E !b(b4 John Sherman By George U. Harn Reprinted from Ohio Stair Archaeological and Historical Societv Publications Volume 17, No. 3, 19U8 \ ■hbhmbmhm J ass r£?64^ PRKSENTIil) l:Y JOHN SHERMAN BY George U. Harn Columbus, Ohio : The F. J. Heer Printing Co. 1908 . 5*1 \ Author (Perton) JOHN SHERMAN. GEORGE U. HARN. [Mr. Harn is a native Ohioan, having been bori at Wooster where he was trained in the printing and journalistic profession. When a mere lad he became the Columbus correspondent for the Cincinnati Times- Chronicle, now the Times-Star. Later he became one of the owners of the Mansfield Herald, with the business and editorial control of which he was connected for many, years. Under President McKinley Mr. Harn was agent of the United States Internal Revenue Commission in Ohio and several southern states. Early in life Mr. Harn became acquainted with John Sherman, this acquaintance grew into an intimate friendship that lasted till the death of the Senator. Mr. Harn's article is unique in manner and gives some interesting side-lights upon the character of the great statesman and financier. — Editor.] John Sherman was a Senator in Congress a longer time than any other person. He was elected to the Senate a greater num- ber of times than any other person. Without excepting Thomas Hart Benton, he was a member of the senate longer than any other person. Benton was elected five con- secutive times, but served a few days less than thirty years. Sherman was in at- tendance at the sessions of the Senate a greater number of days than any other per- son. He voted on a larger number of proposed federal laws than any other person. He attended the daily ses- T „ sions of the upper chamber JoHxV Sherman. ,.,.,, : as dutifully as the ambitious school boy attended school; his absence excited query and com- ment. (3) 4 John Sherman. He was a representative in Congress under the administra- tion of two presidents, Mr. Pierce and Mr. Buchanan ; a Senator under seven, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Garfield, Arthur, Cleve- land and Harrison. He was a candidate for public trust before the people four times, always successful ; before the General Assembly of his native State six times, ever victorious. His long, eventful, useful and distinguished career would have been endorsed by the Legislature of Ohio by his election in 1898 to the Senate for the seventh time. As the nominee of his party he was never defeated. * * * * John Sherman's paternal ancestors were public men, leaders of the people, statesmen, jurists. They came from England, from Essex, to Connecticut and Massachusetts, long before liberty bell proclaimed the birth of another nation. Taylor Sherman, his grandfather, was a lawyer and a judge. Charles Robert Sherman, his father, followed in his footsteps. And John, the brother of the great General, was a common pleas judge, pro tempore, in northern Ohio, before he had attained his twenty-eighth year of age. Taylor Sherman was a native of Norwalk, Connecticut. His wife, Elizabeth Stoddard, was a descendant of Anthony Stoddard, who emigrated from England to Boston in 1639. She died in Ohio in 1848. Charles Robert Sherman, the father of John Sherman, was born at Norwalk, Conn., studied law with his father, was ad- mitted to the bar in 1810, and the same year married Mary Tloyt, also of Norwalk, and a few months thereafter came to Ohio and located at Lancaster, where John Sherman and all his brothers and sisters, except the eldest, Charles T. Sherman, were born. He was elected a Supreme Judge of the State of Ohio in January, 1823, when but thirty-five years old. He died suddenly at Le- banon on the 24th of June, 1829, while holding a term of court, aged forty-one years. He left a family of eleven children, the youngest an infant a month old, the oldest, Charles T., aged eighteen. Judge Sherman'- household was in decidedly strait- ened circumstances. John Sherman. .> Thomas Ewing, who lived at Lancaster, a distinguished citizen of the state, but not until two years later a member of the Senate, luckily, was a friend of the Shermans. He adopted the third son. William Tecumseh, and procured his appointment as a cadet at West Point. The eighth child, John, was six years old. A cousin of his father, named John Sherman, then recently married, a merchant at Mt. Vernon, took the fatherless boy home with him in 183 1, Mansfield Residence of John Sherman. Now Demolished. where he remained four war- at school. At the age of twelve he returned to Lancaster and became a pupil for two years at Howe's academy, at the end of, which time he was prepared to enter the sophomore class at college. But his mother was unable to gratify hi- ambition to acquire a thorough and systematic education, and in 1837 he was compelled to accept the position, tendered him, through the efforts of his brother Charles, by Colonel Curtis, of junior rodman on the Muskingum Canal improvement. In the following spring the officer in charge of the work at the station (5 John Sherman. where the young man was employed resigned, and he was tem- porarily placed in charge, assuming a grave responsibility grow- ing out of the construction of a work which was to cost $300,000. In the autumn of 1838 the Whig party was thrown out of power. A new Board of Public Works took charge of the im- provement. Young Sherman was 16 years old. He was a Whig. His services were dispensed with. Andrew Jackson had given way to Martin Van Buren the year before. The American doc- trine that to the victors belong the spoils was enforced. John Sherman began the study of law in the office of his brother Charles T., at Mansfield, Ohio, when he was exactly 19 years old. He was admitted to practice May nth, 1844, just after attaining his majority. Mansfield was a village of about 1,100 inhabitants, the seat of Richland County, always reliably Democratic. The bar was able and distinguished. Among its members were Thomas W. Bartley, at that time Governor of Ohio, later a Judge of the Supreme Court, who was succeeded in the gubernatorial chair by his father, Mordecai Bartley ; Jacob Brinkerhoff, a