Ohio History Journal

MARCUS A. HANNA.     CHARLES DICK. [Address delivered by United States Senator Pick in the Ohio House of Representatives at the Memorial Services held April 20, 1904, in honor of Senator Hanna.] Marcus A. Hanna was born September 24, 1837, in New Lisbon, Columbiana County, Ohio, and died in Washington,

February 5, 1904, in the discharge of his duties as Senator from his native State. Standing in the presence of this splendid representation of the citizen- ship of Ohio; impressed with the deep significance of this occasion, I am also reminded of the importance of events that go to make up the history of our commonwealth, and the character of the people who have maintained her standing in the front rank of the States which constitute our glorious and im- perishable Union.  In the light of these recollections, crowned with gar-

lands of achievement and duty well performed, stand the towering personalities of those sterling types of American manhood whose accomplishments during the last century have made the history of Ohio identical with that of the nation itself. It is by no accident that Ohio has furnished so many distin- guished sons to the nation, including presidents, statesmen, mili- tary chieftains, lawyers, educators, authors, artists, inventors, scientists and captains of industry. The case is found largely in the circumstances of her birth and development, and in the character of her early settlers. (355)

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If, as has been said, God sifted the whole world to find men

worthy the high calling of founding a new nation, as truly may

it be said that all the original States of the Federal Union con-

tributed to the making of Ohio, the first State of the nineteenth

century, the first new State formed out of national territory.

Here converged nearly all the early lines of continental travel.

Here came the Puritan and the Cavalier, the Scotch-Irish, and

those of pure Teutonic and Gallic blood; Lutheran, Presbyter-

ian, Catholic and Quaker. Connecticut bounded the State on

the north, and Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia on the

south. New York, Pennsylvania and other States furnished

generous contributions to her population.

Of the new States which preceded her into the Union after

the Revolution, Vermont was the offspring of New York and

New Hampshire, Kentucky of Virginia, and Tennessee of North

Carolina. Ohio was the first State to which the entire Union

contributed, the first national territory raised to statehood. All

of the original States gave from their best citizenship to build up

the first State carved out of the Northwest Territory. Massa-

chusetts founded the first settlement at Marietta, Connecticut

peopled the Western Reserve, a New Jersey colony laid the be-

ginnings of Cincinnati, much of the best blood of the States was

filtered through New York from New England, Pennsylvania

was a liberal contributor, and Virginia reserved a large tract to

which came many of her Revolutionary soldiers and their de-

scendants. The abolition of slavery drew to Ohio some of the

best blood of the far South. Here, therefore, came all nationali-

ties and all creeds, and they found not tolerance merely but equal-

ity in the sight of the law. The early use of federal troops to

repress Indian uprisings in the State accustomed her citizens to

the exercise of national authority. This Indian warfare held

captive in Ohio for a time the determined rush of Western mi-

gration. Thus time was given these diverse elements to coalesce

into one harmonious whole, and to form a type of stalwart, in-

tensely patriotic Americans.

Ohio is the neck of the hour-glass through which passed

nearly all the streams of early migrations following the star of

e mpire. All early railroads joining the East and the West

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crossed her boundaries and her territory. These circumstances

also wielded a powerful and beneficent influence on the new com-

monwealth. We were debtors to all the States east of the Alle-

ghanies, a debt Ohio has fully paid by sending out a million of

her own sons in all directions. They have proved worthy of her,

and have given her added fame in all quarters of our country.

Pioneers are the sturdiest, the most enterprising and most

daring. By such people was Ohio settled. Of such stock and

under such surroundings was Senator Hanna born. He was a

type of that mixture of elements so characteristic of his State.

In him commingled many diverse strains of ancestry.

His ancestors were pioneers. They were among the more

hardy and venturesome spirits of the older settlements who fol-

lowed the frontier as it receded westward. In his family is to

be found Scotch-Irish, Cavalier and Puritan, Presbyterian and

Quaker stock. While his parents were residents of Ohio, they

traced their descent to Virginia and Connecticut. He thus com-

bined the best blood of North and South. His entire life, how-

ever, belonged to his native State. His public school training,

his brief college days, his years in business and in the public

service were spent in Ohio or in full view of the people of his

native State. He was in every sense a true son of Ohio, and

ranks with the noblest of the glorious company who have been

proud to call her Mother.

