YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Purchased from the income
of the bequest of
WILLLIVM ROBERTSON COE
Honorary M.A. 1949, for
material in the field
of American Studies.

HENRY CLAY PAYNE

aaife

MILWAUKEE
Bdrdick and Allbn, Printers
1907

V37

preface

Milwaukee, October 4, 1906.
Mrs. Lydia W. Payne.
Madame: At your request, with data mainly fur
nished by you and by Mr. Whitney, I have prepared the
following biographical sketch of your husband. You will
readily observe that not all the material placed at my
disposal has been employed. At the time of Mr. Payne's
death many of his friends and admirers wrote you letters
of appreciation of his life and character and tributes of
their affection for himi. All of these I would gladly have
gathered into these pages save that the result would have
been a volume too cumbersome for biographical purpose
and a cloying of the narrative by frequent repetition of the
same encomiumi. I have therefore ventured to scatter
through this volume only such letters of tribute and rem^
iniscence as illustrate the successive periods of Mr.
Payne's life and illuminate his character. I respectfully
suggest to you that all the letters, used and unused, be
bound in their autograph and preserved in some historical
library. You will recall that you placed also in my hands a
large number of clippings pertaining to the entire period

of Mr. Payne's public career. Many of these he, himself,
severed from newspapers and pasted in scrap books.
Articles of praise and of criticism were alike included by
him. Scanning these fugitive pieces has recalled to me
many a slanderous accusation published concerning Mr.
Payne during his busy and active life. Conscious of his
rectitude of purpose, animated with a lofty desire to
benefit his party, his city, his state, his country, Mr. Pajme
suffered those calumnies to pass imrefuted. I have not
chosen to revivify them for the mere purpose of destroy
ing and denouncing them.
To-day is the second anniversary of your distin
guished husbandes death. To-day I complete this vol
ume portraying in some measure his career and character,
and place it at your service. I trust that the interest I
have felt in its preparation may be shared by you and by
his friends in its perusal.
William W. Wight.

Contents

Chapter I. Ancestry and Early Years  i
II. Northampton  9
III. Early Life in Milwaukee  16
IV. Early Elections  22
V. The Milwaukee Post Office  27
VI. The Milwaukee Club Dinner  35
VII. "Milwaukee a Republican County"  40
VIII. Business Again  48
IX. Concerning Street Railways  56
X. The Northern Pacific Receivership  79
XI. Later Elections and the St. Louis Convention 86
XII. Unequal Representation in Conventions. ... 99
XIII. McKinley and Roosevelt  107
XIV. Postmaster-General  114
XV. Investigation of the Post Office Department 123
XVI. "The Charges Concerning Members"  142
XVII. The Last Things  162
XVIII. "An Unappreciated Type"  175

CHAPTER I

anceisttp anD Cailp gears
In the records of the ancient town of Braintree, in the
colony of Massachusetts Bay, is entered this paragraph:
Deacon Samuel Bass, aged 94, departed this life upon the 30th
day of December, 1694; who had been a deacon of the church of
Braintree for the space of above 50 years, and the first deacon of
that church; and was the father and grandfather and great grand
father of a hundred and sixty-two children before he died.*
Among the great grandchildren of this venerable
patriarch of the early church of New England was
Samuel Paine. He was born in the spring of 1689 and
was grandson of Stephen Paine and Hannah Bass and son
of Stephen Paine and Ellen Veasey. These three genera
tions of Paines and Mr.f Moses Paine, the father of the
earlier Stephen, were dwellers in Braintree. Here was
born June 30, 1735, Samuel's son, Joseph Ruggles Paine,
whose sirname in the records often lacked the final letter.
He was a soldier in the company of Captain Jabez Snow,
in the wars so frequent against the French and Indians,
in the decade before the American Revolution.
About 1767 Joseph Ruggles Pain journeyed west
ward from Braintree and made his home in the south
western part of what is now Franklin County, Massa
chusetts, in the town of Ashfield.
*Thayer's Family Memorial, page 53.
t"Mr." is always found with the name of Moses Paine. In the
early records Mr. imports social precedence.

Henry Clay Payne : A Life

Early Ashfield had experienced as disturbed, if not as
sad and memorable, a history as its neighbor Deerfield.
More than once abandoned through fear of Indian massa
cres, more than once re-occupied, it had finally, in 1765,
become incorporated as a town.
It is not an especially fertile region. It abounds in
hills whose deep valleys lend themselves more profitably
to grazing than to tillage. In one of the almost inacces
sible and quite solitary portions of Ashfield, almost on
the line of Buckland town, near a small settlement now
called Baptist Corners, can still be seen the cellar of the
home of Joseph Ruggles Pain. The cluster of houses
took its name from' the church near at hand, whose site is
indicated by a granite boulder, bearing a tablet with this
legend, "First Baptist Church, built 1775, removed 183 1."
Adjoining the Pain home was the house where was born
Mary Lyon, the founder of Mount Holyoke seminary.
Near by is the meager and ill-kept graveyard where are
still seen the mortuary stones showing that Joseph R.
Pain died April 17, 1822, aged eighty-eight years, and
that his wife Mehetable (whose maiden name was Git-
tings) died February 18, 1831, aged eighty-five years.
Of the family life of this couple upon their Ashfield
farm, little is preserved. We know that Joseph was a
soldier in the war of the Revolution, in the regiment of
Colonel Elijah Porter, his enlistment beginning July 10,
1777.* We know also that he was the father of two
daughters and six sons, that one of these last was named
Joseph, and that his wife was Anna Billings. Their son,
Stephen Payne — for so the sirname now began to be

?Revolutionary War Archives, XXII, 37.

Ancestry and Early Years

spelled — married Laura Elmer, who was born February
1 8, 1800. Among several children of this wedlock was
Orrin Pierre Payne, bom May 22, 1820, the father of the
subject of this biography.
The home of Orrin, the natal spot of his son Henry,
was not at Baptist Comers, but in Ashfield village, called
also Ashfield Plain, and colloquially Shirkshire. The
house was a two-story frame cottage, with ample porch
in front, gambrel roof and dormer windows, sheltered
with abundant trees and having a road leading along be
hind to the cosy barn. Here Orrin brought his wife Eliza
Etta Ames, whom he married November 13, 1842. She
was the daughter of Samuel and Amarylis (Mallory)
Ames and was born at Stockton, New York, June 22,
1826. Of their four children, two were born in Ashfield :
Henry Clay, born November 23, 1843, and Imogene, born
September 21, 1845. Imogene is the wife of Winfield
Scott Cameron and resides at Jamestown, New York.
About 1846 the family of four removed to the neigh
boring village of Shelburne Falls. Although young
Henry was thus separated from his native town when he
was but three years of age, he never forgot Ashfield or
neglected in mature manhood to visit the scenes of his in
fancy. Nor have the inhabitants of Ashfield ceased to
take pride in one of the most honored of her sons. Since
his death the people of Ashfield have requested, and re
ceived, his portrait for the adornment of their Town Hall.
In 1846 Shelburne Falls was a place of no little repute.
It is a village split in two by the Deerfield River, which
here severs Shelburne town from Buckland. At different
times the Paynes lived on both sides of the Deerfield

Henry Clay Payne : A Life

River, which here is bridged. One of their homes was a
white frame cottage, ivy trimmed, two stories in height,
with sloping roof, and the porch extending outward to
the walk in front. Somewhat later their home was one of
a neat row of two story frame houses with generous win
dows and wide green blinds.
At Shelburne Falls were born the two younger of the
children of Orrin and Eliza Payne. These were Frederick
Wells, born August 26, 1847, ^^^ Mary Eliza, born April
7, 185 1. The latter died when quite young; Frederick
died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 27, 1876, being then
deputy collector of internal revenue in Milwaukee.
The Paynes of Shelburne Falls were not a family of
wealth or even of moderate competency. Orrin Payne
carried the mail between Shelburne Falls and Green
field, and upon occasion was deputy of the high sheriff.
He was a man of high character, of force and de
termination, and sought the advancement of his chil
dren. That he named his oldest child in honor of
the great Whig leader of the United States not only
indicates the trend of his politics, but suggests ,that
the son may have inherited from his fathei' his bent for
public affairs. The father died December 20, 1886; the
mother predeceased him on April 3, 1886. She also was
a person of mental strength and native ability.
Young Henry's earliest essays at knowledge were in
the district school. But, one day when he was about eight
years of age he was observed to be peering curiously
through the window of the private school on Conway
Street, where his sister Imogene was at study. Asked
his errand by the teacher, Miss Diana S. Bowen, he re
quested, and was accorded, permission to become a pupil.

Ancestry and Early Years

Thus began a friendship between that young student and
his teacher, which never faltered. Miss Bowen was one
of those natural instructors who exert an abiding in
fluence over the growing mind. That influence was
especially exerted over Henry, in whose busy, thoughtful
intellect she early saw the promise of great success. As
long as he lived they maintained a frequent correspond
ence, while his gratitude for her counsels and respect for
her instruction found annual expression more substantial
than words. Miss Bowen, almost an octogenarian,* still
survives, in North Adams, Massachusetts, to mourn that
too frequent reversal of nature by which fathers outlive
their sons and teachers their pupils.
From Miss Bowen's school Henry passed to the
Franklin Academy. This academy was a famous build
ing when completed in 1830, for it was the first three-
story structure erected in Franklin County, and people
journeyed from- all about to Shelburne Falls to gaze upon
its dizzy height.f There was little inspiration tO' study
in its plain brick walls, evenly punctuated with rows of
unornamented windows, and with the bare playground in
front. From this school Henry graduated in 1859.
But he had other employment than study while in
Shelburne Falls. When yet quite young and so short that
his eyes scarce appeared above the counter, he worked
after school hours in the store of L. M. Packard. From
this store he promoted himself eventually to a position in
the village post office. Miss Bowen's brother, Alfred, be
ing then the postmaster. The office then stood not far

*Miss Bowen was born in March, 1827.
fCrittenden's Personal Recollections, 17.

Henry Clay Payne: A Life

from the bridge upon the north side of the Main Street —
an insignificant one-story affair with a plenitude of porch.
Here for a stipend of one dollar per week, Henry did the
daily chores and ran the early errands ere hastening to
school. He did not occupy this position very long, how
ever, yielding the place to^ his friend, Charles Albert May-
nard, now of Northampton, Massachusetts.
The Payne family in Shelburne Falls, like their an
cestors at Baptist Corners, were of the Baptist denomina
tion and attended the ancient meeting house of that faith
in Shelburne Falls^ — a brick, ivy-grown, Gothic-arched,
square-towered building, still used as the Baptist church.
Here preached the Rev. E. H. Gray, later a chaplain in
the United States Senate; here Henry's mother and sister
sang in the village choir, and here it was Henry's occupa
tion regularly to pump the organ for the Sunday singing.
On Saturdays Henry's duties as secretary of The
Band of Hope, called him punctually to its meetings.
Declamations and recitations were the chief feature of
these gatherings, and it was observed that the speeches of
statesmen like Patrick Henry and Webster were his
favorite efforts. Indeed it has not yet been forgotten in
Shelburne Falls that political topics were often the theme
of his conversation, and that these he could discuss with
his elders with ability and skill. His father used to relate
that when Henry, at the age of fifteen years, was recover
ing from typhoid fever, the burden of his daily request
was that the newspapers should be saved for him until he
was strong enough to read. Election day arrived ere he
was fully convalescent and his father, at his earnest peti
tion, carefully protected the young invalid and bore him
to the polls that he might watch his father vote.

Ancestry and Early Years

In the fall of 1859 Henry took his first brief flight
from the parental roof, thus gradually severing the home
ties which were soon to- be perpetually broken. Yet Shel
burne Falls always held a warm place in his heart.
Thither he returned with delight long after the death of
his parents abolished the home life there. To no other
place did his own death bring keener sorrow. When the
village was erecting a Memorial Hall for the soldiers of
Shelburne Falls who died in the War of 1861, he was
written to for a subscription of one hundred dollars. The
money was forthcoming by return mail, with a cordial
letter from Mr. Payne and an intimation that the sub
scription would have been much larger had it been asked.
In the lobby of the post office at Shelburne Falls, in
the Shelburne Falls Club rooms, in the Arms Library, his
picture, by the request of these institutions, now hangs,
attesting the belief of those who gaze upon the face that
they "have been made better by coming in contact with a
nature so genial and genuine as Henry Payne's."
Beginning with the fall term of 1859 Henry and his
friend, Charles Maynard, went together to Powers In
stitute at Bemardston, a place quite a distance northeast
of Shelburne Falls, but in the same county of Franklin.
The Institute was then but two years old, having been
established by the liberality of Edward Epps Powers, a
citizen of Columbus, Georgia, but a native of Bernards-
ton. Henry and Charles roomed together during the
terms of 1859 and i860. Charles did not return for a
second year, but his brother, Austin S. Maynard, later a
merchant of Worcester, Massachusetts, was a pupil, and
the roommate of Henry during the terms of i860 and
1861. During this period Professor La Fayette Ward

8 Henry Clay Payne: A Life
was the principal of the Institute — a teacher highly
spoken of by them of his tutelage, but compelled by fail
ing health to abandon the scholastic life in 1870.
As the year 1861 and the age of eighteen years closed
Henry's school privileges, it is not amiss here to record
that he was a quick and keen student, that he grasped
readily the problems and the principles of the subjects he
pursued, that his habits were scholarly, his personality en
gaging, his heart kindly, and that he was ever ready to
assist the perplexed plodder who lagged by the way.

Northampton

CHAPTER II

l3ortl5ampton
Henry's removal to Northampton, Massachusetts, was
upon the advice of his former teacher. Miss Bowen, who
coveted a wider field for her promising pupil. The exact
date of this removal is not discovered, but it appears that
Henry returned from Bemardston to his father's home in
Shelburne Falls in the spring of 1861, and that within a
year he had taken a position as a clerk in a store in
Northampton. This was the store of F. R. Sherwin and
Company — a partnership consisting of Frank R. Sherwin
(a former Shelburne Falls acquaintance, somewhat older
than Henry) and John Warner — dealers in dry goods
and cloaks on Main Street, being the store now occupied
by A. G. Fearing.
With this firm Henry remained until the senior mem
ber, inoculated with the Western fever, caused its dissolu
tion, January 26, 1863. An advertisement in the papers
of the next day, signed by Mr. Sherwin, informed the
business world that "Henry C. Payne has power of attor
ney for the transaction of all business in the name of the
subscriber. All business of the late firm is left in his
hands for settlement." This was perhaps the first appear
ance in print of the name of Henry C. Payne — a name
which, upon his death forty years later, filled the papers
of the continent.
After closing up this business and after, for a few

10 Henry Clay Payne: A Life
days, "assisting Stoddard and Lincoln in taking an in
ventory and in writing up their books," Henry accepted
employment as bookkeeper some twO' miles from the
center of Northampton, in the office of the paper mill firm
of William Clark and Company. The partnership was
composed of William Clark and his sons, Wilham and
Lucius Clark. This employment began March 23, 1863,
and continued until about the beginning of October, 1863,
the compensation being at the rate of two hundred and
fifty dollars per year. On the fifth of the latter month,
having himself contracted the Western fever, Henry, as
his diary tells us, "bade good-bye to Northampton."
We pause before following him to the city of his per
manent home, because the glimpses of his daily life in
Northampton, obtained from his diary and from the
reminiscences of his Northampton friends, are very use
ful in enabling us to picture, and to appreciate, a character
now pretty thoroughly formed.
Employing the sermonic method of dividing the sub
ject, it will be said that the following traits of the youth
ful Henry's character appear :
Firstly, he took a deep interest in the affairs of his
country. The struggle waging so bitterly and so unsuc
cessfully in 1862 for the preservation of the union of the
states, lay heavily upon his mind. His interest found
sincerest expression in his effort to enlist, and in his urg
ing his friends, Charles and Austin Maynard, then in
Boston, to follow his example. His recruiting letter thus
reads : Northampton, Aug. 22, 1862.
Friend Charley :
I am going to enlist in a company raising here. Now, won't
you come and go, too? It is a good company and good men and

Northampton 11

fellows in it. Some of the first in town. I hear that Austin is
with you. Tell him to come up here with you and go with me. It
is only for nine months, and you know that will pass away soon.
I leave as good a place as any one could wish. I never was so
well pleased in my life. Have things all my own way. But you
know we should not look to self as much now. We owe our lives
to our country and to our God, and by the grace of God I will lay
down my life for it.
Now come without fail. Don't mind your place. You can't be
more pleasantly situated than I am.
Write me as soon as you receive this, telling me what you will
do. Don't say you won't go. Write soon. ._Henry.
It is the fault of nature, not of Henry Payne, that his
career was not military. He applied for enlistment in
Company H of the Tenth Massachusetts Infantry regi
ment, but he was rejected as being too' slight and as be
ing undersized. This regiment and the Fifty-second
Massachusetts regiment were largely composed of soldiers
gathered from the neighborhood of Northampton and
Shelburne Falls, and he followed the movements of these
troops with great concern, marking their campaigns and
the number of their casualties.* Moreover, his diary for
the year 1863 shows how his mind was running upon the
struggle. Thus, under July 14, "Began to draft to-day;"
under July 15, "Drafted in Buckland to-day;" under July
16, "Charles Fieldf drafted;" under July 16, "Came back
to Greenfield, and saw them draft from Northampton.
*The Fifty-second Massachusetts was a regiment of nine months
men whose service was in Louisiana. Its enlistment expired in
August, 1863. The Tenth regiment served entirely in the Army of
the Potomac. It was recruited June 21, 1861, and saw sanguinary
service at Fair Oaks, Fredericksburg, the Gettysburg Campaign, the
Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor. Its enlistment ended
June 21, 1864, when ten ofificers and 137 men were discharged.
fCharles Field had been Henry Payne's roommate in the house
of Mr. Henry Shepherd from the autumn of 1862 until the following
spring, when Henry removed to the home of Mrs. Elihu Clark on
Elm Street.

12 Henry Clay Payne: A Life
List of drafted men" — then follows a list of two hundred
and twenty men, not a few of them doubtless Henry's
personal friends.*
We read further, under May 6 and May 7 that the de
feat of General Hooker at Fredericksburg was the "sad
dest news of the war;" under May 24, "Great news from
Vicksburg;" under July 6, "Good news from army Poto
mac;" under July 7, "News of taking of Vicksburg, great
rejoicing" — laconic entries in a laconic diary, yet disclos
ing the public spirit and patriotism of the lad of nineteen.
Secondly, Henry was scrupulous as to his obligations
to his employers. His service was not merely a matter of
regularly drawing his stipulated wage, but rather of sub
stantially advancing his employers' interests, which with
loyalty and enthusiasm he invariably made his own. No
clerk, shouting the praises of a competitor's merchandise,
could outtalk or outsell Henry. No friend of either sex,
with any blandishment, could entice him to recreations or
amusements during the hours mortgaged to another's
business. Thus early as ever afterward he conscien
tiously respected his contracts of service.
Thirdly, in Henry's opinion there were other things
in life besides work and worry. His was essentially a
happy, joyous, mirthful nature. He found keen pleasure
in sports and games; his look was on life's bright side;
his laugh was frequent, long and contagious. The limit
of his love for fun and mischief was only reached when
he caused grief or pain to others. His diary discloses
many different kinds of congenial amusements — bowling,
*For account of the draft in Massachusetts in 1863, see War of
the Rebellion Official Records, Serial Number 124, references in
Index under Massachusetts.

Northampton 13

boating, ball, chess, cards, fishing, hunting; while sedater
diversions — concerts, plays, lectures, reading clubs — were
not neglected. He was accounted in Northampton an ex
cellent singer, and under his leadership the old-fashioned
tunes were sung with such relish and in such ringing tones
that even Old Hundredth and Henley ceased to be doleful.
A person thus genial and blithe, and withal generous
and high minded, must win and hold a host of friends.
This was Henry's lot — he made friends and he never for
got them. The universal opinion of those who have writ
ten of his early years is, that, with an attractive per
sonality, he was considerate of children, chivalrous to
wards young women, hearty and whole-souled with his
fellows. Fourthly, earnestness and concentration were his lead
ing characteristics. Nothing was done by him in a half
hearted way. A Northampton friend has written that,
when he was reading, the surrounding world vanished
from his thought. Seated one day in a boat, which he
believed was moored to the river's bank, his face was
buried in the pages of his book, only to be lifted to the
realities of life when his bark bumped against a pier far
down the Connecticut. The same earnestness was evident
even in his games — they were played for results. He
never sat at cards just "to make up a hand," simply "to
pass the time away," but, like the celebrated Mrs. Battle,
to win, and with all the "rigour of the game." Not a few
entries in his diary disclose the name of his partner, the
names of the opponents and the score, which almost al
ways was his victory. That same energy and desire to
conquer, that same masterful spirit, ruled him later in

14 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
the sterner conflicts of his busy career and brought him
victory in the end.
Fifthly, it cannot be said that at this time Henry made
prominent the religious side of his nature. Yet his diary
discloses his regular attendance upon Sunday services,
while his frequent singing of the hymns of the church
suggests his familiarity with their truths. Moreover, the
letter above printed in which he urged two of his friends
to enlist, betrays that Henry needed only the stimulus of
deep emotion to reveal his reliance upon "the grace of
God." That the traits of his youth followed him into his
maturer years there is nO' lack of evidence. One who
knew him long and well, his political opponent, but his
warm personal friend, wrote after Henry's death the fol
lowing expressions as to his business and social traits.
They proceed from the pen of Judge James G. Jenkins,
of Milwaukee, formerly of the United States Circuit
Court, seventh circuit:
He was a thorough business man, quiet, unobtrusive, but watch
ful and thorough. Once convinced of the proper course to pursue,
he had the indomitable will to follow that course regardless of
opposition, which only intensified his action. In that respect I have
seen him tried as few men have been tested, and he came from the
crucible refined gold. No consideration of mere business success
could swerve him from what he deemed just and honorable. Against
the opposition even of friends and associates in business, he stood for
what he deemed the right. He was a high-minded, public-spirited
citizen, generous to a fault, aiding every worthy public enterprise,
helpful to the deserving needy.
It is, however, in the light of his social character, that I love to
consider him. Here he shone resplendent. When he could for a
time lay aside the burden of life's cares and troubles, with boyish
enthusiasm he revelled in the delights of social life and friendly
intercourse. Here he was at home and at ease. He was loyal,
sincere, true. His friends he "grappled to his heart with hoops of

Northampton 15

steel." He loved their society. He loved their friendship, and to a
marked degree he compelled the love of those who felt constrained
to oppose his course. Bright, joyous, sympathetic, he dehghted in
the innocent pleasures of life with the ardor bf youth. Only with
the passing away of the friends who for a time remain, shall the
memory of his genial and lovable character perish from the earth.
The memory of his service to his country is secured in the history
of the nation.
A single sentence from another political opponent, a
dweller in a far distant state. Congressman Ariosto A.
Wiley, of Montgomeiy, Alabama :
I knew him well and never met a more gracious and kindly,
natural gentleman.

16 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

CHAPTER III

OBarlp Mit in ^iltaiaukee
The influence of his former employer doubtless brought
Henry Payne to Milwaukee. Not a few jottings in the
diary of 1863 refer to the subject: Under August 15,
"Am going to Milwaukee;" August 17, "Morton* is go
ing to M. with me;" August 28, "Sherwin is to pay me
$700 per year;" October 5, "Went home on P.M. train
for good;" October 11, "Start for Milwaukee at 12
o'clock to-night."
But the day before this start was made Henry re
turned to Northampton upon the invitation of the em
ployes of the paper mill to accept their tender of a dinner
to take place in the evening of October 10, at The Prospect
House, upon Mount Holyoke. The dinner, which was at
tended by sixty-three persons, was followed by dancing,
singing and walking upon the mountain roads until the
night was fully consumed. The register of The Prospect
House is still preserved at the hotel and contains Henry's
autograph, with the address "Milwaukee, Wis." — evi
dence of his pride in the new life opening before him.
And now began Henry's sojourn from his home — a
home which he did not see again for eighteen years. His
father conveyed him and his mother by vehicle to North
*This was Josiah L. Morton, a Northampton friend, often men
tioned in the diary. He left for Milwaukee earlier than Henry and
was for a time his fellow clerk. Eventually Mr. Morton began
business for himself on Spring Street.

Early Life in Milwaukee 17
Adams, where the train was taken for Troy, New York.
At Troy a farewell visit was paid to his sister, Imogene,
then a pupil at the seminary of Mrs. Emma Willard.*
He then visited in and near Salem, New York, with kins
folk of his mother and bade her farewell on Saturday,
October 17. His diary for Tuesday, October 20, records,
"Rode all night and got to Chicago somewhat behind,
took noon train for Milwaukee, got there at 9 p.m., took
room at Newhall House" — a hotel which friends in
Northampton had recommended. October 21 recites,
"Began for Sherwin, Nowell & Pratt. Board on Jack
son Street."
Milwaukee, to which city Mr. Payne made his bow in
the fall of 1863, was a very insignificant municipality in
comparison with the metropolis to which his lifeless body
was returned in the fall of 1904. It was a city of about
thirty-five thousand inhabitants, having nine wards, and
with Mr. Edward O'Neil as mayor. No buildings of
especial size or ambition lifted themselves skyward, there
were no public water works, no park system and no show
avenues. The post-office — an insignificant structure —
stood on the northwest corner of Wisconsin and Milwau
kee Streets, Mr. John Lockwood being postmaster. A
street car company, known as the River and Lake Shore
City Railway Company, with Mr. George H. Walker as
president, had a single track on East Water Street, from
Walker's Point bridge to Division Street,t and a branch
to Prospect Street by way of Wisconsin, Jefferson, Biddle,
*At the suggestion of Miss Diana S. Bowen, Miss Payne was
attending this seminary to qualify herself' as a teacher. The entire
expense of her transportation and tuition was met by her brother
Henry. fNow Juneau Avenue.

18 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
Van Buren and Division Streets — the rolling stock, three
two-horse vehicles and two one-horse vehicles. What is
now the Public Library, with its ornate building on Grand
Avenue, then consisted of a meager collection of literature
belonging to the Young Men's Association, housed in
rented quarters at Number 91 Mason Street. The ship
ping to and from Milwaukee was then meager ; the steam'
railway service was feeble, and the various roads uncon
nected. Indeed, the present full-blown rose Milwaukee
was, in 1863, just beginning to bud.
The firm with which Mr. Payne became associated —
for now that he has approached his majority, he must no
longer be styled Henry — was composed entirely of men
then new in Milwaukee. Mr. Sherwin had preceded him
from Northampton by a few weeks only; Edward F.
Pratt was a young merchant, recently from the East, who
lived at first at the hotels, but later, upon his marriage,
resided upon the lake front ; Winslow A. Nowell had ar
rived this same year from the city of New York, a youth
seeking his fortune.* The firm was established in the
business of selling dry goods at wholesale and retail at
Numbers 372 and 374 East Water Street, a store on the
east side of the street between Wisconsin and Michigan
Streets. Among the competitors of this new partnership
there are still existing in Milwaukee under varying change
of name, T. A. Chapman and Company, Goll and Frank,
Kroeger and Brother and H. Stem, Junior and Brother.
But the new firm as first constituted was of short dura-

"'Mr. Nowell also made Milwaukee a permanent home. He was
a friend and political associate of Mr. Payne, and died in Milwaukee,
aged sixty-five years, April 26, 1905. Mr. Pratt died February 25,
1886.

Early Life in Milwaukee 19
tion. Indeed, in January, 1864, a dissolution had taken
place, the senior partner had removed to New York,
where his interests were now located, and Mr. Payne,
with a power of attorney, was conducting the business in
the same store, he being the silent partner in the firm.
The new business continued some two or three years and
then came to an end. There was too little capital for suc
cess ; Mr. Payne, whose sole resources when he arrived in
Milwaukee in 1863 were fifty dollars, was in no financial
condition to bolster up a business in which competition
was eager and brisk.
In 1868 the firm of H. C. Payne and Company was in
existence at the same numbers on East Water Street, in
the same general line of trade.* This partnership was
also of short duration, and the business passed into other
hands. In 1869 Mr. Payne opened a store with Mr.
William H. Crombie at Number 385 East Water Street,
also for the sale of dry goods. But it was not intended
that Mr. Payne should succeed as a merchant. The new
firm existed somewhat more than a year and in 1871 Mr.
Payne was out of business — convenient opportunity for
the now approaching career in which his name was to
shine resplendent.
Mr. Payne's early domestic life in Milwaukee was
migratory. He tells us in his diary, of date next after his
arrival, that he went to "board on Jackson Street." Then
we read, "Went to minstrels in eve with Morton and his
uncle." On December 16, 1863, he notes, "Went to Mrs.
Saxes' on Main Streetf to board — room at store." In
*Mr. John G. Gregory, now of the Evening Wisconsin, Mil
waukee, who worked for above firm in 1868, states that Mr. Payne
invariably "enlisted the loyalty of his workmen."
fMain Street became, later, Broadway.

20 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
1865 Mr. Payne was living on Prospect Street near
Knapp Street, but in 1868 he enjoyed hotel life at the
Newhall House. Thence he went to board at Number
210 Biddle Street, and was dwelling there at the time of
his marriage. Thereupon the couple kept house for a
brief period at Number 1 14 Prospect Street.* From 1889
until their removal to Washington, they resided at Num
ber 586 Astor Street.
Some five years after Mr. Pa3me's arrival in Milwau
kee, there visited in that city at the residence of her sister,
Mrs. Charles P. Jones, at Number 570 Waverly Place, a
young lady from the city of New York, Lydia Wood Van
Dyke.t Mr. Payne formed her acquaintance, gained her
friendship, sought and won her in marriage — an event
which occurred in Mount Holly, New Jersey, October 15,
1869. Upon the privacy of the home thus established this
book seldom intrudes. Suffice it to say here, that not long
after her marriage Mrs. Payne became afflicted with rheu
matic gout, resulting in chronic invalidism and in a daily
routine almost completely sedentary. Those intimate
with Mr. Payne in his early wedlock delight to recall the
affectionate care with which he waited upon his wife,
wheeling her in her chair either for exercise or social
visits, and otherwise watching over the fragile existence

*Prospect Street did not become Prospect Avenue until about
1876. fShe was the daughter of Richard Van Dyke, Junior, and Mary
Ware Thomas, both of the city of New York. Mr. Van Dyke com
menced his early business Hfe as a member of the firm of Bleeker and
Van Dyke, real estate auctioneers. Mr. Bleeker was much older than
the junior partner. The latter soon withdrew from this partnership and
formed with Mr. Bleeker's relative, Theodore Malaby, the real estate
firm of Van Dyke and Malaby. Still later Mr. Van Dyke went into
other business.

Early Life in Milwaukee 21
entrusted to his love with unwearying anxiety. That de
votion never flagged during a union which, although
childless, was congenial and sympathetic. The career of
the invalid thus tenderly cared for outspanned that of her
husband. This wreath is placed upon his tomb by the
wish of his wife, in loving memory of him. who, during
his early manhood and in his advancing age, in his poverty
and in his affluence, in his obscurity and in his renown,
made her his constant and affectionate solicitude.

22 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

CHAPTER IV

OBarlg OBIectlon?
Not long after removing to Milwaukee, Mr. Payne
connected himself with the Young Men's Association of
that city, whose collection of books and periodical litera
ture and whose winter lecture courses were well calculated
to avert loneliness, occupy leisure and supplement an edu
cation all too limited. Mr. Payne became an influential
member of the Association and, on May 8, 1866, was
elected a trustee in one of those mimic skirmishes, char
acteristic of the Young Men's Association, which had all
the elements of excitement and vigor peculiar to a political
contest. Mr. Alfred L. Cary of Milwaukee has written
an account of this election which I cannot refrain from
transcribing :
For several years I had been secretary of the Association and
active in its management, and became ambitious to be its president.
I came out as a candidate for that office at the annual election in
May, 1866. As there were to be two tickets in the field and a lively
contest, I sought to make my ticket as strong as possible, and with
that view solicited Mr. Payne to be a candidate for one of the trus
tees. He readily assented, and entered into the contest with a re
markable activity and zeal, which could only have been prompted
and guided by a natural love and aptitude for conflicts of that char
acter. The battle was a royal one, and when its smoke had cleared
away and the result ascertained, Mr. Payne was found to be the only
candidate upon our ticket who had been elected. It was his per
sonal popularity which made him successful at this time, and I have
often thought that perhaps this little experience and success at an
election of the Young Men's Association was the initiative of that

Early Elections 23

larger experience and success which Mr. Payne afterwards had in
the city, county, state and national campaigns, and which made him
famous as a political manager.
It was Mr. Payne's genial companionship which endeared him
to his friends, and in the enjoyment of which they would forget that
he was one of our most distinguished citizens.
Mr. Payne continued to support the Association dur
ing the presidencies of Loyal R. Durand (Mr. Gary's
competitor), John Nazro, Henry H. West, James G.
Jenkins, John E. Eldred, Robert Hill and Charles L.
Peirce.* On May 13, 1872, Mr. Payne was elected the
secretary of the Association, and on May 11, 1874, he
succeeded Mr. Peirce as the president and served for one
year.t Thereafter Mr. Payne was never a candidate for
any elective office, civil or political.
But Mr. Payne's mind had long been occupied with
contests of wider scope and larger import. The state
elections of 1863 were of intense interest throughout the
north. These elections afforded the voters their first op
portunity to express their opinion on the attitude of the
party in power in continuing the enlistment of soldiers for
the war for the Union, even to the extreme of drafting
them. Mr. Payne's diary for 1863 shows his interest in
this subject, even though he had not then reached voting
age: November 3, "Went to Union headquarters under
Newhall House; great rejoicing over result;" November
4, "Republicans carried all the states; made a clean
sweep." *0f these young men two. Judge Jenkins and Mr. Eldred, sur
vive as citizens of Milwaukee. Mr. Hill died July 3, 1906, while this
chapter was in writing.
tSome two years or more after Mr. Payne's term as president
expired, the Association, which had existed since December 20, 1847,
transferred its property to the city of Milwaukee. This took place
March 8, 1878, under the authority of Chapter 7, Laws of 1878, ap
proved February 7, 1878. The present public library of the city is the
result of this action.

24 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
Mr. Payne, although an ardent Republican, did not
become actively connected with his party organization un
til the year 1872. At that time a great wave of disaffec
tion had spread over the country, affecting very many
German Republicans, while political paralysis had seized
the Republican leaders in Milwaukee. It was the year
of the second campaign of General Grant for the presi
dency of the United States, Horace Greelej'-, the talented
but eccentric editor of the New York Tribune, being his
opponent for the high office. As the campaign pro
gressed Mr. Payne became restless at the inactivity which
prevailed in his home city and he invited several of his
friends to meet at his office, to consult if it were not the
duty of the young men to work together systematically
and vigorously to save the Republican party in Milwau
kee from annihilation. The outgrowth of this confer
ence was the formation of the Young Men's Republican
Club — an organization destined to become of great politi
cal influence. Mr. DeWitt Davis presided at the initial
meeting of the Club; Mr. Charles L. Peirce was the first
president, Mr. Payne the secretary. Captain Irving M.
Bean the chairman of the executive committee. Other of
the very early members were Mr. Henry Fink, Mr. Robert
Hill, Mr. Louis Sholes, Mr. Akerley Townsend,, Mr.
Frederick W. Payne, Mr. Lemuel Ellsworth, Mr. David
Vance, Mr. Winslow A. Nowell and Mr. John M. Ewing.
The objects of the Club were to dispel the lethargy in the
ranks of the party, to bring out the full Republican vote
in the election then imminent and to spread abroad such
documents and other literature as should constitute an
apostatizing propaganda. Milwaukee was not then a
Republican city — the trend of sentiment was intensely

Early Elections 25
Democratic. To overcome this sentiment, to convert the
individual voters by the leaven of argument and instruc
tion working through the inert or opposing mass — these
results the Club hoped to accomplish. In this work Mr.
Payne was the active, ruling spirit ; the ceaseless, untiring
plodder. The result of the presidential election of 1872 in Wis
consin was in favor of General Grant, by a majority over
Mr. Greeley of 18,515 votes — a large majority in those
days of even party strength. Along with this success
came a Republican majority in the legislature of Wiscon
sin, insuring the re-election of Mr. Timothy O. Howe to
the senate of the United States, an event which took place
January 21, 1873, and was to be of great moment to Mr.
Payne. In Milwaukee county the result of the fall elec
tion of 1872 was a majority against General Grant of
3,171 votes — a number showing how gigantic was Mr.
Payne's self-imposed task of converting Milwaukee into
a Republican county. That he succeeded fully in this
task before he laid his armor off, no Democrat will deny.
The activities of the Club during the campaign of
1872 had been so promising that Mr. Matthew H. Car
penter, who was then serving his first term in the senate
of the United States, insisted that the organization, in
stead o:f disbanding as had been contemplated, should
become permanent. Moreover, he declared his purpose to
strengthen it in every way within his power and as a token
of his good will he in November, 1872, tendered to Mr.
Payne, then twenty-nine years of age, the position of
postmaster of Milwaukee.
Early in 1872 Mr. Payne had established himself as an
insurance agent at Number 17 Newhall House block,

26 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
where he was connected more or less intimately with Mr.
Benjamin M. Weil* and where both gathered around
them a profitable clientele. Therefore Mr. Payne, although
flattered by the offer of an influential federal position,
had the courage to decline it and to continue his occupa
tion. This occupation he continued at the same place
until, early in 1876, the offer of the post office was again
made to him and accepted.
This renewal offer grew out of the bitterness which
had been engendered in the Republican ranks during the
contest in the legislature of 1875 over the election of a
successor to Mr. Carpenter in the Senate. The defeat of
Mr. Carpenter as his own successor, which occurred, was
very disheartening to his friends in Milwaukee who con
stituted ninety per cent, of the Republicans there. Mr.
Angus Cameron having been elected February 3, 1875,
Senator Howe tendered unsolicited the Milwaukee post
office to Mr. Payne as one of Mr. Carpenter's most zeal
ous, active and trusted friends. Concerning Senator
Howe's offer Mr. Payne himself stated later, "If I did not
take it, it would go to some one who had been identified
with the opponents of Mr. Carpenter. Believing that
such a result would prove a most disastrous calamity to
the party organization in Milwaukee I somewhat reluc
tantly consented to take the place. This is how I came
to be postmaster."
He was then a little more than thirty-two years of age.
'•'Mr. Weil died in Milwaukee, October 24, 1901, aged fifty-one
years.