Judge of the Supreme Court, and eminent as a member of Congress ; and others almost as well known. On the list of law students were the names of William B. Allison, the Senator from Iowa, and the late Samuel J. Kirk- wood, a federal cabinet officer and Governor of the State of Iowa. During the ten years following young Sherman's admis- sion to the bar he was active in the general practice as partner of his brother Charles, and at the same time took a deep interest in the political issues of the day. He found leisure, also, to en- gage in several financial ventures not connected with the law. One of them was the making and publication of a map of what was then Richland County. This he compiled from observations, his own surveys and search of the records. Many of the details, such as the source and course of the streams, he personally veri- fied. He took the drawing to Pittsburg and had it lithographed. He expected great returns from its sales, as a well known de- ceased railroad operator did from the sales of a rat-trap. The John Sherman. 7 results were similar. That map is one of the rare relics of the present day. In 1848 he attended the Philadelphia convention as a dele- gate from his Congressional District. When the Convention was being organized a member arose and said that there was a young man present from a district so strongly Democratic that he could never hope to get office unless the convention gave him one, and, "I, therefore, move," he said, "that John Sherman, from 'the Berks County District of Ohio, be made secretary of this con- vention." A delegate from farther West immediately jumped to his feet and said that there was a young man present from the State of Indiana in precisely the same situation, and, "I move to amend so that Schuyler Colfax be made assistant secretary of this convention." Together, Sherman and Colfax walked up to the stand. Mr. Sherman was elected a member of the House of Repre- sentatives in October, 1854, when he was 31 years old. The Thirteenth District was composed of the Counties of Erie, Huron, Morrow and Richland. It had previously been represented by a Democrat, Gen. William D. Lindsley, of Erie. At the election of 1852 three tickets had been voted for. The convention which nominated Sherman was known as the Anti-Nebraska conven- tion. It was composed of members of the Democratic, the Whig and the Free Soil parties. It was held at W r ilson's hall, at the village of .Shelby. There were three leading candidates, Hon. Joseph M. Root, of Erie, who had already served three terms in the House, and subsequently served in the Ohio House of Repre- sentatives ; Gov. Tom Ford, and John Sherman, both of Richland. A number of gentlemen, who subsequently became nationally known, were delegates to the convention. Gen. John W. Sprague, some years afterwards a potent factor in the politics of Washing- ton territory, was a member. Great difficulty was experienced in harmonizing the several elements, but the result finally was the withdrawal of . Ford, which cleared the atmosphere, and brought about the nomination of Sherman. At the election he received 8,617 votes, whereas Lindsley got 5,974. It is noticeable that Erie, Huron and Morrow there- 8 John Sherman. after remained in the Republican columns, while Richland then, as now, was one of the strongholds of Democracy. On July 13th, 1855, at Columbus, the first Ohio Republican convention was held. It nominated Salmon P. Chase for Gov- ernor. That was, substantially, the beginning of the Republican party of the nation. On May 28th, 1895, at Zanesville, another Republican con- vention was held. It endorsed William McKinley for President. John Sherman was president of the first, and president of the last. Ifr \ 1 9HBH ^Ki2l£*&3 9 nHvi ^^H^^HV* ' cfll b si K 1 i^il n - EEflCiil '--^^L H' " IflBr LoflH ?*iHHH Library In Mansfield Residence o£ John Sherman. Mr. Sherman took his seat in the House December 3rd, [855. He forthwith became a leader in that body, and it was greatly through his influence that Gen. Bank- was made Speaker of the Thirty-fourth Congress. Unexpectedly, in March of the year fol- lowing, he was appointed a member of the Kansas investigating committee. When he received the telegram advising him of his ap- pointment he was en route from Mansfield to Washington. With- out completing his journey he returned to his home, and a few hours afterward was on his way to Kansas. The o > nmittee heard testimony at Lawrence, Leavenworth, Lecompton and Topeka. John Sherman. 9 Circumstances caused the writing of the report to devolve upon Mr. Sherman, and the report, when made public, intensified the antagonism in Congress, and was the basis of the Presidential campaig n of 1856. His experiences and observations in Kansas fortified him in the position he had assumed on the paramount questions of the day. Mr. Sherman was nominated, without opposition, and elected to Congress from the same district in 1856, 1858 and i860. At the close of his second term in a body then having 237 members, a large majority of them being representative men, in all senses of the word, he was recognized as the foremost man in the House. The Thirty-sixth Congress began its first session amid the ex- citement caused by the bold act of John Brown at Harper's Ferry. -Mr. Sherman was a candidate for speaker. After eight weeks' struggle, when within three votes of election, he gave way and Mr. Pennington, of Xew Jersey, was chosen. Helper's Impend- ing Crisis was the cause of his defeat. He then became chair- man of the Committee on Ways and Means. In the autumn of 18G0 Mr. Sherman had been elected to Congress the fourth time, his fourth term extending from March, 1861, to March, 1863. William Dennison had been elected Gov- ernor of Ohio to succeed Salmon P. Chase, and assumed the office on January <;th, [860. In the same month, Mr. Chase, who had been a Senator from Ohio from 1849 to 1855, had again been elected to the Senate as the colleague of Benjamin F. Wade, to succeed George E. Pugh, from the fourth of March, 1861. On his inauguration President Lincoln appointed Chase