The OHIO
HISTORICAL Quarterly
VOLUME 64 ?? NUMBER 1 ?? JANUARY 1955
The Correspondence of George A.
Myers
and James Ford Rhodes, 1910-1923
Edited by JOHN A. GARRATY*
In the eighteen eighties, when James
Ford Rhodes was still a
Cleveland ironmaster, he was in the
habit of being shaved and
having his formidable "Picadilly
Weepers" trimmed by a young
Negro barber named George A. Myers.
Later, after Rhodes had
retired from business to take up his
distinguished career as a his-
torian, Myers continued to serve him,
and gradually took on the
task of bringing Rhodes the books
necessary for his work from the
library of the Case School of Applied
Science. "Me and my partner
Jim are writing a history," Myers
once told a mutual friend who
had inquired about an armload of books
the barber was carrying.
"Jim is doing the light work and I
am doing the heavy."
In 1891 Rhodes moved East to Cambridge
and Boston. Myers, by
that time owner of the Hollenden Hotel
Barber Shop, went on to
become a power in Negro Republican
politics in Ohio. But
the two did not forget each other, and
an occasional correspondence
(now lost) continued for some years.
Every six months or so
Rhodes made a practice of sending his
friend a selection of his old
ties, which Myers refurbished with a
combination of "energine and
elbow grease" and put to his own
use.
But beginning in 1910 and especially
after 1912 the pace of their
correspondence quickened and obviously
became more important to
both, for each began, quite
independently, to save most of the other's
* John A. Garraty is associate professor
of history at Michigan State College. He has
recently written a life of Henry Cabot
Lodge, a contemporary of Rhodes.
1
2
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
letters. As Rhodes approached the modern
period in his monu-
mental History of the United States
Since the Compromise of 1850,
and as his interest in current politics
increased in the exciting second
decade of the century, he turned to
Myers for inside information on
the political machinations of the
"good old Hanna-McKinley days"
and for insights into contemporary
middlewestern political develop-
ments. Also, as his old Cleveland
contacts were gradually broken
and as former friends died off, Rhodes
became more dependent upon
Myers for an understanding of Cleveland
affairs, in which he still
maintained a sentimental interest, and
even, as these letters show,
for details and gossip about his own
Cleveland relatives, from whom
he seems to have become somewhat
estranged.
The result was the collection of letters
which are now published
for the first time,1 surely
one of the most revealing and intimate
correspondences between a white man and
a Negro in existence.
Full of fascinating insights into the
characters of both Myers and
Rhodes, the letters are especially
important for Myers' uncensored
revelations about Republican politics
around the turn of the cen-
tury. They also aid in understanding the
psychology of the Negro
in politics, and help explain why he
remained so long wedded to
the Republican party, even when it was
the agency of privilege and
reaction during the presidency of Warren
G. Harding.
Through these letters runs the imposing
figure of Marcus Alonzo
Hanna, although he had been dead for
many years when the first
of them was penned. Hanna was the most
important link between
Myers and Rhodes. Related to the
historian by ties of marriage and
business, he was also bound to Myers by
political loyalty. "Uncle
Mark"2 was the barber's
great hero, and no man has ever offered a
keener estimate of Hanna as a man and as
a political leader than
Myers does in these letters.
Although the correspondence contains
verbal self-portraits of both
Rhodes and Myers, something should be
said of them by way of
1 M. A. DeWolfe Howe has published parts
of a few of Rhodes's letters to
Myers in his life of Rhodes, James
Ford Rhodes: American Historian (New York,
1929).
2 Myers always claimed that it was he
who first gave Hanna this nickname,
stoutly defending his right to the honor
against all rivals.
MYERS-RHODES CORRESPONDENCE 3
introduction. The main facts of Rhodes's
life are generally well
known. He was born in Cleveland on May
1, 1848, the son of
Daniel Pomeroy Rhodes. Daniel Rhodes was
a successful business-
man, active in the coal industry, and
also a minor political figure,
associated with his cousin Stephen A.
Douglas. His son exhibited
an early interest in intellectual
matters, but dutifully entered Rhodes
and Company, the family business, in
partnership with his brother
Robert and Mark Hanna. In 1885, however,
having amassed a com-
fortable fortune, he retired to devote
his life to historical research.
The first two volumes of his History appeared
in 1891, and in the
same year he moved to Massachusetts, where
he quickly made a place
for himself in the society of Boston and
Cambridge. Honors were
showered upon him from all
sides--honorary degrees from great
universities, lectureships, membership
in the exclusive Massachusetts
Historical Society, and even, in 1898,
the presidency of the American
Historical Association. By 1906 he had
published seven volumes,
bringing his history down to 1877, and
had produced what was at
once recognized as a landmark in
American historiography. Though
his later volumes, continuing the
narrative to 1909, were much in-
ferior to his earlier work, his fame was
not seriously diminished
thereby. Yet until his death in 1927 he
remained unaffected by his
success, as his correspondence with
barber Myers makes entirely
clear.
In these letters the historian appears
in his later years, after his
most important work had been finished.
He is plagued by ill health
and financial worries, and as the years
pass he grows increasingly
pessimistic about the rapidly changing
American scene and even
about the future of the world. "The
Universe has got away from its
maker," he complains shortly after
our declaration of war on
Germany in 1917. "As I look at it,
there is nothing but trouble in
the future." The restoration of
peace does not change his view:
"Nothing seems to go aright and
those will be nearest the truth
who regard the world as going to the
demnition bow-wows." The
Rhodes of these letters is also worn out
and weary. When he hears
of a new book on the Negro question his
interest is stirred, but
when Myers urges him to read it he
replies: "I have done with
4
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Reconstruction and the negro. . . . With
I hope better virtue than
Pontius Pilate I can say 'What I have
written, I have written.'" He
travels little, and must pass up the
pleasure of attending a meeting
of the American Historical Association
in Cleveland, and neglect
such duties as attending the funeral of
a beloved sister.
But the amiable, conscientious,
even-tempered Rhodes of an
earlier day has not completely
disappeared. When Myers presses
him to comment upon the criticisms of
his work made by a Negro
historian, he goes over the already
well-known arguments carefully,
despite his distaste for controversy,
and then persuades another
authority in the field to write a reply
to the critic, lest his own bias
enter the discussion. Poor health and
faltering vision slow his pen,
but he perseveres none the less, and
finally completes his History;
then, sensing his failing powers and
wise enough to know that
great achievements are seldom
accomplished in old age, he stops,
contemplating his lifework with
well-deserved satisfaction. But he
does not forget what he has learned.
Myers has but to mention one
early instance of the
"purchase" of a seat in the United States
Senate and he rattles off at once a long
list of earlier illustrations.
Pessimism never destroys his sense of
humor. When Myers de-
fends the protective tariff, he is
quickly accused of joining the ranks
of "la haute finance," and
when the barber mentions the modest
profits of his business, Rhodes remarks
that his friend has "cut
entirely loose from the
proletariat." And he marks his own reluctant
return to the Republican ranks after
four years' fascination with
Woodrow Wilson by announcing to Myers that
he will vote for
the party, but can speak of it not as
the G. O. P. but only as the
g. o. p."
