The Life, Public Services and Select Speeches of Rutherford B. Hayes Part 6

The most important measure which it will be your duty to consider at your present session is the proposed amendment to the const.i.tution of the United States. I do not feel called upon to discuss its merits. The great body of that part of the people of Ohio who sustain the laws for the reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion believe that the fifteenth amendment is just and wise. Many other citizens who would not support the amendment if it was presented as the inauguration of a new policy, in view of the fact that impartial suffrage is already established in the States most largely interested in the question, now regard the amendment as the best mode of getting rid of a controversy which ought no longer to remain unsettled. Believing that the measure is right, and that the people of Ohio approve it, I earnestly recommend the ratification of the fifteenth amendment to the const.i.tution of the United States.

CHAPTER VIII.

SECOND ELECTION AS GOVERNOR.

_Re-nomination--Democratic Platform--Nomination of Rosecrans--Declines--Pendleton Nominated--Hayes at Wilmington--Election--Second Inaugural--Civil Service Reform--Short Addresses--Letters--Annual Message--Democratic Estimate of it--Davidson Fountain Address--Message of_ 1872--_Work Accomplished._

The State Convention of the Republican party of Ohio, which met at Columbus, June 23, 1869, nominated Governor Hayes for a second term by acclamation.

So acceptable was his two years' administration of the chief executive office of the State, that no compet.i.tor entered the lists against him or contended with him for the nomination. On the question of his re-nomination the unanimity in his party was absolute. He appeared before the convention, in response to its invitation, and delivered the speech printed in the Appendix to this volume, which sounded the key-note of the campaign. We ask the reader to turn, at this point, to this speech, as it is impossible to epitomize it without filling as much s.p.a.ce as is filled by the speech itself. The well-founded and well-supported charges he made against the Democratic Legislature of the State brought upon him the savage strictures of the Democratic partisan press, showing that he had penetrated the weak point in his adversaries'

somewhat defenseless defenses.

The Republican platform condemned the reckless expenditures of the Legislature, its efforts to disfranchise soldiers, students, and all having African blood in their veins, and squarely declared for the ratification of the fifteenth amendment.

The Democratic Convention, which a.s.sembled July 7, 1869, denounced the fifteenth amendment, and had much to say about the reserved rights of the States. The platform contained these resolutions, which sound, at this day, like an inscription from the tombs of the Ptolemys:

"_Resolved_, That the exemption from tax of over $2,500,000,000 in government bonds and securities is unjust to the people and ought not to be tolerated; and that we are opposed to any appropriation for the payment of interest on the bonds until they are made subject to taxation.

"_Resolved_, That the claims of the bondholders, that the bonds which were bought with greenbacks, and the princ.i.p.al of which is by law payable in currency, should nevertheless be paid in gold, is unjust and extortionate; and, if persisted in, will inevitably force upon the people the question of repudiation."

Here we have the bald proposition to repudiate the interest on the public debt unless it is taxed contrary to law, as made known by repeated decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States; and secondly, the direct threat to repudiate the princ.i.p.al of the National debt unless it is paid off in broken promises to pay. As the greenback is simply a debt or a due bill, this paying debts with debts was a patentable discovery in the science of finance. Taken in connection with the declaration of Vallandigham in the canva.s.s before, that the whole bonded debt should be immediately "paid" in greenbacks, the resolution simply meant that the war debt should not be paid at all. This robbing the men whose money saved the Republic was not acceptable then to the farmers and laborers of Ohio, and will probably not now be more acceptable to the capitalists of New York. It is well, however, to recall the antecedents of a party that first tried to get into power through discreditable expedients, before resorting to a declaration of honest principles in finance.

The convention took a "new departure," and, putting aside Ranney and Pendleton, nominated General W. S. Rosecrans for governor, who was then absent from the country. This nomination was mainly brought about through the zealous efforts of Messrs. Vallandigham, Callen, and Baber.

The opinions General Rosecrans entertained of his new-found friends were not favorable. In a letter dated February 3, 1863, from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, General Rosecrans, in speaking of the slave-holding insurgents, had used this language:

"Wherever they have the power they drive before them into their ranks the Southern people, and they would also drive us. Trust them not. Were they able they would invade and destroy us without mercy.

