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IV. — PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES


[Pages 97-99]
      Wilson, Woodrow, the present President of the United States, was born at Staunton, Virginia, 28, 1855, son of Rev. Joseph R. Wilson and Jessie (Woodrow) Wilson, his wife, the former a distinguished clergyman of the Presbyterian church of the South. His father was a native of Ohio and his mother of Scotland, and his ancestry, on both sides, is Scotch-Irish. At the call of the church, the father of President Wilson moved South, and during the war between the states resided at Augusta, Georgia. President Wilson's boyhood days were spent at the latter place and at Columbia, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina, where he prepared for college with private tutors and at the schools of those places. His real educator, however, was his father, who, besides being an orator of considerable power, was also a scholar, and for some years professor in the Theological Seminary at Columbia, South Carolina, and closed his career as professor in the Southwestern Theological Seminary at Clarksville, Tennessee.
      President Wilson was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and many were called upon to endure during the civil war, part of which raged around their home.
      In 1874 he entered the freshman class at Davidson College, North Carolina, remained one year, and in the fall of 1875 he entered the freshman class at Princeton College, graduating in 1879. In college he was a hardworking student, and an omnivorous reader, and especially distinguished for his command of language and literary ability. His outdoor life was that of the average college boy. Athletics interested him and he was fond of baseball and football.
      Upon his graduation from Princeton University, in 1879, he entered the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, as a law student, and graduated in 1881. For the two years that followed he practiced law at Atlanta, Georgia, and in that time found that while the principles of the law and its study interested him, the practical business side of it did not.
      Briefly his career as an educator by years is as follows: From 1883 to 1885 he did graduate work at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore Maryland, in political economy and history; from 1885 to 1888 he was professor of history and political economy at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, a famous school for the higher education of young ladies; from 1888 to 1890 he was professor in the same branches of science at Wesleyan University; in June, 1890, he was elected professor of jurisprudence and political economy, and entered upon his duties in the September following; in 1895 the department was divided and he was assigned to the chair of jurisprudence; in 1897, as the result of a large gift by Mr. Cyrus H. McCormick, of Chicago, of the class of 1879, he was promoted to the McCormick professorship of jurisprudence and politics; in 1902 he was elected president of the university, and continued as such till 1910, during which time Mr. Wilson gave much attention to the study of government and history, though his official duties, as his writings show, doubtless prevented any great investigation of original records and sources. His published works show the trend of his mind and culture, and are as follows: "Congressional Government," 1885; "The State Elements of Historical and Practical Politics," 1889; "Division and Reunion," 1893; "An Old Master, and Other Political Essays," 1893; "Life of George Washington," 1896; "History of the American People," 1902; "Constitutional Government in the United States," 1908.
      But probably it was his happy turn at public speaking which directed public attention to him more than anything else. He is not only a good thinker, but a master of words and phrase-making. His speech at the "Dollar Dinner" at Elizabeth, New Jersey, in the last week of March, 1910, so well declared the purposes of the modern Democracy that his nomination for governor of New Jersey was the direct result. In this speech he declared that these principles consisted in a profound and abiding faith in the people themselves, in the belief that the welfare of the nation consists in the welfare of the individuals of whom the nation is composed. Not the corporation, but the individual, not the artificial group of persons existing by permission of law but the single living person, is the only rightful possessor of rights and privileges. The corporation is simply a legal instrumentality created for the convenience of the individual and must be used only for his convenience. Soon after this speech Dr. Wilson was nominated for governor of New Jersey, and resigned the presidency of Princeton. His election was a triumph over the political machine, and the platform on which he was nominated called for the control of corporations, for a thorough-going and honest election law, for the publicity of campaign contributions, and for the enactment of an employer's liability bill. In the campaign which followed, Dr. Wilson proved to be an effective campaign speaker, without being an orator of the old style, his appeal being to the reasoning powers rather then to the emotions. His administration as governor made good the promises of the platform. A new election bill was passed, as well as several measures tending to suppress graft in public places and limiting the power of the machine. His success put him to the front as a possible presidential candidate. In 1912 he was the choice of the progressive democracy, and his name was offered in the Democratic convention at Baltimore. Here again there was the struggle with the machine. His nomination was made possible only by the superb powers of William Jennings Bryan as a master manager and orator. The campaign which followed was one of the most exciting in recent times, and resulted in the election of Dr. Wilson by a division in the ranks of the Republican party. As President, Dr. Wilson has infused his personality into the government administration far beyond anything any of his predecessors ever deemed proper or even constitutional. He discarded the example of Jefferson, the founder of his party, and revived the rule of the old Federalist presidents of reading his messages to congress. All important bills have been prepared by him in conference with the leaders, in advance of their submission to congress, and he has in large measure been his own Secretary of State. thus far the fruits of this legislation have been a new tariff bill and a new banking bill, and it is only justice to say that both have given general satisfaction. Hating force, Dr. Wilson has made it his cardinal policy to keep the country out of war. Mexico has been, during his administration, a constant thorn in the side, and the violations by England, and especially by Germany, of our neutrality have been frequent and flagrant. But Dr. Wilson has presented to each strong representations, which have undoubtedly had their effect, though it is also true that his devotion to the primary object of peace has subjected him to the charge of weakness and indifference to American rights, and there are some who in matter of the European war would have had him take his stand upon the broad grounds of humanity and promptly registered a protest when Belgium was invaded and ruthlessly trodden under foot. It is probably too early to pronounce judgment, with accuracy, upon those matters, and in the meantime the American people, having the highest faith in the honesty and integrity of the President, have irrespective of party, let it be known that they will stand by him to the end, under the unquestionably difficult conditions which surround him.
      Mr. Wilson married, June 24, 1885, Ellen Louise Axsen, a charming Southern lady, from Savannah, Georgia. Mrs. Wilson had a distinct claim on New Jersey, when her husband was so highly honored, in that she was the direct descendant of the southern branch of the Fitz-Randolph family of that state, a family which donated a portion of the land upon which Princeton University now stands. She was an artist of merit, and her death not many months ago was greatly regretted.







