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Book ~iJ ^ 
 
 PRESRNTliD PA 
 
THE LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 
 
THE LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 HENRY GASSA WAY DAVIS 
 
 1823—1916 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES M. PEPPER 
 
 Disce ut semper victurus; vive ut eras moriturus 
 
 Work as if you were to live forever; live as if 
 
 you were to die to-morrow 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE CENTURY CO. 
 
 1920 
 
-T^ 
 
 
 
 
 Copyright, 1920, by 
 The Century Co. 
 
 Published, February, i()20 
 
 W> 
 
 r 
 
 .y^...'.^ <&4.y-*tA^-^^ /OTt^^/M^ 
 

PREFACE 
 
 The pages that follow are the record of a remarkable 
 life, a life written in deeds. Henry Gassaway Davis 
 for three-quarters of a century was absorbed in the 
 healthy activities in which a constructive mind naturally 
 found expression. The romance of railway building, 
 the development of natural resources, the creation of 
 industrial communities, all of which marked definite 
 stages in the progress of the country, were one phase 
 of his character. Public service, political leadership, 
 citizenship in its highest sense, were another aspect. 
 Generations that came and went left him pursuing his 
 course with unabated energy. 
 
 The source material for this work existed in a mass 
 of contemporary documents relating to public affairs, 
 in newspapers and periodicals extending through more 
 than half a century, and in a large volume of letters and 
 private papers. The thanks of the author are due to 
 the family for the access to these papers and for their 
 assistance in many ways. Personal association in the 
 later years of his career afforded insight into his char- 
 acter and the motives which governed his business en- 
 terprises and his support of international projects such 
 as the Pan-American Railway. All this material has 
 been studied with a view to exhibiting his life and times 
 as a whole. In a career which covered so long and so 
 eventful a period and which embraced so many and 
 varied activities the most that can be done is to exhibit 
 it in outline. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Perhaps the reader in following this history will un- 
 derstand why the life of Henry Gassaway Davis is 
 worthy of permanent record. His broadly human sym- 
 pathies endeared him to his fellow-countrymen, but 
 there was more than this to enlist their enduring in- 
 terest. His was a many-sided character. In his early 
 struggles against adversity, in his qualities of initiative, 
 in his individuality and self-confidence, in the sentiment 
 which centered in the region that owed so much to him 
 for the development of its resources, in his habit of look- 
 ing forward, in his abiding faith in the institutions of 
 his country, in his willingness to do his part as a citizen 
 and his readiness to accept political responsibilities, 
 people saw in him the Distinctive American. Such was 
 Henry Gassaway Davis throughout his long and honor- 
 able and useful life. It is as such that these pages seek 
 
 to record him. 
 
 C. M. P. 
 
 Washington, January, 1920. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter I pagb 
 
 ANCESTRY AND YOUTH 3 
 
 Leaves from Maryland's Colonial history— Two ancient 
 worthies— The Davises and the Browns— Memories of Good- 
 fellowship estate— Parents of Henry Gassaway Davis— Balti- 
 more at the time of his birth— The child who saw Charles 
 Carroll lay the corner-stone of the first railway— Epochal 
 events— Baltimore and Ohio's test of Peter Cooper's engine- 
 Effect of family reverses on a carefree lad— Earnmg money 
 at the stone quarry — Plantation steward for Governor Howard 
 — Beginning of railroad career 
 
 Chapter II 
 PIONEER RAILWAY DAYS 17 
 
 A brakeman on the Baltimore and Ohio — Crude methods of 
 early days— Reasons for Davis's promotion— Washington in the 
 '40's — Famous passengers — Henry Clay's friendship — The con- 
 ductor's courtship and marriage — Duties as station agent at 
 Piedmont — Crossing the crest of the Alleghanies — Leaving the 
 railroad service for business — General merchandising — Coal 
 and lumber enterprises — Establishing a bank — Civil War con- 
 ditions — Supplies for the railway under difficulties — Contractor 
 Davis's interview with Lincoln — Extensive land purchases after 
 the war 
 
 Chapter III 
 •ARLY PUBLIC LIFE 34 
 
 West Virginia a war-born State — Davis's belief in separa- 
 tion from the Old Dominion — Election to the Legislature as a 
 Union-Conservative — Paucity of lawyers — Status of ex-Con- 
 federates — Reasons for test oaths and disfranchisement — 
 Party passions — Committee assignments — Fiscal subjects and in- 
 ternal improvements — Delegate to Democratic National Con- 
 vention — Election to State Senate — Repeal of test laws — Strug- 
 gle over enfranchisement legislation — The debt question — Sec- 
 ond election to State Senate — Democrats in power — Adventures 
 of legislators in midwinter journey to Charleston — Work of 
 the session— Election to United States Senate 
 
 ▼ 
 
vi CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter IV page 
 
 SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES— FIRST TERM . 54 
 
 Notable members of the Forty-second Congress — The Demo- 
 cratic minority in the Senate — Partizan measures and sectional 
 issues — Senator Davis's assignment to Claims and Appropria- 
 tions committees — Speech in support of West Virginia war 
 claims — Financial legislation in the Forty-third Congress — 
 Panic of 1873 portrayed — Mobility of currency advocated — 
 President Grant's veto of the Inflation Bill — Resumption of 
 specie payments — Work as member of Committee on Transpor- 
 tation Routes — West Virginia waterways — Political revolution 
 gives Democrats a majority in the House — Forty-fourth Con- 
 gress — Senator Davis on treasury accounts and government 
 bookkeeping — National and State Campaigns of 1876 — Reelec- 
 tion to the Senate — Support of Electoral Commission 
 
 Chapter V 
 
 SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES— SECOND TERM . 73 
 
 Parties as affected by President Hayes's Administration — 
 Remonetization of silver — Democratic majority in the Senate 
 of the Forty-sixth Congress — New colleagues — Senator Davis 
 as chairman of the Appropriations Committee — Advocacy of a 
 Department of Agriculture — Modest provisions for the farm- 
 ers — Camden as a colleague — Treasury accounts again — An 
 unqualified protection Democrat — Defense of the tariff on 
 coal—West Virginia and debts of honor — Business reasons for 
 declining a third term — Resolution of State Legislature — Re- 
 sume of public questions during twelve years' service — Growth 
 of appropriations — James G. Blaine's tribute to Senator Davis 
 
 Chapter VI 
 THE RAILWAY BUILDER 90 
 
 East-and-west trunk lines through West Virginia — Unde- 
 veloped regions between the north and south systems — The 
 Davis projects — His own story of prospecting trips — Early ex- 
 peditions into the forest wilderness — Timber observations— 
 Exploring unknown coal-fields — Surveys for West Virginia 
 Central Railway — Planning the route — Notable statesmen and 
 c^apitalists enlisted in the enterprise — Horseback trip to White 
 Sulphur Springs— Opening of the line in 1881 — Industrial com- 
 munities created — Contemporary account of the railway and 
 the region it developed — Controversy with the Baltimore and 
 Ohio — Making the system independent 
 
 Chapter VII 
 INTERNATIONAL AMERICAN CONFERENCES ... 105 
 
 Awakening of interest in the countries to the south — First 
 Conference at Washington in 1889-90 — Mr. Davis appointed a 
 delegate by President Harrison — Andrew Carnegie a colleague 
 — Secretary Blaine's address of welcome — Organization and 
 work of the Conference — International banks and transporta- 
 
CONTENTS vii 
 
 r> r A • PAGE 
 
 tion — Bureau of American Republics — Mr. Davis appointed by 
 President McKinley a delegate to the Mexican Conference in 
 igoi-02 — His associates — High character of representatives 
 from the other Republics — Golden Age of Mexico under Por- 
 firio Diaz — Personnel of Mexican delegation — Tokens of re- 
 spect for "The Senator" — Reasons for declining to be the pre- 
 siding officer— Speech on the Monroe Doctrine — Important re- 
 sults achieved— Farewell tributes to Mr. Davis 
 
 Chapter VIII 
 THE PAN-AMERICAN RAILWAY . 
 
 121' 
 
 Intercontinental trunk line the concept of men of vision- 
 Mr. Davis's faith shown at the first conference— Activities 
 on the survey commission— Value of engineering reconnais- 
 sances—Summary of the route— Support given the project by 
 the Mexican Conference— Creation of permanent Pan-Ameri- 
 can Railway Committee— Its work— Special commissioner au- 
 thorized by Congress— His report on status and prospects of 
 the enterprise— Chairman Davis analyzes traffic and other ob- 
 jections—Relation to commerce and national development- 
 Indorsement by subsequent Congresses— Steps to interest capi- 
 talists—Approval by International High Commission— Link 
 between Harrison and Wilson administrations 
 
 Chapter IX 
 
 POLITICAL ACTIVITIES AS A PRIVATE CITIZEN . . 136 
 
 Support of Senator Bayard in 1884— Cleveland's nomination 
 at Chicago— Talk of Mr. Davis for Vice-President— He urges 
 Hendricks— Campaign work— Visit to Albany— Explanation 
 of his interest in .Mr. Blaine— National Conventions in 1888— 
 Prophecy of Harrison's nomination— Mr. Davis declines to be 
 a candidate for Governor— Visit to the President-elect at In- 
 dianapolis—Cabinet suggestions— Campaign of 1892— Disrup- 
 tion in the Democratic party— Support of Bryan and Free 
 Silver in 1896— West Virginia politics— View of national election 
 m 1900 
 
 Chapter X 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE AT DEER PARK AND WASHNGTON . . 152 
 
 Building a summer home in the Alleghany wilderness- 
 Glimpses of the mountain farm— Mr. Davis's love of country 
 life— Sowing oats and buckwheat— Shearing the sheep— Evolu- 
 tion of Deer Park into the summer capital— Distinguished visi- 
 tors—Senatorial guests— Cardinal Gibbons— Ex-President 
 Grant— President Cleveland's honeymoon— Fishing and other 
 incidents— President Harrison and his family— Social side of 
 official life in Washington— White House dinners— New Year's 
 receptions— Entertainments for Senator Davis at the end of 
 his term— Residence in Baltimore— First state dinner of Presi- 
 dent and Mrs. Cleveland 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter XI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION AND AFTER . . i66 
 
 State of the Democratic party in 1904 — Revival of conserva- 
 tive forces — Mr. Davis a delegate to the St. Louis Convention 
 — Cleveland elements in control — Mr. Bryan's fight in the Plat- 
 form Committee for silver — Compromise by omission — Judge 
 Parker's nomination for President — Mr. Davis's story of his 
 own nomination for Vice-President — Welcome by his neighbors 
 at Elkins — Turn given the campaign by Judge Parker's gold 
 telegram — Objections to Mr. Davis on the score of age — Noti- 
 fication at White Sulphur Springs — Speech by John Sharp 
 Williams — Response — Campaigning at eighty-one — Philosophic 
 acceptance of result — Activities during the four years that fol- 
 lowed — Urged by his party in West Virginia for various offices 
 — Reasons for declining — Delegate to the Baltimore Convention 
 in 1912 — Support of Wilson and Marshall 
 
 Chapter XII 
 
 BUSINESS ACTIVITIES AT FOURSCORE AND BEYOND 185 
 
 A busy man's casual enumeration of his interests — Sale of 
 the West Virginia Central Railway — Looking around for new 
 fields to employ capital — Imprisoned resources in heart of the 
 State — Mineral and timber reserves awaiting an outlet — Coal 
 and Coke Railway projected by Mr. Davis — Route from Elkins 
 to Charleston — Exploring trips at eighty — Progress of the line 
 described — First train when the builder was eighty-four — 
 Communities brought into life — Mr. Davis as active head of 
 the railroad — Looking after the traffic and finances — Local de- 
 velopment enterprises — Other business responsibilities 
 
 Chapter XIII 
 WEST VIRGINIA 196 
 
 Commemorating the half century of a war-born State — 
 Recognition of Henry G. Davis's part in upbuilding the com- 
 monwealth — His early exposition of its resources — President 
 of Board of Trade — Tributes to him as a pioneer in develop- 
 ment — Head of Bankers' Association — Service on Tax Com- 
 mission — Memories of epochal events — Speech on anniversary 
 of first battle at Philippi — Semi-Centennial Celebration at 
 Wheeling — Mr. Davis's modest account of his work — Golden 
 Jubilee honors for the Grand Old Man — His review of the 
 moral and material progress of West Virginia — Promises of 
 the future — Poetic interpretation of achievement and aspiration 
 
 Chapter XIV 
 
 BENEFACTIONS AND PHILANTHROPIES 210 
 
 The habit of giving — Interest in free schools — Sentiment in- 
 spired by higher education — Permanent endowment for Davis 
 and Elkins College — Contributions to religious objects — A home 
 
CONTENTS ix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 missionary's illuminating letter— Filial sentiment given expres- 
 sion in church edifice — Family affection exemplified in a me- 
 morial hospital— Failure of plans for girls' industrial school- 
 Realization of similar idea in Child's Shelter— Mr. Davis's deep 
 personal interest in the homeless little ones— Belief in organized 
 Christianity— Substantial support of Young Men's Christian 
 Association — Eulogy of its methods 
 
 Chapter XV 
 
 FAMILY AND KINDRED 332 
 
 Deeply rooted affections of Mr. Davis— Sentiment for the 
 ancestral home Goodfellowship— Recalling the children of Caleb 
 Davis and Louisa Brown— The four brothers— The tie between 
 Henry and Thomas— A brother's tribute— Friendship for his 
 cousin Arthur P. Gorman— Warm eulogy of Senator Elkins, 
 his son-in-law— Children of Henry G. Davis and Kate Bantz 
 
 Marriages births, and deaths — Loss of eldest son at sea — 
 
 Fifty years of ideal married life— Death of Mrs. Davis— The 
 
 final resting-place 
 
 Chapter XVI 
 
 FAMOUS CONTEMPORARIES 232 
 
 Colleagues in the Senate— Thurman, the sturdy oak of De- 
 mocracy — Schurz and Sherman — Windom as Senator and Sec- 
 retary of the Treasury— Blaine's friendship — Bayard's esteem- 
 Qualities in common with Allison— Vice-Presidents Wheeler 
 and Hendricks— Benjamin Harrison's personality— Porfirio 
 Diaz and Mexico— A page from contemporary history— The 
 Cuban War— W. W. Corcoran, the philanthropist— Andrew 
 Carnegie— Railway men and events— The great strike of 1877 — 
 John W. Garrett as a board of directors— Annual dinners to 
 railway presidents— Estimate of George B. Roberts and A. J. 
 Cassatt— George F. Baer— Presentation of urn to Mr. Davis- 
 Daniel Willard and the younger generation of contemporaries 
 
 Chapter XVII 
 
 SHEAF OF LETTERS 248 
 
 Gleanings from many contemporaries — Political history un- 
 folded in correspondence— Senator Thurman's expectations in 
 the famous Ohio campaign of 1875— George H. Pendleton on 
 factional politics — Many communications from William Win- 
 (Jom- Hopes and fears in the tragedy of Garfield's life— Com- 
 ment from Paris on parties and candidates in 1884— European 
 travel Indignation over Blaine caricatures— Lines from Sam- 
 uel J. Randall and Aus^ustus H. Garland— West Virginia cor- 
 respondents—Appreciation from the two Goffs— W. L. Wilson's 
 ambition 
 
X CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter XVIII p^cb 
 
 MORE LETTERS 261 
 
 Benjamin Harrison's request for advice on investments — 
 Grover Cleveland's explanation of a misunderstanding — Sena- 
 tor Gorman on prospects and results in 1904 — Thomas F. Bay- 
 ard's illuminating correspondence — Spoils system responsible 
 for Garfield's assassination — Views on his ow^n campaign for 
 the nomination in 1884 — Tilden and the rise of the literary 
 bureau — Maintenance of principles — Manly comment on the 
 Chicago Convention — Abhorrence of Benjamin F. Butler's labor 
 movement — Tribute to Mr. Davis's work in developing West 
 Virginia's resources — The last letter — Some piquant notes from 
 Andrew Carnegie 
 
 Chapter XIX 
 
 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 275 
 
 Mr. Davis's journal as an illustration of his character — Inti- 
 mate record of half a century — The observant traveler at 
 home and abroad — European trip — Shrewd reflections on the 
 Southern States — Mexico and California — Personal thrift and 
 business liberality — Passion for order and detail — Faculty of 
 concentration — Making a bargain — High standard of integrity 
 — Dislike of speculation — In all things an individualist — Aus- 
 tere home life mellowed — Favorite documents of American his- 
 tory — Fondness for biography — Material for speeches — Na- 
 ture's physical endowment — Horseback rider at ninety — Capac- 
 ity for sleep — Religious convictions 
 
 Chapter XX 
 
 THE CLOSING YEARS 292 
 
 Tranquil activities of Mr. Davis to the end — Slowing up in 
 business affairs not marked — Fraternal associations — Memories 
 of the Order of Odd Fellows — The commemorative jewel — No 
 Ciceronian reflections on Old Age — Reforesting the wilderness 
 for future generations — Anecdotes of contemporaries— Health 
 strategy — Comment on public affairs — Anniversary tributes to 
 his life and works — At ninety-two — Last summer at Elkins — 
 Meditations for the Railway Builder — Winter in Washington — 
 Journal entries — Illness and death — Retrospect of a long life 
 
 INDEX ■♦ »< W • '5- W W W K »] BO HI »1 B W (•; K 3^ 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Henry Gassaway Davis Frontisp 
 
 lece 
 
 FAC'IXa 
 PAGE 
 
 Reproduction of daguerreotype of Mr. Davis and his 
 
 mother i6 
 
 Reproduction of daguerreotype of Kate Bantz Davis . . 32 
 
 Finance Committee of West Virginia Legislature ... 48 
 
 Henry Gassaway Davis in 1868 56 
 
 Scene on West Virginia Central Railway 72 
 
 Finance Committee of West Virginia Central Railway . 104 
 
 U. S. Delegation to Pan-American Conference at Mexico 120 
 
 Colonel Thomas B. Davis 152 
 
 Railway train in the mountain region — Point Lookout . 184 
 
 Davis Child's Shelter at Charleston 200 
 
 Davis Memorial Church at Elkins . . . . . . . 232 
 
 Davis Memorial Hospital at Elkins 232 
 
 The Tygart River at Elkins 248 
 
 Memorial Church at Gassaway 260 
 
 Graceland, Mr. Davis's home at Elkins 272 
 
 Mr. Davis on horseback 288 
 
THE LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 
 
THE LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 ANCESTRY AND YOUTH 
 
 Leaves from Maryland's colonial history— Two ancient wor- 
 thies—The Davises and the Browns — Memories of Goodfellow- 
 ship estate— Parents of Henry Gassaway Davis— Baltimore at the 
 time of his birth— The child who saw Charles Carroll lay the cor- 
 ner-stone of the first railway— Epochal events— Baltimore and 
 Ohio's test of Peter Cooper's engine— Effect of family reverses 
 on a care- free lad— Earning money at the stone quarry— Planta- 
 tion steward for Governor Howard— Beginning of his railroad 
 career. 
 
 MARYLAND'S early history is principally a rec- 
 ord of the Calverts, Lord Barons of Baltimore, 
 and the families that settled in their Prov- 
 ince. On the Rent Rolls of the several Lord Barons 
 of Baltimore appear the names of the forbears of the 
 Davises and the Browns, to be followed later by those 
 identical names. These families and their descendants 
 bore their part in the transition of the Province from a 
 semi-feudal proprietary possession to a democratic col- 
 ony. The Davises were of Welsh extraction; the 
 Browns were of Scotch-Irish blood. Two ancient 
 worthies figure in the family records. One was Colonel 
 Nicholas Greenberry, with whom the Davises were kin ; 
 
 3 
 
4 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the other was Colonel Nicholas Gassaway, a progenitor 
 of the Browns. 
 
 Colonel Nicholas Greenberry was Deputy Governor 
 of the Province in 1692, and from the documentary his- 
 tory of that period he appears to have filled various posi- 
 tions of responsibility, for the list of the official titles he 
 bore is a long one. From one document is disclosed that, 
 Henry Jowles, Esquire, ''Chiefe Judge in Chancery," 
 etc., being afflicted with gout and other indispositions of 
 body, and unable to attend to the duties of his office. 
 Colonel Nicholas Greenberry was one of three persons 
 assigned to sit as Judge in Chancery pending this indis- 
 position of the Chiefe Judge. 
 
 The Great Seal of William and Mary, under date of 
 March 2, 1695, attests this appointment. Colonel 
 Greenberry performed various other functions, and, in 
 the troublous times which vexed the Lord Baltimore of 
 that day, his name is frequently mentioned, sometimes as 
 a supporter of the Lord Baron, and sometimes as a 
 leader of the popular element. 
 
 Colonel Nicholas Gassaway arrived in the Province 
 about 1650, and at once began to take an active part 
 in its affairs. He was a Captain in the Indian Wars, 
 later with the rank of Major, a Commissioner of Peace, 
 Member of the Quorum, and in 1690 a member of the 
 Committee of Twenty which was formed to govern 
 Maryland. Captain Thomas Gassaway, his son, was 
 High Sheriff of Anne Arundel County from 171 1 to 
 17 14; and a son of this Gassaway, John by name, appears 
 in 1740 as one of the principal gentlemen belonging to 
 the Ancient South River Club, "conveying for and in 
 consideration of the sum of Eighty Pounds" a half acre 
 of land on which the club-house was erected. 
 
 Colonel Nicholas Gassaway, the father of John, died 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 5 
 
 in 1730. The minutes of the club meeting held on Feb- 
 ruary 14, 1750, show that Henry Gassaway was chair- 
 man. Three years later the minutes disclose that by 
 resolution Mr. John Gassaway was directed to provide 
 a large punch-bowl; so it is clear that the Gassaways 
 continued to be among the leading gentlemen of the 
 Club. 
 
 In the direct line Henry Gassaway Davis was de- 
 scended from Thomas Davis, a gentleman of the City 
 of London, of an ancient Welsh family that had settled 
 in Shropshire. Thomas Davis arrived in Maryland late 
 in 1688, as a factor for several large mercantile estab- 
 lishments in London. He had a son Robert, who had a 
 son Eli, and Eli had a son John, who was married to 
 Sarah Randall. An only son was born of this union, 
 Caleb Davis. Nathan Randall, the brother of Sarah, 
 was a large landowner, and in his will he made his sis- 
 ter's son the sole heir to a tract of land known as Good- 
 fellowship, some two hundred and fifty acres in extent, 
 as recorded in the deed. 
 
 This land appears to have been from time to time a 
 common possession on both sides of the family, probably 
 due to intermarriage between the Davises and the 
 Browns. It is certain that the Browns were large land- 
 owners, and a considerable tract was patented to them 
 early in the seventeenth century. This patent extended 
 over a considerable section of the hills and valleys that 
 afterward came to be known as Anne Arundel County. 
 Some of it was included in the purchases of Thomas 
 Browne (the family had not then dropped the final 
 vowel), who must have been a landowner with a sense 
 of humor, since the several tracts patented to him are in- 
 dicated as Browne's Folly, Browne's Chance, Browne's 
 Adventure, and Browne's Increase. The name of 
 
6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Joshua Brown is entered in the Debt Book of Anne 
 Arundel County from 1750 to 1756 as paying Lord 
 Baltimore quit-rent on one hundred acres of the Good- 
 fellowship tract. Later it appears from the records that 
 John Riggs Brown was the owner of this part of Good- 
 fellowship. 
 
 John Riggs Brown was born in October, 1775, the 
 second son of the Revolutionary patriot, Captain Samuel 
 Brown. In December, 1799, he was wedded to Sarah 
 Gassaway, the daughter of Brice J. Gassaway and Kath- 
 erine Warfield. Brice J. Gassaway was the son of Nich- 
 olas Gassaway and a brother of Captain John Henry 
 Gassaway and of Lieutenant Nicholas Gassaway, offi- 
 cers of the Maryland Line, and direct descendants of the 
 original Colonel Nicholas Gassaway. 
 
 The Browns occupied and cultivated Goodfellowship. 
 On a gentle eminence sloping down into the glades, a 
 rectangular stone house had been built some time after 
 1650. There were the outbuildings of the complete 
 plantation, the granary, the milk-house, the barns, which 
 went to make up the estate of a landed proprietor of 
 those days. Part of the stone house still stands, though 
 later occupants covered it with concrete and enlarged it 
 by a frame addition. The old chimney is there, and the 
 mantelpiece and a few other reminders of the solid 
 house furnishings of olden days. The milk-house re- 
 mains. The granary, transformed in the course of cen- 
 turies into a big barn, stood until 1918, when it was torn 
 down to make room for a building better suited to the 
 needs of modern farming. 
 
 The issue of the marriage of John Riggs Brown and 
 Sarah Gassaway was a large family, principally girls. 
 At Goodfellowship, on the tenth day of March, 1799, 
 was born Louisa Warfield Brown, the mother of Henry 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 7 
 
 G, Davis. There also was born her sister, Elizabeth A. 
 Brown, the mother of Arthur P. Gorman. 
 
 Caleb Davis was born near Baltimore in March, 1792, 
 the only son of John Davis, also an only son, and of 
 Sarah Randall. He was early left an orphan, and was 
 given a home by an aunt. When the British expedition 
 of Lord Ross sailed up the Potomac and destroyed the 
 Capitol at Washington, Caleb Davis was one of those 
 who volunteered for the defense of Baltimore, and he 
 served during the remainder of the War of 1812. 
 
 In April, 181 5, Caleb Davis married Sarah Rowles, 
 who died in 1819, leaving him one son, Nathan R. Davis, 
 who died in boyhood. Caleb Davis did not long remain 
 widowed. The family Bible records that he was mar- 
 ried to Louisa Warfield Brown on the ninth day of 
 March, 1819, by the Reverend Mr. Linthecomb. Of 
 this union six children were born, John B., Elizabeth, 
 Henry Gassaway, Eliza Ann, Thomas B., and William 
 R. The child that was named Henry Gassaway was 
 born in Baltimore on November 16, 1823. 
 
 Caleb Davis, at this time, was an enterprising and 
 adventurous young merchant, living part of the time 
 in Baltimore and part of the time in Anne Arundel 
 County at the little settlement among the hills that was 
 known as Woodstock. C. Keenan's Baltimore City Di- 
 rectory for 1822 and 1823 designates him as ''Caleb 
 Davis, grocery and feed store, 283 Western Row, Balti- 
 more Street, d. w., Paca, W. side S. of Baltimore." 
 Later entries up to 1827 add to his lines of business, but 
 apparently he remained in the same neighborhood. It 
 was from near there that Barnes and Williamson's 
 stages left five times daily for Washington. 
 
 Baltimore at this time was the third city in the Union 
 and had sixty-iive thousand inhabitants. It was a port 
 
8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 of varied nationalities and vied with New York in the 
 number of its great merchants. Foreign governments 
 maintained consuls there, and the Patapsco was filled 
 with the ships of many countries. But it was still a city 
 in the making, with little outward evidence of the mag- 
 nificent metropolis it was to become. When Lafayette 
 visited it in 1824, the year following the birth of Henry 
 G. Davis, the Washington Monument, which was to 
 give it the name of the Monumental City, was off in 
 Howard's Woods, still surrounded by scaffolding. 
 
 John H. B. Latrobe, who was identified with the his- 
 tory of Baltimore for more than half a century, said 
 that on the left from the Fort to Federal Hill the only 
 building was the town powder-house, while on the right 
 it was no better. Far off in the distance, where the 
 Philadelphia turnpike crossed Loudenslager Hill, there 
 were some houses. Beyond the Fort and within the 
 harbor proper, were the pungies, or small boats used 
 for the transport of wheat, oysters, and wood. 
 
 This was the actual view; but the Baltimore mer- 
 chants, and even the politicians of that day, had visions 
 of the commerce of the future which its situation on the 
 Chesapeake assured it. Yet they had become disquieted 
 because of signs that this commerce might be lost to 
 them. The cause of their uneasiness was the building 
 of the Erie Canal. It was feared, and with reason, that 
 this waterway would divert to New York the trade from 
 over the mountains which the city had previously held. 
 Another artificial waterway to serve the interests of 
 Baltimore was the natural thought, and this thought bore 
 fruition in the project of the Chesapeake and Ohio 
 Canal. 
 
 There were men in Baltimore at that day who, while 
 not doubting the Canal project, believed that better 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 9 
 
 means could be developed for holding the traffic of the 
 great West. They had heard of George Stephenson's 
 engine, and some of them, the Thomases among others, 
 had even gone so far as to have Evan Thomas visit Eng- 
 land and examine the Manchester Railway in operation. 
 A railroad to the Western waters thereafter became the 
 leading idea of P. E. Thomas, and with his associates 
 he mapped out a great national route to the Mississippi 
 which would not only serve to fetch the coal from the 
 mountains to the sea, but also would transport the agri- 
 cultural products from beyond the Ohio to the Chesa- 
 peake Bay section of the Atlantic coast. 
 
 The Baltimore and Ohio Company was the first char- 
 tered and fully organized company in the United States 
 for the construction of an extended line of railroad. It 
 was distinctively a Baltimore enterprise. Its early diffi- 
 culties and the resourcefulness of the men who projected 
 and carried it through — even to their extravagance, as 
 it was then considered, in offering Louis McLane a sal- 
 ary of four thousand dollars to tempt him from the 
 presidency of a New York bank to assume the responsi- 
 bilities of the railway — are part of the history of the de- 
 velopment of the country through transportation enter- 
 prise. They are referred to here because they concern 
 the subject of this biography; for, as a child, Henry Gass- 
 away Davis lived in the midst of those epochal events. 
 
 On July 4, 1828, Caleb Davis took his entire family 
 to witness a great event. All the substantial citizens of 
 Baltimore were there with their families, and the unsub- 
 stantial ones also. This event was the laying of the 
 "first stone," the corner-stone, of what came to be his- 
 toric Camden Station, at the southwest line of the city, 
 for the new railway project, and the address by the sur- 
 viving signer of the Declaration of Independence, 
 
lo THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Charles Carroll of Carrollton. 'T consider this," said 
 the venerable signer, ''among the most important acts 
 of my life, second only to my signing the Declaration of 
 Independence, if even it be second to that." 
 
 A child of five years was held on his father's shoulder 
 while this memorable address was made. Probably 
 there were many other children of the same age who 
 were held in the same way, but this one lived to recall 
 it after more than eighty years. As he recited the cir- 
 cumstance, the impress left on his mind was that of "a. 
 big crowd of people and a very old man making a 
 speech"; but the recollection was distinct, and the child, 
 Henry G. Davis, always had a good memory for faces 
 and places. 
 
 Caleb Davis, as a venturesome merchant alive to new 
 opportunities, saw what the building of the railway 
 would mean to the Western Shore through which it was 
 to pass. The line was to run along the narrow valley 
 of the Patapsco to Ellicott Mills, and then, following 
 the course of the river, through Anne Arundel County 
 and beyond to Frederick. This would mean increase in 
 land values and contracts for enterprising men. He 
 moved his family back to the farm, and began to put 
 up houses and to develop some small factories. 
 
 The laying of the first stone of the railway line was 
 truly an epochal event, but Henry G. Davis, a child of 
 five, was not likely to appreciate its eventfulness, al- 
 though it was to have much to do with his career. An- 
 other epochal event about which he heard his elders talk, 
 and concerning which he preserved some recollections, 
 was the test of motive power. When the Baltimore and 
 Ohio project was undertaken, the feasibility of steam, or 
 rather its superiority to animal power, had not been 
 fully tested. The line, or rather a double line, was built 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS ii 
 
 to Relay, and from there on to Ellicott Mills, which was 
 fourteen miles from Baltimore City, When the first 
 division was opened in 1830, horse and mule power were 
 employed. Evan Thomas built a car rigged with sails, 
 which was fittingly called the "Eolus," and this was 
 tested and declared to be a success on windy days, but 
 it hardly could be considered seriously as permanent mo- 
 tive power. 
 
 There was to be a real test between steam power and 
 animal power. Peter Cooper, afterward to become 
 known for his business success and his great philan- 
 thropies, had devised an engine which he was confident 
 would solve the problems of the curves and grades that 
 made the engines employed on the Liverpool and Man- 
 chester Railroad unsuitable for use in the United States. 
 He was a stockholder in the railroad company, and that 
 may have had something to do with the readiness of the 
 directors to let him try his little boiler and engine. In 
 the summer of 1830 he made a trial trip from Baltimore 
 to Ellicott Mills and back at a speed of fifteen miles an 
 hour, and the first journey by steam in America was de- 
 clared to be a success. 
 
 Yet even then the old fogies did not yield readily. 
 The stage proprietors asked for a test, and they were 
 given it on the parallel tracks. A car drawn by a pow- 
 erful gray horse, and another propelled by the little 
 steam engine, started simultaneously. For a while 
 steam seemed to be winning ; but an accident to the band 
 that drove the pulley of the steam engine put it out 
 of use, and the horse got into Baltimore first, to the de- 
 light of the stage owners and the chagrin of the cham- 
 pions of steam power. 
 
 But the feasibility of steam had been demonstrated, 
 and Peter Cooper's boiler and engine were accepted by 
 
12 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the Baltimore and Ohio managers as the basic idea for 
 motive power on the railway that was to surmount the 
 Alleghanies. They developed his ideas with their own 
 mechanics and engineers, and thereafter the physical 
 progress of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway was steady 
 and uniform, although attended with many difficulties 
 and taxing the energies of the resourceful men who were 
 at the head of the enterprise. In the meantime, Ross 
 Winans was giving the road the benefit of his inventions, 
 and at the same time gaining the experience which 
 caused the Czar of Russia to intrust to him the construc- 
 tion of the Russian railways. 
 
 It was not within the recollection of Henry G. Davis 
 in his later years that these portentous developments, 
 made a deep impression on his mind. He was a care- 
 free lad, with a love for out-of-doors and a real liking 
 for farming, which was the principal industry of this 
 agricultural region, although the water-power of the 
 Patapsco provided for the flour mills at EUicott, and 
 also for cotton and woolen mills. With other boys of 
 his own age he roamed the forest and fished in the 
 creeks. 
 
 One of his boyhood friends was John Hambleton, 
 who lived across the Patapsco in Baltimore County, and 
 who afterward became the head of the banking firm that 
 bore his name, and a director in the railways built by 
 Henry G. Davis. 'Possum hunts with young Hamble- 
 ton were among the boyhood sports which he was wont 
 to recall. There was also Beale Cavey, a farmer's 
 boy with whom he played and worked in the fields to 
 earn a little money. Many years afterward, whenever 
 Mr. Davis returned to Goodfellowship, he would hunt 
 up Beale Cavey; and after he had gone, the old man 
 would tell how they had worked at planting corn in or- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 13 
 
 der to obtain spending money, a quarter of a dollar rep- 
 resenting the maximum of their expectations. 
 
 All this time Caleb Davis was prospering, or seemed 
 to be prospering; for his family lived in comfort, if not 
 in luxury, and had all that their wealthy neighbors had. 
 They lived in the lavish manner of the times — the family 
 carriage with outrider, ponies for the boys, and gener- 
 ous hospitality. But the conditions were not so favor- 
 able as they seemed. The effort of Caleb Davis to build 
 a little town was not a financial success. Like other 
 enterprising men of the day, among whom was Peter 
 Gorman, the father of Arthur Pue Gorman, he had taken 
 contracts for grading sections of the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railway, which was pushing the line on to Fred- 
 erick. Some of those contractors made money; others 
 lost. Among the latter was Caleb Davis, who also had 
 gone on the bonds of some of his fellow contractors. 
 The shadows that lengthened into the panic of 1837 were 
 already stretching across the country, and the region 
 in which the greatest enterprise had been shown, due 
 to the railway construction, was the first to feel the 
 gathering financial gloom. Caleb Davis found that he 
 had undertaken too much. He might have maintained 
 himself alone, but those for whom he had indorsed went 
 to wreck and the whole burden was thrown on him. 
 
 When the crash came it was complete. All of Caleb 
 Davis's property was sold to meet his debts. Thomas, 
 the younger brother of Henry, used to recount how the 
 calamity affected their childhood. His recollection was 
 of the sale of the ponies to the neighborhood butcher, 
 and of the anguish caused him by the butcher boy rid- 
 ing by on his pony and making faces at him. Henry 
 took the loss of his pony with the stoicism befitting an 
 elder brother. 
 
14 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The business failure was rendered more acute by the 
 mental infirmity that overtook Caleb Davis. He was 
 not only left incapable of afifording any means of sup 
 port for the family, but himself became an object of 
 care. In these distressing circumstances the Scotch- 
 Irish will power and mental force of his wife showed 
 itself. There were four sons and a daughter to care 
 for and to bring up in a way that would be worthy of 
 their race and name. Mrs. Davis did not shrink from 
 the task before her. Her little household was at once 
 remodeled. She herself opened a school for girls, or, 
 as it was called in those days, a seminary for young 
 ladies. She also contributed by her own physical labor 
 to the maintenance of the household, and even found 
 time to teach the growing children. 
 
 Henry G. Davis was then in his fourteenth year. 
 There were no free schools in Maryland in those days, 
 and it had not been considered necessary to provide for 
 his systematic instruction. Supplementing the home 
 teaching, he had received perhaps a year's actual school- 
 ing. He had not been known as a studious lad, and 
 possibly the prospect of breaking off his education did 
 not then look to him as it looked in later years, when he 
 was overcoming the disadvantages of his lack of earlier 
 facilities. Whatever the boy's feeling, there was no 
 remedy. His great love for his mother and his natural 
 inclination to do his part in supporting the family caused 
 him to seek employment. 
 
 Matthew G. Emery, a New Englander, was at that 
 time working one of the Woodstock quarries. Years 
 afterward he became a leading capitalist of Washing- 
 ton and mayor of the capital city while Lincoln was 
 President. When Henry G. Davis had become a 
 United States Senator and a railway builder, Emery 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 15 
 
 told the circumstances of the boy's first employment. 
 One day a husky lad came to him and asked for work. 
 There was need of a water-boy to supply the men. 
 Emery at once put him on the job. Before the day had 
 passed he noticed the willingness and the alertness of 
 the lad, who was everywhere when needed, anticipating 
 the thirsty men in their call for water. This was the 
 characteristic that years afterward found expression 
 in his various business enterprises. This employment 
 lasted for some time. Three quarters of a century after- 
 ward Mr. Davis spoke of it reminiscently as the first 
 money he had earned. 
 
 When there was no more work in the quarry he took 
 odd jobs on neighboring farms. One of the beautiful 
 estates on the Western Shore is known as Waverly. It 
 is not far from Goodfellowship. In the '30's it was 
 one of the finest plantations in all the region, not even 
 second to Carroll's Manor, on which it bordered. The 
 proprietor, to whom it had descended from colonial 
 times, was former Governor Howard, after whom the 
 county that in 1851 was carved out of Anne Arundel 
 was named. 
 
 Governor Howard knew the Davlses, and he knew 
 the Browns better. They had been neighbors for a 
 long time. He sympathized with the misfortunes that 
 had overtaken the family. One day he reined his horse 
 in front of the cottage in which they were living, and 
 said to the mother: ''Let Henry come with me. I 
 want a good boy on my place and I know he will suit 
 me. 
 
 Young Davis therefore went to Waverly to live. His 
 duties were steadily extended until he was virtually 
 superintendent of the plantation. Three times each 
 week he rode into Baltimore with the garden truck that 
 
i6 HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 
 
 found its market there. He doled out the stores for the 
 slaves, and he had a steward's responsibility for the 
 accounts, while he also had much to do with the actual 
 farm cultivation. The change in the family circum- 
 stances, while hurtful to his pride, never caused him to 
 lose his self-respect; but there were some of his former 
 companions that bore historic names who chose to take 
 note of it in boyish ways. Where formerly there had 
 been free intercourse, the young steward was now given 
 a cool nod of recognition. Long years afterward the 
 bearer of one of those historic names came to Senator 
 Henry G. Davis to ask his aid in securing some humble 
 government employment. Family reverses in middle 
 age had done for him what they had done for Davis in 
 boyhood. A place was found for him by his boyhood 
 companion. 
 
 In his position with Governor Howard the young 
 steward was able to contribute substantially to the sup- 
 port of his mother and the younger children, and even 
 to save something for himself, although the amount 
 could not have been large. He continued as superin- 
 tendent at Waverly until his twentieth year. Then 
 came the change that was to mold his whole future and 
 open to him the gates of opportunity. This change was 
 what, in these days, is succinctly called "railroading.'* 
 
Reproduction of daguerreotype of Mr. Davis and his mother 
 
 •^ 
 
 <f5^'^ 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 PIONEER RAILWAY DAYS 
 
 A brakeman on the Baltimore and Ohio — Crude methods of 
 early days — Reasons for Davis's promotion — Washington in the 
 '40's — Famous passengers — Henry Clay's friendship — The con- 
 ductor's courtship and marriage — Duties as station agent at Pied- 
 mont — Crossing the crest of the Alleghanies — Leaving the rail- 
 road service for business — General merchandising — Coal and lum- 
 ber enterprises— Establishing a bank— Civil War conditions — 
 Supplies for the railway under difficulties — Contractor Davis's 
 interview with Lincoln — Extensive land purchases after the war. 
 
 RAILWAY building in the second quarter of the 
 nineteenth century was a pioneer chapter in 
 national development. Naturally, the incidents 
 connected with it affected the local communities through 
 which the Baltimore and Ohio line passed. It also 
 opened opportunities for employment, although the mod- 
 est scale on which the construction was carried forward 
 did not call for a large number of men. And there were 
 even doubters and those who preferred to stay on the 
 farm or in other employments. Railway operation in 
 itself was crude. ^ 
 
 It was not possible that Henry G. Davis, living in the 
 district through which the Baltimore and Ohio was 
 pushing its lines, should belong to the class that saw no 
 future in railway work. The Washington branch of 
 the railroad was opened in midsummer of 1835. The 
 line to Frederick had been opened nearly four years 
 earlier, and in the boyhood of young Davis it was push- 
 
 17 
 
i8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ing on toward Cumberland and the Alleghanies. The 
 greater part of the traffic was over the Frederick Hne, 
 which passed near to Waverly and Goodfellowship. 
 
 From this circumstance the young steward of Gov- 
 ernor Howard's plantation came to know the men who 
 managed the railway. One of these was Dr. Woodside, 
 the superintendent, who was a friend of the Davis fam- 
 ily. When the railway reached Cumberland there was 
 a demand for more men, and Dr. Woodside, who had 
 noted young Davis's interest, offered him a place as 
 brakeman. This was in 1842, when he was in his twen- 
 tieth year. 
 
 In the early '40's a brakeman was a person of marked 
 responsibility in the operation of a railway. There 
 were no automatic couplings, no air-brakes, no system 
 of telegraph signals. Physical strength and mental 
 judgment were prime qualifications for the brakeman. 
 Young Davis had both. He was six feet tall, all muscle 
 and bone, and weighed probably one hundred and sev- 
 enty-five pounds. He had an iron grip. In the col- 
 loquial railway language of the day, the "arm.strong" 
 brakeman was the essential thing, since the train had to 
 be stopped by forcing the frictional shoes against the 
 wheels by sheer manual power. Many years afterward, 
 when he was a railway president, Mr. Davis was wont 
 to recall some of the incidents of this early railroading 
 experience. 
 
 "We coupled our freight-cars with bars about eighteen 
 inches long, wrought with a hole in each end," he said. 
 "These were held by bolts, one dropping down through 
 the bumper of each car. Passenger-cars were coupled 
 with bars of similar shape, but made of wood and hav- 
 ing iron ends. The wood was used so that in case one 
 car should overturn the coupling would snap and leave 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 19 
 
 the other cars upon the track. The Baltimore and Oliio 
 track in those days was built by first laying end to end 
 stone sills about as far apart as the gage of the rails. 
 Over the sills were laid cross-ties, and on top of these, 
 parallel to the sills, there were laid lengthwise pieces of 
 yellow pine six inches wide and of about the same thick- 
 ness, which held the rails. These were flat strips of 
 iron about an inch thick and two and a half inches wide. 
 There were no means of communicating with the train 
 after it started on its run. Everything had to be done 
 by the arbitrary schedule of instructions, and this was a 
 pretty tedious business. It took all day to go a dis- 
 tance that afterward only required three or four hours." 
 When young Davis became a brakeman the daily 
 traffic requirements of the railroad were adequately sup- 
 plied by three freight trains. These were run in sec- 
 tions a few minutes apart — and rear-end collisions were 
 ordinary incidents of railway operation. One day the 
 usual rear-end collision caused a very bad wreck. 
 While it was being cleared away a passenger train drew 
 up. Here is the rest of the story as it was told by 
 Thomas Swann, who was then president of the com- 
 pany : 
 
 "Before I took young Davis from the freights, one of our di- 
 rectors had been on a train that was brought to a halt by a wreck 
 on the line between Baltimore and Frederick. He came to me and 
 commended the energy and intelligence shown by a young man in 
 removing the obstructions. Everyone on the train, he said, 
 seemed to look to him for direction in clearing away the wreck. 
 I thought that this would be a good man with whom to begin the 
 experiment of promotion from the ranks, so I sent for him." 
 
 When young Davis appeared in President Swann's 
 office he made a very favorable impression, although, as 
 he afterward stated, he was somewhat overawed. 
 
ao THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Years later the two men were to meet in public life under 
 conditions somewhat reversed, the younger as a Senator 
 and the elder as a Representative in Congress. The 
 promotion, though not sought, was agreeable to young 
 Davis, and while he continued to be associated with the 
 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, both as an employee and 
 a contractor, he enjoyed the good will of President 
 Swann. 
 
 While serving as conductor of the freight tr^ ' i, he 
 had a wider field for his qualities of initiative. He 
 showed them in many ways, and it was not long before 
 he had become supervisor of the road between Balti- 
 more and Cumberland, a position somewhat similar to 
 division superintendent of the present day. A': that 
 period no one had thought of running night trains, or 
 else no one had been willing to attempt the hazardous 
 experiment, although there was much loss of time in 
 the schedule through laying them up from dark to day- 
 light. Davis suggested to his superiors that the trains 
 could be run during the night as well as during the 
 day. He was given the authority to make the experi- 
 ment, with what misgivings was known only to the offi- 
 cials themselves. 
 
 Supervisor Davis had made his plans, and he did not 
 intrust carrying them out to anyone else. The first 
 night train was to be run from Cumberland to Balti- 
 more. A curious crowd, which included the skeptics 
 and the scoffers, gathered at Cumberland when it was 
 to start. The comment was not encouraging. One man 
 was especially anxious lest harm come to the train crew. 
 "You may run into a cow and throw the train," he 
 said. It is not certain that Supervisor Davis knew of 
 George Stephenson's experience with the parliamentary 
 committee which asked him what would happen if his 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 21 
 
 train should run into a cow, and received the reply that 
 it would be a bad thing for the cow, but a similar answer 
 on his part would have been natural under the circum- 
 stances. A more serious suggestion was that the en- 
 gineer would not be able to see far enough ahead to 
 keep from running against stones that rolled down from 
 the mountains, for this was not an uncommon incident. 
 The train moved off in charge of young Davis, despite 
 the misgivings of the crowd. Frequently it would be 
 stopped or would proceed at a snail's pace, while a 
 brakeman walked ahead with a lantern ; but, in spite of 
 the obstacles that were met, it reached its destination 
 in safety. Supervisor Davis had solved the problem of 
 running trains at night, removing what was then thought 
 to be an important obstacle in railroading. So far as 
 the chronicles of railway operation disclose, he was the 
 first man to run night trains. 
 
 Mr. Davis served as a passenger as well as a freight 
 conductor. This gave him the opportunity of meeting 
 many noted public men both in Washington and on the 
 line. He was accustomed to stay over in Washington, 
 and in later years would recall some of the incidents of 
 that period, particularly during Polk's administration. 
 The national capital was then a muddy village, with 
 Pennsylvania Avenue as the main thoroughfare, and 
 with a few hotels and boarding-houses, where the ma- 
 jority of the Congressmen lived, at the foot of the Capi- 
 tol. On the south side of the Avenue, farther up to- 
 ward the White House, between Twelfth and Thirteenth 
 streets, the only building was a two-story brick known 
 as Hancock's. This was the place that for three quar- 
 ters of a century was celebrated for the excellent food 
 and a certain punch that could be had there. 
 
 Teetotalers were very rare among public men in those 
 
22 JHE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 days, and Mr. Davis sometimes told the story of seeing 
 Daniel Webster at Hancock's partaking of the famous 
 punch. On the following day he was one of those who 
 were fortunate enough to shoulder his way into the 
 Senate chamber to hear the great debate that was then 
 going on, with Clay, Calhoun, and Webster as the giant 
 figures. It was on the series of measures known as 
 ''Clay's Compromise." The speech that Davis heard 
 Webster make was the one in which the great expounder 
 of the Constitution denounced the abolitionists and de- 
 fended the fugitive slave law. It was this address that 
 estranged his New England supporters and clouded the 
 remainder of his public life. Mr. Davis's recollection 
 of it was simply that it was a great speech and made a 
 profound impression on those who heard it. 
 
 Travel on the railway by public men gave young Davis 
 an opportunity to meet some of those who came from 
 the South and West. They would journey over the 
 Alleghanies in the stage to Cumberland, and there take 
 the train for Washington; or they would travel from 
 Washington to Cumberland, and take the stage return- 
 ing home. One of these famous passengers was Gen- 
 eral Sam Houston, who, after the liberation of Texas 
 from Mexico, served as President of the new republic, 
 and when it became a State was sent to Washington as 
 one of its Senators. He was a picturesque passenger, 
 kindly in his intercourse, but not very talkative, accord- 
 ing to the recollections of the young conductor. 
 
 Henry Clay was another famous passenger. Davis 
 came under the sway of Clay's magnetic nature as did 
 a very large element of young America. Clay was al- 
 ways amiable, and liked to talk with the conductor. 
 When it was known that he was on a train, the people 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 23 
 
 at the different stations would gather and ask for a 
 speech. Clay usually was ready to gratify them, and 
 the conductor saw to it that time was afforded for him 
 to talk to the people. In recalling these addresses, Mr. 
 Davis, who during his long life heard almost every 
 great orator in the United States, some of whom were 
 his colleagues in the Senate, was wont to declare that 
 not one of them approached Clay in the mellowness of 
 voice, the charm of manner, and the persuasiveness ex- 
 hibited by him in these way-station talks. 
 
 During one of Clay's trips. Conductor Davis was wit- 
 ness of an incident that affected the Great Commoner 
 beyond the power of speech. At Harper's Ferry, when 
 the train was making its usual stop, it became known 
 that Clay was on board, and the people came to the sta- 
 tion and asked him to address them. He was about to 
 begin when a man in the crowd, pushing himself for- 
 ward, called out: "Mr. Clay, I want to tell you some- 
 thing about your boy Henry. He died in my arms." ^ 
 
 The man had been a soldier in the Mexican war, in 
 which Clay's son had been fatally wounded at the storm- 
 ing of Chapultepec. 
 
 The appearance of this comrade of his son, and the 
 word he gave, was too much for Clay. He threw up 
 his hands, reeled, cried out, "My God!" and as he sank 
 into a seat beckoned the man to him. The crowd fell 
 back in silent sympathy while Mr. Clay heard from a 
 comrade the story of his son's death. 
 
 The magnetism of the Great Commoner cast its spell 
 over the train conductor, who became one of his earnest 
 political supporters. During a brief vacation one sea- 
 son, Davis went to Wheeling, and then took the packet 
 down the Ohio River and visited Clay at Ashland. Re- 
 
24 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 turning, he became an active lieutenant of the Kentuck- 
 ian; but this fact did not interfere with his railway 
 activities. 
 
 Ten years' experience of this kind made Davis a prac- 
 tical railway man of the best type. He knew every 
 mile of the line from Baltimore and Washington to 
 Cumberland. He was popular in the communities 
 through which the railroad ran, and that was in itself 
 an asset for the company. He was liked by the train 
 crews, out of whom, it was said at the time, he could 
 get twice as much work as any other superintendent. 
 He was an enthusiast on the resources of the country 
 which the Baltimore and Ohio traversed, even more so 
 than some of the higher officials, who did not possess his 
 detailed knowledge of lands and timber and coal and 
 all that goes to make railway traffic. 
 
 His worldly circumstances in this ten years had ma- 
 terially improved, but at no time was his salary large. 
 As a freight brakeman his wages were thirty dollars a 
 month. Later they were advanced to forty dollars, and 
 then, when he became a conductor, to sixty dollars. He 
 received as supervisor one hundred dollars per month. 
 It is a trite truth that in the middle of the nineteenth 
 century a dollar went much farther and represented 
 much more than in later years; but, with full allowance 
 for this higher value, the pay of one hundred dollars a 
 month for the supervisor of the railway on its princi- 
 pal division could not be considered extravagant. It 
 was in proportion, however, to the salaries of the higher 
 officials, which were modest. Out of his pay Davis 
 continued to contribute to the support of his mother 
 and the family. He also saved something, for the prin- 
 ciple of thrift was inherent with him, and was the foun- 
 dation of his success in business. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 25 
 
 Toward the close of this ten-year period of active 
 railroading there was another event which exercised a 
 deep influence on his life. Frederick was an important 
 point on the railway, and all the Baltimore and Ohio 
 men from time to time made it their headquarters. It 
 was then, as it is now, the center of a very prosperous 
 agricultural community. One of the leading merchants 
 of the town was Gideon Bantz, who was also a Judge 
 of the Orphan's Court, and was familiarly known as 
 Judge Bantz. The Bantz family was one of the most 
 substantial ones in all the region. There was a daugh- 
 ter, Katharine. 
 
 The handsome young railroader, Davis, met her, 
 courted her, and won her. The romance was complete, 
 but there were some parental objections, possibly on the 
 score of family pride, since railroading was not then 
 looked on as the path to social distinction. An obsta- 
 cle of this kind meant nothing to the energetic spirit of 
 Railroader Davis. He soon won the family to his suit, 
 and in consequence in February, 1853, Henry Gassaway 
 Davis and Katharine Anne Bantz were married at Fred- 
 erick, and a life companionship began which lasted 
 nearly fifty years. 
 
 Happily married, Davis began to plan more definitely 
 for the future and to seek a wider field than was offered 
 him as supervisor of railway operations. He was then 
 in his thirtieth year, at the apex of vigorous young man- 
 hood, and already displayed evidence of the qualities of 
 industrial leadership which later matured. It happened 
 that his desire for a wider field corresponded with the 
 plans of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway directors. 
 
 After frequent checks by the Virginia Legislature, 
 some of them of a political nature and some of a sectional 
 character, and after harrowing financial experiences, the 
 
26 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 main trunk of the railway had reached the Ohio River 
 at WheeHng. In reaching the Ohio it had surmounted 
 the crest of the AUeghanies, but there were still operat- 
 ing difficulties to be overcome in climbing to the summit. 
 The climb was begun at Piedmont on the upper Potomac, 
 where heavy, powerful locomotives were substituted for 
 the light engines, and reached the crest at Tierra Alta. 
 Piedmont, therefore, became a very important central 
 station on the railway, since the motive power necessary 
 to surmount the great summit dividing the eastern and 
 western waters which took their source in the AUe- 
 ghanies had to be operated from that point. The com- 
 pany had built what was described as a "large and hand- 
 some engine house of circular form, its walls of brick 
 and the roof of iron, housing sixteen engines, at a cost 
 of twelve thousand dollars." 
 
 It was Mr. Davis's wish to locate at Piedmont in order 
 to take advantage of the opportunities which he saw 
 would come from the development of the timber and coal 
 resources of this region. It was the wish of the Balti- 
 more and Ohio directors to have the right kind of man 
 there. So they made Davis station agent. But his 
 duties as station agent were in reality more those of a 
 division superintendent, since the responsibility was 
 placed on him of sending the trains up and across the 
 Divide, designating the engineers and the train crews, 
 and adjusting their labor. It is part of the record of 
 economical and tactful railway management that the 
 claim of the train crews that a trip up to the Divide 
 should be considered a day's work was disallowed by 
 Station Agent Davis, and the trip schedule fixed by him 
 was accepted without a strike. 
 
 Piedmont, though in the heart of the bituminous coal 
 region, at this time hardly had an existence as a commu- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 27 
 
 nity, since there were only eight or ten frame houses, and 
 these of the most primitive kind. Station Agent Davis 
 Hved in a box-car for the first year, and then built a 
 house, to which he brought his bride, who in the mean- 
 time had remained at Frederick. The estate of her 
 father, Judge Bantz, who died in 1854, provided a sub- 
 stantial sum for Davis's investment. 
 
 Davis continued as station agent and superintendent 
 of motive power for four years, but at the same time 
 engaged in private enterprises in connection with his 
 brother, Thomas B. Davis. Paying wages to his own kin 
 did not seem brotherly, and so Henry G. made Thomas 
 a partner. The latter also had been a brakeman on the 
 railway, but had left its employment. The brothers 
 started a general store, and engaged in what then was 
 called merchandising, but they were a good deal more 
 than country merchants. Their business continued to 
 grow, so that in 1858 the station agent resigned, and gave 
 all his time to the several enterprises in which they en- 
 gaged. Later, William R., the youngest brother, who 
 had been educated by Henry and Thomas, was brought to 
 Piedmont and given an interest in the business, which 
 took the partnership name of H. G. Davis & Company, 
 and, with Henry as its head, continued under that name 
 for many years. 
 
 H. G. Davis & Company bought the products of the 
 farmers in the narrow valley of Piedmont, and sold them 
 feed, groceries, dry-goods, and hardware in return ; but 
 their principal business was in supplying the railway 
 company and in shipping coal. They delivered oil to the 
 railway in barrels, and they supplied it with all kinds of 
 lumber. They were among the first to open up the tim- 
 ber resources of the surrounding country and uncover its 
 forest wealth. Their sawmills in the wilderness were 
 
28 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the wonder of the day. Their pioneer lumber camps 
 were models for that period and for larer periods. This 
 is the testimony of John Reilly, who was their foreman, 
 and who survived all the brothers. Their enterprise 
 made them widely known. 
 
 Banking facilities, during the middle period of the 
 nineteenth century and earlier, were not ample in regions 
 that were still in the pioneer state of development. In- 
 choate captains of industry, and ambitious men who 
 undertook large enterprises, had to provide these facil- 
 ities for the communities in which they operated. It was 
 therefore an inevitable sequence of their merchandise 
 business, their coal and timber shipments, and their rail- 
 way contracts that H. G. Davis & Company should estab- 
 lish a bank. It was equally inevitable that H. G. Davis, 
 as the most progressive man in the region and the head 
 of its growing business, should be the president of the 
 institution. 
 
 Thus was formed the Piedmont Savings Bank in the 
 town of Piedmont in the County of Hampshire, in 1858, 
 which was invested with all the rights, powers, and privi- 
 leges conferred and made subject to all the rules, regula- 
 tions, restrictions, and provisions made and imposed by 
 Chapters 57 and 59 of the Code of Virginia, and the pro- 
 visions of the Act Amending the Tenth Section of Chap- 
 ter 57 of the Code of Virginia. The bank was one of 
 deposit and discount and not of issue, but later was 
 changed into a State bank and then into a national one. 
 
 A printed copy of the charter and by-laws, with the 
 list of officers, shows that, besides H. G. Davis, as the 
 president, T. B. Davis and W. R. Davis were directors, 
 so that it was preeminently a Davis institution. From 
 bank-book No. 2, in which was kept the account of ^Irs. 
 C. A- Davis, it appears that when the deposits were en- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 29 
 
 tered the cashier receipted for them under the entry. 
 Business continued to prosper, while the head of the firm 
 and bank president, as an incident to his private affairs, 
 served as a member of the town council. 
 
 When the Civil War broke out, H. G. Davis & Com- 
 pany was the principal business concern in the upper 
 Potomac region. It also owned considerable coal and 
 timber lands, as yet undeveloped. One of the earliest 
 ventures of H. G. Davis, when station agent, had been to 
 lend fifteen hundred dollars on a mortgage on some of 
 the wild lands of Georges Creek. The mortgagee de- 
 faulted, and the impairment of his capital to the amount 
 of fifteen hundred dollars was a serious thing for H. G. 
 Davis. His associates shook their heads and condoled 
 with him on the loss ; but he, according to the tradition 
 still prevalent, told them that he proposed to hold the 
 tract, and would realize at least one thousand dollars out 
 of it. Not very many years afterward it was sold for 
 sixty thousand dollars. 
 
 The upper Potom.ac country was the borderland be- 
 tween the Union forces and the Confederates. Hamp- 
 shire County, as a local historian narrates, was never 
 free from soldiers from the day the Ordinance of Seces- 
 sion was passed by the Richmond Convention until peace 
 was restored. It was a perpetual battlefield. Usually 
 the Union forces were in possession, but the Confeder- 
 ates made daring raids and occupied the various points 
 temporarily. It was said that Romney, the county-seat 
 of Hampshire, was occupied alternately by Union forces 
 and Confederates fifty-six times in the four years of 
 fighting, a record surpassed only by Winchester, farther 
 down the valley. One half of the men in the county 
 were said to be in the Confederate army, but there was a 
 strong Union sentiment in the vicinity of Piedmont 
 
30 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF. 
 
 The Davises were Union men. Once a Confederate 
 raiding force swooped down on the town with the de- 
 clared purpose of carrying off its leading citizen. When 
 the raiders first appeared, the family, like other families, 
 took refuge in the cellar, but the head of it was off in the 
 mountains. The Confederates were intensely disgusted 
 at not finding him, but they did not molest the family be- 
 yond telling them that they hoped to find the leading cit- 
 izen at home the next time they called. 
 
 The business of H. G. Davis & Company of course was 
 interrupted by the activities of the Confederates. The 
 bank was closed in order that its funds might not fall into 
 their hands, and the general merchandising was more or 
 less interfered with; but the more serious interruption 
 was to the providing of coal and lumber, the supplies for 
 the soldiers, and the speedy transportation of Union 
 troops. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at this period 
 was almost as vital to the cause of the Union as was the 
 Union Pacific line in holding California. It was one of 
 President Lincoln's constant anxieties. There was no 
 danger that the Confederates could take and hold a con- 
 siderable section of it permanently, but they could and 
 did interfere with its usefulness to the Union forces by 
 their destructive raids, and by their interference with 
 supplies. Mosby's raiders in particular were active in 
 this kind of warfare. 
 
 H. G. Davis & Company was equal to this situation. 
 Its men constantly traversed the counties of Maryland, 
 West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, buying the horses 
 which they supplied to the Government. They also acted 
 as timber cruisers and selected the most easily obtained 
 timber. H. G. Davis & Company had large contracts 
 with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, as well as with 
 the Government, for supplying lumber in its different 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 31 
 
 forms. The initiative and energy of the head of the 
 firm was one of the marvels of that day. No one could 
 turn standing trees into cross-ties and timber as swiftly 
 as he. Lumber camps were established in the wilder- 
 ness overnight, trams built, and sawmills set up. The 
 firm also bought the product of other mills. 
 
 It was of greatest importance to the railway company 
 to have ties, bridge timber, and other lumber always in 
 reserve, and the quality of anticipation that Davis had 
 shown as a water-boy at the Woodstock quarry was here 
 brought out in its strongest light. He anticipated every- 
 thing that could happen. The prospect that the company 
 would want a certain quantity of ties was foreseen; but, 
 besides that quantity there was always an equal quantity 
 in reserve to provide against emergencies such as a raid 
 by Mosby's men. 
 
 It was this circumstance that brought about Henry G. 
 Davis's one interview with Lincoln. As the war pro- 
 gressed, he felt that he should do something more than 
 he was doing for the cause of the Union, and he proposed 
 to enlist. He was then forty years old. Governor 
 Swann, who was charged with a share of the responsibil- 
 ity of maintaining the Baltimore and Ohio in operation, 
 and who sometimes was sent for by Lincoln, heard of his 
 intention, and called him to Baltimore. They went to 
 Washington together. Governor Swann took him to the 
 White House, and explained to the President the work 
 he was doing, and how essential it was to the Baltimore 
 and Ohio that he remain where he was. 
 
 In after years Mr. Davis sometimes spoke of the im- 
 pression Lincoln made on him. He himself was a man 
 of striking physique. He was an even six feet tall, 
 strongly built, but without an ounce of superfluous flesh. 
 "A big man," as the phrase goes, and he considered him- 
 
32 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 self so. But when Lincoln, after listening to Governor 
 Swann, came over and, placing both hands on his shoul- 
 ders, looked down on him and called him 'young man," 
 he felt, as he said, that he wasn't so big a man after all. 
 "Young man," said Lincoln, ''so you want to carry a 
 musket? Isn't it better to carry five thousand muskets? 
 Swann says you are worth that many where you are now. 
 I want you to sptay there." 
 
 Davis went back to his post, and continued to supply 
 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company with ties and 
 other equipment to meet emergencies. When the war 
 ended, the firm, notwithstanding some heavy losses, had 
 made substantial profits and had accumulated consider- 
 able capital, most of which was due to Henry G. Davis. 
 This capital afforded the means of carrying out the 
 larger plans that he long had had in mind, and which 
 were based on his implicit faith in the resources of the 
 upper Potomac region. Though the youngest brother 
 opposed it and would not invest a dollar in the purchase 
 of lands, H. G. Davis & Company bought several thou- 
 sand acres of fine timberlands in the wild Cheat River 
 country, at the summit of the Alleghanies, most of them 
 in Garrett County, Maryland. 
 
 These lands were part of what had once been one of 
 the largest private estates in the world, the six million 
 acres that had comprised the property of Thomas, Sixth 
 Lord Fairfax, the owner of the Northern Neck in Vir- 
 ginia. The boundaries of some of them ran from Fair-, 
 fax Stone, in the corner of West Virginia and Maryland, 
 which for more than a century had been a subject of con- 
 tention between Maryland and Virginia. Several of the 
 maps describing metes and boundaries of the tracts pur- 
 chased bore the initials of George Washington as sur- 
 veyor. This forest wilderness had an assured value as 
 
Reproduction of daguerreotype of Kate Bantz Davis 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 33 
 
 timberland, although few men had the courage to make 
 large investments in it. What wealth of coal might 
 underlie it, no one could guess. Its development was to 
 signalize the constructive capacity of Henry G. Davis 
 and to form a leading chapter in his career as a railway 
 builder following a period of public service. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 EARLY PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 West Virginia a war-born State — Davis's belief in separation 
 from the Old Dominion — Election to the Legislature as a Union- 
 Conservative — Paucity of lawyers — Status of ex-Confederates — 
 Reasons for test oaths and disfranchisement — Party passions — 
 Committee assignments — Fiscal subjects and internal improve- 
 ments — Delegate to Democratic National Convention — Election to 
 State Senate — Repeal of test laws — Struggle over enfranchise- 
 ment legislation — The debt question — Second election to State 
 Senate — Democrats in power — Adventures of legislators in mid- 
 winter journey to Charleston — Work of the session — Election to 
 United States Senate. 
 
 THE early public life of Henry G. Davis was con- 
 temporaneous with the early years of the com- 
 monwealth with which he was identified for more 
 than half a century. When he entered politics West 
 Virginia was still a State in the making. The frame- 
 work of government had been set up and its functions 
 performed during the closing years of the Civil War. 
 But there had been little done, because in the midst of 
 war there could be little done, to perfect the organization 
 that was to endure for all time. 
 
 The new State had been a battle camp over parts of 
 which contending armies fought, while its citizenship had 
 been divided. Its people had separated from the Old 
 Dominion on the great issue of the preservation of the 
 Union, but some of them had been sympathetic to the 
 cause of the Confederacy. Once the vital issue of the 
 
 34 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 35 
 
 Union was settled, it was inevitable that there should be 
 a reaction from the passions evoked by the great strug- 
 gle, and that many of those who had been instrumental 
 in the formation of the new commonwealth should find 
 themselves out of sympathy with their former associates 
 who still favored extreme measures. This was the 
 natural swinging of the pendulum from radicalism to 
 conservatism. 
 
