The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-01-05
GALUSHA A. GROW.

by the Republicans OF Pennsylvania for Rep
resentative at large recalls TO public life a
man who was Speaker OF the House which
Abraham Lincoln called together July 4.
1861, and who had been in Congress ten
years before. II is as IL a man had come
back from the generation which sat in
Congress forty years ago, when Fillmore
was President, and before Democratic SUBJ
serviency TO the slave power made Presi-
dents Of Franklin Pierce and James Bu-
chanan. Mr.. Grow entered the House the
day that Charles Sumner entered the Sem
ate, in 1851, but Sumner has been dead
nearly twenty years. Henry Clay was sit-
ting his last session in the Senate while
ex-Speaker Grow was in his first. II was
the speech OF Daniel Webster, March z.
1850. before the death Of President Taylor.
which made Mr.. Crows election possible.
because it alienated SO many Wings and
drove them TO the Free Sell candidate.
Daniel Webster was Secretary OF State
when Mr.. Grow entered Congress. Thomas
II. Benton. OF Missouri, left the Senate the
year OF Mr.. Grows election, but subse-
quently sat in the House with him. Sew
ard, Chase, Waite, John p. Hale and Henry
Wilson were the champions OF freedom in
the Senate. and Jefferson Davis and his
coterie, including Jesse d. Bright. fought
under the banner OF slavery extension
Stephen A. Douglas had not, at that date.
reached the zenith of his fame II was
at that period that Mr.. Benton told a new
Senator that lit would be scarcely worth
a mans while to be in Congress at that
period, as all the great questions that
would ever be before the country had been
settled" and then the country was Just
entering the conflict that ended In the over
throw OF slavery.
Mr.. Grow was born in Connecticut In
1924; was graduated from Amherst Mass.
IN 1874, became the law partner of David
Wilmot, author of the Wilmot proviso. in
1S47. In 1850 he was compelled TO abandon
the law because OF his feeble health. and
engaged in farming and traffic. In the fall
of 1850 David Wilmot. the Free Soil. and
James Lowrey, the Democratic candidate
for Congress. withdrew in favor of Mr..
Grow, who was a moderate Democrat. and
he was pitted against the Wing candidate,
whom he defeated after a short but in
tense campaign. He was the youngest
member of the House, which
in December, 1851, being twcnty-seven
years of age. He continued TO represent
the "Wilmot district for twelve sue
cessive years. In the meantime, however,
he had severed his connection with the
Democratic and joined the Republican
party. This he did at the outset. voting
against the repeal OF the Missouri COM
promise. He rendered important services
on several committees. was one OF the
most earnest supporters of the Homestead
bill, and fnally had the satisfaction OF
signing the measure as Speaker.
The House Of which he was chosen Speak
- Mould Aox,o 49,. ,,.--x ,lN.a h,l - rhA
Southern. Democrats seeded, but when they
left it was strongly Republican. No Con-
gress ever sat which had to confront more
momentous issues than that which con-
vened the first half OF the Lincoln admin
istration. 1t was that Congress which
raised the first troops, issued the first bonds
and created the legal-tender note as a war
measure. 1t contained many able men,
nearly all of whom are now dead. He was
d model Speaker, a skillful parliamentarian
and a courteous and fair-minded gentle
man. 1t was a Congress in which there
was much hot debate and many angry
| passages, but when it adjourned it passed
a unanimous vote Of thanks. the first OF
the kind the Speaker had received for many
years.
Why was not Speaker Grow reelected
Speaker? Because his district did not re-
elect him-sending a Democrat instead. In
1862 the Lincoln administration met re-
verses in several States in the fall cleo
tons. New York elected a Democratic
Governor, there was a Democratic majority
in Pennsylvania, and even Illinois and
Wisconsin furnished Democratic triumphs.
The soldiers who gave the Republican ma
~jorities were in the field and could not
vote, and the Democrats at home could.
That was why Speaker Grow went out OF
Congress not to return until 1S94-thirty-
one years.
But the Speaker of the Thirty-seventh
Congress did not retire from political life,
though he has not been in Office. He was a
delegate to the national Republican con-
| ~ventions in 1864, 1868 and 1884. He was chair
man of the Pennsylvania Republican COM
mittee in 1868. In 1871 he became the presi-
dent of the international q Great Northern
railroad of Texas, and resided In that State
until 1875, when he returned and took an
active part in the Republican campaign OF
1876. President Hayes rendered him the
| Russian mission. which he declined.
1t seems strange that a man with such
ar experience in public affairs and with an
unquestioned capacity for them should have
been retired to private life before he was
thirty-nine years of age. The trouble was
that he was too able and too formidable.
He would not bend the knee TO the Came
ron rule, and at that time that was essen
tial for the higher position of Senator,
which was about the only Office open TO
him. When Mr.. Oliver was made Senator
the Republican State convention declared
for MIR. Grow, but the Cameron Influence
in the Legislature defeated the expressed
will Of the party. He has always been a
popular favori;e. because he possesses abil-
tiles of a high order, not the least OF which
is that of effective oratory.
Under such treatment as he has received
at the hands OF the Cameron clique many
men would have sulked or turned reformer
and deserted TO the enemy. Galusha A.
Grow not only remained in the party but
worked in ii, being one OF the men whose
potent influence has kept the Republican
party united in the Keystone State. Now,
in his SEVENTEEN year. the party turns to
the man who has been SO true all the years
TO Pennsylvania and its interests.
Personally. Mr.. Grow is a charming man.
cultured, having a retentive memory and a
quick Imagination. he is one Of the most
entertaining and instructive of CONVERSE
tionalists, because he talks of Clay. Ben
ton, Douglas. the fathers OF Republicanisrn
from the Thirtieth TO the Thirty eighth
Congresses. Many times Mr.. Grow could
have had important positions for the ask