Biographic memorial of Frederick Driscoll

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Minnesota Historical Society.
Vol. XV. Plate XVI.

BIOGRAPHIC MEMORIAL OF FREDERICK DRISCOLLJ

BY HENRY A. CASTLE.

Frederick Driscoll, whose character and achievement we
desire to commemorate on this occasion, filled worthily for a
long period, crowded with important events, a conspicuous place
in the annals of this city and this commonwealth, besides attain-
ing positions of nation-wide prominence and influence in the
realms where his professional activities were especially exer-
cised.

Our friend was so versatile in his endowments, his attain-
ments, and his sympathies, and so many-sided in his character,
as to command the sincere respect of contemporaries of all
shades of political opinion. He was a man of forceful and gen-
erous nature, with a fertile mind well stocked with ideas and
lavish in their outlay. Warm-hearted, open-handed, large-
minded, with a certain profusion in his intellectual expendi-
tures, as if conscious of an overflowing reserve, his powers were
wonderfully at his command on those occasions when the exi-
gencies of the moment required him, in some public assembly,
to present his views on an important subject under discussion.

He was equally at home in a political convention, at the
Chamber of Commerce, or at a great meeting called to decide
on measures to meet an impending crisis. He made no ora-
torical efforts, but the clearness of statement, the persuasive-
ness of his manner of reasoning, all combined to win assent and
disarm opposition.

Frederick Driscoll was born at Boston, Massachusetts, July
31, 1834. His boyhood was spent in that city, and he received
a serviceable education at the Groton Academy. He formed
plans for a mercantile career and was trained in that direction

*Read at the monthly meeting of the Executive Council, April 10, 19H.

688

MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

with no premonitions of the wide divergence therefrom the
future busy years would bring.

In the summer of 1856 he came west and found employment
for a few months at Clinton, Iowa. While travelling on the
Lake Michigan steamboat, ''Niagara," in 1857, the boat was
burned near Green Bay, Wis., and many of his fellow passen-
gers were drowned. In attempting to assist one of these, a
woman, Mr. Driscoll was struck by a floating spar and deprived
of the sight of his left eye, — a permanent affliction, honorably
incurred, which however failed to impair his subsequent poten-
tiality.

He arrived in Minnesota in October, 1857, and, after a short
stay in St. Paul, located at Belle Plaine in Scott county as book-
keeper for the land company which exploited the townsite.

He came, an ambitious, industrious, level-headed young man,
to the Minnesota of the eventful decade preceding the Civil
War, to breathe her invigorating air, to drink of her crystal
waters, and bathe in her glorious sunshine. He came to share
her affluent but undeveloped resources, the age-fattened fertil-
ity of her shoreless prairies, her immeasurable storage vaults of
mineral wealth, and her forests of lofty pines.

He came to blend his destiny with a free, brave, virtuous
people. They were rugged as the red foemen they confronted ;
primitive ; poor in worldly possessions, but rich in daring and
will and hope. He became one with them, without delay or mis-
giving, and within five years had gained a position of promi-
nence from which he never receded.

The Belle Plaine Land Company suffered some financial re-
verses, Mr. D. W. Ingersoll of St. Paul, a leading merchant, was
made assignee, and Mr. Driscoll became his agent. Among the
assets of the Land Company was a weekly newspaper, the ' ' In-
quirer," which, after many vicissitudes, suspended publication
in 1861. At the suggestion of Mr. Ingersoll, Mr. Driscoll ac-
cepted the newspaper plant in payment of arrearages due for his
services. He was not a practical printer, but he embarked on
this untried venture, which was to shape and control the work of
a lifetime, with youthful self-reliance, fully justified by the
result.

FREDERICK DRISCOLL. 689

Meantime, other events which definitely affected his for-
tunes had occurred. On May 31, 1858, he had married at Belle
Plaine Miss Ann L. Brown of New York, a daughter of Hon. J.
B. Brown, who later, as Lieutenant Colonel of the 113th New
York Infantry Volunteers, made a distinguished record in the
War for the Union. Miss Brown, who had recently graduated
at an eastern collegiate institution, was visiting her sister, Mrs.
William G. Gates, at Belle Plaine, when the acquaintance began.

In November, 1860, Mr. Driscoll was elected a representative
in the Minnesota Legislature from Scott county, and served dur-
ing the session of 1861. He was a Republican, and Scott county
was strongly Democratic ; he was only twenty-six years old, and
had lived in the state but two years; yet he was chosen by a
small plurality, and bore a highly creditable part during the ses-
sion in debates as well as in framing legislation. He was spe-
cially helpful in locating the terminus of the Duluth Railroad in
St. Paul.

It was at the close of this session that he purchased the mori-
bund newspaper, changed its name to the ' ' Scott County Jour-
nal," transformed its politics from Democratic to Republican,
and commenced the journalistic apprenticeship which was to
give to the state and to the nation a genuine master workman.

At the opening of the Legislative session of 1862, Mr. Dris- *
coll came to the capital and with the prestige of his previous
service in the House, added to that of a Republican editor, was
elected Secretary of the Senate. He discharged his duties, both
in the regular session and in the special session of that year, so
acceptably as to attract the attention of the state leaders of one
wing of the dominant Republican party, who encouraged him to
bring his printing material to St. Paul and establish a daily
paper in opposition to the Press.

It was a period of depression and solicitude for Minnesota.
The rebellion in the South had drawn thousands of her patriotic
sons to its remote battlefields, and the horrible Indian massacre
of August, 1862, had depopulated her frontiers. Mr. Driscoll,
physically disabled for field duty, nevertheless was given a com-
mission which he was unable to accept, but he rendered valuable
service in the quartermasters' department at Fort Ripley, and
elsewhere, during the most trying season.

