Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet Part 102

"But I only meant to testify to you, from these remote nations, the pardonable pride of an Ohioan, and a veteran Congressman--in your elevation.

"When you write to the general, remember me to him kindly.

"Mrs. c.o.x desired to be kindly regarded to your wife and yourself.

She joins me in felicitations.

"With esteem, etc., "S. S. c.o.x.

"Hon. John Sherman."

President Cleveland's first annual message was delivered to the Senate on the 8th of December. He stated that:

"The fact that our revenues are in excess of the actual needs of an economical administration of the government justifies a reduction in the amount exacted from the people in its support.

"The proposition with which we have to deal is the reduction of the revenue received from the government, and indirectly paid by the people from customs duties. The question of free trade is not involved, nor is there now any occasion for the general discussion of the wisdom or expediency of a protective system.

"Justice and fairness dictate that, in any modification of our present laws relating to revenue, the industries and interests which have been encouraged by such laws, and in which our citizens have large investments, should not be ruthlessly injured or destroyed.

We should also deal with the subject in such manner as to protect the interests of American labor, which is the capital of our workingmen; its stability and proper remuneration furnish the most justifiable pretext for a protective policy."

This specific principle, if fairly and justly applied to all industries alike, would be a basis for customs duties that all would agree to, but, when made, a struggle arises in determining the articles to be protected, and those to be free of duty. The President said that the reduction should be made of duties upon the imported necessaries of life. Such articles are not imported; they are mainly produced by our own people. By common consent the few articles that are imported, cla.s.sed as necessaries of life, and which cannot be produced in this country, are already free of duty. When Congress undertook to reduce the revenue it was found difficult to apply the rule suggested by the President. He said:

"Nothing more important than the present condition of our currency and coinage can claim your attention.

"Since February, 1878, the government has, under the compulsory provisions of law, purchased silver bullion and coined the same at the rate of more than $2,000,000 every month. By this process, up to the present date, 215,759,431 silver dollars have been coined."

He properly stated that the mere desire to utilize the silver product of the country should not lead to a coinage not needed for a circulating medium. Only 50,000,000 of the silver dollars so coined had actually found their way into circulation, leaving more than 165,000,000 in the possession of the government, the custody of which had entailed a considerable expense for the construction of vaults for its safe deposit. At that time the outstanding silver certificates amounted to $93,000,000, and yet every month $2,000,000 of gold from the public treasury was paid out for two millions or more silver dollars to be added to the idle ma.s.s already acc.u.mulated.

He stated his view of the effect of this policy, and in clear and forcible words urged Congress to suspend the purchase of silver bullion and the coinage of silver dollars until they should be required by the business of the country. This is the same question now pending, but under circ.u.mstances of greater urgency.

The President enlarged fully upon this vital subject and has adhered to his opinions tenaciously. He was re-elected with full knowledge of these opinions and now, no doubt, will soon again press them upon Congress. The efforts made to carry into effect the policy of the President will be more fully stated hereafter. He closed his message by calling attention to the law relating to the succession to the presidency in the event of the death, disability or removal of both the President and Vice President, and his recommendation has been carried into effect by law. In conclusion he said:

"I commend to the wise care and thoughtful attention of Congress the needs, the welfare, and the aspirations of an intelligent and generous nation. To subordinate these to the narrow advantages of partisanship, or the accomplishment of selfish aims, is to violate the people's trust and betray the people's interests. But an individual sense of responsibility on the part of each of us, and a stern determination to perform our duty well, must give us place among those who have added, in their day and generation, to the glory and prosperity of our beloved land."

The Secretary of the Treasury, David Manning, in his report to Congress, amplified the statement made of the receipts and expenditures of the government and gave estimates for the then current and the next fiscal year. He was much more explicit than the President in his statement of reform in taxation. He expressed more at length than the President the objections to the further coinage of the silver dollars. He stated the superior convenience of paper money to coins of either gold or silver, but that it should be understood that a sufficient quant.i.ty of actual coin should be honestly and safely stored in the treasury to pay the paper when presented. He entered into an extended and interesting history of the two metals as coined in this country and the necessity of a monetary unit as the standard of value. His history of the coinage of the United States is as clear, explicit and accurate as any I have read.

On the 12th of December, 1885, I received from Governor Hoadley an official letter notifying me, as president of the Senate, that a marble statue of General Garfield had been placed in the hall of the old House of Representatives, in pursuance of the law inviting each state to contribute statues of two of its eminent citizens, and saying:

"It is hoped that it may be found worthy of acceptance and approval as a fit contribution from this state to the United States, in whose service President Garfield pa.s.sed so much of his life and whose chief executive officer he was at the time of his death."

