GOVERNOR RUTHERFORD B. HAYES 59
by DANIEL R. PORTER
The spirits of a discontented
Congressman from Cincinnati were decidedly
lifted late in January 1867 by a letter
from William Henry Smith, Ohio's
Secretary of State. The letter sounded
out Representative Rutherford B.
Hayes as a possible gubernatorial
candidate. This was the first indication
Hayes received that he was being
considered instead of incumbent Gover-
nor Jacob D. Cox as the Republican party's
standard bearer in the Ohio
election of 1867. His overly cautious
reply to Smith and to other similar
correspondents belied real interest in,
if not a desire for, the governorship.1
In fact, throughout his political
career, Hayes regularly assumed the pos-
ture of a reluctant candidate.
The Ohio election of 1867 was destined
to be one of the most important
of the period. Basically the national
Republican party's leadership during
the Civil War crisis and the nature of
its Reconstruction program were
under review by the voters, but on the
surface the most publicized issue
was Negro suffrage. Congressional
leaders of the party caucused in May
1866 and decided that the question of
Negro suffrage should be a state
issue.2 Hayes concurred with
this general policy decision but Governor
Cox, who opposed the Radical Republican
wing of the Union party led
by Benjamin F. Wade of Jefferson, Ohio,
took a position against Negro
voting rights. Cox could not keep the
issue off the October ballot where
it appeared in the form of a state
amendment in which the word "white"
would be deleted from the voting
requirement, thereby enabling Negro
males over twenty-one years of age to
vote.3 The Governor, who had once
proposed that a separate Negro state be
carved from the deep South, lacked
the political strength and veto power to
defeat the suffrage proposal in
the legislature, with the result that
its fate was put in the hands of the
people. To help secure passage of the
constitutional amendment, the Radi-
cal Republicans needed a strong
candidate for governor, a man who had
associations outside the Western
Reserve, who was unimpeachable in char-
acter and morals, who had a
distinguished war record, and who was not
too closely identified with the
unpopular views of tile Radicals.4
William Henry Smith of Cincinnati had
emerged as a prominent Ohio
Republican spokesman and manager during
the Civil War years. His in-
fluence secured the nomination and
election of Clevelander John Brough
as governor in 1863. Since it was
generally conceded by party leaders that
the time was right for a candidate from
southwestern Ohio, Smith began
a private canvass for a possible nominee
even before the controversial con-
stitutional amendment resolution had
passed the legislature. Hayes replied
to Smith's letter in February. He coyly
declined to allow his name to go
before the Republican state convention,
but added that he was flattered
by tile offer, would enjoy running, and
was not "indifferent" to the honor.
About the same time Hayes wrote to his
favorite uncle, Sardis Birchard,
at Fremont revealing his innermost
feelings: "This is the truth as I now
see it: I don't particularly enjoy
Congressional life. I have no ambition for
60 OHIO HISTORY
Congressional reputation or
influence--not a particle. I would like to be
out of it creditably. If this nomination
is pretty likely, it would get me
out of the scrape, and after all that I am out of political life decently."5
Hayes publicly refrained from indicating
his desire for the nomination
because his record in Congress was
undistinguished and, besides, it was too
early to know if Governor Cox would
fight for a second term. He hesitated
from January to May before making a
final decision. To his uncle he wrote
again on February 7, "I have
decided not to run. The principle reason is
I do not like in these times to leave a
place [Congress] to which I have been
chosen on my own request."6 In a
letter to Smith, he set down the condi-
tions for his candidacy. He would run
only if tile electorate of the Second
Congressional District [Cincinnati]
approved,7 if the Hamilton County dele-
gation to the nominating convention
supported him, and if no other Ham-
ilton County Union Republican wanted to
run.8
The action in late May of the Ohio
legislature placing the Negro suf-
frage question on the October ballot and
assurances that he was indeed the
leading and logical Cincinnati contender
for tile nomination, finally con-
vinced Hayes that he should run.
Therefore, on May 23 he wrote Smith
that he would throw his hat in the ring
since the legislature "squarely stood
up to the suffrage issue," unless,
he added, General Robert C. Schenck
wanted the honor.9
On June 9 at the Republican state
convention in Columbus, Rutherford
B. Hayes was nominated on the first
ballot. A month later he resigned from
Congress to launch his campaign. His
strategy became apparent in the
opening speech at Lebanon on August 5 in
which he stressed the Negro
suffrage issue.10 He received
strong support from the Western Reserve
newspapers. But outside this loyal
Republican citadel, Hayes could count
only on tle Toledo Blade, the Dayton
Journal, and the Columbus Morning
[Ohio State] Journal, for aid in
passing the amendment. There was ques-
tionable support for his candidacy, and
none for Negro suffrage, from the
three large Cincinnati dailies, the (Gazette,
the Commercial, and the En-
quirer.11 The friendly press
emphasized his war record. The Morning Jour-
nal called him "the gallant standard-bearer of Union
Republicanism in
Ohio . . ." and cooed ". . .
no one of the old Kanawah Division but will
vote for General Hayes with a will,
unless he sympathizes with the guys in
grey."12
The unpopular suffrage issue put the
Republican party on the defen-
sive. "Undoubtedly," a
Missouri correspondent wrote, "the Negro suffrage
issue will lose the party the votes of
many whose Republicanism has not
been based upon reasoning or conviction
of duty." Ratter than say "Negro
suffrage," the Republican press
used the phrase "loyal manhood suffrage,"
following the party belief that a loyal
man of any color was more entitled
to vote than a white Copperhead.
