"There were probably 500 or 600 voters in the 4th ward, and according to previous elections about one-fourth were Republicans and the rest were Democrats. Well, they made up a registration of 700. When the day of the election came they tore up the registration papers and let every fellow vote as many times as he wanted until they got 996 votes in the ballot box. Then that was not all. The Republican judge got angry and went away, but he took the key. Then they broke open the box, tied it up with a rope, and took it to the police officer, and then changed it so that when it was counted over 900 votes were Democratic and only 48 Republican!"

A similar fraud was attempted at Columbus in sight of the penitentiary. The returns of elections had been filed with the county records. Between Saturday night and Monday morning thieves stole one of the returns and added three hundred tallies for every Democratic candidate, thus changing the number of ballots from 208 to 508. The judges were about to count this return, knowing it was a forgery, when public indignation was aroused in the city of Columbus, shared in by its most distinguished Democratic citizens, and fraud was prevented. I felt, and so declared, that these mean crimes were infinitely more despicable than the violence in the south, which sprang from a fear of the southern people that their institutions would be impaired by the votes of men debased by slavery and ignorance.

I went from Washington to Petersburg, where I was hospitably entertained by General Mahone. He had been greatly distinguished for his courage, ability and success, as a Confederate general in the Civil War, and had long been a popular favorite in Virginia. He took the lead on questions affecting the debt of Virginia in opposition to the Democratic party, and a legislature in favor of his opinions having been elected, he became a Senator of the United States. He voted as a rule with Republican Senators, but maintained a marked independence of political parties. I admired him for his courage and fidelity, and was quite willing to speak a good word for him in the election of a legislature that would designate his successor.

The meeting at Petersburg was held in a large opera house on the evening of the 29th of October. When I faced my audience the central part of the house and the galleries seemed to be densely packed by negroes, while in the rear was a fringe of white men. The line of demarkation was clearly indicated by color, most of the white men standing and seeming ill at ease. The speech was fairly well received. In opening I said my purpose was to demonstrate that what the Republican party professed in Ohio as to national questions was the same that it professed in Virginia, and that the practical application of the principles of the Republican party would be of vast benefit to the State of Virginia, while Democratic success would tend more and more to harden the times and prevent the industrial development of Virginia.

"Not only your newspaper," I said, "but the distinguished gentleman who is the Democratic candidate for Governor of the State of Virginia, has said to you that I was waving the bloody shirt while he was contending under the Union flag. If he meant, by waving the bloody shirt, that I sought, in any way, to renew the animosities of the war, then he was greatly mistaken, for in the speech to which he refers, and in every speech I made in Ohio, I constantly said that the war was over and the animosities of the war should be buried out of sight; that I would not hold any Confederate soldier responsible for what he did during the war, and that all I wished was to maintain and preserve the acknowledged results of the war. Among these, I claim, is the right of every voter to cast one honest vote and have it counted; that every citizen, rich or poor, native or naturalized, white or black, should have equal civil and political rights, and that every man of lawful age should be allowed to exercise his right to vote, without distinction of race or color or previous condition. I charge, among other things, that these constitutional rights and privileges have been disregarded by the Democratic party, especially in the southern states."

The speech was largely historical in its character and evidently rather beyond the comprehension of the body of my audience. The scene and the surroundings made a vivid impression on my mind. Here, I felt, were two antagonistic races widely differing in every respect, the old relations of master and slave broken, with new conditions undeveloped, the master impoverished and the slave free without the knowledge to direct him, and with a belief that liberty meant license, and freedom idleness. William McKinley, then a Member of the House of Representatives, and Green B. Raum then spoke, Mr. McKinley confining his speech mainly to a simple exposition of the tariff question, which his audience could easily understand.

The next day, at the invitation of John S. Wise, then the Republican candidate for Governor of Virginia, I went to Richmond, and spent a pleasant day with him. In the evening I attended a mass meeting in the open air, at which there was a very large attendance. There was no disorder in the large crowd before me, but off to the right, at some distance, it was evident that a party of men were endeavoring to create some disturbance, and to distract attention from the speeches. While I was speaking Wise rose and, in terms very far from polite, denounced the people making the noise. He succeeded in preventing any interruption of the meeting. The speech was made without preparation, but, I think, better for the occasion that the one in Petersburg. I stated that I had been born and lived in a region where a large portion of the population was from Virginia and Kentucky; that I had always been taught to believe in the doctrines of the great men illustrious in Virginia history. To the charge made that I was engaged in waving the bloody shirt I said:

"If it means that I said anything in Ohio with a view to stir up the animosities of the Civil War, then, I say, it is greatly mistaken. I never uttered an unkind word about the people of Virginia that mortal man can quote. I have always respected and loved the State of Virginia, its memories, its history, its record, and its achievements.

"Again, although I was a Union man from my heart and every pulsation, just as my friend Wise was a Confederate soldier, yet I never heard in Ohio a man call in question either the courage or purity of motive of any Confederate soldier who fought in the Confederate ranks. I never uttered such a sentiment. I disclaim it. What I did say was this—what I say here in Richmond, and what I said in Petersburg is—that the war is over and all animosities of the war should be buried out of sight; that I would not hold any Confederate soldier responsible for what he did in the war, and all I ask of you is to carry out the acknowledged results of the war; to do what you agreed to, when Grant and Lee made their famous arrangement under the apple tree at Appomattox; to stand by the constitution and laws of the land, to see that every man in this country, rich and poor, native and naturalized, white and black, shall have equal civil and political rights, and the equal protection of the law. I said also, that by constitutional amendment agreed to by Virginia, every man of proper age in this country was armed for his protection with the right to cast one honest vote, and no more, and have that vote counted, and you, as well as I, are bound to protect every man in the enjoyment of that right.

"There is the ground I stood on in Ohio, and the ground I stand on now."

I closed my address as follows:

"And now a word to the best citizens of Richmond. If the criminal classes can deprive a colored man or a white Republican of his right to vote, as soon as they have accomplished it, then these rascals—because every man who resorts to this policy is a rascal —then these rascals will soon undermine their own party. They will begin to cheat each other after they have cheated the Republicans out of their political power. My countrymen, there is no duty so sacred resting upon any man among you, I don't care what his politics are. It is honesty that I like to appeal to. I say there is no man who can be deprived of his right to vote without injuring you, from the wealthiest in the city of Richmond down to the humblest man among you, white or black.

"There is no crime that is meaner, there is no crime that is so destructive to society, there is no crime so prejudicial to the man who commits it as the crime of preventing a citizen from participating in the government. Here I intend to leave the question. I appeal to you, of whatever party, or color, or race, or country, to give us in Virginia at this election an honest vote and an honest count, and if Lee is elected, well and good; if Wise is elected, better yet."

The Democrats carried the state and Wise was defeated.