The best in the elderly Rhodes is
brought out in his comments on
prohibition. Here he stands for a great
liberal principle as well as
for his own comfort, and he is forceful,
scathing, and also very
amusing. "You have tried to make
men good by act of Congress
and failed," he thunders at the
barber. "Let the XVIII amendment
remain, a melancholy example of the
puissance of the Constitution
like the XV and part of the XIV, but not
enforced. Why indeed
should it when the XV and part of the
XIV are not?" This was as
MYERS-RHODES CORRESPONDENCE 5
sharp a tone as he ever took with his
friend, but Myers deserved
the pointed reminder of another
injustice, for his own attitude (that
prohibition was "good" for his
employees, and need not concern
himself since he had a well-stocked
cellar) was hardly defensible.
Yet, typically, Rhodes tempers his
criticism with a story about a
politician who was caught in a barroom
after voting for prohibition,
and adds: "I am glad to see you
have joined the ranks of the
capitalists. You believe in prohibition
for your employe's [sic] but
not for yourself." And he offers
this advice, as a compensation
for the fact that the future of the
world seems so dark: "Stick to
your John Barley Corn, but beware of
wood alcohol."
When the correspondence (quite
inexplicably) ends, Rhodes is
taking his ease in retirement on the
Riviera, and the reader will be
happy to note that he is relaxing after
thirty-seven years of historical
labor, that he pays a final tribute to
his old friend, and that he is
feeling a little better.
While the career of Rhodes is reasonably
well known to historians,
the life of George A. Myers, far more
unusual if less distinguished,
has been totally neglected, aside from a
few sketches in Negro
publications. This is understandable
enough, for in terms of ac-
complishments his career was not
outstanding. But in terms of
human interest, and as an illumination
to many aspects of American
Negro life in his generation, his story
is notable.
The fact that he was no more than a
humble (although finan-
cially successful) barber is more a
commentary on the problems of
his race than on himself. He was born in
Baltimore on March 5,
1859. His father, Isaac Myers, was an important
figure in the Balti-
more free Negro community, and after the
Civil War a militant
champion of Negro rights, one of the
first Americans to organize
Negro workingmen into unions. When white
carpenters in Balti-
more refused to work with Negroes, Isaac
Myers headed a group
which, in 1865, set up a Negro-owned
shipyard, the Chesapeake
Marine Railroad and Dry Dock Company, to
provide work for mem-
bers of his race. He became president of
the first Negro state labor
convention, held in Baltimore in 1869,
and the following year served
as president of the National Labor
Union. Throughout his career
6
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
he fought against segregation in unions,
and urged Negroes who
were discriminated against to form
cooperatives on the model of his
Baltimore shipyard.
George A. Myers spent his first ten
years in the city of his birth.
However, in 1869, after the death of his
mother, with his father
about to set out on a tour of the South,
where he was running a
campaign to organize Negro workers for
the National Labor Union,
George was sent to Providence, Rhode
Island, where he lived in the
home of the Rev. J. H. W. Burley. He
attended the Providence
public schools, and then shifted to the
preparatory school of Lincoln
University in Chester, Pennsylvania.
After his father remarried,
he returned to Baltimore and completed
high school in that city.
Unable to enter Baltimore's city college
because of his race, he
decided to quit school. He moved to
Washington and apprenticed
himself to a house painter named Thomas
James, but soon returned
to Baltimore and took up barbering, much
against the wishes of
his father, who wanted him to go to
Cornell to study medicine.
In 1879 he moved to Cleveland, where he
worked for nine years
in the Weddell House barber shop, and
first met Mark Hanna.
Then, in 1888, Liberty E. Holden brought
him to his new Hotel
Hollenden. Financed chiefly by Holden,
but with the help of a
number of other prominent Clevelanders,
including Rhodes, Myers
became the owner of the Hollenden's
barber shop.
This was the decisive event of Myers'
life, for in addition to
assuring him a comfortable financial
future, it put him in contact
with dozens of prominent political
figures, business leaders, and
traveling dignitaries. The Hollenden, an
entirely "modern" hos-
telry, complete with electric lights, a
hundred private baths, a vast
"crystal" dining room, and the
plushest of fittings, became the
center of Cleveland's political life.
Possessed of good food (it was
at the Hollenden that "Hanna
hash" was first concocted) and the
longest bar in town, it became "a
small-talk center for precinct
workers" and the headquarters of
the bigwig politicos.
Under Myers' management the barber shop
came to rival the bar
as a magnet for politicians. It became,
in the words of an old
patron, Dr. Harvey Cushing, "a mark
of distinction to have one's
insignia on a private shaving-mug in
George A. Myers's personal
MYERS--RHODES CORRESPONDENCE 7
rack, and to receive his addresses, both
intra- and extracephalic."
The barber's personality undoubtedly had
much to do with this, but
his manner of running his shop was
probably the major factor, for
he quickly made it one of the most
modern in the nation. He was
a pioneer in the use of porcelain
fixtures, in the introduction of
individual marble wash-basins at each
chair, in the use of sterilizers,
humidors, and other equipment. He
installed telephones at each
chair for the convenience of busy
customers. Myers even claimed,
in a brief history of his business which
exists in manuscript in his
papers, that his was the first barber
shop in America to provide the
services of manicurists, and that it was
at his suggestion that the
Koken Barber Supply Company developed
the modern barber chair.
He also possessed a keen sense of the
value of advertising, and
when Elbert Hubbard, author of the
famous "Message to Garcia,"
called his establishment "the best
barber shop in America," he
immediately adopted the expression as
his slogan, and had it
emblazoned across an entire wall of his
shop.
Whatever the reasons, Myers' place of
business was visited by a
long list of famous men. He was
eventually able to boast that he
had shaved or otherwise administered to
eight presidents of the
United States (Hayes, Harrison,
Cleveland, McKinley, Theodore
Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, and Harding),
dozens of congressmen,
and such varied luminaries as Mark
Twain, Lloyd George, John
Hay, Joseph Jefferson, Robert Ingersoll,
and Marshall Foch.
Myers' contacts with prominent
officeholders and the wide con-
nections that he also developed with
members of his own race
quickly led him into politics. In 1892
he served as a delegate to
the Republican national convention in
Minneapolis, and when a
factional struggle developed within the
Ohio contingent, it was his
vote that gave control to the
Hanna-McKinley group. Four years
later, at the St. Louis convention,
which nominated McKinley,
Myers was a member of the Ohio
delegation and one of Hanna's
chief lieutenants in the campaign to
enlist the support of southern
delegates behind the McKinley standard.
He was chairman of the
entertainment committee for colored
delegates, and, as one of his
friends later wrote, "many a
foot-sore and weary traveler, was re-
juvenated through the hospitality of
this committee," a remark
8 THE OHIO HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
that can be interpreted in any one of
several interesting ways.
Myers then became a member of the Ohio
Republican state
executive committee, and in this place
he worked to reorganize the
Negro voters of the state as an element
in the Hanna machine. In
1898, during the memorable struggle that
resulted in the election
of Hanna to the United States Senate,
Myers, as he later confessed,
"put [his] head in the door of the
Ohio Penitentiary" by buying
the vote of a Negro member of the
legislature in order to insure
the success of his chief by the margin
of a single ballot.