Absolutely a.s.sured of these things, I am amazed that any one could think of 'peace on any terms.'

"He who entertains the sentiment is fit only to be a slave; he who utters it at this time is, moreover, a traitor to his country, who deserves the scorn and contempt of all honorable men."

Rosecrans declined the nomination, and George H. Pendleton, after just enough hesitation to impart a proper value to his consent, consented to fill the vacant place at the head of the ticket.

Governor Hayes, aided by Senator Morton, opened the active campaign in a speech delivered at Wilmington, August 12, devoted mainly to the discussion of National and State finances. In the course of this speech Governor Hayes said:

"When the rebellion broke out, what was its chance for success? It had just one--a divided North. A divided North was its only chance.

A united North was bound to crush the rebellion within two years after the firing on Sumter. A divided North encouraged the aristocratic enemies of free government in every land to build Alabamas and Shenandoahs that scourged the seas and swept away our commerce from the ocean. A divided North encouraged the Emperor of France to proclaim to everybody that sooner or later he proposed to intervene. A divided North encouraged rebel leaders to believe that sooner or later our armies must disband and come home.

"Now, I say to you that Pendleton was the selected and chosen leader of the Peace Party of the Northwest--the leader of the party that _made_ a divided North. They talk of the debt and the great burden of taxation. We talked sadly of the loss of valuable lives that went down in the storm of battle. I say to you that the fact of a divided North doubled the debt and doubled the loss of valuable lives."

The campaign was an important one to Mr. Pendleton. Had he been successful he would undoubtedly have been the Democratic candidate for the presidency. A leading journal of the State said: "The gubernatorial contest is but a side-show. We are already entering upon the next presidential canva.s.s, and Ohio is the key to the position."

Nevertheless, Republican success was too certain to make the contest so warm a one as that of two years before. The State had been organized by towns.h.i.+ps and school districts and polled. So accurate was this poll that predictions as to the result, sealed and filed a week prior to the election by each of the members of the Republican State Executive Committee, the writer being one, varied only from two hundred to three thousand votes of the final result. Hayes' majority in '69 was 7,506--a little above the average majority. The canva.s.s was fought largely upon the issue of the greenback payment of the debt. The Pendleton plan of indirect repudiation failed, and the rag infant was decently interred, to await an inglorious resurrection.

Governor Hayes was re-inaugurated January 10, 1870, on which occasion he delivered the following address:

_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:_

In the annual message transmitted to the General a.s.sembly a few days ago, a brief exposition of the condition of the State government was given, and such measures were recommended as the public good seemed to me to require. It will therefore not be expected that on this occasion I should again discuss subjects pertaining to the usual routine of legislation.

The most important questions concerning State affairs which in the ordinary course of events will engage the attention of the people of Ohio, during the term of office upon which I now enter, are those which relate to the action of a Const.i.tutional Convention authorized to be called by a vote of the people at the October election in 1871. The present organic law provides for submitting to the electors of the State, once in twenty years, the question of holding "a convention to revise, alter, or amend the const.i.tution."

It is no disparagement of the work of the last Const.i.tutional Convention to say that experience has already demonstrated the wisdom of this provision. It would be strange, indeed, if the last eighteen years had developed no defects in the const.i.tution of 1851.

It is, perhaps, not improper at this time to call attention to some of the amendments of the existing fundamental law which the next Const.i.tutional Convention will probably be required to consider.

The provision of the present const.i.tution which prohibits the General a.s.sembly from authorizing "any county, city, town, or towns.h.i.+p, by vote of its citizens or otherwise," from giving aid to any "company, corporation, or a.s.sociation," was designed to remedy an evil of the gravest magnitude. Unlimited power to authorize counties, cities, and towns to subscribe to the stock of railroad companies had burdened the people of the State with indebtedness and taxation to an extent which threatened bankruptcy. Experience has shown, however, that the clauses of the const.i.tution on this subject are so sweeping that they are almost equivalent to a prohibition of the construction of railroads, except where those who control the existing railroad lines furnish the means. In many localities, the people are thus deprived of the only artificial instrumentality for intercourse with other parts of the State and country which is now regarded as valuable. By reason of it, important sources of wealth in large sections of the State remain undeveloped. It is believed that amendments can be framed, under which effective local aid can be furnished for the building of railroads, and which, at the same time, shall be so guarded and limited as to prevent a dangerous abuse of the power.