 The moderation that was characteristic of Mr. Davis 
 ,was certain to place him in the ranks of the conservatives. 
 A strong Union man throughout the war, he was equally 
 strong in advocating conciliation after the war. The 
 abuse possible in the application of the stringent laws 
 passed to insure the control of the Government by those 
 loyal to the Union, and the bitterness engendered through 
 partizanship, were brought directly home to him when, at 
 one election, through personal animosity, his own name 
 was stricken from the voters' registration list. If the 
 law could be so abused in his own case, he realized how 
 widespread might be its abuse in the case of others. 
 
 While the trend of his political action undoubtedly was 
 influenced by this incident, there was not the remotest 
 suggestion of sympathy with those who were seeking to 
 undo the work of the men who had formed the State of 
 West Virginia, and were working to secure the reincor- 
 poration of the new commonwealth with old Virginia. 
 He recognized that the northwestern and the eastern 
 sections of the Old Dominion were separated geograph- 
 ically by the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies. He fully 
 understood the difference in sentiment and interest be- 
 tween the people west and the people east of the Alle- 
 ghanies. With his faith in the industrial future of the 
 western section, and the necessity of constructive meas- 
 ures for developing its great natural resources, he knew 
 
36 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 that the control which the old-school politicians of the 
 tidewater region had exercised for three quarters of a 
 century must end, and he was not the man to be influ- 
 enced by sentimental pleas when that sentiment was made 
 th0 cover for the continued aggrandizement of one sec- 
 tion at the expense of another section. 
 
 This feeling was reflected in a speech made by Daniel 
 Lamb at the Wheeling Convention in 1861, when the 
 ordinance for the formation of the new State was under 
 discussion. ''We are," said Mr. Lamb, ''in fact a differ- 
 ent people. Our social habits are different. Our com- 
 mercial relations are not with eastern Virginia. The 
 productions of our soil and of our workshop do not go in 
 that direction, nor do we purchase the articles we want 
 from the cities of eastern Virginia. Every considera- 
 tion which can be addressed to the wisdom of statesmen 
 would demand a separation at the proper time and in the 
 proper manner." 
 
 This was the conviction of Mr. Davis also, and it was 
 made manifest in his opposition to all attempts to undo 
 the new commonwealth. This is of some importance, 
 because his political course in these early years lay with 
 those who to some extent were sympathetic to the Old 
 Dominion. 
 
 In the autumn of 1865 Mr. Davis was elected from 
 Hampshire County to the Legislature as a member of the 
 House of Delegates as a Union-Conservative.^ This was 
 within six months after the close of the Civil War. ^ The 
 term "Union-Conservative" itself describes the political 
 conditions which existed at that period. 
 
 The Fourth Legislature, as it was called, since annual 
 sessions were held, met at Wheeling in January, 1866. 
 This Legislature was a very remarkable body, remark- 
 able in one respect for the small number of lawyers that 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 37 
 
 it contained. It is doubtful whether any legislative as- 
 sembly among the several States ever had so small a per- 
 centage of the legal profession. In the Senate, which 
 was composed of nineteen members, there were three 
 lawyers. In the House, among the fifty-two members, 
 there was only one lawyer, Mr. Henry Clay McWhorter, 
 afterward a Judge of the Court of Appeals. There were 
 twenty farmers, twelve merchants, one of whom was 
 Henry G. Davis; two ministers of the gospel; four phy- 
 sicians; one banker, one teacher, one clerk; and seven 
 mechanics, who described themselves as millwrights, 
 blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and ironmasters. The Com- 
 mittee on the Judiciary had the lawyer for its chairman, 
 while the other members were a merchant, a farmer, a 
 banker, and a clerk. 
 
 The membership of the Legislature was typical of the 
 new State. The communities were isolated, for the era 
 of railway communication was in its early stages. 
 Farming was still the principal occupation of the people, 
 since the industrial development, except along the Ohio 
 River, had barely begun. The members were truly rep- 
 resentative of the self-contained, virile, rugged people 
 who elected them. Nor does it appear that the processes 
 of law-making at this period suffered from the small 
 number of members of the legal profession who took 
 part in it. 
 
 Two fundamental subjects, somewhat antagonistic in 
 their nature, confronted this Legislature. One was the 
 political issues growing out of the Civil War ; the other 
 was the constructive measures of taxation, finance, ad- 
 ministrative organization, industrial development, and 
 internal improvement which were vital to the new com- 
 monwealth in solving the problem of continued existence. 
 Mr. Davis, as a member of the House of Delegates, took 
 
38 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 a prominent part in the discussion of both subjects. Gov- 
 ernor Boreman, in his message, said that permanent civil 
 organization had been restored in all but five or six east- 
 ern counties. He recited the efforts of the ex-Confed- 
 erates and their sympathizers in several of the counties 
 to elect to office persons who were ineligible under the 
 Constitution of 1863 and the laws enacted to make it 
 effective. 
 
 These laws included test oaths for teachers, attorneys, 
 jurors, voters, and all officials. There were also statutes 
 under which ex-Confederates could be sued for damages 
 done to the property of loyalists by the military com- 
 mands under which they served, and a law to prevent 
 the prosecution of civil suits against loyalists by persons 
 who had been engaged in the Rebellion. 
 
 This statute, the Governor declared, was of doubtful 
 expediency. He recommended amendments to the elec- 
 tion laws under which the Governor would be authorized 
 to appoint county registration boards, with power to des- 
 ignate the township registers, and to act as the court of 
 last appeal in all election and voting contests. The pur- 
 pose of this recommendation was to prevent the ex-Con- 
 federates and their sympathizers in sections where they 
 had the numerical superiority, controlling the voting and 
 thus electing to office candidates who, under the Consti- 
 tution of 1863 and the subsequent laws, were ineligible. 
 
 There was much partizan discussion in both branches 
 of the Legislature over this subject, in which the passions 
 of the Civil War, still heated, flamed out. Mr. Davis 
 took part in the discussion, and, as a Union-Conservative 
 member, opposed the test oaths in all their forms, and 
 voted against the further restrictions on suffrage which 
 were proposed. It was, however, in the discussion of 
 measures of a non-political character, and in the work of 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 39 
 
 the committees, that his qualities of constructive leader- 
 ship showed themselves. The principal committee on 
 which he served was that on Taxation and Finance. It 
 had not only to provide for the appropriations for the 
 State government, but also to devise the measures of 
 taxation, and to formulate much of the fiscal legislation 
 essential to the functions of the new commonwealth. 
 
 Nathan Goff, Sr., of Clarksburg, was chairman of this 
 committee. He was a man of great influence through- 
 out the State and had the respect and confidence of all 
 parties. He quickly recognized the value of Mr. Davis's 
 business experience and sound judgment in dealing with 
 all these subjects. They worked together in complete 
 harmony, and a strong personal friendship sprang up 
 between them. Subsequently Mr. Goff 's nephew, Nathan 
 Goff, Jr., was a member of the Legislature, and with him, 
 too, Mr. Davis maintained a warm friendship. Years 
 afterward, when President Hayes nominated Nathan 
 Goff, Jr., for Secretary of the Navy, it was the privilege 
 of Mr. Davis, as a Senator of the United States, to move 
 his confirmation. 
 
 In addition to his work in providing for the fiscal or- 
 ganization, Mr. Davis took a leading part in bringing to 
 a head various projects of internal improvements which 
 were of great consequence to the State. He was a mem- 
 ber of the Committee on Roads and Internal Navigation. 
 The improvement of the turnpikes received much atten-~l 
 tion from this committee, but its labors also embraced 
 the larger subjects of the James River and Kanawha 
 Canal and the railway enterprises which were deemed 
 worthy of encouragement as a means of developing the 
 State. Among the transportation lines which, by the 
 action of the Legislature, received a charter, was the 
 Potomac and Piedmont Coal and Railroad Company, 
 
40 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 which, years later, was to become the basis of Mr. 
 Davis's most important railway enterprise. 
 
 At this session Mr. Davis introduced and had passed 
 the bill creating Mineral County out of Hampshire 
 County. Thereafter his citizenship was in Mineral 
 County instead of Hampshire. 
 
 The first year's experience as a State legislator had 
 been very valuable to Mr. Davis. It had enabled him to 
 form the close personal acquaintanceship of men from all 
 sections. It had brought him in direct contact with 
 many local political leaders who found themselves look- 
 ing to him for advice. It was the first step in the polit- 
 ical leadership of the State which, in after years, fell to 
 him. 
 
 Mr. Davis did not seek reelection to the House of Dele- 
 gates. Business affairs occupied much of his time, and 
 apparently he wanted a few months free from official 
 responsibility. But that he had not lost his interest in 
 politics was made apparent early in 1868, when he an- 
 nounced himself as a candidate for the State Senate. 
 The result is given in a brief entry in his journal: 
 
 May 20, 1868. J. S. Vance and J. W. Key, candidates for 
 House of Delegates. Vance nominated. H. G. Davis, myself, 
 nominated unanimously for Senate. Colonel J. N. Camden, Wil- 
 son, Johnston, present. A large meeting. 
 
 Another indication of political influence, and also of 
 the alinement of parties, was given about the same time, 
 when Mr. Davis was chosen a delegate to the Democratic 
 National Convention at New York City. It was no 
 longer a question of Union-Conservatives and Radicals, 
 but of Democrats and Republicans. He attended the 
 convention at which Seymour and Blair were nominated, 
 and for the first time met members of the Democratic 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 41 
 
 party who were national leaders. With several of these 
 he was to occupy important relations in later years. 
 
 The question of suffrage and the disfranchisement of 
 ex-Confederates were the leading issues of the State 
 campaign in 1868.^ The radical wing of the Republican 
 party, which was in control of the organization, advo- 
 cated further legislation, claiming that this was neces- 
 sary because of the disorders in the southern counties, 
 where some of the ex-Confederates were charged with 
 lawless acts. The great body of ex-Confederates had 
 returned peacefully to their homes, and were doing their 
 share toward the upbuilding of the State. To them it 
 was a burning wrong that they should be denied the 
 privileges of citizenship, since they had accepted in good 
 faith the result of the war. A moderate element among 
 the Republicans took this view, and it was to them that 
 Mr. Davis, because of his conservatism, appealed for 
 support. 
 
 In the campaign throughout the State those who ad- 
 vocated greater liberality toward ex-Confederates were 
 described as "Let-Ups." This colloquial designation re- 
 flected very accurately the dominant political issue. The 
 
 1 At the session of the Legislature in 1865, an amendment to the Con- 
 stitution was proposed, which was afterward adopted, providing in effect 
 that no person who had participated in the Rebellion, or given aid or 
 comfort to the Confederacy, should be deemed a citizen of the State or 
 allowed to vote at any election. Statutes were passed requiring attor- 
 neys-at-law, teachers, jurors, voters, and all officers to make oath that 
 they had not since June 20, 1863, borne arms against the United States 
 or the State of West Virginia, or voluntarily given aid and comfort to 
 persons engaged in armed hostility thereto. The defendant in any suit 
 could require the plaintiff to take such an oath. The statute also pro- 
 vided that no suit should be maintained against any person for acts done 
 in the suppression of the Rebellion. The courts further held that suits 
 might be maintained by loyal persons against those who had been in the 
 Confederate army for injuries done by the said army. Under this statute 
 there were some actions of trespass maintained, and judgments given 
 against returned ex-Confederates. 
 
42 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 question to be decided was whether or not the State in its 
 political functions should "let up" on those who had been 
 Confederates or who had shown themselves as sympa- 
 thizers with the Confederacy. 
 
 Mr. Davis made an active campaign in his district. 
 Some of the incidents are briefly described in the itiner- 
 ary which his journal sets forth. This is one of several 
 entries of a similar character: 
 
 September 14. I go to Berkeley Springs to attend a meeting. 
 It was the first day of Court. Many people there. Governor 
 Green, Clay Smith, and Judge Moore of Kentucky spoke with 
 good effect. 
 
 The successful outcome of his canvass is tersely in- 
 dicated in this manner: 
 
 October 30. Returns in; elected by 66 majority. Piedmont 
 gives State ticket 63 majority ; me 135. 
 
 Though the Democrats had made gains, they were still 
 in the minority in the Legislature, which met at Wheel- 
 ing in January, 1869. The number of lawyers had been 
 increased slightly in the two years since Mr. Davis had 
 served as a member of the House of Delegates. He now 
 had four lawyer colleagues in the Senate. 
 
 Governor Boreman, in his message, reviewed the po- 
 litical and fiscal conditions of the Commonwealth. The 
 State had been organized, he said, a little short of six 
 years, created in the midst of civil strife during the terri- 
 ble struggle for nationality and the principles underlying 
 free institutions. This was the dominant note of the 
 Republican majority in maintaining its position in regard 
 to the suffrage. Governor Boreman resigned at this 
 session, and was elected to the United States Senate. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 43 
 
 He was succeeded by William E. Stevenson, who had 
 served in the State Senate for several terms. 
 
 Governor Stevenson reflected the attitude of the more 
 liberal members of his party, although he insisted on the 
 necessity of continuing some of the restrictive measures. 
 He recommended the repeal of the attorneys' and teach- 
 ers' test oaths, while he questioned the wisdom of the 
 further continuance of what was known as the suitor's 
 oath in law cases. He also favored the amendment re- 
 storing citizenship to the disfranchised. The restrictive 
 measures, he said, had not originated in a vindictive 
 spirit. "They were adopted during a time of great pub- 
 lic peril. They were prompted by that instinct of self- 
 preservation which impels every community to shield it- 
 self from present or impending danger. . . . These dis- 
 abilities were not, however, intended to be perpetual, but 
 only to remain in force until all danger to the public peace 
 was passed." 
 
 The majority, however, were still very determined in 
 demanding the most thorough proofs of reconstruction 
 on the part of those who sought to be restored to citizen- 
 ship. A joint resolution was passed that the petition of 
 any person would not be favorably considered except 
 such petition should be accompanied by a written renun- 
 ciation of former wrongs and an acknowledgment of 
 errrors, discarding the false dogmas of exclusive States' 
 rights sovereignty. 
 
 The legislative record of this period discloses several 
 Instances of the manner In which those who were seeking 
 to exercise the full rights of citizenship were compelled 
 to make their acknowledgment of loyalty. A single Il- 
 lustration, which appears in the bill authorizing Leonard 
 S. Hall, of Weltzel County, to practise law In the courts 
 
44 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 of the State, suffices. The bill, which was passed by a 
 vote of 14 to 5 in the Senate, and which numbered Henry 
 G. Davis among those who voted in the affirmative, was 
 accompanied by the following letter : 
 
 Wheeling, W. Va., 
 
 January 26, 1869. 
 To the Honorable the Legislature of West Virginia — 
 
 I respectfully ask you to permit me to practise law in this 
 State without taking the attorney's test eath. I cannot take said 
 oath from the fact that I was in Richmond, Va., at the time of the 
 breaking out of the war, and although I was never in armed hostil- 
 ity against the United States, yet I adhered to the Confederate 
 States, which I confess was wrong and the great mistake of my 
 life. I subscribe to the terms of your resolution of June 8, 1868, 
 a copy of which is herewith filed, and I promise to faithfully obey 
 your laws and conduct myself as a good citizen. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 L. S. Hall. 
 
 At this session Senator Davis presented numerous 
 petitions of citizens in his district asking for the repeal 
 of all the test oaths, and for modification of the registra- 
 tion act. He was active in urging this 'legislation, and 
 equally active in opposing everything that looked to fur- 
 ther restriction of the white suffrage. He also strength- 
 ened himself politically with a large element in the State 
 by his opposition to the ratification of the amendment to 
 the Federal Constitution providing for negro suffrage. 
 Independently of the passing politics of the hour, he 
 viewed the conferring of the ballot on the negroes as a 
 grave mistake. As a partizan manoeuver he gave the 
 Republican majority some discomfort by moving to have 
 the ratification of the amendment referred to the people 
 of the State for acceptance or rejection. His motion 
 was defeated, and the Legislature ratified the amend- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 45 
 
 ment ; but his action undoubtedly strengthened the Demo- 
 cratic party throughout the State. 
 
 While these political questions received much atten- 
 tion and gave Mr. Davis increasing prominence as a 
 party leader, he found a much more congenial field in the 
 measures of constructive legislation. He was a member 
 of the Committee on Finance and Claims, Internal Im- 
 provements and Navigation, and Auditing Accounts. 
 Serving on them, he was enabled to supplement and 
 develop many of the measures that had received his 
 support when a member of the House of Delegates. 
 
 Adjustment of the debt between Virginia and West 
 Virginia was one of the subjects that claimed his atten- 
 tion, and from the beginning he took a definite position 
 on this vexed question. His position in substance was 
 that West Virginia should pay a just share of the debt, 
 but that it must first be ascertained what a just share 
 was. He favored the various propositions for commis- 
 sioners to confer with commissioners from the State of 
 Virginia, and was himself the author of one of the reso- 
 lutions providing for the appointment of commissioners. 
 In whatever he had to say on the subject during the dis- 
 cussions in the Legislature, he never accepted the as- 
 sumption made by Virginia that West Virginia should 
 pay one third of the debt. 
 
 ^ The question was postponed because the suit of Vir- 
 ginia to cause the reincorporation of Jefferson and Berk- 
 eley counties with it was still pending in the Supreme 
 Court of the United States. Later, when he was a mem- 
 ber of the United States Senate, Mr. Davis reviewed the 
 whole debt question from the standpoint of West Vir- 
 ginia in vindication of the stand he himself had taken 
 and maintained. 
 
 At this session of the Legislature steps were taken for 
 
46 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 appropriating proper funds for buildings to house the 
 public institutions. The public school system was placed 
 on a firm foundation, and numerous new schools were 
 created. A significant step in higher education was 
 taken when the Agricultural College at Morgantown was 
 changed to the West \'irginia University. This was the 
 birth of the present great State University, which is so 
 thoroughly representative of West Virginia's interest in 
 higher education. Mr. Davis concurred in all these 
 measures. His name also frequently appears in connec- 
 tion with the bills relating to internal improvements and 
 provisions for developing the great natural wealth of the 
 
 State. 
 
 Mr. Davis's second year in the State Senate was 
 marked by the ending of the political controversy over 
 the disfranchising of ex-Confederates. The liberal ele- 
 ment in the Republican party had made its influence felt, 
 and, moreover, the passions engendered by the Civil War 
 had begun to die out. Governor Stevenson in his mes- 
 sage, while insisting that a proper respect for the laws 
 under which they lived and a satisfactory assurance of 
 peaceful intentions in the future should be required from 
 the ex-Confederates, nevertheless recommended the re- 
 peal of the test oaths and the adoption of an amendment 
 restoring the privileges of those who were disfranchised. 
 This recommendation was embodied in what was known 
 as the Flick amendment. Bills were passed repealing 
 the test oaths and also adopting the amendment. 
 
 When this Legislature adjourned, Mr. Davis was 
 awarded much credit throughout the State for the legis- 
 lation restoring the franchise to those who had been dis- 
 qualified. Notwithstanding that his business afifairs 
 were pressing, he still gave a large part of his time to 
 politics. He was renominated for the State Senate. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 47 
 
 His opponent was W. H. H. Flick, the author of the en- 
 Iranchising amendment. 
 
 Entries in his journal show the activities of that year 
 and reflect the political tendencies. Some of them fol- 
 low: 
 
 May 21. I was at New Cr«k to attend a Democratic and Con- 
 
 servative convention. 
 
 Chirkstot ^ ''''' ^° Democratic-Conservative convention at 
 
 June 10 Return from convention. Had a pleasant trip 
 ^ommated J J. Jacobs, of Hampshire County, for Governor; 
 Col. Camden declined. 
 
 June 12. Republicans held their State conventions at Parkers- 
 burg yesterday. Nominated nearly all the prominent State offi- 
 cers. 
 
 July 21 Returned from Moorefield Senate convention A 
 large number of persons from several counties were there Our 
 candidate for Governor, J. J. Jacobs, spoke in the morning I 
 was unanimously elected the Democratic or Conservative candi- 
 date for State Senate. No other name put before convention 
 
 September 6. Attended Congressional convention at Pied- 
 mont Nominated O. D. Downey. The nomination was offered 
 me. I dechned in favor of Downey. 
 
 Joint debates between political candidates were com- 
 mon m those days, and Air. Davis, although not profes- 
 sionally a speaker, followed the usual practise and de- 
 bated the issues with his opponent. His journal has sev- 
 eral references to conferences with Mr. Flick in which 
 they decided on the dates and places for their meetings 
 There are also intimations of the mutual respect whi'^ch 
 the candidates felt for each other. Mr. Flick was, in 
 fact, a formidable opponent. A broad-minded man who 
 subsequently received high honors from his party, he had 
 strengthened himself by his support of liberal franchise 
 l^islation, and the Flick amendment was looked upon as 
 
48 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 a means of keeping the allegiance of Republican voters 
 who had become dissatisfied with the restrictive legisla- 
 tion. 
 
 The outcome of the -campaign and its political signifi- 
 cance is briefly indicated in several entries in the journal : 
 
 October 2y. Election day. 
 
 October 28. I go to Piedmont to get election returns. Min- 
 eral County goes Democratic. News looks favorable. 
 
 October 31. Our State (West Va.) has gone Democratic. 
 We elected Governor and State officers and a majority to the Leg- 
 islature, securing a United States Senator. My majority 238; 
 two years ago it was 70 in the same district. 
 
 The significance of the victory secured, and so tersely 
 described, was immediately recognized. It was the be- 
 ginning of the political ascendancy of the Democratic 
 party in West Virginia for twenty-five years. That the 
 talent for organization shown by Mr. Davis and his 
 shrewd political judgment had much to do with the result, 
 was universally admitted. That an honorable ambition 
 for further public service in higher councils had been 
 nourished by him was also disclosed. The first evidence 
 of it appears in these entries in the journal : 
 
 Novmber i. I have just returned from a visit to Wheeling, 
 Parkersburg, etc. Find my friends Camden, Jackson, Baker, 
 etc., all right, and firm for me for United States Senate. 
 
 December 3. Went to Grafton to meet Lewis Baker. He is 
 fine, and doing what he can in a discreet way. He thinks we 
 must win. 
 
 Going to the Legislature, as it was familiarly spoken 
 of, was not so easy at this period. The capital had been 
 permanently changed from Wheeling to Charleston, and 
 Charleston then had no railroad connection and could be 
 reached only by stage or boat on the Kanawha and its 
 
Finance Committee of West Virginia Legislature 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 49 
 
 tributaries. A few days before the Legislature was to 
 convene in January, 1871, a large number of the mem- 
 bers from the northern and eastern end of the State met 
 at Parkersburg, only to find the weather very cold and 
 the river navigation entirely closed by reason of the ice. 
 Mr. Davis was one of the party. Another, a lad of 
 thirteen, was Alston G. Dayton, later a member of Con- 
 gress and a Federal Judge. He was with his father. 
 Judge Dayton's recollection of the trip was vivid, after 
 nearly fifty years. 
 
 The party, Judge Dayton recounted, secured hacks 
 and horses. Soon after they started the weather mod- 
 erated, heavy rains came on, and the roads thawed out so 
 rapidly that they became almost impassable, while the 
 streams were swollen so as to be dangerous to cross. 
 One stream they got over in a flat-boat, carrying two or 
 three at a time, and then swam the horses across. Late 
 at night they reached Sissonville, on the Pocatalico 
 River, which was full of running ice that made crossing 
 it impossible. 
 
 Sissonville at that time was composed of a small mill, 
 a country store, which the party found locked up, a small 
 blacksmith shop, and an old-fashioned two-story house 
 on the hillside. Senator Davis made straight Vor the 
 house to arrange for shelter and succor for the party. 
 He returned somewhat crestfallen, and gave a graphic 
 description of his experience. After knocking for a long 
 time at the front door, it was opened a few inches by a 
 middle-aged woman, who told him that she was a ''lone 
 widder woman" with nobody in the house but her young 
 daughter and small son, and she could not afiford to allow 
 such a pack of men to come in. 
 
 The elder Dayton then tried his persuasive powers. 
 He went to the house and told the woman that the parties 
 
50 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 were members of the Legislature, and that they were all 
 men of good character. It was related afterward with 
 some humor that this only made her the more suspicious. 
 Finally a solution was found. An express wagon loaded 
 with a heavy iron safe and drawn by four horses, with a 
 guard of four men, had been included in the party when 
 it left Parkersburg. The expressmen had managed to 
 get it axrross the streams and through the muddy roads. 
 It was understood that the safe contained a large sum of 
 money in transportation to pay off the men who were 
 working on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Mr. 
 Dayton induced the woman to come to the window and 
 look at the safe, and then argued that if she would let it 
 be brought into the house overnight she could feel sure of 
 the respectability of the legislators. 
 
 This argument prevailed. The safe was deposited in 
 the front hall, the members of the party admitted, fires 
 were lit and supper was provided — corn-bread, bacon, 
 and buttermilk. The meal was partaken of in relays. 
 Such bedding as the household possessed was spread on 
 the floor, and the wearied legislators slept as best they 
 could. In the morning they were given a chicken break- 
 fast with soda biscuit. On asking the reckoning, they 
 were told that there was no charge for sleeping on the 
 floor, and that the usual price for meals was ten cents ; 
 but, in view of the extra work, the widow thought she 
 ought to have thirty cents for supper and breakfast. 
 Senator Davis pulled out from his pocket a silver dollar 
 and gave it to her, and the members of the party formed 
 in line and each one did likewise. 
 
 After further adventures the party finally reached 
 Charleston, and settled down to the work of the session. 
 
 The fruits of State Senator Davis's political leader- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 51 
 
 ship, and the further evidence of his ambition for higher 
 place, is indicated in a series of entries in his journal : 
 
 January 17, 1871. First day of session of Legislature. Each 
 House organized by electing Lewis Baker of Wheeling, President 
 of Senate, and E. E. Crocroft, of Wheeling, Speaker of the House. 
 
 January i8. Committees announced. I am chairman of Fi- 
 nance and Claims. 
 
 January 20. Senatorial contest is getting warm. I feel sure of 
 success. 
 
 January 23. The senatorial question is the all-absorbing one. 
 It is the talk of everyone. Many admit I must be elected. 
 
 January 26, Great excitement as to who shall be Senator. 
 My friends say I will win, and I agree with them. 
 
 January 27. I was nominated for U. S. Senate in Democratic 
 caucus last night on first ballot by a vote of 12 for Mr, Lamb, 12 
 for Col. Smith, and 27 for H. G. Davis. 
 
 January 28. All appear satisfied that I am to be next Demo- 
 cratic Senator. 
 
 January 31. At noon we vote for Senator. Senate, Brown 8, 
 Davis 14; House, Brown 14, Davis 39. Total, Brown 22; Davis 
 53. So I have a majority in each House. Harman, Koontz, Gold 
 and Stubbs, Republicans, voted for me. 
 
 This is a modest account of a very live struggle as to 
 who should be the first Democratic Senator from West 
 Virginia. Daniel Lamb and Colonel B. H. Smith, who 
 contended with Mr. Davis for the honor, were both 
 strong party leaders and each had a personal following, 
 but their combined strength did not equal that of Mr. 
 Davis in the party caucus. Mr. Brown, who received 
 the Republican vote, had been prominent in his own 
 party. The outgoing Republican Senator whom Mr. 
 Davis succeeded was Waitman T. Wiley, of Morgan- 
 town, one of the staunch leaders in the formation of the 
 new State. 
 
 Of deep human interest was the characteristic note in 
 
52 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 which Senator Davis informed his wife of his election. 
 This information was conveyed in the following letter, 
 
 Charleston, 
 January 31, 1871. 
 My dear Kate: 
 
 All O. K. I was to-day, by a vote of more than two to one, 
 elected U. S. Senator for six years from 4th of March. I am 
 well and in fine spirits. Write often. Hope all are well. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Henry. 
 
 During the remainder of the session Mr. Davis con- 
 tinued his work as State Senator, mainly on the Com- 
 mittee on Finance and Claims, of which he was now 
 chairman by virtue of his party being in the majority. 
 His principal labor was in helping to formulate a joint 
 report of the House and Senate Committees on Taxation 
 and Finance regarding the financial condition of the 
 State. 
 
 Since a Republican State administration was under 
 review, the inquiry had in it some partizanship, as was 
 shown by a minority report dissenting from the state- 
 ments of the majority; but there was much to which no 
 partizan objection could be made. One of the recom- 
 mendations was that the school fund, which was main- 
 tained by taxation, and the income from investments 
 should always at the end of each fiscal year be set apart 
 for its own purposes, and never should be estimated with 
 the funds of the general treasury, which were subject to 
 legislative appropriation. 
 
 This report contained, too, what might be called Mr. 
 Davis's final word as a legislator of the State of West 
 Virginia on the debt question: "It must be ascertained 
 and met in that spirit of fairness which is the distin- 
 guishing characteristic of our people." Other details 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 53 
 
 of legislation were faithfully attended to, and when the 
 session expired Mr. Davis could look back on five years 
 of faithful, constructive service to the new State in which 
 both his head and his heart had been intimately con- 
 cerned. His service to West Virginia was a fitting pre- 
 lude to his service to the nation as a member of the 
 United States Senate. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES FIRST TERM 
 
 Notable members of the Forty-second Congress — The Demo- 
 cratic minority in the Senate — Partizan measures and sectional 
 issues — Senator Davis's assignment to Claims and Appropriations 
 committees— Speech in support of West Virginia war claims — 
 Financial legislation in the Forty-third Congress — Panic of 1873 
 portrayed — Mobility of currency advocated — President Grant's 
 veto of the Inflation Bill — Resumption of specie payments — Work 
 as member of Committee on Transportation Routes — West Vir- 
 ginia waterways — Political revolution gives Democrats a majority 
 in the House — Forty-fourth Congress — Senator Davis on Treas- 
 ury accounts and government bookkeeping — National and State 
 campaigns of 1876 — Reelection to the Senate — Support of Elec- 
 toral Commission. 
 
 MR. DAVIS was in his forty-eighth year, the 
 prime of a vigorous life, when he began his 
 service as a Senator of the United States. 
 He was that rare person, a business man devoting him- 
 self to public affairs. To the wider field which opened 
 before him he brought the valuable legislative training 
 that had come from his service In the Legislature of 
 West Virginia. He also brought a ripe judgment and 
 a comprehensive grasp of the fundamental questions that 
 were paramount In the legislation of the nation at that 
 day. To these qualifications he added the fruits of a 
 matured political experience and a robust support of the 
 principles of his own party, tempered with a keen In- 
 sight Into the principles of the party to which he was in 
 opposition. 
 
 54 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 55 
 
 Mr. Davis took his seat in the Senate in the second 
 year of President Grant's administration, at the opening 
 of the Forty-second Congress, on March 4, 1871. It was 
 a notable Congress in its membership in both branches. 
 The war giants, who had been responsible for the meas- 
 ures which were enacted during the period when the 
 preservation of the Union was the supreme issue, were 
 still there, and were still shaping the legislation follow- 
 ing the great struggle. 
 
 James G. Blaine was Speaker of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. James A. Garfield was one of the leaders of 
 the Republican party in the House. Samuel J. Randall 
 of Pennsylvania was one of the forceful men among the 
 minority. Another was Samuel S. Cox, then represent- 
 ing a New York district, formerly of Ohio. His old 
 railway chief, Thomas Swann, was a member of the 
 House. 
 
 In the Senate were Roscoe Conkling of New York, 
 Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, former Vice-Presi- 
 dent Hannibal Hamlin and Lot M. Morrill of Maine, 
 George F. Edmunds and Justin F. Morrill of Vermont, 
 Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, Oliver P. Morton of 
 Indiana, John Sherman of Ohio, Zachariah Chandler 
 of Michigan, and Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, all of 
 whom had taken a prominent part in shaping war legis- 
 lation, and most of whom were radicals of the radicals on 
 the Reconstruction measures. On the Democratic side 
 the leaders were Allen G. Thurman of Ohio and Thomas 
 F. Bayard of Delaware. They were reinforced by the 
 entry, contemporaneously with Mr. Davis, of Francis P. 
 Blair, Jr., of Missouri, and Matthew W. Ransom of 
 North Carolina. Among the new Republican Senators 
 were John A. Logan of Illinois, the greatest volunteer 
 soldier of the war, William Pitt Kellogg of Louisiana, 
 
56 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and Powell Clayton of Arkansas. William Windom of 
 Minnesota had come to the Senate from the House in the 
 preceding Congress. 
 
 No general amnesty act had yet been passed, and those 
 who had taken part in the Rebellion consequently were 
 barred from membership, though some of the Southern 
 States in which the Demcorats had gained control of the 
 legislatures had selected men of this class. The actual 
 party alinement was fifty-eight Republicans and sixteen 
 Democrats, although the political reaction which later 
 was to result in the Liberal Republican movement already 
 was manifesting itself, and several of the most promi- 
 nent Senators were freeing themselves from the party 
 allegiance which they had maintained during the war 
 and immediately thereafter. 
 
 Among these were Carl Schurz and Lyman Trumbull. 
 Yet the Republican majority was large enough to main- 
 tain the party solidarity necessary to carry through what- 
 ever measures bore a distinctively political character. 
 The Democratic minority was a compact, aggressive 
 body which had little difficulty in acting as a unit on most 
 questions and which therefore never lacked the qualities 
 of a determined opposition. 
 
 There are a few entries in Senator Davis's journal 
 regarding his early experiences in the Senate. From 
 one of these it appears that a caucus was held at Sen- 
 ator Thurman's house in which the minority membership 
 of the committees was agreed on. From a later entry 
 it is disclosed that the tradition that a new Senator must 
 remain silent for two years sometimes was broken even 
 in those days, the trespasser on one occasion being the 
 fiery Missourian, General F. P. Blair. Under date of 
 April 3 is the simple entry, "Gen. Blair spoke all day." 
 
Henry Gassaway Davis in i{ 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 57 
 
 At another date it is noted that Senator Sumner made 
 his great speech on Santo Domingo. 
 
 The principal committee to which Senator Davis was 
 assigned was that on Claims. It was an important one, 
 since it had to do with the claims growing out of the war. 
 Notwithstanding that he was a minority member, much 
 of the work of this committee seems to have been as- 
 signed to him. The numerous bills reported by him, 
 some favorably and some unfavorably, all showed pa- 
 tient investigation and impartial judgment. Naturally, 
 many of these bills related to his own State, since it had 
 been the borderland between the contending armies. 
 
 At this session Senator Davis presented the petition 
 from the Legislature of West Virginia favoring the re- 
 moval of the political disabilities imposed by the Four- 
 teenth Amendment. On other sectional questions grow- 
 ing out of the war he acted consistently with his party, 
 especially in opposing Senator Sherman's resolutions on 
 Southern outrages. 
 
 The second session of the Forty-second Congress 
 found him immersed in committee work, and also 
 brought evidences of growing appreciation on the part of 
 his colleagues. A year after he had become a Senator 
 there is a terse entry in his journal: "I am learning 
 the ropes about the Senate and feel somewhat at home." 
 It was not long after this that his political leadership in 
 his own State was shown by his election as a delegate to 
 the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore. At 
 that convention he agreed with other members of his 
 party that the only course open to the Democrats was to 
 ratify the nomination of Greeley and Brown which had 
 been made by the Liberal Republican Convention at 
 Cincinnati, but he does not appear to have looked on the 
 
58 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 nomination of this ticket as presaging party success. 
 
 Political questions, sectional issues, were paramount 
 n Congress, and party feeling ran high. Senator Davis, 
 while taking a pronounced stand with his party col- 
 leagues, managed to avoid the bitter personal contro- 
 versies that were a feature of the debates. Both his per- 
 sonal feelings and his political principles made him a 
 strong advocate of the General Amnesty Bill, under 
 which ex-Confederates would be enabled to return to the 
 halls of legislation. At the same time he was opposed 
 to the Civil Rights Bill, which was supported by the ma- 
 jority party in both branches of Congress. The Am- 
 nesty Act was finally passed, and later the modified Civil 
 Rights Bill. 
 
 In the Forty-third Congress political questions were 
 still prominent, but they were not predominant. Finan- 
 cial legislation and various measures of internal improve- 
 ments claimed much attention. To this Congress came 
 several ex-Confederates whose disabilities had been re- 
 moved through the passage of the Amnesty Act. Among 
 them was L. Q. C. Lamar of Mississippi, who entered 
 the House of Representatives. Other new members of 
 the House who later filled a large space in the affairs of 
 the country were Colonel W. R. Morrison, of horizontal 
 tariflf bill fame, and J. G. Cannon of Illinois, R. P. Bland 
 of Missouri, the free silver advocate, and T. C. Piatt of 
 New York. The delegate from the Territory of New 
 Mexico was Stephen B. Elkins, who soon was to become 
 identified with Senator Davis in the intimate family re- 
 lation of son-in-law, and who was to be associated with 
 him in his business enterprises, although the two were 
 always to remain opposed in national politics. 
 
 Among Senator Davis's new colleagues in the Senate 
 were William B. Allison of Iowa, who followed in nat- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 59 
 
 ural progression from the House, John James Ingalls 
 of Kansas, John P. Jones of Nevada, and Richard J. 
 Oglesby of Illinois. The new members of his own po- 
 litical faith included the dashing ex-Confederate cav- 
 alry leader, General John B. Gordon of Georgia. The 
 Democratic strength was increased by several new Sen- 
 ators, and the influence of the minority, chiefly still in 
 opposition, became a much more pronounced factor in 
 national legislation. 
 
 At the special session of the Senate called by President 
 Grant to confirm his Cabinet, Senator Davis was placed 
 on the Appropriations Committee, and of this Committee 
 he was destined to be a member during the remainder of 
 his senatorial term. Senator Morrill of Maine was 
 chairman. Two Republican members of the Committee 
 with whom Senator Davis through all the remaining 
 years of their lives occupied intimate personal relations 
 were Allison and Windom. 
 
 The work of this committee was most congenial to 
 Senator Davis. Through its complete control of the leg- 
 islation affecting all public expenditures it was the most 
 powerful committee in the Senate, a power of which it 
 had not been shorn by the creation and development of 
 other committees, the sequence of the growth of the Gov- 
 ernment itself. 
 
 During this Congress one of the great characters of 
 the nation passed away. The event is thus described in 
 the Senator's journal : 
 
 March 12, 1874. Mr. Sumner, Senator of Mass., was in his 
 seat yesterday; to-day dead. Senate adjourns until Monday. 
 
 Senator Davis was still a member of the Committee on 
 Claims, and was the author of a bill appropriating 
 $500,000 to reimburse West Virginia for the war losses 
 
6o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 of her citizens. At the session in May, 1874, he made a 
 speech in support of this bill in which he vividly pictured 
 the events of the days of the war. After sketching the 
 formation of the State, he said : 
 
 "The people whose cause I advocate sufifered much for 
 the sake of the Republic. They are the men of the bor- 
 der, those men who during the Rebellion were the living 
 rampart of the States which adhered to the general Gov- 
 ernment. . . . 
 
 "West Virginia was one of the border States during 
 the late war, and so had to bear the brunt of hard knocks 
 and cruel blows from both the contending armies. She 
 was the bulwark, the fortress, interposed between the 
 loyal States of the North and the opponents of the Gov- 
 ernment. Her hills and valleys resounded with the 
 march of hostile armies during the whole war, and on 
 numberless occasions were the scene of hard-fought bat- 
 tles, and were drenched with the blood of the best and 
 bravest of both armies. 
 
 "All the moral influence which she as a State could ex- 
 ercise was thrown in the cause of the Government. Be- 
 ing one of the principal theaters of action and the Gi- 
 brahar of safety for the Northern States, a large number 
 of troops was kept in this State all the time. Thus it 
 was necessary, as one of the consequences of war, to use 
 her schoolhouses and other public buildings as quarters 
 to shield the soldier from wintry blasts, or else as hos- 
 pitals to protect and care for the wounded. . . . 
 
 "It was a misfortune both to the people of the South 
 and the people of the North that this war broke out ; but 
 it did break out, and it raged like a flame upon the prairie, 
 destroying everything within its reach. It swept over 
 our State like a hurricane. It was our lot to have visited 
 upon us all the events, all the horrors of war, all the 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 6i 
 
 effusion of blood, the desolation of families, the rapine, 
 the acts of violence and the conflagrations incident to 
 war. The two armies surged backward and forward 
 through our State like the ebbing and flowing of the tide, 
 first advancing and then retreating. Life, liberty, prop- 
 erty, all went down before the storm. Ties of kindred 
 — social, domestic, and religious ties — were snapped 
 asunder. Our cultivated fields were laid waste, our 
 homes destroyed, our industrial pursuits interrupted, 
 nay, almost abandoned. Many of our people were 
 driven away from their homes ; their cattle, horses, and 
 other stock were taken, their houses burned, and every- 
 thing they had on earth destroyed. . . . 
 
 "This is but a faint picture of some of the horrors of 
 war. Our neighbors who dwelt in affluence and safety, 
 while we stood sentry over their treasures and loved ones, 
 little knew the sufferings and privations we were called 
 upon to undergo." 
 
 The financial legislation of this Congress was the se- 
 quence of the panic of 1873, the full effects of which were 
 most acutely felt during the following Spring. There 
 was much pressure from the West and South to increase 
 the volume of currency as a means of alleviating the in- 
 dustrial and commercial distress. The agitation bore 
 concrete form in the measure reported by Senator Sher- 
 man from the Finance Committee to increase the na- 
 tional bank circulation. This afterward came to be 
 known as the Inflation Bill, although it was a compromise 
 between those who favored increasing the currency and 
 those who hoped ultimately to get back to specie basis. 
 
 Senator Davis, like most of his party colleagues, sup- 
 ported this measure; in doing this he made it clear that 
 he did not think a greater volume of currency was nec- 
 essary, but that what was needed was a more equal dis- 
 
62 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 tribution in different sections of the country. He did 
 not look upon the National Bank Act as sufficiently elas- 
 tic, and, having been a country banker, he was not afraid 
 even to advocate a return to the State banks by reducing 
 the prohibitive ten per cent. tax. But during the debates 
 on this subject he made it clear that the basis of the na- 
 tional circulation should be means for facilitating cur- 
 rency in all parts of the country as needed. It was nearly 
 forty years later when the views he advocated found ex- 
 pression in the passage of the Federal Reserve Act. 
 
 When the bill was reported from the Committee, Sen- 
 ator Davis offered an amendment providing, in sub- 
 stance, for free banking. Under date of March i8, 
 1874, his journal recites that he made a speech on the 
 finances which seemed to be well received. His views 
 on the causes that lead to inflation are as pertinent to-day 
 as they were in the year following the great panic. 
 After reviewing in its historical aspect banking legisla- 
 tion, he continued : 
 
 "What is needed in our present currency is stability, a 
 fixed value, and that measured by a standard recognized 
 by the world. . . . 
 
 "Previous to the panic early in September last there 
 was no one bold enough to say that there was not suffi- 
 cient circulation for the trade and business of the coun- 
 try; in fact, it was generally stated that there was too 
 much paper money. Its abundance led to wild specula- 
 tions, and particularly to the building of costly railroads 
 in distant and wild countries far in advance of the wants 
 of the people. The experience of all countries, particu- 
 larly that of our own, teaches us that an abundance of 
 paper money causes panics. The prospects of a healthy 
 fall trade were never more encouraging than at the be- 
 ginning of September last. None complained that there 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 63 
 
 was not currency enough for all the business wants of 
 the country. Like a thunder-shower in harvest-time the 
 panic came ; all lost confidence ; banks and people held all 
 the currency they had and got all they could, holding 
 tight to it to sell at a premium, or fearing a demand that 
 would be made on them. This caused a want of confi- 
 dence which it has taken and will take time to restore. 
 When it is fully restored, and a transfer made of part 
 of the excess of bank circulation held in the North to 
 the States of the South and West, I fully believe that a 
 majority of the people will agree that we have paper 
 money enough." 
 
 Discussing the same subject and supporting his 
 amendment to reduce the tax on the circulation of the 
 State banks from ten per cent, to an amount equal to that 
 paid by the national banks (one per cent.), he declared 
 it would relieve the wants of the Southern and Western 
 States by allowing them a local circulation. During the 
 discussion of the various financial measures Senator 
 Davis often spoke in aphorisms. 
 
 Arguing against inflation, and citing the experience of 
 the Confederate States he said: 'The more abundant 
 you make anything, the less valuable." Again : "What 
 gives gold its value is that it costs about what it is worth 
 to produce it ; make it as plentiful as brass or iron and it 
 would no longer have its present value." And again: 
 "You cannot legislate money into this or that place. . . . 
 Money will find the trade and business centers." 
 
 The bill reported by Senator Sherman from the 
 Finance Committee, as ultimately agreed upon by both 
 branches of Congress, provided for an increase of the 
 paper currency up to $400,000,000, with provisions for 
 a reduction from that amount by retirement of the notes, 
 to which interpretations were given to suit their own 
 
64 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 views by those who favored more paper money and those 
 who favored reducing the paper circulation. Senator 
 Davis supported the legislation, and when, on April 22, 
 President Grant's unexpected veto was received, he voted 
 to override the veto. 
 
 The act providing for the resumption of specie pay- 
 ments on January i, 1879, was passed at the winter ses- 
 sion of this Congress. Senator Davis, though not op- 
 posed in principle to the bill, had some objections to its 
 form, and he was one of the fourteen Senators who voted 
 against it. In a later Congress he declared that resump- 
 tion had come and was apparently working well, and 
 consequently he was opposed to taking a backward step. 
 "Do not let us go back," he said; 'let us keep for- 
 ward." 
 
 It was during the Fifty-third Congress that Senator 
 Davis found a congenial outlet for his constructive ten- 
 dencies in connection with internal improvements. In 
 his journal, under date of September 15, 1873, he says: 
 
 I am a member of the Senate Select Committee on Transporta- 
 tion. It consists of Hon. Wm. Windom, chairman; Conkling, 
 New York ; Sherman, Ohio ; West, Louisiana ; Mitchell, Oregon ; 
 Norwood, Georgia; Davis, West Virginia. We meet in New 
 York City twice, and then go to the Lakes, Chicago, Wisconsm 
 and Fox River, Richmond, Va., James and Kanawha canals. 
 Next, Charleston, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and then home. Decem- 
 ber vacation of Congress we go to New Orleans by way of At- 
 lanta and Mobile. Go down Mississippi River to proposed St. 
 Phillip Canal. Stay at New Orleans four or five days, then home 
 by way of Jackson, Mississippi, Louisville, and Cincinnati. Re- 
 turn home January 4th. 
 
 These hearings excited great interest throughout the 
 country. Senator Davis soon developed into one of the 
 most influential members of the Committee. His inti- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 65 
 
 mate knowledge of railroading and of the whole subject 
 of transportation was quickly apparent in the pertinent 
 inquiries he addressed to the various witnesses who ap- 
 peared in advocacy of the projects which they thought 
 essential to -the development of their section of the coun- 
 try. 
 
 The report of this Committee was prepared by the 
 chairman, Senator Windom. Its voluminous pages are 
 still studied by students of the transportation problems 
 of the present day. A sweeping conclusion as to the 
 power to regulate commerce, embodied by the chairman 
 in the report, was not in full harmony with the views of 
 some of the members of the Committee, who were tra- 
 ditionalists. Senator Davis joined with his Democratic 
 colleagues, Senators Norwood and Johnson, the latter 
 having been added to the committee, in a brief statement 
 that they did not agree that Congress could exercise 
 power to regulate commerce among the several States 
 to the extent asserted. Senator Conkling also, while 
 saying that he concurred in the main, dissented from cer- 
 tain statements of law and of fact, and from the recom- 
 mendations relative to the power of Congress and its 
 exercise. 
 
 The academic dissent from some of the general con- 
 clusions did not prevent Senator Davis from giving most 
 hearty support to the specific projects that received the 
 indorsement of the Committee. In this matter he was 
 not unmindful of the interests of West Virginia, and he 
 was solicitous also for the interests of Baltimore and 
 the Chesapeake Bay country. He believed that his own 
 State had not received the consideration to which it was 
 entitled in the River and Harbor legislation. He pressed 
 on the Committee the value of the Great Kanawha River, 
 and he secured the designation of the eminent Baltimore 
 
66 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 engineer, B. H. Latrobe, as the civilian member of the 
 Committee appointed to report on the James River and 
 Kanawha canals. 
 
 He also secured an appropriation to begin the improve- 
 ment of the river, the first appropriation ever voted by 
 Congress for a West Virginia waterway, and the first 
 step toward making the Great Kanawha the important 
 transportation route it has since become. It was during 
 the discussion of the project for the Hennepin Canal, 
 joining the waters of the Great Lakes and the Illinois 
 River with the Mississippi, that he declared the Chesa- 
 peake and Delaware Canal to be on a par with the pro- 
 posed Hennepin Canal. On other occasions he sought 
 to secure recognition of Baltimore as one of the great 
 Atlantic ports. 
 
 In one of the debates on internal improvements and 
 foreign commerce Senator Davis drew from the brilliant 
 and erratic Senator Nye of Nevada a plea that convulsed 
 the Senate. Senator Nye was advocating a bill provid- 
 ing for a postal steamship subsidy between the Pacific 
 Coast and Australia. Senator Davis moved the refer- 
 ence of the bill from the Post Office Committee to the 
 Committee on Commerce. The chairman of the latter 
 Committee, it was known, was not favorable to the meas- 
 ure. 
 
 Senator Nye, somewhat inattentive to the routine pro- 
 ceedings of the Senate, at first did not catch the import 
 of the motion. When he did, he jumped up, exclaiming : 
 ''This bill of mine ? I have not time to attend its funeral 
 to-day. [Laughter.] I hope that will not be done. 
 You see the undertaker here in his seat, and I do not 
 propose to be led to the shambles with this bill nolens 
 volens." 
 
 The signs of a political revolution throughout the 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 67 
 
 nation were becoming clearer during the final session of 
 the Forty-third Congress. As soon as adjournment 
 was had, Senator Davis gave his whole attention to the 
 campaign in his own State. The political developments 
 are summarized in two entries in his journal : 
 
 October 13, 1874. Our State election. Democrats made nearly 
 a clean sweep in this and other States. We elected about 4-5ths 
 of Legislature which elects a U. S. Senator. Also a full (3) 
 delegation to House of Representatives. 
 
 November 3. Twenty-three States voted to-day. Democrats 
 make large gains, even carrying Massachusetts, electing Gov. 
 Gaston and 4 or 5 members of House. N. Y. and Penna. go 
 Democratic, which give Democrats House by 50 or 60 majority, 
 and elects lo or 12 Senators, 
 
 When the Forty-fourth Congress met in December, 
 1875, the House of Representatives, with its large Dem- 
 ocratic majority, elected Michael C. Kerr, of Indiana, 
 Speaker. The Democratic membership in the Senate 
 was increased to :iy2, just twice what it had been when 
 Mr. Davis entered the Senate. He now had a Demo- 
 cratic colleague from his own State in the person of 
 Allan T. Caperton, who had succeeded Senator Boreman. 
 From the neighboring State of Maryland came his life- 
 long personal and political friend, William Pinckney 
 Whyte. Francis Kernan of New York, W. W. Eaton 
 of Connecticut, and Joseph E. McDonald of Indiana, 
 were among the other new Democratic Senators. A 
 notable figure of the past emerging into political life 
 again was former President Andrew Johnson of Ten- 
 nessee. 
 
 In this Congress Senator Davis returned to a subject 
 to which he gave much attention through a great part of 
 his Senatorial career. This was government bookkeep- 
 ing and the forms of statement of the public debt. In 
 
68 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the Forty-third Congress he had introduced a resolution 
 requesting the Secretary of the Treasury to inform the 
 Senate whether annual reports of the balances due the 
 United States had been submitted since 1865, and if not 
 why not. 
 
 The purpose of this resolution may have been political, 
 as was charged by the Republican leaders of the Senate, 
 but Senator Davis insisted that the people were entitled 
 to know ''who the defaulters were." The resolution was 
 amended and passed, and a reply later was received from 
 the Secretary of the Treasury which had little value to 
 the inquirer. Following this effort Senator Davis sub- 
 mitted a resolution for a committee to investigate the 
 Treasury accounts. It was amended by directing the 
 Finance Committee to make an investigation. Natu- 
 rally, Senator Davis got little comfort from the report of 
 the Committee, the majority of which was opposed to 
 him politically. 
 
 In the treatment of this subject the Senate had a taste 
 of Mr. Davis's tenacity and of his persistence in follow- 
 ing up a matter in which he was interested. Ultimately 
 he got a hearing, and the Senate, while not fully agreeing 
 with his charges, apparently did agree with his main 
 contention, which was that the debt statements and all 
 the statements in regard to government finances should 
 be clear enough to be understood. Senator Davis's own 
 views were set forth in detail during the running debate 
 in the Senate in January, 1876, when he returned to the 
 subject on different days. He had several colloquies 
 with Senator Boutwell of Massachusetts, who had served 
 as Secretary of the Treasury, and under whose adminis- 
 tration some of the changes that were questioned had 
 been made. His contention was summed up in this 
 statements 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 69 
 
 "The largest railroad corporations, commercial and 
 manufacturing establishments in the country whose ac- 
 counts reach tens of millions when managed upon proper 
 business principles, have no difficulty in making intelli- 
 gible their books and being able to make a statement of 
 the exact condition of their business at any time; and 
 while I concede that the Government is on a larger scale, 
 yet its management should be such that its financial af- 
 fairs may be readily understood; and indeed the larger 
 the operations the greater the necessity for rigid, prompt, 
 and accurate accountability and careful and regular 
 statements, which should always agree, and when once 
 rendered should be, like the laws of the Medes and Per- 
 sians, not subject to change." 
 
 Senator Davis's own view of the subject, as it pre- 
 sented itself to him at the time, is recorded in two brief 
 entries in the journal: 
 
 January 13, 1876. I make a speech on alterations, etc., in 
 Treasury Department. I show many millions not accounted for. 
 Ex-Secretary Boutwell replies. 
 
 January 24. I reply to Ex-Secretary Boutwell and make some 
 new charges. 1 sustain all I have said. 
 
 There is reason to believe that in later years Senator 
 Davis changed his views somewhat on this subject. 
 Secretaries of the Treasury who were of his own polit- 
 ical party, on their part, altered the methods of govern- 
 ment bookkeeping, and of public debt statements, and 
 were criticized in turn by their political opponents. But 
 in his principal contention, that the statements of the 
 Treasury accounts and the public debt should be clear 
 enough to be understood, he was on solid ground from 
 which he never retreated. 
 
 The national campaign of 1876 occupied much of the 
 
70 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 attention of Senator Davis. As usual, he was one of 
 the delegates from West Virginia to the Democratic 
 National Convention, and he came back from Cincinnati 
 believing that the prospects were very good for the elec- 
 tion of Tilden and Hendricks. He corresponded with 
 Tilden concerning the campaign. But, while interested 
 in the national ticket, he was not unmindful of his own 
 political fortunes. After the adjournment of Congress 
 in August, he gave his whole time to the State. The 
 subsequent events are thus recorded in his journal: 
 
 August 31, 1876. I have looked over the State and many of my 
 friends have written me. All agiee that without a great change 
 takes place I will be easily reelected to the Senate. My term ex- 
 pires March 4, 1877. 
 
 January 12, 1877. West Virginia Legislature met the lOth at 
 Wheeling. I go and stay three days. Mr. C. J. Faulkner and 
 myself are the principal candidates for long term of the Senate. 
 Herford and Brice for short to succeed Mr. Caperton, who died 
 in July last. 
 
 January 20. I return to Wheeling. Election for Senator takes 
 place 23d. 
 
 January 28. On the 27th, on fourth ballot, I was elected to 
 Senate for six years from March 4, 1877, by a vote of 60 against 
 37 scattering, of which Mr. Faulkner got 18. Herford was also 
 elected on same day, next ballot after me. . . . 
 
 There were 6 or 8 candidates for my place in the Senate. Most 
 promising was Hon. C. J. Faulkner, Judge John Brannon, Hon. 
 J. J. Davis, Judge L. D. Camden. Hon. J. N. Camden and his 
 friends were for me ; also Governor-elect Mathews. I think Hon. 
 Lewis Baker, editor of Register, did more to elect me than any 
 other man. J. N. Camden next. There was no caucus nomina- 
 tion. I was elected in joint session on fourth day and fourth 
 ballot. There were 21 Republicans in Legislature. 20 voted for 
 me, so I received 40 Democratic votes and 20 Republican. 
 
 The fact that the Republican members, themselves 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 71 
 
 being so greatly in the minority, preferred to honor Sen- 
 ator Davis with their support rather than to compliment 
 one of their own number, was a source of great grati- 
 fication to him. It showed the warm feeling which the 
 opposing party always held for him, notwithstanding the 
 inevitable incidents of partizanship. 
 
 In the exciting events at Washington following the 
 disputed election between Tilden and Hayes, Senator 
 Davis bore himself with his habitual moderation. He 
 believed that Tilden had been elected President, and he 
 voted for the Electoral Commission Bill in the expecta- 
 tion that the Commission would so find; but that body 
 having decided that Hayes was elected, he acquiesced in 
 the decision, and counseled acquiescence on the part of 
 others. 
 
 His first term as a Senator of the United States was 
 now ending. His six years' service had broadened his 
 insight into national affairs, and had given him an ex- 
 perience by which he was certain to profit during fur- 
 ther service. In his own party, in the caucus and in the 
 cloak-room councils, his influence had become very pro- 
 nounced. Senator Thurman, on whom the burden of 
 minority leadership had lain somewhat heavily, always 
 turned to him when questions of party policy were to be 
 determined. Other leaders who were heard most often 
 on the floor in the exposition of party policy also coun- 
 seled with him. 
 
 Yet, while a strong party man. Senator Davis never 
 failed to show the independence that was characteristic 
 of a broad-minded public man. He had won the esteem 
 of the dominant party, and its leaders, recognizing his 
 enormous capacity for detail and his thorough study of 
 every subject presented to him, frequently turn^ed to him 
 
'J2 HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 
 
 for advice on matters of legislation that were not of a 
 political character. With many of them, also, he had 
 formed warm ties of personal friendship. Thus he was 
 entering on his second term with every prospect of use- 
 fulness and of increased influence. 
 
>. 
 
 Pi 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES SECOND TERM 
 
 Parties as affected by President Hayes's Administration — 
 Remonetization of silver — Democratic majority in the Senate of 
 the Forty-sixth Congress — New colleagues — Senator Davis as 
 chairman of the Appropriations Committee — Advocacy of a De- 
 partment of Agriculture — Modest provisions for the farmers — 
 Camden as a colleague — Treasury accounts again — An unqualified 
 protection Democrat— Defense of the tariff on coal — West Vir- 
 ginia and debts of honor — Business reasons for declining a third 
 term— Resolution of State Legislature — Resume of public ques- 
 tions during twelve years' service — Growth of appropriations — 
 James G. Blaine's tribute to Senator Davis. 
 
 THE Senate of the Forty-fifth Congress was called 
 in the customary extra session by President 
 Hayes to confirm his Cabinet nominations and 
 other appointments. The inauguration is thus briefly 
 described in Senator Davis's journal: 
 
 March 5, 1877. The 4th being Sunday, Hon. R. B. Hayes was 
 inaugurated President, the Electoral Commission made by Con- 
 gress having declared Hayes elected over Tilden by a majority of 
 one electoral vote, 185 to 184. 
 
 The Democratic membership of the Senate was fur- 
 ther strengthened in this Congress. AmxOng the new 
 Democratic Senators were James B. Beck of Kentucky, 
 William H. Barnum of Connecticut, Benjamin H. Hill 
 of Georgia, L. Q. C. Lamar of Mississippi, Augustus H. 
 Garland of Arkansas, J. R. McPherson of New Jersey, 
 and Daniel W. Voorhees of Indiana. Mr. Blaine, who 
 had served in the Forty-fourth Congress to fill the va- 
 
 73 
 
74 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 cancy caused by the death of Senator Lot M. Morrill, 
 now entered upon the full senatorial term. Samuel J. 
 Kirkwood entered from Iowa. George F. Hoar of 
 Massachusetts, after several years' service in the House, 
 now came to the Senate. Henry M. Teller appeared 
 from Colorado, the Centennial State. David Davis of 
 Illinois, having resigned from the Supreme Bench to ac- 
 cept the Senatorship as an independent, thus breaking 
 the deadlock, was one of the conspicuous members. 
 
 When the House of Representatives organized, it still 
 contained a large Democratic majority, and Samuel J. 
 Randall was elected Speaker. Among the new members 
 of the House were Thomas B. Reed of Maine and Wil- 
 liam McKinley of Ohio. 
 
 At the beginning of Senator Davis's second term many 
 of the political questions that had been the means of 
 welding the Democratic minority closely together no 
 longer existed. There was still political legislation, but 
 the era of Reconstruction and of the party measures 
 growing out of it was ended. The new era was marked 
 by the policy of conciliation toward the South instituted 
 by President Hayes. The split this policy caused in the 
 Republican party, and the bitterness of the factions that 
 respectively sustained and opposed it, exceeded the bit- 
 terness that had obtained in previous years when the two 
 great parties were lined up against each other. These 
 family quarrels of the Republicans had little effect on 
 the legislative activities of Senator Davis. His per- 
 sonal relations with several of the rival leaders at times 
 enabled him to act as a mediator between them. This 
 was the strongest evidence that could be given of the de- 
 gree to which his personality had impressed itself on 
 his colleagues. 
 
 Senator Davis continued to serve on the Committee on 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 75 
 
 Appropriations. Though not a member of the Finance 
 Committee, he gave much attention to the work of that 
 Committee in the form in which it came before the Sen- 
 ate, sometimes joining with his colleagues of both par- 
 ties to modify its recommendations, sometimes support- 
 ing them, and occasionally rejecting them outright. 
 
 The remonetization of silver was the leading financial 
 question before the Forty-fifth Congress. The House 
 passed the Bland Free Coinage Bill, the purpose of which 
 was declared by its supporters to be to remedy "the 
 crime of 1873" by which silver was demonetized. The 
 Senate accepted the Allison Amendment, under which 
 the coinage of not less than two million dollars and not 
 more than four million dollars was provided per month. 
 Senator Davis, before this bill came up, had been one 
 of the forty-three Senators who voted for the resolu- 
 tion offered by Stanley Matthews of Ohio, to the eflFect 
 that the bonds of the United States were payable in sil- 
 ver. On the pi-oposed remonetization he favored the 
 Allison amendment, and spoke in support of it several 
 
 times. 
 
 The substance of his position was that he favored sil- 
 ver because it was one of our chief products, would make 
 the money known to the Constitution more abundant, 
 would relieve distress, and would lead back to prosperity. 
 He held that its remonetization was important to the 
 laboring, the agricultural, the manufacturing, and the 
 debtor classes. When President Hayes vetoed the 
 Bland-Allison bill, he stood by his original convictions 
 and voted to pass it over the veto, which was done. 
 
 It was during this silver debate that Senator Davis set 
 forth his views on the relations between labor and capi- 
 tal. In a sharp colloquy with Senator Sargent of Cali- 
 fornia, he remarked, "The poor man appears to have 
 
76 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 found friends here." Continuing the debate, he said: 
 
 "In the discussion of this question I do not find it 
 necessary to reflect upon capital and labor. I am a 
 friend of both — and have a good word and a kind feel- 
 ing for each. By laws man cannot control they are and 
 ought to be friends; they should go hand in hand; they 
 are necessary to each other ; one cannot be well and the 
 other sick. A nation cannot prosper for a long time 
 when they are at war ; they may be arrayed against each 
 other temporarily, but bad results are as sure to follow 
 and continue until their natural harmony is restored. 
 One depends upon prosperity and health upon the other. 
 They should support and uphold each other; they have 
 equal and the same right to protection." 
 
 These were not mere academic expressions or the 
 catch-words of a politician. They embodied the prin- 
 ciple upon which Senator Davis as a capitalist, and for 
 more than half a century a large employer, guided his 
 relations with labor. 
 
 In the Forty-sixth Congress the Democrats held the 
 majority in the Senate as well as in the House, and thus 
 were enabled to control the organization. Among the 
 new Democratic Senators were George H. Pendleton of 
 Ohio, George G. Vest and Francis M. Cockrell of 
 Missouri, and John T. Morgan of Alabama. Senator 
 Davis, by virtue of his service as a minority member of 
 the Appropriations Committee, now that his party was 
 in the majority, became the chairman of that committee. 
 
 During the two years in which he served in this ca- 
 pacity he observed the same practice that he had followed 
 when in the minority. He believed in public economy, 
 but not in parsimony. Politically he was opposed to the 
 party that was in control of the national administration, 
 and the scrutiny of its expenditures was a fair subject 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS ^-j 
 
 for party capital ; but no department of the Government, 
 in asking appropriations, had reason to feel that its 
 proper requests would be denied. 
 
 If the chairman of the Appropria'tions Committee de- 
 claimed somewhat against extravagance and exhorted to 
 economy, he had done the same thing when he was a 
 minority member, and where it seemed that the growth 
 of the Government justified increased expenditures in 
 some directions he advocated them and sought to pro- 
 vide for them. This was notably the case in regard to 
 what would now be called encouraging agriculture. 
 That greater support should be given by the general gov- 
 ernment to the development of agriculture had been one 
 of his favorite themes. It was natural that the farmer 
 boy of the Western Shore of Maryland who later had 
 cleared the Alleghany wilderness, and whose farm at 
 Deer Park filled so many entries in his journal, should 
 take an interest in the farmers of the nation. 
 
 Senator Davis loved the farm and farm life. He had 
 introduced various resolutions and bills to encourage 
 farming. One of these resolutions was presented at 
 the spring session in 1878. Its text showed how little 
 encouragement the agriculture of the country up to that 
 time had received from Congress. There was a bureau 
 or Department of Agriculture, with a Commissioner at 
 its head and a few employes. This resolution called for 
 the printing of three hundred thousand copies of the 
 Agricultural Report. Congress made some provision 
 for distributing seeds ; but in the course of the debate on 
 the resolution Senator Davis, correcting Senator Sauls- 
 bury of Delaware, who had spoken of five hundred thou- 
 sand dollars as the appropriation made for agricultural 
 purposes, explained that the amount was only two hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand dollars. 
 
78 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 At the December session he introduced another resolu- 
 tion reciting that, since agriculture was the foundation 
 of nearly all our wealth, and since it was mainly through 
 the exportation of its products that we were paying off 
 our large indebtedness, the Committee on Agriculture 
 of the tv/o Houses should investigate and report what 
 could or ought to be done by the general Government the 
 better to advance the agricultural interests. Previous 
 to the introduction of this resolution he had corresponded 
 with Governor Horatio Seymour of New York, who had, 
 as he wrote to Senator Davis, talked a great deal and 
 frequently at agricultural fairs. Ultimately the resolu- 
 tion was passed. 
 
 In order to get the whole subject before Congress in 
 a definite form, Senator Davis made a set speech. Un- 
 der date of January 14, 1879, he records in his journal: 
 *T made in Senate an agricultural speech which is highly 
 spoken of." In this speech he said: 
 
 ''We are a nation of farmers, and because of the vast 
 area of our soil and its great fertility we must remain 
 so. Our agricultural products not only support our peo- 
 ple but pay for what we buy abroad. They furnish our 
 greatest source of revenue — and to them we are indebted 
 for the balance of trade now being largely in our favor 
 and that our bonds and other indebtedness held abroad 
 are so rapidly coming home." 
 
 Continuing this line of thought, he analyzed the sta- 
 tistics and showed that three fourths of the country's 
 exports were agricultural products. 
 
 In succeeding Congresses Senator Davis joined with 
 Senator Windom in seeking to secure the establishment 
 of a Department of Agriculture and Commerce. He 
 introduced a bill for that purpose at several sessions. 
 His final effort in behalf of agriculture was made in 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 79 
 
 January, 1883, just a few weeks before his retirement in 
 a speech supporting his bill for the establishment of a 
 Department of Agriculture. In this speech he com- 
 pared somewhat humorously the numerical proportion 
 of lawyers and farmers. He said that in both branches 
 of Congress there were two hundred and fifty-two law- 
 yers and sixteen farmers, counting himself as a farmer. 
 This was in striking contrast to the House of Delegates 
 of West Virginia in which he began his public life.'' As 
 has been shown in the foregoing pages, there were one 
 lawyer and twenty farmers in that body. 
 
