IN THE CONNECTICUT LEGISLATURE--THE GREAT RAILROAD
FIGHT--BARNUM'S EFFECTIVE STROKE--CANVASSING FOR A UNITED STATES
SENATOR--BARNUM'S CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN--A CHALLENGE THAT WAS
NOT ACCEPTED.
During his legislative career Mr. Barnum made many new friends
and pleasant acquaintances, and there were many events great and
small which tended to make the session memorable. Barnum was by
no means an idle member. On several occasions, indeed, he took a
most conspicuous part in debates and in framing legislation. On
one occasion, a Representative, who was a lawyer, introduced
resolutions to reduce the number of Representatives, urging that
the "House" was too large and ponderous a body to work smoothly;
that a smaller number of persons could accomplish business more
rapidly and completely; and, in fact, that the Connecticut
Legislature was so large that the members did not have time to
get acquainted with each other before the body adjourned sine
die. Barnum replied, that the larger the number of
Representatives, the more difficult it would be to tamper with
them; and if they all could not become personally acquainted, so
much the better, for there would be fewer "rings," and less
facilities for forcing improper legislation.
"As the House seems to be thin now, I will move to lay my
resolutions on the table," remarked the member; "but I shall call
them up when there is a full House."
"According to the gentleman's own theory," Barnum replied, "the
smaller the number, the surer are we to arrive at correct
conclusions. Now, therefore, is just the time to decide; and I
move that the gentleman's resolutions be considered." This
proposition was seconded amid a roar of laughter; and the
resolutions were almost unanimously voted down, before the member
fairly comprehended what was going on. He afterwards acknowledged
it as a pretty fair joke, and at any rate as an effective one.
At this time Connecticut had two capitals, Hartford and New
Haven. The State House at Hartford was a wretched old building,
too small and entirely unfit for the purposes to which it was
devoted; and that at New Haven was scarcely better. Barnum made a
strong effort to secure the erection of new buildings in both
cities, and was made chairman of the committee having the matter
in charge. During his investigations he ascertained that
Bridgeport, Middletown and Meriden would each be willing to erect
a fine new State House at its own cost, for the sake of being
made the capital of the State. Thus the jealousy of Hartford and
New Haven was greatly aroused, and committees of citizens waited
upon Mr. Barnum, beseeching him not to press the matter of
removing the capital. In the end nothing definite was done, but
years afterward Hartford was made the sole capital and one of the
finest public buildings in the world was erected there.
The most notable event of the whole session however occurred near
its close, when Barnum introduced a bill to amend the railroad
law of the State by inserting in it the following:
"Section 508. No railroad company, which has had a system of
commutation fares in force for more than four years, shall
abolish, alter, or modify the same, except for the regulation of
the price charged for such commutation; and such price shall, in
no case, be raised to an extent that shall alter the ratio
between such commutation and the rates then charged for way fare,
on the railroad of such company."
The New York and New Haven Railroad Company seemed determined to
move heaven and earth to prevent the passage of this law. The
halls of legislation were thronged with railroad lobbyists, who
button-holed nearly every member. Barnum's motives were attacked,
and the most foolish slanders were circulated. Not only every
legal man in the House was arrayed against him, but occasionally
a "country member," who had promised to stick by and aid in
checking the cupidity of railroad managers, would drop off, and
be found voting on the other side. "I devoted," says Barnum,
"many hours, and even days, to explaining the true state of
things to the members from the rural regions, and, although the
prospect of carrying this great reform looked rather dark, I felt
that I had a majority of the honest and disinterested members of
the House with me. Finally, Senator Ballard informed me that he
had canvassed the Senate, and was convinced that the bill could
be carried through that body if I could be equally successful
with the House."
The date of the final debate and vote was fixed for the morning
of July 13. At that time the excitement was intense. The State
House was crowded with railroad lobbyists; for nearly every
railroad in the State had made common cause with the New York and
New Haven Company, and every Representative was in his seat,
excepting the sick man, who had doctored the railroads till he
needed doctoring himself. The debate was led off by skirmishers
on each side, and was finally closed on the part of the railroads
by Mr. Harrison, of New Haven, who was chairman of the railroad
committee. Mr. Harrison was a close and forcible debater and a
clear-headed lawyer. His speech exhibited considerable thought,
and his earnestness and high character as a gentleman of honor
carried much weight. Besides, his position as chairman of the
committee naturally influenced some votes. He claimed to
understand thoroughly the merits of the question, from having, in
his capacity as chairman, heard all the testimony and arguments
which had come before that committee; and a majority of the
committee, after due deliberation, had reported against the
proposed bill.
Mr. Barnum arose to close the debate. He endeavored to state
briefly the gist of the whole case. "Only a few years before," he
said, "the New York and New Haven Company had fixed their own
price for commuters' tickets along the whole line of the road,
and had thus induced hundreds of New York citizens to remove to
Connecticut with their families, and build their houses on
heretofore unimproved property, thus vastly increasing the value
of the lands, and correspondingly helping our receipts for taxes.