The Milwaukee Post Office 27

CHAPTER V

JLbt 90iltoaukee Post Dffice
Mr. Payne was appointed postmaster of Milwaukee
as successor to Mr. Samuel C. West, on the fourth day
of February, 1876, his commission bearing the signatures
of President Grant and of Mr. Marshall Jewell, post
master-general. Upon the expiration of his term of four
years there was an attempt made by some political en
emies to discredit him and tO' cast odium upon his man
agement of the office. However, his reappointment was
asked by the most influential business men of both parties,
headed by Mr. Alexander Mitchell. Moreover, his record
at the office of the postmaster-general in Washington was
of the highest. He was recommissioned for four years
on the twenty-ninth day of January, 1880, his commission
being authenticated by President Hayes and by Mr. David
M. Key, postmaster-general. He was confirmed by the
Senate without opposition. On the fifth day of Febru
ary, 1884, he was reappointed for a term of four years,
his commission being signed by President Arthur and by
Mr. Walter Q. Gresham, postmaster-general. But these
four years of service were not permitted to elapse. A
notice, dated May 31, 1885, from President Cleveland
suspended Mr. Payne from office "in accordance with the
terms of the 1768th section of the Revised Statutes of
the United States" — a section clothing the president with

28 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
such suspensory power during the interim of Congress.
The cause of Mr. Payne's removal was, of course, his
"pernicious activity" as a "politician."
His successor in the post office was Mr. George H.
Paul. When Mr. Payne, in February, 1876, entered upon
the duties of his office, its entire business was accommo
dated on the main floor of the Government building,
which then stood on the northwest corner of Wisconsin
and Milwaukee Streets, the site of the present Wells
Building. Before his service closed, the office occupied
in addition the entire basement and a portion of the sec
ond story as well. Besides this, to keep pace with the
growing needs of the city, Mr. Payne caused five sub
stations to be provided, two of them fully equipped post
offices, doing a large business, and he was providing for
two other subi-stations when his decapitation occurred.
The revenue of the Milwaukee post office for the year
1875 was $136,450; for the year ending June 30, 1883,
it was $257,1 15 and for the year ending June 30, 1884, it
was $244,941 — a decrease due to reduction in rates of
postage. In 1876 twenty-six letter carriers were em
ployed; in 1884 there were forty-four. In 1876 the busi
ness portion of the city together with a limited portion of
the residence district had mail delivered but twice daily,
while large sections of the outskirts were entirely with
out the service of the carriers. In 1885 the business dis
tricts were served four and five times daily and an extra
delivery made at nine o'clock in the evenings to the hotels
and newspaper offices, while there was no part of the city
so remote as not to be reached by the carriers, and the
more thickly settled districts received mail three times

The Milwaukee Post Office 29
daily. Under Mr. Payne the post office was kept open
for the delivery of mail and for the sale of stamps until
nine o'clock at night and for money-order business until
six o'clock in the evening, and arrangement was made
with the local banks to receive money-orders and postal
notes on deposit. The money-order department increased
from 67,857 transactions involving $2,490,064 in 1876 to
162,191 transactions involving $5,084,559 in 1884. The
registry department increased from the handling of 45,-
204 pieces in 1876 to the handling of 266,993 pieces in
1884. The presentation of these dry statistics must not be
thought aimless. These details and figures are useful if
they show that a man bearing the opprobrious name of
"politician" may still be able to attend to an important
government position intelligently and conscientiously and
adapt the business of that position to the ever increasing
needs of a thriving, growing community.*
On May 30, 1885, the evening before his retirement
from the post office, an address was presented to Mr.
Payne by the one hundred and six employes of the post
office. This address was prepared by a committee of their
number — Mr. Daniel W. Fowler, assistant postmaster,
Mr. George A. McGarigle, superintendent of city delivery,
and Mr. Jerome B. Johnson,* superintendent of mails —
and was read to Mr. Payne by Mr. Fowler in the presence
of the entire clerical and carrier force of the office. As

'"For the early history and growth of the Milwaukee post office
consult an article in the Evening Wisconsin, Milwaukee, October 22,
1879. *These three gentlemen are still living and Messrs. Fowler and
Johnson are still in service at the Milwaukee post office.

30 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
this address discloses the sentiments with which Mr.
Payne had inspired his subordinates during the nine years
of his regime, it is here preserved :
Mr. Henry C. Payne:
The assistants and employes of the Milwaukee post office, who
have been associated with you while you have held the office of
postmaster, for a part or all of your term of public service, cannot
permit the occasion to pass without some expression of their appre
ciation of the kindness and courtesy which they have uniformly re
ceived at your hands.
They had desired to unite in the presentation of a suitable
memento, which might be retained in after years in evidence of their
unfeigned regard and esteem, but being advised that your wishes
would be best consulted by the abandonment of this purpose, they
are left only the alternative of joining in a communication, which
you are asked to receive — as you doubtless will — in the same kindly
spirit that dictates it. Such a communication may seem to those who
do not appreciate the sentiment that prompts it, an empty and un
meaning formaity, but you will not so regard it. The relations
which have so long existed between us, the interest which you have
always taken in each and all of your subordinates, and the encourage
ment and aid which you have given us in the endeavor to render the
Milwaukee post office an efficient and acceptable agent of the people
of the city, will enable you to understand the feeling which seeks
expression in these lines.
It is proper for us to certify to the many improvements made
by you in every branch of the service, in the additional conveniences
given to the public, in the extension of the postal facilities to all
parts of the city, in the more frequent delivery of the mails, and in
every way keeping the service up to the highest standard, not only
in its relations to the public, but in the improved methods of doing
business inside the office. And it is gratifying to know that your
administration has merited the warmest commendation of the Post
Office Department, and received the approval of the business com
munity and the public in general.
The severing of such relations, personal and official, after so
long a term of service, occasions us unfeigned sorrow, and we part
with you with the cordial wish for your future happiness and pros
perity. It is unnecessary to say more, but you are at liberty to read
between the lines a warmth of kindly sentiment and affection which
formal phrases but inadequately express.

The Milwaukee Post Office 31
To these kindly expressions the retiring postmaster re
phed at great length, reviewing his administration, notic
ing the growth of the office and of its business since 1876
and declaring that the loyalty and fidelity of the employes
in the office materially assisted in the success which had
been achieved. Mr. Payne's reply closed with this lan
guage: In parting with you, it would be useless for me to say that I do
so with regret. Associations lasting during a period of ten years,
uniformly pleasant as ours have been, cannot be severed without a
pang; and yet my chief sorrow comes from the knowledge that my
retirement may mean to many of you loss of place after many years
of faithful, efficient service — a service which in a measure unfits you
for other avocations.
The operations of the civil service law should protect many of
you ; and I trust that the time is not far distant when the tenure of
clerks and subordinate employes of the government may be entirely
freed from the domain of party strife, and their places be absolutely
secure so long as they render satisfactory service.
For my successor I entertain the kindliest feelings and the high
est respect. He enters upon the discharge of the duties of the office
under peculiar and trying circumstances. I bespeak for him the same
generous support which you have accorded me. It is due you all to
say that never during my ten years' service have I been deprived of a
single hour's sleep or passed an anxious day on account of fears that
any of you were betraying my confidence. If my successor can say
as much at the close of his official term he may indeed esteem himself
a fortunate man.
In retiring to private life I carry with me nothing but the pleas
antest memories of our long association; and I tender you my most
heartfelt thanks for the many kindly expressions, not only contained
in your communication, but manifested to me personally, always.
A few paragraphs in these closing words require
special comment. Reference is made to his remarks as
above quoted, upon tenure of office during good behavior.
Mr. Payne is usually pointed to as the chief exponent of
the "spoils" system, the champion believer in removal
from office in order to reward party service. And there
is foundation for the opinion that during his early in-

32 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
cumbency of the post office he had no sympathy with the
principles of the civil service law as later enacted. He
was then a strong party man. In reply to some public
criticism upon a removal he had made, he printed a card
not long after his appointment in which he stated, "I pre
fer giving employment to Republicans, other things being
equal," "As long as I am postmaster, I shall employ only
Republicans if I can find those that are competent."
Bold and strong as is this language, it is well to be
lieve that a wise man changes his views if he finds them
wrong. Certain it is that Mr. Payne's later history would
justify the opinion that he had at least modified these
views. On January i6, 1883, Congress passed the first
law for the regulation of the civil service.*
For almost seven years therefore there had been no
check upon Postmaster Payne's control of his employes,
to discharge them at will. Of the twenty-two clerks in
the office at the time Mr. Payne took possession in Feb
ruary, 1876, ten were still employed when he was re
moved. Of the twenty-six letter carriers who were em^-.
ployed at the time of Mr. Payne's appointment, fourteen
served during his entire term. Of the ninety-four per
sons, excluding messengers, who were employed in the
post office when Mr. Payne was removed in the spring of
1885, twenty-four, as just stated were so employed when
he was appointed in Februaiy, 1876; twenty-nine were
appointed under civil service rules; five only were new
appointments made in 1876; three in 1877, five in 1878,
four in 1879 and one in 1880 when his term was half over.
Nor can these dry figures be considered pointless if
*22 Statutes at Large 403.

The Milwaukee Post Office 33
they tend to prove that the new "politician" postmaster
made no wholesale overthrow of the office employes, but
that on the contrary he accepted and retained the force as
he received it, that he made new appointments from time
to time only as necessity or increase of business required
and that the civil service rules were acted upon unques
tioned as the governing rules of the post office.
But it may be claimed that Mr. Payne made few re
movals because he inherited from his predecessor Repub
lican employes only, that he received the civil service act
upon compulsion and that he enforced its mandates grudg
ingly. A partial answer to such a claim is that the civil
service act as passed January i6, 1883, was not obliga
tory upon the Milwaukee post office which did not then
employ fifty clerks. Application by the postmaster was
necessary in order to make the act applicable. Sixteen
days after its passage Mr. Pa)me wrote the following let
ter to the postmaster-general, Mr. Timothy O. Howe :
Milwaukee, January 31.
Sir: I have this day forwarded to the first assistant postmaster-
general a roster of the clerks employed at this office. If not incon
sistent with your views I would respectfully ask that this office be
placed under the provisions of the civil service bill.
Yours truly,
H. C. Payne, P. M.
Equally significant with this act on his part is the fol
lowing: During the spring of 1885 and while the sword
of removal was threatening his head, his potential influ
ence and assistance were employed in securing the intro
duction of civil service rules into two important depart
ments of the gove!mment of the city of Milwaukee.
In the legislature of Wisconsin in 1885 a bill had been

34 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
pending for the establishment of a board of fire and police
commissioners for Milwaukee. Such a bill was an in
novation in Wisconsin and its passage was not at all
relished by that large body of citizens who coveted jobs
as firemen and policemen. The measure, although it had
for its sponsors such citizens as Mr. Jerome R. Brigham
and Mr. Frederick C. Winkler, stood little chance of
stemming the tide of prejudice until Mr. Payne who had
had two years' experience with the federal law and who
knew its value both in the betterment to the service and
in the freedom from importunity which resulted from it,
readily gave his time and influence to its support. The
result was, through his argument and persuasion, the en
actment of the bill into law.* Although repeated efforts
have been made to amend it into weakness all these
attempts have failed. The present admirable efficiency
of both these departments is directly ascribable to the
benevolent features of this law, whose passage was due to
the influence of one claimed not to be a believer in its
fundamental principles.
That Mr. Payne consistently and intelligently sup
ported and upheld the Civil Service Law when he reached
Washington, the busiest theatre of its operations, will
amply appear ere this biography closes.

*It was approved by the governor April ii, 1885, and is known
as Chapter 378 of the Laws of 1885.

The Milwaukee Club Dinner 35

CHAPTER VI

Cl)e QintoJaukee CIu& Dinner
About a fortnight after Mr. Payne's retirement from
the post office, on June i6, 1885, a complimentary dinner
to him and to Captain Irving M. Bean* took place at the
Milwaukee Club. The invitation, dated May 28, 1885,
proceeded from Mr. Richard Guenther, of Oshkosh, who
then represented the Sixth Wisconsin District in the
House of Representatives, and the compliment so far as
Mr. Payne was concerned was in recognition of the ex
cellent record he had made as a public official and the
valuable services he had rendered to the Republican party
for many years. The dinner was largely attended, the
company including Senator Philetus Sawyer, all the Re
publican congressmen of Wisconsin except one, and other
prominent members of the party scattered about the state.
Mr. Edward Sanderson acted as the toastmaster. The
response by Mr. Payne to Mr. Sanderson's introduction
reviewed his own relations with the Republican party
from the time of the foundation of the Young Men's
Republican Club in 1872, and gave a history of its triumph.
*Captain Bean had been Collector of internal revenue for the
Milwaukee district and had also been removed by President Cleve
land. He is mentioned by Senator John C. Spoorier as "the scholarly,
refined gentleman, of many accomplishments, purity of character, and
exceptionally bright record as a public servant." His tender tribute
to the memory of his friend Henry, which now lies before me, dis
closes the warmth of the sympathy between these two longtime
friends. Captain Bean is still living in Milwaukee.

36 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
He mentioned his fellow warriors in the different political
contests — those who had died, those who had retired from
warfare, those who were still wearing their armor. His
words of advice at the close of his address emphasize
what was his idea of a political combat — to bombard the
enemy's voters with arguments through speakers and
documents — the campaign of individual education. These
were his words :
It has seemed to me at times that we did not adopt the wisest
and best methods in the conduct of our political campaigns. We
wait until the last moment and then rush into the contest unprepared,
employing crude, and oftentimes the least eflfective material to ac
complish the desired results, relying upon arguments and literature
ill adapted to the purpose. How much better it would be to present
our arguments to the people continuously and systematically when
the heat of the campaign is not on them, at which time they believe
little if anything of what they hear or read, but are governed by
prejudice and passion.
Steps should be taken now to lay the ground-work, not only of
the campaign of 1886, but of the great struggle of 1888.
In severing my official relations, my chief regret has been that
it terminates my associations so long and pleasantly maintained with
my official colleagues. We have ever dwelt in harmony, and I shall
ever cherish the years in which we have dwelt together in the official
household, as the pleasantest of my life. And to, you, my political
associates, what shall I say? I have sometimes felt that the posi
tion which I have held in the party has been a most thankless one;
but your presence here to-night, and the many kind and flattering
words spoken, tell me it is not so. Our party leaders throughout
the state in every town and village are among the brightest and best
of our citizens. I desire to thank them, for myself, and for the State
Central Committee, for the uniform promptness, zeal and intelligence
with which they have always responded to the suggestions and re
quests of the Committee. And whether in the future I shall remain
with you, or the necessities of business shall take me from amongst
you, I shall ever cherish the kindest and most grateful memories of
our ten years of service in the interest of the Republican party of
the State of Wisconsin.
Invited persons who were unable to attend the dinner
sent letters in acknowledgment of the official and political

The Milwaukee Club Dinner 37
services rendered by Mr. Payne and Captain Bean, min
gled with strong expressions of criticism and disapproval
of the executive act which deprived the public service of
qualifications like theirs. Letters were read from, among
others. Governor Jeremiah M. Rusk, Mr. Angus Cameron,
Mr. James H. Howe, Mr. Horace A. Taylor and Senator
John C. Spooner. Two sentences in the letter of the last
writer deserve quotation, as summing up the political side
of Mr. Payne's character and especially as showing how
he was regarded by his political opponents :
Payne is a born leader of men, possessed of superb ability as an
organizer, of tireless energy, unwavering in his devotion to the prin
ciples of his party, unselfish and self-sacrificing in the personal serv
ices he yields to the cause in which he believes. He deserves the
gratitude of every Republican, as he has won the respect of every
Democrat who likes a fair fight, and admires an opponent who deals
hard blows, and takes them in return like a man.
The closing portion of this quotation furnishes an
apology for presenting extracts from three letters written
by political opponents of Mr. Payne and which confirm
Senator Spooner's opinion that the Democrats liked him.
The following is from the pen of Mr. Edward C. Wall,
of Milwaukee: Mr. Payne and I differed radically in politics. Several times
we were actively identified in the management of campaigns on op
posite sides, striving with all the energy and ability each of us pos
sessed to defeat each other. This, however, did not disturb our
friendship, neither did the fact that some suspicious adherents of
our respective parties misconstrued this and criticised it unkindly
make the slightest difference in our intercourse or social relation.
The fact is that Mr. Payne and I never discussed politics except as
gentlemen do in a general way among themselves where they differ.
While Mr. Payne was a hard fighter and a hard hitter, as well
as a most resourceful leader politically, he was at the same time
generous to his political opponent.

38 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
Sir Thomas G. Shaughnessy, now of Montreal, Can
ada, thus records his impressions of Mr. Payne as a pub
lic man :
Excepting on one occasion, when I was a supporter of Matt. H.
Carpenter for the United States Senate, Mr. Payne and I were never
in accord politically in the early days. He was a Republican leader
— indeed, to my mind, the leader not only in the Milwaukee district,
but in the State of Wisconsin, while I was an humble member of
the Democratic party.
Shrewd, capable, reserved and an excellent judge of men, Mr.
Payne was the ideal man for political management. One of his
most striking characteristics, however, was his unselfishness. He
played the game for the party and its candidates without apparently
making any effort for his own preferment. I cannot recollect that
in my day he was ever a candidate for an elective office. True he
held the position of postmaster for a time, but in those days politics
permeated the public departments, and in that position he had oppor
tunity to keep in touch with political affairs not only in his own
district, but throughout a considerable portion of the Northwest.
His efficiency as a member of the Republican National Committee
was recognized and appreciated by such men as the late Senator
Hanna, whom I knew intimately and who frequently spoke in terms
of admiration and affection of his colleague from Wisconsin on the
committee. When I knew him best I had implicit confidence in Mr. Payne's
unimpeachable honesty, and during the last quarter of a century every
word that reached me from any quarter tended to confirm that con
viction. His friends knew him as a loyal and devoted friend; his
foes, and they were only political, recognized his genius for party
organization and strategy. Henry C. Payne was indeed a citizen
who brought credit and honour to his state, and whose memory will
be cherished for generations to come.
Mr. William F. Vilas, of Madison, Wisconsin, Mr.
Payne's predecessor as postmaster-general, in the cabinet
of President Cleveland, writes at length, and because ex-
Senator Vilas as a hfelong Democrat knew and appre
ciated a worthy opponent, I draw quite extensively from
his recollections of Mr. Pa3me:
He seemingly possessed a natural liking, as well as marked
natural aptitude, for the management of contests in the political

The Milwaukee Club Dinner 39

arena — the enjoyment, doubtless, of the exercise of conscious power.
I never knew whether it was this native tendency, or devotion to
personal friends, which first turned him to that field of effort. Cer
tainly, one could hardly manifest less of personal ambition or self-
seeking, although his labors, cares and performances ranged over
long years and trying controversies, while, as chairman of the State
Central Committee and state representative in the National Com
mittee, his masterful hand was upon the helm of his party, dom-
inantly in the state and finally almost so in the nation. It was, in
deed, but the mortal stroke which unloosed that grasp.
Probably, no man anywhere ever essayed political or public serv
ice without misconception by opponents, and, not vmcommonly, by
many even in party accord. The measure of success is also generally
the gauge of feeling in antagonism and misjudgment. If Mr. Payne
encountered it, he not only shared the common fate of public labor,
but found in it the mark of achievement. Assuredly he won from
those over whom he secured so many triumphs, the acknowledgment
due his high ability, keen insight, steadfastness of purpose, with
genuine, and for the most part also generous, cordiality; and in the
constancy of his friends not less than the distinction of exalted office
lies undeniable testimony of the eminence he attained in the estima
tion of his fellow men.
This affords no fitting opportunity to speak of his official labors,
were I so acquainted with their circumstances as to warrant it.
The recall of him to which my memory clings with affectionate
fondness, turns especially to the charms of his personal intercourse.
His gifts from Nature, bettered by culture, in sunny temperament,
kindly disposition, frank, open, manly ways, gentle courtesies of
manner, rendered him ever a delight to the companions he accepted.
It was like a sunburst through a cloudy sky to happen upon his
welcoming cheer at meeting a friend; while his animation, humor,
bright wit and ready mind, infused by kindness of heart, gave every
succeeding moment of communion fresh enjoyment. One never
failed to receive responsive appreciation and with it, keenly discrim
inative judgment, of a fact stated or a proposition advanced, whether
in pleasantry or serious affairs. Nor ever was wanting that essential
of good fellowship, confidence in his truth and integrity, the ease of
an absolute security in his fidelity to all the obligations of honor
in every personal relation.

40 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

CHAPTER VII

''apiltoaukee a Kepu&Ucan Countp"
To explain the frequent references to Mr. Payne's
political achievements it is necessary to retum again to
the Young Men's Republican Club. As has been stated
this organization was not permitted to disintegrate in
1872. Its existence under the name of the Central Re
publican Club was perpetuated, with the resolution of
making Milwaukee county and city Republican in politics.
It was unable in 1874 to accomplish the defeat of Mr.
William P. Lynde, Democratic candidate for Congress
from the Fourth District, although his vote in the county
was reduced to a majority of 1,404 ballots over Mr. Har
rison Ludington. At the state election on November 2,
1875, the Republicans made herculean efforts to carry the
state, more particularly because the governorship had
fallen without good reason into the grasp of the Demo
crats in 1872. Governor William R. Taylor was a can
didate for re-election in 1875 and against him the Republi
cans nominated Mr. Harrison Ludington, three times
elected mayor of the Democratic city of Milwaukee. The
contest was very exciting and enlisted all the ardor and
energy of Secretary Payne. When the ballots had been
counted it was found that Mr. Ludington had carried the
state by 831 votes over Govemor Taylor, but that the re
mainder of the Democratic ticket had been elected. The
county of Milwaukee which, in 1873, Governor Taylor

"Milwaukee a Republican County" 41
carried by a majority of 6,379 ballots, polled him a ma
jority of but 1,219 votes in 1875 — a loss of 5,160 votes.
It was a brilliant throng that attended the inauguration
of Governor Ludington in January, 1876. Mr. Edward
K. West,* in a notice about Mr. Payne, writes :
I was one of a merry party from Milwaukee who attended the
inaugural ball at the time of the election of Governor Harrison
Ludington. Mr. Payne seemed to be the bright particular star at
that time, the director general by common consent.
The Central Republican Club, managed by its rest
less, busy secretary, Mr. Payne, attacked the enemy again
in the presidential campaign of 1876, rendered ever
memorable by the contest of Governor Rutherford B.
Hayes against Mr. Samuel J. Tilden. In the city of
Milwaukee the Democrats made loud boasts — they would
carry the city by so large a vote that the Republicans in
the remainder of the state could not overcome the ma
jority. Vain bragging! The Democrats carried the city
by a meagre majority of 1,381 votes, the county by 2,019
votes and lost the state by somewhat more than 6,000
votes. Commenting upon this situation the Milwaukee
correspondent of the Chicago Times wrote to his paper:
That the Democratic majority in this intensely Democratic city
and county has been reduced from the sublime to the comparatively
ridiculous in the way it has been is one of the wonderful feats of
the day and Henry C. Payne is chief conjuror.
Upon the conclusion of this presidential campaign it
was deemed wise to form, a new organization of the Cen
tral Republican Club which should be more fairly repre-

*Mr. West was the son of Mr. Payne's predecessor as postmaster
and served as the head of the money-order department during all
the administration of Mr. Payne and a portion of that of Mr. Paul.
Mr. West's summary of the character of his chief, Mr. Payne, is
most interesting.

42 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
sentative than the Club of the growing Republican party.
At its annual meeting in the winter of 1876-7 a committee
consisting of Mr. Payne, Mr. Albert B. Geilfuss and Mr.
John H. Manschot was appointed to report a new perma
nent plan of organization. This committee reported, and
the Club adopted, a plan for the formation of the Central
Committee of the Republican party of the city and county
of Milwaukee — a lengthy name popularly shortened into
the Committee of One Hundred. Of this committee Mr.
William E. Smith was the president and Mr. Payne the
secretary. The object of the committee was single — to
conduct the Republican campaigns in the city and county
of Milwaukee. Not long after its formation Mr. Ed
ward Sanderson succeeded Mr. Smith as chairman of the
committee, owing to Mr. Smith's election as govemor,
and Mr. Payne added to his duties those of secretary and
treasurer of the State Central Committee.
The Committee of One Hundred tested its mettle in the
gubernatorial campaign in November, 1877, the con
testants being Mr. William E. Smith and Judge James A.
Mallory — the latter the Democratic nominee. Judge Mal
lory carried the city by 222 votes, the county by 545 votes
and lost the state by more than six thousand votes. In
the spring of 1878 Mr. Casper M. Sanger, Republican,
lost the mayoralty by but 343 votes — the political change
was surely coming !
When the next election for governor occurred in the
spring of 1879, Governor Smith was a candidate for re^
election, his Democratic opponent being Mr. James G.
Jenkins. Governor Smith had a majority in the state of
25,494 votes, in the city of Milwaukee of 2,152 votes,
and in the county of Milwaukee, of 2,360 votes. In the

"Milwaukee a Republican County" 43
spring of 1880 Mr. Thomas H. Brown, Republican, was
chosen mayor of Milwaukee, by a majority of 3,388 votes.
The change had come !
It was no unacceptable reward to Mr. Payne for his
meritorious party services that he was a delegate to the
National Republican convention which sat in Chicago in
the summer of 1880. In this convention the delegation
from Wisconsin did the decisive work that nominated
Mr. James A. Garfield. For thirty-three ballots the six
teen votes of the Wisconsin delegation had been cast for
Mr. James G. Blaine. A solitary delegate from Penn
sylvania had been voting consistently for Mr. Garfield
upon every ballot. On the thirty-fourth ballot the Wis
consin delegation, largely through the influence of Mr.
Payne, switched its sixteen votes to Mr. Garfield and his
nomination followed.
Now that Mr. Garfield was nominated it was neces
sary for Wisconsin to do its share in electing him. The
State Central Committee and the Committee of One Hun
dred, with Mr. Payne at the helm of both, undertook the
task. In tliis presidential contest Mr. Payne reduced the
business of campaigning to an exact science in the city
of Milwaukee. A secretary and a set of books were the
preliminary paraphernalia. Before the campaign opened
or a speech was made, a thorough street canvass had been
made in the city, and the name, age and residence of each
male person obtained, brought to the secretary and alpha
betized in the books. In addition was entered the status
of each, whether naturalized, whether registered, whether
about to cast his first vote, whether Republican, Democrat
or doubtful. Proper letters were mailed to the members
of each class. The unregistered were reminded of their

44 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
political duty, the unnaturalized were instructed how to
become citizens, the young and the doubtful were fur
nished with appropriate political nutriment, the Republi
cans confirmed in the faith, the Democrats warned of the
error of their ways. The result was that the unregis
tered showed their gratitude to the party that taught them
their obligation, the unnaturalized went to the Republican
Central Committee for their citizenship blanks, the young
men flocked to the Republican standard. Not a voter
escaped the peering glance of Mr. Payne and his com^
mittee. So completely and systematically were plans
carried out that, upon November i, 1880, the day before
election, a Republican ballot was mailed to every voter
in the city and so far as possible, in the county, with an
urgent appeal that it be voted. The result was that Mr.
Garfield carried the county of Milwaukee by a plurality
of 3,091 votes, an increase of 5,110 votes over the Hayes
figures in 1876. Throughout the state Mr. Garfield had
a plurality of 29,770 votes over the Democratic aspirant.
General Hancock. The Evening Wisconsin, scanning
the complete returns of the state, was moved to explain
on November 15, 1880, that Milwaukee is now "the ban
ner Republican county in Wisconsin."
It should have been stated a little earlier that Mr.
Payne became in 1880, then being thirty-seven years of
age, a member of the Republican National Committee.
It may here be added, and it will be amplified later, that in
that capacity he participated actively in five presidential
campaigns and that in the last three of these he was a
member of the executive committee of the National Com
mittee. One of the features of Mr. Payne's practice of poli-

"Milwaukee a Republican County" 45
tics was honesty in dealing with all voters. He believed
in a bold, exact, straightforward declaration of party
principles and a square and open fight to win on the basis
of that declaration. Nothing illustrates this attitude
better than the( mayoralty campaign int 1884. In: the
Republican nominating convention that year, held March
28, 1884, the declaration of principles, which Mr. Payne
assisted to frame and which was adopted on March 30,
1884, asserted that the Republicans were in favor of a
more rigid regulation of the liquor traffic, of the payment
of higher licenses by the saloons, and of the removal of
the fire and pohce departments from the domain of poli
tics. Brave as this stand was in a city like Milwaukee,
it was taken without hesitation and the campaign fought
out under Mr. Payne's leadership with those issues con
stantly thrust into prominence. Mr. Emil Wallber,
standing on this platform, was elected mayor of Milwau
kee by a plurality of about three thousand votes. To
show how promises are sometimes kept it should be noted
that the Republican legislature elected in the fall of 1884
passed more rigid laws relating to saloons, made enact
ments for the submission to different municipalities of
propositions for higher license fees and, as has already
been stated, took the fire and police departments of Mil
waukee out of politics.
Here may appropriately be printed a letter to the Mil
waukee Sentinel written by Mr. Frederick C. Winkler, of
Milwaukee, December 28, 1901, at the time of Mr.
Payne's appointment to the cabinet of President Roose
velt. It may not be without interest at this time to recall a bit of
political history. Prior to 1885 it had been the practice in our city

46 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

for each newly elected mayor, especially when there was a change
of party, to appoint a new chief of police and of the fire department,
and then after a few days a long list of dismissals and of the ap
pointment of friends of the 'new man would follow in each depart
ment. Bearing in mind that we had annual elections in those days,
one can readily imagine the Dolly Varden appearance of the record
so made. In 1884 the Republican city convention met on Wednesday
in the latter part of March, nominated a ticket with Emil Wallber
for mayor, and then adjourned till Friday evening. At the ad
journed meeting a series of resolutions was reported, among which
was the following:
"Resolved, That we are in favor of taking the police and fire
departments and the management of the public schools out of the
domain of politics so that the terms of office of policemen, firemen,
school officials and teachers shall not depend on the results of each
succeeding election, but rather upon faithfulness and efficiency in the
discharge of their duties."
At this time Henry C. Payne was secretary and treasurer of the
Republican State Central Committee. Edward Sanderson was its
chairman. The two were on the closest terms of political intimacy.
Both were deeply interested in city affairs and active, leading men
in our local politics. Both were present at that meeting. Mr. San
derson was a delegate in the convention and a member of the com
mittee reporting the resolutions. The adjourned convention turned
into a mass meeting. The resolutions and the nominations were
enthusiastically ratified. I do not know the authorship of the reso
lution quoted, but I do know that it had Mr. Payne's very hearty
indorsement. When the next session of the legislature met, it was he who saw
to the preparation of a bill and pushed it with his wonted zeal. I
think J. R. Brigham drew it. I remember being called into a con
ference about it when he was present. Mr. Payne had it introduced
and looked after its fate in the legislature. I remember well my
meeting him while it was pending and asking him about the prospects
of its passage, and his answer. It was this : "The Republican party
has promised the people of Milwaukee to take the police and fire
departments out of politics ; we have a Republican legislature, and I
will see to it that the promise is redeemed." It was redeemed. The
bill was passed, and it was one of the most valuable, if not the most
valuable, charter reform that the legislature of Wisconsin has given
to the city of Milwaukee.
Mr. Payne has never posed in the special role of a reformer,
but he has always stood for decency and efficiency in every branch
of the public service. In his administration of the Milwaukee post
office this was fully exemplified, and the civil service law was im
partially enforced.

"Milwaukee a Republican County" 47
During the presidential campaign of 1884 Mr. Horace
A. Taylor was chairman of the Republican State Central
Committee. The secretary and treasurer was Mr. Payne,
and the headquarters of the committee at the corner of
Wisconsin and Jefferson Streets, in Milwaukee, the cor
ner now ornamented by the Hotel Pfister. In this cam
paign, in which Mr. James G Blaine and Mr. Grover
Cleveland were the candidates, the prospect of Republican
success was not encouraging. There was much disaffec
tion; there were many "mugwumps;" there were green
back voters and prohibitionist voters. The same system
was pursued throughout the state, so far as practicable in
so large an area, as was pursued in Milwaukee county
in the campaign four years before. Mr. Payne was keen
ly ambitious to win this contest in Wisconsin and success
crowned his efforts. Mr. Blaine received some sixteen
thousand more votes than Mr. Cleveland.
But Mr. Payne's victory was barren; the Democrats
carried the electoral college, Mr. Cleveland became presi
dent March 4, 1885, and in a year Mr. Payne was evicted
from the office of postmaster of Milwaukee because he was
an "offensive partisan."

48 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

CHAPTER VIII

'Business again
Upon Mr. Payne's retirement from the Milwaukee
post office he was far from being a man of means. Dur
ing his tenure in the federal building his salary had been
his only means of livelihood, for his political services
while they brought him some honor and much odium,
accumulated for him no wealth. While casting about for
a permanent avocation he became interested with Mr.
WiHiam H. Bradley and Mr. Wallace G. Collins in the
development of Northern Wisconsin. He was largely in
strumental in securing the legislation which led to the
settlement and uplift of that section of the state, particu
larly in obtaining legislative permission to erect a large
dam at Tomaliawk, Wisconsin.*
Mr. Collins, above mentioned, residing in 1887 in
Milwaukee, now of Chicago, thus writes concerning Mr.
Payne's land and timber enterprises:
Mr. Payne, with others, determined the location of the town of
Tomahawk, believing that the proximity of the dam would encour
age sawmill concerns to locate at that point. Mr. Payne was selected
to take charge of the disposal of the town lots. The discussion in
the legislature over the installation of the Tomahawk dam had ad
vertised the place very extensively and it was decided to offer the
lots at auction. This was in 1887. Mr. Payne sold $115,000 worth
of lots the first day.
When it was decided to extend the line north from Tomahawk,

*See Chapter 346, Laws of Wisconsin for 1887, published April
22, 1887.

Business Again 49

the town site of Minocqua was secured by us. It had been occupied
for nearly 200 years as the site of an Indian village. The name
Minocqua was adopted after a number of interviews with the Indians
and was the name of the old chief of the tribe. Mr. Payne at first
thought the Indian equivalent for the name Tomahawk would be
appropriate, but it was too long. He then thought to name the town
after the wife of the chief. He spent the best part of a day trying
to spell her name in English on pieces of birch bark, but after
shortening it in every way possible, he found it would take thirty-
six letters at the least calculation, and he finally gave it up.
He arranged with the Indians to remove to the reservation, and
the town site of Minocqua was put into Mr. Payne's hands and sold
by him. The first child born in Minocqua was given a town lot and
each church denomination was presented with a site for a church.
These ventures brought Mr. Payne in contact with the timber
enterprises in Northern Wisconsin in which he at one time engaged
quite extensively in connection with myself and other parties. I
was also associated with Mr. Payne in several other land transac
tions in the city of Milwaukee and in Chicago and elsewhere. I
always found him a man of most excellent judgment and painstaking
care and of the strictest integrity in the handling of all the interests
in which I was associated with him.
During the trips we made together to the wilds of Northern
Wisconsin in furtherance of our various projects, I learned to know
Mr. Payne in a way that a man can only be known in roughing it in
camp life. Opportunity was afforded to discuss many men and
measures and I was deeply impressed with the breadth of his views
and the fairness of his judgment. The friendship formed during this
period lasted until his death. As an evidence of my confidence in
Mr. Payne, I may say that at one time he held for me either in his
name or as trustee, all of my interests in eight different companies.
But, to speak properly of what became his daily rou
tine of business, it is necessary to be once more remin
iscent. At a meeting of the Fortnightly Club, Milwaukee, held
July 15, 1875, at the office of Mr. Wilham W. Wight in
the Insurance Building,* Mr. Elisha Gray, of Chicago,
read a paper bearing a new name about a new subject, the
*The Old Insurance Building at the northwest corner of Wis
consin Street and Broadway.

50 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
telephone. By means of wires stretched about this office,
the hall and adjoining offices, Mr. Gray illustrated and
explained the then astonishing discovery in the transmis
sion of sound. These were the first experiments with the
telephone in Wisconsin.*
Among the members of the Fortnightly Club present
during these experiments was Mr. Charles H. Haskins,
then representing in Milwaukee the Northwestern Tele
graph Company. Naturally interested in electrical sub
jects the telephone appealed to Mr. Haskins and it was
through him that the telephone was practically introduced
into Milwaukee. In 1879 he was the agent of the Bell
Telephone Company with an office with the Northwestern
Telegraph Company at Number 411 Broadway. By 1880
the Milwaukee Telephone exchange was established at
the same place, Mr. Haskins being the president. In
1882 the Wisconsin Telephone Company succeeded the
Milwaukee Telephone Company, the same president con
tinuing. In the new corporation Milwaukee capital had
the majority interest, and the American Bell Telephone
Company represented by Mr. Charles H. Haskins held
minority holdings. Mr. Benjamin K. Miller, Mr. Ed
ward H. Brodhead and Mr. Frank G. Bigelow were the
earliest local stock owners outside of the Haskins in
terests. Then followed closely Mr. Payne, Mr. Charles
Ray, Mr. Charles F. Pfister, Mr. Henry F. Whitcomb,
Mr. Charles G. Stark and Mr. John D. McLeod. Mr.
Pa)me became the vice-president of the Wisconsin Tele
phone Company, October 5, 1886, and the president Feb-

*I find no patent issued upon a "telephone," so-called, until No
vember, 1877.

Business Again 51

ruary 1 1, 1889. This latter position he occupied for more
than ten years, resigning May 17, 1899, when his interest
with those of other Milwaukee owners was sold to the
Erie Telephone and Telegraph Company then operating
in Minnesota and Michigan. During the ten years of
Mr. Payne's administration, the plant of the Telephone
Company was largely increased and extended, and the
concern made prosperous. It was he who selected the
site for the general offices of the Company at Number 424
Broadway, and supervised the erection of the building.
In it the executive rooms were separated from the noisy
operating quarter. It is interesting to notice that the
same administrative qualities, shrewdness, good judgment
and business sense, which had been and were his char
acteristics in the management of political campaigns were
employed by him in directing the affairs of this growing
corporation. Mr. John D. McLeod, formerly general manager and
now one of the vice-presidents of the Wisconsin Telephone
Company, was closely associated with Mr. Pajme in tele
phone work and has this to say of his impressions of his
superior in office :
In the early days of the Telephone Company, during its forma
tive period, his strong hand successfully piloted the business through
many unusual difficulties. As a monopoly, it was sorely beset by
the prejudices of the public it was created to serve, by the lack of
capital for its expanding needs and by mischievous legislation, and
was in many ways dependent for success upon the masterful powers
which Mr. Payne brought to it, and that skill in affairs which in
spired confidence in all his undertakings.
Mr. Payne was petty in nothing. I bear witness to no sign of
impatience in my fifteen years of intimate observation, though provo
cation was frequent and dire.
His master mind, the magnetic qualities of the man, the sim
plicity and generosity of his nature and an even measure of courtesy

52 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
to the great and little alike, marked him a conspicuous personality.
These endowments with all the lovable personal traits following in
their train endeared him to his intimates, and justify his national
fame. We have thought him as great a general in the "Arts of Peace"
as Grant in the "Arts of War,'' and have felt that the tribute of
Congress to Grant might as fitly memorialize the achievements of
Henry C. Payne: "Patient of toil, serene amidst alarms,
Inflexible in faith, invincible in arms."
A number of matters miscellaneous in character be
longing to the last fourteen years of Mr. Payne's life may
properly be grouped here that they may not interrupt the
march of more important events pressing upon the later
pages. In the year 1890 Mr. Payne became a director of the
First National Bank of Milwaukee as successor to Mr.
George Dyer. This position he held until his death.
In about the same year he became a director of the
Milwaukee Gas Light Company and occupied this posi
tion until the time of his removal to Washington.
On October i, 1890, he became a director of the Mil
waukee and Northern Railroad Company, and was the
president of that corporation from November 12, 1890,
until his death. This position was, however, little more
than a sinecure as all the property of the corporation, in
cluding its road, was transferred August 28, 1893, to the
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company.
On December 8, 1892, with Mr. Thomas W. Spence,
of Milwaukee, and certain officials of the just named
railroad company, he formed the North Milwaukee In
vestment Company, for the purpose of dealing in lots in
that suburb. A number of subdivisions in North Mil-

Business Again 53

waukee are named for Mr. Payne, while the principal
street, Villard Avenue, attests his admiration for his
friend, the financier, Mr. Henry Vihard.
Mr. Payne was the president of the Fox River Valley
Electric Railway Company, with headquarters at Apple-
ton, Wisconsin, from its organization until about the year
1900, when it was swallowed up as a connecting link in
some larger line.
When the convention of the American Street Railway
Association was held in Milwaukee, in 1893, Mr. Payne
was chosen the president of that body in recognition of
his long years of activity and prominence in street railway
matters. On June 26, 1894, he was elected a member of the Old
Settlers' Club of Milwaukee, to which he was entitled on
account of a residence of twenty-five years in that city.
Mr. Payne was a member of the Pennsylvania His
torical Society, and on December 8, 1898, was elected a
life member of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
In the museum of the latter society is now preserved the
chair which he occupied while a member of the cabinet of
President Roosevelt and which in 1905 was presented to
the Society by Mrs. Pa)me. The history of the chair is
shown by the following letter :
Washington, November 14, 1902.
Hon. Henry C. Payne,
Postmaster-General of the United States,
Washington, D. C.
Mr. Postmaster-General: It gives me pleasure to send you
one of the chairs formerly used by the Cabinet at Cabinet meetings
at the White House.
The chair was purchased in General Grant's time and has been
in use till the present time. Owing to the construction of a separate
office building equipped with entirely new furniture, this chair was

54 Henry ClAy Payne : A Life
no longer needed for the purpose for which it was purchased, and is
therefore, by permission of the President, sent to you as a souvenir.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Theo. a. Bingham, Colonel U. S. Army.
Mr. Payne was one of the early members of the So
ciety of Colonial Wars for the State of Wisconsin, claim
ing membership by virtue of his descent from Mr. Moses
Pain of Braintree and from the latter's son, Stephen Pain.
From 1902 until his death Mr. Payne was the Deputy
Governor General of the Society. No one who attended
the dinner given by that Society on December 21, 1901,
will forget the feeling and eloquent address of Mr. Pajme
to his fellow members. A residence soon to begin in
Washington was deeply impressing upon his mind the
urgent need of a disinterested and heaven-inspired
patriotism. On December 16, 1900, Mr. Payne was elected a mem
ber of the executive committee of the Ipdianapolis Mone
tary Convention.
He was likewise the original trustee for Wisconsin of
the McKinley National Memorial Association, which posi
tion he still held at the time of his death.
For the artistic betterment of the city of his love Mr.
Payne presented to it the eight stone lions which now
ornament the approaches to the two bridges over the Light
House Ravine in Lake Park, Milwaukee. The letter of
thankful acceptance by the park commissioners is dated
August 6, 1897.
The trustees of Milwaukee^Downer College gratefully
remember Mr. Payne, Mr. Frank G. Bigelow and Mr.

