977,34904092 C967p ONER No CUSTER A Biography and Political Analytic of A. Political Boat r^ — *H8 Lowell Peterson Political Science 352 Knox College January 21 9 1963 "0. N. Custer was one of Illinois' great politicians 11 911 34904df<2 Senator Everett k. Dirksen rr-A Speech, Galesburg, £-/ 67 p November 2, 1962 O.N. Custer was president of or an officer in ten of the most vital businesses in Galesburg and Knox County. He wes the political boss of Knox County for at least 3C years end was the most powerful politician in this part of the stste for at least 20 years. The saying in surrounding counties was: "I don't know what the slate is until I see Custer." This paper is the first lengthy written study of the men. Omer Nixon Custer was born on Christmas Day, 1873 i in Fairchance, Pennsylvania. His parents were Hereon Kyle Custer, a carpenter by trade and Dorcas Anne Nixon Custer of the Pennsylvania Nixons that were later to product a Vice- President, Richard Nixon,. O.N. became accustomed to hard work and long hours at an early are. At the age of 6 he became a helper to hir father. Carpentry did not please him so at the rge of nine he discovered that he could make money by salvaging iron from 2 slag piles. Custer quit school, and at the age of eleven got his first regular 30b carrying bricks and mortar to the men v ho were making coke ovens. For this, he received fifty cents a day for ten to twelve hours a day. He took advantage of his lunch hour to clear coke ovens at five cents a piece. At the age of twelve he took on an even more difficult -2- job in a lumber y&rd and grain store. On this job he had to handle lumber and sacks of grain that were almost as heavy as he v.c .s . However he didn't stay on that job long but again became an apprentice to his father. During thes< early years, he supplemented his short formal education by doing a great deal of reading. This trait was continued all through life eo that he could epeek easily v ith more educated men. '" hen he ?.s almost fifteen, he traveled alone to Colo- rado to try to make his start in life. Here he found no better jobs bhan dish-washer and shoe clerk, even though he 6 traveled all over the state. )t having found a good job in Colorado, and being lured by the famous Chicago World's Fair, O.N. returned to the East. fter a Fhort stay in C ; icago he went home to 7 Fr-irchence, to again v ork be a csrj enter. O.N.'s western trip, unsuccessful though it was, may have been one of the most fortunate happenings in his life. He apparently tried to go out and make his fortune on hie own but he failed. He came back and gained favor and vealth by gathering around him small groups of capable friends that he led and directed. Perhaps this trip showed him that he couldn't succeed by "going it alone," <* nd that he would need the rielp of family • nd friends . Shortly after coming back to Pennsylvania, O.N. moved ;v v ith his paternal grandparents to Galesburg. In pa: April of lo9^ he arrived alone v,ith the household furnig 2. '.hen he vent to the house they had bought, he met Mr. end Mrs. George Potts and Mrs. Potts' sister, Miss Olive Temple. They were vacating the house so the Ousters could move in. At dinner that evening romance budded between O.N. and kiss Temple. On Christmas of that year they were married. O.N.'s first job in Galesburg was at the Carlin grocery store. Carl Sandburg in Al w ays The loung Strangers recollects seeing Custer carrying a sack of flour on one shoulder and a sack of grain on the ocher. He described Custer as a "six- footer with big shoulders, a round head and face, a strong 9 jav and chin, a pleasant smile." O.N. held this job for five 10 months until he got a job on the Republican Register . O.N. was helped in getting a job at the paper by J.M. Ccrley v ho was married to a sister of Mrs. Custer's. Carley, vho remained a close friend end business associate of O.N.'s until bis death, was quitting the job to enter the grocery business. V hen O.N. applied for Carley 's old job es county solicitor, the publisher of the paper, Samuel W. Grubb, listened to O.N. and told him "You'll get a letter from me on ay." 'hen Custer didn't receive a letter on Monday, he cfjied on Mr. Grubb end was told the letter rust have mis- carried but he could hr ve the job. Later Custer learned that this was Grubb 's test to see how much O.N. wanted the job, the letter had never been sent. Grubb took a liking to Custer -4- and decided that at his death, his son and D.N. should run the paper. Custer made hundreds of friendships while serving as county solicitor for the payer. By traveling throughout the county f nd attending farm sales soliciting subscriptions for the paper, O.N. got to meet practically every farmer in Knox County. He had the ability to make friends easily and keep them for life. Forty years later in 1936, O.N. was to travel around the County campaigning for a candidate for states attorney meeting and calling by name friends he had made 15 while he was county solicitor. As county solicitor, Custer became known for his determ- ination to "land a customer" and for his ability to attract friends. Carl Sandburg was later to re;ort some of the stories the farmers told about O.N. as he traveled the county. They remembered him coming to the sales in the winter always with- out gloves. He was remembered for constantly working on re- luctant customers with such tricks as buying their tobacco and giving it too them. At the sales, the auction- eers insisted that he stand up in the front of the crowd or 14 else the crowd, would drift over to O.N. While Custer was making friends, he was also beginning to make his fortune. His beginning pay at the paper was $10 a week. This was raised to &12 when he vies married and sub- 15 sequently he received additional raises. He always lived off the money he received from the paper and invested what- Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://archive.org/details/omerncusterbiogrOOpete ever other income he made. " While Custei was trsv around the county he would "buy hey end grain from ?rs and at night he and J.M. Carley v.ould deliver and Be] t. They also entered the real estate business together. th this money, Custer began to "buy stock in the paper fro Samuel Gyubb , the publisher. Grubb wanted his son ana O.N. to run the paper v hen he died, ( In 1901, Zacheus Beetty, a large stockholder in the paper and vice-president of the company, died and Custer, Fred R. Jelliff who W8s editor of the paper, snd George Perry, a prominent local printer, purchased the Beatty stock. In 1909 Custer and Perry bought the stock of Gf ubb ' s son. (The elder Grubb had died in 1901) Perry then became business manager and Custer became 1 ft secretary-treasurer. As Custer's financial success W8s rising so was his political success. Custer was first elected to the Republican Central Committee in 1898, only four years after he arrived in Gelesburg. " In 1902, Custer decided to run for sheriff against Ch8rles H.urbUrgh. (These men contin- ued as political enemies for the next 25 years.) v Custer was taking on what was (Sailed the Court House 20 Ring. Hurburgh, a deputy sheriff, promised the incumbent a Deputyship. Custer would not make such 8 promise td the sheriff. O.N. fought hard and provided one of the closest races the county had seen in years, but he lost. Hurburgh had successfully garnered the city vote, carrying six wards while Custer carried his own ward. In the County Hurburgh 21 carried only 6 townships, with Custer taking the other 20. During this period, the ;tei The machine was consisted of a group of e yoi ho worked, well together end who remained lo; o each Besides Custer there was the young states attorney Addison Boutelle, who served from 1896 until 1924 : E.J, King wl was later elected to the legislature and later to Congress; R.C. Rice v.ho became county judge and later states attorney; Max Mack who served as elderman over thirty years and was elected mayor once; J t M. Carley; T.M. Cox v.ho was associated in several businesses with O.N.; George Clark who was to be postmaster for many years; and Frank Hooker who was to be sheriff for four terms. Later the machine was to grow to around fifty people but original members remained among its 22 leaders for thirty to forty years. In 1904, Custer was selected as a delegate to the Re- publican state convention which then had the responsibility 2o of nominating the Republican candidate for governor, y Among the candidates was Cong. Frank 0, Lowden and Charles Deneen, both of whom became important allies of Custer v. hen he entered the state political scene. During the convention, a letter appeared in the Repu bl ican R e gister from a Delegate, who could have been Cutter, saying that Lov.den had taken quite 24 an interest in him, Custer and Lowden were to become very close friends - a friendship that was politically im- portant to each. By 1904- Custer had also become important on the Gales- 7- burg political scene; for in ,hct year I chosej small committee of the Citizens : r rty to ch dele the party's city convention. ' This v.ez the rarty o or George Shumvay. In this decade Galesburg city politic? were in a state of flux, if not utter confusion. Shumvay ran for mayor three times under tv.o different party labels and was elected twice, in 190$ and 1907. The liquor issue played a major pert in ihe city electioj Both sides accused the other of being dominated by the liquor interests. It might have been to that the liquor interests contributed to b oth sides oust to "play safe." In April, 1905, Mayor Shumwqy was defeated by a candidate running .on a reform, Cry ticket. However in December of 1905* a petition v.as sub- mitted to the city council to enforce the law and close the red light district. The police chief said he wouldn't enforce the law until the new Jail W'as finished. Two aldermen felt the prostitutes should be r(jn out of town. One alderman de- fended prostitution because it "protected other girls." Another alderman felt that Galesburg wasn't any worse than other cities. The petition was referred to committee by a vote of 10 to 2 and nothing more Was heard of it. Galesburg apparently had a large element of voters who didn't want stout 27 law enforcement. ' However, the &r$ element was strong enough to win a referendum for prohibition in 1906, Tv.ice before in a decade the council had voted cry but the following councils had voted vet again. The 1908 vote was 2807 to 2168, -8- Custer never openly declared himself 8 wet )r a dry 1 1932, ■ nd in this way was able to keep power in both wet ry periods. His attitude may have been reflected 1 somewhat in en editorial thet -[reared in the Republican Register in Septemt of 1905. The editorial stated that it is the citizens' resion- sibility whether or not there is to be strict law enforcement. If the men they elect don't enforce the law, it is the voters' fault - they can vote the office holder out of office end elect men v. ho will enforce the lev,. This is a local responsibility and the state governor should not interfere. J In other words, the issues of law enforcement vere to be up to the people, not the leaders, Prohibition laws couldn't be enforced unless the people wanted them. The coming to power :>f the machine seemed to be pro- gressing well in the early 1900's. Boutelle got elected atctee attorney in 1896. In 1906, Rice was elected county judge, King was elected to the state legislature end Custer was elected 50 county treasurer. In 1908 Frank Hooker was elected to fill the term of Sheriff Robert Mathews who was shot trying to en- force the vice laws on the public square. However in 1906 Sheriff Charles Hurburgh was elected to the state senate and was becoming quite strong 1 oliticelly. In December, 1907, Robert Chandler, a former school teacher, took over the management of the Evening; Itu il .■ nd 51 formed a j >litical alliance with Senator Hurburgh, (Contrary to popular belief, Hurburgh neither ovned stock in or managed - - the Evening Mail. The annual statements -t ownershi manfgement j. rove this. ) Chandler built thii paper a strong ana active opposition newspaper. It was sti i dry end str^np for Teddy Roosevelt. Hurburgh and Chandlei ;egan recruiting opposition candidates in the city and county level, and presented very strong opposition to the machine. At first the papers fought bitterly and personally. This resulted in a fist fight between Custer and Chandler in Lay of 1908. Custer apparently had become angry about the attacks on him and his friends by the Evening Mail . Because the accounts of the fight in both papers are quite different, it is difficult to learn vho struck the first blow or who was 55 at fault, but both landed some solid blows. Apparently the fight gave them a chance to "let off steam," for according to Max Goodsil, Chandler's brother in-law, opposition between the two men then became less hostile. They remained for almost two decides as political enemies, but they became personal friends. Q.N.'s term as treasurer was made possible by an easy victory in the 19C6 primary. In the primary he carried every ward in the city except one, the third, and every township in the county except three. His margin in Galesburg was 290 55 but in the county as a whole it was 1191. In office, Custer gained statewide notice by being the first county treasurer to dem : nd the banks pay interest on deposited funds. By turn- ing back the interest and fees, the county treasurer's office 36 became for the first time self-si pportj O.N. did not finish his ten bs treasurer, f December 190b, he was appointed , on the r( Cong-. Prince, to be postmaster in Galesburg. Geoi lerk, one of the prominent leaders in the machine who had be elected in 1908 chairman of the County Republican cent' corr.irittee , was elected to fill Cuater's term as county trea- surer* Custer served as rostmaster until a Lemocract v 3s appointed by the Wilson administration. Keither job, county treasurer or postmaster, was chen a full time ,job, so Custer continued to v ork at the paper and 08 invest his other income. He got $1200 a year as county treasurer^ J end #^000 to $4-000 a year as ] ostmaster. Custer also probably got some money out of his father's estate for which he was administrator. Mr. Custer had built three houses in Galesburg and O.N. sold these at his death. One of the c e houses was sold around 1905 to Roy Larson's father i'or $2600. With these salaries and the inheritance Custer bought