LIFE AND SPEECHES 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES WARREN FAIRBANKS. 
 
THE LIFE AND SPEECHES 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. CHARLES WARREN FAIRBANKS 
 
 REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY SMITH 
 
 Author of History of Indian* 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
 V\M. B BUHFORD, PRINTER AND PUBLISHER 
 1904 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE 
 
 I. ANCESTRY AND BOYHOOD 7 
 
 II. SUCCESS AS A LAWYER 19 
 
 III. HE ENTERS POLITICS 25 
 
 IV. ENTERS NATIONAL POLITICS 42 
 
 V. His SERVICES TO His PARTY 68 
 
 VI. His SERVICES TO His PARTY (Continued) 77 
 
 VII. HE ENTERS THE SENATE 97 
 
 VIH. THE WAR WITH SPAIN 116 
 
 IX. THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FLAG 136 
 
 X. THE JOINT HIGH COMMISSION 142 
 
 XI. THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT MCKINLEY. . 154 
 
 XH. OTHER SERVICES IN THE SENATE 162 
 
 XHL MISCELLANEOUS SPEECHES 173 
 
 XIV. MR. FAIRBANKS AND ORGANIZED LABOR 182 
 
 XV. His HOME LIFE 188 
 
 XVI. NOMINATED FOR VICE-PRESIDENT 199 
 
 XVH. How HE WAS RECEIVED AT HOME 216 
 
 XVIH. OFFICIALLY NOTIFIED OF His NOMINATION 232 
 
 XIX. WHAT Is SAID OF HIM . . .243 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANCESTRY AND BOYHOOD. 
 
 A N" industrious and toiling farmer s boy. 
 * ^ A hardworking college student. 
 
 An industrious press reporter. 
 
 A successful lawyer. 
 
 A safe and popular politician. 
 
 An able and distinguished Senator. 
 
 A wise and conscientious statesman. 
 
 The unanimous choice of a great political party 
 for the second office in the nation. 
 
 Such, in brief, is the story of the life and achieve 
 ments of Charles Warren Fairbanks. 
 
 Fifty-two years of active, busy life; no idle mo 
 ments ; no time for vacations ; no time to waste. Al 
 ways industrious, always a student, in his achieve 
 ments he has again emphasized the possibilities that 
 are before every American boy. 
 
 On the farm he gave the same earnest and careful 
 labor he exhibited in pursuing his studies in college, 
 to his work as a lawyer, to his duties in the Senate. 
 
 Never a self-seeker, his successes and his honors 
 have come to him because of his native ability, his 
 
 .-7. 
 
8; ; JF&IKBANKS 
 
 industry, and Jiis conscientious discharge of every 
 duty, whether of private or public life. 
 
 He has not been without ambition, but his ambi 
 tion has been to do the very best he could in every 
 thing, under the circumstances surrounding him. In 
 school and in college he was ambitious to utilize every 
 moment and gather all the knowledge he could in the 
 time allotted to him. As a press reporter he was am 
 bitious to give the best work possible; as a lawyer, 
 to win an honorable success; as a politician, to aid 
 his party by giving to the public through his speeches 
 a just, fair-minded and honest exposition of public 
 policy. In the Senate his ambition has been to give 
 the country intelligent and enlightened service. 
 
 We live in a country where it is a delight to boast 
 of our "self-made" men. Napoleon once said he 
 was the first of his house, yet after all it is good to 
 have forefathers, to come from a long line of ancestry 
 distinguished for honesty and integrity, who lived 
 honorable and upright lives, winning and holding the 
 respect of their fellow-citizens. In one respect 
 Charles Warren Fairbanks is a self-made man that 
 is, he has succeeded in life without the adventitious 
 aid of wealth or of influential friends. He made his 
 opportunities, having himself laid the foundation en 
 abling him to seize on the opportunities when they 
 came, but he can count a long line of ancestors who 
 filled creditably the various stations in life to 
 they were called. 
 
FAIKBANKS 9 
 
 Among the yeomanry of England was a family of 
 Fayerbancke. For generations they had been farm 
 ers, growing up into a sturdy love of liberty. They 
 loved liberty of conscience as well as they loved civic 
 liberty. They believed in God, and in man s account 
 ability to God, and they became Puritans. With 
 others of that way of thinking the Fayerbanckes suf 
 fered persecutions under the dominance of the Es 
 tablished church. There came a time when the com 
 mons of England were forced into a struggle with the 
 King in defense of the liberties of the people. In 
 that struggle the Fayerbanckes bore honorable service 
 under Cromwell. 
 
 One day, only a few years after the town of Bos 
 ton, Massachusetts, was settled, a ship from England 
 came sailing into that port. Like all ships from 
 England in those days, it brought to these shores a 
 number of emigrants fleeing from the persecution at 
 home, and who were seeking a land where they might 
 serve God after the dictates of their own hearts. 
 Probably none then thought of this being a land of 
 liberty as we now view that term, but to them it was 
 to be a land of liberty of the conscience, far away 
 from the tyrannies and persecutions of an Estab 
 lished church. 
 
 Among those on board of the ship that came sailing 
 into Boston harbor on that day was Jonathan Fayer 
 bancke, who, with his wife and four sons and two 
 daughters, had left behind them the home that had 
 
10 FAIRBANKS 
 
 been that of their ancestors for generations, and had 
 turned their faces to this land of liberty of con 
 science. 
 
 Jonathan Fayerbancke, like all the Puritans of his 
 day, was a man of strong prejudices and of iron de 
 termination. There were some things about Boston 
 he did not like, and he became one of the pioneers 
 of the town of Dedham. The Puritans were professed 
 believers in liberty of conscience, but in practice the 
 liberty they permitted was only the liberty to believe 
 what the congregation decided. The sturdy and inde 
 pendent character of Jonathan Fayerbancke pre 
 vented him from giving this absolute and unques 
 tioning adhesion to the dictates of the congregation, 
 and for a time he was not in good fellowship with 
 his fellow-colonists. In the records of the church at 
 Dedham is to be found this entry : 
 
 "Jonathan Fayerbancke, notwithstanding he has 
 long stood off from ye church upon some scruples 
 about publike p fession of faith and ye covenant, yet 
 after divers loving conferences with him, he made 
 such a declaration of his faith and conversion to God 
 and p fession of subjection to ye ordinances of XT 
 in this Xyt he was readily and gladly received by ye 
 whole church 14d 6m. 1664." 
 
 Charles Warren Fairbanks is the ninth in descent 
 from the Jonathan Fayerbancke who settled in Ded 
 ham, Massachusetts, in 1636. He was born on a 
 farm in Union county, Ohio, May 11, 1852. His 
 
FAIRBANKS 11 
 
 father, Loriston Monroe Fairbanks, was a native of 
 Vermont, but before reaching manhood he removed 
 to Massachusetts, and at Ware, in that State, worked 
 in a woolen mill, but afterward emigrated to Union 
 county, Ohio, to engage in farming. He returned 
 to Ware and learned the wagon-making trade. He 
 then again removed to Union county to engage in 
 wagon-making, which he followed for several years. 
 After his removal to Union county Mr. Fairbanks 
 married Mary Adelaide Smith, whose family was 
 among the early pioneers of Union county. 
 
 It was in a log house that Charles Warren first 
 saw the light. Fifty years ago tilling the soil was 
 not so easy as it is in these days of improved farm 
 machinery, and the elder Fairbanks had a hard 
 time to meet the expenses of his increasing family. 
 As soon as he was old enough to assist in any way 
 with the work of the farm, young Charles was as 
 signed his tasks. The family was large, the land had 
 to be paid for and the forests cleared, that the land 
 might be cultivated, and the work had to be done 
 by members of the family, so the young lad was 
 trained to laborious service. There was little time 
 for idleness had he been disposed to idle. The re 
 turns from the crops were limited, and frugality 
 as well as toil was the lot of the family. 
 
 In no way was he different from the neighboring 
 farmer boys, unless it was in a strong desire to obtain 
 an education. In the evenings, and at other times 
 
12 FAIRBANKS 
 
 when released from the labors of the farm, he eagerly 
 pursued his quest for knowledge. He read all the 
 books he could obtain, and during the short sessions of 
 the country schools he attended them. He early deter 
 mined that if within the range of possibilities he 
 would secure a collegiate education. In this craving 
 for an education all the members of the family heart 
 ily sympathized, and his parents encouraged it. 
 Thus, at the very outset of his life young Charles met 
 with all the encouragement his family could give him 
 in his aspirations. 
 
 The biographer delights to relate stories of the 
 youthful life of his subject, and the people take an 
 equal delight in reading incidents of the boyhood life 
 of men who have become distinguished, on the theory, 
 it is supposed, that "the boy is father to the man," 
 but there are few incidents connected with the boy 
 hood life of Mr. Fairbanks that would interest the 
 reader. He was not bad, as boys go, nor was he espe 
 cially good. He indulged in no wild pranks or esca 
 pades. On the farm he was industrious, and at 
 school attentive to getting all he could from his books. 
 He was not precocious, nor did he give any evidence 
 of future greatness. Once only was his life in seri 
 ous danger. It occurred when he was about four 
 years of age. The carpenters were building a new 
 frame house for the family, and were using the old 
 log house as a workshop. Little Charles wandered 
 into the old house where they had been at work. The 
 
FAIRBANKS 13 
 
 floor was littered with shavings, and the lad thought 
 he would like to make a fire, lie opened the door 
 of the stove and undertook to thrust in a handful of 
 the shavings. It was only a flash when the fire ex 
 tended from the shavings he had thrust into the stove 
 to the pile on the floor, and the room was ablaze. 
 The flames were between him and the doorway, and 
 how he finally escaped has been something of a mys 
 tery. 
 
 He was much more than ordinarily daring and 
 courageous as a boy, and especially excelled in break 
 ing and managing horses, and became an expert 
 horseman while very young. On one occasion while 
 attempting to ride an unruly colt he met with a se 
 rious accident, resulting in his receiving a broken 
 arm. He persisted and conquered the colt. While 
 still carrying his broken arm in a sling, he con 
 trolled and stopped a runaway team. He was fond 
 of hunting and became an expert marksman, and is 
 today what would be called a good shot. He joined 
 in the neighborhood merrymakings, and was ever a 
 welcome addition to every company of young people. 
 
 But in one very important respect in his case the 
 boy was the father to the man, for his boyhood de 
 light in study followed him, and he became a stu 
 dious man. The sturdy integrity and honesty and 
 the habits of labor of the boy have characterized the 
 man. As a boy he learned to exert his best endeavors 
 in whatever he undertook, and as a man that has 
 
14 FAIRBANKS 
 
 been his unchanging rule. In the country school and 
 in college he put forth his best efforts to obtain knowl 
 edge; as the editor of his college paper he gave his 
 best thought to what he wrote; as a press reporter 
 he gave the same conscientious labor ; as a lawyer, his 
 clients got the best results of his studies, and in the 
 public service he has always given the best he could. 
 
 At the age of fifteen he saw his way to enter col 
 lege. He had saved up a few dollars, and with this 
 meager sum, backed by good health, a frugal train 
 ing and a determination to succeed, he was optimistic 
 enough to see the end. His parents were not poor, 
 but they were far from being rich, and it was a hard 
 struggle on the farm to make both ends meet, so but 
 little could be spared to send one of the boys to col 
 lege. But young Charles was not to be deterred by 
 any such difficulties. 
 
 Not far from his home was the Ohio Wesleyan 
 University, at Delaware, Ohio, and to that institution 
 he determined to go. A neighbor lad was equally 
 ambitious for a collegiate education, and he, too, was 
 poor. They conceived the idea of joining forces and 
 thus making the burden easier on each one. They 
 rented a small room near the University, and therein 
 placed what little furniture they needed. A part 
 of it, a table, a bookcase and a washstand, was made 
 by Charles himself on the farm. Their parents, as 
 often as they had opportunity, sent them supplies of 
 provisions. There they roomed, and there they 
 
FAIEBANKS 15 
 
 studied. They did their own cooking and took care of 
 their room. Their table was never luxuriously spread, 
 but it was always ample. Their expenses, all told, 
 amounted to only one dollar and fifty cents a week. 
 In these days of athletic sports and intercollegiate 
 excursions and fraternities young Fairbanks and his 
 roommate would make a poor showing among their 
 fellow-students, but perhaps it was best for them that 
 their college days were days of adversity. 
 
 The meager sum of one dollar and fifty cents nec 
 essary for the week s expenses had to be earned, and 
 Charles, who had learned on the farm the use of 
 tools, became a carpenter s assistant, or did odd jobs 
 of carpentering on Saturdays. He was not in college 
 for play, and soon became known as one of the hard 
 est working students in his class, yet when he found 
 time for relaxation no one joined in the sports of 
 the hour more heartily. His sunny temper and his 
 cheerful and obliging disposition soon made him one 
 of the most popular students in the University, while 
 his studious habits and correct deportment made him 
 a favorite with the faculty. He became one of the 
 three editors of the college paper, by election from 
 his class. 
 
 His college life, like that of his boyhood, was al 
 most wholly devoid of those incidents that make 
 readable stories in biography. In after life his class 
 mates always spoke of him in terms of respect and 
 affection, but could recall to mind little in the way of 
 
 (2) 
 
16 FAIRBANKS 
 
 incident. A short time ago the former room-mate of 
 the Senator recalled how on one occasion they cut 
 cordwood for a farmer, taking their pay in wood for 
 their winter fuel. 
 
 There is, however, one little story that illustrates 
 the trials he passed through. One day he and his 
 room-mate engaged in a friendly struggle, when the 
 only pair of trousers young Fairbanks possessed gave 
 way under the strain. The damage done was heyond 
 repair, and the procurement of new trousers became a 
 necessity. The young student went to a clothing 
 merchant and asked for credit, but it was denied him. 
 There was one other dealer in ready-made clothing in 
 the town, and to him Fairbanks at last applied. 
 Here he met with a different reception, and the credit 
 was readily extended. The merchant who was thus 
 willing to aid a struggling college student is still 
 doing business at Delaware, and since his old-time 
 debtor has become a prominent man in the nation he 
 frequently refers to the time when he trusted him for 
 a pair of trousers. 
 
 Hon. H. D. Crow, of Washington, was a college 
 mate of Mr. Fairbanks, and tells the following little 
 story that exemplifies one of the characteristics of 
 the Senator: 
 
 "Fairbanks went through college very young, grad 
 uating at twenty/ said Mr. Crow. "He was a tall 
 and slender youth, a good student and industrious, 
 but not regarded as particularly brilliant. Two 
 
FAIRBANKS 17 
 
 young fellows named Locke and Jones, had been ex 
 pelled from the college because they would not give 
 information concerning some of their comrades es 
 capades. The entire student body met one afternoon 
 to discuss the advisability of petitioning the faculty 
 to restore them to their classes. There was consider 
 able debate over the matter, which finally resolved 
 itself into a fraternity fight. 
 
 a The debate had been between seniors chiefly and 
 few of the juniors had ventured to express opinions. 
 As the last speaker sat down someone addressed the 
 chair from the ranks of the sophomores in the rear. 
 There was a clamor of protest from the seniors and 
 juniors. A tall, ungainly, awkward boy, with a voice 
 that had not matured, stood quietly waiting for the 
 recognition of the chair. His cool persistence won, 
 and the chair recognized Fairbanks. No one knew 
 what position he would take, for he was not a mem 
 ber of any of the fraternities. He made a plea in 
 favor of restoring the two expelled members, not be 
 cause they were or were not members of any society, 
 but because it would be a kindly thing to do. That 
 speech won the debate. The student body voted with 
 Fairbanks. 
 
 "Mr. Fairbanks, some time after his speech, be 
 came a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, 
 but he had no thought of doing so at the time he 
 made his speech." 
 
 One who was with him in college says that in the 
 
18 FAIKBANKS 
 
 social gatherings there was none more genial or more 
 welcome than young Fairbanks. "He was not only 
 genial," says this writer, "but he was full of spirits, 
 and in conversation most entertaining. His laugh 
 was infectious. Possibly he would not have been 
 called a brilliant student, but he certainly was re 
 markable for his grasp of all subjects and for his 
 capacity to absorb knowledge. This is demonstrated 
 by the fact that he crowded a six years 7 course into 
 five years. On nearly every occasion when the stu 
 dents wanted one to speak for them young Fairbanks 
 was chosen, he being regarded as a leader. At one 
 time there was a difference between the faculty and 
 the fraternities. Fairbanks was a member of the 
 Phi Gamma Delta, and although there were students 
 concerned who were both older in years and in length 
 of membership, he was the chosen spokesman of the 
 fraternities." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 SUCCESS AS A LAWYER. 
 
 VTOUNG FAIKBANKS entered college a raw, 
 * country boy. He was tall, slim and strong. In 
 1872, when he left, being graduated with high honors, 
 he was still tall and slim, but much of his shyness and 
 awkwardness had been polished away. He had im 
 proved in his style of speech, but he retained his seri 
 ous thoughts of life. He returned to the farm, but 
 only temporarily. He had other views for life. He 
 had stored his mind with the knowledge to be ob 
 tained from his schoolbooks, and from the teachings 
 of his preceptors, and he desired to use that knowl 
 edge in a broader field than was offered by a life on a 
 farm. The law was to be his chosen profession, and 
 he went to work patiently, earnestly and persistently 
 to prepare himself. He was through college but was 
 out of money, and to study law more money had to be 
 earned. -The late William Henry Smith, a brother 
 of his mother, was general manager of the Associ 
 ated Press, and through him young Fairbanks was 
 employed as an agent, first at Pittsburg and then 
 at Cleveland. Engaged in the arduous labors of a 
 press reporter, he applied the habits of industry he 
 
 -19- 
 
20 FAIKBANKS 
 
 had displayed in college, and utilized every possible 
 hour in continuing his law studies. He attended one 
 term at a law school in Cleveland, and in May, 1874, 
 was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of 
 Ohio. 
 
 At this time a strong temptation to enter politics 
 came to him, but he refused. He said : "The prac 
 tice of law is to be my life work, and I must first 
 make my place in the profession sure. When that 
 is done then I can afford to give my attention to 
 politics." He was well aware that the game of 
 politics is a fascinating one, and once entered 
 upon is hard to break away from, yet its pur 
 suit greatly militates against the fortunes of a 
 young man, although he may be successful from 
 a political standpoint, and he would not enter 
 the game. He did not ignore politics, however, but 
 carefully studied the great political problems of the 
 day, and when a campaign was on gave some of his 
 time to speechmaking for his chosen party. His first 
 political speech was made in Union county, Ohio, 
 before he was twenty-one years of age. 
 
 On October 6, 1874, after he was admitted to 
 the bar, and after he had determined to make his 
 future home in Indianapolis, he married Miss Cor 
 nelia Cole, who had been a student with him at Wes- 
 leyan University. When he was ready to enter the ac 
 tive practice of his profession the problem of where 
 to locate was a serious one. His observation had 
 
FAIRBANKS 21 
 
 taught him that the best chances for success were to 
 be found in a growing city. The bar in such a city 
 might be well supplied in numbers of aspiring law 
 yers, and in ability, but he remembered the old adage, 
 "there is always room at the top," so he determined 
 to cast in his lot and begin his struggles in some 
 growing city. The top was still far ahead of him, 
 but he determined to reach it if patient, persistent 
 work would take him there. After canvassing the 
 whole field he finally decided on Indianapolis. It 
 was a fortunate choice for him and for the State of 
 Indiana. 
 
 Before deciding to make his home in Indianapolis 
 he visited the city and readily saw its future possi 
 bilities. It was the capital city of a State that was 
 rapidly growing in population, wealth, and commer 
 cial and political importance. The city itself was 
 expanding. It was a great railroad center, and was 
 becoming the center of vast manufacturing interests. 
 Consequently such a place would be one where great 
 legal interests would be involved, and he decided that 
 it should be his future home. 
 
 On removing to Indianapolis he and his young 
 wife occupied a modest home, for their means were 
 restricted, and neither of them was disposed to make 
 any ostentatious show or to live beyond their limited 
 means. They felt hopeful that success would come, 
 but the place of the husband at the bar was yet to 
 be won. The fight to reach the top might be a very 
 
22 FAIRBANKS 
 
 hard one. They could not tell, but they were brave 
 of heart and brave of hope. If conscientious labor, 
 hard study, a strict attention to business and integ 
 rity of action could win success, they believed it 
 was within their reach, for Mr. Fairbanks was pa 
 tient, was a hard student, and was determined to 
 give strict attention to his profession, and integrity 
 of life and of purpose was his birthright from his 
 parents. 
 
 He had a happy faculty of making friends, and 
 with him once to make a friend was to hold a friend. 
 Step by step he climbed up in his profession. At 
 first clients came slowly, then they multiplied rap 
 idly and success was assured. He won the esteem 
 and respect of his fellows at the bar. When he en 
 tered on the trial of a case he gave it assiduous atten 
 tion and close study, depending on the law and equity 
 rather than upon any chicanery or tricks. In fact, 
 he had nothing of those elements in his makeup. He 
 never assailed the attorney or the litigant in oppo 
 sition to him, but treated attorneys, litigant and the 
 court with the utmost courtesy and respect. 
 
 In a very few years he had as wide and as lucrative 
 a practice as any member of the Indianapolis bar, and 
 for several years his emoluments from his law prac 
 tice steadily grew, and there were but few lawyers 
 anywhere in the United States with a more lucrative 
 practice. His practice extended into many of the 
 States, but was especially large in Ohio, Indiana and 
 
FAIRBANKS 23 
 
 Illinois. Much of it was connected with large trans 
 portation and corporate affairs. He had no practice 
 in criminal matters. Neither his mind nor his read 
 ing ran toward criminal law, and he never tried but 
 one criminal case. Increase of practice brought hard 
 work, demanded more hours of study, and laborious 
 research. He began with a well-grounded knowledge 
 of the elementary principles of the law, but his prac 
 tice soon required a thorough knowledge of the stat 
 ute law of many of the States, as also of the laws 
 of other countries. 
 
 Much of his practice was bef ore. the Federal courts, 
 and he had to meet and contend against many of the 
 most prominent lawyers of the country. He began 
 with a very modest library, consisting of a few vol 
 umes only, but they had been chosen with great care. 
 When he entered the United States Senate he pos 
 sessed one of the largest and most valuable libraries 
 in the West. 
 
 His success in his profession was not, in one sense 
 of the word, phenomenal, but came from his thorough 
 training, his close and conscientious attention to busi 
 ness, and his faculty for making friends. It was 
 the result of a determined and set purpose. When 
 he entered the United States Senate it was at a great 
 pecuniary sacrifice, for, having accepted office at the 
 hands of the people, he determined to give to their 
 service the same conscientious attention he had given 
 to his profession, and to do that he must be prepared 
 
24 FAIRBANKS 
 
 to give all his time; so he at once retired from the 
 practice of the law. In his youth, when tempted 
 to enter politics he had refused, saying that he must 
 first win a place in his profession, so that if he failed 
 in politics he would be sure to have something to fall 
 back upon ; second, he must accumulate a competence 
 for himself and his family. Having succeeded in 
 both these directions, when the people called for his 
 services he could give them his undivided time and 
 attention. 
 
 It would be pleasant to indulge in reminiscences 
 and fill a few pages with anecdotes connected with 
 his legal practice, tell of great and signal triumphs 
 he won over distinguished and able counsel, but the 
 reader can not be indulged in that respect. He won 
 notable triumphs, it is true, but they were won by 
 a thorough preparation of his case and an intimate 
 knowledge of the law. He knew the law, and "the 
 tricks of the law," but never indulged in the tricks, 
 and only used his knowledge of them to prevent him 
 self being tricked by an opposing attorney. He never 
 had any startling cases, but he did have cases in 
 which vast interests were involved, and they were 
 presented to the court or to the jury without any 
 startling complications. Hence he was better known 
 to the bar and to the bench than to the general public. 
 His practice led him into an acquaintance with many 
 of the distinguished men of the nation, and he won 
 their friendship and confidence. In this he found 
 one of the elements of his later success in politics. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 HE ENTERS POLITICS. 
 
 A S HIS success at the bar increased, and as his 
 position in the profession became fixed, he felt 
 that he could give more time to politics. He had been 
 a student of politics. He had given careful study 
 to all the great political problems of the day, to the 
 political history of the country, and to the policies 
 advocated by the various political parties, so that 
 when he was ready to enter the political field it was 
 as a well-equipped warrior. He had, at various times 
 during political campaigns, made a few speeches, and 
 had impressed himself on the leaders of his party 
 in Indiana, so that his advice and counsel were 
 sought, but it was not until 1888 that he took any 
 active part in the management or direction of party 
 politics. 
 
 Among the early professional friendships he 
 formed was one with the late Walter Q. Gresham, 
 who was Judge of the United States Court for the 
 district of Indiana when Mr. Fairbanks began the 
 practice in Indianapolis. This personal friendship 
 remained unbroken until the death of Mr. Gresham, 
 
 -25- 
 
26 FAIKBANKS 
 
 and that friendship had much to do with the enter 
 ing into active politics by Mr. Fairbanks. 
 
 In 1888 Indiana had two distinguished sons who 
 were talked of as possible candidates for the Presi 
 dency Benjamin Harrison and Walter Q. Gresham. 
 To decide between the two placed more than one citi 
 zen of Indiana in a quandary, but not so with Mr. 
 Fairbanks. Ever fair and open in his professional 
 life, he determined to be equally open and fair in 
 his adherence to the political fortunes of any man. 
 He was a friend of General Harrison, and admired 
 his lofty character and great qualities. He had often 
 met him in legal battles, and knew full well his great 
 abilities as a lawyer. He had heard his speeches on 
 great political occasions, and had watched his career 
 in the Senate, and fully appreeiated his grasp of 
 matters of political policy and statecraft. He knew 
 that if General Harrison should be exalted to the 
 high office of President of the Kepublic the admin 
 istration of the affairs of the nation would be marked 
 with high ability; but against all this was the per 
 sonal affection he had for Judge Gresham, inspired, 
 first, by the kindly consideration of the eminent 
 Judge to a young and struggling lawyer, and in 
 creased by the wonderfully fascinating personality of 
 Mr. Gresham. Had he not believed that Judge 
 Gresham possessed all the qualifications to make him 
 a great President and a safe head for the nation, 
 these personal considerations would not have weighed 
 with him. 
 
FAIRBANKS 2? 
 
 As it was, he instantly made up his mind to sup 
 port Judge Gresham, but in pursuance of the policy 
 that he had always followed, he wrote to General 
 Harrison a letter stating the reasons that led him 
 to support the candidacy of the Judge. It was a 
 fair, candid, open statement of one friend to an 
 other, but one that is not often found in political 
 life. One of the most cherished possessions of Sen 
 ator Fairbanks is the reply of General Harrison. 
 The reply is as follows : 
 
 "Washington, May 11, 1888. 
 a C. W. Fairbanks, Esq., Indianapolis, Ind. : 
 
 "My Dear Sir Your kind letter of the 8th has 
 been received. I assure you that your frank decla 
 ration of your preference for Judge Gresham can not 
 in the smallest degree affect our friendly relations. 
 I am not one of those who have no friends who are 
 not followers. It has been my wish, and my efforts 
 have been with my wish, to suppress all divisions 
 of a personal character in the party in Indiana. So 
 far as I could I have restrained my friends, but, 
 as Judge G. has himself found out, that is not 
 always possible. I feel sure that you will know 
 how to advocate his claims without unkindness to me. 
 
 "Very truly yours, 
 
 "BENJ. HAKKISOlSr." 
 
 Mr. Fairbanks took charge of the Gresham cam 
 paign for delegates in Indiana. All the old party 
 
2$ FAIRBANKS 
 
 leaders and the whole party machinery were for Gen 
 eral Harrison, whose candidacy was supported by 
 nearly all of the Kepublican papers of the State. 
 General Harrison finally got the delegation from the 
 State, hut it was only after one of the hottest fights 
 ever known in a State where political battles are pro 
 verbially warm. Notwithstanding he failed to get 
 any of the delegates from Indiana, Judge Gresham 
 determined to contest for the nomination at Chicago. 
 The Republican convention of 1888 was one of the 
 notable gatherings of that party. James G. Elaine 
 was the brilliant leader of the Republican party, 
 and he had many friends who were bent on making 
 him once more the standard-bearer, notwithstanding 
 he had declared that his name must not go before 
 the convention. Sherman, Allison, Depew, Alger, 
 Harrison and Gresham were before the convention, 
 but the Blaine cloud overshadowed the whole. All 
 of the Chicago papers were for Judge Gresham. 
 
 In marshaling the Gresham forces Mr. Fairbanks 
 displayed wonderful skill in the handling of men. 
 Suave and pleasant with everyone, listening to 
 all suggestions, nevertheless he kept his own coun 
 sels. He displayed prodigious activity, yet never 
 appeared to be hurried. He refused to join in 
 the attacks made on General Harrison, and did 
 what he could to discourage them, especially those 
 made in regard to the General s attitude on the labor 
 question. He talked to newspaper reporters, to edi- 
 
FAIRBANKS 29 
 
 tors, gave them suggestions, but never divulged his 
 plans. He was always ready to make combinations, 
 but would not make any to which a bargain was at 
 tached. He carefully avoided saying or doing any 
 thing that might by any possibility be distorted into 
 a promise to bind his chief. He had a corps of ef 
 fective lieutenants and to them divulged just enough 
 of his plans to put them to intelligent and earnest 
 work. He kept them busy, and when the convention 
 opened it looked as if he would be able to nominate 
 his candidate on one of the early ballots. 
 
 On the first ballot Sherman led and Gresham was 
 second. It was well known that Sherman had polled 
 on that first ballot all the strength he could command, 
 and it was thought he could not hold his followers, 
 but he did. The uncertain factor all the time was 
 the position the Elaine men would finally take. The 
 Elaine leaders hoped the convention would tire itself 
 out in a vain effort to nominate and would then turn 
 to the "Plumed Knight." They gave up this hope 
 at last, and then they went to Harrison and he was 
 nominated on the eighth ballot. Among the first to 
 send the successful candidate congratulations on his 
 victory was Mr. Fairbanks, who returned to Indiana 
 and at once tendered his services to the General and 
 to the Republican committee. There were those who 
 advocated ignoring Mr. Fairbanks and the other 
 Gresham adherents in Indiana, but General Harrison 
 put a quietus on it by saying that a man who had 
 
30 FAIEBANKS 
 
 shown the political skill and f orcef ulness of Mr. Fair 
 banks could not be ignored with impunity. 
 
 Judge Gresham had many lovable traits of char 
 acter, and those traits made his friends devoted to 
 him. Mr. Fairbanks was a young man when he first 
 made the acquaintance of Judge Gresham. He was 
 just starting out in his profession, and on more than 
 one occasion the Judge exhibited for him such a 
 kindly consideration that he at once won the heart 
 of the young attorney. In 1903, nearly twenty years 
 after his first meeting with Judge Gresham, Mr. 
 Fairbanks was called upon to deliver an address at 
 the unveiling of a portrait of the Judge in the United 
 States court-room in Springfield, Illinois. In the 
 course of the address he paid the following tribute 
 to the memory of his friend : 
 
 "He delighted in aiding the young. No man with 
 the same opportunities ever did more than he to help 
 young men get on in the world. He saw in others the 
 struggles of his own youth, and he was ever ready to 
 serve them in every possible way. The lawyer, when 
 entering upon his professional career, when possessed 
 of doubts as to his cases, and filled with discourage 
 ment, always found a sympathetic friend in the gen 
 erous-hearted and noble Judge. The young attorney, 
 with a good cause, but overmatched by an older and 
 more resourceful antagonist, found upon the bench 
 help and sympathy. How far goes a helpful word 
 in time of need to the beginner at the bar. 
 
FAIRBANKS* 31 
 
 "He was a just judge in the fullest and best sense. 
 He came from the great body of the people and was 
 always in touch with them. He possessed none of 
 the elements of the demagogue. He was always nat 
 ural; never sought nor pretended to be what God 
 had not made him. He never tried to veneer his 
 true character, or to obscure it by cheap or meretri 
 cious arts. 
 
 "He was simple and modest in his habits; frank 
 and candid. There was nothing meteoric in him. 
 He pressed forward, meeting the duties of the hour 
 as he found them ; discharging them faithfully, con 
 scientiously and well. 
 
 "He was on terms with men of all conditions. He 
 met them upon a common level. There was that 
 subtle element in him which invited the confidence 
 of all. The weak and the powerful alike saw the 
 true nobility of his character and held him in like 
 respect. The lowly were not overawed and the high 
 were properly deferential." 
 
 Mr. Fairbanks threw himself heart and soul into 
 the work of electing Mr. Harrison President. In 
 other campaigns he had made an occasional speech, 
 but he now engaged actively in that work, and almost 
 at once established his right to hold a first place 
 among the political orators of Indiana. He was well 
 equipped for the work, as he had made a careful 
 study of political policies and of the demands of the 
 nation. One thing was noticeable from the very be- 
 
 (3) 
 
32 FAIEBANKS 
 
 ginning of his speech-making career his complete 
 avoidance of personal detraction and vituperative lan 
 guage. He tried at once, so far as his voice and 
 example could go, to lift party politics from the low 
 marsh of detraction and corruption up to the high 
 plane of reason and argument. In all the speeches 
 he has ever made and they have been many not 
 one word of abuse of a political opponent or of the 
 opposing party can be found. He always speaks of 
 everybody with courtesy and kindness. This trait of 
 character was early noticed by his opponents, and it 
 is to be said to the credit of political controversy in 
 Indiana that no speaker of the opposing party has 
 ever uttered one word of detraction of Mr. Fairbanks. 
 His entire attitude is exemplified by the following 
 extract from his remarks at the memorial service of 
 the late William Holman: 
 
 "He raised his standard of exalted duty in public 
 place, and to it remained inflexibly true. He was 
 possessed of superb moral courage, and his purpose 
 once set, he was immovable. The stock from which 
 he came was strong, rugged. It laid the broad foun 
 dation for a mighty empire of wealth, of power, of 
 intelligence in the great Mississippi Valley. He was 
 a type of which there are too few. 
 
 "Mr. President, we reluctantly retire from the con 
 templation of a character so illustrious in achieve 
 ment and devotion to the service of his countrymen. 
 He has richly earned the Well done, thou good and 
 
33 
 
 faithful servant/ and the repose which crowns an 
 honest life." 
 
 It may be granted that many of the eulogiums pro 
 nounced in Congress are perfunctory, but all who 
 know Mr. Fairbanks will readily credit him with 
 being sincere in this commendation of the life and 
 services of a political opponent. With Mr. Fairbanks 
 life has been too serious for him to utter sentiments 
 foreign to his heart. 
 
 His campaign work for General Harrison was of 
 a very high order, and had much to do with carrying 
 Indiana for the Republican ticket that year. His 
 manners were popular and he rapidly extended his 
 acquaintance with the party leaders of the State. 
 His ability as a speaker was at once recognized and 
 his services were in demand. With him it was no 
 grudging service. He had been defeated at the Chi 
 cago convention, but General Harrison was his 
 friend, arid he felt that he would fill the exalted 
 station to the honor of the nation. And, too, he be 
 lieved in the policy of the Republican party, and 
 that its triumph was for the best interests of the coun 
 try. His zeal for the party was strengthened by his 
 zeal for his personal friend and fellow-townsman. 
 
 It was not alone in speech-making that his influ 
 ence was felt in that campaign, but his counsels to 
 the managers were wise and his suggestions always 
 prudent. The managers never made a mistake when 
 they followed his advice. He had become a power 
 
34 FAIRBANKS 
 
 in the party councils, and that power has grown con 
 tinuously with each campaign. 
 
 From 1888 Mr. Fairbanks has been one of the 
 leaders of his party in Indiana. No step has been 
 taken by the party that he has not been consulted 
 on, and it may be added that for some years no step 
 has been taken against his advice, so fully has the 
 party come to depend upon his political sagacity. 
 The campaign of 1890 was a disastrous one to the 
 Kepublicans of Indiana. The McKinley bill had 
 just gone into operation, but its provisions were not 
 thoroughly understood, and the tide turned strongly 
 against the administration, but* Mr. Fairbanks la 
 bored in season and out of season, and was ever found 
 in the forefront of the battle. His services were 
 in constant demand. The calls on him for speeches 
 were so many that he could not fill all of them. His 
 popularity and strength as a campaign speaker rap 
 idly increased. The tide was too strong, however, 
 and the party went down to defeat. The party thus 
 early began to regard him as excellent senatorial 
 timber, whenever the time should come that the Re 
 publicans would have the power to elect one. 
 
 The campaign of 1892 opened with a struggle be 
 tween the friends of Elaine and those of Harrison 
 for the nomination. Even in Indiana there was some 
 dissatisfaction with President Harrison, but it was 
 not strong enough to effect anything. The Repub 
 lican National Convention met at Minneapolis. Mr. 
 
FAIRBANKS 35 
 
 Fairbanks was present, a strong advocate of the re- 
 nomination of President Harrison. He was one of 
 those who engineered the famous meeting of the Har 
 rison delegates the night before the convention, at 
 which it was easily demonstrated Harrison would 
 be renominated on the first ballot. The friendship 
 between the President and Mr. Fairbanks had in 
 creased during the four years from 1888, and Mr. 
 Harrison had been taught to regard the future Sen 
 ator as one of his safest political advisers. 
 
 The political battle of 1892 was one of the fiercest 
 ever fought in Indiana. For a number of years 
 Indiana was looked upon as a doubtful State, and 
 was controlled first by one party and then by the 
 other. Again Mr. Fairbanks was one of the leaders, 
 and his voice was heard in almost every part of the 
 State. He was one of the most industrious of the 
 many speakers the State had. During the short in 
 tervals when he would be at Indianapolis he was in 
 close consultation with the State committee, counsel 
 ing, advising and suggesting new moves on the en 
 emy. It was a period of political unrest. The lower 
 ing clouds of financial and commercial depression 
 were already gathering, and in Indiana the party 
 was somewhat torn by factions. Large numbers who 
 had hoped for Federal appointments -under Harrison 
 had been disappointed. All these things combined 
 to make the fight a hard one. 
 
