284 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
nished, containing only a rickety table,
a broken chair and a
dusty bookcase. There was of course no
carpet. Then there
was an old red plush lounge which would
now hardly be con-
sidered good enough for kindling wood.
That law office was
certainly a contrast to the mahogany
furnished law offices of the
present day."
When Lincoln was elected president, that
companionship
between Robert Lincoln and McMullan and
the latter's intimacy
with the Lincoln family naturally ended,
because the Lincolns
"moved away over east to
Washington," said McMullan with a
smile.
When 17 years of age, McMullan joined
Company B, 32nd
Ohio Regiment, and participated in 29
battles, including the
famous siege of Vicksburg. He was
captured and confined in
Andersonville Prison for 11 months. He
was finally paroled
and before his parole period expired the
war ended.
"I do not have to be told that
Lincoln was one of the best
friends this Nation and its citizens
ever had," said McMullan.
"I know it and so do my two
brothers who were members of
the Confederate Army. I often heard them
say that Lincoln
was the best friend the South ever had
and we, of the North,
know quite well that he was one of the
best we ever had."
LINCOLN ON LABOR
IN SPEECH AT CINCINNATI, 1859
By reference to page 95, it will be seen
that a part of
Abraham Lincoln's speech at Cincinnati
in 1859 was
omitted from the report. His speech
is generally, al-
most invariably, published with this
omission. In the
Life of Abraham Lincoln by W. D. Howells, published
in Columbus in 1860, the Cincinnati
speech is included
with this prefatory note:
The following speech is here reproduced,
with the insertion
of Mr. Lincoln's view upon labor and the
ability of the laborer
to become an employer. These were
omitted in the first report,
and the passages are supplied by the
reporter for the present
work.
Reviews, Notes and Comments 285
The supplied portion relating to labor
is as follows:
Upon what principle shall it be said the
planting of a new
territory by the first thousand people that migrate to
it, is a
matter concerning them exclusively? What kind of logic is it
that argues that it in no wise concerns,
if you please, the black
men who are to be enslaved? Or if you are afraid to say any-
thing about that; if you have been
bedeviled for your sympathy
for the negro; if noses have been turned
up at you; and if you
have been accused of having wanted the
negro as your social
equal, for a juror, to be a witness
against your white brethren,
or even to marry with him; if you have
been accused of all this,
until you are afraid to speak of the
colored race; -- then, I ask
you, what right is there to say that the
planting of free soil with
slavery has no effect upon the white men
that are to go there
afterward as emigrants from the older
states? By what right
do a few of the first settlers fix that
first condition beyond the
power of succeeding millions to
eradicate it? Why shall a few
men be allowed, as it were, to sow that
virgin soil with Canada
thistles, or any other pest of the soil,
which the farmer, in subse-
quent ages, cannot eradicate without
endless toil? Is it a matter
that exclusively concerns those few
people that settle there first?
Douglas argues that it is a matter of
exclusive local juris-
diction. What enables him to say that?
It is because he looks
upon slavery as so insignificant that
the people may decide that
question for themselves, albeit they are
not fit to decide who shall
be their governor, judge, or secretary,
or who have been any of
their officers. These are vast national
matters, in his estimation;
but the little matter, in his
estimation, is the planting of slavery
there. That is of purely local interest,
which nobody should be
allowed to say a word about. It is a great national question
that Sam. Medary shall be appointed by
the President as Gov-
ernor of Kansas, that he may go there
for a year or two, and
come away without there being left
behind him a sign for good
or evil of his having been there; but
the question of planting
slavery on that soil is a little, local,
unimportant matter, that
nobody ought to be allowed to speak
of. Such an expression is
absolutely shameful.
Labor is the great source from which
nearly all, if not all,
human comforts and necessaries are
drawn. There is a differ-
ence of opinion about the elements of
labor in a society. Some
men assume that there is a necessary
connection between capital
and labor, and that connection draws
within it all of the labor
of the community. They assume that
nobody works unless cap-
ital excites him to work. They begin next to consider what is
the best way for capital to be used to
induce people to work.
286 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
They say that there are but two ways;
one is, to hire men and
to allure them to labor by their own
consent, and the other is,
to buy the men and drive them to labor. This latter is
slavery.
Having assumed so much, they proceed to
discuss the question
of whether the laborers themselves are
better off in the condition
of slavery or of hired laborers; and
they usually decide that they
are better off in the condition of
slaves.
In the first place, I say that that
whole theory is a mistake.
That there is a certain relation between
capital and labor I admit.
