Ohio History Journal

462      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. will stand as the testimonial of a grateful people to the life and services of a truly beloved man. To this building and the beauti- ful grove surrounding it will come generations of American citi- zens, our children, grandchildren, and their descendants, and draw an inspiration to a life of unselfishness and honor as they become more and more familiar with the life and character of Ruther- ford Birchard Hayes, that crowned and glorious life.       ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN ALEXIS COPE. Captain Alexis Cope representing the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and also the associate of General Hayes on the Board of the Ohio State University, spoke as follows:   President Wright, Members of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: It was only yesterday that I received a telegram from Colo- nel Webb Hayes informing me that I would be expected to

speak for the Loyal Legion on this occasion, so what I shall say has come to me in the few moments of reflection I have had since then, and shall be brief. Indeed the eloquent and scholarly address we have just heard from the lips of his distin- guished biographer, Mr. Williams, has left his followers on the program little to say. All the high and shin- ing points of President Hayes' great career, have been   touched  by a master hand. I congratulate him on his noble address. I also congratu- late him on his biography of Presi-

dent Hayes, in which he has given to the world in simple and most attractive style the true story of his life and public ser- vices.

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.         463

 

I share the regret that every one present must feel that

General Young, who was to speak for the Loyal Legion, is not

here. If he were present, he could speak for it more fittingly

than I can, for he is its present Commander in Chief, and besides

being a good soldier, is an eloquent speaker.

President Hayes was a charter member of the Ohio Com-

mandery of the Loyal Legion, was elected its first Commander,

and was re-elected four times in succession, serving from 1883

to 1887 inclusive. I recall with gratification and pride that when

I presented myself as a candidate for membership in the order,

it was President Hayes who administered the obligation. He

was Commander in Chief of the National Commandery at the

time of his death.

The fundamental principles of this organization are:

"FIRST: A firm belief and trust in Almighty God, exalt-

ing Him, under whose beneficent guidance the Sovereignty and

integrity of the Union have been maintained, the honor of the

flag vindicated and the blessings of the liberty secured, estab-

lished and enlarged.

"SECOND: True allegiance to the United States of Amer-

ica, based upon paramount respect for, and fidelity to the

National Constitution and laws, manifested by discountenancing

whatever may tend to weaken loyalty, incite to insurrection,

treason or rebellion, or impair in any manner the efficiency and

permanency of our free institutions."

Its objects are:

"To cherish the memories and associations of the war waged

in defense of the unity and indivisibility of the republic;

strengthen the ties of fraternal fellowship and sympathy formed

by Companions in Arms; advance the best interests of the sol-

diers and sailors of the United States, especially of those asso-

ciated as Companions of the Order, and extend all possible re-

lief to their widows and children; foster the cultivation of mili-

tary and naval science; enforce unqualified allegiance to the Gen-

eral Government; protect the rights and liberties of American

Citizenship, and maintain National Honor, Union and Independ-

ence."

President Hayes was loyal to these principles and labored

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464      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

faithfully for these objects. When he died, a Committee of the

Ohio Commandery, of which William McKinley was chairman,

said of him: "The country has lost one of its great Statesmen

and one of its most noble defenders. His old army comrades

have lost a brave commander, an honorable associate and a wise

counsellor, the Loyal Legion one of its most devoted and be-

loved companions."

My duty, as prescribed by the program might perhaps prop-

erly end here, but I can not forbear some remarks of a remin-

iscent character.

President Hayes had a passion for taking up problems left

unsolved or tasks left unfinished by his predecessors. A nota-

ble instance of this was the completion of the Washington Monu-

ment in our National Capital, the story of which I had from his

own lips. It had been begun away back in the forties and had

reached a height of about one hundred and forty feet, when it

was found that the foundations were not strong enough to sup-

port any further weight. Work on it had been abandoned and

it had stood in this unfinished condition for a generation. When

Hayes became President he called together a board of army en-

gineers, who under his direction devised plans for its comple-

tion. He obtained from Congress the necessary appropriations,

and took a personal interest in the progress of the work. It

was found necessary to put a new foundation under the unfin-

ished portion of the structure, and in order to do this, it had

literally to be suspended in air while the work was being done.

While it was so suspended, the President and Mrs. Hayes, who

also took a great interest in the work, more than once walked

underneath it. The President related that the engineers had

placed in the excavation an instrument designed to detect and

record any movement of the suspended mass. A pencil on a

sheet of white paper automatically recorded any movement

which occurred day or night.