It was not Mr. Hanna's fortune to be born in poverty, nor

did affluence in early years hinder his growth and development.

He belonged to the great middle class of fairly well-to-do Ameri-

cans, who are richest perhaps in their descent from long lines

of sturdy, intelligent, God-fearing ancestors.

The father was a country physician, who left a good prac-

tice in eastern Ohio and moved farther west, to Cleveland, then

a town of fair promise, and engaged in merchandising because

of the wider field it offered for achieving success. In his father's

store the future Senator received his first training in business.

The beginnings were small but prosperous. He spent a year in

the Western Reserve College, with what benefit to himself he de-

clared he never felt certain, though he doubtless builded more

wisely than he knew. He served a brief enlistment in the Union

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armies. The years which immediately followed were years of

commercial upbuilding and expansion. His training was in the

problems which confront the man of large affairs.

Thus he spent nearly a lifetime in business and with scarcely

a thought for other matters. By his hard common sense he won

the confidence of his associates and was a leader among them.

He had the tremendous personal force of an aggressive mental-

ity. He was as stalwart in mind as he was in body. His

strength lay largely in the directness of his methods. He was a

masterful man, possessing at all times definite aims in life. He

saw with a clear eye, and was able by force of intellect and char-

acter to make other men think as he did. He was a man who ac-

complished results, a leader who led. His business methods were

conservative. He was never a speculator, except as all business

is a venture. He was constructive, but not a promoter.

He developed great executive ability and built up large busi-

ness enterprises which survive him. He selected his lieutenants,

apportioned the work, directed in a general way without burden-

ing his mind with details, and looked with confidence for results.

He did not have the patience for infinite detail, but the greater

power of conceiving and executing great undertakings. His suc-

cess was the result of long years of preparation. He commanded

success because he deserved it.

He was a man of great heart and a most liberal benefactor.

Growing wealth developed in him the kindlier and more humane

side. He gave freely and cheerfully, but modestly and without

parade. His charity was discriminating.

He will be most missed by the numerous charities in his

home city to which he was a generous contributor. Churches

and hospitals without regard to creed enjoyed his aid, and to the

practical Christianity of the Salvation Army he was more than

generous.

His relations with large bodies of working men as employer

sometimes led to differences which promised to result in the

clash of industrial strife. The militant spirit was always strong

within him and the prospect of a contest usually inviting, but he

soon saw the great economic waste in strikes and lockouts. He

discovered they were unnecessary. By frank and honest deal-

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ings with each other, by mutual understandings, by fair conces-

sions honorably lived up to, he dwelt on terms of harmony with

his employes. He trusted them and they trusted him and by

neither was that confidence betrayed. He was devoted and loyal

to the interests of those who worked for him and that devotion

and that loyalty were nobly repaid. He learned that labor could

be trusted, that its engagements were sacredly observed. In one

of his late public speeches before a large body of working men,

many of them his own laborers, he declared that if he had ever

injured anyone in his employ he would resign his seat in the Sen-

ate. That statement to this day has gone unchallenged. He

stood in the way of business consolidations which would have

added to his wealth for fear they would injure men who had

grown gray in his service. In times of great business depres-

sion and industrial unrest the men who worked for him stood

by their posts, because they knew Mr. Hanna was always fair

and generous with them and was paying as fair wages as the

business justified.

The social instincts were strong in Mr. Hanna. He de-

lighted in the company of his friends, in entertaining them around

his own table. Their number was legion and they represented

all the varied interests of human life. In the social circle he

was most affable and genial, a most companionable man. In all

the relations of home life he was most lovable. He was always

interested in public matters and enjoyed the friendship of many

public men long before he became a figure in national politics.

He was a friend of Sherman and took an active interest in his

campaigns. He was a friend of Garfield and gave him generous

assistance. The political relation, however, which most beautified

his life was his devotion to McKinley. Their friendship was of

long standing and the tie between them strengthened with the

years. Each was great enough to recognize the greatness of the

other. Both were masterful men, both were leaders, but their

processes and their methods were entirely different. Hanna was

the strong, forceful elder brother, but he yielded to and was

influenced largely by the gentle strength and tactful guidance or

the other. The blow of McKinley's death fell on him with

crushing force.