CHAPTER L. ELECTED PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE OF THE SENATE. Death of Vice President Hendricks—I Am Chosen to Preside Over the United States Senate—Letter of Congratulation from S. S. Cox— Cleveland's First Annual Message to Congress—His Views on the Tariff and Condition of Our Currency—Secretary Manning's Report— Garfield's Statue Presented to the Nation by the State of Ohio—I Am Elected a Senator from Ohio for the Fifth Time—I Go to Columbus to Return Thanks to the Legislature for the Honor—Business of this Session of Congress—Attempt to Inquire Into the Methods of Electing Mr. Payne to the Senate from Ohio—My Address on "Grant and the New South"—Address Before the Ohio Society of New York.

Congress convened on the 7th of December, 1885. The death of Vice President Thomas A. Hendricks, on the 25th of November, was announced by Senator Voorhees, who offered appropriate resolutions, the consideration of which was postponed until January 26, 1886, when eloquent orations by Senators Voorhees, Hampton, Saulsbury, Evarts, Ransom, Spooner and Harrison were delivered in commemoration of his life and death. I added my sincere tribute to his marked ability and personal worth.

On the first day of the session after the opening prayer, Mr. Edmunds offered the following resolution:

"Resolved, That John Sherman, a Senator from the State of Ohio, be and he hereby is, chosen president pro tempore of the Senate."

Following the usual form Mr. Voorhees moved to strike out the words "John Sherman, a Senator from the State of Ohio," and insert "Isham G. Harris, a Senator from the State of Tennessee."

This was decided in the negative by the vote of 29 yeas and 34 nays, and thereupon the resolution was adopted. I was escorted to the chair by Senators Edmunds and Voorhees and, having taken the oath prescribed by law, said:

"Senators, I return you my grateful thanks for the high honor you have conferred upon me.

"In common with all the people of the United States I share in profound sorrow for the death of the Vice President, especially designated by the constitution to act as president of the Senate. It is an impressive lesson of the uncertain tenure by which we all hold office and life. The contingency had happened which compels you now, at the beginning of the session, to choose a president pro tempore.

"In assuming this position, without special aptitude or experience as a presiding officer, I feel that for a time, at least, I shall have often to appeal to the habitual courtesy and forbearance of Senators. Fortunately the rules of the Senate are simple and clear. My aim will be to secure the ready and kindly obedience and enforcement of them, so that in an orderly way the sense of the majority may be ascertained and the rights of the minority may be protected.

"I can only say, Senators, that while I hold this position I will endeavor, to the utmost of my ability, to be just and impartial, and I invoke from each of you assistance and forbearance."

This honor was unsought by me. The public prints had, as usual, discussed the choice of president of the Senate, but I made no mention of it to any Senator. I was gratified with the choice, chiefly because it would, in a measure, relieve me from burdensome details, and was an evidence of the good will of my associates.

I received many letters of congratulation on this event, one of which, from Mr. Cox, I insert:

"United States Legation, } "Constantinople, January 23, 1886.} "Dear Mr. Senator:—I am reminded by my wife of a courtesy I have neglected. It is that of congratulation upon your accession to the post lately held by my friend (from Muskingum county) Thomas A. Hendricks. You have associations with that valley also, and they are connected with the best friend I ever had in Congress, General Samuel R. Curtis, with whom I used to associate in my callow congressional days.

"Besides, I never forget the kindness with which my father used to regard C. R. Sherman, your father, for making him clerk of the supreme court of Muskingum, in early days.

"Here I am, aloof from all old Muskingum memories, or rather, scenes. As I look out of my balcony, on this spring day in midwinter, I see the Golden Horn brimming full of ships and other evidences of interchange; and far beyond it, 'clear as a fountain in July, when we see each grain of gravel,' Mt. Olympus lifts a double crown of snow.

"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. Cox desired to be kindly regarded to your wife and yourself. She joins me in felicitations.

"With esteem, etc., "S. S. Cox. "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, classed 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 mass already accumulated. 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 circumstances 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 quantity 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 passed 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 entitled 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 assembled. 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 assembly 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 title 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 gratitude 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 assure 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 assigned 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, participated 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 participated 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 assistant 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 assistants 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 participate 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, pronouncing 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 associates in the Senate. He was born in Indiana a few miles from Cincinnati, Ohio. After graduating as a lawyer he went to California, in 1853, but returned to his native state, and at the outbreak of the war entered the Union army with the rank of colonel. That he was a gallant soldier is shown by the fact that on his return to Indiana, at the close of the war, Governor Morton presented him a sword which he had promised the soldier of the state who had distinguished himself most and reflected the greatest credit on his state and country. At the close of the war he returned to California, and, after a few years, was elected, by a Republican legislature, to the United States Senate. He was not a frequent or lengthy speaker, but was a man of thought, of attention, of industry and practical sagacity, and brought to every question patient and persistent energy and intelligence. In his manner he was quiet, dignified and courteous. For years he suffered greatly from wounds received in the war, which no doubt shortened his life. He held the position of chairman of the committee on foreign relations, to which I succeeded him.

During April and May interstate commerce was the subject of an extended debate in which I participated. Amendments to the bill passed two years previously, involving "the long haul and the short haul" and whether Congress should attempt to legislate as to transportation within a single state, were debated, and no problems of legislation have been more difficult. The Interstate Commerce Commission organized under these laws was invested with extraordinary powers and its action has been beneficial to the public, but in many cases has seriously crippled many railroad corporations, and bankrupted some of them.

During the latter part of this session I was called upon to perform a very disagreeable duty. The election of my colleague, Mr. Payne, as a Member of the Senate, after an active contest with Mr. Pendleton, gave rise to charges of corruption, not against him personally, but against those who had charge of his canvass in the legislature. The succeeding legislature of Ohio was Republican and undertook to examine these charges by a committee of its house of representatives. The charges made and the testimony taken were sent by the house to the Senate of the United States, with a resolution requesting further examination and that the election be vacated. The papers were referred to the committee on privileges and elections, the majority of whom reported that the charges were not proven, and asked that the committee be discharged from further consideration of the matter. The minority of the committee reported in favor of the inquiry proposed. I felt it to be my duty to the people of Ohio to insist upon an investigation, but in no spirit of unkindness to my colleague. It was the first and only time I had occasion to bring before the Senate the politics of Ohio. My relations with Mr. Payne were friendly. I knew him, and respected him as a prominent citizen of Cleveland and regarded well by his neighbors. I believed that whatever corruption occurred at his election he had no personal knowledge of it, and that his honor would not be touched by the testimony to be produced.

On the 22nd of July I made a long speech upon the report of the committee, reviewing the evidence presented by the Ohio legislature and insisting that it was ample to justify and require a full and thorough examination by the committee. I disclaimed any desire to reflect upon the motives, or the honor, or the conduct, or the opinions, of the Senators who differed with me, saying:

"I believe from my own knowledge of the history of events in Ohio, as well as from the papers sent to us, that there is a profound conviction in the minds of the body of the people of Ohio of all political parties that in the election of my colleague there was gross corruption, by the use of large sums of money to corrupt and purchase the votes of members of the general assembly.