One morning the engineers were startled to see that the

instrument during the night before had recorded some very un-

usual movements or vibrations. They first thought there had

been an earthquake, but inquiry at the Naval Observatory

brought the report that no seismic disturbance had been recorded

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        465

 

on the instrument there, and they were at a loss to account for

it. Finally, one of the engineers climbed to the top of the sus-

pended column and found a small owl caught by its foot be-

tween the slats of a window, and that its fluttering struggles to

escape had caused all the trouble. The little disturber was caught

and presented to Mrs. Hayes, who had it mounted and preserved.

It was brought to Fremont and placed above the clock in the hall

of their home, where it still remains. (I think it should be in

the museum.)

When President Hayes became Governor of Ohio, he found

that in 1862, Congress had passed an act making large grants

of land, or land scrip, to the several states for the endowment

and maintenance of a college in each state for the primary pur-

pose of teaching the branches of learning related to Agriculture

and the Mechanic Arts and Military Tactics without excluding

other branches of a liberal education. The Legislature had ac-

cepted the grant to Ohio of 630,000 acres of land scrip, and it

had been improvidently sold at a lamentable sacrifice, realizing

only about $340,000. Owing to local jealousies and the oppo-

sition of the numerous existing colleges nothing had been done

towards creating and locating a college to be endowed by the

grant. A strong sentiment favored the division of the fund

among several existing colleges, but Governor Hayes gave his

voice in favor of one college, centrally located, which should re-

ceive the entire grant, and aided in clearing the way for such

an institution.

The necessary legislation was provided by the act of March

20, 1870, during his second administration as Governor, and

under this act the institution now known as the Ohio State Uni-

versity was organized and located. He appointed its first board

of trustees, which held its first meeting in his office and was

wisely guided by him in its deliberations. He favored its lo-

cation at Columbus, and largely through his influence it acquired

the large tract of valuable land which is now its spacious campus.

In 1887, after having been Governor and President, on the re-

quest of the University authorities, he accepted a place on its

board of trustees.

At that time the institution had made slow progress. It

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466      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

had encountered violent opposition from the other colleges of

the State, and from the agricultural classes, and such opposition

still to a large extent prevailed. The legislature had refused to

make adequate appropriations for its support, and for needed

buildings, and it had an enrollment of only about 300 students.

President Hayes at once took an active part in quieting the op-

position to the institution. He was by nature a harmonizer, and

largely through his influence the agricultural classes were won

to its support and the opposition of the other colleges to a large

extent removed. He attended regularly the meetings of the

trustees, appeared before committees of the legislature in ad-

vocacy of needed appropriations for buildings and equipment,

and for an annual state levy sufficient for its maintenance and

to meet its growing needs. These were all provided during his

nearly six years of service as trustee, and largely through his

influence. He saw the enrollment rise from 300 to over 800 stu-

dents, and was assured that its future was secure. Could he

have lived to this day he would have seen an enrollment of

nearly 5000 students, and a graduating class of 900 students

which next week will receive their degrees, and the University

which he labored to establish and so wisely and faithfully ser-

ved taking rank among the foremost educational institutions of

the land.

President Hayes was an advocate of industrial education

and it was mainly through his influence that a department of

manual training was instituted at the University. On the invita-

tion of the legislature he made an address on this subject to the

two houses in joint session, which was so convincing that funds

were provided for a building for manual training at the Univer-

sity which bears the name "Hayes Hall." He saw this building

completed and properly equipped and was eagerly seeking for

a proper person to take charge of the work, when he was stricken

with the illness which resulted in his death. He attended meet-

ings of the Board of Trustees, of which he was then President,

January 11th and 12th, 1893, and in the afternoon of the 12th

left for Cleveland to see a gentleman who had been recom-

mended as a suitable person to take charge of the department

which was to begin its work in Hayes Hall. It was while return-

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.          467

 

ing to his home from this, his last public service, that he was

fatally stricken.

It was during his service as trustee of the University, that

I first came to really know President Hayes. I had often met

him in his political campaigns, and during most of the period

from November, 1876 to March 2, 1877, as occupant of a minor

office in the Capitol at Columbus, I had seen him almost daily.