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Mr. Hanna spent a full complement of years in business

pursuits. He was the architect of his own fortune and achieved

success because he earned it. At a time when most men who

have engaged in manufacturing or commerce think to retire he

entered upon his real life work. It was in the years devoted to

business, however, that his talent developed, his great executive

capacity.

His daily life was wholesome and clean, his pleasures were

simple, his tastes natural. He was a most useful man to his

community, but his mettle was yet untried. At three score years

it remained to be demonstrated that Mr. Hanna was a born

leader of men, a political general of great skill, an orator and

statesman of high rank.

With the shrewdness and insight born of long experience

and success in business and his intimate acquaintance with condi-

tions in the commercial world, he foresaw the possible promotion

of McKinley and seized the opportune time to push his can-

didacy for the Presidency.  With the same far-seeing vision

which marked his judgment in business affairs, he predicted

the elevation of his chosen leader. Politics became for a time

the passion of his life; his devotion was unselfish and un-

wavering. He laid his plans far in advance and organized his

forces with consummate skill. No detail was too minute to be

overlooked. He won a signal victory against political leaders

tried on many hard-fought battlefields. The victory he won in

the preconvention campaign of 1896 was so complete that it

obscured the magnitude of the struggle. Success was so over-

whelming that one was tempted to forget there had been a

struggle. No man who participated therein, however, could

make that mistake.

A political campaign followed which alarmed the country

and made business interests anxious. More money was offered

him for the purpose of waging the contest than could be used.

The statement of his expenditures, however, could safely have

been disclosed to the whole world.

That campaign was essentially a campaign of education. His

motto was, "Thousands for education and organization, not one

dollar for corruption."  He brought into politics the straight-

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forward, open methods of the upright, God-fearing American

business man. If this was an innovation in American politics,

it was to the great advantage of politics and the country. He

believed that a political campaign should be managed like any

other reputable business undertaking. He was honest, sincere

and frank and won the confidence of the country. He was loyal

to the interests of the party workers who helped him win vic-

tories and their devotion to him was unfaltering. If he mar-

ried business to politics it was because he brought to politics

the same honesty, directness, and straightforwardness essential

to business success. This country need never fear commercial-

ism in politics as long as commercialism stands for Senator

Hanna's methods and practices. Business men had been in poli-

tics before, but the advent of this business man with his frank,

open methods came as a surprise and something of a shock to

many party workers. He was a captain of industry who com-

manded his lieutenants. He was accustomed to say to this man,

"Go," and he went; to another man, "Come," and he came.

He managed campaigns the same way, and the innova-

tion was not at first entirely acceptable. The ways of political

managers had been looked upon as devious and secret; their

comings and goings subterranean and nocturnal. He brought

daylight into dark places, conducted his first national campaign as

he planned and carried on industrial undertakings. The stock-

holders always had access to the books. This is a commercial

era, and if he brought business methods into politics, who will

say it has not been to the great advantage of politics?

In the national campaign of 1896 he came under the fierce

glare of public opinion, and was immediately seized upon as a

fitting target for unmeasured abuse and vilification. He was un-

known to the general public, which is only too eager to believe

evil of any public man. The cartoonist and the paragrapher

exhausted their resources in holding him up to public contempt

These poisoned arrows could not pierce his armor. No man

enjoys abuse, and Mr. Hanna suffered because he was not under-

stood; but he went his way serene, calm, cheerful, and undis-

turbed. Kindlier feelings and a more generous appreciation suc-

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ceeded to distrust and malignity. Vituperation and abuse re-

coiled from him. He outlived all calumny, and it was his good

fortune to live to see the shafts of malice blunted and turned

back on his assailers. For eight years a strong searchlight of

infinite inquiry was focused upon him, but nothing mean or

small was ever disclosed. The honesty of his life and the purity

of his motives were admitted even by those who differed with

him politically. His life was an open book, every page as clean

as the first.

The only political office Mr. Hanna ever held, except mem-

bership in the school board of the city of his adoption, was a

seat in the United States Senate. President McKinley offered

Mr. Hanna a place in his cabinet; this he declined. He was

appointed by Governor Bushnell to fill the vacancy caused by

Senator Sherman's appointment as Secretary of State, and was

endorsed by the state convention of his party for election to the

seat. He was still serving his first full term and had been

elected to another when his life was closed. The contrast be-

tween the circumstances attending his two elections marks the

progress of popular knowledge of the man. In both campaigns

he was endorsed by the state convention of his party, the nearest

approach perhaps to election to the Senate by direct vote of the

people. At the first election the margin of party success was

narrow, but apparently entirely sufficient, until faction raised its

poisoned head within his own party. During the campaign there

were no open evidences of the treachery that was working under

cover. After the election the conspirators threw off the mask.