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MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

In November, 1862, he removed to St. Paul and established
the Daily Union. A young man just arrived from Ohio, named
Harlan P. Hall, was his city reporter. The Legislature of 1863
was to elect a United States Senator to succeed Henry M. Rice.
There were two Republican candidates. Governor Alexander
Ramsey of St. Paul and Congressman Cyrus Aldrich of Minne-
apolis. The Press, owned by William R. Marshall and Newton
Bradley, with Joseph A. Wheelock as editor, earnestly sup-
ported Governor Ramsey; Mr. Driscoll, in the Union, just as
earnestly supported Colonel Aldrich. Ramsey won the sena-
torial toga, but at the same session of the Legislature Mr. Dris-
coll was elected State Printer, by which proceeding emoluments
estimated at $20,000 a year were transferred from the Press to
the Union. Thus both papers had gained, — likewise both had
lost. A consolidation was suggested and speedily effected.

Mr. Wheelock, at the outset, doubtless looked with amuse-
ment bordering on disdain upon this journalistic tyro from
Scott county, who had the temerity to set up a rival Republican
daily in St. Paul. But no sooner had the contest begun than he
discovered, like Fitz-James of old :

"No maiden's hand is round thee thrown!

That desperate grasp thy frame might feel,

Through bars of brass and triple steel ! "

And the contest did not last long. It was soon found ex-
pedient to unite the two papers. The Union was merged into
the Press, March 1, 1863. Newton Bradley and William R.
Marshall retired; Frederick Driscoll and Joseph A. Wheelock
became partners and began an association that continued until
1899.

As to which was the senior and which the junior partner,
opinions have differed. Mr. Wheelock, the editor, was always
in the limelight, while Mr. Driscoll, the business manager, was
less conspicuously displayed. United, they made a remark-
ably successful combination; separately, neither could possibly
have accomplished so much.

Mr. Wheelock 's half century of primacy in Minnesota
journalism has its unchallenged historical recognition. He was
one of the clearest thinkers and most forcible writers in the

I

FREDERICK DRISCOLL. 691

nation, capable of sustained efforts of uniform excellence, with
frequent flights into the realms of genius. An adept in nervous
thought and muscular language, he wrote with a fullness of in-
formation and a richness of diction that commanded the ap-
plause of his friends, while it often exasperated his opponents.
When his righteous indignation was aroused by some political
atrocity, his wrath became highly inflammatory, and the color-
scheme of his denunciations took on a lurid, sunset crimson.
Not infallible in judgment, nor exempt from infirmities of tem-
per and temperament, which at times cloud the intellectual
vision, he was always credited with good motives and manly
conduct.

The two associates worked together in harmony, as a rule,
although such positive natures must have clashed occasionally
in determining the policies to be pursued. Immersed together
in many seething cauldrons of controversy, they often emerged
discomfited, but never dismayed. Both cherished high ideals
of journalistic responsibility. They repudiated the practices of
those editorial parasites who cultivate an animal instinct until
it approaches human sagacity in selecting a popular issue and
then promptly changing it when the babble and jingle of cur-
rent furor subsides. The editor who adopts this standard in-
fluences nobody; he permits everybody to influence him. He
drifts with the tide, sprinkling all his utterances with a ster-
ilized mist until the drift is discerned. Whether afflicting man-
kind through the pages of the daily yellow, the weekly roast,
or the monthly muck-rake, he is a functional derelict.

No such perversion of allegiance marred the record of
Wheelock and Driscoll. They were early in adopting and per-
sistent in maintaining the standards of the press which made
public opinion the paramount force in society and government.
Healthfully directing this public opinion, the press of those
days became an instrument of communication, a vehicle of in-
fluence ; not the creator of civilization, but a marvelous engine
for its diffusion; not perhaps moving the world, but moving
with the world, and recording all its movements. In this ca-
pacity it developed into a ramified, radiating, educational in-
stitute, in whose laboratories the best thoughts and most prac-

692

MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

tical intelligence were raw material, to be worked and re-
worked into progressive institutions.

While Mr. Wheelock had little or no taste for business de-
tails and left them all to his capable partner, it does not follow
that Mr. Driscoll was equally unconcerned with matters per-
taining to the editorial province.

Sarcasm and stigma have been lavished by unthinking
phrase-coiners and wind-spinners on the charge that certain
newspapers are ''edited in the counting room." In one sense,
the paper that is not edited in the counting room will not be
edited at all, for any considerable length of time. Nor does
this fact presuppose venality, or a lapse into the paths of con-
solidated corporation publicity. Even in the most independent
and progressive journals, the business manager must be con-
sulted as to the broad lines of editorial policy, as to allowable
expenditures for news service, and as to the personnel of the
staff, as well as their compensation. He thus becomes, to all
intents and purposes, the managing editor, and has weighty
prerogatives outside the vital function, naturally assigned to
him, of providing the ways and means.

Mr. Driscoll was all this to the Press and the Pioneer Press
for thirty-six years. He probably wrote few editorials. He
probably censored few of Mr. Wheelock 's writings, — it might
have been better for the paper and the party if he had censored
more of them, for his was the cooler brain. But that he forti-
fied many of the strongest positions, energized many of the most
creditable achievements and inspired many of the most tren-
chant utterances, is a well established truth of history. Thus
in the broadest meaning of the term, Frederick Driscoll was a
journalist.

From the conjunction of Wheelock and Driscoll, in the own-
ership of the St. Paul Daily Press and the harmonious adjust-
ment of their respective functions, dates the entrance of the
latter into a field of state-wide influence. His great oppor-
tunity had come, and he embraced it with the ardor that vital-
ized all his enthusiasms. He became a militant Minnesotan.

