“The subject of practical education has occupied the attention of every
enlightened nation, and has ever been one of intense interest to the
reflecting portion of this country. It has been a universally-received
axiom, that the foundations of a republic must be in the information of
its people.”[9]
In the general desire for knowledge and a steady advancement in the
things pertaining to civilization the professions were in harmony with
that honesty, simplicity and zeal which constituted the foundation
structures of pioneer society. The doctor, the clergyman and the
lawyer occupied respectively their inviting fields, and each became
alike interested in the ever new book of nature, and read aloud
the wonders of the New World. The calling of the physician was not
very remunerative. He seldom refused to obey a call for reason of
the inability to pay. Still, he had but little to do. It was not
fashionable to send for a doctor and have the _temperature taken_ for
every little indisposition. The people, from instinct or circumstances,
had great faith in _Nature_ as a _healer_. They discovered that
persons recovered from most all diseases; and that cool spring water
and a little catnip or bone-set tea served to amuse the patient to a
satisfactory termination quite as well as the visits of the physician.
And, it would appear, the doctors were generally honest enough to
encourage this reasonable confidence to so great an extent that the
good physical inheritance required very little medication; and many
pioneer fathers and mothers reared large families of children without
the loss of a single member, as well as without having a doctor
called for any occasion whatever. And the rate of mortality remained
astonishingly low until the innovation of “cross-roads” medical
colleges, and proprietary nostrums received the patronage of the public.
The great danger in a free country of the learned professions being
made up of evil, ignorance and corruption, gave timely warning to the
medical men of Ohio, who, with the aid of the legislature, endeavored
to protect the growing community against quacks and mountebanks.
The state was divided into districts of several counties each, in which
censors were appointed and duly qualified “to faithfully perform and
impartially discharge their duties as censors” in the examination of
the qualification of applicants to practice medicine and surgery. A
certificate of qualification from the Board of Censors was insufficient
of itself to entitle the holder to practice, and required a license
from the court of common pleas, certified by the secretary of the
medical district, and placed on record in the county in which the
applicant proposed to practice medicine and surgery.
The following forms were used:
“CERTIFICATE OF QUALIFICATION.
[Illustration: SEAL]
“STATE OF OHIO,
MEDICAL DISTRICT NO. 3.
“_To Whom It May Concern._
“These presents certify, That Giles S. B. Hempstead, of Portsmouth,
in the county of Scioto, appeared for examination, and is found to be
duly qualified to practice physic and surgery.
“In testimony whereof, I, President of said Board, have hereunto set
my hand and affixed the seal of said Board at Marietta, this, the
fifth day of November, 1818.
“E. PERKINS, _President_.
COLUMBUS BIERCE, _Secretary_.”
“LICENSE.
“Know all men by these presents, That I, ----, President of the
Second Circuit Court of Common Pleas in the State of Ohio, by the
authority in me vested, do license Giles S. B. Hempstead to practice
physic and surgery within this state.
“In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and official seal
of the County of Scioto this, the twenty-third day of November, A. D.
1818.
[Illustration: SEAL]
__________________________
“_President Court Common Pleas._
“I do hereby certify the above to be a true copy of the license
granted to Giles S. B. Hempstead.
“COLUMBUS BIERCE,
_Secretary Third Medical District._”
Each medical district kept a record of all certificates and licenses
issued within the area designated for public inspection, that all might
know who were qualified to assume the responsibility.
The censors and members licensed composed a list of the learned
and able men of Ohio. Almost every one licensed brought with him a
certificate of qualification from state censors of some state east,
which was copied into the records kept by the censors in Ohio.
These “Diplomas” were quite similar in character and expression, the
following being a fair sample:
“DIPLOMA.
“We, the President and other officers of the Incorporated Medical
Society of Dutchess County, in the State of New York, having received
from our censors full assurance of the competent knowledge of
Columbus Bierce in the theory and practice of medicine, and from
Doctor John Cooper and others, his former preceptors, the like
assurance of his standing and moral deportment, do by the powers
vested in us confer upon him, the said Columbus Bierce, license to
practice physic and surgery and midwifery in any part of this state,
and recommend him to the confidence of our fellow-citizens, and the
friendly attention of our brethren, as a person of good morals and
liberal attainments.
[Illustration: SEAL]
“In testimony whereof we have subscribed these presents with our
names and caused our seal of incorporation to be annexed.
“Done at Poughkeepsie, this, the 15th May, A. D. 1816.
“JOHN THOMAS, _President_.
“Attest: JOHN BARNES, _Secretary_.
“I certify the above to be a true copy from the original.
“C. BIERCE,
_Secretary Third Medical District, Ohio_.”
The censors and society of the third district met semi-annually,
alternately at Athens and Marietta, and the place of meeting was
generally at the residence of some citizen, who volunteered in advance
to entertain the doctors. An applicant for a certificate or license
to practice medicine was required by law, to file with the Board of
Censors a certificate of good moral character and a fee of ten dollars.
A diploma from the censors, approved by the court in the county where
the practitioner resided, entitled the holder to a membership of the
medical society in his district, auxiliary to the state society. Any
member failing to attend a semi-annual meeting subjected himself to a
fine, notwithstanding many were obliged to ride horseback more than two
hundred miles to make the round trip. The attendance of these meetings,
as the records show, was good, and the proceedings compare favorably
with those of the present day.
Among the standing resolutions, members were “requested to exhibit
specimens of indigenous medicinal plants for inspection,” and “Dr. S.
B. Hildreth to procure and keep on hand at all times genuine vaccine
matter, and to furnish the same to members of the society on their
application and payment therefor.”
At one of these semi-annual meetings the following met unanimous favor,
viz:
“_Resolved_, That each individual member of this society, at the next
meeting, furnish in writing an account of such remedies as are known
and used by the people in their several vicinities, not hitherto
generally employed by the faculty.”
The import of this resolution was of much more significance than it
would seem at the present time. Then, domestic medicine, or use of
indigenous plants, by a poor and sparsely inhabited country, was
general for diseases incident to locality. And to receive written
statements on the subject from various parts, covering a large portion
of a great state, by men of science, constituted an instructive record
in diseases, remedies and results.
Another resolution seems to have been adopted as the rule of the
society, “to report all accidents requiring surgical interference.”
This may have been from the fact there has always remained a suspicion
of the dual character of things coming under the law of accidents, and
from which probably originated the saying that “trouble never comes
singly.” This dual character of odd occurrences has been noticed, and
noted more frequently by physicians and surgeons, perhaps, than by
those of any other calling.
This may not have been uppermost in the mind of the Doctor when he
announced to the society that he wished to report two unusual cases of
“_stuck balls_” that came under his notice at the same time, happening
to two squirrel hunters in the same neighborhood. A young man after
squirrels, became confused in regard to the order in which the loading
materials should be used, and put the ball down first. The ramrod,
however, was provided with a remedy for such loss of memory, and the
screw in the end of the rod was firmly fixed in the body of the ball;
but no adequate force seemed at hand to withdraw the ramrod, as the
end projecting beyond the muzzle was so short the operator was obliged
to apply force by means of the teeth. After making many unsuccessful
efforts a happy thought seemed born with the necessity, and he felt
assured if he had the ball once started it could be withdrawn. On this
theory he worked just enough powder in at the “_touch-hole_” of the
“_priming-pan_,” as he judged, to give the ball a slight impetus in
the right direction. And with the end of the ramrod between the teeth,
and great toe upon the trigger, applied full force, adding that of the
powder by means of the toe, which, to his surprise, lost the ramrod
and left an ugly looking hole in the neck at the base of the skull.
Treatment for gunshot wound--recovered.
The other “stuck ball” was caused by a lad of German extraction failing
to close the “priming pan” to his flint-lock before loading, and
consequently the powder nearly all went out at the “touch hole” as
the ball was pushed down the barrel. Enough, however, remained with
the “priming” to drive the ball about half way out. At this point it
remained fixed, and the amateur gunner could neither get it out nor
push it down.
