Woodrow Wilson and New Jersey made over

Front matter

AND

By HESTER £. HOSFORD

Class ^7^7

Preface

I AM aware that it is considered the proper thing for an author to preface his or her work with an apology, but I have never been able to understand why one should write a book and then apologize for having written it, since I know of no compulsory process whereby an author may compel any one to read his work.

Instead of making an apology I prefer to make a request. If any reader, especially an ex-political boss, chances to glance his eye over these pages, and then decides that I deserve to meet a violent death, will he kindly remember that I prefer to be suspended from a hickory limb? Candidly, I do not believe that I am worthy of the honor of being burned at the stake. Such special distinctions were intended, evidently, for Joan of Arc and her disciples, for whom I have the greatest reverence; but perish the thought, — that I should ever aspire to their social caste!

I am fully conscious that I am lacking in the essentials of a militant reformer. I have merely been interested, for a few years, in the game of politics, as it has been, and is now being, played. I have jotted down a few thoughts, here and there, — now and then, chiefly for the purpose of giving to myself a little mental discipline, and, incidentally a little practice in telling historical truth.

" To tell the truth simply, openly, without reservation, is the unimpeachable first principle of all right dealing;

vi PREFACE

and historians have no license to be quit of it. Unquestionably they must tell us the truth, or else get themselves enrolled among a very undesirable class of persons, not often frankly named in polite society. But the thing is by no means so easy as it looks. The truth of history is a very complex and very occult matter. It consists of things which are invisible as well as of things which are visible. . . .

" How shall a writer take the palate of his reader unawares, and get the unpalatable facts down his throat along with the palatable? "

Long before Woodrow Wilson was talked of as a prospective Governor or a possible President, I came across an essay written by him, which contained the expressions here quoted. Remembrance of them filled me with timidity when I thought of writing an account of the recent regeneration of public affairs in New Jersey.

But it occurred to me that those who read books dealing with political history imderstand, in some degree, the difficulties which a writer on these subjects must experience. This dispelled some of my fears lest I get myself " enrolled among a very undesirable class of persons."

Accordingly, I set to work to properly instruct myself, in order that I might tell the story of " Woodrow Wilson and New Jersey Made Over," with the hope that possibly the achievements of those who have been instrumental in securing progressive legislation in New Jersey may furnish an inspiration to other reformers.

If my efforts shall lead any one to a broader knowledge of the career and unselfish purposes of Woodrow Wilson, I shall be doubly repaid for the labors which I have I)erformed.

May I add that whatever may be said in these pages

PREFACE vii

concerning the machine system of government and private management of public affairs, it is hoped that no one will believe that the author's purpose is to deepen the gulf of animosity between the " special interests " and " the people"?

Every one in this progressive decade ought to see clearly that whatever permanent improvement is to be made in our political institutions must take root in an honest effort of both the classes and the masses to exchange their points of view. When they can to a greater degi'ee think in each other's terms, the ground will be broken and a fundamental law of co-operation will establish a progress of which we have not yet dreamed.

Laws, no matter how sound, can never do this. They can only help to set the pace. In the end the voluntary enforcement of the law by all classes, because they love justice, will elevate our standards of life as nothing else can. There is even a remote possibility that there will come a time when our social organization will rise above the necessity of all statutes, except the " Higher Law."

Many public-spirited citizens, in New Jersey and elsewhere, are entitled both to my gratitude and condolences for the assistance which they have rendered me in the preparation of this work.

I am especially indebted to the Neijo York Sun, whose frequent effusions have been a constant source of stimulation and encouragement to me while I have been occupied in this delightful task.

Orange, New Jersey, February 17, 1912.

" The mere moral impulse in me is of no force unless it can be translated into action. It is immoral to propose for the United States something that is not of benefit for the whole United States. It is immoral to promote legislation for your business unless it is also for the interest of the rest of the country. Our government is not a paternal institution."— Woodrow Wilson.

" And yet it seems to me tliat the only way to come to a common understanding is by standing up and talking about it, and the radicalism lies in the statement of the fact, not in the proposal of the remedies.