Sir Isaac Newton, modestly disclaiming praise for his scien-
tific triumphs, attributed them to the broader vision he en-

FREDERICK DRISCOLL. 693

joyed through standing on the shoulders of giants who had pre-
ceded him, Galileo and Kepler and Copernicus and the rest. To
these he yielded primacy of honor.

But the early Minnesotans had no predecessors in their
splendid work. They did not stand on the shoulders of giants.
They were giants themselves, as if nourished on lions* milk
and the marrow of bisons. Toiling terribly, they wrought
mightily in their several spheres, each solicitous to do his manly
part in building and embellishing the grand structure which
his prophetic eye clearly discerned.

Minnesota was an empire from the day it was founded.
Saint Paul was a city at the hour it was born.

There were giants in those days, and Frederick Driscoll was
with them and of them. He stood shoulder high with the
pioneers, like Alexander Ramsey and Henry M. Rice and H. H.
Sibley and William R. Marshall. He kept step with the de-
velopments worked out by E. F. Drake and W. L. Banning and
W. F. Davidson and George L. Becker and Oliver Dalrymple
and Thomas Lowry and James J. Hill, the empire builders, the
men who did things. He sat in council with such financiers as
Erastus Edgerton and Horace Thompson and H. P. Upham.
He measured up to the intellectual standard of jurists like Gil-
fillan and Cornell and Cole and Flandrau and R. R. Nelson and
George B. Young. In politics, he was the trusted adviser of
Windom and Pillsbury and Dunnell and Washburn and Wil-
kinson and John B. Sanborn and Cushman K. Davis; the
dreaded antagonist of Donnelly and Eugene Wilson and Nor-
ton and Coggswell. He was the co-worker in business enter-
prise with John Nicols and C. D. Strong and P. H. Kelly and
C. W. Hackett and Channing Seabury and J. C. Burbank. He
worked in the ranks of journalism for the upbuilding of the
State, heart to heart with J. A. Wheelock and W. S. King and
J. A. Leonard and Daniel Sinclair. He walked hand in hand,
in gracious deeds of philanthropy and benevolence, with D. W.
Ingersoll and Wilford L. Wilson and D. R. Noyes and Thomas
Cochran. With bowed head, reverently, he marched abreast of
churchmen like S. Y. McMasters and D. R. Breed and E. D. Neill

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MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

and H. B. Whipple and John Ireland, in paths that lead to
righteousness through Christian faith and hope.

It were an honor to any man who sustained himself for a
long series of years on terms of acknowledged equality in a
companionship like this, emulating the brotherhood at King
Arthur's table round, the goodliest fellowship of famous
knights whereof the world holds record. Frederick Driscoll
thus sustained himself and more. In numerous vital emergen-
cies, he was pushed forward, in one or another of these several
fields of usefulness and honor, to a position of applauded lead-
ership, and in no such case did he fail to vindicate amply the
preferment.

His early outlook and outreach had even a wider signifi-
cance. They comprehended questions of national import, and
involved considerations of loftiest patriotism. Mr. Driscoll
was not only a Territorial Pioneer, but was a staunch and loyal
supporter of Lincoln and the Union in the dark and bloody
days of the war for the suppression of the slaveholders' rebel-
lion, the days that tried men's souls.

The issues of the hour were clearly defined. In regard to
them the paper published by Wheelock and Driscoll sounded
always the clarion note of unconditional loyalty. The domi-
nant issue was the life of the Republic. On that question there
could be no equivocation or compromise, — he who was not for
the country was against it. And in all the years succeeding,
these patriots of the war era were ever the champions of the
veteran soldiers of the Republic in every just appeal to the
gratitude of the nation. The predominating tenet in their
creed of civics was aggresive, progressive Americanism.

My personal acquaintance with Mr. Driscoll began at the
first meeting of the Minnesota Editorial Association in Feb-
ruary, 1867. He was the chairman of the local committee which
invited the editors of the state to come to St. Paul. He was
master of ceremonies at the initial assemblages, toastmaster at
the banquet, and in general the director (if not the originator)
of the movement which during forty-four years has done so
much for the publishing fraternity of Minnesota, meanwhile
developing into a powerful national association, which origi-

FREDERICK DRISCOLL. 695

nated here. The state organization was, from the beginning,
with the full approval of the city members, specially devoted to
the interests of the country press, but, as one of its founders,
Mr. DriscoU always felt a personal pride in its prosperity.

In 1867 he was appointed Chairman of the Republican State
Central Committee, and held the position until 1870, conduct-
ing with skill the campaigns which resulted in the second elec-
tion of Governor Marshall and the first election of Governor
Austin. He was during this period and subsequently the mov-
ing spirit in what we called "the Ramsey dynasty," the inner
circle of leading Republicans who had in charge the political
fortunes of Senator Ramsey. Governor Marshall, Gen. R. N.
McLaren, Mr. Driscoll, and Mr. Wheelock, composed this inner
circle, and they so managed affairs as to indicate, with a view
to the Senator's continued tenure, most of the nominations for
state officers. Congressmen, etc., as well as most of the appoint-
ments to Federal positions, during at least a full decade of
Minnesota history. It was a puissant combination, devoted to
what its members then believed to be a laudable purpose, as
indeed is now conceded by some of their surviving opponents.

In May, 1870, Joseph A. Wheelock was, on the recommen-
dation of Senator Ramsey, appointed Postmaster of St. Paul,
by President Grant. The office in those days was usually^
treated as a sinecure, a political perquisite, not necessarily in-
volving personal attention to its duties. The previous incum-
bent, Dr. J. H. Stewart, had continued his lucrative medical
practice without interruption. Mr. Wheelock made Mr. Dris-
coll assistant postmaster, thus accomplishing the doubly desir-
able object of ensuring a competent business supervision of the
post office and of securing a welcome recourse, for upbuilding
the Republican party organ, of perhaps seven thousand dollars
a year from their united salaries.