 At this session of the Senate Mr. Davis, as a member 
 of the Appropriations Committee, was in charge of the 
 Agricultural Appropriation Bill. It provided $60,000 
 for seed, and $414,000 for administrative and other ex- 
 penses. Senator Davis lived to see the modest appro- 
 priation approximating half a million dollars, which 
 marked the last stage of his Senatorial career, grow into 
 an appropriation of $20,000,000 in 1915, to support 
 what has become one of the greatest departments of the 
 Government of the United States, and all within a gen- 
 eration. To his constructive mind, and to his sympathy 
 with the farmer and his knowledge of the economic rela- 
 tion of agriculture to national development, is due much 
 of the credit for the creation of the Department of Agri- 
 culture and the functions it performs in the Government 
 West Virginia politics and national politics were not 
 neglected on account of Senatorial duties. Senator 
 Davis took an active part in the West Virginia State 
 campaign in 1878. Under date of September 24 he 
 records in his journal : 'T make a speech at Grafton on 
 the political situation of the country. It is printed in 
 full in Wheeling Register, and in part in many of the 
 papers of the State." Further entries relate to other 
 
8o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 speeches. The outcome is indicated in October in the 
 statement that the Democrats have carried each of the 
 Congressional districts, and a large majority in the Leg- 
 islature. The majority of the Legislature was especially 
 gratifying to Senator Davis. The reason for his grati- 
 fication is indicated in a later entry in his journal: 
 
 Hon. J. N. Camden has been elected U. S. Senator for West 
 Virginia, term commencing March 4 for six years, I was for 
 him and will be glad to have him for a colleague. 
 
 Mr. Cam-den's career was in many respects similar to 
 that of Senator Davis. He was a business man. Liv- 
 ing at Parkersburg, he was one of the pioneers in the 
 oil industry, and he did for the Ohio River counties what 
 Senator Davis did for the mountain counties in develop- 
 ing their resources and providing systems of transporta- 
 tion. The two were associated with the campaigns fol- 
 lowing the Civil War, under which the Democratic party 
 through organization and leadership was enabled to gain 
 control of the State. Their political association and 
 their personal friendship continued until the death of 
 Senator Camden. 
 
 In 1880 Senator Davis headed the West Virginia 
 delegation to the Democratic national convention at 
 Cincinnati, which nominated Hancock and English. He 
 did not, apparently, regard the ticket as a strong one. 
 
 During the sessions of the Forty-sixth Congress Sen- 
 ator Davis returned to the subject of the Treasury ac- 
 counts. His party being in the majority, he was able to 
 secure the appointment of a special committee of inves- 
 tigation. John Sherman, who had been chairman of the 
 Finance Committee when Senator Davis began his agita- 
 tion for information, was now Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury. The bookkeeping of the Department under him 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 8i 
 
 was not criticized, but the report made by Senator Davis 
 on behalf of the majority insisted that in previous years 
 many erasures and changes had been made in the books, 
 and that the systems of checks on officers handling large 
 sums of money was faulty. A minority report was pre- 
 sented by Senators Ingalls and Dawes, in which the con- 
 clusions of the majority were combated. Some years 
 later the Treasury Department revised the entire system 
 of bookkeeping, and introduced further safeguards, 
 while at the same time simplifying the methods of book- 
 keeping. From the beginning this simplification had 
 been one of the principal contentions of Senator Davis. 
 
 Senator Davis was a protection Democrat without 
 apology and without qualification. A Henry Clay Whig 
 in his earlier political life, this was perhaps a natural in- 
 heritance; but, living in a State whose principal resources 
 lay underground, and being himself an industrial cap- 
 tain seeking to develop those resources, protection was 
 a natural course of political action for him. Yet he 
 was not extreme in his views, and he did not oppose re- 
 duction in some of the schedules where the industries 
 had been sufficiently fostered to stand this reduction. 
 
 In the Forty-second Congress, when the internal rev- 
 enue taxes were removed from fish, fruits, and meats, 
 and the duties on tea and coffee were abolished, he also 
 supported the reduction of ten per cent, on cotton, wool, 
 iron, steel, paper, rubber, and glass products. In the 
 Forty-sixth Congress he supported a tariff amendment 
 by Senator Bayard providing that the duty on wool 
 should not exceed twenty-five per cent, ad valorem, and 
 on woolen goods fifty per cent. 
 
 The reasons that guided his support of protection as a 
 principle and as a policy were set forth when coal, the 
 chief product of his own State, came under review. The 
 
82 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Tariff Commission appointed by President Arthur in the 
 bill it recommended had proposed to reduce the duty on 
 coal. In the debates on this subject in January and Feb- 
 ruary, 1883, Senator Davis reviewed the whole tariff 
 question in its broad historial aspect — as well as in its 
 local application. The Tariff Commission Bill proposed 
 to reduce the duty on bituminous coal from seventy-five 
 cents to fifty cents per ton. Senator Davis objected to 
 this proposition, for one reason because other articles 
 were reduced only ten per cent., while the proposed re- 
 duction on coal amounted to thirty-three per cent. 
 
 In the discussion he reviewed and justified his own 
 stand as related to his personal interest. Senator Mor- 
 gan of Alabama had declared that the protection prop- 
 osition was a man voting a tax into his own pocket out 
 of the people of Alabama to enrich himself. 
 
 Senator Davis, speaking with feeling, in reply said: 
 
 "It is true that I am a coal-miner, and had been for 
 many years before I knew the Senate, and I have con- 
 tinued ever since. I, however, am one of a corporation 
 in which there are perhaps one hundred people engaged. 
 Every Senator here has voted on everything that has 
 come up in the Senate when his people were interested 
 regardless of his personal interest. I might as well say 
 that the Senator from Texas, or any other Senator, when 
 he votes for the duty on cotton, or any other thing, votes 
 to put money in his own pocket. I do not choose to go 
 into that; I do not think it just or proper. . . . 
 
 'T have uniformly voted for a fair protection, or what 
 I believe to be a fair protection, for every interest that 
 has come up for consideration. I have been unfortunate 
 in disagreeing with a large majority of my friends on 
 this side of the chamber. However, I am just as hon- 
 est in my conviction that I am right as they are in theirs. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 83 
 
 I heard it said — I suppose it was not intended for me — 
 on some vote I gave here that I had better look out — 
 'wait until coal comes up.' That is hardly a fair argu- 
 ment. I do not regard it as a fair way of meeting a ques- 
 tion, because a Senator happens to be interested in an 
 industry, to retaliate on his vote on something else by 
 the idea, 'when we get a chance we will punish him.' I 
 have no such feeling towards others. I act upon each 
 question as it arises, according to' my judgment of what 
 is right in regard to it. . . . 
 
 "I suppose I am interested to the extent of one ten 
 thousandth part of the coal mines in this country. My 
 interest in the question, I suppose, would not be greater 
 than that, and yet Senators speak as if that would have 
 weight with me; as if my course on this question was an 
 exception to my general rule of action, as if coal was 
 the thing above all others, as if some little personal feel- 
 ing actuated me. I find Senators on this side of the 
 house who are especially interested in some particular 
 thing, and they vote and act for protection to that, and 
 they vote against protection to everything else. . . . 
 That course of conduct seems to go all around the cham- 
 ber. It is not confined to this side altogether; and yet, 
 when a man who has been consistent, and voted for every 
 fair proposition, asks for a reasonable rate on a great 
 product of his State, some Senators are kind enough to 
 say, or choose to say, that that man owns an interest 
 in a mine. I do own an interest in a mine, and I wish 
 it distinctly understood that I do." 
 
 In later years, as a private citizen, Mr. Davis pro-' 
 tested before the committees of Congress against the 
 free coal proposition contained in the Wilson bill, the 
 author of which was from his own .State and district. 
 Much later, in newspaper interviews, he voiced his ob- 
 
84 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 jections to the reduction of coal which was provided in 
 the Canadian Reciprocity Agreement negotiated by 
 
 President Taf t. 
 
 The debt of West Virginia was a topic of discussion 
 and criticism at various periods during Senator Davis's 
 service in the Senate. He had numerous colloquies with 
 Senators Sherman, Hawley, Hoar, and Edmunds on the 
 subject at different times. The New England Senators 
 in particular were inclined to be critical, and he resented 
 their attitude. In the several debates Senator Davis ex- 
 plained his own action, when a member of the West 
 Virginia Legislature, in seeking an adjustment of the 
 question and particularly in providing for commissioners 
 to go to Richmond to confer with Virginia officials. As 
 to the action of members of the Senate in bringing up 
 the subject, Senator Davis maintained that it was a local 
 question and belonged to the two States respectively, and 
 not to Congress. 
 
 He reviewed the whole controversy in a speech de- 
 livered early in May, 1881. In this speech, incidentally, 
 he spoke of the resources of West Virginia, saying: 
 'They are largely undeveloped as yet, the greater part 
 of them lying dormant; but when the treasures of this 
 mountain State are unearthed, as they must be in time, 
 they will astonish the world." 
 
 Referring to the proportion of the debt which the un- 
 developed commonwealth that West Virginia was when 
 it separated from the Old Dominion should pay, he 
 asked: ''Can you tax a mountain uninhabited at the 
 same rate you would tax a valley well improved?" 
 
 In this address Senator Davis made his famous de- 
 liverance on debts of honor. "In my opinion," he said, 
 '*no individual, no firm, no corporation, no city, town, 
 state or government can afford to ignore a just and hon- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 85 
 
 orable debt. A State cannot do so even with as much 
 propriety as an individual. The law can compel pay- 
 ment by one ; in the case of the other it is a debt more of 
 honor, and I believe it is the duty of every citizen of the 
 State to do his full share to have his State, no matter 
 whether it owes much or little, do its part, its honest 
 part, its just part, its equitable part, toward the settle- 
 ment and payment ot any debt it may owe, and so far as 
 my voice goes it will always be in that direction. . . . 
 
 "I think I am as much of a debt-payer as anybody, and 
 I believe it is the duty of every State and every indi- 
 vidual to pay a just and honorable debt, let it be what 
 it may. I think that a man who wants to look the world 
 squarely in the face and do his full duty will at all times 
 — whether he is able to pay may be another question — 
 at least answer and say, 1 owe and will pay when I 
 can.' " 
 
 Senator Davis had found public duties most agree- 
 able. His two terms in the Senate had not caused him 
 to tire of it, but the public service was made at some 
 sacrifice to his growing business interests. These were 
 not neglected, but necessarily they were secondary. 
 Projects of industrial development which he had been 
 maturing had now reached the stage where, if they were 
 to be brought to their full fruition, they must have the 
 first claim on him. Accordingly, he determined to retire 
 from the Senate, although this did not mean his entire 
 withdrawal from public life, for he expected to con- 
 tinue his interest in public affairs, and did continue them 
 thereafter, but principally as a private citizen. His de- 
 termination to retire is thus set forth in his journal : 
 
 November 20, 1882. I have for two or three years said I 
 would not be a candidate for reelection to the Senate, and to 
 
86 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 put all matters at rest I wrote and printed the following letter. 
 I have no doubt of my election if I had been a candidate. 
 
 The letter, which was addressed to the Wheeling Reg- 
 ister, follows : 
 
 Piedmont, W. Va., Nov. i8, 1882. 
 
 I have recently received a number of letters and personal in- 
 quiries from members of the Legislature elect, candidates for the 
 United States Senate, and other friends, asking me if I would 
 be a candidate for reelection and expressing their preference for 
 me if such was my intention. To all such inquiries my general 
 answer has been that for the past two or three years I have often 
 said in public and private that I would not be a candidate for 
 reelection. Business is more agreeable to me than politics, and 
 I am now engaged in lumbering, mining, banking, and farming; 
 in connection with some friends who are capitalists living both in 
 and out of the State, am constructing railroad lines running north 
 and south through an undeveloped region, rich in mineral, tim- 
 ber, and agricultural wealth, and intended when completed to 
 connect with the Baltimore and Ohio and the Chesapeake and 
 Ohio railroads. My ambition is to make a success of these en- 
 terprises, especially the building of the railroads. These and 
 other private matters are reasons which forbid my being a candi- 
 date for reelection. 
 
 In the many trusts heretofore confided to my keeping I have 
 always endeavored to do my full duty, and I thank the people of 
 the State, and especially my friends, for the political honors that 
 have been conferred upon me. 
 
 The West Virginia Legislature unanimously adopted a 
 resolution showing the appreciation in which Senator 
 Davis was held by all parties. Its text, which is worthy 
 of preservati'on, follows : 
 
 Whereas, Honorable Henry G. Davis will conclude on the 4th 
 of March next his second term as a Senator of the United States 
 from West Virginia, and, having declined to be a candidate for 
 reelection, will then voluntarily retire from the Senate, therefore 
 be it 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS Sy 
 
 Resolved: That a legislative acknowledgment and public ex- 
 pression of thanks is justl} due unto an honored and well tried 
 public servant, and that, in accordance with what we believe to 
 be the sentiment of the people of West Virginia, not restricted to 
 the limits of one political party, we do hereby declare that by his 
 devotion to the public service at all times, and especially to the 
 interests of West Virginia, the Honorable Henry G. Davis has 
 justly earned the gratitude of his constituents, and in the respect 
 and good will of the people of the State he will find reward for a 
 career of honesty, capability, and energetic endeavor in the public 
 service. 
 
 The two terms of Senator Davis in the Senate included 
 six years of President Grant's administration, all that 
 of President Hayes, the brief period of President Gar- 
 field's, and a part of President Arthur's term. When 
 he entered the Senate political and partizan issues, echoes 
 of the sectional struggle, were the vital questions. When 
 he retired, the Reconstruction measures were no longer 
 an issue. The menace of a second civil war growing 
 out of the disputed election of 1876 had been settled 
 peaceably, and, though its echoes were still heard, these 
 had little influence on the course of legislation. Specie 
 payments had been resumed, and the silver question had 
 been settled, as it was then thought, for good. For- 
 eign relations, which were threatening in consequence of 
 the dispute with England over the Alabama claims, had 
 been rendered friendly through the Geneva Arbitration. 
 Chinese immigration, as an economic problem, had first 
 appeared on the horizon, and President Hayes had vetoed 
 the bill passed to prohibit it. Congress had begun sys- 
 tematically to develop the rivers and harbors as part 
 of the transportation system of the country, although the 
 appropriations for that purpose were still modest. 
 
 The growth of the Government was shown in the 
 provisions made for the annual appropriations. Dur- 
 
88 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ing Senator Davis's first year's service in the Senate, 
 when the population of the country was forty millions, 
 the revenues had amounted approximately to $365,000,- 
 000 yearly, of which a little more than $117,000,000 was 
 applied to interest on the public debt and a fraction over 
 $176,000,000 to the regular appropriations. The pen- 
 sion appropriation amounted to $28,500,000 annually, 
 and of this sum $240,000 was for pensioners of the War 
 of 1812. The appropriation for the Army was %2y,- 
 700,000, and for the Navy fractionally less than $20,- 
 000,000. The Post Office appropriation amounted to 
 $26,000,000. 
 
 For the fiscal year 1883-84, the last one for which 
 Senator Davis helped to provide as a member of the Ap- 
 propriations Committee, the annual appropriations were 
 $230,200,000. Of this amount, approximately $24,750,- 
 000 was for the Army and $16,000,000 for the Navy. 
 The appropriation for pensions had amounted to $100,- 
 000,000. The population was now 55,000,000, and the 
 internal and customs revenues were approximately $362,- 
 000,000 annually. 
 
 Of the party colleagues with whom he served in the 
 earlier years, there remained in the full vigor of life and 
 of active public service Senator Bayard, one of the lead- 
 ers of the sixteen Democratic Senators when the Forty- 
 second Congress met in March, 1871. Among those 
 who had entered since that time, several of whom had 
 become his closest friends, were Blaine and Allison. 
 His cousin, Arthur Pue Gorman, and Benjamin Harri- 
 son had entered the Senate in the Forty-seventh Con- 
 gress. 
 
 To one of these colleagues it was given to form the 
 estimate of Henry G. Davis as a public man. This was 
 James G. Blaine. The estimate was of Mr. Davis as he 
 
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 89 
 
 entered the Senate, and also as he left it. In his 
 'Twenty Years of Congress/' in reviewing the members 
 of the Forty-second Congress, Mr. Blaine wrote : 
 
 Henry G. Davis, a native of Maryland, entered as the first 
 Democratic Senator for West Virginia. His personal popularity 
 was a large factor in the contest against the Republicans in his 
 State, and was instantly rewarded by his party as its most influen- 
 tial leader. Mr. Davis had honorably wrought his own way to 
 high station, and had been all his life in active aft"airs as a farmer, 
 a railroadman, a lumberman, an operator in coal, and a banker.' 
 He had been uniformly successful. He came to the Senate with 
 the kind of practical knowledge which schooled him to care and 
 usefulness as a legislator. He steadily grew in the esteem and 
 confidence of both sides of the Senate, and when his party ob- 
 tamed the majority he was intrusted with the responsible duty of 
 the chairmanship of the Committee on Appropriations. No more 
 painstaking or trustworthy man ever held the place. While firmly 
 adhering to his party, he was at all times courteous, and to the 
 busmess of the Senate or in local intercourse never obtruded 
 partizan views. 
 
 Senator Davis's own valedictory to his Senatorial 
 career was characteristically simple. It appears in this 
 entry in his journal : 
 
 March 4, 1883. My second term in U. S. Senate ended yes- 
 terday. I declined a reelection. Hon. J. E. Kenna succeeded me. 
 ... I mtend to devote most of my time to the interests of the 
 West Va. Central Co. both building road, mining, and selling coal. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE RAILWAY BUILDER 
 
 East-and-west trunk lines through West Virginia — Unde- 
 veloped regions between the north and south systems — The Davis 
 projects — His own story of prospecting trips — Early expeditions 
 into the forest wilderness — Timber observations — Exploring un- 
 known coal-fields — Surveys for West Virginia Central Railway — 
 Planning the route — Notable statesmen and capitalists enlisted in 
 the enterprise — Horseback trip to White Sulphur Springs — Open- 
 ing of the line in 1881 — Industrial communities created — Contem- 
 porary account of the railway and the region it developed — Con- 
 troversy with the Baltimore and Ohio — Making the system 
 independent. 
 
 RAILWAY projects are not conceived overnight; 
 they grow in the minds of those who originate 
 and carry them through. They are based on 
 knowledge of the resources that are to be developed and 
 on faith in the returns to be received from developing 
 these resources. They are, in one sense, the product of 
 environment, and they reflect that environment. There 
 is, however, a substantial difiference in the nature of the 
 projects, and this difference is nowhere more apparent 
 than in the mountainous regions that are to be opened 
 up to trade and industry. 
 
 Trunk lines, and in particular east-and-west trunk 
 lines, have been the normal course of railway develop- 
 ment in the United States. In the case of West Vir- 
 ginia the geographical situation made this especially the 
 natural course of transportation. The Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railroad, which brought the Ohio and Mississippi 
 
 90 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 91 
 
 valleys and the Great Lakes to tidewater, was the north- 
 ern route, and when it reached Wheeling in 1853, the 
 observation was made that the roughest region yet tra- 
 versed by an internal improvement in America was that 
 between Cumberland and the Ohio River. 
 
 The southern route, following principally the old 
 James River and Kanawha turnpike, was evolved after 
 the Civil War into the Chesapeake and Ohio system. 
 Its difficulties, financial and otherwise, were not unlike 
 those of the Baltimore and Ohio; but gradually they 
 were surmounted, and there was a trunk line from tide- 
 water at Norfolk and Newport News to the lower Ohio 
 Valley and to the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 A vast region lay between these northern and south- 
 ern trunk lines, easterly and westerly, which could be 
 developed only by lines that would connect with them 
 and that would also secure access for the coal and tim- 
 ber to the Great Lakes and the Mississippi and to tide- 
 water. Railways that had financial difficulties in pro- 
 viding a main system are slow to strike boldly out and 
 build feeders. They construct branch lines cautiously 
 and conservatively. It is their preference to leave to 
 the enterprise of individuals the building of new lines, 
 whose traffic they will handle without the initial cost of 
 construction added to their own financial burdens. 
 
 In this manner most of the internal development of 
 West Virginia has been secured. "The largest chapter 
 in the history of the State," wrote Professor James Mor- 
 ton Callahan in his " Semi-Centennial History of West 
 Virginia," "is that relating to the great industrial awak- 
 ening which had its origin largely in the increasing de- 
 mand for timber, coal, oil, and gas, and was especially 
 influenced by the inducements for the construction of 
 railroads." 
 
92 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 No man in the history of the State of West Virginia 
 fills a fuller page in this large chapter than Henry G. 
 Davis, and no man did more to supply the deficiency in 
 transportation facilities resulting from the conservative 
 policy of the trunk lines. He realized more thoroughly 
 than anyone else of his day the possibilities of the State, 
 especially the region lying southwest of Piedmont, the 
 upper Potomac and Elk Garden regions. He also real- 
 ized that the vast natural resources of the coal and tim- 
 ber counties might lie untouched by man forever unless 
 transportation to the outside world should be provided. 
 
 His early purchases of coal and timber lands on the 
 upper Potomac were adjacent to the Baltimore and Ohio 
 Railroad, and an ordinary man would have been content 
 to reap the gains from his foresight in purchasing those 
 lands. But Mr. Davis was not an ordinary man. After 
 having developed the Piedmont and New Creek region, 
 and then having opened the wilderness on the crest of 
 the Alleghanies, his vision swept a wider horizon, and 
 the conception came to him of building the railway line 
 along the banks of the Potomac to the source of the sum- 
 mit of the mountains, and continuing beyond into the 
 valleys on the western slope of the Alleghanies. 
 
 It was this conception that found expression in the 
 charter for the Piedmont and Potomac Railway, which 
 ultimately developed into the West Virginia Central 
 and Pittsburgh Railway. In the northern counties of 
 the State, and particularly the upper Cheat and Tygarts 
 Valley country, was a wilderness of timber underlaid 
 with coal. Some estimate could be made of the worth 
 of the timber, but no one could estimate the value of the 
 coal that lay beneath the surface. That was purely a 
 venture. The region was almost inaccessible and very 
 sparsely populated in consequence of the lack of means 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 93 
 
 o£ communication. The most that the local communi- 
 ties had sought in the way of opening their resources 
 was to improve the turnpikes. A proposition to con- 
 struct a double-track tramway fifty miles in length was 
 looked on as extravagant. 
 
 Mr. Davis had familiarized himself with every square 
 mile of this wild country. He had traversed it on foot 
 and on horseback, always with the observing eye of an 
 engineer and of a pioneer lumberman and mining pros- 
 pector. A trained geologist could not have done better 
 in locating coal deposits. Some of the entries in his 
 journal afford vivid evidence of the manner in which he 
 determined the feasibility of the railway project. They 
 also give a deep insight into the habits of mind that 
 formed the basis of his success, while they afford more 
 than a passing glimpse of pioneer exploring and of in- 
 difference to its hardships. Here is the account of one 
 of his prospecting trips : 
 
 Aug. i6, 1869. Bro. Thomas and myself start on a trip at 
 Canaan. Stop first night at Greenland. Mr. M. D. Neul and 
 Abraham Smith go with us. Go to Corners from there, to i 
 creek; stay all night with Cap Lamberts. On 19th on east side 
 of mountain to Gouldigen; he goes with us to vein of coal; it 
 shows about four feet; think it is 6 feet. If we were to go again 
 think the best way would be to go first to Greenland; there to 
 Gouldigen. We went up the Creek to coal ; found several veins, 
 ours about 6 feet. It shows several small slates. Return to New 
 Creek ^ by Greenland on 20th and come to Deer Park same day. 
 
 In his journal, under the heading "Look at Anderson 
 and Clancy Pine," is a detailed account of a timber pros- 
 pecting trip, which shows how thorough were the 
 methods of Mr. Davis in his reconnaissances: 
 
 1 New Creek was later named Keyset. 
 
94 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Oct. 28, 1,872. Left Piedmont horseback. Met Jesse W. 
 Clanny at Morrison's Mill. Went to take a look at Anderson, 
 Clanny and Wilson timber on Savage and tributaries. 
 
 Went to Swager's Mill ; found good timber about there. Mill 
 is on horse pond. Run about four miles from junction with Sav- 
 age; run very crooked. Pine timber on creek is about half a 
 mile wide and three long; not much near Savage. Went from 
 Swager's to Clanny's Mill; is on Big Blue Lick Run. A Mr. 
 Jacobs has 75 or 80 acres of No. i pine near Swager's. Good 
 farming country between Swager's and Clanny's, not much pine. 
 Staid Clanny's all night. John C. lives with old man and attends 
 to mill. 
 
 October 29. Leave Clanny's house and mill, walk down Big 
 Blue Lick and up Little B. Lick. Not much timber except hem- 
 lock near Clanny's mill, in fact bottoms on Runs are hemlock ; on 
 side of hills, white pine. Clanny has 2,000 acres in all, has about 
 700 acres on Little Blue Lick tolerable good pine, considerable 
 hemlock, say one half each, would not give much for any but 
 700 acres. 
 
 Mr. Anderson has, I would think, 1,000 or 1,200 acres of white 
 pine and three times as much hemlock. 
 
 Clanny's Mill on Blue Lick about 2^^ miles from junction of 
 Savage and mile from Little Blue Lick. Clanny's Mill about 12 
 miles from Mount Crabtree or railroad junction. Blue Lick 
 about yYi miles from road. Water sawmills on Mr. Anderson's, 
 85^ miles. Horse pond run, 6^ miles. Not much timber from 
 horse pond run to railroad. Tram could be easily made down 
 Savage by crossing Savage about four times. Lochiel or Wil- 
 son's is above Clanny's on Savage, do not think much of it. Ar- 
 rived house with Mr. Clanny about 5 o'clock. 
 
 A further inspection of the timber in the Savage dis- 
 trict was made September 20, 1877: 
 
 Billy Davis, John Riely, Gen. Anderson, agent and myself go 
 to Swager's Mill for the purpose of evamining pine timber. 
 
 There but little good timber near Savage ; it is on headwaters of 
 the small streams running into Savage. We carefully examined 
 Horse Pond run, Poplar Run, on which is Swargen's Mill Cfrom 
 Savage to foot of Meadow Mountain). No timber worth nam- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 95 
 
 ing for 3 or 4 miles from Savage. A tract of land belonging to a 
 Mr. Ross called Brantz Mill seat crosses the run about 2>4 miles 
 from Swager's Mill and 4 miles from Savage, takes about 50 
 acres of good timber, then for a mile up there is but little timber, 
 then there is a body of from one to two hundred acres good white 
 pine. This is from near Mrs. Otto's to Swargen's land and say a 
 mile on creek. 
 
 Above Swargen's on Horse Pond Run there is from 100 to 150 
 acres of good timber. This takes us to foot of Meadow Moun- 
 tain and makes in all belonging to General Anderson say 300 to 
 350 acres of good pine on Horse Pond Run. 
 
 On Elk Lick Run, from what is known as Gov. Thomas' farm 
 to Barton road within mile of Savage there is a body of say 250 
 acres of good pine timber, and between Barton road on one side 
 and Broad Water on the other there is probably 400 acres of land, 
 250 well timbered ; from Thomas' place by this run to Savage is 
 estimated at 4 miles. Upon the whole, there is not as much tim- 
 ber on Savage and run as I supposed. 
 
 A coal-prospecting trip in the region where he was 
 planning the railway line is thus described : 
 
 November 9, 1874. I returned from a trip to Tucker, Ran- 
 dolph and Barbour Counties. Went to look at coal deposits of 
 which much has been said. 
 
 I find on Roaring Creek at or near Crawford Scott's and I. 
 K. Scott's a vein of coal open in several places; the vein from 
 top to bottom is about 11 feet, about 2>4 feet top and bottom of 
 coal, then a slate from i to 2 on this, and about 6 feet of piece 
 or good coal in center. I do not think it the vein of this region 
 or Pittsburgh ; it looks more like the Meyersville or Connellsville 
 and Uuiontown vein. 
 
 A later excursion is told of in this manner : 
 
 December i, 1875. Owen Reader and myself left Piedmont 
 this morning to look at and examine new coal fields lately dis- 
 covered or opened on Stony River and Difficult Creek. Staid all 
 night at Mrs. Lee's. Found near northwestern road and on and 
 near Difficult Creek two veins of coal, one full 4 feet on turnpike, 
 
96 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 one 7 or 7>4 on Difficult one half mile below road. I take those 
 two veins to be over 3>4 and 6 feet, improved in quality and thick- 
 ness ; they are about right distance apart. 
 
 Below Rhiners on Stony River and about midway between 
 Stony River Falls and N. W. Road an 8 foot vein, say 2 feet of 
 coal, then slate 4 inches, then 4 feet of coal, then small slate coal ; 
 very good in appearance, comes out in long regular pieces, finger 
 shape. This is unlike other coal here, but like Connellsville coal. 
 
 Several excursions in later years reflect the thorough 
 manner in which the resources of the districts along the 
 proposed line were studied. Here are two of them : 
 
 July 5, 1881. Mr. Elkins and myself leave Deer Park on horse- 
 back to examine country around and about Fairfax Stone; also 
 on backwater of Cheat River. We find the timber very fine; 
 some cherry and ash ; mostly spruce and hemlock. Coal indica- 
 tions are very good, several veins open, one near Dobbin House 
 of almost 8 feet pure coal. We stay at Dobbin House overnight, 
 no one lives there. We had blankets with us, made pillows out 
 of our saddles; gone three days. George Musser showed us 
 where he and Brant opened 200 yds., east road going to Fairfax 
 Stone on Levering land, five veins in same hill next to Potomac. 
 One vein near top hill about 8 feet, thirty feet below, 4 foot vein 
 fifty below that vein appears 7 feet and two small veins below. 
 On same ridge and mile or more east Riordon opened vein about 
 8 feet above, five feet without stone. Near Dobbin House (old 
 one) say one and one half miles north, or this side of new house, 
 Riordon opened vein almost 8 feet thick; looks black, pure and 
 good, little or no slate in it. This is the best vein I have seen, 
 pitches east, and appears to underlay a large body of land mostly 
 ours. Parsons is now making survey for our road near or in this 
 region. 
 
 Public service in the Legislature of West Virginia and 
 in the United States Senate had not entirely diverted 
 Senator Davis from his development enterprises. It 
 was during this period that his investments in coal and 
 timber lands were expanded, the railway project for the 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 97 
 
 line to the southwest of Piedmont conceived, matured, 
 and its construction begun. In the meantime his finan- 
 cial standing had been strengthened and his position in 
 the business world had extended beyond the local com- 
 munities. His political activities had brought him into 
 contact with men who were known nationally and the 
 identification of whom with any enterprise was certain 
 to secure for it public confidence. 
 
 In these circumstances, toward the end of his second 
 term he was able to secure the necessary financial sup- 
 port, and the company was formed to build the West 
 Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway. Augustus 
 Schell, a sachem of the Tammany society and an impor- 
 tant figure in financial as well as political afifairs, in New 
 York, had met Mr. Davis at several of the Democratic 
 national conventions, and there had grown up a warm 
 friendship between them. Schell agreed to place part 
 <of the bonds of the proposed railway. William H. Bar- 
 num, the Connecticut capitalist who had served for a 
 brief period as a colleague of Mr. Davis, also interested 
 himself. 
 
 Several of the Senators with whom he was on terms 
 of closest intimacy became stockholders. Among these 
 were James G. Blaine, Thomas F. Bayard, J. N. Cam- 
 den, William Pinckney Whyte, and William Windom. 
 Stephen B. Elkins had been associated with Mr. Davis 
 from the time that he had transferred his residence from 
 New Mexico to the East. Jerome B. Chaffee, who 
 served in the Senate from Colorado, and who had been 
 associated with Mr. Elkins in business enterprises in 
 the Southwest, joined the syndicate. Senator Arthur 
 Pue Gorman was heavily interested. There were also 
 several Baltimore capitalists, among them John A. Ham- 
 bleton, the head of a great banking house, William Key- 
 
98 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ser, prominent both in Maryland politics and in railway 
 affairs, and Major Alexander Shaw. It is doubtful 
 whether any railroad in the country at any time had so 
 many men prominent in public life and in finances on 
 the Board of Directors as had the West Virginia Central 
 Railway. They were there because of their confidence 
 in Henry G. Davis. 
 
 That the ideas of some of the statesmen identified with 
 the enterprise as to the best methods of financiering were 
 not always in accordance with the plans of the originator 
 of the railway, appears in a letter from Mr. Blaine in 
 which he said: 
 
 I had a long talk with Elkins yesterday. It is my belief that 
 you have adopted the hardest mode of raising money for the rail- 
 road. I wish I could talk with you personally for an hour in re- 
 gard to the matter. 
 
 Mr. Blaine apparently had the opportunity for an 
 hour's talk; but, so far from convincing Mr. Davis, he 
 was himself convinced that the plan adopted was not 
 the hardest, for there is no further reference in the cor- 
 respondence to his views. 
 
 The manner in which the route for the railway was 
 worked out, with proper regard for the resources that 
 were to furnish traffic, is disclosed in several journal en- 
 tries. Their nature is indicated in the following one: 
 
 October i, 1880. Mr. Elkins, Mr. Randolph, Tom [brother] 
 and myself made a trip to Elk Garden, to examine our coal and 
 other property, and the best way for our railroad and inclined 
 plane to go and take out the big and other vein coal. 
 
 1. We examine three routes, one running on top of hill and 
 down to river about one mile above Deep Run. 
 
 2. Next route is through Mrs. Dixon's to Weasmans, and make 
 inclined plane through Weasman to Deep River near Cranberry 
 Run. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 99 
 
 3. From big vein coal at onr opening No. i by way of Barber's 
 Ridge to Deep Run; plane will come down to Deep Run about 
 two and one half miles from Potomac. 
 
 The last-named is my choice of routes; it comes out on our 
 land, has a No. i place to land, and enables us to open small 
 veins. Distance on all the routes is about the same. 
 
 We were pleased with our trip, and think we have a great 
 future to that coal and lumber region. 
 
 When the construction work was well under way, Mr. 
 Davis invited some of his associates to make a horseback 
 trip with him over part of the route, and beyond to 
 White Sulphur Springs, which he expected to reach ulti- 
 mately by extensions of the line. The journey was filled 
 with fruitful incidents and was not lacking in some hard- 
 ships for the travelers; it is all summed up succinctly in 
 a page in the journal entries : 
 
 July 19, 1881. Senators Bayard, Camden, Secretary Windom, 
 Maj. Shaw, Baker, Elkins and myself, etc. We had with us Con- 
 roy for guide and John as waiter. Took blankets and provisions 
 to camp out. We left Deer Park and on the tenth day arrived 
 at White Sulphur. Went first night from Deer Park to look at 
 coal opening near Fairfax Stone. Staid all night at the engineer's 
 hut on Dobbin Road. Sleep on small boards with saddles for pil- 
 lows. Next day through Canaan Valley and Meade's Corners 
 that night. Next day to 20th. Staid over night at Mullinix's on 
 Dry Fork. We had trout for supper, breakfast, dinner. 
 
 22d. Staid over night at Mrs. Hill's ; this is near divide be- 
 tween waters of Dry Fork and Laurel Falls of Cheat and Green- 
 brier. This is a fine bluegrass country, and at east end of Rich 
 mountain, the highest point above tidewater, we christened Mount 
 Bayard in honor of the noble Delaware Senator. 
 
 23d. We stopped for the night at what is known as Trav- 
 eler's Repose on Greenbrier River and Stanton and Parkersburg 
 Pike. Country tolerably good. 
 
 24th. We stop over night at Major Isaac Moore's near Dun- 
 more, Pocahontas County. 
 
icx) THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 25th. Stay over night at Huntersville, County seat of Poca- 
 hontas County. This is a fair country. We passed through some 
 fair pine timber, and what appears to be good iron ore. The 
 country from Traveler's Repose to White Sulphur is a remark- 
 ably good country to make a railroad through. 
 
 26th. About night we arrive at White Sulphur Springs. All 
 well pleased with our trip. 
 
 There were not only the coal resources being de- 
 veloped. More easily available, as the foundation for 
 industry and traffic, were the timber resources. A large 
 part of Tucker County was absolutely a primeval wilder- 
 ness. The flat top of the mountain at an elevation of 
 3,000 feet was covered by almost impenetrable forests. 
 It was literally true that until Mr. Davis began his pros- 
 pecting and his engineering surveys a great part of this 
 tangled wilderness never had been penetrated by man, 
 not even by the aboriginal savages. There were no 
 trails. The interlacing rhododendrons and laurels be- 
 neath, and the interwoven vines and saplings above, ren- 
 dered the wealth of spruce and hemlock valueless until 
 trails were hewed and blazed by the woodmen. 
 
 Blazing the trails was in itself a work of extraordinary 
 difficulty, but the very density of the forest gave a stim- 
 ulus to conquering it. There were the spruce and the 
 hardwoods first to be opened by the ax, then to be sub- 
 jected to the sawmill, and later to furnish the material 
 for the great pulp and paper mills. In the heart of this 
 region on the plateau was laid out the town of Davis, 
 which at one time was selected as the terminal for the 
 railway. Later this plan was abandoned, and a branch 
 line was run from the main stem at the station of 
 Thomas, where were located the coke-ovens. 
 
 The first section of the railway, that to the Elk Gar- 
 den coal-fields, was opened early in November, 188 1. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS loi 
 
 It was a momentous event for the whole region, but it 
 is described with customary brevity in the journal en- 
 tries: 
 
 November 2, 1881. We formally open our new road (W. Va. 
 C. & P.). We leave Cumberland at eight o'clock by way of 
 Cumberland & Pennsylvania Road, come to Piedmont, then to 
 our junction (one mile), then up over our road to Elk Garden. 
 Day fine. We are mining coal ; all passes off well. Senator 
 Bayard, Governor Hamilton, Major Shaw, Hon. S. B. Elkins, 
 Mr. Kerens, C. P. Bayard, J. A. Hambleton, etc., accompany us. 
 
 November 3. Hambleton, Kerens, Shriver and Randolph, the 
 latter two representing Baltimore Americayi and Sun, made a trip 
 part in wagon, balance horseback, to headwaters Potomac and 
 Black Water. We returned to Deer Park Saturday well pleased 
 with our trip. Coal and timber is even beyond our expectation. 
 
 In 1884 the railway had been extended to the site of 
 the town of Davis, which within a year had become the 
 center of important mining and lumber industries. The 
 main stem was thereafter pushed forward, with some 
 short branches to the mines, until the terminal point 
 which had been decided on in Tygart's Valley, in the 
 heart of Randolph County, was reached, and the creation 
 of a thriving little city was begun. The successive steps 
 in the construction of the railway have been well de- 
 scribed by Professor James Morton Callahan in his 
 "Semi-Centennial History of West Virginia." Though 
 they are principally of local interest, they have a direct 
 bearing on railway development in West Virginia, Pro- 
 fessor Callahan's account is as follows: 
 
 The construction of a railroad from Piedmont up the North 
 Branch to tap the undeveloped resources of Randolph County was 
 proposed long before it was accomplished. The Potomac and 
 Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, incorporated by the Leg- 
 islature in 1866, and begun in 1880, secured a new charter in 
 1881 in its new name, the West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh 
 
102 THE LIFE AND TiMES OF 
 
 Railway Company, which was organized with H. G. Davis as 
 President. Passing over the divide beyond the headwaters of 
 the Potomac, the new road continued south of the Great Back- 
 bone Mountains to Davis in the heart of the hardwood forests 
 by November, 1884. Early in 1889 the main line of the road, 
 following the waters of the wild and picturesque Black Water 
 Run, was completed down the Dry Fork through the mountain 
 gap to Parsons on the main branch of the Cheat ; and later in the 
 year, after turning up Shaver's Fork for a short distance, it 
 crossed Leading Creek and reached picturesque Elkins (pre- 
 viously known as Leadsville), whch was established as a town 
 with terminal facilities, and has had a steady growth, partly due 
 to the proximity of the inexhaustive Roaring Creek coal-fields. 
 From Elkins by gradual extensions one branch followed up the 
 Valley River, sending oflf a smaller branch at Roaring Creek, 
 five miles west of Elkins, and another returned eastward to 
 Shaver's Fork, which it ascended, until finding a way through 
 Shaver's Mountain crossed to Glady Fork, ascended it to the 
 divide, and descended the west fork of the Greenbrier to Durbin, 
 in Pocahontas. . . . By 1891 trains were running on extension 
 to Beverly and to Belington, where connection was made with a 
 Tygarts Valley branch of the Baltimore and Ohio from Grafton. 
 By 1904 connections were made at Durbin. 
 
 The new road, after passing through Mineral and Grant coun- 
 ties, penetrated the vast coal-fields of Tucker and Randolph. It 
 carried into the silence of the pine-needle woods the hum of 
 modern industry, and expressed its material usefulness in gigantic 
 lumber plants and rich coal-mines and in newly made and grow- 
 ing towns — living monuments to men such as Windom, Blaine, 
 Gorman, Bayard, Wilson, Fairfax, Douglass, Hendricks, and 
 Elkins. The opening of mineral and timber resources created 
 towns such as Bayard, Thomas, Davis, Douglass, Hendricks, 
 Bantz, and Parsons in Tucker; such as Montrose and Elkins in 
 Randolph; and such as Belington in Barbour. Bayard received 
 its earliest stimulus from the large Buffalo Lumber Company 
 and the Middlesex Leather Company. Another factor in its 
 growth was the North Branch Coal and Coke Company, whose 
 principal office was located there. At Thomas were located the 
 large Davis-Elkins Coal and Coke Works. Six miles eastward, 
 on the branch from Thomas, the coal works and manufacturing 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 103 
 
 industries, together with a tannery and lumber plant, soon sup- 
 ported a population of 1,500, forming the town of Davis, with 
 quite a mercantile trade increased by that of the surrounding 
 country. Elkins, located in a lovely valley bordering the north- 
 western bank of Tygarts Valley River, received its first stimulus 
 to growth by the construction of engine and car shops by the rail- 
 way company, and the erection of homes for many operatives of 
 the road. 
 
 The completion of the railroad through the timber to Davis and 
 beyond furnished an outlet for the timber in the eastern and 
 central sections, admitting portable and stationary sawmills which 
 have since continued to operate. Everywhere temporary rail- 
 roads were forced into the heart of the woods, followed by saw- 
 mills, tanneries, pulp-mills, and lumber-camps to aid in the cam- 
 paign of conquest and destruction of the previously unmolested 
 forests. 
 
 The conception of the railway originally had been^ 
 perhaps that of an adjunct to the Baltimore and Ohio, 
 with which Mr. Davis had been so closely identified for 
 more than a third of a century. His close personal rela- 
 tions with the officials of that road, and in particular with 
 Mr. John W. Garrett, who was then the president of the 
 company, assured cooperation and friendly traffic ar- 
 rangements. 
 
 After President Garrett's death some changes in man- 
 agement resulted in a less friendly policy on the part of 
 the controlling interests. They made Mr. Davis feel 
 that, since the West Virginia Central was dependent on 
 the Baltimore and Ohio for its outlet, he must accept 
 whatever traffic terms they chose to make. Baltimore 
 and Ohio officials of a previous generation would not 
 have taken this arrogant attitude, for they knew the 
 man with whom they would have to deal ; but the newer 
 element apparently did not know. They soon learned. 
 
 The West Virginia Central's connection with the Bal- 
 timore and Ohio was at Piedmont. At Cumberland, 
 
104 HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 
 
 thirty miles beyond, connection could be had with the 
 Pennsylvania system and with the Chesapeake and Ohio 
 Canal. Almost before the Baltimore and Ohio knew it, 
 a right of way had been secured along the Potomac and 
 the extension of the West Virginia Central to Cumber- 
 land was begun. The building of the line was bitterly 
 fought by the Baltimore and Ohio in the courts, and 
 even physical obstructions to the working parties on the 
 line were resorted to. This kind of obstruction did not 
 stop men who had absorbed the spirit of the determined 
 man for whom they were working. The courts also de- 
 cided the litigation In his favor, and ultimately the West 
 Virginia Central had a through line to Cumberland, thus 
 relieving the Davis interests of further dependence on a 
 single line of railway for their outlet to the market. 
 Having secured the benefits of competition, Mr. Davis 
 resumed friendly relations with the Baltimore and Ohio, 
 but on a different basis from that which obtained when 
 his company had been dependent on it. 
 
 Some extensions and branches that were built on his 
 own account later were merged into the system. For a 
 quarter of a century he was the president of the West 
 Virginia Central system and contributed potently to the 
 growth of the region which when he began its conquest 
 was open to civilization only by scattered farms in the 
 narrow valleys. This was the work of the Railway 
 Builder. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 INTERNATIONAL AMERICAN CONFERENCES 
 
 Awakening of interest in the countries to the south — First Con- 
 ference at Washington in 1889-90 — Mr. Davis appointed a dele- 
 gate by President Harrison — Andrew Carnegie a colleague — Sec- 
 retary Blaine's address of welcome — Organization and work of 
 the Conference — International banks and transportation — Bureau 
 of American Republics — Mr. Davis appointed by President Mc- 
 Kinley delegate to the Mexican Conference in 1901-02 — His as- 
 sociates — High character of representatives from the other Re- 
 publics — Golden Age of Mexico under Porfirio Diaz — Personnel 
 of Mexican delegation — Tokens of respect for "The Senator" — 
 Reasons for declining to be the presiding officer — Speech on the 
 Monroe Doctrine — Important results achieved — Farewell tributes 
 to Mr. Davis. 
 
 PRESIDENT JAMES MONROE promulgated 
 the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, the year in which 
 Henry G. Davis was born. Nearly half a cen- 
 tury later Mr. Davis became actively identified with the 
 nations that came within the sphere of the Doctrine, and 
 continued to be identified with their interests and their 
 aspirations for the remainder of his long life. It is not 
 apparent just what directed his thoughts to the coun- 
 tries to the south. It may have been the championship 
 that was given them at the dawn of their independence 
 by his early political idol, Henry Clay. It may have been 
 that his association in the Senate with statesmen whose 
 eyes were turned southward first awakened his attention. 
 Whatever the source of the inspiration, his horizon ex- 
 panded from national to international affairs. 
 
 JOS 
 
io6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 When Mr. Davis was in the Senate there were occa- 
 sional resolutions and speeches on the need of closer 
 relations with the sister nations of the New World. The 
 Trade Commission appointed by President Arthur, 
 which visited the South American countries and reported 
 on the commercial prospects, had its inception during 
 his second term in a resolution offered by his colleague, 
 Senator Cockerill of Missouri. Later, as a delegate to 
 the National Democratic Convention at Chicago in 1884, 
 he had supported the resolution embodied in the plat- 
 form favoring an American continental policy based 
 upon more intimate commercial and political relations 
 with the Republics to the south. 
 
 During the first administration of President Cleve- 
 land, Congress gave concrete expression to the aspira- 
 tions for closer relations by making provision for an in- 
 ternational American conference to be held in Washing- 
 ton. The official invitations to the several nations were 
 issued by Mr. Davis's friend, Secretary Bayard. The 
 measures for the assembling of the Conference fell to 
 President Harrison's administration. Mr. Davis's jour- 
 nal, without preliminary suggestion of the subject, re- 
 cords that President Harrison and Secretary Blaine had 
 appointed him one of the delegates for the United States. 
 
 The Conference assembled at Washington In October, 
 1889, ^^^ was one of the notable events of that period, 
 exciting Interest in Europe as well as in the countries of 
 the New World that participated in it. The several Re- 
 publics designated their resident Ministers in Washing- 
 ton as delegates, and supplemented them by other men of 
 reputation extending beyond their own borders. 
 
 Sefior Matias Romero, who had long been the Mexican 
 Minister to the United States, and whose friendship with 
 General Grant had given him much Influence in the years 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 107 
 
 when Mexico was struggling toward stability under Por- 
 firio Diaz, represented that country. The Republic of 
 Brazil, just emerged from monarchy after a mild revolu- 
 tion, was represented by Salvadore de Mendonga, an ac- 
 complished diplomat. From the Argentine Republic 
 came Seiior Roque Saenz Peha, who afterward became 
 President. Other delegates also later filled important 
 roles in their respective countries. 
 
 President Harrison and Secretary Blaine had been 
 at pains to select a delegation that would be representa- 
 tive of both the international element and the business 
 classes in American life. The chairman was John B. 
 Henderson of Missouri, who had served as United 
 States Senator and who was an authority on interna- 
 tional law. William Henry Trescott of South Carolina, 
 the author of important works on the diplomatic history 
 of the United States, was another representative of the 
 international idea. The other delegates were Cornelius 
 N. Bliss of New York; Clement Studebaker of Indiana; 
 T. Jefferson Coolidge of Massachusetts; Andrew Car- 
 negie of New York; Henry G. Davis of West Virginia; 
 M. M. Estee of California; John F. Hanson of Georgia; 
 and Charles R. Flint of New York. 
 
 At the opening of the Conference, Secretary Blaine 
 made a speech of welcome which interpreted the aspira- 
 tions of the delegates and in some measure indicated 
 the results that were expected to follow. Among other 
 things Secretary Blaine said : 
 
 The delegates I am addressing can do much to establish perma- 
 nent relations of confidence, respect, and friendship between the 
 nations which they represent. They can show the world an hon- 
 orable, peaceful conference of eighteen independent American 
 Powers, in which all shall meet together on terms of absolute 
 equality; a conference in which there can be no attempt to coerce 
 
io8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF, 
 
 a single delegate against his own conception of his nation, a con- 
 ference which will permit no secret understanding on any sub- 
 ject, but will frankly publish to the world all its conclusions; a 
 conference which will tolerate no spirit of conquest, but will aim 
 to cultivate an American sympathy as broad as both continents. 
 And yet, we cannot be expected to forget that our common fate 
 has made us inhabitants of the two continents which, at the close 
 of four centuries, are still regarded beyond the seas as the New 
 World. Like situations beget like sympathies and impose like 
 duties. . . . 
 
 We believe that we should be drawn together more closely by 
 the highways of the seas, and that at no distant day the railway 
 system of the North and South will meet upon the Isthmus and 
 connect by land routes the political and commercial capitals of 
 all America. 
 
 After the organization of the Conference and the ap- 
 pointment of the committees, the delegates were taken 
 on an excursion through New England and other parts 
 of the country on what was said to be the finest special 
 train that ever had been put in motion. Mr. Davis ac- 
 companied the visitors on this trip. After they returned 
 to Washington, the delegates settled down to somewhat 
 intermittent committee work. An occasional entry in 
 his journal shows that Mr. Davis, with his methodical 
 habits and his business training, found some difficulty in 
 adapting himself to the leisurely methods of interna- 
 tional assemblages. There are good-natured admoni- 
 tions to his fellow delegates about the necessity of get- 
 ting down to work. 
 
 The principal committees on which Mr. Davis served 
 were those on the Pan-American Railway and on customs 
 regulations, the latter proving very important because 
 of the recommendations of a permanent nature which it 
 made and which were adopted. Arbitration and other 
 subjects of a somewhat academic character occupied 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 109 
 
 much of the attention of the Conference ; but at the same 
 time there was an influence in the background guiding 
 toward questions of a practical kind such as banking 
 facilities, shipping, and railway communication. 
 
 Though he was not a member of the Committee on 
 Banking, Mr. Davis was called into some of the meet- 
 ings of that committee, and also helped shape the course 
 of the Conference in modifying and adopting the recom- 
 mendations made. The Conference went on record to 
 the effect that commerce between the American countries 
 might be greatly extended if proper means could be 
 found for facilitating direct exchanges between the 
 money markets of the several countries. The advisa- 
 bility of the Congress of the United States passing a law 
 incorporating an international American bank with 
 branches was discussed with special reference to the fa- 
 cilities that would be provided for making investments. 
 This idea found fruition twenty-five years later, when, 
 in consonance with the principle of the Federal Reserve 
 Bank Act, Congress authorized the national banks of 
 the United States to establish branches in foreign coun- 
 tries. 
 
 No more important action was taken by this Confer- 
 ence than the adoption of the recommendation of the 
 Committee on Customs Regulations. It was this report 
 that provided for the establishment of the International 
 Bureau of the American Republics as a permanent 
 agency for carrying forward the work begun by the 
 Conference. The evidences of Mr. Davis's constructive 
 ideas are apparent in this report. Out of it came the es- 
 tablishment of the Bureau of the American Republics, 
 later to be broadened and expanded, with enhanced func- 
 tions and an enlarged field of influence, into the Pan- 
 American Union. 
 
no THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The chairman of the Committee on Railway Com- 
 munication was Sefior de Velarde of Bolivia; Mr. Davis 
 was the second member. The report of this Committee 
 and its significance, as well as Mr. Davis's part in for- 
 mulating it, are discussed in the following chapter. 
 
 The first International American Conference con- 
 cluded its labors in April, 1890. Its sessions, which had 
 been opened by Secretary Blaine, were brought to a close 
 by a brief address from him. Reviewing the work of 
 the Conference, he said : 
 
 *Tt will be a great gain when we shall acquire that 
 common confidence on which all international friendship 
 must rest. It will be a greater gain when we shall be 
 able to draw the people of all American nations into 
 close acquaintance with each other, an end to be facili- 
 tated by more frequent and more rapid communication. 
 It will be the greatest gain when the personal and com- 
 mercial relations of the American States, north and 
 south, shall be so developed and so regulated that each 
 shall require the highest possible advantage from the 
 enlightenment and enlarged intercourse of all." 
 
 The development of closer relations among the nations 
 of the New World, while not exactly dormant, was quies- 
 cent during the next decade ; but, following the war with 
 Spain for the liberation of Cuba, the importance of a 
 better understanding and of more intimate intercourse 
 again impressed itself on leaders of public thought in 
 the United States. 
 
 President McKinley, in his annual message of Decem- 
 ber, 1899, voiced this feeling, and diplomatic methods 
 were employed to secure a sympathetic cooperation on 
 the part of the other nations. Mexico took the initia- 
 tive in calling the Second Conference, and, Congress 
 having made provision for delegates from the United 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS in 
 
 States, President McKinley and Secretary Hay occupied 
 themselves with the selection of the delegation. Al- 
 though the appointments were purely honorary, since 
 they carried no compensation, an ample number of per- 
 sons were willing to serve. 
 
 The delegation as appointed consisted of Henry G. 
 Davis, W. I. Buchanan of New York, Volney W. Foster 
 of Illinois, Charles M. Pepper of the District of Colum- 
 bia, and John Barrett of Oregon. Mr. Davis's comment 
 on his own appointment was recorded in his journal un- 
 der date of April 9, 1901 : 
 
 I am just in receipt of notice, signed by President McKinley 
 and Secretary Hay, that I am appointed delegate on part of U. S. 
 to conference of American Republics to be held in the City of 
 Mexico October 22, 1901 ; there are five delegates. It is an hon- 
 orable appointment without pay. 
 
 Of the other delegates, Mr. Buchanan had made a high 
 reputation as Minister to the Argentine Republic, and 
 at the time was director of the Pan-American Exposition 
 at Buffalo; Mr. Foster was a business man engaged in 
 many large enterprises and was familiar with Mexico; 
 Mr. Pepper as a journalist had laid the foundation for a 
 knowledge of Latin- America in Cuba ; Mr. Barrett was 
 just back from the Orient where he had served as Min- 
 ister to Siam. 
 
 Though the appointments were made in April, the 
 Conference at Mexico was not to meet until October. 
 When the delegates from the United States assembled 
 in Washington to receive their instructions, the assassin's 
 bullet had removed President McKinley, and President 
 Roosevelt was the Executive under whose administra- 
 tion this step toward Pan-American unity was to be 
 taken. He showed a very live interest in the prospective 
 work of the Conference. 
 
112 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Mr. Davis was selected by his associates as chairman 
 of the delegation. His fitness for the position was fully 
 recognized, and there was, moreover, the desire to fur- 
 ther his plans for giving impetus to the subject of rail- 
 way communication among the different Republics. 
 
 A special train was provided by the Department of 
 State when the delegates left for Mexico in October. 
 Since several of the Ministers of the South American 
 and Central American Republics in Washington had 
 been appointed delegates by their governments, and since 
 other delegates had first come to the United States, they 
 were invited to be the guests of the United States dele- 
 gation on the trip to Mexico. Williams C. Fox, of the 
 Bureau of American Republics, John Cassell Williams, 
 the Secretary, and Dr. W. P. Wilson of the Philadelphia 
 Commercial Museum were the others who were identified 
 with the delegation. 
 
 The meeting of the Conference in Mexico City was an 
 historic event. Because of the acuteness of the question 
 of arbitration and the recognition of the prospective in- 
 fluence of the Conference, all the countries had selected 
 their delegates from among their ablest men. The Ar- 
 gentine delegation consisted of Garcia Merou, the Min- 
 ister to Washington, who was distinguished alike in the 
 public affairs of his country and in literature; Lo- 
 renzo Anadon, who had served in the Argentine Senate 
 and had held various of^cial positions of a fiscal char- 
 acter ; and Antonio Bermejo, who had served as a deputy 
 in the Congress, as Minister of Public Instruction, and 
 Minister of Justice, and who subsequently became one 
 of the Justices of the Supreme Court. Bolivia was rep- 
 resented by Fernando P. Guachalla, the Minister in 
 Washington, who subsequently became President. 
 
 Brazil sent one of its most distinguished jurists in the 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 113 
 
 person of Jose Hygeni Duarte Pereira, who had filled 
 many important positions and was a Judge of the Su- 
 preme Court. The Chilean delegation was composed of 
 Blest Gana, who had made a reputation in early life by 
 his historical novels and who for nearly forty years had 
 held important diplomatic positions; Emilio Bello Code- 
 cido, who had been Secretary of State, and who was one 
 of the leaders of the party that had affiliated with Presi- 
 dent Balmaceda in the Chilean civil war, and had mar- 
 ried his daughter; Joaquin Walker Martinez, the Minis- 
 ter in Washington, who had served in various diplo- 
 matic capacities, and also in the Cabinet at Santiao-o 
 and Augusto Matte, one of the leading business men'^of 
 the country, who had served in the Chilean Congress 
 and Cabinet, and in various diplomatic positions, and 
 who was especially noted as a financier. 
 
 ^ The delegates from Colombia were Carlos Martinez 
 Silva,-the Minister in Washington, who had been a dele- 
 gate to the First Conference, and General Rafael Reyes 
 a distinguished explorer, soldier, and statesman who sub- 
 sequently became President. 
 
 The Peruvian delegation consisted of Isaac Alzamora 
 the Vice-President of the Republic, a facile orator who 
 had served as Minister of Foreign Relations and as a 
 Deputy in Congress, and who had filled the chairs of 
 philosophy and political economy in the University of 
 Lima; Alberto Elmore, a Justice of the Supreme Court, 
 who had also served as Minister of Foreign Relations,' 
 and Manuel Alvarez Calderon, the Minister in Washing- 
 ton, who had won a high reputation for his diplomattc 
 ability. 
 
 Ecuador was represented by Luis Felipe Carbo, Min- 
 ister in Washington, who had also served his country in 
 a diplomatic capacity in other countries. The represen- 
 
114 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 tative from Paraguay was Cecilio Baez, a member of the 
 Chamber of Deputies, who subsequently served as Pres- 
 ident. Uruguay was represented by Juan Cuestas, the 
 Minister in Washington, who was the son of the Presi- 
 dent. The delegates from Venezuela who were present 
 for part of the time were J. Gil Fortuol, a writer and his- 
 torian, and Dr. M. M. Galvais, a well-known lawyer. 
 
 The Central American countries sent some of their 
 most experienced men. Costa Rica was represented by 
 Joaquin Bernardo Calvo, the Minister in Washington, 
 who had served as secretary to the delegation from his 
 country to the First Conference. Guatemala was repre- 
 sented by Antonio Lazo-Arriaga, the Minister in Wash- 
 ington, who had served as Speaker of the Guatemalan 
 Congress; and Colonel Francisco Orla, who had served 
 on the Government Boundary Commission and in the 
 Army. Salvador sent Francisco A. Reyes, her Minister 
 of Foreign Affairs, and Baltazar Estupinian, the Vice- 
 President of the Congress and an authority on interna- 
 tional law. Honduras was represented by Jose Leonard, 
 a native of Poland who had been graduated from the 
 University of Heidelberg, and who was filling a scho- 
 lastic position, and Fausto Davila, a vigorous exponent 
 of the progressive element in the politics of the country. 
 The delegate from Nicaragua was Luis F. Corea, the 
 Minister in Washington, who had filled various public 
 positions. 
 
 The personnel of these delegations was the indication 
 of the high character of the Conference and the im- 
 portance that was attached to its proceedings. It was 
 the Mexican delegation, however, that contributed the 
 largest galaxy of talent. As the host of the Conference, 
 Mexico sought to dignify its work by the character of 
 the men selected to represent her. This was in truth 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 115 
 
 the Golden Age of Mexico under Porfirio Diaz. The 
 signs of the great work he had wrought were every- 
 where visible. The elements of destruction that some 
 of them carried with them were not yet apparent. 
 
 Mexico then occupied a foremost position in the eyes 
 of the world, and this was a fitting occasion on which to 
 give proof of her position. President Diaz was sur- 
 rounded by the group of able men who had grown in 
 public life with him. Ignacio Mariscal, who had guided 
 the foreign relations of the country from chaos through 
 infinite embarrassments until by his skilful diplomacy the 
 whole world recognized and respected her international 
 status, was the Minister of Foreign Relations. Jose 
 Yves Limantour, who had evolved financial stability out 
 of anarchic finances until Mexican credit stood as high 
 as that of the United States, was Secretary of Finance. 
 Men whose work was concerned chiefly with domestic 
 measures, but whose constructive ability was equally 
 great, filled other Cabinet positions. 
 
 The Mexican delegation was of the same type as the 
 nen who formed the Cabinet of President Diaz. Genaro 
 Ragiosa, the chairman, was a distinguished lawyer. Al- 
 fredo Chavero was noted as an archaeologist, lawyer, 
 and orator, and was representative of the versatility of 
 Latin public men. Pablo Macedo, a very able lawyer, 
 was also a popular orator, and was the idol of what later 
 came to be called the submerged classes. Joaquin Cas- 
 asus, a lawyer and political economist and an authority 
 on finance, was also a litterateur, and had achieved repu- 
 tation as a classical scholar by his translation of Virgil 
 into Spanish and as a student of English literature by his 
 translation of Longfellow's '"Evangeline." Emilio 
 Pardo was a very distinguished lawyer who was then 
 serving in the Mexican Congress. Rosendo Pineda was 
 
ii6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 a leader in the debates in Congress. Jose Lopez Portilla 
 was a member of Congress and an authority on interna- 
 tional law. Manual Sanchez Marmol was a leading 
 member of Congress and was famous as a wit. Fran- 
 cisco de la Barra was one of the younger men from whom 
 much was expected because of his attainments in inter- 
 national law and his relations with Young Mexico and 
 the moderate clerical party. 
 
 It was in an international assembly of this character, 
 representing all the Americas, that Mr. Davis received 
 the tokens of esteem that made the occasion memorable 
 for him and for his countrymen. He was in his seventy- 
 ninth year. This in itself would have insured him the 
 consideration of his fellow delegates, for among the 
 Latin peoples the spirit of veneration for elders does not 
 diminish as the fourscore mark is approached. But 
 coupled with this was a peculiar sentiment of affection 
 which found utterance in the designation of "The Sena- 
 tor" with which he always was referred to. There was, 
 moreover, a deep respect for his judgment and a feeling 
 of confidence in his sense of justice that would be espe- 
 cially desirable in meeting some of the issues that were 
 likely to provoke outbreaks of feeling. 
 
 The Conference was opened in a notable address by 
 Minister Mariscal on behalf of Mexico, which was fe- 
 licitously responded to by Delegate Alzamora of Peru. 
 Then came the question of selecting a presiding officer. 
 General Rafael Reyes of Colombia, moved by his deep 
 sentiment, had informally suggested the choice of Mr. 
 Davis, and this sentiment had been felt among the other 
 delegates. They were privately advised that the delega- 
 tion from the United States, reflecting the views of the 
 Department of State at Washington, and also reflecting 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 117 
 
 'Mr. Davis's personal wishes, desired that the honor 
 should go elsewhere. 
 
 Notwithstanding that this information was conveyed 
 to them, General Reyes presented a resolution nominat- 
 ing Mr. Davis as permanent president of the Conference 
 and proposing that the selection be made by acclamation. 
 This action would have been taken had not the United 
 States delegation as a body, and Mr. Davis individually, 
 intervened to prevent it. Delegate Pepper, speaking in 
 Spanish, thanked the delegates for the desire they had 
 manifested of honoring the distinguished Senator whose 
 name formed a link between the First Conference and 
 the one then in session, but he explained why the selec- 
 tion was not expedient. 
 
 Mr. Davis himself ended the suggestion by a speech 
 in which he said: 
 
 ''I am deeply sensible of the honor proposed, and I 
 thank you heartily for it, but a consistent course, to- 
 gether with a sense of duty, compels me to say that I 
 cannot accept it. We are here, not for office, not for 
 preferment in any way, but to assist all of the Republics 
 of America in whatever may lead to good, especially to 
 peace, harmony, and good will to all. We wish to help 
 to cultivate and bring about a better feeling than has 
 heretofore existed, although even that feeling has been 
 friendly. 
 
 "Our thought is that we should have additional com- 
 munication, both water and rail; and I want to see — 
 and I believe all here do — an international railroad from 
 Argentina to the Rio Grande. I believe that harmony 
 peace, and good will will come out of our work here, and 
 that we will find a way to prevent any further war on 
 this hemisphere; that peace will reign perhaps forever. 
 
ii8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Eighty million people of the United States stand ready 
 to assist, in any proper way they can, to bring about the 
 best results for the good of the American public. 
 
 "We are, as you know, a happy, true, loyal, independ- 
 ent, and liberty-loving people, and we say to our friends 
 on our south that we want no further territory; but we 
 are firm, as firm as the Medes and Persians were, in 
 what is known as the Monroe Doctrine, which means 
 that your territory is to be protected, your political 
 rights, your commercial rights, and your liberty forever 
 guaranteed. I feel more than I can speak. I appreciate 
 the compliment profifered me more than I can tell you; 
 but, as I have said in the beginning, I think it my duty 
 that I should decline." 
 
 The Conference respected the Senator's wishes, and 
 Sefior Raigosa was chosen permanent chairman. Mr. 
 Davis's few pointed words on the Monroe Doctrine 
 created a sensation in the Conference at the time, and 
 they were commented on, when published in Europe and 
 in South America, as an important utterance. They re- 
 flected the views that he always held. 
 
 In the work of the Conference, Mr. Davis was fre- 
 quently appealed to as a mediator in controverted ques- 
 tions such as arbitration. At the First Conference the 
 United States had favored compulsory arbitration. 
 Events of the intervening years had changed its attitude 
 somewhat. The skilful diplomacy of Mr. Buchanan 
 aided the delegates to the Mexican Conference to travel 
 over this delicate ground without serious complications ; 
 but the confidence felt in the impartiality of the chairman 
 of the United States delegation had much to do with the 
 avoidance of a break on the part of several delegations. 
 
 Mr. Davis served on several of the committees, and 
 all of these, when the reports and recommendations came 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 119 
 
 to be made, showed the impress of his constructive mind. 
 The project of an international bank again had the bene- 
 fit of his suggestions. In everything that the Confer- 
 ence did he was looking to the future, and this was one 
 of the subjects that he thought big with possibilities. 
 Yet it was in looking toward the broader future that his 
 ideas found their fullest scope. At his suggestion a 
 Committee on Committees was formed, of which he was 
 named as chairman. This Committee submitted a re- 
 port under which provision was made for continuous 
 development of intercourse among the three Americas. 
 
