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“To Make the Wheels Revolve We Must Have Grease”: Barrel Politics in the Gilded Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2009

Mark Wahlgren Summers
Mark Wahlgren Summers
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky
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Extract

It was a typical election year in Philadelphia. The nation's freedom lay at peril, and everything depended on thousands of day laborers, up for sale at one to five dollars apiece on election day. That, at any rate, was what one observer warned Republicans in 1868. “Whichever party is the most plentifully supplied with the ‘root’ will command the vote of these honest ‘Bones and Sinews,’ in spite of fate!” he predicted. “The democracy for once, are in funds to repletion, & they intend to ‘win or die’!”

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Policy History , Volume 14 , Issue 1: Special Issue: Money and Politics , January 2002 , pp. 49 - 72
Copyright
Copyright © The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. 2002

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References

Notes

1. Z. Fuller to Thomas Jenckes, 28 August 1868, Thomas Jenckes MSS, Library of Congress.

2. Puck, 23 January 1889.

3. Henry Ward to Samuel J. Randall, 12 September 1884, Samuel J. Randall MSS, University of Pennsylvania Library; New York Times, 2 October 1892. For other wild numbers, see Bangor Commercial, 4 September 1884 (which reported allegations of two packages of $50,000 sent to Maine by Democrats); Cincinnati Enquirer, 29 September 1884; Hartford Times, 20 October, 4 November 1884; New York Times, 25 August 1872.

4. For one of the wilder “British gold” stories, see Bangor Whig and Courier, 20 November 1884.

5. D. W. Voyles to William E. Chandler, 12 September, 20 October 1868, William E. Chandler MSS, Library of Congress; Fuller to Thomas Jenckes, 11 July 1868, Thomas Jenckes MSS, Library of Congress; George C. Tichenor to John Sherman, 18 September 1880, John Sherman MSS, Library of Congress. Former Senator William Chandler, who had looked over the memorandum books for 1876, knew for a fact that the talk of massive slush funds on the Republican side was wrong. The national committee had spent no more than $150,000 that year, including the legal expenses for the election dispute that followed. But he still believed fabulous tales about the opposition, which, according to his calculation, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. William E. Chandler to Whitelaw Reid, 1 November 1904, Whitelaw Reid MSS, Library of Congress.

6. Leon Burr Richardson, William E. Chandler, Republican (New York, 1940), 96–98; William E. Chandler to Claflin, 16, 21 December, 21 November 1868, 1 January 1869, William C. Claflin MSS, Hayes Presidential Center Library, Fremont. For much higher estimates, see New York Sun, 17 November 1888. On the normal cost of a Republican campaign in Ohio ($25,000, and in a presidential year, ideally, $40,000)—and the difficulty raising even that amount—see Charles Foster to Lewis Seasongood, 8 July 1880, Charles Foster Letterbooks, Ohio Historical Society.

7. Katz, Irving, August Belmont: A Political Biography (New York, 1968), 180–182.Google Scholar

8. For such appeals from Indiana, see George Boutwell, telegram to Wlliam C. Claflin, 2 October 1868, Claflin MSS.

9. James A. Briggs to William C. Claflin, 8 September 1868, Claflin MSS; on Indiana in 1872, see Edwin Morgan to William C. Claflin, 17, 25 September 1872, Claflin MSS; Morgan to Oliver P. Morton, 30 August, 25 September 1872, Edwin D. Morgan MSS, New York State Library; On Pennsylvania in 1872, see Edwin Morgan to William C. Claflin, 21, 25, 27 September, 5 October (telegram), 1872, William E. Chandler to Claflin, 28 August, 24, 28 September (wire), 29, 1872, Morgan and Chandler to Claflin, 26 September 1872 (wire), Russell Errett to Morgan, 13 September 1872, Claflin MSS; Edwin D. Morgan to Jay Cooke, 30 October 1872, Jay Cooke MSS, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

10. James G. Blaine to Elihu Washburne, 11 July 1868, John L. Stearns to Washburne, 18 June 1868, Elihu Washburne MSS, Library of Congress; Edwin Morgan to William C. Claflin, 17 August 1872, Claflin MSS. For the $20,000 figure, see Sam Ward to Manton Marble, 13 August 1868, Manton Marble MSS, Library of Congress; for the $15,000 total, see James G. Blaine to Edwin D. Morgan, 10 August 1872, Morgan MSS.

