SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR IN THE CABINET OF PRESIDENT GRANT.
Eighteen Hundred and Seventy-four was a year of unusual political
disaster. The prevalent commercial depression both naturally and
seriously injured the party in power, and this and other causes
combined to produce a general relaxation of Republican vigor, which
bore its inevitable fruit in a series of damaging reverses in the fall
elections throughout the Union. The contest in Michigan was complicated
by an organized movement on the part of the opponents of Prohibition
to secure a repeal of that State's stringent law against the liquor
traffic, and to more surely reach that end its License League formed
an alliance with the Democracy, by which the latter was greatly aided.
The result was that the Republican plurality upon the State ticket
was reduced to 5,969 in a total vote of 221,006, that three of the
nine Congressional districts were carried by the Opposition, and that
a Legislature was chosen in which the Republican majority upon joint
ballot was but ten. Upon this body, so closely divided, devolved the
choice of an United States Senator. To a man of Mr. Chandler's positive
qualities and aggressive methods an active public life was impossible
without creating strong enmities, and the attention which, had he been
more subtle, he would have given to conciliating hostility his direct
nature preferred to devote to showing appreciation of friendship. The
equality of parties in the Legislature, and the passing disposition
among Republicans to look with disfavor upon what has been since
termed "stalwart leadership," supplied the local opposition to Mr.
Chandler with the looked-for opportunity for successfully resisting
his re-election. Michigan Republicanism as a whole gave him its
usual hearty support, and, so far as the contest was waged within
the recognized lines of partisan warfare, his personal triumph was
flattering and signal. In the regular caucus he received fifty-two
votes against five ballots cast for three other candidates, and his
nomination was made unanimous with but one dissenting voice. A small
Republican minority refused to participate in the caucus, and after
a prolonged and exciting struggle a combination was formed between
six of these men and the solid Democratic and Liberal Opposition,
which (on the second ballot in the legislative joint convention) gave
precisely the necessary majority of all the votes cast to Isaac P.
Christiancy, then one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Michigan.
Mr. Christiancy was an original Republican, but had in some instances
in the past so far satisfied the Democrats by his public course that
he had been once re-elected to the Supreme Bench without opposition,
his name having been placed at the head of the Democratic State ticket
after his nomination by his own party. This fact materially facilitated
the coalition which secured Mr. Chandler's defeat. Like results in
pending Senatorial contests in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska showed
that more than merely local influences had contributed to bring about
this event.
Mr. Chandler, with that strong faith in his own position which was so
useful a characteristic of the man, did not believe that his defeat
was possible until it was accomplished. His disappointment was keen,
but he bore it manfully, and, assuring his friends that he should be
"a candidate for _that seat_ when Judge Christiancy's term ended," he
started for Washington to close up his eighteen years of continuous
Senatorial service. Many and sincere were the expressions of grief
among earnest Republicans everywhere at what seemed to be the abrupt
termination of the public career of so influential a man. Mr. Chandler
himself was as strongly affected by his fear that Republicanism might
have received a severe blow from the method by which his re-election
had been prevented as by any sense of mere personal failure. In a
letter written in the following March, in response to an invitation
from the great majority of the Republican legislators of Michigan to
address them on political topics, he said:
Thanking you cordially for your continued confidence, I assure
you most sincerely that when I enlisted in the Republican ranks
it was for the whole war, which, I trust, is to be continued
until the complete and final triumph of Republican principles,
the pacification of the whole people, and the establishment of
equal and exact justice for all men in every section of our common
country. It will be my pride to prove to my friends, and to my
enemies, if there are such, that I can be useful as a private
soldier. In all the future contests of the Republican party with
its opponents you may order me into the ranks with full confidence
that I will respond with all my time, if need be, and with such
ability as I can command.... We shall not yield in the forum the
great principles which have triumphed in the field, nor shall we
further waste in internal strife the strength which should be
organized against our opponents. I have faith in the future of our
country, because of my confidence in the continued success of the
Republican party.