Besides, the Morning Journal stressed,
Ohio had a voting population of 470,000
while there were estimated to be
only 4,000 Negro males over twenty-one.
The issue was therefore essen-
tially a moral one without too much
political risk.13
GOVERNOR RUTHERFORD B. HAYES 61 |
|
A pro-Negro suffrage cartoon The Democratic nominee was a man to be reckoned with, regardless of the issues and strategy. Allen G. Thurman of Chillicothe and Colum- bus was a southerner married to a Virginian. He had no war service, but was not considered a Copperhead. Former congressman and chief justice of the state supreme court, Thurman was cloaked in statesmanship that won him the nickname "Old Roman." Even though he was a formidable ad- versary, he was saddled with a party slate composed of non-veterans. Thur- man's tactic was to discredit the Re- publican-controlled Congress, particu- larly for the war debt it had amassed and for the harsh Reconstruction measures it had enacted.14 |
Even before Hayes left the halls of Congress, the Republicans began their attack on Thurman. N. A. Gray of Olmsted, former editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, opened the campaign on July 17 with a scurrilous diatribe in print against the Democratic candidate and his alleged southern sympathies during the war. Hayes, a relative newcomer in the political arena in the post-war era when a man was judged in terms of his participation for the Union cause, had an advantage over the more experienced "Old Roman" in this respect. Even so, the campaign was fought over issues rather than on a personal basis by the two candidates. Their partisans, however, left no stone unturned. The Democratic papers charged that Hayes, "the mogul candidate," was a large stockholder in a New England woolen mill and had therefore cast his vote in Congress to raise the tariff on wool by one cent a pound.15 The accusation was emphatically denied by Republican support- ers, and the attempt to discredit came to naught. The suffrage issue brought into the battle popular men of letters in Ohio. "Petroleum V. Nasby," the creation of the Toledo newspaperman David Ross Locke, was of incalculable aid to Hayes and his cause. In his widely circulated columns, Locke had Nasby assume the stance of a bigoted Democrat. He then proceeded to reduce his viewpoint, real or assumed, toward race to absurdity. Coates Kinney, bard of Xenia, also took the stump |
62 OHIO HISTORY in Hayes's behalf. But Donn Piatt, a lawyer and poet, wrote articles for John James Piatt's newspaper at West Liberty in support of Thurman. His political essays were also widely distributed.16 In spite of hard work that included at least eighty-one major speeches by Hayes, the election returns were a keen disappointment to the Republicans. While Hayes won the office of governor by 2,983 votes out of a total of 484,227 cast, the Negro suffrage amendment went down to defeat by 38,227 votes. Even more disappointing, the Democrats also won, by a majority of one in the state senate and seven in the house. Had it not been for the pro-Hayes activity of the newly formed Grand Army of the Republic in crucial counties such as Lucas, Muskingum, and Noble the governor's office might have been lost as well.17 New York newspapers summarized the results with expected partisan viewpoints, for the election had been closely watched nationally--not be- cause Hayes was a candidate, but because of the suffrage amendment. The Times noted that "The elections indicate no increased confidence in the Democratic party, but simply a reaction against extreme acts and measures of the Republican party." The World informed its readers, "The election is an indignant and unanimous veto of the policy of the party in power." The Commercial called the election "a verdict which ends Chief Justice Chase's aspirations for the Presidency and terminates Ben Wade's career."18 For the moment Ohio Republicans took solace in the fact that its staunch candidate would be in the governor's office. |
GOVERNOR RUTHERFORD B. HAYES 63
The Governor-elect busied himself before
his January inauguration in
putting his personal affairs in order
and in finding a Columbus residence
for his family. He rented a house at 51
East State Street.19 Late in Decem-
ber, he began the process of screening
applicants for key appointments.
Power of appointment along with that of
pardon and parole were about
the only executive functions permitted the
state's governor under the Ohio
Constitution of 1851.20 Secretary of
State Smith had indicated his intention
to resign in January, and there were
also a few key staff appointments to be
made at once, including the person to
work as the Governor's private secre-
tary. Unfortunately for Hayes, word of
his activities reached the ears of
William Henry Smith, who, as much as any
other individual, had put him
in the State House. Smith chided Hayes
for making appointments without
consulting him. The Governor replied on
January 7 that he had made but
one appointment and would make no others
until he talked with the Sec-
retary.21 The unpleasant
episode was resolved to the satisfaction of Smith,
but the incident gave Hayes a preview of
trouble to come over patronage
appointments.
In his last message to the newly
convened Fifty-eighth General Assembly,
Governor Cox on January 6, 1868, urged a
broad legislative program: estab-
lishment of an agricultural and
mechanical college, creation of the office
of county superintendent of schools,
distribution of state school funds pro-
portionately according to the number of
pupils in actual attendance, con-
struction of a reform school for girls
as well as an intermediate prison to
separate young offenders from hardened
criminals, revision and codifica-
tion of the criminal laws, display of
the governors' portraits in the State
House, reactivation of the office of
commissioner of immigration to recruit
labor, and the recommendation for a
geological and insect pest survey of
the state.22 The details for
the program were presented by Cox apparently
without consultation with the
Governor-elect.