I had marked with increasing admiration and respect his re-

markable self-poise during the great and bitter conflict over his

election as President, and was one of the great crowd which

followed him to the railroad station on his way to Washington

to be inaugurated as President, or to congratulate his competitor.

if the Electoral Commission should decide in his favor, and

heard the wonderfully eloquent and impressive speech he made

from the end of the train before it moved out.

But as secretary of the board of trustees of the University

I was thrown into closer relations with him and he soon honored

me with his friendship and confidence. He grew constantly in

my estimation. There were no defects in his character, no weak-

ness, no loss of that noble dignity, which "gives the world assur-

ance of a man." At the same time he was gentle, simple in

manner, approachable and kindly to every one. One of his asso-

ciates on the University board described him as "unassuming in

manners, polite, studious, scholarly, accomplished, and made all

who knew him his friends."

 

"His was no mountain peak of mind,

Thrusting to thin air o'er our cloudy bars,-

A sea-mark now, now lost in vapors blind;

Broad prairie, rather, genial, level lined.

Fruitful and friendly for all human kind,

But also nigh to heaven and loved of loftiest stars."

 

No great one in our history began life with higher ideals and

maintained them more steadfastly through all the vicissitudes of

a great career. Mr. Williams in his biography gives us this re-

markable passage from his diary, written when he was only

nineteen years old and had just entered the senior class at

Kenyon College.

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468      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

"I have never desired other than honorable distinction-

The reputation that I desire is not that momentary eminence

which is gained without merit and lost without regret. Give me

the popularity which runs after, not that which is sought for. For

honest merit to succeed amid the tricks and intrigues which are

now so lamentably common, I know is difficult, but the honor of

success is increased by the obstacles which are to be surmounted.

Let me triumph as a man or not at all." Other extracts from his

diaries show that he was actuated through life by the same high

thoughts and noble purposes. After reading and reflecting upon

them one does not wonder that he reached the summit of worldly

station.

There was nothing meteoric in his rise. His calm star

climbed with steadfast purpose and steady radiance, until it

reached its assured place in the galaxy of our great ones. The

clouds of obloquy which for a time obscured it have passed away

and it now shines with increasing luster.

It is a source of unavailing regret that President Hayes died

so soon. The party rancor which followed his election, was fast

disappearing, his courageous efforts for a reform of the civil

service and his wise Southern policy, which had so embittered his

political associates, were being justified by their results, and the

people were everywhere turning to him with increasing rever-

ence and respect. A few more years of life would have enabled

him to enjoy the triumph which, though often long delayed, surely

comes to him who, with firmness for the right, fearlessly follows

the high stern path of duty.

Mr. President Wright and you, honorable trustees of the

Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society, for the Loyal Legion,

and for the Ohio State University, (for which I have assumed to

speak), I congratulate you and our friend Colonel Webb Hayes

on the consummation of your labors, whereby this beautiful

Spiegel Grove and the stately mansion where President Hayes

lived and died, have been dedicated to the public, and have be-

come the property of the state. I also congratulate you on the

completion of the noble museum in which are stored the relics

of our beloved President. I also congratulate Colonel Hayes

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Dedication of the Haycs Memorial.        469   on his generous endowment, which assures that the whole shall be properly cared for forever. It needs no prophetic vision to foresee that year after year the people of Ohio and of the Nation will come in increasing numbers, as to a shrine, to pay their tribute of reverence and affection for "the simple great one gone" and his beloved wife, who sleep side by side under yonder monument. From this shrine will constantly go forth an inspiring influence which will help towards preserving our faith in our free institutions and our love for our dear country, which makes such a career as that of Presi- dent Hayes possible. Former Governor James E. Campbell spoke as follows:     ADDRESS OF FORMER GOVERNOR CAMPBELL. My Fellow Citizens: It is with great pleasure that I render my tribute to this beautiful Memorial and to the great character whose memory it so fittingly pre-

serves.  I shall speak to-day briefly of Rutherford B. Hayes as Governor of Ohio. His administration was one full of glory and beneficence to the State. His faithful service left monu- ments to his statesmanship that will live as long as Ohio.   They were deeds, not of military nor of political glory, but for the elevation of hu- manity. It was through his influence as Governor that the Geological Sur- vey was revived and placed in the sub- stantial position it now holds as one of the most useful branches of the

State's service. To him can be credited the establishment of the Soldiers' Home. He enlarged the field of the State Board of Charities. This was a subject always dear to his heart, and after his term of office was ended he served many years as a member of that body. Governor Hayes always had the welfare of the State's un-

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