his Secretary of the Treasury. On the T2th of March, Governor Dennison notified the Ohio General Assembly, still in session, of the resig- nation of Chase as Senator, whereupon the Legislature pro- ceeded to elect his successor. Sherman remained at Washington. On the first day's bal- loting it w-as found that he had a majority over Governor Den- nison, Gen. Robert C. Schenck and John A. Bingham. The caucus, however, was feverish. Without authority Sherman's name was suddenly withdrawn, but almost immediately again presented. He was finally chosen as the choice of the Republi- cans. On the joint vote of the Assembly the vote stood: Sher- 10 John Sherman. man, 76; William Kennon, Jr., 53 votes. Kennon had been a member of Congress in 1847-9 from the Belmont County Dis- trict. Mr. Sherman took his seat in the Senate for the first time on March 23rd, 1861. Thus he was in the same hour a member of the House and a member of the Senate. Subsequently Gen. Garfield became a Senator while a mem- ber of the House, and President while a Senator. On January 18th, 1866, Mr. Sherman was elected for six years from March 4th, 1867. Sherman had 91, and Allen G. Thurman 41 votes. In January, 1872, he was elected for six wars from March 4th, 1873. Sherman had 73 votes. Gen. Geo. W. Morgan 59, Gen. J. D. Cox 6, A. F. Perry I, Gen. R. C. Schenck 1. Mr. Sherman resigned the Senatorship March 5th, 1877. and became Secretary of the Treasury in President Hayes' cabinet. Hon. Stanley Mathews, Republican, was selected his successor for the unexpired portion of the term. Sherman was re-elected to the Senate for six years from the 4th of March, 1881 ; re-elected for six years from March 4th, 1887; and re-elected for six years from March 4th, 1893. His last term would have expired March 4th, 1899, an( l there has been no good, reason to believe he would not have been elected for the seventh time, had the course of events been other than as they occurred in 1897. He, therefore, was elected to the House for eight years and served about six ; was a member of the cabinet four years ; and was elected to the Senate for 36 years and served 31 years, 11 months and 12 days. Counting the period he acted as Secretary of State in President McKinley's cabinet, he was in public life in four different offices almost 43 years. Our hostile friends have repeatedly pointed out the undis- puted fact that during a period of thirty years of stewardship in the most dignified legislative body, his colleague, for more than three-fourths of that time, had been a Democrat. When we consider that the State of Ohio ten times in succession has cast, except in 1892, when one of the 21 electors, James P. Seward. John Sherman. 11 of Richland County, voted for Grover Cleveland, a solid Re- publican electoral vote, this fact is the more singular. When Mr. Sherman went to Washington as a Senator his colleague was that other great man, Benjamin F. Wade, who was thrice honored. In 1868 the Ohio Legislature was Democratic. It elected Allen G. Thurman as Mr. Wade's successor. Six years' later. Mr. Thurman was re-elected. Then Hon. George H. Pen- dleton, of Cincinnati; Hon. Henry B. Payne, of Cleveland, and the Hon. Calvin S. Brice, of Lima, each serving a single term, became the great financier's colleagues. And it was in the even- ing of his life that for the first time, except in the case of Wade, that his colleague was of the same political faith, namely, Joseph Benson Foraker. Looking backward, to the dawn of the century — what a noble list of stalwart statesmen has the Heart of the Nation given to the Senate. With the exception of Judge Stanley Mathews, who served out Mr. Sherman's term, while he was Secretary of the Treasury, no other Republican, except Foraker, Hanna and Dick, has represented Ohio in the Senate since Wade retired. Senator Sherman enjoyed the most distinguished honors that the Mouse could confer, except that of Speaker; he had been chairman of the most important committees in the Senate, as well as I 'resident pro tempore; he was then at the head of the greatest department of the government, as Secretary of the Treasury, a posl of more vital import to the whole people at that time than that of premier. Therefore his ambition to end a long public life as the chief magistrate of the nation was certainly not repre- hensible. We are familiar with the result of that contest; with the dramatic nomination, the election, and the untimely taking <>\~\ of the lamented Garfield. His friends made a second effort in his behalf and failed. From that day he put wholly out of his mind all Presidential aspirations, yet there are not a few who will ever regret that he was unsuccessful. What might have been the course of events had he been nominated in 1888? In the light of events, it was clearly the mistake of Sher- 12 John Sherman. man's life for him to accept a place in McKinley's cabinet. He should have served out his term in the Senate and then retired. I personally know that at least one close friend advised him to that effect. From the moment he entered the cabinet his ir- ritability was remarked by his life-long' friends — by those who had no favors to ask and by those who had. The position of chief clerk to an aggressive executive could not be other than, to say the least, irksome ; in this case the more so because of the fact that the latter had been inspired by the former, and, in a manner, had fallen heir to his mantle. Sherman had always held that the function of members of the cabinet was more than that of supervising clerks, and his theory was illustrated when he served as Secretary of the Treasury tinder President Hayes. In fact, when Cleveland was President. Mr. Sherman one day remarked to me that he would not act as a member of the cabinet under Cleveland because the members were "mere clerks." Throughout his life Mr. Sherman was able to recognize faces, but often unable to recall names. Many who approached him for favors which were not his to bestow, in the last days of his greatness, seized upon this increasing failing and magnified it into something worse, until the public grew to believe that he was no longer the semblance of his earlier self. Up and until the last he made no promises, outright or by inference, that he did not keep. This rule now seems to be old-fashioned and out of date. Mr. Sherman's public life was consistent and pure. Most public men find it necessary to modify their views as time passes. His vote was found on the side of what was at the time at least the plurality, and has since become the majority, on the great questions that have been settled during the last five decades in our country's history. As far back as 1856, in a debate on the submarine telegraph, opposing the granting of a monopoly to the corporation, he said : "I can not agree that our government should be bound by any contract with any private incorporated company for fifty years." . John Sherman. 