveland's  second  term. 


57 


CHAPTER   X 

GRANT— SOLDIER,  NOT  POLITICIAN 

He  Frankly  Acknowledged  His  Mistakes — What  A  Tempter  Is 
Power! — Misfortunes  Follovved  The  "306"  Convention — What  The 
Civil  War  Meant  To  Us— His  Battle  Against  Disease— -W.  C,  T.  U. 
Protests  Brandy-Injections — The  Reporters'  Struggle  For  News — 
"Whom  Do  You  Represent?"— The  Fifty  Million  Club— -"On  The 
Beach  At  Long  Branch" — Grant  Vetoed  Inflation  And  Led  The  First 
Battle  For  Sound  Money — Silencing  The  Noisy  (fRag-Baby"  Green- 
back— Grant  The  First  Over-Seas  Expansionist — The  World  One  Na- 
tion, Using  One  Language — Grant's  Determination  Never  To  Turn 
Back. 

WE  covered  quite  a  span  of  years  in  the  last  few  pages  dis- 
cussing the  responsiveness  to  suggestion  of  different 
Presidents  and  candidates.  It  brought  us  further  from  Grant 
and  closer  to  the  present  than  I  had  intended,  but  having 
started  on  the  way  I  had  to  go  through  the  list.  Now  let  us 
turn  the  clock  back. 

No  one  could  watch  General  Grant  as  I  did  for  weeks,  while 
he  was  under  the  strain  of  full  knowledge  of  his  approaching 
death,  without  getting  an  insight  into  the  real  man.  Patient, 
burden-bearing  and  trustful  he  surely  was, — too  much  so  for 
his  own  good.  Appomattox,  not  Washington,  is  his  monu- 
ment. 

Grant  was  President  long  before  my  newspaper  activities 
began,  but  it  was  not  difficult  for  me  to  see,  as  I  studied  him 
in  later  years,  that  down  deep  in  his  heart  he  must  have 
known  when  he  entered  the  White  House  in  1869  that  poli- 
tics was  not  his  field  of  endeavor,  though  he  never  knew,  until 
too  late,  that  politicians  can  be  trusted  not  to  intrigue  about 
as  much  as  you  trust  a  mule  not  to  kick. 

58 


As  I  Knew  Them 

What  was  said  of  Taft  while  President  by  the  memorable 
Senator  Dolliver,  of  Iowa,  might  have  been  said  forty  years 
earlier  with  even  greater  truth  of  Grant  in  the  White  House: 
uan  amiable  man,  completely  surrounded  by  men  who  know 
exactly  what  they  want." 

Grant  knew  war;  he  did  not  know  politics,  and  politics  you 
must  know  if  you  are  to  be  a  success  in  the  White  House. 

Whenever  I  recall  Grant  as  I  saw  him,  day  after  day,  await- 
ing death  with  stoic  calmness,  I  can  vision  such  a  man  as  a 
great  leader  in  a  mighty  effort  of  desperate  chances  such  as 
war.  It  leads  me  to  wonder  why  in  so  many  instances,  the 
alert  reasoning  mind  essential  in  a  victorious  warrior  fails  of 
high  accomplishment  in  civil  administration. 

Grant  knew  it, — acknowledged  it  with  praiseworthy  candor 
at  the  close  of  his  second  term  in  1877.  What  I  could  never 
reconcile  with  his  frank  statement  of  his  mistakes  is  the  fact 
that  when  in  1880  the  same  influences  and  the  same  men  re- 
sponsible for  the  numerous  shortcomings  of  his  Administra- 
tion needed  his  name  again  as  a  means  to  control  the  Repub- 
lican party,  Grant  permitted  them  to  make  him  their  candi- 
date. 

THE  PASSION  FOR  POWER 

What  a  tempter  is  power !  Men  risk  as  much  to  attain  it 
as  they  do  to  acquire  wealth — perhaps  they  risk  more.  Ap- 
parently the  desire  for  gold  takes  hold  of  you  no  more  in- 
tensely than  does  the  desire  for  power,  particularly  if  you 
have  once  exercised  such  great  power  as  the  ruler  of  a  nation 
possesses.  Evidently,  the  call  in  1880  to  a  new  exercise  of 
power  found  a  response  in  this  man  who  had  been  three  years 
at  the  head  of  a  victorious  army  and  eight  years  at  the  head  of 
a  nation. 

Travelling  around  the  world,  after  giving  way  as  Presi- 
dent to  Hayes,  Grant  was  feted  everywhere  as  no  other  Amer- 
ican had  ever  been.  He  landed  at  San  Francisco  with  the 

59 


As  I  Knew  Them 

human  weakness,  after  such  an  experience,  to  believe  almost 
any  exaggeration  about  himself,  even  that  the  people,  mar- 
shalled by  the  Republican  party,  were  eager  to  return  him  to 
the  Presidency  for  another  term. 

The  deep  interest  and  pride  shown  at  home  in  Grant's  re- 
ception abroad;  the  unquestioned  esteem  in  which  he  was  held 
as  victorious  commander  in  a  terrific  struggle,  lured  him  to 
neglect  precautions  he  would  have  taken  before  engaging  in 
battle — the  precaution  to  look  beyond  the  assurances  and  flat- 
teries of  a  group  led  by  Roscoe  Conkling,  seeking  to  recover 
the  control  they  had  held  over  the  party  organization  while 
he  was  President. 

MISFORTUNES  FOLLOW  THE  "306"  CONVENTION 

The  memorable  struggle  of  the  "306"  Stalwarts  in  a  vain 
effort  to  secure  his  nomination  was  the  result  of  this  yielding 
by  the  great  Union  soldier  to  men  who  would  use  him.  The 
Garfield  assassination  and  the  exile  of  Conkling  from  politics 
were  other  results.  A  sadder  fact,  so  far  as  Grant  is  con- 
cerned, is  that  one  misfortune  after  another  followed  him 
from  that  day  until  he  died  five  years  later,  cancer-stricken, 
bankrupt,  humiliated,  but  grimly  struggling  to  finish  his  last 
job'  "if  it  takes  all  summer." 

Remembering  well  the  temper  of  the  people  of  those  days  I 
have  always  felt  that  the  refusal  to  nominate  Grant  was  to 
him  a  blessing  in  disguise.  To  be  rejected  by  a  convention  of 
his  own  party  was,  of  course,  humiliating,  but  how  much 
harder  to  bear  would  have  been  his  humiliation  had  he  been 
nominated  and  then,  rejected  by  the  people.  The  country  was 
in  no  mood  to  return  Grant  to  the  Presidency.  For  many 
reasons,  in  addition  to  the  third  term  outcry,  his  candidacy 
would  have  shattered  his  party  as  badly  as  did  Taft's  renomi- 
nation  in  1912.  It  might  even  have  destroyed  his  good  name 
beyond  the  power  of  his  military  fame  to  redeem  it. 

Later,  when  the  wounds  of  defeat  had  almost  healed — they 

60 


CONKL1NG,  THE  TEMPTER.     "OH,  LET  HIM  HAVE  PEACE,"  SAID   PUCK 


A* 


J*  £ 


Reprinted  from  U.  5".  Grant's  "Personal  Memoirs/'  Permission  of  Century  Company. 
A  GRANT  MEMO  —  FORCED  BY  PAIN  TO  CONVERSATION  BY  WRITING 


As  I  Knew  Them 

never  heal  completely  with  any  man  when  the  Presidency  is 
involved — the  abundant  evidences  that  he  held  the  affection 
of  his  countrymen,  despite  his  mistakes,  had  a  sustaining  influ- 
ence on  the  dying  Grant. 

WHAT  THE   CIVIL  WAR  MEANT  TO   US 

Often  I  recall  the  days  and  nights  when  as  a  reporter  I  pa- 
trolled in  front  of  the  house  in  which  he  lay  incurably  ill,  and 
I  am  thrilled  when  I  read  in  his  "Memoirs"  the  thoughts  he 
was  recording  for  his  countrymen  as  the  darkness  of  eternity 
was  settling  upon  him.  He  must  have  felt  that  almost  every 
word  he  wrote  might  be  his  last.  Here  are  a  few  paragraphs 
from  his  last  chapter — as  worthy  of  reading  today  as  when 
he  penned  them : 

"The  cause  of  the  great  war  of  the  rebellion  against  the  United 
States  will  have  to  be  attributed  to  slavery. 

"It  is  probably  well  that  we  had  the  war  when  we  did.  .  .  .  We 
are  better  off  now  than  we  would  have  been  without  it  ...  Our 
republican  institutions  were  regarded  as  experiments  up  to  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion  and  monarchical  Europe  generally 
believed  that  our  republic  was  a  rope  of  sand  that  would  part  the 
moment  the  slightest  strain  was  put  upon  it.  Now  it  has  shown 
itself  capable  of  dealing  with  one  of  the  greatest  wars  ever 
made,  and  our  people  have  proven  themselves  to  be  the  most  formi- 
dable in  war  of  any  nationality. 

"But  in  this  war  was  a  fearful  lesson  and  should  teach  us  the 
necessity  of  avoiding  war  in  the  future. 

"The  war  has  made  us  a  nation  of  great  power  and  intelligence. 
We  have  but  little  to  do  to  preserve  peace,  happiness  and  prosperity 
at  home  and  the  respect  of  other  nations.  Our  experience  ought 
to  teach  us  the  necessity  of  the  first;  our  power  secures  the  latter. 

"I  feel  that  we  are  on  the  eve  of  a  new  era,  when  there  is  to  be 
harmony  between  the  Federal  and  the  Confederate.  I  cannot  stay 
to  be  a  living  witness  to  the  correctness  of  this  prophecy  but  I  feel 
it  within  me  that  it  is  to  be  so." 

61 


As  I  Knew  Them 

W.   C.  T.   U.   PROTEST  AGAINST   INJECTING  BRANDY 

From  the  first  definite  symptoms  of  his  illness  it  was  known 
that  Grant  could  not  live  many  months.  The  seat  of  trouble 
was  at  the  base  of  his  tongue.  There  were  times  when  the 
pain  caused  by  speaking  was  so  great  that  the  General  re- 
sorted to  conversation  by  "memos"  written  on  a  small  pad. 
On  at  least  two  occasions,  before  he  was  moved  to  Mt.  Mc- 
Gregor, it  seemed  as  though  Grant  could  battle  no  longer. 
From  one  of  those  sinking  spells  the  doctors  revived  him  by 
injecting  brandy  into  his  arm.  Grant  could  not  swallow.  He 
was  too  weak  to  withstand  the  pain  and  racking  cough  that 
would  follow;  therefore,  an  arm  injection  was  resorted  to. 

The  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  made  a  great 
furore  over  this  news  when  we  printed  it  next  day.  I  do  not 
recall  whether  it  was  in  one  of  their  national  conventions,  or 
at  some  less  formal  gathering,  that  the  temperance  women 
adopted  resolutions  indignantly  denouncing  the  doctors  for 
giving  the  General  intoxicating  liquor! 

From  every  nation,  from  every  State  and  city,  came  mes- 
sages of  sympathy.  His  long  illness  thus  gave  him  opportu- 
nity to  know  the  kindly  attitude  of  the  world.  Congress  by 
unanimous  vote  empowered  President  Arthur  to  restore  him 
to  his  old  rank  as  General,  thus  insuring  a  needed  pension  for 
his  widow. 

DOCTORS  VS.  PUBLIC  INTEREST 

The  demand  for  news  from  his  sick  room  was  keen  and 
sincere.  It  put  a  heavy  strain  upon  the  newspaper  men  "cov- 
ering" the  case,  for  the  early  attitude  of  both  doctors  and 
family  made  it  difficult  for  us  to  ascertain  the  facts.  Doctors 
and  family  did  not  realize  at  first  the  pressure  from  the  pub- 
lic for  news,  nor  the  wrong  impression  created  by  secrecy. 

Doctors,  as  all  newspaper  reporters  have  reason  to  know, 

62 


As  I  Knew  Them 

have  not  much  regard  for  public  interest  in  their  patients; 
they  are  reluctant  to  make  known  the  events  of  the  sick  room. 
In  their  eyes  the  only  news  is  that  the  patient  dies  or  gets  well 
— meanwhile,  silence.  Their  bulletins,  when  issued,  are  tech- 
nical, and  usually  not  easy  of  interpretation  by  the  ordinary 
person.  This  was  much  truer  in  the  days  of  Grant  than  it  is 
today. 

An  incident  following  one  of  the  General's  sinking  spells 
clarified  the  situation  then,  and  gave  Grant's  medical  advisors 
a  realizing  light  on  the  duty  a  physician  owes  to  the  public 
when  a  man  whose  career  is  history  lies  stricken  on  a  sick 
bed — perhaps  a  death  bed.  The  interest  of  the  people  is  much 
more  than  mere  curiosity;  it  is  the  companion  piece  of  patriot- 
ism. Partisan  differences  disappear,  unkind  judgments  are  set 
aside;  the  deeper  instincts  of  man  have  full  play. 

DR.  SANDS  AND  HIS  LITTLE  BLACK  BAG 

Grant's  doctors  did  not  appreciate  this  fact.  When  enter- 
ing or  leaving  the  General's  house  they  turned  from  reporters, 
darting  to  and  from  their  hansom-cabs  as  though  escaping 
from  hold-up  men.  They  simply  could  not  comprehend  that 
the  public  had  any  right  to  know  more  than  their  brief  bulle- 
tins revealed — or  concealed — with  the  result  that  a  battle  for 
news  developed  between  the  doctors  and  the  newspaper  men. 

Dr.  Henry  B.  Sands,  the  surgeon  in  the  case,  always  carried 
a  little  black  leather  case  of  surgical  instruments.  He  did  not 
attend  the  daily  conferences  with  the  physicians,  but  whenever 
he  came  along,  two  or  three  times  a  week,  carrying  his  black 
case,  we  correspondents  were  all  set  for  an  operation. 

We  knew  that  the  condition  was  so  serious  that  an  opera- 
tion would  have  been  performed  in  the  early  stages  of  the  dis- 
ease if  the  patient  had  not  been  General  Grant.  We  did  not 
know,  nor  did  the  doctors  know,  at  what  moment  an  opera- 
tion might  become  unavoidable,  despite  the  probability  that  it 

63 


As  I  Knew  Them 

would  result  In  the  famous  commander's  collapse  under  the 
knife.  That  the  doctors  dreaded.  It  is  a  result  people  do 
not'  always  accept  without  question  when  a  great  man's  life 
is  at  stake.  So  the  doctors  fought  against  an  operation. 

Early  one  April  morning,  about  three  o'clock,  as  I  remem- 
ber, our  sentries  patrolling  in  front  of  Grant's  house,  noticed 
the  gas  lights  in  the  General's  room  suddenly  turned  on;  a 
moment  later  the  colored  butler  raced  out  of  the  front  door 
and  through  the  street  to  Madison  Avenue.  There  he  jumped 
on  a  Madison  Avenue  horse  car.  There  were  no  residential 
telephones  in  those  days.  The  newspaper  sentries  knew  that 
that  meant  a  call  for  the  doctors ;  they  sounded  the  alarm  for 
all  of  us.  They  broke  up  at  least  two  poker  games  in  a  base- 
ment we  had  hired  around  the  corner  as  a  rendezvous.  Soon 
we  gathered  in  front  of  the  house;  soon  also  the  physicians 
came;  also  Dr.  Sands  with  his  case  of  instruments. 

"Here's  where  that  operation  is  done,"  we  all  agreed. 

But  it  wasn't. 

"WHOM  DO  YOU  REPRESENT?" 

In  time  Dr.  Sands  came  out  of  the  house.  He  undertook 
to  make  his  way  to  a  waiting  hansom-cab.  The  newspaper 
men  formed  a  "blockading"  line  in  front  of  him.  The  situa- 
tion was  too  important  for  us  to  permit  the  ordinary  turn 
aside. 

"Why  do  you  fellows  bother  me?"  shouted  the  doctor,  quite 
angrily  when  he  found  his  way  barred.  "I  don't  know  any 
of  you  men,  and  I  don't  want  to.  Why  do  you  question  me? 
Whom  do  you  represent?" 

Up  spoke  "Deacon"  Ransome,  of  the  New  York  Tribune — 
a  serious,  quiet-mannered,  positive  character.  He  would  read- 
ily have  been  accepted  in  clericals.  That  is  why  we  called 
him  Deacon. 

The  Deacon  saw  his  opportunity. 

"Dr.  Sands,"  he  said,  advancing  close  to  the  famous  sur- 

64 


As  I  Knew  Them 

geon  and  looking  him  straight  in  the  eye,  "We  represent  fifty 
million  people,  comprising  the  entire  population  of  these 
United  States,  and  every  man,  woman  and  child  of  them  is 
deeply  interested  in  this  dying  man  who  saved  a  nation  for 
them.  We  are  here  to  get  the  news  and  give  it  to  those  fifty 
million  people*  It  is  for  you  to  say  whether  they  are  to  have 


it" 


Dr.  Sands  seemed  stunned.  He  looked  back  into  Ransomed 
quiet  strong  features,  saw  how  earnest  the  man  was,  and  then 
gave  way  completely. 

uPerhaps  you're  right,1'  he  said,  and  a  kindlier  expression 
swept  away  his  frown.  "Perhaps  you're  right,"  he  repeated. 
"But  I  am  not  in  charge.  I'll  go  back  and  see  Dr.  Douglass. 
Between  us  we  may  be  able  to  satisfy  you." 

Dr.  Sands  was  as  good  as  his  word  and  the  full  story  of 
General  Grant's  terrific  struggle  for  life  that  April  morning 
was  promptly  made  known.  The  facts,  serious  as  they  were, 
were  less  distressing  to  the  country  than  if  the  policy  of  se- 
crecy had  been  maintained. 

THE  FIFTY  MILLION  CLUB 

That  same  night  the  correspondents  organized  the  "Fifty 
Million  Club."  We  held  our  organizing  dinner  in  the  back 
room  of  a  German  combination  restaurant  and  saloon,  at 
Third  Avenue  and  6yth  Street.  For  many  years  our  annual 
reunions  were  kept  up.  Death  steadily  thinned  the  Club 
membership,  however.  William  O.  Inglis,  Stephen  Bonsai 
and  myself  are  the  only  members  now  living,  so  far  as  I  know. 

The  Fifty  Million  Club  reported  every  incident  of  Grant's 
illness  and  death.  It  also  gave  to  the  world  the  story  of  his 
burial  on  Riverside  Drive,  New  York  city,  that  August  day 
with  North  and  South  bowed  in  his  honor,  through  their 
leading  men  gathered  at  his  grave.  The  club  membership  in- 
cluded many  newspaper  writers  who  afterward  achieved 

65 


As  I  Knew  Them 

world-wide  reputation — Julian  Ralph,  James  Creelman,  Wm. 
McMurtrie  Speer,  Edward  G.  Riggs,  and  others. 

"ON  THE  BEACH  AT  LONG  BRANCH" 

I  first  saw  General  Grant  when  I  called  at  his  cottage  at 
Elberon,  near  Long  Branch,  on  the  Jersey  coast,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1882 — the  year  after  Garfield  had  passed  away  in  the 
Francklyn  Cottage,  half  a  mile  distant.  Grant  was  seated 
alone  in  a  little  summer  house  on  the  bluff  overlooking  the 
ocean.  It  was  a  rule  of  the  Grant  family  that  no  one  was  to 
disturb  him  at  such  times,  but  as  I  had  not  been  informed  of  it 
I  ignorantly  broke  in  on  the  General's  meditation. 

Whatever  his  first  impulse  may  have  been,  he  smiled  when  I 
stated  my  purpose — and  thereafter  became  more  interested  in 
the  ocean  than  in  my  presence.  Later  I  was  told  that  he  liked 
to  go  down  there  by  himself,  and  for  an  hour  or  so  smoke 
cigars  and  look  out  silently  upon  the  ocean.  After  such  a 
career,  what  thoughts  he  must  have  had ! 

The  Grant  cottage  is  still  an  object  of  keen  interest;  it  has 
not  been  changed  materially  since  the  General  occupied  it.  He 
had  used  it  also  while  President.  In  those  days  Long  Branch 
was  the  summer  Capital  of  the  nation.  "On  the  Beach  at 
Long  Branch"  was  the  popular  ballad  of  the  time.  There 
notables  in  social,  business  and  political  life  gathered  in  holi- 
day mood;  there  the  roads  were  thronged  with  family 
"barouches"  behind  high-stepping  steeds  and  the  winding  horn 
of  the  four-in-hand  was  heard  with  delight  where  now  we 
are  distracted  with  the  nerve-racking  warning  of  the  auto. 

DRIVING  ON  THE  OCEAN  BOULEVARD 

Grant  enjoyed  his  afternoon  drives  on  the  ocean  boulevard; 
stopping  at  Hildreth's  West  End  Hotel  for  a  chat  with  friends 
on  those  big  wide  hospitable  verandahs.  No  one  could  be 
more  modest  and  affable.  He  was  a  good  mixer  in  company 

66 


As  .  I  Knew  Them 

he  liked.  Nor  did  he  seldom  miss  a  talk  with  his  friend,  P.  J. 
Casey,  manager  of  the  Western  Union  down  there,  who  held 
the  confidences  of  more  important  men  than  any  other  person 


»^*/&r>^  Ih53fc& 


From   Harper's    Weekly. 

AND    THEY   SAY   HE   WANTS    A   THIRD    TERM! 

I  ever  knew.  Casey  went  to  Long  Branch  for  his  health  in  the 
eighteen-sixties  after  his  doctors  had  condemned  him.  He  is 
still  there,  though  his  medical  advisers  long  since  passed  away. 


As  I  Knew  Them 

The  results  of  every  conference  Grant,  as  President,  held 
went  through  Casey's  hands.  So  with  other  important  men 
like  George  Pullman,  John  Hoey,  and  Thomas  T.  Eckert, 
who  made  Long  Branch  their  summer  home.  Casey  kept  them 
in  touch  with  their  city  affairs.  Every  New  York  city  news- 
paper seeking  to  verify  news  from  the  coast  or  to  locate  lead- 
ing men,  wired  to  Casey.  Not  many  persons,  not  even  many 
in  high  position,  are,  like  Casey,  made  the  confidant  of  every 
one. 

Of  course  Grant  never  was  part  of  the  social  life  of  the 
Jersey  shore.  He  disliked  society,  but  he  liked  to  meet  the 
men  to  be  found  down  there,  and  he  loved  to  hit  up  a  stiff 
pace  behind  a  pair  of  lively  horses. 

I  was  too  young  to  be  deeply  impressed  by  faces,  but  in  later 
years  as  I  recalled  my  impression  of  Grant's  face — I  saw  the 
face  of  a  man  with  many  unexpressed  thoughts,  not  all  of  them 
pleasant.  It  was  then  that  he  lent  his  name  to  the  unfortunate 
Grant  &  Ward  brokerage  firm. 

GRANT'S  FIGHT  FOR  SOUND  MONEY 

No  one  who  knew  Grant  well,  no  one  who  knew  him  even 
as  slightly  as  I  knew  him,  could  regard  him  in  any  light  other 
than  as  an  unwitting  agent  in  the  scandals  of  his  two  terms  as 
President.  And  they  would  be  right  in  that  judgment.  In 
the  army,  he  could  pick  aides  of  fighting  qualities,  but  in  the 
White  House,  surrounded  by  politicians,  whom  previously  he 
had  always  avoided,  he  proved  himself  an  amazingly  poor 
judge  of  character. 

Only  a  guileless  man  would  have  failed  to  realize  what 
was  going  on  all  around  him,  as  Grant  failed  to  realize  it. 
When  in  1872  he  was  reelected  by  a  heavier  vote  than  in  1868 
he  assumed  that  he  was  right,  that  the  people  had  approved 
him  and  his  weaknesses.  Thereupon  Grant  followed  his  char- 
acteristic of  sticking  to  his  course. 

But  if  Grant  went  wrong  in  his  choice  of  men,  he  was  right, 

68 


As  I  Knew  Them 

sure  and  firm  in  many  of  his  policies,  particularly  in  his  de- 
termination to  have  the  government  meet  its  obligations  at 
face  value,  and  also  put  its  currency  on  a  sound  basis.  During 
the  Civil  War,  the  London  Times  had  said: 

"No  pressure  that  ever  threatened  is  equal  to  that  which 
now  hangs  over  the  United  States. 

"If  in  future  generations  the  United  States  faithfully  meet 
their  liabilities  they  will  fairly  earn  a  fame  which  will  shine 
throughout  the  world." 

In  his  inaugural  in  1869,  Grant  urged  Congress  to  commit 
the  government  to  do  this  very  thing  and  Congress  responded 
with  one  of  the  most  remarkable  after-war  declarations  ever 
made  by  any  government.  It  resolved : 

"In  order  to  remove  any  doubt  as  to  the  purpose  of  the  govern- 
ment to  discharge  all  just  obligations  to  the  public  creditors.  .  .  . 
it  is  hereby  declared  that  the  faith  of  the  United  States  is  solemnly 
pledged  to  the  payment  in  coin  or  the  equivalent  of  all  obligations 
of  the  United  States." 

Senator  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  of  Connecticut,  during  the  de- 
bate voiced  the  dominant  feeling  when  he  declared,  "For 
every  dollar  of  the  national  debt  the  blood  of  a  soldier  is 
pledged.  Every  bond  in  letter  and  spirit  must  be  as  sacred 
as  a  soldier's  grave." 

Though  this  committal  was  only  a  promise  without  date  of 
performance  it  is  something  that  Americans  can  look  back 
upon  with  pride  in  view  of  the  course  adopted  by  all  the  coun- 
tries engaged  in  the  World  War  except  England.  A  substan- 
tial minority  of  Republicans  was  against  the  pledge;  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  urged  a  pledge  in  "lawful  money"  which  meant 
any  kind  of  money  decreed  by  Congress;  in  essence,  the  Demo- 
crats did  not  differ  from  the  advocates  of  greenbacks  carrying 
no  promise  of  redemption  except  in  other  greenbacks. 

The  "ragbaby,"  as  greenbacks  were  called,  seemed  the  most 
popular  infant  ever  born,  and  certainly  it  was  the  noisiest.  A 
compromiser  in  the  White  House  would  surely  have  heeded 
the  clamor  for  "cheap  money,"  but  Grant  was  not  a  man  of 


As  I  Knew  Them 

compromise.  In  his  stand  against  inflation  in  1872  his  veto 
went  to  Congress  against  the  protest  of  many  Republicans 
close  to  him. 

Nor  was  he  content  with  an  undated  greenback  redemption 
pledge.  When  the  1874  elections  deprived  the  Republicans  of 
control  of  Congress,  Grant  insisted  that  before  the  session 
ended  the  party  should  fix  a  date.  He  knew  he  could  not 
force  immediate  resumption,  so  he  agreed  to  January  I,  1879 
— four  years  ahead.  Many  Republicans  supported  the  bill 
because  they  believed  that  it  would  be  repealed  before  it 
became  effective,  but  Grant  had  faith  that  Congress,  having 
pledged  itself,  would  keep  the  pledge.  And  his  faith  was  jus- 
tified. Had  he  not  forced  action  at  that  time,  the  fate  of  the 
greenback  would  have  been  uncertain  until  after  1881,  for 
the  Democrats  remained  in  control  of  the  House  until  that 
year. 

Put  all  the  Grant  weaknesses  in  the  scale  on  one  side,  and 
exaggerate  their  harm  beyond  reasonable  estimate;  then  put 
in  the  scales  on  the  other  side  the  benefit  accruing  to  this 
country  from  the  pledge  to  pay  its  bonded  obligations  in  full 
and  to  make  the  greenback  worth  one  hundred  cents  in  gold 
anywhere,  any  time.  The  balance  would  have  to  weigh  heavily 
as  a  credit  to  Grant.  It  is  beyond  the  power  of  figures  to  state 
it.  At  the  close  of  the  world  war  in  1918  we  saw  the  curren- 
cies of  Europe  depreciate  almost  to  the  vanishing  point  and 
government  obligations  shrink  to  worthless  paper;  millions 
of  people,  impoverished  by  that  wild  orgie  in  printing-press 
money,  demanded  more  of  such  money  because  they  saw  no 
hope  for  them  in  "dear"  money.  Following  our  Civil  War  our 
own  country  was  in  identically  the  same  mood.  The  clamor- 
ing was  for  cheap  money — and  plenty  of  it. 

If  there  is  one  man  to  whom  the  nation  is  indebted  more 
than  it  is  to  Grant  for  "holding  the  fort"  against  inflation, 
against  repudiation  of  our  bonded  obligations  and  against  the 
"ragbaby,"  I  have  not  found  his  name  in  the  history  of  time. 

I  have  never  seen  the  statement  in  any  publication,  but  I 

70 


As  I  Knew  Them 

have  authority  for  saying  that  every  feature  of  the  resump- 
tion act  was  written  in  the  White  House  under  Grant's  super- 
vision.^ John  Sherman,  then  chairman  of  the  Senate  Finance 
Committee,  and  a  vigorous  advocate  of  early  resumption,  was 
put  in  charge  of  the  bill.  The  history  of  our  present  Federal 
Reserve  law  is  much  the  same.  It,  too,  has  White  House 
origin,  with  Robert  L.  Owen,  of  Oklahoma,  as  its  champion  in 
the  Senate,  and  Carter  Glass,  of  Virginia,  in  the  House.  Its 
essential  features  were  worked  out,  however,  by  President 
Wilson  in  conference  with  Bryan,  McAdoo  and  Col.  E.  M. 
House. 

John  Sherman's  success  with  the  resumption  bill  led  to  his 
selection  by  President  Hayes  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
and,  therefore,  as  the  official  to  put  the  act  into  effect  in 
January,  1879.  By  these  two  steps  Sherman  made  himself  the 
leading  influence  in  Washington  in  financial  legislation,  and 
on  them  he  based  his  candidacy  for  the  nomination  for  the 
Presidency  in  1880  and  1888. 

GRANT  THE  FIRST  OVER-SEAS  EXPANSIONIST 

Another  problem  that  became  quite  acute  during  Grant's 
administration  has  peculiar  interest  today  because  of  our  pres- 
ent sovereignty  over  the  Philippines,  Hawaii  and  Porto  Rico. 
Surely,  at  that  time  we  had  enough  to  do  to  knit  together  the 
two  sections  of  our  country  without  going  beyond  our  shores 
for  more  problems  and  more  territory;  but  beginning  in  1867 
the  question  of  possible  outlying  possessions  came  in  for  vig- 
orous debate  in  Congress,  with  the  usual  charges  by  the  oppo- 
sition that  those  favoring  expansion  were  corruptly  influenced. 

Russia  wanted  to  sell  us  Alaska;  Denmark  wanted  to  sell 
the  Virgin  Islands,  and  Santo  Domingo  formally  asked  to  be 
annexed.  In  Congress  there  was  serious  talk  of  urging  our 
State  Department  to  negotiate  with  Great  Britain  for  the 
cession  of  Canada !  Alaska  we  fortunately  secured,  thanks  to 

71 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Secretary  of  State  Seward;'we  refused  to  pay  less  than  three 
million  dollars  for  the  Virgin  Islands  only  to  pay  $25,000,000 
for  them  in  1917;  and  the  annexation  treaty  with  Santo  Do- 
mingo-was defeated  in  the  Senate  Foreign  Relations  Commit- 
tee largely  through  the  opposition  of  Senator  Charles  Sumner, 
its  chairman. 

I  do  not  suppose  that  many  people  are  aware  that  Grant 
was  the  first  of  our  Presidents  to  advocate  the  extension  of 
our  sovereignty  beyond  our  ocean  shores.  We  have  heard 
much  about  "imperialism"  since  Dewey  sailed  into  Manila 
Bay  in  1898;  McKinley  and  all  of  his  successors  except  Wil- 
son have  been  assailed  as  "imperialists."  Grant,  however, 
led  the  way  in  1870  by  urging  the  Senate  to  ratify  a  tentative 
annexation  treaty  he  had  made  with  Santo  Domingo.  The 
government  of  that  island  strongly  desired  to  come  under  our 
flag ;  Secretary  of  the  Navy  George  M.  Robeson  and  later  a 
commission  headed  by  Andrew  D.  White,  were  sent  to  study 
the  problem,  and,  If  it  seemed  best,  to  negotiate  annexation. 

With  characteristic  persistence.  Grant  urged  the  Senate 
to  act  favorably  on  the  report  made.  It  might  have  done  so 
but  for  the  hostility  of  Senator  Sumner.  The  gossip  of  the 
day  attributed  Sumner's  opposition  to  the  fact  that  he  and 
Grant  were  far  apart  on  all  questions. 

However  that  may  be  Sumner  fought  as  desperately  against 
the  acquisition  of  the  West  Indies  islands  as  an  earlier 
Massachusetts  Senator — Daniel  Webster — in  1846  fought 
against  the  effort  to  fix  our  northwest  boundary  north  of  the 
present  States  of  Washington  and  Oregon.  Webster  insisted 
that  it  was  best  to  let  England  own  territory  that  was  a 
pathless  wilderness  destined  forever  to  burden  humanity  with 
Indian  warfares.  Fortunately,  Webster  did  not  succeed  in 
keeping  our  flag  from  the  territory  we  now  possess;  unfor- 
tunately Sumner  won  his  fight  to  keep  us  out  of  Santo 
Domingo.  The  treaty  had  a  majority  but  not  a  two-thirds 
vote. 

72 


As  I  Knew  Them 

THE  WORLD  ONE  NATION  AND  ONE   LANGUAGE 

Though  checkmated,  Grant  believed  to  the  last  in  the  wis- 
dom of  annexation,  and  said  so  emphatically  in  his  second 
inaugural.  Although  Santo  Domingo  has  never  come  under 
the  American  flag,  Grant's  vision  has  been  justified  by  our 
possession  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  the  Philippines,  Porto 
Rico,  Guam  and  the  Virgin  Islands,  not  to  mention  our  con- 
trol over  Cuba  and  Samoa. 

(  Surely  the  stars  in  their  courses  have  fought  for  the  des- 
tiny of  which  Grant  had  a  vision.  Did  he  see  still  further 
down  the  vista?  Who  knows?  At  least  I  cannot  leave  the 
subject  without  remembering  these  words  from  his  second  in- 
augural address,  March  4,  1873: 

"In  the  future  while  I  hold  my  present  office  the  subject  of  ac- 
quiring territory  must  have  the  support  of  the  people  before  I  will 
recommend  any  proposition  looking  to  such  acquisition. 

"I  say  here,  however,  that  I  do  not  share  in  the  apprehension 
held  by  many  as  to  the  danger  of  governments  becoming  weakened 
and  destroyed  by  reason  of  their  extension  of  territory.  Commerce, 
education  and  rapid  transit  of  thought  and  matter  by  telegraph 
and  steam  have  changed  all  this. 

"Rather  do  I  believe  that  our  Great  Maker  is  preparing  the 
world,  in  His  own  good  time,  to  become  one  nation,  speaking  one 
language,  and  when  armies  and  navies  will  no  longer  be  required." 

GRANT  FRANKLY  ACKNOWLEDGES  HIS  MISTAKES 

In  view  of  the  quotations  so  often  made  from  the  utter- 
ances of  those  who  assailed  Grant's  administration,  it  would 
be  unjust  to  omit  Grant's  own  words  in  defense.  They  have 
the  strength  of  simplicity.  Most  men  retiring  from  high 
positions  speak  only  of  their  achievements,  if  they  speak  at 
all,  and  are  silent  regarding  their  mistakes.  Grant  dwelt 
upon  his  mistakes.  No  one  can  question  the  sincerity  of  one 
who  writes: 

73 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"In  submitting  my  eighth  and  last  annual  message  to  Congress 
it  seems  proper  that  I  should  refer  to,  and  in  some  degree,  recapitu- 
late the  events  and  official  acts  of  the  last  eight  years. 

"It  was  my  fortune  or  misfortune  to  be  called  to  the  office  of 
Chief  Executive  without  any  previous  political  training.  From  the 
age  of  seventeen  I  had  never  even  witnessed  the  excitement  attend- 
ing a  Presidential  campaign  but  twice  antecedent  to  my  own  candi- 
dacy and  at  but  one  of  the^n  was  I  eligible  to  vote. 

"Under  such  circumstances  it  is  but  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
errors  of  judgment  must  have  occurred.  Even  had  they  not,  differ- 
ences of  opinion  between  the  Executive,  bound  by  an  oath  to  the 
strict  performance  of  his  duties,  and  writers  and  debaters  must 
have  arisen.  It  is  not  necessarily  evidence  of  blunder  on  the  part 
of  the  Executive  because  there  are  differences  of  views. 

"Mistakes  have  been  made  as  all  can  see  and  I  admit.  But  it 
seems  to  me  oftener  in  the  selections  made  of  assistants  appointed 
to  aid  in  carrying  out  the  various  duties  of  administering  the  gov- 
ernment— in  nearly  every  case  selected  without  a  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  the  appointee,  but  upon  recommendations  of  the  repre- 
sentatives chosen  directly  by  the  people.  It  is  impossible  where  so 
many  trusts  are  to  be  allotted,  that  the  right  parties  should  be  chosen 
in  every  instance. 

"History  shows  that  no  administration  from  the  time  of  Wash- 
ington has  been  free  from  these  mistakes.  But  I  leave  comparisons 
to  history,  claiming  only  that  I  have  acted  in  every  instance  from 
a  conscientious  desire  to  do  what  was  right,  constitutional,  within 
the  law,  and  for  the  very  best  interests  of  the  whole  people.  Fail- 
ures have  been  errors  of  judgment  and  not  of  intent." 

SUPERSTITION  NEVER  TO  TURN  BACK 

Let  me  quote  from  Grant's  "Memoirs"  a  story  he  tells 
of  an  incident  in  his  early  life  that  gives  you  the  keynote  to 
his  success.  In  1844,  returning  from  furlough  to  Jefferson 
Barracks,  Missouri,  he  found  his  regiment  had  been  trans- 
ferred elsewhere.  He  set  out  on  horseback  to  join  it.  By  the 
most  direct  route  he  would  have  to  ford  a  creek.  He  chose 
that  way  instead  of  the  longer  one.  Here  is  his  own  story: 

74 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"There  is  not  water  enough  in  the  creek  at  ordinary  stages  to 
run  a  coffee  mill  and  at  low  water  there  is  none  running  whatever. 
On  this  occasion  it  had  been  raining  heavily  and  when  the  creek 
was  reached  I  found  its  banks  full  to  overflowing  and  the  current 
rapid.  I  looked  at  it  a  moment  to  wonder  what  to  do. 

"One  of  my  superstitions  had  always  been,  when  I  started  to  go 
anywhere  or  to  do  anything  not  to  turn  back  or  stop  until  the 
thing  intended  was  accomplished.  So  I  struck  into  the  creek*  I 
headed  the  horse  for  the  other  side  and  soon  reached  it,  wet 
through.  I  went  on,  however,  to  my  destination." 

Had  Pemberton,  the  Confederate  Commander  who  sur- 
rendered Vicksburg  to  Grant,  or  had  Lee,  in  the  battles  of 
the  Wilderness,  known  what  Grant  called  his  "superstition" 
they  might  have  realized  earlier  than  they  did  in  those  his- 
toric engagements  that  the  Union  Commander  had  begun 
something  he  was  going  to  stick  to,  at  all  costs,  until  finished. 


75 


CHAPTER  XI 

HAYES— A  PRESIDENT  OF  FINE  PURPOSE 

Not  Too  Late  To  Do  Him  Justice— The  Same  Title  To  Office  As 
Every  Other  President,  Backed  Also  By  Decisions  On  Which  Existing 
Law  Is  Based — A  Boy's  Impression  Of  Tilden,  "The  Sage  Of  Gram- 
ercy  Park" — Hayes'  Splendid  Background  In  Ohio — No  Challenges  But 
Firm  Purpose — Justice  To  The  South,  Even  Though  It  Meant  Polit- 
ical Hostility — Prophecy  As  To  Silver  Coinage — A  Telegram  That 
Became  Historic — Removing  Chester  A.  Arthur  From  Office — Hayes 
Restores  The  Republican  Party  To  National  Control. 

O  MATTER  how  many  years  may  have  elapsed,  it 
should  never  be  too  late  for  Americans  to  do  justice  to 
every  man  who  has  ever  occupied  the  White  House  and  it 
certainly  is  not  too  late  to  do  justice  now  to  Rutherford  B. 
Hayes.  He  belongs  among  our  Presidents  of  ranking  ability. 
If  you  are  disposed  to  deny  him  this  foremost  place,  read  his 
public  papers,  and  you  will  concede  that  no  President  excels 
his  clear  style,  his  convincing  reasoning,  his  broad,  earnest 
purpose. 

Hayes  and  Benjamin  Harrison  are  not  as  fully  credited 
as  they  should  be  for  their  wholesome,  patriotic  and  cour- 
ageous endeavors  while  at  the  head  of  government.  I  knew 
Harrison  fairly  well,  but  only  twice,  long  after  his-  Presi- 
dency, did  I  meet  Hayes,  who  so  far  as  his  Administration 
from  1877  to  1881  is  concerned  still  lives  in  the  person  of 
his  son,  Col.  Webb  C.  Hayes.  Col.  Hayes  aided  his  father 
at  the  White  House,  and,  of  course,  was  his  confidant.  As 
such  he  is  identified  with  the  events  of  the  period.  He  now 
resides  at  Fremont,  Ohio,  where  at  Spiegel  Grove  State  Park 
he  and  Mrs.  Hayes  have  erected  and  endowed  the  Hayes 
Memorial  Library  and  the  Hayes  Historical  Association. 

I  group  Hayes  and  Harrison  together  for  the  moment  be- 


As  I  Knew  Them 

cause  they  were  of  much  the  same  stock  and  temperament. 
Both  men,  in  their  calm,  unpretentious  adherence  to  their  con- 
victions reflected,  as  in  a  mirror,  the  spirit  and  meaning  of 
American  institutions  as  they  have  come  down  to  us  through 
the  generations  of  which  their  forefathers  were  a  part.  If 
we  cannot  find  that  spirit  in  the  careers  of  such  men  it  is  not 
to  be  found  anywhere. 

No  citizens  of  better  aims  have  ever  been  born  on  Arrreri- 
can  soil  than  those  two  men,  and  none  ever  brought  into  the 
nation's  service,  whether  on  battlefield  or  in  civil  life,  higher 
ideals  of  duty  or  greater  courage  to  uphold  them. 

HAYES'  TITLE  THE  SAME  AS  THAT  OF  OTHER  PRESIDENTS 

The  circumstances  surrounding  Gov.  Hayes5  election  as 
President  affected  for  many  years  and  in  some  minds  still  af- 
fect proper  appreciation  of  his  Administration.  A  phrase  or 
expression  that  appeals  to  public  fancy  more  often  distorts 
or  ignores  the  truth  than  states  it.  This  was  the  case  with 
the  cry  of  "counted  out!"  raised  when  the  electoral  commis- 
sion rulings  denied  Tilden's  claims  to  the  Presidency.  Under 
cover  of  that  cry  Tilden  has  escaped  the  condemnation  he 
justly  deserves  for  directing  a  conspiracy  to  buy  the  electoral 
votes  needed  to  give  him  a  majority. 

I  cannot  here  go  into  the  details  leading  to  the  Electoral 
Commission  decision.  In  1876  we  were  only  eleven  years 
from  civil  war;  the  clear  minds  of  both  political  parties 
dreaded  another  serious  clash;  our  weakness,  not  our  strength, 
led  to  the  belief  that  it  was  more  important  to  declare  some- 
body elected  President  than  who  that  somebody  might  be. 
The  Democrats  in  Congress  voted  to  create  the  Electoral 
Commission;  a  majority  of  Republicans  opposed  it.  Both 
political  parties  agreed  in  advance  to  accept  its  decision.  When 
the  time  came  to  make  good  on  this  pledge  of  their  own  seek- 
ing, the  Democrats  refused  to  do  so. 

Yet  Congressman  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  chairman  of  Tilden's 

77 


As  I  Knew  Them 

national  campaign  committee,  had  said  on  Jan.  25  while  urg- 
ing the  measure  in  the  House : 

"Partisan,  as  from  my  position  I  am  supposed  to  be,  but  patri- 
otic as  I  hope  henceforth  to  be  regarded,  I  have  deemed  it  my 
plain  duty  to  labor  zealously  toward  the  attainment  of  some  just 
and  constitutional  plan  whereby  but  one  President  should  be  de- 
clared, and  by  a  title  which  all  citizens  would  respect.  It  was 
essential  to  the  formation  of  such  a  plan  that  it  should  be  fair 
between  the  two  political  parties,  that  the  scales  of  judgment 
should  be  so  evenly  poised  that  the  dust  in  the  balance  would  in- 
cline the  beam.  Such  a  plan  in  my  judgment  the  committee  were 
able  to  agree  upon  and  have  presented  to  Congress. 

"No  man  can  predict  who  will  become  President  by  virtue  of 
its  operation,  but  all  men  can  predict  that  it  will  be  the  man  who 
is  lawfully  entitled  to  be  President.  If  the  law  should  violate  the 
equity  of  the  case,  it  is  ground  for  the  amendment  of  the  law,  but 
not  for  rebellion  against  its  decrees.  It  substitutes  law  and  order 
and  right  for  strife,  anarchy  and  wrong." 

An  8  to  7  decision,  like  many  of  our  5  to  4  Supreme  Court 
decisions,  was  too  close  to  convince  the  losers,  and  the  Demo- 
crats claimed  that  their  man  had  been  defrauded.  Yet  the 
decision  was  made  by  the  machinery  they  had  created,  and 
ten  years  later  they  united  with  Republicans  in  Congress  in 
enacting  a  law  governing  the  counting  of  the  electoral  vote  on 
precisely  the  same  lines  upon  which  the  Electoral  Commission 
had  acted  The  bill  was  passed  by  more  than  a  two-thirds 
vote  of  each  House,  and  Grover  Cleveland  signed  it.  His  at- 
testing signature  validated  and  perpetuated  the  rulings  made 
in  1877.  Thus,  in  addition  to  the  title  to  office  under  the 
forms  of  law  held  by  all  Presidents,  Hayes  had  the  confirma- 
tion of  a  commission  whose  rulings  are  now  law. 

"THE  SAGE  OF  GRAMERCY  PARK" 

I  got  into  active  newspaper  political  writing  in  what  might 
be  called  the  aftermath  of  the  Hayes-Tilden  controversy. 

78 


TILDEN    AND    HIS   BAR!L 


As  I  Knew  Them 

That  is  to  say,  for  some  years  after  1876,  every  partisan  dis- 
cussion, wherever  held  or  however  begun,  finally  ended  in 
charges  of  "fraud"  and  "counted  out"  by  Democrats  with  a 
sharp  retort  by  Republicans;  in  Congress  "the  stolen  Presi- 
dency'1 was  a  favorite  Democratic  topic. 

I  listened  attentively  to  it  all,  and  at  first  with  some  sym- 
pathy for  Tilden.  That  sympathy  might  have  been  stronger 
had  I  not  seen  Tilden  reviewing  a  night  parade  from  the 
balcony  of  the  Everett  House,  Union  Square,  New  York  City. 
With  several  school  chums  I  had  gone  "uptown,"  as  Union 
Square  then  was,  to  catch  a  glimpse,  if  we  could,  of  the  "Sage 
of  Gramercy  Park,"  as  his  followers  hailed  him  or  "Whisper- 
ing Sammy"  as  others  called  him. 

"Little  old  New  York"  was  not  then  so  large  that  a  parade 
could  be  lost  in  its  engulfing  crowds,  and  the  Tilden  parade 
that  night  made  it  seem  as  though  the  entire  population  was 
on  the  march.  Calcium  lights  of  intense  brightness  were  then 
used  to  "spot"  people,  and  as  that  light  centred  on  Tilden 
it  revealed  to  us  a  sallow-faced,  dried-up  old  man.  A  Dick- 
ens could  have  used  those  features  for  one  of  his  malevolent 
characters.  Certainly  he  was  not  an  inspiring  spectacle  for 
school-boys  to  look  upon,  and  we  walked  back  home  wondering 
how  such  a  man  could  expect  to  be  elected  by  the  people  to  any 
office. 

Nevertheless,  youth  leans  toward  the  under  dog  and  I  had 
that  kind  of  boyish  sympathy  for  Tilden's  cause  until,  as  a 
proof-reader  in  The  New  York  Tribune,  I  read  and  revised 
before  publication  many  columns  of  that  newspaper's  exposure 
of  the  cipher  dispatches  sent  from  Tilden's  home  by  his 
nephew  who,  was  also  his  secretary.  Those  dispatches  were 
crude  efforts  to  bribe  any  and  all  of  the  election  officials  hav- 
ing control  of  the  disputed  electoral  votes. 

That  experience  brought  back  to  me  the  Tilden  face  I  had 
seen  on  the  reviewing  stand  during  tlie  campaign;  all  over 
those  pinched,  bloodless  features  I  saw  written  the  story  I 
was  now  revising — the  only  story  in  American  history  of  an 

80 


ELAINE  AND   EVARTS  FIND  THAT  HAYES  DOES  NOT  LIKE  THE  SHIRT 


As  I  Knew  Them 

attempted  purchase  of  the  Presidency  by  one  who  was  seek- 
ing it. 

WHAT  HAYES  DID  NOT  LACK 

It  was  said  of  Hayes  in  the  Presidency  that  he  lacked  what 
politicians  called  "magnetism";  just  as  Harrison  lacked  It, 
just  as  Cleveland  abhorred  it, — that  quality  which  Harding' s 
able  Secretary  of  State,  Charles  Evans  Hughes,  is  supposed 
also  to  lack. 

But  Hayes  was  not  lacking  in  purpose  or  ability  to  give 
the  country  his  best.  And  he  had  much  to  give  that  the  coun- 
try then  needed.  He  had  no  alliances  to  compromise  him.  He 
was  the  nominee  of  a  convention  of  which  Elaine  had  been 
the  anticipated  choice.  But  anticipation  was  not  realization, 
as  so  often  happens,  particularly  in  conventions.  The  Conk- 
ling-Cameron  vindictiveness  toward  Elaine  had  been  so  deep 
that  to  defeat  the  nomination  of  the  Maine  man  they  turned 
to  Hayes.  They  took  a  chance  that  he  might  prove  amen- 
able— and  lost. 

A  WINNING  CAMPAIGNER  AND  TRIED  EXECUTIVE 

Often  I  have  been  surprised  when  discussing  Hayes  to  find 
how  little  is  known  of  the  splendid  background  he  had  as  an 
executive  and  legislator  when  he  entered  the  White  House. 
It  would  seem  that,  in  many  minds,  his  career  began  with 
the  challenge  of  his  title  to  the  Presidency.  In  fact^  he  was 
elected  to  Congress  in  1864  while  with  his  command  on  the 
battlefield.  He  served  two  terms  and  was  then  nominated 
as  the  one  man  likely  to  beat  Allan  G.  Thurman,  uthe  noblest 
Roman  of  them  all"  as  the  latter  was  called,  for  Governor 
of  Ohio.  He  did  beat  Thurman. 

When  up  for  reelection  Hayes  was  called  upon  to  defeat 
George  H.  Pendleton — "Gentleman  George."  Pendleton  had 
run  for  Vice  President  with  McClellan  in  1864  and  he  also 

81 


As  I  Knew  Them 

had  a  substantial  following  for  President  in  the  convention 
of  1868  when  Horatio  Seymour  was  nominated.  Pendleton 
was  a  hard  man  to  defeat,  but  Hayes  defeated  him. 

In  1872  Hayes  failed  of  reelection  to  Congress  because  of 
the  Liberal  Republican  split  occasioned  by  Horace  Greeley's 
candidacy  for  President.  Two  years  later,  the  Democrats  had 
"Old  Bill"  Allen  in  the  field  for  reelection  as  Governor;  the 
Republicans  realized  they  had  to  nominate  a  vote-getter  and 
they  turned  to  Hayes.  Though  1874  was  a  year  of  Repub- 
lican defeats,  Hayes  again  vanquished  a  strong  opponent. 

On  this  winning  record  Ohio  Republicans  offered  Hayes  to 
the  1876  presidential  convention.  They  had  a  candidate  who 
had  proved  that  he  knew  how  to  win,  and  one  against  whose 
record  not  a  word  of  scandal  could  be  uttered, — a  necessary 
qualification  in  view  of  conditions  than  prevailing  in  Wash- 
ington. He  was  a  partisan  but  not  a  politician.  The  men 
responsible  for  nominating  him  knew  he  was  not  of  their  type; 
they  also  knew  that  even  if  they  had  the  votes  to  nominate 
one  of  their  type  he  would  not  be  elected  President. 

In  such  a  situation  Hayes  became  the  nominee  of  his  party 
without  an  entangling  alliance,  without  a  pledge. 

NO  CHALLENGES,  BUT  FIRM  PURPOSE 

The  newly-elected  President  faced  a  condition  almost  im- 
possible to  overcome  except  for  a  man  conscious  of  his  own 
rectitude  and  firmly  resolved  to  follow  the  path  that  seemed 
to  him  best.  He  issued  no  challenges  except  the  calm  recital 
of  facts,  uttered  no  defiances  to  those  who  yelled  "Fraud!"  to 
those  who  criticised  and  denounced  his  policies.  The  tempta- 
tion was  great  but  achievement,  not  retort,  was  Hayes'  ob- 
jective. 

He  left  to  others  the  responsibility  for  prolonging  chaos. 
If  the  Democrats  wanted  to  test  his  title  in  court,  as  they 
declared  they  would,  (though  they  never  did)  he  had  nothing 

82 


As  I  Knew  Them 

to  say  in  advance  of  the  test;  if  the  spoilsmen  of  his  party 
•  were  determined  to  "ditch"  his  Administration  he  had  noth- 
ing to  say  in  advance  of  that  test ;  if  the  paper  money  advocates 
in  Congress  were  going  to  fight  to  repeal  the  specie  resump- 
tion law  before  it  became  effective,  he  was  ready  also  for  that 
battle. 

In  the  North  because  of  Republican  dissensions  many  of  the 
large  States  were  under  Democratic  control ;  in  the  South  the 
last  of  the  Republican  Governors,  Senators  and  Congressmen 
were  on  their  way  out. 

All  this  must  have  had  its  depressing  influence  on  Hayes 
in  his  own  counsels,  but  no  evidence  of  it  ever  came  into  public 
view. 

THREE   TINE   POLICIES 

Hayes  had  three  policies  definitely  in  mind  when  he  en- 
tered the  White  House — first,  to  free  the  South  of  Federal 
soldiers  sent  there  to  maintain  "carpet-bag"  Governors,  then 
in  office  only  in  South  Carolina  and  Louisiana,  also  to  bring 
about  a  gentler,  kindlier  attitude,  in  the  hope  of  a  real  re- 
union of  the  States;  second,  in  his  appointments  "to  abide  by 
the  true  rule  that  honesty,  capacity  and  fidelity  Constitute  the 
only  real  qualifications  for  office";  third,  to  make  good  his 
own  insistence  that  "The  resumption  act  can  be,  ought  to  be 
and  will  be  executed"  on  Jan.  i,  1879;  finally,  to  resist  the 
efforts  of  silver  producers  to  force  the  government  to  coin 
and  circulate  silver  dollars  at  par  despite  the  steadily  down- 
ward trend  in  the  price  of  silver. 

It  was  a  splendid  programme  for  the  nation,  particularly  for 
the  South.  The  Republican  Federal  machine  vindictively  op- 
posed the  first  two  policies,  and  a  minority  of  Republican 
legislators  united  with  the  Democrats  in  favor  of  silver. 

Nevertheless  Hayes  persisted.  He  emphasized  his  pur- 
pose to  redeem  greenbacks  by  selecting  as  his  Secretary  of 

83 


As  I  Knew  Them 

the  Treasury  the  man  in  charge  of  the  specie  resumption  bill 
in  Congress  when  it  was  enacted — John  Sherman. 

His  second  purpose  he  hoped  to  accomplish  and,  so  far  as 
was  then  possible,  did  accomplish  by  selecting  David  M.  Key, 
of  Tennessee,  to  be  his  Postmaster  General.  Key  had  been  a 
Brigadier  General  in  the  Confederate  Army.  Let  us  not  in 
these  days  minimize  the  broad  sympathy  and  firmness  neces- 
sary for  such  a  step. 

Hayes  had  to  meet  the  charge  from  Republican  leaders 
that  his  Southern  policy  meant  a  "Solid  South"  politically  hos- 
tile to  every  Republican  Administration  beginning  with  his 
own;  also,  that  a  Republican  majority  in  the  Senate  or  the 
House  of  Representatives  would  in  future  have  to  be  elected 
from  Northern  States,  for  no  Republican  could  be  elected  in 
the  South. 

Nevertheless,  he  believed  that  prejudice  born  of  war,  the 
partisanship  of  politics,  should  give  way  to  the  higher  obliga- 
tion to  unite  the  country.  Within  three  months  South  Caro- 
lina and  Louisiana  had  Governors  chosen  in  their  own  way. 
The  immediate  political  consequences  were  precisely  as  antici- 
pated— and  they  have  remained  so  substantially  ever  since. 

HAYES'  STRONG  CABINET 

But  the  deepest  impression  made  by  Hayes  at  the  begin- 
ning was  in  his  selection  of  his  Cabinet,  It  was  not  a  council 
of  politicians  that  he  gathered  around  his  table.  For  individ- 
ual ability  and  for  unity  of  purpose,  the  Hayes  Cabinet  was 
one  of  the  strongest  ever  assembled;  its  solidarity  stood  the 
test  of  time  as  have  few  others.  George  McCrary  retired  in 
a  year  to  enter  the  United  States  Senate,  but,  broadly  speak- 
ing, the  Hayes  Cabinet  stood  with  its  chief  from  beginning  to 
end. 

The  Secretary  of  State  was  William  M.  Evarts;  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  John  Sherman;  Attorney  General,  Charles 
Devens;  Secretary  of  War,  George  W.  McCrary;  Secretary 

84 


As  I  Knew  Them 

of  the  Navy,  Richard  W.  Thompson;  Postmaster  General, 
David  M.  Key;  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Carl  Schurz. 

Not  only  did  a  Democratic  House  embarrass  Hayes  when 
he  began  his  Administration;  he  had  also  the  opposition  of 
the  Senate,  under  control  of  the  hostile  Conkling-Cameron  fac- 
tion. It  was  arrogant  and  contemptuous.  Conkling  loudly 
declared  in  his  imperious  way  that  he  would  never  enter  the 
White  House  while  Hayes  was  there.  As  fate  ordained,  he 
actually  never  did  enter  it  again  at  any  time.  Other  political 
leaders,  both  Republican  and  Democratic,  at  odds  with  other 
Presidents  before  and  since  Hayes,  have  exiled  themselves 
from  the  Executive  Mansion  in  the  same  spirit  of  disdain  for 
the  chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation,  but  always  with  the  same 
unfortunate  result  to  themselves  as  in  Conkling's  case.  In 
such  matters  the  people  stand  by  their  President. 

MAKING  THE  GREENBACK  GOOD 

Hayes  made  no  rejoinders.  He  had  larger  tasks  than  fac- 
tional politics.  His  first  big  task  was  to  see  to  it  that  the 
pledge  to  redeem  the  greenback  on  Jan.  I,  1879,  was  kept.  A 
majority  in  both  branches  of  Congress  was  opposed  to  the 
effort,  but  they  knew  that  any  tampering  legislation  would  be 
met  with  a  veto.  Thus  they  willingly  awaited  the  event  con- 
fident that  the  Treasury  would  be  swamped  by  the  demand 
for  coin  in  place  of  greenbacks.  The  President  would  then 
have  to  turn  to  Congress  for  help ;  that  would  be  the  day  of 
opportunity  for  the  "more  money"  theorists. 

The  day  never  came.  Few  greenbacks  were  presented  for 
redemption.  People  wanted  confidence  in  the  greenback,  not 
gold  in  exchange  for  it.  Once  that  confidence  in  it  was  estab- 
lished, it  became  good  enough  for  them  to  keep.  Grant  in 
urging  the  resumption  law  had  said  "it  would  secure  a  currency 
good  wherever  civilization  reigns — a  currency  which  has  as 
its  basis  the  labor  necessary  to  produce  it  and  which  will  give 
to  it  its  value." 

85 


As  I  Knew  Them 

A  TELEGRAM  THAT  BECAME  HISTORIC 

No  date  in  our  financial  history  means  more  to  America 
than  Jan.  r,  1879.  Many  persons  regard  the  telegram  an- 
nouncing the  result  of  the  Treasury's  experience  that  day  as 
evidence  of  one  of  the  greatest  triumphs  ever  scored  by  our 
government.  Everyone  was  anxious  to  know  how  heavy  the 
drain  of  gold  from  the  Treasury  would  be  and  how  the  Treas- 
ury had  stood  it.  The  Sub-treasury  in  New  York  City  amazed 
the  world  by  announcing  at  the  close  of  the  day's  business 
that  it  had  gained  not  lost  gold,  and  that  only  $40,000  of 
greenbacks  had  been  presented.  Here  is  that  historic  tele- 
gram, reproduced  from  Andrew's  "Last  Quarter  of  a  Cen- 
tury," published  in  1896: 


TSSLJEMIRAFM 


^<!t!££^yzyj!^^  *•""* 

•ML*^i»«j»>iff"l«j^«"'^**!'..«*g  •*•*«»  *•"-"*••«*•»»-•  «• 


"***       ***"  --- 


QTKSAD  THE  WOTICI   AMO   ACITICMEN7  AT  THS  TOP. 


7*A*  Tthgram  Announcing  the  Result  of  the  First  Day*s  "  Resumption**  at  the  New  York 

Sub-Treasury 

Half  a  century  later,  our  nation's  promise  to  pay,  though 
still  printed  on  paper,  is  accepted  the  world  over  at  face 
value.  Americans  thrill  with  proper  pride  that  everywhere  a 
dollar  bill  is  as  good  as  gold.  Little  is  it  realized,  however, 

86 


As  I  Knew  Them 

that  Grant,  our  soldier  President,  made  the  first  battle  to  have 
it  so  accepted,  and  that  Hayes  finished  the  fight. 

INGERSOLL  SAYS:  "l  KNOW  THAT  MY  REDEEMER  LIVETH" 

When  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  Sherman  announced  that 
the  Government  had  that  day  redeemed  and  would  continue 
to  redeem  all  its  paper  in  coin,  upon  demand,  Robert  G.  In- 
gersoll,  the  great  agnostic  of  his  time,  convulsed  the  country 
by  declaring  in  a  speech  from  the  sub-Treasury  steps  to  a 
thronged  Wall  Street:  "I  am  thankful  to  have  lived  to  see 
the  day  when  the  greenback  can  raise  its  right  hand  and  de- 
clare 'I  know  that  my  Redeemer  Liveth.'  " 

A  KINDLY  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  SOUTH 

No  President  has  ever  approached  the  South  in  kindlier 
spirit  than  did  Hayes.  The  man  who  had  been  a  brave  soldier 
in  the  Union  cause  now  wanted  a  union  of  sympathies  and 
peaceful  purposes.  In  his  inaugural  he  said  the  Southern  peo- 
ple were  "still  impoverished'5  and  "the  inestimable  blessing  of 
wise,  honest  and  peaceful  self-government  is  not  yet  fully  en- 
joyed." He  added:  "The  time  has  come  when  such  govern- 
ment is  the  imperative  necessity  required  by  all  the  demands, 
public  and  private,  of  the  States." 

But  Hayes  did  not  mean  that  the  South  could  nullify  the 
Constitution  as  to  the  negro  vote.  "Onjy  a  local  government 
that  recognizes  the  right  of  all  is  true  self-government,"  he 
wrote,  "a  government  that  submits  heartily  and  loyally  to 
the  Constitution  and  the  laws.  They  must  obey  the  whole 
Constitution  as  it  is." 

That  was  precisely  what  the  South  was  determined  not  to 
do.  AH  else  done  for  it  counted  for  nothing.  Its  response 
to  Hayes'  withdrawal  of  troops  maintaining  "carpet-bag" 
State  governments  was  a  demand  through  the  Democratic 

87 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Congress  for  the  withdrawal  of  United  States  Marshals  pro- 
tecting the  negro  vote  for  President  and  Congressmen. 

A  FIRM  BUT  NOT  DEFIANT  PRESIDENT 

"Riders"  were  attached  to  departmental  appropriation  bills, 

the  army  and  navy,  for  instance,  left  without  pay— in  the 

hope  of  driving  Hayes  into  acquiescence.  Veto  after  veto 
from  the  White  House  met  this  persistent  effort  to  break 
down  the  national  election  law.  It  could  not  be  done.  Hayes 
sent  the  bills  back  with  messages  placing  responsibility  on 
Congress  for  failure  to  meet  the  ordinary  expenses  of  gov- 
ernment. Congress  adjourned;  he  called  it  back. 

Never  in  angry  denunciatory  tone,  never  arraigning  those 
who,  led  by  a  "Solid  South,"  were  trying  to  break  down  his  Ad- 
ministration, he  replied  in  language  that  is  a  model  of  sound 
reasoning.  "Only  the  shadow  of  the  authority  of  the  United 
States  at  national  elections  will  remain,"  he  wrote,  "the  sub- 
stance will  be  gone."  Here  is  a  trenchant  paragraph  from  an- 
other of  his  series  of  vetoes: 

"Elections  should  be  free  from  all  apprehensions  of  interference. 
No  soldiers,  either  of  the  Union  or  of  the  State  militia,  should  be 
present  at  the  polls  to  take  the  place  or^to  perform  the  duties  of  the 
ordinary  civil  police  force.  There  has  been  and  will  be  no  viola- 
tion of  the  rule  under  orders  from  me  during  the  Administration ; 
but  there  should  be  no  denial  of  the  right  of  the  National  Govern- 
ment to  employ  its  military  force  on  any  day  and  at  any  place  in 
case  such  employment  is  necessary  to  enforce  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  United  States." 

There  was  the  strength  of  honorable  purpose  as  well  as 
of  frankness  in  these  words.  In  1894,  President  Cleveland 
sent  Federal  troops  into  Chicago  during  the  Debs  strike  on 
the  same  interpretation  of  duty.  The  north  rallied  to  Hayes' 
support — so  much  so  that  Southern  leaders  in  Congress  rec- 
ognized the  unwisdom  of  continuing  the  battle.  They  aban- 

88 


As  I  Knew  Them 

doned  it  until  Grover  Cleveland  became  President  in  1885. 
Then  they  had  their  way,  and  have  had  it  ever  since. 

TWO  HISTORIC  AND  CONTRASTING  UTTERANCES 

Two  utterances  early  in  Hayes'  term  measure  the  wide  gulf 
between  Hayes  and  the  Conkling-Cameron-Logan  group  of 
Republicans  in  control  of  the  party  organization : 

"He  serves  his  party  best  who  serves  his  country  best," 
wrote  Hayes  in  a  message  to  Congress. 

"When  Dr.  Johnson  called  patriotism  the  last  refuge  of  a 
scoundrel,"  declared  Roscoe  Conkling  while  denouncing 
Hayes'  civil  service  reform  as  "snivel  service,"  "he  forgot  the 
possibilities  contained  in  the  word  Reform." 

Hayes  listened  to  such  denunciations,  but  kept  right  on.  Re- 
movals from  office  were  made  "for  cause"  only.  Fewer  men 
were  dropped  than  under  any  previous  administration.  It  was 
the  first  effort  since  John  Quincy  Adams'  day  to  put  merit 
ahead  of  "pull"  in  government  service.  The  anger  of  party 
politicians  was  not  concealed.  They  wanted  a  quarrel  with 
Hayes,  but  it  takes  two  to  make  a  quarrel  and  Hayes  would 
not  quarrel.  He  stuck  to  his  policy,  repeatedly  in  his  messages 
to  Congress  summarized  its  good  results,  and  let  it  go  at  that. 

OUSTING  CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR  FROM  OFFICE 

His  one  conspicuous  move,  and  one  that  had  fateful  con- 
sequences, was  his  removal  from  office  of  Chester  A.  Arthur 
and  Alonzo  B.  Cornell.  Arthur  was  Collector  of  the  Port  of 
New  York;  Cornell  was  Surveyor.  They  ignored  Hayes' 
order  to  keep  their  offices  out  of  politics;  finally  their  defiance 
became  intolerable  an4  he  demanded  their  resignations.  With- 
in a  year  Cornell  was  elected  Governor  of  New  York  and 
Arthur  elected  Vice  President. 

Later  on  I  deal  with  that  subsequent  phase,  but  it  is  in- 
teresting to  record  now  that  Hayes  nominated  as  Arthur's 


As  I  Knew  Them 

successor  the  father  of  Theodore  Roosevelt.  Conkling  blocked 
his  confirmation  by  the  Senate;  Hayes'  only  reply  was  to  send 
another  name,  which  Conkling  had  to  accept. 

HOW  WE  GOT  THE  CART-WHEEL  DOLLAR 

Unfortunately,  winning  the  battle  for  the  greenback  did  not 
win  another  of  the  same  type — the  battle  to  prevent  the  coin- 
ing of  silver  dollars  at  a  fixed  ratio  regardless  of  the  price 
of  silver  bullion.  Hayes  was  firm,  clear  and  persistent  in 
that  struggle;  his  messages  to  Congress  have  the  force  of 
accurate  analysis  and  prophetic  warning  of  the  inevitable  con- 
sequence of  attempting  to  circulate  a  coin  dollar  not  worth  its 
bullion  value;  but  Congress  had  a  listening  ear  only  for  the 
plea  of  the  silver  men  to  "do  something  for  silver." 

Richard  P.  Bland,  a  Democrat,  of  Missouri,  led  the  do- 
something-for-silver  forces  in  Congress.  He  sponsored  a  bill 
providing  for  the  compulsory  coining  monthly  of  not  less  than 
$2,000,000  nor  more  than  $4,000,000  silver  dollars.  (In  the 
west  these  coins  still  circulate,  but  how  many  Eastern  people 
today  recall  those  big  cart-wheel  Bland  dollars?)  "If  Wall 
Street  won't  take  silver  dollars,"  yelled  Bland  in  debate,  "we'll 
stuff  greenbacks  down  its  throat  until  it  chokes."  Extreme  as 
that  statement  is  in  the  light  of  today  it  nevertheless  accu- 
rately voiced  the  intensity  of  feeling  in  1878 — and  for  that 
matter  in  the  struggle  Cleveland  made  fifteen  years  later  to 
repeal  what  was  really  a  modification  of  the  same  law. 

Bland  came  to  be  known  as  "Silver  Dollar  Dick";  his  loy- 
alty and  his  service  to  the  silver  cause  compared  with  Bryan's 
were  as  16  to  i.  Before  Bryan  raided  the  Democratic  con- 
vention in  1896  the  Missourian  was  the  indicated  nominee; 
he  held  a  long  lead  over  Bryan  with  235  votes  on  the  first  bal- 
lot, and  his  column  of  devoted  supporters  was  all  that  stood 
solidly  when  on  the  fifth  roll  call  the  Bryan  tornado  gathered 
up  two-thirds  of  the  delegates.  With  Bland,  silver  was  a 

90 


As  1  Knew  Them 

cause;  win  or  lose  it  had  his  whole  heart.    With  Bryan,  silver 
was  merely  a  means  to  an  end. 

HAYES  PROPHESIES  THE  RESULT  THAT  CAME 

Eland's  triumph  in  1878  over  Hayes  was  complete.  In  the 
Senate  he  had  such  an  able  man  as  William  B.  Allison,  a  Re- 
publican, of  Iowa,  as  an  ally — one  who  was  to  become  a  strong 
contender  for  his  party's  nomination  for  President  in  1888, 
and  who  twice  refused  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Hayes 
met  the  Silverites  with  a  veto.  Two-thirds  of  each  House 
then  voted  to  enact  the  law  despite  a  veto  message  so  sound, 
so  prophetic  that  Cleveland's  later  words  seem  only  confirma- 
tion. 

The  law  had  scarcely  become  operative  before  gold  began 
to  flow  from  the  Treasury  like  an  ebbing  tide.  Everyone 
wanted  gold  coin ;  few  would  accept  silver.  Three  out  of  every 
four  silver  dollars  that  were  coined  were  unsought.  They 
remained  in  government  vaults.  Hayes  urged  relief  by  an 
amendment  authorizing  the  coining  of  silver  dollars  at  bullion 
value — but  Congress  would  not  yield. 

Helpless  against  a  two-thirds  vote,  Hayes  finally  warned 
that  the  government  could  not  continue  losing  its  gold;  nor 
could  it  force  a  depreciated  silver  dollar  into  circulation. 
Sooner  or  later  a  crisis  must  come.  Congress  ignored  his  ap- 
peal, whereupon  Hayes  left  it  to  the  event  to  justify  him. 
And  it  did. 

In  1893,  Cleveland  facing  the  crisis  Hayes  had  foreseen 
took  up  the  battle  and  repealed  the  law;  in  1896  the  issue  was 
taken  to  the  nation's  ballot  box  where  McKinley's  triumph 
over  Bryan  gave  the  approving  seal  of  the  people  to  all  that 
Hayes  had  urged  upon  Congress,  nearly  twenty  years  before. 

In  the  light  of  the  events  between  1878  and  1896  the  fol- 
lowing prophecy  from  Hayes'  pen  is  of  highest  interest : 

"Any  expectation  of  ease  from  an  issue  of  silver  coining  to  pass 

91 


As  I  Knew  Them 

as  a  legal  tender  at  a  rate  materially  above  its  commercial  value  is, 
I  am  persuaded,  a  delusion. 

"National  promises  should  be  kept  with  unflinching  fidelity. 
There  is  no  power  to  make  a  nation  pay  its  just  debts.  Its  credit 
depends  on  its  honor." 

Of  course,  it  is  only  a  matter  of  individual  opinion  to  speak 
of  Hayes'  Administration  as  among  the  best  in  purpose  and 
achievement  we  have  ever  had, — unless  you  have  the  attest- 
ing authority  of  the  people  of  his  time.  Fortunately,  that 
authority  is  to  be  found  in  the  election  results. 

When  Hayes  entered  the  White  House,  the  Republicans 
had  lost  control  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and  of  New 
York,  Indiana  and  several  New  England  States.  Two  years 
later  those  States  were  back  in  the  Republican  fold;  four 
years  later,  as  he  retired  from  office,  he  installed  a  Republican 
as  his  successor  in  the  White  House,  and  a  Republican  major- 
ity was  elected  to  both  branches  of  Congress,  despite  an  in- 
creasing number  of  Democrats  from  the  South,  then  become 
"Solid" 

Arthur  failed  to  elect  a  successor  of  his  own  faith,  Cleve- 
land failed  twice,  Harrison  failed,  Taft  failed;  Wilson,  after 
two  terms,  failed.  Roosevelt  alone  shares  with  Hayes  the 
distinction  of  being  followed  by  a  President  of  his  own  party. 
Despite  the  attack  upon  his  title  to  office,  despite  the  cynical 
attitude  of  the  party  "organization"  leaders  in  Congress,  the 
Hayes  Administration  demonstrated  that  it  had  won  the  con- 
fidence and  support  of  the  people  when  in  the  1880  elections 
the  Republican  party  was  restored  to  -complete  control  of  the 
national  government  for  the  first  time  since  1874. 


92 


CHAPTER   XII 
"ELAINE!  ELAINE!— JAMES  G.  ELAINE!" 

A  Popular  Cry  For  Nearly  Twenty  Years—The  "Plumed  Knight"  Of 
Politics — Conklmg's  Silence  Cost  Defeat — Conkling's  Home  County 
Turned  New  York  Against  Elaine — A  Feud  That  Lasted  Unto  Death 
— "His  Turkey  Gobbler  Strut"— Blame's  Fight  Put  Hayes  And  Gar- 
field  In  The  White  House— The  "Bloody  Shirt"  Era—Three  Incidents 
That  Defeated  Elaine  In  1876— Abolishing  The  United  Rule  In 
Republican  Conventions. 

/TTAHERE  ought  to  be  some  way  other  than  the  dry  annals 
-*•  of  history  to  keep  such  a  man  as  James  Gillespie  Elaine  In 
the  minds  of  people  for  so  brief  a  period  as  has  elapsed  since 
his  death  in  1893.  I  saw  so  much  of  him  during  his  later 
years,  knew  so  well  his  purposes  and  recall  so  distinctly  the 
spirit  with  which  the  country  debated  every  move  he  made  and 
every  word  he  uttered  that  to  me  it  is  amazing  that  reference 
to  him  is  so  often  met  with  silence  or  with  queries  that  suggest 
that  "Rum,  Romanism  and  Rebellion"  is  the  one  remembered 
incident  of  his  career. 

No  title  of  President  attaches  to  his  name,  nor  is  he  con- 
spicuously identified  with  any  historic  policy  as,  for  instance, 
Henry  Clay  is  identified  with  the  protective  tariff  policy; 
but  Elaine's  activities,  lasting  through  the  quarter  century  fol- 
lowing the  Civil  War,  influenced  an  era  in  our  nation's  life 
when  leadership  was  held  only  by  men  of  strong  convictions. 

The  test. of  Elaine's  place  in  the  politics  of  his  day  Is  that 
he  outlasted  all  his  rivals,  that  his  struggle  for  the  Presidency 
forced  Roscoe  Conkling  to  accept  Hayes  and  Garfield,  that 
his  own  direct  word  to  his  followers  nominated  Harrison,  and 
that,  though  defeated  in  1884  in  his  candidacy  for  President, 

93 


As  I  Knew  Them 

he  polled  more  votes  than  would  have  been  polled  by  any  other 
Republican  that  year. 

I  base  this  last  statement  on  the  opinion  of  many  Republican 
leaders  at  the  time.  In  the  pivotal  State  of  New  York,  Judge 
Charles  J.  Folger  in  1882  had  polled  only  342,464  votes  as  the 
Republican  candidate  for  Governor;  Cleveland  then  polled 
535,318.  Two  years  later,  the  Elaine  vote  for  President  was 
562,005 — a  substantial  increase.  Cleveland  polled  563,154. 
Cleveland's  first  plurality  of  192,854  was  reduced  to  1,047. 
Certainly  on  such  figures  Elaine,  though  defeated,  carried  the 
Republican  flag  near  to  victory. 

I  do  not  like  the  word  "magnetic"  applied  to  individuals; 
it  has  too  often  proven  merely  another  term  for  shallow  and 
insincere.  Something  broader  and  deeper  attracted  you  to 
Elaine.  He  held  the  people  to  him  because  he  was  kindly,  and 
considerate — a  sharp  contrast  to  the  lordly,  autocratic  Roscoe 
Conkling,  Senator  from  New  York,  whose  vindictive,  relent- 
less antagonism  cost  Elaine  the  Presidential  nomination  in  two 
conventions  and  the  election  in  1884. 

CONKLING'S  SILENCE  MEANT  DEFEAT 

Of  course,  I  do  not  mean  that  Conkling  alone  caused 
Elaine's  defeat.  There  were  several  factors  adversely  affect- 
ing the  Elaine  vote,  the  most  damaging  being  Burchard's 
"Rum,  Romanism  and  Rebellion"  speech,  but  the  loss  of 
enough  votes  to  have  elected  Elaine,  despite  all  other  weak- 
nesses, can  be  definitely  traced  to  Conkling's  silence  in  the  face 
of  persistent  newspaper  rumors  that  he  preferred  to  see  the 
Republican  party  defeated  rather  than  see  Elaine  in  the  White 
House. 

"I  am  not  practicing  criminal  law,"  is  the  caustic  reply  he 
was  reported  to  have  made  when  urged  to  speak  for  Elaine. 

Conkling' s  attitude  led  his  home  county — Oneida  County, 
New  York — for  once  in  its  history,  to  return  a  Democratic 
plurality.  Had  that  county  giyen  Elaine  the  Republican 

94 


As  I  Knew  Them 

plurality  it  gave  Garfield  in  1880  or  Harrison  in  1888  he 
would  have  overcome  the  1,047  plurality  accorded  Cleveland 
in  the  total  vote  of  New  York  State.  The  harmful  influence 
of  Conkling's  silence  extended,  however,  far  beyond  one 
county  or  one  state.  It  was  an  example  for  many  of  the  old 
"306"  Stalwarts  in  several  States,  and  cost  the  Republican 
national  ticket  many  votes. 

Thus,  the  last  influence  in  politics  of  this  forceful  figure  was 
withheld  when  needed  to  save  his  party  from  defeat.  The 
role  of  sulker  was  neither  heroic  nor  consistent  for  a  man 
whose  claims  to  leadership  had  been  advanced,  and  whose 
every  appeal  for  support  had  been  based,  on  the  theory  that 
loyalty  to  the  organization  was  the  highest  test  of  honorable 
obligation  and  fidelity  to  party.  But  Conkling  knew  no  law 
save  his  own  desires. 

A  FEUD  THAT  LASTED  UNTO  DEATH 

No  feud  between  two  men  with  such  numerous  followers 
ever  lasted  so  many  years,  or  proved  so  disastrous  to  their 
party,  as  that  between  Elaine  and  Conkling.  Its  roots  were 
deeper  than  differences  over  policies ;  they  were  personal,  and, 
on  Conkling's  side,  had  the  vindictiveness  of  affronted  dignity 
and  of  thwarting  of  his  plans  in  two  conventions.  It  began  in 
1866 — before  either  man  had  become  a  national  figure.  Prob- 
ably both  of  "them  sensed  a  personal  antipathy  when  in  1863 
they  met  as  strangers  on  the  floor  of  the  House,  Elaine  hav- 
ing just  been  elected. 

Life-long  antagonisms,  like  life-long  friendships,  sometimes 
have  their  beginning  in  an  instinctive  feeling  that  comes,  we 
know  not  why  or  how,  almost  at  the  first  glance  of  the  eye, 
the  first  hand  clasp,  or  the  first  word  of  conversation. 

Looking  back  upon  those  first  impulses,  or  impressions,  you 
find  that  they  usually  have  controlled  a  subsequent  course. 
That  is  why  I  believe  that  even  had  Elaine  never  declared  in 
Congress  his  disregard  for  Conkling's  scorn,  nor  referred  to 


As  I  Knew  Them 

his  "over-powering  turkey-gobbler  strut," — the  two  men 
would  have  been  out  of  sympathy  from  their  earliest  contact, 
and  sooner  or  later  would  have  found  themselves  in  rivalry 
over  Republican  policy. 

"HIS  TURKEY-GOBBLER  STRUT" 

That  Elaine  rejoinder  to  Conlding  became  an  historic  epi- 
sode. It  occurred  in  1866.  Conkling  was  opposing  an  ap- 
propriation bill  that  Elaine  sought  to  have  passed.  The  New 
York  Congressman  had  referred  to  Elaine  with  the  sarcasm  he 
knew  so  well  how  to  use.  The  Maine  man  took  the  floor  at 
once.  Turning  directly  toward  Conkling  he  said: 

"As  for  the  gentleman's  cruel  sarcasm,  I  hope  he  will  not  be  too 
severe.  The  contempt  of  that  large  minded  gentleman  is  so  wilting, 
his  haughty  disdain,  his  grandiloquent  swell,  his  majestic,  super- 
eminent,  overpowering  turkey-gobbler  strut  has  been  so  crushing 
to  myself  and  others  that  I  know  it  was  an  act  of  the  greatest 
temerity  for  me  to  venture  upon  a  controversy  with  him." 

The  "turkey-gobbler  strut"  sank  unforgivably  deep;  it 
clung  to  Conkling  in  cartoon  and  satire  throughout  his  career. 
Even  in  those  early  days,  before  Conkling' s  disdain  for  others 
had  reached  its  ultimate  toploftiness,  there  was  a  dread  in 
Congress  of  crossing  swords  with  him;  his  irony,  his  tempestu- 
ous outbreaks,  were  avoided  by  debaters  whenever  possible. 
And  for  this  young  member  from  Maine, — of  his  own  party, — 
to  enter  into  oral  combat  with  the  Utica  statesman  was  deemed 
an  undertaking  that  meant  annihilation  in  Republican  councils 
at  Washington.  It  did  not  prove  quite  so  deadly  for  Elaine, 
for  at  the  next  session  he  was  chosen  Speaker,  but  it  did  keep 
him  out  of  the  White  House. 

ELAINE'S  FIGHT  MADE  HAYES  AND  GARFIELD  PRESIDENT 

Elaine  entered  Congress  from  the;  Augusta  district. 
Conkling  was  then  in  his  second  term.  Elaine,  born  in  Penn- 


ROSCOE  CONKLING'S  "TURKEY  GOBBLER  STRUT'' 


As  I  Knew  Them 

sylvania,  had  been  a  school-teacher  and  a  newspaper  reporter, 
next  he  bought  the  Kennebec  Journal,  and  settled  down  in 
Maine.  Several  terms  in  the  Legislature  were  followed  by 
election  to  Congress ; — then  he  became  Senator,  then  Secretary 
of  State  for  Garfield,  next  for  Harrison.  He  was  a  presiden- 
tial candidate  in  four  national  conventions — assuming  that  he 
was  not  even  a  "receptive"  candidate  in  1888. 

I  think  it  an  accurate  estimate  of  Elaine  that  he  commanded 
the  enthusiasm  of  as  many  voters,  in  and  out  of  his  party,  as 
any  man  in  our  public  life,  even  including  Theodore  Roosevelt 
and  William  J.  Bryan.  Such  a  career,  of  course,  is  political 
history.  Some  day  an  historian's  pen  will  describe  it  ade- 
quately, when  much  now  forgotten  about  Elaine — and  the 
good  about  our  public  men  is  too  often  forgotten — will  be 
accorded  the  attention  and  significance  it  deserves. 


THE  "BLOODY  SHIRT"  ERA 


Nor  is  it  my  province  to  deal  at  length  with  that  period 
following  the  war  called  the  "Bloody  Shirt"  era  of  our  poli- 
tics. Its  intense  phase  lasted  until  after  the  defeat  of  Grant 
for  nomination  in  1880  as  "the  soldier  candidate,"  "the  man 
who  put  down  the  Rebellion."  Had  Grant  then  been  nomi- 
nated for  President  his  candidacy  would  surely  have  revived 
the  dying  war  passion ;  the  country  would  have  been  taken  back 
to  1869  when  Charles  Sumner  announced  that  he  was  seeking 
re-election  as  Senator  from  Massachusetts  on  the  one  plank: 
"Shall  the  men  who  saved  the  Republic  continue  to  rule  it,  or 
shall  it  be  handed  over  to  rebels  and  their  allies?" 

The  Bay  State  answered  with  a  Republican  majority  elected 
to  the  Legislature  instructed  to  send  Sumner  back  to 
Washington. 

Elaine  shared  these  sentiments,  prejudices  or  war  passions, 
call  them  what  you  will.  New  England  was  the  heart  of  them. 
It  had  sacrificed  heroically  to  save  the  Union,  and  it  forgot 
slowly.  Elaine  probably  could  not  have  survived  politically 

97 


As  I  Knew  Them 

had  he  not  flaunted  the  "Bloody  Shirt,"  for  "old  soldier" 
votes  were  too  numerous  to  be  ignored.  He,  too,  called  upon 
the  North  to  keep  the  war  won  by  keeping  in  control  the  party 
that  had  won  it. 

When  a  general  amnesty  bill  was  under  consideration  by 
Congress,  Elaine  led  in  urging  an  amendment  excepting  Jeffer- 
son Davis.  The  South  hotly  denounced  this  amendment  as  an 
affront;  it  insisted  upon  exempting  all  or  none;  Elaine  as 
strongly  stood  for  all  but  one.  Almost  thirty  years  later,  with 
Davis  dead,  such  a  measure  as  the  South  desired  passed  Con- 
gress and  William  McKinley,  himself  a  Union  soldier,  signed 
it;  but  in  1873  it  had  not  a  chance  of  passage. 

"ANYBODY  TO  BEAT  BLAINE" 

Came  1876  with  the  Democrats  controlling  New  York  and 
other  large  States ;  the  House  of  Representatives  Democratic 
and  the  Senate  in  peril;  Grant  with  a  discredited  administra- 
tion. Not  a  hopeful  outlook.  Roscoe  Conkling  in  New  York, 
Don  Cameron,  in  Pennsylvania,  Zach  Chandler  in  Michigan, 
Oliver  P.  Morton  in  Indiana,  "Black  Jack"  Logan,  a  fine 
Union  General  in  Illinois — these  were  the  controlling  figures 
in  the  Republican  national  organization. 

They  had  but  one  opponent  strong  enough  to  challenge 
them — Elaine,  now  an  avowed  candidate  for  President. 
Conkling  would  tolerate  no  compromise  with  Elaine.  He 
must  be  beaten.  But  how  and  with  whom?  Grant?  He 
seemed  to  be  the  only  man  who  could  defeat  Blaine  in  Con- 
vention. Dare  they  risk  their  fortunes  on  Grant — a  soldier 
seeking  three  consecutive  elections  to  the  Presidency?  Some 
favored  going  ahead,  others  thought  the  country  should  first 
be  sounded.  This  was  done. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  Grant  was  a  party  to  these  activi- 
ties except  that  he  did  not  stop  them;  also,  he  wrote  two  or 
three  letters  that  certainly  did  not  place  him  definitely  in  op- 
position. He  said  he  had  not  wanted  a  first  term,  and  did 


As  I  Knew  Them 

not  want  a  third  term,  but  there  was  no  law  against  his  seek- 
ing one  if  he  desired.  However,  the  Grant  talk  subsided 
even  before  the  House  of  Representatives  passed  an  anti- 
third  term  resolution,  with  all  Democrats  and  all  but  twelve 
Republicans  voting  for  it.  Elaine  was  among  the  twrelve  non- 
voters. 

Deprived  of  their  candidate,  the  Conkling-Cameron-Logan 
forces  could  unite  only  on  a  programme  of  anybody-to-beat 
Blaine.  The  nominating  convention  met  in  Cincinnati,  June 
14.  There  was  every  indication  as  it  convened  that  it  would 
be  a  Blaine  convention.  Oliver  P.  Morton,  the  silver-tongued 
orator  from  Indiana  who  was  Grant's  spokesman  in  the  Sen- 
ate, Governor  Hartranft,  of  Pennsylvania,  a  product  of  the 
Cameron  dynasty,  and  Conkling  himself  were  candidates  "to 
beat  Blaine.'1  Benjamin  F.  Bristow  of  Kentucky,  who  while 
Grant's  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had  defied  the  spoilsmen 
of  his  party  and  had  resigned  rather  than  acquiesce  in  their 
supremacy,  was  also  a  candidate  with  a  substantial  following. 
In  a  smaller  way,  Marshall  Jewell,  of  Connecticut,  once 
Grant's  Postmaster  General,  was  another. 

Lastly  there  was  one  other  candidate — Rutherford  B. 
Hayes,  then  Governor  of  Ohio,  a  candidate  on  his  own  record 
and  without  alliance  with  anyone.  He  got  the  nomination. 

"LIKE  AN  ARMED  WARRIOR,  LIKE  A  PLUMED  KNIGHT" 

I  have  heard  those  who  participated  in  the  convention  tell 
of  the  impressive  scene  when  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  made  his 
historic  plea  for  Blaine.  Here  is  the  memorable  sentence  of 
that  speech : 

"Like  an  armed  warrior,  like  a  plumed  knight,  James  G.  Blaine 
marched  down  the  aisles  of  the  American  Congress  and  threw  his 
shining  lance  full  and  fair  against  the  brazen  foreheads  of  the 
defamers  of  his  country,  and  the  maligners  of  his  honor.  For 
this  convention  to  desert  such  a  man  would  be  like  an  army  desert- 
ing a  general  on  the  eve  of  battle." 

99 


As  I  Knew  Them 

From  the  moment  of  that  utterance,  Elaine  became  the 
Plumed  Knight,  the  "Henry  of  Navarre"  of  American 
politics. 

THREE  UNUSUAL  INCIDENTS  LED  TO  DEFEAT 

Once  again,  cheers  did  not  nominate — the  leader  of  a  great 
enthusiasm  went  down  in  defeat.  These  three  incidents,  each 
unforeseen,  combined  to  thwart  Elaine's  ambition: 

First,  he  had  a  sun-stroke  the  Sunday  before  the  convention, 
while  walking  to  church  in  Washington.  He  fell  unconscious  on 
the  church  steps.  His  opponents  made  the  most  of  that  temporary 
illness. 

Second,  a  roll-call  on  which  it  was  firmly  believed  Elaine  would 
poll  a  majority  vote  should  have  followed  the  Ingersoll  speech. 
The  darkness  of  early  evening  had  come,  however,  the  gas  fixtures 
were  out  of  repair  and  there  was  fear  of  gas-lights  in  a  crowded 
convention  hall;  adjournment  until  morning  was  therefore  ordered. 
Night  gave  opportunity  to  strengthen  the  anti-Elaine  forces. 

Third,  Benjamin  F.  Bristow,  of  Kentucky,  who  had  more  than 
enough  votes  to  nominate,  was  opposed  to  Elaine  as  well  as  tp 
Conkling-Cameron  supremacy.  In  Washington,  when  he  learned 
of  Elaine's  illness,  he  called  at  the  Blaine  home  to  express  his 
sympathies ;  it  is  said  that  he  asked  to  see  him.  As  Bristow  was  also 
a  candidate,  he  was  "on  suspicion"  and  was  curtly  told  at  the  door 
by  someone — not  with  Elaine's  knowledge — that  neither  Blaine 
nor  the  family  was  at  home.  Bristow's  anger  had  not  cooled  when 
the  convention  began  balloting  three  days  later;  he  turned  his 
delegates  to  Hayes. 

Senator  Hoar,  of  Massachusetts,  a  man  extremely  careful 
of  his  utterances,  was  a  delegate  to  the  convention.  He  was 
never  a  Blaine  man.  In  his  Autobiography  he  wrote  "if  Bris- 
tow had  not  visited  Elaine's  house  that  Sunday  morning,  Blaine 
would,  in  my  opinion,  have  been  the  nominee  for  the 
Presidency." 

100 


As  I  Knew  Them 

BREAKING  THE  UNIT  RULE  IN  REPUBLICAN  CONVENTIONS 

Though  Elaine  did  not  win  his  first  battle  for  the  Presi- 
dency, a  great  cause  that  he  advocated  did  win.  That  cause 
was  the  right  of  every  delegate  in  a  national  convention  to 
vote  according  to  his  individual  will.  Since  1876  every  Re- 
publican convention  has  honored  that  right,  though  few  per- 
sons keep  it  in  mind  that  Elaine  was  the  man  who  made  the 
battle  to  establish  it.  He  chose  as  his  battle  ground  the  very 
citadel  of  bossism — the  Cameron-controlled  delegation  from 
Pennsylvania. 

When  Don  Cameron  as  chairman  cast  the  vote  of  his  dele- 
gation solidly  for  Governor  Hartranft,  four  delegates  chal- 
lenged Cameron's  right  to  cast  their  votes  under  the  unit  rule. 
They  asked  to  be  recorded  for  Elaine.  Edward  McDowell,  a 
Pennsylvania  delegate,  was  presiding.  Though  he  voted  for 
Hartranft,  he  ruled  that  the  vote  of  each  delegate  should  be 
recorded  as  announced  by  the  delegate.  On  a  division  the 
convention  sustained  him — 395  to  353. 

The  majority,  though  slender,  was  broad  enough  as  a  prece- 
dent to  insure  every  delegate  in  subsequent  Republican  con- 
ventions the  right  to  his  own  vote;  it  was  the  first  triumph  of 
liberalism  in  the  party — and  to  Elaine  is  due  the  credit. 


101 


CHAPTER    XIII 
THE  "STALWART"  CONVENTION  OF  1880 

The  Last  Ditch  Stand  Of  The  Conkling-Logan-Cameron  Forces — 
Four  Days  Before  The  Convention  Could  Organize — Grant  Really 
Beaten  When  Unable  To  Revive  Unit  Rule — Conkling's  Inspiring 
Struggle — The  Example  of  A.  Barton  Hepburn — Conklmg's  Resolve 
Not  To  Enter  The  White  House-— ff If  Asked  What  State  He  Hails 
From" — Garfield  Undertakes  A  Contrast — "Not  The  Billows  But  The 
Calm  Levels  Are  The  True  Measure" —The  "306"  And  Those  Who 
Stood  Resolutely  Against  Them — Conklmg  Not  a  Good  Loser. 

INTENSE  as  were  the  incidents  of  the  1876  convention, 
and  historic  as  was  its  abolition  of  the  unit  rule,  it  had 
more  than  its  equal  in  both  respects  four  years  later  in  Chi- 
cago. In  strategy,  in  bitterness,  in  dramatic  oratory  and  in  its 
surprising  result,  no  convention  of  any  party  ever  exceeded 
the  Republican  convention  of  1880. 

It  was  the  last-ditch  stand  of  those  Republicans  made  pow- 
erful by  patronage  during  the  eight  years  of  Grant.  Though 
under  Hayes  they  had  largely  lost  their  influence,  they  were 
now  determined  to  nominate  a  President  upon  whom  they 
could  depend.  Again  Elaine  was  their  one  towering  obstacle  ; 
again  Elaine  was  the  man  they  had  to  beat. 

This  time,  however,  unlike  1876,  they  had  a  candidate  to 
match  against  him — Grant.  He  was  a  name,  and  their  great- 
est need  was  a  name  the  country  knew.  On  a  platform  declar- 
ing him  to  be  the  soldiers'  candidate,  they  planned  to  raise 
the  old  "Union  Forever"  issue.  It  was  a  cruel  effort  to  in- 
tensify war  passions — to  prolong  the  "Bloody.  Shirt"  era — 
and  only  men  blinded  by  a  desperate  determination  would  have 
resorted  to  it.  The  battle  of  the  "Stalwarts"  was  not  a 

102 


As  I  Knew  Them 

battle  for  patriotism  but  for  sordid  politics,  and  the  tragic 
results  that  flowed  from  it  are  not  its  only  condemnation. 

The  convention  lasted  six  days,  but  less  than  two  days  were 
required  for  those  thirty-seven  ballots  In  which  the  "306" 
became  famous.  History  gives  scant  attention  to  the  real 
battle  of  the  convention.  That  took  place  in  the  committee 
on  credentials  and  the  committee  on  rules.  There  the  Grant 
forces  struggled  night  and  day  for  control.  They  lost — and 
that  early  defeat  definitely  forecast  their  inability  to  nomi- 
nate their  candidate.  Grant  was  no  longer  a  possible  nominee. 

WAR  TO  THE  KNIFE 

Though  the  Convention  Sessions  began  Tuesday  noon  it  was 
late  Saturday  afternoon  before  it  received  and  adopted  its 
committee  reports.  Think  of  700  delegates  waiting  four  days 
to  organize !  Every  moment  of  that  unprecedented  delay  had 
been  a  moment  of  desperate  struggle  in  committee.  The 
Grant  men  fought  to  secure  a  report  seating  their  contesting 
delegates;  they  fought  harder  still  to  defeat  an  addition  to 
the  rules  based  on  the  action  of  the  1876  convention  insuring 
to  each  delegate  the  right  to  declare  his  own  vote.  A  majority 
of  the  rules  committee  finally  adopted  it;  a  minority  brought 
the  fight  against  it  into  the  convention.  Result:  479  votes  in 
favor  of  the  1876  ruling;  276  against. 

Thus  the  unit  rule  was  buried  beyond  hope  of  resurrection; 
by  the  same  token,  that  vote  settled  Grant's  fate  despite  the 
power  of  oratory,  despite  the  solid  phalanx  of  "Stalwarts." 
The  one  substantial  hope  of  his  nomination  had  rested  on  se- 
curing power  to  silence  on  roll-call  the  anti-Grant  minorities 
in  State  delegations  controlled  by  Grant  majorities.  New 
York,  for  example,  had  22  anti-Grant  delegates  who  under  a 
unit  rule  would  have  been  voted  by  the  chairman  for  Grant. 
Thus,  when  that  rule  was  voted  down,  the  candidate  went 
with  it. 

103 


As  I  Knew  Them 
CONKLING'S  INSPIRING  STRUGGLE 

Conkling,  however,  saw  only  victory  ahead.  His  courage, 
his  spirit,  his  faith  in  himself  made  him  a  leader  who  always 
won  until  defeated,  and  he  had  the  rare  talent  of  imbuing  his 
followers  with  the  same  confidence.  He  was  just  such  a  com- 
mander as  men  loyally  follow  even  unto  death.  His  memo- 
rable speech  nominating  Grant  had  the  inspiring  qualities 
needed  to  enthuse  men  in  a  desperately  hard  battle.  No  other 
convention  speech,  not  even  Bryan's  "Cross  of  Gold"  speech, 
has  been  more  often  quoted.  It  would  have  been  impressive 
even  had  it  been  delivered  by  a  less-gifted  orator,  but,  spoken 
by  the  tall  and  stately  Conkling,  its  dramatic  effects  were 
emphasized. 

In  the  years  just  following  the  convention  I  listened  to 
many  discussions  of  the  speech.  There  were  two  opinions.  As 
oratory,  it  was  unchallenged;  as  a  vote-getting,  persuasive  in- 
fluence it  was  questioned.  I  agreed  with  many  who  heard  it, — 
that  it  had  the  weakness  of  the  speaker's  intolerance  of  oppos- 
ing views.  There  is  no  evidence  that  it  added  a  single  vote 
to  those  already  committed  to  Grant;  its  strength  was  that 
it  created  an  atmosphere  of  heroic  endeavor  around  the  "306" 
delegates  battling  through  thirty-six  strenuous  ballots  until 
they  went  down  together  to  defeat.  In  the  political  literature 
of  the  day  they  were  acclaimed  as  the  possessors  of  a  loyalty 
equalling  that  of  the  gallant  "Six  Hundred"  of  Tennyson's 
Light  Brigade:  "Theirs  not  to  reason  why,  theirs  but  to  do 
and  die." 

Such  was  in  truth  the  creed  of  the  "Stalwarts" — "theirs 
not  to  reason  why."  Conkling  did  the  reasoning  and  the  com- 
manding. .His  word  was  law.  His  rule  was  guided  by  an 
iron  hand  that  wore  no  velvet  glove.  Extreme  in  his  friend- 
ships, he  was  equally  so  in  his  enmities.  He  never  forgot  a 
favor  nor  forgave  a  slight.  He  demanded  from  all  the 

104 


As  I  Knew  Them 

homage  due  to  great  ability;  in  return  he  gave  a  fine  loyalty 
and  sympathy. 

THE  EXAMPLE  OF  A.  BARTON  HEPBURN 

I  have  always  kept  in  mind  one  example  of  Conkling's 
recognition  of  loyalty  among  his  supporters.  It  concerns  the 
late  A.  Barton  Hepburn,  for  many  years  President  of  the 
Chase  National  Bank  of  New  York  City  and  a  man  of  great 
wealth.  Hepburn  himself  is  my  authority,  though  so  many 
years  have  elapsed  since  he  told  me  the  story  that  its  detail 
may  not  be  wholly  accurate.  Substantially,  it  is  this: 

Hepburn  was  a  village  school  teacher  in  St.  Lawrence 
County,  Northern  New  York.  Because  he  was  not  in  politics, 
the  warring  Conkling  and  Anti-Conkling  factions  in  Hep- 
burn's village  compromised  by  selecting  him  as  a  delegate  to 
the  Republican  State  Convention.  In  the  county  convention, 
however,  the  Conkling  forces  passed  resolutions  instructing 
all  St.  Lawrence  delegates  to  vote  with  Conkling. 

When  the  issue  came  in  the  State  Convention,  many  of  them 
ignored  their  instructions.  Hepburn  insisted  that  inasmuch  as 
he  had  come  pledged  he  would  remain  pledged  to  the  end. 
That  night  he  was  aroused  from  sleep  by  a  message  that  Sena- 
tor Conkling  desired  to  see  him.  Amazed  that  such  a  great 
man  should  send  for  a  po/>r  school-master,  he  hastened  over  to 
Conkling's  room.  Conkling  told  him  he  had  heard  of  his 
decision  to  stand  by  his  instructions.  He  said  to  him:  "This 
is  your  first  convention,  but  I  hope  it  won't  be  your  last.  Every 
man  who  stands  by  his  word  succeeds."  He  then  told  Hep- 
burn to  be  sure  to  call  upon  him  if  he  could  ever  be  of  help  to 
him. 

A  year  or  so  later,  a  National  bank  examiner  was  to  be 
appointed.  Conkling  sent  for  Hepburn;  offered  him  the  posi- 
tion. He  accepted  and  thus  began  a  career  that  brought  Hep- 
burn into  national  esteem  as  a  student  of  finance,  a  banker  of 
great  ability  and,  finally,  a  man  worth  many  millions.  The 

105 


As  I  Knew  Them 

experience  of  his  first  convention  remained  with  him  as  a  guide 
through  life. 


CONKLING  THE  MAN 

Conkling  could  do  such  things  as  the  favor  to  Hepburn  gra- 
ciously but  always  there  was  in  addition  an  attitude  that  an 
emperor  might  have  envied.  Upon  a  body  of  commanding 
stature,  his  fine  head  was  carried  in  every  sense  above  his 
fellows;  his  high  forehead  was  only  partly  concealed  by  an 
Hyperion  curl  of  silvery  white  hair;  he  stood  so  erect  that  he 
seemed  taller  than  six  feet,  though  he  was  not;  his  stride  had 
the  majesty  of  a  consciously  superior  person. 

Conkling  had  the  virtue  of  frankness  and  of  personal  in- 
tegrity;  he  also  had  the  deplorable  vice  of  a  temper  not  always 
controlled  and  of  a  tongue  distinguished  because  it  spoke  too 
frequently  in  scorn  and  contempt. 

For  example,  Conkling  never  doubted  that  his  flamboyant 
declaration  that  he  would  not  enter  the  White  House  while 
Hayes  was  President — his  contemptuous  reference  to  Hayes' 
"Snivel  Service"  policy — belittled  Hayes  in  the  eyes  of  the 
people.  In  fact,  they  helped  Hayes,  for  they  emphasized  the 
absence  from  his  Administration  of  those  influences  which  for 
eight  years  had  brought  the  Republican  party  close  to  defeat 

"IF  ASKED  WHAT  STATE  HE  HAILS  FROM" 

You  can  imagine  the  tense  scene  in  that  1880  convention 
when  such  a  man  as  I  have  described  strode  down  the  centre 
aisle  toward  the  platform.  Instead  of  taking  the  usual  place 
on  the  platform  by  the  chairman,  he  climbed  upon  a  newspaper 
correspondent's  table.  There  he  stood  facing  an  applauding 
multitude.  This  was  the  moment  of  test  for  his  leadership; 
he  knew  it;  so  did  the  delegates.  Almost  fifteen  minutes 
elapsed  before  Conkling  could  get  silence.  Then,  in  a  deep 

106 


As  I  Knew  Them 

tone  that  sounded  through  that  meeting  hall  like  a  great  cathe- 
dral organ,  he  began  his  memorable  speech  for  Grant — 

"If  asked  what  State  he  hails  from 
Our  sole  response  shall  be, 
'He  hails  from  Appomattox 
And  its  famous  apple  tree.' " 

Then  came  that  powerful  close  in  answer  to  the  cry  against 
a  third  term : 

"Having  tried  Grant  twice  and  found  him  faithful  we  are  told 
that  we  must  not  even  after  an  interval  of  years,  trust  him  again. 
My  countrymen!  my  countrymen!  Why?  Why?  What  stulti- 
fication does  not  such  a  fallacy  involve?  Is  this  an  electioneering 
juggle  or  is  it  hypocrisy's  masquerade? 

"There  is  no  field  of  human  activity,  responsibility  or  reason  in 
which  rational  beings  object  to  an  agent  because  he  has  been 
weighed  in  the  balance  and  not  found  wanting.  There  is,  I  say 
no  department  of  human  reason  in  which  sane  men  reject  an  agent 
because  he  has  had  experience  making  him  exceptionally  fit  and 
competent. 

"From  the  man  who  shoes  your  horse  to  the  lawyer  who  tries 
your  cause,  the  officer  who  manages  your  railway  or  your  mill,  the 
doctor  into  whose  hands  you  give  your  life  or  the  minister  who 
seeks  to  save  your  soul — what  man  do  you  reject  because  by  his 
works  you  have  known  him  and  found  him  faithful  and  fit? 

"What  makes  the  presidential  office  an  exception  to  all  things 
else  in  the  common  sense  to  be  applied  to  selecting  its  incumbent? 

"Who  dares  to  put  fetters  on  that  free  choice  and  judgment 
which  is  the  birth-right  of  the  American  people?" 

In  those  days  reporters  did  not  use  stop-watches, — as  they 
have  done  since  the  Bryan  chaos, — to  time  the  period  of 
enthusiasm  following  nominating  speeches.  Otherwise  when 
Conkling  concluded  they  might  have  recorded  a  full  half  hour 
of  tumult. 

GARFIELD  UNDERTAKES  A  CONTRAST 

Soon  came  James  A.  Garfield,  Senator-Elect,  himself  an 
orator  of  power.  His  speech  had  none  of  Conkling's  dramatic 

107 


.    As  I  Knew  Them 

intensity.  He  knew  he  could  not  equal  Conkling  in  that  re- 
spect; it  was  his  hope  to  make  a  contrast.  And  he  did.  Gar- 
field's  speech,  though  now  forgotten,  was  the  greatest  factor 
in  making  him  the  candidate  of  his  party  for  the  Presidency. 
Conkling' s  speech,  though  still  quoted  in  every  collection  of 
convention  oratory  as  a  model,  did  not  add  a  vote  or  save  his 
candidate  from  defeat. 

Picture  the  great  convention  slowly  settling  down  to  order 
after  the  tumult  over  the  Conkling  address;  picture  Garfield, 
as  spokesman  for  the  John  Sherman  candidacy,  standing  on 
the  same  reporter's  table  on  which  Conkling  had  stood,  wait- 
ing as  he  had  waited  for  a  listening  audience;  picture  Senator 
George  Frisbie  Hoar,  the  chairman,  almost  breaking  the  gavel 
while  pounding  for  order.  Then  read  this  masterly  opening, 
this  strategic  oratory.  It  united  audience  and  speaker.  No 
voice  that  would  reach  that  vast  audience  could  have  been 
more  placid,  more  quieting,  more  disarming  of  opposition, 
than  was  Garfield's  as  he  began : 

"Mr.  President:  I  have  witnessed  the  extraordinary  scenes  of 
this  Convention  with  deep  solicitude.  Nothing  touches  my  heart 
more  quickly  than  a  tribute  of  honor  to  a  great  and  noble  character ; 
but  as  I  sat  in  my  seat  and  witnessed  this  demonstration,  this 
assemblage  seemed  to  me  a  human  ocean  in  tempest.  I  have  seen 
the  sea  lashed  into  fury  and  tossed  into  spray,  and  its  grandeur 
moves  the  soul  of  the  dullest  man;  but  I  remember  that  it  is  not 
the  billows  but  the  calm  level  of  the  sea  from  which  all  heights 
and  depths  are  measured. 

"When  the  storm  is  past  and  the  hour  of  calm  settles  on  the 
ocean,  when  the  sunlight  bathes  its  peaceful  surface,  then  the  as- 
tronomer and  surveyor  take  the  level  from  which  they  measure 
all  terrestrial  heights  and  depths. 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  your  present  temper  may  not 
mark  the  healthful  pulse  of  our  people.  When  your  enthusiasm 
has  passed,  when  the  emotions  of  this  hour  have  subsided,  we  shall 
find  below  the  storm  and  passion  that  calm  level  of  public  opinion 
from  which  the  thoughts  of  a  mighty  people  are  to  be  measured, 
and  by  which  their  final  action  will  be  determined. 

108 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"Not  here,  in  this  brilliant  circle,  where  15,000  men  and  women 
are  gathered,  is  the  destiny  of  the  Republic  to  be  decreed  for  the 
next  four  years.  Not  here,  where  I  see  the  enthusiastic 1  faces  of 
756  delegates,  waiting  to  cast  their  lots  into  the  urn  and  determine 
the  choice  of  the  Republic ;  but  by  4,000,000  of  Republican  firesides, 
where  the  thoughtful  voters,  with  wives  and  children  about  them, 
with  the  calm  thoughts  inspired  by  love  of  home  and  country,  with 
the  history  of  the  past,  the  hopes  of  the  future,  and  reverence  for 
the  great  men  who  have  adorned  and  blessed  our  nation  in  the 
days  gone  by,  burning  in  their  hearts — there  God  prepares  the 
verdict  which  will  determine  the  wisdom  of  our  wrork  tonight." 

A  SPEECH  THAT  MADE  A  PRESIDENT 

The  speech  was  GarfielcTs  triumph.  His  tone,  his  manner, 
his  words  were  suited  to  the  deeper  purpose  of  the  delegates. 
He  was  the  man  of  the  hour — the  whispered  beneficiary  of  a 
deadlock.  No  one  had  brought  it  about,  no  one  could  have 
brought  it  about ;  it  seems  to  have  come  into  the  minds  of  many 
delegates  at  the  same  moment  that  here  was  the  man  to  bring 
peace  and  success  to  the  party.  The  feeling  spread  like  a 
tidal  wave. 

SOME  CONVENTION   FIGURES  OF  INTEREST 

Some  figures  about  that  convention  will  be  interesting. 
There  were  756  delegates,  making  379  votes  necessary  to 
nominate.  Grant  always  led  on  roll-call  through  the  36  bal- 
lots until  the  last,  when  Garfield  had  a  majority.  In  fact,  it 
was  on  the  next  to  the  last  ballot  that  Grant  scored  his  high- 
est vote — 313.  Beginning  with  304,  he  kept  within  304  and 
313  until  the  break  to  Garfield,  when  306  delegates  stood  by 
him.  Hence  the  famous  "306"  battalion  of  Stalwarts  so  much 
talked  of  in  politics. 

Solidarity  always  is  an  inspiring  spectacle;  it  denotes  con- 
viction, earnestness  and  loyalty — qualities  that  every  robust 

109 


As  I  Knew  Them 

person  applauds.  In  that  convention,  however,  solidarity  was 
not  the  exclusive  possession  of  the  Grant  men.  It  has  always 
seemed  to  me  that  the  delegates  who  withstood  the  force  of 
such  a  name  as  Grant  are  at  least  as  worthy  of  praise  for 
their  courage  and  loyalty  as  the  306  who  rallied  unitedly 
around  the  standard  of  his  renown. 

There  were  450  delegates  who  resisted  on  every  ballot  the 
Grant  candidacy. 

The  struggle  was  a  clean-cut  battle  between  two  factions — 
with  Elaine  as  the  leader  of  the  450  delegates  (though  not 
the  candidate  of  all),  and  Conkling  the  leader  of  the  "306," 
for  the  real  leader  was  Conkling,  not  Grant.  It  was  a  Elaine 
and  Conkling  Struggle  for  mastery  of  the  party,  its  candidates 
and  its  policies.  Again,  as  in  1876,  Elaine  triumphed  over 
him.  True,  the  Maine  man  did  not  secure  the  nomination 
for  himself;  but  his  struggle  forced  the  selection  of  a  can- 
didate beyond  Conkling's  control. 

CONKLING  NOT  A  GOOD  LOSER 

But  Conkling  could  never  tolerate  defeat.  With  Garfield 
nominated  he  sulked  and  sneered.  He  even  neglected  to  call 
upon  the  nominee  at  his  hotel.  uNo  friend  of  mine  will  go 
on  this  ticket,"  he  is  reported  to  have  declared  when  reports 
reached  him  that  the  Vice  Presidency  was  to  be  offered.  For 
a  month  he  allowed  politicians  to  guess  whether  he  was  for  the 
ticket. 

Grant  took  a  broader  view.  Promptly  and  manfully  he 
declared  for  Garfield.  His  attitude  forced  Conkling  and  other 
Stalwarts  into  line.  They  bargained  with  Garfield,  or  claimed 
to  have  bargained,  their  influence  in  return  for  control  over 
patronage,  but  they  never  contributed  much  enthusiasm  to  the 
campaign. 

There  were  times  when  Garfield's  election  seemed  only  a 
possibility.  He  was  a  Congressman,  a  Senator-elect  and  a 
Presidential  candidate  at  the  same  time.  Often  such  imma- 

110 


As  I  Knew  Them 

terial  things  affect  public  sentiment.  They  did,  for  a  time,  in 
GarfiehTs  case.  Despite  many  adversities,  however,  such  as 
the  forged  Morey  letter  against  organized  labor,  and  a  charge 
involving  his  Credit  Mobilier  connections,  Garfield  won.  But 
his  path  of  glory  led  shortly  to  the  grave* 


CHAPTER   XIV 
GARFIELD  TO  HIS  GRAVE,  CONKLING  INTO  EXILE 

A  Traffic  Era  In  American  Politics — The  New  York  Collect  or  ship  A 
Storm  Centre  That  Leads  Conkling  To  P.eslgn  His  Senatorship — 
Thomas  C.  Plait,  Also  a  Senator,  Says  "Me  Too"— Arthur,  Though 
Vice  President,  Joins  The  Fight  On  Garfield — Assassin  Guiteau  Shouts 
ffl  Am  A  Stalwart  Of  The  Stalwarts!"' — Conkling  Asks  "How  Can  I 
Battle  With  A  Shroud?"— The  Victim  Of  A  New  York  City  Blizzard. 

"JY/TARCH  4,  1 88 1,  saw  the  inauguration  of  a  second  Re- 
IvA  puyican  administration  with  which  Conkling  shortly, 
with  characteristic  haughtiness,  declared  he  would  have 
nothing  to  do. 

The  appointment  of  Elaine,  the  man  he  literally  hated,  as 
Secretary  of  State  was  sufficient  to  convince  Conkling  that 
a  conspiracy  was  planned  against  his  political  interests.  His 
opposition  to  Hayes  had  not  gone  beyond  ignoring  him — of 
assuming  that  for  four  years  the  White  House  was  vacant, 
pending  the  installation  of  a  tenant  whom  he  would  name. 
Garfield,  however,  had  scarcely  crossed  its  threshold  before 
Conkling  denounced  him  as  a  man  of  broken  promises.  In  his 
own  mind  he  saw  Elaine  controlling  the  President's  course, 
and  the  vision  frenzied  him.  It  was  intensified  by  the 
nomination  of  William  H.  Robertson  as  Collector  of  the 
Port  of  New  York. 

Conkling' s  rage  knew  no  limits.  The  patronage-centre  of 
New  York  politics,  the  office  from  which  Hayes  had  removed 
Chester  A.  Arthur,  now  Vice  President,  because  he  had  made 
it  a  political  headquarters,  was  the  one  place  that  Conkling 
was  determined  must  be  restored  to  his  political  assets. 

Garfield  held  a  different  view.  Probably,  had  the  Collector- 
;hip  been  held  by  a  Conkling  adherent,  Garfield  would  have 

112 


As  I  Knew  Them 

continued  him  rather  than  offend  the  New  York  Senator; 
but  Hayes  had  cleansed  the  office  of  factional  politics,  and 
Garfield  was  resolved  not  to  undo  Hayes'  good  work.  Without 
consulting  Conkling  he  selected  Robertson. 

Then  came  a  most  sensational  incident  and  the  most  tragic 
chapter  in  American  politics.  Conkling  resigned  his  Senator- 
ship  and  sought  to  have  the  New  York  Legislature  re-elect 
him  as  a  protest  against  Garfield.  Thomas  C.  Platt,  then 
newly-elected  to  the  Senate,  joined  with  Conkling.  The  news- 
papers called  him  uMe  Too"  Platt. 

CONKLING' s  GAUNTLET 

In  a  century  of  contention  between  Congress  and  the  Presi- 
dent, some  of  it  vindictive,  no  Senator  had  ever  issued  such  a 
challenge.  Only  men  carried  away  by  a  false  sense  of  their 
own  importance,  and  an  equally  poor  appreciation  of  the  high 
office  of  President,  would  have  risked  their  careers  in  an  effort 
so  unlikely  of  success.  It  is  conceivable  that  a  Legislature 
would  oppose  a  President  of  its  own  party  on  a  matter  of 
policy — such,  for  example,  as  the  League  of  Nations — but  it 
would  never  do  so  on  such  an  issue  as  the  resignation  of  Conk- 
ling and  uMe  Too"  raised. 

Conkling's  control  in  New  York  was  so  absolute,  how- 
ever, that  he  never  doubted  his  triumphant  re-entry  into  the 
Senate  with  his  defiance  of  Garfield  indorsed  by  a  Republican 
Legislature.  Cornell,  then  Governor  of  New  York,  had  also 
been  removed  from  the  customs  service  by  Hayes;  his  influ- 
ence was  openly  with  Conkling.  Arthur,  though  Vice  Presi- 
dent, went  to  Albany  to  aid  in  humiliating  the  President  he 
was  so  soon  to  succeed. 

"HOW  CAN  I  BATTLE  WITH  A  SHROUD ?" 

Fate  had  in  store  a  destiny  merciless  for  Garfield  and  only 
less  tragic  for  his  bitter  opponent.  While  Conkling  and 

"3 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Platt  were  still  struggling  to  have  the  Legislature  reelect 
them,  Charles  Guiteau's  bullet  shocked  the  country.  It  ended 
two  careers — GarfiekFs  by  death  and  Conkling's  by  exile 
from  politics. 

Without  a  word  of  warning  Guiteau  fired  two  shots  at  the 
President  at  a  range  of  less  than  a  dozen  feet.  Then  brandish- 
ing his  weapon  high  as  Patrolman  Kearney  and  a  colored 
porter  grabbed  him  he  shrieked  in  a  maniacal  voice,  "I  am  a 
Stalwart  of  the  Stalwarts!" 

Naturally  such  a  cry  created  the  suspicion  that  Guiteau  must 
be  the  direct  agent  of  a  plot,  but  there  was  no  evidence  to 
support  that  theory. 

Once  more  the  New  York  leader's  power  to  destroy  was 
demonstrated.  This  time,  however,  Conkling  had  pulled  the 
pillars  down  upon  himself,  too.  In  the  calm  of  reflection,  it 
became  evident  that  Guiteau  had  planned  assassination  before 
the  Conkling  resignation,  but  at  the  moment  that  was  the  one 
tangible  motive  the  people  saw,  and  the  Conkling  regime 
collapsed  like  a  house  of  cards.  The  Legislature  promptly 
elected  Warner  Miller  and  Silas  Lapham  as  Senators. 

Conkling  never  again  held  public  office,  attended  a  con- 
vention or  participated  in  politics.  After  Garfield's  death  he 
was  asked  whether  he  would  continue  his  fight.  Dramatically 
he  replied : 

"How  can  I  speak  into  a  grave?  How  can  I  battle  with  a 
shroud?  Silence  is  a  duty  and  a  doom." 

CONKLING'S  TABLE  OF  STORY-TELLERS 

For  the  seven  remaining  years  of  his  life  the  former  Senator 
made  his  evening  headquarters  at  the  Hoffman  House,  then 
owned  by  Ed.  Stokes,  the  slayer  of  Jim  Fisk,  of  Erie  Rail- 
road fame.  There  I  met  Conkling.  There,  night  after  night, 
in  Stokes'  cafe,  famous  for  its  costly  paintings,  Conkling 
gathered  about  him  noted  story-tellers  like  John  Chamberlain 
of  Washington  and  Tom  Ochiltree  of  Texas,  and  doubtless 

114 


As  I  Knew  Them 

found  refuge  in  such  company  from  thoughts  of  a  career 
brilliant,  disappointing  and  ended. 

Conkling' s  ability  might  easily  have  taken  him  to  the  White 
House  had  the  kindly  qualities  of  his  personal  relations 
governed  him  in  politics.  But  Conkling  loved  to  use  words  as 
a  prize-fighter  loves  to  use  his  fists — and,  similarly,  he  sought 
to  land  hard  on  his  opponent.  His  career  illustrates  that  noth- 
ing is  more  perilous  in  politics  than  the  quick,  sharp  retort 
The  power  of  oratory,  fascinating  and  pleasing  as  it  is,  leads 
you  to  extremes  that  later  embarrass. 

To  a  young  man  it  seemed  an  honor  to  sit,  when  invited,  at 
Conkling's  table  of  famous  raconteurs.  I  found,  however, 
that  it  meant  drinking  not  once  but  often  through  the  evening. 
While  no  teetotaler,  I  had  no  desire  to  acquire  the  opposite 
habit.  I  made  up  my  mind  to  give  up  the  brilliant  company. 
Several  weeks  later,  as  I  was  passing  through  the  cafe,  I  saw 
Conkling  seated  alone  at  the  table,  I  walked  over  to  greet 
him. 

"Young  man,"  he  said,  "I  observe  that  we  have  not  had  the 
pleasure  of  your  company  lately." 

In  later  years,  with  more  experience,  I  probably  would  have 
given  some  more  polite  answer  than  to  tell  him  the  decision  I 
had  made;  instead,  I  told  it. 

"Well,"  said  he,  "that  isn't  very  complimentary  to  the  rest 
of  us,  but  you  are  right.  Yes,  young  man,  you  are  right.  We 
are  old  hands  at  it,  and  know  how  to  take  care  of  ourselves 
in  all  situations,  but  it  is  different  at  your  years.  Be  your  own 
master — don't  let  drink  master  you." 

At  another  time,  when  a  certain  public  man  was  under  dis- 
cussion, Conkling  said  to  me,  "Never  trust  a  man  whose  eyes 
come  close  together.  I  have  done  so — only  to  regret  it." 

DIES  DEFYING   A   BLIZZARD 

A  man  of  Conkling's  temper  had  to  die  as  he  had  lived — in 
defiance  of  opposing  forces.  His  life  was  ended  as  his  political 

115 


As  I  Knew  Them 

career  had  ended — by  his  supreme  confidence  that  he  was 
superior  to  opposition.  The  great  blizzard  of  1888  buried 
New  York  city  deep  in  snow.  Transportation  ceased;  few 
people  tempted  the  storm's  fury.  Conkling  was  one  of  the 
few.  He  walked  from  the  City  Hall  to  Madison  Square — less 
than  two  miles — battling  for  two  or  three  hours  through  the 
storm  and  paid  the  penalty  with  his  life.  He  who  had  made 
so  many  others  the  victim  of  his  wrath  became  himself  the 
victim  of  the  Storm  King's  wrath. 


116 


CHAPTER    XV 


ARTHUR,  POLITICIAN,  MAKES  GOOD 

The  Country  Wonders  About  Its  New  President — Levi  P.  Morton's 
Story  Of  How  He  Lost  The  Vice  Presidency  And  Arthur  Won  It — 
Hayes*  Letter  To  The  Senate  Gimng  His  Reasons  For  Removing 
Arthur  From  New  York  Collect  or  ship — Cornell,  Also  Ousted,  Becomes 
New  York's  Governor — In  The  White  House  No  Longer  <fChet"  But 
ffMr.  President" — Arthur  Remained  A  Stalwart,  But  Not  A  Conkling 
Lieutenant — How  Arthur  Cleared  Cleveland's  Path  To  Fame — Why 
Vice  Presidents  Are  Seldom  Nominated  For  First  Place. 


ARTHUR  in  the  White  House!" 
The  country  staggered  that  September  morning  In 
1 88 1  as  It  read  that  Garfield  was  dead  at  the  Long  Branch 
cottage  and  that  at  midnight  Chester  Alan  Arthur  had  been 
sworn  in  as  President  in  his  home  on  Lexington  Avenue,  New 
York  City.  Arthur — the  Conkling  lieutenant  in  New  York 
politics,  the  ousted  Collector  of  Customs,  the  Vice  President 
who  only  a  few  months  before  had  gone  to  Albany  to  urge  the 
Republican  Legislature  to  return  Conkling  and  Platt  to  the 
Senate  as  a  rebuke  to  the  President  with  whom  he  had  been 
elected.  He  had  not  hesitated  to  refer  to  Garfield  as  a  man 
of  broken  promises  just  as  he  had  not  hesitated,  after  Hayes 
had  rernovedi  him  from  office,  to  echo  Conkling's  belittling 
sarcasm  when  speaking  of  Hayes.  In  the  campaign,  as  uthe 
tail  of  the  ticket,"  he  had  been  characterized  as  a  "pot-house" 
politician.  Republican  papers,  not  holding  Arthur  politically 
in  high  esteem,  did  not  take  the  trouble  to  defend  him. 

Here  he  was  in  the  White  House,  however — the  head  of 
the  nation ;  with  nearly  a  full  term  of  four  years  to  serve. 
Would  he  remain  a  ward  politician  or  would  he  seek  higher 
levels?  Would  Conkling  control  him? 

117 


As  I  Knew  Them 

These  were  the  questions  of  the  day.  They  prompted 
another  inquiry  to  which  people  had  theretofore  given  little 
heed — what  led  a  Republican  national  convention  to  select  as 
its  candidate  for  Vice  President — the  successor  to  the  Presi- 
dent— a  man  whose  career  was  that  of  a  machine  politician? 

HOW  MORTON  LOST  THE  VICE  PRESIDENCY 

Many  stories  were  told.  I  was  still  hoping  "and  working 
for  my  opportunity  to  become  a  political  reporter  when  that 
convention  was  held,  so  I  cannot  speak  of  it  from  personal 
knowledge.  My  convention  work  began  four  years  later.  I 
can  only  repeat  the  interesting  story  told  me  by  Levi  P. 
Morton,  Vice  President  with  Harrison,  and  later  Governor 
of  New  York,  as  to  how  he  lost  his  chance  to  be  named  on  the 
ticket  with  Garfield  and  how  Arthur  snapped  it  up. 

Morton  was  a  delegate  to  the  convention  and  one  of  the 
"306."  He  was  also  a  Congressman,  and  the  head  of  the 
New  York  banking  house  of  Morton,  Bliss  &  Company.  In 
1894, 1  was  crossing  the  Atlantic  on  the  old  Normandie  of  the 
French  Line.  On  deck  one  afternoon  Morton  remarked  that 
he  might  have  been  President  had  he  not  allowed  an  oppor- 
tunity to  slip  by  him.  He  then  told  Senator  "Ed11  Wolcott, 
of  Colorado,  and  myself  this  story: 

Having  nominated  Garfield,  the  convention  recessed  for  a 
three-hour  breathing-spell  before  deciding  whom  to  name  for 
Vice  President.  Though  Garfield  was  not  a  "Half  Breed,"  as 
the  Elaine  men  from  New  York  were  called,  he  was  nominated 
by  their  influence;  his  supporters  thought  it  good  strategy, 
therefore,  to  have  a  pronounced  "Stalwart"  on  the  ticket.  A 
committee  with  authority  decided  upon  Morton,  and  sought 
him  at  his  hotel.  They  told  him  their  purpose,  explaining 
also  that  because  of  the  brief  recess  an  immediate  "yes"  or 


"no"  was  necessary. 


118 


As  I  Knew  Them 

COSTLY  COURTESY 

Morton,  being  more  of  a  banker  than  a  politician,  felt  he 
should  not  make  such  an  important  decision  without  consulting 
Conkling,  his  chief,  who  had  openly  urged  all  Stalwarts  to 
keep  off  the  ticket.  He  told  the  committee  he  would  be  glad 
to  accept  if  Conkling  would  give  his  consent.  He  undertook 
to  find  Conkling  and  then  give  his  reply. 

The  committeemen  evidently  regarded  Morton  as  too  timid. 
They  wanted  a  Stalwart  but  they  wanted  one  who  would  act 
first  and  talk  about  it  afterward  with  his  chief.  Conkling 
might  say  "Amen"  when  he  would  not  say  "go  ahead."  So 
they  began  canvassing  other  names- — "Chet"  Arthur,  for  one. 
Arthur  was  an  active  Conkling  lieutenant  in  the  convention;  he 
was  well  known  to  the  delegates,  and  some  of  his  New  York 
colleagues  had  already  started  a  complimentary  boom  for  him. 

Moreover,  he  was  thoroughly  "organization," — just  such 
a  man  as  the  New  York  machine  would  pull  straight  for. 
That  was  the  real  test  of  availability  in  the  minds  of  the  Gar- 
field  men,  and  they  decided  to  ask  Arthur  if  he  would  accept 
without  waiting  permission  from  anyone.  They  called  him 
out  of  a  group  of  delegates  in  the  hotel  corridor,  and  made 
their  offer.  There  was  no  hesitation  about  his  "yes."  Fur- 
thermore, he  stated  that  the  New  York  delegates  were  to  hold 
a  meeting  in  the  convention  hall  just  before  the  session  began 
and  declared  that  he  would  then  get  the  formal  support  of  a 
large  majority  of  them. 

MORTON  HEARS  ARTHUR  NAMED 

Meanwhile,  Morton  had  had  difficulty  in  locating  Conkling* 
"Sulking  in  his  tent,"  the  newspaper  men  said  of  him. 
When  finally  Conkling  was  found,  he  told  his  too  loyal  lieuten- 
ant to  do  as  he  pleased — that  he  was  not  interested.    Morton, 
ignorant  of  the  Arthur  incident,  hurried  to  find  the  Garfield 

H9 


As  I  Knew  Them 

committee.  That,  too,  took  time.  He  was  ready  to  say  "yes" 
but  had  no  one  to  whom  to  say  it!  Finally,  he  went  to  the 
convention  hall.  There  in  an  ante-room  he  found  the  New 
York  delegates  in  meeting.  As  he  entered  he  was  amazed  to 
hear  Stewart  L.  Woodford  announcing  that  a  formal  offer  of 
the  Vice  Presidency  had  been  made  and  accepted  by  Arthur. 
Morton  promptly  gave  up  his  search  for  the  Garfield  men. 

Such  was  the  story  Morton  told  us  of  his  lost  opportunity 
to  become  President.  Eight  years  later,  Morton  was  named 
and  elected  Vice  President  with  Harrison, — but  Harrison 
lived  out  his  term. 

There  were  stories  that  Conkling  upbraided  Arthur,  that 
Arthur  replied  that  it  was  an  honor  greater  than  he  had  ever 
anticipated,  and  that  he  should  not  be  expected  to  put  it  aside. 
The  only  story  I  have  ever  heard  or  read,  however,  having  the 
authority  of  one  of  the  participants  is  the  story  told  by 
Morton. 

HAYES'  PLAIN  DUTY  AS  TO  ARTHUR 

Of  course,  the  Democratic  press  pounded  hard  at  Arthur 
during  the  campaign.  They  dwelt  in  detail  upon  his  removal 
by  President  Hayes  as  Collector  of  Customs  at  New  York 
less  than  two  years  before.  He  was  then  serving  his  second 
term  by  appointment  from  President  Grant.  He  had  also 
been  ward  leader,  county  chairman  and  local  spokesman  for 
Conkling.  The  message  Hayes  wrote  the  Senate  was  exten- 
sively used  throughout  the  campaign.  In  view  of  subsequent 
developments  this -extract  from  it,  dated  Jan.  31,  1879,  is  of 
interest; 

"For  a  long  period  of  time  it  (the  Custom  House  at  New  York) 
has  been  used  to  manage  and  control  political  affairs.  The  officers 
suspended  by  me  are  and  have  been  engaged  in  the  active  personal 
management  of  the  party  politics  of  New  York  city  and  State. 
The  duties  of  the  offices  held  by  them  have  been  regarded  as  of 
subordinate  importance  to  their  partisan  work.  Their  offices  have 

120 


As  I  Knew  Them 

been  conducted  as  part  of  the  political  machinery  under  their  con- 
trol. I  regard  it  as  my  plain  duty  to  remove  the  officers  in 
question." 