Ultimately it became evident that his defeat in 1875 was not a personal
calamity, he himself afterward saw that it had opened the way for him
to broader fields of public usefulness, and that in what then seemed to
be a fall he had in fact only "stumbled up stairs."
After the termination of Mr. Chandler's third Senatorial term (on March
3, 1875), his name was connected, both in current rumor and in the
deliberations of influential men, with several prominent positions.
It was at one time predicted that he would be nominated for the St.
Petersburg embassy, and at another that he would succeed Mr. Bristow as
Secretary of the Treasury. Ground was not lacking for both reports, but
the appointment which was actually made involved a far more complete
test of his faculty of administration than would have attended
either of the others. The Interior Department is the most complex
division of the executive branch of the government. A great diversity
of interests are under its charge, and its duties are dissimilar,
widely ramified, and encumbered with a perplexing multiplicity of
details. During President Grant's second term this Department,
notwithstanding the personal honesty of Secretary Columbus Delano, had
fallen into bad repute. It sheltered abuses and frauds which tainted
the atmosphere, but were not hunted down and removed by its chiefs.
From the scandals which this state of affairs created, Mr. Delano
finally sought escape by a resignation, which took effect on Oct. 1,
1875. General Grant, who was determined to appoint to the place a man
whose integrity, sagacity and vigor should make it certain that he
would not tolerate incompetence and rascality among his subordinates,
tendered the position to Mr. Chandler. After some hesitation, and no
little urging by his friends, that gentleman accepted, and on Oct.
19, 1875, his commission as Secretary of the Interior was executed
and sent to him. (His nomination was, on the meeting of Congress in
December, promptly confirmed by the Senate, all of the Republican and
three of the Democratic Senators voting affirmatively, with only six
Democrats recorded in the negative). Mr. Chandler entered at once
upon the discharge of his new and difficult duties. No man could have
had less of the professional "reformer" about him--in fact he was not
chary of expressing the most contemptuous skepticism concerning much
that paraded itself as "reform"--but the exemplification which he
gave of practical reform was at once thorough and brilliant. Without
ostentation, without the faintest savor of cant, he went at his work
in unpretentious, business-like, manful, and clear-sighted fashion. A
firm believer himself that "corruption wins not more than honesty,"
he gave durable lessons on that theme in every bureau of the Interior
Department.
[Illustration: THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT.[36]]
The first step of Mr. Chandler's administration was the infusion of new
blood. He applied to James M. Edmunds for aid in the selection of a
Chief Clerk, and was by him advised to tender that important position
to Alonzo Bell, then holding a place in the Treasury. What followed
illustrates some of Mr. Chandler's methods of transacting business:
Mr. Bell, at his desk in the Winder Building, received a dispatch
on the afternoon of Nov. 8, 1875, which read: "The Secretary of the
Interior desires to see you." On the next morning at nine o'clock he
was in waiting in the ante-chamber of Secretary Chandler's office, and
shortly thereafter that gentleman entered. In a few moments Mr. Bell
was summoned into his room, and Mr. Chandler said, "Good morning, Mr.
Bell. I suppose General Cowen (the then Assistant Secretary) has told
you what the business with you is?" Mr. Bell answered, "I have had a
very pleasant talk with him, but there has been no business alluded to
by us." Mr. Chandler then said, "I have concluded to appoint you Chief
Clerk of the Interior Department; will you accept?" "Yes, sir," was
the reply. "Very well," said Mr. Chandler, "go ahead." Mr. Bell went
at once to the Treasury, filed his resignation, and within an hour
returned to the office of the Secretary of the Interior. He found him
in conference with two Senators, and this conversation followed: "Mr.
Secretary, I have taken the oath and I am ready to go to work." "Very
well, do you know where to find the Chief Clerk's room?" "No, sir."