13 Forty years later his bill to regulate trusts voiced the same sentiments. While speaking on the tariff bill he said : "The addition to the free list should be of articles not pro- duced in this country, and whose free importation will not com- pete in any way with the great interests of any section of this country." In his Zanesville speech, delivered in May, 1895, he iterated his views thus: "We prefer to tax foreign productions rather than our own. We believe that the policy of protection should be extended to all productions impartially, to labor on the farm as well as in the workshops. We are opposed to the policy of protecting woolen manufactures and admitting wool free." He was always opposed to any form of internal taxation for government purposes, except as a war measure. The pension list is a legacy of war. Internal revenues should be especially de- voted to the payment of pensions. In 1862 he favored a war tax "upon consumption and pro- duction rather than upon persons and property/ 5 In 1894 he bad not changed his mind, as is evidenced by his opposition to the income tax. * * * * In the spring of 1870. while Mr. Sherman was Secretary of the Treasur) : 1 locratic press of Ohio, sought to influence public sentiment with a view of accomplishing his nomination for Governor of the State. At that time it was generally under- stood that he was a candidate for the presidency, and the object of the movement was to check his growing national popularity by an attempt, at least, to procure his defeat at the gubernatorial elections. Suddenly Mr. Sherman arrived at Mansfield. He came alone, and unannounced. His family had departed a few days prior for Europe. His presence at bis home quickly became known, and the leading citizens, without regard to party, decided upon a sere- nade. About midday newspaper correspondents from nearby cities dropped into .Mansfield, among them a plenipotentiary from a 14 John Sherman. leading Cincinnati journal, with whom the writer had some acquaintance. He wanted a verbatim report of the expected speech, but could not write stenography. Finally a shorthand writer in the person of a young man, the private secretary of a leading manufacturer, the late Michael D. Harter, was discovered and employed. At night-fall the band, followed and preceded, by hundreds of people, proceeded to Mr. Sherman's hotel. The committee on arrangements had procured a store box and placed it on the ban- Library in Washington Residence of John Sherman. quette at the hotel, to be used as a speaking platform. Mean- time the stenographer had been stationed in the hallway of the ladies' entrance to the hotel, and the press congratulated itself that il had the affair well in hand. In answer to calls from the people Mr. Sherman soon ap- peared accompanied by a citizen, who mounted the improvised rostrum, and went through the formality of an introduction of our distinguished townsman. It was evident that the Secretary of the Treasury was more or less surprised, and greatly pleased, with the spontaneous and enthusiastic ovation. John Sherman. 15 He began his remarks thus : "My Countrymen" — It is noticeable in nearly all of Mr. Sherman's speeches from the stump, that he used the words "my countrymen" when ad- dressing his hearers. And then continued : "I am very happy to be again in your midst, to see your faces, and to greet you as friends. I never felt like making an apology for coming before you until now. I found when I ar- rived in my old home the papers said I came West seeking the nomination for Governor. I came purely on private business, to repair ruined fences, and look after impaired property," and then he forthwith entered into an explanation of the financial policy of the administration. The speaking exercises having been finished, the correspond- ents and the stenographer rushed to the telegraph office, where the stenographer for an hour or more wrestled with his notes, and at last announced that he was unable to intelligibly translate them, whereupon the writer sat down, and with the help of those present, recorded what the speaker had said. The phrase about "repairing ruined fences" was pounced upon by the press of the country, and to the presenl day it turns up constantly upon every hand. Mr. Sherman then told the literal truth. Fences were being built on the Stewart farm, half a mile east of the town, a farm inherited from her father by Mrs. Sherman, as well as on Mr. Sherman's farm, now within the corporation limits, and now mostly laid out in residence lots. It may be interesting to follow the evolutions of this fence repairing incident. A year later, on March 31st, 1880, when Mr. Sherman's chances for the Presidential nomination were thought to be good, on his annual return to his home, he was greeted by perhaps ten thousand people, hundreds of them strangers, from Ohio and other states. The event was grand and one long to be remembered. He spoke on the same spot, and from a similarly improvised platform. His opening remarks were as follows: "Fellow Citizens and Fellow Townsmen : — I noticed in com- ing here that some of the papers are discussing why I came to Mansfield. When, a year ago, I visited you, I innocently said 16 John Sherman. I came to repair my fences. That was the simple