" I understand, just as you understand, that we can go at a too rapid or radical pace in remedying the things which are wrong, because the structure of society is made of a very delicate fibre. Interests, whether these gentlemen will admit it or not, are so interlaced that you cannot deal with one at a time without dealing with all of them ; we are so bound together in common causes of life that if you detach one part of it impression thrills through every part, and every sane man understands, therefore, that you have got to touch the body politic with the nice art of the prudent physician, but what would you say of the physician who was so prudent that he did not get to the bottom of the diagnosis?

" The diagnosis is radical, but the cure is remedial ; the cure is conservative. I do not, for my part, think that the remedies applied should be applied upon a great theoretical scale; nobody is wise enough to have the absolute ' by the wool ' ; nobody is big enough, nobody comprehends in his single brain, no group of men comprehend in their common conference all the interests involved in the great nation. You have to take item by item and symptom by symptom; you have got to remedy one thing at a time, but you must do it, not upon a principle of hostility, but upon a principle of reconciliation." — WooDEOw Wilson.

CONTENTS CHAPTER I

PAGE

MACHINE VERSUS POPULAR GOVERNMENT ... 3

Contains a Hint of the Story which Is to Follow.

The Political Pendulum in Representative Government — Classification of Democrats and Plutocrats — Honest Party Organization Contrasted with Corrupt Machine Government — Our Real Governor, a Friend of Organization — A Picture of Machine Government, Ancient and Modem — The Political Boss — A Few Questions for him to Answer — Students of Political Problems Invited to New Jersey to Study History — A Remarkable Governor who Kept his Pledges to the People — We Heard Something Drop in the State of New Jersey — A Fracas between the Machine State Chairman and the People's Governor — How it Ended — Our State in a Political Rut — J. Lincoln Steffens's Prophecy in 1905 — A Non-resident's Rebuke to New Jersey Citizens — Our Answer: We were Waiting for a Leader who Came " in a Mysterious Way " — He Brought with him the Light of a New Day — And Delivered us from the Seventeen-year Locust.

Chapter II

f.ovEKNOR Wilson's nomination and election — A unique campaign IS

A Question from the Start — Who Discovered Woodrow Wilson? — The American People — The Democratic Machine Did Nominate Governor Wilson; but Why?— What Happened?— A Political Lion Came Forth, who Could not be Caged in the

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X CONTENTS

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State House by eithei' Board of Guardians — The Man's Insight — How he Leads — What was Predicted from the Start by Those who were Associated with him in Politics — A Hint as to his Fitness — Why Did Dr. Wilson Consent to Become a Candidate for Governor? — His Speech when Nominated — The Reaction — A Change in the Plans of Republicans — Woodrow Wilson Gained Ground with Rapidity during the Campaign — Extracts from Campaign Speeches — Dr. Wilson Compared with Samson — What Horse-power is Woodrow Wilson? — The Pivot on which the Campaign Turned — The Bosses only Smiled when they Listened to Woodrow Wilson's Promises to the People — But the Overlords, not the People, Misunderstood him — Elected by a Plump Plurality.

Chapter III The Smith-martinb Controversy . . . .32

A Dramatic Spectacle — What Created a Most Extraordinary Situation — A Glimpse of an Interesting Personage — A Few Sidelights Turned on his Political Manoeuvres — The Man's Record as Published by his Contemporaries — Smithism — The People had Long Wanted to Start Something but they had Heretofore Lacked an Executive who Dared to Be a State Spokesman — But now Times had Changed — A Fearless Leader — What this Meant to the State — Who Were the Brave Mariners in the Storm — The State Schoolmaster Taught the People — His Whole Plea Was: "Come and Let us Reason Together" — The Moral Obligation and the Responsibility of a Great Opportunity — The Jeffersonian Quality of Governor-elect Wilson's Speeches during this Contest — The Main Facts of them Quoted — By what Standard Shall we Judge New Jersey's Governor? — The Gigantic Size of the Man whom he Licked — " The Biggest One-man Politician in America " — After All, Posterity must Pronounce the Final Verdict upon him.