"Well, sir, it won't take long to look it up." Mr. Bell started on the
search for it, and within a few moments had relieved the gentleman
temporarily in charge, taken possession of its desk, and commenced
business. Mr. Chandler, also on recommendation of Mr. Edmunds, promoted
John Stiles from a minor place to the Appointment Clerkship. The
Assistant Secretaryship of the Department he requested the President to
tender to Charles T. Gorham of Michigan, who had lately relinquished
the embassy of the United States at The Hague. He believed that Mr.
Gorham's business training, practical ability and personal attachment
to himself would greatly aid in the reorganization of the Department,
and only felt doubtful as to whether that gentleman would accept the
position. In the end, Mr. Gorham was induced to take it, and the
Assistant Attorney-Generalship was given to Augustus S. Gaylord of
Saginaw, well-known to Mr. Chandler as a good lawyer and a vigilant
and trustworthy man. These changes in his executive staff the new
Secretary of the Interior regarded as an essential part of the work of
investigation and purification which was to be accomplished.[37]
Within less than one month after the commencement of Mr. Chandler's
term, all the clerks in one of the important rooms in the Patent Office
were summarily removed. Examination had supplied satisfactory proof of
dishonesty in the transaction of the business under their care, and
the Secretary concluded that all of them were either sharers in the
corruption or lacked the vigilance necessary for their positions, and
he declared every desk vacant. To the Hon. Jay A. Hubbell, whom he met
on the evening of the day upon which he had taken this vigorous step,
he said, "I have been 'reforming' to-day. I have emptied one large room
and have left it in charge of a colored porter, who has the key, who
cannot read and write, and who is instructed to let no one enter it
without my orders. I think the public interests are safe so far as that
room is concerned until I can find some better men to put into it." To
the remonstrances which followed this action he was resolutely deaf,
and to some influential friends of one of the men thus displaced he
said significantly, "That man is competent enough; if he thinks that
the cause of his removal should be made public, he can be accommodated;
I don't advise him to press it." Later in Mr. Chandler's term, and
without warning, the monthly pay-rolls of the Patent Office employes
were placed in the custody of a new officer, and the full name and city
address of every one who signed them was taken. The result was that for
upward of a score of names no owners appeared, and it was thus found
that money had been dishonestly drawn in the past by some one through
the device of fictitious clerkships. It was also ascertained that in
a few cases work requiring expert skill had been given to unqualified
persons who had "farmed it out" to others at reduced rates, and were
thus receiving pay without rendering service. These disclosures led to
further prompt removals of those implicated in the frauds, and to the
eradication of the abuses thus exposed. In this bureau some change of
methods was also made which simplified the transaction of business, and
increased the facilities for procuring patents while lessening their
cost to the public.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs Mr. Chandler found to be more utterly
unsavory in reputation than any other division of his Department.
Besides securing a new Commissioner and Chief Clerk, he instituted a
series of quiet inquiries into the methods of doing business there,
and soon determined upon removing a number of subordinates, whose
records were unsatisfactory and whose surroundings were suspicious.
He then sent for the Commissioner and notified him of this decision,
but that officer replied that they were the most valuable men he had,
and that it would be almost impossible to conduct the business of
the bureau without them. The urgency of his protest finally induced
Mr. Chandler to delay action for a few days. While matters were in
this state of suspense, President Grant, who was watching with keen
interest the examination into the Interior Department offices, said
to its Secretary, "Mr. Chandler, have you removed those clerks in the
Indian Bureau whom we were talking about?" Mr. Chandler replied, "No,
sir; the Commissioner said it would be almost impossible to run the
office without them." The President answered, "Well, Mr. Secretary,
you can shut up the bureau, can't you?" The answer was, "Yes, sir."
"Well then," said General Grant, "have those men dismissed before
three o'clock this afternoon, or shut up the bureau." Mr. Chandler
went over to the Department, sent for the Commissioner, told him that
the suspected clerks must go that afternoon if the bureau was closed
as the result, and gave the necessary orders of removal which were
promptly executed. In regard to the dismissal of these men, he said,
"I haven't evidence that would be regarded in a court as sufficient
to convict them of fraud or dishonesty, but to my mind the proof of
their crookedness is strong as Holy Writ." This was only one of many
instances in which President Grant actively interested himself in the
work of hunting out fraud, and there was no step which Mr. Chandler
took in the direction of honest and cheaper administration in which he
was not cordially and powerfully sustained at the White House.