TWQ  years  later  Cornell  was  Governor  of  New  York  and 
"Chet"  Arthur,  the  removed  Collector,  was  the  elected  Vice 
President  on  the  Republican  national  ticket. 

Less  than  three  years  later  he  occupied  the  White  House 
as  President ! 

So  runs  the  world ! 

ARTHUR  REMAINS  A  STALWART 

It  was  another  Arthur,  however,  who  sat  in  the  White 
House  as  President.  No  longer  "Chet"  but  Chester  Alan 
Arthur,  he  responded  quickly  to  the  responsibilities  and  dig- 
nity of  his  high  office.  True  as  he  had  been  to  Conkling  until 
Guiteau's  bullet  had  done  its  deadly  work,  Arthur,  thus 
tragically  thrust  into  the  Presidency,  realized  that  he  and 
Conkling  must  thereafter  travel  separate  paths.  The  man 
whom  he  had  recognized  as  his  political  chief  and  guide  so 
many  years  was  now  his  peril. 

Conkling  could  not  see  this — he  could  not  realize  that,  with 
Garfield  just  laid  in  his  grave,  any  recognition  of  him  by 
GarfiekTs  successor  was  impossible.  It  was  in  Conkling' s  mind 
that  he  should  have  Elaine's  place  as  Secretary  of  State.  He 
never  asked  for  the  appointment  but  he  never  forgave  Arthur 
for  not  tendering  it  to  him. 

But  Arthur  did  not  abandon  those  with  whom  he  had  been 
aligned  in  Republican  politics.  He  replaced  Elaine  with 
Frelinghuysen,  of  New  Jersey,  William  Windom  in  the  Treas- 
ury with  Charles  J.  Folger,  Chief  Justice  of  the  New  York 
Court  of  Appeals;  Wayne  MacVeagh  with  Benjamin  H. 
Brewster  as  Attorney  General;  he  kept  Robert  Todd  Lincoln 
as  Secretary  of  War.  The  new  men  were  all  of  the  "Stalwart" 
type — but  they  were  men  of  ability  and  the  country  at  once 
placed  a  higher  estimate  on  Arthur. 

121 


As  I  Knew  Them 

It  was  a  strange  turning  of  the  tide  that  Arthur  should  not 
only  uphold  the  civil  service  rules  established  by  Hayes  but 
should  as  President  sign  the  first  effective  civil  service  law; 
also  that  he  should  be  the  first  President  to  veto  a  river  and 
harbor  appropriation  bill  as  excessive — the  bill  that  had  come 
to  be  known  as  the  "pork  barrel"  bill  into  which  politicians  of 
both  parties  dug  deep. 

HOW  ARTHUR  CLEARED  CLEVELAND'S  PATH  TO  FAME 

But  Arthur  could  not  bring  peace  to  the  Republican  party, 
particularly  in  his  own  State  of  New  York  he  failed.  Like 
many  men  who  suddenly  acquire  great  power,  he  wielded  it  like 
a  club  instead  of  using  it  to  cement.  New  York  was  the  centre 
of  the  faction  storm  area.  There  Arthur  abandoned  concilia- 
tion and  sought  to  dominate.  He  forced  the  nomination  for 
Governor  of  his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  Charles  J.  Folger. 
Personally,  Folger  was  a  man  of  character  and  ability — much 
too  fine  in  all  qualities  to  be  made  the  certain  victim  of  the 
Stalwart  and  Half-Breed  factional  strife. 

in  such  circumstances  any  Democratic  nominee  was  certain 
of  election,  and  what  was  later  called  *  'Cleveland  luck"  came 
to  the  Mayor  of  Buffalo,  scarcely  known  beyond  Erie  County. 
Thousands  of  Half-Breeds  refused  to  vote  for  Folger.  The 
latter's  overwhelming  defeat  made  Grover  Cleveland  a  na- 
tional figure  and  the  indicated  candidate  of  the  Democratic 
Party  for  President  two  years  later. 

It  exerted  still  another  influence — it  impaired  Arthur's 
standing  with  Republicans  at  Washington  and  throughout  the 
country.  Obviously,  leadership  was  lacking.  Arthur  as  Presi- 
dent won  commendation  from  many  who  were  frankly  critical 
when  he  entered  the  White  House,  but  he  never  made  the  deep 
impression  on  his  party  essential  for  a  nomination  for  Presi- 
dent on  his  own  account.  He  was  never  a  probable  nominee. 
The  votes  he  received  in  the  convention  merely  reflected  the 
patronage  power  of  the  man  at  the  head  of  government. 

122 


As  I  Knew  Them 

After  leaving  the  White  House,  Arthur  mingled  with  old 
and  new  friends  in  New  York  City.  As  ex-President  he  was  no 
longer  a  news  centre,  but  some  passing  matters  of  public  con- 
cern, now  forgotten,  brought  me  to  his  home  on  Lexington 
Avenue,  on  two  occasions.  I  recall  his  dignity,  his  kindness 
and  his  determined  purpose  to  keep  out  of  controversies. 

Chagrined  by  the  refusal  to  make  him  the  party  candidate 
for  President,  he  never  sought  political  influence  again. 

PARTIES  SELDOM  FOLLOW  VICE  PRESIDENTS 

Yet  Arthur  should  not  have  been  surprised  by  that  refusal. 
Up  to  that  time  no  Vice  President,  succeeding  to  the  Presidency 
by  death,  had  been  nominated  subsequently  for  a  full  term. 

Of  Tyler,  who  became  President  following  Harrison's 
death  in  1841,  the  Whigs  in  Congress  formally  declared  one 
year  later  "Those  who  brought  him  into  power  can  no  longer 
be  held  responsible."  He  was  not  even  mentioned  in  their 
convention  as  a  possible  nominee. 

Andrew  Johnson,  who  was  Lincoln's  running  mate  and  suc- 
cessor, barely  escaped  conviction  on  impeachment  •  charges 
made  by  Republicans,  and  in  1868  vainly  turned  for  nomina- 
tion to  the  Democratic  convention — that  of  the  party  that  had 
opposed  him  in  1864. 

Millard  Fillmore,  who  succeeded  "Old  Zach"  Taylor  in 
1850,  alone  was  able  to  maintain  a  strong  hold  on  his  party. 
He  was  defeated  by  General  Winfield  Scott  for  nomination 
only  after  50  ballots — the  longest  convention  struggle  up  to 
that  time. 

These  refusals  of  a  political  party  to  follow  a  Vice  Presi- 
dent are  the  inevitable  consequence  of  the  tendency  in  con- 
ventions then  and  now  to  "balance''  national  tickets  by  select- 
ing as  Vice  Presidential  candidate  a  representative  of  the 
defeated  minority.  Such  men  are  nominated  for  a  purpose, 
not  for  their  fitness.  The  two  Vice  Presidents  who  have  suc- 
ceeded to  the  Presidency  since  Arthur's  day  have  been  elected 

123 


As  I  Knew  Them 

to  succeed  themselves.  Unlike  Arthur,  neither  Roosevelt  nor 
Coolidge  was  nominated  as  consolation  to  a  minority.  They 
were  named  as  individuals  for  their  worth,  and  not  as  members 
of  defeated  factions.  That  is  true  also  of  Charles  G.  Dawes, 
nominated  for  Vice  President  with  Coolidge  in  1924.  Thomas 
R.  Marshall  was  of  this  class,  too;  but  Charles  P.  Bryan, 
Adlai  Stevenson  and  Arthur  Sewall  were  named  solely  to 
satisfy  the  disappointed. 


124 


CHAPTER    XVI 

ELAINE  WINS  AND  LOSES 

His  Superstition  That  He  Would  Never  Be  President— "That  HQSS' 
Eyes  Is  Sot" — Prefers  Circus  To  Nomination  Talk — My  First  Con- 
vention Experience — The  "Mugwumps"  Make  Their  Initial  Bow  In 
Politics — A  Most  Unsavory  National  Campaign — Both  Cleveland  And 
Elaine  Had  To  Endure  A  "Whispering"  Campaign— f  Tell  The 
Truth!"  Said  Cleveland  And  Silence  Followed — All  Correspondents 
Listened  To  Rev.  Dr.  Bur  chard's  Address  But  None  Heard  "Rum> 
Romanism  And  Rebellion' — Blaine  Would  Not  Repudiate  Until  Too 
Late — The  "Behhazzar  Feast"  Also  Cost  Him  Many  Votes — All  The 
"Breaks"  Against  Blaine — How  New  York  Went  For  Cleveland — 
Watterson  Gets  Excited  And  The  Crowd  Yells  "Hang,  Hang,  Hang 
Jay  Gould" — Blaine  Stops  The  Agitation. 

"DLAINE  in  retirement,  Conkling  practicing  law — how  the 
•*-*  mighty  had  fallen !  Scarcely  more  than  a  year  since  the 
intense  struggle  in  the  Chicago  convention  of  1880,  yet  those 
two  mighty  captains  of  warring  factions  had  been  swept 
out  of  office.  Conkling  had  been  twenty  years  in  continuous 
public  service  at  Washington,  Blaine  eighteen. 

Though  Conkling  lived  for  seven  years  after  his  Senate 
resignation  he  never  regained  political  prestige  or  power — 
never  sought  to  do  so.  Blaine  had  twelve  more  years  to  live, 
which  meant  the  same  thing  as  twelve  years  of  keen  interest 
in  politics,  for  politics  was  the  elixir  of  life  for  the  Maine  man. 
He  loved  the  game,  but  after  his  brief  term  as  Garfield's 
Secretary  of  State  he  seems  to  have  centred  in  that  office 
the  deep  ambition  of  his  later  years.  There  he  believed  his 
lasting  reputation  could  be  made.  The  only  occasion  upon 
which  he  ever  frankly  confessed  a  desire  to  return  to  public 
office  was  after  Harrison's  election  in  1888,  and  the  State  De- 
partment was  the  place  he  sought.  Harrison  named  him. 

125 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ELAINE  PREFERS  CIRCUS  TO  TALK 

It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  Blaine  was  not  eager  for  the 
1884  nomination  for  President;  but  if  he  was,  he  kept  his 
desire  well  concealed.  After  his  failure  in  1876  and  1880 
he  had  a  presentiment,  really  a  superstition,  that  no  turn  of 
the  political  tide  would  ever  carry  him  into  the  White  House. 
He  frequently  used  a  homely  New  England  phrase  to  speak 
of  things  settled  and  gone  by — "that  hoss'  eyes  is  sot."  He 
quoted  that  phrase  whenever  his  friends  spoke  to  him  of  the 
Presidency,  and  seemed  uninterested. 

In  Paris,  while  Richard  C.  Kerens,  of  Missouri,  and  Stephen 
B.  Elkins,  of  West  Virginia,  were  visiting  him  in  his  hotel, 
they  began  talking  of  the  approaching  presidential  nomina- 
tion. Blaine  suddenly  left  the  room.  Soon  returning,  he  held 
in  his  hand  high  above  his  head  tickets  for  the  circus  that 
evening,  exclaiming  in  joyous  tones:  uNow  here  is  some- 
thing that  means  more  fun  than  nominations.  Let  us  have 
dinner  and  go." 

Nevertheless,  when  the  hour  struck  for  the  election  of 
delegates  there  was  a  flare-up  of  the  old  ambition,  though  he 
insisted  that  it  was  merely  the  flickering  embers  of  a  fire 
almost  burnt  out.  Protesting  his  indifference,  declaring  his 
preference  to  complete  his  half-finished  "Twenty  Years  of 
Congress,"  he  saw  the  column  of  Blaine  delegates  steadily 
growing  taller ;  with  its  increase  there  developed  in  him  that 
desire  that  in  politics  so  often  controls  men  against  their  better 
judgment.  It  controlled  Blaine.  Despite  his  acquiescence,  the 
feeling  that  the  Presidency  was  not  for  him  clung  to  him  like 
fate,  and  was  never  stronger  than  while  the  1884  convention 
was  making  him  its  candidate. 

THE  "MUGWUMP"  APPEARS  IN  POLITICS 

My  first  convention — 1884!  Four  years  earlier  in  that 
same  city,  in  that  same  hall,  stirring  scenes  had  been  enacted, 

126 


A  HISTORIC  CARTOON:  CLEVELAND  AND  ROOSEVELT  IN  1885 


As  I  Knew  Them 

strong  men  had  battled.  My  mind  was  full  of  stories  of 
dramatic  incidents  that  then  and  there  had  taken  place.  My 
ear  anticipated  debate  and  oratory  as  memorable.  I  was 
eager  to  witness  just  such  a  struggle  as  had  kept  the  1880 
convention  in  tense  session  six  days;  I  pictured  in  my  mind  the 
great  men,  the  stirring  speeches,  the  sharp  tnrusts  and  retorts, 
the  riotous  gallery  demonstrations  I  was  to  see  and  hear. 

It  did  not  occur  to  me  that  such  a  convention  as  that  of  1880 
is  not  often  assembled — that  a  Conkling,  a  Garfield,  and  a 
great  issue  over  which  men  differ  fiercely  are  its  essentials. 
They  were  absent  in  1884.  Of  course,  there  were  clashes, 
there  were  denunciations  of  Elaine,  there  were  threats  of 
bolting  the  ticket,  but  there  was  none  of  that  spirited,  inspir- 
ing leadership  on  one  side  and  challenging  determination  on 
the  other  that  four  years  before  had  held  nearly  800  delegates 
at  grips,  roll-call  after  roll-call. 

It  was  a  contrast,  not  a  repetition;  it  was  a  field  of  battle 
from  which  the  gladiators  had  disappeared  and  only  less  com- 
manding men  remained.  On  one  side  was  the  candidacy  of 
President  Arthur  with  an  indifferent  following;  on  the  other 
side  the  candidacy  of  Elaine,  the  "Plumed  Knight"  of  a  vast 
army  of  voters.  Between,  stood  men  of  the  type  never  so 
much  at  home  as  when  in  a  protesting  minority,  never  so  happy 
as  when  assailing  someone  with  suspicion  and  innuendo. 
Later,  they  were  characterized  as  "Mugwumps"  in  politics. 
Elaine  was  their  bete  noire. 

As  a  group  in  the  convention  they  were  unable  to  agree 
to  support  any  candidate.  Many  of  them  including  Theodore 
Roosevelt  wanted  to  name  Senator  George  F.  Edmunds,  of 
Vermont — a  fine  constitutional  lawyer,  who,  if  made  the  party 
candidate,  would  have  lasted  in  the  campaign  about  as  long  as 
an  icicle  under  a  noontime  summer  sun.  Throughout  the  ses- 
sions there  was  not  a  speech  that  enthused  nor  a  ballot  whose 
close  result  thrilled  more  than  did  the  fog-horn  voice  of  the 
clerk  who  called  the  roll. 

One  man  had  all  the  enthusiasm — Elaine;  one  man  got  all 

128 


"THE  PLUMED  KNIGHT"  AS  PUCK  SAW  HIM 


As  I  Knew  Them 

the  shafts  of  malice  and  slander — Elaine ;  and  one  man,  from 
start  to  finish,  was  the  obvious  choice  and  nominee — Elaine. 
I  did  not  then  personally  know  Elaine.  Moreover  it  was  then 
doubtful  whether  my  first  vote  would  be  cast  for  any  man 
nominated  by  the  convention  I  was  attending. 

Nevertheless  I  could  not  reconcile  the  attacks  upon  Elaine 
with  the  cheers  with  which  his  name  was  always  greeted — the 
kind  of  cheers  that  meant  sincere  feeling.  One  or  the  other 
of  the  two  extremes  was  wrong  in  its  estimate  of  the  man — 
there  was  no  middle  ground. 

The  intense  feeling  for  Elaine  was  significantly  disclosed 
by  the  great  Elaine  delegations  that  crowded  Chicago  during 
the  convention.  A  notable  expression  was  that  conveyed  in  a 
giant  transparency  carried  by  a  delegation  of  cheering  torch- 
waving  Kansans ;  it  read : 

" 2 5,000  for  the  Republican  Nominee,  but 
75,000  for  ELAINE!" 

A  MOST   UNSAVORY  NATIONAL   CAMPAIGN 

With  Elaine  nominated  the  Democrats  sought  a  candidate 
whom  the  country  could  discuss  without  linking  him  to  the  past 
of  that  party.  Grover  Cleveland  met  that  requirement.  He 
had  no  political  past.  A  most  unsavory  national  campaign 
followed.  The  private  lives  of  both  men  were  assailed.  I 
remember  hearing  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  the  famous  Brook- 
lyn clergyman,  in  Cooper  Union,  New  York  city,  open  the 
attack  upon  Elaine's  integrity.  George  William  Curtis,  whom 
Conkling  scornfully  dubbed  "the  Man  Milliner"  because  his 
publishing  firm  owned  the  woman's  magazine  called  "Harper's 
Bazaar,"  wrote  and  talked  and  worked  furiously.  So  did 
Carl  Schurz. 

In  that  year  Theodore  Roosevelt  and  Henry  Cabot  Lodge 
began  their  long  political  friendship.  Both  opposed  Blaine 
in  the  convention,  but  both  had  decided  in  advance  to  stand 

129 


As  I  Knew  Them 

with  their  party.  The  New  York  Times  bolted  Elaine;  the 
New  York  Sun  bolted  Cleveland  and  supported  Ben  Butler; 
many  Republicans  announced  themselves  for  Cleveland;  as 
many  Democrats  declared  for  Blaine. 

Elaine  had  to  meet  the  charge  that  the  correspondence 
known  as  the  Mulligan  letters,  written  while  he  was  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  disclosed  a  corrupt  relation. 
The  attack  on  Cleveland  had  to  do  with  his  early  life  in  Buffalo 
and  his  alleged  remissness  in  war.  "Tell  the  truth"  was 
Cleveland's  answer  when  his  supporters  asked  what  should  be 
said.  That  reply  silenced  both  truth  and  untruth  in  news- 
paper publication. 

A  WHISPERING  CAMPAIGN 

But  it  was  a  whispering  campaign, — the  whispering  of 
scandals  about  both  candidates  too  malicious  to  be  uttered 
aloud. 

Enough  was  insinuated  if  not  actually  charged  publicly  to 
sink  the  campaign  to  the  lowest  levels.  Many  of  the  Mulligan 
letters  had  been  read  by  Blaine  in  Congress,  eight  years  before, 
challenging  their  false  interpretation.  Since  then,  he  had  been 
a  candidate  in  two  conventions,  had  been  re-elected  Senator 
from  his  State,  and  had  been  Garfield's  Secretary  of  State.  He 
had  survived  all  these  tests  of  faith  in  his  integrity;  indeed  he 
had  grown  in  popular  favor. 

In  1884,  however,  the  battle  was  for  the  Presidency  itself, 
not  for  a  nomination,  and  the  old  interpretations  were  revived. 
The  opposition  left  no  sentence  or  word  in  the  correspondence 
unblurred  by  malice.  I  never  thought  the  charges  cost  Blaine 
many  votes,  though  they  undoubtedly  influenced  conservative 
opinion  to  the  belief  that  he  was  at  least  careless  in  his  letter- 
writing.  Though  Blaine  was  Speaker  of  the  House  at  a  time 
when  stories  of  corrupt  influence  jn  Congress  and  in  the  na- 
tional Administration  were  the  gossip  of  the  day,  not  a  word 

130 


As  I  Knew  Them 

involving  him  was  ever  uttered  until  the  letters  were  produced 
just  before  the  1876  convention. 

Cleveland,  on  the  other  hand,  was  called  a  "hangman" 
because  it  was  asserted  that  while  Sheriff  of  Erie  County,  New 
York,  he  had  personally  supervised  two  executions.  Tfiat  was 
the  mildest  of  the  reports  of  his  Buffalo  life,  as  boy  and  man  — 
some  true,  many  untrue. 


ROMANISM  AND  REBELLION" 


I  could  cite  half  a  dozen  incidents  of  that  campaign,  any 
one  of  which  adversely  influenced  enough  votes  to  have  carried 
New  York  for  Elaine,  and  New  York  would  have  elected  him. 
I  have  already  quoted  Conkling's  silence  as  one  factor.  The 
historic  incident,  of  course,  and  the  one  that  cost  Elaine  most 
votes,  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Burchard's  "Rum,  Romanism  and 
Rebellion"  sentence  in  an  address  of  welcome  to  Blaine  in  the 
old  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  in  New  York  city.  I  heard  that 
speech.  It  had  been  crowded  into  a  forenoon  reception  be- 
cause Blaine  was  to  review  a  Business  Men's  parade  in  the 
afternoon  and  the  night  had  been  set  aside  for  a  banquet 
tendered  by  the  "captains  of  industry"  destined  to  become 
known  as  "Belshazzar's  Feast." 

I  do  not  know  whether  Presidential  candidates  were 
"trailed"  earlier  than  1884  by  agents  of  their  rivals,  instructed 
to  watch  for  "breaks,"  but  a  Democratic  sleuth  followed 
Blaine  in  that  campaign,  took  stenographic  notes  of  all  he 
said  and  reported  every  incident  to  William  C.  Whitney  and 
Senator  Arthur  Pue  Gorman.  This  trailer  was  present  at  the 
Burchard  meeting  with  eyes  and  ears  alert.  He  heard  the 
alliterative  phrase  and  realized  its  damaging  possibilities.  He 
hastened  to  the  Cleveland  headquarters  just  one  block  away  — 
and  by  late  afterrioon  the  city  was  flooded  with  sensational 
circulars  intended  to  arouse  Catholic  voters. 

Following  the  meeting  a  dozen  or  more  newspaper  corre- 
spondents sat  on  the  famous  "Amen  Corner"  benches  in  the 


As  I  Knew  Them 

old  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  discussing  its  news  features.  Not  one 
of  us  gave  heed  to  the  utterance  that  was  soon  to  become  a 
national  sensation.  Our  group  included  Cleveland  men, 
Blame  men  and  Butler  men  but  regardless  of  our  politics  we 
were  presumed  to  be  wide-awake  news-gatherers.  Imagine 
the  shock  to  our  pride  a  few  hours  later  when  the  deluge  of 
circulars  came,  sensationalizing  a  story  that  every  one  of  us 
had  seen,  heard  and  missed! 

WE  SAW,  BUT  DID  NOT  HEAR 

I  say  that  we  had  seen  and  heard.  That  is  only  half  true — 
actually  we  saw,  but  did  not  hear.  Dr.  Burchard.  I  doubt 
whether  many  persons  heard  him.  He  stood  atop  the  corri- 
dor stairway  leading  from  the  street  level  to  the  first  floor.  A 
noisy  crowd  filled  the  place.  The  clergyman's  voice  was  poor, 
his  delivery  uninspiring.  Thoughts  and  eyes  were  centered 
on  Elaine,  who  faced  him  listening  indifferently. 

Elaine,  I  am  sure,  was  correct  in  his  subsequent  statement 
that  he  did  not  hear  the  damaging  words.  But  neither  Elaine 
nor  the  correspondents,  inasmuch  as  we  had  responsibilities  in 
the  matter,  can  be  excused  on  that  plea.  It  was  our  duty  to 
know  what  he  said.  A  clergyman's  speech  however,  seemed 
to  us  the  last  thing  to  be  followed  closely  for  a  sensation ;  it 
was  assumed  to  be  non-explosive.  Yet  dynamite  was  there! 
— dynamite  that  cost  a  Presidency ! 

In  all  my  subsequent  campaign  experiences,  I  have  not  heard 
such  an  uproar  as  that  which  broke  out  everywhere  as  the 
Burchard  sentence  became  known.  Instantly  appeals  were 
made  to  Elaine  to  repudiate  the  utterance.  But  Blaine  never 
liked  to  answer  attacks;  he  was  not  a  man  to  take  the  defen- 
sive, preferring  always  to  battle  on  ground  of  his  own  choos- 
ing. All  that  he  would  say  was  the  brief  truth  that  he  had  not 
heard  much  of  Burchard's  address  and  in  particular  had  not 
heard  the  unfortunate  expression.  Next  day  he  continued 
on  his  way  home  to  Maine,  speaking  at  different  cities  accord- 

132 


!.!»; 


i 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ing  to  schedule;  but  until  Saturday  night  he  gave  no  further 
heed  to  Burchard.  Then  he  learned  that  Catholic  churches 
were  to  be  flooded  with  circulars  on  Sunday.  This  informa- 
tion led  him  to  act — too  late,  unfortunately,  to  repair  the 
damage  done. 

Indisputably,  Elaine  would  have  been  elected  President  by  a 
heavy  popular  vote  had  there  been  no  Burchard  speech*  It 
was  estimated  then  that  in  New  York  alone  he  lost  50,000 
votes.  My  estimate  in  the  Philadelphia  Press  fixed  the  loss 
at  more  than  50,000,  but  whatever  the  actual  figure  may  have 
been  it  was  large  enough  to  have  insured  the  State  and  the 
Presidency  to  Elaine  by  a  substantial  plurality. 


"BELSHAZZAR'S  FEAST" 


However,  Burchard's  speech  was  not  the  only  vote-losing 
incident  of  that  fateful  last  week  of  the  campaign.  Some' 
"captains  of  industry,"  as  they  were  called,  with  unwisdom 
characteristic  of  business  men  when  they  mix  in  politics,  had 
persuaded  Blaine  to  accept  a  banquet  at  Delmonico's,  then 
New  York  City's  most  famous  restaurant.  Cyrus  Field,  Jay 
Gould,  Andrew  Carnegie  and  men  of  their  type  were  the 
sponsors.  The  dinner  was  fixed  for  the  same  date  as  the 
Burchard  meeting.  It  was  served  on  the  finest  dinner  plate 
Delmonico  possessed;  the  quality  of  guests  and  service  made 
it  truly  "a  swagger  affair."  The  only  banquet  rivalling  it 
that  I  ever  attended  was  James  Hazen  Hyde's  anniversary  of 
the  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society  at  the  Waldorf  about 
20  years  ago.  The  Democrats  promptly  characterized  it  as 
"Belshazzar's  Feast" — pictured  it  with  all-gold  dinner  plate, 
waiters  in  livery  and  knee  breeches,  the  banqueters  with  be- 
diamonded  shirt-fronts. 

The  New  York  World's  headlines  next  day  were : 

MAMMON'S  HOMAGE 

Blaine  Hobnobbing  With  the 

Mighty  Money  Kings 

134 


As  I  Knew  Them 

The  Banquet  in  His  Honor  at 
Delmon ice's  Last  Night 

Millionaires  and  Monopolists  Seal 
Their  Allegiance. 

Elaine  had  questioned  the  wisdom  of  the  dinner.  His  secre- 
tary, Thomas  H.  Sherman,  still  living  in  Gorham,  Maine, 
confirms  my  recollection  that  Elaine  had  written  and  tele- 
graphed objections,  but  at  last  good  naturedly  had  set  aside 
his  own  reaction  to  it.  Next  day,  even  before  criticism  had 
reached  its  volume,  he  declared  the  dinner  would  cost  him 
votes.  He  seemed  more  concerned  about  its  effect  than  about 
Burchard's  uRum,  Romanism  and  Rebellion" — both  appearing 
in  the  same  day's  papers. 

ALL  THE  "BREAKS"  AGAINST  ELAINE 

In  a  close  contest  the  mistakes  of  management  made  by 
the  defeated  side  become  conspicuous  and  as  you  look  back 
upon  them  you  challenge  the  wisdom  of  those  responsible.  All 
the  "breaks"  of  the  Elaine-Cleveland  campaign  were  against 
Elaine.  Looking  them  over  afterward,  realizing  how  easily 
all  except  a  terrific  rain-storm  on  election  day  could  have  been 
avoided — and  realizing  also  that  avoiding  any  one  of  them 
would  have  saved  the  day — the  list  of  errors  seems  a  pathetic 
array  of  "might  have  beens."  Elaine  himself  never  displayed 
interest  in  discussing  them.  Frequently  he  said  he  always 
knew  it  would  hot  be,  and  was  not  particularly  disturbed  when 
his  superstition  proved  to  be  a  reality.  He  resumed  work  on 
his  "Twenty  Years  of  Congress." 

HOW  NEW  YORK  WENT  FOR  CLEVELAND 

The  Republicans  conceded  Elaine's  defeat  slowly.  They 
might  not  have  done  so  without  demanding  some  kind  of 


As  I  Knew  Them 

official  enquiry  into  the  New  York  State  vote  had  they  not 
realized  the  futility  of  such  a  proceeding.  Cleveland  himself 
was  the  Democratic  Governor  of  the  State  and  the  City  of 
New  York  was  Tammany.  Republicans  had  no  alternative 
but  to  accept  the  vote  as  returned,  however  false.  And  It  was 
false. 

Another  obstacle  in  the  Republican  path  was  the  recollection 
of  the  Hayes-Tilden  controversy,  then  only  eight  years  past. 
No  one  wanted  another  such  struggle  for  the  Presidency. 

The  loss  of  New  York  meant  to  Elaine  what  the  loss  of 
California  in  1916  meant  to  Hughes  —  the  loss  of  the  Presi- 
dency. The  thirty-six  Electoral  votes  of  the  Empire  State 
made  a  total  of  219  Electoral  votes  for  Cleveland  against 
182  for  Elaine.  Transfer  New  York's  36  votes  to  the  Elaine 
column  and  the  result  would  be  218  for  Elaine  to  183  for 
Cleveland. 

Those  who  recall  the  tense  situation  while  the  California 
vote  was  being  slowly  counted  and  re-counted  in  1916  to  deter- 
mine whether  Hughes  or  Wilson  had  been  elected  will  realize 
the  depth  of  feeling  for  two  days  while  the  Democrats  figured 
a  slender  1047  plurality  for  Cleveland  in  New  York  State. 
Notoriously,  most  of  the  votes  cast  for  Governor  Benjamin  F. 
Butler,  of  Massachusetts,  Greenback  candidate,  supported 
vigorously  by  the  New  York  Sun,  were  counted  for  Cleveland. 
That  counting  was  done  in  Long  Island  City  and  Gravesend 
Bay,  by  "Battle  Ax"  Paddy  Gleason  and  John  Y.  McKane, 
two  local  Democratic  bosses.  Later  McKane  went  to  Sing  Sing 
Prison  for  similar  election  practices. 


"NO  MORE 


In  1876-77,  while  the  Hayes-Tilden  result  was  still  undeter- 
mined, one  Democratic  Southern  editor  wrote  fiercely;  "The 
Solid  South  has  gone  for  Tilden  and  Hendricks  and  by  the 
God  of  Battles  they  shall  be  inaugurated  !" 

Henry  Watterson,  editor  of  the  Louisville  Courier-Journal, 

136 


As  I  Knew  Them 

and  then  also  a  member  of  Congress,  frantically  urged  Demo- 
cratic leaders  to  mobilize  100,000  Democrats  to  march,  un- 
armed, to  Washington  and  camp  there  until  Tilden  was  in- 
stalled in  the  White  House  as  President. 

In  1884,  while  the  final  returns  were  being  gathered  from 
close  States,  (New  York  in  particular)  Watterson  did  not 
renew  his  demand  for  an  army,  unarmed,  to  seat  Cleveland 
in  the  White  House,  but  he  was  the  first  to  rage  against  an- 
other Democratic  President  being  "counted  out." 

"No  more  '76"  was  the  cry  raised  by  Democrats  throughout 
the  country. 

Everywhere  crowds  gathered  in  front  of  newspaper  bulletin 
boards  for  the  latest  returns.  In  New  York  city  a  mob 
marched  up  and  down  outside  the  Western  Union  office,  at 
Broadway  and  Dey  Street,  demanding  that  "held  back"  re- 
turns should  be  made  known.  They  threatened  Jay  Gould, 
then  chief  owner  of  the  Telegraph  Company.  "Hang,  hang, 
hang  Jay  Gould,"  was  their  marching  chorus  along  lower 
Broadway  and  on  Union  and  Madison  Squares. 

They  wanted  the  Paddy  Gleason  returns  from  Long  Island 
City  and  Gravesend  accepted  as  the  true  returns,  but  the  tele- 
graph company  would  not  carry  them  until  they  were  returned 
as  official. 

ELAINE  STOPS  THE  AGITATION 

Partisan  contentions  lasted  night  and  day.  The  newspapers 
contributed  their  share  of  intemperate  talk.  Blaine  himself 
finally  put  an  end  to  the  agitation.  I  was  in  Republican  cam- 
paign headquarters  in  New  York  city  about  eleven  o'clock 
Thursday  night,  talking  with  Stephen  B.  Elkins  and  National 
Chairman  B.  F.  Jones  (of  the  Jones  &  Laughlin  Steel  Com- 
pany) when  the  telegraph  operator  handed  Mr.  Jones  a 
message  he  had  just  taken  over  the  special  wire  from  Augusta, 
Maine : 

137 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"I  concede  election  of  Mr.  Cleveland  Good-night,  Elaine." 
He  wanted  no  more  discussion*  even  with  his  managers. 

Democrats  rejoiced  that  they  had  at  last  won  .the  Presi- 
dency. The  House  of  Representatives  was  also  theirs.  But  the 
jubilation  of  the  "Mugwumps"  was  characteristic  of  all 
balance-of-power  groups  when  they  succeed  in  making  their 
influence  felt.  It  exceeded  all  other  demonstrations.  ''Mug- 
wumps" was  the  name  given  bolting  Republicans.  Each  be- 
lieved himself  to  be  responsible  for  defeating  Elaine  and  acted 
accordingly.  Their  feeling  is  well  illustrated  by  these  lines  on 
a  banner  displayed  in  Morristown,  New  Jersey,  (reproduced 
from  Albert  Bigelow  Paine's  "Th  Nast,n  published  by  the 
Macmillan  Co.,  in  1904)  : 

The  World  says  the  Independents  did  it. 

The  Tribune  says  the  Stalwarts  did  it. 

The  Sun  says  Burchard  did  it. 

Elaine  says  St.  John  did  ft. 

Roosevelt  says  the  soft  soap  dinner  did  it. 

We  say  Elaine's  character  did  it. 

BUT  WE  DON'T  CARE  WHO  DID  IT— 
IT'S  DONE. 


138 


CHAPTER   XVII 


"THE  SOUTH'S  IN  THE  SADDLE" 

A  President  Elected  By  The  "Solid  South"  Stirs  The  Old  War  Spirit— 
Hard  To  Realize  In  These  Days  The  Feeling  Then  Prevailing  —  New 
Influences,  New  Policies,  New  Men  In  Control  —  Cleveland,  Stranger, 
And  Strange  To  All—  My  Winters  Study  Of  Him  In  Albany—  "He 
Got  A  Hammer  And  Joined  The  Anml  Chorus"  —  Cleveland  Trusted 
Timidly  Throughout  His  Career  —  Always  Perplexed,  Always  Bur" 
ened,  By  "The  Damned  Clamor  For  Office" 


jubilant  faction  feeling  had  full  swing  for  a  few 
•**    days.    Later,  as  the  country  realized  that  the  line  of  Re- 
publican Presidents  since  Lincoln  had  been  broken,  there  was 
a  period  of  wondering  what  the  consequence  would  be  to  the 
nation. 


Men  and  women  of  today  cannot  appreciate  the  concern 
manifested  as  to  how  the  first  Democratic  President  since 
the  war  would  organize  his  Cabinet  and  shape  his  policies. 

139 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"The  South's  in  the  saddle11  was  the  cry  from  radical 
Republican  papers.  They  did  not  hesitate  to  assert  that  a  man 
who  had  hired  a  substitute  to  fight  for  him  when  drafted  in  the 
Civil  War  would  yield  weakly  to  the  South.  This  charge  was 
unfair,  but  so  were  most  of  the  charges  in  that  campaign. 

The  truth  about  Cleveland's  wrar  record  is  that  he  was  one 
of  three  brothers.  By  lot  two  enlisted,  and  Grover  stayed  at 
home  as  the  family's  support.  This  was  common  practise  and 
did  not  reflect  on  the  patriotism  of  the  one  who  remained  be- 
hind. Nevertheless,  the  charge  had  its  weight. 

There  were  also  many  people  morally  certain  that  a  raid 
on  the  national  treasury  by  "Southern  Brigadiers"  for  South- 
ern war  claims  and  pensions  would  follow  the  presence  in  the 
White  House  of  a  Democrat  whose  support  in  Congress  as 
in  the  Electoral  College  was  largely  from  a  uSolid  South, "  still 
regarded  as  unrepentant  and  unreconciled. 

If  the  Senate  had  not  remained  Republican,  thus  acting  as  a 
brake  against  complete  Democratic  domination,  feeling  in  the 
North  would  have  been  far  more  tense.  As  it  was,  there  was 
renewed  waving  of  the  "Bloody  Shirt,'1  and  gloomy  predic- 
tion was  made,  some  of  it  sincerely,  of  what  was  to  happen 
to  our  Government  with  the  South  to  the  fore, 

SEEMS   LIKE  A  NIGHTMARE  NOW 

Today,  in  the  full  consciousness  of  our  unquestioned  soli- 
darity as  a  nation,  such  anxieties  seem  like  a  nightmare.  We 
cannot  accept  them  as  real  and  it  is  just  as  well  that  they  do 
seem  unreal. 

This  generation  has  to  turn  to  history  to  learn  the  meaning 
of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  In  1885,  however,  every  boy  and 
girl  heard  of  it  and  knew  it  from  father  or  brother  who 
had  stood  four  years  on  the  brink  of  that  deep  and  broad  gap 
separating  and  devastating  two  sections  of  our  country,  over- 
flowing with  the  blood  of  two  valiant  armies — a  sacrifice  then 

140 


As  I  Knew  Them 

too  recent  not  to  stir  to  passion  on  both  sides  when  brought 
Into  discussion. 

Many  of  the  captured  flags  of  Southern  regiments  are 
now  back  in  the  States  whose  soldiers  carried  them  in  battle, 
granite  monuments  on  Gettysburg  and  other  battlefields  mark 
with  equal  and  enduring  glory  the  valor  of  grey  as  well  as  of 
blue.  These  tributes  of  a  united  country  are  the  triumphs  of 
time,  the  conquering  spirit  of  the  brotherhood  of  men. 

WAITING  FOR  THE  CURTAIN  TO  RISE 

But  it  was  not  so  when  Cleveland^  election  was  flashed 
across  the  country.  The  North  still  visioned  the  smoke  of 
battle,  still  heard  the  echoes  of  the  clash  of  arms,  as  it  looked 
southward.  Leading  newspapers  eagerly  sought  every  piece 
of  news  that  gave  color  to  the  new  "crisis."  They  hurried 
their  political  correspondents  to  Albany  for  the  winter  to 
report  Cleveland's  progress  in  arranging  to  take  over  the 
national  government,  after  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  con- 
tinuous Republican  administration. 

New  influences,  new  policies,  new  men  were  in  control.  It 
was  like  waiting  for  the  curtain  to  rise  on  a  play  which  many 
believed  would  be  a  tragedy;  others  looked  to  it  hopefully;  all 
were  uncertain,  anxious. 

Would  this  unknown  man,  snatched  from  the  Buffalo 
Mayoralty  to  be  Governor  of  New  York,  then  from  the 
Governorship  to  be  President  (all  in  two  years)  play  his  role 
well  or  poorly?  Even  his  own  party  associates  wondered;  is 
it  strange,  then,  that  others  doubted? 

Representing  the  Philadelphia  Press,  I  was  one  of  the  group 
of  newspaper  men  stationed  at  Albany.  We  saw  Cleveland 
every  day  by  appointment.  He  was  not  an  overflowing  source 
of  news.  Daniel  S.  Lamont,  then  his  secretary,  and  in  his 
second  term  Secretary  of  War,  was  more  helpful  though 
almost  as  cautious. 

141 


As  I  Knew  Them 

CLEVELAND — STRANGE  AND  A  STRANGER  TO  ALL 

Many  times  over  our  nightly  poker  table  in  the  old  Delavan 
House,  (now  gone),  we  discussed  the  new  chief  executive  of 
our  nation  with  the  brutally  frank  cynicism  of  newspaper 
correspondents  when  in  their  own  company;  no  surgeon's 
scalpel  is  keener  or  more  revealing.  Stranger  to  all  of  us,  and 
strange  in  his  ways,  he  puzzled  us.  Frankly,  we  couldn't  "get 
him."  To  some  he  seemed  like  one  lost  in  a  wilderness,  but 
the  prevalent  opinion  among  us  was  that  he  acted  as  though 
controlled  by  a  belief  that  suddenly  he  had  been  called  to 
shoulder  the  crushing  burdens  of  the  whole  world.  That 
Cleveland  had  real  character  deep  down  in  him,  we  were  sure; 
but  how  and  when  would  it  get  to  the  surface?  What  clash 
would  bring  it  there?  It  got  there. 

Of  another  thing  we  were  more  certain — there  would  always 
be  a  wide  gulf  between  this  unusual  man  and  every  news- 
gathering  corps.  We  agreed  that  no  matter  how  long  he  re- 
mained in  public  life  no  bridge  would  ever  span  it.  No 
bridge  ever  did. 

Nor  was  Cleveland  stranger  only  to  the  correspondents. 
His  party  leaders,  some  summoned  to  meet  him,  and  many 
who  had  volunteered,  had  not  much  better  luck  in  getting  his 
mind.  Influential  as  many  of  these  leaders  had  been  and  would 
be  in  shaping  Democratic  policies,  few  could  say  with  certainty 
after  their  first  interview  with  Cleveland  just  how  closely  they 
and  the  President-elect  were  in  agreement.  Cleveland  ab- 
sorbed greedily,  but  yielded  scantily.  He  was  candid  enough 
to  say  that  he  had  not  studied  national  questions  deeply,  but  he 
also  seemed  careful  not  to  ask  many  of  his  visitors  to  enlighten 
him.  He  listened  to  their  suggestions — and  said  little.  There 
was  no  great  gain  on  either  side. 

Of  course,  correspondents  knew  nothing  of  the  note  of 
despair  and  of  distrust  of  others  that  Cleveland  was  even  then 
sounding  in  letters  to  such  intimate  friends  as  his  law  partner, 

143 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Wilson  Si  BlsselL  We  had  sensed  it,  though,  from  our  daily 
interviews  with  him  and  also  from  our  talks  with  his  visitors. 

In  our  own  way,  each  of  us  formed  our  impressions;  they 
varied,  but  finally  we  dug  under  the  thick  covering  of  restraint 
and  reluctance  which  he  made  no  effort  to  conceal.  He  always 
had  the  manner  of  a  man  oppressed.  Any  one  of  us  could  have 
written  of  him  as  he  wrote  of  himself  at  the  time  to  Bissell: 

"I  am  sick  at  heart  and  perplexed  in  brain.  I  almost  think 
the  professions  of  my  friends  are  but  the  means  they  employ  to 
accomplish  personal  selfish  ends.  Henceforth  I  must  have  no 
friends." 

THE  FATE  OF  BUFFALO  MEN 

In  Buffalo,  many  who  had  been  on  close  terms  with  Cleve- 
land in  his  earlier  years  believed  that  their  time,  too,  had 
come.  They  looked  to  him  to  appoint  them  to  important 
places.  All  through  Cleveland's  first  term  there  were  loud 
wails  from  Buffalo  that  he  was  overlooking  his  old  friends. 
The  story  is  told  of  one  eager  Buffalonian  who  after  waiting 
vainly  to  hear  from  the  White  House,  decided  to  go  down  per- 
sonally and  "get  something."  Charles  W.  Goodyear,  then 
close  to  Cleveland,  advised  him  not  to  go.  He  went — and 
returned. 

Later  a  friend  said  to  Goodyear: 

"What  did get?" 

"He  got  a  brand  new  hammer,"  replied  Goodyear,  "and 
promptly  joined  the  anvil  chorus!" 

Never  throughout  his  entire  career  did  Cleveland  lose  his, 
strange  feeling  that  everyone  approached  him  with  a  sinister 
purpose — that  he  should  trust  others  timidly,  if  at  all.  With 
personal  friends  not  concerned  in  public  affairs,  particularly  in 
later  years,  while  on  fishing  or  duck-shooting  trips,  he  was  a 
congenial  companion.  Such  intimate  friends  found  him  ready 
to  hear  a  good  story  and  now  and  then  to  tell  one  himself;  but 
he  retired  into  a  shell,  tortoise-like,  when  outside  of  that 

144 


By  Courtesy  of  "Judge." 


NO  RETURN  OF  SOUTHERN  FLAGS 


As  I  Knew  Them 

environment     He  was  determined  to  isolate  and  to  burden 
himself,  and  then  to  lament  his  condition. 

Nearly  ten  years  later — during  his  second  term — he  wrote 
Everett  P.  Wheeler  of  New  York:  "There  never  was  a  man 
in  high  office  so  surrounded  with  difficulties,  and  so  perplexed 
and  so  treacherously  treated  and  so  abandoned,  by  those  whose 
aid  he  deserves,  as  the  present  incumbent." 


j»C<r»»aA. 


FACSIMILE  OF  CLEVELAND'S  LETTER  TO  "DEAR  CHARLEY" 

This  extract  is  reproduced  from  Charles  H.  Armitage's 
book  aCleveland  As  Buffalo  Knew  Him,"  published  by  the 
Buffalo  Evening  News.  The  quotation  reads: 

H5 


As  1  Knew  Them 

Sept.  14,  1884. 

"Dear  Charley:  Since  you  left  me  last  night,  I  have  been  think- 
ing and  much  of  the  time  feeling  very  blue,  and  wishing  that  the 
Presidential  nomination  were  in — or  on  some  other  shoulders  than 
mine." 


CLEVELAND  "PERPLEXED" — AND  SO  WERE  OTHERS 


But  Cleveland  was  not  the  only  person  perplexed.  During 
those  weeks  at  Albany  as  President-elect,  the  newspaper 
correspondents  had  a  baffling  time  in  their  daily  effort  to  reveal 
such  a  man  and  his  purposes  to  a  nation  that  had  taken  him 
"on  faith." 

Had  the  "official  spokesman"  idea  then  been  developed  to 
its  present  efficient  state  in  Washington,  the  correspondents 
might  have  written  the  real  Cleveland  into  the  news  of  the 
hour  with  the  accuracy  and  timeliness  with  which  President 
Coolidge  is  revealed  from  day  to  day.  I  doubt,  however, 
whether  Cleveland  could  have  played  the  role  of  "official 
spokesman"  or  if  he  would  have  undertaken  it.  Had  he  done 
so  the  possible  irritations  of  such  meetings  would  have  made 
that  particular  "official  spokesman"  usually  a  deaf  and  dumb 
man. 

Even  as  things  were,  so  far  as  newspaper  correspondents 
were  concerned,  Cleveland  was  a  close  approach  to  one.  All 
interviews  with  us  were  coldly  polite,  but  brief  and  rarely 
enlightening.  Sometimes  he  was  brusque,  sometimes  sullenly 
silent,  occasionally  he  smiled.  He  never  stooped  to  pettiness; 
he  was  never  unpleasant,  but  he  made  no  effort  to  conceal  that 
newspaper  correspondents  were  merely  tolerated  callers.  Con- 
fidences such  as  many  public  men  repose  in  correspondents 
were  out  of  the  question ;  light  remarks  were  taboo.  The  busi- 
ness of  our  once-a-day  call  was  quickly  dispatched,  and  many  of 
us  were  confident  that  we  heard  a  deep  sigh  of  relief  as  we  left 
his  presence. 


As  I  Knew  Them 

So  passed  the  winter  of  1885.  Finally,  on  March  i,  the 
newspaper  writers  travelled  from  Albany  to  Washington  the 
same  night  as  Cleveland,  though  not  on  the  "Cleveland 
Special,"  for  interesting  reasons  that  belong  in  another 
chapter. 


H7 


CHAPTER    XVIII 


NO  FAREWELLS  FOR  CLEVELAND 

The  Country  Woke  Up  To  Learn  That  He  Had  Travelled  Through 
The  Night  To  Washington— Gossip  That  He  Never  Set  Foot  On  The 
Streets  Of  The  Capital — Party  Leaders  Established  Relations  Slowly 
And  Some  Not  At  All — A  Story  About  Salt — Refining  The  Crudities 
Out  Of  Cleveland — etlf  Every  Other  Man  Abandons  This  Issue  I 
Shall  Stick  To  It"— Elaine  Promptly  Cables  A  Challenge  And  Re- 
publicans Enthuse — Ordering  The  Return  Of  Captured  Battle  Flags — 
Pension  Vetoes  Anger  G.  A.  R. — "There's  One  More  President  For 
Us  In  Protection" 


T  DO  not  know  how  many  of  our  presidents-elect,  if  any, 
•*•  left  their  homes  for  the  White  House  without  a  word  of 
farewell  to  neighbors,  or  public  announcement  of  their  de- 
parture. Grover  Cleveland  did.  Cleveland  was  then  a 
bachelor.  While  Governor,  the  Executive  Mansion  at  Albany 
was  his  home.  When  he  resigned  to  prepare  for  the  Presi- 
dency, he  rented  a  house  in  Albany,  instead  of  returning  to 
Buffalo. 

As  the  first  Democrat  elected  to  the  Presidency  since 
Buchanan,  and  conscious  of  the  still  bitter  war-time  prejudice 
I  have  described,  Cleveland  was  convinced  that  his  way  to  the 
White  House  would  be  blocked  by  some  light-headed  Repub- 
lican. He  anticipated  assassination.  His  elected  predecessor 
had  thus  met  death. 

It  was  determined,  therefore,  to  keep  secret  the  hour  of  his 
departure  from  Albany.  Even  as  late  as  the  forenoon  of 
March  I — three  days  before  inaiguration — the  correspond- 
ents were  still  without  information.  Thus,  wfc  were  forced 
to  guard  the  New  York  Central  and  West  Shore  railroad  sta- 
tions, prepared  to  board  any  train  Cleveland  might  take. 

Late  that  afternoon,  just  in  time  for  the  last  train  connect- 

148 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ing  at  Jersey  City  with  the  Washington  midnight,  we  were 
notified  that  the  Cleveland  party  had  driven  in  sleighs  to  a 
siding  at  Kenwood,  several  miles  south  of  Albany,  on  the  West 
Shore  road,  where  a  special  train  awaited  them.  Silently, 
Arab-like,  he  had  stolen  away. 

The  country  awoke  next  morning  to  learn  that  the  Presi- 
dent-elect had  travelled  over  night  and  was  safe  in  the  national 
capital. 

He  had  never  been  there  before.  It  was  his  first  glimpse 
of  it.  Nor  did  he  ever  learn  much  of  the  city  Itself.  After 
his  first  term  it  was  said  that  as  President  he  had  never  set 
foot  on  its  pavements.  This  was  probably  an  exaggeration 
of  the  gossip  arising  from  the  great  precautions  always  taken 
for  his  safety;  but  those  who  were  then  in  Washington  knew 
that  Cleveland  was  never  seen  on  its  streets — as  Harrison, 
his  successor,  was  seen,  as  Wilson  was  seen,  as  Coolidge  is 
often  seen. 

When  Harrison  succeeded  Cleveland  in  1889  he  was  sur- 
prised to  find  a  night  and  day  corps  of  secret  service  detectives 
guarding  the  White  House,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  watch- 
men. He  promptly  assigned  the  detectives  elsewhere. 

"I'd  rather  have  a  bullet  inside  of  me,"  he  said,  "than  to 
be  living  in  constant  dread  of  one." 

LISTENING  TO  THE  MUGWUMPS 

Cleveland  made  his  way  toward  national  policies  and 
toward  Democratic  leaders  from  the  different  States  in  the 
same  over-cautious  mind  that  controlled  him  in  all  else. 
Though  the  influences  and  leading  figures  of  the  national  capi- 
tal were  new  to  him,  he  was  distrustful  of  proffered  help,  even 
from  the  responsible  men  of  his  own  party  in  Congress.  He 
preferred  to  grope  in  the  dark,  with  no  guide,  lest  a  guide  mis- 
lead him.  Confidential  relations  were  established  slowly,  if 
at  all. 

Partisan  though  he  was — no  President,  not  even  Andrew 

149 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Jackson,  was  more  Intensely  partisan — he  had  a  strange  con- 
viction that  he  could  serve  his  party  best  by  listening  more 
favorably  to  Carl  Schurz,  Everett  P.  Wheeler  and  George 
William  Curtis  than  to  most  of  his  Democratic  associates. 
Neither  time  nor  the  spectacle  of  a  divided  party  ever  dispelled 
that  feeling.  Few  men  conspicuous  in  Democratic  councils 
ever  became  Cleveland's  confidants. 

Democratic  Senators  and  Congressmen  knew  him  only  by 
name  before  he  occupied  the  White  House,  and  many  of  them 
never  got  to  know  him  more  intimately.  Samuel  J.  Tilden, 
for  example,  living  only  a  hundred  miles  from  Cleveland  while 
he  was  President-elect,  was  never  asked  into  conference,  which 
might  have  been  done  even  for  appearance'  sake.  Tilden's 
few  letters  of  compliment  had  polite  but  uninviting  response. 
Others  who  had  long  borne  the  party  burdens  had  similar 
experiences. 

Another  day  had  dawned! 

Quickly,  Democrats  at  Washington  realized  that  they  had 
a  difficult  man  to  deal  with.  His  adherence  to  his  own  concep- 
tion of  party  policies  quickly  put  Democratic  leaders  on  notice 
as  to  the  character  of  the  man  at  their  head. 

The  first  to  feel  that  a  new  power  controlled  the  party's 
fortunes  was  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  elected  Vice  President 
with  Cleveland.  "The  Democratic  party  isn't  in  power,"  he 
said  after  a  few  interviews  at  the  White  House.  "Grover 
Cleveland  is  making  a  party  of  his  own."  So  far  as  the  Hen- 
dricks type  'of  politician  was  concerned,  that  statement  was 
true.  The  President's  aversion  to  Hendricks  and  Voorhees, 
who  controlled  the  Indiana  Democrats,  was  so  great  that  when 
he  wanted  information  about  men  and  conditions  in  the 
Hoosier  State  he  sent  for  Benjamin  Harrison,  then  Senator, 
and  destined  to  be  his  successor. 

"WE  LIKE  SALT!" 

The  late  Andrew  D.  White,  in  his  Autobiography,  repeated 
a  story  told  in  Washington  illustrative  of  the  way  Cleveland 

150 


As  I  Knew  Them 

impressed  most  of  his  own  party  associates.  Several  Con- 
gressmen who  had  never  met  him  were  leaving  the  Capitol  to 
pay  him  a  call.  Philetus  Sawyer,  a  Republican  Senator  from 
Wisconsin,  happened  to  meet  them. 

"How  do  you  like  your  new  President?"  asked  Sawyer. 

"Oh  he  is  a  good  man,  a  very  good  man,"  they  replied. 

"Yes,  but  how  do  you  like  him?" 

"Oh  we  like  him." 

"Well,"  persisted  Sawyer,  "111  tell  you  a  story  before  you  go  to 
the  White  House  if  you  will  promise  me  Honest  Injun  to  tell  me 
when  you  come  back  whether  it  fits  your  case." 

They  agreed. 

"Up  in  Wisconsin,  some  years  ago,  in  a  wood-choppers'  camp, 
they  drew  by  lot  to  determine  who  should  be  the  first  cook,  with  the 
understanding  that  anyone  who  complained  of  the  cooking  would 
at  once  become  cook.  While  the  beans  were  boiling  in  the  pot  on 
the  fire  the  cook  started  to  salt  them  but  the  box  of  salt  slipped  from 
his  hand  and  into  the  pot. 

"The  choppers  had  the  beans  for  dinner. 

"  'Thunder  and  lightning/  exclaimed  one  of  the  diners  as  he 
tasted  them,  'these  beans  are  all  salt!'  Then,  quickly  remember- 
ing what  would  happen  to  him  if  he  complained,  he  looked  over 
smilingly  at  the  cook  and  added,  'but  I  like  salt.'  "  * 

Sawyer  was  waiting  for  the  Democrats  when  they  returned 
from  the  White  House. 

"Honest  Injun,"  he  said,  "how  was  it?" 
They  laughed  and  then  one  said:   "Sawyer,  we  like  salt!" 

REFINING  THE  CRUDITIES  OUT  OF  CLEVELAND 

It  is  always  a  temptation  for  writers  and  orators  to  refine 
the  crudities  out  of  historic  figures  until  they  cease  to  be  life- 
like or  even  human.  Some  are  thus  spoiling  many  men  whom 
Americans  love  to  honor,  despite  their  known  weaknesses. 
They  are  distorting  the  real  Cleveland.  Those  in  active 
political  life  in  Cleveland's  day  would  not  recognize  the  reai 
Cleveland  in  the  man  now  portrayed  in  anniversary  addresses 

151 


As  I  Knew  Them 

and  fulsome  biographies.  Idolaters  speak  of  him,  for  ex- 
ample, as  a  most  affable  man.  That  may  be  said  with  Cleve- 
land dead,  but  it  was  not  said  of  Cleveland  living.  Probably 
his  greatest  weakness  was  his  inability  to  meet  men  agreeably 
— particularly  those  who  differed  in  opinion  with  him.  He 
was  always  suspicious  of  them,  and  was  too  easily  moved  to 
denounce  them  personally.  What  is  now  called  " Cleveland 
courage"  was  in  his  day  known  in  Washington  in  most  in- 
stances as  obstinacy. 

Before  inauguration  in  1885,  Cleveland  did  not  pretend 
familiarity  with  national  questions.  He  had  voted  for  every 
Democratic  candidate  for  President  since  1860  with  the  con- 
sistency of  a  New  Jersey-born  Democrat,  and  gave  no  serious 
thought  to  policies.  To  Carl  Schurz,  he  wrote:  "I  am 
ashamed  to  say  it  but  the  truth  is  I  know  nothing  about  the 
tariff.  Will  you  tell  me  how  to  go  about  it  to  learn  ?" 

He  also  gave  a  long  interview  to  T.  C.  Crawford,  a  fore- 
most newspaper  correspondent,  representing  the  New  York 
World.  In  that  interview  he  declared  that  the  tariff  was  a 
new  subject  to  him — that  he  would  have  to  study  it. 

THE  ISSUE  THAT  BROUGHT  ELAINE'S  CHALLENGE 

» 

Yet,  in  December,  1887,  only  two  years  later,  he  excluded 
every  other  topic  from  his  annual  message  to  Congress.  He 
had  reached  certain  conclusions;  to  him  they  had  the  appeal 
of  the  discovery  of  a  new  doctrine,  though  in  fact  they  were 
only  new  to  him;  the  results  of  reading  the  kind  of  tariff  litera- 
ture that  Carl  Schurz  would  recommend.  He  wanted  wool 
put  on  the  free  list,  and  a  "tariff  for  revenue  only"  substi- 
tuted for  a  tariff  for  protection.  The  zeal  of  a  new  advocate 
led  him  to  adopt  the  unprecedented  course  of  confining  his  en- 
tire message  to  that  single  issue. 

The  Mills  "tariff-for-re  venue-only"  bill  was  the  outcome. 

It  was  in  that  "free  wool"  message  that  Cleveland  used  the 
memorable  phrase  "A  condition,  not  a  theory,  confronts  us." 


As  I  Knew  Them 

The  condition  was  a  national  treasury  with  a  surplus,  due 
largely  to  customs  tariff  revenue;  he  wanted  less  revenue  and 
less  surplus. 

He  did  not  dream  then  that,  after  1893,  during  his  second 
term,  he  was  to  realize  keenly  the  embarrassment  of  a  con- 
tinuing deficit  as  against  the  comforts  of  a  surplus. 

Few  Democrats  in  Congress  were  consulted  in  advance. 
Those  who  knew  of  it  promptly  advised  against  a  "one-issue" 
message,  with  a  fight  for  the  Presidency  and  Congress  only 
seven  months  ahead.  Particularly  were  they  against  centering 
the  fight  on  free  wool,  thus  arousing  the  farmers  of  the  coun- 
try. It  was  not  "good  politics15 ;  party  solidarity  would  be  sac- 
rificed. But  Cleveland  was  adamant. 

"If  every  other  man  in  the  country  abandons  this  issue," 
he  declared  to  Speaker  Carlisle,  "I  shall  stick  to  it." 

This  utterance — seemingly  reflecting  courage  but  actually 
reflecting  unwisdom — brought  the  criticism  that  it  was  a  stand 
much  too  extreme  for  a  President  with  other  responsibilities 
and  policies  of  equal  importance;  and  one  that  would  not  be 
made  by  a  party  leader  desiring  to  keep  his  party  united  and 
effective. 

•  Still,  Cleveland  remained  unmoved.  He  was  going  to  be 
bigger  than  his  party.  The  message  went  to  Congress. 

By  cable  there  promptly  flashed  a  challenge  from  his  old 
opponent,  James  G.  Blaine,  then  in  Europe,  rallying  the  Re- 
publican party  to  the  old  issue  of  protection.  At  once,  you 
could  see  Republicans  everywhere,  unifying,  enthusing,  be- 
cause of  their  brightened  prospects. 

UONE  MORE  PRESIDENT  IN  PROTECTION" 

In  a  personal  letter  Blaine  wrote  a  Republican  friend  pri- 
vately "There's  one  more  President  for  us  in  Protection." 

Blaine  was  right ;  the  Democrats  who  protested  were  right. 
Cleveland  and  his  party  went  down  in  defeat.  The  govern- 
ment was  turned  back  wholly  to  Republican  keeping. 

153 


As  I  Knew  Them 

His  tariff  message,  however,  was  not  tne  only  cause  of 
Cleveland's  defeat.  His  record  for  vetoing  pension  bills  con- 
solidated the  G.  A.  R.  vote  of  the  country  against  him,  and 
kept  alive  the  old  stones  of  his  alleged  remissness  in  war. 
There  were  rumors  (absurd  as  they  now  seem)  that  the 
President  was  to  recommend  pensions  for  Southern  soldiers. 
The  Cleveland  vetoes  were  the  result  of  thorough  investiga- 
tion in  each  case  made  by  himself;  most  of  them  were  justified. 
The  country,  however,  still  susceptible  to  war  prejudice,  was 
shocked  by  the  succession  of  pension  vetoes,  whether  just  or 
not. 

THE  RETURN  OF  CAPTURED  BATTLE  FLAGS 

Worse  still,  in  view  of  this  aroused  sentiment,  was  an  order 
in  1887  from  the  War  Department  by  Adjutant  General 
Drum,  directing  the  return  of  captured  battle  flags — return  of 
those  held  by  the  South,  as  well  as  those  held  by  the  North. 
Here  was  confirmation,  said  radical  Republicans,  that  the 
"South  is  in  the  saddle,"  as  they  had  charged  it  would  be  when 
Cleveland  went  to  Washington. 

"No  rebel  flags  will  be  surrendered  while  I  am  Governor," 
telegraphed  Fire-Alarm  Foraker  from  the  Ohio  State  Capitol. 

Even  General  Sherman  was  so  aroused  that  he  wrote : 

"Of  course  I  know  Drum,  the  Adjutant  General.  He  has 
no  sympathy  with  the  army  that  fought.  He  never  captured 
a  flag  and  values  it  only  at  its  commercial  value.  He  did  not 
think  of  the  blood  and  torture  of  battle.  Nor  can  Endicott, 
the  Secretary  of  War,  nor  Mr.  Cleveland." 

The  North  responded  to  the  Foraker  outcry.  While  the 
agitation  was  at  fever  heat,  it  was  found  that  the  War  De- 
partment had  no  jurisdiction  over  the  flags,  that  Congress 
alone  had  absolute  power  of  disposal. 

Cleveland  promptly  withdrew  the  order,  but  politically  the 
damage  had  been  done.  Foraker  was  reelected  Governor  of 

154 


As  1  Knew  Them 

Ohio  by  a  tremendous  vote,  and  the  Republican  struggle  to 
retrieve  the  Presidency  gained  new  impetus  and  hope. 

Less  than  20  years  later  without  a  word  of  protest — In- 
stead, with  many  words  of  praise — Congress  unanimously 
passed,  and  President  Roosevelt  signed,  a  bill  to  do  the  very 
thing  so  hotly  resented  in  Cleveland's  day.  Once  more  it  was 
demonstrated  that  1887  was  part  of  another  era  in  our  his- 
tory, another  temper  of  the  people.  Though  the  flag  order 
may  have  been  the  right  thing  to  do,  1887  was  not  the  right 
year  in  which  to  attempt  it,  nor  was  the  first  Democratic  Ad- 
ministration since  the  war  the  right  Administration  to  under- 
take it. 

Cleveland  resented  defeat.  Of  course  no  man  accepts  it 
joyously,  but  it  was  the  first  reverse  in  Cleveland's  public 
career,  and  his  dissatisfaction  with  the  result  had  lost  little  of 
its  keenness  as  he  watched  the  inauguration  of  Harrison  as  his 
successor.  Usually  the  retiring  Chief  Magistrate  conceals  his 
feelings  behind  a  smiling  countenance,  and  tries  to  show  some 
interest  in  the  proceedings.  Cleveland  made  no  such  pre- 
tence. I  have  seen  several  Presidents  accompanying  their  suc- 
cessor to  the  Capitol,  and  participating  in  the  ceremonies 
there,  but  I  have  never  seen  one  who  frankly  showed  that  he 
was  at  odds  with  all  that  was  going  on  as  Cleveland  did  in 
1889.  Later,  in  1893,  he  may  have  looked  upon  a  second 
term,  as  he  wrote  that  he  did,  as  an  "infliction,"  but  in  1889 
his  countenance  and  his  manner  told  a  different  story  most 
emphatically  to  those  who  looked  upon  him,  as  I  did,  during 
the  formal  transfer  of  title. 


155 


CHAPTER   XIX 

ELAINE  GIVES  WAY  TO  HARRISON 

"My  Heart's  In  The  Highlands,  My  Heart's  Not  Here"  Enthused  The 
1888  Convention,  While  The  Plumed  Knight  Was  In  Scotland— "Elaine 
Or  Bust"  Was  The  Spirit  Of  The  Delegates,  And  California  Aided 
With  A  Carload  Of  Champagne— Elaine  Thought  That  Only  a  United 
Party  Could  Win  And  Knew  He  Could  Not  Unite  It — Discussion  Of 
A  Father's  Son  Ticket,  Lincoln  And  Grant — Elaine  Urged  Harrison 
And  PhelpSj,  But  Phelps*  Eang  Disqualified  Him — Why  John  Spooner 
Lacked  Faith  in  Harrison — "Eob"  Ing er soil  Makes  A  Slip  And  Is 
Hissed  Into  Silence — Tom  Platt's  Sunday  Afternoon  Carriage  Ride  And 
Its  Result — A  Colored  Delegate  Who  Wanted  Whitewash  And  Plenty 
Of  It. 

"OLAINE  would  have  been  the  leader  in  the  second  battle 
•*~^  against  his  former  antagonist  had  he  not  taken  himself 
out  of  consideration.  For  nearly  a  year  he  had  been  travelling 
Europe;  from  Italy  he  wrote  two  open  letters  strongly  insist- 
ing that  he  must  not  be  nominated.  He  took  the  stand  that 
a  defeated  candidate  could  only  be  a  burden  to  his  party  in  a 
second  effort. 

When  the  convention  met  in  Chicago,  in  June,  1888,  Blaine 
was  coaching  with  Andrew  Carnegie  in  Scotland,  Anyone  who 
doubted  the  loyalty  of  the  party  to  its  "Plumed  Knight"  would 
have  learned  the  truth  in  the  tumult  when  the  band  struck  up 
that  Scotch  ballad:  "My  Heart's  in  The  Highlands,  My 
Heart's  Not  Here."  That  was  the  truth.  The  heart  of  the 
convention  was  with  Blaine. 

No  one  then  in  Chicago  will  ever  forget — I  certainly  shall 
not — the  demonstrations  for  Blaine  in  the  convention,  in  the 
hotels,  on  the  streets.  "Blaine  or  Bust"  flags  and  banners 
were  everywhere.  What  a  time  there  was  in*  the  old  Leland 
hotel,  where  "Mike"  De  Young,  the  San  Francisco  publisher, 

156 


As  I  Knew  Them 

and  other  "Elaine  or  Busters5'  from  the  Pacific  coast  made 
their  headquarters !  They  were  for  Elaine  and  Elaine  only* 
They  had  brought  a  car-load  of  native  champagne  from  Cali- 
fornia with  them — and  not  a  drop  was  wasted ! 

Bitterly  they  arraigned  the  old  Elaine  leaders  who,  under 
orders,  were  keeping  his  name  out  of  the  convention.  Never 
have  I  seen  men  so  intense,  so  determined  to  name  the  man 
of  their  choice  with  or  without  his  consent  The  days  and 
nights  were  sweltering  hot,  but  not  too  hot  for  De  Young  and 
his  followers  to  gather  Stephen  B.  Elkins,  Joseph  H.  Manley, 
Charles  A.  Boutelle  and  Richard  C.  Kerens  in  their  rooms 
and  upbraid  them  time  and  time  again  for  deserting  their 
chief.  A  cable  from  Blaine,  read  to  the  convention  by  Bou- 
telle, finally  cooled  the  ardor  of  the  "Elaine  or  Bust1' 
contingent. 

LINCOLN  AND   GRANT A   FATHER'S    SON  TICKET 

Not  many  men  could  have  resisted  the  temptation  for  an- 
other "go"  at  the  man  from  whom  they  had  suffered  defeat; 
most  candidates  would  have  demanded  such  an  opportunity 
from  their  party  as  Cleveland  demanded  it  in  1892.  Elaine, 
however,  never  sought  it ;  he  was  so  emphatic  more  than  a  year 
in  advance  that  party  leaders  then  began  to  look  around  for 
another  candidate. 

One  ticket  they  considered  had  great  possibilities  if  it  should 
hit  the  people  right;  it  was  also  fraught  with  the  peril  of  mak- 
ing a  wrong  impression.  That  was  a  "father's  son"  ticket,  as 
it  was  called — made  up  of  Robert  T.  Lincoln  and  Frederick 
D.  Grant.  Lincoln  and  Grant !  What  names  to  conjure  with ! 
In  1880,  such  a  ticket  might  have  been  an  ideal,  victory-win- 
ning outcome  of  that  convention  struggle ;  but  eight  years  later 
it  would  have  been  an  experiment.  While  the  national  leaders 
were  debating  it,  Fred  Grant  was  defeated  for  election  as  Sec- 
retary of  State  of  New  York.  That  sealed  the  fate  of  the 
Lincoln  and  Grant  ticket 

IS7 


As  I  Knew  Them 

What  Debs  said  of  injunctions — that  they  "don't  go  here" 
— applies  in  conventions  often  to  refusals  of  nominations.  I 
saw  David  B.  Hill  in  1894,  then  Senator,  nominated  for 
Governor  by  a  New  York  Democratic  convention  over  which 
he  had  asked  to  preside  so  as  to  be  in  a  position  to  stop  any 
effort  to  name  him.  He  couldn't  stop  it.  In  1914  I  saw 
Oscar  S.  Straus  nominated  for  Governor  while  presiding  over 
a  state  convention  that,  despite  his  protests,  insisted  that  re- 
fusals to  run  for  Governor  "don't  go." 

BLAINE  URGES  HARRISON  AND  PHELPS 

When  the  1888  convention  met,  Elaine  was  in  that  same 
plight — he  had  to  have  a  candidate  or  he  would  himself  be 
made  the  nominee.  He  had  written  favoring  Benjamin  Harri- 
son, but  a  more  recent  expression  was  needed.  He,  therefore, 
cabled  Stephen  B.  Elkins  urging  a  ticket  of  Harrison  and 
Phelps — William  Walter  Phelps,  Congressman  from  Engle- 
wood,  New  Jersey.  In  addition  to  my  newspaper  work  I  was 
acting  as  secretary  for  Elkins,  and  the  Elaine  cable  came  into 
my  possession. 

The  Elaine  leaders  finally  lined  up  for  Harrison,  but  they 
could  not  pull  Phelps  through.  Phelps  parted  his  hair  in  the 
middle  and  wore  a  bang  down  his  forehead — slightly  more  of 
a  bang  than  Elihu  Root's.  Had  Phelps  not  been  present  per- 
sonally in  the  convention,  the  question  of  his  bang  might  never 
have  come  up ;  but  with  Phelps  and  his  bang  day  after  day  in 
plain  sight  of  the  western  delegates  there  was  no  hope  that 
he  could  win  their  favor.  Had  they  known  Phelps  better,  they 
would  have  known  an  able,  manly  colleague. 

A  REAL  CONVENTION  IN  1 88 8 

That  1888  convention  was  unusual.    It  is  truer  of  that  con- 
vention than  of  any  I  ever  attended  that  the  prevailing  desire 
to  nojnipate  the  man  most  certain  to  win.     Defeat  had 

158 


As  I  Knew  Them 

brought  unity.  Senator  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  was  "the  only 
candidate  who  had  been  conspicuous  in  the  great  convention 
battles  of  the  past.  Newer  names  were  pressing  to  the  front. 
Nineteen  men  were  balloted  for  in  the  eight  ballots — the 
longest  list  ever.  Judge  Walter  Q.  Gresham,  then  of  Illinois, 
although  Hoosier  born,  had  pressed  Harrison  for  the  Indiana 
delegates,  but  had  failed  to  get  them.  Illinois,  however, 
favored  him.  He  had  been  Arthur's  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury and,  in  1893,  became  Cleveland's  Secretary  of  State.  That 
brilliant  Senator  from  Kansas,  John  J.  Ingalls,  destined  later 
to  become  a  Bryan  man,  figured  in  the  contest;  so  did  Chaun- 
cey  Depew.  Despite  the  fact  that  he  was  President  of  the 
New  York  Central  railroad,  Depew  had  all  but  one  vote  from 
New  York  and  thirty  more  from  other  States. 

The  chief  contenders,  however,  were  Senator  Sherman, 
Senator  William  B.  Allison  of  Iowa,  Governor  Russell  A. 
Alger  of  Michigan,  ex-Senator  Benjamin  Harrison  of  Indiana 
and  Judge  Gresham.  The  Allison  crowd  eliminated  Depew  by 
crying  "Railroad!"  Depew  eliminated  Allison  by  responding 
"Granger!"  So  those  two  candidates  forced  each  other  out. 

Senator  John  C.  Spooner,  then  the  leading  corporation 
lawyer  of  Wisconsin,  wanted  Gresham  nominated.  Wisconsin 
was  voting  solidly  for  Harrison  under  the  influence  of  "Uncle" 
Jerry  Rusk,  then  Governor.  Spooner  stood  with  his  State. 
Nevertheless,  he  insisted  that  Harrison  was  not  big  enough  to 
be  President. 

"Why,"  said  he,  "only  a  few  months  ago  we  waited  and 
waited  to  get  a  bill  from  him  for  some  law  work  he  had  done 
for  us  down  in  Indianapolis.  Finally  we  sent  him  a  check  for 
$  1,000.  His  bill  crossed  our  check  in  the  mails.  When  we 
opened  his  letter  we  found  he  had  charged  only  $400.  No 
man  who  under-estimates  the  value  of  his  services  is  a  big 


man." 


This  from  the  man  who  was  accepted  as  the  best  legal  mind 
of  the  Senate  1 

159 


As  I  Knew  Them 

INGERSOLL,  HISSED,  LEAVES  THE  STAGE 

Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  who  had  called  Elaine  the  "Plumed 
Knlghtn  when  nominating  him  in  1876,  favored  Gresham. 
Popular  as  Ingersoll  was,  he  had  an  unfortunate  experience. 

An  evening  "get-together"  meeting  was  held  while  the  con- 
vention was  in  recess.  Party  orators  were  invited  to  speak 
with  the  understanding  that  no  names  of  candidates  would  be 
used,  and  no  reference  made  to  them.  Everybody  was  eager 
to  hear  Ingersoll.  Though  he  was  late  on  the  list,  scarcely  a 
person  left  the  Auditorium  until  Ingersoll  appeared.  He  had 
not  spoken  long,  however,  before  by  some  misunderstanding 
he  mentioned  his  candidate,  Gresham.  Instantly,  hisses  from 
the  audience  forced  him  to  stop.  It  was  probably  the  only 
time  in  his  career  that  Bob  Ingersoll  had  to  leave  the  plat- 
form ! 

PLATT'S  SUNDAY  CARRIAGE  RIDE  AND  ITS  RESULT 

There  are  always  "ifs"  to  a  convention — at  least  to  the 
candidates'  rivalries.  John  Sherman  believed  that  despite 
Alger's  raid  on  his  Southern  delegates  he  would  have  been 
nominated  if  the  convention  had  remained  in  session  Saturday 
afternoon  for  another  ballot  or  two,  while  he  was  scoring  his 
high  mark.  It  adjourned  over  Sunday — to  meet  Monday 
morning.  Sherman  had  hopes  of  the  New  York  delegation 
largely  controlled  by  Tom  Platt.  And  on  Saturday  he  had 
substantial  basis  for  his  hopes. 

Sunday  afternoon,  however,  Platt  went  carriage  riding 
along  Michigan  Boulevard  with  Stephen  B.  Elkins.  Elkins 
had  the  Elaine  cable;  he  was  also  known  to  be  one  of  Harri- 
son's confidants.  Moreover  he  was  a  persuasive  man.  When 
they  returned  to  the  hotel,  Elkins  had  Platt's  pledge  of  the 
New  York  delegates  for  Harrison.  On  Monday  they  so  voted 
and  Sherman  thus  met  defeat  a  second  time — in  no  kindly 
mood. 

1 60 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Before  I  leave  the  1888  convention,  let  me  record  two  inci- 
dents— McKinley's  first  appearance  as  an  influential  figure, 
and  his  speech  refusing  to  allow  delegates  to  vote  for  him. 
Second,  the  open  matching  of  plethoric  pocket  books  by  Russell 
A.  Alger  (former  Governor  of  Michigan  and  later  McKinley's 
Secretary  of  War)  and  by  bankers  backing  John  Sherman. 

Ever  since  Sherman  in  1875  put  through  Congress  the 
specie  resumption  act,  and  particularly  since  as  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  he  actually  resumed  payment,  the  banking  inter- 
ests had  backed  his  candidacy  for  President.  His  relations 
with  the  First  National  Bank  in  New  York  city  were  so  close 
during  the  resumption  crisis  that  that  institution  was  popularly 
called  "Fort  Sherman." 


"LOOKING  AFTER  MY  FENCES" 


There  never  was  any  question  of  Sherman's  ability;  he 
ranked  among  the  strongest  men  in  Washington  during  his 
thirty  years  there.  But  Sherman  was  not  a  good  mixer.  Re- 
publicans respected  him,  but  never  wanted  to  nominate  him  for 
President.  He  inspired  no  enthusiasm  and  his  delegates  lacked 
the  loyalty  that  only  enthusiasm  commands.  He  had  none  of 
the  resourceful  ways  of  the  politician,  yet  he  is  responsible  for 
a  term  that  is  almost  a  commonplace  in  politics — "looking 
after  his  fences." 

The  Ohio  Senator  was  not  conscious  that  he  was  uttering 
words  that  would  be  caught  up  by  the  country.  He  was  a  can- 
didate for  the  Presidency  and  there  were  many  contests  in 
Ohio  over  delegates  to  the  convention.  Sherman  returned 
from  Washington  to  his  home  in  Mansfield  to  look  after  some 
personal  matters  but  particularly  to  talk  with  a  tenant  on  his 
farm  who  had  been  bothering  him  about  the  poor  condition  of 
the  fences.  A  crowd  greeted  Sherman  at  the  railway  station, 
demanding  a  speech.  The  Senator  thanked  them  for  their 
welcome  but  said  that  he  had  not  come  home  to  talk  politics 
but  "to  look  after  my  fences."  At  once  the  newspapers  took 

161 


As  I  Knew  Them 

up  the  phrase  and  "looking  after  my  fences"  found  a  place  in 
political  literature. 

A  large  proportion  of  Sherman's  delegates  in  national  con- 
ventions came  from  down  South,  and  nine-tenths  of  them  were 
colored.  The  story  is  told  elsewhere,  so  far  as  Sherman  is 
concerned,  but  of  General  Alger,  who  also  depended  upon 
the  colored  brethren,  it  was  reported  that  his  managers  had 
run  a  railroad  pay  car  over  from  Detroit  to  the  Chicago  stock- 
yards. Colored  "statesmen"  were  said  to  be  in  continuous 
line  there  like  a  box  office  queue.  Negro  delegates  look  so 
much  alike  that  they  ran  no  risk  when,  after  selling  out  to 
Sherman,  they  would  drift  over  to  the  Alger  car  one  by  one 
and  sell  out  once  more.  They  wore  a  path  from  one  head- 
quarters to  the  other. 

THE  NEGRO  DELEGATE  WHO  WANTED  WHITEWASH 

Tom  Donaldson,  a  rare  character  from  Philadelphia,  was 
handling  some  of  the  Sherman  funds.  He  had  a  room  on  the 
top  floor  of  the  old  Grand  Pacific  Hotel.  Tom  had  just  paid 
off  one  Southern  darkey  when  a  tall,  dusky  son  of  the  South 
entered. 

"Is  dis  yere  de  place  where  de  whitewash  am?"  he  asked* 

KThe  very  spot,"  said  Donaldson. 

"And  is  you  de  man  wid  de  brush?" 

"I'm  the  fellow." 

"Well,  suh,  I'm  from  ole  Mississipp',  and  all  I've  got  ter 
say  to  you,  suh,  is  ter  get  out  yo'  brush,  sir,  and  splatter  me 
until  I'se  whiter'n  a  ghost  Splatter  and  splash  dat  white- 
wash, suh,  on  dis  black  skin  o'  mine." 

And  so  it  has  been  in  every  Republican  convention  to  this 
day,  whenever  there  has  been  a  close  contest. 

To  make  a  showing  on  the  roll-calls,  zealous  managers  of 
ambitious  candidates  for  President  offer  Southern  delegates 
either  office,  or  money,  or  both;  though  where  those  delegates 
will  go  from  one  ballot  to  another  is  as  uncertain  as  the  direc- 

162 


As  I  Knew  Them 

tion  of  a  grasshopper's  next  jump.  I  do  not  know  of  any 
candidate  ever  nominated  by  such  votes;  nearly  all  candidates 
who  have  sought  them  have  by  that  very  act  lessened  their 
support  from  Republican  States.  When  a  convention  makes 
up  its  mind  to  nominate,  it  seeks  the  man  who  has  greatest 
backing  in  States  likely  to  cast  their  electoral  votes  for  him. 

In  1888,  both  Sherman  and  Alger  with  their  whitewashed 
colored  delegates  were  put  aside  and  Harrison  came  through 
a  winner  in  that  Monday  morning  finish. 


163 


CHAPTER    XX 

HARRISON— ABLE,  WISE  AND  COLD 

The  Profoundest  Lawyer  Ever  In  The  White  House,  According  To 
Depew—~An  Earnest  President,  But  He  Never  "Played  To  The  Gal- 
leries"— General  New  Said  "Ben,  Be  A  Human  Being"  And  Later 
Ben  Said  ffl  Tried  It,  John,  But  I  Failed"— 'Lige*  Halford's  Suit  Of 
English  Plaids  And  Harrison  $  Comment — Two  Occasions  When  Har- 
rison Swore — A  Fine  Teller  Of  Hoosier  Stories — Tom  Platt  Knew  His 
Bible  And  Matt  Quay  The  Classics — Harrison  Said  He  Had  No  Desire 
To  Follow  A  Hearse  Into  The  White  House — Candidates  Who  Prefer 
Sleep  To  Election  Returns. 

I^HAUNCEY  M.  DEPEW,  in  his  "80  Years  of  Public 
^-^  Life,"  states  that  Benjamin  Harrison  was  the  profoundest 
lawyer  ever  at  the  head  of  our  government.  I  must  leave  it  to 
lawyers  to  settle  that  point  with  Depew,  who  at  94,  as  I  write 
this,  is  still  competent  for  an  argument;  but  I  do  not  believe 
that  anyone  will  dispute  that  Harrison  ranks  among  our  ablest 
Presidents, 

Earnest,  thorough  and  prudent,  he  lived  up  to  the  great  re- 
sponsibilities of  his  office ;  he  gave  a  conservative,  constructive 
administration.  Under  him,  the  country  made  a  new  high 
record  of  prosperity.  Politics,  friendships,  or  antagonisms 
did  not  enter  his  decisions  when  a  vital  issue  was  at  stake.  He 
was  never  moved  to  do  anything  for  effect;  he  had  an  extreme 
distaste  for  what  is  called  ''playing  to  the  galleries." 

I  recall  how  Harrison  while  listening  to  you  would  fold  his 
arms  across  his  chest  and  look  searchingly  at  you.  He  never 
realized  that  it  made  you  feel  as  if  you  were  before  an  inquisi- 
tor. It  really  meant  that  he  was  giving  you  his  thoughtful 
attention.  Such  traits  made  it  difficult  for  him  to  hold  those 
who  did  not  know  the  man  well  nor  understand  his  ways. 
Some  said  his  "yes"  was  as  uninspiring  as  another  man's  "no." 

164 


As  I  Knew  Them 

That  may  have  been  true ;  it  is  also  true,  however,  that  it  was 
genuine. 

Indictments  of  such  wholesale  character  are  always  unjust. 
They  were  unjust  to  Harrison.  Frequently  he  proved  him- 
self a  sympathetic,  cordial  friend,  though  he  could  not  make 
an  outward  show  of  his  feelings.  Restraint  was  natural  with 
him;  he  could  not  honestly  be  effusive,  and  pretence  he  de- 
tested. What  he  said  he  meant,  and  what  he  meant  he  said. 

In  these  days  of  a  freer,  less  restrained  life,  wTe  are  apt 
to  characterize  such  personal  traits  as  "narrowness.'*  With 
Harrison  they  were  in  keeping  with  their  time.  He  was  a 
product  of  that  austere  period  in  our  nation's  history  when  it 
was  wrong  to  dance,  wrong  to  use  Sunday  except  in  religious 
duty,  wrong  to  look  upon  life  except  as  serious  business.  His 
character  developed  in  that  atmosphere  and  it  was  not  made 
less  rigid  by  his  four  years  in  the  Union  army.  He  had  to 
be  what  he  was.  And  when  you  sum  it  up,  he  was  a  splendid 
type  of  American  citizen. 

"BEN,  BE  A  HUMAN  BEING" 

Several  years  before  Harrison  became  President,  he  was 
leaving  Indianapolis  one  afternoon  to  make  a  campaign  speech 
in  another  Indiana  city.  His  friend  and  neighbor,  General 
John  C.  New,  accompanied  him  to  the  railway  station. 

"Now,  Ben,"  said  New  as  they  parted,  "I  know  you'll  cap- 
ture them  with  your  speech,  but  for  God's  sake  be  a  human 
being  down  there.  Mix  around  a  little  with  the  boys  after 
the  meeting." 

When  he  met  New  two  or  three  days  later  Harrison  said: 
"John,  I  tried  it,  but  I  failed.  I'll  never  try  it  again.  I 
must  be  myself." 

It  was  said  in  those  days  that  General  New  was  the  only 
man  who  ever  called  Harrison  "Ben"  and  that  New  was  the 
only  man  Harrison  ever  called  by  his  first  name.  Even  his 
law  partner  W.  H.  H.  Miller,  who  became  Attorney  General 


As  I  Knew  Them 

in  Ms  administration,  was  always  addressed  as  uMr."  Miller 
and  he,  in  turn,  addressed  his  senior  partner  as  "General 
Harrison/' 

On  occasions,  Harrison  might  drop  the  "Mr."  while  talking 
with  friends,  but  he  never  got  close  enough  with  anyone  to 
use  first  names. 

HALFORD'S  SUIT  OF  ENGLISH  PLAIDS 

Major  Elijah  W.  Halford,  "Lige"  as  everyone  in  Wash- 
ington called  him  while  he  was  there  as  Harrison's  secretary, 
is  now  living  in  Leonia,  New  Jersey.  He  was  once  asked  by 
one  of  his  old  Indianapolis  newspaper  colleagues,  how  he  was 
getting  on  with  the  President. 

"Oh,  very  well,"  he  replied.  "I  think  I  have  him  sized  up. 
When  I  see  him  in  the  morning  and  he  greets  me  with  'Hal- 
ford,  how  are  you  today?'  I  sit  down  by  his  desk  for  a  pleas- 
ant talk  about  matters.  When  he  greets  me  with  'Good 
morning,  Mr.  Halford/  I  bolt  for  the  door  and  wait  until 
after  lunch  for  the  talk." 

Despite  these  traits  there  was  an  abundance  of  Hoosier 
humor  in  Harrison.  Not  many  men  could  better  tell  a  witty 
story,  or  so  much  enjoyed  doing  so.  When  the  Indiana  dele- 
gates were  leaving  Indianapolis  for  the  Chicago  convention  of 
1888,  at  which  Harrison  was  nominated,  Halford,  who  even 
then  was  more  or  less  Harrison's  personal  representative, 
turned  up  at  the  station  in  a  suit  of  loud  plaids,  distinctly  for- 
eign in  pattern  and  cut.  He  had  just  returned  from  his  first 
trip  to  London,  where  he  had  bought  it. 

Harrison  looked  at  the  clothes  curiously,  and  then  asked 
Halford  where  he  got  them.  He  was  told.  You  will  remem- 
ber that  the  cornerstone  of  the  Harrison  candidacy  was  Pro- 
tection and  the  purchase  of  American-made  goods. 

"Halford,"  he  said  laughingly,  "those  plaids  may  be  all 
right  down  here  where  there's  no  convention,  but  if  you  wear 
them  in  Chicago  they'll  beat  me  on  the  first  ballot," 

166 


From  "Judge" 

YES  GRANDFATHER'S  HAT  FITS  BEN-FITS  BEN.     HE  WEARS  IT  WITH  DIGNIFIED  GRACE, 
OH  YES!      SO  RALLY  AGAIN  AND  WE'LL  PUT  UNCLE  BEN  RIGHT  BACK  IN  HIS  GRAND- 
FATHER'S  PLACE— CAMPAIGN    SONG    IN    1 888. 


As  I  Knew  Them 

TWO   OCCASIONS   WHEN   HARRISON  SWORE 

Of  course,  many  stories  of  Harrison  were  told  while  he  was 
in  the  White  House.  Here  is  one  that  1  heard  then.  There 
were  many  occasions  when  he  did  not  conceal  his  anger,  but 
only  two  on  which  his  anger  was  expressed  by  profanity.  One 
was  when  in  Cincinnati  he  entered  the  Ohio  Medical  Univer- 
sity in  search  of  his  father's  body,  stolen  from  the  grave. 
When  he  found  it  in  the  dissecting  room  he  used  language  that 
is  not  printable  here. 

The  second  occasion  was  at  the  battle  of  Resaca,  in  Georgia, 
in  1864.  Harrison  was  at  the  head  of  his  regiment  charging 
the  enemy.  He  had  captured  the  Confederate  battery.  One 
lone  Confederate  was  left  by  his  comrades  on  a  horse  he 
couldn't  manage.  Harrison  grabbed  the  dismayed  gunner  by 
his  coat  collar,  dragged  him  from  his  mount  and  with  intense 
but  also  unprintable  words  ordered  him  back  into  the  lines  of 
captured  men.  "Fighting  Joe"  Hooker  rode  up  while  Harri- 
son and  his  men  were  "brushing  up"  the  captured  position. 

"By  God,"  he  exclaimed  as  he  saw  what  had  been  accom- 
plished, "Harrison,  I'll  make  you  a.  Brigadier  General 
for  this  day's  work."  And  Harrison  won  promotion  on  the 
field.  . 

The  better  people  knew  Harrison  the  better  they  realized 
that  his  strong  character  was  not  to  be  underestimated.  How 
could  he  have  been  other  than  a  man  of  purpose  and  integrity 
— great  grand-son  as  he  was  of  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  grand-son  of  "Old  Tippecanoe"  who  defeated 
Henry  Clay  for  the  Presidential  nomination  and  Martin  Van 
Buren  for  reelection,  and  himself  a  gallant  soldier  in  the  Civil 
War! 

Harrison's  State  papers  and  his  subsequent  lectures  are  an 
interpretation  of  national  problems  and  purposes  unsurpassed 
for  sturdy  patriotism,  clear,  vigorous  language  and  sound 
thinking. 

167 


As  I  Knew  Them 

TOM  PLATT  KNEW  HIS  BIBLE  AND  MATT  QUAY  THE  CLASSICS 

There  were  two  principal  causes  for  Harrison's  unpleasant 
experience  in  being  defeated  for  reelection  in  1892  by  Grover 
Cleveland,  whom  he  had  defeated  four  years  before.  One 
was  the  McKinley  tariff  law,  enacted  in  1890  and  extremely  un- 
popular in  the  early  period  of  its  operation;  the  second  was 
Harrison's  refusal  to  permit  the  Quay-Platt  national  com- 
mittee machine  to  dictate  his  Cabinet  members  or  his  lesser 
office  appointments. 

Matthew  Stanley  Quay  was  the  master  strategist  in  the 
politics  of  that  day.  His  only  rival  for  that  distinction  was 
Thomas  Collier  Platt,  of  New  York,  but  Platt  was  not  his 
equal.  Those  two  men  who  for  more  than  a  decade  controlled 
their  State  organizations  and  linked  its  policies  and  its  candi- 
dates to  interests  that  were  not  public  interests,  were  men  of 
education — Platt,  a  graduate  of  Yale,  Quay  of  Jefferson  Col- 
lege, Pa.  Platt  was  not  such  a  student  of  literature  as  Quay, 
but  he  knew  his  Bible  as  few  men  do,  while  Quay  was  devoted 
to  the  classics.  The  Pennsylvania  boss  was  a  persistent  reader 
of  the  best  literature. 

Seated  in  the  fine  library  that  reflected  his  culture,  Quay 
would  turn  from  books  of  the  most  elevating  influence  to  dis- 
cuss with  his  lieutenants  the  distribution  on  election  day  of 
funds  collected  from  corporations  and  others  seeking  privi- 
leges to  which  they  were  not  entitled ;  or  he  would  plan  in  the 
calm  atmosphere  of  the  classics  the  slaughter  of  his  political 
enemies. 

PIATT'S  "SUNDAY  SCHOOL"  AND  QUAY'S  ADDITION,  DIVISION 
AND  SILENCE  LETTER 

Platt  in  New  York  had  what  he  called  his  "Sunday  School" 
every  Sabbath  morning,  frequently  adjourning  it  to  attend 
church.  His  "Sunday  School"  was  made  up  of  politicians 

168 


As  I  Knew  Them 

from  different  sections  of  the  State  as  well  as  of  legislators 
gathered  to  discuss  pending  measures.  Platt  was  also  Presi- 
dent of  The  United  States  Express  Company,  and  a  success- 
ful business  man.  It  was  never  charged  of  either  man  that 
he  made  money  out  of  politics. 

Strange  perversity  of  nature,  was  It  not,  that  with  such 
background  Platt  and  Quay  should  have  had  no  more  laudable 
ambition  in  politics  than  the  possession  of  power — power  to 
reward,  power  to  crush,  power  to  say  "do  it"  and  it  is  done, 
or  "don't  do  it"  and  it  is  not  done. 

Quay  was  chief  lieutenant  and  finally  the  successor  to  the 
Cameron  dynasty — Simon  and  Don,  father  and  son, — in  Penn- 
sylvania politics.  To  Quay,  politics  was  the  breath  of  life — 
to  win  his  only  purpose.  The  end  always  justified  the  means. 
The  one  big  indiscreet  move  he  ever  made  was  when  he  wrote 
a  letter  recommending  a  local  Republican  worker  for  a  job  in 
the  State  Treasurer's  office  at  Harrisburg,  with  these  words: 
"He  understands  addition,  division  and  silence." 

The  letter  was  too  good  to  escape  eventual  publicity.  A 
few  years  earlier  Quay  nominated  General  James  A.  Beaver 
for  Governor.  His  one  letter  of  advice  to  his  candidate  read: 
"Dear  Beaver :  Don't  talk.  M.  S.  Quay." 

When  Quay  was  asked  to  manage  Harrison's  first  cam- 
paign, he  agreed  to  do  so  provided  Harrison  would  agree  not 
to  make  speeches.  "I  don't  like  'spouting'  candidates,"  he  said. 
Finally  it  was  understood  that  Harrison  would  stop  speech- 
making  whenever  Quay  objected. 

Harrison  made  his  first  speech  at  his  home  to  visiting  Re- 
publicans. No  protest  came  from  Quay.  A  second  speech 
was  made  shortly  afterward  to  another  delegation.  Next  day 
this  telegram  from  Quay :  "Keep  at  it  You're  making  votes." 

HARRISON  GETS  A  RURAL  RESPONSE 

The  Quay  telegram  brings  to  mind  an  experience  General 
Harrison  had  just  after  his  election  as  Senator.  It  was  Harri- 

169 


As  I  Knew  Them 

son's  habit,  when  possible,  to  utry"  his  speeches  on  a  back 
country  audience  before  using  them  before  larger  audiences. 
He  went  down  to  Hendricks  County,  Indiana,  once  for  that 
purpose.  When  the  meeting  was  over,  and  while  he  was  won- 
dering how  his  speech  had  gone,  a  typical  Hoosier  farmer 
asked  him  to  step  over  in  the  corner  of  the  room.  He  did  so. 

"That's  a  fine  speech  you  made,"  said  the  farmer. 

"Thank  you  for  the  compliment,"  replied  Harrison. 

"As  I  listened  to  your  way  of  talking  I  made  up  my  mind 
that  you're  a  first  class  talker.  Now,  I  have  spent  five  years 
inventing  something  that  will  go  like  wild  fire  with  a  good 
talker  back  of  it.  While  you're  not  busy  down  there  in  that 
Senate  why  can't  you  talk  up  my  machine  ?  It's  a  big  chance 
for  a  first  class  talker  and  I  hadn't  heard  you  ten  minutes  to- 
night before  I  knew  you'd  fill  the  bill  for  me.  It's  a  big  chance 
for  both  of  us — what  do  you  say?" 

Harrison  "regretted"  that  he  would  be  otherwise  engaged. 

"Jest  my  luck,"  said  the  farmer,  "jest  my  luck.  I  suppose 
some  other  fellow  has  heard  your  talk  and  got  in  ahead  of 


me." 


NO  BARGAINS  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY 

While  Quay  was  managing  the  campaign, — and  winning  it 
against  heavy  odds, — he  sent  word  to  Indianapolis  that  James 
J.  Hill,  then  building  his  railroad  empire  in  our  Northwest 
woufd  contribute  heavily  ($50,000  as  I  recall  it)  to  the  cam- 
paign fund.  But  Harrison  must  agree,  to  appoint  as  Secretary 
of  the  Interior  one  of  three  men  whose  names  would  be 
submitted  by  Hill  after  election.  Harrison  not  only  refused, 
but  directed  that  a  contribution  should  not  be  accepted  from 
Hill,  even  without  conditions. 

This  incident  is  now  related  because  it  is  typical  of  Harri- 
son's course  as  President.  The  influence  of  his  administration 
could  not  be  bargained  for.  He  fought  without  flinching 
against  those  who  would  have  it  otherwise — unfortunately  too 

170 


As  I  Knew  Them 

many  having  such  tendencies  were  powerful  leaders  of  Ms 
party.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  recognize  campaign  services 
freely  given.  In  his  inaugural  he  said  he  believed  in  honoring 
party  service.  But  he  denied  every  appointment  urged  upon 
him  as  fulfilment  of  a  promise  made  to  secure  campaign  serv- 
ices or  contributions.  Party  service  for  the  sake  of  the  party 
was  recognized  but  party  service  for  a  position  was  not. 

"Remember,"  he  had  said  to  the  managers  of  his  convention 
battle  for  nomination  in  1888,  uno  bargains,  no  alliances,  no 
trades.  I  may  like  to  be  President,  but  if  I  am  to  go  to  the 
White  House  I  don't  propose  to  go  shackled." 

NO  DESIRE  TO  FOLLOW  A  HEARSE  INTO  THE  WHITE  HOUSE 

In  the  1880  convention  Harrison  might  have  made  a  bar- 
gain for  the  Vice  Presidency  when  the  Conkling-Canieron 
forces  were  trying  to  break  into  different  State  delegations  to 
capture  votes  for  Grant.  He  was  chairman  of  the  Indiana 
delegation,  supporting  Elaine.  During  the  balloting  he  was 
handed  a  card  that  is  still  in  existence  reading,  uGeneral  Logan 
and  Mr.  Cameron  will  call  upon  General  Harrison  at  his  hotel 
tonight  at  nine  o'clock." 

The  two  chieftains  of  the  Stalwart  forces  called  promptly 
at  the  hour  stated.  They  had  authority  to  say  that  Harrison 
would  be  nominated  for  Vice  President  if  he  would  throw  the 
Indiana  delegates  to  Grant.  During  the  interview  they  tempt- 
ingly called  attention  to  Grant's  age,  his  strenuous  career  in 
war,  and  his  eight  tiring  years  as  President,  leaving  Harrison 
to  infer  that  a  Vice  President  elected  with  Grant  probably 
would  find  himself  President  before  the  term  ended. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  Harrison,  "I  am  not  ambitious  to  enter 
the  White  House  following  a  hearse." 

That  ended  the  interview — and  Harrison  continued  to  vote 
for  Elaine  until  the  latter  released  his  supporters  in  favor  of 
Garfield.  Eight  years  later  Elaine  showed  his  appreciation 
by  urging  Harrison's  nomination. 

171 


As  I  Knew  Them 
PLAIT'S  TRADING  FOR  THE  TREASURY 

The  only  man  who  ever  claimed  to  have  a  p re-convention 
bargain  with  Harrison,  was  Senator  Platt,  of  New  York. 
That  year  the  uBig  Four" — Platt,  Warner  Miller,  Chauncey 
Depew  and  Frank  Hiscock — controlled  the  New  York  organi- 
zation. Platt,  however,  was  the  potential  figure.  He  de- 
livered most  of  the  New  York  delegates  to  Harrison  on  the 
nominating  ballot,  claiming  afterward  an  understanding  with 
Senator  Stephen  B.  Elkins,  supposedly  speaking  with  Harri- 
son's consent,  that  he  would  be  made  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  That  Sunday  afternoon  carriage  ride  was  the  basis 
of  Platt's  claim. 

Harrison  denied  knowledge  of  the  Elkins  promise  and, 
later,  Platt  absolved  Harrison  from  responsibility.  In  the 
chapter  on  McKinley  the  reader  will  see  how  Platt  eight  years 
later  sought  to  bargain  with  McKinley  for  a  promise  of  the 
same  office — only  to  find  another  man  who  would  not  pay  that 
price  even  for  the  Presidency. 

CANDIDATES  WHO  PREFER  SLEEP  TO  ELECTION  RETURNS 

One  would  suppose  with  such  a  prize  as  the  Presidency  at 
stake,  every  contender  in  the  race  would  sit  up  through  elec- 
tion night  eagerly  studying  the  returns  from  different  States 
to  learn  his  fate.  It  would  seem  that  sleep  would  be  impos- 
sible. Yet  Tom  Sherman,  who  was  Elaine's  Secretary  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  tells  me  that  at  about  eleven  o'clock  elec- 
tion night,  before  New  York,  Indiana  and  other  large  States 
had  been  definitely  heard  from,  Blaine  said  that  he  was  sleepy, 
and  was  going  to  bed.  Turning  to  Sherman  he  added,  "Let  me 
know  all  about  it  in  the  morning,  Tom." 

In  the  same  way  in  1888  General  Harrison  turned  from 
the  election  returns  at  about  the  same  hour  and  went  to  bed. 
All  evening  he  sat  in  his  library  with  the  family  and  some 

172 


As  I  Knew  Them 

friends.  Early  returns  from  New  York  were  not  encouraging. 
Gloom  settled  on  the  visitors.  About  nine  o'clock  noticing  the 
unsmiling  faces,  Harrison  said: 

"Cheer  up,  everybody.  This  is  no  life  and  death  affair. 
I  am  very  happy  here  in  Indianapolis  and  will  continue  to  be  if 
I'm  not  elected.  Home  is  a  pretty  good  place.1' 

The  detailed  figures  from  only  one  State — Indiana — inter- 
ested him  keenly.  He  wanted  to  know  as  soon  as  possible  the 
returns  from  every  Hoosier  county.  His  son-in-law,  James 
R.  McKee,  now  living  in  Greenwich,  Conn.,  was  tabulating  the 
Indiana  figures.  Toward  1 1  o'clock  he  finally  said,  "This  last 
bulletin  settles  it.  We've  got  Indiana." 

Harrison  listened  to  McKee's  summary. 

"That's  enough  for  me  tonight  then,"  he  said.  uMy  own 
State  is  for  me.  I'm  going  to  bed." 

Next  morning  a  friend  who  had  called  at  midnight  to  con- 
gratulate him  asked  Harrison  why  he  had  retired  so  early. 

"Well,"  he  replied,  "  I  knew  that  my  staying  up  would  not 
change  the  result  if  I  were  defeated,  while  if  elected  I  had  a 
hard  day  ahead  of  me.  So  I  thought  a  night's  rest  was  best 
in  any  event." 

WHY  HARRISON  DELAYED  NAMING  ELAINE 

Perhaps  an  extreme  illustration  but  as  good  as  any  I  can 
give  of  Harrison's  legalistic  way  of  doing  things — a  way  that 
was  largely  responsible  for  the  charge  of  coldness — was  his 
refusal  to  announce  any  definite  commitments  between  election 
day  and  the  meeting  of  the  Presidential  electors  of  all  States, 
as  required  by  law,  on  the  second  Monday  of  January  follow- 
ing election.  It  is  then  that  they  formally  cast  their  votes  for 
President  and  Vice  President.  Harrison  held  that  he  had  no 
right  to  assume  his  election  as  President  until  after  that 
formality. 

Of  course,  every  aspirant  for  office,  particularly  Cabinet 
portfolios,  was  pressing  for  word  from  Indianapolis,  but 

173 


As  I  Knew  Them 

none  came.  Nor  was  the  reason  stated,  though  it  should  have 
been.  Chief  among  the  restless  ones  were  the  Elaine  follow- 
ers, with  Whitelaw  Reid  and  Charles  Emory  Smith  in  the  lead. 
They  demanded  action — insisting  that  80  per  cent  of  Republi- 
can voters  resented  Harrison's  tardy  recognition  of  Elaine's 
qualities  for  Secretary  of  State.  At  Reid's  request,  in  Decem- 
ber, I  personally  mailed  a  round-robin  letter  to  Harrison  with 
twenty  important  signatures  to  that  effect.  But  Harrison, 
though  he  knew  he  was  going  to  offer  Elaine  the  post,  re- 
mained uncommitted  until  the  electors  had  acted.  Then  he 
promptly  invited  Elaine  into  his  Cabinet. 

"WE'D  BETTER  TAKE  BLAINE  IN" 

There  are  always  protests  against  the  leader  in  the  race  for 
high  position,  and  there  were  protests  against  Elaine  as  head 
of  the  Cabinet.  Many  Republicans  foresaw  friction.  Harri- 
son, however,  said  to  one  man  who  was-  to  be  with  him  in 
official  capacity  and  who  thought  John  Sherman  should  be  Sec- 
retary of  State:  "You  and  I  want  to  be  happy  in  Washington. 
It  will  not  be  as  pleasant  for  us  with  Elaine  out  as  with  Elaine 
in.  So  we  had  better  take  him  in." 

That  same  argument,  advanced  by  Col.  Edward  M.  House 
in  1913  to  Woodrow  Wilson,  led  the  latter  to  make  Bryan  his 
Secretary  of  State.  Indeed,  that  highest  and  most  dignified  of 
national  positions  has  been  accorded  men  for  that  reason  more 
frequently  than  has  any  other  Cabinet  portfolio.  But  even 
Elaine's  enemies  knew  that  he  was  by  far  the  best-equipped 
man  for  the  place.  Harrison  believed  so,  too.  He  once  told 
me  that  he  looked  upon  Elaine  as  the  ablest  statesman  of  his 
party.  That,  in  truth,  can  be  said  of  the  whole  line  of  Secre- 
taries of  State  from  John  Jay  to  date.  They  have  been  men 
of  broader  experience  and  proven  ability  than  our  Presidents. 

The  prophecy  of  trouble  between  Harrison  and  Elaine  was 
verified  when  Harrison  refused  to  appoint  Walker  Elaine  as 
first  assistant  Secretary  of  State.  Reluctantly  Harrison  made 

174 


As  I  Knew  Them 

him  solicitor  of  the  Department  rather  than  of  end  Blaine; 
but  he  did  not  believe  that  a  Secretary  of  State  should  have 
his  son  in  the  Department. 

The  next  break  came  two  years  later  when  Harrison  re- 
fused to  make  a  Brigadier  General  of  Colonel  Coppinger, 
Elaine's  son-in-law.  Harrison  would  not  jump  Coppinger 
over  the  heads  of  his  seniors  in  service. 

"You  had  it  in  your  power  to  please  us  in  one  matter  two 
years  ago,"  said  Mrs.  Blaine  to  the  President,  "and  it  is  now 
in  your  power  to  please  us  a  second  time.  Yet  you  don't  do 
it.  I  cannot  understand  it." 

In  both  instances  Harrison  regretted  that  he  could  not  ac- 
quiesce In  Elaine's  desire  but  he  put  the  good  of  the  service 
above  personal  considerations. 

A   WHITE    HOUSE    PICTURE 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  get  several  intimate  pictures  of 
life  in  the  White  House  while  the  Harrisons  occupied  it, 
but  none  that  I  recall  so  truly  reflects  the  atmosphere  of  a 
typical  American  home  as  the  statement  recently  made  to  me 
by  Major  Halford.  "In  the  afternoons  when  we  would  need 
the  President's  signature  or  have  some  information  for  him, 
we  would  often  find  him  seated  at  the  window  of  his  sitting- 
room  reading.  Opposite  him  would  be  Mrs.  Harrison  en- 
gaged in  decorating  china.  Often  he  would  be  reading  aloud 
to  her  while  she  kept  on  with  her  painting.  The  White  House 
did  not  change  the  family  life  of  their  Indiana  home." 

Harrison  had  one  characteristic  that  saved  him  many  wor- 
ries. He  never  expressed  regrets  for  things  done  or  settled. 
He  would  say,  "I  did  that  with  the  best  information  and 
judgment  I  had  at  the  time.  I  closed  the  case  then  and  I  don't 
want  to  hear  anything  more  about  it." 


175 


CHAPTER   XXI 

"THE  BILLION  DOLLAR  CONGRESS" 

Also  A  Billion  Dollar  Country — As  Joyous  In  Washington  As  A 
Donnybrook  Fair — Immigration  And  Anti-Trust  Policies  Started  On 
Their  Way — A  Gun  At  The  Head  of  Every  President — Harrison 
Responsible  For  Flag  Over  Every  School-House — Some  Harrison 
Epigrams* 

TT  WAS  a  joy  to  be  in  Washington  in  the  days  of  Harrison 
— that  is  if  you  had  any  liking  to  be  where  the  fighting  is 
good  and  there  is  news  aplenty.  I  enjoyed  my  frequent  visits 
on  newspaper  errands — some  lasting  several  weeks.  The  two 
Congresses — one  Republican  and  one  Democratic — had  the 
enthusiasm  for  turbulence  of  a  Donnybrook  Fair,  particu- 
larly the  Congress  known  as  the  "Reed  Congress."  Because 
of  Reed's  famous  ruling  to  count  a  quorum  if  one  was,  in  fact, 
physically  present,  also  because  of  the  narrow  Republican 
majority  of  12,  there  was  scarcely  a  day  without  its  sensational 
charge  and  counter-charge  in  the  House — with  Kilgore  of 
Texas,  for  example,  kicking  at  the  closed  door  to  get  out  be- 
fore Tom  Reed  as  Speaker  could  see  and  count  him.  Con- 
stantine  Buckley  Kilgore  was  that  statesman's  real  name,  but 
Congress  knew  him  as  "Constantly  Bucking"  Kilgore. 

Other  Democrats  vied  with  one  another  to  shout  loudest, 
longest  and  most  defiantly,  but  they  never  budged  Reed,  who 
was  always  the  coolest  member  of  the  House.  When  they 
finally  tired  of  wasting  time  in  shouting  he  made  them  put  in 
more  hours  at  business  to  make  up  for  the  delay. 

The  result  was  that  that  Congress  transacted  all  the  busi- 
ness it  had  to  do,  as  Reed  promised  that  it  would. 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"ISN'T  THIS  A  BILLION  DOLLAR  COUNTRY?" 

It  had  much  to  its  credit.  The  Democrats  called  it  a  "Bil- 
lion Dollar55  Congress,  and  started  out  to  make  an  issue  of 
the  fact  that  for  the  first  time  in  our  history  the  government's 
expenditures  totalled  a  billion  dollars.  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury Charles  Foster  met  the  charge  with  the  calm  inquiry, 
"Well,  isn't  this  a  billion  dollar  country?" 

That  reply  was  too  swift  and  too  warm  for  the  Democrats 
to  handle;  in  baseball  parlance  of  the  day  It  was  called  a 
"daisy  cutter,"  though  no  daisies  now  adorn  baseball  fields. 
The  quick  response  came  from  the  people  that  they  were  proud 
of  a  billion  dollar  country.  That  silenced  the  critics. 

The  McKinley  tariff  bill  and  the  Federal  Elections  bill,  the 
latter  known  popularly  as  the  "Force"  Bill,  were  the  conspicu- 
ous measures  of  the  session.  But  the  two  subjects  then  urged 
by  the  administration  that  were  destined  to  grow  into  great 
national  policies  were  the  Sherman  anti-trust  law  and  restric- 
tion of  immigration.  In  1890  the  first  outcry  was  heard 
against  the  "melting-pot"  theory.  The  pot  was  boiling  over; 
we  had  passed  the  500,000  mark  of  yearly  immigration;  the 
quality  of  immigrants  was  deteriorating  and  the  quantity  in- 
creasing. We  had  ceased  to  be  able  to  assimilate.  In  a  mes- 
sage to  Congress,  Harrison  said:  "We  should  not  cease  to  be 
hospitable  to  immigration,  but  we  should  cease  being  careless 
as  to  the  character  of  it."  Congress,  however,  waited  until 
1917 — nearly  20  years  later — before  taking  action. 

A  GUN  AT  THE  HEAD  OF  EVERY  PRESIDENT 

I  have  spoken  of  Harrison's  refusal  of  the  Hill  campaign 
contribution  and  his  attitude  toward  the  steadily  increasing 
power  of  corporations  in  Congress  and  elsewhere. 

Those  not  familiar  with  official  life  in  Washington  do  not 
realize  the  tremendous  pressure  to  place  men  in  positions  that 

177 


As  I  Knew  Them 

command  every  avenue  of  information,  influence  and  action* 
There  is  no  let-up  to  it.  It  is  exerted  so  subtly,  so  shrewdly, 
that  even  an  alert  President  or  Cabinet  officer  does  not  always 
sense  its  presence  before  it  has  done  its  deadly  work. 

Truly  a  gun  is  held  at  the  head  of  a  President  the  moment 
he  is  elected.  Every  big  corporate  and  banking  interest  in 
New  York  City  and  Chicago,  every  big  railway  system,  in- 
trigues to  have  a  friend  at  court.  The  Treasury  Department 
is  a  principal  objective  of  this  predatory  campaign — the  State 
Department  a  close  second;  but  the  White  House  is  the  real 
target. 

Many  Senators  and  Congressmen  join  in  this  siege  of  the 
White  House.  No  threats  are  made,  no  open  opposition 
shown,  but  the  President  suddenly  discovers  that  the  wheels 
are  not  turning — that  things  just  don't  move.  Nominees  are 
not  confirmed,  executive  recommendations  slumber  in  com- 
mittees, departments  don't  function,  strange  rumors  seep  into 
official  gossip.  There  is  an  inertia  that  he  cannot  overcome, 
and  for  which  no  definite  reason  can  be  given.  It  creeps  over 
everything  like  an  incoming  tide.  You  cannot  put  your  finger 
on  the  centre  of  trouble  and  say  "Here  it  is!"  An  adminis- 
tration that  holds  out  against  these  influences  has  a  trying 
time  with  Congress.  Only  a  resourceful  character  in  the 
White  House  can  measure  swords  with  them. 

HARRISON  AND  ROOSEVELT  METHODS 

Harrison  did  not  possess  those  qualities,  Roosevelt  did. 
Coming  into  the  Presidency,  twelve  years  later,  Roosevelt 
fought  the  same  influences — but  he  fought  in  a  different  way. 
Those  who  recall  both  Harrison  and  Roosevelt  will  know 
how  they  would  differ  even  when  seeking  the  same  result 
Both  had  the  same  antagonism  to  an  invisible  government." 
Both  saw  it  rooted  deep  in  Washington.  Harrison,  however, 
stood  on  the  defensive  in  his  legalistic  way — denying  it  oppor- 
tunity, so  far  as  his  power  extended,  and  ignoring  its  existence 


As  I  Knew  Them 

so  long  as  it  did  not  come  before  him  officially.  Roosevelt 
went  out  to  meet  it.  He  used  the  Northern  Securities  suit  as 
the  basis  for  an  aggressive  campaign  to  destroy  it. 

Roosevelt's  way  led  to  his  triumphant  election  in  1904; 
Harrison's  way  led  with  equal  emphasis  to  his  defeat  for  re- 
election in  1892.  The  thing  Harrison  had  scotched  but  not 
destroyed  rose  to  smite  him  at  the  polls. 

"BIG  BUSINESS"  TURNED  TO  CLEVELAND 

I  was  in  position  throughout  the  Harrison  campaign  to 
know  the  currents  that  were  affecting  the  result.  Subsequent 
information  confirmed  my  opinion  formed  by  what  I  saw  be- 
fore election  day — that  Harrison  was  betrayed  and  defeated 
by  a  group  of  Republican  leaders  resentful  because  of  his 
antagonism  to  the  influences  I  have  described.  Big  corpora- 
tions regarded  Cleveland  as  "safer."  They  contributed  so 
lavishly  to  his  campaign  that  the  fund  was  the  largest  ever 
collected  up  to  that  time. 

They  saw  only  the  candidate,  not  the  party  behind  him. 
They  did  not  realize  that  a  "safe"  President  in  the  White 
House,  forced  to  rely  upon  an  unsympathetic  party  in  Con- 
gress, meant  chaos — and  chaos  is  the  one  thing  business  cannot 
stand.  In  the  four  years  following  1892,  business  was  to  learn 
a  lesson  and  pay  a  heavy  price  for  its  tuition. 

The  lamentable  feature  of  it  all  was  that  Harrison's  op- 
ponents blindly  assumed  that  he  was  determined  to  have  an- 
other term  as  President.  Those  in  his  confidence  knew  that 
that  was  not  his  desire.  Certainly  there  were  many  reasons 
against  another  four  years  in  the  White  House.  Mrs.  Harri- 
son was  fatally  ill  (she  died  in  October,  1892)  and  his  own 
experiences  had  many  unpleasant  features.  A  return  to  In- 
dianapolis seemed  more  inviting  than  remaining  where  he 
was.  Platt  and  Quay,  unaware  of  Harrison's  mood,  began  to 
seek  delegates  pledged  against  him.  Definite  evidences  of 

179 


As  I  Knew  Them 

their  defiance  reached  the  President,    They  were  out  to  beat 
his  nomination. 

"I  don't  want  this,  I  did  not  invite  it,"  said  Harrison  when 
he  learned  that  they  had  opened  battle,  "but  a  Harrison  never 
runs  from  a  fight." 

ELAINE'S  LAST  BID  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY 

Persuading  Elaine  into  the  contest  was  one  of  the  tragedies 
of  politics.  Old  friends  like  Elkins,  Kerens*  and  Powell 
Clayton  advised  him  against  entering,  and  for  the  only  time 
In  their  political  careers  did  not  support  him.  It  would  seem 
that  it  was  late  in  life  for  Elaine  to  ignore  such  friendships, 
but  he  did.  He  seems  to  have  been  moved  more  by  a  desire 
to  drive  Harrison  into  withdrawal  than  by  hope  of  his  own 
nomination. 

Only  a  month  before  his  announcement  I  talked  with  Elaine 
in  the  Secretary  of  State's  office.  It  was  evident  then  that  he 
was  a  sick  man — so  far  from  well  that  I  put  aside  as  absurd 
the  rumors  that  he  would  oppose  Harrison.  However,  he 
got  into  the  struggle  and  his  last  battle  for  the  Presidency 
proved  to  be  as  futile  as  were  his  previous  contests.  A  career 
saddened  by  successive  defeats  had  its  saddest  chapter  in  this 
final  effort.  Seven  months  later,  death  ended  all. 

PUTTING  THE  FLAG  ON  OUR  SCHOOL-HOUSES 

I  have  no  official  record  on  which  to  base  the  statement  that 
the  flags  displayed  on  our  school-houses  are  there  because  of 
a  Harrison  speech;  but  it  is  a  fact  that  following  his  address 
at  the  centennial  anniversary  of  Washington's  inauguration, 
April  30,  1899,  there  was  a  speedy  nation-wide  movement, 
which  resulted  in  the  present-day  display  of  the  flag  while 
school  is  in  session. 

That  was  a  most  inspiring  occasion.  The  Benjamin  Harri- 

180 


As  I  Knew  Them 

son  who  as  President  made  the  speech  was  grandson  of  a 
President  and  the  great-grandson  and  namesake  of  a  signer 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  He  was  called  the  "cen- 
tennial" President.  Such  a  coincidence,  you  may  be  sure,  did 
not  lessen  Harrison's  patriotic  interest  in  the  occasion,  or  that 
of  the  great  number  of  people  who  joined  in  the  ceremonies. 
The  celebration  \vas  held  in  New  York  City.  Pageantry, 
oratory  and  public  enthusiasm  made  it  picturesque  and  inspir- 
ing. Harrison  landed  in  the  city,  as  Washington  had  landed, 
from  a  barge  rowed  to  shore  at  the  same  landing  place.  He 
stood  on  the  spot  now  occupied  by  the  Sub-Treasury  where 
Washington  had  stood  when  inaugurated;  he  attended  services 
in  St.  Paul's  Chapel,  using  Washington's  pew,  and  at  night  he 
addressed  a  great  assemblage  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera 
House.  There  he  made  the  stirring  utterance  that  started  the 
flag-display  movement.  Here  is  an  extract  from  it: 

"These  banners  with  which  you  have  covered  your  walls,  these 
patriotic  inscriptions  must  come  down;  and  the  ways  of  com- 
merce and  of  trade  be  resumed  again  here ;  but  may  I  not  ask  you 
to  carry  these  banners  that  now  hang  on  the  walls,  into  the  homes, 
into  the  public  schools  of  your  city;  and  into  all  your  great  institu- 
tions where  children  are  gathered  and  to  drape  them  there,  that 
the  eyes  of  the  young  and  of  the  old  may  look  upon  the  flag  as 
one  of  the  familiar  adornments  of  every  American  home/' 

SOME  HARRISON  EPIGRAMS 

Harrison  never  made  a  poor  speech.  Always  he  had  some- 
thing to  say  worth  saying  and  he  knew  how  to  say  it.  I  would 
like  to  quote  at  length  from  many  of  his  speeches  but  this  is 
not  the  place.  Here  are  some  lines  showing  the  keenness  of 
his  mind : 

The  evil  that  works  from  a  bad  centre  works  both  ways. 

A  community  where  law  is  the  rule  of  conduct  and  where 
courts,  not  mobs,  execute  its  penalties  is  the  only  attractive  field  for 
business  investments  and  honest  labor. 

iSl 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Those  who  would  use  the  law  as  &  defense  must  not  deny  that 
use  of  it  to  others. 

If  our  great  corporations  would  more  scrupulously  observe  their 
legal  limitations  and  duties,  they  would  have  less  cause  to  com- 
plain of  the  unlawful  limitations  of  their  rights  or  of  violent  Inter- 
ference with  their  operation. 

We  should  not  cease  to  be  hospitable  to  immigration  but  we 
should  cease  being  careless  as  to  the  character  of  it. 

No  other  people  have  a  government  more  worthy  of  their  re- 
spect and  love  or  a  land  so  magnificent  in  extent,  so  pleasant  to  look 
upon,  and  so  full  of  generous  suggestion  to  enterprise  and  labor. 

Justice  and  mercy  should  hold  the  reins  of  power  and  the  upward 
avenues  of  hope  be  free  to  all  the  people. 

When  the  harvest  from  the  fields,  the  cattle  from  the  hills,  and 
the  ores  of  the  earth  shall  have  been  weighed,  counted  and  valued, 
we  will  turn  from  them  all  to  crown  with  highest  honor  the  State 
that  has  most  promoted  education,  virtue,  justice  and  patriotism 
among  its  people. 

They  (working-people)  are  American  citizens  and  it  cannot  be 
a  perversion  of  the  Constitution  so  to  legislate  as  to  preserve  in 
their  homes  the  comfort,  independence,  loyalty  and  sense  of  interest 
in  the  government  which  are  essential  to  good  citizenship. 

The  Society  of  the  Unemployed,  now  holding  its  frequent  and 
threatening  parades  in  the  Streets  of  foreign  cities,  should  not 
be  allowed  to  acquire  an  American  domicile. 

It  is  time  that  mutual  charges  of  unfairness  and  fraud  between 
the  great  parties  shall  cease. 

There  are  no  frontiers  to  our  possible  development. 

No  lesson  needs  to  be  so  urgently  impressed  upon  our  people  as 
this — that  no  worthy  end  or  cause  can  be  promoted  by  lawlessness. 


182 


CHAPTER    XXII 


'  THE  LAST  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  SOUTH 

The  "Force"  Bill  of  1890,  Protecting  The  Negro's  Riffkt  To  Vote  — 
Lodffe's  First  National  Activity  —  Harrison  Expresses  Himself  —  My 
Own  Experiences  In  General  Mahone's  Campaign  —  A  Stubborn  Fact 
That  Some  Day  Must  Be  Faced—  Why  The  Electoral  College  Should 
Be  Maintained* 


'T^HE  same  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  who  in  1919-20  as  Chair- 
-*•  man  of  the  Senate  Foreign  Relations  Committee  fought 
Woodrow  Wilson's  League  of  Nations  so  bitterly,  and  won^ 
is  the  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  who,  as  a  Congressman  in  his  sec- 
ond term  in  1890,  fought  the  last  battle  by  Republicans  in  Con- 
gress to  secure  national  protection  for  the  negro  voter  at 
elections  in  the  South  —  and  lost.  Cleveland  had  withdrawn 
U.  S.  Marshals  from  the  polls  there;  the  bill  sponsored  by 
Lodge  sought  to  put  them  back.  Its  printed  title  was  Federal 
Elections  bill,  but  the  country  knew  it  as  the  "Force"  bill. 

Lodge  had.  been  slowly  winning  prominence  as  an  author 
and  legislator,  but  while  this  legislation  was  under  debate  the 
attention  he  received  equalled  in  intensity  that  which  came  to 
him  thirty  years  later  while  the  Versailles  treaty  was  before 
the  Senate.  He  was  a  "first  page"  feature  day  after  day. 
With  courage  and  skill  he  piloted  the  bill  through  the  House, 
but  the  Democrats  in  the  Senate  made  a  bargain  with  a  group 
of  their  Republican  colleagues  seeking  other  legislation  and 
the  Force  bill  was  buried.  It  has  not  come  to  life  since. 

I  have  no  desire  to  revive  a  discussion  of  the  subject,  but 
in  its  own  way  the  South  should  find  a  solution  fair  to  the 
north  on  national  candidates.  Under  existing  conditions  one 
white  voter  in  the  South  has  the  potential  voting  influence  of 
10  voters  in  certain  Congress  districts  in  the  North,  and  he 

183 


As  I  Knew  Them 

averages  three;  the  South  has  representation  in  Congress 
based  on  population,  white  and  black;  but  voting  is  limited 
to  whites.  I  do  not  know  how  to  point  the  way  to  adjust  this 
inequality,  yet  all  fair  men  must  know  that  it  constitutes  a 
stubborn  fact  which  some  day  is  bound  to  become  bothersome. 
President  Harrison's  presentation  of  the  situation  in  his 
message  to  Congress  is  without  equal  as  clear  and  forceful 
analysis.  It  is  as  well  worth  reading  today. 

"The  colored  people  did  not  intrude  themselves  upon  us;  they 
were  brought  here  in  chains  and  held  in  the  communities  where 
they  were  chiefly  bound  by  a  cruel  slave  code.  Happily  for  both 
races,  they  are  now  free. 

"Notwithstanding  all  this,  in  many  parts  of  our  country  where 
the  colored  population  is  large  the  people  of  that  race  are,  by  vari- 
ous devices,  deprived  of  any  effective  exercise  of  their  political 
rights  and  of  many  of  their  civil  rights.  The  wrong  does  not 
expend  itself  upon  those  whose  votes  are  suppressed.  Every  con- 
stituency in  the  Union  is  wronged. 

"Surely,  no  one  supposes  that  the  present  can  be  accepted  as  a 
permanent  condition.  If  it  is  said  that  these  communities  must 
work  out  this  problem  for  themselves,  we  have  a  right  to  ask 
whether  they  are  at  work  upon  it.  Do  they  suggest  any  solution? 
When  and  under  what  conditions  is  the  black  man  to  have  a  free 
ballot?  When  is  he,  in  fact,  to  have  those  full  civil  rights  which 
have  so  long  been  his  in  law?  When  is  that  equality  of  influence 
which  our  form  of  government  was  intended  to  secure  to  the 
electors  to  be  restored  ?  This  generation  should  courageously  face 
these  grave  questions,  and  not  leave  them  as  a  heritage  of  woe  to  the 
next.  The  consultation  should  proceed  with  candor,  calmness,  and 
great  patience;  upon  the  lines  of  justice  and  humanity,  not  of  prej- 
udice and  cruelty.  No  question  in  our  country  can  be  at  rest  ex- 
cept upon  the  firm  basis  of  justice  and  of  the  law. 

"The  qualifications  of  any  elector  must  be  sought  in  the  law,  not 
in  the  opinions,  fears,  or  judgments  of  any  class,  however  powerful. 
The  path  of  the  elector  to  the  ballot  box  must  be  free  from  the 
ambush  of  fear  and  the  enticements  of  fraud,  the  count  so  true  and 
open  that  none  shall  gain-say  it.  It  should  give  the  advantage  to 
honesty  and  the  decision  to  majorities." 

184 


As  I  Knew  Them 

MY  EXPERIENCE  IX  A  MAHONE  CAMPAIGN 

I  have  some  recollection  of  campaigns  and  elections  in  the 
South  years  ago;  they  have  changed  in  some  respects  but  In 
result  not  at  all.  I  travelled  with  General  "Billy"  Mahone, 
the  fighting  little  giant  of  Virginia  politics,  when  he  ran  for 
Governor  in  1889,  and  from  my  own  experience  I  knew  that 
all  Southern  elections,  conducted  under  local  auspices,  were  not 
elections  at  all. 

I  was  a  visitor  in  the  Mahone  home  in  Petersburg,  when  a 
mob  gathered  and  began  shooting  in  the  air  as  we  were  about 
to  have  dinner.  It  was  the  night  before  election.  The  demon- 
stration was  made  to  show  disregard  for  Mahone's  candidacy. 
Mahone  weighed  not  over  no  pounds,  and  was  not  over  five 
feet  three  or  four  inches  tall.  With  his  wide-brimmed  white 
felt  hat  and  "Prince  Albert"  frock  coat,  and  long  white  beard, 
he  was  a  picturesque  figure.  Mahone  walked  to  the  long  old 
fashioned  window  of  the  living  room  and  looked  out  at  the 
crowd.  Without  a  word,  he  put  on  his  hat,  opened  the  front 
door  and  with  hand  stuck  in  trouser's  pocket,  coat  thrown 
back,  walked  slowly  down  the  fifty-foot  gravel  path  to  the 
gate. 

Leaning  over  the  gate  he  fairly  glared  straight  into  the  faces 
of  the  yelling  mob,  cussed  them  as  only  a  Mahone  could 
cuss;  then  turning  his  back  on  them,  he  walke4  with  defiant 
slowness  to  the  house.  Not  a  shot  was  fired  until  he  had  dis- 
appeared in  the  doorway — then  there  was  another  outburst 
of  shooting.  This  time  a  few  bullets  crashed  through  some 
of  the  windows.  Mahone  insisted  on  eating  dinner  as  calmly 
as  though  the  silence  of  peace  prevailed,  but  his  guests,  includ- 
ing myself,  had  no  great  appetite. 

At  midnight  the  crowd  gathered  again.  This  time  they 
aimed  more  directly  at  the  house.  Butler  Mahone,  the  Gen- 
eral's son,  fired  back,  slightly  injuring  one  of  the  mob.  Within 
an  hour  he  was  arrested,  though  he  had  only  defended  his 
home. 

185 


As  I  Knew  Them 

All  that  night  lines  of  negro  voters  awaited  the  opening 
of  the  polls.  The  election  districts  were  formed  like  the 
spokes  of  a  wheel  with  the  Town  Hall  as  the  hub.  All  the 
polling  booths  in  the  Town  Hall  were  located  in  one  large 
room.  Perhaps  one  colored  man  in  five  was,  after  much 
persistence,  allowed  to  vote.  So  many  negroes  voted,  how- 
ever, that  late  in  the  afternoon  it  was  thought  safest  to  make 
counting  impossible.  Someone  started  a  fight,  the  ballot  boxes 
were  smashed,  and  the  ballots  scattered  on  the  floor.  uNo 
returns"  was  the  official  report. 

PRESIDENTIAL  VOTES  AND  THE  SOUTH 

The  South  now  has  its  own  way  with  its  negro  vote;  and  it 
probably  will  continue  to  have  its  own  way  until  such  time  as 
the  people  determine  to  elect  their  President  by  popular  vote 
instead  of  through  the  machinery  of  the  electoral  college. 

When,  if  and  as  that  happens,  it  is  not  to  be  presumed  that 
the  South  will  insist  that  the  nation  should  continue  to  accept 
the  undependable  election  figures  and  methods  of  the  present 
day.  No  Republican  candidate  for  President  could  ever  over- 
come with  Northern  votes  the  totals  that  would  come  up 
from  the  South.  The  one  hope  for  a  Republican  candidate 
would  be  immediate  insistence  upon  recognizing  every  citizen's 
constitutional  right  to  vote,  whether  South  or  North,  and  to 
have  his  vote  honestly  counted. 

The  agitation  for  popular  election  of  President,  therefore, 
has  many  possibilities  for  reviving  old  sectional  animosities, 
though  that  is  not  the  strongest  reason  for  standing  by  the 
electoral  college. 

The  strongest  reason  is  that  it  is  the  last  bulwark  sustain- 
ing the  "checks-and-balances""  theory  so  thoughtfully  worked 
out  by  the  founders  of  our  government.  The  electoral  college 
represents  the  popular  will  for  President  as  sifted  through 
the  States;  until  1914  the  Senate  also  represented  the  popular 
will  after  a  sifting  process  through  each  State  Legislature. 

186 


As  I  Knew  Them 

The  House  of  Representatives  was  the  one  direct-election 
body. 

Now  the  President  stands  alone  as  a  "balance"  against  both 
branches  of  Congress;  when  the  clamor  for  direct  election  of 
President  succeeds, — if  it  ever  succeeds — the  structure  of  our 
government  as  originally  planned  will  be  materially  changed. 
There  will  be  no  checks,  no  balances  except  the  Supreme 
Court;  the  political  will  of  the  people  will  prevail  at  Wash- 
ington immediately  after  being  registered  in  the  ballot-box. 