 It was under these conditions the Republicans of 
 
36 FAIRBANKS 
 
 Indiana made preparations to put a State ticket in 
 the field, and began to consider which one of its 
 orators would be the best to make the opening speech 
 outlining the issues, or, as is so often said in politics, 
 "deliver the keynote." It was readily recognized that 
 no mistake must be made in this "keynote" speech. 
 The unanimous choice of the leaders was Mr. Fair 
 banks, and when the convention met he was made 
 its chairman, and in a speech of cogent reasoning 
 and great power he clearly outlined the issues that 
 divided the two great parties, upholding the admin 
 istration of General Harrison and clearly pointing 
 out the disasters that would follow a change in the 
 policies of the government. The tariff was one of 
 the principal issues, and he discussed that question 
 at some length, contrasting the condition of business 
 under the tariff law of the Cleveland administration 
 and the McKinley bill of Harrison s. The opening 
 paragraph of the speech was peculiarly striking: 
 
 "For thirty years," he said, "the Republican party 
 has stood in the white light that beats against the 
 throne/ and its record is flawless. There is no one 
 who admires courage and steadfastness in the cause 
 of good government who does not admire the Repub 
 lican party Its history is so full of 
 
 deeds of vast and vital moment, I would weary you 
 if I attempted a recital of them." 
 
 At that time the free coinage of silver, that culmi 
 nated in 1896, was just looming up. The Demo- 
 
FAIKBANKS 37 
 
 cratic party was not yet ready to put itself on record 
 in favor of the coinage at the ratio of sixteen to 
 one, but it was seen that matters were drifting in 
 that direction, and Mr. Fairbanks sounded a warning 
 note and boldly announced the attitude of the Repub 
 lican party on the question. This was four years 
 before the party in its national convention declared 
 for a gold standard. Among other things Mr. Fair 
 banks said: 
 
 "The Republican party stands for a sound, honest 
 dollar. It has always opposed an unstable and de 
 based currency. The all-important element in the 
 circulating medium is that it be of stable value. On 
 this the Republican party stands." 
 
 He gave much consideration to State issues, con 
 trasting the administration of the two parties. This 
 speech was circulated by the committee as a campaign 
 document. Mr. Fairbanks was the great pacificator 
 during that campaign, using all his powers of per 
 suasion to harmonize the factions, stir up the luke 
 warm, and give courage to the doubtful. He did 
 effective and faithful work, but once more the tide 
 turned to the enemy. He made many speeches, can 
 vassing nearly the entire State. President Harrison 
 recognized the value of his services, and after the 
 conclusion of the campaign warmly thanked him, 
 and the friendship between the two received a new 
 bond. 
 
 When Mr. Fairbanks began the practice of the 
 
38 FAIEBANKS 
 
 law in Indianapolis Mr. Harrison was the leader 
 of the bar, and two years later was the Republican 
 candidate for Governor of the State. His great abil 
 ities and sterling character at once impressed Mr. 
 Fairbanks, and he took his place in the ranks of 
 Harrison s warm admirers. His estimate of the char 
 acter and public services of General Harrison is 
 shown by extracts from a number of speeches deliv 
 ered by him. As Chairman of the Indiana Repub 
 lican Convention of 1892 Mr. Fairbanks, in his open 
 ing speech, said : 
 
 "You do well to cheer that name [Harrison]. It 
 stands for pure and exalted statesmanship. No other 
 has done more to place our State high in the estima 
 tion and the admiration of the world." 
 
 When General Harrison returned to Indianapolis 
 at the close of his term as President, the citizens 
 gave him a reception. Mr. Fairbanks was chosen to 
 make the welcoming address. In the course of it 
 he said : 
 
 "You have taught obedience to law, a higher re 
 spect for our American institutions. You have in 
 spired a deeper reverence for the sacred emblem of 
 our national authority Your adminis 
 tration was of the highest purpose, persisted in to 
 the end; it has been without a stain; the most ma 
 lignant tongue can lodge against it no word of re 
 proach." 
 
 In 1898, at a banquet in Quebec, Canada, in re- 
 
FAIKBANKS 39 
 
 sponse to the toast "The President of the United 
 States," Mr. Fairbanks said: 
 
 "Then came Harrison, of my own State Benja 
 min Harrison, who brought to that great office a 
 genius for statesmanship and a devotion to the public 
 service that ranks him among the greatest who have 
 held that high office." 
 
 It was during the campaign of 1892 that Mr. Fair 
 banks first met Mr. McKinley, and then began the 
 friendship that existed between the two men. Mr. 
 McKinley was in Indiana taking part in the cam 
 paign, and on several occasions the two distinguished 
 orators spoke from the same platform. Each recog 
 nized the ability of the other, and on one occasion 
 the future President said: "Fairbanks, you ought 
 to be in the Senate." Had the Republicans suc 
 ceeded in Indiana he would have been in the Senate. 
 But his time was not yet. 
 
 The campaign of 1894 opened with brighter pros 
 pects for the Republican party. It was a time of 
 great business depression, and thousands of workmen 
 were out of employment. A financial panic had 
 greatly demoralized business everywhere, and the 
 Democratic administration had the burden of blame 
 to bear. There was also a very decided and growing 
 dissatisfaction with Mr. Cleveland in his own party. 
 Indiana was beginning to feel the good effects of 
 the natural gas boom when the business depression 
 struck the country, and the "gas belt" felt the blow 
 
40 FAIRBANKS 
 
 in a marked degree. All these things made thousands 
 of Democrats lukewarm, and other thousands turn 
 to the Kepublican party for relief. In Indiana the 
 Republicans entered upon the campaign with high 
 hopes and great enthusiasm. They felt from the 
 beginning that it was to be their year. As usual, 
 Mr. Fairbanks took the leading part in the campaign. 
 By this time his fame as a campaign speaker had 
 passed the boundary of Indiana, and he received 
 many invitations from other States. He renewed his 
 acquaintance with Mr. McKinley, and again they 
 took part together in campaign work. It was a glori 
 ous year for the Republican party in Indiana, and 
 they swept the State, electing a State ticket and every 
 member of Congress, and once more obtained control 
 of the Legislature. This campaign greatly added to 
 the popularity and strength of Mr. Fairbanks. By 
 this time he had spoken in every county in the State. 
 He carried into his political work the same suave and 
 kindly manner that had so distinguished him at the 
 bar. He was of the people, mingled with the people. 
 There was nothing of the demagogue about him, but 
 he was always hearty and earnest in his greetings. 
 He had no bitter antagonisms among his political 
 opponents. In later years he announced in the Sen 
 ate his creed as to political differences, in his memo 
 rial address in respect to Mr. Holman, when he said : 
 "Political parties are undivided as to purpose the 
 highest and best welfare of the country; their dif- 
 
FAIRBANKS 41 
 
 ferences arise as to the best method of obtaining the 
 end." 
 
 It was in this spirit he discussed the political ques 
 tions of the day, and he always commanded a re 
 spectful and attentive hearing. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ENTERS NATIONAL POLITICS. 
 
 17 s OK eight years he had been a potent factor in 
 * Indiana politics, and had taken a leading part 
 in four hotly contested campaigns, and the time had 
 now arrived when he was to become an active and 
 potential factor in national political affairs. Another 
 Presidential election was on, and the people were 
 beginning to array themselves for the contest. In 
 the four years since he had made his memorable 
 speech at Fort Wayne, wherein he declared the Re 
 publican party always had been and always would 
 be for an honest dollar, a stable currency, the march 
 of events had been rapid. The advocates of free sil 
 ver coinage had been especially active and the finan 
 cial heresy had spread over all the country, and it 
 became a living issue. 
 
 In Indiana it had strongly tainted the Republi 
 cans, especially in the rural districts. The free 
 silver men had been proselyting everywhere. It was 
 readily seen that if the Republican party was to suc 
 ceed, this drifting away from the old moorings by 
 members of the party must be checked, yet there 
 
 -42- 
 
FAIRBANKS 43 
 
 was a great danger in running contrary to the cur 
 rent. Mr. Fairbanks was one of those who saw the 
 danger to the country in this financial heresy; he 
 saw the ruin to the nation s credit, the disaster that 
 would come to the great business interests of the 
 country if free coinage became a part of the policy 
 of the Government. He was courageous enough to 
 step into the breach, and sagacious enough to see 
 that if his party would take a firm stand for honest 
 money the people would sustain it. 
 
 Before the assembling of the Indiana Republican 
 Convention certain parts of the platform were por 
 tioned out among the leaders of the party for the 
 preparation of the proper declaration. To Mr. Fair 
 banks was assigned the preparation of the financial 
 plank, and when the leaders met for consultation he 
 offered the following: 
 
 "We are firm and emphatic in our demand for 
 honest money. We believe that our money should 
 not be inferior to the money of the most enlightened 
 nations of the earth. We are unalterably opposed 
 to every scheme that threatens to debase our cur 
 rency. We favor the use of silver as currency, but 
 to the extent only and under such regulations that 
 its parity with gold can be maintained ; and, in con 
 sequence, are opposed to the free and unlimited coin 
 age of silver at the ratio of sixteen to one." 
 
 It at once met with strong opposition, and several 
 who admitted it was the correct principle expressed 
 
44 FAIRBANKS 
 
 grave fears of the result, believing that such a pro 
 nounced declaration would alienate all of the Repub 
 lican adherents of free silver, but Mr. Fairbanks 
 stood firm. He reasoned and argued, holding that 
 the only safe course was for the Republican party 
 to stand consistent with its past record ; that it must 
 not stultify itself by a retreat from the position it 
 had always taken in favor of an honest dollar, saying 
 that he would rather go down to defeat than for one 
 instant to fall from the high standard the party had 
 always maintained ; that all admitted that free coin 
 age would be ruinous if adopted, and the Republican 
 party must not give the least countenance to any 
 policy that would bring financial ruin or throw dis 
 credit on the integrity of the Government. 
 
 He won, and the plank was incorporated in the 
 platform, but one of the leading candidates on the 
 ticket remarked: "It is brave, it is right; but I 
 shall prepare to be snowed under." 
 
 Mr. McKinley was a leading candidate for the 
 Presidential nomination, and Mr. Fairbanks took 
 charge of his campaign in Indiana and handled it 
 with such skill and finesse that every district in the 
 State declared for the Ohio man, Mr. Fairbanks 
 being named as one of the delegates-at-large. The 
 financial stand of the party in Indiana attracted con 
 sideration in all parts of the country, and it called 
 attention to Mr. Fairbanks. Mr. McKinley sent for 
 him and requested him to accept the temporary chair 
 manship of the convention. 
 
FAIRBANKS 45 
 
 When the Convention met at St. Louis, Mr. Fair 
 banks was named as the temporary Chairman, and 
 delivered the speech as requested by Mr. McKinley. 
 The speech was a very able one, and completely cov 
 ered all the issues before the country, and it so well 
 fits the conditions of today that it is here reproduced : 
 
 "Gentlemen of the Convention I am profoundly 
 grateful for this expression of your generous confi 
 dence. As citizens we were never called upon to 
 discharge a more important duty than that which 
 rests upon us the nomination of a President and 
 Yice-President of the United States. This duty is 
 a very impressive one at the moment, for it is al 
 ready written in the Book of Fate that the choice 
 of this convention will be the next President and 
 Vice-President of this great Republic. 
 
 "Three years of Democratic administration have 
 been three years of panic, of wasted energy, of anxi 
 ety and loss to the American people, without a par 
 allel in our history. Today the people turn to the 
 Republican party hopefully, confidently, and it is 
 for us to meet their expectations ; it is for us to give 
 them those candidates upon whom their hearts have 
 centered, and to give them clear, straightforward, 
 emphatic expression of our political faith. The Re 
 publican party is a party of convictions; and it has 
 written its convictions in the history of the Republic 
 with the pen and the sword; with it the supreme 
 question always has been not what is merely politic, 
 
46 FAIEBANKS 
 
 but what is everlastingly right. The great men 
 we have given to the Nation and to history, the 
 mighty dead and the illustrious living, are our inspi 
 ration and tower of strength. If we are but true 
 to their exalted example, we can not be false to our 
 countrymen. 
 
 "For a third of a century prior to the advent of 
 the present Democratic administration we operated 
 under laws enacted by the Republican party. All 
 great measures concerning the tariff and the cur 
 rency originated with it. Tariff laws were formed 
 upon lines which protected our laborers and pro 
 ducers from unequal and unjust foreign competition, 
 and upon the theory that the best market in the 
 world is the home market and that it should be en 
 joyed by our own countrymen. 
 
 "Under the currency laws our currency was made 
 national. The wildcat State bank money of the Dem 
 ocratic party was wiped out of existence. The un 
 precedented demands growing out of the war were 
 met by a paper currency which ultimately became 
 as good as gold. Since the resumption of specie pay 
 ment in 1879 every dollar of our money, paper, sil 
 ver and gold, has been of equal purchasing power 
 the world over. The policy of the party has been 
 to make and keep our currency equal to the best in 
 the world. 
 
 "Under the operation of these honest tariff and 
 honest money Republican laws the country grew in 
 
, FAIRBANKS 47 
 
 wealth and power beyond precedent. We easily out 
 stripped all other powers in the commercial race. 
 In November, 1892, there was work for every hand 
 and bread for every mouth. We reached high-water 
 mark. Labor received higher wages than ever, and 
 capital was profitably and securely employed. The 
 national revenues were sufficient to meet our obli 
 gations and leave a surplus in the treasury. Foreign 
 and domestic trade were greater in volume and value 
 than they had ever been. Foreign balances were 
 largely in our favor. European gold was flowing to 
 ward us. But all of this is changed. The cause is 
 not hard to find. A reaction began when it was 
 known that the legislative and executive branches of 
 the Government were to be Democratic. 
 
 "The Democratic party had at Chicago condemned 
 the protective tariff principle as unconstitutional, and 
 solemnly pledged itself to the overthrow and destruc 
 tion of the McKinley law and to the adoption of free 
 trade as the policy of the United States. This bold, 
 aggressive attack upon the long-settled policy of the 
 Republican party bore its natural fruit in shaken 
 confidence and unsettled business, and we were soon 
 drifting against the rock of destruction. 
 
 "Before the work of demolition was actually begun 
 a run was started upon the treasury reserve which 
 the Republican party had wisely accumulated for the 
 protection of the national credit. The drain upon 
 the reserve for the redemption of greenbacks and 
 
 (4) 
 
48 FAIRBANKS , 
 
 treasury notes greatly surpassed all prior experience 
 and emphasized the discredit into which the Demo 
 cratic administration had fallen. An utter want of 
 confidence in the administration possessed the people. 
 
 "The Democratic party was harmonious on one 
 subject, and that was the destruction of the McKin- 
 ley law. But when they came to the exercise of the 
 creative faculty, the enactment of a great revenue 
 measure in its stead, there was discord. The im 
 periled interests of the country watched and waited 
 through long and anxious months for some settlement 
 of the important question. They wanted an end of 
 uncertainty. 
 
 "At length the Wilson bill was adopted, and it 
 was characterized by a Democratic President as the 
 child of perfidy and dishonor. It was so bad that 
 he would not contaminate his hand by signing it. 
 A bill that is too base for Mr. Cleveland to approve 
 is too base for the approval of the American people. 
 
 "This important law was wanting in the primary 
 purpose of a revenue measure, for it failed to provide 
 adequate revenue to meet the requirements of the 
 Government. The deficiency thus far amounts to 
 some $150,000,000. The end is not yet, for the defi 
 ciency grows day by day. This leaves the treasury 
 and the public credit in constant peril. Our foreign 
 credit is impaired and domestic capital feels inse 
 cure. The sectional favoritism of the Wilson bill 
 was one of its marked features. Its blow at sheep 
 
FAIEBANKS 49 
 
 husbandry was an unpardonable offense. It was a 
 flagrant wrong to the farmers of the United States. 
 This great industry had developed and grown under 
 Republican protective laws until it was one of our 
 greatest. We are now sending abroad millions of 
 dollars for wool which were paid to our farmers 
 under the McKinley law. 
 
 "The bill struck down reciprocity, one of the high 
 est achievements of American statesmanship. ~No 
 measure was ever enacted which more directly ad 
 vanced the interests of American farmers than reci 
 procity. With its destruction fell advantageous com 
 mercial agreements, under which their products were 
 surely finding larger and profitable foreign markets, 
 and without the surrender of their own. 
 
 "The substitution of ad valorem for specific duties 
 has opened the way for systematic wholesale frauds 
 upon the treasury and producers and employers of 
 the country. By means of under-valuations foreign 
 goods pass through the customhouses without paying 
 their just tribute to the treasury of the United States. 
 Thus we have lost millions of dollars in revenues, 
 and the foreign producers have been enabled to un 
 fairly possess our home markets. 
 
 "Neither time nor place will permit further ref 
 erence to the unfortunate revenue legislation of the 
 Democratic party, nor to the hurtful, demoralizing 
 effect of it. Suffice it to say it has been the great 
 and original factor in breaking down confidence and 
 
50 FAIKBANKS 
 
 progress, emptying the treasury, causing continued 
 deficits and enforced idleness among millions of will 
 ing workers. 
 
 "To meet the monthly deficits and protect our 
 credit and save the Government from protest the 
 President has been forced to sell bonds in other 
 words, he has been obliged to mortgage the future 
 in a time of peace to meet the current obligations 
 of the Government. 
 
 "This is a sharp contrast with the Republican 
 record. Our tariff laws not only raised revenue, but 
 they protected our domestic industries; they impar 
 tially protected the farmer and the manufacturer, 
 both north and south. Not only that, but they raised 
 sufficient revenue to gradually reduce the public debt, 
 and without imposing a grievous burden upon the 
 people. During the administration of Harrison 
 $236,000,000 of obligations were paid, while Cleve 
 land, during the last three years, has added to our 
 interest-bearing debt $262,000,000. Against such 
 Democratic financiering the Republican party enters 
 its emphatic protest. 
 
 "Having attempted to reverse the tariff policy of 
 the United States with such lamentable results, the 
 Democratic party now proposes to reverse the cur 
 rency policy. It turns to the currency as the parent 
 of our ills. Its effort to shift the responsibility will 
 deceive no one. Its attack upon the tariff, its record 
 of inefficiency and insincerity, is a part of the un 
 fortunate history of the Republic. 
 
FAIRBANKS 51 
 
 "The present currency system is the fruit of Re 
 publican wisdom. It has been adequate to all our 
 past necessities, and, if uncorrupted, will meet our 
 future requirements. Our greatest prosperity was 
 attained when Republican currency laws were in full 
 operation. When the Republican party was in 
 power, our currency was good ; it was made as good 
 as the best on the globe. We made sound money, 
 and we also made an honest protective tariff to go 
 with it. Sound money and an honest protective 
 tariff go hand in hand, together; not one before the 
 other. 
 
 "The very foundation of a sound currency system 
 is a solvent treasury. If the people doubt the integ 
 rity of the treasury, they will question the soundness 
 of the currency. Recognizing this fundamental fact, 
 the Republican party always provided ample revenue 
 for the treasury. 
 
 "When in the last half-century of our history did 
 the Democratic party advocate a financial policy that 
 was in the best interests of the American people? 
 Look- at its ante-bellum currency record. Consider 
 its hostility to the currency rendered necessary by the 
 exigency of the war ; and later, its effort to inflate the 
 currency in a time of peace by the issue of green 
 backs. * Witness its opposition to the efforts of the 
 Republican party to resume specie payments. But 
 four short years ago it declared for the return of the 
 old, discredited State bank currency. 
 
52 FAIRBANKS 
 
 "The Republican party lias not been unfriendly to 
 the proper use of silver. It has always favored, and 
 favors today, the use of silver as a part of our cir 
 culating medium, but it favors that use under such 
 provisions and safeguards as shall not imperil our 
 present national standard. The policy of the Repub 
 lican party is to retain both gold and silver as a part 
 of our circulating medium, while the policy of free 
 coinage of silver leads to certain silver monometal 
 lism. It is an immutable law that two moneys of 
 unequal value will not circulate together, and the 
 poorer always drives out the better. 
 
 "The Republican party, desiring fairly to secure 
 a larger use of silver, pledged itself in favor of an 
 international agreement. Harrison, true to the 
 pledge of his party, took the initiatory steps and 
 invited an international monetary conference at 
 Brussels, at which the subject of an international 
 coinage agreement was ably and profitably discussed. 
 
 "The Democratic party was also committed to 
 international bimetallism, but when it came into 
 power the work which had been so auspiciously begun 
 by the Republican party was abandoned. It was so 
 absorbed in its efforts to break down the McKinley 
 law and empty the treasury that it had no time to 
 promote international bimetallism. 
 
 "Those who profess to believe that this Govern 
 ment can, independently of the other great commer 
 cial Powers, open its mints to the free and independ- 
 
FAIRBANKS 53 
 
 ent coinage of silver at a ratio of sixteen to one, and 
 at the same time not drive every dollar of gold out of 
 circulation, but deceive themselves. 
 
 "Great and splendid and powerful as our Govern 
 ment is, it can not accomplish the impossible. It 
 can not create value. It has not the alchemist s sub 
 tle art of transmuting unlimited silver into gold, nor 
 can it, by omnipotent fiat, make fifty cents worth 
 one hundred cents. As well undertake by resolution 
 of Congress to suspend the law T s of gravitation as 
 attempt to compel an unlimited number of fifty-cent 
 dollars to circulate with one-hundred-cent dollars at 
 a parity with each other. An attempt to compel 
 unlimited dollars of such unequal value to circulate 
 at a parity is bad in morals and vicious in policy. 
 Sound thinkers upon the great question of the cur 
 rency know from the beginning of the experiment 
 how miserably and certainly it would fail. The com 
 merce of the country would again be thrown upon the 
 sea of uncertainty, and the specter of want would 
 continue to haunt us for years to come. 
 
 "Upon opening our mints to the independent free 
 coinage of silver foreign credits would be withdrawn 
 and domestic credits would be greatly curtailed, 
 ivlore than this, there would be a certain and sudden 
 contraction of our currency by the expulsion of 
 $620,000,000 of gold, and our paper and silver cur 
 rency would instantly and greatly depreciate in 
 purchasing power. But one result would follow this : 
 
54 FAIRBANKS 
 
 Enterprise would be further embarrassed, business 
 demoralization would be increased, and still further 
 and serious injury would be inflicted upon the labor 
 ers, the farmers, the merchants, and all those whose 
 welfare depends upon a wholesome commerce. 
 
 "A change from the present standard to the low 
 silver standard would cut down the recompense of 
 labor; reduce the value of the savings in savings 
 banks and building and loan associations; salaries 
 and incomes would shrink ; pensions would be cut in 
 two ; the beneficiaries of life insurance would suffer ; 
 in short, the injury would be so universal and far 
 reaching that a radical change can be contemplated 
 only with the gravest apprehension. 
 
 "A sound currency is one of the essential instru 
 ments in developing our commerce. It is the pur 
 pose of the Republican party not only to develop our 
 domestic trade, but to extend our commerce into the 
 uttermost parts of the earth. We should not begin 
 our contest for commercial supremacy by destroying 
 our currency standard. All the leading powers with 
 which we must compete suspended the free coinage 
 of silver when the increased production of silver 
 forced the commercial value of silver below the coin 
 age ratio to gold. Shall we ignore their ripened 
 experience ? Shall we attempt what they have found 
 utterly impossible ? Shall it be said that our stand 
 ard is below theirs ? 
 
 "You can not build prosperity upon a debased or 
 
FAIKBANKS 55 
 
 fluctuating currency; as well undertake to build 
 upon the changing sands of the sea. 
 
 "A sound currency defrauds no one. It is good 
 alike in the hands of the employe and the employer, 
 the laborer and the capitalist. Upon faith in its 
 worth, its stability, we go forward planning for the 
 future. The capitalist erects his factories, acquires 
 his materials, employs his artisans, mechanics and 
 laborers. He is confident his margin will not be 
 swept away by fluctuations in the currency. The 
 laborer knows that the money earned by his toil is 
 as honest as his labor, and that it is of unquestioned 
 purchasing power. He likewise knows that it 
 requires as much labor to earn a poor dollar as a 
 good one; and he also knows that if poor money is 
 abroad it surely finds its way into his pocket." 
 
 The speech was widely circulated throughout the 
 country, and had great influence. Major John W. 
 Carson, dean of the Washington correspondents, 
 lately wrote as follows of the effect of the speech : 
 
 "Fairbanks was placed at the head of the Indiana 
 delegation to the St. Louis Convention and was made 
 temporary chairman of that body, delivering a speech 
 that attracted wide attention and contributed to fix 
 ing the status of the party on the money question. 
 That convention declared against the free coinage of 
 silver, and it was largely due to the persistent efforts 
 of Mr. Fairbanks and a few other sagacious and con 
 servative men that that declaration was made. It 
 
56 FAIRBANKS 
 
 has been claimed that the action of the Indiana Re 
 publican State Convention in 1896 had a very salu 
 tary influence on the Republican National Conven 
 tion of the same year in declaring for the gold 
 standard." 
 
 On the money question the convention gave its 
 emphatic endorsement to the speech of Mr. Fair 
 banks and to the attitude of the Republicans of 
 Indiana in the following plank of the platform : 
 
 "The Republican party is unreservedly for sound 
 money. It caused the enactment of the law provid 
 ing for the resumption of specie payment in 1879 ; 
 since then every dollar has been as good as gold. 
 We are unalterably opposed to every measure calcu 
 lated to debase our currency or impair the credit of 
 our country. We are therefore opposed to the free 
 coinage of silver except by international agreement 
 with the leading commercial nations of the world, 
 which we pledge ourselves to promote, and, until 
 such agreement can be obtained, the existing gold 
 standard must be preserved. All our silver and 
 paper currency must be maintained at parity with 
 gold, and we favor all measures designed to main 
 tain inviolably the obligations of the United States 
 and all our money, whether coin or paper, at the 
 present standard, the standard of the most enlight 
 ened nations of the earth." 
 
 Mr. McKinley was nominated and there followed 
 on of the memorable campaigns of history. The 
 
FAIKBANKS 57 
 
 Democratic party declared in favor of the free and 
 unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen to 
 one, and also bitterly assailed the integrity of the 
 United States Supreme Court. Mr. Fairbanks 
 speech at the St. Louis Convention attracted the 
 attention of the party leaders everywhere to him, 
 and his services were at once demanded in all parts 
 of the country. It was a strange campaign, every 
 party but the Republican being divided. The broad 
 declaration of the Democratic Convention in favor 
 of free silver did not meet the approval of the entire 
 party; there was an open revolt against it, and a 
 sound money Democratic ticket was put in the field. 
 Even such minor parties as the Prohibitionists and 
 the Populists divided and each had two tickets. 
 Hundreds of prominent Democrats announced their 
 purpose to save the country from the disasters of free 
 silver by voting for the Republican candidates. In 
 Indiana there were a large number of these sound 
 money Democrats. 
 
 Mr. Fairbanks returned from St. Louis and at 
 once addressed himself to the task of making good 
 his predictions that Indiana could be carried on a 
 sound money platform. He took part in the manage 
 ment of the campaign, and he made an active and 
 complete canvass of the State. He spent his days 
 and nights in traveling and speech-making, and in 
 consulting with members of the party in all sections. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 HIS SERVICES TO HIS PARTY. 
 
 A l A HE result of the campaign was a notable victory 
 ^ for the Kepublican party. The Legislative be 
 ing Kepublican, all eyes at once turned toward Fair 
 banks for Senator, and all hearts declared the place 
 was rightfully his. When the General Assembly 
 met he was duly chosen Senator and he entered upon 
 a new field. He was ripe for the duties of the high 
 station to which he had been chosen. His close 
 studies of policies, his clear analysis of motives and 
 forecasting of results, his broad and comprehen 
 sive views of public affairs, his integrity of 
 character, fitted him to take a place among the law 
 makers of a nation. Studious by nature and by 
 habit, possessing a lofty conception of the duties of 
 a public servant and of the exalted dignity and re 
 sponsibilities of a member of the highest legislative 
 body in the world, he entered upon the discharge of 
 his duties fully armed and equipped. Before taking 
 up and reviewing his public career in the Senate it 
 will be well to follow a little further his services te 
 his party in the campaigns that have followed his 
 election to the Senate. 
 
 -58- 
 
FAIRBANKS 59 
 
 Before the campaign of 1898 opened he was called 
 to Detroit, Michigan, to address the people on the 
 celebration of Washington s Birthday. His speech 
 abounded in epigrammatic sentences, a few of which 
 are culled for insertion in this place : 
 
 "It is a trite saying that the luxuries of yesterday 
 are the necessities of today. Our children are wiser 
 than the philosophers who studied in the shade of 
 Academus. The world is moving forward with elec 
 tric momentum and the political philosophers of the 
 Platte are unable to stop it. An advancing country 
 demands a party of progressive principles. A party 
 which neither learns nor forgets is a national hin 
 drance, and valuable only as a reminiscence." 
 
 "The country has outgrown Democracy as it has 
 outgrown the ox-cart, the stage-coach and their con 
 temporaneous instruments of civilization." 
 
 "Before that august tribunal (the Supreme Court) 
 the weak and the strong, the poor and the rich, stand 
 upon a plane of absolute equality, and whoever 
 attempts to undermine the confidence of the people 
 in its integrity or justice is an enemy of the re 
 public." 
 
 "The vitalizing fact, the vivifying influence of 
 Republicanism today is bathing the country in the 
 sunshine of prosperity. The clouds and mists of 
 adversity which have rested upon our land for the 
 past few years are lifting under the restoration of 
 Republicanism in our government. The people are 
 
60 FAIRBANKS 
 
 lighter-hearted and fuller-handed than they were, and 
 look hopefully and confidently to the future for even 
 greater things." 
 
 "Republicanism lays the groundwork for the 
 larger development of the opportunities which a 
 bountiful providence has placed within our grasp." 
 
 "Republicanism is evolution; evolution to higher 
 and better conditions; evolution out of commercial 
 paralysis to industrial activity where labor and capi 
 tal are joint sharers." 
 
 "Republicanism is catholicity of spirit. Its moni 
 tor is the national conscience." 
 
 "No nation which is not essentially honest can 
 long succeed. Policies which are not just can bring 
 nothing except distrust and disaster." 
 
 "Republicanism seeks to restore confidence, for 
 after all it is the best currency, though it bears not 
 the stamp of government. Confidence is the basis 
 of all prosperity, of all national greatness. Upon 
 confidence rests the everlasting throne. Without it 
 the church vanishes as a disordered dream. Upon 
 confidence rest our temples of justice. Confidence 
 is the handmaiden of the arts and sciences. Confi 
 dence led Gallileo through the dark night into the 
 beautiful garden of the skies. Confidence led Wash 
 ington from Valley Forge to Yorktown, and Grant 
 from Donelson to Appomattox. Confidence in our 
 selves, confidence in each other, confidence in truth 
 and righteousness is essential to all progress, all sue- 
 
FAIRBANKS 61 
 
 "Republicanism demands that our currency shall 
 be honest, sound arid stable, in order that capital and 
 labor may go forth resolutely and without fear into 
 the future." 
 
 "The currency that is good for the one must be 
 good for the other." 
 
 "We have the best country, the best people, and 
 limitless possibilities. We are entitled to have, and 
 we shall consent to have nothing less than the best 
 instrumentalities for our development." 
 
 "We should throw about our monetary system 
 such safeguards as shall preserve it in the shock of 
 war and in time of peace." 
 
 "No country which is willing to juggle with its 
 credit will long retain the respect of mankind." 
 
 "National repudiation is national degradation and 
 the loss of individual respect." 
 
 "Whoever would seek to blind the people by preju 
 dice and attempt to overthrow the fixed, unvarying 
 standard, under which so much has been accom 
 plished, is their arch enemy." 
 
 "The greatest government should be the most 
 just." 
 
 "The ultimate judgment of the American people 
 is always just. We can confidently appeal to it." 
 
 Senator Fairbanks opened the campaign of 1898 
 in Indiana by presiding at the State Convention and 
 again sounding the "keynote" for the party. The 
 speech was an able and exhaustive review of the first 
 
62 FAIEBANKS 
 
 year of the administration of President McKinley. 
 He opened with a serious declaration of the duty of 
 a party to give a faithful account of its stewardship 
 to the people: 
 
 "My countrymen, the occasion demands that we 
 should give to the great constituency which we rep 
 resent some account of our administration of national 
 and State affairs with which the people have in 
 trusted us. In the nature of the case, we can do no 
 more than touch upon the more salient features of 
 the great and numerous questions which have en 
 gaged out attention. We have been in power in 
 State and Nation about one year and a half a brief 
 period, yet filled with more important events than 
 any similar period of our country s history, except, 
 perhaps, only one. It has been, indeed, a history- 
 making epoch an epoch which will challenge the 
 admiration and approval of those who shall follow us. 
 Mighty events have pressed quick upon each other, 
 and more are soon to come. 
 
 "When we were last assembled, two years ago, dis 
 tress and commercial paralysis were on every hand ; 
 our people were enervated and progress seemed dead. 
 But with the restoration of the Republican party to 
 power in 1897 an era of prosperity was ushered in. 
 All avenues of industry were reopened; countless 
 thousands of idle workmen found remunerative fields 
 of employment, and the returns of the farmers in 
 creased until plenty and happiness extend throughout 
 
FAIRBANKS 63 
 
 the borders of the Republic. What caused this sud 
 den transformation this radical and universally rec 
 ognized change? It was the natural and logical re 
 sult of the restoration of the Republican party to 
 power and the re-establishment of Republican princi 
 ples in public administration." 
 
 He took up the principal acts of the McKinley 
 administration, the reform of the tariff, the war with 
 Spain, the war revenue bill, the treatment of the 
 financial question, the annexation of Hawaii and the 
 Nicaragua canal, analyzing and dissecting them in a 
 clear and logical style. He closed as follows : 
 
 "We are proud of the administration of President 
 McKinley. He has borne the burdens of his great 
 office with a patience and courage that have won the 
 approving judgment of all parties and all peoples. 
 He has met every duty with a broad and compre 
 hensive statesmanship, and sought to lead our country 
 in the ways of peace, fraternity, prosperity and 
 honor. When war became inevitable, when it be 
 came necessary to appeal to the sword, he struck with 
 a swift and heavy hand. " In less than sixty days he 
 assembled an army of nearly a quarter of a million 
 of men, calling to the rank and places of leadership 
 men of all parties and of all sections of the country. 
 Those who had fought against him when he was de 
 fending the Union were called to lead, that they 
 might vindicate their love for the Republic, their 
 devotion to the flag they had once in their mistaken 
 
 (5) 
 
64 FAIBBANKS 
 
 zeal sought to destroy. He has well met the ardu* 
 ous demands of peace and the grave exigencies of 
 war. 
 
 "My countrymen, the Republican party has confi^- 
 dence in the future. It sees in present conditions 
 the promise of enlarged opportunity and of greater 
 prosperity and happiness for the American people. 
 The bow of promise which bends above us was never 
 more splendid than today. There never was an hour 
 in all our proud history when it meant more to be an 
 American. 
 
 "Our flag is more loved at home and more people 
 are willing to die for it than ev,er before. It is the 
 flag of mercy and liberty ; it is profoundly respected 
 wherever the stories of sacrifice and heroic deeds are 
 read ; it is more honored and respected than ever by 
 the nations of the earth; it has been raised in the 
 name of suffering humanity and placed upon the cita 
 dels of cruel power ; it has blessed the famished and 
 suffering ; it has brought succor to the distressed and 
 redemption to the oppressed ; it is the blessed symbol 
 of honorable peace and not of tyrannical rule. 
 Patriotism is all-pervading, sectional differences have 
 disappeared, and the hearts of our countrymen are 
 at last welded into an indissoluble union." 
 
 The result of the campaign was a triumphant vin 
 dication of the Republican party and policies, its 
 ticket having a largely increased plurality. It added 
 to the respect and confidence of the people in Mr. 
 
FAIKBANKS 65 
 
 Fairbanks, and gave him a new hold on the party. 
 As in prior campaigns he was the trusted leader, the 
 eloquent and forceful champion of his party. He 
 did not neglect his duties in the Senate simply 
 worked harder and more hours. He did not confine 
 his campaign services to Indiana, but spoke in a num 
 ber of other States. 
 
 He was ever the champion of the McKinley admin 
 istration. He was not an apologist, for he never 
 thought the administration needed an apologist ; but 
 he was at all times willing to stand up and show why 
 the policies adopted by the administration were wise, 
 conservative and the best for the nation and the 
 people. On October 7, 1899, at a banquet of the 
 Marquette Club, of Chicago, he was chosen to respond 
 to the toast, "The Present Administration," and there 
 gave an elaborate exposition of the ruling motives 
 and the results of the policy pursued by President 
 McKinley. As a just and able exposition of the first 
 two years of President McKinley s term the speech 
 is worthy of preservation : 
 
 "The present administration needs neither an apol 
 ogist nor an eulogist. Its imperishable record is writ 
 ten and is before the world. It is an administration 
 of arduous deeds done, which lift it above the dead 
 level of history. It has been confronted by great 
 questions of domestic policy; it has solved them. 
 It has also encountered grave foreign problems, and 
 well it has met them. No emergency has been so 
 
66 FAIRBANKS 
 
 great or exigency so severe that it has not been met 
 on the high plane of national duty and national 
 honor. 
 
 "Few administrations ever succeeded to power with 
 more weighty responsibilities, or of which there were 
 more exalted expectations. There were years of dis 
 tress, years of hopelessness and crippled enterprise 
 back of us. There was a Macedonian cry from all 
 sections of the land for relief -for deliverance. The 
 administration was essentially pledged to the mainte 
 nance of the public credit, the public faith. Public 
 credit is preserved ; yes, it was never so high at home 
 and abroad as it is in this historic hour. 
 
 "The first duty which was laid upon the adminis 
 tration was to secure the readjustment of the tariff 
 and the enactment of a genuine protective measure. 
 To this end Congress was convoked in extraordinary 
 session at the earliest practicable moment, and a tariff 
 law was enacted. It has served well its purpose. It 
 instantly gave confidence to enterprise, quickened 
 depressed industries, and the signs and evidences of 
 commercial activity were soon witnessed on every 
 hand. Domestic commerce took on new energy and 
 life, and our foreign trade soon reached and passed 
 the high-water mark of the successful and splendid 
 administration of Benjamin Harrison. 
 