Business Again 55

Charles F. Pfister for their joint gift of fifteen hundred
dollars, which fully equipped the gymnasium of that in
stitution. It is not amiss to emphasize in this connection that
Mr. Payne was a constant and generous giver. All ob
jects aiming at the advancement and improvement of Mil
waukee, all public benevolent institutions, and churches of
any faith, were granted his liberal benefactions. He was
particularly thoughtful of All Saints' Cathedral, Milwau
kee, whose bishop* received his frequent aid for cathedral
improvements and for church work.
His assistance was always ready and ample for funds
for the destitute and distressed, as, for one example, for
the fund for the sufferers in the Third Ward conflagra
tion in Milwaukee, October 28, 1892.

?Right Reverend Isaac L. Nicholson, the Protestant Episcopal
Bishop of Milwaukee, who died in that city, October 29, 1906.

56 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

CHAPTER IX

Concerning Street Kailtoaps
Reference has already been made to the insignificant
condition of the street railways of Milwaukee when Mr.
Payne first took up his residence in that city. It would
be unprofitable here to chronicle the tardy processes of
improvement, both in equipment and in transportation,
and the gradual growth of independent and partially
competing corporations operating in different portions of
the city and suburbs. Let it suffice to observe that in and
about 1890 the North American Company, a corporation
of New York, had large stock holdings in Milwaukee
street railways ; that Mr. Payne represented, in Milwaukee,
those holdings, and that there were then no fewer than
five different street railway companies, familiarly known
as horse-railways, in operation. These five were the
Cream City Railroad Company, of which Mr. Oren E.
Britt, of Milwaukee, was the president; the Milwaukee
City Railroad Company, of which Mr. Walter G. Oak-
man, of New York, was the president; the Milwaukee
Electric Railway Company, of which Mr. F. E. Hinckley,
was president; the West Side Railway Company, of
which Mr. Washington Becker was president, the pioneer
road in the city to use electricity as a motive power ; and
the Whitefish Bay Railway Company, of which Mr. Will-

Concerning Street Railways 57
iam H. Bradley and Mr. Israel H. Lowry were the chief
officers, the first road in Milwaukee authorized by ordi
nance* to use other than animal power for propulsion.
To Mr. Payne's mind the union of these disconnected
and discordant lines was a matter of great moment, and
upon his shoulders fell the burden of accomplishing this
union. To be sure he was not at that time a practical
street railroad man; his experience had been along other
lines, but the general business ability was there, and for
the purpose of the negotiation which was required for
such intricate and involved matters he possessed all the
essential qualities — aggressive energy and tenacity of pur
pose tempered by a spirit of conciliation and compromise,
of amiability and patience.
On December 22, 1890, the first two above named cor
porations had merged and become the Milwaukee Street
Railway Company, with Mr. Henry Villard,t of New
York, as the president; Mr. William L. Mason, now of
Washington, District of Columbia, as auditor, and Mr.
Payne as vice-president, this being Mr. Payne's first
prominent connection with street railway affairs. On
September 29, 1891, the stock of the West Side Railway
Company was transferred to the North American Com
pany, an eastern corporation, in the interest of the Mil-

*The ordinance was passed June 14, 1886, and required the use
of animal power on Farwell Avenue and Bradford Street and per
mitted the use of steam motors, electricity or magnetism, north of
the intersection of Bradford Street and Glen Avenue.
tMr. Villard had been greatly interested in the Northern
Pacific Railroad, in the Wisconsin Central Railway and in other
enterprises in the northwest. For his various enterprises he needed
a holding company to manage his smaller companies, and therefore
he formed and controlled the North American Company. He be
came acquainted with Mr. Payne through his investments in the
West.

58 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
waukee Street Railway Company. In 1892 consolidation
had no further advanced, and there had come into being
the Milwaukee and Wauwatosa Motor Railway Company
with Mr. James Petley as the president. During 1892
Mr. Villard ceased to be president of the Milwaukee
Street Railway Company and during that year and until
1895 Mr. Payne exercised the functions of the higher
office. In 1893 the street railway lines remained as in
1892, but by January 29, 1894, the last named company
had absorbed all the strictly city lines — there remaining
only as separate entities the Whitefish Bay line and the
Wauwatosa Motor line. In 1895 the consolidation had
become complete, and there were included in the merger
companies formed for electric lighting purposes such as
the Badger Illuminating Company and the Edison Elec
tric Illuminating Company, of both of which corporations
Mr. Edward C. Wall, of Milwaukee, had been the presi
dent, and which corporations had in 1891 and in 1890
sold their property to the Milwaukee Street Railway
Company. But the company thus formed was far from being in
a flourishing financial condition, and sought in vain for
the money to pay its debts. Foreclosure proceedings
were instituted against it May 24, 1895, by the Central
Trust Company of New York, to which it had mortgaged
its property on January 29, 1894, for ten mihion dollars;
receivers were appointed, to-wit: Mr. Payne and Mr.
George R. Sheldon, and steps taken to change the lan
guid body into a healthy being. Out of this receivership
arose on January 29, 1896, the corporation now existing
known as The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light

Concerning Street Railways 59
Company. Of this company Mr. William Nelson Crom
well, of New York, was president, and Mr. Payne the
vice-president. Prior to the consohdation Mr. Payne's shoulders bore
the principal weight of the street railroad business. Apart
from the negotiations for union — for the accomplishment
of which he deserves great, and the chief, credit — there
was need to convince the New York capitalists that the
entire line was worthy of equipment with electricity. The
passing away of the sluggish and patient mule in favor
of the tireless trolley is due to his efforts, for he had
familiarized himself with the results obtained by the subtle
fluid and foresaw that electricity had come to stay. In
deed, as an evidence of his confidence in the future of the
trolley system it may here be mentioned that he invested
in Milwaukee street railway stock the proceeds of a
matured life insurance policy taken out by him in his
younger days.
The well-being of the employes of the company was
a matter of much concern to the interests of the com
pany, in the belief of Mr. Payne, apart from considera
tions of humanity. Of many of the employes he knew the
names and the residences, and their condition as to mar
riage and offspring; and increases of salaries — which came
more than once without solicitation — were based upon the
domestic situation of the men. Indeed, a plan which al
lowed the participation of the employes in the company's
profits, and tied them to the company's interests, by per
mitting them to purchase the company's stock at an ad
vantageous figure was worked out and put into effect after
the strike, which occurred in the spring of 1896.

60 Henry Clay Payne: A Life
This strike broke out after the consolidation of the
different companies into The Milwaukee Electric Railway
and Light Company and had its formative period and
preparations during a trip which Mr. Payne with his wife
had taken tO' Europe for rest and recreation. It grew
out of the demands which the motormen and conductors
made for shorter hours and greater pay and for official
recognition of their union, which then flourished under
the ponderous name of Amalgamated Street Railway Em
ployes, and which had the financial assistance of other
unions in various sections of the country. These de
mands were unreasonable and tyrannical in their char
acter and submission to them would have been equivalent
to a surrender of the control of the road. Upon the re
turn of Mr. Payne fromi abroad, although he was not then
in vigorous health, and although political ambitions might
have made his stay in the background a matter of the
highest prudence, he assumed immediately the burdens
of his office in the Railway Company, one of which
burdens was the management of its affairs during this
strike. Mr. Payne's position was that, whatever the
merits of the complaints, the company must be pennitted
to manage its affairs in its own way and without the co
ercion or interference of a labor union. It would seem
that the majority of the populace did not agree with Mr.
Payne's position. The tie-up by the strikers, which be
gan on Monday, May 4, 1896, was at first effectual, the
road was greatly handicapped, and the management
labored under the obloquy not only of the rebelling work
men, but also of the incommoded and unsympathetic pub
lic. However, the company put on a bold front, ran

Concerning Street Railways 61
the cars so far as their loyal help permitted, imported
strike breaking motormen and conductors from every
where, and paid special deputies in citizens' clothes to
protect the crews fromI assaults. It required no little
courage for a patron to board the cars. He had fear of
his head from the vagaries of a fugitive stone, and he
had the additional fear of a boycott of his business in
case he should be spotted. Stages did a thriving trade,
men unused to walking developed abnormal muscles,
while heavily laden teams mysteriously broke down ath
wart the tracks and no bystanders could be found to as
sist in clearing the wrecks. While the conflict was at its
height the strikers, astonished at the unyielding front dis
played by the company, sent a committee to the directors
offering to call off the strike and abandon their demands,
if they could be accorded their former positions with the
company. Not a few of the directors, anxious to ter
minate the unprofitable strife, jumped at this proposition.
But Mr. Payne absolutely and positively refused to con
sider the offer, involving as it did bad faith to the new
men who had taken the strikers' places upon the express
promise of Mr. Payne that they should not be molested.
Mr. Payne's firmness and insistence won the other
directors and the strike continued.
The boycott was as effective as the strike and con
tinued long after the strike had been defeated. Grocers,
butchers and tobacconists refused the patronage of the
strike breakers and of the loyal old employes. With diffi
culty these procured bread and meat for themselves and
their families. The company, which was feeding and
housing the working crews, in improvised kitchens and

62 Henry Clay Payne: A Life

barracks, could not purchase supplies in Milwaukee and
was obliged to procure from Chicago food already pre
pared and import cooks.
While the non-sufferers enjoyed the situation, Mr.
Payne was the object of particular hatred, the strikers
being especially severe. He was burned in effigy, scare
crow bodies bearing his name were gleefully trampled
upon, and on one occasion he was exhibited in an open
window lying in a coffin on which was pinned the in
scription, Death to Scab Payne! Well-bred people con
demned him, ill-bred people called him names, the labor
ing classes cursed him, the pohticians shunned him, the
mobs surging the streets jeered at the mention of his
name. But none of these things moved him from uni
form serenity. Conscious that his position was sound,
he kept on importing new men, the strikers were impotent
to prevent their arrival, the police quelled the disturbers,
the cars gradually assumed regular routine, the new men
became accustomed to their positions, the strike died out,
the Amalgamated Street Railway Employes was no more.
Those of the old men who had not been violent in the
strike and who by returning would not displace the men
who had stood by the company in their trial, were taken
back. These with the new men constitute the nucleus of
the present employes who in self-discipline and in loyalty
to the interests of the company are of the highest grade
of excellence. All through the long years of negotiation necessary to
consolidation of the various railways and lighting com
panies, and during the following years of reconstruction,
Mr. Payne stood at the helm, guiding and controlling al
most absolutely the complicated affairs of the company,

Concerning Street Railways 63
and in addition performing the duties of general manager
for the operation of the road, aided only by consultation
with the New York representatives of the company. The
consolidation was now effected. The reconstruction was
about finished, and the task which he had assumed was
successfully accomplished. After years of laborious de
tail work, Mr. Payne wished now to be relieved of a part
of his burden, and Mr. Charles D. Wyman was about
this time engaged as general manager, and as such he
assisted Mr. Payne through some of the trying crises
through which the Company had tO' pass, notably the
strike of 1896, and the attempt of the Common Council
of Milwaukee to compel a reduction of the fares. Mr.
Wyman later accepted a position with the street railways
of New Orleans, and Mr. John I. Beggs (who had been
the western representative of the Edison General Electric
Company) was appointed general manager of the Mil
waukee Company and thereafter shared the onerous
duties of the! management with Mr. Payne, until the
latter withdrew from all active connection with the affairs
of the company.
The road was one of large possibilities, but because
of the great expense of consolidation and reconstruc
tion and especially because that for several years the
patronage of the road as compared with that of other
cities of about the same population as Milwaukee was very
small, the income had been greatly inadequate, the road
not earning the interest on its new indebtedness; with
poor equipment, in some parts of the system little more
than "a franchise and a streak of rust," the lines needed
and received unremitting, exhausting and, in the case of
Mr. Payne, undermining toil.

64 FIenry Clay Payne: A Life
Several matters pertaining to Mr. Payne's labors for
consolidation deserve attention, but are not presented per
haps in a strictly chronological order:
Firstly : The selection of the site of the present Pubhc
Service Building or terminal station of the street railways,
at the block bounded by Second, Sycamore, Third and
Everett Streets. From' the company's records in New
York the fact appears that the conception of the idea
of a central depot or station with offices in the heart of
the city was due to Mr. Payne, and that he himself
selected the site above described, which has since been
utilized. Much of the preliminary planning for the
stately structure now standing upon this site was done by
Mr. Payne, and its present admirable equipment for the
work intended, as well as for the comfort, convenience
and happiness of the. employes, laboriously and ingen
iously wrought out by Mr. Beggs, would have delighted
the soul of Mr. Payne could he have lived to wander
through the completed building in 1906. His portrait
was presented by Mrs. Payne to the company with the
request that it hang in an appropriate place in this new
building. Secondly : The contest over reduction of fares. — On
June II, 1896, just about the period of the strike before
alluded to, the Common Council adopted an ordinance re
quiring the Street Railway Company to sell six tickets for
twenty-five cents, and twenty-five tickets for one dollar.
The company was then in no financial condition to stand
the consequent reduction of income and contested the rea
sonableness of the ordinance. Into the litigation which
resulted from the city's attempt to enforce the ordinance,
Mr. Payne threw all his heart and soul. He assisted the

Concerning Street Railways 65
counsel for the company in marshalling the evidence to
show the injustice of the city's action, and in earnest and
convincing language presented the argument before de
liberating committees, and the facts before the courts.
Two actions* were begun against the city, one by the
Railway Company and the other by The Central Trust
Company, the trustee for the bondholders. Both com
plainants sought a decree declaring the ordinance null and
void as a violation of the constitution of the United States.
The case was argued before Judge Seaman in the Circuit
Court of the United States, Eastern District of Wiscon
sin, and his long and luminous opinion on the subject of
the reasonableness of the ordinance went a long way in
settling the law upon that subject. Judge Seaman, on
May 31, 1898, granted an injunction perpetually enjoin
ing the enforcement of the ordinance. The syllabus of
the case sufficiently sums up the decision of Judge
Seaman :
I. An ordinance requiring a street railroad charging five cent
fares to sell six tickets for twenty-five cents or twenty-five tickets
for one dollar is unreasonable when the road is only making yearly
net earnings of 3.3 per cent, to 4.5 per cent, on its bona fide in
vestment and paying 5 per cent, interest on its bonds, in a city where
the current rate of interest on first mortgage real estate security is
6 per cent. Such an ordinance is void under the fourteenth amend
ment, as depriving the company of its property without due process
of law. 2. The power of a municipality to regulate street-railroad fares
is subject to the limitations (i) that there is reasonable need on
the part of the public, considering the nature and extent of the
service, of lower rates and better terms than those existing; (2) that
the rates and terms fixed by the ordinance are not clearly unreason
able, in view of all the conditions.
*Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company v. the City of
Milwaukee, and Central Trust Company of New York v. the City of
Milwaukee, 87 Federal Reporter 577. See also Tift v. Southern
Railway Company, 138 Federal Reporter 753, 768.

66 Henry Clay Payne: A Life

After this decision, in the fall of 1898 the mayor
sought to obtain by concession from the Railway Com
pany what was. impossible to obtain by demand. The
company was unwilling to concede a reduction of fare,
but agreed tO' make annually increasing money payments
to the city if an extension of franchises were accorded.
The correspondence embodying this matter was submitted
to the Council November 19, 1898, but the subject was
ordered indefinitely postponed by the Council because such
payments, while a benefit to the city, would not benefit
the public as would reduction of fares. This subject will
soon appear again.
Thirdly: Contest over non-user of franchises. —
There were other instances of the harassing of the street
railway consolidation in the beginning of its career in
Milwaukee. One such instance was the action in equity
brought May 24, 1896, to enjoin the company from re
laying its tracks along Washington Avenue in Milwaukee,
in front of the property of the plaintiffs. For four years
and eight months prior to said date — a period of great in
dustrial depression at large, as well as of financial strin
gency with the company — it had not operated its line
along this avenue. Indeed, with the company's knowl
edge, the old track, not adapted for electricity, had long
been taken up and the street paved. An ordinance was
introduced December 2, 1895, to repeal the franchise
along that portion of the avenue where the plaintiffs lived,
but Mr. Payne appeared before the railroad committee of
the Council and objected to the forfeiture on the ground
that the company intended tO' reconstruct and reoperate
in the spring of 1896. No action to forfeit was taken.
Early in the morning of Sunday, May 24, 1896, with a

Concerning Street Railways 67
large force, the company started to lay its tracks along
the avenue in front of the property of plaintiffs. The
latter claimed that this was "snap" action intended to
avoid injunctions; Mr. Payne claimed that Sunday was
used in order to delay traffic as little as possible on secular
days. If the former was the reason it was unavailing,
for an injunction obtained on Sunday stopped the work,
and on Monday the Board of Public Works ordered the
company to take away its rails and ties and restore the
avenue within twenty-four hours. Thereupon the next
day the company enjoined the city from enforcing this
order. This injunction was dissolved in the lower court
and an injunction which the city had obtained preventing
construction and operation was upheld in the court below.
Both injunctions and the order dissolving the company's
injunction went to the Supreme Court of Wisconsin,* and
a victory was scored for the company on all points.
The court held that although it was the company's
duty to serve the public and that it could not emancipate
itself from' that duty by refusing to operate its cars, yet
that in view of Mr. Payne's representation of the inten
tion of the company to reconstruct and reoperate, and
in view of an express disclaimer by the company of an
intention to surrender, the fact of non-user for four years
and eight months could not under the circumstances be
construed into a surrender.
The Supreme Court held also that the city had mis
taken its remedy. While the state had delegated to the
city authority to act for it and on its behalf in granting

*Wright V. Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company, 95
Wisconsin 29, 36 L. R. A. 47 ; Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light
Company v. City of Milwaukee, 95 Wisconsin 42, 36 L. R. A. 45.

68 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
franchises to build and operate street railways, it had not
granted the city the power to institute and maintain ac
tions to forfeit such franchises for misuse or abuse. Such
forfeiture must be adjudged by an action in the name, of
the state acting through its attorney general and by leave
of the Supreme Court.
Fourthly: Franchise extension. — With the placing,
by the New York capitalists, of vast sums of money in
the Milwaukee plant, came the desire tO' recoup the same
by a lengthening of the time of the enjoyment of the
franchises. Excepting franchises covering two streets of
minor importance, none of these franchises would have
expired until July i, 1924. Such a desire on the part of
these capitalists was not unreasonable. Extensive im
provements were making in every direction; new and
larger cars adorned the streets; new and heavier rails
afforded smooth transportation; outspreading lines
tapped populous and lucrative suburban districts; a gi
gantic power house ornamented the city and heightened
the efficiency of the plant. Thus to better the system
without return or without hope of ample recoupment was
not to be expected — a tenant will be prodigal of his own
funds in a rented house only with a long lease.
As a result of these considerations the Street Railway
Cornpany met half way a proposition of the city for a re
duction of fares, seeing in this proposition a chance for
securing the much desired extension. On July 31, 1899,
the Common Council appointed a committee of nine alder
men to investigate the subject of reduction of fares, which
committee entered into negotiations with the representa
tives of the company. Many and wearisome were the
conferences. The company appeared by Mr. Villard,

Concerning Street Railways 69
Mr. William N. Cromwell, Mr. Charles W. Wetmore,
Mr. George R. Sheldon, Mr. Payne, Mr. Benjamin K.
Miher, Jr., Mr. Charles F. Pfister and Mr. Beggs, while in
addition to the members of the committee the city was
represented by the mayor, Mr. David S. Rose; the city
attorney, Mr. Carl Runge, and his first assistant, Mr.
Lawrence W. Halsey.
An ordinance prepared by the city attorney was
printed in the papers of the city, October 14, 1899. It
was attacked and defended by citizens, and by order of
the committee of aldermen was redrafted. On Novem
ber 6, 1899, the redrafted ordinance was recommended
by the committee to the Council, was read a second and
third time and referred to the same committee. This or
dinance in addition to making grant of additional streets
for line extensions and fixing a graduated rate of fares,
provided that the franchise should end on December 31,
1934 — a date exceeding by about six years the date of
maturity of the company's bonds, and exceedingly more
than ten years whatever date of expiry had theretofore
existed. This tentative ordinance remained in the hands
of the committee almost a month. On December 4, 1899,
it reported a substitute ordinance not substantially differ
ent from its predecessor. On December 18, 1899, the
substitute, slightly amended by the Council, was ordered
to a third reading and for engrossment.
But the ordinance was not to- pass without opposition,
and opposition that took the form of legal proceedings.
Opposition proceeded from various sources, from lot
owners who did not wish the passing cars, from socialists
who clamored for municipal ownership, from disgruntled
citizens who were opposed to all busy ventures and con-

70 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
sidered activity a crime; from newspapers, hostile per
sonally to officers of the company, and from romancing
writers who in subsequently issued anonymous screeds
thinly veiled their libels under slight variations of names.
The litigation which began December 21, 1899, found its
way into the Supreme Court in three different actions, but
the details are foreign to this biography.* Let it suffice
to state that when the substitute ordinance as amended
came before the Council for final action January 2, 1900,
the Council, the mayor and the city clerk had been en
joined "from signing, engrossing, passing, amending,
voting on, publishing, approving, or enforcing" the said
proposed ordinance, or any similar ordinance. The
mayor, the city clerk, and twenty-five of the forty-two
aldermen, advised by counsel learned in the law that they
were acting legislatively in passing upon the ordinance,
that no court had jurisdiction over the matter, that the
injunction was void and no penalty could be inflicted for
its alleged violation, paid no heed to the injunction. The
ordinance was passed by the vote of the twenty-five
favoring aldermen, and the mayor signed it forthwith.
The Supreme Court held that the court below had no au
thority to enjoin its passage.
But, although nine-tenths of the business men of Mil
waukee favored the ordinance, immediately a loud cry of
bribery was heard, a cry which indeed began soon after
the negotiations opened, a cry which has not yet ceased
to be heard, a cry which it is yet to be discovered had

*See The State ex rei. Rose v. Superior Court of Milwaukee
County, 105 Wisconsin 651; State ex rei. City of Milwaukee v. Lud
wig, Judge, 106 Wisconsin 226; Linden Land Company v. The Mil
waukee Electric Railway and Light Company, 107 Wisconsin 493.

Concerning Street Railways 71
cause to be heard, a cry which, considering the advantages
which the city reaped from the ordinance, was absurd.
Let some of these advantages, resulting in large part from
Mr. Payne's labors, pass briefly in review :
I. The ordinance fixed a uniform time for the ex
piration of the franchises of all the different roads com
posing the system. Prior thereto, some of the franchises
were to expire July i, 1924, and franchises covering fif
teen miles of principal streets of the city were perpetual in
duration. 2. Transfers which, prior to the passage of this ordi
nance were a courtesy, became now an obligation beyond
recall. As forty-five per centum of passengers demand a
transfer this is an item of no little moment.
3. Firemen and police officers in uniform and de
tectives in the police service ride free of charge.
4. Electricity is furnished free of charge for the
operation of the bridges — an item of saving to the city
of not less than twenty-five thousand dollars yearly.
5. Under the provisions of the former ordinances
the city had no right to regulate the setting of poles, the
stringing of wires, the opening of street pavements, the
extension of lines, or other matters of public importance.
Such acts as these were mere naked grants, in the main,
effectual only so long as the grantees elected to use them.
The new ordinance reserves to the city rigorous control
of these and kindred matters.
6. A four-cent fare became obligatory under a ticket
system during certain hours' of the day, to cover the entire
day after January i, 1905. During the month of Feb
ruary, 1906, the average daily use of four-cent tickets was

72 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

134,906, a daily saving to passengers of $1,349.06; a
yearly saving of $492,406.90. Half fare for children be
tween three and ten years of age and free transportation
for children under three years became also obligatory.
7. The road became bound to press on its lines as
extensions of the city limits should be made, the fare
within the limits, however far extended, to be no more
than five cents.
8. The extension ordinance having unified the sys
tem, the management could never disintegrate the system
into its units and require a separate fare from each unit.
9. The road with its longer lease of life became more
than ever willing to make improvements and better the
system — a result which has followed.
If it be claimed that this long recital is foreign to the
purpose of this biography, the reply is that the charge of
bribing was insinuated particularly against Mr. Pa3Tie.
This book makes bold to assert that not the slightest proof
of this charge has ever been presented, that no proof ever
can be presented, that there is not an atom of foundation
for the charge, and that the supporters of this ordinance
by favoring it did their bounden righteous duty to the
city of Milwaukee and tO' the patrons of the street railway.
At the risk of repetition, perhaps at the risk of urging
too partial an opinion of Mr. Payne, I cannot forbear a
lengthy expression from Mr. William L. Mason, who in
1891 became in Milwaukee the auditor of the Milwaukee
Street Railway Company. These paragraphs are one of
many evidences that, although the populace, deceived by
clamor, might deride Mr. Payne as a politician, a monop
olist, the head of a soulless corporation, one had but to be

Concerning Street Railways 73
near him, to be associated with him, to know that he was
not a monster, but really a human being, and a being with
a warm heart and a lovable disposition.
During the winter of 1890-91, while on a visit to Washington, D.
C, I was called to New York to meet Mr. Henry Villard by the
offer of a position to represent in Milwaukee, the New York in
terests of the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Lighting Company.
There I first met the Honorable Henry C. Payne. After concluding
arrangements with Mr. Villard to our mutual satisfaction, I was
introduced to Mr. Payne, who was at that time Vice-President and
General Manager of the Milwaukee Company, and there began a
personal friendship between us, which grew more and more intimate
throughout the eight years of my connection with the company
and which lasted until his death.
The duties of my office brought me into consultation with Mr.
Payne many times each day, and often all day, so that my oppor
tunities for observing his characteristics as a man, and an officer
of the company were exceptional. Through all the wear and worry
and hard work of the construction period, at a time when electric
street railway construction was almost in its infancy, and there were
scarcely any precedents for his guidance, Mr. Payne kept a firm,
capable hand upon the helm, and guided the undertaking to a most
successful issue, both mechanical and financial.
He was constantly called upon to decide new and important
questions, and at very short notice.
While, of course, the thousand and one details in the different
departments of construction were under the immediate supervision
of experts, yet the experts often disagreed, and there would be
immediate reference to Mr. Payne. My attention was first attracted
to his remarkable ability to listen to details and instantly grasp the
results to which they led. He was not in any sense an expert
accountant, and yet on very many occasions, when complicated
propositions were submitted to him by the accountants, requiring
hours of patient figuring on their part to determine what the actual
results would be, I have known him to decide the moment he was
in possession of the main conditions, which of two or three different
methods of procedure would be for the advantage of the company
and invariably later demonstrations would prove that he was right.
I have frequently observed the same thing in the mechanical and
electrical departments, although he was neither an electrical nor
mechanical expert; he frequently excited the wonder of those who
were experts, by his quick and comprehensive grasp of the subject
brought to his attention and his almost invariably successful solution
of the problem involved.

74 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

In addition to the difficulties of organization and construction
ordinarily attendant upon such an undertaking, he was beset by
opposition in the state legislature, opposition at the city hall, and
opposition among the citizens and in the newspapers, inspired by
political differences, by ignorance of the actual situation, and even by
fabrication. He met all this with unruffled front, and, ignoring abuse,
quietly and persistingly opposing ignorance and untruth with facts
and figures, insisting with quiet courtesy on justice and fair play, he
at last won the fight against bitter odds, and to-day the Milwaukee
Company, one of the best equipped and most successful electric rail
way lighting companies in the country, and one of which Milwaukee
is very proud, is a magnificent monument to the remarkable powers
of organization, and to the splendid ability of Henry C. Payne.
One great source of Mr. Payne's power lay in his influence over
men, both individually and in assembly. During the seething, sensi
tive days of a bitter strike, which had been caused solely by circum
stances and conditions over which Mr. Payne had no control, I have
seen a committee of conductors and motormen enter Mr. Payne's
room, by appointment, for a conference. I have heard them utter
their grievances in bitter language and with angry looks and voices.
An hour later I have seen that same committee leave the room with
smiling faces and pleasant words, although no promises had been
made on the part of the company, and no change in the conditions
been agreed upon. It was all accomplished by the open, frank,
courteous way in which they were met, and conditions explained to
them by Mr. Payne and the unhesitating belief of the men in the truth
of his statements. All the employes of the company with whom I
came in contact, spoke in warm terms of his invariable kindness and
courtesy, and expressed the highest appreciation of his ability.
It was impossible to be associated with Mr. Payne for any
length of time without loving him. He was always the same, not
one thing one day and something else the next. One always knew
where to find him. His manner was frank, open, and full of a manly
bonhomie that was fascinating in the highest degree, and drew their
very best efforts, from all with whom he came in contact. Those of
us who worked through those eight years from 1890 to 1898 in close
relation with him, know full well his sterling qualities.
A man of generous impulses,, of kindness of heart, of invariable
courtesy, full of strength and encouragement in time of trouble,
never speaking evil of any of those by whom he was vilified and
abused, he pursued the even tenor of his way, hewing straight to the
line, faithfully fulfilling his duty as he saw it, and followed by the
admiration of all his associates who knew him well, and by the love
of those who knew him best.

Concerning Street Railways 75
There should also' be preserved the following lines
from Mr. Charles A. Spofford, of New York City, until
recently the Secretary, in New York, of The Milwaukee
Electric Railway and Light Company :
My first acquaintance with Mr. Payne was in 1890, when Mr.
Henry Villard became interested in the union of certain Milwaukee
street railways into what became known as the Milwaukee Street
Railway Company, and which subsequently developed into the pres
ent The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company. Mr. Payne
was the leader of this enterprise in every sense of the word, and
ably directed all of its departments. To his genius for organization,
constructive ability and efficient management are due the conspicu
ous success of this undertaking, with which he was identified so
many years. Not only were his mind and energies enlisted, but his
heart was in this work, as was the case with everything he under
took. Without attempting to recall the many problems with which
he wrestled in this connection, and the many serious obstacles which
he overcame, I will mention how deeply impressed I was, and shall
always be, with his admirable attitude and conduct during the
strike and boycott of the motormen and conductors. I was in Mil
waukee at the time, and was a witness of the true courage and gen
eralship which he displayed throughout the| contest. He never
wavered, and was always at the front, although the vindictive spirit
shown against Mr. Payne personally, in his home city, because of his
stout advocacy of his company's legal rights, rose to such a pitch
that he was hung in effigy in the streets.
There was a number of crises in the history of this project. At
each of these periods Mr. Payne invariably rose to the occasion, and
carried the company triumphantly through. His exhaustive knowl
edge of the geography of Milwaukee and its suburbs lent great
value to his suggestions concerning extensions of routes, or altera
tions of lines to meet new conditions.
His associates had the highest appreciation of his remarkable
capacity as an organizer and administrator, and his counsel and ad
vice were greatly esteemed by them. He possessed their entire con
fidence, and was always faithful to the interests entrusted to him.
Mr. Payne possessed that quality of character which, having
once espoused a cause, made him work for it zealously and increas
ingly. His stanch loyalty to trusts reposed in him was not confined
to business, but was shown in the wider field of the politics of the
country. In these activities of his life I was but an onlooker, but
I shared the admiration of his other friends at the keen insight,
excellent judgment, practical common sense and unremitting labor
that enabled him to achieve such distinguished honors.

76 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
Mr. Charles D. Wyman, already mentioned as gen
eral manager of the Milwaukee Street Railway Company
in 1893, has thus written concerning the subject of this
biography :
In 1893, at the time I became its manager, the Milwaukee Street
Railway had, under Mr. Payne's management and in accordance with
plans of which he was the author, completed the consolidation of
the various street railroad lines in the city, including also an electric
lighting system, and had, at great expense, changed the form of
traction from horse to electricit}^ The application of electric traction
to street railroads had hardly passed the experimental period at that
time, the Milwaukee Company being one of the pioneers in the adop
tion of this form of street traction, and the changing over of the
street roads in the city had necessarily been accompanied by more or
less of experimental work entailing very large construction costs.
Before the improvements to the company's equipment were
entirely completed and while large sums of money were still neces
sary to make extensions, relay track and build additional buildings
suited to its work, a financial panic in the city occurred which re
sulted in the failure of several banks, and thus, owing to the de
pression in the general business of the city, the income of the com
pany did not show the anticipated increase upon which had been
predicated the large investment involved in the change of the street
roads from horse power to electricity. This condition forced upon
the company a situation which taxed to the utmost the skill, enthu
siasm and patience of its directors and officials, and naturally, to
one just entering the company's service, ambitious of success and
reputation, was somewhat disheartening; but Mr. Payne as Vice-
President continued to actively assist in the promotion of the com
pany's plans — even in the matter of details, counseling and suggest
ing, and always in a most kindly and cheering way. During these
dark days he was a tower of strength and stimulation to his sub
ordinates, and it was largely due to his unswerving faith in the
future development of the company's business that the enterprise
was sustained and ultimately established upon a profitable basis.
One of the most perplexing features to the company's manage
ment at that time was the labor situation. In his conduct of its
affairs, Mr. Payne had cultivated pleasant relations with all the em
ployes, taking a personal interest in their life and surroundings, apart
from that simply connected with their employment by the company.
He was proud of the fact that very many of the conductors and
motormen, as well as those employed in other capacities, had been
able to purchase their own homes and in other ways had become

Concerning Street Railways 77
forehanded, and the habit of saving and properly investing he had
urged and promoted in every way in his power, advising and assist
ing his employes in their endeavors to secure for themselves a
modest competency.
Although for some time a union had existed, by being thoroughly
in touch with his men and having their respect and confidence, he
had prevented radical demands on the part of the leaders and
avoided, therefore, a clash which he felt must redound to the injury
both of the employer and the employe. Unfortunately, as is often
the case in union organizations like those prevalent on street rail
ways, the counsels of the conservative and steady-going among the
employes were, as the years passed, less heeded, and in 1896 the
union, under the advice of outside labor agitators and local leaders
who desired to promote their own personal advancement, made de
mands which amounted practically to the turning over of the com
pany to their organization for management. A scale of wages was
asked which it was impossible in justice to pay, and, farther, the
company was required to employ only such men as the union would
approve, and to discharge such men as it considered inimical to or
negligent of its organization.
In this crisis Mr. Payne exhibited to me in the most striking
manner the rare judicial quality of his reasoning, cotipled with the
kindliness which always characterized his action toward everyone.
In our discussions regarding the matter he iterated and reiterated
to me that the company must be absolutely just and fair in its deal
ing with its employes and resist every inclination to be autocratic or
peremptory. He wished every measure adopted that would show to
the men that the union leaders in their policy were mistaken and
selfish, and that the result of such a policy must certainly be personal
suffering and privation, loss of wages and perhaps homes, to a large
number of the employes. While as Vice-President and Managing
Director of the company he endeavored to avoid the issue on ac
count of the loss it would entail to the interests he had in charge,
and while as a citizen he gravely deplored and sought in every way
possible to avoid the injury likeily to result from a strike to the
general business interests of the city, his especial regret was that
many of the workmen would be losers and suffer from the clash
imminent. His advice was always, "Do everything possible, even
to the verge of injustice to the company, to avoid a rupture which
would ultimately bring sviffering to so many of the faithful, but
mistaken workers."
Holding as he did a commanding position in the Republican
party of his state and of the country, his connection with the com
pany was, during the writer's term of office, made the occasion of

78 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
many an attack upon him through the newspapers by those who
sought to weaken his influence and injure his position as a politician
by urging that he was a "corporation man," and therefore necessarily
untrue to the city's interests and to those of the public at large, and
when the labor difficulties arose these attacks were more virulent and
pronounced. He was made a target of abuse by the labor papers
especially, and by many of those whom he had formerly counted
among his friends. Some pronounced openly against him, while
others, actuated by their feebly disguised envy and jealousy, couched
their threats under the form of advice. He, however, was unmoved
by public clamor, but held to the policy of justice equally to the
interests of the company and the men, and of fairness but firmness
in the carrying into effect of such a policy. Not hastily, but after
long and careful consultation, it was decided that the company could
not accede to the demands of the union, and, if a strike was necessary,
would endure it.
The greatest railroad strike which, up to that time, had ever oc
curred in the country, began consequent upon this decision in May,
1896, and for weeks, nay, months, the fight went on. It was during
these trying times that Mr. Payne's strong will, judicial but firm,
loyalty to principles and faithfulness to his duty were exhibited to
the writer in most striking colors. With the officials of the com
pany placarded in newspapers and subjected by the journals that
catered to the laboring element to all sorts of denunciations and
offensive characterizations, in spite of the pressure from political
friends in the state and in the country who prophesied that the effect
of the strike would be to very seriously injure the Republican party,
he followed unwaveringly the policy which he had decided was right,
and in which he had the support of his co-officials and directors, since
it appealed to them as just and fair.
Recalling the incidents of those months of labor and perplexity,
of loss to the company, and of suffering to the men, of injury to
the business interests of the city, of violence and rioting on the part
of the union and its adherents, I cannot repress my appreciation,
even wonder, at the burden, political and business, which Mr. Payne
bore so uncomplainingly, so strongly and so persistently.
Mr. Payne continued as vice-president of The Mil
waukee Electric Railway and Light Company until, in
1901, the sphere of his activities having been transferred
to the capital of the United States, he withdrew from all
active connection with street railway affairs.

The Northern Pacific Receivership 79

CHAPTER X

C|)e Ji3ortt)etn Pacific KcceiUetslJip
Coincident with Mr. Payne's early experience in
directing a local electric road was his larger experience in
managing a great steam^ road.
The Northern Pacific Railroad Company was organ
ized July 2, 1864, by the Congress of the United States*
to construct a railroad and telegraph line from Lake Su
perior to Puget Sound, with the assistance of an extensive
land grant. The road was finished in accordance with
the provisions of the act and in 1893, was being operated
for a distance of more than two thousand miles, from
Ashland in Wisconsin to Portland in Oregon and Ta-
coma in Washington, with 3,840,000 acres of its grant
still in possession. On April i, 1890, this road had
leased the lines of railroad from Saint Paul and Ashland
to Milwaukee and Chicago, which were then owned by
the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company and by the
Wisconsin Central Railway Company and on August 15,
1893, the Northern Pacific was operating the Wisconsin
Central lines under this lease.
But on the last date named the Northern Pacific, suf
fering under the general depression growing out of "the
panic of 1893," was insolvent, and Mr. P. B. Winston
and other creditors began proceedings against the insol-
'''13 United States Statutes at Large 365.