The "Indian Attorneys" also came under and felt the weight of the new
Secretary's just displeasure. One of the glaring impositions practiced
upon the ignorant aborigines was that of inducing them, winter after
winter, to send "agents" to Washington to look after their interests,
upon representations made to them that the government would otherwise
deprive them of some of their rights. Many of these men were paid eight
dollars a day and their expenses, while others contracted for certain
sums secured on the property of the Indians. In fact, these "attorneys"
rendered no needed service and preyed upon the ignorance of their
clients. These men Mr. Chandler banished from his Department; he also
declined to allow the payment of claims preferred by representatives of
the Indians for "expenses incurred in procuring legislation," on the
ground that such outlay was illegal and immoral. His decision on these
points was embodied in this order (addressed on Dec. 6, 1875, to the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and still governing the proceedings of
that bureau), which saved large sums of money to the Indians:
Hereafter no payment shall be made and no claim shall be approved
for services rendered for or in behalf of any tribe or band of
Indians in the procurement of legislation from Congress or from any
State Legislature, or for the transaction of any other business for
or in behalf of such Indians before this Department or any bureau
thereof, or before any other Department of the government, and no
contract for the performance of such services will hereafter be
recognized or approved by the Indian Office or the Department.
Should legal advice or assistance be needed in the prosecution or
defense of any suit involving the rights of any Indian or Indians,
before any court or other tribunal, it can be procured through the
Department of Justice.
This regulation will govern the Indian Office, and application
for compensation for such services must not be forwarded to the
Department for action hereafter, it being understood that the
regularly-appointed Indian Agent, the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs and the Secretary of the Interior are competent to protect
and defend the rights of Indians in all respects, without the
intervention of other parties, and without other compensation than
the usual salaries of their respective offices.
Mr. Chandler's experience as Secretary of the Interior made him a
firm believer in President Grant's policy of seeking to civilize
the American savages by dealing with them through the agency of the
Christian churches. Originally he favored turning the management of
Indian affairs over to the military arm of the government, but actual
contact with this knotty problem convinced him that the so-called
"peace policy" was, with all its conceded imperfections, the true one.
He held that, if firmly adhered to and improved as experience should
dictate, it would ultimately yield the largest and best returns. To
make any policy successful he knew that honest and competent service
was indispensable, and that he spared no efforts to secure.
[Illustration:
President Grant.
Lot M. Morrill.
Hamilton Fish.
G. M. Robeson.
J. D. Cameron.
Alphonso Taft.
Z. Chandler.
J. N. Tyner.
PRESIDENT GRANT'S CABINET--1876-'77.
[From a Sketch by Mrs. C. Adele Fassett.]]
In the Pension Bureau there was also some wholesome investigation, and
the efficiency of its administration and the vigilance of its scrutiny
into fraudulent claims upon the government were materially increased,
with the result of saving to the Treasury hundreds of thousands of
dollars annually. In the Land Office a series of extensive frauds in
what was known as "Chippewa half-breed scrip" were discovered during
the first six months of Mr. Chandler's term. The matter was one that
had been brought to the attention of the Department under other
Secretaries, but no detection of rascality had followed. Mr. Chandler
ordered a thorough investigation, which was pushed vigorously by Mr.
Gorham and Mr. Gaylord. The end was the breaking up of a strong and
corrupt combination, the prompt removal of all officers connected with
its past operations, and the reporting of the facts to the proper
Congressional committees for further action. The Secretary also ordered
a consolidation of the seven stationery divisions of the Department
into one central office, securing thereby a lessened cost of management
which was and is worth $20,000 annually to the Treasury.