"Now, that is a fact. Whether sufficient evidence has been produced before you to justify this belief is for you to say. Whether sufficient has been said here to put you upon an inquiry, the fact remains that the people of Ohio believe, that in the election of my colleague, there was the corrupt use of money sufficient to change the result."

I then entered upon the details of the charges and testimony submitted to the committee, and concluded as follows:

"It is not sufficient for us to state that the case made by this printed testimony is not strong enough to convict. It is a question whether it is sufficient to excite a suspicion, because upon a suspicion a Senator's seat and his right to hold a seat here may be inquired into. Therefore, with due deference to the distinguished and eminent gentlemen who treat this case as if we were now passing upon the guilt or innocence of an accused with the view of a lawyer and the strictness of a lawyer, it seems to me they have confounded the stage of this inquiry. It is now an inquiry only in the hands of a committee of our body to advise whether or not, in these papers or in any that can be produced, there is cause for investigation, or whether there is reasonable and probable cause that can be produced. If so, then the inquiry goes on. The final judgement, however, is only arrived at when we shall have completed testimony of a legal character, when, with grave and deliberate justice, and with the kindness that we always give to our colleagues here, we proceed to render our judgment.

"I have said more than I intended to say when I rose. I will now add, in conclusion, that I consider that I perform a duty to my state, and especially to the party that I represent here, and all we can say to you is that we have believed and do now believe, mainly upon the statements made by Democratic editors and Democratic citizens, for they know more about it than we do, that upon the belief generally held in the State of Ohio that fraud and corruption did supervene in this election we ask you to make such inquiries as will satisfy your conscience whether that charge is true or false. If it is true, you alone are the judges of it. If it is false, then you should punish the men who started these charges and you should vindicate the men who have been unjustly arraigned.

"In any view I can take of it, I believe it is the duty of the Senate of the United States, as it regards its own honor and the future of our country, never the leave this matter in its present condition, to be believed by some and disbelieved by others, to be made the subject of party contest and party chicanery, but let us have a fair, judicial, full investigation into the merits of these accusations. If they are false, stamp them with the brand of ignominy; if they are true, deal with the facts proven as you think is just and right."

The debate upon the report attracted much attention and was participated in by many Senators. The motion of the majority of the committee was adopted by the vote of 44 yeas and 17 nays. The Senate thus denied that the case made by the legislature of Ohio did justify an inquiry into the election of Senator Payne. He filled out the measure of his term and still lives at his home in Cleveland, honored and respected, at the age of eighty-five.

Congress adjourned August 5, 1886.

I had been invited to deliver an address, upon the celebration of the sixty-fourth anniversary of the birth of General U. S. Grant, at the Metropolitan church in Washington on the 27th of April, 1886. The text given me was "Grant and the New South." As this brief speech expressed my appreciation of the character of General Grant soon after his death, and my presage of the new south, I insert it here:

"Ladies and Gentlemen:—Our friends have given me a very great theme and very little time in which to present it to you. The new south is one of the mysteries which time only can unfold. It is to us, and, I fear, will be for generations to come, one of those problems which tax the highest abilities of statesmen. It is like the Irish question to England and the Eastern question to Europe. We can only judge of the future by the past. I can base my hope for the new south only upon the probable results of the changed conditions grafted upon the old south by the war; more a matter of hope and expectation than as yet of realization. Still we may hope very much even from the present signs of the times and upon what the south ought to be if not upon what it is.

"We know what the old south was. It was an oligarchy called a democracy. I do not speak this word in an offensive sense, but simply as descriptive of the character of the government of the south before the war. One-third of the people of the south were slaves. More than another third were deprived, by the nature of the institutions among which they lived, of many of the advantages absolutely indispensable to the highest civilization. Less than one-fourth of the population were admirably trained, disciplined and qualified for the highest duties of mankind. The south was very much such a democracy as Rome and Greece were at some periods of their history; a democracy founded upon the privileges of the few and the exclusion of the many. Very much like the democracy of the barons of Runnymede, who, when they met together to dictate Magna Charta to King John, guarded fully their own privileges as against the king, but cared but little for the rights of the people. And so with the south—the old south. But it was an able oligarchy.

"Among the brightest names in the American diadem were many men of the south—at the head of whom, and at the head of all mankind, was the name of Washington. And so, in all our history, the south, misnamed a democracy, did furnish to the United States many of their leading lights, and the highest saints in our calendar. They were able men. All who came in contact with them felt their power and their influence. Trained, selected for leading pursuits, they exercised a controlling influence in our politics. They held their slaves in subjection and the middle classes in ignorance, but extended their power and influence, so as to control, in the main, the policy of this country, at home and abroad. They disciplined our forces, led our parties, and made our law.

"General Grant, in the popular mind, represents the impersonation of the forces that broke the old south. Not that thousands of men did not do as much as he within the limits of their opportunities. Not that every soldier who followed his flag did not perform his duty in the same sense as General Grant. But General Grant was the head, the front, the selected leader; and therefore his name is the impersonation of that power in the war which broke the old south, and preserved our Union to your children, and I trust your children's children, to the remotest posterity. But, while we praise Grant and the Union soldiers, we must remember that Abraham Lincoln was the genius of the times. He pointed out the way. He foresaw the events that came. He did not like war. He hated war. He loved the south as few men did. He was born of the south—in his early life reared in the south. All his kin were in the south. He belonged to that middle or humble class of men in the south who were most seriously oppressed by all their surroundings—by the slavery of the south. He hated slavery, if he hated anything, but I do not believe he hated the owners of slaves. He loved all mankind. No man better than he could have uttered those words: 'Malice towards none, charity for all.' That was Abraham Lincoln. He was driven into the war reluctantly. At first, he tried to prevent it, and would not see the necessity for it. He ridiculed it, and believed that the time would speedily come when all the excitement springing up in the south would pass away.

"But the inevitable and irrepressible conflict was upon him, and he met the responsibility with courage and sagacity. A higher power than Abraham Lincoln, a power that rules and governs the universe of men, decreed the war as a necessary and unavoidable event, to prepare the way for a new south and a new north, and a more perfect Union. The war did come as a scourge and a resurrection. Grant was the commander of the Union armies, and at the close of the war more than what we had hoped for at the beginning was accomplished. When the war commenced no man among those in public life contemplated or expected the speedy abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and in the United States of America. I can say that, the winter before the war commenced, no man in public life in Washington expected the untold benefits and good that have come to mankind as the result of the war, by the Act of Emancipation —unforeseen then, but thankfully appreciated now, by the whole American people; even by the masters of the slaves.