Myers was also a delegate at the 1900
Republican convention,
but after the deaths of McKinley and
Hanna he lost interest in
what he called "the game."
Both Hanna and McKinley had offered
him generous portions of the spoils of
office, but his business was
proving too lucrative to make it worth
his while to accept. He
gathered together his considerable
collection of ribbons and badges
which at one time had decorated his
lapel at conventions, had them
framed, and hung them on the wall of his
study. For the rest of
his life he was content to observe the
methods and practices of a
newer crop of politicians with a growing
distaste, and to offer to
friends his shrewd comments on passing
events.
But he never faltered in his loyalty to
the Republican party. "I
shall vote the Republican ticket,"
he told Rhodes in 1910, "and
would do so if a yellow dog was the
candidate." Though the
nominee might be an emotionally charged
reformer like Roosevelt,
an amiable conservative like Taft, a
stiffly formal middle-of-the-
roader like Hughes, or an easy-going
reactionary like Harding,
whoever represented the Grand Old Party
was sure of the vote of
George A. Myers.
In part this was the result of his
conservatism. He was a firm
believer in the protective tariff, and,
despite his father's interest in
unions, much distrusted organized labor.
"Labor is never satisfied
and never wrong," he told Rhodes.
"I have little use for Organized
Labor." His own shop was strictly
non-union, although as these
letters show, he had no labor troubles
and got on well with his
employees. All forms of radicalism were
anathema to him--"the
only good socialist, like an Indian, is
a 'dead one.'" After com-
MYERS--RHODES CORRESPONDENCE 9
menting on a case of rioting during a
strike, he said:" The prole.
tariat of that stamp need a guardian
more than they do a cham-
pion." He attacked Woodrow Wilson
for his support of the
Adamson act giving railroad workers an
eight hour day, and be-
lieved that its constitutionality had
been upheld only because of the
president's "packing" of the
supreme court with "socialists" like
Louis D. Brandeis.
There was, naturally, one area in which
this conservatism did not
hold; in any matter which concerned the
rights of Negroes, Myers
was an uncompromising reformer. Despite
his admiration of Rhodes
and their long friendship, he did not
hesitate to criticize the treat-
ment of Negro control of the
Reconstruction governments in
Rhodes's History. "I think
one of your mistakes was made in not
seeing and talking with prominent Negro
participants," he wrote.
He had counted upon Rhodes, whom he
knew to be fairminded and
free of anti-Negro feeling, "to
help to dissipate this damnable
prejudice . . . that we as a people
have to contend with." In the
controversy between Rhodes and John R.
Lynch, described in these
letters, Myers admitted that Lynch
perhaps overstated his case, but
excused him in this poignant passage:
Of course in this day of intense color
prejudice, race discrimination and
persecution . . . it is hard for any
colored man to discuss a public question
without interjecting this question. You
cannot fully appreciate this because
you have never been discriminated
against. I do not perhaps feel it as much
as some, by reason of a wide and
beneficial acquaintance, but it has been
brought home to me on many occasions.
The Negro, according to Myers, was not
a revolutionary. During
World War I he pointed out proudly that
members of his race had
served well in every war in American
history, and that none had
ever been a traitor to the flag,
despite unfair treatment on the part
of the government. All the Negro
wanted, Myers said, were his
basic civil and political rights, and a
square deal in his efforts to earn
his daily bread. "Give him a white
man's chance and the problem
is solved."
In discussing the problem of Negro criminals
he once remarked
to a friendly Cleveland judge:
10
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
While I do not condone crime (all
criminals look alike to me), the negro,
morally and otherwise, is what the white
man has made him through the
denial of justice. . . . I realize that
we have a condition and not a theory to
deal with. On the other hand . . . the
abuses and impositions heaped upon
my race . . . are responsible for that
condition, and this cannot be gainsaid.
The negro asks no special favor by
reason of being a negro, only an equal
opportunity in all things.
As a man of known conservative views,
widely respected in Cleve-
land, Myers was able to do a great deal
to overcome anti-Negro
prejudice in that city. By calling the
attention of Elliot H. Baker,
editor of the Plain Dealer, to
the objectionable use of the terms
"negress" and
"darky" in that newspaper, he had the practice
stopped, and a number of years later,
when the Plain Dealer back-
slid in this matter, he wrote to editor
Paul Bellamy and obtained a
clearcut promise that these terms would
not be used again. In 1928,
when trouble threatened over Negro use
of the Woodland Hills
municipal swimming pool, he consulted
with an official of the de-
partment of public safety and got him to
place "a couple of un-
mistakably negro policemen" in the
area well in advance of the
opening of the season and to "keep
them there until the pool closes."
In this way rowdy elements would see
clearly that the force of the
law would be promptly exerted against
disturbers of the peace.
In 1929, less than a year before his
death, Myers summed up his
views on race relations and Negro rights
in a long letter written in
response to a questionnaire sent him by
the Cleveland Chamber of
Commerce. First of all he criticized the
Cleveland Real Estate Board
for its restrictive policies, which
tended to confine the Negro popu-
lace in crowded ghettos. This more than
anything else, he believed,
was responsible for the high incidence
of crime among Negroes.
No doubt crime could be reduced by
stricter police surveillance, but
"better housing and moderate
rentals" would do the job far more
effectively. Myers then praised the
Cleveland public school system,3
but urged an increase in vocational
training and demanded "the
opening of the now closed (by union
edict) Trade Schools . . . to
all races." He was particularly
scathing (and it was typical of him
that he pulled no punches in discussing
matters closest to the heart
3 Both his son and his daughter were
public-school teachers in the city.
MYERS--RHODES CORRESPONDENCE 11
of the chamber of commerce) in his
denunciation of the discrimi-
natory practices of Cleveland
businessmen. He pointed out that
there were many young, well-trained
Negroes available for white
collar jobs in the city, "but like
every avenue which leads to the
good" these opportunities were
"closed in the face of negro youth."
There is not a bank in Cleveland [he
went on] that employs any of our
group as a clerk, teller or bookkeeper,
scarcely an office that uses any as
clerks or stenographers, and no stores,
though our business runs up in the
millions, that employ any as
sales-women, salesmen or clerks. . . . Give
our educated youth a chance and if they
can't make good, we are willing
to step aside.
To a query as to what the chamber of
commerce could do to im-
prove the situation, Myers made this
interesting reply:
The Chamber of Commerce can do much and
materially aid and assist
the economic side by opening many
avenues now closed to us. By advo-
cating the same wage for negroes, as
paid the whites for the same work,
and the same welfare conditions, in all
the industries owned, controlled or
operated by its membership. Denounce and
discourage all forms of segre-
gation, and in all public affairs give
the race recognition. Contrary to the
universal opinion, "all negroes do
not look alike," therefore we ask you
to differentiate. We have our different
groups and classes the same as you.
We have the Upper-class (who have
prescribed [sic] to your standard),
"The New Negro" who through
education and culture has seen the light,
who is not looking for philanthropy or
sentimentalism, who is able to
take care of himself and fully
appreciates the duty of good citizenship. He
asks only an equal chance and equal
opportunity. The middle class, composed
largely of laboring people, they are
rapidly awakening to their needs, and
are only restricted by their limited
wage and exorbitant house rents. They
need encouragement, for they are
honestly endeavoring to better their con-
ditions and educate their children. The
man farthest down is the man that
needs the most help and is the hardest
to reach. Many of them being
satisfied with their condition, spurn
all efforts to assist them. Then there
are others who mistake the good
treatment of the North for license. . . .