V. — UNITED STATES SENATORS


[Page 103]
      Barbour, John Strode, Jr., son of John S. Barbour (q. v.) and Eliza A. Byrne, his wife, born in Culpeper county, Virginia, in 1819; was educated in private schools, and at the University of Virginia, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Laws degree in 1842. He began law practice in his native county, and became greatly interested in railroad development, and was president of the Virginia Midland Railroad Company. He was elected to the house of delegates in 1847, and was reëlected four times. He was remarkable for his power of organization, and the great work for which he is remembered in his native state is, when as chairman of the Democratic organization he accomplished the overthrow of the Mahone regime. He was elected as a Democrat to the forty-seventh, forty-eighth and forty-ninth congresses (March 4, 1881-March 3, 1887). He was a delegate at large in the Democratic national conventions of 1884 and 1888, and member of the Democratic national committee, 1884-1892. He was elected to the United States Senate, and served from March 4, 1889, until his death in Washington City, May, 14, 1892.

[Page 103]
      Bowden, Lemuel Jackson, born in Williamsburg, Virginia, January 16, 1815; was graduated from William and Mary College, Williamsburg; studied law, and engaged in practice. He was a member of the state legislature for three terms; was member of the Virginia constitutional conventions of 1849 and 1851; in 1861 was a presidential elector. He was elected to the United States senate by the so-called Virginia legislature at Alexandria, and served from March, 1863, until his death, in Washington City, January 2, 1864.

[Page 103]
      Carlile, John Snyder, (q. v.).