This  is  the  "pure  democracy"  against  which  students  of 
the  philosophy  of  history  continuously  warn  us.  In  the  field  of 
pure  democracy  there  always  flourish  the  tares  and  weeds  of 
disintegration  and  destruction.  The  long  path  of  world 
history  is  strewn  with  the  wreck  of  such  experiments.  The 
founders  of  our  government  knew  this  peril.  To  protect  us 
from  its  evil,  and  yet  give  popular  will  opportunity  for  imme- 
diate expression,  It  made  the  House  of  Representatives  directly 
responsive  to  the  voters,  reserving  the  Senate  and  the  presi- 
dency to  their  more  deliberate  judgment.  We  are  swinging 
far  from  that  anchorage. 

I  have  been  fairly  well  acquainted  with  the  membership  of 
the  Senate  for  many  years,  and  I  cannot  see  that  the  change  to 
direct  election  has  improved  the  quality  of  its  Senators,  to 
state  it  conservatively.  Certainly  it  is  no  longer  a  deliberative 
body;  that  tradition  has  been  swept  away;  so  have  many  others 
— so  many  that  the  result,  as  we  look  over  the  Senate  today, 
gives  no  encouragement  to  thoughtful  people  to  favor  a 
similar  change  in  the  method  of  electing  our  Presidents. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 
TOM  REED— JOHN  J.  INGALLS 

One  Of  New  England,  One  Of  The  West,  Both  Brilliant  Debaters— 
George  Harvey's  Dinner  To  Mark  Twain  Was  Reed's  Last  Appear- 
ance— Strong  In  Convictions*  Dislikes  And  Friendships — The  Reed 
Quorum  Counting  Rule  No  Sudden  Impulse — He  Goes  To  New  York 
Disappointed  With  Public  Life — Ingalls  Insistent  That  The  Decalogue 
Has  No  Place  In  Politics — "Purification  An  Iridescent  Dream" — Car- 
ried Away  In  The  Bryan  Flood. 

>TpOM  REED,  of  Maine! — Czar!  Truly  a  character, 
-*•  .virile,  brilliant,  witty,  sarcastic,  profound.  He  had  by 
right  of  birth  all  the  characteristics  that  have  made  New 
Englanders  leaders  in  the  spiritual  and  material  development 
of  our  country.  * 

The  last  time  I  saw  Reed  was  at  a  birthday  dinner  to  Mark 
Twain,  given  by  George  Harvey  in  the  Metropolitan  Club, 
New  York  City,  November  28,  1902.  Though  apparently 
well  and  in  fine  humor  that  night,  Reed  died  one  week  later 
in  Washington.  In  eight  years  Clemens  followed.  The 
feature  of  the  Harvey  dinner  was  the  exchange  of  badinage 
between  Reed  and  Clemens.  They  spoke  of  their  friendship 
of  many  years,  each  deploring  the  fact  that  at  their  advanced 
age  they  could  not  expect  to  be  long  together  in  this  world. 
And,  each  regretted  that  they  would  be  separated  in  the  world 
to  come.  One  would  go  above ;  the  other  below.  Who  was  to 
have  the  reward  of  Heaven  the  two  speakers  left  their  highly 
entertained  friends  to  judge,  but  amidst  roars  of  laughter 
at  their  clever  way  of  doubting  each  other's  future  they  re- 
gretted in  turn  that  the  Fates  were  against  both  reaching  the 
same  high  station  in  the  hereafter. 

188 


As  I  Knew  Them 

They  did  not  dream  ^that  they  were  never  again  to  meet 
on  earth ! 

My  relations  with  Elaine  and  then  with  McKinley,  based 
upon  my  newspaper  connections,  obviously  prevented  me  from 
having  the  same  intimacy  with  Reed.  He  was  never  in 
sympathy  with  either  man.  He  stood  loyally  but  not  aggres- 
sively by  Elaine  whenever  the  lattcr's  interests  nationally  were 


TOM   REED— CZAR!    LOOKING   DOWN    ON    THE  HOUSE 

at  stake,  but  he  never  even  pretended  to  recognize  McKinley 
as  a  capable  leader.  Nor  was  his  dislike  for  Harrison  con- 
cealed. I  was,  therefore,  on  the  "other  side  of  the  fence."  To 
go  from  Elaine  to  Harrison  and  then  to  McKinley  was  a 
logical  step  for  a  newspaper  and  with  my  editor's  policy  my 
personal  inclinations  went  also. 

Judged  by  the  cartoons  and  violent  discussions  at  the  time, 
you  would  assume  that  as  Speaker  of  the  House,  Tom  Reed 

189 


As  I  Knew  Them 

used  a  gavel  as  constantly  as  a  blacksmith  pounds  on  an  anvil. 
My  observation  was  that  he  used  it  less  often  than  most  pre- 
siding officers.  When  he  did  use  it,  however,  it  came  down 
with  a  bang  that  everyone  within  hearing  instantly  knew  meant 
decision  and  action.  Once  was  usually  enough.  Then,  too, 
back  of  it  as  it  swung  through  the  air  was  the  tall,  massive 
figure  of  Tom  Reed — enough  of  itself  to  impress. 

Many  a  time  as  I  watched  him  from  the  press  gallery,  he 
towered  so  high  above  all  else  that  he  seemed  out  of  propor- 
tion, even  in  that  spacious  chamber  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives. He  easily  dominated  the  picture  as  he  stood  placidly 
looking  down  upon  defiant  Democrats  crowding  the  'Veil" 
and  the  aisles,  too  excited,  too  exasperated,  to  cope  with  their 
masterful  presiding  officer. 

"DOES  THE  GENTLEMAN  DENY  HE  IS   PRESENT?" 

Reed's  famous  ruling  was  simply  a  denial  of  the  contentions 
of  Democrats — that  a  member  physically  present  in  the  House 
was  merely  a  ghostly  apparition,  not  to  be  counted  as  part 
of  a  quorum  unless  he  so  desires. 

"I  deny  your  right,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  count  me  as  present," 
yelled  a  Democratic  member  rushing  wildly  down  the  aisle, 
his  closed  fist  extended  at  arm's  length  toward  the  Speaker. 

"The  Chair  is  making  a  statement  of  fact  that  the  gentle- 
man is  present,"  responded  Reed  in  a  voice  so  calm  as  to  in- 
furiate the  member  still  further.  "Does  the  gentleman  deny 
it?" 

Of  course,  it  could  not  be  denied,  and  equally,  of  course, 
when  the  Democrats  came  into  control  of  the  next  Congress 
they  adopted  the  Reed  quorum  counting  rule. 

The  Democrats  were  not  exasperated  so  much  by  the  rule 
as  by  its  purpose  to  enact  Republican  legislation.  The  Re- 
publican majority  in  the  House  was  not  more  than  12.  It  was 
necessary,  therefore,  that  the  entire  Republican  membership 
should  be  present  and  voting  if  Republican  measures  were  to 

190 


As  I  Knew  Them 

be  passed.  That,  of  course,  was  impossible,  for  the  sick  and 
necessarily  absent  members  are  numerous.  The  Democratic 
strategy,  therefore,  was  to  demand  the  presence  of  a  quorum, 
and  then  refuse  to  answer  when  the  roll  was  called  to  deter- 
mine whether  a  quorum  was  present.  Without  Democratic 
votes,  a  quorum  could  seldom  be  counted.  These  tactics 
were  called  "filibustering." 

Reed's  ruling  was  no  hap-hazard  affair.  He  foresaw  the 
situation  when  he  took  the  Speaker's  chair,  and  was  prepared 
for  the  first  attempt  at  filibuster.  It  came  when  the  contested 
elections  committee  brought  in  a  report  in  favor  of  seating  a 
Republican  contestant.  The  point  of  "no  quorum"  was  raised. 
More  than  half  the  Democratic  members  remained  silent  while 
the  roll  was  called.  Then  Reed  began  to  count  those  he 
could  see  and  name;  he  ordered  the  clerk  to  enter  them  as 
present.  Many  Democrats  bolted  for  the  doors;  those  who 
remained  to  protest,  however,  were  counted  by  Reed.  They 
were  sufficient  to  make  up  a  quorum. 

THE   ABLEST   DEBATER   IN   CONGRESS  ' 

Thomas  Brackett  Reed  did  not  reach  the  Speaker's  chair 
to  make  this  historic  ruling  without  first  participating  in  many 
battles  in  Congress  in  the  exciting  period  from  the  late  seven- 
ties to  the  close  of  the  last  century.  Those  were  the  days 
of  quick  political  fluctuations,  when  Presidencies  hung  by  the 
slender  plurality  of  a  single  State,  and  Congress  and  Senate 
swung  from  one  party  to  another  like  a  pendulum.  Reed's 
service  began  in  the  House  with  the  extra  session  called  after 
Hayes'  inauguration  in  1877.  He  quickly  won  a  place  in  the 
minds  of  his  colleagues  by  his  clever  cross-examination  of 
Democratic  participants  in  the  Tilden  cipher  dispatches. 

Through  the  next  ten  years  Reed,  now  in  minority,  now  in 
majority,  emerged  steadily  as  the  strongest  debater  in  the 
House.  There  was  no  bitterness  in  his  retorts,  but  there  was  a 

191 


As  I  Knew  Them 

strong,  broad  understanding  and  a  hard  logic  that  his  oppo- 
nents found  difficulty  in  evading. 

Sarcasm  is  the  most  dangerous  weapon  in  all  the  equipment 
of  a  debater.  Like  a  too-heavily  loaded  musket,  it  has  a 
dangerous  recoil.  Yet  Tom  Reed  used  it  freely,  and  was  not  a 
greatly-hated  man.  Some  of  his  closest  personal  friends  were 
on  the  other  side.  Perhaps  his  very  bigness  was  disarming. 
Six  feet  two  or  three*  weighing  well  over  250  pounds,  he 
always  seemed  bigger  than  all  around  him. 

No  Congressional  leader  was  ever  so  perfectly  adapted  to 
the  functions  of  leadership  in  majority  or  minority.  My  judg- 
ment is  that  he  was  the  ablest  debater  the  Republicans  have 
ever  had  in  Congress.  He  never  permitted  himself  to  make 
sharp  rejoinders  without  substance  to  back  them  up,  for, 
above  all,  Reed  was  not  a  superficial  man.  He  knew  the  peril 
of  too  great  brilliance  and  too  little  facts,  and  always  thor- 
oughly prepared  for  debate. 

WHY  REED  URGED  VOTES  FOR  WOMEN 

I  doubt  whether  many  men  who  knew  Reed,  knew  that  he 
favored  woman  suffrage — yet  he  was  among  the  earliest  legis- 
lators to  urge  it.  It  is  interesting  to  read  this  extract  from  a 
Committee  report  written  by  him : 

"It  is  not  surprising  to  find  that  the  reasons  on  which  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  inferiority  of  women  is  urged  are  drawn  almost 
entirely  from  a  tender  consideration  of  their  own  good.  The 
anxiety  felt  lest  they  should  thereby  deteriorate  would  be  an  honor 
to  human  nature  were  it  not  an  historical  fact  that  the  same  sweet 
solicitude  has  been  put  up  as  a  barrier  against  every  progress  women 
have  made  since  civilization  began." 
And  again: 

"No  reason  on  earth  can  be  given  by  those  who  claim  suffrage 
as  a  right  of  manhood  which  does  not  make  it  also  a  right  of 
womanhood." 

When  you  watched  Reed  in  parliamentary  battles  you  had 
to  realize  that  he  was  the  most  forceful  figure  on  the  Repub- 

192 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Iican  side,  and  the  man  whom  the  opposition  most  dreaded  to 
arouse  to  verbal  combat.  A  response  to  Congressman 
Springer,  the  Democratic  leader  from  Illinois,  has  been  so 
often  quoted  in  some  form  as  to  be  almost  too  familiar  for 
repetition,  but  perhaps  it  will  bear  repeating  for  those  not  so 
long  on  the  highways  of  life  as  some  of  us  have  been. 

NEVER  BE  RIGHT  OR  PRESIDENT 

Springer  was  known  as  "Bounding  Bill"  Springer.  He  was 
one  of  the  few  members  whom  Reed  thoroughly  disliked. 

During  a  debate  Springer  declared  that  'like  Henry  Clay 
I  would  rather  be  right  than  be  President." 

uThe  gentleman  need  give  himself  no  uneasiness/1  inter- 
rupted Reed  with  that  New  England  drawl  that  gave  a  peculiar 
emphasis  to  his  words.  "He  will  never  be  either." 

As  widely  known  in  political  circles  is  Reed's  saying  UA 
statesman  is  a  successful  politician  who  is  dead,"  but  not  so 
widely  known  is  this  story  once  told  by  Senator  Lodge  in  a 
magazine  article.  A  newspaper  editor  telegraphed  Reed 
"Why  don't  you  die  and  become  a  statesman?"  To  which 
he  responded:  "No.  Fame  is  the  last  infirmity  of  a  noble 
mind." 

When  the  1896  convention  gave  him  only  85  votes  for 
President,  Reed  made  up  his  mind  to  abandon  public  life.  He 
had  given  20  years  to  it,  he  was  poor,  and  he  was  now  with- 
out hope  of  greater  distinction.  The  Republicans  re-elected 
him  Speaker,  but  his  heart  was  no  longer  in  a  political  career. 
He  served  his  term  out  and  then  accepting  the  advice  of  his 
friend,  Augustus  G.  Paine,  went  to  New  York  city  to  practice 
law;  four  years  later  he  died. 

INGALLS,  THE  BRILLIANT  SENATOR  FROM  KANSAS 

There  were  many  interesting  characters  in  that  Congress 
besides  Tom  Reed.  One  I  knew  well  was  as  picturesque  as 

193 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Reed  and  as  interesting  in  debate,  though  a  contrast  with  him 
physically — John  J.  Ingalls,  Senator  from  Kansas  and  for 
four  years  president  pro  tempore  of  the  Senate.  Reed  weighed 
almost  twice  as  much  as  Ingalls,  whose  slim  body  was  topped 
with  a  head  broad  and  high  at  the  forehead,  narrow  at  the 
back  and  chin ;  his  large  eyes  hidden  by  thick  round  spectacles  ; 
his  nervous  energy  exceeded  his  physical  strength.  He  had 
none  of  Reed's  complacency;  nor  was  he  so  sound  in  his  think- 
ing. Ingalls  was  the  slave  of  his  eloquence;  Reed  was  always 
the  master  of  his.  Ingalls  used  brilliant  phrases  because  he 
liked  the  flow  of  language;  Reed  used  them  only  when  they 
expressed  some  purpose  more  pointedly  than  other  words 
would.  Ingalls  went  down  in  the  16  to  I  tornado — swept  off 
his  feet  and  into  the  Bryan  camp,  whence  he  never  emerged 
politically. 

THE  DECALOGUE  HAS  NO  PLACE  IN  POLITICS 

When  Ingalls  spoke  in  the  Senate  the  country  always 
listened,  but  nothing  he  ever  uttered  there  equalled  in  atten- 
tion an  article  he  contributed  to  the  New  York  World  in  1890 
in  which  he  declared  that  the  "purification  of  politics  is  an 
iridescent  dream."  The  article  provoked  a  storm  of  denuncia- 
tion. Thirty-five  years  later  we  are  still  facing,  astounding 
primary  expenditures  totalling  over  a  million  dollars.  Though 
the  Senate  unseats  a  Newberry  from  Michigan  and  a  Clark 
from  Montana — and  hesitates  to  admit  a  Vare  from  Pennsyl- 
vania and  a  Smith  from  Illinois — as  a  penalty  for  spending  too 
much  money,  the  dollar  continues  to  figure  conspicuously  in 
the  rivalries  of  politics. 

Hopeless  to  stop  it?  I  do  not  think  so,  but  I  must  quote 
against  my  faith  the  Ingalls  talk — the  most  remarkable  inter- 
view ever  printed  on  the  subject  of  politics,  particularly  as  it 
came  from  the  then  President  of  the  Senate.  Let  us  think 
back  to  1890,  and  ask  with  how  much  truth  Ingalls  saw  into 
the  future  : 

194 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"The  purification  of  politics  is  an  iridescent  dream.  Govern- 
ment is  force.  Politics  is  a  battle  for  supremacy.  Parties  are  the 
armies.  The  Decalogue  and  the  Golden  Rule  have  no  place  In  a 
political  campaign.  The  object  is  success.  To  defeat  the  antagon- 
ist and  expel  the  party  in  power  is  the  purpose. 

"The  Republicans  and  Democrats  are  as  irreconcilably  opposed 
to  each  other  as  were  Grant  and  Lee  in  the  Wilderness.  They  use 
ballots  instead  of  guns,  but  the  struggle  is  as  unrelenting  and 
desperate  and  the  result  sought  for  the  same. 

"In  war  it  is  lawful  to  deceive  the  adversary,  to  hire  Hessians, 
to  purchase  mercenaries,  to  mutilate,  to  destroy.  The  commander 
who  lost  the  battle  through  the  activity  of  his  moral  nature  would 
be  the  derision  and  jest  of  history. 

"This  modern  cant  about  the  corruption  of  politics  is  fatiguing 
in  the  extreme.  It  proceeds  from  tea-custard  and  syllabub  dilet- 
tanteism  and  frivolous  sentimentalismu" 


195 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
"FOUR  YEARS  MORE  FOR  GROVER" 

Cleveland  Not  A  Party  Leader — The  White  House  The  Loneliest 
Place  In  Washington — The  Tariff  And  Money  Battles — A  "Cam- 
paign of  Education"  That  Democrats  Did  Not  Want — The  Populist 
Deal  By  Which  Cleveland  Withdrew  From  Many  Western  States — 
Four  Years  Of  Party  Strife,  Then  The  Chaos  Of  1896— What  Might 
Have  Been — Gorman's  Withering  Arraignment  Of  Cleveland. 

"Grover,     Grover,    Four    Years 

More  For   Grover! 
In  We  Go — Out  They  Go 
Soon  We'll  Be  In  Clover!" 

— Song  of  the  1892  Campaign 

TN  the  story  of  Cleveland  just  advanced  from  the  New  York 
•*•  Governorship  to  the  Presidency  in  1884-85  I  endeavored 
to  give  the  reader  a  picture  of  the  Cleveland  whom  I  found 
in  Albany  waiting  the  day  when  he  was  to  take  the  oath  of 
office  as  President,  also  the  first  years  of  his  Washington  ex- 
perience. He  plainly  showed  his  baffled  spirit.  Like  all  other 
Presidents,  his  greatest  exasperations  were  the  pleadings  of 
place-hunters.  With  Cleveland  they  were  at  their  worst. 
Democrats  had  grown  old  without  a  chance  for  national  office. 

Here  was  their  long-waited  opportunity.  They  had  their 
eyes  on  March  4,  1885,  as  keenly  as  horse  jockeys  watch  the 
starter's  flag.  They  expected,  they  insisted  upon,  a  clean 
sweep  of  all  Republicans.  In  two  years  Cleveland  gave  them 
all  save  8,000  of  the  57,000  appointive  places.  When  he 
first  took  up  this  monumental  task,  he  frequently  said  he  was 
sick  at  heart  at  the  conflicts. 

"The  d d  everlasting  clatter  for  office  continues/'  he 

wrote,  at  one  time,  later  on,  "and  makes  me  feel  like  resigning 
and  hell  is  to  pay  generally."  There  was  no  way  to  satisfy  all, 
but  for  a  President  idolized  by  civil  service  reformers  and 

196 


As  I  Knew  Them 

professing  to  share  their  views  his  two  years'  record  was  a 
swift  one. 

Had  Cleveland's  career  ended  when  he  handed  the  Presi- 
dency over  to  Benjamin  Harrison  in  1889,  he  would  have 
been  remembered,  of  course,  as  the  first  Democratic  President 
in  the  White  House  since  Buchanan,  but  I  doubt  if  there  would 
have  been  much  else  for  fame  to  make  note  of. 

His  antagonism  to  legislation  passed  by  a  Democratic 
House  and  a  Republican  Senate  was  the  conspicuous  feature 
of  his  Administration.  Out  of  1649  bills  sent  him  by  the 
Forty-ninth  Congress,  going  out  of  office  with  him  in  1889, 
he  vetoed  145,  allowed  167  to  become  law  without  his  sig- 
nature, and  left  55  unsigned  (and  therefore  dead)  after 
adjournment, — 364  out  of  1649  failed  of  approval  by  him. 
No  other  President  has  such  a  record  of  opposition  to  Con- 
gress. 

Four  years  is  too  brief  to  accomplish  much  at  Washington 
— certainly  too  brief  for  a  man  with  no  national  background 
and  no  national  associations.  Cleveland  had  less  preparation 
for  his  new  responsibilities  than  almost  any  other  man  ever 
elected  to  the  Presidency.  He  had  hardly  "found  himself" 
before  his  term  was  over. 

I  have  always  held  that  Cleveland's  broader  outlook  on 
national  questions  came  to  him  between  his  first  and  second 
terms,  while  his  mind  was  free  of  official  harassments.  He 
could  then  look  back  upon  his  Administration  as  one  does  on  a 
speech  already  made  and  think  how  he  could  soar  beyond  it, 
if  given  another  chance.  He  sought  and  got  that  chance. 

"WE  LOVE  HIM  FOR  THE  ENEMIES  HE  HAS  MADE" 

I  do  not  say  that  Cleveland  did  not  grow  during  his  first 
four  years.  He  did — steadily — except  in  his  ability  to  hold 
his  party  back  of  him  and  to  tolerate  differences  of  opinion. 
He  was  never  able  to  do  either.  He  failed  completely  in  both 
respects  while  Governor  of  New  York  and  while  President — 

197 


As  I  Knew  Them 

most  completely  in  his  second  term,  when  earlier  experience 
should  have  modified  instead  of  emphasized  that  weakness. 

His  champions  made  a  virtue  of  this  inability.  We  still 
hear  echoes  of  the  boast  epitomized  by  General  Bragg,  of 
Wisconsin,  in  the  Democratic  National  Convention  in  Chicago 
in  1888  :  "We  love  him  for  the  enemies  he  has  made."  It  is 
significant  of  the  highly  personal  application  of  Bragg's  re- 
mark that  as  he  uttered  it  from  the  platform  he  looked 
directly  into  the  faces  of  the  Tammany  delegation  seated  in 
the  front  rows  of  the  convention. 

In  some  capable  minds  it  is  still  debatable  whether  Cleve- 
land's place  at  present  in  history  is  not  largely  for  the  Bragg 
reason.  For  we  must  not  forget  that  certain  characteristics, 
while  commendable,  lead  only  to  disaster  and  defeat — to 
objects  not  attained,  though  battled  for  heroically.  We  may 
applaud  their  courage  while  we  question  their  wisdom. 

The  qualities  of  true  leadership  have  their  certifying  clauses 
in  achievement.  Cleveland  had  fine  purpose,  a  deep  apprecia- 
tion of  his  responsibilities  as  President,  but,  judged  by  actual 
achievement,  his  career  is  a  career  of  courageous  failure,  ex- 
cept on  two  measures — the  repeal  of  the  silver  purchase  law 
and  his  famous  controversy  with  England. 

Let  us  survey  the  record,  as  results  reveal  it. 

ALWAYS  A  DWINDLING  PARTY  COLUMN 

In  1885,  Cleveland,  elected  President,  found  his  party  in 
control  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  They  were  then 
hopeful  of  the  Senate  also.  Two  years  later  control  of  the 
House  was  almost  lost;  another  two  years  and  the  Presidency 
as  well  as  both  Houses  of  Congress  were  lost.  Democratic 
leaders  warned  him  against  taking  the  course  that  led  to  de- 
feat, but  he  took  it. 

In  1893,  again  elected  President,  Cleveland  found  his  party 
in  control  of  our  national  government,  lock,  stock  and  barrel. 
In  less  than  a  year  it  was  involved  in  such  bitter  factional 

198 


As  I  Knew  Them 

strife  over  his  recommendations  that  defeat  was  inevitable  in 
the  Congress  elections  of  1894;  *n  another  twelvemonth,  a 
majority  of  Democrats  in  both  houses  of  Congress  were  out 
of  sympathy  with  their  President,  to  state  it  mildly,  and  in 
the  national  Democratic  convention  of  1896  almost  a  two- 
thirds  vote  was  recorded  against  platform  indorsement  of  his 
Administration.  Instead  the  platform  made  Ui6  to  i"  its 
central  plank,  and  took  issue  against  practically  every  Cleve- 
land policy.  The  one  thing  left  the  President  was  to  labor 
for  the  defeat  of  the  candidate  his  party  had  named  as  his 
successor — and  that  he  did. 

Now,  you  may  say  that  Grover  Cleveland  was  a  resolute, 
almost  heroic  figure  in  the  White  House ;  that  he  made  a  great 
battle  for  sound  money  despite  his  party,  and  I  agree  most 
cordially;  but  you  cannot  get  away  from  the  logic  of  the  facts 
recorded  in  the  two  paragraphs  just  preceding  this  one,  when 
estimating  Cleveland  as  a  leader  of  men.  He  was  not  such 
a  leader. 

You  cannot  make  a  leader  out  of  one  who  is  constantly 
arraigning  those  who  differ  with  him ;  constantly  complaining 
of  his  burdens  and  lamenting  the  loss  of  support — particularly 
support  that  frequently  he  might  have  obtained  through  con- 
ference without  serious  compromise. 

A  leader's  function  is  to  attract  followers,  not  to  repulse 
them.  In  government  by  parties  such  as  our  government  is, 
results  are  essential  to  successful  leadership.  Without  suc- 
cesses to  give  your  leadership  authority  you  face  chaos,  the 
chaos  that  tore  the  Democratic  party  apart  while  Cleveland 
was  President. 

Though  callers  at  the  White  House  were  few  during  Cleve- 
land's first  term  there  was  little  comment  about  their  scarcity, 
but  it  became  a  common  saying  during  his  second  term  that 
the  White  House  was  the  loneliest  place  in  Washington,  espe- 
cially during  the  last  two  years. 

This  isolation  was  due  to  some  extent  to  his  separation  from 
so  many  party  leaders,  yet  not  wholly  so.  There  were  many 


As  I  Knew  Them 

supporters  of  the  President's  policies  among  Democrats  in 
both  branches  of  Congress,  but  not  many  callers  at  the  White 
House. 

EDUCATION  THAT  DEMOCRATS  DID  NOT  WANT 

It  was  in  this  second  term,  however,  this  period  of  greatest 
isolation,  that  many  Republican  writers  like  myself  were  sup- 
porting his  silver  purchase  repeal  bill;  his  persistent  but  vain 
appeals  for  other  sound  money  legislation;  his  stand  to  make 
Debs  and  the  railway  strikers  realize  that  the  Government  is 
supreme ;  and  lastly  his  arousing  notice  to  England  apropos  of 
Venezuela's  boundaries.  He  then  revealed  to  many  people 
the  character  that  had  come  to  the  surface  only  infrequently 
from  1885  to  1889. 

In  1893  we  saw  a  more  developed  Cleveland  than  the  Cleve- 
land entering  the  White  House  in  1885.  We  saw  a  President 
who  no  longer  planned  and  moved  with  the  caution  of  inexperi- 
ence, the  dread  of  bog  lands  under  him.  I  would  never  accuse 
Cleveland  of  having  dreams;  he  was  too  phlegmatic  for 
dreams;  but  in  1893,  as  he  looked  into  the  next  four  years,  his 
intense  partisanship  must  have  stirred  him  to  plans  of  great 
party  achievement.  The  executive,  legislative  and  judicial 
branches  of  the  government  were  Democratic  for  the  first 
time  in  half  a  century.  Opportunity  and  responsibility  were 
theirs.  Cleveland,  assuming  party  leadership,  struck  out 
boldly  for  the  things  he  believed  in — accompanied,  as  usual, 
with  much  lamentation  to  his  friends  as  to  his  burdens. 

"I  look  upon  the  four  years  next  to  come  as  a  self-Inflicted 
penance  for  the  good  of  my  country,"  he  wrote.  "I  see  nc 
pleasure  in  it." 

"A  campaign  of  education,"  remarked  Senator  Calvin  S, 
Brice,  his  national  chairman,  of  the  Cleveland  programme, 

Unfortunately  for  Cleveland's  hopes  the  Democratic 
party  did  not  want  education — certainly  not  the  education  he 
sought  to  impose  upon  it  nor  his  way  of  educating  it.  "Per- 

200 


As  I  Knew  Them 

haps  he'll  be  able  to  break  that  team  of  wild  horses  to  har- 
ness,"  was  the  quiet  comment  of  ex-President  Harrison  as  he 
looked  over  the  membership  of  the  two  Democratic  Houses  of 
Congress.  He  couldn't.  They  made  ribbons  of  the  harness 
and  kicked  the  buggy  into  splinters. 
It  was  certain  they  would  do  so. 

THE  CLEVELAND-POPULIST  BARGAIN 

How  could  there  have  been  any  other  outcome  of  the  1892 
campaign  than  a  Democratic  party  controlled  by  Populists, 
soon  to  be  rechristened  "Bryanites"? 

I  have  never  been  able  to  reconcile  the  talk  of  Cleveland's 
rigid  adherence  to  principle  with  his  acquiescence  in  the  cam- 
paign "deal"  by  which  in  nine  of  the  then  fourteen  States  west 
of  the  Mississippi  Democratic  voters  were  authoritatively 
directed  in  1892  to  cast  their  ballots  for  General  James  B. 
Weaver,  the  Populist  and  Free  Silver  candidate  for  President. 

The  Cleveland  ticket  was  officially  withdrawn  from  five  of 
those  States;  in  four  others  it  was  informally  abandoned. 
The  purpose,  of  course,  was  to  insure  the  defeat  of  Harrison 
electors  even  at  the  cost  of  giving  impetus  to  the  Populist 
movement;  and  it  succeeded  in  both  respects  too  well,  though 
Harrison  defeated  the  combination  in  seven  States. 

THE  SOCKLESS   "jERRYn  SIMPSON 

In  all  that  vast  territory,  Cleveland  secured  only  one  elector 
in  Oregon  and  eight  of  the  nine  in  California.  Weaver  had 
twenty-two  electors ;  also  there  were  elected  by  the  combina- 
tion many  Populist  Congressmen  of  the  type  of  "Sockless" 
Jerry  Simpson,  of  Kansas,  and  of  Peffer,  whom  Kansas  had 
elected  to  the  Senate.  Peffer  became  famous  because  of  his 
abundant  whiskers,  Simpson  because  in  his  campaign  he  gloried 
in  the  absence  of  socks. 

Wherever  he  went  in  his  stumping  tour  he  made  much  of 

201 


As  I  Knew  Them 

the  poverty  stricken  condition  of  the  people  and  used  his  own 
plight  as  an  example.  "Why,  we  can't  even  afford  to  buy  socks 
for  ourselves!17  he  would  cry  and  to  bear  witness  to  this  sad 
plight  he  would  kick  off  his  shoes. 

THE  PURPOSE  OF  THE  POPULIST  DEAL 

The  theory  of  the  Populist  deal  was  that  the  first  purpose 
of  the  Cleveland  campaign*  should  be  to  prevent  Harrison 
from  securing  a  majority  of  electoral  votes  even  though  Cleve- 
land also  failed  to  do  so.  Jn  the  event  that  no  candidate  had 
a  majority  the  election  would  be  thrown  into  the  House  of 
Representatives,  then  overwhelmingly  Democratic.  The 
Democrats  knew  that  Cleveland  could  not  carry  the  West, — 
that  the  only  hope  for  depriving  Harrison  of  electoral  votes 
from  that  section  was  to  withdraw  Cleveland,  and  urge  Demo- 
crats out  there  to  support  Weaver.  If  Weaver  could  win  the 
West,  there  were  not  enough  votes  in  the  East  for  Harrison 
possibly  to  get  a  majority  in  the  Electoral  College.  That  is 
the  kind  of  political  manipulation  that,  though  it  often  attains 
its  purpose,  as  it  did  in  this  case,  always  carries  reprisals,  as 
it  also  did  in  this  case. 

Neither  Cleveland  nor  his  managers  got  the  larger  con- 
ception of  the  result  of  having  Democrats  vote  the  Populist 
ticket.  They  did  not  foresee  the  inevitable  wreck  of  the 
Democratic  party  throughout  that  vast  section  of  the  country; 
nor  of  the  influence  on  the  party  in  Congress  of  so  many 
Populist  members  whom  Democratic  voters  had  been  told  to 
help  elect.  I  made  a  tour  of  some  of  the  western  States  during 
the  campaign.  Nowhere  could  you  hear  any  other  comment 
on  that  deal  than  that  the  Democratic  party  "had  gone  Popu- 
list." That  indeed  was  truth,  and  no  man  was  more  respon- 
sible for  it  than  Cleveland,  for  he  was  the  candidate,  with- 
drawn. 

No  great  political  party  ever  sold  itself  so  boldly  and  com- 
pletely to  achieve  campaign  victory;  nor  has  any  Presidential 

202 


As  I  Knew  Them 

candidate  ever  consented,  as  Cleveland  consented,  to  his  own 
elimination  in  so  many  States. 

Never  since  that  surrender  of  party  standards,  now  thirty- 
five  years  past,  have  the  Democrats  regained  their  former 
standing  in  the  West.  In  many  sections  their  shattered  party 
is  still  only  a  .feeble  Farm-Labor  creature.  That  Cleveland- 
Weaver  compact  was  a  shroud  which  Democrats  have  yet  to 
unwind  from  the  body  of  their  party. 

Naturally,  the  Populists  were  made  hopeful  of  greater  vic- 
tories by  the  1892  results.  They  grew  in  the  Democratic  party 
like  weeds  in  a  neglected  garden.  Cleveland  had  no  right  to 
expect  a  Congress  so  elected  to  favor  his  policies.  The  Pop- 
ulists argued  that  since  the  Democratic  candidate  had  given 
way  to  them  in  the  campaign  why  should  he  hold  against  them 
in  legislation? 

REPEALING  THE  SILVER  PURCHASE  LAW 

The  storm  that  Cleveland  aroused  when  he  determined 
to  repeal  the  Silver  Purchase  law  was  made  doubly  furious 
by  this  feeling.  And  it  surely  was  a  storm — none  like  it  in  all 
the  passionate  conflicts  between  President  and  Congress,  not 
even  Andrew  Johnson's  impeachment  troubles  in  1868. 

Evidences  of  a  demoralized  industrial  condition  through 
the  country  were  plain.  Manufacturers  realized  that  the 
McKinley  tariff  was  to  be  displaced  by  a  new  law.  In  the 
transition  period  they  curtailed  production.  Unemployment 
increased.  The  weakest  point,  of  course,  was  the  first  to  feel 
the  strain,  and  the  weakest  point  was  the  Treasury's  diminish- 
ing supply  of  gold. 

President  Hayes,  when  he  vainly  vetoed  the  Bland  bill  in 
1878,  had  forecast  this  very  situation.  Nevertheless,  Con- 
gress after  Congress  stood  by  the  measure.  In  1890  John 
Sherman  saw  that  he  could  modify,  though  not  repeal  it.  He 
took  the  half  loaf.  Hence  the  Sherman  silver  purchase  law. 
But  modification  was  no  cure.  The  evil  still  existed.  A  silver 

203 


As  I  Knew  Them 

dollar  worth  less  than  90  cents  was  not  wanted  when  a  gold 
dollar  worth  100  cents  could  be  demanded.  As  industrial 
distress  became  more  acute  everybody  sought  safety  in  the 
more  precious  metal.  The  Treasury  could  not  stand  the 
drain.  There  was  just  one  way  for  our  government  to  escape 
being  forced  to  a  silver  basis — that  was  to  stop  the  purchase 
of  silver.  The  Sherman  Law  had  to  go ! 

WHY  CLEVELAND  WENT  FISHING 

Cleveland  acted  promptly.  He  called  an  extra  session  of 
Congress,  told  his  party  frankly  the  government's  plight  and 
urged  immediate  repeal  of  the  law.  Then,  if  not  before,  he 
must  have  realized  the  consequence  of  his  Populist  campaign 
deal.  The  Democratic  party — or  that  portion  of  it  ready  to 
respond  to  his  call — was  not  in  a  majority  in  Congress.  Popu- 
lists and  Populist  Democrats  were ! 

"I  have  a  Congress  on  my  hands,"  wrote  Cleveland  despair- 
ingly when  the  extra  session  he  had  called  began  its  turbulent 
career.  A  few  days  later,  he  exasperated  Congress  by  going 
to  Buzzard's  Bay,  professedly  to  fish  while  his  party  was  in 
the  throes  of  strife  over  his  proposal. 

It  was  characteristic  of  Cleveland  to  remain  silent  as  to  the 
real  reason  for  his  absence.  Actually  he  had  left  Washington 
to  recover  strength  following  a  serious  operation,  secretly  per- 
formed on  the  roof  of  his  mouth  early  in  July.  It  was  done  on 
board  E.  C.  Benedict's  yacht  in  the  Hudson  River. 

His  doctors  knew  he  could  not  stand  Washington  heat. 
They  had  ordered  him  to  Buzzard's  Bay.  Not  for  a  year 
afterward  did  the  public  hear  the  story  of  his  intense  suffering. 

Cleveland's  absence,  however,  really  had  no  effect  on  the 
struggle  in  Congress.  Open  revolt  had  followed  his  message. 

Democratic  leaders,  unwilling  or  unable  to  furnish  the 
necessary  votes,  urged  him  to  give  up  the  fight.  He  defied 
them  and  turned  to  Republicans  to  pass  the  bill  for  him.  They 
did,  though  their  party  ranks  split  over  it,  too. 

204 


As  I  Knew  Them 

A  PRESIDENT  WITHOUT  A  PARTY 

All  this  occurred  between  March  and  November  1893 — 
the  first  six  months  following  his  inauguration.  Effective 
party  unity  in  Congress  was  thereafter  hopeless.  If  he  was 
not  then  a  President  without  a  party,  he  surely  became  one 
a  year  later  following  his  vain  struggle  with  the  Wilson- 
Gorman  tariff  bill. 

By  acquiescence,  Cleveland  had  joined  with  Populists  to 
secure  election;  by  direct  appeal  he  had  joined  with  Repub- 
licans to  secure  legislation;  politically  he  was  in  No  Man's 
Land;  his  leadership  was  ignored;  his  party  went  its  way 
regardless  of  his  wishes.  Yet  he  stood  out  on  the  nation's 
horizon  a  strong  virile  figure,  with  the  kind  of  rugged  deter- 
mination that  people  admire. 

That  sound  money  struggle  with  his  party  in  Congress,  as 
relentless  on  Cleveland's  part  as  it  was  futile,  continued 
through  his  entire  four  years'  term.  It  was  won  finally  not  in 
his  own  party  but  in  the  Republican  convention  of  1896!  Its 
history,  written  in  his  messages,  will  remain  as  Cleveland's 
clearest  title  to  statesmanship  as  well  as  to  the  gratitude  of 
his  country. 

FIGHTING  FOR  THE  NATION'S  CREDIT 

Despite  repeated  rebuffs  he  sent  one  appeal  after  another  to 
Congress,  always  sounding  the  note  of  national  integrity, 
arousing  the  people  to  the  evils  of  a  free  silver  policy.  His 
party  would  not  listen.  Vote  after  vote  in  Congress  went 
against  him.  Read  one  of  his  last  appeals  to  the  Democratic 
majority  to  reunite  behind  him.  On  December  20,  1895, 
(while  Congress  and  country  were  applauding  his  Venezuelan 

message)  he  wrote: 

• 

"We  are  In  the  midst  of  another  session  of  perplexity  caused  by 
our  dangerous  and  fatuous  financial  operations. 

"The  Executive  Branch  of  the  government  will  not  relax  its 

205 


As  I  Knew  Them 

efforts  nor  abandon  its  determination  to  use  every  means  within 
its  reach  to  maintain  before  the  world  American  credit. 

"I  have  ventured  to  express  herein  the  hope  that  the  Congress 
will  not  take  a  recess  before  it  has  by  legislative  enactment  done 
something  ...  to  assure  the  world  that  ...  the  ability  and  de- 
termination of  our  nation  to  meet  in  any  circumstances  every  obli- 
gation it  incurs  do  not  admit  of  question." 

But  Congress,  not  then  a  Democratic  Congress,  recessed 
as  usual  for  its  Christmas  holiday  and  did  nothing ! 

TOO  LATE!  TOO  LATE!  TOO  LATE! 

Cleveland  realized  his  plight.  He  accepted  it  stoically.  He 
saw  his  party  more  and  more  enmeshed  in  Populism.  Know- 
ing his  whole  Administration  would  be  sacrificed  should  he 
fight  it,  he  fought  it  anyway. 

"If  Populism  is  to  control,"  he  said  to  George  F.  Parker, 
"it  is  our  duty  to  stand  by  our  guns  and  let  the  party  go." 

Too  late !    Too  late !    Too  late ! 

If  only  Cleveland  had  so  declared  in  1892  when  his  cam- 
paign managers  made  their  bargain  with  the  Populists  by 
which  Weaver,  not  Cleveland,  became  the  candidate  of  Demo- 
cratic voters  in  so  many  States;  if  only  he  had  "stood  by  our 
guns"  then;  if  he  had  taken  such  a  stand  as  Alton  B.  Parker 
took  in  1904  whiga^Parker  found  himself  nominated  for  Presi- 
dent by  tKe"(Kansas  City  convention  on  a  platform  which  on 
the  money  isOTe-sfttifffed  the  delegates  because  it  said  nothing. 
Only  silence  could  have  their  unanimous  consent!  So  their 
platform  was  silent.  The  one  man  from  whom  no  protest  was 
anticipated  was  Parker,  the  nominee.  Bryan  had  been  as- 
sailing him  as  a  candidate  urged  upon  the  convention  because 
he  had  no  opinions. 

PARKER'S  COURAGEOUS  TELEGRAM 

Parker  nominated,  however,  staggered  convention  leaders 
with  a  telegram  showing  an  emphatic  opinion  on  the  issue 

206 


As  I  Knew  Them 

closest  to  Bryan.  The  convention  had  not  yet  adjourned. 
The  Bryanites  demanded  a  new  candidate,  but  a  courageous 
stand  always  wins  in  politics  as  in  all  else,  and  it  won  then. 
They  couldn't  escape  Parker.  In  political  history  his  telegram 
has  no  parallel  for  courage. 
Here  it  is: 

"I  regard  the  gold  standard  as  firmly  and  Irrevocably  established, 
and  shall  act  accordingly  if  the  action  of  the  convention  today  shall 
be  ratified  by  the  people.  As  the  platform  is  silent  on  the  subject, 
my  view  should  be  made  known  to  the  convention,  and  if  it  is 
proved  to  be  unsatisfactory  to  the  majority,  I  request  you  to  decline 
the  nomination  for  me  at  once,  so  that  another  may  be  nominated 
before  adjournment." 

That  message  sounded  the  death-knell  of  "16  to  i"  as  an 
issue  in  any  campaign  in  this  country.  Silver  has  never  since 
been  heard  from. 

WHERE  CLEVELAND  LOST  OPPORTUNITY 

Just  such  an  opportunity  came  to  Cleveland  in  that  1892 
campaign  to  stifle  Populism  within  his  party  by  a  similarly 
bold  declaration,  and  thus  keep  the  Democratic  party  free  of 
its  strangle  hold ! 

Ask  those  who  know  their  Cleveland  far  more  intimately 
than  I  knew  him — (though  I  have  fairly  good  knowledge  of 
the  man) — how  he  could  remain  silent  when  he  found  him- 
self officially  taken  from  the  ballot  as  a  presidential  candidate 
in  five  States  and  unofficially,  in  four  other  States; — his 
candidacy  abandoned  in  fact  in  the  West  so  that  Populists 
might  win  there. 

Contrast  his  complaining  letters  about  his  coming  burdens, 
his  acceptance  of  the  Presidency  as  a  "self-inflicted  penance," 
with  acquiescence  in  his  effacement  in  so  many  States^  in  order 
that  the  Populist  presidential  candidate  and  Populist  Senators 

207 


As  I  Knew  Them 

and  Congressmen  might  triumph  over  Republicans,  since  his 
own  party  could  not!  Contrast  his  willingness  to  bring  about 
such  a  result,  with  his  declared  antagonism  to  Populism;  then 
try  to  reconcile  the  two ! 

WHAT  MIGHT  HAVE  BEEN 

Had  Cleveland  promptly  denounced  and  repudiated  that 
"deal" ;  had  he  risen  above  partisan  desire  to  defeat  Repub- 
licans, no  matter  how  it  was  done;  had  he  declared  that  he  did 
not  desire  election  by  surrendering  party  standards  in  any 
State,  the  country  would  have  risen  to  his  candidacy  over- 
whelmingly. By  such  a  declaration  he  would  have  engaged  in 
debate  with  his  party  before  the  people,  where  he  was  sure  to 
win,  instead  of  in  Congress,  where  he  finally  had  to  battle,  and, 
where,  in  the  circumstances,  he  was  sure  to  lose. 

Had  he  done  this  there  might  have  been  no  "cross  of  gold" 
speech  four  years  later  in  the  1896  Democratic  convention, 
and  Grover  Cleveland  might  have  been  throughout  his  second 
term  the  accepted  leader  of  a  united  party!  Instead,  four 
years  later  he  had  to  aid  in  the  triumph  of  the  Republican 
party,  the  party  he  hated  intensely,  because  his  own  party 
organization  had  been  shattered,  for  above  all  else  he  could 
not  permit  Populism  to  achieve  the  success  his  own  course  in 
1892  had  encouraged  its  spokesman  to  seek. 

The  like  of  that  opportunity  in  1892  seldom  comes  to  any 
man  and  is  even  more  rarely  seized.  It  never  came  to  Cleve- 
land again — he  was  never  again  the  master  of  such  a  situation. 
As  President  he  could  not  dominate,  and  he  did  not  know  how 
to  persuade.  His  messages  to  Congress  had  the  status  of 
recommendations  to  a  body  of  coordinate  power,  well  aware 
that  it  derived  its  authority  from  the  people  precisely  as  he 
himself  did,  and  jealous  of  its  equal  right  to  interpret  its  in- 
structions. This  the  combination  of  Democrats  and  Populists 
in  Congress  proceeded  to  do. 

208 


As  I  Knew  Them 

A  DESPERATE,   FUTILE  STRUGGLE 

Cleveland's  messages  on  money  and  the  tariff  were  always 
candid  and  vigorous;  also  they  were  provocative  of  bitter  de- 
nunciation. On  several  occasions  I  sat  in  the  press  gallery 
of  Congress  and  heard  the  jeers  of  Democrats,  then  half- 
turned  Bryanites,  as  they  listened  to  his  words. 

But  his  formal  messages  aroused  less  resentment  than  his 
personal  letters  to  Congressmen  Wilson,  Catchings  and 
others;  letters  written  to  be  read  on  the  floor  of  the  House, 
arraigning  those  Democratic  Senators  who  did  not  agree  with 
his  tariff  bill. 

The  struggle  to  force  Congress  to  yield  to  him  grew  steadily 
more  desperate,  and  more  hopeless.  In  that  period  Cleveland 
showed  his  lack  in  leadership.  On  not  a  single  issue  did  he 
win  his  party  to  his  views.  He  did  not  know  how  to  mollify 
opposition.  Antagonism  was  embittered  if  not  increased  by 
his  methods.  He  knew  how  to  ustick  to  his  guns,"  however, 
and  he  did  that  resolutely.  He  would  have  voted  for  McKin- 
ley  as  his  successor  if  the  Palmer  and  Buckner  ticket  (the 
Gold  Democratic  ticket)  had  not  offered  him  a  way  to  defeat 
Bryan,  and  yet  remain  on  record  as  a  Democrat. 

In  those  four  baffling,  humiliating,  disheartening  years 
Cleveland  made  his  place  in  history.  Though  he  faced  vicious 
opposition  from  his  party  leaders,  he  did  not  flinch.  He  met 
defiance  with  defiance.  He  labored  along  day  by  day,  hope- 
fully waiting  not  for  his  party's  candidate  to  succeed  him  but 
for  his  party's  rival. 

"We  must  let  the  party  go  1"  he  declared. 

It  reads  well  in  print,  as  we  read  it  today,  but  there  was 
nothing  to  the  utterance  when  it  was  made.  The  party  had 
then  deserted  him.  No  wonder  he  wrote  after  he  left  the 
White  House  in  1897:  "I  am  tired  of  abuse.  I  am  going 
to  know  now  how  it  feels  to  be  really  a  sovereign,  for  that  is 
what  every  American  citizen  is." 

209 


As  I  Knew  Them 

NO  PRESIDENT  BIGGER  THAN  HIS  PARTY 

No  President  has  yet  succeeded  in  making  himself  bigger 
than  his  party;  Van  Buren,  Tyler  and  Wilson  tried  it  and 
failed;  though  Lincoln  was  sorely  tempted  on  several  occa- 
sions— even  in  his  own  Cabinet — he  knew  that  unity  was 
essential  for  the  success  of  his  great  purpose,  and  he  sub- 
ordinated all,  even  himself,  to  that  success.  A  President  can- 
not stick  to  his  own  policy  "if  he  is  the  only  man  in  the  coun- 
try to  do  so,"  as  Cleveland  told  Carlisle  of  his  "free  wool" 
message — that  is,  he  cannot  do  so  and  expect  his  party  to  re- 
main with  him. 

The  party  that  elects  him  and  to  whose  platform  policies  he 
pledges  himself  has  the  right  of  a  community  of  interest 
Cleveland  never  recognized  that  right. 

Elaine  in  his  "Twenty  Years  of  Congress"  speaking  of 
Andrew  Johnson's  fate  wrote:  uAt  least  twice  before  in  the 
history  of  the  Federal  Government  it  has  been  demonstrated 
that  a  President  who  for  any  cause  runs  counter  to  the  views 
and  wishes  of  the  party  that  elected  him  is  doomed  to  dis- 
appointment and  is  fortunate  if  he  escape  disgrace." 

It  may  be  of  interest  here  to  quote  a  more  recent  analysis 
of  the  relations  between  President  and  Congress,  by  a  leading 
member  of  Cleveland's  party — Senator  James  A.  Reed,  of 
Missouri.  The  Missourian  was  one  of  the  "willful  eleven" 
Senators  to  whom  President  Wilson  once  referred,  and  later 
he  openly  endeavored  to  defeat  Reed's  renomination.  Prob- 
ably, therefore,  the  Missouri  Senator  spoke  with  some  per- 
sonal feeling  when  he  said  in  an  interview  in  the  New  York 
Sun,  September  15,  1926: 

"The  most  dangerous  trend  today  is  the  custom  of  creating  an 
atmosphere  of  omnipotence  about  the  Chief  Executive,  whatever 
his  party.  The  idea  has  grown  that  the  legislative  branch  of  the 
government  should  bend  its  will  and  set  its  course  to  the  mandates 
of  the  White  House. 

2IO 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"There  is  no  more  similarity  between  this  conception  of  Govern- 
ment and  that  established  by  cur  Constitution  than  there  was  be- 
tween Government  as  conceived  by  George  Washington  and  that 
conceived  by  King  George  III. 

"In  recent  years  we  have  switched  the  cart  and  horse  all  around. 
The  President  should  not  be  the  czar  of  his  party  but  the  product 
of  his  party,  placed  in  the  White  House  to  carry  out  what  the  Con- 
gress, representing  the  people,  directs." 

Cleveland  won  honor,  not  disgrace,  by  his  course,  but  he  cer- 
tainly doomed  his  party  and  his  measures  to  defeat 

"STAUNCH  OLD  BOY!"  SAID  MCKINLEY 

"Staunch  old  boy!"  "Great  old  character!"  McKinley 
would  exclaim  in  the  White  House  as  he  read  Cleveland's  thin 
copperplate  handwriting  on  papers  on  file  giving  his  reasons 
for  action  taken  on  different  matters.  McKinley  liked  to  read 
them.  There  were  no  typewritten  documents  in  Cleveland's 
files.  He  never  dictated.  He  tried  it  once  and  then  declared 
he  was  so  poor  at  it  that  he  would  never  try  it  again;  he  never 
did.  His  habit  of  handwriting  added  to  his  day's  labors;  he 
worked  incessantly  but  s'o  slowly  and  going  so  much  into  de- 
tail that  he  seldom  caught  up  with  his  desk.  In  the  White 
House  of  today  he  would  be  overwhelmed  as  indeed  he  was 
then. 

"A  BADGE  OF   PARTY  PERFIDY  AND  DISHONOR" 

Cleveland's  keenest  humiliation  was  the  collapse  of  the 
tariff  legislation  on  which  he  had  set  his  heart.  Such  a  bill  was 
to  be  a  vindication  of  his  stand  in  1888.  Imagine  his  disgust 
when  he  found  the  tariff  bill  sent  him  for  approval  mangled  by 
a  Democratic  Senate,  despite  his  protest,  beyond  recognition 
as  a  Cleveland  measure! 

I  was  in  Washington  during  that  great  fight.  What  a  battle 
it  was !  Cleveland  and  William  L.  Wilson,  Congressman  from 

211 


As  I  Knew  Them 

West  Virginia  and  a  former  college  president — had  framed 
their  ideal  free  trade  bill.  They  had  a  narrow  time  getting  it 
through  the  House,  but  after  Gorman  and  other  old-time 
Democrats  got  through  with  It  in  the  Senate  the  bill  had  no 
resemblance  to  its  original, 

"A  wild  orgy  of  the  trusts,"  was  Calvin  Brice's  description 
of  the  Senate  proceedings. 

"The  deadly  blight  of  treason  has  blasted  the  counsels  of 
the  brave  in  their  hour  of  might/1  wrote  Cleveland  in  his 
ponderous  style. 

"It  is  a  badge  of  party  perfidy  and  dishonor,"  he  added. 

Upbraiding  letters,  however,  only  embittered  the  strife. 

It  was  not  the  rising  tide  of  Populism  within  his  party  that 
Cleveland  in  his  tariff  fight  had  to  stem. 

Populism  had  opposed  his  repeal  of  the  silver  purchase  act 
but  on  the  tariff  it  was  as  rabidly  free  trade  as  he  was.  On 
the  tariff  he  was  opposed  by  Democrats  who  had  stood  by  him 
on  the  other  issue.  They  were  the  reactionaries — led  by 
Senator  Arthur  Pue  Gorman,  of  Maryland,  then  the  most 
powerful  figure  in  the  Democratic  Senate.  Gorman  used  no 
timid  language  denouncing  Cleveland's  tariff  letters  arraigning 
his  opponents  as  traitors  to  the  party. 

He  declared  that  Treasury  Secretary  Carlisle  had  in- 
dorsed the  Senate  amendments,  and  called  on  Senator  after 
Senator  to  tell  of  their  conferences  with  the  President.  "If 
there  has  been  deceit  anywhere  it  has  been  with  the  President, 
not  with  Senators,"  he  insisted. 

GORMAN'S  WITHERING  SPEECH 

How  many  recall  that  withering  speech  by  the  Maryland 
Senator?  It  was  a  national  sensation.  Its  boldness  was  em- 
phasized by  the  character  of  the  speaker.  His  cold,  suave, 
beardless,  thin-lipped  face  that  rarely  showed  emotion  red- 
dened with  passion  as  he  spoke,  and  those  keen,  steel-gray  eyes 
that  penetrated  your  secrets  but  never  rqvealed  his  own, 

212 


As  I  Knew  Them 

blazed  scorn  for  a  President  who  had  so  bitterly  assailed  his 
fellow-Democrats. 

Gorman's  speech  is  political  history,  and  worth  reproducing 
from  the  Congressional  Record  of  July  23,  1894: 

"As  I  have  said,  sir,  this  is  a  most  extraordinary  proceeding,  for 
a  Democrat,  elected  to  the  highest  place  in  the  Government  and 
fellow  Democrats  elected  in  another  high  place,  where  they  have 
the  right  to  speak  and  legislate  generally,  to  join  with  the  com- 
mune in  traducing  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  to  blacken  the 
character  of  Senators  who  are  as  honorable  as  they  are,  who  are 
as  patriotic  as  they  ever  can  be,  who  have  done  as  much  to  serve 
their  party  as  the  men  who  are  now  the  beneficiaries  of  your  labor 
and  mine,  to  taunt  and  jeer  at  us  before  the  country  as  the  advo- 
cates of  trusts  and  as  guilty  of  dishonor  and  perfidy. 

"Mr.  President,  it  is  time  to  speak.  The  limit  of  endurance  has 
been  reached.  The  Senate  owes  it  to  itself.  Every  Senator  here 
who  is  a  part  of  this  Democratic  majority  owes  it  to  himself. 

"There  is  no  power,  no  matter  how  great,  in  this  country — 
even  the  President  with  his  patronage — that  would  keep  me  silent 
longer  under  such  charges,  under  the  imputations  so  freely  made 
from  such  distinguished  quarters. 

"I  hurl  back  the  accusation  and  say  that  this  treatment  of  their 
fellows  is  discreditable.  It  is  destruction  to  the  Government  that 
men  in  high  position  should  attempt  to  lower  this  body,  a  conserva- 
tive body,  consisting  of  88  worthy  representatives  of  States." 

Gorman  forced  surrender  to  his  will.  "The  communism  of 
pelf,"  as  Cleveland  termed  it,  had  its  way.  "Professor"  Wil- 
son yielded  in  the  House.  Cleveland  yielded,  too.  Though 
he  would  not  sign  the  bill  as  amended  by  the  Senate,  he  per- 
mitted it  to  become  law. 

It  is  the  only  revenue  law  without  a  President's  signature ! 

And  what  a  time  the  Republicans  had  in  the  House,  led  by 
Tom  Reed,  as  they  watched  the  free  trade  House  Democrats 
(including  Bryan)  vote  to  agree  with  every  protectionist 
amendment  sent  over  by  the  Gorman  Democratic  Senate. 

213 


As  I  Knew  Them 

THE  TARIFF  A  LOCAL  ISSUE 

That  whole  struggle  was  simply  the  old,  old  story  of  theory 
against  the  practical.  No  tariff  bill  ever  has  been,  or  is  likely 
to  be,  enacted  over  the  protest  of  our  industrial  and  farm  in- 
terests. In  "spots" — in  big  spots,  the  Democratic  party  is  as 
highly  protective  as  the  Republican  party — and  no  new  party 
is  on  the  horizon. 

In  the  1880  campaign,  General  Hancock's  declaration  that 
athe  tariff  is  a  local  issue"  cost  him  many  votes.  Hancock 
was  assailed  by  Republicans  for  his  military  ignorance  of 
statesmen's  problems,  yet  no  greater  truth  about  the  tariff  was 
ever  uttered. 

It  is  a  local  issue — in  Louisiana,  where  sugar-growers  want 
protection;  in  California  where  fruit-growers  want  protection; 
in  Montana,  Texas,  and  Ohio  where  wool-growers  want  pro- 
tection ;  in  Nebraska  and  Michigan  where  b'eet  sugar  farmers 
want  protection;  in  Pennsylvania  where  iron  and  steel  manu- 
facturers want  protection. 

Those  who  have  closely  followed  tariff  legislation,  as  I  have 
for  many  years,  know  that  every  protective  tariff  enacted  by 
Congress  is  merely  a  patchwork  of  local  interests  threaded 
together  by  a  national  policy  intended  to  develop  home  indus- 
tries and  a  home  market.  You  cannot  make  anything  else  out 
of  it  and  there  is  no  reason  for  seeking  to  do  so.  It  is  justified 
by  its  purpose  and  its  results.  We  have  not  a  single  industry 
subjected  to  foreign  competition  whose  development  is  not 
solely  due  to  the  tariff  protection  accorded.  As  Tom  Reed 
said,  the  only  place  you  can  pass  a  perfectly  balanced  tariff 
bill  is  in  your  mind;  Congress  certainly  will  never  pass  one. 
To  talk  of  absolute  free  trade  is  to  talk  of  moonshine ;  to  talk 
of  lower  rates  than  actually  afford  protection  is  like  advocating 
a  3-foot  dam  to  hold  back  four  feet  of  water'. 

I  attended  many  hearings  while  the  McKinley  tariff  bill  was 
being  framed,  and  talked  almost  daily  with  McKinley  about  it. 

214 


As  I  Knew  Them 

That  measure  was  the  ambition  of  his  life;  night  after  night, 
following  a  long  day's  session,  he  worked  at  it  while  watching 
at  the  bedside  of  a  very  sick  wife.  Every  line  in  it  was  dic- 
tated by  a  deep  desire  to  be  of  real  help  to  the  home  market 
He  was  so  sure  of  his  own  purpose,  so  sure  that  the  country 
understood  and  would  indorse  it,  that  he  unwisely  permitted 
the  law  to  be  enacted  in  October — less  than  a  month  before 
election. 

It  was  impossible  in  those  few  weeks  to  secure  results  that 
would  vindicate  the  new  rates.  McKinley  went  down  in  defeat 
(the  Democrats  had  gerrymandered  his  district)  and  the  Re- 
publican majority  in  the  House  of  Representatives  disap- 
peared, being  replaced  by  the  largest  Democratic  majority  in 
Congressional  history. 

CREATING  A  TIN   PLATE   INDUSTRY  FOR  AMERICA 

Let  me  give  one  example  illustrating  the  helpful  influence 
of  that  bill  on  American  industries. 

The  most  vicious  attack  was  centered  on  the  tin  plate 
schedule,  and  I  am  proud  to  be  able  to  say  that  I  devoted  time 
and  space  to  defending  it.  It  appealed  more  strongly  to 
McKinley  than  any  other  schedule,  for  it  meant  an  absolute 
demonstration  of  the  benefits  of  Protection.  At  that  time,  no 
tin  plate  was  made  in  this  country :  every  pound  we  used  was 
imported  free  of  duty.  Several  iron  and  steel  manufacturers 
were  anxious  to  engage  in  making  it  but  could  not  do  so  with- 
out tariff  protection.  McKinley  put  on  a  provisional  duty;  it 
was  to  cease  in  two  years  unless  a  minimum  tonnage  of  tin 
plate  was  being  made  in  America. 

More  than  the  required  tonnage  was  turned  out  in  less  than 
two  years — and  the  industry  thrived  so  well  that  when  the 
Democrats  repealed  the  McKinley  bill  they  did  not  interfere 
with  the  tin  plate  duty.  Yet  on  that  schedule  more  than  on 
any  other  they  based  their  denunciation  of  McKinley' s  work — 
and  won  the  election  of  1890. 

215 


CHAPTER   XXV 
HAWAII— CLEVELAND'S  GRAVEST  ERROR 

The  Stars  And  Stripes  Had  Been  Hoisted  In  Honolulu,  And  Harrison 
Had  Approved,  But  Cleveland  Hauled  Them  Down,  Only  To  See  The 
Plaff  Go  Up  Again  Five  Years  Later — "Paramount"  Blount  Finds  An 
Impossible  Task — Queen  Lil  Addresses  Her  "Great  And  Good 
Friend" — The  New  Government  Functions  And  Cleveland  Reluctantly 
Acknowledges  It, 

TTOW  many  readers  of  these  lines  have  visited  the 
•**-*•  Hawaiian  Islands?  How  many  of  them,  if  any,  have 
failed  to  be  thrilled  with  pride  that  our  people,  our  flag,  our 
aid,  has  encouraged  and  protected  the  schools,  the  churches, 
the  business  houses,  everywhere  to  be  seen — has  led  the  natives 
from  conditions  not  far  removed  from  savagery  into  living 
on  the  plane  of  our  own  home  towns? 

If  while  in  Honolulu  you  have  driven  up  the  mountain  to 
the  thin  peak  called  the  Pali,  and  have  stood  there  with  ad- 
miration for  the  heroism  that  only  a  hundred  years  ago  stirred 
hundreds  of  natives  to  throw  themselves  to  death  from  its 
heights  rather  than  accept  subjugation  by  an  invaders'  army — 
and  then  recall  that  thirty-five  years  ago  this  same  native  stock 
earnestly  sought  our  sovereignty  only  to  be  rebuffed,  sought  it 
again  five  years  later — that  time  to  be  accepted; — if  you  have 
looked  upon  those  scenes,  as  I  have,  and  are  familiar  with  this 
history,  then  you  must  regard  Grover  Cleveland's  refusal  to 
allow  them  to  come  under  our  flag  as  wholly  and  unpardonably 
wrong. 

If  Cleveland  is  to  have  justification  for  his  relentless  antag- 
onism to  the  annexation  of  Hawaii  it  must  be  found  in  events 
of  the  future,  for  to  date  there  is  no  basis  for  anything  but 
condemnation. 

216 


As  I  Knew  Them 

The  Hawaii  of  today — contented,  busy*  prosperous — well- 
schooled' — is  an  example  of  government  FOR  the  people  by 
contrast  with  its  past,  unequalled  anywhere  else  in  this  world. 
Every  American  whom  I  have  heard  express  any  opinion  after 
visiting  the  Islands  has  been  thankful  that  this  nation  had 
the  opportunity  thus  to  serve  a  people  unable  by  themselves  to 
secure  the  blessings  of  stable  government. 

THAT  CRY  OF   "THE  INTERESTS!*5 

Oh,  I  have  not  forgotten  President  Cleveland's  arraignment 
of  American  sugar-planting  interests  nor  the  action  of  the 
ridiculous  "Paramount"  Blount,  Envoy  Most  Extraordinary 
of  the  President,  commissioned  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  re- 
store a  repugnant  monarchy. 

I  still  have  it  all  well  in  mind — and  when  I  contrast  it  with 
the  results,  I  wonder  that  such  a  man  as  Cleveland  failed  to 
realize  what  annexation  would  mean  for  this  nation  as  well 
as  for  the  Islands. 

I  thought  at  the  time  that  Secretary  of  State  Gresham  in- 
tensified Cleveland's  attitude.  In  the  early  eighties  Harrison 
had  won  from  Gresham  the  nomination  for  Senator  from 
Indiana  and  in  1888  had  defeated  him  in  the  contest  for  dele- 
gates for  the  Presidential  nomination.  These  experiences  had 
embittered  Gresham. 

When  he  became  Secretary  of  State  and  found  Harrison's 
unratified  Hawaiian  treaty  he  made  the  most  of  his  oppor- 
tunity to  hit  back  at  his  old  opponent.  Recalling  Cleveland's 
long-continued  but  futile  effort,  I  must  say  that  if  our  nation 
at  the  urging  of  any  "interest" — how  folks  like  to  talk  of  the 
"interests"  when  no  other  argument  is  left  them — can  ever 
again  have  an  opportunity  to  achieve  elsewhere  all  that  has 
been  achieved  in  Hawaii  since  annexation,  then  let  more  and 
more  "interests"  come  on  to  Washington  from  any  people 
struggling  as  the  Hawaiians  were  struggling  when  they  ap- 
pealed to  us,  and  let  us  as  a  powerful  nation,  unafraid,  lend 

217 


As  I  Knew  Them 

our  strength  to  the  helpless  and  welcome  them  in  the  name 
of  a  common  humanity. 

The  fine  achievements  of  our  government  in  our  insular 
possessions  bring  Cleveland's  antagonism  to  Hawaiian  annexa- 
tion into  interesting  reminiscence  now.  We  may  well  rejoice 
that  when  our  army  aviators  ended  their  long  flight  across  the 
Pacific  they  landed  their  plane  on  soil  over  which  the  flag  of 
our  country  was  flying. 

HOW  AND  WHY  LILIUOKALANI  WAS  DETHRONED 

How  well  I  remember  those  fun-provoking  figures — "Para- 
mount" Blount,  Presidential  Envoy  to  Hawaii — and  Liliuoka- 
lani,  the  dethroned  Queen  whose  "MY  GREAT  AND  GOOD 
FRIEND"  letter  to  Cleveland  seeking  uyour  friendly  assist- 
ance" as  well  as  her  subsequent  visit  to  Washington  caught 
the  cynical  attention  of  the  satirists  and  cartoonists.  They 
were  quick  to  picture  the  dusky  Queen  and  the  man  in  the 
White  t^ouse  fighting  together  against  what  McKinley  later 
termed  ^Manifest  Destiny?--  *  *  !f 

The  cartoons  had  at  least  one  helpful  influence — they  light- 
ened the  serious  side  of  the  situation. 

Cleveland,  following  Harrison,  found  our  flag  firmly 
planted  in  Samoan  soil,  far  out  in  the  Pacific,  as  a  protective 
influence,  thanks  to  the  vigorous  diplomacy  of  Harrison  and 
Elaine.  Due  to  the  Senate's  inability  to  act  in  three  weeks1 
time,  the  annexation  of  Hawaii  was  an  uncompleted  job  when 
Harrison  left  the  White  House,  and  Cleveland  determined  to 
prevent  it. 

Liliuokalani,  then  Queen  of  the  islands,  was  a  monarch 
cut  to  the  pattern  of  Hawaiian  tradition.  She  assumed  all  the 
rights  of  monarchy  as  well  as  a  few  of  her  own  creation. 

In  January,  1893,  conditions  having  become  too  tyrannous, 
a  revolt  broke  out,  the  Queen  was  arrested,  "dethroned  and 
pensioned,  a  new  government  was  established,  and  commis- 
sioners were  sent  to  Washington  with  a  treaty  of  annexation. 

218 


As  I  Knew  Them 

The  American  Minister  meanwhile  had  secured  the  landing 
of  American  marines  to  protect  American  interests*  As  those 
interests,  and  indeed  all  foreign  interests,  were  identified  with 
the  revolt,  the  presence  of  the  marines  aided  the  cause  of  the 
anti-monarchists,  though  not  a  shot  was  fired.  The  commis- 
sioners reached  Washington  in  February  and  brought  their 
proposal  before  Harrison  for  action. 

"This  should  have  come  earlier  or  else  too  late  for  me,'* 
Harrison  remarked.  "I  don't  like  to  undertake  things  I  can- 
not finish." 

He  recognized  the  new  government  and  sent  the  treaty  to 
the  Senate,  urging  ratification.  Unfortunately,  too  short  a 
period  remained  for  him  to  secure  action  from  that  too  de- 
liberate body  before  his  retirement. 

CLEVELAND  SAW  A  CONSPIRACY 

Cleveland  promptly  withdrew  the  treaty  "for  considera- 
tion," moved  by  a  cry  of  conspiracy  to  steal  the  islands.  It 
was  asserted  that  a  worthy  Queen  had  been  made  the  victim  of 
exploiting  "interests";  that  the  real  revolters  were  not  natives 
but  selfish  American  sugar-planters;  and  that  the  American 
resident  minister  had  united  with  the  conspirators.  Talk  of 
that  kind  always  appealed  to  Cleveland.  It  did  in  this  case. 
His  mind,  responding  to  distrust  and  suspicion,  visioned  con- 
spiracies out  in  the  Pacific.  He  saw  the  painted  picture,  not 
the  real  one.  Indeed,  he  could  not  be  persuaded  to  look  upon 
the  real  one. 

The  President  ignored  the  fact  that  for  several  years  the 
natives  had  been  bitterly  resisting  the  Queen's  efforts  to  rob 
them  of  their  liberties;  that  every  other  government  had 
joined  with  us  in  recognizing  the  new  government  of  Hawaii; 
that  not  one  government  had  uttered  a  word  of  protest  against 
the  course  of  our  minister  there,  or  against  Hawaii's  annexa- 
tion proposal.  In  the  whole  world  of  rulers  Cleveland  was  the 
only  accuser  of  his  own  people ! 

219 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Congressman  Blount,  of  Georgia,  was  hurried  to  Hawaii 
as, a  Commissioner  with  "paramount  authority.'1  Blount  did 
his  duty  and  then  some.  He  hauled  down  the  American  lag 
raised  in  Honolulu,  and  sent  the  marines  back  to  their  ships. 

But  Blount  found  it  impossible  to  restore  Liliuokalani  to 
her  throne.  Nowhere  in  the  islands  could  any  demand  for  her 
be  developed.  As  this  truth  grew  plainer  it  became  more  exas- 
perating to  those  who  without  knowledge  had  insisted  that 
she  was  the  victim  of  a  sugar-planters'  conspiracy. 

Cleveland  was  frankly  eager  to  re-establish  Liliuokalani — 
to  restore  what  he  called  the  "status-quo" — but  how? 

With  armed  force?  He  had  no  authority  as  President  to 
use  force,  and  he  knew  that  Congress  would  never  grant  it; 
nor  would  the  country  tolerate  it. 

Could  he  negotiate  with  the  government  that  had  sup- 
planted the  monarchy? 

That  government  was  functioning,  he  had  no  ground  for 
withdrawing  the  recognition  accorded  it  by  Harrison;  ob- 
viously he  could  not  negotiate  with  it  for  its  own  extinction. 

A  QUEEN  THEY  COULD  NOT  INDORSE 

To  use  an  expression,  Cleveland  was  "in  a  hole."  Public 
opinion,  inflamed  by  Blount's  hauling  down  of  the  flag,  was 
flouting  the  President's  vain  quest  for  a  way  to  put  Liliuoka- 
lani back;  his  own  Congress  was  restless  and  divided;  yet  as 
usual  he  stuck  to  his  knitting. 

The  one  hope  left  him  was  to  have  an  understanding  with 
Liliuokalani  as  to  her  purpose  if  reinstated,  and  offer  that 
agreement  to  the  new  government  as  a  basis  of  compromise. 
He  wrote  to  Congress  that  he  was  seeking  such  a  basis. 

The  American  minister  in  Hawaii  was  instructed  to  get 
the  Queen's  mind.  This  was  not  a  difficult  task.  Liliuokalani 
had  courage  and  frankness. 

Newspaper  dispatches  stated  that  she  inquired  in  surprise : 
"What?  Are  there  to  be  no  beheadings?"  But  that  was  sub- 

220 


As  I  Knew  Them 

sequently  denied.  However,  the  query  reflected  the  ex-Queen's 
point  of  view.  If  it  was  not  literally  exact,  her  other  responses 
so  clearly  revealed  her  determination,  if  restored,  to  adhere 
to  the  tradition  of  her  dynasty  in  disposing  of  revolters,  that 
in  his  first  report  of  his  interview  Cleveland's  representative 
did  not  dare  to  speak  with  entire  frankness. 

He  simply  cabled  that  her  views  were  atoo  extreme.1'  In  a 
later  report,  he  made  it  clear  that  restoration  of  the  monarchy 
would  mean  another  revolution ;  he  stated  that  American  war- 
ships, constantly  watching,  would  be  needed  to  maintain  it. 

Thus,  Cleveland,  early  wrought  to  indignation  by  his  sus- 
picion that  a  great  wrong  had  been  done  a  helpless  people 
through  a  "selfish  interest11  conspiracy,  came  to  realize, — but 
never  to  admit, — that  a  greater  wrong  would  be  done  those 
same  people  by  imposing  upon  them  the  monarch  they  did  not 
desire.  He  could  not  put  her  back  except  as  the  type  of  ruler 
she  was  and  that  those  who  had  dethroned  her  knew  her  to  be. 
That  responsibility  was  too  perilous  to  assume. 

JUST  STUBBORN 

Cleveland  never  budged  from  a  position  once  taken,  how- 
ever. With  him  every  decision  was  irrevocable.  It  was  so 
in  the  case  of  Hawaii.  He  would  not  change  his  attitude  but 
he  abandoned  the  whole  problem  by  passing  it  on  to  Congress. 
He  wrote  a  lengthy  message  to  that  body,  saying  he  had  been 
"balked"  by  conditions  he  could  not  control.  He  might  have 
summed  it  up  more  frankly  in  these  few  words :  "I  have  made 
a  mess  of  it.  I  have  failed.  Liliuokalani  is  impossible  and 
I  am  through  with  her ;  the  new  government  is  getting  on  well. 
I  have  recognized  it.  Now  do  as  you  please." 

No  other  meaning  attaches  to  his  message  to  Congress, 
where  he  well  knew  not  a  step  would  be  taken.  Events  and 
conditions  had  proven  too,  much  for  him.  He  could  not  de- 
nounce them  as  he  could  individuals.  They  carried  their  own 

221 


As  I  Knew  Them 

vindication.  He  had  to  accept  them.  On  August  7,  18945 
he  formally  recognized  the  new  Republic  of  Hawaii,  controlled 
by  the  same  men  he  had  been  characterizing  as  conspirators. 
So  the  net  result  of  eighteen  months'  agitation  was  that 
when  Cleveland  despairingly  wrote  Hawaii  off  his  Adminis- 
tration books  as  a  hopeless  task  he  had  not  changed  by  one 
iota  the  situation  existing  when  he  took  office.  The  govern- 
ment recognized  by  Harrison  had  worked  out  its  own  destiny 
and  was  ultimately  recognized  by  Cleveland,  the  Queen  ig- 
nored by  Harrison  was  finally  ignored  by  Cleveland,  and, 
,  later,  under  McKinley  actually  the  same  flag  that  had  been 
hauled  down  by  Envoy  Blount  was  raised  on  the  same  spot 
and  same  flag-pole  in  Honolulu ! 

EVERYONE    HAS   EARNED   BY  ANNEXATION 

Thus  ended  the  poorest  chapter  in  Cleveland's  career — at 
least  that  was  then  and  is  now  my  opinion  of  it. 

Finally,  let  me  take  you  back,  reader,  to  the  beginning  of 
this  Hawaiian  story,  and  let  me  repeat  that  those  who  have 
visited  the  Islands  and  have  seen  the  achievements  of  our 
sovereignty  realize  what  it  has  meant  to  those  people  to  be 
aided  out  of  barbarism  and  oppression. 

Taking  the  selfish  point  of  view,  and  assuming  that  this 
world  is  not  through  with  murdering  people  under  the  guise 
of  war,  the  strategic  value  of  Hawaii  to  this  nation  is,  ac- 
cording to  naval  authorities,  beyond  estimate. 

Thus  we  have  gained,  the  Hawaiians  have  gained,  civiliza- 
tion has  gained — but  not  with  Cleveland's  consent. 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

VENEZUELA   BOUNDARY  NOTE 

Cleveland  At  His  Best — The  Country  Gets  A  Fright — Standing  By  The 
Monroe  Doctrine—All's  Well  That  Ends  Well— Cleveland's  Words 
And  Wilson  s  In  Comparison. 

TT  IS  pleasant  to  turn  from  such  an  episode  in  Cleveland's 
-*•  career  to  one  that  is  intensely  inspiring — from  the  hauling 
down  of  the  flag  in  Hawaii  to  the  bold,  defiant  assertion  of 
that  century-old  American  policy — the  Monroe  Doctrine — at 
the  peril  of  incurring  the  hostility  of  Great  Britain,  then  con- 
cededly  the  most  powerful  nation  on  earth. 

This  occurred  in  December,  1895.  The  world  was  at  peace 
— -no  nations  more  so  than  this  country  and  England.  Quietly 
Cleveland  and  Olney  had  been  forging  their  thunderbolt.  Not 
a  word,  not  even  an  intimation,  leaked  in  advance. 

Congress  assembled  in  regular  session.  Of  course,  it  antici- 
pated the  usual  message  from  the  President — but  not  the  addi- 
tional message  it  received  a  few  days  later.  Congress  knew 
little  or  nothing  of  Venezuela's  dispute  with  Great  Britain  and 
cared  less.  The  suddenness  and  tenor  of  Cleveland's  demand 
created  a  sensation  that  startled  the  world,  but  no  country 
more  than  our  own. 

At  first,  people  here  felt  certain  that  the  language  of  the 
message  would  instantly  unleash  the  British  lion  for  an  angry 
leap  across  the  Atlantic;  in  certain  quarters,  too,  the  American 
eagle,  fluttering  uneasily,  indulged  in  some  screeching  about 
the  crudity  of  a  document  really  addressed  to  a  neighbor  na- 
tion, and  the  inevitable  break-up  of  friendly  relations.  Once 
Congress  had  caught  its  breath,  however,  it  stood  by  Cleve- 
land overwhelmingly.  So  did  the  country.  The  people  liked 

223 


As  I  Knew  Them 

his  vigorous,  outspoken  declaration.  A  spirit  of  nationalism 
surged  from  coast  to  coast.  The  event  was  a  high  point  in 
Cleveland's  Administration,  and  it  is  interesting  thirty-two 
years  later  to  recall  what  it  was  all  about.  Let  us  do  so  before 
going  further, 

THE  FACTS  IN  THE  CASE 

Seven  or  eight  years  in  advance  of  President  Monroe's  his- 
toric declaration  that  the  United  States  would  not  look  with 
favor  upon  future  European  aggression  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere,  Dutch  Guiana  had  ceded  to  Great  Britain  three 
of  her  South  American  provinces  bordering  on  Venezuela. 
Later,  Great  Britain  insisted  that  this  cession  included  ap- 
proximately 35,000  square  miles  of  territory  over  which  Vene- 
zuela claimed  sovereignty. 

Almost  every  American  Secretary  of  State  found  it  neces- 
sary to  give  consideration  to  the  dispute,  but  the  question  never 
emerged  from  the  chancelleries  of  the  governments  involved 
into  public  view.  On  several  occasions,  and  particularly  while 
Thomas  F.  Bayard  was  Secretary  of  State  during  Cleveland's 
first  term,  our  government  suggested  arbitration.  In  1895 
Cleveland  renewed  the  suggestion. 

But  Salisbury,  with  traditional  English  strategy  of  diplo- 
macy, procrastinated.  He  did  not  propose  to  admit  the 
United  States  as  a  party  to  the  negotiations;  Britain  would 
have  nothing  to  worry  about  so  long  as  it  dealt  only  with  weak 
Venezuela. 

Cleveland  held  a  different  view;  the  Monroe  Doctrine  made 
us  a  party  to  any  claims  of  territory  in  South  America,  made 
by  any  nation.  In  July,  1895,  Secretary  of  State  Olney  sub- 
mitted to  the  President  a  letter  of  instructions  to  Bayard 
which  Cleveland  called  "Olney' s  2O-inch  gun."  It  must  have 
been  such,  for  even  Bayard  thought  it  dangerously  strong. 
Bayard  had  hoped  to  keep  the  question  "in  an  atmosphere  of 
serene  and  elevated  effort,"  to  use  his  own  words.  But  the 
Olney  letter  forced  this  significant  revelation  of  Great  Brit- 

224 


As  I  Knew  Them 

alfi's  contention — that  the  Monroe  Doctrine  did  not  apply  to 
boundary  disputes. 

HE  HAD  A  CAUSE  TO  DEFEND 

This  astonishing  claim  reached  Cleveland  a  few  days  after 
his  annual  message  to  Congress.  It  was  the  first  attempt  to 
limit  the  sweeping  character  of  our  settled  policy.  The  ques- 
tion was  no  longer  a  Venezuelan  dispute;  it  was  now  a  matter 
of  interpreting  America's  policy  in  the  Western  Hemisphere. 
Thus,  Cleveland  felt  that  he  had  a  cause  to  defend — the  high- 
est interest  of  his  country.  He  decided  to  ask  Congress  for 
an  appropriation  covering  the  expense  of  a  Commission  to  de- 
termine Venezuela's  true  boundary  lines,  independently  of  the 
British.  The  report  of  that  Commission  was  to  be  used  to 
notify  Great  Britain  exactly  where  her  sovereignty  ended 
under  the  Dutch  Guiana  concession;  our  government  pro- 
posed to  maintain  the  lines  so  defined. 

Congress  made  the  appropriation,  Republicans  joining  with 
Democrats  in  approval.  Before  the  Commission  got  far  in  its 
investigation,  the  Salisbury  Government  proposed  arbitration, 
and  a  satisfactory  treaty  with  Venezuela  was  signed  in 
Washington. 

Nothing  in  Cleveland's  career  will  endure  longer  or  more 
admirably  than  his  quick  resentment  of  this  first  attempt  to 
modify  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  Of  course,  if  Great  Britain 
could  have  maintained  that  boundary  lines  could  be  lengthened 
and  widened  without  infringing  on  our  policy  against  new  ac- 
quisitions, the  Monroe  Doctrine  would  look  like  a  sieve. 
Cleveland's  strongest  qualities  came  out  in  that  crisis:  His 
rugged  Americanism,  his  unimaginative,  stolid  determination, 
his  increasing  pursuit  of  a  subject  to  settlement,  his  readiness 
to  accfept  consequences,  however  unpleasant — these  character- 
istics show  nowhere  so  splendidly  as  in  this  triumph  in  behalf 
of  a  great  American  tradition. 

Of  course,  some  thought,  and  still  think,  Cleveland's  action 

225 


As  I  Knew  Them 

a  utempest  in  a  teapot."  James  Lord  Rhodes  and  other  his- 
torians condemn  it  as  a  piece  of  unworthy  jingoism.  It  is 
true  that  Britain  established  her  boundary  rights  substantially 
as  claimed.  If  judgment  against  Cleveland  is  to  be  given  on 
that  ground  he  certainly  did  go  far  for  small  results.  But 
that  was  not  the  heart  of  the  issue  once  Lord  Salisbury  en- 
deavored to  draw  some  of  the  teeth  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
by  questioning  its  application  to  boundary  lines.  When  Great 
Britain  challenged  us  on  that  point,  the  matter  of  more  or 
less  territory  faded  as  an  issue,  and  the  integrity  of  the  Mon- 
roe Doctrine  loomed  as  the  question  to  settle.  Cleveland 
settled  it  in  a  way  to  insure  its  remaining  settled. 

CLEVELAND  AND  WILSON  IN  CONTRAST 

In  his  greater  offices  as  in  the  minor  ones  in  Buffalo,  Cleve- 
land worked  wholly  and  laboriously  in  an  atmosphere  of  his 
own  conceptions.  I  never  heard  any  man  claim  he  had  per- 
suaded Cleveland  to  any  policy  or  had  succeeded  in  changing 
his  views.  I  doubt  whether  any  other  President  save  possibly 
Woodrow  Wilson  ever  kept  people — I  mean  people  who  could 
be  of  real  help — at  such  a  distance.  And  none  needed  help 
more  than  those  two  cnen ! 

In  every  other  respect,  however,  Cleveland  and  Woodrow 
Wilson  were  opposites.  Wilson  visioned  over  a  wide  hori- 
zon; Cleveland  saw  only  directly  before  him.  It  was  hard 
labor  for  Cleveland,  as  he  frequently  said,  to  tackle  all  the 
problems  that  cross  the  threshold  of  the  White  House,  and 
to  broaden  his  view  from  Buffalo  limitations  to  a  nation-wide 
scale.*  He  did  it — slowly,  but  when  he  advanced  into  new 
ground  he  never  abandoned  a  foot  of  it. 

TWO   SPEECHES  THAT  REFLECT  THE  MEN 

No  interpreter  was  ever  required  for  Cleveland's  language. 
His  phrases  while  sometimes  ponderous  were  always  forceful 

226 


As  I  Knew  Them 

and  candid.  Such  expressions  as  uinnocuous  desuetude'1  only 
added  interest  to  his  utterances. 

For  illustration  of  the  difference  between  Cleveland  and 
Wilson — the  two  Democratic  Presidents  in  nearly  70  years — 
let  us  contrast  the  utterances  made  by  each  of  them  on  two 
critical  occasions.  Let  us  take  the  closing  paragraphs  in  Cleve- 
land's message  to  Congress,  when  aroused  by  Great  Britain's 
final  refusal  to  arbitrate  the  Venezuelan  dispute,  and  contrast 
those  paragraphs  with  President  Wilson's  utterances  just  after 
a  German  submarine  had  torpedoed  the  Lusitania  and  while 
our  people  were  still  reading  the  lengthening  list  of  victims 
of  that  outrage. 

Here  are  the  two  utterances  side  by  side: 


CLEVELAND  IN  ADDRESS  TO  CON- 
GRESS, DEC.  1895: 

.  .  .  The  dispute  has  reached 
such  a  stage  as  to  make  it  now  in- 
cumbent upon  the  United  States 
to  take  measures  to  determine  .  .  . 
what  is  the  one  divisional  line  be- 
tween the  Republic  Venezuela 
and  British  Guiana. 

When  such  a  report  is  made  and 
accepted  it  will,  in  my  opinion,  be 
the  duty  of  the  United  States  to 
resist  by  every  means  in  its  power, 
as  a  willful  aggression  upon  its 
rights  and  interests,  the  appropria- 
tion by  Great  Britain  of  any  lands 
or  the  exercise  of  government  jur- 
isdiction over  any  territory  which 
after  investigation  we  have  deter- 
mined of  right  belongs  to  Vene- 
zuela. 

In  making  these  recommenda- 
tions, I  am  fully  alive  to  the  re- 


WILSON  IN  PHILADELPHIA 

May  10,  1915,  at  Convention 
Hall  to  Newrly  Naturalized  Citi- 
zens: 

Just  because  you  brought  dreams 
with  you,  America  is  more  likely 
to  realize  the  dreams  such  as  you 
brought.  You  are  enriching  us 
if  you  came  expecting  us  to  be 
better  than  we  are. 

See,  my  friends,  what  that 
means.  It  means  that  America 
must  have  a  consciousness  different 
from  the  consciousness  of  every 
other  nation  in  the  world. 

I  am  not  saying  this  with  even 
the  slightest  thought  of  criticism 
of  other  nations.  You  know  how 
it  is  with  a  family.  A  family  gets 
centered  on  itself  if  it  is  not  care- 
ful and  is  less  interested  in  it? 


227 


As  I  Knew  Them 


sponsibility  incurred  and  keenly 
realize  all  the  consequences  that 
may  follow. 

I  am,  nevertheless  firm  in  my 
conviction  that  while  it  is  a  griev- 
ous thing  to  contemplate  the  two 
great  English-speaking  peoples  of 
the  world  as  being  otherwise  than 
friendly  competitors  in  the  onward 
march  of  civilization,  and  strenu- 
ous and  worthy  rivals  in  all  the 
arts  of  peace,  there  is  no  calamity 
which  a  great  nation  can  invite 
which  equals  that  which  follows 
a  supine  submission  to  wrong  and 
injustice  and  the  consequent  loss  of 
national  self-respect  and  honor, 
beneath  which  are  shielded  and  de- 
fended a  people's  safety  and  great- 
ness." 


neighbors  than  it  is  in  its  own 
members. 

The  example  of  America  must 
be  a  special  example,  not  merely  of 
peace  because  it  will  not  fight,  but 
of  peace  because  peace  is  the  heal- 
ing and  elevating  influence  of  the 
world  and  strife  is  not. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  man 
being  too  proud  to  fight.  There 
is  such  a  thing  as  a  nation  being 
so  right  that  it  does  not  need  to 
convince  others  by  force  that  it  is 
right. 


228 


'  CHAPTER    XXVII 
McKINLEY— MAN  OF  KINDLY  WAYS 

You  Hit  Hard-Pan  When  Integrity  Or  Principle  Was  At  Stake — 
George  B.  Cortelyou  Names  Courage  As  McKinley's  Dominant  Trait 
— How  He  Delayed  The  War  With  Spain — Crowds  Brought  Him  No 
Problems,  But  He  Met  Death  In  One — Silence,  And  The  Presidency 
At  Stake — Garfield  Bows  To  The  Chairman's  Ruling  And  Nomination 
Follows — Elaine  Smashes  His  Silk  Hat  While  Urging  Reciprocity — 
Harrison,  Elaine  and  McKinley  Rejoice  Together  And  Later  Are 
Rivals. 

FT  MAY  be  that  William  McKinley  was  no  intellectual  giant. 
*•  It  may  be  too  that  in  the  Presidency  he  was  an  example  of 
Tom  Reed's  frequent  remark  that  parties  seldom  nominate 
^heir  great  men  but  those  who  represent  the  average  of  party 
3pinion.  Perhaps  the  average  man  is  a  safer  selection,  for 
jreat  men  have  greater  ambitions  not  always  consistent  with 
"he  best  interests  of  their  countrymen. 

McKinley  made  no  claim  to  greatness;  he  was  content  to 
learn  what  the  people  wanted  of  him  and  then  to  endeavor  to 
meet  their  desires.  This  led  to  the  charge  that  he  always  had 
"his  ear  to  the  ground."  He  probably  would  not  have  denied 
that  charge. 

He  was  called  by  many  "The  Napoleon  of  Protection1' ;  car- 
toonists delighted  to  caricature  him  as  such.  Except  that  there 
was  a  slight  resemblance  to  Napoleon  in  McKinley's  build  and 
face,  there  was  no  basis  for  the  term.  McKinley  had  no  soar- 
ing ambitions  such  as  led  Napoleon  to  disaster.  He  had  the 
conservatism  of  his  Scotch-Irish  ancestry,  overlaid  with  a  deep 
veneer  of  kindliness  which  many  mistook  for  weakness.  You 
could  go  far  with  McKinley  where  essentials  were  not  in* 
volved,  but  you  hit  hard-pan  when  integrity  or  principle  was 
at  stake. 

229 


As  I  Knew  Them 

No  other  man  was  so  close  to  McKinley  during  his  five 
years  in  the  White  House  as  was  George  B.  Cortelyou.  I  once 
asked  Cortelyou  to  state  McKinley' s  chief  characteristic. 

"Courage,"  he  answered  promptly. 

DELAYING  THE  WAR  WITH  SPAIN 

McKinley's  courage  came  time  and  again  to  the  attention  of 
those  close  to  him.  He  knew  how  to  resist  pressure,  and  he 
resisted  it  on  many  occasions  the  public  never  heard  about. 
Not  until  long  after  his  death  was  the  story  told  of  his  refusal 
in  1898  to  send  his  war  message  to  Congress,  despite  the 
heated  demands  of  Senators  and  Congressmen.  A  committee 
large  enough  to  crowd  the  Cabinet  room  called  to  insist  upon 
an  immediate  declaration  against  Spain.  The  President  told 
them  that  he  had  prepared  a  message,  but  he  was  awaiting  a 
cable  from  Havana  saying  that  all  Americans  were  safely  out 
of  Cuba. 

The  committee  was  suspicious  of  delay;  for  there  was  a 
feeling  in  Congress  that  McKinley  might  find  a  way  to  avert 
war.  They  intimated  that  Congress  might  act  without  waiting 
for  the  President.  While  the  conference  was  going  on,  a  cable 
arrived  stating  the  impossibility  of  getting  all  Americans  away 
at  once. 

Quietly  turning  to  Cortelyou,  the  President  said:  "Put  that 
message  in  the  safe  until  I  call  for  it." 

Then,  turning  to  the  excited,  insistent  war  committee 
McKinley  said:  "That  message  shall  not  go  to  Congress  as 
long  as  there  is  a  single  American  life  in  danger  in  Cuba." 

MCKINLEY  SAID   "CROWDS  BRING  ME  NO  PROBLEMS" 

In  the  White  House  as  during  his  fourteen  years  in  Con- 
gress McKinley  preferred  to  please  rather  than  to  displease; 
to  help  rather  than  to  hinder;  to  smile  rather  than  to  frown. 
In  one  of  our  talks  I  deplored  the  burden  of  the  handshaking 

230 


As  I  Knew  Them 

receptions  in  the  White  House.     He  interrupted  me  to  say 
that  he  enjoyed  them,  they  inspired  him. 

uEveryone  in  that  line  has  a  smile  and  a  cheery  word/1  he 
said.  "They  bring  no  problems  with  them;  only  good  will. 
I  feel  better  after  that  contact.  It  is  the  visitor  to  the  Cabinet 
room  pressing  some  policy  or  seeking  some  office  who  tires. 
He  comes  determined  to  persuade  or  convince  me;  he  is  full 
of  his  subject,  intense,  I  have  to  meet  and  resist  all  that 
force  not  once  or  twice  each  day  but  all  day  without  interrup- 
tion. Few  visitors  to  the  President's  office  come  without  a 
purpose.  There's  where  the  wear  and  tear  Is." 

Yet  McKinley  met  death  not  in  his  Cabinet  room  but  in  just 
such  a  crowd  as  he  had  told  me  he  loved  to  greet !  Character- 
istically, as  McKinley  fell,  stricken  by  the  assassin's  bullet,  he 
exclaimed,  "Don't  let  them  hurt  him." 

:• 
MCKINLEY'S  STRENGTH  AS  AN  ORATOR 

McKinley  easily  held  the  mileage  record  as  a  circuit-riding 
stump-speaker,  until  Bryan  outdistanced  him.  Bryan's  speak- 
ing was  always  for  himself,  however,  while  McKinley  spoke 
wherever  he  could  be  helpful.  East  and  west,  McKinley  rode 
in  more  torchlight  parades,  now  out  of  fashion,  than  any  other 
campaigner.  As  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  his  speech- 
making  was  practically  confined  to  the  porch  of  his  little  home 
in  Canton. 

Though  I  have  heard  most  of  our  statesmen  orators,  I  can- 
not name  one  more  graceful  in  gesture,  more  pleasing  in  voice, 
than  McKinley.  He  did  not  depend  upon  stentorian  tones  to 
carry  conviction;  there  was  a  quiet  earnestness  about  him,  a 
modesty  of  manner,  a  directness  and  simplicity  of  expression 
that  quickly  won  confidence. 

McKinJey  could  go  into  the  corn-belt  States  and  convince 
farmers  of  the  increased  value  the  tariff  had  given  their  crops ; 
the  same  in  the  wheat  States.  In  industrial  centres  he  always 
had  figures  to  prove  the  benefit  in  wages  and  profits.  He  had 

231 


As  I  Knew  Them 

no  equal  in  presenting  statistics  in  an  interesting  way,  and  he 
never  failed  to  use  one  or  two  local  industries  to  illustrate. 
Nor  do  I  recall  anyone  whose  memory  equalled  McKinley's 
for  names  and  faces.  Once  known  ever  so  slightly  to 
McKinley,  you  were  rarely  forgotten.  Elaine,  too,  was  proud 
of  this  ability;  he  also  could  couple  names  with  faces, — but 
McKinley  was  a  master  in  that  art. 

SILENCE — AND  THE  PRESIDENCY 

One  picture  of  McKinley  rests  in  my  mind  revealing  his 
firmness  when  loyalty  was  involved.  No  one  needs  to  be  told 
that  only  a  man  of  decision  can  withstand  the  lure  of  the  Presi- 
dency. It  is  sought  with  intense,  desperate  endeavor  in  every 
national  convention;  in  the  conflict  of  ambitions,  the  finer 
qualities  which  most  men  possess  are  at  times  forgotten. 
Often,  two  principal  contenders  wear  each  other  out,  and  a 
third  or  udark  horse"  candidate  rushes  to  the  front. 

The  first  "dark  horse"  in  our  presidential  politics,  as  is  well 
known,  was  James  K.  Polk  in  1844,  but  Hayes,  Garfield, 
Harding,  Cox  and  Davis  are  also  more  or  less  of  that  class. 

It  might  easily  have  been  true — many  persons  at  the  time 
thought  it  would  have  been  true — that  the  Republican  national 
convention  of  1888  would  have  turned  to  McKinley  as  its 
"dark  horse"  candidate  had  he  not  stood  firmly  against  it. 

McKinley  was  the  Sherman  floor  leader,  just  as  Garfield 
was  Sherman's  spokesman  in  1880.  Several  votes  had  been 
cast  for  McKinley  on  different  ballots  as  had  been  done  for 
Garfield;  the  galleries  whispered  prophecies  of  a  stampede  to 
McKinley.  It  might  have  come,  had  McKinley  remained 
silent. 

Silence  and  the  Presidency! — an  unsteadying  prospect  to 
most  men ;  not  to  McKinley. 

I  can  see  him  now  as  he  stood  on  his  chair  in  the  centre  aisle 
asking  for  recognition.  The  tumult  of  the  convention  ceased. 
Every  eye  focussed  on  McKinley' s  serious  countenance.  Then, 

232 


As  I  Knew  Them 

indeed,  it  seemed  to  me,  he  looked  Napoleonic.  It  was  one  of 
those  tense  moments  in  conventions  when  no  one  knows  just 
what  is  going  to  happen,  though  everyone  knows  that  it  will 
he  unusual.  Then  in  that  quiet,  firm  tone  that  all  who  knew 
McKinley  well  remember,  he  said: 

"Mr.  Chairman :  I  am  here  as  one  of  the  chosen  representatives 
of  my  State.  I  am  here  by  resolution  of  the  Republican  State  Con- 
vention commanding  me  to  cast  my  vote  for  John  Sherman.  I 
accepted  the  trust  because  my  heart  and  my  judgment  are  in  accord 
with  that  resolution. 

"It  has  pleased  certain  delegates  to  cast  their  votes  for  me  for 
President.  I  am  not  insensible  of  the  honor  they  would  do  me, 
but  in  the  presence  of  the  duty  resting  upon  me  I  cannot  remain 
silent  with  honor.  I  cannot  with  fidelity  to  John  Sherman,  who 
has  trusted  me  in  his  cause  and  with  his  confidences ;  I  cannot  con- 
sistently with  my  own  views  of  personal  integrity,  consent,  or  seem 
to  consent,  to  permit  my  name  to  be  used  before  this  convention. 

"I  do  not  request,  I  demand,  that  no  delegate  who  would  not 
cast  reflection  upon  me  shall  cast  a  ballot  for  me." 

Thus  died  the  stampede  that  might  have  landed  another 
Ohio  "dark  horse"  in  the  Presidency. 

WHEN  GARFIELD  BOWED  TO  THE  CHAIRMAN^  RULING 

Fairness  to  President  Garfield  requires  that  I  should  not 
close  this  incident  without  recording  the  fact  that  had  not 
Senator  George  Frisbie  Hoar  as  chairman  of  the  1880  con- 
vention rapped  Garfield  to  order,  compelling  him  to  resume 
his  seat,  Garfield  might  have  turned  the  delegates  to  some  one 
other  than  himself  exactly  as  McKinley  did.  That  indeed 
was  his  purpose  when  he  rose  to  protest  against  votes  being 
cast  for  him.  On  the  34th  ballot,  with  the  "306"  and  their 
opponents  worn  out  by  the  struggle,  16  Wisconsin  delegates 
declared  for  Garfield.  Here  is  the  official  record  of  what  fol- 
lowed that  announcement: 

233 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Mr.  Garfield :  I  rise  to  a  question  of  order. 

The  Chairman  (Senator  George  F.  Hoar)  :  The  gentleman 
from  Ohio  rises  to  a  question  of  order. 

Mr.  Garfield :  I  challenge  the  correctness  of  the  announcement. 
It  contains  votes  for  me.  No  man  has  a  right,  without  consent  of 
the  person  voted  for,  to  announce  that  person's  name  and  vote  for 
him,  in  this  convention.  Such  consent  I  have  not  given — 

The  Chairman :  The  gentleman  from  Ohio  is  not  stating  a  ques- 
tion of  order.  He  will  resume  his  seat.  No  person  having  received 
a  majority  of  the  votes  cast,  another  ballot  will  now  be  taken.  The 
clerk  will  call  the  roll. 

So  ended  the  34th  ballot ;  so  began  the  Garfield  stampede. 
On  the  36th  ballot  he  was  nominated. 

A  POINT  OF  ORDER  MAKES  A  PRESIDENT 

"I  recollect  the  incident  perfectly,*'  wrote  Senator  Hoar 
in  his  Autobiography.  "I  interrupted  Garfield  in  the  middle 
of  his  sentence.  I  was  terribly  afraid  he  would  say  something 
that  would  make  his  nomination  impossible,  or  his  acceptance 
impossible  if  it  were  made.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  ever  hap- 
pened before,  that  anybody  who  attempted  to  decline  the  Presi- 
dency was  to  be  prevented  by  a  point  of  order,  or  that  such  a 
thing  will  ever  happen  again." 

"YOU,  SIR,  HAVE  CLOSED  THE  DEBATE" 

McKinley,  strong  in  his  personal  loyalties,  could  keep  in  the 
middle  of  the  road  on  public  questions  as  skillfully  as  any  man 
who  ever  sat  in  Congress. 

Early  in  his  career  he  made  up  his  mind  that  one  would 
travel  further  in  the  middle  of  the  road  than  on  the  extreme  of 
either  side,  particularly  if  he  advanced  only  when  the  going 
was  good.  As  Congressman,  he  stuck  to  this  course,  except 
on  the  tariff. 

On  that  policy,  frankly  reflecting  the  interests  of  his  home 

234 


As  I  Knew  Them 

district  and  his  State,  he  made  himself  the  leading  spokesman. 
Yet  the  McKinley  tariff  law  of  1890 — on  which  he  based  all 
his  hopes  of  the  Presidency — retired  him  from  Congress 
and  the  Republican  party  from  national  legislative  control. 


"McKiNLEY  AFTER  1890" 

The  year  1890  marked  a  record  of  national  prosperity. 
All  seemed  serene  for  the  Republican  party.  Confident  of  the 
popularity  of  any  tariff  framed  by  McKinley,  and  with  election 
day  near,  every  legislator  was  eager  to  be  identified  with  it. 
As  chairman  of  the  House  Ways  and  Means  Committee, 
McKinley  made  up  the  daily  list  of  speakers.  Tradition  en- 
titled the  chairman  to  speak  last,  closing  the  debate  on  his 
side. 

A  Congressman  from  Kansas — I  cannot  recall  his  name — 
was  anxious  about  his  own  reelection.  He  thought  his  chances 
would  be  strengthened  if  he  could  show  the  home-folks  that  he 
had  been  accorded  the  honor  of  speaking  last,  and  closing  the 
debate.  He  made  that  unusual  request.  Good-natured 

235 


As  I  Knew  Them 

McKinley  gave  way  to  the  Kansan,  and  spoke  earlier  in  the 
Kansas  man's  time. 

His  speech  concluded,  McKinley  stood  for  a  moment  re- 
ceiving congratulations.  The  Kansas  Congressman  rushed  ex- 
citedly down  the  aisle  of  the  House  exclaiming  loudly : 

"Major,  by  your  kindness  I  shall  speak  last,  but  you,  Sir, 
have  closed  the  debate !" 

ELAINE  CRUSHES  HIS  HIGH  SILK  HAT 

All  Republicans  did  not  share  this  enthusiasm  for  the 
McKinley  bill;  Elaine  was  at  first  a  critic.  He  believed  it 
should  provide  for  reciprocity  with  Mexico  and  the  Central 
and  South  American  States.  He  went  to  the  extreme  of  at- 
tending the  Senate  Finance  Committee's  hearing,  where  he 
denounced  the  measure  so  excitedly  that  instead  of  pounding 
the  table  he  brought  his  fist  down  on  his  high  silk  hat,  smash- 
ing his  headgear  so  badly  that  a  Democratic  Senator  had  to 
lend  him  a  hat  to  wear  home. 

"Pass  this  bill,"  then  declared  Elaine,  "and  in  1892  there 
will  not  be  a  man  in  the  Republican  party  so  beggared  as  to 
accept  your  nomination  for  the  Presidency." 

But  when  Elaine  had  his  way  and  reciprocity  was  included, 
he  changed  his  mind  about  the  unpopularity  of  the  measure. 
How  each  of  us  regards  his  own  idea  as  the  pivot  of  the  whole 
structure ! 

Elaine's  eyes  as  Secretary  of  State  were  turned  toward 
South  America.  Despite  his  long  experience  with  public 
opinion  he  felt  that  where  he  looked  the  people  looked  too. 
He  was  so  sure  that  he  had  cured  the  defects  in  the  measure 
that  he  accompanied  McKinley  to  the  White  House  to  be 
present  when  President  Harrison  signed  it. 

Harrison  wrote  his  signature  and  then  took  up  a  blotter  to 
dry  the  ink. 

"Don't  blot  that  signature,"  cried  Elaine.  "Let  it  stand  out 
bold  and  clear.  Let  the  ink  dry." 

236 


As  I  Knew  Them 

McKinley  kept  the  pen. 

Note  what  followed  this  last  meeting  of  those  three  men: 

In  a  month,  the  Republican  party  had  lost  control  of 
Congress : 

In  less  than  two  years  Elaine  resigned  as  Secretary  of  State, 
and  was  contesting  Harrison's  nomination  for  the  Presidency! 
McKinley,  presiding  over  the  convention,  allowed  182  votes 
to  be  cast  in  his  own  favor — only  one-half  a  vote  less  than 
Elaine  received.  Harrison  had  a  majority.  The  three  men 
who  had  gathered  to  rejoice  together  over  the  signing  of  a 
tariff  bill  had  become  rivals  for  the  Presidency ! 

Thus  runs  politics ! 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 


McKINLEY,  SILENT,  GETS  662;  REED,  FOR  GOLD,  85 

Aro*  Until  The  Last  Moment  Did  McKinley  O.  K.  The  Gold  Plank-— 
"I  Dont  Give  A  Damn  What  Wall  Street  Thinks"  Said  Hanna  But 
He  Finally  Yielded  —  How  The  Two  Conventions  Divided  On  The 
Money  Issue  —  "Joe,  God  Almighty  Hates  A  Quitter!"  —  Tom  Reed 
The  Only  Gold  Candidate—  He  Had  Only  Three  Delegates  West  Of 
New  York. 


the  gold  and  silver  issue,  McKinley,  until  nominated, 
kept  in  the  middle  of  the  road  surely  enough,  with  both 


IN   THE   MIDDLE    OF  THE   ROAD 


feet  planted  squarely  and  stubbornly  in  silence.    Had  his  per- 
sonal  inclinations   prevailed  with   the   Republican  platform- 

238 


As  1  Knew  Them 

makers  at  the  St.  Louis  convention,  the  gold  plank  would  not 
have  been  of  22-karat  quality.  He  was  convinced  that  the 
country  was  not  ready  to  vote  for  an  immediate  single  stand- 
ard basis.  He  was  certain  that  national  defeat  awaited  the 
candidate  who  went  to  the  polls  on  that  one  issue.  Develop- 
ments in  the  campaign  justified  this  belief. 

For  wreeks  before  the  nomination,  the  East  hotly  demanded 
a  "gold"  declaration  from  McKinley;  the  West  as  hotly  de- 
manded "Silver  or  Silence."  Silence  left  both  sections  claim- 
ing him. 

At  the  last  moment,  with  the  convention  assembling  and  a 
majority  of  the  delegates  securely  pledged,  McKinley  put  his 
O.K.  to  a  gold  plank  brought  to  Canton  by  Senator  Charles 
W.  Fairbanks,  of  Indiana,  afterward  Vice  President. 

Mark  Hanna,  seated  in  his  Cleveland  office  less  than  a 
month  before,  had  pounded  his  desk  with  his  big1  fist,  saying, 
almost  shouting  at  me ; 

"I  don't  give  a  damn  what  Wall  Street  thinks  of  McKinley1  s 
silence;  they  can  go  to  hell  down  there.  We  are  not  going  to 
nominate  McKinley  on  a  Wall  Street  platform." 

But  at  St.  Louis  Hanna  did  all  he  had  declared  so  ve- 
hemently in  Cleveland  he  would  not  do.  McKinley  stood  on 
a  Wall  Street  platform,  and  in  the  East  became  Wall  Street's 
candidate. 

STRENGTH  OF  SILVER  IN  THE  TWO  CONVENTIONS 

Thomas  B.  Reed—  "Czar  Reed,"  "Tom"  Reed— was  the 
one  honest-to-goodness  gold  standard  candidate  before  that 
convention.  He  polled  85  votes  against  662  cast  for  McKin- 
ley on  the  one  ballot  taken.  Two  delegates  from  Chicago  and 
one  from  Oklahoma  Territory  cast  the  only  votes  for  Reed 
from  the  vast  region  west  of  New  York.  A  few  weeks  later, 
Senator  David  B.  Hill,  of  New  York,  led  a  struggle  for  the 
single  gold  standard  in  the  Democratic  National  convention 
with  even  poorer  results.  Those  who  now  assume  that  the 

239 


As  I  Knew  Them 

political  opinion  of  the  country  was  then  against  silver  as  a 
money  metal  are  confuted  by  the  roll-call  of  the  national 
conventions  of  the  two  parties.  More  than  two-thirds  of  the 
Democratic  convention  and  about  30  per  cent  of  the  Republi- 
can convention  favored  silver. 

In  the  Republican  convention  the  McKinley  vote  reflected 
the  feeling  among  western  delegates  that,  despite  the  gold 
plank  in  the  platform,  McKinley's  long  silence  proved  that 
he  was  not  an  extremist;  they  believed  the  folks  back  home 
could  be  persuaded  that,  if  elected,  he  would  "do  something 
for  silver/'  Of  Tom  Reed,  however,  the  same  could  not  be 
said.  The  people  knew  him  as  a  "gold"  man,  out  and  out, 
and  western  delegates  were  convinced  that  in  their  territory 
the  candidacy  of  a  gold  man  was  hopeless. 

A  DEMORALIZED  JOE  MANLEY 

ujoe,  God  Almighty  hates  a  quitter  I"  yelled  Sam  Fessen- 
den,  of  Connecticut,  at  Joseph  H.  Manley,  of  Maine,  when 
he  met  Manley  in  a  hotel  corridor  after  reading  the  latter' s 
suggestion  that  it  might  be  better  to  withdraw  Reed. 

I  had  travelled  with  Manley  and  W.  Murray  Crane  from 
Albany  to  St.  Louis.  All  the  way  west  Manley  kept  say- 
ing it  was  wrong  to  expose  Reed  to  what  he  regarded  as 
humiliating  defeat.  As  Elaine's  manager  for  years,  Manley 
was  accustomed  to  great  demonstrations  of  enthusiasm;  he 
was  depressed  by  the  poor  response  to  the  Reed  boom.  Nearly 
all  his  friends  were  in  the  McKinley  camp.  The  Reed  men 
knew,  of  course,  that  they  were  beaten ;  Manley  thought  they 
should  acknowledge  it.  Veteran  in  politics  as  he  was,  and 
though  warned  by  Murray  Crane,  Manley's  demoralization 
was  complete  even  before  he  reached  St.  Louis.  There  he 
talked. 

Fessenden's  exclamation  gave  importance  to  the  Manley 
statement.  It  was  on  everybody's  lips ;  together  the  two  utter- 
ances made  the  rollcall  on  the  Reed  candidacy  perfunctory. 

240 


CHAPTER    XXIX 

BEATING  BRYAN  IN  HIS  OWN  TERRITORY 

The  West  Was  Lost  To  McKinley  On  The  Gold  Issue,  So>  He 
Switched  To  Protection—  "Make  Them  Talk  Tariff,  Think  Tariff, 
Dream  Tariff"  Declared  Hanna  —  McKinley  "The  Advance  Agent  Of 
Prosperity!1'  —  Sends  His  Greetings  To  Congress  —  His  Mother  Prays 
God  To  Keep  Her  Boy  Humble. 


to  disturb  history  too  much  but  to  record  one  of 
those  facts  that  history  has  a  way  of  ignoring  —  or  of  not 
discovering  —  I  would  like  to  say  that  the  bald  truth  about 
1896  is  that  had  Reed  been  nominated  he  would  have  been 
defeated  by  Bryan;  and  had  not  McKinley,  during  the  cam- 
paign, abandoned  the  gold  issue  west  of  the  Mississippi,  sub- 
stituting the  tariff,  he,  too,  would  have  lost  the  election. 
Despite  tremendous  effort  during  July  and  August  to  convince 
western  people,  they  remained  suspicious  that  gold  standard 
meant  Wall  Street  domination;  no  argument  could  prevail 
against  that  prejudice. 

At  a  conference  in  McKinley's  home  in  Canton,  Ohio, 
early  in  September,  it  was  decided  that  the  chances  were 
strongly  against  carrying  any  State  west  of  the  Mississippi  un- 
less the  people  could  be  diverted  from  discussing  "16  to  i." 
McKinley  could  not  win  without  many  electoral  votes  from 
that  section.  There  were  not  enough  electoral  votes  east  of 
the  Mississippi  to  overwhelm  Bryan,  backed  by  a  solid  west 
added  to  a  solid  south. 

By  direct  orders  from  McKinley,  there  was  a  quick  "re- 
call" of  the  gold  issue  except  in  the  east.  Campaign  speaking 
and  literature  were  centered  on  an  appeal  to  vote  for  "McKin- 
ley, Protection  and  Prosperity." 

241 


As  I  Knew  Them 
"THE  ADVANCE  AGENT  OF  PROSPERITY'' 

Hanna  instructed  all  spell-binders  in  the  west  to  "make 
people  talk  tariff,  think  tariff,  dream  tariff.7'  "Tell  'em, 
McKinley  means  good  times." 

Not  a  word  on  the  money  issue  was  uttered  in  western 
meetings  the  last  six  weeks  of  the  campaign  unless  the  audi- 
ence insisted.  The  one  cry  was  "Elect  McKinley,  the  Advance 
Agent  of  Prosperity." 

That  switch  of  issues  brought  California,  Kansas,  North 
Dakota,  Oregon,  Minnesota  and  Iowa  into  line  for  McKinley 
by  a  small  plurality  in  each  State.  Before  the  switch  only 
Minnesota  and  Iowa  were  on  Hanna's  list — and  they  were 
classed  only  as  "probable." 

In  the  east,  of  course,  gold  remained  the  vote-getting  issue; 
there  it  was  emphasized.  The  result  was  that  the  east  voted 
for  gold  while  the  west  voted  for  protection,  and  one  candi- 
date so  managed  his  campaign  as  to  satisfy  both  sections ! 

I  have  personal  knowledge  of  these  facts.  Before  and  after 
the  St.  Louis  convention  I  travelled  the  west  thoroughly  as 
correspondent,  instructed  by  my  newspaper  to  learn  one  defi- 
nite thing — what  the  people  there  really  thought.  My  investi- 
gations made  me  certain  that  Bryan  would  get  most  of  the 
electoral  votes  of  that  section  unless  some  change  were  made. 

On  my  way  east,  in  late  August,  I  stopped  over  at  Canton, 
Ohio,  and  gave  McKinley  my  judgment.  He  said  that  it  coin- 
cided with  other  reports  he  had  received  and  acknowledged 
that  he  and  Hanna  were  disturbed. 

"I  believe  that  if  we  could  get  the  tariff  issue  to  the  west 
it  could  be  won  back,"  he  added,  "but  how  are  we  going  to 
do  it?" 

A  few  days  later  Senator  Thurston,  of  Nebraska,  and  sev- 
eral other  western  leaders  were  called  to  Canton  and  at  the 
conference  then  held  it  was  decided  to  abandon  gold  and  talk 
tariff  in  the  west.  Wilbur  F.  Wakeman,  then  General  Man- 

242 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ager  of  the  American  Protective  Tariff  League,  was  selected 
to  do  the  work  of  blotting  out  the  money  issue  with  tariff 
pamphlets — and  those  who  know  Wakeman  know  how  thor- 
oughly he  did  the  job.  The  printing  presses  groaned  with 
their  burden,  but  their  groans  meant  McKinley  hurrahs  on 
election  night. 

A  STRONGER  MCKINLEY  AS   PRESIDENT 

Election  to  the  Presidency  meant  another  McKinley, — a 
McKinley  made  stronger  in  purpose  by  his  sense  of  his  new 
responsibilities.  Now  that  he  was  the  national  leader  of  his 
party  he  grew  steadily  until  the  day  of  his  assassination  after 
a  speech,  the  last  words  of  which  reflected  the  broadening 
influence  of  his  high  position.  It  was  the  high  protectionist 
McKinley  of  1890  who,  after  four  years  in  the  White  House, 
speaking  in  behalf  of  reciprocity,  left  as  his  last  message  to 
the  people:  "Let  us  ever  remember  that  our  interest  is  in 
concord  not  in  conflict,  and  that  our  real  eminence  as  a  nation 
lies  in  the  victories  of  peace,  not  those  of  war." 

MCKINLEY  SENDS  GREETINGS  TO  CONGRESS 

No  other  administration  has  been  so  like  the  period  of 
James  Monroe  from  1817  to  1825  as  McKinley's — an  era  of 
good  feeling.  The  new  President  struck  the  keynote  when 
he  began  his  first  annual  message  with  these  words : 

"It  gives  me  pleasure  to  extend  greetings  to  the  Fifty-fifth 
Congress,  .  .  .  with  many  of  whose  Senators  and  Representa- 
tives I  have  been  associated  in  the  legislative  service." 

That  greeting  to  his  former  colleagues  won  them  to  him. 
He  held  his  party  together  and  even  broke  over  party  lines — 
getting  the  Dingley  tariff,  for  instance,  through  a  Senate  that 
had  a  Populist  balance  of  power.  Even  Democratic  Congress- 
men who  had  avoided  the  White  House  during  Cleveland's 
time  visited  it  freely  and  felt  that  they  were  welcome.  The 

243 


As  I  Knew  Them 

loneliness  of  Cleveland's  day  was  dispelled  by  a  kindly,  invit- 
ing atmosphere. 

MOTHER  MCKINLEY' s  PRAYER  FOR  HER  BOY 

On  the  train  from  Canton,  Ohio,  to  Washington,  for  the 
inauguration,  McKinley^s  mother  said  that  the  night  before 
she  had  made  what  she  called  a  special  prayer. 

uWhat  did  you  pray  for  especially ?"  she  was  asked. 

;il  prayed  God  to  keep  my  boy  humble,'7  she  replied. 

And  McKinley  kept  humble  in  the  sense  his  mother  desired 
but  those  who  had  known  McKinley  in  Congress  found  a 
stronger  McKinley  in  the  White  House, — just  as  those  who 
had  known  Chester  A.  Arthur  as  a  Conkling  lieutenant  in  New 
York  city  politics  found  a  different  Arthur  as  President. 


244 


CHAPTER    XXX 

McKINLEY'S  HANNA  OR  HANNA'S  McKINLEY? 

Tk%  Campaign  Manager  Wants  A  House  In  Washington  But  McKin- 
ley  Says  fflt  Would  Never  Do,  Mark" — He  Insists  That  Hanna  Must 
First  Have  A  Title — John  Sherman  Goes  To  State  Department  And 
Hanna  To  The  Senate — Hanna's  Keenest  Disappointment — The  Phila- 
delphia Convention  of  igoo  When  Dawes  Received  The  Message  That 
Forced  Hanna  To  Say  To  Roosevelt,  ff Teddy,  You're  It!" 

/TpURN  now  to  1896 — McKinley,  President-elect;  Mark 
•*•  Hanna,  President-maker,  and  long-time  friend.  Hanna 
wanted  no  Cabinet  portfolio;  all  his  life  he  had  been  a  busi- 
ness executive;  he  was  determined  to  lessen  not  to  increase 
responsibilities.  He  wanted  to  be  the  trusted  friend  and  coun- 
sellor of  a  President  but  not  to  hold  office.  Probably  he 
wanted  a  home  in  Washington. 

His  famous  corned  beef  hash  breakfasts  in  Cleveland 
(made  after  a  recipe  he  had  worked  out  years  before  in  the 
iron  ore  camps  of  Duluth)  had  brought  many  a  doubting  dele- 
gate into  line  for  his  candidate.  Why  not  try  the  same  break- 
fasts in  Washington  on  temperamental  Senators  and  Congress- 
men? No  office,  no  title,  just  a  citizen  friend  of  the  President  1 

Politicians  wondered;  newspapers  kept  guessing  the  future 
of  this  Citizen  President-maker.  It  seemed  clear  to  Hanna; 
it  perplexed  McKinley.  He  knew  it  could  not  be  as  Hanna 
planned.  He  had  been  too  long  in  Washington  not  to  realize 
that  there  could  be  no  overlord.  Of  course,  Woodrow  Wilson 
was  not  then  even  dreaming  of  the  Presidency,  or  of  making 
Col.  Edward  M.  House  his  personal  ambassador-extraordi- 

245 


As  I  Knew  Them 

nary  and  other  self  here  and  in  Europe.  McKinley,  therefore, 
had  no  precedent  by  which  to  determine  Hanna's  status  except 
his  instinctive  feeling  that  there  could  be  only  one  President 
and  one  White  House. 

"IT  WOULD  NEVER  DO,  MARK" 

The  two  men  talked  it  over. 

"It  would  never  do,  Mark,"  said  McKinley.  "You  know 
everybody  would  be  running  to  you  either  before  or  after 
seeing  me.  You  owe  it  to  me  to  come  to  Washington  with  a 
title  to  office  or  not  at  all." 

Still,  Hanna  demurred.  He  saw  no  reason  why  he  could 
not  sacrifice  time,  thought  and  money  for  the  success  of  the 
President  he  had  done  so  much  to  elect.  Fourteen  years  later, 
Wilson  turned  to  Colonel  House  and  made  him  an  ambassa- 
dor without  credentials,  to  whom  those  "in  the  know"  would 
go  quietly  with  their  ambitions,  and  their  troubles.  McKinley 
foresaw  the  inevitable  consequences  of  such  a  relation. 

Together  he  and  Hanna  sought  a  way  out.  Just  one  way 
was  possible — persuade  John  Sherman  to  resign  as  Senator 
and  become  Secretary  of  State.  Sherman  was  consulted.  It 
was  known  that  he  would  like  to  have  held  that  portfolio 
under  Harrison.  Had  he  the  same  ambition  now?  Hanna's 
future  rested  on  the  Senator's  reply.  Several  weeks  of  uncer- 
tainty elapsed — then  an  unheralded  letter  of  acceptance 
reached  Canton. 

Promptly  Hanna  was  appointed  to  the  Senate  vacancy  by 
Ohio's  Governor.  Thus,  he  went  to  the  national  capital  in 
his  own  right  and  title,  and  his  famous  corned  beef  hash 
breakfasts  in  the  old  Cameron  mansion  facing  Lafayette  Park 
were  accepted  as  the  hospitality  of  a  Senator,  not  of  a  Presi- 
dent's spokesman. 

It  was  McKinley,  not  Hanna,  who  foresaw  the  unwisdom 
of  the  latter  role. 

246 


As  I  Knew  Them 
MCKINLEY  WOULD  NOT;  ROOSEVELT  DID 

A  modest,  genial  figure  in  national  Republican  politics 
those  days  was  Henry  C.  Payne,  then  in  control  of  the  Wis- 
consin State  organization — the  last  of  the  U01d  Guardn  to 
control  before  La  Follette  took  it  over.  Hanna's  deepest  in- 
terest in  the  McKinley  Cabinet  was  to  have  Payne  made 
Postmaster  General.  All  of  Payne's  colleagues  on  the  national 
committee  urged  the  appointment,  too.  In  earlier  years  Payne 
had  been  about  the  Capitol  in  the  interest  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad;  McKinley  was  then  a  Congressman  and 
familiar  with  Payne's  activities.  He  told  Hanna  he  could 
not  name  Payne.  Always  a  good  fighter  for  a  friend,  Hanna 
persisted. 

"Mark,"  said  McKinley  during  their  final  talk  in  Canton, 
ayou  know  I  want  to  do  anything  so  close  to  you  as  this 
seems  to  be  but  I  cannot  bring  into  my  Cabinet  a  man  who 
has  been  a  lobbyist  around  Congress." 

McKinley  did  not  appoint  Payne;  five  years  later,  Roose- 
velt did. 

Thus,  in  two  matters  of  consequence  before  his  inauguration 
McKinley  made  decisions  that  showed  Hanna  a  better  way 
than  the  way  he  urged.  And  no  one  realized  McKinley's 
ability  to  make  such  decisions  better  than  did  the  man  who 
newspapers  were  then  declaring  controlled  McKinley's  mind. 

MCKINLEY'S  WAY  MEANT  HANNA'S  KEENEST  DISAPPOINTMENT 

There  were  to  be  other  occasions  when  McKinley's  way 
had  to  prevail  over  Hanna's  counsel,  but  only  once  throughout 
their  long  friendship  was  there  any  keen  feeling  of  disap- 
pointment on  Hanna's  part.  That  was  when  he  was  unable  to 
persuade  McKinley  to  indicate  a  choice  for  Vice  President 
to  be  nominated  by  the  1900  national  convention.  He  not 

247 


As  I  Knew  Them 

only  refused  Hanna  but  he  authorized  Charles  G.  Dawes  to 
say  to  the  delegates  that  he  had  no  choice.  Hanna  keenly  felt 
that  double  blow  at  his  prestige. 

That  convention,  held  in  Philadelphia,  was  distinguished 
by  the  fact  that  more  men  refused  to  be  nominated  for  Vice 
President  than  in  any  other  convention  of  either  party. 

Even  Roosevelt  tried  to  dodge  it. 

No  one  dreamed  that  it  meant  the  Presidency  in  fifteen 
months. 

There  was  nothing  but  the  Vice  Presidency  for  the  dele- 
gates to  quarrel  over.  McKinley  was  to  be  their  nominee  for 
President  and  his  record  was  their  platform.  They  had  noth- 
ing to  do  but  decide  on  the  man  to  take  the  place  made  vacant 
by  the  death  of  Vice  President  Garret  A.  Hobart. 

Thomas  C.  Platt  wanted  Roosevelt  named  so  as  to  get  him 
out  of  the  New  York  Governorship.  Matt  Quay  was  inter- 
ested to  force  any  nomination  that  would  show  that  Hanna 
was  no  longer  in  control  of  the  national  organization.  The 
western  delegates  were  clamoring  for  a  nominee  who  would 
be  recognized  as  a  "liberal."  Platt  and  Quay  used  this  west- 
ern sentiment  to  work  up  a  Roosevelt  boom. 

The  old  convention  saying  that  uyou  cannot  beat  somebody 
with  nobody'1  came  in  here  for  another  demonstration.  Hanna 
found  himself  without  a  candidate  except  John  D.  Long,  of 
Massachusetts,  who  had  no  following.  More  fatal  stil] 
was  the  knowledge  among  the  delegates  that  he  was  without 
support  from  the  President — the  man  many  said  he  domi- 
nated! 

Nobody  who  could  be  nominated  wanted  the  Vice  Presi- 
dency ! 

Fairbanks  had  dreams  of  the  White  House.  He  preferred 
to  remain  in  the  Senate  until  the  real  call  came;  Allison,  of 
Iowa,  was  comfortable  and  contented  where  he  was ;  Jonathan 
Dolliver  was  indifferently  willing;  Cornelius  N.  Bliss  had  re- 
fused. Five-foot  Timothy  L.  Woodruff,  Lieutenant  Gover- 
nor of  New  York,  had  most  of  the  New  York  delegates,  in  a 

248 


As  I  Knew  Them 

complimentary  way,  and  Senator  Platt  had  said  uit  might 
taper  down  to  Tim." 

DAWES  AND  PERKINS  BEGIN  TO  FIGURE 

I  do  not  know  when  so  much  pressure  was  exerted  upon 
a  President  to  express  an  opinion  as  was  used  to  persuade 
McKinley  to  indicate  a  choice.  Hanna,  realizing  that  he  faced 
a  hard  fight  without  the  President's  aid,  pressed  hard  for  the 
right  to  tell  convention  leaders  that  he  was  speaking  with 
authority.  McKinley  continued  to  refuse.  Here  again  Mc- 
Kinley avoided  a  pitfall — one  into  which  Roosevelt  eight  years 
later  plunged  with  disastrous  results — the  mistake  of  a  Presi- 
dent naming  a  candidate  for  a  convention. 

Of  course  refusal  meant  humiliation  for  Hanna — better 
that,  than  White  House  domination  of  candidates. 

Two  men  destined  afterward  to  be  prominent  in  politics 
were  active  figures  behind  the  scenes  at  Philadelphia.  Charles 
G.  Dawes — then  Comptroller  of  the  Currency,  and  now  Vice 
President — and  George  W.  Perkins.  Dawes  indorsed 
McKinley's  attitude;  Perkins  stood  with  Hanna.  Perkins 
even  went  to  the  extreme  of  hiring  a  special  train  to  take  him 
from  Philadelphia  to  Washington  to  urge  McKinley.  Fair- 
banks and  Allison  also  urged. 

Under  such  pressure  it  seemed  probable  that  McKinley 
would  yield.  Hanna  believed  that  he  would  and  so  kept  stead- 
ily making  his  fight  more  and  more  an  administration  matter. 
Dawes  warned  Hanna  against  his  course,  protesting  that  he 
would  be  defeated  and  a  nomination  made  that  would  be  pro- 
claimed as  a  defiance  of  White  House  wishes.  Hanna,  how- 
ever, persisted.  Dawes  then,  by  telephone,  repeated  the  same 
warning  to  the  President.  McKinley,  through  George  Cortel- 
you,  promptly  authorized  Dawes  to  state:  uthe  President's 
close  friends  must  not  undertake  to  commit  the  Administra- 
tion to  any  candidate;  it  has  no  candidate.  The  Administra- 
tion wants  the  choice  of  the  convention." 

249 


As  I  Knew  Them 
"YOU'RE  IT,  TEDDY!"  SAID  HANNA 

No  desire  to  humiliate  Hanna  actuated  Dawes;  he  simply 
wanted  to  protect  McKinley.  The  message  he  received  was 
seen  by  Hanna  only.  There  was  no  need  to  show  It  to  others. 
At  once,  Hanna  knew  he  was  beaten.  He  accepted  defeat 
good-naturedly,  for  everything  was  part  of  the  day's  work 
with  Hanna.  If  he  could  not  get  what  he  wanted  he  made 
the  best  of  what  he  could  get.  He  promptly  sent  for  Roose- 
velt and  said,  "Teddy,  you're  it!" 

Thus,  a  great  chapter  in  American  politics  was  begun,  with 
not  one  of  the  figures  having  the  dimmest  vision  of  what  it 
all  was  shortly  to  mean. 

What  different  history  would  have  been  made  had  McKin- 
ley given  Hanna  the  authority  he  wanted! 


250 


CHAPTER    XXXI 
HAWAII  AND  THE  WAR  WITH  SPAIN 

Both  ft  Manifest  Destiny" — McKinley  Delayed  War  Until  Our  Array 

And  Navy  Could  Prepare— He  Believed  That  If  The  Parliaments  Of 
Both  Nations  Would  Adjourn,  Cuba  Would  Be  Free  Without  War — 
Foresaw  The  Problems  That  Would  Follow  War— Tells  Shaffer  To 
Hold  San  Juan's  "Thin  Line" — Seeking  A  Right  Basis  For  Peace — 
McKinley  Ways  And  Wilson  Ways — The  Philippines  And  Cuba  ffOur 
Opportunity  And  Our  Burden." 

ANNEXING  the  Hawaiian  Islands  by  treaty  was  one  of  the 
***  important  steps  taken  by  McKinley.  His  remark  to  Cor- 
telyou  that  it  was  "manifest  destiny"  was  made  before  there 
was  any  thought  of  the  Philippines  or  Porto  Rico.  He  found 
a  responsible  government  in  Hawaii,  functioning  as  well  as  an 
independent  government  there  could  function.  But  it  faced 
local  uprisings  and  possible  acquisition  by  England  or  Ger- 
many. Both  considerations  settled  McKinley' s  mind.  He 
urged  the  Senate  to  ratify  the  treaty  offered  by  the  Hawaiians. 
Not  until  after  Dewey  had  taken  Manila,  nor  until  Hawaiians 
had  violated  neutrality  by  coaling  and  harboring  our  warships, 
did  the  Senate  ratify  the  treaty.  Thus  McKinley  closed  the 
chapter  Harrison  could  not,  and  Cleveland  would  not,  finish. 

Perhaps  our  war  with  Spain  was  "manifest  destiny,"  too. 
Congress  evidently  thought  so, — even  to  the  extent  of  seek- 
ing to  speed  up  destiny  by  declaring  war  before  our  Army  or 
Navy  was  prepared  even  for  a  single  battle.  McKinley  was 
firm  against  haste.  He  made  no  angry  protests  against  Con- 
gress; he  won  delay  by  calmly  talking  over  the  situation  day 
by  day  with  those  who  were  rampant  for  war  as  well  as 
those  opposed. 