During the five years they filled these positions, Mr. Dris-
coll gave all necessary attention to the postal work. In the
beginning he demonstrated his executive ability by choosing
Patrick 0 'Brien, from among his employees in the Press count-
ing room, to handle the post-office money and keep the accounts.
Mr. O'Brien is there today, having served continuously as As-

696

MINNESOTA HISTORICAL. SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

sistant Postmaster since 1875, with the unqualified approbation
of all succeeding administrations. Compared with its present
operations and functions, the St. Paul post office was in 1869 of
limited scope. But even then it was important, as the center
of an expanding mail system. Mr. Driscoll managed its affairs
efficiently, introduced many substantial reforms, and when, by
the mutations of politics. Dr. David Day became postmaster
in 1875, turned over to him the well organized up-to-date postal
plant which it has ever since remained. If Mr. Driscoll had
done nothing else that was noteworthy during his post-office
incuinbency, the discovery of Patrick O'Brien and his induc-
tion into the service would be a title to public gratitude.

Senator Ramsey's second term expired March 4, 1875, and
his friends waged a furious campaign for his re-election, of
which campaign Mr. Driscoll was the commander-in-chief.
Three candidates for Republican support were entered against
him, — C. K. Davis, W. D. Washburn, and Horace Austin. After
long delay and much heart-burning, Hon. S. J. R. McMillan,
chief justice of the Supreme Court of the state, was elected as
a compromise. Alexander Ramsey retired from the Senate, and
the Saint Paul Press lost faith in the virtue of the party, if not
in the perpetuity of the Republic.

One of the earliest official acts of Senator McMillan was to
demand the removal of Mr. Wheelock and the appointment of
Dr. David Day, the Senator's brother-in-law, as postmaster of
St. Paul. Party usage constrained President Grant reluctantly
to acquiesce, and the change was made. Mr. Driscoll ceased to
be de facto postmaster, but left his salutary impress and his
proficient helper behind him.

Shortly after this occurrence the startling announcement
was made that the Pioneer and the Press had been consolidated
under the management of Wheelock and Driscoll, and that the
Pioneer Press was to be conducted as an independent journal, a
thing then unprecedented in Minnesota politics.

By this consolidation, the oldest newspaper in the state, the
Pioneer, became the senior segment of the coming colossus of
the Northwestern press. The merger took effect April 11,
1875. A year later, the Pioneer Press acquired the Morning

FREDERICK DRISCOLL. 697

Tribune and the Evening Mail, at Minneapolis, suspended
their publication, and for a time held a monopoly of the daily-
newspaper field of the Twin Cities, except the St. Paul Even-
ing Dispatch.

Mr. Driscoll was necessarily the prime factor in negotiating
and effecting these several fusions or amalgamations, in each
case adding to the prestige and profits of his great journal.
Whether the ablest survive, or only those ablest to survive, the
survivals concededly receive the credit and reap the rewards.
In his admirable history of Minnesota Journalism, in this
Society's Collections (Volumes X and XII), Mr. D. S. B. John-
ston traces the pedigree of the Pioneer Press, and shows that
nineteen daily and weekly newspapers were first and last
absorbed into its ravenous organism.

The Pioneer had been a Democratic paper, and the Press
had been Republican. It seemed to be both logical and prudent
that the consolidated sheet should be independent. But its
new owners were too sincerely attached to their party prin-
ciples, and had too long held front seats in the party councils,
to refrain permanently from partisan and even factional in-
terposition. Within two years the Pioneer Press was as solic-
itous for Republican nominations as the familiar Press had
been for fifteen years preceding.

In the interim of attempted neutrality, however, the Re-
publicans of the state, feeling lost without an ''organ" at the
capital, which was then deemed essential to the maintenance
of party ascendancy, purchased from H. P. Hall the Demo-
cratic St. Paul Evening Dispatch, and transformed it into an
exponent of unconditional Republicanism. Thenceforward for
ten years the Dispatch was mostly under the editorial control
of the writer hereof. During that period and long afterward
the Dispatch at least shared equally with the Pioneer Press
the honors of a consistent advocacy of Republican principles,
and, of choosing the winners among Republican candidates
for nominations, — in the latter performance the two papers
being invariably on opposite sides.

After 1875 Mr. Driscoll's aggressive personal leadership in
political contests had measurably ceased. In 1879 he led a sue-

698 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL. SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

cessful campaign for Governor Pillsbury's third term nomina-
tion; in 1881 he tried to rehabilitate Alexander Ramsey as a
senatorial candidate, but failed; the same year he supported
Governor Pillsbury's unsuccessful candidacy for a fourth
term; in 1883 he was prominent in the movement to re-elect
Senator "Windom, who was defeated. In these struggles he
was of course supported by the Pioneer Press, which was an-
tagonized by the Dispatch and by ninety per cent of the Repub-
lican country papers throughout the state. The scepter had
departed.

As a result of these and other episodes, the Pioneer Press
and its conductors gradually lost in political prestige. But
in the legitimate newspaper field, in news gathering, in the
intelligent presentation and discussion of important events,
in expanding circulation and increasingly profitable advertis-
ing patronage, the enterprising journal went on conquering
and to conquer. As always, Frederick Driscoll guided its
financial destinies. His eye was on every detail of its compli-
cated business, and that of the manufacturing and mercantile
branches he had built up around it, the printing, binding and
lithographing establishment, the wholesale paper and station-
ery trade, and the ready-print auxiliary, each an industry in
itself.