[Pages 103-105]
      Daniel, John Warwick, born in Lynchburg, Virginia, September 5, 1842, son of William Daniel (q. v.), judge of the supreme court of appeals, and grandson of William Daniel, judge of the general court of Virginia. He was educated at private schools, and at the old Lynchburg College, where he was an industrious student, and gave evidence of fine oratorical powers. When the civil war opened, he, in his nineteenth year, entered the Confederate provisional army as second lieutenant and drillmaster in the Stonewall brigade, and he was soon given the same rank in the famous Eleventh Virginia Regiment, and was made adjutant. Later he was promoted to major, and served as chief-of-staff to Gen. Jubal A. Early. His three years of active service were marked by devotion to duty and gallant conduct. He was four times wounded, and he received an almost fatal injury on May 6, 1864, during the battle of the Wilderness. He was unhorsed by a volley from the enemy, a large femoral vein was opened, and his thigh bone shattered. Timely assistance saved him from bleeding to death, but he was crippled for life, and he used crutches ever after. He now entered the University of Virginia, where for a year he studied law, carrying off the highest honors for oratory. Returning to Lynchburg, he was admitted to the bar, and engaged in the practice of law with his father, the partnership continuing until the death of the latter, seven years later. In 1869 he was elected to the state legislature as a member of the house of delegates, and served for two years. In 1875 he was elected to the state senate, and was re-elected four years later. In the meantime he had twice been an unsuccessful candidate for nomination to congress on the Democratic ticket, against older men. In 1877 he was a candidate for governor, before the Democratic state convention; a deadlock between himself and his leading competitor, gave the nomination to a compromise candidate. In 1881, when he was the candidate for governor, the chief issue was the funding of the state debt. The Readjusters were successful, and Mr. Daniel was defeated. In 1884 he was elected to the national house of representatives, and in that body acquitted himself most creditably. In 1886 he was elected to the United States senate, to succeed Senator Mahone, and was four times re-elected without opposition, serving until his death, having served longer than any other senator from Virginia, in all the history of the state. He was a pioneer in the establishment of the free school system of Virginia, and the patron of the act that aided school restoration when the school funds were contracted by the funding act of 1870. In the fifty-ninth congress, on his initiative, southern representation in the South American Congress at Rio de Janeiro was provided for. He also procured the adoption of a motion for the establishment of a national powder factory, with the purpose of breaking the power of the powder-trust. He took a leading part in the debates on the railroad rate bill, and his speech on that measure was one of his most notable efforts. In the senate, he was second to none as a leader, and his words in debate attracted the attention and admiration of the whole country. As a member of the committee on foreign relations, on finance, on appropriations, and on the industrial commission, the powers of his well-trained mind, his broad information, and his lofty patriotic purpose, commanded the utmost respect of his opponents. A Democrat from conviction and principles, he was in the very forefront of party leadership. In 1876 he was a Democratic presidential elector; and he was a delegate-at-large in every Democratic national convention from 1888 to 1900. In 1896 he could have been the party nominee for vice-president by simply yielding assent, and the same was true in the convention of 1900. In the state constitutional convention, he made a minority report on suffrage, which, after a long struggle, and with slight amendment, was finally adopted, and its presence in the present state constitution has practically solved the suffrage question in Virginia. As an orator, Senator Daniel was very distinguished. His appearance was impressive, his voice sonorous and musical, and his gestures graceful, without being theatrical. He delivered addresses covering a great variety of subjects, and several are of permanent historic value. His address on Washington, in the hall of representatives, Washington City, and that on General lee at the unveiling of his recumbent statue at Lexington, are fine examples of dignified eulogium. He was the author of two law works which have been accepted as standard — "Daniel on Negotiable Instruments," and "Daniel on Attachments." In recognition of his scholarly attainments, he received the degree of LL. D. from Washington and Lee University, and from the University of Michigan. Senator Daniel died at Lynchburg Virginia, June 29, 1910.

[Page 105]
      Hunton, Eppa, (q. v.).

[Page 105]
      Johnston, John Warfield, born near Abingdon, Virginia, September 9, 1818, son of John Warfield Johnston (elder brother of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston) and Letitia Floyd, his wife; attended Abingdon Academy, and the South Carolina College at Columbia, College of Physicians and Surgeons; studied law at the University of Virginia; was admitted to the bar in 1839, and was commonwealth attorney for Tazewell county, 1844-46, He was a state senator, 1846-48, judge of the circuit court, 1866-70. He was elected as a Conservative to the United States senate to fill vacancy, serving from October 20, 1869, to March 3, 1871; re-elected to fill vacancy, and was again re-elected, serving from March 15, 1871, to March 3, 1873. He died at Richmond, Virginia, February 27, 1889.

[Page 105]
      Lewis, John Francios, born near Port Republic, Virginia, March 1, 1818. He was a delegate in the state convention of 1861, and refused to sign the ordinance of secession. In 1869 he was elected lieutenant-governor on the Conservative ticket; and was later elected to the United States senate, serving from October 20, 1869, to March 3, 1875. He was appointed by President Hayes United States marshal for the western district of Virginia, April 11, 1878, and served until March 1, 1882, when he resigned. He was again elected lieutenant-governor on the Readjuster ticket in 1881. He died September 2, 1895, in Lynnwood, Virginia.

[Page 105]
      Mahone, William, (q. v.).