more stock in the paper in 1909 and began making other investments. The paper was capitalized at only ^15*000 at this tine and a 2 Custer probably did not purchase even a half of this.' The stockholders in the paper were practically all close associates of Custer either in the paper or in business or politics. y /round 1910, Custer, Cox, Carley and a few others bought the option to buy the old Erov.n Planter Works which filled practically all the north half of the block between Keliogg -11- • nd Prairie Streets south of Simmons street. A short while later the old CB & Q railway station burned down and the rail- road bought out nearly a block of stores and built the large railrocd station they now use. The Simpson-McClure Lumber Company had had a yard in that block and they were forced to move. They bought some of the Brown Planter Works land and the price they paid was sufficient to ailov the group to buy the whole block at the price they had agreed to pay v. hen 44 they bought the option to buy. The lumber yard occupied 45 the land in 191^. It was not until 1915 that they were 46 able to get stores along Simmons St. They later managed to rent all the buildings and in the errly 192C ' s sold the 47 larre office building to the power company for $75*000. During the decade 191C to 1920, the machine had a pretty fair winning average. They elected their candidate for sheriff 48 twice but lost in 1918 when James V heeler was elected. Wheeler traveled all over the county to meet the voters. In this v ay he overcame the advantage the machine had by controlling the precinct workers. Wheeler ran ap a dry or law-enforcement 49 candidate. The machine lost the county treasureship once when George Eestes of Galesburg beat a candidate from the county backed by the Republican-Regis ter. ' Machine-member Herbert Bloomquist and Henry Hawkinson succeeded him in office. In Galesburg, the tv. factions split the mayor's office about evenly. George Seders on, v ho h; d defeated machine- member Max Ivlack in 19C9» won again in 1911 by defeating attorney -12- Walter Frank, vho was 1; ter to become a county and circuit judge. According to the Evening [■.ail . Custer had vetoed the choice of r. any Literal Party members and had chosen Frank to run. Sanderson died in office and in 1912 Dr. William Bradley, a Democrat, wss backed by the machine and he v. on easily. Also Herbert Bloomquist v.on the city treasureshi] and V illiam Boutelle v.on the election for city clerk. Another Democrat, Vebb Herlocker, v.on a race for police magi- 52 strrte. All of these v ere backed by the machine and the latter three v;ere later to be cnosen by the group to run for ^gher offices. Professor Conger of Knox College beat Bradley in 1915 55 but Bradley von again in 1917 and Henry Havkinson v.on in 19±9» Some of the most interesting political fights of this decade occured in the races for state offices - nd the congress- ional seat. In 191C, Gov. Charles Deneen, a Cricagoan, sought to defeat a group of downstate Republican and Democrf tic state legislators who had joined forces to fight Deneen's policies. Burnett Chiperfield, one of the representatives from this 54- district was a leader of the bi-partisan group. Rep. E. J. King, a member of the machine, blasted Chiperfield as being 55 a member of a corrupt bi-partisan committee.^ Chiperfield nd King, however, both won re-election as the third candidate made a poor showing. In 1912, the machine was left in a bad position in the congressional race. They had been backing Cong. Prince, vho had appointed Custer postmaster, for several years, but he -13- apparently was a poor congressman v.ith a very high vote of absenteeism . his winning majority had been slipping badly 57 over the last few electionr. Prince was renominated by the party but the Progressive Party had the backing of a larger portion of the .'Republicans. The result was that Prince fini- shed third and the district had a Democratic Congressman. This was the first election of a Democrat to such an impor- tant position in a decade, but this victory didn't help the Democratic party much for in 1916 they didn't even have any 58 county candidates. The Evening Lail came out strongly for the Progressive Party. Charles Hurburgh had run in the GOP primary as a 59 "progressive" Republican for governor and when he lost the Mail backed :he Progressive ticket. The Progressives ran candidates for all offices except the county offices and v,on only a seat in the General Assembly for this area. The Repub- licans won the local offices and. King kept his seat in the state legislature , hut the split allowed the Democrats to v.in the other offices. According to the Mail Custer had made sev- eral bets on the election including one that T.R. wouldn't double Taft's vote in the county, but he lost the bets. Sen. Charles Hurburgh sought the Republican nomina- tion for Congress in 1914- . However this time the machine ran the popular state legislator, E.J. King who had easily won re-election in 1912 v. hen the rest of the party had lost. By this time Custer had begun building the friendships with -14- the leaders in the surrounding counties thst were later to make Custer the most ;overi'ul politician in this pert of Illinois. Custer not 3nly worked with the leaders, but he also had workers th- t ne sent out into the counties in the district to make speeches £ nd meet the voters. One of these v orkers was Tom Pstton, who was one of Custer's most impor- tant Negro vote-getters. Patton relates that Custer gave him &250 and sent him to .';uincy to v in votes for King. The money was to be used to buy cigars and drinks. Patton spoke in churches and to a lcrge Negro rally. The mayar of Quincy, a Democrat, said he knew Custer and King and welcomed Jrctton to Ouincy. King won the nomination easily by a primary vote of 4-058 for King to $178 for Hurburgh. (There were three other candidates but of these the highest vote was 1262.) King carried five of the six counties in the district, and he 62 carried Knox by 2208 to 14-89. In 1914, the split betv een the two factions in Knox County allowed a Fulton County man by the name of Jewell to be nominated for the state senatorship. However, Knox County did elect both representatives: Custer's faction electee 63 O.B. West and the Mail group elected James Davis. y Burnett Chiperfield had moved up to become Illinois Congressman at large. These men were re-elected until 1918, 'hen the machine 64 won the other representative seat by electing A.O. Lindstrum. In 1916, Custer v orked herd for the nor. in- tion of Frank 0. Lowden for governor. However, O.N. was unable to give -15- Lov.den much of a margin in Knox County. Custer wrote him after the election and said that the i nti-saloon i eople h mobilized their forces against "both Lovden and the local district attorney. He said that the anti-saloon : eople were able to control their forces best in the county. He pointed out that the district attorney hf d crrried 22 of the 23 pre- cincts in Galesburg end von by 1C [ 2 and Lowden had von 21 of the Galesburg i recincts but carried the county by only 181 65 votes. y Lov.den's \ if e was a Pullman rnd this ; robably hurt him v ith the railroaders who remembered the Pullrran strike, Lowden was elected by a harmonious Republican party, but the party was ab^ut to split into two joverful factions. Elected along with Lowden were John Oglesby, Lt . Governor, Louis Emmerson, Secretfrv ;f Sttte and Len. Small, State Treasurer. Fred Sterling, a Lovden man who was later to be- come Lt . Governor, v.as chosen chairman of the Illinois Repub- lican Central Committee. Homer Galpin, a good friend of Edward Brundage, was chosen chc irman of the Cook County Central Committee. ' Mayor Bill Thompson of Chicago had thrown the weight of his machine behind Lovden to make him governor. Custer was appointed to the nev ly created state Industrial Board. Former Governor Charles Deneen's machine was the only major political force v.hich was left out of this "happy family," Each one of the above-mentioned men were to play an important part in Illinois politics in the next 21 years. However, this was the last time so many of them could be working to- gether. -16- Lowden became a prominent leader of the "farm bloc." He attracted to him capable men like Custer, Secretary of State Emmerson, Fred Sterling who became Lt . Governor in 1920, Lt . Governor John Oglesby and Clarence Buck of konmouth who later managod campaign? for Senator McCormick and Lov;den. These men remained together as friends for many years. They were all downstate leaders or "country squires" as the Tribune called them - they each had great influence in their own areas. Gov. Lowden however, lost the supr ort of "Big Bill" Thompson, Chicago's mayor, when Thompson did not get control o: the patronage. Lowden did not use the patronage to build a political machine. He had decided that he was going to serve only one term as governor and he was going to run the state for the good of the people and not for the good of the 69 politician. The appointment of Custer to the state industrial board introduced O.N. then to state politics at a very opportune time. He came in just as the "Lowden school of country squires" was forming. Because Custer's new job was by no means a full- time job, he remained active in Galesburg affairs. Some time during the decade from 1910 to 1920, Custer became interested in the Citizens Artificial Ice Company with T.M. Cox. This investment was not very important for the money it made but it indirectly brought Custer and Sidney Nirdlinger together. Custer end Nirdlinger were both trying to buy the Glenwood Ice Company which was near bankruptcy. This competition caused these men to meet in the 1919-1920 -17- 70 v inter. This encounter was the beginning of a very im- portant friendship. Nird linger was born and raised in Gales- burg. His father and uncle, Sol Frohlich, were in the liquor business. Sid proved to be quite a genius in school. He graduated from high school at the age of 15 and from KnoX v ith honors at 19. He received a grant from Du Pont and went to John Hopkins . Again he did exceptionally v.ell end received is doctori te in chemistry at ihe age of 22. He then vent to v :>rk for Dupont but within a year he had to return to Galesburg to take over the family wholesale liquor business. This was in 1910 and in 1911 he was married. He operated the family business until prohibition. During this period he re- ceived many offers for jobs in chemistry, but no company could offer him as much money as he was making in Galesburg. .After Prohibition began, Custer and Nirdlinger began their first financial dealings together by purchasing several old taverns 71 owned by Pabst and selling them. Nirdlinger was soon to become virtually Custer's partner in many of his financial dealings and his closest personal friend. In 1920 on the state and national scene, the Illinois Republican Party split openly. Gov. Lowden in that year was making a strong bid for the Presidency, and Louis Emmerson vas his campaign manager. In Lowden's campaign, Custer played an important part by being chairman of a committee of news- papermen for Lowden. He wrote to editors all over the nation giving them pictures f nd articles about Lowden and asking their 72 opinion of the candidate. Lovden later lost v lien the conven- -18- tion became deadlocked between Lowden and Gen. Leonard Wood, and Herding was chosen after some "smoke-filled room" politics. '. hile the Lowden effort did not produce a Presidential nominee, it did help Custer "back home. Many home folk be- lieved O.N. v» ould have become a cabinet member if Lowden had been elected end so Custer's local image was raised another notch. On the state scene, the split in the party had produced a party battle for the governorship. Mayor Thompson of Chicago threw his v. eight behind former state treasurer Len Small for governor. The Lovden faction backed Lt . Governor John Oglesby. A strong third candidate, Oscar Carlstrom, entered the field and gained many votes dovnstate, giving the victory to Len Small who hed some downstate support plus Thompson's machine in Cook County. There v. ere rumors thet Carlstrom hed been put in the field to split Oglesby 's support, but these rumors can't be proved . Nevertheless, Carlstrom did get a six thousand dollar a year job on the state tax commission by appointment from Small early in his term. ^ Cerlstrom came from Mercer County v.hich adjoins Knox County and is in the heart of Custer's stronghold. Oglesby was hurt, to by the fact that some men who would have worked hard for him were running for office to, and couldn't commit themselves to him without incurring the wrath of the Small-Thorny son organization. Fred Sterling was running for Lt . Governor, and Louis Emmerson was running for Secretary of State. Both of there von. The Lovden faction also elected -19- Edward Brundsge over Smell's candidate, Richard Berr for the 74- i\ttorney General post. Custer's Knox County carried for Oglesby 4-84$ to 1352 for Smell and Carlstrom's 1031. Vhen Small wrs electea , he Esked Custer to stay on the State Inoustrial Board. Custer's 19y2 campaign pamphlet 75 said this was "because of Custer's ability, ^ but Small's request sounds very much like a political move to try to get Custer to work for him. O.N. nov devoted his time to his business affairs and area politics. In 1920 he was elected Vice-President of the rjti Galesburg National Bank* He had acquired stock and became 77 a director in 1916. The bank became one of his J rimary interests and one of his centers of power. In 1921, Nirdlinger nn joined Custer in the bank as a director. ( No record has been kept of the condition under which Custer bought his stock. Custer elso became interested in one of the v or Id's largert brickyards, the Purington Brickyards in East Galesburgo This company produced 75 million bricks a year End sent those 79 all over the country. This became probably Custer's most controversial investment. Many say that he made his fortune by paving the streets of Galesburg. First of all, Custer al- ready was in control of the paper and v„as Vice-President of the bank even before he was named vice-president of Purington on in 1923 or 24-. V : ith the large production cap: city of the factory, it could turn out enough bricks to pave Grlesburg in a fevv days. At t:is time the plant v.as changing its products so that it didn't depend on paving bricks as