CONTENTS xi

Chapter IV Page

FROM THE CI-ASSROOM TO THE STATE HOUSE . . .42

A Governor who Made the Most of his Mental Discipline — A Word-picture of Woodrow Wilson — He had Never Visited the Trenton Legislature, up to the Time of his Inauguration — A Parallelism between his Career as Governor and his Career as an Educator — A Glimpse of his Ancestry — Views of a Consei-vative Southerner — Dr. Wilson's Educational Training — He Found Himself Early — He Practises Law, but Gives it up to Continue Academic Work — His First Book — He Enters the Teaching Profession — He Marries a Southern Lady of Distinguished Family — Their Children — Dr. Wilson is Appointed Professor of Jurisprudence, at Princeton — His Services on Faculty Committees — An Exceptional Professor — Honored by other Universities — His Literary Career Continues — He is Unanimously Chosen President of Princeton — Brings Order out of Academic Chaos — Founds Preceptorial System, which Proves an Innovation — His Third Stroke to Democratize the Institution — His First Battle for the Forces of Democracy in Conflict -with Special Privilege — Because Wealthy Gentlemen Gave Money to Princeton, they Could not Dictate the Academic Policy — The Classroom Atmosphere must be Kept Democratic — President Wilson Continued his Fight for Democratic Standards to the End — But the Office of College President Did not Afford Him Sufficient Opportunity to Exercise the Numerous Resources within himself — Naturally a Fighter for Popular Rights — He Resigns the Presidency of Princeton to Accept Nomination for Governor — Leaves University in Flourishing Condition — America's Foremost Living Historian — A Constructive Educator Becomes a Constructive Statesman — Translates himself with Ease from the World of Author's Politics to the Practical Institution itself.

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Chapter V Page

KEEPING FAITH WITH THE PEOPLE . . . .66

Zealously Desirous of Interpreting the Popular Will — Faith in the American People — Governor Wilson Did not Dragoon the New Jersey Legislature — But he Did Use the Preceptorial System in Dealing with the Side-steppers — Daylight and Fireworks-atnight Methods — He Stimulates the Legislators to a Consciousness of their Responsibility — He Leads the Average Citizen to Look Ahead with him — The Lonely Dignity of the Poor Man when he Goes to Vote — The Key-note of Governor Wilson's Political Conscience; to Study the Interest of the Whole People — The Function of a Legislature to Look after the General Good — Restores Contact between the People and their Representatives; How? — Governor Wilson Has a Way, All his Own — Only Custom Kept him off the Floor of the House — He Exercised Fearlessly his Executive Functions — There Must Be Some Force to Bring Public Opinion into Legislative Business — The Initiative and Referendum Will Help — Wilson's Exact Position on these Measures — Where Are Bills Edited? — Necessity of Executive Leadership — Acute Consciousness of Responsibility — The American People Have Reason to Be Suspicious — Woodrow Wilson Grouped with the Elect Immortals of the Republic — And a Governor who Could Discipline a New Jersey Legislature ought to Be.

Chapter VI Reform Legislation 78

The People and the Legislators Overwhelmed with the Programme of Legislation Seriously Proposed in Governor Wilson's Inaugural Message — But the Greatest Surprise of All Was that he Meant Every

CONTENTS xiii

PAGB

Word he Said— A Six-cylinder Type of Governor Strikes Trenton with a Bang; and it Certainly Is a Slow Town — Some Things Started — A Drastic Public Utilities Law Enacted in Spite of Protests from Corporations — And there Has Been Something Doing Since it Went into Effect — A Few Results — The Employers' Liability Law — A Real Direct Primary Law which Bade Defiance to Machines and Bosses — A Corrupt Practices Act which Reinforces the Election Law and Does Away with " Spook " Voters and Dishonest Elections — It Keeps Both the Voters and the Candidates for Office Straight — A Commission Form of Government Act — Numerous Other Measures Passed which Introduced Modern Methods in Place of Obsolete Relics of Past Years — One of the Most Remarkable Records of Legislation that Has Ever Distinguished a Single Legislative Session in this Country — J. Lincoln Steffens's Prophecy Fulfilled.