That it does exist, and rightfully
exist, and that it is proper that
it should exist, I think is true. I
think, in the progress of things,
that men who are industrious, and sober, and honest in
the pur-
suit of their own interests, should,
after a while, accumulate
capital, and then should be allowed to
enjoy it in peace, and
also, if they choose, when they have
accumulated it, use it to
save themselves from actual labor, by
hiring other people to labor
for them. In doing so, they do not wrong the man they em-
ploy, for they find young men who have
not of their own land
to work upon, or shops to labor in, and
who are benefited by
working for others in the capacity of
hired laborers, receiving
their capital for it. Thus, a few men that own capital, hire
others, and thus establish the relation
of capital and labor right-
fully; a relation of which I make no
complaint. But I insist
that the relation, after all, does not
embrace more than one-
eighth of all the labor of the
country. At least seven-eighths
of the labor is done without relation to
it.
Take the State of Ohio. Out of eight bushels of wheat.
seven are raised by those men who labor for
themselves, aided
by their boys growing to manhood,
neither being hired nor hir-
ing, but literally laboring upon their
own hook, asking no favor
of capital, of hired laborer, or of the
slave. That is the true
condition of the larger portion of all
the labor done in this com-
munity, or that should be the condition
of labor in well regu-
lated communities of
agriculturists. Thus much for that part
of the subject.
Again: the assumption that the slave is
in a better condition
than the hired laborer includes the
further assumption that he
who is once a hired laborer always
remains a hired laborer; that
there is a certain class of men who
remain through life in a de-
pendent condition. Then they endeavor to point out that when
they get old they have no kind masters
to take care of them,
and that they fall dead in the traces,
with the harness of actual
labor upon their feeble backs. In point of fact that is a false
assumption. There is no such thing as a man who is a hired
laborer, of a necessity, always
remaining in his early condition.
Reviews, Notes and Comments 287
The general rule is otherwise. I know it is so, and I will tell
you why. When at an early age, I was
myself a hired laborer,
at twelve dollars per month; and
therefore I do know that there
is not always the necessity for being a
hired laborer because once
there was propriety in being so. My
understanding of the hired
laborer is this: A young man finds
himself of an age to be dis-
missed from parental control; he has for
his capital nothing,
save two strong hands that God has given
him, a heart willing
to labor, and a freedom to choose the
mode of his work and the
manner of his employer; he has got no
soil nor shop, and he
avails himself of the opportunity of
hiring himself to some man
who has capital to pay him a fair day's
wages for a fair day's
work. He is benefited by availing
himself of that privilege. He
works industriously, he behaves soberly,
and the result of a year
or two's labor is a surplus of capital.
Now he buys land on his
own hook; he settles, marries, begets
sons and daughters, and in
course of time he too has enough capital
to hire some new be-
ginner.
In this same way every member of the
whole community
benefits and improves his condition.
That is the true condition
of labor in the world, and it breaks up
the saying of these men
that there is a class of men chained
down throughout life to labor
for another. There is no such case
unless he be of that confiding
and leaning disposition that makes it
preferable for him to choose
that course, or unless he be a vicious
man, who by reason of his
vice, is, in some way prevented from
improving his condition,
or else he be a singularly unfortunate
man. There is no such
thing as a man being bound down in a
free country through his
life as a laborer. This progress by
which the poor, honest, in-
dustrious, and resolute man raises
himself, that he may work
on his own account and hire somebody
else, is that progress that
human nature is entitled to, is that
improvement in condition
that is intended to be secured by those
institutions under which
we live, is the great principle for
which this government was
really formed. Our government was not established that one
man might do with himself as he pleases,
and with another man
too.
I hold that if there is any one thing
that can be proved to
be the will of God by external nature
around us, without refer-
ence to revelation, it is the
proposition that whatever any one
man earns with his hands and by the sweat of his brow,
he shall
enjoy in peace. I say that whereas God Almighty has given
every man one mouth to be fed, and one
pair of hands adapted
to furnish food for that mouth, if
anything can be proved to be
the will of Heaven, it is proved by this
fact, that that mouth is to
288 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
be fed by those hands, without being
interfered with by any other
man who has also his mouth to feed and
his hands to labor with.
I hold if the Almighty had ever made a
set of men that should
do all the eating and none of the work,
he would have made
them with mouths only and no hands, and
if he had ever made
another class that he had intended
should do all the work and
none of the eating, he would have made
them without mouths
and with hands. But inasmuch as he has
not chosen to make
man in that way, if anything is proved,
it is that those hands
and mouths are to be co-operative
through life and not to be in-
terfered with. That they are to go forth
and improve their con-
dition as I have been trying to
illustrate, is the inherent right given
to mankind directly by the Maker.
In the exercise of this right you must
have room. In the
filling up of countries, it turns out
after a while that we get so
thick that we have not quite room enough
for the exercise of
that right, and we desire to go
somewhere else. Where shall we
go to?