much. Some state -20- highways v.ere psved in "bricks, but at lesst pert of the brick- laying was done by the state as an experiment to see how brick lr sted in comparison with cement. Mr. Custer felt that though brick was more expensive, it v ould left longer and 81 require fewer repairs. Vhile in Galesburg there was some sentiment against using brick, both major factions supported paving the streets in brick. In fact, easily the lc r est amount of money spent in one year on brick pavements was spent in 1926 by a ma; or who had beaten the ir.achine twice and was backed again by the Evening; Mail in 1927, Mayor Elof Mureen. He spent $4-0, CCO in thct year, a figure not topped by later administrations > qp to the depression when paving assesments v.ere drastically reduced to less then one sixth of the earlier 32 years. The brickyard was a local industry end the cost of transporting the bricks was not greet. For at least a time, 83 brick pavements in Galesburg vere competitively priced. Paved streets vere a necessity in the age of the automobile nd most of the streets have held up veil for 55 years. Custer and Nirdlinger took quite an interest in the i running of the brick company. Mr. Russell Worcester, who became manager of the plant in the late thirties, said that * both Custer and Nirdlinger had become experts on the running of the company. In 1927 or 1928 Custer became president of 84 the company and later Nirdlinger became vice-president. Neither one of them had very 1- rge holdings in the company. The stockholders numbered 200 to 300 and lived ■ 11 over the county. Custer and Nirc linger, even at tneir deaths, did not have one tenth of the stock. ^ Both vere capable men, and -21- living in Gclesburg, they \ ere in a ] asition \ here they were le to run the company. V'hether they took unfair advantage of their political power by living- Galeshurg v.ith brick is i matter for deb r te but it can also be debated vhether Galesburg \ ould not have used bricks even if Custer hr d not owned stocl in a brickyard . According to Mr re Parsons, though, the brici:- yards i ere not a very profitable operation. In local Galesburg politics during the 1920' s, the machine hi d its ups and downs. Ma chine -member Henry Hawkinson, who was elected mayor in 1919 , was re-elected in 1921. In 1923 the machine chose Dr. Bartel. This was tbout the time of a bitter railroad rtrike i ad Er. Bartel h« r d been the rail- 86 rood's doctor., This hurt hir. v.ith the large railroad vote Also, the Mail's candidate, Elof Mureen was a World War I veteran and had the support of machine-member Max Mack, a 87 a rrominent Councilman o Mureen von re-election for a second term, but when he sought a third term, William Boutelle beat him. The latter was a member of the machine and was brother of the former states attorney Addison Boutelle „ William Boutelle was very well liked in town and carried the city easily in 1927. From then on until 1940, Custer's men always won the mayorality race The county races were often close during the 192C's. Some of the most spirited fights v ere for county judge . In 1917, R.C. Rice had resigned and Gov» Lowden, with Custer's approval, appointed W.C. Frank. In 1921 Frank wis elected to the circuit court and so in April 1922 there was a vide open -22- rece for county Judge., The rechine "backed a Den.ocrf t turned Republican who had before been on the machines city slate, ebb Herlocker. The Mail backed Edward Stickne;y „ Both papers came out with front page editorials, pictures, end letters of commendation by prominent citizens. Mr. Stickney traveled around the county end city trying to see all the voters he could and he won. In 1926, Judge Stickney decided to re- enter privrte practice i feeling he could do better there, end so again there was an open race» Again the papers each backed youig lavyers. The Leil becked Riley Stevens, who hed run before for states attorney end lost. Stevens traveled all over the county to meet the voters, A blizzard struck shortly before the election and he rode out on horseback to meet more Rfi voters. The machine backed Sig NelFOn, a \oung lawyer v ho passed the bar exam after reading law and not by going to 1 school. The fllail had a colorful way of backing its candidates. It stressed that Stevens was a World Ver I veteran and a 1; rchool graduate, both of which Nelson was note They also used emotional appeals, For example, if he is elected "the interests of the vidow and orphans will be cared for as honestly and as 89 fairly as if they were his own relative-Go" Stevens won and in the sane ye? r the Ilejl also elected a county treasurer for the only time in the 192C's. They won with Donald Larson, using for jne of the editorials a gto:ry thnt shoved that L-rson had exactly the same qualifications the machine said Herb Bloomquist had had 8 years ago when he was elected county 91 treasurer. Consequently Larson should be elected. -23- Riley Stevens had given the machine quite a scare two years "before in 1924- v.hen he ran for states attorney. Addison Boutelle retired, md the machine ran R.C. Rice for states attorney. Rice, being a former county judge, had the aura of ex. crience 'rid ability. The Ma i 1 tried hard to elect Stevens but the machine kept its control over the district attorney's 91 office. It also v. on in all of the races for sheriff. In the district races there was little excitement. Con^. King remained in office through the 1920' s. State Senator Jewell likewise continued in office. Lind strum and Vest v ere re-elected to the state legislature until 1924 v hen Lindstrum withdrew. Reed Cutler filled his place and eventually became Republican floor leader. For some reason, in 1926 the mscl ine decided to dump O.B. Vest ; nd elect Glint Ev.ing. i est consequently r^ot 6019 votes while Ewing got 17254- 1 /?. Ewing and Cutler v-ere re-elected in 1928. On the state scene, some interesting things were happen- . g. In 1922 Edward Brundage, who h8G been elected attorney neral in 1920 by the Lowden faction, discovered that Gov. Small n he was state treasurer had pocketed over a million collars in interest s nd Brundage decided to prosecute. Small managed to get the trial moved to Lake County, which was controlled by William Stratton, a political ally of Small's. Small B acquitted, partly because vhet he did was believed t: '^ve been c >mmon practise for state treasurers before him. The state legislature then passed a lav more closuty regulfting the actions of the treasurer ?nc the banks th-- t receive st£ te -24- 95 money. The political aftermath of this v.as th: t in 1924, Small was easily re-elected i nd Brundage was soundly defeated •by Oscar Carlstrom in the prime ry . Before the primary in 1924, Sen? tor Medil McCormick came to Galesburg to encourage Custer to enter the race for state treasurer." Custer had been considered for the position tnd he decided to run. State vide interest was mostly focused on the race for governor betveen Gov. Small and Thurlow Essington and the attorney general race betveen Brundage and Carlstrom e In the race for state treasurer Custer faced sizable opposition from two men, Charles Gregory and Charles Stephenson. /pparently neither of these two men had Small's becking for Small's Kankakee County went heavily for Custer, Custer had the backing of the Lovden counties end his surround- ing area. Jnly a few counties v ere carried by the opposing candidates. The final score was Custer 251 ,508 ; Gregory 183,554; • nd Stephenson 188,112. The Cook County vote was split about evenly. The victories for Custer in the surrounding counties went from slim majorities to great majorities, while in the state he received only a plurality. Some examples of trie votes 96 in the area were : Custer Knox 7158 Fulton 2191 Bureau 227G Hock Islrnd 6624 Peoria 9080 Custer's victories in the nearby counties can be largely attributed to the friendships he had built vith important regory Ste} hens on 1035 1118 726 682 768 1572 29C 9 2665 5506 2569 -25- people in these counties. In Rock Island county Custer "built friendships v.ith V alter Rosenfield end Harry Cozsd, who later became County chairman. Rosenfield v.as very influential in 97 Rock Island politics in the 20 ' s and thirties. In V/arren County, Custer's close friends were Clarence Buck v.ho was active in several state and national campaigns and Everett Hardin, President of Monmouth's Second National Bank, who Q 8 with Buck ran V/arren County politics. ' In Henry County, Custer was very friendly with B.F. Baker, president of the Kewanee Boiler Works; Theodore Boltenstern, chairman of the central committee; Earl Yokum president of Galva's largest bank and political "boss" of Galva and James Nowlan who ran two papers: one in Galva end the other, the Stark County News 99 in Toulon. In Bureau County, Custer was usually on good terms with John Bailey who ran the Bureau County Republican. (Bailey, hov.ever, was later to back Small for governor in 1952 If c instead of Custer). Bailey was very strong in Bureau County. In Fulton County, Custer was a good friend of Burnett Chiper- f ield , v.ho was in the state legislature and Congress several terms. They had some differences between them but they were both members of the Lowden-Emmerson faction. In McDonough County, there v.ere no bosses but Custer worked with Albert Bailey and V.S. Bacon. There was a strong Small faction in 102 the county and several prominent leaders. In Peoria County, Garrett Kinney was quite strong and served for Bureau County Republi- cani for several terms during the twenties. At the time he had considerable control, Custer and Kinney were very good friends . -26- Kinney succeeded Custer as state treasurer end was direc- tor of finance under Gov. Emmerson. ^ Custer v;es also a close friend of Edward Woodruff v.ho served several terms as mayor under the Republican Ticket. Another man \ ho knew Custer well s Harry Ftocton who v.as city auditor r nd for several terms, county chairman. Custer also knev most of the county and city -~, . - . t-, ■ 104 officials in Peoria. These men, particularly those in the smaller counties, were capable men vho had ruch influence in their own counties . However, alone they were jowerless. Under proper leadership they could work together and as a group have considerable in- fluence. Custer's ability as a leader was quite effective among these men. i s has been detailed earlier, he could easily "dump" incumbent legislators. For 16 years, the congressman W8S 8 member of his Knox County machine, E. J. King. ■' s vill be discussed later, he twice maneuvered his canidete into the st ; te supreme court in heated battles. In the late twenties, Custer became displeased vith the state central committeeman from the congressional district end decided to elect a Galesburg men vho had been working for the party, Roy. Larson. J.N. told Larson vho the members of the various factions v ere in the dif- ferent counties i nd hov to avoid antagonizing them. Custer, then used his influence on the county leaders and Larson was elected easily. .'hen Larson v.as elected, Custer told him not to go into the five counties in the district end try to tell 105 them what to do. ' Custer did not try to interfere in the internal politics of the counties. -27- 1 In 1924, the anti-Small factions chose a practically j olitically unknov.n state senator, Thurlov. Essington. Gov. £>m8ll was "becoming knov.n s the "Good Ro;as Governor" and v i s laying highvays ;t a record rate. His trial backfired on utorney general Brui.dage and v ith acquittal it 'rob r bly red s political persecution rather than legal rosecu- tion. The death of Mrs. Small curing the exciteire nt of the evening after the acquittal "brought Gov. Small the sympat v many. Small von re-election very easily. The backers of . ington vere app; n itly half-hearted in their efforts. The : ublican Register id not endorse him rnd the Knox County \ote was 5365 for Small and 5040 i or Essington. / Also re- xr.incted vere Fred sterling for Lt . Governor and- Emmerson or Secretary of Stc ,e. s n^ted eerlier, Carlstrom easily defeated Brundage f o ; Attorney General. Oscar IMelson, v.ho i the -jO ' s played a big role in GOP politics, v.es elected .uditor . In 1924, there developed an interesting race for senator, ^oth candidates were anti-Thompson and hed v orked with the lOv.den faction in l r 20; Cr.arles Deneen and Senator Medill Mc Cormick. In this rrce, Small backed Deneen and Custer backed cCormick as can be shown by their respective counties. Knox county vent heavily for the ov.ner of the Tribune and Kankakee l ounty backed the winner, Chcrles Deneen. Thorn son was in a predicament but he g ve his support to Deneen, to. In 1926, Custer's term was up ? nd the Emmerson faction backed Garrett Kinney from xeorie for state treasurer „ Small -28- becked William Stratton whose county had been the site of 109 Smell's trial. y In this test of power betveen the tv. o factions, the Emmerson, Nelson, Custer faction beat the Small- Thompson group. In the same year, Senator William LcKinley was faced by Frank J. Smith who had strong support from Big Bill Thomp- son. Smith also received hundreds of thousands of dollars for his campaigning f rom utility giants Samuel Insul and Clement Studebaker, president of the Illinois Power Company. Smith was denied his seat in the senate because of the excessive money spent by the utilities to nominate him. Apparently, this primary was only on the surface a itical fight but was actually part of a fight to control Illinois Power. Mc Kinley was chairmen of the board of direc- tors of Illinois Power and with the Studebaker interests con- trolled the company at the time of the primary but by July Insul had purchased over ^0% of Illinois Power Company. Though Mc Kinley remained as chairman until his death in December, 111 he apperently did not have very much stock then. This wes the high point of e long period of actual or alleged activity in politics by the utilities. Mc Kinley hed ov ned the Gelesbur£ Railway, Light and Power Co. before it was consolidated into the Illinois Power Co. in 1923. He was often condemned by the Hiail for alleged high rates end 112 fevoritism to the Register . According to R.F. Carley a former superintendent for Illinois Power and one of Custer's closest personal friends, Mc Kinley and Custer were good frienos. -29- Around 1920 Custer got his "brother Hsrry a jot with Illinois Power. By 1924- Harry "became manager of the Lonmouth territory 114- of the company. In September, 1925 Custer was ntmed a director of Illinois Pov.er end stayed on the "board of direc- tors until November 24-, 1950. ^ V hen he took the position, he asked the company to jromise that Galesburg v ould get the lovest rates charged by the company, and the company ; ept 116 this promise. However, the company charged the same rates to all cities and these rates vere set by the Commerce Com- 117 mission. In March 25, 1927, Custer gave as open display of his power over the counties around Knox. Following Small's acquittal he was retried in civil court and was forced to lift return $600,000 to the state. Small never forgave Supreme Court Justice Clyde Stone, who ruled as the judge, and vhen Stone's term was up, Small tried to remove him... In the procesi Small was charged with trying to trade roads for votes in the 119 judicial convention. Custer worked for Stone and by convention time Stone delegations were appointed from most of the counties, and before the convention Stone had enough delegates to v,in„ Gov. Small's forces found their strength in a lar e faction fro: Peoria County. Custer heard that the Small r'orces vere plan- ning on taking control of the floor end challenging and re- moving the pro-Stone delegations. To prevent this Custer led the Stone men up the freight elevator and turough the kitchen into the Ballroom of the Pere Marquette Hote] in Peoria, the site of the convention. Once inside, they ) ked the doorr -30- cnd began the convention with Custer as chairman. They had a quorum and enough votes to legally nominate Stone; so they went ahead and nominated him. As three messengers (one "by air, one by rail and one by motorcycle) were being sent to Spring- field, the Small forces broke down the doors. By that time, 12C the import ; nt business of the convention wee finished. 