On the 5th of January, 1886, I submitted to the Senate, in connection with Governor Hoadley's letter, concurrent resolutions returning the thanks of Congress to the Governor, and through him to the people of Ohio, for the statue, and accepting it in the name of the nation. In presenting these resolutions I expressed at considerable length the estimate of the people of Ohio of the character and public services of Garfield, and closed as follows:

"The people of Ohio, among whom he was born and bred, placed his image in enduring marble in the silent senate of the dead, among the worthies of every period of American history, not claiming for him to have been the greatest of all, but only as one of their fellow-citizens, whom, when living, they greatly loved and trusted, whose life was spent in the service of his whole country at the period of its greatest peril, and who, in the highest places of trust and power, did his full duty as a soldier, a patriot, and a statesman."

The resolutions were then adopted.

The legislature of Ohio that convened on the 3rd of January, 1886, was required to elect a Senator, as my successor, to serve for six years following the expiration of my term on the 4th of March, 1887. The Republican members of the legislature held an open joint caucus on the 7th of January, and nominated me for re-election, to be voted for at the joint convention of the two houses on the following Tuesday. The vote in the caucus was unanimous, there being no other name suggested. The legislature was required to meet an unexampled fraud at the recent election, practiced in Hamilton county, where, four Republican senators and eleven Republican members had been chosen. A lawless and desperate band of men got possession of the ballot boxes in two or three wards of the city of Cincinnati, broke open the boxes and changed the ballots and returns so as to reverse the result of the election of members of the legislature. These facts were ascertained by the finding and judgment of the circuit and supreme courts, but the supreme court held that the power to eliminate such frauds and forgeries did not reside in the courts but only in the senate and house of representatives of the state, respectively. Each house was the judge of the election of its members. This palpable and conceded fraud had to be acted upon promptly. The house of representatives, upon convening, appointed a committee to examine the returns, and on the fifth day of the session reported that the returns were permeated with fraud and forgeries, and that the persons elected and named by the committee were ent.i.tled to seats instead of those who held the fraudulent certificates of election. Without these changes the Republican majority was three on joint ballot. The report was adopted after a full and ample hearing, and the Republican members were seated.

In the senate a committee was also appointed and came to the same conclusion. The senators holding the fraudulent certificates claimed the right to vote on their own cases, which was denied by Lieutenant Governor Kennedy, the presiding officer, and the Republican senators were awarded their seats, but this did not occur until some months after the election of United States Senator, which took place on the 13th of January, when I was duly elected, receiving in the senate 17 votes and Thurman 20, and in the house 67 votes and Thurman 42, making a majority of 22 for me on joint ballot.

I was notified at Washington of my election and was invited to visit the legislature, members of the senate and house of both parties concurring. It so happened that at this time I had accepted an invitation from President Cleveland to attend a diplomatic dinner at the White House. I called upon him to withdraw my acceptance, and, on explaining the cause, he congratulated me on my election.

The reception by the two houses was arranged to be at 4 o'clock p.

m. on the day after the election. I arrived in Columbus at 3:30, and, accompanied by Governor Foraker and a committee of the two houses, proceeded immediately to the hall of the House, where the legislature and a great company had a.s.sembled. I was introduced by Lieutenant Governor Kennedy. George G. Washburn delivered an eloquent address of welcome in behalf of the legislature, closing as follows:

"Your return to the Senate in 1881 was only additional evidence of our continued confidence and esteem, and on this, the occasion of your fifth election to that honored position, I tender to you the hearty congratulations of the general a.s.sembly and of the citizens of this great commonwealth. Conscious that you have rendered far greater service to the people of your native state than it will be possible for them to repay by any honors they can confer upon you, I again bid you a most cordial welcome and invoke the continued guidance and protection of the same Almighty Being who has led you thus far to well merit the exalted t.i.tle of 'good and faithful servant.'"

After the applause which followed Mr. Washburn's address had subsided, I responded in part as follows:

"My first duty on this occasion, after the magnificent reception you have given me, it to express to you my profound sense of the high honor you have conferred upon me. I have often, in a somewhat busy life, felt how feeble are words to express the feelings of the heart. When all has been said that one can say, there is still something wanting to convey an adequate expression of grat.i.tude and obligation. This I feel now more than ever before, when you have selected me for the fifth time to serve as a Member of the Senate of the United States.

"Such trust and confidence reposed in me by the people of Ohio, through their chosen representatives, imposes upon me an obligation of duty and honor, more sacred than any words or promises can create.

"And now, gentlemen, for the future term of service to which you have elected me, I can only, with increased experience, do what I have done in the past, and, with every motive that can influence any man, seek to preserve the favor and confidence of a people as intelligent as any on the face of the globe.

"As many of you know, I did not seek re-election to the Senate.

I sincerely felt that there were many citizens of the State of Ohio of my political faith who might rightfully aspire to the dignity of the office of Senator of the United States. I was very willing to give way to any of them, but you have thought it best to continue me in this position. It comes to me without solicitation or intrigue, or any influence that is not honorable to you and to me.