 One of the committees provided for this purpose was 
 that on future Pan-American Conferences, and during 
 the final sessions Mr. Davis served on this Committee, 
 and helped to formulate the resolutions under which 
 the continuity of Pan-American Conferences was as- 
 sured. The chairmanship of the Pan-American Rail- 
 way Committee naturally fell to him, and the continuity 
 of this great subject was assured when the Conference 
 adopted the report providing for a permanent Pan- 
 American Railway Committee. 
 
 The Conference made a forward step in several direc- 
 tions. It provided for the arbitration of pecuniary 
 claims. It formally gave its adherence to The Hague, 
 and it put in operation the machinery of various projects 
 for commercial and industrial development. It also 
 passed a resolution indorsing the Panama Canal. 
 
 As the sessions drew to an end many evidences were 
 afforded of the esteem in which Mr. Davis was held. 
 He was compelled to leave before the final session, and 
 his departure afiforded the occasion for a demonstration 
 that was extremely gratifying to his associates. He de- 
 livered a brief farewell address in which he said : 
 
 "The Government and the people of the United States 
 
120 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 have followed with interest the proceedings of this Con- 
 ference. They appreciate the many courtesies extended 
 to their delegates, and are pleased with the results ac- 
 complished. 
 
 ''Personally, I owe a debt of gratitude to the officials 
 and people of Mexico and to the delegates and all con- 
 nected with the Conference for the many kind acts that 
 made my sojourn in this country one of the most pleasant 
 experiences of my life. I hope that the friendships 
 made here will not terminate with the adjournment of 
 this Conference, but that we will meet frequently, and 
 that many of us will attend the next Pan-American Con- 
 gress." 
 
 As Mr. Davis left the hall, every delegate rose to his 
 feet, and following his departure the Conference adopted 
 a resolution recognizing the important services he had 
 rendered to the union of the American Republics. The 
 President of the Conference, as a further honor, ap- 
 pointed a special committee to accompany Mr. Davis to 
 the railway station. In the meantime, he had gone to 
 the National Palace, where President Diaz had invited 
 him for a farewell interview. The President expressed 
 his high appreciation of Mr. Davis's services in the Con- 
 ference. At the railway station, not only the members 
 of the special committee, but virtually every member of 
 the Conference and also many Mexican officials, assem- 
 bled to say the final word of farewell. It was a demon- 
 stration that profoundly affected Mr. Davis, and it was, 
 moreover, a fitting conclusion to his active identification 
 with the representatives of all the Americas in their work 
 of promoting unity and fraternity. 
 
L 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 i^. 
 
 ^■T 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE PAN-AMERICAN RAILWAY 
 
 Intercontinental trunk line the concept of men of vision — Mr. 
 Davis's faith shown at the First Conference — Activities on the 
 survey commission — Value of engineering reconnaissances — Sum- 
 mary of the route — Support given the project by the Mexican 
 Conference — Creation of permanent Pan-American Railway Com- 
 mittee — Its work — Special commissioner authorized by Congress 
 — His report on status and prospects of the enterprise — Chairman 
 Davis analyzes traffic and other objections — Relation to commerce 
 and national development — Indorsement by subsequent Con- 
 ferences — Steps to interest capitalists — Approval by International 
 High Commission — Link between Harrison and Wilson adminis- 
 trations. 
 
 THERE are visionaries and there are men of 
 vision, and usually the line between them is easily 
 drawn. By many the project of an intercon- 
 tinental trunk railway line has been looked on as the 
 dream of the visionaries; yet even the skeptics must 
 pause and give it more than passing thought when men 
 of vision turn their attention to it. 
 
 There was nothing of the visionary in Henry G. Davis. 
 A business man, a developer of natural resources, a 
 builder of railways, with an intensely practical mind, he 
 was essentially a man of vision. It was this quality that 
 enabled him to see the natural wealth of his own State 
 that was awaiting development. When his view ex- 
 panded and swept over a whole hemisphere, the Pan- 
 American Railway project appealed to his imagination 
 with the same force. 
 
 121 
 
122 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The project itself was not any one man's conception. 
 Statesmen and students of international relations alike 
 had had it in their ken. Hinton Rowan Helper of North 
 Carolina had given the idea substance in his book on 
 the "Three Americas Railway." Juan Jose Castro, a 
 Uruguayan engineer of eminence, had, with the aid of his 
 Government, brought together the various factors in the 
 project as they related to South America. In the United 
 States Senate, when Mr. Davis was a member of that 
 body, his colleague and namesake, David Davis of 
 Illinois, had introduced a resolution intended to secure 
 recognition for the project. It is probable that the in- 
 terest of Henry G. Davis had been awakened before then, 
 possibly through Richard A. Parsons, a distinguished 
 Virginia engineer and railway builder who had sought to 
 put the enterprise on a practical basis. 
 
 Whatever the original inspiration may have been it is 
 certain that when he became a member of the First In- 
 ternational American Conference the idea filled the mind 
 of Mr. Davis, and he was eager to make use of the op- 
 portunity that it afforded to give the project tangible 
 form. In accordance with his wishes, he was appointed 
 a member of the Committee on Railroad Communication, 
 which was presided over by Sefior Velarde of Bolivia. 
 The report of that Committee bears his impress through- 
 out. In formulating it he had the cooperation of An- 
 drew Carnegie. 
 
 The historical importance of this first step in an inter- 
 national enterprise with which the name of Mr. Davis 
 will ever be associated justifies a special chapter on the 
 subject. The Committee in its report said that the first 
 thing to be done was to ascertain the practicability and 
 the approximate cost of the line by providing for an in- 
 ternational commission to ascertain possible routes, esti- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 123 
 
 mate the cost of each, and compare their respective ad- 
 vantages. 
 
 The report further recommended that the railway, in 
 so far as the common interests would permit, should con- 
 nect the principal cities in the vicinity of its route, and 
 that, if this would result in too great a change from the 
 general direction of the main trunk, branch lines should 
 be surveyed to connect with the main line ; that the execu- 
 tion of a work of such magnitude deserved to be further 
 encouraged by subsidies, grants of land, or guaranties 
 of a minimum of interest ; that the expenses incident to 
 the preliminary and final surveys should be assumed by 
 all the nations accepting in proportion to their popula- 
 tion; that the railway should be declared forever neutral 
 for the purpose of securing freedom of traffic ; and that 
 as soon as the Government of the United States should 
 receive notice of the acceptance of these recommenda- 
 tions by the other governments it should invite them to 
 name their representatives on the Commission provided 
 for, so that it might meet in Washington as early as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 This provision was characteristic of Mr. Davis's fore- 
 thought. He had little faith in resolutions and recom- 
 mendations that did not point the way to carry them out. 
 After a short debate, in which he took a leading part, 
 explaining the main features of the report, it was unani- 
 mously adopted. The first step had been taken for 
 building the Pan-American Railway. 
 
 The next step soon followed. It appears in the entry 
 in the journal of Mr. Davis, to which is attached a news- 
 paper clipping announcing the appointment of a com- 
 mission to provide for an intercontinental railway sur- 
 vey. This reads: 
 
124 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 October 4, 1890. The newspaper slip shows President Har- 
 rison and Secretary Blaine have made me one of three commis- 
 sioners on the part of the United States on the Intercontinental 
 Railway Commission. This looks to building road from U. S. to 
 all the fifteen independent States of Central and South America. 
 I look upon the work as great and important to the people of all 
 the fifteen Republics. Trade is now against us. Europe can 
 successfully compete with water, but not with rail. 
 
 I intend to give much attention and work to the above enter- 
 prise, and believe it practical ; know it will be of great value to 
 U. S. and its people. I hope and expect to live to see this road 
 built from here to the most southern point of South America, 
 and the balance of trade in our favor; now it is about $100,000,000 
 annually against us. 
 
 President Harrison, following the recommendation of 
 the First Conference, had asked Congress for an appro- 
 priation to provide for the participation of the United 
 States in the Intercontinental Railway Commission, and, 
 the appropriation having been made, he designated Mr. 
 A. J. Cassatt, President of the Pennsylvania Railway 
 System and at the time by common consent the foremost 
 railway executive in the United States, as the head of 
 the Commission. With Mr. Cassatt were associated 
 Henry G. Davis and Richard C. Kerens of Missouri. 
 George M. Pullman had expected to serve, but at the 
 last moment was compelled to decline through the ur- 
 gency of private affairs. 
 
 Others of the countries interested had provided their 
 quota of the appropriation and designated their repre- 
 sentatives on the Commission. 
 
 The Commission held its first meeting at the Depart- 
 ment of State on December 4, 1890. After a brief ad- 
 dress the organization was effected. Mr. Davis was 
 made chairman of the Committee on Finance, but he 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 125 
 
 also, by special request, attended the meetings of the 
 Executive Committee which had charge of the surveys 
 and engineering reconnaissances. 
 
 The Survey was organized, with William F. Shunk 
 of Pennsylvania as engineer-in-chief. Under his direc- 
 tion separate survey parties were put in the field for Cen- 
 tral America, Colombia, and Ecuador. They were un- 
 der the supervision of officers from the Engineer Corps 
 of the United States Army. The survey_^ corps made 
 reconnaissances, prepared data, and submitted maps. 
 The information thus gathered was of very great value. 
 Much of it was entirely original and covered fields of in- 
 vestigation that had never before been touched. 
 
 The Intercontinental Railway Commission held ses- 
 sions from December, 1890, until October, 1894, when 
 its final report was submitted. This report was em- 
 bodied in half a score of volumes and maps. Prelim- 
 inary estimates were made for a line running from the 
 northern boundary of Guatemala to the northernmost 
 limit of the railway system of Argentina so as to form a 
 through line connecting the railway systems of the 
 United States and Mexico on the north with the Argen- 
 tine system on the south, with branch lines connecting 
 the railway systems of Chile, Brazil, Paraguay, and 
 Uruguay with the main line. 
 
 In the summary of the surveys and reconnaissances 
 as prepared by Captain E. Z. Steever, under date of 
 January, 1896, it was stated that the distance from New 
 York to Buenos Aires by the most available route, using 
 existing railways as far as possible, was 10,228 miles, 
 of which 4,772 miles, principally in the United States, 
 Mexico, and the Argentine Republic, already were in 
 operation, leaving 5,456 miles to be built. The practica- 
 
126 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 bility of the work, both as an engineering project and as 
 a financial undertaking, was declared to be established. 
 
 While public interest was awakened by this report, 
 and while the value of the information collated was ap- 
 preciated, no steps were taken at the time toward fur- 
 thering the project. But the subject was not allowed by 
 Mr. Davis to be forgotten. He continued his efforts to 
 arouse interest in it until the opportunity came to give it 
 further prominence, and also to give it a definite direc- 
 tion which would insure that it would not ever again be- 
 come dormant. This opportunity was afforded when he 
 went to Mexico in the midwinter of 1 901-2 as chairman 
 of the United States Delegation to the Second Confer- 
 ence. As chairman of the Committee on the Pan-Amer- 
 ican Railway his enthusiasm soon infected the other dele- 
 gates. They felt that what had long been considered, 
 if not a dream, at least a vague and indefinable project, 
 was now susceptible of becoming a reality. 
 
 The report of this Committee, which was principally 
 formulated by Mr. Davis, covered much of the ground 
 that had been made by the Committee on Railway Com- 
 munications in the First Conference. Chairman Davis 
 in submitting the report summarized the reasons for its 
 adoption in twenty terse paragraphs, with special refer- 
 ence to the conditions as they existed at the beginning of 
 the twentieth century. 
 
 The most significant feature of the report was the 
 provision for the appointment of a permanent Pan- 
 American Railway Committee with headquarters in 
 Washington. The president of the Conference, in ac- 
 cordance with the resolution adopted, named the Com- 
 mittee. It consisted of Henry G. Davis, chairman; An- 
 drew Carnegie ; Seiior Don Manuel de Azpiroz, Mexican 
 Ambassador to the United States; Senor Don Manuel 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 127 
 
 Alvarez Calderon, Peruvian Minister to the United 
 States; and Sefior Don Antonio Lazo Arriaga, Guate- 
 malan Minister to the United States. 
 
 The project having thus been given permanency, the 
 energy of the chairman of the Committee did not per- 
 mit its work to lapse. It was considered desirable to 
 have a report on the whole enterprise as it then stood, 
 and on the attitude of the various governments toward 
 it, as well as to acquaint them with the friendly policy 
 of the United States. 
 
 Several meetings of the Permanent Committee were 
 held in the winter months of 1903, and it was determined 
 to secure, if possible, the positive approval of Congress. 
 A provision accordingly was inserted in one of the appro- 
 priation bills through the aid of Mr. Cannon, the chair- 
 man of the House Committee on Appropriations, and 
 Mr. Allison, the chairman of the Senate Committee, by 
 which this indorsement was secured. With the excep- 
 tion of the slight amount thus provided, the funds for 
 the work were supplied by Mr. Davis and Mr. Carnegie. 
 Mr. Charles M. Pepper was the choice of the Committee, 
 and also of Secretary Hay, to visit the several countries. 
 He was especially commissioned by President Roosevelt, 
 under the authority of Congress, and thus became the 
 representative not only of the Pan-American Railway 
 Committee, but of the Government of the United States. 
 
 Commissioner Pepper spent a year in visiting the 
 southern countries, during which his labors were facili- 
 tated by the several governments. He was able to ex- 
 plain to them the view taken of the project by the United 
 States, to offer suggestions of a practical nature in re- 
 gard to their own measures of cooperation, and to supply 
 them with information in regard to what was being done 
 in other countries. On his return he made a full re- 
 
128 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 port, which was transmitted to Congress by the Presi- 
 dent and was translated into Spanish. 
 
 This report reviewed the events that had stimulated 
 the project since the First Conference, with special ref- 
 erence to the value of the work of the Intercontinental 
 Survey, which, as a comprehensive study of railway de- 
 velopment in Central and South America, had been of 
 special benefit in various exploitation enterprises collat- 
 eral to railway building, and also had formed the ground- 
 work for further studies by geographical societies, scien- 
 tific commissions, government engineers, and individuals. 
 Analysis was made of the railway policies of the several 
 governments, with detailed information concerning the 
 progress of actual construction. It was shown that 
 there had been an increase in mileage along the line of 
 the main trunk, so that the total distance that remained 
 to be closed up between New York and Buenos Aires had 
 been shortened some five hundred miles since the sum- 
 mary made by Captain Steever of the Intercontinental 
 Survey. 
 
 The publication of this report awakened fresh inter- 
 est in the United States, and in Europe it also attracted 
 attention to the existence of the permament Pan-Ameri- 
 can Railway Committee. Chairman Davis took ad- 
 vantage of the interest aroused, and in March, 1905, 
 gave a dinner to the diplomatic representatives of the 
 Latin-American countries and to others, at which the 
 entire project was reviewed. Mr. Davis himself reit- 
 erated his faith in the ultimate realization of the idea. 
 Senator Elkins added his word of confidence, saying that 
 the project was no longer a dream, no longer a prophecy, 
 since its consummation so long looked for now seemed 
 practicable and possible. The diplomatic representa- 
 tives of the Latin-American Republics in their addresses 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 129 
 
 took occasion to express their appreciation of Mr. Davis, 
 and they drank a toast to him as the man who with the 
 utmost zeal worked for the accomplishment of the inter- 
 continental railroad. 
 
 An incident of this dinner was a letter from Andrew 
 Carnegie, who was unable to be present, in which he 
 urged that the United States should give the hundred 
 million dollars then spent on the Navy toward the Rail- 
 way, conditioned upon the South American Republics 
 pledging their credit for an equal sum. Afterward, in 
 a letter to the New York Tribune, Mr. Carnegie elab- 
 orated this view, maintaining that the Railway would be 
 a more effective means of maintaining the Monroe Doc- 
 trine than warships. He also urged the project on other 
 grounds, both sentimental and practical, saying that it 
 would enormously increase our trade, and that direct 
 lines of steamers to South American ports would nat- 
 urally follow. 
 
 In the discussion growing out of the activities of the 
 Pan-American Railway Committee, Mr. Davis was fre- 
 quently confronted with the geographical conditions that 
 were alleged to make through traffic over an intercon- 
 tinental trunk line impracticable as a business proposi- 
 tion. Some of his associates in large railway enter- 
 prises would good-humoredly suggest that diamonds as 
 through freight from New York to Buenos Aires would 
 be the only traffic that would pay. He was fully alive 
 to the traffic objections to the project as well as to the 
 engineering difficulties, but he understood better than 
 most of his critics the collateral questions connected with 
 the subject, and he also appreciated the indirect influence 
 and the political or national objects that would be sub- 
 served by the several countries through the construction 
 of the line. 
 
I30 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 In an article published in the North American Review 
 for May, 1906, he reviewed the proposition on its busi- 
 ness side, with incidental allusion to its historical and 
 sentimental aspect. This article presents the best sum- 
 mary of his views that he ever made, and some parts of 
 it are quoted below in their entirety : 
 
 It is proper to take into account the general subject and founda- 
 tion of the proposed intercontinental trunk line and branches. 
 The basis is a business one, whether looked at from the stand- 
 point of the individual, of a single nation, or of the group of 
 nations which constitute the American continent. Railroads are 
 built to earn dividends. For the body of stockholders the divi- 
 dends must depend on the net earnings to be obtained from the 
 traffic that either already exists or is created. The capitalists 
 who supply the funds may have additional reasons resulting 
 from their ownership of mines, of timber areas, or of agricul- 
 tural regions whose products can only be made marketable by 
 providing means of communication. Sometimes, therefore, their 
 investments do not depend solely on the actual net earnings. Yet 
 the increased value of lands and the market obtained for their 
 products of every kind are only another form of dividends. 
 
 For a nation, the dividends cannot be estimated in direct terms 
 of interest on bonds, or of net earnings for capital stock. For it, 
 the dividends are the development of the local resources, the 
 wider market obtained for the products of the country, the in- 
 crease of the population through immigration, and, in a word, 
 the addition to the wealth of the nation. There is also the divi- 
 dend which cannot be estimated in terms of dollars and cents 
 because it comes from a better knowledge which the people of 
 the different regions of the country obtain of one another, and 
 from the cultivation of the national patriotic spirit. This is a 
 clear case of the influence of frequent and cheap communication 
 among diverse sections of the country. 
 
 It is because of the addition to the wealth of a nation by de- 
 veloping its resources, and the strengthening of the patriotic 
 bonds which bind the different sections and their inhabitants 
 more closely together, that all the progressive elements have 
 aided railway construction. This will always be the policy of a 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 131 
 
 new country with undeveloped resources, or of an old country 
 which seeks to become a modern nation. It is this feeling which 
 caused the United States to spend four hundred thousand dollars 
 on surveys across the Rocky Mountains long before any feasible 
 plans for a railroad to the Pacific were attracting the attention of 
 capitalists, and later developed into a definite national policy 
 when the Pacific Railways were aided by enormous land grants, 
 subsidies, and bond guaranties. When the first transcontinental 
 line was constructed many wise men doubted whether there ever 
 would be traffic enough to pay the operating expenses. 
 
 The international like the national dividends are wider markets 
 and the enlarged trade which come from increasing the means of 
 intercourse between different countries. A better understanding 
 by one people of another people is certainly a desirable result, 
 and this is secured by furnishing means of communication. The 
 international dividend may be said to be one of dollars and cents 
 in the way of more commerce, and of peace in the way of avoid- 
 ing misunderstandings which come from lack of intercourse. 
 
 In the light of these facts the proposed Pan-American Railway 
 may be said to offer returns to the individual, to the nations as 
 separate Republics, and to them as a part of the family of na- 
 tions of the western hemisphere. But the question at the root 
 of railroad building always must relate to the commercial ad- 
 vantages, that is, to the traffic. It is not often that a rail line is 
 built for traffic that already exists. Freight follows the rail line. 
 The railway creates tonnage, and tonnage is commerce both local 
 and international. 
 
 He then analyzed the commerce of Mexico, Central 
 America, and South America with the United States, 
 with the purpose of showing its relation to railway fa- 
 cilities. In discussing this phase of the subject he took 
 up the matter of steamship service : 
 
 What will be noted in any detailed analysis of trade returns is 
 that commerce grows in the ratio in which increased facilities are 
 given not merely to steamship service but more especially to means 
 of railway communication. The steamship service from its na- 
 ture is of little benefit in developing the interior of the country. 
 
132 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The coast-line does not furnish a large traffic, and the points not 
 reached by railroad create little tonnage. When this tonnage has 
 to be brought to the market by pack mules or wagon carts the 
 cost is often equal to the value of the product. The railway picks 
 up freight every few miles, but the steamship service of South 
 America on an average requires a land haul of one hundred and 
 fifty miles each way, or three hundred miles in all. This is one 
 reason, and a strong one, why intercontinental railway develop- 
 ment through railway connection is desirable. 
 
 A common illustration familiar to all railway builders and 
 traffic managers is that of the team with the load of wheat, w^hich, 
 by the time the point of shipment has been reached, has eaten 
 up all the wheat. The same principle applies in mines. Iron 
 ore, coal, copper, silver, may exist in great quantities in certain 
 localities, but the mines never will be worked where the cost of 
 transporting the ore is greater than the amount received for it. 
 It is railway lines that make it profitable to develop the mines, 
 and the traffic from this source is always to be considered in 
 providing for railway systems. This probably is more especially 
 necessary with regard to the localities to be reached by the Pan- 
 American system than with those of any other part of the world. 
 
 The Pan-American routes as surveyed parallel the Pacific coast 
 along the trend of the Andes, but they provide for branches or 
 feeders which will shoot out toward the Atlantic as well as to- 
 ward the Pacific. If their construction is much more difficult 
 and costly than when the water line can be followed, there is in 
 its business aspect the value of the traffic that comes from the 
 tonnage of mineral regions. This tonnage is of the kind that 
 quickly pays for itself. 
 
 The Third Pan-American Conference met at Rio de 
 Janeiro in September, 1906, and was made historic by 
 the presence of Secretary Elihu Root and the consequent 
 impetus that was given to the relations of the United 
 States with the countries to the south. For that Con- 
 ference Chairman Davis prepared a full report review- 
 ing not simply the activities of the permanent Pan-Amer- 
 ican Railway Committee, but giving also the progress in 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 133 
 
 the way of actual construction. The Conference ap- 
 pointed a special committee on the subject, which ac- 
 cepted the report, made recommendations along the line 
 of previous Conferences, commended the work of Chair- 
 man Davis and the committee, and recommended that it 
 be continued. This resolution was adopted with many 
 manifestations of appreciation. 
 
 Following the indorsement of this Conference, Chair- 
 man Davis continued his work both along educational 
 and along practical lines. In February, 1909, he gave 
 a dinner in Washington to the Pan-American Railway 
 Committee, and his expectations are thus recorded in his 
 journal: 
 
 February 9, 1909. On 7th inst. I gave a dinner to Pan-Amer- 
 ican Railway Committee. I am encouraged to think we may 
 soon be able to move towards the building of the gap, at least the 
 Panama Canal. 
 
 This dinner was followed by a visit to New York to 
 talk over the subject with George F. Baker, the president 
 of the First National Bank, with whom he had been for 
 many years intimately associated in financial matters, 
 H. P. Davison of J. P. Morgan and Company, and Frank 
 A. Vanderlip. The entry in his journal records the en- 
 couragement he received : 
 
 February 10, 1909. Call on Messrs. Baker, Vanderlip and 
 Davison in the interest of Pan-American Railway. Mr. Baker 
 said he would join Mr. Davison and Mr. Vanderlip. Mr. Davi- 
 son said he not only favored but they would join in building the 
 road. Mr. Vanderlip was in favor and would join in building 
 road. ... I was well pleased. The three are the best men in 
 New York, or elsewhere. 
 
 Unsettled financial conditions in the United States 
 and uncertainty as to the willingness of Congress to 
 
134 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 grant a charter of the character desired prevented the 
 cooperation of the capitaHsts mentioned in taking hold of 
 the project at that time. Nevertheless, the energies of 
 Chairman Davis continued to be directed toward giving 
 the project concrete form as an international enterprise 
 to be supported by the several governments which would 
 be interested through their geographic and other situa- 
 tion. He had several interviews with President Taft 
 and Secretary Knox, both of whom gave hearty support 
 to his plans. Secretary Knox especially exerted himself 
 in seeing that its importance be realized by the Fourth 
 Pan-American Conference, which met at Buenos Aires 
 in September, 19 lo, and the United States delegation 
 received special instructions on the subject. To this 
 Conference Chairman Davis, on behalf of the perma- 
 nent Pan-American Railway Committee, presented a re- 
 port showing the further progress that had been made 
 since the previous Conference. 
 
 The Buenos Aires Conference confirmed the resolu- 
 tions taken by its predecessor on the subject, acknowl- 
 edged the important services that the permanent Pan- 
 American Railway Committee had rendered, and con- 
 tinued its existence. It also further charged the Com- 
 mittee with the collection of fresh data and recommended 
 the countries interested to cooperate with the Commit- 
 tee with a special view to preventing the project from 
 being abandoned to the isolated action of each of the 
 countries especially interested in it. 
 
 Following the action of the Buenos Aires Conference, 
 the Committee, under the direction of Chairman Davis, 
 continued its activity, in which it had the cooperation 
 of the Department of State. Meetings were held during 
 the subsequent year, at which the progress in actual 
 construction was reported and measures were taken to 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 135 
 
 secure further cooperation by the several governments. 
 It had been intended to present a report to the Fifth 
 International American Conference, which was to meet 
 at Santiago, Chile, in 1915 ; but the postponement of this 
 Conference because of the unsettled conditions resulting 
 from the hostilities in Europe rendered its preparation 
 unnecessary. Means were found, however, for keep- 
 ing the project alive. When the Pan-American Finan- 
 cial Conference met in Washington in the spring of 
 
 1915. reports were made by the respective delegations 
 on railway conditions in their countries, and the ma- 
 jority of them gave prominence to the relation of the 
 railway construction to the Pan-American project. 
 
 ^ Out of the Financial Conference grew the Interna- 
 tional High Commission, a permanent body. Members 
 of this Commission, with the Secretary of the Treasury 
 at their head, visited South America in the spring of 
 
 19 16. A special committee investigated the Pan-Amer- 
 ican Railway project and reported on measures to en- 
 courage it along the lines that the permanent Committee 
 was following. Secretary McAdoo indorsed this re- 
 port. The work that Chairman Davis had undertaken 
 during President Harrison's administration was thus 
 carried forward to President Wilson's administration, 
 with the full recognition that it was the great idea not 
 of a visionary but of a man of vision. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 POLITICAL ACTIVITIES AS A PRIVATE CITIZEN 
 
 Support of Senator Bayard in 1884 — Cleveland's nomination at 
 Chicago — Talk of Mr. Davis for Vice-President — He urges 
 Hendricks — Campaign work — Visit to Albany — Explanation of 
 his interest in Mr. Blaine — National conventions in 1888 — 
 Prophecy of Harrison's nomination — Mr. Davis declines to be a 
 candidate for Governor — Visit to the President-elect at Indian- 
 apolis — Cabinet suggestions — Campaign of 1892 — Disruption in 
 the Democratic party — Support of Bryan and Free Silver in 1896 
 — West Virginia politics — View of national election in 1900. 
 
 BUSINESS enterprises, exacting as they were, did 
 not monopolize the attention of Mr. Davis after 
 his retirement from the Senate. His interest 
 in public affairs continued unabated. The duty of a 
 citizen was never neglected by him. He liked politics. 
 He participated in the primaries and in the local cam- 
 paigns as well as those in which larger issues were in- 
 volved. His political activities during the twenty years 
 after he left the Senate give a panoramic view of the 
 politics of the nation and of his own State of West 
 Virginia. 
 
 He took part in conference and caucuses, attended con- 
 ventions, declined suggestions and pleas that he himself 
 become a candidate for several offices, wrote letters to 
 the newspapers, and made speeches. Nor was his hori- 
 zon confined to his own party. He was a keen observer 
 of the tendencies and movements in the other organiza- 
 tion, and the warm friendships he had formed with many 
 
 136 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 137 
 
 leading Republicans gave a touch of personal interest. 
 The political history of the country almost might be 
 sketched from the activities and the observations of Mr. 
 Davis during this period. 
 
 Senator Bayard was his choice for the Democratic 
 nomination in 1884. This was partly the outgrowth of 
 their association in the Senate, and partly due to the 
 conservative character of both men in their views on 
 public issues. 
 
 Mr. Davis, as usual, was placed at the head of the 
 West Virginia delegation to the Democratic National 
 Convention. After his election as a delegate to this 
 Convention he began to interest himself actively in be- 
 half of Mr. Bayard. The progress of the campaign for 
 the nomination is indicated in his journal : 
 
 June 27, 1884. I returned from New York this morning. On 
 Monday night about a dozen of Mr. Bayard's friends met at his 
 house at dinner. By his request Senators Gorman, McPherson, 
 and myself go to New York in Senator B's presidential interest.' 
 Convention meets 8th prox. at Chicago. I am a delegate. We 
 find Bayard has a number of good reliable friends in New York, 
 among them Aug. Belmont, W. R. Traverse, John Kelly. 
 , It looked to us as if Gov. Cleveland had a majority of the New 
 York delegation. Flower has considerable following. Tammany 
 is opposed to Cleveland. Brooklyn or Kings County has not 
 elected anyone. Upon the whole. Bayard's chance is only tol- 
 erable, owing largely to the fact that the country is disposed to 
 go for whoever New York asks for. 
 
 At the Chicago Convention Mr. Davis exerted him- 
 self vigorously for his candidate, but his statement that 
 Ba3^ard's chance was only tolerable was borne out by 
 the results. Delegates from other parts of the country 
 did not accept the plea made by Tammany that Governor 
 Cleveland, if nominated, could not carry New York 
 
138 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 State. The unit rule was enforced and the Tammany 
 delegates and other opponents of Cleveland in the New 
 York delegation were voted solidly for his nomination. 
 
 On the first ballot Mr. Bayard received 170 votes. 
 On the second, when Governor Cleveland was nom- 
 inated, he had 81^ votes. Mr. Davis and one of his 
 West Virginia colleagues, Mr. Beale, were among those 
 who voted for Bayard on both ballots. 
 
 Following the nomination for President, the candi- 
 date for Vice-President was discussed in the usual as- 
 pect of availability as to geography and personality. 
 Some of Mr. Cleveland's warmest supporters turned to 
 West Virginia, while others looked to Indiana. Thomas 
 A. Hendricks was the available candidate from Indiana, 
 although some of Mr. Cleveland's friends were irritated 
 with him. Others were not very kindly disposed toward 
 Mr. Davis because of the persistence he had shown in 
 supporting Mr. Bayard. It was known, however, that 
 he would be very acceptable to Tammany and to the 
 element in New York that had been opposed to Cleve- 
 land. 
 
 A conference was held which was attended by ex-Sen- 
 ator W. H. Barnum of Connecticut, ex-Senator Francis 
 Kernan and Smith Weed of New York, John Kelly, the 
 Tammany leader, W. L. Scott of Pennsylvania, Senator 
 Gorman, George L. Converse of Ohio, and others. They 
 sent for Mr. Davis, who advised the nomination of Mr. 
 Hendricks. His recital of the circumstance is found in 
 a very brief comment accompanying some newspaper 
 clippings in his journal, to this effect : 
 
 From the newspaper extracts it will be seen that the nomination 
 for Vice-President was between Mr. Hendricks and myself. No 
 friend or myself made any move for my nomination; it came 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 139 
 
 from Gov. Cleveland's friends unsought by me. I am told that 
 W. L. Scott, of Pa., made an earnest effort in my behalf. 
 
 ^ While Mr. Davis was deeply interested in the nomina- 
 tion of the candidate, he was also quite solicitous about 
 the platform which should be adopted, and particularly 
 what should be said in regard to the tariff. He was a 
 member of the Committee on Resolutions, and served on 
 the sub-committee which formulated the platform that 
 the Convention adopted. He records its action quite 
 briefly: 
 
 Sub-committee— General B. F. Butler, Massachusetts ; Hon. A. 
 S. Hewitt, New York; Hon. W. R. Morrison, Illinois; Henry 
 Watterson, Kentucky; Governor Morton, Nebraska; General 
 Burke, Louisiana ; Hon. G. L. Converse, Ohio ; H. G. Davis, West 
 Virginia. We were about 48 hours in session, and at last agreed, 
 less Gen. Butler. 
 
 ^ Mr. Davis took his customary part in the campaign in 
 his State, attending among other conventions the con- 
 gressional convention in his district which nominated 
 for the House of Representatives William L. Wilson, 
 who was afterward to become famous as the author of a 
 tariff bill with which Mr. Davis did not agree. 
 
 In October, in answer to a personal letter from Gov- 
 ernor Cleveland, Mr. Davis went to Albany to confer 
 about the prospects. His account of the meeting is given 
 in a characteristic entry in his journal : 
 
 October 12. In response to letter of Gov. Cleveland, I went to 
 New York and got Mr. Gorman to telegraph I was there. Gov. 
 Cleveland asked me to come from cars to Executive Mansion, 
 which I did; found the Governor waiting dinner for me. We 
 dined together, no one else present. I was much pleased with 
 the man and the way he received me. We talked over the sit- 
 uation and men generally for two or three hours. We concluded 
 chances for Ohio were one in three, and West Virginia nine out 
 
140 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 of ten. Election in Ohio and West Virginia takes place October 
 14; presidential election November 4. 
 
 The outcome in those two States was indicated in the 
 following journal entry: 
 
 October 18. The result of October election in Ohio and West 
 Virginia is now known, Ohio being Republican and West Vir- 
 ginia Democrat; makes it a draw and very uncertain who will 
 succeed in November election. Chances favor (slightly) Mr. 
 Blaine. 
 
 The tension throughout the country over the closeness 
 of the election is shown in these extracts from the 
 journal : 
 
 November 5. Yesterday was general election day all over U. 
 S. for Presdt. and Vice-Presdt. All passes fairly quiet. Con- 
 test very close. Not fully known to-day who is elected, but 
 general impression is Cleveland and Hendricks. New York State 
 is very close, and whichever way it goes will decide election. 
 
 November 12. Owing to New York State being very close 
 between Blaine and Cleveland, there is now an oflficial count 
 going on. Cleveland has upon face 1,200 or 1,300 majority, and 
 it is generally conceded he is elected. 
 
 In this campaign Mr. Davis's position was a peculiar 
 one. Mr. Blaine was his warm personal friend and 
 business associate. The chairman of the Republican 
 National Committee was his son-in-law, Stephen B. El- 
 kins. But as a leader and a believer in the principles of 
 his party he felt impelled to support the candidate of his 
 own political organization. Moreover, the chairman of 
 the Democratic National Committee was Senator Arthur 
 P. Gorman, his kinsman and business and political 
 associate. 
 
 Immediately after the nomination of Mr. Blaine, and 
 before the Democratic National Convention met, some 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 141 
 
 question was raised in his own State in regard to his at- 
 titude. He answered the question in a brief letter to the 
 Wheeling Register, in which he said that, while Mr. 
 Blaine was his business associate and warm personal 
 friend, he had no intention of supporting him. His own 
 comment on the situation is given in his journal under the 
 same entry, in which he recites Cleveland's election: 
 
 In the contest for President my political feeling and acts were 
 and are with Cleveland; my personal feeling with Blaine. Mr. 
 Elkins (son-in-law) and Senator Gorman (cousin) were at the 
 head of the committees of Democrats and Republicans, so my re- 
 lation to each is good and close. 
 
 When the President-elect was forming his Cabinet, 
 some suggestions were made that Mr. Davis should be 
 in it. He commented simply in his journal that the 
 newspapers had considerable talk about himself for the 
 Cabinet, but that nothing was known as to who would 
 go into it, although all thought that Senator Bayard and 
 W. C. Whitney would be offered places. Belief that Mr. 
 Davis was in mind was strengthened in February, when 
 he had an interview with Mr. Cleveland in New York 
 City, but apparently that was not the purport of the in- 
 terview. It is thus described : 
 
 February 7, 1885. Responding to telegraph from Senator 
 Gorman, I went to New York last evening to call upon President- 
 elect Cleveland. He had many callers. He treated me very 
 nicely; talked to me half an hour. 
 
 This is the description of the inauguration of the first 
 Democratic President since Buchanan : 
 
 March 4, 1885. I go down in the morning, go in Senate, wit- 
 ness inaugural address, etc., of Governor Cleveland as President 
 of the U. S. Day is good. (Very good.) More people attend 
 than ever attended an inaugural address before. 
 
142 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Mr. Davis's political relations with President Cleve- 
 land throughout his first administration were friendly, 
 if less intimate than his personal relations. One brief 
 entry in the journal indicates that he did not think that 
 Mr. Cleveland and himself were so far apart on the 
 tariff. It follows: 
 
 January 28, 1887. I was in Washington yesterday; had by 
 appointment a long talk with President Cleveland. I suggested 
 special message to Congress urging tariff legislation and reduction 
 of revenue. He received the suggestion kindly, and I think he 
 will act upon it. 
 
 Mr. Davis, as usual, headed the West Virginia delega- 
 tion to the Democratic National Convention at St. Louis 
 in June, 1888. There was no opposition to President 
 Cleveland's renomination, and his old friend and sena- 
 torial associate, Allan G. Thurman, was nominated for 
 Vice-President. This is his account of the proceedings : 
 
 June 3, 1888. I start to St. Louis in special car of Senator 
 Gorman to attend Democratic Convention, which meets on 5th. 
 I represent W. Va. on national executive committee. Gorman. 
 Watterson, and Scott were the leading men of the Convention. 
 I was with them most of the time. I declined reelection on Na- 
 tional Executive Committee. Cleveland and Thurman were each 
 unanimously nominated. This is very unusual. 
 
 In this year the question as to who should be the Re- 
 publican candidate was involved in much uncertainty. 
 Mr. Davis, with his keen powers of observation, had 
 reached the conclusion that the nominee would be Gen- 
 eral Benjamin Harrison of Indiana. Months before the 
 Convention met, in correspondence with Mr. Bayard, 
 who was then Ambassador to Great Britain, he ex- 
 pressed this belief. Mr. Bayard, three thousand miles 
 away, saw no such probability, and so wrote Mr. Davis, 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 143 
 
 asking him the grounds for his beHef ; and Mr. Davis 
 responded reviewing the political conditions and the 
 prospects. His prophecy was confirmed. His record of 
 the event is thus given : 
 
 July 3, 1888, General Harrison has just been nominated by 
 the Republicans for President. Elkins has had much to do with 
 nominating him. In fact, I doubt his nomination but for Elkins. 
 He is our personal friend. 
 
 There was a movement in the Democratic party to 
 strengthen the ticket in West Virginia by nominating 
 Mr. Davis for Governor. This movement, however, re- 
 ceived no encouragement from him, and he finally set 
 it at rest by a letter to the Wheeling Register under date 
 of August 1st, as follows: 
 
 I have had many personal requests and a large number of let- 
 ters asking me to allow my name to be used in connection with 
 the gubernatorial nomination at the approaching State Demo- 
 cratic Convention to be held August 16. 
 
 To all such inquiries my general reply has been and is that 
 my business affairs are in such condition that they demand all of 
 my time and attention, and, without neglecting them and without 
 great personal inconvenience and loss, I could not consent to be- 
 come a candidate. 
 
 The people of West Virginia have been kind to me, and I owe 
 them a debt of gratitude. They have always nominated and 
 elected me whenever I have been a candidate. I would like to 
 serve them in any way I consistently can, but cannot at the com- 
 ing election be a candidate for Governor. 
 
 I deem it fair to my friends and party associates that I should 
 make this public expression, so that they may be advised of my 
 decision in the premises. 
 
 It is known that, among other things, I am engaged with others 
 in building a north-and-south line of railroad through the State, 
 which is regarded, in a measure, as a public advantage, as it will 
 largely develop the resources of the State and add to its wealth 
 and prosperity. It is feared by my associates and myself that 
 
144 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 my candidacy would interfere with the proper care and prosecu- 
 tion of this enterprise. 
 
 I hope and believe that the Convention will select and elect a 
 worthy, sound, and progressive man, identified with West Vir- 
 ginia and its development, who will work for the advancement 
 of the people and the progress of the State. 
 
 Notwithstanding the personal friendship to which Mr. 
 Davis referred in his journal entry describing General 
 Harrison's nomination, he entered aggressively into the 
 campaign to defeat the Republican ticket. The guber- 
 natorial question having been disposed of, he was free 
 to give his energies toward the reelection of President 
 Cleveland, and this he did. He had misgivings, how- 
 ever, that the tariff issue would defeat the Democrats, 
 and these were confirmed when the election returns were 
 in. He thought that his own State would be close, but 
 it went with the rest of the country and its electoral 
 vote was recorded for the Republican candidates. Mr. 
 Davis accepted the result philosophically, as he always 
 did political reverses. 
 
 The friendship which General Harrison entertained 
 for him was in no way affected by their political differ- 
 ences, and in December, by invitation, he made a visit 
 to the President-elect at Indianapolis. The newspapers 
 were filled with accounts of the visit and speculation as 
 to what it meant. Mr. Davis's own explanation was 
 given in his journal : 
 
 December 26, 1888. On 23d I left Baltimore for short visit 
 to General Harrison and family. Arrived 11.30 p. m. Mr. Mc- 
 Kee met me at the depot. Found General and Mrs. H. waiting 
 up to receive me ; they were very kind and good. I return on 
 Monday evening. They asked and insisted upon my staying un- 
 til Tuesday, which was Christmas. Newspapers have consider- 
 able to say about my visit. It was partly social, partly in inter- 
 ests of Mr. Elkins for War Department and Blaine for Secre- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 145 
 
 tary of State. The Harrison family and mine have been good 
 and close friends for 8 or 10 years. I taink Mrs. Harrison one 
 of the best women I ever knew. 
 
 The inauguration of General Harrison, with comment 
 on the weather, was almost as briefly described as the 
 similar entry and comment on Mr. Cleveland's inaugura- 
 tion, four years earlier. It ran thus : 
 
 March 4, 1889. General B. Harrison, Republican, is to-day 
 inaugurated as President U. S. He is a good and valued friend 
 of mine and our family. It was expected he would make Mr. 
 Elkins member of his Cabinet, but he did not. Messrs. Blaine 
 and Windom are our friends. This is a very disagreeable day; 
 it rained nearly all last night and this morning. Four o'clock — 
 not raining, but cold and disagreeable. 
 
 Though President Harrison did not make Mr. Elkins 
 a member of his Cabinet at the beginning of his ad- 
 ministration, because of the complications, geographical 
 and political, that usually beset Cabinet-making, he did 
 this two years later. Mr. Elkins then became Secretary 
 of War. Mr. Davis, while continuing his friendly per- 
 sonal relations with President Harrison, now found him- 
 self in stronger political opposition, since there was a 
 national administration of the other party in power and 
 to be held responsible. Yet he was not entirely in sym- 
 pathy with the leading elements in his own party. He 
 doubted the expediency of making Mr. Cleveland the 
 candidate in 1892, although he recognized that the re- 
 action over the extreme high-tariff legislation embodied 
 in the McKinley bill would be favorable to the Demo- 
 crats. He believed that Senator Gorman would be the 
 strongest man for the nomination as representing the 
 conservative element which entertained moderate views 
 on the tariff. As usual, he was selected as one of the 
 
146 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 delegates from West Virginia to the Democratic Na- 
 tional Convention. His journal, after noting the nom- 
 ination of Harrison and Reid by the Republican Na- 
 tional Convention, has this entry : 
 
 June 20, 1892. I am at Chicago attending Democratic Con- 
 vention. I went out in interest of Senator Gorman. It was 
 plain from time of our arrival that ex-President Cleveland had 
 a majority of delegates. I returned the second day of conven- 
 tion, expecting Cleveland to be nominated on first ballot, which 
 was done. 
 
 During the campaign Mr. Davis made a number of 
 political addresses in support of his party candidates, 
 State, Congressional, and national. In a speech at 
 Piedmont the Saturday evening before election he said 
 that the Force bill was the leading issue, and, while 
 eulogizing General Harrison as a man, declared that 
 his principles were wrong and he was to be blamed for 
 that bill. The dangers of centralization, if the Republi- 
 cans were continued in power, was another issue on 
 which he urged the Democrats to support their candi- 
 dates. On the tariff he declared that the Republicans 
 were wrong in claiming that the Democrats were in 
 favor of taking the duty off coal, and that the Republi- 
 cans were responsible for the legislation reducing the 
 rate on that product. He closed this address by intro- 
 ducing William L. Wilson and urging that he be sup- 
 ported for Congress. 
 
 The disrupting and antagonistic tendencies in the 
 Democratic party during President Cleveland's second 
 term were not pleasing to Mr. Davis with his conserva- 
 tism and his constructive ideas. He was not in sym- 
 pathy with either element in the party at that time, and 
 in his own State he was out of touch with those who 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 147 
 
 were in control of the party organization. The politi- 
 cal condition known as the Bryan campaign was ap- 
 proaching. 
 
 Mr. Davis was not a delegate to either the Democratic 
 National Convention in 1896 or that in 1900, but he kept 
 his party allegiance and supported the national ticket 
 in both campaigns. He made several political ad- 
 dresses in support of Bryan and Sewall in 1896, and 
 wrote a letter to the Wheeling Register supporting the 
 platform declaration for free silver. In this letter he 
 declared that he did not fear the bad results that the 
 Republicans claimed would follow Mr. Bryan's elec- 
 tion. Regarding the tariff he said that, in his judg- 
 ment, the interests of the people were best served by a 
 moderate revenue tariff with incidental protection. He 
 made a speech at Elkins in which he said he could not 
 agree with all that had been said and done at Chicago, 
 but he urged support of the ticket. 
 
 When Mr. Bryan came into West Virginia on his 
 meteoric speaking trip, a meeting was held at Keyser 
 at which Mr. Davis presided and made a speech in- 
 dorsing the candidate and saying that his youth was no 
 objection to him. He also said, speaking as a busi- 
 ness man, that the business of the country would be in 
 no danger from his election. Mr. Bryan in his speech, 
 after complimenting Mr. Davis, referred especially to 
 his age and experience and his standing in the business 
 world. 
 
 "I am glad," said Mr. Bryan, ''this man, ex-Senator 
 Davis, living in the East, is not afraid to trust the 
 executive office in the hands of a man who has always 
 lived in the West. I am glad that this man of mature 
 years is not afraid of those who have not reached that 
 age in life. I am glad that one of the richest men in 
 
148 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 your State is not afraid to trust the government in the 
 hands of the people. His position protects him from at- 
 tacks which are made against me. He has been a Sena- 
 tor for twelve years; therefore our opponents cannot call 
 him an ignoramus or a novice in legislation. His prop- 
 erty interests protect him from being called an anar- 
 chist." 
 
 A passing view of the trend of the campaign is given 
 in some extracts from the journal which follow: 
 
 Sept. 28, 1896. I have returned from trip to Baltimore, Phil- 
 adelphia, New York, and Washington. This is presidential year. 
 All the Eastern States, especially money centers, are for Mc- 
 Kinley and gold standard. Western States appear to be all for 
 Bryan and double standard, gold and silver. I am for double 
 standard and Bryan ; I have written a letter on the subject to the 
 Wheeling Register. Candidate Bryan is to speak at Keyser on 
 30th. I am to introduce him, also preside. 
 
 October i, 1896. Yesterday Bryan, Democratic candidate for 
 President, came from Washington on B & O, spoke at Harper's 
 Ferry, Martinsburg, Hancock, Cumberland, Keyser, and Graf- 
 ton. I met Mr. Bryan at Cumberland. I was chairman, and 
 introduced Mr. Bryan to the great crowd of people (at Keyser). 
 Bryan spoke about 40 minutes. Estimated people present at 
 4,500. Rain and flood keep some away. 
 
 October 23, 1896. The political pot is boiling hot. Political 
 meetings numerous. Mr. Elkins is giving all his time to elec- 
 tioneering and speaking for McKinley. I am for Bryan; have 
 written a letter supporting Democratic ticket. Am giving finan- 
 cial aid. Many invitations, but have not made a speech. It 
 looks like Republicans will succeed in New York; betting is 
 about 3 to I on McKinley. West Virginia and Maryland are 
 doubtful States, chances in favor of Republicans. 
 
 Nov. 2, 1896. To-morrow is election day. Democrats claim 
 West Virginia and the election of Bryan. Republicans claim and 
 feel sure of West Virginia and the election of McKinley. Bet- 
 ting in New York and Chicago is about three to one in favor of 
 McKinley. Senator Elkins says West Virginia and the coun- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 149 
 
 try for McKinley. I say, West Virginia and result doubtful. 
 November 5. Presidential and State elections over. Repub- 
 licans carry nearly all. McKinley about 300 electoral votes ; 224 
 to elect. Majority on popular vote large. West Va. gives Mc- 
 Kinley, also State ticket, about 12,000 majority; legislature about 
 two thirds Republican. 
 
 In the mid-period of the Congressional and State elec- 
 tions Mr. Davis still continued to work for his party's 
 success. In February, 1898, several newspapers began 
 advocating his nomination for Governor, but he dis- 
 couraged the movement. In August he presided over 
 the Democratic Convention, which met at Elkins, and 
 during the campaign he made several speeches. In the 
 one he delivered at Piedmont he reviewed the general 
 political outlook and gave some attention to the new 
 question which had arisen as a consequence of the war 
 with Spain to free Cuba. He said that the Republicans 
 advocated the retention of all the conquered territory, 
 and that this meant a colonial system, a new and dan- 
 gerous principle in our government, a radical depart- 
 ure from our traditional policy altogether inconsistent 
 with the Monroe Doctrine. He declared himself against 
 the retention of the Philippines. 
 
 In this campaign Mr. Davis felt a close personal in- 
 terest, because his brother. Colonel T. B. Davis, had 
 been nominated to fill a vacancy in the House of Rep- 
 resentatives. In his journal he recorded his gratifica- 
 tion that his brother overcame a Republican majority 
 of 290 and was elected by 186 votes. 
 
 The Legislature chosen at this election was of a 
 mixed political character, reflecting the factional situa- 
 tion in both of the leading political parties in West Vir- 
 ginia. It was a question as to which party would suc- 
 ceed in choosing the United States Senator. Mr. Davis 
 
150 JHE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 always had been able to secure Republican votes, and 
 many of his friends thought that he would be the best 
 man to present as the Democratic candidate. There 
 were, however, ambitious Democrats who were close 
 personal friends of Mr. Davis, and who had been his 
 political lieutenants, that sought the nomination. There 
 was also the fact that Mr. Elkins, his son-in-law, was 
 a Republican United States Senator. 
 
 In his journal Mr. Davis records in November that 
 he was asked by many to be a candidate, but had not 
 said yes or no. A fortnight later he notes that, after 
 a talk in which John T. McGraw and C. W. Dailey said 
 they were for him, he told them he would not be a 
 candidate. Under date of December 24, 1898, he writes 
 in the journal : 
 
 The West Virginia senatorial canvass is hot. It is generally 
 understood that I am not a candidate. Also, if I was I would 
 receive Democratic vote. 
 
 Ultimately Nathan B. Scott, Republican, was elected 
 Senator. 
 
 In the Presidential campaign of 1900 Mr, Davis again 
 supported Bryan. He acted as chairman of the Demo- 
 cratic State Convention, which met at Parkersburg, and 
 made a speech along the lines of opposition to imperial- 
 ism and the Philippine policy of the Republicans. His 
 personal interest in the election this year again re- 
 lated to the candidacy of his brother. Colonel T. B. Davis, 
 who had been renominated, and who was elected. In 
 his journal entry, under date of November 5, 1900, his 
 views on the national outlook were recorded to the ef- 
 fect that it looked to him as if McKinley would be 
 elected President. The outcome he summarized in this 
 manner : 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 151 
 
 November 7, 1900. Elections, national and State, yesterday. 
 Republicans carried nearly everything by large majority. I voted 
 for Bryan, but it was a choice of evils, Hope this is the end of 
 Bryanism. 
 
 But eight years later Mr. Davis was again to support 
 Bryan for President. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE AT DEER PARK AND WASHINGTON 
 
 Building a summer home in the Alleghany wilderness — 
 Glimpses of the mountain farm — Mr. Davis's love of country life 
 — Sowing oats and buckwheat — Shearing the sheep — Evolution of 
 Deer Park into the summer capital — Distinguished visitors — 
 Senatorial guests — Cardinal Gibbons — Ex-President Grant — 
 President Cleveland's honeymoon — Fishing and other incidents 
 — President Harrison and his family — Social side of official life 
 in Washington — White House dinners — New Year's receptions — 
 Entertainments for Senator Davis at the end of his term — Resi- 
 dence in Baltimore — First state dinner of President and Mrs. 
 Cleveland. 
 
 THE intimate family, social, political, and business 
 life of Mr. Davis for a quarter of a century al- 
 ternated between Deer Park and Washington. 
 The vast tracts of timberlands in Garrett County, Mary- 
 land, which he and his brother purchased at the close of 
 the Civil War, were traversed by the Baltimore and Ohio 
 Railroad, but it was unbroken wilderness that was thus 
 crossed. In the heart of these forest lands he deter- 
 mined to build a summer home on the crest of the Alle- 
 ghanies. The home was actually an extensive farm 
 for which the greater part of the lands had to be cleared. 
 The wild deer had roamed through the region and when 
 a railway station was established it was fittingly named 
 Deer Park. The beautiful animals for many years 
 slaked their thirst in the stream that ran through the 
 Davis grounds. 
 
 152 
 
Colonel Thomas B. Davis 
 
 ] 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 153 
 
 It is at Deer Park that the best evidences are afforded 
 of Mr. Davis's love for the open and of his fondness for 
 farm Hfe. It is here, too, that he appears as a practical 
 farmer as well as a pioneer lumberman and railway 
 builder. He opened the homestead in the spring of 
 1867, and continued to live there durino^ the summer 
 months until 1892, when he removed to Elkins. 
 
 The entries in his journal during the earlier part of 
 this period offer many pleasing pictures of the practical 
 farmer in the midst of congenial surroundings, fre- 
 quently noting the weather conditions and prospects, as 
 every farmer must do, plowing, sowing, and harvesting 
 different crops, opening new lands, experimenting with 
 new varieties of grains, looking after the various farm 
 animals, and not forgetting the farm garden. 
 
 Incidental to these farming operations are the de- 
 velopment of the lumber business, installing new saw- 
 mills, laying tramways, and marketing the product. 
 There are also numerous prospecting trips into adjoin- 
 ing forest regions, with shrewd comment on their na- 
 ture, and often details of purchases and sales. The 
 picture of farm life is a minute one, with few of the 
 details left out. Excerpts from some of the journal 
 entries give the outlines: 
 
 April 26, 1867. Moved to Deer Park. 
 
 April 29. Sowed a few oats on hill in front of house. 
 
 May 4. Weather so wet we cannot sow oats. 
 
 May 8, Ground white with snow. We have sowed about 
 twenty bushels of oats. 
 
 Our mill, Greenwood, was commenced last week in March. 
 About April 15, sawed some little luml)er. May ist just begin- 
 ning to work right. 
 
 May 13. There have been 3 or 4 close days. We are sowing 
 oats in the glade in front of house. Brother Thomas is here. 
 
 May 17. Received cow and calf from Mr. Thompson. We 
 
154 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 finished sowing oats to-day. The carpenters are about done on 
 our house. 
 
 May 20, We have planted nearly all our garden. 
 
 May 30. We counted our sheep, and marked them. All 
 marked "H D." Wethers have an additional H on shoulder. 
 Young lambs have D on shoulder. We have 134 total sheep. 
 Our mark is crop of left ear and undercut on right. We will 
 turn our sheep out to-morrow. 
 
 June 17. Bought of E. Bell 200.80 acres of land on hill join- 
 ing Lawson tract at $20, all timber-land. 
 
 June 21. Sowed buckwheat in the meadow on Black Run. 
 
 June 25. Sowed buckwheat on hill. 
 
 August 31. Considerable frost last night; fear our buckwheat 
 has been killed. 
 
 September i. Frost killed buckwheat here, but not on high 
 ground. 
 
 October 25. Examined trees bought and planted last spring; 
 found dead two apple trees, eight dwarf pears, two plums, one 
 cherry, one quince. This is as near as I can tell; may not be 
 quite correct. 
 
 November 2. We send cattle and colts to New Creek to winter. 
 
 November 18. Mrs. Davis closed our house for the season. 
 We are still plowing. 
 
 December 2. Weather cold ; snow in the glades, and we have 
 to stop plowing. 
 
 The first season on the new homestead was thus closed, 
 but during the winter various purchases of implements 
 were recorded with a view to the following season, and 
 early in the next spring the family returned to the farm. 
 Its cultivation continued to receive the personal atten- 
 tion of Mr. Davis, notwithstanding his absorption in 
 larger business enterprises. Some of the incidents of 
 the season are thus set forth: 
 
 April 18, 1868. Weather good. We sow oats, also commence 
 plowing on glade hill. 
 
 April 25. Weather has been cold but good since 20th. We, 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 155 
 
 this morning, commenced sowing oats. Sowed black oats in 
 front of Mr. Tillson's, and opposite, on other side of Zock. We 
 also sow blue grass and timothy on some ground. 
 
 April 2^. Weather good; we are still sowing oats. T. B. 
 Davis sent 20 cattle, 12 mules, making 32. 
 
 May 12. Still sowing oats and plowing. Weather cool, and 
 looks like rain. We planted or sowed China wheat to-day; it is 
 something new. 
 
 May 15. Cloudy and raining. John Rhine brought up two 
 mares and colts ; 24 calves. 
 
 May 23. Have been plowing and sowing oats for two days. 
 I was stopped this evening by rain. One day more will let us 
 finish. 
 
 May 26. Fine day ; we are sowing oats. 
 
 May 27. Close, wann rain ; hard in the evening. Sheared 
 and counted sheep to-day — 47 ewes, 4 wethers, 2 rams, 13 ewe 
 lambs. 
 
 June 16. No rain since last of May, three weeks. 
 
 June 18. Sowed some buckwheat in the wet places in glade. 
 New sawmill about ready to saw. 
 
 August 2. We commence cutting oats. 
 
 August 13. Some frost last night; bit slightly buckwheat in 
 the glade. 
 
 November 20. Quite a snow-storm. 
 
 December 2. About two inches of snow on the ground ; we 
 stop plowing. We leave Deer Park for the winter. 
 
 Subsequent seasons widened the farm work, but al- 
 ways it had the direct oversight of Mr. Davis. In the 
 midst of political conferences, service in the State Leg- 
 islature and the United States Senate, railway building, 
 purchases of coal and timber lands involving millions of 
 dollars, he continued to give his attention to the farm. 
 His journal records that on May 5, 1870, the weather 
 was good, that they finished sowing oats, and that "the 
 last sowed was Poland oats, near the barn." Early in 
 August, 1875, he notes that the army worm had made 
 its appearance in oats and corn, doing great damage. A 
 
156 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 week later he records that they commenced cutting oats, 
 though quite green, to prevent the army worm from 
 eating them up. The loss to the farmer is thus indi- 
 cated : 
 
 We will make but little more than our seed, owing to army 
 worm. 
 
 How greatly the Deer Park farm had expanded and 
 become something more than a farm is indicated in an 
 entry under date of May 12, 1878: 
 
 On yesterday Professor Baird sent to Deer Park a fine lot of 
 young salmon trout. We put 11,000 salmon in ice pond near 
 house, 2,000 trout in pond near barn, 1,000 in little pond, 1,000 
 trout in Pond Big Run. 
 
 Other consignments of salmon and trout from the 
 Smithsonian Institution are also noted at later dates. 
 
 Some of the incidents of farming in the later years are 
 thus described: 
 
 September i, 1879. This is a fine morning. We are done 
 stacking oats. Are now cutting second grass crop, which is 
 good; first crop was bad or short. 
 
 September i, 1881. This has been a dry summer, but our 
 oats, buckwheat, and hay crops are good. We are raising about 
 6,000 bushels, weighing 34 lbs. to the bushel, 300 bushels of buck- 
 wheat, 300 tons of hay. 
 
 July 12, 1882. We are cutting grass ; it is only tolerable good. 
 Grass near house is very good, but north or west hills are bad 
 or short. 
 
 Mingled with the notes on the crops and other inci- 
 dents of farming, after the first few seasons, there are 
 increasingly frequent entries regarding social affairs, 
 in which the names of distinguished men of the nation 
 are given as visitors. These entries mark the trans- 
 formation of the Alleghany summit from a wilderness 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 157 
 
 into one of the great mountain resorts of the county. 
 This transformation really was largely the evolution of 
 the Davis farm and timber tracts, for it was Mr. Davis 
 who saw its advantages and who planned and carried 
 forward its development. At his instance, John W. 
 Garrett, who was then president of the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railroad, examined the region and was so im- 
 pressed with its attractiveness that he built a summer 
 home for himself there, while his son, T. Harrison Gar- 
 rett, built another. He went further than this, and in 
 conjunction with Mr. Davis erected a large summer ho- 
 tel and numerous cottages to provide for the summer 
 guests who began coming to Deer Park. 
 
 All through these years the kindly and unostentatious 
 hospitality of Mr. Davis and his family had been ex- 
 tended to their friends both in public and in private 
 life. In a short time Deer Park had become the summer 
 capital of the nation. Railway officials found it con- 
 venient to spend the heated months there. To Baltimore 
 and Washington especially it was a haven of rest, easily 
 accessible and therefore sought. 
 
 It was there that the messenger from the Vatican, 
 Count Mucciola, brought the notification from Pope Leo 
 XIII which raised His Grace, Archbishop Gibbons, to 
 His Eminence, James, Cardinal Gibbons, the second 
 American Cardinal. Thither came the leaders of both 
 parties in Congress, escaping the heat of Washington 
 for brief periods, most of them as guests of Senator 
 Davis and his family. Rarely did a week-end pass 
 without the Senator bringing a number of his colleagues. 
 There, too, came Presidents of the United States for 
 rest and recreation and former Presidents as well. 
 
 Some of the incidents of these visits of distinguished 
 men are given as recorded in the journal; 
 
158 THE LIFE AND TIMES OK 
 
 July 10, 1875. Judge and Mrs. Thurman of Ohio arriv^, 
 They expect to spend two weeks with us. 
 
 July II. General Bristow, Secretary of the Treasury, Judge 
 Pierpont, Attorney-General, and Governor Dennison of Ohio 
 took tea with us to meet Judge and Mrs. Thurman. 
 
 June 6, 1881. Mr. W. W. Corcoran [the philanthropist] and 
 Carter Robbins are here on first visit of a few days. We are 
 glad to have our friend Corcoran with us. 
 
 June 25. Hon. Wm. Windom and wife made us a visit from 
 Saturday to Monday. They are close friends of ours. 
 
 June 27. Hon. A. P. Gorman, Senator of Maryland and my 
 first cousin, made us a visit. 
 
 September 3, 1883. Senator T. F. Bayard and two daugh- 
 ters have been on a visit to us for nearly a week. They left 
 yesterday for home. During their stay here several entertain- 
 ments were given them. One at Mr. T. Harrison Garrett's was 
 a nice affair. 
 
 Ex-Senator McDonald (of Indiana) and wife have been at 
 the hotel for some time. Bayard and McDonald met and talked 
 several times at our house. Rode and drove together. Both 
 are prominent candidates for Democratic nomination for Presi- 
 dent next year. 
 
 September 8. Mr. Bayard wrote me a very friendly and kind 
 letter, telling what a pleasant visit he had with us. 
 
 August II, 1884. Senator Pendleton of Ohio left us yester- 
 day. He paid us a visit of a few days. We like him very much. 
 
 September 15. Ex-Senator Barnum (of Connecticut) made 
 us a short visit Sunday last. 
 
 Senator John Sherman was another visitor, usually- 
 one of the guests on a v^eek-end trip from Washington, 
 while General U. S. Grant and Mrs. Grant came as the 
 guests of Mr. and Mrs. Elkins in the midsummer of 
 1883 and remained for several days. 
 
 A Presidential honeymoon was one of the incidents 
 resulting from Deer Park's attractiveness and the rep- 
 utation for hospitality that its leading resident had given 
 it. The story of the honeymoon, which at the time 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 159 
 
 filled columns of the newspapers, is given with idyllic 
 brevity by Senator Davis in his journal entries : 
 
 May 22, 1886. President Cleveland sent for me through 
 Colonel Lamont, his private secretary; told me he is to be mar- 
 ried early in June, and asked me to arrange so he can go to Deer 
 Park with bride and spend a week. The marriage and place 
 they go is known to but very few ; newspapers have not yet got 
 hold of it. 
 
 June 2. I came to Baltimore last evening. Stopped at Wash- 
 mgton and saw Secretary Lamont and President Cleveland. 
 Presdt. marries Miss Folsom this evening, and goes to Deer Park 
 to-night to spend a week or two. 
 
 June 8. President Cleveland and bride. Miss Folsom that was, 
 came here last Thursday morning, the 3d. They occupied one of 
 the B & O Railroad cottages. Weather has been fine. Mrs. 
 Davis and I call. President and Mrs. Cleveland return our visit. 
 About three o'clock Mrs. Davis and I go over to President's cot- 
 tage and take President and Mrs. Cleveland a drive to Oakland. 
 At night we call to see the President and Mrs. Cleveland. 
 
 Saturday, June 5. President and Mrs. C. went to Bantz at 
 Deep Creek to fish; we caught a fair lot of trout. Sunday Pres- 
 ident and Mrs. C, Colonel Lamont, and Mrs. L., Mrs. Davis and 
 I went to Oakland to church. Sunday evening President and 
 Mrs. C, Colonel Lamont, and Mrs. L. dine with us at seven 
 o'clock. Monday President and Colonel Lamont took my moun- 
 tain wagon and horses and went to Leeland's place on Deep 
 Creek ; got about 50 trout. 
 
 There were other fishing trips, and the family legend 
 is that young John Davis, who was often one of the 
 party, usually saw part of his catch transferred to the 
 President's basket without Mr. Cleveland's knowledge. 
 
 In the newspaper accounts of the honeymoon, it was 
 told how President Cleveland and his wife in the early 
 morning were seen wending their way up to the sawdust 
 walk leading to the Davis cottage, throwing aside all 
 ceremony and instead of waiting for the first call paying 
 
i6o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 a visit themselves, thus reHeving the ex-Senator of any 
 embarrassment that he might have felt in the matter of 
 calling on the newly married couple. There was also 
 an undercurrent of political talk at the time, growing 
 out of the resignation of Daniel Manning as Secretary 
 of the Treasury, and the possibility that President Cleve- 
 land might ask ex-Senator Davis to take the vacant 
 place. The end of the visit was told in the journal entry 
 of June 8 in this manner : 
 
 President and Mrs. C, Colonel Lamont, Mrs. Davis, Kate and 
 I drive to Boiling Spring. At one o'clock President and party 
 left on special train for Washington. President said he had a 
 very pleasant visit and might return during the summer. 
 
 The forerunner of another Presidential guest at Deer 
 Park is found in several notes of visits by Senator Ben- 
 jamin Harrison. The friendship between the Davis and 
 the Harrison families was an intimate one and was the 
 more cherished because of the difference in politics of 
 the heads of the two families. In August, 1887, Mr. 
 Davis recorded in his journal: 
 
 General and Mrs. Harrison of Indiana are staying with us. 
 Have been here a week or more, and will remain a week longer. 
 Mrs. Davis and I gave them a dinner. 
 
 There were subsequent visits, and after General Har- 
 rison became President he found relief from official cares 
 in going to Deer Park, although at the time he humor- 
 ously explained that, while the office-seekers did not in- 
 trude on him there, nevertheless an unusually large 
 number of people seemed to happen in at Deer Park in 
 order to pay their respects. The incidents of President 
 Harrison's visit the first summer following his inaugura- 
 tion are recorded in this pleasing manner : 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS i5i 
 
 July 3, 1889. Mrs. McKee, daughter of Presdt. Harrison, has 
 been with us several days, arranging and fixing up cottage for 
 President and Mrs. Harrison. Mrs. Harrison and party came 
 to Deer Park to-day and went direct to their cottage. We give 
 Mrs. H. an Alderney cow and Mrs. McKee an Alderney calf. 
 