 "The determination of the administration to pre 
 serve inviolate the public faith and inflexibly uphold 
 the gold standard gave an assurance and confidence 
 
FAIKBANKS 67 
 
 to commerce that had all the potency of the most 
 solemn congressional enactment. Commerce knew 
 that no chimerical monetary schemes would be 
 allowed to corrupt or tarnish the circulating medium 
 while the present administration w r as in power. It 
 knew that free silver coinage was, for the time being 
 at least, as dead as the Rameses, and that in the light 
 of practical experience the American people could 
 not soon be led to adopt any of the current financial 
 sophistries and heresies. 
 
 "Prosperity came. It came to the seventy-five 
 millions of American citizens, and in exceptional 
 abundance. It came by the assurance of wise and 
 conservative administration, by the enactment of 
 wholesome laws, by the subtle touch of the magic 
 wand of confidence confidence which in the final 
 analysis is the source of all progress, all success, and 
 without which there is stagnation and death. It 
 came contrary to many fervent and unwise predic 
 tions. It came through the harmonious co-operation 
 of three potent agencies a protective tariff, a gold 
 standard, and a sound, patriotic administration. 
 Were the present administration committed to a de 
 based silver currency and to free trade, the splendid 
 transformation we have witnessed would have been 
 an utter and absolute impossibility, and the calamities 
 from which we have so successfully and happily 
 escaped would have been but multiplied. 
 
 "There were indeed domestic questions numerous 
 
68 FAIEBANKS 
 
 and grave enough to absorb the attention of the 
 administration, but it inherited an ample legacy of 
 international problems of more than usual gravity. 
 The national conscience was stirred by Spanish 
 atrocities ; the people could endure them no longer. 
 The Cuban specter would not down. All the powers 
 of diplomacy were invoked to bring peace and order 
 to the blood-stained island of Cuba. There was no 
 thought of war; no desire for war. No one knew 
 better than the President the dreadful consequences 
 of an appeal to the sword. JSTo one knew better than 
 he that nothing so becomes power as its sparing use. 
 
 "While the administration was employing all pos 
 sible agencies to secure peace and honorably avert 
 war, there were many of our countrymen who were 
 impatient to recognize the belligerency of the Cubans 
 the independence of the so-called Cuban Repub 
 lic and were insistent that the conflict should begin. 
 They challenged the patriotism of the administration 
 and questioned its courage, although the President 
 had gathered harvests of enduring fame upon the 
 battlefields of the country. For humanity s sake the 
 administration had appealed to the Spanish Cabinet 
 in behalf of Cuba, but medieval government would 
 not hearken to the voice of nineteenth century civ 
 ilization. All efforts to mediate a peace having 
 failed, the dread alternative of war alone remained. 
 
 "A crisis was at hand, as sharp and severe as could 
 possibly confront the Government; a crisis which 
 
FAIRBANKS 69 
 
 conies but seldom in the life of a nation, and yet too 
 oft. The administration with one hand delayed the 
 oncoming storm, while with the other it pushed with 
 all possible dispatch the coast defenses, the purchase 
 of munitions of war, and the enlargement of the 
 navy, which was to give such a splendid report of 
 itself. The crisis was supreme, and it was superbly 
 met. When the hour for action came the Congress 
 of the United States, interpreting the heart and con 
 science and the inexorable determination of the 
 American people, declared for war. Spain s fatal 
 hour had come. The administration was prepared to 
 execute the decree of Congress ; it was ready to 
 strike. The thunderbolt of war fell first in the ob 
 scure harbor of Manila, today the best known harbor 
 on the face of the earth. 
 
 "The supreme demand of the American people 
 was voiced in the order of the administration which 
 flashed to Hongkong: Find the Spanish fleet and 
 destroy it. How well this order was interpreted and 
 executed the world knows, and history will not for 
 get. The intrepid Dewey, in one short hour, stood 
 with the foremost admirals of all ages. All honor 
 to him; all honor to his brave men. A nation s 
 gratitude to them, each and all. 
 
 "An army of a quarter of a million men was called 
 from the myriad vocations of peace, organized : 
 equipped, and put in the field with almost incredible 
 dispatch. I^o better soldiers ever answered the call 
 
70 FAIRBANKS 
 
 to arms. They were American soldiers, ready and 
 eager to serve at the post of duty, counting no sacri 
 fice too great in their country s cause. 
 
 "They came from the four quarters of the Repub 
 lic, Federal and Confederate, and their descendants 
 stood together in a common cause, inspired by one 
 hope, actuated by one high purpose, and that was to 
 preserve a common inheritance, the glory of a com 
 mon flag. The Grants and the Lees, the Shafters 
 and the Wheelers, the Lawtons and the Butlers, bore 
 commissions from the same President. The admin 
 istration and the public welcomed the disappearance 
 of sectional differences. The Republic has experi 
 enced a new birth of patriotism ; and, let us hope and 
 pray, is reunited and unified forever. 
 
 "But it has been said with some unction that the 
 administration did not desire war. Be it so. It is 
 a grave matter to start the mighty enginery of sev 
 enty-five millions of people, brave and proud, though 
 just they are. Finite mind can compass the begin 
 ning, but Omniscience alone can set the boundaries 
 of its ending. It will indeed be a fatal hour for the 
 Republic when the President of the United States 
 shall love peace less than war. 
 
 "The administration sought no sordid ends, no ter 
 ritorial aggrandizement. It sought no Napoleonic 
 extension of empire; it desired only peace with her 
 boundless joys, her limitless possibilities; peace of 
 which the country had been so long enamored. It 
 
FAIRBANKS 71 
 
 had added Hawaii to our domain, through the instru 
 mentality of diplomacy and from the dictates of the 
 highest statesmanship in the national interest ; but it 
 coveted no other lands and no other peoples. Hawaii 
 was indeed trophy enough to signalize any adminis 
 tration. 
 
 "The Congress, with due deliberation and excep 
 tional unanimity, declared war, and the Senate of 
 the United States, after protracted debate, ratified 
 the Treaty of Peace. With the treaty came new and 
 remote lands, new peoples, new and unexpected re 
 sponsibilities ; but they came as the logical sequence 
 of war, and not as the fruit of its supreme purpose. 
 The sword was drawn in the high and holy cause of 
 humanity ; it was drawn to liberate peoples from bar 
 barous, tyrannical rule, from horrors which disgraced 
 savagery. 
 
 "By the Articles of Peace Porto Rico is ours, to be 
 administered as an exalted sense of justice shall re 
 quire. Cuba is committed to us in trust, and is to be 
 given stable and suitable government, according to 
 our pledge. The Philippines are ours by title abso 
 lute, unassailable. They have come to us and are 
 ours by right universally recognized among the na 
 tions of the earth. They passed to the jurisdiction 
 of the United States by the cession of the treaty of 
 peace, duly ratified and exchanged by the two Powers 
 engaged in war. "With the extension of our sover 
 eignty there came the duties which American sever- 
 
72 FAIKBANKS 
 
 eignty implies the enforcement of law and order, 
 the preservation of the peace. 
 
 "A portion of the inhabitants of the islands denied 
 the supremacy of the United States in the archipel 
 ago. They challenged the exalted purpose of the 
 Government; they wantonly fired upon the Amer 
 ican troops pending the ratification of the treaty of 
 peace. "Without the pretense of provocation or the 
 shadow of justification they have assailed the flag 
 whose mission is merciful. The administration re 
 sisted the attack and did what the people of the 
 United States desired it should do ; it did its duty by 
 asserting the supremacy of the national authority by 
 force of arms. 
 
 "Our forces in the Philippines formed no league 
 with Aguinaldo ; made no compact with him for sub 
 ordinating the authority of the United States to his 
 self-constituted dictatorship. Our peerless Captain 
 of the Seas added imperishable glory to the Amer 
 ican flag. He could not have surrendered the field 
 of his incomparable victory to the insurgent chief 
 tain. 
 
 "When the administration overthrew the Spanish 
 authority in Manila it owed a high and solemn duty 
 to the Americans, the British, the Germans, the 
 French, the Spaniards, and other nationalities in the 
 archipelago, to preserve them from massacre and to 
 save their homes and property from pillage and the 
 torch. It could not have withdrawn its support and 
 
FAIEBANK.S 73 
 
 left to chance the protection of the thousands of citi 
 zens and subjects of the leading nations of the world 
 who were there under the guardianship of Spanish 
 authority. It would not have comported to the dig 
 nity, the justice and the mercy of the Republic for 
 the administration to have recalled our victorious 
 forces lest by staying we should assume some unex 
 pected responsibilities. Such a policy would have 
 been dastardly and would have dishonored the flag, 
 which is without its first blemish. Yea, more than 
 that, it would have been the master crime of the age. 
 Moreover, we can never forget that we were under a 
 large moral obligation to the peace of the world 
 which an abandonment of the Philippines would have 
 placed inevitably in serious peril. 
 
 "We are not now concerned with questions of im 
 perialism or of expansion. We are occupied with the 
 paramount question of enforcing respect for the na 
 tional authority, of suppressing rebellion against it. 
 Opposition to our authority, w r herever it has been 
 extended under universally recognized law, is rebel 
 lion, whether it is in Illinois or in the Philippines. 
 We have an irreversible and irrevocable code of na 
 tional duty ; the flag must be protected wherever it 
 is lawfully raised. What American can demand 
 less ? 
 
 "We wish the war had been honorably averted, 
 great and splendid as have been its results, but, in 
 God s providence, that was impossible. We could 
 
74 FAIRBANKS 
 
 not desire to avoid any of the responsibilities or duties 
 which justly devolve upon a victorious army; a 
 country brave enough and good enough to go to war 
 in humanity s name must be just enough and brave 
 enough to accept the consequences, whatever they 
 may be. To attempt to escape the burdens fairly 
 arising out of our own course and conduct would 
 earn for us the reproach of the civilized world and 
 the forfeiture of our own national self-respect. We 
 have but one way to go, and that is in the path of 
 duty. There all honor lies." 
 
 * * & 
 
 "The administration has been able, well poised, 
 firm, courageous, avoiding no responsibility and 
 shunning no duty. It has been an epoch-making ad 
 ministration. It has walked in untried paths with 
 no guide except the national conscience. It has ob 
 served the fundamental truth that in a Republic the 
 people are the source of all power, and it has taken 
 them into its confidence in fullest measure. Its 
 North Star has been the people s will. It is clean; 
 the atmosphere which surrounds it is wholesome. A 
 high sense of civic duty characterizes all branches of 
 the public service ; and the public business is dis 
 patched without friction and with fidelity. 
 
 "It has managed well the finances of the Govern 
 ment. Illinois is entitled to her full share of credit 
 for this, for she gave to the administration a Secre 
 tary who ranks with the foremost Secretaries of the 
 
FAIRBANKS 75 
 
 Treasury ; with Hamilton, Gallatin, Chase and Sher 
 man. His mastery of the science of finance enabled 
 him not only to preserve the credit of the country 
 from the shock of war, but to advance it to the high 
 est point ever attained. The ordinary fiscal require 
 ments of the Government have been promptly met, 
 and the war-chest has been amply supplied. Bonds 
 have been sold upon terms better than have been 
 obtained for either the purposes of peace or war. 
 The money came from the pockets of the people. 
 The capitalists of Europe were eager to take them, 
 but there was no need of their assistance. Syndi 
 cates at home wished to subscribe for them, but the 
 reliance of the administration was upon the great 
 mass of the people ; and how splendidly have they 
 justified its confidence ! * Their only regret was that 
 they could not give the Government, in the hour of 
 its necessity, millions more than were required. 
 
 "The United States never stood higher in the 
 esteem of the great Powers of the earth than now. 
 Her justice, her magnanimity and her power have 
 become manifest to all. It is, indeed, of the utmost 
 importance that our country should sustain relations 
 of amity with other countries. Our commerce is 
 expanding, and more than ever, seeking distant mar 
 kets. Nothing will more distinctly aid in its exten 
 sion than the existence of cordial relations with 
 foreign peoples. We must win our way to the com- 
 
7f> FAIRBANKS 
 
 mand of the world s trade by compelling, through 
 our course and example, the world s respect. 
 
 "The administration has scrupulously observed our 
 international obligations. It has been no less regard 
 ful of the rights of other nations than it has been 
 rigidly insistent upon the recognition of our own. It 
 has cultivated good neighborhood with all of the 
 great Powers, and today there is no nation with which 
 the United States is not upon terms of cordial rela 
 tionship. 
 
 "It has sought no political or entangling alliance 
 with any Power; it is bound to none except by the 
 ties of commercial interest and mutual respect." 
 
 The speech was also, in part, a prophecy of what 
 would be the claims of the Republican party the next 
 year for the continued confidence of the people. 
 Free silverism had been badly defeated in 1896 and 
 the elections in the various States in 1898 had em 
 phasized that defeat, but free silverism was not dead. 
 It still was rampant and defiant, and early gave evi 
 dence that its spirit would control the Democratic 
 National Convention in 1900 and a ticket would be 
 nominated on that issue. It was this fact that im 
 pelled Republican speakers to dwell largely on the 
 monetary question in all their addresses before the 
 public. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HIS SERVICES TO HIS PARTY Continued. 
 
 T OXG before it came time to name candidates for 
 - President in 1900 it was practically known that 
 the two who had opposed each other in 1896 would 
 again be called to lead their respective parties. The 
 administration of President McKinley had been so 
 eminently successful that his party had no thought of 
 choosing another, and Mr. Bryan had so impressed 
 himself on the free-silver wing of the Democratic 
 party that they would be satisfied with none but him, 
 so the meeting of the conventions were little more 
 than perfunctory, except in the adoption of a plat 
 form and selecting candidates for the second place. 
 Mr. Fairbanks was again sent to represent his State, 
 and was made Chairman of the Committee on Reso 
 lutions. This distinction arose from two causes 
 his eminent fitness for the place, and because it was 
 understood he was more nearly the personal repre 
 sentative of President McKinley than any other dele 
 gate. He knew the views of the President on all the 
 great questions ; he was sound on the financial ques 
 tion, stood with the President in the manner and 
 
 -77- 
 
78 FAIRBANKS 
 
 method of governing our new possessions and tlio pro 
 posed construction of an isthmian cantil. 
 
 On his return to Indianapolis he was invited to 
 deliver an address on the issues. In his clear, logical 
 manner he presented the issues as they appeared to 
 him and to his party. He said : 
 
 "I shall discuss in "a plain way and as briefly as 
 may be some of the questions engaging the attention 
 of the American people. We should approach them 
 as patriots rather than as partisans, inspired only by 
 the purpose to advance the best interests of our coun 
 try. Prejudice and passion have no rightful place 
 in the august tribunal where the destiny of the Amer 
 ican Republic is determined. 
 
 "We come before the people with no apology upon 
 our lips, but with a luminous record of righteous 
 deeds done, with promise wrought into fulfillment. 
 We are not ashamed of our old issues nor afraid to 
 frankly espouse our new ones. Our record is before 
 the people, and it is a part of the enduring history of 
 the Republic. We could not change it if we would, 
 and we would not if we could. 
 
 "Four years ago we promised to enact a tariff law 
 which would supply the federal treasury with ade 
 quate revenue and promote American interests. We 
 have redeemed this pledge by the enactment of the 
 Dingley law. This law established confidence, re 
 opened factories, erected new enterprises and opened 
 the way to profitable employment for the great army 
 
FAIRBANKS 79 
 
 of unemployed workingmen. The products of the 
 farm found ready markets at enhanced values; the 
 treasury was replenished and prosperity prevailed 
 
 throughout the United States in unusual degree." 
 
 * * * 
 
 "No one has shared more in the prosperity stimu 
 lated by the McKinley administration than the farm 
 ers of the United States. No one suffered more than 
 they during the last administration. Their gain in 
 the enhanced value of live stock and ten staple crops 
 
 for four years is more than one billion dollars." 
 -K * -x- 
 
 "It has been but a few years since the streets and 
 highways were crowded with idle workmen, vainly 
 searching for work work at any wages. It has been 
 but a few years since idle men, pinched by want and 
 hunger, were marching upon Washington, appealing 
 for relief. A revolution has occurred, peaceful in its 
 process, mighty and significant in its results. The 
 ranks of the employed have been increased by hun 
 dreds of thousands. Labor has had work. It has 
 not been asking bread at the hands of charity. It 
 has been building homes ; it has been educating chil 
 dren ; it has been increasing deposits in building and 
 loan associations and savings banks. Shall we reverse 
 this gratifying condition ? Shall we again increase 
 the ranks of the unemployed ? Shall work continue 
 to seek labor, or shall we return to the days when 
 labor was anxiously seeking work ?" 
 
 # -x- # 
 (6) 
 
80 FAIRBANKS 
 
 "Those who toil should not he defrauded of the 
 fruit of their lahor. There is no device that so sure 
 ly cheats lahor as a depreciated currency, and it is 
 the part of good government to provide for a circu 
 lating medium which shall he as good in the hands of 
 lahor as in the hands of capital. It must defraud 
 neither the one nor the other. There is something 
 almost cruel, it seems the very irony of fate, for the 
 owners of silver bullion to attenipt to secure the sup 
 port of those who toil to the debasement of the cur 
 rency which they must receive for their lahor." 
 
 * * # 
 
 "Wages are none too high. The overthrow of the 
 gold standard and the establishment of silver mono 
 metallism would mean their immediate and inevi 
 table reduction. A reduction in the value of the 
 money in which wages are paid is, in effect, a reduc 
 tion of wages." 
 
 * x * 
 
 "We can not contemplate the currency issue, grave 
 and important as it is, without acknowledging the 
 great debt the country owes to those splendid men 
 who put country above party and enabled us to 
 achieve a great victory in 1896 the Gold Democrats. 
 We must merit their further confidence and their 
 potential support by a steadfast adherence to sound 
 and wholesome policies and administration." 
 
 * # # 
 
 "The record of the administration in the war with 
 
FAIKBANKS 81 
 
 Spain and with respect to the problems growing out 
 of it challenges our admiration. Its course has been 
 dictated by the loftiest motives, and a brilliant chap 
 ter has been added to American history. 
 
 "When the present administration came into pow 
 er there was no thought of war. It was confronted 
 only by pressing and important problems of peace, 
 the restoration of prosperity among the people, and to 
 these it promptly and seriously addressed itself. 
 
 "The war in Cuba, which had existed so long, be 
 came more and more intolerable, and it was early 
 apparent that an international problem of great grav 
 ity was at our very door. A resolution recognizing 
 the belligerency of the Cuban insurgents was intro 
 duced in the Senate soon after the inauguration of 
 President McKinley, and after protracted debate 
 passed, but it failed to pass the Eepublican House. 
 It was opposed by the President, who regarded such 
 a measure as tending seriously to involve the United 
 States in perplexing complications, and because such 
 recognition would have no beneficial effect to the 
 struggling Cubans, and would abate none of the hor 
 rors and brutalities which shocked the moral sense 
 of the world. 
 
 "The President desired permanent peace estab 
 lished in Cuba and the independence of the Cubans 
 secured. To this end he tendered the good offices of 
 the United States to the Spanish Cabinet, While 
 thus invoking the peaceful instrumentalities of di- 
 
82 FAIRBANKS 
 
 plomacy, the opposition was unsparing in its criti 
 cism of the Executive. Cuba lay so close to our doors 
 that turbulence and revolution within her borders 
 were instantly and sensibly felt by us. Twice we 
 had been brought to the very verge of war by her 
 conduct. The Black Warrior incident and the Vir- 
 ginius affair had in their time profoundly disturbed 
 the country, and war was on each occasion averted by 
 the exercise of great tact and a spirit of forbearance 
 on the part of the Government of the United States. 
 
 "For years our coast cities were ravaged by dis 
 ease which had its permanent abode in the pestilen 
 tial cities of Cuba. Our national honor, our national 
 peace and the health of our people demanded that 
 Spanish misrule should cease in the island and it 
 should be permitted to enjoy an enlightened, inde 
 pendent government. 
 
 "In the midst of the President s efforts to bring 
 peace and independence to Cuba came the overwhelm 
 ing, unspeakable tragedy in the harbor of Havana. 
 The demand for immediate vengeance swept across 
 the land and the people were stirred as never before 
 except at the shot at Fort Sumter. 
 
 "The country will not forget the dark hours that 
 preceded the declaration of war. They will never 
 forget the strong, calm, conservative, straightforward 
 course of the President, unmoved by the clamor, the 
 criticism, the unkindness of the unreflective. His 
 resistance of the urgent cry of the opposition for war 
 
FAIEBANKS S3 
 
 was in nowise due to any lack of confidence in the 
 result of the issue or to any want of faith in the 
 power of the government. 
 
 "We were unprepared for war. We had so long 
 pursued the ways of peace that we were unfit even 
 for one engagement. The inadequacy of our fleet 
 was everywhere recognized. Our coasts were unpro 
 tected. IKo one knew but what the opening engage 
 ment with Spain would be the signal for a general 
 engagement among European Powers. But the oppo 
 sition took no thought of this. The country will not 
 forget, amidst the smoke and fustian of a political 
 campaign, with what superb courage the President 
 held war in check when it became inevitable. Prepa 
 rations were pushed with the utmost expedition. 
 Amidst it all was to be heard the opposition clamor 
 for war without delay. Those who criticised most 
 then criticise most now. Those who were most eager 
 for war were quickest to run from our duty and re 
 sponsibility when it closed. 
 
 "The response of our countrymen to the call to 
 arms is the pride of all. The brave young men of 
 the country came from every vocation with a spon 
 taneity that showed that the American people be 
 lieved in the righteousness of our cause and were de 
 termined to sustain the patriotic course of the Presi 
 dent. 
 
 "The dramatic and decisive hour had corne. The 
 flag of Spain must be withdrawn and the flag of a 
 republic be raised in its place. 
 
84 FA1BBANKS 
 
 "The world knows with what swiftness the Presi 
 dent made war when in due course it had been de 
 clared by Congress. The matchless victory of our 
 navy in the Philippines and the resplendent triumph 
 of our army and navy in Cuba have become an en 
 during part of our heroic history. 
 
 "Fellow-citizens, it is impossible to overestimate 
 the importance of the impending campaign, its far- 
 reaching significance. Indiana, great and splendid 
 State that she is, should not support any reactionary 
 policy ; she will not. She will stand firm as she has 
 stood heretofore in favor of a protective tariff, the 
 gold standard, national duty and the honor of our 
 flag. No stain rests upon it; symbol of liberty, jus 
 tice and mercy. Let us give our potential support to 
 an administration which makes for prosperity and 
 honor at home and for prestige and honor abroad." 
 
 In this masterly speech Mr. Fairbanks vindicated 
 the action of the President and the Republican party 
 in the terms granted to Spain and for what had been 
 done in the new possessions. Mr. Fairbanks made 
 many other speeches during that campaign, growing 
 continually in strength as a campaign speaker and 
 in the confidence of his party. His services were in 
 great demand in other States, and wherever he ap 
 peared he was sure of an attentive and appreciative 
 hearing. The campaign resulted in a great triumph 
 for the Republican party, not only in Indiana but in 
 the country. By this time the attention of the whole 
 
FAIKBANKS 85 
 
 country had been drawn to Mr. Fairbanks, and many 
 prophecies were made that in 1904: he would be the 
 logical candidate to succeed Mr. McKinley. He was 
 known to possess the entire confidence of the Presi 
 dent, and his calm, logical and conservative mind had 
 taken hold on the party throughout the nation. 
 
 On the last day of December, 1900, he delivered 
 a notable address before the Columbia Club of Indi 
 anapolis, the topic assigned him being "The Future 
 of the Kepublican Party." The speech added much 
 to his reputation, and was widely circulated. He 
 said: 
 
 "This is indeed a propitious hour. We stand upon 
 the dividing line between two great centuries the 
 one great in arduous deeds done, in history written ; 
 the other mighty in possibilities of things to be. The 
 Republican party can look upon the good old century 
 which is rapidly fading away with pride and satisfac 
 tion, and upon the new century with hope and confi 
 dence. 
 
 "The old century ! What a mighty century it has 
 been! About midway the Republican party was 
 born, and made luminous its second half. It en 
 larged the meaning of liberty; it gave to freedom a 
 significance unknown to the immortal founders of the 
 Republic ; it wrote a brilliant chapter with the sword 
 and established our industrial supremacy among the 
 nations of the earth; it raised our flag in honor 
 among the great Powers, 
 
86 FAIRBANKS 
 
 "It is indeed a favorable omen that the twentieth 
 century, which has already entered our eastern gates, 
 will witness the Republican party in the ascendancy ; 
 not a decrepit party, not a mere political reminis 
 cence, but a party in the very flush of power, radiant 
 with hope and high purpose, commissioned anew by 
 the American people. The Great German Chancel 
 lor, Bismarck, once said : Germany has no power to 
 fear except the wrath of Almighty God. We may 
 -appropriate this utterance without vainglory. We 
 realize, however, that boastfulness is vulgar, that real 
 strength is its own herald. Yet, as we stand at this 
 supreme historic hour, we may be pardoned a word 
 as to our greatness. Our power, which is to be found 
 in our vast domain and in our marvelous material 
 development, is not our chief glory. Our charity 
 and our humanity are our principal evidences of na 
 tional grandeur. 
 
 "Naturally, increased power brings added respon 
 sibility. The problems of the twentieth century will 
 tax the genius and courage and patriotism of the Re 
 publican party. The questions immediately before 
 us do not invite repose. Many of them will continue 
 to be vital, living questions far into the future. What 
 we have done in the past is of little matter. Our con 
 tinued ascendancy must depend upon the skill and 
 the success with which we meet the increasing and 
 inexorable demands of the years to come. J The high 
 record we have made will noi greatly aid us ; it will 
 
FAIEBANKS 87 
 
 rather serve to make our path more difficult, for more 
 will be expected of us. The higher we have risen, the 
 higher we must rise." 
 
 * * * 
 
 "We have an abiding sense of security against 
 alien assault. Our institutions are not in peril from 
 abroad. They must be secure from perils within. 
 Our sense of justice must keep pace with our ex 
 panding power. We must see to it that right and 
 might dwell together as in perpetual wedlock. The 
 Nation is in no danger, no matter how numerous its 
 population and great its material resources, if the 
 people are pervaded with a sense of justice, and par 
 ties which control the Government are actuated alone 
 by high motives. There will, indeed, be great neces 
 sity in the future of a party of self-restraint. 
 
 "The Republican party had its birth in a quick 
 ened national conscience. Its immortal founders 
 dedicated it to the cause of human liberty, the high 
 est and best interests of the people. It must be true 
 to the ideals and purposes of its founders and to the 
 great men w r ho have raised it to its present proud 
 eminence. One of the greatest of these [General 
 Harrison] sits at this board, possessing the admira 
 tion and respect of his grateful countrymen. He has 
 made a brilliant page in the country s history which 
 time will not efface." 
 
 X- 4f -X- 
 
 "The Republican party will continue to be a party 
 
88 FAIRBANKS 
 
 of broad sympathies, the advocate of human liberty 
 and the inflexible foe to sectional, race or class spirit. 
 Class has no place in its patriotic principles, for class 
 is the fruit of empire, the enemy of the Republic. 
 It will continue to be the protector of both labor and 
 capital the two mighty pillars upon which our 
 social and political fabric rests. The party which 
 would pull down either invites both to hopeless ruin. 
 The party which does not comprehend this is deficient 
 in statesmanship and is an enemy of the Republic. 
 
 "It will not abandon the contest it has made in 
 the interest of a sound monetary system, which is the 
 foundation rock of commercial success. Good gov 
 ernment and good money must co-exist. The dollar 
 current is essentially a Republican dollar and it must 
 be preserved without taint or tarnish." 
 * -x- # 
 
 "The Republican party will in the new century 
 .cut the narrow isthmus which divides the Atlantic 
 from the Pacific and fulfill the long-cherished hope 
 of the American people and under their undisputed 
 control. This stupendous work, the like of which in 
 its vastness is nowhere to be found, will be under 
 taken under Republican auspices in the no distant 
 future." 
 
 -X- -X- * 
 
 "There are more peoples under the flag today than 
 ever before. There are those who have been stran 
 gers to us. Our flag has delivered them from imperial 
 
FAIEBANKS 89 
 
 rule. We must deal with tliem ; we must have a 
 care for them. They have not hitherto tasted of the 
 fruits of liberty. They know not the beneficent ways 
 of republican government. We must secure to them 
 the amplest fruits of the Republic, and in good time 
 they will come to reverence it as their deliverer from 
 imperialistic rule and find in it the assurance and 
 guaranty of freedom and civilization. 
 
 "The future of the Republican party! What 
 splendid possibilities lie before it ! Will it be true 
 to its traditions ? Will it be true to its opportuni 
 ties ? It will live as long as it serves well the coun 
 try, and it should live no longer. It is a means, not 
 an end. It is an instrument for the advancement of 
 good government and we should no more consent to 
 its debasement than we would welcome national deg 
 radation. Those in whom the thought of personal 
 aggrandizement is uppermost should not be permitted 
 to control its destiny. If we would have pure govern 
 ment we must have a pure party one whose sole aim 
 is to promote wholesome administration. 
 
 "Washington, in his immortal farewell address, ex 
 horted his countrymen against the excesses of party 
 spirit. Webster pointed out the peril to the founda 
 tions of our institutions if party be substituted for 
 country. We will not forget that the power of the 
 Republican party abides with the people; that, as 
 much as we love the party, our country must be the 
 real object of our concern and that our power will 
 
90 FAIRBANKS 
 
 endure only as we shall truly serve it. Republican 
 ism and Americanism must ever be synonymous. 
 
 "New issues will arise, new questions will divide 
 the people, of which we know not now. The Repub 
 lican party will be found espousing those issues and 
 those question which will make for the stability, the 
 honor and the welfare of the country. It must hold 
 fast to those great fundamental doctrines of human 
 liberty for which our fathers stood ; for the rights of 
 all, and the equality of all before the law. If it ad 
 vocates principles and policies which will square with 
 these wholesome truths, the years of its power and 
 supremacy are unnumbered and its beneficent influ 
 ence unmeasured." 
 
 There are many sentences in this great speech that 
 ought to find an abiding lodgment in the hearts and 
 minds of all the people. They are not mere words 
 thrown together to make phrases for oratorical effect, 
 but they come from the keystone of his conscience; 
 they are the axioms of his political life and the 
 guides of his public service. They are a part of the 
 serious thought and conviction of the man, The 
 whole speech is made up of such utterances, but some 
 of the sentences are so telling and are so character 
 istic of the man that we reproduce them : 
 
 "Our power, which is to be found in our vast do 
 main and in our marvelous material development, is 
 not our chief glory. Our charity and our humanity 
 are our principal evidences of national grandeur." 
 
FAIRBANKS 91 
 
 "Our sense of justice must keep pace with our ex 
 panding power." 
 
 "We must see to it that right and might dwell 
 together as in perpetual wedlock." 
 
 "The Nation is in no danger, no matter how 
 numerous its population and great its material re 
 sources, if the people are pervaded with a sense of 
 justice, and parties which control the government 
 are actuated alone by high motives." 
 
 "Good government and good money must coexist." 
 
 "It [the Republican party] will exist as long as it 
 serves well the country, and it should live no longer. 
 It is a means, not an end." 
 
 "If we would have a pure government we must 
 have a pure party one whose sole aim is to promote 
 
 wholesome administration." 
 
 "We will not forget that the power of the Repub 
 lican party abides with the people ; that as much as 
 we love the party, our country must be the real object, 
 of our concern and our power will endure only as we 
 shall truly serve it." 
 
 Crisp, sharp, decisive, these sentences are the ut 
 terances of a strong man, of a man whose soul is 
 imbued with thoughts of the future greatness of the 
 country, and the responsibilities of individuals and 
 parties. They are patriotic as well as wise. Some 
 of them contain a warning note to his own party as 
 well as to all other parties, that power and control 
 only come to the party that serves the country best. 
 
92 FAIRBANKS 
 
 They may, indeed, be classed as political axioms. 
 Mr. Lincoln said that the country could not long en 
 dure half slave and half free. So Mr. Fairbanks 
 says that a political party can endure only so long 
 as it serves the country faithfully and well. 
 
 To those given may be added a few taken from an 
 address delivered before the Americus Club of Pitts- 
 burg. 
 
 "Without harmony between labor and capital there 
 can be no real, enduring progress and prosperity. It 
 should always be remembered that each has rights 
 which the other should respect, and that they should 
 dwell together in amity. " 
 
 "We should seek to inculcate a sense of justice 
 among men ; so that capital shall deal fairly with 
 labor, and labor deal with equal fairness with cap 
 ital." 
 
 "It [the Republican party] should always be care 
 ful in promise and quick and resolute in fulfillment. 
 So long as it keeps faith with the people, the people 
 will keep faith with it." 
 
 In 1902 he opened the political campaign in Indi 
 ana at Anderson ; in a speech reviewing the past 
 achievements of the Republican party and the record 
 of the McKinley administration. Like all his polit 
 ical speeches, it was full of crisp statements of facts, 
 sharply defined conclusions and fair and candid pre 
 sentations. fj Although it was the opening speech of 
 what is called in politics "an off-year campaign," it 
 
FAIRBANKS 93 
 
 attracted wide attention at the time of its delivery, 
 and as a full and forceful presentation of the prin 
 ciples of the Republican party is worthy of reproduc 
 tion, but space forbids more than a few extracts from 
 the more striking sentences : 
 
 "Our record is written. It has been written suc 
 cessfully. By it we must be judged. In all Amer 
 ican history there is no record of any political party 
 which equals, much less surpasses it. -Parties, like 
 individuals, must be judged by deeds done, by things 
 accomplished, and not by mere promises made. We 
 must account to the people for our stewardship. We 
 have been entrusted with vast power. Have we been 
 faithful ? The past five years constitute but a brief 
 period in the Nation s history, yet how long it seems 
 when measured by things accomplished for the well- 
 being of the people." 
 
 * . # * 
 
 "Idle labor is not a good customer for the farmer. 
 Abundant crops signify nothing if there is a poor 
 buyer, or if they are allowed to perish in the field." 
 x- -x- * 
 
 "We do not hold that the protective tariff is an in 
 spired decree. It is, at most, an expedient of govern 
 ment. Tariff schedules are not sacred. They are 
 devised to support the government and to sustain our 
 industrial life not to threaten it." 
 
 * * * 
 
 "It is not at all necessary to resort to such a dan- 
 
94 FAIRBANKS 
 
 gerous and unscientific expedient as that of over 
 throwing the tariff system to reach the evils which 
 may, from time to time, inhere in trusts. Those 
 evils will be eradicated, not by indirection, but di 
 rectly; -not by breaking down an economic system, 
 long established, but by laws aimed directly at them 
 and enforced against them. There is no combination 
 of capital so strong that the people are not stronger. 
 The power to cure all evils abides in the people and 
 they will never alienate it." 
 
 x- * -x- 
 
 "One of the greatest correctives of abuses is pub 
 licity, and publicity should be required wherever 
 abuses are supposed to exist. ~No great wrong will 
 long exist in the full light of publicity. Publicity 
 will not cure all wrongs, but it will result in curing 
 
 "When we overthrew Spanish power it became our 
 supreme duty to hold disorder in check, to protect the 
 dependent from pillage and the torch, and when the 
 islands were ceded to the United States it became as 
 much our duty to maintain peace there as in any 
 other territory belonging to the United States." 
 
 3f -X- -?f 
 
 "It pays nations, as well as individuals, to adhere 
 to the inflexible principles of fair dealing. No doubt 
 the United States could have ignored the Clayton- 
 Bulwer treaty and proceeded with the construction 
 
FAIRBANKS 95 
 
 of the canal, but it preferred, as it always prefers, 
 the frank and honorable way." 
 
 # * * 
 
 "When we cast our ballot with one hand we should 
 hold in the other the records of the two great political 
 parties. We should ponder them, reflect upon them, 
 We should not be governed by what the parties have 
 promised, but by what they have accomplished. The 
 party which should win is not the party that promises 
 most, but which performs most." 
 
 * * & 
 
 "The destiny of the Republic is what we make it. 
 Let the young men of Indiana whose fathers have 
 wrought so well in building up State and Nation 
 unite with the Republican party, which has served 
 the country wisely and patriotically in every supreme 
 crisis. Inspired by its heroic past, and by the mem 
 ory of its mighty statesmen dead ; and by the example 
 of its statesmen living, aid in carrying our country 
 forward in the way of peace, honor and prosperity, 
 and to the highest and best destiny." 
 
 In this campaign Mr. Fairbanks was a candidate 
 to succeed himself as Senator. The result of the cam 
 paign was a great personal triumph. The Republican 
 State ticket was elected by a plurality larger than 
 ever before given, with one exception, while the ma 
 jority in the Legislature was the greatest in the his 
 tory of any party. Mr. Fairbanks was reflected by 
 the unanimous Republican vote. 
 (7) 
 
96 FAIRBANKS 
 
 As lias been remarked heretofore, Mr. Fairbanks 
 services to his party were by no means confined to 
 speech-making. He advised and counseled as to the 
 declaration of principles and the conduct and man 
 agement of campaigns. And amid it all he never 
 ceased his efforts to lift party politics upon a high 
 plane of political and individual integrity, away 
 from the low stage of personal detraction and corrup 
 tion at the ballot-box. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HE ENTERS THE SENATE. 
 