80 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
vent in the Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Wis
consin. Mr. James G. Jenkins, already mentioned in this
narrative, was the circuit judge, having been commis
sioned March 23, 1893. The result of the proceedings
thus initiated was the appointment of Mr. Payne, Mr.
Thomas F. Oakes and Mr. Henry C. Rouse as receivers
of all the property of the Northern Pacific Company, in
cluding the leased lines just mentioned. Forthwith in all
the other judicial districts in which this road had prop
erty was made the same appointment of receivers, the in
solvent consenting thereto.
Subsequently on September 26, 1893, the receivers be
ing in default for rent due to the lessors of the leased lines,
obeyed an order of the Circuit Court and surrendered
these lines to the lessors which had canceled the leases for
the non-payment.
On October 18, 1893, the proceedings already under
taken were complicated by the Farmers' Loan and Trust
Company of New York, which was the trustee named in
trust deeds made to it by the Northem Pacific Railroad
Company. The trustee filed a bill to foreclose these trust
deeds in the Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Wis
consin. So far as possible this Court unraveled the com
plication by making the receivers parties to the foreclosure
suit, and consolidating that suit with the proceedings un
der the creditors' bill.
While the lawyers were handling this matter in the
courts there was an increasing depression in the trans
portation business, the earnings were rapidly falling off,
and there was necessity for great retrenchment in operat
ing expenses. To meet this situation the receivers or
dered a wholesale reduction in the salaries and wages of

The Northern Pacific Receivership 81
employes. This reduction was resented by the affected
parties who, aside from the loss of income, claimed that
the rates in force when the receivers took possession con
stituted contracts between the receivers and the employes,
terminable only by the consent of the latter.
Discontent and opposition became rife among the em
ployes to such an extent that on December 19, 1893, and
December 22, 1893, the receivers appeared in the Federal
Circuit Court and sought an order authorizing them to put
in operation on January i, 1894, a revised schedule of re
duced wages. They prayed also for an injunction re
straining threatened destructive and embarrassing action
of the employes, either individually or as combinations,
conspiring either among themselves or by the aid of com
mittees of orders, brotherhoods and mutual aid associa
tions. The injunctions which issued on those two December
dates, along the lines prayed for by the receivers, were
very far reaching in their results and were seriously at
tacked not only by the advocates of the workmen, but by
the workmen themselves, by various labor organizations
and by individuals who saw in the enjoining orders the
subversion of personal liberty and menaces to the dignity
of labor. To comment upon these injunctions at length
would be foreign to the purpose of this writing.* The
dissatisfied employes appealed from the decision of Judge
Jenkins to the Circuit Court of Appeals, where the entire
important subject was argued at great length.f
*The text of the injunctions and the opinion of Judge Jenkins
upholding their legality, filed April 6, 1894, will be found in
Farmers' Loan and Trust Company v. Northern Pacific Railroad
Company, 60 Federal Reporter 803.
tSee Arthur v. Oakes, 63 Federal Reporter 310.

82 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
The appellate court on October i, 1894, modified
the restraining order in two particulars : Firstly, by re
quiring it to describe the nature of the strikes intended
to be enjoined, limiting them to strikes designed to cripple
physically the trust property, or actually obstruct the re
ceivers in operating the road, or interfere with the em
ployes who did not wish to quit, or to prevent by intimi
dation or other wrongful modes, or by any device, the
employment of others to take the places of those quitting ;
secondly, by eliminating from the injunction any order
which would prevent the workmen without combination
or conspiracy, "from so quitting the service of the said
receivers as to cripple the property or prevent or hinder
the operation of the said railroad."
It is that portion of the injunction which the appellate
court thus modified and weakened which opened upon the
head of Judge Jenkins vials of bitter invective, and which
has led demagogues even now* to vituperate and assail
him. Such attacks were most unjust. There is no wiser
lawyer than Judge Jenkins. He never doubted or denied
the inherent right of laborers to work or to quit. But in
this particular instance he had in charge a railway some
thousands of miles in extent, traversing seven states, en
gaged in interstate commerce, carrying the United States
mails and employing some twelve thousand men who
were in fact the court's officers, and responsible to it.
Every consideration of faithfulness to his official oath
required him to conserve this property, to continue its
*See the speech of Senator Benjamin R. Tillman of South Caro
lina in the Senate, Congressional Record May 3, 1906, page 6397,
citing a report adverse to Judge Jenkins made by the Judiciary Com
mittee of the House of Representatives, in the spring of 1894.

The Northern Pacific Receivership 83
usefulness to the government and the public, to nurse its
resources, to assist in restoring it a solvent entity to its
owners, and to point to its busy, undisturbed stretch of
road as a means to soothe the surrounding universal finan
cial disturbance and popular unrest. To compel the em
ployes to assist him and the receivers in such a duty, if an
invasion of personal rights was an invasion that fully
arose to the dignity of a virtue.*
And what had been the practical result of the issuance
of these December injunctions? Peace and quiet on the
part of the men ; undisturbed performance of their duties
by the receivers, Messrs. Payne, Rouse and Oakes. Strikes
were spreading throughout the whole country, while the
paralleling Great Northern Railroad was in constant tur
moil. The Northern Pacific, so far as the receivers and the
employes were concerned, industriously attended to busi
ness. When, in October, 1894, the appellate court was
ready to decide upon the merits of the injunctions the
exigency which brought them to birth had passed and the
orders could well be modified into innocuousness.
The usefulness of the government control of the
Northern Pacific system was shown in April, 1894, dur
ing the excitements caused by the so-called Coxeyites.
While "General" Coxey with his motley throng was
marching upon the nation's capital, other "generals" in
the west were emulating his example. One of these,
"General" Hogan, with about six hundred followers in-

*For essays of law writers upon the decision of Judge Jenkins
and upon "government by injunction," see ,28 American Law Review
269; so Albany Law Journal 140; 11 Harvard Law Review 487; 97
Law Times, (London) 384. These papers open up the court de
cisions likewise.

84 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
vaded the tracks of the Northern Pacific in Montana, and
on April 24, 1894, seized a train. Upon notification to the
government through Mr. John W. Kendrick, the general
manager of the road. Colonel John H. Page and four
companies of United States troops started in pursuit,
intercepted the lawless band at Forsythe, Montana, and
on April 30 the entire "army" was in camp under military
guard at Helena, Montana. Mr. Kendrick's promptness
in ridding the systemi of this mob and incidentally in
warning lawless agitators to keep away, received Mr.
Payne's warm approval.
Meanwhile the receivers were not neglecting their ad
ministrative duties. On April 16, 1894, Mr. Payne was
elected the president of the Chicago and Northern Pacific
Railroad. On the same day the Chicago and Calumet
Railroad passed under his presidential charge. The ob
ject of this action was to obtain in the city of Chicago
terminals for the Northern Pacific system under its own
control. But the litigation over the indebtedness of the North
ern Pacific continued. On August 7, 1895, the Railroad
Company appeared in the Circuit Court of the United
States for the district of Washington and filed charges
against the receivers in respect of the methods of their
appointment and of the administration of their trust. The
receivers voluntarily appeared and answered to the ques
tion of jurisdiction, asserting the ample authority of the
court which originally appointed them. This assertion
was fully vindicated by Justices Field, Harlan and
Brewer, justices of the sixth, eighth and ninth circuits,
and acceded to by Justice Brown of the seventh circuit.

The Northern Pacific Receivership 85
all of them recognizing the Circuit Court for the Eastern
District of Wisconsin as the court of primary jurisdic
tion.*
As to the charges filed against them, the receivers, be
ing in no mood for a lengthy investigation in the State of
Washington, filed their resignations as receivers in the
court of primary jurisdiction. After the report of the
receivers, together with the accounts of their receivership,
had been submitted to that court, had been carefully and
laboriously examined and had been fully approved, the
resignations were accepted September 27, 1895. The
further vicissitudes of the Northem Pacific Railroad do
not concern this narrative.f

*Farmers' Loan and Trust Company v. Northern Pacific Railroad
Company, 72 Federal Reporter 26.
fAs to the chief actors in the events mentioned in this chapter:
Thomas Fletcher Oakes resides in Concord, Massachusetts, with an
office in the city of New York; Henry Clark Rouse died at his
residence in Cleveland, Ohio, April 30, 1906; Peter M. Arthur, a
Scotchman by birth, died in Cleveland, in 1903; Mr. Kendrick
is still living in Chicago, Illinois ; Judge James G. Jenkins, having
reached retirement age, resigned from the bench February 23, 1905.
On November I, 1906, he was appointed by Judge Alton B. Parker,
president of the American Bar Association, one of a coinmittee of
nine American lawyers to draft a code of professional ethics for the
Association.

86 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

CHAPTER XI

ILatet elections anD tlie ^t. Houis Contention
The last reference to Mr. Payne in connection with
elections had to do with the mayoralty campaign in Mil
waukee in the spring of 1885. This biography need detail
no further the particulars of each succeeding contest. The
state, county and city having now become Republican,
sound judgment and sagacity were alone necessary to
maintain them so.
When the summer of 1888 arrived Mr. Payne was a
delegate at large to the convention of the Republican
party which nominated Benjamin Harrison for the presi
dency. At the election which followed in November,
Mr. Harrison's plurality over his opponent, Mr. Cleve
land, in Wisconsin was 21,321 votes.
The legislature chosen at the same election, sympa
thized in politics with the national administration. But
a measure introduced into that body in good faith by a
Democrat, and enacted, placed the dominant party tempo
rarily in eclipse. Mr. Michael J. Bennett, of Iowa
County, was the author of the measure in question, which
became a law by the signature of Governor Hoard and by
publication April 27, 1889, which is Chapter 519 of the
laws of that year and which is entitled An act concerning
the education and employment of children.
This legislation, familiarly Icnown as the Bennett Law
and having for its object the betterment of youth, was

Later Elections 87

honestly believe'd by the Lutherans and Roman Catholics
to aim a blow at the vitals of their parochial schools — a
belief which the Democrats cleverly nursed for political
purposes. The Republicans, in opposition to the advice
of Mr. Payne and other wise heads in the party, accepted
the law as a party issue and made the "little Red School-
house" — symbol of free public education — their slogan.
The result was the alienation of a large body of German
Republicans and the defeat of Govemor Hoard for re
election in November, 1890. When Mr. Hoard was a
candidate in November, 1888, his plurality had been 20,-
273 ; Mr. George W. Peck, Democrat, defeated him in
November, 1890, by a plurality in the county of Milwau
kee of 6,207 votes and in the state by a plurality of 28,320
votes. The Bennett Law was repealed by the legislature of
1891 — indeed a repiealing bill was the first measure in
troduced in the Assembly after its organization, and the
repealing act is Chapter 4 of the Laws of '1891. The
return of the disaffected Republicans to their former al
legiance, although certain, was slow. In the guberna
torial election in the fall of 1892 Governor Peck was
renominated to succeed himself and the Republicans
selected Mr. John C. Spooner as their standard bearer.
The result of this election was significant of the steady
trend of the German Republicans back to their proper
paddock. Mr. Spooner carried the county of Milwaukee
by 15 votes and reduced the plurality of Governor Peck
— which in 1890 had been 28,320 votes — to 7,707 votes.
By 1894 the influence of the Bennett Law was no longer
felt. Mr. Payne headed the Republican delegation from

88 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
Wisconsin which assembled in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in
the summer of 1892, and with delegates from other states
constituted the Republican National Convention. The
same candidates as in 1888 marshalled the Republican and
Democratic hosts, but there was an entire reversal of re
sult — Mr. Cleveland again becoming the president.
When the time drew near for the assembling of the
Republican National Convention in 1896 Mr. Payne was
placed in a position of some embarrassment. Not very
long before he had resigned the receivership of the
Northern Pacific; quite recently, as has already been
stated, he had been hanged in effigy as a "scab" and
as an enemy of labor; quite recently he had been re
fused election by the Republican State Convention as a
delegate at large to the Republican National Conven
tion. But, conscious of his rectitude, none of these
things moved him. As a member of the Republican
National Committee he attended the National Convention
— which held its sessions in Saint Louis — and there met
the forces which had been in opposition to him- in Wis
consin and whose efforts were now directed towards op
posing his retention upon the National Committee. In
this attempt they met with a signal failure. He ranained
upon the National Committee, more firmly seated than
ever before. Indeed, the chairmanship of the committee
and the management of the impending presidential cam
paign were urged upon Mr. Payne by Mr. Marcus A.
Hanna, who was then the chairman. Mr. Payne declined
these positions on the ground that his recent connection
with a great strike rendered such prominence unwise. He
did, however, accept the position of vice chairman in the
campaign.

Later Elections 89
That Mr. Payne was thus thrust into active association
with the approaching important presidential election was
not only a vindication of his honor, but a further recogni
tion of his ability as an organizer and manager. And
this ability shone resplendent in the campaign of 1896,
wherein Governor William McKinley of Ohio and Mr.
William J. Bryan of Nebraska were the antagonists. Mr.
Payne was the chief reliance of the National Committee.
It was he who from the headquarters at Chicago plarmed
the battle. It was through his intimate knowledge of
political affairs and his rare good judgment that the issues
between the two great parties were placed squarely and
fairly before the voters. Mr. Joseph W. Babcock, con
gressman from the third district of Wisconsin, thus writes
concerning the campaign of 1896 :
During this time I had the honor of being the chairman of the
Republican Congressional Committee and was in close touch with
Mr. Payne, consulting with him many times as to details. I was
never able to broach a subject that he was not thoroughly posted on
and he seemed to have as clear ideas as to matters coming under
the jurisdiction of the Congressional Committee as he had of matters
pertaining to his own committee.
Mr. Harry S. New, of Indianapolis, Indiana, thus ex
presses himself concerning Mr. Payne, in political cam
paigns and as a man :
The strength of his character was impressed upon me in the
first days of my earlier acquaintance with Mr. Payne, and as time
passed and that acquaintance ripened into warm friendship the fine
qualities of his nature grew upon me. I was intimately associated
with him in the Republican National Committee through two hard-
fought political campaigns and in my judgment his knowledge of
politics amounted to genius. He was never at a loss to know what
course to take, but was quick to discern and quick to act. His opin
ions were always sought, and as often regarded, by those with whom
he was associated. Impaired physical health was never allowed to
interfere with the performance of his work, and indeed in his failure

90 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
to heed protests of exhausted nature, he was unjust to himself. His
energy and desire to accomplish results were out of proportion tO'
his bodily strength, and there is in my mind no particle of doubt
that he exhausted his vitality by imposing upon himself too greatly.
Of kindly nature, loyal in his friendship, devoted to his cause, Mr.
Payne will be remembered by his associates with affectionate re
gard. It is good to have known him, and in the years to come I
shall cherish the memory of his friendship.
Upon Mr. Payne's return to Milwaukee after the tri
umph of the Republican party in November, 1896, there
was a noticeable change in popular demeanor towards-
him. Those who had eyed askance the man who did un
popular things because he thus conceived his duty,
gathered in throngs in the hotel corridors to grasp his
hand, to pour felicitations in his ear, to prophesy a great
future for the "Napoleon of the political battlefield." And
this man so recently vilified and traduced, now catered to
and applauded, tossed his head, sounded forth his cheery
laugh and exclaimed, "It's a queer world!"
It was directly after the election of Governor Mc
Kinley that prominent mention began to be made of the
name of Mr. Payne in connection with the position of
postmaster-general in the cabinet of the new president.
This was by no means a new mention. Less distinctly,
and with growing distinctness, his name had been heard
in this connection for the past eight years. Mr. Payne
himself had not been unwilling to admit that the position
of postmaster-general was the goal of his ambition.
Now that the election of Mr. McKinley was in great
measure due to Mr. Payne's exertions, the subject of his
entering the cabinet was much printed in the papers. Very
many letters of earnest suggestion and request reached
the president-elect, — letters from individuals, from' politi
cal clubs and organizations, from, city, county and state

Later Elections 91
committees. Indeed, the Republican members of the
legislature of the state of Kansas in caucus assembled,
recommended the appointment of Mr. Payne and sent
their recommendation to the newly chosen president.
The appointment failed tO' reach Mr. Payne— perhaps
for reasons of locality, perhaps because he represented a
state wherel factional differences were howi rife. The
failure was a source of deep disappointment to Mr. Payne,
but he nursed no hatreds and preserved no antagonisms.
Immediately upon the inauguration of President McKin
ley, Mr. Payne called upon him at the White House. The
president praised him highly for his services in the cam
paign so successfully ended, and testified his obligation by
tendering him his choice of any foreign mission he chose
to select except that of France and that of England, which
had already been provided for. This tender Mr. Payne,
upon his own judgment and upon the advice of his wife,
thought best to decline, much preferring residence in the
United States. Coupled with newspaper comment upon
this declination was the association of his name with the
vacancy in the Senate of the United States caused by the
expiration of the term of service of Mr. John L. Mitchell.
Aside from- his active work in the management of the
campaign of Mr. McKinley, two other efforts toward the
same end must not pass unnoticed. These are :
Firstly, his essay entitled Bryan's Fallacies, prepared
for use as a pamphlet for distribution among voters. This
is the most ambitious article from the pen of Mr. Payne
with which I am acquainted. It is written in an easy,
flowing style, and is a clear and spirited argument against
bimetallism. Secondly, his attitude at the Saint Louis Convention

92 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
in favor of the gold standard. Much has been written
about the employment of the word gold in the financial
plank of the Saint Louis platform. It is known that prior
to the assembling of the convention Mr. McKinley had
not been favorable to the actual use of this word, prefer
ring that an inference in its favor should be drawn from
the employment of language pledging the Republican
party to maintain the "existing standard." A plank thus
phrased was carried by Senator Hanna from Mr. Mc
Kinley to Saint Louis. The insertion of the word "gold"
after "existing" was the work of the candidate's friends
from the middle west in conclave at the Southern Hotel
in the convention city. The Washington representative
of the Chicago Times-Herald, in an article* entitled Mr.
Kohlsaat of Chicago and his part in the political history-
making of i8g6, gives the credit for the salutary amend
ment to Mr. Herman H. Kohlsaat of the Chicago Times-
Herald and Chicago Evening Post. Claims were made
that Mr. Kohlsaat, failing to secure Mr. McKinley's con
sent to the use of the word "gold" went to Saint Louis
and, on the Friday before the convention assembled, met
Mr. McKinley's friends at the Southern Hotel and after
a long conference in which he was alone against six,
secured a majority for the much desired word. The art
icle says, "After a time Messrs. Payne, Merriam^ and
Stone,t who had been somewhat neutral in the discussion,
came over to Mr. Kohlsaat's side and this gave a majority
in favor of the word gold."

?Published in Review of Reviews, January, 1897, page 41.
fMr. Merriam was Governor William R. Merriam of Minnesota,
later Director of the United States Census; Mr. Stone was Mr.
Melville E. Stone of the Associated Press.

Later Elections 93
As the writer of the above article was not present at
this Friday meeting he speaks from hearsay only, and ap
parently does not know that Mr. Payne attended this very
Friday meeting with a gold plank resolution, already pre
pared, in his possession. If therefore Mr. Payne was
"somewhat neutral in the discussion," his "coming over"
to Mr. Kohlsaat's side was a mere external expression of
what he already believed and advocated. It may well be
doubted, too, if Mr. Payne remained "somewhat neutral"
in the discussion. To be outspoken, not "neutral" was
Mr. Payne's characteristic, as has already been noticed
more than once in these pages. Moreover, there is evi
dence that shows Mr. Payne hugged the word gold prior
to the Friday conference alluded to in the article. Senator
Redfield Proctor of Vermont, who was one of the seven
at the Friday conference, has written the following nar
rative, under date of May 4, 1905 :
What position should be taken on the gold standard, was the
great question before the St. Louis Convention of 1896. It was
then certain that Governor McKinley's friends would be in control,
and the attitude they might take upon silver coinage and the gold
standard was of vital importance. Mr. Payne, a week before the
Convention met, called together some of those who favored the
nomination of Governor McKinley and urged the adoption of a
strong gold plank. Several conferences were held each day for the
four days preceding the Friday before the Convention. The regular
attendants at those conferences were Mr. Payne, Mr. Kohlsaat,
Governor Merriam of Minnesota, Mr. (now Governor) Herrick of
Ohio, Mr. Melville E. Stone of the Associated Press and myself.
Mr. Hanna was in the room often, but, as he expressed it, he was
"too busy in trying to make a President to give much attention to
the platform." Others were called in occasionally, but with the
single exception named, all from the middle west. Mr. Payne was
the active one in getting us together. After each meeting he had
the plank typewritten in his room with the changes that had been
agreed upon, and copies made for each of us to use at the next
conference. I have now several of these copies.*
?Several of these copies are found among Mr. Payne's papers.

94 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

Mr. Kohlsaat was also very earnest at the meetings, and through
his paper, in advocacy of a strong gold plank. I have a letter from
him dated June 22, 1896, in which he says that "a copy of the plank
was handed to me by Henry C. Payne, of Wisconsin, on Friday,
June I2th, at 9 :30 a.m." — the Friday before the Convention. I have
a copy given me by Mr. Payne at that time, and there were only
two changes made in it, both unimportant and not strengthening the
gold feature of the plank. It was wired to Governor McKinley
that afternoon and received his approval, although he had earlier ap
proved a milder expression, avoiding the explicit declaration for a
"gold standard."
Mr. Payne, from his wide political acquaintance and influence,
was potential in securing the assent of delegations enough before
the Convention met, to make its adoption certain. Mr. Kohlsaat
urged it with great force in his paper.
The policy of adopting this gold plank was decided upon by men
of the middle west, and its adoption made sure by them, and to no
one is greater credit due for a result fraught with great good to
the country than to Henry C. Payne, of Wisconsin.
And Mr. Merriam, already mentioned as another of
the seven, thus writes :
The friends of Mr. McKinley, the leading candidate of the Re
publican party for the high office of President of the United States,
were determined not only to nominate him, but to place a plank in
the platform of the party declaring for gold as the sole standard
for money in the United States.
Wisconsin a sound money state, by reason of its conservative,
law-abiding and patriotic citizenship chose a strong delegation to
represent its interests at the St. Louis Convention, headed by Hon.
Henry C. Payne. Living in a neighboring state, I had known Mr.
Payne for some years very favorably, with a high opinion of his
character and ability as a leader. His selection as a delegate to the
Republican Convention insured a good advocate for the gold stand
ard as well as a determined and uncompromising champion in a
cause which so many of us deemed the most important public ques
tion for a generation.
Minnesota Republicans had announced through their convention
their adherence to the gold standard and had instructed their dele
gates, myself among others, to spare no efforts to have placed in
the Republican national platform a straight out declaration for gold
as the money standard for the country.
On my arrival in St. Louis a few days before the opening day
of the Convention, I found among others on the ground and ready

Later Elections 95_
for the fray, Mr. Payne, who was at the headquarters of Mr. Hanna,
the chief representative of Mr. McKinley. Several other friends of
the candidate had also arrived, and meetings were constantly held in
Mr. Hanna's rooms for the purpose of putting into shape the pro
posed declaration for a gold plank. Among others who were pres
ent during the various conferences were Mr. H. C. Payne, of Wis
consin, Senator Proctor, of Vermont, Col. Myron Herrick, of Cleve
land, Ohio, Mr. Melville C. Stone, of Chicago, Mr. Herman Kohl
saat, of Chicago, the writer of this sketch, and, of course, Mr. Hanna.
The outline of the plank to be used in the proposed platform
was presented by Mr. Payne, advocated by him, and finally adopted
with some modifications by the members of the conference. It was
discussed for several days, and at times the conflicting opinions
threatened to disrupt the self-constituted committee, but in the end
the work of the gentlemen referred to was chosen as the expression
of the Convention. When finally in form, it was submitted to the
leaders of the party, among others Senator Foraker, of Ohio, Senator
Lodge, of Massachusetts, and Senator Piatt, of New York, and all
agreed as to its desirability and as expressive of the will of the
party. During the many conferences held in Mr. Hanna's room
lasting very frequently until the early morning hours, Mr. Payne
was the insistent and determined advocate of a plain and unequivocal
declaration, on the part of the Republican party, of the policy of
adopting the gold standard. While he listened with patience and
forbearance to those who were quite willing tO; avoid the main
issue and take a doubtful position on the question, he was firm and
unyielding; and to him is due the credit of helping to inject into the
platform of a great political party, a declaration that resulted in the
election of William McKinley, and the most prosperous period in the^
world's history. Payne showed his characteristics thoroughly in
this contest. He was of most gracious and delightful personality,
with the best of temper, and yet withal decided and uncompromising
with a principle at stake. He was thoroughly impressed with the,
idea, as many of us were, that the time had come to let the world
know that the people of the United States propose to maintain its
commercial integrity at any cost and at all hazards, and that the
Republican party with its splendid past should be the chosen vehicle
to accomplish this result.
Mr. Payne accomplished much in various walks of life, notably
as a successful business man and as a faithful public servant. His
work at St. Louis was, in my jtidgment, the most important in his
career, and too much credit cannot be awarded him for his splendid
effort in behalf of a sound currency and untarnished public credit.

96 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

Mr. Payne's own version of the history of the gold
plank, prepared by him at the request of Senator Hanna
not long after the adjournment of the Saint Louis Con
vention, was printed in the Milwaukee Sentinel, June 25,
1896, and is as follows:
I arrived in St. Louis on Wednesday of the week before the
Convention and on that day called on Mark A. Hanna at the Ohio
headquarters, and discussed with him the financial plank to be in
serted in the platform. Mr. Hanna handed me some memoranda
which he had, covering the points which he thought should be em
braced in that plank, requesting me to put them in form and submit
them at a conference of a few friends and representatives of Gover
nor McKinley the next morning.
I put them in form, and in the morning met Mr. Hanna, Gen.
Osborne, and Mr. Herrick, all from Ohio. At this conference the
main points of the plank were agreed to, some minor changes sug
gested, and I was requested to put the modified draft in proper form
and submit it to a meeting of Governor McKinley's friends to be
held on Friday morning, and the following is the draft then sub
mitted :
"The Republican party is unreservedly for sound money. It
caused the enactment of the law providing for the resumption of
specie payments in 1879; since then every dollar has been as good
as gold. We are unalterably opposed to every measure calculated
to debase our currency or impair the credit of our country. We are
therefore opposed to the free and unlimited coinage of silver, ex
cept by international agreement with the leading commercial nations
of Europe, and until such agreement can be obtained we believe the
existing gold standard should be preserved. We favor the use of
silver as currency, but to the extent only that its parity with gold
can be maintained, and we favor all measures designed to maintain
inviolably the money of the United States, whether coin or paper,
at the present standard, the standard of the most enlightened nations
of the earth."
This draft was submitted to a conference of Governor Mc
Kinley's personal friends and supporters on Friday morning, at
which were present Governor Merriam of Minnesota, Mr. Kohlsaat
of Chicago, Senator Proctor of Vermont, M. A. Hanna and M. T.
Herrick of Cleveland, and myself. It met with their unanimous
approval, whereupon it was telegraphed to Governor McKinley, and
his approval of it was received within a few hours.
Governor Merriam represented Minnesota on the Committee on

Later Elections 97
Resolutions. The plank as drawn was handed to him and by him
and Mr. Hanna submitted to Governor Foraker of Ohio, who was
selected as chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, and it was
approved by Governor Foraker.
Upon the arrival of the eastern delegates before referred to.
Governor Merriam conferred with them, stating that this draft met
with the approval of the supporters of Governor McKinley, and it
was declared by these gentlemen to be satisfactory.
The Committee on Resolutions made some few verbal changes in
it, but none affecting the spirit or essence of its declaration. It will
therefore be seen that a great injustice is being done to the western
Republicans, and especially to Governor McKinley and his personal
friends by the statement that the financial plank was reluctantly ac
cepted by them, when as a matter of fact it originated wholly in the
house of his friends.
That Mr. Kohlsaat, in his independent newspapers,
vigorously favored the word gold as necessary to be used
in the platforms of both or either of the great parties may
well be admitted, but the statement that at Saint Louis
he converted Mr. Payne to his views or antedated him in
the preparation and presentation of a gold plank for the
platform of the Republican Convention of 1896, is denied.
Two references of a more general character follow:
The Chicago Herald of December 14, 1897, contains this
sentence in regard to the gold plank in the Saint Louis
platform :
That plank was the result of the labors of Henry C. Payne of
Wisconsin, ex-Governor Merriam of Minnesota, Myron T. Herrick
of Cleveland, Mark A. Hanna and two others, all of them close
friends and supporters of Governor McKinley.
A letter from Mr. Herrick, who, when he wrote De
cember 12, 1905, was the governor of Ohio, contains this
passage :
I remember Mr. Payne, especially in the Saint Louis Convention
in 1896 when McKinley was nominated the first time, when we were
endeavoring to harmonize the silver men of the west and the gold
men of the east, by the introduction into the platform of a money

98 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
plank. Here Mr. Payne shone in his diplomacy and versatility, both
in framing the plank and afterward in preventing the extremists of
both factions from leaving the party. He labored unceasingly, and
the valuable results of his work in that Convention will never be
known to the people. I sincerely believe that he gave his life to
his party and to his country.

Unequal Representation in Conventions 99

CHAPTER XII

Unequal Eeptesentation in Contientions
After an interval of six years, Mr. John C. Spooner
was re-elected to the Senate of the United States, January
2"], 1897, by the legislature of Wisconsin, receiving every
Republican vote in the Senate, 29 votes, and every Re
publican vote in the Assembly, 91 votes. A close and
warm friendship long existed between Senator Spooner
and Mr. Payne, and the latter was exceedingly anxious
that the Senator, whose former career in Congress had
been brilliant and statesmanlike, should again gain sena
torial position. The accomplishment of this result was
no less gratifying to Mr. Payne than to Senator Spooner,
whose continued usefulness and influence in Congress
have amply justified the legislative selection.
It is perhaps unduly dignifying a malicious and vilify
ing writing to notice an article which appeared in a
monthly magazine of June, 1906, conceming political
affairs in Wisconsin in 1897, and which contains a refer
ence to the subject of this biography. The author de
clares that the Wisconsin legislature of 1897 was a
"Payne legislature," that it "did not represent the people,"
that "it was for the most part a rotten aggregation of
Republican and Democratic hacks swept in by the Payne-
Spooner gang on the tide against free silver," and that
"it was not unnaturally suspected that Spooner's friends
had to 'give down' for his election."

100 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
There need be no hesitation in characterizing these
assertions as wholesale and malevolent libels ; cruel, also,
because they affect in part a man whose protest against
them death has stilled. That the legislature "did not
represent the people" is an amusing, as well as an amaz
ing, charge when it is considered that the Republicans
carried Wisconsin and the legislature by the unparalleled
plurality of 103,000 votes. As to the indirect insinuation
of bribery, this charge is easily made and it sells maga
zines. Senator Spooner, who must have been knowing
to improper acts to secure his election, declared in 1897,
"No improper influence of any kind was employed in my
behalf." And for that matter, why should there have
been? There was no other candidate for the Republican
nomination, — why then bribe? On joint ballot of the
Senate and Assembly there were 120 Republican votes,
of which Senator Spooner received 120 — why then bribe?
I have thought best to alphabetize a portion of the so-
called "rotten aggregation of Republican hacks swept in
by the Payne-Spooner gang" and constituting a part of
the "Payne legislature" of 1897, and who are open to the
charge of having been bribed by "Spooner's friends" in
order to secure his election. The list might be greatly
increased :
Frank A. Anson, Milwaukee; William H. Austin,
Milwaukee; Charles H. Baxter, Lancaster; George A.
Buckstaff, Oshkosh; Byron A. Buffington, Eau Claire;
Silas Bullard, Menasha; James O. Davidson, Soldiers'
Grove; Charles W. Davis, Oshkosh; William H. Devos,
Milwaukee; Fred A. Dennett, Port Washington; Abner
S. Flagg, Edgerton ; William M. Fogo, Richland Center ;
William H. Froehlich, Jackson ; Charles T. Fisher, Wau-

Unequal Representation in Conventions 101
watosa; Albert R. Hall, Knapp; Frank E. Hurd, New
Lisbon; William H. Hurlbut, Elkhorn; Andrew Jensen,
Ogdensburg ; David F. Jones, Sparta ; William' A. Jones,
Mineral Point; Clarence A. Lamoreux, Ashland; Will
iam T. Lewis, Racine ; James J. McGillivray, Black River
Falls ; Andrew C. Mailer, DePere ; Charles W. Merriman,
Beloit; Oliver G. Munson, Viroqua; Clarence E. Peirce,
Germania; Solon W. Pierce, Friendship; Henry C. Put
nam, Brodhead; George H. Ray, La Crosse; John F. Rey
nolds, Genoa Junction ; Julius E. Roehr, Milwaukee ; Gil
bert Rutherford, Lake Mills; Charles A. Stanley, Chip
pewa Falls; DeWayne Stebbins, Ahnapee; Jesse Stone,
Watertown; James H. Stout, Menomonie; George W.
Taylor, Marinette; Lyman W. Thayer, Ripon; John W.
Thomas, Anson; Henry M. Thompson, Mosinee; Ernst
G. Timme, Kenosha; Nathaniel B. Treat, Monroe; John
M. True, Baraboo; Charles H. Welch, Milwaukee;
Chauncey B. Welton, Madison; John W. Whelan, Mon-
dovi; WiHiam' G. Wheeler, Janesville; John M. White
head, Janesville; Herman C. Wipperman, Grand Rapids;
Levi Withee, La Crosse; George W. Wolff, Rhine; Demp
ster W. Woodworth, Ellsworth ; George Wylie, Leeds.
What citizen of Wisconsin will call these men "a rot
ten aggregation of Republican hacks" ?
As the presidential campaign of 1900 drew near Mr.
Pa3me began to agitate the subject of a change in the
representation at National Conventions from the basis of
congressional districts to a basis which would be more
just to the states that furnished the Republican majorities.
This was not a new subject either with him or with other
members of the National Committee, but the present time
when there was to be no contest for the nomination for

102 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
the presidency seemed an especially appropriate season for
pushing the change. The vice of the existing system^ was
that Southern states, where there was little or no Re
publican suffrage, had an equal representation in conven
tions with the Northern states where Republicans are
largely in numerical ascendancy. Examples of the pres
ent inequality are given by Mr. Payne in a telegram sent
November 30, 1899, to the New York Press at its request,
which was of the following tenor :
Can any one give a good reason why the states of Alabama,
Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina,
casting 200,076 Republican votes at the last Presidential election,
should have 124 delegates in the National Convention, while New
Jersey, casting 221,367 Republican votes, should have but twenty
delegates? In other words, the states mentioned have more than
six times the voice in determining our nominee that New Jersey has,
notwithstanding it is not conceivable that they can give a single
electoral vote to the Republican candidate. The vote of New Jersey
is almost essential to Republican success. Or why should these
states have nearly twice the voice of New York with 819,838 Repub
lican votes? Is it just, fair and wise that the southern states re
ferred to should have fifty per cent, greater voice in the selection
of a candidate than New York and New Jersey combined, when the
vote in those two states is the determining factor in the election of
our candidates? It is quite possible that these hopelessly minority
states may be potential in naming a candidate who would be so ob
jectionable to some of the strong Republican states of the North as
to make it impossible to succeed in the election. It is not to be sup
posed that the representatives of the southern states referred to can
be in touch with the Republican sentiment in the North and that
they can judge as intelligently or wisely what is best to be done as
delegates representing great Republican strongholds. It is oppor
tune that this change in representation should be made at the com
ing Convention for the reason that there will be but one candidate
for the nomination. It is impossible to secure the change when
several candidates are seeking the nomination. Is it not entirely
fair and just that all Republicans should have an equal voice in the
naming of our candidates? What good reason can be given that
one Republican in Mississippi should have forty times as much voice
in naming our candidate as a Republican in the State of Illinois ?

Unequal Representation in Conventions 103
These illustrations exhibit forcibly the injustice to
which the author of the despatch alluded, and justified
him in the preparation of the following preamble and
resolution, which he anticipated presenting to the Na
tional Committee at its approaching meeting :
Whereas, The present basis of representation in Republican
National Conventions is unjust and unequal, and this injustice should
be remedied; therefore
Resolved, That the Republican National Committee recommends
to the next National Convention that a new basis of representation
be established, as follows :
Each state to be entitled to four delegates at large, and one ad
ditional delegate for each ten thousand votes, or majority fraction
thereof, cast at the last preceding Presidential election for Repub
lican electors ; and four delegates from each organized territory and
the District of Columbia; and be it
Further Resolved, That in allotting delegates to the states as
provided, aside from delegates at large, they shall be divided as
near as practicable among the several Congressional Districts of the
states, the basis shall be the same, and where it is necessary to unite
one or more Congressional Districts for the purpose of carrying out
this resolution, contiguous districts may be united.
These tentative expressions were mailed in advance
to the other members of the National Committee and
were given large publicity in the press. Among the com
mitteemen there was wide, but not unanimous approval.
But in the newspapers in certain sections, especially
throughout the south, there was forthwith great uproar.
The Weekly Press of Mobile, Alabama, a Republican
paper edited by a negro, headed its protest, "Attempted
Outrage," and averred that Mr. Payne was trying to drive
the colored voters out of the Republican party. Another
Southern paper — and these two are samples of many —
took for the text of its violent objection the phrase,
"Freezing Out the Black Delegates." The point was
made with great plausibility that if the Republican votes

104 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
willing to be cast, or actually cast, in Southern states,
could really be cast, or could honestly be counted as cast,
there would be no inequality or injustice in the present
basis of representation and that it would be wrong to ac
cept the count — notoriously incorrect — -furnished by brow
beating and bulldozing Democratic inspectors as the test
to regulate the basis of representation in Republican con
ventions. Moreover, questions of expediency and policy urged
in opposition to the change : To' diminish the strength in
convention in any minority state is to discourage the
struggle for supremacy, to humiliate the faithful, to ac
knowledge a weakness that time might overcome, to place
a premium upon membership in the opposing party, to
narrow the chances of party success in future emergencies,
to make despondent those contending for political prin
ciples without the present hope of political reward.
Considerations like these were very potent. When the
National Committee met in Washington, December i6,
1899, while not abating his desire, or yielding the argu
ment, Mr. Payne found that Mr. McKinley, who was to
be the only candidate for president before the forthcoming
convention, and Senator Hanna, chairman of the National
Committee, were opposed to the presentation of the resolu
tions and that committeemen who had favored them in
private correspondence, had been stormed into opposition
by letters and telegrams from every source. As a conse
quence Mr. Payne, feeling the futility of the present effort,
addressed the Committee as follows:
I ask the Committee to honor me with its attention for a few
minutes for a statement somewhat personal in its nature.
It is well known by members of the Committee, both from the
public press and correspondence with them, that I have intended to

Unequal Representation in Conventions 105
offer and advocate the adoption by the Committee of a resolution
recommending to the next Republican National Convention a change
in the basis of representation in subsequent conventions. I some
time since gave to the press, for publication and discussion, the reso
lution which I had prepared to present to the Committee upon the
subject. Briefly stated, it proposed to make the National Convention,
which nominates Republican tickets and formulates Republican plat
forms, fairly representative of those who vote for Republican plat
forms and Republican principles. The proposition has received the
support of almost the entire Republican press of the country, and I
have reason to believe that upon its merits, as well as upon grounds
of expediency, it has the support of a large number of this Com
mittee. I have not in the slightest degree changed my conviction as to its
justice, nor have I the slightest doubt as to its expediency. Within
a day or two it has encountered opposition which I had no reason to
anticipate, including that of the Chairman of this Committee. It is
sufficient for me to say that out of my regard for his opinion, and
the opinions and wishes of others high in the councils of the party,
to which, as a loyal Republican, I feel bound to defer, I am con
strained not to offer the resolution.
I thank the Committee for its indulgence, and I have made
this statement only in obvious justice to myself.
What is further to be said upon this topic will here be
gathered :
The Review of Reviews thus commented :*
In the National Republican conventions Mr. Payne has been the
chief advocate of a very desirable reform yet to be accomplished,
namely, the apportionment of membership on the basis of the actual
party vote as given in the previous national election. This would
exclude nine-tenths of the delegates from the far South.
The subject was more quietly agitated between the
meeting of the National Committee just mentioned and
the opening of the Republican Convention, in Philadel
phia, in June, 1900. At this convention Senator Matthew
S. Quay, of Pennsylvania, called the attention of the mem-
*Number for January, 1900, Volume XXV, page 20.