He urged that there was a tacit understanding between the
railroad and these commuters and the public generally, that such
persons as chose thus to remove from a neighboring State, and
bring their families and capital within Connecticut's borders,
should have the right to pass over the railroad on the terms
fixed at the time by the president and directors; 'that any claim
that the railroad could not afford to commute at the prices they
had themselves established was absurd, from the fact that, even
now, if one thousand families who reside in New York, and had
never been in our own State, should propose to the railroad to
remove these families (embracing in the aggregate five thousand
persons) to Connecticut, and build one thousand new houses on the
line of the New York and New Haven Railroad, provided the
railroad would carry the male head of the family at all times for
nothing, the company could well afford to accept the proposition,
because they would receive full prices for transporting all other
members of these families, at all times, as well as full prices
for all their visitors and servants.'
"And now," he said, "what are the facts? Do we desire the
railroad to carry even one-fifth of these new-comers for nothing?
Do we, indeed, desire to compel them to transport them for any
definitely fixed price at all? On the contrary, we find that
during the late rebellion, when gold was selling for two dollars
and eighty cents per dollar, this company doubled its prices of
commutation, and retains the same prices now, although gold is
but one-half that amount ($1.40). We don't ask them to go back to
their former prices; we don't compel them to rest even here; we
simply say, increase your rates, pile up your demands just as
high as you desire, only you shall not make fish of one and fowl
of another. You have fixed and increased your prices to
passengers of all classes just as you liked, and established your
own ratio between those who pay by the year and those who pay by
the single trip; and now, all we ask is, that you shall not
change the ratio. Charge ten dollars per passenger from New York
to New Haven, if you have the courage to risk the competition of
the steamboats; and whatever percentage you choose to increase
the fare of transient passengers, we permit you to increase the
rates of commuters in the same ratio.
"The interests of the State, as well as communities, demand this
law; for if it is once fixed by statute that the prices of
commutation are not to be increased, many persons will leave the
localities where extortion is permitted on the railroads, and
will settle in our State. But these railroad gentlemen say they
have no intention to increase their rates of commutation, and
they deprecate what they term 'premature legislation,' and an
uncalled-for meddling with their affairs. Mr. Speaker, 'an ounce
of prevention is worth a pound of cure.' Men engaged in plots
against public interests always ask to be 'let alone.' Jeff Davis
only asked to be 'let alone,' when the North was raising great
armies to prevent the dissolution of the Union. The people cannot
afford to let these railroads alone. This hall, crowded with
railroad lobbyists, as the frogs thronged Egypt, is an admonition
to all honest legislators that it is unsafe to allow the
monopolies the chance to rivet the chains which already fetter
the limbs of those whom circumstances place in the power of these
companies."
At this point in his speech he was interrupted a messenger, who
placed in his hands a dispatch from his son-in-law in New York,
marked "Urgent." He opened and read it. It announced that his
Museum had been totally destroyed by fire. He laid it upon his
desk, and without the slightest change of manner continued his
argument, as follows:
"These railroad gentlemen absolutely deny any intention of
raising the fares of commuters, and profess to think it very hard
that disinterested and conscientious gentlemen like them should
be judged by the doings of the Hudson River and Harlem Railroads.
But now, Mr. Speaker, I am going to expose the duplicity of these
men. I have had detectives on their track, for men who plot
against public interest deserve to be watched. I have in my
pocket positive proofs that they did, and do, intend to spring
their trap upon the unprotected commuters on the New York and New
Haven Railroad."
He then drew from his pocket and read two telegrams received that
morning, one from New York and the other from Bridgeport,
announcing that the New York and New Haven Railroad Directory had
held a secret meeting in New York the day before, for the purpose
of immediately raising the fares of commuters twenty per cent.,
so that in case his bill became a law they could get ahead of
him. He continued:
"Now, Mr. Speaker, I know that these dispatches are true; my
information is from the inside of the camp. I see a director of
the New York and New Haven Railroad sitting in this hall; I know
that he knows these dispatches are true; and if he will go before
the railroad committee and make oath that he don't know that such
a meeting took place yesterday, for exactly this purpose, I will
forfeit and pay one thousand dollars to the families of poor
soldiers in this city. In consideration of this attempt to
forestall the action of this Legislature, I offer an amendment to
the bill now under consideration, by adding after the word
'ratio' the words 'as it existed on the 1st day of July, 1865.'
In this way we shall cut off any action which these sleek
gentlemen may have taken yesterday. It is now evident that these
railroad gentlemen have set a trap for this Legislature; and I
propose that we now spring the trap, and see if we cannot catch
these wily railroad directors in it. Mr. Speaker, I move the
previous question."
This revelation astounded the opposition, and the "previous
question" was ordered. On the final vote the bill was carried
through triumphantly, and has ever since remained an important
item in the statute-book of the State.
In the spring of 1866 Barnum was re-elected to represent the town
of Fairfield in the Legislature. He had not intended to serve
again. But one of the directors of the railroad, who had led the
opposition to Barnum's new railroad law, had openly boasted about
the town that Barnum should not be allowed to hold the office
again. It was in response to these boasts that Barnum decided to
accept the nomination, and he was handsomely elected.