Yet amid all the exacting demands of this, the busiest time
of his busy life, he always found leisure for cheerful participa-
tion in matters relating to the public welfare. In this capacity
he was one of the strongest and most useful men our city and
state have ever known. The real value of his truly unselfish
service cannot be overestimated. He was the cultured man,
the gentleman, in the highest meaning of those expressions.
Yet his was a militant soul. He was not merely a good man^
negatively; he went out and fought for the faith that was in
him.

His interest in everything that pertained to business ex-
tensions, municipal policies, and official responsibilities, made
him a leader among the men who were shaping the evolution
of our ambitious and struggling young city. Every step in
St. Paul's advance had to be worked and fought for against

FREDERICK DRISCOLL. ' 699

vigorous rivalry. No more zealous worker or more chivalrous
fighter than Frederick Driscoll contributed to the ultimate
victory.

One of the chief instrumentalities through which the un-
failing public spirit of Mr. Driscoll was manifested was the
Board of Directors of the Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce.
During thirty-five strenuous years this organization had an
influential part in shaping the policies which built up the
metropolis out of a struggling trading post. During that pe-
riod, I sat with him in that body, composed of about fifty active
citizens in professional and business lines, who met at nine
o'clock every Monday morning to discuss and act on measures
of general interest. Thus I witnessed his intelligent zeal for
the public good, saw the results of his arduous labors on many
committees, learned to recognize and admire his self-reliant
leadership at critical crises in our municipal annals. In 1890,
at one of its most strenuous epochs, he served as president of
this powerful organization.

Among the numerous important matters in which he thus
exercised a potent influence, were the extension of early rail-
road systems and the location of their shops and headquarters ;
securing manufacturing and commercial establishments; build-
ing two State Capitols, the Court House, the Federal Buildings,
depots and hotels; locating schools, colleges, parks, bridges,
and street car lines; regulating taxation and bond issues;
establishing water works ; encouraging immigration ; and pro-
moting all enterprises that promised benefits to the people.
Scarcely one of these failed to receive the special impress of his
good sense and untiring effort.

A typical instance of Mr. DriscoU's single-hearted devotion
to his conception of civic duty occurred in 1890. In that year
the Chamber of Commerce appointed a committee on the Cen-
sus, instructed to stimulate, by legitimate means, the federal
authorities in securing a full and fair enumeration of this
city. The committee consisted of Frederick Driscoll, Charles
Nichols, and the writer hereof. It was a period of intense ri-
valry between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and without the knowl-
edge of our. committee the acting mayor of this city, Mr. 0. 0.

700 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

CuUen, employed skillful detectives to watch the census opera-
tions of our aggressive twin. Unmistakable evidence was se-
cured that systematic methods for improperly swelling the
population rolls were being employed there. Advised of this,
the St. Paul census committee made complaint to the census
bureau at Washington, which, on investigation, found that a
flagrant violation of law was being perpetrated. Warrants
were sworn out; the two managing agents of the conspiracy
were arrested ; a wagonload of incriminating fraudulent sched-
ules was secured, and the scheme by which it was proposed to
add 50,000 names to the lists was thwarted.

A stupendous explosion of local indignation promptly en-
sued. The honest people of Minneapolis, innocent, and igno-
rant of the work in which a few of their unscrupulous leaders
had been secretly engaged, denounced the seeming outrage of
the proceedings taken in St. Paul, and blazed forth in fierce
wrath against those responsible for it. Well to the front among
those who were thus marked for vengeance was Frederick
Driscoll. He had most to lose, but he did not shirk nor quail.
The Pioneer Press had then a large daily circulation and a
profitable advertising patronage in Minneapolis, which was lost
in a day and was never afterwards regained. But Mr. Driscoll
and Mr. Wheelock and their paper stood by their guns at the
cost of many thousands of dollars, and of a journalistic ''dual
city" prestige which had been their joy and pride.

They were sustained by St. Paul sentiment. The movement
resulted in a fair count in both cities. The arrested criminals
were indicted, pleaded guilty, and were punished by heavy
fines, thus vindicating the proceedings taken and those con-
cerned in them. But the pecuniary loss suffered by the paper
and its owners was, of course,, never recompensed. It was a
deliberate sacrifice to the obligations of good citizenship, as
understood by those who made it.

Another manifestation of Mr. Driscoll 's progressive public
spirit was seen in the fine buildings he caused to be erected in
St. Paul, and in his participation in the development of subur-
ban property. When I first met him, the Press office was a
dilapitated half-subterra^ean structure at the Wabasha street

B^RfibERiCK DRISCOLL. 701

bridge. In 1869 he built a new and, for the time, elegant stone
building at Third and Minnesota streets. Five years later, this
being outgrown, its capacity was increased fourfold by addi-
tions to its length, breadth, and height. About 1888, he built
the magnificent Pioneer Press Building at Fourth and Robert
streets. He scrutinized every feature of its construction with
careful attention. After more than twenty years it still remains
the finest structure in the city, a monument to his far-reaching
enterprise. Now that the newspaper plant has been removed,
it ought to be rechristened ' ^ The Driscoll Block, " as a tangible
and enduring tribute to his memory. On Summit avenue, he
built one of the most sumptuous of its stately homes, that now
occupied by Mr. Frederick Weyerhaeuser. He was the leader
in building up a prosperous manufacturing suburb at North
St. Paul, an undertaking in advance of the demands of the
time, and of no pecuniary profit to himself or his associates,
but now partially recognized as a valuable tributary to the city.