"Now fellow-citizens, the new south is founded upon the ruins of the old. It inherits the prejudices, the institutions and some of the habits of the old south. No wise man will overlook this, and should not expect that the southern people will at once yield to the logic of events; but every patriotic man ought to do his utmost to bring about, as soon as possible, a cheerful acquiescence in the results of the war. You cannot in a single generation, much less a single decade, change the ideas of centuries. And, therefore, we must not be impatient with the new south. And we who come from the north must not expect them at once to lay aside all ideas with which they were born and which they inherited from their ancestors for generations. Therefore, it was to be expected that the south would be somewhat disturbed, and would be somewhat slow in their movements; that it must be born again and live an infancy and take its ordinary course in human life. It must grow as Topsy grew. Remember, at that time, before the war, this country was a confederacy, not of states, but a confederacy of sections. There were but two parties to that confederacy, one was the north and the other was the south. On every question, great and small, that division in American life and American politics arose. Before the war and during the war party lines were drawn on the sectional line, north and south. The parties in this country were sectional parties, and even up to this time we have not broken down the asperity which existed, growing out of this sectional condition of affairs.

"Now that slavery is gone, parties ought to be based on other conditions than sectional lines. There is no question now existing between the north and the south, and politicians will soon find that they must base their divisions of party lines upon some other question than between the north and the south. I see growing up every day the evidence of that feeling that this sectional controversy is at an end. Although the ghost is not buried—the dead body lies mouldering in the grave.

"What then, is the first duty of both sections, now that slavery is abolished. It is to base party divisions upon other than sectional lines. It is to adopt a policy approved by the patriotic men of both sections, that will develop the resources, improve the conditions, and advance the interests of the whole people. The north is ready for this consummation. There never was a time in the history of this government, from the time the constitution was framed to this hour, when there was less party spirit among the mass of the people of the United States. Nearly all that is left is among mere politicians. The people of the United States desire to see these differences buried, and new questions, living questions of the present and future, form the line of demarkation between parties. The north has made enormous growth and development since the war. Immense capital is seeking investment, and millions of idle men are seeking employment. The south, from a state of chaos, is showing marked evidence of growth and progress, and these two sections, no longer divided by slavery, can be united again by the same bonds that united our fathers of the revolution.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, let me state briefly the conditions upon which the new south can secure the greatest amount of good for its people—conditions that can be accepted by men who served in either army (who wore the blue or the gray), both Confederate and Union soldiers. If these elemental conditions are accepted fairly, as I hope they will be by the south, the union will be complete without either north or south or sectional or party lines.

"First, there must be recognized in every part of this country, without respect to race or color or condition, the equality of rights and privileges between man and man. This fundamental principle is now ingrafted upon our constitution. It can never be erased. There it stands; and although, from time to time, parties and men may refuse to observe the spirit of that great provision in the constitution, there it will stand, and in time—and I trust a not far distant time—it will be recognized by every man and woman and child in this broad land, white or black, north or south. It is not safe for it to be otherwise. A right plainly given by the constitution and the laws, withheld or denied, is an uneasy grievance which will never rest. And, therefore, the time is not far distant, when those now strongly actuated by the prejudices and feelings of race will recognize this important doctrine. They will feel that it is for their own safety and for their own good. Blacks and whites are spread all over the south. They cannot be separated without the fiat of the Almighty, and such a fiat has never been issued except once, when the Israelites marched out from slavery in Egypt, and it took them about forty years to travel a short way.

"One-third of the population of the south is of the negro race, and two-thirds of the white race. Whatever may have been thought of the wisdom of the policy of emancipation, it was the logical result of the war, has been finally adopted, and will never be changed. It is idle to discuss schemes to separate these races except by voluntary and individual movement, but they will live and increase, generation after generation, the common occupants of the new south. What is needed above all else is to secure the harmonious living and working of these two elements, to secure to both the peaceful enjoyment of their rights and privileges. As long as any portion or race or class of the people of the new south are deprived of the rights which the constitution and law confer upon them, there will be unrest and danger. All history teaches us that those who suffer a wrong will sooner or later find means to correct and avenge it.

"There is another condition that the new south must find out. The honorable gentleman who preceded me (Senator Brown) has found it out already. The system of production which was admirably adapted to the old south will not answer for the new south. Under the old institution of slavery they raised a few leading crops, cotton, rice, sugar and tobacco—but not much else. Why? Because these articles could be raised by the labor of slaves.

"Now, in the new south, it is manifest that the chief sources of wealth and prosperity lie in the development of their natural resources, in the production of coal and iron and other minerals and phosphates, and in the manufacture of cotton and other textile fabrics, and in the development of railroads and other means of communication. In other words, they will find it to their interest to adopt and compete with the north in all its industries and employments. That this can be successfully done is shown in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. All the states touching on the Alleghany range have facilities for varied manufactures fully equal to any of the northern states, and with some advantages as to climate and labor. A diversity of production will be wealth to the south, break down its exclusion, open its doors to immigration, and assimilate its institutions with those of the north.

"The north is ready for this competition. Although the south will probably deprive us of some of the markets we now have, yet no man in the north will complain; but, on the contrary, we have in the north millions of dollars in capital to invest, and millions of hardy men to work north or south, wherever they can get fair wages for a fair day's work. When this competition comes we will have a diversity of industry, and a country rich in developed as well as in undeveloped resources. This is the second great want of the new south which I trust their able men may bring about; and Governor Brown is one of their leaders, and has seen that this is the road not only for the improvement of his section, but for the betterment of his fortune.

"There is one other thing I wish to say in regard to the south. That is, that it must mainly work out its own salvation. That is one of the last things that we in the north have found out. We have striven in various ways to assist the south in managing their local affairs; and I must confess that although I participated in that kind of business I am afraid it did not turn out very well. The north cannot rule the south any more than England can rule Ireland, or Europe can govern Greece and Turkey. According to the principles of our government it is not possible for us to keep soldiers enough down south to guard all their ballot boxes, and indeed we need a good many up north to guard our own sometimes. At all events it is not consistent with the principles of our government that we should undertake to rule in local affairs, and, therefore, while we should give to those who are oppressed, in our own country as well as in others, every kindly aid which the constitution and the law allow, yet, after all, the people of the south must work out their own salvation.

"I am inclined to think that the blacks, having the labor and the muscle and industry on their side, will not be far behind the white race in the future in the south. It is now conceded on all hands that, under our system of government, we cannot by external force manage or interfere with the local affairs of a state or community, unless the authorities of the state call for aid to resist domestic violence. Wrongs inflicted upon citizens by mobs are beyond redress by the general government. The only remedy is migration and public opinion; but these, though slow and very discouraging, will in time furnish a remedy and also a punishment. Neither capital nor labor, prosperity nor hope, will go or linger long where human rights and life are unsafe. The instinctive love of justice and fair play will, in time, dissipate the prejudice of race or caste and point the finger of scorn to the man who robs another of his rights, as it now does to the man who cheats, or steals the property of his neighbor. With the power of the colored people to migrate, whenever they are unjustly treated, to a place where law and justice prevail, with the capacity for labor and to acquire property, with reasonable opportunity for education, they will in time make sure their rights as citizens. I believe this is the growing feeling in the new south. I am willing to trust it, and I will be glad to aid it whenever and wherever I can see the way.