truth ; but thanks to my very good friend here before me, Mr. Knight (hi; farmer), my fences are in very good repair." And they remained in good repair. The writer is informed that Mr. Sherman recounts this in- cident in his book. He never read the book and hence is not posted on his version of the affair. The foregoing is a statement of fact, which would be verified by the late Chauncev Newton, were he alive. This "political classicism," as Mr. Howells, of the Ashtabula Sentinel, calls it, has become of world-wide note, and is used al- most as frequently in Great Britain and elsewhere, especially where English is spoken, as here. * * * * One evening, years ago, I went up to the Sherman house on an errand. I did not expect to meet strangers there. To my surprise when ushered into the library I found a member of th< President's cabinet, a distinguished member of Congress, who afterwards became the Governor of 'a great State, and later a still more eminent national figure ; the chairman of a State com- mittee, who had won two victories; and a candidate on the State ticket*. My impulse was to withdraw, but I was prevailed upon to remain. The conversation, momentarily interrupted by my entrance, was resumed, when 1 discovered the subject under discussion was the -election of a State Executive Committee. It had been customary in Ohio for years for the Republican State convention to designate, by Congressional Districts, the several members of the State Central Committee, and for the candidates on the State ticket to submit to this committee a list of names from which to select the Executive Committee. The member of the cabinet proposed this name and that ; the chairman of the committee suggested this person and that person ; the candidate for a State office thoughl this gentleman and that one especially available, and so on ; and the gubernatorial aspirant finally wanted to know what the functions of the Executive Com- mittee were, anyway, which the cabinet officer explained. The *Foster, McKinley, Hahn, etc. John Sherman. 17 merits, and the demerits, of the several gentlemen whose names had been proposed, their geographical location; their political prestige, availability, fitness, and-so-forth, were pretty generally,' and unsparingly, and with the cheerful frankness said to be com- mon at sewing circles, criticised and canvassed. During all of this interesting four-cornered conversation the host spoke scarcely a word. He smoked a pretty good cigar and seemed to get a great deal of satisfaction out' of it. They all smoked, and they all talked — except the host. Presently it seemingly suddenly dawned upon the subsequent Governor and President that the head of the party of the State had made no suggestions, whereupon he interrogatively said: "Senator, by the way, you have proposed no one for this committee. You, I presume, will be a candidate before the next Legislature for election to the Senate. It is right, and proper, that your wishes, as to the personnel of the committee, should be considered. Who do you want to become members of it?" The Senator replied : "Oh. never mind about me. I have made it a rule during my entire public career to never propose, or care, who should serve on committees of this character. Besides that, my idea is that we are about to try to elect a Legislature and a State ticket, and not a United States Senator. The election of a Senator will occur next January." That was all. The next day the opposition press contained scare headlines, followed by columns of leaded type, graphically telling how John Sherman had again thrown his opponents and declaring that he- was again on top! * * * * There seemed to exist between William Tecumseh. in the family fondly called "Cump," up to the hour of his death, and John, a stronger love than between the other brothers This was perhaps because the lines of these two men ran more in similar orbits. From a very early time, from their struggling boyhood days, they carried on a correspondence, down to the death of the General, and the soldier was a guest at the home of the statesman often, and as frequently as the public and privav- IS John Sherman. demands upon his time would permit. This correspondence, through a period of more than a half century, has heen preserved, arranged in proper order, bound in book form, and was kept in a fireproof vault at the Mansfield house, and a part of it only has appeared in print. General Sherman once said, in reply to a request to deliver a lecture under the patronage of a lyceum bureau, that he would not do so for a fee of a thousand dollars. The Senator was al- ways of the same mind. While he had ever been ready to speak for the benefit of his party, or to the veterans of the Sherman brigade, an organization winch he was chiefly instrumental in raising and equipping at the breaking out of the war, and by which he was honored annually by being elected its presiding officer, the occasion cannot be called to mind on which he de- livered a speech for pay, at least since he ceased the practice of law prior to the beginning of the war. * * * * John Sherman and Miss M. S. Cecilia Stewart were married at Mansfield on the 31st of August, 1848. She was the only child of the late Judge Stewart, of Mansfield, who immigrated to Ohio from Pennsylvania. They never had children. They adopted a friendless little girl who grew to womanhood and was married to an estimable gentleman at the Federal Capitol some years since. There was seldom a day since they began house- keeping when the home in Ohio, or that at Washington, was not brightened by one or more of their numerous nephews or nieces. Years ago Mrs. Gen. Miles and Mrs. Senator Don. Cameron, daughters of Judge Charles T. Sherman, and later the General's sons and daughters, or the children of Mr. Sherman's other sisters and brothers, were always welcome. Mrs. Sherman was the ideal wife of a great man. It cannot be remembered that she ever interested herself to her husband's detriment in affairs of State. She was a lady of rare accomplish- ments, fortified with perhaps the longest, and, it may be said, the most trying experience in public life covering the most excit- ing period in our country's history. She was capable of filling every social position. There were few ladies in the land better •qualified to perform the varied and manifold duties incumbent John Sherman. 