 July 12. President Harrison came from Washington to-day 
 and joined Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. McKee. Secretary and Mrs. 
 Windom and daughter also came, and are our guests. 
 
 July 26. Attorney-General Miller came on 24th to make us a 
 visit of several days. 
 
 July 29. Attorney-General Miller left for Washington to-day. 
 He made himself very agreeable. 
 
 President and Mrs. Harrison have been quite friendly, coming 
 to our house often, and we are going to their cottage, sometimes 
 to meals. 
 
 August 31. At seven- thirty we expect the President and Mrs. 
 Harrison to dinner with us. Have invited fourteen or sixteen 
 jpersons. 
 
 Among the guests at this dinner were various public 
 men and their wives and several railway officials of 
 national reputation. 
 
 At this period Cardinal Gibbons was in the habit of 
 seeking rest at Deer Park, and was an occasional guest 
 of the Davis family. He met President Harrison at 
 an informal dinner given by Mr. Davis. The delicate 
 question of etiquette was solved by seating the Cardinal 
 on the left of the host with the President on the right. 
 
 The Davis hospitality at Deer Park during these 
 years was a reflex of the hospitality extended at Wash- 
 ington. Some passing glimpses of official functions at 
 the national capital are given in the journal entries. 
 Among these functions during the first part of the Sena- 
 torial career was a state dinner by President Grant at 
 the White House which Senator Davis had not expected 
 to attend, Mrs. Davis being ill at the time, and the in- 
 vitation to dine with the President being nevertheless 
 
1 62 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 a command, the Senator found it necessary to make a 
 personal call on President Grant and explain the cir- 
 cumstances. A state dinner at the White House dur- 
 ing the term of President Hayes, in February, 1879, is 
 described in this way: 
 
 Mrs. Davis and I dined with President and Mrs. Hayes at 
 seven; it was a state dinner. We, at about ten o'clock, got 
 through and went to British Minister's, Sir Edward Thornton, 
 to a reception. 
 
 At that period the social side of official life was some- 
 what restricted, owing to the lack of facilities for en- 
 tertainment. Representatives and Senators in Con- 
 gress, Cabinet officers, and other officials lived mostly 
 in boarding-houses or hotels. A few Senators and Rep- 
 resentatives rented their homes, but for a member of 
 Congress to own a house in Washington was to risk his 
 political future, -because the folks at home would not 
 understand. 
 
 During a large part of his senatorial term Senator 
 Davis and his family lived at the Arlington Hotel. 
 Many of the leading public men also made their homes 
 there, while distinguished strangers, such as the Em- 
 peror Dom Pedro and the Grand Duke Alexis, were 
 entertained at the Arlington during their visit. The 
 family thus was in the very center of official life. 
 
 At that time the New Year's reception at the White 
 House was the function of a public character which in- 
 augurated the social season, and the making of New 
 Year's calls was as much a part of Congressional life 
 as attending the sessions of the House and Senate. A 
 New Year's day toward the close of the senatorial career 
 is thus described : 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 163 
 
 January i, 1881. This has been an unusually cold, stormy 
 winter, with much snow ; it is said to be the coldest winter for 
 years. 
 
 Mrs. Davis, Hallie, and others received callers at Arlington 
 parlor; more than 100 callers came. I make about twenty calls, 
 among them Secretary Schurz, Sherman, and Ramsey. Also 
 General Sherman, Senators Pendleton, Keman, Windom, Allison, 
 Bayard, Edmunds, and Beck. 
 
 Senator Davis, besides the entertainments given by 
 himself and Mrs. Davis, was a frequent giver of din- 
 ners for gentlemen. One of these at Wormley's, which 
 was then famous for its colored owner and for its good 
 cheer, included Mr. Blaine, a large number of his col- 
 leagues in the Senate, and some prominent railroad of- 
 ficials. 
 
 Toward the close of his second term, when it was 
 definitely determined that he was retiring from public 
 life, a series of dinners were given in honor of the Sen- 
 ator and Mrs. Davis by his colleagues. One was by 
 Senator Gorman, one by Senator Bayard, and another 
 by Mr. Blaine. A few lines in the journal tell the story 
 of the Blaine dinner, though it was a very notable one: 
 
 February 24, 1883. Ex-Secretary Blaine at his new house 
 gave Mrs. Davis and me a dinner; commence at seven and one 
 half; return home eleven o'clock. Left dinner table about ten. 
 Guests, Senator and Mrs. Allison, Senator and Mrs. Windom, 
 Senator and Mrs. Gorman, Justice and Mrs. Miller, Senator 
 Bayard, Senator Camden, and General Sherman. 
 
 After his retirement from the Senate, Mr. Davis, on 
 account of his business interests, for a time made his 
 winter home in Baltimore. He entertained there with 
 his customary hospitality and his former colleagues were 
 frequent guests at his table. The friendship with Mr. 
 
i64 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Blaine was cemented by several visits. One of these is 
 thus described: 
 
 March 13, 1884. Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Blaine came over from 
 Washington to dine with us. There were present Mrs. Benjamin 
 Harrison, Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Gary, Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Hamble- 
 ton, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Spencer, Mr. and Mrs. Elkins, Gen- 
 eral Felix Agnus, and our daughter Kate ; fifteen in all. 
 
 After a few years Washington again became the win- 
 ter home and the social life at the national capital was 
 resumed. It was during this period of residence in 
 Washington that the sequel of President Cleveland's 
 honeymoon occurred in the form of the first state din- 
 ner. The story of this social event is given in full in a 
 newspaper excerpt pasted in the journal, with this com- 
 ment under date of January 21, 1887: ''Mrs. Davis 
 and I attended dinner given by President and Mrs. 
 Cleveland. It was a grand affair. See preceding 
 page." 
 
 The newspaper account runs: 
 
 At seven-thirty o'clock to-night the guests assembled for the 
 first White House state dinner this winter, which was also the first 
 at which its young mistress has presided. It was given for the 
 Cabinet, and was noteworthy as the first appearance of Mrs. 
 Lamar, bride of the Secretary of the Interior. . . . The bride of 
 the White House wore for the first time one of the most elab- 
 orate dresses of her trousseau, a pale blue silk starred with silver 
 daisies and veiled in clouds of tulle. 
 
 The order of escort to the table was as follows: The Presi- 
 dent and Mrs. Manning, the Secretary of the Navy and Mrs. 
 Lamar, Lieutenant-General Sheridan and Mrs. Fitzhugh Lee, 
 Ex-Senator H. G. Davis and Mrs. August Belmont, Commodore 
 Harmony and Mrs. Goodyear of Buffalo, Governor Lee of Vir- 
 ginia and Mrs. Andrew of Massachusetts, the President of the 
 Senate and Mrs. Sheridan, the Secretary of the Treasury and 
 Mrs. Endicott, the former being Mrs. Cleveland's left-hand neigh- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 165 
 
 bor, while at her right sat her escort, the Secretary of State 
 Beyond these st.ll at Mrs. Cleveland's right, were the Postmaster^ 
 General and Mrs^ John Sherman, the Speaker of the House and 
 West Vir"""''' f^'^«^"' Secretary Fairchild and Mrs. Davis of 
 West y>rgm,a, Senator Beck and Mrs. Sicard of Buffalo Mr 
 John A. Andrew and Mrs. Fairchild, the Secretary of the In- 
 tenor and Mrs. Carlisle, the Secretary of War and Mrs. Vilas 
 who was the President's left-hand mate. 
 
 Further chapters in the social life in Washing-ton in 
 which Mr. Davis participated might be written, but it 
 IS well to end the chronicle with the golden memories of 
 those gracious days of President Cleveland and his 
 bride in the White House. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION AND AFTER 
 
 State of the Democratic party in 1904 — Revival of conservative 
 forces — Mr. Davis a delegate to the St. Louis Convention — Cleve- 
 land elements in control — Mr. Bryan's fight in the Platform Com- 
 mittee for silver — Compromise by omission — Judge Parker's 
 nomination for President — Mr. Davis's story of his own nomina- 
 tion for Vice-President — Welcome by his neighbors at Elkins — 
 Turn given the campaign by Judge Parker's gold telegram — Ob- 
 jections to Mr. Davis on the score of age — Notification at White 
 Sulphur Springs — Speech by John Sharp Williams — Response — 
 Campaigning at eighty-one — Philosophic acceptance of result — 
 Activities during the four years that followed — Urged by his 
 party in West Virginia for various offices — Reasons for declining 
 — Delegate to the Baltimore Convention in 1912 — Support of 
 Wilson and Marshall 
 
 AFTER two national campaigns in which it had 
 met defeat, the state of the Democratic party 
 in the nation in 1904 was not encouraging. 
 The inevitable reaction had occurred. Free silver, un- 
 der Mr. Bryan, had not won in 1896. The same general 
 attitude, together with opposition to imperialism, had 
 not brought victory in 1900. The radical forces in the 
 party having been in control and having failed, the con- 
 servative forces were now becoming influential. 
 
 It was apparent that Mr. Bryan was about to be 
 displaced from his leadership. This was to be done un- 
 der the element in the party which was known as the 
 Cleveland Democracy, although it included many prom- 
 inent party leaders who never had been Cleveland Dem- 
 
 166 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 167 
 
 ocrats. All these forces were united in their determina- 
 tion to free the organization from the silver issue. They 
 believed that this question had been settled for good 
 and therefore should be eliminated if the party was to 
 have any chance of success. The desire to get back 
 into power was also a strong motive for burying the 
 dead issue by many who originally had believed in it. 
 
 In West Virginia, as in other sections of the country, 
 the conservative forces in the Democratic party began 
 to assert themselves, and thus in a natural way the 
 leadership of Mr. Davis was again sought. Having 
 supported free silver and Mr. Bryan in both campaigns, 
 he was not unacceptable to the following of Mr. Bryan 
 in the State, although he was opposed to what were 
 called the Bryan tendencies. The prevailing sentiment 
 found expression in the first instance in suggestions that 
 he accept the nomination for Governor. Various en- 
 tries in his journal refer to this sentiment. In one case 
 he remarks that he is being urged to be a candidate, but 
 says to all that he is not a candidate and not hunting for 
 a job. Again he says he is being urged to accept the 
 nomination for Governor, but has not agreed to do so. 
 
 The Democratic State Convention met at Charleston 
 in April, 1904, to select the candidates for Governor and 
 other State officers, and to choose delegates to the Na- 
 tional Convention at St. Louis. Mr. Davis was a po- 
 tent figure at this convention. In his speech he said: 
 
 **An important part of our duty is to select conserva- 
 tive, representative Democrats as delegates to the Na- 
 tional Convention at St. Louis. Let us name good men 
 without reference to past dififerences of opinion. In the 
 coming election we are likely to have a strong, popular, 
 and conservative candidate in the person of Gorman or 
 Parker." 
 
i68 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Mr. Davis had been exerting his influence to secure 
 delegates favorable to Senator Gorman, and this was 
 made apparent when the delegates-at-large and the dis- 
 trict delegates were chosen, twelve of the delegation be- 
 ing for Gorman and two for William R. Hearst. Mr. 
 Davis was placed at the head of the delegation. The 
 other delegates-at-large were former Senator Johnson 
 N. Camden, former Governor William A. MacCorkle 
 and the Hon. Owen S. McKinney. 
 
 When the National Convention met at St. Louis early 
 in July, the nominee virtually had been selected in the 
 person of Judge Alton B. Parker of the New York Court 
 of Appeals. A careful literary campaign had been con- 
 ducted for months with the purpose of making him 
 known to the public at large. Antagonistic leaders sup- 
 ported him. Former President Cleveland had indorsed 
 him in newspaper interviews and former Governor 
 David B. Hill was in personal charge of his campaign. 
 The vital struggle in the Convention, therefore, was not 
 to be over the candidate, but over the platform. 
 
 It was known that the supporters of Judge Farker 
 were likely to have their way ; yet many of the delegates 
 were not quite ready to ignore their past record on sil- 
 ver, or to accept the complete domination of the con- 
 servative element in the party, since this element drew 
 its main support from the East and therefore raised the 
 sectional question. 
 
 William J. Bryan appeared as a delegate from Ne- 
 braska. The conditions were strikingly different from 
 those that obtained at Chicago in 1896 when he had 
 ridden the whirlwind and dominated the Convention. 
 They were also strikingly different from those that were 
 to obtain eight years later, when he was again to ride 
 the whirlwind, dominate another National Convention, 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 169 
 
 overthrow the candidate who had an actual majority 
 of the delegates, and make possible the nomination of a 
 candidate who had entered the Convention with little 
 prospect of success. 
 
 His political ascendancy was at its lowest ebb. In the 
 early stages of the Convention the name of Mr. Cleve- 
 land was wildly cheered, while Mr. Bryan's was re- 
 ceived with coldness. However, he made an aggressive 
 and undaunted fight, giving out interviews denouncing 
 Judge Parker as the plutocratic candidate, and declar- 
 ing that there should be no repudiation of the stand 
 the party had taken in previous campaigns on silver. 
 
 With the nomination of Judge Parker assured, the 
 first battle over the platform was in the Committee on 
 Resolutions. Mr. Davis was the West Virginia mem- 
 ber of that committee, as he had been in many previous 
 conventions. There was a sharp struggle over the tar- 
 iff plank between the conservative and the radical tariff 
 members. Mr. Bryan won on this plank. Some of the 
 gold Democrats were in full agreement with his tariff 
 views, but there were intimations that others who did 
 not agree with him consented to it as a strategic move 
 to oppose him on the silver question. Mr. Davis ac- 
 quiesced in the phrasing of the tariff plank, although it 
 was not entirely acceptable to him. 
 
 The great struggle was on silver. The Eastern dele- 
 gates insisted upon a recantation of the former pro- 
 nouncements for silver and a declaration upholding the 
 gold standard. Mr. Bryan, according to the newspa- 
 per reports at the time, stood like a rock against such a 
 declaration, and the committee was given to understand 
 that if it was adopted he would bolt. A compromise 
 plank was phrased, which recited in substance that the 
 discoveries of gold during the last few years and the 
 
170 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 great increase in its production had contributed to the 
 maintenance of a standard of value no longer open to 
 question, removing that issue from the field of political 
 contention. 
 
 Mr. Bryan made an aggressive, determined fight 
 against the adoption of this plank by the convention. 
 When it became evident that no declaration framed on 
 this line could be adopted, a sub-committee of three was 
 appointed to devise an acceptable compromise. This 
 sub-committee consisted of David B. Hill, John Sharp 
 Williams, and Mr. Bryan himself. The newspaper re- 
 ports of the sub-committee's meeting were to the effect 
 that Mr. Bryan interposed his unyielding opposition to 
 every proposal that included the faintest favorable men- 
 tion of gold; and at last Mr. Williams, worn to the 
 limit of endurance, exclaimed: 
 
 "Gentlemen, we never can get together; let us omit 
 the mention of money. Let us go back to the Conven- 
 tion and report a plantform freed completely of this 
 troublesome question." 
 
 'That is satisfactory to me," said Mr. Bryan. 
 
 'Will you support the ticket and platform?" asked 
 Mr. Hill. 
 
 'T certainly will," replied the Nebraskan. 
 
 The Convention ratified this compromise platform, 
 took a recess, and reassembled in the evening to listen 
 to the nominating speeches. The voting began after 
 midnight. Mr. Bryan made one of his electrifying 
 speeches in opposing Judge Parker, and supporting Sen- 
 ator F. M. Cockrell of Missouri. "I return to you the 
 standard you gave me to bear," he thundered. 'T may 
 have failed in wisdom, and I may have lost the fight, 
 but I defy any man to say that I have been false to 
 my trust or untrue to the faith of Democracy." 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 171 
 
 Judge Parker was nominated on the first ballot, and 
 the Convention took a recess. The Parker leaders were 
 in doubt regarding the most available candidate for 
 Vice-President. Some of them inclined to former Gov- 
 ernor Judson Harmon of Ohio, who had served in 
 Cleveland's Cabinet and who represented the same con- 
 servative tendencies that Judge Parker was assumed to 
 represent. But John R. McLean, the owner of a pow- 
 erful newspaper and himself a political factor of con- 
 sequence in Ohio, was strongly opposed to Judge Har- 
 mon. Governor Hill and others of the men represent- 
 ing the dominant element consulted. Finally some one 
 suggested Henry G. Davis of West Virginia. 
 
 Having been for free silver, and having supported 
 Bryan, it was felt that his nomination might sweeten 
 the ticket for Mr. Bryan. At the same time his large 
 financial interest and his conservatism would make 
 him acceptable to the Eastern element of the party. 
 Moreover, West Virginia was a doubtful State, and if 
 it could be carried for the Democratic national ticket his 
 personal popularity would be the means of carrying it. 
 Search was begun for Mr. Davis and word was brought 
 that he had left on his special car the evening before. 
 Nevertheless it was decided to nominate him, and this 
 was done when the Convention met after recess. A 
 telegram notifying him of the action of the Convention 
 reached him at Greenville, Ohio. 
 
 Mr. Davis's own recital of the events that brought 
 him into the vortex of national politics again is given 
 with his customary terseness in the journal entries that 
 follow : 
 
 July 3, 1904. I go to St. Louis as a delegate-at-large from 
 West Virginia. 
 
 July 6. Democratic National Convention meets. W Va. 
 
172 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 delegation stands 12 for Senator Gorman, 2 for Hearst. Gorman 
 refuses to let his name be presented to Convention. Consider- 
 able sentiment among delegates for him. 
 
 I am selected by W. Va. delegation on Committee on Resolu- 
 tions. Senator Daniels, Virginia, is chairman sub-committee of 
 ten. Among the members are Senator Hill of N. Y., Mr. Bryan, 
 and myself. After two days' work and an all-night session, we 
 get a unanimous report which is adopted by Convention. 
 
 When platform was adopted I thought my work was done. I 
 went to my car and started for home. On my way I was tele- 
 graphed I was being voted for Vice-President. This was a great 
 surprise to me. I was nominated on the first ballot, and made 
 unanimous. 
 
 July 10. Sunday, Came from St. Louis Democratic Conven- 
 tion. Was met at Belington by a band which came to Elkins. 
 Was met at depot by a thousand or more people and escorted 
 home. 
 
 This very modest statement gives a faint idea of the 
 reception of the candidate. Politics were forgotten and 
 he was received as a fellow citizen. C. Wood Dailey 
 made a brief speech introducing him to the friends and 
 neighbors who knew him so well. In replying to it he 
 spoke with deep feeling, saying: 
 
 "My strongest feeling at this moment is my gratifica- 
 tion at this remarkable expression by the people of my 
 own town of their kindly feeling and good will toward 
 me personally. In this gathering I see many who do 
 not hold my political faith, and among them our dis- 
 tinguished fellow townsman, Senator Elkins. All this 
 testifies there are some ties between them that for the 
 time at least make them forget party politics and lead 
 to the expression of personal feeling and regard. 
 
 "It is the expression of your personal feeling for me 
 for which I wish to thank you; and now, as it is Sun- 
 day, and this besides is only for the expressions of feel- 
 ing of kindly interest, let me retire, and in doing so I 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 173 
 
 will introduce my friend Senator Elkins, who, differ 
 with me as he may in politics, feels an interest in our 
 town and rejoices in every honor that comes to it." 
 
 Senator Elkins, in speaking briefly, said: 
 
 "This quick gathering and cordial welcome is without 
 party significance. It is the enthusiastic outburst and 
 expression of the respect, confidence, admiration, and 
 affection which neighbors and friends entertain for Sen- 
 ator Davis, who has done so much to promote the 
 growth of this town and the prosperity of our great 
 State. 
 
 "His nomination for the office of Vice-President 
 brings not only honor and distinction to him, but to us 
 as well, and as neighbors and friends we share in it 
 with him. I am sure I speak for every member of this 
 great assemblage when I say, as neighbors and friends 
 we are each and all glad that the great honor which the 
 distinguished Senator so richly deserves came to him 
 without his seeking it, or even without his knowledge, 
 and as neighbors and friends we rejoice with him." 
 
 The signs of public interest throughout the country 
 and of interest in his personality appear in this entry in 
 the journal : 
 
 July 12. Many letters and telegrams of congratulation on 
 nomination for Vice-Presdt. Many callers and newspaper re- 
 porters at Elkins. Publishing everything that occurs or has hap- 
 pened. 
 
 Meanwhile a new turn had been given the campaign 
 probabilities in the closing hours of the Convention. 
 When the news was received in the East that the Con- 
 vention in its platform had omitted all mention of gold 
 or silver, there was much dissatisfaction. Judge Parker 
 acted of his own accord to correct the omission by send- 
 
174 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ing the following message to William F. Sheahan, one 
 of the New York leaders : 
 
 I regard the gold standard as firmly and irrevocably established, 
 and shall act accordingly if the action of the Convention to-day 
 shall be ratified by the people. As the platform is silent on the 
 subject, my view should be made known to the convention, and 
 if it proves to be unsatisfactory to the majority I request you to 
 decline the nomination for me at once, so that another may be 
 nominated before adjournment. 
 
 Alton B. Parker. 
 
 This telegram was presented to the Convention after 
 the nomination of Mr. Davis for Vice-President at a 
 night session. It stirred afresh the opposition of the 
 Bryan supporters, and Mr. Bryan made an impassioned 
 speech of denunciation. The Convention, after an 
 angry debate, authorized the sending of the following 
 telegram to Judge Parker : 
 
 The platform adopted by this Convention is silent on the ques- 
 tion of the monetary standard because it is not regarded by us as 
 a possible issue in this campaign, and only campaign issues were 
 mentioned in the platform. Therefore there is nothing in the 
 views expressed by you in the telegram just received which 
 would preclude anyone entertaining them from accepting a nom- 
 ination on the said platform. 
 
 Having directed this resolution to be sent to the candi- 
 date for President, the Convention adjourned with Par- 
 ker and Davis as the ticket. 
 
 For a time there was a question regarding Mr. Bryan's 
 intentions, which he finally answered by supporting the 
 ticket in his own way and with his own interpretation of 
 the issues of the campaign. 
 
 The nomination of Mr. Davis seemed likely to raise a 
 collateral issue. This was whether any political party 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 175 
 
 was justified In nominating a man of his age for the 
 Vice-Presidency, since there was always the possibility 
 that the Vice-President might become President. Mr. 
 Davis was then past fourscore. His eighty-first birth- 
 day would be celebrated ten days after the election in 
 November. Should he be elected, he would be well in his 
 eighty-second year when he assumed office, and he would 
 be expected to retain his physical and mental vigor until 
 he was in his eighty-sixth year. 
 
 The Republican newspapers took the matter good- 
 humoredly, explaining that his age was of no conse- 
 quence, since there was no possibility of the Democratic 
 ticket being elected. A more serious view was taken by 
 some of the Republican leaders. Elihu Root in a polit- 
 ical speech, while making kindly reference to Mr. Davis, 
 criticized the action of his party in nominating a candi- 
 date of his age, and drew a somewhat gruesome picture 
 of its possible consequences. 
 
 Mr. Davis was unperturbed by the discussion of his 
 age. He was so accustomed to looking forward and his 
 mental make-up was such that he gave no more atten- 
 tion to the chances of mortality for himself than he 
 would have given to any man nominated at half his age. 
 After a short period of rest he entered vigorously upon 
 his campaign. In the middle of July he went to New 
 York to attend a meeting of leading Democrats which 
 Governor Hill had called. From there he proceeded to 
 Esopus to see Judge Parker. His own account of the 
 interview appears in his journal: 
 
 July 21. I go up to Esopus, Judge Parker's home on the Hud- 
 son. Spend several hours with the Judge; like him very well. 
 Canvass starts off brightly. 
 
176 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 In accordance with the wishes of Mr. Davis, the 
 formal notification of his nomination was made at White 
 Sulphur Springs. His account follows : 
 
 Aug. 10. At White Sulphur Springs Hon. John S. Williams 
 of Mississippi, leader of House of Representatives, notified me 
 officially of nomination for Vice-President. I replied. A great 
 crowd at Springs and at notification. 
 
 Mr. Williams in the course of his speech, after dis- 
 cussing the public issues, turned to the personality of the 
 candidate for Vice-President and, addressing Mr. Davis, 
 said: 
 
 "The people see in you one of the best products of the 
 best period of American institutions, a period whose 
 salient characteristics were local self-government, indi- 
 viduality, equal opportunity, and freedom — freedom to 
 work, freedom to buy and sell, freedom to compete in 
 industrial life, resulting in self-dependence; freedom to 
 develop as one's own master and not merely as the well 
 trained and well managed industrial servant of another. 
 They see in you what Oliver Wendell Holmes said is a 
 rare thing, a self-made man who is yet not proud of his 
 maker. . . . 
 
 'Tn real conclusion, Mr. Davis, it is a sincere pleasure 
 indeed to know and to be able to help place in high posi- 
 tion a man of your character and sense and modesty; a 
 man who, as the result of a life of continence, temper- 
 ance, self-containment and usefulness and honest indus- 
 try, presents a picture in virile though advanced age of 
 mens sana in cor pore sano which is a delight to the eye, 
 a satisfaction to the soul, and was thought by wise an- 
 cients to be the sumrrium bonum of individual earthly 
 existence." 
 
 In his speech of acceptance Mr. Davis touched on 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 177 
 
 one point with a deep degree of sentiment. He said: 
 
 *'I find it a great pleasure, standing here upon the bor- 
 derland of the two Virginias, to receive and accept any 
 commission you bear, and to send greetings through you 
 to the Democracy of the entire country. Is it not signifi- 
 cant of a closer and truer brotherhood among us that, for 
 the first time since the Civil War, a nominee on the na- 
 tional ticket has been taken from that section of our com- 
 mon country that lies south of Mason and Dixon's line — 
 a happy recognition of the obliteration of all sectional 
 differences which led to and followed that unhappy 
 struggle?" 
 
 Continuing, he attacked the Republicans in the na- 
 tional administration for extravagance, held them re- 
 sponsible for unfavorable business conditions, recalled 
 that they had favored the double standard, and spoke 
 particularly of his own attitude on the rights of labor. 
 He paid this tribute to Judge Parker : 
 
 "He is a man of courage, yet prudent ; of high ideals, 
 yet without pretense ; of the most wholesome respect for 
 the Constitution and the majesty of the laws under it, and 
 a sacred regard for their limitations; of the clearest 
 sense of justice which would rebel against compounding 
 a wrong to an individual or a nation ; positive in convic- 
 tion, yet of few words ; strong in mental and moral attri- 
 butes, and yet withal modest and reserved ; possessed of a 
 sturdy constitution and magnificent manhood, and yet 
 temperate in his actions and dignified in his demeanor." 
 
 Referring to his party, he said that, while there had 
 been differences in the preceding campaigns, yet at St. 
 Louis they were all harmonized and a common ground 
 was found upon which all could stand and do battle for 
 Democratic principles. Concerning the platform he 
 said: 
 
178 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 "I heartily indorse the platform upon which I have 
 been nominated, and, with the Convention and its nom- 
 inee for President, regard the present monetary standard 
 of value as irrevocably established." 
 
 A further exposition of his views was promised in his 
 letter of acceptance, to be made public in September. In 
 it Mr. Davis criticized the increasing cost of government 
 under Republican administration. A paragraph was 
 given to imperialism in which he noted its tendency to 
 drift to absolutism and centralized power. The policy, 
 he insisted, was always dangerous to liberty. Concern- 
 ing the tariff he declared in favor of a wise, conserva- 
 tive, and gradual change that would equalize burdens of 
 taxation and make honest competition possible; but ex- 
 pressed the opinion that in making such change due re- 
 gard should be had for capital and labor involved in in- 
 dustrial enterprise. He reiterated his conviction that 
 local self-government could be maintained only by strict 
 observance of the Federal Constitution. He discussed 
 in some detail civil service and the race issue, and he re- 
 newed his tribute to Judge Parker. Concerning arbi- 
 tration he observed: ''The spirit of arbitration is kindred 
 to the love of law and order." 
 
 It is part of the political history of that campaign that 
 it was not without friction, and that the managers had 
 some trouble in holding the various party leaders to- 
 gether. In September 'Mr. Davis went to New York to 
 meet the members of the Democratic National Commit- 
 tee and Judge Parker. In October a ratification meeting 
 was held at Baltimore, over which Senator Gorman pre- 
 sided. Mr. Davis made a speech, also Governor Hill, 
 Senator Daniels, and his warm friend, former Governor 
 William Pinckney Whyte. After that, the greater part 
 of his time was given to meetings in West Virginia. He 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 179 
 
 traveled on a special train and spoke constantly. His 
 journal records making ''eighty or ninety" speeches, 
 which in itself showed what a vigorous campaigner he 
 was at eighty-one. 
 
 An incident of great interest in the campaign was the 
 visit of William J. Bryan. Late in October Mr. Bryan 
 entered the State at Parkersburg, and from there went 
 to Huntington and Charleston. Mr. Davis met him at 
 Parkersburg. Mr. Bryan in his speeches supported the 
 ticket in his own way and interpreted the platform after 
 his own manner, but he showed his appreciation of the 
 loyal support Mr. Davis had given him when he was the 
 candidate. 
 
 As the campaign drew to an end very little doubt re- 
 mained concerning the outcome. Mr. Davis had excel- 
 lent opportunities of learning the Republican view from 
 his son-in-law, Senator Elkins, who was active in the 
 Republican national campaign. The recollection of the 
 family is that during the canvass the Democratic candi- 
 date for Vice-President and the Republican Senator, 
 when they met at their homes in Elkins, discussed the 
 weather, the crops, the continuous development of West 
 Virginia, the railway enterprises in which they were in- 
 terested, and kindred topics. There is even a legend 
 that Senator Elkins, at several of the passing interviews, 
 was carried away by the beauty of the mountain scenery 
 surrounding them, and complimented Mr. Davis on his 
 foresight and energy in turning this part of the wilder- 
 ness into the dream city that it had become. 
 
 Mr. Davis was very anxious to carry his own State, 
 and in ordinary circumstances the large personal follow- 
 ing he had among Republicans, and the deep esteem felt 
 for him by men of all parties, might have influenced the 
 voting. Had he been the candidate for Governor there 
 
i8o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 is little question that this esteem would have found ex- 
 pression; but his Republican friends looked upon the na- 
 tional campaign as one of issues and not of men, and 
 were not inclined to vote the national ticket of the oppo- 
 sition party in order to show their esteem for the candi- 
 date for Vice-President. 
 
 There is no reason to assume that during the last few 
 weeks of the campaign Mr. Davis deceived himself into 
 believing that the Democratic national ticket would be 
 successful. His philosophic view of the campaign is 
 summed up in his journal in this manner : 
 
 November 8, 1904. Election day. It is generally believed 
 Roosevelt will be elected. I make a good vote in Elkins and 
 Randolph County. 
 
 At about ten o'clock we hear enough to know we lose and Re- 
 publicans win. Victory for Roosevelt is great. 
 
 The objection made during the campaign by his oppo- 
 nents and the thought which lodged in the minds of many 
 of his political supporters, that if elected he might not 
 live throughout his term, or might become incapacitated 
 for performing the duties of Vice-President, or Presi- 
 dent should the chief executive die, is interesting to recall 
 in the light of the activities of Mr. Davis from March, 
 1905, to March, 1909. His business affairs having been 
 neglected during the campaign, he applied himself assid- 
 uously to them, and particularly to the favorite project 
 of his later years, the Coal and Coke Railway. 
 
 His journal records, during 1905, various conferences 
 with railway officials of connecting lines to make traffic 
 arrangements, a horseback trip over part of the route, 
 and the actual opening of the road for traffic. In the 
 three years following there are similar entries regarding 
 the progress of the road, inspections of timber and coa,l 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS i8i 
 
 properties, and various details of financing the line, 
 as well as particulars regarding other business enter- 
 prises. 
 
 Interest in his own business during this period did not 
 preclude broader interests. The annual meeting of the 
 West Virginia State Board of Trade rarely found him 
 absent. When the State Bankers' Association met he 
 was almost invariably present; and at its annual meeting 
 in 1907, at Elkins, he entertained his successful com- 
 petitor for the Vice-Presidency, Charles W. Fairbanks, 
 who delivered an address. During this period he gave 
 his regular annual dinners to railway presidents, and 
 supplemented them by dinners to the permanent Pan- 
 American Railway Committee. 
 
 Philanthropies and benefactions received the attention 
 he had for many years given them. The Young Men's 
 Christian Association and the Child's Shelter of Charles- 
 ton, both of which were very dear to his heart, are fre- 
 quently mentioned in his journal in connection with his 
 visits and contributions to them. There are similar en- 
 tries concerning the Davis and Elkins College at Elkins, 
 with various details, and in particular the building of a 
 house for the president of the college. Home-coming 
 week at Baltimore, in 1907, was one of the passing inci- 
 dents of the period, as were h:s benefactions to the Odd 
 Fellows Lodge with which he had been affiliated. 
 
 Political affairs, notwithstanding his absorption in 
 business and philanthropies, still filled a large space in 
 his activities. In 1906, and again in 1908, his party 
 talked of him as the candidate for Governor, but this talk 
 he discouraged. In February, 1907, he made an inci- 
 dental visit to the Senate, when Vice-President Fair- 
 banks, noting his presence, and also the presence of two 
 other octogenarians, Senator Pettus of Alabama and 
 
i82 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 former Senator William Pinckney Whyte of Maryland, 
 gracefully sent each a white rose. Mr. Whyte and 
 Mr. Davis had been colleagues in the Senate thirty years 
 earlier. Edward Everett Hale, the chaplain, was also 
 an octogenarian, and was a great believer in the peace- 
 making influence of the Pan-American Railway, of 
 which Mr. Davis was the sponsor. 
 
 As the Presidential year approached, Mr. Davis 
 showed his usual interest in the candidates of both par- 
 ties, and indicated his personal preference by a news- 
 paper interview favoring Judge George Gray of Dela- 
 ware as the Democratic candidate. In his journal entry 
 on Washington's Birthday, 1908, he noted that it looked 
 as if Bryan, Democrat, and Taft, Republican, would be 
 the nominees for President. He did not seek election as 
 a delegate to the Democratk: National Convention, but 
 in the campaign he supported Mr. Bryan actively and 
 heartily. 
 
 When inauguration day, 1909, came, the day that 
 would have ended his term as Vice-President had he been 
 elected, he was in the full possession of his powers and 
 was giving very close attention to his railway and to his 
 philanthropies. In 1910 he helped his party in its State 
 campaign, and there was a move for his election as Sen- 
 ator, after it l^ecame assured that the Democrats had a 
 majority in the Legislature. The Washington Star, in 
 an editorial article in November, commented on this pos- 
 sibility, with special reference to Mr. Davis's position on 
 the tariff: 
 
 It would be an event of the highest national interest if at 
 eighty-seven, and after a long rest from office, Henry Gassaway 
 Davis should reappear in the Senate. Despatches from West Vir- 
 ginia mention his name. Other names are mentioned, those of 
 
HEXRY GASSAWAY DAMS 183 
 
 men of merit and ability, but that of Mr. Davis is the most prom- 
 inent of all, and in the country generally will command much 
 attention. 
 
 This well preserved veteran has had a remarkable career. Be- 
 ginning life in humble circumstances, he addressed himself first 
 to business and then to politics, and achieved notable success in 
 both fields. He made both money and reputation, and when he 
 reached the Senate took rank there with the men known as 
 workers. He was heard more frequently in committee than in 
 open Senate, though not a silent man when the debates played 
 around subjects that quickened his thought. 
 
 Other newspapers also discussed the possibility of Mr. 
 Davis becoming a candidate, and the entries in his jour- 
 nal indicate conferences with some of his party friends 
 on the subject. The talk was not displeasing to him. but 
 there is no reason to suppose that he gave it serious con- 
 sideration. 
 
 At the Jackson Day banquet of his party in Washing- 
 ton, on January 8, 1912, Mr. Davis was one of the most 
 notable figures. A thousand prominent members of the 
 party from all parts of the country were present, includ- 
 ing several candidates for the nomination for President, 
 and a former candidate in the person of Judge Alton B. 
 Parker. When Mr. Davis came in he was cheered for 
 several minutes, and escorted to the toastmaster's table, 
 where he made a brief acknowledgment. The following 
 day he told one of his friends that the address that had 
 mostly deeply impressed him was that of Governor 
 Woodrow Wilson of Xew Jersey. 
 
 Mr. Davis's interest in national politics this year was 
 keen, and was exerted, as usual, toward conservatism. 
 He attended the Democratic State Convention at Par- 
 kersburg in June, and was elected a delegate-at-large to 
 the National Convention. The State Convention in- 
 
i84 HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 
 
 structed for Speaker Champ Clark; but Mr. Davis told 
 the Convention that his choice for President was Gov- 
 ernor Harmon of Ohio. 
 
 Developments in the Republican party are described 
 briefly in these journal entries : 
 
 June 19, 1912. Republicans are having a lively time in Chicago 
 National Convention. Taft and Roosevelt are candidates, and 
 are very hostile and bitter. 
 
 June 20. Taft had majority of convention of about seventy, 
 and was nominated. Roosevelt bolts, and becomes a candidate. 
 
 Mr. Davis went to Baltimore in the latter part of June. 
 It was the ninth National Convention of his party that he 
 had attended. Forty-four years earlier he had made 
 his first appearance as a delegate in the Convention that 
 met at New York and nominated Seymour and Blair. 
 Owing to the great heat, he did not remain at Baltimore 
 until the end of the sessions. While not in full sympathy 
 with some of the tendencies that were manifested, he 
 gave his hearty support to Wilson and Marshall, and 
 during the campaign cooperated with the Democratic 
 National Committee. Though unable to make speeches, 
 he prepared newspaper interviews in which he reiterated 
 some of his favorite views about the prosperity of the 
 country under Democratic rule and the extravagance of 
 Republican administrations. In these interviews he 
 quoted freely from Governor Wilson's speech of accept- 
 ance, and approved the candidate's pronouncement in 
 favor of an early and gradual revision of the tariff down- 
 ward. 
 
P-, 
 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 BUSINESS ACTIVITIES AT FOURSCORE AND BEYOND 
 
 A busy man's casual enumeration of his interests — Sale of the 
 West Virginia Central Railway — Looking around for new fields 
 to employ capital — Imprisoned resources in heart of the State — 
 Mineral and timber reserves awaiting an outlet — Coal and Coke 
 Railway projected by Mr. Davis — Route from Elkins to Charles- 
 ton — Exploring trips at eighty — Progress of the line described — 
 First train when the builder was eighty-four — Communities 
 brought into life — Mr. Davis as active head of the railroad — 
 Looking after the traffic and finances — Local development enter- 
 prises — Other business responsibilities 
 
 APPROACHING fourscore, Mr. Davis had 
 found there was still work for him to do. The 
 scope of his activities as he reached the allotted 
 biblical age are indicated in an entry in his journal in 
 April, 1901, apparently made casually, like so many other 
 entries. This is it : 
 
 My health is good, and I am quite a busy man. Am President 
 West Va. Central & Pittsburgh Railway; Piedmont & Cumber- 
 land Railway; Coal & Iron Railway; Davis Coal & Coke Com- 
 pany; Empire Coal & Coke Company; Washington Coal & Coke 
 Company; Mill Creek Coal & Coke Company; Marshall Coal & 
 Coke Company; Valley Coal & Coke Company; Queen's Coal & 
 Coke Company; Davis National Bank, Piedmont; Trust Com- 
 pany of West Va. ; United States Delegate Conference American 
 Republics, which meets Mexico City October 22, 1901 ; West Va. 
 Tax Commision, appointed by Governor to revise tax laws. 
 
 Circumstances contributed to give a fresh start to 
 these business activities, and at fourscore and bevond to 
 
 185 
 
i86 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 make him an even busier man than he had recited in his 
 journal. Twenty years of his management and develop- 
 ment of the West Virginia Central Railway had made it 
 a very valuable property, with greater possibilities in the 
 future as part of one of the larger railway systems of the 
 country. The representatives of a number of important 
 lines had seen these possibilities, and had begun nego- 
 tiations for its purchase. One of these lines was the 
 Wabash, then under the control of the Goulds. They 
 wanted a railroad into Pittsburgh from the region tapped 
 by the West Virginia Central and they had purchased the 
 Western Maryland with this object in view. This road 
 then reached Hagerstown, and an extension to Cumber- 
 land was projected. 
 
 At Cumberland the West Virginia Central would 
 make a natural prolongation. The negotiations for its 
 purchase were begun in the autumn of 1901, before Mr. 
 Davis left for Mexico as one of the delegates to the 
 Pan-American Conference. They were continued with 
 Senator Elkins and others of those who were largely in- 
 terested, while Mr. Davis in Mexico City, by letter and 
 telegraph, kept a guiding hand on the whole transaction. 
 The outcome was that the West Virginia Central was 
 sold by its owners on a basis of complete transfer. It 
 was characteristic of Mr. Davis that, having been the 
 head of the system and responsible for its management, 
 he did not care to be further identified with it after he 
 had parted with his interest beyond exerting a friendly 
 personal influence toward the new management. 
 
 The sale of the West Virginia Central Railway was 
 consummated early in January, 1902, after Mr. Davis 
 had returned from Mexico. In consequence he found 
 himself in the possession of several million dollars cash 
 capital. At fourscore he might have invested it in Gov- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 187 
 
 ernment bonds or similar securities ; but this would have 
 meant idle capital, and the idea of idle capital was as re- 
 pugnant to him as that of himself becoming an idle in- 
 dividual. Moreover, his ambitions for West Virginia 
 in the way of developing the country had not yet been 
 satisfied. There was a large region in the very heart of 
 the State, contiguous to the section he had already de- 
 veloped, whose vast resources of coal and timber were 
 imprisoned resources because no means of transporta- 
 tion for them existed. 
 
 This region stretched off toward Charleston, the cap- 
 ital, on the Kanawha River. A railway line reaching the 
 Kanawha there would open up these resources through 
 the Baltimore and Ohio and the Western Maryland sys- 
 tems on the north, and through the Chesapeake and Ohio 
 and the Kanawha and Michigan Railway on the south. 
 It would be a real artery for West Virginia. Tidewater 
 would be accessible, and also the Ohio Valley and the 
 Great Lakes. 
 
 The railroad would involve engineering difficulties 
 greater than those encountered in the building of the 
 West Virginia Central, because much tunneling would 
 be required. This may have been one of the reasons why 
 it appealed to Mr. Davis, since his whole career had been 
 to undertake projects when impelled by obstacles. Rail- 
 way building on the prairies would not have appealed to 
 him. 
 
 He had studied the region with his usual thoroughness. 
 Away back in 1874, when the West Virginia Central was 
 a concept rather than a project, his journal had recited 
 the details of a trip to Tucker, Randolph, and Barbour 
 counties to look at coal deposits "of which much has 
 been said." Regarding one section of this region he 
 further recorded: 
 
i88 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 I find on Roaring Creek at or near Crawford Scott's and I. K. 
 Scott's a vein of coal open in several places; the vein from top 
 to bottom is about ii feet, about 2^. feet top and bottom of coal, 
 then a slate from one to two on this and about 6 feet of piece or 
 good coal in center. I do not think it the vein of this region or 
 Pittsburgh ; it looks more like the Myer's Mill or Connellsville & 
 Uniontown veins. 
 
 Upon the whole, I do not think as well of the Randolph or 
 Roaring Creek coal deposit as I had been led to suppose. The 
 Clarksburg vein I think is more over toward Buckhannon and 
 Weston, say in Upshur County. 
 
 Later inspection seems to have given him a more 
 favorable idea of the coal prospects in this district, and 
 when his determination to continue developing the re- 
 gion had been reached, he began making extensive pur- 
 chases. Quite simply in his journal in February, 1902, 
 he records : 
 
 I have bought from E. J. Berwind, New York, his Roaring 
 Creek coal property and railway (twenty-two miles, $875,000). 
 
 In the meantime he had formulated his plan, so that 
 there was little delay in the organization of the Coal and 
 Coke Railway Company. It was entirely Mr. Davis's 
 individual enterprise, and remained so until the line had 
 been actually completed, when some of his former asso- 
 ciates joined with him. His first move was to gain 
 possession of a link that already had been built. Pitts- 
 burgh capitalists and mine-owners had constructed a 
 railway known as the Charleston, Clendennin and Sutton 
 from the Kanawha at Charleston to Sutton, a distance of 
 sixty-four miles. It had the disadvantage, in railway 
 terms, of ending nowhere, and its extension had not 
 proved inviting enough to secure the cooperation of cap- 
 italists. 
 
 Mr. Davis acted in his usual direct manner. He 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 189 
 
 fixed an upset price, and sent to Pittsburgh a confidential 
 representative, who quickly closed the transaction with 
 the owners. Then the construction of the intervening 
 links of this line was begun. Henry G. Davis, railway 
 builder, eighty years old, was at work again. He gave 
 his personal attention, as usual, to every detail of the 
 building of the railway, overseeing the letting of the 
 contracts and also the way in which they were carried 
 out. His own story of the construction is told with his 
 usual simplicity, or rather is gathered from the occa- 
 sional entries in his journal. In February, 1902, he 
 recorded the purchase of coal lands in Randolph, Upshur, 
 Braxton, and Gilmer counties. Two months later, not- 
 ing further purchases, he said : "We have bought in all 
 about one hundred thousand acres." 
 
 In June he states : 'T am pushing along Coal and Coke 
 Railway. No one has an interest except myself." 
 Later in the same month he records : 
 
 On the nth Bower, Robb, Moore, and I left Elkins by way of 
 Roaring Creek Junction; rode over line of Coal and Coke Rail- 
 way now being constructed by myself, intended to go through our 
 coal-fields to French Creek coal-field, west of Buchan River, five 
 or six miles above the town of Buckhannon. We staid overnight 
 at Ford's Half Way House; next day by way of Gray Run to 
 Sago, a station on railway. We returned by way of Middle 
 Fork of Valley River and Sand Run. 
 
 In October of the same year he records : "We are push- 
 ing along Coal and Coke road ; between 500 and 600 men 
 at work grading and in first tunnel." 
 
 There were numerous other trips over the route in 
 the following months. Quite casually is recorded in 
 some detail a horseback trip in May, 1903. Mr. Davis 
 was then well along in his eightieth year. Other mem- 
 bers of the party, very much younger, after they got 
 
190 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 back spoke of it as a hard trip, but there was no indica- 
 tion of hardship in the account given by the eighty-year- 
 old leader. It runs as follows : 
 
 May 27, 1903. On Morning of i8th inst, John [son], Lee, 
 Bowers, Robb, and myself left Elkins for Charleston, W. Va., 
 over contemplated route Coal and Coke Railway from Elkins to 
 Charleston. 
 
 Went by rail to tunnel No. i at Kings, from there by 
 way Grassy Run to Sago ; staid overnight. 
 
 From tunnel No. i and Sago on horses by way of French Creek 
 and Ball Run to Bumsville, stop overnight, then by Little Hand 
 4 miles to Copen Run, up that Run to Peshens Run, stop for 
 dinner at Mr. Peshens, then over 24 tunnel to waters of 
 Otter Creek and Elk River. Staid at Mr. Bogg's at Frametown 
 overnight. Next morning we started on horseback about 6.30. 
 From Frametown to Big Otter, end at present of our Charles- 
 ton & Sutton Road, then to Charleston by rail (64 miles). 
 Staid Charleston Thursday evening to Saturday morning and 
 started back home. 
 
 Sutton Sunday for dinner, then over Nole's Creek Route to 
 Burnsville, engineer Chatman accompanied us going and com- 
 ing. Between Frenchton and Elk River distance about 56 miles. 
 We reach Elkins noon on Tuesday 26th. 
 
 I was in 3 coal openings each about 7 feet, i with two postings 
 amounting to say 10 in., one opening on Gray Run, one on 
 Copen Run, one Elk River (O'Brien's). Was fairly well pleased 
 with route. Think average cost of road between Elkins and 
 Charleston (175 miles) will be about $25,000 per mile. Mouth 
 Copen Run also Jacob . . . bell good ground for siding stations. 
 
 There were numerous other trips, sometimes on con- 
 struction trains, sometimes on horseback, and sometimes 
 over difficult sections on foot. The eighty-year-old pe- 
 destrian was as hardy as the eighty-year-old horseman, 
 and his younger companions always marveled that he 
 did not seem to share their fatigue. The grading and 
 the tunneling were the subject of frequent observations 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 191 
 
 on his part, but there were also notes regarding sidings, 
 the best points for station yards and towns, and provi- 
 sions for operation and traffic. Further land purchases 
 also were recorded. There were likewise interviews 
 with officials of connecting lines. 
 
 A visit to Elkins by George J. Gould and Mr. Joseph 
 Ramsey, the president of the Wabash, is recorded, in 
 which the relations of the new road are discussed. The 
 interview was thus told : 
 
 I talked to Messrs. Gould and Ramsey about our new road 
 under construction from Charleston here. They talked fair and 
 liberal. Upon the whole the interview was agreeable to each 
 of us. 
 
 In November of the same year the rapid progress that 
 the road was making is stated in a brief entry : 
 
 Last week General Manager Bower and I took cars to Tunnel 
 No. 2 as far as Coal and Coke was completed ; then horseback to 
 Sago, Tunnel Mill beyond the Buckhannon River, returned same 
 day. Found construction going on fairly well. Hope to get road 
 completed to Buckhannon River by January, 1904. 
 
 One of the final stages in the construction of the line is 
 indicated in the journal entry of June 15, 1905 : 
 
 Returned last night from a horseback trip over Coal and Coke 
 Railway as far as Gassaway. We expect to get road through 
 by November. We are urging the contractor to push the grad- 
 ing. The town of Gassaway is improving fast. We are putting 
 in foundation for engine house, and will soon start shops. 
 
 The main line was completed in December, 1905, and 
 the first train was run through from Elkins to Charles- 
 ton in January, 1906. A local newspaper gave this brief 
 account of the consummation of the Railway Builder's 
 latest project: 
 
192 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Saturday last in the small hamlet of Walkersville, Lewis County, 
 the last spike was driven fastening the rails of the northern and 
 southern ends of one of the most stupendous enterprises in the 
 way of railroad construction ever undertaken in this State. 
 Three years ago Senator Davis laid the plans for the building 
 of a line of railway between the cities of Elkins and Charleston 
 to develop and carry to market the coal from the vast holdings 
 in the counties of Randolph, Upshur, Lewis, Braxton, and Gil- 
 mer. This enterprise does not stop with the aim that may be 
 construed, but brings into close business relation counties of the 
 interior and opens an avenue of commerce that will do more for 
 the undeveloped portions of the State than any line heretofore 
 constructed. 
 
 Lender the generalship of W. H. Bower, general manager, 
 work has been in prbgress almost night and day without inter- 
 ruption on the 175 miles. While it is true by the purchase of 
 the Charleston, Glendennin & Sutton Railway, 63 miles of road 
 is used, it was necessary to reconstruct it by relaying of heavier 
 rails and filling of trestles, all of which work was done without 
 interruption to the large traffic. On the 100 miles of new road 
 it was necessary to pierce the mountain twelve times, making a 
 total distance of four miles underground. Thirty steel bridges 
 were built, crossing the many streams. Cuts and fills along the 
 mountains reach a height of 100 feet. The roadbed is being cov- 
 ered with crushed Hmestone sixteen inches deep. This gives but 
 a rough idea with what thoroughness the construction has under- 
 gone. 
 
 The Coal and Coke Railway in reaching the Kanawha 
 crossed five rivers — Tygart's Valley, Middle Fork, Buck- 
 hannon, Little Kanawha, and Elk. This, taken with the 
 tunnels, afforded some idea of the engineering difificulties. 
 But these streams also offered the prospect of developing 
 great timber tracts as well as coal-mines. The line also 
 traversed some oil lands, so that there was the normal 
 basis for industrial development. 
 
 Communities sprang up along the line just as they had 
 come to life along the line of the West Virginia Central. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 193 
 
 About midway of the route, where the road crossed Elk 
 River, the new town of Gassaway was established. Here 
 the company's shops were located and it became the prin- 
 cipal divisional headquarters of the railway. Other 
 towns sprang up through the development of the natural 
 resources, particularly timber and coal, in the surround- 
 ing regions. 
 
 Mr. Davis was in his eighty-fourth year when the rail- 
 way was opened for traffic through from Elkins to 
 Charleston. Before that, in order to reach the State 
 capital from the northern counties, a roundabout journey 
 had been necessary, requiring two or three days over 
 different railway systems. Thenceforth it was possible 
 to make the through trip in a single day. He had cov- 
 ered every section of the road with the engineering par- 
 ties. He had watched the construction of every mile of 
 it. But, far more than this, he had traversed the sur- 
 rounding regions on foot or on horseback, so that he 
 knew what their resources were. 
 
 The Railway Builder who went to work again at four- 
 score might have considered his labors ended at eighty- 
 four; but he continued to give the enterprise his close 
 personal attention, directing the details of its manage- 
 ment, making inspection trips, stopping at all stations, 
 as an entry in his journal recorded. In 1907 some of the 
 responsibilities of financial management were lifted from 
 him by Senator Elkins and his brother, Thomas B. Davis, 
 but he continued his general supervision of the line. In 
 May, 1908, he jotted down in his journal: "I have been 
 for two or three months looking closely to the manage- 
 ment of Coal and Coke Railway, and have reduced ex- 
 penses $5,000 per month, $60,000 per year." 
 
 There was a period of several years in which the coal 
 and coke trade of the whole region was dull, and he 
 
194 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 notes these periods quite methodically, reciting also 
 sometimes that the gross earnings were small, although 
 usually entries of this kind are supplemented with the 
 statement that the net earnings are improving. During 
 this period he made several trips to Baltimore and Phila- 
 delphia to confer with the managers of other railways 
 regarding new lines or extensions that would interweave 
 the different systems and increase the traffic of all of 
 them. He was very insistent on the other lines giving 
 his road fair treatment in the matter of the traffic that 
 it turned over to them. 
 
 In the meantime his horseback excursions were con- 
 tinued. In June, 1910, he notes in his journal a horse- 
 back ride to West Elkins, when the river was unusually 
 high and backwater "say three feet," which apparently 
 did not interfere with his continuing his exercise. Dif- 
 ficulties with employees over wages sometimes arose, but 
 they usually were settled by conciliation. On one or two 
 occasions he took the trainmen into his confidence, and 
 told them how he had put his money into the railway 
 and how he had carried it through dull times, when the 
 earnings were lean, because he was unwilling to reduce 
 their wages. The discovery of oil at one point is noted 
 in April, 1912, by the brief statement, "Quite an oil-field 
 recently come at Blue Creek on our road." 
 
 Responsibility for the active management of the rail- 
 way was relinquished by Mr. Davis late in 1912. He 
 records it briefly: 
 
 On November 23, at a meeting of directors held at our Wash- 
 ington office, we elected Hon. R. C. Kerens first vice-president 
 Coal and Coke Railway. Our railway and coal company doing 
 fairly well. Coal and coke each in good demand at increased 
 price. Car supply short. I was eighty-nine November 16; 
 health good for age. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 195 
 
 In the following year there were several entries in his 
 journal showing that the railroad was doing "fairly 
 well" and that coal and coke were in good demand at 
 advanced prices. In 1914 the state of the coal and coke 
 business and of the railway traffic was indicated usually 
 as good, although in some months the trade was dull and 
 the road was doing "only tolerably." The following 
 year the entries were similar with dull business, followed 
 later by improving business; and a month before his 
 death, that is, in February, 1916, an entry was made re- 
 citing that the railway and coal mines were doing fairly 
 well. Thus he never lost his interest in the enterprise 
 that he had created. 
 
 The larger activities involved in building the Coal and 
 Coke Railway included minor ones incidental to it. 
 There were local development enterprises to be organ- 
 ized, coal and timber properties to be refinanced. Much 
 travel was involved in this work. There were numerous 
 trips to New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, as well 
 as over the route of the railway line. Mr. Davis's travel 
 was as incessant at this period as it had been a quarter 
 of a century earlier when he was building the West Vir- 
 ginia Central Railway. 
 
 Besides the railway and collateral enterprises there 
 were other investments of a personal character to be 
 looked after and fiduciary obligations to be discharged. 
 There were the responsibilities of the banker to be ful- 
 filled by giving that close personal attention which in- 
 sured that conservatism in handling the money of other 
 people was observed. In all these activities the rail- 
 way builder and the man of business showed that the 
 qualities that had been preeminent in middle age were 
 not lacking at fourscore and beyond. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 WEST VIRGINIA 
 
 Commemorating the half century of a war-born State — Recog- 
 nition of Henry G. Davis's part in upbuilding the commonwealth 
 — His early exposition of its resources — President of Board of 
 Trade— Tributes to him as a pioneer in development— Head of 
 Bankers' Association— Service on Tax Commission— Memories 
 of epochal events — Speech on anniversary of first Battle of 
 Philippi— Semi-Centennial celebration at Wheeling— Mr. Davis's 
 modest account of his own work — Golden Jubilee Honors for the 
 Grand Old Man— His review of the moral and material progress 
 of West Virginia— Promises of the future— Poetic interpretation 
 of achievement and aspiration. 
 
 THE Semi-Centennial of West Virginia's State- 
 hood was celebrated at Wheeling in June, 191 3. 
 It commemorated fifty years' growth of a State 
 born in the stress of civil war and cradled in blood and 
 battle. Few of those who had molded the young com- 
 monwealth, carried it through the earlier period of civic 
 development and social and institutional progress, awak- 
 ened its sleeping resources and guided their transforma- 
 tion into a brilliant chapter of material prosperity, sur- 
 vived. Among the few was Henry G. Davis. 
 
 In whatever related to the evolution of the State, 
 civic, social, and industrial, he had borne a strong man's 
 part. After the lapse of half a century he was still a 
 vigorous exponent of all that was best in the common- 
 wealth, and was addressing himself to its welfare with 
 undiminished activitv. It was, therefore, both fitting 
 
 196 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 197 
 
 and natural that when the Semi-Centennial Commission 
 was appointed by Governor Glasscock, Mr. Davis should 
 be selected as chairman. He was the incarnation of 
 West Virginia, of her early hopes and aspirations and 
 of their realization. 
 
 His appointment met with universal approval. It 
 also served to recall the part he had had in building the 
 commonwealth. Much of this is given in the chapters 
 rt'ating to his railway and other enterprises and to his 
 public life. Some of these events may again be briefly 
 reviewed, with a word about the activities that extended 
 beyond the semi-centennial celebration even to the day 
 of his death. As early as 1868 he had served, by ap- 
 pointment of Governor Stevenson, as a delegate to the 
 National Commercial Convention that met at Louisville. 
 During his two terms in the United States Senate his 
 labors in behalf of West Virginia were unceasing. He 
 secured the first appropriation for river and harbor im- 
 provements by means of the James River and Kanawha 
 Canal, and he obtained recognition of the justness of 
 these improvements which resulted in subsequent meas- 
 ures. 
 
 The resources of the State, both agricultural and min- 
 eral, were the study of his lifetime and formed one of 
 his favorite themes. He never neglected the opportunity 
 to make them known. In his best known address on 
 agriculture in the United States Senate, as far back as 
 1879, he had wandered from the general subject to give 
 special information about the resources of West Vir- 
 ginia, her soil, her timber, coal, and petroleum. It was 
 especially the mineral resources that he described, and 
 speaking on this subject he said: 
 
 "They are largely undeveloped as yet, the greater part 
 of them lying dormant; but when the treasures of this 
 
198 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 mountain State are unearthed, as they must be in time, 
 they will astonish the world. In minerals such as coal, 
 iron, and salt, West Virginia stands unrivaled with the 
 one exception of Pennsylvania. In the production of 
 oil, which has become one of our largest industries and 
 one of our most productive sources of national revenue. 
 West Virginia and Pennsylvania are entitled to all the 
 credit. The coal-fields of West Virginia are beyond 
 question the most remarkable in the world. The timber 
 of our State is probably as good in quality and large in 
 amount as that of any State in the Union." 
 
 Talks of this kind helped to awaken the people of the 
 State to the natural wealth of which they were the heirs ; 
 it also drew the attention of capitalists and encouraged 
 the development of the resources by the construction of 
 railway lines and the opening of the coal-mines. It was 
 through the efforts of Senator Davis that the first ap- 
 propriation for a geological survey of West Virginia 
 was obtained, and this survey more than justified all 
 that he had said about the mineral wealth. 
 
 When West Virginia began to take systematic meas- 
 ures to attract immigration and capital, Mr. Davis was 
 foremost in the movement. He was not afraid of being 
 called a boomer. In February, 1888, he was a member 
 of the convention that met at Wheeling to adopt meas- 
 ures for advancing the interests of the State. A few 
 weeks earlier he had written a letter outlining the steps 
 that should be taken to insure developing the still latent 
 resources. When the convention met he made a speech 
 on the same subject, and, as chairman of the Committee 
 on Immigration and Development, he submitted a re- 
 port, which was adopted, providing for the organization 
 of the West Virginia Immigration and Development 
 Association. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 199 
 
 Years afterward the efforts to give organized expres- 
 sion to the business interests of the State resulted in the 
 formation of the State Board of Trade. He was one 
 of the active men in its formation in 1905, and there- 
 after he rarely failed to be present at the annual meet- 
 ing. In 1906 he was elected president of the Board. 
 He was then eighty-three years old. In February, 1907, 
 at a meeting of the Board at Wheeling, Mr. Davis re- 
 ceived many proofs of the esteem in which he was held 
 as a commonwealth builder. Commenting on his pres- 
 ence, the Wheeling Intelligencer said : 
 
 Wheeling is always glad to extend a cordial welcome to Hon. 
 Henry G. Davis, and in this particular Wheeling is not different 
 from any other West Virginia town. 
 
 Henry G. Davis was a pioneer in the development of West 
 Virginia. Over fifty years ago he began to show his faith in 
 the future of West Virginia, and year after year he has given 
 the strength of an acute mind and vigorous body to the upbuild- 
 ing of the State. He has won wealth, fame, and honor. His 
 gray hairs have been richly crowned with the laurels of honorable 
 achievement; but, though his years have passed the limits of 
 active life allotted to most men, he is still planning, still thinking, 
 and still doing those things which in a broad sense make for the 
 betterment of mankind. 
 
 The Wheeling Register in its tribute said : 
 
 Hale and hearty, vigorous in mind and limb, despite his more 
 than fourscore years, Henry G. Davis was himself even more 
 interesting than the admirable address which he delivered at the 
 annual banquet of the Board of Trade. The speech he delivered 
 showed a grasp of current affairs not less noteworthy than his 
 familiarity with the early history of this city and State. 
 
 When the State Board met at Huntington, in October, 
 1909, Mr. Davis delivered one of the principal addresses, 
 and in it he reviewed at length the resources of the com- 
 
200 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 monwealth and the measures taken for its development, 
 with especial reference to the importance of railways as 
 the means of such development. Speaking of the evolu- 
 tion into industrial communities, he said: 
 
 When the State began its career there were but few towns of 
 any size, nearly the entire population being engaged in agricultural 
 pursuits. There are now about one hundred and fifty incor- 
 porated villages, towns, and cities, with a score or more containing 
 over five thousand people. The new ones are to be found along 
 the railroads and principally where the mining industries have 
 flourished. Not until there is utilized within its borders the 
 valuable essentials it contains for manufacturing life will there 
 grow up marts of trade and centers of activity such as have made 
 the neighboring State of Pennsylvania great and powerful. We 
 have spent nearly fifty years in demonstrating to the world that 
 we possess nearly all the requisites of commercial greatness. 
 Now let us begin the next half century with a determination to 
 use the material we have to build our own house instead of our 
 neighbor's across the way. 
 
 As a lifelong banker, Mr. Davis took great interest in 
 every movement that brought the bankers of the State 
 together. He rarely failed to attend the annual meet- 
 ing of the State Bankers' Association, and usually made 
 one of his short, pointed speeches filled with statistics, 
 but statistics that were pertinent and illuminating. He 
 served as president of the State Bankers' Association one 
 year. The annual convention in the summer of 191 3 
 was held at Elkins, and was attended by prominent finan- 
 ciers from beyond the State. One of these was United 
 States Treasurer Burke, and another former Governor 
 Edwin Warfield of Baltimore. Mr. Davis was then in 
 his ninetieth year, but in his address he showed his in- 
 terest in finance as clear as at any time during his active 
 business life. 
 
 A typewritten outline of his address to the bankers is 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 201 
 
 prefaced with this comment in his own handwriting: 
 "My remarks brief ; a talk, not a speech." The talk ran 
 through an historic review of banks, from the Venice 
 Bank in 1171 to the organization of the first United 
 States Bank, and then to the banks in the United States, 
 their resources, their capital, and their circulation. 
 From this general review it was a natural transition to 
 the growth of West Virginia banks and their functions 
 in developing the State. 
 
 Identification with the economic and the public life of 
 West Virginia and the large part he bore in the indus- 
 trial development naturally caused Mr. Davis to take 
 a live interest in the fiscal affairs of the State. Because 
 of his knowledge of these subjects and of his sound judg- 
 ment in whatever related to them, he was looked to when 
 the Legislature, in 1901, passed an act creating a Com- 
 mission of five members to consider the subject of taxa- 
 tion, as one of the best fitted of all the citizens of the 
 State to serve on the Commission. Governor A. B. 
 White recognized this, and in a letter to Mr. Davis said: 
 
 I respectfully write to know whether you would consent to serve 
 the State in this capacity and give the Commission the benefit of 
 your valuable experience and thought on these matters. It 
 would be very highly appreciated if you would, and I am sincerely 
 desirous that you serve on this Commission. . . . The purpose is 
 to consider the whole subject of taxation with reference to secur- 
 ing some reform legislation on these matters. I trust you can see 
 your way clear to give the State the benefit of your services for 
 which your long business experience has so eminently fitted you. 
 
 Mr. Davis accepted the appointment thus proffered 
 him, and he also appreciated the compliment conveyed, 
 since the State administration was Republican. The 
 Commission as ultimately organized consisted of former 
 Governor W. P. Hubbard of Wheeling, Henry G. Davis 
 
202 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 of Elkins, L. J. Williams of Lewisburg, John H. Holt 
 of Huntington, and John K. Thompson of Raymond 
 City. Mr. Holt had been the Democratic opponent of 
 Governor White in the State campaign. 
 
 The Commission, after carefully considering the de- 
 fects in the system of taxation, determined to devise a 
 plan by which the expenses of the State government 
 would be paid by taxes upon corporations, charters, 
 licenses, capitation, etc., leaving the taxes collected from 
 real and personal property to pay the county and munici- 
 pal expenses. To Mr. Davis was assigned the subject 
 of the State revenues and the manner in which they 
 should be collected and disbursed. While serving on this 
 body he also attended, as one of the delegates of West 
 Virginia, the National Conference on Taxation, which 
 met at Bufifalo. He gave much of his time to the work 
 of the Commission, and helped to formulate the prelim- 
 inary report, which was submitted in December, 1901. 
 The final report was submitted in October, 1902, and 
 was signed by Mr. Davis along with the other members. 
 Many of its suggestions and recommendations bore the 
 stamp of his personality. 
 
 Many chapters might be written of Mr. Davis's part 
 in the fiscal history of the State, but they would be 
 merely the cumulative recital of a deep knowledge of 
 the economic resources and of the relation of taxation 
 to their development and to the application to the ad- 
 ministrative affairs of the State. 
 
 The subject of West Virginia recurs to the Semi-Cen- 
 tennial celebration and the part of Mr. Davis in it. 
 