The result of this exhibition of executive vigor need not be described
in detail. Under the impetus of shrewd insight, disciplined business
habits, and firm purpose, the _morale_ of the various bureaux improved
rapidly. Abuses withered up, inefficiency became industry, and fraud
took flight.[38] The Interior Department became a strongly-officered
and well-administered branch of the government. Men saw that it had
at last a head who meant that his subordinates should be honest and
should render efficient service, and who could push his intentions into
acts. Mr. Chandler, who had originally doubted as to whether he could
still command his old mercantile faculty of mastering and managing a
host of details, convinced both himself and others that this was still
one of his powers. His administration made evident the benefits of the
supervision of the public business by a practical man of affairs, and
no member of President Grant's Cabinets made a record more enviable for
unostentatious and efficient discharge of duty.
The anecdotes of Mr. Chandler's Cabinet service are many and
entertaining. He commenced by arming himself for the chronic battle
of all heads of departments with the claimants of patronage. One of
his first orders prohibited clerks from recommending applicants for
position, and another provided him with a statement of the number
of employes in the Department from each Congressional district. A
memorandum book, containing this information, was constantly by his
side, and was used almost daily. A Congressman would apply for the
appointment to a clerkship of some constituent whom he was anxious to
oblige or assist. The record would be produced, and something like this
conversation would follow: "You see your quota is full, but that don't
matter; pick out any man you want me to remove and I'll put your man
in his place at once." "But," the Congressman would reply, "I can't
do that. If I ask you to turn out any of these men I shall get myself
into hot water." "You don't mean to say that you're asking me to get
myself into hot water for you?" the Secretary would answer, and with
this weapon, thus used half banteringly but still effectively, he,
with perfect good-nature, turned aside the Congressional pressure for
positions.
He also carefully kept memoranda of the official records of his
subordinates, and charges against any one of them coming from
responsible sources were certain to be thoroughly investigated. But no
man could be more wrathful at mere backbiting or at efforts for the
secret undermining of reputation. His repugnance to injustice was no
less keen than his sense of justice. One afternoon a man of clerical
aspect and garb called at his office, and said, after introducing
himself, "Mr. Chandler, I presume it is your intention to have none but
correct people in your Department."
"That is my intention."
"Well, do you know, sir, that you have a woman in one of the bureaux of
your Department who is of bad character."
"No, sir, I do not know that I have any such persons in my Department."
"I thought you didn't know it, Mr. Chandler, and so I decided to come
and inform you."
The name of the clerk in question was then given and the charges
against her made still more explicit. Mr. Chandler listened quietly,
and finally picked up a pen and handed it to his caller, saying,
"Just put that down in writing, sir, and I will dismiss the woman."
The accuser hesitated and said, "Now, I hope, Mr. Chandler, you will
not connect my name with this matter. I don't want to be known." The
Secretary thereupon leaned back in his chair and said, "You know all
about this woman and I know nothing about her, except what you state
to me; but you want me to put a stain on her reputation upon charges
you are unwilling to even substantiate with your name. Never! Leave
the office." Upon the abrupt departure of the visitor so dismissed,
Mr. Chandler turned to one of his clerks and said, "He belongs to that
class of informers who are always willing to stand behind and ruin a
person, but who don't want to be known. I don't propose to be a party
to any such transaction."
A contractor, whose rascality had been conclusively exposed and whose
contract had been unceremoniously annulled, came to him one day to
remonstrate. The conversation ran in this wise.
"Mr. Secretary, I have been badly used----"
"I'm glad of it," interrupted Mr. Chandler; "you're a scoundrel, and
it's time you were getting your deserts."
The man attempted explanation, but Mr. Chandler was too impatient
to listen, and finally sent him away with orders to write a letter
setting forth his grievances, which should be investigated. "Although,"
added he, as the contractor retired, "it's my opinion that the worst
treatment you could get would be too good for you."