 * I * HE entry of Mr. Fairbanks into the Senate was 
 * propitious. On the day that he took his seat 
 his friend, Mr. McKinley, took the oath of office as 
 Chief Magistrate of the Xation. The new President 
 and the new Senator were not political friends only, 
 but they were personal friends as well. They knew 
 each other intimately, and each had an exalted opin 
 ion of the personal and intellectual worth of the other. 
 They had each measured the strength of the other, 
 and each had an abiding faith that the other was 
 especially fitted in all ways for the position to which 
 he had been chosen. During the great campaign of 
 1896 Mr. Fairbanks had been one of the most inti 
 mate and most trusted of the advisers of Mr. McKin 
 ley, and the new President had learned during these 
 months to have great confidence in the judgment of 
 the future Senator. They were both moved by the 
 same lofty impulse to serve the people to the best 
 of their ability. They both were conservative by 
 nature and by training, and each had an exalted esti 
 mate of the duties and responsibilities of the station 
 
 -97- 
 
98 FAIEBANKS 
 
 they had assumed. They both were serious and ear 
 nest students of public affairs, and neither would let 
 party considerations outweigh their deliberate judg 
 ment as to what was best for the people. So it was 
 that the new President came at once to rely upon the 
 wisdom and judgment of the new Senator, as he had 
 relied upon the campaign adviser. 
 
 Mr. Fairbanks took with him into the Senate an 
 established reputation as a profound lawyer, a wise 
 and successful party leader and a forcible speaker. 
 The intimate relations between him and the Pres 
 ident were well known, and that the President re 
 lied greatly upon his counsels, so he took a prom 
 inent place at once among his colleagues. He was 
 too modest, too self-contained, too much amenable 
 to the traditions of the august body which he had 
 entered to push himself unduly forward in debate, 
 but from the very first he was taken into the inner 
 councils of his party associates in the Senate. 
 
 It was at a propitious moment for himself that 
 Mr. Fairbanks entered the Senate, but it was a for 
 tuitous moment for the whole country, for it was at a 
 crisis in the affairs of the Nation when such calm, 
 deliberate, conservative,, yet really bold, tempera 
 ments were needed in the councils of the Nation. 
 For some time the war and barbarities in Cuba had 
 been attracting the attention of the civilized world, 
 and the relations between the Government of the 
 United States and that of Spain were becoming daily 
 
FAIBBANKS 99 
 
 more and more strained. The effects of the war in 
 Cuba were felt more in this country than in any 
 other, owing to the proximity of the island to our 
 coast, and the suffering people there were calling 
 loudly upon us for aid in their struggle against the 
 tyranny of Spain. The people of the United States 
 were indignant, and anxious that some steps should 
 be taken to end the cruel war. This had been rec 
 ognized by the convention that nominated Mr. Mc- 
 Kinley for President, and the deliberate views of 
 the Republican party were embodied in the platform 
 adopted by that convention. There were many in 
 Congress and out of it who clamored for action, even 
 if it involved this country in war with Spain. 
 
 Another and most momentous question was con 
 fronting the Nation. For three years the country 
 had suffered an unexampled season of business de 
 pression. Everywhere factories were closed, and 
 hundreds of thousands of workmen were anxiously 
 seeking for employment they could not obtain. Dis 
 tress, financial and commercial, covered the country 
 like a pall, and the new administration was con 
 fronted with the duty of finding some solution of this 
 problem; some way to open the factories, of finding 
 work for the labor that was idle. Under the pressing 
 exigencies of the occasion President McKinley called 
 Congress to meet in extraordinary session, and it was 
 fortuitous for the country that ITr. Fairbanks had 
 taken his seat among the conservative Senators, 
 
100 FAIRBANKS 
 
 Mr. Fairbanks had not been a Senator three 
 months when he made his maiden speech. It was 
 upon an exciting and most important occasion, one 
 fraught with great possibilities to the country. His 
 relations with President McKinley were such that 
 when he arose to speak every one felt that what he 
 should say would truthfully and faithfully reflect 
 the views of the President, and he was listened to 
 with much more than the usual attention given to the 
 maiden effort of a young Senator. 
 
 The President had called Congress to enact a tariff 
 law, but at the very beginning the Cuban question 
 presented itself, and Senator Morgan, of Alabama, 
 introduced a resolution recognizing the belligerency 
 of the Cuban insurgents. It was a question of great 
 moment, and if adopted the resolution was sure to 
 break off diplomatic relations with Spain and possi 
 bly lead to a war with that country. It was on this 
 question, fraught with such vital consequences, that 
 Senator Fairbanks made his maiden speech. It was 
 a speech full of dignity and the seriousness befitting 
 so important an occasion. It was also of great force. 
 It gave to the members the gauge of their new col 
 league. It was a calm and dispassionate presentation 
 of the situation and the consequences involved, and 
 was delivered with dignity and force. It was the 
 product of a student and of a statesman. It is now 
 a part of the history of the country, and no apologies 
 are offered for presenting it here ; 
 
FAIRBANKS 
 
 101 
 
 "Mr. President : It has not been my purpose until 
 now to invite the attention of the Senate in this de 
 bate, and it is my present intention to add but a few 
 words. I shall not indulge in criticisms upon the 
 Senate or its members, for my brief presence here has 
 but increased my respect for both. My observation 
 is that there is no one here who possesses more pa 
 triotism or love of liberty than others; that in that 
 respect there is absolute equality here. I further 
 observe, Mr. President, as this debate has progressed., 
 that there is no difference among the honorable Sen 
 ators with respect to their desire for the freedom of 
 Cuba. All wish to see peace reign and liberty estab 
 lished in the desolated island. The difference arises, 
 sir, with regard to the means which shall be employed 
 to attain the hoped-for end. 
 
 "The immediate division of opinion has been with 
 reference to the motion of the distinguished Senator 
 from Maine to refer the resolution of the honorable 
 Senator from Alabama to the Committee on Foreign 
 Relations. Those who opposed the reference felt that 
 they had adequate information upon which to act, 
 while those who favored the reference desired in an 
 orderly and usual way to secure information in the 
 State Department bearing upon the subject under 
 consideration, and they also desired to have the delib 
 erate judgment of the able Committee on Foreign 
 Relations with respect to it. Their desire in this 
 
102 FAIRBANKS 
 
 regard was intensified by the partial disclosures made 
 yesterday by the distinguished Senator from Ohio. 
 
 "Mr. President, it seems to me that those who fav 
 ored the reference for the reasons indicated are not 
 wanting in humanity and love of country, and are 
 not unreasonable in their demands. Few questions 
 can arise in this chamber more momentous than this, 
 and it should have that consideration which comports 
 with its magnitude. Some Senators may be satisfied 
 with the fragmentary information of affairs in Cuba 
 which they have from private sources, from the pub 
 lic press, and from the State Department, but others 
 may not be. 
 
 "It would seem that as a predicate for action upon 
 this question, so important in its immediate results 
 and which shall become a notable precedent, there 
 should be upon the table of every Senator all the offi 
 cial information obtainable and a well-considered re 
 port from the appropriate committee. Each Senator 
 must act upon the solemnity of his oath, and a nice 
 regard for the obligations he has taken upon his en 
 trance to this chamber demands that he have the es 
 sential facts, officially ascertained, before he records 
 his deliberate potential judgment. 
 
 "I observe that this course was adopted by the 
 Senate at the last session. The resolution concern 
 ing Cuba was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
 Relations. The committee, after mature delibera 
 tion, reported it back to the Senate with substitute 
 
FAIRBANKS 103 
 
 resolutions. The majority report was presented by 
 the honorable Senator from Alabama, who now op 
 poses the reference of his own resolution upon the 
 same subject in the same manner to the same com 
 mittee. If deliberation and orderly procedure were 
 observed then, why not now ? What exigency has 
 arisen which demands the present departure from 
 the practices of the Senate in the past ? 
 
 "Mr. President, I shall not stop to discuss the 
 question as to whether, under the constitution, the 
 recognition of belligerency is an executive or legisla 
 tive function, or whether the executive and legislative 
 branches of the Government should act conjointly. 
 But it seems to me that in the conduct of our foreign 
 affairs the practice has been for the Committee on 
 Foreign Relations to act upon these international 
 questions to some degree in conjunction with the 
 Executive Department of the Government. If such 
 has not been the practice heretofore, now is the time 
 to set a good precedent. 
 
 "A new administration is in power, not yet three 
 months old an administration charged with great 
 responsibility. Shall we act in this grave matter re 
 gardless of its views or policies respecting foreign 
 affairs ? Shall the Congress take one position and 
 the Executive another upon a question of such mo 
 ment and obvious delicacy ? If so, what will be the 
 effect, not only upon the fortune of Cuba, but upon 
 our domestic affairs, sensitive and unsettled as they 
 are? 
 
104 FAIRBANKS 
 
 "Mr. President, if I correctly apprehend those who 
 favor the resolution of the Senator from Alabama, 
 one of the chief purposes to be accomplished by the 
 recognition of belligerency is to legitimatize the war 
 in Cuba ; it is to change barbarous warfare into civil 
 ized warfare. The immediate purpose is not to stop 
 the war, but to alter its character. 
 
 "Sir, I hold to the opinion that all war is barbar 
 ous. I am against war, civilized or uncivilized, ex 
 cept it be necessary to redeem people from oppres 
 sion, or be for national defense, or to sustain the na 
 tional honor in the protection of American citizen 
 ship. I preferred a reference of the joint resolution 
 to the Foreign Relations Committee, that it might 
 determine whether, under all the facts, according to 
 the official information in possession of the Govern 
 ment, it could not report a resolution which will ac 
 complish what the resolution offered by the Senator 
 from Alabama fails to secure, and that is, peace and 
 the independence of Cuba. 
 
 "Upon the recognition of belligerent rights, Mr. 
 President, we do not stop the war ; we merely dignify 
 it. When will it cease ? How much longer will the 
 slaughter continue? How much longer will the 
 sword and torch devour? E"o one can tell; no one 
 can measure the loss. 
 
 "I would prefer a policy more certain, more di 
 rect. Let us come out into the open and be for war 
 or against it. If a great moral responsibility rests 
 
FAIRBANKS 105 
 
 upon us, as I believe it does, let us discharge it 
 squarely and fairly. 
 
 "Sir, I would forthwith tender the good offices of 
 this Government to the Spanish Cabinet, to the end 
 that war cease. And further, I would open amicable 
 negotiations to secure the independence of Cuba, 
 which, under the providence of the Almighty, is its 
 manifest destiny. If these peaceful and honorable 
 methods fail and the war should continue, I would 
 have no hesitancy in reaching out the mighty arm 
 of this Government and saying, This war shall 
 cease/ But, sir, such an extreme measure will not 
 be necessary to accomplish an honorable peace. 
 
 "Some of the distinguished Senators who belong to 
 the party which holds my loyal allegiance have pro 
 fessed to support the resolution of the Senator from 
 Alabama because, as they hold, it is in consonance 
 with the platform adopted at St. Louis. I heard the 
 distinguished Senator from Nebraska, who presided 
 over the deliberations of that great congress of Amer 
 ican citizens with such conspicuous ability, read the 
 platform this morning and declare his approval of 
 it. With due deference to the honorable Senator, I 
 must utterly and entirely repudiate the suggestion 
 that the resolution proposed by the Senator from 
 Alabama is in accord with the Republican platform, 
 for, in my judgment, it is against it. The platform 
 on the Cuban question declared that 
 
 " From the hour of achieving their own independ- 
 
106 FAIRBANKS 
 
 ence the people of the United States have regarded 
 with sympathy the struggles of other American peo 
 ple to free themselves from European domination. 
 We watch with deep and abiding interest the heroic 
 battle of the Cuban patriots against cruelty and op 
 pression, and our best hopes go out for the full success 
 of th eir determined contest for liberty. 
 
 " The Government of Spain having lost control 
 of Cuba, and being unable to protect the property or 
 lives of resident American citizens, or to comply with 
 its treaty obligations 
 
 "Note carefully what follows 
 
 we believe that the Government of the United 
 States should actively use its influence and good 
 offices to restore peace and give independence to the 
 island. 
 
 "This language is free from ambiguity. Its mean 
 ing is not involved in the slightest doubt. Peace and 
 independence are to be obtained through the active 
 agency of the United States. 
 
 "Let me read the resolution offered by the Sena 
 tor from Alabama : 
 
 " Resolved by the Senate and House of Represen 
 tatives of the United States of America in Congress 
 assembled, That a condition of public war exists be 
 tween the government of Spain and the government 
 proclaimed and for some time maintained by the 
 force of arms by the people of Cuba, and that the 
 United States of America shall maintain a strict 
 neutrality between the contending powers, according 
 to each all the rights of belligerents in the ports and 
 territory of the United States. 
 
FAIRBANKS 107 
 
 "The policy to which this resolution commits the 
 Government is one of 
 
 strict neutrality between the contending powers, ac 
 cording to each all rights of belligerents in the ports 
 and territory of the United States. 
 
 "I yield to no Senator, I yield to no Republican 
 in my attachment to the doctrines of the Republican 
 party. I believe that when the platform was adopted 
 at St. Louis it was a covenant to be executed honestly, 
 fearlessly, faithfully ; and I am here, Mr. President, 
 to execute it to the best of my humble ability. 
 
 "The scope and purpose of the resolution and the 
 Republican platform are totally dissimilar. The for 
 mer recognizes the rights of belligerency and main 
 tains an attitude of strict neutrality nothing more 
 while the platform requires the Government to ten 
 der its good offices to restore peace and give independ 
 ence to the island. The distinction between tendering 
 the good offices of the Government and acknowledg 
 ing belligerency, according to international law, is 
 broad and marked. 
 
 "I believe the golden moment of which the hon 
 orable Senator from Massachusetts has spoken has 
 arrived. The condition in Cuba, except the horrors 
 of the pestilential camps, which the President s mes 
 sage has wisely attempted to mitigate, seems to be 
 worse than ever; the hold of Spain on Cuba is less 
 certain ; her revenues have decreased ; the burdens of 
 war have increased. The rainy season is at hand, 
 
108 FAIRBANKS 
 
 when the march must stop. A large army is to be 
 maintained at heavy cost until the seasons permit a 
 new campaign. The issue is in the balance. Sir, 
 it would seem that the highest considerations which 
 can move men or nations would suggest the tender 
 and acceptance of the good offices of this Government. 
 
 "Mr. President, before closing I wish to say that I 
 am deeply sensible of the distress in Cuba. I have no 
 doubt of the substantial accuracy of the reports of 
 the press of the country with respect to it. I am also 
 conscious of the distress and sufferings in our own 
 country. Every hour the pathetic appeals of our own 
 countrymen come to us. More than 2,000,000 good 
 and loyal American workmen are walking the streets 
 and highways of our country asking for work ; seek 
 ing not charity, but a chance to labor. Their eyes are 
 on this chamber. Every hour is precious to them. 
 They are not threatened by the barbarity of Weyler, 
 but by the cruelty of want. 
 
 "For every soldier that falls on the fields of Cuba 
 a hundred fall in the ranks of labor. The manufac 
 turers have been discouraged and the merchants have 
 been idle in the marts of trade. In the name of 
 these, sir, I protest against delay in the consideration 
 of the matters for which we were convoked in this 
 extraordinary session. Pass the tariff ! Pass the tar 
 iff I 9 comes from our expectant countrymen night and 
 day. A tariff law and a currency commission are the 
 imperative demands of the hour. Whatever will in- 
 
FAIRBANKS 109 
 
 terfere with early securing them, no matter how im 
 portant it is, I shall steadfastly oppose." 
 
 Senator Fairbanks closed his speech by offering an 
 amendment to the pending resolution. This amend 
 ment was understood to express the views of Presi 
 dent McKinley. It was to the purport that the Gov 
 ernment tender the good offices of the United States 
 to Spain in an endeavor to secure independence for 
 Cuba. The amendment failed and the original reso 
 lution of Senator Morgan was adopted, but it failed 
 to pass the House, and the threatening crisis was 
 escaped for a time. 
 
 This speech fixed the status of Mr. Fairbanks in 
 the Senate, and from that time he has taken part in 
 the discussion of every important question that has 
 been before the Congress. He was made Chairman 
 of the Committee on Immigration, in view of the 
 vast numbers of illiterate, pauper and criminal 
 classes who were flocking to our shores, a very impor 
 tant committee. He addressed himself to the duties 
 of the place with the same care and industry he had 
 ever displayed. He made a profound study of the 
 whole question of immigration and its effect upon 
 this country. When he had thoroughly prepared him 
 self for an exhaustive discussion of the subject he re 
 ported a bill restricting the admission of immigrants 
 into this country, and enforced it with a speech of 
 some length, abounding in statements of facts and 
 cogent arguments as to why the bill should become a 
 
110 FAIKBANKS 
 
 law. -In the progress of the speech he presented a 
 number of statistical tables of great value to the stu 
 dent of political and social economy. Among other 
 things he said : 
 
 "No more important question can engage our at 
 tention, and none should receive more earnest and 
 thoughtful consideration, than one which seeks to 
 guard and preserve the high standard of our popula 
 tion and citizenship. No policy, however venerable, 
 no mere sentimental considerations should dissuade 
 us from dealing with an evil which menaces our civil 
 ization, and in a manner compatible with the best in 
 terests of our country and all its people." 
 x- * * 
 
 "We are not unmindful of the immeasurable con 
 tributions which our foreign-born population has 
 made to the upbuilding of the Republic. Its work 
 and influence has been felt throughout the country, 
 and much of all that is great and splendid about us 
 is the fruit of its genius and industry. But those 
 who have aided most were those who quickly blended 
 with the great mass of our native-born population 
 and most readily renounced allegiance to their own 
 countries and assumed the duties of loyal citizens, 
 taking an interest and pride in sustaining and 
 strengthening the institutions of the country of their 
 adoption. Sir, I am pleased to say that the^ native 
 and foreign-born of Indiana have wrought together 
 in raising that splendid State to her present exalted 
 
FAIEBANKS 111 
 
 position. They have been zealous co-workers, sharing 
 alike in all the labors, anxieties, and rewards incident 
 to carving out of the wilderness that majestic com 
 monwealth. Search her muster-rolls, and there you 
 will find thousands born beneath distant skies who 
 dared all in defense of the honor and the integrity 
 of their chosen land. They shared in the arduous 
 deeds of heroes on many fields, and their patriotic de 
 votion is a part of the imperishable glory of the 
 
 State." 
 
 * -x- # 
 
 "The absorptive power of our nation has been 
 great, and in the main the aliens and the natives have 
 easily fused into a homogeneous people. The rapid 
 admixture of foreign bloods here without the impair 
 ment of our national character has challenged the 
 wonder and admiration of the civilized world." 
 x- # # 
 
 "Until recent years immigration was invited and 
 stimulated by liberal homestead laws, and by coloni 
 zation agencies which offered alluring inducements. 
 All who sought our shores were accepted without 
 question or discrimination. The educated, moral 
 and patriotic were welcome. * The culprit, fleeing 
 from outraged justice, found a refuge here. The 
 physically, mentally or morally disordered were per 
 mitted to become residents and citizens and share 
 with us, as though to the manner born/ the privi 
 leges bequeathed to us by our fathers. Our broad, 
 
 (8) 
 
112 KAIEBANKS 
 
 rich, unoccupied domain and expanding industries 
 invited numbers, and no heed was taken of their qual 
 ity; and it is remarkable, and indeed the subject of 
 congratulation, that we suffered so little from the 
 undesirable and really objectionable while our gates 
 stood unprotected." 
 
 % -K- * 
 
 "The very large per cent, of the immigration, until 
 quite recently, came from the United Kingdom, Ger 
 many, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. It was in 
 the main intelligent, industrious, frugal, law-re 
 specting and liberty-loving. It readily assimilated 
 with us and merged into the American with marvel 
 ous facility. It contributed to our statesmanship, to 
 our literature, to our commerce, to our agriculture, 
 and to all other avenues of industry." 
 jf * # 
 
 "If it be said that in further restricting immi 
 gration we are departing from the traditional policy 
 of our Government, we answer that conditions have 
 changed, and with new conditions the policy of the 
 Government must change to meet them. No policy 
 should stand against the best interests of our coun 
 trymen, native and foreign-born alike." 
 # # # 
 
 "The more recent immigration is less devoted to 
 
 home building than the former It may 
 
 be stated as axiomatic that home-builders are good 
 citizens, for the government that rests upon the home 
 
FAIRBANKS 113 
 
 will better resist the shock of foreign invasion or do 
 mestic tumult. The American home is indeed the 
 cradle of liberty it is the unit of the Republic s 
 strength. There are taught the lessons that endure. 
 That immigration that does not seek to build homes 
 among us is the most objectionable, and its exclusion 
 will be no loss." 
 
 X- -X- -X- 
 
 "A patriotic regard for those to whose interests 
 we owe first allegiance requires us to see that the 
 persons who present themselves to this new compe 
 tition shall not be the most ignorant pauper laborers 
 
 from abroad A low wage scale is not 
 
 consistent with the most wholesome development of 
 the country and of its people." 
 
 x x * 
 
 "What should be more in harmony with our insti 
 tutions than an educational test, for the enduring 
 basis upon which the Republic rests is intelligence ? 
 The schoolroom is more potential in our preservation 
 than steel-armored fleets; more essential to our de 
 fense than the strongest fortress. A general knowl 
 edge among the people of the rudimentary branches 
 of an education is regarded as essential to the safety 
 of our free institutions and necessary for the enjoy 
 ment of American citizenship. It is in recognition 
 of these facts that private beneficences have endowed 
 schools and that many States have enacted compul 
 sory education laws, and that the people have volun- 
 
114 FAIRBANKS 
 
 tavilv laid upon themselves the burden of instructing 
 the youth of the land. In many of the States the 
 truant officer has become a familiar arm of the law. 
 May we not demand of those without seeking our 
 shores that rudimentary education which we require 
 from our own countrymen within ?" 
 & & * 
 
 "Mr. President, the present bill has heretofore re 
 ceived the approval of the Senate. It is born neither 
 of a want of hospitality nor of a nativistic spirit, but 
 of a profound conviction that the illiterate elements 
 which do not make for national betterment should be 
 excluded, and that we should admit only those able 
 to read and write our Constitution and who are enam 
 ored of our country and its institutions. Sir, let 
 us exalt American citizenship, the richest legacy 
 which in the divine economy may be bequeathed to 
 the children of men, and preserve undiminished the 
 moral and intellectual grandeur of the Republic. 7 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 
 
 T 7" FRY early in the service of Senator Fairbanks 
 one of the great questions our financial sys 
 tem was under discussion. The election of Mr. 
 McKinley made it certain that for four years, at least, 
 there would be no free coinage of silver, but the free 
 silver advocates were in earnest and the silver ques 
 tion had many phases. It will be remembered that 
 Mr. Fairbanks had been chosen by Mr. McKinley for 
 temporary chairman of the St. Louis convention, and 
 to forecast in his speech what would be the financial 
 policy of his administration should he be nominated 
 and elected President. It is not surprising, then, 
 notwithstanding Mr. Fairbanks had been a member 
 of the Senate less than one year, when the subject of 
 silver was under discussion, that he should deliver a 
 set speech. Senator Teller, of Colorado, one of the 
 most earnest and able advocates of free silver, intro 
 duced into the Senate a resolution declaring, in sub 
 stance, that certain bonds issued by the United States 
 were payable, principal and interest, at the option of 
 the Government, in silver coin. 
 
 -115- 
 
110 FAIRBANKS 
 
 It was a very adroit and insidious attack on the 
 financial policy of President McKinley, and was cal 
 culated to win support from the unwary, and cause 
 trouble for the Republican party. The speech 
 of Senator Fairbanks was characterized by close, 
 logical reasoning, and he supported his argument 
 with copious facts and figures taken from the past 
 history of the country. In view of the fact that 
 there are still a large number of people who continue 
 to advocate the doctrine of free coinage, the speech 
 made by Mr. Fairbanks in January, 1898, is well 
 worth considering at this day. Among other things 
 he said: 
 
 "I am reluctant to add to what has already so 
 admirably and forcibly been urged against the adop 
 tion of the resolution of the Senator from Colorado. 
 But I am so impressed with its subtle attack upon the 
 public credit and by its mischievous effect upon the 
 country that I can not consent to rest my opposition 
 solely upon my negative vote. 7 
 
 * * * 
 
 "It is wholly reactionary in its purpose. It de 
 clares that the principal and interest of certain bonds 
 shall be paid at the option of the Government in 
 silver dollars of the coinage of the United States 
 containing 412-| grains each of standard silver, re 
 gardless of the great decline that has occurred 
 in the commercial value of silver throughout the 
 world. It is not claimed that its terms either enlarge 
 
FAIRBANKS 117 
 
 or restrict the obligations devolved upon the Govern 
 ment by existing law. It does not have the force of 
 law; it is at most a brutmn fulmen." 
 
 vf -X- -X- 
 
 "It is evident that the central purpose of the reso 
 lution is to obtain the sentiment of the Senate upon 
 the proposition for the free and unlimited coinage of 
 silver at the ratio of sixteen to one. Why was not 
 this purpose, Mr. President, frankly and clearly ex 
 pressed in. the face of the resolution, in order that 
 no doubt whatever might arise as to its scope and 
 meaning? So important a question as the currency 
 and the coinage of gold and silver can not be settled 
 by indirection, nor will we be entrapped into any 
 inconsiderate and doubtful expression with respect 
 thereto." 
 
 X- -X- -X- 
 
 "I am aware, Mr. President, of the tremendous 
 power of environment upon our lives and upon our 
 judgments. It seems to me that in the devotion of 
 the Senator from Colorado to the cause of free silver 
 he is following but an ignis f atuus, and that he would 
 lead his country and his followers in the pursuit of 
 it into the morass of commercial paralysis, degrada 
 tion and dishonor." 
 
 x- * -x- 
 
 "What is its purpose? What does it seek to ac 
 complish? Sir, it seems to me to lay the ground 
 work of national discredit and national dishonor. 
 
118 FAIRBANKS 
 
 Any impairment of the public credit sensibly and 
 injuriously affects individual credit and private enter 
 prise. Any possible derangement of our commercial 
 interests must tend to create dissatisfaction, discour 
 agement, discontent, and out of such conditions it is 
 hoped, I believe, that the free coinage of silver will 
 
 emerge." 
 
 x- * -jc 
 
 "The present resolution is unwarranted by exist 
 ing circumstances. Whatever tends to arrest the 
 rapid restoration of prosperity, which tends to dis 
 turb confidence, which is the foundation-rock upon 
 which all true and enduring prosperity is built, is 
 
 unwise, untimely." 
 
 * * * 
 
 "The ranks of free silver have been recruited out 
 of adversity and disaster. I give the author of the 
 pending resolution credit for the perspicacity to see 
 that in the complete restoration of prosperity, now 
 imminent and manifest to all, the free and unre 
 stricted coinage of silver is an utter impossibility, and 
 as a real issue it would soon become as dead as the 
 
 Caesars." 
 
 # * # 
 
 "The enforced payment of the bond creditors of 
 the Government in cheap silver dollars would, in 
 my judgment, be in violation of the spirit and pur 
 pose of the contract, if not in contravention of its 
 letter," 
 
FAIRBANKS 119 
 
 "I well uecollect the invitation that was presented 
 soon after the war to induce the people by various 
 devices to repudiate a portion of the great bond debt. 
 But it is a part of our proudest history that the voice 
 of the repudiator was unheeded and that the great 
 mass of the people were as sensitive of preserving the 
 national honor by meeting the national obligations 
 as they were to defend it upon the battlefields of the 
 Kepublic." 
 
 3f * * 
 
 "I shall not stop to critically examine the letter 
 of the bonds of the Government, supplemented by 
 the provisions of the resolution before us. I shall 
 write into them the good faith and moral obligation 
 of the country to meet and discharge them fairly and 
 squarely and without loss to the creditor. This obli 
 gation, I take it, is of no less binding force upon a 
 country sensitive of its honor than that which may 
 be termed strictly the legal obligation, and I shall 
 consent to no interpretation which shall prevent the 
 Government from paying its debts in the best stand 
 ard of money and in full measure. This policy I 
 would apply in its best and most comprehensive sense 
 to bonds, pensions, and every other class and form of 
 Government indebtedness. I hold, sir, that above 
 all gold and all silver and of all other forms of cur 
 rency stand the honor and the credit of the Govern 
 ment." 
 
120 FAIRBANKS 
 
 "The present is no time for quibbling, for uncer 
 tainty, for doubt, There must be no equivocation 
 with respect to the character of our money standard, 
 and no hesitancy nor divided purpose in its inflexible 
 maintenance. It is our duty to place about it such 
 safeguards as wisdom and prudence may suggest and 
 to preserve it unimpaired. The judgment and the 
 conscience of the American people found expression 
 in the platform adopted by the St. Louis convention, 
 in 1896, and which was triumphantly ratified at the 
 ballot box. The declaration made was unalterable 
 opposition to every measure calculated to debase our 
 currency or to impair the credit of the country. Op 
 position was pledged to the free coinage of silver 
 except by international agreement with the leading 
 commercial nations of the world, to promote which 
 pledge was given; and until such agreement could 
 be obtained the existing gold standard must be pre - 
 served. All our silver and paper currency must be 
 maintained at parity with gold, and all measures were 
 favored which were designed to maintain inviolably 
 the obligations of the United States and all our 
 money, whether coin or paper, at the present stand 
 ard, the standard of the most enlightened nations of 
 the earth. Sir, this constitutes our monetary creed 
 broad, sound, patriotic the true foundation of all 
 real, individual prosperity and enduring national 
 greatness." 
 
 A momentous crisis was approaching and the coun- 
 
FAIRBANKS 121 
 
 try was about to be suddenly plunged into a war the 
 results of which were to startle the world and change 
 our traditional policy. The condition of affairs in 
 Cuba had been going from bad to worse. The bru 
 talities practiced on the people of the island by those 
 in authority had long shocked the humanity of the 
 world, but Spain was deaf to all protests, to all solici 
 tations. President McKinley watched the develop 
 ment of affairs with keen interest. At the very be 
 ginning of his administration there had been an effort 
 made to force the Government to take a step that 
 would have led to immediate war, but it had been 
 checked. 
 
 The excitement in this country increased, and 
 members of all parties urged the President to take 
 some decisive stand to end the barbarities practiced 
 in Cuba, but he steadfastly pursued his policy of 
 trying to maintain peace with Spain and at the same 
 time induce that government to better the condition 
 of affairs on the island. He recognized that this 
 country was not ready for war, and that war was to 
 be avoided if at all possible compatible with the honor 
 of the Nation. At last an electric spark was touched 
 that aroused the Nation as nothing had done in all 
 its history. 
 
 The President from the first had been profoundly 
 impressed with the seriousness of the situation, and 
 that war might come, but he was not to be hastened 
 into taking any step that would look like desiring 
 
122 FAIRBANKS 
 
 war. His first official act in the affairs of Cuba was 
 to ask an appropriation to enable him to provide food, 
 medicines and transportation out of the island for 
 the Americans stranded there. The filibuster ele 
 ment kept up a constant and fierce fire upon him, but 
 he showed no sign of weakening in his conservative 
 attitude. In his first annual message to Congress 
 he calmly discussed the situation; spoke plainly of 
 the horrors of the war in the island, and very strongly 
 indicated that the time might come when the United 
 States would feel bound to interfere to end the hor 
 rors. He stated that his efforts to bring about an 
 honorable peace would be continued, and then closed 
 with these solemn and impressive words: 
 
 "The near future will demonstrate whether the 
 indispensable condition of a righteous peace, just 
 alike to the Cubans and to Spain, as well as equitable 
 to all our interests so intimately involved in the wel 
 fare of Cuba, is likely to be obtained. If not, the 
 exigency of further and other action by the United 
 States will remain to be taken. When that time 
 comes, that action will be determined in the line of 
 indisputable right and duty. It will be faced with 
 out misgiving or hesitancy, in the light of the obliga 
 tions the Government owes to itself, to the people who 
 have confided to it the protection of their interests 
 and honor, and to humanity. 
 
 "Sure of the right, keeping free from all offense 
 ourselves, actuated only by upright and patriotic con- 
 
FAIKBANKS 123 
 
 siderations, moved neither by passions nor selfishness, 
 the Government will continue its watchful care over 
 the rights and property of American citizens and will 
 abate none of its efforts to bring about by peaceful 
 agencies a peace which shall be honorable and endur 
 ing. If it shall hereafter appear to be a duty im 
 posed by our obligations to ourselves, to civilization 
 and humanity, to intervene with force, it shall be 
 without fault on our part and only because the neces 
 sity for such action, will be so clear as to command 
 the support and approval of the civilized world." 
 
 Following the full and comprehensive recital of 
 the condition of affairs, and the many provocations 
 given to the United States, this language might well 
 have been looked upon as being an ultimatum, an 
 nouncing that the conduct of the war must change 
 or the United States would interfere. It was not 
 regarded by Spain. In February, 1898, the indigna 
 tion of the American people received a new impetus. 
 A proposition had been made to show the friendly 
 feeling between this country and Spain by an inter 
 change of visits by a warship of each nation, the 
 Spanish vessel to visit New York and the American 
 Havana. While this peaceful maneuver was in 
 course of preparation a letter was published, purport 
 ing to have been written by the Spanish Minister at 
 Washington, Dupuy de Lome, to a Spanish official 
 at Havana. This letter teemed with abusive epithets 
 against the President, and suggestions to the Spanish 
 official to continue a certain course of deception. 
 
124 FAIRBANKS 
 
 The publication of this letter produced a storm of 
 excitement in this country, and the Spanish Minister 
 promptly cabled his resignation to his government 
 and left the country. This was followed eight days 
 later by the blowing up of the Maine in Havana har 
 bor. An instant demand for war followed, and Con 
 gress promptly gave the President $50,000,000 for 
 defensive purposes and for the purchase of ships to 
 strengthen our navy. 
 
 On the llth of April, 1898, President McKinley 
 sent a long and comprehensive message to Congress, 
 reviewing the situation, and closing with the follow 
 ing paragraph : 
 
 "The issue is now with Congress. It is a solemn 
 responsibility. I have exhausted every effort to re 
 lieve the intolerable condition of affairs which is at 
 our doors. Prepared to execute every obligation 
 imposed upon me by the Constitution and the law, 
 I await your action." 
 
 A resolution was introduced in Congress declaring 
 the people of Cuba free, and demanding that Spain 
 relinquish authority in that island. The President 
 was empowered and directed to use the land and 
 naval forces of this country to carry the resolution 
 into effect. A number of able speeches were made 
 while the resolution was pending, that of Senator 
 Fairbanks being especially effective. In the course 
 of his speech he said : 
 
 "I have not been for either peace at any price or 
 
FAIRBANKS 125 
 
 war at any cost. I have been steadfastly for peace 
 if it could be maintained honorably, and for war if 
 the national dignity and honor required it. The 
 problem which is presented to us is one of the great 
 est gravity, one which invokes our most deliberate, 
 patriotic judgment." 
 
 * -x- * 
 
 "In view of our relations to the island and of our 
 policy of opposition to foreign interference with 
 Spanish control, we are morally bound to put an end 
 to the wrongs, the outrages, the evils which flow from 
 Spanish misrule. We have repeatedly tendered to 
 the Spanish Cabinet our friendly offices to end the 
 wars in Cuba and to restore peace. Our offers have 
 been uniformly rejected." 
 
 -x- -x- -x- 
 
 "This Government has at all times been scrupu 
 lously observant of her duties toward Spain, yet 
 Spain has either been unwilling or unable to prop 
 erly protect the rights of our citizens or to make ade 
 quate reparation for the wrongs committed against 
 them. They have been imprisoned without cause 
 and tardily released without just reparation for the 
 indignities and wrongs committed. The story is an 
 old one; is already familiar as a thrice-told tale. 
 History is but repeating itself." 
 x- -x- * 
 
 "For many months the Chief Executive, upon 
 whom rests, under the Constitution, the conduct of 
 
126 FAIRBANKS 
 
 our foreign affairs, has been attempting to solve the 
 Cuban problem peacefully and honorably. He has 
 proceeded to its consideration with a broad and sym 
 pathetic statesmanship, and with a determination to 
 enforce all the just demands we could make upon the 
 Spanish authority, and with a purpose of defending, 
 in the fullest degree, the national honor. The task 
 imposed has been a grave and difficult one, and he has 
 discharged it in a manner to challenge the admira 
 tion of his contemporaries and, in my opinion, to 
 win the approval of dispassionate history. His pol 
 icy was an open one, known to the world; it was 
 peace with honor above and beyond all else, and war 
 with honor only as the last dread emergency. If 
 war was to come, it must come at such a time as we 
 would be able to meet it and in such manner as the 
 whole world would approve. He truly compre 
 hended the resources and the patriotism of our peo 
 ple, and well knew that but one result would follow 
 an appeal to the sword. He also knew that nothing 
 so became the mighty power of a great people as its 
 sparing use. 
 
 "But a few weeks ago the Maine, one of our war 
 vessels, was sent to the harbor of Havana upon a 
 mission of peace, for the protection of American in 
 terests, and not for war. Her going was but the 
 resumption of old-time friendly relations. While 
 the noble ship rested at peace in the harbor of Ha 
 vana, while she was enjoying Spanish hospitality, she 
 
FAIRBANKS 127 
 
 was destroyed, and most of her brave crew perished 
 with her. When the blow came she was Spain s 
 guest, which was strong against the deed. 7 The ex 
 plosion aroused our countrymen and shook the earth. 
 It was the master tragedy of the age." 
 
 # * * 
 
 "The evidence is ample to convict Spain. ~No un 
 prejudiced jury in all Christendom would fail to ren 
 der a verdict of guilty if Spain were an individual 
 resting under indictment in a court of criminal juris 
 diction. Her conduct both before and after the fact 
 leaves no possible shadow of doubt. Whether the 
 electric current was sent upon its mission of death 
 by Spanish decree or by a Spanish functionary in 
 Havana we will not stop to inquire. It is not for us 
 to do so. The burden rests upon Spain. It was by 
 the direct order of her military authorities that the 
 Maine was anchored above a powerful, deadly sub 
 marine mine. Was this accidental? How chivalric ! 
 What a token of friendship and esteem ! What a 
 graceful courtesy ! But it is said by Spain that we 
 have not shown that she released the fatal spark. 
 Be it so. It is not necessary. > The primary cause 
 was her act ; we will not look beyond it. The orig 
 inal offense was hers. ^Tor are we obliged to stop to 
 inquire whether the Spanish officers were negligent 
 or exceeded their authority. If such a duty rests 
 upon any one, it does not rest upon us." 
 