19 upon the wife of so distinguished a statesman. Her judgment was always acute and accurate. Mr. and Mrs. Sherman for nearly half a century were the closest of friends and companions. She sanctioned what he approved ; he was gratified with what she enjoyed. It is said that when she first went to Washington, shortly after her marriage, that a lady of much social experience, the wife of a Senator from Kentucky, solemnly warned her that if she was seen constantly with her husband that the gossips would certainly talk about her. Being young and of a retiring dis- position, she felt it a great hardship that she could not enjoy the society < f her husband in public with impunity. Mrs. Sherman's tastes were eminently domestic. She was a thorough housewife. The details of her home were always her mal care. Mrs. Sherman was a member of Grace Episcopal church at Mansfield. Mr. Sherman built his house at Mansfield in 1849, and re- modeled it about thirty years afterward. It was a plain, sub- stantial two-story brick edifice with a mansard roof, and had a wide gallery at the main entrance, and was located near the cen- ter of twenty-odd acres of land, surrounded by a fine forest, many of the trees of which, particularly the buckeyes, having been planted by Mr. Sherman himself. The house was built on per- haps the highest ground in the city, on the most desirable resi- dence street. In the rear of the house was maintained a fine garden, and extensive grapery and quite a large orchard. There was scarcely a berry, fruit or vegetable, indigenous to the latitude of Ohio, that was not grown on these grounds, as many of the noted men of the country can testify from personal experience. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sherman gave the garden, the vineyard and the orchard their careful attention. In the summer, and the autumn, the latter was especially busy "putting up" the harvest of the vineyard and the orchard, and a generous quantity found its way to the table of the house at Washington. The grounds were one of the beauty spots of this section of the Buckeye State. The city of Mansfield sets upon as many gently rising hills as the Roman capital. The country round 20 John Sherman. about is undulating and picturesque. When Mr. Sherman bought that little plat of land it was half a mile in the country. Now the city has grown nearly a mile beyond, to the margin of Sher- man-Heineman park, a fifty acre breathing place presented to the city of Mansfield jointly by Mr. Sherman and Mr. A. J. Heineman. Across Park avenue west, up and down which thoroughfare the electric cars now race, is the palatial home of the widow of another man of national fame, the late Hon. Michael D. Harter. once the champion of honest money in the House of Representatives. There were finer houses, more costly homes, but no nobler grounds than those of the Shermans. And the people were ever welcome to enjoy them. Each year they were the scene of fetes and gatherings for the benefit of the churches and the charities. Presidents, governors, senators, past, present and future; plain citizens, diplomats, editors, soldiers; politicians of high and Mow degree, some bent on good, others on evil, have sat upon the broad gallery. Murat Halstead was caught one day in the garden eating gooseberries. He explained that those berries were larger than any raised in Europe and not so sour. A few days afterward, Mr. Halstead's newspaper, in no ambiguous words, and in Hal- stead's inimitable style, thundered forth the policy of the party. Mansfield is certainly the highest city in the state. The Sherman house was perhaps the most elevated residence in the state. The town • is located on the crest of the ridge which stretches from the northeast corner southwesterly through Ohio. Waters rising four or five miles west of the town flow into the sea through Lake Erie, and those rising within the corporation empty into the ocean by way of the Ohio and the Father of Waters. The Sherman house was about 1450 above the sea, 1018 above the Ohio at Cincinnati, and 885 above Lake Erie. The highest knobs in the state are in Logan county, 1540 feet above the ocean, 1108 above the Ohio and 975 above the Lake, and the next highest about six miles west of Mansfield, being I 475» I0 43 an, l OI o feet respectively above the ;ea, the river and the lake. John Sherman. 21 The heirs of Senator Sherman in 1904 demolished the house and disposed of the real estate in the form of building lots. John Sherman's stump speeches, as everybody knows, were didactic. They usually read better than they sounded. Often he did not readily bring forth the word he sought to utter. A stranger listening to him for the first time, not informed of his abilities, would imagine, at the beginning, that he was going to fail. No one can justly claim for him the talent of the forensic orator. However, as he advanced, he might become pa- thetic, and often really eloquent. His speaking was not a physical effort. His gestures were few. His vocabulary, to be under- stood by the most common of the powerful average people, doe? not require reference to the books. His hearers came for instruction, not amusement. He seldom told an anecdote. The attention of his audience was held solely because of the wisdom that dropped from his lips. He always had the loyal support of the middle classes, the well-to-do, the prosperous farmers, the brain and sinew of the commonwealth. The frugal German- American was ever his friend. They heard, they understood, they acted. All of his speeches were carefully prepared. They were dictated to a stenographer, in ample time before the date of delivery. I have had the pleasure of seeing a great many of his speeches in the stenographer's long-hand after the author had revised them. It was very rarely that he altered a phrase or a