Chapter VII Elevation Of The Tone Of Public Office . . .90

Necessity of Inducing the Right Men to Become Political Leaders in Order that we may Provide a Stimulus for our Legislators — What Is the Greatest Service which Governor Wilson has Rendered to the People of New Jersey? — An Opinion Ventured Concerning the Final Judgment which Historians will Pass on Woodrow Wilson — He Bears the Distinction of Being the First Governor to Insist on Keeping his Constituents Informed Concerning the Official Conduct of their Representatives — And Some of the Lovers of Representative Government Threw up their Hands at such a Democratic Innovation — The Good Doctor's Answer — Representative Government has Failed to Represent — There is Nothing Unconstitutional in Strides toward More Democracy — Great Britain's Democracy — Trusting Executives with k xiv CONTENTS

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Greater Power will Require Greater Caution in Choosing them — We Must " Learn to Know our Able Men " — Our Obligations to our Legislators of which we Must not Be Unmindful — They Should not be Placed under Temptation, when we Can Prevent it — Various Forms of Political Knavery — Bribery, in Modern Times, the Crudest Form — We Cannot Draw a General Indictment against Public Officials — Many Measure up to their Official Responsibilities; Some Are Waking up; the Honest Standpatters; and those who Knowingly Follow the Wrong Standards — A Body-politic can Rise no Higher than its Fountain Source — The Main Currents in Political Life — Stimulation Necessary — We Have not yet Reached a Millennium in New Jersey; but there are Hopes that we Shall at Least Reach Salvation — This Chapter a Sequel to Discoveries which were Made by the Author while Collecting Material for this Story — Some Facts which Show that Too Often the Wires have been Cut between the People and their Representatives.

Chapter VIII The Reaction On The Body Politic . . . .99

A Picture of Governor Wilson's Nation-wide Influence — A Good Thing Came out of the Land of Mosquitoes and Nazarenes — Who Wants Woodrow Wilson for President?— Who Does not? — Why Did the New Jersey Assembly Swing Back? — The Manipulations of a Bi-partisan Machine — Essex the Pivotal Spot — The Home of the Former Sunny Jims — Revenge, Sweet Revenge — Political Trading — Why the Governor would not Speak in Essex — The Smith- Nugent Machine Ostensibly Stripped of Representatives in Trenton — By Compromising himself the Governor might have Had a Democratic Legislature — Outside Essex the Democrats Gained — No Post-mortem for Woodrow Wilson — Men Faking under

CONTENTS XV

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Clover of the Democratic Party Cannot Injure him — The Machines Cannot Undo him — He stands Out "Like Mars at Perihelion" — A Republican Legislature Does not Worry him — " We are all Sworn to Serve the State," he Says — Members of the Legislature Obligated More than ever before to Carry out Platform Pledges — Governor Wilson Has a Back-bone instead of a Wish-bone — He has Brought the Ghost of Popular Government back to Life — The Warnings of a Statesman who Sees — We Must Remember History — The Analysis of the New Jersey Election by those who Understand.

Chapter IX The Time, The Place, And The Man .... 106

What Proves that the Time Is Ripe for Change? — Reasons for Optimism in Political Life — But we Must not Overlook Defects in our Political Organization — Some Grave Problems Requiring Solution — New Economic Conditions — The Economic Question which Concerns us Most: the Increase in the Cost of Living — A Revision of the Tariff Necessary — The Greatest Test of the Progress of any Age — We Can only Progress through the Leadership of Great Men — We Give our Measure by our Attitude toward them — Few of our Greatest Statesmen Presidents — Shall History Continue to Repeat Itself? — Facts we Must be Sure of, before we Choose a Leader — Continued Reference to Governor Wilson and his Views — What he Says of the Tariff — He Would not Disturb Anything Honest — What Is the Trouble with Business? — Indefinite Policies — Shaping Policies to Meet Permanent rather than Temporary Interests of Country — The Question of Reforming the Financial System — The Money Monopoly, the Greatest Question of All — Some Pointed Questions Concerning it — An Attempt to Answer them — The Eighth Wonder of the World — Samuel xvi CONTENTS