In the few cases where genuine hardship followed his quick decisions
and their enforcement, he was ready to make good the injury he had
not intended to inflict. One morning a prominent officer of the army
entered Mr. Chandler's office with a small pamphlet in his hand and
said, "What kind of a fool is it, Mr. Secretary, that you have at your
door distributing tracts?" Upon Mr. Chandler's denying all knowledge
of this variety of colportage, he said, "Here is a tract a fellow out
there gave me, and told me to read it, and said it might be good for my
soul." Mr. Chandler was nettled at this violation of discipline, and
made inquiries which showed that one of the clerks was distributing
tracts about the Department under circumstances that implied neglect of
his official duties, and thereupon he was dismissed. In a short time
an earnest letter came to the Secretary from the wife of the displaced
man describing the distress that had been brought upon their home,
whereupon Mr. Chandler directed his re-instatement, saying, as he
issued the order, "I guess he won't circulate any more tracts. I don't
object to their distribution, but when a man is doing the government
business he should give that his attention." For a clerk discharged
because of dishonesty, no amount of personal solicitation, even by
close friends of Mr. Chandler, availed anything. At one time when he
was most vehemently and persistently urged to restore a suspected and
dismissed subordinate, he finally said to the Senator who was pressing
the matter, "There is but one way by which you can have that man
re-appointed, and that is to first have me turned out."
In the early part of his term a letter came to Mr. Chandler from a
man in California, who had a case pending before the Department upon
an appeal from the Commissioner of the Land Office. He wrote that if
the Secretary would decide that case in favor of the appellant, he
would remit $300 in gold. Mr. Chandler read it and said to his clerk,
"Call the attention of the Attorney-General to that, cite the law that
man has violated, and ask the Department of Justice to prosecute the
fellow," and this course was taken. At about the same time, a dispatch
came from the Pacific coast stating that a man was at San Francisco who
claimed to be Mr. Chandler's brother, and was seeking to borrow money
on that statement. To this Mr. Chandler's answer was this telegram: "I
have no brother. Arrest the scoundrel."
By the clerks, whose official record satisfied him, he was universally
liked. He was easily approached, ready to listen, quick to perceive,
and prompt in decision. He scarcely ever gave reasons, but his rapid
judgment was rarely found to require reversal or even revision. With
those who did business with the Department on honest principles,
and only asked for promptitude and efficiency in its service, his
popularity was great and deserved. The fact that he was at its head was
kept constantly fresh in the minds of all. Soon after the commencement
of his term he exchanged offices with the Commissioner of Patents, thus
obtaining an apartment much more desirable than the one previously
occupied by the Secretaries. One of the Patent Office _attaches_, in
replying to the comment of somebody who expressed surprise at the fact
that this change had not been sooner made, said, "To tell the truth we
have generally regarded the Secretary himself as an interloper in the
Department. Mr. Chandler has started a new order of things."
[Illustration: THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR'S OFFICE.]
While the investigating mania was at its height, the House Committee on
the Expenditures of the Interior Department determined to look into his
books and business system. He accordingly received from them a formal
letter asking what time would be convenient for the investigation. The
Chief Clerk submitted this communication to Mr. Chandler, who said,
"Tell them to come down any day, and I want you to put the best room
we have at their disposal, and give them all the facilities you can
to investigate the affairs of any bureau of the Department that they
want to look into. If they can find anything wrong that I haven't
found, I shall be very much obliged to them. They will be pumping a dry
well. The work is done." The committee came, but only held a few brief
sessions, and finally never concluded their labors and never made a
report in relation thereto.
Active as were Mr. Chandler's party sympathies, and little disposed
as he was to consult his political opponents as to his course, or to
admit them to any share in the patronage at his disposal, he did not
manage the Department upon merely partisan principles. He did not
make removals of Democratic subordinates except for cause; he never
appointed any Republican whom he did not believe to be thoroughly
upright and competent. That to fill any vacancy he always sought to
find the right kind of Republican was true. His civil service theories
stopped with honesty and efficiency, and did not exclude pronounced
political sympathy with the appointing power nor party activity.