106 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
bers to the injustice of the present basis of representation,
but at the urgent solicitation of influential fellow members
of the convention he did not insist upon immediate action,
and the matter was again postponed.
At this convention, and since, prominent Republicans
from Rhode Island have been forward with a proposed
change in the basis of representation founded upon Mr.
Pa)rne's plan, but providing for a reduction in the basis
of representation only in those states where the Republican
vote is unterrorized, and free tO' be counted. In agitating
the change in the basis of representation, the mantle of
Mr. Payne has fallen upon other members of the National
Committee.

McKinley and Roosevelt 107

CHAPTER XIII

QicEinlep anD moosetielt
As the time for the National Convention of 1900 drew
on apace two things were very evident : one, that Mr. Mc
Kinley was the certain candidate to succeed himself; the
other, that the name of the vice-presidential nominee was
as uncertain as that of his senior was certain. Mr. Payne
was very anxious that the nomination for the second place
should go to Mr. Elihu Root, of New York, who was then
in the Cabinet as Secretary of War. His solicitude in
this particular is evident from despatches in the New
York papers in January, 1900, of which the following are
specimens :
From New York Tribune, January 11, 1900:
Milwaukee, Wis., Jan. 10. — Henry C. Payne, National Repub
lican Committeeman for Wisconsin, to-day received a letter from
Secretary Root, in which the latter states that he is not, and will
not be, a candidate for Vice-President of the United States. In his
letter Mr. Root expresses the belief that it is far more important to
the country, the Administration and the Republican party at this
time, that he should continue to attend to the business of the War
office — not that there are not plenty of other men who could well
discharge the duties of Secretary of War, but having spent five or
six months in becoming familiar with the subject, no other man
could step in and take up the work without going through the same
training. From New York Sun, January 1 1, 1900 :
Washington, Jan. 10. — Secretary Root this afternoon confirmed
the report that he had written a letter to Henry C. Payne, of Wis
consin, Vice-Chairman of the National Republican Committee, declin
ing to accept a nomination for Vice-President. Secretary Root's

108 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
reason for his declination is that he believes that he can be of more
service to the country, the Republican party and the Administration
by remaining at his desk in the War Department and devoting him
self to military matters. He said to The Sun representative :
"Important questions are before the War Department, questions
which cannot be settled for some little time, and while the President
could certainly get some good and able man for the position of Sec
retary of War, no one could come into the Department and acquire
familiarity with matters before the department and questions under
consideration for the Army without going through the same educa
tion that I have. Should I accept the Vice-Presidency I would be
leaving my work in the Department unfinished. I consider it far
more important for the country, the Administration and for the
Republican party for me to stay in the War Department and attend
to my work here. Having these reasons in mind I wrote to Mr.
Payne, explaining to him that I could not accept the Vice-Presi
dency." The letter to Mr. Payne was written about three weeks ago.
Mr. Payne communicated with Secretary Root, asking if there was
any objection to its being published. Secretary Root replied that
there was no objection to stating its purport.
Mr. Root having thus eliminated himself from possible
candidature, Mr. Payne's thoughts were directed towards
Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, then serving as Govemor of the
state of New York. Three considerations were dominant
in Mr. Payne's mind ; one, that the vice-presidential can
didate should be selected fromi the oscillating and import
ant state of New York; a second, that such candidate
should be able to unite the warring factions which in that
state were dividing and weakening the Republican party;
third, that the vice-presidential candidate should be him
self strong presidential timber, in case any untoward ac
cident should befall the chief — a melancholy contingency
that actually happened. In late January and early Febru
ary, 1900, correspondence and personal interviews oc
curred between Governor Roosevelt and Mr. Payne, and
the latter, in a visit which he made to Albany at thq

McKinley and Roosevelt 109
former's telegraphed request, strongly urged upon the
Governor to permit the use of his name in the approach
ing convention. But at that time Govemor Roosevelt
steadily refused, preferring the strenuous activity of the
gubernatorial office at Albany, to the comparative quietude
and serenity of the vice-presidency.
The intimacy then formed between these two men had
its later important results. Although acquainted and even
personal friends before, it was these letters and these con
fidential talks that made each man a great admirer of the
other. Therefore when, early in the spring of 1900,
efforts were initiated by opponents of Mr. Payne in Wis
consin to exclude him from the National Committee,
Governor Roosevelt wrote the following letter to the Mil
waukee Journal, which had requested his opinion of this
move: Executive Chamber, Albany, N. Y., March 12, 1900. — Editor
The Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, Wis. I most earnestly hope
that Mr. Payne will be re-elected member of the National Republican
Committee and cordially endorse every word that Senator Spooner
has said about him. I believe that every Republican that has the
welfare of the party sincerely at heart feels that it would be little
short of calamity if Mr. Payne were not to continue to take part in
directing the national interests of the party. It has been my good
fortune to be thrown with him somewhat intimately. I have felt a
constantly increasing respect for him, not only for his keen ability
and insight, but for his sense of the real national needs — for his in
tense appreciation that only by serving these real national needs can
any party really deserve success.
Philadelphia was the place fixed by the National Com
mittee for the meeting in 1900 of the presidential conven
tion of the Republican party, and June 19 as the opening
day. Mr. Payne, as one of the sub-committee of the Na
tional Committee, was early on the ground for the pre
liminary work. Indeed, he had been in Philadelphia on

110 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
June lo, to attend a banquet given to the committeemen
by the Young Republican Club of that city. At this
gathering Mr. Payne made an earnest speech intended for
a far wider audience than listened to it, cautioning the
party throughout the country against over-confidence, de
ploring the factional fights in the party which threatened
its success and urging that new issues now confronting
the party be met resolutely and squarely. This speech was
broadly copied and commented upon. The Democrats
exulted that so shrewd a political observer should feel so
despondent, some Republicans claimed that Mr. Payne
had the blues, while others declared that he attached too
great an importance to petty discords in Albany, Saint
Louis and Milwaukee. The truth is, that Mr. Payne —
wise general that he was — was following his usual custom
of bracing the soldiers for the fight and of warning them
that the time to exult was when, as victors, they took their
armor off.
Following this gathering Mr. Payne was busy by
letter and telegram in declining with great positiveness
any use of his name for the vice-presidential nomination
— a use which not a few admiring friends were insisting
upon. At the meetings of the National Committee held just
previous to the opening of the convention, Mr. Payne pre
sided in the absence of Chairman Hanna, who was late in
reaching Philadelphia.
The nomination of Mr. McKinley for the presidency,
so long foreshadowed, was a comparatively tame affair.
The uncertainty about the candidate for vice-president
kept committeemen and delegates alike alert. Governor
Roosevelt was in attendance upon the convention as a

McKinley and Roosevelt 111
delegate. During the first day, June lo, he had main
tained the same opposition to the vice-presidential nomina
tion which he had exhibited months before in privacy to
Mr. Payne and which he had consistently since then main
tained. As the New York Tribune printed during the
convention :
Governor Roosevelt was perfectly honest and above board in
the position he has taken and held, that he did not want the vice-
presidential office. He was absolutely unprepared for the over
whelming demand for his nomination he was to be called on to face,
and it is not too much to say that he was absolutely overcome by it.
As delegation after delegation came to him and urged him to run,
little by little it was borne in on him that he must respopd to this
demand of the country for his services.
Governor Roosevelt, so long and so firmly declining,
had accepted. Senator Cullom, of Illinois, was asked the
reason of this and he answered: "The broadest reason
possible. He yields to the wishes of the people of the
United States." Was this chance, fate? Nay, the Hand
that in infinite wisdom did not interpose to shield the
illustrious McKinley from the nameless assassin's weapon,
prepared, through the clamorous persistence of these dele
gates, his no less illustrious successor !
What happened in the Wisconsin delegation in the
morning of June 20, is thus described in the New York
Evening Post of the same day :
At eleven o'clock this morning, before Gov. Roosevelt had ar
rived at his headquarters, news came of a blow at the Governor's
hope of escape, aimed by Henry C. Payne and the Wisconsin dele
gation. Wisconsin had a meeting, and hardly were the doors closed
when Mr. Payne arose, and in a vehement speech declared that
Roosevelt would be the nominee of the Convention. "It is time this
factional business in New York State should be settled from the
outside," he said. "This is a national, not a state gathering. We
are here to nominate a national ticket, not to dicker over New York
State's personal affairs." (Applause.) Then, raising his hand, he

112 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
said in an impressive and impassioned manner : "Before Wisconsin
is reached on the roll-call, willingly or unwillingly Theodore Roose
velt will have received 75 per cent, of the votes of the Convention.
I move that Wisconsin join the popular column and vote for, not
New York's son, but the nation's son, Theodore Roosevelt."
Amid a burst of applause the resolution was adopted by a unan
imous vote. Mr. Payne, when spoken to after the meeting, said:
"I believe that everything points to Roosevelt's nomination, and I
don't think he dares refuse it."
McKinley and Roosevelt being the nominees of the
Convention, it became the duty of the National Committee
to undertake the task of electing them. Mr. Payne had
been unanimously named by the Wisconsin delegation to
succeed himself upon the National Committee, and on
June 21, Chairman Hanna of that Committee appointed
the following as the new Executive Committee: Mr.
Payne; Mr. Joseph H. Manley, of Maine; Mr. Nathan B.
Scott, of West Virginia; Mr. Harry S. New, of Indiana,
and Mr. George L. Shoup, of Idaho.* Mr. Payne was
in charge of the western headquarters in Chicago, and
from there the work of the campaign was directed. Into
its details this narrative need not go. It is sufficient to
write that Mr. Payne followed his own note of warning,
that he assumed no confident air and uttered no vain
boastings, that the voters were supplied with documents
and satisfied with speeches, that the enemy's moves were
checked and his plans thwarted, and that — the fight be
ing over — the issue was awaited with the serenity that
knows no fear.
When the votes were counted in November, 1900, it
was recorded that the plurality of President McKinley
*A11 the members of this committee were warm personal as well
as political friends of Mr. Payne. No more sorrowful letters reached
Mrs. Payne upon the death of her husband than came from Messrs.
Manley, Scott and New.

McKinley and Roosevelt 113
over Mr. Bryan was 861,373 votes; that in the electoral
college the former had 292 votes and the latter 155 votes;
that the former carried the state of Wisconsin by a plural
ity of 106,597 votes, the county of Milwaukee by a plural
ity of 9,194 votes, and the city of Milwaukee by a
plurality of 6,507 votes. The seven Southern states men
tioned in Mr. Payne's telegram to the New York Press
(see page 102), Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,
Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina, cast a joint
vote of 166,298 ballots for McKinley and Roosevelt,
while the state of Wisconsin alone cast 265,760 votes for
the same candidates.
Soon after the inauguration of President McKinley,
on March 9, 1901, Mr. and Mrs. Payne left New York
on a trip to the Mediterranean and Black Seas. On their
return trip they reached Naples, April 22, 1901, where
they left their vessel and traveled leisurely in Italy, France
and England.
This trip and consequent freedom from responsibility
and care had been rendered obligatory by the impaired
condition of Mr. Payne's health. For some five years or
more he had been subject to fainting spells and to attacks
believed by physicians to be epileptical in their nature, and
to be due to indigestion. These attacks had greatly weak
ened his constitution and caused his friends to view with
regret any assumption of responsibilities which gratified
ambition might induce him to accept.
The visit of President McKinley to the Pan-American
Exposition at Buffalo, New York, his assassination, his
heroic contest with death, his defeat, and the administer
ing of the oath of office in Buffalo tO' Theodore Roosevelt,
his successor — these events belong to history and need
not delay these pages.

114 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

CHAPTER XIV

Postmaster* (General
In obedience to his determination to accept the Cabinet
of his predecessor and to retain the same until the mem
bers should themselves desire to withdraw, the position of
postmaster-general continued with President McKinley's
appointee, Mr. Charles Emory Smith, under the adminis
tration of President Roosevelt, until the close of the year
1 901. Mr. Smith then resigning, the way was open for
the President to name a cabinet officer of his own choice,
and his friend, Mr. Payne, was named. The appointment
was decided upon in December, 1901 ; he was nominated
and the Senate confirmed the nomination January 8, 1902,
and the oath of office was administered by Chief Justice
Fuller, of the Supreme Court of the United States, Janu
ary 15, 1902. At the ceremony were present the Presi
dent and members of his cabinet, and other officials, and
also Mrs. Roosevelt and Mrs. Payne. The assistant post
masters-general when Mr. Payne's term began were Mr.
William M. Johnson, Mr. William S. Shallenberger, Mr.
Edwin C. Madden and Mr. Josq)h L. Bristow. Mr.
Francis H. Whitney,* of Milwaukee, was private secre
tary to the Postmaster-General. Mr. Payne's Washing-
*Mr. Whitney began his service with Mr. Payne April 18, 1892,
as stenographer and clerk and was for many years his confidential
secretary in Milwaukee before the theatre of his valued services
was transferred to Washington.

Postmaster-General 115
ton residence was at Number 1523 H Street, an historical
house now connected with the Arlington Hotel.
I should expand this volume to a ponderous octavo
should I attempt to print the letters and telegrams of con
gratulation which from every side poured in upon the
newly appointed officer, whom his intimates now slyly
began to dub General. While most of these missives were
full of hope and promise for the future, there ran through
some the minor note of sorrow, that with health impaired
and constitution far from rugged, Mr. Payne should
venture to assume an office so burdened with responsi
bilities, and so perplexing with details. Yet with the
ambitions of his manhood now fully realized Mr. Payne
was in no frame of mind tO' retreat, and he entered upon
his arduous duties in happiness and with zeal.
His long incumbency of the post office in Milwaukee
was no mean schooling for his more exalted position.
The files of the United States Official Postal Guide be
ginning with the month of February, 1902, exhibit the
vigor and efficiency of the new chief. During his ad
ministration parcels post conventions were concluded be
tween the United States and Bolivia, Japan, Norway and
the colony of Hong Kong, the parcels post convention
with Germany modified in the interest of American
citizens, and a postal convention concluded with Cuba.
In June, 1902, the entire postal service was grouped into
fifteen geographical divisions, each under the charge of
its own inspector, and the rural free delivery system was
organized into eight divisions.* By later orders the de-

*See the Review of Reviews for January, 1903, Volume XXVII,
page 55, for an interesting article upon the rural free delivery system
under Mr. Payne's administration.

116 Henry Clay Payne: A Life
tails of this latter service were regulated to the end that
boxes properly shielded from the elements should be used,
and that carriers should be prompt and be not impeded
by private errands. Among the improvements made were
such as these : provision was made for the redemption of
uncanceled and unserviceable postal cards ; the position of
physician, except in the largest post offices, was abolished ;
the tone of post offices was improved by prohibiting loaf
ing, disorderliness and profanity about the buildings ; rec
ommendation was made to Congress to consolidate mail
matter of the third and fourth classes as blending into each
other; an order was formulated that husband and wife
should not both draw salaries from the public treasury, a
woman employee in the postal department being expected
to resign upon her marriage with another employe ; pro
vision was made that reading matter in raised characters
should be carried through the mails free for the benefit of
the blind; approval was given of the innovation of plac
ing the representation of the head of aworaan upon a post
age stamp, by accepting that of Martha Washington for
the eight cents stamp; post offices were established on the
canal zone at Panama; frequent orders were issued for
bidding the use of the mails by, or the benefits of the
money order system for, proprietors of lottery schemes,
whether in the United States or abroad ; a movement was
inaugurated looking to the exclusion from the mails of
literature promoting the sale of certain kinds of patent
medicines and nostrums; regulations were provided for
the mailing of identical pieces of mail of the third and
fourth classes without the affixing of stamps, providing
postage had been prepaid; corrections were initiated of the
abuses growing out of the overcrowding of the mails with

Postmaster-General 117
second class matter; mailing-tube systems were installed
in some of the larger cities; the regulations of the civil
service relative to promotions were enlarged especially in
fourth class offices; economy of administration was en
forced; adherence to rules enjoined, fidelity recognized,
dishonesty punished.* An innovation proposed by Mr.
Payne that letter boxes be placed on street cars was op
posed by labor unions on the ground that this would give
street cars the sanctity of government mail carriers which
might lead to federal interference with trolley strikes.
On June 6, 1902, Secretary of the Treasury Shaw,
Postmaster-General Payne and Attorney-General Knox
were appointed! by the Congress a commission tO' acquire
a site in the city of New York for the erection of a fire
proof building for post office purposes. Several visits
were made by this commission to the city of New York
in the winter of 1902-3. It was evident, however, not
only that the present office in the lower portion of the city
must be retained, but also that more than one additional
structure was needed to satisfy the enormous business of
the borough of Manhattan. As a consequence the com
mission recommended the purchase of a site on Eighth
Avenue between Thirty-first and Thirty-third Streets, and
also the lease for twaity-five years, with an option for a
*For the various phases of litigation growing out of some of
Mr. Payne's improvements, see Chicago Business College v. Payne,
20 Appeal Cases, D. C. 606; Payne v. United States ex rei. National
Railway Publishing Company, 20 Appeal Cases, D. C. 581 ; Payne v.
Bates & Guild Company, 22 Appeal Cases, D. C. 250 ; Payne v.
Houghton, 22 Appeal Cases, D. C. 234 ; Houghton v. Payne, 194
United States 88 ; Smith v. Payne, 194 U. S. 104. See also Letter of
the Postmaster-General to the Senate, February 26, 1902; Review
of Reviews, January, 1902, XXV, 20; Review of Reviews, January,
1903, XXVII, 14.
tSee Section 13, Chapter 1036, Statutes of 1902, S7th Congress,
First Session.

118 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
like period additional, of a site within the space bounded
by Lexington and Madison Avenues, Forty-second and
Forty-sixth Streets. These sites were selected on account
of their contiguity to the terminals of the Pennsylvania
and New York Central Railways respectively, and with
the expectation that commodious buildings would be
erected thereon directly over the tracks of these railways
so that mail could be loaded and unloaded without wagon
service. The plan contemplated that these two new offices
with the present down town office should constitute "a
three-in-one post office," the three structures being so con
nected by tubes that they would work practically as one.
Congress was satisfied with the work and the selection of
the commission andmade appropriations* for the purchase
and leasing respectively of the sites chosen. But Mr.
Payne was not to survive to see even the beginnings of
these gigantic improvements.
Mr. George B. Cortelyou, Postmaster-General in suc
cession to Mr. Payne, thus closes his annual report for the
year ended June 30, 1905 :
Of the seven Postmasters-General whom I have had the privilege
of knowing while they were at the head of this Department, three
are now dead. I served under two of these — ^Wilson S. Bissell and
William L. Wilson — and was fortunate in being intimately asso
ciated with them. I see no impropriety in bearing testimony at this
time to the loyalty and devotion with which they strove for the
betterment of the postal service. However men may differ as to
some features of their policies, there can be no question that they
strove faithfully to maintain the best traditions of the Department.
The third — Henry C. Payne — though embarrassed by grievous physi
cal afflictions, carried the burden of a prolonged and exhausting
investigation with self-sacrificing fidelity, and since I have had charge
of the Department there has frequently come to my notice official
evidence of the progress made during his administration.
*By Chapter 1759, Statutes of 1904, page 434, s8th Congress,
Second Session.

Postmaster-General 119
In a speech delivered in the Senate, April 9, 1904, by
Senator Spooner, upon consideration of the post office ap
propriation bill for the year ending June 30, 1905, the
following words were uttered by him :
Postmaster-General Payne is a citizen of Wisconsin. At the
time of his appointment he was not a candidate for the position, nor
did I seek it for him, although I knew it had been the ambition
of his life to be Postmaster-General. I have known him many years,
Mr. President, and during those years he has afforded so many
evidences of the possession of rare executive ability as to place
himself in that regard beyond reach of successful challenge. He
came into the Postmaster-Generalship unhappily handicapped to some
extent by ill health, but I do not hesitate to say here that no man
ever entered the Cabinet with a higher ambition to render good
service to the public, and to achieve the distinction which able and
faithful service in high place brings to one who renders it, than he.
His sense of responsibility, his fidelity to duty, led him to disregard
all thought of personal comfort and even of health in co-operating
with Mr. Bristow in every possible way. He spent the long summer
at his desk, without regard to hours, at a personal risk, which, when
assumed by a soldier, brings with it credit and honor.
Just at this point a few words are necessary concern
ing the relation of Mr. Payne to the reform of the civil
service. Some of those particularly devoted to this re
form have been accustomed to stigmatize Mr. Pajme as a
"politician," as one managing the huge machinery of his
great office to advance his party friends and to overthrow
his foes. To such stigmatizers I desire to commend the
consideration of the following document, lengthy, to be
sure, and perhaps dry, but worthy of perusal :
Report of Civil Service Commissioners Procter and Cooley to the
President, June 24, 1903, respecting irregularities which occurred
four years ago in the Washington post office and, to an extent, in the
Post Office Department at Washington; together with detailed state
ment relating to certain irregularities and abuses which have been
cured by the aid and co-operation of Postmaster-General Payne.
June 24, 1903.
The President.
Sir: In response to your request, this commission makes re-

120 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
port respecting irregularities which occurred four years ago in the
Washington post office and to an extent in the Post Office Depart
ment at Washington, as follows :
I. Whether any of these irregularities have occurred during
your administration without a prompt stop being put to them.
Answer: Nc>. See inclosed memorandum showing the prompt
stoppage of these irregularities and the ways in which the competi
tive system has been bettered and extended in the postal service dur
ing your administration.
2. Whether the present postmaster at Washington is, in our
judgment, responsible for the wrongdoing which occurred four years
ago. Answer : The commission does not regard him as responsible
therefor, inasmuch as he was carrying out the orders of his superior
officers. 3. Whether there are now in the Post Office Department or the
post office at Washington any persons illegally employed or who
should be removed from office.
Answer: No, with the exception of the person occupying the
excepted position of finance clerk, who is performing alien duties.
The evil of assigning laborers to classified work is the growth
of years. The registration regulations adopted and the determina
tion to fill all vacancies in positions of laborers doing classified work
by certification from the registers of eligibles will prevent this evil
in the future.
The relations of the commission with the Post Office Depart
ment and with the postal service throughout the country are more
satisfactory from a civil service standpoint than ever before, as shown
by the detailed statement filed with this, relating to certain irregular
ities and abuses which have been cured by the aid and co-operation of
Postmaster-General Payne.
We have the honor to be, your obedient servants,
John R. Procter,
Alford W. Cooley,
Commissioners.
Since Postmaster-General Payne has been in charge of the Post
Office Department the following betterments have been made :
In October last the Department joined the commission in estab
lishing a regulation requiring persons brought into the classified
service by the establishment of free delivery at a post office to pass
an examination before transfer to other post offices.
The Department has assisted the commission in perfecting the
service records of post offices and adopted a system of reporting to

Postmaster-General 121
the commission directly from the Department all changes occurring
in the status of employes in the post office service.
The appointment of laborers for assignment to classified work
has ceased. The Washington postmaster states that General Payne has never
directed, or even suggested, the appointment of laborers in the
Washington post office, as had formerly been done.
Shortly after General Payne became Postmaster-General he in
itiated the policy of continuing fourth class postmasters beyond the
term of four years, and not removing them except for some reason
other than political, thus making their terms of office in fact, as they
are in law, independent of changes of Administration. This is one
of the most important advances which the merit system has made in
recent years.
The Post Office Department has made a much larger number
of appointments through open competitive examinations under the
civil service rules in the same space of time than ever before, and the
proportion of reinstatements and transfers has decreased. From Au
gust, 1900, to December, 1901, immediately preceding General
Payne's appointment, 7,362 appointments were made through com
petition in local post offices. During the like period of seventeen
months immediately following, 9,854 such appointments were made,
an increase of almost 2,500. So, also, in the Post Office Department
during the same period preceding General Payne's appointment 50
appointments were made through competition, while in the like period
following 119 were made.
The number of temporary appointments at post offices without
examination has been reduced. In the seventeen months preceding
his appointment 1,131 such appointments were made, as against 929
in the seventeen months following. Prior to May, 1902, the Depart
ment made temporary appointments outside the examinations in post
offices in all cases in which there were not as many as three eligibles
on the register. It was not until General Payne became Postmaster-
General that the commission could get the Department to consent to
a change in this practice, though repeated conferences were had
with the Department with that end in view.
General Payne agreed with the commission that the rules should
be changed, and since May 31, 1902, temporary appointments are
made from the register. The commission found that it was difficult
to secure eligibles at certain offices, notwithstanding due announce
ment had been made, and suggested to the Department the advisability
of utilizing as far as possible eligibles on the departmental and rail
way-mail registers. In this the Department acquiesced. The result
of this action on the part of the Department has been to materially
lessen the number of temporary appointments.

122 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

Notwithstanding public announcement of examinations, it was
difficult at some second-class post offices to secure enough eligibles
to meet the needs of the service. It was thought that this was
occasioned, in some measure, by failure on the part of the postmasters
to give encouragement to applicants. Upon inviting the Depart
ment's attention to this matter, a circular was issued to postmasters
directing that all proper means be taken to encourage persons to
enter the examinations, and that they should in no way dissuade
applicants or use means to induce them to decline appointment after
certification. This will insure a more general co-operation by post
masters in carrying out the rules and of ^lessening the number of
temporary appointments.
The Department has also agreed that for the 900 smaller post
offices certificates for appointment shall be issued directly by the
commission, instead of by local secretaries of examining boards, to
enable the commission to deal more directly with the Department and
expedite the public business.
Although all the paragraphs of the foregoing report
invite the reader's careful attention, two sentences there
from I desire tO' cull out from their fine type and to com
ment upon briefly. They read :
Shortly after General Pa3me became Postmaster-General he in
itiated the policy of continuing fourth-class postmasters beyond the
term of four years, and not removing them except for some reason
other than political, thus making their terms of office in fact, as they
are in law, independent of changes of Administration. This is one
of the most important advances which the merit system has made in
recent years.
This change was at first bitterly resented by those
congressmen who feared that with the consequent loss of
patronage would ensue the loss of their claim upon votes.
But as the innovation worked and the law-makers experi
enced freedom from petty strifes of "outs" against the
"ins," and found how much more time remained to them
for the performance of their legitimate duties, they be
gan gladly to accept the new betterment, and some had the
grace frankly to thank the Postmaster-General for the
change. And yet this same Postmaster-General had formerly
and frequently and openly been hailed as the head and
front of spoils and the spoils system !

Investigation Post Office Department 123

CHAPTER XV

3n))estt0at!on of tDe Post Mdtt Depattment
The subject of a minute inquiry into the affairs of this
department and into the method of doing business therein
was first broached in December, 1902, in conversations
between the Postmaster-General and Mr. Eugene F. Loud,
member of the House of Representatives from California
and chairman of the House Committee on the post office
and post-roads. As a result of these interviews which ran
far into the succeeding month, it was agreed that the
congressional appropriation for miscellaneous items in the
post office department should be increased from the cus
tomary estimate of one thousand dollars, tO' the sum of
six thousand dollars, thus providing ample funds for a
wide and deep probe.
As the newspapers antagonistic to the Republican ad
ministration and to Mr. Payne, often asserted that he was
hostile to the investigation and attempted to thwart it, it
is proper to record here that he assisted at its very initia
tion. The following statement bearing upon this point,
dated August 21, 1903, is from the pen of Mr. Jacob H.
Bromwell, of Cincinnati, Ohio, who was a representative
from December 3, 1894, to March 4, 1903, and who at
the period under consideration was a member of the com
mittee on the post office and post-roads :
I recall very distinctly that in the preparation of the last appro
priation bill and before the sub-committee (of which I was a mem
ber) had commenced work upon it, in a private conversation with Mr.

124 Henry Clay Payne: A Life
Loud he informed me that he had discussed with the Postmaster-
General the advisability of a more thorough investigation of the
Post Office Department than had been possible in the usual course
before, and that the Postmaster-General was very earnest in his
desire that the item for special inspection, included in the "Miscel
laneous Items" of the appropriation bill, should be increased to
such an amount as would give him ample means for this purpose,
and suggested that the item be increased from one thousand to six
thousand dollars.
Mr. Loud stated that it was thought advisable that no public
attention should be drawn to this proposed increase in the item, for
the reason that it might serve as a warning and put upon their
guard any employes or attaches of the Department, or others, who
might have been guilty of irregularities, and that it was to the pub
lic interest that the increase should be put in the bill as quietly as
possible, so as to attract little or no> attention or comment.
It was understood that this investigation was to be very thor
ough and might be quite prolonged, reaching over a number of
months, and that, while the appropriation would not itself become
available until after July ist, 1903, yet it would be necessary to have
this increase in order to continue whatever work might be started
in this line before that date.
In accordance with this suggestion of Mr. Loud, he and I put
the item in the appropriation bill, as prepared by the sub-committee,
with a mere statement that it was desired by the Department, but
giving no explanation. The sub-committee had such confidence in
Mr. Loud that without inquiry they endorsed this increase, it went
into the bill, was reported to the committee, there passed without any
comment, and was enacted into law.
I know positively that this request and the proposed investiga
tion had been determined upon by the Postmaster-General lojig be
fore there had been any newspaper or other comment upon possible
irregularities in the Department.
The investigation having been determined upon, the
details were frequently discussed by Mr. Payne with
President Roosevelt. Two things were by the President,
Mr. Payne and Mr. Loud deemed wise ; that the investiga
tion should be delayed until the adjournment of Congress,
and that it should be conducted by Mr. Joseph L. Bristow,
then Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General, who had in
1899 investigated the Cuban postal frauds.

Investigation Post Office Department 125
Congress having adjourned March 4, 1903, Mr. Payne
formulated his instructions to Mr. Bristow in a letter
dated March 7, 1903. These instructions were accom
panied by oral suggestions brought out in an interview
between these two officials with President Roosevelt. In
a second interview among these three it was emphatically
understood that the inquiry was to proceed searchingly
and vigorously under the direct charge of Mr. Bristow
and that all of the inspectors necessary to a thorough
pursuit were to be called to his aid.
Coincident with these acts was a demand by the Post
master-General for the resignation of James N. Tyner,
then Assistant Attorney-General for the Post Office De
partment. At this time Mr. Tyner was seventy-seven
years of age and the Department had long been em^-
barrassed by reason of his helpless condition, his failure
of executive ability and his inaction in the efforts of the
Department to ascertain the truth or falsity of certain in
sinuations and charges against the integrity of the De
partment. The resignation and its acceptance bear date
March 8, 1903, to take effect at a somewhat later period.
Although the evils supposed tO' exist and afterwards
brought to view long antedated Mr. Payne's tenure of
office and belonged chiefly to the period of the war with
Spain, yet the suspicions against members of the Depart
ment long in the service, high in authority, with sup
posedly honored names and unstained reputations, dis
tressed Mr. Payne greatly and accentuated his long exist
ing physical ailments, but never abated his determination
that the searchlight should be clear, penetrating and un
sparing.

126 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
The matter being under way, Mr. Payne, on the urgent
advice of his physician, left Washington, March lo, 1903,
for a trip of rehabilitation in the West Indies. On April
13 he retumed to his post somewhat refreshed by his in
action and finding great need for his recuperated strength.
It appeared that, during Mr. Payne's absence, George
W. Beavers, General Superintendent, Division of Salary
and Allowance, afterwards indicted, had resigned his
office March 31, 1903, and his resignation had been ac
cepted by the acting Postmaster-General. It appeared
also that an impression was industriously circulated that
Mr. Payne was not in sympathy with the investigation.
This impression was so pervading and so untrue that Mr.
Pajme felt moved to issue a brief public statement. It was
prepared on April 13, 1903, the day of his return from
bis trip, and appeared the next day in the Washington
Post. It was as follows :
During the months of January and February information and
reports reached me, which I deemed it for the public interest to
investigate, and I, personally, gathered such information and facts
as would enable the proper officers of the Department to undertake
a thorough investigation as to the truth or falsity of these reports.
I directed Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General Bristow to take the
proper steps to institute the necessary inquiry, using for that purpose
the post office inspectors' division and such other methods as would
thoroughly ascertain the truth or falsity of the charges or insinua
tions made, and he was instructed to proceed promptly and with
vigor during my absence. Since my return this morning, I have
not seen General Bristow, so that I am not advised of the progress
made. The investigation will continue and if any wrong-doing is
disclosed, the parties guilty of such wrong-doing will be summarily
dealt with. If the system or method of doing business in the De
partment is faulty, the proper remedies will be applied without fear
or favor. I inaugurated the investigation with the determination
that it should be exhaustive. It is proper for me to add that I laid
before the President the information which I had in my possession,
and that he fully approved of the action proposed by me.

Investigation Post Office Department 127
Meanwhile the investigation was proceeding and in
terested officials were becoming restive. In the afternoon
of April 22, 1903 — Mr. Tyner's official connection with
the office not then ending — his wife and her sister, the
mother of Harrison J. Barrett, assistant to Mr. Tyner,
called at his office in the Department and in a surreptitious
manner opened the safe and carried away a large bundle
of papers and documents. Within a few moments Mr.
Payne learned of the act and sent an officer forthwith to
Mr. Tyner's residence to demand restitution. This, and
inspection of the abstracted writings, were alike refused.
Mr. Tyner was thereupon removed from office. His rep
resentatives, Mr. R. Ross Perry and Mr. Louis T. Miche-
ner, on April 24, delivered a package of documents at the
Department, which were carefully inspected by Mr. Payne
and Mr. Bristow, with Mr. T)mer's attorneys. The writ
ings personal to Mr. Tyner were returned ; the remainder,
with the facts concerning Mr. Tyner, were laid before the
Grand Jury.
Upon the suggestion of Mr. Philander C. Knox, the
Attorney-General, whom Mr. Payne consulted, Mr.
Charles H. Robb, of Bellows Falls, Vermont, was ap
pointed Mr. Tyner's successor, and proved an active,
vigilant and capable official.
Public clamor concerning the exposures in the Post
Office Department was intensified by charges persistently
thrust forward against the integrity of the Washington
city post office. These, popularly known as the Tulloch
charges, emanated from. Mr. Seymour W. Tulloch, who
had been cashier in the Washington city post office and
had been discharged when Mr. James P. Willett gave way
to Mr. John A. Merritt, as postmaster, June 30, 1899.

128 Henry Clay Payne: A Life
These charges had generally been thought the offspring
of a splenetic desire for revenge, and had not been deemed
worthy of full investigation by Mr. Payne's predecessor,
Mr. Charles Emory Smith. They took the shape of
definite assertions in an interview with Mr. Tulloch in the
Washington Post of the morning of May i, 1903. That
same day upon perusing the interview Mr. Payne wrote
to Mr. Bristow, who had been connected with the Post
Office Department since April i, 1897, reciting some of
the assertions of Tulloch as to the city office in Washing
ton, and inquiring as to their truth. Upon the same day
Mr. Payne wrote to Mr. Merritt conceming the Tulloch
charges, stating:
This is a direct reflection upon the integrity of your office, as
well as upon the administration of the Post Office Department.
As I intend to look into the case somewhat, I shall be glad to have
you advise me what, if any, truth or lack of truth there is in the
statement referred to. I enclose herewith a copy of the article re
ferred to.
Upon May 2, Mr. Payne wrote to Mr. John R. Proc
ter, president of the United States Civil Service Com
mission, in reference to the Tulloch statement :
Among other things, it is stated that the "civil service can al
ways be gotten round when necessary, as seen in the appointment of
cleaners, charwomen, laborers, financial clerks, auditors, mechanics,
and other excepted persons, irrespective of the duties performed, or
whether any duties are performed."
The reply of Mr. Bristow, under date of May 4, 1903,
was of such a nature as to lead Mr. Payne, upon May 5,
1903, to address a brief note to Mr. Tulloch. This note
contained this paragraph :
I shall be pleased to receive from you any statement which you
are willing to make in writing, accompanied by any papers, docu
ments or evidence confirmatory of the charges which have appeared
in the Washington Post.

Investigation Post Office Department 129
Mr. Tulloch's reply, of May 7, 1903, being incon
sequential, not to say impertinent, Mr. Payne on May 9
requested Mr. Bristow in writing to "call upon Mr. Tul
loch at your earliest convenience and ask him to give you
any statement which he is willing to make in writing, ac
companied by any papers, documents or evidence con
firmatory of the charges which he has made, to the end
that they may be enquired into, and if it is found that any
irregularities exist, that they may be corrected."
Mr. Bristow was successful and Mr. Tulloch sub
mitted to the Postmaster-General, under date of May 15,
1903, fifty typewritten pages of matter, confessedly a
statement of conditions, rather than details, and claiming
that "a full and complete statement would require a com
mentary upon the pay rolls, vouchers and records of the
Washington city post office for a period of upwards of
two years or more previous to June 30, 1899." It was
conceming this bulky document that Mr. Payne uttered
an observation "hot air." The private secretary of Mr.
Payne, Mr. Whitney, thus records the incident :
Mr. Payne's remark applied to Tulloch's charges against the
Washington post office only, which were very voluminous, but in
certain antagonistic newspapers it was made to apply to the entire
Department investigation charges. I was present when the remark
was made. The newspaper men had been advised of the Tulloch
charges and had been awaiting with some curiosity the result of the
Postmaster-General's perusal of them. He held the mass of type
written pages in his hand while talking with the newspaper men and
remarked that after having gone over the text he believed that about
one-tenth was worthy of serious consideration, but that the other
nine-tenths were simply "hot air." I have always believed he meant
that Tulloch could have boiled down his text to about one-tenth and
still have preferred all of his charges. It contained many unneces
sarily lengthy discourses, and by its length naturally attracted more
attention to Mr. Tulloch when printed in the Washington Post.