121 Custer was later commended for his courage in the incident. In 1926, the anti-Small forces vere fully mobilized for really the first time. Emmerson decided to take on Small in a head-on clash for the governorship. Emmerson nov. had been secretary of state since 1916. Small, trying to break the third-term jinx, ran with the support of Bill Thompson v.ho 122 had been re-elected in 1927. ~ However, Small ran without the support of two of his former backers, Oscar Carlstrom and " illiam Stratton. Carlstrom hid intended on running for governor but saw he would only split the vote against Small. The Emmerson group asked him to run for the Senate, but he 123 refused and chose to seek re-election as attorney-general. Stratton v.ho hed served Small faithfully in the past and had run unsuccessfully for state treasurer for Small against Small 125 124 Garrett Kinney in 1926, could not get a place on the Small ticket. Emmerson "slated" and elected him Secretary of State The rest of the slate were members in the original Emmerson-Lovden group. Custer ran for treasurer end was un- opposed. Oscar Nelson ran for re-election as auditor and Fred Sterling sought re-election as Lt . Governor. For senator, they backed Otis Glenn who had been fighting Small and Thompson in -31- the state senate since 1920. Thompson again backed Frank 127 L. Smith for the senate. The whole Ecinerson slate was nominated and later elected vith the backing of Sen. Deneen • nd the Tribune . In 1928, Custer again became interested in getting Fr r nk Lov.den elected President. This time, Clarence Buck 129 from Lonirouth was chosen as Lowden's campaign manager. The Emmerson faction sought to bring a united Illinois dele- :ion to the convention. They elected 29 delegates for 120 Lov.den vith the Emmerson controlled state committee to choose the rest. Custer, himself, was named a delegate from 151 the fifteenth district . O.N. played a major role in the 152 campaign, along with the rest of the Emmerson group He and Robert D. Clark put up $4-5, OOC of the #60,000 used in -t o 134 155 the 1928 campaign for President. Clarke had been a friend of Lowden's since around 1910 In the campaign, Lovden received the strong support of Vice-President Charles G. Dawes. Dawes's home was in Evan- ston, Illinois, though he had been associated vith government anc' international work for many years. By profession he was a banker. Dav.es and Lovden had long been friends, dating back to the late 1690 's when Dawes was FCtive in the McKinley administration and Lowden was becoming active in Illinois 155 politics. In 1924, Lov.den was nominated unanimously for the Vice-Presidency but he refused to accept the nomination 156 and the convention then chose his good friend Dawes. The friendship betveen Dawes and Lovden caused Dawes and Custer -32- 157 a to meet ; nd they became good friends. y However, Lowden again lost in a bid for the Presidency. He did not campaign personally for the office and instead took the attitude that the office should seek the man, not the man the office. ^ His supporters clamored for a declaration of candidacy. They sent letters i nd delega Lions to him to get him to run. rren County -- nd Knox County organired a c a raven of at 158 least 100 errs to go to Lowden' s farm to urge him to run. Lovden, however, did ;.ot announce his candidacy, even though 159 he apparently v anted the Presidency very much. J J Hoover's forces vere too strong, hovever, for the Lowden men. On the eve of the convention Custer celled up his son end told him thft Hoover hf d won. He said that there was 14 C no use for the Galesburg people to coir.e to see the convention. The Lov/den forces oid st; ge a li st ditch "battle over the credentials of some delegate?. Custer Wee Illinois's 141 single representative on the Credentials Committee. The fight Vegan v hen tv. o delegations : r wed up from Tex?5C,0G0 of state, county and municipal funds. Custer was elected state treasurer in 1924 and in 1 26 his political alley Garrett Kinney won the state treasureship. The Galesburg National Bank had moved from b eing the next to the smallest to being the domi- nant bank. In April, 1928 the First National Bank and the Galesburg National Bank merged. As can be seen by the chart, the First National was in trouble, its deposits and assets had been decreasing,. At the consolidation the First National stockholders exchanged their stock for stock in the new bank at a ratio. The board of directors of the new bank included at first two from the First, but this didn't work out amicably -3 - end t^ore two left the board. At the consolidation, Custer was elected president of the nev bank and Fid Nirdlinger was elected executive vice-president, the | osts they held in the o] Gelesburg National Bank. During the summer of the next year, negotiations were carried on t o consolidate the nev. bank with the People's Trust , In August, l r j29 the two banks vere formally merged to form the First Gelesburg National Bank and Trust Co., one of the largest 163 in the midwest outside Chicago. y The resources of the nev. bank vere over $11*560, COO. Custer end Nirdlinger remained 164- on ss President rnd Executive Vice-President. The People's tank had been in trouble. Their investments, bonds, farm mortgages, etc., vere ot good end they hud been loosing busi- ness. Custer's bank assumed the assets snd liabilities of the 165 :k. This time there ues no exchange of stocks. As the [ mey in the investment was collected, the stockholders vere id back. 166 e consolidation probably saved Galesburg from having a bank failure. The two weakest banks, if they had not con- solidated v ith the Gelesburg National Bank, would likely h- ve i-i^ed after the stock . et crash of October, 1929- e consolidation enhanced the rover of Custer rnd Nird- Linger. Many businessmen ccme to them for advice end elp. hen the bank lent money to tusinessmen or farmers, often Custer and Nirdlinger took a personal interest in how the business was run. They d inspect the plants' equipment - nd ; urchases .id then offer advice. ■39- One firm, the Hinchlifi' Lumber Co. asked the ttn. to run their company vhen during the depression it was in serious financial trourle. The "bank at \ ointed Russell Worcester trustee, He also became trustee for the Frost Manufacturing Company 169 and the Kenaway Venetian Blind Company. The bank also loaned a great number of people money on no security. Custer's 170 and Nirdlinger's uncanny ability to judge character <■ iced them in safely landing money only on a man's character,, (Roy Larson, Robert iiigan and Tom Pat ton told the author chat Custer or Kird linger had lent them considerable sums of money on no collateral ; hen they had needed it.) Custer also quietly personally loaned many students money without interest to send them through college. Roy Larson, v.hen preparing Custer's income tax returns, asked him why he did not write off several of the student loans. O.N. said no, st; 1?2 171 the students \ ould pay him back. ' Custer once stated that only one of the students failed to pay him back, Custer's charitableness took other forms, too. At Christmas and Thanksgiving time he had his lieutenants find 175 out who was needy, end then he would give them dinners to take to the needy. The receiver was not told who paid for the meal. Stan Hinman relates that one Christmas he took a dinner to the family of a man who was too lazy to work. Hinman came back, angry, and asked why he gave such a man a dinner. Custer said: "He has a family, ooesn't he':" Among Custer's other 174- gifts \ ere two parks and the sand for the Lake Storey beach 175 and the nursery for the Cottage Hospital, y One v inter Custer observed some V/PA men working on the streets without overshoes. -40- O.N., so the story goes, sent them ell down to a shoe store to get overshoes on his recount. At Christnas time, the paper would carry on a money-raising campaign for the poor called the Empty Stocking Club. Before the campaign started, Mrs. Custer bought the gifts the needy people needed end if the 175 paper didn't rs ise enough money, O.N. put in the rest Many people came to O.im. at the paper to borrow or get money. These charitable acts done willingly end without publicity gained Custer u any more friends and followers. By requesting that his scholarships, dinners, and some of his other gifts be kept anonymous, he gained an admiration for his charitable- ness that he vould not have gotten if he had tried to get publi- city from them. ith Custer's and Nirdlinger's varied business interests, they became practically an employment agency for people who 177 needed w ork. Custer, alone, was a director or president of a newspaper, bank, telephone compsny, creamery, power company, brick yards End ice company in the Galesburg area. Men in his machine were, most of the time, in control of all the local tronage jobs. He often had a friend as governor, which gave him access to state patronage. Besides this, he was on a friendly basis with a large number of the local businessmen who used his bank or advertised in his paper. (Three local men vho managed companies while Custer was e live : R.F. Carley at Illinois Power, /\.A° Schoning at Butlers, and Russell "orcester at Purington Brick Yards, told the author that Custer suggested unemployed people to them to hire 11 three, i i , ssid Custer never asked then to fire anybody. aster was also a good friend of srren Fuller, the local super- 1 rpr, .tendant of the C.B. 8 . ± >c manj years. Custer and Nirdlinger elso, on occasioj crested a job for an especially t eedy person. Custer' ? role as £ job-giver became more important when ie depression struck. lesburg's econory at that time was not "based as ir.uch in industry as it is today, but instead relied most heavily oi trie railroad and servicing a 1; rge agri- cultural area around here. It was what Custer considered an ideal community; a railroad center and a farming community. He had said "Factories are fine as long as they f re running," but vhat happens when there are layoffs? One of the severe blows to the Galesburg economy cicJ come v lien the Galesburg Coulter Dies factory moved out of Galesburg sometime bet\ een 9 ■ nd 1931- The Frost Manufacturing Company went bank- rupt about 1935- However, a major blov co the economy came fror railroad. The CB & . in 193C converted their switch yards into a semi-automatic humpyards. This rut a large number of workers out of work. Custer then led a committee from the Chamber of Commerce mace up of himself, Nirdlinger, R.Winn Her, J. Willis Peterson, and Carl Hart to find new industry for Galesburg. 