It  was  true,  too  true,  that  we  were  not  ready,  but  it  was 


As  I  Knew  Them 

equally  true  that  McKinley  hoped  that,  given  time,  Spain 
would  relieve  the  tension  by  freeing  Cuba  unconditionally.  A 
week  or  so  before  the  war  declaration  he  told  me  in  the  White 
House  that  if  the  Parliaments  of  both  countries  would  ad- 
journ* he  and  Sagasta,  then  Spain's  Prime  Minister,  could  free 
Cuba  and  peaceably  settle  all  differences.  He  said  also : 

al  am  not  anxious  about  the  result  of  war.  There  can  be 
but  one  result  and  it  will  not  be  long  delayed.  What  I  have 
in  mind  is  what  will  come  after  war — the  problems  we  do  not 
see  now  but  that  are  sure  to  come  in  some  way.  And  they 
will  not  be  easy  problems.  Other  nations  have  had  that 
experience*  and  we  shall  not  escape  it." 

War  came;  so  did  the  after-war  problems.  Some  of  those 
problems  are  still  unsolved, 

MCKINLEY  DIRECTED  ARMY  AND  NAVY 

History  will  never  credit  McKinley  with  having  directed 
every  move  on  land  and  sea — but  he  did.  Night  and  day  he 
followed  closely  every  battleship,  every  regiment  and  every 
plan.  In  Cuba  not  a  move  was  made  without  approval  from 
Washington* 

Take  one  incident  as  typical,  yet  an  incident  that  really  led 
to  the  quick  ending  of  the  struggle. 

On  the  night  of  July  I,  1898,  after  the  day's  battle  driving 
the  Spaniards  over  the  slope  of  San  Juan  Hill,  the  American 
troops*  exhausted  by  the  tropic  heat,  were  a  thin,  tired  line 
on  the  hill-top.  I  was  on  the  hill  that  night,  and  I  know  the 
uall  in"  condition  of  officers  and  men.  Shafter  feared  a  coun- 
ter-attack, and  did  not  believe  we  could  withstand  one.  He 
cabled  Washington  that  he  might  retire  to  a  less  exposed 
position.  McKinley  replied  that  he  must,  of  course,  use  his 
own  judgment  inasmuch  as  he  was  on  the  ground,  but  he  urged 
him  to  hold  the  hill.  The  people  at  home  would  not  under- 
stand a  retreat  That  cable  decided  Shafter.  The  hill  was 
held. 

252 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Holding  that  hill  as  well  as  El  Caney  made  Santiago  Bay 
impossible  for  the  Spanish  fleet  bottled  up  there.  It  was  at 
the  mercy  of  attack  by  land  guns.  It  had  no  alternative  but 
to  sail  out  hoping  that  some  of  the  ships  would  escape  the 
waiting  American  battleships. 

Such  is  the  caprice  of  fortune  that  Roosevelt's  name  is  much 
more  frequently  associated  with  the  war  than  is  McKinley's. 
Just  as  when  you  speak  of  Waterloo  the  one  remembered 
Britisher  is  Wellington  so  when  you  speak  of  San  Juan  the 
one  remembered  American  is  Roosevelt. 

In  both  instances  this  Is  unfair  to  others  who  contributed 
as  much  if  not  more  to  the  achievement,  but  it  is  the  way  of 
the  world,  otherwise  known  as  fate.  History  is  full  of  it.  At 
times  it  seems  like  a  conspiracy  against  the  facts.  The  regular 
army  won  the  battle  of  San  Juan  and  the  war  in  Cuba. 

SEEKING  A  RIGHT  BASIS  FOR  PEACE 

In  all  the  years  I  knew  McKinley  I  cannot  recall  ever  having 
seen  him  more  concerned  than  when,  with  the  armistice  signed, 
he  faced  the  problems  of  peace  with  Spain.  He  had  none  of 
the  superior,  confident  air  of  a  conqueror  when,  just  returned 
from  Santiago,  I  called  at  the  White  House.  The  war  spirit 
still  possessing  me,  I  expected  to  find  him  in  the  same  jubilant* 
mood.  My  first  glance,  however,  told  me  another  story.  The 
power  to  exact  terms  of  his  own  liking  seemed  to  rest  uneasily 
on  him.  Here  indeed  was  a  man  who  had  no  flare  to  be  ab- 
solute. Were  we  to  keep  the  Philippines  and  Porto  Rico? 
Were  we  to  interpret  the  "Platt  Amendment"  literally  as  to 
Cuba,  leaving  it  a  free  country,  or  interpret  it  in  the  newer 
light  of  conquest  and  take  Cuba  over,  too? 

These  questions  and  others  only  less  important  were  on  our 
nation's  doorsteps  like  unwanted  children.  If  turned  away 
where  were  they  to  go?  If  taken  in,  what  would  the  conse- 
quence be?  There  was  no  answer  that  was  not  followed  by 
responsibility  as  closely  as  one's  shadow. 

253 


As  1  Knew  Them 

MCKIXLEY  WAYS  AND  WILSON  WAYS 

Never  were  the  methods  and  personality  of  a  man  more 
clearly  reflected  than  In  the  manner  in  which  McKinley  en- 
tered into  peace  negotiations;  never  were  one  President's 
ways  in  sharper  contrast  with  those  of  another  President  than 
were  McKinley1  s  with  those  of  Woodrow  Wilson  twenty  years 
later,  when  the  latter  faced  the  same  problems. 

Wilson  formulated  his  own  conception  of  the  peace  he  was 
to  impose  upon  the  world;  he  consulted  few,  if  any.  He  did 
not  even  seek  to  learn  the  opinion  of  the  country.  When  it 
came  to  him  in  the  election  of  a  Republican  Congress,  he 
rejected  it.  His  course  is  stated  more  in  detail  in  the  chapter 
on  Wilson. 

McKinley  sought  counsel  everywhere.  He  brought  Elihu 
Root  into  his  Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  War  "because  I  want  a 
lawyer  to  handle  the  problems  of  the  new  islands  and  you  are 
the  lawyer  I  want"  He  brought  Admiral  Dewey  from  Ma- 
nila so  that  he  might  have  by  his  side  during  the  treaty  nego- 
tiations the  "man  on  the  spot11  who  knew  whereof  he  spoke. 
He  persuaded  Senators  Cushman  Davis,  Frye  and  George 
Gray  to  become  members  of  the  peace  commission,  with  Sec- 
retary of  State  Day  and  Whitelaw  Reid. 

Furthermore,  McKinley  took  pride  in  the  ability  of  his 
Commissioners.  He  sent  them  to  their  task  with  his  confi- 
dence and  his  respect.  "Be  magnanimous"  were  his  instruc- 
tions— c;the  true  glory  and  enduring  interests  of  our  country 
would  best  be  served  by  an  example  of  moderation,  restraint 
and  reason." 

But  McKinley  did  not  stop  there.  He  went  west  and  made 
speeches,  talked  with  representative  men,  wrote  letters  of 
inquiry.  He  made  a  systematic  effort  to  get  the  reaction  of 
the  people  to  every  feature  of  the  peace  negotiations,  par- 
ticularly the  Philippines,  and  Cuba. 

Step  by  step  he  moved  to  stronger  ground — always  keeping 

254 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ahead  of  public  opinion  but  not  too  far  ahead  to  be  beyond 
its  influence.  He  knew  the  peril  any  man,  particularly  a 
President,  invites  by  attempting  to  do  the  thinking  for  a 
nation,  and  he  avoided  it.  In  this  way  McKinley  secured  a 
peace  that  Congress  and  the  country  would  approve. 

MCKINLEY  ASKED   FOR  GUIDANCE 

Charles  S.  Olcott,  in  his  "Life  of  McKinley,'5  tells  how 
McKinley  spoke  in  November  1898  to  a  committee  of  Meth- 
odist ministers  who  had  called  to  pay  their  respects.  As  they 
were  leaving  the  President  called  them  back  and  said: 

"Hold  a  minute  longer.  I  would  like  to  say  a  word  about  the 
Philippines. 

"When  I  realized  that  the  Philippines  had  dropped  into  our  laps 
I  confess  I  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  them.  I  sought  counsel 
from  all  sides — Democrats  as  well  as  Republicans — but  got  little 
help.  I  thought  first  we  would  take  only  Manila;  then  other 
islands,  perhaps,  also.  I  walked  the  floor  of  the  White  House 
night  after  night  until  midnight ;  and  I  am  not  ashamed  to  tell  you, 
gentlemen,  that  I  went  down  on  my  knees  and  prayed  Almighty 
God  for  light  and  guidance  more  than  one  night.  And  one  night 
late  it  came  to  me  this  way — I  don't  know  how  it  was,  but  it  came : 
(i)  That  we  could  not  give  them  back  to  Spain — that  would  be 
cowardly  and  dishonorable;  (2)  that  we  could  not  turn  them  over 
to  France  or  Germany — our  commercial  rivals  in  the  Orient — that 
would  be  bad  business  and  discreditable;  (3)  that  we  could  not 
leave  them  to  themselves — they  were  unfit  for  self-government — 
and  they  would  soon  have  anarchy  and  misrule  over  there  worse 
than  Spain's  was;  and  (4)  that  there  was  nothing  left  for  us  to  do 
but  to  take  them  all,  and  to  educate  the  Filipinos,  and  uplift  and 
civilize  and  Christianize  them,  and  by  God's  grace  do  the  very  best 
we  could  by  them,  as  our  fellow-rnen  %r  whom  Christ  also  died. 
And  then  I  went  to  bed,  and  went  to  sl|$p,  and  slept  soundly,  and 
the  next  morning  I  sent  for  the  chief  engineer  of  the  War  De- 
partment (our  map-maker),  and  I  told  him  to  put  the  Philippines 

255 


As  I  Knew  Them 

on  the          of  the  United  States  (pointing  to  a  large  map  on  the 
wall  of  !iis  office),  and  there  they  are,  and  there  they  will  stay 
1  am  President!" 

UOUR   OPPORTUNITY   AND   OUR   BURDEN" 

No  one  who  was  present  at  the  Ohio  Society  banquet  In  the 
winter  of  1900  will  ever  forget  the  scene  when  McKinley 
there  met  the  challenge  of  Imperialism.  McKinley  was  never 
more  Impressive,  more  earnest,  more  persuasive  and  never 
held  ae  audience  more  silent  and  attentive  than  while  he  was 
littering  these  words ; 

**There  can  be  no  imperialism.  Those  who  fear  it  are  against  it. 
Those  who  have  faith  in  the  Republic  are  against  it.  So  that  there 
is  universal  abhorrence  for  it,  and  unanimous  opposition  to  it.  Our 
only  difference  is  that  those  who  do  not  agree  with  us  have  no  con- 
fidence in  the  virtue  or  capacity  or  high  purpose  or  good  faith  of 
this  free  people  as  a  civilizing  agency,  while  we  believe  that  the 
century  of  free  government  which  the  American  people  have  en- 
joyedj  has  not  rendered  them  irresolute  and  faithless  but  has  fitted 
them  for  the  great  task  of  lifting  up  and  assisting  to  better  condi- 
tions and  larger  liberty  those  distant  peoples  who  through  the  issue 
of  battle  have  become  our  wards.  A  self-governed  people  will  never 
permit  despotism  in  any  government  they  foster  and  defend.  The 
burden  is  our  opportunity;  the  opportunity  is  greater  than  the 
burden.*' 

COMPROMISED  RATHER  THAN  "RIDE  A  WHITE  HORSE" 

There  was  still  another  incident  in  the  McKinley  policy 
toward  our  new  Island  possessions  that  brought  his  methods 
into  contrast  with  those  of  both  Cleveland  and  Wilson.  Cleve- 
land, It  will  be  remembered,  speaking  of  his  free  wool  mes- 
sage had  said,  "If  every  other  man  in  the  country  abandons 
this  issue,  I  shall  stick  to  it  I"  Wilson  took  the  same  rigid 
attitude  on  measures  that  he  Included  among  his  policies. 

256 


As  I  Knew  Them 

McKinley,  strongly  believing  in  a  prompt  eiort  to  make  the 
people  of  Porto  Rico  feel  at  home  with  us,  declared  immedi- 
ately after  annexation  In  favor  of  repealing  all  tariffs  against 
that  island's  products.  "It  is  our  plain  duty/'  he  insisted  to 
Congress.  But  the  protectionist  Republican  majority  did  not 
agree  with  him;  he  found  himself  in  conflict  with  them  as  much 
as  was  Taft  in  1910  when  he  urged  his  Canadian  reciprocity 
bill  Taft  passed  the  bill  over  the  protests  of  his  party  in 
Congress  with  the  aid  of  Democratic  votes,  McKinley  re- 
fused to  do  this. 

UI  could  ride  a  white  horse  in  this  situation  and  pass  the 
original  bill,"  McKinley  said  to  me  in  the  White  House  the 
afternoon  a  compromise  for  Porto  Rico  was  agreed  upon, 
"All  the  Democratic  members  are  ready  to  vote  to  repeal  the 
duties.  There  is  more  at  stake  in  this  country  just  now,  how- 
ever, than  immediate  free  trade  with  Porto  Rico.  The  vital 
thing  is  to  keep  as  many  votes  as  possible  in  Congress  back 
of  the  whole  programme  of  the  Administration.  We  have 
insured  that*  Also,  Porto  Rico  gets  free  trade  in  two  years, 
the  revenues  collected  in  the  meantime  go  back  to  the  island, 
and  the  legislation  has  a  practically  unanimous  vote.  I  am 
content  with  that  result/' 

"THE  FOREIGNER  THE  BETTER/*  SAID  PLATT 

Another  example  of  McKinley' s  way  of  handling  Congress 
was  his  approach  to  Senator  Platt,  of  New  York,  when  he 
wanted  to  send  Joseph  H.  Choate  as  Ambassador  to  Great 
Britain  and  Horace  Porter  as  Ambassador  to  France.  Both 
had  been  fighting  Platt  in  New  York  politics  for  years.  Mc- 
Kinley wanted  no  contest  in  the  Senate  over  confirmation,  so 
he  followed  his  policy  of  testing  a  situation  before  getting 
into  it.  He  asked  Platt  to  the  White  House. 

"Platt,"  he  said,  "two  men  in  New  York  whom  you  do  not 
like  politically  and  who  do  not  like  you  are  candidates  for 

257 


As  I  Knew  Them 

important  foreign  posts.     I  would  like  to  have  your  consent 

to  their  nomination/' 

"Who  are  they?"  inquired  Platt 

"Choate  and  Porter/'  McKinley  responded. 

uMr.  President,"  answered  Platt  instantly,  "nominate  them 

quick  and  the  ^foreigner*  you  send  them  the  better  P 


258 


CHAPTER    XXXII 

"WE'LL  STAND  PAT!"  SAID  HANNA 

McKinley  Had  Made  Good — Prosperity  Reigned  Throughout  The 
LanJ—"Bet-You-J-Millian"  John  W.  Gates  Typified  The  Spirit  Of 
The  Day — Big  Effort,  Eig  Capital  And  Biff  Results — So  McKinley  Got 
A  Mandate  From  The  People  "In  The  Interest  Of  Business  Expan- 
sion" As  Hanna  Explained  It. 

E!LL  stand  pat!"  replied  Hanna  when  asked  by  a  re- 
porter  to  state  the  issue  of  the  1900  campaign  to  re- 
elect  McKinley. 

And  "stand  pat"  the  McKinley  supporters  did  with  much 
reason  for  their  confidence. 

Following  Cleveland's  four  years  of  conflict  with  Congress, 
the  first  four  years  of  McKinley  were  a  period  of  calm  that 
the  country  prized  and  during  which  it  prospered  greatly. 

Prospered?  Yes — beyond  all  expectation.  McKinley  had 
made  good  as  "The  Advance  Agent  of  Prosperity."  Through 
most  of  his  term  prosperity  had  reached  farmer,  merchant, 
mechanic  and  capitalist  with  some  degree  of  fair  division. 
"Dollar  Wheat,"  high  wages,  industrial  profits,  had  infused 
the  people  with  a  jubilant,  confident,  aggressive  spirit.  Cross- 
ing the  line  into  a  new  century,  our  "captains  of  industry" 
seemed  to  feel  that  they  had  entered  a  new  land  of  promise, 
and  that  "no  pent-up  Utica"  would  hereafter  contract  their 
powers  or  limit  their  possibilities. 

"Bet-you-a-Million"  John  W.  Gates  was  typical  of  scores  of 
men  to  whom  new  wealth  was  only  an  incentive  to  greater 
wealth.  "Big  business"  knew  no  caution.  It  became  a  gam- 
ble— a  gamble  with  fate.  Every  capitalist,  real  or  fancied, 

259 


As  I  Knew  Them 

looking  into  the  future,  visioned  only  big  effort,  big  capital, 
big  results.  Today  was  merely  a  way  station  on  the  great 
highway  to  tomorrow.  No  one  thought  in  terms  of  the  pres- 
ent, splendid  as  they  were ;  no  one  was  content  with  what  had 
been  and  what  was.  The  future  was  capitalized  as  confidently 
as  though  it  were  a  tale  that  is  told.  Men  of  experience,  men 
of  stability,  men  of  hard-earned  fortune  looked  upon  every 
industry  as  a  new  Eldorado?  whose  treasures  were  to  pour  into 
the  laps  of  those  who  planned  on  giant  scale.  The  United 
States  Steel  Corporation  is  one  of  the  dreams  inspired  by 
McKinley  prosperity, 

II ANNA  AND  BRYAN  SAW  DIFFERENT  ISSUES 

It  was  while  that  spirit  prevailed  that  McKinley  defeated 
Bryan  a  second  time;  even  Bryan's  west  returned  generous 
majorities  for  McKinley.  It  was  a  campaign  without  a 
moment  of  doubt.  Bryan  thought  the  issue  was  "imperialism," 
and  devoted  his  speech-making  to  that  issue,  but  on  election 
night  Hanna  gave  a  different  interpretation  to  the  verdict. 
"The  Republicans,"  he  said,  "have  received  a  clear  mandate 
to  govern  the  country  in  the  interest  of  business  expansion.11 

Back  of  that  "mandate"  too,  was  the  earlier  Supreme  Court 
decision  giving  legality  to  the  Sugar  Trust's  purchase  of  two 
Philadelphia  refineries,  making  absolute  its  control  of  the 
industry.  The  decision  seemingly  stripped  the  government  of 
power  over  corporate  wealth,  and  such  wealth  promptly  made 
the  most  of  its  opportunity.  It  assumed  that  it  had  received 
a  license  from  the  court;  it  assumed  also  that  the  election 
gave  it  in  addition,  as  Hanna  expressed  it,  "a  mandate"  from 
the  people.  What  more  could  be  asked? 

Apparently  nothing.  So  combination  after  combination  was 
made.  In  every,  industry  the  "big  fellows"  united  for  control. 
Finally  the  railroads,  too,  saw  possibilities  in  combination,  and 
the  Northern  Securities  Company  resulted. 

260 


As  I  Knew  Them 


McKinley  watched  these  developments  with  doubting  mind. 
He  wanted  prosperity,  but  not  too  much  of  it;  he  wanted  busi- 
ness to  expand,  but  not  too  rapidly.  He  left  nothing  on  the 
record  to  reflect  his  reaction  to  the  get-rich-quick  tide  surging 
all  about  him,  particularly  after  his  reelection^  but  it  is  known 
that  he  often  expressed  regret  that  the  Sherman  anti-trust 
law  had  not  been  better  sustained  by  the  Courts.  Seven 
months  of  his  second  term  had  barely  passed  when  an  assassin 
closed  his  career  and  the  duty  of  carrying  out  the  "mandate 
for,  business  expansion11  devolved  upon  the  Vice  President, 
Theodore  Roosevelt. 


261 


CHAPTER   XXXIII 
MARK  HANNA— BUSINESS  IN  POLITICS 

//  Was  Clean  Business, t  However,  For  He  Was  Not  A  SpeculatQr — A 

M&n  of  Many  Kindly  Qualities  And  A  Loyal  Friend — Sensitive  To 
Cartoons — A  "Biff  Boss"  But  A  Popular  One — Adrift  After  McKin- 
leys  Death—"  Of  Course  Since  You  Want  It,  I  Will  Support  It"  He 
Telegraphed  Roosevelt  About  His  Nomination — Dead  Before  The  Con- 
vention  Of  190$  Met — -Hmn@  Jnd  Bryan  As  Balances. 

TN  the  picture  gallery  of  the  men  of  politics,  the  portraits 
**•  have  no  soft  tones.  Both  tint  and  lines  are  strong  and 
emphatic,  accentuating  good  or  bad,  as  the  artist  sees  the 
character  of  his  subject.  The  politician,  not  the  man,  is  on 
the  canvas.  Thus  Mark  Hanna  is  portrayed  in  the  political 
history  of  his  time.  There  he  personifies  the  coarse,  ruthless 
business  man  in  politics — the  kind  of  business  man  we  see  in 
theatrical  characters  or  in  novels — the  kind  that  delights  mer- 
cilessly to  crush  opponents  or  sacrifice  family,  honor  and 
friends  for  gain. 

It  Is  grossly  unjust  to  put  Hanna  in  that  class,  for  he  was 
not  of  that  type  at  all.  True,  he  had  the  decisive  ways  of 
the  man  at  the  head  of  big  affairs,  but  he  also  had  qualities  of 
friendship  and  kindness.  He  was  candid,  genial  and  straight- 
forward. No  pretences,  no  intrigues,  to  gain  his  ends.  He 
was  openly  for  you  or  against  you.  He  was  a  business  man 
in  politics,  and  naturally  had  a  business  man's  judgment  of  the 
policies  best  to  pursue. 

HANNA   SENSITIVE  TO   CARTOONS 

I  first  met  Hanna  at  the  Republican  national  convention  of 
1892  in  Minneapolis.  Later  I  knew  him  well.  Month  by 
month  as  he  marshalled  the  McKinley  forces  of  the  country, 

262 


As  I  Knew  Them 

he  gathered  men  about  him  who  gave  him  a  loyalty  that  lasted 
until  his  death. 

The  one  trait,  suppose  we  call  it  weakness,  that  Hanna 
never  overcame  was  his  hurt  feeling  when  cartooned  or 
wrongly  condemned  in  newspaper  editorials.  Homer  Daven- 
port drew  the  most  offensive  cartoon  of  Hanna — that  with 
the  dollar  signs  all  over  him, — and  Davenport  lived  to  seek 
Hanna  and  apologize.  Most  men  in  public  life  become  hard- 
ened to  criticism,  but  Hanna  never  did.  Frequently  he  would 
say  that  he  loved  a  fair  fight  but  did  not  like  below-the-belt 
blows. 

To  McKinley's  proposal  that  he  take  John  Sherman's  place 
in  the  Senate,  his  instant  response  was  that  he  "couldn't  talk 
on  his  feet."  When  appointed  two  months  later,  he  deter- 
mined to  make  good  in  his  new  job  and  to  secure  election  by 
the  Ohio  Legislature  on  his  own  account.  He  realized  his 
handicaps — he  was  a  ubig  boss"  in  politics,  a  "big  boss"  in 
business,  a  millionaire.  It  was  not  a  record  on  which  to  expect 
popular  support. 

Nevertheless,  Hanna  went  after  that  support.  He  was  no 
platform  speaker;  he  set  apart  an  hour  of  each  day  to  make 
himself  one.  He  was  not  acquainted  with  the  smaller  county 
leaders  of  his  State — soon  he  knew  them  all.  Finally,  he 
undertook  a  stumping  tour  of  Ohio,  In  his  speeches  he  tried 
no  flights  of  oratory;  he  kept  to  the  levels  with  which  he  was 
familiar.  His  audiences  liked  his  blunt,  homely  phrases;  he 
spoke  their  language  and  had  their  ways. 

When  the  time  came  for  the  Legislature  to  elect  a  Senator, 
Hanna's  name,  like  "Abou  Ben  Adhem's,"  led  all  the  rest.  He 
was  then  established  in  politics  with  his  own  ambitions  and  his 
own  following.  Later  Roosevelt,  among  others,  was  to  re- 
alize it. 

HANNA  ADRIFT  WITHOUT  MCKINLEY 

With  McKinley  gone,  Hanna  was  adrift  for  the  three  re- 
maining years  of  his  life.  He  frankly  told  Roosevelt  that  he 

263 


As  I  Knew  Them 

could  not  be  with  in  certain  contemplated  policies,  but  he 
kept  his  word  to  stand  by  him  to  the  end  of  his  term.  Un- 
doubtedly he  would  have  been  glad  to  see  a  candidate  devei- 
against  Roosevelt  in  1904*  but  Roosevelt  held  the  stage 
too  completely,  and  Manna  died  while  reluctantly  watching  the 
tide  flow  by.  There  was  talk  that  Manna  would  seek  the 
nomination  for  himself.  The  newspapers  constantly  were  pub- 
lishing such  stories.  He  certainly  had  made  himself  popular; 
but  he  understood  public  opinion  too  well  to  believe  that  he 
could  run  for  the  Presidency  with  any  hope  of  success. 

Yet  many  prophesied  that  he  would  become  a  candidate. 
Manna  enjoyed  the  talk,  but  he  kept  his  own  counsel.  His 
silence  so  baffled  Roosevelt  that  the  latter  authorized  Gov. 
Durbin,  of  Indiana,  to  announce  that  the  President  thought  it 
time  for  Hanna  to  "fish  or  cut  bait/' 

THE  "FOR-ME"  OR  UAGAINST-ME"  TELEGRAMS 

About  the  same  time  in  the  Spring  of  1903^  Senator  Foraker 
decided  to  challenge  Hanna's  control  of  the  approaching  Re- 
publican State  convention  in  Ohio.  He  used  the  Roosevelt 
candidacy  as  his  issue,  declaring  for  his  nomination  and  insist- 
ing that  the  State  convention  should  commit  Ohio  to  him. 
Foraker  cared  little  for  Roosevelt,  but  he  sought  an  oppor- 
tunity to  show  that  Hanna  no  longer  spoke  for  Ohio  Repub- 
licans. He  got  from  Hanna  just  what  he  expected — 
opposition  to  the  proposed  indorsement.  Hanna  rightly  in- 
sisted that  a  year  in  advance  was  too  soon  to  pledge  a  State 
delegation.  He  then  telegraphed  Roosevelt,  who  was  on  a 
tour  in  the  Northwest,  that  he  would  have  to  oppose  the  issue 
raised  by  Foraker,  but  he  was  not  doing  so  in  any  spirit  of 
antagonism  to  his  nomination.  He  added  that  he  felt  sure 
Roosevelt  when  apprised  of  all  the  facts  would  approve  his 
course.  But  the  President  took  a  contrary  view.  He  wired 
that  inasmuch  as  the  issue  had  been  raised  those  who  favor 

264 


As  1  Knew  Them 

his  nomination  would  support  It  and  those  who  do  not 
oppose. 

That  settled  Hanna's  attitude, 

Ciln  view  of  the  sentiments  in  your  telegram/"  lie  wired  back, 
i4I  shall  not  oppose  the  resolutions."1 

The  sentiments  settled  more  than  the  Ohio  indorsement 
They  settled  the  nomination  a  year  in  advance  of  the  1904 
convention.  Hanna  had  died  before  the  convention  met. 
-  Next  to  Roosevelt  Hanna  did  more  than  any  other  man 
to  make  the  Panama  Canal  a  reality.  He  led  the  battle  in 
Congress  for  it. 

HANNA  AND  BRYAN  AS  NECESSARY  TYPES 

Hanna,  of  course,  did  not  have  a  broad  conception  of  public 
policies,  but  his  views  were  honestly  held.  He  looked  over 
the  nation  as  a  banker  looks  over  a  balance  sheet,  hunting  for 
"tangibles."  He  was  not  without  appreciation  of  those  in- 
tangible things  that  go  so  far  toward  making  the  character  of 
men  and  nations,  but  their  value  as  collateral  was  no  greater 
in  his  eyes  than  in  the  eyes  of  the  average  banker  unless  backed 
by  a  definite  objective.  The  smoke  from  a  factory  chimney 
had  more  meaning  to  him  than  the  dream  of  the  man  in  the 
office  below. 

He  wanted  results,  not  dreams,  and  in  politics  if  results 
were  not  forthcoming  from  one  set  of  men  he  quickly  switched 
to  another  group.  Power  not  politics,  held  his  mind,  and,  like 
all  who  seek  power,  he  believed  that  his  use  of  it  would  be 
wise  and  best. 

Such  men  have  a  place  in  the  life  of  every  nation,  particu- 
larly in  our  own.  They  are  a  balance,  a  check,  to  extremists 
on  the  other  side.  One  type  would  be  as  unsafe  in  complete 
control  of  a  nation  as  the  other;  but  one  is  as  essential  as  the 
other  in  fixing  the  level  on  which  millions  of  people  can  stand 


As  I  Knew  Them 

together  contentedly  under  one  government.  Hanna  had  his 
contrast  in  Bryan.  The  year  1896  produced  both  men  as 
national  figures.  The  two  types  fought  it  out  stubbornly  in 
two  national  elections' — Bryan  getting  the  hurrahs  of  the  mul- 
titude; Hanna  getting  their  votes  for  JvlcKinley. 


266 


CHAPTER    XXXIV 
DEPEW— MAN  OF  YEARS  AND  OF  FRIENDS 

Everybody  Knows  Ckauneey  M.  Depew* — Why  Hi  Abandoned  Saloon 
Campaigning — Seven    Decades    Before     The    Public — Chauncey     "fie 

Peach** — Supported  For  President  And  Twice  Elected  Senator — Always 
Sought  As  A  Campaigner. 

TT7HO  does  not  know  Chauncey  Depew?  Who  has  not 
^  *  heard  him  tell  a  story  or  make  a  speech  ?  Who  has  not 
found  his  philosophy — laugh  and  the  world  laughs  with  you 
— the  stirring  elixir  of  life  when  life  seemed  drab  and  empty? 
My  recollection  of  him  goes  back  many  years  and  runs  through 
many  events  and  situations  that  were  dark  and  confusing  until 
his  cheery  disposition  and  clear  mind  found  the  way  to  light 
and  new  effort.  Depew  Is  not  of  a  type;  he  is  a  type  by 
himself. 

Depew  was  two  years  later  than  Mark  Hanna  in  entering 
the  Senate  at  Washington.  It  was  the  spirit  of  the  McKinley 
days  not  to  be  fearful  of  men  who  had  won  their  way  In  the 
business  world,  but  from  the  presidency  of  one  of  the  largest 
railroad  corporations  directly  to  the  United  States  Senate 
was  a  step  never  possible  before  or  since  Depew's  election  in 
1899  by  the  Legislature  of  New  York.  Not  content  with  giv- 
ing him  one  term  the  Republicans  reelected  him  In  1905. 
Election  for  a  third  term  came  in  1910  when  the  break  In  the 
Republican  party  lost  Depew  his  seat  to  a  Democrat  because 
of  the  anti-Taft  tidal  wave. 

Back  somewhere  In  the  eighteen-nineties  I  heard  Depew  in 
a  speech  before  the  New  York  Legislature  say  that  when  he 
was  campaigning  for  election  in  1861  and  1862  as  Member  of 
Assembly  from  Peekskill,  candidates  rivalled  each  other  as  to 
who  could  visit  the  most  saloons  In  the  district,  who  could  call 

267 


As  1  Knew  Them 

the  loungers  therein  to  the  brass-rail  and  the  mahogany 

bar,  and  hand  out  the  largest  greenback  to  the  saloon-keeper, 
with  a  nonchalant  "'never  mind  the  change,'1 

Depew  followed  this  practice  in  his  two  campaigns  but  be- 
came so  disgusted  with  it  and  with  himself  that  he  resolved 
never  again  to  seek  public  office  if  he  had  to  pay  that  price. 
He  put  the  resolution  into  elect  next  year  (1863)  when 
nominated  for  Secretary  of  State  of  New  York.  He  canvassed 
dtierent  parts  of  the  State,  and  spoke  at  many  more  meetings 
than  he  could  have  addressed  had  he  continued  touring 
saloons.  His  election  by  a  substantial  majority  satisfied  him 
that  no  votes  were  lost  by  his  different  campaign  method.  He 
never  again  entered  a  saloon  for  electioneering  or  any  other 
purpose. 

SEVENTY   YEARS   OF    PUBLIC    LIFE 

In  that  change  of  campaign  headquarters  from  saloon  to 
platform,  Depew  laid  the  basis  for  his  career  as  railroad  presi- 
dent, as  United  States  Senator,  and  as  orator.  Though  he  has 
had  seventy  years  of  public  speaking  in  Europe  and  America, 
he  is  still  sought  and  honored  at  every  banquet  he  cares  to 
attend. 

I  doubt  that  any  other  man  has  had  contact  with  the  ex- 
tremes of  life  such  as  Depew  has  enjoyed. 

In  New  York  city  they  know  Depew  on  the  Bowery  and 
east  side  as  "the  Peach";  among  New  Yorkers  of  average 
station  he  is  "Our  Chaunceyn;  and  among  the  exclusives  he 
is  Senator,  or  "Mr.  President"  of  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad.  It  is  an  achievement  for  any  man  to  be  accepted 
in  three  stations  so  widely  separated.  I  once  asked  Depew 
how  he  managed  it  He  said  he  didn't  manage  it,  he  just 
went  along  with  the  day's  work,  and  let  nature  take  its  course. 
Then  he  added,  "with  this  exception,  that  I  never  made  a  pes- 
simistic  speech  in  my  life;  I  have  always  looked  upon  the 
brighter  side;  I've  always  had  faith  in  my  country  and  our 

268 


As  I  Knew  Them 

people;  that  strikes  home  more  often  than  public  speakers 
realize." 

The  title  of  "Peach"  came  to  Depcw  In  an  interesting  way. 
During  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1892  he  addressed  a 
Republican  meeting  on  the  Bowery  for  Harrison  arid  Reid. 
In  order  to  show  the  opportunity  for  everyone  in  America, 
he  said: 

"I  started  in  life  with  these  two  hands  and  this  head.n 

Someone  in  the  audience  called  out :  uThat  head  is  a  peach, 
Chaunce." 

The  newspapers  took  up  the  phrase  and  from  that  time  on 
Depew  has  been  known  as  "de  Peach." 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  use  Depew's  saloon  story  as  an  argu- 
ment against  liquor,  but  I  do  want  to  use  it  to  demonstrate 
the  unwisdom  of  those  who  assume  that  they  must  descend  to 
low  levels  in  order  to  be  "popular"  in  politics  or  in  other 
callings. 

Real  popularity — the  popularity  that  counts — is  not  at- 
tained that  way;  rather  is  it  soon  lost.  I  could  name  a  score 
of  able,  brilliant  men  in  Congress  and  in  the  New  York  Legis- 
lature in  the  last  thirty  years  who  wasted  so  much  time  seeking 
that  kind  of  popularity  that  they  sacrificed  their  real  oppor- 
tunities. Men  of  rare  ability  have  gone  down  like  ten-pins, 
one  after  another,  as  I  have  watched  them  through  their 
careers,  cut  short  by  their  inability  to  realize,  as  Depew  for- 
tunately realized,  that  respect  and  confidence  are  not  to  be 
won  with  your  feet  on  a  brass-rail  or  your  hand  slapping 
somebody's,  anybody's,  everybody's — back. 

SLOAT  FASSETT'S  GREAT  MISTAKE 

For  obvious  reasons  I  cannot  use  names,  but  any  reader  ac- 
quainted with  the  habits  of  men  in  public  life — in  fact  with 
the  habits  of  men  in  any  walk  of  life — will  easily  recall  many 
who  have  frittered  away  their  talent  and  their  chance  by 
their  will-o'-the-wisp  search  for  "popularity"  based  on  an  ap- 

269 


As  I  Knew  Them 

peal  to  the  poorer  rather  than  the  better  instincts  of  people. 
My  observation  5s  that  those  who  respect  themselves  are  most 
respected.  Depcw  did  not  become  a  uPeach"  to  the  Bowery- 
ites  by  pretending  to  be  one  of  them;  he  remained  the  same 
Depew  on  the  Bowery  as  on  Fifth  Avenue  and  he  achieved 
popularity  in  both  sections  because  he  was  just  Depew  in  both. 

A  contrasting  incident  of  interest  was  the  experience  on  the 
same  Bowery  of  J.  Sloat  Fassett,  when  he  was  a  candidate  for 
Governor.  He  was  addressing  a  house  crowded  with  east 
side  voters.  The  night  was  oppressively  hot,  and  many  of 
his  audience  began  taking  off  their  coats.  Fassett  evidently 
thought  he  would  win  favor  by  doing  the  same  thing.  He 
threw  off  his  coat  and  then  turned  to  resume  his  speech. 

Hisses  greeted  Fassett  instead  of  the  applause  he  had  an- 
ticipated for  getting  down  to  the  level  of  his  audience. 
Though  his  hearers  were  shirt-sleeved  themselves  they  did  not 
care  to  listen  to  a  Governor  in  shirt-sleeves.  Fassett  con- 
tinued his  speech  until  he  could  find  a  place  to  stop;  he  then 
gave  up  and  amidst  boohs  and  hisses  put  on  his  coat  and  left 
the  platform. 

Next  day's  newspapers  carried  the  story  of  Fassett's  bad 
night  on  the  Bowery — wholly  due  to  the  fact  that,  unlike 
Depew,  he  did  not  stick  to  his  own  ways  on  the  East  Side  as 
he  would  have  done  on  Fifth  Avenue. 

ALWAYS  SOUGHT  AS   A   CAMPAIGNER 

In  the  years  while  Depew  was  the  active  head  of  the  New 
York  Central  Railroad,  he  was  in  constant  demand  as  a  cam- 
paign speaker — particularly  in  the  up-state  rural  counties. 
No  man  has  made  so  many  speeches  in  so  many  counties.  The 
railroad  extends  into  most  of  those  counties,  and  has  the  tra- 
ditional antagonisms  of  a  railroad  in  all  of  them;  yet  each 
year  when  local  political  leaders  would  send  their  list  of 
desired  speakers,  the  name  of  Chauncey  Depew,  president  of 
the  New  York  Central,  was  always  there. 

270 


As  I  Knew  Them 

In  1888  the  destinies  of  the  Republican  party  in  New  York 
State  were  entrusted  to  the  "Big  Four11 — Platt,  Depew,  Mil- 
ler and  Hiscock; — the  party  leaders  were  not  afraid  to  name 
Depew  as  one  of  the  four,  despite  his  railroad  interests.  Nor 
were  the  New  York  delegates  to  the  national  convention  of 
that  year  fearful  of  criticism  from  the  folks  back  home  be- 
cause they  supported  Depew  for  President.  He  received  99 
votes,  ranking  next  to  John  Sherman  and  Judge  Gresham  on 
the  first  ballot. 

BRIGHTENS   1L  G.  WELLS1  GLOOM 

Depew's  philosophy  of  life  was  aptly  illustrated  at  a  dinner 
given  by  Ralph  Pulitzer  to  H.  G.  Wells,  when  the  celebrated 
Englishman  came  over  here  to  report  the  Washington  naval 
limitations  conference  for  the  New  York  World,  Pulitzer 
called  on  Wells  as  the  first  speaker  of  the  evening.  I  never 
listened  to  a  gloomier,  more  hopeless  picture  of  the  future 
than  Wells  gave  us  in  his  speech. 

The  banqueters  were  certainly  a  depressed  crowd  when 
Depew  was  called  upon.  I  shall  not  pretend  to  quote  his 
exact  words  but  in  substance  he  said  that  with  all  that  Wells 
had  published  in  his  book  "The  Outline  of  History"  down  to 
Julius  Caesar  he  agreed  because  he  knew  little  about  it. 

"But  I  am  a  contemporary  of  Caesar/'  he  added,  uand  I 
know  history  from  Caesar  to  the  present,  and  I  do  not  agree 
with  a  word  our  friend  has  written  about  those  centuries. 
Nor  do  I  agree  with  what  he  has  said  here  tonight  about  the 
present  plight  of  the  world  and  the  still  darker  future  ahead 
of  us.  We  have  light,  not  darkness  ahead  of  us;  we  have  a 
better  understanding  among  nations,  not  a  poorer  understand- 
ing ahead  of  us;  we  have  a  realization  of  the  horror  and  bur- 
dens of  war  to  guide  us  away  from  war  in  the  future.  No, 
friend  Wells,  this  is  not  the  time  for  sorrowing,  nor  the  time 
for  despair.  This  is  the  time  for  hope — the  time  for  straight- 
ening out  for  one  great  big  effort  to  make  up  for  all  the 

271 


As  I  Knew  Them 

of  the  years.  This  world  has  never  turned 

from  bad  to  worse;  it  gets  its  Jolts,  and  I,  admit  we  have  had 

a  hard  one,  hut  it  is  always  getting  better  and  it  is  not  going 
to          now/" 

When  Depew  sat  down,  the  clouds  had  lifted  from  the 
dinner  table,  and  we  showed  our  relief  by  applause  that  must 
have  convinced  Wells  that  he  was  In  the  wrong  company  for 
the  doctrine  he  preached. 

THE  QFALITY  OF  LEADERSHIP 

This  is  no  place  to  detail  Depew's  career.  Personally,  I 
believe  that  had  he,  as  a  young  man,  continued  in  public  life 
he  might  have  been  President  of  the  nation  instead  of  Presi- 
dent of  a  railroad.  He  has  the  outstanding  quality  of  leader- 
ship— the  ability  to  sense  the  purpose  of  the  average  man  and 
to  move  along  with  him.  He  has  another  great  quality  in  his 
determination  never  to  look  hopelessly  on  the  dark  side  of 
any  situation. 

Taft  was  elected  President  on  his  smile,  but  Depew's  laugh 
in  the  midst  of  a  gloomy  conference  whether  of  business  or  of 
politics  has  taken  the  furrows  out  of  many  a  brow.  And  his 
reward  Is  In  the  full  life  he  is  still  enjoying  as  I  write — full 
of  Friendships,  full  of  honors,  full  of  health  and  full  of  years. 


272 


MICAWBER-L1KE,  BRYAN  WAS  ALWAYS  LOOKING 
FOR  SOMETHING  TO  TURN  UP 


CHAPTER   XXXV 
BRYAN— A  CAREER  OF  PROTEST 

Two  Pictures   of  the  "Peerless-   One'9    Thirty   Years  Apart — Making 

Discarding  Issues- — Vrffing  a  Peace  Treaty  In  Order  To  //«:•«•  /; 

Campaign  6V> — What  H'7as  His  Motive  In  1912? — A   Trayedy  in  the 

State  Department — His  Last  Appeal  To  His  Party,  and  the  "Bws" 

Thai  Greeted  Him. 

TN  1896  I  sat  In  the  press  section  not  fifty  feet  from  William 
Jennings  Bryan  when  he  made  his  "cross  of  gold"  speech 
in  the  Democratic  national  convention  at  Chicago;  there  I 
watched  the  tumult  that  startled  a  nation  and  almost  won 
him  a  Presidency;  in  1924  I  sat  in  the  press  section  in  Madi- 
son Square  Garden  in  New  York  City,  again  not  fifty  feet 
away,  when  he  made  his  plea  not  to  denounce  the  Ku  Klux 
Klan  by  name;  there  I  heard  the  "boos"  that  greeted  his  last 
appeal  to  his  party — "boos"  so  loud  and  persistent  that  Chair- 
man Walsh  threatened  to  recess  the  convention. 

Those  nearly  thirty  years ! 

At  first,  a  man  in  the  full  energy  of  ambitious  life — flash- 
ing, gleaming  eye,  broad-shouldered,  straight  as  an  arrow,  the 
physique  of  a  gladiator,  the  spirit  of  a  crusader;  voice*  clear 
and  vibrant;  15,000  spectators  emotionally  following  every 
word,  every  gesture.  Then  the  other  picture  twenty-eight 
years  later— a  worn  man,  eyes  dimmed,  shoulders  stooped, 
the  old  spirit  glowing  faintly  like  the  thin  flame  from  a  burnt- 
out  log,  voice  no  longer  resonant,  many  of  the  delegates  and 
spectators  hostile  to  his  pleading,  scarcely  tolerant  of  the 
leader  they  had  followed  so  many  years. 

What  a  career  between  the  day  of  hurrahs  and  the  day  of 
"boos" !  It  had  led  him  into  all  the  highways  and  byways 
of  politics  except  the  one  he  most  desired  to  travel — the 

273 


As  I  Knew  Them 

highway  to  the  White  House.  Its  triumphs  were  of  the 
platform;  the  only  office  he  ever  by  election  was  that  of 
Congressman — two  terms  from  1891  to  1895.  ln  those  years 
an  anti-Republican  tide  engulfed  the  country,  making  the  elec- 
tion of  a  Democrat  possible  from  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  normally 
Republican. 

Bryan  was  a  product  of  his  restless  day.  Such  types  come 
In  the  life  of  every  nation  reflecting  its  passing  temper  but  not 
its  character.  They  have  their  "exits  and  their  entrances/1 
while  on  the  stage  seem  destined  next  moment  to  make  a 
tremendous  hit  That  moment  never  comes.  Looking  back 
upon  their  activities,  one  wonders,  as  he  sees  great  waves  of 
discontent  rising  at  times  perilously  high,  why  such  men  hold 
their  leadership  so  long  without  being  swept  into  the  place  of 
power  they  seek.  With  that  wonder  comes  a  firmer  faith  in 
the  wisdom  of  the  ballot-box. 

THREE  MEN  "WHO  HELD  THE   PEOPLE 

I  am  far  from  classing  Bryan  with  either  Roosevelt  or 
Wilson,  but  we  must  not  forget  that  from  1896  to  1919  those 
three  men  held  the  political  attention  of  the  country  more 
completely,  indeed  more  exclusively,  than  any  other  three  men 
ever  held  it.  Bryan  became  of  national  significance  before 
Roosevelt  or  Wilson,  though  he  was  two  years  younger  than 
Roosevelt  and  four  years  younger  than  Wilson.  ''The  Com^ 
moner/'  as  he  delighted  to  hear  himself  called,  was  only  37 
when  first  nominated  for  the  Presidency — a  fact  that  led  to 
his  being  referred  to,  sarcastically,  as  "the  Boy  Orator  of  the 
Platte."  Roosevelt  was  42  when  he  succeeded  McKinley 
and  was  the  youngest  President  to  enter  the  White  House. 
Wilson  was  56. 

The  death  of  Roosevelt  in  1919  left  Wilson  and  Bryan  the 
most  conspicuous  figures  in  the  public  mind,  though  Senator 
Bob  La  Follette  was  steadily  emerging.  In  1924  as  a  presi- 
dential candidate  of  his  own  party,  the  Wisconsin  Senator 

274 


As  I  Knew  Them 

polled  4,800,000  votes.  Wilson's  death  in  1924  followed  by 
La  Follette's,  left  Bryan  alone  on  the  national  stage  for  a  year 

longer — just  as  he  had  held  It  alone  for  two  years  before 
Roosevelt  achieved  national  prominence,  and  ten  years  before 
Wilson  dreamt  of  a  career  outside  his  college  environment 

THE  TWO  BRYANS  MY  MIND  HAS  SEEN 

There  have  always  been  two  Bryans  in  my  mind- — the  Bryan 
in  private  life  with  religious  convictions  to  which  he  clung 
with  firm,  sincere  though  spectacular  faith;  the  Bryan  in  pub- 
lic life  with  so  many  convictions  that  he  seemed  to  believe  that 
he  was  ordained  to  discover  and  redress  all  the  wrongs  of 
the  oppressed,  because  no  other  human  could  do  the  job  so 
well  He  had  a  passion  for  "issues."  This  habit  brought 
him  under  suspicion  of  constantly  shopping  in  the  market 
places  for  something  to  "sell"  the  people.  Like  an  omnibus 
he  carried  a  great  variety  of  issues  so  as  to  be  sure  he  had 
gathered  up  all  there  were,  and  could  accommodate  every- 
body. 

Let  me  illustrate  with  the  "16  to  i"  issue — the  foundation 
stone  of  Bryan's  career.  Cleverly  he  dramatized  that  issue 
in  a  single  speech  that  almost  as  it  was  uttered  changed  him 
from  an  unimportant  advocate  to  an  historic  figure  in  the  fight 
for  silver.  Yet  Richard  P.  Bland  of  Missouri — "Silver  Dol- 
lar Dick" — had  been  the  leader  of  the  silver  forces  in  Con- 
gress for  more  than  twenty  years.  The  only  triumph  scored 
for  the  metal  was  the  Bland  law  of  1878  compelling  the  free 
coinage  of  silver  dollars — the  Bland  "cart-wheel"  dollars. 

It  was  that  law,  modified  by  the  Sherman  law  of  1890, 
that  Cleveland  forced  Congress  to  repeal.  The  issue  thus 
created  seemed  to  point  to  the  Missourian  as  the  man  to  lead 
in  the  1896  battle  for  silver's  restoration.  Surely  if  the 
servant  were  worthy  of  his  hire — and  Bland  was-^-Bland 
should  have  been  chosen.  But  Bryan  pounced  upon  the  issue 
as  an  eagle  does  his  prey.  He  knew  the  moment  to  act  in  the 
convention.  He  asked  permission  to  speak  last — just  before 

275 


As  1  Knew  Them 

the  balloting  for  nominee.  He  was  staking  all  on  one  oppor- 
tunity to  impress  the  delegates;  he  wanted  his  voice  to  ring 
in  their  ears  unchallenged  by  subsequent  speakers. 

LEAVING  THE   TRIED  SERVANT    FOR   A   NEW  STAR 

The  political  orator,  as  he  reads  the  "cross  of  gold"  speech 
can  visualize  the  whole  thing  as  an  actor  does  when  he  reads 
a  play.  He  can  see  every  high  spot,  every  chance  for  effec- 
tiveness, every  place  where  the  audience  will  break  into  ap- 
plause. And  Bryan  utilized  such  opportunities.  It  was  this 
example  of  dramatic  force  and  careful  political  play-writing 
which  led  to  the  gossip  in  those  days  that  in  his  youth  Bryan 
had  been  an  actor.  His  dynamic  climaxes  moved  the  delegates 
to  turn  hysterically  from  the  man  w?ho  had  served  to  one  who 
suddenly  appeared  like  a  new  star  in  the  firmament. 

But  the  new  star  was  not  to  be  as  constant  as  the  star 
grown  dim  In  many  battles.  The  new  star  was  determined 
always  to  be  of  the  first  magnitude  and,  if  one  issue  seemed 
likely  to  tarnish  its  brightness,  another  must  be  brought 
forward. 

Writing  of  the  1896  campaign,  Bryan  called  it  "The  First 
Battle/'  When  he  wrote  he  knew  it  was  the  last  battle  for 
silver;  he  knew  he  would  never  use  it  again  as  an  issue. 
Promptly  he  went  "shopping"  for  something  else  that  would 
arouse  the  people  and  keep  him  "the  Peerless  Leader.'1  He 
found  it  in  anti-imperialism.  All  the  passion  with  which  he 
had  appealed  to  voters  in  1896  against  the  God  of  Gold  was 
now  transferred  to  the  newer  issue  as  readily  as  you  change 
one  coat  for  another. 

The  God  of  Gold  had  not  ruined  the  country  as  four  years 
before  he  had  predicted;  there  was  no  crown  of  thorns  press- 
ing down  upon  the  brow  of  labor.  Instead  the  people  had 
prospered  mightily  and  so  had  Bryan.  But  Bryan  could  insist 
that  another  God — the  God  of  Imperialism — was  being  wor- 
shipped by  the  opposing  party  and  was  certain  to  transform 

276 


As  I  Knew  Them 

our  Republic  into  an  autocracy.  And  all  because  we  had 
taken  over  the  Philippines !  When  the  votes  were  counted* 
and  he  again  found  himself  denied  the  Presidency,  there  was 
nothing  for  Bryan  to  do  but  go  shopping  once  more  for  an 
issue.  For  the  twenty-five  remaining  years  of  his  life  he  kept 
shopping  and  shopping  but  never  again  found  another  issue 
that  interested  the  people  in  a  national  sense. 

ISSUES  WERE  BRYAN'S  STOCK  IN  TRADE 

Some  call  this  just  politics;  some  call  it  insincerity;  some 
call  it  opportunism.  Call  it  all  or  any  of  these,  for  the  differ- 
ence is  not  great,  the  truth  is  that  Bryan  had  an  unexcelled 
talent  for  keeping  himself  before  the  public,  and  in  the  exer- 
cise of  that  talent  he  used  "issues"  as  a  storekeeper  uses  his 
stock.  He  tried  to  keep  on  hand  what  the  people  wanted; 
and  if  he  was  out  of  stock  he  undertook  to  sell  them  some- 
thing <:just  as  good." 

As  a  grocer  Bryan  would  not  have  put  sand  in  the  sugar 
or  his  thumb  on  the  scales,  but  he  would  make  a  sale,  as  he 
sold  Florida  real  estate,  based  on  things  hoped  for  rather  than 
on  things  done.  No  man  with  sincerity  of  purpose  would 
jump  grasshopper-like  from  issue  to  issue  as  Bryan  did,  or 
could  so  easily  convince  himself  as  Bryan  could  that  he  had 
finished  his  job  before  each  jump. 

Bryan  always  insisted,  for  example,  that  his  "16  to  i"  issue 
would  have  remained  an  issue  until  it  had  won  but  for  the 
increasing  production  of  gold!  Thus  he  reconciled  his  yes- 
terdays with  his  todays, — content  with  his  own  dismissal  of  it 
and  his  own  reasoning.  When  he  made  this  statement  as  to 
Ui6  to  i"  he  confirmed  Tom  Reed's  prophecy  in  Congress  in 
1892: 

"He  (Bryan)  finds  now  that  even  the  Democratic  party  has 
got  to  obey  the  everlasting  laws  of  common-sense ;  they  have 
got  to  act  according  to  the  eternal  verities,  and  that  is  going 
to  be  a  great  shock  to  him  on  every  occasion/' 

277 


As  1  Knew  Them 

WORDS,   WORDS,   WORDS 

It  Is  amazing  that  a  man  of  whom  that  could  be  said  with 
truth  could  travel  the  country  over  so  many  times  and  for  so 
many  years  and  hold  so  many  voters  through  it  all — over 
6,000,000  votes  were  polled  for  Bryan  at  each  of  three  elec- 
tions* What  was  it  Bryan  possessed  that  made  it  possible 
for  him  to  do  that  which  no  other  man  in  our  politics  was 
ever  able  to  do?  He  had  no  record  of  achievement  on  which 
to  ask  public  favor;  his  was  a  career  of  protest.  Not  once 
was  he  able  to  say  "I  did  thus  and  so/'  contrasting  his  own 
official  acts  and  policies  with  those  of  men  who  had  respon- 
sibility. Excepting  his  "cross  of  gold"  speech,  Bryan  never 
uttered  a  sentence  that  survived  longer  than  its  day,  or  that 
political  historians  can  use  to  illustrate  his  philosophy. 
Words?  Yes — words  by  the  million,  but  not  one  thought  that 
revealed  a  purposeful  mind.  Nevertheless,  Bryan  must  be 
credited  with  something  that  appealed  strongly.  No  two  men 
ever  agreed  as  to  what  that  something  was.  Some  said  a 
Presence  and  a  Voice.  The  Voice  was  magical ;  few  could  use 
it  better.  And  the  Presence  filled  the  eye. 

His  power  over  the  political  opinion  of  the  country  was  a 
tribute  not  so  much  to  his  convictions  as  to  his  adroitness. 
Perhaps  that  is  the  appropriate  word  for  Bryan's  statesman- 
ship—adroitness, to  the  point  of  suspicion  of  his  sincerity 
even  in  policies,  such  as  prohibition,  for  which  he  would  have 
made  any  sacrifice. 

RATIFIED  A  TREATY  TO   CREATE  AN  ISSUE 

As  far  back  as  1898 — only  two  years  after  his  first  cam- 
paign for  the  Presidency — Bryan  demonstrated  his  skill  in 
shifting  issues. 

In  the  Senate  in  February,  1899,  the  struggle  over  ratifica- 
tion of  the  peace  treaty  with  Spain  had  much  the  same  inten- 

278 


As  1  Knew  Them 

slty  as  the  struggle  twenty  years  later  over  the  Versailles 
treaty*  The  proposed  purchase  of  the  Philippines  from  Spam 
for  $25,000,000  split  party  lines*  Senators  Hoar,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  Eugene  Hale,  of  Maine,  denounced  the  treaty 
as  an  imperialistic  document.  They  did  not  believe  In  the 
transfer  of  the  sovereignty  of  any  people  by  bargain  and 
sale,  without  consent. 

Many  Democratic  Senators,  politically  disposed  to  make 
trouble  for  McKinley,  joined  in  this  view,  and  began  to  unite 
in  opposition  to  ratification.  Bryan,  who  had  been  Colonel 
of  a  Nebraska  regiment  of  volunteers,  had  resigned  his  com- 
mission, and  was  again  footloose,  a  candidate  for  the  1900 
nomination.  He  turned  up  in  Washington  with  the  surprising 
request  to  Democratic  Senators  to  vote  to  ratify.  He  insisted 
that  no  political  party  could  take  responsibility  for  keeping 
the  country  even  technically  at  war.  His  view  was  reluctantly 
accepted  by  enough  Democrats  to  put  the  treaty  through. 
Bryan's  entrance  into  that  situation  was  timed  to  be  dramatic 
and  pivotal.  When  the  roll-call  on  ratification  showed  only 
one  majority  in  favor,  the  country  did  not  have  to  be  told 
that  Bryan  had  saved  the  treaty.  Bryan  had  seen  to  that. 

HE  WANTED  THE  LIMELIGHT  ALONE 

Here  again,  as  in  1896,  he  set  the  stage  with  himself  in  the 
centre,  and  the  limelight  on  him  alone.  He  had  made  himself 
the  decisive  factor  in  confirming  the  purchase  of  the  Philip- 
pines. He  would  now  make  himself,  or  seek  to  make  himself, 
the  decisive  factor  in  setting  them  free.  He  demanded  our 
immediate  release  to  the  Filipinos  of  the  sovereignty  we  had 
acquired  from  Spain. 

Bryan  had  stood  on  broad  ground  while  favoring  the  treaty 
and  had  won  commendation  for  his  course,  but  his  new  turn 
threw  a  new  light  on  his  motive.  The  response  came  quickly 
from  the  country  that  in  urging  ratification  he  had  been 
shrewdly  building  a  platform  for  himself  in  the  presidential 

279 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Just  It         his  one  chance  for  a  nation-wide 

issue- — the  one  chance  to  escape  from  another  Ui6  to  IM  battle. 
If  the  treaty  were  to  fail,  he  could  not  evoke  "Imperialism/" 
for  we  would  be  out  of  the  Philippines,  but  if  the  treaty  were 
ratified,  the  Philippines  should  come  under  our  lag,  then 
he  could  demand  that  we  set  them  free,  and  pocket  our  loss 
of  $25,000,000  for  temporary  sovereignty. 

Only  a  mind  with  a  peculiar  bent  for  creating  a  situation 
would  have  resorted  to  such  strategy,  but  it  made  the  best 
issue  he  could  find.  "McKinley  prosperity1'  had  buried  all 
other  issues;  the  distant  Philippines  offered  the  only  one  avail- 
able. In  that  1900  election  he  made  the  poorest  showing, 
proportionately^  of  any  of  his  three  struggles;  at  its  close, 
anti-imperialism,  no  longer  serviceable,  promptly  went  into 
the  discard  along  with  "16  to  i.M 

TOOK  NO  CHANCES  WITH  T.  R.,  BUT  FOUGHT  TAFT 

No  persuasion  could  lure  Bryan  into  a  candidacy  against 
Roosevelt  in  1904;  he  was  aware  of  its  certain  end.  But  four 
years  later,  he  knew  that  he  could  not  keep  his  hold  on  his 
party  without  becoming  its  candidate.  Besides  he  had  some 
hope  that  he  could  defeat  Taft.  All  that  he  did  in  that  cam- 
paign, however — indeed  the  most  definite  thing  of  his  career 
— was  to  make  a  speech  against  "Big  business"  that  brought 
Charles  E.  Hughes  into  national  attention  as  a  masterful 
orator  and  thinker. 

At  Youngstown,  Ohio,  Hughes  replied.  The  Hughes  speech 
caught  the  country;  thereafter  the  election,  though  six  weeks 
distant,  was  only  a  matter  of  totalling  the  vote  against  Bryan. 
Bryan  replied  to  Taft's  speeches,  replied  to  President  Roose- 
velt's 'statements' — but  he  attempted  no  reply  to  Hughes. 

I  saw  Bryan  frequently  during  the  Republican  national  con- 
vention of  1912.  He  was  there  as  a  reporter  for  a  newspaper 
syndicate;  he  seemed  to  enjoy  talking  with  Roosevelt  and 
other  Republican  leaders.  I  did  not  attend  the  Democratic 

280 


As  1  Knew  Them 

convention  at  Baltimore  a  week  or  so  later,  but  when  I  read 
of  Bryan  standing  on  the  centre  of  that  stage  denouncing  Bel- 
moot  and  Ryan  as  unfit  delegates,  and  challenging  the  election 
of  Alton  B.  Parker  as  chairman,  my  mind  turned  to  the  pic- 
ture of  him  seated  in  the  press  section,  a  few  days  before,  the 
calm  interpreter  of  an  intense  Republican  conflict  It  was  a 
spectacular  transition — few  men  could  have  made  it  But 
Bryan  did  it  well.  And  it  was  just  the  thing  he  liked  to  do — 
to  come  upon  a  scene  as  though  shot  through  a  trap  door, 
astonishing  all  by  his  presence  and  his  purpose. 

BRYAN'S  GREAT  BATTLE  AT  BALTIMORE 

Was  he,  too,  really  seeking  his  own  nomination  in  Balti- 
more? 

Had  the  spectacle  of  a  divided  Republican  convention, 
insuring  Democratic  victory,  stirred  his  thrice-thwarted  am- 
bition anew? 

He  had  been  elected  to  the  Baltimore  convention  under  In- 
structions to  vote  for  Champ  Clark;  the  Nebraska  delega- 
tion was  a  unit  for  the  Missouri  candidate. 

When  the  "break"  came  in  Chicago,  however,  Bryan 
frankly  lost  interest  in  newspaper  writing;  the  opportunity  to 
elect  a  Democratic  President  had  his  entire  mind.  In  my 
presence  he  declared  that  he  was  going  to  Baltimore  to  fight 
the  Democratic  reactionaries  to  the  death.  Others  in  Chicago 
quoted  him  as  saying  that  if,  after  Taft's  nomination,  Balti- 
more should  nominate  a  conservative,  he  would  feel  that  both 
parties  had  become  reactionary;  the  only  course  then  left  for 
him  would  be  to  support  an  independent  ticket — even  Roose- 
velt. When  Bryan's  plan  was  mentioned  to  Roosevelt,  his 
reply  was  "I'm  not  the  same  kind  of  cattle."  By  a  "con- 
servative" it  was  assumed  that  Bryan  meant  Underwood, 
Harmon  or  the  man  he  was  under  instructions  to  favor — 
Clark. 

Though  the  instructions  he  had  accepted  meant  the  nomi- 

281 


As  1  Knew  Them 

nation  of  Clark  there  can  he  no  doubt  that  Bryan  had  a 
different  nomination  in  mind,  and  his  purpose  to  desert  Clark 
was  revealed  the  instant  he  arrived  in  Baltimore.  He  gath- 
ered his  forces  to  defeat  Alton  B.  Parker  for  Chairman — and 
polled  508  votes  for  himself  against  578  for  Parker!  That 
near-triumph  led  him  to  a  still  bolder  effort  In  effect  the 
second  effort  succeeded  too,  for  in  a  fiery  speech,  he  secured 
a  four  to  one  vote  for  the  following  resolution,  after  agreeing 
to  omit  the  second  paragraph: 

Resolved,  that  in  this  crisis  in  our  party's  career  and  in  GUI 
country's  history  this  convention  sends  greeting  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  and  assures  them  that  the  party  of  Jefferson  and 
Jackson  is  still  the  champion  of  popular  government  and  equality 
before  the  law.  As  proof  of  our  fidelity  to  the  people  we  hereby 
declare  ourselves  opposed  to  the  nomination  of  any  candidate  for 
President  who  is  the  representative  of  or  under  obligation  to  J. 
Pierpont  Morgan,  Thomas  F.  Ryan,  August  Belmont,  or  any 
other  of  the  privilege-hunting  and  favor-seeking  class. 

Be  it  further  resolved,  that  we  demand  the  withdrawal  from  this 
convention  of  any  delegates  constituting  or  representing  the  above- 
named  interests. 

WAS  HE  FOR  WILSON  OR  FOR  HIMSELF? 

Thus  two  emotional  incidents  built  a  solid  foundation  under 
Bryan's  manoeuvring  to  name  the  candidate.  He  was  now 
the  pivot  of  the  convention — the  man  of  demonstrated 
strength.  The  Murphys,  Taggarts  and  Brennans  had  the 
numerical  force  of  their  delegations,  but  Bryan  had  the  spirit 
of  the  convention.  There  was  no  limit  to  its  possibilities.  How 
would  he  use  his  power?  When  would  his  real  purpose  be 
revealed?  Would  he  kill  off  every  candidate  but  himself? 
He  was  watched  closely,  suspiciously.  The  Clark  managers 
asserted  that  Bryan  would  remain  true  to  the  instructions 
from  Nebraska;  Colonel  House  and  other  Wilson  advocates 
rested  on  his  assurance  that  he  had  forgotten  Wilson's  plea 

282 


As  I  Knew  Them 

he  should  be  uknocked  into  a  cocked  hat"  they  be- 
lieved he  was  friendly  to  the  Jersey  Governor;  Roger  Sulli- 
van and  Tom  Taggart  asserted  that  he  was  out  for  himself 

they  acted  accordingly. 

BRYAN  DEFEATS  CLARK  AND  CLARK  MAKES  RESPONSE 

Bryan  voted  for  Clark  for  nine  ballots.  He  knew  that 
Clark  could  not  be  nominated  until  Tammany  swung  into 
line  for  him.  On  the  tenth  ballot  Tammany  did  so,  That 
move  gave  Clark  a  majority  of  the  convention;  nomination 
by  a  two-thirds  vote  would  probably  follow  on  the  next  roll- 
call.  Bryan's  great  moment  had  arrived.  Standing  on  the 
platform  he  declared  that  he  could  not  vote  for  a  candidate 
whose  nomination,  if  made,  would  be  secured  by  the  votes 
of  Murphy,  Belmont  and  Ryan.  He  switched  to  Woodrow 
Wilson.  The  Clark  column  was  shattered, 

Through  thirty-five  more  ballots  Clark  struggled  vainly; 
so  far  as  his  candidacy  was  concerned,  the  end  had  come.  All 
the  time,  the  one  question  was,  when  would  Bryan  desert  Wil- 
son for  himself?  The  Sullivans  and  the  Taggarts,  unable  to 
name  Clark,  were  nevertheless  powerful  to  stand  in  Bryants 
way.  Rather  than  take  the  chance  of  another  candidacy  by 
"The  Peerless  One/1  they  preferred  to  defeat  him  with  his 
own  candidate  Wilson. 

Was  Bryan  a  traitor  to  Clark?  Was  the  use  of  Tammany, 
as  a  reason  for  switching,  merely  a  subterfuge?  Speaker 
Clark  in  his  "Memories"  said: 

"I  never  said,  'Great  is  Tammany  and  Croker  its  Prophet/ 
Bryan  did. 

"I  never  welcomed  Mr.  Murphy  at  a  railroad  station  and  had 
my  picture  taken  clasping  hands  with  him.  Bryan  did. 

"I  never  sent  a  trusted  friend  half-way  across  the  continent  to 
beg  Mr.  Murphy  not  to  defeat  my  nomination  under  the  two-thirds 
rule  by  refusing  to  give  him  the  New  York  delegation  after  I  re- 
ceived a  majority.  Bryan  did." 

283 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Most  men  in  political  life  fail  to  see  any  humor  in  jokes 
about  themselves  or  in  cartoons.  Bryan  enjoyed  them.  So 

did  Wilson.  So  did  Roosevelt.  The  latter  was  delighted 
with  Pinky  Peter  Dunne's  book  u Alone  in  Cuba11  and  was 
eager  to  meet  Dunne  and  laugh  over  it.  Wilson  often  told 
stories  at  his  own  expense*  Bryan  got  the  originals  of  many 
cartoons  and  hung  them  on  the  walls  of  his  almost-bookless 
library.  He  liked  to  tell  the  story  of  the  drunk,  who,  thrown 
down  the  stairs  of  a  dance-hall  for  the  third  time,  picked 
himself  up  and  said:  "Those  fellows  can't  fool  me.  They 
don't  want  me  in  there,  and  they  think  I  don't  know  it."  He 
applied  the  story  to  his  own  three  defeats  for  the  Presidency. 

BRYAN   IN   THE   STATE   DEPARTMENT 

It  is  a  mercy  to  Bryan  to  say  little  of  his  career  as  Secre- 
tary of  State. 

That  Wilson  tolerated  him  so  long  is  the  best  tribute  I 
know  to  Wilson's  self-control  and  patience.  Of  course,  Bryan 
in  the  Cabinet  was  politics;  but  even  politics  has  its  limits. 
There  must  have  been  many  embarrassing  moments  in  the 
Wilson  Cabinet  sessions.  The  public  could  not  know  of  them, 
but  it  did  know  that  the  serene  and  dignified  office  in  which 
the  Secretary  of  State  is  to  be  found  was  a  distressing  place 
while  Bryan  occupied  it.  Shirt-sleeved  (literally)  with  hand- 
kerchief tucked  in  his  collar  and  a  big  palm-leaf  fan  in  hand, 
he  sat  in  the  Secretary's  high-backed  chair  like  a  Hottentot 
chief  on  his  tropical  throne.  Bryan's  callers  were  chiefly  the 
cheap  grade  of  politicians  who  grub  a  living  out  of  public 
office  or  public  favor.  Men  of  consequence  frequently  had 
to  wait  while  Bryan  tried  to  hunt  jobs  for  the  daily  proces- 
sion of  "deserving  Democrats."  He  would  telephone  from 
one  department  to  another  seeking  places  for  the  "faithful/* 
as  he  called  them,  explaining  to  his  fellow  cabinet  officers  that 
he  had  to  take  care  of  6,000,000  voters  who  had  supported 
his  three  candidacies  for  President. 

284 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"A  PECULIAR  PRODUCT  OF  Ol*R  COUNTRY11 

Next  to  hunting  offices  for  his  followers,  he  busied  himself 
with  lecturing  on  tour.  Condemnation  made  no  impression 
on  him  so  long  as  the  receipts  held  up.  He  talked  of  a  speak- 
ing tour  of  Europe.  President  Wilson  was  told  in  advance 
of  the  Chautauqua  tours  and  consented.  But  he  must  have 
headed  off  the  foreign  trip,  though  the  report  had  reached 
London  that  Bryan  had  arranged  to  go  there.  On  February 
12,  1914?  Ambassador  Page  wrote  to  Colonel  House: 

"It  was  announced  in  one  of  the  London  papers  that  Bryan  would 
deliver  a  lecture  here  and  possibly  in  each  of  the  principal  European 
Capitals  on  Peace.  Now,  God  restrain  me  from  saying,  much 
more  from  doing  anything  rash,  but  if  I  have  got  to  go  home  at  all, 
I'd  rather  go  before  he  comes.  It'll  take  years  for  American  Am- 
bassadors to  recover  what  they'll  lose  If  he  carries  out  his  plan. 
They  now  laugh  at  him  over  here.  .  .  .  Mr.  Asquith  .  .  .  met 
Bryan  once  and  he  told  me  with  a  smile  that  he  regarded  him  as  a 
'peculiar  product  of  your  country/  " 

In  Washington,  diplomats  were  at  first  amazed,  then  dis- 
gusted; they  kept  their  distance  from  the  State  Department 
except  when  it  was  necessary  to  call  on  official  business. 

BRYAN'S  LAST  CONVENTION 

The  picture  of  Bryan  pleading  for  his  cause  amidst  the 
"boos"  of  the  Madison  Square  Garden  convention  in  1924  is 
something  that  no  witness  can  recall  with  pleasure.  There 
were  many  incidents  throughout  that  unhappy  convention  that 
were  sad  to  look  upon  or  to  recall  in  later  days.  Not  in  all 
the  history  of  conventions  has  there  ever  been  one  so  pitiful 
as  Bryan  on  the  platform  frequently  halting  his  speech  until 
his  voice  could  be  heard  above  the  yells  of  derision.  Here  was 
the  thrice-named  leader  of  his  party,  here  was  the  man  to 

285 


As  I  Knew  Them 

whose  daring  the  party  owed  eight  years  of  Wilson  as  Presi- 
dent, with  all  that  goes  with  partisan  control  of  government. 
Yet  he  could  not  command  even  the  respect  of  attention. 

Bryan's  battle  In  that  convention  was  not  so  much  over 
the  nominee  as  over  the  platform.  He  seemed  to  centre  on 
the  party  platform.  He  wanted  prohibition  upheld  by  a  law 
enforcement  plank,  and  he  was  against  any  denunciation  of 
the  Ku-Klux-Klan  by  name.  Florida  named  him  as  its  mem- 
ber of  the  platform  committee. 

THOUGH  HISSED,  BRYAN  WINS  FOR  THE  KLAN 

A  national  platform  is  a  delicate  thing  to  write,  an  exhaust- 
ing task  for  the  members  of  the  Committee.  It  was  doubly 
exhausting  in  seething  New  York — a  citadel  of  "wet"  senti- 
ment and  religious  antagonisms.  The  Ku-Klux  question 
moved  both  sides  profoundly;  perhaps  never  before  were 
they  so  evenly  balanced.  All  day  and  all  night  the  committee 
debated.  When  at  last  calm  came,  Bryan  suggested  closing 
with  prayer,  so  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  Judge  McCunn, 
of  Pennsylvania,  a  Catholic,  recited  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and 
Bryan  himself  prayed  fervently  in  his  own  words. 

Two  reports  go  to  the  convention  for  its  choice — a  major- 
ity report  that  does  not  name  the  Klan,  and  a  minority  report 
naming  and  denouncing  it.  Bryan  urges  the  majority  report. 
He  tries  to  be  conciliatory.  But  every  delegate  of  Catholic 
faith  has  been  made  to  feel  that  a  plank  Inferentially  against 
the  Klan  without  naming  it  is  directed  against  his  religion. 

The  heavy,  tired  speaker  seeks  to  touch  some  note  of  com- 
mon purpose.  There  Is  none  of  the  "We  will  defy  them*' 
spirit  with  which  in  his  early  years  he  had  constantly  assailed 
the  "money  power."  He  seeks  to  touch  a  note  of  common 
purpose.  But  he  cannot  bring  harmony  out  of  such  discord. 
He  is  greeted  with  howls  ffom  the  galleries;  despite  the 
howls,  he  persists.  When  all  is  over,  the  tabulation  shows 

286 


As  I  Knew  Them 

only  a  single  vote  margin  for  the  "no  name**  plank.     It  is  the 
barest  victory  possible,  but  it  is  a  victory.    He  has  his  way. 

THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  A  CANDIDATE 

The  cost  of  that  victory  Bryan  is  soon  to  learn.  The  same 
elements  that  were  at  odds  on  the  platform  are  at  odds  on  the 
nomination.  Thirty-eight  ballots  are  taken.  A  deadlock  has 
come.  It  must  be  broken.  Who  shall  give  counsel?  The 
three-times  candidate,  the  father  in  Israel  of  the  present 
Democracy,  tries  to  lead  the  way  to  a  choice,  as  he  led  at  Bal- 
timore twelve  years  before. 

But  his  victory  for  the  Klan  still  rankles.  He  rises  on  a 
stereotyped  excuse — to  explain  his  vote.  His  reception  is 
hostile.  Not  even  the  formal  narrative  of  the  official  pro- 
ceedings can  conceal  it.  He  is  greeted  with  "cheers  and  ap- 
plause mingled  with  hisses  and  boos."  He  tells  his  hearers 
that  every  state  has  at  least  one  man  to  whom  the  convention 
could  safely  turn — he  will  name  some.  He  begins  at  home. 
"We  have  a  man  in  Florida.  He  is  president  of  our  State 
University  (Laughter).  His  name  is  Dr.  0.  O.  Murphree 
(Voices)  "We  want  Smith!  We  want  Smith!  (Laughter,  ap- 
plause and  cheers).  He  is  a  scholarly  Democrat.1'  (Voice: 
"Never  heard  of  one.") 

The  speaker  goes  on.  Soon  he  says  that  this  is  probably 
his  last  convention.  His  enemies  join  in  a  round  of  applause. 
Quickly  he  responds:  "Don't  applaud,  I  may  change  my 
mind."  (Laughter,  applause  and  cheers).  He  refers  to  his 
three  nominations  and  the  words  "never  again"  greet  him. 
He  speaks  of  likely  timber  and  at  last  reveals  his  real  purpose 
with  a  good  word  for  McAdoo. 

The  minutes  record  "applause,  and  boos,  considerable  dis- 
order on  the  floor  and  in  the  gallery."  A  delegate  from 
New  Jersey  interrupts  to  ask  about  "Doheny  and  McAdoo 
and  Oil."  There  are  "continuous  cries  of  'Oil,'  'Oil,'  and  the 
Chairman  orders  the  galleries  cleared.  Bryan  asks  the  man 

287 


As  1  Knew  Them 

has  heckled  him  what  state  he  comes  from.  'New  Jer- 
sey/ responds  the  delegate,  *l  voted  for  you  every  time 
you  ran.  I  am  sorry.1  " 

And  so  it  goes.  The  record  is  full  of  such  Interruptions  as 
"Who's  paying  you  for  this?1"  "Come  off,  come  off,"  "Great 
disorder,  shouting,  boos,  cat-calls  and  cries  of  out  of  order/' 
At  last  Bryan  finishes  his  speech  while  the  Chairman's  gavel 
is  pounding  for  order  and  Mr.  O'Brien,  a  New  Jersey  dele- 
gate,  exclaims  "The  same  old  ^Dollar  Bill,'  the  same  old 
'Dollar  Bill.1 " 

Bryan  resumes  his  seat.  His  speech  has  been  a  failure. 
Not  till  sixty-five  more — one  hundred  and  three  in  all — bal- 
lots are  taken  can  a  nomination  be  reached,  and  the  nominee 
is  John  W.  Davis,  whose  candidacy  he  had  denounced  as  too 
close  to  Wall  Street 

In  1912  Bryan  had  fought  and  defeated  a  "Wall  Street" 
candidate.  This  time  he  surrendered.  The  cynical  said  that 
he  got  his  price — his  brother  in  second  place  on  the  ticket.  It 
was  the  last  use  of  his  influence  in  a  national  convention  and, 
like  other  incidents,  it  brought  his  sincerity  into  question  even 
among  his  own  party  associates, 

ALWAYS  IN  A  RACE  FOR  WEALTH 

» 

At  odds  with  Bryan's  professions,  was  his  greed  for  wealth. 
The  Bryan  one  finds  denouncing  Wall  Streets  worship  of  the 
God  of  gold  is  a  Bryan  in  swift  and  persistent  pursuit  of  the 
same  God.  Even  while  holding  the  dignified  post  of  Secre- 
tary of  State  the  desire  for  dollars  led  him  to  go  lecturing 
through  the  country  like  a  barn-storming  actor.  Later,  when 
Florida  needed  an  orator  for  its  land  speculation,  he  joined  in 
the  land  craze  and  became  its  spokesman.  It,  too,  meant  gold. 

Of  course,  Bryan  was  in  a  numerous  company  in  his  desire 
for  wealth,  but  why  should  he  have  regarded  himself  as  the 
only  member  of  the  company  with  honorable  intent?  His 
followers  in  politics  often  hoped  that  he  would  step  out  of  the 

288 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ranks  of  money-seekers,  but  he  became  more  devoted  to 
money-making  as  his  Florida  acres  sold  higher.  He  lived  to 

find  himself  a  millionaire  and  to  speak  of  it  with  satisfaction. 
The  great  fortune  he  accumulated  is  the  strongest  indictment 
of  his  sincerity — not  because  it  represented  wealth,  but  be- 
cause of  his  constant  preaching  that  the  man  with  a  dollar 
Is  to  be  feared  as  a  selfish  creature,  while  the  man  without  a 
dollar  must  be  accepted  as  unselfish. 

Of  course,  there  is  good,  a  great  deal  of  good,  in  every 
man,  and  more  of  it  in  most  of  our  public  men  than  they  get 
credit  for.  There  was  good  in  Bryan.  I  am  reminded  of 
the  reply  made  by  a  friend  when  I  asked  him  why  he  did  not 
seek  the  gold  known  to  be  on  some  land  he  owned  in  New 
Mexico.  "It  costs  too  much  to  get  it  out/1  he  said.  The  gold 
in  Bryan  cost  too  much  to  get  out. 

ALWAYS  SEEKING,  NEVER  GAINING,  OFFICE 

Gur  people  estimated  Bryan  properly  when  they  kept  Mm 
always  seeking  but  never  attaining  power.  Half  a  century 
is  a  long  penance  period  but  many  people  believe  It  would 
have  required  almost  that  time  for  the  country  to  recover 
from  a  Bryan  Administration.  He  had  no  mind  for  the  prac- 
tical; none  for  organization,  none  for  sound  reasoning.  Not 
many  men  with  his  contacts  and  experiences  would  have  re- 
mained as  Bryan  remained  from  beginning  to  end  of  his  career 
at  the  same  intellectual  level.  He  was  not  a  student,  not 
even  a  reader  of  enlightening  literature.  Newspapers  with 
their  daily  offering  of  something  new  had  his  attention.  He 
cared  little  for  books.  His  collection  would  not  have  over- 
taxed a  five-foot  shelf.  One  book,  however,  he  knew  thor- 
oughly— the  Bible. 

In  1907  he  toured  the  world,  visiting  many  of  the  leading 
capitals  and  meeting  many  leading  men.  After  such  oppor- 
tunity for  broadening  experiences  he  was  as  unchanged  as  if 
he  had  spent  his  time  on  a  Mississippi  river  flat-boat  The 

289 


As  I  Knew  Them 

influence  of  years,  of  observation  and  of  travel  counted  for 
little.  Adroitness  in  speech,  adroitness  in  manipulating  con- 
ventions, adroitness  in  advancing  his  own  opportunity  for 
political  power  and  for  wealth  remained  his  dominant  char- 
acteristic. Against  that  record  must  be  placed  his  religious 
convictions  whose  fundamental  bases  he  never  changed. 

He  preached  against  millionaires  and  died  one;  he  preached 
against  militarists  and  asked  to  be  buried  among  them. 


290 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 


Jr. 


His  Real  Interests  Were  Family,  Country  And  Friends  —  His  Last  Ten 
Years  Were  Regarded  By  Many  As  His  Greatest  —  Always  Something 
Doing  In  The  White  House,  But  In  One  Direction  Only  —  "Dont 
Move,  We've  Got  It!"  Exclaimed  John  Singer  Sargent  —  Where  Roose- 
velt Should  Be  Honored  With  A  Monument  —  How  He  Found  Money 
For  The  Battle-Fleet  Cruise—  His  Loyalty  To  Friendship—"  Teddy" 
The  Whole  World  Round—The  Wide  Circle  Of  His  Acquaintances. 

have  known  Theodore  Roosevelt  well  and  to  have 
enjoyed  his  confidence  is  a  proud  privilege  for  an  Ameri- 
can to  claim.  That  privilege  is  mine  —  and  I  rank  it  among 
the  richest  of  my  life. 

I  knew  him  in  his  days  of  early  ambition;  I  knew  him  on  the 
battle-line  at  Santiago;  I  knew  him  in  his  days  of  power;  I 
knew  him  in  his  days  of  storm  and  trial;  best  of  all,  I  knew 
him  in  those  later  days  when  he  realized  that  the  world  was 
behind  him,  that  his  work  was  done  and  that  all  that  re- 
mained for  him  was  to  counsel  his  fellow  citizens  as  best  he 
could  out  of  his  own  vast  experience. 

It  would  be  hard  to  say  definitely  in  which  period  of  his 
remarkable  career  Roosevelt's  qualities  stood  out  in  most 
commanding  way;  but  it  will  always  seem  to  me  that  he  was 
greatest  after  titles  had  become  mere  symbols  of  the  past  and 
the  man,  not  the  office  or  the  power,  spoke. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  write  as  an  historian.  Certainly  I 
shall  not  attempt  that  role  with  Roosevelt.  Joseph  Bucklin 
Bishop,  Lawrence  Abbott  and  Roosevelt's  own  "Auto- 
biography" cover  that  field  thoroughly.  What  I  place  on 
record  about  that  splendid  type  of  vigorous,  patriotic  and 
fine-purposed  American  manhood  must  swing  back  and  forth 

291 


"HE'S  GOOD  ENOUGH  FOR  Ml" 


As  I  Knew  Them 

through  the  years,  as  events  and  conversations  range  them- 
selves In  my  memory — at  times  far  apart  in  date.  1  prefer 
to  write  in  a  more  personal  way  based  on  the  impressions  I 
gathered  on  different  occasions. 

The  first  statement  I  desire  to  make  is  one  that  has  long 
been  on  my  mind,  but  one  that  I  realized  could  not  be  made 
while  Roosevelt  lived  without  being  regarded  as  a  partisan 
effort  to  defend  him.  I  want  to  put  it  on  record  here,  as  I 
have  said  in  an  earlier  chapter,  that  of  all  the  men  in  public 
life  I  have  known  and  met  during  nearly  half  a  century  of 
active  newspaper  work,  I  can  recall  none  more  ready  to  listen 
to  the  views  of  others,  more  willing  when  convinced  to  put 
aside  his  owrn  ideas,  more  ready  to  accept  group  judgment  in 
preference  to  his  own,  than  Theodore  Roosevelt. 

Following  his  return  from  Africa  in  1910,  I  sat  in  numerous 
conferences  called  to  determine  the  course  he  was  to  pursue — 
including  his  candidacy  for  the  Republican  nomination  in 
1912 — and  I  was  always  amazed  at  the  patience  with  which 
he  discussed  the  various  points  of  view  urged  and  his  own. 
Once  you  had  his  confidence  you  had  an  open  sesame  to  his 
mind. 

There  were  times,  of  course,  when  Roosevelt  felt  deeply 
on  certain  matters  and  stuck  to  his  colors.  Nor  did  he  ever 
fail  to  state  his  views  with  vigor,  and  one  had  to  be  well 
equipped  with  facts  and  reasoning  to  gain  the  verdict  over 
him  in  conference.  When  his  own  interests  were  solely  at 
stake  the  Colonel  felt  that  his  own  judgment  should  prevail. 

:  HIS  LAST  TEN  YEARS 

I  have  said  above  that  I  consider  the  last  ten  years  of 
Roosevelt's  life — the  out-of-power  years — as  his  greatest. 
Perhaps  I  should  qualify  that  statement  by  saying  that  to  his 
friends  they  are  the  greatest.  Those  of  us  who  were  privi- 
leged to  listen  to  him  during  those  years  felt  like  one  thrilled 
by  the  warm . radiance  of  a  setting  sun;  how  splendidly  its 

293 


As  I  Knew  Them 

strength  and  beauty  shone  out  in  the  glow  of  its  fading 
moments. 

Roosevelt  was  no  man  to  reminisce.  He  lived  in  today 
and  tomorrow.  His  yesterdays  served  only  the  purpose  of 
building  up  his  tomorrows. 

After  his  retirement  from  the  Presidency  in  1909,  and  par- 
ticularly after  1912,  he  would  often  preface  his  talk  by  saying, 
uNow  I  am  free  to  express  my  own  opinions  because  I  shall 
not  be  endangering  anyone  but  myself."  It  was  then  that  his 
friends  heard  Roosevelt  at  his  best,  and  got  the  true  measure 
of  the  man. 

EVERYONE  INTERESTED  IN  ROOSEVELT 

Those  seven  years  in  the  White  House  ending  in  1909 
had  a  fascination  for  the  people  that  no  other  President  was 
ever  able  to  excite.  I  recall  a  popular  cartoon  of  the  period 
portraying  the  head  of  a  household  putting  aside  his  break- 
fast table  newspaper  and  calmly  resuming  his  morning  meal. 

"My  dear,"  says  the  astonished  wife  across  the  table,  "the 
paper  must  be  dull  today." 

"It  is.    Not  a  thing  doing  in  the  White  House." 

Everybody  was  keenly  Interested  to  know  from  day  to  day 
in  what  new  direction  their  versatile  President  would  turn  his 
vigorous  endeavors.  Some  had  good  reason  anxiously  to  seek 
early  information,  but  people  generally  indorsed  and  ap- 
plauded each  day's  budget  of  news  because  they  knew  that  the 
activities  at  the  White  House,  whatever  they  might  be,  were 
directed  toward  one  end. 

There  was  one  comment,  however,  frequently  heard,  that 
always  angered  Roosevelt — the  talk  that  he  was  a  militarist 
who  would  delight  in  forcing  America  into  conflict  with 
another  nation.  He  resented  that  charge.  His  militarism 
was  his  belief  that  the  way  to  avoid  war  is  to  be  prepared  and 
have  others  know  you  are  prepared.  In  Chicago  in  1903,  he 
summed  it  up  in  the  phrase  "Speak  softly,  but  carry  a  big 

294 


As  I  Knew  Them 

stick,  and  you  will  go  far."  He  repeatedly  cited  our  peaceful 
relations  with  other  countries  during  his  Administration  as 
proof  that  his  policy  was  sound. 

Probably  no  man  assailed  Roosevelt  as  a  militarist  more 
frequently  than  did  Bryan.  Now  that  both  men  have  passed 
away,  we  find  one  lying,  at  his  own  request,  in  the  modest 
burial  ground  of  his  home  village,  while  the  other,  also  at 
his  own  request,  lies  in  a  conspicuous  sepulchre  in  Arlington 
Cemetery,  Washington,  among  the  brave  men  whose  calling 
he  had  always  condemned. 

The  Great  Moment  plumbs  our  deepest  instincts.  When 
you  tapped  those  wells  in  Roosevelt  you  found  home,  family, 
his  country  and  his  friends.  He  rests  beside  them  In  death, 
and  no  martial  glory  intrudes. 

"DON'T  MOVE!    WE'VE  GOT  IT" 

Perhaps  at  this  point  Is  as  good  a  place  as  any  to  tell  the 
story  of  the  John  Singer  Sargent  painting  of  Roosevelt,  how 
in  the  White  House.  The  photograph  of  that  painting  is 
probably  more  familiar  than  any  other  of  Roosevelt.  It 
shows  Roosevelt  at  the  foot  of  a  White  House  staircase  with 
his  elbow  resting  on  the  newel  post,  one  hand  toying  with  his 
watch  chain,  standing  in  contemplative  mood  as  though  about 
to  state  a  conclusion  that  had  for  some  moments  baffled  him. 
Such,  in  fact,  is  exactly  what  did  happen;  the  masterful  brush 
of  Sargent  caught  the  pose  and  put  it  on  canvas  from  a  true 
situation. 

For  two  afternoons  President  and  artist  had  vainly  invaded 
every  nook  and  corner  of  the  White  House  for  an  appropriate 
place  to  serve  as  background.  Pose  after  pose  was  tried  in 
place  after  place,  without  satisfying  either  man.  Roosevelt 
was  .not  deeply  concerned  about  it,  but  Sargent  was.  He 
wanted  the  real  Roosevelt  and  he  knew  that  the  real  Roose- 
velt could  be  revealed  to  him  only  in  the  right  surroundings. 

Roosevelt  tired  of  the  search,  Sargent  was  eager  to  con- 

295 


As  I  Knew  Them 

tinue  It;  the  painter's  keen  ambition,  the  President's  thoughts 
of  pressing  duties,  grated  on  the  nerves  of  both  men.  Finally, 
as  they  descended  the  staircase  shown  in  the  painting  Roose- 
velt stopped  at  the  bottom,  rested  his  elbow  on  the  newel,  and 
turning  to  his  companion  said  hopelessly: 

"Well,  Sargent,  we  had  better  give  it  up.  We'r.e  after  the 
impossible.11 

"Don't  move,  Mr.  President!"  exclaimed  Sargent  quickly. 
"Don't  move!  We've  got  it!" 

And  they  had. 

DUG  THE  CANAL THEN  DEBATED  ABOUT  IT 

Roosevelt  believed  in  ideals,  but  he  had  no  faith  in  ideals 
so  vague  as  to  be  impossible  ever  to  get  beyond  words  and 
phrases, — impossible  of  practical  application.  He  wanted  re- 
sults,— deeds  not  talk. 

Take  the  Panama  Canal,  as  an  example.  For  years  Con- 
gress had  been  debating  how,  when  and  where  to  dig  a  canal 
across  the  Isthmus.  Even  Mark  Hanna  with  all  his  power 
and  aggressiveness  could  not  force  action.  The  President 
wanted  no  more  debate.  He  acted,  and  let  Congress  catch 
up  with  him. 

So  it  was  when  he  challenged  the  legality  of  the  Northern 
Securities  Company.  There  was  much  uplifting  of  hands  that 
Roosevelt  was  leading  the  country  into  chaos,  but  the  Supreme 
Court  upheld  him  even  against  its  own  precedents.  So,  too, 
with  the  canal.  The  debaters  in  Congress  first  criticized,  then 
wondered,  then  applauded  and  gladly  paid  the  bills. 

The  Panama  Canal  is  Roosevelt's  big  historic  physical 
achievement.  That  is  his  own  judgment  of  it.  In  view  of 
his  deep  interest  in  it,  I  cannot  understand  why  the  Roosevelt 
Memorial  committee  has  neglected  to  appropriate  a  portion 
of  its  funds  for  a  memorial  in  the  canal  zone. 

Somewhere  on  the  highest  mountain  top,  on  each  side  of 
the  Isthmus,  there  should  be  a  tower  of  light  to  recall  to  voy- 

296 


As  I  Knew  Them 

agers  in  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  the  man  who  made  that 
great  waterway  a  reality.  The  pending  splendid  plan  for  a 
monument  to  be  located  in  Washington  is  not  likely  soon  to 
become  more  substantial  than  a  controversy  with  Congress. 
Of  course,  in  time,  Congress  will  act,  but  meanwhile  there 
would  be  instant,  cordial  approval  of  a  monument  in  the 


THK  NEWS   REACHES  BOGOTA— From  the  Herald  (X*w  York) 

canal  zone.     Like  the  canal  itself  it  would  be  built  while  the 
Washington  enterprise  is  still  being  debated. 

SENDING  OUR  BATTLESHIPS  AROUND  THE  WORLD 

The  enterprise  that  won  Roosevelt's  heart  was  the  trium- 
phant voyage  of  our  battleships  around  the  world.  He  fairly 
thrilled  over  every  incident  as  the  cables  brought  the  day  to 
day  news.  It  never  ceased  to  interest  him.  Nothing  delighted 
him  more  than. to  tell  the  story  of  his  manoeuvres  to  get  funds 
for  the  trip.  Nelson  Aldrich,  chairman  of  the  Senate  Finance 

297 


As  I  Knew  Them 

committee,  would  not  agree  to  an  appropriation.  For  a  time 
Aldrkh  was  confident  he  had  thwarted  the  President's  plan. 

uLoeb  and  I  got  to  work  on  the  job  of  digging  up  funds 
out  of  unexpended  balances  in  different  departments,"  Roose- 
velt once  said  to  me.  "We  finally  found  enough  money  to 
take  the  fleet  around  South  America  to  Japan  and  China — 
possibly  a  little  further.  It  would  then  be  half  way  around 
the  world,  I  made  up  my  mind  to  send  the  ships  that  far  and 
then  let  Aldrich  take  responsibility  for  leaving  them  there  at 
anchor  or  appropriate  the  funds  to  bring  them  back.  I  felt 
sure  the  country  would  not  stand  for  ordering  the  ships  back 
across  the  Pacific;  Aldrich  would  have  no  option;  he  would 
have  to  bring  them  home  by  way  of  the  Atlantic,  which  was 
exactly  what  I  wanted. 

"I  had  the  same  experience  in  other  matters  as  in  that  affair. 
Once  I  acted  instead  of  sitting  around  talking  and  pleading, 
I  found  all  the  support  I  needed.  Aldrich  and  his  committee 
of  Senators,  convinced  that  I  was  going  ahead  with  the  battle- 
ships, surrendered  handsomely  and  the  fleet  sailed  around  the 
world,  to  be  greeted  everywhere  in  friendly  spirit." 

THE   HOSTILE  CORPORATION  INFLUENCE 

"More  spying  on  the  corporations"  was  the  outcry  when 
Roosevelt  urged  Congress  to  stop  talking  about  establishing  a 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  and  establish  one.  The 
need  for  such  a  Department  had  been  obvious  for  a  long  time. 
Its  creation  was  another  Roosevelt  achievement,  gained  over 
powerful  opposition.  Corporations  could  not  understand 
why  a  President  was  not  content  with  merely  recommending; 
or  why  he  wanted  a  Department  with  more  than  swivel-chair 
power.  What  sinister  motive  prompted  him? 

The  usual  "underground"  opposition  was  exerted  against 
the  measure  by  corporation  lobbyists  at  Washington,  but  they 
had  to  give  way,  finally,  and  on  roll-call  it  had  generous  sup- 
port from  both  political  parties. 

298 


As  I  Knew  Them 

As  I  write  of  this  incident,  I  am  led  to  say  that  nine-tenths 
of  the  legislation  to  which  banking  interests  and  corporations 
object,  and  often  spend  large  sums  of  money  to  defeat,  prove 
of  benefit  to  them.  The  Federal  Reserve  system  is  perhaps 
the  most  conspicuous  example  of  a  helpful  measure  that  met 
the  vigorous  protests  of  New  York  bankers — yet  the  men  who 
most  strenuously  opposed  it  are  today  its  most  ardent  sup- 
porters. 

The  same  story  could  be  told  of  nearly  every  law  affecting 
banks  and  corporations.  The  banker  and  the  corporation 
head  seem  to  distrust  nothing  so  much  as  change;  today 
they  know,  but  tomorrow  is  a  stranger  to  them;  no  matter 
how  long  the  night  may  be,  no  matter  how  hopelessly  they 
grope  in  darkness,  they  dread  the  dawn  of  a  new  day  with 
new  conditions. 

CORTELYOU  AND  LOEB 

The  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  besides  serving 
its  purpose,  brought  two  young  men  to  the  front  who  influ- 
enced the  Executive  Department  of  our  national  government 
far  more  than  is  generally  known — George  Bruce  Cortelyou 
and  William  Loeb,  Jr.  The  President  made  Cortelyou  the 
first  head  of  the  new  department.  Loeb  was  made  Secretary 
to  the  President,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  Cortelyou,  the  title 
meant  confidant  and  counsellor.  Cortelyou  had  also  been  sec- 
retary to  Cleveland  and  McKInley.  Three  Presidents,  far 
apart  in  temperament  and  policies,  depended  upon  him  with 
equal  confidence.  Cabinet  honors  then  came  to  him — first 
as  head  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  then  as 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Here  was  a  reward  for  loyaltyv 
industry  and  modest  wisdom.  It  reflected  no  "pull," — just 
a  tribute  to  one  who  had  served  ably  and  well. 

Loeb's  experience  in  the  White  House  did  not  cover  as 
many  years,  but  it  was  more  intimate.  He  had  been  with 
Roosevelt  while  he  was  Governor  of  New  York.  No  one 

29Q 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ever  knew  every  thought,  purpose  and  mood  of  a  President 
as  Loeb  knew  Roosevelt's.  He  was  in  truth  the  President's 
other  self; — he  was  the  one  man  who  could  act  for  Roosevelt 
in  full  confidence  that  he  was  doing  as  the  President  would 
have  him  to  do.  There  is  not  much  in  the  Roosevelt  admin- 
istration that  does  not,  in  some  way,  bear  the  impress  of 
Loeb^s  judgment.  To  his  last  years  Roosevelt  turned  con- 
fidently to  Loeb,  though  Loeb  had  gone  out  of  public  life 
and  was  well  established  in  business.  A  career  of  helpful, 
energetic  loyalty  to  his  chief  is  now  crowned  with  his  own 
success. 

ROOSEVELT'S  GREATEST  TRAIT 

I  have  read  many  estimates  of  Roosevelt.  I  have  read  of 
his  wonderful  vitality,  his  tireless  .  energy,  his  courage,  his 
restless  eagerness,  the  amazing  extent  of  his  knowledge  of  and 
interest  in  so  many  subjects — and,  of  course,  it  is  all  true.  In- 
deed, the  half  has  not  been  told. 

The  trait  that  most  appealed  to  me  was  his  loyalty  to 
friendships.  Commodore  Stephen  Decatur's  famous  toast  to 
his  country  might  well  have  been  paraphrased  by  Roosevelt 
to  read  "My  friends!  May  they  always  be  in  the  right;  but 
my  friends  right  or  wrong!" 

More  than  once  I  was  with  Roosevelt  in  moments  of  keen 
personal  disappointment,  but  never  did  he  show  the  same  deep 
regret  over  any  happening  to  his  fortunes  as  over  evidence 
that  one  whom  he  called  friend  had  turned  on  him. 

And  there  were  some  who  did. 

Those  wounds  sank  deep,  though  they  left  no  vengeful  scar. 
Where  there  was  a  separation  it  was  the  friend  not  Roosevelt 
who  took  the  diverging  path.  It  was  not  necessary  to  agree 
with  him  to  hold  his  friendship.  "My  dear  fellow,"  he  would 
say,  "it's  bully  of  you — just  bully — to  come  here  and  fight  it 
out  with  me.  You're  a  trump  and  a  fine  fellow  but  on  this  we 
don't  see  it  the  same  way.  We'll  talk  of  something  else." 

Then  would  come  a  temptation  to  abandon  your  opinion 

300 


As  I  Knew  Them 

and  accept  his — a  fatal  mistake  for  one  desiring  to  keep  the 
Colonel's  confidence.  He  never  wanted  anyone  to  surrender 
to  him  because  he  was  President.  He  lost  interest  in  those  who 
sought  his  favor  by  not  battling  for  an  opinion  of  their  own. 

TEDDY  THE  WHOLE  WORLD  ROUND 

I  claim  neither  right  nor  ability  to  reveal  more  clearly  than 
others  have  revealed  the  Roosevelt  whose  personality  held 
the  attention  and  admiration  of  the  world  through  seven  years 
in  the  White  House.  Wherever  America  was  known  in  those 
years,  Roosevelt  was  known;  and  what  America  meant  in  the 
minds  of  peoples,  whether  the  people  of  Greenland's  icy 
mountains  or  those  of  India's  coral  strand,  there  Roosevelt 
meant  to  them  the  same  thing. 

No  other  American  was  ever  accepted  so  completely  during 
his  own  time  by  the  average  man  everywhere  as  a  sympathetic, 
understanding  leader  as  Roosevelt  was  accepted.  He  was 
Teddy  the  whole  world  round  and  the  intimacy  of  that  term  in 
no  degree  lessened  the  universal  faith  in  his  endeavor  to  get  a 
"square  deal,"  so  far  as  government  could  secure  it,  for  the 
man  who  found  it  difficult  to  get  one  for  himself. 

THE  WIDE  CIRCLE  OF  HIS  FRIENDSHIPS 

I  like  to  think  of  that  wonderful  friendship  with  Henry 
Cabot  Lodge,  lasting  from  young  manhood,  unchanging 
through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  nearly  forty  years  of  political 
strife.  It  revealed  the  quality  that  seems  to  me  the  founda- 
tion of  Roosevelt's  greatness. 

I  like  to  read  his  favorite  hymn,  read  at  his  funeral  in  that 
little  village  church  from  which  he  was  buried.  uHow  Firm 
a  Foundation,  Ye  Saints  of  the  Lord,  is  laid  for  your  faith  in 
His  excellent  word."  In  its  inspiring  lines  I  see  the  Roosevelt 
I  knew  and  followed — firm  in  his  faith  in  the  Lord,  firm  in 
his  faith  in  you,  his  friend. 

301 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Both  Roosevelt  and  Lodge  were  big  enough  to  tolerate 
differences  of  opinion  that  would  have  separated  most  men. 
Lodge  kept  out  of  the  1912  controversy,  but  he  voted  for 
Taft  for  President,  and  not  for  his  friend  Roosevelt  That 
was  a  vote  of  principle  and  Roosevelt  respected  it. 

But  Lodge  was  only  one  friendship.  There  were  many, 
many  others.  There  was  Jacob  Riis,  a  police  news  reporter 
for  the  New  York  Sun,  who  won  Roosevelt's  friendship  in  the 
early  police  department  days,  and  kept  it  to  the  last;  there 
was  "Joe"  Murray,  a  Republican  district  leader,  who  gave 
Roosevelt  his  start  in  politics  and  sent  him  to  the  New  York 
Legislature;  there  was  Father  Curran,  of  Wllkesbarre, 
Penna.;  there  was  Bill  Sewall,  the  Maine  guide;  and  "Bucky" 
O'Neill,  from  Arizona, — he  of  the  Rough  Riders  who,  near 
San  Juan  Hill,  had  boasted  just  a  moment  before  he  was 
killed  that  "no  Spanish  bullet  was  ever  moulded  to  hit  me." 

Then  there  were  the  men  who  had  ranched  with  him  in  the 
Dakotas;  and  Matthew  Hale,  of  Boston,  who  had  tutored  his 
children  before  getting  into  politics ;  Dr.  W.  T.  Hornaday 
of  the  Bronx  Zoological  Gardens,  and  John  Burroughs, 
Charles  F.  McKim,  Raymond  Robbins,  Booker  T.  Washing- 
ton, Jane  Addams  and  Sir  Edward  Grey,  now  Viscount  Grey 
of  Fallodon.  Even  the  fierceness  of  the  1912  campaign  did 
not  lead  Roosevelt  into  one  word  of  dispraise  of  Senator 
Murray  Crane,  although  the  Senator  was  a  relentless 
opponent. 

High  and  low  in  politics,  in  the  professions  and  in  business 
were  within  that  circle  of  friendships  of  infinite  variety,  and 
to  each  he  gave  something  out  of  his  incomparable  personality 
that  none  could  find  elsewhere. 

AN  ARCHBISHOP,  AN  EX-PRESIDENT  AND  AN  EX-PRIZE  FIGHTER 

There  is  one  incident  of  a  score  that  could  be  told  illustrat- 
ing Roosevelt's  contact  with  men  in  every  walk  of  life. 

One  day  in  the  summer  of  1916  Roosevelt  was  lunching  at 

302 


As  I  Knew  Them 

the  Harvard  Club.  A  friend  had  brought  Archbishop  Ireland 
there,  confident  that  the  Colonel  would  forget  the  clash  he 
had  had,  while  President,  with  the  Archbishop. 

Roosevelt  saw  the  two  men  as  they  entered  the  club,  and 
relieved  Ireland's  doubts  as  to  his  welcome;  he  rushed  up  to 
him,  exclaiming  "My  dear  Archbishop,  I  am  delighted  to 
see  you  again." 

They  sat  down  for  a  chat  while  awaiting  lunch. 

Soon  a  tall  broadshouldered,  bulletheaded  figure  ap- 
proached. 

Roosevelt  had  left  word  at  the  door  to  have  him  shown 
in  when  he  called.  The  Archbishop  was  surprised  to  see  him 
smile  at  the  Colonel  and  offer  to  shake  hands. 

"Archbishop,"  said  Roosevelt,  umeet  another  good 
Irishman." 

"John,"  turning  to  the  visitor,  "meet  the  Archbishop." 

"Archbishop,"  continued  the  Colonel;  "this  is  John  L.  Sul- 
livan. He  has  fought  many  battles  that  I  admire  and  an 
Archbishop  cannot;  but  he  has  fought  one  battle  that  an 
Archbishop  can  admire — the  battle  with  himself." 

"If  it  had  not  been  for  you,  Colonel,  I  never  could  have 
stopped  drinking,"  interrupted  Sullivan.  "I  used  to  think  of 
you  busy  in  the  White  House  taking  time  to  send  word  to  me 
to  keep  up  the  fight,  and  seeing  me  there  when  I  called.  I 
couldn't  drink  with  all  that  on  my  mind." 

"I'm  glad  to  shake  hands  with  you  on  your  last  fight,"  said 
the  Archbishop. 

And  an  Ex-President,  an  Archbishop  and  a  prize  fighter  sat 
there  together! 

THE  ROOSEVELT  I  KNEW 

There  may  be  those  who  knew,  or  thought  they  knew,  a 
different  Roosevelt  than  the  Roosevelt  I  knew;  I  have  no 
quarrel  with  them.  The  Roosevelt  I  knew  is  the  Roosevelt 
I  am  endeavoring  to  outline.  I  can  speak  only  from  my  own 

303 


As  I  Knew  Them 

experience.  I  ought  to  have  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  man,  for 
I  knew  him  as  Police  Commissioner;  I  stood  with  him  when 
the  battle  of  San  Juan  Hill  opened  that  torrid  July  morning 
of  1898;  I  knew  him  as  Governor  and  as  President; — great- 
est of  all,  I  knew  him  as  citizen  those  last  ten  years  of  his  life 
— the  most  potent,  most  purposeful  voice  in  the  country. 

I  never  sought  and  he  never  offered  me  a  favor  except  the 
favor  of  his  friendship.  My  newspaper  did  not  always  ap- 
prove his  course ;  we  held  to  our  own  opinions,  but  we  never 
questioned  the  sincerity  of  his  purpose.  On  some  matters  on 
which  we  differed  I  realized  later  that  it  is  possible  for  editors 
to  be  wrong.  The  one  request  Roosevelt  ever  made  of  me 
was  to  support  Taft  for  nomination  in  1908.  That  I  could 
not  do.  My  paper  was  supporting  Hughes.  After  Taft's 
nomination  I  gladly  supported  him. 


304 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 
TWO  MEMORIES  OF  ROOSEVELT 

Opening  The  San  Juan  Battle,  And  A  Midnight  Conference  That 
Ended  At  Dawn  With  Decision  For  New  Party— Munsey  Pledges  His 
Newspapers  And  His  Fortune — Only  One  Inevitable  End  At  Chicago — 
Never  Made  Decisions  For  Expediency's  Sake — An  Early  Dream  Of 
The  White  House — Harrison  Introduces  Him  As  tf Impatient  For 
Righteousness" — An  Epoch  In  Himself — The  One  Title  That  In  His 
Last  Years  He  Desired. 

[ANY  interesting  memories  live,  of  course,  in  the  minds 
of  all  who  had  relations  with  Roosevelt.  Two  hold 
their  place  firmly  with  me.  One  was  a  midnight-to-dawn  ses- 
sion in  his  bedroom,  in  the  Auditorium  Annex  in  Chicago, 
when  George  W.  Perkins,  Frank  Munsey  and  I  discussed  with 
him  the  possibilities  of  the  step  that  led  to  organizing  the 
Progressive  party. 

What  a  night  that  had  been!  I  never  saw  the  Colonel  so 
fagged;  for  hours  his  fighting  blood  had  been  at  fever  heat. 
It  was  not  the  crowd  that  tired  him,  for  he  could  always 
handle  a  crowd,  but  a  score  of  important  party  leaders  one 
after  another  had  discussed  with  him  all  phases  of  the  serious 
situation. 

The  last  one  (I  have  forgotten  his  name)  had  dragged 
the  Colonel  into  the  bath-room  and  closed  the  door  against 
intruders.  He  was  another  self-appointed  emissary  with  a 
plan  of  compromise  but  with  no  authority  except  his  own. 
Soon  we  heard  a  loud  voice  that  all  recognized;  the  door 
opened  and  the  Colonel  stepped  out  with  a  hurried,  vigorous 
step  that  matched  the  wrath  in  his  countenance. 

The  crowd  had  left  the  Colonel's  apartment;  their  loud 
cheers  and  louder  oratory  still  filled  the  corridors  and  lobby. 

305 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Four  tired  men  sat  on  the  bedside  planning  the  strategy  of 
the  morrow.  The  Colonel  leaned  heavily  and  wearily  against 
the  headpiece,  Perkins  next  to  him  and  then  Munsey.  I  sat 
at  the  foot. 

While  seated  on  that  bedside,  Perkins  and  Munsey  urged 
the  Colonel  to  go  on  with  the  third  party  fight.  They  pledged 
their  fortunes — Munsey  declaring  with  characteristic  inten- 
sity: uMy  fortune,  my  magazines  and  my  newspapers  are 
with  you."  Even  before  that  meeting  Roosevelt  had  strayed 
far  off  the  party  reservation;  yet  the  peril  of  going  further, 
the  doubt  as  to  how  the  country  would  react  to  a  bolt,  loomed 
larger  and  larger.  For  more  than  an  hour  discussion  went 
on;  we  saw  the  streaks  of  dawn  as  we  separated  with  the  Pro- 
gressive party  started  on  its  earnest  way. 

ONLY  ONE  INEVITABLE  END 

Of  course,  there  was  no  one  moment,  no  one  conference, 
when  the  one  big  decision  was  made.  All  that  week  every 
moment  had  been  a  moment  of  decision  as  to  some  phase  of 
the  exciting  struggle,  and  all  decisions  pointed  to  one  end. 

Roosevelt  members  of  the  convention  committees  were 
abandoning  the  scheduled  meetings;  delegates  and  spectators 
in  the  convention  were  in  constant  riotous  revolt,  Hiram  John- 
son, the  two  Pinchots,  Medill  McCormick,  Raymond  Robbins, 
Bainbridge  Colby,  William  Hamlin  Childs,  Chauncey  Hamlin, 
William  M.  Chadbourne,  "Bill"  Flynn  and  all  the  Republi- 
cans of  the  corn-belt  States  were  in  hourly  clashes  with  the 
Taft  forces,  and  were  straining  at  the  leash  with  which  the 
Colonel  was  holding  them  in  line. 

Against  those  influences,  an  influence  more  intimate  and 
more  potent  than  politics,  was  counselling  the  Colonel  not  to 
bolt.  Until  that  midnight-to-dawn  conference,  it  was  still 
possible  for  him  to  turn  back,  and  he  would  have  welcomed 
a  compromise  eliminating  both  Taft  and  himself.  No  such 

306 


As  I  Knew  Them 

terms  were  offered  from  the  Taft  side.  The  midnight  discus- 
sion therefore  settled  the  course  to  pursue.  The  one  problem 
to  which  all  minds  were  thereafter  directed  was  how  and  when 
the  new  organization  was  to  be  brought  into  being. 

After  breakfast  next  morning  William  L.  Ward,  who  had 
decided  to  remain  "regular,"  made  a  last  effort  to  persuade 
the  Colonel  to  acquiesce  in  the  Taft  nomination.  Not  so 
much  what  he  said  as  what  his  eyes  and  snapping  jaws  indi- 
cated made  Ward  quickly  realize  that  something  decisive  had 
happened  over  night. 

NEVER  MADE  DECISIONS  FOR  EXPEDIENCY'S  SAKE 

Many  who  condemned  Roosevelt  for  his  attitude  in  that 
campaign  were  astonished  that  an  astute  politician  could  have 
believed  he  could  smash  through  his  party  organization  and 
elect  himself  President.  Such  critics  did  not  know  Roose- 
velt. He  never  made  decisions  on  the  basis  of  expediency. 
He  always  searched  for  the  right  or  wrong  of  a  proposition, 
and  decided  accordingly.  Nothing  else  influenced  him  in  Chi- 
cago. The  politics  of  the  situation  did  not  interest  him;  the 
unrighteousness  of  it  did. 

Roosevelt  had  no  illusions  about  his  candidacy.  He  never 
thought  he  would  be  elected.  During  one  of  my  visits  to 
Oyster  Bay  before  the  Progressive  convention  in  August,  he 
said:  uTaft  cannot  win  whether  we  go  in  or  not;  we  cannot 
win.  What  we  can  possibly  do  is  to  poll  more  votes  in  States 
like  New  York  than  the  Taft  ticket  and  thus  be  recognized 
legally  as  the  second  party.  With  the  Democrats  we  would 
then  be  entitled  to  a  party  column  on  the  ballot.  Thousands 
of  Taft  Republicans  would  flock  to  us.  Let  us  keep  this  in 
mind  as  our  objective,  but  don't  let  us  ever  again  say  to  one 
another,  or  even  think,  that  we  are  not  going  to  win.  You 
cannot  fight  hard  unless  you  think  you  are  fighting  to  win, 
and  we  must  fight  hard." 

307 


As  I  Knew  Them 

OPENING  THE  SAN  JUAN  BATTLE 

The  other  memory  of  Roosevelt  still  vivid  takes  me  back 
to  Cuba,  in  July  1898 — on  the  knoll  called  Grimes'  Hill,  fac- 
ing San  Juan  Hill  and  just  in  front  of  the  cross-roads  called 
El  Pozo.  It  was  called  Grimes'  Hill  because  the  battery  com- 
manded by  Captain  Grimes  had  been  placed  there  the  night 
before,  with  Roosevelt's  Rough  Riders  in  support.  Col.  Sam- 
uel Sumner  was  In  command. 

I  call  them  Rough  Riders  because  that  was  the  name  the 
regiment  had  acquired  before  sailing  for  Cuba.  History 
knows  them  only  as  Rough  Riders.  They  were  not  Rough 
Riders  at  all  in  Cuba,  for  their  horses  were  never  brought 
over.  Down  there  we  called  them  Wood's  Weary  Walkers. 
Leonard  Wood  was  the  Colonel  in  command  and  Roosevelt 
was  Lieutenant  Colonel — hence  the  alliterative  change.  They 
were  a  wild  lot,  those  Rough  Riders.  They  did  not  know 
what  discipline  meant,  though  they  knew  how  to  fight. 

It  was  not  the  intention  to  take  San  Juan  Hill  that  day. 
The  only  orders  from  Shafter  were  to  keep  the  Spaniards 
there  busy  by  intermittent  firing  so  that  they  would  not  send 
men  to  reinforce  El  Caney,  a  village  several  miles  away,  which 
Lawton  and  Chaffee  had  assured  Shafter  they  could  capture 
in  an  hour  or  two  of  fighting. 

El  Caney  is  a  suburb  to  the  north  of  Santiago  while  El 
Pozo  is  to  the  east. 

But  Lawton  and  Chaffee  found  they  had  a  hard  and  bloody 
day's  work  ahead  of  them.  Grimes'  battery  also  found  that 
the  Spaniards  on  the  hill  could  keep  us  busy,  too. 

Thus  San  Juan  Hill  and  El  Caney  developed  rapidly  into 
a  stiff  battle  for  possession  of  both  places. 

That  night  our  tropic-wearied  troops  had  gained  both  ob- 
jectives. They  had  had  twelve  hours  of  fighting,  however, 
instead  of  one  or  two  as  Chaffee  and  Lawton  had  anticipated. 

Roosevelt  stood  with  Sumner  and  Grimes  when  the  Battery 

308 


As  I  Knew  Them 

opened  fire.  I  can  see  him  now,  looking  thro'  his  field  glasses 
and  then  pointing  excitedly  to  different  locations  on  San  Juan. 
He  was  trying  to  detect  how  each  shell  landed  in  the  Spanish 
trenches. 

Not  a  shot  came  in  reply  from  San  Juan  nor  was  there  a 
visible  sign  of  life,  for  10  or  15  minutes  after  our  first  shells 
went  whizzing  over.  Then  a  shell  must  have  landed  where  it 
hurt,  for  bang!  came  a  swift  one  in  reply  from  a  Spanish 
battery  well  concealed. 

So  long  as  our  firing  got  no  response,  I  was  interested  with 
Roosevelt  and  others  in  trying  to  locate  just  where  each  shell 
had  landed,  but  when  the  Spaniards,  having  our  range,  began 
landing  shrapnel  "in  our  midst"  I  lost  interest  in  the  skill  of 
our  own  gunners.  With  Colonel  John  Jacob  Astor  I  accepted 
Summer's  hurried  advice  to  "get  out  of  this  hell  spot." 

Astor  and  I  found  ourselves  out  of  the  shrapnel  zone  but 
in  the  rifle  fire  zone. 

Finally  we  reached  the  narrow  valley  road  already  crowded 
like  a  sardine  box  with  soldiers  waiting  delayed  orders  to 
move.  They  were  under  shell  and  rifle  fire — and  yet  expected 
to  stand  still  in  an  exposed  road!  It  was  at  that  point  that 
Roosevelt  made  his  memorable  dash  through  the  almost  solid 
ranks,  crossed  the  road  and  went  up  the  opposite  hill  into  the 
dense  undergrowth  behind  which  the  Spaniards  were  en- 
trenched. He  had  been  ordered  into  action.  That  was  my 
last  view  of  him  for  the  day.  The  heavy  firing  told  me,  how- 
ever, that  there  was  something  doing  where  he  had  disap- 
peared. 

AN  EPOCH  IN  HIMSELF 

"T.  R."  was  an  epoch  in  himself — as  much  its  dominant 
figure  as  were  Washington  and  Lincoln  in  their  day.  He  was 
all  there  was  to  his  period,  which  began  when  he  entered  the 
White  House  as  President  and  closed  seven  years  later  as  he 

309 


As  I  Knew  Them 

rode  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue  with  Taft  to  install  him  as 
his  successor! 

I  do  not  mean  that  the  influence  of  Roosevelt  ended  then, 
for  it  still  persists;  it  is  to  be  found  in  many  laws  of  recent 
years  and  conspicuously  in  the  present  desire  of  great  wealth 
to  seek  the  protecting  power  of  government  instead  of  defying 
it.  The  driving  force  of  intense  purpose  behind  his  policies 
ceased,  however,  when  he  ceased  to  be  President.  As  he 
said  himself  we  may  slip  back  a  little  now  and  then,  but  never 
to  the  old  levels.  The  standards  have  been  raised;  those 
who  thought  their  safety  was  in  keeping  them  low  now  realize 
that  a  square  deal  for  all  is  the  best  deal  for  all. 

So  it  is  that  many  of  the  things  Roosevelt  left  undone  are 
only  now  in  the  way  of  being  done — much  too  slowly,  it  is  true, 
yet  inevitably.  The  mills  of  progress  like  the  mills  of  the  gods 
grind  slowly — but  they  grind.  Roosevelt  lives  in  this  slow, 
eventual  development.  And  as  public  opinion  drives  govern- 
ment toward  those  ideals  for  which  he  stood, — his  name  will 
remain  its  symbol  and  its  inspiration  for  great  achievement. 

Who  is  to  interpret  him?  Not  anyone  of  this  day.  His 
words  and  acts  are  his  only  interpreters  and  history  must  ap- 
praise them  by  the  acid  test  of  years. 

LIKED  THE  CENTRE  OF  THE  STAGE 

No  one  could  have  associated  with  him  without  acquiring 
never-fading  memories  of  a  friendship  that  made  you  feel  its 
helpful  influence.  There  was  a  candor,  earnestness  and  vigor 
about  T.  R.,  possessed  to  the  same  degree  by  no  man  I  have 
ever  met,  and  they  were  not  withheld  because  of  race  or  color 
or  condition. 

Yes — it  is  true  that  T.  R.  liked  the  centre  of  the  stage — 
loved  it  in  fact;  but  when  he  sought  it  he  always  had  some- 
thing to  say  or  to  do  that  made  the  centre  of  the  stage  the 
appropriate  place  for  him.  He  preferred  to  talk  to  the  gal- 


As  I  Knew  Them 

lerles  and  against  the  narrower  Ideas  usually  held  by  those 
occupying  orchestra  seats. 

There  were  strenuous,  often  boisterous  times  in  the  White 
House  with  T.  R.  But  Roosevelt  knew  the  powerful  influ- 
ences in  and  out  of  his  party  that  had  to  be  overcome,  if  his 
policies  were  to  prevail,  and  he  realized  the  futility  of  soft- 
stepping  and  whispered  persuasion.  He  had  no  faith  in  "gum- 
shoe" methods.  His  faults  were  not  those  of  secrecy  and 
intrigue;  Roosevelt  worked  in  the  open,  with  startlingly  frank 
avowals  of  his  purpose. 

His  first  effort  always  was  to  reach  the  people.  He  be- 
lieved that  if  he  got  the  people  he  was  certain  to  get  the 
politicians.  He  worked  on  the  theory  that  led  Charles  G. 
Dawes  to  punctuate  his  testimony  before  a  Congress  Com- 
mittee, five  years  ago,  with  uHell  and  Maria." 

Dawes  knew  that  what  he  said  would  be  printed  on  the 
front  pages  of  newspapers  if  peppered  with  uHell  and 
Maria,"  and  on  the  back  pages  if  merely  a  dry  recital  of  facts, 
however  important  the  facts  might  be.  He  had  a  message  to 
get  to  the  country;  he  deliberately  chose  the  one  way  certain 
to  get  it  before  it.  That  was  Roosevelt  policy,  too. 

ALWAYS  WORKED  FAR  AHEAD 

Of  course,  I  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  Roosevelt's  "im- 
pulsiveness." On  immaterial  matters  it  is  true  that  he  was 
quick  and  sharp  with  his  "yes"  or  "no,"  but  he  never  made  a 
decision  of  consequence  without  thoughtful  consideration.  He 
acted  quickly  when  he  acted;  but  he  always  had  the  matter 
well  in  hand  before  uttering  a  word  or  taking  a  step. 

Take  his  speeches,  for  illustration.  He  made  many  speeches 
that  aroused  intense  discussion;  they  were  at  times  denounced 
as  utterances  of  the  moment,  the  outbursts  of  impatience. 
Yet  no  public  man  ever  prepared  his  speeches  so  long  in  ad- 
vance of  delivery  as  Roosevelt;  none  ever  gave  them  more 
careful  revision.  Those  "impulsive"  phrases  which  his  oppon- 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ents  by  their  denunciation  made  popular,  were  the  most  de- 
liberately thought  out  phrases  of  all,  and  usually  got  the  reac- 
tion he  anticipated. 

Roosevelt's  day  was  always  well  organized  for  work.  He 
had  no  idle  moments.  At  Oyster  Bay  uon  vacation,"  he  was 
either  pulling  an  oar  out  on  the  Sound,  laying  an  ax  to  a  tree, 
or  riding  horseback.  Then  he  had  hours  for  reading,  for 
writing  and  for  visitors.  He  wrote  laboriously,  and  revised 
so  freely  that  it  amounted  almost  to  re-writing.  This  was 
especially  true  when  he  attempted  to  dictate.  He  disliked  it 
and  did  it  poorly. 

His  reading  was  almost  wholly  confined  to  books;  he  would 
go  for  days  without  looking  at  a  newspaper.  I  doubt  if  all 
his  newspaper  reading  for  twenty  years  averaged  over  ten 
minutes  a  day.  His  home  reflected  his  characteristics.  You 
found  there  none  of  the  ostentation  of  wealth.  Books  and 
trophies  of  his  adventures  were  the  outstanding  features.  The 
furnishings  were  of  the  kind  you  would  expect  in  the  average 
country  home;  there  were  no  gilded  sofas  and  chairs;  no  grand 
pianos  with  elaborate  carvings,  no  rare  tapestries  and  no  liv- 
eried servants.  When  you  crossed  the  threshold  at  Sagamore 
Hill  you  stepped  into  the  warm,  cordial  atmosphere  of  a  real 
home — the  home  of  an  American  in  spirit,  in  purpose  and  in 
ways.  Hayes,  Harrison,  McKinley  and  Coolidge  went  from 
just  such  homes  into  the  White  House  at  Washington,  and 
took  with  them  the  dignity  of  modest  living  and  simple 
ways. 

Roosevelt  had  no  time  for  "leisure"  as  some  persons  call 
it.  Idleness  was  the  thing  he  most  detested — unless  it  was 
the  wealthy  idler.  He  simply  could  not  tolerate  the  man  who 
could  be  of  use  to  the  world  and  yet  refused  to  do  his  part. 
His  persistent  denunciation  of  the  idle  rich  was  often  charged 
to  uplaying  politics/'  but  that  was  not  true. 

His  motive  was  to  drive  them  to  work.  To  him  life  had  a 
purpose;  it  ceased  when  purpose  ceased.  To  live  and  to  do 
nothing  meant  to  be  dead.  The  Colonel's  leisure  was  not 

312 


As  I  Knew  Them 

found  in  wasting  time  but  in  changing  his  occupation.     Every 
hour  counted — and  yet  I  never  heard  him  say  he  was  tired. 

AMAZED  AT  THE  DEMANDS  OF  WEALTH 

Roosevelt's  long  struggle  against  the  power  of  the  group 
he  characterized  as  "malef actors  of  great  wealth,"  his  de- 
termination to  have  government  in  the  open  instead  of  govern- 


THEIR  ONLY  TEAM   WORK 


ment  by  invisible  power,  were  prompted  by  evidences  that 
came  to  him  in  part  while  Governor  of  New  York  State  but 
in  full  in  the  White  House.  They  revealed  the  methods, 
the  .purposes  and  the  arrogant  attitude  of  corporate  wealth. 

The  thing  that  amazed  him  most  was  the  presumption  by 
influential  men  that  as  President  he  would  accept  their  idea 
that  great  wealth,  corporate  and  individual,  was  to  be  cared 
for  and  protected  as  something  more  sacred  than  government 

313 


As  I  Knew  Them 

itself.  Roosevelt  felt  that  the  Presidency  was  a  big  enough 
office  to  deny  that  theory,  and  he  determined  to  give  it  battle. 
<He  fought  to  establish  the  supremacy  of  the  government 
over  every  other  influence,  to  put  the  interest  of  the  people 
as  a  whole  in  advance  of  all  other  interests.  To  him  con* 
servation  meant  not  merely  conservation  of  the  nation's  for- 
ests, waterways  and  other  natural  resources,  but  conservation 
of  the  government's  power  to  command  obedience  to  its 
statutes. 

Wealth  was  blind  to  this  theory  of  government;  its  big 
lawyers  had  taught  it  how  to  be  "law  honest"  and  yet  do  as 
it  pleased;  it  regarded  as  heresy  the  Roosevelt  theory  that 
there  must  be  teeth  in  the  law  so  that  "law  honesty"  would 
be  "dishonesty." 

We  have  not  yet  reached  the  millennium  in  "big  business" 
ethics;  we  still  have  lawyers  whose  chief  practice  is  in  coun- 
selling restless  wealth  how  to  do  what  it  wants  to  do  and  yet 
not  find  itself  "out  of  bounds" ;  but  we  have  made  a  good  start 
in  the  right  direction.  Whatever  advance  has  been  scored 
had  its  beginning  in  the  Roosevelt  stand  for  a  "square  deal," 
and  in  the  Roosevelt  insistence  that  the  best  protection  for 
wealth  is  its  fair  attitude  toward  others. 

WHAT  ROOSEVELT  HAD  IN  MIND 

No  man  who  ever  sat  in  the  White  House  knew  his  America 
better  than  T.  R.  No  man  has  ever  responded  with  more 
vigor — to  the  inspiration  of  its  traditions. 

He  visioned  a  nation  born  to  strenuous  endeavor  and  am- 
bitious purpose — a  nation  in  which  all  would  strive  for  the 
common  good, — and  when  as  the  head  of  such  a  nation  he 
had  the  power  and  saw  the  opportunity  to  mould  its  future  to 
its  birthright  he  eagerly,  whole-heartedly  set  himself  to  the 
task.  Always  to  do  more,  to  learn  more,  to  progress,  were 
Roosevelt's  aims  in  life,  and  as  President  he  sought  to  make 
those  aims  his  country's  aims.  His  opponents  did  not  dare 

3H 


As  I  Knew  Them 

attack  his  purpose,  so  they  attacked  his  energy,  his  determined 
effort  to  accomplish.  He  wanted  government  to  be  purpose- 
ful ;  he  wanted  an  equal  share  in  its  benefits  for  all — no  favor, 
no  fear,  no  power  behind  the  throne.  The  good  and  the  bad 
that  he  found  at  Washington  were  used  as  a  skilled  workman 
sorts  his  materials — he  found  some  good  even  among  the 
poorest  material,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  use  it;  he  found  some 
bad  even  among  the  best  material  and  did  not  hesitate  to  dis- 
card it.  Often  it  was  thought  that  Roosevelt  discarded  too 
much,  but  when  the  facts  came  to  light  it  was  found  that  he  had 
made  an  accurate  estimate  of  the  men  whom  he  had  thrust 
aside. 

"IMPATIENT  FOR  RIGHTEOUSNESS" 

President  Harrison  once  introduced  Roosevelt  to  an  audi- 
ence by  saying  good-naturedly : 

uHe  is  a  young  man,  impatient  for  righteousness.  He 
wants  everything  done  before  nightfall;  some  of  us  can  wait 
until  tomorrow." 

Elijah  Halford,  Harrison's  Secretary,  later  corrected  this 
characterization  of  Roosevelt  to  read: 

"He  is  a  young  man  impatient  with  unrighteousness"  which 
to  my  mind  is  more  fitting. 

All  this  was  said  of  Roosevelt  while  he  was  Governor  of 
New  York. 

Harrison,  it  may  be  remembered,  gave  Roosevelt  his  first 
national  job — President  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission. 
He  always  had  a  high  regard  for  Roosevelt.  He  applauded 
his  earnestness,  rejoiced  in  his  integrity,  but  constantly  coun- 
selled him  against  trying  to  put  the  whole  government  under 
civil  service  regulation  at  one  fell  swoop. 

ROOSEVELT'S  EARLY  DREAM  OF  THE  WHITE  HOUSE 

Seated  on  the  porch  at  Sagamore  Hill  with  Roosevelt  one 
afternoon  in  1911,  our  talk  went  back  to  the  period  before 

315 


As  I  Knew  Them 

1893  while  he  was  serving  in  the  Harrison  Administration.  I 
had  spoken  to  him  of  the  possibility  of  a  popular  call  for  him 
to  succeed  Taft.  uThis  is  the  only  spot  on  earth  for  me," 
he  said.  "I  am  never  satisfied  away  from  here.  You  don't 
live  in  the  White  House.  You  are  only  Exhibit  A  to  the 
country.  I've  had  seven  years  of  it  and  I  know.  I  admit 
that  I  once  felt  differently  about  it — very  differently. 

"I  recall  that  in  those  Harrison  years  as  I  passed  the  White 
House  every  day  to  and  from  my  office,  the  thought  often 
came  to  me  that  possibly  some  day  I  would  occupy  it  as  Presi- 
dent. Of  course  it  was  only  a  dream.  I  had  no  more  reason 
for  it  than  has  every  other  American  citizen.  Still,  it  thrilled 
me  even  to  think  of  it  as  a  possibility.  Well,  1  did  occupy 
the  White  House  and  now  I  have  no  feeling  but  one  of  glad- 
ness that  it  is  over.  The  thrill  was  justified  in  its  day;  the 
absence  of  it  is  justified  now.  It  has  no  lure  for  me. 