The leading issue before that Legislature was the election of a
United States Senator. Andrew Johnson was then President of the
United States, and had begun to break away from the Republican
party. One of the Connecticut Senators was following him in this
action. The other Senator was now a candidate for re-election.
Barnum had been an earnest admirer of him, but now ascertained
that he too was siding with Johnson. This caused Barnum to take
an active part in opposing him, and the showman-legislator spent
many days and nights endeavoring to impress upon his colleagues
the importance of defeating this candidate and electing the Hon.
O. S. Ferry to the Senatorship.
Excitement ran high. At first Mr. Ferry had only a few votes. But
under Barnum's skilful leadership he at last obtained a majority
in the party caucus and was accordingly elected.
During that summer Barnum entertained many eminent politicians
and other public men at his beautiful residence, Lindencroft.
Governor Hawley wanted him to serve as a Commissioner to the
Paris Exposition of 1867, but he was unable to do so.
In the spring of 1867 he was nominated for Congress by the
Republicans of the Fourth District. In referring to this episode,
he afterward remarked: "Politics were always distasteful to me. I
possessed, naturally, too much independence of mind, and too
strong a determination to do what I believe to be right,
regardless of party expediency, to make a lithe and oily
politician. To be called on to favor applications from
office-seekers, without regard to their merits, and to do the
dirty work too often demanded by political parties; to be "all
things to all men," though not in the apostolic sense; to shake
hands with those whom I despised, and to kiss the dirty babies of
those whose votes were courted, were political requirements which
I felt I could never acceptably fulfil. Nevertheless, I had
become, so far as business was concerned, almost a man of
leisure; and some of my warmest personal friends insisted that a
nomination to so high and honorable a position as a member of
Congress was not to be lightly rejected, and so I consented to
run. Fairfield and Litchfield counties composed the district,
which, in the preceding Congressional election, in 1865, and just
after the close of the war, was Republican. In the year
following, however, the district in the State election went
Democratic. I had this Democratic majority to contend against in
1867, and as the whole State turned over and elected the
Democratic ticket, I lost my election. In the next succeeding
Congressional election, in 1869, the Fourth District also elected
the only Democratic Congressman chosen from Connecticut that
year.
"I was neither disappointed nor cast down by my defeat. The
political canvass served the purpose of giving me a new
sensation, and introducing me to new phases of human nature--a
subject which I had always great delight in studying. The filth
and scandal, the slanders and vindictiveness, the plottings and
fawnings, the fidelity, meanness and manliness,: which by turns
exhibited themselves in the exciting scenes preceding the
election, were novel to me, and were so far interesting.
"Shortly after my opponent was nominated I sent him the following
letter, which was also published in the Bridgeport Standard:
" 'BRIDGEPORT, Conn., February 21, 1867.
" 'W. H. BARNUM, Esq., Salisbury, Conn.:
" 'Dear Sir: Observing that the Democratic party has nominated
you for Congress from this district, I desire to make you a
proposition.
" 'The citizens of this portion of our State will be compelled,
on the first Monday in April next, to decide whether you or
myself shall represent their interests and their principles in
the Fortieth Congress of the United States.
" 'The theory of our government is, that the will of the people
shall be the law of the land. It is important, therefore, that
the people shall vote understandingly, and especially at this
important crisis in our national existence. In order that the
voters of this district shall fully comprehend the principles by
which each of their Congressional candidates is guided, I
respectfully invite you to meet me in a serious and candid
discussion of the important political issues of the day at
various towns in the Fourth Congressional District of
Connecticut, on each week-day evening, from the fourth day of
March until the thirtieth day of the same month, both inclusive.
" 'If you will consent to thus meet me in a friendly discussion
of those subjects, now so near and dear to every American heart,
and, I may add, possessing at this time such momentous interest
to all civilized nations in the world who are suffering from
misrule, I pledge myself to conduct my portion of the debate with
perfect fairness, and with all due respect for my opponent, and
doubt not you will do the same.
" 'Never, in my judgment, in our past history as a nation, have
interests and questions more important appealed to the people for
their wise and careful consideration. It is due to the voters of
the Fourth Congressional District that they have an early and
full opportunity to examine their candidates in regard to these
important problems, and I shall esteem it a great privilege if
you will accept this proposition.
" 'Please favor me with an early answer, and oblige
" 'Truly yours,
" 'P. T. BARNUM.' "
To this letter Mr. William H. Barnum replied, positively
declining to accept his rival's proposition.
When Congress met P. T. Barnum was surprised to see in the
newspapers an announcement that the seat of his successful rival
was to be contested on the ground of bribery and fraud. " This,"
he said, "was the first intimation that I had ever received of
such an intention, and I was never, at any time before or
afterwards, consulted upon the subject. The movement proved to
have originated with neighbors and townsmen of the successful
candidate, who claimed to be able to prove that he had paid large
sums of money to purchase votes. They also claimed that they had
proof that men were brought from an adjoining State to vote, and
that in the office of the successful candidate naturalization
papers were forged to enable foreigners to vote upon them. But, I
repeat, I took no part nor lot in the matter, but concluded that
if I had been defeated by fraud, mine was the real success.' "