A crucial test of individual merit is the estimation with
which one is held by those in long and near association with
him as subordinates and employees. On the whole, several
thousands of persons were employed in the various depart-
ments of the allied concerns managed by Mr. Driscoll, and few
indeed will be found that did not see in him a helper and a
friend. In the best newspaper offices of the country, in banks
and counting rooms, from ocean to ocean, will be found success-
ful men who are earnest in their ascriptions of praise for the
training they received at his hand. In the higher ranks of the
writers attached to his editorial staff at different periods were
such strong and able men as Louis E. Fisher, Charles Yale,
Harlan P. Hall, David Blakeley, James H. Davidson, Paul
Selby, F. A. Carle, J. G. Pyle, Conde Hamlin, W. C. Handy,
and others equally notable, each abundantly equipped for inde-
pendent service, but all paying to their one-time employer the
homage of their respect and esteem.

Owing to mutations of fortune caused by conditions which
he could not foresee, and for which he was in no way respon-
sible, Mr. Driscoll surrendered the management of the Pioneer

702 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

Press corporation on December 1, 1899, after a continuous serv-
ice of more than thirty-six years.

The momentum given to its varied business operations by
his masterly supervision was so powerful that all have been
maintained unimpaired to this day. During the intervening
eleven years, the newspaper has passed to the ownership of
Mr. George Thompson, Proprietor of the Dispatch, both jour-
nals retaining their old names and their individuality as to
hours of publication, etc. ; the Newspaper Union ready print
department has become a separate institution; the manufac-
turing and commercial branch has organized into the Pioneer
Printing Company, with Mr. Walter J. DriscoU as its president ;
the superb office building is now under distinct proprietorship
and control. Thus the great enterprise built up by Frederick
Driscoll has been segregated into at least four flourishing estab-
lishments, each requiring unremitting diligence and exceptional
managerial skill.

At the age of sixty-six, two years beyond the supposed
limit of efficiency in officers of the army, he laid down the spe-
cial burden he had carried for a generation, but he did not re-
tire. On the contrary, he entered on a new career, which led
him into even higher, wider ranges of endeavor than those in
which he had previously toiled and triumphed.

He had already become a national figure in lines connected
with practical journalism. He was one of the founders of the
Associated Press, the universal news-gathering agency of the
country. In 1881 he t)ecame one of its directors, and for ten
years served on the Executive Committee of three, which gov-
erned its affairs. He was also a member of the Executive
Committee of the American Newspaper Publishers Association,
embracing the dailies of all the principal cities. In 1891 he
was chosen chairman of a special committee of this body to ex-
amine the merits and possibilities of type-setting machines, then
regarded with suspicion by publishers and with open hostility
by printers. After patient and thorough investigation this
committee recommended the adoption of the new invention in
newspaper offices, thus revolutionizing the business, making

FREDERICK DRISCOLL. 703

the cheap newspaper possible, and vastly extending the facili-
ties for the diffusion of human knowledge.

Thus prominently identified with the leading publishing
interests by long association, his colleagues at once availed
themselves of the opportunity, when he left the Pioneer Press,
to enlist his services in a very important capacity, for which
he was known to possess rare qualifications. A national board
of arbitration was created. It was composed of the special
standing committee of the American Newspaper Publishers
Association and the executive council of the International Typo-
graphical Union. Of this national board Frederick Driscoll
was early in 1900 made Commissioner of Arbitration, with wide
discretionary authority and a liberal provision as to salary
and expenses.

The duties of this position covered the adjustment of all
controversies betwen publishers and printers. They were com-
plicated and exacting, involving the weariness of long jour-
neys across the continent, the strain of settling acrimonious
disputes, and the labor of framing agreements between the par-
ties thereto. His long experience as a publisher, his firm but
conciliatory and diplomatic methods, enabled him to handle
questions of extreme delicacy, in which large money consider-
ations were at stake, as well as pride of opinion and issues
seemingly irreconcilable between labor and capital. He was
implicitly trusted, from the beginning, by the publishers, and
soon grew to be held in the highest esteem by the labor unions.
Ever insisting on justice, his conduct was so eminently fair and
his manner so persuasive that he effected a complete adjust-
ment in every case submitted to his arbitrament, — a record un-
paralleled in the history of trade contentions. He assuredly
earned in this life, and has received in the life beyond, the
blessing promised to the Peacemakers.

He was a pioneer in the movement for better relations be-
tween employer and employed. He had no precedents to guide
him. He was obliged to blaze his way through a forest of tan-
gled prejudices and animosities, arrogant defiance on one side,
and sullen contumacy on the other. These had brought strikes
and lockouts, sometimes riots, always costly to both parties,

704 MINNESOTA HtSTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

demoralizing the community and paralyzing its productive in-
dustries.

Various remedies had been tried, all of which had failed.
Finally the publishers and printers decided to seek relief in a
policy of concilation and arbitration. As a motto they might
have combined the phrases of two eminent Union commanders :
''War is hell — ^let us have peace!" Providentially they found
Frederick Driscoll competent and willing, and with leisure to
inaugurate the experiment. Organized labor and the associated
employers of labor saw in him a mutual friend. Expert, just,
patient, persistent, and ever kindly, he always found in the end
a common ground of fairness on which, all could meet and frame
a satisfactory agreement for their future guidance.

He gave himself to this fruitful mission, with ever increas-
ing capacity for good, dui:ing the remainder of his life. How
fully he succeeded in accomplishing the duty assigned him, is
most conclusively shown by the voluntary tributes transmitted
to his family, after his decease, by the national jurisdiction
best qualified to appreciate his work.