16,1 This committee had a difficult as ignment ; it hed to convince companies to buile in 'Galesburg during the depths of the depression. Under Custer's leadership, it had tr us success; lour factories were brought to Galesburg: Butlers, iwest, Gales and the Churchill iVar.uf acturing Com; any* The -4-2- comrrittee also raised $2%, COG to finance the moving of the companies, buying of the land and the building or renovating "] op of the structures. The committee was unsuccessful for a time. Then in 1936, S..A. Ingerroll learned that the Midwest Manufacturing Company a maker of refrigerator bodies, was seeking a new location, and he got negotiations between the committee snd Midwest started. Gale I-roducts, a division of Johnson Outboard Marine, made the refrigerator units for Mid- west and so v hen negotiations were finished both firms came to Galesburg and occupied the old Gale sburg Coulter Disc buildings. Midvest alone employed 3>GC people in 1936. V ithin a fev years, both firms had grown and needed more space. Gale Products threatened to leave town because they did not have enough room. S.F. Eriggs , the president of the parent corporation, came to Gr le sburg and Custer j romised him that Galesburg citizens would n ise S5G,000 to jay lor the building. Construction on the plant began and one year later the drive to raisethe money started „ The money was raised, ''hen Midwest planned to expand, a new water nain was needed and Custer promised that the city would build it. 185 The committee brought in the Churchill Manufacturing Company in 1957 to fill the buildings left vacant a few years "before by the Kleen-Heet furnace factory. The negotiations with Churchill were begun tnrough Chamber of Commerce contacts 184 made by the local secretary J Willis Peterson. The committee brought in the Peru Wheel Company to use the buildings left vacant by the Frost Manufacturing Company. This arrangement did not work out. A little later, Butler -43- IWanuf acturing Company v-as looking for a site for a plant and they learned through the C.B. & Q railroad that Gelesburg was seeking a factory. The role of the railroad in this arrangement may have been facilitated by the fact that two officers of the railroad were directors in corny:? nies that Custer was president of: C.E. Marsh was a director of the Intra-State Telephone Co. tnd V arren Fuller was a director of Purington. During the negotiations the committee set a minimum on the payroll the firm could have. The first year, 19^1, the firm employed about a thousand people . During the negotiations, Custer met Oscar Nelson the president of Butler's, end they soon became close friends. Nelson was to tell Ac /} . Schoning, manager of the local plant, that Galesburg was very lucky to have a man the caliber of Custer. During the 1930' s, O.N. took on his most ambitious goal: to be governor. In 1930, following his second term as state treasurer, Custer had been appointeo by Emmerson as chairman of the State tax Commission. While he was in the latter job, apparently there was some form of tax-payer's revolt in Cook 185 County against what were charged to be inequitable taxes He apparently learned a lesson from this, for in his campaign in 1932 for Governor, he declared himself against the inequitable- ness of the property tax. He felt the owners of intangible property should be taxed, too. Later in a letter to Frank Lowden, Custer said it v ould be hard to convince the people his program for tax reform was "largely of their own making." V.iien Custer was appointed as chairman of the Tax Commission -44- there tere reports that Custer was "in line for the guber- natorial nomination in 1952." At the time it was well known that Carlstrom was seeking the governship in 1932 even though it was then only January, 1930 „ Custer's good friend, Gov. Emmerson, had not becoire too I opular a governor in the meantime. He suffered from "being the incumbent during the depression. Also, he suffered from being a dry vhen the state was fast becoming wet. He vetoed the repeal of Illinois' law enforcing yrohihition after the state 189 in a referendum had favored repeal of the law These two issues overshadowed the many other things he did do, V hen he 190 decided not to run again, Custer was his choice for governor^ s Custer was preparing for his campaign, five other candidates threw their hats in the ring. Former Gov. Len Small sought a "comeback." In his early 70' s, he did not try to campaign vigorously.. In fact, from reading newspaper accounts of the campaign it can be seen that he made few public speeches and some radio addresses. He largely ignored the prohibition issue, but his workers particularly in Cook County and Peoria County painted him as a w ; et. He was known in much of Illinois as the "Good Roads Governor." His newspaper ads carried the slogan, "Return to Prosperity . " He had powerful support both in Cook County and downstate c In Chicago, he had many friends on the state patronage rolls because Emmerson had left many 191 of Small appointees on the payroll,, The next most powerful challenger was Oscar Carlstroffio He was one of the state's finest orators and had the backing -4-5- of the American Legion. He also had the support of the Chicago Tribune because it hated Prr.all and was opposed to Custer's dry stand. Carlstrom ran wet. He had earlier been a friend of Thompson's, but his campaigning for Mrs. McCormick in 1930 apparently caused him to gain favor v ith the "Tribo" Carlstrom had the active support of Bernard Fnow , the Cook County Re- 192 publican Che irman. Tv, o other candidates were running: William Malone and Edward Brundage.* They v.ere the only active candidates from Chicago and they ran vet. Both had formerly been political allies of Custer in the Lowden-Emmerson group, but they nov. chose to oppose him. They had little support from the press or politicians,, Custer's support came fro; many quarters. George Harding was his most powerful friend in Chicago. How this friendship began is a matter of speculation, but it happened that Harding v.as a relative and good friend of Everett C. Hardin, who was a very strong political figure in V arren County which borders on Custer's Knox County. In turn, Custer i nd Hardin were close friends. Harding became closely associated with Gov Emmerson after his boss, Mayor Thompson was defeated and had some control over patron; ge in Chicago. He sponsored a dinner for all the committee-men in Cook County at the beginning of 195 the campaign ■ nd introduced Custer to theme At the outset, Custer had the support of a large number of the Cook County Committeemen. A former county chairman, Homer Galpin, worked hard for Custer. (Galpin had given up his -46- chairmanship and left Chicago in 192o curing an investigation 194 of that year's election. At Custer's opening rally in the Galesburg Armory on February 20, 1932, 45 of Chicago's l ct 5 50 committeemen attended , This large percentage of atten- dance may have been due in part to some of their holding patron- age jobso T 'hen it became apparent Custer was getting "dry" support and the Tribune launched violent attacks against Custer as a "dry Country Squire," several committeemen became scared and left Custer The wards had recently been redistricted and many committeemen were facing stiff opposition. In these Vvards the greatest struggle was often for ward committeeman and the results of the povernor's race hinged on vho was the nog strongest candidate for committeeman. y Certainly a strong factor in the shift of the committeemen was the open support riven Small by the former mayor, Bill Thompson. The committee- men found little solace in the fact that the "Crusaders," a strong group fighting against prohibition, promised retaliation 197 against the thirtyone committeemen v„ho stayed with Custer,, Apparently several did stay with him for as late as March 51$ 1932 the Custer camp claimed that thirty nine of the fifty 198 Chicago committeemen were pledged to Custer „ Custer had good support among the press. The Chicago Daily News endorsed him and ran many feature stories on Custer „ Its publisher, Frank Knox, -was a powerful political figure and 199 had an important job in the Hoover administration* Custer also had the support of the Peoria Journal , the Jacksonville Daily Journal , the Galva News , and the Abingdon Kodak e Rx was opposed by the Chicago Tribune and the Peoria Evening Star -4-7- (Many papers were uncommitted, for example the Illinois Register and Monmouth Reviev -Atlas . This list can not be truly repre- sentative for the author has not conducted&thorough study of the newspapers of the time.) ~ny of Custer's friends downstate vorked for him, Garrett Kinney, and county chairman Sheldon McV 3rth were active in Reoria for him. James Nov Ian gave him the support of his papers: The Galva JNews and the Stark Count, y JNews . Iter Rosenfield worked for him in Rock Island County . Also Harry Cozad the Republican County Chairman of Rock-Island County 200 and Charles Carpentier, Mayor of East incline worked for Custer. Burnett Chiperfield and Reed Cutler helped out Custer in Fulton County and elsewhere c O.N.'s old friends Clarence Buck and Everett Hardin in Warren County v orked for him. Albert Bailey 201 ■: nd V'illiam S. Bacon helped in IvicDonough Coungy Custer also had the support of the friends he had made in the Emmerson administration like Chester Colton vho managed the Custer Cam- paign in Morgan County and the state patronage employees « However, Custer also saw some of his friends leave him and give their support to Small „ Mayor Edward Woodruff of Peoria and John Bailey, publisher of the Bureau County Republican 202 in Princeton, backed Small. The former governor had built friendships, too, among the political leaders dov.nstate. Many of Custer's friends who stayed v.ith him found strong public support for Small and Carlstom. Carlstrom was particularly strong in some of the counties in Custer's own area since Carlstrom' s county was a neighbor of Knox County. He was particularly popular in his ov n Mercer County, Rock Island 48 ■ County, Henry County, and McDonough County Custer also had the support of former governor, Prank Oo Lowden e Lowden sent his endorsement in a letter which Custer 2CH used in his political ads c •* Lowden was still a popular figure in Illinois but he did not come back to the state to actively campaign for Custer Q He had chosen to give up his active interest in politics,, Custer's most controversial backers were the Anti-Saloon League and the Women's Christian Temperance Union (W<, CoT U ) <, Their endorsement undoubtably cost Custer thousands of votes in Chicago, Peoria, East St„ Louis and the other "wet" areas, Custer could have avoided a formal endorsement by the Anti- Saloon League by requesting the League not to formally endorse him. ^ Perhaps Custer felt that the 5 other "wer" candidates would break up the "wet" vote sufficiently so that a "dry" candidate could win Custer's stand on Prohibition was a subject for specu- lation and discussion during the campaign,, One story is that Custer ran as a dry all during the campaign after declaring himself as a dry in his opening rally e If he made such a dec- laration, it was not noticed by the Tribune or other hostile "wet" papers that were seeking proof he was "dry" In his platform address at the opening rally P Custer said that the issue of prohibition had to be settled by Congress and he knew of nothing the governor could do about it c He did not consider prohibition the mcs t important issue, but instead 20 c > felt the economic crisis to be more important, ^ The Tribune attacked him on this stand and charged that if Custer was I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 -49- governor Fnd Congress repealed irohibition, Illinois would "be still dry under its own laws because Custer would veto re- peal of these laws Custer held to his original stand through ir.ort of the campaign although he was alleged to have told the WoC.T.U. on March 5C that he had always been for prohibition and intended always to be. It W'8s not until three 207 days later that the Tribune rer orted it thought If such an important staterent was made it was not reported in the Laconb Daily Journal , the Illinois Journal , the Peoria Evening 6tc.r , or even the hostile ireoria Journal . The Jacksonville 1 jurier was probably the first to j ublish the rej ort by printing PCP> the story one day after it happened «, one day later, the 209 Illinois State .Register printed the statement . If Custer (.•id indeed make such a statement to the convention, why was it not reported widely? One story is that Custer was "collared" in a hallway by a F.C.T.Uo member and asked how he stood on rohibition fnd he made a statement similar to the one reported ^hree years later, the Tribune reruted its story by saying that Custer took no stand on prohibition, saying only that it 211 •.as a national issue Custer's platform and many of his speeches were of a logical, intellectual nature. The people did not understand 210 is principles o (This vas the fallacy of a man who did not finish grammar school ») Custer's platform was not one that r - turally stirred up enthusiasm for him even though he was f eaking on some of the most important problems of the state He ? a id that the government must stop impeding our business gr-o.'th by meddlesome legislation and high taxes. Taxes must "Kp rpriiin.pfl "hv ctri ot pc* on orm; of cmi--nrirr on+- nnrl tho p! iminBfi nn -50- of overlapping "by various governmental bodies. Tax reform must take piece to relieve the tremendous burden carried by the property tax. The functions of state government are highway construction and "adequate care for all dependents. He pledged further road building through the use of motor fuel tax funds and humane administration of the state institutions. The state should be reapportioned immediately to give Cook County, having over half the population, control of one of the houses of the legislature Chicago should have home rule: the right to make laws in those areas where it alone is concerned e Pri- vate initiative must bring us out of the depression, but govern- ment must provide protection for the unemployed e The workers must be given new safeguards against big business • (Custer 212 was the only candidate endorsed by labor,, ) The state must lower the property taxes on the farmer and there must be "help- ful cooperation" between the state government and the farmer o In conclusion he felt "the great issue in the campaign is less government in business and more business in government „" He felt the executive must "administer public business in the in- terest of the people who elect hinio" He wanted "a sweeping reform of governmental activities and an extensive reorganiza- 215 tion of all governmental functions of this state <>" Custer hit on the various points in his platform in many of his speeches, stressing particularly lower taxes. Custer also attacked Fmall (though not giving him "free adver- tising" by mentioning his name) and one other opponent with treating the people like idiots by saving that they would bring back prosperity o Another candidate (Brundage) v.ho wrote Illinois -51- 214 search end seizure act said he would eliminate prohibition,, Later Custer v;arned that the Republicans must choose a strong leader, and he pointed out that Small had trailed Harding "by 375, COO votes and Coolidge by 530,000 votes. 