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Untermyer, on Governor Wilson's Famous Harrisburg Speech — Getting at the Root of the Money- Monopoly — The Regulation of Corporations — Legitimate and Illegitimate Corporations — Inadequacy of the Sherman Anti-trust Law — Restoration of Business by Putting it on a Sound Basis — Conservation — What it Means in its Broadest Application — Extension of Service which the Government shall Render its People — To Realize Popular Government Machinery of Control Must be Placed in People's Hands — Governor Wilson Does not Believe in the Recall of Judges — Is he a Radical? — There Is a Conservative Ring in his Actions — Pays Tribute to American People's Sense of Justice and Practicality — The Chief Place for Political Experiments— Woodrow Wilson, a Friend of Organized Labor — A People's Man before he Is a Party Man — Principles of Progressives in both Parties Practically Identical — Wilson on World Peace — Time Opportune for a Real Leader to Come Forward — But Shall we Recognize him? — We Have not Always Been Able to Choose the Men Best Fitted to Lead us — The Present Time Demands Eternal Vigilance from the American People — The Time — The Place — The Man — Democracy Another Word for Opportunity — What Have we a Right to Expect from the Democratic Party? — The Business of the National Convention — Shall it Be Possible for a Faction of Special Interests to Defeat a Man of the People? — An Infinitesimal Inconsistency in Woodrow Wilson's Political Opinions Disposed of — The Charge of Ingratitude Replied To — What Do his Achievements Indicate? — A Fearless State Spokesman who Would Be a Fearless National Voice — We Need a Modern Justinian — We Are Clamoring for Leadership — Who Is Best Fitted to Lead? Woodrow Wilson Is a Southern-Northerner and a Northern-Southerner, a Yankee-Doodle-Dixie Candidate, and a Thrust at the New York Sun — We Return to Carlyle's Theory Concerning the Placing of the Man of In-

CONTENTS xvii

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tellect at the Head of Affairs — A Picture of the Future which the Author Hopes to Live to See — A Political Love Feast which Might Follow Woodrow Wilson's Election to the Presidency.

SUPPLEMENT 144

What Representative Newspapers, Magazines, and Prominent Men say of Woodrow Wilson — Bibliography Used by the Author:

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Woodrow Wilson's Published Works, and United States Senate Reports, Volume 10, Fifty-third Congress, Second Session, Serial Number 3188.

ILLUSTRATIONS

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XIX and

Chapter I Machine Versus Popular Government

" There are certain interested people going round saying that I am trying to break up the organization. I am doing nothing of the kind. The organization they mean is merely a clique of politicians; a group of men here and there, who are commissioned in aid of special and private, not public interests. They are neither Republicans nor Democrats. I am going to fight them to the end. They are getting nervous, not because I am fighting them, but because you are on to them.

" The main object of what we are attempting, both in State and Nation, is to establish a close connection, a very sensitive connection between the people and their governments; both in the State and in the Nation, in order that we may restore in such wise as will satisfy us again, the liberty and the opportunity in whose interests our governments were conceived.

" But some men put a false interpretation upon this. There is a certain unreasonable fear in the air as though the process we have been going through were in some degree vindictive, as if there had been bitter feeling in it, and the intention to discredit those who opposed it.

" The crash of political organizations has been only the crash of those who did not comprehend, or resisted, when there was no right reason for resisting, and forgot that their very reason for being was that they might serve opinion and the movement of the people's will. If any systems of political practice have collapsed, only those have collapsed which were unsuitable to the objects which they proposed to serve.

" We are no longer in the temper of attack. We are ready for remedy and adjustment, and begin to see where to begin and in what direction to move. A promise of statesmanship follows a threat of revolution. There can be no mistaking this. Programs are taking the place of Philippics, and programs can be soberly examined and assessed, as unqualified criticisms and denunciation cannot be." — Extracts from political addresses. WooDROw Wilson.

" To every action there is an equal action in an opposite direction," — a platitude repeated since Galileo's discovery ! But all truth is old. In all countries or states where representative government is said to exist, it is organized with power theoretically well balanced, but the political pendulum swings, with varying degrees of regularity, according to social and economic conditions, between the extremes of plutocracy and democracy. If when the pendulum reaches the latter point it ever finds civic conscience and civic consciousness so well developed that the people as a unit can be trusted to choose the best and to maintain it, then an ideal political destiny will be in sight, and the energy which we have previously consumed in swinging back and forth in a cycle of changes will be directed toward constructive progress.

Every time that a revival of democracy takes place, the optimists declare that we have advanced beyond party lines ; that class distinction is disappearing ; that we are beginning to recognize that the welfare of the whole depends upon the moral and intellectual virility of each member of a commonwealth; that it is better for all men to be free.