It was a base plot against the will of the people regularly ex-

pressed. Men high in the confidence of the party and enjoying

honors at its hands joined to defeat the expressed will of the

people. There was no scheme too desperate to be resorted to.

The intensity and bitterness of that struggle no one can appre-

ciate who was not a part of it. It required an uprising of the

people in their majesty and wrath to register the verdict which

they had instructed at the polls. By resolutions and delegations

and informally appointed committees they assailed those who were

dallying with dishonor or were listening to golden-tongued temp-

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ters. The people spoke and in no uncertain terms. They did

not speak in vain; Senator Hanna was elected by a majority

of one vote and the State was spared the misfortune and worse

of violated instructions and tainted honor. Six years later he

was a candidate for re-election. The state convention again

declared him the nominee of his party. The difference between

his two elections to the United States Senate indicates his six

years' growth in public regard. In that time he had become the

unquestioned leader and idol of his party. He was the most

sought for man on the stump for several campaigns. His meet-

ings were thronged by enthusiastic followers. They were never

larger or more enthusiastic than in his last campaign. The re-

sult was an overwhelming personal triumph; he was returned

to the United States Senate by the largest majority ever given in

this body. You witnessed that triumph and know how gratify-

ing it was to him.

It is given to few men who have been reviled and perse-

cuted as he was to enjoy such a complete reversal of sentiment

and to close their days in the full sunlight of public confidence

and esteem. Public sentiment seemed to desire to make atone-

ment for its early injustice and so lavished upon him an appro-

bation and affection which few Americans have enjoyed to so

great a degree. All misunderstanding had passed away. His

honesty and sincerity and purity of motives were recognized of

all men. He had conquered all misconception, and the years to

come promised happiness without alloy, for he had won the uni-

versal regard and esteem of his fellow-men.

When Senator Hanna first entered the Capitol at Washing-

ton the atmosphere had not been cleared of suspicion, but his un-

assuming manner, his frankness and geniality soon dissipated all

distrust and won the respect and cordial friendship of his col-

leagues, which in many cases ripened into deep affection. Some

of his warmest friends were on the other side the wall of party

politics. He won his way to commanding influence there by the

soundness of his judgment and the confidence he inspired.

He was willing to do hard work. The large part he took

in helping to frame the schedules of the Dingley tariff law is

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known to but comparatively few. He rarely took part in de-

bate, but when he did, he spoke with a full knowledge of his sub-

ject and with a force and earnestness which carried conviction.

His greatest legislative achievement was in changing a hos-

tile majority against the Panama route for an isthmian canal

into a decisive majority in its favor. The country was com-

mitted to another plan; the claims of another route had been

written into party platforms, and he was told that his efforts

would be futile. When he entered upon this contest few mem-

bers of Congress agreed with him. He made a study of the

subject with all his energy and gave it patient, painstaking ex-

amination. Having convinced himself, he started out to con-

vince the Congress and the country. He made the contest with

all the zeal and energy of his strong nature. When he spoke, it

was the successful business man of large affairs who addressed

his hearers upon a purely business proposition. His speech in

the Senate of the United States was a most convincing presenta-

tion of the advantages of the Panama route. The country, as

well as Congress, when the final judgment was reached, was con-

verted to his views and no one longer seriously questions the

soundness of that position. The canal will be built at Panama

and will be his greatest monument. No more signal personal

and legislative triumph has ever been won in the Congress of the

United States.

His courage never showed to greater advantage than in his

efforts to uphold an American merchant marine. Largely owing

to his efforts a shipping bill passed the Senate but has never

succeeded in the House of Representatives. Despite strong pre-

judice against the measure he was unfailing in his support. He

believed the opposition was largely due to misunderstanding. He

was challenged to advocate the measure in the last campaign in

Ohio. The challenge was boldly accepted. He presented his

views fearlessly. The result vindicated his judgment and his

courage. The people do desire our flag restored to the seas.