Still, he did not on any occasion enforce the payment of political
assessments by his subordinates, and their work for the Republican
cause was left voluntary in character. The nearest approach to mere
partisanship in his use of the appointing power was the giving of
places in the Department to crippled soldiers who had been discharged
from the employment of the House of Representatives by the Democratic
Door-keeper, and even in that it was far more the indignation of the
patriot than of the Republican that stirred him. At the close of Mr.
Chandler's Secretaryship, the clerks of the Department waited upon
him in a body, and thanked him for the kindness they had received at
his hands. While farewells were being exchanged Mr. Schurz, the new
Secretary, came in and was introduced to his staff of subordinates. Mr.
Chandler then said:
Mr. Secretary, I welcome you to this office. When I came here this
Department was greatly tainted with corruption, especially in the
Patent Office and the Indian Bureau. With the aid of the gentlemen
you see around you, I have been able to cleanse it, and I believe,
as far as I am able to ascertain, that no abuses exist in the
bureaux I have named. I had to use the knife freely, and I believe
this Department stands to-day the peer of any department of the
government.
Mr. Chandler further commended the corps of employes as honest,
faithful men, and Mr. Schurz replied:
I think I am expressing the general opinion of the country when
I say you have succeeded in placing the Interior Department in
far better condition than it had been in for years, and that the
public is indebted to you for the very energetic and successful
work you have performed. I enter upon the arduous duties with which
I have been entrusted with an earnest desire to discharge them
conscientiously, and I shall be happy when leaving the Department
to have achieved as good a reputation for practical efficiency as
you have won. I thank you, sir, for this cordial welcome, and I
will say to the gentlemen to whom you have introduced me that they
shall have my protection; and I ask from them the same faithful
assistance they have given you.
The tribute which Secretary Schurz at the outset thus paid to the
practical efficiency of his predecessor merely expressed the public
verdict which greeted the close of Mr. Chandler's term. Examination
did not compel any modifying of this praise, and after Mr. Chandler's
death his successor in the Interior Department--a man very exacting
in judgment and one with whom his political differences had been
numerous--again said: "In the course of the last two years I have
frequently discovered in the transaction of public business traces of
his good judgment and his energetic determination to do what was right."
FOOTNOTES:
[36] This massive edifice is popularly known as "The Patent Office,"
because its main halls are occupied by the magnificent model rooms of
the Bureau of Patents.
[37] Much of Secretary Chandler's confidence arises from the well-known
integrity and personal reliability of the several gentlemen sustaining
the nearest official relation to him, all of whom were selected by
his own free choice, and from his own personal knowledge of these
essential characteristics. General Gorham did not seek the office of
Assistant Secretary; the office sought him, and Mr. Chandler himself
would take no denial. So, also, of Mr. Gaylord, his able and untiring
Assistant Attorney-General for the department. And the same is true of
Mr. Partridge, his discreet and trusted private secretary. Surrounded
by such aids he well knows that no material interest can suffer by any
temporary contingency, such as the one which now occurs.--_Washington
dispatch to the Philadelphia "City Item" of Oct. 20, 1875_ (_referring
to Mr. Chandler's temporary absence_).
[38] No appointment was ever more thoroughly justified by the result
than Mr. Chandler's. It gave him a new field for his energy and his
masterly executive ability, and it is conceded that he made the best
Secretary of the Interior that the nation has had in our day. He made
no boasts of what he intended to accomplish, but instituted reforms and
uprooted abuses. He hated dishonest men, and they feared him.--_Gen. J.
R. Hawley, in the "Hartford Courant."_
On no occasion was Mr. Chandler known to use his official position for
his own pecuniary gain--directly or indirectly. His death has ended a
long career of public service in executive and legislative capacities,
and throughout his hands were ever clean of unjust or illegitimate
gain--nor did his bitterest political foe (and no man evoked stronger
personal criticism) ever charge, or ever suspect him, with making
personal profit out of his political station and opportunities.--_T. F.
Bayard in the Senate, Jan. 28, 1880._