A memorial brochure, beautifully engrossed and bound, con-
tains Resolutions adopted and signed by the National Board
of Arbitration, including James M. Lynch, Hugo Miller, and
J. "W. Bramwood, representing the International Typographical
Union, which read:

"Whereas, death has summoned from among us Frederick Dris-
coll, Commissioner of the American Newspaper Publishers Associa-
tion, and Whereas, the members of this National Board of Arbitra-
tion desire to bear witness to their very high appreciation of his valued
services to the Publishers as well as to the International Typographical
Union, to his fair-mindedness and unceasing efforts to promote the
mutual interests of employers and employees, and to his many esti-
mable and lovable qualities as a man; Therefore, Be it Resolved, that
the members of this board feel that in Frederick Driscoll's death they
have lost a distinguished associate and a warm personal friend."

An equally sumptuous volume, suitably embellished, con-
tains the Memorial to Mr. Driscoll from the Publishers' Asso-
ciation of New York City, adopted March 27, 1907.

It is signed by the publishers of the New York Times, the
Tribune, the Sun, the American, the Journal of Commerce, the

FREDERICK DRISCOLL.. 705

World, the Evening Post, the Staats-Zeitung, the Brooklyn
Eagle, etc., and is of similar tenor. These two testimonials
constitute a significant and conclusive tribute to his exalted
worth. They will be a precious heirloom for his descendants.

Innumerable editorial tributes to his memory from the press
of the United States testified to the esteem in which he was
held by associates of all parties and in every section. In these
conspicuous mention was made of the beneficial results accom-
plished by the Arbitration Commissioner during his seven
years' arduous service.

The distinguished success of Mr. Driscoll in this new field,
of adjusting the relations between employers and employees,
led to its adoption in other branches of industry, and the pro-
cess of extending the policy of arbitration is still going on.
Comments at a meeting of another national body, which has
entered upon the same course are as follows:

"Plans for the elimination of strife are not only going to meet
with the approval of trade unionists, but are going to be sanctioned
by the general public, who are anxiously awaiting the evolution of
things, so that warfare between employers and employees may be
averted. In the struggle for supremacy between organized capital and
organized labor, there are three great forces at work. At one extreme
there are those who say that trades unions are un-American and a
menace to our Republic. To bring about their annihilation they ac-
cumulate corruption funds, maintain lobbies, hire strike-breakers, and
through court proceedings try to tie up the funds of the Unions. At
the other extreme we have the radicals who declare that wage-slavery
must be abolished, and that only through publicly owned monopolies
is industrial peace possible. Between these two extremes lies the
Arbitration idea. Its guiding principle is the making of collective
instead of individual contracts, and the adjustment of points of dis-
pute by arbitration. Our plan of action is to form a coalition with the
unions for the purpose of maintaining peace. It is understood that the
exigencies of the business must be taken into consideration, so that
the customer may be treated with fairness and not have to pay the
onerous expenses of strikes and lockouts."

Wherever tried in good faith this policy is said to be ef-
fective for the object intended. Peace is promoted with profit
to both sides and to the general public. Thus the results of the
culminating exploit of Frederick Driscoll are spreading in great
waves of benignity over the land. If the permanent melior^-

706 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

tions that are now reasonably expected shall be compassed, he
will be conceded high rank among the nation's benefactors.

Mr. Driscoll's engagements as Commissioner of Arbitration
required the establishment of his headquarters in Chicago, and
he removed from St. Paul to that city in 1900. Thereafter he
was obliged to travel almost continuously in the performance
of his duties. A naturally robust physical constitution, forti-
fied by the good habits of a lifetime, had kept his general health
sound; but an organic trouble, requiring, in the aggregate,
seven severe surgical operations, sapped his vitality by degrees
and led to almost ceaseless suffering. In spite of these afflic-
tions he went on with his work for seven years, heroically bat-
tling to the last with bodily tortures that would have baffled
any but an unconquerable will.

Finally, in March, 1907, he felt unequal to further service
as Commissioner, and tendered his resignation to the Arbitra-
tion Board. He was urged to accept an unlimited sick-leave,
with continued salary and provision for the expenses of a trip
to Europe in search of relief. This striking proof of apprecia-
tion touched him very deeply, but its suggested advantages
could not be realized. He gradually failed, and on March 23,
1907, he passed peacefully away at his home in Chicago. Only
two weeks before his death he had rendered valuable assist-
ance, by wise counsel, in the settlement of a labor disagree-
ment. He thus died, literally and appropriately, with his armor
on, after an extended career of activity and usefulness and
honor.

The funeral services were held in Saint Paul, March 26,
1907, and were conducted by Dr. Henry C. Swearingen, pastor of
the House of Hope Church. The pallbearers were W. J. Dean,
E. L. Shepley, Webster Wheelock, Conde Hamlin, J. D. Arm-
strong, and Dr. Archibald McLaren. The interment was at
Oakland cemetery.

He rests in peace. He had kept the faith. He had lanced
a festering abscess in the body politic and applied healing lo-
tions. He had stretched fresh wires into the domain of indus-
trial ^Qonoroics ai}(l electrified them with his soul.

FREDERICK DRISCOLL. 707

Mrs. Ann Brown Driscoll died March 31, 1880, leaving three
sons. On November 8, 1882, Mr. Driscoll was married in New
York City to Mrs. Lucy Norris Styles of St. Paul, who shared
his successes and labors for twenty-five years. Mrs. Driscoll
now resides in this city. There also survived him, his sons,
Frederick Driscoll, Jr., Arthur B. Driscoll, and Walter J. Dris-
coll ; his daughter, Mrs. Robert H. Kirk ; and his step-son, John
N. Jackson.

In regard to the personal character of Mr. Driscoll, I speak
from the fullness of knowledge and appreciation born of forty
years' intimate acquaintance. In politics we were sometimes
in relations of affiliation, but often in those of intense antago-
nism; in business life we were at times in keen rivalry, yet
more frequently in close and harmonious association. But we
were always personal friends, and all my recollections of him
are illuminated by the sincere respect which flows from an
abiding friendship and affection. My sentiment is one of de-
votion to his memory, inspiring a desire to record some of his
titles to grateful remembrance. It is my hope that the Min-
nesotans of today and of the future may keep, around the
spot where he sleeps, the vigils of their heartfelt gratitude,
evincing the same constancy and fidelity with which he gave
his best endowments to their service.