215 Custer also made extensive use of the radio and newspaper ads. In these ads he stressed another plank: he intended on serving only one term bs governor. Custer said during the campaign that he wanted to become a good governor so that his grandchildren would be proud he was a good governor. Whether this was only a campaign statement or a sign of a basic reason for Custer's candidacy in 1932 can only be guessed. If Custer was ashamed of his past; he may have wanted his grandchildren to be proud of his term as governor. When Custer ran, he ran with a slate . The slate was apparently the product of some pre-campaign bargaining „ Judge Robert Gentzel was on the slate for att orney-general He had been a municipal court judge in Chicago for eight years and a superior court judge for six years . C. Wayland Brooks was the elated candidate for treasurer. He had been in the Cook County State's Attorney office for 8 years o (He was in 1936 the unsuccessful Republican nominee for governor end was in 19^0 elected to the United States Senate for one term.) 217 Harry v right was slated for auditor. He also served as Custer's campaign manager. Fright was fro] uincy , giving the ticket a Cook County-d ownstate even balance. Genteel was brought into politics by Homer Galpin, who was one of Custer's strongest backers in Cook County. Brooks was brought into the slate by George Harding. Gentzel, Brooks, and Wright -52- traveled all over the state with Custer. Tred Sterling and '■' illiam Ptratton,the incumbent Lt . Governor and Secretary of PI ft State, faced no major opposition in the primary. The result of the primary was that everyone on the slate was nominated except Custer. He finished second, losing to Small by over 98, COO votes. The projected figures with over 219 bC7 of the precincts rei orting were: y Small 465,000 Custer 367,000 Carlstrom 283,000 (The figures on the primary are incomplete because for some unknown reason the Illinois Blue Books did not list the Returns of the 1932 primary.; Small led Custer, probably both in Cook County and downstete Q The day after the primary the returns 220 w Cook Downstate Total Small 17^,853 133,688 308,5^1 Custer 121,244 123,890 245,134 Carlstrom 102,052 86,118 188,170 Small carried at l®st 51 counties and Custer carried at least 221 38 counties » Custer had trouble in his own area. He won in his own county, Knox by a vote of 13,369 to 3,227 for the other seven candidates combined. tie also won in Warren County, but the popularity of Small's and the candicacy from neighboring Mercer County of Uscar Carlstrom caused Custer to loose many votes in nearby counties. Carlstrom carried Mercer County, McDonough County, Rock Island County and Henry County. Small 222 carried Bureau, Peoria and probably Fulton County,, Small's victory in the area has been attributed by some to his promises for more roads in these counties „ In McDonough County and per- haps elsewhere, Small v. orkers distributed en article from the -53- B ureau County Republican saying the district would get hundreds 225 of thousands of dollars of new roads if Small was elected. Custer's stand on Prohibition probably hurt him in Peoria and Rock Island counties. The Republican nominees were faced with a Democratic landslide in November. Small, however, fell far behind the rest of the state ticket. He lost by 566, 0C0 votes while the other Republican state officials lost by margins of from 57, CCO to 298,000 votes. The new Democratic administration included Henry Horner for Governor and Edward Hughes for Sec- retary of State. In 1932, Custer was chosen as a delegate-at-lerge from Illinois to the Republican National Convention. (Custer was also a delegate in 1928, 1936 and 194-0. ) 225 Small's bad defeat discredited him and Custer remained strong in Illinois Republi- can politics. In 1936 he was again chosen by the state con- vention as a delegate at large to the national convention. The Tribune in November, 1935 wrote that Custer was an eligible 226 man for the Republican nomination for governor. Custer chose not to run, but instead backed his 1932 candidate for Treasurer, C. V'ayland Brooks. Brooks von in the primary by over 308,000 votes over Sen. Small, his nearest opponent 227 of the eight running. Custer remained during the 1930 's 228 as a very strong force in Republican state politics. One man active in politics at the time called Custer the most 22Q prominent Republican in Illinois politics during the thirties.. This, of course, didn't mean much because the Republicans were out of office during this period. I I I I i I -54- Curiously though^ Custer end JMirdlinger apparently be- 250 came good friends with the Democratic Governor, Henry Horner. v Luring the 1932 campaign between Horner and Small, Horner came to Galesburg and during his stay, met with Ouster and JNird- linger in a room at the Hotel Custer. When questioned about 251 the meeting, Ouster said they were just "old friends." Horner defeated Small in Knox County by two thousand votes even though the rest of the Republican state ticket won by 1000 252 to 2000 votes. This friendship meant that it would be harder for local Democrats to get state help in upsetting Custer. The Democrat, Ralph Hawthorne , who was appointed Postmaster 255 w the Public Works administration gave Galesburg a grant of $4-00,000 for new schools, but the school board turned it down. The city 27,5 wanted to use the money for resurfacing streets. In 19389 Galesburg got another government grant in which the city had to put up 55% ^1 the cost for building 5 new schools „ Some of the old schools were in bad shape and had to be torn down. Within a year and a half, the five schools had been built or onlor , 236 enlarged . During the 1930' s, Custer was named to Who ' s Who In the 1930-31 issue he was named as the President of the First Galesburg National Bank, purington Paving Brick 0o , Western Illinois Ice Co., hotel Custer Co., publisher of the Galesburg Register Mail, and director of the Inter-State Telephone Company, Illinois Light & Power Company, Galesburg Overall Co., Beatrice Creamery Co. and Western Investment Co He was a member of the Masons, Elks, Rotary and Hamilton Chicago Rod and Gun Clubo He was a trustee of Lombard College, This was the first year they admitted politicians. Custer was again named to Who's Who in the 1936-7 edition,, 257 Custer continued to build his financial empire during the 1930' s. In late 1929 or early 1930, Custer bought stock in the Abingdon Potteries from J.K. Slough who had been pres- ident of the First National Bank of Abingdon. The bank had closed, and Mr. Slough sold the stock to get money to pay off -56- soir.e of the losses of the bank. Custer became the largest stockholder in the company but did not take an active interest in the running of the company, but he did become a director 258 of it. Pome Abingdon people asked Custer to establish a bank to replace the two that had closed. U.N. end some of his close business associates: T.m. Cox, Louis Nielsen, I.T. Bondi, H.F. Bondi, and Sidney Nirdlinger put up the money to establish the bank. Custer was the principle stockholder and became 259 chairman of the bank. Nirdlinger was chosen as president,, During the 193c' s, Custer bought around 1200 acres of farm land in Henderson and Sparta townships, north of Gales- burg. One of the first plots he bought were from Ray New- comer in 1932. Newcomer had gone bankrupt and he sold Custer the land to pay off a mortgage to the Prudential Insurance 240 Company of America. Custer in 1936 bought more land from the Farmers-Mechanics Lank which had held the land for three 241 and a half years. When Custer consolidated the banks, the People's bank had several farm mortgages. George Inness, a director in the First Galesburg National Bank, had the job of clearing up the mortgages so that the debtors and stockholders of the People's bank would be paid what was due them. In 1931, Inness bought a farm from Paul O'Connor and sold this farm to the bank. The bank did not foreclose on O'Connor's mortgages. The bank then held onto the farm for six years 242 before Mrs. Custer bought it in 1937 • The most controversial purchases by Custer concerned the farms of Frank and Henry Faulkner. Their mortgages with the People's Trust were fore- closed on by the First Galesburg National Lank in 1930. The -57- suit was finished in 1951 fnc * Custer bought the lend from the bank in 1932. A mortgage with the Chicago Joint Stock Lend 243 Bank was also foreclosed on at the same time. They had agreed in the People's mortgage that if they did not make the payments, the amount of the mortgage could come due immediiiely. 244 Henry Faulkner said that Custer had foreclosed as soon as the mon y 245 was due. Miss Esther Pearson, vho v.es Sidney Nirdlin^er ' s secretary at the time, said that the Faulkners had made no ayments on the principle or interest for years. She also said that the "banks helped out many farmers who tried to make pay- 246 ments. However, the bank was subject to regulation by the bank examiners. The examiners would not allow bcnks to carry mortgages indefinitely. County records show that the bank did 247 foreclose on Faulkner and several others. Custer in 1937 acquired some rore land that had been owned by Frank Faulkner. Custer bought it frDm Faulkner to 248 pay off a mortgage to the John Hancock Insurance Company." During the late twenties and early thirties the county records show 7 a great number of farm foreclosures by banks, loan companies and insurance companies. Many farmers had after World r ar I, mortgaged their land to buy other farms at cheap prices end livestock. During the late 192C ' s farm ; rices fell sharply. The farmers couldn't make the payment: m the mort- gages. The holders of the mortgages were dependent on he in- come from the mortgages for the operation of their businesses. The records show that Custer did not buy nortg ges and then foreclose on them. I. ny farms Custer t - . , ht en foreclosed on from six months to i ix years before by bar, nd -58- he bought land from farmers v;ho were in financial trouble. In the earlier "3>0's", Nirdlinger learned from his brother in Burlington, Iowa that that city's two newspapers were in near bankruptcy. Custer purchased both of the papers and consolidated them into one very profitable paper. O.N. then let his son Howard T. Custer, run the paper. Apparently Howard did a good job, for Nirdlinger said that Howard was 24-9 going to be as good an editor as his father. J However, Howard was "weak" he drank too heavily. He was married, but he and his wife were separated. She lived in Idaho with her daughter. In 1934, he shot himself in the head and died in a 250 Burlington hotel. y This was a great shock to his father. O.N. never really got over the death; it took some of his will 251 to live away.. y The details of O.N.'s family life are sketchy. A close friend and neighbor of Custer for over thirty years, R.F. Carley, said that Custer loved his family very much, that they were what he was living for. He stayed at home with them in the evenings. Custer had been very poor as a child and young man and he wanted his children to have vhat he didn't have as a 252 child. He wanted them to have vhat they wanted. y Custer's daughter, Mrs. Ethel Schmidt, said that her father was not 255 strict but he demanded respect. Rev. E.W. Stinson writes that Mrs. Custer said to him after he conducted Howard's funeral, "I can't understand why Howard did this to us. We were always so good to him. We never even spanked him when he was a boy." Rev. Stinson had told Howard earlier that he was breaking his father's health and his mother's heart. ^ -59- Custer's daughter, Ethel, married Lester Pritchardo O.K. gave him various positions in some of his businesses but didn't expect him to become the ruling heir of the family fortune* The Pritchards had a son Bill whom Ouster became very fond of, The family often met together evenings e During these evenings, U.N. v/ould often read Every Sunday evening the family had dinner at the Custer Hotel „ OoN„ took the whole family along on his only two long vacations: a trip to Europe with the Louis Emmerson^s in 1927 and a trip to Gulfport , Mississippi in 1932o Custer also took his family along on the 1932 campaign tours „ 0„N„ end his wife went to practically 254-b every new movie that came to the Orpheum Theatre Within the home the/* must have been sorrow over liquor «, 255 Mrs Custer was a very strong dry c O.No would take an occasional social drink, and he had strong feelings against 256 people drinking excessively „ They failed however to convey these feelings to their children,, The children have left good impressions with many of their friends „ A good friend of Howards, Roy Larson, said that "he was the t; pe of guy that would give you the shirt off his backo" Tom Patton, a IMegro politician, worked for Ethel and is full of stories of her kindness and loyalty Custer's evening time was limited mostly to his family „ He disliked parties to the extent of being very anti-socialo Mrs Custer wanted to have more parties » They entertained few 257 friends outside the family in their home o It was apparent from talking to several of his nephews, nieSGtes , and more distant relatives that even these parts of the family were close -60- t aster. Custer had not told them a great deal about his i ■ enterprises though* Pome people have said that he In t even tell his v.ife about his many businesses and poli- te ] activities. For example, she did not know he was going peg the M ail until the evening of the final transactions/ Mr. Nirdlinger in some ways became the son Custer wanted ■i?vf . Nirdlinger was several years younger then Custer and y lit a very close bond of friendship. O.iM. hoped that Nirdlinger could j- m his businesses after he died. Juster saw to it in his wall that his family was going tc : •• taken care of. lMird linger war named as one of the trustees - inheritance is to remain in estate until twenty one years ber the last grandchild dies . The heirs were given the in- 2£>0 c Di e from the estate. The provisions of the will were strict enough to insure a steady income for his wife, children and grandchildren Juring their lifetime. During Custer's later years, his health began to fail. ie developed a heart condition,, Later Mr. Nirdlinger found bhat he had heart trouble, to. Neither one slowed down their activities much, though. Custer's last major purchase of a business was in 1937 v hen he helped, establish GaleFbur/'s first commercial radio station which was named ftGIL. Custer, however did not become an officer in the station. The officers were: Nirdlinger, president, Burrel Barash, secretary and Lester Lritchard , trea- 261 purer. In Custer's last two years, the machine lost two major elections. For the first time since the machine began, it failed -61- to elect its candidate for district attorney. The machine in 1936 had elected Eugene Hardy as district attorney. For some reason, a split developed and in 1940, Custer tried to defeat him "but failed. In 1941, Custer ran Ben Huff for mayor. Huff had served as city clerk for many years. Running against Huff was David Lindberg, a railroad man. Lindberg had been had part of a group on the city council that/\grovn in recent years Pf> p that was opposed to the machine. Lindberg lost the primary by 1000 votes but a statement was made by one of Huff's backers that the city shouldn't have a "box car pusher" for mayor. This