Like a dutiful son, reverencing parental wisdom, returned to the house
with the gun, and gave a statement of the facts. After being equally
unsuccessful in the removal of the obstruction, the father looked
carefully over the make of the gun, and said, in bad English: “Shon,
oh, Shon! did you cshoot de gunne mid a zingle drigger ur mid de double
drigger?” John replied that it was shot with a single trigger, which
so enraged the father that he disremembered the commandments, and
with irreligious prefixes declared any fool might know, to shoot a
double-triggered gun “mid a zingle drigger, the ball would go only half
way out.” The case was considered hopeless.
These short reports bear the only appearances of matter for levity that
the writer has found in looking over volumes of manuscript proceedings
of the biennial meetings.
At a subsequent meeting of the Medical Society, in 1819, an accident
is given, as stated, “not for the surgery there was in it, a simple
fracture of the left clavicle, but on account of the odd manner in
which it occurred and the instructive sequel. The patient was but
recently from New York City, an estimable young man, but not versed
in the ways of the Western world,” ... “A squirrel he killed lodged
in another tree on its way to the ground. The branch that held the
unfortunate animal was an offshoot of an ancient sycamore which had in
some past age of the world been broken off about thirty feet from the
ground; but, like most sycamores, it was not willing to give up the
ghost, and threw out incipient branches along the remaining section of
the trunk; and at the top or point of fracture a crown of short limbs
adorned the mammoth stump. It was one of these top branches that held
the squirrel.
“After failing to dislodge the animal by the usual methods, he went up
the tree, and on the top of the stump he found a good place to stand
and bring the game in reach above his head. In the act, the decayed
wood on which his feet were placed gave way and let the hunter down to
the base, in a dark tube, six feet in diameter, without door or window,
and no possibility of returning by the opening he entered.
“As soon as he recovered from the shock, and took in the situation,
he began making voice signals of distress; but the caliber of the
horn of his dilemma was too large and long to be blown effectually
by an excited and injured asthmatic. He did, however, the best he
could, thinking if those on earth could not answer his prayers, ample
facilities had been obtained for being heard _from above_.
“Fortunately a fisherman had not proceeded far up the river before he
heard groans of distress, that seemed to come from the water beneath
his boat, and badly frightened, pulled ashore. Still the muffled cries
of human distress were unceasing, and apparently in all directions
among the trees--soon a man was located imprisoned in the interior of a
sycamore. Friends were notified, axes procured and the hunter relieved,
who gave many thanks, requesting that nothing be said about it.
“He soon recovered from the injury and to show there is no disposition
in the human mind so universal as that which ‘locks the stable door
after the horse is stolen,’ long after, his friends smiled but said
nothing, as they looked upon a hatchet suspended to his hunting belt.”
And circumstances make it highly probable that no one connected with
those meeting with the accidents named, were in any way related to the
enrolled men of renown, known in history as the “Squirrel Hunters of
Ohio;” all are not Jews that dwell in Jerusalem.
Doctors were mostly hunters, consequently the hunter was not
necessarily an ignorant man, still, in a population of many thousands,
the exceptions might have appeared quite numerous. As a rule he
became a man of extensive information, and hunted, not as a primitive
Darwin-tailed quadruped “making a struggle for life with a club,” yet
it was to supply the necessities of existence all the same. Subsistence
was, however, easily obtained, and did not tax much of his time, and
he had abundance of leisure to devote to experiment and observation.
He was a worker in the vineyard, with the naturalist, geologist,
botanist, biologist, archæologist, etc., and the aggregate co-operative
labor accomplished became manifestly incalculably great. With object
lessons daily before him, in due time he became familiar with the
habits, instincts, intelligence and peculiarities of beasts, birds and
insects, as well as acquainted with the geology, mineralogy and botany
of the district in which he resided. Nothing escaped observation, from
a spear of anemone to the spreading oaks of the forest. The names of
all beasts, birds, plants and minerals with characters, habits and
qualities could be given by the accurate and extensive observers and
investigators who were found among resident squirrel hunters.
[Illustration: Hunter and Dog.]
The man with dog and gun could answer all questions; was the only
encyclopedia the collector had to consult; the formulator of scientific
facts desired no other, could ask for no better. The Doctor in
early days, was a man of science and literary attainments. And his
avocation brought him in contact with the hunter and his valuable
collections, observations and investigations, and in this way became
the safety deposit of facts relating to natural history and collateral
branches; in fact, the medical profession constituted a small army
of zealous collectors and investigators--such men as Doctor Ezekiel
Porter, president of the first medical society in Ohio; Doctors
Eliphas Perkins, John Cotton and Samuel P. Hildreth, of Washington
County; Doctors Ebenezer Bowen, Chancy F. Perkins and Columbus Bierce,
of Athens County; Doctors Robinson and James S. Hibbard, of Meigs;
Doctors Felix Reignier and J. G. Hamlin, of Gallia; Doctor Giles S. B.
Hempstead, of Scioto; Doctor Alexander M. Millan, of Morgan; Doctor
Joseph Whipple, of Hocking; Doctor Joseph Scott, of Madison; Doctor
Ezra Chandler, of Muskingkum; Doctor Jared P. Kirtland, of Cuyahoga,
and others equally well known and respected in other parts of the
country and who were equally identified with the history of the state.
To Dr. Samuel P. Hildreth we owe the first extended and connected
account of the geology of the Ohio Valley. His published notes on
the salt springs and interesting observations on the coal deposits,
with descriptions of the rocks, fossils, organic remains, illustrated
by drawings of plants and shells, constitutes one of the most
comprehensive documents that has ever been made of the geology of the
state. And it was through his influence the legislature took steps
for a geological survey, which was ordered March 27, 1837, with a
corps composed of doctors chiefly--Professor W. W. Mather, Dr. S. P.
Hildreth, Dr. Jared P. Kirtland, Dr. John Locke, Dr. C. Briggs, Col. T.
W. Foster, and Col. Charles Wittlesey.
Dr. Kirtland was a model specimen of those noble men with great hearts,
clear heads and diligent hands. He was no closet naturalist, but a
student of nature in its full degree. In 1829, while studying the
unios or fresh-water mussels, he discovered that authors and teachers
of conchology had made nearly double the number of species which
are warrantable. Names had been given to species in which was only
a difference of form due to males and females of the same species.
The fraternity of naturalists in the United States and Europe were
astonished because of the value of the discovery and the _source whence
it came_. There were hundreds and probably thousands of professors who
had observed the unios and enjoyed the pleasure of inventing new names
for the varieties. “A practicing physician in the backwoods of Ohio had
shattered the entire nomenclature of the naiads.”[10]
At the Cincinnati meeting of the American Association in 1852,
Professor Kirtland produced specimens of unios of both sexes, from
their conception through all stages to the perfect animal and its
shell. Agassiz was present and sustained his views, and said they were
likewise sustained by the most eminent naturalists of Europe.[11]
And it is worthy of remembrance that it is only those who base their
conclusions on observed nature that make permanent reputations, and
show that theory and discussion do not settle any thing worthy a place
in science.
The field was long and wide as it was inviting to the man of science.
And the large corps of medical men dispersed over the state, working
in concert with each other, and in daily contact with the observing
hunter, constituted an academy of science that will not likely ever
find its parallel in enthusiasm, character and efficiency. The
country was so healthy that the practice of medicine was limited and
unremunerative, and the doctor who carried a gun and whistle for a dog
often had much of his time and attention taken up with things other
than squirrels. He conversed with intelligent hunters, and listened
attentively to all they had to say, and then investigated their
statements of every thing in turn, from the habits and life of the
black ant, that relieves the beasts and birds from annoying ticks, up
to the most perplexing questions in natural history. His shelves were
loaded with mineral and archæological specimens; his cases glistened
with the bright plumage of rare taxidermic birds; his drawers filled
with oological information; and every rare plant, tree and shrub
accurately drawn and classified, with the fruits and flowers indigenous
to different parts of the state, received attention and preservation.
And the question may be suggested, Where did all this wealth of thought
and investigation, scattered over the state, go to?