Senator Hanna was not merely a scholar; he was more

than that; he was a thinker who did not permit others to think

for him, and he put his best thoughts in his daily life. True he

held no diploma from college or academy, but he was graduated

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from the greater university of experience, whose lessons and

teachings supplement all other education.

Senator Hanna had no training in the art of public speak-

ing. He never undertook an extended address until after he

reached three score years. He was not an orator in the sense

that polished paragraph and stately language makes an orator,

and he never prepared a set speech. When first he attempted

to speak in public he spoke haltingly and hesitatingly, but prac-

tice gave him power. He developed amazingly in the faculty of

apt and forceful expression. Much speaking gave him ease and

self-confidence. He developed the power that was within hint

and became a convincing speaker. He believed what he said

and said it in a way that carried conviction. When he spoke it

was from a full heart and a mind richly stored with his subject.

He talked the speech of common, every-day life, the vernacular

of the plain people; and he talked to them, not over them. He

had the gift of homely phrase, and these phrases often crystal-

lized into campaign cries. He used language to express thought

not to conceal it; speech was given him not to hide truth, but

to proclaim it. Few public speakers have been more popular,

have drawn larger audiences, or moved them more profoundly.

So we may say that if oratory is the power of carrying conviction

to the hearts of one's hearers and giving them a message which

will endure, then Senator Hanna was an orator of no mean rank.

It has been given to no other American to win as great fame

as he did in the diverse fields of business and politics, or to make

for himself so lasting a name in such a brief space of time. But

Senator Hanna was not satisfied; his greatest ambition lay in

another direction, and he will probably be remembered longest

for the work he did in bringing labor and capital to a better un-

derstanding of each other. The greatest good he did was what

he accomplished and tried to accomplish to solve the great in-

dustrial problem. His greatest service there lay in making labor

and capital better acquainted. He was the great peacemaker.

In this field there is no one to take his place, no one so high as

he in the confidence of interests which oppose each other because

they do not understand each other. He had accomplished much

in this direction and was arranging to devote his energies and

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time to this magnificent object. No man was better qualified for

the task than he, for he had been a large employer of labor and

had been most successful in maintaining friendly relations with

his own employes. His first efforts toward conciliation were

looked at with suspicion; men on both sides feared he had some

ulterior end in view, that he sought some political advantage, but

the sincerity of his motives could not long be doubted and his

unselfish aim was soon understood by all. He was as honest and

frank in this field of activity as in everything else he undertook.

He realized the folly of industrial warfare, and felt there was no

more reason why labor and capital should quarrel than that the

sacredness of the family tie should be broken by domestic quar-

rels. He helped to organize the Civic Federation, and was one

of its leading spirits and most active and valuable members.

The immense good he accomplished in reconciling labor differ-

ences is a story that has not yet been told. When it is fully

known, Senator Hanna will be recognized even more than now

as one of the greatest benefactors of his time. He was succeed-

ing because he was frank and fair, because he was bringing

labor and capital into more intimate relations and enabling them

to understand each other. He was a man of wealth himself,

but he never lost sympathy with labor. His interest in all his

fellow-men was genuine and sincere. No missionary ever went

forth with higher ideals for the service of mankind or with a

truer love for his suffering brother than actuated Senator Hanna

in his crusade for a better understanding between those interests

which should go arm in arm with each other and which would

not be in conflict if they understood each other.

It is given to few men to complete the tasks set before them.

Man's plans are not often God's plans. Lincoln saw the end of

armed strife, but it was riot given his sublime patience to solve

the trying problems which followed. He had not yet drunk the

cup of bitterness to the dregs. McKinley saw the end of armed

opposition to our national authority at the close of another war,

but was taken away, leaving many vital problems unsolved.

Mr. Hanna did much; few men did so much in such a brief

term, but his greatest task lay before him. Business success

and political preferment became to him means to an end. He

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felt the necessity of saner methods for settling disputes between

labor and capital. He devoted himself to the cause of industrial

peace and social justice. To this great end he had consecrated

the rest of his life, and had arranged his business affairs so that

they need no longer engage his attention. He repeatedly de-

clared he would rather settle the labor problem than be President.