"What the new south wants now more than all else is education! education!! education!!! The statistics with which we have been made familiar recently in the debate in the Senate, of illiteracy in the south, are appalling, but not much more so than was the condition of the western states fifty years ago. The negroes being slaves were, of necessity, without education. The great mass of the white people were in the same condition, not because it was desired in the south, but because, from the sparseness of the population and the existence of plantations instead of farms, it was difficult to establish a system of public schools. A change in this respect cannot be brought about suddenly, but it is apparent that every southern state appreciates the importance of education of both white and black. It is the bounden duty of the national government to extend the aid of its large resources. If the action of the Senate is sanctioned by the House, and fairly and justly executed by the people of the southern states, there need be no danger from the ignorance of the next generation. I believe that these conditions will be the solution of the troubles of the south and make a great step on the road to prosperity and union in the south.

"Now, but a few words in conclusion. It is not merely common school education in the south that is needed, but it is higher education. It is all the learning of the schools, all that science has taught, all that religion teaches, all that medicine has found in its alchemy, all the justice which the law points out and seeks to administer; the south wants opportunity for that higher education which cannot be obtained from common schools, but which exists in no country except where common schools abound. It wants in its midst the places where the active leading young men of the south can gather in colleges and universities and there gain that higher education which prepares them to be leaders among men.

"I congratulate you, my countrymen, here in Washington, that, under the authority of the Methodist Episcopal church, a Christian denomination, under the name of the illustrious hero General Grant, there has been founded in the mountains of Tennessee, away up among the clouds and in the pure air of Heaven, in the midst of a loyal and patriotic population, an institution of learning which will be a blessing to all the people of the south, and I trust to all the people of the north. Every aid possible should be showered down from the north and south alike. Let them light their fires at this modern Athens upon the mountain top and they will shine forth all over our land. Here the young men of the south will fit themselves to lead in the march of progress and improvement. They will learn to vary their production, to develop their resources, to advance every race and generation in education, intelligence and patriotism, and with charity broad enough to secure all the people, of every race and tribe, the peaceful and unquestioned enjoyment of their civil and political rights. There is now no disturbing question of a sectional character which should prevent the north and south from moving in harmonious union. The two streams have united, and though for a time their waters may be divided by the color line, like the Mississippi and the Missouri at and after their junction, yet, in the end they will mingle in a great republic, not of sections, but of friendly states and a united people."

I attended a meeting of the members of the Ohio Society of New York, on the occasion of their first annual dinner at Delmonico's, on the 7th of May. It was a remarkable assemblage, composed almost exclusively of men born in Ohio, then living in New York, all of whom had attained a good standing there, and many were prominent in official or business life. There were over two hundred persons present. Thomas Ewing was president of the society, and Mr. Payne and myself sat on either side of him. I insert the remarks of General Ewing and myself as reported in the papers the next morning. Many speeches were made by others, including Senators Payne and Harrison. General Ewing, after the dinner had received ample attention, called the company to order and made a brief address, which was repeatedly applauded. He said:

"I hail and congratulate you, guests and members of the Ohio Society of New York, on our delightful and auspicious reunion. It is good that we are here. This large assemblage of Ohio's sons, coming from far and near, attests how strong and vital are the ties that bind us to our mother state. We have every reason to love and be proud of her. If American citizenship be a patent of nobility, it adds to the honor to have been born of that state which, almost in the forenoon of the first century of her existence, has shed such luster on the republic; which has given to it so long a roll of President, chief justices, judges of the Supreme Court and statesmen in the cabinet and in Congress—among whom is found not one dishonored name, but many that will shine illustrious in our country's annals forever; a state which, in the supreme struggle by which the Union was established as indissoluble and the plague of human slavery destroyed, gave to the republic even more than her enormous quota of noble troops, and with them those great captains of the war: Grant, Sherman, Rosecrans, McPherson.

"Gentlemen, we have not formed our society from a desire to culture state pride in any spirit of divided allegiance. No, no! There has been far too much of that in the past, and can't be too little in the future. We are first Americans—then Buckeyes. The blessings and misfortunes of our sister states are ours as well as theirs. The love of our own state and pride in her history spring largely from the fact that she and her institutions, in birth and growth, are purely American. She is the oldest and, so far, the best developed of all the typically American states. Neither Roundhead nor Cavalier stood sponsor at her cradle. She never wore the collar of colonial subserviency. Her churches and colleges are not endowed of King Charles or Queen Anne. Her lands are not held by grant or prescription under the Duke of York, Lord Fairfax or Lord Baltimore, but by patents under the seal of the young republic and the hand of George Washington, whose name will continue to be loved and honored throughout the world long after the memory of the last king and peer of Great Britain shall have sunk in oblivion.

"The early generation of her sons were not reared amid distinctions of wealth and rank and class, but in the primeval forest and prairie, where all stood equal and had no aid to eminence but strenuous efforts; where recollections of the sufferings and sacrifices of Revolutionary sires became inspirations of patriotism in their sons; and where nature threw around all her pure, loving and benignant influences to make them strong and great.

"Gentlemen, I now have the pleasure to present to you a typical Buckeye—the architect of his own fame and fortune—who stands below only one man in the republic in official station, and below none in the respect of his countrymen—John Sherman."

As General Ewing closed, there was a tumultuous scene. There were repeated cheers, and Colonel W. L. Strong called for three cheers in my honor, which were given. When I could be heard, I spoke as follows:

"Mr. President, Brethren All:—I give you my grateful thanks for this greeting. If you receive every Buckeye from Ohio in this manner, you will have the hordes of Ararat here among you. Such a reception as this, I think, would bring every boy from every farm in the State of Ohio, and what would become of New York then? You have gathered the sons of Ohio, and those who have been identified with its history, into a society where you may meet together and preserve and revive the recollections of Ohio boyhood and Ohio manhood. Why should you not do that? Why should you not have an Ohio society as well as a New England society, or any other kind of society? Our friends and fellow-citizens from old England's shore, from Ireland and Scotland and Germany, form their societies of the city of New York; and why should not the State of Ohio, more important than any of these countries by this represented?

"Now, gentlemen, there is one characteristic of Ohio people which has marked them from the beginning of their history, and marks them now. We are a migratory race. We are the Innocents Abroad. No Arab in his tent, restless and uneasy, feels more uncertain and movable than a man from Ohio, who can better his condition anywhere else. We are a migratory race, and why should we not be? Do we not deserve the best of every land? When we go to any other country, we don't go to rob them of anything, but to add to their wealth. If I want to prove that Ohio people are migratory, what better evidence can I have than is afforded by the men who are here around me? Here is my friend, General Ewing, born in one of the garden spots of Ohio, under circumstances when it would be supposed that he ought to be content with his lot; but he goes walking off to Kansas, and then to the war, and then into Washington, and finally settles down near New York here, under the shadow of the Sage of Greystone! Among others here around me I see a grandson of old William Henry Harrison. I see here innumerable representatives of the Puritan fathers, with all the virtues of the old fathers and some besides. I see here representatives not only of Virginia and New England, but of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania—all from Ohio.