In his private life Mr. Driscoll was, from boyhood and in
all relations, an exemplar of correct morals and earnest re-
ligious convictions. He stood for what is best in framing the
elements of our Christian civilization, the hope of the country,
the light of the world. He was one of the first members of the
House of Hope Presbyterian Church of St. Paul, and was a
leader of the choir in its early days. He served for many years
on its board of trustees, and was always a generous contributor
to its denominational and benevolent agencies. By precept and
example he lent encouragement to every judicious effort for
the regeneration of society and the uplift of the race.

In social circles his genial manners, added to his fine con-
versational powers, brought to him many sincere and trusting
friends. "When recreation for a season drew him aside from
his arduous labors, it was with the most lively satisfaction and

708 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

pleasure that he gave himself up to the full measure of social
enjoyment ; his conversation sparkled with wit and humor ; his
manner, winning with a fine civility, was frank, tender, and
trusting. In fraternal societies he was prominent and popular.
He was a Mason of the thirty-fourth degree, and fulfilled all
obligations faithfully. He was the incarnation of uncondi-
tional loyalty, — ^loyalty to his country, his home, and his
friends. He was chivalrous to women, and little children loved
him.

In his ideal home life the amiable elements of his character
were most pleasingly manifested. Those permitted even casual
observations of that life were always impressed with its beau-
tiful, affectionate simplicity. Methodical in business, even
abrupt and emphatic at times, he was always in his home the
devoted, thoughtful, considerate husband and father. His ten-
der solicitude for the comfort of an invalid wife during sev-
eral of the most toilsome, perplexing years in the prime of his
manhood, was a revelation of his inmost soul that commanded
the enduring regard of all who witnessed it.

He was a courageous man, having the courage of his opin-
ions. No hope of temporary advantage could ever tempt him,
no flattery could cause him to swerve from his view of the
right. Steadfast in the convictions of a well-matured, well-
balanced mind, he stood firm in his position, and hence he was
a wise counsellor, and a true friend. He could say No ! and
mean it, and stand by it. Thus accoutred, he went forward,
taking no counsel of doubts or fears. In the corrupted cur-
rents of the time Frederick DriscoU was incorruptible. In the
thick of the fray he played the part of a man.

Mr. Driscoll had many of the true elements of greatness.
He was manifestly something more than a fortunate man.
What there was of greatness in his personality or his career is
due not alone to good fortune, but to a blend of certain in-
herent qualities, the qualities of honesty, generosity, firmness,
and patriotism.

Exceptional faculties of perception, reception, and reten-
tion, joined to untiring industry, — these constitute real great-
ness, and, given or making opportunity, achieve distinguished

FREDERICK DRISCOI.L. 7Q9

success. Measured by the most exacting standards, Mr. Dris-
coU was a successful man. It was not a success acquired by-
fortunate accident, nor by any sensational exploit, nor by the
manipulations of frenzied finance. It was that which results
from patient industry, careful thought, unceasing persistence,
and a wonderful faculty for securing loyal service from em-
ployees. One may pardonably felicitate himself on being hon-
ored with the confidence of such a man.

For nearly forty years he was the controlling genius of a
great newspaper plant, as well as of an extensive manufactur-
ing establishment, and, latterly, of commercial adjuncts, all
managed by one corporation of which he was the head. He did
not inherit this property; he did not acquire it by doubtful
means, or even purchase it ready made. He created it. He
built it up and he grew with it, grasping and wielding its enor-
mous influences, mastering its innumerable details, until, in all
its business aspects at least, his name and that of the publica-
tion wiih its auxiliaries became interchangeable terms, — all the
activities of the corporation were vitalized with his individu-
ality.

What sturdy development a man's nature may receive from
a long period of sustained service at the head of a great indus-
trial enterprise, has been copiously observed in this era of mar-
velous expansion. The industrial manager entertains no prej-
udices and plays no favorite. He never indulges in malicious
animal dogmatism. He knows that success depends on pre-
serving an absolutely open mind. His constant incentive is effi-
ciency, and yet more efficiency. He knows that he is operating
in a realm where brains are daily subjected to the polishing of
the fiercest competition known to man.

Frederick Driscoll's career, with its share of trials and re-
verses, was a success. It is full of good example, and of noble
encouragement to the young men of today. He took the buffet-
ing of ill fortune with fortitude, and accepted good fortune
gratefully, but without false pride. Born and reared with no
wealth, with no inherited prestige to rest upon, alone with his
own great mind and energies, he became one of the notable
men of a notable era in this wonderful new Northwest.

710 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

He was easily one of the foremost in the front rank of his
contemporaries. He left the indelible impress of his excep-
tional talents, his tireless industry, and his inflexible integrity,
on many features of the advancement of this city, of this State,
and of the embryo communities beyond our Western border,
which for three decades looked to this center as a source of in-
formation, of political guidance, of commercial and financial
tutelege.

And perhaps his last days were his best days. Having
served faithfully in diverse fields of local effort, with wide radia-
tions of beneficent influence, he was, at an age which entitled
him to retirement and rest, transferred to spheres of national
achievement, yielding distinction it is the privilege of few to
win.

He did not retire, and he did not rest. Well past three
score years and ten, his untiring energies still consecrated to
good works, he fell, at last, a mailed warrior of the Empire of
Peace and Civilization, ^'rich in honor and glorious with
praise.*'

14

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