Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-02
SPINNER IN BRONZE,
Recollections of the Old Watch Dog
of the Treasury.
WHAT HE DID FOR WOMAN
His Services as Treasurer During
the War.
SOME P Frs ONAL TRAITS

Written for The Evening Star
Elllcot the sculptor has finished the life
| sized statue of Gen. +. L. Spinner, late
treasurer of the United States 1t is cast
in bronze and soon it will appear in front
of the Treasury Department.
! The statue is heroic, standing to the OBJ
server six feet, with broad-brimmed hat,
! a corrugated brow, a crumpled cloak, wrin-
Killed. pants firm foot and boot; and ALTO
gether the best civilian statue in the Dis
trct of Columbia.
! 1t is well and just that the people of the
| United States should remember the cashier
of the republic.
Gen. Francis Elias Spinner, late treasurer
| OF the United States, was born in the town
of Mohawk, He:kimer county, N. Y. jan
uary p, 1902 His father, Peter, was born
in Baden, Germany, January 49, 1IGS. emf
| grated to the United States in 1901, and
| died May %. 1S4S, while minister of the
Lutheran Church at Herkimer, eighty years
| of age. Like Luther, the elder Spinner had
| been Catholic priest, but became a
Protestant. He married a devotee of a
nunnery, and soon after came to the great
| republic, where he continued his sacerdotal
vocation until his death.
| The son, Francis was noted in his youth
| for pugnacity generosity and blunt honesty,
| characteristics that never forsook him. At
| an early age he was apprenticed to a con-
| fectioner, and afterward to a saddler, learn
| ing these trades to partial degree; but
| soon his restless spirit lOnged for the eX-
| element of political life. when he was APP
pointed deputy sheriff, and afterward elect
ed sheriff of his county. He was also major
general of the New York state militia, and
| became cashier and president of CONNER
| cial bank For four years he was deputy
| naval officer of the port of New York, and
| in 1884 he elected to Congress as an
anti-savery democrat, and after the repub-
! lican party was formed he represented that
! organization in Congress until the Sd OF
| March, 1861, when he was requested by
| Secretary Chase and President Lincoln to
| become treasurer of the United States,
which position he held for fourteen years.
During the four years of the rebellion
| there was not an officer of the civil service
J of the government that performed more ac-
! tive OF important work than Gen. Spinner
! His strange and celebrated signature first
written on the printed sheets of green
| backs, was universally commented upon,
and to the ordinary citizen who held the
notes the name of the treasurer was
puzzle. He adopted this cramped and pc
! culiar signature, however. as he told me.
| for the purpose of foilinS counterfeiters
| and making it difficult to initiate the orig
| inal.
| During the rapid and accommodating events
| of the spring, summer and fall of 1861 and
| 1862 the greenback printing presses of the
! government were run to their utmost limit
| to provide the SinewS of war for the army
and navy, and Spinner himself often re-
| manned at his desk more than twenty hours
| at a stretch signing and sending out the
| paper bullets that conquered the rebellion.
| The desire of many government clerks
| to enlist in the army and navy and battle
| for their country almost depleted some of
| the bureaus of their working force and the
| treasurer's office was no exception to the
| rule. To substitute the men Gen. Spinner
women, knowing that their deft fingers and
| rapid intuition could compete with, If not
surpass, men as correct counters of new or
old money.
| The First Employment of Women.
| Gen. Spinner always felt natural. and
| commendable pride in first giving women
an opportunity to make their own living
by government employment. Hundreds of
mothers, wives, daughters and sisters en-
ployed today in the various bureaus of the
government may well thank 1.-The old watch
dog of the treasury" for his persistent and
faithful adhesion to their interest: and each
woman now in office should place a leaf
in the shape of a fve-dollar bill, in the
laurel wreath that will crown his
bronze statue in front of the Treasury De
partment
1 intimate with Gen. Spinner and
! correspondent WITH MIN up 10 the time OF
his death, at Jacksonville. Fla, in January,
1891. In the summer of 1SS6 discussion
broke out in the newspapers to who
should get the credit for first recommend
ing women government employees and
afterward clerks. Some friends of Secre-
tary Chase claimed the honor for him, but
| the weight of the witnesses and the actual
| records proved beyond a doubt that Spinner
was the real pioneer that blazed the way
for women to work in official capacity.
| At the time Gen. Spinner was summering
at Pablo Beach. seaside resort near
} Jack Sonville, l wrote him regarding the
discussion and with some acrimony against
| those who were trying to fitch from him
| the glory of having first recommended the
| fair sex for government labor. l have now
before me a four-page autograph letter,
dated August 4, 1856 at Pablo Beach, when
he was eighty-four years of age; and in
which occur these phrases relating to his
employment of women: The records of the
| Treasury Department will show that L am
| right in every case and my critics wrong.
All the appointments of women that are
claimed to have been made prior to the 9th
of October, 1862. were made on my nomi-
nation for places in my then office United
States Treasurer. My records and the pay
rolls prove this. And then there are living
| witnesses in the persons of some of those
mentioned still in Washington. one of
them Miss Keller" This lady is still in
office as well as Miss Libbie Stoner, one
of the first women employed in the Treasury
Department
| His Personal Qualities.
| General Spinner was a remarkable man
in personal appearance, and one who at
| tracted attention whenever seen. He stood
nearly six feet tall, a round, broad, high
forehead slightly bold. with a corrugated
| courtenance, thick, overhanging brows.
| shading a pair of deep set grayish blue
ewes that looked keenly into the motives
of men, His voice was full and sonorous,
his talk witty and direct and when he was
! surrounded by social friends he was the
most companonable of men, and was par
| tcularly polite and CareSsing to the fair
| sex who were ever battered by his atten-
! ton.
| He was a prime favorite with Congress
men, and when a Senator or Representative
during the war and after could not find
| a snug place for his trusted constituent in
the DEPARTMENTS. Spinner could generally
! be depended upon to furnish an asylum to
| the friends of his faVorite and influential
law makers His official reports, estimates
and requests were always seconded by
| Chase and Lincoln and when they came
| before the ways and means and finance
| committees they passed muster like a
| crack regiment on dress parade.
| During the Impeachment trial of Presi-
dent Andrew johnson, in the fall of 1SGS,
| eX citenent ran very high In the various