A few days later, Governor Hayes
delivered his inaugural address in the
State House rotunda in front of the
giant canvas, "Perry's Victory." He
proffered no new or challenging program
to the Democratic legislature
except to endorse Cox's message. Hayes
reviewed the Negro suffrage, bank-
ing and currency issues, which he
dismissed as being of national concern,
but urged that the next constitutional
convention should grant the Negro
the right to vote. He reported that the
state debt was under control, taxes
were in proportion to actual value of
property, and that Ohio need not
concern itself further with public
works. Above all, when it became ap-
parent early in January that the
legislature might withdraw Ohio's 1867
ratification of the Fourteenth
Amendment, Hayes pleaded caution on the
part of the legislature until another
public referendum could be held. To
the General Assembly, he urged the
avoidance of "the evil of too much legis-
lation"; and recommended the
watchwords "economy, wisdom and pru-
dence."23
It was soon apparent to the new Governor
that the Democratic legisla-
ture would not heed his advice. For the
next several months he appeared
to withdraw from the active political
arena. He wrote his Uncle Sardis on
64 OHIO HISTORY
January 17, "I am enjoying the new
office. It strikes me at a guess as the
pleasantest I have ever had. Not too
much hard work, plenty of time to
read, good society, etc., etc." He
assumed the task begun by William Henry
Smith and Governor Cox of commissioning
copies of the portraits of former
governors to be made. The idea had been
authorized by legislative resolu-
tion in 1867 and had been implemented by
Smith. Hayes sat for his own
portrait by Columbus artist John Henry
Witt, who frequently had painted
copies of the portraits of past
governors in his 81 South High Street studio.
The Hayes portrait reflected the
Governor's "easy manner, pleasant hand-
shake, general genialiity."24 Its
whereabouts today is unknown.
Hayes attended the Republican national
convention in May. In June, to
prepare for his first major public
address since the inauguration, he spent
considerable time drafting a Fourth of
July speech for delivery in Youngs-
town. The speech contained a reference
to the need to care for widows and
orphans of Civil War veterans. This
endorsed a pledge that the Ohio Grand
Army of the Republic had made at its
January convention in Cincinnati.25
But Hayes had no specific recommendation
as to how such undertakings
should be financed. He made no reference
to Negro suffrage and had made
none since the legislature had acted to
rescind Ohio's ratification of the
Fourteenth Amendment.26
Hayes resumed active political
leadership in September and October by
campaigning in behalf of the Republican
candidate for secretary of state
in the mid-term election of 1868. Boldly
invading Democratic territory as
well as electioneering in the safe
Republican counties in the northern half
of the state, he spoke often, and on
election eve made his final address in
Cincinnati. Throughout the campaign, a
Hayes program for the state failed
to develop; he kept to the dictum:
"That government is best which governs
least." Yet his exposure to the
problems of the day during the campaign
certainly helped him to shape a program
soon to be announced. When a
Cincinnati riot in October elicited
adverse local reaction because of state
inaction, Hayes stood by his Jeffersonian
principles by privately enunciat-
ing his conviction that "the
governor can [not] nor ought 'to prevent
breaches of the peace . . . .' If there was an insurrection or
mob which civil
authorities could not control, I could
call out the military (if there was
any?) but it is the business of the civil
authorities to take care of 'breaches
of the peace.' The governor has no civil
authority."27
After meeting 134 days during the first
half of 1868, the legislature re-
convened on November 23 for a special
session. Governor Hayes addressed
both houses, presenting for the first
time a modest program. He urged again
the enactment into law of certain
matters which Governor Cox had re-
quested, particularly the creation of
the office of county superintendent of
schools and a geological survey. To
these he added requests of his own for
laws to revise assessment, taxation, and
the state accounting systems; to build
a fireproof lunatic asylum replacing the
Columbus home which had burned
on November 18 with the loss of six
lives; to inspect all state structures
with the view of fire prevention; to
appoint five commissioners to seek
ways to stamp out the Texas cattle fever
which was infecting Ohio herds;
GOVERNOR RUTHERFORD B. HAYES 65
and to prevent election fraud by
insuring minority representation on elec-
tion boards, voter registration, and a
cessation of the practice of "coloniz-
ing" or repeating voters.
This embryonic program composed of
recommendations for immediate
state needs had little effect on the
lawmakers and barely pleased the Gov-
ernor's supporters, not for what he
said, but for what he left out. The
Morning Journal editorialized: he "has narrowly escaped the
opposite ex-
treme [to that of verbosity] by leaving
us too much to our own good devices
in matters we would have been glad to
receive the benefit of suggestion."28
The long and expensive sessions of the
Fifty-eighth General Assembly and
its acts repugnant to Republican policy
provided Hayes with his 1869 cam-
paign strategy. The Democrats, thirsting
for power after a long drouth,
had enacted a large body of law filling
two volumes. Major laws included
the means to maintain and improve rural
roads, new municipal and crim-
inal codes, broader powers for local
subdivisions to issue bonds for public
works, regulation of insurance
companies, railroads and medical practi-
tioners, creation of an Ohio Geological
Survey, the authorization to con-
struct a new Central Ohio Lunatic
Asylum, election reform laws, and a
host of other much-needed domestic
legislation after years of concern for
war measures.29
Governor Hayes, however, singled out
only especially controversial acts
with which to taunt the Democrats in the
forthcoming election. These acts
included the rescinding of an 1867
resolution to ratify the Fourteenth
Amendment; the "Visible
Admixture" law, which prohibited suffrage to
any person having "a distinct and
visible admixture of African blood"; and
acts to "Preserve the Purity of
Elections," which disenfranchised disabled
veterans in the national asylum in
Dayton and prevented college students,
prone to Republicanism in that age, who
were non-residents in tile county or
city of their schooling, from voting.