130 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
But it must not be supposed that Mr. Tulloch's state
ment was ignored. The opposite was the fact. Mr.
Payne caused copies of it to be made and on May 19 and
May 20 these were sent to Mr. Charles Emory Smith,
former postmaster-general, to Mr. Robert J. Tracewell,
comptroller of the United States treasury, to Mr. Merritt,
to Mr. John W. Griggs, former attorney-general, to Mr.
Frank A. Vanderlip, former assistant secretary of the
treasury, to Mr. Perry S. Heath, former first assistant
postmaster-general, and to Mr. Henry A. Castle, auditor
for the post office department, requesting from these per
sons such statements or explanations as would throw light
upon the subject matter. What disposition was made of
the replies soon appears.
These chronological data have been purposely minute,
that they might establish these two points : that Mr. Payne
initiated and actively pushed the investigation in his de
partment, and that the remark uttered by him, referred to
above, had no relation to the frauds he was himself un
earthing, but did relate either to the vagueness or to the
prolixity of the Tulloch statement against the Washing
ton city post office.
It remains now to note briefly the results of the in
vestigations. As the exposures of frauds were from time
to time reported to the Postmaster-General they were re
ferred to the office of the Attorney-General for the re
quisite action. On June 24, 1903, Mr. Charies J. Bona
parte, of Baltimore, and Mr. Holmes Conrad, of Wash
ington, were appointed by the President special assistants
to the Attorney-General to aid him in the work of obtain
ing evidence, securing indictments and prosecuting all per
sons criminally connected with the department scandals

Investigation Post Office Department 131
and frauds. To these same gentlemen, on July 17 and
July 21, 1903, were referred the Tulloch charges against
the Washington city post office, including the replies re
ceived from all the persons tO' whom copies of the Tulloch
statement of May 15, 1903, had been sent or from those
whose attention had been called to the Tulloch interview
of May I, 1903.
As to the Tulloch interview and statement Messrs.
Bonaparte and Conrad reported tO' the Attorney-General.
With regard to the "hot air" criticism of the Tulloch
statement, made by Mr. Payne, the criticism was sus
tained by them, although their comment is framed in more
laborious, and in strictly legal, although not in any more
expressive, phraseology.
With regard to the facts Messrs. Bonaparte and Con
rad found that deplorable and gravely discreditable abuses
existed in the Washington post office and in the office of
the First Assistant Postmaster-General during the years
1898, 1899 and 1900, that these abuses involved conduct
on the part of various officials often illegal and perhaps
criminal, and that the statute of limitations had run
against these abuses before the Tulloch interview on May
I, 1903. Criticism was passed upon certain officials whose
names are not pertinent to this biography and recom
mendation was made that an investigation be ordered, if
not already ordered, of the post office at Washington, and
at New York, and of the office of First Assistant Post
master-General within the just preceding three years.
As to the immediate results of the investigation
initiated by Mr. Payne into the frauds in the Post Office
Department :
I. August W. Machen, of Ohio, General Superin-

132 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
tendent of the Free Delivery System, was removed for
malfeasance and tried in two cases. In the first he was
found guilty and sentenced to two years in the peni
tentiary and fined ten thousand dollars. In the second
case he pleaded guilty and received two years additional.
He is now in the penitentiary at Moundsville, West
Virginia. 2. George W. Beavers, who resigned March 31,
1903, pleaded guilty to frauds upon the government and
was sentenced to two years in the penitentiary at Mounds
ville. 3. James N. Tyner was tried May 2, 1904, for "con
spiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to com
mit the offense of misconduct in office and conspiracy to
commit the offense of bribery." He was acquitted. It
was the opinion of the Postmaster-General that Mr. Ty
ner would have been convicted had not evidence been
abstracted when the papers were removed as hereinbefore
related. He died in 1904, aged seventy-eight years.
4. Harrison J. Barrett, assistant to Mr. Tyner,
nephew of Mrs. Tyner, was tried at the same time with
Mr. Tyner and acquitted. The particulars of the charges
against Mr. Barrett are set out in 23 Appeal Ca>ses, Dis
trict of Columbia, page 324.
5. Thomas W. McGregor, clerk in charge of con
tract supplies and accounts, free delivery service, was con
victed and sentenced to two years in the Maryland peni
tentiary and to pay a fine of one thousand dollars.
6. Ellsworth Upton, order clerk, free delivery serv
ice, was sentenced to one year in the Baltimore jail and to
pay a fine of one thousand dollars.
7. James W. Erwin, assistant superintendent free de-

Investigation Post Office Department 133
livery service, San Francisco, was indicted, but was dis
charged by order of the California court, which refused
to order his transfer to the District of Columbia, where
an indictment against him is still pending.
In addition to these persons, all whose terms of serv
ice antedated Mr. Payne's official career in Washington,
numerous other offenders of calibre great and small re
ceived short shrift in the shape of instant discharge. The
Department investigation was practically closed on Octo
ber 24, 1903, when the report of Mr. Bristow was sub
mitted to the Postmaster-General. The moral effect of
this investigation was tremendous and far reaching, but
its lasting and salutary benefits Mr. Pa5me was not, alas !
to live to enjoy.
After thoroughly reading and digesting this report
Mr. Payne, on November 3, 1903, wrote to Mr. Bristow
a commendatory letter, to which he received the follow
ing reply :
Office of Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General,
Washington, D. C, November 4, 1903.
My Dear General Payne:
In response to your letter of November 3, commending the work
of myself and the inspectors in connection with the recent investiga
tion, I appreciate very much your kind expressions of approval. I
desire to thank you personally for the sincere and earnest support
which I received from you during the entire progress of the in
vestigation. Without such support from the head of the Department
the investigation could not have succeeded as it did.
Very truly yours,
J. L. Bristow, Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General.
The Postmaster-General.
It becomes this narrative now to make some references
from other pens, bearing directly or indirectly upon the
conduct of the investigation. With regard to its initia-

134 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
tion there follows the important part of a letter written
May 5, 1903, to the Washington Post by Congressman
Loud :
On yesterday I was interviewed by the representatives of several
of the newspapers of the country, in which interview I took occasion
to make a statement regarding the investigation now going on in the
Post Office Department, which I thought was but an act of justice to
the Department. The statement was considered particularly im
portant by me by reason of the fact that there were but two men,
besides myself, in the country who could have known the absolute
facts regarding the situation. The statements made by me are in
substance as follows :
Many newspapers have repeatedly stated that the present in
vestigation was not instituted until after certain pressure had been
brought to bear upon the Department. Early in the winter — it must
have been in December — the present Postmaster-General (Mr.
Payne) and myself had many consultations regarding the postal
service, and as a result of these interviews it was determined, as
soon as possible after the adjournment of Congress, that an in
vestigation should be made of the service. Mr. Pa3Tie was in thor
ough accord with me regarding the advisability of this investiga
tion. I recommended that such investigation should not commence
until after Congress adjourned. There are many reasons, which it
is unnecessary here to enumerate, why such a time should have been
selected. The proof that this investigation was determined upon by
the Department is to be found in the miscellaneous items reported
in the post office appropriation bill in January. It heretofore had
been one thousand dollars. That item was increased to six thousand
dollars for the express purpose of using, if necessary, means outside
of the Post Office Department itself in carrying on the investigation.
The reasons for the increase in this appropriation were known only
to the Postmaster-General, Mr. Bromwell, of Ohio, and myself.
The Washington Post, which so often had commented
upon the investigation during its progress, in an impartial
yet sympathetic sketch of Mr. Payne, printed, upon the
morning after his death, the following :
Mr. Payne had been unwilling to believe that his department
could harbor such irregularities as had been charged, but becoming
convinced of the fact he proceeded to oust the wrong-doers, and
worked diligently to place the affairs of the Department on an honest

Investigation Post Office Department 135

and business-like basis. All this imposed onerous duties upon Mr.
Payne — duties that undoubtedly overtaxed his strength. He would
have resigned over a year ago, but for the criticism that centered
upon him and the probability that his critics would have accused
him of running under fire.
It is doubtful if the general public has ever had a correct estimate
of Mr. Payne in relation to the postal investigation. When he en
tered the Cabinet, only a few months after Mr. Roosevelt became
President, the country regarded him solely as a shrewd politician,
possibly of a record that would not bear the closest scrutiny. There
was no prejudice against his personal character. He had been be
fore the country simply in the role of party manager and intimately
associated with the wheelhorses of the Republican National Com
mittee. Some of President Roosevelt's warmest admirers confessed
surprise that he should bring a trained politician of Mr. Payne's stripe
into his official family. But Mr. Payne rapidly conquered whatever
personal prejudice existed against him among those with whom he
came in contact.
As soon as the postal scandal acquired publicity the press in the
States and public opinion were quick to assume that Mr. Payne was
resisting investigation and that he would strive with all his might
to keep the lid on. Certain of his utterances unfortunately gave
color to such a view. His characterization of grave charges pre
ferred by a former official as "hot air'' tenaciously clung to him.
The words were spoken during a meeting of newspaper men in his
office, and iterated and reiterated everywhere in the country. As a
matter of fact the Postmaster-General assumed a judicial attitude
when the charges of scandal were first pressed against his subor
dinates. He refused, properly, as most people believed, to credit
those charges till specific proof had been adduced. As somewhat
similar accusations had been made under the administration of his
predecessor, and ignored, there was a general impatience outside of
the Department at anything save vigorous prosecution.
If Mr. Payne was thoroughly judicial in his attitude at the be
ginning of the investigation, which has made his term as Postmaster-
General the most notable of any for many years, he swerved quite
as strongly towards vigorous prosecution as the disclosures pro
ceeded. The proof of Machen's operation in the free delivery bureau
shocked him. Thereafter he did not hesitate to discharge the oldest
and hitherto the most trusted employes on evidence of grafting.
However, the criticism of his administration from influential quar
ters continued. Much of this criticism was undoubtedly undeserved.
It was frequently rumored that he would be compelled to retire
from the Cabinet. These rumors are known to have had no founda-

136 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
tion, for Mr. Payne enjoyed the confidence and good- will of the
President. Mr. Payne was sensitive to these attacks, notwithstanding the
belief that he was a hardened politician who could give and take
hard blows. This sensitiveness was enhanced because it had been
his ambition for many years to become a Cabinet officer. Being a
man of considerable business training he hoped to round out his
active career with a highly creditable record in extending and im
proving the efficiency of that great business department.
Mr. Payne did enjoy "the confidence and good will of
the President." Before the investigations ended the fol
lowing communication emanated from the White House :
> White House, Washington, Feb. 27, 1904.
My Dear Mr. Postmaster-General:
While all the work of the Post Office Department and the De
partment of Justice in connection with the postal frauds is not yet
over, there is already to the credit of the Departments, and there
fore primarily to your credit, such an amount of substantive achieve
ment, that I take this opportunity to congratulate you personally
upon it. It is impossible to expect that corruption will not occa
sionally occur in any government; the vital point is the energy, the
fearlessness, and the efficiency with which such corruption is cut
out and the corruptionists punished. The success of the prosecu
tions in this case as compared with previous experiences in prose
cuting government officials who have been guilty of malfeasance or
misfeasance is as noteworthy as it is gratifying, and must be a source
of encouragement to all men who believe in decency and honesty in
public life. What has been accomplished by you, by those who have
worked under you in your Department, and by the Department of
Justice, redounds to the credit of our whole people and is a signal
triumph for the cause of popular government. If corruption goes
unpunished in popular government, then government by the people
will ultimately fail ; and they are the best friends of the people who
make it evident that whoever in public office, or in connection with
public office, sins against the fundamental laws of civic and social
well-doing, will be punished with unsparing vigor.
Sincerely yours, Theodore Roosevelt.
Hon. H. C. Payne,
Postmaster-General.

Investigation Post Office Department 137
Senator Spooner in his speech of April 9, 1904, to
which reference was made at the close of the last chapter,
comments thus upon the investigation :
Neither carping nor innuendo, from whatever source or wherever
uttered, can blind the people to the searching and vigorous character
of that investigation, and the unwavering determination of the
President, the Postmaster-General, and the other officials charged
with the duty, that it should be exhaustive, and should take no note
of party affiliations, political or personal friendship. The people
know that as it went on it involved not only officials in the Depart
ments, but private citizens of different degrees of prominence, and
that no consideration of friendship or influence was allowed to mod
ify its thoroughness and energy, exposure, and prosecution.
Mr. William H. Moody, who was successively Secre
tary of the Navy and Attorney-General while Mr. Payne
was in the Cabinet, while mentioning only generally the
troubles in the latter's department, writes thus of his
associate :
When I entered the Cabinet of President Roosevelt on May i,
1902, Mr. Payne was Postmaster-General, and continued in that
office until the day of his death. My acquaintance with him began
with our common service and ripened into sincere friendship. It
was impossible for any one who came in contact with him to resist
the attraction of his gentle and lovable nature. Though he was an
earnest partisan, he had nothing but kind words and kind feelings
for those who differed from him in their political beliefs. He was
a loyal friend and trusted implicitly the loyalty of those who pro
fessed to be his friends. Nothing was more pathetic than his sor
row when he found that in some cases that trust had been misplaced.
It was hard for him to believe that the confidence which he so
freely bestowed had been abused. Yet when that knowledge was
forced upon him, he was unrelenting in his pursuit of the wrong
doers. He was conscientious to the last degree in the performance
of his official duties and spared no effort to perform them faithfully
— often at the expense of his health. At one time he made a journey
with me through the West Indies and wherever we found any work
which was being conducted under the direction of his Department,
he examined it assiduously, and did all within his power to see that
the work was properly performed. In his death the public service
suffered a severe loss, and his friends an irretrievable calamity. I
shall always treasure the memory of my friendship with him, and
never cease to grieve for his untimely death.

138 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
Mr. Charles H. Robb, then Assistant Attomey-Gen-
eral of the United States, and now Associate Justice of the
Court of Appeals, District of Columbia, gives his im
pressions of his former chief in the following terms.
Soon after the commencement of the postal investigation early
in 1903, the Assistant Attorney-General for the Post Office Depart
ment was summarily removed by General Pajme, and I was ap
pointed to the office upon the understanding that the appointment
should be temporary. It was then that I first met Mr. Payne.
His great sincerity, ready sympathy, uniform kindness, integ
rity and fidelity to duty, soon completely won my heart and impelled
me to abandon my original purpose of temporarily filling the office,
and to decide to remain therein so long as I could be of any service
to him. Our relations were necessarily of an intimate and confidential
nature, and my opportunities for judging the man were exceptional.
He was a warm and steadfast friend whom it deeply hurt to discover
that those upon whom he had relied had been unfaithful. This trait
of character, added to his great love of justice and fair play, created
the impression in the minds of some that he was not a sincere in
vestigator of his Department. In this they did Mr. Payne great in
justice. To my certain knowledge he shielded no one, and hesitated
not an instant to remove from the service and do all in his power to
prosecute, every person whose guilt was demonstrated by evi
dence. He would act in such cases summarily and fearlessly, im
pelled by a high sense of duty. It was always a great shock to him,
however, possessed as he was of such a highly sensitive and sym
pathetic temperament, to be compelled in the performance of his
stern duty, to measure out justice to those with whom he had been
asspciated, and as to whose integrity he had theretofore entertained
no doubt. The cares of his office during such a trying period bore
heavily upon him, and he ultimately became a martyr to duty.
He was a man of marked business ability, accustomed to, and
capable of, directing large enterprises. As an official he quickly
grasped the details of every branch of his Department, and was its
responsible head. He was in no way accountable for the conditions
out of which grew the practices which resulted in the investigation,
but he did all in his power to better those conditions and to punish
the persons responsible therefor.
It has never been my lot to know a more kindly or more lovable
character. His heart was full of love for his fellow-man and malice
had no place therein.

Investigation Post Office Department 139
Senator Nathan B. Scott, of West Virginia, makes
these statements as to the relation of Mr. Payne with the
Post Office Department :
His impress on the political affairs of Wisconsin was great and
always for better and cleaner politics. He was a man of great ability
to plan and to map out on certain lines work that should be done in
order to secure success, and through all the different campaigns up
to the last one he was the one man, after the chairman, who was
relied upon most for advice and counsel.
His induction into the Post Office Department at the time he
was made Postmaster-General was unfortunate. He was held re
sponsible in the minds of the masses for acts of commission and
omission that he had no control over and which were matters of
record before he took office. Anyone knowing him as I did would
know he would not be a party to or countenance anything that was
not absolutely straightforward and honorable. That he had those
associated with him in the Post Office Department who should have
been his loyal support and counselors who were not sincere and who
did much to bring about conditions that they hoped would reflect
upon him, I know he felt, and his friends knew and resented. I
have no hesitancy in saying that I believe the treachery of those who
should have upheld him in every way hastened his death, because to
a sensitive nature like his, treachery of that kind sank deep. Well
do I remember on one occasion when conversing with him in regard
to those who were giving out information and trying in every way
they could to besmirch his good name, that he referred to the fact to
me with tears coursing down his cheeks and said, "Never mind,
Scottie, the truth will prevail and my good name will be vindicated
long after those who are trying to traduce me now have been for
gotten." Such vindication may this biography assist to accom
plish !
Mr. Bristow,* by reason of reporting frequently to his
chief the progress of his work, was likewise brought into
intimate relations with him and saw him on official busi-

*A sketch of his life is in Review of Reviews, January, 1904,
Volume XXIX, page 45. He is now the editor of the Salina, Kansas,
Journal.

140 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
ness daily. He has recorded his estimate of Mr. Payne in
a communication from which these extracts are made :
In the discharge of his official duties Mr. Payne was cautious in
arriving at conclusions upon the questions submitted to him, nor
was he ever hasty in forming his opinions as to the character and
reliability of men. He always waited and apparently studied a new
acquaintance well before he was willing to express an opinion about
him. Mr. Payne had a very interesting personality. His mind was
clear and analytical. He could see through the sophistry of an argu
ment with remarkable clearness, and arrived at just and proper
conclusions in regard to most intricate matters with unusual pre
cision. I have never been associated with a man in any capacity in
life who had a keener and more analytical mind that Mr. Payne,
but it was not always easy for him to act in accordance with his
judgment. He had a very sensitive nature and a kindly and affec
tionate disposition.
While slow to establish a friendship, he was even slower to
break it when once established. When he gave a man his confidence
he gave it unreservedly, and when he withdrew that confidence he
did it completely. I have thought that at times he was too severe
in his judgment of men in whom he had lost confidence. He had a
most admirable trait of character in being thoroughly loyal to a sub
ordinate who was pursuing the line of duty. During the most try
ing period of the postal investigation when he was so mercilessly
criticised for endeavoring to "smother the truth" he was in fact giv
ing me unqualified support. During the early period of the investi
gation I was very careful not to submit anything to him for his con
sideration until I had thoroughly examined every phase of it and
had secured the most reliable evidence as to the truth or falsity of
the matter involved. I pursued this policy for two reasons. First,
because his health was poor and I did not want to burden him with
unnecessary details ; and second, because evidence as to corruption
in the Department was so disagreeable to him that I did not want
to disturb his mind with what might be simply suspicious. I, there
fore, only submitted to him facts when they were properly authenti
cated. I will never forget the day that I unfolded to him the case
against Machen in regard to the Groff fasteners. He was astonished
at the boldness and ingenuity of the crime, and stated, with some
excitement, that if those facts were properly sustained Machen should
be arrested before night. I told him that there was no doubt as to
the truth of the charge, that it was thoroughly sustained by the evi
dence, and if it met with his approval I would request the district
attorney to have warrants prepared for Machen's arrest immediately.

Investigation Post Office Department 141

He directed that this be done, and within an hour and a half from
that time Machen was in the custody of the United States Marshal.
I had heard a great deal of Mr. Payne as a politician before I
made his personal acquaintance. He was said to be a very sharp,
shrewd party manager. I had no opportunity to study this phase of
his character for he never injected party politics into his adminis
tration of the Post Office Department. There was nothing in his
official conduct that savored of machine party politics. He was
perfectly willing, however, to be styled a politician. The term to
him was not offensive. He frequently said to me, "They call me a
machine politician, but I draw the line on a good many things that
these reformers do."
Mr. Payne's kindliness of heart and his absolute loyalty to the
subordinates whom he trusted made him a delightful character to be
associated with. He was a man of great industry, and frequently
worked far beyond his physical strength in his efforts to keep up
with the work of the Department.
Mr. Payne, by temperament, would have been wholly unfit to
have had immediate personal charge of the postal investigation, but
the officers who. did the detail work of that investigation owe him a
debt of gratitude which they cannot express for the unfaltering
support which he gave them from the beginning to the end, and for
this support he deserves the praise of the country which was un
fortunately withheld from him during his lifetime. My personal
attachmMit to him as the years went by became very strong, and I
have never been associated with any man whose death gave me
greater pain and whose memory I cherish with greater affection.

142 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

CHAPTER XVI

*'tri)e Cftatges Concerning 9iemtiers"
Upon a man so sensitive in disposition as was Mr.
Payne, and far from robust in health, the investigation
as it developed, with its imposition of disagreeable duties,
could not fail to produce extreme bodily and mental de
pression. These distressing feelings were sensibly ag
gravated by a train of events which followed the filing of
the Bristow report on October 24, 1903. Remarks that
this report might or did contain matters of serious import
affecting members of Congress spread about. On Decem
ber 8, 1903, the House authorized its Committee on the
Post Office and Post Roads to request from the Post
master-General "all the papers connected with the recent
investigation of his department." On December 15, 1903,
the Postmaster-General, by direction of the President,
transmitted to the said Committee the said papers, includ
ing therewith the papers relating to the investigation of
the so-called Tulloch charges, but omitting certain con
fidential exhibits which, pending prosecution of indicted
officials, it was inexpedient to make public. On February
5, 1904, the Senate, by resolution, requested the same
papers, and there was like transmittal to that body on
the ensuing day.
Certain statements in the Bristow report, although
impersonal so far as members of Congress were con-

"The Charges Concerning Members" 143
cerned, were regarded by some representatives as reflec
tions upon the integrity of the membership of the House
and upon individual members whose names had not
been mentioned. These statements grouped themselves
mainly about two alleged charges : firstly, that in defiance
of statutory inhibition, George W. Beavers, had, in his
official capacity, made contracts of lease, directly or in
directly, with members of Congress, who were owners of
eligible buildings, for the rental (in some cases for the
re-rental at higher rates) of such buildings, for postal
purposes; secondly, that, upon the request of congress
men, increased allowances for clerk hire (technically
known as allowances for separating purposes) in certain
third and fourth class post offices within the constituencies
of such congressmen, had been granted by said Beavers,
which said allowances, later, upon investigation, had been
either discontinued or reduced.
Thereupon Mr. James Hay, a member of the House
from Virginia, introduced a resolution directing the ap
pointment of a special committee of representatives to in
vestigate the so-called charges contained in the Bristow
report. This resolution, with its preambles, was referred
for consideration to the Committee on the Post Office and
Post-roads. Meanwhile, on January 1 1, 1904, while this last named
committee was examining certain officials of the Post
Office Department, preliminary to the preparation and
presentation of the customary annual budget of appropria
tions, it developed from statements by Mr. Charles M.
Waters, General Superintendent, Division of Salary and
Allowance, that there existed in the Department a list of
some nine hundred post offices where allowances had been

144 Henry Clay Payne: A Life
made, as above stated, for separating purposes, which al
lowances had later been reduced or discontinued.
Thereupon Mr. Jesse Overstreet, of Indiana, chair
man of the said committee, informed the Postmaster-
General by telephone of the existence of said list, stated
that its use would be of service to the committee, and
asked if any reason existed why the committee should
not be furnished with it. Mr. Payne, having in mind the
pendency before the committee of an amendment to the
statutes legalizing such allowances in the discretion of the
Postmaster-General, and believing that the list might
therefore be useful to the committee, informed the chair
man that he saw no reason why the list should not be
copied for the committee's use, but he suggested a formal
request. Accordingly, a letter (which hereinafter will be
designated as Letter A) was sent to the Postmaster-Gen
eral, of which the following is a copy :
Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads,
House of Representatives U. S.
Washington, D. C, January 22, 1904.
Hon. Henry C. Payne,
Postmaster-General, Washington, D. C.
Sir: I have the honor to request that there be furnished direct to this
Committee, by the Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General, all in
formation which can be communicated by such official with reference
to allowances for clerk hire in offices where those allowances have
been discontinued, together with all information relating to leases
which have been made to Members of Congress and whether dis
continued and renewed at a higher rate.
I would thank you to have this information in my hands by 10
o'clock Monday morning, January 25th.
Very respectfully, Jesse Overstreet, Chairman.

"The Charges Concerning Members" 145
This letter is stamped, "P. O. Department, Received
Jan. 23, 1904, Office of the Postmaster-General."
Upon this same January 23, which was Saturday, the
same committee, apparently desiring to amplify its re
quest and to obtain the fullest information, wrote the fol
lowing (Letter B) :
Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads,
House of Representatives U. S.
Washington, D. C, January 23, 1904.
Hon. Henry C. Payne,
Postmaster-General, Washington, D. C.
Sir: During the hearing before this committee recently, the statement
was made by Mr. Waters that from about 900 offices allowances for
separating purposes had been taken away because the offices were
not entitled to them. From a conversation had with Mr. Waters
over the telephone it was understood that a statement had been made
to the Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General in regard to these dis
allowances, and that a copy of this statement could probably be
furnished without much difficulty.
I would be pleased to have you furnish me, for use of the com
mittee, a copy of the statement referred to, at the earliest oppor
tunity. The committee desires to know what offices have been
affected by these disallowances, what the allowance was before any
reduction or discontinuance was made, and what it is now ; and also
the compensation allowed postmasters at each of the offices in ques
tion. It may be that all of this information is not easily obtainable
without considerable delay, and if so, please advise me immediately.
But in any event, the committee desires to have such information
as is now accessible as soon as possible.
Very respectfully, Jesse Overstreet, Chairman.
Upon the receipt of this latter letter, upon Monday,
January 25, the Postmaster-General sent for the list,
which would fumish the information desired. Upon ex
amining it — for this was the first time Mr. Payne had
seen the list — he observed therein, opposite the names of

146 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
post offices in a column headed "Recommended by, and
Remarks," the names of senators, representatives and
other prominent men. After conference with the First
Assistant Postmaster-General, Mr. Payne directed the
copying of the list, omitting such names, their trans
mission not being, in his opinion, necessary for the com
mittee's purposes. Pending the prompt preparation of the
copy, Mr. Payne dispatched the following message
(Letter C) : Post Office Department,
Washington, D. C, January 25, 1904.
Hon. Jesse Overstreet,
Chairman Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads,
House of Representatives.
Expect to be able to send you this afternoon statement of allow
ances for separating purposes which have been taken away from
about 900 offices.
H. C. Payne,
Postmaster-General.
Later on the same Monday, the list, omitting the said
names, was transmitted to the committee, the following
letter (Letter D) accompanying it:
Office of the Postmaster-General,
Washington, D. C, January 25, 1904.
Hon. Jesse Overstreet,
Chairman Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads,
Sir: Replying to your communication of the 23d instant, I beg to
enclose herewith statement showing the reduction in allowances for
clerk hire in post offices of the third and fourth classes since April i,
1903. This shows the former allowances amounted to $162,966. The
present allowances amount to $63,600.
Respectfully yours,
H. C. Payne,
Postmaster-General.
P. S. — If it is desired we will ascertain and advise you the salary
or compensation of the postmasters at the offices in question.
H. C. P.

"The Charges Concerning Members" 147
The receipt of this letter, with the enclosed list, called
therein a "Statement", was never formally acknowledged.
Upon the same day Mr. Bristow sent to the committee
two letters (Letters E, F) particularizing three instances
where post offices were or had been occupying premises
leased from, members of the House, specifying the Postal
Rules and Regulations relating to allowances for clerk
hire, and adding that he could furnish "an incomplete list
of the cases relating to both clerk hire and leases in a few
days, but it will take some time to compile a complete
Hst." Thereupon the chairman of the Committee on the
Post Office and Post-roads wrote to the Postmaster-Gen
eral as follows (Letter G) :
Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads,
House of Representatives U. S.
Washington, D. C, January 25, 1904.
Hon. Henry C. Payne,
Postmaster-General, Washington, D. C.
Sir: I am in receipt of a letter of this date from Hon. J. L. Bristow,
Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General, replying to my request made
to you in my letter of January 22d, in which he informs me that he
has been unable to fully comply with my request, but can, if granted
more time, send to the committee a complete list of cases relating to
both clerk hire and leases referred to.
In view of the references of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster-
General in his report to you under date of October 24th, 1903, to
the action of Members of Congress in recommending increase of
clerk hire, and cancellation of leases and their renewal at a higher
rate, I request that this Committee be furnished, at the earliest prac
ticable date, a complete list of all cases referred to in said report
relating to allowances for clerk hire in offices where those allowances
have subsequently been discontinued, and also of all cases where
leases of post office premises have been cancelled and renewed at a
higher rate, together with a statement in detail giving a full explana
tion of the facts connected with each case.
Very respectfully, Jesse Overstreet, Chairman.

148 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
In compliance with the request thus precisely made
and in compliance with an intimation, either by telephone
or at a personal interview, by the chairman of the com
mittee to Mr. Payne, that the list, with names omitted,
sent as an enclosure with Letter D, was not satisfactory,
Mr. Payne directed that the said Hst be recopied and
amended so as to include the names found in the column
"Recommended by, and Remarks."
But as Mr. Payne did not esteem it just or right thus
to amend the list without accompanying it with explana
tory matter showing the exact relation of each congress
man with the post office with which his name was asso
ciated in the matter of either clerk hire, allowances or
leases, he had an interview with the chairman of the com
mittee at which it was agreed that the circumstances sur
rounding each case as shown by the Department files
should be briefly set forth in connection with the list. This
additional and amendatory matter was a work of great
magnitude, and by the close of Saturday, January 30, was
not half completed. On Sunday, January 31, another in
terview occurred between the chairman of the committee
and Mr. Payne, at the latter's residence, at which Mr.
Payne suggested reconsideration of the determination to
include in the list the names of the congressmen. At the
same time Mr. Pa3me exhibited to Mr. Overstreet for his
approval the work already completed with these names
included. Mr. Overstreet expressed himself as entirely
satisfied with the work in form and substance as it was
then exhibited to himi.
Upon the next day, February i, Mr. Payne reporting
progress to the chairman, wrote him as follows (Letter
H):

"The Charges Concerning Members" 149
Office of the Postmaster-General,
Washington, D. C, February i, 1904.
Hon. Jesse Overstreet,
Chairman Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads,
House of Representatives.
Sir: Referring to your communication of the 23d and 25th ultimo,
respectively, requesting information concerning allowances for clerk
hire at post offices of the third and fourth classes, I beg to advise
you that I have the proper officers of the Department preparing the
data desired. There is no reason to doubt but that I will be able to
place the information in your hands before the close of the present
week. Very respectfully,
H. C. Payne,
Postmaster-General.
By February 4th the list, with the names of congress
men included and with the explanatory matter as above
described, was completed. It will herein, for brevity, be
designated the Amended List. It was transmitted on
February 5th to the committee with a letter (Letter I),
not necessary to^ be copied, but stating that the matter
fumished is as requested by Mr. Overstreet's "communi
cations of January 23 and 25" (Letters B and G). Upon
February 16 and March 2, certain additional information
regarding leases and allowances for rent, fuel and light
was also transmitted.
This Amended List, stated by the clerk of the Commit
tee on the Post Office and Post-roads, to be a "confidential
report," and characterized by the New York Tribune of
February 29, 1904, as "a white elephant," was thereupon
prepared for the Public Printer under the direction of the
committee. Its caption, as thus prepared, was :
Resolution Relative to Investigation of
Charges Made in the Report of the Fourth As
sistant Postmaster-General on the Investigation

150 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
of the Post Office Department Concerning Mem
bers OF Congress.
This caption was followed by a recital of the Hay
resolution with its preambles, by a short argument tend
ing to show that the material contained in the Amended
List rendered unnecessary the investigation contemplated
by the Hay resolution, and by a recommendation that the
Hay resolution therefore lie on the table. After this pre
face, came introductory matter, consisting of the letters
hereinbefore described as Letters A, G, E, F, H and I.
Then followed the Amended List.
As to this introductory matter, comprising these six
letters, some observations must be made :
I. Letter A, from the committee to the Postmaster-
General, which is plainly dated in the original January 22,
1904, appears incorrectly under the date January 23,
1904. This is the innocent first letter which requested
but little information.
2. Letter B, fromi the committee to the Postmaster-
General, dated January 23, 1904, is entirely omitted and
is not even alluded to. This was an extremely unfortu
nate omission so far as affecting Mr. Payne, for Letter B
requested the fullest and widest information, and its ex
clusion and the printing of the innocent Letter A under
the date of January 23, unwarrantably placed Mr. Payne
in the attitude of volunteering unpalatable information,
of impertinently tendering what he had never been re
quested to send.
3. Letter D, from Mr. Payne to the committee, trans
mitting the original List, with names of congressmen
eliminated, was also omitted.

"The Charges Concerning Members" 151
4. In the third line of Letter G, from the committee
to Mr. Payne, the date January 23 is given instead of
January 22, as the date of Letter A — thus carrying on
the change noted at observation i and accentuating the
omission of Letter B.
5. Letters H and I, from Mr. Payne to the commit
tee, which disclose that the material forwarded was pre
pared and forwarded in accordance with the committee's
request in its letters of "January 23 and 25," are made,
by the incorrect dating of Letter A and the omission of
Letter B, to refer to Letters A and G, instead of B and G,
— still perpetuating the mild Letter A, still placing Mr.
Payne in a false attitude.
Let us return from, these observations to the document
which occasioned them. With all its alterations and
omissions it was delivered to the Public Printer
at about one o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday, March
5, — a bulky document which, when printed, occupied two
hundred and eighteen octavo pages. Nevertheless, it was
ready for presentation to the House on Monday, March
7, and a copy of the pamphlet lay upon each member's
desk. But to the chagrin and mortification of all, the
head-line, Charges Concerning Members of Congress, ran
along all the two hundred and eighteen pages !
To one not interested the situation must have been
comical enough, but in the House there was great indigna
tion, much of which vented itself upon Mr. Payne. To
be sure, he was not responsible for the odious head-line —
that had originated in the Government Printing Office,
and had justification for its existence in the committee's
own caption. But the document appearing under these ob
noxious head-lines emanated from Mr. Payne's depart-

152 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

ment, and the omission of letters and alterations of dates
placed upon him and it the burden of having volunteered
information which, as a matter of fact, had actually been
dragged out of Mr. Payne. It matters not whether or
no the committee blundered in demanding the Amended
List; it matters not whether its errors and omissions are
ascribable to the culpable carelessness of the committee's
clerk, or to his malice against Mr. Bristow, growing out
of the unfavorable light in which a portion of the latter's
report exhibited him ; it matters not whether the explana
tory matter appended to the Amended List disclosed offi
cial turpitude upon the part of congressmen or absolute im-
maculateness — the effect of all the distressing business
was the pouring out of vials of undeserved vituperation
upon an innocent man's head.
The matter came to a climax in the House on March
II, 1904. A resolution was pending for the appointment
of a special committee of seven members, to be known as
Select Committee on Relations of Members with the Post
Office Department, and to it was to be referred the Hay
resolution, the Amended List and the opprobrious head
lines. The debate waxed warm and much injured inno
cence was aired. With some distinguished exceptions
Democrats and Republicans, congressmen from the South
and congressmen from the North, even from Wisconsin,
had alike chorused in vehement denunciation of Mr.
Payne and Mr. Bristow.
All this time the chief object of this bitter clamor was
seriously ill, and was confined to his bed for almost a
month, beginning March 8. On the above mentioned
March 11, while the House was in the midst of the excit-

"The Charges Concerning Members" 153
ing debate just referred to, Mr. Payne's Secretary, Mr.
Whitney, had discovered the errors in the report of the
Committee on the Post Office and Post-roads, particularly
the omission of the comprehensive Letter B. Hastening
to Mr. Payne's bedside he explained the situation and
was directed to lay the matter before Representative
Henry A. Cooper and Representative Joseph W.
Babcock, both of Wisconsin. Finding the former in the
room of his committee (Insular Affairs) Mr. Whitney
exhibited to him a copy of the omitted Letter B. Realiz
ing its bearing Mr. Cooper hurried to the floor of the
House that he might seek recognition and read the letter.
Mr. Whitney then found Mr. Babcock, made explanation
of the affair and handed him another copy of the letter.
Mr. Babcock quickly comprehending the situation, broke
away from Mr. Whitney, exclaiming that he must see
Mr. Overstreet and remind him of the letter. Before,
however, Mr. Cooper could catch the Speaker's eye, Mr.
Overstreet arose in his place and thus addressed the
House :
Before yielding to the next gentleman I wish to state that in the
publication of the report brought in by the Committee on the Post
Office and Post Roads, there was inadvertently omitted a letter which
I had addressed to the Postmaster-General, under date of January
23, which I ask the Clerk to read. It relates to the same subject-
matter and should accompany the report.
The Clerk then read Letter B.
But even this reading did not entirely check the tirade
of abuse, although Mr. Overstreet by presenting the letter
had made some, if tardy and incomplete, reparation.
Nevertheless, one cannot but express the wish that earlier
in this unhappy debate (which was in part under his con
trol) and while congressmen all about were scoring and

154 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
grilling the Postmaster-General and his department, Mr.
Overstreet had remembered and produced this important
letter. The resolution appointing the select committee was
adopted at the close of the eventful session of March ii,
and Mr. Samuel W. McCall, of Massachusetts, was its
chairman. In gathering material for this report the com
mittee visited the bedside of Mr. Payne on April 2, 1904.
By the report of this committee, as printed, the origin of
the List, which caused all the trouble, was traced and the
fact established that Mr. Payne had no knowledge of its
existence until its publicity was requested. It also ap
peared that Mr. Pa)me had been unwilling to publish this
List with its accompaniment of public names, and that he
yielded only at the solicitation of the Committee on the
Post Office and Post-roads; that prior to the completion
of the Amended List it had been submitted in its unfinished
state to the chairman of this committee, Mr. Overstreet,
who had expressed himself satisfied with its form and sub
stance, and that during the preparation of this precious
document it had been carefully shielded from all eyes, ex
cept those working upon it. The Special Committee's re
port contained also the letters (Letters B, C and D) which
had been omitted from the report of the Committee on the
Post Office and Post-roads and corrected the dates in
Letters A and G. The genesis of the odious head-line was
also traced and the fact developed that, although it had
originated in the Printing Office, copies of the report
with the objectionable head-lines thick upon them had
been in the hands of the Clerk of the Committee on the
Post Office and Post-roads thirty hours before any ob
jection had been made to them or change requested on
account of their phraseology.

"The Charges Concerning Members" 155
Thus it will be seen that the report of the Select Com
mittee by bringing out the real facts, and all the facts, had
exonerated Mr. Payne and his department from all blame,
and had placed whatever culpability there was in making
the disclosure contained in the amended list, and what
ever disgrace followed on account of the exposure, pri
marily upon the Committee on the Post Office and Post-
roads of the House of Representatives.
On April 9, 1904, and prior to the publication of the
report of the Select Committee, the post office appropria
tion bill for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1905, was
pending in the Senate. In the course of the debate which
took place Senator Spooner took occasion to defend the
administration of the Post Office Department by Mr.
Payne, and to vindicate him from, the aspersions which
had been cast upon him. The speech of Senator Spooner
aroused widespread interest and was of salutary effect.
Quotations from it have already been made in this
biography.* Notwithstanding exoneration, and notwithstanding it
was evident that continued criticism from Democratic
sources was intended merely to influence votes at the im
pending presidential election, Mr. Payne felt keenly the
injustice to which he had been subjected, and which had
added to the deepening shadows gathering about his life.
Upon arising from his sick bed on April 10, 1904,
Mr. Payne took a sea voyage on the United States
revenue cutter Onondaga, which had been ordered to
Galveston, Texas. This rest afforded him temporary
*Pages 119, 137.