11. John M. Morris to William C. Claflin, 23 September, 20 October 1868, For the southern numbers in 1868, see T. L. Tullock to William C. Claflin, 29 October 1868, William C. Claflin MSS; Tullock to William E. Chandler, 18 September, 13 October 1868, Tullock to Claflin, 30 October 1868, M. A. Southworth to Chandler, 21 October 1868, Chandler MSS.

12. Thomas L. Tullock to William E. Chandler, 13 October 1868, Tullock to Claflin, 30 October 1868, Chandler MSS; William E. Chandler to William C. Claflin, 12 November 1872, Claflin MSS. Tullock's letter suggests that the full $5,000 may not have been delivered. For the later neglect of the South, see A. H. Pettibone to Edward McPherson, 18 September 1884, McPherson MSS. For Indiana's neglect, once it stopped being an “October state,” see Marcus, Robert D., Grand Old Party: Political Structure in the Gilded Age, 1880–1896 (New York, 1971), 96.Google Scholar For a November state's neglect, see Edwin D. Morgan to O. C. Moore, 22 October 1872, Morgan MSS.

13. On congressional races, see William E. Chandler to Jay Cooke, 22 September 1868, Jay Cooke MSS; Alphonso Hart to Edward McPherson, 28 August 1884, A. C. White to McPherson, 8 September 1884, McPherson MSS; Edward Bragg to William Vilas, William Vilas MSS, State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

14. As note, for example, A. H. Conner to William E. Chandler, 17 October 1868, Chandler MSS; Marcus, Grand Old Party, 48–49; James G. Blaine to Edwin D. Morgan, 10 August 1872, Morgan MSS.

15. Edwin D. Morgan to Henry D. Cooke, 4 October 1872, Morgan MSS; Edward McPherson to John Roach, 2 February 1885, McPherson MSS.

16. William E. Chandler to William C. Claflin, 20 November 1868, Claflin MSS.

17. Detroit Free Press, 17 September 1886; Cincinnati Enquirer, 1 February 1881; Joseph R. Hawley to Edwin D. Morgan, 1 September 1872, Morgan MSS; Benjamin F. Whittemore to William Claflin, 7 September 1868, A. J. Wright to J. M. S. Williams, 16 December 1868, Claflin MSS.

18. Katz, August Belmont, 176–77; J. B. Chaffee to Edward McPherson, 8 October 1884, McPherson MSS; J. C. F. Beyland to William E. Chandler, 30 August 1884, Chandler MSS; New York Times, 24 August 1884 (humor magazine). On the Cincinnati German press, see Richardson, William E. Chandler, 148–49; Edwin Morgan to William C. Claflin, 21, 23, 27 September 1872, Claflin MSS; Cincinnati Gazette, 14, 30 September, 2 October 1872.

19. John W. Forney to William Claflin, 20 August 1871; R. M. Kelly to William Claflin, 7 August 1871, Claflin MSS.

20. For other southern newspapers seeking Republican national committee funding, see John M. Morris to Claflin, 23 September, 20 October, 15 December 1868, 20 January, 16 February 1869, William E. Chandler to Claflin, 19 December 1868 (Charleston Republican); Stewart L. Woodford to Claflin, 24 November 1868, A. P. Ketchum to John E. Hayes, 28 April 1866, E. W. Clark, Jay Cooke et al., subscription agreement, 21 September 1866 (Savannah National Republican); William E. Chandler to Claflin, 22 January 1870, James J. S. Spelman to Claflin, 23 February 1869, Claflin MSS.