Clearly, Negro suffrage would play a
part in the campaign of 1869 also.
Renominated by acclamation on June 23,
Hayes endorsed the five-plank
Republican state platform to support the
Grant administration: to endorse
Grant's inaugural address; to support
Republican reconstruction policies
and the adoption of the Fifteenth
Amendment; to condemn the Democratic
legislature for reckless expenditures,
failure to enact new assessment and
tax laws, and for its attempts to
disqualify certain voters; and, as the only
positive measure, to establish a
soldiers' orphans' home.30
His campaign for reelection was launched
at Wilmington on August 12
by a long and tedious speech. He
defended the fiscal policies of the new
Grant administration and its efforts to
retire government bonds without
new taxes. He bemoaned the fact that
Ohio tax revenues had doubled be-
tween 1863 ($11,859,573) and 1868
($21,006,322). He reported a reason-
able state debt of ten million dollars,
but lamented the total city and coun-
ty debts of about fifteen million
dollars. He urged lower taxes so that in-
dustry and citizens would not be driven
from the state in time of recession
or high interest rates. "The last
General Assembly," he asserted, "was in
session too long [260 days] and too
often -- that its legislation was exces-
66 OHIO HISTORY
sive, expensive, unnecessary, and in
some instances oppressive. We say
that it authorized expenditures, local
debts, and local taxes, in a manner
and to an extent that endangers the
prosperity of the State. We therefore
maintain that there ought to be a
thorough, and sweeping reform in the
Legislature. . . . long sessions are the
fruitful source of all sorts of abuses."
In conclusion, he urged state
construction and maintenance of an orphans'
home, basing his recommendation upon a
recently published estimate that
there were 150,000 to 200,000 soldiers
orphans as inmates of various county
infirmaries or subsisting on township
charity in 1868. A bill (S.B. 343)
to create the home, in spite of
bipartisan support, had been tabled in the
senate by a single vote.31 At
last, Hayes's philosophy and platform seemed
to be evolving.
To oppose Hayes, the Democrats before
July 7 had wildly considered
nine candidates until General William S.
Rosecrans, then a California resi-
dent, was chosen. A party platform of
thirteen planks praised the previous
legislature, supported greenbacks, urged
workmen's legislation, and damned
Hayes's attacks on the legislature as
"false in fact, malicious in spirit, and
unworthy of gentlemen occupying elevated
positions."32
The campaign pitting two prominent Civil
War generals was viewed by
impartial observers as very close until
Rosecrans unexpectedly withdrew
as the Democratic candidate for governor
on August 7. Four days later, a
reluctant George Pendleton of Cincinnati
accepted the nomination. Re-
publican hopes soared as a result of
Democratic adversity; Hayes now had
a less popular adversary. Although
Pendleton's enemies conceded he was
polished, composed, tactful, and adroit,33
it was possible for Republican
partisans to draw a sharp contrast
between Hayes, the valiant general, and
Pendleton, the Peace Democrat. While
Hayes was "crowning the banners
of Ohio with glory, Pendleton was doing
all he could to drape these ban-
ners in white in token of
surrender," a Republican spokesman claimed.34
Hayes campaigned chiefly in Union and
doubtful counties with a less
strenuous schedule than in 1867. He won
by 7,501 votes. Tile voting pat-
tern was similar to that of 1867 except
Hayes lost his home county, Hamil-
ton, together with Brown and Knox. He
picked up majorities, however, in
Scioto, Lawrence, and Madison counties.35
The Hayes victory speech was delivered
from a balcony of the American
House in Columbus. He termed his
reelection a decision of Ohioans to
stand by the Republican plan for
Reconstruction and to complete it by
ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment.
How the legislature would react
to his leadership remained in doubt.
While Republicans gained a small
majority in the senate, the house
was now composed of 53 Republicans and
54 Democrats, five of whom
might be persuaded to vote for
Republican measures. But a reform ticket
in Hamilton County had elected five
independent Republicans pledged to
neither party. These mavericks
controlled the balance of power, and the
house was organized along bipartisan
lines.36
Early in December 1869, Hayes began to
assemble ideas for his 1870
legislative program. From E. C. Wines,
of the New York State Prison As-
GOVERNOR RUTHERFORD B. HAYES 67
sociation and author of its important
1868 report,37 he solicited further
information on prison reform. Hayes
indicated he would not make any
"sudden or sweeping reform"
but desired to encourage the formation of
"correct opinions and hope that
gradual but steady advance may be made
towards a reformatory system,"
particularly to implement Cox's earlier
request for an intermediate prison.38
The Hayes legislative message of January
3, 1870,39 reported a reduction
in the state debt of nearly a million
dollars to $9,855,938. Since a tax in-
crease of 44% had burdened Ohio
taxpayers since 1867, new laws to pre-
vent increased taxes by implementing
fiscal reforms in accordance with a
March 18, 1867 law were recommended. The
Governor cautioned the leg-
islature about its propensity to hold
long sessions: urged adequate, fixed
salaries for all public employees; and
recommended curbs on the powers
of county commissioners and municipal
officials to levy taxes and contract
debts. "All large expenditures
should meet the approval of those who are
to bear the burden." Let a majority
of the voters approve public levies, or
limit the rate of taxation which may be
levied locally, Hayes pleaded.