The answer is found in the collections of nearly every natural history
society in the United States--in the geological surveys of the state,
and in the everlasting records made by Thomas Nuttall, John J. Audubon
and Alexander Wilson. These noted authors with pens, pencils and
brushes were in the new world collecting facts--each independent of
the other. Nuttall, to make a compendious and scientific treatise on
ornithology, hoping to produce it at a price so reasonable as to permit
it to find a place in the hands of general readers. Audubon marked
out his designs on a much larger and more expensive scale--to give
the exact size, coloring, etc., of the birds and botany indigenous
to the country. This required double elephantine sheets, three feet
three inches long, by two feet two inches wide, to accommodate figures
of the large birds. Exactness was a prominent feature in making
this descriptive history. The eye was never trusted for size; every
portion of each object--the bill, the feet, the legs, the claws, the
very feathers as they projected beyond each other, were accurately
measured. These full-size drawings were engraved and artistically
colored by hand, according to the pattern drawings and colorings made
by the author’s pencil and brush. Collecting and formulating the
material for the four hundred plates, required six year’s labor in
the unbroken forests, and the publication handicraft twenty more in a
foreign country. It was nevertheless completed and will forever remain
as pronounced, by the immortal Cuvier, “_The greatest monument ever
erected by Art to Nature_.”
Alexander Wilson also contemplated nature, as nature is, and communed
with her in her sanctuaries. In the forests, mountains and shores, he
sought knowledge at the fountain head.
The observations and records made by these collectors are the corner
stones of natural history of the United States, and their writings
and illustrations will be consulted when other books on the subject
have passed to oblivion. Still it can not be claimed that all valuable
observations have been or ever will be registered; nor that collectors
did not obtain much of their vast stores of information from pioneer
residents, as the acknowledgment of this fact is so often met with
in their works. These authors compliment the medical profession, who
in turn refer to the pioneers, students and professors in natural
history--the “Squirrel Hunters.”
Dr. Coues, the standard authority on ornithology of the present
time, was told incidentally by a reputable woodsman, that the “wild
goose” often nested in trees along large water-courses. The Doctor
could scarcely believe it, and was led to investigate, and found the
circumstance to be a matter of common information among the residents
of localities where the bird rears its young. Captain Bindere, of the
army, stationed in Oregon, states that one year it was dry and the
geese all nested on the ground; and the next year proved wet with high
waters, and many nested in the trees, and asks if this is instinct
or reason. Other birds that usually nest on the ground, for some
reason during the wet season, occasionally build in trees, showing an
architectural ability entirely different from nests constructed on the
ground. The writer has known the chewink, or ground-robin to build five
feet from the ground a well-constructed nest, during wet seasons only.
It is the observing man who resides for many years among beasts and
birds that obtains full knowledge of their habits under various
circumstances. It is the patient man to whom nature reveals her
secrets; and the half-clad hunter is often a man versed in these hidden
things, and can even tell how to “feed tadpoles to make them all
females” as correctly as a Professor Drummond.
Through the knowledge of such men have come the great educators--the
natural history societies and associations of the north-west. Is there
one of these institutions of civilization that owes not its origin
to the collections, accomplishments, observations and will of the
Squirrel Hunter? Not one. He not only collected scientific matter,
but was also the man the future looked upon as the one to open up
farms, build school-houses, churches, highways, water-courses, mills,
manufactures--to carry on commerce, make laws and to enforce them. He
kept his gun clean, his powder dry and bullet pouch full, ready to put
down rebellion or subdue invasion, or perform any other duty assigned
him.
All this is no fancy sketch nor pen-picture--history written and
unwritten will forever stand with his honorable mention. In the war
of 1812, Ohio sent out more of these men as volunteers than she had
voters; and in addition to this--when it was known General Hull had
disgracefully surrendered the fort at Detroit, the Squirrel Hunters
in the northern counties of the state did not await an invitation,
but with their own guns, ammunition, blankets and rations marched to
Cleveland, and made General Brock and his Indians feel satisfied to
have the big pond of water between them and these determined men.
The following year (1813), at the time Fort Meigs was under hot fire
and siege by General Proctor and his mixed army of British and
Indians, the besieging general, it is said, was informed “ten thousand
‘squirrel hunters,’ called ‘_Hardy Buckeyes_,’[12] were on their way
and near at hand to tell his army to get out of the country without
delay!” On receipt of this, “not another gun was fired,” and the
general with his army took the nearest and most expeditious route to
Canada.
In the absence of the love of gain that comes with higher civilization,
the pioneers were in favorable condition to receive literary and
religious instructions. And the teachers found the people always as
ready and anxious to hear the words of inspiration and eternal life
as are those of the present time to learn the last quotations of the
market.
The strictly moral and religious elements seldom, if ever, took part in
such amusements as “shooting-matches,” “horse-racing,” ball-dancing,
card-playing, or drinking whisky. And for the first forty years of the
Nineteenth Century, the social condition, in regard to loading vices,
had perhaps less evil than at any period since.
The majority of resident citizens were a Sunday-observing, church-going
people. Although the inhabitants were sparse, the congregations were
generally very large--whole families would walk six, eight, and ten
miles or more to hear a Lorenzo Dow, Jacob Young, or Bishop McKendree.
Sectarian influences were but little felt. The people encouraged all
denominations, though differing in confessions of faith and church
discipline; each had in view the making mankind better here, and
happier hereafter. “And for forms of faith, let graceless zealots
fight, holding that his ‘can’t be wrong’ whose life is right.” And with
a people who had many reasons to believe in special providences it was
but consistent they should cultivate a submissive sincerity and desire
to follow the paths of rectitude, with faith and assurance--“to such
all ends well.”
In looking back upon the records made by Squirrel Hunters in early
days there may be seen a most wonderful faith in the providences of
practical religion--that religion which stays with the individual
throughout his daily occupations of life. A simple instance of this
old-fashioned piety is sufficient to illustrate its meaning and spirit
of the times, taken from the biography of one born in the Quaker
Church, written by himself:
“I owned two hundred acres of choice land, heavily timbered and
well watered with springs and brooks. Of this, only five acres were
cleared for cultivation. My family consisted of wife and two small
children. Of domestic animals, I had two horses, a cow and a dog. One
evening, in the spring of 1813, the cow failed to come home. Her
pasture was an unfenced wilderness. The bell could not be heard, and
search beyond its sounds was impractical after night. Three days were
ineffectually spent without obtaining the least clue to her location;
and bodings of bad luck seemed standing in the high way to prosperity.
[Illustration: Man of Special Providences.]
“I gave the cow up for lost and resumed the work of grubbing and
burning brush to enlarge the five acres a little. In the afternoon,
while busily engaged with my thoughts in smoke and brush, my wife and
two children appeared on the ground. She came to tell me there was a
man at the house with a sad story. He had been burned out, and lost
everything, and wanted help to start again. I told her we were too
poor to help any body; that the half dollar in the house was all the
money we had, and I did not think it best to part with the last cent;
that he should go to work and earn something and not spend his time
begging of people who have nothing. My good nature had got around on
the north side.
“As my wife turned toward the cabin, she observed, ‘The man looks
much distressed.’ And either her words, spirit, or something else,
brought before my eyes in large capital letters the creed or motto
of my life, ‘Do right and all will come right.’ And I called her,
saying, ‘Give the unfortunate man the half dollar, and tell him we
feel for him.’ The beggar left rejoicing. And while at supper the
sound of the cow-bell was at the door--the lost had returned, and we
were all happy again.”
Pioneer preaching was most satisfactory and successful, and piety
appeared quite as lasting in members of the Methodist Church as
those in churches holding “once in grace, always in grace.” It was
remarkable, as stated, that in a sparsely settled country congregations
would assemble in numbers so great no house could accommodate more
than a small fraction of the multitude. And out-door preaching became
a necessity; and camp-meetings held in “God’s first temples” were
inaugurated in the very commencement of the settlements, and a meeting
of the kind in the pleasant season of the year would bring together
the inhabitants from a large area of country. And under the supervision
of such eminently spiritual divines as Bishop Asbury, McKendree, and
others, it was not strange the old lady entertained the opinion that
“dogfennel and Methodism were bound to take the country.”