He had no secret longings for other political honors. He

was not a candidate for the Presidential nomination. He was

great enough to put aside any such ambition and was never

greater than in resisting the flattery of those who would have

made him a national standard bearer. He refused to promise

the use of his name in connection with it. The public will know

but little of the great pressure brought to bear upon him to ac-

cept this crown, nor did he, like Caesar, refuse each time with

less and less insistance. He was firm to the last, because he felt

he was following the path in which his duty lay. He had given

his word he would not be a candidate, and with the fidelity which

distinguished his life he kept the faith. This, however, did not

discourage the support of his friends nor dampen the enthusiasm

which existed for him in all parts of the country. No Ameri-

can citizen ever yet, however, resisted the call of his party to be

its candidate for President. Had he lived and taken his seat

in the next National Convention of his party at the head of the

delegation from his own State, who can tell where the unbounded

enthusiasm of his hosts of friends and admirers and the demands

of the hour would have carried that body?

No man ever grew so rapidly in influence and power, and

no man who entered politics so late in life ever rose so high.

Success and high station in politics as a rule come only to those

who have served an apprenticeship in lower places.

He sprang full panoplied and equipped into the arena of

national activity. We seek for comparisons, but none can be

made, because no man achieved so great success who was in pub-

lic life so short a time as he was. No other man who wrought

in the double field of industry and politics ever achieved so great

a success in both. He applied the straightforward, honest

methods of upright business dealings to affairs of party and of

State. The country was surprised, doubted, and then applauded.

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He revolutionized politics by putting it on a business basis. He

interested business in politics to the distinct advantage of the

latter.

He was distinctly the product of his day and generation, a

typical American of the latter part of the nineteenth century.

He was constructive in politics and in legislation as he was in

business. He was interested in building up instead of tearing

down.

Mr. Hanna's response to his physicians' appeal to help them,

made in his last illness, was characteristic of the man, "I'll do

the best I can." He always did the best he could, always con-

tended with all his might. He was the sturdy fighter who

waged war not merely to win but to overwhelm his antagonist.

While he did not seek such conflicts, he did not avoid them.

Once involved, the martial spirit in him rose to battle pitch. He

fought in the open, gave hard blows, and took them manfully.

He fought to conquer and to conquer overwhelmingly, but

truce declared and peace effected, he harbored no resentment

and punished no enemies. He not merely forgave-he forgot.

True, he was not satisfied with a narrow margin of victory; it

must be decisive. Even when success was absolutely assured,

he did not relax his efforts in the least. This feeling was mis-

understood and led to misconception, and was the great source

of the excess of caricature from which he suffered. He needed

only to be thoroughly known to be vindicated of all charges.

Measure him from whatever point you choose, his sturdy

honesty shines pre-eminent. The arts of the demagogue he

scorned. He hated all shams and artifice. He had no secret,

dark-chamber method of achieving results. He did not win by

intrigue. He worked in the open; his methods might at any

time have been laid bare to the gaze of the world. There was

no secret in his handling of men. He was honest, frank, sin-

cere, sympathetic, friendly. He was direct in his methods and

masterful in his dealings. His friendships were not confined

within the narrow circle of party politics, for he gained the ad-

miration and respect of those who would not agree with him.

His honesty and sincerity no one could doubt.

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If he was devoted to any cause it was on account of its right-

eousness and justice, as he viewed it. He never concealed per-

sonal and selfish aims under the guise of advocating public meas-

ures. He was frank and open in his relations to all legislation.

He did not look to the shifting weather-vane of public opinion to

find direction to guide his steps. What seemed right to him he

did. He never lacked the courage of his convictions. He was

modest and unassuming; he never sought applause and never

carried himself to be seen of men. He won no victories on the

field of battle, he did not fill the seat of highest authority, but he

was a pillar of the State.

He was to a marked degree a well-balanced man, a man

sane in all the relations of life. It follows that he was hopeful

and optimistic. Cheerfulness and good nature were the very

essence of his being. He bore with him at all times the atmos-

phere of love and sunshine. He was square, brave, and true, a

great, tender-hearted, manly man. No one was ever deceived

by his bluffness of speech when the beaming eye and kindly smile

belied the sense of his words. The catholicity of his interests

and sympathies was as boundless as his charities. He had some

faults that are common to most men, but he possessed virtues

so rare as to challenge recognition and admiration. He was at

all times a man of deep and abiding convictions of mind and

heart.