21. New York Herald, 1 November 1882, 2 November 1884; New York Sun, 31 October 1886.

22. Thomas M. Kelly to Samuel J. Randall, 18 October 1880, Randall MSS (tax receipts); New York Standard, 3 November 1888 (tax receipts); F. A. Healy to Wendell Anderson, 11 October 1876, Wendell Anderson MSS, State Historical Society of Wisconsin; Charles St. J. Collis to Elihu Washburne, 13 November 1868, Washburne MSS (naturalization papers).

23. New York Standard, 10 April 1888. For vote-buying in Indiana in 1888, see Walter Q. Gresham to Noble C. Butler, 30 October 1888, Noble C. Butler MSS, Indiana Historical Society.

24. A Pennsylvanian, “The Ills of Pennsylvania,” Atlantic, 88 (October 1901), 562; U. S. Trammell to John C. Houk, 29 October 1894, Houk Family MSS, McClung Library, Knoxville.

25. Edgar J. Levey, “An Election in New York,” North American Review 145 (December 1887): 681; New York Standard (21 April 1888); Henry George, “Money in Elections,” North American Review 136 (February 1883): 202; New York Sun, 25 November 1888; Thomas E. Will, “Political Corruption: How Best Oppose?” Arena 10 (November 1894): 848; David A. Biggs to John C. Houk, 22 October 1894, L. R. Carden to John C. Houk, 28 October 1894, Houk Family MSS; “M. C.,” Nation, 18 November 1880; New York Sun, 11 December 1884; S. B. Chase to Luman H. Weller, 6 November 1884, W. R. Mead to Weller, 12 November 1884, Luman H. Weller MSS, State Historical Society of Wisconsin; Concord Labor Reform Dispatch, 11 February 1870.

26. Richardson, William E. Chandler, 112–13; James A. Briggs to William C. Claflin, 8 September 1868, Carl Schurz to Claflin, 2 August 1868, Claflin MSS.

27. John M. Forbes to William C. Claflin, 2, 23 August, 17, 24 September 1872, William E. Chandler to William C. Claflin, 24 September 1872, Claflin MSS; George F. Dawson to John A. Logan, 8 October 1884, John A. Logan MSS, Library of Congress. The idea of assessing all government bondholders and national banks had been around at least since 1868. See Richardson, William E. Chandler, 97–98.

28. For the balkiness of corporations, see, for instance, William E. Chandler to Whitelaw Reid, 1 November 1904, Whitelaw Reid MSS, Library of Congress. For contributions, all individual, see A. T. Stewart to William C. Claflin, 29 September 1868, William E. Chandler list of subscriptions into the Republican national committee, n.d., but clearly 1868, Claflin MSS; William R. Grace to R. B. Minturn, 8 October 1884, Grace to J. S. Coleman, 8 October 1884, William R. Grace MSS, Columbia University.

29. James S. Clarkson to James G. Blaine, 26 June 1884, James G. Blaine MSS, Library of Congress; P. E. Chapin to Arthur L. Conger, 5 October 1885, Arthur L. Conger MSS, Hayes Presidential Center Library.

30. James A. Kehl, Boss Rule in the Gilded Age: Matt Quay of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, 1981), 98; James G. Blaine to Whitelaw Reid, 26 January 1888, Reid MSS; for other private complaints, see A. London Sowdue to Edward McPherson, 27 August 1884, Edward McPherson MSS, Library of Congress.

31. John Sherman to Arthur L. Conger, 15 September, 15 December 1885, Asa S. Bushnell to Conger, 16, 18 September 1885, Conger MSS.

32. Samuel Thomas to Arthur L. Conger, 24 September 1885, C. W. Moulton to Conger, 3 October 1885, W. S. King to Conger, 21 September 1885, Hussey, Howe & Company to Conger, 23 September 1885, William G. Park to Conger, 23 September 1885, James M. Swank to Conger, 23 September, 6 October 1885, Conger MSS.