For many years political influence and political services have been essential qualifications for employment in the civil service, whether State or National. As a general rule, such employments are regarded as terminating with the defeat of the political party under which they began. All political parties have adopted this rule. In many offices the highest qualifications are only obtained by experience. Such are the positions of the warden of the penitentiary and his subordinates, and the superintendents of asylums and reformatories and their a.s.sistants. But the rule is applied to these as well as to other offices and employments. A change in the political character of the executive and legislative branches of the government is followed by a change of the officers and employs in all of the departments and inst.i.tutions of the State. Efficiency and fidelity to duty do not prolong the employment; unfitness and neglect of duty do not always shorten it.

The evils of this system in State affairs are, perhaps, of small moment compared with those which prevail under the same system in the transaction of the business of the National government. But at no distant day they are likely to become serious, even in the administration of State affairs. The number of persons employed in the various offices and inst.i.tutions of the State must increase, under the most economical management, in equal ratio with the growth of our population and business.

A radical reform in the civil service of the general government has been proposed. The plan is to make qualifications, and not political services and influence, the chief test in determining appointments, and to give subordinates in the civil service the same permanency of place which is enjoyed by officers of the army and navy. The introduction of this reform will be attended with some difficulties. But in revising our State const.i.tution, if this object is kept constantly in view, there is little reason to doubt that it can be successfully accomplished.

Our judicial system is plainly inadequate to the wants of the people of the State. Extensive alterations of existing provisions must be made. The suggestions I desire to present in this connection are as to the manner of selecting judges, their terms of office, and their salaries. It is fortunately true that the judges of our courts have heretofore been, for the most part, lawyers of learning, ability, and integrity. But it must be remembered that the tremendous events and the wonderful progress of the last few years are working great changes in the condition of our society.

Hitherto population has been spa.r.s.e, property not unequally distributed, and the bad elements which so frequently control large cities have been almost unknown in our State. But with a dense population crowding into towns and cities, with vast wealth acc.u.mulating in the hands of a few persons or corporations, it is to be apprehended that the time is coming when judges elected by popular vote, for short official terms, and poorly paid, will not possess the independence required to protect individual rights.

Under the National const.i.tution, judges are nominated by the executive and confirmed by the Senate, and hold office during good behavior. It is worthy of consideration whether a return to the system established by the fathers is not the dictate of the highest prudence. I believe that a system under which judges are so appointed, for long terms and with adequate salaries, will afford to the citizen the amplest possible security that impartial justice will be administered by an independent judiciary.

I forbear to consider further at this time the interesting questions which will arise in the revision and amendment of the const.i.tution. Convinced of the soundness of the maxim that "that government is best which governs least," I would resist the tendency common to all systems to enlarge the functions of government. The law should touch the rights, the business, and the feelings of the citizen at as few points as is consistent with the preservation of order and the maintenance of justice. If every department of government is kept within its own sphere, and every officer performs faithfully his own duty without magnifying his office, harmony, efficiency, and economy will prevail.

Under the providence of G.o.d, the people of this State have greatly prospered. But in their prosperity they can not forget "him who hath borne the battle, nor his widow, nor his orphan," nor the thousands of other sufferers in our midst, who are ent.i.tled to sympathy and relief. They are to be found in our hospitals, our infirmaries, our asylums, our prisons, and in the abodes of the unfortunate and the erring. The Founder of our religion, whose spirit should pervade our laws, and animate those who enact and those who enforce them, by His teaching and His example, has admonished us to deal with all the victims of adversity as the children of our common Father. With this duty performed, we may confidently hope that for long ages to come our country will continue to be the home of freedom and the refuge of the oppressed.