Clean out the shacks in which they live,
give them decent habitations at a
reasonable rental, coupled with Police
Protection instead of Police persecu-
tion. Establish community centers and
play grounds. Teach them how to
live. . . . Much good will thus be
accomplished as well as a better feeling
between the races, and we will indeed
have a better and greater Cleveland
to live in.
12
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Paradoxically, it was often his concern
for Negro rights that
strengthened Myers' conservative
opinions on other subjects. In
1912 the major factor that turned him
against Roosevelt's "Bull
Moose" movement was the
"lily-white" policy it adopted in an effort
to break into the solid South. Wilson's
segregation policies rein-
forced his traditional dislike of the
southern-dominated Democratic
party, and made him view all of the New
Freedom with a jaundiced
eye. Similarly, his dislike of unions
was in part an outgrowth of the
anti-Negro policies so current among the
unions of his day. After
telling Rhodes he had "little
use" for organized labor, he added im-
mediately, "It is inimical to the
negro."
The Republican party, which did not have
to defer to southern
white opinion, had a traditional policy
of friendliness toward the
black man. Cynics might sneer at Mark
Hanna's diligent efforts
among southern Negroes in his
preconvention campaign for Mc-
Kinley in 1896. Moralists might be
shocked by his willingness to
purchase Negro votes. But to Myers,
"Uncle Mark," totally free of
prejudice himself, was treating the
Negro as a man, and giving him
a deserved place in party councils. If
Hanna represented the domi-
nation of the Republican party by
business and industry (as Myers
clearly understood), he also symbolized
one of the party's oldest
causes, the fight for Negro rights.
Myers' own Republicanism re-
mained closely akin to that of the
1860's and 1870's, and one may
suspect that he was typical of most of
the politically conscious
Negroes of his generation. It was to
take a major economic cata-
clysm (and the New Deal which followed
it) to make the average
Negro a Democrat, and George A. Myers
did not live to see this
happen.
The last seven years of Myers' life, a
period not covered in these
letters, saw no significant change in
his thinking. He continued to
operate his shop, and maintained his
interest in various civic matters.
But he thought more and more of
retiring. He was financially
secure, and after nearly fifty years as
a barber he was ready to put
aside his combs, scissors, and razors.
He had developed a chronic
heart condition, which was aggravated by
a bad attack of influenza.
However, the management of the Hollenden
had informed him that
when he retired his all-Negro help would
be replaced by white
MYERS--RHODES CORRESPONDENCE 13
barbers and manicurists. Unwilling to
put some thirty employees
out of work, he stayed on until January
1930.
Finally he could continue no longer. He
sold out to the hotel and
prepared to go to Hot Springs, Arkansas,
for a rest. On January 17
he told his family at breakfast that he
was going to break the
news to his employees that afternoon. It
would be, he said, the most
difficult task he had ever had to face.
He spent the morning in his
shop as usual, and at noon left with a
friend to pick up the railroad
tickets for his trip to Hot Springs. As
he stepped out of the door,
he told the staff that there was to be
an important meeting when he
returned. But the meeting never took place.
In the ticket office, as
he reached for his change, his heart
failed. He fell, and in a matter
of moments he was dead.
Myers' letters to Rhodes are located in
the Rhodes papers in the
Massachusetts Historical Society. Rhodes's
replies are in the posess-
ion of Myers' daughter, Mrs. Dorothy
Myers Grantham of Cleve-
land. In editing the correspondence I
have attempted to reproduce
the letters accurately, but I have not
hesitated to take liberties in
matters concerned with punctuation. Both
Myers and Rhodes wrote
in longhand, and Myers particularly was
much given to the use of
the dash and the semicolon. In the
interest of clarity and simplicity I
have altered and omitted punctuation to
some extent in nearly all
the letters. I have also supplied (in
brackets) individual letters
and whole words where it is obvious that
the omissions were caused
by carelessness, and have eliminated,
without calling it to the at-
tention of the reader, an occasional
inadvertently repeated word or
phrase. I have also excluded the
elaborate complimentary closes
that both writers used, and a few
personal references, but with these
exceptions, all the letters are
reproduced in their entirety, and all
the letters still to be found in the
Rhodes and Myers papers are
now printed.
I have not tampered with misspellings
(except, as indicated above,
by supplying carelessly omitted letters
in simple words), and have
inserted the pedantic sic only in
cases where there might be a ques-
tion as to whether the error was the
author's, the editor's, or the
printer's.
14
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
In order not to distract the reader from
the letters themselves, I
have attempted to keep the explanatory
notes as short and as few
in number as possible. Casual references
to individuals of no public
importance as well as comments on men
and events thoroughly well
known to modern readers have, therefore,
not been identified.
Many persons have been of help to me in
the editing of this cor-
respondence. Stewart Mitchell and
Stephen T. Riley of the Massa-
chussetts Historical Society made the
Rhodes papers available, and
Mrs. Dorothy Myers Grantham opened up
those of her father with-
out restriction. Mrs. Grantham has also
provided me with much
invaluable personal information not
obtainable elsewhere. James
H. Rodabaugh, Henry J. Caren, and Mrs.
S. Winifred Smith of the
Ohio Historical Society have assisted in
the preparation of the manu-
script for the printer, provided me with
source materials of great
importance in the preparation of the
explanatory notes, and in
addition, Mrs. Smith has checked a
number of points for me in the
Cleveland newspapers. Professor John
Hope Franklin of Howard
University read the letters in
manuscript and encouraged me in the
belief that they make an important
contribution to our knowledge
of many aspects of Negro history. A
grant from the Rockefeller
Foundation administered by the Committee
on Midwestern Studies
of Michigan State College was of great
assistance. To all these in-
dividuals and institutions I wish to
extend here a brief but heartfelt
word of thanks.
MYERS TO RHODES, Cleveland, September 30, 1910.
Dear Mr. Rhodes: I have your favor of the 28th.,1 likewise the ever
welcome semi annual grist from the
necktie mill. Unlike the "mill
of the Gods it grindeth not exceedingly
fine," hence the grist is
good for many days service yet to come
and I beg to assure you of my
thorough appreciation and express herein
my sincere thanks.
Your favor for which I thank you, like
all of yours conveys much
1 This letter is not in the Myers
papers.
MYERS--RHODES CORRESPONDENCE 15
news in a very few words and solicits a
greater amount. I am ex-
ceedingly pleased to learn of your great
improvement in health.
You have my sincere wish for its
permanancy [sic]. I trust that Mrs
Rhodes2 is equally benefited.
Through "New York" one of my em-
ployees I have heard much of the
delightful visit of your brother to
you and Mrs. Hanna3 and how
thoroughly he appreciated and en-
joyed the same. He is apparantly [sic]
enjoying good health. Con-
fidential and for the information of
yourself and Mrs. Rhodes: He
and Will have left for Chicago, where
W.C.4 will marry that Mrs.