excited the railroad and union v. orkers and Lindberg won the general election by 500 votes. Several things happened in Custer's last 3 ears on the state scene that were of interest. In 1936, Custer broke with! Clarence Buck of Monmouth who was a candidate for the Republican nomination for state treasurer. Custer backed his opponent, 265 a man by the name of Johnson. y Buck wan statewide but lost P64 in Knox County 4411 to 2724. In 1940, Lvight Green came to Custer to ask for his support for governor. Earlier, Herb Bloomquist, had attended a meeting and met Green and recommen- ded him to Custer. On Bloomquist ' s recommendation Custer had 265 decided to back Green. ' en Green came and found he had backing, he asked Custer to talk to Emmerson. Custer then called up the former governor and got his endorsement of Green. The candidate left with the support of tv o large areas of the 266 state. After Green was elected, Custer went to see him in ingfield. When Green was late for his appointment, Custer left the room saying he v ould go to Secretary of State Hughes' -62- office v here he would be welcome. (Hughes was a Democrat end had first been elected in 1932. Hughes and Custer had become good friends.) He found Hughes in end had a friendly- conversation. During the talk, the governor's secretary called to tell him the governor was in. Custer said he wes busy but would be over later. Vhen Custer was done he went in to see Green. Green later said that Custer had given him quite a lecture and that Custer was the only person to tell him vhen he was governor that he was late„ During 194-2, Custer's health began to fade. He made several trips to the hospitol but still worked as much as he l Oc" 269 268 could. He died on October 17, 194-2 after being in the hos- pitol for a few days Custer's funeral was attended by a capacity crovd. More than a score of prominent politicians and businessmen came from around the state. One came from l\lew York and one also from Los .Angeles. Among those were Walter Rosenfield, Oscar Nelson, George Barrett, Hugh Cross and Warren V right. The city businesses 270 and city and county offices were closed during the funeral . Custer's will was valued at SI ,169,704-. 21. Of this, real estate was valued at $235,061, personal rroperty at $904-, 515 and chattel property at $30,126. This included holdings in the tv. o banks, tele r hone company, Purington, and Abingdon 271 Sanitary Co. -63- iiMLYSIS Walter Lippman once wrote: "Power exercised with re- straint end magnamity is e great persuader in human affairs." Even though Custer died tventy years "before this was written, Custer knev the meaning of the statement. The author has found few people v ho Custer ordered to do something. He told them instead, "If I were you, I v ould do....... As president of the "bank, publisher of the paper and political boss such "suggestions" carried more then ordinary weight. This coes not mean that Custer couldn' t "crack the whip." With Faulkner, for example, he did. He also showed his political candidates and office holders his power when he easily defeated an in- cumbent state representative and state central committeeman. Custer didn't need to "crack the whip" often. Few people the author talked to remembered ever seeing Custer get mad » Custer once told Stan Hinnman "If you are wrong, I'll tell you so, 273 but I w on't bawl you out*" Richard Jelliff worked for Custer over 30 years but he didn't remember Custer ever getting 274- med at him. The art of leadership is to get others to want to do what you want them to do „ No man is a leader unless he has followers. Custer knew how to win those followers. He knew that some followers could be won by giving them responsibility or a title. Some needed recognition in his paper, almost all wanted a feeling of im- portance: he could remember their name, he could make their v:>te seem important or their part in the machine. Some could be v. on by allowing some speakeasies to operate so they could get -64- g orink. Some needed a hero to v.orship, a leader. Some needed help: a loan or a job. Some just needed advice. The directors in the companies he was elected j resident of may have needed Tian with business ability < nd one with influence in the bank no in Litici . Some men wanted to be "independent ," they Ldn't want to be followers. V ith them the trick is to make them think your idea is their idea. Many of these things Custer did naturally, others he j robably learned through experience,, other part of leadership is to realize that ordinary- men C8n make ordinary decisions. The function of the leader to mske sure his followers are making their decisions and he must be able to make che decisions they can not make. Custer could not have made all the decisions for all the business and political activities he was in. He did not try, he had Ken in key positions vho were able^nd were men he could trust. Custer was two things: he was the business leader and he W8S che political boss. Often political bosses are in con- flict, or at least separate from the wealthy business elite of the town. The political boss is the men the "little guy" can go to when he needs help: a favor, loan or a job. The business leader may often be a banker from whom businessmen can get large loans or a super -businessman who's \ ord end advice are good. Custer was both the political en6 the business leader. Inherent in the nature of boss role are cert fin feu Its. First of -:11, candidates must usually have the boss's ayrroval to h-: ve s fair chance to win. No matter ho* bencf icient the boss is, this is en impediment on the democratic process. Because Custer was the expert politician he was, he sus- - 5- ti ined end strengthened the one-p?rty Republican r.jle the county had had since the Civil War. In a one party count; , the prims ries f re the most important elections. Custer's men won these with only few exceptions. Custer's power in the area rnd state was assisted because he could deliver a primary v )te of 6000 to 1000 for his candidate. Bosses often leave a jover vaccuum vhen they die v. hich their followers are either unwilling or unable to fill. Custer had assumed that Nirdlinger would take over his economic empire, hut he died within a few years after Custer died. Most of the men who worked closely \ ith Custer were his contemporaries or older: the Boutelle brothers, the Bonai brothers, George Clark, T.M. Cox, J.M. Cailey, Max J. Mack and others. Several younger men were associated with Custer in business or politics: Judge Rodney Stuart, Judge Riley Stevens, H? rold Nichols, George Clausen in i bingo on, Burrel Barash, Wallace Thompson, Robert Egan, Julian Mack, Herb Bloomquiet to name a fev. Most of these men were later to assume responsibility but Custer had not pre- • - red them to take his rover. Conrc.uently Gelesburg politics ined in a state of chaos for several years until they and :ers decided to take the "bull by the horns" and make Galesburg into a progresrive city. Custer's political power was built on several things- Controlling the newspaper he could praise, atteel or ignore ■ can< idate. Custer could and did use the bank for political 75 purposes. Custer h£d been the "gift horse" lor a lc rge number of people. The machine controlled the political workers. If one of the committeemen v,r s not doing his job, they tried to -66- 276 replace him, The machine included most of the inf luential leaders in the county and city. Some observers say the key to Custer's economic and political power vere the speakeasies and vice present in Gales- hu.rg. These observations are exaggerated,, It is true that if Custer had tried to enforce stringently the prohibition lsws, he would have lost a large amount of support. Prohibition lav. ; s can not be enforced unless the people want them enforced with- out using police state tactics « The author has found sub- stantial unprintable evidence ab^ut payoffs during certain periods but the evidence shows th?t Custer ci id not profit from them. (The author agrees with the belief expressed, in inter- viewing Judge Riley Stevens and Kellogg McClelland, Treasurer r, ritus of Knox College, that Mr. Custer was too smart to get mixed up with the criminal element. He would stand to loose : Dre than he could gain.) Custer's word was good. When people came to him and asked hie: for something, he would say "I'll see what I can do," or he would say to core back the next day and he would have an answer. In this way he could avoid making decisions too hastily. Custer and his machine supported and brought many im- provements for Galesburgo Members of the machine were responsible 277 for Galesburg's first airport* Custer backed the formation 278 of the Fanitary District « 1. rs . Custer served, on the parks 27Q board vhen Lincoln Park ves being developed „ The Custers donated two large parks within the city: O.N. Custer Perk and H.T. Custer Park. O.N. helped establish Galesburg's first commercial radio station, VGIL. He worked to bring in several -67- factories,. As a result of his "bank consolidations, no "banks failed in Galesburg during the depression The record of the Custer machine was never tarnished by a major scandal "but it did have its faults and mistakes . Many opposed the ma chine because it was a machine Many thought the machine was responsible for all the sin and vice in the community The opposition consistently charged that the machine and Custer were responsible for "high" power and telephone rates . They attacked the brick streets, pointing out many home owners v,ho didn't want to pay for them. They said that if anyone wanted a job they had to go to Custer. (The author was unable to explore fully the "black side" of Mr. Custer ) Custer's personality was the key to his power over people „ He had personal charm which enabled him to make friends easily . However, he did not become very emotional towards people „ He was very generous to his friends. He had those qualities that make leaders and great politicians » o -68- Footnotes Crrl Custer, cousin of O.N. Custer, Galesburg. Interview Fred R. Jelliff , "The Interesting Story of a Busy Life, J.i\i. Custer." Galesburg Printing and Publishing Co., 1932 (campaign t amphlet . ) Ibid. 4. Ibid 5. Ibid . 6. I bid » end Marc Pardons (deceased) husband of a neice of Custer and stockholder in the Register-Mail, Galesburg Interview . 7. Ibid. I v id . Carl Sandberg, /. lv.gys The "Yo ung Strangers . New York: Htrcourt , Brace and Company, 1953? ?« 218-9. 10. Jeliff, or, cit. lie ' illiam Rich&rdson, nephev, of Custer, Galesburg, Interviev 12. Jelliff, op . cit . 1$. Stanley Hinman, employee in business of the paper for many years and friend of Custer from before 191C, Gales- burg. Interview. 14. Carl Sandberg, "Carl Sandberg Writes of Custer as Known in his Home Town." Chicago Daily News , March 21, 1932c P. 9 column 1-3 (additional stories were in the next few days) . 15. Jelliff, op. cit . 16. Parsons, op. cit . 17. Jelliff, o p. cit . 18. "Galesburg Register-Lail ' s Origin Traced Into Last Century" Regis ter-L ail January 6, 1961, P. 19, c. 4 & 5° 19. "O.N. Custer is In Favor, " Republican Register , July 12, 1906. P. 1 c. 1 & 2. -6' - 2C . Richard Jelliff, nerhev. of Fred Jelliff, end employee of the psper from 1%7 , Galesburg, Interviev . 21. "Hurbur-h Is- the V, inner," Republican Rer ister June 9, 1%2. p. 1 c. 2. Herbert Bloomquist vhD aided Custer in several elective, Lntive and busim positions. Galesburg, Interviev.. 23. "' illiemson Was Endorsed " Weekly Republican Register -^rch 26, 1904. role. 1-4. 24. rom A Delegate" Weekly Republic a:: Register May 28, 1904, p. 4 c. 1 25. " ant Submission" Republican Register March 15, 1904. • . 1 c . 3 • 26. "Independent-Citizens". Ev ening Mail , March 29, 1909 . c . 1 27. "Debate On The System" Republican Register December 21, 1%5, ] ■ • 6 c. 3 & 4 28. "Galesburg Is A Dry Town" Re rublican Register April b, 1908, p. 1. c. 1. "The Local Officer's Sphere" Republican Register , Sept- ember 2b, 1905 1 . 4, c. 1. 50. Inventory of The County /revives of Illinois, jn'o. 48 Knox County , Historical Records Survey, : orks Progress ministration, 193b, Chicago, 111. 31. "Evening kail Changes Hands" Evening Mail December 12, 1907, P. l,Cc 1. 32. Staterents of Ownership ana Management, Galesburg hvening Lail , October 2, 1914. p. 3* c. 7 - ; 6 snd October 13, 1927 [-. 14 c. 6 & 7. 33« "Chandler Fights" Republican Register May 13, 190b, p. 1 c. 4 and "Omer N. Custer in Role of Thug - attacks Editor of Evening Mail " Galesburg Evening Mail , May 14, 1908, p. 8 c. 1 & 2. 34. Max Goodsil, brother-in-law of Robert Chandler, Galesburg. Interview. 35* "Custer, King, Rice Vin," Republican legister, August 9, 1906 p. 2, c. 1-6. 36. Fred Jelliff, op. cit e -70- 37 o "Names O.N, Custer For Postmaster" Evening h-sil , Dec 17, 19C8 p. 8, c.4. 58. Hinman, op . cit . 39* "Board of Supervirors" Illinois Democrat , Galesburg, Sept. 14, 1906, p ,i Ct 6, 4-C . "Names O.M. Custer For Postmaster", op . cit . 41. Roy Larson, former Intern?: 1 Revenue /gent ana state central committeeman. Galesburg Interview. 42 c Fred Jelliff , op . cit e 43. "Statement of Ownership end Management" Republican Register October 3, 1914 , p-2, c«5 & 6c 44. Parsons, op. cite 45. Colville's Galesburg Directory 1913-14 Galesburg: Colville Bros, Publishing Co. 1913 p. 563 . 46 o Colville's Gales burg ; Directory , 1915-16 „ p. 62C. 47. Ralph F, Carley, former Galesburg area manager of Illinois Power Co., Galesburg, Interview. 48. Bloomquist , op cit e 49. Mrs. Herbert Bloomquist c 50. republican Candidate For Treasurer, Peter A. McDowell" Rej 1 >licen Register , September 10, 1910, p 2, c. 5-7° 51. "Attorney Frank Is In Race" Evening Mai l February 14, 1911, p. 1, Co l. 52. "The Successful Candidates," Evening, IViail , Aj ril 2,1913 p . 1 , c . 6 . 53« Pictures of Mayors in Galesburg City Hallo 54. "waiting An Answer" Re public an Register September 1, 1910, Pel, Co 1. 5';. "King lashes the Interests" Rei ublican Register , Sept- en ber 12, 1910, p.l, c.6. 56. "Not Voting, Not Voting, Not Voting" Ev ening Rail November 1, 1912. p. 6, c,l-2o 57 o "Register Using Oxygen" Evening Mail November 4, 1912 ] c (/ t C • 1™L o -71- 58. "Specimen Ballot" R epublican register , Novecber 4, 1916 p. 14. 59» "Greet Fight In Illinois" K eiuMican Register April 9? 1912, p. 14. 60. "Custer Loses Several Bets" Evening; Mail , November 7* 1912, p. 2, c.4. 61. Tom Pat ton, Galesburg, Interview . 