Grateful to the people of Ohio for the honors they have conferred, I approach a second term in the executive office, deeply solicitous to discharge, as far as in me lies, the obligations and duties which their partial judgment has imposed.

The most striking part of the address is that which relates to reform in the civil service of the State and the Nation. Governor Hayes proposes to reform the civil service of the State _by means of a const.i.tutional provision in a new State const.i.tution_. This method of reformation is radical, and, we believe, original. It suggests the pertinent query, whether reform in the civil service of the Nation can not be best accomplished through a new provision in the National const.i.tution. Can permanency and stability be secured in the civil service of the Republic in any other certain way than by a const.i.tutional amendment? Civil service reformers need hardly waste their time discussing methods and systems less radical and fundamental. It must be recorded to the honor of Governor Hayes that he, more than six years ago, suggested the only true solution to the civil service problem, by proposing to place that service beyond disturbance from the fluctuating fortunes of political parties. He has, therefore, been an advanced civil service reformer more than the sixteenth of a century; not, like Mr. Tilden, for six months prior to a presidential election.

In December, 1869, he wrote to a friend in Congress: "We must have a genuine retrenchment and economy. The monthly reduction of the debt is of far more consequence than the reduction of taxation in any form. I hope, too, you will abolish the franking privilege and adopt the general principles of Trumbull's bill and Jencke's bill. It would please the people and be right and wise."

It is hardly needful to add that the bills referred to were the best civil service bills then before Congress.

In this same address, the governor boldly declares against the heresy of an elective judiciary, and favors the system established by Madison, Hamilton, and Was.h.i.+ngton, which has given us a Jay, a Story, and a Marshall.

During the occupancy of his office as executive of the State, Governor Hayes, on a vast variety of occasions, was called upon to deliver speeches and addresses on all cla.s.ses of subjects. These efforts are all admirable in their way, and give evidences of fine literary taste, great good judgment, and what d.i.c.kens called "a sense of the proprieties."

We can find s.p.a.ce for portions only of a few of these addresses. In an address of welcome on the occasion of the great exposition of textile fabrics, held in Cincinnati, in August, 1869, the governor of Ohio said:

"We meet at a most auspicious period in our country's history. Our greeting and welcome to citizens of other States are 'without any mental reservation whatever.' It is plain that we are entering upon an era of good feeling, not known before in the life-time of the present generation. For almost half a century the great sectional bitterness which is now so rapidly and so happily disappearing, and which we know can never be revived, carried discord, division, and weakness into every enterprise requiring the united efforts of citizens of different States. Now the causes of strife have been swept away, and their last vestiges will soon be buried out of sight. Good men will no longer waste their strength in mutual crimination or recrimination about the past. The people of different sections of our country will hereafter be able to act, not merely with intelligence and energy, but with entire harmony and unity; in any enterprise which promises an increase of human welfare and human happiness.

"This a.s.sociation, then, is working in perfect accord with the spirit of the times. The development of new resources, the opening of new paths to skill and labor, the discovery of new methods, the invention of new machinery and implements, and the employment of capital in new and useful pursuits--these are the objects which a.s.sociations like this aim to accomplish. All who encourage these things, and who desire to aid in such achievements, deserve a hearty welcome wherever they may go, and will, I a.s.sure you, always find it, as you do now, in the State of Ohio."

Soon after the death of Secretary Stanton, and near the beginning of the governor's second term, a meeting of members of the Ohio bar was held in the room of the Supreme Court of Ohio, to take action with reference to the loss of their former a.s.sociate and friend. On this occasion Governor Hayes said:

"I shall not undertake to describe the life and character and services of Mr. Stanton. Few men--very few men--ever possessed such learning, such intellect, such energy, such courage, such will, such honesty, such patriotism, in one word, such manhood, as belonged to him. All of his great powers and qualities he gave to the performance of duty, and with them he gave also life itself.

"Our profession rejoices that Mr. Stanton was an eminent lawyer.

Our State rejoices that he was her great son. Our country and our age may well rejoice that he lived in this age and in this country.

The members of our profession, the people of our State and of the Nation, and all mankind do honor to themselves in striving to do honor to the memory of such a man as Edwin M. Stanton."