word, either before the manuscript went to the printer or at the time of delivery. Tie spoke the same speech he had com- posed, almost word for word. Tt occurred more than once that newspaper men sought to prove that he didn't say what he had written. With the printed speech in hand they have followed him, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, and were amazed at the accuracy of his memory. About twenty-five years ago, the beginning of the era of wonderful modern journalism, the press associations began to ask for advance copies of his key-notes. He then commenced the practice of having them put into type a few days prior to 22 John Sherman. their delivery. Since that this custom seems to have been gen- erally adopted by public men. After he became the most potent factor in the cabinet of President Hayes, and it was understood that he was a candi- date for nomination for the presidency, the leading and most successful opposition newspaper in Ohio, failing to unearth scandal with which to drag him down, began a crusade against him on the frivolous score of selfishness. He was denounced as an icicle, and branded as the incarnation of coldness. Every man who met him can refute these charges. No newspaper man ever approached him on a news errand and left him chilled, unless he merited chilling. The truth is that Mr. Slier-, man was of easier access to the press and the people than, perhaps, any other distinguished man at Washington. Senator Sherman's campaign speeches often sparkled with original axioms, simple and trenchant. Once, after he had made a noted effort, a gentleman compiled and brought to me over half a hundred sentences of that character, but a small per centum of which was made up of more than fifteen words. Some of them were used as the mottoes of the campaign. There are few great men who can, or do, confine them- selves to as limited a vocabulary when addressing the public. This was one, doubtless, of the reasons for his popularity with the average common people. They heard, or read ; they under- stood, they approved. When it is remembered that his education in youth was limited to about six years, in the schools of the frontier, and that his learning was acquired chiefly by observation, reading, and reflection, a study of this subject ought certainly to be interesting. To illustrate: His speech delivered at the Ohio Repub- lican State Convention at Zanesville in May, 1895, tne ^ ast great effort meant to define the policy of the party, was brief — composed, eliminating the proper nouns and figures, of about sixteen hundred and thirty words. There were substantially three subjects, with which he was more familiar than with anv other three questions, and with which no man in America was, John Sherman. 23 perhaps, more familiar, viz: a retrospect of his party's achieve- ments ; the tariff question ; the money issue. Break this speech into its component parts. We find he used 532 words to express the ideas evolved, employing- each one an average of more than three times; and that a large per centum of the 532 words were of the same root, varied as verbs, adverbs or nouns. More .than one thousand of the words spoken were monosyllables, and over 350 were dissyllables. He employed no word beginning with J, H or Z, while K loaned him but one, Q two, Y only three, and V two; thus confining himself, almost exclusively, to words from but 19 letters of the alphabet. He repeated the adjective "the" 145 times, the preposition "of" 109 times, the conjunction "and" 59 times, "in" 46 times, "is" 34 times, "a" 28, "we" 29, and so on. He employed 90 words twice, thirty-odd thrice, and a great many others oftener. On that occasion, at least, he was partial to the letters T and P, because he drew on the columns of the former for thirty to express 266 thoughts, and on the latter for 72 with which to voice 130. The ninth letter of the alphabet was uttered as a pronoun of the first person ten times, but not once egotistically, as the context clearly proves. It was not necessary, in order to understand Mr. Sherman's meaning, to refer to a glossary, or consult an up-to-date dialect lexicon. Every word of the speech can be found in the earliest English dictionary. Following is a complete alphabetical list of the words used in the Zanesville speech with the number of times used: 60-and 28-a i5-all 11-as 8-are 7-at 4-an 4-any 3-action 2-also 2-alone already 2-amount always 2-adopt among abroad ample act announce accomplished annually after anywhere additional another admitting appeal adopted applied ages articles- 24 John Sherman. ascending 2-contracted 4- -debt assigned 2-chief 2- -duty assurance 2-condition 2- -duties available -'-credit 2 -did 2 common 2- -during -dollar 36 words used 173 2-currency •). times. called 9. -dollars j cannot 9. -declared B. capital 2- -demand 11 -be carefully 2 -domestic 9-but carried daily 9-by carry death •'-been cents dead 3- he fore choice declare 3-believe cheapening degradation 2-based civil demanded 2-both citizens denomination 2 lii-metallic coined dem iimce back coining designate hank concert deserving battle confer diminished bearer conferred discharged bearing confessedly discipline belong c< mfess disposed beneficial conditions disturbed beyond congratulate developed bands congress diversified brothers bulk com m commission demonetization bullion C( immodities 30 words used 57 composed times. 21 words used 56 cooperate times. copy E. corner 5- -every C. creed 3- -each •"> country courage 2 -either 1 candidate course 3-equal 4-coin court equally 4-commercial current equality 4— convention effected 3-can • r )0 words used 80 enemies 3-change times. entirely 2-coins elect 2-coinage D. elected 2-cheaper 2-debts election "2-could 3-do especially John Sherman. 25. erring 2-governor influence ever get intelligence exchange' generally intelligent executive gentlemen interest extended greatly interests excess impartial - 8 words used 33 impartially 20 words used 29 times. importance times. impress H. invited F. 16— li3.vc 18-for 7-has 28 words used 151 9-from 6-had times. 