Smith on Saturday morning. Mr Rhodes
will immediately return to
Cleveland as Mrs Hanna is expected on
Sunday Evening. W. C.
will be away for six weeks. I am writing
you this because once you
asked me something about W.C. and this
lady. Please do not let
it [be] known that I gave you this
information. Referring to the
political part of your letter and which
you so magnanimously refer
to as my "sage views" I beg to
thank you for the compliment and
add that not even a Moses or an Elijah
could with any degree of
accurracy [sic] diagnose the
existing complex political conditions.
It looks as if "every fellow is for
himself and the devil for the
hindermost." Traditions and
Party-Loyalty are cast to [the] four
winds and every day a new condition
presents itself. My only con-
cern is where the negro is coming out.
Early I learned to emulate
the example of the man who preceded the
Good Samaritan, when
the white brother has his political
differences, consequently I am
standing by and looking on. There is no
question that the G.O.P.
in order to again be successful, must be
reorganized; but at the same
time they must have the negro vote.
Taft's Souther[n] policy5 has
alienated the negro. The reorganized
Party can regain that support
by holding up the inimical legislation
of the Democratic Party when
2 Ann Card Rhodes, daughter of a
business associate of Rhodes's father.
3 Charlotte Augusta Rhodes Hanna, the
widow of Mark Hanna and the sister of
James Ford Rhodes.
4 William C. Rhodes, James Ford Rhodes's
nephew.
5 President Taft refused to place
Negroes in important political posts in the South
in cases where he thought the
appointments would lead to trouble between the races.
The most important example of this policy involved Dr.
W. D. Crum, whom Theodore
Roosevelt had named collector of the
port of Charleston, South Carolina, and who
was persuaded to resign by Taft. The president,
however, sought to compensate his
Negro supporters with numerous appointments in northern
states.
16
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
and where in power. The negro is not an
insurgent but he does
believe in the conservation of his civil
and political rights. Many
believe the negro looking for social
equality. This is a misnomer.
He is looking for and [sic] equal
chance and an equal opportunity--
this is the problem that daily confronts
him. Give him a white man's
chance and the problem is solved. We
have indeed heard from
Maine6 and if I am not
greatly mistaken the noise and din of
Democratic success that will fall upon
Mr Tafts ears as he sits in
the White House on the night of Nov 8
awaiting election returns
will exceed that of Pains reproduction
of the Last days of Pompeii.7
Under separate cover I shall send you an
article by Kelley [sic]
Miller from the British Magazine.8 Replying
to your favor of
Mar 229 I wrote you at great length. If
you did not receive it I can
send you a copy.
RHODES TO MYERS, Boston, October 7, 1910.
Dear George: Under another cover I send to you the article of Kelly
Miller which I read with care and
attention. I must say that his
power of literary expression is
excellent; otherwise his article would
never have been accepted by "The
Nineteenth Century" which is
an English Monthly of the highest
standard. You may certainly be
proud of your champion in his manner of
presentation.
For the matter I cannot say so much.
Like all controversialists,
he sees his side of the question so
thoroughly that he cannot see the
other side. At times I noted a lack of
candor and specious reason-
ing. I shall not go into these matters
in detail, for you or he might
6 The Democrats in Maine had won control
of the state legislature and of two seats
in congress, and elected a governor as
well.
7 "The Last Days of Pompeii"
was a colorful spectacle presented on several oc-
casions at various places in Cleveland.
Myers probably had in mind the production
of 1907 at the White City Amusement
Park, which collapsed with a roar during a
big storm.
8 Kelly Miller, "The American Negro
as a Political Factor," The Nineteenth Cen-
tury and After, LXVIII (1910), 285-303.
9 This letter is not in the Myers
papers.
MYERS--RHODES CORRESPONDENCE 17
join issue with me and Kelly Miller is
too earnest and thorough a
controversialist for me to desire to
break lances with him.1
I duly received yours of the 30th ult
and regret very much the
news about W.C.R. but my source of the
news will be kept con-
fidential. I also received a letter from
you last March.2 At that
time I was not strong enough to carry on
an extended correspond-
ence. As soon as I go, into the race
question again, I will read the
Kelly Miller book you sent to me.3 Just
now I am busily studying
other questions. Professor Hart in his
book "The Southern South"4
speaks very highly of K.M.
MYERS TO RHODES, Cleveland, November 11, 1910.
Dear Mr. Rhodes: Have you heard from Ohio? Have you heard
from New York? Did the Nation speak?1
"The King is dead, long live the
King" applies to the Republican
party but no set of men or
self-constituted guardians can destroy it.
It has merely shaken off the shackles of
demagoguery and from the
ruins will arise a greater, grander,
united party. In the reorgani-
zation much is to be done. Eliminate the
tariff from the necessities
of life. Prohibit by enactment the
gambling in food stuffs. Also
prohibit by enactment the storing of
food stuffs in cold storage for
the purpose of regulating prices. These
are the vital questions that
1 In an undated fragment Myers replied to this: "I
thank you for reading Kelley
Miller's article, and the comment
thereon. Terse and frank in your inimitable style.
you not only give credit but criticism
and with equal candor decline a controversy,
stating 'like all controversalists he
sees his side of the question so thoroughly that he
cannot see the other side.' Which if I
was inclined to be a critic I might with equal
grace apply to some portions of your
recital of the history of the Reconstruction
period so far as the negro is concerned
and which Kelley Miller seeks to present
aright."
2 This letter is not in the Rhodes
papers.
3 Probably Miller's Race Adjustment:
An Essay on the Negro in America (New
York, 1908).
4 Albert Bushnell Hart, The Southern
South (New York, 1910).
1 In Ohio and New York, as well as in
such key states as Massachusetts, New
Jersey, and Indiana, the Democrats had
made large gains. Further, in many western
areas traditionally Republican, the
progressive wing of that party had defeated the
Old Guard.
18
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
concern the proletariate [sic]. Conservation
and progressivism as
a rule are beyond their comprehension.
But they do understand and
are unalterably opposed to a few men in
Elgin, Ill. regulating the
price of butter.2 The defeat
of your friend, Senator Lodge, is to me
a calamity.3 But the sorriest
of sights is your erstwhile patron saint
Roosevelt, shorn of his Sampsonian
locks, as he emerges from the
ruins of the Temple, still unseeing, but
condemned to live in exile
by his party to the St. Helena of
Sagamore Hill where he has
"nothing to say."4
Mr. Taft hieing himself to Panama5 shows
more political sagacity
than many credit him with. He is on to
his job and like "Peaceful
Henry"6 in the quietude
of seclusion he can think it over and formu-
late his plans for the future, perfectly
oblivious and relieved of the
influence of the recently deposed
"uncrowned King." In other words
unhampered and unfettered by any sense
of loyalty or gratitude
imaginary or otherwise that he may have
owed Mr. Roosevelt. He
can now get down to business, giving us
the good administration of
affairs that only the large and
broad-minded man he is can and is
capable of giving.
Cuyahoga County gives Harmon7 18707,
but elects all Republican
county officials. We lose three Common
Pleas Judges and elect two
of the legislative delegation out of
fourteen. Everyone this way
seems to have been repudiated. Dick,
Burton, Cox et al, each
blaming the other.8 Who the
Moses will be at this writing it is too
early to foretell. New men will be
sought in whom the people have
confidence. "Just as necessity is
the Mother of invention," just so
will the exigency produce the leaders.