 # # # 
 
 (9) 
 
128 FAIEBANKS 
 
 "Sir, the ghosts of the Maine will not down ; they 
 beckon us on. Would that they could tell the secrets 
 of their prison house. 7 Then we would know how, 
 sleeping, the Spanish serpent stung them. For this 
 grave act Spain must make due amends." 
 
 * -5f * 
 
 "Our own tranquility, our own sense of security, 
 our regard for our present and future comfort and 
 for the lives of her helpless and hapless subjects, 
 demand that we should interpose the mighty power 
 of this Government to stop the carnival of crime and 
 suffering and restore peace to the Island of Cuba un 
 til some suitable government may be formed which 
 shall be a guaranty to us and to the other nations of 
 the earth that it will at all times in the future be 
 ready and willing and able to discharge its domestic 
 and international obligations." 
 
 * * * 
 
 "No one will distrust our motives in taking this 
 step. We do not intervene for revenge, for the ac 
 quisition of territory, for the extension of our author 
 ity and power. Our past history is ample proof of 
 this. Spain has long overtaxed the generous for 
 bearance of our people. We have suffered wrongs 
 that would have justified a nation actuated by less 
 exalted motives than we to have struck in revenge. 
 Ample opportunity has heretofore occurred for the 
 seizure of the island by force if we had been eager 
 to extend our dominion. The world will acquit us 
 
FAIEBANKS 
 
 of any base design. The misgovernment of Cuba 
 has become so flagrant, the barbarism, the wrongs, 
 the outrages there have so offended the civilized 
 world that we must intervene for and in the name of 
 humanity. No higher motive can actuate any gov 
 
 ernment." 
 
 * * * 
 
 "We are at the beginning of a new epoch in our 
 history. No graver emergency ever confronted us 
 than the one which faces us at this hour. Peace is 
 about to be abdicated for a policy which may lead to 
 war. War, if it comes, will have been forced upon 
 us by the misgovernment, the insolence, the cruelty 
 of Spain. Spain has too long presumed upon our 
 good nature. She has too long offended against the 
 sense of justice of our people. Her desultory, guer 
 rilla-like, barbarous warfare upon her subjects in 
 Cuba, upon American citizens and American com 
 merce, has been in effect a war upon us." 
 
 * * * 
 
 "I confess I have come to the conclusion to which 
 I have arrived after much deliberation reluctantly 
 and with profound regret. I have hoped and prayed 
 that this great emergency might be honorably 
 averted or avoided. My hesitancy did not grow out 
 of any doubt, as to the patriotism or the power of my 
 country. It was due to no possible doubt as to the 
 result of the issue, but to the fact that I have felt 
 that even Spain, cruel and merciless as she has been, 
 
130 FAIRBANKS 
 
 would not be wholly dead to our righteous and firm 
 
 appeals." 
 
 H- * -x- 
 
 "All efforts at amicable solution have failed, and 
 all that remains is to invoke the mighty power of this 
 Government in behalf of enduring peace and imper 
 iled humanity. We shall now have the satisfaction 
 of knowing that, coi^e what may in the lottery of 
 war, we have left undone nothing which could be 
 done consistently with honor to secure a pacific set 
 tlement. The Spanish flag must be withdrawn and 
 cease forever to contaminate the air of this hemis 
 phere. To the high and holy cause of humanity and 
 the vindication of our national honor we dedicate the 
 lives and fortune of the Bepublic." 
 
 War was declared, and the country made prepara 
 tions to fill the army and the navy. It is known 
 how the people rallied to the standard of the nation 
 from every section. Those who had fought for the 
 gray vied with those who fought for the blue in tes 
 tifying their devotion to the old flag. That glorious 
 page in American history has been read by the world. 
 The United States was to step forth as the champion 
 of humanity and liberty, and the people were ready 
 for it. Men who had grown old and gray in the 
 service of the country tendered themselves for duty ; 
 young men, sons of sires who had fought on the 
 bloody battlefields during the civil war, came for 
 ward as did their fathers in the days from 1861 to 
 
FAIKBANKS 131 
 
 1865. Among those who offered for duty at the 
 front was Senator Fairbanks. In the Senate he had 
 opposed all hasty action and advocated the exhaus 
 tion of every possible means to bring about a peace 
 before resorting to arms, but when patience ceased 
 to be a virtue he voted for the declaration that was 
 to loose the army and the navy of the United States 
 to drive Spain from this side of the world. He 
 wrote to Governor James A. Mount, of Indiana, 
 tendering his services for duty in the field. To this 
 offer of his services Governor Mount made the fol 
 lowing reply : 
 
 "My Dear Senator Permit me to say, in reply 
 to your patriotic tender of your services, that I com 
 mend your loyalty to the State and Nation. The 
 offer of your services as a soldier means that you 
 are ready to make any sacrifice for the preservation 
 of the national honor. 
 
 "I beg to assure you that you can best render that 
 service in the United States Senate. In this con 
 nection I desire to commend your patriotic course. 
 Your great speech on the Cuban question was the 
 argument of a statesman. I could not consent to 
 your leaving the Senate. Your constituents would 
 protest. We need statesmen as much as soldiers. 
 We can fill the places of soldiers much easier than 
 the seats of Senators. 
 
 "~No one can place a higher estimate than I place 
 upon the offer of your services to the State as a sol- 
 
132 FAIEBANKS 
 
 dier, but above this is my measure of your services 
 as a Senator. Very truly yours, 
 
 "J. A. MOUNT. 
 "Indianapolis, May 3, 1898." 
 
 Mr. Fairbanks was a very busy man in the Senate, 
 especially during the continuance of the short war 
 with Spain. He earnestly upheld in every way the 
 hands of the administration in forcing a speedy 
 peace. He was earnest in his advocacy of all the 
 war measures authorizing volunteers, strengthening 
 the navy and the raising of the proper revenue, mak 
 ing a very elaborate speech on the bill for that pur 
 pose. He was not hasty in throwing himself into 
 a debate, but carefully and studiously prepared him 
 self with facts and authorities, just as he would pre 
 pare himself for an argument before a court. 
 
 One of the things to which the Republican party 
 the party to which Senator Fairbanks owed alle 
 giance had pledged itself was to enact whatever 
 legislation was needed to maintain the parity of the 
 various kinds of currency with gold. It was a per 
 plexing question, owing to the variance in the views 
 of the Republican members of Congress and to the 
 strong opposition of the free silver advocates, who 
 would be satisfied with no currency bill that did not 
 provide for the coinage of silver. The struggle to 
 harmonize the many conflicting views was long and 
 arduous. The sound money members kept steadily 
 before them the necessity of some legislation on the 
 
FAIKBANKS 133 
 
 subject, the only question with them being what shape 
 the legislation should take. There were, also, seem 
 ingly irreconcilable differences between the two 
 houses of Congress. Senator Fairbanks watched the 
 course of the legislation and the discussion with great 
 interest. A bill was finally formulated that after 
 a long discussion passed the House and was sent to 
 the Senate. There it received many amendments, 
 and the struggle between the two houses was trans 
 ferred to the room of the Conference Committee. 
 It was not until the report of that committee was 
 made that Senator Fairbanks joined in the discus 
 sion. 
 
 He gave to the question a careful and exhaustive 
 study, and came to its discussion fully armed at all 
 points, with authorities and precedents. The speech 
 is an epitome of the history of financial legislation 
 in this country, and is valuable for reference to the 
 student of finance. He again emphasized his adhe 
 sion to the gold standard and his unalterable oppo 
 sition to the free coinage of silver. On any ques 
 tion that came up before the Senate there was never 
 any doubt as to where Senator Fairbanks stood. In 
 no speech that he ever delivered was there to be 
 found any equivocation or evasion. He always 
 stated his position plainly and clearly, that there 
 might be no doubt about it. So it was in this speech 
 on the financial bill. 
 
 "The pending measure," he said, "continues gold 
 
134 FAIRBANKS 
 
 as the monetary unit or standard of value. It does 
 not attempt to establish a new standard of value with 
 which we are unfamiliar. It makes no new experi 
 ment which may lead to surprises and uncertainties, 
 to the embarrassment of commerce and the conse 
 quent injury of the interests of labor and capital. 
 It is a reassurance to them that no change is to occur 
 in our monetary system which will place them in 
 immediate or serious peril. Upon this renewed 
 pledge they may go forward, planning, building and 
 expanding for the future. It allays apprehensions; 
 dispels fears. It becomes the secure foundation of 
 an expanding commerce of a larger commercial 
 growth." 
 
 It was not the custom of the Senator, while dis 
 cussing a question pending before the Senate, to in 
 dulge in political bickerings or to contrast the atti 
 tude of the political parties on the question, but in 
 this speech he drew this sharp contrast between the 
 policy advocated by the Republicans and that of their 
 opponents : 
 
 "The issue between the two parties is sharply de 
 fined. The one adheres to the gold standard and 
 the consequent use of a large but limited volume of 
 silver and paper currency, its full equivalent in 
 effecting the exchanges of the people, while the other 
 is for the maintenance of the single silver standard, 
 with gold expelled from the channels of trade. It 
 is true this is not its professed policy, yet it would 
 be the inevitable result if its policy were adopted," 
 
FAIRBANKS 135 
 
 In another place he defended the Republican party 
 from a charge of inconsistency made against it by 
 Senator Teller, saying: 
 
 "It is of little profit to pause and consider whether 
 there has been any variation in political platforms. 
 The pregnant fact is not whether a party was right 
 or wrong in the past, but whether it is right now. 
 The Senator will search in vain for any equivocation 
 in the utterances or the purposes of the Republican 
 party at any time with respect to the preservation 
 of the absolute equality of all forms of currency. 
 It always has been opposed to a degraded dollar, and 
 at the earliest moment possible after the war brought 
 every dollar of our money to a plane of absolute 
 equality. It evolved order out of financial chaos in 
 1879 and has stood immovable for the preservation 
 of the parity with each other of our dollars gold, 
 paper and silver." 
 
 The Senator once said that he believed platforms 
 were made to be lived up to, and that all promises 
 should be religiously fulfilled. To him the platform 
 of his party meant something more than idle words 
 with which to catch votes. On all proper occasions 
 he urged the prompt keeping of all promises made 
 to the people. Therefore he was one of those who 
 rejoiced at the prospect of the passage of the financial 
 bill. To him it meant something in addition to 
 maintaining the gold standard it was one more 
 promise kept, 
 
CHAPTER IX, 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FLAG. 
 
 war with Spain placed new burdens on the 
 Congress and the Executive. We had taken 
 over Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands from 
 Spain, and a system of government was to be formu 
 lated for them. This was an exceedingly delicate 
 task on many accounts, principally because the whole 
 system of laws under which those islands had been 
 governed for centuries was totally different from that 
 which prevailed in the United States. In addition to 
 this was the fact that the people spoke another lan 
 guage, and a vast majority of them were illiterate, 
 and having grown up under tyranny and oppression, 
 they were turbulent and intractable. 
 
 A very grave and perplexing question at once 
 arose "Does the Constitution follow the flag?" Pos 
 sibly a very large majority of the American people 
 held that the flag took with it the Constitution and all 
 our institutions ; that having taken possession and as 
 sumed jurisdiction over Porto Rico and the Philip 
 pines they at once became integral parts of the United 
 States, and their citizens became citizens with us, 
 
 -136- 
 
FAIKBANKS 137 
 
 with all the rights of American citizens. In our gov 
 ernment, they said, we know no such things as "sub 
 jects/ 7 and many held that the people of our new 
 possessions must be either citizens or subjects. 
 Theretofore, whenever our flag had been raised over 
 a new possession, at the same moment the Constitu 
 tion had spread its broad aegis over the people; but 
 here there were complications that had existed in 
 none of the countries that had been annexed hereto 
 fore." It was indeed a delicate problem one much 
 harder than the one presented at the close of the war 
 between the States, when the status of the negro had 
 to be defined. It is not surprising that statesmen 
 divided on the question when courts, the expounders 
 of the Constitution, divided. 
 
 A temporary solution was found so far as the in 
 ternal government was concerned by putting the 
 islands under military control for the time, but even 
 then difficulties were in the way. If the islands were 
 an integral part of the country, then the laws of Con 
 gress prevailed, and among those laws was one levy 
 ing impost duties. One day Porto Kico was a foreign 
 country, and its products were liable to the customs 
 duties if brought into this country; the next day, 
 when it passed under our jurisdiction, was it entitled 
 to have its products admitted free of customs duties ? 
 There "was another question that looked for awhile as 
 if it would be hard to solve. In the Philippines the 
 
138 FAIRBANKS 
 
 church and the state had been practically one. Such 
 a condition could not remain under American rule. 
 
 Another question to be solved was how the ex 
 penses of the insular governments were to be paid. 
 This was one of the first that arose in Congress. It 
 was proposed to retain our tariff law as to Porto Rico, 
 but so far favor the products of the island as to admit 
 them on payment of a very small per cent, of the 
 duties levied on the same articles from other coun 
 tries. This proposition raised a storm of protest all 
 over the country. In Indiana the people were prac 
 tically united in holding that the Constitution fol 
 lowed the flag, and that Porto Rico, consequently, 
 was under the protection of that instrument and no 
 customs duties could be levied against its products. 
 Senator Fairbanks was fairly deluged with letters 
 and protests against the proposed law, and he was 
 urged to take a stand in opposition to it. Almost 
 every friend he had in the State counseled him so to 
 do. 
 
 Senator Fairbanks had studied the question for 
 himself, and had reached the conclusion that the Con 
 stitution did not of itself follow the flag, and that in 
 the case of our new insular possessions it would not 
 be safe at this time to extend it over them ; that the 
 Constitution not automatically extending itself, Con 
 gress had the power to require customs duties from 
 its products imported into the States, and that it was 
 very proper and right so to do, to provide for the 
 
FAIRBANKS 139 
 
 necessary expenses of maintaining a government over 
 them. He addressed the Senate in an elaborate 
 speech setting forth the reasons that impelled him to 
 take that position, and in advocating the passage of 
 the pending measure he said: 
 
 "Whether the Constitution extends automatically 
 to a territory acquired has been a much debated ques 
 tion. Divergent views have been and still are sharply 
 entertained upon the subject. Such difference of 
 opinion will continue until the Supreme Court, in the 
 serenity of yonder judicial chamber, shall, in a case 
 raising squarely the issue, determine the question. 
 Its supreme judgment will be accepted by the country, 
 for in its wisdom and in the integrity of its purpose 
 there exists no doubt. Until it shall determine and 
 define the powers of Congress under the Constitution 
 the Congress should reserve to itself the widest pos 
 sible liberty, the amplest discretion in dealing with 
 the problems and conditions which are now facing us 
 and which were not within the contemplation of the 
 wise framers of the Constitution. 
 
 a Our Constitution, for which the American people 
 have a respect and veneration next only to their re 
 spect and veneration for Holy Writ, was framed for 
 the government of a people who had in them the seed 
 of self-government which had germinated and grow r n 
 for centuries, a people who were familiar with the 
 privileges conferred and the duties imposed by the 
 Constitution, and who knew how to exercise and ob- 
 
140 FAIEBANKS 
 
 serve them. It was framed for a people whose wants 
 and capacities were distinctly known and understood. 
 
 "In its essential principles, in its most exalted pur 
 pose, the Constitution can be adapted to many peoples 
 and many countries that are without preliminary 
 training or experience ; but as to others it would be 
 illy adapted, and some modification as to details 
 would become necessary, if it were to be applied to 
 them. The spirit of that immortal instrument may 
 go everywhere, but many of its fixed and absolute 
 provisions would rest imperfectly upon those peoples 
 and races whose traditions and conditions are entirely 
 unlike our own." 
 
 Senator Fairbanks fully appreciated the impor 
 tance and gravity of the question, and in earnest 
 words appealed for deliberate action. He said: 
 
 "The greatest danger in dealing with the new prob 
 lems which engage our attention is undue haste, un- 
 considerate action. There will be no difficulty in 
 solving them if we will be content to act only upon 
 ample information and be willing to retrace our steps 
 if we go wrong. There is no mind so gifted as to 
 be able to see the end from the beginning. We must 
 obtain the best lights possible and follow them in the 
 settlement of the questions before us, actuated always 
 by the exalted purpose to deal justly and liberally 
 with those who, through one of the great revolutions 
 in history may I not say evolutions are committed 
 to our care. 
 
FAIRBANKS 141 
 
 a We should remember that free government did 
 not spring, Athena like, into existence, but is the fruit 
 of centuries of trial and tribulation, and that educa 
 tion and experience are essential before any people 
 can appreciate and exercise that government which 
 we enjoy and which we believe is the best that human 
 wisdom has devised." 
 
 Having exhaustively discussed the powers of Con 
 gress, the conditions of the people of Porto Rico, 
 and the political soundness of the position he had 
 taken, the Senator concluded his remarks with the 
 following words in giving his adhesion to the pending 
 bill: 
 
 "We should approach and consider the subject be 
 fore us in no illiberal or dogmatic spirit. No matter 
 what shades of opinion with respect to the best course 
 to be pursued and the wisest measures to be adopted 
 with reference to Porto Rico, there is perfect unity 
 of purpose among all parties to provide the most lib 
 eral form of government and just laws under which 
 her welfare may be promoted in the very highest de 
 gree. The pending bill commands my judgment, my 
 conscience ; it shall have my vote. It has not been 
 given to finite mind to read the future of Porto Rico, 
 but we may believe that under the inspiration of 
 republican laws and the impetus of American ex 
 ample her people will grow in knowledge, strength 
 and power, and forever bless the great Republic." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE JOINT HIGH COMMISSION. 
 
 \T7HEN Mr. McKinley entered upon the dis- 
 * * charge of his duties as President several very 
 grave and important questions were pending with 
 Canada, among them being the boundary of Alaska. 
 The United States had purchased all the rights of 
 Russia over the Alaskan territory, and until the dis 
 covery of rich gold fields in that country there was lit 
 tle thought or care as to where the actual boundary 
 lines were. The discovery of gold, however, at once 
 made these lines a serious question, especially as Can 
 ada laid claim to much more territory than the 
 United States was willing to accord. The dispute 
 waxed warm between the two countries, but at no 
 time seriously threatened to involve us with our 
 neighbor. 
 
 In May, 1896, a protocol was signed between the 
 United States and Great Britain for the appointment 
 of a Joint High Commission for the adjustment of 
 the Canadian questions. The commission was to be 
 composed of ten commissioners, five of whom were to 
 be appointed by each government. Later the com- 
 
 -142- 
 
FAIRBANKS 148 
 
 mission was increased to twelve members, six from 
 each country. 
 
 There were several questions to be submitted for 
 the consideration and determination. of the commis 
 sion. Many of them were of long standing and of 
 great importance, and it was desired by the two coun 
 tries to have them considered by the commission and 
 finally put to rest. They had been the source of more 
 or less friction between the two great powers for 
 many years, and the two governments anxiously de 
 sired to have them adjusted in order that good neigh 
 borhood between them might not be disturbed. The 
 principal subjects submitted were as follows: 
 
 First. The questions in respect to the fur seals 
 in Bering Sea and the waters of the North Pacific 
 Ocean. 
 
 Second. Provisions in respect to the fisheries off 
 the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and in the waters of 
 their common frontier. 
 
 Third. Provisions for the delimitation and estab 
 lishment of the Alaska-Canadian boundary, by legal 
 and scientific experts, if the commission shall so de 
 cide, or otherwise. . 
 
 Fourth. Provisions for the transit of merchandise 
 in transportation to or from either country, across 
 intermediate territory of the other, whether by land 
 or water, including natural and artificial waterways 
 and intermediate transit by sea. 
 
 Fifth. Provisions relating to the transit of mer- 
 
 (10) 
 
144 FAIRBANKS 
 
 chandise from one country to be delivered at points 
 in the other beyond the frontier. 
 
 Sixth. The question of the alien labor laws appli 
 cable to the subjects or citizens of the United States 
 and of Canada. 
 
 Seventh. Mining rights of the citizens or subjects 
 of each country within the territory of the other. 
 
 Eighth. Such readjustment and concessions as 
 may be deemed mutually advantageous of customs 
 duties applicable in each country to the products of 
 the soil or industry of the other, upon the basis of 
 reciprocal equivalents. 
 
 JSTinth. A revision of the agreement of 1817 re 
 specting naval vessels on the lakes. 
 
 Tenth. Arrangements for the more complete def 
 inition and marking of any part of the frontier line, 
 by land or water, where the same is now so ineffi 
 ciently defined or marked as to be liable to dispute. 
 
 Eleventh. Provisions for the conveyance for trial 
 or punishment of persons in the lawful custody of the 
 officers of one country through the territory of the 
 other. 
 
 Twelfth. Reciprocity in wrecking and salvage 
 rights. 
 
 President McKinley appointed as Commissioners 
 of the United States : 
 
 Charles W. Fairbanks, United States Senator 
 
 from Indiana ; 
 
 George Gray, United States Senator from Dela 
 ware: 
 
FAIKBANKS 145 
 
 Nelson Dingley, Member of Congress from 
 
 Maine ; 
 John W. Foster, of Indiana, ex-Secretary of 
 
 State; 
 
 John A. Kasson, of Iowa, ex-Minister to Spain ; 
 T. Jefferson Coolidge, of Massachusetts, ex- 
 Minister to France. 
 
 Senator Fairbanks was made Chairman of the 
 American Commissioners. 
 Great Britain appointed: 
 
 Lord Herschel, Lord Chancellor of Great 
 
 Britain : 
 
 Sir Wilfred Laurier, Premier of Canada ; 
 Sir Richard J. Cartwright, Minister of Finance 
 
 of Canada; 
 
 Sir Louis Davies, Minister of Marines and Fish 
 eries of Canada ; 
 
 John Carlton, Member of the Canadian Parlia 
 ment; 
 
 Sir James Winter, Premier of Newfoundland. 
 The commission met at Quebec in August, 1898, 
 and addressed itself to the consideration of the sub 
 jects embraced in the protocol. After being in ses 
 sion some weeks it adjourned to meet in Washington. 
 It assembled in the latter place in December, 1898. 
 There it labored for several months in an effort to 
 compose the differences between the two powers. 
 The commission practically determined many of the 
 questions submitted, but the differences which arose 
 
146 FAIRBANKS 
 
 with respect to the Alaskan boundary made a recess 
 necessary, without the final adjustment of any of the 
 questions pending before it. 
 
 The American Commissioners urged the settle 
 ment of those questions which were substantially 
 agreed upon, leaving the boundary question for the 
 determination of the two governments ; but the Brit 
 ish Commissioners declined to proceed with the fur 
 ther consideration of the remaining questions while 
 the boundary question was undetermined. 
 
 The Joint High Commission issued a statement 
 showing the status of the negotiations and that an 
 agreement had been reached practically on many of 
 the questions, but that on the Alaskan boundary no 
 agreement was possible; that the British Commis 
 sioners favored a submission of that question to arbi 
 tration, but the American Commissioners would not 
 agree to submit to a foreign arbitrator the question as 
 to the coast line boundary. 
 
 After the adjournment of the Washington meet 
 ing of the commission without reaching any definite 
 results, Senator Fairbanks, at the instance of Presi 
 dent McKinley, visited Alaska to obtain what light 
 he could on the question in dispute. He visited all 
 the waterways and studied the topography of the 
 country. He also made extensive inquiries of the res 
 idents as to what jurisdiction, if any, had been exer 
 cised by Great Britain over any portion of the dis 
 puted territory. 
 
FAIKBANKS 147 
 
 On August 18, 1901, Senator Fairbanks reviewed 
 the work of the Commission and suggested its reas 
 sembling, to resume the consideration of the subjects 
 that admitted of ready solution. Respecting the 
 boundary dispute he said: 
 
 "We can not submit to a foreign arbitrator the 
 determination of the Alaska coast line, under the 
 treaty between the United States and Russia of 1SG7. 
 That line was established by the convention of 1825 
 between Great Britain and Russia. The coast line 
 was carefully safeguarded by Russia, and the United 
 States has invariably insisted that it should not be 
 broken. Its integrity w r as never questioned by Great 
 Britain until after the protocol of May, 1898. 
 
 "In short, the views of the British government in 
 regard to the bearing of the treaty of 1825 upon the 
 territorial rights around the upper part of the Lynn 
 Canal/ which are now entertained by that govern 
 ment, were not brought to the attention of the United 
 States until May, 1898. 
 
 "The boundary back of the coast line is not well- 
 defined, and should be established, and with as much 
 dispatch as is reasonably possible. We do not dis 
 agree as to this. We have been disposed to be liberal 
 with respect to providing for its suitable delimitation, 
 but as to that territory so long possessed by the 
 United States upon the Pacific coast and occupied by 
 it without challenge from any other power, we find 
 no subject whatever for the consideration of an arbi- 
 
148 FAIKBANKS 
 
 tral tribunal. We are unwilling, through an Euro 
 pean arbitrator, to put in peril our Pacific coast line, 
 which was maintained unbroken by Russia and the 
 United States, and remained unquestioned for nearly 
 seventy-five years. 
 
 "Our negotiations have been characterized by a 
 spirit of mutual respect and good will, and by a de 
 sire of the respective commissioners to promote good 
 neighborhood between the two governments, which 
 must ever sustain toward each other the most inti 
 mate commercial and social relations. 
 
 "The American Commissioners always have de 
 sired, and desire still, to determine and remove from 
 dispute as many controverted questions as possible, 
 in order that the good relations of the two govern 
 ments may still continue unbroken. They are in no 
 wise interdependent, and the settlement of any num 
 ber of them will not, as we believe, prejudice the ulti 
 mate disposition of the boundary question. But, as 
 much as we desire to conclude the questions which we 
 have practically determined, we can not consent to 
 settle them upon the condition that we must abandon 
 to the chance of an European arbitrator a part of the 
 domain of the United States upon which American 
 citizens have actually built their homes and erected 
 their industries long prior to any suggestion from 
 Great Britain that she had any claim of right thereto. 
 We are not to be understood, from the foregoing, as 
 opposing a board of jurists of repute, or scientific ex- 
 
FAIEBANKS 149 
 
 perts, selected equally by our respective govern 
 ments, to determine and demark the boundary back 
 of or east of the coast line on the main land. 
 
 "Inasmuch as the Alaska boundary is a subject 
 which stands by itself, and is, by the action of the 
 commission, remitted to the two governments, may 
 we not leave it with them, and proceed to further con 
 sider and dispose of the remaining questions at some 
 date mutually convenient 2 They, or the most of 
 them, are so advanced that they can be concluded at 
 a brief sitting. 
 
 "I shall be gratified to be assured that this is quite 
 agreeable to you. 
 
 "The views herein expressed, I am pleased to say, 
 have the sanction of the President and of the Secre 
 tary of State." 
 
 In 1902 the United States and Great Britain 
 agreed upon a Boundary Tribunal composed of six 
 jurists of repute, three of whom were appointed by 
 each government. This was the tribunal proposed by 
 the American members of the Joint High Commis 
 sion, but which was then rejected by the British Com 
 mission. 
 
 The members of the Boundary Commission ap 
 pointed by the United States were: 
 
 The Honorable Elihu Root, Secretary of War; 
 Henry Cabot Lodge, United States Senator from 
 Massachusetts; and George Turner, United States 
 Senator from Washington, 
 
150 FAIEBANKS 
 
 The commission was organized and sat in London, 
 and after elaborate hearings four members of the 
 commission (the Lord Chief Justice of England join 
 ing with the three American Commissioners) held 
 that the construction of the treaty under which the 
 United States acquired Alaska was substantially as 
 claimed by the United States, thus justifying the posi 
 tion maintained by the United States Commissioners 
 before the Joint High Commission. 
 
 Of the work of the Joint High Commission and 
 the ability displayed by Senator Fairbanks, Hon. 
 John W. Foster, ex-Secretary of State, and one of the 
 American Commissioners, in a recent communication 
 thus speaks : 
 
 "During the administration of President McKin- 
 ley it was deemed desirable to make an earnest effort 
 to adjust the various questions between the United 
 States and Canada, some of which had been the 
 source of controversy between the two neighboring 
 countries for generations, and all of which tended 
 to disturb the harmony of their relations. 
 
 "Among these were the Northeastern fisheries, 
 which had been the fruitful source of discussion and 
 negotiations for a hundred years; the Bering Sea 
 seal industry, which had at one time threatened war 
 with Great Britain and had been the subject of in 
 ternational arbitration, but was still a ^vexed and un 
 settled question; the Alaskan boundary dispute, a 
 topic likely at any time to bring about a conflict of 
 
FAIKBANKS 151 
 
 authorities; commercial reciprocity, a subject in 
 which the Canadians and certain sections of the 
 United States took a deep interest ; the bonding priv 
 ilege, intimately connected with our interstate com 
 merce laws and the unequal competition of the Cana 
 dian railroads ; and several other questions, as naval 
 armament on the Great Lakes, reciprocal mining 
 privileges, immigration and the labor laws, more ac 
 curate marking of the international boundary, etc., 
 embracing no less than twelve different subjects. 
 
 "It was determined to refer all these matters to a 
 Joint High Commission, and six persons were se 
 lected by the United States and an equal number 
 by Great Britain. For members of this commission 
 it was the desire of President McKinley to name 
 statesmen of large experience and the highest stand 
 ing, as it was known that the British members would 
 be men of prominence and ability. It was a most 
 distinguished honor that Senator Fairbanks should 
 be chosen as chairman of the American Commission, 
 especially as there were associated with him men of 
 much longer experience in the public service. The 
 British Commission was headed by Lord Ilerschel, 
 the Lord Chancellor and the recognized head of the 
 English bar, and next on the Commission was Sir 
 Wilfred Laurier, the Prime Minister of Canada, a 
 resourceful and brilliant statesman. 
 
 "During the years 1898 and 1899 the Joint High 
 Commission held two sessions in Quebec and two in 
 
152 FAIKBANKS 
 
 Washington, and went very fully over the important 
 subjects committed to it for adjustment. On several 
 of these it reached practically satisfactory conclu 
 sions, which would have taken the shape of treaty 
 stipulations, but for an irreconcilable difference of 
 opinion respecting the Alaskan boundary. Because 
 of a failure to agree to an adjustment of this matter, 
 the British members of the Commission refused to 
 come to an agreement on any other of the questions 
 before it, and the Commission adjourned to meet 
 again whenever convened by the chairmen of the two 
 sections. 
 
 "The Alaskan boundary controversy has happily 
 been satisfactorily settled by the London Joint Tri 
 bunal, and this result, so gratifying to the United 
 States, was largely due to the work of the Joint High 
 Commission. Senator Fairbanks was a member of 
 the sub-committee having the Alaskan boundary in 
 charge, and he took a deep interest in shaping the 
 issues which were eventually submitted to the London 
 Tribunal. 
 
 "The other questions before the Commission still 
 remain unsettled, because, owing to the irritation in 
 Canada over the Alaskan boundary decision, the 
 Commission has not as yet been reassembled; but 
 the work already accomplished has not been in vain. 
 If that body does not again come together, its work 
 is in the hands of the two governments, and it is 
 quite feasible for them to take up and adjust several 
 
FAIBBANKS 153 
 
 of the matters which were practically agreed upon 
 by the Commission. 
 
 "It is a matter of pride to Americans to be assured 
 that in all the deliberations of the Commission, when 
 he was confronted by the ablest lawyers and states 
 men of England and Canada, Senator Fairbanks sus 
 tained the cause of his country with skill and success, 
 and represented it with great dignity and uniform 
 courtesy." 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT McKINLEY. 
 
 T N 1900 President McKinley was nominated and 
 -*- elected to succeed himself. The intimacy and 
 friendship between the Senator and the President 
 continually increased, and so highly did the Presi 
 dent regard the abilities of his Indiana friend that 
 he gave him notice that it was his intention in the 
 near future to invite him into his Cabinet. On the 
 sixth day of September, 1901, a terrible blow fell 
 upon the American people, and for the third time 
 within a third of a century an American President 
 was stricken down by the hand of an assassin. This 
 great calamity touched all Americans. It was a blow 
 at law and order. 
 
 For six years Mr. Fairbanks had been on terms 
 of the closest intimacy with Mr. McKinley. The 
 President relied much on the judgment and sagacity 
 of the Senator; the Senator had an exalted estimate 
 of the ability and patriotism of the President. Un 
 der these circumstances the blow fell with peculiar 
 force on Senator Fairbanks. To the nation it was 
 the President who had been slain; to Senator Fair- 
 
 154- 
 
FAIEBANKS 155 
 
 banks it was a loved friend. When the bullet of 
 the assassin had found its mark all thought the end 
 had come, but a few days later it was announced 
 that the stricken President would recover. Senator 
 Fairbanks had been at the bedside of his friend and 
 chief, but when this cheering word from the surgeons 
 was received he left Buffalo to fulfill an engagement 
 to address a Thanksgiving service of the Grand Army 
 of the Republic at Cleveland, Ohio, to be presided 
 over by Senator Ilanna. That great body of patri 
 otic men, who had served their country on the field 
 of battle in the hour of the country s direst need, 
 held a Thanksgiving service over the announcement 
 that the President was to yet live. Senator Fair 
 banks paid a glowing tribute to the character of the 
 President, and said: 
 
 "Fellow citizens, it is a source of gratification to 
 know that in the solution and settlement of the great 
 problems and great questions which are yet pending 
 before the American people, undetermined, we shall 
 have the wise statesmanship of William McKinley. 
 We not only want him, and wish him to live for 
 that, but we wish him to live as the American people 
 wished that Abraham Lincoln might live, until he 
 can see the full fruition of his administration, and 
 live many years to receive the grateful homage of 
 
 a grateful republic My friends, let 
 
 us retire to our homes with a profounder rev 
 erence for law and order; let us return to our 
 
156 FAIRBANKS 
 
 homes and continue at the fireside our supplica 
 tion to the Allwise Ruler that He speed the hour 
 when the brave President of the United States will 
 leave his hed of pain and walk again among the 
 people he loves so well, in the full possession of his 
 health and his magnificent manhood." 
 
 Hardly had these words died away on the air when 
 the startling news came that the great President was 
 dead. The country was shrouded in grief, and all 
 the nations of the earth joined America in mourning 
 over the awful crime. 
 
 In October, 1901, he addressed a campfire of the 
 Sixty-ninth Indiana and paid a tribute to the mem 
 ory of the late President, and thus spoke of the 
 crime that took from the country its Chief Exec 
 utive : 
 
 "I speak only the truth when I say that when the 
 tragedy occurred at Buffalo Democrats and Republi 
 cans felt that a crime had been committed against 
 them each alike. It seems yet like a horrid night 
 mare. What had this man done to deserve such a 
 fate? One of the kindest, one of the bravest, and 
 
 one of the best The blow was not 
 
 struck alone at him; it was a blow struck at the 
 state. Anarchy ! What a hated word ! Anarchists 
 how at war with all our conceptions of right, of 
 orderly government ! Anarchists ! There is no room 
 in this Republic, great and splendid as it is, for 
 anarchy! The red flag must go down in the face 
 
FAIRBANKS 157 
 
 of the Stars and Stripes! The anarchist is the 
 enemy of all governments, monarchial and republican 
 alike. There ought to be treaties between the various 
 governments in the civilized world leaving no spot 
 for anarchy to place its foot short of perdition itself." 
 
 President McKinley worshiped at the Metropoli 
 tan Methodist Church at Washington, and a few 
 months after his death a tablet to his memory was 
 placed in the church. On that occasion Senator Fair 
 banks was one of the speakers. His short speech was 
 a generous tribute to the worth of the martyred Pres 
 ident. Because of its correct estimate of the char 
 acter of Mr. McKinley, and because it evidences the 
 sincere feeling and affection of the Senator, it is 
 reproduced here : , 
 
 "My friends, we are met to perform a most gra 
 cious service to dedicate here, in this house of God, 
 a tablet to one of the few names that was born to 
 never die. We stand upon ground made sacred by 
 the presence of William McKinley. Unto this shrine 
 the Christians will come in the unnumbered years 
 before us and derive new hope and inspiration. It 
 seems but yesterday that our friend occupied yonder 
 pew, brave, strong, in the very plenitude of power, 
 the most beloved of our fellow-men. We can yet 
 almost hear his voice as it was raised in song and 
 thanksgiving. Here he came upon the Sabbath day 
 to pay tribute to his Maker, for he was a sincere 
 believer in religion, a devout Christian and a doer 
 
158 FAIRBANKS 
 
 of Christian deeds. He not only taught but carried 
 the great truths into every act and deed of his life. 
 
 "It was here he found solace from the great and 
 arduous responsibilities which rested upon him, and 
 drew courage and inspiration to meet and discharge 
 them. It does not seem that it was but a few, months 
 ago, less than one brief year, that our friend was 
 here. It is, indeed, but a short time, measured by 
 the calendar, but measured by events how long it 
 is. What mighty events have come and gone; how 
 the great heart of the nation has been wrung with 
 an uncommon sorrow. The tragedy at Buffalo was 
 the master crime of the new century. We could not 
 at first believe the awful truth it was so unnatural. 
 We stood bereft of speech. Who could be so dead 
 to all sense of pity as to strike down one who so 
 loved his fellow-men ? About us everywhere were 
 the ample evidences of peace. Sectional differences 
 were dead; a fraternal spirit was everywhere, and 
 under the guidance of our great President we were 
 moving on to a splendid national destiny. 
 
 "The theme which this occasion suggests is a great 
 one too vast for the brief hour in which we are 
 assembled. There is in all the world nothing so 
 great and beneficent as a good name. It raises our 
 poor humanity to a more exalted plane. It lifts us 
 into an ampler ether and diviner air. William Mc- 
 Kinley was, in the fullest and best sense of the word, 
 f of the people. He rose by the force of his genius 
 
FAIRBANKS 159 
 
 from an humble beginning to stand among the great 
 est of men. He sought to interpret the public will, 
 knowing full well that the wisdom of the people is 
 unerring, that their voice is indeed the voice of 
 Almighty God. He inspired confidence among men 
 in the integrity of his purpose and in the wisdom 
 of his policies. He was a total stranger to arts by 
 which weaker men seek to attain place and power. 
 He did not attempt to rise upon men ; he preferred 
 to rise with them. His mind and heart were filled 
 with no shadow of hate ; the sunshine of love, affec 
 tion and human sympathy filled them to overflowing. 
 He was in the truest and best sense a patriot. He 
 gave the best years of his life he gave life itself 
 
 to his country In the National House 
 
 of Eepresentatives he won enduring fame by his in 
 telligent service and complete consecration to the in 
 terests of his fellow-men. His every act was char 
 acterized by a high conception of his exalted trust. 
 When summoned by the voice of his countrymen to 
 the chief office in the Republic he entered upon its 
 grave and difficult duties with a full consciousness 
 of the tremendous responsibility that rested upon 
 him. He reverently invoked wisdom from on high 
 that he might well discharge the task that had come 
 to him. 
 