 Before the actual semi-centennial celebration there 
 had been a half-century observance of the first battle 
 that was fought within the borders of the new common- 
 wealth. This anniversary was celebrated at Philippi 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 203 
 
 in June, 191 1. Speaking on that occasion, Mr. Davis re- 
 called the thrilling days of half a century past, and the 
 principles for which men then fought. He also reviewed 
 the creation of the new State. On this point he said : 
 
 "Many good people thought the act of creating West 
 Virginia out of a part of Virginia was harsh and illegal. 
 Previous to the war there was a feeling of discontent 
 among the people of what is now West Virginia. They 
 felt that they were not being treated fairly in legislation, 
 and were compelled to pay heavy taxes on account of 
 internal and other improvements in what is now Vir- 
 ginia, while but a small part of the money so raised was 
 expended in the part which is now West Virginia. As 
 it was also opposed to secession, bordering largely on the 
 free States of Pennsylvania and Ohio, it was ready for 
 the separation which came. There seems to be some- 
 thing not altogether inappropriate or illogical in the fact 
 that the first battle of the Rebellion occurred in the only 
 State that was created by that conflict. 
 
 "Virginia is the only State that lost part of its terri- 
 tory in the Civil War. In the days of the Revolution 
 it did more for our independence and liberty than any 
 other State in the Union. It gave the country Washing- 
 ton, Jefferson, Madison, Henry, Marshall, and other 
 great men. The State of West Virginia honors the old 
 State, and will always look upon her with the pride and 
 affection of a devoted daughter. 
 
 "A half century has elapsed since these beautiful hills 
 and valleys were occupied by hostile forces. Long since 
 have the sounds of cannon ceased and the wounds of 
 conflict healed. Soon, in the progress of time, as the 
 participants in these scenes pass away, the dark days of 
 1 86 1 will become hallowed in memory, and their story 
 softened by romance and legend. It is sufficient for 
 
204 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 those of us who can remember them to know that the 
 mellowing effects of time have already obliterated all 
 animosity and that on all sides peace and good will pre- 
 vail." 
 
 Mr. Davis's part in preparing for the Semi-Centen- 
 nial celebration, and his active participation in it, are 
 related in his journal with a brevity that gives no hint of 
 the degree to which it embodied honors to him as the 
 first citizen of the State — the Grand Old Man, as the 
 orators and the newspapers insisted on calling him. 
 These are the entries in the jo'^xial : 
 
 November 4, 191 1. The West Virginia Semi-Centennial Com- 
 mission appointed by Governor Glasscock met at Waldo Hotel, 
 Clarksburg. Eleven of the fourteen commissioners attended. 
 Governor Glasscock presided. Wheeling and Charleston ask 
 for the celebration to be at their town ; Wheeling selected by a vote 
 of eight to two. 
 
 I presented a program of the intended celebration which, with 
 a few amendments, was adopted. I was unanimously elected per- 
 manent chairman of the Commission, Secretary of State Reed 
 vice-chairman, with the full understanding Reed was to do nearly 
 all the work that naturally devolved on chairman. 
 
 May 29, 1913. Returned last evening from Wheeling, attend- 
 ing Semi-Centennial Commission meeting. I am chairman, which 
 is giving me considerable work. 
 
 June 20. Went to Wheeling i8th to attend Semi-Centennial. 
 Great crowd expected 20th, Statewide Day. Parade, State, na- 
 tional troops, cadets from State University, arch on streets, great 
 display of flags. I presided at the great meeting and made half 
 hour speech. 
 
 This account is the essence of modesty. The historian 
 of the future would have to seek other sources to obtain 
 a correct idea of what the celebration meant as a tribute 
 to Henry G. Davis. They are found in the newspapers, 
 in the ofificial publications, and in the contemporary story 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 205 
 
 of the Semi-Centennial as given in permanent form in 
 the volumes published at the time. A program of the 
 ceremonies was published in which the title page was an 
 appreciation of Mr. Davis, as seen below : 
 
 THE GOLDEN JUBILEE OF WEST VIRGINIA 
 1863-1913 
 To THE Hon. Henry G. Davis of Elkins 
 West Virginia's "Grand Old Man" 
 A prime factor in the development and progress of the State and the up- 
 lift of its people, these pages are respectfully 
 and appreciatively inscribed. 
 
 The newspapers in their special issues were full of 
 appreciative tributes. In one of them by Roy B. Naylor, 
 Secretary of the West Virginia Board of Trade, was 
 this eulogy: 
 
 He came to what was then western Virginia as a young man 
 with no capital save a clean heart, a clear brain, and a strong right 
 arm. . . . To-day, in his ninetieth year, his face set towards the 
 future with the enthusiasm of a man of thirty, well has he earned 
 the title that fits him best, West Virginia's Grand Old Man, and 
 justly is he regarded as one of the remarkable men of our times. 
 In him we have the ideal citizen, vitally interested in all the activ- 
 ities of his State, a creator of wealth, a doer of good deeds, a 
 Christian gentleman. With all the success that has come to him 
 in every walk of life, he remains, as always, kindly, courteous, 
 and unspoiled, with the mind of a master builder and the heart of 
 a little child. 
 
 Another tribute, in verse, by Ignatius Brennan gave 
 prominence to this thought : 
 
 He looms as a connecting-link of time — 
 
 A link that starts when our domain was young, 
 
 Then stretches 'cross the cycle, so sublime, 
 And joins all with a clinic of every tongue. 
 
2o6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Before the locomotive raced the rail ; 
 Before the harnessed-lightning pierced the vale; 
 Before a thousand things of wondrous make — 
 He lived, and gave his being for their sake. 
 
 In the several addresses made during the celebration 
 there were summaries of the moral, the material, and the 
 civic progress of West Virginia in its fifty years of 
 Statehood. The chief address on Statewide Day, June 
 20, was made by Mr. Davis himself, and in this speech he 
 described both the moral and the material progress of 
 the commonwealth. Among other things Mr. Davis 
 said: 
 
 "The men whose faith and strength of purpose car- 
 ried them forward to the formation of the State in times 
 of great doubt and foreboding are those to whom we 
 now pay honor. We come not so much to recount our 
 achievements and to enjoy the sense of satisfaction they 
 impart as to do deference to those who made possible 
 the occasion of our pride. They builded better than they 
 knew by bringing into being a State which, unlike them- 
 selves, lives on, and gathers strength as the years mul- 
 tiply, and yet while they live has grown greater than 
 they anticipated, richer than they prophesied, stronger 
 than they imagined, and more than fulfilled their bright- 
 est hopes. 
 
 ''The physical features and natural riches of West 
 Virginia have always been attractive and elusive, . . . 
 The peaks and pinnacles and terraced mountainsides di- 
 vide and distribute her waters with impartial favor. 
 They give birth to the Potomac, which broadens into 
 service for the capital of the nation, and mingle in the 
 Chesapeake with those which have gone down through 
 the historic James; to the north by the Cheat and Mo- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 207 
 
 nongahela they reach at Pittsburgh the Ohio, and soon 
 join with the waters from the southwest of the Little 
 Kanawha. Nature has furnished the lines of a great 
 portion of the boundaries of the State in mountains 
 and streams, the Ohio River alone serving her well for 
 nearly three hundred miles along her border. The peo- 
 ple of the State have inherited from its rugged nature a 
 spirit of freedom and self-reliance. They have cared 
 rather for the independence of its hills and valleys than 
 the interdependence of cities and towns. 
 
 "In i860, about the time of the formation of the State, 
 the population was 376,000, or about fifteen persons to 
 each square mile. In 1870 it had grown to 420,000, and 
 in 1910 it reached 1,221,000, or an average of fifty per- 
 sons to each square mile. It had a little more than 
 three times the population of fifty years ago." 
 
 After reviewing the agricultural and mineral wealth 
 of the State and the manufactures, Mr. Davis closed his 
 half-hour speech with this sentiment : 
 
 ''Statistics of great variety could be produced to show 
 the health and prosperity of West Virginia, her present 
 high position, her rapid advance in all the material and 
 moral afifairs of life, the happiness and ambitions of her 
 people ; but facts are for moments of greater care. To- 
 day we put aside the sterner realities of life and lend 
 our thoughts and feelings to the spirit of the occasion. 
 We join with our neighbors and friends in making 
 merry, that we can with light hearts and cheerful mien 
 fittingly observe the day we celebrate. The State was 
 born in sentiment, and in sentiment let us remember 
 its birth. In our felicitations on West Virginia's fiftieth 
 birthday, an occasion fraught with pride in the accom- 
 plishments of the past, let us take advantage of the 
 
208' THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 golden opportunity and inaugurate to higher hopes and 
 greater aims the second half century of the State's his- 
 tory." 
 
 At night there was a banquet, which, notwithstanding 
 the fatigues of the day, Mr. Davis attended. He made 
 a brief speech expressing appreciation for the coopera- 
 tion of Wheeling in the preparation and management of 
 the celebration. No one who listened to him on that 
 occasion could realize that he was in his ninetieth year. 
 He had all the energy and interest in his surroundings 
 of a man of fifty. 
 
 Among all the tributes to West Virginia and to the 
 men who had builded the new commonwealth, morally 
 and materially, who had molded its civic development 
 and laid the foundation for its educational institutions, 
 none reflected more truly the part which Henry G. Davis 
 had taken than that by Herbert Putnam in his poem, 
 ''West Virginia," which was one of the features of the 
 celebration. These verses of Mr. Putnam's in particular 
 reflect the achievements and the aspirations of Mr. 
 Davis : 
 
 To-day we celebrate 
 The ripe achievements of our fifty years : — 
 
 The mastery 
 Of forest, field, and mine, the mill which rears 
 Its bulk o'er many a stream, the forge and factory's 
 
 Incessant hum, 
 The railways linking mart to mart and home to home, 
 The growth of trade in each emporium. 
 And other wealth material that has come 
 
 To bless 
 Our subjugation of a wilderness, 
 And mien undaunted in a time of stress: — 
 
 All these we proudly sum. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 209 
 
 The pride is just ; but let it not ignore 
 
 Our progress in the things that count for more 
 
 In strengthening a State 
 
 Than wealth material won. 
 
 Let it relate what we have done 
 To further Education, and promote 
 An understanding near of things remote. 
 
 What may we claim 
 Of those fine civic traits which earn the name 
 
 Of a great commonwealth. 
 And are the tokens of sound civic health? 
 Respect for law, to each his equal chance, 
 
 For variant opinion, tolerance; 
 
 Yet in the issues real 
 
 That touch the common weal 
 Conscience implacable, that alike defies 
 The bribe, the threat, or coward compromise. 
 
 The more than fourscore years and ten of Mr. Davis's 
 life prevented one tribute which West Virginia undoubt- 
 edly would have delighted to pay him as one of her fore- 
 most sons. This was a place in the Hall of Statuary in 
 the Capitol at Washington. During his lifetime the two 
 niches that are reserved for each State were filled by the 
 statues of other citizens. It therefore remains for the 
 State he loved so well to find some other means of show- 
 ing her appreciation, perhaps by a statue at the Capitol 
 in Charleston. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 BENEFACTIONS AND PHILANTHROPIES 
 
 The habit of giving — Interest in free schools — Sentiment in- 
 spired by higher education — Permanent endowment for Davis 
 and Elkins College — Contributions to religious objects — A home 
 missionary's illuminating letter — Filial sentiment given expres- 
 sion in church edifice — Family affection exemplified in a Memo- 
 rial hospital — Failure of plans for girls' industrial school — Reali- 
 zation of similar idea in Child's Shelter — Mr. Davis's deep per- 
 sonal interest in the homeless little ones — Belief in organized 
 Christianity — Substantial support of Young Men's Christian As- 
 sociation — Eulogy of its methods. 
 
 THE pages that form this record might be called a 
 chapter in practical philanthropy. 
 The habit of giving was with Mr. Davis a 
 lifelong one, and the gifts in the earlier years were not 
 always out of abundance. It was his practice to devote 
 some part of his income to worthy purposes, religious, 
 educational, and philanthropic. As his means increased 
 he was able to make more ample provision, but it was 
 never done indiscriminately. Professional charity- 
 seekers found that when his aid was sought they must 
 be able to show a reason for it, and also they must be 
 able to make a satisfactory accounting. The careful 
 business habits that found application in his private af- 
 fairs were applied to benevolent purposes, and demoral- 
 izing and pauperizing effects of indiscriminate giving 
 received no encouragement from him. 
 
 As his fortune grew he was able to make permanent 
 
 2IO 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 211 
 
 provision for several objects that appealed most deeply 
 to him and awakened sentiments that rarely found ex- 
 pression in words. He did not believe in waiting until 
 after death for his purposes to be realized, but rather 
 preferred to lay the foundation himself and to contribute 
 toward the current obligations, while at the same time 
 making provision through endowment for carrying on 
 the objects that had enlisted his sympathy. The prin- 
 cipal ones were found recorded in his will, which pro- 
 vided endowments for them. 
 
 No subject appealed to Mr. Davis with greater force 
 than that of education. The circumstances that had de- 
 nied him the opportunities for schooling left a deep im- 
 press on him, and, in the numerous appeals that came to 
 him for aid, a school in some remote section where the 
 State agencies were difficult to be invoked seldom failed 
 to obtain a response. Among his papers a letter here 
 and there from some out-of-the-way corner conveying 
 thanks for aid extended is the only record of some of his 
 quiet benefactions. Here, for example, is one received 
 from a hamlet in West Virginia a few months before his 
 death, in which the writer says : 
 
 I received your check and letter last evening. Words fail to 
 express my appreciation of the contribution you have made, but 
 I say thank you with all my heart. Only God can reward such 
 liberality to our country schools. 
 
 The sentiment that drew him to the communities in 
 which he had lived found expression in an entry in his 
 journal relating to Piedmont: 
 
 January 8, 1886. I have bought ground on which old Presby- 
 terian Church stood. My intention is to build a free school build- 
 ing, to cost about $10,000, to be given to Piedmont as a high 
 school ; hope to commence the building this year. 
 
212 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Five years later a brief entry refers to a newspaper 
 clipping in which is recited the set of resolutions adopted 
 by the Board of Education of Piedmont accepting the 
 deed of the school property and expressing the thanks 
 of the Board and the citizens of Piedmont for the gift. 
 This was the Davis free school. 
 
 When he was building railways and opening to settle- 
 ment towns and villages, these grew faster than provision 
 could be made under the school laws, and consequently 
 he met the need of schooling in his usual practical way. 
 At Henry, a mining town on the West Virginia Central 
 Railroad, he built and gave to the people a brick school- 
 house, and at Davis he provided the larger part of the 
 expense for a school building. When he was construct- 
 ing the Coal and Coke Railway, and the new town of 
 Gassaway sprang up, one of his first activities was to 
 provide a schoolhouse. These cases illustrate in a quiet 
 way his belief in the common schools, and his desire that 
 the children of the people in the communities that de- 
 veloped from his mining and railway enterprises should 
 be assured of educational privileges. 
 
 Higher education inspired Mr. Davis with the same 
 sentiment that common-school education inspired. 
 After the town of Elkins had been established the Col- 
 lege Board of the Northern Presbyterian Church decided 
 that this was an eligible place for a denominational in- 
 stitution of learning under the control of the Lexington 
 Presbytery. They found Mr. Davis very sympathetic 
 to the idea, and ready to provide for a substantial insti- 
 tution. Senator Elkins also took a deep interest in the 
 plan and bore half the expense. 
 
 The two men gave the site for the campus, thirty 
 acres, helped to make provision for the buildings, and 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 213 
 
 contributed to the running expenses. In this manner 
 Davis and Elkins College was established. The only 
 condition made by Mr. Davis and Senator Elkins was 
 that the Church should raise a like amount to the sum 
 contributed by them. Mr. Davis also built a home for 
 the president of the College. 
 
 The corner-stone of the principal building was laid in 
 August, 1903, and in a few months the college itself was 
 opened. From the beginning, Mr. Davis was its prin- 
 cipal supporter. In 191 1 he supplemented his previous 
 gifts by an endowment of $100,000, conditioned on the 
 college obtaining a similar sum. In his will the endow- 
 ment was provided as a fund to be held perpetually in 
 trust. 
 
 When the corner-stone was laid, Mr. Davis in a brief 
 address declared his faith in higher education, especially 
 Christian education, and this motive found expression in 
 the inscription, ''Erected for the advancement of Chris- 
 tian education, a. d., 1903." 
 
 A man of deep religious nature, it was natural that 
 Mr. Davis should be a liberal contributor to religious 
 objects, and in particular to the denomination with which 
 he was all his life identified. But his benefactions were 
 not bounded by denominational or sectarian lines. As in 
 the case of schools, letters from out-of-the-way places, 
 found among his papers, give evidence of his unostenta- 
 tious gifts. One from the village of Granite, Maryland, 
 back in 1880, incloses resolutions of the church and con- 
 gregation thanking him for his munificent contribution. 
 
 There is a more significant letter which illustrates his 
 ideas of practical Christianity. Apparently it was writ- 
 ten in response to a communication received from him. 
 The text follows : 
 
214 JHE LIFE AND TIMES OF, 
 
 The American Baptist Home Mission Society, 
 Rev. W. E. Powell, District Secretary, Kanawha District, 
 916 Swan Street, 
 Parkersburg, W. Va., January 11, 1898. 
 Hon. Henry G. Davis, 
 
 Washington, D, C. 
 My dear Sir and Brother: 
 
 After my kindest regards to you, I wish to say that the last 
 three months have been prolific in opportunities of doing good 
 with small sums of money ; and, following your advice, I have been 
 on the alert to help the worthy needy ones. 
 
 I found a student, a Christian young man, who had but one 
 hand, working his way through college, in great need of books. 
 Also two other young men, who had both graduated and are now 
 entering the ministry, both without means, and in great need of 
 books. I have bought $84.75 worth of good books and distributed 
 among these worthy young men. 
 
 I found a little church which had built a nice chapel at a cost 
 of $5,000. A debt of $500 has annoyed them much for several 
 years. They are making a heroic efifort to pay off that debt, and 
 came to me for help, so I have promised them $50. 
 
 I found an old man, 33 years old, a true Christian, a Democrat, 
 who is proud of the fact that for over 70 years he has voted the 
 Democratic ticket. The old man was much troubled by a debt 
 of $10. I paid it for him, and he is happy as a child over this 
 help. 
 
 I found an aged Minister, seriously afflicted, and unable to pay 
 a debt of only $25. I paid this for him, and some smaller sums 
 have gone to help some orphan children. 
 
 The whole amount I have been able to appropriate by your 
 generosity during the last three months, is $184.60. These cases 
 were so urgent that I have advanced nearly all of this amount 
 out of my own funds. 
 
 I hope you will not feel that I have abused your kindness by 
 appropriating the $184.60. If you could have heard the earnest 
 words of thanks and seen the tears of joy as I have seen them, I 
 know your own heart would have been touched. There are so 
 many of these cases that I have not dared to attempt to help but 
 a few of the most needy. When convenient for you, I shall be 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 215 
 
 glad to receive your check for this amount, $184.60. Praying 
 that the Lord may spare you many years yet to bless mankind 
 by your kindly benefactions, I am. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 W. E. Powell. 
 
 Across the back of this letter is written in Mr. Davis's 
 handwriting: ''Check for the $184.60 sent to Mr. 
 Powell." 
 
 The erection of church buildings was something that 
 Mr. Davis liked to see in the new and growing communi- 
 ties along with schoolhouses. He rarely failed to re- 
 spond to requests for aid for this purpose, regardless of 
 denominational lines. At Gassaway he erected at his 
 own expense a fine stone church for the Presbyterians. 
 At Elkins he provided the colored Baptists with a com- 
 modious frame church. Other towns that owed their 
 existence to his railway enterprises were aided in the 
 same way. 
 
 Filial sentiment found expression in the erection at 
 Elkins of a memorial church to his parents. In 1894, 
 in conjunction with his brother, Thomas B. Davis, he 
 determined to provide a memorial with the special 
 thought of their mother, who had died in July, 1868, 
 after having lived to see her children honored and re- 
 spected in the communities in which they lived and well 
 advanced on the road to success and prosperity. No 
 monument to her memory could have been more fitting 
 than that which her sons decided to erect — a church dedi- 
 cated to the services to which she had been so much at- 
 tached during her life. The handsome stone building 
 was completed and dedicated in September, 1895. 
 
 The church was built of native light pink sandstone 
 quarried near where it was erected. Stained Gothic 
 windows setting forth subjects bearing upon the life of 
 
2i6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Christ light the body of the edifice. A large triple win- 
 dow in the front, of stained glass set In lead, was the 
 gift of Senator and Mrs. Elkins. 
 
 In his journal Mr. Davis tells very briefly of the event 
 that was so full of meaning to him : 
 
 September 29, 1895. To-day Reverend Moses D, Hoge, of 
 Richmond, dedicated the new stone church and Sunday-school at 
 Elkins, donated by my brother Thomas and myself to Presbyte- 
 rians in memory of our parents, especially mother. 
 
 Some newspaper clippings giving an account of the 
 dedication ceremonies are attached to the journal entry. 
 Sixteen years later. In October, 191 1, the formal presen- 
 tation of the church to the Presbyterians of Elkins was 
 made by Mr. Davis as a part of special dedicatory serv- 
 ices. In presenting the deed and keys, Mr. Davis paid 
 a beautiful tribute to the memory of his wife, saying the 
 church was a slight tribute to the memory of one whom 
 he loved dearly, and with whom he lived happily for 
 nearly fifty years. He also paid a tender tribute to his 
 mother, to whose teachings he gave the credit for any- 
 thing he might have accomplished. 
 
 The deepest family affection often found expression 
 with Mr. Davis in some form of practical philanthropy. 
 An Illustration of this was the hospital erected at Elkins 
 as a memorial to the eldest son, Henry G. Davis, Jr., who 
 was lost at sea. It was the joint tribute of Mrs. Davis 
 and himself. It represented their Idea of doing good In 
 an enduring way. 
 
 The hospital was begun In the winter of 1902. A 
 handsome building of stone and brick, roofed with red 
 slate, was constructed. It consists of a central octagonal 
 building, with two wings so arranged as to receive the 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 217 
 
 greatest possible amount of sunlight. The hospital 
 throughout is fitted with the most modern appliances and 
 conveniences. Mrs. Davis did not live to see it com- 
 pleted, and after her death special memorial services 
 were held for her in the building. 
 
 In his will Mr. Davis provided a permanent endow- 
 ment for the maintenance of the hospital, to be supple- 
 mented by such income and contributions as it may re- 
 ceive from other sources. It serves a wide region in 
 which are railway shops, coal-mines, and factories, and 
 provides facilities for the sick and injured which other- 
 wise would be unavailable except at Baltimore or other 
 large cities. Its location in a section that otherwise 
 would have been left without the advantages of modern 
 medical researches and their application was one of 
 many instances of Mr. Davis's thoughtfulness in his 
 charities. 
 
 Recalling his own struggles in early youth, and the 
 cares that fell upon his mother and her children, Mr. 
 Davis's sympathies always went out strongly to orphans 
 and dependent children, and particularly to girls who 
 lacked the means of obtaining a practical education. A 
 cherished intention of his was to provide an industrial 
 school for girls. This feeling found utterance in a let- 
 ter addressed to Governor MacCorkle in January, 1895. 
 In this letter he said: 
 
 I feel a deep interest in the education and training of young 
 girls, especially in West Virginia, whose circumstances and sur- 
 roundings would prevent them from securing such advantages. 
 We ought to have a State institution where girls could, at small 
 expense, be able to receive such education and industrial training 
 as would better fit them for the affairs of life and enable them to 
 become teachers, clerks, telegraph operators, Sec. thus making them 
 self-supporting and of greater benefit to the State. 
 
2i8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 He followed this suggestion by a proposition that if 
 the State would establish an institution for the purpose 
 named, and make an annual appropriation sufficient for 
 its support, he would give $50,000 and suitable grounds. 
 Governor MacCorkle, in acknowledging the proposition, 
 spoke of it as magnificent, and promptly submitted It to 
 the Legislature. Mr. Davis expected that the institu- 
 tion would be located at Davis or Elkins, and some op- 
 posi-tion was manifested on that account. Other causes 
 also prevented the Legislature from taking action; but, 
 though he was not able to carry out the idea in this form, 
 he gave substantial expression to it in another manner 
 which reflected his deep human sympathies and the 
 trend of his charitable impulses. This was by the crea- 
 tion of the Child's Shelter. 
 
 The Children's Societv of West Virginia was doing the 
 best it could with limited means to rescue children from 
 unfortunate surroundings and find suitable homes for 
 them. Mr. Davis met the emergency in his usual prac- 
 tical way. In the winter of 1 899-1 900, he bought prop- 
 erty in the city of Charleston, consisting of a large brick 
 building with sufficient grounds, and presented it to the 
 society. This gift he supplemented by a monthly con- 
 tribution for the maintenance of the Home, and this con- 
 tribution continued regularly through a period of sev- 
 enteen years, to the end of his life. 
 
 The Home was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies 
 over which Governor Atkinson presided. The Governor 
 paid a fitting tribute to Mr. Davis and the impetus that 
 his generosity would give to carrying on the work of the 
 Society. Hon. George E. Price, as trustee and repre- 
 sentative of Mr. Davis, formally presented the keys to 
 the Child's Shelter to Governor Atkinson, which the 
 Governor in turn presented to the superintendent, Dr. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 219 
 
 Thomas Comstock. The gift, Mr. Price said, was a 
 deed of kindness that would live forever. 
 
 Mr. Davis's own account of his interest in the Home 
 is given with customary brevity in several entries in his 
 journal, most of which are explanatory of newspaper 
 clippings that are attached. He recites : 
 
 March i, 1900. I to-day paid draft for $9,500, to pay for what 
 is known as Bodkin property on Washington Street, about one and 
 one half squares from State Capitol, for use of Children's Home 
 for helpless children. I am to expend $1,000 to $1,500 in im- 
 provements and repairs, and also contribute $1,000 per annum 
 to support the Home. 
 
 The canceled draft is attached to this entry. It is 
 one of the few instances in which Mr. Davis kept a 
 souvenir of his benefactions. The permanent endow- 
 ment for the Home or Child's Shelter, provided in his 
 will, assured it a definite monthly income to supplement 
 what it obtains from other sources. When in Charles- 
 ton he never failed to visit the Shelter, and the hundreds 
 of little ones were a constant reminder of the good he 
 had been able to do. During the years in which he lived 
 to direct his own benefaction to it, a thousand homeless 
 children were received and cared for while they were 
 growing into useful men and women under its fostering 
 care. That its usefulness should be continuous was his 
 guiding thought in the provision for permanent endow- 
 ment. 
 
 There were many gifts and benefactions which re- 
 ceived only passing comment in the entries he made in 
 his journal from time to time, and these were usually 
 explanatory of newspaper clippings that were attached. 
 To the town of Elkins he and Senator Elkins presented 
 a park. 
 
220 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The Odd Fellows' Lodges received during his lifetime 
 various gifts, and these were supplemented in his will 
 by endowments that insured some income for the Grand 
 Lodge of the State and the Elklns Lodge. A similar 
 provision was made for the Masonic Order at Elkins. 
 
 Mr. Davis believed in organized Christianity, or Chris- 
 tianity at work. It was perhaps for that reason that his 
 journal shows numerous evidences of both his senti- 
 mental and his substantial interest in the work of the 
 Young Men's Christian Association. He occasionally 
 delivered addresses to the members of the Association in 
 different parts of the State. In an address at Parkers- 
 burg in October, 1905, he commended especially the erec- 
 tion of a Y. M. C. A. building, the first to be put up in 
 the State, as a good example for other towns. 'The 
 Sunday-school, the Y. M. C. A., and the church," he 
 said, "are the three great agencies for good." And he 
 concluded, "You can depend upon me for personal and 
 financial aid." It need hardly be stated that the aid was 
 quickly forthcoming. 
 
 The permanent form in which Mr. Davis showed his 
 faith in working Christianity is to be found at the capi- 
 tal of the State. In 1906 he bought the property ad- 
 joining the park that he previously had presented to the 
 city of Charleston, and presented this to the Association, 
 which erected on it a commodious building. He sup- 
 plemented this gift by further contributions, and he took 
 the greatest interest in the work. In October, 191 1, 
 writing to Mr. W. B. Mathews, chairman of the program 
 committee, he gave this analysis of the aspirations and 
 the functions of the Young Men's Christian Association : 
 
 "The planning and erection of this splendid building 
 was an undertaking worthy of any community, and its 
 completion reflects great credit upon the citizens of 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 221 
 
 Charleston. It is essentially a tangible expression of 
 the best impulses, of the highest attributes, and of the 
 most ennobling traits of the good people of your city. 
 It is a monument to unselfishness and an inspiration to 
 the highest and best motives of mankind. With an ad- 
 ministration building so commodious and complete in 
 all its appointments, much should be accomplished by the 
 Association in bringing within its fold the young men of 
 Charleston, upon whom, more than upon all else, de- 
 pends its future material and moral welfare. 
 
 'The youth of to-day is the citizen of to-morrow, and 
 he will be helpful or helpless according to the light he has 
 and the path he treads. No better beacon to guide his 
 footsteps than the controlling influences of the Y. M. C. 
 A. At the capital of the State it is most fitting that this, 
 perhaps the greatest in its sphere of the moral agencies 
 of the present time, should be appropriately, even lib- 
 erally, represented, and I congratulate the people of 
 Charleston upon the successful issue of a campaign undi- 
 vided in sentiment and compact in result. My earnest 
 prayers go out for those engaged in the great work of 
 fortifying young men against the temptation of evil 
 ways, and of strengthening them in the mental, physical, 
 and spiritual relations of life." 
 
 Instances of the sentiment that was mingled with his 
 practical suggestions could be multiplied, but enough has 
 been recited to show the character of his benefactions 
 and philanthropies. They were wide embracing. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 FAMILY AND KINDRED 
 
 Deeply rooted affections of Mr. Davis — Sentiment for the an- 
 cestral home Goodfellowship — RecalHng the children of Caleb 
 Davis and Louisa Brown — The four brothers — The tie between 
 Henry and Thomas — A brother's tribute — Friendship for his 
 cousin, Arthur P. Gorman — Warm eulogy of Senator Elkins, his 
 son-in-law — Children of Henry G. Davis and Kate Bantz — Mar- 
 riages, births, and deaths — Loss of eldest son at sea — Fifty years 
 of ideal married life — Death of Mrs. Davis — The final resting- 
 place. 
 
 FAMILY afifection was deeply rooted in the nature 
 of Henry G. Davis. It found expression in a 
 hundred ways. His reverence for his mother 
 was one of the most attractive traits of a strong char- 
 acter. She lived with him until her death, and there is 
 nothing more beautiful than the many tokens of devo- 
 tion that appear in all his acts during that period and 
 afterward. To her he attributed many of the qualities 
 that made him a successful man. After he built the hos- 
 pital at Elkins, he directed that a portrait of his mother 
 be hung in one of the hallways, and he never visited the 
 institution without pausing before it. 
 
 This love for his mother was interwoven with the 
 deep sentiment that he felt for the place which had 
 been her home and the home of her ancestors, as well 
 as of his father's ancestors. 
 
 The old homestead in Woodstock and the Goodfellow- 
 ship estate were cherished memories with him which he 
 
 222 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 223 
 
 sought to perpetuate. His journal contains several ac- 
 counts of visits to it. In the summer of 1879 he re- 
 cords : 
 
 I meet brother John in Baltimore, and he and I drive out Fred- 
 erick pike through Ellicott's Mills to Uncle John's and Sam's. 
 We make a visit to our old homestead and father's grave. Many 
 of the old landmarks are there, and many gone. The visit brings 
 back recollections of old. We visit Woodstock. Things look 
 small to us. We m.eet Cousin Arthur Gorman and Dr. Watkins 
 at Uncle John's, and Kitty Hood Faithful meets us. We return 
 same day, John to Richmond, I to Washington. 
 
 Again, in November, 1886, he writes: 
 
 Grace, Harry, and John, my children and I, went out to Wood- 
 stock, our old home ; look over the ground where I used to play 
 when a boy. Dined with Uncle John Brown, and returned to 
 Baltimore same evening. 
 
 The sentiment attaching to the home of his mother and 
 his father, and the yearning to make it a perpetual fam- 
 ily possession, finds expression in the journal entry of 
 March 15, 1904: 
 
 My brother Thomas and I have bought grandmother's old 
 farm, Goodfellowship, near Woodstock, Maryland, 170 acres. 
 We deed it to our cousin, William Howard Brown, in fee, with 
 provision in deed that it is to always remain in name of Brown 
 of our blood. The old place has been in mother's family. Brown, 
 since the days of Lord Baltimore, and we wish it to stay for all 
 time. 
 
 Unfortunately for this aspiration, a court decision 
 after Mr. Davis's death declared against the provision of 
 family ownership in perpetuity. Yet it is not likely that 
 Goodfellowship ever will be allowed to pass to strangers. 
 
 Memories of Goodfellowship naturally carry the mind 
 back to the family of Caleb Davis. There was a child by 
 
224 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the first marriage, Nathan by name, who died in in- 
 fancy, and this was the only step-brother of Henry G. 
 Davis. A full sister, Elizabeth, also died in infancy. 
 Another sister, Eliza, grew to womanhood, married Up- 
 ton Buxton, and after she became a widow lived with 
 her bachelor brother, Thomas, at Keyser. Mr. Davis 
 was exceedingly fond of her, and there are many evi- 
 dences of the warm feeling of kinship between them. 
 
 The youngest of the four sons of Caleb Davis and 
 Louisa Brown was William R. Davis, who was the first 
 to pass away. It has been told in an earlier chapter how 
 the brothers Henry and Thomas aided him in his educa- 
 tion and then took him into the firm of H. G. Davis & 
 'Brothers. He was identified with the mercantile activi- 
 ties of the firm and with the development enterprises in 
 the upper Potomac for nearly twenty years. He died 
 at Deer Park in March, 1879. 
 
 John B. Davis, the eldest brother, was a very success- 
 ful business man, but he did not become identified with 
 the coal and timber and railway projects of his brothers. 
 In early life he went to Richmond, established himself in 
 business, and became identified as a banker with the chief 
 city of the Old Dominion. He died in 1889. Mr. 
 Davis, with Mrs. Davis and Thomas B. Davis, was sum- 
 moned to Richmond, but did not reach there until after 
 his death. An entry in Mr. Davis's journal gives a 
 kindly impression of the bond that existed between the 
 brothers, although they had not been closely associated 
 after they left the paternal home at Woodstock : 
 
 February 14, 1889. Mrs. Davis and I returned late last night 
 from Richmond. We went down Tuesday morning. My brother 
 Tom was with us. John died Monday morning about three 
 o'clock. He was one of the best and kindest of men. All who 
 knew him thought well of him. I feel the death deeply. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 225 
 
 The affection between the two brothers, Henry and 
 Thomas, was one of extraordinary depth. Thomas was 
 younger by only five years, so that their Hves ran almost 
 evenly together. Both had shared the privations fol- 
 lowing the loss of the family fortune ; both had worked 
 on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and together they 
 had started in business in the upper Potomac country. 
 Their business relations continued until the end, but 
 Thomas always referred to Henry as the leader in their 
 enterprises, which was the fact. Together they cleared 
 the timberlands, developed coal-mines, and opened rail- 
 ways. 
 
 Their interest in public affairs also ran parallel. Dur- 
 ing the public life of Henry G., Colonel Tom, as he was 
 called, who had less Hking for politics, took the most 
 intense personal interest in the elder's career. When 
 Henry ceased to hold public position. Colonel Tom, 
 largely through his urging, occasionally ran for office, 
 sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully. He 
 served as a member of the West Virginia Legislature for 
 one term, and later was elected to the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. In acknowledging a telegram from Henry 
 congratulating him on his election to Congress, Colonel 
 Tom responded: "Thank you, Henry; I owe it princi- 
 pally to you." This was true. 
 
 Colonel Tom maintained his home at Keyser, and the 
 elder brother spent much time there. During one of his 
 winters in Congress they took rooms together at a Wash- 
 ington hotel. Their business relations naturally kept 
 them in close touch each with the other, but this inter- 
 course was not enough to satisfy them. When they were 
 apart daily letters were exchanged. 
 
 Thomas B. Davis died at Keyser on November 26, 
 191 1, in his eighty-third year. The elder brother went 
 
226 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 at once to Keyser and arranged for the burial at Elkins, 
 "near where I expect to be buried." And it was at El- 
 kins that Thomas B. Davis was buried. A brother's 
 tribute to a brother is found in an unusual document, 
 that is, in the will of Henry G. Davis. It is thus given 
 in his own language : 
 
 When we were all young men my brothers Thomas B. Davis 
 and William R. Davis and myself entered into business together 
 under the name of H. G. Davis & Co., which continued until the 
 death of my brother William, when the firm became H. G. Davis 
 & Bro., and so remained until the death of my brother Thomas 
 on November 26, 191 1, leaving me the surviving partner of the 
 firm, although the eldest bom of the three original members there- 
 of. During all this long period of partnership my brothers and 
 I were in full accord in all our dealings ; all our relations both 
 business and personal were always harmonious and pleasant ; and 
 I wish to record here especially my appreciation of the generous 
 and sympathetic cooperation of my brother Thomas, who long 
 survived William, in all our business affairs extending over fifty 
 years, and to speak of the affection and regard in which I held 
 him and which endured and increased during this long association. 
 
 For his cousin, Arthur Pue Gorman, Mr. Davis en- 
 tertained a friendship that was profound. Mr. Gorman 
 was the son of his mother's younger sister, Eliza- 
 beth A. Brown, and Peter Gorman. He was born at 
 Woodstock, and, though younger than Henry G. Davis, 
 they were thrown much together in their early life. La- 
 ter they came to be intimately associated in politics and 
 business. This intimate relation was one of unbounded 
 trust and confidence on the part of both. 
 
 Davis had a keen appreciation of Gorman's political 
 acumen, and thought very highly also of his business 
 qualities. Gorman, on his part, understood the char- 
 acter of Henry G. Davis as few men did, and probably 
 possessed a greater influence over him than did anybody 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 227 
 
 with whom he was associated throughout his long life. 
 He knew the roots of that strong individuality; but, like 
 others, he usually preferred to accept Senator Davis as 
 the leader and regarded himself as a follower. 
 
 The letters interchanged between the two men show 
 how strong was the bond between them. Usually they 
 were signed ''Your friend and cousin." There were 
 many communications of this kind of a purely personal 
 character, but there were also some of a political nature. 
 In the account given of his public life it is shown how 
 highly Senator Davis regarded Gorman, even to the hope 
 of helping to make him President. The intimate per- 
 sonal relation has more human interest. In September, 
 1899, Mr. Davis's journal entry records a visit of two 
 days "to my cousin and friend Hon. A. P. Gorman at his 
 home near Laurel, Maryland," and there were numerous 
 other visits of this kind. 
 
 When Senator Gorman died in June, 1906, Mr. Davis, 
 in recording the event, gives some indication of his own 
 feelings : 
 
 Received several telegrams telling me of death of Senator Gor- 
 man. Our mothers were sisters. The Senator v^^as serving his 
 fifth term in Senate, and was one of the leaders in Senate and 
 country. A trusted Democrat. He leaves many, very many 
 friends. 
 
 For another man who filled a large place in his day 
 and generation, not of kin by blood, but by marriage, 
 Mr. Davis conceived a friendship that was deep and 
 strong. This was Stephen B. Elkins. Both were men 
 of marked individuality, but in many respects their char- 
 acters were directly contrary. They were opposed in 
 politics, and each filled high positions of trust and honor 
 bestowed on him when his party was in power. Nat- 
 
228 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 urally, this brought them into conflict during heated 
 political campaigns, yet it never was allowed to alienate 
 them even temporarily. In business they were asso- 
 ciated for more than thirty years and they worked har- 
 moniously together. In their family relations there was 
 the warmest sympathy. When Senator Elkins died in 
 Washington, early in January, 191 1, Mr. Davis, in his 
 journal entry, put in a single striking sentence his esti- 
 mate of his son-in-law : 
 
 Elkins was a noble, generous, brainy, and talented man. 
 
 Marriages, births, deaths — these are the records of 
 every life. The marriage of Henry G. Davis and Kate 
 Bantz at Frederick, in 1853, has been told in preceding 
 pages. Eight children were born of this marriage, three 
 of whom died in infancy. Those who grew to woman- 
 hood and manhood were Hallie, Henry, Kate, Grace, 
 and John. Hallie was married to Hon. Stephen B. El- 
 kins at Baltimore, in April, 1875. Kate was married 
 to Lieutenant M. R. G. Brown of the Navy at Washing- 
 ton, in 1886. John was married to Bessie J. Armstead 
 of Brooklyn, New York, at Brooklyn, in November, 
 1897. Grace was married to Arthur Lee of Richmond 
 at Elkins, in September, 1898. From these unions 
 sprang the group of grandchildren, the delight of Sen- 
 ator Davis in his advancing years, for whom he showed 
 his fondness in a thousand ways. 
 
 Of the children who grew up, the first shadow came 
 when Henry, the eldest son, was lost at sea. Possessed 
 of a wandering disposition, he showed an inclination for 
 the sailor's life. In 1892 he made a voyage to Libau, 
 Russia, on the Missouri, a big ship loaded with grain for 
 the relief of the sufferers from the great famine which 
 at that time gripped with starvation the population of 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 229 
 
 one section of the Czar's empire. Some years later he 
 embarked on a voyage on a sailing vessel to South 
 Africa, in the hope of regaining failing health. He 
 took passage on the Monkeston from New York for 
 Cape Colony, and started to return on the same vessel. 
 This was in April, 1896. Early in May the family re- 
 ceived a cablegram from Mt. Vincent, West Africa, say- 
 ing that the son had been drowned. When the full par- 
 ticulars were -received later it was learned that he had 
 been swept overboard during a storm. He was twenty- 
 six years old at the time of his death. The blow was a 
 severe one for his father and mother, but it was accepted 
 with Christian fortitude. 
 
 Kate, the second daughter, died in Washington in 
 January, 1903, after a brief illness. Her husband. Lieu- 
 tenant Commander Brown, died four years later. A 
 bright page in his naval record was his heroic service on 
 the Trenton at Samoa during the hurricane in 1889. 
 
 The record of the life comradeship of Mr. Davis and 
 his wife is too sacred to be written in its intimate char- 
 acter, Mrs. Davis was a woman of keen intellect and 
 of sprightly disposition. Temperamentally, in many re- 
 spects she was the opposite of her husband. She was, 
 nevertheless, in full sympathy with his aspirations and 
 his ambitions. She cared less for the social side of public 
 life than for her own family circle, but she never failed 
 to maintain herself in a manner fitting the public respon- 
 sibilities of Mr. Davis. The men and women with whom 
 they were associated during his terms in the United 
 States Senate and afterward always found the hospi- 
 tality of the Davis home made the more congenial by the 
 hostess. 
 
 Mrs. Davis was her husband's companion on many of 
 his trips, Ixjth at home and abroad. She maintained the 
 
230 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 family homestead at Piedmont during the early years 
 of his business career, but her greatest delight was in 
 the summer home at Deer Park. An entry in the jour- 
 nal of Mr. Davis gives the story of an anniversary in 
 their married life : 
 
 February 22, 1878. This is the twenty-fifth or our silver-wed- 
 ding-day. Time has passed so rapidly that it appears but a short 
 time since our marriage, yet we have two grandchildren. 
 
 We celebrate our twenty-fifth anniversary of marriage by giv- 
 ing a dinner at our rented house and home for the winter ; dinner 
 at six o'clock. Present, Judge and Mrs. A. G. Thurman of Ohio ; 
 Mr. and Mrs. WiUiam Keyser and Mr. and Mrs. Alex. G. Shaw 
 of Baltimore; Governor Mathews of West Virginia; Hon. A. P. 
 Gorman; Mr. C. F. Mayer, Baltimore; T. S. Bantz (Mrs. Davis's 
 brother) ; Mr. and Mrs. Elkins (our family) ; Katie, daughter, 
 and ourselves, making in all fifteen persons. 
 
 After the lapse of nearly a quarter of a century they 
 were looking forward to the celebration of another an- 
 niversary, their golden wedding; but this happiness was 
 denied them. Mrs. Davis was taken ill in the early win- 
 ter of 1902, at the family home in Elkins. Her illness 
 was alarming, and in a few days hope was abandoned. 
 She died on the morning of December 10, surrounded by 
 the family. The tribute paid her by her husband in his 
 journal may be transcribed only in part, a sentence which 
 illustrates a strong man's ideal of married life : 
 
 We loved and honored each other dearly, and tried to so live 
 and act as to make each happy. 
 
 That family and kindred might be together in death 
 as in life was a deeply fixed sentiment with Mr. Davis. 
 This sentiment found expression in the mausoleum he 
 provided in Maplewood Cemetery at Elkins. He caused 
 to be erected there a granite monument to the memory of 
 his father and mother, with the dates and names of their 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 231 
 
 children. The monument adjoins that of Stephen B. 
 Elkins' family. The remains of his mother were re- 
 moved to this cemetery. His brother Thomas was bur- 
 ied there, as was Lieutenant Commander Brown, beside 
 his wife, Kate, the Davises' second daughter. Of his 
 own wife, Mr. Davis recorded in his journal : 
 
 Buried at Maplewood Cemetery near Elkins, W. Va., which is 
 to be our family's final resting-place. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 FAMOUS CONTEMPORARIES 
 
 Colleagues in the Senate— Thurman, the sturdy oak of Democ- 
 racy— Schurz and Sherman — Windom as Senator and Secretary 
 of the Treasury— Blaine's friendship— Bayard's esteem— Qual- 
 ities in common with Allison — Vice-Presidents Wheeler and Hen- 
 dricks — Benjamin Harrison's personality — Porfirio Diaz and 
 Mexico — A page from contemporary history — The Cuban War — 
 W. W. Corcoran, the philanthropist — Andrew Carnegie — Rail- 
 way men and events — The great strike of 1877 — John W. Garrett 
 as a board of directors — Annual dinners to railway presidents — 
 Estimate of George B. Roberts and A. J. Cassatt — George F. 
 Baer — Presentation of urn to Mr. Davis — Daniel Willard and 
 the younger generation of contemporaries. 
 
 THE names of public men after they are gone float 
 swiftly down the stream of oblivion. Later gen- 
 erations recall few of them. Yet in certain pe- 
 riods there are groups of these men whose memories do 
 not so quickly vanish. Great events produce them. 
 Mr. Davis served in the Senate of the United States at 
 a time when there were many giants among his contem- 
 poraries. The names of some of these and the parts 
 they played in the drama of national life begin to fade. 
 The story of that period as told in previous chapters may 
 be retold only to show his own intimate relation with 
 some of them. 
 
 Allen G. Thurman of Ohio was the sturdy oak of the 
 National Democratic party in the era following the Civil 
 War. For ten years the two were colleagues in the 
 
 232 
 
Davis Memorial Church at Elkins 
 
 Da\is JMemorial Hospital at Elkins 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 233 
 
 Senate and their associations were of the most intimate 
 character. Davis admired and revered Senator Thur- 
 man's intellect. Thurman had the greatest confidence 
 in the judgment of Senator Davis, leaned on him in mat- 
 ters of party tactics and in personal affairs, and always 
 called him affectionately by his first name. What 
 "Henry" thought about some question of political strat- 
 egy, and where "Henry" was when Thurman himself 
 was under some great personal strain, was always the in- 
 quiry of the Ohio leader of the Democracy. 
 
 Carl Schurz was another figure of note when Mr. 
 Davis first entered the Senate. The cold analytic intel- 
 lect and the German mind of Mr. Schurz with its de- 
 structive criticism would not appear to have attraction 
 for the matter-of-fact intellect and the constructive mind 
 of Senator Davis ; but, while there was no intimacy be- 
 tween the two men, there was a mutual respect which 
 brought them into friendly relations and continued after 
 Mr. Schurz entered the Cabinet of President Hayes. 
 
 John Sherman had a genuine liking for Senator 
 Davis. While they quarreled in the Senate over Treas- 
 ury bookkeeping and over financial questions, Sherman 
 had great respect for Davis's opinions and frequently 
 consulted him on fiscal subjects, sometimes writing for 
 his views and sometimes seeking the opportunity of a 
 personal talk. He was occasionally the guest of Senator 
 Davis at Deer Park, and on those occasions other guests 
 observed a warmth of sympathy that seemed to be drawn 
 out by Mr. Davis himself. 
 
 Among all the men who were in the Senate as his col- 
 leagues. Senator Davis was drawn to William Windom 
 of Minnesota as to few others. They served together on 
 the same committees, and were of kindred minds in the 
 fiscal and other subjects of legislation which required 
 
234 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 knowledge of economics in the broadest sense. Senator 
 Windom was associated with Mr. Davis in his business 
 enterprises, and there was no one on whose judgment 
 Mr. Davis was willing to defer so much as to him. 
 When Mr. Windom was Secretary of the Treasury un- 
 der President Harrison they were frequently together, 
 and Mr. Davis probably had more to do than was gen- 
 erally known with shaping certain Treasury policies. 
 Mr. Davis's estimate of his former colleague is given in 
 two entries in his journal : 
 
 January 30, 1891. This morning the country was shocked and 
 surprised at the sudden death of Secretary of the Treasury, Hon. 
 William Windom. He had just delivered a speech at annual din- 
 ner of New York Board of Trade, and in five minutes after fin- 
 ishing was dead. He was a good, valuable man, and my close 
 friend. He was four years my junior. I served in Senate with 
 him and had respect and affection for him. I attended funeral 
 as one of the family. 
 
 A newspaper clipping, accompanying a picture of Sec- 
 retary Windom, gave occasion for this comment : 
 
 This is very good of my friend Windom ; he was a noble and 
 good man. The world is better that Windom lived in it. 
 
 The friendship between James G. Blaine and Henry G. 
 Davis has been shown in many paragraphs in these 
 pages. Mr. Davis felt the magnetic qualities of Mr. 
 Blaine, as he had felt those of Henry Clay, but there 
 was something beyond these personal qualities. It was 
 not, on Mr. Davis's part, based entirely on respect for 
 Mr. Blaine's knowledge of public questions, for he did 
 not hesitate to criticize the great Republican leader. 
 Though he had a great admiration for Mr. Blaine's in- 
 tellect, he was distrustful of his brilliancy. Their 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 235 
 
 friendship began when they were colleagues in the Sen- 
 ate. 
 
 Sometimes sharply differing on public questions from 
 his party colleagues, Mr. Blaine was not without sym- 
 pathy with attacks made by Senator Davis on the posi- 
 tion maintained by them, and it is more than tradition 
 that on one occasion he helped Senator Davis "round 
 out" a speech that was somewhat disturbing to several 
 of the Republican leaders in the Senate. The social in- 
 timacy of the two men was cemented by close business 
 associations. It was, however, as a contemporary of 
 Senator Davis, who to Mr. Blaine represented the em- 
 bodiment of common sense, that in his "Twenty Years 
 of Congress" he summed up the salient traits of Mr. 
 Davis's character as a public man. 
 
 Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware was a contemporary 
 who filled a large space in public life during the periods 
 when Mr. Davis also was prominent. The scholarly 
 Senator from Delaware was strongly drawn to the 
 rugged Senator from West Virginia. Yet, though be- 
 longing to the same political organization, they fre- 
 quently held strongly divergent views on public ques- 
 tions. Senator Bayard, in his association with Mr. 
 Davis in railway enterprises, relied entirely on the lat- 
 ter's judgment. While Secretary of State during Pres- 
 ident Cleveland's first administration and Ambassador 
 to Great Britain during the second administration, he 
 never failed to keep in touch with his former colleagues. 
 
 William B. Allison of Iowa, who for a quarter of a 
 century dominated the expenditures of the National Gov- 
 ernment through his chairmanship a part of the time of 
 the powerful Appropriations Committee, and the re- 
 mainder of the time through his general knowledge and 
 
236 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 his personality, was one of the contemporaries to whom 
 Senator Davis was closely drawn. They had much in 
 common. Senator Allison, as a legislator with a very 
 practical mind, could appreciate and did appreciate the 
 same qualities in Senator Davis. They worked together 
 harmoniously in committee, and on the floor of the Sen- 
 ate they usually were found in complete sympathy in 
 whatever related to the expenditures of the Government. 
 Until the close of his life, Senator Allison always wel- 
 comed a visit from Mr. Davis after the latter had ceased 
 to be a Senator. 
 
 William A. Wheeler, in his day an influential mem- 
 ber of Congress who left his impress on the period in 
 which he served, was another contemporary for whom 
 Mr. Davis cherished a warm regard. Few now recall 
 that he was Vice-President when Rutherford B. Hayes 
 was President, and presided over the Senate with a grace 
 and impartiality that disarmed partizan hostility. A 
 hint of their friendship is given in the journal entries 
 of Senator Davis when he records that Vice-President 
 Wheeler frequently called him to the chair. 
 
 Vice-President Thomas A. Hendricks was a contem- 
 porary of his own political faith with whom his rela- 
 tions, while not intimate, were friendly, although he was 
 not in the Senate during the brief period that Mr. Hen- 
 dricks served as Vice-President before death called him. 
 They had met at Democratic National Conventions and 
 had had some association in campaign management. 
 When Grover Cleveland was nominated for President 
 and the selection for Vice-President lay between Mr. 
 Hendricks and Mr. Davis, he had advised the selection 
 of Hendricks. Mr. Davis had a warm admiration for 
 Hendricks as one of the principal intellectual forces of 
 the Democratic party. His personal regard was shown 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 237 
 
 when he named one of the stations on his railway, 
 Hendricks. 
 
 President Benjamin Harrison was the contemporary 
 who of all public men received from Mr. Davis the great- 
 est meed of respect for his intellectual qualities and his 
 capacity as a political leader. Their service in the Sen- 
 ate did not run parallel for a long period, since General 
 Harrison entered it when Senator Davis was closing his 
 term. But the two men were attracted to each other 
 from their first meeting. That the friendship between 
 them developed into the closest kind of social intimacy 
 has been shown in the chapters on Deer Park and on 
 the political activities of Mr. Davis. He often com- 
 mented on the grasp that President Harrison had on 
 governmental affairs and the clearness with which he 
 formulated political principles. 
 
 General Harrison, on his part, confessed a definite 
 lack of ability when it came to his own business affairs, 
 and he would turn to Mr. Davis for advice regarding 
 private investments. He also had great respect for the 
 judgment of Mr. Davis in public matters, and he did not 
 hesitate to seek it, regardless of party differences, even 
 to the composition of his Cabinet. It gave him much 
 satisfaction when in a non-political appointment he was 
 able to honor the Senator by designating him as one of 
 the delegates to the First International American Con- 
 ference. When new issues arose, growing out of the 
 Spanish- American War, the two men found themselves 
 in sympathy. General Harrison was among the elder 
 statesmen of the Republican party who were not in ac- 
 cord with the Philippine policy and who distrusted the 
 possibility of imperialism. Mr. Davis was also distrust- 
 ful of the Philippines and of the imperialistic tendencies. 
 They corresponded on the subject. 
 
238 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 In the field of international affairs there was one con- 
 temporary of whom Mr. Davis was intensely apprecia- 
 tive. This was Porfirio Diaz of Mexico. When he vis- 
 ited Mexico in 1895 he was already known for his identi- 
 fication with the Pan-American Railway project. He 
 had helped to initiate it in the International American 
 Conference and had been active in the Intercontinental 
 Survey. Mexico, as one of the countries on the inter- 
 continental trunk line route, was interested in the gen- 
 eral subject. It was also interested in railway construc- 
 tion as a means of internal development and political 
 stability. Something was known by President Diaz of 
 Henry G. Davis as a railway builder and as the expo- 
 nent of an idea. They had several interviews, and 
 through the President of Mexico Mr. Davis learned 
 something of the Diaz policy. 
 
 Seven years later, when, as the chairman of the Amer- 
 ican Delegation to the Mexican Conference, he was en- 
 abled to give more definite shape to the Pan-American 
 Railway project, Mr. Davis received the heartiest co- 
 operation from President Diaz, who took a personal in- 
 terest in furthering his plans. After Mr. Davis's return 
 to the United States, President Diaz never failed to make 
 inquiries regarding his activities, and occasionally he 
 transmitted personal messages. 
 
 Mr. Davis found occasion to give his estimate of Por- 
 firio Diaz in a book that was published a short time be- 
 fore the revolutionary storm broke over Mexico. He 
 wrote in 1910: 
 
 General Diaz is a striking and commanding figure in modern 
 times. Probably no country during the past century has felt the 
 influence of any one man more than Mexico has of General Diaz. 
 Although a soldier both by profession and nature, whose military 
 services had been of the highest order, yet his greatest victo- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS J29. 
 
 ries have been in the direction of peace and tranquillity. . . . 
 Under his forcible and effective administration of affairs the 
 people have advanced in all lines of domestic and commercial 
 welfare, and the Republic has been brought to a much higher 
 plane in the sisterhood of nations. His personal character and ex- 
 ecutive strength have been a guaranty of the safety of foreign 
 capital, the introduction of which has done so much to aid in the 
 development of the country's wonderful mineral and other re- 
 sources. One may speak of almost any country of the world 
 without anyone predominating therein, but Mexico and Diaz are 
 inseparable. He has built so well that I am sure the foundation 
 he has laid will endure, and that Mexico will continue under his 
 successors in the march of progress in which he has so masterfully 
 led it. 
 
 Events showed that Mr. Davis's judgment was at fault 
 regarding stable conditions in Mexico. He lived to see 
 President Diaz, a contemporary whose life ran almost 
 parallel with his own, driven into exile and death. 
 Sometimes he commented on this tragic occurrence, but 
 it did not change his estimate of Porfirio Diaz and the 
 good that Diaz had wrought for Mexico. 
 
 Contemporary events as well as contemporary men 
 were recorded by Mr. Davis. What more vivid picture 
 of a momentous episode in the history of the United 
 States than this page from his journal: 
 
 March 31, 1898. For about a month the country has been in 
 an excited state about the U. S. and Spain question, Cuban inde- 
 pendence, and the blowing up of the Maine in Havana harbor. 
 Best informed men think probabilities of war about equal. Pres- 
 ident McKinley, Speaker Reed, Senator Elkins, are what is termed 
 peace men. 
 
 April 13, 1898. Much excitement in the country generally 
 about war between U. S. and Spain in regard to independence of 
 Cuba. Chances of war and peace about equal. 
 
 April 20, 1898. War has commenced between U. S. and Spain. 
 War caused by Spain's brutal war on the Cubans, who are fight- 
 
240 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ing for their liberty and right of self-government. Also, blow- 
 ing up of U. S. war vessel Maine in harbor of Havana. Official 
 date of war is April 21, 1898. 
 
 May 10, 1898. On ist inst Com. Dewey's great naval victory 
 at Manila. Country in great enthusiasm over Dewey victory. 
 125,000 volunteers for war called, 600,000 offer. Com. Sampson 
 gone with ships to Porto Rico, expect news of fighting soon. 
 
 May 16, 1898. U. S. and Spain war preparations going on 
 rapidly. Naval battle daily expected off Cuba. 
 
 August 12, 1898. Protocol of peace between U. S. and Spain 
 signed by French Minister Cambon for Spain and Secretary 
 Day for U. S. President McKinley issued proclamation of 
 peace. 
 
 Among Mr. Davis's contemporaries, entirely outside 
 of the list of public men and political leaders, was W. W. 
 Corcoran, the Washington banker and philanthropist. 
 Mr. Corcoran was a few years older, but his life cov- 
 ered nearly the same period in its earlier activities as did 
 that of Mr. Davis. The foundation of his fortune was 
 laid during the Mexican War in the loan negotiated for 
 the Government, and he rarely ventured beyond this 
 field of financing; but he was sympathetic with the con- 
 structive enterprises of Mr. Davis. Their social rela- 
 tions were of the closest character, and when one of Mr. 
 Corcoran's most notable charities, the Louise Home for 
 indigent gentlewomen, was dedicated, he insisted on the 
 presence of Mrs. Davis as a special guest. 
 
 Andrew Carnegie was a contemporary whom Mr. 
 Davis looked up to with something akin to reverence, 
 and on his part Mr. Carnegie regarded Mr. Davis as a 
 distinctive figure in national history. Their construc- 
 tive work and industry may have been the sympathetic 
 bond on which their friendship was based. Their real 
 kindredship found expression in their mutual interest 
 in the Pan-American countries, and in particular in the 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 241 
 
 Pan-American Railway project. They worked together 
 for this project at the First International American Con- 
 ference, and when the Second Conference at Mexico pro- 
 vided for the permanent Pan-American Railway Com- 
 mittee, with Mr. Davis as its chairman, his first request 
 was that Mr. Carnegie serve on the Committee with him. 
 This Mr. Carnegie did. 
 
 Whenever he was in Washington he took time to call 
 on 'The Senator," as he always designated Mr. Davis. 
 Many letters were interchanged between them. A char- 
 acteristic letter related to the Pan-American Railway 
 project. It was written at a time when Mr. Davis felt 
 that governmental agencies in furthering this project 
 were somewhat too slow and might be hastened by the 
 aid of private enterprise: 
 
 My dear Mr. Chairman: 
 
 Yours of January 31st received. I can only repeat that the 
 railway extension proposed is a wise missionary effort and I shall 
 be glad to join your syndicate. You cannot engage in a nobler 
 work and we youngsters all take heart when we see the old vet- 
 eran with his coat off. 
 With best wishes, 
 
 Always very truly yours, 
 
 Andrew Carnegie. 
 
 Much of the life and times of Henry G. Davis, as it 
 has been written, relates to his work as a railway builder. 
 A supplemental chapter might be written on his rela- 
 tions with his railway contemporaries, the leading men 
 of two generations, and of his observation^ on events 
 that formed important periods in railway history. 
 Nothing is more vivid than the brief description in his 
 journal of the greatest railway strike in the history of 
 the country. The whole story is found in these entries, 
 which form a contemporary account : 
 
242 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 July i6, 1877. The other trunk lines having made a reduction 
 of ten per cent, of all employees, the Baltimore & Ohio gives 
 notice they will do the same, taking effect to-day. The brakemen 
 and firemen strike, commencing at Baltimore and Martinsburg. 
 It soon extends all over the road, and no freight trains are al- 
 lowed to run by the strikers; mail and passenger trains run as 
 usual. 
 
 July 18, 1877. Governor Mathews of West Va. resisted calling 
 on Federal Government for troops as long as safety to property 
 would allow. He called on i8th. At Baltimore there were a 
 number of lives lost. Mob stoned military when called out and 
 on way to Camden depot. The troops fired on mob, killing about 
 twenty. 
 
 July 22, 1877. Strike on B. & O. continues. All is quiet on 
 this road, only passenger trains are run. Strike commences on 
 Pa. Central road at Pittsburgh on 20th. It is becoming very 
 alarming. Many persons are killed. Some of the military are 
 among the killed. 
 
 July 21, 1877. Mob, including railroad strikers and many 
 others (women and children included), have complete possession 
 of Pittsburgh. Nearly all the property of Pa. Central Railroad 
 is destroyed, among which is nearly three or four thousand cars 
 and contents, 120 or 130 engines, shops, roundhouses, depots, etc., 
 estimated loss $8,000,000. 
 
 July 22, 1877. Strike has become nearly general on railroads 
 in the country. Only day passenger trains now run on B. & O., 
 and most of the other roads. 
 
 July 23, 1877. Strike continues and is now general all over the 
 country. There has been a great deal of property destroyed, es- 
 pecially at Pittsburgh. 
 
 Some of his experiences, however, were not recorded 
 in his journal, but were told on the rare occasions when 
 he was in a reminiscent vein. One incident, which it 
 always pleased him to recall, related to the era when the 
 railway president usually was the man whose individ- 
 uality and force had made him such and who conse- 
 quently dominated the policy of the company. It was 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 243 
 
 the age of the railway autocrats. One of these who left 
 a large impress on the history of the country was John 
 W. Garrett, president of the Baltimore and Ohio. 
 
 Long after Mr. Davis had left the employ of this com- 
 pany, and when he had important lumber and coal con- 
 tracts with it, he went to Baltimore to see about a new 
 contract involving some important operations. With 
 his customary business forethought he had the document 
 drawn up in legal form with a view to saving time. He 
 went over the provisions with President Garrett, who 
 was satisfied with them, and then suggested that when 
 the Board of Directors held their next meeting they 
 should approve it and enable him to go forward with the 
 work. 
 
 "Davis," said President Garrett, "when I am here the 
 Board of Directors is always in session. Here's your 
 contract" ; and he affixed his signature. 
 
 In February, 1884, when he was at the height of his 
 West Virginia projects, Mr. Davis gave a dinner to 
 President Garrett at the Arlington Hotel in Washing- 
 ton. "There were present," he records, "besides the 
 host and his guest, Secretary Folger, Postmaster-Gen- 
 eral Howe, Senators Bayard, Sherman, Windom, Pen- 
 dleton, Gorman, and Camden, Representatives Hoge, 
 Kenna, Wilson, McLane, and Flower." The friendship 
 between President Garrett and Mr. Davis was a very 
 intimate one. When Mr. Garrett died at Deer Park in 
 the autumn of the same year, Mr. Davis was one of the 
 honorary pall-bearers and accompanied the remains to 
 Baltimore. 
 
 In January, 1887, he gave a dinner at Baltimore to 
 Senator Gorman concerning which he made this entry: 
 
 Guests, President Roberts and Vice-President Thomson of 
 Pennsylvania R. R., President Robert Garrett and Vice-President 
 
244 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Samuel Spencer of B. &. O., President Barniim of Hoosatonic 
 R. R. and director in West Virginia Central, President Baughman 
 of Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, Enoch Pratt, the philanthropist, and 
 Mr. Burns, chairman of B. & O. Finance Committee, and S. B. 
 Elkins, president of Piedmont & Cumberland Railroad. 
 
 Mr. Davis was always a welcome guest at the social 
 entertainments given by the high officials of the Pennsyl- 
 vania Railroad. In February, 1890, he recorded that he 
 had been to a number of dinners, among them that of 
 Mr. G. B. Roberts, president of the Pennsylvania Road, 
 at Philadelphia. ''I sat on Mr. R's left. Many noted 
 gentlemen present, among them G. W. Childs, A. J. 
 Drexel, &c." Two years later he went over to Phila- 
 delphia to dine with Mr. Frank Thomson. "The dinner 
 was a noted one — Messrs. Roberts, Depew, Hill, Pugh, 
 Whitney, Bristow, &c. Pierpont Morgan sat on right 
 and T the left of Frank Thomson." 
 
 The following year, and in subsequent years, he was 
 again the guest of Mr. Roberts. Railway men will read 
 with special interest his characteristic comment on that 
 great figure in the railway world. It occurs in his jour- 
 nal under date of February 2, 1897, attached to a news- 
 paper clipping and picture of Mr. Roberts: 
 
 Mr. Roberts, president of Penna. Road, died a few days ago. 
 He was a great and noble man ; he was my friend. Among rail- 
 way men he was generally conceded to be the first and ablest in 
 the country. Died at sixty-five, old by overwork. Pennsylvania 
 road is longest in the world. Revenue about $140,000,000. 
 
 For Alexander J. Cassatt, who became the head of the 
 Pennsylvania system after Mr. Roberts's death, Mr. 
 Davis entertained the greatest admiration. There was 
 a sympathetic bond between them because Mr. Cassatt, 
 like Mr. Davis himself, was a believer in the Pan-Ameri- 
 can Railway project, and lent the weight not only of his 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 245 
 
 name but of his experience to it, since he served as the 
 head of the Intercontinental Railway Survey Commis- 
 sion. A newspaper clipping pasted in his journal, under 
 date of January 18, 1900, gives an account of a dinner 
 to Mr. Cassatt: 
 
 Ex-Senator Henry G. Davis of West Virginia gave an elegantly 
 appointed dinner to-day in honor of President Cassatt of the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the guests being all men of note 
 in the railway world. The dinner was entirely a social affair 
 and had no connection with any railroad consolidation or other 
 business matters. Guests — A. J. Cassatt, president of the Penn- 
 sylvania Railroad ; John K. Cowen, president of the Baltimore 
 and Ohio Railroad; Oscar Murray, of the Baltimore and Ohio; 
 Samuel Spencer, president of the Southern ; M. E. Ingalls, presi- 
 dent of the Big Four; Chauncey M. Depew, president of the New 
 York Central; J. S. Harris, president of the Reading; George F. 
 Baer, vice-president of the Reading; W. L. Elkins, of the Wi- 
 dener-Elkins syndicate; Senator Gorman; Mr. Green. 
 