His suggestions for penal reform were
made for the benefit of young
inmates, as two-thirds of all the
prisoners were under thirty. He reported
that the present system was defective in
that the young mingled with hard-
ened prisoners and the administration
failed to educate convicts in habits
of thrift and self control. His
proposals included a new prisoner classifica-
tion system according to age and the
construction of a new state penitentiary
or the enlargement of the present one.
In education, Hayes again asked for the
office of county superintendent
of schools, a codification of school
laws, and the substitution of township
boards of education for the existing and
overlapping system of township
and subdistrict boards.
He urged increased powers for the Board
of State Charities, but declined
to salary them. He called the housing
and treatment of the insane "atro-
cious," reporting that 900
incurably insane persons were lodged in county
infirmaries and another 100 in county
jails, necessitating more space be
added to existing asylum structures. He
further asked for an appropriation
of the necessary funds to build an
asylum for tile incurable alcoholic to be
administered along the lines of the New
York plan, a provision which Mrs.
Hayes endorsed. Still considering
indigent persons, the governor said that
the state should find the means to
support, house, and educate all orphans
who need this care.
Next, the Governor gave his support to
the establishment of a land grant
agricultural and mechanical college.
This was the first time in his admin-
istration that he had done so. During
the war a fund had been created by
the sale of land script issued to Ohio
by the federal government. On Jan-
uary 1, 1870, the fund totalled
$404,911. Under the provisions of the grant,
the state was bound to provide not less
than one college on or before July
2, 1872. The principal objective of the
institution would be to teach agri-
cultural and mechanical sciences, the pure sciences,
classical studies, and
military tactics. Governor Cox had urged
the legislature to decide on the
68 OHIO HISTORY
use of the fund in his January 1868
message,40 in which lie had reported
that for four years the issue had been
debated only. The problems which
had stood in the way of founding the
college were the selection of a site
and the belief of Republicans in some
quarters that it was ridiculous to
give farmers and mechanics a college
education.41 Hayes realized that now
was the time to act if the fund were to
be utilized.
Finally, he requested the enactment of
voter registry laws to "purify"
elections and minority party
representation laws for election boards. He
offered no method of accomplishing these
goals, however. He stressed the
immediate need to repeal voting
restrictions placed by the last legislature
on students, institutionalized veterans,
and persons of mixed blood. The
Governor also strongly advocated the
ratification of the Fifteenth Amend-
ment to the United States Constitution.
The new Hayes program, the first
he had espoused bearing his own ideas
concerning state needs, fared well
in the legislature.
Hayes took the oath of office for the
second time on January 10, 1870,
once more against the backdrop of
"Perry's Victory." His address was com-
posed almost entirely of words of advice
to the forthcoming state constitu-
tional convention. He suggested that
railroad construction should be speeded
by repeal of the constitutional
provision which prohibited the legislative
branch from authorizing any political
subdivision to give aid to any com-
mercial enterprise. End the spoils
system, he advocated, by making most
state offices non-political; place
appointments and retention in office upon
merit and experience. He expressed his
belief that judges should be ap-
pointed to long terms with adequate
salaries to discourage bribery in urban
centers.42
Thus in a single week, Governor Hayes
enunciated more policy and
political philosophy than he had during
his entire first term. While still
paying lip service to the Jeffersonian
doctrine of that government governs
best which governs least, he was making,
early in 1870, bold and idealistic
long-range proposals in the science of
government, recommendations which
have not been fully attained a century
later. His program was practical
enough, however, to be implemented at
least in part during his second term.
Specifically, the legislature enacted
into law the Hayes recommendations
for a fixed public employee salary
schedule, construction of a Girls' Indus-
trial School at White Sulphur Springs,
an enlargement of the state peni-
tentiary, a graded prison system, an
increase of responsibilities for the State
Board of Charities, a board to select
the site for and create the Ohio Agri-
cultural and Mechanical College, a board
to build and govern a soldiers'
and sailors' orphans' home in Xenia, a
voter registration law, and the re-
peal of voting restrictions he had
requested. But it was Ohio's approval of
the Fifteenth Amendment on January 20
which gave Hayes his greatest
satisfaction. At a celebration in the
Columbus Opera House on April 13
marking the national ratification of the
amendment, Hayes declared: "The
war of races, which it was confidently
predicted would follow the enfran-
chisement of the colored people -- where
was it in the [local] elections of
GOVERNOR RUTHERFORD B. HAYES 69
Ohio last week? . . . There was barely
enough angry dissent to remind us
of the barbarism of slavery which has
passed away forever."43
Only in the making of appointments did
the public and the legislature
harass the Governor. No sooner had Hayes
resolved his difficulty with Wil-
liam Henry Smith on this subject early
in 1868, than still another differ-
ence arose in May between the two friends
concerning the appointment
of a state school commissioner. Hayes
had made a pledge to schoolmen
that lie would appoint their candidate
even if the former Secretary of State
disapproved. Smith then told Hayes to
hereafter "apply elsewhere for infor-
mation."44 Hayes
believed his only course with Smith should be one of
reconciliation.