The enthusiasm and devotion he awakened are only possi-

ble to strong men. As he was loyal to others, so were his friends

loyal to him. Those who knew him best loved him most. The

Old Guard was not more faithful to Napoleon than Senator

Hanna's friends to him.

No man who made so brief a passage across the theater of

our national life ever left a stronger impress on his day and

age in every walk of life in which he took an interest. It is too

soon to determine his rightful place in the Valhalla of our national

heroes, but it is certain that the impartial biographer will record

him a great party leader, a statesman of high rank, a patriot of

purest loyalty.

 

24 Vol. XIII.

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370       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

That I can not be mistaken in my estimate of this man is

proven by some expressions of regard and affection spoken by his

colleagues in the Senate.

Senator Platt, of Connecticut, said: * * * "when Marcus

A. Hanna died all the people mourned with a grief that was

deep and unfeigned. Something in his life and character had

endeared him to all classes. What that something was it is diffi-

cult to say, but we know it was given to but few men in this

world to inspire such respect and affection as did our deceased

comrade and brother."

Senator Cullom, of Illinois, said: "In the death of Senator

Hanna one of the most remarkable men of our country has

passed away. He had an extraordinary career, a career that

challenged the admiration of the people without regard to sec-

tion or partisanship."

Senator Fairbanks, of Indiana, said: "Marcus A. Hanna

was one of the foremost Americans, one of the most eminent

members of this great forum. He achieved place and power

through no mere caprice of accident. He forged his way to the

point of vantage occupied when he laid down his responsibilities

by the strength of his own genius and by virtue of arduous deeds

done."

Senator Elkins, of West Virginia, said: * * *  "he be-

came, next to the President himself, the dominating force in party

affairs, and after the death of his lamented friend unquestion-

ably the most popular man in our business and national life."

Senator Depew, of New York, said: * * * "Hanna, the

party organizer, the party leader, the president-maker, the sena-

tor and the statesman."

Senator Daniel, of Virginia, said: "He was at the time of

his death the most conspicuous and most influential of the public

men in the service of the country."

Senator Kearns, of Utah, said: "His life is the ideal for

which the youth of our country should strive. In his intercourse

with men he was all that stands for sterling manhood, and he sur-

rounded his home with a halo of purity and love."

Senator Blackburn, of Kentucky, said: "It is not more than

just to say of him that at the end of his six or seven years of

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Marcus A. Hanna.                 371

 

public service he held in greater measure than any living Ameri-

can statesman, the confidence of all classes. He was a man of

sufficient power and force to have made and left his impress upon

any senate that this country has ever known."

Day upon day he grew in intellect, vigor and political

strength, until he was the recognized leader of his party and a

great senator. In reaching this eminence he never crawled an

inch; he went there as the eagle goes to the mountain top. Dig-

nified but not ostentatious; frank, but not blunt; reserved, but

not austere; patient and laborious he conquered all conditions,

surmounted all obstacles, and survived all vicissitudes. Each

day added to the charm of his manner, the force of his eloquence,

the completeness of his logic, and his grasp upon public affairs.

He became the wonder of his colleagues, while he attracted the

admiration of his countrymen.

As a citizen Mr. Hanna was in sympathy with all influences

which tend to good citizenship. While he was keenly alive to

merit the commendation of his fellow-citizens, his duty to the

state was the dominating thought of his mind. He was sincere

and courageous, and avoided the use of political art to secure

his advancement. He walked among his people an able, modest,

forceful man, worthy the confidence of his fellowmen. His fidelity

and honesty of purpose will ever invite the attention of the student

of his marvelous career.

Mr. Hanna was imbued with the genius of our institutions.

His love of country was largely developed; his love of her in-

stitutions was still more so. He believed our form of govern-

ment met the needs of mankind, and was permanent in its ability

to develop human capabilities; that the principle degree was the

foundation of genuine liberty; that it was the acme of human

governmental intelligence.

He worshiped law and the Author of law. Mr. Hanna had

unbounded faith in the people; he sought their education that

they might be better able to comprehend the duties of citizenship

and to more fully understand the responsibilities which it im-

posed upon them. His aim was their education in honesty,

fidelity, self-respect, courage, devotion and patriotism, that

thereby they would not only be able to detect the unwholesome

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372       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

theories of the sophist, but the more dangerous methods of the

demagogue, and courageously thwart their purposes.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the battle of Lexington

and Concord; on that day the embattled farmers first fired the

shot heard round the world, which marked the beginning of an

armed conflict that was not to cease until a new state had been

recognized among the family of nations-a state devoted to

liberty and the rights of man. To-day we commemorate one

who traced his descent from a brave soldier of that war, and

who was himself in every fiber a patriot and a lover of his coun-

try, for Senator Hanna was an intensely patriotic American.