 To the newspaper clipping Mr. Davis added this com- 
 ment: 
 
 It is believed that $1,000,000,000 of railway property was rep- 
 resented at above table. Never before so many great railway 
 presidents at same table. 
 
 Mr. George F. Baer of the Reading, a conspicuous and 
 combative figure in his day, was a warm friend of Mr. 
 Davis and was his guest sometimes in Washington and 
 sometimes at the summer home in Elkins. Mr. Davis 
 entertained Mr. Baer in Washington in the midwinter of 
 1907. 
 
 President Oscar G. Murray of the Baltimore and Ohio 
 was the guest of honor at a dinner given a year later, 
 which included, among the guests other than railway of- 
 ficials, Chairman M. A. Knapp of the Interstate Com- 
 merce Commission, James Speyer, the banker, and sev- 
 
246 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 eral leading public men. The dinner the following year 
 was a notable one. Mr. Davis was then in his eighty- 
 fourth year. His account of it follows : 
 
 I gave a dinner to railway presidents and vice-presidents. 
 Twenty-four present. All went off well. Nearly all east of 
 Ohio present. 
 
 The feeling entertained toward Mr. Davis by the 
 high railway officials who were in the habit of meeting 
 at his board found permanent expression, at the sugges- 
 tion of President Frederick D. Underwood of the Erie 
 system, at the dinner given in February, 1908. On that 
 occasion an urn was presented to Mr. Davis which told 
 the story of the respect in which he was held in these 
 words : 
 
 The Honorable 
 Henry Gassaway Davis 
 a token of love and esteem 
 From his associates in the Railroad Service 
 Washington, D. C, February ist, 1908 
 Edward B. Bacon Charles Edmund Pugh 
 
 William Abner Garrett Charles L. Potter 
 
 Oscar George Murray Alexander Robertson 
 
 William Nelson Page George F. Randolph 
 
 James M. Schoonmaker 
 Henry Benning Spencer 
 Frederick D. Underwood 
 Daniel Willard 
 
 The last of these railway dinners was given on March 
 4, 1914, in Washington, when Mr. Davis was in his 
 ninetieth year. It was in honor of Daniel Willard, pres- 
 ident of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, for whom Mr. 
 Davis entertained the highest respect as the best type of 
 the younger generation of railway presidents who were 
 grappling with the new conditions, economic and politi- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 247 
 
 cal, that were developing. How deeply this sentiment 
 was reciprocated by Mr. Willard is apparent from an 
 autograph under a photograph of himself which hung 
 in the Senator's office: 'Trom the youngest to the 
 oldest railway president." 
 
 Mr. Davis's modest account of the dinner appears in 
 this entry : 
 
 March 4, 19 14. My railway dinner to President Willard last 
 night was a success; adjourn about twelve o'clock. President 
 Willard, Senator Owen, Hon. Oscar Underwood, President 
 Schoonmaker, Judge Parker, and President Rea spoke. 
 
 The newspapers published a fuller story, mentioning 
 the presence in particular of Judge Parker at the board 
 of the man who had been his running mate on the Pres- 
 idential ticket ten years earlier, and giving the complete 
 list of the guests. These included the leading railway 
 officials of the country, many of them born after Mr. 
 Davis had reached middle age. Yet they were his con- 
 temporaries. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 A SHEAF OF LETTERS 
 
 Gleanings from many contemporaries — Political history un- 
 folded in correspondence — Senator Thurman's expectations in the 
 famous Ohio campaign of 1875 — George H. Pendleton on fac- 
 tional politics — Many communications from William Windom — 
 Hopes and fears in the tragedy of Garfield's life — Comment from 
 Paris on parties and candidates in 1884 — European travel — In- 
 dignation over Blaine caricatures — Lines from Samuel J. Ran- 
 dall and Augustus H. Garland — West Virginia correspondents — 
 Appreciation from the two Goffs — W. L. Wilson's ambition. 
 
 CHAPTERS of political history, momentous 
 events, are illumined vividly in letters written to 
 Mr. Davis by men of the generations with which 
 he was identified. More than a thousand of these com- 
 munications show how close were his relations with lead- 
 ing men for more than half a century. The most inter- 
 esting are those that were penned before the typewriter 
 had come to be the mechanical means of facil'tating cor- 
 respondence. It was rarely, too, even in the days be- 
 fore the typewriter, that amanuenses were resorted to 
 by his correspondents. Statesmen in those days were 
 not so pressed for time that they were unable to write 
 their own letters to those who enjoyed their confidence. 
 Examination of these contemporary documents — for 
 such they are — give many glimpses of political occur- 
 rences behind the scenes. They cast sidelights on event- 
 ful episodes of national history, but they also cover many 
 subjects unrelated to politics and public affairs. They 
 
 248 
 
« 
 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 249 
 
 are evidences of the deep attachment felt for Mr. Davis, 
 and they also exhibit the personal qualities of the writers. 
 
 Political correspondence naturally fills a large space in 
 this volume of epistolary literature. Some of it relates 
 to Mr. Davis's own career both in his State and in the 
 nation, but the larger part covers a wider field. The re- 
 liance placed on his common sense and his shrewd judg- 
 ment is evidenced in numerous communications. There 
 is also a sheaf of letters bearing witness to the frequent 
 appeals made to a man of wealth who is in public life 
 and who is ready to forward the political cause he 
 espouses. 
 
 The close political and personal relations between Sen- 
 ator Allen G. Thurman and Senator Davis have been 
 described in previous chapters. Some of the letters af- 
 ford further illustrations of this intimacy, while at the 
 same time they illuminate the politics of the period. 
 
 A brief letter from Senator Thurman gives a concise 
 forecast of one of the most interesting episodes in Amer- 
 ican political history and one that was a determining fac- 
 tor in nominating a President. This relates to the fa- 
 mous Ohio campaign of 1875, when the soft money issue 
 was fought out in a contest that absorbed the country 
 from end to end. Judge Thurman's uncle, William Al- 
 len, who had served in the Senate, had been elected Gov- 
 ernor of Ohio by the Democrats in the political reaction 
 of 1873. This came to him after a long retirement to 
 private life. His opponents had characterized his re- 
 appearance by designating him as "Rise-Up William 
 Allen." 
 
 Governor Allen had espoused the greenback cause and 
 made it the leading issue in his canvass for reelection. 
 Senator Thurman, while not fully in sympathy with the 
 greenback issue, had adapted his views to his party's 
 
250 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 stand, and was preparing to support the ticket. Before 
 the campaign was under way, replying to an invitation 
 to visit West Virginia, he wrote to Senator Davis from 
 Columbus in May as follows : 
 
 My dear Senator: 
 
 Thanks for your invitation. The trip would give me much 
 pleasure could I take it. But I am engaged to speak next week 
 and probably longer in Cincinnati and must keep my promise. 
 We had a glorious meeting of the leading Democrats of Ohio here 
 last Thursday, and it will have a good effect. We will have a 
 hard fight, but we are confident of carrying the State. The very 
 best feeling prevails in the State. 
 
 In a letter just a few days before the election, that is, 
 on October 4, Senator Thurman wrote : 
 
 I think that Allen will be elected. . . . There never has been 
 such a political campaign in the U. S. The Rads are desperate 
 and it looks as if they will stop at nothing. 
 
 Senator Thurman's judgment proved to be wrong. 
 After a notable campaign Rutherford B. Hayes was 
 elected over Governor Allen, and his election as Gov- 
 ernor of Ohio opened the way for the Presidential nom- 
 ination the following year which brought him to the 
 White House. 
 
 In 1878 it was well understood that Senator Thurman 
 would be a candidate for the Presidential nomination 
 two years later. Senator Davis had returned from his 
 European trip and already was interesting himself in 
 his friend's prospects. Judge Thurman wrote from 
 Columbus under date of August 19: 
 
 I have just received yours of i6th, and am rejoiced that you 
 have reached home and are well. I hope that you enjoyed your 
 trip to the Old World. I fear that I will not be able to visit Deer 
 Park. I do long to make you a visit, but the Democracy of Ohio 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 251 
 
 are inexorable. They have no mercy on me ; so I have to take 
 the stump. We have some doubtful Congressional districts that 
 ought not to be doubtful. But they are, and the Democrats all 
 say that my services in them are necessary. I think that we will 
 carry the State, but the fight will be a hard one. Our State 
 Convention wa^ all I could wish. There is no dissension here 
 now. As to my speech, be assured it is right. But we will talk 
 on that when we meet. Give my love to your family and the 
 Elkinses. 
 
 The social ties of the two families was evidenced in a 
 letter from Columbus in June, 1883: 
 
 My dear Davis: 
 
 We are heartily rejoiced to know that we are to have a visit 
 from Mrs. Davis and yourself. Don't fail to come and make us 
 a good stay. 
 
 In later years there were other letters indicating both 
 the social and the political intimacy of the two men. 
 
 Senator George H. Pendleton, who entered the Sen- 
 ate in 1878, was also a friend of Senator Davis, and 
 while the relations were not so intimate as had been 
 those between Senator Thurman and S-enator Davis, 
 they were close enough to be confidential. Senator 
 Davis, knowing from his own experience the importance 
 of a good seat in the Senate chamber, had taken care 
 to provide his own for the new Ohio Senator, he him- 
 self, following the custom, havin.s: taken one vacated by 
 an outgoing Senator. Senator Pendleton, in acknowl- 
 edging the courtesy, added: 
 
 One of the pleasures I feel in being elected to the Senate is the 
 opportunity it will afford of association with men whom I have 
 known well and have learned to admire, and with none more than 
 yourself. 
 
 A passing view of Ohio factional politics is given in a 
 
252 THE LIFE AND TIAIES OF 
 
 letter several years later referring to a newspaper article. 
 The substance of this article was that John R. McLean, 
 who controlled the powerful Cincinnati Enquirer, had 
 made a bargain to save Ohio for Governor Cleveland in 
 return for the entire State patronage. Senator Pen- 
 dleton was deeply concerned over this rumor, as appears 
 from a letter addressed to Mr. Davis at Deer Park and 
 written from Cincinnati on September 5, 1884: 
 
 I cut the inclosed from the Commercial Gacctte of this city pur- 
 porting to be copy of an article in the Nezv York Star. What 
 truth is there in the reported "dicker" between McLean and 
 Cleveland? What foundation for the rumor? You know why 
 I feel an interest in the matter, and how closely I would guard 
 any information you might give me. 
 
 Present me kindly to the ladies. 
 
 One of President Cleveland's first official acts was to 
 nominate ex-Senator Pendleton as Minister to Germany, 
 so that it was clear that there had been no dicker with 
 Editor McLean over the Ohio patronage. 
 
 The warm friendship and the congenial tastes of Wil- 
 liam Windom and Henry G. Davis are shown in numer- 
 ous letters from Mr. Windom. They cover every sub- 
 ject—politics, business and personal affairs. Usually 
 on political questions when one or the other was absent 
 from the Senate they were paired. When Senator 
 Davis was a candidate before the West Virginia Legis- 
 lature for reelection and there was no prospect of elect- 
 ing a Republican, Senator Windom wrote him from the 
 Senate chamber, January 24, 1877, this letter: 
 
 My dear Davis: 
 
 As there seems to be little hope of our getting a straight Re- 
 publican Senator from West Va., I do most heartily hope you may 
 be successful. If I was a Rep. member, I would, under the cir- 
 cumstances, be most happy to give you my vote. Your services 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 253 
 
 to the State in the matter of internal improvements alone ought 
 to commend you to both parties, and for my part, thoroughly 
 sympathizing with your views on that subject, I feel a great 
 anxiety for your reelection. Hoping that the telegraph to-day 
 will announce the pleasant intelligence that we are to have you 
 with us six years longer, I remain. 
 
 Sincerely your friend, 
 
 William Windom. 
 
 After Senator Windom entered President Garfield's 
 Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury many letters v^ere 
 exchanged with Senator Davis. In several of these 
 communications the overshadowing national gloom 
 caused by the assassin's bullet is reflected, although at 
 times there is a cheerful note due to the temporary favor- 
 able condition of the patient. In reply to an invitation 
 from Senator Davis to come to Deer Park with his fam- 
 ily, Secretary Windom on August 10, 1881, wrote: 
 
 It would be exceedingly pleasant to do so, but I think it will be 
 impossible to get away. The President's condition compels me to 
 remain here. ... I am not pleased with the President's recent 
 condition, though the doctors seem to think that there is in it no 
 cause for serious anxiety. They report that he is doing very 
 well to-day, and I am still hopeful of his continued improvement. 
 
 Two weeks later the growing hope that President Gar- 
 field was past the danger point was indicated in a letter 
 from Secretary Windom saying: 
 
 I am happy to inform you that the President's condition is still 
 very favorable. He has not gained much strength and not made 
 any very great apparent progress, but he is holding his own, and 
 the doctors think that in a few days he will begin to show a 
 marked change for the better. We are all now very hopeful. 
 
 It was the opinion of Senator Davis that if the stricken 
 President could be removed to the bracing mountain air 
 of Deer Park his chances of recovery would be improved. 
 
254 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 John W. Garrett, of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 
 was of the same opinion. They arranged to provide 
 every comfort possible to facilitate the railway journey 
 and to care for the distinguished patient after he should 
 arrive at Deer Park. Their plan was communicated to 
 Secretary Windom in a letter from Senator Davis mailed 
 on September 2. Replying on the following day, Secre- 
 tary Windom wrote : 
 
 I will take pleasure in presenting the very kind offer of your- 
 self and Mr. Garrett to the President's surgeons for their con- 
 sideration. I think it is undecided yet to what place they will 
 move him, or when it Will be done. My impression is that they 
 intend to make the change as soon as his condition permits, but 
 fear that at present he is too weak. There has been but little 
 change in him during the last two or three days, though the doc- 
 tors still speak cheerfully of the prospect. 
 
 The doctors ultimately decided that the seashore would 
 be better than the mountains, and President Garfield's 
 removal to Elberon was accomplished. Later it was 
 known that neither mountain air nor ocean air could 
 have saved him. 
 
 Secretary Windom's temporary retirement from pub- 
 lic life did not lessen his interest in political affairs. H^ 
 wrote to Senator Davis from his home at Winona in 
 Minnesota on September 22, 1882: 
 
 My dear Dazns: 
 
 It seems an age since I have heard from you. How are you? 
 How are the political elements shaping? Shall you come back to 
 the Senate ? How is our West Virginia Central enterprise show- 
 ing up? Is there anything new about the Coal and Iron? Tell 
 me all you know about everything, and especially about yourself 
 and family. 
 
 I am having a disagreeable political contest in my own party, 
 aided by a few of the Satanic class in the Democratic party. 
 The respectable portion of your party is friendly. Bunnell and 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 255 
 
 the Devil let loose all the liars who are not otherwise employed on 
 me, but I shall beat them unless I am greatly mistaken in the 
 temper of my own people. . . . How I should enjoy a week or 
 two with you in the mountains of West Virginia ! 
 
 Mr. Windom with his family visited Europe in the 
 spring of 1884. He corresponded with Mr. Davis about 
 many subjects, sometimes also giving his impressions of 
 life abroad. In a long letter from Paris, dated April 2, 
 1884, he wrote: 
 
 My dear Davis: 
 
 I am inclined to think you are even a worse correspondent than 
 myself, as I wrote you about three months ago and have received 
 no reply. I presume you are very busy, as usual, but you must 
 not be permitted to forget your old friends and I will therefore 
 write again. We returned to Paris last Saturday from our Italian 
 trip in excellent health and spirits. I need not say we had a grand 
 good time, for no one can visit southern Italy without enjoying 
 it, always providing that the fever doesn't get hold of him. 
 
 We spent two weeks in Naples and about the same time in 
 Rome, and two more industrious people you never saw. We 
 penetrated the depths of the catacombs, and climbed to the very 
 edge of the crater of Vesuvius, and did all sorts of things which 
 travelers are expected to do in that country. The weather was 
 delightful during the entire two months — only one rainy day, and 
 even that did not keep us indoors. 
 
 I feel now that my mission as a "tourist" is substantially ended, 
 and I want to go home and be at work again. I shall go to Lon- 
 don in about a week or ten days, and probably remain in England 
 during the month of May. 
 
 I saw our friend Gov. Hendricks day before yesterday. He 
 sails to-morrow for New York. He seems to be laboring under 
 what my old colleague. Col. Aldrich, used to call "a mental hallu- 
 cination of the mind" which inspires him with a belief that the 
 Democracy will win at the next election. Are you afflicted in the 
 same way still? 
 
 Who are you going to nominate, and who are we going to 
 elect f These may be hard questions, but you are good at con- 
 
256 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 undrums. From all I can see in the papers I should say that 
 Blaine's friends are most active in our party. Logan's boom does 
 not seem to have a very healthy growth. Your people keep very 
 quiet, but I suspect there is a good deal going on beneath the 
 surface. The tariff seems to be troubling the Democracy a little 
 just now, but I have great faith in their combining capacity. 
 
 I have seen about enough of the Old World for the present, 
 and shall be very happy to get back to a live country where the 
 people speak the English language even if they do not always tell 
 the truth in political matters. I am thoroughly rested and feel a 
 good deal more like working than playing, but I have no desire 
 to reenter the political field. . . . 
 
 I would give all my interest in Europe for a chat with you 
 to-day. The fact is, when I think of you and a few others of my 
 good friends, I am homesick. 
 
 A letter from Mr. Davis seems to have crossed the one 
 from Mr. Windom. Writing again from Paris under 
 date of May 12, Mr. Windom acknowledged this letter, 
 and, after discussing business matters of mutual interest, 
 referred to the business uncertainty in the United States 
 and the effect in England. He also wrote with his cus- 
 tomary freedom regarding politics : 
 
 The recent conspicuous failures in America have so alarmed 
 everybody on this side that it is quite impossible just now to do 
 anything with American enterprises. Money is very plenty and 
 very cheap, but confidence seems to be entirely destroyed. I 
 know of a large loan in London at the rate of one half of one 
 per cent, per annum simply because no one is willing to invest in 
 anything. What are we coming to at home? Is the bottom 
 falling out entirely? From this distance it looks as if we are to 
 have a grand smash-up. 
 
 I read the New York newspapers quite regularly, but I do not 
 see the way out of the present tangle in either political party. 
 The abuse of our friend Blaine is outrageous and ought to make 
 him hosts of friends. When I saw the caricature in Puck posted 
 on the Strand in London the other day, I felt like taking the next 
 steamer for home to go to work for Blaine. I refer to the "Dime 
 
 V 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 257 
 
 Show," in which B. is represented as the "tatooed man." I hope 
 he will prosecute the scoundrels who got it up. 
 
 I do not venture any prophecy as to who will be the nominees 
 on our side. Blaine seems to be the strongest, as usual, but the 
 rest will probably combine against him. I believe your party will 
 nominate Tilden if he can be "held together" until the convention 
 meets. 
 
 Incidental glimpses of political affairs are afforded in 
 various letters from public men with whom Mr. Davis 
 was on friendly terms without their relations being in- 
 timate. Samuel J. Randall wrote him from his home in 
 Pennsylvania during the Congressional campaign of 
 1882, referring apparently to the necessity of getting two 
 candidates to forego their rival candidacies within the 
 party : 
 
 You can do more than any other man to bring peace. Excuse 
 my troubling you ; it is for our cause. ... I had a visit a day 
 or two ago from Honorable James Hagerman of Keokuk, Iowa, 
 who gives an encouraging account of that State as to Congres- 
 sional candidates in five or six districts. He needed and asked 
 only encouragement. I favor such an invasion where our enemy 
 does not expect us. Atkins' speech is able and ought to be circu- 
 lated, and also to be in the hands of every speaker. Read it. 
 
 Augustus H. Garland of Arkansas, who became At- 
 torney-General in President Cleveland's administration, 
 had served with Mr. Davis in the Senate and had been 
 in sympathy with his conservative views on various sub- 
 jects. After the Chicago Convention in July, 1884, he 
 wrote a brief note : 
 
 Dear Uncle Henry: 
 
 After the good glorious work at Chicago in which you cut no 
 small figure, I feel compelled to drop you a word or two. When 
 I saw your name on the Committee on Platform I was satisfied 
 we would have a liberal, conservative document, and I was not 
 
258 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 disappointed. Everything starts admirably and I feel satisfied 
 we will win. If we do not now I fear we never will. 
 
 Mr. Davis's position as the political chief of his party 
 in West Virginia for so many years naturally resulted 
 in a very large volume of correspondence with political 
 leaders and lieutenants in the State. But not all of it 
 was of a partizan character or came from members of 
 his own party. Nathan Goff, Jr., with whom he had 
 served in the Legislature, on retiring from the office of 
 United States District Attorney, in June, 1882, wrote 
 him: 
 
 I desire to thank you for your uniform and continued kindness 
 to me in official, business, and social matters. ... It is hard to 
 sever pleasant official relations, and it has been hard for me to 
 conclude to do so ; but my personal afif airs and the business inter- 
 ests of my family require it, and to it and them I yield. 
 
 Will you hand this to Senator Camden to read, and assure him 
 that I remember and appreciate his kindness to me. Both of you 
 have been kind to me at times and under circumstances when it 
 was not only pleasant but most beneficial to me, and I shall ever 
 treasure the memory of it and be grateful. 
 
 A year later, when Senator Davis had announced his 
 intention to retire from the United States Senate, the 
 news was received with regret by another Goff , a political 
 opponent, but also a personal friend. This was the 
 venerable Nathan Goff, Sr., the uncle of the foregoing 
 writer, who had been Mr. Davis's mentor when he first 
 entered the West Virginia Assembly. Writing from 
 Clarksburg, under date of January 10, 1883, in a trem- 
 bling hand, and addressing Senator Davis as my "old 
 friend," Nathan Goff, Sr., said: 
 
 I am very desirous that you shall again be elected U. S. Senator 
 to succeed yourself. I much prefer you to any of the candidates 
 mentioned, and I think the good of the State and a majority of its 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 259 
 
 people wish and desire that yoii shall again be their representative. 
 So I hope you will pardon an old friend for the liberty of making 
 a suggestion to you. I would say step squarely out and say to 
 our Legislature that you will serve them. I am quite feeble; 
 some three years ago I had a slight stroke of paralysis and have 
 never entirely recovered from it. 
 
 Though in the later years of the career of William L. 
 Wilson his path diverged from that of Mr. Davis, they 
 had worked together in their party activities, and Mr. 
 Wilson was an occasional correspondent of Senator 
 Davis. He wrote the Senator from Charlestown, under 
 date of September 13, 1880, regarding some rumors that 
 were afloat: 
 
 The result at Berkeley Springs explodes the rumor to which I 
 called your attention. ... I do not know how things will turn 
 out to-morrow ; it will at least show whether there was any bar- 
 gain at the Senatorial convention. I shall have the solid support 
 of this county if there is no foul play, and am not greatly exercised 
 over result anyway. If I am not nominated and the prospects 
 are not too encouraging, I hope to do some campaigning with you. 
 
 Nearly a year later, on June 28, 1881, Mr. Wilson 
 wrote : 
 
 Dear Senator: 
 
 I see from the Baltimore Sun of yesterday that your little 
 railroad is about to enter upon a very wide and ambitious career, 
 and I judge from the men enlisted in the enterprise that it means' 
 busmess and is something more than the newspaper railroads now 
 springing up over our State. I am a firm believer in the unde- 
 veloped resources of West Virginia, and that those who have the 
 money and sagacity to develop them will not fail of immense re- 
 turns ; and so ever since reading the notice in the Sun I have been 
 thinking that perhaps in your projected enterprise I might some- 
 where find an opening to better my fortunes and at the same time 
 serve some useful purpose in the work. 
 
26o HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 
 
 When Mr. Wilson became president of the West Vir- 
 ginia University at Morgantown, Senator Davis wrote 
 asking him to recommend a young man who could serve 
 as a secretary and instructor. This Mr. Wilson did in 
 a most kindly letter, explaining that the young man he 
 recommended was one of the many at the University who 
 were struggling to get a good education through diffi- 
 culties and to whom the compensation would be a great 
 lift. 
 
 In the campaign of 1886 a number of letters were ex- 
 changed between Mr. Davis and Mr. Wilson, who was 
 then in the House of Representatives. From Charles- 
 town, under date of September 30, Mr. Wilson wrote: 
 
 My dear Senator: 
 
 I am just about to start for Moorefield by buggy ; am sorry you 
 cannot be with me. I am anxious for you to make your speech 
 and publish it as a campaign document. Berkeley court is Octo- 
 ber 1 2th, and I have written Parks, chairman of the County Com- 
 mittee, suggesting that he have you there on that day. Possibly 
 also Kenna will be there, or send someone from Washington. 
 You can be of great service to me in Tucker County, I expect. I 
 want to visit both Elk Garden and Davis before the election. We 
 must have you at Charlestown during the canvass. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 MORE LETTERS 
 
 Benjamin Harrison's request for advice on investments— 
 Grover Cleveland's explanation of a misunderstanding— Senator 
 Gorman on prospects and results in 1904— Thomas F. Bayard's 
 illuminating correspondence— Spoils system responsible for Gar- 
 field's assassination— Views on his own campaign for the nom- 
 mation in 1884— Tilden and the rise of the literary bureau— 
 Mamtenance of principles— Manly comment on the Chicago Con- 
 vention—Abhorrence of Benjamin F. Butler's labor movement- 
 Tribute to Mr. Davis's work in developing West Virginia's re- 
 sources—The last letter— Some piquant notes from Andrew Car- 
 negie. 
 
 BENJAMIN HARRISON was an occasional cor- 
 respondent of Mr. Davis. He, however, pre- 
 ferred personal conference to letter-writing 
 when public affairs were to be considered, although in a 
 few instances after his retirement from the Presidency 
 he wrote his views confidentially on current topics with 
 considerable freedom. But the majority of the letters 
 relate to personal or business affairs. A characteristic 
 note was one sent from Indianapolis in June, 1883, in 
 relation to an expected visit from Senator and Mrs. 
 Davis. It exhibits the warm side of General Harrison's 
 nature : 
 
 Yours of the 8th instant came this morning. We are all very 
 pleased to hear that you and Mrs. D. can give us the long-promised 
 visit. We are all at home ; have got through house-cleaning and 
 are in an attitude of waiting for you. So come and bring Katie 
 along too;— plenty of room. Let me know when you will arrive. 
 
 361 
 
262 ,THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 General Harrison's confidence In the business judg- 
 ment of Mr. Davis was profound, and he sought the 
 Senator's advice on investments of which he confessed 
 himself a poor judge. It was at his own insistence that 
 the investment was made for him in Senator Davis's 
 principal railway enterprise. From the correspondence, 
 Mr. Davis apparently hesitated to take the responsibil- 
 ity of suggesting his own properties, and a check for- 
 warded from Indianapolis by General Harrison was re- 
 turned; but ultimately the investment was made as re- 
 quested. Writing from Indianapolis on January 19, 
 1895, General Harrison said: 
 
 My dear Senator: 
 
 I wrote to Elkins some time ago asking him whether the new 
 railroad was making any progress and when you would have your 
 securities ready, but have not heard from him. I suppose he has 
 been so much absorbed in the Senatorial contest— which I see is 
 practically ended in his favor— that he has not had time to write. 
 A paragraph which came to my notice indicates that your organi- 
 zation has been effected, and that the older companies have in- 
 dorsed the bonds of the new company. I have something more 
 than twenty thousand dollars on hand, and have been seeking an 
 investment for it. If your securities are not to be issued soon I 
 will make some temporary use of the money so as to get some 
 interest on it, but if they are I will be glad to take the thirty 
 thousand dollars' worth of your bonds as you suggested. The 
 balance of the money I can probably pay before long. 
 
 General Harrison's satisfaction with the transaction 
 as arranged for him by Mr. Davis was indicated in an- 
 other letter from Indianapolis under date of January 26: 
 
 My dear Senator: 
 
 Your letter of the 22d came last week, and was forwarded to me 
 at Richmond, where I have been engaged for a month in the 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 263 
 
 trial of an important will case, which promises to hold on for an- 
 other month, much to my dismay ; as I did not contemplate a trial 
 that would last over a month. I have concluded to take the West 
 Virginia bonds which you offer, and inclose you S. A. Fletcher & 
 Co.'s draft on N. Y. to my order, indorsed to you, for twenty 
 thousand ($20,000) dollars. 
 
 I can arrange with you the matter of any accumulated interest 
 on the bonds, if you will state the account to me. This check 
 represents all that I can spare from my account just now; and 
 while it does not pay for an even number of bonds at the price 
 you name — 107 — you can so keep the account as to show what my 
 investment is. You may just put the bonds up in an envelope 
 with an indorsement that they belong to me, and keep them in 
 your safety deposit vault. It will hardly be worth while to send 
 them out here, if they are likely to be exchanged in the spring for 
 the securities of the new road. 
 
 We were all glad to see that Mr. Elkins' election went off so 
 harmoniously and unanimously. 
 
 I envy you and the rest your trip to Mexico, as we are having 
 extremely changeable weather ; from mildness to zero in less 
 than twenty-four hours being a frequent occurrence in the last 
 two weeks. When you come to add to this living for two months 
 at a poor hotel and spending seven hours and a half a day In the 
 court-room, you have a partial picture of my sufferings. 
 
 Mrs. McKee and the children fortunately continue well, and 
 join me in kind regards to Mrs. Davis, Kate, and Grace. 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 Benj. Harrrison. 
 
 President Cleveland occasionally wrote Mr. Davis on 
 political matters. A misunderstanding on one occasion, 
 when apparently Mr. Davis went to the White House to 
 keep an appointment with President Cleveland about 
 some political matter and was not received, was cleared 
 away in Mr. Davis's usual direct manner by asking for 
 an explanation. The incident is indicated in an auto- 
 graph letter from Mr. Cleveland : 
 
264 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Executive Mansion, Washington, 
 
 June 4, 1887. 
 My dear Sir: 
 
 Colonel Lament surprised me very much to-day by telling me 
 the purport of your conversation with him. I think it is the first 
 instance of the kind ever presented to me, and I feel especially an- 
 noyed that it should relate to you, virhose kindness and friendship 
 has been so marked and constant. 
 
 I am often perplexed and often overwhelmed with visitors, 
 sometimes engaged with public business which cannot be post- 
 poned or interrupted, but the circumstances would be very un- 
 usual which would prevent me from seeing you. I am afraid the 
 matter to which you have referred has occurred through my over- 
 sight or inadvertence at a time when I was unusually vexed and 
 troubled with other matters. I certainly have no remembrance 
 of the occasion. 
 
 I hope I need not say to you that I am at all times glad to see 
 you, and that I should be very much grieved if you should think 
 otherwise. 
 
 I hope you will call the next time you are in the city. We often 
 recalled our stay at Deer Park during the anniversary time of 
 our marriage, and with it we recalled your kindness too. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 Grover Cleveland. 
 Hon. Henry G. Davis, 
 Baltimore, Md. 
 
 A penciled memorandum on Mr. Cleveland's letter in 
 the handwriting of Mr. Davis notes that he answered 
 saying he highly appreciated the communication. 
 
 Among the hundreds of letters from his kinsman, 
 Arthur Pue Gorman, two may be quoted which relate to 
 comparatively recent political events. They give a con- 
 temporary view of the national campaign in which Mr. 
 Davis was the candidate for Vice-President. One was 
 written just before the election and the other just 
 after it. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 265 
 
 Fifth Avenue Hotel, 
 Madison Square, New York. 
 
 Nov. 2, 1904. 
 My dear Friend: 
 
 I received your letter upon my arrival here last night and note 
 all you say about West Virginia. ... You have no idea as to the 
 confidence of Judge Parker and Mr. Sheahan in the outcome. 
 They have absolutely no question about New York, and New 
 Jersey, but they think Connecticut can also be carried. Alto- 
 gether they are in a very hopeful mood, and we certainly have 
 the Republicans on the defensive, the current running strongly in 
 our favor. My own judgment is that we will poll our full 
 vote, and it looks as if we will be great gainers by the dissatisfac- 
 tion in the Republican party. 
 
 I want to congratulate you upon the wonderful contest you have 
 made. I hear from mutual friends you have not overtaxed your- 
 self and are quite well. I trust you will come out of it in the 
 best condition. 
 
 Writing a week later, Senator Gorman said: 
 
 I confess the result is a very great surprise to me, as it is to 
 everybody who watched the contest. 
 
 However, it is all over, and the immense majority against us 
 all along the line shows the American people have determined 
 that the President shall have another term. On the surface it 
 looked as if our party were united, but it is evident it is not so 
 with the rank and file. 
 
 Disagreeable as the result is, I know you well enough to know 
 you will accept it without worry, as you do everything. You 
 made a grand, indeed memorable, fight for our party, but the odds 
 were too great to be overcome. 
 
 Something- of the intimacy between Henry G. Davis 
 and Thomas F. Bayard has been told in the preceding 
 pages. The correspondence extending through more 
 than a quarter of a century is further evidence of it. 
 Mr. Bayard wrote freely on business and on personal and 
 political matters. Some of his letters are vitallv illu^ 
 
266 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 trative of his own high character and his lofty convic- 
 tions. Writing on July 3, 1881, concerning a proposed 
 visit to West Virginia, and referring to a previous letter, 
 Mr. Bayard said: 
 
 I write under the shock and depression caused by the wild and 
 wicked attempt to murder the President. . . . This assault upon 
 Garfield shocks me, and it really appears to be the natural results 
 of the demoralizing and corrupting influence of the "spoils" sys- 
 tem of machine politics. The letters of the assassin are like those 
 of a Russian nihilist, and something heretofore unheard of in 
 America. 
 
 May Heaven avert the evil results which the death of Garfield 
 would expose our country to. The consequences of turning over 
 the executive powers to the wing of the party who have been at 
 such bitter variance with the administration loom up darkly on 
 every side. 
 
 As I write (3 p. m. Sunday) bulletins are more encouraging. 
 
 A sensational political episode was briefly adverted to 
 by Mr. Bayard in a letter from Wilmington dated April 
 22, 1883. The occasion was a dinner given by the Iro- 
 quois Club of Chicago, the leading Democratic organiza- 
 tion of the West, at which Mr. Bayard was the principal 
 speaker. In the morning hours Mayor Carter Harrison, 
 in responding to a toast, took occasion to controvert the 
 tariff views which Mr. Bayard had expressed and to 
 declare the Democratic party could not carry the country 
 on such a platform. Mayor Harrison was a very force- 
 ful personality with an unexcelled faculty for securing 
 publicity. At that period he filled as much space in the 
 newspapers as did the President of the United States. 
 Mr. Bayard wrote of this incident to Senator Davis : 
 
 I had hoped to have seen you and told you about Chicago. I 
 think the Iroquois Club dinner was a success, although it seems 
 to have disagreed with our Republican friends and their news- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 267 
 
 papers. In fact, we can hardly be said to have any general Dem- 
 ocratic press in the United States. Here and there is a Dem- 
 ocratic newspaper, but in Chicago, for instance, there is none. 
 The Chicago Times, which is not a Republican organ, is as little a 
 Democratic organ, and perhaps injures us more than if it was an 
 avowed Republican. Carter Harrison, the Mayor, made a silly 
 and very uncivil harangue at the end of the dinner, which mystified 
 our hosts. It was seized upon by the Republican press and pub- 
 lished as a "bombshell," etc., but it amounted to nothing. 
 
 Senator Bayard was an active candidate for the Presi- 
 dential nomination in 1884. His friends were well or- 
 ganized, but the Tilden influence was hostile. A reverse 
 in the preliminary campaign in West Virginia brought 
 forth a notable letter on political methods — the literary 
 bureau — that have since become common. 
 
 Referring to the inability of Mr. Davis to secure the 
 West Virginia delegation for him, Senator Bayard wrote 
 from the Senate chamber under date of April 9, 1884: 
 
 My dear Dazns: 
 
 I have your note of yesterday informing me that the local con- 
 ventions in West Virginia had declared in favor of Mr. Tilden's 
 nomination at Chicago. I had seen the statement in the New 
 York Times a day or two previous. 
 
 Do not, my good friend, let this action disturb you — at least not 
 on my account. We ought, as sensible men, to accept the situa- 
 tion, and if, from any cause or number of causes, a genuine sen- 
 timent pervades our party in favor of nominating the "old ticket" ; 
 it will control the convention, and I for one shall not obstruct it. 
 
 It is perfectly clear a:lso that Mr. Tilden has not as yet objected 
 to it, whatever he may have done to promote it. No such per- 
 sonal organization ever existed in this country as that which he 
 carefully and elaborately has built up since his canvass for the 
 office of Governor of New York until now. His "literarv' 
 bureau" I believe is still maintained, and I do not care to give an 
 accurate definition of that, but it results in a purchased and paid- 
 for expression in favor of the owner of the bureau. 
 
268 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Now, my good friend, you know how entirely outside of my 
 capacity or personal methods is such a system. I have no reliance 
 upon anything to give me high office but the belief of my country- 
 men that I have the wish and the ability to serve them intelligently 
 and faithfully. 
 
 To represent a party animated and controlled by such beliefs 
 and such objects would be an honor that no man would value more 
 highly than I, and even in defeat there would be the solace of 
 self-respect. Really I do not want, nor can I logically or reason- 
 ably expect, to receive a nomination at the hands of a set of dele- 
 gates who, looking the facts of the present and the history of the 
 near past squarely in the face, approve of the nomination of Mr. 
 Tilden, or to place the nomination subject to his wishes either 
 to accept it for himself or control it in favor of anyone he de- 
 sires. 
 
 I am unable to believe that Mr. Tilden's physical condition ren- 
 ders it possible for him even to contemplate the assumption of the 
 labor of a canvass, much less the duties of the Chief Magistrate. 
 Unless I am wholly mistaken, he is too feeble in health to under- 
 take labor of any kind. 
 
 Therefore, the movement to send delegates to nominate him is 
 in fact a mere cover to nominate someone to be approved by him. 
 It would be a Tilden convention, and it seems to me that logically 
 none but Tilden men ought to have their names placed before it. 
 
 For one, I am sure I do not and would not justly represent such 
 a convention in the wishes and opinion of those who selected and 
 sent them there, and there-fore my name ought not to be placed 
 before them. 
 
 Profession, promises, and platform all depend in the end upon 
 the personal character of the individual chosen to represent and 
 carry them into execution. 
 
 I expect to go along as you have heretofore seen me, trying 
 hard to find out the paths of honor and prosperity to our country 
 and to point them out to our countrymen. This has gained me 
 the confidence and good will of men like you, and as I value that 
 I shall endeavor to retain it. 
 
 As the Democratic National Convention drew near, 
 Senator Bayard wrote to Mr. Davis freely and fre- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 269 
 
 quently concerning his prospects. From the Senate 
 chamber on June 19 he wrote : 
 
 On Monday we will meet at my house at dinner and have a free 
 conference. I have written to Travers, and McPherson goes to 
 New York to-day and will learn how matters stand there. What 
 the result of the Saratoga Convention really is I do not presume 
 to know, but I can see a restoration of ancient forces in the 
 presence of Belmont, Travers, and Kelly to delegateships. Hew- 
 itt met me to-day (he is a delegate) and told me he would make 
 me President of the United States in preference to any living man. 
 (Whether he would say so an hour hence is doubtful.) 
 
 Gorman is coming on Monday. 
 
 Writing under date of June 27, Senator Bayard said : 
 
 Gorman told me all about New York, which is a curious pool 
 for me to be fishing in, and I feel it quite impossible to prognosti- 
 cate anything of the results. 
 
 I confess it made my flesh creep to know that you and Mc- 
 Pherson had been in consultation with Butler, of whom I enter- 
 tain the most profound distrust and constant apprehension. Of 
 course, I know a great party must contain all kind of elements, 
 and there is no use in driving those you disapprove into oppo- 
 sition, but the fact remains that principles must be maintained and 
 not departed from under the name of pretense of an alliance with 
 the foes of principle. 
 
 Now as to the selection of a delegate to present name to the 
 convention. You suggest Judge Thurman, and I need not say 
 how delighted and honored I would be to have him do it, but I 
 can scarcely think it practicable under the circumstances, nor do I 
 suppose with his relations to McDonald he would be disposed to 
 go for an "eastern man," nor do I know how my old friend re- 
 gards my promotion to a position which perhaps he still may 
 himself aspire. Now, let me say that it had been suggested to 
 me that Governor Leon Abbett of New Jersey would be a 
 proper person to present my name. Jersey is a northern State 
 and a tariff State, and one of the doubtful States. Think this 
 over, and write me at once your views. 
 
270 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Senator Bayard's comment on the result at Chicago, 
 while tinged with some asperity, was a manly recognition 
 of the loyalty of those who had supported him. He 
 wrote to Mr. Davis from Wilmington on July i8, 1884: 
 
 My dear Davis: 
 
 Our "beaten troops" have all returned from Chicago, and I 
 have many accounts of the incidents and workings of that strange 
 body of our countrymen called the Democratic Convention. Like 
 all such assemblies, there was a great deal to make me think better 
 and some things to make me think worse of human nature. 
 
 To me there was a great deal to gratify in the conduct of my 
 friends, those upon whom I relied and who have only endeared 
 themselves more than ever to me by their staunch and generous 
 advocacy, and among them you stand. I am quite conscious that 
 my share of praise is beyond my merits, and my ambition is to be 
 really worthy of the place assigned me in our party councils and 
 the estimation of the country. Some day when we are quietly 
 together you will explain to me some things about the Maryland 
 delegation, and Gorman will also, I doubt not. I had come to 
 regard Maryland the same as Delaware — perhaps without war- 
 rant — and yet I believe that before the people of both States I 
 have the same position. 
 
 I hope we will prove to have been mistaken in our estimate of 
 the defection from Cleveland in New York. It is too early yet to 
 descry the movement of the currents of popular feeling. Some 
 strange novelties appear, and to find Harper's Weekly, the New 
 York Times, the Evening Post, the New York Herald, etc., all 
 aiding the Democratic nominee is enough to make a man stare. 
 
 Certain it is that new political forces are at work, and some of 
 them dangerous. Butler's organization of the "labor vote" is a 
 dangerous and demagogical movement, for the laboring classes 
 (so-called) have surely no such wrongs as yet in this country as 
 to justify a separate organization. How many Presidents have 
 we had who were men of inherited fortune ? How many Cabinet 
 ministers, how many men in the Senate to-day, have worked with 
 their hands for a living! How many millionaires have we who 
 did not spring from poverty? You see how unjust in this coun- 
 try is the separate and hostile array of laboring men. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 271 
 
 The man for whom I feel just now is our friend McDonald. 
 I do not think Indiana was faithful to him — but, but — when we 
 meet we will talk it all over. 
 
 During the progress of the campaign Senator Bayard 
 frequently wrote Mr. Davis. One of the letters is es- 
 pecially interesting as reiterating his views of General 
 Benjamin F. Butler. On August 2^ he wrote from Wil- 
 mington : 
 
 There are so many new elements in the canvass that it is hard 
 to foretell their relative force. My judgment of Butler and the 
 danger of having anything to do with him — except to put him to 
 death — has had ample confirmation. 
 
 The canvass drags on both sides, but will be hot enough ere 
 long. I think I will speak in Brooklyn on the 15th of September. 
 
 What may happen in New York I cannot say, but elsewhere 
 I do not think Blaine will make any serious inroad in the Irish 
 vote and will lose heavily with the German vote. The Independ- 
 ents attack him with a bitterness quite unknown to the Democrats. 
 Regards to Gorman. 
 
 The intimate personal correspondence of the two 
 friends would make a large volume. Innumerable let- 
 ters are filled with graceful tributes from Senator Bay- 
 ard to the Hfework of Mr. Davis. After one of his 
 many trips through the region traversed by the West 
 Virginia Central Railway he wrote from Wilmington, 
 under date of June 23, 1890: 
 
 My dear Davis: 
 
 I enjoyed the trip over your road immensely, and feel well 
 satisfied with my small pecuniary interest in that region of in- 
 dustry and growing wealth. I must congratulate you upon the 
 monument to your energy and far-sighted enterprise and intelli- 
 gence which the West Virginia Central and the whole region 
 it penetrates constitute. 
 
 It is a just cause of pride to you, and will be to your children, 
 that you have let the sunlight of civilization and prosperity in upon 
 
272 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 a region so secluded by its rugged natural features. May you 
 fully enjoy the fruition of your labors. 
 
 When the autumn comes I shall try to let Mrs. Bayard see the 
 West Virginia Central in the glory of the change of leaves, and 
 will write you. 
 
 A New Year's letter from Mr. Bayard, penned a few 
 months before his own death, is a fitting tribute with 
 which to close the story of the deep friendship of these 
 two men : 
 
 Wilmington, Del., 
 
 January i, 1898. 
 My dear Henry Davis' 
 
 I was very glad to get your kind note of yesterday with a pass 
 over the lines of the West Va. Central for 1898 for me and Mrs. 
 Bayard. 
 
 I have always been desirous that she should see the beautiful 
 region your enterprise has so developed, and I am personally de- 
 sirous of noting your progress since I was last in your territories. 
 
 The death of a dear sister clouds the entry of the New Year, 
 and just now I am a prisoner in the house with a bad cold. 
 
 I hope you are a little more conservative of your fine physical 
 powers and are learning a little how to play. 
 
 As a Christmas card I send you a verse by one of our country- 
 men, Whittier, which will please Mrs. Davis quite as much as you. 
 
 When I am next in Washington I shall hope to see you, pro- 
 vided you hold still long enough. 
 
 Wishing you a Happy New Year. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 T. F. Bayard. 
 
 Hon. Henry G. Davis, 
 Washington. 
 
 Andrew Carnegie was a regular correspondent of Mr. 
 Davis, not only in connection with the Pan-American 
 Railway, but also in reference to other subjects. His 
 crisp and concise letters would make a vest pocket edition 
 of piquant comment. When he was appointed a delegate 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 273 
 
 to the Second Pan-American Conference at Mexico, in 
 sequence to his membership in the First Conference at 
 Washington in which he and Mr. Davis had been col- 
 leagues, under date of March 8, 1902, he wrote from 
 New York: 
 
 My dear Mr. Dazis: 
 
 Notice of my appointment duly received and acceptance mailed. 
 Shall be glad to be of service with you in the great work. Sorry 
 that I am so busy these days that I am not able to accept your 
 kind invitation to visit Washington. We are sailing soon for our 
 summer hoHday. Tell Senator Elkins hope to see him and his at 
 Skibo this summer. 
 
 In later years came a crisp note from Dungenness : 
 
 Dear Mr. Chairman: 
 
 Here on Lister Island three generations of Carnegies and I 
 head the family. 
 
 We leave to-day for Hot Springs, Arkansas. Madam has need 
 to take the cure for the first time. Shall reach New York say 
 April 1st and let you know when I can get to meeting. 
 
 Long life to you, grand old man. 
 
 ^ It was well known that Mr. Carnegie in his benefac- 
 tions excluded gifts to denominational institutions. This, 
 however, did not prevent Mr. Davis from laying before 
 him the claims of the West Virginia Institution to which 
 he and Senator Elkins had contributed so liberally and 
 which he had endowed. The answer was characterist- 
 ically brief and frank. Mr. Carnegie wrote from New 
 York on Decem.ber 4, 191 1 : 
 
 My dear Friend: 
 
 I am so glad to hear from you, venerable sage. 
 
 I must give you the rare opportunity of taking that Presbyterian 
 College under your sole control. I would not rob you of the 
 privilege for the world. 
 
 It is a rule which I shall never break ; via., I will support no 
 
274 HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 
 
 educational institution which favors one sect or discriminates 
 against other sects. Education should be undenominational, all 
 religions and creeds on equal footing. 
 
 Happy to see you in Washington when I am there for a few 
 
 days. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 Andrew Carnegie. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 Mr. Davis's journal as an illustration of his character — Intimate 
 record of half a century — The observant traveler at home and 
 abroad — European trip — Shrewd reflections on the Southern 
 States — Mexico and California — Personal thrift and business 
 liberality — Passion for order and detail — Faculty of concentration 
 — Making a bargain — High standard of integrity — Dislike of 
 speculation — In all things an individualist — Austere home life 
 mellowed — Favorite documents of American history — Fondness 
 for biography — Material for speeches — Nature's physical endow- 
 ment — Horseback rider at ninety — Capacity for sleep — Religious 
 convictions, 
 
 THE intimate story of Henry G. Davis's life for 
 half a century has been told by himself. This is 
 not in the form of an autobiography or of a 
 sketch prepared by him, nor was the story told for a 
 moralizing purpose. It contains no meditations with sly- 
 thoughts of posterity's comment. It simply grew out of 
 one of his leading characteristics, which was the love of 
 order and the desire to have before him the record of 
 current events and of his own activities. For nearly 
 fifty years he kept a journal in which he entered the 
 things that most concerned him or that at the time made 
 the strongest impression on him. 
 
 This journal in reality is the record of his associa- 
 tions as well as of his own work from year to year. It 
 is comprised in a single volume, a large business ledger 
 bound in sheepskin and filled from beginning to end with 
 
 275 
 
276 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 his notes. It commences in the spring of 1867, when he 
 moved to Deer Park for the summer, and it ends a short 
 time before his death in Washington, in February, 1916. 
 There are some scattering records of his earher years, 
 but the memorandum books of those years, to which he 
 sometimes refers, unfortunately have been lost. 
 
 Much that has been written in the account of his life 
 and times that this volume comprises is drawn from the 
 journal, as has been made clear by the frequent quota- 
 tions from it, but it has to be studied from cover to cover 
 to exhibit fully the qualities that made him a successful 
 railway builder and organizer of industry as well as man 
 of public affairs. 
 
 The entries relate to his prospecting trips among coal 
 and timber lands, to family matters of an intimate char- 
 acter, to social intercourse, to political events, to inter- 
 views with railway officials and financiers of his own 
 type, with occasional comment, never of an unkindly na- 
 ture, on his contemporaries. In the later years there are 
 numerous newspaper clippings, especially in connection 
 with politics and the business enterprises in which he 
 was concerned. His impressions are recorded spontane- 
 ously, but with many shrewd reflections. The weather 
 is frequently noted, but the notation is that of the farmer, 
 the lumberman, the railway builder, or the contractor, 
 for whom meteorological conditions have a definite 
 meaning. 
 
 The faculty of observation that Mr. Davis possessed 
 doubtless has been apparent to the reader of these pages. 
 It helped to supply the deficiency of his early education. 
 His was the schooling that comes from observation, from 
 association with workingmen, men of business, states- 
 men, and diplomatists, and from meeting and overcom- 
 ing difficulties. It was an education that made his judg- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 2^] 
 
 nient sought and respected in great business enterprises, 
 in political management, and in public affairs. 
 
 The faculty of seeing intelligently was especially 
 shown in his various journeys. He was the observant 
 traveler in whatever place he found himself, on horse- 
 back or on foot in the primeval forests of the Alle- 
 ghanies; in Europe; making a hasty trip to Cuba or Ber- 
 muda or Mexico; crossing the continent; journeying as 
 a m-ember of a senatorial committee or traveling with his 
 family for recreation. Wherever he was he saw all that 
 the ordinary traveler saw and much more. 
 
 In the spring of 1873, when Senator Davis went to 
 California with his daughter Hallie, after noting the 
 many buffalo, antelope, and prairie-dogs on the plains, 
 he also notes seeing "one wolf." Denver he found a 
 promising place, but he was "only tolerably well pleased" 
 with San Francisco and the country around it. The 
 same observation was made about Salt Lake City. Like 
 all travelers, he went to the Mormon Tabernacle on 
 Sunday. His visit was before the enactment of anti- 
 polygamy laws, and he remarks that some Mormons have 
 twenty wives, others one, two, three, and so on. 
 
 In the summer of 1878, as a relief from senatorial 
 duties, he made a trip to Europe in company with his 
 daughter Kate, his colleague Senator Camden, and Sen- 
 ator Camden's daughters, Annie and Jessie. The party 
 spent four days in Ireland visiting Blarney Castle, Kil- 
 larney, and Dublin. Then they went to Scotland and 
 London, and from London to Paris, where they visited 
 the Exposition. Switzerland, the Rhine, and Belgium 
 also were visited. This itinerary is recorded in his 
 journal with an occasional observation but apparently he 
 was taking full notes all the time, for he remarks: "For 
 full account of trip see memorandum books." 
 
} 
 
 278 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 When the Senate Committee on Transportation visited 
 various parts of the comitry he made copious entries in 
 his journal, most of them relating to the subject of the 
 inquiry and therefore including observations of trade 
 and industry. While in New Orleans he recorded this 
 impression : 
 
 I am pleased with the country in Louisiana, but much of the 
 southern country and States are going to waste. Taxes in New 
 Orleans are $5.12 on the $100, and in the county $4-75- No 
 people can stand this long. 
 
 In the midwinter of 1884, with Mrs. Davis, he took a 
 trip to Florida and Louisiana. His impressions of the 
 towns and of the country were given in brief entries in 
 the journal. He found Charleston, South Carolina, 
 ''quite an old town, fairly built, and looking tolerably 
 prosperous." The many cotton-fields on the road from 
 Charleston to Jacksonville were noted, with the observa- 
 tion also that the oranges were still hanging upon the 
 trees. Proceeding to New Orleans by way of Tallahas- 
 see, he remarked that the country was mostly sandy and 
 poor. Of New Orleans on this second visit he briefly 
 remarks : "City has a business appearance. Theaters 
 and many stores are open on Sunday." Returning 
 North, he commented on the coal and iron in Alabama, 
 and added that Birmingham was a very thriving place 
 which had grown very rapidly. Nashville, Tennessee, 
 he described as a growing town with a fine country 
 around it, and the country between Nashville and Louis- 
 ville was also referred to as "fine." 
 
 Mr, Davis, accompanied by members of his family, 
 visited the World's Fair in Chicago in midsummer, 1893. 
 His comment was brief but comprehensive : "The Fair 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 279 
 
 is very large, and is a wonderful exhibit of the United 
 States and the world." 
 
 In the early spring of 1894, with Mrs. Davis and other 
 members of the family, he made a flying trip to Havana 
 by way of Florida, but he did not record his impressions 
 of Cuba under Spanish rule, as it then was. 
 
 In the spring of 1895 he visited Mexico City and Cali- 
 fornia, chiefly for business purposes. While in Mexico 
 he was received by President Diaz, who treated him with 
 much consideration. He expressed some annoyance at 
 the attention shown him. The President had detailed 
 an army officer to accompany their party, and this officer 
 performed his duty with military fidelity, while Mr. 
 Davis wanted to get away by himself at times and take 
 a look around, as he phrased it. 
 
 In 1897 he went to Bermuda from New York, record- 
 ing that the trip was rough and that he was seasick all 
 the way. The visit, however, was an enjoyable one. 
 The attractiveness of Bermuda was thus summed up: 
 "Climate in March about our early June. Nearly every- 
 thing is white." 
 
 In his other travels, sometimes for recreation, some- 
 times for business, and not infrequently combining both, 
 he never failed to make notes; but it would be difficult 
 to trace in these notes anything that could be attributed 
 to the standard guide-books. His observations were as 
 original as they were pointed. 
 
 Mr. Davis had few idiosyncrasies or peculiarities, but 
 such as they were they bore the impress of a strong per- 
 sonality. The hardships of his early life, and the priva- 
 tions that followed the reversion of the family from com- 
 fort and wealth to poverty, left a deep impression on his 
 character. Besides this there was an innate aversion to 
 
28o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 waste and an appreciation of the real meaning of econ- 
 omy. He had learned to practise thrift from necessity, 
 but he would have been saving in any circumstances be- 
 cause thrif tiness was the basis on which to build. 
 
 In his personal habits through all his long life he was 
 simplicity itself. His wants were few and were easily 
 satisfied. In making a small purchase or providing for 
 some slight need, he would exercise the same care that he 
 had found it necessary to bestow when dollars were very 
 scarce and hard to get. These habits were not eccen- 
 tricities; they were simply the reflex of a principle. 
 Some of them were too superficial to be worthy of men- 
 tion. If there were good reason for being generous he 
 did not hesitate to show liberality, but the liberality that 
 is quite distinct from prodigality. 
 
 In the same way, while all his life he exhorted to econ- 
 omy, he distinguished it from parsimony. His subor- 
 dinates in the management of his properties were fre- 
 quently told, sometimes sharply, that they must exercise 
 greater economy, but where there was a real need of 
 liberal expenditures they had only to show it and they 
 were allowed to go ahead. In public affairs, and the 
 administration of government, economy naturally was 
 one of Mr. Davis's favorite themes, and in particular he 
 held the opposition party to strict account for expendi- 
 tures. But when he came to exercise his functions as a 
 legislator he never was parsimonious toward the Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 In his business affairs he would weigh every expense 
 carefully, even to the cost of a short trip, but he would 
 not hesitate to close a million-dollar transaction over- 
 night as the result of such a journey. In his private and 
 family life there was no trace of undue economy, yet 
 there was no extravagance. Disliking display and osten- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 281 
 
 tation, he always maintained his household on a scale 
 befitting his own position and his hospitable inclinations. 
 It was a generous hospitality, for he was not ashamed to 
 be known as a rich man. 
 
 Witness an illustration of his activities when he was in 
 his seventy-fifth year as given in his journal : 
 
 Sept. 10, 1898. I am quite busy arranging to open mine at 
 Simpson. Call New York Coal Co. 
 
 Also building or extending road (W. Va. Central) from Beverly 
 to Huttonsville. 
 
 An important element in Mr. Davis's character which 
 had much to do with his success was the faculty of con- 
 centrating his energies upon the work in hand and his 
 ability to dismiss business cares from his mind when 
 the time came for recreation. Whatever he had to do, 
 whether it was working on a farm, running a railway 
 train, framing an appropriation bill, drawing up a re- 
 port for an international conference, or managing a rail- 
 way or a coal company, he always was able to concentrate 
 his attention and his energies on the one subject. He 
 always wanted to have as much as possible of his work 
 carried out under his own eyes. 
 
 A leading trait in Mr. Davis's business methods was 
 his love of order. This was inherent. In his personal 
 habits the practices of his early boyhood, which had 
 been taught him by his mother, were followed, even to 
 carefully laying out his towel to dry. Everything he 
 did was methodical. His explorations of lumber and 
 coal lands were never taken at haphazard. The full de- 
 tails of these inspections and investigations, written 
 down by himself at the time and afterward entered in his 
 journal, always could be used to refresh his mind and 
 undoubtedly were of great valrne to him. Having made 
 
282 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 a thorough study of the resources of a given region, 
 having gone over it on foot or on horseback, he was then 
 in a position to go forward with his plans. It was con- 
 fidence in his knowledge that enabled him to interest 
 other capitalists in his railway projects. It was suffi- 
 cient for them that "H. G. D." had gone over the ground 
 and satisfied himself that there was traffic to be de- 
 veloped. 
 
 In dealing with others he always dealt on a business 
 basis, and there were few who could excel him in making 
 a bargain ; yet no one could complain of unfairness. He 
 knew the value of what he had to sell, or of what he 
 wanted to buy, and knowing it he laid the foundation for 
 the prospective transaction. An incident shows his 
 method. Along toward the end of his life he decided to 
 dispose of certain timber and coal holdings. The opera- 
 tion was a somewhat complicated one. He formulated 
 the plan himself, and in giving the outline to his lawyers 
 to be put into legal form he remarked: "This is about 
 what it will have to be. There may be a few changes 
 from what I have put down, but they won't be impor- 
 tant." 
 
 The prospective buyers thought otherwise, but after 
 months of negotiations the transaction was consummated 
 on the lines laid down by Mr. Davis. In concluding it 
 there came a business letter from the head of the corpor- 
 ation, who years previously had been associated with 
 him. The business letter, notwithstanding the rigid 
 terms, closed with a word congratulating the writer's 
 old principal that his eye had not lost its clearness nor 
 his hand its cunning. Mr. Davis was a little doubtful 
 about the compliment, but his associates knew it for what 
 it was intended, a tribute to sagacity. His correspond- 
 ence was the essence of clearness and conciseness. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 283 
 
 Mr. Davis's business morality was of the highest 
 standard. He never speculated in his own properties, 
 although his enterprises were carried forward during a 
 period when this was not considered unethical. Closely 
 in touch all his life with Wall Street, its methods made 
 no appeal to him, and its standards as practised by some 
 of its leaders never received the sanction of his cooper- 
 ation. He dealt with the reputable financial leaders 
 and was content. 
 
 Every dollar of his fortune which grew out of timber 
 and coal lands and railroads was the result of invest- 
 ments made after thorough investigation, and for every 
 dollar he created for himself wealth was created for en- 
 tire communities. While some of his enterprises seemed 
 hazardous and doubtless were so, considered as specula- 
 tions, there was no hazard in them when considered as 
 investments. To him it was simply a question of work- 
 ing and waiting, and his foresight and conservatism were 
 demonstrated in the comparative ease with which he 
 passed through the unsettled conditions. His long busi- 
 ness career covered several periods of national panics 
 and also of local depressions. Yet there is no evidence 
 that he was ever seriously affected by them. 
 
 The panic of 1873 found him engaged in many im- 
 portant enterprises requiring considerable capital, but 
 it did not find him over-extended. He was able to speak 
 from his place in the Senate against inflation during this 
 panic, although some of his colleagues, who were men 
 of large business affairs, were advocating ''more circu- 
 lation medium" doubtless as the unconscious reflection 
 of their own difficulties. 
 
 Mr. Davis's fondness for detail was a passion, yet it 
 was a part of his success. Where he knew everything 
 so thoroughly, he was the better able to carry out his own 
 
284 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ideas. Long before the railways had been compelled by 
 the Interstate Commerce Commission to adopt a uniform 
 system of bookkeeping, the accounts of his lines were 
 thoroughly systematized. Long before manufacturers 
 and mining companies had realized that they ought to 
 know the cost of production, he had worked out his own 
 system under which he knew what it cost him to mine and 
 sell coal and coke. Some of the most interesting ex- 
 hibits among his papers in the latter period of his busi- 
 ness activities are the cost sheets of his railways and his 
 mines. 
 
 It sometimes was a question with the railway leaders 
 of the country, "Why Davis confined himself to one little 
 corner?" Knowing his constructive capacity and his 
 grasp of large operations, they wondered that he was 
 content to occupy what they looked on as so small a field 
 when a whole continent stretched before him. His pas- 
 sion for detail doubtless was one reason, since the rail- 
 way projector who seeks to span a continent cannot be a 
 man of detail. Mr. Davis may have had this feeling 
 himself, but back of it was his sense of responsibility. 
 He did not, with his high standard of integrity, want to 
 be identified with any enterprises that were too big for 
 his personal supervision, and he wanted to be unham- 
 pered in carrying out his own ideas. He was essentially 
 an individualist. 
 
 In business conferences it was usually remarked by his 
 associates that "Davis sat at the head of the table." 
 Some of these associates were men of great adroitness 
 who would seek results by indirect methods. Some- 
 times, too, they would enter a conference with somewhat 
 cloudy ideas of what they wanted to accomplish. They 
 found that Davis could not be convinced by these meth- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 285 
 
 ods. He must know just what they were aiming at and 
 how they were going to achieve their end. 
 
 His own views were always clear. His directness was 
 really the reflection of his mental honesty. Because he 
 could think only straight he could do things only in a 
 straight manner. His judgment was not infallible, but 
 usually it was good and deference was paid to it. Like 
 all men of native force, he was positive, even obstinate, 
 in his opinions, and when he allowed his obstinacy to 
 influence his course of action and paid for it, as some- 
 times happened, he did not complain or seek to hold 
 others responsible for his own mistakes. 
 
 One of the sources of his success was the confidence he 
 inspired in his associates and the loyalty he inspired 
 among his employees. Few young men who entered his 
 employment and showed their worthiness failed to have 
 the opportunity of bettering themselves. But it was al- 
 ways on the basis of self-help. The young man who had 
 enjoyed some responsibility, and who had shown both 
 capacity and fidelity, and who could exhibit the results of 
 money saved, rarely failed to get the opportunity to make 
 a profitable investment. 
 
 In his home life Henry G. Davis was seen at his best. 
 Yet until a comparatively late period it was an austere 
 home life. He long practised faithfully the Covenant- 
 er's Sunday. No work that possibly could be done on 
 week-days was allowed to be performed on the Sabbath. 
 Even the food was cooked, as far as possible, on Satur- 
 day.^ For many years the horses belonging to the family 
 carriage were turned loose Saturday night, not to feel 
 the harness again until Monday. Children of the fam- 
 ily grown to womanhood and manhood recalled how the 
 swings were tied Saturday night, not to be released until 
 
286 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Monday. In later years these strict observances grad- 
 ually relaxed, and the head of the family even allowed 
 himself the recreation of whist and euchre and other en- 
 tertainments on week-day evenings. 
 
 Mr. Davis was not a man given to much book reading, 
 but he had a very wide fund of information. He read 
 the newspapers and magazines discriminately and there 
 was seldom a current topic of interest on which he was 
 not fully informed. Fiction never appealed to him, be- 
 cause he knew it was fiction. 'The people in the stories 
 are not real," he would sometimes say when urged to in- 
 terest himself in a popular novel. "Everything there 
 is made up by the folks who write those books." This 
 indifference to fiction continued to the end of his life, and 
 it is doubtful if he ever read a novel. 
 
 American history to him unrolled in a few leading 
 events and he was never tired of reading them. The 
 Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were 
 two of the favored documents, but there were other State 
 papers. A little volume containing half a dozen of these 
 so appealed to him that he presented copies of it to his 
 friends. Among them were Washington's Farewell 
 Address, the Missouri Compromise and the Compro- 
 mises of 1850, the Monroe Doctrine, the Emancipation 
 Proclamation, and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. 
 
 Mr. Davis was very fond of ancient history and of 
 biography. In middle life he read much literature 0^ 
 this character himself, but in later years he was wont to 
 have some member of the family read to him. Like so 
 many men of constructive natures who are educated by 
 observation and experience, the great characters In his- 
 tory stood out before him as the exemplars of deeds 
 rather than of abstract ideas. In his speeches and ad- 
 dresses he frequently drew on his knowledge of history. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 287 
 
 When he made his speech on agriculture in the Senate 
 in 1879, his copious historical introduction was the fruit 
 of his own reading, and in later speeches on the same 
 subject he amplified his observations. 
 
 A neat typewritten outline of a speech he made on 
 agriculture at Parkersburg in November, 1910, when he 
 was in his eighty-second year, illustrates in a few para- 
 graphic quotations his mode of historical thought : 
 
 History informs us that a nation or people that neglects agri- 
 culture decays. 
 
 In support of this under the wise policy of Philip of Macedonia 
 the country gave great attention to agriculture, and grew rich, 
 powerful, and prosperous. 
 
 Alexander neglected agriculture and commenced his conquest 
 of the world, and the nation decayed. Carthage grew great and 
 happy by attention to agriculture and commerce. 
 
 Hannibal, the great General, abandoned agriculture and com- 
 menced a war to conquer other nations, and his country went to 
 pieces. 
 
 Rome in the early days, following the example of such farmers 
 as Cato, Cincinnatus, and others, gave great attention to agricul- 
 ture, and grew to be the greatest and most powerful nation in the 
 history of the world. Caesar, Antony, and others caused agricul- 
 ture to be neglected and went to war to conquer other nations, and 
 Rome declined and was finally blotted out. 
 
 Seventy-five per cent, of the signers of the Declaration of In- 
 dependence were agriculturists. 
 
 Four of our great Presidents were farmers — Washington, Jef- 
 ferson, Jackson, and Lincoln. 
 