Methodism and its methods were better adapted to the religious wants
of the people than any of the many sects that found missionary
encouragement in the North-west, and it was well said by Warren Miller,
of New York, recently, at the Methodist Social Union, held in Chicago
in honor of John Wesley--“that Methodism has exercised a greater
influence for good over the institutions of our government, from its
origin, and over the lives and character of the masses of our people
than any other branch of the Christian Church, can not be questioned by
any one who has carefully studied the inner history of our government
and of our people.”
Religious and educational interests were not neglected, and where
the population was too sparse and poor to afford a week-day school,
children were taught to read and write in Sunday-schools, which were
open in summer in most every neighborhood. Church buildings were few,
but preaching and religious services were seldom overlooked, and in
warm weather were held in the groves, and in winter in private houses,
bar-rooms, country taverns, school-houses, courtrooms, and other
places obtained for the occasion. Protracted, tented, or camp-meetings
increased, following the settlements, and becoming very popular with
preachers and people--usually lasting over a week--attended by large
congregations and great revivals.
Stated preaching places were free to all denominations.
[Illustration: Church, Residence, and Court-house.]
Of the numerous log-cabins used for this purpose, only a few have been
preserved as familiar objects in the history of early settlements. A
house that served as a family residence, hotel, church, court-house,
and school-house--a humble log cabin, of which the above drawing is a
faithful likeness--is still standing.
Dwellings, school-houses, churches, “meeting-houses,” hotels, and
court-houses, resembled each other so closely, it required a knowledge
of the purpose to apply the correct name. And quite frequently cabins
were dedicated for general purposes, but without change of pattern.
The Methodist Western Conference comprised in 1802, Ohio, Kentucky,
Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, and missionary fields in Indiana,
Illinois and Michigan. The ministry traveled on horseback, and after
conference each member would have his field of labor designated on a
map or drawing. On arrival at point of duty the minister arranged his
own circuit and engaged his own preaching places, so he might travel
and preach each day in the week.
Bishop Asbury devoted all his time and talents to this large field
of religious instruction; traveled and preached, and was so devoted
to the religious or spiritual welfare of the people that he often
remarked to Mr. Kendree that his work was so arduous that he “never
had time to marry a wife, buy a farm or build a house.” And it can not
be said that he or those in his charge had either an easy or lucrative
calling--the bishop’s salary being sixteen dollars per quarter, or
sixty-four dollars per annum. But he lived to see that for which he and
other Christian denominations labored--ten years of the most remarkable
revivals of religion that ever occurred in the United States, and of
which Ohio and the North-west received a full share of the good and
lasting results.
In the period from 1800 to 1810, or during the height of the great
religious revival that swept over the western and southern states,
there existed a singular manifestation, called the “_jerks_.”
It appeared to follow and to be in some way related to religious
excitement; to be no respecter of persons, and made victims of all
classes and conditions of society. A noted divine in his autobiography
says: “I have often seen the ladies take it at the breakfast table,
as they were pouring out tea or coffee. They would throw the whole up
toward the ceiling, and sometimes break both cup and saucer. They would
then leave the table in great haste, their long suits of braided hair
hanging down their backs, at times cracking like a whip. For a time
it was the topic of conversation, public and private, both in and out
of the church. Various opinions prevailed. Some said it was the work
of the devil, and strove against it. Sometimes it almost took their
lives.”[13]
The Methodist and Presbyterian ministers were working together in
the revival very harmoniously. But in due time it became whispered
around that the Methodists were making more noise than necessary; that
shouting was a matter under the control of the will, and should be
moderated. All this reached the ears of a young minister, who, at a
camp-meeting in 1804, and before an audience of more than ten thousand
people, concluded it a fitting moment to set matters right and explain
or give the philosophy of the “_jerks_,” and that of shouting, and of
which he says:
“On Monday morning I preached. I was preceded by the venerable Van
Pelt, who, having preached a short and pithy sermon, sat down, with
the congregation bathed in tears. There was no appearance of jerks. I
took the stand like most of men who know but little and fear nothing,
and undertook to account for the jerks. The preachers behind me
looked as if they were alarmed, the audience seemed astonished at
the young man. I viewed it as a judgment on that wicked community.
This led me to take a compendious view of nations, to show that God’s
providence was just, as well as merciful. Though He bore long, His
judgments were sure to come.... I took occasion to dwell on the rise
and progress of Methodism in this country, and the cruel persecutions
its professors had met from their neighbors. I quoted their taunting
language: ‘How, the Methodists are a pack of hypocrites, and could
refrain from shouting if they would.’ I made a pause, then exclaimed,
at the top of my voice: ‘_Do you leave off jerking if you can?_’ It
was thought more than five hundred commenced jumping, shouting, and
jerking. There was no more preaching that day. One good old mother
in Israel admonished me, and said I had just done it in order to set
them to jerking.”
The “jerks” have never been satisfactorily accounted for. Some persons
have attributed the manifestations to the influence of witchcraft. But
this superstition failed to fasten itself upon Western civilization as
it unfortunately did on the Eastern States; and the witches imported
into the North-west were so few and insignificant in character that
none of the tribe ever reached recognition to an extent sufficient to
obtain more than a mere mention in the statute books of Ohio. They made
but little public history.
In 1828, there was a court case in Lawrence county, involving the
individuality of those operating the “black art,” growing out of an
action to recover on a warranty given in a bill of sale of a horse.
The horse proved unsatisfactory, if not unsound. And it was claimed
the horse was docile and all right, excepting for frequent periodical
“spells,” in which he would stop in the midst of routine work, and,
after a short pause, would rear, kick, plunge, and strike out right and
left, uttering unearthly cries, foaming at the mouth, and trembling,
showing great fatigue and fear. All these alarming symptoms would pass
off in a short time, and the animal would again resume its normal
condition and in all respects a docile and well educated beast.
It was during one of the animal’s normal periods that the defendant
sold it to the plaintiff, making the usual warranty. Soon after, while
the animal was quietly drawing the family to a country church, he
commenced kicking and screaming, until he demolished a new wagon and
tore down the “worm fences” in the vicinity of the transaction, and
suit was brought upon the warranty to recover the money.
The witnesses for plaintiff showed conclusively that there was
something wrong with the horse; and defendant frankly admitted all that
had been testified as to the singular “spells” or waywardness of the
animal, and related others more startling, but declared that this was
not because of any unsoundness, but owing to the horse being bewitched
from time to time by a gang of witches under control of an old lady who
lived in seclusion of the mountains and fastnesses for which Lawrence
county is noted.
The defendant stated to the court that this gang were in the habit
of taking possession of horses and cattle, and sometimes of men and
women, riding and worrying them almost to death in the night-time. That
the horse he had sold (and causing this suit) was one of the victims
of this witchery, and that he sold the horse to his neighbor hoping
the evil spirit would not pursue it when it had passed into other
hands--adding, “If witches could be driven out of the neighborhood _the
horse would be all right_, and the people would be better off.”
Upon mature deliberation, the court went far enough in the direction of
the views of the defendant to render a conditional judgment, to wit,
“that the defendant should either repay the plaintiff the price of the
horse, or relieve the animal of the witches.” Upon receipt of this
optional decree, the defendant went up to the head waters of Little
Beaver, in Pike county, and consulted a noted witch doctor who resided
in that neighborhood.
After obtaining a statement of the case, the doctor concluded it was
necessary to visit the locality and make a careful and mysterious study
of the situation. On arrival in the affected district the doctor soon
discovered that the old woman on the hill was at the head of a gang of
witches, and prescribed an old-time remedy--that she be at once seized
and burned at the stake.
It is reported that even the victims of the witches thought this to be
rather heroic, and insisted that some milder remedy should be adopted.
After several days study of the case, the doctor so far modified the
prescription as to substitute the first animal that fell into the
clutches of the witches as a vicarious offering at the stake.