Some of our Utopian friends even tell us, when we are passing through these delightfully stimulating periods, that the interest which has been aroused in individuals will be sustained, and that they can be depended upon to contribute their share toward the perpetuation of the most worthy civic standards, even after the leaders who have wrought these political innovations have ceased to exist. We perceive a keener edge on our patriotism and we entertain a hope that there will come a time when each citizen will do his part toward immortalizing the principles of the great. We characterize each era of regeneration as a " New Democracy." If we could be sure of an ever alert, discriminating, and energetic citizenship to select the ablest and most sincere men available for leadership, and we could rely upon our citizens to support every age of reform, we would be able in a not far distant epoch of history to realize a democracy which would mean the whole of the people, not a part of them; a democracy which would mean free men, not owned men. Each democratic decade brings new hope, but like every institution, democracy brings its errors. De Tocqueville has told us that the remedy for the evils of democracy is more democracy. Modern experience teaches us that the thoughtful De Tocqueville was right. The plutocrats will emit a roar at such doctrine and relegate its advocates to the scrap heap of undesirable citizens. A plutocrat may be either a Kepublican or a Democrat so called; for there are Plutocratic Democrats, Democratic Democrats, Democratic Plutocrats, and Full-fledged Plutocrats. The dyed-in-thewool i)lutocrat is rapidly becoming an extinct species, but he still exists. He is the man who accepts with reluctance the principles of manhood suffrage. He looks upon popular education half heartedly, half suspecting that it may arouse a discontent among the masses, which may in the end swamp special privilege. He regards approachable legislatui-es as safety valves against the encroachments of what he calls the " mob." He believes in ''judicious bribery." He considers the boodle which he contributes toward this purpose a part of his charitable duty, to shield society from legislation representative of the envy and ignorance of the masses. He suspects the sincerity of radical legislators, and when they begin to sweep down cobwebs in our State capitols, he thinks their action a signal inviting an approach from the interests. In other words, he would make us believe that reform bodies are blackmailing institutions, which extort money from corporations under threats to control their relations with the people.

The benevolent plutocrats, in a quicksand of despair, being utterly unable to appreciate the motives and characters of those who honestly strive to interpret the popular will, have frequently misunderstood them. Extreme measures have been resorted to. " The kingdoms of the world and the glory of them " have been exhibited from high mountains ; and " the powers that be " confounded, when these temptations have been resisted.

We still regard the plutocrat as an interesting psychological product. lie would return to the days of feudal barons if he could, but modern society won't let him. He laughs at the attempts of democracy to equalize opportunity, by creating a political and industrial freedom where every individual shall be given his best chance. He insists that the plain people shall be kept in fear and awe of the possessors of wealth, who are to be revered as the accumulators of the world's money, wisdom, and everything else worth while. In fact, the sacredness of wealth is to be upheld over every other institution.

One of our mighty moneyed men, in a moment of vehement outrage, during a wave of political housecleaning, protested thus:

" I make it a rule never, except when talking with members of my own class, to speak harshly of even such rich men as the late Jay Gould, for fear that what I say may cause suspicion about the great institution of wealth itself. If I think it is not divinely ordained, but is the product of rare ability and liardness in tlie stmcrsle of life, I don't want my coachman to know it. I prefer to have him think that I am a better man than he is, and therefore have more money. And I am, too."

In other words, this holier-than-thon, self-sufficient, and superior human being, not made a little lower than the angels, but belonging in, or to a stratum above them, would smother any sentiment which encourages men to think for themselves, and he would suppress as dangerous any influence which propels forces of constructive discontent. Such an individual would keep the shutters of society closed and the curtains drawn, that its faults might not be nakedly exposed outside the inner shrine.

But the Napoleons of power deceive themselves. The people may be cheated, but not fooled. The knights of plutocracy have a childlike faith in the dupability of mankind. They proclaim to the lawmakers how necessary it is that they shall be protected from the hostility of the muckrakers and the mob, in order to stimulate business and preserve prosperity. They appeal to the gullible voters, by attempting to make them believe that the people get the lion's share of the prosperity. In times past, there has been enough money circulated to verify this impression, particularly at election time. Flexible statistics have been released from cold storage, and the batteries of political rings recharged.