Where shall you go to escape from over-population
and competition? To those new
territories which belong to us,
which are God-given for that purpose.
If, then, you will go to
those territories that you may improve
your condition, you have
a right to keep them in the best
condition for those going into
them, and can they make that natural
advance in their condition
if they find the institution of slavery
planted there?
My good friends, let me ask you a
question -- you who have
come from Virginia or Kentucky, to get
rid of this thing of
slavery -- let me ask you what headway
would you have made
in getting rid of it, if by popular
sovereignty you found slavery
on that soil which you expected to be
free when you got there?
You would not have made much headway if
you had found
slavery already here, if you had to sit
down to your labor by
the side of the unpaid workman.
I say, then, that it is due to
yourselves as voters, as owners
of the new territories, that you shall
keep those territories free,
in the best condition for all such of
your gallant sons as may
choose to go there.
I do not desire to elaborate this branch
of the general sub-
ject of political discussion at this
time further. I did not think
I would get upon this topic at all, and
I have detained you al-
ready too long in its discussion.
Lincoln, in his message to Congress in
December,
1861 elaborated more carefully and
effectively his view
of the relation to labor of capital that
he first set forth
Reviews, Notes and Comments 289
in his Cincinnati speech. Later, on
March 21, 1864, he
quoted from this message to a labor
delegation that
called upon him in Washington, stating
in conclusion
that he had not changed his views on
this subject.
DOCTOR HENRY SOLOMON LEHR
A great educator, to whom Ohio owes
much, has
passed away. At four o'clock on Monday
morning,
January 29, 1923, Dr. Henry S. Lehr,
aged eighty-five,
founder and former president of Ohio
Northern Uni-
versity, died at his home in Ada.
Funeral services were
held in the Lehr Memorial Building of
the University
on Wednesday, January 31. President E.
A. Smith,
successor to the deceased, presided at
the services. The
funeral sermon was delivered by Dr. P.
H. Welshimer.
President W. O. Thompson of the Ohio
State Uni-
versity spoke in behalf of the Ohio
colleges. Dr. W.
H. McMaster, President of Mt. Union
College, read
the resolutions adopted by the Mt.
Union College stu-
dents and faculty. Dr. Lehr was a
graduate of Mt.
Union, receiving his A. B. degree from
that institution
in 1871 and his M. A. degree two years
later. United
States Senator Frank B. Willis and Mr.
E. L. Miller of
Ravenna paid tributes to their great
teacher.
Among the prominent alumni present were
United
States Senator Frank B. Willis; R. M.
Wanamaker
and E. S. Matthias, Ohio supreme court
judges; J. L.
Newhouse, supreme court judge of
Oklahoma; Timothy
S. Hogan, former Attorney General of
Ohio; ex-Con-
gressman Ralph D. Cole; Earl D. Bloom,
Lieutenant
Governor of Ohio; Judge George P. Baer
of Cleveland,
and Judge Charles Crittenden of Toledo.
Vol. XXXII -- 19.
284 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
nished, containing only a rickety table,
a broken chair and a
dusty bookcase. There was of course no
carpet. Then there
was an old red plush lounge which would
now hardly be con-
sidered good enough for kindling wood.
That law office was
certainly a contrast to the mahogany
furnished law offices of the
present day."
When Lincoln was elected president, that
companionship
between Robert Lincoln and McMullan and
the latter's intimacy
with the Lincoln family naturally ended,
because the Lincolns
"moved away over east to
Washington," said McMullan with a
smile.
When 17 years of age, McMullan joined
Company B, 32nd
Ohio Regiment, and participated in 29
battles, including the
famous siege of Vicksburg. He was
captured and confined in
Andersonville Prison for 11 months. He
was finally paroled
and before his parole period expired the
war ended.
"I do not have to be told that
Lincoln was one of the best
friends this Nation and its citizens
ever had," said McMullan.
"I know it and so do my two
brothers who were members of
the Confederate Army. I often heard them
say that Lincoln
was the best friend the South ever had
and we, of the North,
know quite well that he was one of the
best we ever had."
LINCOLN ON LABOR
IN SPEECH AT CINCINNATI, 1859
By reference to page 95, it will be seen
that a part of
Abraham Lincoln's speech at Cincinnati
in 1859 was
omitted from the report. His speech
is generally, al-
most invariably, published with this
omission. In the
Life of Abraham Lincoln by W. D. Howells, published
in Columbus in 1860, the Cincinnati
speech is included
with this prefatory note:
The following speech is here reproduced,
with the insertion
of Mr. Lincoln's view upon labor and the
ability of the laborer
to become an employer. These were
omitted in the first report,
and the passages are supplied by the
reporter for the present
work.