“It was only a few days until one of the defendants’ cows was taken
possession of by a battallion of witches, which apparently showed
indications of complete recovery. Defendant lost no time, but called
his neighbors together to assist him in tying the cow with ropes and
leading her into a neighboring clearing, where there were plenty of dry
logs and brush.
“These were piled around and over the bellowing animal and fired. Then
began a supernatural battle. The cow refused to be burned to death and
gave vent to the most piteous and unearthly moans. More brush and logs
were piled on her, and blue flames leaped high in the air, assuming
grotesque shapes and uttering guttural laughing sounds.
“As sunset approached, the struggles and moans of the animal began to
subside and the flesh and bones began to yield to the consuming fangs
of the flame; the doctor and the defendant in the law-suit, stood
by watching for the denouement with absorbing interest, while the
awe-stricken neighbors stood farther back in the gathering folds of the
approaching night.
“There was a lurid outburst of flames, demoniac cries and gibbering as
a cloud of sparks rose upward, on the crest of which were a score of
witches, each with a firebrand in its hand. Up and up they rose, then
sailed away over the hill and past the hut of the old lady, and finally
disappeared from sight.”
The bewitched horse recovered his wonted docility, and the purchaser
never again had any complaint to make. The old lady ceased to commune
with witches, joined the church, and when she passed away was mourned
by the entire community, and so far as known, the witch doctor never
had another case, and the court records officially attest that there
once were witches in this part of Ohio, but were most effectually
expelled by fire and the doctor, and fled shrieking across the Ohio
River, into Kentucky, where they still exist among white politicians
and the aged colored population, who once served under the previous
condition. All of which is a pointer as to variety, or that Ohio can
show enough merely to make up a fair assortment and pattern of most
every kind of people, with room for improvement by further advances in
civilization that will end the least barbarous act in the attempt to
diminish crime by the horrors of electrocution, the rope, or the stake
and fagots.
But the “jerks,” as well as witchcraft, soon gave way before the
ministers of the gospel, who were a social body of men, welcomed
always at pioneer homes: although many stories have been circulated in
regard to their love for barn-yard poultry. In early days wild game
was common, and when a preacher called, something extra was sought in
honor of the guest, and generally a chicken was sacrificed for the
occasion. At one time, the minister who said “a turkey was an unhandy
bird--rather too much for one, and not quite enough for two,” called
to dine with a widow woman and sister in the church, who was noted
for her willingness to put the “best foot foremost.” After a short
time the clergyman went out to look after his horse, and heard a boy
crying, and soon located him back of the corn-crib, with a chicken
under his arm. “What is the matter, sonny?” said the divine in his most
soothing manner. The boy bawled out “Matter! between the hawks and
circuit-riders, this is the only chicken left on the place.”
Early in the nineteenth century a citizen and observing author[14]
says: “There is a prejudice against all preachers in this (Ohio) and
all other states is certainly true; but, so far as we are acquainted
with them, and we know them well, we are compelled to say that our
clergymen in Ohio, especially those who have lived here ever since
our first settlement, deserve unqualified praise for their zeal and
good works. _No men in this state_ have been _so useful in building up
society, in making us a moral and truly religious people_.
“Their disinterestedness and benevolence; their kindness, forbearance
and charity, zeal, industry and perseverance in well-doing, merit and
receive the respect, gratitude and affection of all good men. They have
labored zealously and faithfully and long, and their pay has been but
trifling. We name them not, though we know them all. They have always
been the true friends of liberty, and they would be the very last men
in the nation to wish to overturn our free institutions.”
The work of the clergy, though differing from that of the doctor, often
caused them to meet on common ground, and they were alike fast friends
of humanity and of each other. As a financial success neither could
boast the superior; but in the good works in which they were engaged
the minister of the gospel held the longer and stronger lever. With
the doctor “death ended all;” but the lessons of the man of inspiration
established a faith in a higher and everlasting existence, which shed
its influence from the departed to the living, and placed in view
another and higher kingdom.
For many years the learned profession of law was a mere form, and
practically remained on the statute books. Few indeed were the causes
justifying legal investigation. Parties having grievances preferred to
settle them in the primitive way.
A single recorded instance so fully represents the infant scales of
justice in Ohio that we quote the proceedings of the first court held
in Greene county, in a public “tavern” with all the accommodations for
man and beast.
The first court-house in this county was not located within the area
of the present city of Xenia, and it was by no means as pretentious as
the present structure. A primitive log cabin with a single room, in a
“clearing” of a few acres, some five miles west of the present county
seat, a little off the road which leads from Xenia to Dayton, with Owen
Davis’s mill on one side and a block-house on the other side of the
stream, was the place where the blind goddess first set up her balances.
The building was constructed by General Benj. Whiteman more than a
century ago, and shortly after became the property of Peter Borders,
and was selected by the “court” as the seat of justice in 1803, when
the first session was held to complete the county organization. The
first term of court was synonymous with a meeting of the county
commissioners of the present day. The presiding, or law, judge, Hon.
Francis Dunlavy, was not present, and the associate judges, William
Maxwell, Benjamin Whitman and James Barrett, with John Paul, clerk, met
at the Borders cabin on the 10th of May, 1803, and duly dedicated it.
The session lasted but a single day, and the business dispatched was
the organization of the townships. This done, the court adjourned until
the next regular session, which convened some two months later.
This was a more imposing court and was convened for trying such causes,
civil and criminal, as might come up for consideration. The court
opened with a perfect, clean docket, and for a short time it looked
as though there would be nothing to do. Judge Francis Dunlavy, then
one of the most distinguished citizens of the new state, and who had
served in the territorial legislature, from Hamilton county, presided,
with associate justices Maxwell, Whiteman and Barrett on the bench,
and Daniel Symmes, of Hamilton, performing the duties of prosecuting
attorney. The grand jury was composed of William J. Stewart, foreman,
John Wilson, Wm. Buckles, Abram Van Eaton, James Snodgrass, John Judy,
Evan Morgan, Robert Marshall, Alex. C. Armstrong, Joseph Wilson, Joseph
C. Vance, John Buckingham, Martin Mindenhall and Henry Martin, who were
duly sworn and impaneled.
Chief Justice Dunlavy (as recorded) delivered a forcible charge to the
grand jury, directing it to diligently inquire into and make a true
presentment of all infractions of the law within its bailiwick. Duly
impressed with the solemnity of the charge to which they had listened,
the jury retired a few yards distant from the cabin, where they began
the first grand inquest, but the most diligent inquiry failed to
discover a single case requiring their attention and action.
The court, as it seems, would have proved an absolute and inglorious
failure had not Owen Davis, the miller, come to its rescue. People far
away as the Dutch settlement in Miami, had taken advantage of court day
to come to the mill with their grists. Among the number from a distance
was a Mr. Smith from Warren county. Mr. Smith had the reputation of
helping himself to pork wherever he could find wild hogs in the woods,
and Mr. Davis, after having turned out the grist for his Warren county
friend, concluded to administer a little “pioneer law” on his own
account, while the court was proceeding in a more conventional manner.
Accordingly he gave the unfortunate Smith a good drubbing, and as he
was an expert Indian fighter, the job, no doubt, was well done. Having
finished it, he burst into the primitive courtroom where the judges
sat around the deal table in solemn state and awful dignity, with the
exclamation--
“Well, I’ll be blanked if I haven’t done it!”
“Done what, sir?” inquired associate justice Whiteman.
“I’ve whipped that blanked hog thief from down the country, Ben, and
I’ve made a good job of it. What’s the damage, anyhow? What’s to pay?”
Whereupon he pulled out his purse and counted down a handful of silver
coins, while the court looked on with horrified surprise, but said
nothing.
“Oh, it’s a fact,” he went on, “I’ve whipped him, Ben, and blank you if
you’d steal a hog, I’d whip you, too!”
This was altogether too much for the court, and the sheriff was ordered
to go out and get the witnesses to the affray and take them before the
grand jury. The miller’s pugilistic performance, however, had proved
contagious, and when the sheriff got outside, he found a free fight
going on in all directions, and the grand jurors watching it through
the openings in the little out-house.