He believed that Lexington and Bunker Hill were as heroic as

Thermopylae; that Yorktown had greater influence upon the

progress of the world than Waterloo; that Sedan was far less

significant than Gettysburg; that Magna Charta was not greater

than the Declaration of Independence; that Washington and

Lincoln and Garfield and Grant and McKinley were incom-

parably greater benefactors of the human race than Alexander

and Caesar and Napoleon.

He believed that the soldiers who followed Washington and

Grant fought in causes holier than the Crusades and for principles

as lasting as truth. He believed that the American flag stands

to-day for the grandest story of progress in the history of the

world and for the greatest recorded triumphs of civilization, for

the highest intelligence and the loftiest purposes, for boundless

opportunities, for the broadest liberty, personal, religious and

political, for freedom, for justice, for education, for progress,

for right and for righteousness; in short, that it stands for the

best government among men.

He believed that in the record for past success rested the

assurance of the future progress of his country, and that Lin-

coln at Gettysburg delivered an eternal prophecy when he de-

clared that "this Nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to

the proposition that all men are created equal, and that govern-

ment of the people, by the people and for the people shall not

perish from the earth."

My friends, these walls had scarcely ceased to echo the ap-

plause which greeted Senator Hanna's triumphant re-election to

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Marcus A. Hanna.                  373

 

the United States Senate, when there followed days of declining

health and illness which did not at first alarm, but soon awakened

fear of the final outcome. When he was stricken the people

watched through saddened days and nights for news from his

bedside, where hope and despair alternated in quick succession.

In a conflict with disease which brought out the courage and

determination and hopefulness of the patient, Senator Hanna

met an adversary he could not conquer. At last the end came.

His mighty heart ceased to beat. Millions were in tears; a

Nation mourned.

The President and Cabinet, Ambassadors, judges of the

Supreme Court, Senators, Congressmen, generals, admirals, gov-

ernors of States, legislators, State officials, municipal officers and

captains of industry attended his funeral services. Manufacture

in his native State paused; commerce and transportation stood

still; the busy hum of machinery and industry was hushed, the

miner laid down his tools, labor in all callings ceased its work,

and all men bowed their heads in memory of the man whose loss

they mourned. The State had lost its first citizen, his party its

acknowledged leader, the country a patriot and statesman.

And so he passed away in the fullness of his influence and

his powers, in the full possession of his splendid faculties, in the

midst of a public career which gave promise of even larger use-

fulness, secure also in the knowledge that he was known and

honored by his country; that all misunderstanding and miscon-

ception had passed away; looked up to by one vast set of in-

terests as its shield and by another as its sincere friend and true

adviser.

We know not why our friend was taken away.

God's ways are not our ways.

His death made a vacancy which will remain unfilled.

He left the example of his life-a rich heritage.

The enduring love of his countrymen crowns his memory.

In closing I place this wreath from a dear friend upon his

resting place:

As when some stately vessel sails away

Full-rigged and masted for the wind and tide

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374        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Beyond the curving confines of the day,

Where cloud walls rise, and unseen perils hide;

 

And when in silhouetted majesty

She stands, full many statures of a man,

Is seen her greatness and her symmetry--

Her wondrous adaptation for the plan;

 

Till she has crossed the bar of human sight,

Where blend the boundaries of sea and sky;

When all other craft seems small, and blight

Of insignificance aggrieves the eye.

 

So passed Mark Hanna to another world;

So sailed his spirit, mighty, staunch and true;

Well-built and ready, with each sail unfurled,

And with a world's best wishes for his crew.

 

With freight of kindly deeds, beyond a price;

Of patience and unselfish simple good;

Of charity, and willing sacrifice;

Of love that made for common brotherhood.

 

Would we could hear the greeting and acclaim

Upon the other shore! From dome to dome

Will ring the welcome to his honored name:

So loved by all: "Mark Hanna, Welcome Home!"

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