[Pages 105-106]
      Martin, Thomas Staples, born at Scottsville, Albemarle county, Virginia, January 29, 1847, son of John Samuel Martin and Martha Ann Staples, his wife. He received his primary education in the public schools, and March 1, 1864, attended the Virginia Military Institute. At the time of the battle of New Market, he and six others were ill in hospital, and were unable to march with their cadet battalion. Later the cadets were enrolled as a reserve force of the Confederate army, and young Martin, with his companions, stood ready for such military duty as might be required of them. In 1865 he entered the University of Virginia, but at the end of his second year he was obliged to abandon his studies and return home, on account of the death of his father. The mercantile business in which the father had been engaged did not appeal to h im, and he applied himself diligently to a course of self-prescribed law reading. In 1869, at the age of twenty-two, he was admitted to the bar of Albemarle county, and in due time was busied with caring for the interests of various corporations and firms, as well as of private individuals. His deep interest in the financial condition of the state led him to become a member of the democratic general committee, of which Mr. John S. Barbour was chairman, who reposed great confidence in him, and found in him perhaps his most efficient aide. It was due in large measure to Mr. Martin that the party was rehabilitated and brought into control, resulting in the restoration of the financial integrity of the commonwealth. In 1893 conditions pointed to him as the logical candidate for United States senator, to succeed Gen. Eppa Hunton, who had been appointed to fill out the unexpired term of Senator John S. Barbour, deceased. That he was nominated over such a strong opponent as Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, and was elected to the high office when he had never sat in the state legislature, attests the estimation in which he was held. In the senate he was from the outset industrious and sagacious, and performed highly useful labors on the committees on claims, commerce, naval affairs, and the District of Columbia. He was reëlected in 1899, 1905 and 1911, being the present incumbent of the office. In 1904 the Democrats adopted the primary system of nomination, and the appeal was to be made directly to the people. Mr. Martin had as his opponent Governor A. J. Montague, a man of excellent character and attainments, and an accomplished orator. Except at the bar, Mr. Martin was not much known as a speaker, but in this canvass he displayed fine oratorical qualities and won for himself new honors. In the senate, while at the forefront on questions of national importance, he has not been neglectful of local interest, and the liberal appropriations for the custom houses at Newport News and Petersburg, and for other public works, have been procured largely if not chiefly as the result of his effort. To him is also due the final settlement of the debt due by the Federal government of the state of Virginia from the time of the war with Great Britain in 1812. Such confidence did his fellow senators have in him that they made him floor leader of his party in the senate. He is a member of the board of visitors to the University of Virginia, and to the Miller Manual and Labor School of Albemarle. He married in 1894, Lucy Chambliss, daughter of Col. C. Fenton Day, of Smithfield, Virginia.

[Page 106]
      Riddleberger, Harrison Holt, born in Edinburg, Shenandoah y Virginia, October 4, 1844; was educated in the common schools. He served three years in the Confederate army, as second and first lieutenant of infantry and captain of cavalry. After the war he returned home and became editor of the "Tenth Legion Banner." he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and served as commonwealth attorney, 1876-80. For two terms he was a member of the house of delegates, and state senator one term. He was editor of the "Shenandoah Democrat," and later of the "Virginian." He was a member of the state committee of the Conservative party until 1875, and a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket of 1876, and the Readjuster ticket of 1880. He was elected as a Readjuster to the United States senate in 1881. He died in Woodstock, Virginia, January 24, 1800.

[Page 106]
      Swanson, Claude Augustus, (q. v.).

[Pages 106-107]
      Withers, Robert Enoch, born in Campbell county, Virginia, September 18, 1821, son of Robert Walter Withers. He attended private schools at his home until he was old enough to enter the University of Virginia, where he took up medical studies, and in 1841, graduated with the M. D. degree. He engaged in the practice of his profession in his native county, and later in Danville, Virginia. At the outbreak of the civil war, in April, 1861, he entered the Confederate provisional service, as major of infantry, and under the regular army establishment became colonel of the Eighteenth Virginia Infantry Regiment, which he commanded from the battle of Bull Run to the second Cold Harbor, in 1864. In the last named engagement, he was severely wounded and incapacitated for further service in the field. On recovering sufficiently he was placed in charge of the extensive prisons and hospitals at Danville, Virginia, where he rendered services of great value until the close of the war. He located in Lynchburg in January, 1866, and became editor of the Lynchburg "News," a daily newspaper devoted to the interest of the Conservative party; later he occupied a similar position on the Richmond "Enquirer." In 1868 he was the Conservative candidate for governor, and was defeated. In 1873 he was a presidential elector on the Greeley ticket, and was elected lieutenant-governor. He was elected in 1874 to the United States senate, as a Conservative, to succeed John F. Lewis, and served from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1881. In 1885 he was then appointed consul at Hong King, China, by President Cleveland, served as such for a term of four years, when he resigned, and took up his residence in Wytheville, Virginia. He took an active part in the affairs of the Presbyterian Episcopal church, and represented his diocese in general conventions for many years. He died in Wytheville, Virginia, September 21, 1907.