"It  isn't  how  long  you  are  President  that  counts,  but  what 
you  accomplish  as  President.  I've  had  my  chance;  I  did 
fairly  well  with  it.  I  made  some  kind  of  a  place  in  history 
for  myself.  Someone  else  might  have  done  better  than  I  did, 
but  I  could  not,  for  I  did  my  best.  I  might  not  do  as  well  if 
I  were  to  go  in  again — unless,  possibly,  I  went  in  to  do  some 
one  definite  thing,  greatly  needed  by  the  country.  Nothing 
of  that  kind  is  in  sight. 

"There  is  no  demand  for  me  except  possibly  the  demand  of 
the  party  for  a  candidate  who  can  win.  There  are  half  a 
dozen  men  who  come  under  that  heading.  No — I've  had  the 
title  of  President  once — having  it  twice  means  nothing  except 
peril  to  whatever  reputation  I  achieved  the  first  time." 

THE  TITLE  HE  DESIRED  IN  LATER  YEARS 

A  moment's  pause  before  Roosevelt  spoke  again. 
"Do  you  know  the  only  title  that  appeals  to  me  now?"  he 
asked. 

"I  suppose  it  is  'Colonel'?"  I  ventured. 

316 


As  I  'Knew  Them 

»Yes, — there's  a  lot  in  that  title  for  me,"  he  said.  UI  like 
it.  But  if  I  were  asked  what  title  I  would  prefer  it  would 
not  be  President  nor  Colonel;  it  would  be  Major  General  in 
the  U.  S.  Army  in  active  service.  Remember  I  say  active 
service — no  swivel  chair  for  me.  Active  service,  however, 
is  not  likely  to  come  in  my  day,  so  I  suppose  4ColoneP  I'll 
remain  to  the  end.  That's  good  enough. 

"After  all,  what's  in  a  title?  A  lieutenant — Lieut  Wm.  L. 
Worden — commanded  the  Monitor  when  it  made  that  his- 
toric fight  against  the  Merrimac.  How  many  people  know 
or  care  whether  he  was  Lieutenant  or  Admiral?  He  had  a 
job  to  do  and  he  did  it  well.  Ericsson,  who  designed  and  built 
the  Monitor,  will  always  be  remembered.  He  had  no  title. 
It's  the  deed  and  not  the  title  that  counts. 


THE  PATRIOT'S  RESPONSE! 

"Just  keep  it  in  mind  though,  should  a  war  come  while  you 
and  I  are  still  around,  that  the  one  thrill  I  shall  have  will  be 
to  be  Major-General  in  active  service!" 

War  did  come.    The  thrill  for  service  took  complete  pos- 

''317 


As  I  Knew  Them 

session  of  him;  denial  of  opportunity  undoubtedly  was  the 
most  depressing  disappointment  of  his  life.  He  could  give  his 
four  sons  to  the  battle  line — but  his  own  service  was  rejected. 
I  have  seen  Roosevelt  take  several  disappointments, — things 
that  hurt  him  deeply, — but  not  all  of  them  together  affected 
him  so  deeply  as  that. 

After  the  last  of  his  sons  had  sailed  for  the  other  side  he 
said  to  me  "there's  a  chance  if  the  war  lasts  long  that  none  of 
them  will  see  me  here  when  they  return.  There's  a  greater 
chance  that  I  shall  never  see  all  of  them  again.  One  or  more 
is  likely  to  stay  over  there.  I  rejoice  that  they've  gone;  I 
wouldn't  keep  one  of  them  back.  But  what  would  I  give  to 
know  that  we  are  all  to  be  together  again  some  day  at  dear 
old  Sagamore.'' 


318 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII 
"MY  LAST  MILE  AS  A  CAMPAIGNER" 

When  Roosevelt  Closed  His  Tour  For  Hughes,  He  "Declared  He  Wa* 
Through  With  Presidential  Stump-Speaking  —  "I've  Done  My  Bit"  He 
Said  —  Looking  Ahead  To  1920  He  Declared,  "I  Shall  Not  Be  The 
Candidate/"  —  His  Conviction  That  He  Would  Have  A  Hard  Time 
Fighting  For  Health  During  His  Early  Sixties  —  A  Midnight  Motor 
Ride  To  Oyster  Bay. 


trumps,  let  me  tell  you  something  that  will  interest 
yOU  —  j'm  finishing  with  you  tonight  my  last  Presiden- 
tial campaign.  I've  done  my  'bit'  for  Hughes;  I  am  not  going 
to  tour  for  any  future  Presidential  candidate;  I  don't  know 
how  many  thousands  of  miles  I  had  travelled  across  country 
when  I  closed  in  Philadelphia  tonight,  but  I  know  it  marked 
my  last  mile  as  a  campaigner.  I've  done  my  full  share  of  it; 
I  am  now  entitled  to  go  on  the  exempt  list.  I  am  positively 
through  campaigning  forever." 

Theodore  Roosevelt  was  the  speaker.  It  was  late  October 
1916  —  late  in  every  way.  He  had  arrived  at  the  Pennsyl- 
vania station  in  New  York  city,  after  midnight,  and  we  were 
motoring  to  Sagamore  Hill,  reaching  there  about  3  A.M. 
Before  his  Academy  of  Music  speech  in  Philadelphia  that 
night,  he  had  telephoned  to  George  W.  Perkins  that  he  was 
anxious  to  get  home,  that  he  would  insist  upon  an  early  speech 
so  as  to  catch  a  10  o'clock  train,  if  anyone  in  New  York  city 
would  be  good  enough  to  arrange  for  a  motor  car  to  take  him 
to  Sagamore.  Perkins  thought  the  Colonel  should  not  go 
alone. 

Turning  to  me  he  said  he  would  go  if  I  were  game  also  for 

319 


As  I  Knew  Them 

a  midnight  ride,    I  replied  "dee-lighted" — and  both  of  us  met 
the  Colonel. 

We  motored  through  a  Long  Island  night  fog  to  Oyster 
Bay. 

ROOSEVELT'S  DREAD  OF  HIS  EARLY  SIXTIES 

Almost  two  years  later — in  September  or  October,  1918 — 
I  asked  Roosevelt  if  he  recalled  his  talk  about  no  more  cam- 
paigning, the  night  we  motored  to  Oyster  Bay. 

uOf  course  I  remember  it,"  he  replied,  surprised  at  my  in- 
quiry. aEvery  word  of  it.  I'll  refuse  to  campaign  even 
should  the  candidate  personally  ask  me  I" 

"Well,  you  will  have  to  refuse  yourself  then  in  1920,"  I 
replied,  "for  you  are  going  to  be  the  candidate  I" 

"By  George,  I'm  not!" 

"There's  no  one  else,"  I  insisted.  "The  party,  in  fact  the 
country,  is  turning  to  you.  It's  a  unanimous  call,  Colonel. 
I  hear  it  now." 

"I  hear  just  as  much  of  it  as  you  do  and  probably  more," 
replied  Col.  Roosevelt.  "It's  all  right,  let  it  go  on.  It  is 
well  enough  to  have  the  anti-Wilson  sentiment  rally  around 
me.  But  I  tell  you  again  that  I  shall  never  make  another 
campaign  tour  nor  shall  I  be  the  candidate.  Of  course,  I  shall 
make  no  public  announcement  now,  but  I  will  do  so  long 
enough  before  1920  to  get  out  of  the  way  of  anyone  who 
wants  the  nomination." 

"Why,  Colonel,"  I  insisted.  "You  are  now  the  leader  of 
the  Republican  party — you  cannot  get  away  from  it." 

"Yes,  I  can.  I'm  a  tired  man.  Let  me  tell  you  I  shall  have 
trouble  'bucking'  my  early  sixties.  If  I  can  get  by  them  I  can 
keep  going  for  a  fair  number  of  years.  My  danger,  though, 
is  right  in  the  next  few  years.  At  56  I  never  should  have 
undertaken  that  South  American  trip.  It  just  put  the  jungle 
fever  into  me  when  I  was  too  old  to  fight  it  out  of  myself 
quickly.  It  is  in  my  system  yet.  I've  got  to  buck  it  for  four 

320 


As  I  Knew  Them 

or  five  years  before  I  shall  be  rid  of  it.  Then  I'll  be  myself 
again.  That  is  why  I  am  not  going  to  do  any  more  campaign- 
ing. Put  that  down  as  settled.  Let  the  talk  go  on,  let  the 
party  rally  around  me,  if  it  will,  for  the  present.  We  must 
organize  to  fight  Wilson.  I'll  help  in  that  work.  I  am  not 
saying  anything  about  1920.  Let  1920  take  care  of  itself 
when  it  comes — but  I  shall  not  be  the  candidate." 

And  he  gave  a  characteristic  emphasis  to  the  "not"  that  led 
me  to  understand  that  back  of  his  decision  he  had  more  reason 
than  he  was  acknowledging. 

That  was  the  last  talk  I  had  with  Roosevelt — the  last  time 
I  was  in  his  presence  until  I  stood  in  the  Oyster  Bay  church 
as  his  flag-draped  coffin  was  carried  up  the  aisle. 

A  MIDNIGHT  MOTOR  RIDE  HOME 

On  that  night  motor  ride  in  1916  the  Colonel,  though  tired, 
was  in  fine  spirits.  We  plunged  through  a  Long  Island  fog 
too  fast  for  safety,  while  he  kept  telling  stories  of  campaign 
experiences.  Suddenly  our  car  stopped  on  the  country  road 
so  that  the  chauffeur  could  clean  his  windshield  of  fog.  Up 
stood  the  Colonel  in  the  car. 

"Fellow  citizens,"  he  shouted,  "fellow  citizens  of" 

Then  he  turned  to  Perkins  and  $aid:  "George,  where  under 
the  sun — no,  where  in  this  devilish  fog  are  we?" 

"Glen  Cove  or  thereabouts,"  said  Perkins. 

"Oh,  yes — Fellow  citizens  of  Glen  Cove  or  thereabouts, 
I  am  here  tonight  to  say  to  you" 

By  that  time  the  chauffeur  had  removed  some  of  the  fog 
banked  on  his  windshield  and  started  the  car — the  Colonel 
sat  down.  In  fact,  he  came  down  with  a  crash. 


321 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 


WHEN  ROOSEVELT  SAID  "TAFT" 

Loeb  Shows  Him  The  Need  For  Stopping  The  Drift  And  Insuring 
Control  Of  The  Convention  —  Elihu  Root  Thanks  Roosevelt  But  De- 
dines  To  Be  A  Candidate  —  Taft,  Surprised,  Says,  "I  Must  Go  In  And 
Thank  Theodore  For  This"—  -Why  Roosevelt  Remained  Silent—  De- 
termined To  Be  An  Effective  President  To  His  Last  Day  —  Foraker 
Demands  Of  The  President  Equal  Respect  For  A  Senator  —  "Joe" 
Cannon  Eases  A  Tense  Moment. 


morning    in    January,    1908,    President    Roosevelt 
looked  up  from  his  breakfast  table  in  the  White  House 
to  find  William  Loeb  waiting  quietly. 

"By  George,  Loeb/'  he  declared,  "what  brings  you  here 
and  how  long  have  you  been  here?" 

"Only  a  few  moments,"  Loeb  replied.  "I'm  here  because 
I  want  to  talk  with  you  before  you  go  over  to  the  office.  I 
want  to  talk  about  the  national  convention." 

"What's  the  matter  with  the  convention  —  except  that  it's 
a  longways  off?"  asked  Roosevelt. 

"The  matter  is  that  if  things  drift  along  as  now  our  friends 
may  lose  control  of  it  ;  if  that  occurs  there  will  be  charges  that 
you  would  like  to  have  been  the  nominee  but  couldn't  get  the 
delegates,  or  that  you  backed  this  or  that  defeated  candi- 
date. I  don't  think  that's  a  good  prospect.  It  puts  you  in 
an  equivocal  position  and  it  should  not  go  on  any  longer." 

"It  hasn't  impressed  me  that  way,"  replied  Roosevelt,  "but 
you  may  be  right  What  do  you  suggest?" 

"Have  a  candidate,"  said  Loeb.  "You  are  under  pledge 
not  to  run  again.  I  propose  to  make  people  understand  that 
you  intend  to  keep  it.  Some  people  believe  that  a  deadlocked 

322 


As  I  Knew  Them 

convention  might  force  you  to  disregard  it.  Others  believe 
you  will  demand  a  nomination  anyhow,  and  that  you  are 
manipulating  things  so  as  to  force  a  deadlock.  The  air  is  full 
of  such  talk.  The  way  to  settle  is  to  have  a  candidate." 

SEE  ROOT,    SAID  ROOSEVELT 

"Do  you  know  the  man  I'd  like  to  see  here  as  my  succes- 
sor?" asked  the  President 

"I  do  not,"  replied  Loeb. 

"Elihu  Root.  He's  made  a  great  record  over  in  the  State 
Department,  and  would  make  an  equally  great  one  in  the 
White  House.  I  would  be  for  him  against  all  comers,  but  I'm 
told  he  couldn't  be  elected." 

"What  does  Root  think  about  it?"  asked  Loeb. 

"I  don't  know,"  replied  Roosevelt. 

"Well,  you  have  Taft  and  Hughes  to  consider,  too,"  Loeb 
continued. 

"Yes,  and  Cortelyou  as  well.  He's  in  my  Cabinet  and  is 
anxious  to  get  the  nomination.  You  see  it's  embarrassing 
when  there  are  rivals  in  your  own  household.  Now,  when- 
ever I've  talked  Taft  to  our  friends  I  have  had  a  battle.  He 
is  not  strong  with  the  men  closest  to  this  Administration.  I 
don't  understand  it.  I  think  he  would  run  well;  they  say  not 
We  must  above  all  else  get  a  man  who  can  win." 

"Any  nominee  can  win,"  replied  Loeb,  "if  you  back  him — 
Taft,  Root,  Hughes,  or  Cortelyou.  That's  my  judgment" 

"Well,  then,  you  see  Root;  have  a  frank  talk  with  him; 
tell  him  what  I  have  said  to  you,  tell  him  what  you  think, 
and  let  us  get  his  idea.  Of  course,  if  we  can't  get  Root  we 
must  agree  on  someone  else — Taft  is  the  next  best,  probably; 
but  see  Root" 

That  same  morning,  when  Secretary  of  State  Elihu  Root 
walked  into  his  office,  he  was  surprised  to  find  William  Loeb 
there.  Like  Roosevelt  he  asked  him  why. 

323 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"I've  been  talking  with  the  President  about  the  convention, 
insisting  that  we  ought  to  straighten  things  out/'  said  Loeb. 
"We  ought  to  have  a  candidate.  He  authorizes  me  to  say  to 
you  that  he  would  rather  see  you  in  the  White  House  than 
any  other  man,  and  that  he  is  ready  to  endorse  you." 

ROOT  SAYS  NO 

If  Elihu  Root  is  ever  surprised  by  anything  he  sees  or 
hears  his  imperturbable  countenance  rarely  shows  it.  But  it 
did  that  morning.  His  face  plainly  reflected  surprise  and 
pleasure. 

"That's  very  fine  of  him,"  he  said.  "Please  tell  the  Presi- 
dent I  appreciate  deeply  every  word  of  it,  but  I  cannot  be  a 
candidate." 

"Why  not?"  asked  Loeb.  "This  Administration  will  con- 
trol the  convention  and  can  name  the  candidate." 

"Undoubtedly  you  can  nominate  me,"  replied  Secretary 
Root.  "You  couldn't  elect  me — there's  the  rub." 

"This  Administration  is  strong  enough  with  the  people  to 
elect  the  man  it  gets  behind,"  persisted  Loeb.  "That's  all 
bunk  that  you  cannot  be  elected.  Your  record  here  will  elect 
you." 

"No,  Loeb,  I've  thought  it  all  out.  I  know  the  situation. 
I  shall  not  be  a  candidate." 

"Is  that  final?"  asked  Loeb. 

"Absolutely  final,"  replied  Root.  "Thank  the  President 
most  cordially  for  me,  but  tell  him  I'm  not  in  the  running." 

Back  to  the  White  House  and  to  the  President's  offices 
went  the  diligent  Loeb. 

He  cut  short  the  President's  callers,  and  got  down  to 
business. 

"Root  is  out  of  it,"  he  reported  to  his  chief,  "He  won't 
take  it — says  he  couldn't  be  elected." 


THE  CROWN  PRINCE 


As  I  Knew  Them 

SO  T.  R.  TURNS  TO  TAFT 

"I've  been  thinking  it  over  since  you  left,"  said  the  Presi- 
dent. "You  have  the  right  idea — we  must  have  a  candidate. 
We  had  better  turn  to  Taft.  He  has  the  experience.  See 
Taft  and  tell  him  of  our  talk  this  morning,  tell  him  all  of  it  so 
he  will  know  my  mind  all  the  way  through." 

An  hour  or  so  later,  Secretary  of  War  Taft  was  closeted 
in  the  White  House  offices  with  Roosevelt's  energetic  private 
secretary.  He  was  frankly  told  of  the  breakfast  table  talk, 
and  the  President's  conclusion. 

"The  President  feels  that  he  wants  to  settle  this  nomina- 
tion matter  right  away,  so  far  as  he  is  concerned,"  said  Loeb. 
"He  is  going  to  throw  the  whole  strength  of  the  Administra- 
tion back  of  you.  This  talk  about  his  getting  into  the  race  is 
all  nonsense.  The  only  way  to  stop  it  is  for  him  to  declare 
for  a  candidate  and  he  has  decided  to  declare  for  you." 

"I  must  go  in  and  thank  Theodore  for  this,"  said  Taft. 
"Also  I  want  to  send  a  message  to  my  brother.  He's  anxious, 
of  course,  to  know  every  development  in  my  campaign." 

"No  messages  to  anyone,"  interrupted  the  cautious  Loeb. 
"Let  this  thing  take  its  own  course.  Let  us  first  talk  it  over 
with  the  President.  It  will  be  time  enough  then  to  settle  the 
next  step." 

By  this  time  the  President  had  left  the  executive  offices  for 
lunch.  Taft  and  Loeb  joined  him  afterward. 

"Yes,  Will,"  said  Roosevelt.  "It's  the  thing  to  do.  Our 
friends  should  control  the  convention ;  we  don't  want  any  un- 
certain note  sounded  there.  We've  all  talked  about  candi- 
dates long  enough;  it's  time  for  a  decision.  I'm  for  you,  and 
I  shall  let  it  be  known  right  away.  That's  as  far  as  I  can 
personally  go.  I  cannot  get  into  the  detail  of  it.  My  sug- 
gestion to  you  is  to  put  yourself  in  Loeb's  hands  from  now 
on.  He  knows  the  politics  of  this  country  as  well  as  anyone  I 

32S 


As  I  Knew  Them 

can  think  of;  I  can  lighten  up  on  him,  and  give  him  the  time 
so  that  you  two  can  work  together." 

That,  to  state  it  briefly,  is  how  William  Howard  Taft  came 
to  know  definitely  that  Theodore  Roosevelt  had  ceased  to  be 
merely  favorably  disposed  toward  his  ambitions  to  be  Presi- 
dent and  had  decided  to  make  him  his  candidate  for  the 
nomination. 

WHY  ROOSEVELT  WAS  SILENT 

For  months  before  the  Loeb  talk  Roosevelt  was  puzzled 
as  to  the  best  course  to  pursue.  He  was  not  going  to  accept 
another  term — that  much  had  long  been  settled.  It  was 
settled  by  the  statement  issued  by  him  the  night  of  his  election 
in  1904;  it  was  settled  as  certainly  by  his  own  desire,  shared 
most  emphatically  by  his  family,  to  return  to  Sagamore  Hill, 
there  to  enjoy  a  career  as  private  citizen.  He  knew  of  the 
Jonathan  Bourne  plan  in  Oregon  to  nominate  him  for  a  "sec- 
ond elective"  term;  he  heard  much-similar  talk  from  others. 

Neither  was  he  unaware  of  the  insistence  by  his  opponents, 
in  and  out  of  the  Republican  party,  that  he  was  killing  off 
other  candidacies  to  insure  his  own  nomination.  When  I  say 
that  he  knew  of  such  talk  I  mean  that  he  knew  of  it  in  the 
shadowy  way  that  gossip  reaches  a  President,  unless  an  alert 
secretary  like  Loeb  decides  that  the  President  should  have 
full  information.  That  is  why  Loeb  had  that  historic  break- 
fast conference. 

Those  in  Roosevelt's  confidence  had  no  doubt  of  his  pur- 
pose as  to  himself.  They  knew  that  he  felt  under  no  obliga- 
tion to  reiterate  what  he  had  said  in  1904;  in  the  absence  of 
any  public  withdrawal  or  modification  he  expected  his  friends 
to  accept  his  statement  as  it  stood.  His  opponents  would  treat 
a  reiteration  as  skeptically  as  they  were  treating  the  original 
announcement.  So  he  allowed  the  record  to  stand  as  it  was. 


326 


As  I  Knew  Them 

AS  HE  SAW  HIS  FUTURE 

He  insisted  that  the  more  intimate  side  concerning  his  own 
desire  to  get  back  home  after  seven  years  of  the  White  House 
did  not  deeply  interest  the  public.  Moreover,  it  seemed  un- 
gracious and  perhaps  ungrateful  to  advance  his  personal  desire 
as  a  controlling  reason  for  leaving  the  Presidency. 

None  the  less  it  was  his  plan  to  take  himself  entirely  out 
of  the  storm  area  of  life.  His  strong  desire  for  a  public 
career  had  always  had  as  a  rival  his  longing  for  literary  re- 
nown; he  had  a  passion  for  both.  Having  satisfied  the  first 
with  the  rounding  out  of  his  term  as  President,  the  old  love  for 
the  pen  asserted  itself. 

He  would  write,  lecture,  put  into  permanent  form  the  ex- 
periences of  his  career,  and  interpret  world-events. 

That  thought  was,  in  fact,  the  basis  of  his  arrangement  with 
the  "Outlook" — a  magazine  that  was  selected  by  him  because 
it  had  no  partisan  ties  and  stood  high  in  public  confidence. 

He  had  thought  it  all  out  most  carefully  during  those  final 
days  in  the  White  House.  There  was  not  a  doubt  in  his  mind 
of  his  future.  For  a  year  or  more  he  was  to  hide  himself 
away  in  the  African  wilderness.  By  the  time  he  emerged  into 
civilization  the  new  administration  would  have  definitely 
shaped  its  policies,  most  of  the  patronage  would  have  been 
distributed  and  Roosevelt  would  have  escaped  the  demands 
which  he  could  not  have  wholly  ignored  had  he  remained 
within  reach.  His*  ^Outlook"  series  and  his  story  of  his 
African  hunt  would  of  themselves  keep  him  too  busy  to 
think  of  politics. 

Thus  he  planned  while  ^  In  the  White  House;  thus  he 
dreamed  as  he  trekked  across  the  game  trails  of  Africa;  it 
was  not  until  he  reached  Egypt  that  he  heard — then  only 
faintly — the  first  murmurings  of  the  storm  that  was  ulti- 
mately to  beat  so  violently  about  his  own  head.  But  in  1908 

327 


As  I  Knew  Them 

all  that  he  saw  ahead  of  him  was  a  period  at  Sagamore  during 
which  he  was  to  be  a  care-free  citizen  and  he  rejoiced  at  the 
prospect. 

DID  NOT  WANT  TO    FADE   AWAY 

Roosevelt  had  another  reason  for  silence.  He  was  de- 
termined not  to  fade  away  as  President.  He  wanted  his 
Administration  to  remain  100  per  cent  effective  until  the  last 
moment  of  his  term;  he  would  then  be  able  to  hand  over  a 
"going"  concern  to  his  successor.  He  knew  that  as  a  Presi- 
dent approaches  the  "ex"  period,  his  influence  with  Congress 
and  party  leaders  dwindles.  Only  the  old  Guard  of  loyalists 
for  loyalty's  sake  remain  to  the  end.  The  dawning  day  always 
reveals  a  majority  eagerly  scanning  the  horizon  for  its  new 
figure. 

Many  were  now  waiting  for  that  dawn,  eager  to  seize 
control  of  the  party  organization  the  moment  Roosevelt's 
hand  was  lifted  from  the  helm  and  to  thwart  him  in  every 
way.  There  were  measures  pending  in  Congress  that  he  de- 
sired to  have  enacted  into  law  while  he  was  yet  in  the  White 
House.  Moreover,  there  was  the  approaching  national  con- 
vention. He  was  determined  it  should  give  whole-hearted  in- 
dorsement to  his  Administration,  should  declare  for  a  con- 
tinuance of  his  policies  and  nominate  a  candidate  committed 
to  them. 

Thus  buttressed  by  platform  and  candidate,  Roosevelt  was 
confident  that  the  effectiveness  of  his  Presidency  would  remain 
unimpaired  to  the  end.  He  would  go  out  of  office  with  a 
record  of  seven  full  years  of  achievement,  and  his  friends 
would  be  in  control  to  "carry  on." 

In  his  opinion,  that  prospect  would  be  imperilled  if  he 
silenced  rumor  as  to  himself, — in  a  word  if  he  took  himself 
out  before  some  candidate  friendly  to  the  policies  of  his  Ad- 
ministration seemed  likely  to  go  in. 

328 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ANOTHER   PICTURE   SHOWN   HIM 

That  was  the  picture  Roosevelt  visioned  in  the  early  days 
and  weeks  of  1908.  It  was  not  the  picture  some  of  his  sup- 
porters saw;  they  painted  a  different  picture  to  him — some  of 
them  so  often  that  he  grew  impatient  over  the  challenge  of 
his  judgment.  They  didn't  believe  in  silence  or  in  Taft, — to 
whom  he  was  not  then  committed — as  insurance  against  the 
condition  he  dreaded.  Nevertheless  he  persisted* 

The  Republican  national  committee  in  Washington  in  De- 
cember, after  fixing  Chicago,  June  16,  1908  as  the  place  and 
time  of  the  convention,  called  upon  him  in  a  body,  formally. 
Not  a  word  of  encouragement  did  they  get  that  the  1904 
declination  had  ceased  to  have  force.  A  modifying  word,  even 
a  hesitant  manner,  would  have  sent  them  home  yelling  uFour 
Years  More  of  Teddy."  Some  enthusiasts  returned  to  their 
States  uttering  that  popular  cry,  concededly  without  authority. 

Southern  Republicans  were  practically  a  unit  in  advocacy 
of  another  term.  They  insisted  that  Roosevelt  could  carry 
several  Southern  States.  As  Roosevelt  admitted  in  a  talk  I 
had  with  him  at  the  time  and  printed  later  in  this  book,  there 
was  a  temptation  in  the  prospect  of  breaking  the  Solid  South. 
But  it  did  not  outweigh  other  considerations.  So  Roose- 
velt's mind  dwelt  upon  Root  and  Taft. 

Governor  Hughes  was  in  the  field  backed  by  New  York 
Republicans;  Vice  President  Fairbanks  was  actively  picking  up 
delegates  in  Indiana  and  neighboring  States;  George  Cortel- 
you  had  important  backing  from  national  committeemen  con- 
trolling many  delegates ;  Uncle  Joe  Cannon,  then  Speaker  of 
the  House,  was  projecting  himself  into  the  situation  as  an 
anti-Roosevelt  candidate;  Philander  C.  Knox  had  Pennsyl- 
vania, La  Follette  had  Wisconsin  and  Senator  Foraker  was 
disputing  Ohio  with  Taft.  But  with  Roosevelt  silent,  no  de- 
cisive strength  was  possible  for  any  candidate. 

329 


As  I  Knew  Them 

FORAKER  DEMANDS  EQUAL  RESPECT  FOR  A  SENATOR 

That  was  a  stirring  winter  around  the  Capitol.  Cannon  in 
private  talk  was  more  and  more  openly  denouncing  Roosevelt's 
policies;  insurgent  Republican  Congressmen  were  desperately 
struggling  against  Uncle  Joe's  Czar-like  grip  on  Committees 
and  on  legislation;  the  Senate,  with  La  Follette  as  the  insur- 
gent leader,  had  begun  to  show  evidences  of  a  determination 
to  supplant  the  House  as  the  place  of  endless  debate.  Every- 
body seemed  to  be  in  a  restless,  impatient  mood. 

The  Gridiron  Club  dinner  typified  the  spirit  then  prevailing. 
The  President  was  the  guest  of  honor;  J.  Pierpont  Morgan, 
Henry  H.  Rogers,  George  F.  Baker,  and  other  men  of  the 
financial  and  business  world  were  present.  Roosevelt  and 
Senator  Foraker  had  had  their  falling  out,  and  a  good  deal 
of  feeling  was  known  to  exist  between  them. 

Roosevelt's  speech  was  a  lecture  to  Senators  for  their  lack 
of  respect  for  the  Executive  branch  of  government.  As  we 
listened  we  realized  that  his  words  were  becoming  more  and 
.  more  centered  on  Foraker,  then  strongly  opposing  the  Admin- 
istration. At  the  beginning  of  each  sentence  we  felt  certain 
that  Foraker  would  be  named  before  the  end.  He  stopped 
just  short  of  doing  so.  Foraker  was  the  next  scheduled 
speaker*  His  seat  was  at  the  far  end  of  one  of  four  tables 
extending  like  a  gridiron  from  the  presiding  officer's  table 
where  Roosevelt  and  other  guests  of  the  Club  were  seated, 

Foraker's  face  glowed  with  anger  while  Roosevelt  was 
speaking;  he  was  less  stirred  when  he  himself  took  the  floor. 
At  first  he  spoke  in  quiet  tones,  plainly  under  restraint;  step 
by  step  he  advanced  up  the  aisle  toward  the  guests'  table 
until  he  stood  directly  in  front  of  Roosevelt.  When  within 
a  dozen  feet  of  him — in  fact,  it  seems  to  me  now  that  only 
the  table  separated  them — he  pointed  his  finger  at  the  Presi- 
dent and  with  the  emphasis  of  passion  said: 

"I  want  to  say  in  this  presence  that  I  have  great  respect  for  the 

330 


As  I  Knew  Them 

high  office  of  President  of  the  United  States — no  American  has 
greater  respect"  for  it — but  I  want  to  say  also  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States  that  I  demand  that  he  should  have  equal  respect 
for  the  chosen  representatives  in  the  Senate  of  the  sovereign  States 
of  the  Union." 

Foraker  walked  slowly  back  to  his  seat 

A  tense  silence  followed.  All  eyes  centered  on  the  Presi- 
dent, whose  countenance  by  now  showed  the  anger  he,  too, 
felt.  We  wondered  what  he  would  do  or  say.  Someone  must 
relieve  the  tension — but  how? 

"JOE"  CANNON  EASES  A  TENSE  MOMENT 

The  Chairman  looked  about  him  as  one  looks  for  a  life- 
saver.  He  saw  Uncle  Joe  Cannon  puffing  a  cigar.  Cannon 
seemed  more  at  ease  than  any  other  person.  Perhaps  he 
could  pour  oil  on  the  troubled  waters !  The  Chairman  de- 
cided to  try  him.  I  happened  to  be  seated  at  Cannon's  right 
Surprised  that  he  should  be  called  upon,  Cannon  turned  to  me 
and  asked : 

"What  in  hell  can  I  say  about  this  mess?'7 

It  was  well  that  he  did  not  wait  for  my  reply,  for  I  could 
make  none  worth  while.  Uncle  Joe  slowly  unwound  his  long, 
angular  form,  bit  a  little  harder  on  his  cigar,  and  by  the  time 
he  was  standing  at  full  length  was  ready  with  his  speech. 

"Now,  fellows,"  he  said,  "we  all  think  we're  mighty  impor- 
tant and  that  this  old  globe  would  stop  spinning  around  if  we 
weren't  here  to  keep  it  moving.  The  truth  is,  though,  that  if 
at  this  instant  we  should  have  an  earthquake  and  the  earth 
should  open  up  and  should  swallow  this  whole  roomful  of  us, 
big  fellows  as  we  think  we  are,  the  morning  papers  would 
publish  a  list  of  those  missing — and  the  world  would  go  on 
turning  and  we  would  be  forgotten.  So  what's  the  use  of  get- 
ting excited  1" 

That  ended  Cannon's  speech  and  the  tension.  Everybody 
laughed  and  the  Chairman  resumed  the  regular  order. 

331 


CHAPTER   XL 
THE  STRUGGLE  TO  NOMINATE  TAFT 

'7  Cant  Understand  This"  Said  Roosevelt  When  He  Found  His 
Choice  Of  Taft  Criticized— 'It's  Taft  Or  Me!"  He  Finally  Declared 
- — Cortelyou  Warns  Him  To  Prepare  Himself  For  A  Different  Life 
After  The  Presidency — The  Taft  Brothers,  Eager  For  Delegates,  Raid 
New  York — Roosevelt  Told  He  Will  Have  Responsibility  Without 
Power— Let  The  Party  Pick  Its  Own  Candidate— The  Tafts  Al- 
ways Suspicious  Of  Roosevelt — A  Scene  While  Taft  Was  Being 
Nominated. 

TT  WAS  shortly  after  the  decision  for  Taft  that  George  Cor- 

telyou,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  discussing  future 
plans  with  Roosevelt  asked  him  if  he  was  prepared  for  the 
great  change  shortly  to  come  in  his  life. 

"Next  March  4,"  said  Cortelyou,  uyou  will  ride  up  Capitol 
Hill  with  all  the  power  of  office;  a  moment  later  you  will  ride 
down  that  same  hill  stripped  of  power.  Such  a  change  is  a 
tremendous  test  for  any  man,  but  for  you,  Mr.  President, 
with  your  temperament,  it  is  going  to  be  especially  hard  and 
I  wonder  if  you  are  getting  yourself  in  the  frame  of  mind 
for  it." 

"I  have  never  thought  of  it!"  exclaimed  Roosevelt. 

"Better  .get  yourself  ready  for  it,"  warned  Cortelyou. 
aOnce  you  are  out  of  office,  you  will  miss  the  opportunities 
to  push  policies,  you  will  miss  the  power  of  the  White  House, 
you  will  miss  all  the  activities  that  have  made  your  life  here 
so  full. ,  That's  a  side  of  your  future  that  you  ought  to  prepare 
for.  If  you  do  it  will  be  easier  when  you  have  to  face  it." 

"I  intend  to  live  in  an  entirely  different  atmosphere  when 
I  leave  here,"  replied  Roosevelt.  "I  am  not  going  in  for 
politics.  Should  I  ever  do  so,  it  would  be  only  in  the  broadest 
sense,  entirely  divorced  from  any  personal  motive.  I've  made 

332 


As  I  Knew  Them 

up  my  mind  to  go  in  for  the  things  I  like  and  have  neglected. 
I've  had  my  day  and  I  know  it." 

"IT'S  TAFT  OR  ME" 

He  turned  to  the  task  of  creating  a  day  for  Taft.  The 
response  to  that  candidacy,  following  Roosevelt's  announce- 
ment, was  not  as  anticipated.  Protests  by  letter  and  in  per- 
son flowed  into  the  White  House.  Though  Loeb  was  watch-* 
ing  the  election  of  delegates,  the  President  found  that,  despite 
his  February  statement  to  Taft  that  he  could  not  personally 
get  into  the  situation,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  do  so. 
Cecil  Lyon,  boss  of  Texas,  (whom  Taft  in  1912  unseated  in 
the  national  convention),  John  G.  Capers,  of  South  Carolina, 
as  well  as  many  western  leaders  declared  against  the  Presi- 
dent's choice. 

"I  don't  understand  this,1'  said  Roosevelt,  puzzled,  after 
talking  with  a  protesting  State  leader.  "They  don't  seem  to 
know  Taft  as  I  know  him.  I've  got  to  explain  him  to  nearly 
all  of  our  fellows." 

In  order  to  force  every  possible  delegate  to  Taft,  two 
courses  were  followed  by  the  President  in  his  talks.  To  the 
reactionaries  he  would  declare  "It's  Taft  or  me,"  which  sent 
them  scurrying  to  Taft.  To  Progressives  he  would  declare 
"It's  Taft — I'm  out!"  whereupon  most  of  them  reluctantly 
accepted  Taft. 

There  was  not  ant  act  or  thought  in  the  White  House  not 
wholly  dedicated  to  Taft's  nomination.  Unfortunately  this 
attitude  was  too  whole-souled  and  unselfish  to  be  compre- 
hended in  Cincinnati  and  New  York  city.  In  the  minds  of 
Taft's  relatives  in  those  two  cities,  suspicion  stalked  around 
every  new  evidence  of  Roosevelt's  helpfulness,  though  one  test 
after  another  brought  the  same  response  of  strength  for  Taft. 

Finally,  Taft's  brothers  decided  to  raid  New  York  and 
take  as  many  delegates  as  possible  from  Hughes,  William 
Barnes  and  William  L.  Ward  led  the  bolt  from  Hughes.  Ten 

333 


As  I  Knew  Them 

delegates  for  Taft  resulted.  Candidates  seldom  go  into  the 
home  States  of  their  rivals,  and  Roosevelt  did  not  approve  of 
the  policy.  In  January  he  had  persuaded  Taft  to  address  a 
letter  to  Herbert  Parsons  stating  that  he  would  not  seek  to 
"divide  in  my  interest  the  delegates  from  any  State  which  has 
a  candidate  of  its  own."  As  usual,  however,  Taft's  "court  of 
appeals"  overruled  him.  The  raid  on  New  York  was  made, 
though  Taft  then  had  more  than  enough  delegates  to  nomi- 
nate. Roosevelt  again  cautioned  that  he  should  not  embitter 
his  rivals.  "You  will  need  Hughes  in  the  campaign,"  he  said. 
"Better  let  him  alone  in  New  York;  fight  him  as  hard  as  you 
can  elsewhere." 

This  wise  counsel  for  which  there  should  have  been  thanks 
to  Roosevelt  was  regarded  as  a  sign  of  weakening  support, 
and  at  once  the  Taft  carnp  was  flooded  with  new  suspicion. 

X.  R.  WARNED  OF  RESPONSIBILITY  WITHOUT  POWER 

I  had  an  encounter  with  Roosevelt  on  the  matter  of  candi- 
dates about  a  month  before  the  convention.  My  newspaper  in 
New  York  was  supporting  Hughes,  then  Governor.  I  sin- 
cerely hoped  he  would  be  nominated.  After  luncheon  at  the 
White  House  one  afternoon,  the  President  asked  me  why  I 
did  not  switch  from  Hughes-  I  had  no  reason  to  desert  the 
Governor  of  my  State  and  my  own  personal  choice,  though 
I  knew  Loeb  had  captured  some  of  the  New  York  delegates 
for  Taft. 

"Your  newspaper  ought  to  be  for  Taft,"  said  Roosevelt. 

"No,  Mr.  President,"  I  replied.  "We're  for  Hughes.  He's 
our  Governor.  He  would  make  a  fine  President.  We're 
going  to  stand  by  him  to  the  end." 

"Of  course  you  know  what  the  end  will  be?"  asked  Roose- 
velt, with  the  vigor  of  impatience  in  his  voice. 

"Oh,  I  suppose  you  will  nominate  Taft.  There  is  nothing 
against  Taft.  But  New  York  has  its  candidate,  and  I  think 
we  should  stick  by  him." 

334 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"There's  more  red  blood  in  Taft's  little  finger  than  in 
Hughes'  whole  body,"  said  Roosevelt.  "If  you  knew  Taft 
better  you  would  realize  it  and  switch  to  him." 

"I  shall  not  switch — that  is  impossible,  Mr.  President.  I 
am  going  down  with  the  ship.  It's  a  good  ship  and  if  your 
hand  were  not  on  the  convention  Hughes  would  land  the 
prize." 

"You're  wrong,"  he  replied.  "Do  you  know  whom  we  have 
most  trouble  in  beating !  Not  Hughes — but  Fairbanks !  Think 
Of  Jt — Charley  Fairbanks!  I  was  never  more  surprised  in 
my  life.  I  never  dreamt  of  such  a  thing.  He's  got  a  hold  in 
Kentucky,  Indiana  and  some  other  States  that  is  hard  to  break. 
How  and  why  is  beyond  me.  It  is  easier  to  win  delegates 
away  from  Hughes  right  in  New  York  than  to  win  them  away 
from  Fairbanks  in  those  States." 

"LET  THE  PARTY  PICK  ITS  OWN  CANDIDATE" 

"Mr.  President,"  I  said,  "I  recall  that  you  once  told  me 
you  liked  to  hear  the  truth,  even  an  unpleasant  truth,  and  so  I 
am  going  to  say  to  you  that  I  do  not  believe  you  should  pick 
the  nominee  of  the  convention.  Let  the  party  pick  its  own 
man.  It  may  make  a  mistake.  If  it  does  it  will  be  the  party's 
mistake — not  yours. 

"If  you  are  going  to  name  anybody  name  yourself,"  I 
added — "You  have  a  clear  right  to  do  that." 

"I'm  not  in  it,"  he  interrupted. 

"Then  why  not  let  the  candidates  fight  it  out?"  I  continued. 
"You  are  running  a  risk  in  naming  a  candidate.  The  party 
has  done  pretty  well  up  to  date  in  its  selections — certainly 
well  enough  to  be  permitted  to  try  it  once  more.  You  now 
take  over  the  function  of  the  convention,  and  you  put  your- 
self in  a  position  of  responsibility  for  the  Administration  the 
next  four  years  without  the  power  to  see  to  it  that  it  makes 
good. 

"You  will  be  criticized  for  every  move  Taft  makes,  and  ex- 

335 


As  I  Knew  Them 

pected  to  correct  it.  The  cl-told-you-so's'  will  be  the  biggest 
crowd  you  ever  listened  to.  Better  let  the  convention  find 
its  own  candidate  and  take  responsibility  for  his  course  as 
President.  It  may  pick  Taf t  I  am  not  speaking  against  Taft. 
I  am  urging  you  not  to  take  the  responsibility  when  you  are 
not  to  have  the  power.  Better  leave  it  to  the  convention." 

ROOSEVELT  HEARS  THE   "l-TOLD-YOU-SO's" 

All  this  was  not  listened  to  without  interruptions,  without 
signs  of  impatience,  but  I  got  my  thought  well  into  his  mind. 

uThe  trouble  is  that  we  have  no  one  who  fits  the  bill  like 
Taft,"  he  said.  "The  fellows  don't  like  Hughes." 

"Then  the  convention  will  select  Taft,"  I  replied.  "That 
will  be  all  right  and  much  better  than  if  you  select  him  for  the 
convention — better  for  Taft  and  better  for  you." 

"You're  an  impossible  man  today,"  remarked  the  President 
as  he  ended  the  talk.  "Come  and  see  me  after  the  conven- 
tion." 

[Let  me  here  for  a  moment  jump  ahead  to  1910.  Soon 
after  his  return  from  Africa  Colonel  Roosevelt  asked  me  if  I 
remembered  our  talk  at  the  White  House  about  the  Taft  nom- 
ination. 

I  said  I  did. 

"I  do,  too,"  he  added.  "It  came  to  my  mind  one  night 
over  in  Africa.  You  were  right.  It  would  have  been  better 
had  I  kept  out  of  it.  The  'I-told-you-so's'  are  as  thick  as 
leaves."] 

WHY  HE  TURNED  FROM  HUGHES 

"Let's  talk  a  little  politics,"  said  Roosevelt  to  William  R. 
Willcox  after  luncheon  in  the  White  House  just  before  the 
1908  convention.  "I  suppose  you  are  for  Hughes."  Willcox 
was  then  chairman  of  the  New  York  Public  Service  Com- 
mission. He  had  been  Postmaster. 

336 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"I  don't  know  that  Hughes  Is  seeking  the  nomination,"  re- 
plied Willcox.  ''Personally,  I  don't  see  why  you  should  not 
be  the  candidate.  I  take  no  stock  in  that  third  term  talk/' 

"I  could  be  nominated  all  right,"  said  the  President,  "but 
I  do  not  know  that  I  could  be  elected.  If  the  third  term  tra- 
dition would  not  defeat  me,  my  letter  would.  So  that's  set- 
tled. I  have  a  high  opinion  of  Hughes.  He  had  a  fine  pro- 
gramme of  legislation  in  his  early  days  as  Governor,  and  for 
some  time  I  believed  he  would  develop  into  a  splendid  candi- 
date for  President.  So  much  did  I  think  of  him  in  that  way 
that  I  said  to  Mrs.  Taft  less  than  a  year  ago  that  as  much  as 
I  thought  of  Will,  it  might  be  that  I  would  feel  it  my  duty 
to  be  for  Hughes.  But  Hughes  got  into  the  hands  of  the 
'Evening  Post'  crowd  in  New  York  city  and  he  also  made 
public  announcement  that  he  did  not  want  any  assistance  from 
here.  That  released  me  from  considering  him  any  longer. 
So  now  it's  going  to  be  Taft  or  me." 

ALWAYS  SUSPICIOUS  OF  ROOSEVELT 

Willcox  was  not  the  only  visitor  at  the  White  House  whom 
Roosevelt  found  indifferent  to  or  opposed  to  his  choice  of 
candidate.  Loeb,  however,  kept  pounding  away  at  every  dele- 
gate to  declare  for  Taft.  As  one  after  another  did  so,  the 
sigh  of  relief  from  Cincinnati  was  coupled  with  dread  that 
the  next  delegate  to  speak  would  reveal  a  subtle  Roosevelt 
plot. 

Apparently,  Taft  himself  was  the  one  member  of  his  fam- 
ily capable  of  believing  that  any  man  would  relinquish  the 
Presidency  to  another.  The  challenge  of  Roosevelt's  sincerity 
never  left  the  minds  of  those  close  to  Taft  until  Senator 
Lodge  as  presiding  officer  of  the  convention  formally  declared 
Taft  the  nominee. 

If  Roosevelt  learned  of  these  suspicions,  he  kept  his  infor- 
mation to  himself  and  went  ahead  with  his  plans  to  make 

337 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Taft  certain.  He  made  doubly  sure  to  thwart  a  stampede  in 
the  convention.  Few  persons  ever  knew  that  he  had  the 
most  expert  White  House  telegrapher  stand  immediately  back 
of  Chairman  Lodge  prepared  to  flash  a  message  from  Lodge 
to  the  White  House  should  a  Roosevelt  uprising  seem  immi- 
nent. Instantly  the  President  would  have  imperatively  de- 
manded that  his  name  be  withdrawn. 

I  am  sure,  however,  that  had  a  stampede  ever  begun,  it 
would  have  accomplished  its  purpose  too  quickly  even  for  a 
telegram  to  interrupt  it.  The  spirit  of  the  convention  was 
wholly  Rooseveltian.  Omit  the  demonstration  whenever 
Roosevelt  was  named  and  the  convention  was  distressingly 
dull.  The  delegates  had  no  keen  interest  except  in  the  man 
in  the  White  House.  Lodge,  in  the  chair,  knew  that  in  the 
circumstances  Roosevelt  should  not  be  named;  also  he  knew 
the  peril  if  someone  put  a  lighted  match  to  the  powder. 

One  of  the  greatest  demonstrations  over  Roosevelt  came 
just  before  the  roll  call  on  nomination.  Lodge  watched  closely 
and  was  tempted  to  telegraph  Roosevelt  for  the  message 
agreed  upon.  Finally,  he  decided  to  wait  until  Massachusetts 
was  called,  when  the  delegation  cast  a  solid  vote  for  Taft. 
That  settled  the  stampeders.  Roosevelt's  closest  friend  and 
confidant  was  against  them.  Ten  minutes  later  Taft  was  the 
convention's  nominee. 

WHILE  TAFT  WAS  BEING  NAMED 

Joseph  Bucklin  Bishop,  in  his  "Presidential  Nominations 
and  Elections"  has  an  illuminating  picture  of  a  scene  else- 
where while  Roosevelt  and  Lodge  were  watching  the  conven- 
tion as  one  watches  a  dam  hard  pressed  by  floods.  Here 
is  part  of  it: 

I  remained  with  the  President  till  about  4  P.  M.,  when  I  went  to 
the  War  Department,  on  personal  invitation  of  Secretary  Taft, 

338 


As  I  Knew  Them 

and  was  admitted  at  once  to  his  private  office,  in  which  he  was 
sitting  with  his  wife,  daughter,  younger  son  Charlie  and  a  half 
dozen  or  more  personal  friends. 

Mrs.  Taft  sat  in  her  husband's  chair  at  his  desk  in  the  centre 
of  the  room,  while  he  sat  at  one  side  in  a  group  of  friends.  Bulle- 
tins were  being  received  constantly  from  the  convention  by  telegraph 
and  telephone  .  .  .  When  Taft  was  placed  in  nomination,  succes- 
sive bulletins  were  received  describing  the  cheering,  the  length  of 
time  it  was  enduring,  its  volume  and  accompanying  demonstrations. 
The  Secretary  sat  calm  and  composed  during  this  time,  but  Mrs. 
Taft  was  obviously  in  great  agitation.  "I  only  want  it  to  last  more 
than  forty-nine  minutes,"  she  exclaimed.  "I  want  to  get  even  for 
the  scare  that  Roosevelt  cheer  of  forty-nine  minutes  gave  me  yes- 
terday." The  convention  had  cheered  for  that  length  of  time  for 
Roosevelt  on  the  previous  day.  Mr.  Taft  merely  smiled  and  said : 
"Oh,  my  dear,  my  dear!" 

Word  soon  came  that  the  nominating  speeches  had  all  been  made, 
and  the  convention  would  proceed  to  ballot.  There  was  a  sigh  of 
relief  from  the  little  company,  and  a  brief  period  of  breathless 
eagerness  followed.  Then  Charlie  came  in  with  a  bulletin  which 
he  handed  to  his  mother.  Her  face  went  deathly  white,  and  with 
visible  effort  she  read  (I  quote  from  memory)  :  "A  large  portrait  of 
Roosevelt  has  been  displayed  on  the  platform  and  the  convention 
has  exploded." 

A  silence  as  of  death  fell  upon  the  room.  Mrs.  Taft  sat  white 
as  marble  and  motionless.  Mr.  Taft  tapped  with  his  fingers  on 
the  arm  of  his  chair  and  whistled  softly.  No  one  said  a  word  or 
looked  at  his  neighbor.  A  minute  or  two  later  Charlie  entered  with 
another  bulletin  which  he  handed  to  his  mother,  and  she  read  with 
impassive  voice  and  face.  (Again  I  quote  from  memory,  but  the 
substance  is  of  unquestionable  accuracy) :  "A  huge  American  flag 
with  a  Roosevelt  portrait  upon  it  is  being  carried  about  the  hall, 
and  the  uproar  continues  with  increased  fury." 

That  awful  silence  continued  for  several  minutes,  which  seemed 
endless,  when  again  Charlie  entered  with  a  bulletin  and  which  his 
mother,  almost  leaping  from  her  chair  in  excitement,  read:  " Massa- 
chusetts gives  25  votes  for  Taft."  .  .  . 

339 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Quickly  following  the  Massachusetts  bulletin  came  others,  and 
within  a  few  minutes  the  nomination  was  announced.  ...  It  is 
needless  to  add  that  Mrs.  Taft's  face  had  more  than  regained  its 
normal  color.  She  was  the  personification  of  a  proud  and  happy 
wife. 


340 


CHAPTER  XLI 

THE  WRONG  ROAD  TO  CINCINNATI 

Taft  Detours  To  Oyster  Bay  With  His  Acceptance  Speech — There  He 
Had  His  Last  Intimate  Talk  With  Roosevelt — He  Faced  An  Issue  And 
Stuck  By  Blood—A  Silent  Boycott  Of  T.  R.—The  Acceptance  And  The 
Inaugural  Speeches  Were  The  Last  Heard  Of  "Roosevelt  Policies" — 
Sherman  Replies  That  The  Vice  President  Is  Not  a  Messenger  Boy — A 
Winter  Of  Roosevelt  Humiliation  And  Taft  Silence — Charles  P.  Taft 
Makes  An  Effort  To  Get  Burton  Out  Of  The  Senate  And  Himself  In. 

"VTOMINATED,  Taft  hurried  from  his  office  to  express  a 
-*^  whole-hearted  obligation  to  Roosevelt.  A  day  or  two 
later  he  repeated  it  most  profusely  when  he  called  at  the 
White  House  to  resign  as  Secretary  of  War.  No  two  men 
could  have  been  in  happier  mood  than  were  the  President  and 
his  named  successor  that  afternoon.  They  gossiped  of  old 
times  and  of  the  new  times  ahead.  Then  it  was  that  the  ref- 
erences to  his  old  Cabinet  associates  were  made  by  Taft — then 
also  it  was  settled  that  Luke  Wright,  of  Tennessee,  should 
succeed  him  as  Secretary  of  War. 

His  mind  cleared  of  departmental  matters,  his  mood  jubi- 
lant, Taft  left  for  Hot  Springs,  Virginia,  where  he  was  to 
prepare  his  acceptance  speech.  The  President  went  to  Oyster 
Bay  for  the  summer.  No  man  could  have  been  more  confi- 
dent that  events  had  justified  his  course,  that  they  had  con- 
founded those  who  had  doubted,  than  was  Roosevelt  when  I 
saw  him  a  day  or  so  later. 

Meanwhile,  Taft  worked  at  the  acceptance  speech  he  was  to 
deliver  in  Cincinnati  July  29.  Ten  days  before  that  date,  with 
the  speech  completed,  he  left  Hot  Springs  for  Cincinnati,  an- 
nouncing, however,  that  he  was  going  by  way  of  Oyster  Bay 
to  discuss  it  there  "and  get  the  President's  judgment  and  his 

341 


As  I  Knew  Them 

criticism.  I  have  the  highest  regard  for  his  judgment."  He 
spent  the  day  with  Roosevelt,  accepted  the  few  changes  sug- 
gested, and  continued  on  his  way. 

That  visit  to  Oyster  Bay  marked  the  close  of  the  Roosevelt- 
Taft  intimacy.  Taft  did  not  talk  with  Roosevelt  again,  nor 
see  him,  until  he  called  at  the  White  House  in  December  on 
his  way  to  Augusta,  Georgia,  five  months  later. 

TAFT  STICKS   BY  BLOOD 

What  happened  in  Cincinnati  ? 

I  can  only  repeat  the  story  as  told  by  those  who  claimed  to 
know,  and  to  which  Taft's  course  gives  substance.  It  is  that 
Taft  had  scarcely  taken  his  hat  off  in  his  brother's  house 
before  he  was  asked  rather  abruptly  why  he  had  come  to  Cin- 
cinnati from  Hot  Springs  by  way  of  Oyster  Bay  when  there 
was  a  shorter,  more  direct  route — whether  he  did  not  realize 
that  the  country  would  interpret  his  roundabout  trip  to  Roose- 
velt as  a  proof  that  Roosevelt,  not  Taft's  relatives,  had  the 
direction  of  his  fortunes  as  President.  If  Oyster  Bay  side- 
trips  were  to  be  continued  his  visits  to  Cincinnati  would  have 
the  importance  merely  of  rest  periods. 

Taft  was  not  prepared  for  this  criticism.  Until  that  mo- 
ment such  an  interpretation  had  not  occurred  to  him.  He  had 
always  gone  to  Roosevelt  with  his  matters ;  by  habit,  he  had 
gone  to  Oyster  Bay.  He  now  saw,  however,  that  he  would 
have  to  choose  between  two  loyalties — it  would  not  be  pos- 
sible to  satisfy  both.  Those  who  know  Taft  best  have  always 
believed  that  he  made  a  reluctant  choice.  However,  he  faced 
an  issue  and,  as  always,  blood  proved  thicker  than  water.  He 
stuck  by  blood. 

A  SILENT  BOYCOTT  OF  T.  R. 

The  cordial  expressions  of  gratitude  spoken  in  Oyster  Bay 
died  away  into  silence — silence  for  one  week,  then  for  two 

342 


As  I  Knew  Them 

weeks,  then  for  the  campaign.  Speeches  were  prepared,  com- 
mittee plans  matured — but  of  these  Oyster  Bay  heard  only 
through  gossip.  National  Chairman  Frank  Hitchcock  was 
polite  to  his  old  chief,  but  after  some  experiences  he  decided 
that  when  he  needed  instructions  he  would  travel  to  Cincinnati 
for  them;  also  that  he  would  not  travel  there  by  way  of  Oyster 
Bay. 

It  may  be  that  in  other  walks  of  life  men  who  have  worked 
together  intimately  and  with  apparent  unity  of  purpose  for 
five  years  have  separated  as  abruptly  and  as  silently  as  Taft 


DEE:  LIGHTED:  OR,  THE  RINGMASTER,  From  The  Eagle,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

separated  from  his  former  chief,  but  in  politics,  at  least  in 
American  politics,  there  is  no  parallel. 

No  differences  in  policy  or  purposes  were  discussed,  no 
reason  whatsoever  stated,  but  a  "silent  boycott7'  of  Oyster 
Bay  and  of  all  men  identified  with  Oyster  Bay  went  into  ef- 
fect. At  first  it  was  confined  to  Roosevelt,  but  it  widened 

343 


As  I  Knew  Them 

steadily  to  others  as  Election  Day  approached.  Then,  with 
the  returns  showing  Taft  elected  beyond  dispute,  the  silence 
slowly  developed  Into  whispers, — whispers  that  led  the  alert 
to  wonder  what  had  happened,  whispers  that  at  once  encour- 
aged every  Roosevelt  opponent  to  feel  confident  that  Taft 
as  President  would  follow  other  policies  and  other  men  than 
those  of  the  Roosevelt  Administration. 

THE  LAST  HEARD  OF  ROOSEVELT   POLICIES 

Not  a  word  in  Taft's  public  utterances  justified  such  proph- 
ecies. Indeed,  his  speeches  were  in  full  harmony  with  the 
party  platform.  At  Cincinnati,  on  July  29, — he  had  delivered 
his  acceptance  speech  and  had  said: 

"The  strength  of  the  Republican  cause  in  the  campaign  at  hand 
is  in  the  fact  that  we  represent  the  policies  essential  to  the  reform  of 
known  abuses,  to  the  continuance  of  liberty  and  true  prosperity  and 
that  we  are  determined  as  our  platform  unequivocally  declares,  to 
maintain  them  and  carry  them  on.  ... 

"The  man  who  formulated  the  expression  of  popular  confidence 
and  who  led  the  movement  for  practical  reform  was  Theodore 
Roosevelt.  He  laid  down  the  doctrine  that  the  rich  violator  of 
the  law  should  be  as  amenable  to  restraint  and  punishment  as  the 
offender  without  wealth  and  without  influences.  ...  In  this  work 
Mr.  Roosevelt  has  had  the  support  and  sympathy  of  the  Republican 
party,  and  its  chief  hope  of  success  in  the  present  controversy  must 
rest  on  the  confidence  which  the  people  of  the  country  have  in  its 
platform  that  it  intends  to  continue  his  policies. 

"The  Chief  function  of  the  Republican  administration  will  be  to 
clinch  what  has  already  been  accomplished  at  the  White  House; 
to  undertake  to  devise  ways  and  means  by  which  the  high  develop- 
ment of  business  integrity  and  obedience  to  law  which  he  (Roose- 
velt) established  can  be  maintained." 

"Mr.  Roosevelt  led  the  way  to  practical  reform.  The  chief 
functions  of  my  administration  shall  be  to  complete  and  perfect 
the  machinery  by  which  the  President's  policies  may  be  maintained." 

344 


As  I  Knew  Them 

These  words,  coupled  later  with  his  inaugural  speech,  are 
the  last  ever  heard  from  Taft  in  a  kindly  way  about  Roosevelt 
policies;  except  that  he  vigorously  pressed  for  and  secured 
from  the  courts  helpful  interpretation  of  the  Sherman  anti- 
trust law. 

Promptly  after  delivering  his  acceptance  speech  in  Cincin- 
nati, Taft  had  returned  to  Hot  Springs — this  time  by  the 
shorter,  more  direct  route.  There  he  played  golf  more  per- 
sistently and  with  keener  interest  than  he  did  anything  else. 
To  suggestions  intended  to  enliven  the  campaign  his  usual 
reply,  as  he  rested  on  a  lounge  after  a  golf  game,  was  that 
they  involved  too  much  work.  The  remark  was  made  at  that 
time  that  apparently  Taft  was  going  to  let  someone  else  elect 
him  President  just  as  he  had  allowed  someone  else  to  nomi- 
nate him. 

Possibly  that  remark  seems  severe,  but  no  one  at  Hot 
Springs  at  the  time — and  I  was  there — challenged  its  truth. 
Taft  could  not  have  been  a  more  listless  campaigner.  A  fea- 
ture that  was  not  detected  until  afterward  was  that  no  Cabi- 
net member,  no  pronounced  Roosevelt  State  leader,  was  bidden 
to  Taft's  presence.  The  men  called  to  Hot  Springs  were  from 
the  other  camp. 

It  was  mid-August  before  Roosevelt  realized  that  he  was 
under  boycott.  He  kept  his  own  counsel,  blinding  himself  to 
the  separation  that,  deep  down  in  his  own  mind,  he  knew  had 
come.  He  could  make  no  protest.  He  could  cite  no  act 
against  him,  and  Taft's  only  utterance  was  in  strong  support 
of  him.  Except  by  public  profession,  the  candidate  had  simply 
forgotten  that  Roosevelt  and  his  friends  existed.  Their  part 
in  the  campaign,  if  any,  had  to  be  voluntary.  Roosevelt  made 
his  part  both  voluntary  and  intense;  Hughes  stirred  the  coun- 
try by  his  speech  at  Youngstown,  Ohio;  Roosevelt  followed  it 
with  a  series  of  vigorous  statements  hitting  Bryan  harder  and 
harder.  These  were  the  only  memorable  incidents  of  an 
otherwise  lifeless  campaign. 

345 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ROOSEVELT'S  HUMILIATION,  TAFT'S  SILENCE 

"The  King  is  dead !  Long  live  the  King !"  broke  out  in  loud 
and  jubilant  tones  the  moment  returns  made  certain  Taft's 
election.  The  cry  came  from  those  conspicuous  in  their  oppo- 
sition to  all  that  Taft  had  supported  and  that  he  was  to  in- 
dorse anew  in  his  inaugural.  His  former  associates  in  the 
Cabinet  waited  impatiently  to  hear  from  him.  They  assumed 
that  Taft  would  send  for  them  and  talk  with  them  in  the 
frankness  of  friendship.  He  never  did.  He  told  his  varying 
purposes  to  others,  who  in  turn  told  them  to  others.  Thus, 
at  last,  the  news  reached  those  who  should  have  been  the 
first  to  know  that  they  were  to  go.  It  was  not  until  it  was 
learned  that  a  successor  to  Luke  Wright  was  being  sought 
that  it  was  realized  that  Taft's  course  was  a  matter  of  policy 
and  not  merely  applied  to  individual  cases.  No  Roosevelt  man 
was  to  "carry  on"  into  the  new  Administration,  Those  who 
tried  to  keep  on  terms  soon  discovered  that  their  identity 
with  the  old  regime  was  a  bar  to  intimacy  with  the  new. 

WHY  LOEB  WAS  HELD 

Before  allowing  this  statement  to  stand  in  print  I  have  tried 
to  recall  one  ranking  appointment  or  policy  of  the  Taft  Ad- 
ministration reflecting  any  suggestion  from  those  with  whom 
he  had  sat  around  Roosevelt's  counsel  table.  I  cannot. 

Some  reader  will  probably  ask  how  about  William  Loeb, 
Jr.,  who  was  closer  to  Roosevelt  than  anyone  else?  The 
answer  to  that  inquiry  is  that  Loeb  was  made  Collector  of  the 
Port  of  New  York  because  his  strategic  energies  had  smoothed 
Taft's  way  through  the  nominating  convention.  If  any  man 
other  than  Roosevelt  is  responsible  for  Taft  in  the  White 
House,  that  man  is  William  Loeb.  Taft  remembered  his  ob- 
ligation to  Loeb.  When  appointed  Loeb  was  wise  enough  to 
realize  that  New  York  city  was  distant  from  the  White  House 

346 


As  I  Knew  Them 

in  more  ways  than  mileage.  He  never  wavered  in  his  loyalty 
to  Roosevelt,  but  also  he  never  pressed  his  opinions  on  his 
new  chief,  with  a  mind  made  up  to  new  men  and  new  purposes, 

VICE  PRESIDENT  NOT  A  MESSENGER  BOY 

How  Taft  himself  veered  in  those  days  is  illustrated  by  a 
statement  made  to  me  in  December,  1908,  at  a  dinner  party 
given  by  me  to  Congressman  James  S.  Sherman,  of  New  York, 
elected  Vice  President — "Sunny  Jim"  as  those  who  knew  him 
well  pleasantly  called  him.  Sherman  had  just  returned  from 
Hot  Springs,  where  he  and  William  L.  Ward,  of  New  York, 
had  been  visiting  Taft.  Sherman  told  me  that  Taft  had  said 
to  him  he  did  not  intend  to  have  anything  to  do  with  Joe 
Cannon,  then  Speaker  of  the  House,  and  a  candidate  for  re- 
election. 

"I  am  going  to  rely  on  you,  Jim,"  Taft  said,  "to  take  care 
of  Cannon  for  me.  Whatever  I  have  to  do  there  will  be  done 
through  you." 

"Not  through  me,"  Sherman  quickly  replied.  "You  will 
have  to  act  on  your  own  account.  I  am  to  be  Vice  President 
and  acting  as  a  messenger  boy  is  not  part  of  the  duties  of  a 
Vice  President." 

A  month  later,  Cannon  visited  Taft  by  request.  Four 
months  later  when  Taft  became  President — he  and  Cannon 
were  in  conference  at  the  White  House  and  the  Payne-Aldrich 
tariff  was  the  logical  outcome. 

CHARLES  TAFT'S  EFFORT  FOR  THE  SENATE 

In  that  same  month  of  December,  1908,  occurred  what  was 
probably  the  crudest  effort  to  grab  a  Senatorship  ever  made  in 
politics.  It  will  be  recalled  that  back  in  1897  Senator  John 
Sherman  was  persuaded  to  become  Secretary  of  State  under 
McKinley  in  order  to  create  a  vacancy  in  the  Senate  to  which 
Mark  Hanna  could  be  appointed.  Immediately  following 

347 


"UNCLE  JOE" 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Taft's  election,  Charles  P.  Taft  announced  from  Cincinnati 
his  candidacy  for  the  Senate.  Next  came  an  offer  from  the 
President-elect  to  make  Congressman  Theodore  Burton,  of 
Cleveland,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

Burton  was  the  leading  candidate  for  the  Senate  and  in  the 
following  January  the  Republicans  in  the  Ohio  Legislature 
elected  him  unanimously.  The  sudden  ambition  of  Charles  P. 
Taft  for  Senatorial  honors;  the  plain  implication  that  he 
planned  to  go  to  Washington  as  the  Mark  Hanna  of  the  Ad- 
ministration;  the  lure  to  Burton  to  get  out  of  the  way;  as- 
tounded the  country  and  brought  Ohio  Republicans  closer  to 
disastrous  faction  strife  than  they  habitually  are. 

Of  course  there  could  be  only  one  outcome.  Burton  de- 
clined the  President's  offer  and  the  Taft  Senatorial  candidacy 
was  withdrawn. 

Undoubtedly  the  President-elect  realized  the  damage  to  his 
prestige  caused  by  the  incident ;  undoubtedly  he  bore  the  inev- 
itable criticism  uncomplainingly,  for  after  all,  he  owed  much 
to  the  brother  who  was  to  be  the  Warwick  of  his  times. 

Probably  both  men  realized  later  that  the  humiliation  of 
having  failed  to  sidetrack  Burton  was  easier  to  bear  than  the 
embarrassment  of  having  in  the  Senate  a  brother  of  the 
President. 

ROOSEVELT  DEFIED,  TAFT  SILENT 

Nothing  more  significant  forecast  the  course  Taft  in- 
tended to  pursue  than  his  silence  throughout  the  winter  of 
1908-09  while  Roosevelt  was  struggling  to  carry  out  his  pur- 
pose to  remain  a  100  per  cent  President  until  the  last  day  of 
his  term.  It  was  largely  to  achieve  that  purpose  that  he  had 
declared  for  Taft.  He  now  found  himself  thwarted,  defied. 

Taft  himself  had  once  said  that  an  important  part  of  his 
duties  in  the  Roosevelt  Cabinet  was  to  hold  on  to  T.  R.'s  coat- 
tails  so  as  to  keep  him  from  going  ahead  too  fast.  The  time 
had  come  when  as  President-elect  he  could  perform  an  equally 

349 


As  I  Knew  Them 

helpful  service.  The  Roosevelt  measures  in  Congress  were 
thrust  aside,  and  it  was  made  plain  to  him  that  only  his  title  to 
office  remained. 

What  such  a  condition  meant  to  a  spirited  man  like  Roose- 
velt need  not  be  told.  One  word  from  Taft  would  have 
changed  it — would  have  saved  Roosevelt  much  humiliation. 
That  word  was  not  uttered.  In  Hot  Springs  and  in  Augusta, 
Georgia,  Taft  explained  his  silence  by  stating  that  he  did  not 
care  to  begin  his  Administration  with  divided  party  sup- 
port in  Congress.  The  effect  of  this  remark  was  to  lead  the 
reactionaries  in  Congress  to  greater  defiance  of  the  outgoing 
President  They  knew  then  that  they  had  nothing  to  fear 
from  his  successor;  more  confidently  than  ever  they  reiterated 
their  prophecies  that  the  new  man  would  be  with  them  at 
the  proper  time. 


350 


CHAPTER  XLII 

"I  HAVE  BEEN  A  CRUSADER  HERE!" 

A  Remarkably  Frank  Talk  By  Roosevelt  As  To  His  Course  As  Presi- 
dent— "There  Was  Crusading  To  Be  Done  And  I  Didn't  Use  A 
Feather  Duster" — "We  Have  Raised  The  Standards'" — "The  Country 
Has  Had  Enough  Of  It  And  Of  Me,"  And  "Time  For  A  Man  Of 
Taft's  Type"— Owe  Taft  A  Chance— We  Will  Have  Four  Years  Of 
Up-Buildina. 

TWO  or  three  days  before  Roosevelt  handed  over  the 
Presidency  to  the  man  he  had  chosen  as  his  successor,  I 
called  at  the  White  House  to  say  goodby.  There  were  so 
many  waiting  to  see  the  President  that  I  was  determined  to 
limit  my  call  to  a  handshake  and  a  quick  farewell.  The  Colo- 
nel— it  is  difficult  for  anyone  who  knew  him  to  call  him  by 
another  title — had  other  ideas.  He  was  in  the  mood  to  talk 
reflectively  to  somebody,  and  it  was  my  luck  to  happen  along. 
"Sit  down/'  he  said.  "We'll  hold  up  the  procession  for  a 
while." 

I  began  talking  of  Africa,  but  I  did  not  meet  his  mind  until 
I  mentioned  that  he  could  have  remained  where  he  was,  if 
he  had  so  desired.  That  was  the  topic  he  preferred  to  dis- 
cuss. As  accurately  as  I  can  recall  this  is  what  he  said  : 

"I  suppose  I  could  have  had  another  term.  There  was  just 
one  lure  in  it,  just  one.  I  was  told  by  Southern  Democrats — 
I  don't  mean  dyed-in-the-wool  Democrats  but  Southern  men 
who  have  been  voting  the  Democratic  ticket  because  there 
was  no  hope  elsewhere — that  my  candidacy  would  break  the 
"Solid  South."  They  assured  me  I  could  carry  surely  Ken- 
tucky and  Tennessee,  probably  Georgia  and  Texas  and  pos- 
sibly Alabama.  I  felt  that  if  I  could  do  that  I  would  be  doing 
a  great  service  for  the  country. 

351 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"Smash  the  South's  solidarity  once  and  it  will  be  over  for- 
ever," he  continued.  "Thousands  of  Southerners  want  to 
break  it  but  they  are  timid  about  the  first  plunge.  Once  they 
realize  they  can  vote  for  a  Republican  with  safety  to  their 
local  conditions,  there  will  be  a  break  away  from  the  Demo- 
cratic organization  that  will  make  several  Southern  States 
as  doubtful  as  are  the  Northern  States. 

"They  told  me  that  I  could  cause  such  a  break.  I  do  not 
know  that  I  could,  but  I  felt  that  I  would  like  to  try.  It  was 
the  one  real  temptation  to  run  again. 

"THERE  WAS  CRUSADING  TO  BE  DONE" 

uBut  I  don't  want  four  more  years  here,  and  there  were 
larger  considerations,"  continued  Roosevelt.  After  a  pause, 
and  in  a  noticeably  deeper  tone  he  said:  "I  have  been  a  cru- 
sader here,  I  have  been  a  destructive  force.  The  country  needs 
a  change.  There  was  crusading  to  do  when  I  took  hold. 
There  was  something  that  had  to  be  uprooted.  I  had  to  chal- 
lenge and  destroy  certain  influences  or  we  would  soon  have 
had  an  intolerable  condition  imperilling  everything. 

"I  have  not  been  deeply  interested  in  the  tariff  nor  in  what 
you  call  the  business  problems  of  government.  They  have 
no  appeal  to  me.  I  know  little  about  them.  If  the  party 
leaders  in  Congress  had  ever  come  to  me  with  a  definite  pro- 
gramme on  those  matters  I  might  have  backed  it  because  they 
wanted  it, — but  no  one  ever  came. 

"If  I  had  occupied  myself  revising  the  tariff,  there  would  be 
another  revenue  law  a  little  better  or  a  little  worse  than  the 
present  one — and  there  it  would  end.  The  only  result  might 
be — a  divided  party,  and  possibly  1892  over  again. 

"Now,  we  are  unified.  We  have  revised  government  'up' 
which  is  better  than  a  futile  effort  to  revise  the  tariff  *down/ 
I  have  concerned  myself  with  the  ethical  side.  IVe  wanted  to 
make  people  in  government  and  out  of  it  realize  that  it  is  best 
to  deal  squarely  by  one  another — to  have  a  free  field  and  a 

352 


As  I  Knew  Them 

fair  chance  for  all.     I  believe  I  have  raised  the  standards. 
We  may  slip  back  now  and  then,  but  never  to  the  old  levels. 

"i  DIDN'T  USE  A  FEATHER  DUSTER" 

uThe  conscience  of  business  had  to  be  aroused,  the  authority 
of  the  government  over  big  as  well  as  small  had  to  be  asserted. 
You  can't  half  do  that  kind  of  a  job;  it  must  be  done  thor- 
oughly. I  think  IVe  done  it.  I  didn't  use  a  feather  duster.  I 
knew  I  had  to  hit  hard — and  be  hit  hard  in  return, 

"We  have  had  four  years  of  uprooting  and  four  years  of 
crusading.  The  country  has  had  enough  of  it  and  of  me.  It  is 
time  for  me  to  go  and  for  a  man  of  Taft's  type  to  take  my 
place.  He's  a  constructive  fellow,  I  am  not.  The  country 
should  not  be  asked  to  stand  four  years  more  of  crusading. 
There  is  no  reason  why  it  should.  The  ground  is  cleared  for 
constructive  work;  the  man  who  clears  is  never  the  man  to 
do  the  upbuilding. 

GIVE  TAFT  A  CHANCE,   URGED  ROOSEVELT 

"I  know  that  some  of  my  friends  are  critical  of  Taft.  They 
were  critical  before  his  nomination  and  are  even  more  so  now. 
But  they're  wrong  to  take  that  attitude.  There's  nothing  to 
be  gained  by  being  doubtful.  Give  Taft  a  chance.  He  knows 
what  has  to  be  done  here ;  he  knows  how  it  has  to  be  done, 
and  now  he  will  know  how  to  build  on  the  foundations  that 
have  been  laid.  He  has  a  legal  mind — he  can  round  out  and 
shape  up  the  policies  of  the  last  four  years  better  than  if  I 
were  to  remain  here.  He  has  a  big  majority  in  Congress  to 
back  him,  and  the  country  is  with  him. 

'Taft  will  give  you  four  years  of  upbuilding  and  I'm  going 
off  to  Africa  for  a  real  fine  time. 

"I  have  done  my  Sorbonne  and  Oxford  lectures,"  he  con- 
tinued jubilantly.  "I've  paid  all  my  political  debts.  I'm  foot- 

353 


As  I  Knew  Them 

loose  and  fancy  free,  and  when  Fm  back  in  Sagamore  in  a  year 
or  so  as  a  private  citizen  I'll  be  the  happiest  man  you  ever 
saw." 

How  dimly  Roosevelt  foresaw  his  own  future ! — how  dimly 
Taft's! 


-354 


CHAPTER    XLIII 

A  PRESIDENT  IN  A  PROPHETIC  STORM 

Still  "Theodore"  and  'Will"  But  Not  The  Same  Old  Ring— "That 
Was  A  Fine  Inaugural  Address"  Exclaimed  Roosevelt — It  Was  A  Good 
Programme  Of  Policies,  But  It  Never  Got  Beyond  Mere  Say-So — 
Tajt's  First  Conference  Was  With  Joe  Cannon  And  Aldrich —  Carry- 
ing Out  Roosevelt's  Policies"  On  A  Stretcher — Taft  Turns  To  The 
Old  Guard — Every  "Insurgent"  Marked  For  Discipline — ffl  Am  Leav- 
ing That  To  Aldrich*'  Would  Be  Taffs  Answer — Canadian  Reciprocity 
Made  Party  Unity  In  Congress  Impossible. 

TT 7AS  there  ever  a  worse  March  4  than  that  on  which  Wil- 
*  *  liam  Howard  Taft  was  inaugurated  President  in  1909? 

Cynical  folk  could  have  asserted  that  the  day  was  made 
tempestuous  so  as  definitely  to  mark  the  transition  from 
Roosevelt  to  Taft.  If  so,  it  marked  it  well — but  whether  it 
was  intended  as  a  final  clean-up  of  stormy  Roosevelt  times  or 
a  forecast  of  what  was  in  store  for  Taft  no  one  knew.  For 
that  matter,  there  was  storm  enough  to  serve  both  purposes, 
with  still  some  to  spare.  Rain,  snow,  sleet  filled  the  streets 
of  Washington  and  halted  railroads,  telephones  and  tele- 
graphs along  the  entire  Atlantic  seaboard.  Taft  was  com- 
pelled to  abandon  the  Capitol  steps  where  most  Presidents 
have  been  inaugurated  and  to  hold  the  ceremonies  in  the 
Senate  Chamber. 

On  the  surface,  all  Republicans  were  jubilant.  Party  ma- 
jorities had  mounted  high  everywhere  on  election  day;  ndwly- 
elected  Republican  Governors  were  around  Washington  as 
thick  as  Southern  Colonels;  Republican  Senators  and  Con- 
gressmen were  so  many  that  like  a  widening  Spring  freshet 
they  flowed  over  into  the  half-empty  Democratic  side  of  each 
chamber. 

355 


As  I  Knew  Them 

The  chief  figures  in  the  day's  proceedings  were  still  "Theo- 
dore" and  "Will"  to  each  other;  but  the  old  ring  of  close,  un~ 
concealing  friendship  was  gone.  Both  men  were  still  striving 
to  make  others  believe  that  that  shadowy  something  that  often 
separates  men  when  relations  change  had  not  been  slowly  ac- 
quiring too  substantial  form.  There  were  whisperings  of  trou- 
ble but  only  whisperings.  Years  later,  Roosevelt  said  to  me : 
"Taft  and  I  knew  the  true  situation  and  its  cause.  It  did  not 
matter  whether  anyone  else  knew  or  not — best  that  they 
should  not.  There  was  too  much  at  stake. " 

TAFT'S  TRIBUTE  TO  ROOSEVELT 

Heavily  coated,  Taft  watched  the  inaugural  parade  from 
the  White  House  reviewing  stand.  He  greeted  the  Taft  Club 
of  Cincinnati  by  waving  his  silk  hat  in  unison  with  the  incon- 
gruous notes  of  "In  the  Good  Old  Summer  Time."  Mean- 
while, a  train  making  slow  progress  against  the  storm  was  car- 
rying his  predecessor  to  Oyster  Bay. 

Roosevelt  had  commenced  the  day  by  receiving  his  succes- 
sor, posing  with  him  for  that  famous  picture  of  two  portly 
men  in  the  conventional  "Prince  Alberts"  of  the  time.  He 
had  driven  to  the  Capitol  with  Taft,  listened  in  the  Senate 
chamber  to  the  storm-bound  inaugural  and  before  he  left  for 
his  train  said  to  Elihu  Root,  "My !  That  was  a  fine  inaugural 
address." 

Roosevelt  had  not  seen  it  in  advance.  The  Cincinnati  warn- 
ing had  been  effective.  With  his  acceptance  speech,  Taft  had 
gone  to  Oyster  Bay  "for  the  President's  judgment  and  criti- 
cism" in  July.  His  inaugural,  however,  was  to  be  judged  by 
Roosevelt  as  he  heard  it  with  others.  He  was  curious  to  know 
what  Taft  would  say  and  he  was  well  content  when  he  heard 
these  words : 

"I  have  had  the  honor  to  he  one  of  the  advisors  of  my  distin- 
guished predecessor,  and,  as  such,  to  hold  up  his  hands  in  the  re- 
forms he  has  instituted.  I  should  be  untrue  to  myself,  to  my 

356 


As  I  Knew  Them 

promises  and  to  the  declaration  of  the  party  platform  upon  which 
I  was  elected  to  office  if  I  did  not  make  the  maintenance  and  en- 
forcement of  these  reforms  a  most  important  feature  of  my  admin- 
istration. They  were  directed  to  the  suppression  of  the  lawless- 
ness and  abuse  of  power  of  great  combinations  of  capital  invested 
in  railroads  and  in  industrial  enterprises  carrying  on  interstate 
commerce. 

"The  steps  which  my  predecessor  took  and  the  legislation  passed 
on  his  recommendation  have  accomplished  much,  have  caused  a 
general  halt  in  the  vicious  policies  which  created  popular  alarm, 
and  have  brought  about  in  the  business  affected  a  much  higher 
regard  for  existing  law." 

A  FINE  PROGRAMME  OF  POLICIES 

Surely  this  was  a  keynote  which  must  have  pleased  Taft's 
predecessor.  Then  Taft  recommended  relief  for  railroads 
from  certain  restrictions  of  the  Sherman  law  which  were 
"urged  by  my  predecessor  and  will  be  urged  by  me."  He 
pleaded  for  reorganization  of  the  departments  and  bureaus 
having  corporate  matters  in  charge,  so  that  there  should  be 
cooperation  instead  of  conflict.  Taft  declared  for  tariff  re- 
vision and  announced  that  he  would  convene  Congress  in  spe- 
cial session  to  secure  it;  he  also  spoke  strongly  for  conserva- 
tion of  our  natural  resources  "saving  and  restoring  our  forests 
and  the  great  improvement  of  our  waterways." 

A  good  strong  programme.  Of  course  in  picturesque 
idiom,  "the  proof  of  the  pudding  is  in  the  eating,"  but  at  least 
here  was  a  fine  start. 

THE  BEGINNING  WAS  ALSO  THE  END 

Unfortunately  the  start  proved  also  to  be  the  finish.  The 
hopes  aroused  by  Taft's  words  wilted  like  a  full-blown  rose 
when  the  news  came  that  the  first  important  conferees  in  the 
White  House  were  Senator  Aldrich  and  Speaker  "Joe"  Can- 
non. No  two  men  in  Washington  had  more  bitterly  opposed 

357 


STARTING  ON  A  LONG  JOURNEY 


As  I  Knew  Them 

the  Roosevelt  policies  to  which  Taft  in  his  inaugural  had  paid 
such  tribute,  pledging  also  his  own  faith,  and  yet  they  were 
the  men  now  selected  by  the  new  President  to  make  the  mainte- 
nance of  those  measures  ua  most  important  feature  of  my 
Administration" ! 

Newspaper  dispatches  spoke  kindly  of  the  conference  as  an 
effort  to  agree  on  making  the  Roosevelt  policies  effective; 
nearer  the  truth  was  a  cartoon  entitled  "Carrying  Out  Roose- 
velt's Policies."  It  showed  "My  Policies"  on  a  stretcher  that 

bearers  were  carrying  out  of  the  White  House. 

* 

TAFT  TURNS  TO  THE  OLD  GUARD 

No  one  in  Congress,  especially  those  who  were  opposing 
Cannon  lost  the  significance  of  that  conference.  It  was  known 
for  some  time  that  Taft  would  not  help  defeat  Cannon  for 
reelection  as  Speaker.  There  are  excellent  reasons  why  a 
President  should  keep  out  of  such  contests  and  if  Taft  had 
kept  out  no  one  could  have  justly  criticized  him. 

The  revolt  against  Cannon's  harsh  exercise  of  his  power 
had  broken  out  in  the  previous  session,  and  there  was  now  an 
intense  determination  to  have  fair  play  for  all.  "Old  Guard" 
Congressmen  were  the  only  ones  who  could  get  the  favor  of 
the  Speaker — -the  only  ones  not  "tainted  with  Teddy  ism,"  as 
Cannon  termed  it — and  under  existing  rules  unless  you  had  his 
favor  you  might  as  well  be  in  Timbuctoo  as  on  the  floor  of  the 
House. 

Herbert  Parsons,  of  New  York,  Augustus  P.  Gardner,  of 
Massachusetts,  Victor  Mftrdock  and  Judge  Edmond  H.  Madi- 
son of  Kansas,  George  W.  Norris,  now  Senator  from  Ne- 
braska, Henry  Allen  Cooper  and  Irvine  L.  Lenroot,  of  Wis- 
consin, led  in  the  struggle  to  revise  the  rules.  In  the  begin- 
ning— that  is,  just  after  his  election— Taft  thought  he  was 
with  them;  then  he  wanted  to  think  it  over;  the  next  heard 
from  him  was  the  news  that  he  was  seeking  the  counsel  of 
Aldrich  and  Cannon. 

359 


TAFT  TTONS  TO  THE  OLD  GUARD 


As  I  Knew  Them 

THE  STRUGGLE  AGAINST  CANNONISM 

Still  the  insurgents  persisted  in  their  battle  for  their 
rights.  They  could  not  win  a  complete  victory,  but  they  se- 
cured a  revision  of  the  rules  giving  every  member  the  right  to 
recognition.  The  outposts  of  Cannonism,  of  Czarism,  were 
captured.  But  Taftf  they  discovered,  was  now  in  the  citadel 
they  were  attacking.  Here  was  a  battle  for  justice — the  open- 
ing skirmish  of  the  fierce  contest  coming  in  1912.  Many  his- 
toric battles  have  developed  from  such  seemingly  remote  be- 
ginnings; but  not  until  historians  later  searched  for  cause  has 
it  been  revealed  that  a  principle,  or  a  great  need,  was  from  the 
first  moment  working  its  way  to  the  fore,  and  that  the  final 
clash  was  an  inevitable  sequel  of  the  early  and  smaller  one. 

So  it  proved  to  be  in  this  situation.  The  Taft  talk  with 
Aldrich  and  Cannon  was  not  a  conference;  it  was  a  surrender. 
The  reactionaries  in  Congress  hailed  it  as  such;  the  progres- 
sives accepted  it  as  such.  There  was  no  middle  ground  of 
compromise.  At  least,  Taft  sought  none.  Steadily,  he  moved 
further  and  further  away  from  the  old  moorings..  UI  am  leav- 
ing that  to  Aldrich,"  he  would  say  when  asked  to  discuss  some 
schedule  in  the  tariff  bill  upon  which  Congress  was  then 
working. 

Thus,  little  by  little,  progressives  came  to  realize  the  hope- 
lessness of  seeking  support  at  the  White  House,  and  the  cer- 
tainty of  an  unpleasant  time  there  if,  by  chance,  the  name  or 
policies  of  Taft's  predecessor  were  mentioned.  They  were 
now  not  merely  insurgents  against  Cannonism  in  the  House ; 
they  were  insurgents  against  the  Administration. 

Never  was  there  such  inept  handling  of  legislation  as  in 
framing  the  tariff  bill  in  1909.  Almost  any  effort  at  con- 
ciliation would  have  united  all  Republicans  in  Congress  back 
of  the  new  schedules ;  but  conciliation  was  not  what  the  men 
in  control  sought;  their  purpose  was  annihilation.  Every 

361 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"insurgent"  was  marked  for  discipline,  and  every  suggestion 
ignored. 

Taft  knew  what  was  going  on,  shrugged  his  shoulders  in  a 
helpless  sort  of  way,  and  gave  the  impression  that  he  did 
not  care  to  be  burdened  with  the  task  of  reconciling  the  war- 
ring factions.  He  must  have  foreseen  what  the  split,  ever 
growing  wider  and  deeper,  would  mean  to  Republicans  in  the 
1910  Congressional  elections  and  later  iir  1912,  but  if  he  did 
his  serenity  was  undisturbed. 

THE  CANADIAN  RECIPROCITY  BLUNDER 

The  worst  was  still  to  come,  however.  Taft  insisted  upon 
reciprocity  with  Canada.  The  measure  had  been  refused  in- 
dorsement in  the  Republican  national  convention,  and  a  ma- 
jority of  Republicans,  especially  those  from  States  bordering 
Canada  were  opposed  to  it.  Still  Taft  persisted.  When  he 
forced  it  to  a  vote  in  the  House  on  February  14,  1911,  out  of 
the  92  "noes"  87  came  from  Republicans. 

Such  extremes  as  Jonathan  Bourne,  progressive  from  Wash- 
ington, and  John  Dalzell,  a  Pennsylvania  stand-patter,  voted 
uno" — demonstrating  that  the  opposition  embraced  all  kinds 
of  Republicans.  The  Senate  refused  to  act — and  two  weeks 
later  Taft  faced  the  newly-elected  Democratic  Congress. 

PARTY  CHAOS  IN  CONGRESS 

Like  Cleveland  with  his  silver  repeal  measure,  Taft  now 
looked  to  the  opposition  party  for  votes  to  pass  his  bill.  Ap- 
parently he  gauged  the  popularity  of  his  Canadian  proposal 
by  its  acceptance  by  the  Democrats — forgetting  that  any  low- 
ering of  the  tariff  bars  would  have  free  trade  support. 

Again,  like  Cleveland,  he  called  Congress  in  extra  session. 
The  House,  now  Democratic,  passed  the  bill  a  second  time 
with  practically  all  the  "noes"  from  Republicans;  in  the  Sen- 
ate, more  Republicans  opposed  than  favored  it  With  a 

362 


As  I  Knew  Them 

majority  of  his  own  party  against  his  principal  legislation, 
party  unity  back  of  the  President  was  thereafter  hopeless* 
A  minority  of  Republicans  in  both  Houses  had  revolted  against 
his  tariff  bill;  a  majority  revolted  against  his  Canadian  reci- 
procity bill.  Politically,  Taft's  plight  was  as  bad  as  Cleve- 


"$AY,  BOSS,  WHY  DON'T  YER  HUNCH   OVER   A  LITTLE  TO  DS  ODDER   SIDE?   DEN   DE 
MACHINE  WILL  RUN  BETTER5' 

land's,  and  the  result  worse,  for  Cleveland  stopped  the  coining 
of  silver  dollars.  Taft's  reciprocity  was  a  dead  letter.  Cana- 
dian voters  swept  out  of  office  the  government  of  Sir  Wilfrid 
Laurier  with  which  Taft  had  negotiated.  Thus  the  whole 
structure  collapsed. 


363 


CHAPTER   XLIV 

TAFTS  ONE  BIG  TRIUMPH 

He  Won  "Decisions  That  Decided"  From  The  Supreme  Court  In  The 
Anti-Trust  Cases — Our  National  Policies  Take  Years  To  Develop — 
The  Entire  Supreme  Court  Membership  Changed  While  The  Sherman 
Law  Was  Before  It — Only  Harlan  Stood  By  The  Government  From 
The  First. 

7  i  *HE  one  Roosevelt  policy  which  Taft  did  not  abandon  is 
•*•  the  one  triumph  of  his  administration, — the  effort  to  se- 
cure for  the  government  through  court  decisions  complete 
control  of  corporation  activities.  In  this  effort  Taft  shows 
at  his  best.  His  heart  was  in  that  work,  and  his  mind  was 
trained  to  the  problem.  There  was  need  for  "decisions  that 
decided1'  despite  the  victory  scored  in  the  Northern  Securities 
and  "beef"  trust  cases  under  Roosevelt.  They  had  greatly 
strengthened  the  law,  but  the  "teeth"  that  Roosevelt  had  so 
vigorously  sought  had  yet  to  be  provided.  It  was  Taft's  task 
"to  round  out  and  shape  up"  (as  Roosevelt  had  expressed  it) 
efforts  which  had  been  made  to  secure  helpful  court  inter- 
pretations. Through  George  W.  Wickersham,  his  able  and 
forceful  Attorney  General,  this  was  accomplished. 

As  a  nation  and  as  individuals,  Americans  have  a  reputation 
for  moving  rapidly  toward  accomplishing  the  things  they  set 
out  to  do — much  too  rapidly,  they  tell  us  abroad.  The  his- 
tory of  our  law  making  does  not  sustain  this  charge.  Our  gov- 
ernment moves  slowly;  it  has  long  periods  of  swaying  back  and 
forth  before  deciding.  First  Congress  debates  for  years ;  then 
the  courts  take  more  years  to  declare  and  make  effective  what 
Congress  really  intended.  "Half  slave  and  half  free,"  we 

364 


As  I  Knew  Them 

stood  on  the  brink  of  a  precipice  for  thirty  or  forty  years  be- 
fore we  engaged  in  civil  strife  to  end  slavery.  It  took  us  ten 
years  after  the  war  to  say  that  we  would  redeem  our  paper- 
money  in  coin,  it  took  us  a  quarter  of  a  century  to  establish  the 
gold  standard,  longer  to  secure  votes  for  women,  the  income 
tax  and  prohibition.  Once  policies  are  established  we  forget 
the  long  and  doubtful  period  that  preceded  their  enactment. 

A  STRUGGLE  FOR  TWENTY  YEARS 

So  it  was  with  the  struggle  to  confirm  the  supremacy  of  the 
government  over  industrial  enterprises  and  great  wealth.  For 
twenty  years  every  President  and  every  Attorney  General  had 
battled  with  it  The  Sherman  anti-trust  law  of  1890  was  the 
corner-stone,  but  at  first  it  could  not  be  built  upon  substan- 
tially. The  entire  membership  of  the  Supreme  Court  changed 
while,  in  case  after  case,  the  issue  was  argued  before  it,  and 
futile  decisions  came  down.  In  1895,  the  Knight  sugar  case 
went  heavily  against  the  government.  Associate  Justice  Har- 
lan  alone  voted  to  sustain.  In  1903  the  Northern  Securities 
case  went  in  favor  of  the  government  by  a  five  to  four  deci- 
sion. Among  the  four  dissenters  was  Associate  Justice  White 
who  had  voted  against  the  government  in  the  Sugar  Trust 
case,  and  who  now  proclaimed  that  the  two  cases  were  exactly 
alike.  He  insisted  that  the  law  should  be  interpreted  in  "the 
light  of  reason,"  and  not  as  the  government  contended. 

Still,  the  Northern  Securities  case  was  won,  which  meant 
more  than  Justice  White's  phrase.  Other  suits  were  brought 
by  Roosevelt  and  in  these  Taft,  back  from  the  Philippines, 
aided  with  suggestion.  He  was,  therefore,  well  prepared  to 
carry  on  the  struggle  in  his  own  name.  Approximately  ninety 
suits  were  brought  during  Taft's  Administration.  Though 
not  all  of  them  were  won,  a  body  of  opinion  came  from  the 
courts  that  ended  the  effort  of  corporate  wealth  to  deny  the 
power  of  the  government  to  regulate  it 

365 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ONLY  HARLAN  STOOD  BY  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Twenty  years,  however,  were  needed  to  establish  this  su- 
premacy. The  only  man  on  the  bench  from  the  first  test  of 
the  law  to  Its  final  upholding  was  Associate  Justice  Harlan. 
He  was  also  the  only  justice  to  vote  consistently  in  support 
of  the  government  and  the  law.  Associate  Justice  White 
voted  twice  against  the  government.  Not  until  1910,  in  the 
Tobacco  suit,  did  White  change  over  to  the  interpretation 
of  the  Sherman  law  that  now  prevails.  It  would  be  tiring  to 
list  the  number  of  Justices  who  sat  in  the  different  cases 
brought  between  1895,  when  the  Knight  Sugar  Trust  case  was 
decided,  and  1911  when  the  Standard  Oil  case  was  decided 
with  the  full  membership  of  the  Court  in  favor  of  the  gov- 
ernment, but  White  and  Harlan  were  the  only  Justices  who 
sat  through  all.  White  as  Chief  Justice  wrote  the  opinion  in 
the  Standard  Oil  case ;  and  again  as  in  the  Northern  Securities 
case  he  wrote  of  the  ulight  of  reason"  in  interpreting  law. 
But  the  same  light  led  him  in  one  case  against  the  government 
and  in  the  later  case  in  favor  of  the  government — one  of  the 
peculiarities  of  judges  that  laymen  like  myself  do  not  under- 
stand. 

The  point  I  had  in  mind,  however,  was  not  to*  discuss  the 
attitude  of  individual  Justices  but  to  demonstrate  that,  despite 
all  the  talk  that  as  a  nation  we  hurry  into  decisions,  the  record 
shows  that  we  deliberate  long  before  acting. 


366 


CHAPTER   XLV 
WHY  TAFT  DID  NOT  SUCCEED 

Two  Reasons  Why  The  Smile  That  Captured  The  Country  Soon  Lost 
Its  Power  To  Persuade — The  Comparison  With  Jackson's  Naming 
of  Van  Buren—The  White  House  Had  Lost  Its  Real  Meaning  To  Taft 
—Drift,  Drift,  Drift— Taft' s  Real  Desire  Was  For  The  Bench—An 
Unusual  Conference  That  Gave  Htm  A  Scotch  Verdict — Trying  To 
Help  Jim  Tawney — "God  Knows"  Said  Taft  Sympathetically,  But 
Others  Took  It  Differently. 

1T7HY  did  not  Taft  get  on  well  in  the  White  House? 
*  *  Many  reasons  could  be  advanced  but  two  fundamental 
reasons  were:  (i)  his  nomination  did  not  reflect  the  party's 
will  but  the  will  of  a  retiring  President;  (2)  he  loved  the 
title  but  not  the  work  of  President. 

Whenever  Roosevelt's  nomination  of  Taft  is  discussed, 
reference  is  made  to  the  nomination  of  Martin  Van  Buren 
by  Andrew  Jackson  in  1836.  Both  Roosevelt  and  Jackson 
forced  their  will  on  their  party.  Both  had  the  same  motive — 
to  insure  continuance  of  their  policies — but  Roosevelt  was  by 
no  means  so  well  justified  as  Jackson.  Van  Buren  was  then 
Vice  President;  he  had  been  Minister  to  Great  Britain,  a 
United  States  Senator,  Governor  of  New  York,  and  occupant 
of  several  less  conspicuous  offices.  He  had  submitted  himself 
many  times  to  a  vote  of  the  people,  and  was  identified  with 
the  issues  of  the  day.  In  these  various  positions,  he  had 
gained  a  ripe  experience  for  the  Presidency — for  the  delicate 
task  of  knowing  how  to  guide  rather  than  to  antagonize  public 
opinion. 

Taft  lacked  that  equipment.  For  nearly  thirty  years  he 
had  held  one  appointive  office  after  another.  In  Ohio,  early 
in  life,  he  had  been  elected  to  some  minor  judgeship,  but  in  a 
broad  sense  his  only  experience  with  elections  was  as  a  candi- 

367 


As  I  Knew  Them 

date  for  the  Presidency.  In  that  candidacy  he  did  not  urge 
his  election  because  of  anything  he  had  done,  but  solely  on  the 
ground  that  he  was  the  standard  bearer  of  the  President  he 
desired  to  succeed. 

His  nomination,  like  that  of  Van  Buren,  represented  an 
unfortunate,  unpardonable  exercise  of  Presidential  power  over 
a  party  convention.  Neither  nominee  represented  party  senti- 
ment tested  by  a  free  roll  call  in  convention.  Inevitably  in 
both  cases  the  result  had  to  be  party  schism  and  disaster. 

DRIFT DRIFT DRIFT 

The  second  reason  for  Taft's  failure  became  apparent  all 
too  soon.  The  new  Administration  was  on  its  way  somewhere 
but  whither  it  was  going  no  one — not  even  the  President  him- 
self— seemed  to  know.  It  was  drift,  drift,  drift — little  at- 
tempted, nothing  done.  No  wonder  Republicans  grew  restive. 
No  wonder  the  country  began  to  think  it  had  made  a  mistake. 
There  was  a  sag  everywhere  in  Washington;  the  old  vigor 
was  gone ;  none  of  the  familiar  sharp  calls  to  action  were  ever 
heard. 

Those  who  went  to  the  White  House  with  suggestions  were 
seldom  welcome,  and  rarely  came  away  satisfied.  Those  who 
wanted  results  turned  to  some  department  official  for  them. 
The  department  official  usually  replied  that  there  was  no  use 
discussing  matters  until  he  could  see  the  President  "some 
time."  Nobody  seemed  to  be  interested  in  getting  things  done. 
Officialdom  found  "the  easiest  way"  was  the  White  House 
way;  quickly  the  whole  Administration  took  its  color  from 
the  top. 

Possibly  had  this  condition  not  followed  seven  years  of 
Roosevelt  it  would  not  have  excited  so  much  criticism;  but 
the  change  from  decision  to  indecision,  from  action  to  delay, 
was  so  sudden,  the  contrast  so  sharp,  that  talk  of  a  collapse 
of  government  efficiency  soon  filled  Washington  and  spread 
through  the  country.  The  "Old  Guard"  in  Congress  promptly 

368 


As  I  Knew  Them 

took  the  leadership  of  the  party  from  the  White  House,  and 
Senator  Dolliver  historically  remarked:  "Taft  is  an  amiable 
man,  entirely  surrounded  by  men  who  know  exactly  what  they 
want" 

It  was  the  judgment  of  men  who  had  opportunity  to  know 
whereof  they  spoke  that  Taft  did  not  even  try  to  be  a  success. 
Of  course,  he  wanted  to  make  a  good  record  and  to  be  re- 
elected.  No  man  could  be  in  the  White  House  without  such 
desire.  What  I  mean  when  I  say  "try"  is  to  try  with  every 
ounce  of  effort  in  you — not  once  or  twice,  but  until  you  get  a 
result.  Taft  made  no  such  "try."  He  relied  on  smiling 
through  difficulties  and  finding  the  easiest  way  out  of  them — 
usually  of  course  without  settling  them.  They  backed  up  on 
him  like  a  mountain  stream  dammed. 

Though  no  golfer  myself,  I  do  not  share  the  criticism  of 
his  golfing  or  cite  it  as  an  example  of  indifference  to  his  work. 
Those  hours  of  relaxation  were  probably  necessary  to  a  man 
of  Taft's  build.  He  liked  golfing  and  played  the  course  well; 
he  did  not  like  the  grind  of  the  White  House — for  it  is  a 
grind  unless  you  are  temperamentally  fitted  for  it — and  he 
did  not  play  that  well. 

THE  WHITE  HOUSE   ONLY  ANOTHER  WAY   STATION 

I  have  always  felt  that  as  a  member  of  the  Cabinet  five 
years,  and  earlier  as  Solicitor  General  in  the  Department  of 
Justice,  the  White  House  had  become  too  familiar  to  Taft 
before  he  occupied  it.  Its  occupant  had  been  "Theodore"  to 
him  and  he  was  "Will."  Crossing  its  doorsill  as  President 
gave  him  no  deeper  emotion  than  arriving  at  a  familiar  rail- 
road station  on  one  of  the  journeys  he  was  always  beginning 
or  ending. 

It  had  meant  no  effort  on  his  part ;  like  the  engineer  of  the 
locomotive  pulling  his  railway  train  on  his  travels,  another 
person  had  the  power  to  advance  him  to  the  desired  place 
and  did  so.  The  nominating  convention,  which  should  have 

369 


As  I  Knew  Them 

been  the  power,  became  merely  the  vehicle;  delegates  knew 
what  was  wanted  of  them  and  did  it;  so,  later  did  the  coun- 
try. Thus  the  highest  honor  that  can  be  gained  by  an  Ameri- 
can came  to  Taft  so  easily  that  I  question  whether  it  was 
prized  by  him  at  real  value.  The  things  you  prize  are  those 
you  struggle  to  attain. 

For  nearly  thirty  years  before  Taft  reached  the  Presi- 
dency, he  had  been  "kicked  around,"  to  use  a  frequent  expres- 
sion of  his  own.  He  was  on  the  Ohio  Superior  Court  bench 
when  President  Harrison  made  him  Solicitor  General;  later 
Harrison  appointed  him  to  a  Circuit  Judgeship.  He  was  on 
that  bench  when  McKmley  asked  him  to  become  President  of 
the  Philippine  Commission. 

TAFT'S  REAL  DESIRE  FOR  THE  BENCH 

Taft  had  three  opportunities  to  go  on  the  Supreme  Court 
bench,  and  refused  all  three,  before  his  nomination  for  Presi- 
dent. President  Harding's  offer  of  the  Chief- Justiceship  was 
the  fourth  he  had  received.  That  one  he  accepted.  No  other 
man  has  ever  had  such  a  tribute. 

They  show  the  high  opinion  held  of  Taft's  judicial  mind 
by  all  who  had  opportunity  to  know  it. 

Twice  while  he  was  in  the  Philippines,  and  again  in  1906 
President  Roosevelt  vainly  sought  to  place  Taft  on  the  bench. 
The  first  offer  was  cabled  to  him  in  Manila  in  1902.  He 
replied  that  he  had  promised  McKinley  to  see  the  Philippine 
job  through  until  a  settled  form  of  government  had  been 
worked  out.  He  wanted  to  keep  his  promise. 

"I  long  for  a  judicial  career,"  Taft  cabled,  "but  if  it  must 
turn  on  my  present  decision  I  am  willing  to  lose  it" 

So  far  as  I  know  this  is  the  strongest  utterance  Taft  ever 
made  on  any  subject! 

Roosevelt  renewed  the  offer  two  months  later;  again  Taft 
declined.  In  1903  Roosevelt  made  him  Secretary  of  War. 

370 


As  I  Knew  Them 

That  department  has  supervision  over  the  Philippines  and 
Taft  accepted. 

HIS  FAMILY  WANTED  HIM  TO  BE  PRESIDENT ! 

The  revealing  declination  came  in  1906.  Again  Roosevelt 
offered  him  an  Associate  Justiceship.  Again  Taft  declined — 
this  time  not  for  the  excellent  reason  he  had  advanced  from 
the  Philippines.  The  new  reason  plainly  stated  was  that  his 
family  preferred  that  he  should  seek  the  Presidency! 

This  was  a  commendably  frank  avowal  of  his  intention  to 
be  a  candidate  in  1908.  It  could  not  have  been  made  by  a 
Cabinet  officer  to  a  President  without  an  accompanying  resig- 
nation unless  the  President  was  a  staunch  and  genuine  friend. 
If  there  is  anything  comparable  to  it  in  all  the  relations  of 
our  Presidents  with  their  Cabinet  members  I  have  not  read 
or  heard  of  it 

It  was  an  example  of  the  finest  kind  of  friendship  possible 
between  two  men — how  well  Taft  knew  that  his  superior 
officer  was  also  a  friend  to  whom  he  could  candidly  tell  his 
great  desire;  how  splendidly  Roosevelt  responded  to  that 
confidence ! 

AN  UNUSUAL  CONFERENCE 

On  Taft's  request,  or  at  his  own  suggestion,  Roosevelt  went 
so  far  as  to  call  Secretary  of  State  Root,  Attorney  General 
Moody,  and  Secretary  of  Commerce  Straus,  into  conference 
as  to  whether  Taft  should  go  on  the  bench  or  not.  This  most 
unusual  proceeding  to  determine  the  future  of  a  man  uncer- 
tain of  which  honor  he  should  seek  resulted  in  what  might  be 
called  a  "Scotch  verdict." 

In  the  minds  of  all  was  a  thought  which  none  expressed. 
Taft  had  better  go  on  the  Supreme  Court  One  man  present 
did  suggest  the  familiar  story  of  the  bird  in  the  hand.  The 
conference  broke  up  when  Taft  said  he  would  write  his 

371 


As  I  Knew  Them 

brother.  In  a  few  days  he  gave  Roosevelt  the  answer  quoted 
above.  Attorney  General  Moody  was  thereupon  appointed 
to  the  vacancy. 

Through  the  next  two  years  Taf  t  travelled  and  talked  the 
country  over.  He  seemed  to  be  everywhere, — anywhere  In 
fact,  except  in  the  War  Department.  His  absences  were 
encouraged  by  Roosevelt  to  give  him  his  full  chance  with  the 
people. 

In  that  friendship  Roosevelt  saw  only  Taft.  After  the  mes- 
sage he  had  received  from  Taft,  he  should  have  seen  in  the 
picture  not  Taft  alone  but  Taft  plus  the  family.  For  that 
message  carried  in  it  the  seed  from  which  all  future  trouble 
sprang.  Taft  was  subordinating  his  own  desires  to  the  ambi- 
tions of  others  close  to  him  who  could  share  in  the  prestige 
of  the  White  House,  but  not  in  the  quiet  dignity  of  the  Su- 
preme Court.  The  experience  may  have  satisfied  them,  but  it 
proved  a  nightmare  to  Taft. 

A  BIG  TASK,  BUT  LITTLE  EFFORT 

I  was  one  of  many  Republicans  whose  loyalty  to  Roosevelt 
did  not  lessen  their  desire  to  see  Taft  get  on  well.  I  realized 
that  he  followed  an  unusual  man  into  the  Presidency,  that  in 
method  and  temperament  he  was  different.  Moreover,  I  knew 
the  peril  of  such  a  heavy  vote  as  he  had  polled — the  largest 
electoral  and  popular  vote  ever  accorded.  Great  expectations 
were  aroused;  it  was  an  almost  impossible  task  to  meet  them. 
Even  such  an  aggressive  and  resourceful  man  as  Roosevelt 
would  have  found  it  difficult  to  keep  such  popularity  at  flood 
tide.  Then  there  was  the  revolt  against  Cannon  in  the  House. 
Try  as  he  might  to  resist  it,  the  new  President  was  bound  to 
be  drawn  into  that  maelstrom.  Taft  made  no  effort  to  resist 
— he  just  waded  in  waist  high  and  was  soon  in  deeper  water, 

These  considerations  were  in  my  mind  as  I  listened  to 
criticisms.  It  was  hard  to  reply,  Taft  gave  no  help  by  doing 
something,  almost  anything,  that  would  show  that  he  could 

37* 


As  I  Knew  Them 

master  the  big  job  he  had  undertaken.  That  something  was 
never  even  attempted.  Instead,  there  came  from  the  White 
House  either  indifference  or  angry  impatience  according  to 
Taft's  mood  for  the  day.  Washington  is  a  place  of  keen, 
cold  judgment  It  quickly  judged  Taft  as  a  mistake  in  the 
White  House  just  as  it  now  has  the  settled  belief  that  as 
Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States  he  Is  in  a  position  suited 
to  his  abilities  and  inclination. 

Nor  was  the  country  long  in  making  the  same  appraisement. 
Every  evidence  of  the  good  will  of  the  people  had  followed 
Taft  into  the  White  House.  His  smile  had  captured  the 
country.  But  his  Administration  was  less  than  two  years  old 
before  It  was  condemned  at  the  Congress  elections  of  1910, 
reversing  a  big  majority  into  a  pitiful  minority;  and  in  1912, 
four  years  after  he  had  received  the  largest  electoral  and 
popular  vote  then  recorded  for  a  President,  he  carried  only 
Vermont  and  Utah,  running  behind  both  Wilson  and  Roose- 
velt also  in  popular  vote. 

THE  WRONG  WORD  TOO  OFTEN 

A  weighty  influence  in  the  wrecking  of  Taft's  Administra- 
tion and,  temporarily,  of  the  Republican  party  was  his  capacity 
for  saying  and  doing  the  wrong  thing  politically.  I  do  not 
wish  to  be  misunderstood  on  this  point,  and  I  cannot  empha- 
size too  strongly  that  I  mean  no  disrespect  to  Taft.  His 
blundering  was  in  the  political  field,  and  in  dealing  with  men. 
It  was  largely  inexperience.  On  the  bench  he  Is  at  home,  and 
there,  in  lesser  judgeships  and  now  in  the  Supreme  Court, 
he  has  been  sure-footed. 

In  nothing  did  he  differ  from  Roosevelt  more  than  in  his 
inability  to  gauge  the  effect  of  words.  Roosevelt  seldom  spoke 
without  seeing  a  picture  of  how  the  sentence  would  look  in 
type,  and  how  it  would  affect  the  mind  of  the  reader  or  hearer. 
Taft  was  utterly  unable  to  create  such  a  picture.  Before  he 
became  President  this  did  not  matter,  and  this  Taft  was  never 

373 


As  I  Knew  Them 

able  to  understand — a  President  cannot  soliloquize  in  public 
like  a  private  citizen.  Every  word  a  President  utters  is 
weighed  and  scrutinized.  His  words  are  often  more  potent 
than  his  deeds. 

Wilson  had  some  of  this  Taft  trait;  he  too  used  words 
without  always  calculating  their  effect.  He  did  not  visualize 
the  way  "too  proud  to  fight"  would  appear  in  print,  or  what 
effect  it  would  produce.  The  angry  roar  that  went  up  every- 
where dumbfounded  him.  By  noon  a  hurried  explanation  was 
issued  from  the  White  House  to  show  that  the  President's 
meaning  had  been  misinterpreted;  too  late.  So  with  other 
phrases,  such  as  "peace  without  victory,"  "with  the  causes  and 
objects  of  this  war  we  have  no  concern,"  and  many  another. 


A    TYPICAL    CARTOON    OF    THE    DAY 


TRYING  TO  HELP  "jIMn  TAWNEY 

But  Wilson  was  not  so  frequently  unfortunate  as  Taft. 
Take  Taft's  experience  with  the  Payne-Aldrich  tariff  bill 
That  law  was  especially  unpopular  in  the  West  In  all  the 
West  it  was  most  unpopular  in  the  Middle  West,  and  in  all  the 

374 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Middle  West  it  was  most  detested  in  Minnesota.  And  in  all 
Minnesota  there  was  no  place  where  it  was  more  detested 
than  in  Winona,  where  ujirn"  Tawney  was  facing  defeat  for 
reelection  to  Congress. 

Taft  wanted  to  help  Tawney.  So,  with  unerring  instinct 
for  the  wrong  step,  Taft  picked  Winona  as  a  good  place  in 
which  to  advocate  the  new  law,  and  journeyed  out  there  to 
do  it.  The  whole  West  was  immediately  vocal  with  rage. 
As  letters,  telegrams,  newspaper  editorials,  began  to  pile  up 
in  the  White  House,  Taft  saw  the  necessity  of  saying  some- 
thing to  meet  the  criticism.  Unbelievable  as  it  may  seem,  Taft 
explained  the  Winona  speech  by  saying  that  he  had  "dashed 
it  off  hurriedly  between  stations!" 

When  people  remembered  that  he  had  left  the  golf  links  at 
Bar  Harbor,  Maine,  to  go  to  Winona,  the  original  mistake 
was  immediately  overshadowed  by  the  explanation.  The  West 
was  infuriated  by  the  apparent  confession  that  he  had  played 
golf  rather  than  prepare  carefully  what  he  was  to  say  to  it. 
Everywhere  there  was  dismay  over  the  implication  that  the 
President  of  the  United  States  gave  little  thought  to  grave 
public  questions.  Furthermore,  instead  of  helping  Tawney, 
the  Presidential  effort  lost  him  hundreds  of  votes. 

Undoubtedly  Taft  did  himself  injustice  by  his  apology. 
He  had  certainly  given  more  thought  to  the  speech  than  he 
admitted.  But  he  was  on  record  as  saying  virtually  that  he  was 
a  careless  man,  postponing  until  train-time  his  review  of  mat- 
ters vitally  important  to  millions  of  people  for  whom  he  was 
the  chief  trustee.  Nothing  he  could  say  or  do  afterward 
would  efface  the  impression  made. 

ANOTHER  UNFORTUNATE  "BREAK" 

Another  of  his  mistakes  came  from  his  habit  of  thinking 
aloud  and  his  inability  to  understand  that  while  anybody  else 
may  think  aloud,  a  President  may  not.  Getting  off  a  train 
in  New  York  city,  he  was  met  by  reporters  who  asked  him 

375 


As  I  Knew  Them 

what  was  to  be  the  outcome  of  the  labor  situation.  At  that 
time  there  was  a  good  deal  of  poverty  and  unemployment, 
and  the  subject  was  close  to  the  hearts  of  a  great  many  people 
not  at  all  interested  in  politics.  Taft  mechanically  replied  with 
this  historic  sentence : 

"God  knows." 

In  these  two  words  he  had  provoked  a  storm.  The  utter- 
ance was  not  so  callous  as  it  sounded.  It  was  really  uttered 
in  sympathy — Taft  meant  it  that  way.  But  a  President  is 
supposed  to  be  always  thinking  in  definite  terms  and  "God 
knows' '  was  taken  to  show  that  he  did  not  care. 

"EVEN  A  RAT  WILL  FIGHT" 

There  is  no  need  to  call  the  roll  of  Taft's  unfortunate 
utterances,  so  I  will  close  the  list  of  small  but  influential  inci- 
dents with  the  celebrated  one  which  completed  the  destruction 
of  any  hopes  he  might  have  had  of  carrying  a  single  Republican 
State  primary  when  he  was  seeking  renomination  in  1912. 
Taft's  friends  were  urging  him  to  take  the  stump  against 
Roosevelt.  At  first  he  refused;  no  President  had  ever  entered 
publicly  into  a  contest  for  his  own  renomination,  and  he  did 
not  want  to  create  a  precedent  But  Roosevelt  was  carrying 
everything  before  him  with  such  a  sweep  that  Taft  finally 
yielded.  Obviously,  apology  or  explanation  for  his  course 
was  weakness,  and  so  Taft  made  one.  This  was  his  explana- 
tion: 

"Even  a  rat  will  fight  when  driven  into  a  corner/' 
In  every  primary  contest  the  Roosevelt  supporters  seized 
on  this  utterance  and  rang  the  changes  on  it.  Taft  was  sati- 
rized as  a  frightened  rat  driven  into  a  corner  and  fighting  back 
hopelessly  and  unwillingly.  The  sentence  even  took  the  spirit 
out  of  his  sincerest  supporters.  One  may  put  some  heart  into 
fighting  for  a  lion,  but  not  for  a  desperate  rat. 


376 


CHAPTER   XLVI 
CITIZEN  ROOSEVELT 

Still  Sees  Himself  Out  Of  The  Turmoil  Of  Politics— Tells  Me  Of 
The  Greatest  Battle  Of  His  Life  And  How  He  Won  It  In  Africa — 
Frank  Visitors  Rare  At  The  White  House — Root  Said  In  London  That 
Taft  Had  Broken  Down — Roosevelt's  Royal  Welcome  Home — Herbert 
Parsons  Uses  A  William  Barnes  Interview  To  Stir  Roosevelt  To 
Action — The  Colonel  Tries  To  Stem  The  Anti-Republican  Tide,  And 
Names  Taft's  Cabinet  Officer  For  Governor. 

T7VERY  moment  Roosevelt  spent  in  Africa  strengthened 
"  the  resolve  announced  before  leaving  the  White  House 
to  devote  himself  to  things  he  desired  more  than  he  now 
desired  political  honors.  That  vision  of  a  figure  remote  from 
faction  and  personal  prejudices  still  filled  his  imagination; 
he  saw  himself  the  accepted  arbiter  of  differences,  a  court  of 
last  resort.  What  an  awakening  was  to  follow  such  a  dream  1 

"I  have  read  what  others  have  written  about  my  battles 
for  health  in  early  life,  my  battles  in  politics  and  my  battles 
with  various  influences  and  men,"  said  Roosevelt  to  me  after 
his  return,  "but  it  was  in  Africa  that  I  won  a  battle  I  had  been 
trying  for  years  to  win  but  had  never  succeeded  in  keeping 
won  for  long.  Yet  no  one  ever  knew  I  was  fighting  it — it  was 
a  battle  to  control  niy  temper. 

"I  tried  to  win  it  in  the  White  Houset,  but  you  cannot  win 
that  kind  of  a  battle  while  you  have  the  immense  power  and 
responsibilities  of  a  President.  Trying  situations  come  up, 
men  come  to  you  with  unconscionable  suggestions,  others  re- 
sort to  petty  intrigues.  The  man  who  speaks  out  frankly  and 
definitely  is  a  rare  visitor,  though  I  can  assure  you  from  my 
own  experience  he  is  cordially  welcomed  in  the  White  House 
and  makes  more  headway.  There  were  times  when  I  just  had 

377  ' 


As  I  Knew  Them 

to  tell  such  people  what  I  thought  of  them  and,  of  course,  the 
newspapers  would  print  a  story  about  a  scene  in  the  White 
House.  It  would  never  occur  to  them  to  print  the  other  side 
of  the  story — the  side  of  the  President,  whoever  he  might  be, 
forced  to  listen  sometimes  to  untruths,  sometimes  to  evasions, 
sometimes  to  office  hunting  and  bargainings  that  the  public 
never  hears  of. 


From  N.   Y.  Herald,  April  2,   1909. 

"THE  CALL  OF  THE  AFRICAN  WILD" 
* 

"I  suppose  that  is  part  of  a  President's  job,  but  it  tried  my 
patience  and  my  temper.  I  couldn't  win  the  battle  to  control 
it  when  such  matters  were  pressed  upon  me  to  the  exclusion 
of  more  important  things  and  I  realized  it.  Over  in  Africa, 
I  had  some  equally  exasperating  experiences  but  it  was  not 
difficult  to  master  them.  Back  in  my  tent  in  the  evenings  I 
could  laugh  over  them  and  talk  with  others  about  their  lud:- 

378 


As  I  Knew  Them 

crous  side.  It  was  there  that  I  came  to  know  how  to  control 
my  temper,  and  I  have  been  able  to  do  it  ever  since.  It  Is  a 
great  battle  won." 

ROOT  SAID  TAFT   HAD  BROKEN  DOWN 

This  frame  of  mind  fitted  the  mood  in  which  he  had  planned 
his  life  following  his  return  to  Oyster  Bay.  But  other  persons 
were  shortly  to  exert  a  different  influence.  Scores  of  old  fol- 
lowers were  waiting  all  along  the  line  home  with  protests 
against  the  Taft  regime  and  insistence  that  Roosevelt  alone 
could  restore  popularity  to  the  party.  He  read  their  letters 
and  listened  to  their  stories,  but  his  purpose  remained 
unchanged. 

In  Egypt,  Gifford  Pinchot,  since  Governor  of  Pennsylvania, 
gave  him  his  version  of  President  Taft's  activities  and  the 
consequences. 

It  was  not  until  he  reached  London,  several  weeks  later,  in 
1910  that  the  first  definite  impression  was  made  upon  Roose- 
velt— and  Elihu  Root  was  the  man  who  made  it.  At  least, 
that  is  what  Roosevelt  told  me  three  or  four  years  later* 
Roosevelt's  statement  to  me  was  substantially  this : 

uRoot  told  me  that  the  Administration  had  completely 
broken  down,  particularly  the  State  Department.  He  expected 
to  see  Congress  go  heavily  Democratic,  and  he  regarded  New 
York  as  hopeless.  Root  spoke  so  unqualifiedly  that  I  became 
convinced  the  party  was  in  a  bad  way,  but  I  could  not  see  that 
I  was  called  upon  to  throw  myself  into  the  situation.  More- 
over, what  could  I  do?  I  could  not  ask  the.country  to  elect  a 
Congress  to  support  Taft  in  the  way  he  seemed  to  be  going, 
nor  could  I  seek  to  elect  a  Congress  against  him.  Root  said 
something  about  the  party  needing  me,  but  made  no 
suggestion. 

"In  a  way,  his  analysis  of  the  situation  was  more  hopeless 
than  that  of  Gifford  Pinchot,  but  I  regarded  Pinchot  as  nat- 
urally extreme;  his  experience  with  Taft  had  embittered  him, 

379 


As  I  Knew  Them 

I  believed  that  Taft  was  justified  in  dismissing  Pinchot; 
Pinchot  was  right  in  his  policies,  but  he  should  have  resigned 
and  fought  his  battle  from  the  outside.  His  course  was  dis- 
organizing the  Department.  There  was  nothing  left  for  Taft 
to  do  but  to  dr.op  Pinchot.95 

ROOSEVELT'S  ROYAL  WELCOME  HOME 

An  emperor  could  not  have  had  a  greater  welcome  home 
than  was  accorded  Roosevelt  as  his  ship  entered  New  York 
harbor.  A  reception  committee  met  him,  and  a  parade  up 
Broadway  followed  his  landing.  It  was  a  satisfying  day  in 
every  respect  save  one — Roosevelt  would  not  discuss  politics. 
Many  sought  to  get  an  expression  of  opinion,  but  not  a  word 
could  be  had.  His  first  utterance  of  a  political  character  was 
his  telegram  a  month  later  from  Harvard  College  to  State 
Senator  Frederick  Davenport,  of  New  York,  urging  the 
prompt  enactment  of  the  Hinman-Greene  direct  primary  bill. 
That  telegram  followed  his  talk  with  Governor  Hughes. 
After  that  flash  from  Roosevelt  there  came  another  period 
of  silence. 

Toward  midsummer,  Herbert  Parsons,  then  Congressman, 
national  committeeman  and  boss  of  New  York  City  Repub- 
licans, called  at  the  "Evening  Mail's"  office,  and  urged  me  to 
have  our  ship  news  reporter  meet  William  Barnes,  Jr.,  on  an 
incoming  steamer  from  Europe.  He  wanted  Barnes  asked 
whether  he  would  favor  Roosevelt  as  chairman  of  the  ap- 
proaching State  convention.  At  that  time  Barnes  was  the 
acknowledged  leader  of  the  "Old  Guard"  Republicans  in  New 
York. 

"Why  should  our  ship  news  man  waste  time  with  that  ques- 
tion?" I  asked  Parsons.  "I  can  write  Barnes'  answer  in  ad- 
vance. He's  against  it.  He  is  for  Sherman,"  (then  Vice 
President). 

"Of  course  he  is  against  Roosevelt,"  came  the  quick  re- 
sponse from  Parsons.  "I  know  that  as  well  as  you  do.  I  want 

380 


As  I  Knew  Them 

him  to  say  so  publicly.  We  have  tried  in  every  way  to  interest 
the  Colonel  in  this  convention,  and  have  failed.  He  thinks 
he  had  better  keep  out  of  it.  He's  our  only  hope  to  gain 
control.  A  declaration  by  Barnes  against  him  might  stir  the 
Colonel  to  action.  Anyhow,  we  would  be  able  to  press  him 
harder." 

So  down  the  bay  on  the  revenue  cutter  went  the  "Evening 
Mail's"  ship  news  reporter  charged  to  induce  Barnes  to  voice 
his  hostility  to  the  Colonel.  The  reporter  did  his  work  too 
well.  That  afternoon  the  "Evening  Mail"  published  an  inter- 
view with  the  returning  Republican  chieftain  declaring  against 
Roosevelt  for  chairman  of  the  convention  and  in  favor  of 
Vice  President  Sherman.  It  was  a  characteristic  Barnes  talk 
— frank,  positive,  straight  to  the  issue. 

ROOSEVELT  UNDERTAKES  A  LOSING  BATTLE 

Of  course,  I  cannot  say  that  the  Barnes  outburst  led  the 
Colonel  finally  to  acquiesce  in  the  movement  to  make  him 
chairman  of  the  convention  and  sponsor  for  the  nomination 
of  Henry  L.  Stimson,  Taft's  Secretary  of  War,  for  Gov- 
ernor. Parsons  took  the  published  interview  to  Oyster  Bay, 
but  I  never  asked  how  he  used  it  there.  All  I  know  is  that  the 
Colonel's  refusals  grew  milder.  Finally  he  put  aside  his  own 
settled  purpose  and  yielded  to  the  persuasion  to  get  into 
battle.  He  tried  to  put  hope  into  a  hopeless  gubernatorial 
fight  in  New  York.  He  was  named  chairman  over  Sherman 
and  he  nominated  Stimson,  but  the  1910  tide  against  the  Re- 
publican party  was  too  strong  even  for  Roosevelt  to  stem. 

It  was  a  struggle  that  certainly  had  no  promise  for  him.  If 
he  elected  Stims'on  he  would  be  handing  the  State  over  to  a 
member  of  Taft's  Cabinet  as  Governor.  That  surely  was  not 
furthering  any  political  interest  Roosevelt  might  have.  If 
Stimson  should  be  defeated,  as  seemed  almost  certain,  the  cry 
would  go  up  that  Roosevelt  had  been  turned  down  by  his  own 
State  in  the  first  battle  after  his  return, 

381 


As  I  Knew  Them 

The  Colonel  was  advised  to  look  upon  that  side  of  the  ques- 
tion before  identifying  himself  with  such  a  hopeless  prospect, 
but  he  refused.  The  result  in  New  York  was  proportionately 
better  for  Republicans  than  in  other  States — (for  the  Demo- 
cratic tidal  wave  ran  high  everywhere) — but  that  fact  did 
not  prevent  the  outcry  that  Roosevelt  had  been  beaten  in  an 
effort  to  capture  the  Republican  organization  in  the  Empire 
State. 


3*2 


CHAPTER    XLVII 


THE  TAFT  BREAK,  AS  TOLD  BY  ROOSEVELT 

"Preposterous  To  Believe  I  Would  Want  A  President  To  Be  Merely 
A  Pale  Shadow"  —  He  And  Taft  Knew  The  Facts  And  In  Their  Own 
Hearts  Could  Decide—  The  Naming  Of  Luke  Wright—  "Tell  The  Boys 
I  Want  To  Continue  All  Of  Them"  Said  Taft,  But  All  Were  Dropped 
—All  That  Roosevelt  Asked  Was  That  Taft  Should  Satisfy  The 
People. 


,  permit  me  to  recall  to  the  reader  my  talk  with 
Roosevelt  in  the  White  House  a  few  days  before  the 
expiration  of  his  term,  for  I  want  to  reveal  here  what  was  deep 
down  in  his  mind  at  the  very  moment  he  was  urging  others  to 
give  Taft  a  fair  chance. 

To  tell  the  story  properly  I  must  state  that  in  February, 
1916,  I  was  in  Trinidad,  West  Indies,  with  Colonel  Roosevelt 
and  returned  home  with  him  on  the  steamer  Matura.  We  had 
many  talks  on  deck  those  twelve  or  thirteen  days  at  sea.  One 
afternoon  I  said  to  him: 

"Colonel,  all  your  enemies  and  a  few  of  your  friends  think 
that  you  broke  with  Taft  because  you  could  not  control  him, 
and  that  you,  therefore,  are  more  to  blame  than  Taft.  I 
know  that  is  not  true,  but  I  do  not  know,  nor  does  anyone 
else  know,  the  facts  from  your  own  lips." 

"It's  -too  preposterous/7  he  interrupted. 

"Maybe  it  is,"  I  responded,  "but  you  are  not  fair  to  your- 
self to  remain  silent." 

uTaft  knows  it  is  not  so;  I  know  it  is  not  so/1  he  again 
interrupted  rather  hotly.  "It  does  not  concern  others." 

uYes,  it  does,"  I  insisted.  "It  concerns  me  as  your  friend; 
it  concerns  the  four  and  a  quarter  million  voters  who  sup- 
ported you  in  1912.  They  have  to  defend  you  against  such 

383 


As  I  Knew  Them 

charges;  they  do  so  because  of  their  faith  in  you  but  you  give 
them  no  help  in  the  way  of  fact.  I  think  you  owe  it  to  them 
to  do  so." 

"It  has  never  come  to  me  in  that  light,"  Roosevelt  replied. 
"I  have  regarded  whether  faith  was  kept  or  not  as  a  matter 
that  only  Taft  and  I  knew  and  in  our  own  hearts  could  decide. 
So  I  have  had  nothing  to  say,  but  if  you  care  now  to  take  down 
a  statement  of  the  facts  I  will  be  glad  to  make  one  only  to  be 
released  publicly  after  you  and  I  agree  that  it  should  be." 

Other  matters  engaged  attention  after  our  return  home, 
and  I  never  pressed  for  "leave  to  print."  Here  is  that 
statement  : 

(STATEMENT   MADE   TO   ME   AND   REVISED    BY   THEODORE 

ROOSEVELT  ON  S.S.  MATURA,  RETURNING  FROM 

TRINIDAD,  H.  L.  S.) 

"There  was  no  one  incident  on  which  I  broke  with  Taft. 
It  was  a  series  of  incidents,  an  accumulation  of  disappoint- 
ments and  of  positive  evidences  of  failure  to  carry  out  in 
action  the  intentions  he  expressed  in  words.  None  of  these 
matters  included  in  the  remotest  degree  anything  in  which  I 
had  a  personal  interest — that  is,  an  interest  in  which  I  as  an 
individual  was  solely  concerned. 

"I  never  asked  him  to  do  a  single  thing;  I  was  deeply  con- 
cerned that  the  Republican  party  should  continue  to  be  the 
party  of  idealism  and  of  advancing  policies.  I  knew  and  rec- 
ognized that  it  had  a  period  of  constructive  work  ahead  of  it, 
rather  than  destructive  work,  and  I  realized  that  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  things  there  would  have  to  be  adjustments  and  changes 
from  the  lines  laid  down  in  my  own  administration. 

"It  is  perfectly  preposterous  for  anyone  to  believe  that  I 
would  want  a  President  of  the  United  States  to  be  merely  a 
pale  shadow  of  his  predecessor,  no  matter  who  that  predeces- 
sor might  be. 

"In  the  case  of  Mr.  Taft  it  must  be  manifest  to  everyone 

384 


As  I  Knew  Them 

that  the  only  way  he  could  justify  the  deep  interest  I  had 
shown  in  his  nomination  and  election  was  by  making  an  Ad- 
ministration that  would  satisfy  the  people.  His  relations  with 
me  could  not  be  made  the  test  of  his  success  or  failure. 

"Yes,  it  is  true  that  before  I  left  the  White  House  I  began 
to  see  another  Taft  than  the  Taft  I  knew  as  Secretary  of  War. 
When  he  came  to  me  to  go  over  his  letter  of  acceptance,  I 
gave  him  the  best  advice  I  could  regarding  it,  and  to  a  large 
extent  he  acted  on  it.  At  that  time,  he  exhausted  the  English 
language  for  words  with  which  to  express  his  obligation  to  me, 

"About  that  time,  I  had  to  name  a  successor  to  him  as 
Secretary  of  War.  I  told  him  it  was  difficult  to  get  a  first- 
class  man  to  take  the  place  for  a  few  months.  He  asked  me 
if  I  had  anyone  in  mind,  and  I  replied  yes.  I  wanted  to  name 
a  Southern  Democrat,  and  had  Luke  Wright  of  Tennessee  in 
mind.  I  added  that  I  did  not  believe  I  could  get  Wright  for 
such  a  short  time,  but  that  if  he  felt  that  he  would  like  to  have 
him  too,  the  fact  might  weigh  with  him.  Taft  replied  that  it 
would  be  a  fine  appointment,  and  he  would  be  glad  to  have 
him  in  his  Cabinet 

u  'Remember  that  I  am  not  asking  this  as  a  favor  to  me,' 
I  continued.  'I  am  trying  to  get  a  good  man  in  the  interests 
of  the  department.  I  would  prefer  to  name  a  man  whom  you 
will  continue,  but  if  you  do  not  care  to  commit  yourself  I  will 
go  ahead  and  do  the  best  I  can  without  involving  you  at  all.' 