Everybody who had a grievance was settling, or trying to settle it
in the regular way, in backwoods fashion, and the grand jury and
prosecutor Symmes at once had their hands more than full of business.
A score or more of witnesses were examined and by the middle of the
afternoon, nine indictments for affray and assault and battery were
presented in court, and the offenders, including the owner of the
court-house, were arraigned. All plead guilty, beginning with Davis,
the first offender, who was assessed a fine eight dollars, and the rest
four dollars each. All paid their fines upon the nail, so that the
court, owing to the fortunate visit of the Warren county man, found
itself in funds to the amount of forty dollars before early candle
lighting.
The rest of the business of the court, including a license to Peter
Borders, to conduct a “tavern” in the court-house, with all the word
implied, for which he was taxed eight dollars, was finished before bed
time, and the court was ready to adjourn at an early hour next morning.
Daniel Symmes, the prosecuting attorney, had come from Cincinnati,
making the fifty miles’ journey on horseback along the Indian trails,
and the court awarded twenty dollars out of the proceeds of the fines
as compensation. But when it reassembled in December following, it
decided that the payment had been illegally made, and Mr. Symmes was
required to refund it. This so discouraged the prosecuting attorney,
he decided that thereafter he would not appear in that court as
prosecutor. He was partially remunerated, however, when, a few years
later, he was promoted to the supreme bench.
The first session of the Supreme Court was hold in this old
log-cabin, on the 25th of October, 1803, the judges present being
Samuel Huntington and William Sprigg. The third judge, Jonathan Meigs,
was unable to be present, but Arthur St. Clair, of Hamilton county,
attended the sitting in all the glory of a cocked hat and other
military paraphernalia. The only business transacted by the court was
to admit Richard Thomas to the practice of law.
The descendants of pioneers cling with tenacity to the memories of
olden times, and are proud of the historic struggles made by their
ancestors to establish schools, churches, and good government in a
wilderness known only to savage life for untold ages. Although there
was little cause for litigation, it was necessary to hold the courts
of justice open, as it was to encourage schools and churches that
directed society in the enlightened paths of virtue and higher plane of
civilization.
Workers in religious denominations met with more or less encouragement,
and mapped out their fields upon a large scale for future operations.
And fathers and mothers, doctors, ministers, and lawyers worked
harmoniously together to instruct, educate, and elevate coming
generations, and many lived to witness the fruits of those exertions
with pride and satisfaction.
Colonel Charles Whittlesey, in an address before the “Northern Ohio
Historical Society,” November, 1881, says: “If our representative
men are prominent, it may be a source of honorable state pride,
for, while great men do not make a great people, they are signs of a
solid constituency. Native genius is about equally distributed in all
nations, even in barbarous ones; but it goes to waste wherever the
surroundings are not propitious....
“Cromwell was endowed with a mental capacity equal to the greatest of
men; but he would not have appeared in history if there had not been
a constituency of Round-heads, full of strength, determined upon the
overthrow of a licentious king and his nobility....
“Washington would not have been known in history if the people of
the American Colonies had not been stalwarts in every sense, who
selected him as their representative. In these colonies the process
of cross-breeding among races had then been carried further than in
England, and is now a prime factor in the strength of the United States.
“I propose to apply the same rule to the first settlers of Ohio, and
to show that if she now holds a high place in the nation, it is not an
accident, but can be traced to manifest natural causes, and those not
alone climate, soil, and geographical position.”
No doubt, the admixture of races has in some cases added something
favorable to the physical and mental powers of manhood; but, perhaps,
in regard to the superiority of the men of the North-west, more must
be attributed to the natural conditions and surroundings which secured
freedom from all corroding influences of avarice, added to the alert
outdoor life among Indians and savage beasts, with the rifle and
attendant athletic exercises, that gave mental stimulation without
subsequent exhaustion of mind or body. The rising Squirrel Hunter is no
drone; he represents a bundle of activities that scorns a leisure that
breeds an indolent stupidity.
[Illustration: First School-house in Circleville, Ohio. Cost $10,000 in
1851. In 1879 was remodeled by the School Board at a cost of $39,300.]
The facilities for the physical culture were greatly in advance of
those for the development of the mental; and it is remarkable what the
key to education has in its turn accomplished--the Bible, “Buckley’s
Apology” and “Pilgrim’s Progress.”
Most of the present educational influences were unknown to the
generation that has given to the United States so many great men. In
their youthful days libraries were exceedingly few, and books were
expensive and not easily obtained; and little reason had any one to
anticipate that the boys living in the backwoods of Ohio, shooting
squirrels and hoeing corn, spring and summer; catching rabbits,
foxes and coons in the fall and winter, and occasionally attending a
“subscription school” in some abandoned log cabin two or three months,
would ever become stars of the first magnitude in the literary canopy
of the United States.
From the Atlantic to the Pacific--in every city, in every town--boys
of the rural districts of Ohio have marched to the front. Even in the
National Metropolis it need not be asked: “Whence came Murat Halstead,
Whitelaw Reid, John A. Cockerill, Charles J. Chambers, William H.
Smith, Bernard Peters, William L. Brown, and others.” The New York
_Tribune_, _Herald_, _World_, Associated Press, _Times_ and _Daily
News_, and the evidences of success resulting from ability, integrity
and business capacity, give the answer, “_Ohio_.”[15]
Whatever the cause may now be attributable to, there can be no question
of the inherited capacity and natural and acquired ability which has
enabled the “_Squirrel Hunters_” of Ohio to give to the nation greater
and more useful men during the present century than all the other
states combined.
In every channel of advancing civilization the _Ohio man_ is found
over the entire world, and is known by the stamp he bears--“none other
genuine”--“O.I.O.” It may be excusable to name a few of the many
national characters which an Ohio man is ever proud to recall with an
admiration unknown to egotism--of such--Thomas Ewing, Rufus P. Ranney,
George H. Pendleton, Joseph Medell, Richard Smith, Donn Piatt, Ed.
Cowles, Samuel Medary, W. McLean, E. D. Mansfield, James G. Birney,
Swayne, Springer, Scoville, Chase, Simpson, McIlvaine, Thomas Cole,
Hiram Powers, Wm. H. Beard, Quincy Ward; the great inventor, Edison;
the arctic explorer, Dr. Hall; the Siberian traveler, George Kennon;
the astronomer, Mitchell; geologists, Hildreth, Newberry, and Orton;
humorists, Artemus Ward and Petroleum V. Nasby; as popular writer, A.
W. Tourgee and William Dean Howells. The latter found “_Squirrels_” in
the spring, where they resorted for “the sweetness in the cups of the
tulip-tree blossoms;” and in boyhood made “_impressions_” with his bare
feet in the snow on the cabin floor, and in after life more lasting
ones with his pen on the hearts of those who have been favored with his
literary productions.
Why was it said on the 4th of March, 1881, the nation was enabled to
see “three men of fine presence advanced on the platform at the east
portico of the Federal Capitol? On the right, a solid, square-built
man, of impressive appearance, the Chief-Justice of the United States
(Morrison R. Waite). On his left stood a tall, well-rounded, large,
self-possessed personage, with a head large even in proportion to the
body, who is President of the United States (James A. Garfield). At
his left hand was an equally tall, robust, and graceful gentleman,
the retiring President (R. B. Hayes). Near by was a tall, not
especially graceful figure, with the eye of an eagle, who is the
general commanding the army (Wm. Tecumseh Sherman). A short, square,
active officer, the Marshal Ney of America, Lieutenant-General (Phil.
Sheridan). Another tall, slender, well-poised man, of not ungraceful
presence, was the focus of many thousand eyes. He had carried the
finances of the nation in his mind and in his heart, four years as
the Secretary of the Treasury, the peer of Hamilton and Chase (John
Sherman). Of these six five were natives of Ohio, and the other a
life-long resident. Did this group of national characters from our
state stand there by accident? Was it not the result of a long train
of agencies, which, by force of natural selection, brought them to the
front on that occasion?”[16]
While this painting from life will ever stand as a most worthy
compliment to Ohio, it must be looked upon as but a detached part of
the great picture of the North-west, in the center of which may be seen
the full measure of a wise man crowned with six stars untarnished with
slavery--Nathan Dane, of Massachusetts, 1787.