62. "Official Count of Vote Being Made Today" Evening Mail September 11, 1914, p. 2, c.L 6$. "Knox County Official Vote," Evening Mail Sept en.be r 12, 1914 o p. 2, c. 3 & 4 64. Louis Emmerson, editor, Illinois Blue Book ., 1925-6, Springfield: Illinois State Journal Co, 1925, pp. 787-792. 65. O.N. Custer to Frank 0. Louden, "The Papers of Frank 0. Lowden," Harper Memorial Library, University of Chicago Series III Box XXVI, folder 2, September 14, 1916. 66. William Hutchinson, Louden of Illinois, \ol. II , Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1957, P« 276. 67- Ibid, po 2oh 6b. Lloyd V endt and Herman Kogan B ig Bill of Chicago , New York: Bobbs Merrill Co, 1955, p. 278. 69. Ihid p. 178. 7C Mrs. Sidney Nirdlinger, Galesburg, Interview. 71. Mrs. Nirdlinrer, op o cit. 72. Lov.den papers, o r c cit , Series III, Box LIV, Folder 7° 73 • Louis Emmerson, editor. Illinois Blue Book 1921-22. Sy ring f ield : Illinois Journal Printing Co. 1922. 74. endt, op. cit . p. 187. 75. Fred Jelliff, op. cit . 76. Galesburg National Bank Advertisement, Republican Registei , October 2, 192G.p«5i c. 6 & 7. 77. ' lesburg National Bank Advertis 1 ,it, Republican legister , April 8, 1916. p. 5, c. 7 & 8. 78. Galesburg National Bank Advertisement, Republican Register , April 11, 1921, 1 . 5, c. 4 &5. -72- 79. slesburp. , ' agoner Printing Co (Gale.? "burg, 1929) let 80. Colville's Galegburg Directory, ] . p. 407. 81. Russell r orcester, former superintendent of the brick- rds , Galesburg, Interview. o^ . r- ecic 1 ; : sej sment Financing of Locs 1 Imj n . . nts 1925- 19 /: C. Illi nois Tax Commissi m report 1940 o 8$. "Paving Costs in Galesburg Belov ''ve . ■ " \ ; . niiig i ^.il , [February 11, 1924, p. 5, c.J. lA o Barretts Gales b urg; Director y 1928 , p . 26 5 • cS. :>rcester, op. cit . 86. Hinman, op. cit. 67 .e. Julian Mack, son Max Mack, Gales-burg, Interview, b. Edward Stickney, lawyer and County Judge, 1922-26, Galesburg, Interview. 88. "A Courteous ) oung Man For County Judge" Pvening; Iv:ail „ p. 2, c . 7 . 89. Ibid . 9C. "A Competent ":• oung- i, an For Treasurer" ' vening Pail April 2, 1926, p. 2, c. 2 & 5. 91. Bloomquist , oy . cit „ ( .2. "Find Cutler on Payroll" Regis ter-t. ail , April 2,1929, . 2 , c . 5 o 9$. John Chapman, ward politician in Chicago in 1920 *s S 30's and Lt . Governor 1952-60, Srringfieid, Interview. 94. George Clausen, President Abingdon bank and Trust, and employee in state treasurer's office 1925-1929. Abingdon, Interview Q 5. Larson, op , cit . Z>S • 96. Louis Emi;erson, editor, Illinois Blue Book 1925-26 , Springfield, Illinois Journal Printing Co 1926. p. 919-20. 97. Martin B. Carlson, President Pro-Tern cf Illinois Senate, l c „29, Moline Letter. 98. John Ryan, retired Monmouth lawyer, Monmouth, Interview. -73- 99o Reynolds M. Everett, Republican County Chairman in Henry County, Galva. Interviev. c 100c Howard Sage, Galva, 111. former employee of the Bureau County Republican, Interviev. 101c Congo Robert Chiperfield, son of Burnett Chiperf ield , letter o 102o LoAc Randolph, editor of Macomb Journal, M8 comb, Interviev 103° Victor Michel, former state senator. Peoria, Illo Interview o 104- William Kumpf , former Peoria .Alderman and political worker, Peoria, Interview „ 105 o Larson, op o cito 106o Everett, op,, cit o 107» Illinois Blue Book, 1925-6, op, cit o p. 911 , 108. V.endt, op cit o p 216 o 109 o "Dene en Action Main Event of Political Week" Evening Mail April 15, 1925, Pert 2, p. 8. 110. V/endt , op a cit o p 231 111c DoFc Meek, secretary, Illinois Power COc Decatur, Illo letter o 112 "Relation of the Press to Public Service Corporations" Evening Mail , January 16, l c ;08 p. 4, c.l. 113° Mrs o Ethel Schmidt, daughter of Q,,N, Custer, Galesburg, Interview 114-. "Harry Custer Dies after a Brief Illness" Gelesburp; Bio - graphy LScrapbook Galesburg Library, March 25, 19^8 „ 115* Meek, op cit o 116. "Custer Heard in Stronghold of Republicans" Chicago Daily News , March 18, 1932. p. 10, c. 1. 117 Carley, op , cit o 118 e Wendt , op cite p 204. 119° "Custer Group Here Happy, See Victory" Peoria Journal , April 10, 1932 , p« 2, c. 4o 120 o Rodney Stuart, Knox County Judge 1930-1953, and delegate to the 1927 convention. Galefbure. Interview. -74- 121. "Launch Custer Campaign Here" Peoria Journal March 25 , 19 $2 o p . 6 , c. 1 . 122. endt, op, cit . p, 279° 125. Chapman, op. cito "Table of Leading Contests in Tuesday's Primary" Evening Mail April 19, 1926. p. 2. c.2-5. 125 . Chapman, op <• cit . 126- endt, op , cit p. 196-7° 127 o IT" id p. >C5> 124 12ti Whole Ticket Sweeps State Burying Small" Chicago Tribune pril 10, 1928 pal Co 6. 129 o Hutchinson, op., cit e, p 564. 130o "Illinois Gives Lowden 49 of its Delegates" Chicago Tribune /pril 10, 192b, p. 1, c, L 131. George L. Hart, Official Report of the Proceedings at the ldth Republican National Convention New York: The Tenny 1 Qop r ny 132. Hutchinson, o p. cit o p c 564 „ 135c "Friendship That Costs" Outloo k 149(lviay 50, 1928) p. 168. 1^4 o Hutchinson, op . cit e p„ 214 135* Ibid , p. 91 136o Ibido p.. 539. 137 -9 .Bloomquist , 0; , cit c b ^Hutchinson, op 3 cit o p» 570. 138o Henry Faulkner, former Knox County resident, interview, V ood hullo 139* Hutchinson, op » cit . p» 594o 14C . Larson, op cite 141 Hart, op. cit , p 42 142 o Ibid , pp. 52-3 o 143, Ibid, p a 67- 144 . Ibid , p„ 186. 145 Ibid , p. 68 . -75- \ 146. Chapiran, op , cite 14-7 o lilrs o Nird linger, oj , cit , 14oo L'dward Hughes, ' Illinois Blue Book 194-1-2 printed V.\ authority of the State of Illinois. 14-9. Kramers on, op. cite 1927-28, p„ >3C, 150 o Strttton, William, Illino is Blue B:>ok , 1929-50 Spring- field, Illinois Journal Printing Co« p„ 4-52 . 151o Hughes, Edward, Illi nois Blue Book , 193>-34-o Si rmgf ield Illinois Journal Printing Co, p 531« 152 o Emmerson, op c it «, p 4-54- c 153° Dbert Lgan, local attorney, Galesburg Interview 154-0 Emmerson, 1925-6, or., cit , pp. 33^-9° 155 - Highes, op, cit. pp. 531-2 156, Miss Goldie Bellinger, employee of Intra State Telephone- since l c 26 • nd currently secretary of the company, Galesburg, Interview ■ 157- Max Goodsil, op, cit e 158. Richard Jellifi and Max Goodsil, op. cit . 15c : ichard Jelliff . 16C . Hinman and Goodsil, op „ cit. 161 o Goodsil end Ray Anderson, son of Joe Anderson, Galesburg, Interview . 162 o Esther Pearson, secretary to Sidney Nird linger from 1925 until his death* Galesburg, Interview 163. "To .Move Bank Over Weekend 11 K ep;ister-lvail August 29, L("(, P.", Co' 164- B Stater ent of First Galesburg National Bank" Kegister - ail October 12, 1929 p. 2, c. 5-4-. 165» Pearson, op a cit . 166 c Mack, oj. . cit 167« Pearson, op , c it , 168c Miss Virginia Hinchlif 1 , Galesburg, Interview 169. Pussell Worcester -76- 17C. learson, op ., cit. 171c Larson, op a cit . 172 „ Pearson, op , cit • 173 • Pat ton, oj_ . cit . 174. Ben J. Huff, "Trie Storey Behind Public Parks and Play- grounds in Galesburg," Gelesburg Publishing Co (Gales- burg, 1952) ] „7« (One park, H.Tc Custer was donated after this was j ublished ) 175- rso Ethyl Schmidt, or . cit , 176, Larson, or , cit 177- Lss Hazel Marcum, l-i ' s secretary for many years at the paper Galesburg, Interview 17^o Larson, op, cit . 179. Miss Pearson end Mrs. Nird linger, op , cit . 180. Larson, op_, cit 161, Carl Hart, ovner of Kellogg end Brake, Galesburg, Interview 182 „ Ibido 183 o Stuart Battles, former president of Midwest Manufacturing Company, Galesburg, Interview. 184 „ T.R. Churchill, former President of Churchill Manufacturing Co., Galesburg, Interview o 185 - "Fence Jumping Excites G0O0P0 Primary Corps," Chicago Tribune March 16, 1932 . p<>3«. c.L I860 Omer N. Custer "Platform Address" campaign pamphlet, Febc 20, 1932 o lo7 Lov.den Papers, op c . cit , series I, box XV, Folder 3> y 31, 1932. 18b. "Custer on Tax Body" Galesburg I ost , January 16, 1920 189o "I go to Speak />t Majestic This Evening" Peoria Evening Star Kerch 19, 1932. p. 4, c,l - p. 10, c.2, 190 „ Ibid. 191 "Daniel A, Roberts, Sr c Circuit Court Judge of Cook County end a ward committeman in 1932 (letter to author) and John Chapman, op, cit e, -77- 192. "Horner Assails Dovmstate Tax Pledge of Igoe" Chicago Tribune: ch 31, 193 1, c. 3. rd i oore , secret.' )f the Chica o Transit Authority rnd former ch; ir < ■■;' tne Cook County Republican Central Committee, Chicago, Interview 1 9 ; + o e nd t , op, cit . , 1 ( - . 195. "Custer Opens Primar; n" Galesburg i egister-h i il February 20, 1932 p.l, c 196o Dberts, oy c cit . 197. "Patronage Boys Get Orders to Go For Custer," Peoria vening; Star Larch 25, 193 ■ .1, c.l pol6,c. 1-4. 19c, "Cook Swings Toward Custer" Peoria Journal March 18, 1932 o p .3, c »2. 199* Chester Colton, Jacksonville, 111. Supervisor of the Motor Fuel Tax Dept . in Emmerson administration. Interview . 200. Charles Carpentier, Secretary of State in Illinois and former manor of hast Moline , letter to author* 201 o Randolph, oj 3 cit . 2C2. "Cheer Small in Greatest Meet of Campaign" P eoria Journal April 6, 1932 p.l, c.5. 203. Lov.den Papers Series I Box X\ Folder 3« 204- o "Peveal Custer to Get Dry League Packing, " Chicago Tribune April 1, 1932, i .4, c.l. 205 « Custer, "Platforn Address", op. cit . 206. "Mr. Custer and State Prohibition" Cnic ;f.;o Tribune , March 20, 1932 p. 12, c.2. 207. "Custer Accuses Small," Chicago Tribun e April 2, 1932 208. "W.C.T.U. Backs Hoover, Custer as Candidates" J ackson - ville Courier Parch 31, 1932, p.l, Cc3. 209 . "Custer's Stand 0:1 Prohibition Takes Limelight" Illinois State Register 210. . oore, op , cit „ 211. "Galesburg Man Eligible," Chicago Tribune Nov. 2, 1935c p . 12 , Co 1-2 . -78- 212„ "Says Custer is Friend of Union Labor" Illinois State Journal April 9, 1932, p. 2, c.$-6. 21$ „ Custer, Pis t form Address, op cit . 214c "LaSalle County Hails Custer it Rally Tonight" Cnicago Daily News p. 7, c.l March 24, 1932 . 215. "Custer Warns GOP to Pick a Strong Leader" Chicago Daily News p. 6, c.l. rch $0, 1952. 216. "Custer's Tour Ends With Talk at Rockford," Chicago Daily News March 19, 1932 p. 4, c.l. 217 o "Big Crowd to Greet Custer" Chicago Daily News March 27. 1952. Pol, Col. 218. "Race for State Offices Stirs G.OoP. Rivalry" Chicago Tribune March 2C , 1932 p. 5, c.1-2. 219. "Small's Plurality Climbs to 95, COO in Late Returns," Register-Mail April 15 , 1932 p.l, c.2-5. 220. "Small, Horner Win Primary Races" Register-Mail April 13, 1932 p. 2, c.8o 221. "Seek Party Hern. ony After Primary" Register-Mail April 14, 1932, p.l, c.8. 222 o "Primary Returns by Counties" Chicago ^ribune April 13 9 p . 2 , Co 3-5 ° 223. "Strange Campaign .< rgument "• Macomb Daily Journal March 23, 1932 p 4, c.1-2. ' 224. Edward Hughes, Illinois Blue Book, 1953-4, Springfield Illinois Register 1954, p. 599. 225. George L. Hart, O fficial Report of the Re public an Nation al Convention New York: Tenny Press 1928, 1932, 1936, 194-0 Pc73, 55, 56, 69. 226. "Galesburg Man is Eligible" Tribune, op . cit o 227. "Brooks Plurality is Now 3Cb,0C0, Horner 102,000" Ma c omb Da ily Journa 1 April 16, 1936 p.l, c.lo 22^ Edward Moore, forcer Cook County Republican Chairman, Lambert Engdahl, Secretary of the State Central Committee and Glen Walley, Peoria County Republican Chairmen, Peoria Interview . 229. Valley, Ibid, 2^0. Nirdlinger, Roy Larson, Stan Hinman and Burrel Barash -79- 2plo "Custer in G.O.F," Galesburg Post September 29, 1952 1 , c.2. 232 "Deu.s Carry County" Galesburg Post November 10, 1932* 233 o Ralph Hawthorne 234. "Galesburg", op, cit . 235 o "Would Switch School Grant to Pavements " Galesburg Post October 24, 1935 p.l, c c $. 2360 Ralph Lucas, member of the school board in 1938. Galesburg, Interview,, 237« .Albert Marquis, ed, v ho " s ^ho in .America 1930-1931 Chicago: AoN« Marquis, Co. p„ 626, 1936-7, p. 664 . 23bo E.To Brownson, former secretary of Abingdon Potteries, Abingdon, Interviews 239o Harold Nichols, pres* of 1st Galesburg National Bank and former Cashier of the Abingdon banko Galesburg, Interview 240 o Deed Record, Hend e rson Township Knox County Section 26, Southeast Corner, Northeast Corner, also Section 23 SoEo Corner (part ) o 241 Ibid , SoEo Corner at 23 and Sd. corner of 24, 242„ Ibid . Sparta Tow/nship NoE, of 2Q C 243o Ibid , N.E. of 29, or W. of 29, N.E. of 30 o 244 « 1 rtgage Recor d 131, p. 19- 245c Henry Faulkner 246 o Miss Esther Pearson 247c Fee Book , Chauncery 29 Knox County, 248 o Deed Record Sparta Township NoEc of 29, N.V,'. of 29c 249c Mrs. Nirdlinger 25C "Howard Tc Custer Dies From Bullet in Burlington Hotel" Galescurg Post March 1, 1934- p.k, c.$-6 25L . iss Hazel Marcum, op c cite 252o Carley, op- cit , 253» Schmidt, op cit e -8G- 25^»aoEeVo EoWo St ins- on, Dundee Presbyterian Church, Omaha Nebraska, letter to author be Schmidt, op cit e 255o Jirdlinger, op. cit o 256c Carley , op n cit e 257 o Schmidt, o] - cit o 258o Source requested not to be quoted <, 259 o Mrs. Nird linger 260 o Will of Omer N = Custer acceptec for execution December '/, 1942 261 o Galesburg Directory 1959, op. cit . p« 16$ . 262 David Lindbergo Galesburg Interview* 26$ o Marked Sample ballot, Re gister-La il April 11, 19$6 Fol$ 264 "Knox County Republican Primary Results" Regis ter -kail April 15, 19$6 p 4, Co 1-8 265° Bloomquist , op. cit o 266 o Hinman, op', cit o 267 o Ibid o 268 Mrs. Nirdlinger, o[ „ cit 269o "Death Claims Omer Nc Custer (187$-1942) " Register-Mail October 12, 1942 p l, c ^. 27C "Fay Tribute To Memory of Omer No Custer" Register-Mail October 14, 1942 p„2, c.l« 271c "Custer Estate Inherits nee Return Filed" Register-La il October 14, 194$., 272 o Iter Lippman, "Looking Forward," Newsweek LIX (June 4, 1962) p 21„ 27$ o Hinman, op c it c 274o Jelliff, op c cit o 275« Harry Richardson, nephew of Custer and employee of the bank during Custer s life. Galesburg, Interview. 276o Bloomquist , op cit e -81- 277 » Dave Lindberg, op e cit e 278. Stuart, op. cit . 279 » Ben Huff, or- cit e 280. Carley , op. cit, ADDENDUM According to the Illinois Blue Books, Custer drew a salary of $6,000 a year on the state industrial board from 1917 to 1920. Since he lived off his income f:.-om the paper, he could have used this money to buy his Purington stock. Bernard Gchimmel wrote the author that Custer helped the Schimmels raise the money to build the Custer Hotel. They then named the hotel after him. Custer later was for a short tine president of the company that managed the hotel for the Scr.immels. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA SS" B.OGRAP C hTaND POUT.CA 3 0112 025392249