"My countrymen, in the early days Ohio was the camping ground of all the old states. Ohio is the first fruit of the Federal Union. It is true that Vermont and Kentucky and Tennessee were admitted into the union of these states before Ohio was, but they were offshoots of New York and Virginia, while Ohio was the first fruit of that great commonwealth. Every state of the old states had a camping ground in the State of Ohio, either by reservation, by purchase or by settlement. Nearly all of the early descendants of Ohio were sons of Revolutionary fathers who came out to Ohio. They went there to redeem that land from a wilderness, and they made of Ohio the most prosperous, the richest and fairest commonwealth the world has ever known. In Ohio was the beginning of that magnificent march of progress which adds luster to the history of the northwest, as an evidence of growth and progress unexampled in the previous history of mankind. Think of it, my countrymen! Within one hundred years, more than 30,000,000 people have grown up in a country once people alone by Indian tribes, and that 30,000,000 of people are among the most prosperous and powerful peoples of the whole world.

"I want to defend our Ohio people against another charge that is very often made against them, especially in this city of New York. They charge us with being fond of office. Why, my countrymen, I can show by statistics—and statistics never lie—that Ohio never had her fair share of the public offices. I have not brought any of the statistics with me, for fear some know-nothing might cry at our after-dinner speech 'Figures.' Still we never had our share of the public offices, or if we had we always filled them well, and performed our duties honorably.

"Now, gentlemen, only one or two other thoughts, and then I will leave you. In the early times, migration was always to the westward. Nobody thought of coming east. Therefore it is that out of the eight sons of Ohio who are now Members of the United States Senate, all moved westward; and out of some thirty or forty or fifty Members of the House of Representatives who were born in Ohio, and who didn't stay in Ohio—and they are only a small part of them—all went westward. The reason was that 'Westward the star of empire wends its way.' But latterly the star of empire seems to have settled about this city of New York, until more than 200 Ohio men can sit down to an Ohio feast in the city of New York. There is another reason—there is more money in New York than anywhere else in the country. Not that our people have a fondness for money, but they have come here to better their condition—and I hope in God they will. They not only better their own condition, but the condition of all around them, and I can pick out from all over this community, and from this little dinner party, men who came from Ohio poor, but with an honest endeavor to do what was best for themselves and their families, and here they are, rich and happy.

"One word more, worthy fellow-citizens. We love Ohio. We love Ohio as our mother who nurtured us and fed us in our in our infancy; and, under any circumstances, although we may hear ill of Ohio, we never fail to remember all that is good that can be said of Ohio, and to be true and honorable for the love of Ohio. But we love our country more, and no man from Ohio would ever be true to his mother unless he were more true to his country all around, from one end of the land to the other. Our country forever from the Atlantic to the Pacific; from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canada line, and away around this continent in due time, when the pear will ripen and fall in this Federal Union; in the whole round of the country!

"I congratulate you upon this happy meeting, upon this successful feast, and I trust you may go on prospering and to prosper, until you will gather all the men of Ohio who are deserving of their nativity into the fold of this social union, not only that you may meet each other again as kinsmen born of the same soil, but that you may aid and assist each other, as other kindred societies have done, and I trust that the Ohio society, though the junior members at the table of these societies of New York, may yet be the foremost and leading members in charity and good works to the sons of Adam."

CHAPTER LI. A PERIOD OF POLITICAL SPEECH MAKING. Organization of the "Sherman Club" at Mansfield, Ohio—My Experiences with Newspaper Reporters—Address at the State Fair in Columbus on Agricultural Implements—Other Speeches Made in the Campaign of that Year—Address at Louisville, Ky.—Courteous Treatment by Henry Watterson, of the "Courier Journal"—Hon. John Q. Smith's Change of Heart—Answering Questions Propounded by Him at a Gathering in Wilmington, Ohio—Success of the Republican Party—Second Session of the 49th Congress—But Little Legislation Accomplished—Death of Senator John A. Logan—Tributes to His Memory—His Strong Characteristics—My Reason for Resigning the Presidency of the Senate—Succeeded by John J. Ingalls.

After the adjournment of Congress I returned home. I was not fatigued by the labors of the session, as the duties of presiding officer were lighter than those of an active Member on the floor. The usual canvass had already commenced for state officers and Members of Congress. A club called the "Sherman club" had been organized at Mansfield, and soon after my return having been invited to attend it, I did so, and made a brief political address. During this month I was visited by many interviewers, and while sometimes their calls were inopportune, yet I uniformly received them, answered their questions, and furnished them any information in my power. I knew that they were seeking information not for their own convenience, but to gratify a public interest, and, therefore, I was entirely willing to answer such questions as were put to me. The case was very rare where I was misrepresented, and then it was either unintentional or to brighten a story or to exaggerate a fact. I recall one interview in respect to courts of arbitration and the universal labor question. My opinions were expressed offhand, and, although not taken down at the time by the interviewer, my words uttered during a half hour's interview were quoted with great exactness. I know this is not the common opinion in respect to the interviewer, and in some cases gross misrepresentations are made, but in the very few instances where this has occurred in my experience I have always carefully remembered the reporters who made them and declined any further interview with them.

The latter part of August, Judge Thurman and I were invited to make brief addresses at the state fair in Columbus. After he had spoken with his usual ability and directness, I made a speech mainly about new devices in agricultural implements. I said:

"From the fact that Judge Thurman and I have been invited to address you I infer that you did not expect us to tell you what we knew about farming. He has been recognized as a standard authority as to the law—not only as to what it is but as to what it ought to be—but I never heard that he was eminent as a farmer, either of the theoretical sort who know how things ought to grow, or of the practical sort who know how to make them grow. I have had more experience as a farmer than he has had, but somehow my crops always cost me more than I could get for them. If the many millions of farmers in the United States have had my experience in farming they would have to get more than seventy-five cents a bushel for wheat to make the two ends meet. Still, Judge Thurman and I have learned enough to know that farming is the chosen employment of a large proportion of the human race, and is, besides, the chosen recreation of nearly all who have been successful in other pursuits. Every lawyer especially, from Cicero to Webster, has delighted in the healthful pleasure of rural pursuits—and if they have not made their money by farming they have spent their money in farming—and have enriched the language of every age and clime with eloquent and beautiful tributes to this noblest occupation of man.

"Perhaps this is the reason you call upon lawyers to speak on occasions like this, when the varied products of the farm, in their rich profusion and excellence, are spread before us. Besides, it is the common opinion that lawyers can talk as well about things they don't know as things they do know—and on either side of the question, without respect to the merits or morals of the topic. Your worthy secretary, in inviting me to speak for a few minutes on this occasion, said that I was quite at liberty to choose the subject of my remarks. So I have chosen as a text a discovery I have made very much like that of Benjamin Franklin, who advised the people of Paris that he had made a great discovery—that being wakeful one morning he discovered that the sun rose at Paris at five o'clock, and that if they would rise with the sun and go to bed with the sun they would save an enormous sum—millions of francs —in the cost of candles and lamps, and greatly improve their health and morals. So I have discovered that our farmers have become machinists, and, instead of working themselves, they make the horses, mules, and especially the machines, do nearly all the work of the farm.