Hayes's appointment of John S. Newberry
of Cleveland on April 21, 1869,
as the first state geologist won him the
enmity of the powerful Colonel
Charles Whittlesey, the state's leading
man of science. He abused Hayes
"terribly"45 because
Newberry, who had been appointed earlier to the
United States Geological Corps by the
Democratic Buchanan administra-
tion, at the time of his Hayes
appointment was residing outside of Ohio.
Both facts fanned Whittlesey's fire.
Hayes applied a single test in making
most of his appointments: had the
candidate been a loyal Union man during
the war? In his victory speech of
October 14, 1869, he had interpreted his
reelection as a public desire "to
refrain from electing to public office
any person against the country during
war."46 He made certain
to guarantee minority party representation on all
state boards, but he tried to make sure
that he appointed only those Demo-
crats who had actively supported the
Union. The loyalty of the appointees
was not always easy to ascertain, and
the first few months of his third term
were troubled by poor patronage
decisions.
The greatest appointment crises which
Hayes faced occurred in connec-
tion with the ratification by tile
senate of his appointees to the new board
of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans'
Home and the appointment of the
superintendent of the State House.
Senators present at the session of April
16, 1870, were evenly divided seventeen
to seventeen. In secret session,
the senate was deadlocked; Democrats
criticized the Hayes nominees because
they were all former soldiers, too many
belonged to the G.A.R., and not
enough were Democrats [one].47 The Governor and his clerks waited in
their offices throughout tile night for
a decision. At 2:30 A.M., the appoint-
ments to the board of the Orphans' Home
were approved, but the State
House superintendent nominee was
rejected. The Governor immediately
offered a substitute nomination, and at
5:00 A.M., on Sunday, the legisla-
ture adjourned with all appointments
confirmed.48
Much has been made of the Hayes policy
of appointing minority party
representatives to state boards and
commissions. The truth is, tills practice
was born of necessity since Hayes did
not have the opportunity of work-
ing with a clear Republican majority in
both houses until his third term.49
Reviewing the General Assembly of 1870
with its dramatic ending, the
Governor praised the legislature's work
done in a "longer session than was
70 OHIO HISTORY
required, longer than I had hoped."
With legislative matters settled for a
while, Hayes turned his attention to
affairs of a more personal interest.
C. T. Webber of Cincinnati painted his
portrait that was to be hung along
side of those of his peers, and he
continued to make additions to the State
House portrait collection. On July 4,
1870, he laid the cornerstone for the
new Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum. The
event was hailed as the beginning
of a new era in the treatment for Ohio's
insane.50
In September, the Governor campaigned
for the party ticket in eastern
and northern Ohio. He closed the canvass
on October 8 with a major ad-
dress in Cincinnati. In it he praised
America's neutral position in the
Franco-Prussian War and the Grant
administration's policy of favoring gold
over paper in the payment of the
national debt. In his first well-reasoned
and erudite explanation of current
Republican fiscal policies, Hayes ex-
plained, "Any man of sense knows
that just in proportion to the gap be-
tween the value of gold and the value of
paper money, in that proportion
is your currency unsound, your business
disturbed, and labor in danger of
not receiving its full reward. Now this
ugly gap that was between the value
of gold and greenbacks before Grant's
election has been partially closed-
is getting a little narrower all the
time--and since the commencement of
the present administration the people
have gained sixty millions of dollars
by the increased value of the
currency."51
Meantime family history became a hobby
of Hayes early in 1870, and he
pursued the search for genealogical
records with increasing interest through-
out his second term. A recurring eye
infection during the last year of office
in the second term offered him an excuse
to travel for rest and relaxation,
to seek further ancestral facts, and to
pursue new business ventures. His in-
terest in contemporary Ohio politics
waned, as he reported to a friend on
March 1, 1870, "I too mean to be
out of politics. The ratification of the
Fifteenth Amendment gives me the boon of
equality before the law, ter-
minates my enlistment, and discharges me
cured."52
Time and again to his political
correspondents or in his Diary, Hayes re-
marked how the great domestic issues of
the day had consumed his energy
--freedom for the slaves, unity of the
nation, Negro suffrage.53 It was almost
as if Hayes as governor served merely to
achieve Negro suffrage and tidy up
Ohio after the war. He seemed totally
uninterested in or unwilling to grap-
ple with the new issues of post-war
Ohio, issues arising from the growth of
cities, the industrial revolution, the
rapid changes in transportation and
communication, and woman suffrage, with
all the attending social, politi-
cal, and economic ills. During the final
year of the second term in office,
Hayes in all respects became backward
looking in politics. His disillusion-
ment with corruption and poor
administration in Washington, his pre-
occupation with family history, and his
desire to improve his personal
finances made him a veritable schoolboy
waiting anxiously for the summer
recess.
On January 4, 1872, Hayes placed a statement
in the Ohio State Journal
to the effect he would not be a
candidate for Senator, "either in or out of
caucus." To a friend he wrote in
March, "I go out of politics with tile end
?? of the colored people -- where was it
in the [local] elections of
?? of the ?? people -- where was it in the [local] elections of
GOVERNOR RUTHERFORD B. HAYES 71
of this term. The old questions interest
me so much that the new ones
seem small." But during the last
few weeks of his second term Hayes was
disturbed by nocturnal visitors sounding
him out as a senatorial candidate.