Look out for Ohio in 1912.
2 This
refers to the so-called "butter and egg trust" controlled by the
butter and egg
board of Elgin, Illinois.
3 The Massachusetts elections
drastically reduced the Republican majority in the
state legislature, and for a time it
seemed that Henry Cabot Lodge would lose his
seat in the senate. He was reelected,
however, though by a very narrow margin.
4 Roosevelt's efforts to hold the
liberal and conservative wings of his party to-
gether had been, especially in his
native New York, a dismal failure.
5 Taft had visited Panama to investigate
the progress of the canal. He returned
with optimistic reports on the
construction work.
6 In 1902, in an effort to counteract
anti-German sentiment in America, the Kaiser
had sent his son, Prince Henry, on a
good-will mission to the United States.
7 Judson
Harmon, the Democratic candidate for governor of Ohio, who was
easily reelected over Republican Warren
G. Harding.
8 Charles W. F. Dick and Theodore Elijah
Burton were Ohio's United States
Senators at this time. George B. Cox was
the Republican "boss" of Cincinnati.
MYERS--RHODES CORRESPONDENCE 19
I did not send the daily papers but I
am sending clipping from
yesterday's News.
I heard Mr. Hogsett of Johnson &
Johnson say that John Stanley
was sorry he got the St[reet] R.R.
stock back. He could neither
sell bonds or stock--such being the
case the road would inevitably
have to go into the hands of a
Receiver.9
The last paragraph of the enclosure is
significant.
RHODES TO MYERS, Boston, November 15,
1910.
Dear George: I have yours of 11th also your letter of an earlier
date in which, in the opinion of Mrs.
Rhodes you got the better of
me in the "retort courteous."
I have read all that you say concerning
the political situation with
great interest. I am glad that you have
arrived at so just and cordial
appreciation of President Taft who I
think will be our candidate
in 1912 and whom we must try to elect. I
have no doubt that Ohio
will go for him but New York may be
again the pivotal state. I
like all that you say concerning
President Taft.
You are not apt generally to hit a man
when he is down as you
are doing to Mr. Roosevelt. But you will
see him rise again. His
7 1/2 years are in my judgment the best
administration we have had
since Lincoln; and some injudicious
unwarranted statements during
the last campaign cannot affect even for
a moment his real great-
ness and benefactions to the country.
I think that Senator Lodge will be
re-elected. He is an excellent
senator and it would be sad not to have
him in the Senate. The
defeat of our high-minded and courageous
Governor Draper was a
calamity. While in the West you are
making progress in good
government, during this calendar year
Boston and Massachusetts
have gone backward.1
9 See below, letter of November 15,
1910, note 3.
1 Eben S. Draper was defeated for
governor of Massachusetts by Eugene N. Foss,
a renegade Republican manufacturer of a
somewhat demagogic cast.
20
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
I might add regarding Roosevelt
"His faults in him seem the spots
of heaven
More fiery by night's blackness,
hereditary
Rather than purchased, what he cannot
change
Than what he chooses"2
I thank you for your information about
the St. R.R. But I do not
know who Mr Hogsett is nor who Johnson
& Johnson are. If they
are relatives of Tom Johnson3 "mebbe
taint so."
RHODES TO MYERS, Seal Harbor, Maine,
September 15, 1912.
Dear George: Is it true that the vote on your Constitution Sept 3
was only half a vote? If you happen to
have a statement of the
result with the votes on the different
amendments I should like
much to see it. From our papers I am not
quite sure what amend-
ments were adopted and what beaten?1
As usual in a time of political
perplexity I should like your
opinion as to how Ohio will go in the
November election? Here it
looks as if the election of Mr. Wilson
was probable and that of
Mr. Roosevelt only possible. President Taft
may have a fighting
chance but not more. Will the colored
men in Ohio vote for Mr.
Taft or Mr. Roosevelt?
2 Antony and Cleopatra, Act I, scene 4.
3 Tom Loftin Johnson, former reform mayor of Cleveland, had long been
involved
in the Cleveland Street Railway
controversy. In the 1910 election the Ohio Constitu-
tion was amended to give municipalities
greater autonomy in managing such local
utilities, but the Cleveland system had
been forced into a receivership by Johnson's
conflict with the street railroad
management. Rhodes's interest in the question prob-
ably resulted from the fact that the
company had been controlled by Mark Hanna.
1 In a vote on September 3, 1912, the
people of Ohio accepted thirty-four of
forty-two proposed amendments to the
state constitution. These amendments, too
numerous to detail here, increased
popular control of state and local government by
legalizing the initiative and referendum
process, enlarged the legislature's power to
enact social and economic legislation,
and reformed the courts in the interest of
speed and efficiency. See Harlow
Lindley, ed., Ohio in the Twentieth Century, 1900-
1938 (History of the State of Ohio, VI, Columbus, 1942), 14-16.
MYERS--RHODES CORRESPONDENCE 21
My wife and I have been in Europe a good
deal of the time during
the past two years. Last May I went to
Oxford to deliver a course
of lectures on the American Civil War
which were well received.
This was the end of a European trip. We
came here in June and
have been well all summer. Daniel2 has
a little house near us. He
and his family (now five children) are
well and getting on first rate.
MYERS TO RHODES, Cleveland, September
24, 1912.
Dear Mr. Rhodes: I thank you for your letter of the 15th. Replying
thereto I beg to state that I have sent
you full data upon the result
of the election on the Constitutional
Amendement [sic], also a copy
of the amendments through the courtesy
of Mr. E. H. Baker, the
editor of the Plain Dealer.1 The full
vote results through the
courtesy of Mayor Newton D. Baker. You
ask my opinions upon
Ohio in the coming election, which is
seven full weeks off. At this
writing the present complex existing
condition is best described by
looking into a kaleidoscope. The longer
you look, the more you
turn, either backward or forward, the
more difficult [it] appears to
decipher. Just so with the situation in
Ohio. There were many
republicans who supported your
patron-saint Mr. Roosevelt, in the
Presidential Primary, who were honest
and sincere in that support.
To them Mr. Roosevelt as the
Presidential candidate of a "new
party," appears in a different
light, especially so in persistently ad-
vocating the destruction and complete
elimination of the Republican
Party--to which he owes his all. Mr.
Taft has but little real per-
sonal following in Ohio. To me this is
unjust. I believe Mr. Taft
to be one of our best Presidents and
that the softening influence of
time will bring him complete
vindication. He may have made
mistakes. Did we ever have a President
who did not? But Mr.
Taft was as justly entitled to his
endorsement, as was McKinley or
2 Daniel Pomeroy Rhodes, James Ford
Rhodes's son.
1 Elliot H. Baker.
22
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Roosevelt, this in strict accordance
with the ethics of the political
game. Better still as Croly expresses
it, when Roosevelt was the
candidate asking for his endorsement and
Mr. Hanna was being
considered "To have refused
Roosevelt the distinction it would
have constituted the gravest criticism
of the man and weakened the
party in the prospective campaign."2
This being true with Mr.
Roosevelt a candidate for his [Hanna's]
endorsement, it was equally
true with Mr. Taft a candidate for his
endorsement. Many who
voted for Mr. Roosevelt in the Ohio
Presidential Primary3 hold
these views and they constitute a
majority of our Republican voters.