33. Marcus, Grand Old Party, 66–67, 134–36.

34. Mark D. Hirsch, William C. Whitney, Modern Warwick (New York, 1948), 238–39. For Whitney's contributions in 1884, see Charles J. Canda to William C. Whitney, 4, 24, 31 October, 11 November 1884, William C. Whitney MSS, Library of Congress.

35. Richardson, William E. Chandler, 98–100; Dorman B. Eaton, “Political Assessments,” North American Review 135 (September 1882): 197–201; Indianapolis News, 3 November 1884.

36. Marcus, Grand Old Party, 86–87, 178–79; Whitelaw Reid to James G. Blaine, 18 October 1884, Reid MSS; Joseph Cannon to Edward McPherson, 29 July 1884, Edward McPherson MSS; New York Evening Post, 15 September 1884; Bangor Commercial, 25 August 1884; James S. Clarkson to E. Halford, 23 April 1892, Benjamin Harrison MSS, Library of Congress.

37. New York Times, 24 August, 27 September 1884; Ivins, Machine Politics, 55; “A Congressman's Reveries,” New York Sun, 18 November 1888.

38. Ivins, Machine Politics, 54–58, 65–67; New York Standard, 20 October 1888, 5 January 1889; “A Millionaire Senate,” Harper's Weekly, 30 November 1889, 951.

39. A. T. Glaze to William A. Anderson, 17 June 1876, Anderson MSS; Cincinnati Enquirer, 22 June 1876; Eugene Casserly to Manton Marble, 26 November 1874, S. L. M. Barlow to Marble, 16 August 1886, Marble MSS.

40. Alexander I. P. Garesche to Rodmond Gibbons, 14 November 1879, Thomas F. Bayard MSS, Library of Congress; S. L. M. Barlow to Manton Marble, 16 August 1886, Marble MSS; Puck, 7 April 1880, 70 (quote); 12 May 1880, 162; 26 May 1880, 200.

41. Irish World and American Industrial Liberator, 7 August 1880; Chattanooga Daily Times, 16 October 1880; Puck, 22 September 1880, 34; 13 October 1880, 84.

42. Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of David Wilber,51st Cong., 1st sess.(Washington, D.C.,1890),3–4, 8Google Scholar; New York Herald, 9, 19 October 1886; Walter H. Bunn to Daniel Lamont, 21 October 1886, Grover Cleveland MSS, Library of Congress; New York Times, 7 October 1888.

43. Katz, August Belmont, 175–77; National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 2:206–7.

44. “Rhode Island,” Harper's Weekly, 21 April 1888, 278; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 10 March 1887.

45. John A. McMahon to Samuel J. Randall, 12 September 1880, Randall MSS; Cincinnati Enquirer, 22, 30 July, 7 August 1880.

46. Chicago Tribune, 9 July 1884.

47. “A Free Vote for New York,” Harper's Weekly, 26 May 1888, 371; Puck, 2 April 1884, 66.

48. J. J. Faran to William Allen, 27 October 1876, William Allen MSS, Library of Congress; Daniel Manning to Manton Marble, 9 March 1886, Marble MSS; Philadephia Record, 15 June, 12 July 1886, 21 September 1891 (obituary); Rathgeber, Lewis R., “The Democratic Party in Pennsylvania, 1880–1896,” Ph.D. diss., University of Pittsburgh, 1885, 133.Google Scholar

49. Philadelphia Record, 8, 11, 14 August 1886; Rathgeber, “Democratic Party in Pennsylvania,” 144.

50. John Swinton's Paper, 25 May, 1 June, 12 July 1884, 14 June 1885.

51. George, Henry, “Money in Elections,” North American Review 136 (02 1883): 206–209.Google Scholar