The Indianapolis journal., 1904-02-16
Euges on Departd Statesman and Story of Wonderful Career
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CAREER
OF SENA TOR MARCUS A. HANNA
HIS RISE Emiueuce Business Politics and Safe5manShT
Due to Iudomitabk VIII and Stanch Integrity

and has lived in Cleveland since 1852. He
was educated in the common schools OF his
native town and in Western Reserve Col
lege. In 1900 Kenyon College conferred on
him the degree of Ii. d. On Sept q, 1864,
he married c. Augusta, daughter of Daniel
Z. Rhodes, of Cleveland. He became an
employe and later partner in the Rhodes
wholesale grocery house. and later en-
barked in the coal and iron business and
became director of the Globe Ship Manu-
featuring Company; head of NJ. A. Hanna
& Co., coal; president of the Union National
Bank, president of the Cleveland City Rail-
way Company all of Cleveland, and presi-
dent of the Chaplin Mining Company, Lake
Superior. He has been chairman of the
Republican national committee since 1896.
and conducted the campaigns which secured
the nomination. election and reelection of
William Mckinley as President. He was
elected senator from Ohio in 1897 by a mar
gin of one vote, and in January, 1904, was re-
elected by the largest majority ever given
United States senator in OHIO.
Such, in brief. was the career OF great
man. 1t. however, gives little idea or the
personality of the great captain of industry
and political field general. People VIII ask
what manner of man was he? What ele-
ments of citizenship did he possess that en-
titled him to a place in the highest Repub-
lican legislative body in the world?
How did it happen that after failing to
make John Sherman President OF the United
States he was twice a potential factor In
electing William Mckinley to the presl-
dency? What did this man Hanna do In MS
life and with his life that he should become
so conspicuous and influential in helping
other men TO write history within the span
of his own day?
All the American people did not know
Senator Hanna. He was presented to them
hx rf CfG ond hV N "a
manner of grotcsque disgulses. There was
no true, there was not even an approximate
ly accurate image OF this man IL the minds
of the American public
PORTRAIT OF THE MAN.
The sketch of Senator Hanna that is here
essayed is no attempt at eulogy. 1t is rather
an attempt to present the man-one of the
most forceful in his generation-in his true
colors 1t is an effort to show exactly what
Hanna was and why he was what he was.
1t is written in spirit of portraiture and
not of fiattery.
Despite the prominent position that he
occupied before the public during the last
eight years, and even longer, it is singular
fact that the published accounts of the
birthplace, the early life and the mental and
social development of Marcus AlonZo Hanna
have been Inaccurate. Aside from the
formal and meager record that appears In
the Congressional Directory, every account
of Senator Hanna's life has been filled with
errors of statement. 1t may be well, there
fore, at the beginning. to set the record
straight. The bare outline will go far to
show what manner of man was developed
by early environment, constant struggle and
unremitting industry. 1t may be seen that
the influences of ancestry, as well as the
impress of environment, bore about
the same relation to individual force OF
character in the development of Mr.. Hanna
as in the case of many another American
citizen who has grown prominent In both
business and public life.
AS already stated in the brief summary,
Mr.. Hanna was born at Lisbon, Columbiana
county, Ohio, Sept. "a, 1887. When he was
five years old his father moved to Cleve-
land, where he organized the firm OF Han
na Garretson & Co, wholesale grocers, with
a trade extending into the Lake Superior re-
gion. This was an important point in young
Hanna's life. 1t was the period of his boy
hood development and of whatever school
ing he received. To those familiar with
Senator Hannas wide range of reading
and his power of logical thought and elo-
Quent expression. the brief period of his
formal education will be a surprise. We do
not know whether the boy Hanna had more
than the average home training. There is
no record of how much wisdom he absorbed
at his mothers knee nor of how much in
formation he acquired from contact with
playmates or in association with his father.
1t is certain that he attended the public
that he afterward spent two terms in the
Western Reserve Academy.
FIRST PUBLIC OFFICE.
Brief as was Hanna's schooling, he al
ways entertained a sense of profound graft
tude for what he did receive of this kind
of education. The American system OF
schools always commanded his earnest and
hearty support. 1t is worth noting that the
first public office ever held by Mr.. Hanna
was that of member of the Board of Edu-
cation of Cleveland. He always encouraged
young men to acquire all the book learning
possible, and, whatever their occupation in
life, to keep up regular course Of reading
and study.
Young Hanna began his first serious work
in life when he was twenty years old. Then,
in the year 1857, he went TO work as a clerk
in his fathers store. His pay was not large
and his duties were arduouS. But he shrank
from nothing. He was determined to learn
the wholesale grocery business from begin
ming to end. During this time his father
became i'll, so that an increasing weight OF
responsibility fell upon the shoulders OF
the young clerk. In 1862 the long illness
of the elder Hanna ended in death. 1t fell
TO the lot of the son TO represent the inter
est of his fathers estate in settling up the
affairs of Hanna, Garretson * Co., a task
which was not completed until 1867
In 1864 young Hanna married Miss G.. Au-
gusta Rhodes, daughter of Hon. Daniel d
Rhodes. of Cleveland. AS soon as he had
finished his connection with the grocery
business, and upon the retirement of his
father-in-law from active commercial life
Mr. Hanna organized the firm of Rhodes &
Co.. which engaged in the coal and iron
business. This was a business, it will be
seen, that was TO engage subsequently the
chief part of Mr.. Hannas attention and en-.
ergy. Not long afterward Mr.. Hanna, with
his brother, Leonard c., formed the firm OF
| NJ. A. Hanna * Co., successors TO Rhodes
! & Co.
Having thus embarked in business on hi:
own account, Mr.. Hanna began his period
of independent commercial development III,
| organized several collateral interests. which
/ included the mining of iron ore and Of coal
! the building and operation of vessels on the
| lakes, and the formation of the Union Ma
| tional Bank of Cleveland in 1888. In addi
| tion TO these interests Mr.. Hanna for many
years was president of the Cleveland Cit,
/ Railway Company. He was interested il
the manufacture of pig iron having the con
| trolling interest in furnaces I'm Buffalo anC
| in western Pennsylvania He also had othe1
| manufacturing interests in Ohio.
1t is to be observed that in the course o
| his business career Mr.. Hanna engaged in
the mining of both coal and iron ore. Nor,
/ important still. he engaged in their trans
/ portation. 1t was his brain that recognize,
the Importance of the bringing together o
| these two raw materials at some meetin:
place made economic by natural conditions
| 1t is this union of the ore and the fuel tina
has been most potent in the wonderful de
velopment of American iron and steel IN
| dustries.
INTEREST IN POLITICS.
Senator Hanna always took a keen inter
est in politics. Long before his name be
came at all conspicuous in this way he wa
active at primary elections. He believe,
attendance upon primaries to be his dut,
as a citizen. He believed that an inter