Fifty Years of Public Service

The dieresis is transcribed by a preceding hyphen. Caps and small caps have been set as upper and lower case. Names have been corrected

Chapter VIII: "La Fayette", Indiana, kept as a contemporary variant spelling. McPherson, "clerk of the house" changed to "Clerk of the House" (of Representatives).

LoC call number: E661.C9

FIFTY YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE

[Frontispiece] Photo, by Prince Tota, Washington, D. C. [Facsimile signature] SMCullom

FIFTY YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE

PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF SHELBY M. CULLOM SENIOR UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM ILLINOIS

WITH PORTRAITS

SECOND EDITION CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1911

Copyright A. C. McCLURG & Co. 1911

Published October, 1911 Second Edition, December, 1911

PRESS OF THE VAIL COMPANY COSHOCTON, U. S. A.

CONTENTS CHAPTER I Birth to Admission to the Bar, 1829 to 1855 II Service as City Attorney at Springfield, 1855 and 1856 III Election to the Illinois Legislature: Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1856 to 1858 IV Other Distinguished Characters of that Day, 1858 and 1859 V Nomination of Lincoln and Douglas for the Presidency, 1859 and 1860 VI Speaker of the Illinois Legislature, and a Member of Congress, 1860 to 1865 VII Lincoln, 1860 to 1864 VIII Notables in the Thirty-ninth Congress, 1864 to 1870 IX The Impeachment of President Johnson X Speaker of the Legislature, and Governor, 1871 to 1883 XI Grant XII General John A. Logan XIII General John M. Palmer XIV Governor Richard J. Oglesby XV Senatorial Career, 1883 to 1911 XVI Cleveland's First Term, 1884 to 1887 XVII Cleveland's Defeat and Harrison's First Term, 1888 to 1891 XVIII Cleveland's Second Term, 1892 to 1896 XIX McKinley's Presidency, 1896 to 1901 XX Roosevelt's Presidency, 1901 to 1909 XXI Interstate Commerce XXII John Marshall Harlan XXIII Members of the Committee on Foreign Relations XXIV Work of the Committee on Foreign Relations XXV The Interoceanic Canal XXVI Santo Domingo's Fiscal Affairs XXVII Diplomatic Agreements by Protocol XXVIII Arbitration XXIX Titles and Decorations from Foreign Powers XXX Isle of Pines, Danish West Indies, and Algeciras XXXI Congress under the Taft Administration XXXII Lincoln Centennial: Lincoln Library XXXIII Consecutive Elections to United States Senate XXXIV Conclusion

Index

LIST OF PORTRAITS

S. M. Cullom Shelby M. Cullom, while a Law Student Richard Yates Stephen A. Douglas Abraham Lincoln James G. Blaine Andrew Johnson Shelby M. Cullom, while Governor of Illinois Ulysses S. Grant John A. Logan John M. Palmer Richard J. Oglesby Grover Cleveland James A. Garfield William McKinley William Howard Taft Cushman K. Davis William P. Frye John C. Spooner Theodore Roosevelt Elihu Root

FOREWORD

"Oh, that mine adversary had written a book!"

Such was the exclamation of one who, through the centuries, has been held up to the world as the symbol of patience and long suffering endurance, and who believed that he thus expressed the surest method of confounding an enemy.

I have come to that age in life where I feel somewhat indifferent as to consequences, and, yielding to the suggestions and insistence of friends, I determined that I would undertake to write some recollections, as they occurred to me, of the men and events of my time.

Naturally, to me the history of the period covered by my life since 1829 is particularly interesting. I do not think that I am prejudiced when I assert that while this period has not been great in Art and Letters, from a material, scientific, and industrial standpoint it has been the most wonderful epoch in all the world's history.