4-favor 4-honor 2-faith 4-hope J- 2-farm 3-high None. 2-first 2-highest 2-forever 2-hearty K. 2-free 2-fail 2-honestly hardship 2-kind 2-fixed here 1 word used 2 faithfully home tinn-s. fall 'hotch-potch false L. farms 13 words used 51 3-labor favors times. 3-large fate 3-last fifty I. B-low firm 46-in 2-lowest flag 34-is 2-let follow 16-it larger forty 10-1 largely fourteen 7-if lay force 7-its lead foreign 3-international legal fractional 3-industries life friends 2-increase like fundamental 2-indispensable limited 2-important 2-issues limitation 27 words used 62 limits times 2-into logical increases love G. industry including 11-great 18 words used 28 8-gold indicate times. 4-good indivisible M John Sherman. M. no 2-perform nominally 2-preside 8-money 2-president 4-matters 14 words used 37 2-pension 4-metals times. 2-platform 2-made 2-purpose 2-maintain 0. 2-parts 3-market 109-of 2-par 2-me 10-only 2-present 2-mankind 9-or 2-prosperity 2-measured 8-on 2-protection 3-more 6-our part maintained 2-own partially maintaining 2-over passing make 2-other peanuts making 2-one pittance many 2-one-half poverty may 2-obligations prefer men 2-officers preserve members 2-old pretense means offers privileges meet opinions principle met opposed parties metal orphans paid measure ours patriotic mine outside pensioners minor planted powers most 18 words used 164 monometallic times. precisely preserving 27 words used 44 P. prior times. 13-party produce 10-policy past N. 5-power parity 8-not 4-principles paper 5-nations 4-productions pathway 4-now 3-people performed 3-notes 3-production portion 2-nation 3-price praise "2-nominate 3-purchasing prescribing need 3-pay preservation next 3-payments primary nearly 3-public produces new 2-plenty proper necessary 2-produces properly John Sherman. 27 promise S. success promised 14-silver supplied promote 4-should supreme propose 4-standard system proposition 2-stand protecting 2-selecting 48 words used 84 protective sacred times. provided sanction provincial scheme T. purchased section purposes seek 145-the purchases sentiment 28-to shrieks silent 14-this 11-that 72 words used 130 times. single 11-them slaves 9-their Q. specie 8-those same t)-they quantity stamp 5-than quantities still 5-tariff Stone subjects 2-th ere 2-these 2 words used 2 times. superior 2-then >ums 2-transaction R. surviving tax 6-ratio 8-state taxation 3-roll 4-soldiers today 2-redemption 4-such together 2-repudiation 2-small taken rather 2-support tender rational same temptations redeemable say therefore reduced secure thank reliance selection think repealed senator through rest several time result since treat revenue similar trust right skilled turning rights spite two reform so resumption sound 30 words used 266 staple times. 17 words used 26 stood times. storms 28 John Sherman. u. 2-what Z. 5-upon 2-who None. 4-us 2-whole 3-under 2-world Proper nouns 3-Union 2-wool unabridged 2-workshops Atlantic unblemished waits J -American unskilled want Australia use ways Democrat united well 2-Democratic until weight Europe universal were 2-Grant utilized whether Lincoln unquestioned whose Mexico urged within 2-McKinley whiskey North 14 words used 25 wish 6-Ohio times. wisdom Populists widows 12-Republican V. worthy 5-Republicans value woolen 2-Sherman various workingman Sheridan V South United States Wilderness 2 words used 7 times. ™ wnoever 33 words used 112 times. w. 20 words used 45 29-we X. times. 15-will None. 10-war Figures. 8-was Y. 1855 4-with 11-you 1873 4-while your 1892 4-would years $50,003,000 3— wants 6 words used 6 times. 3-wages 3 words used 14 3-which times. Note — The figures to the left of words indicate the number of times they were used. The remaining words were used once only. * * * * The story has been related many times at Mansfield by the old citizens that in early life he made a rule to lay aside out of his earnings $500 a year. No matter what his income John Sherman. 29 might be his expenditures were regulated accordingly. Thus was laid the foundation of his competency. Those who were best informed know that a political life, at least in the latter part of it. had been a detriment to him, from a money-getting standpoint. Twice he reluctantly became a candidate for re- election to the Senate, and then only at the last hour, and be- cause of the earnest urging on the part of leading citizens throughout the land. In this day of frenzied office seeking this may cause some to marvel, bur it is nevertheless true. When less than thirty years of age Mr. Sherman took a deep interest in the projected Ohio railways, particularly those subsequently built through the northern part of the state. At his death he was actively interested in the Fort Wayne road. Later in life, and when one of his terms as Senator was about to expire, he was offered the presidency of one of the greatest railway corporations in America, the Northern Pacific, at a salary many times that of a United States Senator. * * * * Mr. Sherman frequently told, with pleasure, of his first meeting with Mr. Lincoln. It occurred at Willard's hotel in the month of February, 1861. Mr. Sherman called upon the president-elect immediately after his arrival. Lincoln grasped Ins hand and said : "So you are John Sherman?" He inspected the tall Buckeye from crown to sole. "Well, I'm taller than you, anyway; let's measure." They got their backs together. Mr. Sherman said that Lincoln was considerably the taller. * * * * After a score or more of years have matured my judgment, I want to relate the following incident : It happened one morning that I was in Mr. Sherman's K street library at Washington, when a gentleman came in and said : "Senator, the President has sent William Howard Taft's name to the Senate."* *The office was that of Internal Revenue Collector 30 • John Sherman. With the impertinence of youth, I remarked, "Mr. Sherman, you would not have recommended Taft if he had not been the son of his father." Quickly, and heatedly, came the reply: "That is not so, Taft is a capable young man; he will make his mark." jyub LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 704 855 3