"I have observed in the numerous fairs I have attended since they were first introduced in Ohio, and especially since the war, a marked change in the articles exhibited. Formerly the chief attraction was the varied exhibition of fruits, grain, cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, poultry—all the productions of the farm—and the chief benefit then derived from our state and county fairs was to excite competition in the size, excellence and abundance of these purely animal or agricultural productions. Formerly the tools and implements of husbandry were few, simple and plain, the chief of which were the plow, the scythe, the cradle, the sickle.

"Later by degrees there appeared new devices—new implements of husbandry—the mower, the reaper, the thresher, the binder, the sulky plow, an infinite variety of mechanical contrivances to make the labor of the farmer easier, or rather to dispense with a multitude of laborers, and substitute in their places the horse, the mule and the steam engine. In other words, to convert the business of farming from an agricultural pursuit, where the labor of men and women was the chief factor of production, to a mechanical pursuit, in which the chief element of cost and power were machines, the invention of a single generation.

"This striking change in an employment, which in all ages has been pursued by a greater number of human beings than any other, is shown in every fair now held in the United States, and especially in this."

I spoke of the changed condition of the farmer since Ohio was a new state, covered by a great forest, when the home was a cabin, and about the only implements were the plow and the axe, and then said:

"After what has been said by others, and especially so eloquently said by Judge Thurman, I need not express the high value I place upon the magnificent work of the state board of agriculture in preparing these grounds as a permanent place for the exhibition of the industrial products of Ohio, not only of the farm but of the workshop. It is this day dedicated by appropriate ceremonies for the use of the present and future generations of Buckeyes, and, I hope, as time rolls on, there may be here exhibited, not only stock and grains and vegetables, not only ingenious machinery and inventions, but men, high-minded men and noble women, and that with the many advantages in education and culture secured to them by their ancestors they will maintain and advance with manly vigor and sturdy virtue the work of the generations before them, who have planted and founded here in Ohio a model republic."

I attended the thirteenth Industrial exposition at Music Hall, Cincinnati, on the 2nd of September, where fully six thousand people were gathered, I entered the building with Governor Foraker, and we were received with rounds of applause and made brief remarks, the substance of which was reported, but I can only remember the magnitude of the audience and the difficulty of being heard. The city was crowded with men, women and children, all in holiday dress, and everybody in good humor at the success of the exposition. During September, and until the day of the election, I was engaged in making speeches. The one at Portsmouth, on the 28th of September, was carefully prepared and reported, and contained the substance of what I said in that canvass. It was a review of the political questions of the day. I always feel more at home in that part of Ohio then in any other. The river counties are associated with my early recollections and the people are uniformly generous and kind. With rare exceptions they have heartily supported me during my entire political life.

I attended a meeting conducted by the Blaine club in Cincinnati. The procession that marched through the streets was an immense one, and seemed to include all the men and boys in the city. The clubhouse, brilliantly illuminated, was surrounded by a great crowd, too large to hear the speeches, nor did it matter, for their enthusiasm and cheers showed that they needed no exhortation.

I attended a reception of the Sherman club of the 24th ward, at the head of which was my old friend, Governor Thomas L. Young. I there made a strong appeal for the election of Benjamin Butterworth and Charles Brown to Congress, the former being one of the ablest and most promising men in congressional life, and the latter a gallant soldier, who had lost a leg in the service of his country. I said:

"Their election is more important than anything else. The election of a Republican House of Representatives is of vital importance, because if we can have not only a Republican Senate, but a Republican House of Representatives, we will tie up Cleveland and his administration so that he and it can do no harm to anybody. If we can get a good Republican House of Representatives we will be able to maintain the system of protection of American labor, which is the pride and glory of the Republican party. We will maintain all these great measures of Republican policy which tend to develop our country, to increase its happiness, diversify its pursuits, and build up its industries; to give you a good currency; to protect your labor; and generally to promote the common good and welfare of our common country."

At the invitation of the Republicans of Louisville, Ky., I went to that city. In the afternoon I made a short address at the laying of the corner stone of the new customhouse, and in the evening made a long political speech. It was my first visit there, and I was much gratified as well as surprised, at the great numbers which attended a Republican meeting and the enthusiasm with which I was greeted. I referred to the long and intimate association of Ohio and Kentucky since the days of the Indian wars, when Kentucky sent her best and bravest men to fight the battles of Ohio, under Harrison and Taylor at Fort Meigs and Sandusky. In a later time, when Henry Clay was their favorite, Ohio steadily and heartily supported him, and now that the war was over, there was no reason why Kentucky and Ohio might not stand side by side in maintaining the principles of the Republican party. I said:

"You might naturally inquire why I came to the city of Louisville to make a Republican speech, when I knew that the majority of your population belong to a different school of politics, and that I could scarcely hope to make any impression upon the Democratic vote of the city of Louisville or the State of Kentucky. Still, I have always thought it strange that your people, who through many long years followed the fortunes and believed in the doctrines of Henry Clay, should willingly belong to a party opposed to all his ideas, and I was curious to learn why the same great events that led the people of Ohio into the ranks of the Republican party should lead the people of Kentucky into the ranks of the Democratic party. It is to make this discovery that I come here to-night, and I will speak to you, not for the purpose of reviving past controversies, but to see whether, after all, the people of Ohio and Kentucky ought not now to stand side by side in their political action, as they did in the days of old.

"When approaching manhood I, in common with the people of Ohio, was in ardent sympathy with the political opinions of the people of Kentucky. I was reared in a school which regarded Henry Clay, John J. Crittenden, Thomas Ewing and Thomas Corwin as the brightest lights in the political firmament, chief of whom was Henry Clay. I need not remind a Kentucky audience with what pride and love your people followed him in his great career, and with rare intermissions supported and sustained him to the close of his life. And so, too, with John J. Crittenden, who represented the people of Kentucky in both Houses of Congress, in the cabinet of two administrations, and, to the close of his eventful life in the midst of the Civil war, retained the confidence and support of the people of Kentucky. It may be said, also, that Thomas Ewing and Thomas Corwin, the warm and lifelong friends of Clay and Crittenden, represented the people of Ohio in the highest official positions, and that these great men, united in counsel, in political opinions and in ardent friendship, were the common standards of political faith to the people of these neighboring states.

"I had the honor to cast my first vote for Henry Clay for President of the United States, and supported him with all the natural enthusiasm of youth, and remember yet my sorrow when it was at last known that he was defeated. I also knew Mr. Crittenden from 1846, when, as a young lawyer, I visited Washington, and saw much of him in the later years of his life. I also held close personal relations with Mr. Ewing and Mr. Corwin since my early boyhood, and shared, as much as youth can share, the benefits of their council and confidence. I am justified in saying that during the memorable period of thirty years of political conflict through which we have passed, I have steadily adhered to the lessons they have taught, by supporting the measures adopted from time to time by the Republican party, while the majority of the people of Kentucky, with equal sincerity, no doubt, pursuing their convictions, have landed in the Democratic party. What I would like to find out is whether it is you or I who have switched off from the councils of our political fathers, and whether the causes of the difference of opinion still exist."