Here is where the political wiseacres
are at sea, with all their acumen
and sagacity, in arriving at conclusion
to forecast the result, none to
date have dared a prophecy. The question
is still open: What are
these Republican voters going to do? Are
they going to return their
support to the regular nominee of the
Republican Party as they have
done in the past, when their favorite
candidate was beaten, or are
they in contempt of Mr. Roosevelt going
to repudiate him and vote
for Mr. Wilson? Personally I have found
but few like myself going
to vote for Mr. Taft. Many of my
patrons, old time Republicans
deep dyed in the wool, who never before
voted for a Democrat, are
going to vote for Mr. Wilson and the
whole Democratic Ticket.
Why? Thinking perhaps Mr. Roosevelt may
have a look in, they
prefer Mr. Wilson. Not that they do not
love Mr. Taft, but they
hate Roosevelt more.
You ask will the colored men in Ohio
vote for Mr. Taft? Yes,
almost to a man. Many of the colored
voters of Ohio idolized Mr.
Roosevelt. Because they had a confidence
in him, they believed him
a man of his word, "All men up and
the open door." Previous to the
Republican National Convention Mr.
Roosevelt and his cohorts in-
vited the "Brother," with
extended arms. They even attempted to
debauch him with their filthy lucre; of
which seemingly they had an
2 Myers quotes incorrectly here, but
preserves the meaning well enough. Croly
wrote: "To refuse him the
distinction constitutes the gravest possible criticism of the
man and weakens the strength of the
party in the prospective campaign." Herbert
Croly, Marcus Alonzo Hanna: His Life
and Work (New York, 1912), 414.
3 The Ohio presidential primary,
instituted in 1912 as a result of the pressure of
Roosevelt's adherents, was carried by T.
R.
MYERS--RHODES CORRESPONDENCE 23
abundance. Failing to get the
"Brother" by persuasion, and as he
would not stultify his manhood by
selling out, Mr. Roosevelt in
his righteous indignation (?) issued
his ultimatum. That there was
no room for the Southern Negro in his
Progressive (formerly in-
surgent) Party. The negro of the South
is disbarred, the negro of
the North who votes and whose votes are
counted Mr. Roosevelt
invites. Make no mistake the Northern
negro (and that applies to
Ohio) will not be beguiled by his
"siren song." Mr. Roosevelt the
last of all should not throw down the
Southern negro. If he is a
purchasable quantity Mr. Roosevelt
helped to make him so, and in
his recognition of them under his
administration, he held them up
as all that constituted good and
intelligent citizenship. Of the sixty
eight negro delegates I am acquainted
with over fifty. I told Mr.
Baker of the Plain Dealer in answer to
his query, that the Southern
delegate was just as susceptible to the
money influence as was the
Northern delegate; but from the
personnel of the delegates in the
1912 Convention that they could not buy
ten. Eight voted for Mr.
Roosevelt--two being instructed. Now
Mr. Roosevelt instead of the
"glad hand" gives them the
glad boot.4 He will get a few colored
votes but the masses will support Mr.
Taft. I have just turned down
what I consider the highest honor in
the Party to be bestowed upon
a colored man. Mr. Charles D. Hilles5
the Chairman of the Repub-
lican National Committee last week
invited me to take charge of the
colored voters and to state my own
terms. Business prevented my
acceptance. I am glad to know that you
and Mrs. are well, also that
your European trip was so successful. I
read with much interest
your series of articles in The
Scribners Magazines.6 The partic-
4 The Progressive national convention of
1912 refused to seat Negro delegates
from the southern states. It seems
probable that Roosevelt hoped, by adopting a
"lily-white" policy in the
South, to break the Democratic monopoly there. The
policy failed to crack the South, and
alienated many northern Negroes, as this letter
indicates. For Roosevelt's "All men
up" statement, see his letter to J. La R. Harris,
August 1, 1912. E. E. Morison, ed., The
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt (Cambridge,
1951-54), VII, 585.
5 Charles Dewey Hilles, formerly Taft's
private secretary.
6 Rhodes published four articles in Scribner's
in the latter half of 1911: "The Rail-
road Riots of 1877," "The
National Republican Conventions of 1880 and 1884," and
two on "Cleveland's
Administrations." Scribner's, L (1911), 86-96, 297-306, 496-504,
602-612.
24
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ular[s] of the Rail Road riot in
Baltimore7 were vividly recalled to
my memory. The articles on Mr.
Cleveland's administration were
very instructive. I had many of my
patrons read them. Sometime I
am going to write you a letter upon Mr.
Croly's Life of M. A. Hanna.
P. S. Yours of the 22nd8 just
rec'd. Glad to know data was what
you desired. Mr. Baker sent that
pamphlet for you to keep.
RHODES TO MYERS, Seal Harbor, October 7,
1912.
Dear George: I duly received your luminous letter of Sept. 24 which
told me much that I did not know. I was
not aware that the
Roosevelt party made any attempt to
purchase the colored delegates
from the South at Chicago. I supposed
that they were running their
operations on a high moral plane. It
seemed to me that Mr. Roose-
velt's outburst against the colored men
of the South was "poor
politics" as I did not believe he
could carry a single Southern State.
Your letter shows me conclusively that
he hurt his cause with the
colored people of Ohio, Indiana and
Illinois.
What you say in regard to President Taft
is entirely true. In spite
of his many mistakes, he really deserves
a better fate. Your own
position is entirely logical. Mr. Hilles
certainly offered you a high
honor but I think that you were entirely
right to place business above
politics.
Your loyalty to President Taft is
entirely commendable but from
what Mr. Robert Rhodes1 writes to me I
suspect that Mr. Wilson
will carry Ohio. His election seems
highly probable and his program
of a honest downward revision of the
tariff is very attractive to me.
It looks now as if Mr. Wilson would
carry Massachusetts so hope-
lessly split is the G.O.P.
7 In "The Railroad Riots of 1877" Rhodes discussed the troubles
rising from the
great strike of that year. Most of his
attention was devoted to the Pittsburgh violence,
but Myers was particularly interested in
the Baltimore situation, where he had been
an innocent bystander.
8 This letter is not in the Myers
papers.
1 James Ford Rhodes's brother.
MYERS-RHODES CORRESPONDENCE 25
I shall be very glad to have your
comment on the Life of Mr.
Hanna by Croly. I have read the book
with care and would like to
see the light you can throw on the
campaign of 1896, on the sen-
atorial campaign of 1897 and on many
other phases of the career of
that remarkable man. Be assured that all
that you write to me will
be kept strictly confidential. I see no
immediate prospect of going to
Cleveland. My writing keeps me very busy
especially as I do my
heaviest work in the morning & so
hate to miss any morning at all.
I am flattered that you should have read
my articles in Scribner's
Magazine and I have put you down for a
volume of my lectures
before the University of Oxford2 when
they appear.
MYERS TO RHODES, Cleveland, October 15,
1912.
Dear Mr. Rhodes: I have your very interesting and welcome favor
of the 7th. and it's very pleasing to
learn that we share the same
opinion relative to Mr. Taft and his
Administration. Especially is
this pleasing, because I knew Mr.