"Taft  reiterated  that  he  would  be  more  than  pleased  to 
continue  Wright  if  I  named  him. 

"  'Then  I  can  tell  Wright,  when  I  offer  him  the  place,  that 
I  am  speaking  for  you  as  well  as  for  myself?' 

"  'You  can.' 

"I  did  so,  but  Mr.  Wright's  career  as  Secretary  of  War 
ended  when  Taft  became  President. 

"About  the  same  time,  Taft  brought  up  the  subject  of  his 
Cabinet.  'I  wish  you  would  tell  the  boys  I  have  been  working 
with  that  I  want  to  continue  all  of  them,'  he  said,  'They  are 

385 


As  I  Knew  Them 

all  fine  fellows,  and  they  have  been  mighty  good  to  me.  I 
want  them  all  to  stay  just  as  they  are.' 

"  'Why  don't  you  tell  them  so  yourself?'  I  asked. 

"  'No,  I  don't  want  to  do  that.  I  don't  want  to  make  any 
promises.  I  want  to  be  in  a  position  to  say  that  I  have  no 
promises  out.  I  wish,  though,  that  you  would  tell  them  just 
how  I  feel  and  let  them  know  that  I  want  the  Cabinet  to 
stand  just  as  it  is.' 

"  'That  cannot  be,'  I  replied,  'and  should  not  be.  Metcalf, 
for  instance,  wants  to  go  back  to  California.  Root  wants  to 
get  out  of  public  life  unless  he  can  be  United  States  Senator, 
and  I  do  not  believe  that  you  and  Cortelyou  would  get  on  well 
together.  Those  changes  must  come,  I  believe.  Straus, 
Meyer,  Garfield  and  Wilson,  however,  would,  I  think,  be 
glad  to  stay  on,  and  if  you  really  want  me  to  talk  with  them 
about  it,  I  will  gladly  tell  them  of  your  intentions.' 

"  'Yes,  I  wish  you  would,'  replied  Taft. 

"I  acted  on  Taft's  suggestion  within  the  next  day  or  two, 
and  the  matter  seemed  to  be  settled  until  shortly  after  elec- 
tion the  men  named  heard  from  several  quarters  that  Mr. 
Taft  was  considering  their  successors.  Naturally,  they  came 
to  me  about  it,  and  investigation  proved  that  the  rumors  were 
true.  All  four  men  were  slated  to  go. 

"Senator  Lodge,  of  Massachusetts,  interested  himself  in 
behalf  of  George  Meyer  and  persuaded  Taft  to  reconsider 
his  decision.  In  order  to  have  this  new  decision  hold  until 
the  appointment  was  made,  I  sent  for  Meyer  one  day  while 
Taft  was  calling  upon  me,  and  told  Taft  that  Meyer  was  on 
his  way  over  to  thank  him  for  the  assurance  he  had  given 
Lodge  the  day  before. 

"Perhaps  if  the  matter  had  been  permitted  to  drift,  Taft 
might  have  changed  his  mind  again.  As  it  was  he  and  Wilson 
were  the  only  men  continued,  although  Hitchcock  was  restored 
to  the  place  he  resigned  when  he  became  Taft's  campaign 
manager. 

"Now,  to  go  back  to  the  period  of  the  campaign,  I  found 

386 


As  I  Knew  Them 

as  we  got  into  September  that  Taft  was  drifting  more  and 
more  away  from  the  men  with  whom  he  had  been  identified. 
1  do  not  refer  to  myself  alone,  for  I  tried  hard  to  keep  out  of 
his  affairs  except  to  the  extent  that  he  and  others  with  him 
believed  I  could  be  helpful.  But  a  policy  of  exclusion  of  all 
the  men  who  had  any  relation  at  all  with  me  or  what  I  stood 
for  seemed  to  have  been  inaugurated,  under  the  guidance  of 
Charles  and  Henry  Taft." 


387 


CHAPTER     XLVIII 


"MY  HAT'S  IN  THE  RING!" 

The  News  Stirred  The  Deadened  Party  Waters  Into  Tempest-Tossed 
Waves  Through  igis  —  Roosevelt's  Early  Refusals  Cost  Many  Dele- 
gates— -'Let  Taft  Take  His  Spanking;1  Said  The  Colonel—  Taft 
Named  Because  "  There's  Nothing  Else  To  Do"  —  "  Gentlemen,  They're 
Off!"  Said  Roosevelt  —  Walter  Broivn  Urges  A  Columbus  Speech  And 
Promises  A  Crowd  That  Will  Tie  Up  The  Trolley  Lines  Of  The 
City—  It  Does  That,  And  More,  Too. 


in  the  r'n£!"  —  Roosevelt 
"Death  alone  can  take  me  out  now  I"  —  Taft. 

"I'm  nobody's  cloak.    I'll  fight  to  the  finish  1"  —  La  Follette. 

These  three  declarations  in  the  early  weeks  of  1912  gave 
Republicans  warning  of  a  more  destructive  storm  than  the 
party  had  ever  been  called  upon  to  weather.  The  Mugwump 
revolt  in  the  Elaine  campaign  of  1884  was  a  summer  breeze 
compared  with  the  typhoon-like  character  of  this  new  conflict, 
though  in  each  year  the  Republican  party  was  split  and  a 
Democrat  elected  President.  It  was  not  out  of  line  with  the 
emotional  character  of  the  1912  campaign  that,  toward  its 
close,  the  country  was  startled  by  the  shooting  of  Roosevelt 
while  in  Milwaukee. 

Clouds  had  been  gathering  over  Republican  councils  ever 
since  the  1910  Congress  elections  had  demonstrated  that  the 
Taft  Administration  was  not  in  favor.  The  Republican 
national  committee,  meeting  at  Washington  in  December, 
1911,  In  the  spirit  of  men  arranging  funeral  services,  had 
chosen  Chicago,  June  18,  as  the  place  and  time  for  the  national 
convention.  The  absurd  idea  that  every  President  must  be 
renominated,  and  the  known  power  of  a  President  to  force  his 
own  renomination,  led  Republican  leaders  gloomily  to  accept 

388 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Taft  as  inescapable  and  to  prepare  to  take  their  licking  at  the 
polls  in  November. 

"There's  nothing  else  to  do,1'  was  the  hopeless  answer  to 
inquiries. 

The  announcements  from  Taft  and  La  Follette  were  ac- 
cepted as  perfunctory  campaign  literature.  Not  a  ripple  dis- 
turbed the  mill-pond  stillness  of  party  waters.  A  fog-bank  of 
inevitable  defeat  enveloped  everyone.  Nothing  mattered 
much. 

When  later  Roosevelt  threw  his  hat  in  the  ring,  however, 
all  knew  stirring  times  were  ahead;  at  once  the  waters  lost 
their  calmness. 

NOBODY  KNEW — NOT  EVEN  THE  COLONEL 

Before  his  announcement  there  had  been  rumors,  plenty 
of  them,  that  Roosevelt  would  be  in  the  field.  Many  friends 
had  been  asserting  it,  many  denying  it,  many  hoping  it,  many 
deploring  it.  Nobody  knew — not  even  the  Colonel  himself. 
Had  he  known  it  and  decided  it  five  or  six  weeks  earlier  than 
he  did,  his  majority  in  the  Chicago  convention  would  have 
been  too  big  to  be  tampered  with;  but  that's  another  story. 

Some  people  will  always  believe  that  Roosevelt  eagerly 
sought  the  1912  nomination,  despite  all  that  may  be  said  to 
them  by  those  close  to  him  and  who  knew  his  mind.  I  realize 
the  futility  of  endeavoring  to  change  an  unchangeable  opinion. 
I  have  no  illusions  of  that  kind.  The  story  I  tell  is  my  own 
experience,  my  own  knowledge  and  my  own  interpretation. 
I  must  let  it  go  at  that. 

Roosevelt  had  the  privilege  of  every  other  citizen  to  seek 
the  nomination,  and  if  I  believed  that  he  did  actually  desire 
it  I  would  offer  no  apology  in  his  behalf.  He  was  a  citizen,  a 
Republican,  and  out  of  office;  no  voters  had  to  support  him 
in  the  primaries  unless  they  cared  to  do  so.  In  the  long  list 
of  delegates  elected  for  him  in  the  tremendous  sweep  of 

389 


As  I  Knew  Them 

state-wide  primaries  all  had  to  win  despite  the  antagonism 
of  a  national  administration's  patronage  and  influence. 


"NOT  YET,  BUT  SOON" 

"LET  TAFT  TAKE  HIS  SPANKING" 

I  suppose  I  talked  AT  Colonel  Roosevelt  a  dozen  times 
during  the  last  three  months  of  1911.  My  voice  was  only  one 
of  many — most  of  the  others  being  important  Republican 
leaders  in  different  States.  All  had  the  same  experience — he 
did  not  want  the  nomination.  The  reader  will  recall  the  talk 
I  print  on  an  earlier  page  in  which  he  stated  some  of  his 
reasons. 

When  the  National  Committee  in  Washington  adjourned 
the  gloom  among  the  members  led  them  to  gather  in  groups 
discussing  the  hopeless  outlook.  One  group  was  composed  of 
Walter  Brown,  of  Ohio,  Frank  Knox,  then  of  Michigan  and 

390 


As  I  Knew  Them 

now  of  New  Hampshire,  and  Edward  Lee,  of  Indiana.  Each 
of  these  men  was  chairman  of  his  State  organization.  They 
agreed  that  only  a  Roosevelt  candidacy  would  have  any  hope 
of  success,  and  determined  to  go  to  New  York  city  to  see  the 
Colonel.  They  telephoned  him  they  were  going  over  to  see 
him.  He  asked  them  not  to  do  so.  Their  visit  would  be 
misconstrued. 

"Some  other  members  of  the  committee  have  said  they 
wanted  to  see  me,"  he  continued,  "and  I  have  told  them  the 
same  thing." 

Still  they  persisted.  It  was  finally  agreed  that  the  three 
State  Chairmen  would  call  at  Oyster  Bay  next  day. 

When  they  arrived  the  Colonel  did  not  wait  for  his  visitors 
to  state  their  views.  He  began  the  talk: 

"I  am  not  in  this  situation,"  he  said,  "and  I  am  not  going 
to  be  dragged  into  it.  Taft  created  it  and  let  Taft  take  his 
spanking  for  it.  There  is  no  reason  why  I  should.  If  I 
wanted  four  years  more  in  the  White  House  I  would  say  so 
and  go  after  it;  but  I  don't  want  it.  I've  had  enough.  I 
couldn't  go  back  without  risking  all  I  gained  in  the  seven 
years  I  was  there." 

NOT  THE  ONLY  MAN  WHO   COULD  WIN 

"Colonel,"  interrupted  Frank  Knox,  "I  never  knew  you  to 
show  the  white  feather,  and  you  should  not  do  so  now." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  that?"  asked  Roosevelt,  astonished 
and  angered. 

"Why  you  are  basing  your  refusal  on  the  possibly  bad  effect 
another  term  might  have  on  your  reputation,"  replied  Knox. 
"I  contend  that  you  ought  to  look  at  this  thing  from  the 
party's  interests  and  not  your  own.  The  party  has  honored 
you,  and  it  now  turns  to  you  to  do  a  service  for  it.  It  is  in 
distress  and  it  needs  you." 

"By  George,"  said  Roosevelt,  "that  would  be  a  good  argu- 
ment if  I  were  the  only  man  available,  but  I  am  not.  I  agree 

391 


As  I  Knew  Them 

that  Taft  cannot  be  elected.  I  do  not  know  that  any  Repub- 
lican can  be  elected,  but  if  the  party  can  win  I  am  not  the  only 
Republican  with  whom  it  can  win.  I  am  not  ungrateful  for 
the  honor  I  have  had,  but  I  think  I  have  repaid  in  service. 
When  I  left  the  White  House  every  State  we  had  any  right 
to  expect  was  in  the  Republican  column.  It  is  not  my  job  to 
put  them  back  again. " 

The  three  chairmen  left  Oyster  Bay  convinced  that  Roose- 
velt could  not  be  induced  to  run. 

I  knew  nothing  of  this  Brown-Lee-Knox  interview.  I,  too, 
had  been  in  Washington  while  the  National  Committeemen 
were  in  session;  I,  too,  had  returned  to  New  York  determined 
to  try  to  change  Roosevelt's  point  of  view.  I  saw  him  at  the 
"Outlook"  office.  It  was  the  same  old  story, — no,  no,  no! 

George  W.  Perkins,  Frank  Munsey,  William  L.  Ward  and 
others  urged  vigorously  and  had  the  same  experience. 

With  the  new  year,  however,  came  insistent  demands  from 
all  over  tlie  country.  Telegrams,  letters,  visitors  crowded  in 
on  him.  Little  by  little  he  began  to  .modify  his  "no";  little 
by  little  he  began  to  ask  questions  about  conditions  in  one 
State  and  another. 

"GENTLEMEN,  THEY'RE  OFF!" 

I  shall  never  forget  the  evening  meeting  in  J.  West  Roose- 
velt's home  in  New  York  city  early  in  February,  1912,  when 
Roosevelt  acquiesced.  The  house  was  a  typical  old  New 
York  home.  A  score  of  us  had  distributed  ourselves  in  the 
nooks  and  corners  of  what  New  Yorkers  once  called  their 
"back  parlor."  The  hair-covered  chairs  and  sofas  with  their 
curving  mahogany  frames  were  in  keeping.  Father  Knicker- 
bocker would  have  rejoiced  at  sight  of  them. 

The  Colonel  sat  in  an  arm  chair,  high-backed  and  wide,  in 
the  center  of  the  room  directly  under  the  chandelier,  the 
frosted  glass  globes  of  which  only  dimly-lighted  the  room. 
First,  Governor  Hadley,  of  Missouri,  and  other  Governors 

392 


As  I  Knew  Them 

present,  talked,  then  the  party  leaders  from  different  States; 
then  the  three  or  four  editors. 

Every  man  gave  his  frank  opinion  as  to  his  own  State  as 
well  as  the  nation.  The  Colonel  made  inquiries  of  each  of  us 
but  expressed  no  opinion.  Finally,  we  had  had  our  say.  There 
was  an  interval.  Many  of  us  began  exchanging  views  in  a 
low  tone,  while  waiting  for  the  Colonel  to  speak.  He  was 
evidently  doing  some  hard  thinking.  Suddenly  he  raised  his 
hands  high,  outstretching  them  as  though  in  benediction. 
Quickly  closing  them  he  brought  his  fists  down  like  a  flash, 
each  fist  striking  an  arm  of  his  chair  with  a  bang  and  in  a 
tone  almost  a  shout,  exclaimed : 

"Gentlemen,  they're  off!" 

We  knew  the  presidential  race  had  started! 

BROWN  GETS  THE   COLONEL  FOR  COLUMBUS 

Walter  Brown  had  come  on  from  Ohio  for  the  meeting  and 
also  to  persuade  Roosevelt  to  address  the  State  Constitutional 
Convention  then  in  session  at  Columbus,  Ohio. 

"Colonel,"  he  said,  uWilson  came  out  to  Columbus  and 
didn't  cause  a  ripple,  Taft  came  out  and  there  was  not  enough 
of  a  crowd  to  halt  a  trolley  car;  if  you  will  come  there  will 
be  such  a  crowd  that  the  whole  traction  system  of  Columbus 
will  be  tied  up." 

The  Colonel  was  strongly  against  a  speech-making  cam- 
paign. He  thought  the  contest  should  be  conducted  on  higher 
lines.  Brown,  however,  argued  that  a  Constitutional  Con- 
vention dealt  with  organic  law;  it  was  not  an  ordinary  gather- 
ing. The  Colonel  could  accept  the  invitation  of  such  a  body 
without  being  compelled  to  speak  elsewhere. 

Finally  the  Colonel  said  he  would  go  provided  certain  men 
would  approve.  William  L.  Ward,  of  Westchester  County, 
New  York,  George  Perkins,  Medill  McCormick  and  two 
others  whom  I  cannot  recall  were  named.  I  was  the  sixth 
member  of  the  group.  We  met  next  afternoon  at  the  Perkins 

393 


As  I  Knew  Them 

house.  The  final  vote  stood  five  in  favor  of  going  to  Colum- 
bus. Ward  asked  for  time  to  think  it  over.  So  far  as  I 
know,  he  is  still  thinking  it  over.  The  Colonel  accepted  the 
verdict  of  the  jury  and  agreed  to  go. 

ROOSEVELT  OBJECTS  TO  TWO-REVOLUTION  MEN 

Meanwhile  La  Follette's  followers  were  crowding  into  New 
York  city,  to  urge  Roosevelt  to  accept  their  platform  and 
become  their  candidate.  Governor  Hiram  Johnson,  just  then 
emerging  as  a  national  figure,  was  in  the  group,  which  com- 
prised  all  types  of  radicals. 

La  Follette's  collapse  physically  in  Philadelphia  made  it 
doubtful  whether  he  would  ever  regain  his  health,  still  more 
doubtful  that  he  would  be  able  to  carry  on  his  battle  for  the 
nomination. 

"I  can  stand  one-revolution  men,"  commented  Roosevelt 
when  he  heard  the  names  of  some  of  those  who  were  to  call 
upon  him,  "but  two-revolution  fellows  are  too  much  for  me; 
they  want  to  be  revolting  all  the  time.  I  cannot  be  their 
candidate." 


394 


CHAPTER    XLIX 
THAT  COLUMBUS  SPEECH 

La  Follette' s  Lieutenants  Sought  To  Edit  The  "Recall  of  Judicial  Deci- 
sions" Address,  But  Roosevelt  Stuck  To  The  Lines  Of  His  "Outlook" 
Editorial — Nevertheless,  The  Country  Was  Astounded  And  The  Col- 
onel Knew  He  Had  Made  A  Mistake — It  Surely  Tied  Up  More  Than 
The  Trolleys  Of  Columbus — Roosevelt  Surprised  And  Depressed — A 
Campaign  Of  Real  Spirit — Where  Roosevelt  Won — Barnes  And  La 
Follette  As  Allies. 

YT  was  unfortunate  that  the  visit  of  the  La  Follette  men 
•*•  to  Roosevelt  happened  while  he  was  preparing  his  Colum- 
bus speech.  They  insisted  that  he  should  say  something  to 
justify  them  in  going  over  to  him  in  a  body.  They  made  a 
number  of  suggestions;  some  he  accepted,  many  he  rejected. 
The  big  battle  between  them  came  over  the  recall  of  judges. 
That  was  a  popular  issue  in  the  western  States,  as  dear  to  the 
La  Follette  men  as  16  to  I  was  to  Bryan.  The  Colonel 
flatly  refused  to  endorse  it.  He  had  them  read  his  signed 
editorial  in  "The  Outlook"  of  January  6.  Several  days  of  dis- 
cussion resulted  in  Roosevelt's  concession  that  the  recall  of 
judges  might  be  advocated  "as  a  last  resort"  but  he  insisted 
that  the  "last  resort"  was  far  in  the  future  and  not  justified 
by  existing  conditions.  On  this  basis  he  resumed  work  on 
his  speech. 

Many  others  besides  the  La  Follette  men  saw  the  first 
draft  of  the  document  and  urged  their  widely  differing  views. 
Some  did  not  like  the  subject,  urging  other  topics;  but  so  far  as 
I  ever  heard  no  one  foresaw  the  damaging  effect  of  the  speech. 
The  final  revision  was  read  by  Frank  Munsey,  E.  C.  Converse 
and  William  L.  Ward  in  the  Vanderbilt  Hotel,  New  York 

395 


As  I  Knew  Them 

City*  When  the  Colonel  heard  from  that  group  he  turned  to 
me  and  said:  "Don't  let  anyone  know  you  have  that  speech. 
Give  it  to  the  Associated  Press.  I  don't  want  to  see  it  again. 
I  want  to  be  able  to  say  that  it  is  out  of  my  hands." 

TYING  UP  THE  COLUMBUS  TRAFFIC 

Meanwhile,  out  in  Ohio,  Walter  Brown  was  hustling  to 
make  good  his  assertion  that  the  Colonel's   appearance  in 


From  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer. 

IN  THE  RING  AFTER  IT 

Columbus  would  tie  up  the  city's  traction  system.  The  State 
seemed  to  be  awaiting  his  arrival.  On  his  way  out,  Roosevelt 
stopped  over-night  in  Cleveland.  Of  course  the  local  re- 
porters sought  an  interview;  of  course  they  wanted  to  know 
whether  he  had  decided  to  run. 

Then  came  that  historic  declaration  that  flashed  over  the 
country  like  a  streak  of  lightning. 

uMy  hat's  in  the  ring!  The  fight  is  on  and  I'm  stripped 
to  the  buff!" 

396 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Next  morning  he  went  on  to  Columbus.  It  snowed  hard. 
Nevertheless  the  crowd  that  Brown  had  prophesied  was  on 
hand  to  tie  up  the  trolley  system. 

It  was  not  the  tie-up  of  the  trolleys,  however,  that  concerned 
Roosevelt  and  others  next  day  when  they  read  the  newspaper 
headlines  featuring  the  recall  of  judicial  decisions,  and  adding 
interviews  with  lawyers  strongly  denouncing  the  Colonel's 
utterance. 

"It  looks  to  me  as  though  we  had  tied  up  the  whole  cam- 
paign as  well  as  the  Columbus  trolleys,"  I  wired  to  George 
Perkins,  who  had  gone  to  California. 

Newspapers  and  politicians  opposed  to  Roosevelt  pounced 
upon  the  speech  as  though  it  were  a  new  and  surprising 
declaration  by  the  Colonel  "to  catch  the  crowd."  Yet  they 
should  have  known  that  substantially  every  thought  in  it  was 
printed  in  his  signed  editorial  "Judges  and  Progress"  in  "The 
Outlook"  six  weeks  earlier. 

THE  STORM  AMAZED  ROOSEVELT 

Many  theories  might  be  advanced  for  the  explosion  that 
followed  this  reiteration  of  his  views.  Their  first  publication 
had  created  no  such  consternation.  Of  course,  in  January, 
he  had  not  declared  himself  a  candidate,  while  only  the  night 
before  his  Columbus  speech  he  had  thrown  his  hat  in  the  ring. 
Probably  that  accounts  for  the  different  reaction.  Whatever 
the  explanation  may  be  the  fact  is  that  it  was  the  most  sensa- 
tional campaign  utterance  since  Burchard's  "Rum,  Romanism 
and  Rebellion"  speech  in  1884. 

Roosevelt,  like  Elaine,  was  amazed.  Just  as  Blaine  refused 
for  several  days  to  make  any  effort  to  repair  the  damage 
Burchard  had  done,  so  not  until  a  week  later,  when  he  visited 
the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  did  Roosevelt  look  upon  the 
agitation  as  more  than  a  flurry.  In  Boston  he  was  staggered 
and  depressed  by  the  fierceness  of  the  assaults  upon  him. 

397 


As  I  Knew  Them 

He  had  never  been  called  upon  to  meet  such  a  storm,  and  he 
could  not  understand  It. 

I  do  not  share  the  opinion  that  the  speech  cost  him  the 
nomination.  I  do  not  believe  that  in  the  net  result  at  Chicago 
it  cost  him  a  single  delegate.  In  the  East,  the  delegates  he 
failed  to  secure  were  under  "organization"  control  and  would 
not  have  been  for  him  anyhow.  In  New  York  City,  for  in- 
stance, with  or  without  the  Columbus  speech,  he  had  no  chance 
against  the  local  machine  headed  by  Samuel  S.  Koenig.  Koenig 
fought  fair,  but  he  fought  to  win.  The  West  liked  what 
Roosevelt  had  said. 

The  Columbus  speech  hurt  because  it  intensified  the  opposi- 
tion not  because  it  cost  votes  in  the  convention.  It  always  cut 
Roosevelt  to  the  quick  to  be  assailed  as  a  reckless  radical,  and 
on  this  occasion  the  assaults  depressed  him  because  some  came 
from  men  who  he  thought  knew  his  purposes  in  life. 

ROOSEVELT,    FIRST  DEPRESSED,   THEN  VIGOROUS 

The  letters  and  telegrams  that  deluged  Roosevelt  follow- 
ing his  speech  and  the  incidents  of  a  visit  to  Boston,  where 
he  addressed  the  Legislature,  put  the  Colonel  in  a  frame  of 
mind  to  abandon  the  whole  campaign. 

Such  spells  of  despondency  never  lasted  long  with  him, 
however. 

He  went  to  work  on  his  reply  to  the  Governors  of  seven 
States  who  had  united  in  a  joint  request  for  him  to  enter  the 
primaries.  All  his  old-time  vigor  came  out  in  that  reply.  He 
knew  precisely  what  he  wanted  to  say  and  how  he  wanted  to 
say  it,  and  no  revisionists  dotted  an  I  or  crossed  a  T.  In  that 
letter  you  will  find  the  real  Roosevelt. 

Steadily  the  contest  developed.  Reluctantly  Roosevelt 
agreed  to  speak — first  in  one  place,  then  in  another — until  at 
last  he  was  booked  for  a  tour  as  in  a  Presidential  campaign. 
He  had  resisted  that  kind  of  a  contest,  but  the  appeals  for 
him  to  speak  here,  there  and  everywhere  were  beyond  his 

398 


As  I  Knew  Them 

control.  Had  he  foreseen  them  I  doubt  whether  he  would  have 
undertaken  the  fight. 

"FIGURE  OUT  HOW  MUCH  YOU  WANT,"  SAID  MUNSEY 

With  the  struggle  in  progress,  however,  he  put  himself 
in  the  hands  of  Senator  Joseph  Dixon  of  Montana,  and  Oscar 
King  Davis,  chairman  and  secretary  of  the  campaign  com- 
mittee, and  like  a  trained  soldier  he  obeyed  orders.  When 
Dixon  and  Davis  came  over  from  Washington  to  New  York 
in  February  to  be  told  that  they  were  to  conduct  the  fight 
for  delegates,  they  asked  the  obvious  question  how  much  they 
could  spend  for  publicity  and  where  the  money  would  come 
from. 

uFigure  out  how  much  you  want,"  said  Frank  Munsey. 

After  some  discussion  Dixon  finally  said,  uWe  ought  to  be 
sure  of  $50,000." 

"I'll  underwrite  that  much  if  you  two  will  take  the  midnight 
train  back  to  Washington  and  start  work  tomorrow  morning," 
replied  Munsey. 

"Done!"  was  the  joint  response. 

The  campaign  thus  begun  brought  out  every  energy  and 
enthusiasm  of  those  engaged  in  it.  If  you  were  interested  In 
it  at  all  you  were  overwhelmingly  interested.  Sacrifice  of 
time,  of  money,  of  comfort,  meant  nothing;  to  win  delegates 
was  the  one  thought.  Sacrifices  were  never  made  so  freely  as 
in  the  fight  for  Roosevelt's  nomination.  Certainly  in  the 
subsequent  Progressive  party  campaign  for  election,  individual 
ambitions  were  thrust  aside  as  never  before.  For  many  per- 
sons, their  course  meant  exile  from  party  honors  for  years  to 
come.  All  knew  it  and  all  accepted. 

If  the  experience  was  not  the  biggest  thing  in  our  lives  It 
was  the  finest — the  one  we  knew  would  be  the  best  remembered 
by  each  of  us  in  years  to  come ;  there  were  no  doubters,  no  timid 
ones;  we  believed  we  were  engaged  in  a  battle  for  the  right, 
and  we  battled  with  the  fervor  of  the  righteous. 

399 


As  I  Knew  Them 
THE  "STEAM-ROLLER"  CONVENTION 

Of  the  struggle  to  elect  delegates  to  the  convention,  of  the 
fight  in  Chicago  against  the  steam-roller  that  ousted  enough 
Roosevelt  delegates  to  give  Taft  control,  the  story  is  too 
familiar  to  be  told  again.  William  L.  Ward,  George  Perkins 
and  Frank  Munsey  were  the  directing  heads.  It  was  the  first 
experience  in  politics  for  Perkins  and  Munsey,  but  Ward,  of 
course,  was  even  then  a  veteran. 

You  couldn't  pull  a  trigger  faster  than  Perkins  could  act. 
Time  and  again  in  the  late  afternoon  he  would  have  a  dozen 
telephone  conferences  with  as  many  different  States,  so  as  to 
have  action  everywhere  at  once.  Down  in  Washington,  Senator 
Dixon  and  Oscar  King  Davis  were  also  fighting  with  tireless 
energy,  for  they  had  Congress  as  well  as  the  country  to  look 
after. 

Roosevelt  did  not  lose  a  State  in  which  a  primary  was  held, 
except  Wisconsin  and  North  Dakota,  where  La  Follette  won. 
Those  victories  meant  that  the  great  Republican  States  of  the 
nation  were  lined  against  the  Republican  President  they  had 
supported  four  years  before.  One  of  the  strongest  influences 
in  the  primaries  was  a  series  of  articles  in  Munsey's  Magazine 
by  Judson  C.  Welliver,  entitled  "Catching  up  with  Roosevelt" 
— revealing  Taft's  inability  to  do  so.  More  than  a  million 
copies  were  distributed. 

A  vote-making  campaigner  and  a  real  joy  to  all  of  us  was 
Bainbridge  Colby.  He  was  never  more  ready  in  wit,  brilliant 
in  phrasing  or  vigorous  in  assault  than  when  he  was  darting 
out  to  fill  over-night  speaking  engagements.  Enthusiastic,  tire- 
less and  determined,  he  inspired  everyone  to  greater  effort. 
Colby  also  led  the  battle  for  the  Roosevelt  delegates  before 
the  national  committee.  Had  the  Southern  delegates,  chiefly 
colored,  controlled  by  office-holders  been  taken  out  of  the  Taft 
column,  Roosevelt  would  have  had  almost  two  to  one  of  the 
convention.  As  it  was,  he  had  two-thirds  of  the  delegates  from 

400 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Republican  States,  and  a  clear  majority  of  the  whole  conven- 
tion, but  the  national  committee  saw  to  it  that  the  temporary 
roll  of  the  convention  was  made  up  with  a  majority  for  Taft. 

Making  up  that  roll  was  the  last  work  of  the  committee 
before  it  officially  ceased  to  exist.  It  had  been  chosen  in  1908. 
As  soon  as  the  convention  met,  each  State  would  name  a  com- 
mitteeman  and  a  new  committee  would  thus  be  formed.  Could 
the  contests  have  come  before  the  new  committee,  chosen  by 
the  just-elected  delegates,  the  Taft  forces  would  have  had 
only  a  minority  of  its  members,  and  no  unseating  would  have 
succeeded. 

The  absurd  custom  still  prevails  that  a  national  committee 
which  goes  out  of  office  with  the  opening  of  a  convention 
dictates  the  temporary  officers  and  makes  out  the  roll  of 
delegates.  It  is  a  sort  of  dead  man's  hand  over  the  initial 
proceedings.  However,  in  1912,  the  dead  man's  hand  had  a 
lively  knowledge  of  its  baleful  influence,  for  Bainbridge  Colby 
and  other  speakers  did  not  spare  them. 

BARNES  AND  LA  FOLLETTE  AS  ALLIES 

I  have  always  insisted  that  two  men  were  chiefly  responsible 
for  the  defeat  of  progressivism  at  Chicago — Robert  M.  La 
Follette  and  William  Barnes,  Jr.,  then  boss  of  the  Republican 
machine  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  field  marshal  of  Taft's 
working  forces  in  the  national  convention.  No  two  men 
in  politics  were  further  apart  in  purpose  than  La  Follette  and 
Barnes.  They  had  not  one  thing  in  common  except  the  defeat 
of  Roosevelt.  It  was  an  unusual  coalition.  It  exemplified  the 
old  saying  that  politics  make  strange  bedfellows,  but  never 
stranger  than  these  two  men  with  heads  on  one  pillow  dream- 
ing the  same  dream — Barnes,  a  reactionary  of  the  straitest 
sect,  La  Follette,  progressive. 

Barnes,  resourceful  and  daring,  directed  the  ousting  of 
Roosevelt  delegates  by  the  national  committee.  He  furnished 
the  brains  and  the  courage.  The  Committeemen  furnished 

401 


As  I  Knew  Them 

the  votes.  Barnes'  task  was  to  get  enough  Taft  delegates  on 
the  temporary  roll  to  elect  Elihu  Root  as  temporary  chairman. 
Control  of  the  convention  would  naturally  follow. 

La  Follette,  self-centered  and  vindictive,  declared  that  the 
leadership  of  the  Progressive  cause  belonged  to  him  and  to 
him  only.  He  was  determined  that  no  one  should  displace 
him.  He  preferred  to  have  the  reactionaries  remain  in  con- 
trol— even  nominate  Taft — rather  than  have  anyone  but  him- 
self come  out  of  the  battle  as  leader.  His  own  candidacy  for 


THE  OLD  ORDER — THE  LASH  OF  THE  BOSS 


the  nomination  had  degenerated  from  an  ambitious  hope  that 
he  would  be  named  to  a  vengeful  determination  not  to  allow 
any  other  Progressive,  especially  Roosevelt,  to  be  named. 
North  Dakota  was  the  only  State  supporting  La  Follette  out- 
side of  Wisconsin.  The  delegates  from  those  two  States 
pleaded  with  him  to  release  them  from  their 'instructions  so 
that  they  could  vote  for  Roosevelt,  but  he  threatened  lifelong 
antagonism  to  anyone  who  broke  from  his  column. 

Holding  his  delegates  in  a  detached  group,  varying  from 
seventeen  to  forty  according  to  circumstances,  was  the  La 
Follette  way  of  cooperating  with  Barnes.  He  meant  just  that 
many  less  votes  for  Roosevelt. 

402 


As  I  Knew  Them 
LA  FOLLETTE'S  ONLY  PURPOSE 

When  the  test  vote  came,  Root  had  558  votes  or  a  majority 
of  38  in  a  total  vote  of  1078. 

Thus,  "Fighting  Bob's"  rule  or  ruin  attitude  made  him  the 
ally  of  reactionary  forces  he  had  been  denouncing  for  years. 
He  and  Barnes  made  Taft  possible.  Had  Barnes  been  less 
daring  or  La  Follette  more  true  to  the  cause  than  to  his  own 
revenges,  Taft  would  not  have  been  nominated. 


403 


CHAPTER   L 
THE  PROGRESSIVE  CONVENTION 

Personality,  Plenty  Of  It,  Reigned  And  Rejoiced — A  "Call"  Or  A  Plat- 
form — Munsey  Talks  Dieting  To  Roosevelt — Beveridge  Insists  On  His 
Day— "I  Want  To  Be  A  Bull  Moose"-— A  Great  Speech  By  Bever- 
idge— "We  Stand  At  Armageddon." 

TF  YOU  did  not  attend  the  convention  of  the  national  Pro- 
**•  gressive  party  in  1912,  you  missed  a  thrilling  and  memor- 
able occasion.  Whether  or  not  you  agreed  with  its  purpose,  you 
couldn't  help  applauding  its  spirit,  its  tensity,  its  honest  belief 
that  it  stood  at  Armageddon  and  was  battling  for  the  Lord. 
Its  equal  has  not  been  held  in  my  day.  Every  delegate  was  his 
own  commander,  and  delighted  in  nothing  so  much  as  in  chal- 
lenging the  right  of  anyone  to  stop  him  thinking  and  advocat- 
ing anything  he  pleased. 

Perhaps  this  independence  was  emphasized  by  the  fact  that 
every  delegate  and  alternate  paid  his  own  expenses,  and 
naturally  felt  entitled  to  something  out  of  the  usual.  Those 
not  familiar  with  political  conventions  may  not  realize  what 
it  means  when  I  say  that  every  delegate  and  alternate  paid  his 
own  expenses.  Such  a  thing  never  happens  in  a  regular  party 
convention.  Rival  candidates  for  nomination  are  anxious  to 
pay  the  bills  of  their  supporters.  The  total  often  reaches  high 
figures.  We  had  no  rival  candidates  in  the  Progressive  con- 
vention. There  was  only  one  man  to  nominate. 

There  was  a  deeper  reason,  though,  for  compelling  all  who 
attended  to  pay  their  own  way.  No  one  knew  what  kind  of 
a  convention  could  be  assembled  in  Chicago  in  midsummer  at 
a  month's  notice.  We  knew  that  it  would  tell  us,  by  the  size 
and  earnestness  of  its  membership,  whether  or  not  there  was  a 

404 


As  1  Knew  Them 

real  response  "from  the  bushes"   to  the  revolt  from  Taft. 
We  wanted  that  test  made  on  the  right  basis. 

There  would  be  no  test  if  railroad  fares  and  hotel  bills  were 
paid  in  advance.  Two  convention  halls  easily  could  be  filled 
if  that  were  done.  A  real  test  could  be  made  only  by  establish- 
ing a  rule  against  providing  a  dollar  for  such  expenditures,  and 
trusting  to  luck  for  a  quorum  in  the  convention.  At  least 
we  would  know  whether  we  had  a  convention  or  only  a  caucus. 
This  rule  was  rigidly  adhered  to, — even  when  it  was  evident 
that  men  who  had  attended  the  Taft  convention  could  not 
actually  afford  a  second  one.  This  pay-your-own-way  plan 
proved  a  success. 

PERSONALITY  REIGNED  AND  REJOICED 

Instead  of  lessening  the  number  of  delegates  as  some 
feared,  there  were  double  delegations  from  many  States.  A 
finer  body  of  men  and  women  never  were  gathered.  Person- 
ality reigned  everywhere, — there  was  plenty  of  it  and  to  spare 
— from  Gov.  Hiram  Johnson,  of  ^California,  who  was  in  the 
Seventh  Heaven  of  delight,  because  he  was  in  revolt;  to 
Charles  Sumner  Bird,  of  Boston;  "Bill"  Flynn,  of  Pittsburgh; 
Cuney,  the  Texas  Leaguer  unseated  in  the  Taft  convention; 
Francis  J.  Heney,  of  California;  the  suave  and  eloquent 
William  A.  Prendergast,  of  Brooklyn  (who  made  a  brilliant 
speech  nominating  Roosevelt)  ;  Bainbridge  Colby  afire  with 
indignation  over  the  national  committee's  steam-roller;  E.  A. 
Van  Valkenburg,  of  Philadelphia;  William  Allen  White  and 
Henry  Allen,  of  Kansas;  Oscar  S.  Straus,  Chauncey  Hamlin 
and  Paul  Block,  of  New  York;  the  energetic  George  Henry 
Payne,  and  the  seven  western  State  Governors  who  had  round- 
robined  Roosevelt  into  running. 

You  could  get  a  spark,  a  flash,  of  hot  discussion  from  a 
group  of  delegates  as  easily  as  a  smithy  hammers  one  out 
on  an  anvil.  The  joy  of  friction  began  long  before  the  conven- 
tion assembled. 

It  began  early  in  July  with  the  call  for  the  convention. 

405 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Burdened  and  perplexed  with  many  other  demands,  Roosevelt 
had  undertaken  to  write  the  call.  As  usual,  he  showed  the 
draft  to  one  person;  then  to  another.  All  had  suggestions. 
The  Colonel  had  his  hardest  struggle  to  keep  the  term  Repub- 
lican out  of  the  new  party  title.  He  insisted  that  Republican 


G^O 


From  the  N.  Y.  Sun. 


"THE  OPEN  ROAD" 


was  a  hopeless  name  down  South;  with  a  party  having  some 
other  title,  he  could  gain  thousands  of  votes  there.  He  might 
even  carry  one  or  two  States.  Roosevelt  thought  splitting 
the  "Solid  South"  would  be  a  great  political  service. 


A  "CALL"  OR  A  PLATFORM? 


By  the  time  he  had  accepted  many  suggestions  the  "call" 
was  a  document  of  3,000  words.    He  sent  it  to  Senator  Joseph 

406 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Dixon,  in  New  York  city,  with  instructions  to  lock  it  in  his 
desk  until  released  next  day  (Sunday)  for  the  Monday  news- 
papers. Dixon  put  it  in  his  desk  but  failed  to  lock  the  desk. 
I  happened  along  while  Dixon  was  out  to  lunch;  seating  myself 
at  his  desk  I  looked  around  for  something  to  read  until  he 
returned.  There  lay  the  call!  Without  any  thought  of  its 
contents  I  picked  up  the  manuscript,  and  began  to  read  it. 
Frank  Munsey  came  in  at  that  moment  and  asked  me  what  I 
had  found  to  interest  me  so  deeply.  I  told  him  and  began  to 
read  it  aloud  to  him.  I  had  not  read  far  before  he  stopped 
me  and  said,  "That's  not  a  call,  it's  a  platform.  We  don't 
want  to  send  out  anything  like  that." 

"It's  all  interlined  with  T.  R.'s  handwriting,"  I  replied, 
"and  I  guess  it  will  have  to  go." 

While  we  were  talking,  Dixon  returned  with  Perkins.  His 
eyes  fell  on  the  document  in  my  hands,  and  if  he  were  not  a 
Quaker  I  am  sure  he  would  have  used  unprintable  language. 
Munsey  insisted  on  cutting  more  than  half  of  the  "call."  I 
agreed  with  him.  For  an  hour  we  discussed  it.  Then  Perkins 
telephoned  the  Colonel  that  it  wouldn't  do.  What  was  said  I 
do  not  know.  Perkins  laughingly  said  he  did  not  care  to  be 
shot;  he  would  not  go  to  Oyster  Bay  to  discuss  it.  He  left 
for  home.  Finally,  another  telephone  talk,  and  Munsey  and  I 
were  asked  to  go  to  Oyster  Bay,  to  supper — and  discussion. 

When  we  got  there,  a  hot  July  night,  we  found-  the  Colonel 
in  anything  but  a  placid  mood.  "There  are  no  two  men  I 
would  ordinarily  welcome  here  more  cordially  than  you  two," 
is  the  way  he  greeted  us,  "but  tonight,  in  view  of  your  mission, 
there  are  no  two  men  I  want  less  to  see." 

MUNSEY  TALKS  DIETING  TO  ROOSEVELT 

At  the  evening  meal,  Munsey  sat  on  the  Colonel's  right  and 
I  sat  on  his  left.  Every  moment  I  felt  there  would  be  an  ex- 
plosion, for  Munsey  had  been  studying  dieting  and  he  kept 
telling  the  Colonel  how  wrong  it  was  to  eat  cold  roast  beef  and 

407 


As  I  Knew  Them 

baked  Idaho  potatoes.  Roosevelt  was  taking  a  plentiful  help- 
ing of  both.  Nor  did  Munsey  believe  in  salt,  which  the 
Colonel  indulged  in  heavily.  The  peril  of  heavy  eating  and 
the  benefits  of  light  eating  were  told  us  with  the  deadly 
earnestness  of  a  revival  preacher.  Still  the  Colonel  kept  on 
eating.  He  would  look — almost  glare — at  Munsey  and  then 
take  another  mouthful;  look  again,  listen  a  moment,  and  then 
go  at  the  roast  beef  with  renewed  gusto. 

All  the  time  our  threatened  revision  of  the  "call"  was  also 
on  Roosevelt's  mind — and  nerves. 

Several  attempts  were  made  by  others  at  the  table  to  divert 
the  conversation  to  other  topics  than  dieting.  But  Munsey 
was  always  deeply  in  earnest  in  anything  that  interested  him, 
and  it  was  difficult  to  get  him  away  from  a  subject  until  he 
felt  that  he  had  enlightened  and  convinced  his  listeners.  On 
that  occasion  he  was  doing  almost  everything  but  convincing. 
He  did  not  lessen  by  an  ounce  the  Colonel's  meal.  My  own 
appetite  went  unsatisfied  because  I  kept  trying  to  decide  on 
what  I  would  do  when  the  Colonel  would  blurt  out  his  im- 
patience. The  Colonel,  however,  stuck  to  his  food  and  his 
patience. 

Soon,  we  were  in  the  library  discussing  the  "call."  It  was 
midnight  before  the  document  was  cut  to  half  its  original 
length. 

"Now,  gentlemen,"  said  the  Colonel  as  we  left  for  New 
York  city,  "we  have  had  our  battle  tonight  and  you  have 
won.  You  were  right.  It  would  have  been  a  mistake  to  have 
allowed  that  call  to  go  as  it  was." 

That  was  a  typical  Roosevelt  surrender, — frank  and  com- 
plete. 

BEVERI0GE  INSISTS  ON  HIS  DAY 

The  Progressive  convention  was  called  for  August  5  at 
Chicago.  Senator  Albert  J.  Beveridge,  of  Indiana,  who  was 
slated  for  temDorary  chairman,  was  also  to  make  the  opening 

408 


As  I  Knew  Them 

address.  Roosevelt  was  anxious  that  every  delegate  should 
know  at  the  outset  precisely  what  the  new  party  meant.  It 
was  arranged,  therefore,  that  he  was  to  speak  immediately 
after  Beveridge.  When  the  Indiana  Senator  learned  that  he 
and  Roosevelt  were  bunched  in  the  same  afternoon,  there  was 
an  outburst  that  threatened  for  a  time  the  whole  convention 
schedule.  Beveridge  declared,  quite  properly,  that  the  papers 
would  publish  the  Roosevelt  speech  and  minimize  his.  Two 
stars  could  not  shine  in  the  same  firmament.  Beveridge  tele- 
phoned from  York  Harbor,  Maine,  insisting  upon  a  day  to 
himself  or  no  speech. 

Gov.  John  N.  Parker,  of  Louisiana,  who  was  scheduled  for 
permanent  chairman,  was  entitled  to  his  opportunity  on  the 
second  day,  and  there  were  a  score  of  orators  for  the  third 
and  last  day.  Thus  the  task  of  arranging  speakers  was  as 
delicate  as  arranging  the  precedence  of  diplomats  at  a  dinner. 
There  were  not  enough  days  to  go  around.  The  Colonel  had 
prepared  what  he  called  a  "Confession  of  Faith."  It  con- 
tained 20,000  words,  even  after  Oscar  King  Davis  had  edited 
it  down  to  a  point  at  which  the  Colonel  stoutly  demurred.  But 
Roosevelt  still  insisted  upon  speaking  the  first  day,  and  so  did 
Beveridge. 

Finally,  in  the  Colonel's  library,  Davis  evolved  the  theory 
that  a  big  16  inch  gun  should  follow  and  not  precede  a  little 
gun.  Roosevelt  should  have  the  second  day,  provided  Parker 
would  yield  as  permanent  Chairman.  Parker  generously 
yielded — and  Beveridge  and  the  Colonel  each  had  his  day. 

Such  were  two  of  many  incidents  in  that  gathering  destined 
to  make  political  history.  They  tried  one's  patience  and  one's 
nerves,  but  they  were  the  outcroppings  of  intense  earnestness, 
and  finally  melded  into  a  great  enthusiasm  that  swept  us  along 
through  three  months  of  hard,  up-hill  campaigning  until  the 
last  ballot  was  cast  on  election  day. 

We  did  not  win  the  election,  but  we  had  been  in  battle,  and 
the  zest  of  conflict,  the  thrill  of  a  stubborn  fight  for  what  we 

409 


As  I  Knew  Them 

believed  was  right  had  stirred  us  more  deeply  than  any  other 
political  contest  ever  had  before  or  is  likely  to  do  again. 

"l  WANT  TO  BE  A  BULL  MOOSE7' 

The  convention  was  in  the  mood  for  a  jubilant,  heroic  time. 
Every  State  delegation  entered  the  hall  in  marching  order 
cheering  and  being  cheered.  Governor  Hiram  Johnson 
marched  at  the  head  of  the  Calif  ornians,  whose  banner  read: 

"I  want  to  be  a  Bull  Moose, 
And  with  the  Bull  Moose  stand 
With  Antlers  on  my  forehead 
And  a  Big  Stick  in  my  hand." 

The  Michigan  men  got  the  whole  convention  parading  to 
the  tune  of  their  song: 

"Follow,  follow, 
We  will  follow  Roosevelt, 
Anywhere,  everywhere, 
We  will  follow  on !" 

And  the  New  York  delegation,  headed  by  Oscar  S.  Straus, 
marched  through  the  aisles  singing  "Onward  Christian 
Soldiers!"  Surely,  we  were  all  set  for  a  fine,  care-free  time; — 
in  just  the  mood  to  greet  Senator  Beveridge's  opening 
sentences  as  Chairman:  "Knowing  the  price  we  must  pay, 
knowing  the  sacrifice  we  must  make,  the  burdens  we  must  carry 
and  the  assaults  we  must  endure, — knowing  full  well  the  cost, 
yet  we  enlist  for  the  war  I" 

The  Beveridge  speech  was  one  of  the  strongest  ever  de- 
livered in  a  political  convention;  had  it  been  made  in  a  regular 
party  convention,  it  would  have  been  accorded  a  place  in 
political  oratory  with  the  Conkling,  Ingersoll,  Garfield  and 
Bryan  speeches. 

No  wonder  Roosevelt  greeted  him  afterward  with  the  ex- 
clamation "A  great  speech,  Albert!  I'm  glad  you  insisted  on 
your  own  day.  It's  worth  two  days  1" 

410 


As  I  Knew  Them 

A  GREAT  BEVERIDGE  SPEECH 

The  speech  was  a  splendid  summary  of  Progressive  pur- 
poses.   These  extracts  give  an  indication  of  its  trend: 

"We  stand  for  a  nobler  America.  We  stand  for  an  undivided 
nation.  We  stand  for  a  broader  liberty,  a  fuller  justice.  We 
stand  for  social  brotherhood  as  against  savage  individualism.  We 
stand  for  an  intelligent  co-operation  instead  of  a  reckless  competi- 
tion. We  stand  for  mutual  helpfulness  instead  of  mutual  hatred. 
We  stand  for  equal  rights  as  a  fact  of  life  instead  of  a  catchword 
of  politics.  We  stand  for  the  rule  of  the  people  as  a  practical  truth 
instead  of  a  meaningless  pretence.  We  stand  for  a  representative 
government  that  represents  the  people.  We  battle  for  the  actual 
rights  of  man. 

"For  the  party  comes  from  the  grass  roots.  It  has  grown  from 
the  soil  of  the  people's  hard  necessities.  It  has  the  vitality  of  the 
people's  strong  convictions.  The  people  have  work  to  be  done  and 
our  party  is  here  to  do  that  work.  Abuse  will  only  strengthen  it, 
ridicule  only  hasten  its  growth,  falsehood  only  speed  its  victory. 

"The  root  of  the  wrongs  which  hurt  the  people  is  the  fact  that 
the  people's  government  has  been  taken  away  from  them.  The 
government  must  be  given  back.  And  so  the  first  purpose  of  the 
Progressive  Party  is  to  make  sure  the  rule  of  the  people.  The  rule 
of  the  people  means  that  the  people  themselves  shall  nominate  as 
well  as  elect  all  candidates  for  office,  including  Senators  and  presi- 
dents of  the  United  States.  What  profiteth  it  the  people  if  they  do 
only  the  electing  while  the  invisible  government  does  the  nomi- 
nating ? 

"The  first  work  before  us  is  the  revival  of  honest  business.  For 
business  is  nothing  but  the  industrial  and  trade  activities  of  all  the 
people.  Men  grow  the  products  of  the  field,  cut  ripe  timber  from 
the  forest,  dig  metal  from  the  mine,  fashion  all  for  human  use, 
carry  them  to  the  market  place  and  exchange  them  according  to 
their  mutual  needs,  and  this  is  business. 

"Present  day  business  is  as  unlike  old  time  business  as  the  old 
time  ox-cart  is  unlike  the  present  day  locomotive.  Invention  has 
made  the  world  over  again.  The  railroad;  telegraph  and  telephone 
have  bound  the  people  of  modern  nations  into  families.  To  do  the 

411 


As  I  Knew  Them 

business  of  these  closely  knit  millions  in  every  modern  country  great 
business  concerns  came  into  being.  What  we  call  big  business 
is  the  child  of  the  economic  progress  of  mankind.  Warfare  to  de- 
stroy big  business  is  foolish  because  it  cannot  succeed  and  wicked  be- 
cause it  ought  not  to  succeed.  Warfare  to  destroy  big  business  does 
not  hurt  big  business,  which  always  comes  out  on  top,  so  much  as 
it  hurts  all  other  business  which,  in  such  a  warfare,  never  conies 
out  on  top." 

Beveridge  concluded: 

"The  Progressive  Party  believes  that  the  Constitution  is  a  living 
thing,  growing  with  the  people's  growth,  strengthening  with  the 
people's  strength,  aiding  the  people  in  their  struggle  for  life,  liberty 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  permitting  the  people  to  meet  all  their 
needs  as  conditions  change. 

"The  opposition  believes  that  the  Constitution  is  a  dead  form, 
holding  back  the  people's  growth,  shackling  the  people's  strength 
but  giving  a  free  hand  to  malign  powers  that  prey  upon  the  people. 

"The  first  words  of  the  Constitution  are  'We  the  people'  and 
they  declare  that  the  Constitution's  purpose  is  'to  form  a  perfect 
union  and  to  promote  the  general  welfare.' 

"To  do  just  that  is  the  very  heart  of  the  Progressive  cause." 

"WE  STAND  AT  ARMAGEDDON!" 

The  same  turbulence  lasted  throughout  the  three  days*  ses- 
sion. Roosevelt's  appearance  on  the  platform  the  second  day 
led  to  an  hour's  demonstration,  which  was  repeated  when  he 
closed  with  these  words: 

"To  you  men  who  have  come  together  to  spend  and  be  spent 
in  the  endless  crusade  against  wrong,  to  you  who  face  the  future 
resolute  and  confident,  to  you  who  strive  in  a  spirit  of  brotherhood 
for  the  betterment  of  our  nation,  I  say  now  as  I  said  here  six  weeks 
ago,  we  stand  at  Armageddon  and  we  battle  for  the  Lord." 

It  was  in  the  color  of  such  a  convention  that  no  one  should 
ask  a  formal  roll  call  on  any  question  or  demand  a  ballot  for 
candidates.  We  were  voting  enthusiasms,  and  they  could 
neither  be  counted  nor  divided.  It  probably  is  the  only  na- 

412 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ional  convention  of  which  it  can  be  said  that  it  never  had  a  roll 
all  or  cast  a  ballot. 

The  great  climax  came  when  the  two  nominees,  Roosevelt 
,nd  Johnson,   appeared  on   the  stage,  walking  side  by  side 


THE    SPIRIT   OF    1912! 

;o  the  front,  while  a  banner  was  unfolded  from  the  rafters 
ibove  them  reading : 

"Roosevelt  and  Johnson! 
New  York  and  California 
Hands  across  the  Continent ! 
For  there  is  neither  east  nor  west 
Border  nor  breed  nor  birth, 
When  two  strong  men  stand  face  to  face 
Though  they  come  from  the  ends  of  the  earth." 

Naturally,  that  convention  has  a  tender  place  in  my  memory. 
I  shared  its  spirit  fully,  and  I  prize  the  recollection  of  every 
moment  of  those  three  days  as  a  lifelong  treasure.  If  the 
earnestness  and  high  purpose  of  those  delegates  could  be  put 
into  the  conventions  of  the  regular  party,  organizations,  there 
would  be  no  need  for  protests  such  as  that  of  1912. 


413 


CHAPTER    LI 

WAS  1912  A  MISTAKE? 

An  Earnest  Purpose,  Even  In  Politics,  Is  Never  A  Mistake — An  En- 
deavor To  Save  The  Republican  Party  From  Defeat  With  Taft — No 
Other  Thought  Back  Of  The  Roosevelt  Movement  Until  The  Theft 
of  Delegates — La  Follette  Would  Not  Do — Taft's  Weakness,  Not 
Roosevelt's  Strength — A  Result  That  Might  Have  Been  Secured — Nor- 
man Mack's  True  Forecast. 

\T7"AS  1912  a  mistake? 

*  *  To  many  persons  a  lost  battle  is  always  a  mistake. 
Historians  then  call  it  a  revolt  while  if  the  battle  had  been  won 
they  would  call  it  a  revolution. 

It  is  not  what  you  say  when  you  buckle  on  your  sword  that 
counts;  it  is  what  you  are  able  to  say  when  you  take  it  off. 

An  earnest  purpose,  however,  is  never  a  mistake,  even  in 
politics.  Those  who  strive  honorably  to  achieve  it  and  fail 
may  well  regret  defeat,  but  they  have  no  reason  to  regret  their 
effort. 

There  is  one  place  above  all  others  in  which  to  justify  your- 
self— that  place  is  in  your  conscience — 

Yet  still  there  whispers  the  small  voice  within, 
Heard  through  Gain's  silence  and  o'er  Glory's  din, 
Whatever  creed  be  taught  or  land  be  trod 
Man's  conscience  is  the  oracle  of  God ! 

It  may  be  that  of  the  4,150,000  voters  who  followed  Roose- 
velt in  1912  there  are  some  who  in  their  own  conscience — 
call  it  their  political  conscience  if  you  care  to  do  so— now 
believe  they  were  unwise  in  doing  so.  I  have  not  happened  to 
meet  many  who  take  that  view  and  personally  I  am  not  of  the 

414     . 


As  I  Knew  Them 

number,  whether  large  or  small.  My  impression  is  that  it  is 
small. 

If  a  refusal  to  see  the  Republican  party  go  down  to  defeat, 
without  endeavoring  to  save  it,  is  a  mistake,  then  the  struggle 
to  prevent  Taft's  renomination  was  a  mistake. 

If  a  refusal  to  condone  the  unseating  of  elected  delegates 
to  force  the  nomination  of  Taft  after  he  had  been  clearly 
defeated  in  the  primaries — particularly  the  primaries  in  all 
Republican  States — is  a  mistake,  then  the  Progressive  party 
was  a  mistake. 

It  is  conceded,  I  presume,  that  no  one  who  opposed  Taft's 
renomination  had  any  thought  at  the  outset  that  the  movement 
would  result  in  the  organization  of  the  Progressive  party. 

It  may  not  be  conceded,  though  it  is  none  the  less  a  fact, 
Roosevelt  was  made  the  candidate  in  the  primaries  not  be- 
cause he  desired  the  nomination  but  because  no  other  candi- 
dacy was  likely  to  insure  Republican  success  after  the  collapse 
of  1910. 

It  may  not  be  conceded,  though  it  is  none  the  less  a  fact, 
that  until  the  wrong  decisions  of  the  Chicago  convention  made 
it  impossible  for  the  anti-Taft  delegates  to  do  anything  else, 
a  bolt  was  not  contemplated. 

A  FIGHT  TO  INSURE  PARTY  VICTORY 

These  points  should  be  kept  in  mind  by  those  who,  either 
from  prejudice  or  from  lack  of  knowledge,  insist  that  the  pro- 
test against  Taft's  renomination  was  primarily  an  effort  to  put 
Roosevelt  back  in  the  White  House.  It  was  not.  It  was  an 
effort  to  insure  a  Republican  successor  to  a  Republican  Presi- 
dent who  could  not  be  reelected. 

The  unpleasantness  of  opposing  a  President  of  your  own 
party,  the  difficult  task  of  overcoming  in  a  nominating  conven- 
tion the  power  of  presidential  patronage,  led  many  Republi- 
cans of  the  "organization"  type  to  reconcile  themselves  to 

415 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Taft  and  defeat.  Many  justified  their  stand  by  the  fact  that 
they  held  office,  or  as  patronage  dispensers  had  secured  office 
for  others.  Loyalty  to  the  Administration  controlled  them, 
though  it  meant  disloyalty  to  the  party.  Others  insisted  that  a 
political  organization  must  stand  by  its  men  in  office  and  their 
record  whether  they  have  carried  out  its  pledges  or  not.  They 


t^l2 — THE  RETURN  FROM   MOSCOW 

declared  that  it  meant  defeat  if  they  failed  to  renominate,  and 
defeat  if  they  renorninated.  Hence  they  favored  renomination. 

LA  FOLLETTE  WOULD  NOT  DO 

Other  Republicans  beyond  the  influence  of  those  two 
theories  believed  a  candidate  should  be  found.  Throughout 
1911  efforts  were  made  to  find  one.  The  only  candidacy  that 
met  with  response  was  Senator  La  Follette — "Fighting  Bob/' 
of  Wisconsin.  Between  defeat  with  Taft  and  possible  success 
with  La  Follette, .however,  the  bulk  of  Republicans,  at  least  in. 
the  East,  would  have  taken  defeat.  Ten  or  twelve  years  later, 

416 


As  I  Knew  Them 

as  the  1924  vote  suggests,  they  might  have  accepted  La  Fol- 
lette  rather  than  defeat — but  not  in  1912. 

Until  Roosevelt  threw  his  hat  in  the  ring  there  was  hope 
that  someone  else  could  be  developed  who  would  be  strong 
enough,  despite  Taft  patronage,  to  win  the  nomination.  I 
know  Roosevelt  had  this  hope. 

When  he  finally  abandoned  it,  and  became  a  candidate,  it 
looked  as  though  the  Republican  party  would  be  able  to  crawl 
from  under  the  Democratic  avalanche  of  1910.  Its  only 
chance  to  do  so  was  by  nominating  Roosevelt.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve there  was  one  Republican  leader,  whether  in  the  Taft 
column  or  out  of  it,  who  in  January,  1912,  honestly  thought 
that  Taft  could  be  reelected. 

TAFT'S  WEAKNESS — NOT  ROOSEVELT'S  STRENGTH 

The  State-wide  and  district  primaries  for  delegates  to  the 
convention  reflected  this  Taft  weakness.  Substantially  Roose- 
velt carried  all  of  them.  His  delegates  came  from  Republican 
territory  while  the  Taft  delegates  came  largely  from  doubtful 
or  Democratic  States,  and  from  Congress  districts  controlled 
by  Presidential  patronage.  Taft's  weakness,  not  Roosevelt's 
strength,  showed  in  the  long  list  of  Roosevelt  delegates. 

Had  that  condition  been  other  than  a  guess  before  the 
primary  tests,  had  it  been  realized  that  Taft's  hold  on  his 
party  was  as  feeble  as  his  seven  electoral  votes  from  Vermont 
and  Utah  in  November  indicated,  there  is  every  probability 
that  such  a  man  as  Herbert  S.  Hadley,  then  Governor  of 
Missouri,  would  have  been  the  anti-Taft  candidate.  Hadley 
might  have  secured  almost  as  many  delegates  as  Roosevelt. 
But  contesting  a  nomination  with  a  President  in  office  is  no 
holiday  undertaking,  and  even  some  who  were  not  over 
friendly  to  Roosevelt  supported  him  finally  because  they  be- 
lieved he  could  be  nominated  over  Taft  and  they  were  certain 
he  could  be  elected  over  any  Democrat 

417 


As  I  Knew  Them 

WHAT  MIGHT  HAVE  BEEN 

Take  a  glance  at  the  situation. 

I  repeat  the  statement  I  made  as  to  the  opinion  of  Repub- 
lican leaders  early  in  1912 — that  Taft  could  not  be  elected — 
and  assert  that  every  delegate  who  voted  for  Taft's  renomina- 
tion  In  the  Chicago  convention  knew  he  was  nominating  a  can- 
didate certain  to  be  defeated,  even  were  Roosevelt  to  support 
him.  Most  delegates  candidly  admitted  it. 

Some  reader  may  ask  here  how  I  know  the  mind  of  every 
delegate  in  that  convention  inasmuch  as  I  did  not  poll  each 
delegate.  Since  they  were  all  more  or  less  in  politics,  they 
had  the  1910  defeat  in  mind;  they  had  in  addition  the  indis- 
putable evidence  of  the  primary  contests  that  that  weakness 
continued  to  exist  in  1912;  in  fact  those  contests  showed  Taft 
weaker.  Assuming,  therefore,  as  I  do,  that  the  delegates  were 
competent  to  judge  the  situation,  they  must  have  known  that  a 
Taft  candidacy  was  hopeless. 

One  might  justify  the  Taft  nomination  by  insisting  that  his 
defeat  would  be  preferable  to  Roosevelt's  election.  Delegates 
had  a  right  to  that  belief  and  to  vote  that  way;  but  the  exer- 
cise of  that  right  carried  responsibility  for  the  consequences  to 
the  party  on  election  day. 

I  do  not  contend  that  they  should  have  turned  to  Roosevelt. 
I  do  not  contend  that  they  should  have  disobeyed  telegraphic 
orders  from  the  White  House,  and  from  Attorney  General 
Wickersham  and  other  Cabinet  officers,  to  vote  for  Taft  and 
defeat.  I  do  insist,  however,  that  any  considerable  number 
of  them  could  have  united  on  a  compromise  candidate  and 
forced  his  nomination.  This  they  talked  about  doing,  but 
never  did. 

Just  before  the  convention  Taft  was  quoted  as  having  said, 
4 Whether  I  win  or  not  is  not  the  important  thing;  I  am  in  this 
fight  to  perform  a  public  duty — to  keep  Theodore  Roosevelt 
out  of  the  White  House."  Unfortunately,  he  kept  out  Roose- 

418 


As  I  Knew  Them 

velt,  the  Republican  party  and  himself.  It  was  in  his  power 
to  keep  the  party  in,  by  keeping  both  Roosevelt  and  himself 
out,  but  he  made  no  effort  to  do  so. 

NORMAN  MACK'S  TRUE  FORECAST 

I  remember  that  Norman  E.  Mack,  then  chairman  of  the 
Democratic  National  Committee,  said  to  me  in  New  York 
City  a  week  or  so  before  the  convention: 

uWe  can  beat  Taft  hands  down  if  you  nominate  him;  I  am 
not  so  sure  about  beating  Roosevelt  but  I  think  we  can.  You 
fellows  will  be  split  up  if  either  man  is  named.  If  it  is  Taft 
we  will  nominate  a  liberal  Democrat  and  get  the  liberal  Re- 
publican vote;  if  Roosevelt  is  your  candidate  we  will  nominate 
a  conservative  and  get  the  conservative  Republican  vote.  That 
is  why  our  folks  believe  we  have  you  beaten. " 

"Suppose  we  don't  nominate  either  man?"  I  asked. 

"Then  the  Democrats  will  have  a  harder  battle,"  replied 
Mack,  "but  you  won't  get  away  from  Roosevelt  and  Taft. 
Neither  of  those  fellows  will  give  up." 

This  experienced  Democratic  authority  gave  a  true  picture 
of  the  possibilities  of  the  Republican  convention.  His  opinion 
that  a  new  man  would  give  the  Democrats  a  hard  battle  was  a 
correct  analysis.  Obviously,  the  suggestion  of  a  compromise 
candidate  could  not  come  with  controlling  strength  from  the 
Roosevelt  camp.  After  the  adoption  of  the  temporary  roll, 
Roosevelt  delegates  were  in  a  minority  in  the  convention.  Re- 
sponsibility rested  with  those  in  control.  They  shrugged  their 
shoulders  at  defeat  and  took  Taft. 

That  determination  was  responsible  for  the  change  in 
political  history  that  occurred  in  November;  the  Progressive 
party  emphasized  but  it  did  not  cause  Taft's  defeat.  Had 
Roosevelt  acquiesced  in  the  Taft  nomination,  he  could  not 
have  persuaded  voters  to  follow  his  example.  The  tide  was 
too  strong.  Taft  seemed  to  have  lost  the  power  to  interest 

419 


As  I  Knew  Them 

the  people — to  interest  even  the  partisans  who  vote  at  party 
primaries,  for  they  had  declared  against  him. 

NOT  A  SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

No  one  expects  a  political  convention  to  be  conducted  like 
a"  Sunday-School.  It  is  a  battle  ground  and  those  engaged 
in  combat  know  that  the  hardest  blows  are  the  only  blows 
that  count.  Hard  blows  were  anticipated  at  the  1912  conven- 
tion, but  not  the  kind  of  blows  that  would  have  ruled  out  any 
contender  who  delivered  them  in  a  fair  fight.  The  unseating 
of  delegates  has  been  practiced  in  nearly  all  conventions.  The 
contests  usually  reflect  merely  local  factional  dissensions. 
Occasionally  they  mean  a  handful  of  delegates  for  one  or  two 
out  of  half  a  dozen  candidates  for  nomination;  they  seldom 
have  broad  significance.  In  1912,  however,  the  unseating  was 
done  to  control  the  convention,  its  candidate  and  its  platform. 
It  was  a  duel.  The  4,125,000  votes  polled  by  Roosevelt  are 
the  best  answer  to  those  who  ask  which  side  in  the  convention 
voiced  the  spirit  of  the  Republican  party,  which  side  was  striv- 
ing to  do  what  Republicans  wanted  to  have  done.  Those 
4,125,000  votes  also  answer  the  question  whether  1912  was 
a  mistake. 


420 


CHAPTER   LII 

GEORGE  PERKINS  AND  FRANK  MUNSEY 

Two  Men,  New  to  Politics,  Whose  Pledge  Made  Possible  the  Pro- 
gressive Contest  of  igi2 — as  Strange  as  Any  Friendship  That  Ever 
Existed — Perkins  Liked  Politics  and  Kept  On,  but  Munsey  Sought 
to  "Amalgamate" — Perkins  Tireless  in  Welfare  Work. 

GEORGE  PERKINS  and  Frank  Munsey  influenced  the 
politics  of  this  country  in  1912  more  than  any  other  men 
with  whose  activities  at  that  time  I  am  familiar.  And,  of 
course,  the  events  of  1912  had  their  marked  influence  on  na- 
tional politics  until  1920. 

There  certainly  would  have  been  no  national  Progressive 
party  but  for  those  two  men;  there  probably  would  not  have 
been  a  Roosevelt  candidacy  for  nomination  in  the  convention 
against  Taft  but  for  them.  Perkins  had  executive  ability, 
great  energy  and  money;  Munsey,  in  addition,  had  his  news- 
papers and  magazines.  Governors,  State  chairmen  and  local 
leaders  aplenty  were  urging  Roosevelt  into  a  contest  with 
Taft;  but  I  doubt  whether  he  would  have  acquiesced  had  he 
not  known  that  Perkins  and  Munsey  would  organize  and 
finance  his  battle.  He  realized  that,  without  organization,  his 
forces  would  not  be  effective. 

Six  months  later,  in  Chicago,  when  the  decision  was  made  to 
bolt  the  regular  party  convention,  they  were  the  men  on 
whose  word  Roosevelt  depended  to  insure  a  proper  campaign 
management. 

Deliberately,  I  have  used  "probably"  as  to  the  battle  for 
nomination  and  "certainly"  as  to  organizing  the  Progressive 
party.  I  speak  with  full  knowledge  of  the  facts  as  to  both. 
Had  either  Perkins  or  Munsey  faltered  in  Chicago,  the  call 

421 


As  I  Knew  Them 

for  a  national  Progressive  party  convention  would  never  have 
been  issued.  Therefore,  I  repeat  that  Perkins  and  Munsey 
influenced  the  politics  of  this  country  in  1912  more  than  any 
other  two  men. 

The  amazing  feature  of  their  activities  that  year  was  that 
neither  of  them  had  ever  figured  in  politics  before,  and  that 
Munsey  had  an  intense  dislike  for  politics  and  politicians.  He 
avoided  both  whenever  possible.  Perkins,  on  the  other  hand, 
liked  the  activities  and  the  excitement,  and  got  deeper  and 
deeper  into  the  game.  They  had  no  other  motive  in  urging 
Roosevelt  to  become  a  candidate  for  nomination  than  to  save 
the  Republican  party  from  defeat  with  Taft. 

In  Chicago,  they  resented  the  theft  of  Roosevelt  delegates 
and  in  that  frame  of  mind  refused  to  abide  by  the  decisions  of 
a  convention  that  in  their  firm  opinion  had  been  stolen. 

THE   FRIENDSHIP   BETWEEN   THE   TWO   MEN 

As  strange  as  any  friendship  that  ever  existed  between  two 
men  was  the  friendship  lasting  thirty  years  between  Perkins 
and  Munsey.  They  differed  in  temperament  and  in  many  char- 
acteristics. Both  were  positive  individualistic  men, -each  had 
to  dominate  in  whatever  he  undertook;  both  were  quick  in 
temper  and  quicker  still  in  action.  Seldom  a  day  passed  that 
they  did  not  meet.  They  knew  each  other's  traits,  and  guided 
themselves  accordingly.  I  knew  both  men  intimately,  sat  with 
them  often  in  discussion  of  public  men  and  measures,  and  I 
never  heard  either  of  them  advocate  a  course  for  a  wrong 
motive  or  for  his  personal  gain. 

Frank  Munsey,  sitting  alone  in  his  apartment  before  a  blaze 
of  Maine  maple  logs,  had  a  rare  talent  for  seeing  into  the 
future,  for  analysis  of  a  situation*  It  was  there  that  he  habit- 
ually sought  the  solution  of  all  his  problems  and  there  that 
he  made  his  plans.  The  day's  work  was  merely  carrying  out 
those  fireside  decisions. 

422 


As  1  Knew  Them 

Once  his  course  was  thus  determined,  only  actual  experience 
would  change  him.  He  would  insist  upon  a  demonstration; 
no  change  was  possible  until  it  was  proven  that  he  was  wrong. 
Then  he  would  quickly  change  and  admit  his  error.  But  he 
was  not  wrong  often,  though  he  frequently  had  to  wait  long 
to  be  justified.  Let  me  cite  one  example. 

I  spent  an  evening  with  Munsey  while  Woodrow  Wilson 
was  returning  from  Paris  acclaimed  at  home  and  abroad  as  a 
world  leader.  Wilson  had  his  League  of  Nations  covenant 
with  him;  opposition  to  it  seemed  small  in  number  and  less 
in  hope.  "The  Senate  will  never  ratify  it,"  said  Munsey,  "and 
if  it  ever  gets  before  the  American  people  they  will  vote  it 
down  two  to  one.  Every  year  that  goes  by  will  make  us  more 
and  more  thankful  that  we  never  entered  the  League." 

I  did  not  accept  Munsey's  prophecy — but  it  has  come  true. 

PERKINS  DEEP  IN  WELFARE  WORK 

Perkins  was  not  so  sure  of  himself  as  Munsey.  He  liked 
to  confer  with  others  and  to  search  for  facts.  Once  his  mind 
was  made  up,  however,  he  was  never  timid.  I  have  known 
many  men  generous  with  their  wealth  but  I  know  of  no  one 
who  equalled  Perkins  in  giving  time,  thought  and  money  to 
the  welfare  of  others.  When  he  resigned  from  J.  P.  Morgan 
&  Co.,  he  told  me  he  had  all  the  money  any  man  should  pos- 
sess; henceforth  he  would  devote  himself  to  public  affairs — 
not  public  office.  I  know  that  he  did  so  with  a  devotion  that 
meant  many  sacrifices — in  fact  that  really  cost  him  his  life. 

Roosevelt  as  Governor  had  put  him  at  the  head  of  the  Pali- 
sades Park  Commission,  some  years  earlier.  He  took  hold 
of  the  enterprise  as  though  it  were  his  own,  and  made  it  the 
wonderful  playground  it  now  is  for  thousands  of  people  un- 
able to  meet  the  cost  of  outings  elsewhere.  When  the  right 
man  was  needed  to  go  to  France,  in  1919,  to  straighten  out  the 

423 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Y.  M.  C.  A.  tangle  there,  Perkins  was  chosen — and  in  that 
work  he  so  exhausted  himself  that  he  was  never  well  again. 
Perkins  and  Munsey,  so  strongly  united  in  friendship,  never 
had  a  business  transaction  together;  each  sought  and  gained 
fortune  in  his  own  way.  And  they  knew  that  their  friendship 
would  endure  longer  if  business  transactions  were  not  in- 
volved. The  one  exception  was  the  National  Progressive 
Party  of  1912.  Perkins  managed  that  battle,  but  Munsey 
agreed  to  share  the  deficit.  Just  the  word  of  one  friend  to 
another,  without  a  line  in  writing,  was  good  enough  for  those 
two  men  to  undertake  a  national  campaign. 

MUNSEY   WANTED   AN    " AMALGAMATION" 

True  to  his  habit  of  abandoning  experiments  that  did  not 
work  out  Munsey  abandoned  the  Progressive  party  promptly 
after  the  1912  election.  The  figures,  great  as  they  were, 
proved  that  the  party  could  not  displace  the  Republican  or- 
ganization; division  meant  that  the  Democrats  would  continue 
to  win.  He  made  an  elaborate  analysis  of  the  vote  cast  by  the 
Republicans,  Progressives  and  Democrats  in  each  State,  and 
showed  that,  by  uniting,  the  Republicans  and  Progressives 
would  control  two-thirds  of  the  States,  as  well  as  the  Presi- 
dency and  Congress. 

Munsey  promptly  urged  them  to  unite — an  "amalgama- 
tion," as  he  called  it  in  the  terms  of  the  day.  In  his  signed 
appeal  to  uget  together"  Munsey  cited  the  success  of  indus- 
trial amalgamations  as  an  example,  and  insisted  that  political 
parties  could  be  merged  with  similarly  good  results.  In  poli- 
tics, however,  two  and  two  do  not  always  make  four,  and  the 
Munsey  amalgamation  did  not  gain  the  confidence  of 
politicians. 

However,  other  forces  were  slowly  uniting  the  two  wings  of 
the  old  party,  though  it  was  not  until  1920  that  Time  had 

424 


As  I  Knew  Them 

accomplished  what  Munsey  had  so  keenly  visioned  in  1912  as 
the  real  thing  to  do. 

PERKINS  STUCK  IT  OUT 

Perkins  did  not  accept  the  Munsey  viewpoint.  He  did  not 
believe  in  amalgamation.  He  had  gone  wholeheartedly  into 
the  Progressive  party;  he  had  seen  it  poll  more  electoral  votes 
and  more  popular  votes  than  the  Republicans;  his  confidence 
and  enthusiasm  were  not  lessened  because  the  party  had  come 
out  second  instead  of  first.  He  was  for  fighting  on — and  he 
did.  Perkins,  unlike  Munsey,  was  an  idealist.  He  gave  much 
of  his  time  to  the  Progressive  organization,  and  abandoned  it 
in  1916  with  great  regret  for  the  same  reasons  as  those  that 
controlled  Roosevelt.  Criticism  that  Perkins  was  dominating 
Roosevelt  through  the  years  following  1912  did  not  affect  the 
intimate,  confident  relations  between  the  two  men. 

Perkins  was  not  dominating — he  was  doing.  While  others 
talked,  Perkins  acted.  The  thing  was  done  before  others  had 
started.  Roosevelt  saw  that  quality  in  Perkins  and  admired 
it.  When  the  possibility  of  Roosevelt's  return  to  the  Presi- 
dency was  discussed,  a  question  often  came  up  regarding  his 
disposition  of  Perkins.  Many  thought  Perkins  would  insist 
upon  being  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  but  Roosevelt  told  me 
that  Perkins  had  notified  him  that  he  would  never  accept  office. 
He  did  not  care  to  be  tied  to  a  desk.  The  one  office  with  any  at- 
traction for  him  was  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor — 
there  he  might  help  work  out  some  welfare  measures  for 
labor.  Nevertheless,  he  believed  he  could  do  better  work  out 
of  public  office  than  in  it.  So  he  freed  Roosevelt  of  all 
obligation. 


425 


CHAPTER   LIII 
ROOSEVELT'S  ONE  PURPOSE:  BEAT  WILSON 

Never  Had  Any  Other  Desire  In  1916,  But  His  Name  Stalked  Through 
Republican  Committee  Meeting  Like  Banquo's  Ghost — Sails  For  West 
Indies  To  Avoid  Situations — My  Voyage  To  Trinidad  And  The  Re- 
sulting Message  To  The  Country  To  Get  Into  An  fe  Heroic  Mood" — 
A  Letter  From  Elihu  Root  That  Never  Got  To  The  Public—  T.  R. 
Hits  Hard  From  Trinidad — Wilson  Wanted  Roosevelt  As  Opponent* 

T>  OOSEVELT'S  name  and  purpose  attended  like  Banquo's 
-*-^  ghost  the  meeting  of  the  Republican  National  Committee 
in  Washington,  December,  1915,  when  the  1916  convention 
was  fixed  for  Chicago,  June  16.  The  same  rumors  of  a 
Roosevelt  candidacy  heard  at  the  meeting  four  years  earlier 
disturbed  the  councils  of  the  party  chiefs. 

In  1912  the  rumors  had  been  listened  to  with  hope  that  they 
were  true;  now  with  dread.  The  committeemen  knew  that  in 
the  minds  of  the  people  Roosevelt  was  the  only  sharp  contrast 
to  Wilson,  but  1912  was  too  close.  Many  Republicans  were 
unwilling  to  accept  a  Roosevelt  leadership  even  though  it 
might  lead  to  victory.  Nevertheless,  they  were  fearful  of 
another  contest  in  Republican  primaries,  and  of  another  cam- 
paign of  divided  opposition  to  Wilson.  Who  could  command 
unity?  The  committeemen  looked  inquiringly  to  the  U.  S. 
Supreme  Court,  where  the  sombre  robes  of  an  associate  jus- 
tice were  an  uninviting  prospect  for  politicians;  when  they 
turned  from  that  picture  and  looked  upon  other  possible  nom- 
inees the  figures  seemed  so  pale  and  thin  that  the  Roosevelt 
apparition  assumed  substantial  form;  the  committee  meeting 

426 


As  I  Knew  Them 

adjourned  with  many  members  confessing  their  inability  to 
find  a  candidate  so  strong  as  the  man  they  would  not  have. 

ROOSEVELT'S  ONLY  CONCERN:  BEAT  WILSON 

How  little  they  knew  that  man ! 

More  intent  even  than  they  to  have  Wilson  defeated,  moved 
by  patriotic  impulses  to  make  every  sacrifice  that  would  insure 
unity  and  success,  Roosevelt  had  no  thought  of  a  primary 
contest,  and  no  desire  except  to  find  a  candidate,  who,  if  pos- 
sible, would  unite  all  Wilson  opponents. 

He,  too,  had  vivid  recollections  of  1912.  While  he  be- 
lieved that  there  was  common  ground  on  which  Republicans 
and  Progressives  could  stand  to  fight  Wilson  there  was  still 
much  ground  that,  in  his  opinion,  they  could  not  then  occupy 
together.  Therefore,  while  he  was  not  concerned  over  their 
attitude  toward  him,  he  was  concerned  as  to  whether  they 
would  name  a  candidate  that  Progressives  could  accept.  What- 
ever differences  of  opinion  may  exist  as  to  Roosevelt's  desires 
in  1912,  there  can  be  no  honest  belief  that  he  had  any  purpose 
in  1916  other  than  to  find  the  man  most  certain  to  beat  Wilson. 
And  his  supreme  reason  for  desiring  Wilson's  defeat  was  his 
conviction  that  the  President's  timid  policies  were  forcing  the 
nation  on  the  rocks. 

Far  back  as  October,  1915,  Roosevelt  said  to  me:  uAt  best 
this  war  will  be  a  stalemate  for  the  Allies  unless  America 
gets  into  it.  I  don't  say  that  Germany  will  win,  but  I  do  say 
that  the  Allies  cannot.  They  may  check  Germany,  but  not 
more.  For  us  the  question  to  determine  is  whether  we  will  get 
into  this  war  with  the  Allies  cooperating  with  us,  or  go  into  a 
later  war  against  Germany  without  help  from  the  Allies.  Wil- 
son ought  to  see  that  we  must  make  a  choice.  I  wish  he  would 
realize  stern  facts  and  not  keep  up  in  the  clouds.  I  don't 
want  to  be  constantly  criticizing  him;  I  would  like  to  stand 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  him — if  he  ever  takes  a  stand  I  shall 
be  with  him." 

427 


As  I  Knew  Them 

FACING  PROBLEMS  IN  TWO  PARTIES 

It  was  not  difficult  that  year  for  Roosevelt  to  prevent  inde- 
pendent Republicans  from  using  his  name  as  a  candidate  in 
the  party  primaries;  he  promptly  stopped  the  first  efforts.  It 
was  difficult,  though,  to  determine  an  attitude  toward  the 
Progressive  National  Convention.  Should  it  precede  or  follow 
the  Republican  Convention?  Should  it  be  held  at  all?  Many 
Progressives  were  against  a  convention.  They  argued  that 
it  would  end  all  hope  of  unifying  the  anti-Wilson  forces.  It 
would  put  new  life  into  an  organization  that  if  left  alone 
would  disappear  before  campaign  time.  Other  Progres- 
sives argued  that  a  convention  was  necessary  as  a  club  to  force 
the  Republicans  to  an  acceptable  nomination;  they  believed 
that  agreement  on  such  a  nominee  could  be  brought  about. 

In  that  belief  the  convention  was  called  for  the  same  time 
and  place  as  the  Republican  Convention.  It  was  a  mistake  that 
led  to  the  most  humiliating  episode  in  Roosevelt's  career.  He 
would  have  been  wiser  had  he  promptly  faced  the  inevitable 
and  allowed  the  Progressive  organization  to  drift  out  of  ex- 
istence, as  it  was  doing,  for  delay  only  made  his  position  more 
difficult.  But  Roosevelt  was  controlled  by  loyalty  to  old 
friendships;  he  did  not  want  to  be  charged  with  abandoning 
a  cause.  He  was  confident  that  when  the  convention  met 
he  could  persuade  it  to  his  view. 

With  that  course  settled,  he  began  holding  conferences,  be- 
ginning with  one  in  the  apartments  of  William  Hamlin  Childs, 
with  Horace  Wilkinson,  George  W.  Perkins,  E.  A.  Van  Val- 
kenberg  and  others.  All  agreed  that  the  nomination  of  a  "re- 
actionary" by  the  Republican  National  Convention  would  com- 
pel a  Progressive  ticket,  but  there  was  more  than  one  interpre- 
tation of  "reactionary."  The  divided  opinion  then  expressed 
should  have  warned  the  Colonel  of  the  spirit  that  would  surely 
prevail  in  the  Progressive  Convention,  but  it  did  not.  He  never 
lost  faith  that  it  would  see  the  situation  as  he  saw  it.  He 

428 


As  I  Knew  Them 

had  to  notice,  however,  that  others  did  not  share  that  faith. 

AN  UNPUBLISHED  LETTER  FROM  ELIHU  ROOT 

Finally,  in  January,  to  take  himself  out  of  embarrassing 
political  situations,  he  sailed  for  a  tour  of  the  West  Indies. 
It  was  agreed  that  he  was  to  remain  silent  while  away.  Before 
his  steamer  had  reached  its  first  port  of  call,  it  was  stated  in 
New  York  City  by  someone  who  claimed  to  have  seen  it  that 
Elihu  Root  had  written  a  letter  to  be  read  a  month  hence,  at 
a  meeting  of  Republican  leaders  in  Chicago,  in  which,  while  he 
declared  he  was  not  a  candidate  for  President,  he  outlined  a 
sort  of  platform  for  Republicans  that  was  substantially  a  sum- 
mary of  Roosevelt  policies. 

It  was  alleged  that  despite  his  refusal,  Root  was  providing 
a  platform  for  himself.  Some  Republicans  opposed  to  a  Root 
candidacy  urged  that  the  Colonel  should  anticipate  the  Root 
essay  by  a  new  statement  of  his  own  views.  The  Root  letter 
was  addressed  to  Frederick  C.  Tanner,  then  Republican  State 
chairman.  Its  fate  is  a  political  mystery.  It  was  not  read  at 
the  Chicago  meeting,  nor,  so  far  as  I  know,  has  it  ever  been 
made  public.  The  discussion  in  New  York  city  regarding  its 
contents  led  to  a  series  of  cables  to  Roosevelt,  which  in  turn 
led  to  a  suggestion  from  him  that  I  should  catch  up  with  him 
in  Trinidad,  and  explain  what  was  desired  of  him  in  such  a 
hurry  and  in  view  of  the  understanding  that  he  was  to  say 
nothing. 

Germany's  sub-marines  were  then  making  ocean  travel  any- 
thing but  a  pleasure  trip,  but  it  seemed  to  me  that  if  Colonel 
Roosevelt  could  risk  a  tour  of  the  Atlantic  with  Mrs.  Roose- 
velt there  was  no  reason  why  I  should  hold  back.  The  steamer 
leaving  next  day  carried  Mrs.  Stoddard  and  myself  to  Trini- 
dad. There  I  met  the  Colonel  and  from  there  I  cabled  his  one 
thousand  word  statement — a  statement  that  stirred  Republi- 
can politics.  It  took  nearly  two  days  to  give  the  proper  tone 

429 


As  I  Knew  Them 

and  phrasing  to  the  document.  I  was  impatient  to  get  it  on  the 
cable,  and  the  delay  in  preparation  left  me  in  no  mood  to  meet 
with  equanimity  the  slow  processes  of  the  English  censor  in 
satisfying  himself  that  no  secret  conspiracy  in  behalf  of  Ger- 
many lay  concealed  in  Roosevelt's  words! 

It  seems  incredible  that  a  statement  from  an  ex-President 
of  the  United  States,  especially  from  one  who  at  the  moment 
was  being  feted  in  Trinidad,  should  be  held  up  "for  considera- 
tion." Nevertheless  I  had  to  abandon  a  trip  to  the  asphalt 
lake  with  government  officials  and  the  Colonel,  to  waste  time 
persuading  the  censor  that  there  was  no  hidden  help  to  Ger- 
many in  the  document.  I  sat  by  the  cable  operator's  side  until 
the  last  word  had  gone,  so  as  to  be  ready  for  any  new  objec- 
tion from  the  censor. 

"UNLESS  THE  COUNTRY  is  IN  HEROIC  MOOD" 

A  few  days  later  we  were  amazed  to  learn  from  home  dis- 
patches that  the  statement  was  regarded  by  some  Republicans 
as  a  bid  for  the  nomination.  This  feeling  was  reflected  at  a 
banquet  in  Trinidad,  where  the  Colonel  was  greeted  as  the 
next  President  of  the  United  States.  He  tried  to  explain  the 
situation,  but  they  would  not  see  it.  Nevertheless,  he  told  the 
banqueters  that  his  sole  purpose  was  to  arouse  the  country  to 
the  peril^  of  a  pacifist  mood,  and  that  he  regarded  his  own 
nomination  as  too  unlikely  to  be  discussed  seriously. 

In  that  statement  the  Colonel  said : 

"I  am  not  the  least  interested  in  the  personal  fortunes  either  of 
myself  or  any  other  man.  I  am  interested  in  awakening  my  fellow 
countrymen  to  the  need  of  facing  unpleasant  facts.  I  am  interested 
in  the  triumph  of  the  great  principles  for  which  with  all  my  heart 
and  soul  I  have  striven  and  shall  continue  to  strive. 

"I  will  not  enter  into  any  fight  for  the  nomination,  and  I  will 
not  permit  any  factional  fight  to  be  made  in  my  behalf.  Indeed, 
I  will  go  further  and  say  that  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  nominate 
me  unless  the  country  has  in  its  mood  something  of  the  heroic; 

430 


As  I  Knew  Them 

unless  it  feels  not  only  like  devoting  itself  to  ideals,  but  to  the 
purpose  measurably  to  realize  those  ideals  in  action. 

"This  is  one  of  those  rare  times  which  come  only  at  long  inter- 
vals in  a  nation's  history  when  the  action  taken  determines  the  life 
of  the  generations  that  are  to  follow.  Such  times  were  those  from 
1776  to  1789  in  the  days  of  Washington,  and  from  1858  to  1865 
in  the  days  of  Lincoln.  .  .  . 

"Nothing  is  to  be  hoped  from  the  present  Administration.  The 
struggles  today  between  the  President  and  his  party  leaders  in 


A   PAGE  WRITTEN    BY   ROOSEVELT   FOR   ME    AT  TRINIDAD 

Congress  are  merely  struggles  as  to  whether  the  nation  shall  see 
its  government  representatives  adopt  an  attitude  of  a  little  more  or  a 
little  less  hypocrisy  and  follow  a  policy  of  slightly  greater  or  slightly 
less  baseness." 

"THAT  WOULD  BE  A  CRIME,"  SAID  T.  R. 

As  the  date  for  the  Republican  and  Progressive  conventions 
drew  closer,  it  seemed  more  difficult  to  avoid  another  division 
of  Republican  voters.  Another  division  meant  handing  the 
Presidency  over  to  Wilson  a  second  time. 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"That  would  be  a  crime!1'  exclaimed  Roosevelt.  "It  is 
unthinkable  that  I  could  be  a  party  to  such  a  result." 

It  was  in  that  spirit  of  intense  disgust  for  Wilson's  policies 
that  Roosevelt  worked  to  have  one  nominee  come  out  of  the 
two  Chicago  conventions,  and  it  was  in  that  effort  that  he  met 
his  most  humiliating  defeat.  Neither  convention  responded. 

"HE  KEPT  us  OUT  OF  WAR" 

At  that  time,  too,  incredible  as  it  now  seems,  there  was 
developing  throughout  our  West  a  feeling  that  America's  in- 
terests were  not  involved  in  the  war,  and  that  a  President  who 
had  kept  us  out  of  it,  and  whose  purpose  was  to  keep  us  out, 
should  be  continued  in  office. 

Gov.  Glynn's  "he-kept-us-out-of-war"  speech  nominating 
Wilson  was  not  indorsed  by  the  President  until  he  had  satis- 
fied himself  that,  if  a  sharp  issue  could  be  raised  the  people 
of  the  West  would  reelect  him  to  do  that  very  thing.  A  close 
canvass  made  of  the  West  had  convinced  him  that  the  country 
was  not  in  the  "heroic  mood'1  that  Roosevelt  desired,  and  he 
was  ready  for  the  test. 

WILSON  WANTED  ROOSEVELT  AS  OPPONENT 

Just  before  starting  for  the  Chicago  convention  from  Wash- 
ington I  met  Samuel  Untermyer,  as  he  left  the  White  House. 

"What  are  you  fellows  going  to  do  in  Chicago — Roosevelt 
or  Hughes?"  he  asked. 

"Roosevelt,"  I  replied,  to  get  his  reaction. 

"Well,  that  will  suit  the  man  in  there  exactly,"  said  Unter- 
myer, indicating  the  White  House,  "He  can  lick  Roosevelt 
on  the  war  issue,  and  he  wants  to  do  it.  If  Wilson  could 
name  your  candidate  he  would  name  Teddy." 

The  Democratic  national  convention  knew  exactly  what  it 
wanted  in  candidate  and  issue  j  the  Republican  convention  did 
not.  The  Republicans  made  their  first  blunder  when  they 

432 


As  I  Knew  Them 

called  their  convention  to  meet  a  week  in  advance  of  the 
Democratic  convention.  The  Democrats  were  in  power;  they 
had  held  the  government  for  four  years  and  wanted  four  years 
more;  under  all  the  rules  of  politics  they  should  have  been  the 
first  to  state  their  case  and  ask  the  judgment  of  the  people; 
then  issue  could  be  joined  by  the  opposition. 

The  Republican  managers  unwisely  determined  to  lead  off. 
They  fixed  an  early  date — June  7 — deliberately,  to  show  their 
disregard  for  anything  the  Wilson  convention  might  do  or 
say.  When  they  got  to  Chicago,  their  platform  committee 
discovered  that,  aside  from  the  ordinary  partisan  condemna- 
tion, they  had  no  target  at  which  to  direct  their  fire ;  uHe- 
kept-us-out-of-war"  had  not  yet  emerged  from  Democratic 
councils.  The  result  was  the  weakest  platform  ever  written 
in  a  Republican  convention. 


433 


CHAPTER   LIV 

1916— A  CONTRAST  IN  CONVENTIONS 

The  Republican  Gathering  Colorless,  The  Progressives  Loaded  With 
Pyrotechnics — A  Conference  Committee  That  Kneiv  It  Could  Not 
Agree — Lodge,  Aroused  From  Sleep,  Visions  The  Presidency — Roose- 
velt Refuses  The  Progressive  Nomination  And  Centres  His  Efforts  On 
Defeat  Of  Wilson— The  Severest  Trial  Of  His  Career. 

*  1  VHE  convention  itself  was  as  colorless  as  the  platform. 
A  It  had  no  real  rivalries  for  nomination  since  Hughes  was 
at  all  times  the  obvious  nominee.  Its  proceedings,  never  ex- 
citing the  slightest  enthusiasm,  forecast  the  campaign  and  the 
result. 

With  one  exception  that  was  the  dullest  convention  held 
within  my  recollection  by  either  party.  The  one  exception 
was  the  1888  Democratic  convention  in  St.  Louis  at  which 
Cleveland  was  re-nominated,  only  to  be  defeated.  The  St. 
Louis  convention  was  so  listless  that  the  correspondents  were 
forced  to  write  of  the  muddy  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  and  of 
the  old-timer  river  steamboats  that  Mark  Twain  immortalized. 

In  Chicago  in  1916,  they  would  have  been  compelled  to  do 
likewise  but  for  the  Progressive  convention.  The  Progres- 
sives furnished  the  pyrotechnics  of  the  week;  let  me  say  that 
they  had  quite  an  assortment  of  explosives,  and  used  them 
furiously,  especially  at  the  close.  As  in  1912,  it  was  a  cru- 
saders' gathering — and  Roosevelt  was  still  their  leader, 
though  now  convinced  that  union  not  division  was  a  duty. 

In  the  big  Coliseum  five  or  six  blocks  away  from  the  Pro- 
gressive gathering,  the  Republicans  went  through  their  con- 
vention proceedings  as  though  it  was  a  mail  order  catalogue. 
Warren  Harding,  then  Senator,  made  a  long  speech  as  Chair- 

434 


As  I  Knew  Them 

man ;  not  a  note  sounded  by  him  or  by  any  other  speaker  had 
the  vibrant  quality  of  definite  purpose.  Many  delegates  would 
have  preferred  to  go  elsewhere  for  their  candidate  than  to 
Hughes  but  there  was  no  elsewhere. 

AGREEING  TO  DISAGREE 

A  conference  committee  of  the  two  conventions  had  sought 
for  two  nights  to  agree  upon  a  candidate  whom  the  Republi- 
cans and  the  Progressives  could  support  The  Republican 
conferees  were  former  Attorney  General  Charles  J.  Bona- 
parte, Senator  Murray  Crane,  Senator  William  E.  Borah, 
Nicholas  Murray  Butler,  and  Senator  Reed  Smoot.  The  Pro- 
gressive conferees  were  Gov.  John  N.  Parker,  of  Louisiana, 
Hiram  Johnson,  George  W.  Perkins,  A.  R.  Johnson,  of  Ohio, 
and  Horace  Wilkinson,  of  New  York.  There,  two  immov- 
able forces  met. 

"We'll  take  any  one  you  offer  but  Roosevelt,"  were  the  first 
words  spoken  by  the  Republican  conferees.  Reed  Smoot 
uttered  them. 

"We  don't  believe  in  barring  any  man,"  was  the  response 
from  Wilkinson.  "Let  us  put  all  the  cards  on  the  table  and 
discuss  which  one  is  the  best  to  play." 

The  one  name  the  Republicans  crossed  off  their  list  so 
arbitrarily  was  the  one  name  that  made  up  the  whole  Progres- 
sive list.  It  was  soon  found  that  unity  on  any  candidate  was 
impossible — 1916  was  too  close  to  1912.  In  factional  politics 
memories  are  prejudices  and  they  disappear  slowly.  Hiram 
Johnson  gave  up  the  conference.  Then  Gov.  Parker  gave  it 

UP' 

Somewhere  in  the  midnight  hours,  with  a  decisive  ballot  cer- 
tain to  be  cast  the  next  day  in  each  convention,  Roosevelt  was 
telephoned,  to  suggest  a  possible  nominee.  When  his  tele- 
phone rang,  the  Colonel  was  engrossed  in  writing  an  article  on 
birds,  promised  to  his  publishers  that  week.  He  had  stayed 

435 


As  I  Knew  Them 

up  late  to  finish  it.  He  asked  Chicago  for  time  to  think  it  over. 
Soon  the  reply  came,  "Lodge."  It  astounded  the  conferees  on 
both  sides.  They  knew  Lodge  could  not  be  nominated  in 
either  convention.  Yet  they  felt  it  a  duty  to  inform  the  Mass- 
achusetts Senator. 

LODGE,  SEATED  ON  BEDSIDE,  VISIONS  HONORS 

A  committee  went  to  Lodge's  hotel  room  and  awakened 
him.  Seated  on  the  bedside,  clad  in  his  pajamas,  his  eyes 
blinking  with  sleep,  he  listened  in  astonishment,  and  took  it 
seriously.  He  thought  Roosevelt's  indorsement  would  bring 
his  nomination  in  the  morning. 

uOh !  that  this  honor  should  come  to  me  at  my  time  of  life  1" 
was  his  first  utterance. 

He  exaggerated  Roosevelt's  strength  at  that  time  with  a 
regular  convention,  and  utterly  misunderstood  his  motive. 
Roosevelt  knew  that  Hughes  would  be  nominated,  but  he  did 
not  care  to  indorse  Hughes  to  the  convention  and  have  it 
charged  that  he  had  nominated  another  presidential  candidate. 
This  time  he  was  evading,  not  seeking,  responsibility  for  the 
nominee.  What  a  change  eight  years  had  brought!  He 
believed  his  message  would  bring  Lodge  some  prestige  and 
some  votes — as  it  did — and  that  the  Massachusetts  Senator 
would  understand  the  strategy.  But  Lodge  did  not  see  it  that 
way.  His  mind  was  thrown  completely  out  of  balance. 

I  have  seen  other  men  while  their  names  were  before  con- 
ventions lose  their  good  judgment,  but  Roosevelt's  telephone 
message  surely  should  have  been  too  slender  a  hope  for  a  man 
who  had  presided  over  three  conventions.  How  the  strong 
light  of  the  Presidency  dazzles  the  most  experienced!  The 
committee  talked  with  Lodge  about  the  possibilities,  and  then 
retired.  They  made  a  report  to  the  convention,  as  they  were 
bound  to  do,  presenting  Lodge's  name.  It  met  with  no 
response.  By  noon  that  day  Hughes  was  the  nominee, 

436 


As  I  Knew  Them 
ROOSEVELT'S  SEVEREST  TRIAL 

While  Roosevelt  could  thus  easily  dispose  of  the  Republican 
convention,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  he  faced  the  severest 
trial  of  his  career  in  the  Progressive  convention.  He  sin- 
cerely believed  it  was  his  patriotic  duty  to  refuse  another  Pro- 
gressive party  nomination  and  to  indorse  the  Republican 
nominee.  It  was  a  hard  decision  to  make — his  country  or  his 
party? 

That  broader  view  was  not  shared  by  the  Progressive  con- 
vention. Most  of  the  delegates  were  emphatically  in  favor 
of  another  campaign.  All  the  wonderful  spirit  of  the  first 
convention  four  years  before  was  reflected  in  this  second 
gathering.  Despite  the  unwisdom  of  its  insistence  upon  a  third 
ticket,  it  merited  a  better  fate  than  that  which  came  to  it 
when  it  named  Roosevelt  only  to  have  him  dqcline. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  scene  of  dismay,  anger  and  defiance, 
with  their  old  leader,  in  those  closing  hours.  They  little  knew 
how  deeply  he  felt  back  there  in  Oyster  Bay,  or  how  poignantly 
he  regretted  that  the  party  of  his  creation  had  to  be  sacrificed 
for  his  country.  The  Colonel  bowed  his  head,  and  unpro- 
testingly  accepted  the  condemnation  of  those  who  did  not  see 
the  real  issue  as  plainly  as  he  saw  it. 

That  was  Saturday  night;  the  following  Tuesday  Roose- 
velt dined  with  Hughes,  the  Republican  nominee,  in  New 
York  City,  and  pledged  his  full  support. 


437 


CHAPTER    LV 

HUGHES :  THE  OFFICE  SEEKS  THE  MAN 

No  Career  In  American  Politics  Compares  With  That  Of  Charles  E. 
Hughes — Never  Sought  Honors,  Never  Asked  Support,  Never  Ex- 
pended A  Dollar  For  A  Nomination — The  Archie  Sanders  Incident 
That  Separated  A  Governor  And  A  President — Hughes  Would  Never 
Use  Patronage  To  Pass  Legislation — Root's  Arraignment  of  Hearst, 
"By  Authority  Of  The  President"— A  Candidate  Who  Gave  No  Help 
— Roosevelt  Urged  Hughes  For  Governor  In  IQ08 — Some  New  Facts 
About  Hughes  And  Roosevelt  In  The  Struggle  For  Direct  Primaries. 

1V/TY  earliest  recollection  of  Charles  Evans  Hughes  goes 
•^  -*•  back  more  than  twenty  years  to  the  time  when  he  was 
a  citizen  of  New  York  City,  not  known  outside  of  his  profes- 
sion. He  lived  on  the  upper  west  side  of  Manhattan  Island ; 
my  home  was  in  the  same  neighborhood.  Hughes  liked  to 
walk — with  quick,  vigorous  step,  his  thick  heavy  cane  tightly 
held.  On  cool  breezy  afternoons  his  rapid  pace  against  the 
wind  would  carry  the  tails  of  his  unbuttoned  light  overcoat 
fluttering  far  out  behind  him.  You  could  see  in  his  stride 
that  he  was  a  purposeful  man,  who  at  all  times  knew  where 
he  was  travelling.  Not  many  of  his  neighbors  were  personally 
acquainted  with  him,  but  the  brisk  walker  morning  and  after- 
noon was  a  familiar  figure. 

It  is  common-place  to  say  of  any  man  that  there  are  none 
like  him,  but  it  is  so  true  of  Hughes  that  I  cannot  help  saying 
it.  You  may  search  the  careers  of  all  the  men  in  our  public 
life  for  a  century  and  a  half  and  you  will  not  find  a  career  like 
his.  He  has  never  sought  public  office ;  he  has  never  asked  any 
individual  to  speak  for  him,  or  to  work  for  his  advancement. 
He  publicly  repudiated  the  announcement  in  1908  that 
Hughes  headquarters  had  been  opened  in  Chicago,  to  secure 

438 


As  I  Knew  Them 

his  nomination  for  President;  his  silence  while  on  the  Supreme 
Court  in  igi6  was  broken  before  his  nomination  only  to  dis- 
avow responsibility  for  Republican  leaders  who  sought  to 
create  the  impression  that  they  had  his  consent  to  seek  dele- 
gates for  him. 

In  a  word,  Hughes  has  been  Governor,  Associate  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  Presidential  nominee  and  Secretary  of 
State  without  ever  having  expended  so  much  as  a  postage 
stamp  and  without  ever  having  uttered,  or  authorized  others 
to  utter,  a  single  word  in  his  behalf.  Here  is  a  remarkable 
record.  It  is  not  one  of  indifference — for  I  am  sure  Hughes 
is  not  indifferent  to  the  honors  he  has  had.  It  reveals  a  de- 
termined purpose  to  let  the  office  seek  the  man,  uninfluenced 
by  personal  appeals  or  manipulation  of  delegates. 

We  have  had  men  in  our  public  life  who  believed  in  that 
policy,  but  the  temptation  of  new  honors  proved  too  strong 
for  them.  Hughes,  however,  has  adhered  to  it  so  consistently, 
so  firmly,  that  the  man  who  would  announce  that  he  spoke  for 
Hughes  on  any  subject  would  have  to  show  credentials 
stronger  than  his  own  say-so,  whoever  he  might  be. 

AN  INCIDENT  WITH   LASTING  CONSEQUENCES 

Once  Theodore  Roosevelt  while  President  acted,  as  he  de- 
clared, to  aid  Hughes,  then  Governor  of  New  York,  in  his 
struggle  to  enact  anti-racetrack  gambling  laws.  Archie  D. 
Sanders,  Internal  Revenue  Collector  at  Rochester,  New  York, 
and  since  Congressman,  was  believed  to  be  the  influence  hold- 
ing "on  the  fence"  the  votes  of  two  Rochester  Assemblymen. 
Sanders'  term  was  expiring.  At  the  suggestion  of  Congress- 
man Stevens,  an  enthusiastic  Hughes  man,  the  President  re- 
fused to  reappoint  Sanders  unless  he  first  brought  the 
two  Assemblymen  into  line.  The  White  House  frankly  ex- 
plained the  purpose;  the  sincerity  of  Roosevelt's  desire  to  help 
was  never  questioned.  When  the  news  was  brought  to  Hughes 
at  Albany,  he  stated  that  he  was  not  interested  in  Sanders' 

439 


As  I  Knew  Them 

fate,  had  not  requested  the  President's  action  and  knew  noth- 
ing of  it. 

The  significance  of  this  incident  was  large  and  lasting. 
Hughes  as  Governor  always  refused  to  use  patronage  to  pass 
legislation.  When  legislation  came  before  him  for  official 
action,  he  never  inquired  whether  friend  or  foe  sponsored  it. 
He  looked  only  to  the  proposal.  Several  times  while  Gov- 
ernor he  astounded  his  factional  opponents  by  naming  one  of 
them  for  office,  because  he  believed  him  to  be  the  best  man 
for  the  place.  He  as  freely  refused  to  appoint  from  his  own 
supporters  unless  they  could  furnish  a  man  as  capable  as  he 
could  find  elsewhere. 

With  his  policy  in  this  respect  unbroken  by  any  act  of  his 
own,  Hughes  felt  even  more  strongly  that  he  could  not  accept 
support  secured  for  him  by  another,  through  patronage.  He 
could  not  acquiesce  in  having  the  President  do  for  him  what 
he  would  not  do  for  himself.  Hence  his  prompt  denial  of 
any  interest  in  the  matter.  He  wanted  the  votes  of  the 
Rochester  Assemblymen,  but  he  did  not  want  them  that  way. 
Hughes  always  has  been  a  stickler  for  maintaining  what  he 
calls  "the  integrity  of  his  position,'*  and  to  the  dismay  of  his 
friends  he  has  sacrificed  much  in  the  way  of  immediate  gain 
rather  than  break  through  the  line.  The  real  gain  has  come 
later. 

ROOSEVELT  FELT  REBUKED 

You  can  imagine  the  effect  on  Roosevelt  He  felt  that  his 
friendly  offices  had  been  rejected  in  a  most  unfriendly  way; 
he  expected  thanks  rather  than  what  he  considered  a  rebuke. 
From  then  until  1916,  he  and  Hughes  travelled  different 
paths. 

I  am  not  prepared  to  say  that  except  for  the  Sanders  inci- 
dent Roosevelt  would  have  supported  Hughes  in  1908,  but  I 
am  certain  that  it  led  Roosevelt  to  feel  that  Hughes  was 

440 


As  I  Knew  Them 

almost  the  last  candidate  he  cared  to  see  nominated  as  his 
successor. 

I  use  the  Sanders  case  because  of  its  undoubted  influence 
in  separating  Hughes  and  Roosevelt  politically;  even  though 
the  Presidency  may  not  have  been  directly  involved,  their 
inability  to'  work  together  was  unfortunate  for  the  party  and 
the  country. 

"BY  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  PRESIDENT" 

The  world  of  politics  knew  nothing  of  Hughes  until  his 
nomination  for  Governor  in  1906.  He  was  a  stranger  to 
it  and  was  not  thought  of  for  public  office*  He  owed  that 
nomination  to  his  success  as  counsel  for  the  legislative  com- 
mittee investigating  the  big  insurance  companies  in  New 
York.  I  understand  that  his  name  as  counsel  was  suggested 
by  Bradford  Merrill,  then  associated  with  the  New  York 
World,  which  newspaper  was  largely  responsible  for  the  in- 
vestigation. 

Hughes  made  good  as  an  investigator  and  the  Republicans 
turned  to  him  to  save  New  York  for  them.  Their  grip  on 
the  State  was  slipping  and  Tammany  had  nominated  William 
Randolph  Hearst  for  Governor  in  the  belief  that  he  would 
add  to  the  Democratic  strength  enough  politically  unattached 
votes  to  win.  It  did  not  turn  out  that  way,  but  there  was  a 
hard,  uncertain  fight  until  the  last  returns  were  in. 

The  feature  of  the  campaign  was  a  speech  in  Utica,  New 
York,  by  Secretary  of  State  Root,  made  uby  authority  of  the 
President,"  in  which  he  arraigned  Hearst  unmercifully.  This 
most  unusual  proceeding  was  full  of  boomerang  possibilities. 
I  never  understood  why  the  Democratic  leaders  did  not  seek 
to  arouse  the  people  on  the  issue  of  presidential  interference 
in  State  affairs.  There  have  been  many  demonstrations  of 
the  sensitiveness  of  voters  on  that  point.  However,  the 
Democrats  thought  it  best  to  drop  the  matter  as  quickly  as 
possible.  When  elected,  Hughes  announced  himself  as  ucoun- 

441 


As  I  Knew  Them 

sel  for  the  people"  in  all  that  he  was  to  do  as  Governor,  and 
acted  accordingly. 

A  CANDIDATE  WHO  GAVE  NO  HELP 

Party  machines  are  never  enamored  of  Governors  ^nclined 
to  do  much  thinking  on  their  own  account,  and  the  New  York 
Republican  machine  did  not  like  that  characteristic  in 
Hughes.  The  people  did,  however.  By  1908,  Hughes  had 
grown  to  Presidential  size;  the  State  machine  reluctantly 
responded  to  the  strong  Hughes  sentiment  by  accepting  him  as 
the  State's  choice  for  national  honors.  They  gave  him  no 
real  support,  however.  Nor  did  Hughes  help  himself.  He 
gave  no  encouragement  to  those  who  really  wanted  to  see 
him  nominated.  What  might  have  developed  into  a  formi- 
dable candidacy  had  New  York's  Governor  followed  the  ambi- 
tious course  of  other  men,  was  stunted  in  its  growth  because 
it  could  make  no  headway  with  a  candidate  who  discouraged 
rather  than  encouraged.  That  is  why,  as  Roosevelt  told  me 
in  a  White  House  interview,  it  was  easier  for  Taft  to  win 
delegates  away  from  Hughes  than  from  other  candidates.  He 
had  67  votes  in  the  Chicago  convention. 

ROOSEVELT  INSISTS  UPON  HUGHES'  RENOMINATION 

Another  two  years  of  Hughes  as  Governor  was  not  what 
the  "organization"  in  New  York  wanted  after  the  delegates 
returned  from  nominating  Taft.  New  York  was  certain  to 
return  a  heavy  Republican  plurality  on  President,  and  the 
swing  could  be  depended  upon  to  carry  almost  any  Republican 
candidate  for  Governor  with  it.  Conferences  were  held  to 
agree  upon  a  nominee,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  likely  that 
Hughes  would  be  dropped.  Roosevelt,  however,  took  a 
broader  view,  though  he  was  still  smarting  over  the  Sanders 
matter.  His  attitude  is  revealed  in  the  following  reply  I 

442 


As  I  Knew  Them 

received   to    a    letter   I    had   written   him   urging   Hughes' 
nomination : 

Oyster  Bay,  N.  Y. 

August  29,  1908. 
My  dear  Stoddard : — 

I  share  entirely  your  view.  I  think  it  will  do  damage  to  nomi- 
nate Mr.  Hughes,  but  that  it  will  do  far  more  damage  not  to  nomi- 
nate him.  I  think  he  has  given  just  cause  and  offense  to  decent 
men  engaged  in  active  political  work,  and  that  he  has  shown  grave 
ingratitude  to  men  like  Parsons;  but  nevertheless  I  am  convinced 
that  the  popular  feeling  about  him  is  exactly  what  you  describe,  and 
that,  therefore,  he  ought  to  be  renominated,  inasmuch  as  there 
is  nothing  to  be  said  against  his  personal  integrity. 
Faithfully  yours, 

Theodore  Roosevelt. 

As  usual,  Roosevelt  followed  word  with  action.  He  made 
the  New  York  leaders  see  the  folly  of  turning  down  Hughes, 
and  a  second  term  for  the  Governor  followed, 

THE  HUGHES  STRUGGLE  FOR  DIRECT  PRIMARIES 

At  once,  Hughes  went  into  a  struggle  for  direct  State-wide 
primaries.  The  party  "organization"  opposed  the  legislation, 
and  the  winter's  development  was  the  familiar  story  of  con- 
flict between  executive  and  legislative  branches.  In  the  midst 
of  it  came  Taft's  offer  to  Hughes  to  become  Associate  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court.  The  "organization"  rejoiced  that 
Hughes  would  now  be  put  out  of  the  way,  but  the  Governor 
out-generalled  them.  He  accepted  the  appointment  with  the 
proviso  that  he  would  not  be  called  upon  to  take  his  place  on 
the  bench  until  the  Legislature  had  adjourned.  That  meant 
a  finish  fight. 

Roosevelt  was  homeward  bound  from  Africa  while  the 
battle  was  in  the  final  stage.  Albany  was  full  of  rumor  that 
he  was  not  in  sympathy  with  the  Hughes  programme.  There 
was  no  truth  to  such  talk,  for  he  knew  nothing  of  the  conflict, 

443 


As  I  Knew  Them 

but  the  rumor  served  its  purpose  of  stopping  the  bills  until 
Roosevelt  could  be  heard  from. 

NEW  FACTS  OF  AN  HISTORIC  STRUGGLE 

Then  came  a  letter  from  the  Colonel,  dated  London,  invit- 
ing Hughes  to  Oyster  Bay  when  convenient  after  Roosevelt's 
return.  Hughes  would  have  gone  there  but  both  men  dis- 
covered that  they  were  shortly  to  attend  the  Harvard  com- 
mencement exercises  and  their  meeting  was  postponed  until 
then. 

I  have  always  regretted  that  the  conference  was  not  held 
in  Oyster  Bay.  Roosevelt,  in  London,  must  have  had  some- 
thing in  mind  beyond  a  social  engagement  with  Hughes,  some- 
thing big  enough  for  him  to  write  about  It  weeks  in  advance. 
Its  political  significance  would  have  been  beyond  the  power 
of  the  two  men  to  explain  away. 

Moreover,  there  would  have  been  no  stones  that  they  had 
met  unexpectedly  at  a  college  commencement  and  that  Hughes 
had  there  persuaded  Roosevelt  to  undertake  to  win  a  battle 
which,  without  Roosevelt,  was  lost.  Not  knowing  the  facts, 
those  stories  were  accepted  as  true.  Neither  Roosevelt  nor 
Hughes  ever  attempted  to  silence  them  by  making  known 
that  their  Harvard  meeting  was  a  substitute  for  an  Oyster 
Bay  visit,  and  that  both  men  went  to  Cambridge  knowing 
that  the  New  York  situation  was  to  be  discussed.  If  the 
facts  here  related  have  ever  before  appeared  in  print  I  have 
failed  to  see  them.  The  direct  primary  bill  was,  of  course, 
the  most  important  measure  pending.  Hughes  had  hardly 
mentioned  it  before  Roosevelt  interrupted  with  a  short: 

UI  have  determined  to  remain  silent" 

"I  am  not  urging  you  to  get  into  the  struggle,"  said 
Hughes,  "but  your  silence  is  used  by  the  opposition  as  evi- 
dence that  you  are  against  the  bill." 

"They  say  my  silence  means  opposition  to  the  bill?"  queried 
Roosevelt.  "Of  course  it  means  nothing  of  the  kind.  I  am 

444 


As  I  Knew  Them 

for  the  bill.  I'll  wire  Fred  Davenport  now  telling  him  I  think 
it  should  be  passed." 

And  within  a  few  moments  the  oft-quoted  telegram  was  on 
the  wires  to  the  State  Senator  from  Utica,  now  Congressman. 
The  fight  was  ended,  the  bill  became  law,  and  in  October 
Hughes  took  his  place  on  the  Supreme  Court. 

He  was  through,  or  thought  he  was  through,  with  politics. 
In  truth,  however,  the  work  on  which  his  fame  is  to  rest  had 
not  begun. 


CHAPTER  LVI 


A  SURPRISED  AND  SILENT  JURIST 

Though  Lost  To  The  World  Of  Politics  For  Six  Years,  Hu&hes  Was 
Found  And  Made  A  Candidate  For  President  —  He  Knew  Politicians 
Did  Not  Like  His  Ways—His  Real  Desire  Was  To  Return  To  His 
Law  Practice  —  Finally,  Allowed  Fate  To  Take  Its  Course  —  His  Cam- 
paign For  Election  Was  Emphatically  His  Own  —  Crocker,  Not  John- 
son,  Responsible  For  Loss  Of  California. 


remarkable  feature  of  the  demand  for  Hughes'  nom- 
ination  for  President  in  1916  was  that  there  was  not  a 
word  or  an  act  on  his  part  for  six  years  to  arouse  new  interest 
in  him.  As  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  absorbed  in  its 
duties,  he  was  lost  to  the  world  of  politics.  No  one  was  more 
surprised  than  he  that  his  name  was  mentioned.  It  was  a 
long  time  before  he  believed  that  those  Republican  leaders 
who  were  declaring  for  him  really  meant  it,  or  that  they  had 
any  considerable  public  opinion  back  of  them. 

Crowded  with  court  work,  unable  to  make  inquiries  without 
encouraging  the  belief  that  he  was  seeking  the  nomination, 
Hughes  blinded  himself  to  newspaper  talk,  political  talk  and 
even  the  talk  of  friends  lest  he  be  misinterpreted.  It  seemed 
to  him  that  any  move  he  might  make  would  be  inconsistent 
with  his  rule  about  ''maintaining  the  integrity  of  his  position" 
—  his  position  at  that  time  being  that  of  a  judge  too  deeply  im- 
mersed in  his  work  to  concern  himself  with  what  was  going 
on  outside  his  court  room. 

There  was  just  one  move  he  could  have  made  that  would 
not  be  misinterpreted  —  to  take  himself  out  by  a  flat  declara- 
tion that  he  would  not  accept.  This  he  did  not  do.  His  posi- 
tion was  much  the  same  as  that  of  the  young  lady  willing 
perhaps  to  marry  but  not  willing  to  disclose  her  mind  until 

446 


As  I  Knew  Them 

formally  asked.  He  was  not  a  candidate  and  was  not  seeking 
to  influence  the  convention's  choice ;  he  was  under  no  obliga- 
tion to  assume  in  advance  that  there  was  anything  for  him 
to  accept  or  reject.  Statements  by  party  leaders  seemingly 
involving  him  were  met  with  a  brief  public  announcement  dis- 
avowing them,  but  he  steadfastly  refused  to  anticipate  the 
possible  action  of  a  convention  not  yet  in  session. 

I  know  that  the  thought  dominant  in  Hughes'  mind  that 
winter  was  that  he  should  resign  from  the  court  and  return  to 
New  York  City,  resuming  his  place  there  as  a  citizen  and  prac- 
tice law.  Two  terms  as  Governor  and  six  years  on  the  bench 
had  materially  reduced  his  income,  and  he  felt  that  longer 
public  service  meant  continued  denial  to  his  family  of  the 
comforts  to  which  they  were  entitled. 

WOULD  NOT  ENJOY  WHITE   HOUSE  TURMOIL 

Another  consideration  that  tempted  Hughes  to  stop  the  talk 
of  a  possible  nomination  was  the  strong  feeling  that  he  then 
had  that  politicians  did  not  like  his  ways,  and  that  in  the 
White  House  he  would  have  to  deal  almost  entirely  with 
politicians;  the  prospect  of  unity  of  purpose  was  not  bright 
He  had  not  forgotten  his  troubles  at  Albany  and  four  years 
of  similar  contention  at  Washington  were  not  alluring.  He 
liked  to  deal  with  public  questions  on  their  merits,  not  on 
their  political  aspects.  His  experience  on  the  bench  had 
strengthened  this  tendency. 

"Your  friend  Roosevelt  can  handle  the  work  of  the  White 
House  and  enjoy  it,"  Hughes  said  to  me  at  one  time  when  the 
Presidency  was  under  discussion.  "It  would  take  me  a  whole 
day  to  dispose  of  matters  that  he  could  get  rid  of  in  an  hour. 
The  Presidency  is  the  greatest  honor  that  could  come  to  any 
man ;  it  is  also  the  greatest  burden." 

More  than  once  during  that  winter  of  1916  when  his  silence 
made  him  the  mystery  of  politics  the  considerations  I  have 
mentioned  weighed  heavily  on  Hughes1  mind.  They  led  him 

447 


As  I  Knew  Them 

close  to  an  emphatic  declaration,  as  he  had  declared  in  1912, 
that  his  name  must  not  be  used  politically  while  on  the  bench. 
But  the  Presidency  is  too  big 'for  an  American  to  turn  his 
back  upon.  Confronted  with  what  seemed  like  a  certainty 
that  he  would  be  nominated  and  elected,  he  must  have  decided 
to  let  Fate  take  its  own  course.  'It  did — and  the  silent  jurist 
became  the  nominee  of  his  party. 

ONE  FACTOR  THAT  DEFEATED  HUGHES 

No  one  will  ever  write  the  history  of  the  campaign  that 
followed  without  challenge  of  his  analysis  of  its  changing 
phases  and  its  surprising  result  I  realize  that  my  opinion 
cannot  escape  that  fate,  but  I  may  say  on  behalf  of  it  that 
it  is  based  on  familiarity  with  the  day-to-day  developments 
while  the  struggle  was  on, — a  knowledge  that  led  me  early 
in  September  to  doubt  the  election  of  Hughes  despite  my  con- 
fidence in  June  that  he  would  surely  win. 

Looking  backward,  it  is  my  judgment  that  the  seeds  of 
Republican  defeat  were  sown  in  the '  Republican  and  Progres- 
sive conventions  held  in  Chicago  in  June.  The  Republicans 
adjourned  in  a  deadened  calm  of  over-confidence;  the  Progres- 
sives adjourned  in  a  riot  of  defiance  of  Roosevelt  They  had 
nominated  him  for  President  with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  1912. 
Then  came  his  telegram  that  he  would  think  it  over  and  let 
them  know  later  whether  he  would  accept  or  not.  Bainbridge 
Colby's  quick  response  "we,  too}  will  think  it  over"  voiced 
the  resentful  spirit  that  swept  over  the  convention,  changing 
it  in  the  last  hour  from  an  intensely  Roosevelt  gathering  to 
an  intensely  anti-Roosevelt  gathering.  Had  the  delegates 
been  polled  then  on  their  choice  for  President  as  between 
Hughes  and  Wilson,  I  am  certain  that  a  majority  would  have 
declared  for  Wilson.  Antagonism  to  Roosevelt,  not  to 
Hughes,  would  have  influenced  that  choice. 

The  delegates  carried  that  feeling  back  to  their  homes, 
where,  finally,  it  found  its  way  into  the  November  ballot  box. 

448 


As  I  Knew  Them 

It  made  no  impression  on  the  heavy  Hughes  majorities  in  the 
East,  but  in  the  West,  where  the  Progressives  had  their  great- 
est strength,  it  was  probably  responsible  for  the  loss  of  the 
two  Dakotas,  Oregon  and  Washington.  No  man  could  con- 
trol it.  Roosevelt  in  particular  could  not.  It  was  the  feature 
of  the  campaign  that  Chairman  Willcox  always  feared.  There 
was  also,  of  course,  through  the  West  the  kept-us-out-of-war 
issue  that  brought  States  like  Kansas  into  the  Wilson  column. 
That,  of  course,  was  the  talked-of  issue  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, but  the  Progressive  bolt  to  Wilson  was  also  a  real  factor. 

HUGHES  PLANNED  HIS  OWN  CAMPAIGN  * 

Hughes'  campaign  was  emphatically  his  own  affair.  That 
is  to  say,  that  while  he  did  not  interfere  with  what  other  cam- 
paign speakers  might  say  in  public  speeches,  Hughes  had  his 
own  conception  of  what  he  should  say  and  do.  He  was  also 
resolved  to  have  no  entangling  alliances  made  by  the  national 
committee.  To  insure  this  policy,  he  made  his  friend  William 
R.  Willcox  chairman  of  the  national  committee. 

His  across-the-continent  tour  was  undertaken  because  of  his 
desire  that  as  many  voters  as  possible  should  see  him  and  hear 
him.  He  had  been  on  the  Supreme  Court  for  six  years;  he 
had  not  concerned  himself  with  public  questions  nor  appeared 
in  public  places  in  that  long  time.  He  was  only  a  newspaper 
name  to  thousands  who  were  now  asked  to  vote  for  him ;  they 
had  a  right  to  look  him  over,  and  to  hear  what  he  had  to  say. 
He  did  not  want  their  vote  merely  as  a  name. 

That  was  a  fine  position  to  take,  but  even  an  experienced 
campaigner  would  have  regarded  it  as  perilous.  It  was  cer- 
tainly extremely  perilous  for  a  candidate  unfamiliar  with  the 
varying  moods  and  temper  of  the  people  in  different  parts  of 
the  country,  especially  for  one  not  given  to  setting  his  sails  to 
catch  every  breeze.  Hughes  did  not  realize  how  completely 
the  West  had  been  deceived  by  the  Democratic  platform  plank 
about  the  usplendid  diplomatic  triumphs"  that  had  akept  us 

449 


As  I  Knew  Them 

out  of  war."  He  knew  the  opinion  of  the  East,  but 
western  Republican  leaders  did  not  enlighten  him  as  to  a  dif- 
ferent opinion  across  the  Mississippi.  His  speeches  show 
that  he  did  not  join  issue  with  the  "kept  us  out  of  war"  prop- 
aganda until  his  return  to  the  east.  Then  he  denounced  it 
vigorously,  but  too  late  to  change  the  trend  of  the  West. 

The  failure  of  the  western  Republican  leaders  to  sense  the 
opinion  of  that  section  is  without  parallel  in  political  history. 
It  cost  a  Presidency.  I  have  known  national  committees  to 
feel  too  certain  of  one  State  or  another;  I  have  known  State 
chairmen  to  judge  poorly  the  drift  of  voters  in  different 
counties;  but  I  have  never  known  so  many  State  leaders  so 
wholly  unaware  that  their  opponents  had  stolen  a  march  on 
them  and  had  captured  the  mind  of  the  people. 

The  Republican  effort  was  confined  to  a  futile  attempt  to 
win  back  the  rebellious  Progressives,  and  election  day  was  at 
hand  before  it  was  realized  that,  deeper  than  the  Progressive 
bolt  to  Wilson,  was  the  feeling  of  the  West  that  Hughes 
meant  war  and  Wilson  meant  peace. 

I  was  permitted  to  read  many  of  the  reports  received  daily 
at  national  headquarters.  I  also  had  frequent  talks  with 
Murray  Crane  and  John  W.  Weeks,  both  experienced  cam- 
paigners, who,  with  Willcox,  were  directing  the  battle. 
Those  daily  reports  and  those  talks  prove  that  eastern  head- 
quarters had  no  advices  indicating  the  real  situation  in  the 
West. 

THE  DEMOCRATS  RELIED  ON  THE  WEST 

The  strategy  of  the  Democrats  was  masterful.  President 
Wilson  and  Col.  House  planned  it  and  to  the  end  remained  its 
directing  mind.  The  East  was  abandoned  as  "the  enemy's 
country,"  as  Bryan  had  termed  it  in  1896,  but,  more  shrewd 
than  Bryan,  the  1916  campaigners  did  not  advertise  the  fact. 
Wilson  staked  his  hope  of  election  on  his  ability  to  persuade 
the  West  that  war  sentiment  was  an  Atlantic  seaboard  affair 
and  that  Hughes  was  its  candidate.  He  linked  Hughes  with 

450 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Roosevelt  as  certain,  if  elected,  to  plunge  us  into  war,  a  charge 
bound  to  make  an  impression,  for  the  two  men  could  not 
disavow  each  other. 

I  must  not  give  the  impression  that  better  than  others  I 
knew  the  weakness  of  the  Republican  cause.  But  the  re- 
mark made  to  me  in  Washington  by  Samuel  Untermyer  that 
Wilson  would  prefer  to  have  Roosevelt  as  his  opponent 
rather  than  any  other  man  stuck  in  my  mind.  It  gave  me 
clearer  light  on  some  campaign  developments.  I  repeated  it 
to  the  Colonel. 

"I  refuse  to  believe  that  the  people  out  there  are  pacifists," 
he  declared,  "or  that  they  will  indorse  Wilson's  flabby  policy." 

"But,  Colonel,"  I  persisted,  "Wilson's  people  have  studied 
the  situation  carefully  and  really  believe  it.  They  believe  it 
so  much  that  they  would  father  have  had  you  nominated. 
They  feel  certain  they  could  defeat  you." 

"That  would  be  the  keenest  humiliation  I  could  suffer," 
replied  Roosevelt,  "but  Wilson  would  have  a  fight  on  his 
hands  before  he  licked  me." 

CROCKER,  NOT  JOHNSON,  CAUSED  HUGHES'  DEFEAT 

California,  of  course,  furnished  the  sensation  of  the  cam- 
paign. Hughes'  across-the-continent  tour  extended  to  the 
Golden  Gate  State  where  he  failed  to  meet  Governor  Hiram 
Johnson.  That  failure  is  supposed  to  have  cost  him  Cali- 
fornia's electoral  vote.  The  newspapers  made  much  of  that 
unfortunate  incident,  but  back  of  it  was  a  situation  of  which 
that  incident  was  only  a  part. 

Anyone  experienced  in  Pacific  Coast  politics  could  have 
warned  Hughes  of  the  peril  of  touring  California.  Johnson 
not  only  controlled  the  Progressive  party  but  the  Republican 
primaries  as  well  The  old  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  crowd, 
led  by  William  H.  Crocker,  ousted  six  years  before,  were  in 
continuous  battle  with  him  to  regain  power.  It  was  a  duel, 
and  no  one  can  safely  step  between  dwllist$.  It  wa$  well 

45 1 


As  I  Knew  Them 

known  in  the  east  that  Johnson  regarded  the  State  as  his 
bailiwick.  He  assumed  responsibility  for  it,  and  the  election 
figures  year  by  year  show  that  he  always  made  good. 

Hughes  knew  something  of  the  situation,  but  he  did  not 
know  its  intensity*  He  did  not  know,  either,  that,  when  at  the 
San  Francisco  meeting  he  greeted  Crocker  as  California's 
leading  citizen,  and  emphasized  his  error  by  failing  to  ask 
why  California's  Governor  was  not  present,  he  overlooked 
the  real  political  power  of  the  State — a  power  unusually  jeal- 
ous of  its  due;  In  such  cases,  explanations  seldom  catch  up 
with  the  offense. 

When  the  election  returns  showed  Johnson  elected  Senator 
by  nearly  300,000  plurality  and  Hughes  defeated  by  3,773, 
Johnson  was  arraigned  everywhere  as  the  man  responsible 
for  continuing  Wilson  in  the  White  House  another  four  years. 
Such  a  wide  discrepancy  in  the  figures  gives  apparent  support 
to  that  charge,  but  the  figures  are  not  the  true  guide  to  the 
cause  of  the  disaster.  I  am  of  the  opinion,  and  my  view  is 
shared  by  others  close  to  the  situation,  that  National  Com- 
mitteeman  Crocker  is  the  man  who  made  Hughes'  success 
in  California  impossible.  The  records  of  the  Republican  Na- 
tional Committee  confirm  this  statement 

THE    SITUATION  IN  CALIFORNIA 

We  can  all  recall  the  anxiety  with  which  the  country  waited 
the  day  after  election  for  the  final  returns  from  California. 
Hughes  and  Wilson  alternated  in  the  lead  by  a  margin  too 
close  for  comfort  until  finally  it  was  settled  that  Wilson  had  it 
The  story  leading  up  to  the  result  has  not  been  told,  so  far 
as  I  know,  in  the  new  light  of  the  national  committee  records* 
I  think  it  worth  telling.  Let  us  start  at  the  beginning  of  the 
campaign. 