156 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
benefit. Returning he left the vessel at Cliarleston, South
Carolina, fearing the storms and roughness off Cape
Hatteras. Captain Worth G. Ross, of the Onondaga, with whom
this, as well as several other ocean trips had been taken,
has given a sketch of Mr. Payne in the following lan
guage :
The death of General Payne was to me in the nature of a great
personal loss. There was no one in eminent public position whom I
knew so well, for I had had the advantages of close and friendly
relations with him under exceptional circumstances. To sail with a
man is usually to form a very clear estimate of his character, as
changing and unlooked for conditions on shipboard are sure to bring
out his true points. The cruises I made with General Pasme, who
was a guest of my ship, I recall with singular pleasure, and account
them as among the most interesting of my experience. Notwith
standing his poor health at the time, these trips were not arranged
for his convenience, but were availed of by him during the regular
service of the vessel, and one of them at least was made at a season
of the year when disquieting weather was the rule rather than
otherwise. He was an ardent lover of the sea in all its phases, and
under its influence he seemed at once to gain in strength and spirits.
Appreciative always of its gentler moods, he was ever impressed
with the grandeur of the storm. I saw him in as joyous a temper
as any, I think, on one occasion when we were rounding the famed
Hatteras with the white-crested waves sweeping over the bows of
the ship. He derived much pleasure by being out on deck, at which
times I was often his companion. The far-reaching expanse of
ocean, still and listless under a smiling sky or convulsed by gather
ing storm winds, had a great fascination for him.
His acute powers of observation, a natural gift, were a matter
of surprise to me. It was a rare thing, too, when he couldn't name
offliand our compass course within a point. Always a good sailor he
was besides a model shipmate. Whatever were the discomforts and
perplexities, and there are usually many during a sea voyage, he
was constantly cheerful under them, a complaint not once passing
his lips, while he was particularly averse to having distinctive atten
tions shown him, his desire being to share all things alike with those
around him. These qualities especially appealed to me and those of
my command in view of the shadow that was then upon him. His
quiet, unassuming, and straightforward methods were a marked trait
in his character and were exemplified time and again when he called,

"The Charges Concerning Members" 157
unannounced and unpretentiously, on postmasters and other offi
cials in the various ports, both large and small, we happened to
enter. General Payne was an entertaining talker, clear and forceful,
fond of a story and often telling a good one himself. He was,
moreover, an appreciative listener, quick to catch a point which, if it
struck his fancy, he enjoyed most heartily. I never knew him to
introduce the subject of politics into a conversation, and it is cer
tain that no one would have become aware of his astuteness in that
particular fropi any voluntary statement of his own.
Among the strong attributes of his character — "the flower and
native growth of noble mind" — were his unvarying patience and
fortitude under suffering, his gentleness and tender consideration at
all times for others, an unaffected, open-hearted generosity, com
plete naturalness, a sincerity and strength of purpose, and unbounded
patriotism. His creed was a simple one and he lived up to it:
"To do my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please
God to call me."
There was none who came to know General Payne who did not
soon cherish a real affection for him. He possessed the finer qual
ities of mind and heart, and taken all in all, was a remarkable man.
Association with Mr. Payne always produced affec
tion. In speaking of him Mr. Leslie M. Shaw, Secretary
of the Treasury, says :
Henry Payne was one of the best men I ever knew and one of
the best friends that ever lived. His loss will long be felt by his
associates and friends, and all his associates were his friends.
In the same strain spoke Mr. John Hay, then Secre
tary of State :
I find it difficult to speak about a subject so near to my heart
as this. In common with every one who knew Mr. Payne, I had not
only a high regard and esteem for him, but sincere affection.
He was a man of peculiarly lovable character, a man so sincere
and genuine and upright himself that he was slow to believe evil of
any one else; but if he had reason to think that his confidence had
been abused, no one was quicker to punish wrong-doing and the
wrong-doer than he was.
He rapidly won the respect and regard of every one with whom
he was brought in contact, and his death will make a deep impression
in Washington, not only through a sense of personal bereavement,
but also the feeling that the country has lost a patriotic citizen and a
most valuable public servant.

158 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
Hardly among those who knew him and valued him in his own
state will there be more genuine grief than here among those who
only a few years ago were comparative strangers to him.
Mr. Victor H. Metcalf, then Secretary of Commerce
and Labor, thus expressed himself :
I have known Mr. Payne intimately for many years, and I re
gard his death as a national loss. He possessed great force of char
acter and business aptitude. He devoted his entire time to the
duties of his office and the unceasing attention he gave to it, to my
mind, accounts for his untimely taking off. I think he was the most
lovable man that I ever met, and possessed the kindliest disposition
of any man I have ever known.
His whole heart and soul were in his work. It could not be
otherwise, for it was the ambition of his life to be postmaster-
general, and he possessed admirable fitness for the position because
of the previous training received.
Mr. Paul Morton, then Secretary of the Navy, ex
claimed :
We shall all miss his wise counsel and good judgment.
Secretary Wilson of the Department of Agriculture,
who entered the cabinet at the beginning of the McKinley
administration, used this language :
Mr. Payne was such a genial gentleman that the Cabinet offi
cials regret his death as a personal loss. The work of the post
office department is heavy, and is growing greater all the time. Mr.
Pasme was a thoroughly trained business man, possessing a knowl
edge of his work, and carried this work into successful administra
tion. In the discharge of his duties the Postmaster-General sees more
of the President than any other member of the Cabinet, and thus is
thrown into closer official relationship with the chief executive. In
this capacity Mr. Payne's judgment in regard to national affairs
was of great service. He knew the country and was familiar with
the lines along which it was growing and developing. Mr. Payne's
value and service can well be epitomized by saying that he was a
high type of the American business man. Personally my relations
with him have been close. We were both western men with many
views in common, and I was greatly attached to him.

"The Charges Concerning Members" 159
Secretary Hitchcock of the Interior Department, thus
expressed his feelings :
The Government has lost a faithful servant; Republican prin
ciples a loyal and earnest supporter, and his associates a genial and
steadfast friend, while those who knew him intimately realize what
an irreparable loss his family have sustained.
Mr. Joseph G Cannon, Speaker of the House, tele
graphed while on a campaigning tour in Minnesota :
Mr. Payne was my good friend through many years, and I
mourn his death as I appreciate his friendship and his public service.
Perhaps may be properly placed here some words
from the pen of Mr. Powell Clayton, of Eureka Springs,
Arkansas, member of the Republican National Committee,
and Ambassador to Mexico fromi 1897 to 1905 :
Some twenty-two years ago it was my good fortune to make
the acquaintance of Henry C. Payne : an acquaintance which soon
ripened into a friendship which was only interrupted by the inter
vention of death. During the long period of its existence I had
many opportunities to observe, and acquaint myself with, his char
acteristics, which, I feel, justifies me in saying that, as a friend, he
was always steadfast and loyal ; as a business man he did not achieve
success by rudely thrusting aside or trampling under foot his com
petitors. His business methods and acts were fair and honorable;
as a politician he belonged to that school which regards the words
"Politics" and "Statesmanship" as so near akin as to be almost
synonymous. Although firm and courageous in his convictions he
was tolerant of the opinions of others; as a public official, with
scrupulous integrity and untiring zeal he bent all of his faculties to
the work assigned him, frequently devoting hours to it when, had
he listened to nature's admonitions, he would have been at his home
in bed. In a few words, I believe, if the life of Henry C. Payne
were truthfully written and placed in the hands of the poor, strug
gling youths of America, it would furnish a lamp to light their feet
through many a dangerous place and perplexing labyrinth in life's
pathway — an inspiration to noble and heroic deeds in a fair field of
competition for life's alluring prizes.
A friendship particularly close and sympathetic ex
isted between Mr. Payne and Mr. Joseph H. Manley, of
Augusta, Maine, a member of the Republican National

160 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
Committee. And because Mr. Manley himself has since
followed Mr. Payne in death I venture to transcribe entire
a letter from him, written upon hearing of the loss sus
tained by Mrs. Payne : Augusta, Maine, loth October, 1904.
My Dear Mrs. Payne:
I received the sad news of dear Mr. Payne's death with great
sorrow. I have known him these many years, and always found
him a lovable, kind, affectionate man. He was the soul of honor,
always thoughtful of others, giving his life really for others, a great
lover of his country, and a true and zealous and honest party man.
His death will be a great loss to President Roosevelt, the Republican
party, to Wisconsin and the country at large. What it is to you
and his friends I cannot cross the threshold of your grief to say.
You will always have his bright and happy and cheerful life to re
member. You will know how thoughtful and affectionate he was
to you and those closely connected with him. Your loss will be
great, and I can only offer you my heartfelt sorrow.
I trust the good God will give you strength to bear your great
grief and keep you up in your terrible affliction.
You have my deepest sympathy. I am, sincerely yours, J. H. Manley.
The death of Senator Hanna, which had occurred in
Washington, February 15, 1904, had imposed additional
duties upon Mr. Payne when, physically, he was ill pre
pared to assume them. As vice chairman of the Re
publican National Committee the acting chairmanship fell
to Mr. Payne and he performed the duties necessary to
the position preliminary to the Republican National Con
vention. This body convened at Chicago, June 21, 1904.
On June 15, 1904, at the Auditorium Hotel in that city,
just prior to the meeting of the National Convention at
which he was to preside, Mr. Pa3me was taken suddenly
ill and was unable to be present at the meeting. Senator
Scott, of West Virginia, presided in his stead. Mr. Payne
rallied sufficiently to be present at the meeting of the

"The Charges Concerning Members" 161
Committee held two days later, June 17, but felt too feeble
for the arduous duty of presiding. He was sufficiently
recovered to attend the last meeting of the Committee,
held June 20, at which he was formally elected chairman
as successor to Senator Hanna. On June 21, at noon,
Mr. Payne called to order the Republican National Con
vention of 1904, being greeted with great applause from
convention and galleries as he arose to perform his duty.
As he was beginning he was interrupted by the chairman
of the Chicago Citizens' Committee who, in its behalf,
presented him with a gavel inscribed, "Mr. Henry C.
Payne, Chairman Republican National Convention,
1904." Using this symbol of authority, Mr. Payne then
introduced Mr. Elihu Root as the temporary chairman of
the Convention and withdrew. Of the new National Com
mittee formed after the Convention had nominated
Roosevelt and Fairbanks, Mr. George B. Cortelyou was
chosen chairman, and Mr. Payne no longer led Repub
lican hosts to Republican triumphs. After a short visit to
Milwaukee, destined to be his last, Mr. Payne returned to
Washington. On July II, 1904, he, with Mrs. Payne and her niece.
Miss Louise Jones, left Washington again, to have the
pleasure and benefit of another sea voyage with Captain
Ross. This was a jaunt along the New England coast to
Portland, Maine, upon the trial cruise of the revenue cut
ter Mohawk. At Portland the party were the guests for
two days at the home of Mrs. Payne's cousin, Mr. Elias
Thomas. The cruise ended at Boston July 21, 1904, and
the Postmaster-General returned to his desk in Wash
ington.

162 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

CHAPTER XVII

ZU Hast ^fiings
On September i, 1904, Mr. Payne, accompanied by
his wife, visited his sister, Mrs. Cameron, in Jamestown,
New York. Upon the evening of his arrival a reception
was tendered to their guests by Mr. and Mrs. Cameron,
which was largely attended by the citizens — men, women
and children — of Jamestown and surrounding places.
Upon the next day Mr. Payne assisted at the opening of
the new post office building, which, although not quite
ready for occupancy, was fitted up for a reception tend
ered to Mr. Payne, the reception forming a part of the
opening exercises. A general invitation was issued to
the citizens of Jamestown and surrounding towns, many
flocked to meet him and all gave him a most cordial wel
come. This structure has since been completed, and a
picture of Mr. Pa}me now hangs in one of the offices in
recollection of the initial ceremonies, and as the portrait
of a friend whom the people in Jamestown "had learned
both to respect and to love."
From Jamestown Mr. and Mrs. Payne, accompanied
by Mr. and Mrs. Cameron, journeyed into New England,
having at their service the private car Minnesota, tendered
them by Mr. Albert J. Earling, president of the Chicago,
Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company. Their first
stop was at North Adams, Massachusetts, where Mr.
Payne added to the party his childhood friend and in-

The Last Things 163

structor. Miss Diana S. Bowen and Miss Eliza I. May
nard, an old time friend. Leaving North Adams in the
afternoon of Monday, September 5, they drove over the
Hoosac Mountain (a favorite boyhood drive of Mr.
Payne's) to Shelburne Falls, in order to enjoy the better
the delightsome scenery and to recall more quietly and
thus more effectively the pleasant memories of early years.
The party arrived in Shelburne Falls late on Monday and
obtained entertainment at the hotel there. In the morn
ing of Tuesday, September 6, Henry — for so his child
hood comrades still fondly called him^ — drove about the
village, ruminating of the early days, recalling and rever
encing the memory of his parents, renewing many old
friendships and winning many new friends by his geniality
and sunny disposition. In the afternoon of Tuesday, the
Payne party, re-enforced by their friends, Mr. and Mrs.
Edwin Baker, of Shelburne Falls, visited Ashfield Plain,
the natal place of Mr. Payne and of his sister. After be
ing entertained by Mr. and Mrs. Porter, hosts of the Ash
field House, the visitors returned by way of Conway to
Shelburne Falls. On Wednesday morning, September 7,
the party drove to Charlemont, where they attended the
annual gathering of the Old Folks' Association of Charle
mont. In the evening they were entertained by the Shel
burne Falls Club, where Mr. Payne spoke feelingly and
entertainingly of his childhood and youth among his lis
teners forty years before. On Thursday, September 8, he
attended a campfire of Company H, Tenth Massachusetts
Infantry Regiment, — the company which in 1862 had re
fused him enlistment. On Friday he bade final farewell
to Shelburne Falls.

164 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
More than nine months after this, on June 21, 1905,
President Roosevelt, journeying through western Massa
chusetts upon the occasion of receiving the degree of
doctor of laws from Williams College, requested that his
train might stop at Shelburne Falls, exclaiming to the
throng of assembled citizens: "I wanted to stop here
where my valued friend, Henry C. Payne, afterwards
Postmaster-General, passed his early years, and to say a
word of tribute to the memory of as gentle and loyal a
soul as ever took part in public life."
On Friday, September 9, 1904, the Payne party ar
rived from Shelburne Falls in Northampton, where they
remained over the ensuing Sunday at the Norwood Hotel.
To seek his fortune in the then distant west he, an un
known lad, had left this city more than two score years
before; he retumed now, full of years and honors, to re
visit the old scenes, to re-cherish the old friends, to recall
the old memories, and then, a few days later only — for so
it was to be — to close the volume of his life and die.
The morning of Saturday, September 10, was spent in
receiving and visiting friends, the afternoon in drives, and
the evening at a reception tendered to Mr. Payne by the
Northampton Club. After a quiet Sunday, the little party
made a visit to Mount Tom in the morning of Monday. In
the afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Albert E. Smith, of Spring
field, former Northampton friends of Mr. Payne, toured
over from Springfield in their automobile and took Mr. and
Mrs. Payne a ride of sixty-five miles in length, through
Deerfield, Hatfield, Sunderland and Amherst — a choice
experience for Mr. Payne, for he thus revisited boyhood
friends and haunts. On Tuesday, September 13, promi
nent citizens and friends from Greenfield tendered him a

The Last Things 165
dinner, drive and reception, on accepting which a delega
tion came with a private electric car to escort him to the
old town, where the party passed a most enjoyable day.
On Wednesday morning there was a quiet drive to and
about Turner's Falls, and on Wednesday afternoon, Sep
tember 14, Mr. and Mrs. Payne started in the Minnesota
for New York and Washington. This had been a trip of
great interest and enjoyment to Mr. Payne, but it had
caused great fatigue.
One of the last drives about the capital taken by Mr.
Payne — a. favorite spot with him — ^was to visit a place,
indicated by markers, where lie buried two members of
his favorite Company H of the Tenth Massachusetts,
Michael Doherty and William Mehan, who had died in
the fall of 1 86 1 when this troop was stationed at Wash
ington for its defense.
On Saturday, September 24, 1904, he, with his wife,
attended the last social gathering in which he was to
participate. This was a dinner given by President and
Mrs. Roosevelt in honor of Most Reverend Randall
Thomas Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury, England,
who, with his wife, was then visiting in Washington.
On Tuesday, September 27, 1904, Mr. Payne attended
the customary cabinet meeting, and in the afternoon took
a short drive to Rock Creek Park, but that night his sleep
was restless and disturbed. On Wednesday forenoon he
sat at his desk at the Post Office Department, but feeling
imequal to the labor he did not return after luncheon.
Wednesday night he became very ill. The newspapers of
the country received dispatches on Thursday that "Post
master-General Henry C. Payne is seriously ill at his
apartments at the Hotel Arlington here. Marked symp-

166 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
toms of heart trouble have developed and his condition be
came so serious during the day as to cause grave con
cern." Nevertheless, during the early period of his ill
ness, he devoted much time and energy to public busi
ness, dictating important letters, receiving information
about pressing affairs and eagerly inquiring for news of
the political battle that then was disturbing the country.
His physician was Dr. G. Lloyd Magruder, who, how
ever, received the daily counsel and the diagnosis of Dr.
Presley M. Rixey, surgeon-general of the navy. Dr. Cary
T. Grayson, also of the navy, and Dr. William Osier, a
specialist in diseases of the heart, from Johns Hopkins
University at Baltimore. Daily bulletins were issued by
the physicians, but from the first the information con
veyed thereby was disheartening. There was a succession
of sinking spells, each of increasing severity and the rally
from each left the patient on a lower level, until exhausted
nature forbade further rallies. On the afternoon of Sun
day, October 2, Mrs. Payne fearing that the end was then
imminent, sent for the Rev. Roland Cotton Smith, D.D.,
of St. John's Episcopal Church, Washington, by whom
prayers suitable to the solemn hour were read. Mean
while the relatives of Mr. Payne and of his wife had been
summoned and had arrived at the bedside.
The deepest concern was felt and exhibited by the
President and his official family. Every day, sometimes
twice daily, Mr. Roosevelt called, and, although forbidden
to see his friend, remained in the outer rooms hoping for
news of improvement. Mrs. Roosevelt was a frequent
soothing visitor to Mrs. Payne, and when duties prevented
a daily call sent floral substitutes from the White House
conservatories. The cabinet officers and members of their
families, the Justices of the Supreme Court, Amibassadors,
the Admiral of the Navy, the officials of the Post Office

The Last Things 167

Department, the representatives of foreign governments,
and others high in rank then in the city, either called in
person or sent frequent messengers of inquiry.
Mrs. Payne, although herself an invalid, and although
feeling that all efforts were to be unavailing, kept con
stant vigil with the physicians and nurses, and wore out
her own strength in the watch about the bedside of him'
who had her name almost always upon his lips. How
frequent to her thought must have been the reminiscence
of her early married life in Milwaukee when the strong
husband, now stricken and doomed to death, was her
affectionate, loyal and constant minister !
Towards seven o'clock in the evening of Monday,
October 3, there was apparently a wonderful improve
ment in the sufferer's condition and there was the swell
ing of hope in the hearts of the unskilled. But to. the
waiting physicians it was the last supreme rally before
the end. Then delirium supervened and mingled with
affectionate expressions for his wife were orders con
ceming the presidential contest then raging. At noon of
Tuesday the sick man relapsed into unconsciousness, out
of which he did not emerge. His last words were, "Tell
him I want to see him before he goes." His Private Secre
tary, Mr. Whitney, was standing at the time by the bed
side and after Mr. Payne had recognized him with a few
words, the above order was addressed to the attending
physician with reference to Mr. Whitney.* These words

?Concerning Mr. Whitney I venture to copy the following sen
tences from a despatch of October s, 1904, from the Washington
correspondent of the Milwaukee Sentinel, to that newspaper :
A faithful and devoted friend and servant through twelve years
of active business life, in the details of departmental duty here, and
down to the hour of his death, has been Mr. Payne's private secre
tary, Francis H. Whitney, of Milwaukee. Mr. Whitney came with
Mr. Payne when the latter entered the department. He was wholly
unaccustomed to official life, but he accustomed himself to the de-

168 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
had been Mr. Payne's frequent order while at his desk,
and at this last hour he used them doubtless from force
of habit. Late in the afternoon of Tuesday the President came
— the last caller upon Mr. Payne outside of those upon
duty with him. Mr. Roosevelt remained until six o'clock.
Issuing from the rooms, to those in waiting outside he
pronounced his dying friend to be "the sweetest, most
lovable, and most trustful man he ever knew."
At ten minutes past six o'clock in the evening of Tues
day, October 4, 1904, the soul of Mr. Payne left his weary
body. There were present at his bedside besides Mrs.
Payne and her relatives, and the kinsfolk of Mr. Payne,
the Rev. E. Slater Dunlap of St. John's Episcopal Church,
Mr. and Mrs. William L. Mason, of Washington, Mr.
Payne's Secretary Mr. Whitney, Miss Marie Barbieri
who was Mrs. Payne's attendant, and the colored messen
ger of the Post Office Department.
The official bulletin of the physicians read :
The Postmaster-General died at 6:10 p.m. He died peacefully
without a struggle. Cause of death, disease of mitral valve and
dilatation of the heart.
P. M. Rixey,
G. Lloyd Magruder,
C. T. Grayson.

tails of his position and endeared himself to the multitude of callers
who daily thronged the rooms of the Postmaster-General.
Although young, he was ever discreet and exhibited a high sense
of propriety upon all occasions, and the tact and good judgment
which become the closest companion of one in high official place.
In the long sad hours of Mr. Payne's last illness Mr. Whitney has
been in constant attendance, looking after the wants of the family,
meeting and advising with visitors, and keeping the outside world
advised by information carefully disseminated to the newspaper cor
respondents. At all hours of the day and night since Wednesday
last Mr. Whitney has been accessible, and his devotion was one of
the touching incidents of the long hours of ceaseless vigil.

The Last Things 169
The Secretary of Mr. Payne was overwhelmed with
messages of condolence, sympathy and sorrow, addressed
to him and to Mrs. Payne from all sections of the country
and particularly from the home city and state. These
have been preserved and in their arranged and bound con
dition evidence eloquently the esteem and affection so
widely and so universally felt for him who had gone.
Among the first to send a message of sorrow was Mr.
Albert J. Earling of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul
Railway Company, who, with his message of sympathy,
placed his private car at the service of the family for the
sad journey to Milwaukee.
Upon the day after Mr. Payne's death the President
issued the following proclamation:
To the People of the United States:
Henry Qay Payne, Postmaster-General of the United States,
died in this city at lo minutes past 6 o'clock yesterday afternoon.
Rising to eminence by his own efforts, successful in his enter
prises, attaining to positions of high trust in private business, ener
getic and conscientious in his relations with his fellow men, of singu
larly gentle, loyal and lovable nature, inspired by a large sense of
the duties of a true citizen, and winning the respect and esteem of
all with whom he associated, he was called in the fullness of his
powers to discharge the duties of a peculiarly onerous and respon
sible office in the high councils of the nation. His career is an ex
ample for good citizens to follow, and his untimely death is mourned
by all. The President directs that the several executive departments
and their dependencies shall show fitting regard for the memory of
this distinguished public man; that the departments in the city of
Washington shall be closed between the hours of 9 o'clock a.m. and
I o'clock p.m. on the day of the funeral, Friday, the 7th inst., and
that the national flag shall be displayed at half-mast upon all the
public buildings throughout the United States from now until the
funeral shall have taken place.
By direction of the President. John Hay.
Department of State,
Washington, Oct. 5, 1904-

170 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
Upon the same day the following message was cabled
by the general postal authorities in London :
London, October 5.
The Post Office Department, Washington.
Lord Stanley, his Majesty's Postmaster-General, and Mr. Bab
ington Smith, Secretary of the British Post Office, desire to express
their deep sympathy with the Post Office Department of the United
States in the heavy loss which it has sustained in the death of H. C.
Payne, the Postmaster-General.
On Thursday, October 6, the following proclamation
was issued by the Governor of Wisconsin :
It is my painful duty to announce tq the people of Wisconsin
that Henry C. Payne, Postmaster-General of the United States, died
in the city of Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 4.
In the death of Henry C. Payne the state of Wisconsin loses
one of its most widely known and distinguished citizens. He was
prominently identified for the greater part of his life with state and
national politics. His commanding ability and unusual genius as an
organizer won him success and a reputation both as a politician and
a business man. His genial personality, generous nature and sym
pathetic qualities made him a delightful companion. His friendships
were warm and lasting, and he will be honored by a far-reaching
circle of loving friends and associates.
In respect to his memory, I direct that the national flag be dis
played at half-mast on all municipal buildings until sundown of the
day of the burial.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused
the great seal of the state of Wisconsin to be affixed. Drawn at the
capitol, in the city of Madison, this sixth day of October, in the
year of our Lord 1904. Robert M. LaFollette.
On the same day the following proclamation was
issued by the Mayor of Milwaukee :
Henry Clay Payne, a citizen of Milwaukee, is dead. In many
positions of private and public trust he reflected much honor upon
our city. At his demise he was Postmaster-General of the United
States, and as such a member of the presidential cabinet, an exalted
station and so regarded by all men. We recall his eventful and

The Last Things 171
honorable career only with patriotic memory. Partisan considera
tions died with him, and we deplore his loss as a citizen, as a man,
and as a public servant.
It is eminently fitting that our people should show their appre
ciation of his worth, of the honor which in official station he brought
to our municipality, our esteem for him as a neighbor, and manifest
sorrow at his untimely departure.
I therefore direct that flags be displayed at half-mast from the
city hall and from all departments and public buildings until his
funeral obsequies shall be ended.
It is so ordered. David S. Rose, Mayor.
The funeral in Washington occurred at 1 1 o'clock on
the morning of Friday, October 7, 1904, at Saint John's
Protestant Episcopal Church, the Rev. Roland Cotton
Smith, D.D., the rector, officiating, assisted by the Rev. E.
Slater Dunlap. The church was thronged with mourn
ing friends, including the President and Mrs. Roosevelt,
the members of the cabinet and their families, the Admiral
of the Navy, the Chief of the General Staff, the Supreme
Court of the District of Columbia, Senators, Members of
the House of Representatives, the Members of the Diplo
matic Corps and the officials of the Post Office Depart
ment. These last officials occupied the entire right side
of the church.
The services were marked by great simplicity and
consisted of the reading of the burial service and the sing
ing of hymns selected by Mrs. Payne, "Lead, Kindly
Light," "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," and "Hark, Hark,
My Soul."
The chancel was fragrant with flowers sent by friends
everywhere. Among these were flowers from the dele
gates of the German postal administration, from the
Brazilian charge d' affaires, and from the Argentine lega-

172 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
tion. The only flowers upon the casket were those placed
there on behalf of Mrs. Payne, her niece, Miss Jones, and
the President and Mrs. Roosevelt.
The casket was borne from the residence to the church
upon the shoulders of eight uniformed letter carriers, fol
lowed on foot by the family, members of the cabinet and
of the household. Officials and others of the Post Office
Department and all the letter carriers of Washington
marched from the Department to the church and thence
to the depot, surrounding and following the casket, form
ing a guard of honor. The train, in charge of Secretary
Whitney, left the station of the Pennsylvania Railroad at
3 :35 o'clock in the afternoon of Friday, the casket being
in Mr. Earling's private car, the Minnesota, which was
appropriately draped.
The train with the casket arrived in Milwaukee on
Saturday afternoon at 2:20 o'clock; there being in the
party besides the relatives of Mr. Payne and Mrs. Payne,
Secretaries Wilson, Metcalf, Morton and Hitchcock of
the cabinet. Doctors Magruder and Grayson, Mr. Earl
ing and Mr. Whitney.
As the train arrived prior to the scheduled time, the
car containing the casket was sidetracked at the station
of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Road, under the
guard of a detail of police. At about half past seven
o'clock Saturday evening the casket was removed to the
City Hall, under the charge of the letter carriers and ac
companied by the honorary pall bearers, members of the
Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association, Chamber of
Commerce and Old Settlers' Club.
In the rotunda the casket, with a guard of honor, re-

The Last Things 173
mained all night, the walls of the rotunda being covered
with black cloth, and draped with Alabama smilax, the
floor banked on all sides with spreading palms and ferns,
while all about on pedestals and stands, from friends
everywhere, was a wealth of flowers and floral emblems.
Among these was the gift of President and Mrs. Roose
velt, a wreath of roses.
From 8:30 o'clock until midnight of Saturday a
steady stream of people viewed the silent face in the
opened casket, and from eight o'clock of Sunday morn
ing until noon the same stream of respectful and solemn
citizens and friends filed past the body.
At three o'clock on Sunday afternoon, the simple
burial service of the Episcopal Church was read in All
Saints' Cathedral by the Right Reverend Isaac L. Nichol
son, Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Milwaukee, assisted
by Rev. Canon C. B. B. Wright. The church was crowded
with the friends of Mr. Payne. Delegations represented
the Republican National Committee, the Chicago and Mil
waukee post offices, the Chamber of Commerce of Mil
waukee, Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association, Old
Settlers' Club and Society of Colonial Wars for the State
of Wisconsin. The honorary pall bearers were Paul D.
Morton, Victor H. Metcalf, James Wilson and William
S. Shallenberger, of Washington; James G Jenkins,
Joseph V. Quarles, Frank G. Bigelow, Charles F. Pfister,
John I. Beggs, Alfred L. Gary, Irving M. Bean, Gustav
G. Pabst, George P. Miller, Howard Morris, Charles E.
Dyer, Oliver C. Fuller, Horace M. Brown, Winslow A.
Nowell, David Vance, Leroy C. Whitney, John D. Mc
Leod, Henry F. Whitcomb, Charles Schley, David C.

174 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
Owen, of Milwaukee ; John C. Spooner, Elisha W. Keyes,
of Madison; Graeme Stewart, George R. Peck, of Chi
cago; Elmer Dover, of Washington, D. C. ; Harry S.
New, of Indianapolis; David W. Mulvane, of Topeka,
Kansas; R. B. Schneider, of Fremont, Nebraska.*
The active pall bearers and guard of honor were
selected from the main office and stations of the Milwau
kee post office.
The burial was in the family lot in Forest Home
cemetery. *Of these Messrs. Dyer, Nowell and Stewart have since died.

'An Unappreciated Type" 175

CHAPTER XVIII

"an OnappreciateD Cppe"
Perhaps no more just appreciation of the work of Mr.
Payne in public life can be given than that presented in
the following editorial entitled, "An Unappreciated Type,"
in the Minneapolis Tribune of October 6, 1904:
A life of modest usefulness to his countrjTnen ended with the
death of Henry C. Payne. He had no inclination, perhaps no fitness,
for the higher work of constructive statesmanship that has occupied
his lifelong fellow worker. Senator Spooner. He was content with
the obscurer work of party and administrative management, which
has rarely been done with more constant regard to the general good.
He was not a self-seeker, though he welcomed the reward that came
at last to a lifetime of service.
For a third of a century other men reaped the fruitage of public
station for which he toiled unremittingly in the service of his party.
Among these men are some whose names will be more permanently
connected with the history of Wisconsin and the country than his
own. Before he is forgotten he should receive just recognition for
his part in creating their opportunity for gaining personal fame and
doing public service.
Mr. Payne,' like Senator Hanna, belonged to an unappreciated
type. The politician is a necessary agent in the public life of a free
country. The lower rewards of the service often tempt unworthy
men into it. They who despise these lower rewards, as Mr. Payne
did, must be content with scant recognition from contemporaries
and brief remembrance by posterity. All the more reason for doing
them justice while they live and when they die.
Mr. Payne was a politician because he liked to play the game
and to succeed in it. If not the highest ambition, it is an honorable
one. He did not make politics a profession. He did not enrich
himself in it. He carried the double burden of large private affairs
and unpaid service to the country in the form of service to the party
he believed in. Party is necessary in Republican government, and
this service, when highly and unselfishly done, is as honorable, al
though not so glorious, as making laws and ruling nations.

176 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
Because the foregoing article has made prominent the
career of Mr. Payne as a politician I have reserved for
this position an estimate of his political life from the pen
and heart of Mr. James S. Clarkson, surveyor of the port
of New York, at one time chairman of the Republican
National Committee:
As I now remember it, I became well acquainted with Henry
Payne in 1876, and at the Republican National Convention, in Cin
cinnati, in that year, the same occasion on which I was first brought
into intimate association with Senator Piatt, of New York, Governor
Foraker, of Ohio, Senator Quay, of Pennsylvania, Mr. Fessenden, of
Connecticut, Mr. Hobart, of New Jersey, General Alger, of Michi
gan, and other great "spirits with whom Mr. Payne and I afterwards,
and for nearly a generation of active politics, became so closely asso
ciated in national conventions and in the campaigns of the National
Committee afterwards and in strong personal friendships as well.
In that year Blaine's star was rising to its long-time supremacy in
the political sky, and the Republican party's leaders were dividing
themselves in eager rivalry between himi and General Grant — a
division which lasted for nearly a generation of active contests. I well
remember the year 1876 as the beginning of many conspicuous and
enduring personal friendships between large groups of party leaders ;
and it will always be left to me to remember that in that year of
great party events and the development of so many great party lead
ers I found and formed the most grateful friendships and the dearest
friends that, outside of kinsmen, I have found in my whole life. My
experience in politics, too, bears the testimony now of over forty
years in contradiction of the popular cynical idea that politicians are
heartless and without sentiment and that political friendships are all
selfish and fleeting. Instead, I have had personally over a genera
tion of continuing proof that more true and lasting friendships are
formed in politics than in any other profession, or in any other
division of active and strenuous men, and I have seen more sincere,
unselfish, and sacrificing friendship and devotion shown among what
are flippantly called politicians than among all other great groups of
men with whom in the business, or even religious, world I have been
brought in contact. Indeed, the greater riches I have left to me in
life now are the vivid and grateful memories that I was permitted to
know in intimate and unchanging friendship such men as Mr. Payne
and the others I have named, and many more like them, and that
our friendship for and faith in each other endured in loyalty and
growing tenderness and devotion for over thirty years and never

"An Unappreciated Type" 177
ended. These were friendships that met all tests that intense con
flicts bring to all ambitious and militant men, only to grow stronger,
and that survived all the rivalry, jealousy, and greed of which the
world of politics is commonly supposed to be made up ; and survived
to remain almost the most precious things in the lives of us all.
Therefore, when I am told that a book of faithful record of the good
life and good works of Henry Payne is to be printed, and that I
may have the privilege and the honor of being among those per
mitted to pay him their final tribute, I find myself wondering, not
what I can say of estimate of him and his usefulness and his no
bility, but what of the many things to be said in his praise I shall
refer to in this short space.
Of course, I knew of Mr. Payne as early as 1872, as a rising fac
tor in western politics, because of his growing prominence and ac
tivity in the affairs of Wisconsin; and had met him incidentally
several times in Chicago, and once or twice had seen him at Des
Moines, when he had come into Iowa on political or business er
rands. I liked him from the first, because of his engaging and manly
qualities, and found in him a kindred spirit of earnest Republicanism
and frank personality. Then young and an eager student of politics,
I was also attracted to Mr. Payne because he was a Republican from
Wisconsin, or from one of the two pioneer states in Republicanism,
or one of the two states that had elected its entire Republican state
ticket as early as the year 1854— a crown of honor which it has had
to share with only one other state. It was a great distinction
in those days to be a Wisconsin Republican ; and Mr. Payne, though
then still in his twenties, showed the inspired enthusiasm of his state
and already was eager for work for the party in the national field.
But my most distinct recollection of him is that it was at the Cin
cinnati convention that I came into intimacy and comradeship with
him, and also with Senator Sawyer, who was for several years the
sturdiest and most popular man in the personnel of western Repub
licanism, and with John C. Spooner, who was even then revealing
himself to the party and the nation in his predestined career; and
already modestly exhibiting, as opportunity came, the rare powers
of felicitous oratory and unusual legal knowledge, which now for
several years have been proving their pre-eminent usefulness to his
party and his country in his admitted position as the leader in con
stitutional debate and Republican defense in the United States Sen
ate, and in which he has fairly won the title to rank as peer with the
greatest lawyers in the whole history of that illustrious body. I
call Mr. Sawyer and Mr. Spooner into companionship with Mr.
Payne here because these three men were so closely associated then
and ever after, as long as they all lived, that I have never heard one
of them mentioned since that I have not thought of them all ; and let

178 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
me say it here, at the end of these lengthened years, when two of
them are gone, always with admiration and affection for them, and
always with pride that I was honored for nearly a generation with
their unquestioning and never-changing friendship. These three
men, in their close friendships for a lifetime, beautifully illustrate
the claim I have made that the truest and strongest friendships
among real men are those that are made and proved, and made so
unchanging and unchangeable as to be practically immortal, in the
storms and tests and cruelties of politics. Where, in eastern or
western state, or among western o,r eastern men, in any profession
or any division of men, can now be recalled any three men who rep
resented in their devotion to each other and in their greater devotion
to their state and their nation, the devotion that was shown for a
generation by this illustrious trio composed of Senator Sawyer,
Senator Spooner and Henry Payne? If you confine it to Wisconsin
or compare it and Wisconsin with other states and their leaders,
where are there three other men who ever worked together for a
whole lifetime with the great devotion, and the resulting greatness
in achievement, as these strong and splendid men worked for Wis
consin? If the expressive phrase of athletics could be properly em
ployed for description of such great service in statecraft and party
devotion, it could be said that no such effective team-work has ever
been done for any state as these three masters among men — each
superior to the other in some especial strength and yet all supple
menting one another to a perfect union of strength — so loyally did
for a state which they so intensely desired to serve. No one who
loves Wisconsin, and no one of any community who loves rare
strength and fealty in men, can ever in the future fail to admire and
honor, whether separately or as a whole, the names of Senator
Sawyer, Senator Spooner, and Postmaster-General Payne.
In another and more critical sense, too, it would be impossible
to attempt to give accurately and in anjrthing like faithful measure
any estimate as to the public work or career of Mr. Payne without
including these two illustrious men in the discussion; for in the
nation at large, in all the great National Conventions of the party
and in all the important campaigns waged by the National Com
mittees afterwards with which I had personal and active association,
or from 1876 to 1896, they were always together, always acting in
unison, with the one exception of 1892, when Senator Sawyer was
for Harrison's renomination and Mr. Payne was for Blaine — not
against Harrison just to be against him, but because he believed,
with many others of us and with the large majority of the experi
enced practical leaders of the party, that Blaine was the only man
that the Republican party had any possible chance to elect in that
year. It is also to increase the measurements of Mr. Payne as a

"An Unappreciated Type" 179
political leader, to bring him into fellowship and contrast with two
men so strong and great as Mr. Sawyer and Mr. Spooner, for in
some, and in some of the most important respects — in the quantities
or the mathematics of organization and operation in practical politics,
in the ability to organize in detail with the largest possible certainty
of success, in the gift of keeping near to public opinion and in know
ing in advance the issues most likely to win in the country at large —
he was the superior one of the three, just as he was in late years and
in all the great presidential campaigns one of the two or three
wisest counsellors of the National Committees, and especially as he
was in the momentous campaign of 1896 not only the superior of
Mr. Hanna in knqwing what to do to win and, next, in himself
making the organization to win, but the more fairly and fully en
titled to the larger credit for the victory itself.
I do not know what Mr. Hanna himself said or felt as to the
transcendent value of Mr. Payne's help in that memorable campaign,
for I never knew Mr. Hanna well, and so had no chance to know
of the inner thoughts of his great and courageous mind; but I shall
always believe that he knew the great and saving value to him and
to the party in that campaign of Mr. Payne's consummate mastery
of organization in detail; and that he knew also that in perfecting
this organization for victory Mr. Payne gave his health and, prac
tically his life, and was never after that himself again either in
strength or in spirit. I accept as proof of this belief of mine, Mr.
Hanna's earnest appeals to President McKinley — the most earnest
of all his appeals to his Chief — to recognize Mr. Payne's great and
saving work for the party by granting to him the fulfillment of the
darling ambition of his life to become Postmaster-General. Mr.
Hanna must have known — great and unequalled as was his own
share of the work in that campaign, in organizing sufficient financial
resources to make victory with close organization not only possible
tut sure — ^that it was Mr. Payne's marvelous skill alone that gave
the close organization, and therefore the victory. Mr. Hanna's
actions afterwards are confirmation to me that he knew this to be
true; and it was commonly known that Mr. McKinley's strange
refusal to give Mr. Payne his just due was one of the greater dis
appointments of Mr. Hanna's political life, as it is also known that
in his undying gratitude to Payne he made to President Roosevelt,
when opportunity came, the same appeal he had made in vain to
McKinley, and found in Roosevelt's favorable action very much
of compensation for the actual sorrow he had constantly felt over
McKinley's refusal. I believe, too, that it was most largely Mr.
Hanna's gratitude to President Roosevelt for paying this deserved
but delayed honor to Mr. Payne, that kept him in 1903 from yielding
to the appeals of his own friends and of all those who were discon-