I closed as follows:

"I freely confess that the great mass of the Democratic party are patriotic, law-abiding citizens, yet I believe the elements that control that party, especially in the northern states, are unworthy of the confidence and trust of a brave and free people, and that the Republican party, although it may not always have met the hopes and expectations of its friends, does contain within it the elements of order, safety, obedience to law and respect for the rights of others, with well-grounded principles of public policy, and can fairly be trusted again to manage our national affairs.

"My heartiest sympathies go with the gallant Republicans of Kentucky, who, in an unequal fight, have shown the courage of their race and the patriotism of their ancestors. Let them persevere in appealing to their neighbors for co-operation, and they can fairly hope that, as the passions of the war pass away, Kentucky will be, as of old, on the side of the Union, the constitution and the impartial enforcement of the laws.

"Is not this a good time to try the experiment of a Republican representative from the Louisville district? Our Democratic friends seem to be in a bad way about the choice of a candidate. If what the opposing factions say of their candidates is half true, you had better take shelter under a genuine and fearless Republican like Mr. Wilson, who will be impartial to the factions and true to the great interests of American labor and American production. Such a light shining from Louisville will be a star of hope, a beacon light of safety and prosperity to the extreme bounds of our country. Why not try the experiment? I hope that my visit among you will be a message of good will, and I thank you with all my heart for your kindly reception."

The "Courier Journal" was much more fair to me on this occasion than the Democratic papers in Ohio. In consequence of this I have always entertained a kindly feeling for its editor, Henry Watterson, who, notwithstanding his strong political opinions, is always bold, frank and courteous in his criticisms.

On my return from Kentucky I spoke to a large meeting at Wilmington, Ohio, on the 7th of October. I had frequently addressed meetings at that place and always received a very cordial and hearty welcome. It so happened that John Q. Smith, one of the leading citizens of Clinton county, who had been a Member of Congress, had changed his political relations and become a warm supporter of the administration of Cleveland. He had prepared a large number of questions, to be put to me, which were printed and scattered broadcast in handbill form. I was glad of the opportunity to answer his questions, as they gave me a text for a general review of a Democratic administration. I said that the handbill was issued by a gentleman whom I esteemed very highly, and for whom I had the greatest good will and friendship, one of their own citizens, who had served in the legislature and in Congress with credit, and had been a representative of our government abroad. I then read the questions one by one and answered them, and, as I think, clearly showed to the satisfaction of my hearers, that, although Mr. Smith was generally sound on other matters, he was a little cracked on the question of American protection. My answers were received with great applause by the audience, and I think my old friend made nothing by his questions.

After making a number of other speeches in Ohio, I spoke in Grand Rapids on the 18th of October; in Indianapolis on the 21st; at Fort Wayne on the 24th, and at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, on the 27th. I closed my speaking in this campaign at Toledo on the 30th. The time of the fall elections had been changed to the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November. During the period from my return home after the adjournment of Congress until the day of election, I spoke almost daily. The election resulted in a victory for the Republican party, the head of the ticket, James S. Robinson, Secretary of State, receiving about 11,000 majority.

The second session of the 49th Congress passed but little important legislation except the appropriation bills. The two Houses were so widely divergent that they could not agree upon measures of political importance.

On the 9th of December I made an impromptu speech on the revision of the tariff, in reply to Senator Beck, but as no action was taken upon the subject at that session, it is useless to quote what I said. Mr. Beck was a man of great mental as well as physical power. A Scotchman by birth, he came at an early age to the United States and settled in Kentucky, where he practiced law, and in due time became a Member of Congress, and afterwards a Senator of the United States. He was aggressive, affirmative and dogmatic, and seemed to take special delight in opposing me on all financial questions. He and I were members of the committee on finance, and had many verbal contests, but always with good humor. On the 9th of December, as I entered the Senate Chamber after a temporary absence, I heard the familiar voice of Beck begging, in the name of the Democratic party, a chance to reduce taxation. I promptly replied to him, and the colloquy between us extended to considerable length. He was, in fact, a free trader, believed in the policy in force in Great Britain, and opposed every form of protection to American industries. Our debate brought out the salient arguments on both sides, though no measure on the subject-matter was pending before the Senate.

During the holiday recess Senator John A. Logan died at his residence, Calumet Place, in Washington. This was announced, in the Senate, by his colleague, Shelby M. Cullom, on January 4, 1887, as follows:

"'The angel of death has been abroad throughout the land.' His visitation has been most unexpected during the recent brief recess of the Senate, and has imposed upon me a duty which I have scarcely the heart to perform—the duty of announcing the death of my late distinguished colleague. At his home, which overlooks this capital city, at three minutes before three o'clock on Sunday afternoon, the 26th of December, the spirit of John A. Logan took its flight into the unknown realms of eternity. On Friday last, the funeral ceremonies were conducted, by the Senators and Representatives present, in this Senate Chamber, and his mortal remains were conveyed to the silent tomb.

"We are called upon to mourn the loss of one of the bravest and noblest of men—a man loved by the patriotic people of his state and of the nation, known to his country and to the civilized world as great in war and in peace, and for nearly fourteen years a distinguished Member of this Senate."

Logan is buried in the cemetery of the Soldiers' Home in Washington, in a conspicuous and beautiful marble tomb erected to his memory by his widow. On the 9th of February the business of the Senate was suspended, and many Senators, the associates of the deceased, paid fitting and eloquent tribute to his public and private virtues in addresses of marked ability and interest.

He was a striking character, bold, fearless and aggressive, but sensitive as a child. I knew him well when he was a Member of the House before the war. He was a devoted friend and admirer of Douglas, and, like him, when the war commenced, threw his whole soul into the Union cause. He was a good soldier, and, of those who entered the army from civil life, was among the most distinguished. He was a model of the volunteer soldiery. After the war was over he was returned to Congress and served in the House and Senate until his death. He was a positive man; there were no negative qualities about him. Thoroughly honest in his convictions he was regarded as a strong debater, though somewhat too urgent in presenting his opinions, and disposed to take a personal view of controverted questions. I had great respect for Logan, and never had any controversies with him except upon financial questions, upon which I thought he took at one time erroneous views. For a long time he adopted the ideas prevailing in the west in regard to paper money. Upon further reflection he became satisfied that the policy of resumption was the right one and adhered to it. He was a member of the committee that framed the resumption act, and from the time that measure was agreed upon, he, so far as I know, supported it firmly and warmly. He was a good party man; he stood by the judgment of his political friends. I never saw the slightest hesitation or doubt on his part in supporting a measure which was agreed upon by his political associates. One interesting feature of Logan's life was the interest felt by his wife in his public career, and her helpfulness to him. She was the model of a helpmate. She is in every way a good woman. She has the very qualities that he lacked, and I might illustrate by many instances her great aid to him in his political purposes.