Roosevelt to be your patron-saint,
having told me that you wished you could
live long enough to write
his life. I sincerely wish it was
possible to reelect Mr. Taft. While
it is true sentiment in Ohio, in fact
all over the Country, is crystal-
lizing in his favor, by reason of the
pending Congressional Investi-
gation,1 and second sober thought, it
will not be sufficient to bring
him victory on Nov. 5th.
All political signs and omens at this
writing indicate Mr. Wilson's
election. The rallying of the business
interest to Mr. Taft, has failed
to materialize and campaigns even in
this day of reform and eleva-
tion to a higher moral plane, can no
more be run without the sinews
of warfare, than in the "good old
Hanna days."
You say that you were not aware of the
use of money in the
interest of Mr. Roosevelt at The
Republican National Convention
2 J. F. Rhodes, Lectures on the
American Civil War (New York, 1913).
1 At this time a senate subcommittee was
investigating Theodore Roosevelt's cam-
paign expenditures. Though the
subcommittee later turned to the affairs of both Taft
and Wilson, at this point there was some
justification for Myers' optimism.
26
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
in Chicago. Perhaps you were too busy
with your writings and com-
muning with nature, through the
beautiful eyes of Seal Harbor and
its surroundings to read the conduct of
the Convention. I have the
personal assurance of some of the
"Brethern" that they were ap-
proached. Don't infer from this that
they stood in the "Holy of
Holies" on this high moral plane
business. That is not practical
politics, (practical politics is office
or money). They just stood,
that's all, you understand the rest. So
Col. Roosevelt in his righteous
indignation (?), and he taught them
"how to stand," gives as I have
previously written The Glad Boot for The
Glad Hand.
He will get but few colored votes in
Ohio, and I hope throughout
the United States. Now relative to
Croly's life of Mr. Hanna--I
have to say that it is a beautiful story
of a very remarkable man.
Pleasing to his family, pleasing to his
friends and acceptably written
for students of political science. The
author has presented a new Mr.
Hanna, wholly unlike the Mr. Hanna that
we personally knew.
Smoothed over the rough characteristics,
and by the eloquence of his
masterly pen through the lavish use of
the "Queens English" pre-
sented his subject to his readers in
such a manner that gives no
offense to anyone. We knew Mr. Hanna to
be a rough brusque
character with an indomitable will of
his own that respected the
rights of no one who stood in the way of
his successful accomplish-
ment of the object he had set out to
accomplish. This of Mr. Hanna
as a man. I knew him better as a
politician and one well-versed and
trained by him to his methods. It was a
question with him, can you
do it? Don't fail, but do it, never mind
the other fellow, so long as
the end justified the means. Do it get
it done and then let the other
fellow howl. Like the good Boss that he
was, there was never any
question about expense; Results was what
he demanded not expense
accounts. Mr. Hanna was a square and
honest man, his word once
given was never broken. He neither asked
quarter of any political
adversary or gave it. He planned every
political coup the same as
he would a business deal. He introduced
commercialism into
politics and believed that to the victor
belonged the spoils. He
MYERS--RHODES CORRESPONDENCE 27
neither advocated or practiced the
doctrine of Civil Service. Hence
I claim the author in his endeavor to
enshroud Mr. Hanna with
angelic qualities in his political
dealings, has given to us a new
Mr. Hanna which would not be acceptable
even to Mr. Hanna was
he alive, because Mr. Hanna had so much
faith in himself, believing
his methods to be honest, above reproach
and criticism.
There are many glaring inaccuracies in
Croly's work. He was
either misinformed or he perverted the
facts. Viz.--The Cuyahoga
Delegation of 1897-1898 in its entirety
was not pledged to vote for
Mr. Hanna. They were nominated on the
Popular Vote Plan. The
County Convention that elected delegates
to the State Convention
following voted unanimously to instruct
the Delegation to vote for
Mr. Hanna for Senator.
Some of the members of the delegation
promised Mr. Hanna to
vote for him if he supported them for
nomination in the Caucas
[sic] (Vernon T. Burke2 for instance and others.)
Then again
Croly claims Mr. Hanna was elected by a
vote of 73-70. I left the
joint session of the Legislature
immediately the vote was announced
by Lieut. Gov. Asa W. Jones, went over
to the Neil House and told
Mr. Hanna the results. I said, Mr. Hanna
you are elected, he said,
yes I received the signal. (This I
subsequently learned was made by
W. J. Crawford from the State House).
He further asked what was the vote, I
said 72 to 71. He then
said, "Didn't I get more than
that," I said No. Sir. He studied
awhile and then said alright. Why Croly
repeatedly gives the wrong
vote I do not know nor can I conceive an
explanation.
You asked for the light I can throw upon
the Campaign of
1897-1898. There may be things that I
can tell; but letters often
miscarry or fall into the hands of those
they are not intended for.
It's far from me to besmirch or reflect
upon the methods of my
late Commander. I am simply taking issue
with his autobiographers
method and misstatements. No one has to
apologize for M. A.
2 Vernon H. Burke was a state senator
from Cuyahoga County, and a personal
enemy of Hanna.
28
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Hanna. He was not a great man, neither
was he a Statesman. He
was a remarkable man, a successful
business man, who commercial-
ized politics and believed in
commercializing the Government. I
think that you will agree with me that
Mr. Hanna, like President
Garfield died at the psychological
moment of their career. Were
Mr. Hanna alive today, he would be a
very much disappointed and
discredited man. The methods inaugurated
applied and believed in
by him, are more responsible for the
chaotic condition of the
political affairs of today than any
other cause. Viz.--High protec-
tion and granting of special favors to
corporate interest.
The short confines of a letter will not
permit as free a discussion
of this book, remarkable for what it
leaves unsaid, or of my per-
sonal experiences and recollections of
Mr. Hanna, as I would like
to make to you. We were friends and I
served him loyally without
price or reward especially in the
pre-Convention Campaign that re-
sulted in McKinley's nomination at St.
Louis;3 also by my work with
the colored men previous to their
election as delegates to that Con-
vention. (Why Croly refused to mention
the services rendered by
the colored men of the South to Mr.
Hanna and the great work done
by them in nominating McKinley is
another mystery.) Also in his
two campaigns for election. What I did
for him I would gladly do
again under the same circumstances: and
there are some yet alive
who can attest, that had I not rendered
that loyal service, Mr.
Croly would never have had the
opportunity to write such a read-
able book.
RHODES TO MYERS, Boston, December 19,
1912.
Dear George: I duly received your letter in which you gave me
your careful opinion of Croly's Life of
Mark Hanna. I read the
letter with great interest and it is in
my jar of unanswered letters.
I shall reply to it soon after Jan'y
1st. Since my return from Seal
3 In 1896.
MYERS--RHODES CORRESPONDENCE 29
Harbor I have had a mass of work and
occupation. I am getting
my Lectures1 through the press, had to
go to New York twice in
attendance on different meetings and
have had to pay a little at-
tention to the arrangements for the
meeting of the American His-
torical Association which meets here
between Christmas and New
Years. It may interest you to know that
Mr. Roosevelt is our
President this year. An answer to your
letter is only delayed, not
forgotten.
1 The Oxford lectures on the Civil War.
[The remainder of the correspondence
will appear in succeeding issues.]