 In his reading of history Mr. Davis sometimes found 
 illustrations to serve a polemic purpose. In his support 
 of Mr. Bryan for President in 1896, he spoke of the 
 charge against Bryan on account of his youth,, and cited 
 these illustrations of young men : 
 
 "Pitt, perhaps the greatest Minister England has ever 
 had, was at the head of the English Government before 
 
288 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 he was thirty. Alexander Hamilton, one of the ablest 
 men of this or any other country, was aid and companion 
 to Washington at twenty-two, was made Secretary of the 
 Treasury at thirty-two. Jefferson wrote the Virginia 
 Bill of Rights at thirty, and the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence at thirty-three. Alexander the Great con- 
 quered the world at twenty-five. Napoleon, the greatest 
 of European generals, ruled France and most of Europe 
 at thirty." 
 
 In the preparation of his speeches and addresses, Mr. 
 Davis followed the methodical habit that he applied in 
 business affairs. Everything was carefully thought out 
 in advance, given its proper sequence, and thus noted. 
 The outlines of several of these speeches show him as a 
 clear thinker and as a shrewd special advocate. Some- 
 times the notes served as the basis for remarks of an 
 extemporaneous character, later to be embodied in more 
 formal language. He was always sure of his facts and 
 his statistics were carefully verified. 
 
 An interesting reminder of political activities is an 
 outline in his own handwriting of a speech he made in 
 1878. Since he was speaking as a Democrat, it might be 
 taken for granted that he would vigorously attack the 
 Republicans. Among his indictments of the party in 
 power is the great increase in the number of office- 
 holders. He does not deal in generalities, but gives the 
 figures: Buchanan, 44,527; Lincoln, 46,146; Andrew 
 Johnson, 56,113; Grant, 102,350. 
 
 Nature had endowed him with a strong constitution. 
 Life in the open air, hard work in youth and early man- 
 hood, had developed his physical powers. Simple habits 
 of living had preserved the stamina with which nature 
 endowed him. His vigor was the wonder of his family 
 and friends, who had many opportunities of noting his 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 289 
 
 powers of endurance. His fondness for horseback rid- 
 ing dated from his boyhood. In the frequent citations 
 from his journal the horseback journeys through the 
 wilderness are noted. He would spend twelve hours in 
 the saddle, and at night, while his young companions 
 would be wearied to the point of exhaustion, he would 
 show no signs of fatigue. 
 
 At his summer home in Elkins almost daily he would 
 mount his favorite horse and ride over the farm and the 
 surrounding country. In Washington it was not un- 
 usual for those who took their early morning exercise on 
 horseback to meet him riding through Rock Creek Park. 
 Sometimes his ride was taken later in the day, and the 
 chance observer who saw him was apt to remark how 
 well he sat his horse. If the same observer saw him dis- 
 mount easily and walk off with a springy step, he could 
 hardly be made to believe that the horseman was ninety 
 years old. 
 
 There was no secret about the physical vigor he main- 
 tained in his later years, but the retention of his extraor- 
 dinary powers of body and mind undoubtedly was in a 
 measure due to his ability to sleep, though, reasoning in 
 a circle, it might be said that his ability to sleep was due 
 to his physical attributes. He was accustomed to take a 
 nap after luncheon, and in the closing years the length of 
 this nap gradually lengthened. All his life he had the 
 faculty of securing a short sleep in the daytime, but the 
 real source of his strength was due to sleep during the 
 hours that nature has prescribed for it. Regularly he 
 went to bed at eleven o'clock, and he was wont to say that 
 within five minutes he would be in a sound sleep from 
 which he would not wake till morning. 
 
 Once he took part in a railway conference in which 
 not only much money but other considerations equally 
 
290 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 important were involved. Men of large affairs were 
 there. Their interests were conflicting and the antag- 
 onisms that developed became sharply personal. The 
 conference broke up without coming to any agreement. 
 Mr. Davis, as one of the principals, himself had been 
 lifted out of his usual self-possession and exhibited some 
 annoyance. The next day, when he came to his office, 
 he spoke of the matter complainingly, which was unusual 
 with him. *T was much upset by that dispute," he said. 
 "Last night I couldn't get to sleep for half an hour after 
 I went to bed." The probability was very strong that 
 the majority of his associates had not been able to sleep 
 at all. 
 
 Mr. Davis's religious faith was deep and unquestion- 
 ing. It was conviction and not simply belief. He was 
 a Presbyterian and his Calvinistic faith was part of his 
 Scotch-Irish inheritance. All his life he was a member 
 of the Presbyterian Church, but he was tolerant of all 
 creeds. After his death, among his papers was found a 
 newspaper clipping quoting J. Pierpont Morgan's con- 
 fession of faith : 
 
 I commit my soul unto the hands of my Saviour, in full confi- 
 dence that, having redeemed it and washed it in his most precious 
 blood, He will present it faultless before the throne of my Heav- 
 enly Father ; and I entreat my children to maintain and defend, at 
 all hazards, and at any cost of personal sacrifice, the blessed doc- 
 trine of the complete atonement for sin through the blood of 
 Jesus Christ, once offered, and through that alone. 
 
 Mr. Davis himself subscribed to that deep sentiment. 
 Another newspaper clipping gave in parallel columns the 
 old and new Presbyterian catechism ; that is, the West- 
 minster catechism and the new catechism. This was 
 three years before his death, and bore his initials. His 
 own confession of faith appears in the most sacred and 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 291 
 
 intimate form that the words of man can express. It is 
 in the entry in his journal describing the illness and death 
 of his wife, paying her the tender tribute that is meant 
 only for a life companion, and concluding: "I hope and 
 believe in Heaven." 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE CLOSING YEARS 
 
 Tranquil activities of Mr. Davis to the end — Slowing up in 
 business affairs not marked — Fraternal associations — Memories 
 of the Order of Odd Fellows — The commemorative jewel — No 
 Ciceronian reflections on Old Age — Reforesting the wilderness 
 for future generations — Anecdotes of contemporaries — Health 
 strategy — Comment on public affairs — Anniversary tributes to 
 his life and work — At ninety-two — Last summer at Elkins — 
 Meditations for the Railway Builder — Winter in Washington — 
 Journal entries — Illness and death — Retrospect of a long life. 
 
 THE time when a long and active life drew to an 
 end has been anticipated in the previous chap- 
 ters. Yet until the very last there remained 
 much of that remarkable life to be told. The closing- 
 years might be thought by those of his own age to begin 
 at threescore and ten, but that was the period in which 
 his activities were too manifold to think of their coming 
 to an end. After it came the second decade of biblical 
 old age, but he was then beginning and carrying through 
 important railway and development enterprises. Per- 
 haps the last decade might be taken as the closing period, 
 and that included continuous if not incessant activities. 
 Though these activities have been told in detail, some of 
 them bear elaboration. 
 
 Mr. Davis's mode of living in the closing years was 
 little different from that which it had been throughout 
 the many previous years. In the early spring he would 
 
 go to Elkins and remain till the late autumn or even till 
 
 292 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 293 
 
 the frosts of winter appeared. The summers would be 
 broken by visits to Bedford Springs in Pennsylvania or 
 to Webster Springs in the heart of West Virginia, where 
 he found the waters salutary. The winters were passed 
 in Washington, sometimes at one of the hotels, but 
 oftener with one of his daughters, either Mrs. Tee or 
 Mrs. Elkins. After the death of Senator Elkins in 191 1 
 he went to live at the home of Mrs. Elkins. During 
 these winter stays at the national capital he spent several 
 hours every day at his office, following his accustomed 
 routine. Business trips to New York were not infre- 
 quent, while scarcely a week passed that he did not go 
 over to Baltimore. Fortress Monroe usually provided 
 a fortnight's recreation. 
 
 During the last years he "slowed up" somewliat. as he 
 phrased it, in business affairs ; yet the numerous entries 
 in his journal throughout this period concerning the Coal 
 and Coke Railway, the mines, and collateral matters af- 
 forded little outward indication of any lessening of his 
 labors. He was wont, however, himself to remark that 
 too much should not be expected of a man of his age, 
 and that he did not feel that he was capable of carrying 
 on alone the various enterprises with which he was so 
 closely identified. 
 
 In the winter of 191 2 a tacit admission on his part that 
 he had been attempting too much was the arrangement 
 under which his associates took more direct control of 
 the railway and coal and timber properties. In noting 
 the election of the new officers, he adds the comment : "I 
 was eighty-nine." A year earlier he had relieved him- 
 self of some of the responsibilities of the financial insti- 
 tutions with which he was connected by resigning, and 
 his comment on one of these resignations is equally 
 brief : "I was a bank president for fifty years." 
 
294 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 While relieving himself of responsibility for the prop- 
 erties with which he was identified, he took a greater in- 
 terest than ever in trade and industry in their broader 
 aspects. His activities in the West Virginia Board of 
 Trade have been described in an earlier chapter. Some- 
 thing also has been said of his relation to the West Vir- 
 ginia Bankers' Association. This was largely of a per- 
 sonal character, and it gave him opportunity to discuss 
 the general subject of financing and banking with a clear- 
 ness which showed that his mental powers were unim- 
 paired. The address he delivered when the State Asso- 
 ciation met at Elkins in the summer of 191 3 illustrates 
 his clear mental grasp. He was then in his eighty-eighth 
 year. On neatly typewritten sheets the various topics 
 are given in orderly and logical arrangement, and they 
 are interspersed with numerous memoranda in his own 
 handwriting. 
 
 Natural phenomena interested him in the same meas- 
 ure as current events. He watched with eagerness, like 
 the rest of the world, the reappearance of Halley's comet 
 in the spring of 1910 after its seventy-five years' absence, 
 and confessed to some disappointment that when the 
 comet did appear its transit was not up to his expecta- 
 tions as a spectacle of the skies. To the lad of twelve, 
 three quarters of a century earlier, it had seemed more 
 brilliant; "anyhow, folks made more fuss about it," he 
 quaintly remarked. And he thoufi^ht it had appeared in 
 winter. His memory was not at fault. The transit of 
 Halley's comet had been in mid-November, 1835. 
 
 In these later years his mind turned back to old fra- 
 ternal associations and he renewed the memories of his 
 membership in various orders. His journal recites that 
 he became a Mason, a member of Hiram Lodge, at Wes- 
 ernport, Maryland, in i860. It was, however, the early 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 295 
 
 associations with the Order of Odd Fellows that filled his 
 mind and time most completely. His life literally was 
 linked with the growth of this order in the United States, 
 for his recollections went back to Thomas Wildey, who 
 was one of the founders of the first lodge, organized at 
 Baltimore in 1819, and who continued to be identified 
 with it for forty years. Mr. Davis knew him, and had 
 sat in the same lodge with him. He frequently attended 
 the public functions of the Order. 
 
 In May, 1909, Randolph Lodge presented him with a 
 jewel in commemoration of his having been a member 
 sixty-four years. The jewel was of solid gold studded 
 with diamonds. The presentation was intensely grati- 
 fying to him, but the account of the ceremony, including 
 his own speech as given in his journal, is very modest, 
 with a passing reference to newspaper clippings which 
 give a full account of the ceremonies. 
 
 Through the remaining years of his life the various 
 lodges of Maryland and West Virginia continued to 
 honor him. On the ninety-second anniversary of the 
 Order at Baltimore, in April, 191 1, he was the principal 
 guest. His own story of the celebration is characteris- 
 tically concise : 
 
 April 26, 191 1. By invitation of Maryland Grand Lodge I 
 made about a half hour talk to a great crowd at Odd Fellows 
 Temple in Baltimore ; gave a short history of Odd Fellowship, 
 referred to good done by the Order, including Rebekah Order. 
 
 Judge Alston G. Dayton in a reminiscent letter re- 
 garding the presentation of the jewel indicates the deep 
 sentiment of Mr. Davis toward the Odd Fellows' Order: 
 
 /It was the occasion when the Odd Fellows' organization pre- 
 sented to him the medal which it confers upon its members who 
 have kept up their membership in good standing for fifty con- 
 
296 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 tinuous years. The presentation was made the occasion for one 
 of the largest gatherings ever held in the city of Elkins. It was 
 my pleasant duty as a Past Grand Master of the Order to make 
 an address on the occasion, and, speaking of the period of time 
 covered by the Senator's life, the discoveries that had been made 
 in it, the progress of civilization during it, I said the Senator had, 
 by Divine Providence, been permitted in his nearly ninety years 
 of life to see and have part in more important affairs than were 
 embraced in any thousand-year period previous to that time. 
 The thought struck him so forcibly that, in my deliberate judg- 
 ment, he made one of the strongest, if not the strongest, most in- 
 teresting, and really eloquent addresses of his life. It very greatly 
 affected both the Senator and the very large audience of his 
 Elkins neighbors and friends. 
 
 As the years grew on him Mr. Davis sometimes talked 
 of his age, but always in a matter-of-fact way. Cicero's 
 reflections on Old Age would have made no appeal to 
 him, because he was not given to philosophizing or mor- 
 alizing. He took the growing years, like everything else 
 in his existence, as something that was part of life and 
 therefore not to be set apart as a subject for considera- 
 tion in itself. To him it was the simple and natural 
 thing to keep on planning and working. His mind was 
 habituated to looking forward. While he was construct- 
 ing his last railway, some comment was made on a short- 
 term bond, fifteen years, which he issued as part of the 
 financing. When asked why the term was so short he 
 merely replied : "Why, we may be able to get better inter- 
 est rates in fifteen years, and we don't want to be tied 
 up with our bonds too long." 
 
 When he built his beautiful home, "Graceland," at 
 Elkins, the estate was lined with poplars. While these 
 grew rapidly, they did not prove to be in keeping with the 
 landscape, and he therefore had them taken down and 
 replaced by maples. To a member of his family who 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 297 
 
 gently reproached him, saying that he would be without 
 shade the rest of his life, he replied: "Oh, no; I shall be 
 enjoying the maples." And this proved to be true. He 
 lived to enjoy their shade. 
 
 One day, in those closing years, a lawyer who had 
 achieved a competency and was about to retire, was his 
 companion on the train going over one of the Davis 
 railway lines. Mr. Davis talked to him as the train 
 sped along about the way the timber wilderness had been 
 opened, lands cleared, and then reforested. The spruce 
 used for pulp-making had been replanted. Later Mr. 
 Davis showed him several tracts that had been cleared of 
 hickory and replanted, commenting casually on the util- 
 ity of this tree as one of the reasons that had impelled 
 him to reforest those tracts. 
 
 "How long does it take hickory to grow?" inquired the 
 lawyer. "About forty years," was the reply. "We can 
 always use hickory, and it ought to be kept growing." 
 The lawyer reflected that if a man in his eighties still 
 found something to do replanting forests and providing 
 for the needs of future generations, it was not quite the 
 thing for him to retire in middle age from his own pro- 
 fession in which his career had been both honorable and 
 useful. He at once telegraphed countermanding the 
 sale of his law library and continued his practice. In- 
 nate abhorrence of waste had something to do with re- 
 planting the hickory and the spruce, but the striking 
 thing was that Mr. Davis should keep on doing it in 
 his old age. 
 
 Mr. Davis did not care to be called venerable or a pa- 
 triarch, and even the title of Grand Old Man of West 
 Virginia was not always pleasing to him. But he some- 
 times indulged in comparisons with other old men. A 
 New England clergyman who was born on the same day 
 
298 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 of the same year used to write him annually, as the 
 birth anniversary approached, and sign himself, "Your 
 birthday brother." Mr. Davis enjoyed these letters, but 
 they were somewhat too copious for him, and in dictating 
 the reply he once remarked, 'The minister has more time 
 to write than I have. He doesn't have anything to do, 
 while I am pretty busy." 
 
 When well along in the eighties, he had an interview 
 on some business matter with former Vice-President 
 Levi P. Morton in the latter's New York office. Mr. 
 Morton, when a trifling difference of opinion arose, jok- 
 ingly remarked that Davis ought to agree with him, as 
 he was the older. Coming away from the interview, Mr. 
 Davis told the story with much glee, remarking: ''Mor- 
 ton doesn't seem to know that I am a vear older than 
 he is." 
 
 A Baltimore friend of early years in the casual meet- 
 ings with Mr. Davis plumed himself on his greater age. 
 Once Mr. Davis showed impatience at his friend's re- 
 miniscences, and after the prospective centenarian had 
 left he said: "Blank is getting old; he has told that story 
 before." Blank was then ninety-seven. 
 
 Occasionally Mr. Davis would be compelled to admit 
 that, while his health was good for a man of his age, 
 he was not entirely free from the possibility of illness. 
 At times he suffered severely from lumbago, and he bore 
 the pain with a stoicism that was the wonder of his fam- 
 ily. It took indirect methods of persuasion to induce 
 him to heed the doctor's orders and lessen his activities. 
 On one occasion when he was badly run down, and the 
 doctor advised him to drop business and go away for a 
 rest, he obstinately refused, insisting that he knew more 
 about his health than the physician did. 
 
 Strategy had to be employed. A member of his fam- 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 299 
 
 ily approached him and said that the doctor wanted to 
 talk with him about engineering and timber cruising and 
 coal mining and running railways. "What does he want 
 to talk about those things for ?" was the inquiry. ''Oh," 
 was the reply, "he has concluded that he can do better 
 mining coal and running a railway than in practising his 
 profession of medicine." "May be he can," was the re- 
 joinder. "May be he does know more about those things 
 than about medicine and health. But you get my things 
 ready and we'll start away to-morrow on that trip he told 
 me to take." 
 
 Mr. Davis's interest in politics and public affairs was 
 undimmed until the very end. West Virginia politics 
 became involved in a turmoil and both parties were rent 
 by factions. The way in which he followed the develop- 
 ments is attested by several large envelopes with clip- 
 pings giving full accounts of the various manoeuvers and 
 of the politicians engaged in them. 
 
 Whenever he happened to be in Charleston during the 
 meeting of the Legislature he would pay a visit to both 
 branches. In the Senate, of which he had been a mem- 
 ber for four years, he would be given a seat of honor by 
 the presiding officer, and usually a recess would be taken 
 in which members of all parties would show the warm 
 regard in which they held him. Usually, too, on these 
 visits to the State capital, he would give the local news- 
 papers an interview in which, with his wonted frankness, 
 his views would be expressed without regard to expe- 
 diency. 
 
 While conservative in his political views and actions, 
 Mr. Davis had nothing of the trimmer in him, and when- 
 ever he talked on politics it was known that he meant 
 what he said. By his own example he had shown 
 throughout his life the duty that he believed the citizen 
 
300 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 should take in public affairs, and this was not confined to 
 the State and nation ; the civic welfare of the town and 
 the local community were also of concern to him. An 
 inconvenient journey under unfavorable conditions of 
 travel, undertaken at ninety in order to vote at a local 
 election, was evidence of this concern. 
 
 Spending so much of his time at the national capital, 
 Mr. Davis's interest in public affairs was the more keen. 
 His visits to the Senate chamber were not frequent ; but 
 on one occasion, after meeting many of the Senators who 
 had not even begun their public career when he retired 
 from public life, he caused an inquiry to be made con- 
 cerning those who had served with him when he entered 
 the Senate and who were still alive. He himself was 
 eighty-nine years old. Of his former colleagues who 
 were then living, Cornelius Cole of California was 
 ninety, William Pitt Kellogg of Louisiana, eighty-two; 
 Adelbert Ames of Mississippi, seventy-seven; William 
 Sprague of Rhode Island, seventy-nine; George F. Ed- 
 munds of Vermont, eighty-five; Alexander Caldwell of 
 Kansas, eighty-three ; and Powell Clayton of Arkansas, 
 eighty. Of these Senatorial contemporaries, George F. 
 Edmunds and W. P. Kellogg were the only ones who 
 survived Mr. Davis. 
 
 These closing years brought to him many testimonials 
 and tributes to his life-work. The anniversaries of his 
 birth never failed to call forth articles in the newspapers. 
 When he was ninety there was a whole sheaf of news- 
 paper felicitations. Some of these reviewed his long 
 and active career in business and in public affairs, while 
 others contented themselves with an interpretation of his 
 life. Said a Pittsburgh journal : 
 
 A man who is physically and mentally well and strong and active 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 301 
 
 at ninety is an inspiration not merely to men of ripe years, but to 
 young men — to young men, for example, who are beginning life 
 as railroad brakemen, as he did, or in some similar occupation 
 which does not appear to hold out large hope of after eminence 
 and affluence. 
 
 A newspaper of his own State commented : 
 
 His has been a remarkable career ; he has risen from the ranks, 
 beginning life in humble circumstances and attaining many years 
 ago a position of influence in the affairs of his State second to 
 that of no man bom or living within its borders. He has con- 
 tributed probably more than any other one man to its development 
 and growth. He has had confidence in it and in its people, and 
 the people have had reciprocal faith in him. He has developed its 
 resources, increased its wealth, built railroads and cities, and 
 creditably represented the interests of its people in positions of 
 trust and responsibility to which they have called him. 
 
 When he reached ninety-two the tributes and the testi- 
 monials were even more appreciative. One of the West 
 Virginia newspapers made the ninety-second anniver- 
 sary the theme for this comment: 
 
 Ninety-two years ago in the city of Baltimore a child was born 
 who was destined to have more to do with the upbuilding of a 
 sister State, then unborn, than perhaps any other man. That 
 child was Henry Gassaway Davis. ... Mr. Davis has been a 
 prominent figure in the business, social, and political life of his 
 adopted State. He has grown old in the service of his people, 
 always devoting his time and energy to the upbuilding of their 
 interest. 
 
 More than a score of years have passed since the Grand Old 
 Man of West Virginia, as he has long been affectionately called, 
 reached and passed the allotted threescore and ten. In the course 
 of human life he cannot be expected to remain many more years, 
 but it is the earnest hope of his thousands of friends throughout 
 the State that he may at least be permitted to round out a full 
 century of useful life. When the time for his passing does finally 
 
302 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 come it will leave a void in West Virginia such as the loss of no 
 other resident of the State could cause. 
 
 A Wheeling journal, after summarizing some of the 
 events of his life, concluded with this estimate : 
 
 His career is part of the history of the State. His enterprises 
 have helped to build it up, and he has represented it in the highest 
 legislative halls of the land as well as in the councils of the brainy, 
 resourceful, and wealthy — the men who do things. 
 
 Mr. Davis's last summer at Elkins was an ideal one 
 for a long life that was drawing to a serene close. A 
 quarter of a century earlier he had selected for the site 
 of his home a wooded hill to the north of the town, on 
 which he erected a commodious residence of Norman 
 architectureal design, which he named *'Graceland" in 
 honor of his daughter Grace. The house was built of 
 pink sandstone taken from a near-by quarry. To the 
 east of this residence on another hill was the summer 
 home of Senator Elkins, named, in honor of Mrs. Elkins, 
 "Halliehurst." 
 
 During this last summer Mr. Davis in the ordinary 
 course of his business activities visited the towns that 
 had grown up from the wilderness und^r his guiding 
 hand — Thomas, Davis, Parsons, Hendricks, Bayard, 
 Blaine and the others that marked the progress of the 
 West Virginia Central Railway. He also visited Gassa- 
 way on the Coal and Coke Railway, and the other new 
 communities that also owed their existence to his enter- 
 prise. 
 
 At Elkins he found his greatest enjoyment. He wan- 
 dered over the farm, with all its modern improvements, 
 just as he had wandered over the Woodstock farm as a 
 boy eighty years earlier, and in a hundred ways he 
 showed how keen was still his interest in rural life. His 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 303 
 
 interest was even greater in the town of Elkins. From 
 his room at "Graceland" he could look down on the 
 smokestacks of the factories that owed their existence to 
 him, and he could watch the locomotives as they were 
 shunted in and out of the shops that had been built by 
 him. Here was a thriving community of 8,000 busy, 
 contented people, a railroad center, where a quarter of a 
 century before had been a crossroads with a blacksmith 
 shop. If he grew tired watching the industrial activities 
 spread below him, his eyes could wander along the hor- 
 izon of the mountains that inclosed the valley. It was a 
 scene for the contemplation and the meditation of the 
 Railway Builder. 
 
 In his journal, just before leaving Elkins, he recorded, 
 under date of November 20, 1915: ''This is a fine fall." 
 His last journey to the national capital is thus described: 
 
 December 18, 1915. I left Elkins for Washington. Stopped 
 overnight at Gassaway. Left Gassaway, spent day at Charleston, 
 came to Washington on night of 19th; am at Hallie's (Mrs. El- 
 kins's). While in Charleston called upon Gov. Hatfield, Secre- 
 tary Reed, and Auditor Dent. Also at Davis Children's Home ; 
 about forty little ones there. They have found homes for 845 
 children. 
 
 This was the Child's Shelter which he supported. On 
 reaching Washington the f oUowing morning he went to 
 church with Mrs. Elkins. 
 
 The winter in Washington was after his usual routine. 
 He spent several hours every day at his office. Social 
 intercourse claimed much of his attention. He attended 
 a few formal functions, but he enjoyed much more in- 
 formal dinners and luncheons at the Elkins home. He 
 especially enjoyed being a guest at a luncheon given to 
 ladies, he being the only man permitted to be present. 
 
304 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 "The women's talk is much more interesting," he used 
 to say, and then would add quaintly: "They are all so 
 attentive when there's only one man." 
 
 His own observations on the winter season were re- 
 corded in two entries in his journal : 
 
 December 25, 191 5. Christmas. Weather good. Country 
 generally is prosperous, and looks good. 
 
 February 15, 19 16. Weather cold. Railway and coal mines 
 doing fairly well. I am in Washington, staying with Hallie. 
 
 A few days after this entry was made he took a bad 
 cold which developed into a case of the grippe. He did 
 not himself consider it as serious, although he realized 
 that his powers of recuperation were getting feebler. 
 Until the last he was well enough to see the members of 
 the family, and it was rarely that some of them were not 
 in the sickroom. He talked of current matters with his 
 usual conciseness and deprecated the family taking too 
 much trouble about him. 
 
 There was a pause in the progress of his illness which 
 appeared to indicate a temporary improvement. So 
 favorable seemed the change that on the night of March 
 10 his daughter, Mrs. Elkins, was bidden by the physi- 
 cians to go to her own room for a good night's sleep, 
 while the other members of the family were also told 
 that there was likely to be no change for the worse. Ac- 
 cordingly they retired. Shortly after midnight the 
 change came unexpectedly, and an hour later Mr. Davis 
 passed away almost as in a quiet sleep. Funeral services 
 were held at the Elkins home in Washington, and then 
 the remains were taken to Elkins and interred in the 
 beautiful Maplewood Cemetery beside his wife and 
 among the kindred for whom he had prepared this final 
 resting-place. 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 305 
 
 Eulogies of his career, interpretations of his Hfe and 
 work, filled the journals after his death. The estimate 
 of what he had wrought for his own State was crystal- 
 lized in this paragraph in the Wheeling Intelligencer : 
 
 Day-dreams of the Piedmont station agent transformed into 
 perpetual realities. . . . Towns, mills, railroads, villages, cities, 
 churches, schools, stand monuments to meet the quiet gaze of the 
 man who brought them to a thriving existence. 
 
 Reviews of the period covered by this remarkable life 
 were not confined to local achievements. Nor should 
 they be. The times in which he lived, the events of 
 which Henry G. Davis was a part, covered almost a cen- 
 tury of history. He was a babe of a fortnight when 
 President James Monroe enunciated the Doctrine with 
 which he himself three quarters of a century later was to 
 become identified through his participation as a member 
 of International American Conferences. He was a year 
 old when Lafayette visited the United States and revived 
 the memories of France's contribution to the Revolution. 
 He was in advancing childhood when John Quincy 
 Adams was President, and was an observant, growing 
 boy during the administration of Andrew Jackson. A 
 child old enough to see the venerable and imposing 
 Charles Carroll of Carrollton lay the corner-stone for 
 the first railway in the United States, he lived to see in 
 operation a quarter of a million miles of railroad to the 
 building of which he had contributed his share. 
 
 His first vote, that for Henry Clay, was cast in the 
 year when the first telegraphic message was transmitted 
 between Baltimore and Washington. That was the 
 year, too, in which Rutherford B. Hayes, whose term as 
 President was to run parallel with his career in the 
 United States Senate, was born. He was in vigorous 
 
3o6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 young manhood, demonstrating his abilities for railway 
 management, when Alton B. Parker, who was to head 
 the ticket fifty-two years later for President with Henry 
 G. Davis as the candidate for Vice-President, was born. 
 He was thirty-five years of age, the period that Dante 
 marks as the arch of life, when Theodore Roosevelt was 
 born, and the pony express, the forerunner of the trans- 
 continental railways, was established between St. Louis 
 and San Francisco. 
 
 Looking beyond the boundaries of his own country, he 
 was a lad of twelve when Queen Victoria ascended the 
 throne of England, and he lived through that reign, and 
 more than a score of years after the Golden Jubilee. He 
 was in public life and poHtical leadership in his own 
 State, and at the threshold of his career as a Senator of 
 the United States, when Sedan fell, Paris capitulated, 
 and victorious Prussia established the German Empire 
 over the body of prostrate France. He lived to see the 
 Empire thus established plunge Europe into a war that 
 was to become a world war without parallel and to in- 
 volve his own country at the period most critical for the 
 cause of civilization. 
 
 He lived through the War with Mexico, the Civil War^, 
 and the Spanish-American War, and as a citizen and a 
 public man, discharging official duties, he had his part in 
 all the national responsibilities growing out of those 
 wars. In every phase of his career — as a railway 
 builder, in the development of the natural resources of 
 his own State, as a guiding force In the building of the 
 commonwealth with which his public life was Identified, 
 as a factor in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere on 
 their International side, as a Senator of the United 
 States, and as a trusted political leader— the constructive 
 character of his mind was always manifest. And 
 
HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 307 
 
 throughout his long and varied career he was always in 
 touch with his own kind. He literally worked as if he 
 were to live forever, and lived as if he were to die to- 
 morrow. 
 
 THE END 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abolitionists, 22 
 Adams, John Quincy, 305 
 Agricultural College at Morgan- 
 town, 46 
 Alabama claims, 81 
 Alexis, Grand Duke, 162 
 Allen, William, 249, 250 
 Allison, William B., 58, 59, 23S, 236 
 Alzamora, Isaac, 113, 116 
 Ames, Adelbert, 300 
 Anadon, Lorenzo, 112 
 Ancient South River Club, 4 
 Anne Arundel County, 4, 5, 6, 10, 15 
 Armstead, Bessie, 228 
 Arriaga, Don Antonio Laza, 127 
 Arthur, Chester A., 106 
 Ashland, 23 
 
 Atkinson, Governor, 218 
 Azpiroz, Don Manuel de, 126 
 
 Baer, George F., 245 
 Baez, Cecilio, 113 
 Baker, George F., 133 
 Baker, Lewis, 48, 51 
 Balmaceda, President, 113 
 Baltimore: at time of Mr. Davis' 
 birth, 7 et seq.; 11, 16, 20, 195, 
 
 305 
 
 Baltimore, Lord, 3 et seq., 223 
 
 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad: char- 
 tered, 9, 10; test by, of Peter 
 Cooper's engine, 11 et seq.; de- 
 velopment of, project, 12 et seq.; 
 Caleb Davis in relation to, 13; 
 Henry G. Davis becomes brake- 
 man on, 17 et seq.; attitude of 
 Virginia Legislature toward, 25, 
 26; relation of, to Civil War, 30 
 et seq.; 90, 91, io3, 225, 243, 246 
 
 Banking, pioneer, 28 
 
 Bantz, Judge Gideon, 25; death of, 
 27 
 
 Bantz, Katharine Anne: marriage 
 of, and Henry G. Davis, 25 ; chil- 
 dren of, 228; character sketch of, 
 
 229, 230; death of, 230. See also 
 H. G. Davis 
 
 Barnum, William H., 73 
 
 Barra, Francisco de la, 116 
 
 Barrett, John, iii 
 
 Bayard, Thomas F. : 55, 81, 88, 97; 
 campaign, 137 et seq.; 140, 142, 
 143. 163, 235, 243; quoted in re- 
 gard to Garfield's assassination, 
 266; quoted on own Presidential 
 nomination, 267; views of, on 
 Tilden's candidacy, 268; political 
 opinions of, 271 ; quoted on B. F. 
 Butler, 271 ; tributes of, to H. G. 
 Davis, 271, 272; 302 
 
 Beale, Mr. 138 
 
 Beck, James B., 73 
 
 Bedford Springs, 293 
 
 Belgium, 277 
 
 Berkeley Springs, 42 
 
 Bermejo, Antonio, 112 
 
 Bermuda, 277, 279 
 
 Berwind, E. J., 188 
 
 Birmingham, Ala., 278 
 
 Blaine, James G. : Speaker of the 
 House, 55; 73, 74; tribute of, to 
 Senator Davis, 89, 97; quoted, 
 98; speech of, at International 
 Congress, 107; review of First 
 International Congress by, no; 
 140, 163; friendship between, and 
 Senator Davis, 234, 235; 271, 302 
 
 Blair, Francis P., Jr., 55, 56 
 
 Bland, R. P., 58 
 
 Bliss, Cornelius, 107 
 
 Bogg, Mr., igo 
 
 Boreman, Governor: cited, 38; 
 message of, cited, 42 
 
 Bower, W. H., 189, 191, 192 
 
 Braxton County, 189 
 
 Brennan Ignatius, poem by, on 
 West Virginia's "Grand Old 
 Man," 205, 206 
 
 Brown, Elizabeth A., mother of Ar- 
 thur Pue Gorman, 7 
 
 3og 
 
310 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Brown, John Riggs, 6 
 
 Brown, Joshua, 6 
 
 Brown, Louisa Warfield, mother of 
 Henry Gassaway Davis : 6 ; mar- 
 riage of, and Caleb Davis, 7, 
 224 
 
 Brown, Lieutenant-Commander M. 
 R. G., 228 
 
 Brown, Mr., 51 
 
 Brown, Captain Samuel, 6 
 
 Brown, William Howard, 223 
 
 Browne, Thomas, 5 
 
 Browns, and the Davises, 3 et seq. 
 
 Bryan, William Jennings : part 
 played by H. G. Davis in free- 
 silver campaign of, 147 ', tribute 
 of, to Mr. Davis, 147, 148; com- 
 ment on, in Mr. Davis' journal, 
 151 ; in Convention of 1904, at 
 St. Louis, 168 et seq.; visit of, to 
 Mr. Davis, 179; support of, for 
 President by Mr. Davis, 287, 288 
 
 Buchanan, James, 141 
 
 Buchanan, W. L, in, 118 
 
 Buckhannon River, 188, 191, 192 
 
 Buenos Aires Conference (Fourth 
 International American), 134, i35 
 
 Burke, United States Treasurer, 
 200 
 
 Burnsville, 190 
 
 Butler, Benjamin F., views of 
 Thomas F. Bayard on, 271 
 
 Buxton, Upton, 224 
 
 Calderon, Manual Alvarez, 113, 127 
 Caldwell, Alexander, 300 
 Calhoun, John Caldwell, 22 
 California, 30, 277 
 Callahan, Professor James Morton: 
 
 quoted on West Virginia's indus- 
 - trial awakening, 91 ; quoted, loi- 
 
 103 
 Calverts, the: Lord Barons of 
 
 Baltimore, 3 et seq. 
 Calvo, Joaquin Bernardo, 114 
 Cam.bon, Monsieur, 240 
 Camden, Colonel Johnson N. : 40, 
 
 47, 48; election of, to Senate, 80, 
 
 97, 168, 243, 277 
 Cameron, Simon, 55 
 Cannon, Joseph G., 58 
 Cape Colony, 229 
 
 Caperton, Allan T., 67 
 
 Carbo, Louis Felipe, 113 
 
 Carnegie, Andrew : 126, 240 ; letters 
 
 of, quoted, 241, 273, 374 
 Carroll, Charles, of Carrolltown: 
 
 laying by, of cornerstone of first 
 
 United States railroad, 9; quoted, 
 
 10 ; 305 
 Carroll's Manor, 15 
 Casasus, Joaquin, 115 
 Cassatt, A. J.: 124, 244; Mr. Davis' 
 
 estimate of, 245 
 Cavey, Beale, 12, 13 
 Chaffee, Jerome B., 97 
 Chandler, Zachariah, 55 
 Charleston, Clendennin & Sutton 
 
 Railway, 188, 190 
 Charleston, S. C, views of Mr. 
 
 Davis on, 278 
 Charleston, W. Va., 48, 187, 190, 
 
 191, 192, 193, 204, 209, 218 
 Chatman, Engineer, 190 
 Chavero, Alfredo, 115 
 Chesapeake & Ohio Canal project, 
 
 8 et seq. 
 Chesapeake & Ohio Railway: 91. 
 
 187 
 
 Children's Society of West Vir- 
 ginia, 218 
 
 Child's Shelter, 181, 218, 219, 304 
 
 Childs, George W., 244 
 
 Cicero, 296 
 
 Cincinnati Enquirer, 252 
 
 Civil War: business conditions in 
 upper Potomac region at out- 
 break of, 29; importance of B. & 
 O. Railway to Union cause dur- 
 ing, 30 et seq.; West Virginia 
 and the, 34-36; 38, 91, 203, 306 
 
 Clark, Champ, 184 
 
 Clarksburg, 188, 204 
 
 Clay, Henry: friendship of, and H. 
 G. Davis, 22 et seq.; 105, 305 
 
 "Clay's Compromise," 22 
 
 Clayton, Powell, 56, 300 
 
 Cleveland, Grover: 106; before 
 Democratic National Convention, 
 138; Mr. Davis' account of con- 
 ference with, 139, 140; formation 
 of, cabinet, 141 ; unanimous nomi- 
 nation of, at St. Louis Conven- 
 tion, 142; Mr. Davis' views on 
 
INDEX 
 
 311 
 
 second candidacy of, 145, 146; 
 before Chicago Democratic Con- 
 vention, 146; 164; indorsement 
 by, of Judge Parker, 168; 236, 
 252, 263; apology to Mr. Davis 
 from, quoted, 264 
 Coal : Senator Davis' defense of 
 tariff on, 82, 83; development of, 
 resources of West Virginia by 
 Mr. Davis, 186 et seq. 
 Coal and Coke Railway : 181 ; pro- 
 jection of, by Mr. Davis, 188 et 
 seq.; story of construction of, 
 told in Mr. Davis', journal, 189 
 et seq.; completion of, 192; 195, 
 212, 293, 303 
 Coal and Iron Railway, 185 
 Cockrell, Francis M., 76, 106, 170 
 Cocroft, 51 
 
 Codecido, Emilio Bello, 113 
 Cole, Cornelius, 300 
 College Board of the Northern 
 
 Presbyterian Church, 212 
 Colorado, 74 
 
 Comstock, Dr. Thomas, 218, 219 
 Confederates: raids of, in upper 
 Potomac region, 29 ; 30 ; status of 
 ex-, 38, 41 ; controversy over 
 status of ex-, terminated, 46; 58 
 Conkling, Roscoe, 55 
 Connellsville, 188 
 Coolidge, T. Jefferson, 107 
 Copen Run, 190 
 Corcoran, W. W., 240 
 Corea, Luis F., 114 
 Correspondence, political history 
 
 revealed in, 248-273 
 Cowan, John K., 245 
 Cox, Samuel S., 55 
 Cuba, no, 277 
 Cuban War, pages on, from Mr. 
 
 Davis' journal, 239, 240 
 Cumberland, Md., 18, 20, 22, 186 
 Czar of Russia, in relation to rail- 
 ways, 12 
 
 Dailey, C. Wood, 150, 172 
 
 Daniels, Senator, 178 
 
 Dante, 306 
 
 Davila, Fausto, 114 
 
 Davis, Caleb: parentage of, father 
 
 of H. G. Davis, 5 et seq.; 6. 7; 
 marriages of, 8 et seq.; 223, 224 
 Davis, David, 74 
 Davis, Eli, 5 
 Davis, Eliza Ann, 7 
 Davis, Elizabeth, 7, 224 
 Davis, Grace, 228 
 Davis, Hallie, 228, 277 
 Davis, Henry Gassaway: parentage 
 of, 3 et seq.; epochal events in 
 youth of, 9 et seq.; early advan- 
 tages of, 12, 13; reverses of, 13 
 et seq.; stone-quarryman, 15 ; ex- 
 periences of, as B. & O. brake- 
 man, 18, 19; quoted on early rail- 
 road methods, 18, 19; promotion 
 of, to conductor, 19, 20; brought 
 under influence of Henry Clay, 
 23, 24; courtship and marriage 
 of, 25 ; station agent at Piedmont, 
 26, 27; general merchant, 27; 
 opens up timber resources of 
 Piedmont region, 28; establishes 
 Piedmont Savings Bank, 28; first 
 acquisition of undeveloped land 
 by, 29; and Civil War, 29 et seq.; 
 interview with Lincoln, 31, 32; 
 invests in timberlands, 32, 23 ; 
 early public services of, 34 et 
 seq.; attitude of, toward separa- 
 tion of Virginia territory from 
 Old Dominion, 35, 36; en- 
 ters W. Va. Legislature, 36; ex- 
 tracts from journal of, 40, 42; 
 election of, to West Virginia Sen- 
 ate, 42; delegate to Democratic 
 National Convention, 43 ; extracts 
 from journal of, 47, 48; as leader 
 of State Senate, 51 ; journal, 
 quoted, 51; letter of, to wife, 52; 
 elected to United States Senate, 
 52; quoted on West Virginia debt 
 question, 52; Senator, first term, 
 54 et seq.; assignment of, to 
 Claims Committee, 57; on Appro- 
 priations Committee, 59; speech 
 of, on West Virginia war claims, 
 59-61 ; argument of, against infla- 
 tion, 62 et seq.; views of, on Na- 
 tional Bank Act, 62, 63 ; on Com- 
 mittee of Transportation Routes, 
 64; extracts from journal of, 67; 
 
312 
 
 INDEX 
 
 views of, on Treasury accounts 
 and Government bookkeeping, 
 67-69; journal of, quoted on 
 campaign for reelection to Sen- 
 ate, 70; activities of, in second 
 term as Senator, 72, ^t s^Q-> views 
 of, on relation between capital 
 and labor, 75, 76; retirement of, 
 from Senate, 85 et scq.; Senato- 
 rial valedictory of, in journal, 
 89; the Railway Builder, 90-104; 
 entries in journal of, on prospect- 
 ing, 93-96; extracts from jour- 
 nal, 98, 99, 100; and First Inter- 
 national Conference, 105-120 ; 
 speech of, at Mexican Confer- 
 ence, 117, 118; and Pan-American 
 Railway, 121-135; political activi- 
 ties of, as private citizen, 136- 
 151; extracts from journal of, on 
 political situation, 14C-143; jour- 
 nal of, quoted, 148-151 ; social 
 life of, 152-165; excerpts from 
 journal of, on life at Deer Park 
 and Washington, 153-165; Vice- 
 Presidential nomination of, 171 ', 
 entries in journal in relation to 
 nominating convention, 171, 172; 
 speech of, on return home after 
 nomination, 172, 173; formal no- 
 tification of nomination, 176; 
 speech by, on acceptance of nomi- 
 nation, 177, 178; entries in jour- 
 nal on defeat, 180; support of 
 Wilson-Marshall ticket by, 184; 
 business interests of, enumerated 
 in journal, 185; activities and re- 
 sponsibilities of old age of, 186- 
 194; extracts from journal, 186, 
 188, 189, 190-194; quoted on in- 
 strumentality of railroads in 
 State development, 200; speech 
 of, upon anniversary of first Bat- 
 tle of Philippi, 203; "State Day" 
 speech of, 206 et seq.; tributes to, 
 as pioneer in upbuilding of West 
 Virginia, 196-209; benefactions 
 and charities of, 210-221 ; attitude 
 of, toward family and kindred, 
 222-231 ; brothers and sisters of, 
 224; extracts from journal of, re- 
 garding family matters, 224-228, 
 
 230, 231 ; tribute of, to brother 
 Thomas B. Davis, 226; eulogy 
 paid by, to Stephen B. Elkins, 
 quoted, 228; children of, and 
 Katharine Bantz, 228; marriages, 
 births, and deaths in family of, 
 228 et seq.; death of wife of, 230; 
 tribute to married life written by, 
 in journal, 230; famous contem- 
 poraries of, 232-247; importance 
 of journal, 275 et seq.; personal 
 characteristics of, 275-291 ; clos- 
 ing years of, 292 et seq.; extracts 
 from journal of, 295, 303, 304; ill- 
 ness and death of, 304; resume 
 of career of, 305-307 
 
 Davis, Henry G., Jr., father's trib- 
 ute to, 216; death of, at sea, 228 
 
 Davis, John, 5, 7, 228 
 
 Davis John B., 7, 224 
 
 Davis, Kate, 228 
 
 Davis, Nathan, 224 
 
 Davis, Robert, 5 
 
 Davis, Thomas, gentleman: arrival 
 of, in Maryland, 5 
 
 Davis, Thomas Brown: 7; cited, 
 13; 27, 193, 215, 224; closeness of 
 tie between, and H. G. Davis, 
 225 
 
 Davis, William R., 27, 224 
 
 Davis Children's Home. See 
 Child's Shelter 
 
 Davis Coal and Coke Company, 185 ; 
 Davis and Elkins College : 181 ; 
 permanent endowment of, 213 
 
 Davis National Bank, 185 
 
 Davises, part played by the, and 
 the Browns in Maryland's his- 
 tory, 3 et seq. 
 
 Davison, H. P., 133 
 
 Dawes, Senator, 81 
 
 Day, Secretary, 240 
 
 Dayton, Judge Alston G. : cited, 49, 
 50; quoted on Odd Fellowship, 
 295, 296 
 
 Declaration of Independence, 286 
 
 Deer Park: life at, 152-165; 224, 
 253, 276 
 
 Democratic National Convention of 
 1904, The, 166 et seq. 
 
 Denver, 277 
 
 Department of Agriculture, advo- 
 
INDEX 
 
 313 
 
 cacy of, by Senator Davis, ^^^ et 
 
 seq. 
 Depew, Chauncey M., 244, 245 
 Dewey, Admiral, 240 
 Diaz, Porfirio: 107, 115; Mr. Davis' 
 
 estimate of, 238, 239; 279 
 Dom Pedro, 162 
 Downey, O. D., 47 
 Drexel, A. J., 244 
 
 Eaton, W. W., 67 
 
 Edmunds, George F., 55, 300 
 
 Electoral Commission, Mr. Davis* 
 support of, 71 
 
 Elk River, 190, 192 
 
 Elkins, Stephen B,: 58, 140; in 
 Harrison's cabinet, 145; 150, ^79, 
 186, 193, 212, 213, 216, 220; trib- 
 ute of Mr. Davis to, 228; 293, 302 
 
 Elkins, W. L., 245 
 
 Elkins, W. Va. : 189, 190, 191, 192, 
 193, 200; erection of church for 
 colored Baptists at, by Mr. Davis, 
 215; 220, 222, 228, 287, 292, 302, 
 
 303 
 Ellicott Mills, 10, II, 12, 223 
 Elmore, Alberto, 113 
 Emancipation Proclamation, 286 
 Empire Coal and Coke Company, 
 
 185 
 Erie Canal, attitude of Baltimore 
 
 toward building of, 8 et seq. 
 Estee, M. M., 107 
 Estupinian, Baltazar, 114 
 
 Fairbanks, Charles W., 181 
 Fairfax Stone, 32 
 
 First International American Con- 
 gress, 237 
 Flick, W. H. H., 46, 47 
 Flower, Mr., 243 
 Folger, Secretary, 243 
 Force Bill, 146 
 Fortress Monroe, 293 
 Fortuol, J. Gil, 114 
 Forty-second Congress, 55-S8 
 Forty-third Congress, 58 et seq. 
 Forty-fourth Congress, 67 et seq. 
 Forty-fifth Congress, 73 et seq. 
 Forty-sixth Congress, 76 et seq. 
 Foster, Volney W., in 
 
 Fourth Legislature of West Vir- 
 ginia, 36 et seq. 
 Fox, Williams C, 112 
 Frametown, 190 
 Frederick, Md., 10, 17, 18, 25 
 French Creek, 189, 190 
 Fugitive slave laws, 22 
 
 Galvais, Dr. M. M., 114 
 
 Gana, Blest, 113 
 
 Garfield, James A. : 55, 253 ; corre- 
 spondence between Secretary 
 Windom and Mr. Davis in rela- 
 tion to, 254 
 
 Garland, Augustus H. : 73; note 
 from, 258 
 
 Garrett, John W. : 103 ; quoted on 
 "board of directors," 243, 254 
 
 Gassaway, Brice J., 6 
 
 Gassaway, Henry, 5 
 
 Gassaway, Captain John Henry, 6 
 
 Gassaway, Colonel Nicholas, promi- 
 nence of, in colonial Maryland, 
 4,6 
 
 Gassaway, Sarah, 6 
 
 Gassaway, Captain Thomas, 4, 5 
 
 Gassaway, W. Va. : 191, 193, 212; 
 church erected at, by Mr. Davis, 
 
 215 
 General Amnesty Bill, 58 
 Geological Survey of West Va., 198 
 Georges Creek, 29 
 German Empire, 306 
 Gettysburg Address, Lincoln's, 206 
 Gibbons, Cardinal, 157, 161 
 Gilmer County, 189 
 Glasscock, Governor, 197, 204 
 GoflF, Nathan, Sr., 39; letter of, 
 
 quoted, 258, 259 
 GoflF, Nathan, Jr., letter of, quoted, 
 
 258 
 Golden Jubilee of West Virginia, 
 
 program of, 205 
 Goodfellowship: estate of the 
 
 Davises and the Browns, 5 et 
 
 seq.; 12, 14, 18; Mr. Davis' love 
 
 for, 222, 223 
 Gordon, General John B., 59 
 Gorman, Arthur Pue: 7, 13, 88, 145, 
 
 163, 178, 223; relations between, 
 
 and Mr. Davis, 226, 227; 243, 
 
314 
 
 INDEX 
 
 245; letters of, on Parker-Davis 
 campaign quoted, 265 
 
 Gorman, Peter, 13 
 
 Gould, George J., 191 
 
 Goulds, the, 186 
 
 "Graceland," 296, 302 
 
 Grafton, 48 
 
 Grant, U. S. : 55, 59 ; veto of Infla- 
 tion Bill by, 64; 162 
 
 Grassy Run, 189, 190 
 
 Greeley, Horace, 57 
 
 Green, Governor, 42 
 
 Greenherry, Colonel Nicholas, 3, 4 
 
 Guachalla, Fernando P., 112 
 
 Hagerstown, 186 
 Hall, Leonard S., 43, 44 
 Halley's comet, 294 
 "Halliehurst," 302 
 Hambleton, John A. : boyhood 
 friendship of, for Mr. Davis, 12 ; 
 
 97 
 
 Hamlin, Hannibal, 55 
 
 Hampshire County, 29, 40 
 
 Hancock, Winfield S., 80 
 
 Hancock's, glimpses of life at, dur- 
 ing Polk's administration, 21, 22 
 
 Harmon, Judson, 184 
 
 Harper's Ferry, 23 
 
 Harris, J. S., 245 
 
 Harrison, Benjamin: 88, 106, 124, 
 135 ; nominee of Republican 
 party, 142, 143; relations between, 
 and the Davises, 143, 144 et seq., 
 160, 161 ; personal estimate of, by 
 Mr. Davis, 237 ; quoted, 261 ; let- 
 ter of, in regard to investments 
 quoted, 262, 263 
 
 Harrison, Carter, 266 
 
 Hay, John, iii 
 
 Hayes, Rutherford B. : 39; cam- 
 paign, 71 ; administration, 73 et 
 seq., 236, 250, 305, 306 
 
 Hearst, William R., 168 
 
 Helper, Hinton Rowan, cited, 122 
 
 Hendricks, Thomas A., 138, 236, 
 237, 302 
 
 Henry, Patrick, 203 
 
 Hill, Benjamin H., 73 
 
 Hill, David B., 170, 178 
 
 Hoar, George F., 74 
 
 Hoge, Reverend Moses D., 2i6 
 
 Hoge, Mr., 243 
 Holt, John H., 202 
 Houston, General Sam, 22 
 Howard, Governor, 15, 16, 18 
 Howe, Postmaster-General, 243 
 Hubbard, Governor W. P., 201 
 Huntington, 199 
 
 Inflation Bill : 59-63 ; veto of, 64 
 Ingalls, John James, 59, 81 
 Intercontinental Railway Survey 
 
 Commission, 245 
 International American Confer- 
 ences, 105-120 
 International High Commission, 
 
 13s 
 Interstate Commerce Commission, 
 
 245 
 Iroquois Club, 266 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, 305 
 Jacobs, J. J., 47 
 James River, 197 
 Jefferson County, 45 
 Johnson, Andrew, 67 
 Jones, John P., 59 
 Jowles, Henry, Esquire, 4 
 
 Kanawha Canal, 39, 197 
 
 Kanawha and Michigan Railway, 
 
 187 
 Keenan, C, 7 
 
 Kellogg, William Pitt, 55, 300 
 Kelly, John, 138 
 Kenna, Representative, 243 
 Kerens, Richard C, 124, 194 
 Kernan, Francis, 67, 138 
 Kerr, Michael, 67 
 Key, J. W., 40 
 Keyser, William, 97, 98 
 Killarney, 277 
 Kings, 190 
 
 Kirkwood, Samuel, 74 
 Knapp, M. A., 245 
 
 Lafayette: visit of, to United 
 States, 8, 305 
 
 Lamar, L. Q. C, 58, 72 
 
 Lamb, Daniel: quoted on separa- 
 tion of West Virginia from Old 
 Dominion, 36; 51 
 
INDEX 
 
 315 
 
 Latrobe, John H. B., cited on Balti- 
 more, 8 
 
 Lazo-Arriaga, Antonio, 114 
 
 Lee, Arthur, 228 
 
 Leo XIII, 157 
 
 Leonard, Jose, 114 
 
 " Let-Ups," significance of, 41 
 
 Libau, 228 
 
 Lincohi, President: attitude of, to- 
 ward B. & O. Railway during 
 War, 30 et seq.; interview with 
 Mr. Davis, 31, 32; quoted on Mr. 
 Davis's usefuhiess to Union cause, 
 
 32 
 Linthecomb, Reverend Mr., 7 
 Little Hand, 190 
 Logan, John A., 55 
 London, 277 
 Loudenslager Hill, 8 
 Louisville, 278 
 
 Macedo, Pablo, 115 
 
 MacCorkle, William A.: 168; letter 
 
 of, 217; 218 
 Madison, James, 203 
 Maine, blowing up of, 239, 240 
 Manchester Railway, 9 
 Manila, 240 
 
 Marmol, Manual Sanchez, 116 
 Marshall Coal and Coke Company, 
 
 185 
 
 Marshall, John, 203 
 
 Martinez, Joaquin Walker, 113 
 
 Masons: provisions of Mr. Davis 
 for, 220, 29s 
 
 Mathews, W. B., 220 
 
 Matte, Augusto, 113 
 
 McAdoo, Secretary, 135 
 
 McDonald, Joseph E., 67 
 
 McGraw, John T., 150 
 
 McKinley, William, 74, in, ISO 
 
 McKinney, Owen S., 168 
 
 McLane, Representative, 243 
 
 McLean, John R., 252 
 
 McPherson, J. R., 73 
 
 McWhorter, Henry Clay, 37 _ 
 
 Maryland, leaves from, colonial his- 
 tory, 3 et seq. 
 
 Mendonga, Salvadore de, 107 
 
 Merou, Garcia, 112 
 
 Mexican War, 23, 240, 306 
 
 Mexico, 22, no, 186, 238, 277, 279 
 
 Mill Creek Coal and Coke Com- 
 pany, 185 
 
 Missouri, the, 228 
 
 Missouri Compromise, 286 
 
 Monkeston, the, 229 
 
 Monroe Doctrine, 105, 149, 305 
 
 Monroe, James, 305 
 
 Moore, Mr., 189 
 
 Morgan, John T., 76, 82 
 
 Morgan, J. Pierpont: 244; confes- 
 sion of faith of, 290 
 
 Mormons, 277 
 
 Morrill, Justin R, 55 
 
 Morrill, Lot M., 55, 59, 74 
 
 Morrison, Colonel W. R., 58 
 
 Morton, Levi P., cited, 298 
 
 Morton, Oliver P., 55 
 
 Mosby, General, 30 
 
 Mt. Vincent, 229 
 
 Mucciola, Count, 157 
 
 Murray, Oscar G., 245 
 
 Myer's Mill, 188 
 
 Nashville, 278 
 
 Naylor, Roy B., tribute of, to Mr. 
 Davis, quoted, 205 
 
 New Mexico, 58 
 
 New Orleans : Mr. Davis quoted on 
 taxes in, 278 
 
 New York: 8; attitude of Balti- 
 more toward, at beginning of 
 Nineteenth Century, 8, 195, 279, 
 
 ^3 . . , u 
 
 North American Review, article by 
 
 Mr. Davis in, on Pan-American 
 
 Railway, quoted, 130-132 
 Norwood, Senator, 65 
 Nye, Senator, 66 
 
 Odd Fellows : 180 ; Mr. Davis' gifts 
 
 to, 220, 29s, 296 
 Oglesby, Richard J., 59 
 Ohio, 9, 187, 203, 249-252 
 Oil, 194 
 
 Ordinance of Secession, 29 
 Orla, Colonel Francisco, 114 
 Otter Creek, 190 
 Owen, Senator, 247 
 
 Pan-American Conferences, 105- 
 120, 135, 186, 273 
 
3i6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Pan-American Railway, 121-135, 
 
 238, 273 
 
 Pan-American Railway Committee, 
 126 et seq., 181 
 
 Panic of i373, 61 et seq. 
 
 Pardo, Emilio, 115 
 
 Paris, 277, 306 
 
 Parker, Judge Alton B. : before 
 Democratic National Convention 
 of 1904, 168 et seq.; gold tele- 
 gram of, 174, 247, 306 
 
 Parkersburg, 48, 49, 220 
 
 Parkersburg Convention, 150 
 
 Parsons, Richard A., 122, 302 
 
 Pefia, Seiior Roque Saenz, 107 
 
 Pendleton, George H. : 76, 243; 
 quoted on factional politics, 252 
 
 Pennsylvania, 203 
 
 Pennsylvania Railway system, 104, 
 124 
 
 Pepper, Charles M.: m; activities 
 of, as Pan-American Commis- 
 sioner, 127 et seq. 
 
 Pereira, Jose Hygeni Duarte, 113 
 
 Peshens, Mr., 190 
 
 Pettus, Senator, 181 
 
 Philadelphia, 8, 195 
 
 Philippi, celebration of first battle 
 of, 202-204 
 
 Philippines, attitude of Mr. Davis 
 toward, policy, 237 
 
 Piedmont, 26, 185, 211 
 
 Piedmont and Cumberland Rail- 
 way, 185 
 
 Piedmont and Potomac Railway, 
 92 
 
 Pineda, Rosendo, 115 
 
 Piatt, Thomas C, 58 
 
 Polk, James K., 21 
 
 Portilla, Jose Lopez, 116 
 
 Porto Rico, 240 
 
 Potomac and Piedmont Coal and 
 Railway Company, 39, 40 
 
 Powell, Reverend W. E., letter of, 
 quoted, 215 
 
 Pratt, Enoch, 244 
 
 Price, George E., 218, 219 
 
 Prussia, 306 
 
 Puck, 256 
 
 Pullman, George M., 124 
 
 Putnam, Herbert: poem, "West 
 Virginia," by, quoted, 208, 209 
 
 QueenJs Coal and Coke Company, 
 185 
 
 Ragiosa, Genaro, 115, 118 
 Railroads: motive power of early 
 American, 11, 12; pioneer days 
 
 of, 17-33 
 
 "Railway dinners," 244-247 
 
 Ramsey, Joseph, 191 
 
 Randall, Nathan, 5 
 
 Randall, Samuel J.: 55. 7A'> letter 
 of, 257 
 
 Randall, Sarah, 5 
 
 Randolph County, 187, 189, 192 
 
 Ransom, Matthew W., 55 
 
 Rayes, General Rafael, 113 
 
 Raymond City, 202 
 
 Reading Railroad, 245 
 
 Rebellion. See Civil War 
 
 Reed, Thomas B., 74 
 
 Revolution, 203 
 
 Reyes, Francisco A., 114, 116, 117 
 
 Richmond Convention, 29 
 
 Rio Conference (Third Interna- 
 tional American), 132 et seq. 
 
 Roaring Creek, 188, 189 
 
 Robb, Mr., 189, 190 
 
 Roberts, George B. : Mr. Davis' es- 
 timate of, 244 
 
 Romero, Sefior Matias, 106 
 
 Romney, 29 
 
 Roosevelt, Theodore, 180, 184, 306 
 
 Ross, Lord, expedition, 7 
 
 Rowles, Sarah, 7 
 
 Sago, 189, 190, 191 
 
 Salt Lake City, 277 
 
 Samoa, 229 
 
 Sampson, Admiral, 240 
 
 Sand Run, 1S9 
 
 Santiago, Chile (Fifth International 
 
 American) Conference, 135 
 Sawmills, the Davis, in Piedmont 
 
 Valley, 27, 28 
 Schoonmaker, James M., 246, 247 
 Schurz, Carl, 56, 233 
 Scott, Crawford, 188 
 Scott, I. K., 188 
 Scott, Nathan B., 150 
 Scott, W. L., 138 
 Sedan, 306 
 
INDEX 
 
 317 
 
 Semi-Centenriial of West Vir-i 
 ginia's Statehood, 196, 202 
 
 "Semi-Centennial History of West 
 Virginia," by James Morton Cal- 
 lahan, quoted, 91, loi, 103 
 
 Seymour, Horatio, 40, 78 
 
 Shaw, Major Alexander, 98 
 
 Sherman, John, 55, 57, 233 
 
 Silva, Carlos Martinez, 113 
 
 Silver, remonetization of, 75 et seq. 
 
 Sissonville, 49 
 
 Smith, Colonel B. H., 51 
 
 Smith, Clay, 42 
 
 Spanish-American War, 237, 239, 
 240, 306. See also Cuban War 
 
 Spencer, Samuel, 245 
 
 Speyer, James, 245 
 
 Sprague, William, 300 
 
 State Bankers' Association, 200 
 
 Steam, introduction of, as motive 
 power of railroads in United 
 States, II, 12 
 
 Steever, Captain E. Z., 125 
 
 Stephenson, George, 9, 2o 
 
 Stevenson, William E., 43, 46, 197 
 
 St. Louis Convention of 1888, 142 
 
 Strike (railway) of 1877, Mr. 
 Davis' story of, 242 
 
 Studebaker, Clement, 107 
 
 Sumner, Charles: 55; death of, 59 
 
 Sutton, 188, 190 
 
 Swann, Thomas: quoted, 19, 20; 
 presents Mr. Davis to President 
 Lincoln, 31-33; 55 
 
 Switzerland, 277 
 
 Tallahassee, 278 
 
 Teller, Henry M., 74 
 
 Texas, 22 
 
 Thomas, Evan, 9, II 
 
 Thomas, P. K, 9 
 
 Thompson, John K., 202 
 
 Thomson, Frank, 244 
 
 "Three American Railways," by 
 
 Hinton Rowan Helper, cited, 122 
 Thurman, Allen G. : 55, 56, 142, 
 
 232, 233; letters of, quoted, 249, 
 
 250 et seq., 251 
 Tilden, Samuel J.: campaign of, 69, 
 
 71 ; 257 
 
 Timberlands, development of, 27- 
 33, passim; 192 
 
 Trenton, U. S. S., 229 
 
 Trescott, William Henry, 107 
 
 Trumbull, Lyman, 55, 56 
 
 Trust Company of West Virginia, 
 
 185 
 Tucker County, 187 
 "Twenty Years of Congress," by 
 
 James G. Blaine, quoted, 89; 
 
 cited on Mr. Davis, 235 
 Tygart's Valley, 192 
 
 Underwood, Frederick, 246 
 
 Underwood, Oscar, 247 
 
 Union-Conservatives, 36, 38 
 
 Union Pacific Railroad, 30 
 
 Uniontown, 188 
 
 United States : part played by 
 Chesapeake and Ohio Road in 
 development of, 9 et seq. 
 
 United States Bank, 201 
 
 Upshur County, 189, 192 
 
 Valley Coal and Coke Company, 
 i8s 
 
 Vance, J. S., 40 
 
 Vanderlip, Frank A., 133 
 
 Velardo, Sefior de, no 
 
 Venice Bank, 201 
 
 Vest, George G., 76 
 
 Victoria, Queen, 306 
 
 Virginia: Legislature and the Bal- 
 timore and Ohio Railroad, 25, 26; 
 debt between, and West Virginia, 
 45; loss of territory by, in Civil 
 War, 203 
 
 Voorhees, Daniel W., 75 
 
 Wabash Railroad, 186, 191 
 
 Wages, attitude of Mr. Davis to- 
 ward employees', 194 
 
 Walkersville, 192 
 
 Warfield, Edwin, 200 
 
 Washington, 7, 22, 209, 293, 276, 
 306 
 
 Washington Coal and Coke Com- 
 pany, 185 
 
 Washington, George, 32, 203, 286 
 
 Washington Star, quoted on Mr. 
 Davis' position on tariff, 183 
 
 Watkins, Dr., 223 
 
 Waverly, estate of Governor How- 
 ard, 15-18, passim 
 
3i8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Webster, Daniel, 22 
 
 Weed, Smith, 138 
 
 Weitzel County, 43 
 
 Weston, 188 
 
 Western Maryland Railroad, 186 
 
 West Virginia: birth of State of, 
 34 et seq.; action of, Legislature 
 on disfranchisement of ex-Con- 
 federates, 27 et seq.; debt be- 
 tween Virginia and, 45; war 
 claims, 59-61; waterways, 65, 66; 
 railways in, 90-104; development 
 of, coal resources by Mr. Davis, 
 187; semi-centennial of, 196; 
 recognition of Mr. Davis' services 
 to State of, 197 et seq., 20:2 et 
 seq.; Board of Trade, 199, 200, 
 294; Mr. Davis' review of moral 
 and material development of, 206 
 et seq.; Mr. Davis' political posi- 
 tion in, 258 
 
 "West Virginia," poem by Herbert 
 Putnam, quoted, 208, 209 
 
 West Virginia Bankers' Associa- 
 tion, 294 
 
 West Virginia Central Railway, 92, 
 103, 185, 193, 195, 302 
 
 West Virginia Immigration and 
 Development Association, 198 
 
 West Virginia University, 46 
 
 Wheeler, Vice-President, 236 
 
 Wheeling: 23, 26, 48, 204; celebra- 
 tion of Semi-Centennial of State 
 at, 196, 197, 202 et seq. 
 
 Wheeling Intelligencer, tribute of, 
 to Mr. Davis, 199, 305 
 
 Wheeling Register, letter of Mr. 
 Davis to, refusing gubernatorial 
 nomination, quoted, 143, 144, 147, 
 199 
 
 White, Governor A. B. : letter of, 
 quoted, 201 ; 202 
 
 Whitney, William C, 141 
 
 Whyte, William Pinckney, 67, 97, 
 178, 182 
 
 Wildey, Thomas, 295 
 
 Wiley, Waitman T., 51 
 
 Willard, Daniel, Mr. Davis' esti- 
 mate of, 246, 247 
 
 Williams, John Cassell, 112 
 
 Williams, John Sharp, 170; speech 
 of, 176 
 
 Williams, L. J., 202 
 
 Wilson, William L., 139, 146, 243, 
 259; letters of, 259, 260 
 
 Wilson, Dr. W. P., 112 
 
 Wilson, President, 135, 184 
 
 Winans, Ross, 12 
 
 Winchester, 29 
 
 Windom, William : 65, 97, 233 ; Mr. 
 Davis quoted on death of, 234, 
 243 ; letters from, 252 et seq.; 257 
 
 Woodside, Dr., 18 
 
 Woodstock, 7, 31, 222, 223, 302 
 
 World's Fair at Chicago, 278, 279 
 
 Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tion : 181, 220; Mr. Davis' views 
 on, 220, 221 
 
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