The Ohio State Journal says of the 4th of March, 1897, that, “This is a
great time for Ohio at the National Capital. The Buckeye State is very
much in evidence. The President is from Ohio; the Secretary of State is
from Ohio; Mark Hanna is an Ohio man; Secretary Alger was born and bred
in Ohio; ... Senator Foraker, who is expected to be one of the leaders
in the senate, is an Ohio man; the First Assistant Secretary of
State ... is an Ohio man. In short, Ohio politicians will be in the
saddle as far as national affairs go, and, compared with them, the
Republicans of the other states are small potatoes, so to speak.
“Ohio has for the last quarter of a century been a great state for
presidents. But it never occupied a more conspicuous position in the
sisterhood of states than to-day. The Ohio man comes very near being
the whole thing.”
Ohio has made her mark politically high, and still manifests a modest
willingness to furnish the nation with presidents and other high
officials, although the New York World thinks the kissing of the words
of Holy Writ by the last favorite son assumed a rather extravagant and
monarchical appearance; that it cost only five thousand dollars to
seat Thomas Jefferson, while the ceremonial bill for William McKinley
and the tenth verse of the first chapter of the Second Chronicles
footed two million five hundred and fifty-five thousand five hundred
dollars; and _bannered_ the fifteenth verse of the same chapter, for
the time being at least. For with that “_wisdom and knowledge_,”--“the
king _made_ silver and gold at Jerusalem (Washington) as _plenteous as
stones_.”
And in this line, not of boasting, but of greatness, it is not thought
strange, after supplying the nation with a large ratio of leading
statesmen, artisans, scientists and men of letters, the state should
have had in readiness for the occasion--one general, U. S. Grant; one
lieutenant-general, Mr. Tecumseh Sherman; twenty major and thirty-six
brigadier generals; with twenty seven brevet major-generals and one
hundred and fifty brigadier generals; a secretary of war, Edwin M.
Stanton; a secretary of the treasury, S. P. Chase; a banker, J. Cooke,
with a contribution of three hundred and forty thousand armed men and
twenty-six independent batteries of artillery, and five independent
companies of cavalry.
Ohio had the men--had the will--and when the call came, went into the
war to fight, and of which she did her share, as the eleven thousand
two hundred and ten killed and mortally wounded on the battle-fields,
attest.
The finances were so ably managed by the secretary and his advisor,
Jay Cooke, that a rebel leader declared the treasury, and not the war
department, had conquered the South. To take an empty and bankrupt
treasury and agree to find, equip and pay the immense federal army was
the portion assigned to secretary Chase. And when Mr. Cooke asked the
amount required daily to meet demands--the reply was “two millions,
five hundred thousand dollars. Can you raise the money?” “I can,” was
the reply.
Mr. Cooke organized a plan for popularizing the loan, and soon had
receipts coming into the treasury, averaging over four millions per
day. It must be admitted that brains, as well as bullets, gave strength
and success to the federal forces, and it can be truthfully as well as
modestly assumed, that Ohio furnished her share of both, with honest
scripture measure.
Ohio people are not given much to foolish pride, although considered
sensitive; and those familiar with the resources, industries, wealth
and learning, were surprised that the glorious first-born of the family
of the “North-west Territory,” should come so far short of expectations
at the World’s Columbian Centennial Exposition, at Chicago. The state
was all right, however, and deeply interested. But political favoritism
and incompetency often supplants meritorious ability, and determines
adversely what otherwise would claim admiration and give general
satisfaction.
Ex-Governor Campbell, in an address recently, would mislead a stranger,
when he says, “The State of Ohio was at Atlanta in 1864, under Sherman,
but is not now at Atlanta as part of the great exhibit of industrial
products held there, because, under, and by virtue of the last general
assembly, the state credit was reduced so low, and its coffers so
depleted, that not money enough could be found for this purpose.
The only official representation from our state at Atlanta, in the
year 1895, is on the part of a few lady commissioners, who have the
freemen’s privilege of paying their own expenses.”
Does anyone believe Ohio is poverty stricken? Has anyone known the
state or people to be so since the squirrel hunters traded coon-skins
for books, that it could not turn Lake Erie into the Ohio River--the
army of the “Southern Confederacy” face about--or make a first-class
exhibit in any competitive exposition? As a statement, it is true,
“Ohio is not at Atlanta.” But the absence is not due to the causes
assigned, and the wonder is, she is as rich and powerful as she is,
after being forced so frequently to play the part of the individual
that journeyed from Jerusalem down to Jericho.
Ohio is an agricultural state, populated with those who hold the
handles of the plough and fear not poverty, discontent and strikes. The
native inhabitants inherited a love of liberty and independence from
an ancestry who came to a wilderness to secure _homes_ for themselves
and posterity. And it was in these _homes_ a permanent foundation for
a superior civilization was laid; and through the providences of a
people with _homes_ and families, supported by natural and cultivated
resources, that has transformed unbroken forests into fertile fields
and developed an intelligent, happy and prosperous people.
It is an old and well-founded belief that the earth was not made in
vain, but is capable of fulfilling all the purposes for which it was
created--now as at any other period in its history. It is also worthy
of thought that the interest in the well-being of man by creative and
governing intelligence is not less than that extended to the beasts of
the fields, and that his title to a share of subsistence on the earth
is quite as good as that of the cattle that graze upon a thousand hills.
Every one can, and every one should, secure a share in this inheritance
while living. His heirship is indisputable, and on which no mortgage
ever found a right, room or reason to rest. If every cast-off from the
seductive trusts, combines and monopolies--every one of the millions
begging bread--had a definite home upon the soil of the earth, there
would be room for millions more, and bread riots and starvation would
be unknown in all the land.
Natural civilization--that made in accordance with the laws of
nature--does not consist in aggregating the products of labor into the
hands of a few and distributing poverty broadcast to the many, but
in cultivating intelligence, securing homes, families, subsistence,
comfort and happiness, by every man owning and controlling the products
of his own labor.
During the first half century of the settlement in the Buckeye State,
the equality and advancement of true civilization of the people have
never been surpassed in the history of the world. Although their land
estates were small, and with that prohibition nature had thrown around
the state against all foreign imports, it might readily be imagined the
living and populating a great empire on its own developed resources
would naturally entail much want and distress. But such was not the
fact. They all had enough and to spare, and vagrants were as unknown
to public provision as were paupers or want among the sparrows, or the
innumerable millions of buffalo that were provided for on the western
plains.
Those who had homes they could call their own, with families and
friends, plenty to supply the necessities of life, were singularly
exempt from avarice, or that which since the world began has been
denounced “the root of all evil.”
The first organized money power of serious import, endangering a
republican form of government, was the monopoly termed “The Bank of
the United States,” incorporated by act of Congress in 1816, for the
term of twenty years. And with its millions of easily earned profits,
it soon controlled legislation in the interests of wealth and the
corporation, causing suffering and disaster to the business of the
nation by making prices unstable through contractions and expansions of
the mediums of exchange, so that the State of Ohio raised objections to
the contemplated establishment of branches of the monopoly within her
borders.
After much political discussion of the matter, a legislature was
elected largely opposed to the money power, and the state in 1818
passed an act in the nature of a high protective tariff, “taxing each
branch of the United States Bank located in the State of Ohio fifty
thousand dollars.” The bank refused to pay the assessments when due
under the act, and, like most monopolies in sight of a supreme court,
disregarded the act of legislation and defied the authorities.
The law-makers in Ohio, even in that early day, had seen enough to
understand the defiant insubordination of wealth, and in the act for
collecting the tax from the branch banks due the state, authorized the
collector to employ an armed force, if necessary, and to enter the bank
and seize money sufficient to cover the claim and costs of collection.