I trust it will not prove injurious to any portion of the people of the State of Ohio, whether they agree with me in political opinions or not.

"I accept the office as a trust to be performed under the active vigilance of political adversaries and the partial scrutiny of friends, but with the sole object of promoting the honor and prosperity of the United States. I can have no motive of selfishness or ambition to turn me from a faithful performance of every duty attached to the office.

"I a.s.sure you, gentlemen, that, without recalling that I am elected by a party, I will go back to Washington with the earnest desire to perform the duties that you have a.s.signed me, with the hope to contribute, to the best of my abilities, not merely to the success of my party, but to the good of the whole country.

"To me the national government in our system is the _father_, the protector of our national honor, our defender against enemies at home and abroad, while the state is the _good mother_ who guards sacredly the home, the family and the domestic interests of life, to be beloved by every good citizen of the state, the fountain and source of the greatest blessings of domestic life. Ohio can justly claim to be the equal of any other in the sisterhood of states, central in location, rich in resources, the common pathway of all the states, containing over three millions of people as happy in their surroundings as those of any community in the world. We must do our part to advance and improve our condition by wise legislation and by the moral influences of education and religion. In this way only can Ohio sustain her high and honorable standing as a part of a great country, eloquently and truly described by Canon Farrar as 'in numbers the greatest, in strength the most overwhelming, in wealth the most affluent, of all the great nations of the world.'"

My speech was well received by both Democrats and Republicans.

In the evening a general reception of ladies and gentlemen was held in the senate chamber, when hand shaking and social congratulations occurred, partic.i.p.ated in by citizens of Columbus and other places.

The next day I returned to Washington.

I observed closely the course pursued by the press of the country in respect to my election. As a rule it was received with favor by papers of both parties. The election of a Senator of the United States by such frauds as had been practiced by Democrats in Cincinnati would be a bad example that might be followed by other crimes, violence or civil war. The weakness in our system of government is likely to be developed by a disputed election. We touched the line of danger in the contest between Hayes and Tilden. Some guards against fraud at elections have been adopted, notably the Australian ballot, but the best security is to impress succeeding generations with the vital importance of honest elections, and to punish with relentless severity all violations of election laws.

During this Congress, by reason of my position as presiding officer, I partic.i.p.ated only occasionally in the current debate, introduced only private bills, and had charge of no important measure.

Mr. Eustis, on the 8th of February, introduced a resolution instructing the committee on finance to inquire whether it had been the custom for the a.s.sistant treasurer at New Orleans to receive deposits of silver dollars and at a future period issue silver certificates therefor. This led to a long and rambling debate, in which I took part. I stated my efforts, as Secretary of the Treasury, and those of my successors in that office, to put the silver dollars in circulation; that they were sent to the different sub-treasuries to be used in payment of current liabilities, but silver certificates were exchanged for them when demanded. Also, when gold coin or bullion came into the United States in the course of trade, and was inconvenient to transport or to use in large payments for cotton or other products, the treasurer of the United States, or his a.s.sistants in all parts of the country, issued silver certificates in exchange for gold, that in this way the coin reserve in the treasury was maintained and increased without cost, that during one season $80,000,000 gold was in this way acquired by the treasury. I could have said later on, that, until within three years, when the receipts of the government were insufficient to pay its current expenditures, there was no difficulty in securing gold and silver coin in exchange for United States notes, treasury notes and silver certificates. The greater convenience of paper money in large commercial transactions created a demand for it, and gold and silver were easily obtained at par for all forms of paper money issued by the government. The exchange was temporarily discontinued by Secretary McCulloch. It is a proper mode of fortifying the gold reserve and ought to be continued, but cannot be when expenditures exceed the revenue, or when there is the slightest fear that the treasury will not be able to pay its notes in coin.

On the 8th of March John F. Miller, a Senator from California, died, and funeral services were conducted in the Senate on the 13th, when I announced that:

"By order of the Senate, the usual business will be suspended this day, to enable the Senate to partic.i.p.ate in the funeral ceremonies deemed appropriate on the death of John F. Miller, late an honored Member of this body from the State of California."

The services were conducted in the Senate Chamber by Rev. William A. Leonard, rector of St. John's church, the chaplain of the Senate, Dr. Huntley, p.r.o.nouncing the benediction, after which the following statement was made by me, as president of the Senate:

"The funeral ceremonies deemed appropriate to this occasion in the Senate Chamber are now terminated. We consign all that is mortal of our brother to the custody of an officer of the Senate and a committee of its Members, to be conveyed to his home on the Pacific, and there committed for burial to those who have honored him and loved him so much when living. The Senate, as a body, will now attend the remains to the station."

Mr. Miller was highly esteemed by his a.s.sociates in the Senate.