Johnson,  then  Governor,  was  a  candidate  for  the  Senate, 
and  undoubtedly  the  spokesman  for  two-thirds  of  the  voters 
of  his  State,  He  attended  the  Progressive  National  Con- 

45* 


As  I  Knew  Them 

vention  in  Chicago,  in  June,  where  he  urged  Roosevelt's  sepa* 
rate  nomination,  and  the  continuance  of  the  Progressive  party. 
When  that  body  adjourned,  with  Roosevelt  refusing  to  run, 
Johnson  went  to  New  York  City,  to  determine  his  course. 
In  New  York  City  he  conferred  with  Hughes.  "He's  my  man 
for  President,'7  he  declared  with  enthusiasm,  to  National 
Chairman  Willcox  as  he  left  for  home. 

Now,  what  was  the  situation  at  home — in  California?  It 
was  different  from  that  existing  in  any  other  State.  Hiram 
Johnson  as  a  Republican  had  been  elected  Governor  several 
times  over  the  opposition  of  the  Crocker  faction  and  con- 
trolled the  state  organization.  He  carried  most  of  the  Cali- 
fornia delegates  for  Roosevelt  in  1912.  In  the  election  that 
year  283,000  votes  were  cast  for  Roosevelt  and  only  3,914 
for  Taft.  Taft's  total  vote  in  1912  was  approximately  the 
Wilson  plurality  over  Hughes  in  1916.  After  the  1912  cam- 
paign, Johnson  entered  all  Progressive  candidates  in  the  reg- 
ular Republican  primaries,  and  won  indorsement  for  them 
over  the  Crocker  candidates.  In  1916  he  undertook  to  repeat 
that  success — and  in  fact  did  repeat  it — in  the  primaries  by 
winning  the  nomination  for  Senator  for  himself.  Both  sides 
were  hotly  engaged  in  that  Senatorial  fight  when  Hughes 
toured  the  State. 

WILLCOX  APPEALS  IN  VAIN  TO  CROCKER 

Such  facts  make  it  impossible  to  dispute  Johnson's  com- 
plete control  of  the  Republican  as  well  as  of  the  Progressive 
voters  of  the  State.  Certainly  he  was  a  force  not  to  be  ig- 
nored. In  other  States,  and  particularly  in  Illinois  in  1916, 
warring  factions  dropped  their  antagonisms  while  the  Presi- 
dential candidate  was  within  their  borders.  Honors  were 
divided  as  equally  as  possible.  All  factions  had  representa- 
tion in  meetings  and  receptions. 

Crocker,  however,  would  not  have  it  that  way.     He  was 

453 


As  I  Knew  Them 

the  regular  Republican  national  committeeman  for  his  State 
and  he  insisted  upon  all  the  prerogatives  of  his  office. 

But  Chairman  Willcox,  in  New  York,  was  anxious  to  bring 
Progressives  into  helpful  cooperation,  and  had  added  repre- 
sentative Progressives  from  several  States  as  campaign  asso- 
ciates to  the  National  committee.  The  California  Progres- 
sive chosen  was  Chester  H.  Rowell.  Naturally  Crocker 
should  have  shared  authority  with  Rowell  in  arranging  all 
national  meetings,  particularly  those  for  the  presidential 
candidate. 

One  cannot  read  the  telegrams  passed  between  National 
Chairman  Willcox  and  these  two  ostensible  collaborators,  and 
believe  that  Crocker  regarded  the  success  of  Hughes  in  Cali- 
fornia as  equal  to  him  in  value  to  the  success  of  the  Crocker 
candidate  against  Johnson  in  the  Republican  primaries.  The 
telegrams  from  which  I  use  extracts  have  never  been  pub- 
lished. 

WILLCOX  VAINLY  ASKS   CROCKER  TO   DESIST 

The  first  of  the  series  of  dispatches  (July  8)  was  sent  by 
Crocker's  chairman,  Keesling  to  Willcox,  and  pledged  Hughes 
a  "cordial  reception"  under  the  auspices  of  ua  re-united 
party."  It  soon  developed,  however,  that  the  Crocker  idea 
of  a  "re-united  party"  was  of  a  party  to  which  the  Progres- 
sives were  to  be  like  the  young  lady  of  Niger  and  at  the  end 
of  the  campaign  the  two  factions  were: 

".  .  .  return  from  the  ride, 
With  the  lady  inside, 
And  a  smile  on  the  face  of  the  tiger/' 

Evidently  Chairman  Willcox  had  heard  of  Crocker's  real 
attitude  for  he  sent  him  this  telegram: 

"Disquieting  rumors  are  current  here  of  lack  of  co-operation 
looking  to  the  general  support  in  your  State  of  all  forces  opposed 
to  the  Wilson  nomination.  We  feel  that  every  effort  should  be 

454 


As  I  Knew  Them 

made  to  harmonize  all  differences.  .  .  ,  Will  you  kindly  give  this 
matter  your  personal  attention?" 

Progressive  committeeman  Rowell  suggested  that  Johnson 
preside  at  the  San  Francisco  meeting,  and  the  Crocker  candi- 
date for  Senator  at  the  Los  Angeles  meeting,  "although," 
he  added,  "my  suggestion  of  Johnson  considers  him  as  Gov- 
ernor and  not  as  a  candidate." 

This  proposal  seemed  a  fair  division  of  honors  between  the 
two  factions,  but  Crocker  would  have  none  of  it.  Apparently 
he  appealed  to  Murray  Crane  to  head  Willcox  off  from  urging 
peace.  In  a  telegram  dated  July  16,  Willcox  refers  to  Crane 
and  adds :  "I  sent  the  telegram  as  I  did  for  I  feel  very  strongly 
that  in  those  States  where  there  is  a  fight  on  for  United  States 
Senator,  if  continued  until  election,  will  work  harm  to  the 
national  ticket." 

CROCKER'S  REAL  PURPOSE 

Under  date  of  July  19,  Crocker  reveals  his  purpose  to  con- 
trol the  Hughes  visit  in  the  interest  of  his  candidate  for  Sena- 
tor and  against  Johnson.  He  telegraphed  among  other 
statements  "California  must  have  Republican  (meaning 
Crocker  candidate)  Senator.  My  efforts  will  be  judiciously 
and  unreservedly  so  directed." 

On  July  28,  Rowell  telegraphed:  uln  any  other  State  the 
Governor  and  Hughes  supporter  would  be  obvious  chairman 
and  to  refuse  Johnson  recognition  will  be  taken  by  voters  as 
indication  of  ostracism  of  Progressive  participation.  I  shall 
therefore  insist  upon  my  suggestion  of  Johnson.  I  have  no 
objections  to  postponing  Hughes  meeting  until  after  primaries, 
but  maintain  Governor  should  preside  if  meeting  is  held  on 
original  date." 

On  July  30,  Chairman  Willcox  telegraphed:  "I  might  say 
personally  and  not  officially  that  I  think  there  is  force  in  the 
Governor  of  a  State  who  is  supporting  a  presidential  candi- 
date having  the  privilege  to  preside  at  one  of  the  meetings. 

455 


As  I  Knew  Them 

This  is  a  courtesy  that  usually  should  be  extended.  ...  It 
does  seem  to  me  that  during  the  two  days  that  Hughes  is  in 
California  all  hands  should  pull  together  in  an  effort  to  make 
the  meetings  successful  both  for  the  interests  of  the  national 
candidate  and  for  themselves,  thus  removing  local  compli- 


cations. " 


Finally,  August  2,  Crocker  wired:  "We  believe  we  can 
handle  the  situation,'7  which  meant,  as  Rowell  telegraphed  on 
August  6,  that  Progressive  participation  in  the  two  meetings 
was  excluded  and  that  only  those  Progressives  whom  Crocker 
invited  as  guests  were  included.  Rowell  asked  that  some- 
thing be  done  "to  prevent  calamity  to  Hughes  which  Crocker's 
proposed  exclusion  of  Progressives  will  produce.  These  plans 
if  unchanged  will  arouse  such  widespread  resentment  as  to 
render  California  a  doubtful  State  for  Hughes." 

CROCKER  REIGNS  AND  TAKES   SOLE  RESPONSIBILITY 

On  August  10,  Willcox  telegraphed  Crocker:  "I  desire  to 
record  my  earnest  protest  against  any  reprisals  being  placed 
on  those  who  are  supporting  Hughes  and  who  may  not  have 
supported  our  ticket  in  past  years.  ...  I  state  as  em- 
phatically as  I  can  that  if  there  are  any  grounds  for  RowelPs 
complaints  they  should  be  speedily  removed." 

Crocker's  reply  to  this  telegram  was  brief.  He  wanted 
no  more  argument.  He  curtly  wired:  "Replying  to  your  tele- 
gram all  arrangements  for  California  meetings  have  been 
completed." 

The  series  of  telegrams  ended  as  they  had  begun  with 
Crocker  insisting  upon  his  own  way  regardless  of  consequences 
to  Hughes.  He  presided  at  the  San  Francisco  meeting,  as  he 
had  always  intended  to  do,  and  he  named  one  of  his  lieu- 
tenants to  preside  at  the  Los  Angeles  meeting,  leaving  the 
Johnson  forces  out  in  the  cold. 

The  Governor  of  the  State  was  thus  deliberately  denied 
formal  notice  of  the  presence  in  the  State  of  the  presidential 

456 


As  I  Knew  Them 

candidate  he  was  supporting.  An  organization  capable  of 
delivering  only  3,914  votes  to  its  presidential  candidate  in 
1912  took  sole  responsibility  for  Hughes;  receptions,  dinners 
and  meetings  were  held  with  Crocker  as  the  one  directing 
authority. 

Naturally  Johnson  resented  this  affront;  naturally,  his  fol- 
lowers resented  it  even  more  deeply.  They  saw  a  presidential 
candidate  for  whom  they  were  asked  to  vote  completely  sur- 
rounded by  their  factional  opponents;  they  lost  interest  in 
him.  In  every  speech  Johnson  continued  to  urge  support  of 
Hughes;  had  he  not  done  so  Hughes  would  not  have  come 
within  3,773  votes  of  winning  the  State. 

It  may  be  true,  that  aside  from  speaking  for  Hughes,  John- 
son concentrated  his  campaign  efforts  on  his  own  election  as 
Senator.  What  else  could  he  do?  Crocker  had  taken  over 
responsibility  for  Hughes'  political  fortunes  in  the  State.  De- 
spite the  protests  of  Chairman  Willcox,  he  used  his  place  as 
national  committeeman  to  treat  the  Johnson  forces  as  out- 
siders. The  latter  had  no  responsibility  in  the  campaign  after 
Crocker's  decree.  Planning  a  return  to  control  of  the  State 
under  a  Hughes  Administration, — Crocker  was  determined 
that  Hughes  should  understand  that  he,  and  he  alone,  had 
fought  the  battle.  His  mistake  was  that  he  could  not  wait 
until  after  election  to  make  his  purpose  known.  He  had  to 
dominate  at  once,  he  had  to  put  his  own  ambitions  ahead  of 
Hughes'  interests  as  a  candidate — and  California  voted  with 
Crocker  more  in  mind  than  Hughes.  The  surprise  is,  that 
under  such  conditions  the  Hughes  vote  was  so  large. 

HUGHES  AS  SECRETARY  OF  STATE 

Of  course,  the  honor  of  the  Presidency  is  too  great  to  lose 
without  regret,  and  Hughes  must  have  felt  the  blow  keenly. 
No  shock-absorber  will  blunt  the  sharpness  of  it  for  any  man 
— not  even  Time,  for  most  men.  But  Hughes  has  now  re- 
sumed the  place  he  really  had  in  mind  before  the  call  of  the 

457 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Chicago  convention — his  place  as  a  citizen  and  in  his  pro- 
fession— and  as  I  see  him  on  public  occasions  I  get  the  im- 
pression that  the  four  years  he  missed  as  President  have 
been  more  than  made  up  by  his  satisfaction  with  his  six  years 
as  Secretary  of  State.  Undoubtedly  those  years  are  the  hap- 


From  the  Glasgow  News. 

A   FINE    HAUL    FOR   HUGHES 

piest  of  his  career.  In  that  office  he  did  the  work  on  which 
his  fame  will  rest.  Both  Harding  and  Coolidge  gave  him  a 
free  hand.  He  was  Secretary  of  State  in  fact.  It  was  an 
atmosphere  to  his  liking,  and  he  quickly  impressed  the  country 
and  the  world.  He  was  as  far  removed  from  the  political 
currents  that  swirl  around  an  Administration  as  it  is  possible 
for  a  Cabinet  officer  to  be.  Aside  from  the  World  Court 
and  the  recognition  of  Russia  he  had  no  political  phases  to 
consider  seriously.  It  Is  not  my  province  to  contrast  the 
records  made  by  the  Premiers  of  various  Administrations, 
but  it  would  be  difficult  for  me  to  name  one  who  achieved 

458 


As  I  Knew  Them 

greater  renown  than  Hughes,  who  has  to  his  credit  so  many 
treaties  ratified,  or  who  can  point  to  a  Department  reorganized 
on  a  basis  that  offers  a  career  to  those  who  enter  it.  Every 
policy  was  thoughtfully  studied,  frankly  declared,  and  vigor- 
ously pressed.  There  were  no  hasty  judgments,  no  subtleties 
of  language  or  of  purpose,  no  timidities. 

An  earnest  desire  to  be  on  good  terms  with  other  nations, 
to  exert  the  good  offices  of  this  government  in  the  after-war 
chaos  of  Europe,  was  translated  into  performance.  It  will 
never  be  known  how  frequently  our  State  Department  was 
called  upon  immediately  after  the  war  to  adjust  minor  but 
irritating  differences  between  other  nations  solely  because 
there  was  confidence  that  the  man  at  the  head  would  see  to  it 
that  right  prevailed.  It  was  in  giving  that  character  of 
exact  justice  to  his  administration  that  Hughes  performed 
his  greatest  service  to  other  countries  as  well  as  to  his  own, 
and  made  a  record  of  substantial  achievement. 

Today  he  is  our  ranking  citizen  without  title — what  I  call 
our  first  citizen  for  emergencies.  Every  big  occasion  needs 
him.  Coolidge  as  President  is  spokesman  for  the  nation,  but 
when  a  voice  from  our  untitled  citizenry  is  desired,  the  people 
turn  to  Hughes. 


459 


CHAPTER    LVII 
HOW  WILL  HAYS  BECAME  NATIONAL  CHAIRMAN 

'ITT"  HEN  William  R.  Willcox  in  1918  decided  to  resign  as 
*  ™  chairman  of  the  Republican  national  committee,  Sena- 
tor Boies  Penrose,  ex-Senator  Murray  Crane  and  others 
agreed  upon  John  T.  Adams,  of  Iowa,  as  his  successor. 

The  committee  was  called  to  meet  in  St.  Louis,  February 
12,  1918.  The  election  of  Adams  seemed  settled.  Ten  or 
twelve  national  committeemen  of  the  progressive  type,  how- 
ever, did  not  like  the  choice.  George  Perkins  finally  became 
active  in  this  minority  movement,  and  the  newspapers  gave  it 
attention.  A  week  or  so  before  the  meeting  Murray  Crane 
telephoned  me  to  take  breakfast  with  him  at  his  apartment  in 
the  Biltmore  Hotel,  New  York  city.  After  breakfast,  he  sud- 
denly asked  me,  "What  is  the  use  of  stirring  up  all  this  muss 
about  the  chairmanship?  Perkins  cannot  defeat  Adams.  I 
wish  you  would  tell  him  so." 

I  replied  that  I  had  no  interest  in  the  matter — that  a  news- 
paper editor  had  no  business  in  purely  "organization  rival- 


ries." 


"We  have  from  36  to  40  sure  votes  in  the  committee  for 
Adams,"  continued  Senator  Crane.  "There  isn't  a  ghost 
of  a  chance  to  defeat  him.  Try  to  see  Perkins  today  and 
make  him  see  that  he  is  up  against  a  stone  wall" 

I  talked  with  Perkins,  as  requested,  and  a  check-up  of  the 
national  committee  showed  the  "Old  Guard"  strength  about 
as  Crane  had  stated. 

"They  have  the  votes,"  replied  Perkins,  "but  possibly  we 
can  produce  something  else,  Walter  Brown  has  just  been 
here  from  Ohio.  He  says  we  are  going  out  to  St.  Louis  with 
only  a  pair  of  deuces  to  draw  to,  but  if  we  can  draw  the 

460 


As  I  Knew  Them 

other  two  deuces  we  will  have  a  strong  hand.  I'm  after  the 
other  two.  Better  come  out  to  St.  Louis  with  us,  and  help 
in  the  good  work." 

"No,"  I  replied,  "I've  attended  enough  funerals  the  past 
six  years  and  I  don't  care  to  go  to  any  more.  You  and  Brown 
can  be  the  whole  show." 

I  learned  later  that  the  other  two  deuces  Perkins  was  seek- 
ing were  a  series  of  letters  written  from  Germany  by  Adams 
in  the  summer  of  1914  (just  after  the  outbreak  of  war)  and 
printed  in  Adams'  home-town  paper  in  Iowa.  They  were  dis- 
tinctly proXjerman.  Perkins  believed  the  committee  would 
not  dare  to  go  to  the  country  with  a  chairman  who  had  ex- 
pressed such  opinions.  He  had  sent  a  man  to  Iowa  to  dig  up 
the  letters.  Three  days  before  the  St.  Louis  meeting  they 
had  not  been  found.  Nevertheless,  he  and  Walter  Brown 
started  for  St.  Louis. 

SOME  LETTERS  ARRIVE  AND  ADAMS  RETIRES 

There  was  just  one  hour  to  spare  when  the  documents  ar- 
rived in  St.  Louis.  The  committee  was  about  to  meet.  Ap- 
parently the  Adams  candidacy  had  no  serious  opposition. 
Perkins  showed  Senator  Calder,  of  New  York,  the  Adams 
publication. 

"I'm  for  Adams,"  said  Calder,  "but  these  letters,  if  true, 
make  him  impossible." 

They  proved  to  be  true  enough.  Adams  frankly  acknowl- 
edged their  authorship  when  Calder  read  them  to  his  aston- 
ished colleagues.  You  never  saw  a  body  of  men  so  startled. 
In  less  than  ten  minutes  the  Adams  candidacy  was  withdrawn, 
and  the  Committee  recessed  in  a  chaotic  search  for  a  new 
chairman.  Murray  Crane  always  insisted  that  had  he  been 
present  the  committee  would  have  ignored  the  letters  and 
elected  Adams.  The  Massachusetts  Senator,  usually  so  thor- 
ough, had  assumed  that  Adams  was  certain  of  election,  and 
had  remained  at  home.  He  thus  lost  control  of  the  situation; 

461 


As  I  Knew  Them 

he  vainly  tried  to  rally  the  members  by  telephone,  but  he 
found  that  the  water  was  over  the  dam.  The  next  problem 
was  to  find  a  man  whom  both  Murray  Crane  and  Boies  Pen- 
rose  would  agree  was  not  "the  other  fellow's"  candidate.  He 
was  hard  to  find. 

SULLIVAN,   INDIANA,    PRODUCES   ITS   LEADING   CITIZEN 

Back  In  the  little  town  of  Sullivan,  Indiana, — said  to  be 
somewhere  near  the  geographic  centre  of  population  in  this 
country — there  lived  a  young  man  whose  unusual  ability  in 
politics  had  been  recognized'  for  several  years  by  Vice  Presi- 
dent Fairbanks  and  other  Hoosier  Republicans.  He  was  un- 
known to  fame  beyond  the  banks  of  the  Wabash  but  for  a  year 
or  more  he  had  been  the  working  head  of  the  Indiana  Re- 
publican organization.  He  had  represented  Fairbanks  in  the 
1916  convention  and  had  persuaded  him  to  accept  a  second 
nomination  for  Vice  President,  despite  reiterated  refusals. 
In  Chicago  that  year  he  met  Republican  leaders  from  other 
States — and,  in  particular,  he  met  George  W.  Perkins,  who 
at  once  shared  the  Indiana  faith  in  the  young  man  from 
Sullivan. 

The  young  man  was  Will  H.  Hays.  That  was  the  name 
suddenly  thrust  into  the  situation  in  St.  Louis.  His  strength 
was  that  he  had  no  political  ties  outside  of  Indiana;  he  was 
young,  tireless  and  able.  He  seemed  the  man  of  the  hour, 
and  the  committee  turned  to  him  as  to  a  life-saver.  Not  a  vote 
was  cast  against  him.  Hays  was  speaking  before  a  Presbyte- 
rian Church  meeting  in  Indianapolis  that  afternoon,  when 
the  presiding  officer  asked  him  to  stop  for  a  moment  and 
announced  that  he  had  just  been  unanimously  chosen  chairman 
of  the  Republican  National  Committee.  A  national  career 
clean,  honorable,  forceful  and  achieving  was  thus  begun — and 
has  not  yet  ended. 


462 


CHAPTER   LVIII 
WHEN  ACQUAINTANCE,  NOT  ISSUES,  WON 

The  i$20  Convention  Had  Many  fflfs"  To  It  But  Har ding's  Acquain- 
tances Carried  The  Day — Hiram  Johnson  Refuses  To  Go  On  Ticket — 
Oregon  Interrupts  The  Lenroot  Boom  With  Calls  For  Coolidge,  and 
Delegates  Insist  Upon  Naming  Him  For  Vice  President. 

SO  MANY  "ifs"  could  be  used  in  the  story  of  the  1920 
Republican  national  convention  that  it  is  still  possible 
for  any  candidate  before  that  body  to  believe  that  he  would 
have  been  the  nominee  "if"  any  one  of  several  particular 
things  had  happened  as  he  had  planned. 

Of  course  the  big  "if"  in  everybody's  mind  was — if  Roose- 
velt were  alive,  could  he,  or  would  he,  have  stopped  his  own 
nomination?  Undoubtedly,  he  would  have  liked  to  see  his 
return  to  the  leadership  of  the  Republican  party  authenticated 
by  the  vote  of  a  national  convention  indorsing  his  views  if 
not  his  candidacy.  But  I  cannot  forget  his  emphatic  "no" 
not  many  months  before  his  death  when  I  told  him  he  would 
be  the  unanimous  nominee.  In  1912  I  never  abandoned  hope 
that  he  would  finally  acquiesce,  but  I  had  a  different  feeling 
about  him  after  my  talk  in  1919.  He  was  then  beyond  his 
sixtieth  birthday,  the  strain  of  a  persistent  illness  was  telling 
on  him,  and  I  knew  that  he  was  in  no  condition  for  the  return 
of  other  days  and  their  burdens.  His  passing  away  was  so 
sudden  that  he  left  no  word  to  indicate  the  man  of  his  choice, 
if  he  had  one. 

So  we  had  another  "If" — would  Roosevelt  have  urged 
Leonard  Wood?  The  GeneraPs  supporters  insisted  yes. 
They  declared  that  the  mantle  of  Roosevelt  had  fallen  upon 
his  shoulders — others  said  no. 

463 


As  I  Knew  Them 

If  Saturday  had  not  arrived  with  the  delegates  anxious^to 
avoid  further  hotel  bills,  would  they  have  continued  balloting 
instead  of  making  a  hasty  choice  so  as  to  get  away?  If  they 
had  continued,  would  the  steady  increase  of  votes  for  Leonard 
Wood  have  gone  on? 

There  was  still  another  "if."  Had  Senator  Warren  Hard- 
ing insisted,  as  at  one  time  he  was  inclined  to  do,  upon  ''filing" 
for  reelection  as  Senator  from  Ohio  on  Thursday  night  (the 
last  lawful  date)  he  would  have  fallen  out  of  the  Presidential 
race  next  day.  If  that  had  happened,  who  would  have  been 
the  nominee? 

HIRAM  JOHNSON  REFUSES  SECOND   PLACE 

Without  dwelling  upon  other  "ifs,"  however,  or  summariz- 
ing the  rivalries  for  nomination,  let  .me  divert  and  speak  of  an 
"if  that  as  matters  turned  out  really  would  have  made  a 
President. 

If  Senator  Hiram  Johnson,  of  California,  had  agreed  to 
Warren  Harding' s  personal  request  that  he  go  on  the  ticket 
as  Vice  President,  he  and  not  Calvin  Coolidge  would  have 
succeeded  President  Harding  in  the  White  House.  Not  many 
persons  know  that  Johnson  refused  such  a  request,  but  he  did. 
It  came  to  him  just  as  the  delegates  were  "breaking"  and 
Harding's  nomination  was  assured.  The  Harding  group  of 
managers  went  hurriedly  into  conference  to  consider  the  man 
for  second  place.  Harding  himself  suggested  Johnson.  Not 
all  of  those  present  could  wholly  forget  1912,  however.  Some 
argument  was  required  to  overcome  their  factional  objection. 
The  convention  was  moving  fast  toward  its  decisions.  Any 
settlement  on  Vice  President  had  to  be  made  quickly.  John- 
son therefore  was  selected. 

The  California  Senator  was  informed  of  Harding's  wish. 
He  promptly  replied  that  if  he  could  not  be  named  for  Presi- 
dent he  preferred  to  remain  in  the  Senate.  On  several  ballots 
Johnson  had  polled  close  to  150  votes;  like  other  candidates 

464 


As  I  Knew  Them 

he  resented  the  hurry-up  programme  of  the  Harding  sup- 
porters; he  was  against  forcing  a  nomination  on  the  plea  that 
the  convention  should  adjourn  before  Sunday.  Other  tactics 
by  the  Harding  managers  had  also  displeased  the  California 
Senator.  His  visitors,  therefore,  heard  some  rather  strong 
words  from  the  man  they  wanted  to  make  Vice  President — 
and  Johnson  knows  how  to  be  emphatic.  In  fact  the  Hard- 
ing men  felt  uncertain  as  they  left  him  whether  he  would  sup- 
port the  convention's  nominee  and  the  ghost  of  California  in 
1916  came  to  their  minds.  But  Johnson  delivered  a  hand- 
some majority  to  the  ticket  of  which  he  might  have  been  a 
part  and  thus  two  years  later  achieve  the  eager  ambition  of 
his  life. 

ACQUAINTANCE,  NOT  ISSUES,   CONTROLLED 

I  have  heard  the  1920  convention  referred  to  as  a  conven- 
tion in  which  acquaintance  rather  than  issues  influenced  the 
choice  of  the  delegates.  And  that  is  as  good  an  appraisement 
of  it  as  any  other,  for  the  Harding  nomination  had  no  deeper 
significance. 

He  stood  for  no  particular  issue.  He  was  a  party  man, 
ready  to  do  whatever  everybody  thought  best.  All  that  week 
in  Chicago  he  was  smiling  and  buoyant  throughout  the  usual 
ups  and  downs  of  convention  manipulation,  apparently  the 
least  concerned  person  in  town.  He  had  more  acquaintances 
in  the  convention  than  any  of  his  rivals,  and  in  a  real  sense 
he  put  himself  in  the  hands  of  his  friends.  They  did  the  work 
and  the  worrying. 

I  believe  that  Harding  was  the  most  astonished  man  who 
ever  sought  the  Presidency  when  Harry  Daugherty  and  others 
convinced  him  Thursday  night  that  he  could  safely  ignore 
his  last  opportunity  to  file  for  reelection  as  Senator.  He  had 
signed  his  nominating  papers  for  the  Senatorship,  and  they 
were  ready  for  filing  in  Ohio.  Reluctantly,  he  allowed  the 

465 


As  I  Knew  Them 

last  moment  to  go.  Then,  and  not  until  then,  did  he  take  an 
active  interest  in  the  convention  result.  He  had  to  get  the 
nomination  or  go  back  to  Marion  as  Editor  of  the  Marion 
"Star"  after  March  4,  1921. 

The  Lowden  candidacy  at  the  outset  had  the  most  votes  on 
roll-call,  though  it  never  had  a  strong  hold  on  its  delegates, 
Hiram  Johnson  was  a  definite  figure  among  the  candidates. 
But  among  seventeen  men  formally  nominated  for  President, 
Leonard  Wood  had  the  longest  identity  with  public  affairs. 
As  against  the  Wilson  Administration,  he  meant  something 
in  the  public  mind.  So  did  Calvin  Coolidge,  whose  candidacy 
was  based  on  the  issue  raised  by  the  police  strike  in  Boston. 
While  the  strike  was  a  local  affair  the  issue  was  national. 

NATHAN  MILLER  THE  ONLY  MAN  WHO  EVER  BEAT  "AL1'  SMITH 

Another  candidacy  that  had  greater  possibilities  than  the 
roll-call  indicated,  was  that  of  Herbert  Hoover,  now  Secre- 
tary of  Commerce,  His  name  was  presented  by  Nathan  L. 
Miller,  soon  to  be  Governor  of  New  York.  Miller  has  the 
honor  of  being  the  one  man  who  ever  defeated  "Al"  Smith 
for  Governor.  Smith  turned  the  tables  on  him  in  1922,  but 
not  before  Miller  had  made  a  record  as  one  of  the  ablest  Gov- 
ernors of  the  Empire  State.  It  was  a  record  that  appealed  to 
Harding  in  the  White  House,  for  he  offered  to  make  Miller 
an  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court — an  honor  that 
Miller,  for  financial  reasons,  reluctantly  declined. 

Had  the  move  to  Harding  failed  Saturday  forenoon,  the 
convention  surely  would  have  adjourned  until  the  following 
week.  There  would  then  have  been  only  three  candidates 
in  the  "likely"  list:  Calvin  Coolidge,  Herbert  Hoover  and 
Leonard  Wood.  The  Lowden  column  had  broken,  but  the 
Wood  column  did  not  weaken  until  Harding  was  too  far  ahead 
to  be  overtaken.  There  were  rumors  that  the  Lowden  dele- 
gates were  to  turn  to  Wood.  They  might  have  done  so  had 

466 


As  I  Knew  Them 

there  been  time  for  negotiation  but  the  convention  leaders 
refused  a  recess  and  forced  a  nomination. 

THE  NAMING  OF  COOLIDGE 

The  one  surprise  of  the  convention  came  in  a  most  dramatic 
way  when  Chairman  Lodge  asked  for  nominations  for  Vice 
President.  Failing  to  persuade  Hiram  Johnson,  the  Harding 
people  had  no  candidate  for  second  place.  Senator  Medill 
McCormick  of  Illinois,  got  recognition,  and  walked  to  the 
platform  to  make  a  nominating  speech.  To  reach  it  he  had 
to  pass  my  desk  in  the  press  section. 

"What  are  you  going  to  do,  Medill  ?"  I  asked. 

"We're  going  to  put  over  Lenroot,"  he  replied. 

"The  hell  you  are!"  broke  in  a  correspondent  seated  at  an 
adjoining  desk. 

McCormick  glared  at  him  in  surprise,  and  as  he  climbed  up 
the  ladder  steps  to  the  platform,  called  back,  "Watch  me  and 


see." 


A  Senators'  ticket — top  to  bottom — Harding  and  Lenroot ! 
It  seemed  a  narrow  structure  for  a  national  appeal.  How- 
ever, that  was  the  slate,  so  I  awaited  developments. 

McCormick  had  not  uttered  fifty  words  before  a  voice  from 
the  rear  delegates'  seats  interrupted  with  "Coolidge!  Cool- 
idge!" It  was  not  a  heavy  voice,  but  it  penetrated  the  con- 
vention hall.  All  kinds  of  voices  and  all  kinds  of  interruptions 
are  heard  in  a  convention.  They  are  accepted  as  part  of  the 
proceedings  and  merely  swell  the  volume  of  noise.  This  voice, 
however,  had  a  different  sound — it  seemed  to  say  something 
worth  heeding. 

Senator  McCormick  went  on  with  his  speech  to  the  next 
period.  Again  came  that  voice  from  the  rear  benches — "Cool- 
idgel  Coolidge!"  Once  more  it  filled  the  hall.  This  time 
it  was  echoed  by  other  delegates.  From  individuals  in  a 
dozen  State  delegations  came  an  echo  to  the  cry  "Coolidge!" 

467 


As  I  Knew  Them 

McCormick  closed  by  naming  his  candidate,  Lenroot,  but  from 
the  delegates  and  galleries  came  insistent  calls  for  Coolidge. 
Probably  two-thirds  of  the  Republican  Senators  were  dele- 
gates. Most  of  them  rose  to  shout  for  Lenroot.  Edge,  of 
New  Jersey,  Calder,  of  New  York,  Brandegee,  of  Connecti- 
cut, just  in  front  of  me,  jumped  upon  their  seats  and  hur- 
rahed as  though  they  were  cheering  a  home  run  by  their  local 
base  ball  team.  But  the  Senators  could  not  out-cheer  the 
ordinary  delegates,  who  by  this  time  had  grown  into  a  sub- 
stantial group  demanding  Coolidge. 

OREGON  NAMES  THE  BAY  STATE  GOVERNOR 

The  voice  that  had  started  the  Coolidge  demonstration  was 
a  voice  from  Oregon — truly  across  the  whole  continent  from 
Massachusetts;  the  Pacific  calling  to  the  Atlantic.  At  once 
all  eyes  turned  toward  the  Oregon  standard  to  see  the  man 
who  had  broken  in  on  the  Senatorial  slate.  Delegates  asked 
his  name,  and  wondered  how  it  happened  that  far-off  Oregon 
— the  pathless  wilderness  that  Daniel  Webster  preferred  in 
1848  to  let  England  own  rather  than  have  America  burdened 
with  it — had  become  so  deeply  interested  in  the  Governor  of 
Webster's  State.  Conventions  are  often  moved  by  their  great 
orators  but  rarely  by  men  unknown  beyond  their  own  State 
lines. 

In  one  of  Bernard  Shaw's  comedies,  the  critics,  when  asked 
to  give  their  opinion  of  a  play  they  had  just  witnessed,  re- 
sponded by  asking  the  name  of  the  author.  "How  can  we  tell 
whether  it  is  good  or  bad  unless  we  know  who  wrote  it?" 
So  it  is  in  large  assemblages — the  crowd  mind  seeks  a  big  name 
to  guide  it.  In  this  instance,  however,  the  convention  only 
knew  that  a  man  from  Oregon  was  Insistently  calling  for  Cool- 
idge, and  that  on  every  call  he  was  getting  a  louder  response. 
Perhaps  in  those  final  hours  the  delegates  were  glad  to  be  free 
after  three  dreary  dajrs  of  balloting  for  President,  under  the 
restraint  of  "organization"  decrees. 

468 


As  I  Knew  Them 


THE  DELEGATES  WANTED  COOLIDGE 

On  the  Vice-Presidency,  the  bars  were  down,  and  the  dele- 
gates streamed  out  of  the  old,  beaten,  follow-the-leader  path 
into  new  pasture  like  colts  turned  out  on  June  grass.  There 
were  calls  for  "Oregon,"  calls  for  "platform,"  but  the  man 
whom  nobody  knew  modestly  stood  on  his  chair  and  nomi- 
nated for  Vice  President  a  man  whom  shortly  the  whole  world 
was  to  know.  Wallace  McCamant  made  no  long  speech.  He 
merely  said  that  the  Oregon  delegates  had  come  to  the  con- 
vention to  nominate  Calvin  Coolidge  for  President.  Since 
they  could  not  get  him  in  first  place,  they  now  wanted  him 
in  second  place. 

By  this  time  the  Coolidge  boom  was  everywhere.  The 
delegates  themselves  were  in  control  of  the  convention;  lead- 
ers— especially  Senators — did  not  count.  Not  since  Garfield 
was  nominated  in  1880  had  there  been  an  uprising  so  entirely 
"from  the  floor."  Senator  Joseph  S.  Frelinghuysen,  of  New 
Jersey,  moved  to  make  the  nomination  of  Coolidge  unanimous 
before  Lodge,  surprised  and  chagrined,  could  put  the  motion. 


469 


CHAPTER   LIX 
"DON'T  LET'S  CHEAT  'EM!" 

Harding  Always  Anxious  To  Tell  The  Whole  Story  In  His  Speeches — 
My  Visit  To  Harding' 's  Home  Town  And  A  Breakfast  Prepared  By  A 
Statesman — A  Last  Talk  with  Harding  Before  He  Left  for  the  West 
—"You've  A  Better  Job  Than  I  Have"— He  Was  "Warren'  To  The 
Whole  Town— Fighting  Illness  To  Do  His  Duty—'It  Must  Not  Be 
Again!  God  Grant  It  Will  Not  EeT—His  Last  Act  Was  To  Gain 
An  8-Hour  Day  For  Iron  And  Steel  Workers — A  Fine  Record 
Through  The  Chaos  Of  War. 

T  SHALL  never  forget  my  first  visit  to  Harding  a  week  or 
-*•  so  after  his  return  to  Marion.  With  Senator  Coleman  Du 
Pont,  Harry  Daugherty,  and  two  others,  I  went  down  on 
the  night  train  from  Chicago,  reaching  Marion  before  six 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  There  was  no  one  "at  home"  so  early 
in  the  Marion  Club,  but  nearby  we  found  a  bakery  and  a 
butcher  shop  open.  Du  Pont  fried  the  ham  and  eggs,  heated 
the  rolls  and  boiled  the  coffee.  Others  set  the  table,  I  acted 
as  waiter.  Never  was  a  breakfast  better  cooked  or  more 
thoroughly  enjoyed. 

About  nine  o'clock  we  walked  over  to  call  on  Harding. 
There  in  one  of  those  modest  village  homes  that  are  the  great- 
est asset  of  American  life  we  found  the  candidate — physically 
a  splendid  type  of  manhood.  He  asked  my  opinion  as  a  news- 
paper editor  as  to  how  long  an  acceptance  speech  should  be. 
Spread  out  before  him  were  proofsheets  that  would  fill  a 
newspaper  page. 

"About  half  that  much,"  I  said. 

He  looked  surprised. 

"Candidates  try  to  say  too  much  at  one  time,"  I  continued, 

470 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"and  the  people  will  not  read  it  all  Give  it  to  them  little  by 
little;  then  they  will  read  it  all." 

"You're  right  from  one  point  of  view,"  he  said,  "but  an 
acceptance  speech  is  a  sort  of  confession  of  faith;  it's  a  rec- 
ord. The  folks  ought  to  know  it  all  in  one  story.  They  ex- 
pect it  that  way  and  we  mustn't  cheat  'em.  Let  them  know 
it  all,  and  then  let  them  decide.  Don't  let's  cheat  'em;  let's 
make  the  record  full  and  fair." 

The  speech  when  published  filled  almost  two  newspaper 
pages,  or  sixteen  columns. 

"DON'T  LET'S  CHEAT  'EM!" 

After  the  campaign  I  learned  that  "Don't  let's  cheat  'em!" 
was  a  usual  phrase  with  Harding  when  discussing  the  com- 
pleteness of  his  speeches.  Richard  Washburn  Child  was  one 
of  those  in  charge  of  Harding's  speaking  engagements.  Every 
morning  they  would  have  a  conference  about  the  speech  for 
that  particular  day.  Harding  would  ask  for  the  data  that 
had  been  gathered  and  listen  to  arguments  about  emphasizing 
or  omitting  different  features.  Invariably  he  would  end  dis- 
cussion by  saying:  "Well,  boys,  let's  tell  them  the  whole  story. 
Don't  let's  cheat  'em!  They'll  like  us  better." 

Whenever  there  was  doubt  around  the  Harding  headquar- 
ters in  Marion  as  to  what  to  do  in  public  utterances,  the  can- 
didate's "Don't  let's  cheat  'em!"  became  the  guide.  Finally, 
it  spread  to  national  headquarters,  where  Will  Hays  began 
using  it  in  talks  with  campaign  spell-binders. 

Frankness  was  a  strong  Harding  trait.  And  he  always 
meant  what  he  said.  When  the  adjusted  compensation  bill 
— the  "bonus  bill" — was  before  him  for  approval  or  rejec- 
tion in  September  1922,  he  had  decided  not  to  sign  it.  He 
knew,  however,  that  he  had  made  a  number  of  campaign 
speeches  on  the  subject.  Obviously,  he  could  not  recall  every 
word  he  had  said,  but  he  wondered  whether  he  had  ever 
made  any  statement  that  could  be  regarded  as  a  pledge  to 

471 


As  I  Knew  Them 

favor  such  a  measure.  He  sent  for  Will  Hays,  then  Post- 
master General,  who  had  managed  the  campaign. 

"Will,"  he  said,  "you  know  my  campaign  speeches.  Did 
I  ever  say  anything  that  would  lead  anyone  to  charge  me 
with  breaking  faith  if  I  should  refuse  to  sign  this  bill?" 

"I  think  not,55  replied  Hays,  "but  I  would  have  to  look  it 
up  to  be  sure." 

"Then  I511  give  you  two  days  to  have  it  looked  up,5'  replied 
the  President.  "Put  enough  men  on  the  job  to  read  every 
word  I  ever  uttered.  I  am  sure  my  record  is  clear,  but  make 
doubly  sure,  for  if  I'm  pledged  to  sign  it  I'll  sign.55 

The  speeches  were  gone  over,  no  pledge  was  found,  and  the 
bill  went  back  to  Congress  with  a  Harding  veto. 

A  LAST  TALK  WITH  HARDING 

"This  is  the  most  distressful  decision  of  my  life,5'  said 
President  Harding  to  me  in  the  White  House  as  he  held  up 
before  me  the  contract,  just  signed,  for  the  sale  of  the  Marion 
"Star.55  "It  tears  at  my  heart.  But  what  else  is  there  for 
me  to  do  ?  I  do  not  expect  ever  to  live  in  Marion  again,  and 
there  is  no  joy  in  running  a  newspaper  from  a  distance.  Be- 
sides, every  community  is  entitled  to  a  resident  editor  for  its 
newspapers.  It  is  hard  for  me  to  think  that  my  days  as 
editor  are  over.  An  editor  has  the  finest  job  in  the  world — 
I  envy  all  you  fellows.  YouVe  a  better  job  than  I  have.'5 

For  nearly  two  hours,  we  talked  "shop.55  It  was  a  day 
or  two  before  the  President  left  on  the  trip  from  which  he 
never  returned.  He  was  in  a  strange  mood.  I  have  since 
frequently  recalled  his  tone,  his  words  and  his  attitude  that 
afternoon  and  as  I  have  done  so  it  seemed  to  me  as  though 
something  hovering  over  him  led  him  into  a  sort  of  spiritual 
mood. 

I  did  not  suspect  that  he  was  a  sick  man,  for  only  his  closest 
intimates  knew  that  he  was  ill,  but  it  was  plain  that  something 
was  sapping  his  strength  and  taking  the  color  out  of  his  face. 

472 


As  I  Knew  Them 

I  realized  as  I  left  him  that  I  was  saying  good-bye  to  a  man 
who  needed  rest.  I  made  up  my  mind  also  that  Harding  was 
not  happy  as  President. 

The  austerity  of  the  White  House,  the  separation  from 
companionships  that  meant  much  to  him,  created  a  void  in 
his  daily  life  that  the  honor  of  his  title  did  not  fill.  This  was 
reflected  in  his  face  the  afternoon  in  July  1921  when  he  went 
to  the  Capitol  to  plead  with  the  Senate  not  to  pass  the  first 
bonus  bill.  Before  making  his  address  he  sat  with  his  old 
group  at  lunch  around  the  familiar  corner  table  in  the  Senate 
restaurant.  Senator  Frelinghuysen  accompanied  him  from  the 
White  House. 

"Don't  make  any  early  dates  for  me  this  afternoon,"  Hard- 
ing called  to  his  secretary,  "I  want  to  feel  free." 

And,  as  I  watched  him  step  into  his  motor  car,  I  remarked 
that  I  had  never  seen  him  look  so  happy.  That  day,  he  told 
the  Senate  frankly  what  that  particular  bonus  bill  would  mean 
to  the  finances  of  the  nation.  To  the  surprise  of  all  observers, 
it  was  sent  back  to  committee,  and  another  year  elapsed  before 
the  adjusted  compensation  bill  succeeded  it. 

HARDING — HIS   HOME  TOWN'S   "WARREN" 

Fate  was  unkind  to  Warren  Harding.  It  made  him  Presi- 
dent almost  against  his  will  and  certainly  without  his  urging: 
it  gave  him  the  greatest  popular  and  electoral  majority  ever 
recorded  in  a  national  election,-  and  then,  as  he  was  growing 
into  the  bigness  of  his  office,  it  robbed  him  of  the  opportunity 
to  make  good  on  the  larger  conception  of  his  responsibilities 
that  had  slowly  come  to  him  out  of  the  burdens  and  anxieties. 

To  get  an  accurate  line  on  Harding  you  must  go  back  to 
his  days  as  Editor  of  the  Marion  "Star."  He  was  the  best 
known  man  in  town.  His  office  was  the  gathering  place  for  all 
seekers  after  favor — the  favor  of  publicity  and  the  greater 
favor  of  no  publicity.  At  the  club,  in  the  shops,  everybody 
called  him  Warren,  and  he  called  every  fellow  townsman  by 

473 


As  I  Knew  Them 

his  first  name.  For  him,  the  intimacies  of  a  small  town  made 
life  worth  living;  their  boundaries  marked  the  world  of  his 
desires. 

He  drifted  into  county  conventions,  state  conventions,  na- 
tional conventions — always  a  popular  figure.  Then  his  road 
led  to  the  Legislature  at  Columbus,  to  the  Lieutenant  Gov- 
ernorship, and  to  the  Senate  at  Washington. 

Even  with  these  honors  ambition  did  not  stir  him  greatly. 
He  remained  "Warren,"  with  all  that  that  implied.  With 
every  advance  he  carried  wholeheartedly  the  load  of  old  as- 
sociations. Each  period  back  in  Ohio  had  had  its  group  of 
them.  Slowly,  without  full  appreciation  of  the  changes  he  had 
outgrown  them ;  but  they  clung  to  him  and  he  clung  to  them. 
He  was  the  last  man  in  the  world  to  realize  their  embarrass- 
ment to  him  when  he  entered  the  White  House,  also  the  last 
man  to  turn  from  them  because  they  were  embarrassing. 

It  seemed  the  task  of  gratitude,  and  the  test  of  loyalty,  to 
stand  by  them,  and  he  did  stand  by  them.  He  could  see  no 
wrong  in  their  ways  or  their  purposes,  could  see  no  reason 
why  the  ways  of  Marion  and  of  Columbus  as  he  knew  them 
could  not  be  the  ways  of  the  White  House. 

HARDING   LOVED   LIFE   AND   HIS    FRIENDS 

There  was  gratitude,  there  was  friendship,  there  was  a 
comradic  warmth  about  Warren  Harding  that  in  every  pres- 
ence made  him  less  a  Senator,  less  a  President,  and  more  a 
genial  understanding  companion;  life  had  finally  turned  its 
pleasant  side  to  him  and  he  tried  to  make  it  do  the  same  for 
everyone  he  knew.  He  greeted  every  dawn  with  the  sunny, 
cheery  smile  of  the  man  who  loved  life  and  his  friends,  and 
whose  record  is  made  up  only  of  kindly  acts.  It  was  so  back 
in  Marion  days,  so  in  the  Ohio  Legislature,  so  in  the  Senate, 
so  in  the  White  House,  and  so  to  his  last  breath  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. Truly  a  consistent  record,  for  it  was  flesh  of  his  flesh, 
bone  of  his  bone. 

474 


As  I  Knew  Them 

A  CABINET  TO  BE  PROUD  OF 

Harding  did  not  make  a  burden  of  his  work,  but  he  was 
an  earnest  President.  He  had  Hughes  in  the  State  Depart- 
ment, Mellon  in  the  Treasury,  Hoover  in  the  Interior,  Hays 
in  the  Post  Office,  Weeks  in  the  War  Department,  and  Dawes 
at  the  Budget.  What  stronger  group  could  be  assembled,  to 
relieve  a  President  of  perplexities,  and  to  aid  him  in  a  wise 
solution  of  his  problems?  He  knew  he  was  in  safe  hands 
when  he  trusted  them;  he  believed  as  confidently  that  he  was 
in  safe  hands  when  with  equal  faith  he  trusted  others  who 
did  not  prove  so  dependable. 

Then  too,  Harding  was  an  undisciplined  man  in  his  day's 
work.  The  old  times  of  care-free  printer  and  editor  were 
still  coloring  his  cordial  nature.  Method  rather  than  pur- 
pose stood  in  the  way  of  rigid  organized  effort.  But  those 
who  criticise  must  face  the  fact  that  Harding  labored  for  a 
year  with  a  blood  pressure  exceeding  180,  defying  the  orders 
of  his  doctors  and  silencing  those  who  had  to  know  of  his 
peril  and  might  speak  of  it  to  others. 

While  the  newspapers  were  publishing  reports  of  Mrs. 
Harding' s  illness,  they  could  with  equal  truth  have  published 
reports  of  the  President's  defiance  of  death,  day  after  day, 
in  order  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  The  calm 
courage  with  which  he  endured  that  strain  is  shown  by  the 
way  in  which  he  kept  it  his  own  secret,  shared  only  by  his 
Cabinet,  until  finally,  it  was  revealed  to  the  world  by  his  col- 
lapse in  San  Francisco. 

FACING  AFTER-WAR  PROBLEMS  AND  CHAOS 

A  colossal  task  faced  the  man  who  became  President  in 
March  1921.  Returning  the  country  to  a  peace  basis — (to 
"normalcy,"  as  Harding  described  it) — was  quite  as  difficult 
as  directing  it  on  a  war  basis.  The  spirit  of  united  effort 

475 


As  I  Knew  Them 

left  the  people  when  war  ceased.  Every  nation  was  in  chaos. 
We  had  our  railroads  emerging,  almost  bankrupt,  from  gov- 
ernment control;  we  had  ships  by  the  score  that  had  never 
sailed  the  seas,  and  scores  of  others  destined  never  to  sail 
again;  we  had  millions  of  men  demobilized  from  the  army, 
but  not  yet  gathered  back  into  industry;  we  had  industrial  and 
farm  over-capacity  and  over-production  that  finally  forced  a 
deflation  period  through  which  the  country  staggered  but  did 
not  fall  In  our  great  agricultural  States  more  banks  closed 
than  remained  open.  In  truth  all  the  chaos  of  war  in  our  own 
country  as  well  as  its  terrific  ravages  abroad  came  to  Harding 
for  adjustment. 

THE  RIGHT  MAN  FOR  EACH  TASK 

He  was  a  newspaper  editor  and  a  politician.  He  had  no 
experience  equipping  him  for  the  situation  he  had  to  deal  with. 
He  could  not  be  a  Mellon,  but  he  got  Mellon;  he  could  not 
be  a  Hughes,  but  he  got  Hughes ;  he  could  not  be  a  Hoover, 
but  he  got  Hoover ;  he  could  not  be  a  Hays,  but  he  got  Hays. 
The  experience  he  lacked  was  to  be  found  In  those  men.  Yet 
in  their  selection,  except  with  Hays,  he  ran  against  the  narrow 
views  of  his  party  leaders.  They  could  see  no  politics  in  the 
choice  of  such  men,  but  Harding  had  a  larger  conception  of 
the  country's  need. 

There  was  the  unemployment  conference  with  Hoover  and 
Davis  at  the  head,  with  leading  employers  of  labor  gathered 
together  in  Washington  to  find  a  way  to  put  men  to  work. 
That,  too,  was  not  politics,  but  it  was  service  for  the  country. 
A  railroad  strike  was  settled,  a  coal  strike  was  settled,  farmers 
were  financed  as  well  as  possible  through  the  War  Finance 
Board,  Dawes  was  brought  on  from  Chicago  to  budget  gov- 
ernment expenditures,  and  the  one  big  constructive  after-war 
measure  upon  which  all  nations  agreed — the  limitation  of 
naval  armament — was  carried  to  success.  I  have  no  exact 
figures,  but  my  guess  is  that  that  agreement  has  already  saved 

476 


As  I  Knew  Them 

taxpayers  close  to  a  billion  dollars  which  would  have  been 
spent  for  war  ships. 

SOUGHT  THE  RIGHT  WAY  AND  RIGHT  MAN 

Sum  it  all  up  from  the  record  of  Harding' s  two  years  in 
the  White  House  and  it  will  be  found  that  he  proved  greater 
than  his  conceded  limitations;  and  that  in  every  large  policy 
and  task  the  intuitions  of  a  deep  patriotism  led  him  in  vital 
matters  to  search  for  the  way  and  the  men  that  would  accom- 
plish most.  His  judgment  was  not  infallible;  some  mistakes 
were  inevitable.  But  when  suspicion  reached  him,  he  corrected 
two  mistakes  in  men.  The  scandals  attaching  to  those  men  are 
discussed  by  scandal-mongers  as  though  Harding  had  not 
moved  in  the  matter,  though  the  date  of  his  action,  in  each 
case,  is  easily  available. 

HIS  VICTORY  FOR  THE  8-HOTJR  BAY 

Harding  found  approximately  200,000  men  in  our  Iron  and 
steel  mills  working  twelve  hours  a  day.  He  made  no  public 
announcement,  but  a  few  months  before  he  started  west  he 
took  up  the  subject  with  Judge  Elbert  H.  Gary  and  Charles 
M.  Schwab.  As  he  was  leaving  for  Alaska,  he  made  public 
the  written  pledge  of  the  iron  and  steel  companies  to  change 
from  a  twelve-hour  to  an  eight-hour  day.  Harding  did  not 
live  to  see  the  change  made.  But  he  died  knowing  what  he 
had  accomplished  for  labor.  The  eight-hour  day  in  that  in- 
dustry is  a  Harding  day.  He  told  Judge  Gary  that  he  would 
regard  it  as  the  greatest  triumph  of  his  Administration. 

"lT  MUST  NOT  BE  AGAIN" 

I  witnessed  that  scene  on  the  long  Hoboken  pier  when  the 
first  bodies  of  our  soldier  dead  were  brought  home  for  burial. 
I  followed  behind  Harding  as  he  walked  the  length  of  the  pier, 

477 


As  I  Knew  Them 

viewing  the  long  row  of  coffins,  visibly  agitated  by  the  sight. 
In  the  speech  he  then  made  he  brought  tears  to  many  eyes  as 
well  as  to  his  own  as  he  said: 

"They  have  served,  which  is  the  supreme  inspiration  of  living. 
They  have  earned  everlasting  gratitude,  which  is  the  supreme  solace 
in  dying.  .  .  . 

"There  is  ringing  in  my  ears  like  an  admonition  eternal,  an 
insistent  call — 'It  must  not  be  again !  It  must  not  be  again  F  God 
grant  that  it  will  not  be,  and  let  a  practical  people  join  in  coopera- 
tion with  God  to  the  end  that  it  shall  not  be." 

And  the  same  sentiment  ran  through  his  speech  later,  at  the 
naval  limitation  conference  in  Washington  when  he  declared 
to  the  assembled  statesmen  of  the  great  nations  : 

"The  United  States  welcomes  you  with  unselfish  hands.  We 
have  no  fears;  we  have  no  sordid  ends  to  serve;  we  suspect  no 
enemy;  we  contemplate  or  apprehend  no  conquest.  Content  with 
what  we  have  we  seek  nothing  that  is  another's.  We  only  wish 
to  do  with  you  that  finer  nobler  thing  which  no  nation  can  do 
alone." 

Of  war,  he  said  in  the  same  address,  "How  can  humanity 
justify,  or  God  forgive?" 

OUR  PROTECTION  IS  OUR  FRATERNITY 

No  better  picture  of  Warren  Harding,  man  of  sentiment, 
of  friends  and  of  patriotism  can  be  painted  than  his  own 
words.  And  he  spoke  no  finer  sentiment  than  is  to  be  found 
in  his  address  at  Vancouver,  British  Columbia,  on  July  26 — 
only  a  week  before  his  death.  Here  is  an  extract  well  worth 
reading: 

"Thousands  of  your  brave  lads  perished  in  gallant  and  generous 
action  for  the  preservation  of  our  Union.  Many  of  our  young  men 
followed  Canadian  colors  to  the  battlefields  of  France  before  we 
entered  the  war  and  left  their  proportion  of  killed  to  share  the 
graves  of  your  intrepid  sons* 

478 


As  I  Knew  Them 

"When  my  mind  reverts  and  my  heart  beats  low  the  recollection 
of  those  faithful  and  noble  companionships,  I  may  not  address  you 
as  fellow  citizens,  as  I  am  accustomed  to  designate  assemblages  at 
home,  but  I  may  and  do,  with  respect  and  pride,  salute  you  as 
'fellow  men'  in  mutual  striving  for  common  good. 

"What  an  object  lesson  of  peace  is  shown  today  by  our  two 
countries  to  all  the  world !  No  grim- faced  fortifications  mark  our 
frontier,  no  huge  battleships  patrol  our  dividing  waters,  no  stealthy 
spies  lurk  in  our  tranquil  border  hamlets. 

"Only  a  scrap  of  paper,  recording  hardly  more  than  a  simple 
understanding,  safeguards  lives  and  properties  on  the  Great  Lakes, 
and  only  humble  mile  posts  mark  the  inviolable  boundary  line  for 
thousands  of  miles  through  farm  and  forest. 

"Our  protection  is  our  fraternity;  our  armour  is  our  faith;  the 
tie  that  binds  more  firmly,  year  by  year,  is  ever  increasing  ac- 
quaintance and  comradeship  through  interchange  of  citizens;  and 
the  compact  is  not  of  perishable  parchment,  but  of  fair  and  honor- 
able dealing,  which,  God  grant,  shall  continue  for  all  times." 


479 


CHAPTER    LX 
WHO  KNEW  WOODROW  WILSON? 

No  One  Convinces  Others  That  He  Knew  Him — A  Many-Sided 
Man — Would  Never  Get  Anywhere  If  He  Listened  To  Suggestion — 
No  Use  For  Cabinet  Or  Senators — Write  And  Wait  For  Your  Type- 
written Answer — A  Solitary  Figure,  Battling  Alone — The  School 
Master  Sure  Enough. 

I    WISH  that  I  could  ^j  1  knew  Woodrow  Wilson. 
I  have  never  met  anyone  who  makes  that  claim  and  who 
at  the  same  time  validates  it  in  any  mind  but  his  own. 

Of  course,  you  can  always  hear  two  contrasting  opinions 
about  our  Presidents,  usually  more  than  two,  but  never  were 
so  many  diverse  opinions  heard  as  could  be  heard  of  Wilson 
in  his  day.  Such  a  thing  as  being  in  his  confidence  deep 
enough  to  know  beyond  challenge  the  real  man,  to  understand 
his  moods  and  impulses,  seems  to  have  been  impossible, 

UA  cold  intellectual,"  some  folks  said;  uan  inspiring,  stimu- 
lating companion,"  others  said;. "the  most  curt,  opinionated 
man  of  all  I  know,"  another  said;  "a  man  of  superb  ability 
and  the  most  workmanlike  man  I  was  ever  associated  with,"  is 
another  direct  quotation  to  me  from  the  leader  of  a  group. 

These  utterances,  though  from  different  sources,  echo  the 
estimate  made  to  me,  seven  or  eight  years  ago,  by  one  who 
knew  Wilson  intimately  at  Princeton  and  for  some  time  there- 
after, "a  many-sided  man,  so  many  sides  that  there  is  room  for 
a  variety  of  honest  opinions."  There  were  those  who  found 
in  him  much  to  admire,  and  with  good  reason;  there  were 
those  who  found  in  him  much  to  deplore,  and  with  good  rea- 
son. There  were  those  who  were  baffled  by  his  swift,  pitiless, 
unexplained  changes  from  friendly  relations  to  cold  dismissal, 
and  with  good  reason. 

480 


Copyright  by  Paul  Thompson, 
WOODROW  WILSON   IN  CHARACTERISTIC  POSE  WHILE  SPEAKING 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Those  who  saw  the  good  in  Wilson  acclaimed  him  with 
Islamic  faith  and  adulation;  those  who  saw  the  other  side  were 
equally  intense  in  their  condemnation.  The  in-betweens  were 
not  so  numerous  during  his  first  term  as  either  of  the  extremes; 
during  his  second  term,  the  idolaters  were  not  so  many  as  in 
the  earlier  years  of  his  Presidency,  but  they  grew  more  emo- 
tionally devout  as  their  ranks  grew  thinner. 

The  groups  I  have  quoted  were  in  the  Cabinet,  in  Congress, 
among  the  leaders  of  his  party,  and  among  those  who  though 
not  in  politics  had  contact -with  him  on  public  matters. 

Sifting  these  varied  opinions  plus  my  own  observation  of 
the  man,  my  guess  is  that  Wilson  held  himself  from  you  unless 
he  felt  you  had  something  to  bring  him  that  he  lacked,  and 
that  there  was  not  much  that  in  his  own  opinion  he  lacked  for 
long.  He  had  few  around  him  whom  he  regarded  as  on  a 
level  with  himself,  and  to  whom  he  felt  it  worth  while  to  listen. 

NEVER   GET   ANYWHERE   IF    HE    LISTENED   TO   OTHERS 

During  his  first  year  as  President  one  of  his  intimates  urged 
him  to  establish  better  relations  with  his  party  leaders  in  the 
Senate  and  House,  to  ask  for  suggestions,  and  discuss  con- 
templated policies  with  them. 

"Utterly  futile,"  he  quickly  replied  in  decisive  voice.  "A 
waste  of  time.  I  would  never  get  anywhere  if  I  should  do 
that.  Every  fellow  has  his  own  views;  I  would  be  swamped." 

"Even  if  they  have  no  ideas  worth  adopting,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent," persisted  this  visitor,  "you  would  get  their  cooperation 
in  things  you  want  to  accomplish.  They  would  feel  that  you 
at  least  had  given  their  views  consideration." 

"Futile!  I  tell  you,  futile!"  again  replied  Wilson,  "I  can 
make  better  headway  by  giving  consideration  to  my  own  ideas, 
whipping  them  into  shape,  testing  them  out  in  my  own  way, 
and  insuring  their  adoption  by  their  own  fairness  and  merit. 
I  waste  no  time  while  I  am  engaged  in  such  work." 

481 


As  I  Knew  Them 

It  was  not  Congress  alone  that  was  thus  held  at  arm's 
length. 

One  night  I  found  Franklin  K.  Lane,  his  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  sitting  on  a  hotel  corridor  lounge  deeply  absorbed  in 
reading  an  address  just  delivered  by  the  President.  "Great 
stuff,"  he  said  to  me,  "great  stuff  that  is.  I  like  to  have  him 
talk  that  way." 

"Didn't  you  know  he 'was  going  to  say  it?"  I  asked. 

"Not  a  word  of  it,"  he  replied.  "I  haven't  seen  the  Presi- 
dent for  a  month,  and  don't  know  when  I  shall." 

NO   USE   FOR   CABINET   OR   SENATORS 

From  that  talk  and  from  others  I  learned  that  Wilson's 
Cabinet  officers  rarely  saw  his  public  addresses  until  they  read 
them  in  the  newspapers;  they  were  not  privileged,  either,  to 
have  an  advance  reading  of  his  messages  to  Congress  except 
such  portions  as  concerned  their  individual  departments. 
Wilson  was  not  distrustful  or  suspicious  of  people;  he  ignored 
his  Cabinet  and  Senators  because  he  did  not  regard  them  as 
his  equal,  and  wanted  to  hear  their  views  only  when  he  asked 
for  them.  Cleveland  maintained  the  most  cordial  relations 
with  his  Cabinet  and  he  gave  his  confidence  to  those  Senators 
and  Congressmen  he  trusted.  The  latter  were  few,  it  is  true, 
but  they  were  a  crowd  compared  with  Wilson's  intimates. 

Yet  it  was  this  same  Wilson  who  in  his  inaugural  address  in 
1913  had  said: 

"I  summon  all  honest  men,  all  patriotic,  all  forward-looking 
men  to  my  side.  God  helping  me,  I  will  not  fail  them,  if  they 
will  but  counsel  and  sustain  me." 

AN  INCIDENT  IN  TRENTON 

Wilson's  curtness  and  unwillingness  to  listen  to  discussion 
were  attributed  sometimes  to  the  inability  of  men  to  "get" 
him,  to  understand  how  to  approach  him  and  the  arguments 

482 


As  I  Knew  Them 

that  would  appeal  to  him.  I  have  had  cited  as  an  illustration 
an  incident  at  the  State  House  in  Trenton  while  he  was  Gover- 
nor of  New  Jersey. 

Wilson  was  then  jamming  his  famous  "Seven  Sisters"  bills 
through  the  Legislature.  The  measure  attracted  nation-wide 
attention  and  was  heralded  as  a  cure-all  for  corporation  evils. 
Its  only  result  in  fact  was  to  give  Wilson  a  place  in  the  public 
mind,  and  to  lose  New  Jersey  several  million  dollars  in  taxes 
on  foreign  companies. 

Wilson  was  not  pleasing  Jersey  Democrats  with  his  distribu- 
tion of  patronage.  A  group  of  legislators  determined  to  hold 
up  the  "Seven  Sisters"  bills  until  they  could  have  an  under- 
standing. They  called  upon  the  Governor,  but  their  line  of 
argument  quickly  showed  no  meeting  place  for  their  minds  and 
Wilson's. 

Presently  they  began  to  hint  that  his  legislation  might  suffer. 
The  light  blue  of  his  eyes  when  in  friendly  conversation  deep- 
ened at  once  into  the  dark  blue  of  the  ocean  when  tempest 
tossed.  He  got  up,  took  a  quick  turn  about  his  desk  (a  habit 
of  his  when  excited  to  anger),  and  cut  them  off  in  a  series  of 
short,  savagely  contemptuous  answers.  They  went  out  silent 
and  bewildered. 

WRITE AND  WAIT  FOR  YOUR  ANSWER 

In  a  larger  way,  the  same  incidents  frequently  occurred  at 
Washington.  They  strengthened  his  distaste  for  "confer- 
ence" and  for  meeting  people.  Some  in  anger,  some  in  ad- 
miration, all  in  silence,  left  him  at  his  bidding  to  his  own 
thoughts.  More  than  once,  when  reminded  of  his  abruptness 
he  seemed  surprised.  He  would  curtly  say,  "Well,  I  can't 
make  myself  over." 

This  practice  of  "self-determination"  grew  with  Wilson  as 
he  found  himself  with  the  dazzling  power  of  a  President.  He 
listened  reluctantly,  if  at  all,  to  oral  suggestions;  he  gave  as 

483 


As  I  Knew  Them 

his  reason  that  he  did  not  want  his  mind  swayed  by  the  per- 
sonality of  the  proponent.  You  were  asked  to  present  your 
views  in  writing.  He  insisted  that  in  that  way  only  could  he 
consider  them  dispassionately,  and  without  regard  to  the 
source.  Even  Cabinet  officers  were  forced  to  do  this,  and  to 
wait,  sometimes  for  weeks,  the  famous  typewritten  memo 
from  Wilson's  study  in  reply.  This  much  must  be  said  for 
that  memo — it  always  bore  evidence  that  he  had  thoroughly 
considered  your  paper. 

But  a  President  cannot  carry  on  a  government  on  a  type- 
writer. Most  essential  to  him  is  the  open  conflict  of  many 
minds,  searching  for  the  best  conclusion — the  enlightening  con- 
tact of  a  round-table  discussion.  A  product  of  the  cloister 
cannot  escape  its  rigid  environment,  and  our  ocean-to-ocean 
continent  is  too  big  for  one  man,  unaided,  to  grasp  its  needs. 

A  SOLITARY  FIGURE  BATTLING  ALONE 

In  that  sense,  Wilson  became  almost  a  recluse  after  his 
second  election.  Constantly  he  would  reiterate  that  he  had  no 
time  for  discussion.  More  and  more  angrily  he  resented 
efforts  to  change  his  mind,  more  and  more  he  stripped  himself 
of  old  friendships — eventually  even  of  Colonel  House — and 
stood  a  lone,  slim,  pallid  figure  on  an  eminence  as  unapproach- 
able as  Mount  Everest — 

such  a  man,  too  fond  to  rule  alone, 

Bears,  like  the  Turk,  no  brother  near  the  throne. 

If  you  will  look  over  the  Wilson  friendships,  you  will  find 
that  they  were  ever-changing.  He  took  none  of  his  associates 
out  of  Princeton  into  public  life ;  he  took  only  Tumulty  out  of 
Jersey  political  life  and  left  only  antagonisms  behind  him;  and 
after  his  eight  years  in  the  Presidency  the  men  remaining  close 
to  him  in  private  life  were  Bernard  M.  Baruch,  Norman  Davis 
and  Bainbridge  Colby,  who  were  of  the  last  not  the  early 

484 


As  I  Knew  Them 

vintage  of  his  friendships.  The  separations  were  his  choice; 
not  the  choice  of  his  early  supporters.  Even  Tumulty  was 
dropped,  his  wonderful  loyalty  spurned.  Wilson  is  the  only 
President  of  the  last  half  century  who  failed  to  honor  in  a 
conspicuous  way  some  friend  or  friends  of  other  years.  In 
his  view,  friendship  meant  service  to  him  and  not  by  him; 
friendships  were  bridges  burned  behind  as  he  himself  moved 
on,  a  solitary  traveller. 

While  writing  this  chapter  I  asked  one  of  Wilson's  most 
loyal  supporters  in  his  last  days  how  he  accounted  for  this 
marked  absence  of  long-time  associates  in  his  Administration. 
"In  pursuit  of  what  he  believed  to  be  right  Wilson  was  as  re- 
lentless as  time,"  he  replied.  "Public  office  was  to  his  mind 
most  emphatically  a  public  trust  and  he  acted  as  a  trustee.  It 
might  and  would  grieve  him  deeply  to  refuse  to  appoint  a  man 
whom  he  liked  immensely  but  he  would  surely  refuse  unless  he 
believed  the  man  was  capable.  lie  had  the  stern  sense  of  duty 
that  would  lead  him  to  send  his  best  friend  to  the  scaffold, 
though  it  would  break  his  heart  to  do  it." 

ANOTHER  WILSON  IN  PRIVATE  LIFE 

The  Wilson  in  private  life,  in  social  intercourse,  was  an  en- 
tirely different  man.  He  was  genial  and  witty;  he  could  tell  a 
story  magnificently,  and  he  had  a  highly  developed  sense  of 
humor.  He  was  not  the  cold  unresponsive  overlord  but  a 
lively  companion.  His  sense  of  his  own  dignity  was  less  than 
Roosevelt's;  he  did  not  seem  to  value  it,  while  Roosevelt  some- 
times over-valued  his-  Wilson  did  not  get  himself  across  the 
footlights*  though.  He  was  pleased  beyond  words  when,  while 
stumping  in  1912!  some  one  in  a  crowd  called  him  "Woody." 
His  face  was  one  big  smile  whenever  he  talked  of  that  greeting 
and  he  took  it  as  an  indication  that  he  was  putting  over  with 
the  people  the  Wilson  of  his  own  mind.  But  he  was  not,  and 
never  did* 

485 


As  I  Knew  Them 

THE  SCHOOLMASTER  SURE  ENOUGH 

During  the  early  days  of  Wilson  In  the  White  House  it 
was  said  in  Washington,  chiefly  by  those  politically  opposed, 
that  he  was  a  schoolmaster  in  public  office,  and  that  no  event 
or  experience  would  be  powerful  enough  ever  to  take  him  out 
of  the  role.  At  the  national  Capitol  one  is  accustomed  to 
cynicism  and  criticism  and  I  tried  not  to  allow  that  particular 
estimate  to  take  hold  of  me.  It  was  to  be  expected  that  some 
of  the  atmosphere  of  the  school-room  would  cling  to  him,  but 
I  believed  that  the  wider  outlook  and  contacts  of  the  Presi- 
dency would  quickly  dissipate  it.  That  belief  was  to  be  slowly 
shattered.  As  the  months  rolled  by  I  heard  the  early  opinion 
echoed  by  members  of  his  own  party.  But  not  until  the  memo- 
rable night  of  April  2,  1917,  when  he  appeared  before  Con- 
gress to  deliver  his  war  message,  did  Wilson  seem  to  me  to 
justify  his  critics. 

As  he  entered  the  crowded  House  of  Representatives 
through  a  narrow  stage-door  back  of  the  Speaker's  rostrum, 
he  was  the  schoolmaster  beyond  all  question — the  perfect 
product  of  the  conventional  mould.  His  pale,  immobile  face, 
his  protruding  chin,  his  long  thin  nose  firmly  supporting  eye- 
glasses, his  carefully  brushed  hair,  his  slender  figure  seemingly 
elongated  by  a  close-fitting  frock  coat,  his  dark  gray  trousers 
painstakingly  creased,  his  ease,  the  manner  of  one  conscious  of 
his  commanding  place  and  of  the  Importance  of  what  others 
were  now  to  hear  from  his  lips ; — yes,  he  was  the  schoolmaster 
from  head  to  foot. 

When  he  looked  out  upon  the  faces  in  front  of  him,  he  saw 
the  revered  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  seated  in  semicircle 
around  the  Veil";  back  of  them  were  ranged  the  somewhat 
less  revered  members  of  the  Senate;  in  their  seats  were  the 
Congressmen,  whom  no  one  seems  to  revere.  Diplomats  and 
their  wives  crowded  their  assigned  gallery,  important  folks 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  filled  the  public  spaces  to  over- 

486 


As  I  Knew  Them 

flowing.  We  knew  war  must  come  and  its  brutalities  and 
tragedies  even  then  cast  a  shadow  of  solemnity  over  the  bril- 
liant scene. 

THE  COOL  AND  COLLECTED  WILSON 

I  studied  Wilson  from  the  press  gallery.  As  he  advanced 
to  the  space  in  front  of  the  Speaker's  desk  I  searched  his  face 
and  manner  for  some  emotion  responsive  to  the  vital  impor- 
tance of  that  moment.  Not  a  sign  1  No  man  ever  was  more 
at  ease.  To  the  correspondent  who  sat  next  to  me  I  remarked 
that  Wilson  took  his  manuscript  from  the  pocket  of  his  frock- 
coat  and  began  his  address  with  the  calmness  of  a  clergyman 
announcing  the  evening  meetings  of  the  coming  week  before 
service;  he  read  it  with  as  little  emphasis.  If  his  manner  was 
deliberate  restraint  it  was  a  masterpiece;  if  it  was  just  Wilson, 
he  certainly  was  the  coldest  man  I  ever  looked  upon* 

He  got  from  that  great  audience  what  he  gave  it- — the  cool- 
ness of  an  academic  address. 

Oh,  for  a  Roosevelt!  the  thought  came  to  me  as  1  listened 
to  paragraph  after  paragraph  without  a  handclap,  without  a 
change  in  the  placid  faces  of  the  audience,  without  any  notice- 
able depth  of  feeling  in  the  speaker's  tone. 

Perhaps  Chief  Justice  White  had  much  the  same  thought, 
for  after  vainly  waiting  for  someone  else  to  punctuate  the 
President's  speech  with  applause,  he  dropped  on  the  floor  the 
felt  hat  he  had  been  holding  on  his  lap,  and  started  a  vigorous 
first  round  Wilson  was  then  half  way  through.  Of  course, 
at  the  close,  there  was  a  wave  of  enthusiasm,  for  the  per- 
oration was  thrilling,  but  nothing  in  his  manner  or  tone  gave 
encouragement  to  go  much  beyond  respectful  hearing  and 
courteous  response* 

And  no  one  did. 


487 


CHAPTER    LXI 

SAW  HIMSELF  THE  WORLD'S  ARBITER 

Wilson  Sure  At  First  That  He  Was  To  Be  Arbiter  Of  The  World 
War — Other  Methods  Would  Have  Brought  Us  Into  The  League  Of 
Nations — An  Amazing  Secret  Agreement  "Probably"  To  Go  To  War 
—"You  Know  My  Mind  And  How  To  Interpret  It"  He  Told  House— 
Kitcheners  Words  ffWorth  Serious  Consideration' — "We're  Just 
Backing  Into  War"  Said  Senator  Stone — Wilsons  Liking  For  "13" — 
"How  Far  From  Paris  To  Versailles®"  Asked  Senator  Martin. 

FROM  the  first  beat  of  the  drums  abroad,  the  World  War 
drew  Wilson  into  a  wider  field  than  any  President  was 
ever  called  upon  to  work  in — as  wide  as  the  world  itself.  It 
was  not  given  to  any  man  alone  to  foresee  its  tremendous 
scope,  to  know  and  appraise  its  developing  phases,  or  wisely 
to  guide  a  nation  desiring  peace,  but  being  steadily  drawn  into 
war.  Wilson  undertook  to  do  it — alone.  It  seemed  to  him 
an  opportunity  almost  as  great  as  came  to  Washington  and 
Lincoln  to  make  himself  immortal,  and  it  was  in  his  nature  to 
want  no  rivals  for  that  fame. 

The  dimensions  of  the  picture  gave  him  no  concern;  he 
never  doubted  he  could  measure  up  to  them.  He  had  always 
worked  alone;  he  was  now  President  of  the  most  powerful 
nation.  Alone  he  stood  at  the  peak  of  fame;  with  the  poet 
his  one  thought  was : 

"What  shall  I  do  to  be  forever  known, 
To  make  the  age  to  come  my  own  ?" 

The  prospect  fascinated,  controlled  him.  His  great  power 
coldly,  dispassionately,  held  aloof  from  the  intense  conflict 
seemed  to  him  certain  to  make  him  the  chosen  arbiter  of 
the  fate  of  nations.  Many  strange  and  baffling  situations 
were  to  arise,  but  Wilson  never  lessened  faith  m  his  ability 

488 


As  I  Knew  Them 

to  master  them,  nor  in  his  purpose  to  be  the  central  figure; 
rather  he  emphasized  both.  He  lost  his  opportunity  to  leave 
deeds  instead  of  words  as  his  record  because  it  was  not  pos- 
sible for  one  mind  to  force  every  other  mind  to  its  single  point 
of  view;  and  he  lost  his  life  because,  physically  and  mentally, 
it  was  not  possible  for  one  man  alone  to  carry  the  burdens 
and  solve  the  problems  of  a  100,000,000  nation  at  war. 

There  were  three  distinct  periods  in  Wilson's  career  as  it 
relates  to  the  World  War. 

The  first  period  was  dominated  by  his  early  determination 
to  keep  America  "ready  to  play  the  part  of  impartial  mediator, 
not  as  a  partisan  but  as  a  friend";  "neutral  in  thought  and 
deed." 

The  second  period  covered  our  participation  in  the  war. 

The  third  period  was  dominated  by  his  re-awakened  pur- 
pose, after  having  gone  through  war,  to  make  himself  the 
peacemaker  of  history.  Alone  so  far  as  America  was  con- 
cerned he  outlined  the  terms  of  a  world  settlement;  alone  he 
sat  at  the  peace  table  in  Paris;  alone  he  passed  on  the  wisdom 
or  unwisdom  of  every  line  of  the  treaty;  alone  he  carried  the 
treaty  back  with  him  to  Washington,  personally  submitting  it 
to  the  Senate  and  demanding  that  that  body  ratify  it  precisely 
as  it  stood  because,  in  his  judgment,  it  was  the  embodiment  of 
the  sum  of  human  hopes. 

WHY  WE  ARK  NOT  IN  THE  LEAGUE 

The  result  of  this  unyielding  attitude  is  that  the  United 
States  is  not  a  member  of  the  League  of  Nations,  and  that 
Wilson,  his  personality  and  his  policies  still  remain  in 
controversy* 

When  the  historian  analyzes  Wilson's  course,  he  will  find 
that  the  Versailles  Treaty  in  all  probability  would  have  been 
ratiied  by  the  Senate  without  a  serious  light  over  the  League 
of  Nations,  had  Wilson  sent  to  Paris  a  peace  commission  rep- 

489 


As  I  Knew  Them 

resentative  of  America,  with  power,  purpose  and  ability  to 
negotiate  with  other  nations,  even  with  Wilson  present. 

Again,  when  the  historian  reads  the  series  of  Wilson  notes 
to  Germany  and  England  covering  more  than  two  years  and 
sees  how  the  two  nations  at  war  persisted  in  their  own  way — 
one  with  sub-marines  and  the  other  by  seizing  our  ships  and 
taking  them  to  port — he  will  be  astounded  at  the  claim  of  the 
1916  Democratic  national  platform  of  "splendid  diplomatic 
triumphs"  that  had  "kept  us  out  of  war," 

He  will  search  in  vain  for  diplomatic  triumphs ;  the  record 
shows  an  unbroken  line  of  diplomatic  turn-downs  and  evasions. 
The  response  from  Mexico  in  1914  to  our  demand  to  salute 
our  flag  was  a  pattern  later  for  the  responses  of  both  Eng- 
land and  Germany  to  our  notes  of  protest  Mexico  never 
saluted,  England  continued  to  search  our  ships  and  Germany 
sub-marined  more  ruthlessly  than  ever.  Toward  all  three 
countries  we  adopted  a  policy  of  "watchful  waiting"  for  some- 
thing that  never  came — and  that  everybody  but  Wilson  knew 
would  never  come. 

Three  days  after  the  torpedoing  of  the  "Lusitania"  Wilson 
proclaimed  an  "America  too  proud  to  fight."  With  that  sen- 
timent crossing  the  Atlantic  to  Germany  simultaneously  with 
our  note  of  protest,  the  Kaiser  knew,  as  indeed  the  whole 
world  knew,  that  the  head  of  the  American  government  had 
other  aims  than  war  in  mind.  No  matter  how  loud  we  might 
thunder,  "too  proud  to  fight"  was  accepted  by  Germany  as  a 
roving  commission  for  her  sub-marines;  the  subsequent  warn- 
ing that  we  would  hold  her  to  "strict  accountability"  did  not 
stop  a  single  attack;  nor  delay  or  change  a  single  German 
purpose. 

WHEN  THE  GERMANS  ERRED 

Von  BernstorfF  and  other  Germans  had  studied  their  Wibon 
and  they  thought  they  knew  him;  then  came  the  1916  triumph 
of  his  kept-us-out-of-war  platform.  That  result  confirmed 
them  in  their  wrong  assumption  that  the  President  could  not 

490 


As  I  Knew  Them 

be  dragged  into  war,  whatever  Germany  might  do.  The  de- 
fiant "unrestricted"  sub-marine  policy  shortly  announced  by 
the  Kaiser  was  a  consequence  of  that  judgment.  It  held  good 
so  long  as  war  events  failed  to  arouse  Wilson's  patriotism  to 
the  peril  of  his  pride  of  opinion.  For  no  one  can  truly  say  of 
Wilson  that  he  lacked  intense  love  of  country;  he  was  deeply 
patriotic.  But  his  supreme  confidence  in  himself  created  a  cer- 
tainty that  his  own  purposes  were  best  for  the  nation  and 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  let  others  know  it.  Nothing  was  so 
precious  to  him  as  his  own  opinion,  his  own  future;  nothing  so 
valueless  as  what  others  might  say  or  think  to  the  contrary. 

A  SECRET  AGREEMENT  "PROBABLY"  TO  WAR 

Has  anyone  ever  explained  the  staggering  fact  that  at  the 
moment  Wilson  was  giving  his  O.K.  to  Governor  Glynn's  key- 
note utterance  in  the  1916  Democratic  National  Convention, 
"He-kcpt-us-out-of-war,"  there  was  lying  on  the  desk  of 
England's  War  Minister,  Sir  Edward  Grey,  awaiting  Eng- 
land's approval,  "at  an  opportune  moment,"  a  secret  document 
(signed  of  all  days  on  the  calendar  for  a  foreign  alliance  by 
America,  February  22nd)  and  approved  by  Wilson,  reading 
as  follows: 

"Confidential.    Col.  House  told  me  that  President  Wilson  was 

ready,  on  hearing  from  France  arid  England,  that  the  moment  was 
opportune,  to  propose  that  a  conference  should  be  summoned  to  put 
an  end  to  the  war.  Should  the  Allies  accept  this  proposal  and 
should  Germany  refuse  it»  the  United  States  would  probably  enter 
the  war  against  Germany. 

"Col.  House  expressed  the  opinion  that  if  such  a  conference  met. 
It  would  secure  peace  on  terms  not  unfavorable  to  the  Allies,  and 
if  it  failed  to  secure  peace  the  United  States  would  leave  the  con- 
ference as  a  belligerent  on  the  side  of  the  Allies  if  Germany  was 
unreasonable*  .  *  »f> 

Only  within  the  last  year,  through  "The  Intimate  Papers 
of  Colonel  House"  and  Sir  lulward  Grey's  "Memoirs"  has 

49 1 


As  I  Knew  Them 

this  document  become  public;  had  it  been  known  to  exist  at 
the  time  the  Democrats  were  hurrahing  in  convention  over  the 
Glynn  speech,  or  had  it  become  known  during  the  campaign 
while  western  voters  were  convinced  Wilson  would  continue  to 
keep  us  out  of  war,  a  tornado  of  protest  against  secret  war 
agreements  would  have  swept  the  country. 

The  only  change  Wilson  made  in  the  original  House  memo- 
randum was  to  insert  the  word  "probably"  before  "enter  the 
war  against  Germany."  "Probably,"  of  course,  was  a  saving 
clause  that  ordinary  precaution  suggested. 

HOUSE  AS  THE    PRESIDENT'S   SPOKESMAN 

House  had  sailed  for  Europe  on  December  15,  1915,  with 
the  definite  understanding  reached  between  Wilson,  Lansing 
and  himself  that  he  was  to  supersede  all  Ambassadors  and 
represent  the  President  directly.  Wilson  thanked  him  for 
consenting  to  make  the  trip,  and  provided  him  with  a  "To- 
Whom-It-May  Concern"  letter  as  his  trusted  and  confidential 
spokesman.  In  effect,  those  in  Europe  to  whom  the  letter 
was  intended  to  be  shown  realized  at  once  that  House  re- 
flected the  President's  mind.  It  is  now  in  Yale  University 
Library  but  it  properly  belongs  on  the  files  of  the  State  De- 
partment at  Washington,  for  no  man  ever  went  abroad  to 
pledge  this  country  in  any  circumstances  to  war,  authorized 
only  by  a  private  letter.  Only  an  Emperor  of  the  most  auto- 
cratic type  would  make  the  fortunes  of  a  great  nation  his  sole 
personal  concern. 

Thus  In  considering  Wilson  before  the  war  we  have  a  Wil- 
son "neutral  in  thought  and  deed,"  "ready  to  play  the  part 
of  an  impartial  mediator,"  a  Wilson  nominated  for  reelection 
because  his  avowed  purpose  was  to  keep  us  out  of  war,  and  in 
contrast  at  the  same  moment  a  Wilson  with  an  outstanding 
pledge  to  go  to  war  if  "Germany  proved  unreasonable,"  I 
leave  it  to  the  reader  to  judge  had  England  accepted  Wilson's 
condition  what  chance  there  was  for  America  to  escape  war 

492 


As  I  Knew  Them 

under  the  terms  of  that  memo — the  only  document  in  existence 
in  which  this  government  was  ever  committed  even  remotely 
to  a  foreign  government  to  engage  as  its  ally  in  war.  House 
insists  in  his  diary  that  this  was  an  effort  for  peace,  but  he 
concedes  that  if  England  had  accepted  the  result  would  have 
brought  us  into  war. 

Of  course,  the  Grey  memo  was  in  fact  a  Wilson  document ; 
but  how  Wilson  could  go  through  a  Presidential  campaign 
as  a  kept-us-out-of-war  candidate  with  that  we-will-go-in 
document  lying  around  like  a  ton  of  dynamite  Is  beyond  me. 
Every  morning  he  must  have  given  a  sigh  of  relief  when  he 
found  that  the  newspapers  were  still  without  information  of 
the  most  daring  negotiation  ever  carried  on  In  the  name  of  our 
government.  Fortunately  for  Wilson's  political  fortunes  the 
newspapers  never  learned  of  it.  Downing  Street  proved 
rumor-tight. 

KITCHENER'S  WORDS  WORTHY  OF  CONSIDERATION 

Here,  indeed,  we  see  the  many-si cled  Wilson  his  friends  de- 
scribed—so many  sides,  as  one  friend  had  said,  that  there  Is 
room  for  a  variety  of  honest  opinion.  It  was  at  this  time, 
too,  while  the  Grey  memo  still  awaited  England's  "opportune 
moment,"  that  Wilson  frankly  stated  that  he  was  impressed  by 
a  voice  from  England — that  of  Lord  Kitchener.  Only  a  short 
time  before  Kitchener  sailed  on  his  fatal  voyage,  he  had  said 
to  House,  "God  forbid  that  any  nation  should  become  in- 
volved in  this  war,  but  if  the  United  States  should  feel  com- 
pelled to  come  Inf  It  would  shorten  the  war,  save  an  untold 
number  of  lives,  and  lighten  for  the  world  the  burden  that  will 
otherwise  crush  it  for  years.11 

Of  all  the  soldiers  and  statesmen  of  the  world  Kitchener 
alone  in  1914  sensed  the  duration  of  the  struggle  just  begun* 
By  1916  events  had  confirmed  his  conception  of  it  and  when 
Wilson  that  summer  heard  Kitchener's  words  as  to  our  own 

493 


Prom  London  Punch  1916. 

BRINGING  IT  HOME. 

"TOT!  TUT!  GERMAN  SUBMARINE  BLOCKING  MEW  TOtt? 


As  I  Knew  Them 

participation  he  promptly  accepted  them  as  "worth  serious 
consideration/' 

Reelection,  however,  turned  Wilson's  thoughts  back  to  his 
role  of  "an  impartial  mediator" — more  suited  to  him  than 
any  other.  Again  he  visioned  the  monument  he  was  building 
for  himself  with  the  grateful  inscription  by  his  countrymen 
"He  kept  us  out  of  war"  and  he  went  to  work  at  it  with  new 
determination.  The  Roosevelt  onslaughts,  vigorous,  scathing 
and  persistent,  only  hardened  him  to  his  course.  He  continued 
to  speak  of  war  as  an  Atlantic  seaboard  affair  with  which 
people  west  and  south  had  no  sympathy.  He  insisted  that 
they  believed  with  him  that  it  was  "no  concern  of  ours"  and 
that  the  election  had  proved  that  they  wanted  him  to  con- 
tinue "neutral  in  thought  and  deed." 

Wilson's  message  to  Congress  in  January,  1917 — three 
months  later  we  were  at  war — that  "this  country  does  not 
intend  to  become  involved,"  and  later  his  plan  for  "peace 
without  victory,"  were  a  logical  sequence  to  his  December 
letter  to  the  belligerents  that  they  should  declare  their  pur- 
pose in  war  and  seek  an  adjustment.  Never  was  Wilson  so 
strongly  against  our  getting  into  war,  never  so  resentful  of 
reminders  that  events  were  making  our  entrance  into  it  in- 
evitable, as  during  the  months  immediately  preceding  our  war 
declaration.  His  own  judgment  was  against  it — -hence  it  could 
not  be.  Orders  became  more  rigid  against  any  preparation  of 
our  army  and  navy,  and  Cabinet  officers  whose  unexpressed 
views  were  known  not  to  agree  with  the  President's  found 
themselves  ignored. 

"WE'RE  JUST  BACKING  INTO  WAR!" 

A  President  has  facilities  for  learning  the  true  situation 
available  to  no  individual,  but  the  only  facts  Wilson  sought 
were  those  that  seemed  to  sustain  his  position.  His  course 
recalls  a  statement  made  after  the  1912  election  by  one  closely 
associated  with  him  at  Princeton:  "He  will  make  a  fine  Presi- 

495 


As  I  Knew  Them 

dent  so  long  as  he  is  right,  but  God  help  the  United  States 
should  Wilson  be  wrong!" 

While  the  perplexities  and  uncertainties  were  reaching  their 
climax  in  the  winter  of  1916-17,  Senator  Stone,  of  Missouri, 
— uGum  Shoe  Bill,"  as  he  was  commonly  called, — then  Chair- 
man of  the  Senate  Foreign  Relations  Committee  said  to  me 
in  a  tone  that  reflected  the  existing  chaos,  "We're  just  back- 
ing into  war," 

"I'LL  DO  MY  DAMNEDEST!"  SAID  WILSON 

War  had  to  be;  Wilson  had  to  abandon  his  dream.  When 
he  faced  the  reality  he  went  whole-heartedly  to  his  new  task. 
At  their  first  conference,  the  Allies  told  him  of  their  exhausted 
condition,  of  the  imperative  need  for  haste.  Wilson's  instant 
reply  was  "Gentlemen,  I'll  do  my  damnedest!5'  And  he  did. 
He  shunted  his  Cabinet  to  the  side  lines  and  picked  men  in 
whose  organizing  ability  he  had  more  confidence.  They 
formed  his  "War  Cabinet"  and  with  them  he  sat  in  conference 
every  Wednesday.  In  that  circle  were  Newton  D.  Baker, 
Bernard  M.  Baruch,  Charles  G.  Dawes,  William  G.  McAdoo, 
Herbert  Hoover,  Vance  McCormick,  Edward  N.  Hurley  and 
Dr.  Harry  Garfield,  president  of  Williams  College.  There 
Wilson  listened  to  criticism  as  he  listened  nowhere  else,  but 
he  insisted  upon  having  suggestion  with  it  An  illustrative 
incident  occurred  when  one  of  the  War  Cabinet  said  that  a 
certain  member  of  a  leading  commission  was  incompetent 

"All  right,"  said  Wilson,  "get  me  a  successor  who  will  do 
better  and  I'll  appoint  him.  Put  up  or  shut  up*11 

Two  weeks  were  spent  in  vain  search  for  the  better  man. 
Everybody  who  was  sought  professed  to  be  too  busy.  Finally 
the  Cabinet  officer  abandoned  the  effort  and  reported  to 
Wilson. 

"Now  you  have  had  your  chance  to  put  up,"  said  the  Presi- 
dent, "and  you  couldn't  So  it's  your  duty  to  shut  up." 

496 


As  I  Knew  Them 

THE  PENALTY  OF  BEING  UNPREPARED 

But  with  all  its  man-power,  its  spirit  and  its  factories, 
America  could  not  hide  its  unpreparedness  for  war.  Wilson 
did  his  best  to  make  up  for  this  humiliating  consequence  of 
his  peace  dreams;  the  whole  country  went  to  work  with  a  will; 
yet  the  sad  record  is  that  not  an  American  cannon  of  real 
power  was  ever  placed  on  the  battle  lines  of  France,  not  an 
American  aeroplane  ever  flew  over  enemy  country,  not  a 
wooden  ship  ever  felt  the  splash  of  an  ocean  wave  against 
its  prow. 

Wilson's  damnedest,  however,  did  give  the  Allies  something 
most  effective — his  speeches  and  addresses*  Lord  Northcliffe 
had  them  printed  in  German  and  from  aeroplanes  covered 
Germany  with  pamphlets  as  with  a  blanket  of  snow.  Such 
propaganda  outdid  the  Allies'  cannon  in  breaking  down  the 
morale  of  the  German  army;  it  led  the  German  people  to 
doubt,  for  the  first  time,  whether  their  Kaiser  was  right,  but 
particularly  whether  they  could  win  the  war.  That  kind  of 
fighting  appealed  to  Wilson ;  he  was  at  home  with  words  and 
phrases;  he  could  produce  them  without  the  aid  of  factory 
or  furnace,  or  farm.  He  did  it  well. 

THE   PEACE  TABLE  ALWAYS  WILSON'S  GOAL 

Never  for  an  instant  during  the  nineteen  months  we  were 

engaged  in  war  did  Wilson  regard  the  conflict  as  his  place  of 
opportunity;  the  peace  council  not  the  battlefield  was  always 

his  goal  And  when  the  peace-making  came  we  had  again 
the  two  Wilsons— the  Wilson  sincerely  intent  upon  making 
the  world  "safe  for  democracy1*  and  the  Wilson  determined, 
alone,  to  dictate  and  control  the  manner  of  doing  it.  He 
could  see  no  difference  in  the  aims  of  the  two  Wilsons,  so  sure 
was  he  that,  better  than  any  or  all  others,  he  knew  what  was 
best 

497 


As  I  Knew  Them 

In  his  letters  and  speeches  from  the  moment  of  the  armis- 
tice you  will  find  many  appeals  for  support  for  what  he  was 
undertaking  to  do,  but  never  a  suggestion  that  he  desired 
cooperation. 

When  he  announced  to  Congress  that  he  was  going  to 
France  he  gave  as  his  reason  that  the  Allies  "very  reasonably 
desire  my  personal  counsel,"  though  there  is  no  record  of 
such  a  request;  he  asked  for  "undivided  support,"  and  then 
assured  the  listening  legislators  that  the  cables  would  make 
him  "immediately  available"  for  any  aid  or  counsel  they 
might  desire  of  him.  Not  a  word  in  that  address  could  even 
by  inference  be  accepted  as  indicating  that  he  felt  in  need  of 
counsel  from  the  coordinate  branch  of  government.  He 
wanted  support — not  advice. 

SEEKS,  THEN  IGNORES,  ELECTION  VERDICT 

Yet  at  the  time  he  was  on  notice  definitely  from  the  country 
that  world  peace  was  neither  a  one-man  affair  nor  a  one-party 
affair.  Two  months  earlier,  just  before  the  Congressional 
elections  of  1918,  he  had  amazed  the  people  by  his  letter  ad- 
dressed uTo  My  Fellow  Countrymen"  asking  them  to  express 
themselves  unmistakably  by  returning  a  Democratic  majority 
to  Senate  and  House,  "if  you  have  approved  of  my  leadership 
and  wish  me  to  continue  to  be  your  unembarrassed  spokesman 
in  affairs  at  home  and  abroad." 

Here  are  some  other  paragraphs  in  that  most  remarkable  of 
all  campaign  appeals : 

"I  am  your  servant  and  will  accept  your  judgment  without  cavil. 
But  my  power  to  administer  the  great  trust  assigned  me  by  the 
Constitution  would  be  seriously  impaired  should  your  judgment 
be  adverse.  .  .  . 

"I  have  no  thought  of  suggesting  that  any  political  party  is  para* 
mount  in  matters  of  patriotism.  I  feel  too  deeply  the  sacrifices 
which  have  been  made  in  this  war  by  all  our  citizens,  irrespective 
of  party  affiliation,  to  harbor  such  an  Idea.  I  mean  only  that  the 

498 


As  I  Knew  Them 

differences  and  delicacies  of  our  present  task  are  of  a  sort  that 
makes  it  imperatively  necessary  that  the  nation  should  give  its  un- 
divided support  to  the  government  under  a  unified  leadership  and 
that  a  Republican  Congress  would  divide  that  leadership, 

"The  return  of  a  Republican  majority  to  either  House  of  Con- 
gress would,  moreover,  be  interpretative  on  the  other  side  of  the* 
water  as  a  repudiation  of  my  leadership.  ...  I  submit  my  dif- 
ficulties and  my  hopes  to  you." 

The  response  from  the  people  was  the  election  of  a  Con- 
gress Republican  in  both  branches — and  Wilson  promptly  re- 
fused to  accept  their  judgment  "without  cavil"  or  to  assume 
that  "his  leadership  had  been  repudiated." 

It  was  still  his  duty  to  think,  speak  and  act  for  America 
and  he  remained  convinced  that  he  could  do  all  three  with 
certain  benefit  to  the  world — that  other  minds  would  only 
confuse,  perhaps  thwart,  the  consummation  of  a  purpose 
almost  inspired. 

WANTED  NO  ONE  BY  HIS  SIDE 

If  he  had  only  realized  it,  Wilson's  long  sought  opportunity 
for  achievement  was  now  open  wide  to  him — here  was  the 
time  for  him,  by  frank  exchange  of  views  with  others,  to  make 
himself  the  accepted  spokesman  for  all.  But  it  was  not  in 
his  nature  to  do  so.  When  he  expressed  that  desire  in  his 
campaign  letter  it  would  seem  that  he  really  meant  spokesman 
to  not  spokesman  for  the  whole  nation.  Never  had  he  held 
himself  apart  more  than  in  those  days  when  his  decisions  were 
to  be  of  such  consequence  to  the  world;  even  an  autocrat 
would  then  have  sought  counsel. 

The  armistice  had  scarcely  been  signed  before  he  was  urged 
to  bring  men  of  all  parties  into  conference,  and  seek  to  learn 
what  the  people  had  in  mind  regarding  the  peace  to  be  made. 
As  President  he  could  draft  into  such  service  the  experience, 
the  wisdom  and  the  patriotism  of  the  nation.  Everywhere  it 
was  hoped  that  he  would.  With  such  cooperation,  his  peace 

500 


As  I  Knew  Them 

plans  would  have  been  invincible.  He  gave  no  heed  to  such 
suggestion.  One  man  who  urged  it  too  strongly  was  met  with 
angry  flash  from  the  eye,  and  those  tightly  gripped  lips  that 
indicated  that  the  speaker  was  restraining  unpleasant  words. 

We  must  remember  that  Wilson,  despite  his  idealism,  was 
an  intense  partisan.  His  reply  that  he  did  not  propose  to 
bring  Republicans  to  the  front  in  the  peace  negotiations  was 
a  true  reflection  of  his  partisanship,  but  it  was  only  a  small 
part  of  the  truth — the  part  he  could  admit.  The  whole  truth 
was  that  he  did  not  propose  to  bring  anyone  to  the  front. 

NOT  WHAT  YOU  THINK,  ONLY  WHAT  YOU  KNOW 

For  peace  commissioners  he  did  not  seek  counsellors.  He 
selected  men  who,  with  the  single  exception  of  House,  would 
do  no  thinking  on  their  own  account,  who  would  understand 
that  Wilson  was  to  do  it  all.  One  of  the  commissioners,  anx- 
ious to  be  of  real  help  in  Paris,  asked  after  six  days  of  un- 
certainty on  the  George  Washington,  how  he  should  go  about 
it.  "Never  offer  the  President  advice,  never  plead  a  cause 
with  him,"  came  the  reply.  "He  is  interested  only  in  what 
you  know,  not  in  what  you  think.  He  will  listen  to  your 
Information  but  not  to  your  opinion." 

WILSON'S  LIKING  FOR  "13" 

With  that  deadened  spirit  among  those  who  accompanied 

him,  and  in  the  mood  himself  that  I  have  described,  Wilson 

sailed  for  France  on  the  George  Washington.  I  think  it  was 
George  Harvey  who  said  that  the  ship  speeded  across  the  At- 
lantic at  1 8  "May-I-Nots?"  an  hour.  The  George  Washing- 
ton could  have  made  Brest  a  clay  or  so  earlier  than  Dec,  13, 
but  Wilson  had  it  slowed  down  so  as  to  arrive  on  that  date. 
He  had  a  liking  for  that  unpopular  number.  Frequently  in 
the  White  House  he  spoke  of  the  13  letters  in  Woodrow 
Wilson  and  of  the  fact  that  13  States  were  the  "originals" 

501 


As  I  Knew  Them 

in  the  Union.  He  grew  to  believe  that  there  was  something 
more  than  coincidence  in  the  two  thirteens.  He  thought  it 
would  be  a  good  omen  if,  Columbus-like,  he  should  set  foot 
on  French  soil  on  the  I3th  and  the  George  Washington's  May- 
I-Nots  were  regulated  accordingly. 

"HOW  FAR  IS  IT  FROM  PARIS  TO  VERSAILLES?"  ASKED  MARTIN 

That  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  was  watched  with  deep 
anxiety  by  Democratic  leaders  back  in  Washington.  They  did 
not  like  the  idea.  Senator  Martin,  of  Virginia,  Democratic 
leader  of  the  Senate,  was  especially  disturbed.  One  day,  dur- 
ing a  dull  session,  he  strolled  over  to  Senator  Lodge,  and  lean- 
ing far  over  Lodge's  desk,  asked  in  a  low  voice : 

"Lodge,  how  far  is  it  from  Paris  to  Versailles  ?n 

"Oh,  about  nine  or  ten  miles, "  replied  the  Massachusetts 
Senator.  "Why  do  you  ask,  Martin?" 

"It  seems  to  be  too  damned  far  for  President  Poincare  to 
go  out  there  to  meddle  with  Premier  Clemenceau's  conduct  of 
the  peace  negotiations,  but  3,000  miles  does  not  seem  to  deter 
our  President." 

Whenever  Democrats  talked  that  winter  as  frankly  as 
Martin  talked  with  Lodge  the  same  doubt  of  the  wisdom  of 
Wilson's  course  was  heard.  If  there  were  any  members  of 
his  party  who  believed  the  President  was  right,  they  did  not 
make  their  opinion  known* 


5<>3 


CHAPTER    LXII 
THE  "WILSON  OF  PARIS" 

Amidst  The  Premiers  Of  The  World  He  Was  Acquiescent  And 
Treated  Them  As  Equals— "If  We  Could  Only  Bring  This  Wilson 
Back  Home  With  Usf—But  Wilson  Of  Paris  Could  Not  Cross  The 
Atlantic — His  Silent  Break  With  House — Was  House  A  Sage?  A 
Myth?  A  Svengali?— One  Or  All?— Men  Too  Keen  To  Be  Wrong 
Sought  House  As  The  Real  Power. 

WILSON  pleaded  constantly  for  a  world  of  brotherhood 
and  of  heart;  he  lived  in  a  world  of  loneliness  and  of 
what  he  himself  called  a  single-track  mind. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  the  track  had  neither  sidings  nor 
terminals,  for  if  the  good  that  was  in  Wilson  could  have  been 
fused  with  the  average  purposes  of  men,  a  record  of  great 
achievement  would  have  been  made. 

"Oh  if  we  could  only  bring  this  Wilson  back  home  with 
us!"  a  loyal  Southern  Democrat  exclaimed  in  Paris,  As  a 
visitor  at  Versailles  he  had  watched  Wilson  through  many  ses- 
sions presiding  over  the  commission  formulating  the  covenant, 
"What  a  hit  he  would  make !  He  would  have  the  Senate  eat- 
ing out  of  his  hands  1" 

The  Wilson  of  Paris,  seated  at  the  head  of  that  table,  saw 
as  his  associates  those  whom  he  felt  he  could  accept  as  his 
equals*  They  were  the  premiers  of  the  nations  of  the  worldt 
the  flower  of  the  world's  statesmanship*  He  treated  them 
accordingly. 

The  man  whom  I  have  quoted  could  contrast  the  Wilson  of 
Paris  with  the  Wilson  of  Washington,  for  in  Washington  he 
had  seen  and  deplored  Wilson's  attitude  of  icy  separation, 
even  from  his  associates  in  the  government;  his  not  wholly 

504 


As  I  Knew  Them 

concealed  contempt  for  the  Senate.  In  Paris  the  considerate, 
acquiescent  Wilson  whom  he  saw  day  after  day  so  enthused 
him  that  he  had  dreams  of  a  changed  Wilson  returning  to 
America;  a  Wilson  who  had  come  to  realize  the  wisdom  of 
conference  and  of  considerate  treatment 

But  the  Wilson  of  Paris  could  not  cross  the  Atlantic,  The 
nearer  his  ship  approached  his  native  land  the  taller  in  his 
own  eyes  he  grew;  and  in  those  same  eyes  the  smaller  grew 
those  at  home  who  by  election,  or  by  appointment,  were  en- 
titled to  share  with  him  the  responsibilities  of  government 
Instead  of  the  changed  Wilson  he  had  with  partisan  pride 
hoped  to  see,  this  Southern  Democrat  on  his  return  found  In 
Washington  a  Wilson  made  more  austere  by  his  contacts 
abroad — more  convinced  than  ever  that,  as  he  had  said  several 
years  before  to  another  supporter,  it  would  be  utterly  futile 
and  a  waste  of  time  for  him  to  listen  to  others. 

WILSON'S  EARLY  DOUBTS 

In  Paris  Wilson  at  first  doubted  the  wisdom  of  making  a 
supreme  issue  of  the  League  of  Nations,  as  an  integral  part  of 
the  Versailles  Treaty.  Twenty-nine  nations  were  seated  at 
the  peace  table.  He  knew  how  far  apart  their  views  were. 
Each  nation,  regardless  of  size,  believed  it  had  been  essential 
to  victory,  each  felt  its  voice  should  be  heeded.  Indeed,  the 
smaller  nations  were  more  certain  than  the  larger  ones  that 
they  had  won  the  war. 

To  Wilson  the  prospect  of  unity  seemed  dim;  he  questioned 
whether  he  should  thrust  another  brand  into  the  fire.  Some  of 
his  peace  commissioners  favored  making  the  effort — Colonel 
House  in  particular.  They  believed  that  a  treaty  without  the 
League  in  it  would  simply  be  one  of  the  numberless  and  for- 
gotten treaties  of  past  centuries.  A  treaty  with  the  League  in 
it  would  be  the  most  forward  step  ever  taken  for  permanent 
peace;  it  would  stand  out  by  itself  in  all  history.  Wilson  liked 

505 


As  I  Knew  Them 

that  pros.pect,  and  the  League  of  Nations  as  a  separate  settle- 
ment was  abandoned. 

First,  though,  he  had  to  settle  the  wisdom  of  sitting  per- 
sonally, as  a  member  of  the  peace  conference.  It  is  the  tradi- 
tional policy  of  rulers  of  nations  to  have  ambassadors  repre- 
sent them  in  such  negotiations.  No  monarch  had  ever  par- 
ticipated in  an  international  tribunal,  and,  of  course,  that 
seemed  to  establish  a  precedent  for  the  President  of  the 
United  States. 

Besides,  no  head  of  any  other  nation  was  then  in  Paris; 
Wilson  outranked  all  who  were  officially  there.  Should  he 
ignore  that  fact  in  an  atmosphere  where  rank  counts  for  so 
much — and  hold  himself  in  reserve,  as  a  Court  of  Appeals? 
Lloyd  George,  Clemenceau  and  others  thought  so. 

Wilson  took  a  few  days  to  consider  the  point ;  then  decided 
to  go  in.  Clemenceau,  who  presided,  seated  him  at  his  right 
— the  place  of  highest  rank.  He  promptly  made  him  responsi- 
ble for  the  covenant.  As  chairman  of  the  commission  to 
formulate  the  covenant  he  became  the  "Wilson  of  Paris,"  a 
presiding  officer  more  tolerant  In  his  attitude  toward  all  who 
desire  to  speak  to  their  own  time;  so,  also  he  became  a  member 
of  the  "Big  Four" — Lloyd  George,  Clemenceau,  Orlando  aad 
Wilson. 

NO  TRADING  NEEDED  TO  SAVE  THE  LEAGUE 

He  bowed  to  their  will  as  he  had  never  bowed  in  Wash- 
ington to  any  will  The  uBig  Four"  got  all  they  really  de- 
sired— even  the  obligations  of  the  secret  treaties  about  which 
not  a  word  had  been  said  to  Wilson  during  the  war  or  until 
they  were  brought  forward  to  be  incorporated  in  the  peace 
treaty.  It  is  asserted  in  explanation  of  Wilson's  surrender  to 
the  Allies'  most  Important  demands  that  he  was  fighting  to 
save  the  League  of  Nations  and  that  he  sacrificed  in  order  to 
do  so,  but  not  one  scintilla  of  evidence  has  been  produced 
that  the  League  was  ever  in  danger — that  Wilson  was  any 

506 


As  I  Knew  Them 

more  eager  for  it  than  were  his  colleagues  excepting  Clemen- 
ceau.  In  America  Wilson  was  accepted  as  the  champion  and 
spokesman  for  the  League;  in  Paris  he  was  only  one  of  many. 
It  is  not*  fair  to  the  others  around  the  peace  table  to  picture 
Wilson  as  constantly  engaged  with  them  in  a  desperate  hattle 
over  the  League.  A  world  in  grief,  in  distress  and  in  chaos 
crowded  about  them;  peace  was  the  prayer  and  purpose  in 
every  mind.  Clemenceau  alone  regarded  the  old  balance-of- 
power  theory  as  the  best  assurance  of  peace;  the  other  princi- 
pals in  treaty-making  were  as  firm  as  Wilson  for  the  League. 
They,  or  their  successors,  now  constitute  the  League.  Wil- 
son's battle  in  Paris  was  over  other  features  of  the  treaty,  and 
into  the  struggle  he  threw  himself  with  high  purpose  and  a 
passionate  energy  that  made  its  deep  impress  apparent  on  mind 
and  body  before  the  treaty  was  signed. 

THE  SILENT  BREAK:  WITH  HOUSE 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  historic  "break"  with  Colonel 
House  occurred.  Who  knows  the  facts  of  that  sundering  of 

the  most  intimate  ties  that  ever  existed  between  the  Executive 
of  a  great  nation  and  a  man  in  civil  life?  The  relation  began 
in  silence,  it  continued  in  silence,  it  ended  in  silence.  Was  it  a 
myth— that  unity  of  purpose  and  of  mind?  Or  was  it  real? 
Mystery  of  mysteries!  Politics  never  saw  its  like! 

Strange  in  its  beginning,  stranger  still  in  its  development 
through  seven  years  of  momentous  problems,  strangest  of  all 
in  the  mystery  that  still  surrounds  it,  impenetrable,  with  the 
darkness  of  the  grave  on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  side  the 
only  written  evidence  held  back  in  deference  to  request 

Was  House  a  sage?  A  sphinx?  A  Svengali? — one  or  all? 
In  his  day  of  power  such  queries  were  whispered  among  gos- 
sipers  as  softly  as  a  spider  spins  his  web,  Since  the  "break" 
loud  assertion  has  taken  their  place.  Thus  the  glory  of  this 
changing;  world  passes;  surely  we  have  here  new  evidence  that 
its  triumphs  are  of  the  moment' — a  frown,  and  they  are  gone! 

507 


As  I  Knew  Them 

I  have  studied  with  great  interest  the  varied  pictures  of  the 
Wilson-House  intimacy  as  drawn  by  those  who  assume  that 
they  can  fathom  its  depth  and  measure  its  extent,  and  I  have 
reached  the  conclusion  that  until  the  entire  correspondence — 
the  letters  from  Wilson  as  well  as  those  to  Wilson — have  been 
published,  no  man  can  judge  the  relations  that  existed,  for  no 
man  knows. 

What  was  Wilson's  motive?  What  was  House's?  Here 
•was  a  President  who  habitually  shut  the  world  out  of  his  con- 
fidence— except  this  one  man.  Here  was  a  President,  new  to 
public  office  and  public  policies,  who  yielded  his  judgment  to 
no  person  except  this  one  man.  Here  was  a  President  un- 
familiar with  the  problems  growing  out  of  a  foreign  war,  who 
looked  for  guidance  not  to  his  Ambassadors  in  the  Capitals  of 
Europe,  not  to  the  leaders  of  his  party,  or  of  the  nation,  but 
to  this  one  man. 

Not  once  but  several  times  this  one  man  visited  nation  after 
nation  at  the  suggestion  of  the  President  with  the  written 
authority  of  a  supreme  representative,  and  heard  the  potent 
voices  of  the  world's  leading  men. 

"As  usual  I  listened"  would  come  back  to  Wilson  as,  one  by 
one,  House  conferred  with  the  responsible  men  of  Europe's 
great  empires.  Even  in  the  Kaiser's  presence  he  listened,  as 
Germany's  war  lord  laughed  at  the  thought  of  committing 
Germany  to  a  year  of  deliberation  before  engaging  in  war. 
The  Kaiser's  government  was  the  only  large  nation  that  re- 
fused to  sign  the  treaty  prepared  by  Bryan.  It  failed  in  its 
main  purpose  because  of  the  Kaiser's  refusal,  "With  the 
German  army  and  navy  trained  to  the  moment  1"  said  the 
Kaiser,  "why  should  I  give  another  nation  a  year  to  prepare?" 


ALL  TURNED  TO  HOUSE 


Perhaps  you  do  not  like  this  picture  of  the  House  relation; 
perhaps  you  are  inclined  to  reject  it;  there  are  no  official  docu- 
ments on  file  to  attest  it,  no  title  gives  it  authority  except  the 

508 


As  I  Knew  Them 

title  of  friendship,  which,  of  course,  has  no  place  in  govern- 
ment archives.  Incredible  it  truly  seems  to  be;  incredible  that 
another  White  House  should  be  functioning  in  New  York 
city,  in  addition  to  the  official  one  in  Washington.  Yet 
European  statesmen  addressed  their  most  confidential  cables 
to  New  York  because  they  believed  it;  our  own  leading  men 
sought  the  House  apartment  in  New  York  because  they  knew 
its  power. 

Were  they  right?  And  if  they  were  right  was  such  a  con- 
dition right?  I  shall  not  attempt  here  to  answer.  My  pur- 
pose is  to  show  that  men  too  keen  to  make  a  mistake  in  such 
matters  acted  upon  that  belief  until  after  President  Wilson's 
return  to  Paris  in  March  1919.  There  can  be  only  one 
opinion  about  the  relations  of  the  two  men  up  to  that  time; 
there  is  room  for  more  than  one  opinion  from  that  time,  until 
CoL  House  in  Madison  Square  Garden,  New  York  city, 
listened  to  the  radio  report  of  his  dead  friend's  funeral  serv- 
ices instead  of  sitting,  as  he  sought  permission  to  sit,  in  the 
church  In  Washington,  where  the  last  words  were  being  said. 

THE  STAGE  IN  PARIS  AND  ITS  FIGURES 

Now,  let  us  look  at  another  picture  of  House*  We  need 
not  go  into  those  seven  years  during  which  the  President  was 
his  "grateful  friend.11  Let  us  start  with  the  assembling  of  the 

peace  commissioners  in  Paris.  There  was  the  stage  of  tre- 
mendous events;  the  men  to  play  a  part  upon  it  were  destined 

to  be  historic  figures.  All  eager,  properly  enough,  to  be  in  the 
limelight;  all  seeking  to  be  identified  conspicuously  with  any 

phase,  every  phase,  of  that  difficult  struggle  to  assess  the 
penalties  for  a  great  tragedy  and  adjust  the  world  to  a  better 

day. 

Into  that  scene  came  Wilson,  at  once  the  central  figure. 
Foreign  statesmen  did  not  know  him;  they  had  heard  stones 
of  his  austere  ways.  Is  it  strange  that  at  first  they  thought  it 

best  to  continue  using  the  channel  he  had  indicated  as  an  open 

509 


As  I  Knew  Them 

and  direct  one  to  him  ?  Even  habit  would  have  led  them  to  do 
so.  Evidently  they  did  not  realize  that  the  House  proxy  from 
Wilson  ceased  when  the  giver  of  the  proxy  was  present.  The 
House  apartments  in  the  Crillon  Hotel  were  the  centre  of 
many  conferences  that  should  have  gone  on  where  a  President 
resided  who  wanted  to  do  all  and  see  all — even  though  the 
task  must  shatter  him,  as  it  did. 

It  is  said  that  after  an  unsatisfactory  talk  one  afternoon 
with  Wilson,  Lloyd  George  had  hurried  to  the  Crillon  to  talk 
it  out  with  House.  While  the  two  men  were  thus  engaged, 
Wilson  entered.  He  excused  himself  for  interrupting  and  said 
he  would  call  again  when  House  was  at  leisure.  That  later 
call  was  never  made.  At  another  time  Lord  Balfour,  discuss- 
ing with  friends  the  differences  still  unadjusted,  said: 

"If  we  could  only  deal  with  House  we  would  have  nothing 
to  worry  about." 

EAGER  TO  CARRY  THE  NEWS 

On  seven  league  boots  that  statement  was  rushed  to  Wilson ; 
there  were  many  persons  eager  to  carry  it  and  its  like — so 
many  that  when  Wilson  left  Paris  on  his  first  trip  home  in 
February,  his  mind  had  begun  to  close  against  House,  though 
he  was  still  on  friendly  terms  with  him.  Back  in  Paris  three 
weeks  later  the  biggest  budget  of  gossip  awaiting  Wilson  was 
about  House.  He  was  told  that  during  his  absence  House 
had  cut  the  ground  from  under  him,  by  agreeing  to  so  many 
Allied  demands  that  there  was  nothing  left  for  trading  pur- 
poses on  other  features  of  the  treaty.  Wilson's  mind  was  so 
firmly  fixed  on  doing  everything  himself  that  it  yielded  readily 
to  suspicion  that  someone  was  intruding.  He  began  an  increas- 
ing avoidance  of  House. 

"In  Paris  Wilson  did  not  want  tea  party  talks,'1  said  one  of 
Wilson's  Paris  intimates  to  me,  "he  needed  practical  sugges- 
tions. House  was  good  at  tea  parties  where  he  agreed  to 
everything  and  undertook  to  carry  it  through  with  Wilson. 

510 


As  I  Knew  Them 

The  President  needed  a  man  who  would  take  orders  from  him 
and  not  make  compromises  with  others.  House  simply 
couldn't  fill  that  bill.  They  had  captured  him  as  they  had 
captured  Page,  and  Wilson  turned  from  both." 

One  can  get  the  indictment  drawn  against  House  in  Paris 
only  bit  by  bit,  from  different  individuals,  he  must  then  put 
the  pieces  together.  President  Wilson  never  uttered  a  word 
to  House  to  indicate  his  separation  from  him.  He  just  forgot, 
more  and  more  each  day,  that  such  a  man  existed.  No  charges, 
no  dissensions,  no  explanations.  House  saw  him  off  for  home, 
exchanged  cables  with  him  after  he  reached  the  White  House, 
but  there  was  another  tone  to  their  relation  and  shortly  it  died 
away  entirely.  I  have  never  heard  of  a  person  to  whom 
Wilson  afterward  ever  mentioned  the  name  of  House. 

The  differences  in  April,  with  the  "Big  Four/'  that  led 
Wilson,  in  temper,  to  order  the  George  Washington  made 
ready  to  carry  him  home,  were  laid  by  many  persons  at 
House's  door.  The  President  flatly  refused  to  acquiesce  in 
any  of  the  understandings  entered  into  by  House  during  his 
absence.  He  let  it  be  rumored  to  the  other  treaty  conferees 
that  House  no  longer  knew  his  mind,  or  could  interpret  it. 
In  the  resulting  tangle,  he  lost  his  balance  in  Paris,  and  came 
close  to  sailing  home  in  pique.  Finally  with  slight  modifica- 
tions he  agreed  to  all  that  had  been  tentatively  mapped  out. 
The  incident  brought  Wilson  to  the  front  as  his  own  adviser; 
it  also  ended  House. 

After  Paris,  they  never  met  again  on  the  old  terms. 
Finally  sickness  came  to  Wilson  and  meetings  and  letters 
ceased. 

What  did  this  man  without  title  contribute  to  Wilson,  that 
led  him  to  make  him  his  confidant,  his  spokesman,  and,  ap- 
parently, his  guide?  Colonel  House's  "Intimate  Papers" 
give  the  clear  impression  that  he  was  all  three;  the  only  au- 
thentic challenge  to  that  picture  of  their  relations  lies  in  the 
unpublished  letters  from  Wilson  to  House* 


CHAPTER    LXIII 


THE  EFFORT  FOR  "A  SOLEMN  REFERENDUM" 

Wilson  Was  Determined  To  Make  The  Senate  Yield  Or  Force  An 
Issue  In  The  1920  Elections  With  Himself  As  The  Candidate  —  Kel- 
loggs  Offer  To  Ratify  Goes  Unheeded—  The  Twelvemonth  That 
Marked  The  Highest  And  Lowest  Levels  Of  Wilsons  Fortunes  — 
Colby,  Burleson  and  Daniels  Worked  for  Wilson  s  Nomination  —  Col- 
by's ff  Mingled  Feelings"  Returning  to  Washington  —  Wilson  Said:  "We 
Would  Have  Gotten  That  League  Through  Had  My  Health  Been 
Spared  —  It  Is  God's  Way  and  He  Knows  Best." 


^IT^HE  Wilson  who  on  July  10,  1919,  presented  the  Ver- 
-•-  sailles  Treaty  to  the  Senate  in  person  rather  than  by  the 
usual  messenger  was  neither  the  Wilson  of  Washington  nor 
the  Wilson  of  Paris,  but  a  Wilson  who  had  burst  all  narrower 
confines  and  now  rated  himself  as  a  world  figure  without  rival. 
You  can  get  his  own  appraisement  in  his  statement  to  Editor 
James  Kerney  four  years  later,  as  revealed  in  his  enlightening 
book,  "The  Political  Education  of  Woodrow  Wilson"—  -"I 
realize  that  I  am  everywhere  regarded  as  the  foremost  leader 
of  the  liberal  thought  of  the  world." 

Happening  to  be  in  Washington  at  the  time  of  his  address 
on  the  treaty,  I  went  up  to  the  Capitol  to  hear  it,  I  wanted 
to  study  the  reaction  of  the  Senators  to  what  he  had  to  say  as 
he  handed  the  document  over  for  ratification,  I  was  anxious, 
also,  to  contrast  the  Wilson  I  had  heard  deliver  his  war  mes- 
sage with  the  Wilson  now  delivering  his  peace  message. 

Had  I  not  known  of  his  emotional  breakdowns  under  the 
strain  of  Paris,  I  would  have  been  shocked  by  the  pallor  of 
his  face,  the  worn  look  that  told  a  story  no  effort  could  wholly 
conceal.  Zeal  had  plainly  taken  heavy  toll.  No  thought  of 
the  tragedy  then  shaping  itself  crossed  my  mind.  I  realized, 
however,  that  I  was  looking  upon  a  man  who  had  returned  to 

512 


As  I  Knew  Them 

his  native  land  with  the  hurrahs  of  Europe  still  ringing  in 
his  ears  as  a  world  call  to  leadership,  who  now  regarded  him- 
self as  the  crusader  for  an  inspired  conception  of  the  world's 
needs,  the  Messiah  of  his  day,  guarding  his  distinction  with 
the  avarice  of  a  miser  counting  and  recounting  his  gold  to 
make  certain  that  no  one  had  robbed  him  of  any  of  it. 

There  was  a  sureness  about  Wilson  as  he  stood  before  the 
Senate  that  was  almost  defiance,  the  manner  of  one  confident 
of  the  reality  of  his  dream  of  a  world  Utopia  with  himself 
as  its  immortal  figure. 

WILSON'S  FAITH  IN  A  DEMAND  TO  RUN  AGAIN 

And  on  that  July  10  began  the  period  in  Wilson's  career 
yet  to  be  fully  revealed  by  those  who  know  the  facts,  with 
all  its  intolerance  of  opposing  views,  its  firm  determination,  if 
the  Senate  did  not  yield,  to  take  the  issue  to  the  country;  the 
tragic  collapse  on  his  western  tour,  the  pathetic  clinging  to 
power  while  stricken  and,  finally,  the  abiding  faith  that  his 
party  and  the  people  would  re-elect  him  President  and  instruct 
the  Senate  to  ratify  his  treaty. 

Wilson's  belief  in  such  an  outcome  was  so  supreme  that 
even  those  who  knew  his  physical  inability  and  the  political 
unwisdom  of  his  candidacy  had  not  the  heart  to  undeceive 
him.  From  his  sick-room  in  the  White  House  he  waited  ex- 
pectantly day  by  day,  hour  by  hour,  for  word  from  San  Fran- 
cisco that  the  national  Democratic  convention  had  put  aside 
all  lesser  candidates  and  lesser  issues  and  had  chosen  him  to 
lead  in  what  he  had  called  "a  solemn  referendum/'  That 
word  never  carnet  but  instead  there  came  to  him  with  crush- 
ing force  the  realization  that  the  sceptre  of  power  had  passed 
to  other  hands,  ami  with  it  the  issue  on  which  he  had  staked 
all. 

Exactly  one  year  from  the  day  at  Versailles  when  with  glow* 
Ing  countenance  he  attached  his  signature  to  the  peace  treaty 
the  Democratic  convention  met  in  San  Francisco.  Those  two 


As  I  Knew  Them 

days,  twelve  months  apart,  marked  the  highest  and  the  lowest 
levels  of  Wilson's  quest  for  fame.  On  June  28,  1919,  in  Ver- 
sailles, the  signed  document  seemed  a  crowning  triumph;  on 
June  28,  1920,  in  San  Francisco,  his  own  party  registered  its 
preference  for  another  as  its  candidate,  and  forced  Wilson 
to  a  place  with  figures  of  the  past. 

KELLOGG' s  OFFER  TO  RATIFY  GOES  UNHEEDED 

It  is  not  my  province  to  rehearse  the  incidents  of  that  year. 
I  would  like  to  say,  however,  that  Wilson  could  have  insured 
the  ratification  of  the  treaty  within  two  weeks  after  his  return 
to  America  had  he  chosen  to  do  so  on  the  basis  of  reservations 
suggested  by  Senators  friendly  to  the  League  of  Nations.  I 
understand  that  the  fact  has  not  been  published — certainly  not 
widely  published — that  Senator  Frank  B.  Kellogg,  of  Minne- 
sota, now  Secretary  of  State  under  Coolidge,  called  on  Wil- 
son at  the  White  House  about  July  15  as  the  spokesman  for 
a  group  numbering  from  32  to  34  Republicans.  The  group 
did  not  include  Senator  Lodge.  He  explained  to  the  Presi- 
dent the  reservations  desired.  Wilson  listened  attentively, 
but  told  Kellogg  that  their  proposals  were  already  covered 
in  the  covenant  or  by  our  Constitution.  They  were,  therefore, 
not  material  to  the  treaty.  "If  that  is  so,"  urged  Kellogg, 
"why  not  accept  them?  They  can  do  no  harm.  We  can  fur- 
nish from  32  to  34  votes  on  this  basis  and  with  the  Democratic 
votes  you  control  you  will  have  a  safe  margin  for  ratification." 

"Thank  you  for  the  offer,"  replied  Wilson  courteously.  "I 
appreciate  your  purpose.  I'll  think  it  over  and  if  I  can  agree 
with  your  view  I  will  let  you  know." 

One  week,  then  two  weeks,  passed  without  a  word  from  the 
White  House.  Kellogg,  Norris,  and  others  in  the  group  con- 
cluded that  they  would  never  hear  from  Wilson — and  they 
never  did.  Nor  did  any  other  Senator  ever  get  the  slightest 
indication  that  any  reservation,  however  mild,  could  break 
down  the  barrier  in  Wilson's  mind. 

5*4 


As  I  Knew  Them 

THE  EFFORT  FOR  UA  SOLEMN  REFERENDUM" 

In  that  battle  with  the  Senate  you  have  a  Wilson  striving 
solely  for  personal  mastery — not  a  Wilson  striving  to  achieve 
a  great  purpose  in  cooperation  with  those  who  by  position 
had  equal  right  with  him  to  a  voice  in  the  decisions.  His, 
and  his  alone,  must  be  the  treaty  ratified.  In  November,  1919, 
in  a  letter  to  Senator  Hitchcock  he  warned  all  Democrats 
against  voting  for  it  with  the  Lodge  amendments;  in  Jan- 
uary 1920,  he  revealed  his  mind  more  frankly  when  he  wrote 
the  Jackson  Day  banqueters  in  Washington: 

Personally  I  do  not  accept  the  action  of  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  as  the  decision  of  the  nation.  .  .  . 

If  there  is  any  doubt  as  to  what  the  people  of  the  country  think 
on  this  vital  matter  the  clear  and  simple  way  is  to  submit  it  for 
determination  at  the  next  election  to  the  voters  of  the  nation,  to 
give  the  next  election  the  form  of  a  great  and  solemn  referendum — 
a  referendum  as  to  the  part  the  United  States  is  to  play  in  complet- 
ing the  settlements  of  the  war  and  the  prevention  in  the  future  of 
such  outrages  as  Germany  attempted  to  perpetrate. 

No  one  who  was  not  himself  a  candidate  would  have  penned 
such  a  letter,  for  no  national  convention  could  have  adopted 
such  a  platform  without  calling  upon  the  man  who  embodied 
it  to  lead  in  the  campaign-  "We  would  have  gotten  that 
League  through  had  I  been  spared  my  health/'  said  Wilson 
a  year  or  so  later. 

HE  ALONE  WAS  THE  ISSUE 

In  the  weeks  from  the  date  of  that  letter  until  the  Demo- 
crats met  in  San  Francisco,  the  effort  for  recovery  was  buoyed 
and  strengthened  by  his  determination  to  be  physically  ready 
for  the  campaign  battle  he  anticipated.  That  is  why  he  had 
no  regrets  when  in  March  1920  the  treaty  failed  of  ratification 

5*5 


As  I  Knew  Them 

a  second  time.  Perhaps  it  furnishes  a  reason  for  his  con- 
tinued refusal  to  save  it.  Seven  or  eight  Democratic  votes 
would  have  given  it  the  necessary  two-thirds  and  men  whose 
loyalty  he  could  not  challenge  urged  him  to  permit  that  to 
be  done.  The  White  House  atmosphere,  however,  had  then 
become  surcharged  with  thought  of  the  coming  campaign  with 
Wilson  as  the  candidate.  The  President  looked  upon  counsel 
to  save  the  treaty  as  the  counsel  of  surrender;  he  was  in  the 
mood  of  martyrdom  and  he  had  no  other  thought  than  that 
the  people  would  rise  en  masse  behind  his  banner  once  it  was 
raised.  He  was  looking  out  upon  the  world  through  the  win- 
dows of  a  sick-roorn,  and  with  a  mind  long  burdened  with  a 
single  purpose.  There  was  no  other  leader  to  carry  on  the 
battle — not  even  to  Crown  Prince  McAdoo  could  the  succes- 
sion safely  pass.  In  that  mood,  with  body  wracked  by  disease, 
this  pitiful  figure  in  the  world's  greatest  tragedy  met  with 
stoic  calmness  a  disappointment  that  shattered  a  dream  such 
as  few  rulers  ever  dared  to  dream. 

COLBY  PRIMED  TO  NOMINATE  HIS  CHIEF 

The  men  upon  whose  strategy  at  San  Francisco  hope  chiefly 
rested  were  Postmaster  General  Burleson  and  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  Daniels.  Burleson  went  so  far  in  his  prophecies  of  suc- 
cess that  he  never  recovered  his  place  in  the  President's  con- 
fidence. Not  for  months  afterward  did  he  have  conversation 
with  him.  But  I  am  told  that  the  man  who  hurried  3,000  miles 
across  continent  with  polished  epigram  and  brilliant  perora- 
tion to  rouse  the  convention  to  a  noble  duty  was  Bainbridge 
Colby. 

Colby  says  no,  and  Colby  ought  to  know. 

But  Colby  was  Wilson's  Secretary  of  State;  he  had  many 
world  problems  in  his  great  office  demanding  his  serious  con- 
sideration; diplomats  from  thither  and  yon  were  paying  their 
calls  of  courtesy  and  urging  and  pressing  for  audience,— and 
Colby  breaks  all  precedents  of  his  dignified  office  as  to  political 
activities,  grabs  a  suitcase,  takes  the  fastest  train  to  San  Fran- 


As  I  Knew  Them 

cisco.  It  would  be  a  fair  guess  that  Colby  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances today  would  take  an  aeroplane. 

He  paused  only  for  a  call  at  the  White  House. 

Why  the  sudden  resolve?  Why  the  parting  call?  Indeed, 
why  should  a  Secretary  of  State — the  high-hatted  member  of 
every  Administration— attend  a  nominating  convention  at  all 
unless  the  interests  of  his  chief  were  involved  in  a  most  im- 
portant way  ?  And  what  was  at  stake  ? 

Certainly  not  the  party  platform.  So  far  as  the  Wilson 
Administration  was  concerned  the  delegates  were  of  one  opin- 
ion* The  President  had  no  candidate  to  urge — even  McAdoo 
had  been  disavowed;  scores  of  loyal  Wilson  leaders  were  on 
the  ground  ready  to  defend  their  chief  if  need  be.  It  was 
not  defense  that  was  needed  but  offense. 