Privately, he may have desired the
attention and the office, but publicly he
would not declare for it in deference to
the incumbent, John Sherman.
Again, his reticence would in the future
stand him in good stead. Sherman
would have occasion to repay the debt.54
Ensconced as a country squire at Spiegel
Grove in Fremont, the estate
he had inherited from his uncle, former
Governor Hayes enjoyed life to the
fullest until early in 1875. Then an
Ohio Republican party caucus unani-
mously agreed to boost Hayes for a third
term, "a feather," he allowed,
"I would like to wear." Yet to
all correspondents, he typically refused to
entertain the idea of his candidacy
publicly. Tile next few months Hayes
weighed in his mind and recorded in his Diary
the reasons for and against
acceptance. On the negative side, he
continued to be interested in provid-
ing a substantial estate for himself and
his family. His personal debts had
approximated two years before $46,000,
which, when paid, would give him
a net worth of about a half million
dollars. He had also become concerned
about his health, having coughed up
blood on occasion and having fre-
quently been bothered by summer colds, perhaps
an allergy. He was dis-
turbed, too, by the corruption, unwise
appointments, and "ultra measures"
directed toward the South by the Grant
administration. More importantly,
there was talk about a third term for
Grant--all liabilities for any Repub-
lican gubernatorial candidate of Ohio.
On the positive side, however, was the
enticing possibility, which friends
were prone to remind him and which some
party leaders firmly believed,
that if Hayes could win a third term as
governor, he would then be prime
presidential timber.55
The Republican state convention met in
Columbus on June 2 and nom-
inated Hayes over Judge Alfonso Taft of
Cincinnati, 396 to 151. Taft
then withdrew, making the Republican
choice unanimous. Hayes at first
declined the nomination, but later,
lured as any man might be by the pros-
pect of the presidency, accepted "to
rebuke the Democracy by a defeat for
subserviency to Roman Catholic
demands."56
The question of separation of church and
state along with the then in-
famous Geghan bill, which had passed the
1874 session of the legislature,
was to be the dramatic issue of the
Hayes campaign against incumbent Dem-
ocratic Governor William Allen. Tile
Geghan bill merely permitted equal
opportunity for religious worship for
persons of all denominations in public
jails and asylums, but it was considered
to be a sinister plot on the part of
Irish and German Catholics in the
Democratic party to secure state spon-
sorship of sectarian religious education
in the public schools, to win public
support for parochial schools, and to
take over the Democratic party in Ohio.
Early in 1870, while Governor, Hayes had
stated his general position con-
cerning religion in the schools. In a
letter to a Cincinnati correspondent,
he said, "We must not let them push
religion out of the schools, but we
72 OHIO HISTORY
must avoid forcing it on anybody.
You may ask, How are these two things
accomplished? Well, it is easier to do
the thing than tell how to do it."57
With the heated discussion among
Protestants over religious questions
in 1875, Hayes was quick to take another
tact. He now made the complete
separation of church and state his major
issue. The nominating convention
inserted such a plank in the platform:
"Free education, our public school
system, the taxation of all for its
support, and 'no division of the school
fund.' " Religion in the schools
and institutions of the state had always been
accepted if Protestant in form and
content; Catholic observances or public
support, direct or indirect, for
Catholic education was unthinkable to the
Republicans. Repeatedly, at the
beginning of the campaign, Hayes had in-
structed A. T. Xikoff, his campaign
manager, to prepare a pamphlet on
the Geghan bill and the school question
which he believed would have an
impact on Protestant voters.)58
Hayes opened his campaign in Marion,
Lawrence County on July 31 with
a major speech which he would reuse in
other numerous appearances until
election day. He first argued against
the Democratic plank to abandon the
gold standard in favor of greenbacks
which to Hayes was the second most
important issue of the campaign. Sound
money principles remained a na-
tional Republican objective, and Hayes
and his supporters simply reaffirmed
the policy. He then traced in great
detail the dangers inherent in the
Geghan bill by showing the threat it
posed to the constitutional doctrine
of the separation of church and state, a
doctrine he claimed was being chal-
lenged by the Catholic Democrats. His
appeal was intended to arouse
Protestant prejudice and win
non-Catholic Democratic votes. "Government
nor political parties ought to interfere
with religious sects,"59 he exclaimed.
A. T. Wikoff over-scheduled the Hayes
party. Often, Hayes, suffering
from summer colds, was forced to give
two to three major addresses a day,
an effort he deemed injurious to health.
Ohio was deluged by rain during
August causing floods that resulted in poor
attendance at political rallies.
Hayes pleaded with Wikoff to reduce his
schedule. The colorful Carl Schurz
came to Ohio to aid the Republican
campaign on September 27. The Cin-
cinnati Euquirer charged that the
Republican state committee was paying
the speaker $10,000 to woo the German
vote. Schurz stressed tile danger of
inflation if the nation's monetary
system were taken off the gold standard.