 "When others sought to plunge the Nation into 
 war he stood against it with all his power. He 
 abhorred it, although knowing full well that victory 
 
 (11) 
 
160 FAIRBANKS 
 
 must crown our arms if war should come, and that 
 the prestige of his name would fill the earth. He 
 thought not of that, but of the loss and suffering the 
 war must bring. And not until all pacific means 
 had been exhausted and the national honor com 
 manded did he consent that his country should draw 
 the sword. When obliged to strike he struck rapidly 
 and with terrific power, and upon the ruins of mon 
 archy he planted republican institutions. 
 
 "The multitude will come and look on yonder tab 
 let and in time it will crumble away. Monuments 
 will arise throughout the land and disappear. Can 
 vas will seek to perpetuate and be forgotten, but the 
 name of our friend will live. His enduring tribute 
 will be found in the hearts of the people so long as 
 this great Republic endures. .Long after we have 
 lived our brief hour and the physical monuments we 
 have raised have been resolved into the dust, the 
 pure, patriotic and holy influence of William Mc- 
 Kinley will continue to be an inspiration and bene 
 diction among men. 77 
 
 So well was the intimate friendship that existed 
 between the Senator and the President known that 
 on several occasions where a tribute was to be 
 paid to the memory of the President Mr. Fairbanks 
 was invited to deliver an address. The most notable 
 of these occasions was the unveiling of the McKinley 
 monument at Toledo, Ohio, on September 14, 1903. 
 On that occasion the Senator delivered an elaborate 
 
FAIRBANKS 161 
 
 : ddress in which he reviewed the life and public 
 Cervices of Mr. McKinley. The soldier, the man, 
 the Representative in Congress, the Governor, the 
 President, all passed in review before the audience. 
 It was not alone the tribute of an eulogist, but the 
 tribute of one acute mind to the public services of 
 another. As a citizen Mr. Fairbanks had lost his 
 President; as a party man he had lost his political 
 chief ; as a friend he had lost a brother ; and in pay 
 ing his great tribute at Toledo to the dead he spoke 
 as a citizen and a friend, but not as a party man. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OTHER SERVICES IN THE SENATE. 
 
 of the perplexing problems that have been 
 before Congress the one that has given the 
 widest latitude to debate has been the future of the 
 Philippine Islands. They fell to us at the conclusion 
 of the war with Spain, and they have been a bone 
 of contention between the tw r o great parties ever 
 since. Against the holding of them by the United 
 States the cry of "imperialism" was raised. All 
 seemingly admitted that, having dispossessed Spain, 
 it was the duty of this Government to establish peace 
 and order a duty we owed to humanity, to other 
 nations, and to ourselves, but the people divided en 
 the question of w y hat was to be done with the islands 
 after peace and order was established. It was a 
 question on which there might well be a difference 
 of opinion among the good and the patriotic of this 
 country. How to govern the islands, how much lib 
 erty to give to the people, how far political liberty 
 should be restricted, engaged the earnest thought of 
 our statesmen. 
 
 As a mere question of territorial expansion, few, 
 
 182- 
 
FAIRBANKS 163 
 
 possibly, could be found to advocate the taking and 
 holding possession of the archipelago, but other con 
 siderations moved the commissioners who negotiated, 
 on the part of the United States, the treaty of Paris. 
 In 1902 a bill to provide a temporary government 
 for the Philippines was pending before the Senate. 
 The committee that had the bill under consideration 
 divided and two reports were made. That of the 
 minority called for an immediate declaration of the 
 future purpose of the United States in regard to the 
 islands . 
 
 The debate was long and at times acrimonious. 
 Many charges were made against the administration 
 of the late President McKinley. He w T as accused 
 of having overthrown a republic; of having set up 
 a government without the consent of the governed, 
 and of having done many other things contrary to 
 the traditions of this country. The debate spread 
 from the Congress to the country, and the newspa 
 pers and political orators at home joined in the hue 
 and cry, some demanding an immediate withdrawal 
 from the 1 Philippines, and others, with equal vigor, 
 contending that we should continue to hold the 
 islands. 
 
 There were some members of Congress who did 
 not lose themselves or their calm deliberation in this 
 whirlwind of political debate, for that is what the 
 debate had degenerated to. Among these was Sen 
 ator Fairbanks. He did not take part in the debate 
 
164 FAIKBANKS 
 
 until near its close, when he delivered a speech re 
 viewing the history of our possession of the islands, 
 the course pursued in their government up to that 
 time, and the improved condition of the people. It 
 was a calm, earnest and faithful presentation 
 of the facts, and contained many gems of thought 
 that have characterized in so marked a degree all of 
 his public speeches. Take a few of them: 
 
 "There has been considerable debate as to whether 
 the Constitution follows the flag. ~No matter how 
 diverse and conflicting our opinions may be on this 
 subject, there is one opinion which we all entertain, 
 and that is, that the American schoolhouse follows 
 the flag." 
 
 "I believe we shall find in the magic of the school 
 room a potential influence working for the advance 
 ment of civilization, good order and civil government 
 in the Philippines." 
 
 "It is a gratifying and reassuring fact, indeed, that 
 the people are so sensitive of the national honor, and 
 that they will not sanction any supposed breach of 
 it." 
 
 "The questions of human rights and human liberty 
 are the potential questions which have summoned 
 our mightiest armies and have assembled our fleets 
 and stirred our country to the utmost depths." 
 
 "It will indeed be a sad hour for the Republic 
 when the President shall love peace less than war." 
 
 "Opposition to the efforts of the Government to 
 
FAIEBANKS 165 
 
 assert its lawful authority has never been regarded 
 with favor. We erect no monuments to commemo 
 rate the efforts, no matter how earnestly and hon 
 estly they may have been rendered, of those who put 
 themselves in the pathway of national duty and prog 
 ress." 
 
 "I base my opinion upon the broad ground that 
 all wisdom and all patriotism will not die with us, 
 
 and that those who will follow us and who will, in 
 
 
 
 all probability, be obliged to deal with these ques 
 tions, will be as enlightened and animated by as 
 exalted sense of justice, and be in every respect as 
 sensitive of the national honor as we." 
 
 "There need be no fear, no matter what political 
 party may be in power, for the time being, that there 
 will ever go upon the statute books of the United 
 States a solitary oppressive act, or any measure 
 which shall not be inspired by a sense of the funda 
 mental principles of republican government." 
 
 "Havana and Manila and Santiago and Buffalo 
 tell of the mighty cost of human liberty ; they chasten 
 us ; they show how narrow is the boundary set to our 
 finite vision, and how we should address ourselves 
 to the duties of the hour and courageously and hope 
 fully await the demands of the future; they show 
 that moral duties abide with nations as with men." 
 
 The whole speech showed the careful study and 
 well-balanced thought of a statesman, and led the 
 debate back from the morass of partyism to the COB- 
 
1(56 FAIRBANKS 
 
 sideration of the pending measure. In the consid 
 eration of all grave subjects before the Senate he 
 sank the partisan and squared his actions by the rule, 
 "What is wisest, what is best ?" His whole senatorial 
 career will be searched in vain for a display of par 
 tisanship. 
 
 Another one of the great questions before Congress 
 in which Senator Fairbanks took a deep interest was 
 that of excluding Chinese immigrants. This had 
 been an important question for many years. It had 
 been the subject of treaty with the Chinese Empire, 
 and several laws have been enacted intending to limit 
 and control immigration from China. Before taking 
 part in the debate of any question Senator Fairbanks 
 always made as thorough a study of it as possible, 
 and he followed this rule when the Chinese question, 
 was pending. One of the first declarations he made 
 in his speech was : "The duty to preserve the purity 
 of the currents which vitally affect the standard of 
 our citizenship is plain and imperative," and it was 
 along that broad line he proceeded in his argument 
 favoring the passage of the pending bill. He dem 
 onstrated that he was thoroughly informed as to all 
 prior exclusion legislation and the terms of the exist 
 ing treaties, and of the effect of Chinese labor in this 
 country. Beside the details of legislation, and of 
 treaties the speech contained many thoughtful decla 
 rations. Among other things he said : 
 
 "We value our broad fields, our great cities. They 
 
FAIEBANKS 167 
 
 stimulate our pride, but above and beyond all that, 
 as great and splendid as they are, we value our citi 
 zenship. It is, indeed, our chief glory. It means 
 more to us, more to our children and to their chil 
 dren, more to the future strength and majesty of the 
 Republic than all of the myriad material things 
 which surround us." 
 
 "A high order of citizenship is the chief end and 
 aim of the Republic. We establish schools and found 
 universities that they may elevate our people to a 
 higher and better and broader plane. We have a 
 care for the humblest among us. We want men and 
 women who are in love with our institutions, and 
 who will support and defend them, and transmit 
 them unimpaired to posterity." 
 
 "They [the Chinese] do not harmonize with us. 
 Upon their admission they become an undigested and 
 undigestible mass." 
 
 "In the final analysis, great issues which engage 
 our attention from time to time, in fact the destiny 
 of the Republic, are determined at the American 
 fireside. Abolish the American home and the days 
 of the Republic are numbered." 
 
 The seven years of service in the Senate of Mr. 
 Fairbanks have been laborious years. His labors 
 were not confined to preparing speeches on the im 
 portant questions that have arisen during his service, 
 but much the greater part has been given to work 
 in the committee-room. His habits of industry 
 
168 FAIRBANKS 
 
 would not permit him to be idle, and his exalted 
 ideas of the duties he had assumed impelled him 
 to give his time and his labor to the work before 
 him. There is no record of the committee labor he 
 performed, but his colleagues all bear willing testi 
 mony to his untiring industry, and it was in the pre 
 cincts of the committee-room that he impressed his 
 colleagues with his really great abilities and his con 
 scientious regard for the interests of the people. To 
 any measure to which he could not give the conscien 
 tious approval of his judgment he would not listen 
 or advocate. 
 
 When the great disaster overwhelmed the unfor 
 tunate people of Martinique Senator Fairbanks 
 promptly introduced a bill appropriating $100,000 
 for the relief of the sufferers. The bill was speedily 
 passed. For this prompt expression of sympathy 
 Ambassador Cambon sent the Senator the following 
 note of appreciation: 
 
 "Ambassade de France aux Etats-Unis, 
 
 "Washington, D. C. 
 
 "My Dear Senator It was very thoughtful and 
 generous of you to introduce and press for passage 
 through the Senate the bill for the relief of the 
 needy survivors of the Island of Martinique. I de 
 sire to thank you in my own name and those of the 
 people whose distress you sought to alleviate, and 
 to say that your action, which promises to be of 
 incalculable benefit to the sufferers, will remain al- 
 
FAIRBANKS 169 
 
 ways a subject of tender appreciation by the citizens 
 of the French Republic. Very sincerely yours, 
 
 "JULES CAMBON. 
 "May 10, 1902." 
 
 The Republican party had pledged itself to the 
 speedy construction of an isthmian canal. A bill 
 was introduced in Congress providing for the con 
 struction of the canal. When it reached the Sen 
 ate Mr. Fairbanks, desiring to insure the speedy 
 beginning of the work and the rapid pushing of it 
 to completion, offered an amendment to the bill pro 
 viding for the sale of bonds with which to pay the 
 cost of construction. This not only provided the 
 money necessary, but put it beyond the power to 
 delay the work for want of an appropriation at any 
 time, and it also put a part of the burden of con 
 struction on the next generation that is to receive 
 the greatest benefit. 
 
 For years there has been a growing sentiment in 
 favor of settling all differences between nations by 
 international arbitration. To advance this move 
 ment a great meeting was called by some of the 
 leading citizens of this country to be held at Wash 
 ington. The matter was presented to the United 
 States Senate, and was referred to the Committee 
 on Foreign Relations. There it was referred to a 
 subcommittee consisting of Senators Frye, of Maine, 
 Fairbanks, of Indiana, and Senator Morgan, of Ala 
 bama, In an interview, published in the ^ew York 
 
170 FAIRBANKS 
 
 Herald, Senator Fairbanks gave this expression of 
 his views : 
 
 "There is a wholesome and increasing desire for 
 some method of adjusting differences between na 
 tions in some other manner than by an appeal to 
 the sword. A resort to force to settle international 
 disputes would seem to be unnecessary, yet that has 
 been a too frequent means of adjustment for many 
 centuries. There has been no hour scarcely in all 
 the history of human experience when there might 
 not be heard in some quarter the harsh notes of war 
 between nations seeking to compose their differences. 
 
 "We are wont to think that we live in the most 
 advanced period of human development, an age when 
 men are wiser and more just than they have been. 
 Yet the flames of war light up the Far East. How 
 much blood will be shed or how much money wasted 
 to settle the questions which diplomacy has failed 
 to settle no finite wisdom can determine. 
 
 "The question recurs as often as we witness the 
 devastating effects of international strife. Can not 
 the wit of man devise some agency whereby to avert 
 it in whole or in good part ? Can not men reason 
 and solve grave questions in the deliberative cham 
 ber as well as upon the battlefield? Can not men 
 successfully discuss questions of international signifi 
 cance in the serene tribunals of peace as well as upon 
 the decks of men-of-war, with the air filled with the 
 missiles of death and destruction ? 
 
FAIRBANKS 171 
 
 "The arbitral tribunal affords a ready, fair and 
 honorable way of determining most of the disputes 
 which arise between nations. It will not be effica 
 cious in all cases, but that it is capable of settling 
 many and serious problems there can be no possible 
 doubt. This agency may be invoked without the 
 loss of national dignity or national self-respect in 
 adjusting a vast range of international differences. 
 
 "Territorial disputes may in exceptional cases be 
 readily and properly arbitrated. In comparatively 
 recent years the Venezuelan boundary was settled by 
 arbitration and in a manner entirely consistent with 
 the honor of the parties concerned. The Alaskan 
 boundary was settled by a tribunal created . by the 
 United States and Great Britain. It was not an ar 
 bitral tribunal, but a commission composed of six 
 jurists, divided equally. There was no independent 
 arbitrator, yet a decision was reached in a friendly 
 way and a cause of serious difference was forever 
 settled. 
 
 "The Hague tribunal is a great and important 
 step forward one of the most significant in recent 
 years. It is in- its experimental stages, yet it has 
 already accomplished enough to justify its creation. 
 
 "The strongest nations can well lead the way in 
 promoting the principle of international arbitration. 
 Their motives will not be questioned and their exam 
 ple will have a far-reaching and beneficent influence. 
 The principle is essentially sound. It should re- 
 
172 FAIRBANKS 
 
 ceive, as it is receiving, the utmost consideration 
 at the hands of the statesman and student of public 
 questions, to the end that it may become an acknowl 
 edged, permanent international policy. It makes for 
 peace; it will become an effective agency to avert 
 war. 
 
 "The move recently made in the Senate Committee 
 on Foreign Relations looking to some plan of inter 
 national arbitration to go a bit beyond The Hague 
 conference is the most important step of this char 
 acter ever taken in this country. After waiting two 
 years the Senate Committee has at last reported fa 
 vorably the treaty for the arbitration of pecuniary 
 claims among the countries of the Western Hemi 
 sphere. This also is an important step in the right 
 direction, and will receive the support of public 
 opinion. Indeed, public opinion in this country, I 
 think, has stimulated the Senate to action, and while 
 it may take time to develop a practical scheme of 
 international arbitration to which all countries will 
 agree, a beginning has been made, and it is emi 
 nently proper that this country should take the ini 
 tiative." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS SPEECHES. 
 
 OENATOK FAIRBANKS has been a very popu- 
 ^ lar orator for almost all kinds of occasions. On 
 the stump, addressing the people on the political is 
 sues of the day, few draw larger or more attentive 
 and appreciative audiences. As has already been 
 shown, in the Senate he always commanded the re 
 spectful and earnest attention of his colleagues, never 
 speaking to the galleries. As a speaker he is espe 
 cially popular at political and social clubs, and the 
 invitations that come to him from such sources are 
 many times in excess of the hours he can give to 
 such work. He has delivered several literary ad 
 dresses and spoken to graduating classes at colleges. 
 The most notable of these was his address at Baker 
 University, Kansas, in 1901. It was an eloquent 
 presentation of the duties and possibilities that lay 
 before the students who were about to leave the col 
 lege and enter on the broader sphere of life. The 
 following passages are samples of the whole : 
 
 "Commencement Day has no fellow. There is no 
 other day in all the year like unto it. It is full of 
 
 -173- 
 
174 FAIRBANKS 
 
 sweetness and life, of pleasant reminiscence and of 
 happy expectation. It is essentially the day of youth, 
 of splendid young womanhood and noble young man 
 hood. Our elders live over the blessed days which 
 have faded into the past, and are themselves young 
 again. It is not the day of the pessimist, but is the 
 hour of the optimist. It is the time when the virtues 
 which dignify and glorify humanity amplest fruitage 
 bear, and when we behold the splendor of our institu 
 tions, not with the eye of a mere political partisan, 
 nor with the vision of a sordid materialist." 
 
 "Your scholastic course crowned the old century 
 with its tremendous achievements. In all the cen 
 turies that are passed not one was filled with such 
 mighty and significant events in the onward march of 
 humanity. ~No such tremendous advance was before 
 made in knowledge, in the arts. Science seems to 
 have revealed the most hidden and important secrets 
 of nature. She has scanned the heavens and fath 
 omed the seas. She has asserted dominion over the 
 enemies of man and made them his obedient servants. 
 Fire and water and electricity have been made to do 
 his bidding in countless ways. Time and space have 
 been reduced in international communication and the 
 world made relatively smaller ; in fact, it has been re 
 duced to a vast neighborhood. The zone of human 
 liberty has been extended until about the greater por 
 tion of the globe man recognizes no master except 
 Almighty God. The beams of civilization and right- 
 
FAIRBANKS 175 
 
 eousness are cast afar/ 1 and where they penetrate 
 slavery and serfdom vanish as vice before virtue." 
 
 "You will meet with both encouragement and dis 
 couragement. The way may sometimes look dark 
 and the future unpromising, but with stout heart, up 
 right purpose and complete consecration to your 
 work you can and should win success. Walk erect ; 
 be self-reliant. In the final analysis your victories 
 must be won through your own strong right arm. 
 The way to place and power is open to all alike. Your 
 future is to bo determined not by the accident of 
 birth, not by what your ancestors were, but by what 
 you arc, by what you shall yourselves accomplish. 
 Stand fast for the maintenance of civil and religious 
 liberty, for the preservation of these two great funda 
 mental doctrines for which our forefathers contended 
 with titanic power." 
 
 "Promote civic righteousness; do not avoid the 
 caucus, fearing it will contaminate you, but attend it 
 to the end that it may not contaminate the State. In 
 the ballot-box our liberties are compounded. See to 
 it that it gives true expression of the public will. Pre 
 serve it from pollution ; protect it and defend it as 
 you would preserve the Ark of the Covenant, for it 
 has been purchased by the priceless blood of count 
 less heroes upon the battlefields of the Republic." 
 
 "The greater knowledge the student bears hence, 
 the heavier his civic obligations. The splendid na 
 tional fabric, the like of which you have not thus far 
 
176 FAIRBANKS 
 
 discovered in your historic research, is the fruit of the 
 wisdom and patriotism of your fathers, and it must 
 not be given over to those who comprehend not its 
 full and splendid significance." 
 
 "What is the measure of success in life ? We re 
 gard that life the most successful which has done most 
 under its particular environment for the welfare and 
 happiness of others. The person who is wholly self- 
 centered is neither fit to live nor to die, and dying 
 would, perhaps, better become him. The man who 
 gathers and hoards his money merely that he may 
 feast his covetous eyes upon it is of no earthly use 
 to man or beast. The student who does not yield the 
 rich treasure of his mind for the benefit of others is 
 of little more worth to mankind than gold which lies 
 forever buried in the lowest depths of earth, beyond 
 the reach of man." 
 
 "We erect monuments to men because they have 
 done something in behalf of other men ; because they 
 have rendered service to others. We invoke canvas 
 and marble and granite and bronze to commemorate 
 their unselfish deeds. We pay no tribute to others." 
 
 "The immortals are those who live beyond this 
 brief hour, in things accomplished ; accomplished for 
 others, and not alone for self. Neither greed nor 
 vanity has fellowship with immortality." 
 
 "Carry into every act a conscience. Win, i you 
 may, the approval of your f ellowmen, but above and 
 beyond all, win the approval of your own conscience. 
 
FAIRBANKS 177 
 
 Royalty can confer no decoration which will yield 
 such enduring joy as the approval of one s own con 
 science. Neither place nor power nor the world s ap 
 plause can bring the measure of satisfaction, the in 
 expressible ecstacy, which comes from the approval 
 of that imperious censor, our own conscience. With 
 its approval we can dare all, suffer all, do all." 
 
 One of the happiest of the miscellaneous addresses 
 of Senator Fairbanks is the one he delivered at the 
 German Day celebration in Indianapolis in 1899. It 
 was a great occasion for the Senator, for it gave him 
 the opportunity to teach patriotism and love of coun 
 try, lie is never so happy as when inculcating good 
 citizenship. A large part of the citizenship of Indi 
 ana is made up of persons of foreign birth or foreign 
 parentage, and much of the greatness and prosperity 
 of the commonwealth is due to that class of her popu 
 lation. It was a great audience that gathered on the 
 3d of September, 1899, to hear the Senator. 
 
 "This is indeed a fit occasion," he said, "upon 
 which to acknowledge the supremacy of American 
 institutions and proclaim anew our undying pride 
 and glory in American citizenship. Great and 
 splendid it is to be a German citizen, but greater and 
 still more splendid it is to be an American citizen. 
 No matter whether you are from Germany or from 
 Ireland or from England or from France; no matter 
 from what country you may come, your proudest 
 boast is that you are an American citizen, and that 
 
178 FAIEBANKS 
 
 you are enamored of the institutions of the great 
 Republic." 
 
 "America! The sublimest word in the human 
 tongue ! What limitless opportunities are here. The 
 way to place and power is alike open to the lowest 
 and highest; to native and foreign-born alike." 
 
 "The Germans are found in every avenue of use 
 fulness, doing their full duty as loyal American citi 
 zens. They have taken a conspicuous place at the 
 bar ; they preside in our courts of justice ; they partic 
 ipate in politics; they have contributed some of the 
 foremost statesmen in the history of the Government ; 
 they fill chairs in our great universities ; they occupy 
 the pulpit; they have increased the power of the 
 press ; they have added to our literature ; they have 
 helped to fell the forest and reclaim the waste places ; 
 they have been upon the frontier line of civilization, 
 and, in brief, they are found in every branch of in 
 tellectual and commercial activity. Whenever the 
 call to arms has come, they have marched down to 
 the battlefields of the Republic and shown the world 
 how patriots can do and die." 
 
 "I have no sort of sympathy with those who, for 
 some occult reason are attempting to foment discord 
 between the United States and the German Empire. 
 There is no reason why these two great nations should 
 not continue to exist upon terms of amity. We should 
 cultivate friendly relations not only with Germany, 
 but w r ith all the other great powers of the earth. We 
 
FAIRBANKS 179 
 
 can never forget at least we never should forget 
 that Frederick the Great was the first to recognize the 
 birth of the Republic out of the throes of the Revolu 
 tion ; and that during the great civil war we had little 
 to encourage us among many of the European 
 powers, but Germany never ceased to manifest her 
 belief in the eternal justice and her faith in the ulti 
 mate triumph of our cause." 
 
 "The Germans are usually found on the side of 
 good government. They carry into the service of the 
 State the same wholesome, practical ideas of economy 
 and loyalty to trust which they practice in their do 
 mestic affairs. They hold public officials to a high 
 accountability, and this is well. Official place is a 
 trust of the highest moment, and should be executed 
 not for the exploitation of personal selfish ends, or 
 for personal aggrandizement, but for the advance 
 ment and promotion of the interests of the entire 
 body politic, and for the glory of the State. Breach 
 of public trust should rank among the unpardonable 
 sins. An official who will win the public confidence 
 and basely betray it is unworthy to enjoy the price 
 less boon of American citizenship, and should be 
 whipped out of place and power." 
 
 One of the strong traits of Senator Fairbanks 
 character is his unselfish and clear estimate of others 
 who are or have been prominent in the Government. 
 He possesses a power of selecting the strong points 
 in the character of others, whether they are political 
 
180 FAIRBANKS 
 
 friends or enemies. The late Senator Morton, the 
 great war Governor of Indiana, died when Mr. Fair 
 banks had been a resident of Indianapolis less than 
 three years. In March, 1900, the State presented to 1 
 Congress a statne of the great Senator and Governor, 
 to occupy a place in Statuary Hall. Senator Fair 
 banks, as senior Senator, delivered an address, in 
 which he drew a picture of Mr. Morton that was a 
 just and true estimate of his character and abilities. 
 He said: 
 
 "Oliver Perry Morton was one of the commanding 
 figures of the United States during the most heroic 
 period of her history. He impressed himself upon 
 his State and the Nation by the force of his command 
 ing genius, and the history of neither State nor Na 
 tion would be complete without the story of his life 
 and work." 
 
 "The records of the Senate bear the amplest testi 
 mony to the extent and merit of his work. He was 
 neither a trimmer nor a time-server, and neither 
 avoided nor evaded issues. No matter what the issue, 
 he met it courageously, fearlessly. During his serv 
 ice in the Senate he participated in all the most im 
 portant debates which engaged its attention. He was 
 an aggressive and zealous advocate of the policy of 
 reconstruction." 
 
 "He was a total stranger in the arts of the dema 
 gogue. He was too great to descend to intrigue or 
 to desire success otherwise than through the merit 
 
FAIRBANKS 181 
 
 and force of his cause. He was frequently the object 
 of the envy and the intrigue of men ; but all efforts 
 to strike him down were futile, and his character was 
 rendered the more luminous by the harmless attempts 
 to destroy it. No dishonorable act detracts from his 
 fame. His hands were clean, his integrity incorrupt 
 ible. He was a bold - but chivalrous political an 
 tagonist, for his sense of honor was acute." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Mil. FAIRBANKS AND ORGANIZED LABOR. 
 
 O EXATOK FAIRBANKS is and always has been 
 ^ a friend of labor and an advocate of their just 
 rights. lie was born to a life of toil. At a very 
 early age he did almost a man s work on the farm 
 of his father. It has been said that "all work and 
 no play makes Jack a dull boy." Whether that is 
 sometimes true or not, it came very near being all 
 work with Mr. Fairbanks in his boyhood days. 
 While attending college he worked with his hands 
 to aid in obtaining the means with which to pay his 
 weekly bills. He knows by hard experience what it 
 is to toil, and from the very first his heart and his 
 feelings have ever gone out to those who are com 
 pelled to work for their daily bread. 
 
 In his boyhood days the labor question did not 
 attract much attention, but as he grew older and 
 the question became one of more vital importance 
 he was always found advocating the cause of the 
 workingman. In the Senate he w r as the representa 
 tive and champion of the Cigarmakers Union, and 
 in a number of his speeches on questions before the 
 
 -182 
 
FAIKBANKS 183 
 
 Senate he spoke in the warmest terms to advance the 
 cause of labor. He was Chairman of the Senate 
 Committee on Immigration, and as such chairman 
 reported a bill very largely restricting the admission 
 of immigrants. He supported the bill because it 
 was in the interest of labor. In fact, this was one 
 of the inducements for the introduction of the bill. 
 In speaking of the effects of the admission of pauper 
 labor from Europe, he gave utterance to a sentence 
 that is a keynote to his character. He said: "A 
 low wage scale is not consistent with the most whole 
 some development of the country and its people." 
 He said the bill "connects itself intimately and in 
 separably with the labor question." 
 
 In a speech he delivered at Pittsburg he said : 
 "Without harmony between labor and capital there 
 can be no real enduring prosperity and progress. It 
 should be always remembered that each lias rights 
 which the other should respect, and that they should 
 dwell together in amity. We should seek to incul 
 cate a sense of justice among men, so that capital 
 shall deal fairly with labor, and labor deal with 
 equal fairness with capital." 
 
 He often referred to labor as one of the mighty 
 pillars on which rests our social and political fabric. 
 Whenever discussing the question of sound money 
 he always argued that a debased currency was a 
 wrong committed against labor. He was invited to 
 address the workingmen of Kansas City 011 Labor 
 
184 FAIRBANKS 
 
 Day, 1902, and his address was a calm, dignified, 
 yet earnest exposition of the question of labor. 
 Among other things he said : 
 
 "It is a fitting time to teach our children that 
 labor is honorable, and that only through it can we 
 possibly hope to achieve the beneficent ends for which 
 society is established or government founded. So 
 long as labor is deemed honorable there need be no 
 concern as to the future. There is peril only when 
 labor is regarded as degrading. We are essentially 
 a nation of laborers, and we have no hospitality for 
 human drones. Indeed, the Nation is the rich fruit 
 of labor, for our ancestors noble and splendid men 
 and women they were with their strong right arms 
 carved out of the wilderness this great Republic. 
 They felled the forests, founded mighty cities, 
 spanned rivers and knitted together all sections of 
 the country with vast highways of commerce and 
 the telegraph. They have reclaimed the waste places, 
 and on every hand have taught the necessity and 
 the true virtue and dignity of labor." 
 
 "We are so bound together as a people that we 
 are necessarily concerned in each other s welfare. 
 Whatever adversely affects any considerable number 
 of our population adversely affects, in a measure, all 
 others, and, conversely, what benefits any considera 
 ble number necessarily benefits, in some degree, all 
 others. There is no such thing as complete and abso 
 lute independence, and it is well that it is so. Our 
 
FAIKBANKS 185 
 
 interests are so interlaced in the loom of the Al 
 mighty that we can not live apart if we would, and 
 we would not if we could." 
 
 "Labor organizations have their origin in the in 
 stinct of self-preservation, of mutual advancement, 
 of common good, and are as natural and legitimate 
 as the organization of capital. In fact, the organi 
 zations of labor and capital go hand in hand. The 
 one is essentially the complement of the other. 7 
 
 "That labor organizations have done much to ad 
 vance the cause of labor there can be no doubt. They 
 have been earnest advocates of education, knowing 
 full well that knowledge is real power. They have 
 established newspapers throughout the country, in 
 telligently devoted to the promotion of their inter 
 ests. They have founded benevolences and paid mil 
 lions of dollars to their membership. They have in 
 creased wages where inadequate, and secured reason 
 able hours of service. They have abolished or mod 
 ified conditions in the sweat-shops of great cities 
 which were undermining the health and morals bf 
 the operatives. They have stood against the abuses 
 of child labor. They have taught the necessity of 
 the observance of contracts, knowing full well that 
 contracts are founded in honor and are the basis 
 of commercial success. They have increased and 
 seek to maintain a higher morale among their mem 
 bership. They are opposed to anarchy. Anarchy 
 has no greater foe than they. They know that labor s 
 
186 FAIRBANKS 
 
 best interests are dependent upon the maintenance 
 of orderly and stable government." 
 
 "Labor must be free ; with all the prerogatives 
 which pertain to freedom. It must be free to sell 
 its commodity in the highest market. So capital 
 must be likewise free to buy labor where labor desires 
 to sell its commodity. There must bo reciprocity 
 of privilege, reciprocity of opportunity." 
 
 "The true solution of the questions arising be 
 tween labor and capital lies in an awakened public 
 conscience ; in- a thorough inculcation of the princi 
 ples of fair dealing among men ; in organization, and 
 in wise, humane leadership, and in the establishment 
 of boards of conciliation or arbitration which are 
 absolutely free from the polluting touch of selfish 
 interests or political demagogues, to which the inter 
 ests concerned may freely and confidently appeal." 
 
 "Cheap labor is not the sole end we seek in the 
 United States. It is our pride that this is not a 
 cheap-labor country; that labor is better paid here 
 than in any other country. The sentiment is pro 
 claimed over and over from platform and press. 
 Cheap labor ? "No. We do not want cheap labor. 
 We want well-paid labor. We desire not only well- 
 paid labor, but want that labor steadily employed." 
 
 There is no class of people in the United States 
 more deeply interested in knowing the sentiments 
 and views of those who seek their suffrages than the 
 laboring class. On all matters concerning labor Mr, 
 
FAIRBANKS 187 
 
 Fairbanks lias always been open, frank and clear in 
 his statements. He has neither sought to equivocate 
 nor mislead. To organized labor he has said that 
 organization was legitimate, was right, was necessary, 
 but he said that labor, organized or unorganized, 
 must respect the rights of others. A weaker man 
 would have left unsaid some things that Mr. Fair 
 banks so frankly uttered, but Mr. Fairbanks pre 
 ferred the more honorable way of frankly telling 
 all his views. It would be well if every workingman 
 in the United States would read and ponder the 
 frank and manly speech delivered at Kansas City. 
 
 It has already been said that Senator Fairbanks 
 is a very popular speaker on occasions that are non- 
 political, and on every such occasion has won new 
 laurels for the breadth of his views and the lessons 
 of patriotism, good citizenship, obedience to law and 
 order he has inculcated. 
 
 In New Jersey he was the orator on the celebration 
 of the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of 
 the battle of Monmouth; at Lancaster, Massachu 
 setts, he spoke on the celebration of the two hundred 
 and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of that 
 town ; in Minnesota he addressed the assembled thou 
 sands at the State Fair. He has spoken on numerous 
 other like occasions, and always with the approbation 
 of his audience. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HIS HOME LIFE. 
 
 HTMIE home life of Senator Fairbanks has been 
 -*- ideal. Married in oarly life to one who had 
 won his affections when he was still a student at col 
 lege, he has found in the wife of his bosom one who 
 has shared in all his struggles, his aspirations, his 
 successes, and joyed in them. She has made his home 
 happy, because she has made it a home in very truth. 
 They had a very modest beginning. Mr. Fairbanks 
 was poor in money wealth, but rich in the determina 
 tion of purpose to make and hold a place in life, and 
 in integrity and honesty of character. Furnished by 
 love and equipped by high purpose, their home could 
 not have been anything else than a happy one. 
 
 Engaged during the hours of the day in a struggle 
 for an established place in his chosen profession, the 
 young husband always gladly turned his steps toward 
 his home when evening came, sure that there he 
 would find sympathy, encouragement and strength 
 for the next day s conflict. Both are by nature do 
 mestic in their inclinations, yet they are fond of en 
 tertaining their friends, and each is possessed with a 
 
 -188- 
 
FAIRBANKS 189 
 
 happy faculty for making friends. When economy 
 and saving were necessary, Mrs. Fairbanks willingly 
 and cheerfully saved and economized, but when the 
 future Senator s practice had increased sufficiently 
 to warrant it they moved into a larger and more lux 
 uriously furnished house, but there was no ostenta 
 tion ; it was still all simple, all home-like. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Fairbanks have been not only 
 husband and wife, but they have been partners, in 
 the fullest and most complete sense of the term. The 
 genial, kindly nature of Mr. Fairbanks won friends, 
 and the kindly, genial nature of the wife fastened 
 them by new and additional ties. It can be said that 
 the circle of personal friends of the Senator is as 
 wide as his circle of acquaintance, and none who has 
 ever visited his home has failed to receive a welcome 
 from Mrs. Fairbanks that made them long to repeat 
 the visit. 
 
 Five children, one daughter and four sons, have 
 been born to them. When just beginning active life 
 Mr. Fairbanks declared he would not enter into 
 politics until he had won an established place in his 
 profession and accumulated enough to educate and 
 care for his children. Blessed by a kind Providence, 
 and through his untiring energy, he was able to thus 
 accumulate, and has given to each of his children a 
 collegiate course, except the youngest, and he is now 
 preparing to enter college. The two elder children 
 were graduated from the college which their parents 
 
 (13) 
 
190 FAIRBANKS 
 
 had attended. This alma mater is very dear to the 
 heart of both Mr. and Mrs. Fairbanks. The Senator 
 has long been a member of its Board of Trustees, 
 and he has several times given liberally to its endow 
 ment. The Senator has no warmer or more enthusi 
 astic friends anywhere than he has in the halls of 
 the old Ohio Wesleyan University, and the students 
 and faculty are alike proud of his success and of the 
 high station he has reached. 
 
 The Senator and his wife are both members of 
 Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal Church at In 
 dianapolis, and are consistent and earnest Christians. 
 Their Christianity is shown in kindly words spoken 
 or deeds done. "Do unto others as you would have 
 others do unto you," and a Love your neighbor as 
 yourself" have been the rules by which they have 
 guided and shaped their lives and their relations 
 with others. 
 
 They both enjoy social life, and the charming man 
 ners of Mrs. Fairbanks peculiarly fit her for a social 
 leader. In their home life, in their social life, in 
 their church life they have never been ostentatious, 
 but always simple, kindly and earnest. One has been 
 the complement of the other. 
 
 Senator Fairbanks is by nature kindly. In him 
 malice or envy or enmity never had a place. He 
 has a friendly word and greeting for every one he 
 meets, and business or public cares never press on 
 him so heavily or so closely occupy his thoughts as 
 
FAIRBANKS 191 
 
 to prevent him stopping long enough to give a grasp 
 of the hand and a pleasant word to his friends. Some 
 years ago, before he entered upon a political life, he 
 said to a friend that when he was a boy he made 
 it a rule of his life to make as many friends as possi 
 ble, and to avoid making an enemy if it were possi 
 ble, and he has followed that rule. In his own State 
 he has always been on terms of ardent personal 
 friendship with the leaders of the party opposed to 
 him. He counted such men as the late Vice-Presi- 
 dent Hendricks and the late Joseph E. McDonald 
 as among his warm personal friends, and in the 
 Senate he has no enemies among the Democratic 
 members. 
 