180 Henry Clay Payne : A Life

tented, to become a candidate for President himself. I think no one
knew this so well or so certainly as Mr. Payne, for in 1903 and
afterwards, when there was so much effort tq induce Mr. Hanna to
be a candidate against Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Payne constantly asserted
that there was no ground whatever for this belief and that Mr.
Hanna was instead at heart for Roosevelt. Mr. Payne was then a
trusted and political confidant of the President, and those of us who
knew Henry Payne well knew that he was stating what he personally
knew to be true; for all of us knew that it was not in his nature to
be disloyal to the President or to sympathize in any degree with the
endeavor then being made to make Hanna a candidate against
Roosevelt. It was in the twelve years of the Republican National Com
mittee from 1884 to 1896, or, rather, in the sixteen years from 1880
to 1896, that I learned to know intimately of the political genius and
personal nobility of Mr. Payne. He, the same as I, was always con
nected with the Executive Committee of the National Committee
and all its activities during those years. It was during this time in
service on that committee that there developed a strong group of
strenuous men who early became and always remained close and
devoted friends. Particularly was there developed a very earnest
friendship between Mr. Fessenden of Connecticut, Mr. Hobart of
New Jersey, Mr. Payne of Wisconsin, Mr. Kerens of Missouri,
Colonel Goodloe of Kentucky, General Dudley of Indiana, Colonel
Conger of Ohio, and myself from Iowa; and, in different yet equally
earnest degree. Senator Quay of Pennsylvania and Senator Piatt of
New York; but the earliest, closest and longest friendship was that
established between Mr. Fessenden, Mr. Hobart, Mr. Payne and my
self. In all the National Conventions and campaigns of the Repub
lican party from 1876 to 1896 the four of us worked closely together,
and always in loyalty and affection for the party and for one an
other. In the four conventions and campaigns of 1880, 1884, 1888
and 1892, four men could never have been more intimate or worked
more closely together in common endeavor for the party and in
loyal support of one another, so far as personality was concerned,
than these four men worked in these four great national contests.
It was in these campaigns and conventions, and in the many con
ferences of great party leaders incident to the activities of the party
in these twenty years, that I frequently saw the ability and the value
of Mr. Payne as a political leader and counsellor fully tested and
as often fully proved.
During all that period and for the two campaigns following —
those of 1896 and 1900, when I was no longer a member of the com
mittee — his counsel was as much sought in the National Conventions
and in the national campaigns and as much depended upon as that of

'An Unappreciated Type" 181

any leader in the party. Whether in party conferences, that in
cluded Mr. Blaine in the campaigns of 1884 and 1888, and General
Logan, General Harrison, Senator Allison, Senator Hoar, Governor
Foraker and many other noted leaders, or in National Committee
conferences with Senator Quay, Senator Piatt and the leading mem
bers of the National Executive Committees, or in conferences be
tween the Executive Committee of the National Committee and
noted business men and financiers of the country — all conferences of
great importance, and some of them history-making in their pecu
liarly great importance and in their resulting influence on national
action — in any and all of these conferences he was a prominent and
influential spirit. No leader in the Republican party held the con
fidence and affection of the rank and file of the party during those
years more largely than he did. No other party leader was more in
fluential with all the party leaders than he was in that period, and
very few of the party leaders commanded as fully as he did the con
fidence of the great business and financial interests of the country;
for he had won as fine a reputation for strength and safety in the
business as in the political world. These great qualities made him
a leader whose counsel the party often sought, and never in vain.
There was that in his nature which caused all men of discernment
brought in close contact with him to see and know the sincerity of
his life, the manliness of his character, the clearness of his vision,
and the superior stability and sanity of his judgment. He was broad
and strong and firm in all things, always amiable and never intoler
ant, a counsellor to be trusted, a leader to be valued, a man to be
loved. This was what those of us who served with him so many
years in the executive work of the National Committee, and saw
him under many heavy tests, any one of which would have carried
down any leader not strong and true, early learned to know of him ;
and every day and year that followed our first acquaintance with
him served but to increase our admiration for him as a leader and
our love for him as a man. I could write a whole book full in
telling of scenes and incidents in National Conventions and cam
paigns, and in important events in the party in the intervals, in
which I have seen Mr. Payne bear a great and controlling part.
He had a personal acquaintance in the party as wide as the country,
and wherever he had an acquaintance in the party he had a personal
friend. This fact, in addition to his rare ability as a counsellor and
organizer and his high standing in all party councils, always made
him a great and influential factor in all party conferences or con
ventions. These high credentials of personal power on the part of
Mr. Payne, and his unity with Senator Sawyer and Senator Spooner,
and the fact that the Wisconsin delegation was one of the delegations
in National Conventions that always knew its own mind and had the

182 Henry Clay Payne : A Life
courage to follow it and always acted as a unit, several times made
that state the leader in deciding the party nominee for President.
This was particularly true as to the selection of Garfield in 1880,
of Harrison in 1888, as it had been also largely true of the choice
of Blaine in 1884, and as happened again in the choice of McKinley
in i8g6. In 1892, Mr. Payne, for the first time, was separated from
the other great leaders of his own state, as I have already men
tioned, and even in that, the after result of party defeat following
the choice made but confirmed his wisdom and prescience as a pol
itical leader in knowing the relative strength of men as candidates,
and in knowing, also, the certain and inevitable drift of public opinion.
In that convention, too, I saw signal confirmation of his devotion to
party interest rather than to his own personal ambitions ; for, al
though it is popularly supposed and now historically accepted, that
Hanna's first attempt for McKinley for President was not made
until 1896, many of us personally know that instead his first effort
was made at Minneapolis in 1892, and made with McKinley's full
knowledge and consent, and made in very active manner. I was
asked by Mr. Hanna to go as the Chairman of the National Com
mittee with Mr. Fessenden and Mr. Payne to see Mr. McKinley.
We met the great figure of 1896 and 1900 in a room on the top floor
of the West Hotel, where direct proposals were made to us for a
swing from Mr. Blaine to Mr. McKinley, and two Cabinet places
offered to our little party of three — and one of them to Mr. Payne.
It made no impression on him, and had no part in changing his
opinion that Mr. Blaine alone among Republicans stood any chance
of election as President in that year. In this instance he merely
followed the loyal and generous habit of his whole life as a Re
publican, or the habit of always putting the party's interest above
his own interest or ambition.
I could give hundreds of other incidents connected with Mr.
Payne in national politics and in proof of his devoted service to the
Republican party which would bear the same testimony as this one I
have recalled. Indeed, it was this generous disposition to sacrifice
himself for his party and to sacrifice self for friends, that made us
all who were brought into the intimacies of many important years
and events with him learn to love him at the start and to increase
the affection with each passing year. He had that rarest and best
quality in all men — that mingling of strength and tenderness which
makes at once the strongest and most lovable of men. All people
brought near to him always felt this gentleness of his nature as
much as they felt his great strength and force. It was this com
bination of things most loved in all men that brought to Mr. Payne
the greatest and proudest friendship of his life; and secured for
him, unsolicited, the high favor of President Roosevelt's recogni-

"An Unappreciated Type" 183
tion and approval. It was my fortune, in 1902 and 1903 and early
in 1904, to be brought several times into close conference with the
President and Mr. Payne in Washington, on matters concerning the
welfare of the Republican party. It was a joy to me, who knew
Mr. Payne so well, to see how completely the President gave him
his confidence and his affection. I can never forget how at one con
ference, ending sq late in the night as to be early in the morning,
which had dealt with many practical and quite vexing questions in
politics, and in which Mr. Payne had shown his genius in political
leadership, the President put his arm about him and brought him
toward me and said, "Harry Payne has been of more comfort and
more help to me than any man has been since I have been President."
It was a tribute, coming from such a source, that was worth living a
whole lifetime to receive. I had never before heard Mr. Payne
called "Harry,"'"' for we who had been so close to him and his heart
for many years had always called him "Henry Payne," almost as if it
were his whole surname; but I felt the thrill of the great affection
that sought a title which had in it something of a caress and in
timate nearness. Just as this greatest of all Americans of the past
or the present, as I believe, and as I believe time will confirm, saw
the rare strength and the equally rare gentleness of Henry Payne,
and loved him for both, so did all people who ever came close to
him see and love him for the same rare and noble qualities.
There was in this fine friend of ours as a man, in a peculiar and
noble degree, that which made him in his whole journey through
like a friend to every one who deserved his friendship, and, in his
kindliness and generosity, tq many who did not deserve it — for in
the wide and instant sympathy of his nature no fellow-being in need
ever was alien to him. Therefore, memory of him, and affection for
him will remain, and remain to increase as the years shall pass, and
as all men shall come more and more to love most of all in every
human being modesty, honor and sincerity.
Mr. Payne was familiarly known in Washington as
"the politician of the cabinet." In no offensive sense was
this term used; in no offensive sense was it true. If it
meant that in a city boiling with pohtics and overrun with
politicians he was familiar with all the intricacies of the
craft, could act as a foil upon the schemes of the design-

*Harry was also the familiar designation used by Senator
Hanna and by Senator Scott, of West Virginia.

184 Henry Clay Payne: A Life
ing, the unpatriotic and the unprincipled, and at the same
time could put in motion the machinery to advance and to
perpetuate the principles of the Republican party while
not neglecting the duties of the office which he had taken
oath to perform, then the term politician properly de
scribes Henry C. Payne. But this term does not accord
him the praise which is his full due — ^the praise belonging
to the man who dies doing his duty. The closing years
of Mr. Payne's life, while they brought him great honor,
brought him also an exacting routine, unrequited toil, un
merited criticism, days full of worry, nights pillowed with
thorns. All these, heroically, unflinchingly, uncomplain
ingly, he endured. What had become the rugged path of
duty he manfully walked until he could tread it no longer.
Then, his body, enfeebled by disease and stricken with
death, was tenderly laid to rest in its tomb.
These pages have lacked their office if they have not
enabled the reader to appreciate the character of Mr.
Payne as conspicuous in his public career. In his private
hfe there abode many virtues. The cartoonists, who de
lighted to sketch him cigar in mouth, knew not that he
never smoked. In eating and in drinking he was strictly
temperate. Very seldom the profane word escaped his
lips ; never, the doubtful word or tale. No man was more
amiable, more companionable, more beloved. No visitor,
beseeching a favor, sought him in vain. No one en
countering him in the thickest perplexities of business,
saw a sorry visage, a ruffled temper, a sour disposition.
Happy himself he perfumed happiness about him. The
songs he so buoyantly sang in his childhood echoed their
carol through all his busy years and softly ebbed away
their sweetness with his dying breath.

"An Unappreciated Type" 185
The inscription for his monument, prepared at Mrs.
Payne's request by her husband's long-time friend. Judge
James G. Jenkins, is thus conceived :

in il^mnrjj OF
HENRY C. PAYNE

Sometime Postmaster-General
of the United States

Sorn Nnfamhfr 23. 1B43
Swh (§ctobiv 4, 13114

An able Ejtecutive
A public-spirited Citizen
A kindly Neighbor
A loyal Friend
A Benefactor of the Deserving

"Kfiet ttfip*a fitfttl itver ift slespB mil"

Intit%

Alger, Russell A  176
Allison, William B  181
Allowances for Separating Pur
poses  143
"Amended List"  149
American Street Railway Asso
ciation  53
Ames, Eliza Etta, mother  3
Character and death  4
Ames, Samuel, ancestor  3
Amherst  164
Amusements, interest in  13
Anson, Frank A  100
Arthur, Chester A.-  27
Commissions Postmaster  27
Arthur, Peter M  85
Ashfield, described  2
Removal from  3
Recollections of  3
Last visit to  163
Austin, William H  100
Babcock, Joseph W., tribute by. . . 89
And "charges concerning
members"  153
Badger Illuminating Company  58
Baker, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin  163
Band of Hope  6
Baptist Church, Shelburne Falls.. 6
Baptist Corners  2
Barbieri, Marie  168
Barrett, Harrison J  127, 132
Bass, Hannah, ancestor  i
Bass, Samuel, descendants of  l
Baxter, Charles H  100
Bean, Irving M  24
Dinner to  35
At funeral  I73
Beavers, George W., resignation
of  126
Trial of  132
Charges concerning  143
Becker, Washington  56
Beggs, John 1  63, 69, 173
And the Public Service Build
ing  64
Bell Telephone Company  SO
Bennett Law  86, 87
Bennett, Michael J  86
Bigelow, Frank G  50, 54, 173

Billings, Anna, ancestor  2
Bingham, Theodore A  54
Bissell, Wilson S  118
Blaine, James G 
 43. 47. 176, 178, 181, 182
Bleeker and Van Dyke  20
Blind, provision for the, in the
mails  116
Board of Fire and Police Com
missioners  33, 34. 45
Bonaparte, Charles J., and post
office investigation.. .130, 131
Bowen, Alfred  5
Bowen, Diana S., teacher  4, 5, 17
Attachment between Henry
and  5
Journey with  163
Boycott and strike  61, 74, 75, 77
Bradley, William H  48, 56
Braintree  i
Brewer, David J  84
Bribery charged, as to extension
of railway franchises. .70, 72
As to re-election of Senator
Spooner  99
Brigham, Jerome R  34, 46
Bristow, Joseph L  114
To investigate post office
frauds  124, 126
Instructions from Mr. Payne,
received by  125
And the Tulloch charges . 128, 129
Letter of, to Mr. Payne  133
Tribute by  140
Correspondence with House
Committee  147
Britt, Oren E  56
Brodhead, Edward H  50
Bromwell, Jacob H., and the post
office investigation.. .123, 134
Brown, Henry B  84
Brown, Horace M  I73
Brown, Thomas H  43
Bryan, William J  89
His vote in 1900  113
"Bryan's Fallacies"  91
Buckstaff, George A  100
Buffington, Byron A  100
Bullard, Silas  100

188

Henry Clay Payne: A Life

Cabinet position, mentioned for.. . 90
Appointed to a  114
Rumors of withdrawal from.. 135
Mr. McKinley refuses, to Mr.
Payne  gi, 179
Mr. Payne as politician of
the Cabinet  183
Cameron, Angus, Senator  26, 37
Cameron, Winfield S  3, 162
Visit to  162
Campaigning as a science  43
Cannon, Joseph G., tribute by  159
Carpenter, Matthew H., Senator.. 25
Defeat for re-election and re
sult  26
Cary, Alfred L., tribute by  22
At funeral  173
Castle, Henry A  130
Central Committee, Republican
party  42
Central Republican Club  40
Central Trust Company  58, 65
Charges concerning members of
Congress  142, 149, 151
Charlemont  163
Chicago and Calumet Railroad... 84
Chicago and Northern Pacific Rail
road  84
Chicago Herald, as to gold plank. 97
Civil Service, in Milwaukee Post
Office  31, 32
In city of Milwaukee  34, 45
As Postmaster-General. . .34, 119
Clark, Mrs. Elihu  11
Clark, Lucius, employer  10
Clark, William and Company  10
Clarkson, James S., tribute by. .. .176
Clayton, Powell, tribute by  159
Cleveland, Grover, removes Post
master Payne  27, 47
Candidate for President. . .86, 88
Collins, Wallace G., tribute by. . . . 48
Committee on the Post Office and
Post Roads  142, 143, 154
Company H, loth Massachusetts
regiment  10, 163, 165
Congressmen, charges concerning 142
Conger, Arthur L  .180
Conrad, Holmes, and post office
investigation  130, 131
Conway  163
Cooley, Alford W., on Mr. Payne
and civil service  119
Cooper, Henry A., as to "charges
against members"  153

Cortelyou, George B., tribute by. .liS
Chairman of National Com
mittee  161
Coxey and Coxeyites  83
Cream City Railroad Company. . . 56
Crombie, William H., partner.... 19
Cromwell, William N  59, 69
Cullom, Shelby M  iii
Davidson, James 0  100
Davidson, Randall T., archbishop 165
Davis, Charles W  100
Davis, DeWitt  24
Death of Mr. Payne  168
Deerfield  164
Dennett, Fred A  100
Devos, William H  100
Dewey, George, at funeral  171
Dinner at Milwaukee Club  35
Doherty, Michael  165
Dover, Elmer  174
Drafting into Army  11
Dudley, William W  180
Dunlap, Rev. E. Slater  168, 171
Durand, Loyal R  23
Dyer, Charles E  173, 174
Dyer, George  52
Earling, Albert J  162, 169, 172
Edison Electric Illuminating Com
pany  58
Edison General Electric Company 63
Eldred, John E  23
Elections, early interest in  6, 23
How to win  36, 43
Electricity as motive power. . . .57, 59
Ellsworth, Lemuel  24
Elmer, Laura, ancestor  3
Employes, kindness towards  59
Enlistment, letter urging  10
His own, refused  10, 163
Epitaph  185
Erie Telephone and Telegraph Co. 51
Erwin, James W  132
Evening Wisconsin  29, 43
Ewing, John M  24
Extension of franchise of street
railways  68
Benefits of  71
Fares on street railway, reduction
of  64, 66, 68
Obligatory four cent  71
Farmers' Loan and Trust Co  80
Fearing, A. G  9
Fessenden, Samuel  176, 180, 182
Field, Charles, friend  11
Field, Stephen J  84

Index

189

Fink, Henry  24
First National Bank, director of . . 52
Fisher, Charles T  100
Flagg, Abner S  100
Fogo, William M  100
Foraker, Joseph B  97, 176, 181
Forest Home Cemetery  174
Four cent fares  64, 71
Fowler, Daniel W  29
Fox River Valley Electric Railway
Co  53
Franchises, litigation as to non-
user of  66
And as to extension of  68, 71
Franklin Academy  S
Friendships in Politics  180
Froehlich, William H  100
Fuller, Melville W  114
Fuller, Oliver C  I73
Funeral at Washington  171
In Milwaukee  I73
Garfield, James A., nominated for
president  43, 182
Election of  43
Geilfuss, Albert B  42
Gittings, Mehetable, ancestor  2
Gold plank in St. Louis platform,
91, 92, 93, 94, 95
Mr. Pajme's history of  96
Goodloe, William C  180
Governor, election for  40
Ludington and Taylor  40
Smith and Mallory  42
Smith and Jenkins  42
Peck and Hoard  87
Peck and Spooner  87
Grant, Ulysses S  25
Commissions postmaster  27
Gray, EHsha  49
Gray, Rev. E. H  6
Grayson, Cary T., M.D..166, 168, 172
Greenfield  164
Gregory, John G  19
Gresham, Walter Q  27
Griggs, John W  130
Guenther, Richard  35
Hall, Albert R  loi
Halsey, Lawrence W  69
Hanna, Marcus A. .88, 92, 93, 95, 96,
97, 112, 175, 183
Death of  160
And Cabinet position for Mr.
Payne  179, 180, 182
Harlan, John M  84
Harrison, Benjamin. .86, 178, 181, 182
Haskins, Charles H  5°

Hatfield  164
Hay, James  143
Hay, John, tribute by  157
Hay resolution  143, 149, 150
Hayes, Rutherford B., Commis
sions postmaster  27
Race for presidency  41
Heath, Perry S  130
Herrick, Myron T  93, 95, 96, 97
Tribute by  97
Hill, Robert  23, 24
Hinckley, F. E  56
Hitchcock, Ethan A., tribute by.. 159
At funeral  172
Hoar, George F  181
Hoard, William D  86, 87
Hobart, Garrett A  176, 180
Hogan, "General"  83
Honesty in politics  44
Hoosac Mountain  163
"Hot air" statement. 129, 130, 131, 135
Howe, James H  37
Howe, Timothy O., Senator  25
Tenders Milwaukee post office 26
Hurd, Frank E  loi
Hurlbut, William H  loi
Husband and wife, not both to be
in office  116
Indianapolis Monetary Convention 54
Injunctions in Northern Pacific
receivership  81
Investigation of Post Office De
partment  123
Results and close of.. ...133, 134
Jamestown, New York, visit to. 162
Post office at  162
Jenkins, James G., tribute by  14
Mentioned  23, 42, 80, 85
As judge in Northern Pacific
case  80
Injunctions by, in Northern
Pacific case  81
At funeral  I73
Writes epitaph  185
Jensen, Andrew  loi
Jewell, Marshall  27
Johnson, Jerome B  29
Johnson, William M  114
Jones, Mrs. Charles P  20
Jones, David F  loi
Jones, Miss Louise  161, 172
Jones, William A  loi
Kansas Republicans for Mr. Payne
for the Cabinet  91
Kendrick, John W  84, 85
Kerens, Richard C  i8a

190

Henry Clay Payne : A Life

Key, David M  27
Keyes, Elisha W  174
Kjiox, Philander C  117, 127
Kohlsaat, Herman H. .92, 93, 94, 95
96, 97
La Follette, Robert M  170
Lake Park, Milwaukee, gift to or
nament  54
Lamoreux, Clarence A  loi
Leases of buildings by congress
men  143
Letter boxes on street cars  117
Letter carriers  32
Lewis, William T  loi
Lions, stone, gift to Milwaukee of 54
Liquor traffic, regulation  45
Litigation over street railway fares 65
Over non-user of franchises . . 66
As to extension of franchises. 69
As to Northem Pacific re
ceivership  79
"Little Red Schoolhouse"  87
Lockwood, John  17
Lodge, Henry C  95
Logan, John A  181
Lotteries and the mails  116
Loud, Eugene F  123
And the post office investiga
tion  .124
Letter of, as to the investiga
tion  134
Lowry, Israel H  57
Ludington, Harrison  40, 41
Lynde, William P  40
Lyon, Mary  2
Machen, August W  131, i35, 140
Madden, Edwin C  114
Magruder, G. Lloyd  166, 168, 172
Mail matter of certain classes, con
solidation of  116
Mailer, Andrew C  loi
Mailing tubes systems installed. .117
Mails, overcrowding with second
class matter  116
Malaby, Theodore  20
Mallory, Amarylis, ancestor  3
Mallory, James A  42
Manley, Joseph H  112
Letter of tribute from  160
Manschot, John H  42
Mason, William L  57
Tribute by  73
At death bed of Mr. Payne. . .168
Maynard, Austin S., friend  7, 10
Maynard, Charles A., friend  6, 7
Letter to, urging enlistment.. 10

Maynard, Eliza 1  163
McCall, Samuel W  154
McGarigle, George A  29
McGillivray, James J  loi
McGregor, Thomas W  132
McKinley, William 
89, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97
Tenders foreign mission  91
In campaign of 1900  107
Nominated for president, 1900,
IIO, 182
Elected  112
Death  113
Refuses Cabinet position to
Mr. Payne  91, 179
McKinley National Memorial As
sociation  54
McLeod, John D  50, 173
Tribute by  51
Mehan, William  165
Members of Congress, charges
concerning  142
Merriam, William R  92, 93, 96, 97
Tribute by  94
Merriman, Charles W  loi
Merritt, John A  127, 130
And the Tulloch charges  128
Metcalf, Victor H., tribute by  158
At funeral  172, 173
Michener, Louis T  127
Miller, Benjamin K  50
Miller, Benjamin K., Jr  69
Miller, George P  173
Milwaukee, early reference to.... 16
Description of  17
Democratic  24
To be made Republican. . .25, 40
Accomplished  43, 44
Street railways in  56
Mr. Payne's last visit to  161
Milwaukee and Northern Rail
road Co., officer of  52
Milwaukee and Wauwatosa Motor
Railway Co  58
Milwaukee City Railroad Company 56
Milwaukee Club dinner  35
Milwaukee-Downer College, gift
to  54
Milwaukee Electric Railway Com
pany  56
Milwaukee Electric Railway and
Light Company, The. .58, 78
Milwaukee Gas Light Company,
director of  52
Milwaukee Journal  109

Index

191

Milwaukee Sentinel, upon Mr.
Whitney  167
Milwaukee Street Railway Com
pany  57, 58
Milwaukee Telephone Co  50
Minneapolis Tribune, tribute by. .175
Minnesota for sound money  94
Minocqua, interests there  49
Mitchell, John L  91
Mobile Weekly Press as to unequal
representation  103
Moody, William H., tribute by... 137
Morris, Howard  173
Morton, Josiah L., friend  16, 19
Morton, Paul, tribute by  158
At funeral  172, 173
Mount Holyoke, dinner there  16
Mount Tom  164
Mulvane, David W  174
Munson, Oliver G  loi
National Republican Committee,
see Republican
National Republican Convention,
see Republican
Nazro, John  23
Negroes and unequal representa
tion  103
New, Harry S., tribute by  89
On National Committee  112
At funeral  174
New York, selection of sites for
post offices in  117
New York Evening Post, on
Payne's urging of Roose
velt's nomination  in
New York Press, telegram to, as
to unequal representa
tion  102, 113
New York Sun, and Elihu Root
for vice-president  107
New York Tribune and _ Elihu
Root for vice-persident. .107
On Roosevelt and vice-presi
dency  Ill
And the "Amended List"  149
Nicholson, Isaac L  55
At funeral  I73
North Adams  16, 162
North American Company  56, 57
Northampton  9
Last visit to  164
North Milwaukee Investment
Company  52
Northern Pacific Railroad Com
pany  79, 80

Injunctions in receivership of 81
Raids by Coxeyites  83
Nowell, Winslow A.. 18, 24, 173, 174
Oakes, Thomas F  80, 85
Oakman, Walter G  56
Old Settlers' Club, Milwaukee. . . 53
One Hundred, Committee of  42
O'Neil, Edward  17
Osborne, William M  96
Osier, William, M.D  166
Overstreet, Jesse, correspondence
between, and Mr. Payne
144, 145, 146, 147, 149
Remarks in House on omitted
letter  153
Owen, David C  173
Pabst, Gustav G  173
Packard, L. M  5
Page, John H  84
Pain, Paine, see Payne,
Pall-bearers  173
Panama, post offices on canal zone
at  116
Parcels post conventions  115
Parker, Alton B  85
Patent medicines and the mails. . .116
Paul, George H  28
Payne, Frederick W., brother. . .4, 24
Payne, H. C. and company  19
Payne, Henry Clay, birth  3
School in Shelburne Falls... 4, 5
Early interest in elections and
newspapers  6
School at Powers Institute... 7
Youthful character  8, 10
In Northampton  9
Letter urging enlistment  10
Interest in War for Union. .. 10
Unable to enlist  11
Dinner to, at Mount Holyoke. 16
Removal to Milwaukee. .. .16, 17
Early business there  18, 25
Residences there  19
His marriage  20
A republican in politics  24
Desires to make Milwaukee
republican  25
Success  43
Tender of Milwaukee post
office  25, 26
As postmaster  27
Removal  .27, 28, 47
Addresses upon leaving office. 29
Dinner to, at Milwaukee Club 35
Milwaukee made republican. . 40

192

Henry Clay Payne : A Life

Various elections participated
in  41
Secretary of Committee of
One Hundred  42
Secretary of State Central
Committee  42
As a campaigner. . .36, 43, 44, 45
In business in Northern Wis
consin  48
In telephone business  50
Officer of various bodies  52
Liberality of  55
Street railways, interest in 56, 57
As receiver of street railroad. 58
As officer of electric road. ... 59
Responsibility in connection
with roads  59, 62
His management of strike. ... 60
Animosity towards  62
Selected site for Terminal
building  64
Assists litigation against reduc
tion of fares  64
And against forfeiture of
franchises  66
And concerning franchise ex
tension  68
As receiver of Northern Pa
cific Railroad Company. . 79
Injunctions obtained in re
ceivership  81
Resignation as receiver  85
Delegate in 1888 to Republi
can National Convention. 86
Same in 1892  87
Same in 1896  88
Same in 1900  109
Urged to be chairman of Na
tional Committee  88
Declined, and became vice-
chairman  88
Management of campaign of
1^6  89
Mentioned for Cabinet posi
tion  90, 91
Tendered a foreign mission. . 91
Mentioned as United States
Senator  91
Insists on gold plank in Saint
Louis platform  92
His version of history of the
gold plank  96
Friendship for Senator
Spooner  99
And unequal representation in
conventions  loi

For Elihu Root for vice-presi
dent  107
For Theodore Roosevelt for
vice-president  108
Roosevelt protests against re
moval of, from National
Committee  109
Speech by, in Philadelphia,
1900  no
Pressed to be candidate for
vice-president  no
Urges Roosevelt for vice-
presidency at Philadel
phia  Ill
Management of campaign of
1900  112
Trip to Europe, 1901  113
Failing health. . .113, 125, 152, 160
Appointed Postmaster-Gen
eral  114
Residence in Washington. .. .114
Reforms by as Postmaster-
General  115
And the Spoils system  119
Investigation of Post Office
Department  123
Trip to West Indies  126, 137
Attacked as opposed to inves
tigation  126
And James N. Tyner. .. .125, 127
And the Tulloch charges .... 128
Letter from President to, on
the investigation  136
And charges conceming Con
gressmen  142, 154
Correspondence of, with Mr.
Overstreet .... 144, 145, 146,
^  ^ 147, 149
Criticised by Congressmen. ..152
Interview of, with Mr. Whit
ney  153
And Select Committee on Re
lations of Members  154
Trip to Galveston, Texas.... 155
At Republican National Con
vention, 1904  161
Gavel presented to  161
Trip to Portland and Boston. 161
Last visit to New England. . .162
His last illness  165
His last words  167
His death  168
Bulletin of death  168
Proclamations upon death of. 169
Funeral  171
As a politician  175

Index

193

His character in brief  184
His epitaph  185
Payne, Imogene, sister  3, 17
Visit to....  162
Journey with  162
Payne, Joseph, ancestor  2
Payne, Joseph R., ancestor  i, 2
Payne, Lydia V., wife, marriage
and early illness  20
Present at induction into Cab
inet  114
At her husband's last illness. .167
Payne, Mary Eliza, sister  4
Payne, Moses, ancestor  I, 54
Payne, Orrin P., father  3
Character and death  4
Payne, Samuel, ancestor  i
Payne, Stephen, ancestor  i, 2, 54
Peck, George R  I74
Peck, George W  87
Peirce, Charles L  23, 24
Peirce, Clarence E  loi
Pennsylvania Historical Society. . 53
Perry, R. Ross  127
Petley, James  58
Pfister, Charles F  50, 5.5, 69, I73
Physicians in post offices abolished 116
Pierce, Solon W  loi
Piatt, Thomas C  95, 176, 180
Politician, Mr. Payne as a 135, 141, 175
"Politician of the Cabinet"  183
Portor, Elijah  2
Porter, Mr. and Mrs  163
Postage stamp, head of woman on 116
Identical pieces mailed with
out  ...116
Postal card, unused, redemption
of, when soiled  116
Postal convention, with Cuba. ...115
Postal service  115
Postmaster-General, mentioned for 90
Appointment as  114
Improvements by Mr. Payne
as  115, 121
Investigation of Department. .123
Postmaster of Milwaukee  27
Removal by President Cleve
land  27, 47
Post Office, Milwaukee  17
Tendered Mr. Payne  25
Retendered and accepted  26
Under Mr. Payne  27
Statistics and progress of  28
Farewell addresses upon leav
ing  29

Placed under Civil Service
rules  33
Post Office, Shelburne Falls  S
Post Offices, tone of, improved. ..116
Powers, Edward Epps  7
Powers Institute  7
Pratt, Edward F., partner  18
Presidential conventions, unequal
representation in  IGI
Presidential election. Grant and
Greeley  24, 25
Hayes and Tilden  41
Garfield and Hancock  43
Cleveland and Blaine  47
Harrison and Cleveland  86
Cleveland and Harrison  87
McKinley and Bryan  88, 89
McKinley and Bryan, 1900. . .
107, 112
Roosevelt and Fairbanks  161
Procter, John R., on Mr. Payne
and civil service  119
And the Tulloch charges  128
Proctor, Redfield  95, 96
Tribute by  93
Public Library, Milwaukee  18, 23
Public Service Building  64
Putnam, Henry C  loi
Quarles, Joseph V  I73
Quay, Matthew S  105, 176, 180
Ray, Charles  50
Ray, George H  loi
Receiver of Street Railway  .. 58
Receiver of Northern Pacific Rail
road Company  79
Resignation as  85
Representation, unequal  lOI
Republican National Committee,
member of... 44, 88, 112, 161
Attempt to exclude him from 88, 109
Becomes acting chairman of. .160
Chairman  161
Republican National Convention
in 1876  178, 180
In 1880  43, 178, 180, 182
In 1884  180, 182
In 1888  86, 181, 182
In 1892  87, 178, 182
In 1896  88, 182
In 1900  107, 109, 112
In 1904  160, i6r
Review of Reviews, as to unequal
representation  lOS
As to rural free delivery  115
As to Mr. Bristow  I39

194

Henry Clay Payne: A Life

Reynolds, John F  loi
Rixey, Presley M., M. D  i66, i68
Robb, Charles H., appointed assis
tant Attorney-General.. . . 127
Tribute by  138
Roehr, Julius E  loi
Roosevelt, Theodore  53, 54
For vice-president  108
Mr. Payne for  108
Protests against Mr. Payne's
removal from National
Committee  109
Nomination of, for vice-presi
dent  Ill
Becomes president  113
Appoints Mr. Payne in Cab
inet  114, 180
And investigation of post
office  124, 125
Letter of, to Mr. Payne, on
the investigation  136
At Shelburne Falls  164
And last illness of Mr. Payne, 166, 168
Proclamation by, on Mr.
Payne's death  169
At funeral  171
And Mr. Payne as friends. ..183
Roosevelt, Mrs. Theodore  114
And last illness of Mr. Payne 166
At funeral  171
Root, Elihu, for vice-president. ..107
At National Convention, 1904, 161
Rose, David S  69
Proclamation by, upon Mr.
Payne's death  170
Ross, Worth G  156, 161
'Tribute by  156
Rouse, Henry C  80, 85
Runge, Carl  69
Rural free delivery system  115
Rusk, Jeremiah M  37
Rutherford, Gilbert  loi
Saint Louis platform and the gold
plank  91
Sanderson, Edward  35, 42, 46
Sanger, Casper M  42
Sawyer, Philetus. 35, 177, 178, 179, 181
Schley, Charles  I73
Schneider, R. B  I74
Scott, Nathan B  112, 160, 183
Tribute of  I39
Seaman, William H  65
Select Committee on Relations of
Members  152, 154

Senator, mentioned as candidate
for  91
Shallenberger, William S...n4, 173
Shaughnessy, Sir Thomas G., trib
ute by  38
Shaw, Leslie M  117
Tribute by  157
Shelburne Falls described  3
Residence at  4
Regard for  7
Last visit to  163
President Roosevelt at  164
Sheldon, George R  58, 69
Shepherd, Henry  n
Sherwin, F. R., employer  9, 16
Sherwin, Nowell and Pratt  17
Shirkshire  3
Sholes, Louis  24
Shoup, George L  1 12
Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Albert E...164
Smith, Charles E., resigns from
Cabinet  114
And post office investigation. .128
And Tulloch charges. .. .128, 130
Smith, Henry Babington, upon
Mr. Payne's death  170
Smith, Rev. Roland Cotton, D. D..166
Officiates at funeral  171
Smith, William E  42
Snow, Jabez  i
Society of Colonial Wars, Wis
consin  54
Southern States in Republican
conventions and elec
tions  102, 113
Spence, Thomas W  52
Spofford, Charles A., tribute by. . 75
Spoils system  31, 45, 119
Spooner, John C...177, 178, 179, 181
Tribute by  37
Candidate for Governor  87
Re-election to Senate  99
Friendship for Mr. Payne .... 99
Re-election charged to bribery 99
Speech in Senate on Mr. Payne,
119, 137, 155
On post office investigation. .137
At funeral  174
Stanley, Charles A  loi
Stanley, Edward George Villiers,
Lord, upon Mr. Payne's
death  170
Stark, Charles G  50
State Central Committee  42, 47

Index

195

State Historical Society of Wiscon
sin  53
Gift of his cabinet chair to. . . 53
Stebbins, DeWayne  loi
Stewart, Graeme  174
Stockholders, employes as  59
Stoddard and Lincoln  10
Stone, Jesse  loi
Stone, Melville E  92, 93, 95
Stone lions for Lake Park, Mil
waukee  54
Stout, James H- • ¦ •.  loi
Street railways in Milwaukee 
17, 56, 57
Strike on Milwaukee street rail
way line  60, 74, 75, 77
Sunderland  164
Taylor, George W  loi
Taylor, Horace A  37, 47
Taylor, William R  40
Telephone, early experiments.... 50
"Tenth Massachusetts regiment 10, 163, 165
Terminal station, Milwaukee  64
Thayer, Lyman W  lOI
Third ward fire, Milwaukee  55
TThomas, Elias  161
Thomas, John W  loi
Thomas, Mary Ware  20
Thompson, Henry M  loi
Tilden, Samuel J  41
Tillman, Benjamin R  82
Timber enterprises  49
"Timme, Ernest G  loi
Tomahawk, interests at  48
Townsend, Akerley  24
Tracewell, Robert J. . . .   130
Transfers on railways in Milwau
kee  71
Treat, Nathaniel B  loi
Troy  17
Trae, John M  loi
Tulloch, Seymour W  127
Receives note from Mr.
Payne  128
His reply  129
Interview with Mr. Bristow. .129
"Tulloch charges, the". . . 127, 129, 131
Turner's Falls  165
Tsmer, James N., resignation of,
asked  125
Removal of papers of — 127, 132
Death of  132
"Unappreciated type, an"  I75
Unequal representation in presi
dential conventions  loi

Upton, Ellsworth  132
Vance, David  24, 173
Vanderlip, Frank A  130
Van Dyke, Lydia Wood, wife .... 20
See Payne, Lydia V.
Van Dyke, Richard  20
Van Dyke and Malaby  20
Veasey, Ellen, ancestor  I
Vice-president, pressed as candi
date for  no
Vilas, William F., tribute by  38
Villard, Henry  53, 57, 58, 68, 73
Villiers, Edward George, Lord
Stanley, on Mr. Payne's
death  170
Voters, how to win  36, 43
Wallber, Emil, candidacy for
mayor  45
Walker, George H  17
Wall, Edward C  58
Tribute by  37
War for the Union, interest in. .10, 12
Ward, Lafayette, teacher  7
Warner, John, employer  9
Washington Avenue, Milwaukee,
litigation concerning
tracks on  66
Washington, Mr. Payne's resi
dence in  114
Washington Post, Mr. Payne's
statement in, as to investi
gation  126
And the Tulloch charges  128
On the Post Office investiga
tion  134
Waters, Charles M  143
Weil, Benjamin M  26
Welch, Charles H  loi
Welton, Chauncey B  loi
West, Edward K., tribute by  41
West, Henry H  23
West, Samuel C  27
West Indies, trip to  126, 137
West Side Railroad Company. .56, 57
Wetmore, Charles W  69
Whelan, John W  loi
Wheeler, William G  loi
Whitcomb, Henry F  50, I73
Whitefish Bay Railroad Com
pany  56, SS
Whitehead, John M  loi
Whitney, Francis H., private sec
retary, Milwaukee  114
Same in Washington  114
As to "hot air" statement  129

196

Henry Clay Payne: A Life

As to errors in report of Post
Office Committee of
House  153
At death of Mr. Payne. . . 167, 169
At funeral  172
Whitney, Leroy C  173
Wight, William W  49
Wiley, Ariosto A., tribute by  15
Willett, James P  127
Wilson, James, tribute by  158
At funeral  172, 173
Wilson, William L  118
Winkler, Frederick C  34
Tribute by  45
Winston, P. B  79
Wipperman, Herman C  loi

Wisconsin for sound money  94
Wisconsin Central Railroad Com
pany  79
Wisconsin Telephone Company. . 50
Mr. Payne as officer of . . . .50, 51
Withee, Levi  loi
Wolff, George W  loi
Woman's head on postage stamp. .116
Woodworth, Dempster W  loi
Wright, C. B. B  173
Wylie, George  loi
Wyman, Charles D  63
Tribute by  76
Young Men's Association elections 22
Young Men's Republican Club. . .
24, 25, 35, 40

YALE UNIVERSITY

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