Hayes was jubilant over the naturalized
German's participation which gave
the campaign national attention. But the
practical, vote-getting effect of
Schurz's intellectual speeches upon the
German laborer, shopkeeper, and
farmer was dubious except in Hamilton
County where Hayes received a
majority of 1.00 votes. Hayes won the
election by a mere 5,544 votes, even
less than his small margin in tile 1869
election. As soon as the results
were known, however, the loyal
Republican press touted him as a presi-
dential possibility."60
The inauguration on January 10, 1876,
was a grand affair marked by
cordiality between outgoing Governor
Allen and Hayes, both of whom had
not let the campaign destroy their
personal friendship. In his inaugural ad-
GOVERNOR RUTHERFORD B. HAYES 73 dress, Hayes directed his remarks almost exclusively to the legislature which was composed of a safe Republican majority of three in the senate and nineteen in the house. For the first time Hayes had some assurance that his recommendations would be heeded. |
His first concern was "profligate expenditure" by large cities and "munic- ipal misgovernment." He bemoaned the fact that the average city tax rate had risen 25% in the last four years and city indebtedness was up 190% in the same period. Without a keen awareness of what was happening to the rapidly growing urban areas, e asked the legislature to apply the same laws pertaining to state indebtedness to local political subdivisions. He asked for sinking funds for the cities by which they could pay off their debts in a planned and orderly fashion, and a tax rate limit, especially for large cities. The "cash system" he believed should be applied to local af- fairs. Hayes urged the reestablishment of his favorite agency, the Board of Charities, with unsalaried commissioners serving as watchdogs over penal, reform, and charitable institutions of the state. Yet he found no fault with the existing mode of operating these facilities. He joined ex-Governor Allen in recommending state participation in the national centennial celebration. Finally, he exhorted tile legislature: "Let your session be short."61 Hayes's wishes were respected only in part by the General Assembly. Its session was short; it repealed the Geghan bill; it abolished the office of comptroller of the treasury as a gesture to economy; it passed some laws limiting the taxing powers of municipalities. Otherwise it was generally an unproductive session.62 |
74 OHIO HISTORY
In the quiet period between the time of
his inauguration and his nom-
ination for President, Hayes gave
serious thought to the two most important
administrative powers given Ohio
governors: appointments and pardons.
He had experienced repeated rebuffs for
his bi-partisan appointments, a
practice deemed necessary in an effort
to secure both senate and party ap-
proval. Also, his party expected him to
appoint only staunch Union men
to state posts. Early in April 1876, his
appointment of a Democrat and a
Republican to the Dayton State Hospital
board caused a major flurry, and
a private apology from the Governor was
necessary. One of the men had
been a Copperhead, the other was a
libertine. In his Diary on April 11,
Hayes confided, "Some mistakes have
been made, but, on the whole, I have
been fortunate. One or two things I must
bear in mind. No man should be
finally determined on until the people
where he resides have been heard
from, after he is seriously talked
of, or nominated for the place."
Of all interests and responsibilities,
Hayes took the power of pardon
most seriously. His official
correspondence throughout his three administra-
tions concerned pardon cases more than
anything else. In April 1870, the
Cincinnati Gazette had severely
criticized Governor Hayes for commuting
the sentence of one Steinmetz, a Toledo
murderer. This event, his ex-
perience as a defense lawyer in
Cincinnati before the war, and his concern
for penal reform, prompted him to list
on April 11, 1876, his "rules" for
the "perplexing" task of
pardon-granting. He reminded himself to take time
to consider each case, to consider group
pardons as a unit, to pardon no
man not provided with employment or an
income, to release no man with
out a home or one of a friend who will
welcome him, and to listen to the
advice of the legal authorities on the
case.63 Rarely, in the past, had Gover-
nor Hayes applied all of these
considerations in granting pardons, perhaps
fortunately.
The origin of Hayes's concern for prison
administration and reform
stemmed from reading the first annual
report of the Board of State Chari-
ties of 1868 and the reports of E. C.
Wines, New York State correctional
officer. As governor, however, Hayes
evolved no comprehensive prison re-
form policies which might cost the
taxpayers sizeable sums of money. He
did continue to support the State Board
of Charities, but insisted it be un-
salaried and advisory only. His specific
recommendations concerning the
classification and separation of
prisoners at the Ohio Penitentiary had been
recommended earlier by the Board in
1868. His greatest contributions to
penal reform would come after his
retirement from public life.64
Upon leaving office in 1872, Hayes
listed in his Diary twenty-two contri-
butions he felt he had made to the state
during his first two terms. Among
these were seven which actually had been
proposals of his predecessor and
of William Henry Smith when Secretary of
State. Of these twenty-two con-
tributions, five were historical
projects designed to preserve, perpetuate,
and promote a knowledge of the past. But
of them all, both lasting and in-
consequential, only one action tested
his courage and convictions, demon-
strated his political fortitude. He won
against great odds, prejudice, and
GOVERNOR RUTHERFORD B. HAYES 75
popular disapproval tile right of Negro
suffrage in Ohio. He did it through
his personal popularity which in turn
affected the composition of the Ohio
General Assembly; and he did it at a
time when only a minority of Ohioans
approved.
The second major Hayes achievement was
the sum total of his enlight-
ened stand to transform penal
institutions into true reformatories and to
improve the care of mental patients and orphans--an equally
unpopular
position with that of Negro suffrage.
His success was not complete in this
respect, but he did help create a more
favorable climate of opinion upon
which his successors might build.
Rutherford B. Hayes earned tile sobriquet:
"The Good Governor."65
THE AUTHOR: Daniel R.
Porter is
Director, The Ohio Historical Society.