 His genial and kindly nature is a part of him. 
 His charities and they are numerous are, like all 
 his other acts, done without ostentation or display. 
 He is not a rich man, as riches are counted in these 
 money-making days, but he has been successful 
 enough in his law practice to accumulate a modest 
 fortune. He lives a home life, and is most delighted 
 and happy when he is in his home, surrounded by 
 his wife and children. 
 
 His characteristics are frankness, sincerity, friend 
 liness and seriousness. He is frank and open in all 
 his dealings ; frank in his friendships, and when en 
 gaged in the practice of the law he always dealt 
 frankly with the court and jury. In all his discus 
 sions before the public, whether it is of the political 
 
192 FAIKBANKS 
 
 issues before the people or one of the great questions 
 arising in the Congress, he is frank in his statements 
 of his own views and of the views of those who oppose 
 him. He never misstates a proposition or garbles the 
 words of another. 
 
 ~No one ever doubts his sincerity. He gives no 
 occasion for doubts of that kind. He is never dog 
 matic as to the correctness of his own views, but 
 every one accords him the meed of perfect sincerity 
 in presenting them and in believing in them. His 
 evident sincerity impresses every one who listens to 
 him, and it is one of his marked characteristics. 
 
 He deals with all matters of life, private or public, 
 seriously. With him there are no trifling things in 
 life. Every question that calls for his attention is 
 given the most serious consideration. In his public 
 career he has many calls for endorsements of indi 
 viduals for office. He never gives such endorsements 
 lightly. The public service, to him, is a matter of 
 great moment. He believes that the people of Amer 
 ica are entitled to the best public servants that can 
 be obtained and entitled to the best work such serv 
 ants can give, hence he is never found urging the 
 appointment of unfit men for office. He takes a like 
 serious view of party politics. * Party organizations 
 are the great methods by which the people express 
 their views on public affairs, and the issues before 
 them affect the welfare of the people and the Gov 
 ernment for good or for bad, hence they are serious 
 
FAIEBANKS 193 
 
 questions. He deals with them as serious questions, 
 ever using all his influence to elevate partisanship 
 and party methods. He stands for the highest type 
 of purity at the ballot box, purity in all the relations 
 between parties and the people. He is a foe to decep 
 tions, either in platforms or in discussions of political 
 questions. He has often said he would rather go 
 down to political defeat than to win a victory that 
 was in the least degree tainted by trickery, fraud, 
 corruption or deception, and he says this so earnestly 
 and carries it out so completely in all his actions 
 that those who know him know he is sincere. 
 
 Senator Fairbanks has never been a "trimmer." 
 It is not in his nature. There have been times in 
 his political and public career when a weaker man 
 would have trimmed his sails to the popular breeze, 
 but Mr. Fairbanks turned a deaf ear to popular 
 clamor and did what he believed was right. His sen 
 atorial career furnished two notable examples of this. 
 When Mr. McKinley assumed the reins of govern 
 ment the country was stirred to its depths over the 
 wrongs in Cuba, and from every section came an 
 almost imperative demand for the recognition of 
 the Cuban independents, even though it would in 
 volve a war with Spain. This feeling was very strong 
 in Indiana, his own State, and his personal and polit 
 ical friends urged him to unite with the extreme wing 
 in Congress. , To have done so would have rendered 
 him extremely popular, but he preferred to stand for 
 
194 FAIRBANKS 
 
 the exhaustion of every peaceable means to avoid war. 
 
 The other occasion referred to was when the ques 
 tion of providing a revenue for Porto Rico was under 
 consideration. The cry that "the Constitution fol 
 lows the flag," swept over the country. It was heard 
 on almost every tongue. Once more his friends be 
 sought him to take what was so evidently the popular 
 side. He was candidly told that if he took the other 
 side of that question it would ruin him politically. 
 Firm in his convictions of what was right and best, 
 he refused to trim his sails to the popular breeze. 
 He not only took a stand in opposition to the advice 
 of his friends, but he made one of his boldest and 
 ablest speeches in favor of the views he had espoused. 
 
 When in 1896 he was just entering on a wider 
 political life than he had hitherto occupied there was 
 an opportunity the political trimmer or wabbler 
 would have delighted in. The whole country seemed 
 to be inoculated with the virus of financial heresy. 
 In Indiana free silver was not only the popular issue 
 with the Democrats, but it had invaded the Repub 
 lican ranks and counted thousands of supporters in 
 that party. Mr. Fairbanks was then a candidate for 
 the United States Senate. To most of the leaders in 
 Indiana it looked like political suicide to declare 
 openly against free silver. To Mr. Fairbanks was 
 assigned the duty of drafting the financial plank for 
 the State platform. He could have evaded it, and 
 would have evaded it had he been a weaker man. He 
 
FAIKBANKS 195 
 
 prepared a plank not only strenuously opposing free 
 silver, but practically declaring in favor of a gold 
 standard. He was urged again and again by the 
 party leaders and by those who expected to have 
 places on the ticket not to push it, but he clung to his 
 work, and it was finally adopted by the convention. 
 This was one of the first declarations of the Repub 
 lican party in favor of the gold standard. 
 
 What Senator Fairbanks said of the late Judge 
 Gresham and of the late Senator Morton can well be 
 applied to himself. Of Senator Morton he said: 
 
 "He was a total stranger to the arts of the dem 
 agogue. He was too great to descend to intrigue or 
 to desire success otherwise than through the merit 
 and force of his cause. . . . His hands were 
 clean, his integrity incorruptible." 
 
 Of Judge Gresham he said: 
 
 "He was a man of positive character. He was not 
 negative and colorless. He possessed convictions 
 and adhered to them with resolution. He was not, 
 however, a dogmatist, but was always ready to hear 
 whatever might be urged against the integrity of his 
 own views. . . . He was always natural ; never 
 sought or pretended to be what God had not made 
 him. He never tried to veneer his true character 
 or obscure it by cheap meretricious acts. 7 
 
 Senator Fairbanks has always had a high standard 
 of duty and of life. He would no more falter in 
 the face of duty than a soldier would falter and hang 
 
196 FAIEBANKS 
 
 back in the face of the enemy on the battlefield. All 
 his acts and all his speeches show this. 
 
 He is averse to political wrangles and never in 
 vites them. In this he is unlike both Elaine and 
 Morton. As Ingersoll said, Elaine was like a war 
 rior, "a plumed knight/ 7 and he always went into 
 a political battle with eagerness. Morton delighted 
 in a political contest, for there the sledge-hammer 
 blows of his logic caused victims to fall all around 
 him. On the other hand, Mr. Fairbanks prefers to 
 put party wrangling aside, if possible, when it comes 
 to discussing questions of state^or matters pertaining 
 to the welfare of the people. 
 
 He is a lover of books. Ey nature and training 
 he is a student, but he reads much of the literature 
 of the day. 
 
 In his speeches he appeals to the reason and not 
 to the emotions or sentiments of his hearers. He is 
 never ornate, never indulges in flowers of rhetoric, 
 never in metaphors, figures of speech, nor startling 
 similes. He never culls from the classics and never 
 jests. No anecdotes or stories are found in any of 
 his public speeches. He is never vehement in decla 
 mation or gesticulation. He never gets on the moun 
 tain top. With him any question that is worthy of 
 being debated is worthy of being ^treated seriously. 
 
 He is candid and open in the statement of his 
 position, and there is no equivocation or evasion. He 
 makes his statements clearly and every one can readi- 
 
FAIKBANKS 197 
 
 ly know the position he takes. He indulges in no 
 waste of words, and never says anything that has 
 to be explained, apologized for or withdrawn. He 
 is never bitter, never vindictive. No irony or sar 
 casm is to be found in his speeches, and he never 
 utters a word that would wound an opponent. He 
 credits those who hold views in opposition to his 
 own with honesty and integrity of purpose, and he 
 respects their views. He addresses the Senate as he 
 would address the court, reinforcing his argument 
 with authorities and the opinions of others. He tries 
 to convince, not to captivate. 
 
 He is never a pessimist, but always optimistic, es 
 pecially when talking of the future greatness and 
 power of the United States. He would never have 
 advocated the seizure of Porto Rico or the Philip 
 pines merely to extend territory, but when those 
 islands fell to us as the result of a war he was opti 
 mistic enough to believe there was no danger to 
 either the institutions or the power of the country 
 in our holding them. He could not see ruin to us 
 in raising our flag in the Pacific. 
 
 He rose rapidly in the confidence and respect of 
 his party. He became a factor in national politics in 
 1896. So greatly had he grown in public confidence 
 by 1901 that leaders of his party in various sections 
 of the country began to talk of him as a logical and 
 fitting successor to President McKinley. He was 
 frequently referred to in the public press as one who 
 
198 FAIKBANKS 
 
 would, in all probability, be selected. When Mr. 
 Roosevelt succeeded on the death of the President, 
 it was natural the party should look to him to be his 
 own successor. Then it was the selection of a can 
 didate for the second place presented itself to the 
 party, and the name of Mr. Fairbanks was on almost 
 every tongue. He was deluged with letters urging 
 him to become a candidate for the Vice-Presidency. 
 Mr. Fairbanks is strong before the people because 
 of his honesty and integrity in public and in private 
 life; because of his entire consecration to duty; be 
 cause of his absolute and implicit belief in the sound 
 judgment of the people, the final and sole arbiters 
 in all questions affecting the government. He be 
 lieves that the people, in the end, will see the right 
 and approve it ; that loyalty to the best interests of 
 the Nation is inherent in the people; that this is a 
 Republic, a Republic of the people, and that when 
 the people have thoroughly considered any question 
 of policy and given their verdict thereon, their judg 
 ment should be carried out to the end. He knows 
 that if he does well the people will applaud, and if 
 he does ill they will condemn. He is of the people 
 and he trusts in their unerring judgment. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 HE IS NOMINATED FOR VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 TT IS rare in the political life of any man that a 
 * nomination to such a high office as Vice-President 
 of the United States comes wholly unsought, and with 
 the entire unanimity of his party friends. Such a 
 distinction came to Senator Fairbanks on the 23d 
 of June, 1904. For months his name had been prom 
 inently coupled with that high office. He did not 
 seek the nomination. He had still five years to serve 
 as Senator, a position to which his party in Indiana 
 had twice elevated him. The floor of the Senate was 
 a fitting place for the display of his talents. He had 
 achieved the position there of being one of the party 
 leaders. He was looked upon as a conservative and 
 wise legislator. He loved the duties of Senator, and 
 although he regarded the office of Vice-President of 
 the Republic as one of very high distinction and 
 honor, he would not seek it. 
 
 Many of his ardent friends in different parts of 
 the country, and many of the party leaders, looking 
 to the advantage of the party, urged him to announce 
 himself as a candidate for the place. In his own 
 
 199- 
 
200 FAIEBANKS 
 
 State his party friends were opposed to it, and ad 
 vised him to say he would not accept the nomination 
 if tendered to him. This he declined to do, holding 
 that it was a matter that could only be determined 
 in the light of public duty. They urged upon him 
 that his State had sent him to the Senate and had a 
 right to demand that he remain there ; that his seven 
 years of service had given him an experience that 
 another could only obtain by a like period of service ; 
 that the State needed his services in the Senate. 
 These arguments came from the friends who had 
 stood with him through all his political life, and it 
 was felt by the Senator that such expressions de 
 served to be weighed carefully. 
 
 To all he frankly said his preference was to re 
 main in the Senate, but, as he would not give en 
 couragement to those who were advising him to be 
 come an avowed candidate for the place, so he would 
 riot lightly make up his mind to openly decline it if 
 tendered by the party. The feeling in favor of the 
 nomination of Mr. Fairbanks so increased that, by 
 the time the convention met, hardly any other name 
 was mentioned in connection with the second place 
 on the ticket. The Senator was one of the delegates- 
 at-large from Indiana, and in that capacity attended 
 the convention. Wherever he was present he was 
 received with an enthusiasm that showed the hold he 
 had on his party. So strong was the feeling in his 
 favor, and that his name would add strength to the 
 
FAIRBANKS 201 
 
 ticket, that his Indiana friends at last gave consent 
 to his accepting the nomination if the convention 
 should so desire. 
 
 The Republican National Convention of 1904 was 
 a great gathering. Many of the most notable men 
 of the Nation were present as delegates. They were 
 there to lend their potent aid in shaping the declara 
 tion of principles; to give their adherence to the 
 patriotic administration of President Roosevelt, and 
 to join in declaring him the unanimous choice of the 
 party to succeed himself in that high office. Mr. 
 Roosevelt was duly named as the candidate for Presi 
 dent and the time came to choose his associate on the 
 ticket. Senator Dolliver, of Iowa, rose, amid great 
 enthusiasm, and spoke as follows : 
 "Gentlemen of the Convention: 
 
 "The National Republican convention, now nearly 
 ready to adjourn, has presented to the world a moral 
 spectacle of extraordinary interest and significance. 
 It is a fine thing to see thousands of men representing 
 millions of people, fighting in the political arena for 
 their favorite candidates, and contending valiantly 
 for the success of contradictory principles and con 
 flicting doctrines. Out of such a contest, with its 
 noise and declamation, its flying banners, its thunder 
 of the captains and the shouting, the truth often se 
 cures a vindication and the right man comes t out 
 victorious. Sometimes, however, wisdom is lost in 
 the confusion, and more than once we have seen tho 
 
202 FAIKBANKS 
 
 claims of leadership swallowed up in contention and 
 strife. 
 
 "We have the honor to belong to a convention 
 whose constituency in every State and Territory, and 
 in the islands of the sea, has done its thinking by 
 quiet firesides, undisturbed by clamor of any sort, 
 and has simplified our responsibilities by the unmis 
 takable terms of the credentials which we hold at 
 their hands. 
 
 "At intervals of four years I followed the banner 
 of James G. Elaine through the streets of our con 
 vention cities, from Cincinnati to Minneapolis, and 
 did my full share to see that nobody got any more 
 applause than the great popular leader, who had cap 
 tured my enthusiasm long before I was old enough 
 to vote. 
 
 "Not even his defeat served to diminish the hold 
 which our champion had upon the hearts of those 
 who followed him, and it has required a good deal of 
 experience to enable them to understand the lesson 
 of his defeat. Other conventions have met to settle 
 the fate of rival chieftains ; we meet to record the 
 judgment of the Republican millions of the United 
 States. 
 
 "They have based their opinion upon the facts of 
 the case. They have not concluded that we have the 
 greatest President of the United States since Wash 
 ington. They know how to measure the height and 
 depth of things better even than Professor Bryce, 
 
FAIKBANKS 203 
 
 when he deals with the superlatives which find their 
 way into all well-regulated banquets after midnight. 
 They have not forgotten the grave of Lincoln, which 
 has become a shrine for the pilgrimage of the human 
 race. They remember still the day when the canon 
 of Westminster opened the doors of that venerable 
 monument to admit the name of the silent American 
 soldier into the household of English spoken fame. 
 
 "They have passed no vainglorious judgment upon 
 the career of Theodore Roosevelt. They have studied 
 it .with sympathetic interest from his boyhood, as he 
 has risen from one station of public usefulness to an 
 other, until at length, before the age of forty-five, he 
 stands upon the highest civil eminence known among 
 men. Their tears fell with his as he stood in the 
 shadow of poor McKinley s death, and as a part of 
 his oath of office asked the trusted counselors who 
 stood by the side of the fallen President to help him 
 carry forward the work which he had left unfin 
 ished, and while his administration deserved the 
 tribute which it received in this convention from the 
 eloquent lips of our temporary chairman, it is be 
 cause he has executed in a manly way the purpose 
 of the Republican party and interpreted aright the 
 aspirations of the American people. Nor can there 
 be a doubt that, if in the years to come, he shall walk 
 steadfastly in the same path, he will be numbered 
 among the great leaders of the people who have given 
 dignity and influence to their highest office. 
 
204 FAIEBANKS 
 
 "But the judgment of the Republican party is not 
 only united upon its candidate it is unanimous 
 also, upon the fundamental principles for which it 
 stands. I think the convention has been fortunate 
 in harmonizing the minor differences which unavoid 
 ably arise in a country like ours, where speech is free 
 and where printing is free. We stand together on the 
 proposition that the industrial system of the United 
 States must not be undermined by a hostile partisan 
 agitation, and that whatever changes are necessary 
 in our laws ought to be made by the friends, or at 
 least the acquaintances, of the protective tariff sys 
 tem. 
 
 "The things upon which we are agreed are so great 
 and the things about which we differ are so small, 
 that we are able, without sacrificing sincere Repub 
 lican convictions, anywhere, to unite as one man in 
 defense of our common faith. 
 
 "We stand at the beginning of the new era, and 
 while the Republican party leans upon the counsel 
 of its old leaders, it has not hesitated to summon to 
 the responsibilities of public life the young men who 
 have been trained under their guidance to take up 
 the burdens which they are ready to lay down, and 
 finish the work which comes to them as an inherit 
 ance of patriotism and duty. That is the significance 
 of the nomination of Theodore Roosevelt, and that 
 is the explanation of the call which has been made by 
 the Republican party without a dissenting voice upon 
 
FAIEBANKS 205 
 
 Charles W. Fairbanks to stand by the side of the 
 President in the guidance and leadership of the Re 
 publican party. 
 
 "While he has not sought to constrain the judg 
 ment of the convention, directly or indirectly, he has 
 kept himself free from the affectation which under 
 values the dignity of the second office in the gift of 
 the American people, and I do not doubt that his 
 heart has been touched by the voluntary expression 
 of universal good will which has already chosen him 
 as one of the standard-bearers of the Republican 
 party of the United States. 
 
 "The office has sought the man, and he will bring 
 to the office the commanding personality of a states 
 man equal to any of the great responsibilities which 
 belong to our public affairs. A leader of the Senate, 
 the champion of all the great policies which consti 
 tute the invincible record of the Republican party 
 during the last ten years, his name will become a 
 tower of strength to our cause, not only in his own 
 State, but everywhere throughout the country. A 
 man of affairs, the whole business community shares 
 the confidence which his political associates have re 
 posed in him from the beginning of his public life. 
 The quiet, undemonstrative, popular opinion, which 
 has given the Republican party a platform upon 
 which all Republicans can stand with no dissenting 
 voice, here or anywhere, has long since anticipated 
 tlio notion of this convention in adding to the national 
 
206 FAIEBANKS 
 
 Republican ticket the name of Senator Fairbanks, of 
 Indiana. 
 
 "I take pleasure in presenting his name, honored 
 everywhere throughout the United States, as our can 
 didate for Yice-President." 
 
 When Senator Chauncey M. Depew rose to second 
 the nomination of Mr. Fairbanks, on the part of New 
 York, a delegate inquired whether he had had his 
 dinner. Mr. Depew took this inquiry for the text of 
 his speech, and said: 
 
 "My friend wants to know if I have had my din 
 ner, but what I am about to say is in behalf of 
 dinners for the American people. I can not help con 
 trasting, in listening to the eloquence with which we 
 have been privileged this morning, what will be the 
 difference when our Democratic friends meet on the 
 6th of July to go through with their duty of nom 
 inating candidates and adopting a platform. We 
 here have been unanimous upon our candidates, all 
 agreed upon our principles, all recognizing and ap 
 plauding our great statesmen, living and dead, and 
 agreeing with them, while on the other hand in that 
 convention there will be the only two living exponents 
 of Democratic principles. 
 
 "On the one side will be their only President ris 
 ing and saying be sane/ while on the other side, in 
 opposition, will come their last candidate for Presi 
 dent, saying be Democrats. The two are incompat 
 ible. 
 
FAIRBANKS 207 
 
 "I present just two thoughts which it seems to me 
 in the flood of our oratory have been passed "by. 
 There has been criticism of this convention that it 
 was without enthusiasm, perfunctory and would oc 
 cupy little place in history. But this convention is 
 an epoch-making convention, because it marks the 
 close of fifty years of the life of the Republican 
 party. That fifty years, if we should divide recorded 
 time into periods of half a century, the fifty years 
 from 1854 to 1904, would concentrate more that has 
 been done in this world for the uplifting of humanity 
 than all the half centuries which have preceded. 
 While this half century has done so much in elec 
 tricity, so much in steam, so much in invention, so 
 much in medicine,, so much in surgery, its one dis 
 tinguishing characteristic will be that it was the half 
 century of emancipation emancipation all over the 
 world, led mainly by the American thought and the 
 success of the American experiment. 
 
 "But when for our purpose we look back over this 
 half century we find that the best part of it, that 
 which has made most for the welfare of our country, 
 most for emancipation, has been done by the Repub 
 lican party. 
 
 "In 1854 James Buchanan, at Ostend, issued the 
 manifesto to buy or conquer Cuba for slavery, and 
 in 1900 William McKinley set up Cuba as an inde 
 pendent republic. In 1854 the first cable flashed 
 under the Atlantic Ocean, and this tremendous dis- 
 
208 FAIKBANKS 
 
 covery came from a Republican President who was 
 the only President since the formation of the coun 
 try who had presided over the destinies of a free 
 people, with freedom in the Constitution, and the 
 Declaration of Independence was no longer a living 
 lie. 
 
 "Now, it was only sixty years ago, ten years pre 
 ceding the birth of the Republican party, when that 
 great wit and great writer, Sydney Smith, said : Who 
 reads an American book ? Who eats off an American 
 plate ? Who drinks out of an American glass ? Who 
 wears American clothes ? Who buys anything Amer 
 ican? The answer is that from the figures coming 
 yesterday from the Department of Commerce we dis 
 cover that this year $450,000,000 of manufactured 
 articles from American looms and factories go into 
 European markets to compete with the highly organ 
 ized industrial nations of the world in their own mar 
 ket places. 
 
 "An American can start and go around the world 
 and not leave his country. He can cross the Pacific 
 to Yokohama in a Northern Pacific steamer. He 
 rides through Japan and China under American elec 
 trical appliances. He goes six thousand miles across 
 the Siberian Railway in American cars drawn by 
 American locomotives. In Spain alongside of their 
 orange groves he finds California oranges. In France 
 he drinks wine, labeled French, which has come from 
 San Francisco. He crosses the Nile upon a bridge 
 
FAIRBANKS 209 
 
 made in Pittsburg. In an English hotel he goes to 
 his room near the roof in an elevator manufactured 
 in New York. His feet are on carpets made in Yon- 
 kers. On the banks of the Ganges he reads his cables 
 by an electric light run by an American and made in 
 America. He goes under old London in tunnels dug 
 by and run by American machinery and American 
 genius, and then he goes to Newcastle and finds that 
 the problem which has been unsolvable forever, coals 
 American coals are carried to Newcastle. 
 
 "Now, my friends, while we represent the posi 
 tive, the convention which meets on the 6th of July 
 represents that element unknown heretofore in Amer 
 ican politics, the opportunist. It is waiting for bank 
 ruptcy, waiting for panic, waiting for industrial de 
 pression, waiting for financial distress. 
 
 "There was an old farmer upon the Maine coast 
 who owned a farm with a rocky ledge running out 
 into the ocean called Hurricane Point. On it ships 
 were wrecked, and he gathered his harvest from the 
 rocks, and, in his will, he wrote : I divide my farm 
 equally among my children, but Hurricane Point 
 shall be kept for all of you forever, for while the 
 winds blow and the waves roll the Point will pro 
 vide. 7 
 
 "But we have put a lighthouse on Hurricane Point, 
 a lighthouse of protection, with a revolving light 
 shedding gold over the ocean, and American com- 
 
210 FAIRBANKS 
 
 merce is going and coming in absolute safety. And 
 now, gentlemen, my second thought. 
 
 "It seems to me that we have not given enough im 
 portance to the office of Yice-President of the United 
 States. It was not so among the fathers. Then of 
 the two highest potential Presidential possibilities^ 
 one took the Presidency, the other the Vice-Presi 
 dency. But in the last forty years, ridicule and cari 
 cature have placed the office almost in contempt. Let 
 us remember that Thomas Jefferson ; let us remember 
 that old John Adams ; let us remember that John C. 
 Calhoun and George Clinton and Martin Van Buren 
 were Yice-Presidents of the United States. 
 
 "Eighty millions of people want for Vice-Presi- 
 dent a Presidential figure of full size. He presides 
 over the Senate, but he does more than that. He is 
 the confidant of the Senators. He is the silent mem 
 ber of every committee. He is influential in that 
 legislation which originates and which is shaped in 
 the Senate, and now that we have become a world 
 power, now that treaties make for either our pros 
 perity, our open door, or our closed harbors, he is 
 necessarily an important factor in the machinery of 
 the government. By the tragic death of McKinley 
 the Vice-President was elevated to the Presidency, 
 and today for the first time we have renominated the 
 Vice-President who thus came to be the President. 
 
 U A11 that has been said here about Theodore Eoose- 
 velt all of which is true the highest tribute to him 
 
FAIRBANKS 211 
 
 is that the American people, for the first time, unani 
 mously demand a Yice-President shall be the elect of 
 their choice for the Presidency of the United States. 
 
 "JvTow, gentlemen, it is my privilege, in looking 
 for Vice-Presidential possibilities, to announce what 
 ^you all know, that we have found a Vice-Presidential 
 candidate of full Presidential size. 
 
 "Everybody knows that, if the towering figure of 
 Theodore Roosevelt had been out of this canvass, one 
 of the promising candidates before this conven 
 tion for President of the United States would have 
 been Charles W. Fairbanks. And i^ew York, appre 
 ciating his great ability as a lawyer, appreciating the 
 national name he has made for himself as a Senator, 
 appreciating his dignity, his character and his genius, 
 for public affairs, seconds the nomination of Charles 
 W. Fairbanks for Vice-President of the United 
 States." 
 
 Speaking for Ohio, Senator Foraker said : 
 "Gentlemen of the Convention : 
 
 "We have come here to do three things: Make a 
 platform, name the next President of the United 
 States, and also name the next Vice-President of the 
 United States ; we have done two of these things, and 
 are about to do the third. And we have done both 
 of the things we have done well. 
 
 "The platform we adopted yesterday has already 
 met the favorable judgment of the American people. 
 It is the counterpart of the best the Republican party 
 
212 FAIRBANKS 
 
 has ever adopted, and, if you would know how high 
 is that tribute, recall the fact now of which every 
 Republican may justly feel proud that, of all the 
 many platforms we have made in the fifty years of 
 our party life, we would not today strike one of them 
 from our record if we could. 
 
 "Further than that, there is not a plank, or a dec 
 laration, or a thought, or an idea in one of them that 
 we would erase if we had the power. From the plat 
 form of 1856 down to that one adopted yesterday, all 
 are as solid as a gold dollar. 
 
 "If you would know what a tribute is here to Re 
 publican patriotism, wisdom and statesmanship, re 
 call the great questions with which the Republican 
 party has dealt in making these platforms. They are 
 all imperishable contributions to the political litera 
 ture of our day. 
 
 "If you would know the measure of our success, 
 read also of the damageable failure our Democratic 
 friends have met with in making their platforms. 
 
 "While we are today proud of the success of ours, 
 our Democratic friends can not find one platform 
 they have made in all this period that does not have 
 some features at least of which they are now ashamed. 
 ~Not all of them, perhaps, because there are some 
 Democrats who can not be ashamed of anything. 
 
 "And on the platform made yesterday we have 
 placed our candidate who is to head the ticket. It 
 may not have been as easy in some of the conventions 
 
FAIRBANKS 213 
 
 that have gone before to name a Republican candi 
 date for the Presidency as it was for us to name our 
 candidate here today. 
 
 "In former years, when we have been called upon 
 to choose between such great leaders as Conkling and 
 Morton and Elaine and Garfield and Harrison and 
 McKinley, they have weighed so evenly, their claims 
 for merit were so equal, that it was a harder task. 
 But this time one man stood head and shoulders above 
 all others of our Republican leaders, as has been well 
 said from this platform, by American people before 
 we took our seats in this convention. 
 
 "On the ticket with him, as his associate for the 
 Vice-Presidency, we want to place a man who repre 
 sents in his personality, in his belief, in his public 
 service, in his high character, all the splendid record 
 the Republican party has made ; all the great declara 
 tions of the former platforms, and a man who will 
 typify, as the leader of our ticket will, the highest 
 ambition and the noblest purposes of the Republican 
 party of the United States. 
 
 "I will not detain you with an eulogy of Senator 
 Fairbanks, beyond simply saying that, to all who 
 know him personally as those of us do who have been 
 closely associated with him in the public service, he 
 meets all the requirements so eloquently stated by 
 Senator Depew. He is of the Presidential caliber. 
 He has all of the qualifications for the high office for 
 which he has been named, and, by all of these potent 
 
214 FAIKBANKS 
 
 considerations, in the name of the forty-six delegates 
 of Ohio, I second the nomination of Senator Fair 
 banks." 
 
 Governor Pennypacker, of Pennsylvania, speaking 
 for his State, said : 
 
 "The Kepublican party held its first convention 
 in that city of western Pennsylvania which in energy, 
 enterprise and wealth rivals the great mart on the 
 shores of the inland lake, where, after the lapse of 
 nearly half a century, we meet today. Pennsylvania 
 may well claim to be the leader among Republican 
 States. The principles which are embodied in the 
 platform of the party as we have adopted it are the 
 result of the teachings of her scholars and states 
 
 men. 
 
 
 
 Her majorities for the nominees of that party are 
 greater and more certain than those of any other 
 State. She alone, of all the States, since the elec 
 tion of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, has never given 
 an electoral vote against a candidate of the Repub 
 lican party for the presidency. She is unselfish in 
 her devotion. During the period of half a century 
 that has gone no son of hers has been either President 
 or Vice-P resident. She has been satisfied, like the 
 Earl of Warwick, to be the maker of kings. She has 
 been content that you should have regard to the suc 
 cess of the party and the welfare of the country, 
 rather than to the personal interests of her citizens. 
 "The waters of the Ohio, rising in the moun- 
 
FAIRBANKS 
 
 tains of Pennsylvania, roll westward, bearing fertil 
 ity and men to the prairie lands of Indiana. The 
 thought of Pennsylvania turns with kindred feeling 
 toward the State which has produced Oliver P. Mor 
 ton, Benjamin Harrison and the brave Hoosiers who 
 fought alongside of Eeynolds on the Oak Kidge at 
 Gettysburg. She well remembers that when her own 
 Senator, who did so much for the Republican party 
 and whose wise counsels, alas, are missing today, bore 
 a commission to Washington, he had no more sin 
 cere supporter than the able and distinguished states 
 man, who then, as he does now, represented Indiana 
 in the United States Seriate. Pennsylvania, with the 
 approval of her judgment and with glad anticipation 
 of victory in her heart, following a leader, who, like 
 the chevalier of France, is without fear and without 
 reproach, seconds the nomination for the Vice-Presi 
 dency of Charles W. Fairbanks, of Indiana." 
 
 With entire unanimity and great enthusiasm the 
 convention declared that its choice for Vice-President 
 of the United States was Charles W. Fairbanks, and 
 the work of the convention was over. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HOW HIS NOMINATION WAS RECEIVED AT HIS 
 HOME. 
 
 Saturday, June 25th, Senator Fairbanks re- 
 turned to his home at Indianapolis. Before he 
 left Chicago he received hundreds of telegrams from 
 all parts of the country congratulating him on his 
 nomination, and the party because of his selection by 
 the convention. Many of these were from his friends 
 in Indiana, quite a number being from prominent 
 Democrats. At every station on his way to Indian 
 apolis he was greeted by large and enthusiastic 
 crowds, and at several points he made brief speeches. 
 At Indianapolis his fellow-citizens of all parties 
 arranged to give him a hearty welcome. When the 
 train arrived at the Union Station it found a great 
 throng awaiting it. The station was literally packed 
 with people, giving ample evidence of the high re 
 gard in which the Senator is held by the people of his 
 own city. The residence of the Senator is two miles 
 from the station, but along the entire course the 
 crowds gathered to give him a warm and cordial 
 home-coming. In the absence of himself and Mrs. 
 Fairbanks the friends had taken possession of the 
 
 -216- 
 
FAIKBANKS 217 
 
 residence and fittingly decorated it for the occasion. 
 
 At the residence and around it several thousand 
 citizens gathered, and the welcome they gave the dis 
 tinguished party was as cordial and enthusiastic as 
 that which had greeted them at the station. Speeches 
 were made by Senator Beveridge, Hon. John W. 
 Holtzman, Mayor of the city, Hon. John W. Kern, 
 and Hon. John L. Griffith, the Mayor and Mr. Kern 
 being two of the Democratic leaders of the State. 
 
 Mayor Holtzman welcomed the returning candi 
 date in the following generous words : 
 
 "Senator Fairbanks The people of your home 
 city are here, irrespective of party, to welcome you 
 to your home and to congratulate you upon the great 
 honor which your political party has conferred upon 
 you and which we feel was a distinction and honor 
 well earned by your fidelity and steadfastness to 
 those principles which your party represents, and 
 above that, by the upright life and career which you 
 have made for yourself as citizen and statesman. 
 
 "Indiana has been the political battleground in 
 many campaigns and her sons have been honored by 
 both great political parties. 
 
 "The first one was paid to our great .State in the 
 nomination of our distinguished fellow-citizen, the 
 late George W. Julian, who was nominated for Vice- 
 President by the Free Soil Democracy, in 1852. 
 Later the Republican party conferred this honor upon 
 Schuyler Colfax, a distinguished editor of our State, 
 
218 FAIEBANKS 
 
 and in 1876 the Democratic party selected for the 
 Vice-Presidency that distinguished, genial and most 
 lovable citizen and statesman, Thomas A. Hendricks. 
 In 1880 the Democratic party again came to Indiana 
 to select a candidate for Vice-President and in that 
 year nominated that able financier and statesman, 
 William H. English. 
 
 "In 1884 the Democratic party, with its eye still 
 upon the State of Indiana, again selected to grace the 
 second place upon the ticket our beloved Hendricks, 
 and in 1888 the Republican party selected as its 
 standard-bearer that distinguished soldier and states 
 man of Indiana, Benjamin Harrison, and in this year 
 of our Lord, the Republican party has wisely come 
 to the Hoosier State to make its selection for the 
 Vice-Presidency, and I hope it is not out of place 
 for me to say here that it is my wish that the Demo 
 cratic party may exercise the same wisdom at its 
 convention in St. Louis. 
 
 "Indiana has sons in each party who would grace 
 either the first or second place upon either ticket, 
 and may I say without giving offense that we would 
 all have been much better pleased had the Repub 
 licans at Chicago made the ticket read the other way. 
 
 "I am sure that every citizen in Indiana deserving 
 of the name of Hoosier was proud when any of her 
 citizens were honored by either of the great parties. 
 
 "I am glad to see that, notwithstanding all of the 
 bitterness which has entered into past campaigns, we 
 
FAIKBANKS 219 
 
 are big enough and broad enough to lay aside our 
 partisan feeling and to tender a reception to one of 
 our citizens who has won distinction for himself 
 which has been recognized by the party with which 
 he has been affiliated. 
 
 "We have a right to differ as to governmental poli 
 cies. We have a right to fight our political battles to 
 a finish, but it is well not to let our bitterness inter 
 fere with that pride which we should have in our 
 fellow-toAvnsmen in any prominence or distinction or 
 honor which they may attain or which may be be 
 stowed upon them. I am proud to live in a commu 
 nity where citizens turn out to tender a reception, 
 irrespective of party, to one who has won distinction. 
 
 "We should not allow ourselves to be controlled by 
 the narrowness of party spirit. To be able to meet at 
 all times the common amenities of life and to do the 
 gracious and courteous things, is the sign of progress 
 toward that culture which every community should 
 attain. 
 
 "Let us remember that we do not lose our party 
 allegiance in doing honor to one who has dis 
 tinguished himself, and I am sure that Indianapolis 
 has a citizenship which is broad enough, to extend a 
 similar reception to my very dear friend, the Hon. 
 John W. Kern, when he returns from St. Louis with 
 the Vice-Presidential nomination in his pocket. 
 
 "In the name of the people qf the city of Indian 
 apolis, I greet you, with the hope that such gifts and 
 
220 FAIRBANKS 
 
 honors as lie within the power of the party to which 
 you belong may be bestowed upon you." 
 Hon. John L. Griffiths spoke as follows: 
 "In the civilization of Greece the city was the 
 unit of power Athens was the State. Enough of 
 the Greek spirit survives to cause us to rejoice when 
 an unusual honor conies to the city in which we live. 
 It seems in a sense to reflect honor upon each member 
 of a community when one of their number is se 
 lected for special distinction because of what he has 
 done in literature or art, in science or philanthropy 
 or statesmanship. This gathering tonight of friends 
 and neighbors is to testify to their appreciation of 
 Charles W. Fairbanks, not as a party leader, but as 
 a citizen. It is a beautiful and spontaneous tribute 
 to the worth of a man. In the stress of the campaign 
 he will often recall, I doubt not, these homelike sur 
 roundings and this vast host of men and women, 
 many of whom for an hour at least, forget their party 
 ties in their eagerness to bear witness to the high per 
 sonal esteem in which they hold their friend. Po 
 litical animosities are not as deep-rooted or as bitter 
 as they often appear to be. It is well that this is so. 
 No party can arrogate to itself all the purity and 
 ability, all the patriotism and courage which are to 
 be found in the country at any one time. We realize 
 more and more that chance plays little part in the 
 successes of men. To achieve greatly one must labor 
 intelligently and continuously. 
 
FAIEBANKS 
 
 "The nominee of the Chicago convention for the 
 Vice-Presidency has not been the favorite of fortune. 
 He has fairly and justly earned all the honors which 
 have been bestowed upon him. He comes close to 
 the people because his life has been rooted in, their 
 lives. 
 
 "His nomination is a recognition of the growing 
 power of the great middle West of that section of 
 our common country where the people are peculiarly 
 frugal and resourceful, industrious and thrifty, with 
 sturdy notions of honesty, where they care less for 
 cleverness than for integrity and place a higher value 
 upon character than they do upon wealth. 
 