Colby  like  Sheridan  was  miles  away — three  thousand  in- 
stead of  twenty.  Someone  was  needed  to  rally  and  enthuse 
a  confused  convention;  someone  was  needed  to  reform  the 
line  of  battle,  to  point  the  way  to  victory,  and  Colby  was  the 
man  ordained  by  fate  to  be  the  Sheridan  of  his  day: — San 
Francisco  needed  him. 

And  why? 

Not  to  nominate  "Jimmy"  Cox>"  Colby  Didn't  ^Y  a  ticket 
to  Trail's  End, 

Nor  was  he  seeking  to  bring  to  a  close  the  Administration 
of  which  he  was  then  the  guiding  and  conspicuous  member- 
No,  Colby  had  other  motives  in  the  Golden  Gate  city,  and 
Wilson  back  in  the  White  House  awaited  their  consummation, 
The  radio  was  on,  preparations  were  made  for  newspaper 
photographers  to  gather  and  click  their  cameras  at  the  thrice- 
named  candidate  when  the  news  was  flashed  that  Colby  had 
begun  to  speak,  that  the  delegates  were  in  rapturous  approval 
and  that  the  new  battle  of  the  ballots  was  to  be  led  by  the 
man  who  had  made  the  one  real  issue. 

It  was  not  to  be.  Somehow  the  cards  didn't  fall  the  right 
way;  and  a  Democratic  convention  missed  an  opportunity  to 

517 


As  I  Knew  Them 

hear  Bryan's  cross  of  gold  speech  made  to  look  like  tinsel, 
for  Colby  would  have  done  it. 

What  could  the  dependable  Secretary  of  State  telephone 
the  eagerly-waiting  White  House  of  the  developing  condi- 
tions? Certainly  not  a  blunt  statement  of  the  true  situation. 
That  shock  was  for  the  convention,  not  for  him,  to  adminis- 
ter. He  could  telephone,  however,  that  while  prospects  were 
not  over-bright,  he  still  had  hopes,  and  that  he  was  prepared 
to  take  the  platform  at  the  right  moment.  So  Colby's  "right 
moment"  drifted  from  roll  call  to  roll  call  but  never  came. 

What  a  scene  there  would  have  been  in  that  convention  had 
it  come!  Far  back  in  1912  when  Colby  and  I  were  engaged 
in  that  puritanic  effort  to  return  Roosevelt  to  the  White 
House,  he  was  a  daring  leader  for  the  right,  a  spokesman 
who  could  face  a  thousand  foe.  And  he  would  have  been 
equal  to  that  great  occasion  in  San  Francisco  had  there  been 
a  "right  moment."  There  was  not. 

Think  of  Colby's  poignant  feelings  as  he  saw  the  Cox  vote 
climb  to  the  needed  two-thirds;  think  of  his  planning  how  to 
tell  his  chief  the  whys  and  wherefores  of  the  failure — the 
"mingled  feelings"  with  which  he  contemplated  the  disap- 
pointing result  of  the  convention.  There  was  so  much  to 
tell  that  it  was  nearly  a  month  before  Colby  wrote  the  Presi- 
dent he  would  like  an  opportunity  to  do  so, — and  neither 
Burleson  nor  Daniels  ever  found  the  courage  even  to  go  that 
far. 

"THE  WORLD  NOT  READY  FOR  IT" 

And  thus  it  was  that  Wilson  resigned  himself  to  defeat, 
He  refused  to  be  saddened.  No  one  ever  heard  him  com- 
plain. He  let  others  do  the  talking.  He  lived  to  see  two 
men  follow  him  into  the  Presidency  both  sharing  the  opposi- 
tion of  their  party  to  the  League  of  Nations.  "It  is  all  right," 
he  would  say.  "Perhaps  we  shall  be  all  the  better  for  the  delay; 
the  world  was  led  to  it  by  its  sufferings ;  it  might  not  have 
worked  just  yet;  to  be  a  sure  success  a  League  of  Nations 

518 


As  I  Knew  Them 

must  not  come  from  suffering  but  from  the  hearts  and  spirit 
of  men.  We  are  still  in  darkness  but  I  am  sure  it  is  the 
darkness  that  eventually  lightens.  I  realize  now  that  I  am 
only  an  empty  tenement,  a  tool  that  has  served  its  purpose  in 
God's  hand.  I  was  stricken  because  it  was  His  way  of  doing 
things.  It  was  His  will  to  set  me  aside;  He  knows  what  is 
best.  I  am  content  with  the  record  as  it  stands." 


5*9 


CHAPTER    LXIV 

DAWES— POLITICIAN  AND  BANKER 

MANY  persons  Charles  Gates  Dawes  is  an  after-the- 
war  development  in  national  affairs.  This  presumption 
merely  means  that  following  his  activities  in  the  1900  Repub- 
lican national  convention,  as  detailed  in  the  McKinley  chap- 
ter, Dawes  undertook  to  build  one  of  the  big  banks  of  Chi- 
cago, and,  true  to  his  character,  put  himself  wholly  into  that 
effort  until  he  had  accomplished  it. 

The  political  public  heard  little  from  him  for  twenty  years 
or  more  but  Dawes  was  all  the  time  looking  over  the  fence 
into  the  old  political  pasture.  When  fortune  came  to  him  and 
gave  him  freedom  of  time  and  action,  he  found  the  World 
War  a  way  back  into  the  fold  of  public  activities.  "Over 
There"  he  acquired  a  pipe  and  a  few  mild  swear  words,  but 
such  things  are  only  the  outward  evidence  of  a  vigorous,  hurry- 
up-and-get-there  spirit, — intense,  kindly  and  vigorous. 

Dawes  likes  public  service;  he  is  really  an  old-timer  at  it — if 
the  McKinley  days  are  far  enough  past  to  be  so  classed.  He 
was  the  first  convention  strategist— certainly  the  first  to  my 
knowledge — to  card-index  the  delegates  to  a  presidential  nom- 
inating convention.  Frank  Hitchcock  gained  that  reputation 
in  the  1908  campaign  to  nominate  Taft,  but  Dawes  really 
began  the  practice  in  national  politics  back  in  the  winter  of 
1896. 

"A  YOUNG  MAN  NAMED  DAWES" 

He  had  then  moved  from  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  to  Chicago, 
where  he  was  establishing  himself.  As  an  ardent  McKinley 
supporter,  he  was  Mark  Hanna's  personal  representative  in 

520 


As  I  Knew  Them 

the  Illinois  struggle  to  secure  McKinley  delegates.  Illinois 
Republicans  were  then  as  ever  since  in  a  faction  war ;  fighting 
was  fierce  and  plenty.  I  was  then  to  learn  the  situation,  and 
found  it  baffling. 

Someone  in  Chicago  told  me  that  if  I  really  wanted  the 
facts  I  would  have  to  get  hold  of  a  young  man  named  Dawes. 
So  I  hunted  for  Dawes.  He  had  a  little  office  up  two  or  three 
flights  of  rickety  wooden  stairs  jn  an  old  building  on  La  Salle 
Street  I  climbed  the  stairs,  and  found  a  room  equipped 
with  a  roll-top  desk,  a  wooden  centre  table,  and  two  or  three 
chairs.  No  pipe  was  in  evidence. 

I  recall  that  whenever  I  asked  Dawes  about  this  or  that 
county,  he  would  rise  from  his  chair,  pull  a  little  drawer  from 
a  case  on  top  of  his 'desk  and  look  over  half  a  dozen  cards. 
Those  cards  had  written  on  them  the  record  of  the  day-to-day 
changes  in  each  county.  He  would  never  answer  a  question 
until  he  had  consulted  his  cards.  He  was  so  careful  that  I 
promptly  made  up  my  mind  to  accept  his  figures  as  the  most 
dependable  estimate  to  be  had.  When  the  State  convention 
met,  two  months  later,  at  Springfield,  the  Dawes  prophecies 
of  the  number  of  McKinley  delegates  proved  to  be  approxi- 
mately correct. 

A  year  later,  Dawes  became  Comptroller  of  the  Currency 
in  the  new  Administration.  He  was  known  in  Washington  as 
McKinley's  "white-headed  boy.1'  Next  to  Mark  Hanna  he 
was  deepest  in  the  President's  confidence.  McKinley's  regard 
for  him  became  deep  enough  to  be  called  affection. 

But  banking  on  his  own  account  was  more  attractive  to 
the  ambitious  Dawes  than  office-holding,  so  he  resigned  as 
Comptroller  and  returned  to  Chicago  to  create  the  bank  of 
which  he  was  the  head  and  principal  owner  when  named  in 
1924  for  Vice  President 

ALMOST  IN*  HARDING  CABINET 

How  near  Dawes  came  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 

521 


As  I  Knew  Them 

under  Harding  is  not  well  known ;  but  for  a  week  or  so  it  was 
about  settled  that  he  was  to  be  the  man.  Harding  had  called 
him  to  Marion,  and  had  asked  him  if  he  could  arrange  his 
affairs  so  as  to  accept  the  Treasury  portfolio  if  offered  later 
on.  Dawes  replied  that  he  could.  Harding  then  said  he  had 
made  up  his  mind  not  to  make  promises — he  wanted  to  feel 
free  as  to  appointments  until  the  last  moment  for  action;  also 
he  wanted  others  to  feel  equally  free  to  decline. 

"I  expect  and  hope  to  offer  you  the  place/'  said  Harding, 
"but  I  shall  not  do  so  until  I  have  my  Cabinet  complete  and 
ask  all  members  at  the  same  time.  I  have  no  commitments. 
With  this  understanding  let  us  both  feel  absolutely  free  to 
change  our  minds." 

"That  suits  me  perfectly,"  replied  Dawes. 

DAWES  BUDGETS  FOR  AMERICA  AND  FOR  THE  WORLD 

A  week  or  so  later,  Senator  Knox,  of  Pennsylvania,  urged 
Andrew  Mellon.  Harding  jumped  at  the  opportunity;  Mel- 
lon was  willing.  Dawes,  when  informed  that  Mellon  would 
serve,  heartily  indorsed  the  Pittsburgh  banker.  Later,  Hard- 
ing sought  a  budget-maker,  he  asked  Dawes  to  undertake  that 
thankless  task.  Dawes  agreed  to  do  so  for  one  year  and  with 
the  definite  understanding  that  he  would  be  the  direct  repre- 
sentative of  the  President  backed  by  his  authority.  He  in- 
sisted that  no  budget  could  be  made  without  supreme  power 
over  every  Cabinet  officer  or  bureau  chief.  Harding  stood 
by  him  on  that  basis  and  the  budget  system  of  today,  which 
has  meant  so  much  to  the  country,  is  the  result. 

Again,  when  a  man  was  needed  to  budgetize  German  repar- 
ations, Dawes  was  brought  into  service — with  the  same  fine 
results. 

Back  of  Dawes'  success,  I  have  often  thought,  is  that  little 
case  I  saw  on  his  roll-top  desk  in  Chicago,  thirty  years  ago, 
in  which  his  card-index  typified  the  thoroughness  with  which 
even  in  his  young  days  he  undertook  everything, 

522 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Now  he  sits  in  the  Vice  President's  chair — uneasily*  He 
likes  action,  results,  making  each  day  count  for  something 
done  and  ended.  The  Senators  like  to  talk,  and  while  they 
indulge  themselves  in  debate  they  expect  the  Vice  President 
silently  to  listen.  That  is  Dawes'  job  and  he  sticks  to  it,  but 
with  the  Senate  in  recess  the  Senators  hear  from  their  vig- 
orous presiding  officer  often  enough  to  realize  that  he  has 
some  views  of  his  own  regarding  the  procedure  of  that  "most 
deliberative  body  in  the  world."  Moreover,  having  started 
on  the  road  to  political  fame,  there  are  many  who  believe 
Dawes  has  not  yet  finished  his  journey. 


CHAPTER   LXV 
BORAH— INDIVIDUALIST 

IF  YOU  are  looking  for  an  individualist  among  our  national 
leaders,  allow  me  to  present  the  purest  type  in  public  serv- 
ice— William  Edgar  Borah,  of  Idaho,  now  serving  his  fourth 
term  in  the  Senate,  and,  as  chairman  of  the  Foreign  Relations 
Committee,  the  most  potent  voice  on  the  subject  next  to  the 
President  and  the  Secretary  of  State.  Europe,  I  suppose, 
wonders  why  we  go  almost  to  the  Pacific  for  the  man  to  con- 
duct our  foreign  affairs  insofar  as  the  legislative  branch  of 
government  is  concerned.  There  must  be  a  feeling  of  surprise 
over  there,  as  there  is  here,  that  a  Senator  from  Idaho  should 
be  so  deeply  interested  in  our  attitude  toward  distant  lands  as 
to  seek  assignment  on  the  Foreign  Relations  Committee  when 
he  could  select  committees  whose  work  is  closer  to  his  con- 
stituents and  seemingly  more  vital  to  them. 

Borah  picked  the  judiciary  and  foreign  relations  commit- 
tees back  in  1907  when  he  entered  the  Senate.  Advancing 
by  seniority  in  both  committees  he  finally  had  to  make  a  choice 
of  chairmanships  when  Senator  Lodge  died,  in  1924,  and  he 
chose  foreign  relations.  So  Idaho,  the  State  of  mountains, 
minerals,  forests  and  distances,  furnishes  the  parliamentary 
eyes,  ears  and  mind  for  our  country  in  matters  across  seas. 

It  is  only  a  new  demonstration  that  the  east  must  face 
the  fact  more  and  more  as  time  goes  on  that  the  Star  of  Em- 
pire westward  takes  its  way.  Next  to  Borah  on  that  commit- 
tee is  Hiram  Johnson,  of  California,  Seven  other  members 
of  the  committee — making  nine  in  all,  or  a  majority— come 
from  States  west  of  the  Mississippi  River.  When  we  keep  in 
mind  that  Secretary  of  State  Kellogg  is  a  citizen  of  Minnesota, 
it  is  clear  that  our  attitude  toward  other  countries,  for  the 


As  I  Knew  Them 

present  at  least,  except  as  the  President  voices  it,  has  a  dis- 
tinct western  point  of  view.  It  is  not  my  province  to  say 
here  whether  that  is  a  correct  point  of  view  or  not,  but  it  is 
certainly  a  more  detached  point  of  view,  more  of  the  isolation- 
ist pattern,  than  would  be  held  if  the  majority  of  the  commit- 
tee were  from  the  Atlantic  States. 

WANTS  IT.  S.  OUT  OF  EUROPE'S  AFFAIRS 

Borah  in  particular  is  an  isolationist.  He  was  more  ex- 
treme as  an  "irreconcilable"  during  the  League  of  Nations 
debate  than  was  Senator  Lodge;  he  was  more  responsible 
than  any  other  Senator  for  hobbling  our  World  court  partici- 
pation with  so  many  reservations  that  Europe  refused  to  agree 
to  them;  and  he  would  be  delighted  if  a  way  could  now  be 
found  to  recall  our  unaccepted  acceptance  rather  than  run 
even  the  slim  risk  that  Europe  may  yet  take  us  on  our  own 
terms. 

You  cannot  get  it  out  of  Borah's  head  that  Europe,  still 
militaristic,  only  awaits  opportunity  to  build  larger  armies 
and  navies.  He  believes  it  is  bred  in  the  bone  of  her  rulers 
and  statesmen,  and  that  the  Versailles  Treaty  instead  of  serv- 
ing the  cause  of  peace  is  just  so  much  dynamite  to  be  exploded 
in  a  war  more  fearful  than  the  war  just  ended.  That  is, 
largely,  the  ground  on  which  he  opposes  cancelling  the  debt 
due  us.  Freed  of  that  obligation,  he  believes  that  Europe 
would  use  the  released  credit  to  increase  its  military  forces, 
and  we  would  thus  be  uniting  with  her  in  a  blow  at  peace, 

If  Europe  would  agree  to  cut  down  her  present  military 
expenditures,  and  relieve  her  people  from  that  heavy  tax 
burden,  I  am  certain  that  Borah  would  be  the  first  in  America 
to  urge  that  we  do  our  share  toward  a  world  wide  reduction 
of  armies  and  navies  by  writing  off  the  whole  debt.  Lacking 
such  assurance  he  wants  every"  dollar  due  us.  He  wants  Amer- 
ica to  stand  alone  among  the  nations  of  the  world, — in  kindly 
but  absolutely  independent  attitude — an  individualist  like  him- 


As  I  Knew  Them 

self.  He  believes  that  territorially  we  are  big  enough  between 
the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  and  that  our  future  is  more  secure 
if  we  remain  in  every  sense  between  the  two  oceans. 

Perhaps,  I  state  it  too  strongly,  but  it  seems  to  me  that 
Borah  favors  letting  the  world  take  care  of  itself,  believing 
that  it  will  get  along  better  without  our  intervention,  and 
that  we  will  have  the  same  experience.  That  is  why  he  urges 
recognition  of  the  Soviet  Government  of  Russia  and  inde- 
pendence for  the  Filipinos. 

BORAH  TRAVELS   HIS   OWN   PATH 

As  a  Senator  for  twenty  years,  Borah  has  gone  his  own 
way.  He  doesn't  know  how  to  follow.  He  so  seldom  travels 
a  path  another  has  trod  that,  if  he  were  hunting  bears  in  his 
Idaho  mountains  I  doubt  whether  he  would  follow  the  tracks 
of  Brother  Bruin,  as  most  hunters  strive  to  do,  lest  he  should 
feel  that  he  was  travelling  a  beaten  path.  He  would  get  the 
bear,  but  in  his  own  way ! 

If  you  were  to  study  the  Senate  roll-call  you  would  find 
that  Borah  votes  more  independently  of  party,  of  friends  and 
of  opponents  than  any  other  Senator,  Nevertheless,  he  has 
more  friends  among  his  colleagues  than  have  most  Senators, 
and  his  attitude  on  legislation  sways  more  votes.  Why?  Be- 
cause of  confidence  in  his  integrity  and  ability,  and  because  he 
makes  no  personal  issues.  He  accords  others  the  privilege  he 
exercises  of  having  his  own  opinion.  There  is  nothing  vitriolic 
about  Borah;  he  never  assails  those  who  disagree  with  him; 
he  fights  their  views  but  not  them. 

You  will  not  find  Borah  in  his  Senate  seat  unless  something 
important  is  before  that  body.  Most  of  his  time  is  spent  dig- 
ging for  facts  in  the  quiet  of  his  office.  There  he  determines 
whether  he  will  support  or  oppose  pending  measures.  He 
enters  into  no  deals;  he  gives  no  votes  as  a  bargain  and  seeks 
none.  In  all  the  gossip  to  be  heard  on  Capitol  Hill  in  Wash- 

526 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ington,  I  have  never  heard  anyone  claim  that  he  had  persuaded 
Borah  not  to  speak  his  mind. 

THE  SENATE'S  CONSTITUTIONALIST 

Years  ago  William  3VL  Evarts,  of  New  York,  and  George 
F.  Edmunds  of  Vermont  were  in  turn  known  as  the  leading  ex- 
pounders of  the  constitution  in  the  Senate;  then  John  C. 
Spooner,  of  Wisconsin,  then  Elihu  Root,  of  New  York,  Jo- 
seph W.  Bailey  of  Texas  and  Philander  Knox,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Today  Borah  is  the  accepted  successor  to  that  distinc- 
tion. Borah  studies  the  constitution,  however,  not  to  narrow 
it  but  to  broaden  it,  and  thereby  keep  it  strengthened  in  the 
confidence  of  the  people.  He  insists  that  its  principles  were 
intended  to  give  effect  to  the  fine  purposes  of  the  founders  of 
our  nation,  and  not  to  thwart  them  by  technical  interpretation. 

Could  a  regular  party  convention  be  persuaded  to  nomi- 
nate such  a  man  for  President?  Who  knows? 

In  1924,  he  got  out  of  bed  in  Washington  after  midnight 
to  hear  by  telephone  that  the  Republican  national  convention 
in  Cleveland  wanted  him  for  Vice  President;  he  promptly  re- 
plied that  he  would  not  accept  it  and  went  back  to  bed.  Borah 
would  be  the  unhappiest  man  in  Washington  if  he  were  fated 
to  sit,  silently,  while  the  Senate  was  in  debate.  He  delights 
in  a  conflict  on  the  floor*  Though  he  is  "Bill"  to  most  of  his 
colleagues  and  they  are  ujim"  or  "Frank"  or  "George"  to 
him,  those  personal  relations  do  not  influence  his  attitude  on 
legislation* 

Borah's  term  as  Senator  expires  in  1931 — he  will  then  have 
served  twenty-four  years.  He  has  given  the  best  years  of  his 
life  to  public  service,  and  except  for  occasional  newspaper 
writing  he  has  limited  his  income  rigidly  to  his  salary.  That 
means  the  sacrifice  of  many  comforts.  His  reputation  is  his 
only  asset  as  he  moves  into  his  later  years;  it  assays  of  the 
finest  quality  but  it  Is  not  convertible  into  those  comforts  that 
every  man  has  a  right  to  look  forward  to,  and  that  every  gov- 


As  I  Knew  Them 

ernment  should  insure  if  it  demands  the  kind  of  service  that 
Borah  gives  it.  He  has  now  achieved  the  distinction  of  leader- 
ship of  the  Senate;  that  body  holds  no  greater  reward  for  him. 
The  Presidency  is  the  only  promotion,  but  if  Coolidge  is  to  be 
reelected  in  1928  the  earliest  date  for  Borah  would  be  1932 — 
a  long  time  to  wait  with  many  intervening  uncertainties. 
Borah  would  then  be  sixty-seven  years  old.  William  Henry 
Harrison  is  the  only  man  to  enter  the  White  House  at  a 
greater  age.  He  was  68  when  inaugurated. 

The  Presidency  has  yet  to  go  west  of  the  Mississippi — other 
places  of  power  are  going  in  that  direction,  and,  of  course,  it 
is  only  a  question  of  time  when  the  presidency  will  go  too.  If 
Coolidge  should  refuse  to  run  again,  perhaps  there  will  be  a 
call  for  the  able,  earnest  individualist  Senator  from  Idaho, — 
the  kindliest  figure  in  the  Senate  personally,  the  most  "uncer- 
tain, coy  and  hard  to  please"  in  legislation. 


528 


CHAPTER  LXVI 

CALVIN  COOLIDGE 

u/  I  AHERE  is  no  right  to  strike  against  the  public  safety  by 

•*•  anybody,  anywhere,  any  time,"  rang  through  the  coun- 
try in  September,  1919,  from  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
like  the  clear,  sharp  peal  of  a  Liberty  bell. 

It  was  a  new  voice.  With  thousands  of  others  I  listened, 
aroused. 

"This  is  the  people's  cause,"  came  a  few  days  later  in  a 
proclamation  from  the  same  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  de- 
claring that  he  proposed  uto  support  all  who  are  supporting 
their  own  government,"  and  that  "the  authority  of  the  Com- 
monwealth cannot  be  intimidated,  coerced  or  compromised*" 

Again,  with  more  thousands,  I  listened,  aroused. 

Here  was  a  voice  calm  but  firm,  decisive  but  not  defiant, 
capable,  of  stating  the  substance  of  a  great  issue  in  a  few 
understanding  words. 

Though  Calvin  Coolidge  was  the  Bay  State's  Chief  Execu- 
tive, the  Boston  police  did  not  know  their  man.  They  were 
now  to  know  him  better,  so  was  the  nation.  Everywhere 
people  applauded;  everywhere  newspapers  gave  columns  to 
the  struggle  to  maintain  the  supremacy  of  government  They 
were  not  slow  to  rally  back  of  a  Governor  with  the  courage  to 
challenge  Samuel  Gompers*  contention  that  public  servants 
had  a  right  to  strike  even  though  such  action  imperilled  pub- 
lic safety, 

THE  PEOPLE  WANTED  TO'  KNOW  MORE  OF  COOLIDGE 

The  battle  was  quickly  won,  and  the  "news"  was  out  of  the 

incident.     Like  other  nine-day  wonders  it  soon  faded  away 


As  I  Knew  Them 

through  the  back  pages  of  the  newspapers.  But  Coolidge  re- 
mained in  the  minds  of  the  people  as  the  defender  and  ex- 
ponent of  orderly  government.  Never  did  any  man  in  public 
life  win  the  interest  and  confidence  of  a  nation  so  completely. 
Speeches  delivered  long  ago — even  his  valedictory  at  Amherst 
— were  dug  out  of  a  neglected  past  and  widely  discussed.  A 
series  of  addresses  were  finally  gathered  into  a  book  entitled 
"Have  Faith  in  Massachusetts";  even  that  was  seized  by  the 
newspapers  for  serial  publication. 

The  Calvin  Coolidge  who  had  never  sought  to  push  his  way 
to  the  front  now  found  himself  in  the  front  line  of  national 
figures,  well  liked  for  his  modesty,  well  liked  for  his  phil- 
osophy of  life,  well  liked  for  the  courage  with  which  he  held 
to  his  beliefs. 

Nor  was  this  liking  a  political  liking.  The  talk  of  Coolidge 
was  not  at  first  heard  among  politicians;  it  soon  got  to  them, 
however,  for  a  presidential  contest  was  not  distant  and  a  can- 
didate was  needed.  Since  the  days  of  Elaine  and  of  Reed,  the 
country  had  not  looked  seriously  to  New  England  for  a 
President  In  1916,  John  W.  Weeks,  then  Senator  from 
Massachusetts,  had  sought  nomination,  but  the  support  he 
received  was  largely  a  compliment  to  a  man  highly  esteemed. 
The  trend  of  political  availability  had  long  been  steadily  away 
from  New  England;  Coolidge  turned  it  back. 

HE  STUCK  TO  HIS  I>AY;S  WORK 

But  not  by  seeking  newspaper  notoriety  or  indulging  in 
stump  speaking.  He  spread  no  propaganda  about  himself. 
Newspapers  discovered  that  the  people  were  interested  in 
him,  and  gave  him  space  on  their  own  account  to  satisfy  that 
reader  interest  I  was  among  those  editors  attracted  by  the 
Coolidge  speeches  and  even  more  strongly  impressed  by  his 
"approach,"  to  use  a  golfing  term,  to  the  presidential  nomina- 
tion. He  stuck  to  his  day's  work.  All  the  progress  he  had 
made  in  life  had  been  made  by  doing  each  clay's  work  within 

530 


As  I  Knew  Them 

the  day  and  not  crowding  it  with  plans  for  ambitious  tomor- 
rows. 

The  possibility  of  the  Presidency  did  not  lure  him  away 
from  that  wise  habit.  He  refused  campaigning  tours,  refused 
alluring  offers  to  write  for  magazines  and  newspaper  syndi- 
cates, refused  interviewers  and  photographers.  If  the  people 
were  to  judge  him  he  preferred  to  be  judged  on  his  record  and 
not  on  any  representations  he  might  make  to  them  as  a 
candidate. 

Take  the  Coolidge  of  today  and  recall  the  Coolidge  who 
first  came  to  your  attention  and  you  will  find  him  following 
the  same  quiet  habit  of  doing  thoroughly  his  day's  work  and 
letting  results  tell  his  story. 

LODGE  COULD  NOT  SEE  COOLIDGK 

In  the  1920  convention,  my  thoughts  ran  to  Coolidge  as 
more  likely  than  others  to  interest  the  country.  He  had  no 
antagonisms,  he  had  made  a  good  impression,  and  he  had 

proven  his  courage  in  public  service. 

I  said  so  frequently  in  my  newspaper.  Though  new  to  the 
people  in  a  national  sense,  I  believed  that  he  had  secured  a 
substantial  following  among  them.  I  was  prepared  to  see  the 
Wood-Lowden  forces  end  their  deadlock  by  turning  to  the 
Vermont-born  Governor  of  Massachusetts. 

I  have  already  referred  to  that  convention  as  a  convention 
of  uifs"  so  I  may  be  permitted  to  add  one  more.  //  Senator 
Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  head  of  the  Massachusetts  delegation 
and  chairman  of  the  convention,  had  not  insisted  that  only  a 
candidate  acceptable  to  Boston's  Back  Bay  aristocracy  could 
possibly  be  the  real  choice  of  Massachusetts  for  national 
honors,  a  compromise  on  Coolidge  might  have  been  secured. 
But  Lodge  could  not  see  a  President  in  the  occupant  of  a  mod- 
est home  In  Northampton  and  he  held  a  majority  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts delegates  in  opposition. 

"Nominate  a  man  who  lives  in  a  two-family  house?"  he 

S3* 


As  I  Knew  Them 

exclaimed  to  me  while  at  dinner  in  the  Chicago  Club.  uNever ! 
Massachusetts  is  not  for  him!" 

That  was  not  the  comment  heard  among  the  delegates, 
however.  They  liked  Coolidge.  They  believed  that  brains 
and  purpose  were  more  desirable  assets  in  a  President  than 
wealth.  Their  liking  was  not  reflected  in  actual  votes  on  the 
nominating  roll-calls  for  President  because  nearly  all  State 
delegations  were  committed  to  candidates  with  more  "organi- 
zation" backing;  but  a  clear  demonstration  of  Coolidge 
strength  came  in  the  quick  responses  to  that  unexpected  call 
from  far-off  Oregon  for  Coolidge  for  Vice  President. 

The  men  sitting  as  chairmen  of  their  delegations  manipulat- 
ing the  convention  did  not  have  Coolidge  in  mind  for  a  place 
on  the  ticket;  in  those  closing  hours,  however,  the  bulk  of  the 
delegates  got  out  of  hand,  and  Oregon's  demand  had  to  go 
through.  It  voiced  the  uncontrolled  desire  of  the  convention, 
— too  emphatically  to  be  denied..  In  the  chapter  on  the  1920 
nominations  I  have  described  that  scene. 

THE  PEOPLE'S  FAITH  IN  COOLIDGE 

The  people  see  in  Coolidge  the  fine  simplicities,  the  sturdy 
patriotism,  the  firm  unpretentious  character,  the  spirit  of  New 
England;  they  have  faith  in  him  beyond  any  they  have  shown 
in  any  other  President  of  my  time.  I  say  this  without  lessen- 
ing in  the  slightest  my  admiration  for  Roosevelt.  Roosevelt 
commanded  an  intense,  emotional  enthusiasm  never  equalled 
by  any  other  man. 

There  is  a  different  meaning  to  the  faith  the  people  have  in 
Coolidge.  His  period  is  a  period  of  world-healing,  of  restora- 
tion— of  an  effort  toward  what  Harding  called  normalcy. 
Vision  clear,  judgment  cool,  course  always  marked  straight 
ahead  toward  a  fixed  purpose,  he  inspires  a  deep,  nation-wide 
confidence  that  all  will  go  well  with  the  country  while  he  is  in 
the  White  House. 

We  will  live  within  our  means  and  meet  all  our  obligations ; 

53* 


As  I  Knew  Them 

we  will  travel  a  sure  road,  taking  no  quick  turns  to  prosperity 
nor  quicker  turns  to  adversity;  we  will  respect  the  rights  of 
others  and  see  to  it  that  others  respect  ours;  every  hope  for 
permanent  world  peace  will  be  strengthened  by  our  example; 
every  department  of  government  will  be  well  financed  for  its 
real  necessities  but  not  for  extravagance;  our  house  will  always 
be  found  ready  for  any  emergency,  equal  to  any  test. 

A   BIG  TASK  WELL  DONE 

It  has  been  the  good  fortune  of  our  people  that  in  times  of 
crises  they  have  had  at  the  head  of  their  government  the  man 
suited  to  the  task  beyond  any  other  man  then  known  to  them. 
Calvin  Coolidge  is  in  that  class  of  Presidents.  Hardirig's 
term  was  too  brief  for  him  to  do  more  than  realize  the  ap- 
palling extent  of  the  chaos  following  war,  and  to  undertake 
tentative  plans;  he  did  well  all  that  was  possible  for  him  to 
do  in  two  short  years;  the  real  task  of  making  good  on  his 
plans  and  of  making  new  ones  came  after  Harding  had  passed 
on.  Coolidge  took  over  that  task.  I  do  not  minimize  its 
importance  or  the  splendid  results  obtained  when  I  rank 
another  need  as  of  equal  importance.  One  hundred  million 
people  dazed  by  immense  wealth,  newly  aroused  to  ambitious 
endeavor,  thrilled  by  the  consciousness  of  world-wide  oppor- 
tunities, needed  the  restraining  example  of  a  President  whose 
own  experience  had  shown  him  the  wisdom  of  prudent  living 
and  of  calm  reasoning  before  acting* 

AN  EXAMPLE  THAT  THE  NATION  FOLLOWED 

No  example  from  the  White  House  would  be  impressive 
if  made  for  the  occasion  only;  it  had  to  have  the  backing  of 
lifelong  habit,  Coolidge  gave  it  that  backing*  He  did  not 
suddenly  acquire  those  traits;  they  are  his  by  intuition.  Neither 
great  power  nor  the  pressure  to  seek  quick  solutions  of  pend- 
ing problems  has  ever  led  him  from  them, 

533 


As  I  Knew  Them 

The  people  knew  this  of  Coolidge — big  people,  little  peo- 
ple, all  people.  It  has  influenced  them  to  follow  the  same 
course.  We  have  not  had  the  "frenzied  finance"  of  the  Mc- 
Kinley  days  or  the  sensational  industrial  expansion  which 
Hanna  declared  had  been  voted  in  1900.  Our  prosperity  is 
sound.  Business  men  have  kept  their  heads  and  wage-earners 
have  put  tEeir  savings  into  banks,  into  home-ownership  or 
securities  to  an  amazing  amount.  To  no  one  person  so  much 
as  to  Calvin  Coolidge  is  this  due;  by  example  not  by  preaching 
he  has  persuaded  a  whole  nation  to  this  habit.  And  the  influ- 
ence of  his  course  is  not  lessening. 

With  him  as  President  there  will  always  be  progress,  steady 
and  sure;  greater  progress,  when  the  final  accounting  comes, 
than  if  it  were  too  eagerly  sought.  Coolidge  believes  that  back 
of  every  advance  there  must  be  effort  and  purpose  if  the 
advance  Is  to  count,  and  he  knows  that  effort  and  purpose 
require  time.  He  is  willing  to  wait  results,  but  waiting  does 
not  mean  idly  hoping;  he  is  working  to  accomplish  all  the 
time. 

COMPARISONS  WITH  LINCOLN 

I  am  tempted  to  say  that  in  this  respect  Codlidge  suggests 
Lincoln,  who  was  our  most  patient  President,  and  who  often 
waited  long  and  anxiously  for  the  thing  he  had  in  mind;  but 
thought  of  a  Lincoln  comparison  recalls  to  me  a  remark 

made  by  Roosevelt  at  a  time  when  many  extravagant  com- 
parisons of  him  with  Lincoln  were  being  made, 

It  was  not  long  after  my  newspaper  had  published  Homer 
Davenport's  popular  cartoon,  "He's  Good  Enough  for  Me," 
showing  Uncle  Sam  standing  back  of  Roosevelt  with  his  hand 
on  Roosevelt's  shoulder.  We  had  followed  that  cartoon  with 
another  drawn  by  Davenport  showing  Lincoln  in  similar  atti- 
tude. The  second  cartoon  led  Roosevelt  to  mention  the  sub- 
ject to  me.  He  said; 

"I've  got  to  let  this  talk  about  Lincoln  and  myself  ran  its 

534 


As  I  Knew  Them 

course,  but  you  must  know  that  I  am  not  fooled  even  a  little 
bit  by  It.  I  am  not  in  Lincoln's  class.  He  had  his  work  to  do 
and  I  have  mine ;  the  two  are  far  apart.  He  did  his  work 
mighty  well,  and  I  am  doing  mine  the  best  I  know  how.  I 
think  I  have  a  fair  estimate  of  my  possibilities.  I  understand 
myself,  and  I'm  making  no  comparisons  with  Lincoln." 

So,  too,  Coolidge  is  not  to  be  compared  with  any  of  his 
predecessors,  for,  like  the  period  during  which  he  has  been 
at  the  head  of  our  government,  he  stands  apart.  His  record 
when,  completed  will  be  that  of  a  President  who  knew  at  all 
times  the  exact  direction  and  purpose  of  his  undertakings, 
and  who  gauged  with  accuracy  how  far  the  people  were  pre- 
pared to  go  with  him.  Of  all  the  men  in  the  White  House  the 
past  half  century  Coolidge  senses  most  surely  the  desire  of 
the  average  person;  he  has  the  keenest  mind  for  knowing  just 
how  that  person  would  react  to  each  separate  situation.  He 
has  referred  to  it  as  just  plain  common  sense,  and  perhaps  he 
is  correct;  if  so  then  common  sense  is  the  one  quality  that 
hereafter  should  determine  our  choice  of  President. 

A  book  of  reminiscences  is  not  the  place  in  which  to  deal 
with  an  administration  not  much  more  than  half-way  through, 
or  to  estimate  the  work  of  a  President  with  much  still  to 
accomplish.  I  shall  not  attempt  it  with  Coolidge  further  than 
to  repeat  that,  in  my  opinion,  judged  by  the  record  as  It  stands 
to  date,  he  has  made  good  as  the  man  best  fitted  to  our 
nation's  needs,  the  man  who  more  than  any  other  is  regarded 
by  the  people  as  an  accurate  interpreter  of  their  desires. 

He  has  made  no  prophetic  boasts,  has  fixed  no  ambitious 
outposts  of  achievement,  and  has  sought  no  glory  but  the 
satisfaction  of  performance  of  the  tasks  at  hand.  The  record 
as  stated  in  figures  of  debt  reduction  and  of  tax  reduction  and 
in  legislature  is  available  from  many  other  sources  than  here. 

When  Coolidge  said  in  an  Associated  Press  interview  in  the 
autumn  of  1926  that  he  liked  to  do  things  for  himself,  that 
on  his  father's  Vermont  farm  that  was  the  habit  and  pleasure 
of  his  day's  work,  he  gave  the  country  a  picture  of  its  Presi- 

535 


As  I  Knew  Them 

dent  that  took  him  out  of  the  austerity  of  distinguished  office 
and  into  closer  relationship  with  his  fellows.  The  man  who 
"likes  to  do  things  for  himself" — he  is  the  man  in  whom  the 
people  have  an  abiding  faith. 

COOLIDGE  FURNISHES  A  SENSATION 

Wednesday,  August  2,  1927. — This  book  written  and  finally 
given  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Publishers.  A  perfect 
summer  afternoon,  the  country  calm,  serene  and  prosperous. 

"I  do  not  choose  to  run  for  President  in  1928  I" 

This  time,  it  was  not  a  new  voice,  but,  as  in  1919, 1  listened, 
amazed. 

"I  do  not  choose  to  run  for  President  in  1928  !" 

Out  of  Dakota's  Black  Hills  the  voice  came  like  a  rifle 
shot — sharp,  clear,  direct  at  the  target. 

Amazed,  not  a  nation  but  a  whole  world  now  listened. 
Those  twelve  words  meant  the  turning  aside  from  power  and 
place  greater  than  any  man  ever  held,  and  the  free  choice 
of  the  life  of  a  plain  citizen  of  the  republic.  No  fanfare  of 
trumpets  heralded  this  unexpected  renunciation  of  the  finest 
title  in  the  world, — just  the  calling  of  the  correspondents  into 
the  class-room  of  a  modest  Dakota  schoolhouse  and  handing 
to  them,  one  by  one,  a  folded  slip  of  paper,  with  the  historic 
words  typewritten. 

Where  is  there  such  dramatic  force  as  in  the  simplicities  of 
life?  And  of  all  the  men  in  the  Presidency  who  more  than 
Coolidge  has  illustrated  in  his  manner  of  life,  and  in  the  things 
he  has  sought  and  prized,  that  splendid,  outstanding  quality  of 
American  birthright  that  values  contentment  more  than  titles 
and  one's  own  fireside  more  than  the  seats  of  the  mighty? 

As  I  pictured  that  scene  with  the  newspaper  men  filing  one 
by  one  past  the  President,  I  could  not  repress  a  feeling  of  keen 
regret  that  Time  had  eliminated  me  from  participation  in  one 
of  the  most  historic  events  in  American  history.  The  thrill 
of  playing  a  part  in  such  a  scene  would  last  a  lifetime, 

536 


As  I  Knew  Them 

This  book  is  reminiscent,  not  prophetic,  and  I  claim  no 
power  to  foresee  who  is  to  be  President  after  March  4,  1929, 
but  I  do  know  that  when  Calvin  Coolidge  goes  back  to  North- 
ampton or  to  the  farm  in  Vermont — to  the  place  called  Home 
— he  will  be  on  the  way  to  his  heart's  desire. 

"YOU  DON'T  LIVE  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE/'  SAID  ROOSEVELT 

If  the  reader  will  turn  to  another  chapter  and  read  again 
the  talk  I  had  with  Roosevelt  on  the  subject  of  life  in  the 
White  House  he  will  learn  the  truth  about  it.  uYou  don't  live 
there,"  said  Roosevelt.  uYou  are  only  Exhibit  A  to  the 
country." 

Many  illustrations  could  be  given  by  anyone  familiar  with 
Washington  life.  Let  me  give  one. 

When  it  was  announced  that  President  Coolidge  had  se- 
lected the  Dakota  Black  Hills  for  his  summer  vacation,  the 
cry  went  up  throughout  the  country  that  he  was  going  out 
there  on  a  hunt  for  delegates — that  he  was  to  make  an  effort 
to  repair  the  damage  done  to  his  political  fortunes  by  his  veto 
of  the  McNary-Haugen  farm  bill.  Now,  what  was  the  truth? 
Within  a  week  after  his  return  from  his  Adirondack  vacation 
in  1926,  the  President  told  me,  while  discussing  vacation 
places,  that  he  had  made  up  his  mind  next  year  to  try  the  Far 
West,  lie  said  that  he  had  enjoyed  the  Adirondacks,  but  he 
wanted  to  get  into  unfamiliar  territory — into  entirely  new  sur- 
roundings* Of  course  he  had  neither  farm  legislation  nor 
Presidential  delegates  then  on  his  mind— just  a  desire  to  get 
to  some  place  on  vacation  where  life  would  be  freer,  simpler, 
less  formal  and  official  than  had  been  possible  at  Swampscott 
or  jn  the  Adirondacks. 

Yet  months  later,  when  it  became  public  that  he  was  going 
west,  the  wise  men  of  politics  instantly  sought  for  a  reason 
beyond  the  one  simple  reason  that  he  really  wanted  to  go 
there !  The  twelve-word  message  of  August  2  is  only  another 
evidence  that  the  hardest  thing  in  the  world  to  judge  is  the 

537 


As  I  Knew  Them 

motive  of  another  man.  Seldom  is  it  correctly  guessed — par- 
ticularly when  a  President  is  that  man.  Perhaps  the  Coolidge 
incident  will  hasten  the  time  when  the  head  of  our  govern- 
ment, whoever  he  may  be,  will  be  credited  with  an  earnest 
purpose  to  do  what  he  believes  to  be  his  duty  or  his  real 
desire  instead  of  being  met  with  the  suspicion  that  every  move 
he  makes  is  dictated  by  self  interest. 

There  are  more  men  in  Washington  doing  the  right  thing 
at  cost  to  themselves  than  there  are  men  there  doing  the  wrong 
thing  at  cost  to  the  nation. 


538 


CHAPTER  LXVII 

THE  "INABILITY"  OF  OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Who  Is  To  Determine  That  The  Chief  Executive  Is  Incapacitated? 
— Only  Eight  Years  Since  Vice  President  Marshall  Might  Have 
Taken  Over  The  Presidency — Several  Other  Instances  That  Have 
Led  To  Repeated  But  Unheeded  Warnings — Wilson  s  Collapse  Meant 
A  Bedside  Government — The  Timid  Visit  Of  Senators  To  The  White 
House  To  See  For  Themselves. 

TT  IS  only  a  matter  of  eight  years  since  there  were  many 
-*•  people — some  in  high  position — who  honestly  believed  that 
Vice  President  Marshall  should  declare  President  Wilson 
physically  unable  to  perform  the  duties,  of  his  office,  and 
assume  the  Presidency  himself.  The  President's  collapse  on 
his  western  tour,  the  paralysis  that  followed  his  return  to  the 
White  House,  created  a  mild  panic  among  the  Cabinet  officers. 
There  was  a  strong  feeling  that  preparations  should  be  made 
in  anticipation  of  a  complete  breakdown  if  not  worse.  Prec- 
edents were  sought,  but  none  could  be  found. 

Was  the  President  incapacitated  enough  for  the  Vice  Presi- 
dent to  succeed  him?  Who  was  to  guide  the  Executive  branch 
of  government  while  the  President  was  ill?  Death  speaks 
for  itself  and  creates  its  own  vacancies,  but  "inability*'  is  an 
elastic  term, 

There  was  but  one  case  at  all  comparable — that  of  Garfield, 
who  was  shot  in  July,  1881,  but  did  not  die  until  September. 
A  period  of  unquestioned  "inability"  existed  between  the  two 
events.  Had  the  shooting  occurred  during  winter,  with  Con- 
gress in  session,  instead  of  in  summer,  the  serious  question 
faced  when,  Wilson  broke  down  with  Congress  about  to  con- 
vene would  have  had  to  be  faced  in  the  Garfield  case.  Some 
authorities 'insisted  that  Vice  President  Arthur  succeeded  au- 
tomatically when  Garfield  fell  mortally  wounded.  Others 

539 


As  I  Knew  Them 

thought  the  Vice  President  should  decide  when  "inability" 
existed  to  an  extent  justifying  action.  The  Garfield  Cabinet 
and  the  whole  country  debated  until  death  made  further  dis- 
cussion unnecessary  for  that  particular  occasion — and  then 
Congress  calmly  passed  the  question  on  undetermined. 

THE  WILSON  BREAKDOWN 

The  same  debating  course  was  followed  in  the  Wilson  crisis. 
Fortunately  Wilson  in  time  regained  sufficient  strength  to  be 
outside  the  ''inability"  zone.  Promptly  he  took  the  position 
that  those  who  had  considered  the  possibility  of  a  successor 
to  him  were  in  a  conspiracy  "to  oust"  him  from  the  Presi- 
dency, to  use  his  own  words.  Secretary  of  State  Lansing  bore 
the  brunt  of  his  anger.  But  Lansing's  activities  settled  noth- 
ing on  the  main  question. 

The  one  thing  settled  by  the  Lansing- Wilson  correspondence 
is  that  for  weeks  the  President  knew  nothing  of  the  world  out- 
side of  his  sick  room — not  even  that  his  Cabinet  had  met, 
Here  is  an  extract  from  his  letter  to  Lansing  elated  Feb.  7, 
1920,  showing  how  remote  he  was  from  the  government,  and 
yet  how  tenaciously  he  clung  to  Presidential  rights. 

"Is  it  true,  as  I  have  been  told,  that  during  my  illness  you  have 
frequently  called  the  heads  of  the  executive  departments  of  the 
Government  into  conference?  If  it  is,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  call 
your  attention  to  considerations  which  I  do  not  care  to  dwell  upon 
until  I  learn  from  you  yourself  that  this  is  the  fact. 

Under  our  constitutional  law  and  practice,  as  developed  hitherto, 
no  one  but  the  President  has  the  right  to  summon  the  heads  of  the 
executive  departments  into  conference,  and  no  one  but  the  Presi- 
dent and  the  Congress  has  the  right  to  ask  their  view  or  the  views 
of  any  one  of  them  on  any  public  question. 

I  take  this  matter  up  with  you  because  in  the  development  of 
every  constitutional  system,  custom  and  precedent  are  of  the 
most  serious  consequence,  and  I  think  we  will  all  agree  in  desiring 
not  to  lead  in  any  wrong  direction.  I  have  therefore  taken  the 
liberty  of  writing  you  to  ask  this  question.1* 

540 


As  I  Knew  Them 

LANSING  WANTED  TO  BE  PREPARED 

Private  Secretary  Tumulty  states  in  his  book  that  Lansing 
called  at  his  office  a  day  or  so  after  the  Wilson  collapse,  and 
urged  him  to  make  public  announcement  of  the  President's 
inability.  He  refused.  Lansing  then  called  the  Cabinet  in 
special  meeting  "to  consider  the  situation*"  Actually  they 
had  no  "situation"  to  consider  because  they  could  get  no  facts 
about  it  Vice  President  Marshall  was  anxious  for  sick-room 
news  lest  he  be  called  upon  when  unprepared,  but  even  he  got 
none.  Naturally  newspaper  attention  was  attracted,  and 
Washington  was  full  of  rumor  as  to  the  possibilities — even 
that  Lansing  and  Marshall  held  the  same  views.  An  emphatic 
statement  by  the  Vice  President  settled  the  matter,  in  the 
sensible  way  characteristic  of  him,  but  until  he  spoke  there 
was  public  feeling  that  he  was  likely  to  take  action. 

Suppose  there  had  been  no  Vice  President?  There  was  none 
during  the  three  years  after  Coolidge  succeeded  Harding, 
after  Roosevelt  succeeded  McKinley,  and  after  the  death  of 
Vice  President  Hendricks  in  1885,  and  of  Vice  President 
Hobart  in  1899. 

Suppose  Secretary  of  State  Lansing,  next  in  line,  in  case 
of  a  vacancy,  had  felt  called  upon  to  declare  himself  Presi- 
dent? He  went  so  far  as  to  formally  notify  Marshall;  he 
called  the  Cabinet  in  meeting.  The  Cabinet  responded, 
demonstrating  by  their  acquiescence  how  promptly  the  man  at 
the  foot  of  the  table  senses  who  sits  at  the  head. 

The  next  step  in  the  same  direction  would  have  seemed  a 
short  one*  Ambition  has  often  led  men  in  other  nations  to 
attempt  that  next  step  and  one  not  so  well  justified.  No  weak 
man  ever  makes  the  attempt  The  peril  lies  in  a  strong  man 
with  a  stronger  "cause." 

A  BEDSIDE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

No  jury  of  doctors  at  the  time  would  have  pronounced 

President  Wilson  capable  of  performing  any  serious  duties  of 

54* 


As  I  Knew  Them 

his  office.  Their  diagnosis  might  easily  have  been  used  by  a 
Vice  President  or  Secretary  of  State  to  declare  the  ''inability5' 
of  the  President,  and  assume  the  place  himself. 

Despite  the  refusal  of  everyone  in  authority  to  act,  and 
despite  the  considerate  report  of  a  committee  of  Senators  as 
to  the  President's  condition,  it  is  a  fact  beyond  dispute  that 
President  Wilson  was  physically  incapacitated.  There  was 
complete  collapse  of  the  executive  branch  of  government. 
Whether,  as  dependable  report  had  it,  Mrs.  Wilson  and  Sec- 
retary Tumulty  together  or  Mrs.  Wilson  and  Dr.  Grayson 
together  ran  the  Executive  department,  or  one  or  the  other 
of  them  ran  it  alone,  I  do  not  know.  If  they  did  not,  nobody 
did.  For  months,  it  was  a  bedside  government,  and  as  time 
wore  on,  the  figures  around  the  bedside  lessened  to  an  irre- 
ducible minimum. 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury  Houston  throws  some  light  on 
the  subject  while  detailing  in  his  interesting  book,  "Eight 
Years  in  Wilson's  Cabinet,"  how  he  learned  of  his  promotion 
to  that  place.  One  Sunday  in  January,  1920,  he  received  a 
telephone  message  that  Mrs.  Wilson  wished  him  to  call  at 
the  White  House  at  4:30  that  afternoon.  She  greeted  him 
with  this  remark,  "You  are  wondering  why  I  sent  for  you  this 
afternoon.  Of  course,  I  did  not  ask  you  to  come  merely  to 
drink  tea.  The  President  asked  me  to  tell  you  he  is  anxious 
for  you  to  accept  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Treasury." 

That  settled,  Mrs.  Wilson  said  the  President  would  like  to 
have  a  suggestion  as  to  who  should  succeed  Houston  as  Secre- 
tary of  Agriculture. 

That  settled,  Mrs.  Wilson  "asked  whether  I  had  anybody 
in  mind  for  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Mr.  Lane  having  re- 
signed— in  the  press." 

Further  conferences  that  Secretary  Houston  had  with  Mrs. 
Wilson  from  time  to  time  are  not  revealed  in  his  book,  except 
as  they  may  be  inferred  from  this  closing  paragraph  in  his 
letter  of  official  farewell  to  President  Wilson  March  3,  1921 : 
"I  feel  that  I  cannot  close  this  note  without  an  expression  of 

542 


As  I  Knew  Them 

indebtedness  to  Mrs.  Wilson  and  of  admiration  for  the  part 
she  has  played  and  the  judgment  she  has  shown  in  dealing 
with  important  matters.'' 

Thus,  we  get  a  glimpse — eight  years  later — into  the  White 
House  in  the  last  eighteen  months  of  Wilson. 

THAT  TIMID,  VISIT  OF  SENATORS 

Everyone  will  recall  that  Senatorial  visit  in  December,  1919, 
to  learn  the  truth  about  the  President's  condition.  There 
was  something  of  the  hippodrome  to  their  call  at  the  White 
House,  attended  by  two  score  reporters  and  almost  as  many 
camera  men.  The  Senate  had  not  authorized  it.  That  august 
body  was  doubtful  of  its  right  to  cross  the  White  House 
threshold  for  purposes  of  inquiry — even  an  inquiry  as  to 
whether  the  President  was  incapacitated.  It  made  no  attempt 
Rarely  has  it  shown  such  restraint  when  the  rights  of  the 
"coordinate  branch"  were  involved. 

The  Senate  Foreign  Relations  Committee,  with  Senator 
Lodge  as  Chairman,  appointed  Senators  Hitchcock  and  Fall  a 
committee  ato  lay  before  the  President  some  papers  relative 
to  Mexican  affairs  and  to  confer  with  him  regarding  their 
disposition*1'  What  a  pitiful  subterfuge  1  Everybody  wanted 
to  know  the  President's  condition.  Surely  some  people  with 
responsibility  had  a  right  to  know.  Yet  nobody  was  per- 
mitted to  know,  and  nowhere  in  our  laws  could  there  be 
found  authority  to  know.  The  only  way  was  by  asking  a  con- 
ference about  Mexico ! 

The  Lansing  cabinet  meetings,  the  Marshall  rumors,  the 
White  House  barred  to  everyone,  the  unrevealing  doctors' 
bulletins — -all  created  uncertainty.  Most  uncertain  was 
whether  either  House  or  Congress,  or  both  in  joint  action, 
possessed  the  right  or  duty,  formally,  to  inquire  and  deter- 
mine whether  a  coordinate  branch  of  government  was  capable 
of  functioning  or  not 

Remember  the  Senators*  timid  overtures  to  Tumulty  as  to 

543 


As  I  Knew  Them 

whether  they  could  or  would  be  received?  Remember  the 
conferences  between  Mrs.  Wilson  and  Dr.  Grayson  as  to 
whether  the  President  could  stand  it?  Of  course  he  could, 
they  stoutly  declared — after  some  hours  of  doubt. 

The  Senators  saw — and  graciously  blinded  themselves. 
They  said  hardly  a  word  about  Mexico,  or  anything  else. 

As  Senator  Fall,  of  New  Mexico,  left  the  President's  bed- 
side, he  said: 

"I  shall  pray  for  you,  Mr.  President" 

"Pray  don't,  Senator,"  came  back  the  quick  rejoinder. 

Senator  Fall  told  waiting  reporters  the  President  seemed 
to  be  in  excellent  mental  trim. 

WHO  IS  TO  DETERMINE  WHEN  AND  HOW? 

At  a  time  of  great  panic,  or  partisan  disputes,  or  differ- 
ences with  other  nations; — it  might  be  the  duty  (or  the  ambi- 
tion)— of  a  Vice  President  or  a  Secretary  of  State  to  declare 
himself  President. 

Who  is  to  determine  when,  and  how?  If  the  silence  of 
the  Constitution  is  deliberate,  then  its  framers  probably  meant 
the  initiative  to  be  taken  by  the  official  upon  whom  respon- 
sibility falls.  What  power  could  have  prevented  Vice  Presi- 
dent Marshall  from  declaring  himself  President  had  he  chosen 
to  do  so?  Wilson  certainly  would  have  resisted.  Congress 
also  might  have  refused  to  recognize  him  if  in  session  at  the 
time,  but  such  action  would  have  meant  chaos.  If  Congress 
were  not  in  session,  the  new  executive  would  have  full  swing 
until  it  reassembled. 

A  most  serious  weakness  in  our  national  structure  is  re- 
vealed— an  inability  through  existing  law,  definitely  and  be- 
yond question  to  establish  under  every  situation  that  can  be 
anticipated,  and  at  all  times,  who  is  entitled  to  be  recognized 
as  the  executive  head  of  our  nation.  There  arc  likely  to  be 
occasions  in  future  when  we  cannot  stand  the  strain  of  a 

544 


As  I  Knew  Them 

collapsed  executive  department  for  so  long  a  time  as  that  of 
President  Wilson's  illness.  * 

As  a  people  we  are  so  sure  of  ourselves,  so  certain  that  with 
us  right  will  always  prevail,  that  we  ignore  the  fate  of  other 
nations  as  powerful  in  their  day;  we  take  no  precaution  to 
make  the  uman  on  horseback"  impossible  among  us  at  crisis 
times.  Our  remissness  gives  point  to  a  remark  Roosevelt 
once  made  in  private  conversation ;  that  our  country  may  have 
to  be  ushot  over"  once  more  before  it  settles  down  to  its 
ultimate  destiny.  He  added  that  even  the  thought  of  such  a 
possibility  horrifies;  we  reject  and  scorn  it  as  too  remote  for 
consideration,  but  if  in  years  to  come  control  of  our  govern- 
ment is  ever  to  be  in  conflict  just  such  uncertainty  as  exists 
governing  election  and  succession  to  the  Presidency  is  likely  to 
be  responsible  for  it. 

WHAT  THE  CONSTITUTION  SAYS 

The  Constitution  speaks  only  in  broad  terms.    It  says: 

"In  case  of  the  removal  of  the  President  from  office,  or  of  his 
death,  resignation  or  inability  to  discharge  the  powers  and  duties 
of  said  office,  the  same  shall  devolve  on  the  Vice  President;  and 
the  Congress  may  by  law  provide  for  the  case  of  removal,  death, 

resignation  or  inability  both  of  the  President  and  Vice  President, 
declaring  what  officer  shall  then  act  as  President,  and  such  officer 
shall  act  accordingly  until  the  disability  be  removed  or  a  new  Presi- 
dent shall  be  elected." 

Unfortunately*  while  Congress  has  enacted  a  "succession" 
law  it  has  merely  stated  who  after  the  Vice  President  shall 
succeed  the  President;  it  has  deliberately  failed  to  provide  for 
the  determination  of  "inability/'  That  vital  question  is  still 
in  the  air—where  the  makers  of  the  Constitution  left  it. 

Probably  no  man  was  more  disturbed  by  the  Wilson  crisis 
than  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  Houston.  He  was  in  the  thick 
of  its  perplexities,  and  knew  how  closely  we  came  to  trouble 
thqi,  how  unwise  it  is  not  to  clarify  such  situations  before 

545 


As  I  Knew  Them 

prejudice,  passion  and  personal  desires  control  them.    I  quote 
from  his  "Eight  Years  in  Wilson's  Cabinet"  as  follows: 

"The  problem  presented  by  the  illness  of  the  President  is  one  for 
the  handling  of  which  machinery  ought  to  be  created*  The  Cabinet 
is  in  good  position  to  pass  upon  the  government's  exigencies,  perhaps 
in  better  position  than  any  other  body,  but,  for  various  reasons, 
it  is  not  the  body  that  should  be  charged  with  the  final  determina- 
tion of  the  inability  of  a  President  to  discharge  his  duties. 

"The  Congress  also  is  not  the  proper  body.  It  might  be  of 
different  political  complexion  from  the  President  and  there  might 
be  situations  in  which  partisanship  would  enter. 

"It  would  seem  that  either  a  Commission  should  be  set  up 
composed  possibly  of  Supreme  Court  justices,  members  of  the 
Cabinet,  and  members  of  Congress,  to  sit  as  a  jury  and  to  deter- 
mine the  matter,  or  the  determination  might  be  left  to  the  Su- 
preme Court. 

"But  whatever  may  be  the  best  machinery,  it  is  clear  that  some 
machinery  should  be  set  up." 

A  STUBBORN  FACT  YET  TO  BE  FACED 

Of  the  four  causes  of  vacancy  in  the  Presidency  listed  in 
the  Constitution  only  two  are  definitely  operative.  Death,  of 
course,  is  an  obvious  fact  and  the  Vice  President  automatically 
succeeds ;  so  would  be  removal  by  impeachment  But  to  whom 
would  a  President  resign?  Would  he  merely  walk  out  of  the 
White  House,  and  notify  the  Vice  President?  Law  provides 
for  the  resignation  of  every  other  officer  except  the  President 
and  Vice  President.  Of  course,  resignation  is  a  remote  con- 
tingency, but  since  it  is  mentioned,  a  way  to  resign  ought  to 
be  definitely  provided.  I  know  that  Vice  President  Fairbanks 
was  anxious  to  leave  Washington  on  account  of  his  wife's 
health.  He  attributed  her  death  to  the  exactions  of  her 
social  duties;  he  would  gladly  have  resigned  if  he  had  had 
any  precedents. 

Twice,  in  the  past  fifty  years,  the  President's  "inability" 
has  been  a  stubborn  fact;  the  Vice  President  in  both  cases 

546 


As  I  Knew  Them 

blinded  himself,  and  the  country  "muddled  through.'9  It 
"muddled  through"  five  electoral  count  disputes,  simply  be- 
cause they  did  not  affect  the  results.  Then  came  the  Hayes- 
Tilden  controversy,  and  a  serious  situation  developed, — so 
serious  that  neither  party  dared  attempt  settlement  in 
Congress. 

Garfield's  case  was  so  hopeless  from  the  start  that  I  doubt 
whether  a  declaration  of  "inability"  by  Vice  President  Arthur 
would  have  been  contested,  but  Wilson's  resentment  of 
Lansing's  activities  is  proof  that  Vice  President  Marshall 
would  have  had  to  lay  siege  to  the  White  House,  had  he 
assumed  the  Presidency. 

No  wonder  that  John  T.  Morgan,  of  Alabama,  who  for 
years  ranked  as  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  Senate,  wrote 
of  the  "inability"  and  the  electoral  count  under  the  heading 
"Some  Dangerous  Questions," 


547 


CHAPTER   LXVIII 

"FIGHTING  BOB"  LA  FOLLETTE 

The  Czar  Of  His  State  And  Spokesman  For  More  Than  4,000,000 
Voters  In  The  Nation— He  Had  Much  To  Give  The  Country,  But 
He  Failed  Because  He  Would  Not  Do  Team  Work — Hiram  Johnson 
In  California  Won  And  Holds  His  State  As  La  Follette  Held 
Wisconsin. 

THE  death  of  Robert  Marion  La  Follette  in  1924  closed 
the  career  of  the  only  man  except  Theodore  Roosevelt 
able  to  lead  more  than  4,000,000  voters  from  their  party 
affiliations  into  support  of  his  candidacy  for  the  Presidency. 
Speaking  in  terms  of  proportion  I  suppose  that  the  bolt  of  the 
Democratic  faction  headed  bj  Breckinridge  in  1860  was 
greater  than  that  headed  Roosevelt  or  La  Follette. 

It  certainly  proved  to  be  o^Tmore  significance  to  the  nation, 
for  it  insured  Lincoln's  election  and  that  result  led  to  a  quick 
decision  by  the  South  to  seek  separation. 

Roosevelt's  4,125,000  votes  represented  a  little  more  than 
30  per  cent  of  the  total  cast  in  1912,  while  La  Toilette's  4,- 
800,000  votes,  because  of  the  increase  caused  by  woman  suf- 
frage, represented  a  little  less  than  15  per  cent  of  the  total 
in  1924.  La  Follette  secured  the  13  electoral  votes  of  his 
own  State  of  Wisconsin — against  Roosevelt's  88  from  seven 
States. 

That  more  than  4,000,000  voters  would  give  their  ballots 
to  any  man  despite  their  knowledge  that  they  could  not  elect 
him  is  a  tribute  no  one  may  dispute;  the  recipient  must  be 
accepted  even  by  his  severest  critics  as  the  spokesman  for  a 
great  many  people. 

And  La  Follette  was  such  a  spokesman.  When  he  entered 
the  Senate  in  1905,  he  was  the  acknowledged  dictator  of 

S48. 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Wisconsin  politics.  He  had  been  five  years  Governor,  had 
utterly  demolished  the  old  Republican  organization  machine, 
had  freed  the  Badger  State  government  of  corporation  control 
and  had  enacted  legislation  so  distinctly  in  the  public  interest 
that  no  one  has  ever  sought  to  repeal  it.  He  took  the  Wiscon- 
sin State  University  at  Madison  out  of  the  deep  ruts  of  tradi- 
tion and  made  it  an  institution  commanding  the  respect  of  the 
nation. 

HAD  TO  WIN  OVER  PREJUDICE 

Philetus  Sawyer,  Isaac  Stephenson  and  John  C.  Spooner  had 
been  the  spokesmen  in  the  Senate  of  the  old  Wisconsin  regime, 
and  the  appearance  there  of  a  man  known  to  the  political 
world  only  as  uFighting  Bob"  was  as  comforting  to  the 
Aldrich-Gorman  bi-partisan  crowd  as  a  bull  in  a  china  shop. 

Like  "Pitchfork"  Tillman,  of  South  Carolina,  La  Follette 
when  he  took  his  place  in  the  Senate,  found  the  bars  up  against 
men  of  his  "extreme"  views ;  jalso  like  Tillman  his  early 
speeches  were  made  to  crowdeargalleries  but  empty  Senate 
seats.  The  two  Senators  had  a  common  experience,  however, 
in  soon  being  accepted  as  men  who  had  to  be  heeded.  Even 
those  who  rarely  voted  with  them  paid  them  the  compliment 
of  attention.  A  Senator  who  never  supported  a  La  Follette 
proposition  told  me  once  that  no  Senator  was  so  thoroughly 
prepared  on  the  subjects  he  debated  as  the  Wisconsin  Senator. 

I  doubt  that  it  ever  deeply  concerned  La  Follette  whether 
his  colleagues  listened  to  him  or  not;  the  Senate  was  to  hjim 
merely  the  platform  on  which  he  stood.  His  appeal  was  to 
those  beyond  the  two-party  machine  that  even  now  holds  the 
Senate  in  its  grip,  though  not  so  firmly  as  in  years  past.  He 
thrived  on  defiance.  On  several  occasions  he  held  the  floor 
of  the  Senate  for  several  days  while  filibustering  against  legis- 
lation. Never  in  strong  health,  he  was  tempting  fate  in  such 
trials  of  endurance,  but  he  liked  heroic  roles,  full  of  dramatic 
intensity,  and  he  did  not  fear  the  consequences* 

549 


As  I  Knew  Them 

NEVER  A   COMPROMISER 

La  Follette  was  "Fighting  Bob"  when  at  26  he  defied  the 
party  machine  in  Dane  County,  Wisconsin,  and  won  nomina- 
tion and  election  as  District  Attorney;  he  was  "Fighting  Bob" 
when  in  1884  he  had  himself  elected  to  Congress  against  the 
same  machine  influence;  and  he  was  still  "Fighting  Bob11  in  his 
final  days  when  he  held  his  own  national  convention  at  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  and  had  himself  nominated  for  President  on  his 
own  platform.  Throughout  his  career  he  had  no  mood  for 
compromise.  Unlike  Bryan,  he  never  abandoned  an  issue. 
Whatever  else  may  be  charged  against  him,  he  was  not  an 
opportunist.  He  believed  strongly — never  timidly  or  for  the 
moment. 

Moreover  and  again  unlike  Bryan,  he  loved  good  books 
and  he  did  not  care  for  wealth.  He  sought  knowledge  and 
power,  not  riches.  Every  thought,  every  act,  was  devoted  to 
his  advancement  in  politics;  he  wanted  power — always  power 
— and  always  power  for  fefmself;  never  power  for  himself 
and  others.  His  beadlike,  deep-seated  eyes,  small  beardless 
face,  high  forehead  and  high  pompadour  hair  accentuated  in 
the  minds  of  those  who  watched  him  from  the  Senate  galleries 
the  traits  he  was  known  to  possess.  He  seemed  an  actor  play- 
ing a  part,  but  in  truth  he  was  always  in  earnest. 

HAD  MUCH  TO  GIVE  PUBLIC  SERVICE 
* 

Of  all  the  members  of  the  Senate  during  La  Follette's  three 
terms,  I  doubt  whether  there  was  one  who  in  steadfastness 
and  courage  of  conviction,  in  personal  integrity  and  in  compre- 
hension of  governmental  needs  had  more  to  give  to  public 
service  than  he.  And  the  pity  of  it  is  that  aside  from  the 
Seaman's  law  that  bears  his  name,  he  is  credited  with  so  little. 
Why?  Simply  because  he  lived  in  and  for  his  own  ambitions; 
unless  he  could  be  commander  of  the  ship  he  preferred  to 

550 


As  I  Knew  Them 

scuttle  it  rather  than  share  with  others  the  glory  of  bringing 
it  to  port.  There  were  potentialities  in  La  Follette  that  would 
have  meant  a  great  deal  in  directing  government  toward  help- 
ful policies  for  the  people,  but  his  passion  for  control,  for  a 
leadership  that  meant  in  fact  dictatorship,  stood  in  the  way 
of  accomplishment. 

La  Follette  was  the  most  self-centred  man  I  ever  met  in 
politics.  His  lieutenants  feared  him  and  he  distrusted  them. 
Teamwork  was  impossible  for  him.  He  tolerated  no  equals. 
Every  man  who  joined  with  him  in  Wisconsin  was  conscious  of 
a  watchful  and  suspicious  eye  upon  his  every  move.  All  lived 
politically  in  dread  of  him,  for  his  power  to  ruin  was  absolute 
and  he  used  it  as  ruthlessly  as  a  pirate  of  old.  Bryan  was  self- 
centred,  too,  but  to  no  such  extent  as  La  Follette ;  and  he  did 
not  use  his  power  to  make  men  fear  him.  Bryan  had  multi- 
tudes of  friends — "they  would  die  for  me,"  was  his  proud 
boast  often  and  often  repeated;  but  there  were  none  that  even 
in  his  own  mind  La  Follette  believed  "would  die  for  him," 

Tet  the  voters  of  Wisconsin  stood  by  him  solidly  through 
the  nearly  30  years  that  he  reigned  as  czar  of  their  politics — 
while  Governor  and  while  Senator.  Irvine  Lenroot  managed 
to  be  elected  Senator  in  the  great  Harding  sweep  of  1920 
though  La  Follette  opposed  him,  but  with  that  exception 
Wisconsin  knew  but  one  master  in  politics,  and  La  Follette 
was  the  man. 

WISCONSIN  BETTER  FOR  THE  LA  FOLLETTE  REIGN 

Judging  it  from  afar,  it  has  been  a  well-governed  State — 
no  scandals  have  reached  the  public,  while  a  persistent,  in- 
telligent effort  has  been  made  to  bring  the  benefits  of  govern- 
ment to  all.  Every  now  and  then  we  hear  critics  sound  the 
praises  of  autocratic  government — a  government  in  which 
one  man  directs  alt  Wisconsin  has  been  used  as  an  illustra- 
tion. Primaries  and  elections  there  have  been  only  a  formality, 
for  whatever  La  Follette  decreed  was  accepted  at  the  polls. 

55* 


As  I  Knew  Them 

The  State  was  a  little  empire  in  the  political  world  with  La 
Follette  as  its  emperor. 

We  may  not  like  to  acknowledge  it,  but  Wisconsin  is  better 
for  having  its  La  Follette  than  New  York  with  its  Tammany, 
Illinois  with  its  Democratic  and  Republican  machines  and 
Pennsylvania  with  its  Quays,  Penroses  and  Vares. 

California  is  another  State  that  has  benefitted  by  leadership 
away  from  old  moorings.  There  Hiram  Johnson  has  been 
Czar  since  1908  when  he  routed  the  Southern  Pacific  crowd 
from  control  of  the  State  government.  Conditions  had  be- 
come intolerable — a  man  of  courage  and  independence  was 
needed — and  Johnson  came  to  the  front.  The  "interests"  are 
more  powerful  in  California  than  in  Wisconsin,  and  Johnson 
has  had  a  hard  battle  to  hold  the  State.  Nevertheless  he  has 
done  so,  electing  himself  Senator  twice  and  always  naming 
his  own  candidate  for  Governor.  With  all  their  mistakes,  with 
all  their  self-centred  ambitions,  Johnson  and  La  Follette,  each 
in  his  own  way,  stand  out  as  justified  protests  against  influences 
that  surely  were  in  defiance  of  the  public  interest 

LA  FOLLETTE'S  ONE  AMBITION 

From  the  moment  La  Follette  entered  the  Senate,  he  had 
but  one  purpose — to  be  President.  He  undertook  to  make  a 
career  at  Washington  that  would  be  recognized  by  the  country 
as  entirely  his  own.  His  support  of  the  Republican  Presidents 
from  Roosevelt  to  Coolidge  was  always  perfunctory;  he  had 
no  real  interest  in  any  of  them.  He  was  careful  to  allow 
nothing  to  go  on  record  from  him  that  would  stand  in  the 
way  of  an  attack  upon  their  policies  whenever  he  desired* 

In  all  his  speeches  in  the  Senate  you  will  seldom  find  a  line 
indorsing  any  Administration  policy.  For  twenty  years  he 
stood  on  the  side-lines  of  politics  awaiting  his  opportunity  as 
hungrily  as  a  fox  watches  a  hen-coop.  Like  a  flash  he  looked 
upon  the  overthrow  of  a  Republican  Congress  In  1910  as  a  call 
to  him  to  rally  the  Republican  party  to  his  standard  and  against 

552 


As  I  Knew  Them 

Taft  in  1912.  When  he  found  that  Progressives  turned  to 
Roosevelt  as  their  leader,  his  vindictiveness  led  him  to  help 
Taft  to  secure  control  of  the  Chicago  convention.  Though 
nominally,  later,  in  the  campaign  he  supported  Taft,  he  gave 
his  State  to  Wilson  on  election  day.  I  say  "gave"  because  it 
was  then  literally  in  La  Follette's  power  to  give  Wisconsin's 
vote  to  any  candidate  he  really  desired. 

In  another  chapter  I  have  written  of  La  Follette's  course 
at  that  time.  So  long  as  he  could  not  persuade  the  Republican 
party  to  accept  him  as  its  leader,  he  was  determined  to  have  it 
remain  under  the  control  of  the  reactionaries.  By  contrast,  he 
could  thus  build  up  an  organization  of  his  own.  And  after 
1912  that  was  his  one  purpose  and  hope — a  sick  man  engaged 
in  a  race  with  death  to  satisfy  something  more  intense  than 
ambition — a  consuming  passion  to  be  President, 

The  last  time  I  spoke  with  him  was  just  before  his  conven- 
tion met  in  Cleveland  in  1924.  Speaking  of  his  campaign  he 
said:  "1  don't  care  what  the  newspapers  print  in  their 
editorials  about  me,  if  I  can  keep  in  their  news  columns.  Give 
me  a  fair  show  on  the  news  pages  and  they  can  damn  me  to 
their  hearts'  content  in  their  editorials.  Now  that  we  have 
the  radio  and  can  reach  people  through  it,  I  think  newspaper 
influence  in  politics  is  steadily  lessening." 


553 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Lawrence,  291 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  n,  35,  89 

Adams,  John  T.,  460  et  seq. 

Addams,    Jane,    302 

Administration,  friends  of  the,  23 

Alabama,  political  leaders,  33 

Alaska,   71 

Albany,  New  York,  37,  147 

Aldrich,  Nelson,  297,  357 

Alger,  Russell  A.,  18,  159 

Allen,  Henry,  405 

Alien,  William,  82 

Allison,  William  B.,  33,  91,  159,  248, 

249 
"Alone  in  Cuba,"  Finley  Peter  Dunne, 

284 
Armaments  Conference,  limitation  of, 

476,  478 
Arthur,   Chester  A.,  62,   92,   112,  244, 

539 

as  President,  117,  121  ft  seq. 

dismissal  of,  120 

leadership,,  lacking  in,  122 

politics,  early,   117 

removal  from  office,  89 

Vice  Presidential  nomination,  1x9 
Asquith  and  Oxford,  Lord,  285 
Astor,  John  Jacob,  309 
Atlanta,  40 

Augusta,  Georgia,  342,  3 So 
Augusta,  Maine,  53,  137 
"Autobiography,"  Theodore  Roosevelt, 

291 
Aviation,  xxii 


B 


Bailey,  Joseph  W.,  527 
Baker,  George  P.,  330 

Baker,  Newton  I).,  496 
Bftlfour,  Lord,  510 

Ballot,  the  neglect  of,  29  /*  ttg. 

women  and,  iz 
Balzac,  Honored,  46 


Bar   Harbor,   Maine,    375 
Barlow,  "Old  Man,"  4 
Barnes,  William,  Jr.,  333,  401 

cartoon,  402 

Baruch,  Bernard  M.,  484,  496 
"Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic,  The," 

Si 

Battles  of  the  Wilderness,  75 
Bayard,  Thomas  F.,  33,  224 
Beaver,  James  A.,  169 
Beauvoir,  Mississippi,  40 
Beecher,   Henry  Ward,    129 
Beimont;  August,  281,  282 
Benedict,  E,  C.,  204 
Bernstorff,  Count  Johann  von,  490 
Beveridge,  Albert  J.,  32 

speech,  convention,  408  ei  seq. 
Bird,  Charles  Sumner,  405 
Bishop,  Joseph  Bucklin,  291,  338 
Bissell,  Wilson  $.,  144 
Blackburn,  Joseph,  33 
Blaine,  James  G.,  2,  10,  102,  126,  189, 
240,  388,  530 

"Belsha^zar's  feast,"  134 

candidacy  of,  98 

cartoons,  82,  128,  133 

Conkling,  feud  with,  95  et  seq. 

defeat,    causes    of,    94,    100,    132    et 
sig. 

defeat,  in,  138 

diplomacy,  218 

election  returns,  awaiting,  17* 

influence  of,  xx 

nomination  of,  129,  156 

personality  of,  52,  94 

"Plumed  Knight,"  the,  99 

politics,  place  in,  93  ft  stq. 

Presidency,  last  bid  for,  180 

Presidential  candidate,  126 

Secretary  of  State,  1*2,  174 

service,  length  of,  125 

tariff,  challenge  on,  153,  236 
Blaine,  Walker,  174 
Bland,  Richard  P.,  33,  90,  275 
Bland  Law  of  1878,  203,  275 


555 


Index 


Bliss,  Cornelius  N.,  23,  248 

Vice   Presidency,   refusal   of,   26    et 

seq. 

Bliss,  Fabyan  &  Co.,  27 
Block,  Paul,  405 
"Bloody  Shirt"  era,  97,  102,  140 
Blount,     James     H.     ("Paramount"), 

217,  220 

Hawaii,  in,  220 
Bonaparte,  Charles  J.,  435 
Bonsai,  Stephen,  65 
Borah,  William  E.,  435 

Europe,  attitude  toward,  525 

independence  of,  526 

influence  of,  political,  524  et  seq. 

Senate,  service  in,  527 

Soviet  recognition  urged,  526 

Vice  Presidency,  refusal  of,  527 
Bourne,  Jonathan,  326,  362 
Boutelle,  Charles  A.,  157 
Bragg,  E.  F.,   198 
Brandegee,  Frank,  468 
Breckinridge,  John  C.,  548 
Brennan,  George  E.,  282 
Brewster,  Benjamin  H.,  121 
Bribery,     Hayes-Tilden     controversy, 

80 

Brice,  Calvin  S.,  200,  212 
Bristow,  Benjamin  F.,  99 
Brown,  Walter,  390,  392,  396,  460 
Bryan,  Charles  W.,  288 
Bryan,   William  Jennings,    10,   71    97, 
124,  213,   231,  241,   273,   345>  4*o> 
508,  550 

adroitness,  political,  278 

advice,  attitude  toward,  56 

Baltimore  convention,  281 

campaign,  Presidential,  276 

candidacies  of,  260,  281 

career  of,  273  et  seq. 

cartoons,   u,  276,  313 

cartoons,  opinion  of,  284 

"Cross  of  Gold"  speech,  276,  278 

defeat,  second,  260 

dual  character,  275 

foreign  opinion  of,  285 

imperialism,  on,  276 

influence  of,  u 

intellectual  level  of,  289 

"issues,"  passion  for,  277 

Klan,  on  the,  286 

lecture  tours,  285 


Bryan,    William    Jennings    (cont'd) 
Madison  Square  Garden  convention 

285 

office-hunters,  and,  284 

powers,  oratorical,  276 

prohibition,   on,   286 

Roosevelt,  fear  of,  280 

Secretary  of  State,  as,  284 

"16  to  i"  issue,  275,  277 

titles  of,  274,  276 

type,  necessary,  265,  274 

wealth,  greed  for,  288 
Buchanan,  James,  9,  148,  197 
Buffalo,  2,  122,  226 
Burchard,  Rev.  Dr.,  94,  131,  135,  138, 

397 

Burleson,  Albert  S.,  516,  518 
Burroughs,  John,  302 
Burton,  Theodore,  349 
Business,  "big,"  259,  280,  314 

expansion,  261 

politics,  in,  262 
Butler,  Benjamin  P.,  23,  136 
Butler,  Nicholas  Murray,  435 
Byrd,  Richard  E.,  xxii 


Calder,  W,  A,,  461,  468 
California,  political  leaden*,  405 

political  situation,  1916,  452 
politics   in,   552 

Cameron,  Don,  98,  101,  169 
Cameron,  Simon,  169,  171 
Campaign,  Gubernatorial,  14 
Campaigns,  Presidential,  22  ft  set/, 

Blaine-Cleveland,  35 

Cleveland-Harrison,  179,  aoa,  269 

contributions  to,  23,  170,  399 

coat  of,  22  ft  $eq, 

"dark  home,"  the,  332 

disgraceful,  a,  129  et  stq* 

1884,  2 

Carfield- Hancock,  sa 

Harrison,  169  it  sttj. 

Hayes-TUden,  78 

Hughes-Wilson,  447  ft  titq. 

McKiniey-Hryan,   a|S,    241,   359   tt 

McClellan-Lincoln,  49 

»t  3^ 


Sherman-Alger, 


556 


Index 


Campaigns,  Presidential    (cont'd) — 

"swings"  of,   16  et  seq. 

Taft,  345 
Canada,  71 

reciprocity  with,  257,  362 
Candidates,    Presidential,    56,    97,  98, 

99 

delusions  of,  16,  20 

disloyalty  charges,  17 

popularity  of,  10 

receptivity  of,   54 
Cannon,  Joseph,  329,  330,  331,  357 

cartoon,  348 

revolt  against,  359,  361 
Canton,  Ohio,  231,  241 
Capers,  John  G.,  333 
Carlisle,  John  G,,  32,  153,  210,  212 
Carnegie,  Andrew,  134,  156 
Cartoons,   political,   8,   xx,   50,   60,   67, 
79,  82,  94,  96,  127,   128,  133,  139, 
142,    146,    152,   164,    189,  235,  238, 
254,  276,   292,   313,   317,   324,   332, 
343,   348,   358,   360,   363,   372,   378, 
390,   396,  402,  406,  AX 3,  416,  448, 
458,  472,  494,  497,  502,  532 

influence  of,  218 

appreciation  of,  284 
Casey,  P.  J.,  67 
Catchings,  T.  C.,  209 
Chaffee,  Adna  R.,   308 
Chamberlain,  John,  114 
Chandler,  Zachary,  33,  98 
"Charge  of  the  Light  Brigade,"  Al- 
fred Tennyson,  104 
Chase,  Salmon  P.,  8 
Child,  Richard  Washburn,  471 
Child*,  William  Hamlin,  306,  428 
Choate,  Joseph  H.,  257 
Civil  Service,  315 

reform,  89,  106,  122,  196 
Civil  War,  35,  70,  93 

battle  flags  of,  154 

"bloody  shirt'*  cartoon,  82 

"bloody  shirt"  era,  102,  140 

Presidents  in,  xx 

riots,  49 

value  of,  61 

Citric,  Champ,  194,  281  <?*  s*g. 
Clay,  Henry,  10,  93,  167,  193 

Influence  of,  xx 
Clayton,  Powell,  180 
Clerocnccau,  George*,  506 


Cleveland,  Grover,  xx,  2,  10,  37,  52, 
78,  81,  88,  91,  92,  179,  213,  251, 
256,  275,  299,  362,  434,  482 

administrative  ability  of,  36 

advice,  attitude  toward,  56 

bargain,  Populist,  201 

cartoon,  127,  142 

character,  143,  151 

confidants  of,  150 

Congress,  message  to,  227 

defeat,  causes  for,  153  et  seq. 

Democratic  revolt,  204 

development  of,  197,  200 

error,  gravest,  216 

farewells,  no,  148  et  seq. 

Governor,  as,  122 

habits,    149 

Hawaiian    annexation,    216    et   seq. 

illness,  204 

leadership,  loss  of,  208 

message  of,  205 

New  York  victory,  137 

nomination  of,   130 

partisanship  of,  149 

pension  vetoes,  154 

policies,  contrasting,  207  et  seq. 

popularity  of,  12 

record,  Presidential,  198  et  seq. 

second  term,  196  et  seq. 

statesmanship,  title  to,  205 

stubbornness  of,  221 

tariff,  on  the,  152,  211 

Venezuela    boundary    note,    223    et 
seg. 

vetoes  of,  197 

war  record,  140 

Washington,  journey  to,  148 

Wilson,  as  compared  with,  226 

worry  and  distrust  of,  143  et  seq, 
Cockran,  Bourke,  u 
Colby,  Bainbridge,  306,  400,  405,  484, 

College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  3 
Colorado,  political  leaders,  33 
Committees,  National,  22,  24 

chairman,  choice  of,  460  et  seq* 
Congress,  billion  dollar,  176  et  seq. 

"old  guard,"  359,  368,  380 

party  chaos  in,  362 

quorum  rule,  191 

reciprocity  vote,  362 

Taft,  revolt  against,'  361,  362 


557 


Index 


Concessional  Record,  213 
Conkling,   Roscoe,   32,   60,   89,   93,   94, 
98,  129,  410 

appearance,  personal,   106 

Blaine  feud  with,  94  et  seq. 

cartoons,  60,  94 

challenge  to  Garfield,  113 

death,  115 

defeat,  in,  no 

exile  from  politics,  114 

Grant,  speech  for,  107 

last  years,  114 

leadership  of,  political,  104  et  seq. 

political  powers  of,  94 

resignation  of,  113 

service,  length  of,  125 
Conkling-Cameron  faction,  81,  85,  89 
Connecticut,  political  leaders,  32 
Constitution,  Atlanta,  42 
Convention,  state,  105 
Conventions,  national,  82,  128,  232 

Bull   Moose,  410 

contrasting,  434  et  seq. 

control   of,  420 

delegates,  vote  of,  101 

1860,  7 

1880,  19 

1888,  158 

1896,  193 

1900,  247 

1912,  280,  281 

1924,  285  et  seq. 

solidarity  in,  108 

"stalwarts,"  1880,  60,  102  et  seq. 

steam-roller,  400  et  seq. 

(see    also    Republican    party    and 

Democratic  party) 
Converse,  E.  C.,  395 
Cook,  Sherwin  L.,,  xxv 
Coolidge,   Calvin,  xix,   i,    13,   26,   35, 
124,  312,  458,  464,  466,  541 

character  of,  533 

example  of,  534 

Governor,  as,  529 

interview  with,  535 

Lincoln,  and,  534 

message,  xxiv 

nomination,    Vice    Presidential,    465 
et  seq,,  532 

people's  faith  in,  532 

police  strike,  Boston,  529 

policies  of,  532 

political  fame  unsought,  530 


Coolidge,  Calvin   (confd) 

President,  as,  533,   535 

renomination,  refusal  of,  536 

speeches,  early,  530 

taking  oath  of  office,  530 
Coolidge,  S.,  530 
Cooper,  Henry  Allen,  359 
Coppinger,  J.  J,,  175 
Cornell,  A.  B.,  113,  121 
Cortelyou,  George  B.,  23,  55,  230,  249, 

299?  323,  329,  332 
Courier-Journal,    Louisville,    136 
Cox,  James  M.,  232,  517 
Crane,  W.  Murray,  32,  240,  302,  435, 

450,  455 

Crawford,  T.  C.,  152 
Credit   Mobilier,    in 
Creelman,  James,  46,  66 
Crocker,  W.  H.,  452  et  seq. 
Croker,  Richard,   30 
"Cross   of   Gold,"   William   Jennings 

Bryan,  104 
Cuba,  73,  253  ^ 

Americans  in,  230 

freedom  of,  252 
Culberson,  Charles,  33 
CuIIom,  Shelby  M.,  32 
Cummins,  Albert  Bainl,  33 
Cuney,  405 
Curran,  Father,  302 
Curtis,  George  William,  129,  150 

D 

Dalzell,  John,  362 
Daniel,  John  MM  32 

Daniels,  Josephu*,    516,   518 
Daugherty,  Harry,  465,  470 
Davis,  Ciifthman  K.,  32,  254 

Davis,  Jefferson,  42,  45,  232,  476 

amnesty  not  granted,  9$ 

farewell  tour  of,  37,  40  tt  seg* 

personality  of,  43 

reception  of,  43 

speech  of,  41 
Davis,  John  W.,  13,  288 
Davis,  Norman,  484 
Davis,  Oscar^  King,  399,  400,  409 
Davis,  Winnie,  40 
Davenport,  Frederick,  380,  445 
Davenport,  Homer,  263,  534 
Day,  William  It,  254 


558 


Index 


Dawes,  Charles  G.,  124,  249,  311,  475> 

476,  496 
banker,  the,  521 
budgeter,  official,  522 
McKinley3  supporter  of,  520 
politician,  a,  520  et  seq, 
public  service  of,  520 
Vice  President,  as,  523 
Dawes,  Henry  L.,  32 
Debs,  Eugene,  88,  158,  200 
Decatur,  Stephen,  300 
Delaware,  political  leaders,  33 
Delegates,  instability  of,  19 

vote  of,  101 
Denmark,  71 
Devens,  Charles,  84 
Dewey,  George,  251 
De  Young,  Michael,  156 
Democratic  Party,  49 
conventions,  281,  513,  517 
leaders  in,  32 
money  standard,  on,  239 
outlook  in  1912,  419 
platform  of  1924,  286  et  seq. 
split  in,  548 
strategy,  1916,  450 
tariff,  on,  214  et  seq. 
Depew,   Chauncey  M,,   159,   164,  172, 

271 

campaigner,  political,  270 
"Peach,"  the,  269 
philosophy  of,  271 
popularity  of,  269 
public  life,  years  in,  268 
recollections  of,  267  et  seq. 
public  speaker,  a,  267,  268  ct  seq* 
speeches  of,  269 
Dingley,  Nelson,  32 
Dixon,  Joseph,  399,  400,  406 
Dodge,  Cleveland  H.,  23 
Doheny,  Edward,  287 
Dolliver,  Jonathan,  32,  59,  248,  369 
Donaldson,  Thomas,  162 
Douglas,  Dr.,  65 
Downing  Street,  491 
Drum,  R.  C.,  154 
Dunne,  Finley  Peter,  284 
Du  Pont,  Coleman,  470 
Durbm,  W.  TM  264 
Duryea,  Abram,  5* 
Dutch  Guiana,  224,  «$ 


E 


Eastern  State  Journal,  3 

Eckert,  Thomas  T.,  68 

Edge,  Senator,  468 

Edmunds,  George  F.,  32,  128,  527 

Education,  3 

"Eight    Years    in    Wilson's    Cabinet," 

David  F.  Houston,  542,  546 
"80  Years  of  Public  Life,"   Chauncey 

M.  Depew,  164 
Elberon,  New  Jersey,  66 
Elections,  contested,  77 
pluralities,  94 
popular,  agitation  for,  186 
Electoral  Commission,  creation  of,  77 
Elkins,   Stephen  B,,  33,   126,   138,  157, 

158,  160,  172,  180 
Ellsworth,  Ephraim  E.,  51 
Elmira,  New  York,  14 
Endicott,  William  C.,  154 
England,  71 

secret  agreement  with,  491  et  seq. 
Venezuela  dispute,  224  et  seq. 
Englewood,  New  Jersey,  158 
Equitable  Life  Insurance  Society,  134 
Ericsson,  John,  317 
Esopus  Creek,  New  York,  56 
Evarts,  William  M.,  32,  84,  527 
Expansion,  Grant  on,  71  et  seq. 
territorial,  attitudes  toward,  9 


Fairbanks,  Charles  W.,  239,  248,  329, 

335.  4*2 

Fail,  Albert  B,,  543 
Fassett,  J,  Sloat,  14,  270 
Federal  Elections  Bill,  177,  183 
Fessenden,  Samuel,  240 
Field,   Cyrus,   134, 
Fifty  Million  Club,  the,  65 
Fillmore,  Millard,  123 
First  National  Bank,  New  York  City, 

161 

Fisk,  James,  114 
Flint,  Frank,  20 
Flower,  Roswell  P.,  15 
Flynn,  William,  306,  405 
Folger,  Charles  J,,  121,  122 
Foraker,  Joseph  B.,  32,  154,  264,  329, 

33<> 
Foster,  Charles,  32,  177 


559 


Index 


"Four  Years  More  for  Grover,"  196 
Frelinghuysen,    Joseph    S.,    121,    469, 

473 

Fremont,  Ohio,  7.6 
Frye,   Senator,  254 


G 


Gardner,  Augustus  P.,  359 
Garfield,  Dr.  Harry,  496 
Garfield,  James  A.,  2,  n,  51,  66,  93, 
171,  232,  386,  410,  547 

assassination  of,  539 

candidacy  of,  108,  in 

death,  114 

nomination  of,  19,  233  et  seq. 

Sherman,  speech  for,  108 
Gary,  Elbert  H.,  477 
Gates,  John  W,,  259 
Gaynor,  William  J.,  46 
General  Amnesty  Bill,  97 
George  Washington,  501,  511 
Georgia,  political  leaders,  32 
Germany,  Dawes  budget  for,  522 

Kaiser  and  the  war,  507 

Wilson,  opinion  of,  490 
Glass,  Carter,  71 
Gleason,  Paddy,  136,  137 
Glynn,  Martin  H.,  432 
Gold  Standard,  Democratic  ticket,  209 

political  issue,  238  et  seq, 

fight  for,  69 
Gompers,  Samuel,  529 
Goodyear,  Charles  W.,  144 
Gordon,  Fannie,  40 
Gordon,  John  B.,  32,  42 
Gorman,  Arthur  Pue,  32,  131 

tariff  speech,  212 
Gould,  Jay,  134,  137 
Grady,  Henry  W.,  42 
Grant,  Frederick  D.,  157 
Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  xix,  51,  45,  120 

candidacy  of,  102 

cartoons,  60,  67 

Conkling's  speech  for,  107 

death  of,  37,  60 

defeat,  in,  no 

defense,  personal,  73 

expansion,  on,  72  et  $eq. 

European  reception,  59 

facsimile  of  writing,  60 

habits,  66 

illness,  last,  37,  62  ft  seq. 


Grant,   Ulysses    (coni^) 

inaugural  address,  73 

"Memoirs/'  38,  61,  74 

message,  last,  xxiv 

nation1s  debt  to,  70 

personality 'of,  58 

policies  of,  68 

public  affection  for,  62 

rejection  of,  60 

soldier  not  politician,  58  et  $eq. 

third  terra  campaign,  98 
Grant  &  Ward,  68 
Gray,  George,  254 
Grayson,  Dr.,  542,  544 
Greeley,  Horace,  3,  4,  82 
Greenbacks,  redemption  of,  85 

value  of,  86 

Gresham,  Walter  Q,,  159,  217,  271 
Grey,  Sir  Edward,  302,  491  ft  seq. 
Grimes,  George  S.,  308 
Guam,  73 
Guiteau,  Charles,  114 

H 

Hadley,  Herbert  S.,  392,  417 

Hale,  Edward  Everett,  29 
Hale,  Eugene,  32,  279 
Hale,  Matthew,  30^ 
Halford,  Elijah  W.,  166,  175,  315 
Hals,  Franx,  37 
Hamlin,  Chauncey,  306,  405 
Hampton,  Wade,  33 
Hancock,  Winfield  Scott,  51,  2.14 
Hanna,  Mark,  27,  28,  242  et  seq.,  259 
et  seq.,  267,  349,  520,  521,  534 

breakfasts,  famous,  245 

business,  man  of,  262  ft  seg* 

cartoons,  sensitive  to,  263 

character  of,  262 

McKinley,   support  of,  239  ft  ffg», 
248  ft  sfq,,  259  //  tfg. 

Panama  Canal,  fight  for,  265,  296 

political  views,  265 

politician,  the,  262  it  jtgt 

Senate,  In  the,  263 

type,  as  at  265 

Washington  plan*,  345  ft  seq. 

years,  last,  263 

Harding,  Warren  O.t  18,  26,  8i»  232, 
37«N  434,  45%  4*4t   54« 

acquaintanceship  of,  wide,  465 


560 


Index 


Harding,  Warren  G.   (cont'd) 

Cabinet,  strong,  475 

estimate  of,  473  et  seq. 

experience,  lack  of,  476 

frankness  of,  471 

friends,  loyalty  to,  474" 

ill-health  of,  475 

interview  with,  470 

labor,  efforts  for,  477 

nomination  of,  465 

policies  of,  476  et  seq. 

post-war  problems,  475 

President,  unhappy  as,  472 

speeches,  477  et  seq, 
Harlan,  John  Marshall,  365,  366 
Harmon,  Judson,  281 
Harper's  Bazaar,  129 
Harrison,  Benjamin,  i,  ix,  39,  81,  92, 
93,  120,  149,  158,  159,  178,  197,  202, 
251,  269,  312,  315,  370 

advice,  attitude  toward,  56 

administrative  ability  of,  36 

ancestry,    181 

bargain,  refusal  to,   170 

campaign  song,  164 

character,  76 

diplomacy,  218 

election  returns,  awaiting,  172 

epigrams  by,  181 

Hawaiian  treaty,  217 

home  life,  175 

negroes,  on  the,  184 

nomination  of,  217 

personality,  165  et  seg. 

President,  an  able,  164  et  secj. 

Presidential  campaign,  169  et  seq. 

second  term,  campaign  for,  179 

tariff  bill  signed,  236 
Harmon,  William  Henry,  528 
Hartranft,  John  Frederick,  98,  101 
Harvey,  George,  188,  501 
"Have  Faith  in  Massachusetts,"  Cal- 
vin Coolidge,  530 

Hawaiian  Islands,  10,  71,  73,  216  et 
seg« 

American  minister  in,  aiS 

annexation,  plea  for,  216 

government  recognized,  219 

Liliuokalant,  Queen,  218  tt  fftj. 

marines  In,  219 

recognition  of,  220 
Hawley,  Joseph  R.,  69 


Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  59,  71,  93,  232, 
312 

administration,  92 

Arthur,  dismissal  of,  120 

Cabinet,  84 

candidacy  of,  99 

cartoon,  82 

civil  service  reform,  106 

memorials,  76 

newspaper  men,  honored  by,  25 

nomination  of,  82 

personality,  81 

policies  of,  83 

President,  as,  76  et  seq. 

prophecy  of,  91 

services,  public,  82 

silver,  veto  on,  91 

South,  attitude  toward,  87 

vetoes  of,  88,  91 
Hayes,  Webb  C.,  76 
Hayes-Tilden  controversy,  72,  82,  136, 

547 
Hays,  Will,  471,  475 

chairman,   national,   462 

political  methods,  24  et  seq. 
Hearst,  William  Randolph,  441 
Hend ricks,  T.  A.,  136,  150,  541 
Heney,   Francis  J.,  405 
Hepburn,  A,  Barton,  career  of,  105 
Hewitt,  Abram  8.,  77 
Hill,  David  B,,  32,  40,  56,  158,  239 
Hill,  James  J.,  170 
Hinman-Greene   Direct  Primary  Bill, 

380 

Hiscock,  Frank,  32,  172,  271 
Hitchcock,   Frank,   343,  386,   515,   520, 

543 
Hoar,  George  Frisbie,  32,  100,  108,  233, 

234,  279 

Hobart,  Garret  A,,  248 
Hoey,  John,  68 
Hooker,  Joseph,  167 
Hoover,  Herbert,  466,  475,  476,  496 
Hoover,  Irwin  Hood,  i 
Hornaday,  Dr.  W.  T,,  302 
Hot  Springs,  Virginia,  341,  347,  350 
House,  Colonel   Edward   M.,    56,   71, 
174,  245,  285,  484,  49i 

capitals,  in  foreign,  508 

influence  of,  509 

Paris,  in,  505  ft  seg.t  510 

Wilson,  break  with,  507,  510 

Wilson's  spokesman,  492 


561 


Index 


Houston,  David  F.,  542,  545 
Howell,  Clark,  42 
Howell,  Evan,  42 
Hudson,  New  York,  2 
Hughes,  Charles  Evans,  81,   136,  280, 
304,  319,  329,  380,  442,  475 

across-the-continent  tour  451  et  seq. 

campaign,  Presidential,  449  et  seq. 

candidacy  of,  333 

career  of,  438  et  seq. 

cartoon,  458 

defeat,  causes  for,  448  et  seq. 

foreign  policy  of,  458 

Governor,  as,  441  et  seq. 

insurance  investigation,  441 

nomination  of,  436 

Presidency,  opinion  of  the,  447 

primaries,  fight  for,  443 

Roosevelt,  conference  with,  444 

Secretary  of  State,  as,  458 

Supreme  Court,  on  the,  446 
Hurley,  Edward  N.  496 
Hyde,  James  Hazen,  134 


I 


Illinois,  political  leaders,  32 
Immigration,  restriction  of,  177 
Imperialism,  10,  72,  256 
Indiana,  political  leaders,  32 
Industries,      American,      government 
control  of,  365 

fruit,   214 

iron,  2x4,  477 

Standard  Oil,  366 

steel,  214,  260,  477 

sugar,  217,  219,  260,  365 

tin  plate,  215 

tobacco,  366 

wool,  214 
Ingalls,  John  J.,  33,  159,  188 

eloquence  of,  194    • 

politics,  on  pure,  194 
Ingersoll,  Robert  G.,  87,  99,  160,  410 
Inglis,  William  O.,  65 
Insurance  Investigation,  441 
"Interests,  The,"   217,   219 
"In   the    Good    Old    Summer  Time," 

35* 
"Intimate  Papers  of  Colonel  House/* 

491,  5«  a 
Iowa,  political  leaders,  32,  33 


Jackson,  Andrew,  149,  282,  367 
Jay,  John,  174 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  9,  35,  282 
Jewell,   Marshall,   99 
Johnson,    Andrew,    123,   203,   210 
Johnson,    Hiram,    306,    394,   405,   410, 
413,   467,    524,    552 

political  power  of,  451   et  seq.f  552 

Presidency,  loss  of,  464 
Johnson,   Samuel,  89 
Jones,  B.  P.,   137 
Journal,  Kennebec,  97 

K 

Kansas,  political  leaders,  33,  405 

Kearney,    Patrolman,    114 

Keesling,   454 

Keller,  Arthur  I.,   530 

Kelley,  W,  I).,   32 

Kellogg,  Frank  B.,  514,  524 

Kentucky,  political  leaders,  32,  33 

Kerens,  Richard  C.>  126,  157,  1:80 

Kerney,    James,    512 

Key,  David  M.,  84,  85 

Kilgore,  Constantine  Buckley,  176 

Kitchener,  Lord,  493 

Knox,   Frank,   390,   391 

Knox,  Philander  C.,  329,  522,  527 

Koenig,    Samuel    S,,   398 

Ku  Klux  Klan,  273,  286 


Ladies*  Home  Journal,  530 

La  Follette,  Robert  MM  33,  247,  274, 

3^9>   330,  394»  40* 
ambition,    his   one,    552 

candidacy,    1912,   416 

compromise,  refusal  to,  $50 

independence  of,  549 

political  power  of,  548  et  seqt 
*   public  service,   550 

reactionaries,  leader  of,  403 

slogan,  campaign,  388 

state   boss,   551 
Lamar,  Lucius   Q,   C,,  33 
Lament,  Daniel  8,,  141 
Lane,  Franklin  K.,  48a»  54^ 
Lawton,  Henry  Ware,  308 
League  of  Nations,  n,  183,  423,  409, 
505,   5*8,   52$ 


562 


Index 


Lee,  Edward,   391 
Lee,    Robert   E,,   75 
Legislation,   banking,  299 

bonus,   471,   473 

election    law,    88 

McNary-Haugen  Farm  B'll,  537 

primary,   380 

race-track   gambling,   439 

recall   of   judges,   395 

revenue,  213 

struggle   for   good,   31 

tariff,   211,   213 

trust,    364 

Lenroot,  Irvine  L.,  359,  467,  551 
"Life   of  McKinley,"   Charles    S.   01- 

cott,   255 
Liliuokalani,    Queen,    218 

dethronement    of,    218 

objections  to,   220 

plea  of,  218 

Washington,  visit  to,  218 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  xx,  2,  35,  49,  210, 
488 

cartoon,    152 

Coolidge,    and,    534 

nomination   of,  7,  8 
Lincoln,  Robert  Todd,  121,  157 
Lincoln,  Nebraska,  274 
Lodge,  Henry  Cabot,  18,  32,  129,  183, 
193,  301,  338,  3^6,  4#9>  5<>3»  5*4, 
5»4>  5^S»  S3*>  543 

nomination,  hope  for,  436 
Lloyd  George,  David,  506,  510 
Loeb,  William,  298  tt  seg,t  322  et  seq., 
333   tt  s$g. 

Roosevelt's  secretary,  55 

Taft,  retained  by,  346 
Logan,  John  A,,  51,  97,   *7* 
London,  166 
Long,  John  D.,  248 
Long  Branch,  New  Jersey,  38,  66 
Longstreet,  James,  42 
Louisiana,    214 
Louisiana    Purchase,   the,   9 
Lowden,  Frank  0.,  18,  466 
Lu$itaniat  227,  490 
Lyons,   Cecil,   333 

M 

MeAcloo,   William   G.,   71,   287,   496, 
5*« 

McCiimant,  Wallace,  469 


McClellan,    George    B.,    81 

candidacy  of,  49 
McCook,  John  James,   51 
McCormick,  Medill,  306,  393,  467 
McCormick,   Vance,   496 
McCrary,  George  W.,  84 
McCunn,  Judge  J.  H,,  286 
McDowell,    Edward,    101 
McGregor,    Mt.,    37,    62 
Mack,  Norman  E.,  419 
McKane,  John  Y,,   136 
Mackay,  Clarence  W.,  17 
Mackay,   John   W.,    17 
McKee,   James  R.,   173 
McKim,  Charles  F.,  302 
McKinley,  William,  xxiii,  26,  72,  91, 
98,    161,   172,    189,   299,    312,    370, 

534,   54i 

advice,  open  to,  55 

administration,    259 

army  and  navy,  direction  of,  252 

assassination,   231 

cartoon,  235,  238 

character  of,  229  et  seg. 

Cleveland,  opinion  of,  211 

compromise,  wise,  256 

Congress,  message  to,  243 

courage  of,  230  et  seq* 

defeat  of,  215 

gold  issue,  on  the,  238  et  seq, 

Hanna,    and,    245    et  seq* 

Hawaii,  annexation  of,  251 

humanness  of,  230 

imperialism,  charge  of,  256 

message,  last,  243 

mother's  prayer,  his,  244 

peace  methods  of,  254 

Presidency,    refusal   of,   232 

President,    as,    243 

Presidential  campaign,  241 

problems,  after-war,  253 

Spain,  war  with,  230  et  seq*,  251  ct 
seq. 

speech-making   record,   231,   254  et 
seq, 

tariff  bill,  168,  177,  203,  214  et  sfff/,, 

234 

McNary-Haugen  Farm  Bll,  537 
MacVeagh,  Wayne,   121 
Madison,   James,   35 
Madison   Square  Garden   Democratic 

convention,  285  et  seq. 


563 


Index 


Mahone,  Butler,  185 

Mail,   Evening,    New.  York,    54,    380, 

38i 

Maine,   political   leaders,    32 
Manifest    Destiny,    Doctrine    of,    218, 

251   et  seg. 
Manila,  251,  370 
Manley,  Joseph  H.,  53,  157,  240 
"Man   Without   a   Country,"   Edward 

Everett   Hale,   29 
''Marching  Through  Georgia,"  51 
Marshall,   Thomas  R.,    124,    539,   541, 

543 ,    547 

Maryland,  political  leaders,  32 
Mason  and  Dixon's  Line,  140 
Massachusetts,  248 

political  leaders,   32,  405 
Matura,   383 

Meade,  George  Gordon,   51 
Mellon,  Andrew  W.,  475,  522 
"Memoirs,"  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  38,  61, 

74 

"Memoirs,"  Sir  Edward  Grey,  491 
"Memories,"   Champ  Clark,  283 
Merrill,  Bradford,  4,  441 
Merrimac,   317 
Meyer,   George,   386 
Michigan,  political  leaders,  33 
Militarism,   294 
Miller,  Nathan  L.,  466 
Miller,  Warner,  32,  172,  271 
Miller,  W.  H.  H.,  165 
Mills,   Ogden  L.,  26 
Mills,  Roger  Q.,  33 
Mills  Tariff  Bill,   152 
Minnesota,   political   leaders,   32 
Mississippi,  political  leaders,  32 
Missouri,  political  leaders,  33 
Money,  Bland  law,  275 

depreciation,   70 

Federal  Reserve  system,  71,  299 

gold  and  silver  issue,  238  et  seg, 

greenback,  69,  85 

politics,   in,    19,  22  et  seg. 

"16  to  i"  issue,  275,  277 

sound,   basis   of,   69 

telegram,   a   historic,   86 
Monitor,  317 
Monroe,  James,  35,  243 
Monroe   Doctrine,   223    ft  seq, 
Montgomery,   Alabama,  40 
Moody,  William  H.,  371 
Morey    Letter,    Forged,    in 


Morgan,  J.  Pierpont,  282,  330 
Morgan,  John  T.,  33,  547 
Morristown,  New  Jersey,  138 
Morton,  Levi  P.,  achievement  of  Vice 

Presidency,    119,    120 

Vice  Presidency,  loss  of,  120 
Morton,  Oliver  P.,  98,  99 
Morton,  Bliss  &  Company,  118 
Mugwumps,  138,   149,  388 
Mulligan   Letters,    130 
Munsey,  Frank,  23,  305,  392,  395,  400 

contributions,  campaign,   399,  424 

dieting,  on,  407 

influence,  political,  421  et  seg. 

League  of  Nations,  on  the,  423 

Perkins,  friendship  with,  422 
Munsey's  Magazine,  400 
Murdock,   Victor,    359 
Murphree,  Dr.  0.  0,,  287 
Murphy,  Charles  W.,  282 
Murray,   Joseph,   302 
"My   Heart's   in   the    Highlands,   My 

Heart's  Not  Here,"  156 


N 


Napoleon  I,  Emperor,  229 

"Nast,    Th,"    Albert    Bigelow    Paine, 

138 

Navy,  world  cruise  of,  297 
Negroes,  right  to  vote,  183,  185 
New,  John   C.,   165 
Newberry,  Truman   H.,   194 
New  York  Central  Railroad,  159,  268, 

270 

New  York  City,  53,  375 
New  York  State,  political  leaders,  32, 

405 
Newspapers,    Cleveland    a    mystery, 

*43 

demand  for  facts,  62 

duties,  6 

Fifty   Million   Club,   the,   65 

Mark  Hanna,  opinions  of,  245,  247 

radio  a  rival,  13 

(sfg  Cartoons) 
Normandiff,  118 
Norm,  George  WM  359,  514 
North  Carolina,   political   leader*,   33 
Northcliffe,  Lord,  497 
Northern    Securities    Company,    179, 

260,  296,  364 


Index 


o 


O'Brien,   C.  F.,   288 

Ochiltree,  Thomas,   114 

O'Dwyer,  4 

Oglcsby,  Richard,  32 

Ohio,  political  leaders,  32 

Olcott,  Charles   8.,  255 

Olney,   Richard,   223    et  seq. 

O'Neill,  Bucky,  302 

"On  the  Beach  at  Long  Branch,"   66 

"Onward,  Christian  Soldiers,"  410 

Orlando,  Vittorio,  504 

"Outline    of    History,    The,"    H.    G. 

Weils,  271 

Outlook,  327,  392,  395,  397 
Owen,  Robert,  71 
Oyster    Bay,    Roosevelt    at,    307,    312, 

341,  342,  356,  379,  391,  407,  444 


Page,  Walter  Hines,  285,  511 
Paine,  Albert  Bigelow,  138 
Paine,  Augustus  G.,  193 
Pali    Peak,    Hawaii,   213 
Palisades  Park  Commission,  423 
Panama  Canal,  265,  296 
Parades,  Decoration  Day,  51 

McCleiian,  48 
Paris,  504  tt  seq. 
Parker,  Alton  B.,  281,  282 

money  issue,  on,  206 

telegram,  historic,  56,  206 
Parker,    George    F.,   206 
Parker,  John   N.,  409 
Parsons,  Herbert,  334,  359,  3^° 
Patronage,    Political,    xoa,    112,    122, 

177,   483 

Payne,  George  Henry,  405 
Payne,  Sereno  E.,  32 
Payne-Aid  rich  Tariff  Bill,  347 

dislike  of,  374 
Peace  Conference,    504  et  seq. 

"Big  Four,1'  the,  506,  511 

League  of  Nations  in  the,  50$ 
Peffer,  W.  A.%  201 
Pemberton,  John  Clifford,  75 
PentUeton*  George  HM  80 
Pennsylvania,  political  leaders,  32,  405 
Penrolte,  Boies,  4*0  ft  seg.>  $52 


Perkins,  George  W.,  23,  249,  305,  319, 
321,  392,  393,  397,  400.  W>  428, 
460  et  seq. 

idealism  of,  425 

influence,  political,  421   et  seq. 

Munsey,  friendship  with,  422 

public  office,  refusal  of,  425 

service  of,  public,  423 
Phelps,  William  Walter,  158 
Philippines,   71,   73,  251,  253 

freedom  of,  280 

independence  of,   526 

purchase  of,  279 
Pinchot,   Gifford,    306,   379 
Platt,   Orville   H.,   32 
Platt,  Thomas  C.,  14,  32,  70,  160,  179, 
248,  271 

enemies,  and  his,  257 

political  power  of,  168  et  seq. 

resignation  of,   113 
Plumb,   Preston   B.,    33 
Pluralities,   94,   453 
Police  Strike,  Boston,  466,  529 
"Political  Education  of  Wood  row  Wil- 
son, The,"  James  Kerney,   512 
Politicians,    politics    and,    6    et   seq, 

types  of,  29  et  seq. 
Politics,  Blaine's  place  in,  93 

"bloody  shirt"  era,  98 

business  in,  262 

Decalogue   in,   the,    194 

factional,    81,    85,   99,    122 

"ifs"  in,  463  et  seq»f  531 

leaders,  85 

machine,  120,  168,  442,  549 

mistakes  costly,   135 

money  and,   19,  22  et  seq. 

Mugwumps  in,  126,  149,  388 

party  problems,  427 

patronage  in,  102,  txo,  112,  177 

politicians,  and,   6   et  seq. 

types  of  men  in,  33 

(see  also  Politicians) 
Polk,  James  K,,  232 
Populist  Party,  201 

Cleveland  deal  with,  202 

growth  of,  206 
Porter,  Horace,  257 
Portland,  Maine,  53 
Parto  Rico,  71,  73,  251,  253,  257 
PrendergaHt,  William  A.,  405 
Presidency,  candidates,  466 

vacancy  in  the,  546 


565 


Index 


"Presidental    Nominations    and    Elec- 
tions,"  Joseph   Bucklin   Bishop,    338 
Presidents,    candidates    for,    picking, 

335 

early,  35 

incapacitated?  when,  539  et  seg, 

Lincoln  to  Coolidge,  from,  35  et  seq. 

makers   of,    u 

subordinate  to  party,  210 

types   of,    8 

Vice  Presidents  as,  541 
Press,  Philadelphia,  i,  4,  37,  52,  134, 

141 
Primaries,   417,  426 

cost  of,  19 

expenditures  on,  194 

direct,  struggle  for,  443 

value  of,  19 
Proctor,  Redfield,  32 
Progressive   Party,   cartoon,  406 

convention,  1912,  404  et  seq,,  414  et 
seq. 

convention,  1916,  428,  434 

disbanding,  reason  for,  424 

formation  of,  421 

mistake?  a,  414 

organization    of,    305    et   seq* 

Republicans,    unity   with,   427 

song,  convention,  410 
Prohibition,  286 
Protection    (see  Tariff) 
Pulitzer,  Ralph,  271 
Pullman,  George,  68 


Q 


Quay,  Matthew  Stanley,  16,  179,  248, 

552 
political  power  of,  168  et  seq* 


R 


Radio,  influence,  553 

political   power  of,   13  et  seq* 
Railroads,  mergers  in,  260 
"Rally  'Round   the  Flag,  Boys,  Rally 

Once  Again,"  51 
Ralph,   Julian,   66 
Randall,  Samuel  J.,  5,  32 
Ransome,  "Deacon,"  64 
Reciprocity  with  Canada,  362 
Reed,  James  A.,  210 


566 


Reed,  Thomas  B.,   32,   176,  213,  229, 

277,   530 

candidacy  of,  239 
cartoon,  189 
character,  188 
leadership  of,  192 
service,  public,  191,  193 
Speaker   of   the   House,    as,    189    et 

tariff,   opinion   on,  214 

woman  suffrage,  urged,  192 
Register,  Hudson,  2 
Reid,  Whitelaw,  4,  174,  254,  269 
Rembrandt,  37 
Republican  Party,  cartoon,  414 

Civil  War  overplayed,  51 

conventions,    national,    26,    400    et 
seq.,  428,  434,  463  et  seq,,  53* 

leaders  in,  32 

liberalism  in,  101 

money,  standard,  on,  239 

split  in,  415,  418,  548 

tariff,  on,  2x2  et  seq. 

Versailles  Treaty,  and,  51:4 

wrecking  of,   373 
Resaca,  Battle  of,   167 
Rhodes,  James  Lord,  22$ 
Riggs,  Edward   G.,  66 
Riis,  Jacob,  302 
Riots,   Draft,  49 
Robertson,  William   H,,   na 
Robeson,  George  M,  jz 
Robins,  Raymond,  303,  306 
Rochester,  New  York,  14 
Rogers,  Henry  H.,  330 
Roosevelt  (father  of  President),  90 
Roosevelt,  J.  West,   39* 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  xx,  13,  23,  2$,  9% 
97,   124,   raS,   12,9,  138,   155,-  178, 
247,  249,  a6x,  263,  a8x,  389,  $$*, 

administrative  ability  of,  36 
aims  as  President,  314  et  teq* 

big  game  hunting,  327,  377  et  $eq. 

boycott  of,  343 

"call/1   convention,   406   at  $eq, 

campaign,  1912,  393,  395  ft  seq* 

campaign,  la*t»  319 

cartoons,  137,  293,  313,  317,  3^4,  |p» 

343,  360,  378,  390,  396,  413 
cartoons,  opinion*  of,  3$4 
Civil  Service  Commission,  on,  315 
Columbus,  Ohio,  speech,  395  et  seq* 


Index 


Roosevelt,  Theodore    (cont'd) 
crusader,  a,  352  et  seq. 
decisiveness  of,  296 
epoch  in  himself,  an,  309 
expediency  no  factor,  307 
friendships  of,  300  et  seq. 
Gridiron    Club    dinner,    importance 

of,  330  et  seq. 
handwriting  of,  431 
health  problems,  320 
home   life,   312 
Hughes,  conference  with,  444 
Hughes,   support  of,  437,  440 
humiliation  of,  346,  350 
"impulsiveness"  of,  311 
influence  of,  310 
interests  of,  295 
letter  from,  443 
literary  fame,  desire  for,  327 
Lodge,  and,  301 
"malefactors     of     great     wealth," 

struggle  against,  313 
memories  of,  305  et  seq. 
message,  xxiv 
methods  of,  311 
militarism,  charge  of,  294 
navy,  cruise  of,  298 
Oxford  lectures,  353 
Panama  Canal,  296 
policies,  end  of,  344,  359 
politioi)   return  to,   3$! 
portrait,    Sargent's,   295 
Presidency,  opinion  of  the,  31$,  351, 

537 
Progressive  Party,  founding  of,  305 

ft   SftJ. 

prospect,   the   political,    326    at   sey. 

public  interest  in,  294 

recollections  of,  author***,  291  et  $e q.t 

30$  ft  Sfq. 

renomination,  demand  for  his,  391 
righteousness,  ideal  of,  315 
Rough  Rider*,  308 
San  Juan  Hill,  battle  of,  308 
slogan,  campaign,  3$'$ 
Sorbonnc  lecture^  353 
Spanish-American  War,  253 
statement  (1916),  429  ft  sfq. 
ftttfcfimor,  choosing  a,  32*  f.t  $eg», 

332  ft  stg. 

Taft,  break  with,  $S$  ft  ttq. 
Tafr«  intimacy  with,  342,  371 
Taft,  plea  for,  34$*  353 


Roosevelt,  Theodore    (cont'd) 

Taft1  s  tribute  to,   356 

tolerance  of,   54,  293 

truth,  and  unpleasant,  54 

Vice   Presidential    nomination,   248, 
250 

votes  in  1912,  414 

welcome  home,   380 

Wilson,  contrast  to,  426 

world  opinion  of,   301 
Roosevelt,    Theodore,    Jr.,    24 
Root,   Elihu,    158,   254,    323,   356,   371, 
379,   386,  441,   527 

letter  from,  429 

Presidential  nomination,  refusal  of, 

324 

Rosenzsweig,  Mrs.  S.  C.,  xxvi 
Rowell,  Chester  H.,  454,  455 
Ryan,  Thomas  P.,  281,  282 
"Rum,  Romanism  and  Rebellion,"  131 

et   seq. 

Rural  Repository,  3 
Rusk,   Jerry,    159 
Russia,  9,  71 

recognition  of,  458 


Sagamore  Hill,  312,  354 
Sagasta,  Praxedes  Mateo,  252 
Salisbury,   Lord,  224  et  seq. 
Saloon  in  politics,  267,  269 
Samoa,  73 

Sanders,  Archie  D.,  439,  441 
Sands,   Dr.  Henry  BM   63 
San  Francisco,  59,  5x3,  518 
San  Juan  Hill,  Battle  of,  308 
Santo  Domingo,  71,  73 
Sargent,  John   Singer,  295 
Savannah,  Georgia,  40,  42 
Sawyer,  Philetua,   151:,  549 
Schun%  Carl,  85,   139,   150  152 
Schwab,  Charles  M.,  477 
Scott,  Winfield,   123 
Seligman,  Jesse,  49 
Sewall,  Arthur,   124 
Bewail,  William,   302 
Seward,  William  H.,  8,  72 
Seymour,  Horatio,  $2 
Shafter,  William  Rufu»,  252,  308 
Shaw,  Bernard,  468 
Sheridan,  Philip,  517 
Sherman,  Jaraen  S.,  347,  380 


567 


Index 


Sherman,  John,  32,  71,  84,  108,  159  et 

seq.,  174,  204,  232,  246,  263,  271 
Sherman,  Thomas  H.,  135,  172 
Sherman,  William  T.,  51,  154 
Sherman    Anti-Trust   Law,    177,    204, 

261,  275,  345,  3<$5 
Silver,  241   et  seq. 

Bland,  Richard  P.,  90 

Bryan,  William  Jennings,  90 

coinage,  90 

death  of  issue,  207 

money  standard,  as,  83 

political   issue,    238    et   seq. 

Purchase  Repeal  bill,  200,  203 

"16  to  i,"  241 
Simpson,   Jerry,   201 
Slogans,  49,  51,  137,  156,  161,  198,  241, 
242,   39,6,   397,  4io,  4*3,  432,  47*» 
491      • 

.    Republican  Party,  26 
Smalley,    George   W.,   4 
Smith,  Alfred  E.,  287,  466 
Smith,  Charles  Emory,  4,  52,  174,  194 
Smoot,  Reed,  435 
South,  campaigns  in  the,  185 

General  Amnesty  bill,  98 

Hayes'  attitude  toward,  87 

influence  of,  137 

negro  delegates,   162 

power,    political,    140    et    seq. 

Solid,  hope  of  breaking,  329,  351 

struggle  with,  last,  183  et  seq, 
South  Carolina,  political  leaders,  33- 
Southern   Pacific  Railroad,  451 
Spain,  Cuban  trouble  with,  252 

peace  treaty  with,   278 

war  with  America,  252  et  *$eq. 
Spanish-American    War,    El     Caney, 
308 

engagements    of,    252    et   seq. 

McKinley   and,   230 

Platt  Amendment,  253 

problems,   aften-war,   253 

San  Juan  Hill,  battle  of,  308 

Santiago,  308 

Speer,  William  McMurtrie,  57,  66 
Sphinx  cartoon,  446  • 
Spooner,  John  C.,  32,  159,  527,  549 
Springer,    William,    193 
Standard  Oil  Company,  366 
Star,  Marion,   466,  472,   473 
Stephenson,  Isaac,   549 
Stevenson,  Adlai,   124 


Stimson,  Henry  L.,  381 

Stokes,    Edward,    114 

Storm,  Prophetic,  355 

Straus,   Oscar   S.,    158,   371,   386,  405, 

410 

Stump-speaker,   radio   a   rival   of,   12 
Sugar  Trust,   260 
Sullivan,  John  L.,  303 
Sullivan,  Roger,  283 
Sumner,  Charles,  72,  97 
Sumner,   Samuel,   308 
Sun,   New   York,    130,    136,    138,   210, 

302 


Taft,   Charles   P.,    342,   349,   387 
Taft,  Henry,  387 

Taft,  William  Howard,  59,  60,  92,  257, 
272,  280,   302,   304,   306,   310,   316, 

323,   349 

acceptance  speech,  341,   344 
administration,  breakdown  of,  379 
appraisement  of,   national,   373 
"breaks"  of,   375   et  seq. 

campaign,  Presidential,  345 

Cannon,  and    Speaker,   347 

cartoons,  324,  343,  358,  360,  363,  372 

Chief-Justice,  as,  370 

conference  on,  371 

failure,   reasons  for,   368,   373 

inauguration   of,   355,   356 

insurgents  against,  361 

judgeship  offers,   370 

leadership,  loss  of  party,   369 

nomination,    campaign    for,    333    et 
seq. 

"old  guard,"  and  the,  359 

opposition  to,  333  et  $?q* 

policies  of,   357 

political  experience,   367 

Roonevelt,  neglect  of,  346 

Roonevelt'ji  Hurcensor,  choice  as,  325 

slogan,   campaign,   388 

statement^  unfortunate,  373 

success  lack  of,  367  ft  seq. 

triumph,   biggest,    364  tt   set/, 

weaknew,   political,   417 
Taggart,  Thomas,   383 
Tammany  Hall,  13,  30,  136,  283,  441, 


Tanner,   Frederick   €.»   429 


568 


Index 


Tariff,  American  League,  243 
Cleveland  on,  152,  153 
Dingley,   243 
Gorman  speech  on,  212 
issue  in  1880,  214 
local  issue,  a,  214  et  seq* 
McKinley  bill,  214,  234 
party   policies   on,   214 
Payne-Aldrich  bill,  374 
Porto  Rico,  257 
protective,    153,   215 
Tawney,  James,  374 
Taylor,  Zachary,  123 
Telegrams,   Hanna-Roosevelt,  264 
historic,  86,  207 
political,  454  et  seq. 
Teller,  Henry  M.,  33 
Texas,  political  leaders,  33,  405 
Thompson,  Richard  W.,  85 
Thurman,  Allan   G.,  32,   81 
Thurston,  John  M.,  242 
Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  77,  150 
bribery  charges,  80 
cartoons,  79,  82 
nicknames  of,  80 
Tillman,  Benjamin  R»,  33,  549 
Tim€s>  London,  69 
Tlma,  Ne*w  York,  130 
Tobacco   Industry,   366 
Tribune,  New  York,  2,  3,  64,  So,  138 
Trinidad,   West    Indies,    383 

Roosevelt  in,  429 
Trusts,  legislation  against,  365 
Sherman  law,  365 
sugar,  365 
suits  against,  365 
Supreme  Court  decisions,  365 
tobacco,  366 

Tumulty,  Joseph,  484,  541 
"T.  W.,"  4 

Twain,  Mark,  188,  434 
"Twenty  Years  of  Congress,"  James 

G.  Elaine,  126,  135,  210 
Tylar,  John,  123,  *xo 


Underwood,  Oscar  W.,  281; 

United    States,    bedside    government, 

Constitution,    545 
debts,  payment  of,  69 


United  States   (cont'd) 

expansion  problems,  9,  71 

flag  on  school-houses,  180 

growth  of,  45 

Hawaii,  annexation  of,  217 

imperialism,  72 

Monroe   Doctrine,   223   et  seq, 

Northwest   Boundary,    72 

treaties,  72 

United  .States  Steel  Corporation,  260 
Untermyer,  Samuel,  432 


Van  Buren,  Martin,  167,  210 

record   of,   367 
Vance,  Zebulon   B.,   33 
Van   Valkenburg,   E.   A.,  ,405 
Vare,  William  S.,  194 
Venezuela     boundary     dispute,     19$ 

200,  223  et  seq. 
Vermont,  political  leaders,  32 
Versailles  Treaty,  183,  279,  489,  505, 

525 

ratification,  offer  for,  514 
Senate,  goes  to,  512 
Senate  reservations  on,  514 

Vest,  George  G.,  33 

Vice  Presidents,  influence  of,  123 

Vicksburg,  75 

Virginia,  political  leaders,  32 

Virgin  Islands,  71,  73 

Voorhees,   Daniel,    32,    150 

Voters  (see  Ballot,  The) 

W 

Wakeman,  Wilbur  F.,  242 

Wall  Street,  288 

Walsh,  Thomas  J.,  273 

Ward,  William  L.,  307,  333,  347>  39^, 

393>  395i  4<X3 

Washington,  Booker  T.,  302 
Washington,  George,  8,  35,  309,  488 
Washington,  41,   146 
Waterloo,  253 
Watterson,  Henry,  136,  137 
Weaver,  James  B,,  201 
Webster,  Daniel,  72,  468 
Weeks,  John  W,,  32,  450,  475,  530 
Weitenkampf,  Frank,  xxvi 


Index 


Wellington,  Dufee  of,  253 

Welliver,   Judson   C.,   400 

Wells,   H.   a,  271 

"We're     Coming,     Father     Abraham, 

300,000  More,"  51 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company, 

*7>  137 
West  Virginia,  political  leaders,  33 

Wheeler,  Everett  P.,  145,  *5° 

White,  Andrew  D.,  72,  150 

White,   Edward    D.,   365,    487 

White,  William  Allen,  405 

White,  Z.  K.,  4  ' 

White  Plains,  New  York,  3 

Whitney,  William  C,,   131 

Wickersham,  George  W,,  364,  418 

"Wigwam,  The,"  8 

Wilkinson,   Horace,  428 

Willcox,  William  R.,  23,  24,  336,  449, 

450,  453  e*  se(l*>  46o 
Wilson,  William  L.}  33,  211 
Wilson,  Woodrow,  xi,  13,  23,  36,  71, 
72,  92,  136,  174,  183,  210,  245,  256, 
274,  275,  386,  514,  539 

addresses,   war,  497 

administrative  ability  0^36 

advice,  attitude  toward,  56 
•      Cabinet,   attitude  toward,  482 

campaign,   1916,   450 

cartoons,  484,  49»>  494,  499)  5<>3 

cartoons,  opinion  of,  284 

Cleveland,  in  comparison  with,  226 

conference,  distaste  for,  483 

Congress  ignored,  498 

Congressman,  as,  209,  213 

defeat  of,  518 

eyes  of  the  world,  in  the,  488  et  $vq. 

friendships,  few,  484 

funeral  service,  509 

Governor,  as,  483 

House,  break  with,  507,  5x0 

House  his   personal   representative, 

49» 

inaugural  address,  482 
intolerance  of,  481  it  stq,>  513 
League  of  Nations,  and  the,  505  ft 

seq. 

letters  of,  498,  515,  540 
many-sided  man,  a,  493 
message,  sociv 

naturalized  citizens,  speech  to,  227 
nomination   of,   282   et  seq. 


Wilson,  Woodrow,  (cont'd) 
"notes,"  passion  for,  483 
notes,  war,  490 

opinions  of,  diverse,  480  et  seq. 
opportunity  lost,  great,  500 
Paris,  in,  504  et  seq. 
Paris,   return  from,  423 
Paris  trip  a  mistake,  489 
peace  methods  of,  254,  497,   502 
personal  fame,  tattle  for,  515 
personality  of,  485,  487 
physical  breakdown  of,  513,  540  et 

seq. 

reelection,  efforts  for,  491,  495 
referendum  on  treaty,  effort  for,  515 
rivalry,  refusal  of,  501 
schoolmaster  in  politicn,  486 
secret  agreement  of,  491  ft  seq, 
Senate,    and    the,   482,    512   et  s£%,t 

543 

slogans,  490 

social  life  of,  485 

statements,  effect  of,  374 

support,  plea  for,  498 

"thirteen,"  liking  for,  50* 

tolerance  of,   506 

treaty,  speeches  on  the,  512 

war  Cabinet,  496 
.  World  War  career  of,  4$6t  489  et 

uq,,  49?»  495 

Wilson,  Mrs,  Woodrow,  542  ft  Sfq* 
Wilnon-Gorman  Tariff  Bill,  &o§ 
Windom,  William,  121 
Winona,  Minnesota,  375 
Wisconsin,  political  leaders,  32,  33 
Wolcott,  Edward,   nK 
Woman's    Christian    Temperance 

Union,  6% 
Women,   ballot   and,    12 

votes  for,  Reecl  advocate*,  193 
Wood,  Fernando,  49 
Wood,  Leonard*  iH,  30$,  463,  46^  $31 
Woodfortl,  Stewart  JL,  xao 
Woodruff,  Timothy  L.,  34$ 
Warden,  William  L,,  317 
World,  New  York,  57,  134,  138,  194, 

441 
World  War,  a6,  35,  69,  70 

armistice,  500 

bonus  bill,  471,  473 

finance  board,  476 

*,  501 


570 


index 

World  War  (cont'd)  .  Y 

peace   conference,   497,    500,    504   et 

seg.  York  Harbor,  Maine,  409 

problems   after,  475  Young    Men's    Christian    Association, 

soldier  dead,  return  of,  477  424 

submarines,  490 

unpreparedness,  497  Z 

Wilson  and  the,  488 

Wilson's  message  jto  Congress,  486      Zouaves,   Civil   War,   51 
Wright,  Luke,  341,  346,  385  .    parade  picture,  8 


571