This was done by the collector for the “Chillicothe branch,” and
the state became defendant, returning with interest the money taken
at the end of the usual course of litigation, by an order of the
supreme court. It has often been related by those who took part in the
great struggle for supremacy of _law_, or _will of the majority of a
producing population_, as against the tyrannical usurpations of a money
power, with its revolving satellites, that the contest threatened the
peace, prosperity and safety of the whole nation.
As stated by Hon. Brisben Walker, the institution “quickly became
a political power; established branches and agencies throughout
the country to _control votes_; spent money freely for _political_
corruption;” and when it went down, was reported in 1839, by a
committee of its own stockholders, to have given “_such an exhibition
of waste and destruction, and downright plundering and criminal
misconduct, as was never seen before in the annals of banking_.
“_Thirty millions of its loans_ were not of a mercantile character,
but made to _members of Congress, editors of newspapers, politicians,
brokers, favorites, and connections_.” And it continued to rule until
the will and wisdom of President Jackson put an end to the great
monopoly. He removed the government deposits, prevented a re-charter,
and in 1833 made a statement to Congress, giving the grounds on which
his action was based toward the bank, saying “_it was for attempting
to control the elections, producing a contraction of the currency, and
causing general distress_.” The funeral went off quietly, with but few
mourners, and the American people were liberated from the bondage of
aggregated wealth, and Ohio obtained a lease for a number of prosperous
decades. But the war of the Sixties came, and moneyed combines grew in
power and audacity, until many persons expressed fears for the laws,
labor and liberties of the common people.
Taking into consideration the small number of wealthy persons among
the great mass of the people, it is rather remarkable that so many
patriotic men in this country, from the days of Washington up to
the present time, have expressed emphatically their fears for the
welfare of the republic should it fall under the destructive power of
concentrated and organized wealth.
President Jackson declared it was “better to incur any inconvenience
that may be reasonably expected than to _concentrate the whole
money power of the republic_ in any form whatsoever, or under any
restrictions.” He had seen the arrogant influences under all the
restrictions law could give, and gave the warning statement that what
he saw were but premonitions of the fate that awaits the American
people should they be deluded into sustaining institutions of
“_organized wealth_.”
President Lincoln said, at the close of the sanguinary struggle: “It
has cost a vast amount of treasure and blood; ... but I see in the near
future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble
for the safety of the country. As the result of war corporations have
been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow,
and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign
by working upon the prejudices of the people, until all wealth is
aggregated into a few hands, and the republic is destroyed. I feel
at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever
before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicion may prove
groundless.”
These and other prophetic warnings carry with them a vast degree of
thoughtful solemnity, due to our knowledge of man and the signs of the
times. When the successful candidate for office is made to depend upon
the size of the campaign fund, and party success more or less assured
in proportion to the length of figures beyond a dollar mark, the
liberties of the common people are fraught with danger, if not already
destroyed.
Wherever the corrupting influence of money has been permitted to
enter politics, it has become more successful than just and salutary
announcements, and has been used aggregatingly by the wealthy in
amounts sufficient to secure their own interests, regardless of
party lines or the welfare of the public. This may appear severe in
statement, but it is nevertheless true to the experience of one who
has seen nearly four score years of our republican form of government.
The writer would gladly soften the roughness with charity, had he ever
witnessed a compensating virtue or redeeming excuse for permitting the
money power to run the government, make the laws and rule the people.
So great is the apparent fear, too, by the money power that the
government may pass into the hands of the common people, and those
less than multi-millionaires may aspire to political preferment, that
organized leagues are spread over the entire Northern states, like
political fly-traps, with plenty of the “_sticky stuff_,” in order
to hold the ignorant and indifferent to the support of the rich and
their party alliances. The organization of wealth for increasing
its influence on legislation, or other purposes, under the title of
“The National Business Men’s League,” is not looked upon in any very
commendable light by the average American, and has been pronounced
“unsavory” by many honest men.
“The promoters of this league,” says Senator Quay, “invokes a class
against the masses and all other classes. No league of business men,
based upon wealth, can erect a government class in this country. In the
United States Senate we have _millionaires_ and business men _enough_
to serve all legitimate purposes. Senators are needed who have no
specialties, _but who will act for the interests of the country in
gross_, without special affinities.
“The people most deserving of _a representation_, and most in need of
_legislative protection_, are the _farmers_, the small _store-keepers_,
the _artisans_, and the _day-laborers_, and I stand by _them_, and
against this ‘league.’ I go into the barricades with the _bourgeoisie_
and the men in blouses.
“There must be less business and more _people_ in our politics, else
the republican party and the _country_ will go to wreck. The _business_
issues are making our politics sordid and _corrupt_. _The tremendous
sums of money furnished by business men, reluctantly_ in most
instances, are _polluting the well-springs of our national being_.”
It is unpleasant to look upon the dark side of any question, and
especially that of our lovely country, and still go on ignoring the
lessons given us by the fathers of the nation. When we compare the
administrations of Washington, Adams, and others, with the present
ravening greed for place by those who look upon official position as
the gateway to sudden wealth, the inquiry suggests itself, and the
desire to know the points of compass the nation is drifting, and at
what _port_ the ship of state is expected to enter if continued on the
dark lines of the present chart?
History is full of object-lessons--storms, wrecks and disasters that
have ended all attempts to perpetuate a republican form of government
by the power of organized wealth. Money is powerful, and may govern for
a season. But legislation that concentrates the wealth of the nation
into the hands of a privileged few causes the government to rest upon
a sandy foundation. The common people will eventually tire, become
restless and revengeful.
The money interests of the United States and those of Europe are the
same. And when the accumulation becomes so great it can not satisfy
personal greed for gain, it finds its way into landed investments,
chiefly in the United States. At the present rate of concentration
and transfer into realty, the period can not be far in the future
when all the valuable lands in the United States will be owned and
controlled by a few immensely wealthy families in this country and in
Europe. The “money power,” with its “trusts,” “combines,” high fences,
barb-wired, armed police on the outside and bulldogs within, may smile
at the success giving financial control of the profits of all kinds of
labor necessary in the development and manufacture of the resources
of nature. Still, the aristocratic pyramid is incomplete until the
soil and profits from cultivation are owned and controlled by the
“systematic and satisfactory management of a ‘_land trust_.’”
It is manifest now that wealth is seeking unusual investments in
farming lands by the money kings of Europe and America, when a single
lord of England can own three million acres in the heart of the most
fertile section of the United States, and have his rack-rents sent to
Viscount Scully, in Europe. Sir Edward Reid owns two million acres;
the Marquis of Tweeddale, one million seven hundred thousand acres,
and several others of the titled aristocracy of Europe own farms
ranging from forty thousand to three million acres each, making in the
aggregate an area of several states. And quite recently fifty million
acres more have passed into the hands of the English stockholders in
the distribution of the land grants to the Northern Pacific Railroad.
These large bodies of land owned by aliens--lords of Europe, with the
syndicates and American monopolies and railroad grants,[17] and special
gifts by Congress of one hundred and ninety-seven million six hundred
and ninety-nine thousand acres to the rich monopolies in this country
and Europe, amount to an area greater than the sum of eleven states
of average size, and which may ere long be considered sufficient to
constitute a respectable nucleus for an “AMERICAN LAND TRUST.”
FOOTNOTES:
[9] Dr. R. Dunglison.
[10] Charles Whittlesey.
[11] Charles Whittlesey.
[12] “Ohio Valley,” by Samuel Williams, p. 40.
[13] “Autobiography of a Pioneer,” by Rev. Jacob Young.
[14] Atwater, “History of Ohio.”
[15] NOTE--1895.--“Out of eight new Republican United States Senators
just sworn in, four were born in Ohio. There are now eleven Ohio-born
Senators. Ohio does a good business in ‘raising men,’ to say nothing
about the good women.”--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._
“True. It might be added that the managing editor and chief
political writer of the _Inter-Ocean_ are Ohio men. And, according
to Mr. Dana and Mr. McCullagh, to be an editor is ‘greater than a
king.’”--_Exchange._
[16] Howe’s Hist. Coll.
[17] Minnesota, with an area of 46,000,000 acres, gave 20,000,000 acres
to 3,200 miles of railroads.