 "Charles W. Fairbanks was made one of the stand 
 ard bearers of his party because he has always had 
 e a healthy conscience in public matters and has been 
 actuated by an overpowering sense of duty. He has 
 felt as Lincoln did ; that in the tides of feeling which 
 sweep and surge about a public man, he must keep 
 some consciousness of being somewhere near the 
 right. He must keep some standard or principle 
 fixed within himself. He has been diligent in the 
 business of his Government. He has never regarded 
 the holding of an office as a pastime, but has keenly 
 felt the high responsibility which a lofty trust im 
 poses. He has always had a sweet and just tongue/ 
 speaking what he had to say temperately but forcibly. 
 No public utterance of his can be recalled in which 
 he ever abused a political opponent. He has won his 
 
 (15) 
 
222 FAIRBANKS 
 
 way into the hearts of men by traveling a pathway 
 too seldom traversed the pathway of gentleness and 
 fairness and moderation. 
 
 "His nomination is -a reminder that the early tra 
 ditions of the Republic have not entirely disappeared. 
 Again we have the inspiring spectacle of the office 
 seeking the man. Whenever this occurs, now as in 
 the days of Washington and Jefferson and the elder 
 Adams, it is the capable man that is sought the man 
 who by training, education, experience and ability is 
 best equipped for the office. 
 
 "The nomination of Charles W. Fairbanks has 
 also shown, in this age so much given to speech- 
 making, that silence is still golden. 
 
 "General Lafayette, upon his return to France, 
 said of Martha Washington, She is the best woman 
 in the world and beloved by all who know her. Re 
 cently I heard a woman pay this same tribute to the 
 wife who has contributed so much to Senator Fair 
 banks illustrious career. Coming from a woman, 
 the tribute means much more than if spoken by a 
 man. 
 
 "In the nomination of the husband we also see an 
 appreciation of the wife, who is the embodiment of all 
 the splendid qualities which beautify and adorn the 
 highest and truest womanhood. Through all the 
 years, Senator and Mrs. Fairbanks, your friends and 
 neighbors wish for both of you peace and joy and 
 happiness, increasing honors and widening fields of 
 usefulness and power." 
 
FAIEBANKS 223 
 
 Hon. John W. Kern said : 
 
 "Senator Fairbanks To have such a home-coming 
 as this must be to the man of heart and generous sen 
 sibilities vastly more gratifying than to be nominated 
 and elected to any office in the gift of the people. 
 One may be nominated and elected to office simply 
 because men prompted by a sense of duty or party 
 loyalty vote their party ticket, but this welcome home 
 from your neighbors of every shade of political belief 
 conveys to you the pleasing fact that your neighbors 
 are your friends, delighting in your preferment and 
 rejoicing because of the high honors of which you 
 are the worthy recipient. 
 
 "This meeting proves that Indianapolis is not only 
 a city of homes, but a city of neighbors, and the 
 neighborly spirit of the community was never more 
 strikingly illustrated than tonight, when hundreds of 
 your fellow-citizens, who will fight you tooth and nail 
 on election day, are here in generous rivalry with 
 your most ardent political supporters, as to who may 
 best attest the sincerity of the personal friendship 
 and good will with which you are regarded by all. 
 
 "While they recognize in you a foeman worthy 
 the steel of their greatest leaders, they also recognize 
 in you an upright citizen, a genial companion, a 
 neighbor and friend, and so most heartily do they 
 extend to you their congratulations, and their best 
 wishes for your health, happiness and continued per 
 sonal prosperity. 
 
FAIRBANKS 
 
 "It is true, in Indiana, at least, that political dif 
 ferences do not interfere in the slightest degree with 
 personal friendships. The flowers that grow upon 
 our garden walls of party politics are always in 
 bloom. We have shown to the world in many a hard- 
 fought conflict in the past that it is entirely possible 
 for us to fight each other in campaign times like 
 wildcats; and then, after the election, go on drink 
 ing out of the same canteen, as if nothing had hap 
 pened. 
 
 "And this,, because all realize that our differences 
 of opinions are honest differences, and that our dis 
 agreements are only on questions of governmental 
 policy for when the Government itself is assailed, 
 or the honor of the flag imperiled, all differences are 
 instantly forgotten and in devotion to the Republic 
 and loyalty to the flag, our people become as indi 
 visible as the sea. 
 
 "There are many of us who can not vote for you 
 at the polls,, because we do not subscribe to the polit 
 ical creed of which you are a distinguished represent 
 ative, and we will defeat your ticket if we can, but 
 we will be none the less your friends, wishing you 
 great prosperity in everything save politics. 
 
 "The fact is, Senator, and I think I violate no 
 confidence in stating it, that the voters of my party 
 prefer you as Senator rather than any other Repub 
 lican who might be elected as your successor, and are 
 
FAIEBANKS 225 
 
 loath to give you up before the expiration of the term 
 for which you were elected. 
 
 "They feel that your services are really needed in 
 that capacity, both by your country and party, and 
 that you are also needed there as a companion and 
 friend to Senator Beveridge, to throw about him your 
 gentle restraining influence. We all like Senator 
 Beveridge, and as one of Indiana s ablest and most 
 brilliant sons, are proud of him, but we feel that he 
 will do better work by the side of an experienced and 
 staid companion like yourself than he is likely to 
 when hitched up with one of the many colts who will 
 be prancing about trying to get into your senatorial 
 harness even before you have laid it off. 
 
 "I therefore assure you that, while we may not be, 
 can not be, for your national ticket, we are neverthe 
 less for you for United States Senator even to the 
 uttermost limit of your term. 
 
 "But seriously and in conclusion, Senator Fair 
 banks, you are to be congratulated, and we, your 
 neighbors, do most heartily congratulate you on your 
 great good fortune. You have made a success of life. 
 You have a delightful home and family ; you have 
 received great honors from your State and your 
 party, but better and above all that, you have lived 
 such a life, and so walked amongst men, as to draw 
 to yourself from amongst those who know you best 
 great hosts of personal friends, who are ready on an 
 occasion like this to forget that there are differences 
 
226 FAIRBANKS 
 
 of opinion amongst us, and join together as one man 
 in rejoicing at the new honors which have come to 
 YOU. 
 
 "Without regard to party lines, the people of In 
 dianapolis, jour beautiful home city, are one to-night 
 in their heartfelt congratulations to you, and invok 
 ing God s blessings upon you and your household. 
 Senator Beveridge greeted his colleague as follows : 
 "There are few better words in our language than 
 the word home, and there is no kinder word than 
 the word welcome. If to these another word be 
 added, we have the trinity which makes life worth 
 living, and that third word is the dear word friend. 
 These words and all they mean are on our lips to 
 night, and they are on our lips because they are in 
 our hearts; for we welcome home our friend. We 
 greet him in that solid, earnest faithful way which 
 distinguishes the people of our city and our State. 
 The people of Indiana claim no monopoly of human 
 virtues, but this we know: that nowhere does hospi 
 tality, generosity and good fellowship mean more 
 than here within the boundaries of our common 
 wealth. And when one of Indiana s sons wins dis 
 tinction all the people of our State are proud and 
 glad. It is in this spirit that we, his neighbors, 
 gather fonight about the roof tree of our beloved 
 fellow-citizen who comes _ back to us crowned 
 with an honor conferred upon him by men 
 from all over the Republic, The pride we 
 
FAIKBANKS 227 
 
 feel in him, the gratitude which is in our hearts 
 to those who placed this laurel upon his brow, 
 is that of brothers and sisters of a family. In 
 a certain sense we feel that we share in the high favor 
 which has been conferred upon him. For we live 
 right beside him. For years w r e have gone with him 
 about the walks of the day s business ; for years been 
 favored by his genial presence ; for years his perfect 
 life has been to us all an example and inspiration. 
 So, as friends and neighbors we take him by the 
 hand tonight with the grasp of that real welcome bet 
 ter spoken by the touch of hand than by the sound of 
 words. This assemblage assures him again of what 
 he has always known and always may know : that he 
 is surrounded now as he will be hereafter by the 
 friendship of the people among whom he lives. One 
 of the greatest gifts which the Father can bestow 011 
 any human being is the treasure of friendship ; and 
 this treasure Senator Fairbanks has in noble measure. 
 "The law of compensation is universal, and 110 
 honor comes to man without corresponding duties. 
 Into the arduous work to which my eminent colleague 
 is now immediately called he will have the inspira 
 tion of the hearty good washes of every man, woman 
 and child in Indiana ; and we on our part have the 
 sure knowledge that in it all he will speak and work 
 for what he believes to be best for the Republic. In 
 this he will be merely a type of Americanism ; be 
 cause all of us, of every party and of every creed, 
 
228 FAIRBANKS 
 
 are hoping and working in our various ways to make 
 and keep this Nation the noblest of all the nations 
 of the earth. As we are given to see the right, each 
 one of us is now doing and will hereafter do his part 
 to keep the fires of American ideals burning on Lib 
 erty s altar. In this sense all of us, of every party 
 and of every creed, hail our friend and neighbor as 
 a fellow-American, who,, in common with us all, 
 works and wishes for the Republic s good. That our 
 friend does this that his efforts are devoted to the 
 Nation s weal, that earnest consecration to high pur 
 poses distinguishes him none can better know than 
 I, who for five years have been favored by sitting at 
 his side in that exalted body which his presence has 
 honored and adorned. As friends and neighbors we 
 greet him and wish him good fortune and God 
 speed." 
 
 Senator Fairbanks said: 
 
 "Mr. Mayor, Mr. Griffiths, Mr. Kern, Senator 
 Beveridge, my Neighbors and Friends What can I 
 say ? This splendid greeting steals my tongue away. 
 You, good friends, have said more, and no one knows 
 better than I how much more, than I deserve. To 
 you I bring the tribute of a heart outflowing with 
 gratitude for this manifestation of your neighborly 
 respect. I recognize among the vast multitude here 
 many who are not in political accord with me. I 
 honor them none the less for that, for in this great 
 Republic the right of difference with respect to polit- 
 
FAIRBANKS 229 
 
 ical questions goes unchallenged. I do not expect to 
 win all of you to my political beliefs, but I do hope to 
 convince you as to the integrity of my motives and 
 purposes. No word from me tonight will have about 
 it any political partisan flavor none whatever. 
 
 "You have alluded, my friends, to the great Na 
 tional Convention at Chicago, which conferred a dis 
 tinguished honor upon me. Great as that is, it is 
 incomparable to the honor which I realize in full 
 measure tonight. All of the political parties upon 
 this earth can confer no honor that is comparable to 
 that which I trust I enjoy in the respect and confi 
 dence of the people of this city and State. My 
 friends, honor does not abide in place, no matter 
 how exalted it is. It abides in the hearts and the 
 confidence of one s countrymen. 
 
 "This is a splendid city. All that we have been, 
 all that we are and all that we expect to be, is cen 
 tered here. Her shame is our shame; her honor is 
 our glory. Home/ says my beloved colleague yes, 
 in all the vocabulary of men, vast as it is, there is no 
 sweeter and no holier word than that. And you have 
 added to its sweetness tonight. It possesses a splen 
 dor and a glory it never possessed before. 
 
 a My friend, Mr. Griffiths, in the goodness of his 
 nature, paid a tribute 
 
 [The Senator was so affected at this point that for 
 a time he was unable to proceed. Mr. Griffiths had 
 paid a high tribute to Mrs. Fairbanks.] 
 
230 FAIKBANKS 
 
 "All I can say, is, I thank you for it. 
 
 "This State has contributed some of the greatest 
 names ever contributed by your party [turning to Mr. 
 Kern] and ours in American history, and in the 
 glory they brought the State we find an equal cause 
 for rejoicing and gratification. The city of Indian 
 apolis gave to the Nation an eminent United States 
 Senator and a Vice-President, a friend of mine from 
 the time I set foot in Indianapolis Hon. Thomas 
 A. Hendricks. And there was Joseph E. McDonald, 
 a man of sound judgment, of patriotic purpose, a 
 United States Senator of distinction, and then there 
 was William H. English, who was nominated for the 
 second office in the gift of the people. Their mem 
 ories are a part of the rich inheritance that not only 
 Democracy enjoys, but Republicanism as well in the 
 State of Indiana. 
 
 "My friends, the list is a long one. There is an 
 other name to which I would direct your attention. 
 It stood a tower of strength in the perilous days of 
 the Republic. I refer to the Cromwell of American 
 politics, Oliver P. Morton. 
 
 "And there was my old-time friend and our old 
 neighbor, Judge Walter Q. Gresham, who rendered 
 conspicuous civic and military service and left us a 
 name without a stain. Yes, and there was another 
 one who wrote a high record of patriotic, intelli 
 gent, conservative service to the Republic the late 
 General Benjamin Harrison. 
 
FAIRBANKS 231 
 
 "My fellow citizens, we have had a busy day of 
 it. Coming from the city of Chicago, all the way 
 through the State, we have been met by magnificent 
 assemblages of American citizens. Our countrymen, 
 without regard to party distinctions or partisan dif 
 ferences, have come to meet and to greet us. I know 
 very well that when the time for gathering the judg 
 ment of the American people at the ballot-box comes, 
 our differences will manifest themselves, but thus far 
 there has been no trace whatever of partisan division. 
 In that fact I find the greatest gratification. It is 
 an assurance to me that, after all, partisans as we are 
 in this great State where political battles are won in 
 the heat of conflict, we are all Americans, Americans 
 all. 
 
 "I have only this further to say, my friends : We 
 can make this community better, we can make the 
 city better, if we will. We each and all owe to it, no 
 matter what our political beliefs are, intelligent, de 
 voted service. This State, this community, is a State 
 and community of homes. We practice here those 
 virtues which are the foundation of the fireside, 
 which, in the final analysis, is the very bulwark and 
 strength of the Republic. 
 
 "Fellow citizens, permit me to return to you my 
 thanks, and ask for you, in the years that lie before 
 us, the richest blessings that the Almighty can shower 
 upon you, each and every one." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 OFFICIALLY NOTIFIED OF HIS NOMINATION. 
 
 the 3d of August the committee appointed by 
 the convention to officially notify Senator Fair 
 banks of his nomination for Yice-President arrived 
 in Indianapolis, headed by Hon. Elihu Root, ex-Sec 
 retary of War. The committee was escorted to the 
 residence of the Senator, where a large crowd of cit 
 izens had assembled. Mr. Root, speaking for the 
 committee and the convention, said : 
 "Senator Fairbanks: 
 
 "The committee which now waits upon you was 
 appointed by the National Convention of the Repub 
 lican party at Chicago in June and its agreeable duty 
 is to notify you of your nomination as the Republican 
 candidate for the office of Vice-President of the 
 United States for the term to begin on the 4th day of 
 March, 1905. 
 
 "We give you formal notice of that nomination 
 with assurance of the undivided and hearty support 
 of the great party which has executed the people s 
 will in the government of this country for the better 
 part of the last half century. The nomination comes 
 
FAIRBANKS 233 
 
 to you in accordance with the best methods and prac 
 tices of representative government. It was the result 
 of long and earnest consideration and discussion by 
 the members of the convention. It was not the 
 chance product of an excited hour, and it was not 
 upon the demand of any powerful influence politi 
 cal or otherwise constraining the judgment of the 
 delegates. It was not made for the purpose of concil 
 iating possible malcontents, or of swelling the cam 
 paign fund of the party. ~No bargains or intrigues 
 contributed to it. ~No suppressions of the truth or 
 misleading of the convention as to your principles 
 and opinions were necessary to bring it about. It 
 was the deliberate, informed and intelligent judg 
 ment of the delegates from every State and Territory, 
 and it was their unanimous judgment. 
 
 "It is a great office to which you are called. John 
 Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and George Clinton, 
 and John C. Calhoun, and Martin Van Buren, and 
 many others whose names are illustrious in the his 
 tory of our country, have filled it. It is an office of 
 high dignity and immediate, ever-present importance. 
 The credit and honor of our country are greatly con 
 cerned in the character and conduct of the man who 
 presides over the Senate of the United States that 
 powerful and august body, of which you are already 
 so experienced, so useful and so honored a member. 
 
 "But the Yice-President has other grave duties of 
 imperative obligation. When the people elect a 
 
234 FAIEBANKS 
 
 President under our political system they do not 
 merely select the man for the office ; they give their 
 approval to certain controlling principles and policies 
 of government ; and the administration, of which the 
 Vice-President is a part, is bound to give effect to 
 these principles and policies. The primary duty of 
 the Yice-President to be always ready to take up the 
 burden of the Presidency if occasion requires, car 
 ries with it the duty to be always ready to continue 
 unbroken the policies which the people have entrusted 
 to the administration for execution. For the due per 
 formance of this duty the Vice-President should be 
 familiar with the conduct of affairs by the adminis 
 tration as it proceeds, a part of its counsels and im 
 bued with a knowledge of its labors, its perplexities 
 and its motives, that can come only from intimate 
 association and confidence and sympathy. Too often 
 it has happened that after excited contests for the 
 Presidential nomination the candidate for Vice-Presi 
 dent has been selected from the defeated faction for 
 the purpose of appeasing their resentment, and that 
 after election he has remained antagonistic in spirit, 
 and a stranger to the counsels of the President whom 
 he may be called upon to succeed. Happily we are 
 now in no such case. The people would fain see again 
 such relations of sympathy and loyal helpfulness for 
 the public good as existed between President Mc- 
 Kinley and Vice-President llobart ; and the personal 
 relations between President Roosevelt and yourself, 
 
FAIRBANKS 235 
 
 your mutual esteem and good understanding assure 
 us that these happy conditions will come again after 
 the 4th of next March. We count upon your wisdom 
 and experience and loyal aid as an element of ever 
 present strength in the coming administration. 
 
 "As to the supreme responsibility of the ^ 7 "ice- 
 Presidency in case of succession to the Presidency, 
 we shall all pray, and no one more earnestly than 
 yourself, that it may not come to you. But we are 
 not at liberty to ignore the possibility that it may 
 come. Sad and bitter experience admonishes us that 
 provision for succession to the Presidency is no idle 
 form. Of the last twelve Presidents elected by the 
 people of the United States five nearly one-half 
 have died in office and have been succeeded by Vice- 
 Presidents. A serious obligation rests upon political 
 parties which select the candidates between whom the 
 people must choose, to see to it that they nominate 
 men for this possible succession who have the 
 strength of body and mind and character which shall 
 enable them, if occasion comes, to take up the bur 
 dens of the great Presidential office, to endure its try 
 ing and exhausting demands, to meet its great re 
 sponsibilities, and with firm hand and clear vision 
 to guide the government of the country until the 
 people can express their choice again. 
 
 "Our opponents of the Democratic party have sig 
 nally failed to perform this duty. They have nom 
 inated as their candidate for the Vice-Presidency an 
 
236 FAIKBANKS 
 
 excellent gentleman who was born during the presi 
 dency of James Monroe, and who before the 4th of 
 March next will be in the eighty-second year of his 
 age. Before the next administration is ended he will 
 be approaching his eighty-sixth birthday. It is no 
 disparagement of this gentleman, for whom, I believe, 
 we all have the highest respect, to say that he shares 
 the common lot of mortals, and that the election of 
 any man of such great age would furnish no safe 
 guard to the American people against the disaster 
 which would ensue upon the death of a President 
 with a successor not competent to perform the duties 
 of the Presidential office. It is common experience 
 that very aged men, however bright and active they 
 may appear for brief periods, can not sustain long- 
 continued severe exertion. The demands of the Pres 
 idential office upon the mental and physical vitality 
 are so great, so continuous and so exhausting as to be 
 wholly beyond th.e capacity of any man of eighty- 
 five. 
 
 "The attempt by such a man to perform the duties 
 of the office would with practical certainty be speed 
 ily followed by a complete breakdown both of body 
 and of mind. In contemplating the remote possi 
 bility of the election of the Democratic candidate for 
 Vice-President, the people of the country are bound 
 to contemplate also as a necessary result of such an 
 election in case of the President s death, that others, 
 not chosen by the people, and we know not who, 
 
FAIRBANKS 237 
 
 would govern in the name of a nominal successor un 
 able himself to perform the constitutional duties of 
 his office; or worse still, that serious doubt whether 
 the Vice-President had not reached a condition of 
 inability within the meaning of the Constitution 
 would throw the title to the office of President into 
 dispute. 
 
 "The serious effect of such an event upon the gov 
 ernment and upon the business interests and general 
 welfare of the country and the serious effect even of 
 the continual menace of such an event, must be ap 
 parent to every thoughtful mind. 
 
 "In your election, on the other hand, this chief 
 requirement will be fully met. In the full strength 
 of middle life you are prepared for the exhausting 
 duties of the Presidency. Your successful and dis 
 tinguished career, the ability and probity with which 
 you have already discharged the duties of high office, 
 the universal respect and esteem of the people of In 
 diana who have delighted to honor you, the attach 
 ment of hosts of friends throughout the Union all 
 assure us that you have the character and the ability 
 to govern wisely and strongly should you become 
 President. Many indeed among our people have al 
 ready turned toward you as a suitable candidate to 
 be elected directly to that great office. 
 
 "It is the earnest wish of your party and of many 
 good citizens who have no party affiliations that you 
 shall accept this nomination, and that you shall be 
 
 (16) 
 
238 FAIRBANKS 
 
 elected in November to be the next Vice-President of 
 the United States. In expressing to you this wish, 
 we beg to add an assurance of our own personal re 
 spect, esteem and loyalty." 
 
 To this address of Mr. Koot Senator Fairbanks re 
 plied as follows: 
 "Mr. Root and Gentlemen of the Committee : 
 
 "I thank you for the very generous terms in which 
 you have conveyed the official notification of my nom 
 ination for Yice-President of the United States. The 
 unsolicited and unanimous nomination by the Repub 
 lican party is a call to duty which I am pleased to 
 obey. 
 
 "I accept the commission which you bring with a 
 profound sense of the dignity and responsibilities of 
 the exalted position for which I have been nominated. 
 My utmost endeavor will be to discharge in full meas 
 ure the trust, if the action of the convention shall 
 meet the approval of the American people. 
 
 "The platform adopted by the convention is an ex 
 plicit and emphatic declaration of principles in entire 
 harmony with those policies of our party which have 
 brought great honor and prosperity to our common 
 country, and which, if continued, will bring us like 
 blessings in the future. 
 
 "The monetary and economic policies which have 
 been so forcibly reannounced lie at the very founda 
 tion of our industrial life, and are essential to the 
 fullest development of our national strength. They 
 
FAIBBANKS 239 
 
 give vitality to our manufactures and commerce, and 
 if impaired or overthrown there would inevitably 
 ensue a period of industrial depression, to the serious 
 injury of the vast interests of both labor and capital. 
 
 "The Republican party, since it preserved the in 
 tegrity of the Republic and gave freedom to the op 
 pressed, never rendered a more important service to 
 the country than when it established the gold stand 
 ard. Under it we have increased our currency supply 
 sufficiently to meet the normal requirements of busi 
 ness. It is gratifying that the convention made frank 
 and explicit declaration of the inflexible purpose of 
 the party to maintain the gold standard. It is essen 
 tial not only that the standard should be as good as 
 the best in the world, but that the people should have 
 the assurance that it will be so maintained. 
 
 "The enemies of sound money were powerful 
 enough to suppress mention of the gold standard in 
 the platform lately adopted by the Democratic Na 
 tional Convention. The leader of Democracy in two 
 great national campaigns has declared, since the ad 
 journment of the convention, that as soon as the 
 election is over he will undertake to organize the 
 forces within the Democratic party for the next 
 national contest, for the purpose of advancing the 
 radical policies for which his element of the party 
 stands. ... He frankly says that the money question is 
 for the present in abeyance. In view of these palpa 
 ble facts, it is not the part of wisdom to abandon our 
 
240 FAIKBANKS 
 
 vigilance in safeguarding the integrity of our mon 
 etary system. We must have not only a President 
 who is unalterably committed to the gold standard, 
 but both houses of Congress in entire accord with 
 him upon the subject. 
 
 "In Congress and not with the President rests the 
 supreme power to determine the standard of our 
 money. Though the Chief Executive should oppose, 
 the Congress, acting within its independent constitu 
 tional authority, could at any time overthrow or 
 change the monetary standard. 
 
 "The wisdom of our protective policy finds com 
 plete justification in the industrial development of 
 the country. This policy has become a most vital 
 part of our industrial system and must be maintained 
 unimpaired. When altered conditions make changes 
 in schedules desirable, their modification can be 
 safely entrusted to the Republican party. If they 
 are to be changed by the enemies of the system along 
 free trade lines, uncertainty would take the place of 
 certainty, and a reaction would surely follow to the 
 injury of the wage-earners and all who are now prof 
 itably employed. Uncertainty undermines confi 
 dence and loss of confidence breeds confusion and 
 distress in commercial affairs. 
 
 "The convention was wise not only in its enuncia 
 tion of party policies, but in its nomination of a can 
 didate for the Presidency. During the last three 
 years President Roosevelt has been confronted with 
 
FAIEBANKS 241 
 
 large and serious questions. These he has met and 
 solved with high wisdom and courage. The charges 
 made against him in the Democratic platform find an 
 irrefutable answer in his splendid administration, 
 never surpassed in all the history of the Kepublic 
 and never equaled by the party which seeks to dis 
 credit it. 
 
 "The election of the President is imperatively de 
 manded by those whose success depends upon the con 
 tinuance of a safe, conservative and efficient adminis 
 tration of public affairs. 
 
 "We have an ample record of deeds done, of benefi 
 cent things accomplished in the public interest. The 
 vast business of the government has been well admin 
 istered. The laws have been enforced fearlessly and 
 impartially. The treasury has been adequately sup 
 plied with revenue and the financial credit of the 
 Government was never better. Our foreign trade 
 balance continues to increase our national wealth. 
 We have adopted an irrigation policy which will 
 build homes in the arid regions of the West. The 
 Panama Canal, the hope of centuries, is in course of 
 construction, under the sole protection of the Ameri 
 can flag. 
 
 "We have peace and great prosperity at home and 
 are upon terms of good neighborhood with the entire 
 world. These conditions constitute the strongest pos 
 sible assurance for the future. 
 
 "Later I shall avail myself of a favorable opportu- 
 
242 FAIRBANKS 
 
 nity to submit to you, and through you to my fellow- 
 citizens, a fuller expression of my views concerning 
 the questions now in issue. 
 
 "Permit me again to thank you and to express the 
 belief that we may confidently submit our cause to 
 the candid and patriotic judgment of our coun 
 trymen. " 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WHAT IS SAID OF HIM. 
 
 ALMOST from the moment of his entering the 
 Senate Mr. Fairbanks has stood among the 
 leaders of that great legislative hody. His colleagues 
 have held him in high esteem and recognized his abil 
 ities. In 1902 the late Senator Mark Hanna made 
 several speeches in Indiana, and in all of them he 
 referred in high terms to Senator Fairbanks. In his 
 speech at Bunker Hill he said : 
 
 a There is no man in the United States Senate who 
 is respected more highly ; who has any .wider in 
 fluence nor who has exerted more of that influence 
 in the support of the McKinley administration, and 
 all through his public life, than has Senator Fair 
 banks. You should be proud of him, and in sending 
 him back to the United States Senate it will be a 
 recognition of his eminent abilities and loyal patriot 
 ism to have his majority in the Legislature over 
 whelming." 
 
 At South Bend he said: 
 
 "This election is as important to you as if a Presi 
 dent was to be chosen, because you are called upon 
 
 243- 
 
244 FAIRBANKS 
 
 this fall to say whether you will send back to the 
 United States Senate that splendid Senator, Charles 
 W. Fairbanks, a man who entered that body at a time 
 when trials awaited this country ; at a time when the 
 Nation needed good judgment, sound sense and safe 
 legislation; a close friend and adviser of our mar 
 tyred President; always right on every question, al 
 ways influential and powerful in debate, and in all 
 things which contributed to that splendid administra 
 tion of William McKinley, he was a prominent fac 
 tor ; able and attentive to all public duties and to the 
 interests of his constituents at home, he has never 
 failed to support the measures which have contrib 
 uted so much to the benefit of all." 
 
 Before the meeting of the Chicago convention 
 nearly all the Republican papers of the country spoke 
 in terms of high praise of Mr. Fairbanks, and urged 
 his selection for the second place on the ticket. Since 
 the convention the press of the country has spoken 
 at length as to his character and abilities. A few 
 extracts will show the temper of the whole : 
 
 Gazette, Pittsburg, Penn. : 
 
 "Senator Charles Warren Fairbanks needs no in 
 troduction to the public. He has carved out for him 
 self a career that speaks eloquently for his force of 
 character and his standing where he is known. On 
 the floor of the Senate he has been a leader, an ad 
 vocate of progressive and sound policies. He is a 
 man of affairs. He will make a model \ 7 ice-Presi- 
 
FAIRBANKS 245 
 
 dent . . . Senator Fairbanks is in close and in 
 telligent touch with the interests and policies of the 
 Nation." 
 
 Record, Troy, N. Y. : 
 
 "Senator Fairbanks 7 Eepublicanism has never 
 been questioned. His addresses on public policy have 
 always rung true to the keynote of the issues as de 
 fined in the party s platforms, and as temporary 
 chairman of the National convention in 1896 it was 
 he who gave form to the issues of the campaign of 
 that year. He has the full courage of his convic 
 tions. If he is elected he will without doubt make a 
 dignified and thoroughly capable Vice-President." 
 
 News, Providence, R. I. : 
 
 "Fortunate indeed is the Republican party in hav 
 ing as its nominee for Vice-President such a wise and 
 progressive statesman as Charles Warren Fairbanks, 
 and President Roosevelt is equally fortunate in. hav 
 ing as his associate on the ticket a man of such com 
 manding mental equipment. Not only is Mr. Fair 
 banks of Senatorial stature, but of Presidential cali 
 ber, and he brings to the cause of Republicanism the 
 valuable assistance of his personal popularity in In 
 diana, a State the electoral vote of which is always 
 included in Democratic calculations of possible vic 
 tory. He has made an enviable record in the pro 
 fession of the law and on the higher plane of politics ; 
 he has served with distinction in the Senate, where he 
 
246 FAIEBANKS 
 
 revealed himself as the possessor of a long head and 
 a loyal heart, and his sound judgment and familiarity 
 with affairs of national concern can not fail to prove 
 valuable assets of his party." 
 
 Times, Troy, K Y. : 
 
 "As presiding officer of the Senate, of which he is 
 now a valuable and respected member, as a counselor 
 of the President and as a representative to our own 
 people and those of other countries of Americanism 
 in high office, Charles W. Fairbanks, the present Sen 
 ator, will justify the complete wisdom with which 
 the Republican convention placed his name on its 
 ticket." 
 
 Express, San Antonio, Texas : 
 
 "He is a leader of distinguished ability, a man who 
 is held in high estimation by the whole country, a 
 statesman who would honor any public position." 
 
 Gazette, Delaware, Ohio : 
 
 "He is a brainy man, an intelligent man, a re 
 sourceful man, and a fearless man ; he is in the Presi 
 dential class. He is a popular man, and his name 
 will add a tower of strength to the ticket." 
 
 Hawkeye, Burlington, Iowa: 
 
 "Of Senator Fairbanks much that is good can be 
 said. Much has been said of him in times past, and 
 it is all to his credit as a broad, earnest, forceful, 
 loyal Republican. His record is without a stain; 
 his ability above question. He will add a great 
 
FAIRBANKS 247 
 
 and influential strength to the National ticket, and 
 he will give a standing to the office of Vice-Presi 
 dent far above the ordinary conception of it." 
 
 Union, Springfield, Mass. : 
 
 "He will make an ideal presiding officer in stature, 
 dignity and intellect. He will be a most valuable 
 counselor, and in him the Eepublic will have, as it 
 always should have, a man able and worthy to take 
 his place at the head of the Nation should occasion 
 require." 
 
 Kepubiican, Johnstown, N. Y. : 
 
 "Throughout his public life his colleagues have 
 reposed great confidence in his wisdom, and his ad 
 vice has been sought on all important matters." 
 
 The Indianapolis Union, the official organ of the In 
 diana Federation of Trade and Labor Unions : 
 "There is no man living more approachable, more 
 humble in his simple method of living than Senator 
 Fairbanks. We have seen him get out of his seat in 
 the crowded street car and give it to a tired working- 
 man in his shirt sleeves ; we saw him pick up a pick 
 aninny and carry it across the muddy street, soiling 
 his own clothing while others humble in circum 
 stances did not notice the urchin. Committees of or 
 ganized labor have frequently had occasion to call 
 on the Senator, and they never had occasion to com 
 plain on account of red tape methods applied in 
 securing an audience, Senator Fairbanks was the 
 
248 FAIRBANKS 
 
 speaker on Labor Day at Kansas City two years ago. 
 His address was full of his Senatorial utterances 
 upon the immigration and Chinese exclusion ques 
 tions which have distinguished him. 
 
 "In this particular direction one of the influential 
 of American statesmen is in unison with organized 
 labor upon at least two cardinal principles. As a 
 public man, Mr. Fairbanks is open to public criti 
 cism, but we are candid in our opinion that, reared 
 as a Republican, brought up amidst environments 
 that have taught him to believe in the tenets of the 
 Republican party, there are few, if any, of his polit 
 ical stature, of his scholarly attainments, personal 
 traits and character, that will more nearly serve the 
 people s best interests as the Vice-Presidential nom 
 inee and incumbent chosen by a National Republican 
 convention than Senator Charles Warren Fair 
 banks." 
 
 The United States Tobacco Journal, in its issue 
 of June 25, 1904, in describing the efforts of the 
 cigarmakers of the country to secure a modification 
 of the tariff on leaf tobacco, as proposed in the pend 
 ing Dingley bill, has this to say in regard to Sen 
 ator Fairbanks: 
 
 "There is no man in public life to whom the to 
 bacco trade is under greater obligations than Senator 
 Fairbanks, the nominee of the Republican party for 
 the Vice-Presidency. 
 
 "The United States Tobacco Journal makes this 
 
FAIRBANKS 249 
 
 statement deliberately and will instantly proceed to 
 prove it. ... 
 
 "The two-dollar duty passed triumphantly the 
 House. Only the Senate was then left for a renewed 
 attempt at modification, and untiring in their zeal 
 the Philadelphians commenced to tackle every indi 
 vidual Senator. Almost the first and only one who 
 responded with a receptive mood was Senator 
 Fairbanks, from Indiana. Although then new to 
 his Senatorial toga he had nevertheless acquired a na 
 tional reputation as the presiding officer of the con 
 vention which nominated William McKinley for the 
 Presidency. In his first interview with the Phila 
 delphians the Senator frankly confessed his absolute 
 ignorance of the merits in question ; but he signified 
 at the same time his willingness to be instructed. 
 And so he was, and in less than no time he became 
 better informed on it than any other member of Con 
 gress. He then went to work with the Finance Com 
 mittee to consent to a reduction of the duty to $1.50. 
 It was the stiff est kind of a job the Senator could 
 have undertaken, as the influence of Senator Orville 
 H. Platt, from Connecticut, who naturally supported 
 the $2 rate in the supposed interest of the Connecti 
 cut tobacco growers ; seemed to be paramount in that 
 committee. After weeks of wrangling and haggling 
 there was to be one evening a meeting of the Finance 
 Committee at the Arlington Hotel for the final set 
 tling of the schedule rates. The Philadelphians were 
 
250 FAIRBANKS 
 
 in a whirl of excitement, crowding the lobby of the 
 hotel and watching for the assembling of the com 
 mittee. Imagine their surprise, therefore, when they 
 saw Senator Fairbanks coming out of his room in full 
 evening dress, and, instead of entering the committee 
 room, trying to leave the hotel ! He was at once be 
 sieged with anxious inquiries, to which he answered 
 good humoredly and reassuringly that he was com 
 manded to dinner with the President, whose com 
 mand, of course, he could not disobey, but he was 
 provident enough to get beforehand the promise of 
 the committee that they would wait with the final 
 fixing of the tobacco rates till he should return. And 
 promptly at 10 o clock the anxious watchers were re 
 warded with the return of the Senator, who at once 
 repaired to the committee room, where he succeeded 
 in having both Platt and Dingley defeated in the ac 
 ceptance of the $1.50 rate by a majority vote. 
 
 "These are the unforgetable services of Senator 
 Fairbanks, now a Vice-Presidential candidate, on be 
 half of the tobacco trade, the more to be appreciated 
 because he had no immediate constituents to serve in 
 this respect. . . . 
 
 "How infinitely more is it, therefore, to the credit 
 of Senator Fairbanks that he placed himself at the 
 service, most disinterestedly and most courteously, 
 of men who were not even his constituents, and of a 
 cause that only remotely affected a not altogether too 
 
FAIEBANKS 251 
 
 large industry in his own State ? Such a service 
 should be gratefully remembered." 
 
 When. Senator Fairbanks name was beino; can- 
 
 o . 
 
 vassed as a probable nominee for Vice-President the 
 New York Sun was not disposed to cordially support 
 the proposition. A few days after the Chicago con 
 vention the Sun quoted several extracts from the 
 maiden speech of the Senator, and followed with 
 these remarks : 
 
 "We take this speech by Mr. Fairbanks as an illus 
 tration of his habits of thought and direct methods 
 of expression. We choose this particular speech for 
 these reasons : 
 
 "1. This was his maiden speech in Congress, and 
 it is on the occasion of a first appearance that an or 
 ator is most likely to trim or hesitate or wabble, if he 
 is congenitally and habitually a trimmer, a wabbler 
 or a moral stutterer. 
 
 "2. The speech concerned a crucial question of na 
 tional policy, obtruded a year before it actually went 
 to the arbitrament of war ; and historical events since 
 the expressions of these opinions therefore afford a 
 ready test of Senator Fairbanks prescience, his good 
 sense and his patriotic courage. 
 
 "3. It contained a manly appeal to those Kepub- 
 licans in the Senate who had different opinions of 
 duty and policy regarding Cuba, to stand by the St. 
 Louis platform and redeem its pledges honestly, fear 
 lessly, faithfully. 
 
252 FAIRBANKS 
 
 "Do these passages we have quoted above read like 
 the utterances of a weakling ? Do they betray a bur 
 rowing, Machiavellian, sophistical or an evasive and 
 colorless sort of mind ? Not a bit of it ! Mr. Fair 
 banks words on this great subject went straight and 
 rang clear." 
 
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